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Early detection of disease infection in chilli crops using sensors
No full textBrown, PH ORCiD: 0000-0001-6272-5507 0000-0002-4033-6719Control of diseases is a key aspect of profitable chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) crop production, and early detection of disease incidence is therefore an important aspect of crop management. Visual crop assessment is the most commonly used approach, but it is expensive where labour costs are high and tends to be unreliable, especially at low levels of infection. Alternative cost-effective approaches for detection of diseases and pests at an early stage are therefore desirable. This trial focused on the potential of sensor technologies to detect diseases in a chilli crop earlier than is currently possible with visual assessment. Experiments were conducted to determine whether multispectral data could be used to detect disease infection at the individual leaf and whole plant level. A multispectral camera mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a hand-held NDVI sensor were used to collect weekly data on plants in a fungicide field trial. Bacterial spot incidence in all treatments was low (<20%) but was detectable using the sensors. The hand-held NDVI sensor was able to detect diseased plants between 5 and 20 days before significant disease symptoms were visually recorded. The hand-held sensor was found to be much more sensitive in detecting diseased plants than the UAV mounted sensor. © 2020 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved
General and specific perceptions of procedural justice: Factors associated with perceptions of police and court responses to domestic and family violence
No full textImproving criminal justice responses to domestic and family violence is a key focus within many policy and practice reforms. The efficacy of police and court responses to domestic and family violence is central because of the role of police as first responders and courts in issuing protection orders, imposing sanctions and ensuring perpetrator cooperation and accountability. To promote compliance and satisfaction with criminal justice outcomes, a large body of research points to the role of procedural justice. This study draws on survey and administrative data from an Australian jurisdiction to examine perceptions of procedural justice in specific domestic and family violence-related encounters. Findings and implications for policy and practice are discussed
The impact of emergency call taking on the mental health and wellbeing of ambulance call-takers: A systematic thematic narrative of qualitative research
No full textWillis, EM ORCiD: 0000-0001-7576-971XBackground Over the past decade there has been significant focus on the mental health and wellbeing of emergency service workers in Australia, evidenced by the 2018 Senate Inquiry into the role of Commonwealth, state and territory Governments in addressing the high rates of mental health conditions experienced by first responders, emergency service workers and volunteers. Call-takers as an occupational group within this domain are at risk of cumulative and vicarious trauma, yet there is little research on their workrelated mental illness. This systematic thematic narative literature review of qualitative articles reports on the mental health and wellbeing of emergency call-takers. Methods Both published peer review (2000–2018) and grey literature (2009–2018) that examined the impact of emergency work on calltakers was retrieved. Papers that focussed on call-takers’ psychological and psychosocial health were selected. Databases included Ovid Medline, CINAHL, Ovid EMcare, PsychInfo, Scopus as well as Google Scholar. Results Fourteen articles met the eligibility criteria; five peer review and nine grey literature studies. Thematic analysis identified issues around surveillance versus lack of supervision; role denial versus advocacy; and failure to acknowledge vicarious trauma. Suggestions for improvement required recognition of the stressful nature of the work, improvements in workplace culture and the provision of support and counselling services. Conclusion Workplace stressors for call-takers arise from their work in dealing with trauma related communication with the public as well workplace culture, particularly the response of management to issues such as shift work, poorly managed rosters and long hours of work with little time for recovery. Compounding these issues is the invisibility of call-taker work. © 2020, Paramedics Australasia. All rights reserved
The relationships between external and internal workloads during basketball training and games
No full textFox, J ORCiD: 0000-0001-8367-5297; O'Grady, CJ ORCiD: 0000-0003-1001-8725; Scanlan, AT ORCiD: 0000-0002-0750-8697Purpose: To investigate the relationships between external and internal workloads using a comprehensive selection of variables during basketball training and games. Methods: Eight semiprofessional, male basketball players were monitored during training and games for an entire season. External workload was determined as PlayerLoad™: total and high-intensity accelerations, decelerations, changes of direction, and jumps and total low-intensity, medium-intensity, high-intensity, and overall inertial
movement analysis events. Internal workload was determined using the summated-heart-rate zones and session rating of perceived exertion models. The relationships between external and internal workload variables were separately calculated for training and games using repeated-measures correlations with 95% confidence intervals. Results: PlayerLoad was more strongly related to summated-heart-rate zones (r = .88 ± .03, very large [training]; r = .69 ± .09, large [games]) and session
rating of perceived exertion (r = .74 ± .06, very large [training]; r = .53 ± .12, large [games]) than other external workload variables (P < .05). Correlations between total and high-intensity accelerations, decelerations, changes of direction, and jumps and total low-intensity, medium-intensity, high-intensity, and overall inertial movement analysis events and internal workloads were stronger during training (r = .44–.88) than during games (r = .15–.69). Conclusions: PlayerLoad and summated-heart-rate
zones possess the strongest dose–response relationship among a comprehensive selection of external and internal workload variables in basketball, particularly during training sessions compared with games. Basketball practitioners may therefore be able to best anticipate player responses when prescribing training drills using these variables for optimal workloadmanagement across the season
Alcohol and fast food sponsorship in sporting clubs with junior teams participating in the ‘Good Sports’ program: A cross-sectional study
No full textDoran, CM ORCiD: 0000-0002-9009-4906Objective: To examine: alcohol and fast food sponsorship of junior community sporting clubs; the association between sponsorship and club characteristics; and parent and club representative attitudes toward sponsorship. Methods: A cross-sectional telephone survey of representatives from junior community football clubs across New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, and parents/carers of junior club members. Participants were from junior teams with Level 3 accreditation in the ‘Good Sports’ program. Results: A total of 79 club representatives and 297 parents completed the survey. Half of participating clubs (49%) were sponsored by the alcohol industry and one-quarter (27%) were sponsored by the fast food industry. In multivariate analyses, the odds of alcohol sponsorship among rugby league clubs was 7.4 (95%CI: 1.8–31.0, p=<0.006) that of AFL clubs, and clubs located in regional areas were more likely than those in major cities to receive fast food industry sponsorship (OR= 9.1; 95%CI: 1.0–84.0, p=0.05). The majority (78–81%) of club representatives and parents were supportive of restrictions to prohibit certain alcohol sponsorship practices, but a minority (42%) were supportive of restrictions to prohibit certain fast food sponsorship practices. Conclusions: Large proportions of community sports clubs with junior members are sponsored by the alcohol industry and the fast food industry. There is greater acceptability for prohibiting sponsorship from the alcohol industry than the fast food industry. Implications for public health: Health promotion efforts should focus on reducing alcohol industry and fast food industry sponsorship of junior sports clubs. © 2020 The Author
Programming the brain: Educational neuroscience perspective: Pedagogical practices and study skills for enhanced learning and metacognition
No full textWatagodakumbura, CD ORCiD: 0000-0003-4735-0860This book delves into the broader topic of educational transformation required at all levels of education at a time world is facing unprecedented challenges amidst COVID19 tragedy. The premise of such an educational transformation agenda should be focused on individual learner transformation or whole person development. For decades, if not for centuries, we neglected the much important social and emotional domains of learning and development by narrowly focusing only on the cognitive domain. Put differently, we assumed that learning is an external entity that learners have to fill up rather than a means of forming embodied knowledge authentically by essentially looking inward at one’s own “self” and its relationship to the external world. In this pursuit of lifelong learning and development for an individual, we highlight the important enablers of developing self-awareness, mindfulness and emotional intelligence. Following the emerging neuroscientific notions of neuroplasticity and epigenetics, we shed aside the linear models of learning that are prevalent in favours of putting learners in the driving seat to self-author their journeys as much as we can. Such learning and development processes suggested in this book promise the development of individuals of enhanced critical thinking, creativity, empathy and compassion to serve this planet better, for the greater good
Psychometric properties of the Vietnamese Catquest-9 Short Form questionnaire
No full textTo, GQ ORCiD: 0000-0002-3355-6326© Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. SIGNIFICANCE The Catquest-9 Short Form (SF) has good psychometric properties but was not available in Vietnamese. This study provides the Vietnamese Catquest-9SF and evidence supporting for its use in hospital settings along with clinical assessment to evaluate visual function. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Vietnamese Catquest-9SF. METHODS Literate patients with unilateral/bilateral cataract, without severe systemic and ocular comorbidities, aged 50+ years, and scheduled for first-eye surgery were screened and recruited at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City and Trung Vuong Hospital. Age, sex, and education were self-reported. The Catquest-9SF and the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire were used to assess vision-related quality of life (VRQOL). Best-corrected unilateral and bilateral log of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) visual acuity was measured, as was best-corrected Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity. Rasch analysis was performed on the Vietnamese version of the Catquest-9SF. Criterion validity and convergent validity were also evaluated. RESULTS Andrich thresholds and response categories on each Catquest-9SF item were ordered, indicating that patients were able to discriminate VRQOL levels. Person separation index and reliability were 2.51 and 0.86, respectively, indicating that the Catquest-9SF was able to distinguish between patients with low- and high-vision difficulties. The tool was unidimensional, with all items fitting well within the construct. There was no evidence of differential item functioning by sex, age group, or cataract status. The tool also showed criterion validity, correlating significantly with visual acuity in the better eye (r = -0.46), the worse eye (r = -0.39), and both eyes (r = -0.44), and with contrast sensitivity for the better eye (r = 0.41), the worse eye (r = 0.32), and both eyes (r = 0.39). A strong correlation between the Catquest-9SF and the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (r = 0.87) indicated convergent validity. CONCLUSIONS The Vietnamese Catquest-9SF is valid and psychometrically robust for assessing VRQOL among cataract patients
Methods and design for the ADAPT study: Application of integrateD approaches to understanding physical activity during the transition to emerging adulthood
No full textRebar, A ORCiD: 0000-0003-3164-993XBackground: The overarching objective of the study is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the salient factors predicting changes in physical activity (PA) during adolescents' transition into emerging adulthood. Using the Multi-Process Action Control model as our guiding framework, we will examine how implicit and explicit psychological processes along with regulatory practices impact PA change during this major life transition. Additionally, we will use a real-time data capture method called Ecological Momentary Assessment to further investigate how environmental and contextual factors, and momentary psychosocial influences effect PA patterns across this dynamic life stage. Methods: The ADAPT study is a 4-year project comprised of two interrelated studies. Study I is a large prospective cohort study that will invite all grade 11 students across one large school board (a total of seven secondary schools) to participate by completing an online questionnaire. Using a cluster randomization approach, a subset of students from each school will be invited to participate in Study II, whereby participants will wear an accelerometer and complete Ecological Momentary Assessments 5 times a day over a 7-day study period. For both studies, following baseline assessments, there will be three annual follow-up assessments approximately 12 months apart. Discussion: The current study represents one of the largest longitudinal cohort studies examining PA and its determinants and associated consequences among adolescents transitioning out of high school into emerging adulthood. Findings from this study will provide a much more in-depth understanding of how and why changes in PA behaviour occur across this first major life transition. © 2020 The Author(s)
Application of cluster analysis in food science and technology
No full textChandra, SS ORCiD: 0000-0002-4257-5860; Chapman, JM ORCiD: 0000-0002-9850-0403; Power, A ORCiD: 0000-0002-7119-8486This chapter discusses the relevance of cluster analysis for food science. Food science and any associated technologies are continually evolving due to the large amounts of data either generated by instrumental methods or available in databases. Cluster analysis seeks to discover the number and the composition of the groups in the dataset. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used as a tool capable of providing an overview of the complexity that exists in multivariate datasets. PCA employs a mathematical procedure that transforms a set of possibly correlated response variables into a new set of non-correlated variables, called principal components. PCA can be performed on either a data matrix or a correlation matrix depending on the type of variables being measured. However, in a case where the original variables are nearly non-correlated, nothing can be gained by using a PCA analysis instead of classical statistics
Energy engineering approach for rural areas cattle farmers in Bangladesh to reduce covid-19 impact on food safety
No full textDas, NK ORCiD: 0000-0002-3396-4194This paper reports on the optimization of thin-film coating-assisted, self-sustainable, off-grid hybrid power generation systems for cattle farming in rural areas of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a lower middle-income country with declining rates of poverty among its 160 million people due to persistent economic growth in conjunction with balanced agricultural improvements. Most of the rural households adopt a mixed farming system by cultivating crops and simultaneously rearing livestock. Among the animals raised, cattle are considered as the most valuable asset for the small-/medium-scale farmers in terms of their meat and milk production. Currently, along with the major health issue, the COVID-19 pandemic is hindering the world’s economic growth and has thrust millions into unemployment; Bangladesh is also in this loop. However, natural disasters such as COVID-19 pandemic and floods, largely constrain rural smallholder cattle farmers from climbing out of their poverty. In particular, small-and medium-scale cattle farmers face many issues that obstruct them from taking advantage of market opportunities and imposing a greater burden on their families and incomes. An appropriate measure can give a way to make those cattle farmers’ businesses both profitable and sustainable. Optimization of thin-film coating-assisted, self-sustainable, off-grid hybrid power generation system for cattle farming is a new and forward-looking approach for sustainable development of the livestock sector. In this study, we design and optimize a thin-film coating-assisted hybrid (photovoltaic battery generator) power system by using the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER, Version 3.14.0) simulation tool. An analysis of the results has suggested that the off-grid hybrid system is more feasible for small-and medium-scale cattle farming systems with long-term sustainability to overcome the significant challenges faced by smallholder cattle farmers in Bangladesh. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland