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Learning deep representations for video-based intake gesture detection
No full textAutomatic detection of individual intake gestures during eating occasions has the potential to improve dietary monitoring and support dietary recommendations. Existing studies typically make use of on-body solutions such as inertial and audio sensors, while video is used as ground truth. Intake gesture detection directly based on video has rarely been attempted. In this study, we address this gap and show that deep learning architectures can successfully be applied to the problem of video-based detection of intake gestures. For this purpose, we collect and label video data of eating occasions using 360-degree video of 102 participants. Applying state-of-the-art approaches from video action recognition, our results show that (1) the best model achieves an F1 score of 0.858, (2) appearance features contribute more than motion features, and (3) temporal context in form of multiple video frames is essential for top model performance
Assessing the validity of the Australian treatment outcomes profile for telephone administration in drug health treatment populations
No full textIntroduction and Aims: The Australian Treatment Outcomes Profile (ATOP) is a brief clinical tool measuring recent substance use, health and wellbeing among clients attending alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment services. It has previously been assessed for concurrent validity and inter-rater reliability. In this study we examine whether it is suitable for administration over the telephone. Design and Methods: We recruited a sample of 107 AOD clients across public sector specialist AOD treatment services in New South Wales, Australia between 2016 and 2018. Participants had a mean age of 47 years and 46% were female. Participants completed a face-to-face ATOP and a phone ATOP with a researcher within 5 days. Comparisons between the two administration modes were undertaken using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient for continuous or ordinal variables, and Cohen's Kappa for nominal variables. Results: Among 107 participants, 59% were attending for alcohol treatment and 41% for opioid treatment. Most ATOP items (76%) reached above 0.7 (good) or 0.9 (excellent) agreement between face-to-face and telephone use. Discussion and Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the ATOP is a suitable instrument for telephone monitoring of recent substance use, health and social functioning among AOD clients. Its validation for remote use over the telephone will support staff to monitor clients' risks and outcomes- of particular relevance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in which services are increasingly relying on telework approaches to client monitoring
Improving children's fundamental movement skills through a family-based physical activity program: results from the “Active 1 + FUN” randomized controlled trial
No full textBackground: Physical activity is related to many positive health outcomes, yet activity levels of many children are low. Researchers have suggested that family-based interventions may improve physical activity behaviors of both children and their parents. In this study, we evaluated the “Active 1 + FUN” program, which was designed based on tenets of self-determination theory. Intervention components included free sporting equipment, ten coach-led workshops and activity sessions, and one booster session. Methods: We evaluated the intervention program using a randomized controlled trial. One hundred seventy-one families were randomly allocated to either an experimental group or a wait-list control group. Participants were exposed to program contents over a nine-month period, while families in the control did not receive any form of intervention. Measured constructs included moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, co-physical activity behaviors, fundamental movement skills, BMI, and several self-reported questionnaire outcomes. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to compare changes in measured outcomes across the two groups. Results: No significant intervention effects were found for children’s and parents’ accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, or their co-physical activity. However, in terms of children’s fundamental movement skills, a significant Time*Group interaction (B = 0.52, 95% CI [0.07, 0.96] for Times 1 to 2; B = 0.24, 95% CI [0.01, 0.48] for Times 1 to 3) in favor of the experimental group was found. Conclusions: Results suggested that the “Active 1 + FUN” program was effective in improving children’s fundamental movement skills. Additional research is needed to examine how family-based initiatives could effectively improve physical activity behaviors too. Trial registration: ANZCTR, ACTRN12618001524280. Registered 11 September 2018, https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=375660
A qualitative exploration of SMART recovery meetings in Australia and the role of a digital platform to support routine outcome monitoring
No full textPrevious research has reported on the benefits of mutual support groups. However, such groups do not routinely collect data on participant outcomes. Moreover, the effect of collecting outcomes measures on these groups is unknown. The objective of this mixed methods study was to elicit participant views on using a novel, purpose built digital platform for routine outcome monitoring (ROM) as a standard component of a mutual support group. SMART Recovery, or the Self-Management and Recovery Training program, is group-based and uses professional clinicians to facilitate discussion and foster mutual support for a range of addictive behaviours, alongside Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Motivational Interviewing techniques. This paper reports on the qualitative component of this study and how participants perceive ROMs, and the potential shift to technological resources. Twenty semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with participants from SMART Recovery groups across New South Wales, Australia. Participants discussed their use of mutual support within group meetings to manage their recovery, including: naming their goals in front of peers; learning from clinicians and group discussion; and developing reciprocal and caring relationships. They also described any previous experience with routine outcomes measures and how digital technologies might enhance or hinder group function. Participants valued mutual support groups and reported that digital technologies could be complementary to physical, weekly group meetings. They were also concerned that the introduction of technological resources might pose a threat to physical meetings, thereby risking their access to mutual support. Findings have implications for the implementation of ROM when delivered via digital mechanisms, and indicate threats and opportunities that warrant consideration for future initiatives
Examining accelerated ecosystem development in the ecological restoration of mined land
No full textRestoration of endangered flora communities is a sensitive task that typically occurs in ecosystems where only a moderate level of disturbance has occurred. Open-cut coal mining, however, is an extreme level of disturbance, after which restoration of biodiverse, endangered ecological communities has been difficult. Regardless of the difficulties, there are constant social, economic and environmental pressures to accelerate the restoration process. This thesis examines the idea that ecosystem development (flora and microbial composition, nutrient capital and ecosystem processes) can be accelerated by various treatments without compromising the creation of an endangered flora community. The research sites are active coal mines in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia, an area where a shortage of available quality topsoil is common. This study investigates how well combinations of subsoil, coarse woodchip mulch and a commercial municipal solid waste compost, Organic Growth Medium (OGM), work as ameliorants for spoil to create an endangered flora community. On set-up, the Experimental Site received seeds from 50 targeted species comprising the endangered community and ancillary species from the local area. The site was examined 4–6 years after establishment. Comparisons are made to an older (15 years) site that was rehabilitated by best practice methods (Ring Rd) and a best available reference (the Ravensworth State Forest (RSF)). The flora community showed clear distinctions between treatments with OGM and treatments with subsoil. Generally, treatments with OGM had a higher proportion of members from the Chenopodiaceae family, whereas treatments without OGM and with subsoil had higher densities of the genus Acacia. As Chenopodiaceae species were typically ancillary, treatments with subsoil have the closest composition to the references. By varying the ameliorants used, a mosaic approach to the restoration would allow the positive benefits of each treatment to be included in the project and increase diversity. Further, restoration of spoil benefits from combining multiple ameliorants (for example, Subsoil + Mulch + OGM). The microbial community composition was examined using gene sequencing with 16S and ITS primers to determine if the origin of the ameliorant had a significant effect on its community composition, and therefore the plant community composition. The study found almost no relationship between fresh OGM from the supplier and the microbial community composition on the Experimental Site. The Subsoil Mulch treatment microbial had the closest community composition to the references. However, there may be an overriding effect from dispersal into the site because the Spoil OGM treatment, although still trending differently, was much more like the rest of the Experimental Site than either the spoil or the OGM that it was produced from. A nutrient inventory was developed to determine if the restored ecosystem would have sufficient nutrient capital to match the reference ecosystem. Although nitrogen had been indicated as a major limiting nutrient in previous studies, phosphorus was found to be lacking on the Subsoil Mulch treatment. The inventory suggested that even if plants were able to access all of the phosphorus in the system, Subsoil Mulch may not have enough phosphorus in the vegetation, litter and upper 30 cm of soil to match the biotic component of the reference. This suggests that although the community developing on this treatment is currently compositionally ideal, it may in the long term not develop the desired structures of a woodland or forest. The rate of ecosystem processes was examined to determine if soil fertility accelerated the rate of decomposition, increased available nutrients and increased tree growth rates. Even though Spoil OGM had very high available nutrients compared with Subsoil Mulch, there was limited evidence for any difference in ecosystem processes. The only confirmed difference was that the negative control treatment, Spoil, performed extremely poorly. This suggests that in the short term, an unmeasured factor is having a larger effect on the functional development of the site than decomposition and soil fertility. As part of the study, the RSF reference was identified as probably being in a retrogressive state, having low phosphorus due to the length of time since catastrophic disturbance. Hypothetically, restoring a site in retrogression would require the return of low-fertility conditions. However, this study has shown risks from that approach and suggests that the flora community does not require low fertility to be restored. Overall, of the four treatments examined in depth, the two best performers both have issues: Subsoil Mulch is deficient in phosphorus while Subsoil OGM Mulch is not attaining the highest quality outcome based on the Australian federal community assessment due to higher exotic cover. The Ring Rd, therefore, has shown the advantages of industry best practice methods because it outperformed the Experimental Site with characteristics including restoration using a high species diversity seeding list featuring the correct community, applying high-quality topsoil from the local area and allowing time for development to occur. Accelerating ecosystem development as part of restoration is possible but careful management will be required to maintain the appropriate trajectory. Restoration of endangered ecological communities is still a difficult task, one that should not be attempted lightly. Given the poor restoration potential of no intervention, accelerated development is a worthy goal and, with appropriate management, many of the treatments examined in this study can provide a quality restoration outcome
Assessing coal properties and their effects on coking performance: a data mining approach
No full textWithin the cokemaking industry, the ability to accurately predict the quality of coke produced from a variety of global coal basins is limited. Since the most recent review of coke quality prediction models, completed by Dı́ez et al. (2002) on a selection of key models within the literature, very little improvement in prediction ability has been shown. In particular, the existing coke quality prediction models are deficient in their ability to link and expand upon reported fundamental coal behaviour. Where emerging data mining techniques have been applied for model development, often a clearly defined and technically sound analytical process has not been described. In this context, data mining as one step in the knowledge discovery process, has presented a unique opportunity to provide further insight into the behaviour of coking coals, and in particular, allowed for integration and extension of fundamental coking behaviour. Based on the conclusions of an extensive literature review considering both coking behaviour, and analysis of the methods of prediction of coke quality, a sub-model approach to prediction was developed. This sub-model approach addresses the some of the fundamental processes occurring within the formation of coke from the parent coals, whilst integrating data mining techniques. The following knowledge gaps were explored, with clearly defined frameworks for prediction developed: Vitrinite reflectance is perceived as an important parameter in coke quality, however in coal blending, utilising the average value is unsuitable as it does not reflect how two coals of vastly different reflectance have been blended. Classification of the resulting distributions allows further insight into these blending decisions. Traditional prediction models consider fusibility of coal sub-components as one of the main factors in determining coke quality. However, the assumed proportion of fusing and non-fusing components is unreliable for Australian and other coals. Hence, accurate prediction of these fusing components for each respective coal ought to improve prediction of coke quality. Data quality issues associated with the comparatively small and biased data set were also explored. This section discusses how some of these issues can be addressed by using a modified data oversampling technique based on the Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE). Coal ash chemistry is commonly used in the prediction of coke reactivity. However, the use of ash chemistry may be misleading as it does not directly reflect the mineral forms present in the coal which may have different influences on reactivity. Whilst basicity index, derived from coal ash chemistry, is often applied in coke quality predictions, questions are raised over the relative importance of different minerals on coke reactivity, and whether the index is misleading. Using the approximated coal mineral composition, an improved understanding of coal reactivity behaviour is developed. Results show statistically significant improvement in predictive accuracy with the use of the vitrinite reflectance distribution terms, as well as the use of coal mineral composition. The development and integration of these models in a clearly defined predictive framework presents a significant improvement to many traditional predictive models. Further, consistency with experimental studies was observed, with several areas for future work identified. This work has significant implications on not only the methods of prediction of coke quality, but also on the confirmation and integration of experimental findings
Catchment-scale drought: capturing the whole drought cycle using multiple indicators
No full textGlobal agricultural drought policy has shifted towards promoting drought preparedness and climate resilience in favor of disaster-relief-based strategies. For this approach to be successful, drought predictability and methods for assessing the many aspects of drought need to be improved. Therefore, this study aims to bring together meteorological and hydrological measures of drought as well as vegetation and soil moisture data to assess how droughts begin, propagate and subsequently terminate for a catchment in eastern Australia. For the study area, 13 meteorological drought periods persisting more than 6 months were identified over the last 100 years. During these periods, vegetation health, soil moisture and streamflow declined; however, all of the indicators recovered quickly post-drought, with no evidence of extended impacts on the rainfall-runoff response, as has been observed elsewhere. Furthermore, drought initiation and propagation were found to be tightly coupled to the combined state of large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate drivers (e.g., the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, the Indian Ocean Dipole and the Southern Annular Mode), whereas termination was caused by persistent synoptic systems (e.g., low-pressure troughs). The combination of climatic factors, topography, soils and vegetation are believed to be what makes the study catchments more resilient to drought than others in eastern Australia. This study diversifies traditional approaches to studying droughts by quantifying the catchment response to drought using a range of measures that could also be applied in other catchments globally. This is a key step towards improved drought management
Cancer prevention with aspirin in hereditary colorectal cancer (Lynch syndrome), 10-year follow-up and registry-based 20-year data in the CAPP2 study: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial
No full textBackground: Lynch syndrome is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer and with a broader spectrum of cancers, especially endometrial cancer. In 2011, our group reported long-term cancer outcomes (mean follow-up 55·7 months [SD 31·4]) for participants with Lynch syndrome enrolled into a randomised trial of daily aspirin versus placebo. This report completes the planned 10-year follow-up to allow a longer-term assessment of the effect of taking regular aspirin in this high-risk population. Methods: In the double-blind, randomised CAPP2 trial, 861 patients from 43 international centres worldwide (707 [82%] from Europe, 112 [13%] from Australasia, 38 [4%] from Africa, and four [<1%] from The Americas) with Lynch syndrome were randomly assigned to receive 600 mg aspirin daily or placebo. Cancer outcomes were monitored for at least 10 years from recruitment with English, Finnish, and Welsh participants being monitored for up to 20 years. The primary endpoint was development of colorectal cancer. Analysis was by intention to treat and per protocol. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN59521990. Findings: Between January, 1999, and March, 2005, 937 eligible patients with Lynch syndrome, mean age 45 years, commenced treatment, of whom 861 agreed to be randomly assigned to the aspirin group or placebo; 427 (50%) participants received aspirin and 434 (50%) placebo. Participants were followed for a mean of 10 years approximating 8500 person-years. 40 (9%) of 427 participants who received aspirin developed colorectal cancer compared with 58 (13%) of 434 who received placebo. Intention-to-treat Cox proportional hazards analysis revealed a significantly reduced hazard ratio (HR) of 0·65 (95% CI 0·43–0·97; p=0·035) for aspirin versus placebo. Negative binomial regression to account for multiple primary events gave an incidence rate ratio of 0·58 (0·39–0·87; p=0·0085). Per-protocol analyses restricted to 509 who achieved 2 years' intervention gave an HR of 0·56 (0·34–0·91; p=0·019) and an incidence rate ratio of 0·50 (0·31–0·82; p=0·0057). Non-colorectal Lynch syndrome cancers were reported in 36 participants who received aspirin and 36 participants who received placebo. Intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses showed no effect. For all Lynch syndrome cancers combined, the intention-to-treat analysis did not reach significance but per-protocol analysis showed significantly reduced overall risk for the aspirin group (HR=0·63, 0·43–0·92; p=0·018). Adverse events during the intervention phase between aspirin and placebo groups were similar, and no significant difference in compliance between intervention groups was observed for participants with complete intervention phase data; details reported previously. Interpretation: The case for prevention of colorectal cancer with aspirin in Lynch syndrome is supported by our results
Living with urinary incontinence: a longitudinal study of older women
No full textPurpose: Urinary incontinence carries major social burden and considerable costs for health care systems. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in continence status among a large cohort of older women, and to identify factors associated with incidence of incontinence, and with improvements in continence status in later life. Methods: Women are participants of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health (ALSWH), aged 70-75 years in 1996 and who have completed four health surveys over the past 10 years. Transitions in continence status were defined according to women’s reports of “leaking urine” at each survey. General Estimating Equation models were in longitudinal analyses of the factors associated with changing continence status over time. Results: This study presents longitudinal data on the prevalence and incidence of incontinence from a large cohort of older women, over six years of follow-up. Over this time, 20% of the women in the study developed incontinence, and only a minority of women (2.3%) reported incontinence that was not present at later surveys. Around one-third of women reported incontinence on at least one survey; and 27% of women participating in Survey 4 in 2005 reported leaking urine sometimes or often at that survey, with women being twice as likely to report incontinence at this survey as they were six years earlier. Incontinence was clearly associated with lower physical and social functioning, but these differences also preceded the reporting of leaking urine. Parity was not strongly associated with incontinence, but other factors in the gynaecological history including prolapse, prolapse repair, and hysterectomy were. Constipation and dysuria
were also strongly associated with incontinence in the longitudinal models. Conclusion: The findings have important implications for prevention and management of incontinence at older ages
The dynamic formation of pseudostreamers
No full textStreamers and pseudostreamers structure the corona at the largest scales, as seen in both eclipse and coronagraph white-light images. Their inverted-goblet appearance encloses broad coronal loops at the Sun and tapers to a narrow radial stalk away from the star. The streamer associated with the global solar dipole magnetic field is long-lived, predominantly contains a single arcade of nested loops within it, and separates opposite-polarity interplanetary magnetic fields with the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) anchored at its apex. Pseudostreamers, on the other hand, are transient, enclose double arcades of nested loops, and separate like-polarity fields with a dense plasma sheet. We use numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations to calculate, for the first time, the formation of pseudostreamers in response to photospheric magnetic-field evolution. Convective transport of a minority-polarity flux concentration, initially positioned under one side of a streamer, through the streamer boundary into the adjacent preexisting coronal hole forms the pseudostreamer. Interchange magnetic reconnection at the overlying coronal null point(s) governs the development of the pseudostreamer above—and of a new satellite coronal hole behind—the moving minority polarity. The reconnection dynamics liberate coronal-loop plasma that can escape into the heliosphere along so-called separatrix-web ("S-Web") arcs, which reach far from the HCS and the solar equatorial plane, and can explain the origin of high-latitude slow solar wind. We describe the implications of our results for in situ and remote-sensing observations of the corona and heliosphere as obtained, most recently, by Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter