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A real-time interactive system of surface reconstruction and dynamic projection mapping with RGB-depth sensor and projector
Get PDFThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Reconstruction and projection mapping enable us to bring virtual worlds into real spaces, which can give spectators an
immersive augmented reality experience. Based on an interactive system with RGB-depth sensor and projector, we present
a combined hardware and software solution for surface reconstruction and dynamic projection mapping in real time.
In this article, a novel and adaptable calibration scheme is proposed, which is used to estimate approximate models to
correct and transform raw depth data. Besides, our system allows for smooth real-time performance using an optimization
framework, including denoising and stabilizing. In the entire pipeline, markers are only used in the calibration procedure,
and any priors are not needed. Our approach enables us to interact with the target surface in real time, while
maintaining correct illumination. It is easy and fast to develop different applications for our system, and some interesting
cases are demonstrated at last.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos 51490663, 51475418, and 51521064) and Zhejiang Provincial Key Development Program of China (grant no. 2017C01045)
A silicon-labelled amino acid suitable for late-stage fluorination and unexpected oxidative cleavage reactions in the preparation of a key intermediate in the Strecker synthesis
Get PDFThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.A novel silicon-substituted phenylalanine derivative was prepared using the Strecker amino acid
synthesis. An unexpected oxidative cleavage was observed in the preparation of the aldehyde
required for the Strecker reaction. In this step, a homobenzylic alcohol intermediate was oxidatively
cleaved to the corresponding benzaldehyde using either chromium or palladium based
oxidants. This undesired side reaction was overcome through the use of Dess-Martin Periodinane,
or through an efficient TEMPO-bleach oxidation. The amino acid prepared in this study was then
labelled with fluoride in aqueous solvent using a range of fluoride sources. The efficiency of this
labelling motivates future studies in late-stage fluorination of peptide and protein therapeutics for
use in positron emission tomography.Australian Research Council, Grant
Number: DE150101863; The Royal Society
(University Research Fellowship; the
EPSRC; the European Research Council
(Starting Grant); FCT Portuga
What does the general public understand about prevention and treatment of dementia? A systematic review of population-based surveys
Get PDFThis is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.Objectives
To synthesise results of population surveys assessing knowledge and attitudes about prevention
and treatment of dementia.
Methods
MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and grey literature were searched for English language
entries published between 2012 and May 2017. Survey questions were grouped using an
inductive approach and responses were pooled.
Results
Thirty-four eligible studies and four grey literature items were identified. Surveys were conducted
in Europe, the US, Eastern Asia, Israel, and Australia. Nearly half of respondents
agreed that dementia is a normal and non-preventable part of ageing, but belief in the potential
for prevention may be improving over time. The role of cardiovascular risk factors was
poorly understood overall. Less than half of respondents reported belief in the availability of
a cure for dementia. The value of seeking treatment was highly endorsed.
Conclusions
Results suggest that knowledge about the potential for dementia prevention and treatment
remains poor but may be improving over time. Knowledge among those living in low- and
middle-income countries are largely unknown, presenting challenges for the development of
National action plans consistent with World Health Organization directives.Funding for this work was provided by
the National Health and Medical Research Council
Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre (CDPC1327)
and the National Health and Medical Research
Council National Institute for Dementia Research
(1135667) to KEL
Early mortality among children and adults in antiretroviral therapy programs in Southwest Ethiopia, 2003-15
Get PDFThis is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.Background
Several studies reported that the majority of deaths in HIV-infected people are documented in their early antiretroviral therapy (ART) follow-ups. Early mortality refers to death of people on ART for follow up period of below 24 months due to any cause. The current study assessed predictors of early HIV mortality in Southwest Ethiopia.
Methods
We have conducted a retrospective analysis of 5299 patient records dating from June 2003- March 2015. To estimate survival time and compare the time to event among the different groups of patients, we used a Kaplan Meir curve and log-rank test. To identify mortality predictors, we used a cox regression analysis. We used SPSS-20 for all analyses.
Results
A total of 326 patients died in the 12 years follow-up period contributing to 6.2% cumulative incidence and 21.7 deaths per 1000 person-year observations incidence rate. Eighty-nine percent of the total deaths were documented in the first two years follow up—an early-term ART follow up. Early HIV mortality rates among adults were 50% less in separated, divorced or widowed patients compared with never married patients, 1.6 times higher in patients with baseline CD4 count <200 cells/μL compared to baseline CD4 count ≥200 cells/μL, 1.5 times higher in patients with baseline WHO clinical stage 3 or 4 compared to baseline WHO clinical stage 1 or 2, 2.1 times higher in patients with immunologic failure compared with no immunologic failure, 60% less in patients with fair or poor compared with good adherence, 2.9 times higher in patients with bedridden functional status compared to working functional status, and 2.7 times higher with patients who had no history of HIV testing before diagnosis compared to those who had history of HIV testing. Most predictors of early mortality remained the same to the predictors of an overall HIV mortality. When discontinuation was assumed as an event, the predictors of an overall HIV mortality included age between 25–50 years, base line CD4 count, developing immunologic failure, bedridden functional status, and no history of HIV testing before diagnosis.
Conclusions
The great majority of deaths were documented in the first two years of ART, and several predictors of early HIV mortality were also for the overall mortality when discontinuation was assumed as event or censored. Considering the above population, interventions to improve HIV program in the first two years of ART follow up should be improved.The authors received no specific funding
for this work
The impact of sample type and procedural attributes on relative acceptability of different colorectal cancer screening regimens
Get PDFThis work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php
and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).Objective: In Australia and other countries, participation in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening using fecal occult blood testing is low. Previous research suggests that fecal sampling induces disgust, so approaches not involving feces may increase participation. This study aimed to determine population preferences for CRC screening tests that utilize different sample collections (stool, blood, and saliva) and the extent to which specific attributes (convenience, performance, and cost) impact this preference.
Materials and methods: People aged 50–74 years completed a survey. Preference for screening for CRC through stool, blood, and saliva was judged through ranking of preference and attributes critical to preference and confirmed via a discrete choice experiment (DCE) where test attributes were described as varying by performance, cost, and sample type. Participants also completed a measure of aversion to sample type.
Results: A total of 1,282 people participated in the survey. The DCE and ranking exercise confirmed that all test attributes had a statistically significant impact on respondents’ preferences (P < 0.001). Blood and saliva were equally preferred over stool; however, test performance was the most influential attribute. In multivariable analyses, those who preferred blood to stool collection exhibited higher aversion to fecal (OR = 1.17; P ≤ 0.001) and saliva (OR = 1.06; P ≤ 0.05) sampling and perceived that they had less time for home sample collection (OR = 0.72, P ≤ 0.001). Those who preferred saliva to stool had higher aversion to fecal (OR = 1.15; P ≤ 0.001) and blood (OR = 1.06, P ≤ 0.01) sampling and less time for home sample collection (OR = 0.81, P ≤ 0.5).
Conclusion: Aversion to sample type and perceived inconvenience of sample collection are significant drivers of screening preference. While blood and saliva sampling were the most preferred methods, test performance was the most important attribute of a screening test, regardless of sample type. Efforts to increase CRC screening participation should focus on a test, or combination of tests, that combines the attributes of high performance, low aversion, and convenience of use.This research was supported in part by a Foundation Daw Park Grant (2010/2011) awarded to JMO, CJW, and GPY. IF, CJW, GC, JR, and GPY were supported by a grant funded by the financial support of the Cancer Council SA’s Beat Cancer Project on behalf of its donors and the State Government of South Australia, through the Department of Health together with the support of the Flinders Foundation and its donors and partners
Biogeomorphological processes in an arid transgressive dunefield as indicators of human impact by urbanization
Get PDFThis manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This author accepted manuscript is made available following 24 month embargo from date of publication (August 2018) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyUrban and tourist developments can have long-lasting impacts on coastal environments and fundamentally alter the evolution of coastal dune systems. This is the case of the Maspalomas dunefield (Gran Canaria, Canary Islands), hosting one of the largest tourist resorts in Spain. The resort was built on top of a sedimentary terrace at 25 m above sea level (El Inglés) in the 1960s, and has subsequently affected local winds and therefore aeolian sediment transport patterns. Buildings on the terrace deflect the winds to the south of the dunefield, where the rate of sediment transport accelerated. A shadow zone appeared to the lee side of the resort with a consequent decrease in wind speed and aeolian sediment transport and an increase in vegetation cover. In this paper, first we characterize the environmental changes around El Inglés terrace in recent decades, and describe the changes in the shadow zone through an analysis of the evolution of sedimentary volumes and vegetation characteristics (density, spatial patterns, and plants communities). A series of historical aerial photographs, recent orthophotos and digital elevation models obtained by digital photogrammetry and LiDAR, as well as fieldwork were used to characterize plant communities and spatial-temporal changes in erosive landforms. Results show changes in the pattern and migration rates of dunes located at the southern edge of the urbanization, as well as the formation of blowouts and large deflation areas, where the vegetation increases in density and number of plant communities. We discuss eco-anthropogenic factors that have produced these environmental changes.This work is a contribution of projects CSO2013-43256-R and CSO2016-79673-R (National R & D & I Plan) co-financed with ERDF funds and a PhD contract of the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society and by the European Social Fund (ESF)
Spiritual Conversations - "Nurses dialogue with people with an experience of mental illness who facing death from a life limiting illness."
No full textThis abstract was prepared for the inaugural 'HDR Student Conference', Flinders University, November 2018. Copyright © the authorIndividuals with mental illness are dying up to 20 years younger than the general population. These individuals have frequently experienced a lifetime of stigma and social isolation. In addition, studies have shown that dying at a younger age is a risk factor for existential or spiritual despair. Hence, addressing spiritual concerns can be important dimensions in their nursing care. However, literature exploring this populations' unique care needs when they face a life limiting illness is scarce. The research question for this study is Does the current culture of mental health services assist in facilitating spiritual care for individuals with a severe mental illness who are facing death? The methodologies used to answer the research question were autoethnography and focussed ethnography. Seventeen nurses were interviewed from September 2016 to April 2017. The participants included 11 mental health nurses and 6 palliative care nurses. Interviewing two sets of nurses allowed for a comparison between the two subgroups.� Preliminary results indicate that despite participants practicing nursing within a culture that privileges the bio-medical paradigm, both mental health and palliative nurses were able to address the spiritual concerns of individuals who were facing death through the cultivation of therapeutic relationships. The results suggest that nurses were working with patients to explore issues of fear, meaning and joy at end of life. This presentation will discuss the autoethnographer's and nurses' experience of having these spiritual conversations with these individuals
The application of rigour in ethnographic methods to achieve an in-depth exploration of care planning with people on treatment orders
No full textThis abstract was prepared for the inaugural 'HDR Student Conference', Flinders University, November 2018. Copyright © the authorCommunity treatment orders (CTOs) remain contested in their efficacy and rationale for use in mental health care. Regardless of the debate, consumers, carers and clinicians are frequently required to engage within this context of forced care. CTO legislation states that treatment and care should be recovery-focussed, though care is often coercive. Positive gains for individuals come at a cost. This study seeks to understand the interpersonal and broader systems issues that impact on the care planning process. Carspeckena's Critical Ethnography, combining critical social theory with ethnographic methods, provided a rigorous theoretically-based structure for data collection and analysis. Ethnographic methods (including observation, focus groups and interviews) provided a detailed account of the multi-perspectives of people on CTOs, their families, and treating clinicians, over an 18-month period in a community mental health team in Adelaide, Australia. This paper will explore the research process of conducting an ethnographic study within the researchers' own work setting. Data collection and first stage analysis occurred concurrently, with coding of early observations informing the next stage of data collection, individual interviews. Concepts central to the rigour of an ethnographic study (immersion in the field, researcher positioning, and reflexivity) will be discussed, with illustrations of both successes and challenges
Identifying food group targets to improve the diet quality of individuals
No full textThis abstract was prepared for the inaugural 'HDR Student Conference', Flinders University, November 2018. Copyright © the authorAim/Objective
To distinguish how diet quality components vary between individual cases, and sub-groups of personal characteristics.
Introduction/Background Literature
Diet is a key modifiable risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Interventions have commonly focused on the same food groups to improve health outcomes, with little effectiveness. Tailoring dietary interventions to personal characteristics may be more beneficial.
Methodology
Cross-sectional, data-driven analysis with a priori knowledge of self-reported food intake data was conducted.
Methods/Design – includes setting, sampling, ethical review, data collection and data analysis
Diet quality data was analysed from 198,637 Australian adults, collected using a validated online short food survey. Overall and individual component scores were compared between individual cases and sub-groups (diet quality quintiles, age, gender, weight or a mixture) using percentage agreement and Cohen’s kappa.
Findings/Results
Of the nine diet quality components, four key components were frequently shown as the lowest scoring at both the individual and sub-groups levels: Variety, Dairy, Discretionary, Healthy fats. The percentage agreement and kappa coefficients only improved marginally as sub-group levels became more personalised, when compared to individual cases. Dairy and healthy fats fell in the bottom four scores 66% and 58% of the time for all groups, respectively. Discretionary fell in the bottom four scores for all sub-groups 68% of the time (k=0.16, p<0.01) and variety frequency agreement also remained unchanged (k=0.35, p<0.01). The same four lowest scoring components occurred ~60% of the time for all groups.
Conclusion/Summary
Using personal characteristics may be an effective way to personalise interventions, however complexity of personalisation may not be needed beyond demographic characteristics.
Implications/recommendations for Practice
To consider in which order the frequently occurring lowest scoring food groups should be targeted
Thanatology: Theories on death, dying and end-of-life care
No full textThis abstract was prepared for the inaugural 'HDR Student Conference', Flinders University, November 2018. Copyright © the authorDuring the middle ages, death and life were considered to coexist. Death evoked no great fear or awe since it was familiar, unhidden and inevitable. Over the centuries, with the growth of religion, there occurred a change in the attitude towards death to one of fear and also fascination. In the nineteenth century, as science increasingly gained ground in western industrial societies, death was no longer viewed as a part of life, but rather a break with life. Death was equated with uncertainty and disorder. In keeping with the scientific view of the time, the solution to the disorder of death and dying was perceived as a need for control. In achieving control, death and dying increasingly became medicalised and hence, an increase in presentations to emergency departments. Today, a significant number of people either die in emergency departments or are dead on arrival. Despite the significant amount of contact with dying patients, accepting death and the provision of quality end of life care within the emergency department remains difficult because of the focus on medical treatment, resuscitation and interventions. This presentation will focus on the history and principles of palliative care, and theories on death and dying. This theoretical knowledge will underpin the research into nurses and doctors' perspectives of death and dying in emergency departments