Towards excellence in engineering education : proceedings of the 12th Australasian Conference on Engineering Education, 7th Australasian Women in Engineering Forum, 26th-28th September, 2001, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland

"...In keeping with the conference theme "Towards Excellence in Engineering Education" the papers have been clustered into three streams to provide complementary themes through the three days of presentations. These are: Stream A: Pedagogic principles and methodology; Stream B: Educational technology and practice; Stream C: Contemporary issues in Engineering Education. As might be expected in the current university teaching climate, many papers deal with on-line and web-based developments: most of these are placed in Stream B..."--p. ii

Comparing data mining with ensemble classification of breast cancer masses in digital mammograms

Medical diagnosis sometimes involves detecting subtle indications of a disease or condition amongst a background of diverse healthy individuals. The amount of information that is available for discovering such indications for mammography is large and has been growing at an exponential rate, due to population wide screening programmes. In order to analyse this information data mining techniques have been utilised by various researchers. A question that arises is: do flexible data mining techniques have comparable accuracy to dedicated classification techniques for medical diagnostic processes? This research compares a model-based data mining technique with a neural network classification technique and the improvements possible using an ensemble approach. A publicly available breast cancer benchmark database is used to determine the utility of the techniques and compare the accuracies obtained

Passive RFID localization in the Internet of Things

Smart home researches have emerged in recent years as a popular field of study in pervasive computing to suggest a solution that can be beneficial for impaired individuals and elderly on their daily life basis. Location tracking accuracy is a major research challenge in smart homes that needs much further investigation. This paper presents a review of the existing techniques and technologies in location based systems in the Internet of things, and it identifies the research gap of localization in smart home settings. The paper proposes a localization framework for smart home healthcare as well as our preliminary implementation of the localization framework

Validity of the stages of change in steps instrument (SoC-Step) for achieving the physical activity goal of 10,000 steps per day

Background: Physical activity (PA) offers numerous benefits to health and well-being, but most adults are not sufficiently physically active to afford such benefits. The 10,000 steps campaign has been a popular and effective approach to promote PA. The Transtheoretical Model posits that individuals have varying levels of readiness for health behavior change, known as Stages of Change (Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance). Few validated assessment instruments are available for determining Stages of Change in relation to the PA goal of 10,000 steps per day. The purpose of this study was to assess the criterion-related validity of the SoC-Step, a brief 10,000 steps per day Stages of Change instrument. Methods: Participants were 504 Australian adults (176 males, 328 females, mean age = 50.8 ± 13.0 years) from the baseline sample of the Walk 2.0 randomized controlled trial. Measures included 7-day accelerometry (Actigraph GT3X), height, weight, and self-reported intention, self-efficacy, and SoC-Step: Stages of Change relative to achieving 10,000 steps per day. Kruskal-Wallis H tests with pairwise comparisons were used to determine whether participants differed by stage, according to steps per day, general health, body mass index, intention, and self-efficacy to achieve 10,000 steps per day. Binary logistic regression was used to test the hypothesis that participants in Maintenance or Action stages would have greater likelihood of meeting the 10,000 steps goal, in comparison to participants in the other three stages. Results: Consistent with study hypotheses, participants in Precontemplation had significantly lower intention scores than those in Contemplation (p = 0.003) or Preparation (p < 0.001). Participants in Action or Maintenance stages were more likely to achieve ≥10,000 steps per day (OR = 3.11; 95 % CI = 1.66,5.83) compared to those in Precontemplation, Contemplation, or Preparation. Intention (p < 0.001) and self-efficacy (p < 0.001) to achieve 10,000 steps daily differed by stage, and participants in the Maintenance stage had higher general health status and lower body mass index than those in Precontemplation, Contemplation and Preparation stages (p < 0.05).Conclusions: This brief SoC-Step instrument appears to have good criterion-related validity for determining Stages of Change related to the public health goal of 10,000 steps per day

Assessing user engagement in a health promotion website using social networking

Remote provision of supportive mechanisms for preventive health is a fast-growing area in eHealth. Web-based interventions have been suggested as an effective way to increase adoption and maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviours. This paper describes results obtained in the “Walk 2.0” trial to promote physical activity through a self-managed walking programme, using a social networking website that provided an online collaborative environment. Engagement of participants with the website was assessed by monitoring usage ofthe individual social networking functions (e.g. status post). The results demonstrate that users generally preferred contributing non-interactive public posts of information concerned with their individual physical activity levels, and more occasionally communicating privately to friends. Further analysis of topics within posts was done by classifying word usage frequencies. Results indicated that the dominant topics are well aligned with the social environment within which physical activity takes place. Topics centred around four main areas: description of the activity, timing of the activity, affective response to the activity, and context within which the activity occurs. These findings suggest that strong levels of user awareness and communication occur in the social networking setting, indicative of beneficial self-image and self-actualisation effects

Examining an Australian physical activity and nutrition intervention useing RE-AIM

Introduction - Translating evidence-based interventions into community practice is vital to health promotion. This study used the RE-AIM framework to evaluate the larger dissemination of the ManUp intervention, an intervention which utilized interactive web-based technologies to improve the physical activity and nutrition behaviours of residents in Central Queensland, Australia. Methods - Data were collected for each RE-AIM measure (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption,17 Implementation, Maintenance) using: 1) computer assisted telephone interview survey (N=312) 18 with adults (18 yrs and over) from Central Queensland, 2) interviews with key stakeholders 19 from local organizations (n=12), and 3) examination of project-related statistics and findings. Results - In terms of Reach, 47% of participants were aware of the intervention; Effectiveness, there were no significant differences between physical activity and healthy nutrition levels in those aware and unaware; Adoption, 73 participants registered for the intervention and 25% of organizations adopted some part of the intervention; Implementation, 26% of participants initially logged onto the website, 29% and 17% started the web-based physical activity and nutrition challenges, 33% of organizations implemented the intervention, 42% considered implementation, and 25% reported difficulties; Maintenaince, an average of 0.57 logins and 1.35 entries per week during the 12 week dissemination and 0.27 logins and 0.63 entries per week during the 9 month follow-up were achieved, 22% and 0% of participants completed the web-based physical activity and nutrition challenges, and 33.3% of organizations intended to continue utilizing components of the intervention. Conclusion - While this intervention demonstrated good reach; effectiveness, adoption, and implementation warrant further investigation

A time-based visualization for web user classification in social networks

This paper presents a new visual analytics framework for analyzing health-related physical activity data. Existing techniques mostly rely on node-links visualizations to represent the usage patterns as social networks. This work takes a different approach that provides interactive scatter-plot visualizations on classified and time-based data. By providing a flexible visualization that can provide different angles on the multidimensional and classified data, the analyst could have better understanding and insight on web user behavior compared to the traditional social network methods. The effectiveness of our method has been demonstrated with a case study on an online portal system for tracking passive physical activity, called Walk 2.0

WALK 2.0: Examining the effectiveness of Web 2.0 features to increase physical activity in a 'real world' setting: An ecological trial protocol

Introduction: Low levels of health-enhancing physical activity require novel approaches that have the potential to reach broad populations. Web-based interventions are a popular approach for behaviour change given their wide reach and accessibility. However, challenges with participant engagement and retention reduce the long-term maintenance ofbehaviour change. Web 2.0 features present a new and innovative online environment supporting greater interactivity, with the potential to increase engagement and retention. In order to understand the applicability of these innovative interventions for the broader population, ‘real-world’ interventions implemented under ‘everyday conditions’ are required. The aim of this study is to investigate the difference in physical activity behaviour between individuals using atraditional Web 1.0 website with those using a novel Web 2.0 website.Methods and analysis: In this study we will aim to recruit 2894 participants. Participants will be recruited from individuals who register with a pre-existing health promotion website that currently provides Web 1.0 features (http://www.10000steps.org.au). Eligible participants who provide informed consent will be randomly assigned to one of the two trial conditions: the pre-existing 10 000 Steps website (with Web 1.0 features) or the newly developed WALK 2.0 website (with Web 2.0 features). Primary and secondary outcome measures will be assessed by self-report at baseline, 3 months and 12 months, and include: physical activity behaviour, height and weight, Internet self-efficacy,website usability, website usage and quality of life.Ethics and dissemination: This study has received ethics approval from the University of Western Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (Reference Number H8767) and has been funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (Reference Number 589903). Study findings will be disseminated widely through peer reviewed publications, academic conferences and local community-based presentations

Examining participant engagement in an information technology-based physical activity and nutrition intervention for men : the Manup randomized controlled trial

Background: Males experience a shorter life expectancy and higher rates of chronic diseases compared to their female counterparts. To improve health outcomes among males, interventions specifically developed for males that target their health behaviors are needed. Information technology (IT)-based interventions may be a promising intervention approach in this population group, however, little is known about how to maximize engagement and retention in Web-based programs. Objective: The current study sought to explore attributes hypothesized to influence user engagement among a subsample of participants from the ManUp study, a randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of an interactive Web-based intervention for promoting physical activity and nutrition among middle-aged males. Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted and audiotaped with 20 of the ManUp participants. Interview questions were based on a conceptual model of engagement and centered on why participants took part in the study, what they liked and did not like about the intervention they received, and how they think the intervention could be improved. Interview recordings were transcribed and coded into themes. Results: There were five themes that were identified in the study. These themes were: (1) users’ motives, (2) users’ desired outcomes, (3) users’ positive experiences, (4) users’ negative emotions, and (5) attributes desired by user. Conclusions: There is little research in the field that has explored user experiences in human-computer interactions and how such experiences may relate to engagement, especially among males. Although not conclusive, the current study provides some insight into what personal attributes of middle-aged males (such as their key motives and goals for participating) and attributes of the intervention materials (such as usability, control, and interactivity) may impact on user engagement in this group. These findings will be helpful for informing the design and implementation of future health behavior interventions for males

What kinds of website and mobile-phone delivered physical activity and nutrition interventions do middle aged men want?

Within a health context, men in Western societies are a hard-to-reach population who experience higher rates of chronic disease compared to women. Innovative technology based interventions specifically targeting men are needed, however little is known about how these should be developed for this group. The aim of this study was to examine opinions and perceptions regarding the use of internet and mobile phones to improve physical activity and nutrition behaviours for middle aged men