Experiences of maternity care in New South Wales among women with mental health conditions

Background: High quality maternity care is increasingly understood to represent a continuum of care. As well as ensuring a positive experience for mothers and families, integrated maternity care is responsive to mental health needs of mothers. The aim of this paper is to summarize differences in women's experiences of maternity care between women with and without a self-reported mental health condition. Methods: Secondary analyses of a randomized, stratified sample patient experience survey of 4787 women who gave birth in a New South Wales public hospital in 2017. We focused on 64 measures of experiences of antenatal care, hospital care during and following birth and follow up at home. Experiences covered eight dimensions: overall impressions, emotional support, respect for preferences, information, involvement, physical comfort and continuity. Multivariable logistic regression was used to compare experiences of women with and without a self-reported longstanding mental health condition. Results: Compared to women without a condition, women with a longstanding mental health condition (n = 353) reported significantly less positive experiences by eight percentage points on average, with significant differences on 41 out of 64 measures after adjusting for age, education, language, parity, type of birth and region. Disparities were pronounced for key measures of emotional support (discussion of worries and fears, trust in providers), physical comfort (assistance, pain management) and overall impressions of care. Most women with mental health conditions (75% or more) reported positive experiences for measures related to guidelines for maternity care for women with mental illness (discussion of emotional health, healthy behaviours, weight gain). Their experiences were not significantly different from those of women with no reported conditions. Conclusions: Women with a mental health condition had significantly less positive experiences of maternity care across all stages of care compared to women with no condition. However, for some measures, including those related to guidelines for maternity care for women with mental illness, there were highly positive ratings and no significant differences between groups. This suggests disparities in experiences of care for women with mental health conditions are not inevitable. More can be done to improve experiences of maternity care for women with mental health conditions

A simple two-module problem to exemplify building-block assembly under crossover

Theoretically and empirically it is clear that a genetic algorithm with crossover will outperform a genetic algorithm without crossover in some fitness landscapes, and vice versa in other landscapes. Despite an extensive literature on the subject, and recent proofs of a principled distinction in the abilities of crossover and non-crossover algorithms for a particular theoretical landscape, building general intuitions about when and why crossover performs well when it does is a different matter. In particular, the proposal that crossover might enable the assembly of good building-blocks has been difficult to verify despite many attempts at idealized building-block landscapes. Here we show the first example of a two-module problem that shows a principled advantage for cross-over. This allows us to understand building-block assembly under crossover quite straightforwardly and build intuition about more general landscape classes favoring crossover or disfavoring it

Near-infrared Spectroscopy and Hyperspectral Imaging for Sugar Content Evaluation in Potatoes over Multiple Growing Seasons

Sugar content is one of the most important properties of potato tubers as it directly affects their processing and the final product quality, especially for fried products. In this study, data obtained from spectroscopic (interactance and reflectance) and hyperspectral imaging systems were used individually or fused to develop non-cultivar nor growing season-specific regression and classification models for potato tubers based on glucose and sucrose concentration. Data was acquired over three growing seasons for two potato cultivars. The most influential wavelengths were selected from the imaging systems using interval partial least squares for regression and sequential forward selection for classification. Hyperspectral imaging showed the highest regression performance for glucose with a correlation coefficient (ratio of performance to deviation) or r(RPD) of 91.8(2.41) which increased to 94%(2.91) when the data was fused with the interactance data. The sucrose regression results had the highest accuracy using data obtained from the interactance system with r(RPD) values of 74.5%(1.40) that increased to 84.4%(1.82) when the data was fused with the reflectance data. Classification was performed to identify tubers with either high or low sugar content. Classification performance showed accuracy values as high as 95% for glucose and 80.1% for sucrose using hyperspectral imaging, with no noticeable improvement when data was fused from the other spectroscopic systems. When testing the robustness of the developed models over different seasons, it was found that the regression models had r(RPD) values of 55(1.19)–90.3%(2.34) for glucose and 35.8(1.07)–82.2%(1.29) for sucrose. Results obtained in this study demonstrate the feasibility of developing a rapid monitoring system using multispectral imaging and data fusion methods for online evaluation of potato sugar content

Riemannian submersions from almost contact metric manifolds

In this paper we obtain the structure equation of a contact-complex Riemannian submersion and give some applications of this equation in the study of almost cosymplectic manifolds with Kaehler fibres.Comment: Abh. Math. Semin. Univ. Hamb., to appea

Detection of Two Anaerobic Periodontopathogens in Children by Means of the BANA and ELISA Assays

The mouths of young children become colonized by a variety of bacteria, but there have been only a few studies that have sought the presence of periodontopathic species in this population. Almost all of these studies used culturing techniques rather than the newer detection methodologies for various periodontopathogens. Studies in adults have shown that Treponema denticola and Porphyromonas (Bacteroides) gingivalis can be detected in dental plaque by use of the BANA and ELISA diagnostic tests. In the present study, plaque samples from four subgingival sites in each of 157 children (aged from two to 18 years) were tested for BANA hydrolysis with a BANA reagent card, and for T. denticola and P. gingivalis with an ELISA assay. Anaerobic periodontopathogens hydrolyzing the BANA substrate were found to be present in at least one of four plaque samples in 88 children (56%). T. denticola and/or P. gingivalis were detected by ELISA in at least one plaque sample in each of 135 children (86%). This study shows that children are widely colonized by these micro-organisms. A higher proportion of Black children than Caucasian children was colonized by these BANA-positive organisms. Also, children having a parent with a documented history of periodontal disease were more likely to be BANA-positive than were children of parents with unknown periodontal status.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67961/2/10.1177_00220345910700070701.pd

A comparison of different optical instruments and machine learning techniques to identify sprouting activity in potatoes during storage

The quality of potato tubers is dependent on several attributes been maintained at appropriate levels during storage. One of these attributes is sprouting activity that is initiated from meristematic regions of the tubers (eyes). Sprouting activity is a major problem that contributes to reduced shelf life and elevated sugar content, which affects the marketability of seed tubers as well as fried products. This study compared the capabilities of three different optical systems (1: visible/near-infrared (Vis/NIR) interactance spectroscopy, 2: Vis/NIR hyperspectral imaging, 3: NIR transmittance) and machine learning methods to detect sprouting activity in potatoes based on the primordial leaf count (LC). The study was conducted on Frito Lay 1879 and Russet Norkotah cultivars stored at different temperatures and classification models were developed that considered both cultivars combined and classified the tubers as having either high or low sprouting activity. Measurements were performed on whole tubers and sliced samples to see the effect this would have on identifying sprouting activity. Sequential forward selection was applied for wavelength selection and the classification was carried out using K-nearest neighbor, partial least squares discriminant analysis, and soft independent modeling class analogy. The highest classification accuracy values obtained by the hyperspectral imaging system and was 87.5% and 90% for sliced and whole samples, respectively. Data fusion did not show classification improvement for whole tubers, whereas a 7.5% classification accuracy increase was illustrated for sliced samples. By investigating different optical techniques and machine learning methods, this study provides a first step toward developing a handheld optical device for early detection of sprouting activity, enabling advanced aid potato storage management

Charge and Orbital Ordering in Pr_{0.5} Ca_{0.5} MnO_3 Studied by ^{17}O NMR

The charge and orbital ordering in Pr_{0.5} Ca_{0.5} MnO_3 is studied for the first time by ^{17}O NMR. This local probe is sensitive to spin, charge and orbital correlations. Two transitions exist in this system: the charge and orbital ordering at T_{CO} = 225 K and the antiferromagnetic (AF) transition at T_N = 170 K. Both are clearly seen in the NMR spectra measured in a magnetic field of 7T. Above T_{CO} there exists only one NMR line with a large isotropic shift, whose temperature dependence is in accordance with the presence of ferromagnetic (FM) correlations. This line splits into two parts below T_{CO}, which are attributed to different types of oxygen in the charge/orbital ordered state. The interplay of FM and AF spin correlations of Mn ions in the charge ordered state of Pr_{0.5} Ca_{0.5} MnO_3 is considered in terms of the hole hopping motion that is slowed down with decreasing temperature. The developing fine structure of the spectra evidences, that there still exist charge-disordered regions at T_{CO} > T > T_N and that the static (t > 10^{-6}s) orbital order is established only on approaching T_N. The CE-type magnetic correlations develop gradually below T_{CO}, so that at first the AF correlations between checkerboard ab-layers appear, and only at lower temperature - CE correlations within the ab-planes

Final State Rescattering and Color-suppressed \bar B^0-> D^{(*)0} h^0 Decays

The color-suppressed \bar B^0-> D^{(*)0}\pi^0, D^{(*)0}\eta, D^0\omega decay modes have just been observed for the first time. The rates are all larger than expected, hinting at the presence of final state interactions. Considering \bar B^0-> D^{(*)0}\pi^0 mode alone, an elastic D^{(*)}\pi -> D^{(*)}\pi rescattering phase difference \delta \equiv \delta_{1/2} - \delta_{3/2} \sim 30^\circ would suffice, but the \bar B^0-> D^{(*)0}\eta, D^0\omega modes compel one to extend the elastic formalism to SU(3) symmetry. We find that a universal a_2/a_1=0.25 and two strong phase differences 20^\circ \sim \theta < \delta < \delta^\prime \sim 50^\circ can describe both DP and D^*P modes rather well; the large phase of order 50^\circ is needed to account for the strength of {\it both} the D^{(*)0}\pi^0 and D^{(*)0}\eta modes. For DV modes, the nonet symmetry reduces the number of physical phases to just one, giving better predictive power. Two solutions are found. We predict the rates of the \bar B^0-> D^{+}_s K^-, D^{*+}_s K^-, D^0\rho^0, D^+_s K^{*-} and D^0\phi modes, as well as \bar B^0-> D^{0}\bar K^0, D^{*0}\bar K^0, D^{0}\bar K^{*0} modes. The formalism may have implications for rates and CP asymmetries of charmless modes.Comment: REVTeX4, 18 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

The Importance of Time Congruity in the Organisation.

In 1991 Kaufman, Lane, and Lindquist proposed that time congruity in terms of an individual's time preferences and the time use methods of an organisation would lead to satisfactory performance and enhancement of quality of work and general life. The research reported here presents a study which uses commensurate person and job measures of time personality in an organisational setting to assess the effects of time congruity on one aspect of work life, job-related affective well-being. Results show that time personality and time congruity were found to have direct effects on well-being and the influence of time congruity was found to be mediated through time personality, thus contributing to the person–job (P–J) fit literature which suggests that direct effects are often more important than indirect effects. The study also provides some practical examples of ways to address some of the previously cited methodological issues in P–J fit research

Chiral dynamics of p-wave in K^- p and coupled states

We perform an evaluation of the p-wave amplitudes of meson-baryon scattering in the strangeness S=-1 sector starting from the lowest order chiral Lagrangians and introducing explicitly the Sigma^* field with couplings to the meson-baryon states obtained using SU(6) symmetry. The N/D method of unitarization is used, equivalent, in practice, to the use of the Bethe-Salpeter equation with a cut-off. The procedure leaves no freedom for the p-waves once the s-waves are fixed and thus one obtains genuine predictions for the p-wave scattering amplitudes, which are in good agreement with experimental results for differential cross sections, as well as for the width and partial decay widths of the Sigma^*(1385).Comment: LaTeX, 18 pages, 6 figure