Evaluating LANDSAT-4 MSS and TM data

Interband line pixel misregistrations were determined for the four MSS bands of the Mistassini, Ontario scene and multitemporal registration of LANDSAT-4 products were tested for two different geocoded scenes. Line and pixel misregistrations are tabulated as determined by the manual ground control points and the digital band to band correlation techniques. A method was developed for determining the spectral information content of TM images for forestry applications

Microbiology and atmospheric processes: Biological, physical and chemical characterization of aerosol particles

The interest in bioaerosols has traditionally been linked to health hazards for humans, animals and plants. However, several components of bioaerosols exhibit physical properties of great significance for cloud processes, such as ice nucleation and cloud condensation. To gain a better understanding of their influence on climate, it is therefore important to determine the composition, concentration, seasonal fluctuation, regional diversity and evolution of bioaerosols. In this paper, we will review briefly the existing techniques for detection, quantification, physical and chemical analysis of biological particles, attempting to bridge physical, chemical and biological methods for analysis of biological particles and integrate them with aerosol sampling techniques. We will also explore some emerging spectroscopy techniques for bulk and single-particle analysis that have potential for in-situ physical and chemical analysis. Lastly, we will outline open questions and further desired capabilities (e. g., in-situ, sensitive, both broad and selective, on-line, time-resolved, rapid, versatile, cost-effective techniques) required prior to comprehensive understanding of chemical and physical characterization of bioaerosols

Fluorescent Excitation of Spectral Lines in Planetary Nebulae

Fluorescent excitation of spectral lines is demonstrated as a function of temperature-luminosity and the distance of the emitting region from the central stars of planetary nebulae. The electron densities and temperatures are determined, and the method is exemplified through a detailed analysis of spectral observations of a high excitation PN, NGC 6741, observed by Hyung and Aller(1997). Fluorescence should also be important in the determination of element abundances. It is suggested that the method could be generally applied to determine or constrain the luminosity and the region of spectral emission in other intensively radiative sources such as novae, supernovae, and active galactic nuclei.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures (fig.4 in color), ApJ (in press

Student Employment Models for Undergraduate Nurses and Midwives in Australia: A Scoping Review

Introduction: Evidence has shown that throughout their undergraduate years, many nursing and midwifery students obtain paid employment in a wide variety of clinical and non-clinical positions. Across Australia, inconsistencies exist in the models of clinical employment available to these student groups. Previous Australian studies have described the employment of undergraduate nursing and midwifery students in regulated and unregulated clinical roles. No studies have reported on the various regulated roles available to both student nurses and midwives in Australia. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify and synthesize evidence related to nursing and/or midwifery students employed in regulated and unregulated clinical roles in Australia. Methods: This scoping review utilized published recommendations for data screening, abstraction, and synthesis. One of the authors, a librarian, undertook systematic searches in CINAHL Complete (1937–present), Emcare on Ovid (1995–present), Scopus (1969–present), and Ovid MEDLINE(R) (including Epub Ahead of Print, In-Process, and In-Data-Review & Other Non-Indexed Citations, 1946–present). The initial searches were completed in April 2019 and repeated in March 2021 and May 2022 to identify any new literature. Manual searching of reference lists in the included papers was also undertaken, together with selected organizational websites. The extracted data included the lead author, date, title, study design, study sample and location, and key findings. Results: From the 53 items retrieved, 23 peer-reviewed studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. All items were published between 2011 and 2022. Only four of the studies focused upon student midwives. Undergraduate nursing and midwifery students in Australia obtain paid employment in a variety of regulated and unregulated clinical roles. Conclusion: The literature reported here demonstrates that there are differing models, nomenclature, educational requirements, and pay scales in place for student employment in clinical roles across Australian states and territories

The effect of referral to an open-group behavioural weight management programme on the relative risk of normoglycaemia, non-diabetic hyperglycaemia and type 2 diabetes: secondary analysis of the WRAP trial

Aim: To examine the impact of open‐group behavioural weight‐management programmes on the risk of diabetes among those with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥28 kg/m2 and those with non‐diabetic hyperglycaemia (NDH). Methods: This was a secondary analysis of data from the WRAP trial, in which participants (N = 1267; aged ≥18 years, BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2) were randomized to brief intervention (BI; self‐help booklet), a weight‐management programme (WW; formerly Weight Watchers) for 12 weeks, or WW for 52 weeks. We used multinomial logistic regression to examine the effect of intervention group on the risk of hyperglycaemia and diabetes at 12 months in all participants with glycaemic status at both time points (N = 480; 38%) and those with NDH at baseline (N = 387; 31%). We used mixed effects models and linear fixed effects models to examine the effect of intervention group on body weight and HbA1c at 12 months in people with NDH. Results: There was a 61% relative reduction in the risk of NDH at the 12‐month follow‐up (12 weeks vs. BI: relative risk ratio [RRR] = 0.39 [95% CI 0.18, 0.87], P = .021; 52 weeks vs. BI: RRR = 0.38 [95% CI 0.17, 0.86], P = .020). For intervention effects on the risk of diabetes, confidence intervals were wide and overlapped 1 [12 weeks vs. BI: RRR = 0.49 [95% CI 0.12, 1.96], P = .312; 52 weeks vs. BI: RRR = 0.40 [95% CI 0.10, 1.63], P = .199). Participants with hyperglycaemia at baseline in the weight‐management programme were more probable to have normoglycaemia at the 12‐month follow‐up [12‐week programme vs. BI: RRR = 3.57 [95% CI 1.24, 10.29], P = .019; 52‐week programme vs. BI: RRR = 4.14 [95% CI 1.42, 12.12], P = .009). Conclusions: Open‐group behavioural weight‐management programmes can help to prevent the development of NDH in people with overweight and obesity and to normalize glycaemia in people with NDH

Associations between hedonic hunger and BMI during a two-year behavioural weight loss trial.

ObjectiveProspective studies on relationships between hedonic hunger and BMI (Body Mass Index) during weight management are lacking. This study examined if hedonic hunger reduced during a behavioural weight management programme, and if hedonic hunger predicted future BMI.MethodsParticipants were 594 community-dwelling, UK-based adults(396 female; age 56.43 years, s.d. = 12.50, range 20-83 years); 490 participants (82.5%) had obesity. Participants were randomised to a 12- or 52-week behavioural weight management intervention (WW12 or WW52, respectively) or a brief self-help intervention (BI). Relationships between hedonic hunger and BMI over 24 months (baseline, 3, 12, 24 months) were analysed using an autoregressive cross-lagged model.ResultsHedonic hunger scores decreased from 2.71 (s.d. = .91) at baseline to 2.41 (s.d. = .88) at 3 months (p .05). Baseline hedonic hunger scores predicted 3-month scores (B = .76, SE = .03, p .05). BMI at 12 months was lower in WW52 30.87kg/m2, s.d. = 5.02) than WW12 (32.12 kg/m2, s.d. = 5.58, p = .02, CI .16 to 2.34) and BI (32.74 kg/m2, s.d. = 4.15, p = .01, CI .30 to 3.45). BMI was not affected by intervention at any other time point (p's>.05).ConclusionHedonic hunger reduced during weight management irrespective of intervention. Early reductions in hedonic hunger appear to be associated with lower BMI in the medium-term. Identifying ways to reduce hedonic hunger during weight loss could aid weight management for some people

Symptoms and feelings valued by patients after a percutaneous coronary intervention: A discrete-choice experiment to inform development of a new patient-reported outcome

Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. Objective To inform the development of a patient-reported outcome measure, the aim of this study was to identify which symptoms and feelings following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are most important to patients. Design Discrete-choice experiment consisting of two hypothetical scenarios of 10 symptoms and feelings (pain or discomfort; shortness of breath; concern/worry about heart problems; tiredness; confidence to do usual activities; ability to do usual activities; happiness; sleep disturbance; dizziness or light-headedness and bruising) experienced after PCI, described by three levels (never, some of the time, most of the time). Preference weights were estimated using a conditional logit model. Setting Four Australian public hospitals that contribute to the Victorian Cardiac Outcomes Registry (VCOR) and a private insurer's claim database. Participants 138 people aged >18 years who had undergone a PCI in the previous 6 months. Main outcome measures Patient preferences via trade-offs between 10 feelings and symptoms. Results Of the 138 individuals recruited, 129 (93%) completed all 16 choice sets. Conditional logit parameter estimates were mostly monotonic (eg, moving to worse levels for each individual symptom and feeling made the option less attractive). When comparing the magnitude of the coefficients (based on the coefficient of the worst level relative to best level in each item), feeling unhappy was the symptom or feeling that most influenced perception of a least-preferred PCI outcome (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.34 to 0.51, p<0.0001) and the least influential was bruising (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.99, p=0.04). Conclusion This study provides new insights into how patients value symptoms and feelings they experience following a PCI

Boundedness, compactness and Schatten-class membership of weighted composition operators

The boundedness and compactness of weighted composition operators on the Hardy space ${\mathcal H}^2$ of the unit disc is analysed. Particular reference is made to the case when the self-map of the disc is an inner function. Schatten-class membership is also considered; as a result, stronger forms of the two main results of a recent paper of Gunatillake are derived. Finally, weighted composition operators on weighted Bergman spaces $\mathcal{A}^2 \alpha(\mathbb{D})$ are considered, and the results of Harper and Smith, linking their properties to those of Carleson embeddings, are extended to this situation.Comment: 12 page

Toward an integrative understanding of social behavior: new models and new opportunities.

Social interactions among conspecifics are a fundamental and adaptively significant component of the biology of numerous species. Such interactions give rise to group living as well as many of the complex forms of cooperation and conflict that occur within animal groups. Although previous conceptual models have focused on the ecological causes and fitness consequences of variation in social interactions, recent developments in endocrinology, neuroscience, and molecular genetics offer exciting opportunities to develop more integrated research programs that will facilitate new insights into the physiological causes and consequences of social variation. Here, we propose an integrative framework of social behavior that emphasizes relationships between ultimate-level function and proximate-level mechanism, thereby providing a foundation for exploring the full diversity of factors that underlie variation in social interactions, and ultimately sociality. In addition to identifying new model systems for the study of human psychopathologies, this framework provides a mechanistic basis for predicting how social behavior will change in response to environmental variation. We argue that the study of non-model organisms is essential for implementing this integrative model of social behavior because such species can be studied simultaneously in the lab and field, thereby allowing integration of rigorously controlled experimental manipulations with detailed observations of the ecological contexts in which interactions among conspecifics occur

Floods and health in Gambella region, Ethiopia: a qualitative assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of coping mechanisms

BACKGROUND: Floods are the most frequent and devastating type of natural disaster worldwide, causing unprecedented deaths, diseases, and destruction of property and crops. Flooding has a greater impact in developing countries due to lack of sufficient disaster management structures and a lack of economic resources. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted with the aim of contributing to the knowledge base of development strategies that reduce flood-related health risks in developing countries. The study focused particularly on assessing the flood risks and health-related issues in the Gambella region of Ethiopia; with the intent of producing relevant information to assist with the improvements in the efficacy of the current flood coping strategies in the region. METHODS: Data were gathered through interviews with 14 officers from different government and non-governmental organizations and a questionnaire survey given to 35 flood victims in Itang woreda. A qualitative approach was applied and the data were analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: It was found that flooding is a common problem in Gambella region. The findings also indicate that the flood frequency and magnitude has increased rapidly during the last decade. The increase in floods was driven mainly by climate change and changes in land use, specifically deforestation. The reported main impacts of flooding on human health in Gambella region were deaths, injuries, and diseases such as malaria and diarrhea. Another notable consequence of flooding was crop destruction and subsequent malnutrition. CONCLUSIONS: Three weaknesses that were identified in the current coping strategies for flood-related health impacts in Gambella region were a lack of flood-specific policy, absence of risk assessment, and weak institutional capacity. This study recommends new policy approaches that will increase the effectiveness of the current flood coping strategies to sustainably address the impact of flooding on human health