62 research outputs found
Quality, Features, and Presence of Behavior Change Techniques in Mobile Apps Designed to Improve Physical Activity in Pregnant Women: Systematic Search and Content Analysis
Background: Physical activity during pregnancy is associated with a variety of health benefits for the mother and her child. Despite the many health benefits of physical activity during pregnancy, few women participate in regular physical activity during pregnancy. ehealth platforms, such as the internet and mobile applications (apps), are now altering how women access information about their pregnancy and have become an important information source for pregnant women. Whilst the use of pregnancy-related apps has significantly increased among pregnant women, very little is known about their theoretical underpinnings, including their utilisation of behaviour change techniques. This is despite research suggesting the inclusion of behaviour change techniques in ehealth interventions can play an important role in improving, supporting and maintain healthy behaviours, including physical activity. Objective: To review physical activity apps designed for pregnant women with a focus on app content, quality and features, and the presence and efficacy of Behaviour Change Techniques (BCTs). Methods: A systematic search in the Australian AppStore and GooglePlay stores using search terms relating to exercise and pregnancy. App features and quality was assessed using the 19-item Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) and a taxonomy of BCTs was used to determine presence of BCTs (26 items). BCTs previously demonstrating efficacy in behaviour change during pregnancy were also identified from a review of the literature. Results: Nineteen exercise apps were deemed eligible for this review and accessed via GooglePlay (n=13) or AppStore (n=6). MARS Overall Quality scores showed moderate app quality (m=3.5, SD=0.52). Functionality was the highest scoring MARS domain (m=4.2, SD=0.5), followed by Aesthetics (m=3.7, SD=0.6) and Information Quality (m=3.16, SD=0.42). Engagement (m=3.01, SD=0.9), Subjective App Quality (m=2.54, SD=0.64) and Likelihood for Behavioural Impact (m=2.5, SD=0.6) were the lowest scoring MARS domains. All 19 apps were found to incorporate at least two BCTs (m=4.74, SD=2.51, range=2â10), with provide instructions (95%) and provide information on consequences (89%) being the most common BCTs. Eleven apps included BCTs that previously demonstrated efficacy for behaviour change during pregnancy, the most common of these being provide opportunities for social comparison (n=8) and prompt self-monitoring of behaviour (n=7). Conclusions: Apps to improve exercise in pregnant women were functional and aesthetically pleasing, with overall moderate quality. However, the incorporation of BCTs was low, with the prevalence of BCTs previously demonstrating efficacy in promoting and/or supporting physical activity during pregnancy scarce. Thus, it is unlikely that apps reviewed in this study will effectively promote and/or support the exercise behaviours among pregnant women. Clinical Trial: Not required.Additional co-authors: Michelle Mottola; Taniya S Nagpal; Lisa Vincze; Stephanie Schoepp
Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set
We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s
using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays
in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at
production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton
collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment
at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity.
We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the
B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2,
-1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in
agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model
value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by
other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012
Relationship of Weather Types on the Seasonal and Spatial Variability of Rainfall, Runoff, and Sediment Yield in the Western Mediterranean Basin
Rainfall is the key factor to understand soil erosion processes, mechanisms, and rates. Most research was conducted to determine rainfall characteristics and their relationship with soil erosion (erosivity) but there is little information about how atmospheric patterns control soil losses, and this is important to enable sustainable environmental planning and risk prevention. We investigated the temporal and spatial variability of the relationships of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield with atmospheric patterns (weather types, WTs) in the western Mediterranean basin. For this purpose, we analyzed a large database of rainfall events collected between 1985 and 2015 in 46 experimental plots and catchments with the aim to: (i) evaluate seasonal differences in the contribution of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield produced by the WTs; and (ii) to analyze the seasonal efficiency of the different WTs (relation frequency and magnitude) related to rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield. The results indicate two different temporal patterns: the first weather type exhibits (during the cold period: autumn and winter) westerly flows that produce the highest rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield values throughout the territory; the second weather type exhibits easterly flows that predominate during the warm period (spring and summer) and it is located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. However, the cyclonic situations present high frequency throughout the whole year with a large influence extended around the western Mediterranean basin. Contrary, the anticyclonic situations, despite of its high frequency, do not contribute significantly to the total rainfall, runoff, and sediment (showing the lowest efficiency) because of atmospheric stability that currently characterize this atmospheric pattern. Our approach helps to better understand the relationship of WTs on the seasonal and spatial variability of rainfall, runoff and sediment yield with a regional scale based on the large dataset and number of soil erosion experimental stations.Spanish Government (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MINECO) and FEDER Projects: CGL2014 52135-C3-3-R, ESP2017-89463-C3-3-R, CGL2014-59946-R, CGL2015-65569-R, CGL2015-64284-C2-2-R, CGL2015-64284-C2-1-R, CGL2016-78075-P, GL2008-02879/BTE, LEDDRA 243857, RECARE-FP7, CGL2017-83866-C3-1-R, and PCIN-2017-061/AEI. Dhais Peña-Angulo received a âJuan de la Ciervaâ postdoctoral contract (FJCI-2017-33652 Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MEC). Ana Lucia acknowledge the "Brigitte-Schlieben-Lange-Programm". The âGeoenvironmental Processes and Global Changeâ (E02_17R) was financed by the AragĂłn Government and the European Social Fund. JosĂ© AndrĂ©s LĂłpez-TarazĂłn acknowledges the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Department of the Economy and Knowledge of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia for supporting the Consolidated Research Group 2014 SGR 645 (RIUS- Fluvial Dynamics Research Group). Artemi CerdĂ thank the funding of the OCDE TAD/CRP JA00088807. JosĂ© MartĂnez-Fernandez acknowledges the project Unidad de Excelencia CLU-2018-04 co-funded by FEDER and Castilla y LeĂłn Government. Ane Zabaleta is supported by the Hydro-Environmental Processes consolidated research group (IT1029-16, Basque Government). This paper has the benefit of the Lab and Field Data Pool created within the framework of the COST action CONNECTEUR (ES1306)
Mapping geographical inequalities in childhood diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000â17 : analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
Background
Across low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), one in ten deaths in children younger than 5 years is attributable to diarrhoea. The substantial between-country variation in both diarrhoea incidence and mortality is attributable to interventions that protect children, prevent infection, and treat disease. Identifying subnational regions with the highest burden and mapping associated risk factors can aid in reducing preventable childhood diarrhoea.
Methods
We used Bayesian model-based geostatistics and a geolocated dataset comprising 15â072â746 children younger than 5 years from 466 surveys in 94 LMICs, in combination with findings of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017, to estimate posterior distributions of diarrhoea prevalence, incidence, and mortality from 2000 to 2017. From these data, we estimated the burden of diarrhoea at varying subnational levels (termed units) by spatially aggregating draws, and we investigated the drivers of subnational patterns by creating aggregated risk factor estimates.
Findings
The greatest declines in diarrhoeal mortality were seen in south and southeast Asia and South America, where 54·0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 38·1â65·8), 17·4% (7·7â28·4), and 59·5% (34·2â86·9) of units, respectively, recorded decreases in deaths from diarrhoea greater than 10%. Although children in much of Africa remain at high risk of death due to diarrhoea, regions with the most deaths were outside Africa, with the highest mortality units located in Pakistan. Indonesia showed the greatest within-country geographical inequality; some regions had mortality rates nearly four times the average country rate. Reductions in mortality were correlated to improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) or reductions in child growth failure (CGF). Similarly, most high-risk areas had poor WASH, high CGF, or low oral rehydration therapy coverage.
Interpretation
By co-analysing geospatial trends in diarrhoeal burden and its key risk factors, we could assess candidate drivers of subnational death reduction. Further, by doing a counterfactual analysis of the remaining disease burden using key risk factors, we identified potential intervention strategies for vulnerable populations. In view of the demands for limited resources in LMICs, accurately quantifying the burden of diarrhoea and its drivers is important for precision public health
Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Conceptual Design Report Volume 2: The Physics Program for DUNE at LBNF
The Physics Program for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at the Fermilab Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) is described
Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU
The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype
Relationship of weather types on the seasonal and spatial variability of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield in the western Mediterranean basin
Rainfall is the key factor to understand soil erosion processes, mechanisms, and rates. Most research was conducted to determine rainfall characteristics and their relationship with soil erosion (erosivity) but there is little information about how atmospheric patterns control soil losses, and this is important to enable sustainable environmental planning and risk prevention. We investigated the temporal and spatial variability of the relationships of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield with atmospheric patterns (weather types, WTs) in the western Mediterranean basin. For this purpose, we analyzed a large database of rainfall events collected between 1985 and 2015 in 46 experimental plots and catchments with the aim to: (i) evaluate seasonal differences in the contribution of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield produced by the WTs; and (ii) to analyze the seasonal efficiency of the different WTs (relation frequency and magnitude) related to rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield. The results indicate two different temporal patterns: the first weather type exhibits (during the cold period: autumn and winter) westerly flows that produce the highest rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield values throughout the territory; the second weather type exhibits easterly flows that predominate during the warm period (spring and summer) and it is located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. However, the cyclonic situations present high frequency throughout the whole year with a large influence extended around the western Mediterranean basin. Contrary, the anticyclonic situations, despite of its high frequency, do not contribute significantly to the total rainfall, runoff, and sediment (showing the lowest efficiency) because of atmospheric stability that currently characterize this atmospheric pattern. Our approach helps to better understand the relationship of WTs on the seasonal and spatial variability of rainfall, runoff and sediment yield with a regional scale based on the large dataset and number of soil erosion experimental stations.Ministerio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. CGL2014 52135-C3-3-RMinisterio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. ESP2017-89463-C3-3-RMinisterio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. CGL2014-59946-RMinisterio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. CGL2015-65569-RMinisterio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. CGL2015-64284-C2-2-RMinisterio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. CGL2015-64284-C2-1-RMinisterio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. CGL2016-78075-PMinisterio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. GL2008-02879/BTEEuropean Commission | Ref. LEDDRA 243857Ministerio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. CGL2017-83866- C3-1-RMinisterio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. PCIN-2017-061/AEIMinisterio de EconomĂa y Competitividad | Ref. FJCI-2017-33652Gobierno de AragĂłn | Ref. E02_17RGeneralitat de Catalunya | Ref. 2014 SGR 645Junta de Castilla y LeĂłn | Ref. CLU-2018-04Gobierno Vasco | Ref. IT1029-16OECD (Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems) | Ref. OCDE TAD/CRP JA0008880
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