The potential for preventing the delivery and perinatal mortality of lowbirth- weight babies in a black urban population

Objective. To determine the potentiaJ for preventing the delivery and perinatal  mortality of low-birth-weight (LBW) babies in a black urban population.Design. Cross-sectionaJ descriptive study.Setting. All women delivering babies weighing less than 2 500 g at Kalafong  Hospital in a 6-month period (December 1991 - May 1992).Main outcome measures. The primary obstetric reason for delivery; whether the  labour was of spontaneous onset or iatrogenic; whether labour was theoretically  preventable using currently accepted practice; the number of patients in whom suppression of delivery was attempted in the theoretically preventable group; and the perinatal mortality rate of that group.Results. There were 124 perinatal deaths (22.5%) in the 550 LBW babies delivered from 465 singleton pregnancies, 42 twin pregnancies and 1 triplet pregnancy. The  primary obstetric reasons for delivery were spontaneous preterm labour (28%), hypertensive diseases (19%), premature rupture of membranes (180/0),  spontaneous labour in lightfor-gestational-age babies (16%), unexplained intra-uterine deaths (8%), antepartum haemomhage (8%) and other causes (3%). A medical decision to terminate the pregnancy before labour was made in 177 (34.8%) cases, the major reason being hypertensive diseases (84 mothers;  47.5%). In the remaining 331 mothers with spontaneous onset of labour, labour was theoretically preventable in 63 (19%) and prevention was only attempted in 12 (2.4% of the total mothers). The major reason for not attempting to suppress labour in the others was that the patients arrived too late at the hospital for intervention to take place.Conclusion. Hospital staff can do little to prevent the delivery of LBW babies in a black urban population

On robots with reasoning capabilities and human-like appearance and behaviour: implications for accident investigations

AI-enhanced reasoning enables robots to create detailed accounts of their own situated behaviour as well as the behaviour of other people. This capability is currently employed by robot designers to achieve transparency, trust, and enhance robot social and communicative capabilities. Furthermore, robots may be designed to resemble humans both in their physical appearance and their behaviour. This approach is intended to facilitate more effective interactions with people. In this article we identify and examine some of the ethical, social and legal implications of these capabilities for the investigation of robot accidents. We consider two aspects in particular. The first of these is the role of robots as subjects in a testimony regarding an incident in which they are directly or indirectly involved. This can be described as a case of robots acting as witnesses. The second aspect is the role of robots as objects in a human testimony. This can be described as a case of robots being witnessed

Generic Modal Cut Elimination Applied to Conditional Logics

We develop a general criterion for cut elimination in sequent calculi for propositional modal logics, which rests on absorption of cut, contraction, weakening and inversion by the purely modal part of the rule system. Our criterion applies also to a wide variety of logics outside the realm of normal modal logic. We give extensive example instantiations of our framework to various conditional logics. For these, we obtain fully internalised calculi which are substantially simpler than those known in the literature, along with leaner proofs of cut elimination and complexity. In one case, conditional logic with modus ponens and conditional excluded middle, cut elimination and complexity were explicitly stated as open in the literature

Legal issues in automated vehicles: critically considering the potential role of consent and interactive digital interfaces

Some of the first ‘automated’ vehicles to be deployed on our roads will require a system of shared driving with a human driver. While this creates technical and operational challenges, the law must also facilitate such a transfer. One method may be to obtain the driver’s consent to share operational responsibility and to delineate legal responsibility between vehicle and driver in the event of an accident. Consent is a voluntary agreement where an individual is aware of the potential consequences of their consent, including the risks. The driver of a partially automated vehicle must be informed of potential risks before giving consent to share operational responsibility. This paper will refer to the inherent dangers associated with shared operational responsibility, in particular where there has been a request for the driver to take back control from the automated vehicle during the journey. Drivers are likely to experience delay in regaining situational awareness, making such operational transfers hazardous. It is argued that where an interactive digital interface is used to convey information, such as driver responsibility, risk and legal terms, drivers may fail to sufficiently process such communications due to fundamental weaknesses in human–machine interaction. The use of an interactive digital interface alone may be inadequate to effectively communicate information to drivers. If the problems identified are not addressed, it is argued that driver consent may be inconsequential, and fail to facilitate a predicable demarcation of legal responsibility between automated vehicles and drivers. Ongoing research into automated vehicle driver training is considered as part of the preparation required to design driver education to a level whereby drivers may be able to sufficiently understand the responsibilities involved in operating a partially automated vehicle, which has implications for future driver training, licensing and certification

Combining Tradable Credit Schemes with a New Form of Road Pricing: Producing Liveable Cities and Meeting Decarbonisation Goals

This paper considers how the implementation of a tradable credit scheme (TCS) may be used to reduce road traffic and to contribute to the formation of liveable cities and global climate change commitments. The concept of applying TCS to individual road transport is familiar to transport researchers as a measure to regulate congestion and reduce transport-related emissions. Yet, it is not a strategy currently being considered by policy makers in the UK, despite the electrification of the road vehicle fleet and the associated loss of tax revenue presenting a rare opportunity to alter the economic instruments, which apply to road traffic. We consider how transport researchers can capitalise on this unique moment in transport history to shape transport policy. Our study uses qualitative methods, including a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with transport stakeholders and experts, in addition to a literature review and document analysis. Data analysis is inductive, permitting the formation of new ideas about the potential benefits of TCS and the barriers to the application of TCS to real-world policy. Building upon the results of TCS experiments and the results of our analysis, we propose a novel potential form of TCS combined with road pricing to maintain government revenue, which incentivises road users to decrease road vehicle kilometres travelled and reduce pollution and congestion. The proposal contributes to the discussion on the governance of road transport and taxation

The effects of active classroom breaks on moderate to vigorous physical activity, behaviour and performance in a Northern NSW primary school: A quasi-experimental study

Issue Addressed: Approximately 77% of NSW children aged 5 to 15 years do not meet physical activity guidelines and many spend a considerable amount of time sitting. Active breaks at primary school are feasible, may increase daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and decrease off-task behaviour without adversely affecting cognitive function and learning. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 101 primary school children in six intervention classrooms participated in three 10-minute active breaks per day for six-weeks during class time, while five control classrooms were run as usual (n = 89). Physical activity levels were measured using wrist-worn Actigraph wGT3X-BT accelerometers and analysed using a random forest model. Students' off-task behaviour, wellbeing, cognitive function and maths performance were also measured. School staff completed a brief feedback survey. Results: Children in the intervention group engaged in 15.4 and 10.9 minutes more MVPA per day at 3 and 6 weeks respectively (P <.001). Participation significantly increased the proportion of children who met the Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines (P <.001). At pre, middle and end of intervention, 44.4%, 60.8% and 55.1% of intervention children and 46.5%, 45.9% and 45.8% of controls met the guidelines. Significantly fewer students engaged in off-task behaviour in the intervention classes at mid and final weeks of intervention (−1.4 students, P =.003). No significant intervention effects were found for wellbeing, cognitive and maths performance. Conclusions: Active classroom breaks are an effective way to increase physical activity among primary school children while reducing off-task classroom behaviour. So What?: Primary school students' health would benefit from active breaks with no detrimental effects on wellbeing, maths and cognitive performance

Data collection on trafficking in human beings in the EU: Final report

Trafficking in human beings is the buying and selling of women, girls, men, and boys. It has hugely deleterious consequences for individuals, society, and the economy. This is the fourth report published by the European Commission that presents a compilation of statistics at the EU Member State level on trafficking in human beings. This data collection exercise approached all 28-Member States and covers the years 2015 and 2016and updates the 2014 data collection as relevant

PROMOTING GREEN TRANSPORTATION VIA PERSUASIVE GAMES

It is now widely accepted that human behaviour accounts for a large portion of total global emissions, and thus influences climate change to a large extent (IPCC, 2014). Changing human behaviour when it comes to mode of transportation is one component which could make a difference in the long term. In order to achieve behavioural change, we investigate the use of a persuasive multiplayer game. Transportation mode recognition is used within the game to provide bonuses and penalties to users based on their daily choices regarding transportation. Preliminary results from testers of the game indicate that using games may be successful in causing positive change in user behaviour