Development of the children's eating behaviour questionnaire

Individual differences in several aspects of eating style have been implicated in the development of weight problems in children and adults, but there are presently no reliable and valid scales that assess a range of dimensions of eating style. This paper describes the development and preliminary validation of a parent-rated instrument to assess eight dimensions of eating style in children; the Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ). Constructs for inclusion were derived both from the existing literature on eating behaviour in children and adults, and from interviews with parents. They included reponsiveness to food, enjoyment of food, satiety responsiveness, slowness in eating, fussiness, emotional overeating, emotional undereating, and desire for drinks. A. large pool of items covering each of these: constructs was developed. The number of items was then successively culled through analysis of responses from three samples of families of young children (N = 131; N = 187, N = 218), to produce a 35-item instrument with eight scales which were internally valid and had good test-retest reliability. Investigation of variations by gender and age revealed only minimal gender differences in any aspect of eating style. Satiety responsiveness and slowness in eating diminished from age 3 to 8. Enjoyment of food and food responsiveness increased over this age range. The CEBQ should provide a useful measure of eating style for research into the early precursors of obesity or eating disorders. This is especially important in relation to the growing evidence for the heritability of obesity, where good measurement of the associated behavioural phenotype will be crucial in investigating the contribution of inherited variations in eating behaviour to the process of weight gain

The effect of flight line spacing on radioactivity inventory and spatial feature characteristics of airborne gamma-ray spectrometry data

Airborne Gamma Spectrometry (AGS) is well suited to the mapping of radioactivity in the environment. Flight parameters (e.g. speed and line spacing) directly affect the rate of area coverage, cost, and data quality of any survey. The influences of line spacing have been investigated for data from inter‐tidal, coastal and upland environments with a range of <sup>137</sup>Cs activity concentrations and depositional histories. Estimates of the integrated <sup>137</sup>Cs activity (‘inventory’) within specified areas and the shapes of depositional features were calculated for subsets of the data at different line spacings. Features with dimensions greater than the line spacing show variations in inventory and area of less than 3%, and features with dimensions less than the line spacing show larger variations and a decreased probability of detection. The choice of line spacing for a task is dependent on the dimensions of the features of interest and required edge definition. Options for line spacing for different tasks are suggested. It is noted that for regional mapping, even 5–10 km line spacing can produce useful data

Many-body interactions in a quantum wire in the integer quantum Hall regime: suppression of exchange-enhanced g factor

The collapse of Hall gaps in the integer quantum Hall liquid in a quantum wire is investigated. Motivated by recent experiment [Pallecchi et al. PRB 65, 125303 (2002)] previous approaches are extended to treat confinement effects and the exchanged enhanced g-factor in quantum wires. Two scenarios for the collapse of the $\nu =1$ state are discussed. In the first one the $\nu =1$ state becomes unstable at $B_{cr}^{(1)}$, due to the exchange interaction and correlation effects, coming from the edge-states screening. In the second scenario, a transition to the $\nu =2$ state occurs at $B_{cr}^{(2)}$, with a smaller effective channel width, caused by the redistribution of the charge density. This effect turns the Hartree interaction essential in calculating the total energy and changes $B_{cr}^{(2)}$ drastically. In both scenarios, the exchange enhanced g-factor is suppressed for magnetic fields lower than $B_{cr}$. Phase diagrams for the Hall gap collapse are determined. The critical fields, activation energy, and optical $g$-factor obtained are compared with experiments. Within the accuracy of the available data, the first scenario is most probable to be realized.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

The VOICE Study: Valuing Opinions, Individual Communication and Experience: Building the evidence base for undertaking patient-centred family meetings in palliative care - a mixed methods study

Background: Despite family meetings being widely used to facilitate discussion among patients, families, and clinicians in palliative care, there is limited evidence to support their use. This study aims to assess the acceptability and feasibility of Patient-Centred Family Meetings in specialist inpatient palliative care units for patients, families, and clinicians and determine the suitability and feasibility of validated outcome measures from the patient and family perspectives. Methods: The study is a mixed-methods quasi-experimental design with pre-planned Patient-Centred Family Meetings at the intervention site. The patient will set the meeting agenda a priori allowing an opportunity for their issues to be prioritised and addressed. At the control site, usual care will be maintained which may include a family meeting. Each site will recruit 20 dyads comprising a terminally ill inpatient and their nominated family member. Pre- and post-test administration of the Distress Thermometer, QUAL-EC, QUAL-E, and Patient Health Questionnaire-4 will assess patient and family distress and satisfaction with quality of life. Patient, family, and clinician interviews post-meeting will provide insights into the meeting feasibility and outcome measures. Recruitment percentages and outcome measure completion will also inform feasibility. Descriptive statistics will summarise pre- and post-meeting data generated by the outcome measures. SPSS will analyse the quantitative data. Grounded theory will guide the qualitative data analysis. Discussion: This study will determine whether planned Patient-Centred Family Meetings are feasible and acceptable and assess the suitability and feasibility of the outcome measures. It will inform a future phase III randomised controlled trial. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12616001083482 on 11 August 201

Intake and Milk Production of Lactating Dairy Cows Grazing Diverse Forage Mixtures Over Two Grazing Seasons

Voluntary intake and stocking rate are key determinants of animal performance on pasture. Greater plant diversity in grassland plant communities has been linked to increased primary production, greater stability in response to disturbance, and reduced weed pressure. Thus, increasing plant diversity may be one approach to improving animal productivity. An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of forage diversity on intake and milk production of lactating dairy cows over two grazing seasons

Statistical comparisons of non-deterministic IR systems using two dimensional variance

Retrieval systems with non-deterministic output are widely used in information retrieval. Common examples include sampling, approximation algorithms, or interactive user input. The effectiveness of such systems differs not just for different topics, but also for different instances of the system. The inherent variance presents a dilemma - What is the best way to measure the effectiveness of a non-deterministic IR system? Existing approaches to IR evaluation do not consider this problem, or the potential impact on statistical significance. In this paper, we explore how such variance can affect system comparisons, and propose an evaluation framework and methodologies capable of doing this comparison. Using the context of distributed information retrieval as a case study for our investigation, we show that the approaches provide a consistent and reliable methodology to compare the effectiveness of a non-deterministic system with a deterministic or another non-deterministic system. In addition, we present a statistical best-practice that can be used to safely show how a non-deterministic IR system has equivalent effectiveness to another IR system, and how to avoid the common pitfall of misusing a lack of significance as a proof that two systems have equivalent effectiveness

Derivation and assessment of risk prediction models using case-cohort data

Background Case-cohort studies are increasingly used to quantify the association of novel factors with disease risk. Conventional measures of predictive ability need modification for this design. We show how Harrell’s C-index, Royston’s D, and the category-based and continuous versions of the net reclassification index (NRI) can be adapted. Methods We simulated full cohort and case-cohort data, with sampling fractions ranging from 1% to 90%, using covariates from a cohort study of coronary heart disease, and two incidence rates. We then compared the accuracy and precision of the proposed risk prediction metrics. Results The C-index and D must be weighted in order to obtain unbiased results. The NRI does not need modification, provided that the relevant non-subcohort cases are excluded from the calculation. The empirical standard errors across simulations were consistent with analytical standard errors for the C-index and D but not for the NRI. Good relative efficiency of the prediction metrics was observed in our examples, provided the sampling fraction was above 40% for the C-index, 60% for D, or 30% for the NRI. Stata code is made available. Conclusions Case-cohort designs can be used to provide unbiased estimates of the C-index, D measure and NRI

The contribution of a MOOC to community discussions around death and dying

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Advances in medicine have helped many to live longer lives and to be able to meet health challenges. However death rates are anticipated to increase given the ageing population and chronic disease progression. Being able to talk about death is seen to be important in normalising death as part of life and supporting preparedness for death. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provide opportunities for the community to engage in collaborative learning. A 5 week MOOC was developed covering four main topics (language and humour, representations of death, medicalisation of dying, and digital dying) aiming: To enable participants to openly and supportively discuss and learn about issues around living, death and dying, To explore the normally unheard opinions and views of Australians around death and dying, and To determine what effect online learning and discussions offered through the MOOC had on participants' feelings and attitudes towards death and dying. Methods: Data was captured on engagement rates in the various MOOC activities. Death Attitudes were measured by five items representing the MOOC's learning objectives and completed at enrolment and conclusion. MOOC Satisfaction was measured with six items at the end of the MOOC. Descriptive statistics were produced for each variable and Chi-Square Tests of Independence assessed the extent of the relationship between categorical variables. Socio-demographic variables were examined as predictors of the outcome variables of MOOC engagement, MOOC satisfaction, and death attitudes. Ethical approval was received from Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee (Project No. 7247). Results: One thousand one hundred fifty six people enrolled in the Dying2Learn MOOC with 895 participating in some way. Enrolees were primarily female (92.1%). Age ranged from 16 to 84 (mean = 49.5, SD = 12.3). MOOC satisfaction scores were high. Responses to the experience of participating in the MOOC were very positive, with mean scores ranging from 4.3 to 4.6 (aligning with agreement and strong agreement to statements on the value of participating). Death Attitudes were positive at commencement but increased significantly following participation. Conclusions: The Dying2Learn MOOC provided an environment that enabled open and supportive discussion around death and dying and influenced attitudinal change

“I want to die in my sleep”-how people think about death, choice, and control: Findings from a Massive Open Online Course

© Annals of Palliative Medicine. Background: Complex social and ethical debates about voluntary assisted dying (euthanasia), palliative care, and advance care planning are presently being worked through in many developed countries, and the policy implications of these discussions for palliative care are potentially very significant. However, community attitudes to death and dying are complex, multilayered, and contain many mixed messages. Methods: Participants posted comments in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on death and dying, entitled Dying2Learn. This provided an opportunity to explore societal and personal attitudes to wishes and beliefs around death and dying. For one activity in the MOOC, participants responded to a question asking them about “the best way to go”. Results: Responses were subjected to thematic analysis, during which they were coded for conceptual categories. This analysis showed how acceptance of death as a natural and normal process, and as a shared event that affects a whole social network, may nonetheless be accompanied by deep reluctance to address the physical process of dying (i.e., “avoidant acceptance”). Conclusions: Our findings highlighted a desire for choice and control in relation to dying, which is a common element in discussions of both advance care planning and palliative care. This same focus may contribute to a perception that voluntary assisted dying/euthanasia is a necessary strategy for ensuring that people have control over their dying process. We discuss the paradox of individuals wanting to have control whilst preferring not to know that they are dying