Visualising Human Migrations in Cape Town The story of three ships through ‘time’, ‘space’ and ‘memory’

This practice-led PhD contributes to an understanding of contemporary art practice as a tool to render visible and unravel capitalist imaginaries within the field of migration studies. Focusing on the theme of contemporary and historical migrations at Cape Town through research conducted on three ships between 2013 and 2017, it uses the themes of ‘time’, ‘space’ and ‘memory’ to visualise migrations. The PhD interrogates the hidden process of globalisation; the invisibility of the workings of the port; the invisibility of the workers; their stories and their connection to the movement of capital, and renders them visible through the research. The study is situated at the intersection of migration studies, visual art practices and artistic research methods. Using the methodology of observational filmmaking and the creation of immersive multimedia installations incorporating virtual reality, it borrows from the work of anthropologists like David MacDougall (1998); Michael Taussig (1993); James Clifford (1988); Alyssa Grossman (2013); and Anna Grimshaw and Amanda Ravetz (2005) who make a case for the technique of ‘visualising anthropology’ in the field of ethnographic enquiry. Furthering the case of observational filming as a sensory form of investigation, I draw on the work of film scholar Laura Marks who advocates the phenomenon of “tactile epistemologies” (2000) and Doug Aitkens whose creations of split narrative videos illustrate the immersive experience I seek to achieve in my creative outputs. The central argument of this study is that an experience of research, conducted through the medium of observational filmmaking and presented via immersive video installations, creates visibility, empathy and an understanding of situations through corporeal embodiment, adding to the field of visual art and migration research

Robson’s ten group classification: a tool for predicting cesarean section rates

Background: Increasing cesarean section delivery rates in India and world is a serious maternal health concern. It is important to understand the trends, reasons behind this change and to find ways to achieve optimum cesaerean section (CS) rates. As per the latest data national family health survey 2019-21 (NFHS 5), CS rates at population level in India seems to be 22% while WHO recommends 10-15% threshold. So, we aim to analyze trend of CS and evaluate it according to Robson’s 10 group classification at tertiary care hospital in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, India. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at department of obstetrics and gynecology, Shyam Shah medical college Rewa for 3 years from May 2019 to April 2022 on all deliveries occurring on or after 28 weeks of gestation by cesarean section. Results: Total of 26552 deliveries over 3 years period were analyzed, of these 7484 were CSs (28.18%). Overall C section rate increased from 18.97% in 2019 to 39.95% in 2022. Major contributors to this increase were Robson’s group 5-32.58%, Robson’s group 1-29.45% and Robson’s group 2-12.22%. Conclusions: Robson’s group 1, 2 and 5 were major contributors to overall increased cesarean section rates. Fetal compromise, meconium aspiration risk, obstructed labor and cesarean scar tenderness were underlying indications for most of the cesarean sections done. Efforts should be made to implement standard protocol to reduce primary cesarean section rates

A Multi-User Interactive Optimization Tool (WRESTORE)

poster abstractThis is NSF funded joint project between Earth Science and Computer Science. It’s one of the objective is to provide best farming practices to the people of Eagle Creek, Indiana, so as to minimize the soil erosion, fertilizer loss and maintain water quality of the region while maximizing profit of farmers. The most important benefit to general public will be increase in quality of drinking water and decrease in flooding of the region. The tool we have built is a distributed system which uses high performance computing techniques to run model simulations in an efficient manner. The tool has various components which run on multiple computers. The user login via a web based interface, the design parameters are specified which are being used to generate different possible designs. The design evaluations are done using powerful cluster of computers (having 768 or 224 CPUs), which uses concept of virtual agents in doing the design evaluation. The user provides their feedback to different designs which are again considered to generate another set of better designs. Various optimization and machine learning techniques are used to model the user’s preferences and provide best possible designs based on given scenario. It is like human computer collaborative search, where human and computer both work together to achieve the goal in a better way. The project is still ongoing, till now we have run simulated user model only, but sooner we will be running the tests for the real human users. This will help the farmers, govt. agencies like USDA and environmentalists in doing environmental planning in an efficient manner. Our collaborators are Empower Results, Eagle Creek Watershed Alliance, Indiana NRCS, Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences, Upper White River Watershed Alliance

A web-based software tool for participatory optimization of conservation practices in watersheds

WRESTORE (Watershed Restoration Using Spatio-Temporal Optimization of Resources) is a web-based, participatory planning tool that can be used to engage with watershed stakeholder communities, and involve them in using science-based, human-guided, interactive simulation–optimization methods for designing potential conservation practices on their landscape. The underlying optimization algorithms, process simulation models, and interfaces allow users to not only spatially optimize the locations and types of new conservation practices based on quantifiable goals estimated by the dynamic simulation models, but also to include their personal subjective and/or unquantifiable criteria in the location and design of these practices. In this paper, we describe the software, interfaces, and architecture of WRESTORE, provide scenarios for implementing the WRESTORE tool in a watershed community's planning process, and discuss considerations for future developments

PARIS: Personalized Activity Recommendation for Improving Sleep Quality

The quality of sleep has a deep impact on people's physical and mental health. People with insufficient sleep are more likely to report physical and mental distress, activity limitation, anxiety, and pain. Moreover, in the past few years, there has been an explosion of applications and devices for activity monitoring and health tracking. Signals collected from these wearable devices can be used to study and improve sleep quality. In this paper, we utilize the relationship between physical activity and sleep quality to find ways of assisting people improve their sleep using machine learning techniques. People usually have several behavior modes that their bio-functions can be divided into. Performing time series clustering on activity data, we find cluster centers that would correlate to the most evident behavior modes for a specific subject. Activity recipes are then generated for good sleep quality for each behavior mode within each cluster. These activity recipes are supplied to an activity recommendation engine for suggesting a mix of relaxed to intense activities to subjects during their daily routines. The recommendations are further personalized based on the subjects' lifestyle constraints, i.e. their age, gender, body mass index (BMI), resting heart rate, etc, with the objective of the recommendation being the improvement of that night's quality of sleep. This would in turn serve a longer-term health objective, like lowering heart rate, improving the overall quality of sleep, etc.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to UMUAI: Special Issue on Recommender Systems for Health and Wellbeing, 202

Availability and Utilization of Malaria Prevention Strategies in Pregnancy in Eastern India

BACKGROUND. Malaria in pregnancy in India, as elsewhere, is responsible for maternal anemia and adverse pregnancy outcomes such as low birth weight and preterm birth. It is not known whether prevention and treatment strategies for malaria in pregnancy (case management, insecticide-treated bednets, intermittent preventive therapy) are widely utilized in India. METHODS. This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2006-2008 in two states of India, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, at 7 facilities representing a range of rural and urban populations and areas of more versus less stable malaria transmission. 280 antenatal visits (40/site) were observed by study personnel coupled with exit interviews of pregnant women to assess emphasis upon, availability and utilization of malaria prevention practices by health workers and pregnant women. The facilities were assessed for the availability of antimalarials, lab supplies and bednets. RESULTS. All participating facilities were equipped to perform malaria blood smears; none used rapid diagnostic tests. Chloroquine, endorsed for chemoprophylaxis during pregnancy by the government at the time of the study, was stocked regularly at all facilities although the quantity stocked varied. Availability of alternative antimalarials for use in pregnancy was less consistent. In Jharkhand, no health worker recommended bednet use during the antenatal visit yet over 90% of pregnant women had bednets in their household. In Chhattisgarh, bednets were available at all facilities but only 14.4% of health workers recommended their use. 40% of the pregnant women interviewed had bednets in their household. Only 1.4% of all households owned an insecticide-treated bednet; yet 40% of all women reported their households had been sprayed with insecticide. Antimalarial chemoprophylaxis with chloroquine was prescribed in only 2 (0.7%) and intermittent preventive therapy prescribed in only one (0.4%) of the 280 observed visits. CONCLUSIONS. A disconnect remains between routine antenatal practices in India and known strategies to prevent and treat malaria in pregnancy. Prevention strategies, in particular the use of insecticide-treated bednets, are underutilized. Gaps highlighted by this study combined with recent estimates of the prevalence of malaria during pregnancy in these areas should be used to revise governmental policy and target increased educational efforts among health care workers and pregnant women.United States Agency for International Development/India mission (cooperative agreement GHS-A-00-03-00020-00); National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (R03 HD52167-01); Indian National Institute of Malaria Research; Indo-US Program for Contraception and Reproductive Health Researc