On extending the Quantum Measure

We point out that a quantum system with a strongly positive quantum measure or decoherence functional gives rise to a vector valued measure whose domain is the algebra of events or physical questions. This gives an immediate handle on the question of the extension of the decoherence functional to the sigma algebra generated by this algebra of events. It is on the latter that the physical transition amplitudes directly give the decoherence functional. Since the full sigma algebra contains physically interesting questions, like the return question, extending the decoherence functional to these more general questions is important. We show that the decoherence functional, and hence the quantum measure, extends if and only if the associated vector measure does. We give two examples of quantum systems whose decoherence functionals do not extend: one is a unitary system with finitely many states, and the other is a quantum sequential growth model for causal sets. These examples fail to extend in the formal mathematical sense and we speculate on whether the conditions for extension are unphysically strong.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figure

The impact of heat on mortality and morbidity in the Greater Metropolitan Sydney Region: A case crossover analysis

Background: This study examined the association between unusually high temperature and daily mortality (1997-2007) and hospital admissions (1997-2010) in the Sydney Greater Metropolitan Region (GMR) to assist in the development of targeted health program

Evaluation of interventions to reduce air pollution from biomass smoke on mortality in Launceston, Australia: Retrospective analysis of daily mortality, 1994-2007

Objective To assess the effect of reductions in air pollution from biomass smoke on daily mortality. Design Age stratified time series analysis of daily mortality with Poisson regression models adjusted for the effects of temperature, humidity, day of week, respiratory epidemics, and secular mortality trends, applied to an intervention and control community. Setting Central Launceston, Australia, a town in which coordinated strategies were implemented to reduce pollution from wood smoke and central Hobart, a comparable city in which there were no specific air quality interventions. Participants 67 000 residents of central Launceston and 148 000 residents of central Hobart (at 2001 census). Interventions Community education campaigns, enforcement of environmental regulations, and a wood heater replacement programme to reduce ambient pollution from residential wood stoves started in the winter of 2001. Main outcome measures Changes in daily all cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality during the 6.5 year periods before and after June 2001 in Launceston and Hobart. Results Mean daily wintertime concentration of PM(10) (particulate matter with particle size <10 µm diameter) fell from 44 µg/m(3) during 1994-2000 to 27 µg/m(3) during 2001-07 in Launceston. The period of improved air quality was associated with small non-significant reductions in annual mortality. In males the observed reductions in annual mortality were larger and significant for all cause (−11.4%, 95% confidence interval −19.2% to −2.9%; P=0.01), cardiovascular (−17.9%, −30.6% to −2.8%; P=0.02), and respiratory (−22.8%, −40.6% to 0.3%; P=0.05) mortality. In wintertime reductions in cardiovascular (−19.6%, −36.3% to 1.5%; P=0.06) and respiratory (−27.9%, −49.5% to 3.1%; P=0.07) mortality were of borderline significance (males and females combined). There were no significant changes in mortality in the control city of Hobart. Conclusions Decreased air pollution from ambient biomass smoke was associated with reduced annual mortality in males and with reduced cardiovascular and respiratory mortality during winter months

The relationship between particulate pollution levels in Australian cities, meteorology, and landscape fire activity detected from MODIS hotspots

Generally, sigmoid curves are used to describe the growth of animals over their lifetime. However, because growth rates often differ over an animal\u27s lifetime a single curve may not accurately capture the growth. Broken-stick models constrained to pass through a common point have been proposed to describe the different growth phases, but these are often unsatisfactory because essentially there are still two functions that describe the lifetime growth. To provide a single, converged model to age animals with disparate growth phases we developed a smoothly joining two-phase nonlinear function (SJ2P), tailored to provide a more accurate description of lifetime growth of the macropod, the Tasmanian pademelon Thylogale billardierii. The model consists of the Verhulst logistic function, which describes pouch-phase growth - joining smoothly to the Brody function, which describes post-pouch growth. Results from the model demonstrate that male pademelons grew faster and bigger than females. Our approach provides a practical means of ageing wild pademelons for life history studies but given the high variability of the data used to parametrise the second growth phase of the model, the accuracy of ageing of post-weaned animals is low: accuracy might be improved with collection of longitudinal growth data. This study provides a unique, first robust method that can be used to characterise growth over the lifespan of pademelons. The development of this method is relevant to collecting age-specific vital rates from commonly used wildlife management practices to provide crucial insights into the demographic behaviour of animal populations

Healthy country, healthy people: the relationship between Indigenous health status and "caring for country"

Objective: To investigate associations between &ldquo;caring for country&rdquo; &mdash; an activity that Indigenous peoples assert promotes good health &mdash; and health outcomes relevant to excess Indigenous morbidity and mortality.Design, setting and participants: Cross-sectional study involving 298 Indigenous adults aged 15&ndash;54 years in an Arnhem Land community, recruited from March to September 2005.Main outcome measures: Self-reported involvement in caring for country, health behaviours and clinically measured body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood pressure, type 2 diabetes status, albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR), levels of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, lipid ratio, score on the five-item version of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K5), and 5-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.Results: Controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and health behaviours, multivariate regression revealed significant and substantial associations between caring for country and health outcomes. An interquartile range rise in the weighted composite caring-for-country score was significantly associated with more frequent physical activity, better diet, lower BMI (regression coefficient [b] = &minus; 2.83; 95% CI, &minus; 4.56 to &minus; 1.10), less abdominal obesity (odds ratio [OR], 0.43; 95% CI, 0.26&ndash;0.72), lower systolic blood pressure (b = &minus; 7.59; 95% CI, &minus; 12.01 to &minus; 3.17), less diabetes (OR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.03&ndash;0.52), lower HbA1c level (b = &minus; 0.45; 95% CI, &minus; 0.79 to &minus; 0.11), non-elevated ACR (OR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.13&ndash;0.60), higher HDL cholesterol level (b = 0.06; 95% CI, 0.01&ndash;0.12), lower K5 score (b = &minus; 0.97; 95% CI, &minus; 1.64 to &minus; 0.31) and lower CVD risk (b = &minus; 0.77; 95% CI, &minus; 1.43 to &minus; 0.11).Conclusions: Greater Indigenous participation in caring for country activities is associated with significantly better health. Although the causal direction of these associations requires clarification, our findings suggest that investment in caring for country may be a means to foster sustainable economic development and gains for both ecological and Indigenous peoples&rsquo; health

Heatwave and health impact research : a global review

Background Observed increases in the frequency and intensity of heatwave events, together with the projected acceleration of these events worldwide, has led to a rapid expansion in research on the health impacts of extreme heat. Objective To examine how research on heatwaves and their health-related impact is distributed globally. Methods A systematic review was undertaken. Four online databases were searched for articles examining links between specific historical heatwave events and their impact on mortality or morbidity. The locations of these events were mapped at a global scale, and compared to other known characteristics that influence heat-related illness and death. Results When examining the location of heatwave and health impact research worldwide, studies were concentrated on mid-latitude, high-income countries of low- to medium-population density. Regions projected to experience the most extreme heatwaves in the future were not represented. Furthermore, the majority of studies examined mortality as a key indicator of population-wide impact, rather than the more sensitive indicator of morbidity. Conclusion While global heatwave and health impact research is prolific in some regions, the global population most at risk of death and illness from extreme heat is under-represented. Heatwave and health impact research is needed in regions where this impact is expected to be most severe

2-Micron Pulsed Direct Detection IPDA Lidar for Atmospheric CO2 Measurement

A 2-micron high energy, pulsed Integrated Path Differential Absorption (IPDA) lidar has been developed for atmospheric CO2 measurements. Development of this lidar heavily leverages the 2-micron laser technologies developed in LaRC over the last decade. The high pulse energy, direct detection lidar operating at CO2 2-micron absorption band provides an alternate approach to measure CO2 concentrations. This new 2-micron pulsed IPDA lidar has been flown in spring of this year for total ten flights with 27 flight hours. It is able to make measurements of the total amount of atmospheric CO2 from the aircraft to the ground or cloud. It is expected to provide high-precision measurement capability by unambiguously eliminating contamination from aerosols and clouds that can bias the IPDA measurement

Long-term exposure to low concentrations of air pollutants and hospitalisation for respiratory diseases:A prospective cohort study in Australia

Background: Short- and long-term spatiotemporal variation in exposure to air pollution is associated with respiratory morbidity in areas with moderate-to-high level of air pollution, but very few studies have examined whether these associations also exist in areas with low level exposure. Objectives: We assessed the association between spatial variation in long-term exposure to PM and NO and hospitalisation for all respiratory diseases, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pneumonia, in older adults residing in Sydney, Australia, a city with low-level concentrations. Methods: We recorded data on hospitalisations for 100,084 participants, who were aged >45 years at entry in 2006–2009 until June 2014. Annual NO and PM concentrations were estimated for the participants’ residential addresses and Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model the association between exposure to air pollutants and first episode of hospitalisation, controlling for personal and area level covariates. We further investigated the shape of the exposure-response association and potential effect modification by age, sex, education level, smoking status, and BMI. Results: NO and PM annual mean exposure estimates were 17.5 μg·m and 4.5 μg·m respectively. NO and PM was positively, although not significantly, associated with asthma. The adjusted hazard ratio for a 1 μg·m increase in PM was 1.08, 95% confidence interval 0.89–1.30. The adjusted hazard ratio for a 5 μg·m increase in NO was 1.03, 95% confidence interval 0.88–1.19. We found no positive statistically significant associations with hospitalisation for all respiratory diseases, and pneumonia while negative associations were observed with COPD. Conclusions: We found weak positive associations of exposure to air pollution with hospitalisation for asthma while there was no evidence of an association for all respiratory diseases

The value of local heatwave impact assessment : a case-crossover analysis of hospital emergency department presentations in Tasmania, Australia

Heatwaves have been identified as a threat to human health, with this impact projected to rise in a warming climate. Gaps in local knowledge can potentially undermine appropriate policy and preparedness actions. Using a case-crossover methodology, we examined the impact of heatwave events on hospital emergency department (ED) presentations in the two most populous regions of Tasmania, Australia, from 2008–2016. Using conditional logistic regression, we analyzed the relationship between ED presentations and severe/extreme heatwaves for the whole population, specific demographics including age, gender and socio-economic advantage, and diagnostic conditions that are known to be impacted in high temperatures. ED presentations increased by 5% (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01–1.09) across the whole population, by 13% (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.03–1.24) for children 15 years and under, and by 19% (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.04–1.36) for children 5 years and under. A less precise association in the same direction was found for those over 65 years. For diagnostic subgroups, non-significant increases in ED presentations were observed for asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation. These findings may assist ED surge capacity planning and public health preparedness and response activities for heatwave events in Tasmania, highlighting the importance of using local research to inform local practice