Dancing with loneliness in later life: A pilot study mapping seasonal variations

Temporal variations in loneliness at the individual and population level have long been reported in longitudinal studies. Although the evidence is limited due to methodological distinctions among studies, we broadly know that loneliness as one ages is a dynamic experience with people becoming more or less lonely or staying the same over time. There is, however, less evidence to understand individual variations in loneliness over shorter periods of time. This paper reports on one element of a small mixed method pilot study to investigate seasonal variations in loneliness over the course of one year and to test the effectiveness of tools used to collect data at repeated short intervals. Our findings confirm that loneliness is dynamic even over shorter periods of time with participants reporting to be lonelier in the evenings, weekends and spring-summer period. Data measures were at times problematic due to language and/or interpretation and reinforce the relevance of reviewing the more common approaches to studying loneliness to more effectively capture the complex and individual nature of the experience.Brunel University Londo

Characteristics of direct human impacts on the rivers Karun and Dez in lowland south-west Iran and their interactions with earth surface movements

Two of the primary external factors influencing the variability of major river systems, over river reach scales, are human activities and tectonics. Based on the rivers Karun and Dez in south-west Iran, this paper presents an analysis of the geomorphological responses of these major rivers to ancient human modifications and tectonics. Direct human modifications can be distinguished by both modern constructions and ancient remnants of former constructions that can leave a subtle legacy in a suite of river characteristics. For example, the ruins of major dams are characterised by a legacy of channel widening to 100's up to c. 1000 m within upstream zones that can stretch to channel distances of many kilometres upstream of former dam sites, whilst the legacy of major, ancient, anthropogenic river channel straightening can also be distinguished by very low channel sinuosities over long lengths of the river course. Tectonic movements in the region are mainly associated with young and emerging folds with NW–SE and N–S trends and with a long structural lineament oriented E–W. These earth surface movements can be shown to interact with both modern and ancient human impacts over similar timescales, with the types of modification and earth surface motion being distinguishable. This paper examines the geomorphological evidence and outlines the processes involved in the evolution of these interactions through time. The analysis shows how interactions between earth surface movements and major dams are slight, especially after ancient dam collapse. By contrast, interactions between earth surface movements and major anthropogenic river channel straightening are shown to be a key factor in the persistence of long, near-straight river courses. Additionally, it is suggested that artificial river development, with very limited river channel lateral migration, may promote incision across an active fold at unusually long distances from the fold “core” and may promote markedly increased sinuosity across a structural lineament

How Sustainable Are North American Wood Supplies?

This paper analyzes the current wood supply estimates for North America. The result of the analysis casts doubts whether the North American supplies are sustainable. It is obvious that current estimates do not consider many of the aspects of sustainable forest management but are based on a concept of the availability of timber. It can be concluded that there is a lack of consistent national projections in both the USA and Canada. The North American analyses do not take into account that the wood supply issue is driven by the political economy and not only by the market economy. North America has a lot to gain if future analyses of the supply would be carried out based on a political economic concept

Physical Activity Sensing via Stand-Alone WiFi Device

WiFi signals for physical activity sensing shows promising potential for many healthcare applications due to its potential for recognising various everyday activities, non-invasive nature and low intrusion on privacy. Traditionally, WiFi-based sensing uses the Channel State Information (CSI) from an offthe- shelf WiFi Access Point (AP) which transmits signals that have high pulse repetition frequencies. However, when there are no users on the communication network only beacon signals are transmitted from the WiFi AP which significantly deteriorates the sensitivity and specificity of such systems. Surprisingly WiFi based sensing under these conditions have received little attention given that WiFi APs are frequently in idle state. This paper presents a practical system based on passive radar technique which does not require any special setup or preset firmware and able to work with any commercial WiFi device. To cope with the low density of beacon signal, a modified Cross Ambiguity Function (CAF) has been proposed to reduce redundant samples in the recorded. In addition, an external device has been developed to send WiFi probe request signals and stimulate an idle AP to transmit WiFi probe responses thus generate usable transmission signals for sensing applications without the need to authenticate and join the network. Experimental results prove that proposed concept can significantly improve activity detection and is an ideal candidate for future healthcare and security applications

FRI0592-HPR Work rehabilitation in inflammatory arthritis: A pilot randomised controlled trial

Background Work problems are common in people with inflammatory arthritis (IA): with 28-40% of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) stopping work in 5y of diagnosis. There is little research into effectiveness of job retention vocational rehabilitation (JRVR)for employed people with IA. Brief JR-VR led to significantly fewer job losses at 3.5 years in the USA (Allaire et al, 2003) and a UK pilot trial demonstrated 6m improvements in work instability and work satisfaction (Macedo et al, 2009). Objectives: To conduct a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) evaluating a JR-VR intervention with employed people with IA,to facilitate planning a full RCT. Methods: Participants with IA were recruited from 6 Rheumatology departments and randomised to VR (delivered by Rheumatology OTs with VR training) or a control group. Both groups received written self-help information about managing work problems. The VR group could receive up to 6h JR-VR, including a work visit. Presenteeism outcomes included: RA-Work Instability Scale (RAWIS:0-23), Work Limitations Questionnaire Productivity Loss (WLQPL: %), Work Activities Limitations Scale (WALS:0-33). Absenteeism was measured using monthly work diaries. Health outcomes included: SF12v2 Physical component(SF12-PC), pain, fatigue and perceived health status VAS (0-100). Mean (SD) change scores and effect sizes were calculated. Results: 213 eligible employed patients with IA were identified, of whom 55 (26%) participated (34 with RA): 13M, 42F; aged 49y (SD 8.8); 7.9y (SD 8.9) disease duration; 33 worked full-time; job types were professional (27%), associated professional/skilled (15%), partly skilled/admin/caring/retain (53%), unskilled (5%). Both groups were comparable at baseline (see Table). At 9m: effect sizes were moderate to large for changes in work and health outcomes in the JR-VR group and none to small in the control group; %working days lost due to sickness: JR-VR =9.6% (SD 13.6); control = 20% (SD 27.1). JR-VR lasted on average 3.08 (SD 1.8)hours and cost £74.98 (SD £46.80) per patient. Conclusions: This pilot suggests brief JR-VR provided by Rheumatology OTs can improve presenteeism, absenteeism and health status, indicating a RCT is warranted. Recruitment was problematic, with many not consenting. Potential reasons include: fear about employers (in a recession) learning they have arthritis; concerns about time out of work attending VR; and not perceiving VR is needed as yet. JR-VR intends to prevent work problems. Support is needed to enable employed people with IA and work problems to attend JR-VR

Passive WiFi Radar for Human Sensing Using A Stand-Alone Access Point

Human sensing using WiFi signal transmissions is attracting significant attention for future applications in ehealthcare, security and the Internet of Things (IoT). The majority of WiFi sensing systems are based around processing of Channel State Information (CSI) data which originates from commodity WiFi Access Points (AP) that have been primed to transmit high data-rate signals with high repetition frequencies. However, in reality, WiFi APs do not transmit in such a continuous uninterrupted fashion, especially when there are no users on the communication network. To this end, we have developed a passive WiFi radar system for human sensing which exploits WiFi signals irrespective of whether the WiFi AP is transmitting continuous high data-rate OFDM signals, or periodic WiFi beacon signals whilst in an idle status (no users on the WiFi network). In a data transmission phase, we employ the standard cross ambiguity function (CAF) processing to extract Doppler information relating to the target, whilst a modified version is used for lower data-rate signals. In addition, we investigate the utility of an external device that has been developed to stimulate idle WiFi APs to transmit usable signals without requiring any type of user authentication on the WiFi network. In the paper we present experimental data which verifies our proposed methods for using any type of signal transmission from a stand-alone WiFi device, and demonstrate the capability for human activity sensing