Female urinary incontinence and wellbeing: results from a multi-national survey

Previous research has shown that the severity of symptoms of urinary incontinence impacts on quality of life and wellbeing. The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between female urinary incontinence and mental wellbeing. This involved analyses comparing those with UI and those without to determine whether any differences in wellbeing were modified by demographic factors, specific wellbeing domain, or exercise and frequency of sex. Following this, further analyses compared sub-groups of those with UI (based on the impact of the UI) to determine which characteristics were important in influencing wellbeing

Cognitive fatigue and the well-being and academic attainment of university students

Background: Effects of cognitive fatigue have been widely studied in operational settings and in working populations. Less is known about the effects of cognitive fatigue on the well-being and academic attainment of university students and the present study aimed to provide information on this topic. Methodology: The study was carried out with the approval of the Ethics Committee, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, and with the informed consent of the volunteers. It was carried out in December and January and participants completed an online survey presented using the Qualtrics package and gave consent for access to their coursework and examination marks. Students completed an online version of the Student Well-being Process Questionnaire. This measured both positive aspects of well-being (happiness, life satisfaction and positive affect) and negative aspects (stress, anxiety, depression and negative affect). It also measured established predictors of wellbeing (personality, social support, stressors and coping) which were controlled for in the analyses. Grade Point Average scores were also available for the participants and again established predictors of these (previous academic attainment; conscientiousness) were also recorded. Mental fatigue was measured using a single question with a 10-point rating scale. Three hundred and thirteen students completed the study. Results: The results showed that higher mental fatigue was associated with reduced well-being and lower academic performance. These results remained significant when the established predictors were included in the analyses. Conclusion: Mental fatigue is associated with reduced wellbeing and lower academic attainment in university students. Further research is now required to identify the causes of cognitive fatigue and to evaluate methods of prevention and management

Minimalism and time: the perception of temporality in American minimalist music from1958 to 1974

This thesis examines the ways in which American minimalist music affects the listener's perception of temporality by applying the phenomenological approach, particularly that of Husserl, to the music of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass. The output of each composer, especially between 1958 and 1974, is examined individually, and then a detailed discussion on the relationship between their music and the perception of temporality is given in the final chapter. It will be shown that the durational minimalism of Young can create an apparent state of timelessness, whilst the repetitive minimalism of Riley, Reich and Glass can cause effects as diverse as time retardation and non- directional time. Crucially, it will be shown that different types and styles of minimalist music can cause different effects on the listener’s perception of temporality. The relationship between minimalism in the visual arts and the perception of spatiality will also be discussed - it will be found that the relationship is analogous and instructive

Effects of noise on the well-being of railway staff

The present study involved a survey of over 1,000 rail staff and the objective was to determine the effects of noise on well-being. One of the major problems with noise surveys has been the lack of control of confounding factors and the present study used a measuring instrument (the Smith Well-being Questionnaire - SWELL) that records information on demographics, lifestyle and personality, as well as job characteristics. The outcomes measured included illness caused or made worse by work, presenteeism, mental health problems, musculo-skeletal disorders, stress at work, job satisfaction, fatigue, work-life balance and life stress. Over 40% of the sample reported frequent exposure to high levels of noise and in some jobs this was much higher. After controlling for possible confounders, noise was found to predict fatigue at work, job satisfaction, presenteeism, musculo-skeletal disorders, illness caused or made worse by work, work-life balance, life stress and general anxiety/depression. These findings suggest that noise reduces the well-being of railway staff. Further research is needed on the non-auditory effects of the frequent and loud noise exposure in this transport sector

Monotone cellular automata in a random environment

In this paper we study in complete generality the family of two-state, deterministic, monotone, local, homogeneous cellular automata in $\mathbb{Z}^d$ with random initial configurations. Formally, we are given a set $\mathcal{U}=\{X_1,\dots,X_m\}$ of finite subsets of $\mathbb{Z}^d\setminus\{\mathbf{0}\}$, and an initial set $A_0\subset\mathbb{Z}^d$ of `infected' sites, which we take to be random according to the product measure with density $p$. At time $t\in\mathbb{N}$, the set of infected sites $A_t$ is the union of $A_{t-1}$ and the set of all $x\in\mathbb{Z}^d$ such that $x+X\in A_{t-1}$ for some $X\in\mathcal{U}$. Our model may alternatively be thought of as bootstrap percolation on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ with arbitrary update rules, and for this reason we call it $\mathcal{U}$-bootstrap percolation. In two dimensions, we give a classification of $\mathcal{U}$-bootstrap percolation models into three classes -- supercritical, critical and subcritical -- and we prove results about the phase transitions of all models belonging to the first two of these classes. More precisely, we show that the critical probability for percolation on $(\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z})^2$ is $(\log n)^{-\Theta(1)}$ for all models in the critical class, and that it is $n^{-\Theta(1)}$ for all models in the supercritical class. The results in this paper are the first of any kind on bootstrap percolation considered in this level of generality, and in particular they are the first that make no assumptions of symmetry. It is the hope of the authors that this work will initiate a new, unified theory of bootstrap percolation on $\mathbb{Z}^d$.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figure

Real Snail Mail

RDFID tagged snails were used as part of a messaging system in order introduce an element of uncertainty in the the delivery mechanism. One inspiration for the project was the Slow Art movement which aims to make people slow down and think about what they are doing. This project was a collaboration between Boredom Research within the Media School and The Creative technologies Research Group within DEC at Bournemouth University

Accuracy assessment of Tri-plane B-mode ultrasound for non-invasive 3D kinematic analysis of knee joints

BACKGROUND Currently the clinical standard for measuring the motion of the bones in knee joints with sufficient precision involves implanting tantalum beads into the bones. These beads appear as high intensity features in radiographs and can be used for precise kinematic measurements. This procedure imposes a strong coupling between accuracy and invasiveness. In this paper, a tri-plane B-mode ultrasound (US) based non-invasive approach is proposed for use in kinematic analysis of knee joints in 3D space. METHODS The 3D analysis is performed using image processing procedures on the 2D US slices. The novelty of the proposed procedure and its applicability to the unconstrained 3D kinematic analysis of knee joints is outlined. An error analysis for establishing the method's feasibility is included for different artificial compositions of a knee joint phantom. Some in-vivo and in-vitro scans are presented to demonstrate that US scans reveal enough anatomical details, which further supports the experimental setup used using knee bone phantoms. RESULTS The error between the displacements measured by the registration of the US image slices and the true displacements of the respective slices measured using the precision mechanical stages on the experimental apparatus is evaluated for translation and rotation in two simulated environments. The mean and standard deviation of errors are shown in tabular form. This method provides an average measurement precision of less than 0.1 mm and 0.1 degrees, respectively. CONCLUSION In this paper, we have presented a novel non-invasive approach to measuring the motion of the bones in a knee using tri-plane B-mode ultrasound and image registration. In our study, the image registration method determines the position of bony landmarks relative to a B-mode ultrasound sensor array with sub-pixel accuracy. The advantages of our proposed system over previous techniques are that it is non-invasive, does not require the use of ionizing radiation and can be used conveniently if miniaturized.This work has been supported by School of Engineering & IT, UNSW Canberra, under Research Publication Fellowship