Growing Up as Risky Business? Risks, Surveillance and the Institutionalized Mistrust of Youth

This paper will argue that a major problem for young people today is that they increasingly cause adults anxiety. This anxiety translates into a raft of interventions and strategies and programmes that target young people. These imaginings reflect and constitute a range of anxieties about the dangers posed by some young people, or to some young people, and how these risks might be economically and prudently managed. These institutionalized relationships of mistrust can have a range of often negative consequences (intended or otherwise) for individuals and populations of young people. I argue that Foucault's work on disciplinary, sovereign and governmental forms of power provides a generative framework for analysing what I refer to as the institutionalized mistrust, surveillance and regulation of contemporary populations of young people.

The use of injury surveillance databases to identify emerging injury hazards

Among the many valuable uses of injury surveillance is the potential to alert health authorities and societies in general to emerging injury trends, facilitating earlier development of prevention measures. Other than road safety, to date, few attempts to forecast injury data have been made, although forecasts have been made of other public health issues. This may in part be due to the complex pattern of variance displayed by injury data. The profile of many injury types displays seasonality and diurnal variance, as well as stochastic variance. The authors undertook development of a simple model to forecast injury into the near term. In recognition of the large numbers of possible predictions, the variable nature of injury profiles and the diversity of dependent variables, it became apparent that manual forecasting was impractical. Therefore, it was decided to evaluate a commercially available forecasting software package for prediction accuracy against actual data for a set of predictions. Injury data for a 4-year period (1996 to 1999) were extracted from the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset and were used to develop forecasts for the year 2000, for which data was also held. The forecasts for 2000 were compared to the actual data for 2000 by independent t-tests, and the standard errors of the predictions were modelled by stepwise hierarchical multiple regression using the independent variables of the standard deviation, seasonality, mean monthly frequency and slope of the base data (R = 0.93, R² = 0.86, F_{(3, 27)} = 55.2, p < 0.0001). Significant contributions to the model included the SD (β = 1.60, p < 0.001), mean monthly frequency (β =  - 0.72, p < 0.002), and the seasonality of the data (β = 0.16, p < 0.02). It was concluded that injury data could be reliably forecast and that commercial software was adequate for the task. Variance in the data was found to be the most important determinant of prediction accuracy. Importantly, automated forecasting may provide a vehicle for identifying emerging trends.

Laboratory enhanced surveillance for meningococcal disease in Victoria

Objective: To describe the epidemiological and microbiological characteristics and notification patterns of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) in Victoria between 1990 and 1999.

Methods: Cases of IMD occurring between 1990 and 1995 identified in any of three databases were combined, matching where possible. Statistical modelling provided estimates of cases missing from all datasets. Notification sources for 1999 and 2000 cases were identified. Cases identified from notification and laboratory results provided the data to describe IMD epidemiology between 1990 and 1999.

Results: Between 1990 and 1995, 479 cases of IMD were identified. Three individual datasets each identified between 62 and 82% of cases and 47% of cases were identified in all three datasets. Statistical modelling estimated that between 37 and 83 additional cases were not identified by any dataset. Serogroup B and C strains caused 63 and 33% of culture-positive cases, respectively, with a substantial rise in serogroup C cases in 1999. Epidemiological characteristics remained relatively constant between 1990 and 1998, but an increase in patient age was seen in cases with serogroup C disease in 1999. In addition to three clonal strains seen elsewhere, an additional strain was identified that was unique to Victoria. Since January 1999, only 72% of notifications have come from treating doctors.

Conclusions: Meningococcal disease is of increasing public health significance in Victoria. Laboratory enhanced notification has improved case identification and detailed microbiological information has improved our understanding of the changing epidemiology of this disease. Collaboration with laboratories and other agencies, active investigation of putative cases and microbiological monitoring are important elements in supporting public health decisions about the control of IMD.

Nutrition surveys or surveillance : one-night stands or a long-term commitment?

Many disparate groups in Australia now concur about the need for continuous food and nutrition monitoring.

Outcomes and costs of primary care surveillance and intervention for overweight or obese children : the LEAP 2 randomised controlled trial

Objective To determine whether ascertainment of childhood obesity by surveillance followed by structured secondary prevention in primary care improved outcomes in overweight or mildly obese children.

Design Randomised controlled trial nested within a baseline cross sectional survey of body mass index (BMI). Randomisation and outcomes measurement, but not participants, were blinded to group assignment.

Setting 45 family practices (66 general practitioners) in Melbourne, Australia.

Participants 3958 children visiting their general practitioner in May 2005-July 2006 were surveyed for BMI. Of these, 258 children aged 5 years 0 months up to their 10th birthday who were overweight or obese by International Obesity Taskforce criteria were randomised to intervention (n=139) or control (n=119) groups. Children who were very obese (UK BMI z score 3.0) were excluded.

Intervention Four standard consultations over 12 weeks targeting change in nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour, supported by purpose designed family materials.

Main outcomes measures Primary measure was BMI at 6 and 12 months after randomisation. Secondary measures were mean activity count/min by 7-day accelerometry, nutrition score from 4-day abbreviated food frequency diary, and child health related quality of life. Differences were adjusted for socioeconomic status, age, sex, and baseline BMI.

Results Of 781 eligible children, 258 (33%) entered the trial; attrition was 3.1% at 6 months and 6.2% at 12 months. Adjusted mean differences (intervention – control) at 6 and 12 months were, for BMI, –0.12 (95% CI –0.40 to 0.15, P=0.4) and –0.11 (–0.45 to 0.22, P=0.5); for physical activity in counts/min, 24 (–4 to 52, P=0.09) and 11 (–26 to 49, P=0.6); and, for nutrition score, 0.2 (–0.03 to 0.4, P=0.1) and 0.1 (–0.1 to 0.4, P=0.2). There was no evidence of harm to the child. Costs to the healthcare system were significantly higher in the intervention arm.

Conclusions Primary care screening followed by brief counselling did not improve BMI, physical activity, or nutrition in overweight or mildly obese 5-10 year olds, and it would be very costly if universally implemented. These findings are at odds with national policies in countries including the US, UK, and Australia.

Vision-based target tracking and surveillance with robust set-valued state estimation

Tracking a target from a video stream (or a sequence of image frames) involves nonlinear measurements in Cartesian coordinates. However, the target dynamics, modeled in Cartesian coordinates, result in a linear system. We present a robust linear filter based on an analytical nonlinear to linear measurement conversion algorithm. Using ideas from robust control theory, a rigorous theoretical analysis is given which guarantees that the state estimation error for the filter is bounded, i.e., a measure against filter divergence is obtained. In fact, an ellipsoidal set-valued estimate is obtained which is guaranteed to contain the true target location with an arbitrarily high probability. The algorithm is particularly suited to visual surveillance and tracking applications involving targets moving on a plane.

Ozbot and haptics : remote surveillance to physical presence

This paper reports on robotic and haptic technologies and capabilities developed for the law enforcement and defence community within Australia by the Centre for Intelligent Systems Research (CISR). The OzBot series of small and medium surveillance robots have been designed in Australia and evaluated by law enforcement and defence personnel to determine suitability and ruggedness in a variety of environments. Using custom developed digital electronics and featuring expandable data busses including RS485, I2C, RS232, video and Ethernet, the robots can be directly connected to many off the shelf payloads such as gas sensors, x-ray sources and camera systems including thermal and night vision. Differentiating the OzBot platform from its peers is its ability to be integrated directly with haptic technology or the 'haptic bubble' developed by CISR. Haptic interfaces allow an operator to physically 'feel' remote environments through position-force control and experience realistic force feedback. By adding the capability to remotely grasp an object, feel its weight, texture and other physical properties in real-time from the remote ground control unit, an operator's situational awareness is greatly improved through Haptic augmentation in an environment where remote-system feedback is often limited.

A social ecological model of ICT cooption : surveillance creep in the information age

A model for ICT cooption is introduced using the example of ’surveillance creep’ which is the phenomenon of increasing dataveillance as the result of the introduction of seemingly benign, useful and convenient technological artefacts. The model identifies and discusses five main components of ICT artefact development and deployment: design, properties, affordances, appropriation and agent interests and locates them in a complex interrelated social ecology. The model provides a way to empirically examine how and why technology favours particular social or organisational outcomes.

Surveillance of wild birds for avian influenza virus

Recent demand for increased understanding of avian influenza virus in its natural hosts, together with the development of high-throughput diagnostics, has heralded a new era in wildlife disease surveillance. However, survey design, sampling, and interpretation in the context of host populations still present major challenges. We critically reviewed current surveillance to distill a series of considerations pertinent to avian influenza virus surveillance in wild birds, including consideration of what, when, where, and how many to sample in the context of survey objectives. Recognizing that wildlife disease surveillance is logistically and financially constrained, we discuss pragmatic alternatives for achieving probability-based sampling schemes that capture this host-pathogen system. We recommend hypothesis-driven surveillance through standardized, local surveys that are, in turn, strategically compiled over broad geographic areas. Rethinking the use of existing surveillance infrastructure can thereby greatly enhance our global understanding of avian influenza and other zoonotic diseases.