Detection of anuran calling activity in long field recordings for bio-acoustic monitoring

This paper presents a system to analyze long field recordings with low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for bio-acoustic monitoring. A method based on spectral peak track, Shannon entropy, harmonic structure and oscillation structure is proposed to automatically detect anuran (frog) calling activity. Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is introduced for modelling those features. Four anuran species widespread in Queensland, Australia, are selected to evaluate the proposed system. A visualization method based on extracted indices is employed for detection of anuran calling activity which achieves high accuracy.

Acoustic classification of Australian anurans using syllable features

Acoustic classification of anurans (frogs) has received increasing attention for its promising application in biological and environment studies. In this study, a novel feature extraction method for frog call classification is presented based on the analysis of spectrograms. The frog calls are first automatically segmented into syllables. Then, spectral peak tracks are extracted to separate desired signal (frog calls) from background noise. The spectral peak tracks are used to extract various syllable features, including: syllable duration, dominant frequency, oscillation rate, frequency modulation, and energy modulation. Finally, a k-nearest neighbor classifier is used for classifying frog calls based on the results of principal component analysis. The experiment results show that syllable features can achieve an average classification accuracy of 90.5% which outperforms Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients features (79.0%).

Acoustic features for multi-level classification of Australian frogs

Over past few decades, frog species have been experiencing dramatic decline around the world. The reason for this decline includes habitat loss, invasive species, climate change and so on. To better know the status of frog species, classifying frogs has become increasingly important. In this study, acoustic features are investigated for multi-level classification of Australian frogs: family, genus and species, including three families, eleven genera and eighty five species which are collected from Queensland, Australia. For each frog species, six instances are selected from which ten acoustic features are calculated. Then, the multicollinearity between ten features are studied for selecting non-correlated features for subsequent analysis. A decision tree (DT) classifier is used to visually and explicitly determine which acoustic features are relatively important for classifying family, which for genus, and which for species. Finally, a weighted support vector machines (SVMs) classifier is used for the multi- level classification with three most important acoustic features respectively. Our experiment results indicate that using different acoustic feature sets can successfully classify frogs at different levels and the average classification accuracy can be up to 85.6%, 86.1% and 56.2% for family, genus and species respectively.

Shariah perspective on marriage contract and practice in contemporary Muslim societies

Forced marriages are worldwide phenomena and also exist in Pakistani society. It involves the lack of free and full consent of at least one of the parties to a marriage. Mostly, females are victims of forced marriages. It is prevalent in the name of religion in many Muslim countries; however, it is purely a traditional and cultural phenomenon which has nothing to do with religion. Forced marriages are different from arranged marriages in which both parties freely consent to enter into marriage contract and they have no objection on the choice of partner selected by their parents. This study will highlights different forms of forced marriages in Pakistani society.

Developing the ASEAN regional road safety strategy

In 2011, more than 75,000 people died in road crashes in the ten member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and many times this number sustained long term injuries. Improving road safety outcomes in ASEAN is not only important for the welfare and economic benefit of these countries, but given that a significant proportion of the world’s population lives in ASEAN, it will strongly influence whether the aims of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety and the Sustainable Development Goals are reached. For this reason, the Asian Development Bank, funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, has funded a package of action to improve road safety in ASEAN, including the development of a regional road safety strategy. The diversity of the member nations of ASEAN poses significant challenges for the development of the strategy. For example, the road fatality rates per 100,000 population in Malaysia and Thailand are about 5 times greater than in Singapore. In addition, the importance of particular road safety issues varies across the ASEAN countries and for countries which are undergoing rapid motorization, the order of importance may change over the life of the strategy. The development of the ASEAN Regional Road Safety Strategy has adopted the five pillars of road safety of the UN Decade of Action but focused on those aspects which are most relevant at the regional level and where a regional approach will support and facilitate actions taken by individual countries.

Stress analysis of carotid plaque based on in vivo MRI of acute symptomatic and asymptomatic patients

Stress analysis within carotid plaques based on in vivo MR imaging has shown to be useful for the identification of vulnerable atheroma. This study is to investigate whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based-biomechanical stress analysis of carotid plaques can differentiate acute symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. 54 asymptomatic and 45 acute symptomatic patients underwent in vivo multi-contrast MRI of the carotid arteries. Plaque geometry used for finite element analysis was derived from in vivo MR images at the site of maximum and minimum plaque burden. In total 198 slices were used for the computational simulations. A pre shrink technique was used to refine the simulation. Maximum principle stress at the vulnerable plaque sites (i.e. critical stress) was extracted for the selected slices and a comparison was performed between the two groups. Critical stress at the site of maximum plaque burden is significantly higher in acute symptomatic patients as compared to asymptomatic patients [median: 198.0kPa (inter quartile range (IQR) = (119.8 - 359.0) vs. 138.4kPa (83.8, 242.6), p=0.04]. No significant difference was found at the minimum plaque burden site between the two groups [196.7kPa (133.3- 282.7) vs. 182.4kPa (117.2 - 310. 6), p=0.82). Stress analysis at the site of maximal plaque burden can be effectively used for differentiating acute symptomatic carotid plaques from asymptomatic plaques. This maybe potentially used for development of biomechanical risk stratification criteria based on plaque burden in future studies.

Curvedness study on atherosclerosis plaques and its implications to plaque stress

Atherosclerosis plaque rupture has been considered to be a mechanical failure of the thin fibrous cap, resulted from extreme plaque stress. Plaque stress was affected by many factors from morphological features to biological abnormalities. In this study, geometrical factors (curvedness, fibrous cap thickness) were studied on assessing plaque vulnerability in comparison with stress analysis results obtained by fluid structure interaction from 20 human carotid atherosclerosis plaques. The results show that plaque surface curvedness could contribute to extreme stress level, especially in plaque shoulder region. General plaque stress distribution could be predicted by fibrous cap thickness and curvedness with multi-regression model. With more features included in the regression model, plaque stress could be easily calculated and used to assess plaque vulnerability.

The development and evaluation of an E-learning package to enhance interprofessional learning

Experience’s of VLE - In some cases was used as little more than a “dumping” ground for lecture/tutorial material. - Allowed easy access to material for staff and students alike. - Attempted use as an interactive teaching and learning platform predominately from a distance learning perspective. Students worked very much in isolation. - Support from Academic and Clinical staff adhoc at times.

The development of a guideline of care for patients with a Sengstaken-Blakemore Tube insitu in a general Intensive Care Unit using translational change theory

Aims & Objectives - identify and diagnose the current problems associated with patient care with regard to the nursing management of patients with Sengstaken-Blakemore tubes insitu; - Identify current nursing practice currently in place within the ICU and the hospital; identify the method by which the assessment and provision of nursing care is delivered in the ICU

Access To Justice In The ASEAN The Key Role Of UNCITRAL

UNCITRAL’s operation as a subsidiary of the UN General Assembly, tasked to unify and harmonise international trade law is a necessary and indispensable element of the UN’s mandate to maintain international peace and security. Strong legal frameworks which are compatible with those of international trading partners often accompany accelerated growth in economic capacity and stability. Over time, access to markets and resultant growth in economic and human development creates a disincentive for instability as incomes and standards of living rise. Human and economic development, facilitated by a modernised and just legal framework that is available to the broadest range of recipients goes hand in hand with the maintenance of domestic and regional peace, particularly in regions such as the ASEAN , one of the fastest growing in the world covering approximately 30% of global population and with a number of strong global economic neighbours including Japan, Korea, China (to the north), Australia (to the south) and Singapore (to the west). In an increasingly interconnected world, the ability of government, enterprise and individuals to participate in the global supply chain offers opportunities for economic growth and development. Over its almost 50 years of operations, UNCITRAL has produced a range of important texts that are designed to underpin world trade. A key implicit assumption underpinning the development of UNCITRAL texts is that the texts, once adopted can and will be applied in adopting states.

LMS acceptance: The instructor role

Learning management systems (LMS) have become the norm in recent years in higher education to further engage students and lecturers. The e-learning tools within LMS provide knowledge sharing and community building opportunities that can support both critical thinking and higher order learning skills through conversation and collaboration. However, the mere existence of tools does not guarantee users’ adoption and acceptance. Several effective arrangements are required to engage users. This paper focuses on different aspects of lecturers’ attitude that impact user engagement with LMS tools reporting on findings from 74 interviews with students and lecturers from different disciplines within a major Australian university. Results indicate that lecturers’ teaching style and habits, active participation in online activities as well as designing appropriate tasks and assessment procedure are important determinants of lecturers’ attitude in engaging students with LMS tools.

Challenges in developing a new regional road safety strategy for ASEAN

In 2011, more than 75,000 people died in road crashes in the ten member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and many times this number sustained long term injuries. Improving road safety outcomes in ASEAN is not only important for the welfare and economic benefit of these countries, but given that a significant proportion of the world's population lives in ASEAN, it will strongly influence whether the aims of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety and the Sustainable Development Goals are reached. Following the ASEAN Senior Transport Officials Meeting in May 2011, the Secretariat requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide assistance to improve road safety in ASEAN. In response, ADB, funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, has funded a package of action to improve road safety in ASEAN, including the development of a new regional road safety strategy. The diversity of the member nations of ASEAN poses significant challenges for the development of the strategy. For example, the road fatality rates per 100,000 population in Malaysia and Thailand are about 5 times greater than in Singapore. In addition, the importance of particular road safety issues varies across the ASEAN countries and for countries which are undergoing rapid motorization, the order of importance may change over the life of the strategy. The development of the ASEAN Regional Road Safety Strategy has adopted the five pillars of road safety of the UN Decade of Action but focused on those aspects which are most relevant at the regional level and where a regional approach will support and facilitate actions taken by individual countries. A draft ASEAN Regional Road Safety Strategy document has been prepared and consultation will further refine its directions and contents. The paper will describe the processes undertaken to identify issues and solutions, the measurement of road safety maturity and behavioural risk factors, and the overall structure and themes of the strategy.

The relationship between forward head posture and cervical muscle performance in healthy individuals

Background Forward head postures (FHP) are proposed to adversely load cervical spine structures. Neck muscles provide support for the neck, and thus an imbalance in neck muscle performance could potentially contribute to the development of FHP. Previous studies have not considered the interaction of multiple muscle groups with regard to postural orientation. Given the interdependence of muscles along the cervical spine for optimal orientation and physical support of the vertebral column, the performance of a single muscle group may not accurately reflect the coordinated ability of the muscles to maintain a neutral neck posture. Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between FHP and the balance between the cervical extensor and flexor muscle groups in healthy individuals. We hypothesised that the magnitude of FHP would be associated with the strength and endurance performance ratios between the cervical extensor and flexor muscle groups. Methods Twenty male and 24 female volunteers were photographed in the sagittal plane wearing surface markers. The FHP of each participant was measured via the tragus-sternum marker distance over two conditions: (1)in relaxed standing and (2)during a sustained sitting task. Maximal strength (Nm) and endurance (s) performance of the extensor and flexor muscle groups were recorded at the upper (craniocervical flexion/extension (CCF/CCE)) and lower (cervicothoracic flexion/extension (CTF/CTE)) cervical regions. Muscle performance measures were expressed as extension:flexion ratios and their relation to FHP evaluated. A stepwise multiple regression analysis using backward elimination was utilised to examine the relationship between the postural measures and the muscle performance ratio measures. Separate models were used for the two different postural conditions (standing, sustained sitting). Gender was included as a constant correction factor in all regression models. Where gender was a significant variable in the model, analyses were repeated separately for males and females. Results Greater FHP in standing was significantly associated with reduced proportional CTE to CCF strength in females (R2 = 0.21, P = 0.03) and greater proportional CTE to CTF strength in males (R2 = 0.23, P = 0.03). A greater drift into FHP during sustained sitting was associated with a relative reduction in CCE endurance proportional to CTF endurance in females only (R2 = 0.27, P = 0.017). Conclusion(s) This initial study indicates that the balance in performance between the cervical flexor and extensor muscle groups may impact FHP in healthy individuals. However, the findings were inconsistent across different muscle performance ratios and gender. Larger scale studies are therefore now needed to further clarify the relationship between FHP and muscle performance. Implications The findings suggest that relative performance of the various cervical muscle groups needs to be accounted for when considering postural correction strategies in the clinical setting, as is often recommended.

Does gait speed indicate prosthetic walking potential following lower limb amputation?

Background: Gait speed is an indicator of walking ability, morbidity and mortality; and is a reliable, valid and sensitive outcome measure commonly used in the rehabilitation setting. Gait speed is a quick and efficient assessment method; yet, to date, there has been little investigation of its potential use in populations with lower limb amputation.