Object classification under ignorance using CaRBS : the case of the European barn swallow

This article investigates the potential of a novel technique for object classification, called Classification and Ranking Belief Simplex (CaRBS), which is based on the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence. As such, the classification of objects and the evidence from their characteristics have a level of ignorance associated with them. Its potential is exposited in the application of the classification of European barn swallows according to their gender. The classification of biological data in the presence of ignorance about such data sets is a common problem in biology. Comparisons of the results from CaRBS with those from multivariate discriminant analysis and neural networks are made. Also shown throughout the investigation is the interpretability of the results with the utilisation of the simplex plot method of representing data

Analysing audio-recorded data : using computer software applications

Conventional methods of qualitative data analysis require transcription of audio-recorded data prior to conduct of the coding and analysis process. In this paper Alison Hutchinson describes and illustrates an innovative method of data analysis that comprises the use of audio-editing software to save selected audio bytes from digital audio recordings of meetings. The use of a database to code and manage the linked audio files and generate detailed and summary reports, including reporting of code frequencies according to participant code and/or meeting, is also highlighted. The advantage of using this approach in the analysis of audio-recorded data is that the process may be undertaken in the medium in which the data were collected. Though time-consuming, this process negates the need for expensive and time intensive transcription of recorded data.

School and local environmental knowledge, what are the links? A case study among indigenous adolescents in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Understanding environmental learning is the first step to constructing successful environmental education programs. Little research has addressed the relation between the environmental knowledge learned inside and outside schools. Environmental educators and ethnobiologists have worked independently, without assessing how school and local environmental knowledge relate to each other. This research examines school and local environmental knowledge acquisition of 95 Mexican indigenous adolescents. Multivariate regression analysis was used to assess (1) school and local environmental knowledge overlap and (2) the association between individual environmental knowledge and socio-demographic characteristics. Data show that school and local environmental knowledge are not associated in a statistically significant way. A possible explanation for the finding is that the two forms of knowledge are complementary because they exist in parallel. Adolescents’ school and local environmental knowledge is associated with their level of schooling, but not with parental occupation in community forestry. The use of traditional pedagogical practices at school and the loss of traditional culture at home might hamper indigenous adolescents’ environmental learning.

Multiagent framework for bio-data mining

This paper proposes to apply multiagent based data mining technologies to biological data analysis. The rationale is justified from multiple perspectives with an emphasis on biological context. Followed by that, an initial multiagent based bio-data mining framework is presented. Based on the framework, we developed a prototype system to demonstrate how it helps the biologists to perform a comprehensive mining task for answering biological questions. The system offers a new way to reuse biological datasets and available data mining algorithms with ease.

Analysis of twelve electrical and electronics engineering programs

This paper investigates undergraduate programs in electrical and electronics engineering offered by twelve universities in Australia, Asia, Europe, and America. The investigation focuses on the structure and content of the programs, and the contact hour and assessment of the subjects involved in the programs. The investigation is carried out in four stages: selection of universities, collection of data, analysis of data, and formulation of outcomes. A list of subjects is created based on the content of the programs. The average percentage coverage of each subject in the twelve programs is calculated. The subjects are then grouped into nine program components. The average percentage coverage of each component per university is calculated. For each component, the total number of contact hours for lecture, tutorial, and practical is calculated. Also, the average percentage of four assessment methods for each component is found. Discussions on the outcome of the investigation are presented.

Qualitative methods in early-phase drug trials : data and methods from a trial of N-acetylcysteine in schizophrenia

Objective: The pharmacokinetic profile of a drug often gives little indication of its potential therapeutic application, with many therapeutic uses of drugs being discovered serendipitously while being studied for different indications. As hypothesis-driven, quantitative research methodology is exclusively used in early-phase trials, unexpected but important phenomena may escape detection. In this context, this study aimed to examine the potential for integrating qualitative research methods with quantitative methods in early-phase drug trials. To our knowledge, this mixed methodology has not previously been applied to blinded psychopharmacologic trials.

Method: We undertook qualitative data analysis of clinical observations on the dataset of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in patients with DSM-IV-TR–diagnosed schizophrenia (N = 140). Textual data on all participants, deliberately collected for this purpose, were coded using NVivo 2, and emergent themes were analyzed in a blinded manner in the NAC and placebo groups. The trial was conducted from November 2002 to July 2005.

Results: The principal findings of the published trial could be replicated using a qualitative methodology. In addition, significant differences between NAC- and placebo-treated participants emerged for positive and affective symptoms, which had not been captured by the rating scales utilized in the quantitative trial. Qualitative data in this study subsequently led to a positive trial of NAC in bipolar disorder.

Conclusions: The use of qualitative methods may yield broader data and has the potential to complement traditional quantitative methods and detect unexpected efficacy and safety signals, thereby maximizing the findings of early-phase clinical trial research.

Determining binding constants from 1H NMR titration data using global and local methods : a case study using [n]polynorbornane-based anion hosts

From data generated using 1H NMR titrations, different methodologies to calculate binding constants are compared. The ‘local’ analysis method that uses only a single isotherm (only one H-bond donor) is compared against the ‘global’ method (that includes many or all H-bond donors). The results indicate that for simple systems both methods are suitable, however, the global approach consistently provides a K a value with uncertainties up to 30% smaller. For more complex binding, the global analysis method gives much more robust results than the local methods. This study also highlights the need to explore several different modes when data do not fit well to a simple 1:1 complexation model and illustrates the need for better methods to estimate uncertainties in supramolecular binding experiments.

What to do when you can’t (afford to) collect your own data? : a test case using the longitudinal study of Australian children to investigate the influence of parental context on media use and obesity

The dramatic rise in childhood obesity prevalence in the last two decades has prompted concern about the risk factors that may precipitate or maintain weight gain, or both, in early childhood. Media use has long been implicated in policy debates in Australia, particularly around limits to advertising. However the Australian research funding ecology and dominant paradigms in Australian communication and media studies have resulted in a lack of independent, nationally representative studies upon which to base advice. Australian researchers often can’t afford to collect the kind of data they would like in order to intervene productively as policy actors. As a test case for innovative ways round this dilemma, this paper mobilises secondary data analysis methodologies to explore potential influences of parenting on children’s media use and their weight status.

The research reported here uses data from the first three waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Results from a path model suggest that children of mothers who were less consistent in the way in which they enforce their rules were more likely to adopt unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, such as sedentary behaviour and consuming unhealthy snacks. Of the lifestyle behaviours considered, time spent watching television or DVDs was the only predictor of child weight status in late childhood. These results suggest a clear pathway linking consistent parenting and other parental practices, children’s lifestyle behaviours and weight status.

Visualising a state-wide patient data collection : a case study to expand the audience for healthcare data

This paper describes the application of existing and novel adaptations of visualisation techniques to routinely collected health data. The aim of this case study is to examine the capacity for visualisation approaches to quickly and e ectively inform clinical, policy, and scal decision making to improve healthcare provision. We demonstrate the use of interactive graphics, fluctuation plots, mosaic plots, time plots, heatmaps, and disease maps to visualise patient admission, transfer, in-hospital mortality, morbidity coding, execution of diagnosis and treatment guidelines, and the temporal and spatial variations of diseases. The relative e ectiveness of these techniques and associated challenges are discussed.

Managing post-discharge care at home: an analysis of patients' and their carers' perceptions of information received during their stay in hospital

This small-scale study carried out in a Melbourne metropolitan hospital explored patients’ and their carers’ perceptions of information, adequacy of information, and their utilization of information concerning post-discharge care received from health professionals during their stay in hospital. The research design consisted of two stages. Stage one involved a qualitative approach using focused interviews of five pairs of patients and their carers, 2 weeks after discharge from hospital. Five main themes emerged from the content analysis of the interview transcripts: information given by health professionals to patients and carers, patients’ and carers’ psychological well-being, activities of daily living, caring tasks of the patients, and community linkages. A quantitative approach was used for stage two involving two sets of questionnaires, one for the patient and one for the carer, developed from the themes identified in stage one. A pilot study was conducted on three pairs of patients and their carers, 2 weeks after discharge from hospital. The main study consisted of a convenience sample of 40 pairs of patients and their carers who completed the questionnaires 2 weeks post-discharge. Data analysis of stage two of the study consisted of descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations. The main findings suggested that carers received very little information from health professionals concerning their patients’ health problems and care at home. The carers’ health and employment states were often not considered in their patients’ discharge plan. Carers who were present with their patients when they received information concerning post-discharge care experienced a decrease in anxiety during their patients’ convalescence at home, greater satisfaction with the information they received, and their patients experienced fewer medical problems post-discharge. The implications for nursing practice and research include recommendations for a more effective system of discharge planning, and further research to include a larger population with a more varied group of participants.

Policy and practice impacts of applied research: a case study analysis of the New South Wales Health Promotion Demonstration Research Grants Scheme 2000-2006

Background
Intervention research provides important information regarding feasible and effective interventions for health policy makers, but few empirical studies have explored the mechanisms by which these studies influence policy and practice. This study provides an exploratory case series analysis of the policy, practice and other related impacts of the 15 research projects funded through the New South Wales Health Promotion Demonstration Research Grants Scheme during the period 2000 to 2006, and explored the factors mediating impacts.

Methods
Data collection included semi-structured interviews with the chief investigators (n = 17) and end-users (n = 29) of each of the 15 projects to explore if, how and under what circumstances the findings had been used, as well as bibliometric analysis and verification using documentary evidence. Data analysis involved thematic coding of interview data and triangulation with other data sources to produce case summaries of impacts for each project. Case summaries were then individually assessed against four impact criteria and discussed at a verification panel meeting where final group assessments of the impact of research projects were made and key influences of research impact identified.

Results
Funded projects had variable impacts on policy and practice. Project findings were used for agenda setting (raising awareness of issues), identifying areas and target groups for interventions, informing new policies, and supporting and justifying existing policies and programs across sectors. Reported factors influencing the use of findings were: i) nature of the intervention; ii) leadership and champions; iii) research quality; iv) effective partnerships; v) dissemination strategies used; and, vi) contextual factors.

Conclusions
The case series analysis provides new insights into how and under what circumstances intervention research is used to influence real world policy and practice. The findings highlight that intervention research projects can achieve the greatest policy and practice impacts if they address proximal needs of the policy context by engaging end-users from the inception of projects and utilizing existing policy networks and structures, and using a range of strategies to disseminate findings that go beond traditional peer review publications.

Removing the ambiguity of data processing methods: Optimizing the location of peak boundaries for accurate moment calculations

The calculation of the first few moments of elution peaks is necessary to determine: the amount of component in the sample (peak area or zeroth moment), the retention factor (first moment), and the column efficiency (second moment). It is a time consuming and tedious task for the analyst to perform these calculations, thus data analysis is generally completed by data stations associated to modern chromatographs. However, data acquisition software is a black box which provides no information to chromatographers on how their data are treated. These results are too important to be accepted on blind faith. The location of the peak integration boundaries is most important. In this manuscript, we explore the relationships between the size of the integration area, the relative position of the peak maximum within this area, and the accuracy of the calculated moments. We found that relationships between these parameters do exist and that computers can be programmed with relatively simple routines to automatize the extraction of key peak parameters and to select acceptable integration boundaries. It was also found that the most accurate results are obtained when the S/N exceeds 200.

Scaffolding, analysis and materials: contributing factors in an unexpected finding of advanced infant/toddler pretend play?

As part of a longitudinal study, infant/toddler pretend play development and maternal play modelling were investigated in dyadic context. A total of 21 children were videotaped in monthly play sessions with their mothers, from age 8 to 17 months. Child and mother pretend play frequencies and levels were measured using Brown’s Pretend Play Observation Scale. Child IQ assessments at 5 years (Stanford–Binet IV) indicated average to high ability levels (M = 122.62). Descriptive analyses showed that children’s levels of pretend development were markedly in advance of age-typical expectations. With a previous analysis showing no specific associations between play levels and IQ, intensive maternal scaffolding, data analysis approaches and use of abstract play materials are proposed as possible contributory factors to the children’s advanced pretend play development.

A review of 16 years of quality control parameters at a mass-rearing facility producing Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni

From 1996 to 2012, the mass-rearing facility at Camden (NSW, Australia) has been producing Queensland fruit flies, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae). During this time, the facility has regularly recorded fly quality parameters, creating a unique data set that provides an invaluable opportunity to evaluate the interrelationships among standard quality control (QC) parameters and test for redundant QC variables. Here, we conducted an exploratory data analysis to reveal relationships among the QC parameters. We found that pupal weight, adult lifespan, and longevity under nutritional stress (i.e., survival duration without food or water) had distinct monthly trends, suggesting that these QC parameters are sensitive to seasonal conditions. Furthermore, emergence percentage, flight ability, and adult lifespan were adversely affected by the dyeing/handling/irradiation process associated with sterile insect releases. Using a multivariate approach and controlling for monthly and yearly patterns, we showed that pupal weight and egg hatch are consistently negatively related and that percentage male and emergence rates are consistently negatively related. These results suggest that these correlation pairs measure similar quality information and hence one QC variable from each pair could be dropped. Flight ability was not strongly correlated with any of the QC variables, suggesting that this QC variable remains a useful QC metric. Finally, the longevity under nutritional stress QC appears to be fairly insensitive to QCs and we suggest that it should be replaced by the standard mortality under stress test.