The impact of using a pedometer on time spent walking in older adults with Type 2 diabetes

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of using a pedometer on time spent walking, in sedentary and overweight adults with type 2 diabetes participating in a coaching intervention. It was hypothesized that participants using a pedometer would spend more time walking than would nonpedometer participants.

Method

A sample of 57 men and women with a mean age of 62 years participated in a randomized controlled trial in a community setting. Participants were allocated to either a pedometer and coaching (intervention) group or a coaching-only (control) group. Coaching for both groups involved education, goal setting, and supportive/ motivational strategies to increase time spent walking. The duration of the study was 6 months, with blood pressure, glycosylated hemoglobin, anthropometric, and fitness measurements assessed at baseline and at 3-month intervals.

Results

A repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated that the coaching-only group spent significantly more time walking than did the pedometer group. However, when an analysis of covariance with all the other variables as covariates was performed, group membership had no influence on time spent walking. Significant reductions in waist circumference and weight were achieved for both groups from baseline to 6 months. Cardiovascular fitness also increased significantly for both groups.

Conclusion

The study demonstrated that previously sedentary older adults with type 2 diabetes, supported with a coaching intervention, were able to achieve the physical activity targets known to be beneficial to health. However, using a pedometer added no further benefit. Further research on the impact of specific coaching strategies in diabetes management is warranted.

Management of lipids in rural Australia : are the guidelines being followed?

Background: Hypercholesterolaemia is ranked seventh among the major factors contributing to the overall burden of disease in Australia. Guidelines for evidence-based lipid management were released in 2001 and updated in 2005, however little population level data has been published on the current gap between recommended management and actual practice in Australia.

Method: Three population stratified surveys were undertaken in the Greater Green Triangle. Three thousand three hundred and twenty adults aged 25–74 years were randomly selected, stratified by gender and 10-year age groups. Anthropometric, clinical and self-administered questionnaire data relating to cardiovascular disease risk were collected in accordance with the WHO MONICA protocol. Blood samples were collected for lipid profile analysis. Participants were divided into four groups—Group 1: treated, high CVD risk; Group 2: treated, primary prevention; Group 3: untreated, high CVD risk; Group 4: untreated, low CVD risk. For each of these groups we compared cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL cholesterol with targets recommended by the National Heart Foundation's 2005 guidelines.

Results: All lipids were at target in 39.4% of the study population with marked differences between groups: Group 1, 11.2%; Group 2, 38.5%; Group 3, 1.8%; Group 4, 47.6%.

Only 50.8% of the untreated high CVD risk group reported having blood cholesterol measured within the last 12 months.

Conclusion: Current rates of detection and treatment practices in rural Australia are suboptimal. Although one-third of the study population age 25–74 years are at sufficiently high risk to warrant consideration of lipid lowering medication only just over half of these were on treatment at the time of the study. These results suggest that an intensive implementation plan is required for the management of hyperlipidaemia in rural Australia.

Recognition of idle resources in time-driven activity-based costing and resource consumption accounting models

Despite its theoretical superiority over traditional volume-based costing models, the Activity-Based Costing (ABC) model has failed to replace traditional volume-based costing models in most organisations. In response to the problems of the model, Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TDABC) and Resource Consumption Accounting (RCA) models have been developed as costing models for next generation cost management systems. A key feature that distinguishes TDABC and RCA models from traditional volume-based costing models and the ABC model is the recognition of idle resources in resource pools.

This paper presents a discussion on implications of recognising idle resources in TDABC and RCA models on developments, maintenance and uses of cost management systems. A hypothetical case is presented to illustrate conversions of an ABC-based costing model to ones that are based on the TDABC and RCA models, and the resulting new allocation of resource costs.

Management of SPMD based parallel processing on clusters of workstations

Current attempts to manage parallel applications on Clusters of Workstations (COWs) have either generally followed the parallel execution environment approach or been extensions to existing network operating systems, both of which do not provide complete or satisfactory solutions. The efficient and transparent management of parallelism within the COW environment requires enhanced methods of process instantiation, mapping of parallel process to workstations, maintenance of process relationships, process communication facilities, and process coordination mechanisms. The aim of this research is to synthesise, design, develop and experimentally study a system capable of efficiently and transparently managing SPMD parallelism on a COW. This system should both improve the performance of SPMD based parallel programs and relieve the programmer from the involvement into parallelism management in order to allow them to concentrate on application programming. It is also the aim of this research to show that such a system, to achieve these objectives, is best achieved by adding new special services and exploiting the existing services of a client/server and microkernel based distributed operating system. To achieve these goals the research methods of the experimental computer science should be employed. In order to specify the scope of this project, this work investigated the issues related to parallel processing on COWs and surveyed a number of relevant systems including PVM, NOW and MOSIX. It was shown that although the MOSIX system provide a number of good services related to parallelism management, none of the system forms a complete solution. The problems identified with these systems include: instantiation services that are not suited to parallel processing; duplication of services between the parallelism management environment and the operating system; and poor levels of transparency. A high performance and transparent system capable of managing the execution of SPMD parallel applications was synthesised and the specific services of process instantiation, process mapping and process interaction detailed. The process instantiation service designed here provides the capability to instantiate parallel processes using either creation or duplication methods and also supports multiple and group based instantiation which is specifically design for SPMD parallel processing. The process mapping service provides the combination of process allocation and dynamic load balancing to ensure the load of a COW remains balanced not only at the time a parallel program is initialised but also during the execution of the program. The process interaction service guarantees to maintain transparently process relationships, communications and coordination services between parallel processes regardless of their location within the COW. The combination of these services provides an original architecture and organisation of a system that is capable of fully managing the execution of SPMD parallel applications on a COW. A logical design of a parallelism management system was developed derived from the synthesised system and was shown that it should ideally be based on a distributed operating system employing the client server model. The client/server based distributed operating system provides the level of transparency, modularity and flexibility necessary for a complete parallelism management system. The services identified in the synthesised system have been mapped to a set of server processes including: Process Instantiation Server providing advanced multiple and group based process creation and duplication; Process Mapping Server combining load collection, process allocation and dynamic load balancing services; and Process Interaction Server providing transparent interprocess communication and coordination. A Process Migration Server was also identified as vital to support both the instantiation and mapping servers. The RHODOS client/server and microkernel based distributed operating system was selected to carry out research into the detailed design and to be used for the implementation this parallelism management system. RHODOS was enhanced to provide the required servers and resulted in the development of the REX Manager, Global Scheduler and Process Migration Manager to provide the services of process instantiation, mapping and migration, respectively. The process interaction services were already provided within RHODOS and only required some extensions to the existing Process Manager and IPC Managers. Through a variety of experiments it was shown that when this system was used to support the execution of SPMD parallel applications the overall execution times were improved, especially when multiple and group based instantiation services are employed. The RHODOS PMS was also shown to greatly reduce the programming burden experienced by users when writing SPMD parallel applications by providing a small set of powerful primitives specially designed to support parallel processing. The system was also shown to be applicable and has been used in a variety of other research areas such as Distributed Shared Memory, Parallelising Compilers and assisting the port of PVM to the RHODOS system. The RHODOS Parallelism Management System (PMS) provides a unique and creative solution to the problem of transparently and efficiently controlling the execution of SPMD parallel applications on COWs. Combining advanced services such as multiple and group based process creation and duplication; combined process allocation and dynamic load balancing; and complete COW wide transparency produces a totally new system that addresses many of the problems not addressed in other systems.

Conflict management : the team New Zealand case

The primary subject matter of this case is the effectiveness of risk management strategies associated with the staging of a major international sporting event. A secondary issue examined in the case concerns the proprietary rights of employers to the intellectual capital and skills acquired by employees. The case requires an understanding of strategic risk management and good corporate governance principles.

This case has a difficulty level that makes it most suitable for senior level students in a Corporate Governance/Business Ethics course. The case is designed to be taught in three class hours and would require about eight hours of out-of-class time which includes reading the case material and the articles listed in the references.

Contract management in government

The primary subject matter of this case is the procedure for contract management in relation to the application for and granting of government funding to organisations. A secondary issue examined in the case concerns the adequacy and effectiveness of governance and accountability controls within organisations receiving public funds for the external supply of services. The case requires an understanding of audit planning and good governance and accountability principles.
This case has a difficulty level that makes it most suitable for senior level students in an Auditing/Corporate Governance/Business Ethics course. The case is designed to be taught in three class hours and would require about eight hours of out-of-class time which includes reading the case material and the articles and other items listed in the references.

An integrated observation network for the Gippsland Lakes, Victoria, Australia : balancing the needs of science and management

The Gippsland Lakes region in eastern Victoria is a partially flushed coastal lake system within a diverse catchment of rural and urban communities. Pressure from lakeside developments, re-occurring blue-green algal blooms, declining fisheries, sedimentation and infilling of the ocean entrance, has borne several decades of focussed studies and routine monitoring programs, along with a variety of engineering and management solutions. A recent review recommended that these disparate studies should be enhanced to formulate a coordinated monitoring network that could improve both spatial and temporal coverage, develop a capacity to trigger responsive investigations and was able to serve the needs of system management. Through a series of partnerships an integrated network was developed that comprises event and baseline monitoring of catchment loads, local meteorological forcing and an array of water quality sampling sites within the lakes system. A majority of these sites are incorporated with real-time telemetry that provides up to the minute information to stakeholders via a web-based information management system and vital operational status to technical system management.

Deep identity, shallow time : sustaining a future in Victorian fishing communities

Like commercial fishers everywhere, it seems, those living in coastal communities of Victoria perceive themselves to be under threat from recreational fishers, environmentalists, imposed management regimes, and modernisation and globalisation of the industry. In responding to these threats they appeal to conventional props of tradition--to continuity in genealogical time, affiliation with place and specialised knowledge and practice. This seems paradoxical, given that most established fishers in Victoria are first or second generation members of an industry that, through its 150-year history, has been characterised by innovation and mobility. That paradox, we argue, is more apparent than real. Fisher identity is grounded primarily in engagement with an environment that is not familiar to outsiders. The paradox arises because fishers, like others who seek to sustain a future in the face of threat from outsiders, reshape strongly felt identity as tradition.

A cost-effectiveness analysis of the management of sore throat in children in Australia

For the first time a cost-effectiveness analysis of the management of sore throat in Australian children has been conducted using accurate epidemiological data generated from recent Australian studies.

Meeting the challenge of establishing commercial mohair enterprises by building an interactive enterprise management and financial model

To assist in attracting investors into mohair production in Australia, a production and financial model was built as a learning and support tool. The work aimed to reduce search time and thinking costs about the impact of management strategies on financial feasibility. Various management strategies and assumptions applied to a case study with 300 breeding Angora does and eight variations. The results showed an internal rate of return for mohair ranging from 9.3% to 21.2% over 12 years, a median gross margin per effective hectare ranging from $82 to $167, cash at bank in year 12 ranging from $8,700 to $56,800 and net enterprise assets ranging from $69,900 to $155,700. A key benefit of the model was its ability to allow new farmers to explore potential management strategies and their assumptions about a future enterprise before investing.

Key success factors in real-time industrial system assurance

The thesis analyses the issues of implementing real-time software systems in industrial applications. The benefit is the development of the Integrated Mega Project Development Model, to improve the effectiveness of planning and timely delivery of software, the quality of the delivered software and reducing problems associated with integrating software systems.

Role of school principals within a context of changes in the management of Victorian education 1982-1992

Change occured rapidly and was far reaching in Victoria's educational system in the 1980's and early 1990s. The Labour Party for the first time in 27 years formed a government in 1982. The Educational Minister sought input from many of the groups within the education community and the resulting Ministerial Papers set scence for change. Principles of Victorian Schools were now required to operate within a climate of participative democrary and this brought changes to the way ion which they had been used to operating. As more and more changes took place there were some changes of direction which affected the context within which affected the context within which principals principals operated. How did this affect the role of of the principals? What were the changes in their practices and organisation of work?

Transaction management in a replicated and mobile environment

Reports the design of three-level transaction processing model which provides efficient transaction management in a replicated and mobile environment. The model uses a promary/non-primary replication control protocol to enable transaction processing with fast user response time at any distributed site including mobile hosts. A Web-based design with an implementation of a prototype application system shows a concrete example of how to adopt the transaction model over distributed databases.

Risk-based trust management for e-commerce

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) offers enormous opportunities for online trading while at the same time presenting potential risks. Although various mechanisms have been developed to elevate trust in e-commerce, research shows that shoppers continue to be skeptical about buying online and lack of trust is often cited as the main reason for it. Thus, enhancing success in e-commerce requires eliminating or reducing the risks. In this chapter, we present a multi-attribute trust management model that incorporates trust, transaction costs and product warranties. The new trust management system enables potential buyers to determine the risk level of a product before committing to proceed with the transaction. This is useful to online buyers as it allows them to be aware of the risk level and subsequently take the appropriate actions to minimize potential risks before engaging in risky businesses. Results of various simulation experiments show that the proposed multi-attribute trust management system can be highly effective in identifying risky transaction in electronic market places.

Intelligent based mobility models for data management in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are proposed as powerful means for fine grained monitoring in different classes of applications at very low cost and for extended periods of time. Among various solutions, supporting WSNs with intelligent mobile platforms for handling the data management, proved its benefits towards extending the network lifetime and enhancing its performance. The mobility model applied highly affects the data latency in the network as well as the sensors’ energy consumption levels. Intelligent-based models taking into consideration the network runtime conditions are adopted to overcome such problems. In this chapter, existing proposals that use intelligent mobility for managing the data in WSNs are surveyed. Different classifications are presented through the chapter to give a complete view on the solutions lying in this domain. Furthermore, these models are compared considering various metrics and design goals.