Which mothers receive a postpartum home visit in Queensland, Australia? A cross-sectional retrospective study

Objective While home visiting in the early postpartum period appears to have increased, there are limited data defining which women receive a visit and none that include Queensland. We aimed to investigate patterns of postpartum home visiting in the public and private sectors in Queensland. Methods Data were collected via a retrospective cross-sectional survey of women birthing in Queensland between 1st February and 31st May 2010 at 4 months postpartum (N = 6948). Logistic regression was used to assess associations between receiving a home visit and sociodemographic, clinical and hospital variables. Analyses were stratified by public and private birthing sector because of significant differences between sectors. Results Public sector women were more likely to receive a visit from a nurse or midwife (from the hospital or child health sector) within 10 days of hospital discharge (67.2%) than private sector women (7.2%). Length of hospital stay was associated with home visiting in both sectors. Some vulnerable sub-populations in both sectors were more likely to be visited, while others were not. Conclusions Home visiting in Queensland varies markedly between the public and private sector and is less common in some vulnerable populations. Further consideration to improving the equity of community postpartum care in Queensland is needed.

Hydrostratigraphic analysis of the MADE site with full-resolution GPR and direct-push hydraulic profiling

Full-resolution 3D Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) data were combined with high-resolution hydraulic conductivity (K) data from vertical Direct-Push (DP) profiles to characterize a portion of the highly heterogeneous MAcro Dispersion Experiment (MADE) site. This is an important first step to better understand the influence of aquifer heterogeneities on observed anomalous transport. Statistical evaluation of DP data indicates non-normal distributions that have much higher similarity within each GPR facies than between facies. The analysis of GPR and DP data provides high-resolution estimates of the 3D geometry of hydrostratigraphic zones, which can then be populated with stochastic K fields. The lack of such estimates has been a significant limitation for testing and parameterizing a range of novel transport theories at sites where the traditional advection-dispersion model has proven inadequate.

Nutrient discharge to groundwater at the Kaharoa rainfall recharge site, Rotorua [GNS Science Consultancy Report 2008/320]

Environment Bay of Plenty Commissioned GNS Science to measure nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in rainfalla nd rainfall recharge to groundwater at the Kaharoa rainfall recharge site. The aim of this work is to determine nutrient concentrations in rainfall recharge to groundwater and rainfall under pasoral land use.

Automatic UAV forced landing site detection using machine learning

The commercialization of aerial image processing is highly dependent on the platforms such as UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). However, the lack of an automated UAV forced landing site detection system has been identified as one of the main impediments to allow UAV flight over populated areas in civilian airspace. This article proposes a UAV forced landing site detection system that is based on machine learning approaches including the Gaussian Mixture Model and the Support Vector Machine. A range of learning parameters are analysed including the number of Guassian mixtures, support vector kernels including linear, radial basis function Kernel (RBF) and polynormial kernel (poly), and the order of RBF kernel and polynormial kernel. Moreover, a modified footprint operator is employed during feature extraction to better describe the geometric characteristics of the local area surrounding a pixel. The performance of the presented system is compared to a baseline UAV forced landing site detection system which uses edge features and an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) region type classifier. Experiments conducted on aerial image datasets captured over typical urban environments reveal improved landing site detection can be achieved with an SVM classifier with an RBF kernel using a combination of colour and texture features. Compared to the baseline system, the proposed system provides significant improvement in term of the chance to detect a safe landing area, and the performance is more stable than the baseline in the presence of changes to the UAV altitude.

Inferring phylogenies of evolving sequences without multiple sequence alignment

Alignment-free methods, in which shared properties of sub-sequences (e.g. identity or match length) are extracted and used to compute a distance matrix, have recently been explored for phylogenetic inference. However, the scalability and robustness of these methods to key evolutionary processes remain to be investigated. Here, using simulated sequence sets of various sizes in both nucleotides and amino acids, we systematically assess the accuracy of phylogenetic inference using an alignment-free approach, based on D2 statistics, under different evolutionary scenarios. We find that compared to a multiple sequence alignment approach, D2 methods are more robust against among-site rate heterogeneity, compositional biases, genetic rearrangements and insertions/deletions, but are more sensitive to recent sequence divergence and sequence truncation. Across diverse empirical datasets, the alignment-free methods perform well for sequences sharing low divergence, at greater computation speed. Our findings provide strong evidence for the scalability and the potential use of alignment-free methods in large-scale phylogenomics.

Working on the edge : Exploring the creative tensions experienced by practitioners facilitating participatory media projects with refugees and asylum seekers in Australia

This paper aims to provide a contextualised and embedded exploration of how the notions of "practice" and "participation", key concepts in the study of culture and media, are manifest in an example of a complex creative project. This project aimed to engage with refugees and asylum seekers through the co-creation of cultural material and is an outcome of an? ethnographic action research (Tacchi et al. 2003) partnership involving a community development worker in a settlement support agency and a storytelling/community media researcher (the author), along with other project collaborators. The discussion of this project focuses on the role of the facilitator and illustrates the processes of orchestrating a complex project involving a series of linked stages with cumulative effect. As practitioners at this site we are working in the space where personal narratives, participatory arts and media, and the staging of intercultural, civic dialogue events, intersect. Co-creative media facilitation in these contexts involves both managing hybrid communicative spaces and (re)combining the "integrative practices" (Schatzki 1996) of a range of professional approaches and creative roles. This is liminal work, located on the boundaries of several disciplines and practices. Drawing on reflections gathered from collaborative ethnographic descriptions (Bhattacharya 2008), this paper traces moments of practitioner uncertainty that can be linked to the way "practice" and “participation” is problematised within the community cultural development field in a way that is at times an uneasy fit with conventional ways of operating in social service roles. These moments of tension also indicate where this project pushed practitioners into spaces of improvisation and new learning. Keywords: Youth, refugees, community cultural development, co-creative media facilitation, ethnographic action research, intercultural dialogue.

Contracted site: Artist on paper, drawing

Traditionally the notion of drawing in-situ has suggested the physical presence of the artist in the environment under scrutiny. The assumption here of enhanced connectivity, however, is hasty in light of the idea that situation implies a relative spatial value determined by the interplay of subject and location, where the possibility of not being “in-situ” is problematic. The fact that traditional drawing in-situ, such as the rendering of landscape, requires a framing of the world “out there” suggests a distance between the perceived object of representation and the drawing surface. Rather than suggesting that some drawing is situated and other sorts of drawing are not, however, I argue that situation or site is variously extended and intensified depending on the nature of mediation between surface and environment. The suggestion here is that site is not so much a precondition as a performative function, developed in the act of drawing and always implicating the drawing surface. In my discussion I focus on specific works by Toba Khedoori and Cameron Robbins. As well, in using my own recent drawing practice as a case study, I argue that the geography of site is delimited neither by horizon nor the boundaries of the paper. Rather, I propose that site and drawing surface coincide in variously intensive and extensive ways.

A place carved out by time

A travel story about South Dakota. "Time travel is much easier in life than in the movies. Driving out of Rapid City in South Dakota, you cover 500,000 years in the first hour. That journey brings you to the Badlands, a vast natural excavation site that has been created by water and wind. At the same time, you’re deposited into the deep past..."--publisher website

Preoperative bathing or showering with skin antiseptics to prevent surgical site infection

Background Surgical site infections (SSIs) are wound infections that occur after invasive (surgical) procedures. Preoperative bathing or showering with an antiseptic skin wash product is a well-accepted procedure for reducing skin bacteria (microflora). It is less clear whether reducing skin microflora leads to a lower incidence of surgical site infection. Objectives To review the evidence for preoperative bathing or showering with antiseptics for preventing hospital-acquired (nosocomial) surgical site infections. Search methods For this fifth update we searched the Cochrane Wounds Group Specialised Register (searched 18 December 2014); the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library 2014 Issue 11); Ovid MEDLINE (2012 to December Week 4 2014), Ovid MEDLINE (In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations December 18, 2014); Ovid EMBASE (2012 to 2014 Week 51), EBSCO CINAHL (2012 to December 18 2014) and reference lists of articles. Selection criteria Randomised controlled trials comparing any antiseptic preparation used for preoperative full-body bathing or showering with non-antiseptic preparations in people undergoing surgery. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed studies for selection, risk of bias and extracted data. Study authors were contacted for additional information. Main results We did not identify any new trials for inclusion in this fifth update. Seven trials involving a total of 10,157 participants were included. Four of the included trials had three comparison groups. The antiseptic used in all trials was 4% chlorhexidine gluconate (Hibiscrub/Riohex). Three trials involving 7791 participants compared chlorhexidine with a placebo. Bathing with chlorhexidine compared with placebo did not result in a statistically significant reduction in SSIs; the relative risk of SSI (RR) was 0.91 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.80 to 1.04). When only trials of high quality were included in this comparison, the RR of SSI was 0.95 (95%CI 0.82 to 1.10). Three trials of 1443 participants compared bar soap with chlorhexidine; when combined there was no difference in the risk of SSIs (RR 1.02, 95% CI 0.57 to 1.84). Three trials of 1192 patients compared bathing with chlorhexidine with no washing, one large study found a statistically significant difference in favour of bathing with chlorhexidine (RR 0.36, 95%CI 0.17 to 0.79). The smaller studies found no difference between patients who washed with chlorhexidine and those who did not wash preoperatively. Authors' conclusions This review provides no clear evidence of benefit for preoperative showering or bathing with chlorhexidine over other wash products, to reduce surgical site infection. Efforts to reduce the incidence of nosocomial surgical site infection should focus on interventions where effect has been demonstrated.

Investigation of structural requirements of anticancer activity at the paclitaxel/tubulin binding site using CoMFA and CoMSIA

CoMFA and CoMSIA analysis were utilized in this investigation to define the important interacting regions in paclitaxel/tubulin binding site and to develop selective paclitaxel-like active compounds. The starting geometry of paclitaxel analogs was taken from the crystal structure of docetaxel. A total of 28 derivatives of paclitaxel were divided into two groups—a training set comprising of 19 compounds and a test set comprising of nine compounds. They were constructed and geometrically optimized using SYBYL v6.6. CoMFA studies provided a good predictability (q2 = 0.699, r2 = 0.991, PC = 6, S.E.E. = 0.343 and F = 185.910). They showed the steric and electrostatic properties as the major interacting forces whilst the lipophilic property contribution was a minor factor for recognition forces of the binding site. These results were in agreement with the experimental data of the binding activities of these compounds. Five fields in CoMSIA analysis (steric, electrostatic, hydrophobic, hydrogen-bond acceptor and donor properties) were considered contributors in the ligand–receptor interactions. The results obtained from the CoMSIA studies were: q2 = 0.535, r2 = 0.983, PC = 5, S.E.E. = 0.452 and F = 127.884. The data obtained from both CoMFA and CoMSIA studies were interpreted with respect to the paclitaxel/tubulin binding site. This intuitively suggested where the most significant anchoring points for binding affinity are located. This information could be used for the development of new compounds having paclitaxel-like activity with new chemical entities to overcome the existing pharmaceutical barriers and the economical problem associated with the synthesis of the paclitaxel analogs. These will boost the wide use of this useful class of compounds, i.e. in brain tumors as the most of the present active compounds have poor blood–brain barrier crossing ratios and also, various tubulin isotypes has shown resistance to taxanes and other antimitotic agents.

It’s my site, and I’ll do what I want: Performing female identity through digital identity curation in online spaces

This chapter is based on a qualitative case study that researched the perceptions of nine male and female pre-service English teachers’ in regards to their preparedness to mentor positive digital conduct in Social network sites (SNS). These sites enable individuals to perform public representations of identity, consumed by virtual audiences, with various degrees of perceived privacy. The chapter frames what we call “identity curation” through three theoretical lenses; of performativity, customisation and critical literacy. This chapter discusses one of the themes that emerged from the research, which is the way in which “normalised” and naturalised representations of femineity on SNS were judged more harshly than masculine representations.

Combining meta- and mega-analytic approaches for multi-site diffusion imaging based genetic studies: From the enigma-DTI working group

Meta-analyses estimate a statistical effect size for a test or an analysis by combining results from multiple studies without necessarily having access to each individual study's raw data. Multi-site meta-analysis is crucial for imaging genetics, as single sites rarely have a sample size large enough to pick up effects of single genetic variants associated with brain measures. However, if raw data can be shared, combining data in a "mega-analysis" is thought to improve power and precision in estimating global effects. As part of an ENIGMA-DTI investigation, we use fractional anisotropy (FA) maps from 5 studies (total N=2, 203 subjects, aged 9-85) to estimate heritability. We combine the studies through meta-and mega-analyses as well as a mixture of the two - combining some cohorts with mega-analysis and meta-analyzing the results with those of the remaining sites. A combination of mega-and meta-approaches may boost power compared to meta-analysis alone.