Trends in demographic, health behaviour factors, and self-perceived weight status : influences on obesity in Australia from 1995 to 2005

Overweight and obesity are two of the most important emerging public health issues in our time and regarded by the World Health Organisation [WHO] (1998) as a worldwide epidemic. The prevalence of obesity in the USA is the highest in the world, and Australian obesity rates fall into second place. Currently, about 60% of Australian adults are overweight (BMI „d 25kg/m2). The socio-demographic factors associated with overweight and/or obesity have been well demonstrated, but many of the existing studies only examined these relationships at one point of time, and did not examine whether significant relationships changed over time. Furthermore, only limited previous research has examined the issue of the relationship between perception of weight status and actual weight status, as well as factors that may impact on people¡¦s perception of their body weight status. Aims: The aims of the proposed research are to analyse the discrepancy between perceptions of weight status and actual weight status in Australian adults; to examine if there are trends in perceptions of weight status in adults between 1995 to 2004/5; and to propose a range of health promotion strategies and furth er research that may be useful in managing physical activity, healthy diet, and weight reduction. Hypotheses: Four alternate hypotheses are examined by the research: (1) there are associations between independent variables (e.g. socio -demographic factors, physical activity and dietary habits) and overweight and/or obesity; (2) there are associations between the same independent variables and the perception of overweight; (3) there are associations between the same independent variables and the discrepancy between weight status and perception of weight status; and (4) there are trends in overweight and/or obesity, perception of overweight, and the discrepancy in Australian adults from 1995 to 2004/5. Conceptual Framework and Methods: A conceptual framework is developed that shows the associations identified among socio -demographic factors, physical activity and dietary habits with actual weight status, as well as examining perception of weight status. The three latest National Health Survey data bases (1995 , 2001 and 2004/5) were used as the primary data sources. A total of 74,114 Australian adults aged 20 years and over were recruited from these databases. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses (One -Way ANOVA tests, unpaired t-tests and Pearson chi-square tests), and multinomial logistic regression modelling were used to analyse the data. Findings: This research reveals that gender, main language spoken at home, occupation status, household structure, private health insurance status, and exercise are related to the discrepancy between actual weight status and perception of weight status, but only gender and exercise are related to the discrepancy across the three time point s. The current research provides more knowledge about perception of weight status independently. Factors which affect perception of overweight are gender, age, language spoken at home, private health insurance status, and diet ary habits. The study also finds that many factors that impact overweight and/or obesity also have an effect on perception of overweight, such as age, language spoken at home, household structure, and exercise. However, some factors (i.e. private health insurance status and milk consumption) only impact on perception of overweight. Furthermore, factors that are rel ated to people’s overweight are not totally related to people’s underestimation of their body weight status in the study results. Thus, there are unknown factors which can affect people’s underestimation of their body weight status. Conclusions: Health promotion and education activities should provide education about population health education and promotion and education for particular at risk sub -groups. Further research should take the form of a longitudinal study design ed to examine the causal relationship between overweight and/or obesity and underestimation of body weight status, it should also place more attention on the relationships between overweight and/or obesity and dietary habits, with a more comprehensive representation of SES. Moreover, further research that deals with identification of characteristics about perception of weight status, in particular the underestimation of body weight status should be undertaken.

Socioeconomic differences in takeaway food consumption and their contribution to inequalities in dietary intakes

Background Takeaway consumption has been increasing and may contribute to socioeconomic inequalities in overweight/obesity and chronic disease. This study examined socioeconomic differences in takeaway consumption patterns, and their contributions to dietary intake inequalities. Method Cross-sectional dietary intake data from adults aged between 25 and 64 years from the Australian National Nutrition Survey (n= 7319, 61% response rate). Twenty-four hour dietary recalls ascertained intakes of takeaway food, nutrients and fruit and vegetables. Education was used as socioeconomic indicator. Data were analysed using logistic regression and general linear models. Results Thirty-two percent (n = 2327) consumed takeaway foods in the 24 hour period. Lower-educated participants were less likely than their higher-educated counterparts to have consumed total takeaway foods (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.52, 0.80). Of those consuming takeaway foods, the lowest-educated group was more likely to have consumed “less healthy” takeaway choices (OR 2.55; 95% CI 1.73, 3.77), and less likely to have consumed “healthy” choices (OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.36, 0.75). Takeaway foods made a greater contribution to energy, total fat, saturated fat, and fibre intakes among lower than higher-educated groups. Lower likelihood of fruit and vegetable intakes were observed among “less healthy” takeaway consumers, whereas a greater likelihood of their consumption was found among “healthy” takeaway consumers. Conclusions Total and the types of takeaway foods consumed may contribute to socioeconomic inequalities in intakes of energy, total and saturated fats. However, takeaway consumption is unlikely to be a factor contributing to the lower fruit and vegetable intakes among socioeconomically-disadvantaged groups.

The effect of Amblyopia on motor and psychosocial skills in children

Background/Aims: In an investigation of the functional impact of amblyopia on children, the fine motor skills, perceived self-esteem and eye movements of amblyopic children were compared with that of age-matched controls. The influence of amblyogenic condition or treatment factors that might predict any decrement in outcome measures was investigated. The relationship between indirect measures of eye movements that are used clinically and eye movement characteristics recorded during reading was examined and the relevance of proficiency in fine motor skills to performance on standardised educational tests was explored in a sub-group of the control children. Methods: Children with amblyopia (n=82; age 8.2 ± 1.3 years) from differing causes (infantile esotropia n=17, acquired strabismus n=28, anisometropia n=15, mixed n=13 and deprivation n=9), and a control group of children (n=106; age 9.5 ± 1.2 years) participated in this study. Measures of visual function included monocular logMAR visual acuity (VA) and stereopsis assessed with the Randot Preschool Stereoacuity test, while fine motor skills were measured using the Visual-Motor Control (VMC) and Upper Limb Speed and Dexterity (ULSD) subtests of the Brunicks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. Perceived self esteem was assessed for those children from grade 3 school level with the Harter Self Perception Profile for Children and for those in younger grades (preschool to grade 2) with the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Acceptance for Young Children. A clinical measure of eye movements was made with the Developmental Eye Movement (DEM) test for those children aged eight years and above. For appropriate case-control comparison of data, the results from amblyopic children were compared with age-matched sub-samples drawn from the group of children with normal vision who completed the tests. Eye movements during reading for comprehension were recorded by the Visagraph infra-red recording system and results of standardised tests of educational performance were also obtained for a sub-set of the control group. Results Amblyopic children (n=82; age 8.2 ± 1.7 years) performed significantly poorer than age-matched control children (n=37; age 8.3 ± 1.3 years) on 9 of 16 fine motor skills sub-items and for the overall age-standardised scores for both VMC and ULSD items (p<0.05); differences were most evident on timed manual dexterity tasks. The underlying aetiology of amblyopia and level of stereoacuity significantly affected fine motor skill performance on both items. However, when examined in a multiple regression model that took into account the inter-correlation between visual characteristics, poorer fine motor skills performance was only associated with strabismus (F1,75 = 5.428; p =0. 022), and not with the level of stereoacuity, refractive error or visual acuity in either eye. Amblyopic children from grade 3 school level and above (n=47; age 9.2 ± 1.3 years), particularly those with acquired strabismus, had significantly lower social acceptance scores than age-matched control children (n=52; age 9.4 ± 0.5 years) (F(5,93) = 3.14; p = 0.012). However, the scores of the amblyopic children were not significantly different to controls for other areas related to self-esteem, including scholastic competence, physical appearance, athletic competence, behavioural conduct and global self worth. A lower social acceptance score was independently associated with a history of treatment with patching but not with a history of strabismus or wearing glasses. Amblyopic children from pre-school to grade 2 school level (n=29; age = 6.6 ± 0.6 years) had similar self-perception scores to their age-matched peers (n=20; age = 6.4 ± 0.5 years). There were no significant differences between the amblyopic (n=39; age 9.1 ± 0.9 years) and age-matched control (n = 42; age = 9.3 ± 0.38 years) groups for any of the DEM outcome measures (Vertical Time, Horizontal Time, Number of Errors and Ratio (Horizontal time/Vertical time)). Performance on the DEM did not significantly relate to measures of VA in either eye, level of binocular function, history of strabismus or refractive error. Developmental Eye Movement test outcome measures Horizontal Time and Vertical Time were significantly correlated with reading rates measured by the Visagraph for both reading for comprehension and naming numbers (r>0.5). Some moderate correlations were also seen between the DEM Ratio and word reading rates as recorded by Visagraph (r=0.37). In children with normal vision, academic scores in mathematics, spelling and reading were associated with measures of fine motor skills. Strongest effect sizes were seen with the timed manual dexterity domain, Upper Limb Speed and Dexterity. Conclusions Amblyopia may have a negative impact on a child’s fine motor skills and an older child’s sense of acceptance by their peers may be influenced by treatment that includes eye patching. Clinical measures of eye movements were not affected in amblyopic children. A number of the outcome measures of the DEM are associated with objective recordings of reading rates, supporting its clinical use for identification of children with slower reading rates. In children with normal vision, proficiency on clinical measures of fine motor skill are associated with outcomes on standardised measures of educational performance. Scores on timed manual dexterity tasks had the strongest association with educational performance. Collectively, the results of this study indicate that, in addition to the reduction in visual acuity and binocular function that define the condition, amblyopes have functional impairment in childhood development skills that underlie proficiency in everyday activities. The study provides support for strategies aimed at early identification and remediation of amblyopia and the co-morbidities that arise from abnormal visual neurodevelopment.

Inequalities in cardiovascular disease mortality : the role of behavioural, physiological and social risk factors

Background: While the relationship between socioeconomic disadvantage and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is well established, the role that traditional cardiovascular risk factors play in this association remains unclear. We examined the association between education attainment and CVD mortality and the extent to which behavioural, social and physiological factors explained this relationship. Methods: Adults (n=38 355) aged 40-69 years living in Melbourne, Australia were recruited in 1990-1994. Subjects with baseline CVD risk factor data ascertained through questionnaire and physical measurement were followed for an average of 9.4 years with CVD deaths verified by review of medical records and autopsy reports. Results: CVD mortality was higher for those with primary education only compared to those who had completed tertiary education, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.66 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-2.49) after adjustment for age, country of birth and gender. Those from the lowest educated group had a more adverse cardiovascular risk factor profile compared to the highest educated group, and adjustment for these risk factors reduced the HR to 1.18 (95% CI 0.78-1.77). In analysis of individual risk factors, smoking and waist circumference explained most of the difference in CVD mortality between the highest and lowest education groups. Conclusions: Most of the excess CVD mortality in lower socioeconomic groups can be explained by known risk factors, particularly smoking and overweight. While targeting cardiovascular risk factors should not divert efforts from addressing the underlying determinants of health inequalities, it is essential that known risk factors are addressed effectively among lower socioeconomic groups.

HABITAT : a longitudinal multilevel study of physical acitvity change in mid-aged adults

Purpose. To explore the role of the neighborhood environment in supporting walking Design. Cross sectional study of 10,286 residents of 200 neighborhoods. Participants were selected using a stratified two-stage cluster design. Data were collected by mail survey (68.5% response rate). Setting. The Brisbane City Local Government Area, Australia, 2007. Subjects. Brisbane residents aged 40 to 65 years. Measures. Environmental: street connectivity, residential density, hilliness, tree coverage, bikeways, and street lights within a one kilometer circular buffer from each resident’s home; and network distance to nearest river or coast, public transport, shop, and park. Walking: minutes in the previous week categorized as < 30 minutes, ≥ 30 < 90 minutes, ≥ 90 < 150 minutes, ≥ 150 < 300 minutes, and ≥ 300 minutes. Analysis. The association between each neighborhood characteristic and walking was examined using multilevel multinomial logistic regression and the model parameters were estimated using Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. Results. After adjustment for individual factors, the likelihood of walking for more than 300 minutes (relative to <30 minutes) was highest in areas with the most connectivity (OR=1.93, 99% CI 1.32-2.80), the greatest residential density (OR=1.47, 99% CI 1.02-2.12), the least tree coverage (OR=1.69, 99% CI 1.13-2.51), the most bikeways (OR=1.60, 99% CI 1.16-2.21), and the most street lights (OR=1.50, 99% CI 1.07-2.11). The likelihood of walking for more than 300 minutes was also higher among those who lived closest to a river or the coast (OR=2.06, 99% CI 1.41-3.02). Conclusion. The likelihood of meeting (and exceeding) physical activity recommendations on the basis of walking was higher in neighborhoods with greater street connectivity and residential density, more street lights and bikeways, closer proximity to waterways, and less tree coverage. Interventions targeting these neighborhood characteristics may lead to improved environmental quality as well as lower rates of overweight and obesity and associated chromic disease.

Conveying identity with mobile content

A series of mobile phone prototypes called The Swarm have been developed in response to the user needs identified in a three-year empirical study of young people’s use of mobile phones. The prototypes take cues from user led innovation and provide multiple avatars that allow individuals to define and manage their own virtual identity. This paper briefly maps the evolution of the prototypes and then describes how the pre-defined, color coded avatars in the latest version are being given greater context and personalization through the use of digital images. This not only gives ‘serendipity a nudge’ by allowing groups to come together more easily, it provides contextual information that can reduce gratuitous contact.

Improved GrabCut segmentation via GMM optimisation

Semi-automatic segmentation of still images has vast and varied practical applications. Recently, an approach "GrabCut" has managed to successfully build upon earlier approaches based on colour and gradient information in order to address the problem of efficient extraction of a foreground object in a complex environment. In this paper, we extend the GrabCut algorithm further by applying an unsupervised algorithm for modelling the Gaussian Mixtures that are used to define the foreground and background in the segmentation algorithm. We show examples where the optimisation of the GrabCut framework leads to further improvements in performance.

Determining the informational, navigational and transactional intent of web queries

In this paper, we define and present a comprehensive classification of user intent for Web searching. The classification consists of three hierarchical levels of informational, navigational, and transactional intent. After deriving attributes of each, we then developed a software application that automatically classified queries using a Web search engine log of over a million and a half queries submitted by several hundred thousand users. Our findings show that more than 80% of Web queries are informational in nature, with about 10% each being navigational and transactional. In order to validate the accuracy of our algorithm, we manually coded 400 queries and compared the results from this manual classification to the results determined by the automated method. This comparison showed that the automatic classification has an accuracy of 74%. Of the remaining 25% of the queries, the user intent is vague or multi-faceted, pointing to the need for probabilistic classification. We discuss how search engines can use knowledge of user intent to provide more targeted and relevant results in Web searching.

Towards a reference model for SOA governance (extended version)

Although the lack of elaborate governance mechanisms is often seen as the main reason for failures of SOA projects, SOA governance is still very low in maturity. In this paper, we follow a design science approach to address this drawback by presenting a framework that can guide organisations in implementing a governance approach for SOA more successfully. We have reviewed the highly advanced IT governance frameworks Cobit and ITIL and mapped them to the SOA domain. The resulting blueprint for an SOA governance framework was refined based on a detailed literature review, expert interviews and a practical application in a government organisation. The proposed framework stresses the need for business representatives to get involved in SOA decisions and to define benefits ownership for services.

Beyond airport enclaves : insights for overcoming turf wars

Airports, over time, have emerged as separate independent entities often described as ‘enclaves’. As such airports regularly planned and implemented developments within their boundaries with limited inclusion of local actors in decision making processes. Urban encroachment on airport boundaries has increasingly focused the planning interests of airports to consider what their neighbouring cities are doing. Likewise city planners are progressively more interested in the development activities of airports. Despite shared interests in what happens on the either side of the fence line, relationships between airports and their neighbouring cities have often been strained, if not, at times, hostile. A number of strategies and conceptualisations for the co-existence of urban and airport environs have been put forward. However, these models are likely to have a limited effect unless they can be implemented to maximise opportunities for both cities and airports, and at the same time not confound their long-term interests. The isolation of airport planning from local and regional planning agencies, and the resulting power struggles are not new. Under current conditions the need to ‘bridge the gap’ between airports and their urban surrounds has become an increasing, yet under explored imperative. This paper examines the decision making arena for airport-region development to define the barriers, enablers, tensions and puzzles for the governance of airport-region development, from a cross-country perspective. Findings suggest that while there are many embedded rule structures that foster airport-region tensions, there are nonetheless a number of pathways for moving airports beyond decision making enclaves, to more integrated mechanisms for city and regional planning. In providing preliminary answers for overcoming the barriers, tensions and intractable issues of mutually agreeable airport and city development, the research makes a primary contribution to the ground level governance of collaborative planning. This research also serves as a launching point for future, more detailed research into the areas of airport-region decision making and collaborative planning for airport-regions. This work was carried out through the Airport Metropolis Research Project under the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects funding scheme (LP0775225).

Co-creative labour

This article introduces a special issue on the topic of co-creative labour. The term co-creation is used to describe the phenomenon of consumers increasingly participating in the process of making and circulating media content and experiences. Practices of user-created content and user-led innovation are now significant sources of both economic and cultural value. But how should we understand and analyse these value-generating activities? What are the identities and forms of agency that constitute these emerging co-creative relations? Should we define these activities as a form of labour and what are the implications and impacts of co-creative practices on the employment conditions and professional identities of people working in the creative industries? In answering these questions we argue that careful attention must be paid to how the participants themselves (both professional and non-professional, commercial and non-commercial) negotiate and navigate the meanings and possibilities of these emerging co-creative relationships for mutual benefit. Co-Creative media production is perhaps a disruptive agent of change that sits uncomfortably with our current understandings and theories of work and labour. The articles in this special issue follow and unpack the often diverse and contradictory ways in which the participants themselves use and remake the social categories of work and labour as they seek to co-ordinate and contest co-creative media practices.

Reempowering ourselves: Australian Aboriginal women

The arrival of the colonists, the invasion of Aboriginal lands and the subsequent colonization of Australia had a disastrous effect on Aboriginal women, including on-going dispossession and disempowerment. Aboriginal women’s lives and gendered realities were forever changed in most communities. The system of colonization deprived Aboriginal women of land and personal autonomy and restricted the economic, political, social, spiritual and ceremonial domains that had existed prior to colonization. It also involved the implementation of overriding patriarchal systems. This is why Aboriginal women may find understanding within the women’s movement and why feminism might offer them a source of analysis. There are some connections in the various forms of social oppression, which give women connection and a sharing on some issues. However, imperialism and colonialism are also part of the women’s movement and feminism. This essay demonstrates why attempts to engage with feminism and to be included in women-centred activities might result in the denial and sidelining of Aboriginal sovereignty and further oppression and marginalisation of Aboriginal women. Moreover, strategies employed by non-Indigenous feminists can result in the maintenance of white women’s values and privileges within the dominant patriarchal white society. By engaging in these strategies feminists can also act in direct opposition to Aboriginal sovereignty and Aboriginal women. This essay states clearly that women who do not express positions or opinions in outright support of these activities still benefit from their position by proxy and contribute to the cultural dominance of non-Indigenous women. I argue that Aboriginal women need to define what empowerment might mean to themselves, and I suggest re-empowerment as an act of Aboriginal women’s healing and resistance to the on-going processes and impacts of colonization.

What works elsewhere? A review of physical activity intervention studies

Obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) have reached epidemic proportions in many parts of the world with numbers projected to rise dramatically in coming decades (Wang and Lobstein, 2006; Zaninotto et al., 2006). In Australia, and consistent with much of the developed world, the problem has been described as a ‘juggernaut’ that is out of control (Zimmet and James, 2007). Unfortunately the burgeoning problem of non-communicable diseases, including obesity and T2D, is also impacting developing nations as populations are undergoing a nutrition transition (Caballero, 2005). The increased prevalence of overweight and obesity in children, adolescents and adults in both the developed and developing world is consistent with reductions in all forms of physical activity (Brownson et al., 2005). This brief paper provides an overview of the importance of physical activity and an outline of physical activity intervention studies with particular reference to the growing years. As many interventions studies involving physical activity have been undertaken in the context of childhood obesity prevention (Lobstein et al., 2004), and an increasing proportion of the childhood population is overweight or obese, this is a major focus of discussion.

An administrative model for UCON

UCON is an emerging access control framework that lacks an administration model. In this paper we define the problem of administration and propose a novel administrative model. At the core of this model is the concept of attribute, which is also the central component of UCON. In our model, attributes are created by the assertions of subjects, which ascribe properties/rights to other subjects or objects. Through such a treatment of attributes, administration capabilities can be delegated from one subject to another and as a consequence UCON is improved in three aspects. First, immutable attributes that are currently considered as external to the model can be incorporated and thereby treated as mutable at- tributes. Second, the current arbitrary categorisation of users (as modifiers of attributes), to system and administrator can be removed. Attributes and objects are only modifiable by those who possess administration capability over them. Third, the delegation of administration over objects and properties that is not currently expressible in UCON is made possible.

Surveying theories and philosophies of mathematics education

Any theory of thinking or teaching or learning rests on an underlying philosophy of knowledge. Mathematics education is situated at the nexus of two fields of inquiry, namely mathematics and education. However, numerous other disciplines interact with these two fields which compound the complexity of developing theories that define mathematics education. We first address the issue of clarifying a philosophy of mathematics education before attempting to answer whether theories of mathematics education are constructible? In doing so we draw on the foundational writings of Lincoln and Guba (1994), in which they clearly posit that any discipline within education, in our case mathematics education, needs to clarify for itself the following questions: (1) What is reality? Or what is the nature of the world around us? (2) How do we go about knowing the world around us? [the methodological question, which presents possibilities to various disciplines to develop methodological paradigms] and, (3) How can we be certain in the “truth” of what we know? [the epistemological question]