Continuation rates and reasons for removal among Implanon® users accessing two family planning clinics in Queensland, Australia

Background - This study examined demographic profile, continuation rates and reasons for removal among Implanon^® users accessing two family planning clinics in Queensland, Australia. Study Design - A retrospective chart audit of 976 women who attended for implant insertion over a 3-year period between May 2001 and May 2004. Results - Continuation rates showed that at 6 months after insertion, 94% of women continued, 74% continued at 1 year and 50% continued at 2 years. Metropolitan women were more likely than rural women to discontinue use because of dissatisfaction with bleeding patterns. Cox regression analysis showed that those attending the regional clinic experienced significantly shorter time to removal. Conclusions - Implanon® continuation rates and reasons for removal differ between clinics in metropolitan and rural locations. A cooling-off period did not affect the likelihood of continuation with Implanon®. Preinsertion counselling should emphasize potential changes in bleeding patterns.

A reflective model for colour studies learning

In a university context how should colour be taught in order to engage students? Entwistle states, ‘What we learn depends on how we learn, and why we have to learn it.’ Therefore, there is a need to address the accumulating evidence that highlights the effects of learning environments on the quality of student learning when considering colour education. It is necessary to embrace the contextual demands while ensuring that the student knowledge of colour and the joy of discovering its characteristics in practice are enhanced. Institutional policy is forcing educators to re-evaluate traditional studio’s effectiveness and the intensive 'hands-on' interactive approach that is embedded in such an approach. As curriculum development involves not only theory and project work, the classroom culture and physical environment also need to be addressed. The increase in student numbers impacting the number of academic staff/student ratio, availability of teaching support as well as increasing variety of student age, work commitments, learning styles and attitudes have called for positive changes to how we teach. The Queensland University of Technology’s restructure in 2005 was a great opportunity to re-evaluate and redesign the approach to teaching within the design units of Interior Design undergraduate program –including colour. The resultant approach “encapsulates a mode of delivery, studio structure, as well as the learning context in which students and staff interact to facilitate learning”1 with a potential “to be integrated into a range of Interior Design units as it provides an adaptive educational framework rather than a prescriptive set of rules”.

Similarity not favourability : the role of donor prototypes in predicting willingness to donate organs while living

Using an extended Prototype/Willingness Model, we examined the predictors of willingness to donate an organ to a partner/family member and a stranger while living. A questionnaire assessed university students’ (N = 284) attitudes, subjective norm, prototype favourability, prototype similarity, moral norm, and willingness to donate organs in each recipient scenario. All variables, except prototype favourability, predicted willingness to donate organs in both situations. Future strategies should emphasise perceived approval from important others for living donation, the consistency of living donation with one’s own morals, and encourage perceptions of similarity between oneself and living donors to increase acceptance of living donation.

Using a longitudinal model to estimate the effect of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infection on length of stay in an intensive care unit

Healthcare-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) infection may cause increased hospital stay or, sometimes, death. Quantifying this effect is complicated because it is a time-dependent exposure: infection may prolong hospital stay, while longer stays increase the risk of infection. We overcome these problems by using a multinomial longitudinal model for estimating the daily probability of death and discharge. We then extend the basic model to estimate how the effect of MRSA infection varies over time, and to quantify the number of excess ICU days due to infection. We find that infection decreases the relative risk of discharge (relative risk ratio = 0.68, 95% credible interval: 0.54, 0.82), but is only indirectly associated with increased mortality. An infection on the first day of admission resulted in a mean extra stay of 0.3 days (95% CI: 0.1, 0.5) for a patient with an APACHE II score of 10, and 1.2 days (95% CI: 0.5, 2.0) for a patient with an APACHE II score of 30. The decrease in the relative risk of discharge remained fairly constant with day of MRSA infection, but was slightly stronger closer to the start of infection. These results confirm the importance of MRSA infection in increasing ICU stay, but suggest that previous work may have systematically overestimated the effect size.

Every player wins a prize? Family provision applications and bequests to charity

This research deals with the interaction of family provision law and charitable bequests in wills, including qualitative research relating to the practical issues arising with both legal practitioners and charities’ bequest officers.

An indexing model for stormwater quality in the Gold Coast

In the era of climate change sustainable urban development and in particular provision of sustainable urban infrastructure has become a key concept in dealing with environmental challenges. This paper discusses issues affecting stormwater quality and introduces a new indexing model that is to be used in evaluation of the stormwater quality in urban areas. The model has recently been developed and will be tested in a number of pilot projects in the Gold Coast, one of the fastest growing and environmentally challenged cities of Australia.

Biological performance of a polycaprolactone-based scaffold used as fusion cage device in a large animal model of spinal reconstructive surgery

A bioactive and bioresorbable scaffold fabricated from medical grade poly (epsilon-caprolactone) and incorporating 20% beta-tricalcium phosphate (mPCL–TCP) was recently developed for bone regeneration at load bearing sites. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate bone ingrowth into mPCL–TCP in a large animal model of lumbar interbody fusion. Six pigs underwent a 2-level (L3/4; L5/6) anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) implanted with mPCL–TCP þ 0.6 mg rhBMP-2 as treatment group while four other pigs implanted with autogenous bone graft served as control. Computed tomographic scanning and histology revealed complete defect bridging in all (100%) specimen from the treatment group as early as 3 months. Histological evidence of continuing bone remodeling and maturation was observed at 6 months. In the control group, only partial bridging was observed at 3 months and only 50% of segments in this group showed complete defect bridging at 6 months. Furthermore, 25% of segments in the control group showed evidence of graft fracture, resorption and pseudoarthrosis. In contrast, no evidence of graft fractures, pseudoarthrosis or foreign body reaction was observed in the treatment group. These results reveal that mPCL–TCP scaffolds could act as bone graft substitutes by providing a suitable environment for bone regeneration in a dynamic load bearing setting such as in a porcine model of interbody spine fusion.

Establishment of a preclinical ovine model for tibial segmental bone defect repair by applying bone tissue engineering strategies

Currently, well-established clinical therapeutic approaches for bone reconstruction are restricted to the transplantation of autografts and allografts, and the implantation of metal devices or ceramic-based implants to assist bone regeneration. Bone grafts possess osteoconductive and osteoinductive properties, however they are limited in access and availability and associated with donor site morbidity, haemorrhage, risk of infection, insufficient transplant integration, graft devitalisation, and subsequent resorption resulting in decreased mechanical stability. As a result, recent research focuses on the development of alternative therapeutic concepts. The field of tissue engineering has emerged as an important approach to bone regeneration. However, bench to bedside translations are still infrequent as the process towards approval by regulatory bodies is protracted and costly, requiring both comprehensive in vitro and in vivo studies. The subsequent gap between research and clinical translation, hence commercialization, is referred to as the ‘Valley of Death’ and describes a large number of projects and/or ventures that are ceased due to a lack of funding during the transition from product/technology development to regulatory approval and subsequently commercialization. One of the greatest difficulties in bridging the Valley of Death is to develop good manufacturing processes (GMP) and scalable designs and to apply these in pre-clinical studies. In this article, we describe part of the rationale and road map of how our multidisciplinary research team has approached the first steps to translate orthopaedic bone engineering from bench to bedside byestablishing a pre-clinical ovine critical-sized tibial segmental bone defect model and discuss our preliminary data relating to this decisive step.

A University Support Model for eResearch

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is faced with a rapidly growing research agenda built upon a strategic research capacity-building program. This presentation will outline the results of a project that has recently investigated QUT’s research support requirements and which has developed a model for the support of eResearch across the university. QUT’s research building strategy has produced growth at the faculty level and within its research institutes. This increased research activity is pushing the need for university-wide eResearch platforms capable of providing infrastructure and support in areas such as collaboration, data, networking, authentication and authorisation, workflows and the grid. One of the driving forces behind the investigation is data-centric nature of modern research. It is now critical that researchers have access to supported infrastructure that allows the collection, analysis, aggregation and sharing of large data volumes for exploration and mining in order to gain new insights and to generate new knowledge. However, recent surveys into current research data management practices by the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) and by QUT itself, has revealed serious shortcomings in areas such as research data management, especially its long term maintenance for reuse and authoritative evidence of research findings. While these internal university pressures are building, at the same time there are external pressures that are magnifying them. For example, recent compliance guidelines from bodies such as the ARC, and NHMRC and Universities Australia indicate that institutions need to provide facilities for the safe and secure storage of research data along with a surrounding set of policies, on its retention, ownership and accessibility. The newly formed Australian National Data Service (ANDS) is developing strategies and guidelines for research data management and research institutions are a central focus, responsible for managing and storing institutional data on platforms that can be federated nationally and internationally for wider use. For some time QUT has recognised the importance of eResearch and has been active in a number of related areas: ePrints to digitally publish research papers, grid computing portals and workflows, institutional-wide provisioning and authentication systems, and legal protocols for copyright management. QUT also has two widely recognised centres focused on fundamental research into eResearch itself: The OAK LAW project (Open Access to Knowledge) which focuses upon legal issues relating eResearch and the Microsoft QUT eResearch Centre whose goal is to accelerate scientific research discovery, through new smart software. In order to better harness all of these resources and improve research outcomes, the university recently established a project to investigate how it might better organise the support of eResearch. This presentation will outline the project outcomes, which include a flexible and sustainable eResearch support service model addressing short and longer term research needs, identification of resource requirements required to establish and sustain the service, and the development of research data management policies and implementation plans.

Listening, sharing understanding and facilitating consumer, family and community empowerment through a priority driven partnership in Far North Queensland

Objectives: This paper provides an example of a mental health research partnership underpinned by empowerment principles that seeks to foster strength among community organizations to support better outcomes for consumers, families and communities. It aims to raise awareness among researchers and service providers that empowerment approaches to assist communities to address mental health problems are not too difficult to be practical but require long-term commitment and appropriate support. Methods: A collaborative research strategy that has become known as the Priority Driven Research (PDR) Partnership emerged through literature review,consultations, Family Wellbeing Program delivery with community groups and activities in two discrete Indigenous communities. Progress to date on three of the four components of the strategy is described. Results: The following key needs were identified in a pilot study and are now being addressed in a research-based implementation phase: (i) gaining two-way understanding of perspectives on mental health and promoting universal awareness; (ii) supporting the empowerment of carers, families, consumers and at-risk groups through existing community organizations to gain greater understanding and control of their situation; (iii) developing pathways of care at the primary health centre level to enable support of social and emotional wellbeing as well as more integrated mental health care; (iv) accessing data to enable an ongoing process of analysis/sharing/planning and monitoring to inform future activity. Conclusion: One of the key learnings to emerge in this project so far is that empowerment through partnership becomes possible when there is a concerted effort to strengthen grassroots community organizations. These include social health teams and men’s and women’s groups that can engage local people in an action orientation. Key words: Aboriginal, empowerment, Indigenous, mental health.

Integrating engineering model eliciting activities in elementary school curricula

This paper argues for a future-oriented, inclusion of Engineering Model Eliciting Activities (EngMEAs) in elementary mathematics curricula. In EngMEAs students work with meaningful engineering problems that capitalise on and extend their existing mathematics and science learning, to develop, revise and document powerful models, while working in groups. The models developed by six groups of 12-year students in solving the Natural Gas activity are presented. Results showed that student models adequately solved the problem, although student models did not take into account all the data provided. Student solutions varied to the extent students employed the engineering context in their models and to their understanding of the mathematical concepts involved in the problem. Finally, recommendations for implementing EngMEAs and for further research are discussed.

Innovation implementation effectiveness : a multiorganizational test of Klein Conn and Sorra’s model.

In an empirical test and extension of Klein Conn and Sorra’s model of innovation implementation effectiveness, we apply structural equation modelling to identify the generalizability of their data-modified model in comparison with their theorised model. We examined the implementation of various types of innovations in a sample of 135 organizations. We found that the data supported the original model rather than the data-modified model, such that implementation climate mediated polices and practices and implementation effectiveness, while implementation effectiveness partially mediated the relationship between implementation climate and innovation effectiveness. Furthermore, we extend their model to suggest that non-financial resources availability plays a critical role in implementation policies and practices.

Bearing-only SLAM : a vision-based navigation system for autonomous robots

To navigate successfully in a previously unexplored environment, a mobile robot must be able to estimate the spatial relationships of the objects of interest accurately. A Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) sys- tem employs its sensors to build incrementally a map of its surroundings and to localize itself in the map simultaneously. The aim of this research project is to develop a SLAM system suitable for self propelled household lawnmowers. The proposed bearing-only SLAM system requires only an omnidirec- tional camera and some inexpensive landmarks. The main advantage of an omnidirectional camera is the panoramic view of all the landmarks in the scene. Placing landmarks in a lawn field to define the working domain is much easier and more flexible than installing the perimeter wire required by existing autonomous lawnmowers. The common approach of existing bearing-only SLAM methods relies on a motion model for predicting the robot’s pose and a sensor model for updating the pose. In the motion model, the error on the estimates of object positions is cumulated due mainly to the wheel slippage. Quantifying accu- rately the uncertainty of object positions is a fundamental requirement. In bearing-only SLAM, the Probability Density Function (PDF) of landmark position should be uniform along the observed bearing. Existing methods that approximate the PDF with a Gaussian estimation do not satisfy this uniformity requirement. This thesis introduces both geometric and proba- bilistic methods to address the above problems. The main novel contribu- tions of this thesis are: 1. A bearing-only SLAM method not requiring odometry. The proposed method relies solely on the sensor model (landmark bearings only) without relying on the motion model (odometry). The uncertainty of the estimated landmark positions depends on the vision error only, instead of the combination of both odometry and vision errors. 2. The transformation of the spatial uncertainty of objects. This thesis introduces a novel method for translating the spatial un- certainty of objects estimated from a moving frame attached to the robot into the global frame attached to the static landmarks in the environment. 3. The characterization of an improved PDF for representing landmark position in bearing-only SLAM. The proposed PDF is expressed in polar coordinates, and the marginal probability on range is constrained to be uniform. Compared to the PDF estimated from a mixture of Gaussians, the PDF developed here has far fewer parameters and can be easily adopted in a probabilistic framework, such as a particle filtering system. The main advantages of our proposed bearing-only SLAM system are its lower production cost and flexibility of use. The proposed system can be adopted in other domestic robots as well, such as vacuum cleaners or robotic toys when terrain is essentially 2D.

Multi-vehicles interaction graph model for cooperative collision warning system

Cooperative collision warning system for road vehicles, enabled by recent advances in positioning systems and wireless communication technologies, can potentially reduce traffic accident significantly. To improve the system, we propose a graph model to represent interactions between multiple road vehicles in a specific region and at a specific time. Given a list of vehicles in vicinity, we can generate the interaction graph using several rules that consider vehicle's properties such as position, speed, heading, etc. Safety applications can use the model to improve emergency warning accuracy and optimize wireless channel usage. The model allows us to develop some congestion control strategies for an efficient multi-hop broadcast protocol.

Interpersonal pattern dynamics and adaptive behavior in multiagent neurobiological systems : conceptual model and data

Ecological dynamics characterizes adaptive behavior as an emergent, self-organizing property of interpersonal interactions in complex social systems. The authors conceptualize and investigate constraints on dynamics of decisions and actions in the multiagent system of team sports. They studied coadaptive interpersonal dynamics in rugby union to model potential control parameter and collective variable relations in attacker–defender dyads. A videogrammetry analysis revealed how some agents generated fluctuations by adapting displacement velocity to create phase transitions and destabilize dyadic subsystems near the try line. Agent interpersonal dynamics exhibited characteristics of chaotic attractors and informational constraints of rugby union boxed dyadic systems into a low dimensional attractor. Data suggests that decisions and actions of agents in sports teams may be characterized as emergent, self-organizing properties, governed by laws of dynamical systems at the ecological scale. Further research needs to generalize this conceptual model of adaptive behavior in performance to other multiagent populations.