Population monitoring of language and cognitive development in Australia : the Australian early development index

The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) is a population measure of child development. The AEDI measures Language and Cognitive Development, Social Competence, Emotional Maturity, Physical Health and Wellbeing, and Communication Skills and General Knowledge. In Australia these data are collected by teachers for children in their first full time year of schooling. The aim of this paper is to aid people's understanding and interpretation of population measures such as the AEDI. With a greater awareness of the merits and complexities of population data clinicians and allied health professionals can play a vital role in aiding communities and policy makers to interpret and act upon the data in an intelligent way. This paper is primarily descriptive providing background information on the development and use of the instrument utilizing one of the 5 developmental domains (Language and Cognitive Development) as an example. The results show a complex relationship between children residing in differing socio-economic regions, children with English as their primary or secondary language and children who are able or not able to effectively communicate in English.

Planar waveguide refractive index profile reconstruction using global optimization

The approach taken here of reconstruction of the refractive index profile of planar waveguides involves solving a non-linear integral equation with Tikhonov regularization. Using global optimization with the new cutting angle and discrete gradient methods has yielded an acceptable reconstruction, even in the presence of significant noise in the data.

Empirical applications of economic principles in producer price index analysis

The research analyses economic linkages of producer price indices of the construction industry in Australia and relationships between construction and house prices. A range of econometric techniques are applied to analyse construction and house prices. The economic equilibrium and dynamic relationships among regional markets are investigated based on producer price index analysis.

Habitual active transport moderates the association of tv viewing time with body mass index

Background: Television viewing time is associated with obesity risk independent of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA). However,
it is unknown whether the relationship of TV viewing time with body mass index (BMI) is moderated by other domains of physical activity. Methods: A mail survey collected height;weight; TV viewing time; physical activity for transportation (habitual transport behavior; past week walking and bicycling), for recreation (LTPA), and in workplace; and sociodemographic variables in Adelaide, Australia. General linear models examined whether physical activity domains moderate the association between BMI and TV viewing time. Results: Analysis of the sample (N = 1408) found that TV time, habitual transport, and LTPA were independently associated with participant’s BMI. The interaction between TV time and habitual transport with BMI was significant, while that between TV time and LTPA was not. Subgroup analyses found that adjusted mean BMI was significantly higher for the high TV viewing category, compared with the low category,
among participants who were inactive and occasionally active in transport, but not among those who were regularly active. Conclusions: Habitual active transport appeared to moderate the relationship between TV viewing time and BMI. Obesity risk associated with prolonged TV viewing may be mitigated by regular active transport.

National prevalence of urogenital pain and prostatitis-like symptoms in Australian men using the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptoms Index

OBJECTIVE : To provide a summary, using the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptoms Index (NIH-CPSI), of the prevalence of prostatitis-like symptoms in a population-based sample of Australian men.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS : Participants were Australian men aged 16–64 years recruited as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships: a nationally representative study. In all, 1346 men completed an extensive questionnaire which included the NIH-CPSI. The index identifies six types of urogenital pain, the presence of urinary problems, and effects on quality of life. Men who reported perineal and/or ejaculatory pain or discomfort and a total NIH-CPSI pain score of ≥4 were considered as having prostatitis-like symptoms.

RESULTS : Based on a weighted population of 1373 men, some form of urogenital pain was reported by 105 (7.6%) men; with 2.8% of men reporting more than one type of urogenital pain. The mean (range) NIH-CPSI pain score for men reporting pain was 6.2 (5.6–6.8); for all men the mean score was 0.5 (0.4–0.6). About 20% of men (284) were considered to have urinary problems. The mean urinary symptom score for all men was 0.9 (0.9–1.0). The mean total NIH-CPSI score for men reporting pain was 13.3 (12.0–14.7) and for all men it was 2.6 (2.3–2.8). The estimated prevalence of prostatitis-like symptoms was ≈2%.

CONCLUSIONS : Using the NIH-CPSI the estimated prevalence for urogenital pain in Australian men is 8%; an estimated 3% of men experience pain from more than one urogenital location. The estimated prevalence of prostatitis-like symptoms in Australian men is 2%. Almost a third of Australian men experiencing urogenital pain or prostatitis-like symptoms would be less than satisfied if this was to be ongoing for the rest of their life.

Efficiency and unbiasedness in the Indian stock index futures market

This paper explores potential efficiency and unbiasedness as well as the degree of efficiency in stock index futures of an emerging market using both monthly and daily data. Besides analyzing efficiency and unbiasedness with cointegration and error correction model, the degree of efficiency is further investigated after explicitly modeling the underlying state of the market (expansion or contraction) through the first-order Markov switching set-up. The results show that a relatively longer two-month horizon is more effective in eliminating arbitrage opportunities than the short run (one-month and daily) futures.