Privacy in crowdsourcing:a systematic review

The advent of crowdsourcing has brought with it multiple privacy challenges. For example, essential monitoring activities, while necessary and unavoidable, also potentially compromise contributor privacy. We conducted an extensive literature review of the research related to the privacy aspects of crowdsourcing. Our investigation revealed interesting gender differences and also differences in terms of individual perceptions. We conclude by suggesting a number of future research directions.</p

Neural correlates of sexual cue reactivity in individuals with and without compulsive sexual behaviours

Although compulsive sexual behaviour (CSB) has been conceptualized as a "behavioural" addiction and common or overlapping neural circuits may govern the processing of natural and drug rewards, little is known regarding the responses to sexually explicit materials in individuals with and without CSB. Here, the processing of cues of varying sexual content was assessed in individuals with and without CSB, focusing on neural regions identified in prior studies of drug-cue reactivity. 19 CSB subjects and 19 healthy volunteers were assessed using functional MRI comparing sexually explicit videos with non-sexual exciting videos. Ratings of sexual desire and liking were obtained. Relative to healthy volunteers, CSB subjects had greater desire but similar liking scores in response to the sexually explicit videos. Exposure to sexually explicit cues in CSB compared to non-CSB subjects was associated with activation of the dorsal anterior cingulate, ventral striatum and amygdala. Functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior cingulate-ventral striatum-amygdala network was associated with subjective sexual desire (but not liking) to a greater degree in CSB relative to non-CSB subjects. The dissociation between desire or wanting and liking is consistent with theories of incentive motivation underlying CSB as in drug addictions. Neural differences in the processing of sexual-cue reactivity were identified in CSB subjects in regions previously implicated in drug-cue reactivity studies. The greater engagement of corticostriatal limbic circuitry in CSB following exposure to sexual cues suggests neural mechanisms underlying CSB and potential biological targets for interventions

Kinematic differences exist between transtibial amputee fallers and non-fallers during downwards step transitioning.

Stair negotiation is biomechanically more challenging than level gait. There are few biomechanical assessments of transtibial amputees descending stairs and none specifically related to falls. Stair descent may elicit more differences than level gait in amputees with and without a previous falls history

National and firm-level drivers of the devolution of HRM decision making to line managers

Multinational companies must understand the influences on responsibility for managing people so that they can manage talent consistently thus ensuring that it is transferable across locations. We examine the impact of firm and national level characteristics on the devolution of HRM decision making to line managers. Our analysis draws on data from 2335 indigenous organizations in 21 countries. At the firm level, we found that where the HR function has higher power, devolution is less likely. At the national level, devolution of decision making to line management is more likely in societies with more stringent employment laws and lower power distance

City Scale Traffic Monitoring Using WorldView Satellite Imagery and Deep Learning: A Case Study of Barcelona

Accurate traffic data is crucial for a range of different applications such as quantifying vehicle emissions, and transportation planning and management. However, the availability of traffic data is geographically fragmented and is rarely held in an accessible form. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a common approach to developing large urban traffic data sets. Utilising satellite data to estimate traffic data offers a cost-effective and standardized alternative to ground-based traffic monitoring. This study used high-resolution satellite imagery (WorldView-2 and 3) and Deep Learning (DL) to identify vehicles, road by road, in Barcelona (2017–2019). The You Only Look Once (YOLOv3) object detection model was trained and model accuracy was investigated via parameters such as training data set specific anchor boxes, network resolution, image colour band composition and input image size. The best performing vehicle detection model configuration had a precision (proportion of positive detections that were correct) of 0.69 and a recall (proportion of objects in the image correctly identified) of 0.79. We demonstrated that high-resolution satellite imagery and object detection models can be utilised to identify vehicles at a city scale. However, the approach highlights challenges relating to identifying vehicles on narrow roads, in shadow, under vegetation, and obstructed by buildings. This is the first time that DL has been used to identify vehicles at a city scale and demonstrates the possibility of applying these methods to cities globally where data are often unavailable

Supporting mental health, wellbeing and study skills in Higher Education:an online intervention system

Abstract Background Dealing with psychological and study skill difficulties can present a challenge for both Higher Education (HE) students, who suffer from them, but also for HE Institutions and their support services. Alternative means of support, such as online interventions, have been identified as cost-effective and efficient ways to provide inclusive support to HE students, removing many of the barriers to help-seeking as well as promoting mental health and wellbeing. Case presentation The current case study initially outlines the rigorous approach in the development of one such online intervention system, MePlusMe. It further highlights key features that constitute innovative delivery of evidence-based psychological and educational practice in the areas of mental health, promotion of wellbeing, support of mood and everyday functioning, and study-skills enhancement. Conclusions This case study aims to present the innovative features of MePlusMe in relation to current needs and evidence-basis. Finally, it presents future directions in the evaluation, assessment, and evidence of the fitness-for-purpose process

Subcutaneous ketamine infusion in palliative patients for major depressive disorder (SKIPMDD)—Phase II single-arm open-label feasibility study

Background Ketamine at subanaesthetic dosages ( 18-years-old) with advanced life-limiting illnesses referred to four palliative care services in Sydney, Australia, diagnosed with major depressive disorder from any care setting. Participants received weekly subcutaneous ketamine infusion (0.1–0.4mg/kg) over two hours using individual dose-titration design. Outcomes assessed were feasibility, safety, tolerability and antidepressant activity. Results Out of ninety-nine referrals, ten participants received ketamine and were analysed for responses. Accrual rate was 0.54 participants/month across sites with 50% of treated participants achieving > 50% reduction in baseline Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, meeting feasibility criteria set a priori. There were no clinically relevant harms encountered. Conclusions A future definitive trial exploring the effectiveness of subcutaneous infusion of ketamine for major depressive disorder in the palliative care setting may be feasible by addressing identified study barriers. Individual dose-titration of subcutaneous ketamine infusions over two hours from 0.1mg/kg can be well-tolerated and appears to produce transient antidepressant signals over hours to days

Estimating road vehicle speed from high-resolution satellite imagery for environmental applications: A case study of Barcelona

Data on road traffic speeds is needed for air and environmental noise pollution modelling, for regulatory control, exposure assessment and assessing health impacts. However, vehicle speed data is often not available and national speed limits, by road classification, may be used as a proxy instead. This may contribute to uncertainties in model predictions. This study presents novel methods, applied to satellite imagery, to calculate vehicle speed road by road for entire cities, demonstrating their use in Barcelona. The approach exploits the fraction of a second gap between eight multi-spectral sensors onboard the WorldView-2 and -3 satellites and was used to estimated speeds for 128,206 vehicles on motorways, trunk, primary, secondary and tertiary roads from 10 satellite images. The average estimated vehicle speeds ranged from 69 km/h on motorways to 31 km/h on tertiary roads. Satellite-derived vehicle speeds showed good agreement with Directions API speeds on a subset of roads (R2 = 0.71, NMGE = 0.23 and RMSE 13.4 km/h). A Normalised Mean Bias of 0.04 suggests that on average the satellite and Directions API estimates were similar. Using Directions API as the benchmark, satellite-derived estimated speeds yielded values of RMSE of 13.4 km/h, compared with and RMSE of 25.7 km/h using road type national speed limits, for a subset of roads. In this pilot study, therefore, satellite-derived vehicle speeds yield a 48% reduction in error over using the national speed limit by road type. This paper shows that high-resolution satellite imagery has potential to quantify vehicle speed in cities

Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae septicemia in a Laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)

Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae (E. rhusiopathiae) septicemia was demonstrated in a captive Laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novae guineae). The bird died after a 2-week period of weakness and weight loss. At necropsy, the bird was emaciated and had reddened and wet lungs. Microscopic lesions were limited to hepatic and pulmonary congestion with focal thrombosis. Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae was isolated by routine bacterial culture from several organs. Further characterization of the isolate by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis indicated that the isolate has a new genotype pattern 3A(III), which is 91.7% homologous to an E. rhusiopathiae that was isolated from a pig in 2001 and 88% homologous to an isolate recovered in 2000 from a turkey with septicemia. This is the first report of E. rhusiopathiae-induced septicemia in a kookaburra