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Weekend Days (weekend + day)
Selected AbstractsCan cocaine use be evaluated through analysis of wastewater?ADDICTION, Issue 5 2009A nation-wide approach conducted in Belgium ABSTRACT Aims Cocaine is the second most-used illicit drug world-wide and its consumption is increasing significantly, especially in western Europe. Until now, the annual prevalence has been estimated indirectly by means of interviews. A recently introduced and direct nation-wide approach based on measurements of the major urinary excreted metabolite of cocaine, benzoylecgonine, in wastewater is proposed. Design Wastewater samples from 41 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Belgium, covering approximately 3 700 000 residents, were collected. Each WWTP was sampled on Wednesdays and Sundays during two sampling campaigns in 2007,08. Samples were analysed for cocaine (COC) and its metabolites, benzoylecgonine (BE) and ecgonine methylester (EME) by a validated procedure based on liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Concentrations of BE were used to calculate cocaine consumption (g/day per 1000 inhabitants) for each WWTP region and for both sampling campaigns (g/year per 1000 inhabitants). Findings Weekend days showed significantly higher cocaine consumption compared with weekdays. The highest cocaine consumption was observed for WWTPs receiving wastewater from large cities, such as Antwerp, Brussels and Charleroi. Results were extrapolated for the total Belgian population and an estimation of a yearly prevalence of cocaine use was made based on various assumptions. An amount of 1.88 tonnes (t) per year [standard error (SE) 0.05 t] cocaine is consumed in Belgium, corresponding to a yearly prevalence of 0.80% (SE 0.02%) for the Belgian population aged 15,64 years. This result is in agreement with an earlier reported estimate of the Belgian prevalence of cocaine use conducted through socio-epidemiological studies (0.9% for people aged 15,64 years). Conclusions Wastewater analysis is a promising tool to evaluate cocaine consumption at both local and national scale. This rapid and direct estimation of the prevalence of cocaine use in Belgium corresponds with socio-epidemiological data. However, the strategy needs to be refined further to allow a more exact calculation of cocaine consumption from concentrations of BE in wastewater. [source] Physical activity of older Australians measured by pedometryAUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL ON AGEING, Issue 3 2009Ben Ewald Aim:, To established population norms for pedometer determined step counts in older Australians. Methods:, A representative sample of 684 participants over the age of 55 years wore a pedometer for a week in Newcastle, Australia. Results:, Response rate was 32%. Median daily step count was 8605 in those aged 55,59 years declining to 3778 in those over 80 years old. The proportion who reached 8000 steps per day was 62% in those 55,59 years and 12% in those over 80 years. Daily step counts were highest on Thursdays and Fridays and least on Sundays. Weekend days had on average 620 less steps than weekdays. After adjusting for age, there was a negative association of step count with body mass index >30, and with a history of arthritis but no significant association with other demographic variables. Conclusion:, Pedometry is feasible in an elderly sample, and research involving pedometers must take days of the week into account. [source] An integer programming model for the weekly tour scheduling problemNAVAL RESEARCH LOGISTICS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 7 2001Tolga Çezik Abstract We study a workforce planning and scheduling problem in which weekly tours of agents must be designed. Our motivation for this study comes from a call center application where agents serve customers in response to incoming phone calls. Similar to many other applications in the services industry, the demand for service in call centers varies significantly within a day and among days of the week. In our model, a weekly tour of an agent consists of five daily shifts and two days off, where daily shifts within a tour may be different from each other. The starting times of any two consecutive shifts, however, may not differ by more than a specified bound. Furthermore, a tour must also satisfy constraints regarding the days off, for example, it may be required that one of the days off is on a weekend day. The objective is to determine a collection of weekly tours that satisfy the demand for agents' services, while minimizing the total labor cost of the workforce. We describe an integer programming model where a weekly tour is obtained by combining seven daily shift scheduling models and days-off constraints in a network flow framework. The model is flexible and can accommodate different daily models with varying levels of detail. It readily handles different days-off rules and constraints regarding start time differentials in consecutive days. Computational results are also presented. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 48: 607,624, 2001. [source] Physical Activity: Patterns of active transport in 11,12 year old Australian childrenAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 2 2004Nathan Marten Objectives: To describe the habitual transport patterns of 11 to 12-year-old children in Australia, to determine the personal and environmental factors associated with active transport (AT), and to quantify how much AT contributes to overall daily energy expenditure (EE). Methods: The participants in this study were 136 children aged 11,12 year olds from eight randomly chosen primary schools in Adelaide, South Australia. Each child recalled their trips on two school days and a non-school day. Mass and stature were measured, and children completed a computerised activity recall and a neighbourhood satisfaction questionnaire. Trips were categorised according to their destination, child and parent dissatisfaction with the neighbourhood, and the gender, socio-economic status (SES), BMI and activity levels of the children undertaking them. These categories, along with the distance to the destination, were used as independent variables in a logistic regression model, with trip mode (passive versus active) as the dependent variable. Results: Children made an average of 1.0 active trips per day, with a median trip length of 0.63 km, while the median total distance covered actively per child per day was 0.61 km. Twenty-six per cent of children did no AT over the three days, and 67% did no AT on a weekend day. Distance was by far the strongest predictor of the likelihood that a trip would be active. Trips made by girls were less likely to be active compared with boys. Trips to the shops were less likely to be active than trips to school. Children's AT accounted for 1.3% of their daily EE. Conclusions and Implications: The active transport levels of children were very low. Interventions should focus on making neighbourhoods safer and more accessible to children and should promote bicycle use. [source] Content analysis of food advertising in Turkish televisionJOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 7-8 2010Tulay Guran Aim: Television (TV) viewing has been implicated in children's weight gain. We aimed to conduct a comprehensive content analysis of TV food advertising in Turkey. Methods: TV advertisements (ads) in the four most popular national free to air Turkish TV channels, were assessed on two weekdays and two weekend days at four time periods of the day; 0800,1200,1200,1600,1600,2000 and 2000,2400 h for each TV channel (64 h assessed for each TV channel), making a total of 256 h. Each ad was analysed for food and drink content, duration and audiovisual properties. Results: There were 8853 TV ads and 2848 of these were related to food (32.1%). A majority of food ads included high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar food and drink rather than core/healthy foods (81%). Chocolate and chocolate bars were the most frequently advertised food/drink product, followed by cakes, coffee, tea, candies, gum, fast food, chips, juices/carbonated beverages, margarine and ice-cream formed the highest rate of food products advertised in decreasing order. Thirty per cent of all obesogenic/unhealthy ads targeted childhood by using audiovisual techniques. The proportion of total advertisements which were for food or drink, and the proportion of food advertisements that were for unhealthy foods were both much higher at the weekend (33% vs. 30% and 84% vs. 78%, respectively). The time period between 1600 and 2000 h was the most concentrated time slot (33%) for food advertising. Conclusions: This study provides data for the first time on the high levels of obesogenic food advertising on Turkish TV. This should alarm policy-makers to set limits on food advertising targeted towards children especially in countries like Turkey in which childhood obesity is emerging as an important public health issue. [source] Feasibility of Using Interactive Voice Response to Monitor Daily Drinking, Moods, and Relationship Processes on a Daily Basis in Alcoholic CouplesALCOHOLISM, Issue 3 2010James A. Cranford Background:, Daily process research on alcohol involvement has used paper-and-pencil and electronic data collection methods, but no studies have yet tested the feasibility of using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology to monitor drinking, affective, and social interactional processes among alcoholic (ALC) couples. This study tested the feasibility of using IVR with n = 54 ALC couples. Methods:, Participants were n = 54 couples (probands who met criteria for a past 1-year alcohol use disorder and their partners) recruited from a substance abuse treatment center and the local community. Probands and their partners reported on their daily drinking, marital interactions, and moods once a day for 14 consecutive days using an IVR system. Probands and partners were on average 43.4 and 43.0 years old, respectively. Results:, Participants completed a total of 1,418 out of a possible 1,512 diary days for an overall compliance rate of 93.8%. ALC probands completed an average of 13.3 (1.0) diary reports, and partners completed an average of 13.2 (1.0) diary reports. On average, daily IVR calls lasted 7.8 (3.0) minutes for ALC probands and 7.6 (3.0) minutes for partners. Compliance was significantly lower on weekend days (Fridays and Saturdays) compared to other weekdays for probands and spouses. Although today's intoxication predicted tomorrow's noncompliance for probands but not spouses, the strongest predictor of proband's compliance was their spouse's compliance. Daily anxiety and marital conflict were associated with daily IVR nonresponse, which triggered automated reminder calls. Conclusions:, Findings supported that IVR is a useful method for collecting daily drinking, mood, and relationship process data from alcoholic couples. Probands' compliance is strongly associated with their partners' compliance, and automated IVR calls may facilitate compliance on high anxiety, high conflict days. [source] Effects of Periodic Feed Deprivation on Growth, Feed Efficiency, Processing Yield, and Body Composition of Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatusJOURNAL OF THE WORLD AQUACULTURE SOCIETY, Issue 4 2005Menghe H. Li Two studies were conducted in 110-L flow-through aquaria and 0.4-ha ponds to evaluate effects of periodic feed deprivation on the growth performance of channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus. Fish were deprived of feed 0, 1, 2, or 3 consecutive d/wk, l d per 5-d period, or 3 consecutive d per 10-d period and fed to satiation on days fish were fed. In Experiment 1, fish fed less frequently than daily consumed significantly less feed (over the experimental period) and gained significantly less weight than fish fed daily, except that feed consumption of fish deprived of feed 1 d/wk was not significantly different from that of fish fed daily. Compared with fish fed daily, fish deprived of feed 2 d/wk had significantly lower feed conversion ratio (FCR). Visceral fat of fish deprived of feed 1 or 2 d/wk was similar to that of fish fed daily, but fish deprived of feed for longer periods had significantly lower visceral fat than fish fed daily. Regression analysis indicated that feed consumption, weight gain, and visceral fat increased linearly as the number of days that fish were fed increased. In Experiment 2, there were no significant differences in the amount of feed fed between fish deprived of feed 1 d/wk and those fed daily. Net production of fish deprived of feed 1 or 2 d/wk or 1 d per 5-d period was not significantly different from that of fish fed daily, but fish deprived of feed for longer periods had significantly lower net production than fish fed daily. Visceral fat of fish deprived of feed 1 d/wk or 1 d per 5-d period was similar to that of fish fed daily, but fish on other treatments had significantly lower visceral fat than fish fed daily. Regression analysis showed that as the number of days fed increased the amount of feed fed and net production increased quadratically. Feed conversion ratio, carcass yield, visceral fat, and fillet fat increased, while fillet moisture decreased linearly as the number of days fed increased. Although feeding less frequently than daily may improve feed efficiency, and fish deprived of feed may demonstrate compensatory growth when a full feeding regime is resumed, it may be difficult to provide enough feed to satiate all size-classes of fish under a multiple-batch cropping system without causing water quality problems. Under normal economic conditions, fish should be fed daily to apparent satiation without waste and without causing water quality problems. However, during periods of unfavorable economic conditions, channel catfish raised from advanced fingerlings to market size may be fed less frequently than daily to reduce production cost. Results from the present study indicated that feeding channel catfish to satiation 5 or 6 d/wk (not feeding on one or two weekend days) could provide some benefits in reducing production cost through reduced feed and labor costs for food-sized channel catfish during periods of low fish prices and high feed prices. [source] Physical activity levels and estimated energy expenditure in overweight and normal-weight 11-year-old childrenACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 2 2010M Soric Abstract Aim:, To objectively evaluate physical activity and energy expenditure in overweight and normal-weight 11-year-old children. Methods:, The final sample consisted of 91 children (32 overweight and 59 normal-weight children), mean age (SD) = 11.3 (0.2) years. Energy expenditure and physical activity were assessed during two weekdays and two weekend days using a multiple-sensor body monitor (SenseWear Armband; BodyMedia Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, USA). Results:, Time spent in physical activity was higher in normal-weight compared with overweight children (p = 0.002). The highest level of physical activity was noted in normal-weight boys [mean (SD) = 258 (114) min/day] and the lowest in overweight girls [mean (SD) = 136 (59) min/day] (p = 0.002). In contrast, energy expended during physical activity did not differ between normal-weight and overweight children (2.6 and 2.7 MJ/day, respectively, p = 0.89). The average decrease in physical activity at weekends was 39 min in overweight children (from 166 to 127 min/day) and 27 min in their normal-weight counterparts (from 230 to 203 min/day). Conclusion:, Overweight children engaged in less physical activity of both moderate and vigorous intensity compared with their normal-weight peers. Both overweight and normal-weight children were less active at weekends than on weekdays. Initiatives aiming to increase physical activity of overweight children at weekends are warranted. [source] Objectively measured habitual physical activity in a highly obesogenic environmentCHILD: CARE, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2009S. A. McLure Abstract Background While the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children continues to grow nationally, prevalence in the North-East of England is among the highest in the UK. The objective of this study was to investigate the habitual physical activity levels in a particularly obesogenic environment in the North-East of England. Methods Eight primary schools were selected using a stratified random sampling frame ranking average deprivation levels. Participating children (n = 246, mean age 10 years) wore an accelerometer (Actigraph, GT-256) over five consecutive days (weekend plus three weekdays). Total daily moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity was calculated using thresholds by Puyau and colleagues. Results Only 7% (17/246) of children were sufficiently active. Boys were more physically active than girls (766 ± 268 vs. 641 ± 202 counts/min, 95% CI for the difference 63,186 cpm.). Total physical activity was not influenced significantly by deprivation levels or weight status, and there were no significant differences in physical activity between school or weekend days. Conclusions The North-East of England is a recognized ,hot spot' for paediatric obesity and the present study shows that low levels of habitual physical activity are typical. Choice of accelerometry threshold affects both the apparent amount of physical activity and the ability to detect groups with particularly low levels of physical activity. [source] | ||||||||||