Tracking Project Research Articles

JanusVF: Accurate Navigation Using SCAAT and Virtual Fiducials

Several critical limitations exist in the currently available tracking technologies for fully enclosed virtual reality (VR) systems. While several 6DOF tracking projects such as Hedgehog have successfully demonstrated excellent accuracy, precision, and robustness within moderate budgets, these projects still include elements of hardware that can interfere with the user's visual experience. The objective of this project is to design a tracking solution for fully enclosed VR displays that achieves comparable performance to available commercial solutions but without any artifacts that can obscure the user's view. JanusVF is a tracking solution involving a cooperation of both the hardware sensors and the software rendering system. A small, high-resolution camera is worn on the user's head, but faces backward (180 degree rotation about vertical from the user's perspective). After acquisition of the initial state, the VR rendering software draws specific fiducial markers with known size and absolute position inside the VR scene. These virtual markers are only drawn behind the user and in view of the camera. These fiducials are tracked by ARToolkitPlus and integrated by a single-constraint-at-a-time (SCAAT) filter algorithm to update the head pose. Experiments analyzing accuracy, precision, and latency in a six-sided CAVE-like system show performance that is comparable to alternative commercial technologies.

Investigation of the waste-removal chain through pervasive computing

Environmental sustainability and energy management are increasingly critical issues in people's lives and their livelihood. New and rapidly evolving tracking technologies are major tools for addressing these challenges because they provide visibility to the otherwise hidden processes of everyday infrastructures such as those involving waste removal. By revealing these processes and patterns, the technologies can help influence personal behavior with respect to environmental consciousness. Pervasive monitoring and analysis can also improve environmental sustainability by revealing inefficiencies in the waste-removal chain to municipalities and waste service providers, as well as monitoring compliance with environmental regulations. We present a tracking system for trash that demonstrates how pervasive monitoring can help to better reveal, understand, and improve the waste-management system. Custom-developed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) “trash tags” use the Global System for Mobile communication technology to provide both coarse localization and active return communications. We discuss methods for calculating and visualizing movement of trash and present preliminary results from the Trash Track project, including information about tag performance and discussion of some acquired traces. With the Trash Track project, the MIT SENSEable City Laboratory is exploring how new pervasive sensor technologies can be used to transform and understand cities.

Rethinking the admission criteria to nursing school

The main objective of this study was to identify the best predictors for student achievements (Undergraduate Grade Point Average (UGPA)) in their first year in an undergraduate nursing programme. Data were acquired from the Tracking Project database which is held by the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland. The data (n=134) included information on student demographics, final year secondary school achievements (National Certificate of Educational Achievement Grade Point Average (NCEAGPA) & NCEA Credits), university admission ranking scores, and achievements in first year in the undergraduate nursing programme (UGPA). Linear regression models were used to identify the best predictors for first year students' UGPA in the nursing programme. The regression models suggest that the best predictor for the first year GPA is the NCEAGPA (beta=.488; R(2)(for the entire model)=.53), followed by the admission ranking scores (beta=.308; R(2)=.40). Based on these findings, it is suggested that a Dual Admission Model (DAM) be utilised whereby students could be admitted either by the current university admission criteria or by an alternative model, which is purely based on the predictability of achievement within the nursing programme. Application of the DAM to other institutions/countries was discussed.

An In Situ, Individual-Based Approach to Quantify Connectivity of Marine Fish: Ontogenetic Movements and Residency of Lingcod

As modern fishery assessments change in an effort to be more accurate and encompass the range of potential ecosystem interactions, critical information on the ecology of species including life history, intra and inter-specific competitive interactions and habitat requirements must be added to the standard fishery-dependent and independent data sets. One species whose movements and habitat associations greatly affects exploitation patterns is lingcod, Ophiodon elongatus, which support an economically important fishery along the coastal waters of the Pacific Coast of North America. High site fidelity and limited movements within nearshore areas are hypothesized to have resulted in high catchability, a major factor that has contributed to overfished stocks. Thus, assessing the level of movement and connectivity among lingcod subpopulations inhabiting nearshore habitats is a prerequisite to determining the condition of lingcod stocks. We used the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) Project acoustic receiver array in Alaska's Prince William Sound to monitor movements and residency of 21 acoustic-tagged lingcod for up to 16 months. Eight of sixteen lingcod (50%) initially aged at 2.5- to 3.5- years-old dispersed from their tag site. Dispersal was highly seasonal, occurring in two, five-week periods from mid-December through January and from mid-April through May. Dispersal in winter may be related to sexually immature lingcod or newly-mature male lingcod being displaced by territorial males. Spring dispersal may be indicative of the onset of migratory behavior where lingcod move out into Prince William Sound and possibly the offshore waters of the Gulf of Alaska. Our results reveal a pattern of ontogenetic dispersal as lingcod approach 4-years-old and exceed 50 cm total length. The large proportion of tagged fish migrating out of Port Gravina, their tagging site, reflects a high level of connectivity among Prince William Sound subpopulations. Our results also support the hypotheses that these subpopulations may be highly susceptible to overfishing because most fish show long residence times.

Behavioural polymorphism in one of the world’s largest populations of loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta

To aid management and conservation of widely distributed marine vertebrate species, it is necessary to have a knowledge and understanding of their spatial ecology. We tracked 10 adult female loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta from Masirah Island, Sultanate of Oman, which hosts one of the world's largest breeding aggregations. Transmitters were specifically deployed early in the nesting season to enable tracking throughout the internesting and post-nesting habitats. Turtles dis- played a dichotomy in behaviour during the internesting period, with 6 remaining close to Masirah Island and the others undertaking circuitous oceanic loops, hundreds of kilometres in length. This behaviour did not appear to be related to body size. Tracking-derived minimum clutch frequency was on average (± SD) 4.8 ± 1.2 nests (n = 8 ind.). Post-nesting migrations revealed a propensity towards long-term utilisation of oceanic habitats in the region between Socotra Island (Yemen) and the mainland of Yemen/Oman, with 76 ± 15.4% of time spent in oceanic habitat (n = 8 ind.). The spatial footprint of our tracked turtles was found to be far less than that of a similar number of turtles that were tagged later in the same season (from a separate unpublished study) and from long-distance returns of flipper tags. The spatial and temporal sub-structuring of the population highlights the need for more comprehensive tracking projects, with deployments across the breeding season in multiple years, in order to obtain reliable estimations of high-use foraging habitats of widely dispersed marine vertebrates. Variation in behaviour patterns suggests the need for diverse conservation measures.

Semi-parametric regression as a tool for assessing moderation: an analysis of the Fast Track intervention

When assessing the impact of a family or youth intervention, program evaluators often consider whether and how baseline characteristics moderate the effect of treatment. Parametric and non-parametric approaches are both possible, but each has limitations. In this article, we argue for and illustrate the use of semi-parametric methods. A hybrid of parametric and non-parametric approaches, semi-parametric modeling techniques combine the strengths of each approach. This article demonstrates how this approach can be used to evaluate whether an intervention effect was larger for those with most serious problems at baseline. Using data from the Fast Track project—a comprehensive intervention designed to prevent serious conduct problems among children at high risk—we investigated the moderating effect of two key baseline characteristics: parent-reported and teacher-reported problem behavior. Our analyses do not demonstrate a significant moderation of the intervention effect.

An Investigation into the Poor Survival of an Endangered Coho Salmon Population

To investigate reasons for the decline of an endangered population of coho salmon (O. kisutch), 190 smolts were acoustically tagged during three consecutive years and their movements and survival were estimated using the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking project (POST) array. Median travel times of the Thompson River coho salmon smolts to the lower Fraser River sub-array were 16, 12 and 10 days during 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively. Few smolts were recorded on marine arrays. Freshwater survival rates of the tagged smolts during their downstream migration were 0.0–5.6% (0.0–9.0% s.e.) in 2004, 7.0% (6.2% s.e.) in 2005, and 50.9% (18.6% s.e.) in 2006. Overall smolt-to-adult return rates exhibited a similar pattern, which suggests that low freshwater survival rates of out-migrating smolts may be a primary reason for the poor conservation status of this endangered coho salmon population.

Estimating detection probabilities of tagged fish migrating past fixed receiver stations using only local information

We developed a method to predict the probability of detecting acoustic tags crossing a receiver station using only detection information at that station. This method is suitable for acoustic or radio telemetry studies in which individually tagged animals migrate past fixed stations (where a station may consist of one or more receivers). It is based on fitting attenuation models to sequences of detections and missed transmissions of individually coded tags in fish migrating past stations of the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking Project (POST). We used estimated attenuation model parameters from detected fish at each station to predict the number of fish that crossed the station undetected, which in turn was used to calculate the local detection probability. This estimator was correlated (r = 0.54–0.81 in river and coastal habitats) with mark–recapture estimates of detection probability (pmr) that use nonlocal detection information at stations further along migration routes. This local detection probability estimate can be used as a covariate of pmr in mark–recapture models and can predict approximate values of pmr at final detection stations where pmr is not estimable because of the lack of recaptures further along migration routes.

MA D6: A Fast-Track Deepwater Project

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper OTC 20174, ’MA D6 - Going Beyond the Limits of Deep Water Fast Track Projects,’ by Georges Michel, Willy Gauttier, and Pierre Savy, Technip, originally prepared for the 2009 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, 4-7 May. The paper has not been peer reviewed. The MA D6 field-development project in 1100 m of water is the first deepwater development on the east coast of India. The MA D6 project has been one of the fastest deepwater projects of its size involving a large amount of technical content in a location with minimal established infrastructure. The full-length paper describes the technical aspects of the project and the resulting designs that were selected, and it outlines the logistical issues associated with this first deepwater and fast-track project in the region. Subsea System Architecture The MA D6 field is in the KG D6 Block 60 km from the east coast of India and is exposed to the eastern monsoon from April until September and to cyclones in the following months. This limits the safe and efficient operations of offshore construction vessels to a window extending from December to April. The occurrence of cyclones led the operator to select a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel equipped with a disconnectable turret buoy that required a riser system designed for both connected- and disconnected-turret-buoy situations. The limited working window caused the project installation to be split into two phases: one before the monsoon season of 2008 to allow first oil on arrival of the FPSO and the second one the following year for the full production system. However, the engineering design of the whole riser system was needed at the early stage of the project to address all the interferences between the various risers during installation and operations and to define all the riser equipment in a pliant-wave configuration (Fig. 1), such as buoyancy modules, riser-anchoring piles, and tethers and clamps. The field production system is based on the production of six wells through a production manifold, the injection of part of the produced gas into the reservoir by a satellite well, and the export of the gas to the future KG D6 gas-development field though a gas-export manifold (GEM). The four 8-in.-inside-diameter (ID) flexible production risers connect the FPSO to the production manifold, the four 8-in.-ID gas-export flexible risers connect the FPSO to the GEM, and the gas-injection well is connected directly to the FPSO with a 6-in.-ID flexible riser/flowline. Each subsea tree is linked to the production manifold with 6-in.-ID flexible flowlines/jumpers, and control of all the subsea structures is achieved by a dynamic-umbilical connection between the FPSO and the production manifold and with static umbilical jumpers connecting the production manifold to the seven subsea trees and the GEM.

A new safety arena—the safety challenges of new floating structure applications

For a long time Australian waters have been known to contain huge stranded gas reserves, and many of these reserves are now planned to be unlocked by recent technological advances. Recent development of technology and application has seen the emergence of new floating development applications ranging from large scale gas-condensate FPSOs, FLNG, semi-submersibles supporting mega sized gas-condensate topsides, through to dynamically positioned drill ships. Traditional safety engineering approaches to FPSO design in the past 20 years that apply to oil developments often do not automatically apply to these new floating applications. Inherent safety risks fundamental to the new application and their associated practical solutions need to be understood and worked using a first principles approach. This may often result in the implementation of solutions involving counter intuitive philosophies and safety in design practices. The safety challenges of new floating applications involve engineers, fabricators, operators and certifying agencies and apply across all phases of project implementation: assessment, selection, definition, execution and operation. This paper maps out some of the key challenges and risks associated with the new floating structure applications. It also lays out the need for integrated, innovative thinking not only in the early project phases but also in the design processes, fabrication, testing and certification phases. It also describes the requirement for industry participation in Australia as the ever-increasing pressure to fast track project implementation continues, and the Australian oil and gas industry begins to receive many first of a kind applications.

Driving change in rural workforce planning: the Medical Schools Outcomes Database

The Medical Schools Outcomes Database (MSOD) is an ongoing longitudinal tracking project ofmedical students from all medical schools in Australia and New Zealand. It was established in 2005 to track the career trajectories of medical students and will directly help develop models of workforce flow, particularly with respect to rural and remote shortages. This paper briefly outlines the MSOD project and reports on key methodological factors in tracking medical students. Finally, the potential impact of the MSOD on understanding changes in rural practice intentions is illustrated using data from the 2005 pilot cohort (n = 112). Rural placements were associated with a shift towards rural practice intentions, while those who intended to practice rurally at both the start and end of medical school tended to be older and interested in a generalist career. Continuing work will track these and future students as they progress through the workforce, as well as exploring issues such as the career trajectories of international fee-paying students, workforce succession planning, and the evaluation of medical education initiatives.

Tobacco use and measuring nicotine dependence among urban Indigenous pregnant women.

To examine patterns of nicotine dependence, the value of the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and its correlation with self-reported tobacco use and urinary cotinine concentrations among pregnant Indigenous women in Townsville. Cross-sectional study of 201 consecutive women who self-reported tobacco use at their first antenatal visit to Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service (TAIHS) between 1 November 2005 and 31 October 2007. All smokers were to be assessed by FTND, and 108 women participating in the Tilly's Tracks project (a randomised trial of an intervention to reduce smoking in pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women) were to have a comprehensive smoking history taken and urinary cotinine samples collected. Self-reported smoking status, FTND scores and urinary cotinine concentrations. Of 302 Indigenous women presenting to TAIHS, 201 (66.6%) identified as current tobacco users at their first antenatal visit; this proportion rose to 79.6% in women aged<20 years. An FTND was completed for 152 women (75.6%), with a median score of 4, and 40.1% scoring 3 or less, indicating low levels of nicotine dependence. There were significant correlations between the FTND and number of cigarettes smoked (r=0.56; P<0.001) and urinary cotinine concentrations (r=0.25; P=0.030). Of those who provided comprehensive smoking histories, the median age of starting smoking was 15 years, with a median of two previous quit attempts; 71.4% reported partners who smoked and 27.3% reported smoking occurred inside the house. The use of the FTND in Indigenous pregnant women may assess physical nicotine dependence, thus providing information that will help in preparing quit-smoking plans, including tailoring of pharmacological support to individual need. Quit-smoking programs that better address the behavioural and psychological aspects of smoking within the Indigenous community in Australia are needed.

Social, Economic, and Political Factors in Progress Towards Improving Child Survival in Developing Nations

Child mortality is a persistent health problem faced by developing nations. In 2000 the United Nations (UN) established a set of high priority goals to address global problems of poverty and health, the Millennium Development Goals, which address extreme poverty, hunger, primary education, child mortality, maternal health, infectious diseases, environmental sustainability, and partnerships for development. Goal 4 aims to reduce by two thirds, between 2000 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate in developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa from 2000 to 2006 these rates have only been reduced from 167 per 1,000 live births to 157, and 27 nations in this region have made no progress towards the goal. A country-specific database was developed from the UN Millennium Development Goal tracking project and other international sources which include age distribution, under-nutrition, per capita income, government expenditures on health, external resources for health, civil liberties, and political rights. A multiple regression analysis examined the extent to which these factors explain the variance in child mortality rates in developing countries. Nutrition, external resources, and per capita income were shown to be significant factors in child survivability. Policy options include developed countries' renewed commitment of resources, and developing nations' commitments towards governance, development, equity, and transparency.

Predicting medical students’ intentions to take up rural practice after graduation

Using a novel longitudinal tracking project, this study develops and evaluates the performance of a predictive model and index of rural medical practice intention based on the characteristics of incoming medical students. Medical school entry survey data were obtained from the Medical Schools Outcome Database (MSOD) project implemented in all Australian and New Zealand medical schools and coordinated through Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand, the representative body for the Deans of 18 Australian and two New Zealand medical schools and faculties. The medical school commencement survey collects data on students' education and family background, including rural upbringing, personal circumstances and scholarships, and on their practice intentions in terms of location and specialty. The MSOD will also allow tracking of medical graduates after graduation. Logistic regression modelling was used to develop a predictive model of rural practice intention. Split-sample validation was used to gain some insight into the stability of performance of the model. Response rates to the MSOD survey exceeded 90% on average. The model findings confirm and extend previous research examining the association of medical student characteristics with intention to take up rural medical practice. The statistically significant independent factors in the model included students' rural backgrounds, financial arrangements and intentions regarding specialist versus generalist practice upon graduation. Model performance was good, with an area under the receiver-operator characteristics curve of 0.86, and reproducible, with an area in a validation sample of 0.83. The model and related index provide important insights into individual factors associated with rural practice intention among students commencing medical studies. The model can also provide a means for optimising the use of scarce medical programme resources, thereby helping to improve the supply of rural medical practitioners. This study illustrates the power and potential of a robust, consistent, systematic longitudinal tracking project.

Application Review of Mindjet Mindmanager Pro 7

Mindjet's MindManager is an intuitive project management software with advanced information capture, organization, and sharing capabilities. New users can be up and running in minutes, creatings highly visual documents with this software to manage meeting agendas, to brainstorm, to schedule equipment and resources, to plan projects, and track project progress. MindManager readily links to common software applications, the internet, and MS Outlook calendar functions. Mindjet's website offers plenty of support including webinars, a newsletter, and a user forum.

The Rural Clinical School Tracking Project: More IS better – Confirming factors that influence early career entry into the rural medical workforce

Introduction: This longitudinal tracking project by the University of Queensland Rural Clinical School (UQRCS) provides data on the early career pathways of alumni since its inception in 2002. Specifically we report on; (1) perceptions of the UQRCS regarding its influence on current career choice, (2) current speciality choices, and (3) factors that influenced these choices.Methods: A retrospective web-based survey of all graduates who undertook clinical Year 3, Year 4 or Years 3 & 4 at UQRCS from 2002 to 2006. Associations with demographics, Year(s) at UQRCS, current workplace and speciality choice were assessed.Results: Response rate was 69%, (N = 180). Alumni who spent two years (Years 3 & 4) at UQRCS reported significantly higher degrees of encouragement to pursue a rural career. Alumni currently working in a non-urban location had spent two years at UQRCS and were significantly higher in desire to remain rural. ‘Time spent at the UQRCS’ contributed most to interest in a rural career. General practice and emergency medicine were most preferred specialities.Conclusions: Findings confirm that a longer rural clinical experience is more effective in eventual choice of workplace location and future interest in a rural career. This corroborates the positive impact of Australian rural clinical schools toward rural medical workforce improvement.

Estimation of survival and detection probabilities for multiple tagged salmon stocks with nested migration routes, using a large-scale telemetry array

Mark–recapture models for estimating survival and detection probabilities of tagged animals that migrate past successive receiver stations can incorporate multiple, linked stocks to improve detection probability estimates. When multiple release groups are analysed in a common framework, detection information can be shared to compensate for small sample sizes and provide generality beyond single-stock approaches. Methods for structuring complex detection history data and applying standard mark–recapture models are presented, allowing for information sharing among multiple stocks under nested migration route structures, where some portions of routes are shared with other stocks and other portions are unique. Possible biases from split-route migration patterns within a release group are described, along with a simple method of correcting these biases using stock-specific parameters that incorporate movement probabilities. Environmental covariates can be paired with stock-specific run timing data to model stock-specific detection probabilities that change seasonally. Finally, a method for assessing the redundancy of receivers on a multiple-receiver detection line is described, based on considerations of receiver line geometry. Examples are drawn from detection data of juvenile salmon on the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking Project (POST) array, but the methods presented here are transferable to other systems.

Economic and Fast-track Rehabilitation of Concrete Pavements and Bridge Decks

The last 10 years have seen considerable growth in the use of proprietary and special repair cements for concrete pavements in the state of Oklahoma. Many of these products lend themselves to "fast track" construction techniques that allow reopening to traffic within 12 hours or less. These products achieve high early strengths by accelerating the Portland cement hydration process for both Type I and Type III cements. In this paper, the important features of a durable repair which include strength, compatibility and bond or adhesion are first discussed. Then the development, testing and field implementation of the aforementioned materials are discussed including the learning curve required to implement a repair system, not just install a new material. Some of the materials discussed, while expensive on a cost per unit basis, hold great promise for economical use on fast track project.

Tracking Childhood Exposure to Lead and Developmental Disabilities

Elevated levels of lead detected in the blood are associated with harmful effects on children's learning and behavior. The goal of the current Environmental Public Health Tracking Project was to examine the relationship between selected developmental disabilities and childhood blood lead levels in a population-based sample. Using extant datasets from the Florida Department of Health, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, and the Florida Department of Education, we were able to isolate a linked dataset of children who were tested for lead poisoning and attended public schools. Special education categories served as a proxy for developmental disabilities; the prevalence of these disabilities in the sample of children with blood lead levels was compared with that in children who attended the same schools but were not tested for lead poisoning. Results indicated that children screened for lead poisoning were more likely to be receiving services for behavior problems, mental retardation, learning disabilities, or a speech-language impairment than other children attending the same schools. Implications for using administrative datasets to examine this relationship are discussed.

Bayesian analysis of mark‐recapture data with travel time‐dependent survival probabilities

AbstractThe authors extend the classical Cormack‐Jolly‐Seber mark‐recapture model to account for both temporal and spatial movement through a series of markers (e.g., dams). Survival rates are modeled as a function of (possibly) unobserved travel times. Because of the complex nature of the likelihood, they use a Bayesian approach based on the complete data likelihood, and integrate the posterior through Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. They test the model through simulations and apply it also to actual salmon data arising from the Columbia river system. The methodology was developed for use by the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) project.