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Rapid technological and social changes have prompted a strong focus on teaching practices in higher education. Among the assortment of programs and approaches aimed at developing teaching practices...

There is ongoing research on how to improve student engagement and attainment in STEM in higher education, with active learning recognised as a feasible approach for several decades now. However, the uptake of active learning, and other evidence-based approaches, is inconsistent. This paper reports on one aspect of an Australian Government funded Fellowship; the specific scholarly practice of the use of concept inventories, widely associated with active learning, to engage academics in evidence-based practices in STEM disciplines. The ultimate aim was to equip lecturers with the tools to measure student attainment. In close collaboration with academics, pre- and post-tests were administered to students in a total of 12 different courses, constituting over 3000 individual student questionnaires collected across eight Australian Universities. We report on the implementation focusing on; engaging staff, the types of concept survey results made visible to staff not generally accustomed to seeing such results, and tentatively offer the possibility of national data on learning gains. Results show that the majority of lecturers engaged and continued the use of concept inventories. Our study demonstrates that concerted use of concept inventories might lead to increased uptake of evidence-based approaches with potential for improved teaching and learning in STEM disciplines.

Background In September 2014, as part of a national initiative to increase access to liaison psychiatry services, the liaison psychiatry services at Bristol Royal Infirmary received new investment of £250 000 per annum, expanding its availability from 40 to 98 h per week. The long-term impact on patient outcomes and costs, of patients presenting to the emergency department with self-harm, is unknown. Aims To assess the long-term impact of the investment on patient care outcomes and costs, of patients presenting to the emergency department with self-harm. Method Monthly data for all self-harm emergency department attendances between 1 September 2011 and 30 September 2017 was modelled using Bayesian structural time series to estimate expected outcomes in the absence of expanded operating hours (the counterfactual). The difference between the observed and expected trends for each outcome were interpreted as the effects of the investment. Results Over the 3 years after service expansion, the mean number of self-harm attendances increased 13%. Median waiting time from arrival to psychosocial assessment was 2 h shorter (18.6% decrease, 95% Bayesian credible interval (BCI) −30.2% to −2.8%), there were 45 more referrals to other agencies (86.1% increase, 95% BCI 60.6% to 110.9%) and a small increase in the number of psychosocial assessments (11.7% increase, 95% BCI −3.4% to 28.5%) per month. Monthly mean net hospital costs were £34 more per episode (5.3% increase, 95% BCI −11.6% to 25.5%). Conclusions Despite annual increases in emergency department attendances, investment was associated with reduced waiting times for psychosocial assessment and more referrals to other agencies, with only a small increase in cost per episode.

Background Postoperative urinary retention (PO-UR) is an acute and painful inability to void after surgery that can lead to complications and delayed hospital discharge. Standard treatment with a urinary catheter is associated with a risk of infection and can be distressing, undignified and uncomfortable. This systematic review aimed to identify effective interventions for the prevention and treatment of PO-UR that might be alternatives to urinary catheterization. Methods Electronic databases were searched from inception to September 2017. Randomized trials of interventions for the prevention or treatment of PO-UR were eligible for inclusion. Studies were assessed for risk of bias using the Cochrane (2.0) tool. Two reviewers were involved at all review stages. Where possible, data were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. The overall quality of the body of evidence was rated using the GRADE approach. Results Some 48 studies involving 5644 participants were included. Most interventions were pharmacological strategies to prevent PO-UR. Based on GRADE, there was high-certainty evidence to support replacing morphine in a regional anaesthetic regimen, using alpha-blockers (number needed to treat to prevent one case of PO-UR (NNT) 5, 95 per cent c.i. 5 to 7), the antispasmodic drug drotaverine (NNT 9, 7 to 30) and early postoperative mobilization (NNT 5, 4 to 8) for prevention, and employing hot packs or gauze soaked in warm water for treatment (NNT 2, 2 to 4). Very few studies reported on secondary outcomes of pain, incidence of urinary tract infection or duration of hospital stay. Conclusion Promising interventions exist for PO-UR, but they need to be evaluated in randomized trials investigating comparative clinical and cost effectiveness, and acceptability to patients.

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness and predictive accuracy of early warning scores (EWS) to predict deteriorating patients in pre-hospital settings. Methods Systematic review. Seven databases searched to August 2017. Study quality was assessed using QUADAS-2. A narrative synthesis is presented. Eligibility Studies that evaluated EWS predictive accuracy or that compared outcomes in populations that did or did not use EWS, in any pre-hospital setting were eligible for inclusion. EWS were included if they aggregated three or more physiological parameters. Results Seventeen studies (157,878 participants) of predictive accuracy were included (16 in ambulance service and 1 in nursing home). AUCs ranged from 0.50 (CI not reported) to 0.89 (95%CI 0.82, 0.96). AUCs were generally higher (>0.80) for prediction of mortality within short time frames or for combination outcomes that included mortality and ICU admission. Few patients with low scores died at any time point. Patients with high scores were at risk of deterioration. Results were less clear for intermediate thresholds (≥4 or 5). Five studies were judged at low or unclear risk of bias, all others were judged at high risk of bias. Conclusions Very low and high EWS are able to discriminate between patients who are not likely and those who are likely to deteriorate in the pre-hospital setting. No study compared outcomes pre- and post-implementation of EWS so there is no evidence on whether patient outcomes differ between pre-hospital settings that do and do not use EWS. Further studies are required to address this question and to evaluate EWS in pre-hospital settings.

Peer Review of Teaching (PRT) programmes have been implemented in the Higher Education context to ensure teaching is a collaborative, evolving and inspiring activity in an era of ever shrinking resources. These programmes are reported to have many benefits but are notoriously difficult to implement and even more difficult to sustain, with research implicating the mechanics and specific characteristics featured in the programmes as vital to their ultimate success. This paper addresses this issue through first, detailing one version of a PRT programme implemented at one institution and second, by reporting on how the participants of this programme viewed its specific characteristics. Data from participant interviews and forms provide both confirmation of the efficacy of certain features, such as receiving feedback and having the opportunity to observe others and also provide more detail on some lesser researched features, such as the relevance of discipline and number of observations.

It has been established that the incorporation of active learning experiences in the context of university lectures increases overall student learning. This study contributes to the literature by examining iterations of incorporating interactivity where the ‘intensity’, in terms of the content, structure and time spent on different in-class activities is varied. The study described in this paper deals in some depth with the use of worksheets during lectures on the topic of circular motion. The study was done with a total of 1405 students studying first-year physics over five years at Mahidol University, Thailand. Over these years, the style of the worksheets as well as the in-class activities were modified. In the first year, the worksheet contained a subsection for note taking as well as problem-solving practice; in the second year, a problem-solving strategy was introduced; in the third year, a lecture demonstration with associated free-body diagrams was included; in the final two years, these diagrams were modified. There was a statistically significant difference between student performance on an examination question of circular motion between the first-year cohort and the cohorts of later years. However, the results for later years indicate a saturation of mean scores. This saturation level needs to be further investigated under different topics, with different cohorts and with different types of active learning.

Social network perspectives acknowledge the influence of disciplinary cultures on academics’ teaching beliefs and practices with implications for academic developers. The contribution of academic developers in 18 scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects situated in the sciences are explored by drawing on data from a two-year national project in Australia within a case study research design. The application of a social network lens illuminated the contribution of eight academic developers as weak ties who infused SoTL knowledge within teams. Two heuristic cases of academic developers who also linked across networks are presented. Implications of social network perspective are discussed.

Student experience surveys have become increasingly popular to probe various aspects of processes and outcomes in higher education, such as measuring student perceptions of the learning environment and identifying aspects that could be improved. This paper reports on a particular survey for evaluating individual experiments that has been developed over some 15 years as part of a large national Australian study pertaining to the area of undergraduate laboratories—Advancing Science by Enhancing Learning in the Laboratory. This paper reports on the development of the survey instrument and the evaluation of the survey using student responses to experiments from different institutions in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. A total of 3153 student responses have been analysed using factor analysis. Three factors, motivation, assessment and resources, have been identified as contributing to improved student attitudes to laboratory activities. A central focus of the survey is to provide feedback to practitioners ...

In this review of 64 articles published since the year 2000, a strong association between self-efficacy and student learning outcomes was apparent. Self-efficacy is also related to other factors such as value, self-regulation and metacognition, locus of control, intrinsic motivation, and strategy learning use. The review revealed that university student self-efficacy is higher under certain conditions than others, and that it can be improved. Examples of teaching strategies that may be used to improve self-efficacy are outlined. In screening articles for inclusion in the review, several conflicting definitions of self-efficacy arose. Clarification on the meaning and scope of the self-efficacy term is provided. The interpretation of the results of some studies reviewed was limited by design or analysis issues. Suggestions for addressing these issues in future research and evaluation work is given.

A review of the applications of antimicrobial nanomaterials and nanotechnology in improving various aspects of food safety and preservation is presented in this chapter. The review first summarizes the antimicrobial activity of a number of metallic and inorganic nanoparticles with the mechanism of action and factors affecting antimicrobial activity of the nanoparticles. Initially, an overview is presented of the applications of the nano-antimicrobials in active food packaging systems for preserving foods and for enhancing microbial safety of foods. The recent trend of using nano-based sensors in intelligent packaging systems for detection of microbial contaminants in foods, and the efficacy of nanocomposites in the prevention of biofilm formation and biofouling in food industry is also discussed. Acceptance of this novel technology in various aspects of food preservation and safety requires further studies to establish absence of adverse effects of nano-materials and their safe use on foods and food contact surfaces.

To evaluate temporal changes in recorded alcohol consumption in Sri Lanka during and after the armed conflict 1998-2013.District level alcohol sales, and mid-year population data for the whole study period (1998-2013) were consistently available from the Department of Excise and the Department of Census and Statistics for 18 of 25 districts. These data were used to estimate the recorded per capita consumption for the areas that were not directly exposed to the armed conflict. An interrupted time series design was employed to estimate the impact of the end of the armed conflict on recorded adult per capita alcohol consumption of population lived in the 18 districts.Adult per capita recorded alcohol consumption among Sri Lankans living in the 18 districts was 1.59 l of pure alcohol in 1998. This increased up to 2.07 l in 2009 and 2.55 l in 2013. Prior to the end of the conflict in 2009 adult per capita recorded consumption increased by 0.051 l of pure alcohol per year (95% CI: 0.029-0.074, P0.001); after 2009 this was 0.166 l per year (95% CI: 0.095-0.236, P0.001). Beer consumption showed the highest per capita growth compared with other beverages.Adult per capita recorded alcohol consumption among Sri Lankans living in areas that were not directly exposed to the conflict increased markedly after the end of the conflict. Rapid socio-economic development, alcohol industry penetration and lack of alcohol control strategies during the post-conflict period may have driven this increase.Adult per capita recorded alcohol consumption among Sri Lankans living in 18 districts that were not directly exposed to the armed conflict increased markedly after the end of the conflict in 2009, with a dramatic acceleration in the trend of per capita beer consumption.

Aims: To review the international guidelines and recommendations on survey instruments for measurement of alcohol consumption in population surveys, and to examine how national surveys in England meet the core recommendations. Methods: A systematic search for international guidelines for measuring alcohol consumption in population surveys was undertaken. The common core recommendations for alcohol consumption measures and survey instruments were identified. Alcohol consumption questions in national surveys in England were compared with these recommendations for specific years and over time since 2000. Results: Four sets of international guidelines and three core alcohol consumption measures (alcohol consumption status, average volume of consumption, frequency and volume of binge drinking) with another optional measure (drinking context) were identified. English national surveys have been inconsistent over time in including questions that provide information on average volume of consumption but have not included questions on another essential alcohol consumption measure, frequency of heavy episodic drinking. Instead they have used questions that focus only on maximum volume of alcohol consumed on any day in the previous week. Conclusions: International guidelines provide consistent recommendations for measuring alcohol consumption in population surveys. These recommendations have not been consistently applied in English national surveys and this has contributed to the inadequacy of survey measurements for monitoring vital aspects of alcohol consumption in England over recent years.

This paper describes an educational analysis of a first year physics experiment on standing waves for engineering students. The educational analysis is based on the ACELL (Advancing Chemistry by Enhancing Learning in the Laboratory) approach which includes a statement of educational objectives and an analysis of student learning experiences. The experiment is likely to be found in many physics departments, hence is appropriate to illustrate the ACELL approach in physics. The concepts associated with standing waves are difficult; however, they are underpinned by mathematical formulation which lend themselves to be visualized in experiments. The challenge is to strike a balance between these two for the particular student cohort. In this study, this balance is achieved by using simple equipment and providing appropriate scaffolds for students to associate abstract concepts with concrete visuals. In essence the experiment is designed to adequately manage cognitive resources. Students work in pairs and are questioned and assisted by demonstrators and academic staff during a 2 h practical class. Students were surveyed using the ACELL instrument. Analysis of the data showed that by completing the practical students felt that their understanding of physics had increased. Furthermore, students could see the relevance of this experiment to their engineering studies and that it provided them with an opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning. Overall they had a positive learning experience. In short there is a lot of dividend from a small outlay of resources.

Since their inception in 1993 at an Australian university, the workshop tutorials in physics have evolved and grown beyond the initiating department. In this paper, we adopt an interpretive perspective to: (i) reflect on why the tutorials continue to be successful; (ii) use models from literature to understand that success; and (iii) abstract key features that can inform scholarly inquiry into teaching and learning in higher education in other contexts and discipline areas. Practitioner (action) research and design‐based research not only provide useful methodological frameworks that support the success of the workshop tutorials, but they also offer a worthwhile methodological strategy for fostering scholarly inquiry into university teaching and student learning.

Two disparate research programs have addressed the challenge of instructional multimedia design. One, based on cognitive load theory, has focused on ways of reducing unnecessary cognitive load during instruction to free up resources for learning. The other, based on constructivism, has centered on interactive multimedia, allowing students to build their own knowledge. Attempting to build on both bodies of literature, in this study, we investigated techniques that can raise the useful cognitive load engendered with linear multimedia. Participating online from home, students were pre- and posttested around a short multimedia intervention that explained Newton's first and second laws. In Experiment 1, students who watched a video dialogue involving alternative conceptions reported investing greater mental effort and achieved higher posttest scores than students who received a standard lecture-style presentation. In Experiment 2, two additional multimedia treatments were evaluated to assess the role of instructional time and the method of addressing alternative conceptions. In all, 272 students participated in the experiments. Interviews suggest that students adopted a more active approach to understanding the material if alternative conceptions were raised. In addition, students who watched the dialogue judged themselves to be similar to the student in the multimedia. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:278–296, 2008

In a study to assess how effectively undergraduate physics studies have prepared students for the workplace, we attempted to locate and interview traditional 3-year or 4-year physics students who had graduated in the past five years (2000 to 2004), and the employers of these graduates. The study was limited to recent graduates who have majored in physics and not obtained further or concurrent degrees. Overseas studies of the destinations of physics graduates referred to in this paper have not isolated the group we interviewed as a distinct group. A major finding was that the number of these graduates was unexpectedly low. Indeed, most physics graduates have two degrees. Interviews with graduates and employers suggest that physics graduates have particular strengths in problem solving and are good at applying their skills at the workplace.

The School of Physics at the University of Sydney has introduced voluntary workshop tutorials in large first‐year courses. The tutorials are based on informal cooperative groupings with structured worksheets and short hands‐on activities. In this study we explore the relationship between attendance at the workshop tutorials and student performance in examinations. We show that about 80% of the students attend more than two‐thirds of the voluntary tutorials. Discounting the students who attend very few tutorials, on average, examination marks improve significantly with increased tutorial attendance. In particular, on average, students with poor senior high school scores have significantly better examination marks if they work in the same group for eight or more tutorials than those who do not work in the same groups. There is evidence that the improvement in examination performance is more pronounced in qualitative concept questions, most dramatically again for students who did poorly in senior high school.

Hyperresolving (sometimes called ‘superresolving’ or ‘ultraresolving’) phase-only filters can be generated using an optically addressable liquid crystal spatial light modulator. This approach avoids the problems of low efficiency, and coupling between amplitude and phase modulation, that arise when using conventional liquid crystal modulators. When addressed by a programmed light intensity distribution, it allows filters to be changed rapidly to modify the response of a system or permit the investigation of different filter designs. In this paper we present experimental hyperresolved images obtained using an optically addressable parallel-aligned nematic LCD with two zone Toraldo type phase-only filters. The images are compared with theoretical predictions.

The generalized pupil concept has proved useful for representation of focused monochromatic fields. The generalized pupil can also be used to describe, and give insight into, the focusing of different types of ultrashort pulses, including Gaussian beams and focus wave modes.

Summary It is possible to obtain an accurate irradiance distribution for the diffracted wave field from an aperture by the numerical evaluation of the two-dimensional diffraction integrals using a product-integration method in which Simpson's 1/3 rule is applied twice. The calculations can be done quickly using a standard PC by utilizing matrix operations on complex numbers with Matlab. The diffracted wave field can be calculated from the plane of the aperture to the far field without introducing many of the standard approximations that are used to give Fresnel or Fraunhofer diffraction. The numerical method is used to compare the diffracted irradiance distribution from a circular aperture as predicted by Kirchhoff, Rayleigh-Sommerfeld 1 and Rayleigh-Sommerfeld 2 diffraction integrals.

It is shown how the integrated intensity, discussed previously elsewhere, can be used to investigate in a simple way, the process of confocal imaging though a weakly scattering medium. The effect of annular pupils and half-plane apertures are investigated.

In 1995, cooperative learning tutorials were introduced into large first year physics classes at the University of Sydney. This paper describes the effect of these cooperative learning tutorials, called Workshop Tutorials, on student learning from both a quantitative and qualitative point of view. It was found that students attending more than half the total number of tutorials scored significantly better over the year than those attending less than half. Student reaction was almost wholly positive, with particular mention made of the voluntary nature of the tutorials as well as the use of practical, 'hands on' demonstrations within the tutorials.

The axial resolution in a confocal microscope of high aperture using a single-mode optical fibre for illumination and collection is investigated. This information, together with results previously published regarding signal levels, allows the characterization of the instrument and adjustment of the system parameters to achieve desired imaging properties.

The project proposes to build a system which is capable of extracting business intelligence for a manufacturer, from online product reviews. For a particular product, it extracts a list of the discussed features and their associated sentiment scores. Online products reviews and review characteristics are extracted from www.Amazon.com. A two level filtering approach is adapted to choose a set of reviews that are perceived to be useful by customers. The filtering process is based on the concept that the reviewer generated textual content and other characteristics of the review, influence peer customers in making purchasing choices. The filtered reviews are then processed to obtain a relative sentiment score associated with each feature of the product that has been discussed in these reviews. Based on these scores, the customer's impression of each feature of the product can be judged and used for the manufacturers benefit.

As schools start investigating and investing in the idea of 1:1 iPads and tablets, are there any lessons that can be learnt from recent 1:1 laptop deployments? In Australia, since 2008, 1:1 laptops have been introduced into every secondary school. This study reports on a survey designed to investigate frequency and type of laptop use, and the alignment of teacher and student perceptions of that use. Data was obtained from 14 secondary schools from the Catholic Education Office Sydney, involving responses from 1245 Grade 10 science students and 47 science teachers. As part of the analysis, bubble graphs are used to visually represent a teacher's alignment/misalignment with their students' self-reported practices. Results show student and teacher perceptions of use were usually relatively aligned though sometimes very contrasting. The alignment was measured with the use of a 'Misalignment Index'. Three distinct types of teacher/student alignment or misalignment emerge from a graphical analysis of the data. Of the teachers and students sampled, some 30% of teachers were highly aligned, 55% had medium alignment and 15% were badly misaligned with their respective students. Potential uses of the Misalignment Index and analysis tools are discussed.

While blended learning has been around for sometime, the interplay between lecture recordings, lecture attendance and grades needs further examination particularly for large cohorts of over 1000 students in 500 seat lecture theatres. This paper reports on such an investigation with a cohort of 1450 first year psychology students’ who indicated whether they frequently attended lectures or not. The division helped ascertain differences and similarities in preferences for utilising online recordings. Overall, non-frequent attendees were more likely not to use lecture recordings (48.1%) to make up a missed lecture than frequent attendees (34.3%). Surprisingly, in the last week of semester, 29% of students reported not yet accessing lecture recordings. Students had the intention to use lecture recordings as they envisaged these to be helpful for learning and commented that they would be adversely affected if recordings were not available. In fact, students are passionate about lecture recordings. Analytics show that after lecture 7, each lecture recording attracted 600 or less unique visits (hits) supporting the finding that most students make strategic use of learning resources available within the blended learning environment.

Background: Tapioca has been the staple food for the people of Kerala, India. Recent studies show that it has become more toxic due to changes in environment. There have been few studies in recent years to observe the effects of consuming more toxic tapioca. Objective: The combination of pregnancy and tapioca diet on blood pressure (BP), serum alkaline phosphatase, serum globulin and A:G ratio are studied to assess the general health and liver function. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was conducted in the Obstetrics out-patient department of a tertiary care hospital of central Kerala. The systolic and diastolic blood pressures were determined. The serum alkaline phosphatase, total proteins, and serum albumin levels were tested in a sample of blood collected under aseptic conditions. The serum globulin values were calculated from total protein and serum albumin values by subtraction. The A:G values were calculated by dividing the values of serum albumin and serum globulin. This study was conducted after obtaining ethical clearance from the institute. Result: There were significant differences (p = 0.002) in the mean values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the third-trimester pregnancy. There was significant difference in the mean value of serum alkaline phosphatase levels in the first trimester (p = 0.007), the second trimester (p = 0.001) and the third trimester (p = 0.000001). There was significant difference in the mean value of serum globulin in the first trimester (p = 0.03), the second trimester (p = 0.0003), and the third trimester (0.000008). The A:G ratio showed significant difference in the first trimester (p = 0.0003), the second trimester (p = 0.0001), and the third trimester (p = 0.001). Conclusion: The above study shows that there is significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure towards the third trimester compared to normal controls. This is comparable to other similar studies. The alkaline phosphatase levels are also comparable with the values obtained in other studies. The serum globulin values were also comparable to other similar studies. The decreasing A:G ratio values were unique to this population.

The coherence principle states that all non-essential information in multimedia messages should be eliminated to minimise demands on cognitive resources. This assertion has been empirically verified in controlled laboratory studies with learners who have little prior knowledge and limited interest in the domain of instruction. It has not been investigated, however, whether the coherence principle generalises to real learning environments. In this study, 104 students from year 10, year 11, and first year university viewed either a concise or an extended online multimedia treatment on stellar spectra. The extended treatment included additional interesting information about the formation of black holes, galaxy collisions and the observation of dark matter. Following the multimedia, participants completed a retention and transfer test that covered only the material common to both treatments. Results showed students in both treatment groups achieved similar performance. This suggests that in authentic learning settings, interest may mitigate the effects of the coherence principle. Difficulties involved in measuring differences in learning within the constraints of a real learning environment are also addressed.

We consider the properties of holmium-doped fibers in filter applications. We give spectral properties and model filter characteristics. Experiments on filtering of Raman spectra are presented. The fiber filters exhibit strong rejection in the stop band and sharp absorption cutoffs.

An analytic study of complete cylindrical focusing of pulses in two dimensions is presented, and compared with the analogous three-dimensional case of focusing over a complete sphere. Such behavior is relevant for understanding the limiting performance of ultrafast, planar photonic and plasmonic devices. A particular spectral distribution is assumed that contains finite energy. Separate ingoing and outgoing pulsed waves are considered, along with the combination that would be generated in free space by an ingoing wave. It is shown that for the two dimensional case, in order to produce a temporally symmetrical pulse at the focus, an asymmetric pulse must be launched. A symmetrical outgoing pulse is generated from a source with asymmetric time behavior, or an anti-symmetric input pulse. These results are very different from the corresponding three-dimensional case, and imply fundamental limitations on the performance of ultrafast, tightly focused, two-dimensional devices.

Since 2002 we have been investigating the use of an electronic classroom communication system in large first year lecture classes. Handheld keypads were distributed to teams of students during a lecture class. Students used the keypads to answer two step multiple choice problems after a discussion within their group. The questions were generated using students' answers from previous exams. We have evaluated our use of the classroom communication system using a survey about how comfortable students are with this type of interaction. In addition, we have tried to determine if the use of the classroom communication system can be linked to student performance on exams. Our results show that students are comfortable with this technology and feel that, on the whole, interactive lectures are useful. At a first glance, there is an improvement in students' exam performance, but there are too many competing factors to clearly say that this improvement is solely due to the use of the classroom communication system. Even though this paper is based in physics and a physics example is used to illustrate points, the technique can be applied to other discipline areas.

Confocal microscopy can be used to image through a highly scattering medium, the optical sectioning property rejecting light scattered from regions other than the focal plane. Apodizing filters designed to improve this rejection at the expense of some degradation in axial resolution are considered.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Image formation in the coherence probe microscope (CPM) and in optical coherence tomography (OCT) are compared. These systems differ in that CPM is a conventional interference microscope, but OCT is a confocal interference microscope. A major disadvantage of CPM for imaging through thick object structures is that there is no optical sectioning for the background image, which can saturate the detector. The behavior of the interference term in the presence of aberrations also exhibits some differences: Aberrations can be compensated in CPM, but not in OCT.

Background Adolescent smoking is a worldwide public health concern. Whilst various support measures are available to help young smokers quit, their utilization of cessation support remains unknown. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the 2012 Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People survey to quantify the use of seven different types of cessation support by adolescents aged 11-16 in England who reported current smoking and having tried to quit, or ex-smoking. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and 95 % confidence intervals for the associations between participant characteristics and reported use of cessation support. Results Amongst 617 current and ex-smokers, 67.3 % (95 % CI 63.0-71.2) reported use of at least one cessation support measure. Not spending time with friends who smoke was the most commonly-used measure, reported by 45.4 % of participants (95 % CI 41.1-49.8), followed by seeking smoking cessation advice from family or friends (27.4 %, 95 % CI 23.7-31.5) and using nicotine products (15.4 %, 95 % CI 12.6-18.7). Support services provided by the National Health Service (NHS) were infrequently utilized. Having received lessons on smoking was significantly associated with reported use of cessation support (adjusted OR 1.55, 95 % CI 1.02-2.34) and not spending time with friends who smoked (adjusted OR 1.98, 95 % CI 1.33-2.95). Students with family members who smoked were more likely to report asking family or friends for help to quit (adjusted OR 1.74, 95 % CI 1.07-2.81). Respondents who smoked fewer cigarettes per week were generally less likely to report use of cessation support measures. Conclusion The majority of young smokers reported supported attempts to quit, though the support they used tended to be informal rather than formal. Evidence is needed to quantify the effectiveness of cessation support mechanisms which are acceptable to and used by young smokers.

Pupil filters can be used to overcome the limits in axial resolution imposed by diffraction in imaging systems. Axial behavior of filters is important for depth resolution in confocal microscopy. Phase filters have the advantage of improved efficiency by virtue of allowing more light to be transmitted, reduced tolerance errors, and in some case increased super resolving performance. In this paper we present a theoretical investigation of phase only filters. In addition, we describe the generation of a phase only filter from an amplitude filter using an optically-addressable liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LCSLM).