Melanie Middlemiss

Personal, social and environmental correlates of active transport to school among adolescents in Otago, New Zealand.

OBJECTIVES With increasingly sedentary lifestyles, opportunities for physical activity such as active transport to school need to be promoted in adolescents. This study examines personal, social and environmental correlates of active transport to school among adolescents including sociodemographics, behavioural patterns, motivational factors, perceived barriers, peer support, family resources, school characteristics, urban/rural setting, distance to school and neighbourhood safety perceptions. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. METHODS In 2009 and 2011, 2018 secondary school students (age: 14.8±1.3 years; 73% urban; 53% boys) from 22 out of 24 schools from Otago, New Zealand completed the Otago School Students Lifestyle Survey. Multivariate binary logistic regression models were used to compare active transport to school correlates in students using active transport to school versus bus and car users (motorised transport). RESULTS Overall, 37% of students used active transport to school, 24% bus, and 39% car. Compared to motorised transport users, active transport to school users were more likely to live closer to school (1.4±1.4 active transport to school vs. 8.3±8.4km motorised transport; p<0.001). In a multivariate analysis, shorter distance to school (OR (95%CI) (0.03 (0.01-0.05)), younger age (0.85 (0.78-0.92)), fewer vehicles (0.66 (0.49-0.89)) and fewer screens (0.53 (0.35-0.82)) per household, meeting screen time guidelines (1.74 (1.22-2.50)), opportunity to chat with friends (2.26 (1.58-3.23)), nice scenery (1.69 (1.14-2.50)), and parental perceptions of active transport to school safety (2.32 (1.25-4.30)) were positively associated with active transport to school, while perceived time constraints (0.46 (0.29-0.72)) and attending girls-only school (0.51 (0.35-0.75)) had a negative association with active transport to school. CONCLUSIONS Future active transport to school interventions in adolescents should focus on encouraging active transport to school, reiterating its social benefits, and addressing parental safety concerns around active transport to school.

Innate and adaptive principles for an artificial immune system

This paper summarises the current literature on immune system function and behaviour, including pattern recognition receptors, danger theory, central and peripheral tolerance, and memory cells. An artificial immune system framework is then presented based on the analogies of these natural system components and a rule and feature-based problem representation. A data set for intrusion detection is used to highlight the principles of the framework.

Computer-Mediated social networking - an executive summary of the conference and the future research directions

In June 2008, the International Conference on Computer Mediated Social Networking (ICCMSN) was held in Dunedin, New Zealand. The aim of this conference was to explore current issues surrounding computer mediated social networks. This report presents an executive summary of technologies and the research issues identified during the course of the ICCMSN conference.

Security in Artificial Systems

In the context of a computer system, computer security is the prevention of an illicit action against the system. For this purpose, computer security must determine the difference between normal and harmful activities. These activities can come from outside or from inside the system to be protected. In a similar manner, the role of the Human Immune System (HIS) is to detect and defend against harm. This similarity has inspired approaches in the area of computer security, including the use of immune-based approaches to build Intrusion Detection and Response Systems (IDRSs). As a concrete example, this chapter introduces a new approach for Intrusion Detection (ID) and Intrusion Response (IR) to build a completely distributed and decentralised IDRS for use in computer networks. This approach is called Intrusion Detection and Response extended with Agent Mobility, or IDReAM for short. IDReAM combines Mobile Agents (MAs) with two self-organising paradigms inspired by natural life systems. The Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is inspired by the metaphor of the immune system that protects the human body from external threats. Specialised cells of the immune system, called the T cells, travel around the body to detect possible threats by eliminating the proteins that they do not recognise as safe proteins—referred to as non-self proteins. Intrusion Detection Agents (IDAs) roam the network to detect suspicious behaviours in a manner that mimics the behaviour of T cells. The Intrusion Response System (IRS) also borrows mechanisms from the stigmergic paradigm of a colony of ants. At the time of foraging, the ants use the environment to diffuse a chemical substance called the pheromone which traces the route for the other ants from the nest to the source of food. Intrusion Response Agents (IRAs) roam the network to respond to the IDAs’ alerts, mimicking the behaviour of the ants to trace the route to the alert and give the response. The two natural systems exhibit a social behaviour by the organisation of their entities, T cells and ants, which is not possible without the functionality of mobility.