Incentivising public transport use for physical activity gain: process evaluation of the COVID-19 disrupted trips4health randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Partnering with a public transport (PT) provider, state government, and local government, the single-blinded randomised controlled trial, trips4health, investigated the impact of PT use incentives on transport-related physical activity (PA) in Tasmania, Australia. The intervention involved 16-weeks of incentives (bus trip credits) for achieving weekly PT use targets, supported by weekly text messages. This study objective was to conduct a process evaluation of the COVID-19 disrupted trips4health study. METHODS: The Medical Research Council UK's framework for complex public health interventions guided the process evaluation. Participant reach, acceptability, fidelity and feasibility were evaluated. Administrative and post-intervention survey data were analysed descriptively. Semi-structured interviews with intervention participants (n = 7) and PT provider staff (n = 4) were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Due to COVID-19, trips4health was placed on hold (March 2020) then stopped (May 2020) as social restrictions impacted PT use. At study cessation, 116 participants (approximately one third of target sample) had completed baseline measures, 110 were randomised, and 64 (n = 29 in the intervention group; n = 35 in the control group) completed post-intervention measures. Participants were 18 - 80 years (average 44.5 years) with females (69%) and those with tertiary education (55%) over-represented. The intervention was delivered with high fidelity with 96% of bus trip credits and 99% of behavioural text messages sent as intended. Interviewed PT staff said implementation was highly feasible. Intervention participant acceptability was high with 90% reporting bus trip incentives were helpful and 59% reporting the incentives motivated them to use PT more. From a total of 666 possible bus trip targets, 56% were met with 38% of intervention participants agreeing and 41% disagreeing that 'Meeting the bus trip targets was easy'. Interviews and open-ended survey responses from intervention participants revealed incentives motivated bus use but social (e.g., household member commitments) and systemic (e.g., bus availability) factors made meeting bus trip targets challenging. CONCLUSIONS: trips4health demonstrated good acceptability and strong fidelity and feasibility. Future intervention studies incentivising PT use will need to ensure a broader demographic is reached and include more supports to meet PT targets. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12619001136190 .

Reaction dynamics of CN radicals with tetrahydrofuran in liquid solutions.

Transient, broadband infra-red absorption spectroscopy with picosecond time resolution has been used to study the dynamics of reactions of CN radicals with tetrahydrofuran (THF) and d(8)-THF in liquid solutions ranging from neat THF to 0.5 M THF in chlorinated solvents (CDCl(3) and CD(2)Cl(2)). HCN and DCN products were monitored via their v(1) (C≡N stretching) and v(3) (C-H(D) stretching) vibrational absorption bands. Transient spectral features indicate formation of vibrationally excited HCN and DCN, and the onsets of absorption via the fundamental bands of HCN and DCN show short (5-15 ps) delays consistent with vibrational relaxation within the nascent reaction products. This interpretation is confirmed by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations employing a newly derived analytic potential energy surface for the reaction in explicit THF solvent. The rate coefficient for reactive formation of HCN (as determined from measurements on both the 1(1)(0) and 3(1)(0) fundamental bands) decreases with increasing dilution of the THF in CDCl(3) or CD(2)Cl(2), showing pseudo-first order kinetic behaviour for THF concentrations in the range 0.5-4.5 M, and a bimolecular rate coefficient of (1.57 ± 0.12) × 10(10) M(-1) s(-1) is derived. Simultaneous analysis of time-dependent HCN 1(1)(0) and 3(1)(0) band intensities following reaction of CN with THF (3.0 M) in CD(2)Cl(2) suggests that C-H stretching mode excitation is favoured, and this deduction is supported by the computer simulations. The results extend our recent demonstration of nascent vibrational excitation of the products of bimolecular reactions in liquid solution to a different, and more strongly interacting class of organic solvents. They serve to reinforce the finding that dynamics (and thus the topology of the reactive potential energy surface) play an important role in determining the nascent product state distributions in condensed phase reactions.

Quasi-classical trajectory study of the dynamics of the Cl + CH4→ HCl + CH3 reaction.

We present an on-the-fly classical trajectory study of the Cl + CH(4)→ HCl + CH(3) reaction using a specific reaction parameter (SRP) AM1 Hamiltonian that was previously optimized for the Cl + ethane reaction [S. J. Greaves et al., J. Phys Chem A, 2008, 112, 9387]. The SRP-AM1 Hamiltonian is shown to be a good model for the potential energy surface of the title reaction. Calculated differential cross sections, obtained from trajectories propagated with the SRP-AM1 Hamiltonian compare favourably with experimental results for this system. Analysis of the vibrational modes of the methyl radical shows different scattering distributions for ground and vibrationally excited products.

trips4health: Protocol of a single-blinded randomised controlled trial incentivising adults to use public transport for physical activity gain.

BACKGROUND: Public transport (PT) users typically accumulate more physical activity (PA) than private motor vehicle users yet redressing physical inactivity through transport-related PA (TRPA) interventions has received limited attention. Further, incentive-based strategies can increase leisure-time PA but their impact on TRPA, is unclear. This study's objective is to determine the impact of an incentive-based strategy on TRPA in a regional Australian setting. METHODS: trips4health is a single-blinded randomised controlled trial with a four-month intervention phase and subsequent six-month maintenance phase. Participants will be randomised to: an incentives-based intervention (bus trip credit for reaching bus trip targets, weekly text messages to support greater bus use, written PA guidelines); or an active control (written PA guidelines only). Three hundred and fifty adults (≥18 years) from southern Tasmania will be recruited through convenience methods, provide informed consent and baseline information, then be randomised. The primary outcome is change in accelerometer measured average daily step count at baseline and four- and ten-months later. Secondary outcomes are changes in: measured and self-reported travel behaviour (e.g. PT use), PA, sedentary behaviour; self-reported and measured (blood pressure, waist circumference, height, weight) health; travel behaviour perspectives (e.g. enablers/barriers); quality of life; and transport-related costs. Linear mixed model regression will determine group differences. Participant and PT provider level process evaluations will be conducted and intervention costs to the provider determined. DISCUSSION: trips4health will determine the effectiveness of an incentive-based strategy to increase TRPA by targeting PT use. The findings will enable evidence-informed decisions about the worthwhileness of such strategies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12619001136190. UNIVERSAL TRIAL NUMBER: U1111-1233-8050.

Note: Velocity map imaging the scattering plane of gas surface collisions.

The ability of gas-surface dynamics studies to resolve the velocity distribution of the scattered species in the 2D scattering plane has been limited by technical capabilities and only a few different approaches have been explored in recent years. In comparison, gas-phase scattering studies have been transformed by the near ubiquitous use of velocity map imaging. We describe an innovative means of introducing a dielectric surface within the electric field of a typical velocity map imaging experiment. The retention of optimum velocity mapping conditions was validated by measurements of iodomethane-d3 photodissociation and SIMION calculations. To demonstrate the system's capabilities, the velocity distributions of ammonia molecules scattered from a polytetrafluoroethylene surface have been measured for multiple product rotational states.

A screen for identifying genes interacting with armadillo, the Drosophila homolog of beta-catenin.

Drosophila Armadillo is a multifunctional protein implicated in both cell adhesion, as a catenin, and cell signaling, as part of the Wingless signal transduction pathway. We have generated viable fly stocks with alterations in the level of Armadillo available for signaling. Flies from one stock overexpress Armadillo and, as a result, have increased vein material and bristles in the wings. Flies from the other stock have reduced cytoplasmic Armadillo following overexpression of the intracellular domain of DE-cadherin. These flies display a wing-notching phenotype typical of wingless mutations. Both misexpression phenotypes can be dominantly modified by removing one copy of genes known to encode members of the wingless pathway. Here we describe the identification of further mutations that dominantly modify the Armadillo misexpression phenotypes. These mutations are in genes encoding three different functions: establishment and maintenance of adherens junctions, cell cycle control, and Egfr signaling.