Background Despite reforming health policies to create more enabling environments, insufficient physical activity in Sri Lanka remains a major public health issue. Socio-culture specific determinants underlying the physical activity of adults living in such environments need to be identified. The aim of this study was to explore the barriers and facilitators for physical activity, as perceived by adult urban dwellers in activity-friendly environments in Colombo District, Sri Lanka. Methods A qualitative study using in-depth interviews was conducted among adults aged 20–60 years living in an urban area which has been recently re-designed for recreational and rejuvenating purposes in Sri Lanka. Recruitment targeted varying socio-economic status and risk of non-communicable diseases; and was continued until the data saturation point was reached. Interviews were conducted in homes, primary healthcare units and fitness centres, and were transcribed verbatim and analysed using framework analysis. Results A total of 31 eligible and consenting adults were interviewed. Of the reported barriers to physical activity, lack of time was very common. Other frequently reported barriers included unpleasant experiences following exercise and misconceptions about exercise, whereas physical environmental factors, weather and road safety were reported less frequently. All participants reported at least one facilitator for engaging in exercise. Expectations of preventing diseases, improving health, physical fitness, psycho-social wellbeing, optimising body functions and increasing lifespan were frequently cited as reasons to be active, while social factors such as positive attitudes of family members and the influence of peers were found to be motivating. Conclusions The study showed that while participants valued the health benefits of physical activity and refurbished activity-friendly urban environments, these were not sufficient to support them to overcome key perceived barriers to being physically active.

Background Wearable technologies are being used to provide personalised feedback across multiple physical activity dimensions in countries such as the UK, but their feasibility has not been tested in South Asia, where physical inactivity is increasing. This study assessed the understanding, acceptability, and relevance of personalised multidimensional physical activity feedback in urban dwellers in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Methods A qualitative feasibility study was conducted among 35 adults to assess a community-based approach to provide multidimensional physical activity feedback. Healthy adults, adults at risk of non-communicable diseases and community-based primary healthcare professionals wore a physical activity monitor for 7 days and were then guided through their personalised multidimensional physical activity feedback. One-to-one interviews were conducted, transcribed verbatim and analysed using framework analysis. Results Four themes were generated: understanding of personalised physical activity feedback, perceived novelty of the feedback, motivation, and consideration of the multidimensional nature of physical activity. A majority of participants required guidance initially to understand the feedback, following which most were quickly able to interpret the data shown, and were willing to use the feedback as a basis for identifying goals to improve physical activity. Participants perceived the feedback and its delivery as novel because it provided new knowledge about physical activity guidelines and awareness on their own behaviour through graphics. Comparisons of personal performance against recommended physical activity levels and information on sedentary time were the most commonly motivating aspects of the feedback, prompting talk about behaviour change. All three groups showed poor planning on goal achievement, with some noticeable differences between those with and without health risk of non-communicable diseases. Following the feedback, most participants understood that physical activity is composed of several dimensions, while around half could recognise more suitable options to change behaviour. Of the physical activity dimensions, calorie burn received more attention than others. Conclusions Multidimensional physical activity feedback was considered understandable and acceptable and has the potential to support behaviour change among urban Sri Lankans with or without identified health risk. These findings highlight the feasibility of this technology-enabled approach as a personalised intervention to improve knowledge and motivation for physical activity behaviour.

Intercropping of chilli {Capsicum annuum) and dwarf bean {Phaseolus vulgaris)is a recently adopted practice by farmers in Sri Lanka. As chilli fetches a higher market price, the bean population which could be incorporated into a 100% population of chilli has to be found. In the present experiment, effects of three bean populations (100, 75 and 50% of sole crop population 250000 pi ha') and four row arrangements (1:1, 1:2, 2:1 and 2:2) were tested at Kundasale, Sri Lanka. The land equivalent ratio (LER) of all intercrops were significantly greater than one, indicating a greater productivity per unit land area in intercropping than sole cropping. At 100% and 75% bean populations, LER and intercrop yields of bean were significantly greater than at 50%. Row arrangement did not have a significant effect on either LER or bean yield in intercrops. Intercrop bean yields were lower than sole bean yields indicating significant competition from chilli. Chilh yields were not affected by either bean population or row arrangement. Intercrop chilli yields were greater than the sole chilli yield indicating significant positive effects from bean. Greater radiation interception and iower weed growth and the absence of overlap between yield formation periods ofthe two component crops were probably responsible for the greater productivity (LER) of intercrops.

Skeleton-based action recognition, as a subarea of action recognition, is swiftly accumulating attention and popularity. The task is to recognize actions performed by human articulation points. Compared with other data modalities, 3D human skeleton representations have extensive unique desirable characteristics, including succinctness, robustness, racial-impartiality, and many more. We aim to provide a roadmap for new and existing researchers a on the landscapes of skeleton-based action recognition for new and existing researchers. To this end, we present a review in the form of a taxonomy on existing works of skeleton-based action recognition. We partition them into four major categories: (1) datasets; (2) extracting spatial features; (3) capturing temporal patterns; (4) improving signal quality. For each method, we provide concise yet informatively-sufficient descriptions. To promote more fair and comprehensive evaluation on existing approaches of skeleton-based action recognition, we collect ANUBIS, a large-scale human skeleton dataset. Compared with previously collected dataset, ANUBIS are advantageous in the following four aspects: (1) employing more recently released sensors; (2) containing novel back view; (3) encouraging high enthusiasm of subjects; (4) including actions of the COVID pandemic era. Using ANUBIS, we comparably benchmark performance of current skeleton-based action recognizers. At the end of this paper, we outlook future development of skeleton-based action recognition by listing several new technical problems. We believe they are valuable to solve in order to commercialize skeleton-based action recognition in the near future.

To combat maternal morbidity and mortality, interventions designed to increase physical activity levels during and after pregnancy are needed. Mobile phone-based interventions show considerable promise, and BumptUp® has been carefully developed to address the lack of exercise among pregnant and postpartum women. The primary goal of this pilot study was to test the potential efficacy of BumptUp® for improving physical activity among pregnant and postpartum women. A randomized controlled clinical trial was performed (N = 35) with women either receiving access to the mhealth app or an educational brochure. Physical activity and self-efficacy for exercise data were collected at baseline (in mid-pregnancy) and at three additional timepoints (late pregnancy, 6 and 12 weeks postpartum). For moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, a clear trend is observed as the mean estimated difference between groups increases from −0.35 (SE: 1.75) in mid-pregnancy to −0.81 (SE: 1.75) in late pregnancy. For self-efficacy for exercise, the estimated difference of means (control–intervention) changed from 0.96 (SE: 6.53) at baseline to −7.64 (SE: 6.66) in late pregnancy and remained at −6.41 (SE: 6.79) and −6.70 (SE: 6.96) at 6 and 12 weeks postpartum, respectively. When assessing the change in self-efficacy from mid-to -ate pregnancy only, there was a statistically significant difference between groups (p = 0.044). BumptUp® (version 1.0 (3)) shows potential for efficacy. Pilot data suggest key refinements to be made and a larger clinical trial is warranted.