Search results for: general health talk

Authors: Rabih Nehme, Abdullah Al Mutawa

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The general goal behind this research is to gain a better understanding of factors leading to dysfunctional behavior of auditors. Recent accounting scandals -Enron, Waste Management Inc., WorldCom, Xerox Corporation, etc. -provided an ample proof of how the role of auditors has become the basis of controversial debates in many circles and instances in our modern time. The majority of lawsuits and accounting scandals seem to have a central topic in focus, namely the question ''Where were the auditors? The survey we offer up for research is made up of 34 questions that are designed to analyse the perception of auditors and the cause of dysfunctional behavior. The object of this research is comprised of auditors positioned and employed at the Big Four audit firms in Kuwait. Dysfunctional behavior (DB) is measured against two signal proxies of dysfunctional behavior; premature sign-off and under reporting of chargeable time. DB is analysed against time budget pressure and time deadline pressure. The research results' suggest that the general belief among auditors is that the profession of accountancy predetermines their tendency to commit certain patterns of dysfunctional behavior. Having our investigation conducted at the Big Four audit firms, we have come to the conclusion that there is a general difference in behavior patterns among perceptions of dysfunctional behavior and normal skeptic professional behavior.

Keywords: big four, dysfunctional behavior, time budget, time deadline

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Authors: Chalise Kiran

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The learning difficulties of children with disabilities are always a matter of concern when we talk about educational needs and quality education of children with disabilities. This paper is the outcome of the review of the literatures based on the literatures on the educational needs and learning difficulties of children with disabilities. For the paper, different studies written on children with disabilities and their education were collected through search engines. The literature put together was analyzed from the angle of learning difficulties faced by children with disabilities and the same were used as a precursor to arrive at the findings on the learning of the children. The analysis showed that children with disabilities face learning difficulties. The reasons for these difficulties could be attributed to factors in terms of authority, structure, school environment, and behaviors of teachers and parents, and the society as a whole.

Keywords: children with disabilities, learning difficulties, education, disabled children

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Authors: A. K. Srivastva

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Body weight is considered as an important factor in health and fitness. It is an index of one's health. Considering significance of body weight and its wider application in various fields in general and sports in particular, it is made a point of enquiry in the present study. The purpose of the study to observe over all weight pattern of Indian youths in the age group of 15 through 20 years. Total 7500 samples pooled from ten Indian states ranging in their age 15 to 20 years were examined in six age categories. Conclusion: 1. The period between 15 to 20 year of age is a growing period and that body weight is gained during this period. 2. Statewise difference is observed in body-weight during the period, which is significant. 3. PRG indicated by higher rate of weight gain varies from state to state. 4. Sportsman possess comparatively higer level of body-weight than other student of same age group. 5. Tribal youths show comparatively better status in their weight gain than the untrained uraban dwellers.

Keywords: PRG (period of rapid growth), HG (heterogeneous group), WP (weight pattern), MBW (mean body weight)

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Authors: Asha Gupta, Ramandeep Kaur

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The purpose of this paper is to study a class of closed sets, called generalized pre-closed sets with respect to an ideal (briefly Igp-closed sets), which is an extension of generalized pre-closed sets in general topology. Then, by using these sets, the concepts of Igp- compact spaces along with some classes of maps like continuous and closed maps via ideals have been introduced and analogues of some known results for compact spaces, continuous maps and closed maps in general topology have been obtained.

Keywords: ideal, gp-closed sets, gp-closed maps, gp-continuous maps

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Authors: Shilpi, Indu Gaur, Neha Bhadauria, Susmita Goswami, Prabir K. Paul

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Cultivation and consumption of organically grown fruits and vegetables have increased by several folds. However, the presence of Human Enteric Pathogens on the surface of organically grown vegetables causing Gastro-intestinal diseases, are most likely due to contaminated water and fecal matter of farm animals. Human Enteric Pathogens are adapted to colonize the human gut, and also colonize plant surface. Microbes on plant surface communicate with each other to establish quorum sensing. The cross talk study is important because the enteric pathogens on phylloplane have been reported to mask the beneficial resident bacteria of plant. In the present study, HEPs and bacterial colonizers were identified using 16s rRNA sequencing. Microbial colonization patterns after interaction between Human Enteric Pathogens and natural bacterial residents on tomato phylloplane was studied. Tomato plants raised under aseptic conditions were inoculated with a mixture of Serratia fonticola and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The molecules involved in cross-talk between Human Enteric Pathogens and regular bacterial colonizers were isolated and identified using molecular techniques and HPLC. The colonization pattern was studied by leaf imprint method after 48 hours of incubation. The associated protein-protein interaction in the host cytoplasm was studied by use of crosslinkers. From treated leaves the crosstalk molecules and interaction proteins were separated on 1D SDS-PAGE and analyzed by MALDI-TOF-TOF analysis. The study is critical in understanding the molecular aspects of HEP’s adaption to phylloplane. The study revealed human enteric pathogens aggressively interact among themselves and resident bacteria. HEPs induced establishment of a signaling cascade through protein-protein interaction in the host cytoplasm. The study revealed that the adaptation of Human Enteric Pathogens on phylloplane of Solanum lycopersicum involves the establishment of complex molecular interaction between the microbe and the host including microbe-microbe interaction leading to an establishment of quorum sensing. The outcome will help in minimizing the HEP load on fresh farm produce, thereby curtailing incidences of food-borne diseases.

Keywords: crosslinkers, human enteric pathogens (HEPs), phylloplane, quorum sensing

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Authors: Lina Wu, Jia Liu, Ye Li

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The goal of this project is to investigate constant properties (called the Liouville-type Problem) for a p-stable map as a local or global minimum of a p-energy functional where the domain is a Euclidean space and the target space is a closed half-ellipsoid. The First and Second Variation Formulas for a p-energy functional has been applied in the Calculus Variation Method as computation techniques. Stokes’ Theorem, Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality, Hardy-Sobolev type Inequalities, and the Bochner Formula as estimation techniques have been used to estimate the lower bound and the upper bound of the derived p-Harmonic Stability Inequality. One challenging point in this project is to construct a family of variation maps such that the images of variation maps must be guaranteed in a closed half-ellipsoid. The other challenging point is to find a contradiction between the lower bound and the upper bound in an analysis of p-Harmonic Stability Inequality when a p-energy minimizing map is not constant. Therefore, the possibility of a non-constant p-energy minimizing map has been ruled out and the constant property for a p-energy minimizing map has been obtained. Our research finding is to explore the constant property for a p-stable map from a Euclidean space into a closed half-ellipsoid in a certain range of p. The certain range of p is determined by the dimension values of a Euclidean space (the domain) and an ellipsoid (the target space). The certain range of p is also bounded by the curvature values on an ellipsoid (that is, the ratio of the longest axis to the shortest axis). Regarding Liouville-type results for a p-stable map, our research finding on an ellipsoid is a generalization of mathematicians’ results on a sphere. Our result is also an extension of mathematicians’ Liouville-type results from a special ellipsoid with only one parameter to any ellipsoid with (n+1) parameters in the general setting.

Keywords: Bochner formula, Calculus Stokes' Theorem, Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality, first and second variation formulas, Liouville-type problem, p-harmonic map

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Authors: Agbor Ekama Prisca Anne

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Current data on the prevalence and psychosocial correlates of sexual violence in the Cameroon is lacking, with the most recent sexual abuse and violence survey dating back to 2001. The current study sought to identify what proportion of University students have experienced sexual violence, if there are sex differences in exposure to different forms of sexual violence, and to what extent different forms of sexual violence are associated with adverse psychosocial outcomes. A nationally representative sample of University students (N = 1,020) completed self-report measures of history of sexual violence and mental health. Approximately one-in-three (34.4%) students experienced some form of sexual violence, including 14.8% who were sexually assaulted (raped) and 31.1% who were sexually harassed. Female students were significantly more likely than men to have experienced all forms of sexual violence (ps < .001), with the exception of sexual assault by teachers or guardian. All forms of sexual violence were associated with an increased likelihood of serious mental health problems, with sexual assault by a teacher associated with several other psychosocial outcomes in life, including education achievement, and behavior disorder. Sexual violence is a common experience in the general population and female students are disproportionately affected (1-in-2 girls versus 1-in-5 boys). Additional resources to increase mental health care among survivors of sexual violence is urgently needed.

Keywords: psychosocial, effects sexual, violence, females, students

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Authors: Conchita Martin de Bustamante, Christopher S. Kung, Brianne Lacy, Eunsol Park, Hien Piotrowski, Mustafa Husain, Waseem Ahmed

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Objective: To explore the comorbidity of mental health conditions (major depressive disorder, borderline personality disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia) with opioid use disorder in people incarcerated at a large urban jail. Background Schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety are all serious mental health conditions that are highly prevalent amongst incarcerated patients. However, it is seldom the only disorder these patients are suffering from. According to the US Department of Justice, about half of US prisoners, both at the state and federal level, suffer from substance use disorders. Although the opioid epidemic has been studied greatly in the recent years amongst the general population, little has been explored on how the opioid crisis has affected incarcerated patients in local jails, particularly regarding which of these patients are most susceptible. Method The cohort consisted of 507 people incarcerated at a large county jail who were evaluated by mental health providers in December 2020. A retrospective review was performed to evaluate associations between mental health diagnoses, substance use disorder, and other demographic variables. Results Participants had been diagnosed with various mental health conditions, including MDD (22.6%, n = 115), GAD (33.7%, n = 171), Schizophrenia (15.2%, n = 77) and BPD (27%, n = 137). Preliminary Chi square tests were conducted for these conditions against marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, opioid, methamphetamine, benzodiazepines, and sedative use disorders. The results showed significant associations between Schizophrenia (p = 0.013), GAD (p M 0.001), and MDD (p = 0.029) with opioid use disorders. Conclusions Determining the extent of these comorbid substance use and mental health disorders within an incarcerated population can help influence treatment plans for future incarcerated patients. Many federal and state jail systems lack pharmacological substance use intervention and the prevalence of these co-morbid conditions can shed light on the importance of treating conditions concurrently upon intake.

Keywords: mental health conditions, opioids, substance use disorder, comorbidity

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Authors: Afef Badri

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The role of metaphor in creating the coherence and the cohesion of discourse in online interactive talk has almost received no attention. This paper intends to provide some theoretical reflections on metaphorical coherence as a jointly constructed process that evolves in online, face-to-face interactions. It suggests that the presence of a global conceptual structure in a conversation makes it conceptually cohesive. Yet, coherence remains a process largely determined by other variables (shared goals, communicative intentions, and framework of understanding). Metaphorical coherence created by these variables can be useful in detecting bias in media reporting.

Keywords: coherence, cohesion, face-to-face interactions, metaphor

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Authors: Kwan-u Kim, Jin-Sim, Ryong-Jin Jang, Sung-Duk Kim

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106 years have passed since a great number of physicists explained astronomical and physical phenomena by solving geodesic equations in Schwarzschild metric. However, when solving the geodesic equations in Schwarzschild metric, they did not solve correctly one branch of the component of space among spatial and temporal components of four-dimensional force and did not come up with physical laws correctly by means of physical analysis from the results obtained by solving the geodesic equations. In addition to it, they did not treat the astronomical and physical phenomena in a physical way based on the exact physical laws obtained from the solution of the geodesic equations in Schwarzschild metric, so some former scholars mentioned that Einstein’s theoretical basis of general theory of relativity was obscure and incorrect, but they have not given a correct physical solution to the problems. Furthermore, because general theory of relativity has not given a quantitative solution to the obscure and incorrect problems, generalization of gravitational theory although the former scholars thought of it and tried to do it. In order to solve the problems it is necessary to explore the obscure and incorrect problems in general theory of relativity based on the physical laws and to find out the methodology of solving the problems. Therefore, first of all, as the first sarytep for achieving the purpose, the correct solution of the geodesic equation in Schwarzschild metric has been presented. Next, the correct physical laws found by making a physical analysis of the results has been presented, the obscure and incorrect problems have been showed and an analysis of them has been made on the basis of the physical laws. In addition, the experimental verification of the physical laws found by us has been made.

Keywords: equivalence principle, general relativity, geometro dynamics, Schwarzschild

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Authors: Mansoureh Karimollahi, Mehriar Adrmohammadi, Mohsen Mohammadi

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Introduction: Patient satisfaction with nursing care is considered as an important indicator of the quality and effectiveness of the health care system, and improving the quality of care is not possible without paying attention to the opinions and expectations of patients. Considering that the scales for assessing satisfaction with nursing care in our country are not comprehensive and measure very few areas, therefore, in this study, psychometrically, the Persian version of the Newcastle Nursing Care Satisfaction Scale was used in patients hospitalized in the wards. Internal medicine and general surgery were discussed. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 patients admitted to the surgery and internal departments of hospitals affiliated to Ardabil University of Medical Sciences. The Newcastle nursing care satisfaction scale was used for the first time in Iran in comparison with the good nursing care scale from the patients' point of view to evaluate the criterion validity. The Newcastle nursing care satisfaction scale was used after translation, validity, and reliability. Results: The level of satisfaction of patients and the experience of patients with nursing care was at a favorable level, respectively, with an average of 111.8 ± 14.2 and 69.07 ± 14.8. Total CVI was estimated at 0.96 for the experience section, 0.95 for the satisfaction section, and 0.96 for the whole scale. The index (CVR) was also 0.95 for the experience section, 0.95 for the satisfaction section, and 0.95 for the whole scale. Criterion validity was also estimated using 0.725 correlation. The validity of the construct was also confirmed using the goodness of fit index (X2=1932/05, p=0.013, KMO=0.913). Convergent validity was estimated at 0.99 in the experience subscale and 0.98 in the satisfaction subscale. . The overall reliability in the experience subscale and satisfaction subscale was 94%, 92%, and 98%, respectively, which indicated the acceptable reliability of the questionnaire. Conclusion: The Persian version of the Newcastle nursing care satisfaction scale as a comprehensive tool that can be easily completed by patients and is easy to interpret, has good validity and reliability and can be used in patient care centers, in departments Surgery, and internal medicine are recommended.

Keywords: psychometrics, Newcastle nursing care satisfaction scale, nursing care satisfaction, general surgery department

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Authors: Anthony Usoro

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In this paper, two classes of bilinear time series model are obtained under certain conditions from the general bilinear autoregressive moving average model. Bilinear Autoregressive (BAR) and Bilinear Moving Average (BMA) Models have been identified. From the general bilinear model, BAR and BMA models have been proved to exist for q = Q = 0, => j = 0, and p = P = 0, => i = 0 respectively. These models are found useful in modelling most of the economic and financial data.

Keywords: autoregressive model, bilinear autoregressive model, bilinear moving average model, moving average model

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Authors: Waraporn Boonchieng, Ekkarat Boonchieng, Wilawan Senaratana, Jaras Singkaew

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Geographical information system (GIS) is a designated system widely used for collecting and analyzing geographical data. Since the introduction of ultra-mobile, 'smart' devices, investigators, clinicians, and even the general public have had powerful new tools for collecting, uploading and accessing information in the field. Epidemiology paired with GIS will increase the efficacy of preventive health care services. The objective of this study is to apply GPS location services that are available on the common mobile device with district health systems, storing data on our private cloud system. The mobile application has been developed for use on iOS, Android, and web-based platforms. The system consists of two parts of district health information, including recorded resident data forms and individual health recorded data forms, which were developed and approved by opinion sharing and public hearing. The application's graphical user interface was developed using HTML5 and PHP with MySQL as a database management system (DBMS). The reporting module of the developed software displays data in a variety of views, from traditional tables to various types of high-resolution, layered graphics, incorporating map location information with street views from Google Maps. Multi-extension exporting is also supported, utilizing standard platforms such as PDF, PNG, JPG, and XLS. The data were collected in the database beginning in March 2013, by district health volunteers and district youth volunteers who had completed the application training program. District health information consisted of patients’ household coordinates, individual health data, social and economic information. This was combined with Google Street View data, collected in March 2014. Studied groups consisted of 16,085 (67.87%) and 47,811 (59.87%) of the total 23,701 households and 79,855 people were collected by the system respectively, in Saraphi district, Chiang Mai Province. The report generated from the system has had a major benefit directly to the Saraphi District Hospital. Healthcare providers are able to use the basic health data to provide a specific home health care service and also to create health promotion activities according to medical needs of the people in the community.

Keywords: health, public health, GIS, geographic information system

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Authors: Feyza Gökce, Jochen Gensichen, Antonius Schneider, Karolina de Valerio, Gabriele Pitschel-Walz

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People with depressive symptoms often first consult a General Practitioner (GP) before making use of other treatment options. The present study shows the adaptation and evaluation of a psychoeducational program for patients with depressive symptoms that are treated by GPs in Bavaria, Germany. The adaptation of an existing psychoeducational program, that is used in inpatient psychiatric settings, was performed in exchange with experts (psychotherapists, general practitioners, and a patient representative). As a result, a program consisting of 4 psychoeducational sessions was developed, which is carried out in individual settings in GP practices by the practitioners themselves. This program will be compared to treatment as usual that patients with depression receive by GPs. Data is collected at 3 measurement points (baseline, 3-months-follow-up, 6-months-follow-up) using different questionnaires (BDI-II, D-Lit-R German, FERUS, PAM13-D, PHQ-9, GAD-7, PHQ-15, PC-PTSD-5). In addition to the change in depressive symptoms, changes in depression knowledge, self-efficacy, and patient activation will be analyzed, and the feasibility of the program and the subjective benefit for GPs and patients will be assessed. By now, 84 patients have been recruited by 20 cluster-randomized GP practices, with 73.5% of the participants being female and 26.5% being males. The average age was M= 50.1 (SD= 14.67) years. The change in depression symptoms over the 3-month period will be compared between the two study conditions by using a linear mixed model by the end of data collection (December 2023). The subjective benefit for the patients and GPs will be assessed via feedback questionnaires. Results will be presentable by the beginning of 2024 and will provide indications for further development and barriers to the implementation of such a program for GP practices.

Keywords: depression, general practice, psychoeducation, primary care

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Authors: J. W. Mbogani, B. A. Bunyasi

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The special skills for five students in the vocational class in Kakamega program for Hearing impaired were identified within one term period of the Kenyan education system. Three students were identified as having a liking for tailoring. The remaining two students did not show any interest in any vocational subject. The three students were attached to two professionals in practicing general tailors within the school vicinity for scaffolding purposes. The students were allowed to attend general classes under the normal curriculum and were withdrawn after eleven in the morning for tailoring classes. The students were then monitored with the guideline of a checklist. The purpose of monitoring was to establish whether the behavior of the students reflected a motivated student. It was established that two of them improved in their school attendance in terms of regularity, punctuality and responsibility accomplishment. The third student ended up attending only tailoring classes. The socialization aspect of the two students improved a lot. They also tended to identify more with the teachers than their fellow students. We recommend that learners with special needs in education should be subjected to the normal curriculum. They may benefit more and attain a skill that could help them economically. Further study should also be done to in several institutions involving learners in other classes.

Keywords: general tailoring, scaffolding, term, vocational class

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Authors: Dil Ware Alam, Faiza Zebeen, Sumaya Binte Masud

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COVID-19) has impacted the whole world, including Bangladesh. The epidemic has reduced access to health care, particularly for women, creating challenges for an increasingly disadvantaged population. Women's health and well-being in Bangladesh are susceptible to a rise in domestic violence and need to be addressed quickly. The planet has been greatly influenced by Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and Bangladesh is no difference. The pandemic has resulted in a decline in the availability of health care, notably for women's health problems, leading to an increase in difficulties for an increasingly marginalized group. Maternity care, maternal health programs, medical interventions, nutritional counseling and mental health care, are not discussed, and women's health and well-being in Bangladesh is vulnerable with a spike in domestic violence and needs to be resolved urgently.

Keywords: Covid-19, mental health, reproductive health, Bangladesh

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Authors: Rashmi Tamhankar, Madhav Bapat

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In many projects, we have to use human judgment for determining the duration of the activities which may vary from person to person. Hence, there is vagueness about the time duration for activities in network planning. Fuzzy sets can handle such vague or imprecise concepts and has an application to such network. The vague activity times can be represented by triangular fuzzy numbers. In this paper, a general network with fuzzy activity times is considered and conditions for the critical path are obtained also we compute total float time of each activity. Several numerical examples are discussed.

Keywords: PERT, CPM, triangular fuzzy numbers, fuzzy activity times

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Authors: Valentina Colonnello, Paolo Maria Russo

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Living kidney donation requires psychological evaluation and ongoing follow-up. A crucial aspect of this evaluation is assessing the social functioning of donors after donation. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we conducted a review of quantitative and qualitative studies on the psychological assessment of living kidney donors' social functioning. The majority of quantitative studies examining the long-term social health post-donation have primarily utilized the Short Form Health Survey (SF) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQoL-BREF) questionnaires. These studies have indicated that donors' social functioning and relationships either remained stable post-donation or returned to pre-donation levels. In some instances, donors' social functioning even surpassed that of the general population. Qualitative studies, conducted through interviews and focus groups, have revealed donors' experiences and emotional concerns that are often overlooked in quantitative analyses. Specifically, qualitative analysis has identified two main themes: "connecting to others" and "acknowledgment and social support." Our review highlights that the majority of published quantitative studies on donors have employed measures of social functioning that may not fully capture donors' experiences and needs. It underscores the importance of further investigation in quantitative studies to assess donors' actual social health and psychological needs accurately. Overall, this review provides valuable insights into specific constructs that warrant deeper exploration in quantitative studies concerning the assessment of donors' social health and psychological well-being.

Keywords: reported outcomes, personalized medicine, individual differences, emotions, psychological assessment

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Authors: Khaleel Alyahya, Faizah Alotaibi

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The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an increase in general fear and anxiety around the globe. With the public health measures, including lockdown and travel restrictions, the COVID-19 period further resulted in a sudden increase in the vulnerability of people too ill mental health. This becomes greater among individuals who have a history of mental illness or are undergoing treatment and do not have easy access to medication and medical consultations. The study aims to measure the impact of COVID-19 and the degree of distress with the DASS scale on the mental health of residents living in Saudi Arabia. The study is a quantitative, observational, and cross-sectional conducted in Saudi Arabia to measure the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of both citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia during pandemics. The study ran from February 2021 to June 2021, and a validated questionnaire was used. The targeted population of the study was Saudi citizens and non-Saudi residents. A sample size of 800 participants was calculated with a single proportion formula at 95% level of significance and 5% allowable error. The result revealed that participants who were always doing exercise experienced the lowest level of depression, anxiety, and stress. The highest prevalence of severe and extremely severe depression was among participants who sometimes do exercise at 53.2% for each. Similar results were obtained for anxiety and stress, where the extremely severe form was reported by those who sometimes did exercise at 54.8% and 72.2%, respectively. There was an inverse association between physical activity levels and levels of depression, anxiety, and stress during the COVID-19. Similarly, the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress differed significantly according to the exercise frequency during COVID-19.

Keywords: mental, COVID-19, pandemic, lockdown, depression, anxiety, stress

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Authors: Anthoni Jeorge

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Throughout the history of the world, servant leadership has been researched, and favourable results such as individual, team, and organizational have been linked to the construct. This research paper designates St. Camillus de Lellis, a practitioner of servant leadership and founder of the Ministers of the Sick as a servant leader in his approach to care for the sick. Service is the visible face of his servant leadership. First of all, despite many challenges, St. Camillus de Lellis practiced leadership by the example of compassionate service to the sick. Second, he made service to the sick the highest priority of his life. Third, Camillus displayed servant leadership such that his manner of leadership gave birth to a New School of Service to the Sick. The paper identifies the distinctive dimensions and essential elements which characterized his service-centered leadership. Furthermore, discuss the six major characteristics of a servant leader as set forth by St. Camillus’s life example. The research illustrates the transformational power of servant leadership infield healthcare in general and, in doing so, provides servant leadership seekers ways servant leadership can transform elder care in one’s own field (St. Camillus Health Systems). Thus, it ascertains that servant leadership is best-fit for humanized elder care. Supported by the review of literature, the paper ascertains that Camillus, by identifying himself with the sick, gained deeper insights concerning the pain and suffering of the population. Uniquely drawn from his true grit, Camillus’ service-centered leadership is value-based, people-oriented, and compassion-filled. His way of service to the sick is the prolongation of gestures of mercy and compassion. It is hoped that the results of this study will help health care workers and servant leadership practitioners to humanize elder care and cultivate servant leadership attitude in their health care services to the sick. By incorporating such service-oriented elements into their leadership orientation, health care workers will be true servant leaders of the sick.

Keywords: leadership, service, healthcare, compassion

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Authors: Mona Maria Mombeck

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Social participation in heterogeneous classrooms is one of the main goals in inclusive education. Children with special educational needs (SEN) and children with learning difficulties, or behavioural problems not diagnosed as SEN, are more likely to be excluded by other children than others. It is proven that the presence of dogs, as well as contact with dogs, increases the likelihood of positive social behaviour between humans. Therefore, animal-assisted pedagogy may be presumed to be a constructive way of inclusive teaching and facing the challenges of social inclusion in school classes. This study investigates the presence of a friendly dog in heterogeneous groups of pupils in order to evaluate the influence of dogs on facets of social participation of children in school. 30 German pupils, aged from 10 to 14, in four classes were questioned about their social participation before and after they were educated for a year in school with animal-assisted-pedagogy, using the problem-concerned interview method. In addition, the post-interview includes some general questions about the putative differences or similarities of being educated with and without a dog. The interviews were analysed with the qualitative-content-analysis using QDA software. The results showed that a dog has a positive impact on the atmosphere, student relationships, and well-being in class. Regarding the atmosphere, the pupils mainly argued that the improvement was caused by taking into account the dog’s well-being, respecting the dog-related rules, and by emotional self-regulation. It can be supposed that children regard the rules concerning the dog as more relevant to them than rules, not concerning the dog even if they require the same behaviour and goal. Furthermore, a dog has a positive impact on emotional self-regulation and, therefore, on pupil’s behaviour in class and the atmosphere. In terms of the statements about relationships, the dog’s presence was mainly seen to provide both a unifying aim and a uniting topic to talk about. The improved well-being was described as a feeling of joy and peace of mind. Moreover, the teacher was evaluated as more friendly and trustworthy after animal-assisted teaching. Nevertheless, animal-assisted pedagogy can, rarely, cause problems as well, such as jealousy, distraction, or concerns about the well-being of the dog. The study could prove the relevance of animal-assisted pedagogy for facing the challenges of social participation in inclusive education.

Keywords: animal-assisted-pedagogy, inclusive education, human-animal-interactions, social participation

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Authors: Aratrika Sarkar, Jayita Guha Niyogi

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This paper focuses on the application of general healing design theories to modulate them into case-specific and contextual design considerations. Existing literature focuses on the relationship between architecture and mental health. Primary case studies are selected in India to focus on the effect of a specific location on design considerations. They are qualitatively analysed to further contextualise the inferences from the literature study. An academic project is cited as an example to apply the learnings from the study and understand the influence of various parameters on the design process for further conclusion. Literature studies, case studies and hypothetical design applications helped in finding the different ways of achieving the similar goal of a sensitive approach toward mental health. Along with salutogenic parameters, category of establishment, age group, location of the site and user preference plays a crucial role in the design process. Design of mental health establishments, especially in India, has to involve transparency between stakeholders and users. Owing to different climatic zones and diverse sociocultural traditions, the approach toward healing should adapt accordingly. It should be an effort towards striking a balance between contradictory elements of healing design and resolving the dilemmas with sensitivity and consensus. Lastly, the design should not force a person towards communication or companionship but rather let the person realise that naturally through the healing process.

Keywords: contextual healing design, deinstitutionalisation, Indian mental healthcare establishments, environmental psychology, salutogenesis, therapeutic design

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Authors: Omyma Alosaimi, Asma Alsumait

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The website developer and designer should follow usability guidelines to provide a user-friendly interface. Many guidelines and heuristics have been developed by previous studies to help both the developer and designer in this task, but E-government websites are special cases that require specialized guidelines. This paper introduces a set of eighteen guidelines for evaluating the usability of e-government websites in general and Arabic e-government websites specifically, along with a check list of how to apply them. The validity and effectiveness of these guidelines were evaluated against a variety of user characteristics. The results indicated that the proposed set of guidelines can be used to identify qualitative similarities and differences with user testing and that the new set is best suited for evaluating general and e-governmental usability.

Keywords: e-government, human computer interaction, usability evaluation, usability guidelines

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Authors: Tryfon Mavropalias, Anastasia Alevriadou

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Co-teaching is a relatively recent model of providing teaching services to students with disabilities in Greece. According to recent studies, it seems that the largest number of students who take part in the Greek co-teaching programme are children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The aim of the suggested study is to investigate the effectiveness and usefulness of co-teaching to students with ASD as well as skills students with ASD develop during co-teaching in primary education classes. To conduct the research, quantitative method of research was used, with the means of research being a questionnaire including open and close type questions. The sample of this research consists of 142 primary school co-teachers from all over Northern Greece (71 general education teachers and 71 special education teachers). Given the results, it was concluded that co-teachers believe that including and educating children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders in the general class benefits those who autism is measured from the middle to the upper end of the spectrum. Additionally, children develop social skills first, followed by emotional and cognitive skills. Ultimately, educators declared that they are prepared only to a limited degree to effectively support students with Autistic Spectrum Disorders in general classes.

Keywords: Autistic spectrum disorders, co-teaching, co-teachers, co-taught class

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Authors: Chiahsu Yang, Peiling Wu, Ted Ho

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From emphasizing economic development to stressing public happiness, the international community mainly hopes to be able to understand whether the quality of life for the public is becoming better. The Better Life Index (BLI) constructed by OECD uses living conditions and quality of life as starting points to cover 11 areas of life and to convey the state of the general public’s well-being. In light of the BLI framework, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) of the Executive Yuan instituted the Gross National Happiness Index to understand the needs of the general public and to measure the progress of the aforementioned conditions in residents across the island. Whereas living conditions consist of income and wealth, jobs and earnings, and housing conditions, health status, work and life balance, education and skills, social connections, civic engagement and governance, environmental quality, personal security. The ICT area consists of health care, living environment, ICT-enabled communication, transportation, government, education, pleasure, purchasing, job & employment. In the wake of further science and technology development, rapid formation of information societies, and closer integration between lifestyles and information societies, the public’s well-being within information societies has indeed become a noteworthy topic. the Board of Science and Technology of the Executive Yuan use the OECD’s BLI as a reference in the establishment of the Taiwan-specific ICT-Enabled Better Life Index. Using this index, the government plans to examine whether the public’s quality of life is improving as well as measure the public’s satisfaction with current digital quality of life. This understanding will enable the government to gauge the degree of influence and impact that each dimension of digital services has on digital life happiness while also serving as an important reference for promoting digital service development. The content of the ICT Enabled Better Life Index. Information and communications technology (ICT) has been affecting people’s living styles, and further impact people’s quality of life (QoL). Even studies have shown that ICT access and usage have both positive and negative impact on life satisfaction and well-beings, many governments continue to invest in e-government programs to initiate their path to information society. This research is the few attempts to link the e-government benchmark to the subjective well-being perception, and further address the gap between user’s perception and existing hard data assessment, then propose a model to trace measurement results back to the original public policy in order for policy makers to justify their future proposals.

Keywords: information and communications technology, quality of life, satisfaction, well-being

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Authors: Sofia Meacham

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In this abstract paper, the Domain-Specific Languages (DSL) evaluation will be presented based on existing literature and years of experience developing DSLs for several domains. The domains we worked on ranged from AI, business applications, and finances/accounting to health. In general, DSLs have been utilised in many domains to provide tailored and efficient solutions to address specific problems. Although they are a reputable method among highly technical circles and have also been used by non-technical experts with success, according to our knowledge, there isn’t a commonly accepted method for evaluating them. There are some methods that define criteria that are adaptations from the general software engineering quality criteria. Other literature focuses on the DSL usability aspect of evaluation and applies methods such as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and goal modeling. All these approaches are either hard to introduce, such as the goal modeling, or seem to ignore the domain-specific focus of the DSLs. From our experience, the DSLs have domain-specificity in their core, and consequently, the methods to evaluate them should also include domain-specific criteria in their core. The domain-specific criteria would require synergy between the domain experts and the DSL developers in the same way that DSLs cannot be developed without domain-experts involvement. Methods from agile and other software engineering practices, such as co-creation workshops, should be further emphasised and explored to facilitate this direction. Concluding, our latest experience and plans for DSLs evaluation will be presented and open for discussion.

Keywords: domain-specific languages, DSL evaluation, DSL usability, DSL quality metrics

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Mariana Mangas, Yaroslava Martins, M. Suárez, Célia Santos, Ana Matos Pires

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Baixo Alentejo is a region of Portugal characterized by an aging population, geographic isolation, social deprivation and a lack of medical staff. It is one of the most problematic regions in regards to mental health, particularly due to the factors mentioned. The aim of this study is a presentation of liaison psychiatry in Hospital José Joaquim Fernandes; a sample of the work done, the current situation and future perspectives. The aim is to present a retrospective study of internal psychiatric emergencies from January 1st, 2016 to August 31st, 2016. Liaison psychiatry of Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health (Psychiatry Service) of ULSBA includes the following activities: internal psychiatry emergencies, HIV consultation (comprised in the general consultation) and liaison psychology (oncology and pain), consisting of a total of 111 internal psychiatry emergencies during the identified period. Gender distribution was uniform. The most prevalent age group was 71-80 years, and 66,6% of patients were 60 years old and over. The majority of the emergency observations was requested by hospital services of medicine (56,8%) and surgery (24,3%). The most frequent reasons for admission were: respiratory disease (18,0%); tumors (15.3%); other surgical and orthopedic pathology (14,5%) and stroke (11,7%). The most frequent psychiatric diagnoses were: neurotic and organic depression (24,3%); delirium (26,1%) and adjustment reaction (14,5%). Major psychiatric pathology (schizophrenia and affective disorders) was found in 10,8%. Antidepressive medication was prescribed in 37,8% patients; antipsychotics in 34,2%. In 9.9% of the cases, no psychotropic drug was prescribed, and 5,4% of patients received psychologic support. Regarding hospital discharge, 42,4% of patients were referred to the general practitioner or to the medical specialist; 22,5% to outpatient gerontopsychiatry; 17,1% to psychiatric outpatient and 14,4% deceased. A future perspective is to start liaison in areas of HIV and psycho oncology in multidisciplinary approach and to improve collaboration with colleagues of other specialties for refining psychiatric referrals.

Keywords: psychiatry, liaison, internal emergency, psychiatric referral

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Authors: S. Nandagopalan, N. Pradeep

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The aim of this paper is to propose a general framework for storing, analyzing, and extracting knowledge from two-dimensional echocardiographic images, color Doppler images, non-medical images, and general data sets. A number of high performance data mining algorithms have been used to carry out this task. Our framework encompasses four layers namely physical storage, object identification, knowledge discovery, user level. Techniques such as active contour model to identify the cardiac chambers, pixel classification to segment the color Doppler echo image, universal model for image retrieval, Bayesian method for classification, parallel algorithms for image segmentation, etc., were employed. Using the feature vector database that have been efficiently constructed, one can perform various data mining tasks like clustering, classification, etc. with efficient algorithms along with image mining given a query image. All these facilities are included in the framework that is supported by state-of-the-art user interface (UI). The algorithms were tested with actual patient data and Coral image database and the results show that their performance is better than the results reported already.

Keywords: active contour, Bayesian, echocardiographic image, feature vector

Procedia PDF Downloads 417

Authors: Esengül Elibol, Arzu Kader Harmancı Seren

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Individuals' reasons to choose a profession, profession image perceptions and future plans related to that profession affect their success in their future work lives. For nursing profession, this situation at the same time is important in terms of the health and safety of patients. The purpose of this study is to determine why medical vocational high school students in İstanbul choose nursing profession, their nursing image perceptions and future plans related to the profession. Descriptive and cross-sectional design are used. The study was carried out in four medical vocational high school in İstanbul. All third and fourth grade students who are attending to nursing programs and voluntary for participation were included in the study. In collecting data, two questionnaires that aim to learn about socio-demographic characteristics, profession choice reasons and future plans of nursing students and ‘Nursing Image Scale’ were used. Scale consisted of 28 items including individuals' opinions on nursing profession image and three sub-categories ‘General View,’ ‘Communication,’ and ‘Vocational-Educational Qualities.’ Analyzing profession choice reasons and future plans of participants, it is determined that majority chose nursing for easily finding a job (46.9%) and that majority had a dream profession other than nursing (65.8%). Analyzing nursing image perception of participants, it is determined that average of general view sub-category total scores was 9.75±2.27, average of communication sub-category total scores was8.68±2.86, and average of vocational-educational qualities sub-category total score was 21.18±3.96. In the perception score averages, meaningful differences were found according to independent variables. In conclusion, it was determined that majority of the participant students chose nursing for easily finding a job, perceived profession image negatively, and had a dream profession other than nursing.

Keywords: nursing image, medical vocational health school, perception, profession, student nurse

Procedia PDF Downloads 242

Authors: Mary A. Bisi-Johnson, Kehinde A. Adediran, Saheed A. Akinola, Hamzat A. Oyelade

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Some of the main problems man contends with are the quantity (source and amount) and quality of water in Nigeria. Scarcity leads to water being obtained from various sources and microbiological contaminations of the water may thus occur between the collection point and the point of usage. Thus, this study aims to assess the general and microbiological quality of domestic water sources and household stored water used within selected areas in Ile-Ife, South-Western part of Nigeria for microbial contaminants. Physicochemical and microbiological examination were carried out on 45 source and stored water samples collected from well and spring in three different local government areas i.e. Ife east, Ife-south, and Ife-north. Physicochemical analysis included pH value, temperature, total dissolved solid, dissolved oxygen, and biochemical oxygen demand. Microbiology involved most probable number analysis, total coliform, heterotrophic plate, faecal coliform, and streptococcus count. The result of the physicochemical analysis of samples showed anomalies compared to acceptable standards with the pH value of 7.20-8.60 for stored and 6.50-7.80 for source samples as the total dissolved solids (TDS of stored 20-70mg/L, source 352-691mg/L), dissolved oxygen (DO of stored 1.60-9.60mg/L, source 1.60-4.80mg/L), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD stored 0.80-3.60mg/L, source 0.60-5.40mg/L). General microbiological quality indicated that both stored and source samples with the exception of a sample were not within acceptable range as indicated by analysis of the MPN/100ml which ranges (stored 290-1100mg/L, source 9-1100mg/L). Apart from high counts, most samples did not meet the World Health Organization standard for drinking water with the presence of some pathogenic bacteria and fungi such as Salmonella and Aspergillus spp. To annul these constraints, standard treatment methods should be adopted to make water free from contaminants. This will help identify common and likely water related infection origin within the communities and thus help guide in terms of interventions required to prevent the general populace from such infections.

Keywords: domestic, microbiology, physicochemical, quality, water

Procedia PDF Downloads 334