Search results for: mobile intervention

Authors: Handie Pramana Putra, Ani Dijah Rahajoe

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The proliferation of smart devices and advancements in mobile communication technologies have permeated various facets of life with the widespread influence of e-commerce. Detecting abnormal transactions holds paramount significance in this realm due to the potential for substantial financial losses. Moreover, the fusion of data flow and control flow assumes a critical role in the exploration of process modeling and data analysis, contributing significantly to the accuracy and security of business processes. This paper introduces an alternative approach to identify abnormal transactions through a model that integrates both data and control flows. Referred to as the Extended Data Petri net (DPNE), our model encapsulates the entire process, encompassing user login to the e-commerce platform and concluding with the payment stage, including the mobile transaction process. We scrutinize the model's structure, formulate an algorithm for detecting anomalies in pertinent data, and elucidate the rationale and efficacy of the comprehensive system model. A case study validates the responsive performance of each system component, demonstrating the system's adeptness in evaluating every activity within mobile transactions. Ultimately, the results of anomaly detection are derived through a thorough and comprehensive analysis.

Keywords: database, data analysis, DPNE, extended data flow, e-commerce

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Authors: Piotr Tylec, Alicja Dudek, Grzegorz Torbicz, Magdalena Mizera, Natalia Gajewska, Michael Su, Tanawat Vongsurbchart, Tomasz Stefura, Magdalena Pisarska, Mateusz Rubinkiewicz, Piotr Malczak, Piotr Major, Michal Pedziwiatr

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Introduction: Quality of life after bariatric surgery is an important factor when evaluating the final result of the treatment. Considering the vast surgical options, we tried to globally compare available methods in terms of quality of following the surgery. The aim of the study is to compare the quality of life a year after bariatric intervention using network meta-analysis methods. Material and Methods: We performed a systematic review according to PRISMA guidelines with Bayesian network meta-analysis. Inclusion criteria were: studies comparing at least two methods of weight loss treatment of which at least one is surgical, assessment of the quality of life one year after surgery by validated questionnaires. Primary outcomes were quality of life one year after bariatric procedure. The following aspects of quality of life were analyzed: physical, emotional, general health, vitality, role physical, social, mental, and bodily pain. All questionnaires were standardized and pooled to a single scale. Lifestyle intervention was considered as a referenced point. Results: An initial reference search yielded 5636 articles. 18 studies were evaluated. In comparison of total score of quality of life, we observed that laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) (median (M): 3.606, Credible Interval 97.5% (CrI): 1.039; 6.191), laparoscopic Roux en-Y gastric by-pass (LRYGB) (M: 4.973, CrI: 2.627; 7.317) and open Roux en-Y gastric by-pass (RYGB) (M: 9.735, CrI: 6.708; 12.760) had better results than other bariatric intervention in relation to lifestyle interventions. In the analysis of the physical aspects of quality of life, we notice better results in LSG (M: 3.348, CrI: 0.548; 6.147) and in LRYGB procedure (M: 5.070, CrI: 2.896; 7.208) than control intervention, and worst results in open RYGB (M: -9.212, CrI: -11.610; -6.844). Analyzing emotional aspects, we found better results than control intervention in LSG, in LRYGB, in open RYGB, and laparoscopic gastric plication. In general health better results were in LSG (M: 9.144, CrI: 4.704; 13.470), in LRYGB (M: 6.451, CrI: 10.240; 13.830) and in single-anastomosis gastric by-pass (M: 8.671, CrI: 1.986; 15.310), and worst results in open RYGB (M: -4.048, CrI: -7.984; -0.305). In social and vital aspects of quality of life, better results were observed in LSG and LRYGB than control intervention. We did not find any differences between bariatric interventions in physical role, mental and bodily aspects of quality of life. Conclusion: The network meta-analysis revealed that better quality of life in total score one year after bariatric interventions were after LSG, LRYGB, open RYGB. In physical and general health aspects worst quality of life was in open RYGB procedure. Other interventions did not significantly affect the quality of life after a year compared to dietary intervention.

Keywords: bariatric surgery, network meta-analysis, quality of life, one year follow-up

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Authors: Neetesh Saxena, Narendra S. Chaudhari

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Nowadays, SMS is a very popular mobile service and even the poor, illiterate people and those living in rural areas use SMS service very efficiently. Although many mobile operators have already started 3G and 4G services, 2G services are still being used by the people in many countries. In 2G (GSM), only encryption provided is between the MS and the BTS, there is no end-to-end encryption available. Sometimes we all need to send some confidential message to other person containing bank account number, some password, financial details, etc. Normally, a message is sent in plain text only to the recipient and it is not an acceptable standard for transmitting such important and confidential information. Authors propose an end-to-end encryption approach by proposing a terminal for sending/receiving a secure message. An asymmetric key exchange algorithm is used in order to transmit secret shared key securely to the recipient. The proposed approach with terminal device provides authentication, confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation.

Keywords: AES, DES, Diffie-Hellman, ECDH, A5, SMS

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Authors: L. Korpinen, R. Pääkkönen, F. Gobba

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Accidents and close call situations involving cell phones are nowadays possible. The objective of this study was to investigate the accidents and close call situations due to cell phone use while moving, driving, and working among Finns aged between 18 and 65. This work is part of a large cross-sectional study that was carried out on 15,000 working-age Finns. About 26% of people who had an accident, and about half of the people including close call situation with the mobile phone, answered that use of the phone influenced. In the future, it is important to take into account that the use of a mobile phone can be distracting while driving.

Keywords: blue-collar workers, accident, cell phone, close call situation

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Authors: Mkhinini Maher, Knani Jilani

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We present in this work the performances of a mobile omnidirectional robot through evaluating its management of the redundancy of actuation. Thus we come to the predictive control implemented. The distribution of the wringer on the robot actions, through the inverse pseudo of Moore-Penrose, corresponds to a -geometric- distribution of efforts. We will show that the load on vehicle wheels would not be equi-distributed in terms of wheels configuration and of robot movement. Thus, the threshold of sliding is not the same for the three wheels of the vehicle. We suggest exploiting the redundancy of actuation to reduce the risk of wheels sliding and to ameliorate, thereby, its accuracy of displacement. This kind of approach was the subject of study for the legged robots.

Keywords: mobile robot, actuation, redundancy, omnidirectional, inverse pseudo moore-penrose, reductive control

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Authors: Eylem G. Cengiz, Ersin Çilek, Gözde Başkaya, Havva Nur Taş

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It is possible to define the abuse and neglect of the child as a social problem. Such adverse experiences of the child are witnessed by wider social circles as well as his or her immediate environment. The most effective institution among these social circles is the school. The awareness of teachers, administrators, and even auxiliary personnel on this issue can act as a protective and preventive buffer because teachers have the opportunity to be with children every day and constantly observe them; therefore, they can notice the physical and mental changes in students. Furthermore, school administrators have an undeniable role in recognizing and responding to the risk of neglect and abuse. This study aims to evaluate the awareness of school administrators on the risk factors, clues, and ways of intervention towards abuse and neglect through the scenarios given to them. Data were collected from 37 primary, secondary, and high school administrators working in various provinces of Turkey through descriptive and scenario-based questions to determine their general knowledge of the concepts of neglect and abuse and their general tendencies towards practice. Descriptive questions were evaluated with content analysis, and scenario-based questions were evaluated with numerical qualitative data analysis. Concepts and themes were tried to be reached by content analysis from the descriptive data collected. When the results are evaluated in general, it is striking that the concept of child abuse means only sexual abuse for some school administrators. There is an important uncertainty for school administrators in the content of the idea of neglect. When the views on the causes of neglect and abuse are examined, the family factor was seen as the primary source of both neglect and abuse. In addition, among the prevention strategies applied by school administrators, intervention for the family -interviewing and informing- was recommended by only 9 (29%) out of 31 administrators. When the responses to the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse scenarios are examined, it is revealed that the administrators generally realize the abuse but fail to develop an appropriate/whole intervention method. The research results show that school administrators' awareness should be increased. Although administrators have sensitivity towards children, they should be empowered to recognize all types of neglect and abuse and develop appropriate intervention tools.

Keywords: assessment child abuse and neglect, child abuse, child neglect, school administrators

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Authors: Jonghoon Kim, Gilwon Yoon

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A wrist-band type biosignal measurement system and its data transfer through human body communication (HBC) were investigated. An HBC method based on pulses of ultra-wide band instead of using frequency or amplitude modulations was studied and implemented since the system became very compact and it was more suited for personal or mobile health monitoring. Our system measured photo-plethysmogram (PPG) and measured PPG signals were transmitted through a finger to a monitoring PC system. The device was compact and low-power consuming. HBC communication has very strong security measures since it does not use wireless network. Furthermore, biosignal monitoring system becomes handy because it does not need to have wire connections.

Keywords: biosignal, human body communication, mobile health, PPG, ultrawide band

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Authors: Fredrick Ishengoma, Leonard Mselle, Hector Mongi

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The growing number of mobile phone subscribers in Tanzania offers the government a new channel for the delivery of information and government services to citizens, thus mobile Government (m-Government). In Tanzania, m-Government services usage is in the early stages, and factors that influence its adoption are yet to be known. This study seeks to identify and understand the critical success factors (CSFs) that influence citizens’ behavioural intention (BI) to adopt m-Government services in Tanzania. The study employed the mobile services acceptance model (MSAM) and extends it with external factors relevant in the Tanzanian context. A survey questionnaire was used to collect primary data from users of m-Government services in Dar es salaam and Dodoma cities, and 253 responses were received. Data were analyzed by IBM-SPSS AMOS 23.0 software using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings of the study indicate that perceived usefulness, trust, perceived mobility, power distance, quality of service, awareness, perceived cost, personal initiatives, and characteristics significantly influence the BI to adopt m-Government services. However, perceived ease of use was found statistically insignificant to predict BI. Furthermore, the interplay between CSFs, discussion on theoretical and practical implications that follow from the results are presented.

Keywords: adoption, critical success factors, structural equation modeling, m-Government, MSAM, Tanzania

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Authors: Leonardo Ramirez Lopez, Edward Guillen Pinto, Carlos Ramos Linares

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The controversy brought about by the increasing use of mHealth apps and their effectiveness for disease prevention and diagnosis calls for immediate control. Although a critical topic in research areas such as medicine, engineering, economics, among others, this issue lacks reliable implementation models. However, projects such as Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) and various studies have helped to create useful and reliable apps. This research is conducted under a quality model to optimize two mHealth apps for older adults. Results analysis on the use of two physical activity monitoring apps - AcTiv (physical activity) and SMCa (energy expenditure) - is positive and ideal. Through a theoretical and practical analysis, precision calculations and personal information control of older adults for disease prevention and diagnosis were performed. Finally, apps are validated by a physician and, as a result, they may be used as health monitoring tools in physical performance centers or any other physical activity. The results obtained provide an effective validation model for this type of mobile apps, which, in turn, may be applied by other software developers that along with medical staff would offer digital healthcare tools for elderly people.

Keywords: model, validation, effective, healthcare, elderly people, mobile app

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Authors: A. Zare Javid, H. Babaee, E. Ashrafzadeh, H. Yousefimanesh, M. Zakerkish, K. Ahmadi Angali, M. Ravanbakhsh

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Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus and periodontal disease hold a physiologically relationship. Periodontal disease, a common widespread chronic disease, is considered as an important complication in diabetes mellitus. The prevalence and severity of periodontal disease are increased among diabetic patients. A balanced nutrition may improve either diabetes or periodontal disease by controlling one of them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of cranberry juice enriched with n-3 PUFA and their individual consumption on glycemic control and antioxidant status in diabetic patients with periodontal disease. Methods: In this randomized clinical trial 41 diabetic patients (35 – 65 y) with chronic adult periodontal disease were recruited from Endocrinology Clinic of Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz city, Iran. Subjects were randomly assigned to four groups as follow: one control group (n=12) and three intervention groups as receiving 1 g n-3 PUFA capsule (n=10), 400 ml cranberry juice (n=9), 400 ml cranberry juice enriched with 1g n-3 PUFA (n=10) for 8 weeks. Non-surgical periodontal therapy was provided for all patients during study. Fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, plasma and saliva TAOC and MDA, pocket depth and bleeding on probing were measured at baseline and post intervention. Results: There was a significant reduction in glycated hemoglobin observed in intervention groups of receiving n-3 PUFA and cranberry enriched with n-3 PUFA (11 %, P = 0.01 and 7 %, P = 0.01, respectively). The intervention group receiving n-3 PUFA had significantly lower glycated hemoglobin compared with control group. There was no significant difference found in FBS between and within groups. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in plasma TAOC only in cranberry enriched with n-3 PUFA group. Moreover, plasma MDA significantly decreased in intervention groups of receiving cranberry and cranberry enriched with n-3 PUFA. A significant increase was observed in TAOC of salvia in cranberry enriched with n-3 PUFA group compared to control group .The intervention group receiving cranberry enriched with n-3 PUFA had significantly lower MDA of salvia compared with control group. Pocket depth were significantly decreased in all groups, however, bleeding on probing didn’t significantly changed in patients post intervention. Conclusion: It is suggested that consumption of cranberry juice enriched with n-3 PUFA as a nutritional approach in adjunct with non-surgical periodontal therapy may help to improve glycosylated hemogolobin and TAOC in salvia and plasma in diabetic patients with periodontal disease.

Keywords: antioxidant, cranberry, oxidant status, periodontal disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus

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Authors: Tracey Lion-Cachet

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Eating disorders typically manifest in adolescence and are notoriously difficult to treat. There are two notable reasons for this. Firstly, research consistently demonstrates that early intervention is a critical mediator of prognosis, with early intervention leading to a better prognosis. However, because eating disorders do not originate as full-syndrome diagnoses but rather as prodromal cases, they often go undetected; by the time symptoms meet diagnostic criteria, they have become recalcitrant. Another interrelated issue is motivation to change. Research demonstrates that in the early stages of an eating disorder, adolescents are highly resistant to change, and motivation increases only once symptoms have shifted from egosyntonic to egodystonic in nature. The purpose of this project was to design a prevention model based on the social psychology paradigm of Entertainment-Education, which embeds messages within the genre of film as a means of affecting change. The resulting project was a narrative screenplay targeting teenagers/young adults from diverse backgrounds. The goals of the project were to create a film script that, if ultimately made into a film, could serve to: 1) interrupt symptom progression and improve prognosis through early intervention; 2) incorporate techniques from third-wave cognitive behavioral treatment models, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and rational recovery (RR), with a focus on the effects of mindfulness as a means of informing recovery; 3) target issues to do with motivation to change by shifting the perception of eating disorders from culturally specific psychiatric illnesses to habit-based brain wiring issues. Nine licensed clinicians were asked to evaluate two excerpts taken from the final script. They subsequently provided feedback on a Likert-scale, which assessed whether the script had achieved its goals. Overall, evaluators agreed that the project’s etiological and intervention models have the potential to inspire change and serve as an effective means of prevention and treatment of eating disorders. However, one-third of the evaluators did not find the content developmentally appropriate. This is a notable limitation to the study and will need to be addressed in the larger script before the final project can potentially be targeted to a teenage and young adult audience.

Keywords: adolescents, eating disorders, pediatrics, entertainment-education, mindfulness-based intervention, prevention

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Authors: Mark Ivan Roblas

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The Science Explorer is a mobile learning science facility in the Philippines. It is a bus that travels to different provinces in the country bringing interactive science modules facilitated by scientists from the industry and academe. The project aims to entice students to get into careers in science through interactive science modules and interaction with real-life scientists. This article looks into the effectiveness of its modules as a communication source and message to encourage high school students to get into careers in the future. The study revealed that as the Science Explorer modules are able to retain students to stay in science careers of their choice and even convert some to choose from non-science to a science degree, it still lacks in penetrating the belief system of the students and influencing them to take a scientific career path.

Keywords: informal science, mobile science, science careers, science education

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Authors: Yuni Rochmawati, Luluk Il Mukarromah

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Android is a mobile operating system (OS) based on the linux kerrnel and currently developed by google. With a user interface based on direct manipulation, Android is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile deviced such as smartphone and tablet computer, with specialized user interface for television (Android TV), cars (Android Auto), and wrist watches (Android Wear). Now, almost all peoples using smartphone. Smartphone seems to be a must-have object, because smartphone has many benefits. In addition, of course smartphone have many benefits for education, like resume of lesson that form of e-book. However, this article is not about resume of lesson. This article is about practical based on android, exactly for physics. Therefore, we will explain our idea about physics’s practical based on android and for output, we wish many students will be like to studying physics and always remember about physics’s phenomenon by physics’s practical based on android.

Keywords: android, smartphone, physics, practical

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Authors: Geetanjali Saggar

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Background: Partial hearing loss is the inability to hear effectively as a normal hearing individual whose hearing threshold is 20 dB or better in both ears. Individuals with partial hearing loss may benefit from non-invasive electrical stimulation as a method of therapy and possible intervention. Objective: The project aims to assess and relate the efficacy of electrical stimulation on individuals with partial hearing loss. The study's goal was to evaluate the different sorts of non-invasive electrical stimulation in tinnitus and hearing loss in order to build the framework for future research. Method: In this pilot study, a total of five patients of age group above 50 years were selected with partial hearing loss. The electrical modality of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (RTMS) was used among the patients and was evaluated using gold questionnaires- HHIA and APHAB for hearing at intervals of 0-7-14 days. The statistical data was analyzed by SPSS software-16. Results: There were not much significant changes in the hearing of the patients when non-invasive electrical modality was applied as an intervention in the partial hearing loss condition. However, there was minimal change in the daily functioning of the patient with the application of intervention. Conclusion: This study concluded that non-invasive electrical stimulation had minimal to no effect on the partial hearing of the patients.

Keywords: non-invasive, hearing loss, transcranial magnetic stimulation, partial deafness, transcranial direct current stimulation, tinnitus

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Authors: Divya Kanchibhotla, Shashank Kulkarni, Shweta Singh

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Chronic stress and sleep quality reduces mental health and increases the risk of developing depression and anxiety as well. There is increasing evidence for the utility of meditation as an adjunct clinical intervention for conditions like depression and anxiety. The present study is an attempt to explore the impact of Sahaj Samadhi Meditation (SSM), a category of Automatic Self Transcending Meditation (ASTM), on perceived stress and sleep quality in adults. The study design was a single group pre-post assessment. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used in this study. Fifty-two participants filled PSS, and 60 participants filled PSQI at the beginning of the program (day 0), after two weeks (day 16) and at two months (day 60). Significant pre-post differences for the perceived stress level on Day 0 - Day 16 (p < 0.01; Cohen's d = 0.46) and Day 0 - Day 60 (p < 0.01; Cohen's d = 0.76) clearly demonstrated that by practicing SSM, participants experienced reduction in the perceived stress. The effect size of the intervention observed on the 16th day of assessment was small to medium, but on the 60th day, a medium to large effect size of the intervention was observed. In addition to this, significant pre-post differences for the sleep quality on Day 0 - Day 16 and Day 0 - Day 60 (p < 0.05) clearly demonstrated that by practicing SSM, participants experienced improvement in the sleep quality. Compared with Day 0 assessment, participants demonstrated significant improvement in the quality of sleep on Day 16 and Day 60. The effect size of the intervention observed on the 16th day of assessment was small, but on the 60th day, a small to medium effect size of the intervention was observed. In the current study we found out that after practicing SSM for two months, participants reported a reduction in the perceived stress, they felt that they are more confident about their ability to handle personal problems, were able to cope with all the things that they had to do, felt that they were on top of the things, and felt less angered. Participants also reported that their overall sleep quality improved; they took less time to fall asleep; they had less disturbances in sleep and less daytime dysfunction due to sleep deprivation. The present study provides clear evidence of the efficacy and safety of non-pharmacological interventions such as SSM in reducing stress and improving sleep quality. Thus, ASTM may be considered a useful intervention to reduce psychological distress in healthy, non-clinical populations, and it can be an alternative remedy for treating poor sleep among individuals and decreasing the use of harmful sedatives.

Keywords: automatic self transcending meditation, Sahaj Samadhi meditation, sleep, stress

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Authors: Latif Adnane, Benaatou Wafa, Pla Vicent

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Handover is of great significance to achieve seamless connectivity in wireless networks. This paper gives an impression of the main factors which are being affected by the soft and the hard handovers techniques. To know and understand the handover process in The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network, different statistics are calculated. This paper focuses on the quality of service (QoS) of soft and hard handover in UMTS network, which includes the analysis of received power, signal to noise radio, throughput, delay traffic, traffic received, delay, total transmit load, end to end delay and upload response time using OPNET simulator.

Keywords: handover, UMTS, mobility, simulation, OPNET modeler

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Authors: Jennifer Holbein, Maritza Wiedel

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Background: Aging is associated with an increased risk of falls in older adults, and as a result, falls have become public health crises. However, the incidence of falls can be reduced through healthy aging and the implementation of a regular exercise and strengthening program. Public health and healthcare professionals authorize the use of evidence‐based, exercise‐focused fall interventions, but there are major obstacles to translating and disseminating research findings into healthcare practices. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of an intervention, A Matter of Balance, in terms of demand, acceptability, and implementation into current exercise programs. Subjects: Seventy-five participants from rural communities, above the age of sixty, were randomized to an intervention or attention-control of the standardized senior fitness test. Methods: Subject completes the intervention, which combines two components: (1) motivation and (2) fall-reducing physical activities with protocols derived from baseline strength and balanced assessments. Participants (n=75) took part in the program after completing baseline functional assessments as well as evaluations of their personal knowledge, health outcomes, demand, and implementation interventions. After 8-weeks of the program, participants were invited to complete follow-up assessments with results that were compared to their baseline functional analyses. Out of all the participants in the study who complete the initial assessment, approximately 80% are expected to maintain enrollment in the implemented prescription. Furthermore, those who commit to the program should show mitigation of fall risk upon completion of their final assessment.

Keywords: aging population, exercise, falls, functional assessment, healthy aging

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Authors: Violina Angelova, Krasimir Ivanov, Stefan Krustev, Dimitar Dimitrov

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Availability of a metal is characterised by its quantity transgressing from soil into different extractants or by its content in plants. In literature, the terms 'available forms of compounds' and 'mobile' are often considered as equivalents of the term 'accessible' to plants. Rapid and a sufficiently reliable method for defining the accessible for plants forms turns out to be their extraction through different extractants, imitating the functioning of the root system. As a criterion for the pertinence of the extractant to this purpose usually serves the significant statistic correlation between the extracted quantities of the element from soil and its content in plants. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of various extractions (DTPA-TEA, AB-DTPA, Mehlich 3, 0.01 M CaCl₂, 1M NH₄NO₃) for the determination of bioavailability of heavy metals in industrially polluted soils from the metallurgical activity near Plovdiv and Kardjali, Bulgaria. Quantity measurements for contents of heavy metals were performed with ICP-OES. The results showed that extraction capacity was as follows: Mehlich 3>ABDTPA>DTPA-TEA>CaCl₂>NaNO₃. The content of the mobile form of heavy metals depends on the nature of metal ion, the nature of extractant and pH. The obtained results show that CaCl₂ extracts a greater quantity of mobile forms of heavy metals than NH₄NO₃. DTPA-TEA and AB-DTPA are capable of extracting from the soil not only the heavy metals participating in the exchange processes but also the heavy metals bound in carbonates and organic complexes, as well as bound and occluded in oxide and secondary clay minerals. AB-DTPA extracts a bit more heavy metals than DTPA-TEA. The darker color of the solutions obtained with AB-DTPA indicates that considerable quantities organic matter are being destructed. A comparison of the mobile forms of heavy metals extracted from clean and highly polluted soils has revealed that in the polluted soils the greater portion of heavy metals exists in a mobile form. High correlation coefficients are obtained between the metals extracted with different extractants and their total content in soil (r=0.9). A positive correlation between the pH, soil organic matter and the extracted quantities of heavy metals has been found. The results of correlation analysis revealed that the heavy metals extracted by DTPA-TEA, AB-DTPA, Mehlich 3, CaCl₂ and NaNO₃ correlated significantly with plant uptake. Significant correlation was found between DTPA-TEA, AB-DTPA, and CaCl₂ with heavy metals concentration in plants. Application of extracting methods contains chelating agents would be recommended in the future research onthe availabilityof heavy metals in polluted soils.

Keywords: availability, chemical extractants, heavy metals, mobile forms

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Authors: Luís Pina

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The conservation of marine biodiversity keeps ecosystems in balance and ensures the sustainable use of resources. In this context, technological resources have been used for monitoring marine species to allow biologists to obtain data in real-time. There are different mobile applications developed for data collection for monitoring purposes, but these systems are designed to be utilized only on third-generation (3G) phones or smartphones with Internet access and in rural parts of the developing countries, Internet services and smartphones are scarce. Thus, the objective of this work is to develop a system to monitor marine turtles using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), which users can access through basic mobile phones. The system aims to improve the data collection mechanism and enhance the effectiveness of current systems in monitoring sea turtles using any type of mobile device without Internet access. The system will be able to report information related to the biological activities of marine turtles. Also, it will be used as a platform to assist marine conservation entities to receive reports of illegal sales of sea turtles. The system can also be utilized as an educational tool for communities, providing knowledge and allowing the inclusion of communities in the process of monitoring marine turtles. Therefore, this work may contribute with information to decision-making and implementation of contingency plans for marine conservation programs.

Keywords: GSM, marine biology, marine turtles, unstructured supplementary service data (USSD)

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Authors: Mark Linden, Michael Brown, Lynne Marsh, Maria Truesdale, Stuart Todd, Nathan Hughes, Trisha Forbes, Rachel Leonard

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Background: Family carers of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) face ongoing challenges in accessing services and often experience poor mental health. Online support programmes may prove effective in addressing the mental health and well-being needs of family carers. This study sought to test the acceptability of a newly developed online support programme for carers of people with intellectual disabilities called Carers-ID. Methods A sequential mixed-methods explanatory design was utilised. An adapted version of the Acceptability of Health Apps among Adolescents (AHAA) Scale was distributed to family carers who had viewed the Carers-ID.com intervention. Following this, participants were invited to take part in an online interview. Interview questions focused on participants’ experiences of using the programme and its acceptability. Qualitative and quantitative data were analysed separately and then brought together through the triangulation protocol developed by Farmer et al (2006). Findings: Seventy family carers responded to the acceptability survey, whilst 10 took part in interviews. Six themes were generated from interviews with family carers. Based on our triangulation, four areas of convergence were identified, these included, programme usability and ease, attitudes towards the programme, perceptions of effectiveness, and programme relatability. Conclusions: In order to be acceptable, online interventions for carers of people with ID need to be accessible, understandable and easy to use, as carers time is precious. Further research is needed to investigate the effectiveness of online interventions for family carers, specifically considering which carers the intervention works for, and for whom it may not.

Keywords: intellectual disability, family carer, acceptability study, online intervention

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Authors: Jonathan W. Z. Lim, Vrizlynn L. L. Thing

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Cybercrimes are on the rise, in part due to technological advancements, as well as increased avenues of exploitation. Sophisticated threat actors are leveraging on such advancements to execute their malicious intentions. The increase in cybercrimes is prevalent, and it seems unlikely that they can be easily eradicated. A more serious concern is that the community may come to accept the notion that this will become the trend. As such, the key question revolves around how we can reduce cybercrime in this evolving landscape. In our paper, we propose to build a systematic framework through the lens of a cyber threat actor. We explore the motivation factors behind the crimes and the crime stages of the threat actors. We then formulate intervention plans so as to discourage the act of committing malicious cyber activities and also aim to integrate ex-cyber offenders back into society.

Keywords: crime motivations, crime prevention, cybercrime, ex-cyber criminals

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Authors: Yunfan Jiang

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In response to an identified gap in available treatment programmes for high-risk offenders with multiple criminogenic needs and guided by emerging literature in the field of correctional rehabilitation, Singapore Prison Service (SPS) developed the Integrated Criminogenic Programme (ICP) in 2012. This evidence-informed psychological programme was designed to address all seven dynamic criminogenic needs (from the Central 8) of high-risk offenders by applying concepts from rehabilitation and psychological theories such as Risk-Need-Responsivity, Good Lives Model, narrative identity, and motivational interviewing. This programme also encompasses a 6-month community maintenance component for the purpose of providing structured step-down support in the aftercare setting. These sessions provide participants the opportunity for knowledge reinforcement and application of skills attained in-care. A quantitative evaluation of the ICP showed that the intervention group had statistically significant improvements across time in most self-report measures of criminal attitudes, substance use attitudes, and psychosocial functioning. This was congruent with qualitative data from participants saying that the ICP had the most impact on their criminal thinking patterns and management of behaviours in high-risk situations. Results from the comparison group showed no difference in their criminal attitudes, even though they reported statistically significant improvements across time in their substance use attitudes and some self-report measures of psychosocial functioning. The programme’s efficacy was also apparent in the lower rates of recidivism and relapse within 12 months for the intervention group. The management of staff issues arising from the development and implementation of an innovative high-intensity psychological programme such as the ICP will also be discussed.

Keywords: evaluation, forensic psychology, intervention programme, offender rehabilitation

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Authors: Sedef Şahin, Meral Huri

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Cerebral Palsy (CP) represents the most frequent cause of physical disability in children with a rate of 2,9 per 1000 live births. The activity-focused intervention is known to improve function and reduce activity limitations and barriers to participation of children with disabilities. The aim of the study was to assess the effects of occupational therapy on level of fatigue, activity performance and satisfaction in children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy. Twenty-two children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy (mean age: 9,3 ± 2.1years; Gross Motor Function Classification System ( GMFCS) level from I to V (I = 54%, II = 23%, III = 14%, IV= 9%, V= 0%), Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) level from I to V (I = 40%, II = 32%, III = 14%, IV= 10%, V= 4%), were assigned to occupational therapy program for 6 weeks.Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used for intensity of the fatigue they experienced at the time on a 10 point Likert scale (1-10).Activity performance and satisfaction were measured with Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM).A client-centered occupational therapy intervention was designed according to results of COPM. The results were compared with nonparametric Wilcoxon test before and after the intervention. Thirteen of the children were right-handed, whereas nine of the children were left handed.Six weeks of intervention showed statistically significant differences in level of fatigue, compared to first assessment(p<0,05). The mean score of first and the second activity performance scores were 4.51 ± 1.70 and 7.35 ± 2.51 respectively. Statistically significant difference between performance scores were found (p<0.01). The mean scores of first and second activity satisfaction scores were of 2.30± 1.05 and 5.51 ± 2.26 respectively. Statistically significant difference between satisfaction assessments were found (p<0.01). Occupational therapy is an evidence-based approach and occupational therapy interventions implemented by therapists were clinically effective on severity of fatigue, activity performance and satisfaction if implemented individually during 6 weeks.

Keywords: activity performance, cerebral palsy, fatigue, occupational therapy

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Authors: Varsha Tol, Laila Garda, Neelam Bhardwaj, Malata Usar

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In India, differently- abled girls suffer from a “dual stigma” of being female and physically challenged. The general consensus is that they are incapable of standing on their own two feet. It was observed that these girls do not have access to educational programs as most hostels do not keep them after the tenth grade. They are forced to return to a life of poverty and are often considered a liability by their families. Higher education is completely ignored. Parents focus on finding a husband and passing on their ‘burden’ to someone else. An innovative, intervention for differently-abled adolescent girls with the express purpose of mainstreaming them into society was started by Helplife. The objective was to enrich the lives of these differently abled adolescent girls through precise research, focused intervention and professionalism. This programme addresses physical, mental and social rehabilitation of the girls who come from impoverished backgrounds. These adolescents are reached by word of mouth, snowball technique and through the network of the NGO. Applications are invited from potential candidates which are scrutinized by a panel of experts. Selection criteria include her disability, socio-economic status, and desire and drive to make a difference in her own life. The six main areas of intervention are accommodation, education, health, professional courses, counseling and recreational activities. Each girl on an average resides in Helplife for a period of 2-3 years. Analysis of qualitative data collected at various time points indicates holistic development of character. A quality of life questionnaire showed a significant improvement in scores at three different time points in 75% of the current population under intervention i.e. 19 girls. Till date, 25 girls have successfully passed out from the intervention program completing their graduation/post-graduation. Currently, we have 19 differently abled girls housed in three flats in Pune district of Maharashtra. Out of which 14 girls are pursuing their graduation or post-graduation. Six of the girls are working in jobs in various sectors. In conclusion it may be noted with adequate support and guidance the sky is the limit. This journey of 12 years has been a learning for us with ups and downs modifying the intervention at every step. Helplife has a belief of impacting positively, individual lives of differently abled girls in order to empower them in a holistic manner. The intervention has a positive impact on differently abled girls. They serve as role models to other differently abled girls indicating that this is a road map to success by getting empowered to live with full potential and get integrated in the society in a dignified way.

Keywords: differently-abled, dual-stigma, empowerment, youth

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Authors: Loghman Ansarian, Teoh Mei Lin

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In an attempt to increase oral proficiency of Iranian EFL learners, the researchers compared the effect of problem-based mobile-assisted language learning with the conventional language learning approach (Communicative Language Teaching) in Iran. The experimental group (n=37) went through PBL instruction and the control group (n=33) went through conventional instruction. The results of quantitative data analysis after 26 sessions of treatment revealed that PBL could positively affect participants' knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, spoken fluency, and pronunciation; however, in terms of task achievement, no significant effect was found. This study can have pedagogical implications for language teachers, and material developers.

Keywords: problem-based learning, spoken intelligibility, Iranian EFL context, cognitive learning

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Authors: M. Omer, D. Wilson

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Creating a database scheme is essentially a manual process. From a requirement specification, the information contained within has to be analyzed and reduced into a set of tables, attributes and relationships. This is a time-consuming process that has to go through several stages before an acceptable database schema is achieved. The purpose of this paper is to implement a Natural Language Processing (NLP) based tool to produce a from a requirement specification. The Stanford CoreNLP version 3.3.1 and the Java programming were used to implement the proposed model. The outcome of this study indicates that the first draft of a relational database schema can be extracted from a requirement specification by using NLP tools and techniques with minimum user intervention. Therefore, this method is a step forward in finding a solution that requires little or no user intervention.

Keywords: information extraction, natural language processing, relation extraction

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Authors: David L. Olson, Stephen B. H. Bruder, Adam S. Watkins, Cleon E. Davis

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In global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), denied settings such as indoor environments, autonomous mobile robots are often limited to dead-reckoning navigation techniques to determine their position, velocity, and attitude (PVA). Localization is typically accomplished by employing an inertial measurement unit (IMU), which, while precise in nature, accumulates errors rapidly and severely degrades the localization solution. Standard sensor fusion methods, such as Kalman filtering, aim to fuse precise IMU measurements with accurate aiding sensors to establish a precise and accurate solution. In indoor environments, where GNSS and no other a priori information is known about the environment, effective sensor fusion is difficult to achieve, as accurate aiding sensor choices are sparse. However, an opportunity arises by employing a depth camera in the indoor environment. A depth camera can capture point clouds of the surrounding floors and walls. Extracting attitude from these surfaces can serve as an accurate aiding source, which directly combats errors that arise due to gyroscope imperfections. This configuration for sensor fusion leads to a dramatic reduction of PVA error compared to traditional aiding sensor configurations. This paper provides the theoretical basis for the depth camera aiding sensor method, initial expectations of performance benefit via simulation, and hardware implementation, thus verifying its veracity. Hardware implementation is performed on the Quanser Qbot 2™ mobile robot, with a Vector-Nav VN-200™ IMU and Kinect™ camera from Microsoft.

Keywords: autonomous mobile robotics, dead reckoning, depth camera, inertial navigation, Kalman filtering, localization, sensor fusion

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Authors: Halima Sadia Qureshi, Urooj Sadiq, Noshi Eram Zaman

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The goal of this study was to see how cognitive behavior hypnotherapy affected nonsuicidal self-injury. DSM 5 invites the researchers to explore the newly added condition under the chapter of conditions under further study named Nonsuicidal self-injury disorder. To date, no empirical sound intervention has been proven effective for NSSI as given in DSM 5. Nonsuicidal self-injury is defined by DSM 5 as harming one's self physically, without suicidal intention. Around 7.6% of teenagers are expected to fulfill the NSSI disorder criteria. 3 Adolescents, particularly university students, account for around 87 percent of self-harm studies. Furthermore, one of the risks associated with NSSI is an increased chance of suicide attempts, and in most cases, the cycle repeats again. 6 The emotional and psychological components of the illness might lead to suicide, either intentionally or unintentionally. 7 According to a research done at a Pakistani military hospital, over 80% of participants had no intention of committing suicide. Furthermore, it has been determined that improvements in NSSI prevention and intervention are necessary as a stand-alone strategy. The quasi-experimental study took place in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from May 2019 to April 2020 and included students aged 18 to 25 years old from several institutions and colleges in the twin cities. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition, the individuals were assessed for >2 episodes without suicidal intent using the intentional self-harm questionnaire. The Clinician Administered Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Disorder Index (CANDI) was used to assess the individual for NSSI condition. Symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90) was used to screen the participants for differential diagnosis. Mclean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder (MSI-BPD) was used to rule out the BPD cases. The selected participants, n=106 from the screening sample of 600, were selected. They were further screened to meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the total of n=71 were split into two groups: intervention and control. The intervention group received cognitive behavior hypnotherapy for the next three months, whereas the control group received no treatment. After the period of three months, both the groups went through the post assessment, and after the three months’ period, follow-up assessment was conducted. The groups were evaluated, and SPSS 25 was used to analyse the data. The results showed that each of the two groups had 30 (50 percent) of the 60 participants. There were 41 males (68 percent) and 19 girls (32 percent) in all. The bulk of the participants were between the ages of 21 and 23. (48 percent). Self-harm events were reported by 48 (80 percent) of the pupils, and suicide ideation was found in 6 (ten percent). In terms of pre- and post-intervention values (d=4.90), post-intervention and follow-up assessment values (d=0.32), and pre-intervention and follow-up values (d=5.42), the study's effect size was good. The comparison of treatment and no-treatment groups revealed that treatment was more successful than no-treatment, F (1, 58) = 53.16, p.001. The results reveal that the treatment manual of CBH is effective for Nonsuicidal self-injury disorder.

Keywords: NSSI, nonsuicidal self injury disorder, self-harm, self-injury, Cognitive behaviour hypnotherapy, CBH

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Authors: Mahdi Taheri Asl

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Using a variety of strategies to read text plays an important role to make students strategic independent, strategic, and metacognitive readers. Given the importance of comprehension instruction (CI), it is essential to support the fostering comprehension skills at elementary age students, particularly those who struggle with or dislike reading. One of the main components of CI is activating metacognitive skills, which double function of elementary students. Thus, it’s important to evaluate the implemented comprehension interventions to inform reading specialist and teachers. There has been limited review research in the area of CI, so the conduction review research is required. The purpose of this review is to examine the effectiveness of metacognitive reading strategies in a regular classroom environment with elementary aged students. We develop five inclusion criteria to identify researches relevant to our research. First, the article had to be published in a peer-reviewed journal from 2000 to 2023. second, the study had to include participants in elementary school it could include of special education students. Third, the intervention needed to be involved with metacognitive strategies. Fourth, the articles had to use experimental or quasi experimental design. The last one needed to include measurement of reading performance in pre and post intervention. We used computer data-based site like Eric, PsychoINFO, and google scholar to search for articles that met these criteria. we used the following search terms: comprehension instruction, meta cognitive strategies, and elementary school. The next step was to do an ancestral search that get in reviewing the relevant studies cited in the articles that were found in the database search. We identified 30studies in the initial searches. After coding agreement, we synthesized 13 with respect to the participant, setting, research design, dependent variables, measures, the intervention used by instructors, and general outcomes. The finding show metacognitive strategies were effective to empower student’s comprehension skills. It also showed that linguistic instruction will be effective if got mixed with metacognitive strategies. The research provides a useful view into reading intervention. Despite the positive effect of metacognitive instruction on students’ comprehension skills, it is not widely used in classroom.

Keywords: comprehension instruction, metacogntion, metacognitive skills, reading intervention

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Authors: Christina Tay

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This paper investigates the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on bilateral trade in goods. Empirical analysis is performed on the United States and 34 partnering countries from 2000 to 2013. Our econometric model fits the data well, explaining 52% of the variation in trade flows for goods trade, 53.2% of the variation in trade flows for goods export and 48% of the variation in trade flows for goods import. For every 10% increase in fixed broadband Internet subscribers per 100 people increases, goods trade by 7.9% and for every 5% increase in fixed broadband Internet subscribers per 100 people, goods export increases by 11%. For every 1% increase in fixed telephone line penetration per 100 people, goods trade increases by 26.3%, goods export increases by 24.4% and goods import increases by 24.8%. For every 1% increase in mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions, goods trade decreases by 29.6% and goods export decreases by 27.1%, whilst for every 0.01% increase in mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions, goods import decreases by 34.3%. For every 1% increase in the percentage of population who used the Internet from any location in the last 12 months Internet, goods trade increases by 32.5%, goods export increases by 38.9%, goods import increases by 33%. All our trade determinants as well as our ICT variables have significances on goods exports for the US. We can also draw from our study that the US relies more rather heavily on ICT for its goods export compared to goods import.

Keywords: bilateral trade, fixed broadband, fixed telephone, goods trade, information and communicative technologies, Internet, mobile-cellular phone

Procedia PDF Downloads 293