Search results for: mobile health

Authors: C. Benjbara, A. Habbani

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Wireless networks are getting more and more used in every new technology or feature, especially those without infrastructure (Ad hoc mode) which provide a low cost alternative to the infrastructure mode wireless networks and a great flexibility for application domains such as environmental monitoring, smart cities, precision agriculture, and so on. These application domains present a common characteristic which is the need of coexistence and intercommunication between modules belonging to different types of ad hoc networks like wireless sensor networks, mesh networks, mobile ad hoc networks, vehicular ad hoc networks, etc. This vision to bring to life such heterogeneous networks will make humanity duties easier but its development path is full of challenges. One of these challenges is the communication complexity between its components due to the lack of common or compatible protocols standard. This article proposes a new patented routing protocol based on the OLSR standard in order to resolve the heterogeneous ad hoc networks communication issue. This new protocol is applied on a specific network architecture composed of MANET, VANET, and FANET.

Keywords: Ad hoc, heterogeneous, ID-Node, OLSR

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Authors: Mahtab Talafian

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With the advent of technology over the last decades, participation in online communities and discussion forums has become increasingly popular. Many studies have been done on the negative role of the online world on human beings’ psychological well-being and mental health, while relatively less attention has been given to the potentially positive role of technology in promoting mental health. Miscarriage is a common and emotionally challenging experience for women, and online communities seem to be a potential source of support for them. This study aimed to firstly find the most common types of support communicated in online communities of women who have miscarried and, secondly, investigate if there is a relationship between participation in online communities and mental health outcomes after miscarriage. In this study, three research methodologies, including content analysis, survey and interview, were employed to answer the research questions. With the analysis of 158 messages, including postings and comments in the online community of Mumsnet, it can be concluded that informational support and emotional support are the most prevalent types of support women share in the online community. Analysis of data gathered from the survey of 19 women who had experienced a miscarriage during the last year showed that participation in online communities makes a significant improvement in their mental health. Interviews also highlighted the helpful role of the online community in relieving emotional disorders, such as trauma, hopelessness, loneliness, stress, depression and anxiety about miscarriage.

Keywords: mental health, miscarriage, online community, support

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Authors: Maha Aladdin, Khaled Nagaty, Abeer Hamdy

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The rapid advancement cellular networks and wireless networks have laid a solid basis for the Internet of Things. IoT has evolved into a unique standard that allows diverse physical devices to collaborate with one another. A service provider gives a variety of services that may be accessed via smart apps anywhere, at any time, and from any location over the Internet. Because of the public environment of mobile communication and the Internet, these services are highly vulnerable to a several malicious attacks, such as unauthorized disclosure by hostile attackers. As a result, the best option for overcoming these vulnerabilities is a strong authentication method. In this paper, a lightweight authentication scheme that is based on numerical series cryptography is proposed for the IoT environments. It allows mutual authentication between IoT devices Parametric study and formal proofs are utilized to illustrate that the pro-posed approach is resistant to a variety of security threats.

Keywords: internet of things, authentication, cryptography, security protocol

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Authors: Liang Zhao, Guangwen Wang, Guichang Liu

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Constant potometer is an important component of pipeline anti-corrosion systems in the chemical industry. Based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) technology and database technology, this paper developed a set of a constant potometer remote monitoring management system. The remote monitoring and remote adjustment of the working status of the constant potometer are realized. The system has real-time data display, historical data query, alarm push management, user permission management, and supporting Web access and mobile client application (APP) access. The actual engineering project test results show the stability of the system, which can be widely used in cathodic protection systems.

Keywords: internet of things, pipe corrosion protection, potentiostat, remote monitoring

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Authors: Melikhaya Skhephe, Robert Mawuli Kwasi Boadzo, Zanoxolo Berington Gobingca

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This research study sought to examine parental monitoring of learners’ cell phone use in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. To this end, the researchers employed a quantitative approach. Data were obtained through questionnaires, with a sample of 15 parents having been purposively selected. The findings revealed that parents are unaware that they have to monitor the learner’s cell phone. Another finding was that parents in the 21-century did not support the use of mobile phones in education. The researchers recommend that parent’s discussion forums be created to educate parents on how a cell phone can be used in education. Cellphone companies need to be encouraged to educate parents on how they monitor cell phones used by learners. Another recommendation was that network providers need to restrict access to searching on the internet according to age.

Keywords: parental monitoring, app blocking services, learner’s cell phone use, cell phone

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Authors: Maneka Marianne Britto, Hansraj Riteesh Bookun

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The ability of a junior doctor to deliver complex multi-disciplinary care to patients in a paradigm of respect and collaboration requires a multitude of interpersonal skills and competencies. A short survey was used to explore the perspective of allied health staff on the desirable attributes of a junior doctor which are conducive to good teamwork. 23 allied health professionals (14 nurses, 4 physiotherapists, 2 dietitians, 1 occupational therapist, 1 speech therapist and 1 audiologist) responded to this 17-item survey. There were 17 females. The mean age of the respondents was 34.9 ± 10.1 years. The salient findings of our survey are that 95% of our respondents rated friendliness and non-clinical small talk with average importance or greater. 45% of them viewed these 2 items as very important or absolutely essential. A single respondent viewed these 2 items with little importance. The other criteria which were rated with high levels of importance were the acknowledgment of allied health suggestions and good ward organizational skills. Training these collaborative skills is challenging, and an enhanced understanding of interprofessional perspectives will help a junior doctor to achieve better clinical outcomes. It is hoped that this paper will further stimulate discussion in this area and will encourage junior doctors to engage in non-clinical conversations with allied health staff in the spirit of promoting effective teamwork.

Keywords: allied health, collaboration, doctor, medicine, surgery

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Authors: S. Karthikeyan, Naveen Bindra

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Introduction: To update ourselves and understand the concept of latest electronic formats available for Health care providers and how it could be used and developed as per standards. The idea is to correlate between the patients Manual Medical Records keeping and maintaining patients Electronic Information in a Health care setup in this world. Furthermore this stands with adapting to the right technology depending upon the organization and improve our quality and quantity of Healthcare providing skills. Objective: The concept and theory is to explain the terms of Electronic Medical Record (EMR), Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Personal Health Record (PHR) and selecting the best technical among the available Electronic sources and software before implementing. It is to guide and make sure the technology used by the end users without any doubts and difficulties. The idea is to evaluate is to admire the uses and barriers of EMR-EHR-PHR. Aim and Scope: The target is to achieve the health care providers like Physicians, Nurses, Therapists, Medical Bill reimbursements, Insurances and Government to assess the patient’s information on easy and systematic manner without diluting the confidentiality of patient’s information. Method: Health Information Technology can be implemented with the help of Organisations providing with legal guidelines and help to stand by the health care provider. The main objective is to select the correct embedded and affordable database management software and generating large-scale data. The parallel need is to know how the latest software available in the market. Conclusion: The question lies here is implementing the Electronic information system with healthcare providers and organisation. The clinicians are the main users of the technology and manage us to ‘go paperless’. The fact is that day today changing technologically is very sound and up to date. Basically the idea is to tell how to store the data electronically safe and secure. All three exemplifies the fact that an electronic format has its own benefit as well as barriers.

Keywords: medical records, digital records, health information, electronic record system

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Authors: Tushar Bhardwaj

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Internet of Things (IoT) possesses a dynamic network where the network nodes (mobile devices) are added and removed constantly and randomly, hence the traffic distribution in the network is quite variable and irregular. The basic but very important part in any network is route searching. We have many conventional route searching algorithms like link-state, and distance vector algorithms but they are restricted to the static point to point network topology. In this paper we propose a model that uses the Ant Colony Algorithm for route searching. It is dynamic in nature and has positive feedback mechanism that conforms to the route searching. We have also embedded the concept of Non-Deterministic Finite Automata [NDFA] minimization to reduce the network to increase the performance. Results show that Ant Colony Algorithm gives the shortest path from the source to destination node and NDFA minimization reduces the broadcasting storm effectively.

Keywords: routing, ant colony algorithm, NDFA, IoT

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Authors: Andres Gonzalez, Adam Boies, Jacob Swanson, David Kittelson

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The concern of the indoor air quality (IAQ) has been increasing due to its risk to human health. The smoking, sweeping, and stove and stovetop use are the activities that have a major contribution to the indoor air pollution. Outdoor air pollution also affects IAQ. The most important factors over IAQ from cooking activities are the materials, fuels, foods, and ventilation. The low-cost, mobile air quality monitoring (LCMAQM) sensors, is reachable technology to assess the IAQ. This is because of the lower cost of LCMAQM compared to conventional instruments. The IAQ was assessed, using LCMAQM, during cooking activities in a University of Minnesota graduate-housing evaluating different ventilation systems. The gases measured are carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). The particles measured are particle matter (PM) _2.5 micrometer (µm) and lung deposited surface area (LDSA). The measurements are being conducted during April 2019 in Como Student Community Cooperative (CSCC) that is a graduate housing at the University of Minnesota. The measurements are conducted using an electric stove for cooking. The amount and type of food and oil using for cooking are the same for each measurement. There are six measurements: two experiments measure air quality without any ventilation, two using an extractor as mechanical ventilation, and two using the extractor and windows open as mechanical and natural ventilation. 3The results of experiments show that natural ventilation is most efficient system to control particles and CO₂. The natural ventilation reduces the concentration in 79% for LDSA and 55% for PM_2.5, compared to the no ventilation. In the same way, CO₂ reduces its concentration in 35%. A well-mixed vessel model was implemented to assess particle the formation and decay rates. Removal rates by the extractor were significantly higher for LDSA, which is dominated by smaller particles, than for PM_2.5, but in both cases much lower compared to the natural ventilation. There was significant day to day variation in particle concentrations under nominally identical conditions. This may be related to the fat content of the food. Further research is needed to assess the impact of the fat in food on particle generations.

Keywords: cooking, indoor air quality, low-cost sensor, ventilation

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Authors: Azizah Che Omar

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Various studies have proposed factors of impulse purchase in different advertising mediums like website, mobile, traditional retail store and traditional television. However, to the best of researchers’ knowledge, none of the impulse purchase model is dedicated towards impulse purchase tendency for interactive TV (iTV) advertising. Therefore, the proposed model conceptual design model of interactive television advertising toward impulse purchase (iTVAdIP) was developed. The focus of this study is to evaluate the conceptual design model of iTVAdIP through expert review. As a result, the finding showed that majority of expert reviews agreed that the conceptual design model iTVAdIP is applicable to the development of interactive television advertising and it will increase the effectiveness of advertising. This study also shows the conceptual design model of iTVAdIP that has been reviewed.

Keywords: impulse purchase, interactive television advertising, persuasive

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Authors: Meredith Rossi, Lesley Lee, Mary Wear, Mary Van Baalen, Bradley Rhodes

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The astronaut community is unique, and may be disproportionately exposed to occupational hazards not commonly seen in other communities. The extent to which the demands of the astronaut occupation and exposure to spaceflight-related hazards affect the health of the astronaut population over the life course is not completely known. A better understanding of the individual, population, and mission impacts of astronaut occupational exposures is critical to providing clinical care, targeting occupational surveillance efforts, and planning for future space exploration. The ability to characterize the risk of latent health conditions is a significant component of this understanding. Provision of health screening services to active and former astronauts ensures individual, mission, and community health and safety. Currently, the NASA-Johnson Space Center (JSC) Flight Medicine Clinic (FMC) provides extensive medical monitoring to active astronauts throughout their careers. Upon retirement, astronauts may voluntarily return to the JSC FMC for an annual preventive exam. However, current retiree monitoring includes only selected screening tests, representing an opportunity for augmentation. The potential long-term health effects of spaceflight demand an expanded framework of testing for former astronauts. The need is two-fold: screening tests widely recommended for other aging populations are necessary to rule out conditions resulting from the natural aging process (e.g., colonoscopy, mammography); and expanded monitoring will increase NASA’s ability to better characterize conditions resulting from astronaut occupational exposures. To meet this need, NASA has begun an extensive exploration of the overall approach, cost, and policy implications of expanding the medical monitoring of former NASA astronauts under the Astronaut Occupational Health program. Increasing the breadth of monitoring services will ultimately enrich the existing evidence base of occupational health risks to astronauts. Such an expansion would therefore improve the understanding of the health of the astronaut population as a whole, and the ability to identify, mitigate, and manage such risks in preparation for deep space exploration missions.

Keywords: astronaut, long-term health, NASA, occupational health, surveillance

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Authors: Wee Tong Liaw, Elaine Wong Yee Sing

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Since 2001, many companies in Singapore have voluntarily participated in the bi-annual Singapore HEALTH Award initiated by the Health Promotion Board of Singapore (HPB). The Singapore HEALTH Award (SHA), is an industry wide award and assessment process. SHA assesses and recognizes employers in Singapore for implementing a comprehensive and sustainable health promotion programme at their workplaces. The rationale for implementing a sustained health promoting workplace and participating in SHA is obvious when company management is convinced that healthier employees, business productivity, and profitability are positively correlated. However, performing research or empirical studies on the impact of a sustained health promoting workplace on stock returns are not likely to yield any interests in the absence of a systematic and independent assessment on the comprehensiveness and sustainability of a health promoting workplace in most developed economies. The principles of diversification and mean-variance efficient portfolio in Modern Portfolio Theory developed by Markowitz (1952) laid the foundation for the works of many financial economists and researchers, and among others, the development of the Capital Asset Pricing Model from the work of Sharpe (1964), Lintner (1965) and Mossin (1966), and the Fama-French Three-Factor Model of Fama and French (1992). This research seeks to support the rationale by studying whether there is a significant relationship or impact of a sustained health promoting workplace on the performance of companies listed on the SGX. The research shall form and test hypotheses pertaining to the impact of a sustained health promoting workplace on company’s performances, including stock returns, of companies that participated in the SHA and companies that did not participate in the SHA. In doing so, the research would be able to determine whether corporate and fund manager should consider the significance of a sustained health promoting workplace as a risk factor to explain the stock returns of companies listed on the SGX. With respect to Singapore’s stock market, this research will test the significance and relevance of a health promoting workplace using the Singapore Health Award as a proxy for non-diversifiable risk factor to explain stock returns. This study will examine the significance of a health promoting workplace on a company’s performance and study its impact on stock price performance and beta and examine if it has higher explanatory power than the traditional single factor asset pricing model CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model). To study the significance there are three key questions pertinent to the research study. I) Given a choice, would an investor be better off investing in a listed company with a sustained health promoting workplace i.e. a Singapore Health Award’s recipient? II) The Singapore Health Award has four levels of award starting from Bronze, Silver, Gold to Platinum. Would an investor be indifferent to the level of award when investing in a listed company who is a Singapore Health Award’s recipient? III) Would an asset pricing model combining FAMA-French Three Factor Model and ‘Singapore Health Award’ factor be more accurate than single factor Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Three Factor Model itself?

Keywords: asset pricing model, company's performance, stock prices, sustained health promoting workplace

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Authors: Sadandaula Rose Muheriwa Matemba, Alexander Glazier, Natalie M. LeBlanc

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In the United States, up to 10% of girls and 22 % of boys 10-14 years have had sex, 5% of them had their first sex before 11 years, and the age of first sexual encounter is reported to be 8 years. Over 4,000 adolescent girls, 10-14 years, become pregnant every year, and 2.6% of the abortions in 2019 were among adolescents below 15 years. Despite these negative outcomes, little research has been conducted to understand the sexual health education offered to young adolescents ages 10-14. Early sexual health education is one of the most effective strategies to help lower the rate of early pregnancies, HIV infections, and other sexually transmitted. Such knowledge is necessary to inform best practices for supporting the healthy sexual development of young adolescents and prevent adverse outcomes. This qualitative descriptive study was conducted to explore the community stakeholders’ experiences in sexual health education for young adolescents ages 10-14 and ascertain the young adolescents’ sexual health support needs. Maximum variation purposive sampling was used to recruit a total sample of 13 community stakeholders, including health education teachers, members of youth-based organizations, and Adolescent Clinic providers in Rochester, New York State, in the United States of America from April to June 2022. Data were collected through semi-structured individual in-depth interviews and were analyzed using MAXQDA following a conventional content analysis approach. Triangulation, team analysis, and respondent validation to enhance rigor were also employed to enhance study rigor. The participants were predominantly female (92.3%) and comprised of Caucasians (53.8%), Black/African Americans (38.5%), and Indian-American (7.7%), with ages ranging from 23-59. Four themes emerged: the perceived need for early sexual health education, preferred timing to initiate sexual health conversations, perceived age-appropriate content for young adolescents, and initiating sexual health conversations with young adolescents. The participants described encouraging and concerning experiences. Most participants were concerned that young adolescents are living in a sexually driven environment and are not given the sexual health education they need, even though they are open to learning sexual health materials. There was consensus on the need to initiate sexual health conversations early at 4 years or younger, standardize sexual health education in schools and make age-appropriate sexual health education progressive. These results show that early sexual health education is essential if young adolescents are to delay sexual debut, prevent early pregnancies, and if the goal of ending the HIV epidemic is to be achieved. However, research is needed on a larger scale to understand how best to implement sexual health education among young adolescents and to inform interventions for implementing contextually-relevant sexuality education for this population. These findings call for increased multidisciplinary efforts in promoting early sexual health education for young adolescents.

Keywords: community stakeholders’ perspectives, sexual development, sexual health education, young adolescents

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Authors: Yash Bingi, Yiqiao Yin

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Reduction of child mortality is an ongoing struggle and a commonly used factor in determining progress in the medical field. The under-5 mortality number is around 5 million around the world, with many of the deaths being preventable. In light of this issue, Cardiotocograms (CTGs) have emerged as a leading tool to determine fetal health. By using ultrasound pulses and reading the responses, CTGs help healthcare professionals assess the overall health of the fetus to determine the risk of child mortality. However, interpreting the results of the CTGs is time-consuming and inefficient, especially in underdeveloped areas where an expert obstetrician is hard to come by. Using a support vector machine (SVM) and oversampling, this paper proposed a model that classifies fetal health with an accuracy of 99.59%. To further explain the CTG measurements, an algorithm based on Randomized Input Sampling for Explanation ((RISE) of Black-box Models was created, called Feature Alteration for explanation of Black Box Models (FAB), and compared the findings to Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) and Local Interpretable Model Agnostic Explanations (LIME). This allows doctors and medical professionals to classify fetal health with high accuracy and determine which features were most influential in the process.

Keywords: machine learning, fetal health, gradient boosting, support vector machine, Shapley values, local interpretable model agnostic explanations

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Authors: Juliet Sorensen, Megan Schliep

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Introduction: After a multidisciplinary assessment of health and human rights issues in central Mali, a musical album was created in 2014 in Douentza, Mali to provide health information on female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), malaria, HIV/AIDS, girls’ education, breastfeeding, and sanitation. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of this album. Methods: A mixed-methods assessment was conducted with 149 individuals across 10 villages in Douentza Cercle. Analyses focused on the association of radio listening habits, age, sex, ethnicity and education with a public health knowledge score. Results: Over 90% of respondents reported daily radio listening, many listening five or more hours per day. Potential risks of FGM/C cited by participants included death (59%), difficulty in childbirth (48%), sterility (34%), and fistula (33%); when asked about their level of control over FGM/C, 28% stated they would never cut their daughters. Being a listener for 1-5 hours per day was associated with a 11.5% higher score of 'public health knowledge' compared to those listening only a little or not at all (p < 0.01). Education (marginal versus no formal education) was associated with 7.6% increased score (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Radio appears to be a significant part of community members’ daily routines and may be a valuable medium for transmitting information, particularly for lower literacy individuals.

Keywords: female genital cutting, public health and social justice education, radio, Mali

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Authors: Raida Zouari, Iness Ahriz, Rafik Zayani, Ali Dziri, Ridha Bouallegue

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This paper proposes a room level indoor localization algorithm based on the use Multi-Layer Neural Network (MLNN) classifiers and one versus one strategy. Seven parameters of the Channel Impulse Response (CIR) were used and Gram-Shmidt Orthogonalization was performed to study the relevance of the extracted parameters. Simulation results show that when relevant CIR parameters are used as position fingerprint and when optimal MLNN architecture is selected good room level localization score can be achieved. The current study showed also that some of the CIR parameters are not correlated to the location and can decrease the localization performance of the system.

Keywords: mobile indoor localization, multi-layer neural network (MLNN), channel impulse response (CIR), Gram-Shmidt orthogonalization

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Authors: K. Masingboon, S. Duangpaeng, N. Chaiwong

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Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the most common cause of death among Thai with coronary heart disease (CHD). Thai AMI survivors are most likely to have impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL) due to their lifestyle, functional, and psychological problems. Guided by the Individual and Family Self-Management Theory, this study aimed to explore HRQoL and identify its predictors among Thai AMI survivors. 155 Thai AMI survivors were recruited by stratified random sampling from three hospitals located in eastern region of Thailand. HRQol was measured using the Short Form -12 Health Survey (SF-12). The Center for Epidemiologic studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was utilized to assess the presence of depression, and the Family Support questionnaire was administered to examine family support. Results revealed that 92 percent of Thai AMI survivors reported a generally high level of HRQoL and 80 percent of them reported higher level of HRQoL in physical health and mental health dimension. Depression and family support were significantly predicted HRQoL among Thai AMI survivors and accounted for 28.5 percent of variance (p < .001). Interestingly, depression was the most significant predictors of HRQoL (β = -.65, p < .001) In conclusion, depression is a significant predictor of HRQoL in Thai AMI survivors. Increasing awareness of depression among these survivors is important. Depressive symptoms in should be routinely assessed. In addition, intervention to improve HRQoL among Thai AMI survivors should be addressed through depressive symptom management and family collaboration.

Keywords: health-related quality of life, AMI survivors, predictors, collaboration

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Authors: Domenico Chizzoniti, Monica Moscatelli, Letizia Cattani, Piero Favino, Luca Preis

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A settlement strategy is to anticipate and respond the needs of existing and future communities through the provision of primary health care facilities in marginalized areas. Access to a health care network is important to improving healthcare coverage, often lacking, in developing countries. The study explores that a good sanitary system strategy of rural contexts brings advantages to an existing settlement: improving transport, communication, water and social facilities. The objective of this paper is to define a possible methodology to implement primary health care facilities in disadvantaged areas of emerging countries. In this research, we analyze the case study of Lauro de Freitas, a municipality in the Brazilian state of Bahia, part of the Metropolitan Region of Salvador, with an area of 57,662 km² and 194.641 inhabitants. The health localization system in Lauro de Freitas is an integrated process that involves not only geographical aspects, but also a set of factors: population density, epidemiological data, allocation of services, road networks, and more. Data were collected also using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to the local population. Synthesized data suggest that moving away from the coast where there is the greatest concentration of population and services, a network of primary health care facilities is able to improve the living conditions of small-dispersed communities. Based on the health service needs of populations, we have developed a methodological approach that is particularly useful in rural and remote contexts in emerging countries.

Keywords: healthcare, settlement strategy, urban health, rural

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Authors: Julio Silva, Lia Hasenclever, Gilson G. Silva Jr.

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The aim of this paper is to check possible convergence in health measures (aged-standard rate of morbidity and mortality) for communicable diseases between developed and developing countries, conditional to productive structures features. Understanding the interrelations between health patterns and economic development is particularly important in the context of low- and middle-income countries, where economic development comes along with deep social inequality. Developing countries with less diversified productive structures (measured through complexity index) but high heterogeneous inter-sectorial labor productivity (using as a proxy inter-sectorial coefficient of variation of labor productivity) has on average low health levels in communicable diseases compared to developed countries with high diversified productive structures and low labor market heterogeneity. Structural heterogeneity and productive diversification may have influence on health levels even considering per capita income. We set up a panel data for 139 countries from 1995 to 2015, joining several data about the countries, as economic development, health, and health system coverage, environmental and socioeconomic aspects. This information was obtained from World Bank, International Labour Organization, Atlas of Economic Complexity, United Nation (Development Report) and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Database. Econometric panel models evidence shows that the level of communicable diseases has a positive relationship with structural heterogeneity, even considering other factors as per capita income. On the other hand, the recent process of convergence in terms of communicable diseases have been motivated for other reasons not directly related to productive structure, as health system coverage and environmental aspects. These evidences suggest a joint dynamics between the unequal distribution of communicable diseases and countries' productive structure aspects. These set of evidence are quite important to public policy as meet the health aims in Millennium Development Goals. It also highlights the importance of the process of structural change as fundamental to shift the levels of health in terms of communicable diseases and can contribute to the debate between the relation of economic development and health patterns changes.

Keywords: economic development, inequality, population health, structural change

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Authors: Adekunle Kolawole Ojo, Idowu Peter Adebayo, Egwuche Sylvester O.

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Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality across developed and developing nations and is associated with increased risk. There are no existing electronic means of capturing and monitoring CKD in Nigeria. The work is aimed at developing a spatial data model that can be used to implement renal registries required for tracking and monitoring the spatial distribution of renal diseases by public health officers and patients. In this study, we have developed a spatial data model for a functional renal registry.

Keywords: renal registry, health informatics, chronic kidney disease, interface

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Authors: B. Schofield, F. Gul, S. McClean, R. Hoskins, R. Terry, U. Rolfe, A. Gibson, S. Voss, J. Benger

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Aim: The aim of this study is to determine whether and how health promotion activities are undertaken by paramedics and emergency department nurses and investigate ways of overcoming potential barriers. Background: Paramedics and emergency department nurses are uniquely placed to reach millions of people and could use these contacts as positive opportunities to help people improve their health by identifying people with risk factors and provide information, brief interventions, and signposting to locally provided services. These interventions can be carried out when the opportunity arises, typically take no more than a few minutes, have a low financial cost and can be a highly efficient method of health promotion. Methodology: Three NHS Emergency Departments and four Ambulance Trusts in England were recruited to the study. A link to an online survey was distributed to paramedics and emergency department nurses at participating sites. Staff were invited to participate in virtual semi-structured interviews. Patients seen, treated, and discharged at the participating sites were invited to virtual semistructured interviews. Findings: A total of 331 survey responses were received, 21 virtual semi-structured staff interviews and 11 patient interviews were completed. Staff reported lack of time to prioritise, lack of knowledge, resources, and confidence as barriers. Receptiveness of patients guided their decision to undertake health promotion activities. They reported a desire to learn how to undertake health promotion conversations. Emergency department nurses felt more supported than paramedics by their organisations to undertake health promotion activities. Patients were not aware of health promotion activities and reported fear and lack of privacy as barriers. Conclusions: These results will guide the development of an intervention to support the provision of health promotion by staff in urgent and emergency care settings. The components of the intervention will be mapped to a framework which will consider the needs of staff working within these settings, patients they treat, and organisational issues and practices related to the implementation of such an intervention.

Keywords: emergency service, hospital, nursing, allied health personnel, emergency medical services, health promotion

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Authors: Nawal Alawad, Passent Ibrahim Tantawi, Mohamed Abdel Salam Ragheb

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Providing customers with quality experiences has been confirmed to be a sustainable, competitive advantage with a distinct financial impact for companies. The success of service providers now relies on their ability to provide customer-centric services. The importance of perceived service quality and customer experience is widely recognized. The focus of this research is in the area of mobile and fixed broadband services. This study is of dual importance both academically and practically. Academically, this research applies a new model investigating the impact of customer experience quality on loyalty based on modifying the multiple-item scale for measuring customers’ service experience in a new area and did not depend on the traditional models. The integrated scale embraces four dimensions: service experience, outcome focus, moments of truth and peace of mind. In addition, it gives a scientific explanation for this relationship so this research fill the gap in such relations in which no one correlate or give explanations for these relations before using such integrated model and this is the first time to apply such modified and integrated new model in telecom field. Practically, this research gives insights to marketers and practitioners to improve customer loyalty through evolving the experience quality of broadband customers which is interpreted to suggested outcomes: purchase, commitment, repeat purchase and word-of-mouth, this approach is one of the emerging topics in service marketing. Data were collected through 412 questionnaires and analyzed by using structural equation modeling.Findings revealed that both outcome focus and moments of truth have a significant impact on loyalty while both service experience and peace of mind have insignificant impact on loyalty.In addition, it was found that 72% of the variation occurring in loyalty is explained by the model. The researcher also measured the net prompters score and gave explanation for the results. Furthermore, assessed customer’s priorities of broadband services. The researcher recommends that the findings of this research will extend to be considered in the future plans of Telecom Egypt Group. In addition, to be applied in the same industry especially in the developing countries that have the same circumstances with similar service settings. This research is a positive contribution in service marketing, particularly in telecom industry for making marketing more reliable as managers can relate investments in service experience directly with the performance closest to income for instance, repurchasing behavior, positive word of mouth and, commitment. Finally, the researcher recommends that future studies should consider this model to explain significant marketing outcomes such as share of wallet and ultimately profitability.

Keywords: broadband services, customer experience quality, loyalty, net promoters score

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Authors: Liaquat Ali, Khurshid Natasha

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Low resource countries are not usually equipped with the organizational tools to implement health care for chronic diseases, and thus, providing effective diabetes care in such countries is a challenging task. Diabetic Association of Bangladesh (BADAS in Bengali acronym) has created a stimulating example to meet this challenge. Starting its journey in 1956 with 39 patients in a small tin shed clinic BADAS, and its affiliated associations now operate 90 hospitals and health centres all over the country. Together, these facilities provide integrated health care to about 1.5 million registered diabetic patients which constitute about 20% of the estimated diabetic population in the country. BADAS has also become a pioneer in health manpower generation in Bangladesh. Along with its affiliates, it now runs 3 Medical Colleges (to generate graduate physicians), 2 Nursing Institutes, and 2 Postgraduate Institutes which conduct 25 postgraduate courses (under the University of Dhaka) in various basic, clinical and public health disciplines. BADAS gives great emphasis on research, which encompasses basic, clinical as well as public health areas. BADAS is an ideal example of public-private partnership in health as most of its infrastructure has been created through government support but it is almost self-reliant in managing its revenue budget which approached approximately 40 million US dollar during 2010. BADAS raises resources by providing high-quality services to the people, both diabetic and non-diabetic. At the same time, BADAS has developed a cross financing model, to support diabetic patients in general and poor diabetic patients (identified through a social welfare network) in particular, through redistribution of the resources. Along with financial sustainability BADAS ensure organizational sustainability through a process of decentralization, community ownership, and democratic management. Presently a large scale pilot project (named as a Health Care Development Project or HCDP) is under implementation under BADAS umbrella with an objective to transform the diabetes care model to a health care model in general. It is expected to create further evidence on providing sustainable (with social safety net) health care delivery for diabetes, and other chronic illnesses as an integral part of general health care delivery in a resource constrained setting.

Keywords: Bangladesh, self sustain, health care, constrain

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Authors: Lin Fu-Gong

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Background: As WHO announced, people with intellectual disability (ID) were vulnerable to mental health problems. And there were few custom-made mental health scales for those people to monitor their mental health. Those people with mental problems often accompanied worse prognosis and usually became to be a heavier burden on the caregivers. Purpose: In this study, we intend to develop a psychopathy scale as a practical tool for monitoring the mental health for people with ID living in institute. Methods: In this study, we adopt the Psychopathology Inventory for Mentally Retarded Adults developed by professor Matson with certified reliability and validity in Western countries with Dr. Matson’s agreement in advance. We first translated the inventory into Chinese validated version considering the domestic culture background in the past year. And the validity and reliability evaluation of mental health status using this inventory among the people with intellectual living in the institute were done. Results: The inventory includes eight psychiatric disorder scales as schizophrenic, affective, psychosexual, adjustment, anxiety, somatoform, personality disorders and inappropriate mental adjustment. Around 83% of 40 invested people, who randomly selected from the institute, were found to have at least one disorder who were recommended with medical help by two evaluators. Among the residents examined, somatoform disorder and inappropriate mental adjustment were most popular with 60% and 78% people respectively. Conclusion: The result showed the prevalence psychiatric disorders were relatively high among people with ID in institute and the mental problems need to be further cared and followed for their mental health. The results showed that the psychopathology inventory was a useful tool for institute caregiver, manager and for long-term care policy to the government. In the coming stage, we plan to extend the use of the valid Chinese version inventory among more different type institutes for people with ID to establish their dynamic mental health status including medical need, relapse and rehabilitation to promote their mental health.

Keywords: intellectual disability, psychiatric disorder, psychopathology inventory, mental health, the institute

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Authors: Anvi Kumar

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This paper explores the attitudes and awareness of multiple generations ranging from Boomers I to GenZ (i.e. from 1954 to 2012) towards mental health issues. A convenient sample of 191 people was gathered in India aged 11-77. 20 people each were considered from 5 generational cohorts, namely- Boomers I, Boomers II, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. The study tool comprised a survey that included demographic questions and the Community Attitude towards Mental Illness (CAMI) scale by Taylor & Dear (1981). Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and Bonferonni’s post-hoc analysis have been used to perform the analysis. The findings reveal that the level of kindness towards those who struggle with mental health varies through certain age groups. An overall sense of exclusion of those struggling with mental health is prevalent among all age groups. GenZ’s awareness of mental health issues is primarily via social media, as against the rest of the generations seeking it from close relatives and friends. The study’s findings suggest a need to investigate further the quality of mental health knowledge content and its consumption pattern. Understanding the dynamics of information sharing and the potential for biases requires further discovery.

Keywords: attitude, behaviour, mental illness, Gen Z, millennials, Gen Y, multi-generations, generational differences

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Authors: Chisom N. Nwaigwe, Blessing N. Egbulefu, Angela Uwakwem

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A study on Stress and its’ effect on the health of workers in Federal Medical Centres in Nigeria is presented. The aim is to evaluate how much stress related hazards health workers in our tertiary health institutions are exposed to and to create awareness and reduce the rate at which stress affect the health of the working population in Nigeria, using workers in Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia as a case study. The descriptive survey design was adopted with the aid of 100 questionnaires delivered to the respondents in order to obtain first-hand information. From the findings, the major causes of stress were identified as inadequate staffing, unresolved family problems and psychological/cultural factors like the return of a lactating mother to work after three months post-delivery. The effects of stress on the workers were identified as hypertension, poor job performances, depression, asthma, and peptic ulcers. The study recommended instituting counseling units for stress management, holding seminars on stress management and increasing the salary scale (remuneration) and proper roster planning as solutions to stress reduction in our hospitals. This study is important to management in planning staffing, roaster, and a rehabilitation programme for her staff.

Keywords: stress, causes, effects, workers

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Authors: Yasser Sanad, Thu Trang Dao

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Introduction: Implementing the One Health (OH) approach requires an integrated, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral methodology. OH is a key tool for developing and implementing programs and projects and includes developing ambitious policies that consider the common needs and benefits of human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health. OH helps humanity readjust its path to environmentally friendly and impartial sustainability. As co-leader of the Global Health Security Agenda’s Zoonotic Disease Action Package, Vietnam pioneered a strong OH approach to effectively address early waves of the COVID-19 outbreak in-country. Context and Aim: The repeated surges in COVID-19 in Vietnam challenged the capabilities of the national system and disclosed the gaps in multi-sectoral coordination and resilience. To address this, FHI 360 advocated for the standardization of the OH platform by government actors to increase the resiliency of the system during and post COVID-19. Methods: FHI 360 coordinated technical resources to develop and implement evidence-based OH policies, promoting high-level policy dialogue between the Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and the Environment, and policy research to inform developed policies and frameworks. Through discussions, an OH-building Partnership (OHP) was formed, linking climate change, the environment, and human and animal health. Findings: The OHP Framework created a favorable policy environment within and between sectors, as well as between governments and international health security partners. It also promoted strategic dialogue, resource mobilization, policy advocacy, and integration of international systems with National Steering Committees to ensure accountability and emphasize national ownership. Innovative contribution to policy, practice and/or research: OHP was an effective evidence-based research-to-policy platform linking to the National One Health Strategic Plan (2021-2025). Collectively they serve as a national framework for the implementation and monitoring of OH activities. Through the adoption of policies and plans, the risk of zoonotic pathogens, environmental agent spillover, and antimicrobial resistance can be minimized through strengthening multi-sectoral OH collaboration for health security.

Keywords: one health, national policies, health security, COVID-19, Vietnam

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Authors: Muhammad Fawad

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Monitoring and structural health assessment are the primary requirements for the performance evaluation of damaged bridges. This paper highlights the case study of a damaged Reinforced Concrete (RC) bridge structure where the Finite element (FE) modelling of this structure was done using the material properties extracted by the in-situ testing. Analysis was carried out to evaluate the bridge damage. On the basis of FE analysis results, this study proposes a proper Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system that will extend the life cycle of the bridge with minimal repair costs and reduced risk of failure. This system is based on the installation of three different types of sensors: Liquid Levelling sensors (LLS) for measurement of vertical displacement, Distributed Fiber Optic Sensors (DFOS) for crack monitoring, and Weigh in Motion (WIM) devices for monitoring of moving loads on the bridge.

Keywords: bridges, reinforced concrete, finite element method, structural health monitoring, sensors

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Authors: Arvind Lal, Chumphila Bhutia, Bidhan Pradhan, Retika Sharma, Monisha Limboo

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There have been many proposals to optimize the students’ management system in higher education. Managing student attendance during lecture periods have become a difficult challenge. Manual calculation of attendance produces errors and wastes a lot of time. This proposed system manages the student’s attendance in a web portal and the records of the attendance will be stored in a database. The attendance of the students will be further forwarded to their HOD (Head OF Department), class teacher and their parents/guardians. This system will use MySQL for the database. The template of the website will be built using HTML and CSS (Cascading StyleSheet) code. JavaScript will be added to improve the use of the system. Student’s details will be stored in the database. Also, it will contain the details of the teachers according to their subjects and the classes they teach. The system will be responsive which can be used in mobile phones. Also, the development of this project will be user-friendly by facilitating with clear and understandable tabs. Hence, this website will be beneficial to institutes.

Keywords: website, student's attendance, MySQL database, HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript

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Authors: E. Knisel, H. Rupprich, A. Heissel

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Health Literacy is defined as the degree to which people have the capacity to obtain and understand information to make health decisions. Illustrated are three levels of health literacy: (1) Functional literacy refers to the transmission of information about e. g. physical activity and nutrition; (2) interactive literacy implies the development of personal and social skills to adopt health-related behaviour and (3) critical health literacy indicates advanced cognitive skills connected with personal empowerment to critically analyse health information, to define self-determined goals and taking action in various situations accordingly. The achievement of the third level refers to self-determination and autonomy which should be outcomes of exercise programs for overweight children as health-related behaviour change will occur and persist if it is autonomously motivated. Method: We adopted a quasi-experimental design with group (autonomy supportive coaching, control) and session (pre-test, intervention, post-test, and follow-up-test). Overweight and obese children and adolescents at the age of 8-14 years (N=40) received a 6-month (20 sessions) exercise program with autonomy supportive coaching implemented by the coaches and sandwiched between pre-test and post-test. All participants (N=92) completed the German version of the Basic Needs Satisfaction Scale Sport and Exercise. Additionally, we assessed the engagement in the exercise program by the MVPA (Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity) and by the adherence and drop-out-rate. Results: Participants in the intervention group perceived their autonomy as moderate in the post-test and the follow-up-test. However, the psychological intervention failed to develop a high autonomy, as both groups show moderate perceived autonomy from the pre-test to the post-test. Participants in the intervention group were higher engaged in MVPA in the exercise program and they attend the program more regularly. Discussion: Young overweight and obese children and adolescents can acquire autonomy using autonomy supporting coaching. However, research identifying the extent they achieve critical health literacy is required to implement an autonomy-supportive coaching style into exercise programs for this target group.

Keywords: autonomy support, coaching, health literacy, health promotion

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