Search results for: Apgar score

Authors: Gezahegn Gizaw

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The FDRE Tourism Training Institute organizes forums for debates, best practices exchange and focus group discussions to forge a sustainable and growing tourism sector while minimizing negative impacts on the environment, communities, and cultures. This study aimed at applying empirical research method to identify and quantify relative importance of success factors and individual engagement indicators that were identified in these forums. Response to the 12-question survey was collected from a total of 437 respondents in academic training institutes (212), business executive and employee (204) and non-academic government offices (21). Overall, capacity building was perceived as the most important driver of success for stakeholder engagement. Business executive and employee category rated capacity building as the most important driver of success (53%), followed by decision-making process (27%) and community participation (20%). Among educators and students, both capacity building and decision-making process were perceived as the most important factors (40% of respondents), whereas community participation was perceived as the most important success factor only by 20% of respondents. Individual engagement score in capacity building, decision-making process and community participation showed highest variability by educational level of participants (variance of 3.4% - 5.2%, p<0.001). Individual engagement score in capacity building was highly correlated to perceived benefit of training on improved efficiency, job security, higher customer satisfaction and self-esteem. On the other hand, individual engagement score in decision making process was highly correlated to its perceived benefit on lowering business costs, improving ability to meet the needs of a target market, job security, self-esteem and more teamwork. The study provides a set of recommendations that help educators, business executives and policy makers to maximize the individual and synergetic effect of training, decision making process on sustainability and growth of the tourism sector in Ethiopia.

Keywords: engagement score, driver of success, capacity building, tourism

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Authors: R. Hassan, J. Duncombe, E. Darke, A. Dias, K. Anderson, R. G. Middleton

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Background: NHS England has set itself the task of delivering a “Net Zero” National Health service by 2040. It is incumbent upon all health care practioners to work towards this goal. Orthopaedic surgeons are no exception. Distal radial fractures are the most common fractures sustained by the adult population. However, studiesare shortcoming on individual patient experience. The aim of this study was to assess the patient’ssatisfaction and outcomes with woodcast used in the conservative management of distal radius fractures. Methods: For all patients managed with woodcast in our unit, we undertook a structured questionnairethat included the Patient Rated Wrist Evaluation (PRWE) score, The EQ-5D-5L score, and the pain numerical score at the time of injury and six weeks after. Results: 30 patients were initially managed with woodcast.80% of patients tolerated woodcast for the full duration of their treatment. Of these, 20% didn’t tolerate woodcast and had their casts removed within 48 hours. Of the remaining, 79.1% were satisfied about woodcast comfort, 66% were very satisfied about woodcast weight, 70% were satisfied with temperature and sweatiness, 62.5% were very satisfied about the smell/odour, and 75% were satisfied about the level of support woodcast provided. During their treatment, 83.3% of patients rated their pain as five or less. Conclusion: For those who completed their treatment in woodcast, none required any further intervention or utilised the open appointment because of ongoing wrist problems. In conclusion, when woodcast is tolerated, patients’ satisfaction and outcome levels were good. However, we acknowledged 20% of patients in our series were not able to tolerate woodacst, Therefore, we suggest a comparison between the widely used synthetic plaster of Pariscasting and woodcast to come in order.

Keywords: distal radius fractures, ecological cast, sustainability, woodcast

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Authors: Todd Zhou, Mikhail Yurochkin

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Out-of-distribution (OOD) detection is receiving increasing amounts of attention in the machine learning research community, boosted by recent technologies, such as autonomous driving and image processing. This newly-burgeoning field has called for the need for more effective and efficient methods for out-of-distribution generalization methods. Without accessing the label information, deploying machine learning models to out-of-distribution domains becomes extremely challenging since it is impossible to evaluate model performance on unseen domains. To tackle this out-of-distribution detection difficulty, we designed a model selection pipeline algorithm and developed a model selection framework with different impurity and randomness measurements to evaluate and choose the best-performing models for out-of-distribution data. By exploring different randomness scores based on predicted probabilities, we adopted the out-of-distribution entropy and developed a custom-designed score, ”CombinedScore,” as the evaluation criterion. This proposed score was created by adding labeled source information into the judging space of the uncertainty entropy score using harmonic mean. Furthermore, the prediction bias was explored through the equality of opportunity violation measurement. We also improved machine learning model performance through model calibration. The effectiveness of the framework with the proposed evaluation criteria was validated on the Folktables American Community Survey (ACS) datasets.

Keywords: model selection, domain generalization, model fairness, randomness measurements, bias index

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Authors: Vladyslav Povoroznyuk, Anna Musiienko, Nataliia Dzerovych, Roksolana Povoroznyuk

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Osteoporosis and obesity are widespread diseases in people over 50 years associated with changes in structure and body composition. Нigher body mass index (BMI) values are associated with greater bone mineral density (BMD). However, trabecular bone score (TBS) indirectly explores bone quality, independently of BMD. The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between the BMD and TBS parameters in Ukrainian men suffering from obesity. We examined 396 men aged 40-89 years. Depending on their BMI all the subjects were divided into two groups: Group I – patients with obesity whose BMI was ≥ 30 kg/m² (n=129) and Group II – patients without obesity and BMI of < 30 kg/m² (n=267). The BMD of total body, lumbar spine L₁-L₄, femoral neck and forearm were measured by DXA (Prodigy, GEHC Lunar, Madison, WI, USA). The TBS of L₁- L₄ was assessed by means of TBS iNsight® software installed on DXA machine (product of Med-Imaps, Pessac, France). In general, obese men had a significantly higher BMD of lumbar spine L₁-L₄, femoral neck, total body and ultradistal forearm (p < 0.001) in comparison with men without obesity. The TBS of L₁-L₄ was significantly lower in obese men compared to non-obese ones (p < 0.001). BMD of lumbar spine L₁-L₄, femoral neck and total body significantly differ in men aged 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 80-89 years (p < 0.05). At the same time, in men aged 70-79 years, BMD of lumbar spine L₁-L₄ (p=0.46), femoral neck (p=0.18), total body (p=0.21), ultra-distal forearm (p=0.13), and TBS (p=0.07) did not significantly differ. A significant positive correlation between the fat mass and the BMD at different sites was observed. However, the correlation between the fat mass and TBS of L₁-L₄ was also significant, though negative.

Keywords: bone mineral density, trabecular bone score, obesity, men

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Authors: Gali Moritz, Jacqueline H. Becker, Jyoti V. Ankam, Kimberly Arcoleo, Matthew Wysocki, Roee Holtzer, Juan Wisnivesky, Paula J. Busse, Alex D. Federman, Sunit P. Jariwala, Jonathan M. Feldman

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Objective: Cognitive impairment (CI), whose incidence is greater among ethnic/racial minorities, is a significant barrier to asthma self-management (SM) behaviors and outcomes in older adults. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between CI, assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and asthma SM behaviors and outcomes in a sample of predominantly Black and Hispanic participants. Additionally, we evaluated whether using two different MoCA cutoff scores influenced the association between CI and study outcomes. Methods: Baseline cross-sectional data were extracted from a longitudinal study of older adults with asthma (N=165) age≥ 60 years and used for analysis. Cognition was assessed using the MoCA. Asthma control, asthma-related quality of life (QOL), inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) dosing, and ICS adherence were assessed using self-report. The inhaler technique was observed and rated. Results: Using established MoCA cutoff scores of 23 and 26 yielded 45% and 74% CI rates, respectively. CI, defined using the 23 cutoff score, was significantly associated with worse asthma control (p=.04) and worse ICS adherence (p=.01). With a cutoff score of 26, only asthma-related QOL was significantly associated with CI (p=.03). Race/ethnicity and education did not moderate the relationships between CI and asthma SM behaviors and outcomes. Conclusions: CI in older adults with asthma is associated with important clinical outcomes, but this relationship is influenced by the cutoff score used to define CI.

Keywords: cognition, respiratory, elderly, testing, adherence, validity

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Authors: Adriano Pinargote, Josue Mosquera, Eduardo Montero, Dalton Noboa, Jenny Venegas, Genesis Vasquez Escuela

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In the framework of Pre University learning of the Polytechnic School of the Litoral, Guayaquil, Ecuador, the methodology of Active Learning (Flipped Classroom) has been implemented for applicants who wish to obtain a quota within the university. To complement the Active Learning cycle, it has been proposed that the respective students influence the qualification of their work groups, for which a web platform has been created that allows them to evaluate the performance of their peers through a digital coevaluation that measures through statistical methods, the group and individual performance score that can reflect in numbers a weighting score corresponding to the grade of each student. Their feedback provided by the group help to improve the performance of the activities carried out in classes because the note reflects the commitment with their classmates shown in the class, within this analysis we will determine if this implementation directly influences the performance of the grades obtained by the student.

Keywords: active learning, coevaluation, flipped classroom, pre university

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Authors: Santi Gopal Maji, R. A. J. Syngkon

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The changing attitude of the corporate enterprises from maximizing economic benefit to corporate sustainability after the publication of Brundtland Report has attracted the interest of researchers to investigate the sustainability practices of firms and its impact on financial performance. To enrich the empirical literature in Asian context, this study examines the disclosure pattern of corporate sustainability and the influence of sustainability reporting on financial performance of firms from four Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, India and Indonesia) that are publishing sustainability report continuously from 2009 to 2016. The study has used content analysis technique based on Global Reporting Framework (3 and 3.1) reporting framework to compute the disclosure score of corporate sustainability and its components. While dichotomous coding system has been employed to compute overall quantitative disclosure score, a four-point scale has been used to access the quality of the disclosure. For analysing the disclosure pattern of corporate sustainability, box plot has been used. Further, Pearson chi-square test has been used to examine whether there is any difference in the proportion of disclosure between the countries. Finally, quantile regression model has been employed to examine the influence of corporate sustainability reporting on the difference locations of the conditional distribution of firm performance. The findings of the study indicate that Japan has occupied first position in terms of disclosure of sustainability information followed by South Korea and India. In case of Indonesia, the quality of disclosure score is considerably less as compared to other three countries. Further, the gap between the quality and quantity of disclosure score is comparatively less in Japan and South Korea as compared to India and Indonesia. The same is evident in respect of the components of sustainability. The results of quantile regression indicate that a positive impact of corporate sustainability becomes stronger at upper quantiles in case of Japan and South Korea. But the study fails to extricate any definite pattern on the impact of corporate sustainability disclosure on the financial performance of firms from Indonesia and India.

Keywords: corporate sustainability, quality and quantity of disclosure, content analysis, quantile regression, Asian countries

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Authors: Sohaib Raza, Parvez Mantry

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Frailty is a multi-system impairment associated with stressors such as age, disease, and invasive surgical procedures. This multi-system impairment can lead to increased post-transplant mortality and functional decline. Additionally, the prevalence and/or severity of frailty increases when patient pre-habilitation is unsatisfactory or lacking. We conducted a retrospective study to examine whether the COVID-19 Pandemic, and subsequent lack of patient access to pre-habilitation and physical therapy resources, led to an increase in the prevalence and severity of frailty, sarcopenia, and other comorbidities including diabetes, hypertension, and COPD. Secondarily, we examined the correlation between patient survival rate and liver frailty index as well as muscle wasting/sarcopenia. Data were analyzed in order to correlate variables associated with these parameters. Three hundred sixty-nine liver transplant candidates at Methodist Dallas Medical Center were administered pre-transplant frailty assessments, which consisted of chair stands, grip strength, and position balance time. A frailty score less than 3.2 indicated a robust condition, a score from 3.3 to 4.4 indicated a pre-frail condition, and a score greater than 4.5 indicated a frail condition. Greater than 50 percent of patients were found to have muscle wasting in the COVID-19 period (March 13, 2020 to February 28, 2022), an increase of 16.5 percent from the pre-COVID period (April 1st, 2018 to March 12, 2020). Additionally, sarcopenia was associated with a two-fold increase in patient mortality rate. Furthermore, high liver frailty index scores were associated with increased patient mortality. However, there was no significant difference in liver frailty index or number of comorbidities between patients in the two cohorts. Conclusion: The COVID-19 Pandemic exacerbated sarcopenia-related muscle wasting in liver transplant candidates, and patient survival rate was directly correlated with liver frailty index score and the presence of sarcopenia.

Keywords: frailty, sarcopenia, covid-19, patient mortality, pre-habilitation, liver transplant candidates

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Authors: Andre Kadandji, Mouhamadou Fall, Francois Koum Ekalle

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This paper aims to analyze the sound banking through the effects of the damage of the loan portfolio in the Cameroonian banking sector through the Z-score. The approach is to test the effect of other CAMEL indicators and macroeconomics indicators on the relationship between the non-performing loan and the soundness of Cameroonian banks. We use a dynamic panel data, made by 13 banks for the period 2010-2013. The analysis provides a model equations embedded in panel data. For the estimation, we use the generalized method of moments to understand the effects of macroeconomic and CAMEL type variables on the ability of Cameroonian banks to face a shock. We find that the management quality and macroeconomic variables neutralize the effects of the non-performing loan on the banks soundness.

Keywords: loan portfolio, sound banking, Z-score, dynamic panel

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Authors: Adian Fatchur Rochim, Abdul Muis, Riri Fitri Sari

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H-index has been widely used as a performance indicator of researchers around the world especially in Indonesia. The Government uses Scopus and Google scholar as indexing references in providing recognition and appreciation. However, those two indexing services yield to different H-index values. For that purpose, this paper evaluates the difference of the H-index from those services. Researchers indexed by Webometrics, are used as reference’s data in this paper. Currently, Webometrics only uses H-index from Google Scholar. This paper observed and compared corresponding researchers’ data from Scopus to get their H-index score. Subsequently, some researchers with huge differences in score are observed in more detail on their paper’s publisher. This paper shows that the H-index of researchers in Google Scholar is approximately 2.45 times of their Scopus H-Index. Most difference exists due to the existence of uncertified publishers, which is considered in Google Scholar but not in Scopus.

Keywords: Google Scholar, H-index, Scopus, performance indicator

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Authors: Pedro M. Abreu, Bruno R. Mendes

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The management of pharmacotherapy and the process of dispensing medicines is becoming critical in clinical pharmacy due to the increase of incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases, the complexity and customization of therapeutic regimens, the introduction of innovative and more expensive medicines, the unbalanced relation between expenditure and revenue as well as due to the lack of rationalization associated with medication use. For these reasons, co-payments emerged in Europe in the 70s and have been applied over the past few years in healthcare. Co-payments lead to a rationing and rationalization of user’s access under healthcare services and products, and simultaneously, to a qualification and improvement of the services and products for the end-user. This analysis, under hospital practices particularly and co-payment strategies in general, was carried out on all the European regions and identified four reference countries, that apply repeatedly this tool and with different approaches. The structure, content and adaptation of European co-payments were analyzed through 7 qualitative attributes and 19 performance indicators, and the results expressed in a scorecard, allowing to conclude that the German models (total score of 68,2% and 63,6% in both elected co-payments) can collect more compliance and effectiveness, the English models (total score of 50%) can be more accessible, and the French models (total score of 50%) can be more adequate to the socio-economic and legal framework. Other European models did not show the same quality and/or performance, so were not taken as a standard in the future design of co-payments strategies. In this sense, we can see in the co-payments a strategy not only to moderate the consumption of healthcare products and services, but especially to improve them, as well as a strategy to increment the value that the end-user assigns to these services and products, such as medicines.

Keywords: clinical pharmacy, co-payments, healthcare, medicines

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Authors: Adeep Hande, Shubham Agarwal

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This paper presents a study on identifying sexism in online texts using various state-of-the-art deep learning models based on BERT. We experimented with different feature sets and model architectures and evaluated their performance using precision, recall, F1 score, and accuracy metrics. We also explored the use of pseudolabeling technique to improve model performance. Our experiments show that the best-performing models were based on BERT, and their multilingual model achieved an F1 score of 0.83. Furthermore, the use of pseudolabeling significantly improved the performance of the BERT-based models, with the best results achieved using the pseudolabeling technique. Our findings suggest that BERT-based models with pseudolabeling hold great promise for identifying sexism in online texts with high accuracy.

Keywords: large language models, semi-supervised learning, sexism detection, data sparsity

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Authors: Nuralam Sam, Irawan Yusuf, Irfan Idris, Endi Adnan

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The most case in the shoulder in the the adult is the frozen shoulder. It make an uncomfortable sensation which disturbance daily activity. The studies of frozen shoulder are still limited. This study used a true experimental pre and post test design with a group design. The participant underwent dextrose prolotherapy injection in the rotator cuff, intraarticular glenohumeral joint, long head tendon biceps, and acromioclavicular joint injections with 15% dextrose, respectively, at week 2, week 4, and week 6. Participants were followed for 12 weeks. The specific biomarker MMP and TIMP, ROM, DASH score were measured at baseline, at week 6, and week 12. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis (repeated measurement ANOVA, Paired T-Test, and Wilcoxon) to determine the effect of the intervention. The result showed a significant decrease in The Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) score in prolo injection patients in each measurement week (p < 0.05). While the measurement of Range of Motion (ROM), each direction of shoulder motion showed a significant difference in average each week, from week 0 to week 6 (p <0.05).Dextrose prolotherapy injection results give a significant improvement in functional outcome of the shoulder joint, and ROMand did not show significant results in assessing the specific biomarker, MMP-1, and TIMP-1 in tissue repair. This study suggestion an alternative to the use of injection prolotherapy in Frozen shoulder patients, which has fewer side effects and better effectiveness than the use of corticosteroid injections.

Keywords: frozen shoulder, ROM, DASH score, prolotherapy, MMP-1, TIMP-1

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Authors: Mohammad Shokoohi-Yekta, Hamid Mirebrahim

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A body of research has been devoted to investigating the preferences of computer programmers. These researches used various questionnaires to find out what programming language is most popular among programmers. The problem with such research is that the programmers are usually familiar with only a few languages; therefore, disregarding a number of other languages which might have characteristics that match their preferences more closely. To overcome such a problem, we decided to investigate the preferences of programmers in regards to the characteristics of languages, which help us to discover the languages that include the most characteristics preferred by the users. We conducted a user study to measure the preferences of programmers on different characteristics of programming languages and then tried to compare existing languages in the areas of application, Web and system programming. Overall, the results of our study indicated that the Ruby programming language has the highest preference score in the two areas of application and Web, and C++ has the highest score in the system area. The results of our study can also help programming language designers know the characteristics they should consider when developing new programming languages in order to attract more programmers.

Keywords: object orientation, programming language design, programmers' preferences, characteristic

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Authors: Gaye Demi̇rtaş Adli

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Research: It was conducted to determine the factors affecting the fear of self-injection and self-pricking of fingers of diabetic individuals.The study was conducted as a cross-sectional, relation-seeking, and descriptive study. The study was conducted on 122 patients who had just started insulin therapy. Data were obtained through The Descriptive Patient Form, The Diabetic Self-Injection, and the Fear of Testing Questionnaire Form (D-FISQ). Descriptive statistical methods used in the evaluation of data are the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and the Spearman correlation. The factors affecting the scale scores were evaluated with multiple linear regression analysis. The value of P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Study group: 56.6% of the patients are male patients. Fear of self-injection (injection), fear of self-testing (test), and total fear (total) scores of women were found to be statistically higher than men (p<0.001). Age, gender, and pain experience were important variables that affected patients' fear of injections. With a one-unit increase in age, the injection fear score decreased by 0.13 points, and the mean injection fear score of women was 2.11 points higher than that of men. It was determined that the patient's age, gender, living with whom, and blood donation history were important variables affecting the fear of self-testing. It is seen that the fear test score decreases by 0.18 points with an increase in age by one unit, and the fear test scores of women compared to men are on average 3,358 points, the fear test scores of those living alone are 4,711 points compared to those living with family members, and the fear test scores of those who do not donate blood are 2,572 compared to those who donate blood score, it was determined that those with more pain experience were 3,156 points higher on average than those with less fear of injection. As a result, it was seen that the most important factors affecting the fear of insulin injection and finger punching in individuals with diabetes were age, gender, pain experience, living with whom, and blood donation history.

Keywords: diabetes, needle phobia, fear of injection, insulin injection

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Authors: Joe Collins, Matthias Rother

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Background: Oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used for the relief of joint pain during and post-exercise. However, oral NSAIDs increase the risk of systemic side effects, even in healthy individuals, and retard recovery from muscle soreness. TDT 064 (Flexiseq®), a topical formulation containing ultra-deformable drug-free Sequessome™ vesicles, has demonstrated equivalent efficacy to oral celecoxib in reducing osteoarthritis-associated joint pain and stiffness. TDT 064 does not cause NSAID-related adverse effects. We describe clinical study data and a case report on the effectiveness of TDT 064 in reducing joint pain after exercise. Methods: Participants with a pain score ≥3 (10-point scale) 12–16 hours post-exercise were randomized to receive TDT 064 plus oral placebo, TDT 064 plus oral ketoprofen, or ketoprofen in ultra-deformable phospholipid vesicles plus oral placebo. Results: In the 168 study participants, pain scores were significantly higher with oral ketoprofen plus TDT 064 than with TDT 064 plus placebo in the 7 days post-exercise (P = 0.0240) and recovery from muscle soreness was significantly longer (P = 0.0262). There was a low incidence of adverse events. These data are supported by clinical experience. A 24-year-old male professional rugby player suffered a traumatic lisfranc fracture in March 2014 and underwent operative reconstruction. He had no relevant medical history and was not receiving concomitant medications. He had undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in 2008. The patient reported restricted training due to pain (score 7/10), stiffness (score 9/10) and poor function, as well as pain when changing direction and running on consecutive days. In July 2014 he started using TDT 064 twice daily at the recommended dose. In November 2014 he noted reduced pain on running (score 2-3/10), decreased morning stiffness (score 4/10) and improved joint mobility and was able to return to competitive rugby without restrictions. No side effects of TDT 064 were reported. Conclusions: TDT 064 shows efficacy against exercise- and injury-induced joint pain, as well as that associated with osteoarthritis. It does not retard muscle soreness recovery after exercise compared with an oral NSAID, making it an alternative approach for the treatment of joint pain during and post-exercise.

Keywords: exercise, joint pain, TDT 064, phospholipid vesicles

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Authors: Spada Alessia, Fiore Mariantonietta, Lamonaca Emilia, Contò Francesco

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Bioeconomy can give the chance to face new global challenges and can move ahead the transition from a waste economy to an economy based on renewable resources and sustainable consumption. Air pollution is a grave issue in green challenges, mainly caused by anthropogenic factors. The agriculture sector is a great contributor to global greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions due to lacking efficient management of the resources involved and research policies. In particular, livestock sector contributes to emissions of GHGs, deforestation, and nutrient imbalances. More effective agricultural research systems and technologies are crucial in order to improve farm productivity but also to reduce the GHGs emissions. Using data from FAOSTAT statistics and concern the EU countries; the aim of this research is to evaluate the impact of ASTI R&D (Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators) on GHGs emissions for countries EU in 2015 by generalized propensity score procedures, estimating a dose-response function, also considering a set of covariates. Expected results show the existence of the influence of ASTI R&D on GHGs across EU countries. Implications are crucial: reducing GHGs emissions by means of R&D based policies and correlatively reaching eco-friendly management of required resources by means of green available practices could have a crucial role for fair intra-generational implications.

Keywords: agricultural research systems, dose-response function, generalized propensity score, GHG emissions

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Authors: Marcho Setiawan Handok, Samuel S. Lemma, Abdoulaye Fofana, Naseef Mansoor

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This paper is proposing a method to predict the outcome of the National Football League match with data from 2019 to 2022 and compare it with other popular models. The model uses open-source statistical data of each team, such as passing yards, rushing yards, fumbles lost, and scoring. Each statistical data has offensive and defensive. For instance, a data set of anticipated values for a specific matchup is created by comparing the offensive passing yards obtained by one team to the defensive passing yards given by the opposition. We evaluated the model’s performance by contrasting its result with those of established prediction algorithms. This research is using a neural network to predict the score of a National Football League match and then predict the winner of the game.

Keywords: game prediction, NFL, football, artificial neural network

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Authors: Patrick Mkhanyiseli Zimu

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A sedentary lifestyle and insufficient physical activity (PA) increases the risk of developing chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Knowing the PA levels and patterns of adolescents from different socio-economic backgrounds is important to direct programs at schools and in communities to prevent NCDs risk factors, which can have long-term effects on the health of the adolescents. The study aimed to investigate adolescent PA levels, patterns, and influencing factors (age, gender, socio-economic status). The 353 participants (203 females and 150 males) from eight low socio-economic (LSES) and middle socio-economic (MSES) public secondary schools completed a Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A). The PAQ-A is a seven day recall instrument that assesses general estimates of PA levels and patterns for high school learners in Grades 9-12 and provides a summary of physical activity scores derived from seven items, each scored on a 5-point Likert scale. The seven items were PA during spare time and five domains (during physical education, lunch break, after school, in the evenings, on the weekend) and selecting one statement that described participant’s physical activity behaviour. The PA Levels (x̄=2.61, SD=.74) were below the international PA cut-off points of x̄=2.75. Physical education (PE) showed the highest PA score (x̄=3.05, SD=1.21) and lunch break showed the lowest PA score (x̄=2.09, SD=1.14). Positive correlations occurred between PA levels and SES (r=.122, p=0.022), and PA and gender (r=.223, p= 0.0001). LSES participant’s PA score was significantly lower (x̄=2.52; SD=.73) than those from MSES (x̄=2.70; SD=.74, p=0.022). Adolescents from low and middle socio-economic status communities are not sufficiently active. Their average PA score of 2.61 is below the PAQ-A global criterion referenced cut-off points of 2.75, which is considered sufficiently physically active for adolescents to ensure both short- and long-term health benefits. As adolescents are not sufficiently active, collaborative school and community PA programs need to be implemented to supplement physical education in order to prevent short- and long-term health problems.

Keywords: adolescents, health promotion, physical activity, physical education

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Authors: Yuan-lin Liu, Ye Li, Tian Xia

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There are some shortcomings in Chinese existing taxi management modes. This paper suggests to establish the third-party comprehensive information management platform and put forward an evaluation model based on credit. Four indicators are used to evaluate the drivers’ credit, they are passengers’ evaluation score, driving behavior evaluation, drivers’ average bad record number, and personal credit score. A weighted clustering method is used to achieve credit level evaluation for taxi drivers. The management of taxi industry is based on the credit level, while the grade of the drivers is accorded to their credit rating. Credit rating determines the cost, income levels, the market access, useful period of license and the level of wage and bonus, as well as violation fine. These methods can make the credit evaluation effective. In conclusion, more credit data will help to set up a more accurate and detailed classification standard library.

Keywords: credit, mobile internet, e-hailing taxi, management mode, weighted cluster

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Authors: Akram Sadat Jafari Roodbandi, Parisa Kahani, Fatollah Rahimi Bafrani, Ali Dehghan, Nava Seyedi, Vafa Feyzi, Zohreh Forozanfar

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Introduction: Movement function is considered as the ability to produce and maintain balance, stability, and movement throughout the movement chain. Having a score of 14 and above on 7 sub-tests in the functional movement screening (FMS) test shows agility and optimal movement performance. On the other hand, the person's body is an important factor in physical fitness and optimal movement performance. The aim of this study was to identify effective anthropometric dimensions in increasing motor function. Methods: This study was a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study using simple random sampling. FMS test and 25 anthropometric dimensions and subcutaneous in five body regions measured in 139 healthy students of Bam University of Medical Sciences. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software and univariate tests and linear regressions at a significance level of 0.05. Results: 139 students were enrolled in the study, 51.1% (71 subjects) and the rest were female. The mean and standard deviation of age, weight, height, and arm subcutaneous fat were 21.5 ± 1.45, 12.6 ± 64.3, 168.7 ± 9.8, 15.3 ± 7, respectively. 17 subjects (12.2%) of the participants in the study have a score of less than 14, and the rest were above 14. Using regression analysis, it was found that exercise and arm subcutaneous fat are predictive variables associated with obtaining a high score in the FMS test. Conclusion: Exercise and weight loss are effective factors for increasing the movement performance of individuals, and this factor is independent of the size of other physical dimensions.

Keywords: functional movement, screening test, anthropometry, ergonomics

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Authors: Trisha Malhotra

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Sentiment analysis is a recent field of study that computationally assesses the emotional nature of a body of text. To assess its test-validity, sentiment analysis was carried out on the emotional corpus of text from a personal 15-day mood diary. Self-reported mood scores varied more or less accurately with daily mood evaluation score given by the software. On further assessment, it was found that while sentiment analysis was good at assessing ‘global’ mood, it was not able to ‘locally’ identify and differentially score synonyms of various emotional words. It is further critiqued for treating the intensity of an emotion as universal across cultures. Finally, the software is shown not to account for emotional complexity in sentences by treating emotions as strictly positive or negative. Hence, it is posited that a better output could be two (positive and negative) affect scores for the same body of text.

Keywords: analysis, data, diary, emotions, mood, sentiment

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Authors: Asma Ammar

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Being different in theory and practice from their conventional counterparts, this research aims to assess the performance of Islamic banks beyond the financial performance by emphasizing their ethical and social identity based on the higher purposes of Islamic law, namely Maqasid al-Shariah. Using Imam al-Ghazali’s theory of Maqasid al-Shariah and Sekaran’s (2000) method, we develop a Maqasid-based index including the five objectives of Shariah (preservation of life, religion, intellect, posterity, and wealth). Our sample covers 9 Islamic banks considered among the largest Islamic banks in the world. For the five years of study (2017-2021), our results reveal that the highest score is performed by Bank Muamalat while the least score is given to Dubai Islamic Bank. The overall Maqasid performance of the sample is unimpressive, indicating that there is a lack of achievement in Maqasid al-Shariah performance of Islamic banks. Consequently, serious measures should be taken by Islamic banks to improve their Maqasid performance and thus contribute effectively to the socio-economic development of the countries in which they operate.

Keywords: Maqasid al-Shariah, Maqasid al-Shariah index, Islamic banks, performance assessment

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Authors: Sam Khozama, Ali M. Mayya

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Breast cancer is one of the most common types in women. Early prediction of breast cancer helps physicians detect cancer in its early stages. Big cancer data needs a very powerful tool to analyze and extract predictions. Machine learning and deep learning are two of the most efficient tools for predicting cancer based on textual data. In this study, we developed a fusion model of two machine learning and deep learning models. To obtain the final prediction, Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) and ensemble learning with hyper parameters optimization are used, and score-level fusion is used. Experiments are done on the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) dataset after balancing and grouping the class categories. Five different training scenarios are used, and the tests show that the designed fusion model improved the performance by 3.3% compared to the individual models.

Keywords: machine learning, deep learning, cancer prediction, breast cancer, LSTM, fusion

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Authors: Samad Lotfollahzadeh

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Escherichia coli (E.coli) is the most isolated bacteria from blood circulation of septicemic calves. Given the prevalence of septicemia in animals and its economic importance in veterinary practice, better understanding of changes in clinical signs following disease, may contribute to early detection of the disorder. The present study has been carried out to detect changes of clinical signs in induced sepsis in calves with E.coli. Colisepticemia has been induced in 10 twenty-day old healthy Holstein- Frisian calves with intravenous injection of 1.5 X 109 colony forming units (cfu) of O111: H8 strain of E.coli. Clinical signs including rectal temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, shock, appetite, sucking reflex, feces consistency, general behavior, dehydration and standing ability were recorded in experimental calves during 24 hours after induction of colisepticemia. Blood culture was also carried out from calves four times during the experiment. ANOVA with repeated measure is used to see changes of calves’ clinical signs to experimental colisepticemia, and values of P≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Mean values of rectal temperature and heart rate as well as median values of respiratory rate, appetite, suckling reflex, standing ability and feces consistency of experimental calves increased significantly during the study (P<0.05). In the present study, median value of shock score was not significantly increased in experimental calves (P> 0.05). The results of present study showed that total score of clinical signs in calves with experimental colisepticemia increased significantly, although the score of some clinical signs such as shock did not change significantly.

Keywords: calves, clinical signs scoring, E. coli O111:H8, experimental colisepticemia

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Authors: Fiza Azam, Sahar Zia, Fatima Nazir Ali, Aysha Hanif

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Health is a fundamental human right, and a healthy population is essential for the prosperity and sustainable development of any country. This research is aligned with United Nations' Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being. It aims to assess and rank key health indicators across selected South Asian countries. The study focuses on urban areas in these nations, drawing on data from the World Bank’s primary collection of relevant indicators and specific health determinants outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO). These determinants include the physical environment, income and social status, education, social support networks, and personal behavior. To evaluate disparities in urban health across the region, the Urban Health Index (UHI) developed by Georgia State University, USA, is employed, followed by a mapping technique including visualization through a choropleth map to identify the pattern of spatial variations in our key variables, such as socioeconomic indicators across the region. This index serves as a comparative tool to rank health outcomes, where higher UHI values indicate better health conditions. The findings reveal notable disparities across South Asia. Afghanistan, with the lowest UHI score of 0.0423, ranks first, indicating the least favorable urban health conditions. Pakistan follows with a UHI score of 0.1190. Bangladesh and India rank third and fourth with UHI scores of 0.3099 and 0.3250, respectively. The Maldives and Sri Lanka rank fifth and sixth, with UHI scores of 0.3432 and 0.3495. Bhutan is ranked seventh with a score of 0.4750. Nepal, with a UHI score of 0.5012, ranks eighth, indicating the best urban health conditions among the countries studied. The findings of this research are crucial for addressing health disparities, improving living conditions, and enhancing social well-being in the region. These insights can inform policy measures aimed at reducing inequalities and promoting sustainable urban health in South Asia.

Keywords: urban health index, health disparities, sustainable development, South Asia, World Health Organization, United Nations, living conditions, public health

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Authors: Dimiter M. Dimitrov, Abdullah Sadaawi

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The National Assessment for Schools (NAFS) in Saudi Arabia consists of standardized tests in Mathematics, Reading, and Science for school grade levels 3, 6, and 9. One main goal is to classify students into four categories of NAFS performance (minimal, basic, proficient, and advanced) by schools and the entire national sample. The NAFS scoring and equating is performed on a bounded scale (D-scale: ranging from 0 to 1) in the framework of the recently developed “D-scoring method of measurement.” The specificity of the NAFS measurement framework and data complexity presented both challenges and opportunities to (a) the estimation of score reliability for schools, (b) setting cut-scores for the classification of students into categories of performance, and (c) generating plausible values for distributions of student performance on the D-scale. The estimation of score reliability at the school level was performed in the framework of generalizability theory (GT), with students “nested” within schools and test items “nested” within test forms. The GT design was executed via a multilevel modeling syntax code in R. Cut-scores (on the D-scale) for the classification of students into performance categories was derived via a recently developed method of standard setting, referred to as “Response Vector for Mastery” (RVM) method. For each school, the classification of students into categories of NAFS performance was based on distributions of plausible values for the students’ scores on NAFS tests by grade level (3, 6, and 9) and subject (Mathematics, Reading, and Science). Plausible values (on the D-scale) for each individual student were generated via random selection from a statistical logit-normal distribution with parameters derived from the student’s D-score and its conditional standard error, SE(D). All procedures related to D-scoring, equating, generating plausible values, and classification of students into performance levels were executed via a computer program in R developed for the purpose of NAFS data analysis.

Keywords: large-scale assessment, reliability, generalizability theory, plausible values

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Authors: Ayse Inel Manav, Saliha Bozdogan Yesilot, Pinar Yesil Demirci, Gursel Oztunc

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Introduction: This study was conducted with a view to evaluating cognitive function level, depression, and quality of life of elderly people living in a nursing home. Methods: This study, which is cross-sectional and descriptive in nature, was conducted in the Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for the Elderly in Adana/Turkey between 1st of May and 1st of August, 2016. The participants included 118 elderly people who were chosen using simple random sampling method. The data were collected using the Personal Information Form, the Standardized Mini Mental State Exam (SMMSE), the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-OLD (WHOQOL-OLD) module. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22 (IBM, SPSS, Turkey) program. Results: Of all the participants, 36,4% (n=43) were female, 63,6% (n=75) were male, and average age was 74,08 ± 8,23 years. The participants’ SMMSE mean score was found 20,37 ± 7,08, GDS mean score was 14,92 ± 4,29, and WHOQOL-OLD module mean score was 69,76 ± 11,54. There was a negative, significant relationship between SMMSE and GDS scores, a positive relationship between WHOQOL-OLD module total scores and a negative, significant relationship between GDS scores and WHOQOL-OLD module total scores. Discussıon and Conclusion: Results showed that more than half of the elderly people living in the nursing home experienced cognitive deterioration and depression; and cognitive state, depression, and quality of life were found to be significantly related to each other.

Keywords: depression, cognitive function level, quality of life

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Authors: Siti Sabariah Buhari, Ruzita Abdul Talib, Poh Bee Koon

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This study aims to develop and evaluate an intervention to improve eating habits, active lifestyle and weight status of overweight and obese children in Negeri Sembilan. The H.E.B.A.T! Program involved children, parents, and school and focused on behaviour and environment modification to achieve its goal. The intervention consists of H.E.B.A.T! Camp, parent’s workshop and school-based activities. A total of 21 children from intervention school and 22 children from control school who had BMI for age Z-score ≥ +1SD participated in the study. Mean age of subjects was 10.8 ± 0.3 years old. Four phases were included in the development of the intervention. Evaluation of intervention was conducted through process, impact and outcome evaluation. Process evaluation found that intervention program was implemented successfully with minimal modification and without having any technical problems. Impact and outcome evaluation was assessed based on dietary intake, average step counts, BMI for age z-score, body fat percentage and waist circumference at pre-intervention (T0), post-intervention 1 (T1) and post-intervention 2 (T2). There was significant reduction in energy (14.8%) and fat (21.9%) intakes (at p < 0.05) at post-intervention 1 (T1) in intervention group. By controlling for sex as covariate, there was significant intervention effect for average step counts, BMI for age z-score and waist circumference (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the intervention made an impact on positive behavioural intentions and improves weight status of the children. It is expected that the HEBAT! Program could be adopted and implemented by the government and private sector as well as policy-makers in formulating childhood obesity intervention.

Keywords: childhood obesity, diet, obesity intervention, physical activity

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Authors: Usman Bawa

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Macro-invertebrates have been used to monitor organic pollution in rivers and streams. Several biotic indices based on macro-invertebrates have been developed over the years including the Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP). A new biotic index, the Gammarus:Asellus ratio has been recently proposed as an index of organic pollution. This study tested the validity of the Gammarus:Asellus ratio as an index of organic pollution, by examining the relationship between the Gammarus:Asellus ratio and physical-chemical parameters, and other biotic indices such as BMWP and, Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) from lakes and streams at Markeaton Park, Allestree Park, and Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. Macro invertebrates were sampled using the standard five-minute kick sampling techniques physical and chemical environmental variables were obtained based on standard sampling techniques. Eighteen sites were sampled, six sites from Markeaton Park (three sites across the stream and three sites across the lake). Six sites each were also sampled from Allestree Park and Kedleston Hall lakes. The Gammarus:Asellus ratio showed an opposite significant positive correlations with parameters indicative of organic pollution such as the level of nitrates, phosphates, and calcium and also revealed a negatively significant correlations with other biotic indices (BMWP/ASPT). The BMWP score correlated positively significantly with some water quality parameters such as dissolved oxygen and flow rate, but revealed no correlations with other chemical environmental variables. The BMWP score was significantly higher in the stream than the lake in Markeaton Park, also The ASPT scores appear to be significantly higher in the upper Lakes than the middle and lower lakes. This study has further strengthened the use of BMWP/ASPT score as an index of organic pollution. But, additional application is required to validate the use of Gammarus:Asellus as a rapid bio monitoring tool.

Keywords: Asellus, biotic index, Gammarus, macro invertebrates, organic pollution

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