Abstract: More and more youth are doubtful of making a satisfactory labour market transition because of the present global economic instability and this is more so in Africa of the Sahara and metropolis like Douala. We use the explanatory sequential mixed method: in the first phase we randomly administered 610 questionnaires in the Douala metropolis respecting the population size of each division and its gender composition. We constructed the questionnaire using the desired values for living a comfortable life in Douala. In the second phase, we purposefully selected and interviewed 50 poor youth in order to explain in detail the initial quantitative results. We obtain the following result: The modal income class is 24,000-74,000 frs Central Africa Franc (CFA) and about 67% of the youth of the Douala metropolis earn below 75,000 frs CFA. They earn only 31.02% of the total income. About 85.7% earn below 126,000 frs CFA and about 92.14% earn below 177,000 frs CFA. The poverty-line is estimated at 177,000 frs CFA per month based on the desired predominant values in Douala and only about 9% of youth earn this sum, therefore, 91% of the youth are poor. We discovered that the salary a youth earns influences his level of poverty. Low income earners eat once or twice per day, rent low-standard houses of below 20,000 frs, are dependent and possess very limited durable goods, consult traditional doctors when they are sick, sleep and gamble during their leisure time. Intermediate income earners feed themselves either twice or thrice per day, eat healthy meals weekly, possess more durable goods, are independent, gamble and drink during their leisure time. High income earners feed themselves at least thrice per day, eat healthy food daily, inhabit high quality and expensive houses, are more stable by living longer in their neighbourhoods, like travelling and drinking during their leisure time. Unsalaried youth, are students, housewives or unemployed youth, they eat four times per day, take healthy meals daily, weekly, fortnightly or occasionally, are dependent or homeless depending on whether they are students or unemployed youth. The situation of the youth can be ameliorated through investing in the productive sector and promoting entrepreneurship as well as formalizing the informal sector.
Abstract: This paper presents wavelet based classification of various heart diseases. Electrocardiogram signals of different heart patients have been studied. Statistical natures of electrocardiogram signals for different heart diseases have been compared with the statistical nature of electrocardiograms for normal persons. Under this study four different heart diseases have been considered as follows: Myocardial Ischemia (MI), Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Arrhythmia and Sleep Apnea. Statistical nature of electrocardiograms for each case has been considered in terms of kurtosis values of two types of wavelet coefficients: approximate and detail. Nine wavelet decomposition levels have been considered in each case. Kurtosis corresponding to both approximate and detail coefficients has been considered for decomposition level one to decomposition level nine. Based on significant difference, few decomposition levels have been chosen and then used for classification.
Abstract: This study evaluates obstructive sleep apnea treatment through a case study involving a 67-year-old male driver who had a successful continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment at home but experienced difficulties with traveling and dental care. There are many cheap sleep apnea and snoring devices available, but there is little professional advice on what kind of devices can help. Professional drivers receive yearly specialized medical care follow-up.
Abstract: This study aimed to describe the operating model of obstructive sleep apnea. Due to the large number of patients, the role of nurses in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea was important. Pulmonary physicians met only a minority of the patients. The sleep apnea study in 2018 included about 800 patients, of which about 28% were normal and 180 patients were classified as severe (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] over 30). The operating model has proven to be workable and appropriate. The patients understand well that they may not be referred to a pulmonary doctor. However, specialized medical follow-up on professional drivers continues every year.
Abstract: Objective: To evaluate healthcare students’ wellness and to determine the relationship between wellness and other lifestyle-related behaviors including diet, exercise, sleep, stress, and tobacco and alcohol consumption. Material and Method: This descriptive cross-sectional study surveyed 984 students at the University of Health Sciences in Ankara, Turkey. Data were collected using a questionnaire that included questions on sociodemographic characteristics and a Turkish version of an established health and wellness measure. Results: The data revealed that 17.8% of the students smoke. There was no statistically significant difference between the participants' wellness scores and their smoking status. However, the student’s wellness was significantly associated with physical activity (p < 0.001), which, overall, was deemed as insufficient in this population. Statistically significant associations were also identified between participants’ wellness and their ability to cope with stress and regular sleep (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Healthcare students do not engage in sufficient physical activity and that this affects their overall wellness. Therefore, academic institutions should provide more opportunities for students to exert themselves physically through a diversity of inclusive activities. Such efforts, in addition to promoting healthy sleep and stress-coping practices, will greatly benefit students’ short- and long-term health and wellness.
Abstract: Introduction: There are several things affecting menstrual cycle, namely, nutritional status, diet, financial status of one’s household and exercises. The most commonly used parameter to calculate the fat in a human body is body mass index. Therefore, it is necessary to do research to prevent complications caused by menstrual disorder in the future. Design Study: This research is an observational analytical study with the cross-sectional-case control approach. Participants (n = 124; median age = 19.5 years ± SD 3.5) were classified into 2 groups: normal, NM (n = 62; BMI = 18-23 kg/m2) and obese, OB (n = 62; BMI = > 25 kg/m2). BMI was calculated from the equation; BMI = weight, kg/height, m2. Results: There were 79.10% from obese group who experienced menstrual cycle disorders (n=53, 79.10%; p value 0.00; OR 5.25) and 20.90% from normal BMI group with menstrual cycle disorders. There were several factors in this research that also influence the menstrual cycle disorders such as stress (44.78%; p value 0.00; OR 1.85), sleep disorders (25.37%; p value 0.00; OR 1.01), physical activities (25.37%; p value 0.00; OR 1.24) and diet (10.45%; p value 0.00; OR 1.07). Conclusion: There is a significant relation between body mass index (obese) and menstrual cycle disorders. However, BMI is not the only factor that affects the menstrual cycle disorders. There are several factors that also can affect menstrual cycle disorders, in this study we use stress, sleep disorders, physical activities and diet, in which none of them are dominant.
Abstract: Pediatric cancer patients experience multiple distressing, challenges, physical symptom such as fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, and balance impairment that continue years after treatment completion. In recent years, yoga is often used in children with cancer to cope with these symptoms. Yoga practice is defined as a unique physical activity that combines physical practice, breath work and mindfulness/meditation. Yoga is an increasingly popular mind-body practice also characterized as a mindfulness mode of exercise. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of yoga intervention of children with cancer. This article planned searching the literature in this field. It has been determined that individualized yoga is feasible and provides benefits for inpatient children, improves health-related quality of life, physical activity levels, physical fitness. After yoga program, children anxiety score decreases significantly. Additionally, individualized yoga is feasible for inpatient children receiving intensive chemotherapy. As a result, yoga is an alternative and complementary medicine that can be safely used in children with cancer.
Abstract: The cardiopulmonary signal monitoring, without the
usage of contact electrodes or any type of in-body sensors, has
several applications such as sleeping monitoring and continuous
monitoring of vital signals in bedridden patients. This system has
also applications in the vehicular environment to monitor the driver,
in order to avoid any possible accident in case of cardiac failure.
Thus, the bio-radar system proposed in this paper, can measure vital
signals accurately by using the Doppler effect principle that relates
the received signal properties with the distance change between the
radar antennas and the person’s chest-wall. Once the bio-radar aim
is to monitor subjects in real-time and during long periods of time,
it is impossible to guarantee the patient immobilization, hence their
random motion will interfere in the acquired signals. In this paper,
a mathematical model of the bio-radar is presented, as well as its
simulation in MATLAB. The used algorithm for breath rate extraction
is explained and a method for DC offsets removal based in a motion
detection system is proposed. Furthermore, experimental tests were
conducted with a view to prove that the unavoidable random motion
can be used to estimate the DC offsets accurately and thus remove
them successfully.
Abstract: Due to the heavy burden and pressure of caring for infants, an integrated automatic baby watching system based on IoT smart sensing and deep learning machine vision techniques is proposed in this paper. By monitoring infant body conditions such as heartbeat, breathing, body temperature, sleeping posture, as well as the surrounding conditions such as dangerous/sharp objects, light, noise, humidity and temperature, the proposed system can analyze and predict the obvious/potential dangerous conditions according to observed data and then adopt suitable actions in real time to protect the infant from harm. Thus, reducing the burden of the caregiver and improving safety efficiency of the caring work. The experimental results show that the proposed system works successfully for the infant care work and thus can be implemented in various life fields practically.
Abstract: In railways transition zone is present at the boundaries of zones with different stiffness. When a train rides from an embankment onto a stiff structure, such as a bridge, tunnel or culvert, an abrupt change in the support stiffness occurs possibly inducing differential settlements. This in long term can yield to the degradation of the tracks and foundations in the transition zones. A number of techniques have been proposed or implemented to provide gradual stiffness transition at the problem zones, such as methods to ensure gradually changing pad stiffness, application of long sleepers or installation of auxiliary rails in the transition zone. Aim of the research presented in this paper is to analyze the 3D and the dynamic effects induced by the passing train over an area where significant difference in the support stiffness exists. The effects were analyzed for different arrangements associated with certain differential settlement mitigation strategies of the transition zones.
Abstract: Elderly population in the world is increasing, and consequently, their nursing burden is also increasing. In such situations, monitoring and evaluating their daily action facilitates efficient nursing care. Especially, we focus on an unconscious activity during sleep, i.e. turnover. Monitoring turnover during sleep is essential to evaluate various conditions related to sleep. Bedsores are considered as one of the monitoring conditions. Changing patient’s posture every two hours is required for caregivers to prevent bedsore. Herein, we attempt to develop an unconstrained nocturnal monitoring system using a sensing device based on piezoelectric ceramics that can detect the vibrations owing to human body movement on the bed. In the proposed method, in order to construct a multi-points sensing, we placed two sensing devices under the right and left legs at the head-side of an ordinary bed. Using this equipment, when a subject lies on the bed, feature is calculated from the output voltages of the sensing devices. In order to evaluate our proposed method, we conducted an experiment with six healthy male subjects. Consequently, the period during which turnover occurs can be correctly classified as the turnover period with 100% accuracy.
Abstract: Obesity prevalence is increasing worldwide. University life is a challenging period especially for students who have to leave their familiar surroundings and settle in a new environment. The current study aimed to assess the diet and exercise habits and their association with body mass index (BMI) among nursing college students living at Kirkuk University residence. This was a descriptive study. A non-probability (purposive) sample of 101 students living in Kirkuk University residence was recruited during the period from the 15th November 2015 to the 5th May 2016. A questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of the study which consisted of four parts: the demographic characteristics of the study sample, eating habits, eating at college and healthy habits. The data were collected by interviewing the study sample and the weight and height were measured by a trained researcher at the college. Descriptive statistical analysis was undertaken. Data were prepared, organized and entered into the computer file; the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 20) was used for data analysis. A p value≤ 0.05 was accepted as statistical significant. A total of 63 (62.4%) of the sample were aged20-21with a mean age of 22.1 (SD±0.653). A third of the sample 38 (37.6%) were from level four at college, 67 (66.3%) were female and 46 45.5% of participants were from a middle socio-economic status. 14 (13.9%) of the study sample were overweight (BMI =25-29.9kg/m2) and 6 (5.9%) were obese (BMI≥30kg/m2) compared to 73 (72.3%) were of normal weight (BMI =18.5-24.9kg/m2). With regard to eating habits and exercise, 42 (41.6%) of the students rarely ate breakfast, 79 (78.2%) eat lunch at university residence, 77 (78.2%) of the students reported rarely doing exercise and 62 (61.4%) of them were sleeping for less than eight hours. No significant association was found between the variables age, sex, level of college and socio-economic status and BMI, while there was a significant association between eating lunch at university and BMI (p =0.03). No significant association was found between eating habits, healthy habits and BMI. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among the study sample was 19.8% with female students being more obese than males. Further studies are needed to identify BMI among residence students in other colleges and increasing the awareness of undergraduate students to healthy food habits.
Abstract: Sexual violation is any form of sexual violence, including rape, child molestation, incest, and similar forms of non-consensual sexual contact. Much of these acts of violation are perpetuated, but not entirely, by men against women and children. Moetolo is a Samoan term that is used to describe a person who sexually violates another while they or their family are asleep. This paper presents and discusses sexual abuse from a Samoan viewpoint. Insights are drawn from the authors’ counseling engagement with a Samoan sex offender as part of his probation review process. Relevant literature is also engaged to inform and provide interpretation to the therapeutic work carried out. This article seeks to contribute new understanding to patterned responses of some Samoan people to sexual abuse behaviors, and steps to remedy arising concerns with perpetrators seeking reintegration back into their communities.
Abstract: In this paper, the design of integrated sleep scheduling for relay nodes and user equipments under a Donor eNB (DeNB) in the mode of Time Division Duplex (TDD) in LTE-A is presented. The idea of virtual time is proposed to deal with the discontinuous pattern of the available radio resource in TDD, and based on the estimation of the traffic load, three power saving schemes in the top-down strategy are presented. Associated mechanisms in each scheme including calculation of the virtual subframe capacity, the algorithm of integrated sleep scheduling, and the mapping mechanisms for the backhaul link and the access link are presented in the paper. Simulation study shows the advantage of the proposed schemes in energy saving over the standard DRX scheme.
Abstract: Wireless sensor networks can be tiny, low cost, intelligent sensors connected with advanced communication systems. WSNs have pulled in significant consideration as a matter of fact that, industrial as well as medical solicitations employ these in monitoring targets, conservational observation, obstacle exposure, movement regulator etc. In these applications, sensor hubs are thickly sent in the unattended environment with little non-rechargeable batteries. This constraint requires energy-efficient systems to drag out the system lifetime. There are redundancies in data sent over the network. To overcome this, multiple virtual spine scheduling has been presented. Such networks problems are called Maximum Lifetime Backbone Scheduling (MLBS) problems. Though this sleep wake cycle reduces radio usage, improvement can be made in the path in which the group heads stay selected. Cluster head selection with emphasis on geometrical relation of the system will enhance the load sharing among the nodes. Also the data are analyzed to reduce redundant transmission. Multi-hop communication will facilitate lighter loads on the network.
Abstract: Background: There is a mutual relationship between sleep duration and obesity. We studied the relationship between sleep duration with obesity and dietary Intake. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 444 male students in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Science. Dietary intake was analyzed by food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Anthropometric indices were analyzed. Participants were being asked about their sleep duration and they were categorized into three groups according to their responses (less than six hours, between six and eight hours, and more than eight hours). Results: Macronutrient, micronutrient, and antioxidant intake did not show significant difference between three groups. Moreover, we did not observe any significant difference between anthropometric indices (weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and percentage body fat). Conclusions: Our study results show no significant relationship between sleep duration, nutrition pattern, and obesity. Further study is recommended.
Abstract: Wireless sensor networks (WSNs), are constantly in demand to process information more rapidly with less energy and area cost. Presently, processor based solutions have difficult to achieve high processing speed with low-power consumption. This paper presents a simple and accurate data processing scheme for low power wireless sensor node, based on reduced number of processing element (PE). The presented model provides a simple recursive structure (SRS) to process the sampled data in the wireless sensor environment and to reduce the power consumption in wireless sensor node. Based on this model, to process the incoming samples and produce a smaller amount of data sufficient to reconstruct the original signal. The ModelSim simulator used to simulate SRS structure. Functional simulation is carried out for the validation of the presented architecture. Xilinx Power Estimator (XPE) tool is used to measure the power consumption. The experimental results show the average power consumption of 91 mW; this is 42% improvement compared to the folded tree architecture.
Abstract: The mobile cloud computing (MCC) with wireless sensor networks (WSNs) technology gets more attraction by research scholars because its combines the sensors data gathering ability with the cloud data processing capacity. This approach overcomes the limitation of data storage capacity and computational ability of sensor nodes. Finally, the stored data are sent to the mobile users when the user sends the request. The most of the integrated sensor-cloud schemes fail to observe the following criteria: 1) The mobile users request the specific data to the cloud based on their present location. 2) Power consumption since most of them are equipped with non-rechargeable batteries. Mostly, the sensors are deployed in hazardous and remote areas. This paper focuses on above observations and introduces an approach known as collaborative location-based sleep scheduling (CLSS) scheme. Both awake and asleep status of each sensor node is dynamically devised by schedulers and the scheduling is done purely based on the of mobile users’ current location; in this manner, large amount of energy consumption is minimized at WSN. CLSS work depends on two different methods; CLSS1 scheme provides lower energy consumption and CLSS2 provides the scalability and robustness of the integrated WSN.
Abstract: Nursing is recognized as a stressful occupation and has indicated a probable high prevalence of distress. It is a helping profession requiring a high degree of commitment and involvement. If stress is intense, continuous and repeated, it becomes a negative phenomenon or "distress," which can lead to physical illness and psychological disorders. The frequency of common psychosomatic symptoms including sleeping problems, tension headache, chronic fatigue, palpitation etc. may be an indicator of nurses’ work-related stress level. Objectives of the study were to determine psychiatric morbidity among nurses and to find its association with selected variables. The study population consisted of 1040 registered nurses working in selected medical college hospitals and government hospitals of Udupi and Mangalore districts. Descriptive survey design was used to conduct the study. Subjects were selected by using purposive sampling. Data were gathered by administering background proforma and General Health questionnaire. Severe distress was experienced by 0.9% of nurses and 5.6% had some evidence of distress. Subjects who did not have any distress were 93.5%. No significant association between psychiatric morbidity in nurses and demographic variables was observed. With regard to work variables significant association is observed between psychiatric morbidity and total years of experience (z=10.67, p=0.03) and experience in current area of work (z=9.43, p=0.02).
Abstract: In the past 10 years, computers and cellphones have become one of the most important factors in our lives, and one which has a tremendously negative impact on our muscles. Muscle tension may be one of the causes of sleep disturbance. Tension in the shoulders and neck can affect blood circulation to the muscles. This research uses a dry needling treatment to reduce muscle tension in order to determine if the strain in the head and shoulders can influence sleep duration. All 38 patients taking part in the testing suffered from tinnitus and have been experiencing disturbed sleep for at least one to five years. Even after undergoing drug therapy treatments and traditional acupuncture therapies, their sleep disturbances have not shown any improvement. After five to 10 dry needling treatments, 24 of the patients reported an improvement in their sleep duration. Five patients considered themselves to be completely recovered, while 12 patients experienced no improvement. This study investigated these pathogenic and therapeutic problems. The standard treatment for sleep disturbances is drug-based therapy; the results of most standard treatments are unfortunately negative. The result of this clinical research has demonstrated that: The possible cause of sleep disturbance for a lot of patients is the result of tensions in the neck and shoulder muscles. Blood circulation to those muscles is also influenced by the duration of sleep. Hypertonic neck and shoulder muscles are considered to impact sleeping patterns and lead to disturbed sleep. Poor posture, often adopted while speaking on the phone, is one of the main causes of hypertonic neck and shoulder muscle problems. The dry needling treatment specifically focuses on the release of muscle tension.