Balance Issues Research Articles

Ecosystem Service Value Response to Different Irrigation and Drainage Practices in a Land Development Project in the Yellow River Delta

The potential for development of saline land is enormous; the concept has recently attracted great scientific attention regarding its use and development. It is especially crucial to consider the issue of ecological balance when carrying out large-scale land remediation in the Yellow River Delta region since the saline land there is rich in resources and is also typically an ecologically delicate area. In order to quantitatively estimate the value of ecosystem services under various irrigation and drainage modes, this paper uses an undeveloped land development project in the Yellow River Delta as an example, simulates five different irrigation and drainage modes, and combines the market value method and the calculation method of factor equivalents. A quantitative estimation of the ecosystem service value under different irrigation and drainage modes is carried out, exploring the impact of different irrigation and drainage modes on the ecosystem from the perspective of ecosystem service value. The findings revealed that while the “Pipeline irrigation + concealed pipe” irrigation and drainage model increased the area of cultivated land by 4.04 km2, the overall ecological value increased by only Renminbi (RMB) 6.707 × 106. It is clear that only an increase in the area of cultivated land will not increase the ecological value as a whole. Through comparison, it is found that the ecological value of ‘Pipeline irrigation + open ditch’ irrigation and drainage pattern increases the most, which is RMB 28.405 × 106. It can increase the area of cultivated land and protect the ecological benefits to a greater extent, which can better meet the requirements of the current comprehensive development. The study’s findings can serve as a foundation for the sustainable development of the area and the scientific selection of development in ecologically vulnerable coastal areas.

Distributed secure sampled-data control for distributed generators and energy storage systems in microgrids under abnormal deception attacks

In this work, we investigate the active power sharing (APS) and energy balancing (EB) issues between distributed generators (DGs) and energy storage systems (ESSs) in microgrids with abnormal deception attacks. Firstly, the mathematical model of APS and EB issues under abnormal deception attacks is established, in which attack signals can tamper with the transmitted information and change appropriately with the system’s current state. Next, a distributed secure memory sampled-data controller is designed for APS and EB problems, and the corresponding solving algorithm is given. Furthermore, in order to reduce the conservatism of the results, an improved delay-dependent looped Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional is introduced by adding the combination term of time delay and free matrix. Meanwhile, the high dimensional linear matrix inequality (LMI) in the proposed control algorithm is decomposed into several low dimensional LMIs based on the decoupled method. Finally, a simulation experiment in microgrids is employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the designed control scheme.

The role of current school leadership models in promoting African values: The impact on Botswana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe school leadership systems

The heterogeneous nature of African society has led to increased demand for transformational leaders rooted in African values and ideology necessary for Africans to thrive in the 21st Century. This study explored the role of post-colonial school leadership (SL) models in instilling African values among learners. The original African meaning and purpose of leadership and the extent to which African school leadership systems instil African leadership values in learners were re-considered. The study adopted a qualitative research approach underpinned by interpretivism. It compared the perspectives of fifteen (15) participants purposively selected from three former British colonies namely, Botswana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Interviews were used to collect data that were analysed thematically and presented using verbal utterances. Findings showed that leadership in the traditional African context was characterized by humanism, collectivism and moral virtues. Leaders guided their followers to achieve their goals for the effectiveness of the communities’ excellence and integrity. It was established that, in addition to school leadership training which was rampant in pre-colonial Botswana, both Zimbabwe and Botswana gave the male and the female genders a shot at leadership while Nigeria paid lip service to gender balance issues. In the three countries, the current SL systems do not have properly designed and coordinated curricular models that develop African leadership values such as Ubuntu and Botho. This study underlines the need to strike a balance between Eurocentrism and Africanism in the current SL systems in Africa.

Audio-vestibular Concussion Symptoms And Symptom Resolution Time In Helmeted And Non-helmeted NCAA Sports: 2014/15 - 2018/19

PURPOSE: Audio-vestibular symptoms (AV symptom) are commonly endorsed following a sport-related concussion (SRC) and are associated with longer symptom resolution time (SRT). Despite changes in helmet designs that have resulted in reduced SRC rates, it is not clear if or how they may influence AV symptom expression and subsequent SRT. Thus, we examined AV symptom endorsement and SRT following AV symptom endorsement in helmeted and non-helmeted National Collegiate Athletic Sports (NCAA) sports. METHODS: SRCs reported to the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program by athletic trainers between 2014/15-2018/19 were analyzed. Helmeted sports (HELM) included Men’s Football/Lacrosse, Men’s/Women’s Ice Hockey; and Non-helmeted sports (NoHELM) included Men’s/Women’s Basketball/Cross-Country/Tennis/Track & Field/Soccer, Women’s Gymnastics/Volleyball. Sensitivity to noise, balance issues, tinnitus, disorientation, and dizziness were classified as AV symptoms. Summary statistics (frequencies (%s), medians, interquartile ranges) were used to describe the sample. Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to detect group differences in AV symptom endorsement, and SRT (in SRCs with ≥1 AV symptom) between HELM and NoHELM SRCs. Ordinal logistic regression models identified differential odds of greater AV symptom count, and longer SRT (categorized as: ≤14, 15-28, >28 days) between SRCs in HELM and NoHELM sports (adjusting for AV symptom count). All models were parametrized to adjust for covariate (sex, class year, event type, and injury mechanism) effects, and effect estimates with 95% CIs excluding 1.0 were deemed statistically significant. RESULTS: Overall, 1,084 SRCs were analyzed, and most were in HELM (67%). Dizziness was the most prevalent AV symptom endorsed in both HELM (60%) and NoHELM (63%) SRCs. We observed no group differences in AV symptom count or SRT between NoHELM and HELM SRCs. SRCs in HELM (compared to NoHELM) were not associated with odds of greater counts of AV symptoms. SRCs (with ≥1 AV symptom) in HELM (compared to NoHELM) were associated with higher odds of longer SRT (ORAdj. = 2.1, 95%CI = 1.2-3.9). CONCLUSIONS: The number of AV symptoms endorsed following a SRC was not influenced by sport type (HELM, NoHELM). Adjusting for AV symptoms endorsed, athletes that sustained SRCs in HELM had higher odds of longer SRT.

Evaluation Of Valid VO2max Criteria For Graded Exercise Testing In Cancer Survivors

INTRO: Using a metabolic cart (met cart) to obtain an individual's maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) is considered the gold standard method of measurement. An accurate VO2max value is important in every population for individualized exercise prescriptions (ExRx), but specifically within the cancer population due to treatment status. Certain criteria must be met for a value to be considered a true VO2max. Utilizing gas analysis to track the changing respiratory exchange ratio (RER) and achieving >1.10 is the best criteria to determine if true max was obtained. Other maximal criteria such as 85% of heart rate max (HR) using the Tanaka formula and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) of >7 on the Modified Borg Scale also have the potential to be used as maximal criteria eliminating the need for a met cart. It is unknown if HR and RPE can be used independently as valid termination criteria in the cancer population during VO2max assessments. PURPOSE: To evaluate the frequency of achieving VO2max as determined by RER and alternate maximal criteria using HR and RER in a sample of cancer survivors. METHODS: Forty cancer survivors participated in the study. Subjects performed one GXT per week for three weeks using gas analysis. RER, HR, and RPE values were recorded. A total of 111 GXTs were used for data analysis. A Cochran’s Q test was used to determine if there were differences in the frequency of successful achievement of RER, HR, and RPE maximal criteria during the GXTs. RESULTS: Maximal criteria was successfully met in 95, 89, and 102 GXTs when evaluating RER, HR, and RPE, respectively. No significant differences occurred in the achievement of max between RER, HR, and RPE criteria (p < 0.061). CONCLUSION: The findings from this data set suggest that HR and RPE may be valid and suitable criteria for termination of a GXT if obtaining an RER value is not feasible or clinically practical. Cancer survivors experience toxicities such as skin irritation, muscular impairments, balance issues, peripheral neuropathy, and/or cancer related fatigue, making use of a met cart and mask potential impediments to maximal performance. Elimination of the met cart may allow the individual to advance further into a GXT leading to more accurate VO2max values and thus more accurate ExRx in the cancer population.

Three-Phase Unified Power Quality Conditioner Based on High-Frequency Link

In this article, a unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) that does not employ line-frequency transformers (LFTs) is proposed. In the proposed UPQC, the dc links of the series H-bridge cells are fed from the dc link of the three-phase shunt cell with a unidirectional dc–dc converter isolated with a multiwinding high-frequency transformer (HFT). The three-phase shunt cell is able to compensate reactive power, current harmonics, and unbalances from the load, while the H-bridge series cells compensate voltage disturbances such as sags and swells. A control strategy of the dc-link voltages of the series cells is proposed to allow the compensation of unbalanced disturbances, and strategies to extend the operation of the converter to also compensate voltage swells are discussed. Compared with the UPQC topologies available in the literature, the proposed one does not require LFTs and does not present the operational problems of the transformerless solutions such as limitations of series compensation and balancing issues. Also, it requires fewer controlled switches than the HFT-based solutions in the literature and does not require control in the dc–dc converter. Converter model is presented as well as pulsewidth modulation, control strategy, and experimental results for validation.

Mobilization With Movement as Therapy to Reduce Knee Pain and Increase Knee Range of Motion.

Knee pain and limited knee range of motion (ROM) are among the most common conditions found in individuals who report lower body health-related issues. Factors such as weight gain, lack of mobility, balance issues, and pain can lead to a more sedentary lifestyle, which, in turn, causes knee stiffness or knee limited ROM. As a result, the patient will be at higher risk of osteoporosis, patellofemoral pain syndrome, reduced quadriceps strength, heart disease, and even depression. Is mobilization with movement (MWM) an effective method of treatment for reducing knee pain and increasing knee ROM in individuals being treated for knee pain and limited knee ROM? (1)The literature searched were peer-reviewed articles that investigated the effects of MWM as a therapy to reduce knee pain and increase knee ROM. (2)MWM was shown to be an effective treatment for reducing knee pain and increasing knee ROM. There is conclusive evidence that MWM is an effective method of treatment for reducing knee pain and increasing knee ROM in individuals who experience knee pain and knee limited ROM. Grade ("A") evidence exists showing that MWM therapy results are greater when performed either alone or in combination with a current conventional therapy for decreasing knee pain and increasing knee ROM.

Gender Parity, False Starts, and Promising Practices in the Paralympic Movement

Although women have been a part of the Paralympic Movement since its inauguration, they remain underrepresented in almost all aspects of parasport. Noting these gender-based discrepancies, the International Paralympic Committee and several National Paralympic Committees have made commitments to address the issue of gender balance across the movement. Guided theoretically by feminist and disability sport scholarship, this article explores the various initiatives and strategies implemented by the International Paralympic Committee and National Paralympic Committees to address the issue of gender parity. Through 29 qualitative interviews with Paralympic athletes, organizers, academics, and journalists, our study illustrates that initiatives and strategies implemented by these organizations have affected women differently based on a range of social, cultural, and political factors.

Improvement of tasks scheduling algorithm based on load balancing candidate method under cloud computing environment

In recent years, cloud computing has become an ideal way to provide different types of applications. It can provide the processing, storage, web services, development platforms, and databases to enable the companies to scale their infrastructure and service types quickly. As the demand for higher processing power increases, large amounts of data will cause a significant burden on the cloud computing environment. Therefore, an efficient scheduling algorithm for tasks under the cloud computing environment has become a crucial issue. Some well-known algorithms such as Suffrage, MaxSuffrage, and AMS have been proposed to improve the scheduling performance. However, the above algorithms do not consider the load balancing problem of working nodes. This load balancing issue will limit the overall performance of the network system. Hence, the BCSV scheduling algorithm has been proposed to improve the above problems in this paper. The main idea of BCSV is to use the Smallest Suffrage Value (SSV), Largest Suffrage Value (LSV), and Criteria Suffrage Value (CSV) as the scheduling factor to enhance the performance of the task dispatch. According to the experiment results, the proposed BCSV algorithm can obtain better load balance and makespan than the existed algorithms under the HiHi, HiLo, LoHi, and LoLo heterogeneous network environment. In other words, the proposed BCSV algorithm can get better task scheduling results while considering the load balancing problem.

Predicting the likelihood of airspace user rerouting to mitigate air traffic flow management delay

At present, the most common air traffic flow management measure used by the European Network Manager to solve en-route demand and capacity balance issues is to impose air traffic flow management regulations in congested airspace, which delay flights on the ground to smooth demand. The delay imposed on a regulated flight, however, has a negative operational and economic impact on the corresponding airspace user. When the impact is severe, the airspace user may reroute the flight to tactically circumvent the regulated airspace, thereby avoiding the regulation and reducing (or even eliminating) the delay. This legitimate strategy is unquestionably effective in mitigating the delay and the associated cost, but it may also increases traffic demand uncertainty due to last-minute changes as well as the environmental impact due to sub-optimal trajectories. This paper presents a gradient-boosted decision trees model that, trained on historical data, could assist in predicting the likelihood of a regulated flight rerouting to mitigate air traffic flow management delay. Specific metrics for highly imbalanced binary classification problems reveal that, while not perfect, the model outperforms a rudimentary decision tree and a dummy classifier. Furthermore, Shapley values computed with the model uncover the most important triggers for tactical rerouting from a data-driven perspective, namely the current delay, the aircraft operator, the airspace sector where the most penalising regulation is applied and the remaining time until departure. This interpretable model could be used to assist flow managers in their decision-making, as well as to accurately mimic the behaviour of flight dispatchers when facing delays in simulators.

HIPA: A hybrid load balancing method in SSDs for improved parallelism performance

NAND Flash-based SSDs have been widely adopted as underlying storage devices in storage systems thanks to high random performance in the SSDs. Because of inherent rich parallelism resources (channel, chip, plane, and die) inside an SSD, many researchers pay much attention on parallelism improvement. Page allocation policies (static and dynamic page allocation) in an SSD aim to translate logical addresses of I/O requests on the host into physical addresses in flash memory space. Existing static page allocation policies suffer from severe load unbalance inside SSDs. Dynamic allocation policies employed in high-performance SSDs address the load balancing issue. However, dynamic allocation-based I/O requests flow into fewer parallelism resources, deteriorating read I/O-requests parallelism. Recognizing that SSD performance can be optimized by reducing read parallelism loss, we propose a hybrid page allocation strategy named HIPA to fully exploit the advantages of dynamic and static allocation to achieve read/write parallelisms inside an SSD. HIPA embraces a load prediction mechanism to monitor die-level load in real-time, thereby determining a page allocation policy based on the status of die-level load. A static page allocation policy is triggered in case of balanced die-level load. When performance degrades due to imbalance in die-level load, HIPA dynamically changes the gear to a dynamic allocation policy, aiming to balance the load on dies. Thus, HIPA achieves the maximum read parallelism rather than crumbling write performance. Conducting the extensive experiments, we validate the advantages of HIPA in terms of average response time, plane-level write, and erase standard deviation. The findings unveil that compared with the four popular page allocation policies (CWDP, CHIP-D, DIE-D, and PLANE-D), HIPA slashes the average response time by up to 58% with an average of 20% and 81% with an average of 33% compared with the dynamic allocation (DIE-D) with the lowest response time and the static strategy, respectively; (2) drives up the write standard deviation degree of the static strategy by up to 44%; (3) improves erase standard deviation rate by up to 43%.

RBAC-LBRM: An RBAC-Based Load Balancing Assisted Efficient Resource Management Framework for IoT-Edge-Fog Network

The inefficient handling of Internet of Things (IoT) network traffic may result in load-imbalance and unauthorized access, causing network performance degradation. The performance can be improved by off-loading some of the tasks to the network edge and fog layers. The existing works have discussed the issues of load balancing and access control in IoT using edge and fog environments; however, the design of an efficient resource management framework for an IoT-edge-fog environment is still under development. This work presents a role-based access control (RBAC)-based load balancing-assisted efficient resource management framework for IoT-edge-fog network named RBAC-LBRM. The overall average improvements of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">29.85, 16.82, 13.63, and 16.55%</i> have been achieved by RBAC-LBRM over other approaches w.r.t. CPU usage, memory usage, delay, and jitter metrics, respectively.

Effect Of Core Stability Exercises and Balance Training in Postural Control Among Children with Down Syndrome

Posture, balance, and movement issues are common in children with Down syndrome. Emerging research suggests that balance training may be advantageous for children with Down syndrome, making it a crucial component of physical activity programmes. Objective: to ascertain the impact of balance training and activities for core stability on postural control in kids with Down syndrome. Methods: single blinded RCT study was conducted, in which assessor was kept blind. While taking into account inclusion and exclusion criteria, children with Down syndrome were randomly divided into two groups with ages ranging from 5 to 17 years. There were 20 patients in the sample. Exercises for core stability were given to Group 2 and balance training to Group 1. The time between treatments was six weeks. The Comprehensive Rehabilitation facility Chakwal is where the data is gathered. The pre- and post-values of postural stability were measured using the paediatric Berg balance scale. Results: The present results are significantly better in the group B than in the group A. Core stability exercises shows better results than balance training. Conclusion: According to the results of the current study from the data of before the treatment and after the treatment, it revealed a positive change. In the duration of six weeks the core stability exercises were more effective than balance training in developing postural control among children with Down syndrome.

An Empirical Analysis of Work Life Balance: A study on women employees in Banking Sector

In the current world, women are working in almost all the type of jobs demonstrating that there is no gender difference in work. Work-life balance is one of the supreme challenging issues being encountered by the women employees in the 21st century. Work- life balance means the extent to which the employee feels contented and have his or her needs fulfilled in both professional and personal faces of life. In the recent time the issue of work-life balance has gained more concern due to the reason that an individual’s work life and personal life may present contradictory demands, while demand from both the spheres are equally important. This problem is more prominent among female employees. The research is made on the current issues of work-life balance of women bank employees to find the factors influencing their work life balance. The study is based on both the public and private sector bank employees positioned as clerk, cashier and officers. Bank employees deal with a wide variety of population daily at their working schedules. The study focuses on the causes and consequences of imbalance on the basis of demographics, Rewards, Career Development factors, family and HR factors to look at the challenges associated with managing professional and personal life of women employees of the banking sector. Keywords: Banking, Professional Life, Women Employees, Work-life balance

Tinnitus in COVID-19 Patients

Background: Tinnitus is a common otologic symptom found in the outpatient department of otolaryngology. Patients with COVID-19 infection have complained of tinnitus. However, in the present COVID-19 epidemic, it has received little attention. Objective: The goal of this study was to see how common tinnitus was among COVID-19 patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study that looked at 28 COVID-19 participants who had tinnitus. COVID-19 infection was confirmed in all of them using a nasopharyngeal swab reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The detailed history-taking clinical examination of the ear was done for the assessment of tinnitus and its outcome was analyzed. Results: There were 28 COVID-19 patients presented with tinnitus out of 212 patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. There were 16 (57.14%) men and 12 (42.85%) women out of 28 COVID-19 patients with tinnitus, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.33:1. Seven (25%) of the 28 patients had hearing loss, whereas 4 (14.28%) had balance issues. Out of 28 patients, 5 (17.85%) had symptoms of migraine. Conclusion: This study shows that COVID-19 patients may be affected by subjective otoneurological symptoms like tinnitus. Tinnitus is more common in male COVID-19 patients than in female. The associated symptoms of hearing impairment and balance issues should be anticipated along with tinnitus. More research is needed to figure out the specific pathophysiological process that causes this subjective ringing sensation in COVID-19 patients.

A Novel Medium-Voltage Hybrid-Cascaded DC–DC Converter With DC Fault-Blocking Capability and Reduced Switch Capacity

In this article, a medium-voltage nonisolated dc–dc converter with dc fault-blocking capability is proposed. The converter is designed to connect two high-voltage dc networks with varying voltage levels. The proposed converter is composed of a string of cascaded modules and two sets of series-connected switches. The cascaded modules have all the merits of modular design, and the series-connected switches avoid dynamic balancing issues due to the zero-voltage switching feature. The single-string structure of the proposed converter helps reduce the number of switches, power losses, and volume. The power efficiency of the converter is evaluated to be as high as 99.3%. The feasibility of the proposed converter is verified via 32-kV 22.5-MW simulations and 240-V 1.45-kW experiments.

Adaptive clustering in energy efficient routing protocol for mobile nodes in WSNs

Introduction: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is a collection of large number of small sensor nodes which communicate sensed data over a radio channel covering wide geographical region. Problem statement: A number of algorithms have been developed to enhance the network lifetime of WSN by efficiently utilizing the sources of energy. The most commonly used approach is clustering that is prone to uneven load balancing and instability issues. Furthermore, topological changes in WSN structure especially with mobile nodes significantly effect network lifetime. Methodology: In this study, we have proposed an Adaptive-Cluster-based Energy Efficient Routing Protocol (A-EECBRP), which employs a novel geometrical Voronoi-based configuration to solve load balancing and mobility issues while maintaining network stability and coverage. Furthermore, energy cost function and Energy Harvesters (EH) devices were implemented to reduce energy consumption and increase network life. Moreover, the concept of handshaking and random waypoint model for nodes movement between cluster groups was examined to define mobile nodes. Results: Simulation results obtained from network analysis performed on MATLAB® showed that A-EECBRP reduced energy consumption by almost 1500 rounds as compared to LEACH-M. This significantly improved the network lifetime of WSN as compared to the LEACH-M routing protocol. Therefore, our proposed scheme provides a huge potential for implementing energy-efficient routing protocols in mobile wireless sensor networks.

EFFECTIVENESS OF PROPRIOCEPTIVE NEUROMUSCULAR FACILITATION TECHNIQUES IN IMPROVING MUSCLE STRENGTH IN A PATIENT WITH HEMIPLEGIA

Stroke is a neurological condition that causes damage to the brain tissue caused by the cutoff of normal blood flow due to vessel collapse or thrombosis. Depending on the areas affected, size, and the cause of injury, motor, sense, recognition, language, and perception deficits are common symptoms of the disease. Patients with stroke often presents with problems such as weakness, spasticity and impaired movement patterns along with decreased balance and mobility issues. There are many physiotherapeutic approaches focussing on early recovery of stroke patients. One approach which can be primarily used to improve strength when there are visible voluntary individual movement patterns is Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation techniques. The present case report is of a 50-year-old male with left hemiplegia who underwent physiotherapy for 4 weeks primarily emphasizing on strength through Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation. After 4 weeks there was improved strength in left upper and lower limb. The patient even improved in his ADL’s.

Work life Balance: A Review on Management Teaching Professionals of Odisha

This is an empirical study to investigate the issues of work life balance of professionals working in different management institutions of Odisha. Many researches have been conducted on work life balance in the western countries but during the recent years Asian countries get attention irrespective of these vibrant issues. After globalization this particular issue raised in the organisation when more no. of female professional contributes to the work force. Due to the growth and development in the economy, a competitive environment seen in the society and individuals struggle to meet the demand which results work life conflict and work life imbalances. Keywords: Work life balance, teaching professionals, management institutions

Association of Balance Self-efficacy with Activity and Participation in Chronic Stroke Patients of Lahore, Pakistan

Stroke is a major cause of disability and causes a number of impairments including balance issues, gait impairments, and loss of daily life activities. The incidence of stroke is increasing in developing countries like Pakistan because of the increasing life stresses. The purpose of this research is to analyze the association of balance self-efficacy with activity and participation in chronic stroke patients. This was a cross-sectional studyconducted in Lahore; Pakistan in 2017. The population of the current study was chronic stroke patients. The study was completed within 3 months after the approval of the synopsis. Non-probability convenient sampling technique was employed to conduct this study. A Sample of 135 stroke patients was taken from a population of 3500 from the stroke care unit of above-mentioned hospital. Ischemic stroke patients and patients with 6months of stroke were included in this study. Unstable patients with other systemic diseases and with psychological issues were excluded from this study. ABC scale was used for the evaluation of balance self-efficacy and the Modified Barthel index was used for assessment activity and participation in stroke patients. The data was analyzed using SPSS v20. The result showed that the P value of balance self-efficacy is 0.000. As the P value is less than 0.05 so the association is significant. P value ≤ .05 was considered statistically significant. There is a significant association of balance self-efficacy with activity and participation in chronic stroke patients.