Mean Andstandard Deviation Research Articles

Synchronous gesture recognition and muscle force estimation based on piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer

Early prosthetic control research mainly focused on motion intention recognition, but in recent years, study on control force has emerged. The simultaneous integration of motion intention recognition and control force estimation has significant practical value. This paper proposes an ultrasound control scheme using wearable device that enables synchronous intention recognition and accurate control force estimation. Eleven gestures abstracted from daily life are selected, with a force range of 0–100 % maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). The wearable device employed for muscle morphology monitoring consists of a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (PMUT) and polymer encapsulation. It is small, lightweight, and eliminates the need for ultrasound gel, enhancing its practicality. Ultrasound echogenicity of two forearm muscles and corresponding output forces are simultaneously collected. We propose peak and location (PKL) feature and combine it with mean and standard deviation (MSD) feature to improve the accuracy of pattern recognition and force estimation. Experimental results show that during dynamic muscle contraction forces, the classification accuracy achieves 95.84 ± 1.48 %, while the synchronous estimation of forces yields a R2 correlation coefficient of 0.919 and a normalized root-mean-square deviation of 0.127. This scheme demonstrates the feasibility of PMUT-based ultrasound control for supporting synchronous gesture recognition and force estimation, and is expected to contribute to the practicality of prosthesis control.

Spectrum of Diagnoses in Female Patients With Proctologic Symptoms Presenting to the Surgery Unit of a Tertiary Care Center.

Introduction Anorectal diseases are prevalent in the general population and may vary from benign disorders to malignant lesions that can metastasize. There is a variety of proctologic symptoms associated with each disease. The incidence of proctologic disease varies in different cultures due to dietary habits and variations in lifestyle. The present study was conducted to determine the spectrum of different proctologic diseases in female patients presenting with proctologic symptoms. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Surgery Department of Mardan Medical Complex, Mardan, and Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, from January 2022 to January 2023. Female patients with proctologic symptoms were included, while non-consenting patients were excluded. After obtaining a detailed history and examination by the experienced surgeon, digital rectal examination and proctoscopy/sigmoidoscopy were performed where necessary. Diagnoses were made, and the data regarding proctologic symptoms and their corresponding diagnoses was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 (IBM SPSS Statistics, Armonk, NY) using meanand standard deviation for quantitative variables and frequency and percentagefor qualitative variables. Results The mean age of 500 female study participants was 38.35±16.305 (range: 7-108) years. Bleeding per rectum, constipation, and pain per rectum were the commonest proctologic symptoms seen in 341 (68.2%), 287 (57.4%), and 272 (54.4%) cases, respectively.Anal fissures and hemorrhoids were the commonest proctologic diseases seen in 264 (52.8%) and 60 (12%) cases, respectively. Conclusion Bleeding per rectum is the commonest proctologic symptom in patients. Anal fissures and hemorrhoids are the commonest proctologic diseases in our setup. Bleeding per rectum and hemorrhoids in the female population cause loss of blood, which in turn will aggravate the clinical picture of underlying anemia, if any.

Research Plagiarism in Academic Writing of Postgraduate Students Specializing in English: Myanmar University Context

The objectives of this study were 1) to investigate the postgraduate students’awareness and knowledge about research plagiarism, 2) to examine thecommon forms of research plagiarism committed by students in theirmaster’s theses, 3) to study their perceptions on their referencing skills, and4) to study the actions taken by universities against postgraduate studentswho plagiarize. The samples were 110 postgraduate students, and 22supervisors. The collected data were conducted by the questionnaire surveywith the postgraduate students and the follow-up interviews with thesupervisors. The statistics for data analysis were percentage, mean andstandard deviation. The findings of this study were revealed that overall, only (M=1.44) of the participants were aware of the meaning of plagiarism.Approximately (M=0.49) of the participants have not heard aboutplagiarism. Regarding common forms of plagiarism to be committed bystudents in their master’s theses, majority of the theses (M=1.24) were foundcopied and pasted from written source or web followed by presenting orciting the secondary source as a primary source (M=1.29). According tointerview responses of common forms of plagiarism reported by supervisorparticipants, most of the supervisors reported lack of plagiarism workshop.The data showed that students were not confident of their referencing skills.Even though most of the students were aware of the university policies,systems and procedures for involving plagiarism, they might plagiarize dueto foreign language problems,

The role of dehydration in the development of acute kidney injury in patients with COVID-19

Background. Acute kidney injury often complicates the course of COVID-19; in many patients it develops even before hospitalization, and the reasons for its development are not sufficiently clear.
 Aim. To study the role of dehydration in the development of community-onset acute kidney injury in COVID-19.
 Material and methods. 329 patients with COVID-19 were examined (age 58.014.3 years, 172 men, 157 women). Acute kidney injury was diagnosed according to the Russian recommendations of 2020. To determine prerenal acute kidney injury, the ratio of blood urea nitrogen to blood creatinine was calculated, and to diagnose dehydration the calculated osmolarity of blood serum. Data are presented for a normal distribution as the arithmetic mean and standard deviation (MSD), for a non-normal distribution as a median (Me) and interquartile range (IQR). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyzes were used. To assess the diagnostic significance of quantitative characteristics in predicting a certain outcome, the ROC curve analysis method was used. Differences were considered statistically significant at p 0.05.
 Results. Acute kidney injury was diagnosed in 70 (21.3%) patients, of which 58 (82.9%) were community-acquired. In 16 (27.6%) patients with community-onset acute kidney injury, it was of a prerenal nature, of which in 13 (81.3%) the calculated serum osmolarity exceeded 295 mOsm/L. Independent factors directly associated with prerenal prehospital acute kidney injury were estimated serum osmolarity (p 0.001), C-reactive protein level (p 0.001) and age (p=0.003) (R2=0.23, F=33,34).
 Conclusion. Acute kidney injury complicates the course of COVID-19, and in most patients, it develops even at the prehospital stage. Estimated serum osmolarity is directly and independently associated with prerenal community-onset acute kidney injury, suggesting the important role of dehydration in its development.

WASTE DISPOSAL METHODS AND HEALTH STATUS OF HOUSEHOLDS IN UYO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA IN POST COVID-19 ERA

The study investigated Waste Disposal Methods and Health Status of Households in Uyo Local GovernmentArea in Post Covid-19 Era. Three research questions were raised to guide the study. Descriptive surveyresearch design was adopted in the study. The population comprised of 1,265,000 people made up of allresidents in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. A sample size of 400 respondents was drawnusing Taro Yamane sampling formula and used to collect data for the study. Stratified and simple randomsampling techniques were employed to select the respondents. A structured questionnaire titled: WasteDisposal Methods and Health Status of Households Questionnaire (WDMHSHQ) was used for datacollection. The content of the instrument was validated by three experts in cognate disciplines all inUniversity of Uyo. Cronbach Alpha statistical analysis was used to determine the internal consistency of theinstrument and the analysis yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.79. Data collected was analysed using Meanand Standard Deviation. Findings revealed that burning of wastes (cluster mean = 3. 49), dumping of wastes(cluster mean = 3.50) and compost wastes (cluster mean = 3.38) all had negative effect on the health statusof households in Uyo Local Government Area in the Post Covid-19 Era with varying cluster mean valuesand standard deviation. Based on the findings, the researchers conclude that waste disposal methods havenegative effect on health status of households in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State in the postcovid-19 Era and therefore recommend amongst others that households should engage more in the compostwastes disposal method as it has less negative effect on the health status of households in the study area

Relational practices and performance contracts in public organizations in Kenya: A case of Kenya revenue authority

Kenya adopted Performance Contracts as a tool not only to improve performance but also torefocus the mindset of the civil service from looking within to focusing on customers andresults. The push factor for introduction of performance contracts in Kenya is the assumptionthat institution of performance measurements, customer orientation and an increased focustowards incremental productivity and cost reduction can lead to improvements in servicedelivery. The purpose of this research was to examine the performance contracts applicationat the Kenya Revenue Authority as well as the efficacy of the instrument in improvingperformance. The main objective was to determine the influence of Performance Contractingprocesses on performance management. The study adopted descriptive design and targeted120 employees of the organization who were based in the Head office; stratified samplingmethod was used.Data was collected using a questionnaire which contained both structuredand unstructured questions. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics such as mean andstandard deviation. Inferential statistics such as regression was also carried out. The dataanalysis process was aided through a Statistical Package of Social Sciences. The data waspresented using tables and graphs. The study found out that performance contract had helpedimprove service delivery in KRA and that majority of the employees had participated intraining/ sensitization workshop on performance contracting. However there was no clarity inunderstanding how training needs for individual employees were arrived at.
 The study also established that majority of the employees were not involved in the process ofperformance targets setting. The study concludes that KRA did not involve the employees inall stages of drawing work plans and this led to drawing targets that were not in line withindividual roles. It was also concluded that the follow up by the top management on theimplementation of the set targets was not extensive. The study recommends that theorganizations should establish and adopt performance contract system that provideopportunities to the management in identifying staff training needs, identify performancetargets, and improve employees‘ performance. There is also need for increased training andsensitization programmes and increased involvement of all the employees in the processperformance contracting.

Characterization of errors in satellite-based HCHO ∕ NO2 tropospheric column ratios with respect to chemistry, column-to-PBL translation, spatial representation, and retrieval uncertainties

Abstract. The availability of formaldehyde (HCHO) (a proxy for volatile organic compound reactivity) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (a proxy for nitrogen oxides) tropospheric columns from ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) satellites has motivated many to use their ratios to gain some insights into the near-surface ozone sensitivity. Strong emphasis has been placed on the challenges that come with transforming what is being observed in the tropospheric column to what is actually in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and near the surface; however, little attention has been paid to other sources of error such as chemistry, spatial representation, and retrieval uncertainties. Here we leverage a wide spectrum of tools and data to quantify those errors carefully. Concerning the chemistry error, a well-characterized box model constrained by more than 500 h of aircraft data from NASA's air quality campaigns is used to simulate the ratio of the chemical loss of HO2 + RO2 (LROx) to the chemical loss of NOx (LNOx). Subsequently, we challenge the predictive power of HCHO/NO2 ratios (FNRs), which are commonly applied in current research, in detecting the underlying ozone regimes by comparing them to LROx/LNOx. FNRs show a strongly linear (R2=0.94) relationship with LROx/LNOx, but only on the logarithmic scale. Following the baseline (i.e., ln(LROx/LNOx) = −1.0 ± 0.2) with the model and mechanism (CB06, r2) used for segregating NOx-sensitive from VOC-sensitive regimes, we observe a broad range of FNR thresholds ranging from 1 to 4. The transitioning ratios strictly follow a Gaussian distribution with a mean and standard deviation of 1.8 and 0.4, respectively. This implies that the FNR has an inherent 20 % standard error (1σ) resulting from not accurately describing the ROx–HOx cycle. We calculate high ozone production rates (PO3) dominated by large HCHO × NO2 concentration levels, a new proxy for the abundance of ozone precursors. The relationship between PO3 and HCHO × NO2 becomes more pronounced when moving towards NOx-sensitive regions due to nonlinear chemistry; our results indicate that there is fruitful information in the HCHO × NO2 metric that has not been utilized in ozone studies. The vast amount of vertical information on HCHO and NO2 concentrations from the air quality campaigns enables us to parameterize the vertical shapes of FNRs using a second-order rational function permitting an analytical solution for an altitude adjustment factor to partition the tropospheric columns into the PBL region. We propose a mathematical solution to the spatial representation error based on modeling isotropic semivariograms. Based on summertime-averaged data, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) loses 12 % of its spatial information at its native resolution with respect to a high-resolution sensor like the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) (> 5.5 × 3.5 km2). A pixel with a grid size of 216 km2 fails at capturing ∼ 65 % of the spatial information in FNRs at a 50 km length scale comparable to the size of a large urban center (e.g., Los Angeles). We ultimately leverage a large suite of in situ and ground-based remote sensing measurements to draw the error distributions of daily TROPOMI and OMI tropospheric NO2 and HCHO columns. At a 68 % confidence interval (1σ), errors pertaining to daily TROPOMI observations, either HCHO or tropospheric NO2 columns, should be above 1.2–1.5 × 1016 molec. cm−2 to attain a 20 %–30 % standard error in the ratio. This level of error is almost non-achievable with the OMI given its large error in HCHO. The satellite column retrieval error is the largest contributor to the total error (40 %–90 %) in the FNRs. Due to a stronger signal in cities, the total relative error (< 50 %) tends to be mild, whereas areas with low vegetation and anthropogenic sources (e.g., the Rocky Mountains) are markedly uncertain (> 100 %). Our study suggests that continuing development in the retrieval algorithm and sensor design and calibration is essential to be able to advance the application of FNRs beyond a qualitative metric.

Risk Factors of Diabetic Foot Ulcers in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients: Basis for Foot Care Education

the seventh largest number of diabetic patientsand diabetes is also the third cause of death after stroke andhypertension.Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU) are common cause of diabetes mellitus complications.Foot problemsoften receive less attention and it is not the priority for many health professionals in Indonesia. Diabetic foot ulcersare preventable through Diabetes Foot Care Education.Aim:The study aimed to assess risk factors of Diabetic Foot Ulcers in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus anddevelop an appropriate diabetic foot care education.Methodology: This study used prospective research design and conducted atWocare Diabetic Clinic in BogorIndonesia.Study populations will be all Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients with a total sample of 48patients. Ordinaland nominal data were described by absolute values and percentage while continuous data was reported as meanand standard deviation. Univariate data was analyzed by χ2 test or Fisher exact test for categorical and Wilcoxontest for continuous data. The significance level will be set at 95% with p-value=0.05.Result:There was an increase in the average diabetic foot care behavior before and after education with a meanvalue of 79.6 to 79.9.The results of the Wilcoxon test showed a p-value of 0.000.Conclusion:There was a significant difference between behavioral scores before and after intervention with footcare education.

Measuring emotions during epistemic activities: Psychometric validation of the Persian epistemic emotions scale

As there are not enough measurement instruments to assess emotions during epistemic activities, this research aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the epistemic emotions scale among speakers of the Persian language. The scale has previously been used and studied in different cultural contexts. The present study sought to expand the application of this scale in the Iranian context. A total of 1153 students (58.6% women) within the age range of 17 to 29 years participated in this study. The mean and standard deviation of the age of the participants were 21.63 and 2.24, respectively. The data collection tools in this study were the Epistemic Emotions Scale, the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire, the Academic Buoyancy Scale, and the Academic Satisfaction Scale. CFA was performed to test the factorial structure (?2 = 1895.96, df = 394, GFI = .86, CFI = .97, IFI = .97, NFI = .97, NNFI = .96, SRMR = .069, and RMSEA = .086) and its validity and reliability were also evaluated. The seven-factor model of the Epistemic Emotions Scale was the same as that of the original scale version, and the Epistemic Emotions Scale showed good internal consistency with Cronbach?s alpha for this scale ranging from .85 to .88.. The results showed that the EES scores also correlated in expected directions with measures of related constructs included in this study thus also supporting the external validity of this version of the scale. We can conclude that the Epistemic Emotions Scale is a valid and reliable tool for measuring students? epistemic emotions, and as a result, researchers can use this tool for research purposes.

Cell-to-Cell Variation in Thermal Runaway Behavior

As one of the most promising energy storage mediums, Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have attracted extensive research interest. A major challenge associated with LIB application is thermal runaway, which can be triggered during overheating, overcharging, collision, and other abused conditions, leading to a direct threat to lives and properties. Here, we select Li-ion batteries with lithium cobalt oxide cathode and graphite anode (18650, Samsung), which are relatively simple and extensively investigated, to revisit thermal runaway. The experiment is conducted using an accelerating rate calorimeter (EV+ ARC, Thermal Hazard Technology) following the standard heat-wait-seek strategy, and is repeated for 9 similar new cells with 100% state of charge (SOC). Key features such as onset temperature of self-heating, the onset temperature of thermal runaway, maximum heat release rate, thermal runawaydelay time, and maximum temperature are measured experimentally. Although the cells are all brand new and have been initiated similarly, obvious cell-to-cell variability has been observed during thermal runaway. Major differences exhibit in the measured exothermic onset temperature, delay time, and mass losses; however, each cell nevertheless shows highly consistent activation energy processed from the heat release rate. Additionally, thermal runaway models are established in COMSOL to simulate the experimental conditions, with and without the effect of reactant consumption during the heating stage. It is shown that the widely used four-step thermal runway model cannot quantitatively capture the activation energy from the heat release rate. To improve the kinetic modeling and accommodate the cell-to-cell variability, statistical analysis is conducted to process the experimental results. Meanand standard deviation of the frequency factor and activation energy has been acquired to determine the lower and upper bound of the kinetic modeling using a one-step global chemistry. The measured and simulated thermal runaway delay time has reached a reasonable agreement, with the uncertainty of the kinetic model considered. The identified cell-to-cell variability is most likely due to manufacturing inconsistencies, which should not only be considered for cell-level safety evaluation but also the design and evaluation of battery modules and packs.

A Simultaneous Gesture Classification and Force Estimation Strategy Based on Wearable A-Mode Ultrasound and Cascade Model.

The existing Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) based on gesture recognition using surface electromyography (sEMG) have made significant progress. However, the sEMG has inherent limitations as well as the gesture classification and force estimation have not been effectively combined. There are limitations in applications such as prosthetic control and clinical rehabilitation, etc. In this paper, a grasping gesture and force recognition strategy based on wearable A-mode ultrasound and two-stage cascade model is proposed, which can simultaneously estimate the force while classifying the grasping gesture. This paper experiments five grasping gestures and four force levels (5-50%MVC). The results demonstrate that the performance of the proposed model is significantly better than that of the traditional model both in classification and regression (p < 0.001). Additionally, the two-stage cascade regression model (TSCRM) used the Gaussian Process regression model (GPR) with the mean and standard deviation (MSD) feature obtains excellent results, with normalized root-mean-square error (nRMSE) and correlation coefficient (CC) of 0.10490.0374 and 0.94610.0354, respectively. Besides, the latency of the model meets the requirement of real-time recognition (T < 15ms). Therefore, the research outcomes prove the feasibility of the proposed recognition strategy and provide a reference for the field of prosthetic control, etc.

Knowledge and Attitude of Dentists towards the Use and Safety of Amalgam, Observance of Mercury Hygiene and Amalgam Waste Management

Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude of dentists of Rawalpindi and Islamabad towards the use andsafety of amalgam, observance of mercury hygiene and amalgam waste management.Study Design: Cross Sectional survey.Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at Operative Dentistry Department of AFIDst th Rawalpindi, from 1 March to 31 April 2021.Materials and Methods: An online questionnaire was circulated among 384 private and public hospital dentistsof Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Final questionnaire consisted of close ended questions related to demographicdetails, questions regarding the handling and disposal of amalgam and perception of dentists regardingmercury hygiene. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 21 and evaluated as frequencies, percentages, meanand standard deviation. Chi-square test was used to correlate demographic to the responses of the participantsto the items of the questionnaire.Results: Majority of the dentists were doing 5-10 amalgam restorations per week (34.6%) but they didn't placerubber dam while restoring tooth with amalgam (95.7%). Most of the dentists take no specific measures forstoring leftover amalgam (65.4%) and do not periodically monitor mercury vapor (91.5%).Conclusion: The majority of dentists of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are not following dental mercury hygienerecommendations as there is a significant lack of knowledge regarding mercury hygiene and amalgam wastedisposal.

EFFECTIVENESS OF AMLA JUICE IN REDUCING BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVEL AMONG PATIENTS WITH TYPE II DIABETES IN A SELECTED AREA OF KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT

Challenges in lifestyle, such as increasesin energy intake and decreasesin physical activity are causing overweight and obesity leading to epidemic increases in type II Diabetes Mellitus. The research approach used for this study was evaluative approach and the research design was true experimental design. 60 patients with type II diabetes, 30 in experimental group and 30 in control group were selected for this study by using purposive sampling technique. Data was collected with the help of self-structured interview schedule. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (chi-square, paired ‘t’ test) were used to analyse the data and to test the hypotheses. In the experimental group,the pre-test mean score was 2.966, mean percentage was 59% and standard deviation was 1.129 and in post-testmean score was 2.533, mean percentage was 50.66% and standard deviation was 1.074 with effectiveness of 8.34% and paired‘t’ test value of t=3.971,which was statistically significant (p&lt;0.05) which is an evidence ofthe effectiveness of Amla juice in reducing blood glucose level. Comparison of blood glucose levels in experimental and control groups, shows that the value is statistically highly significant, as was observed from the unpaired ‘t’ test value of 13.39 with P value of &lt;0.05, which is an evidence indicatingthe effect of Amla juice in reducing postprandial blood glucose levels. The resultsfound that the administration of Amla juice did have aneffect in reducing blood glucose level in the experimental group. By comparing the findings of pre-test and post test between the experimental group and the control group,the effect was identified (assessed). The study concluded that the Amlajuice is effective in reducing blood glucose level.

Gait parameters and functional performance following multi-factorial treatment among degenerative joint disease patients

Introduction and Aim: Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD) poses a challenge to manage and restore functional capabilities among patients. Incorporation of structured exercises, manual therapy and patient education had a significant impact on clinical and functional status of patients. Past research hasexplored benefits of therapy on functions and gait. Although, such studies did not address the functional restoration. Hence, present study was aimedto address the lacunae.&#x0D; &#x0D; Materials and Methods: 100 patients with mean age and SD; 51.61(5.4) were included. Participants had knee Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD); grade 2 or 3 on Kellgren and Lawrence scale, were allocated to Experimental Group (EG) and Comparative Group (CG). EG received joint mobilization and Muscle Energy Technique (MET). CG received Interferential therapy (carrier frequency 4 kHz; beat frequency 100 Hz; and sweep frequency 150 Hz). Strengthening exercises and patient education were common for both groups. Intervention lasted two weeks, the post-intervention metrics included; stride length, step length, and cadence for gait and knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score.&#x0D; &#x0D; Results: Data obtained was subjected to statistical analysis. Frequency and percentage were used for categorical variables; mean andstandard deviation (SD) were used for continuous variables. Post-intervention, there was a significant improvement of gait parameters and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) in both groups. CG had a better improvement in STL, SL, CAD with mean of 39.84(5.68), 20.22(2.84), 97.16(3.75) and EG with mean of 44.36(4.48), 22.30(3.75), 92.82(3.75) and p &lt; .0005. However, it was evident that the proportion of functional improvement among CG was lesser.&#x0D; &#x0D; Conclusion: Inclusion of structured exercises, manual therapy and patient education in intervention would be effective and improve the functional status of DJD patients.&#x0D;

Efficiency of Chamomile Essential Oils on Sleeping Quality of First-year University Students

Objective: This is the quasi-experimental research proposed to study the efficiency of chamomile essentialoils on sleeping quality of the first-year university student.Methods: The sample was selected on 20 students with poor sleeping quality. The study was done weekly in2 weeks, intervened with chamomile essential oil. Research tools were the 3-parts questionnaires includingpersonal information, quality of sleep and environmentally influencing sleep. Data were analyzed instatistically parameters.Results: The sleeping quality of the 1st year university students in chamomile group, compare mean andstandard deviation of experimental group found that the mean pre-test sleep quality was M = 80.20, SD =6.65, with poor sleep quality overall and after 2 weeks of trial participation M = 55.65, SD = 10.32, whichhad moderate sleep quality. In experiment with the experimental group, it was found that after 2 weeks ofusing chamomile essential oil, the sleep quality of the experimental group improved. According to statisticalcomparison, t = 2.494, p-value = .022.Conclusion: This study uses of chamomile essential oil showed an improvement in the sleep effect of theexperimental group. To be concluded that chamomile essential oils improved the sleeping quality significantlyas the well-known lavender essential oils. However further study in larger group is recommended.

Computerized spermatogenesis staging (CSS) of mouse testis sections via quantitative histomorphological analysis.

Spermatogenesis in mammals is a cyclic process of spermatogenic cell development in the seminiferous epithelium that can be subdivided into 12 subsequent stages. Histological staging analysis of testis sections, specifically of seminiferous tubule cross-sections, is the only effective method to evaluate the quality of the spermatogenic process and to determine developmental defects leading to infertility. Such staging analysis, however, is tedious and time-consuming, and it may take a long time to become proficient. We now have developed a Computerized Staging system of Spermatogenesis (CSS) for mouse testis sections through learning of an expert with decades of experience in mouse testis staging. The development of the CSS system comprised three major parts: 1) Developing computational image analysis models for mouse testis sections; 2) Automated classification of each seminiferous tubule cross-section into three stage groups: Early Stages (ES: stages I-V), Middle Stages (MS: stages VI-VIII), and Late Stages (LS: stages IV-XII); 3) Automated classification of MS into distinct stages VI, VII-mVIII, and late VIII based on newly developed histomorphological features. A cohort of 40 H&E stained normal mouse testis sections was built according to three modules where 28 cross-sections were leveraged for developing tubule region segmentation, spermatogenic cells types and multi-concentric-layers segmentation models. The rest of 12 testis cross-sections, approximately 2314 tubules whose stages were manually annotated by two expert testis histologists, served as the basis for developing the CSS system. The CSS system's accuracy of mean and standard deviation (MSD) in identifying ES, MS, and LS were 0.93±0.03, 0.94±0.11, and 0.89±0.05 and 0.85±0.12, 0.88±0.07, and 0.96±0.04 for one with 5 years of experience, respectively. The CSS system's accuracy of MSD in identifying stages VI, VII-mVIII, and late VIII are 0.74±0.03, 0.85±0.04, and 0.78±0.06 and 0.34±0.18, 0.78±0.16, and 0.44±0.25 for one with 5 years of experience, respectively. In terms of time it takes to collect these data, it takes on average 3 hours for a histologist and 1.87 hours for the CSS system to finish evaluating an entire testis section (computed with a PC (I7-6800k 4.0 GHzwith 32GB of RAM & 256G SSD) and a Titan 1080Ti GPU). Therefore, the CSS system is more accurate and faster compared to a human histologist in staging, and further optimization and development will not only lead to a complete staging of all 12 stages of mouse spermatogenesis but also could aid in the future diagnosis of human infertility. Moreover, the top-ranking histomorphological features identified by the CSS classifier are consistent with the primary features used by histologists in discriminating stages VI, VII-mVIII, and late VIII.

Effectiveness of Abdominal Drawing in Maneuver with Lumbar Pelvic Exercises on Swiss Ball for Spinal Flexibility Among Patients with Low Back Pain

Background: Patients with nonspecific low back pain have difficulty in their activities of daily living. Spinal flexibility problems are neglected in the patients with low back pain. These problems hampers the activities of daily living. Hence this study will help in improving their flexibility and perform ADL easily. Numerous studies have been done on spinal muscle strengthening, muscle activation to improve muscle endurance and posture in patients with low back pain but less attention has been given to spinal flexibility, which will help them to perform their ADL with ease. Low back pain is a big burden, as it causes more global disability and it is increasing among young individuals. There is paucity of studies as far as abdominal exercises in improving spinal flexibility is concerned. Aim: To find the effect of abdominal drawing in maneuver and lumbar pelvic exercises on swiss ball among patients with non-specific low back pain. Methodology: There were 35 participants in the study. The type of study is experimental. The participants involved were assessed for strength, pain and functional mobility. The participants are treated for pain, strength and functional mobility. Result: There is improvement seen in participants. The results of the participants are calculated by mean and standard deviation. The post mean value of lumbar flexion was 5.926 which was more than pre mean value of lumbar flexion that is 5.558. The post mean value of lumbar extension was 1.378 which was more than pre mean value of lumbar extension that is 1.243. The post mean value of right lumbar lateral flexion was 5.565 which was more than pre mean value of right lumbar lateral flexion that is 5.121. The post mean value of left lumbar lateral flexion was 5.578 which was more than pre mean value of left lumbar lateral flexion that is 5.578. Conclusion: : Abdominal drawing in maneuver and lumbar pelvic exercises on swiss ball are effective in improving spinal flexibility among patients with non-specific low back pain.

Large-Scale Outlier Detection for Low-Cost PM₁₀ Sensors

Evaluating the air quality of classrooms is important as children spend a large amount of time at school. Massey University (NZ) led the development of a low-cost and affordable Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) platform called SKOMOBO that was deployed on a large scale across the classrooms of primary schools in New Zealand. When the data from SKOMBO units were collected, it was important to detect any unexpected high air pollution events. To address this concern, we propose a study of outlier detection for PM10 dataset from SKOMOBO units using MSD-Kmeans. MSD-Kmeans combines the statistical method of Mean and Standard Deviation (MSD) with the machine learning clustering algorithm K-means where the former eliminates as many noisy data to minimize the inference on clustering while the latter is able to achieve better local optimal clustering. We compare the performance of MSD-Kmeans with other similar outlier detection algorithms. Our experimental results illustrate that MSD-Kmeans outperforms the majority of performance indicators ( e.g., TPR, FPR, Accuracy, F-measures) compared to other similar methods. We conclude that it is feasible to use MSD-Kmeans as an effective outlier detection tool on large scale datasets.

Menstrual and oral contraceptive cycle phases do not affect submaximal and maximal exercise responses.

To examine whether the menstrual or monophasic oral contraceptive cycle phases affect submaximal (oxygen uptake ( O2 ) kinetics, maximal lactate steady-state (MLSS)) and maximal ( O2max , time-to-exhaustion (TTE)) responses to exercise in healthy, active women. During the mid-follicular or inactive-pill phase and the mid-luteal or active-pill phase of the respectivemenstrual or oral contraceptive cycle, 15 non-oral contraceptive users (meanandstandard deviation(SD) (±): 27±6 years; 171±5cm; 65±7kg) and 15 monophasic oral contraceptive users (24±4 years; 169±10cm; 68±10kg) performed: one O2 kinetics test; one ramp-incremental test; two to three 30-minute constant-load cycling trials to determine the power output corresponding to MLSS (MLSSp ), followed by a TTE trial. The phase of the menstrual or oral contraceptive cycle did not affect the time constant of the O2 kinetics response (τ O2 ) (mid-follicular, 20±5seconds and mid-luteal, 18±3seconds; inactive-pill, 22±8seconds and active-pill, 23±6seconds), O2max (mid-follicular, 3.06±0.32Lmin-1 and mid-luteal, 3.00±0.33Lmin-1 ; inactive-pill, 2.87±0.39Lmin-1 and active-pill, 2.87±0.45Lmin-1 ), MLSSp (mid-follicular, 181±30W and mid-luteal, 182±29W; inactive-pill, 155±26W and active-pill, 155±27W), and TTE (mid-follicular, 147±42seconds and mid-luteal, 128±54seconds; inactive-pill, 146±70seconds and active-pill, 139±77seconds) (P>.05). The rate of perceived exertion (RPE) at minute 30 of the MLSSp trials was greater in the mid-follicular phase (6.2±1.5) compared with the mid-luteal phase (5.3±1.4) for non-oral contraceptive users (P=.022). The hormonal fluctuations between the menstrual and oral contraceptive cycle phases had no detectable effects on submaximal and maximal exercise performance, even when RPE differed.

Amalan Pengajaran Guru di Pondok Bantan, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand

Historically, Pondok Bantan is a traditional Islamic educational institution that applies teacher-centered approach in teaching and learning programmes based on religious texts. However, in line with the changes in needs and time of society, the Pondok is now adopting Thai national curriculum which at the same time integrate with religious education curriculum based on the traditional (turath) texts of Malay scholars. The diversity in its educational curriculum components perceived as a strength for Pondok Bantan but becomes a challenge to the teachers’ ability to implement and ensure the teaching curriculum adopted is efficient for the holistic development of the students. Therefore, this study aims to identify attitudes and approaches applied by Pondok Bantan teachers’ in their teaching activities and the level of teaching aids application. The study applies quantitative research method involving 43 respondents among the teachers of Pondok Bantan. Data are obtained from the questionnaires and then analyzed using the descriptive statistics tehnique to measure the frequency, ranges, mean and standard deviation. The findings show that the teachers’ attitudes and practices toward teaching activities are high either before of the classrooms. However, the use of teaching aids need to be improved in the future by the teachers and the management of Pondok Bantan since its practices are in between moderate and high level.