The Impact of Environment on Physical Activity Levels and Obesity among Saudi Arabia Youth: Comparison of Urban; Rural Farm and Rural Desert Geographical Locations

Background: The inactive lifestyle is becoming prevalent in many developed and developing countries including Saudi Arabia. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of neighborhoods’ characteristics on physical activity (PA) levels and body mass index (BMI) in Saudi adolescents. Methods: The anthropometric measurement of 380 secondary-school (boys = 199; girls = 181) from different geographical locations such as urban, rural farm and rural desert was taken using the Seca digital scales for weight and Seca portable measure for height. The BMI was calculated using the formula kg/m2 followed by participants wearing piezoelectric, New-Lifestyles NL-2000 PA Monitor, and completing the international physical activity short form questionnaire. Results: The findings indicated, an average boys recorded 9180 steps per day compared to girls 5580 and the univariate ANOVA revealed a significant difference between genders steps per day in three geographical areas (F1,334 = 70.01, p < 0.001). The BMI results demonstrated that participant from rural farm had lower BMI (mean = 21.01 kg/m2) compared to urban location (mean = 24.12 kg/m2) and rural desert youth (mean = 25.58 kg/m2) indicating significant differences in BMI status in geographical locations (F2,379 = 16.40, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The inactivity and obesity prevalence are prevalent amongst demographic groups in Al-Ahsa. Therefore, future policies and interventions could target this populations especially the rural desert youth in which the health risk could be higher

The Correlation of Built Environment on Hypertension, and Weight Status amongst Adolescence in Saudi Arabia

The prevalence of hypertension is becoming more common in children and adolescents than ever before. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between the built environment on physical activity, sedentary behaviour, waist circumference, and health amongst adolescents in Saudi Arabia. A systolic and diastolic blood pressure, resting heart rate and waist circumference of 380 boys and girls aged between 15–19 years old (male = 199 and females = 181) were measured. The International physical activity Questionnaire Short Form was used to assess the physical activity levels and time spent sitting. The statistical analysis conducted were means and standard deviation, 2-way and 3-way of variance (ANOVA), Bonferroni post hoc tests, Chi-squared distribution and Pearson’s correlations. Among males, 16.75% were classified as hypertensive, 12.69% as pre-hypertensive, and 70.56% as normal whereas, females, 23.20% were classified as hypertensive, 12.15% as pre-hypertensive and 64.64% as normal. There were significant differences (F1,379 = 16.50, p < 0.001) between males and females waist circumference. Pearson’s correlation also revealed significant positive relationships in sedentary time (r = 0.123, p < 0.016), WC (r = 0.104, p < 0.043), and systolic blood pressure (r = 0.110, p < 0.032). The results revealed that systolic and diastolic blood pressure are significantly related to multiple measures of weight status, and sedentary behaviour. The results also highlight that active youth had lower resting heart rate compared to inactive peers. The present findings provide a foundation of knowledge for future research and highlight the major need for research and policy interventions, to address the concerning health habits of Al-Ahsa youth and broader Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Correlation of Built Environment on Hypertension, and Weight Status amongst Adolescence in Saudi Arabia.

The prevalence of hypertension is becoming more common in children and adolescents than ever before. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between the built environment on physical activity, sedentary behaviour, waist circumference, and health amongst adolescents in Saudi Arabia. A systolic and diastolic blood pressure, resting heart rate and waist circumference of 380 boys and girls aged between 15-19 years old (male = 199 and females = 181) were measured. The International physical activity Questionnaire Short Form was used to assess the physical activity levels and time spent sitting. The statistical analysis conducted were means and standard deviation, 2-way and 3-way of variance (ANOVA), Bonferroni post hoc tests, Chi-squared distribution and Pearson's correlations. Among males, 16.75% were classified as hypertensive, 12.69% as pre-hypertensive, and 70.56% as normal whereas, females, 23.20% were classified as hypertensive, 12.15% as pre-hypertensive and 64.64% as normal. There were significant differences (F1,379 = 16.50, p 0.001) between males and females waist circumference. Pearson's correlation also revealed significant positive relationships in sedentary time (r = 0.123, p 0.016), WC (r = 0.104, p 0.043), and systolic blood pressure (r = 0.110, p 0.032). The results revealed that systolic and diastolic blood pressure are significantly related to multiple measures of weight status, and sedentary behaviour. The results also highlight that active youth had lower resting heart rate compared to inactive peers. The present findings provide a foundation of knowledge for future research and highlight the major need for research and policy interventions, to address the concerning health habits of Al-Ahsa youth and broader Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

A Real-Time Letter Recognition Model for Arabic Sign Language Using Kinect and Leap Motion Controller v2

The objective of this research is to develop a supervised machine learning hand-gesturing model to recognize Arabic Sign Language (ArSL), using two sensors: Microsoft\u27s Kinect with a Leap Motion Controller. The proposed model relies on the concept of supervised learning to predict a hand pose from two depth images and defines a classifier algorithm to dynamically transform gestural interactions based on 3D positions of a hand-joint direction into their corresponding letters whereby live gesturing can be then compared and letters displayed in real time. This research is motivated by the need to increase the opportunity for the Arabic hearing-impaired to communicate with ease using ArSL and is the first step towards building a full communication system for the Arabic hearing impaired that can improve the interpretation of detected letters using fewer calculations. To evaluate the model, participants were asked to gesture the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet multiple times each to create an ArSL letter data set of gestures built by the depth images retrieved by these devices. Then, participants were later asked to gesture letters to validate the classifier algorithm developed. The results indicated that using both devices for the ArSL model were essential in detecting and recognizing 22 of the 28 Arabic alphabet correctly 100 %

A Cluster Analysis of Lifestyle and Health Habits of Youth from Two Geographically and Culturally Diverse Countries

Objectives: Obesity is a leading risk factor for global mortality, promoted by poor dietary habits and sedentary behaviour. This study explores the clustering and differences in dietary habits, body mass index (BMI) and physical activity (PA) amongst youth from United Kingdom (UK) and Saudi Arabia (SA). Methods: 2290 males and females aged 15 - 17 years completed a self-report questionnaire and an objective measure of BMI. Results: Youth from SA had a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity and lower levels of PA than youth from the UK. Males were more physically active than females across both countries. Three clusters were identified: a “high risk” cluster with least healthy dietary habits, low PA and high BMI; a “moderate cluster” with moderate healthy dietary habits, PA and BMI; a “low risk” cluster with healthiest dietary habits, greatest PA and the lowest BMI compared to the other clusters. There were more SA youth in the high and moderate risk clusters compared to UK youth. Conclusions: Exploring cross-cultural and demographic characteristics of youth enables the identification of similarities and differences that might lead to the development of universal intervention strategies

The Combined Effect of Bubble and Photo Catalysis Technology in BTEX Removal from Produced Water

Among the several ways used in wastewater treatment, the photocatalysis process is a more novel and alternative process that is increasingly employed in recent years. This work aims to improve the performance of the photocatalyst process by using air bubbles in removing the BTEX from produced water as an indicator of process efficiency. The study also shows the effect of influencing factors (pH and residence time) on the photocatalysis process. The study was done in a rectangular column with dimensions of 200 mm width, 30 mm depth, and 1500 mm height. Commercial titanium oxide (TiO2) coated on a plate by the varnish was used as a source of the photocatalyst. The experiment was carried out under different values of gas flow rate (0-3 L/min) to evaluate its effect on the photocatalyst process, the effect of other variables of pH (3-11), and irradiation time (30-120) min was also studied. A new method of the coating was adopted by using an alumina plate with varnish as an adhesive. The characteristics results show that the coated plate has hydrophilic properties and that there is no significant change in the crystal structure of the TiO2 nanoparticles and the varnish before and after 60 h of the photocatalytic process, indicating that the plate is still effective after 60 h usage under different conditions. The results also show that the introduction of air bubbles enhances the removal efficiency of BTEX significantly and the best removal effectiveness of BTEX was 93% when pH = 5 after 90 min and 90% when pH = 3 after 120 min. The removal rate also reached 86% when pH = 7 after 120 min all at a flow rate of 3 L/min. The percentage of removal decreased at pH = 9 and 11, reaching 64% and 50%, respectively after 120 min and a flow rate of 3 L/min. Copyright © 2022 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

The Prevalence of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviours Relative to Obesity among Adolescents from Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia: Rural versus Urban Variations

Purpose. The aims of this study were to explore the lifestyle of young people living in Al-Ahsa Governorate; to investigate differences due to gender, age, school type, and geographical location. Methods. 1270 volunteered youth (15–19 years) completed a self-report questionnaire that contained 47 items relating to patterns of physical activity (PA), sedentary activity, and eating habits. The questionnaire allows the calculation of total energy expenditure in metabolic equivalent (MET-min) values per week. Results. Significant differences in the PA levels of youth were evident with regard to gender, geographical areas, and type of school. Also, normal weight males reported the highest levels of PA compared to overweight and obese. Conclusions. Youth living in rural desert were less physically active than those living in urban or rural farm environments. Youth of “normal” weight were more active than obese. Males were more active than females and PA levels appeared to decline with age

Building Towards Automated Cyberbullying Detection: A Comparative Analysis

The increased use of social media between digitally anonymous users, sharing their thoughts and opinions, can facilitate participation and collaboration. However, it’s this anonymity feature which gives users freedom of speech and allows them to conduct activities without being judged by others can also encourage cyberbullying and hate speech. Predators can hide their identity and reach a wide range of audience anytime and anywhere. According to the detrimental effect of cyberbullying, there is a growing need for cyberbullying detection approaches. In this survey paper, a comparative analysis of the automated cyberbullying techniques from different perspectives is discussed including data annotation, data pre-processing and feature engineering. In addition, the importance of emojis in expressing emotions as well as their influence on sentiment classification and text comprehension lead us to discuss the role of incorporating emojis in the process of cyberbullying detection and their influence on the detection performance. Furthermore, the different domains for using Self-Supervised Learning (SSL) as an annotation technique for cyberbullying detection is explored

The prevalence of physical activity and sedentary behaviours relative to obesity among adolescents from Al-ahsa, Saudi Arabia: Rural versus urban variations

Purpose. The aims of this study were to explore the lifestyle of young people living in Al-Ahsa Governorate; to investigate differences due to gender, age, school type, and geographical location. Methods. 1270 volunteered youth (15-19 years) completed a self-report questionnaire that contained 47 items relating to patterns of physical activity (PA), sedentary activity, and eating habits. The questionnaire allows the calculation of total energy expenditure in metabolic equivalent (MET-min) values per week. Results. Significant differences in the PA levels of youth were evident with regard to gender, geographical areas, and type of school. Also, normal weight males reported the highest levels of PA compared to overweight and obese. Conclusions. Youth living in rural desert were less physically active than those living in urban or rural farm environments. Youth of "normal" weight were more active than obese. Males were more active than females and PA levels appeared to decline with age. © 2012 Anwar A. Al-Nuaim et al.Published versio