DeepCough: A Deep Convolutional Neural Network in A Wearable Cough Detection System

In this paper, we present a system that employs a wearable acoustic sensor and a deep convolutional neural network for detecting coughs. We evaluate the performance of our system on 14 healthy volunteers and compare it to that of other cough detection systems that have been reported in the literature. Experimental results show that our system achieves a classification sensitivity of 95.1% and a specificity of 99.5%.Comment: BioCAS-201

Behavior-genetic Study on a Group of Patients Characterized by Eating Disorders and Multiple Self-destructive Behaviors

近年、欧米諸国およびわが国においては、摂食障害が年々増加している。摂食障害を示す患者の症状、経過、転帰、そして治療に対する反応性などは、はなはだ多彩で単一な疾患とは考えられない。すでに多くの研究者が摂食障害の臨床遺伝学並びに、統計学的研究の結果、本症が異種性の疾患であると結論している。我々も長年にわたり、摂食障害患者ことに、摂食障害にアルコール症をはじめ薬物依存、性障害および性同一性障害、窃盗癖、性的逸脱、自殺、自傷行為など種々の問題行動を伴い、対応の困難な患者の治療に関わってきた。本研究においては、このような、摂食障害に各種の問題行動を伴うものの疾病学的な分類を目標に、行動遺伝学的な研究を行った。対象は1990年1月から1995年12月の6年間に入院・外来治療を行った65名の摂食障害患者で、その中から様々な自己破壊的行動を伴う亜型を類別し、EDMUL（Eating Disorders with Multiple self-destructive behaviors）とした。EDMULでは、アルコール症、薬物依存症、自傷行為、自殺、窃盗癖、性的逸脱行動その他の身体的生命および社会的生命にたいする破壊的行動が、同時に或いは互いに入れ替わって出現した。さらにEDMULの家族内にもアルコール症や問題行動の負因が多く認められ、その基盤として遺伝的背景に基づく強力な衝動性とそのコントロール障害が考えられた。Among a group of patients (n=65), the majority of whom had been introduced to us by eating-disorder specialists elsewhere because of difficulties in their treatment, we defined a subgroup disordered eating behavior, problematical behavior relating to the use of alcohol and other substances, shoplifting, promiscuity, and suicidal tendencies were seen in 74%, 36%, 33%, and 15% of the patients, respectively. Further, this subgroup showed an extremely worse outcome, when compared with the subgroup of patients with pure eating disorders (n=26). With regard to the intrafamilial traits examined among the first-and second-degree relatives, 49% of the patients had the trait for alcohol dependence, 28% had the trait for problematical behaviors. The physically or socially self-destructive types of behavior, which seemed to be attributable to vigorous and uncontrollable intrinsic impulses of the patients, tended to emerge in the respective patients in revolving or alternating manners. Therefore, enduring efforts should be taken to support the personality development of such patients rather than to struggle with respective problematical behaviors, which may be considered merely as facets of a single disorder.(n=39) characterized by eating disorders and multiple behavioral problems. In addition to th

Implications of Patients’ Rights Violations at the Hospital; a study of Winneba Government Hospital, Ghana

Respecting patients’ dignity has been described as a fundamental part of nursing care. Many studies have focused on exploring the concept of patients’ dignity and satisfaction from the patient and nurse perspective, but knowledge is limited regarding nursing perceptions of the impediments they pose to patients’ satisfaction and experiences of the patients themselves. The main objective of the study was to explore the issue of patients’ rights and satisfaction from the perspective of patients. The study used the descriptive survey technique and the sample size for the study was 700 respondents.  The study comprised all persons who were 15 years and above and were currently residing at Winneba in the central region of Ghana for the past two years and simple random techniques under probability sampling procedure was used in selecting respondents for the study. Questionnaire, observation and structured interview were the research instruments used to collect the data. All the respondents (100%) strongly agree and agree that patients’ rights violations has serious implications if not checked, and all the respondents (100%) strongly agree and agree that public education, awareness of human rights, improving the health facilities and resourcing health workers are required to deal with the practice in Ghana. The study concluded that patients’ rights violations a social canker in various Ghanaian communities which clearly violates the protection of the fundamental human rights and has serious implications on Ghanaians.  The root cause of the abuses at the hospitals is the impoliteness and corruption on the part of health workers. The study recommended that the media and other bodies in Ghana should continue educate citizens and create human rights awareness among the entire populace particularly health workers to desist from violating human rights especially the rights of the sick. Hospitals apply all the safety and quality standards to Health as spelt out in the patients act. This is crucial to ensure patient safety and confidence in Health services. Keywords: Patients right, health service, rights violations, abuses, human rights, patients satisfaction

Barriers and facilitators of dairy consumption among individuals with metabolic syndrome.

About 35% of the United States adult population meets the criteria for metabolic syndrome, representing about 85 million individuals. Consuming dairy products protects against the development of the metabolic syndrome and protects against the development of complications associated with it. However, approximately 10% of the U.S. population meets the daily recommendation for dairy products. Information about the use of dairy products among people living with metabolic syndrome is relatively unknown, even though it will benefit them the most. About 49% of respondents met the guidance of three servings per day, and the most common facilitator was access to dairy products

Implications and Dynamics of the Chieftaincy Conflict on Development in Winneba-Ghana

Understanding the social context of the conflict is essential for developing efficient responses. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of chieftaincy conflicts on development and to map a road towards a peaceful resolution of conflict using the human need theory. The non-probability sampling technique was used to decide on respondents for the study. A total of 400 respondents were interviewed and made to fill a 20-item structured questionnaire. The findings show that the Municipality is enjoying negative peace in spite of the Appeal court ruling on the chieftaincy dispute and this is affecting the development of the town.  To resolve this conflict there will be the need for government, political parties, the Municipal Assembly and all stakeholders to show a high sense of morality and refrain from exploiting ethnic sentiments for electoral favours. Again a lot of public education on peace targeting the youth of the area must be started immediately. Peace clubs must be started at the basic schools level to defuse possible breaches of the peace. The study finally concluded that observing Human Needs Theory could effectively give new insights into finding strategies which may work for both Garthey and Ayirebi Acquah Families. Keywords: Chieftaincy, festival, conflict, peace, court, developmen

Addiction to prescription medications of benzodiazepine-type drugs : Treatment in the mental clinic

1952年以来、精神科診療へのクロルプロマジンの導入に始まって、この60年間で薬物治療は大きな変遷を遂げた。またたくうちに、向精神病薬は精神科治療の中で欠くべからざるものとなり、色々な薬剤が開発されるにつれ、その量や種類も年々増加する傾向にあった。21世紀に入り、非定型抗精神病薬の開発によって副作用の少ない薬を単剤で使えるようになった。しかし一方、2000年～2012年にかけてPC、インターネットの進歩・普及に伴い、薬物問題は若年層に拡大し、“処方箋依存"もますます複雑化してきている。本稿では、最近の精神科外来で遭遇するベンゾジアゼピン系をはじめとする薬剤に関する具体的な問題と、それに対する取り組みについて報告し、考察を加えたい。Medical therapy has made great progress in the last sixty years since chlorpromazine, a sedative drug, was first introduced in psychiatric treatment in 1952. Since then, psychoactive drugs became an established therapy in no time, and the availability of such drugs increased both in number and in kind. At the turn of the 21st century, the appearance of atypical antipsychotics enabled single-agent treatment without strong side effects. Meanwhile, since 2000, drug-related problems have been spreading among young people, with the increasing popularity of personal computers and the internet. Addiction to prescription medications has become more prevalent, making drug therapy more complex. This paper discusses issues related to drugs, including benzodiazepine, which has been often prescribed for psychiatric outpatients in recent years, and discusses approaches to solve them by presenting specific examples

Computation of bifurcations : Automatic provisioning of variational equations

In the conventional implementations for solving bifurcation problems, Jacobian matrix and its partial derivatives regarding the given problem should be provided manually. This process is not so easy, thus it often induces human errors like computation failures, typing error, especially if the system is higher order. In this paper, we develop a preprocessor that gives Jacobian matrix and partial derivatives symbolically by using SymPy packages on the Python platform. Possibilities about the inclusion of errors are minimized by symbolic derivations and reducing loop structures. It imposes a user only on putting an expression of the equation into a JSON format file. We demonstrate bifurcation calculations for discrete neuron dynamical systems. The system includes an exponential function, which makes the calculation of derivatives complicated, but we show that it can be implemented simply by using symbolic differentiation

A method to suppress local minima for symmetrical DOPO networks

Coherent Ising machine (CIM) implemented by degenerate optical parametric oscillator (DOPO) networks can solve some combinatorial optimization problems. However, when the network structure has a certain type of symmetry, optimal solutions are not always detected since the search process may be trapped by local minima. In addition, a uniform pump rate for DOPOs in the conventional operation cannot overcome this problem. In this paper proposes a method to avoid trapping of the local minima by applying a control input in a pump rate of an appropriate node. This controller breaks the symmetrical property and causes to change the bifurcation structure temporarily, then it guides transient responses into the global minima. We show several numerical simulation results.Comment: This paper is under article submission and will be published on Nonlinear Theory and Its Applications, IEICE(Vol.E11-N, No.4, Oct. 2020