Supporting independent living for older adults; employing a visual based fall detection through analysing the motion and shape of the human body

Falls are one of the greatest risks for older adults living alone at home. This paper presents a novel visual-based fall detection approach to support independent living for older adults through analysing the motion and shape of the human body. The proposed approach employs a new set of features to detect a fall. Motion information of a segmented silhouette when extracted can provide a useful cue for classifying different behaviours, while variation in shape and the projection histogram can be used to describe human body postures and subsequent fall events. The proposed approach presented here extracts motion information using best-fit approximated ellipse and bounding box around the human body, produces projection histograms and determines the head position over time, to generate 10 features to identify falls. These features are fed into a multilayer perceptron neural network for fall classification. Experimental results show the reliability of the proposed approach with a high fall detection rate of 99.60% and a low false alarm rate of 2.62% when tested with the UR Fall Detection dataset. Comparisons with state of the art fall detection techniques show the robustness of the proposed approach

Vacuum Pyrolysis of Waste Vehicle Tyres into Oil Fuel Using A Locally, Fabricated Reactor

Abstract Some countries still face daunting challenges of managing ever-increasing waste generated, especially plastic and waste vehicle tyres.  Whilst some developed countries have adopted innovative ways such as catalytic or pyrolytic decomposition processes for energy or fuel generation from these wastes, developing countries like Ghana still dispose off indiscriminately around communities or un-engineered dumpsites. Hence, this study sought to transform waste vehicle tyres into fuel which invariably minimises or eliminates its environmental impact. Particularly, waste vehicle tyres (sourced from dumpsites in Tarkwa, Ghana) were washed, shredded and decomposed via pyrolysis at high temperature range (~ 450 - 650 oC) using locally designed and fabricated reactor. The physicochemical properties (such as water content, flashpoint, density, sulphur content, solids and viscosity) of the pyrolysis oil produced were also examined using the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards and procedures. The results showed that the viscosity, flashpoint and the density of the pyrolysis oil produced were 0.904 cSt, 34.5 oC, and 850.6 kg/m3 (at 15 oC), respectively. The sulphur, water and solids/particulates contents were 4340.0 ppm, 0.8 vol.%, and 483,495.5 ppm, respectively. It was also observed that the pyrolysis oil obtained appeared as thick, single-phase liquid with dark colour and strong odour at room temperature. Relatively, the properties of pyrolysis oil produced without further treatment did not meet the International specification for diesel fuel, hence its usage would require further treatments such as desulphurisation, decanting, centrifugation and filtration. Overall, the study has demonstrated that the pyrolysis of waste vehicle tyres into fuel provides an alternative method for managing end-of-life vehicle tyres and adding value to waste in general.   Keywords: Pyrolysis, Waste Vehicle Tyres, Reactor, Pyrolysis Oil, Biofue

Renal health after long-term exposure to tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) in HIV/HBV positive adults in Ghana

Objectives: The study assessed markers of renal health in HIV/HBV co-infected patients receiving TDF- containing antiretroviral therapy in Ghana. Methods: Urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio (uPCR) and albumin-to-protein ratio (uAPR) were measured cross-sectionally after a median of four years of TDF. At this time, alongside extensive laboratory testing, patients underwent evaluation of liver stiffness and blood pressure. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was measured longitudinally before and during TDF therapy. Results: Among 101 participants (66% women, median age 44 years, median CD4 count 572 cells/mm 3 ) 21% and 17% had detectable HIV-1 RNA and HBV DNA, respectively. Overall 35% showed hypertension, 6% diabetes, 7% liver stiffness indicative of cirrhosis, and 18% urinary excretion of Schistosoma antigen. Tubular proteinuria occurred in 16% of patients and was independently predicted by female gender and hypertension. The eGFR declined by median 1.8 ml/min/year during TDF exposure (IQR −4.4, −0.0); more pronounced declines ( ≥5 ml/min/year) occurred in 22% of patients and were associated with receiv-ing ritonavir-boosted lopinavir rather than efavirenz. HBV DNA, HBeAg, transaminases, and liver stiffness were not predictive of renal function abnormalities. Conclusions: The findings mandate improved diagnosis and management of hypertension and suggest targeted laboratory monitoring of patients receiving TDF alongside a booster in sub-Saharan Africa

Bridging the Gap between Rural Water Supply and Demand using Harvestable Rainwater: A Case Study of Adansi-Fumso

Rainwater harvesting has several benefits including providing a valuable alternative source of water for households, reduction in flood flow to storm drains and settlement erosion as well as health benefits. The research aimed at assessing and confirming the available renewal water sources, determining the cost of developing a rainwater harvesting system and assessing the potential of rainwater as a supplement to water supply at Fumso. Using a systematic random sampling technique and a sample size of 100 respondents, it was discovered that rainwater harvesting in Adansi Fumso has the potential to conserve on-site potable water use, protect water quality and reduce the risk of flooding within the community. Rainwater was preferred by the community due to its easy accessibility, nature (clean, pure, healthier and tastier), cost and quality. An examination of the rainfall records at AngloGold Ashanti weather station at Obuasi revealed an average annual rainfall of 1449.2 mm with the drier months (November, December, January and February) receiving only a quarter of the average monthly rainfall. The relatively high rainfall means that rainwater harvesting system designs need to be taken as a priority in addressing the water shortage situation in the community. Geometrically uniform building shapes and the local hydrology can provide sufficient rainwater to serve buildings in the community. The cost of the proposed rainwater harvesting system is GH ¢ 389.00 ($256.00). Reasons have been given for the need for this project and recommendations made for its implementation at Adansi Fumso as the best alternative source of water to the fewer boreholes in the community

Characteristics course and outcomes of children admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit after cardiac arrest

Background. Cardiac arrest is a potentially devastating event, associated with death or severe neurological complications in survivors. There is little evidence on paediatric cardiac arrest prevalence, characteristics and outcomes in South Africa (SA). Objective. To describe the characteristics, course and outcomes of children admitted to an SA paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) following cardiac arrest. Methods. Retrospective descriptive study of routinely collected data (January 2010 - December 2011). Results. Of 2 501 PICU admissions, 110 (4.4%) had preceding cardiac arrest. The median (interquartile range (IQR)) age of children was 7.2 (2.5 - 21.6) months. In-hospital arrests accounted for 80.6% of the events. The most common primary diagnostic categories were respiratory (29.1%), cardiovascular (21.4%) and gastrointestinal (21.4%). Twenty-four patients (23.3%) arrested during endotracheal intubation. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was applied for a median (IQR) of 10 (5 - 20) minutes. Duration of CPR for non-survivors and survivors was 17.5 (10 - 30) v. 10 (5 - 15) minutes (p=0.006). PICU mortality was 38.8%, with half of the deaths occurring within 24 hours of admission. The standardised mortality ratio was 0.7. The median (IQR) length of stay in the PICU and hospital was 3 (1 - 8) and 27 (9 -52) days, respectively. No independent predictors of mortality were identified. Thirty-nine surviving patients (76.5%) had normal neurological function or mild disability at follow-up after hospital discharge. Six (11.8%) survived with severe disability. Conclusion. Mortality was lower than predicted in children admitted to the PICU following cardiac arrest. The majority of survivors had good neurological outcomes

Spread of African cassava mosaic virus from cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) to physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) in Ghana

Investigations were made on the susceptibility of physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) to African cassava mosaic virus (ACMV) and its possible role as an alternative host of the virus in Ghana. Ten J. curcas accessions in a field trial were interplanted with ACMV-infected cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) and left to natural spread of the virus from the cassava to the J. curcas plants for a period of 12 months. Populations of the whitefly vector, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) and the incidence of African cassava mosaic disease (ACMD) were monitored during the period. The J. curcas plants had low whitefly numbers, both in the wet (September – October, 2008) season and in the dry (January – February, 2009) season. By the end of the experimental period, 37.7% of the 120 J. curcas plants tested in all the accessions were found to be infected by ACMV, as assessed by symptom expression, double antibody-sandwich (DAS) ELISA or sap inoculation to Nicotiana benthamiana indicator plants. There were wide variations within and between the J. curcas accessions in their response to ACMV infection. This work is the first report of the natural infection of J. curcas by ACMV

The concept of solidarity: emerging from the theoretical shadows?

The concept of solidarity has been relatively neglected by social scientists since Durkheim's pioneering work in the late 19th century. The discipline of politics has been guilty of overlooking this 'subjective' element of community life, but recent works by Stjernø and Brunkhorst reflect a growing awareness of the theoretical significance of the concept. Whereas early liberal attempts to theorise solidarity took the nation state to be the appropriate community for its realisation, the emergence of globalisation raises the possibility of human solidarity developing in the global community. Traditional forms of solidarity have been dissipated by the social changes accompanying globalisation, but they were often locked into the defence of particular interests. New forms may be emerging to rekindle the broader vision of human solidarity. Recent work by writers such as Habermas, Honneth, Rorty and Touraine focuses on widening and deepening democratic participation and/or the articulation of our ethical obligations in various ways. It is argued here that these perspectives need to be supplemented by a radical humanist approach grounded in a normative theory of human self-realisation

Madness decolonized?: Madness as transnational identity in Gail Hornstein’s Agnes’s Jacket

The US psychologist Gail Hornstein’s monograph Agnes’s Jacket: A Psychologist’s Search for the Meanings of Madness (2009) is an important intervention in the identity politics of the mad movement. Hornstein offers a resignified vision of mad identity that embroiders the central trope of an “anti-colonial” struggle to reclaim the experiential world “colonized” by psychiatry. A series of literal and figurative appeals make recourse to the inner world and (corresponding) cultural world of the mad, as well as to the ethno-symbolic cultural materials of dormant nationhood. This rhetoric is augmented by a model in which the mad comprise a diaspora without an origin, coalescing into a single transnational community. The mad are also depicted as persons displaced from their metaphorical homeland, the “inner” world “colonized” by the psychiatric regime. There are a number of difficulties with Hornstein’s rhetoric, however. Her “ethnicity-and-rights” response to the oppression of the mad is symptomatic of Western parochialism, while her proposed transmutation of putative psychopathology from limit upon identity to parameter of successful identity is open to contestation. Moreover, unless one accepts Hornstein’s porous vision of mad identity, her self-ascribed insider status in relation to the mad community may present a problematic “re-colonization” of mad experience

Liver stiffness and virologic outcomes after introducing tenofovir as part of antiretroviral therapy in lamivudine-experienced adults with HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection in Ghana: four-year follow up of the prospective HEPIK cohort

Introduction Until recently lamivudine was the only available agent to treat hepatitis B in the context of HIV infection in sub‐Saharan Africa. Tenofovir is gradually becoming available although access remains far from universal. Long‐term outcomes of introducing tenofovir as part of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in subjects previously extensively exposed to lamivudine as the sole HBV‐active agent in the region are unknown. Methods We report from a prospective cohort of HIV/HBV co‐infected adults attending for HIV care in Kumasi, Ghana, where HBsAg prevalence is 14%. HBsAg‐positive subjects were invited to attend for transient elastography (TE) and blood sampling before the introduction of tenofovir (TO) as part of ART, and within 1 year (T1) and 4 years (T2) of starting tenofovir. Adherence and alcohol consumption were determined by a questionnaire‐based interview. Results Overall 178 patients underwent evaluation at T0/T1, of whom 98 (55%) also attended for assessment at T2. Remaining patients were lost to follow up (50; 28%); had died (10; 6%); declined to attend (17; 10%); or were excluded due to pregnancy (2; 1 %) or invalid TE (1; 1 %). Of the 98 subjects, 94 had started tenofovir‐based ART and had received tenofovir for median 4 years (IQR 3.8, 4.1), while continuing previous lamivudine (Table 1). By multivariable linear regression, female gender, no history of alcohol excess, and higher HBV DNA level, higher liver stiffness, and lower platelet count at T0/T1 were significant predictors of decreasing liver stiffness between TO/1 and T2. No treatment‐emergent resistance mutations in HBV polymerase were observed by Sanger sequencing among subjects with HBV DNA>100 lU/ml at T2; one subject showed M204V+V173L+L180M at both TO and T2. Conclusions This is the first report of the long‐term impact on liver stiffness and virologic parameters of introducing tenofovir as part of ART in extensively lamivudine exposed HIV/HBV co‐infected patients in sub‐Saharan Africa. Significant reductions in liver stiffness and improved HBV control were observed at four years