Psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers of tertiary care hospit

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of mental health issues when faced with the challenges associated with pandemics. This study was conducted to assess the psychological impact of pandemic o n HCWs working in tertiary care hospitals of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. This cross-sectional study was conducted between April & June 2020. By convenience sampling an electronic form of Goldberg General Health Questionnaire was distributed among HCWs of the private sector and public tertiary care hospitals. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Inferential analysis was done. The significant level was considered at p=<0.05. Total of 186 HCWs among which 105 (56.5%) males and 81 (43.5%) females participated in the survey, a mean age of 37.6±9.28 years. The highest prevalence was found for social dysfunction 184 (97.8%) followed by somatization, 169 (92.8%). Significance of difference was found between age group and anxiety (p=0.018), specialty of HCWs with somatization and social dysfunction (p=0.041 and 0.037 respectively). Pandemic poses a significant risk for the mental health of HCWs. During pandemics at its peak, proper mental health support program, personal and family protection assurance is highly recommended for provision of quality care by HCWs

Design and Implementation of Fibre Optic Sensor for Soil Moisture Detection

In this paper, the design and implementation of a fibre optic sensor system for moisture detection are reported. The basic concept of a fibre optic sensor is to detect any changes in the intensity of light that travels inside the fibre. The paper describes the sensor design, the experimental setup and four examples of sensor prototypes. A phototransistor is used to detect light in the fibre optic, while Arduino nano is utilised to read the output data. Four different sensors with different length and width are employed to detect the level of soil moisture. The effects of sensor dimensions on the soil moisture detection are studied. The most stable response provided by two sensors, one with 1-inch width and 0.63 inches length and the other design is with the dimension of 1- inch and 0.87 inches length