Dyspnea Experience and Dyspnea Management in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Bangladesh

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate dyspnea experience and dyspnea management intervention used by Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients in Bangladesh.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. The symptom management model developed by Dodd et al. was used to guide the study. Data were collected from 140 COPD patients by using self-report questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data.Results: The patients perceived dyspnea difficulty within the past 24 hours and within the past 7 days at moderate level. The most used dyspnea management methods included bronchodilators, leaning forward position, and keeping still. The patients perceived bronchodilators as somewhat effective method and perceived leaning forward position as quite a bit effective method in reducing dyspnea.Conclusion: The study could guide nurses to promote dyspnea management intervention for COPD patients in Bangladesh, in order to enhance higher quality of life

Cardiac Rehabilitation on Health Behaviors and Clinical Outcomes Among Myocardial Infarction Patients

The lack of adherence to health behaviors in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is the leading cause of recurrent myocardial infarction (MI) in Indonesia. This randomized control trial (RCT) study was conducted to examine the effect of a family based self-efficacy enhancing cardiac rehabilitation program on self-efficacy in cardiac health behaviors, health behaviors, and clinical outcomes among MI patients in Indonesia. Sixty MI patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomized by the modified stratified-block method and assigned into either the control group or the experimental group. The patients in the experimental group received the program during phase I over two days and continued to phase II of CR with weekly follow-up sessions. Patients were asked to complete the Self-Efficacy in Cardiac Health Behaviors Scale (SECHBS) and the Modified Myocardial Infarction Health Behaviors Questionnaire (Modified MIHBQ). The results revealed that self-efficacy, health behaviors, and clinical outcomes such as fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, LDL, triglyceride, and BMI of the patients after receiving the intervention were significantly better than before receiving the intervention, except for blood pressure, and HDL levels. Self-efficacy, health behaviors, and clinical outcomes such as total cholesterol, LDL, and triglyceride were significantly better in patients in the experimental group than those in the control group (p < .05), except for blood pressure, HDL, BMI, and blood glucose levels (p > .05). In conclusion, the family based self-efficacy enhancing cardiac rehabilitation program shows evidence of effectiveness in enhancing self-efficacy, health behaviors, and some clinical outcomes in MI patients

Smart scientific instruments based on smartphones: a brief review

Smartphone has gone beyond a communication hub to be a measurement device itself, thanks to various built-in sensors. This article reviewed achievements in transforming ubiquitous smartphones into cost-effective scientific instruments for educational laboratories, environmental studies, point-of-care diagnostics, home-based health monitoring, and rehabilitation. Magnetic fields were precisely measured by built-in magnetometers, leading to demonstrations for engineering and medical applications. The smartphone-based joint-angle measurement was a viable alternative to traditional goniometers. Characterizations of optical signals captured by cameras led to portable spectrophotometers and colorimeters for both educational and practical uses. Interestingly, smartphones became a platform for high-resolution microscopes and fluorescence microscopes were developed with add-on components. These smart instruments become even more attractive options in the pandemic period with limited facility and laboratory access

Modernizing Batik Clothes for Community Enterprises Using Creative Design and Colorimetry

The objective of this study was to modernize batik clothes, a cultural heritage of Southeast Asia, through creative design, color characterization, and collection presentation. Three community enterprises from the southern regions of Thailand participated in designing batik motifs based on their local identities. The pattern of the first manufacturer group was influenced by stones and ancient beads of vivid orange and blue shades. The second community was inspired by the nearby sea, resulting in ocean blue, white, and emerald green colors on batik fabrics. Floras in the south of Thailand dominated the design of the final manufacturer group. Smartphone colorimetry was then used to characterize the batik fabrics. It was demonstrated that this proposed color quantification was not confined to the laboratory, and could easily be carried out by vendors or customers. The collaboration encouraged local batik artisans to use a variety of inspirations, new tools, as well as professional design and production methods. To introduce modernized batik to the public, collections of these newly designed clothes were displayed in a fashion show staged under the theme “Southern Chic.” The presentation of Thai batik clothes in seasonal collections highlighted the transformations of local manufacturers and products with increasing appeal to younger people. In addition to conservation and commercial advantages, the modernized approach is accessible and attractive for education purposes, engaging students in cultural heritage. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01319 Full Text: PD

Automated Data Digitization System for Vehicle Registration Certificates Using Google Cloud Vision API

This study aims to develop an automated data digitization system for the Thai vehicle registration certificate. It is the first system developed as a web service Application Programming Interface (API), which is essential for any enterprise to increase its business value. Currently, this system is available on “www.carjaidee.com”. The system involves four steps: 1) an embedded frame aligns a document to be correctly recognised in the image acquisition step; 2) sharpening and brightness filtering techniques to enhance image quality are applied in the pre-processing step; 3) the Google Cloud Vision API receives a prompt to proceed in the recognition step; 4) a specific domain dictionary to improve accuracy rate is developed for the post-processing step. This study defines 92 images for the experiment by counting the correct words and terms from the output. The findings suggest that the proposed method, which had an average accuracy of 93.28%, was significantly more accurate than the original method using only the Google Cloud Vision API. However, the system is limited because the dictionaries cannot automatically recognise a new word. In the future, we will explore solutions to this problem using natural language processing techniques. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-07-09 Full Text: PD

Comparative analysis of Tesseract and Google Cloud Vision for Thai vehicle registration certificate

Optical character recognition (OCR) is a technology to digitize a paper-based document to digital form. This research studies the extraction of the characters from a Thai vehicle registration certificate via a Google Cloud Vision API and a Tesseract OCR. The recognition performance of both OCR APIs is also examined. The 84 color image files comprised three image sizes/resolutions and five image characteristics. For suitable image type comparison, the greyscale and binary image are converted from color images. Furthermore, the three pre-processing techniques, sharpening, contrast adjustment, and brightness adjustment, are also applied to enhance the quality of image before applying the two OCR APIs. The recognition performance was evaluated in terms of accuracy and readability. The results showed that the Google Cloud Vision API works well for the Thai vehicle registration certificate with an accuracy of 84.43%, whereas the Tesseract OCR showed an accuracy of 47.02%. The highest accuracy came from the color image with 1024×768 px, 300dpi, and using sharpening and brightness adjustment as pre-processing techniques. In terms of readability, the Google Cloud Vision API has more readability than the Tesseract. The proposed conditions facilitate the possibility of the implementation for Thai vehicle registration certificate recognition system

Health Behaviors and Clinical Outcomes Among Patients with Myocardial Infarction in Indonesia

Introduction: Health behaviors are necessary for preventing possible cardiac events and maintaining health for MI patients. In addition to health behaviors, measuring clinical outcomes is a critical element for optimizing treatment and monitoring the risk factors of a cardiac event. The aims of this study were to (1) describe health behaviors and clinical outcomes among patients with myocardial infarction (MI) in Indonesia; and (2) investigate the relationship between their health behaviors, clinical outcomes, and other selected variables. Method: Sixty hospitalized MI patients participated in this descriptive correlational study. Data were analyzed using descriptive and correlational statistics. Results: The majority of MI patients in this study had a moderate level of total health behaviors, exercise behaviors, dietary behaviors, and stress management. Interestingly, most of the patients had a high level of medication adherence, and smoking cessation. Also, their blood pressure (BP) and body mass index (BMI) of MI patients were at the normal level. In contrast, more than half the patients had a high level of fasting blood glucose and total cholesterol, and a low level of HDL. Moreover, nearly half of the patients presented a high level of LDL, and triglyceride. Exercise behaviors have a negative relationship with total cholesterol, and LDL. Interestingly, gender showed a positive relationship with total health behaviors, and smoking cessation. In addition, monthly incomes show a positive relationship with exercise behavior, and dietary behaviors. The number of times hospitalized appeared to have a positive relationship with systolic BP. Surprisingly, MI treatments showed a positive relationship with total health behaviors, smoking cessation, and BP. Discussion: In conclusion, cardiac rehabilitation should involve health behaviors and clinical outcomes to prevent recurrent cardiac events and maintain health for MI patients

A qualitative and quantitative study examining effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on physical and psychological well-being among breast cancer survivors

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on August 3, 2010).Vita.Thesis advisor: Jane M. Armer."May 2010"Ph. D. University of Missouri-Columbia 2010.The study used a mixed-method design to examine effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on health among early-stage breast cancer survivors. The sample consisted of 32 participants, the intervention group (n = 15) and the control group (n = 17). The intervention group received the eight-week MBSR program. ANOVA and ANCOVA were used to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The results of quantitative analyses demonstrated that MBSR was associated with statistically significant improvement in physiological and psychological outcomes in this sample, including reduced high blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate and increased mindfulness state at the significance level of p = .05 to p = .001. Qualitative analyses demonstrated that changes resulting from implementing meditational techniques in daily lives were reported as: "reducing stress," "being more aware," "being more accepting," "being refreshed and having more energy," and "having a whole life change."Includes bibliographical references

An Empirical analysis of consumers purchasing behaviour towards organic products in Thailand

In recent decades, the market for organic products has grown tremendously throughout the world, derived from an awareness of environmental problems and concerns about the health and food safety of modern agricultural practices. Despite Thailand’s increases in organic production and consumption, the growth is still small and in the early phase of the development. The information about consumers’ purchasing behaviour towards organic products is not well researched in Thailand. This study investigates the important factors in consumers’ decisions to purchase organic products (such as vegetables and rice). In addition, this study aimed to estimate the mean willingness to pay (WTP) for organic products (such as Chinese kale, jasmine rice and pork) and assessed the important factors affecting the consumers’ WTP a price premium for organic products. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data at five retail stores in Bangkok and metropolitan area. The survey data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, logistic regression and double-bounded contingent valuation method. The results show that some respondents have been purchasing organic products but few purchased organic products on a regular basis. Respondents are more likely to purchase organic products if they are female, highly-educated, in middle-age, had knowledge about organic products, often purchase groceries at natural/health food store, concern about health and food safety, and perceive the benefits of organic products associated with quality, health and environmental friendly attributes. However, the respondents who are concern with the high price and limited availability and information about organic products are less likely to purchase organic products. The results of the WTP estimates suggest that respondents are willing to pay a premium price of 88%, 51% and 51% for organic Chinese kale, organic jasmine rice and organic pork, respectively. In addition, the respondents are willing to pay a premium price for organic products if they have experience in purchasing organic products, have good health, ethical and environmental concerns, perceive the quality and health benefits of organic products and resided in the city. On the other hand, respondents with children in the household are less likely to pay a premium price for organic products

Color Analysis of Batik Fabric by Facile Smartphone Colorimetry

The color of a textile material is the first attribute and key component considered by consumers while purchasing cloth. However, measurement of fabric color is a very challenging task in the textile fabrication process. Colorimeters aids this measurement by adding objective assessments to a generally subjective process. The colorimeter application in Android smartphones provides a simple alternative to dedicated colorimetric devices. The purpose of this study was to determine the suitability of the smartphone colorimetry application for a Batik fabric color measurement. The colors of various Batik fabric images in the International Commission on Illumination L*a*b* color space, which includes all the colors that are visible by the human eye, obtained by a spectrophotometer and the colorimeter application were compared. Data of Batik fabric images acquired at three different distances of 10, 20, and 30 cm were analyzed. The color differences between the colorimeter and spectrophotometer results are various depending on the distance from the target. The ΔE*ab and ΔE*ch metrics were used to evaluate the color differences between the reference and sample fabric colors. The lowest mean of ΔE*ab values was 12.11 ± 5.29 measured 20 cm away from each fabric. The mean values of ΔE*ab between pairs of color symbols from the Colorimeter application were comparable to those obtained by the spectrophotometer. The ΔE*ab values were more suitable for fabric color measurement than ΔE*ch. The results indicate that smartphone colorimetry provides reasonable accuracy, is simple to use for amateurs, suitable for fabric color matching, and can satisfy fabric market requirements