LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMMES FOR SENIORS AT THE OPEN CARE CENTRES FOR THE ELDERLY (KAPI) IN SYROS, GREECE: PREDISPOSITION, EXPECTATIONS, MOTIVATION, LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. THE DECISIVE ROLE OF CULTURE

The main goal of this survey is to explore lifelong learning in the third age in the island community of Syros in the hope that the findings will provide data that may be useful in creating educational programme structures. Lifelong learning taking place with a group of senior citizens at the KAPI  in the Municipality of Syros-Ermoupoli will be explored, along with the potential of implementing comprehensive active learning programmes specific to the third age. The topics examined include the idiosyncrasy of the KAPI members, their needs for active ageing, their expectations and motivations, the objects of knowledge they seek and the limitations they set. The principal findings showed that Syros is a fertile field for creating pilot structures for informal education in the third age. The members of the Syros KAPI hope to see such programmes launch with less reticence than expected, but on condition that the present hierarchy of family and social priorities is not radically upset. The elderly are open to the idea of participating in learning programmes, they select specific objects of knowledge and desire to channel the skills they acquire to the local community, which is open to volunteerism. It is noteworthy that in relation to the open-ended questions regarding learning objects, the KAPI members took the initiative to propose cultural education programmes as part of their training. They also believe that the non-formal learning will improve their social image and health and will allow them to become more functional members of the local community.  Article visualizations

Development of a computerized ECG analysis model using the cubic spline interpolation method

An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a bioelectrical signal which records the heart's electrical activity versus time. It is an important diagnostic tool for assessing heart functions. The interpretation of ECG signal is an application of pattern recognition. The techniques used in this pattern recognition comprise: signal preprocessing, QRS detection, creation of variables and signal classification. In this method, signal processing and programs implementation are based in Matlab environment. Matlab was used to develop a program that could further examine, analyze and study the ECG samples. Since the heart waveform can be simulated by cubic spline interpolation, this feature was used by the implemented Matlab program. The ECG samples were normalized and processed to produce 4 specific coefficients. These 4 coefficients of cubic spline were used in the applied methodology in order to evaluate and separate the various heart disorders with mathematical terms and equations. Based on the results of the applied methodology, the categorization of heart disorders without actual clinical examination is possible

Development of a novel system to analyse and detect small changes in ECG signals that indicate cardiac disorders

The analysis of the electrocardiogram as a diagnostic tool is a relatively old field and it is therefore often assumed that the ECG is a simple signal that has been fully explored. However, there remain difficult problems in this field that are being incrementally solved with advances in techniques from the fields of filtering, pattern recognition, and classification, together with the leaps in computational power and memory capacity that have occurred over the last couple of decades. While the ECG is routinely used to diagnose arrhythmias, it reflects an integrated signal and cannot provide information on the micro-spatial scales of cells and ionic channels. For this reason, the field of computational cardiac modeling and simulation has grown over the last decade. The aim of this paper is by using a novel system to develop methods to analyze and detect small changes in ECG waves and complexes that indicate cardiac diseases and disorder

An integrated development hardware design for an advanced wireless Ag/AgCl sensor to acquiring biosignals form ornamental plants

Electrical signals (biosignals) in higher plants could be the information carriers in intracellular and intercellular communication during environmental changes and pathogens attack. Biosignals are currently acquiring by Ag/AgCl electrode attached on plants' shoots and leaves. These plants are usually placed in Faraday's cage (FC) to eliminate the signal-noise. In this paper, we present an integrated hardware design for the development of an advanced wireless Ag/AgCl sensor for plants' biosignals measurements. In order to avoid white Gaussian noise, 50 Hz power line noise as well as the noise of the operating electrical devices, microcontroller embedded systems and IEEE 802.15.4 communication protocol was used for the system performance. The electrical potential was measured on leaves of Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum moriflorum) plants using Ag/AgCl electrodes and recorded in data logger: i) placed inside the FC, ii) in a distance of 15 meter away from FC, connected by interface circuit via wire and iii) in a distance of 60 meter away from FC using a wireless embedded system for data transfer. The wireless connection between embedded systems of Ag/AgCl electrodes did not show signals errors. The wire transmission of biosignal showed harmonics distortions in spectral analysis and the amplitude of biosignal showed modification at 50%. The same result was showed under the effect of a low power RF signal (1- 3,3 Mhz), which transmitted near the location of FC

Prevalence of dementia in elderly patients with hip fracture

Hip fractures occur commonly and are a cause of disability for older adults and lead to increased dependence and requirements for social support. Dementia is one of the possible risk factors for falling and hip fracture, a potential source for complications during surgery and during the postoperative period, difficulties in rehabilitation and a risk factor for hip fracture reccurence. However, in previous studies of hip fracture patients, cognitive status has not been formally assessed during the inpatient stay and diagnosis was based only on previous history. Additionally, no previous studies have compared prevalence of dementia between elderly patients with hip fracture and patients with other surgical pathology. Our aim was to define whether dementia was more prevalent in older subjects with hip fracture than in other elderly patients undergoing surgery. In this study, we prospectively assessed all patients aged 68 and older admitted to our hospital for hip fracture surgery during a one year period and compared them with age and gender matched patients attending other surgical departments. 80 hip fracture patients and 80 controls were assessed for dementia. Dementia was common in both groups, presumably reflecting the advanced mean age of both groups and cognitive deterioration due to hospitalization-status. Dementia was significantly higher in the hip fracture group (85%) compared to the control group (61.5%; p=0.002). Dementia is very common in older patients admitted for surgery to a general hospital and extremely common in those with hip fracture. It seems that dementia is under diagnosed in elderly hospitalised patients. Our data confirm that dementia is a major risk factor for hip fracture in the elderly

Prevalence of Parkinsonism in older patients with hip fracture

Parkinsonism in hip fracture (HF) patients is a potential source for complications during surgery, postoperative period and rehabilitation and a risk factor of second HF. We investigated whether parkinsonism was more prevalent in older subjects with HF than in other older patient groups undergoing surgery. We prospectively assessed patients who had suffered HF and controls. We assigned all patients aged 68 and older admitted in our hospital for HF surgery during last year and compared them with age- and gender matched patients attending other surgical departments. 80 HF patients and 80 controls were assessed for parkinsonism. Parkinsonism was common in both groups, presumably reflecting the mean ages of approximately 80 years, plus hospitalization-status. However, parkinsonism was much higher in the hip fracture group (76.25%) compared to the control hospitalised subjects (37.5%; p < 0.001). The majority of HF patients with parkinsonism were undiagnosed for their parkinsonism symptoms prior to HF and the same was observed in the control group (91.8% and 86.7% respectively, p = 0.471). Among those with parkinsonism, pre-hospitalization drug therapy may have been contributory in 24.5% of HF patients and 30% of controls (p = 0.589). Parkinsonism is very common in older patients admitted for surgery to a general hospital and extremely common in those with HF. It seems that parkinsonism, is heavily under recognised in the elderly. Our data seem to confirm that Parkinsonism is a major risk factor of HF in the elderly

Effect of implantation of Sm+ ions into RF sputtered ZnO thin film

The effects of implantation of Samarium ions (Sm+), a rare earth ion (RE) on the properties of ZnO films grown on Si (001) substrate by RF sputtering system are presented. The structural properties of the virgin and Sm–implanted ZnO thin films were investigated by Atomic force microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Local lattice softening caused by the incorporation of highly mismatched Sm+ (ionic radii 0.096 nm and 0.113 nm for Sm3+ and Sm2+ respectively) into Zn antisites was detected as a red shift in E2 (high) mode likely caused by reduction in the crystallinity of the ZnO film. Photoluminescence on the pristine ZnO film showed a strong near band gap (NBE) emission and an intrinsic defect related blue, green-orange emission. The NBE is suppressed after implantation of Sm+ while the blue, green – orange emission intensities are enhanced as a result of increased structural defects with mismatched charge states. Moreover the effect of varying the concentration of Sm+ ions is presented and compared with predictions made from Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) calculation.The University of the Witwatersrand, Material Physics Research Institute, School of Physics; the XRD and MMU facilities at Wits, NRF and Material Energy Research Group (MERG).https://aip.scitation.org/journal/advam2020Physic