Evaluation of Prevalence of Fatigue among Jordanian University Students and its Relation to COVID-19 Quarantine

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) presented an opportunity to conduct an online survey to research the psychological fatigue as a mental health issue among the students of Jadara University, Jordan. AIM: This study aimed at assessing prevalence of fatigue in the student population of Jadara University (Irbid, Jordan) and its association with COVID-19 quarantine. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Jadara University during a period of 2 months, extending from March to May, 2020. Two-hundred students (43.8% males and 56.2% females) participated in the study and filled forms of the fatigue assessment scale. RESULT(S): Psychologically-tired students constituted 59.0% of the participants whereas the remainder participants were normal students. Moreover, statistically-significant differences in fatigue between students of the various academic years (p = 0.04) were found. The highest proportion of students suffering from fatigue was observed in the fourth-, and 5th-year students (21 out of 42 and 9 out of 18, respectively, [i.e., 50.0%, each]). The lowest proportion of students suffering from fatigue was that of the 1st-year students (29.0%). Significant differences in fatigue were also found between working and non-working students (p = 0.001), where all the non-working students (92;100.0%) suffered from fatigue while most of the working students experienced no fatigue (82;69.0% of the working students). CONCLUSION(S): The current study adds to the growing body of knowledge available to policymakers and mental health practitioners throughout the world about the links between individual mental health and the COVID-19 quarantine.Copyright © 2022 Aiman Shoiab, Alia Khwaldeh, Ali Alsarhan, Ashraf Khashroum, Ayman Alsheikh, Sokiyna Ababneh.

Obesity risk throughout collective quarantine for the COVID-19

The novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) presented an opportunity to conduct an online survey to research the relationships between changes in body weight, physical activity and lifestyle during an unprecedented occurrence of forced isolation or quarantine among the population of Jadara University. We distributed an electronic questionnaire (cross-sectional) in Jadara University, Jordan, between March and May 2020, where a total of 200 students were approached (43.8% males and 56.2% females). Of 200 questionnaires returned, during the period of semi-lockdown, both females and males increased body weight significantly (p<0.05). Changes in body weight are inversely correlated with changes in the number of meals and increased stress during the quarantine. Quarantine carries some long-term effects on the rate of food intake and sleeping also affects the total body weight. With the prolonged quarantine, these figures are subject to increase consequently and the drawback on health status may drop to a considerably large percentage in the community. Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Romanian Journal of Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases published by Sanatatea Press Group on behalf of the Romanian Society of Diabetes Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Undergraduate Research for Engineering Students and Possible Strategies to Promote Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected undergraduate research activities for college students. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of the pandemic on undergraduate research for engineering students at a teaching-focused university. Data for research grants were obtained before, during, and after the pandemic. The results showed a gradual increase in funding opportunities and awarded grants for faculty members. On the other hand, there was a reduction in the number of undergraduate students involved in these research activities. The study also discussed potential strategies and solutions that enable engineering students at the undergraduate level to conduct research. Most of these strategies focus on gathering and analyzing data without the need for fieldwork, laboratory work, or in-person interactions. © 2022 IEEE.

A New Covid-19 Tracing Approach using Machine Learning and Drones Enabled Wireless Network

The continuous advancements in wireless network systems have reshaped the healthcare systems towards using emerging communication technologies at different levels. This paper makes two major contributions. Firstly, a new monitoring and tracking wireless system is developed to handle the COVID-19 spread problem. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), i.e., drones, are used as base stations as well as data collection points from Internet of Things (IoT) devices on the ground. These UAVs are also able to exchange data with other UAVs and cloud servers. Secondly, this paper introduces a new reinforcement learning (RL) framework for learning the optimal signal-aware UAV trajectories under quality of service constraints. The proposed RL algorithm is instrumental in making the UAV movement decisions that maximize the signal power at the receiver and the data collected from the ground agents. Simulation experiments confirm that the system overcomes conventional wireless monitoring systems and demonstrates efficiency especially in terms of flexible continues connectivity, line-of sight visibility, and collision avoidance. The results show that the proposed healthcare system is feasible and innovative. Furthermore, the system shows good performance under different conditions. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.