Effects of medical school on mental health and sleep habits

BACKGROUND and OBJECTIVES: This study aims to define changes in anxiety and depression among medical students while evaluating the association of sleep habits and other risk factors, including exercise habits and a diagnosis of chronic disease. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was also evaluated. DESIGN: A cohort of first- and second-year medical students was evaluated longitudinally using survey methods to quantify changes from pre-medical school and summer break to each semester in medical school throughout years one and two. METHODS: Data was analyzed using Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) on the numeric responses of General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index. Additional assessments evaluated exercise habits, chronic disease, and impact of COVID-19 Pandemic. RESULTS: Depression, anxiety, and sleep habits displayed a cyclical change that was associated with the academic cycle. The COVID-19 pandemic was never significant. Medical students who had a chronic disease diagnosis had increased severity. Exercise did not play a role. CONCLUSION: The main driver for depression, anxiety, and poor sleep quality was the academic cycle, while the COVID-19 pandemic did not have an impact on mental health.

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH BASED ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE USING ANFIS AND ANN FOR MULTIPLE CRITERIA REAL ESTATE PRICE PREDICTION

A relatively high level of precision is required in real estate valuation for investment purposes. Such estimates of value which is carried out by real estate professionals are relied upon by the end-users of such financial information having paid a certain fee for consultation hence leaving little room for errors. However, valuation reports are often criticised for their inability to be replicated by two or more valuers. Hence, stirring to a keen interest within the academic cycle leading to the need for exploring avenues to improve the price prediction ability of the professional valuer. This study, therefore, focuses on overcoming these challenges by introducing an integrated approach that combines ANFIS with ANN termed ANFIS-AN, thereby having a reiteration in terms of ANN application to fortify price predictability. Using 255 property data alongside 12 variables, the ANFIS-AN model was adopted and its outcome was compared with that of ANN. Finally, the results were subjected to 3 different error testing models using the same training and learning benchmarks. The proposed model’s RMSE gave 1.413169, while that of ANN showed 9.942206. Similarly, using MAPE, ANN recorded 0.256438 while ANFIS-AN had 0.208324. Hence, ANFIS-AN’s performance is laudable, thus a better tool over ANN.

The ‘Double Transition’ for First-Year Students: Understanding the Impact of Covid-19 on South Africa’s First-Year University Students

While all students are affected by the advent of the Covid‑19 pandemic, the first‑year student population remains a special category of vulnerability for higher education. This is on account of the way the Covid‑19 pandemic has disrupted their transition into university and complicated the nature of their entry into and through the formal academic cycle. This article uses the notion of a ‘double transition’ as a framework for positioning and locating the first‑year student transition within the context of the prevailing Covid‑19 pandemic. ‘Double transition’ refers to an additional transition coupled with that of the first‑year transition, with regard to the extraordinary situation of students navigating their entry into the unfamiliar terrain of academia while simultaneously navigating the Covid‑19 pandemic. The article provides a circumscribed summary of the effects of Covid‑19 on university students and looks to describe and explain the nature and shape of first‑year transitions in relation to the transition necessitated by the Covid‑19 pandemic. It concludes with four key strategies for supporting first‑year students as the pandemic continues.

Six continents at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome: Flavia Laviosa in conversation with Alfredo Baldi

In this interview Alfredo Baldi, historian of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (CSC) in Rome, gives a detailed overview of the political, cultural and artistic reasons for the prevalent presence of students from about 100 countries and six continents in all the specializations offered at the CSC in Rome (directing, photography, set design and acting), since its foundation in 1935. More specifically, Baldi explains why the CSC was popular in the 1930s and 1940s among students from the Axis nations in pre-war Europe, mentions the fascination of world artists with Italian neorealism, attributes international interest of the CSC to the artistic reputation of the film professionals who taught at the CSC and expresses his interpretation of the reasons for the large numbers of students from Greece, the Arab nations, Latin America and the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. Since its foundation, the CSC has granted diplomas at the end of the two- or three-year cycle of studies, but starting in the 2021–24 academic cycle, it will grant university degrees. Baldi explains what led to this critical and long overdue academic and administrative shift.

A Proposed Web-based System to Evaluate the Performance of Course Learning Outcomes Based on Educational Process: By Using Ordinal Scale Approach

This study aims to develop a web-based system that evaluates the teaching process based on the course learning outcomes. It includes the active involvement of both the course teacher and the enrolled students on the course. Usually, the teacher delivers the course contents by following the course specification and the course learning outcomes. Here, the teacher is a source of equipping students with all the necessary information about the course and the assessment policies. The students participate in the scheduled assessments, and the teacher evaluates students’ performances based on the course learning outcomes. Significantly, the presented study applies the ordinal scale method for evaluating the students’ performances in the conducted assessments. The students’ performances are measured, and the outcomes help the teacher understand the students' learned skills of the course. Further, the result of the measured outcomes uses for the program performance evaluation at the end of the academic cycle. The presented approach is easy to adapt for any academic course in higher education and enables an effective approach for performance evaluation.

Introduction to Multi-Point Design Strategies for Aero Engines

Classic gas turbine design relies on the definition of a design point, and the subsequent assessment of the design on a range of off-design conditions. On the design point, both component sizing (e.g., in terms of physical dimensions or in terms of map scaling parameters) and a solution to the off-design governing equations are established. With this approach, it is however difficult to capture the contradicting requirements on the full operating envelope. Thus, practical design efforts rely on various multi-point design approaches. This paper introduces a simplified notation of such multi-point approaches via synthesis matching tables. It then summarizes two academic state-of-the-art multi-point design schemes using such tables in a comprehensible fashion. The target audience are students and engineers familiar with the basics of classic cycle design and analysis looking for a practical introduction to such multi-point design approaches. Application examples are given in terms of a simple turbojet and a typical geared turbofan as modeled in state-of-the-art academic cycle design and analysis efforts. The results of the classic design point approach are compared to those of multi-point approaches.