Face Recognition Attendance System

Face recognition systems are used in practically every industry in this digital age. One of the most widely utilized biometrics is face recognition. It can be used for security, authentication, and identity, among other things. Despite its low accuracy relative to iris and fingerprint identification, it is extensively utilized because it is a contactless and non-invasive technique. Face recognition systems can also be used to track attendance in schools, colleges, and companies. Because the existing manual attendance system is time consuming and difficult to maintain, this system intends to create a class attendance system that employs the concept of face recognition. There’s also the possibility of proxy attendance. As a result, the demand for this system grows. Database development, face detection, face recognition, and attendance updating are the four steps of this system. The photos of the kids in class are used to generate the database. Faces are discovered and recognized from the classroom's live streaming footage. At the end of the session, the attendance will be mailed to the appropriate faculty. Keywords: Smart Attendance System, NFC, RFID, OpenCV, NumPy

Disability-inclusive community development: A case of a community garden in Limpopo province in South Africa

Background: Persons with disabilities living in rural areas are marginalised and excluded in most developmental initiatives in South Africa. They face many economic, political and social problems; hence, improving their quality of life is a daunting and challenging task which needs interventions from both the state and non-governmental stakeholders.Objectives: This study aimed to examine the role played by community gardens in rural Limpopo province in uplifting the lives of persons living with disabilities as well as their communities as a whole. Its main objectives were to assess the social and economic benefits they have provided to this group of people.Method: A qualitative research design was used for this study. Twenty-one participants were identified through purposive sampling. They were made up of people with disabilities, officials from Departments of Agriculture and Social Development. Face-to-face interviews were used to collect data which was analysed thematically.Results: Key results were that community gardens have contributed to the economic and social well-being of persons with disabilities. They have assisted them with income to supplement their social grants. They also created jobs for their members and contributed to improved livelihoods of their families.Conclusion: The study demonstrated that people with disabilities are capable people who, if given the necessary support, can transform their livelihoods both socially and economically. The study recommends that a disability access audit be conducted to resolve the accessibility challenges of the garden.

Sleep and its effect on mental health among adolescent and adult population

The global prevalence of mental disorders is on the rise and sleep disorders have been recognized among one of the major contributors affecting well-being and longevity of both young and adult population. Sleep habits are multifaceted and arise from complex interactions between socio-environmental, behavioral, and psychological factors, and any disruptions in the balance of the previous may negatively alter sleep duration and sleep quality leading to sleep disorders, however this phenomenon may vary by age and sex. Emerging evidence suggest that adolescents entering pubertal development face many sleep changes due to biological factors like delay in circadian rhythm and decreased homeostatic sleep pressure as well as due to social factors which may lead to sleep disorders subsequently affecting adolescents' mental health. Sleep hygiene among young population is of primary importance especially as chronic sleep disruption may be a risk factor for mental disorders and multimorbidity along the lifespan, and importantly these association have been proved to be bi-directional. Thus, public health initiatives and guidelines to promote sleep hygiene should emerge in order increase the awareness of sleep disorders and their role in prevention and management of mental disorders.

Explicit dynamics based numerical simulation approach for assessment of impact of relief hole on blast induced deformation pattern in an underground face blast

The breakage of rock mass by blasting has many challenges. The optimal breakage in an underground development face/tunnel blast is dominantly dependent on the relief area provided to the blast holes. The cut portion in the burn cut face blast is significantly important to achieve the controlled deformation due to the blast. This paper has discussed the impact of the number and diameter of the relief holes on the breakage pattern of the rock. The numerical simulation with varying numbers and diameter of relief hole was carried out for this purpose. Finite element modeller explicit dynamics of Ansys-Autodyn was used for the simulation work. The isosurface of non-deformed zone was plotted to compare the extent of deformation under varying conditions of relief holes. The analysis shows that the higher number of relief holes with optimum diameter gives more controlled deformation than single relief hole with larger diameter. The nearfield vibration was also recorded by placement of seismograph. The waveform analysis of the recorded vibration was carried out. The redesigning of the blasting pattern was done using the results of numerical simulation and waveform analysis. The redesigned pattern consists of four relief holes of 115 mm diameter. The blasting output with the revised design has resulted into the considerable improvements in the pull and reduction of overbreak. The revised pattern has addressed the issue of the socket formation at the site.

Translational precision medicine: an industry perspective

In the era of precision medicine, digital technologies and artificial intelligence, drug discovery and development face unprecedented opportunities for product and business model innovation, fundamentally changing the traditional approach of how drugs are discovered, developed and marketed. Critical to this transformation is the adoption of new technologies in the drug development process, catalyzing the transition from serendipity-driven to data-driven medicine. This paradigm shift comes with a need for both translation and precision, leading to a modern Translational Precision Medicine approach to drug discovery and development. Key components of Translational Precision Medicine are multi-omics profiling, digital biomarkers, model-based data integration, artificial intelligence, biomarker-guided trial designs and patient-centric companion diagnostics. In this review, we summarize and critically discuss the potential and challenges of Translational Precision Medicine from a cross-industry perspective.

The GT factor ZmGT-3b mediates growth–defense tradeoff by regulating photosynthesis and defense response1

Plant growth and development face constant threat from various environmental stresses. Transcription factors (TFs) are crucial for maintaining balance between plant growth and defense. Trihelix TFs display multifaceted functions in plant growth, development, and responses to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, we explore the role of a trihelix TF, ZmGT-3b, in regulating the growth–defense tradeoff in maize (Zea mays). ZmGT-3b is primed for instant response to Fusarium graminearum challenge by implementing a rapid and significant reduction of its expression to suppress seedling growth and enhance disease resistance. ZmGT-3b knockdown led to diminished growth, but improved disease resistance and drought tolerance in maize seedlings. In ZmGT-3b knockdown seedlings, the chlorophyll content and net photosynthetic rate were strongly reduced, whereas the contents of major cell wall components, such as lignin, were synchronically increased. Correspondingly, ZmGT-3b knockdown specifically downregulated photosynthesis-related genes, especially ZmHY5 (encoding a conserved central regulator of seedling development and light responses), but synchronically upregulated genes associated with secondary metabolite biosynthesis and defense-related functions. ZmGT-3b knockdown induced defense-related transcriptional reprogramming and increased biosynthesis of lignin without immune activation. These data suggest that ZmGT-3b is a regulator of plant growth–defense tradeoff that coordinates metabolism during growth-to-defense transitions by optimizing the temporal and spatial expression of photosynthesis- and defense-related genes.One-sentence summaryZmGT-3b regulates photosynthesis activity and synchronically suppresses defense response.

The Development of the DDads Questionnaire: Awareness, Knowledge and Attitudes of the General Population Towards Paternal Depression

Objectives: Paternal perinatal depression affects ~10% of new fathers and is known to have a negative impact on men's relationship with their partner as well as with their baby. The attitudes of the general population toward paternal depression have received scant attention in the scientific literature. A better understanding of paternal depression might improve the health literacy of the population and also assist professionals and policy makers to adequately address this issue, to ultimately refine the existing health care alternatives for them. This paper describes the Belgian development, face and content validation of the DDads (Depression in Dads) questionnaire. Its focus is to identify the awareness, knowledge and attitudes of the general population toward paternal perinatal depression.Study Design: The DDads was developed using a three-step model with the following phases: (1) identification of the content domain, (2) item generation and (3) construction of the questionnaire. For the DDads validation a (a) Delphi method with content experts (n = 17) and (b) a cognitive debriefing method with lay experts (n = 20) were used to assess the clarity, relevance, wording and layout.Results: The questionnaire consists of three main components comprising: (1) three questions on awareness, (2) three questions on knowledge and (3) one question on attitudes and beliefs. After round one validation, all questions were considered content valid for relevance (I-CVI 0.94–1.00), and six questions for clarity (I-CVI 0.65–1.00). Scale content (S-CVI/Ave 0.93) and face validity (Face Validity Index 1.00) was obtained. One question was revised and split into two questions in a second round. For one of these questions, item content (0.80–0.93), scale content (0.92) and face validity (1.00) was reached. The one question, exploring the causes of paternal perinatal depression, remained inappropriate and was removed from the DDads. One last question was removed after interviews with lay experts.Conclusions: We developed an instrument to establish awareness, knowledge and attitudes of the general population toward paternal perinatal depression in Belgium. The DDads can be valuable in identifying knowledge gaps. It can help to inform policy makers and health professionals to identify gaps and predisposed attitudes in society toward paternal depression which may hinder appropriate management.

Design Beku: Toward Decolonizing Design and Technology through Collaborative and Situated Care-in-Practices

Increasingly there is a design impulse to “solve” problems for communities in India, especially through technological imaginations and interventions imported from elsewhere that are often irrelevant and unsuited to their context. As public goods, such as education, heritage, health care, and the like, in India shift from ideals of social equity to profit-making, designers engaged in “development” face an important question about their role in the change-making process, with ethical and political implications. In response to this question, we describe our efforts as a newly formed collective, Design Beku, which emerged from our desire to explore if and how technology and design can be decolonial, local, and ethical. Informed by cross-disciplinary theoretical and methodological underpinnings, we present a series of autoethnographic accounts by the collective’s founding members, woven together to describe our experiences, influences, learnings, and reflections on the life of the collective so far. Through articulating the commonalities and differences across our projects, we highlight how co-design becomes for us a care-in-practice, an onto-epistemology enabling us to align with local matters of concern to collaboratively evolve systemic solutions, enabled by but not led by technology. We believe the most powerful critique and challenge to the fascism of corporate and politically motivated technological regimes is by responding through community-centric design practice. We hope that our experiences and reflections will find resonance with other practitioners working within the larger context of the themes articulated by the call for this special issue.