Eating Patterns and Daily Dietary Recall of Primary School Pupils: An Empirical Evidence from A School Feeding Scheme

The objective of this study was to experimentally evaluate children’s daily food memory and eating habits.The study found that the gender and school location had an impact on the nutritional condition of primary school students as well as the school food scheme.The investigations were based on three hypotheses and three research questions.In this study,the Eating Habits and Daily Dietary Recall Scale was the tool utilized to gather data(EPDDRS).Four experts—three from the department of vocational education and one lecturer in test and measurement evaluation—validated the instrument’s face.The dependability indices of EPDDRS were calculated using Cronbach’s Alpha.While delivering the instruments,the researcher used the direct administration and retrieval approach.58 instructors and a sample size of 1240 students were selected using a systematic random selection approach.The obtained data was examined using mean and standard deviation to address the research objectives,and the null hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics and Analysis of variance(ANOVA)at the 0.05 level of significance.The main conclusions of this study were that the school meal program had a favorable impact on the students’nutritional status.Also,a balanced ration of nutrient-dense meals that were suitably varied was supplied for the students via the school food program.Also,the findings revealed a substantial difference in the mean assessments of male and female students about their eating patterns.On the school meal program’s dietary recall list,students from high,middle,and low socioeconomic status differ significantly.Recommendations were given to the government,schools,and parents based on the study’s findings.The study’s shortcomings were discussed,and recommendations for more research were made.

Pupils in Wenchuan Earthquake

A great earthquake broke out in WenChuan. A lot of people were killed, but somany people were rescused by soldiers.Here are stories about three recused pupils.Langzhen, aged three, was rescusedby the soldiers after being buried in ruinsfor 10 hours.

Effect of socio-demographic status on dental caries in pupils by using a multilevel hurdle model

Introduction: Dental caries is the most prevalent chronic disease among schoolchildren. We aimed to investigate the association between dental caries index and socio-demographic status in schoolchildren by using a multilevel hurdle model. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiological study was carried out on 906 primary school pupils in Kerman, Iran in 2012. The subjects were selected through a stratified cluster random sampling. At first, the whole target area was stratified according to two geographic areas, the north and south area. Then each area was stratified according to gender. In the next step, several schools were considered as clusters, which were selected randomly in each geographic area and gender strata. All the schoolchildren in these schools were included in this study as samples. Twelve-year-old pupils were examined for dental caries. The dependent variable in this study was the dmft/DMFT index. Eight variables, including socio-demographic information, were collected. Multilevel negative binomial hurdle model was employed for data analysis. Results: The prevalence of caries-free pupils was 30.1% and the mean dmft/DMFT was 3.6 ± 2.2. Negative binomial part of the adjusted model showed that the dmft/DMFT adjusted rate for females was 1.36 (95% CI: 1.10-1.79) times higher than males. Also, the dmft/DMFT adjusted rate for overweight pupils was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.74-0.98) times lower than those with normal weight. Logistic part of the adjusted model showed that the posibility of caries-free state in overweight pupils was 1.95 (95% CI: 1.22-3.11) times higher than those with normal weight. In addition, pupils whose fathers and mothers were workers and housewives, respectively, and those with a high maternal age were at a greater risk for caries experience than others (p < 0.05). Conclusion: BMI, gender, parent’s job and mother’s age at delivery were factors effecting on dental caries in schoolchildren. These pupils need more attention to dental care.

Research on the prevalence of conduct disorders among primary school pupils in Khartoum-Sudan

The aim of this research was to investigate conduct disorder among pupils of primary schools in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. School survey descriptive method was used and 384 pupils were selected from primary schools through systematic sampling technique. Age ranged from 5 to 17 years old with a mean of (9.34) years. The tools of data collection consisted of the Sutter-Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory. The statis-tical tests used to analyze the collected data involve frequency and percentage, Pearson co-efficient of correlation, mean, t-test for one sample and t-test for two independent samples. The results of this research revealed that that the prevalence of conduct disorder among pupils of primary schools in Khartoum was low. There were significant differences in conduct disorder between male and females pupils. There were no significant differences between pupils of pre-paratory classes and pupils of elementary classes. There was no significant correlation between conduct disorder and age.

Too Sweet/Too Fatty Food Consumption: Determinants among Secondary School Pupils in the City of Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)

Introduction: Nutrition, particularly when too sweet or too fatty, is a major determinant of chronic diseases. This study aims to determine the frequency and associate factors of the excessive consumption of sweet drinks and fried food among secondary school pupils. Methods: It is cross-sectional study which was conducted from March to April 2016 among 1st, 4th and 7th form pupils of public and private schools in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. Nutritional investigation methods consisted in a reminder of the last 24 hours associated with a questionnaire on food consumption frequency. Excessive consumption of sweet drinks was defined as a consumption of more than 3 sweet drinks (soda) or sugary juice per day (~33 cl × 3);and excessive consumption of fried food as a consumption of more than 1 intake of fried food per day. Results: In total, 1993 pupils were interviewed. The mean age was 17.5 ± 3.6 years and sex-ratio 0.7. Excessive consumption of sweet drinks and fried food was recorded in 12.7% (n = 253) and 28.2% (n = 561) of pupils, respectively. The factors associated with excessive consumption of sweet drinks were: sex/female, sedentarily, desire to gain weight, lean or normal corpulence of the mother and breakfast intake;those associated with excessive consumption of fried food were: sex/female, being in 1st or 4th form, physical exercise practice and breakfast intake. But the fact to attend a private secondary school, to have a mother of normal corpulence and a concordance between self-image and actual weight status, were protective against excessive consumption of fried foods. Conclusion: This study has displayed prominently the fact that eating too sweet and too fatty concerned respectively 1/10 and 3/10 of pupils in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. The main modifiable factors of these eating habits included the level of education, the composition of breakfast and the influence of mothers. An intervention program in the form of a Communication for Continuous Behavioral Change intended for pupils and their mothers could help to improve this situation.

Food Behavior of Pupils in the City of Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)

Introduction: Diet is a determinant of chronic non transmissible diseases. The aim of this study was to describe pupils’ diet in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that took place from March to April 2016, among 1st, 4th and 7th form pupils of public and private schools in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. Diet survey methods were a reminder of the last 24 hours and the questionnaire of consumption frequency. Results: A total of 1993 pupils were surveyed. The mean age was 17.5 ± 3.6 years and the sex ratio 0.7. The majority of pupils (90.5%) reported eating at least 3 meals a day. Dietary recommendations were different according to food groups. For example, vegetables (90.0%), fruits (75.4%) and dairy products (79.3%) were the least well consumed foods compared to recommendations. Protein and starch intake were inadequate among these pupils with 39.7% and 58.2% respectively. Almost 1/4 had a regular weekly alcohol consumption (23.4%) while an excessive consumption of sweet drinks and fried foods was noted in 12.7% and 28.2% of them, respectively. Conclusion: This study has revealed a general insufficiency in the recommended dietary intakes of fruit, vegetables, proteins, starchy foods and dairy products among pupils, and on the other hand, a regular consumption of fatty, sugary and alcoholic foods for about a fifth of them. An intervention program such as “Communication for Continuous Behavior Change” would help improve these habits.

A Study of Anthropometric Indices among Pupils in Rural Communities around Kainji Dam, Niger State

The physical and mental development of pupils could be arrested by inadequate food intake and infection with immediate and long term consequences. This has implications on decreased school performances, lower intelligent quotient levels, poor psychosocial development, and decreased cognitive functions. This study assessed the growth and body fat distribution among pupils aged 5 - 19 years. A cross-sectional study was conducted among pupils from five primary schools in different communities around Kainji Dam. This assessment was based on a comparison with reference standards set by the World Health Organization to determine their deviations. A qualified registered nurse carried out physical measurements to obtain age, height, and body weight using electronic weighing scale and stadiometer. Data were analyzed using Anthroplusv1.0.4 software. The overall prevalence of stunting was 21.5% with 8% being severely stunted. The prevalence of thinness was 35.2% with 11.2% being wasted while the overall prevalence of underweight was not calculated for children > 10 years old. The prevalence of underweight for 5 - 10 years old children was 16.9% with 2.4% being severely underweight. The curves for both male and female children deviated from normal distribution. Females have higher percentage of stunting than males. This study revealed a high prevalence of thinness and stunting which is the consequence of poor nutrition arising from multifaceted and interrelated circumstances such as poor feeding, eating practices and repeated infection. Intervention such as Home Grown School Feeding Programme of the Government is a right step in improving the nutritional status of pupils in rural communities.

The Level of General Physical Performance and Physical Development of 10-Year-Old Pupils

This contribution deals with the level of general physical performance of 10-year-old male and female pupils attending primary schools. Fourth grade pupils attending primary schools in Banska Bystrica were tested in the number of 433 pupils （220 boys and 213 girls）. The following indicators of general physical performance were monitored： sit-and-reach, standing long jump, sit-ups, flexed arm hang, shuttle run 4 ×10 m, endurance shuttle run. Also basic somatic indicators such as body height, body weight and BM! were found out. 10-year-old boys achieve better level in five tests of general physical performance. The girls achieve statistically better level in one test. When comparing it with the previous researches in Slovakia, we noted a lower level of general physical performance but a higher level of indicators of physical development of boys and girls from Banska Bystrica. Used set of tests affects the whole range of general physical performance, and it is adequate to the temporal, spatial and material conditions of schools.

Asymptomatic Carriage of Salmonella and Intestinal Parasites in Pupils in Yaounde

Background: Feco-oral transmitted diseases (FOTD) remain a public health issue, particularly in developing countries. Data concerning the carriage of Salmonella and intestinal parasites in children are available worldwide but are lacking in Cameroon. This study aimed to determine the asymptomatic carriage of Salmonella and intestinal parasites in children of two primary schools in Yaoundé. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from October 2017 to May 2018 in two primary schools (from rural and urban areas) in the 7th precinct of Yaoundé. Sociodemographic, clinical and paraclinical (rectal swab, direct examination of fresh stool and bacteriological culture on Hektoen medium) data were collected. Results: We included 368 (192 boys) pupils from both schools (184 in each school) with a mean age of 8.99 ± 2.21 years. None of the children was infected by Salmonella spp. Intestinal parasite prevalence was 9.80% (6.52% of children from the urban school vs 13.04% from the rural ones). The intestinal parasite prevalence tended to be higher in girls than in boys (11.98% vs. 7.39%). Among intestinal parasites, protozoa were the most widely found. Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia intestinalis were the most prevalent pathogenic intestinal protozoa (11.11% vs. 25% of all positive stool exams). The helminths, less frequent, were represented by Ascaris lumbicoides and Enterobius vermicularis. The factors associated with intestinal parasite carriage were mainly rural school location and age between 11 - 13 years. Conclusion: Among children in primary school, Salmonella infection was absent, while intestinal parasites are frequent, represented mostly by protozoa. This parasitism is in our cohort associated with the rural school location and the 11 - 13 years age group. This suggests that there is additional room for the implementation of prevention measures for intestinal parasite infections in our setting.

THE INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS OF THE PUPILS（9～12YEARS OF AGE）OF XI＇AN CITY

pupils aged 9～12 years from six primary schools were cross-sectionally investigated on the psychological disorders with Conner Scale and EPQ. The results showed that the incidence of psychological disorders was 18. 2%,with 21. 3% in male and 15. 5% in female. The incidehees were significantly difrerent between male and remal (P<0. 05). The incidences or learning difficulty,hyperactivity and impulsive behavior were 8. 2%, 5. 3%,and 5.3% respectively.The family factors influencing the psychological disorders were the pupils'birth problems,the relationship between the pupils and their parents, and the parents'inappropriate prospect for the pupils.The investigation also found that the pupils with psychological disorders had more poor experiences or their family and school and more of them had obvious personality tendencies towards unstability or emotion,eccentricity and social immaturity as compared with the normal pupils. The effective measures to promote pupils'psychological health were suggested in this article.

The Influence of Parent-Child Relationship on Pupils’ Learning Motivation: The Mediating Role of Teacher-Student Relationship

Objective:The study is to analyze the influence of parent-child relationship on pupils’learning motivation,and to explore the mediating mechanism of teacher-student relationship in parent-child relationship and learning motivation.Method:This study conducted a questionnaire survey on 213 pupils in Grades 5 and 6 in two schools in Beijing using Pianta’s teacher-student relationship scale revised by Qu,Dornbush’s parent-child intimacy scale revised by Zhang and the learning motivation scale adapted by Hu.Results:Gender,grade,whether they are the only child and to be a class cadre or not show significant differences in some dimensions of parent-child relationship,teacher-student relationship and learning motivation.The total scores of parent-child relationship,teacher-student relationship and learning motivation are positively correlated,and some sub dimensions are also significantly correlated.Parent-child relationship and teacher-student relationship have a significant positive predictive effect on learning motivation,and parent-child relationship has a significant positive predictive effect on teacher-student relationship.Teacher-student relationship plays a mediating role in the influence of parent-child relationship on learning motivation.Conclusions:Parent-child relationship can promote the relationship between teachers and students,and then enhance pupils’learning motivation.

Stress Relief Measurements in Young Adults and Adolescents—A Comparative Pilot Study with Different Relaxation Programs

Background: Chronic stress is a emotional challenge. Constant pressure presents a serious risk of damage to mental and physical health and hence is associated with increased incidence of various diseases. The ability to cope with chronic stress may be a function of psychological resilience including intellectual capacities, but more so of external factors such as life experience and education. Adolescents are more vulnerable to chronic stress than adults. The measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic brought up major societal problems. As both children and adolescents lost their life anchors, the prevalence of stress in adolescents increased from 20% to 45%. Chronic psychological stress can impede the normal development of schoolchildren. It may cause anxiety, social withdrawal, interpersonal conflicts and aggression. This applies particularly to those in puberty, with the adolescent already facing unstable social bonds and elevated fear about the future. It is likely that the puberty cohort accounts for the dramatic increase in the prevalence of stress. Since it impacts public health, chronic stress among school-age children is increasingly taking on a socio-political dimension. Non-clinical stress intervention studies can investigate how to achieve stress reduction in school children. Methods: In a small pilot study, we analysed the effects of a training program with four different standard interventions, i.e. mindfulness training, progressive muscle reflection, autogenic training, and sound meditation. We obtained baseline scores of 10 stress-indicators, and re-tested after the interventions were performed. Results: The four applied interventions resulted in a reduction of 8 (out of 10) stress-indicators, such as “feeling stressed” or stress related symptoms (headaches, dizziness, sweating). This positive impact of the interventions significantly reduced “Fears about the future” (p Discussion: School children recognise the positive potential of stress reducing training or interventions. Our results provide evidence in support of integrating the training of relaxation techniques in the school curriculum. We propose that a larger study be undertaken to determine which methods would be most effective.

Relations Between School and Immigrant Families in Albertan Francophone School: Perspectives of Settlement Workers in Schools - A Secondary Publication

In recent years,Francophone schools in Alberta,a province in western Canada,have seen significant ethnocultural diversification of their school population,thus reflecting recent migratory changes in Canada.The population of a Francophone school board located in an agglomeration of Alberta reflects these new migratory trends.A partial ethnodemographic portrait carried out in 2003 in six of its schools indicates that 50%of the pupils come from an immigrant background and come from 23 different countries;mostly from sub-Saharan African countries.This demographic reality,confirmed more than a decade later,represents a major structural change for Francophone schools.In Alberta,as in other Canadian provinces,inclusion is at the heart of discourse and educational practices.With a transformative aim,it intends to promote ethnocultural diversity in the classroom and equal opportunities through school equity practices.This article focuses on the settlement workers in schools responsible for bridging family,community,and school cultures.The analysis of the interviews of the four workers sheds light on and questions both the institutional practices and the personal strategies put in place to face the challenges encountered in this tripartite collaboration.

Evaluation of Technical Education by Using a Modern Structured MOODLE Laboratory Course, in Relation to Recent Data

E-learning platforms support education systems worldwide, transferring theoretical knowledge as well as soft skills. In the present study high-school pupils’, and adult students’ opinions were evaluated through a modern structured MOODLE interactive course, designed for the needs of the laboratory course “Automotive Systems”. The study concerns Greek secondary vocational education pupils aged 18 and vocational training adult students aged 20 to 50 years. The multistage, equal size simple random cluster sample was used as a sampling method. Pupils and adult students of each cluster completed structured 10-question questionnaires both before and after attending the course. A total of 120 questionnaires were collected. In general, our findings disclosed that the majority of pupils and adult students had significantly improved their knowledge and skills from using MOODLE. They reported strengthening conventional teaching, using the new MOODLE technology. The satisfaction indices improved quite, with the differences in their mean values being statistically significant.

Robust Facial Biometric Authentication System Using Pupillary Light Reflex for Liveness Detection of Facial Images

Pupil dynamics are the important characteristics of face spoofing detection.The face recognition system is one of the most used biometrics for authenticating individual identity.The main threats to the facial recognition system are different types of presentation attacks like print attacks,3D mask attacks,replay attacks,etc.The proposed model uses pupil characteristics for liveness detection during the authentication process.The pupillary light reflex is an involuntary reaction controlling the pupil’s diameter at different light intensities.The proposed framework consists of two-phase methodologies.In the first phase,the pupil’s diameter is calculated by applying stimulus(light)in one eye of the subject and calculating the constriction of the pupil size on both eyes in different video frames.The above measurement is converted into feature space using Kohn and Clynes model-defined parameters.The Support Vector Machine is used to classify legitimate subjects when the diameter change is normal(or when the eye is alive)or illegitimate subjects when there is no change or abnormal oscillations of pupil behavior due to the presence of printed photograph,video,or 3D mask of the subject in front of the camera.In the second phase,we perform the facial recognition process.Scale-invariant feature transform(SIFT)is used to find the features from the facial images,with each feature having a size of a 128-dimensional vector.These features are scale,rotation,and orientation invariant and are used for recognizing facial images.The brute force matching algorithm is used for matching features of two different images.The threshold value we considered is 0.08 for good matches.To analyze the performance of the framework,we tested our model in two Face antispoofing datasets named Replay attack datasets and CASIA-SURF datasets,which were used because they contain the videos of the subjects in each sample having three modalities(RGB,IR,Depth).The CASIA-SURF datasets showed an 89.9%Equal Error Rate,while the Replay Attack datasets showed a 92.1%Equal Error Rate.

Advancing automated pupillometry:a practical deep learning model utilizing infrared pupil images

AIM:To establish pupil diameter measurement algorithms based on infrared images that can be used in real-world clinical settings.METHODS:A total of 188 patients from outpatient clinic at He Eye Specialist Shenyang Hospital from Spetember to December 2022 were included,and 13470 infrared pupil images were collected for the study.All infrared images for pupil segmentation were labeled using the Labelme software.The computation of pupil diameter is divided into four steps:image pre-processing,pupil identification and localization,pupil segmentation,and diameter calculation.Two major models are used in the computation process:the modified YoloV3 and Deeplabv 3+models,which must be trained beforehand.RESULTS:The test dataset included 1348 infrared pupil images.On the test dataset,the modified YoloV3 model had a detection rate of 99.98% and an average precision(AP)of 0.80 for pupils.The DeeplabV3+model achieved a background intersection over union(IOU)of 99.23%,a pupil IOU of 93.81%,and a mean IOU of 96.52%.The pupil diameters in the test dataset ranged from 20 to 56 pixels,with a mean of 36.06±6.85 pixels.The absolute error in pupil diameters between predicted and actual values ranged from 0 to 7 pixels,with a mean absolute error(MAE)of 1.06±0.96 pixels.CONCLUSION:This study successfully demonstrates a robust infrared image-based pupil diameter measurement algorithm,proven to be highly accurate and reliable for clinical application.

Thirty-gauge needle-guided purse-string suture pupilloplasty:a new technique

AIM:To observe the clinical outcomes of 30-gauge(G)needle-guided 10-0 prolene suture purse-string pupilloplasty for atonic pupil management.METHODS:Eight patients with atonic pupils who underwent suture purse-string pupilloplasty were retrospectively analyzed.Preoperative data and at least 6mo of postoperative data were collected from all the patients.RESULTS:The corrected distance visual acuity(CDVA)before and after surgery was 0.58±0.22 and 0.20±0.10 logMAR,respectively(P=0.002).The pre-and postoperative pupil size was 7.38±0.88 and 3.09±0.71 mm(P=0.000),respectively.The corneal endothelial cell count was 2841±176/mm^(2) before and 2692±143/mm^(2) after surgery(P=0.000).No intraoperative or postoperative complications were reported.During the follow-up period of at least 6mo,all treated pupils were centered and generally or nearly round.Furthermore,the patients did not exhibit photophobia,glare,or diplopia.CONCLUSION:This technique is a simple and effective method for pupil reduction.

A high-contrast imaging coronagraph for segmented-mirror large aperture telescopes using a spatial light modulator

The primary mirrors of current and future large telescopes always employ a segmented mirror configuration.The small but non-negligible gaps between neighboring segments cause additional diffraction,which restricts the performance of high-contrast coronagraph.To solve this problem,we propose a coronagraph system based on a single liquid crystal spatial light modulator(SLM).This spatial light modulator is used for amplitude apodization,and its feasibility and potential performance are demonstrated using a laboratory setup using the stochastic parallel gradient descent(SPGD)algorithm to control the spatial light modulator,which is based on point spread function(PSF)sensing and evaluation and optimized for maximum contrast in the discovery working area as a merit function.The system delivers a contrast in the order of 10−6,and shows excellent potential to be used in current and future large aperture telescopes,both on the ground and in space.

Fourier-Mellin expansion coefficients of scaled pupils

Orthogonal polynomials over the interior of a unit circle are widely used in aberration theory and in describing ocular wavefront in ophthalmic applications. In optics, Zernike polynomials （ZPs） are commonly applied for the same purpose, and scaling their expansion coefficients to arbitrary aperture sizes is a useful technique to analyze systems with different pupil sizes. By employing the orthogonal Fourier-Mellin polynomials and their properties, a new formula is established based on the same techniques used to develop the scaled pupil sizes. The description by the orthogonal Fourier-Mellin polynomials for the aberration functions is better than that by the ZPs in terms of the wavefront reconstruction errors.

Effects of traffic noise on pupils'behavior in classroom

Noise surveys in this country reported that a large number of classrooms in primary and secondary schools in the urban areas were disturbed by environmental noise, particularly by traffic noise. A series of psychological tests were conducted to identify pupils' behavior in a classroom under different noise levels within the range of 40 to 70 dBA. Statistical analysis results were obtained by using Relational Data Analysis System (RDAS) software. According to the t-test and single factor variance analysis of the results, significant differences of the pupils' behavior in the classroom have been observed when the percentile exceeded sound level either L50 exceeds 50 dBA or L10 exceeds 55 dBA, or the equivalent continuous sound level Leq exceeds 50 dBA. The same conclusion has been drawn from the average percentages of syllable articulation under different noise levels in a classroom which were the results of tests made in accordance with the procedure described in the National Standard. The maximum acceptable noise level in the classroom thus can be determined.