American University of Armenia

Abstract The Tsaghkunyats Mountain of Armenia (26,354 ha) doesn’t have a legally protected status and requires evaluation as a potential Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) and Prime Butterfly Area (PBA). Recent surveys have found that 136 species of birds are recorded in, among which 113 are breeding and 23 occur during migration or stay in the area over winter. The area meets the criteria A1, B1a, B1b, and B2a of IBAs, hosting significant populations of Caucasian grouse Tetrao mlokosiewiczi Taczanowski (55-65 lekking males), semi-collared flycatcher Ficedula semitorquata Homeyer (41-56 pairs), green warbler Phylloscopus nitidus Blyth (108-363 pairs), and Egyptian vulture Neophron percnopterus L. (2 pairs). Among butterflies, 141 species have been recorded in the area, including several species of global, regional, and national importance, such as Phengaris arion L. and Phengaris nausithous Bergsträsser, listed in IUCN Global Red List; ten species listed in the European Red Book of Butterflies, and eight species listed in the Red Book of Animals of Armenia. Also, the area hosts relict populations of temperate species such as Nymphalis antiopa L., Proclossiana eunomia tenera Morgun (endemic subspecies) and Melitaea diamina Lang. The site, therefore, qualifies for designation as a PBA. In addition, the area qualifies as an Emerald Site under the Bern Convention, hosting essential populations of 23 bird species listed in Resolution 6. Existence of several threats, such as overgrazing, poorly controlled water abstraction, uncontrolled haymaking, illegal logging and snag removal, illegal hunting, and human-induced fires, require designation of the area as protected.

IntroductionThis study aimed to explore factors associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among refugees aged 50 years and older from Nagorno-Karabakh residing in Armenia.MethodsWe used a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics, presence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), visual impairment (VI), eye diseases, smoking, sleep disorders, HRQoL, and healthcare utilization in a sample of 197 participants. The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire was used to measure the physical health component (PHC) and mental health component (MHC) of HRQoL. A comprehensive ophthalmic examination was carried out.ResultsThe mean age of participants was 64.84 (SD = 9.28), with 65.48% being female. The mean MHC and PHC scores were 59.37 (SD = 20.04), and 59.4 (SD = 20.1) to 63.57 (SD = 26.28), respectively. Hypertension, bone/joint diseases, and heart diseases were the most frequently reported diseases in our sample. In the adjusted linear regression analysis, age, sleep disorders, respiratory diseases, bone/joint diseases, and diabetes were significantly associated with both PHC and MHC scores of SF-36. Heart disease was associated with PHC only. Having more than one NCD was negatively associated with PHC and MHC. In the domain specific adjusted analysis, bone/joint diseases and diabetes, were significantly associated with physical functioning, general health, and energy/fatigue domains of the PHC and MHC components of HRQoL.ConclusionGovernmental support and interventions targeting older refugees and those with more than one NCD and sleep disorders may be beneficial. Follow-up assessments should monitor variations in both PHC and MHC scores among refugees, as they may vary over time in response to the challenges associated with displacement.

In higher education, where written assignments often serve as the cornerstone of the learning experience and assessment, academic writing skills emerge as a critical aspect of student success.This study explores the progress of freshman students at an Englishmedium university in Armenia, examining how their academic writing develops during their first year of study.This research employs a corpus-based analysis of 590 pre-and post-year essays to track trends in the use of academic vocabulary, discourse markers, and reporting verbs.The findings reveal a statistically significant increase in the use of academic vocabulary, indicating students' growing familiarity with academic lexis.No significant changes were observed in the use of discourse markers.However, reporting verbs in the argue and show categories have increased in frequency, while think verbs have declined, suggesting a shift from subjective toward more objective and evidencebased writing.These trends provide insights into the developmental potential of academic writing among first-year students in English-medium universities in non-English speaking countries and highlight areas that could be further examined to understand the specific challenges students face in academic writing.

Purpose Patient experience is a key component of quality of care. This study assessed patient experiences of dental care in Armenia, identifying associated factors and gaps between patients' expectations and care provided. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 164 dental patients from seven randomly selected dental clinics in Yerevan's seven largest districts. A self-administered questionnaire assessed patient experience and Patient Experience Scores (PES, range 1–5) were calculated. Findings A total of 164 respondents (response rate 83%) with mean age of 42 years completed the questionnaire. Overall satisfaction with the last visit was rated “excellent” by 52% (n = 86) patients, “good” by 34% (n = 56) and “poor-fair” by 13% (n = 21). The overall mean PES was 3.92. “Respect,” “Pain management” and “Safety” were scored highest, indicating that they are the most valued aspects of care. The lowest scores were observed in “General satisfaction,” “Privacy” and “Quality of care.” Most domains (9 of 11) were positively correlated with PES. Increasing age was associated with lower PES (OR 0.98 per year), and higher standard of living with higher PES (3.17 average, 5.64 above average as compared to below average). The single “General Satisfaction” item averaged less than 3.0 and did not track with the other PES domains, a concern since the single item is often used in place of the full scale. Originality/value The concept of patient experience is complex. This first study of dental patient experience in Armenia provides a foundation for further research, including benchmarking and other efforts that will drive quality improvement.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly utilized in smart city applications, particularly for urban surveillance. UAVs can be provisioned as mobile surveillance to avoid various difficulties in ground operations and reduce extensive labor cost. However, their limited energy capacity restricts flight time and coverage, making it difficult to build a large-scale, long-term city-wide monitoring network. To address this problem, an ubiquitous public transportation network is introduced for UAVs to periodically recharge by landing on public transportation buses. We propose a novel public transportation-assisted UAV scheduling framework that leverages the existing bus network to enable recharging of UAVs. Two intertwined sub-problems are addressed: the UAV trajectory planning and the surveillance task offloading problems. The trajectory planning is modeled as a Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and it is solved via the Lin-Kernighan heuristic (LKH), decomposing the bus station network into sub-graphs for efficient routing. For task offloading, a time-slot-based scheduling method is proposed that dynamically assigns UAVs to monitor points of interest (PoIs) while ensuring energy constraints and full coverage. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposal outperforms baseline algorithms, achieving a 1.72%-3.46% average extension in system lifetime compared to state-of-the-art baselines, while maintaining computational efficiency (average runtime: 277.57 ms). The robustness of the proposal is further validated across diverse testing instances with various parameter settings.

BackgroundSelf-rated health (SRH) is a proven strong predictor of all-cause mortality. In tuberculosis (TB) patients, poor SRH is related to higher disease severity and mortality. This study sought to prospectively measure poor SRH and identify its determinants among primary drug-sensitive TB patients in Armenia.MethodsAll patients in Armenia diagnosed with primary drug-sensitive TB from Apr, 2019 through Feb, 2021 were targeted for baseline and follow-up interviews at their TB treatment start and shortly after its completion. The instrument included domains on patient's sociodemographic characteristics, TB knowledge, depression, social support, stigma, and health. SRH was measured by a single item with five response options, dichotomized as ‘poor’ versus ‘fair/good/very good/excellent’. Fitted logistic regression models identified predictors of poor SRH at each assessment.ResultsOverall, 401 patients were interviewed at the baseline and 285 at the follow-up assessments. Between the assessments, the proportion of patients with poor SRH decreased significantly from 18.8% to 4.9% (p < 0.001). Factors related to poor SRH at the baseline assessment included extrapulmonary TB (aOR=2.12, p = 0.025), perceived poor living standards (aOR=2.76, p = 0.006), and presence of depressive symptoms (aOR=4.24, p < 0.001). At the follow-up assessment, internalized social stigma score (aOR=1.09, p = 0.047) and depression score (aOR=1.07, p = 0.04) predicted poor SRH, while TB knowledge score was protective against it (aOR=0.91, p = 0.027).ConclusionsThis study found significant reduction of poor SRH after completion of anti-TB treatment course. It also revealed several factors that could be targeted for alleviating suffering among TB patients, including providing patients with timely psychological counseling and financial support, and educating patients and their family members to increase their TB-related knowledge and decrease stigma and depression among them.Key messages• Poor SRH decreased significantly after the TB treatment course. Potentially effective protective measures for TB patient’s SRH include their psychological counseling and helping them financially.• Internalized social stigma predicts poor SRH among TB patients even after completion of the TB treatment course, while education on TB have a potential to improve SRH among them.

COVID-19 transmission can be influenced by various factors, including weather and climate conditions, population density, and the availability of medical facilities. To gain a deeper understanding of this topic, an in-depth analysis of recent studies is needed. Our objective was to investigate previous systematic reviews that have examined the seasonal variation of COVID-19 and the impact of climate on its transmission and mortality. Online databases that included PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane were searched using relevant keywords up to November 2021. Negative associations were found between temperature and COVID-19 spread and mortality (6/9 studies, 66.6%). These negative correlations imply a decrease in the spread and mortality of COVID-19 with an increase in temperature. Similarly, seven systematic reviews reported a negative correlation between humidity and transmission or mortality of COVID-19 (7/9 studies, 77.7%). COVID-19 spread was not associated with precipitation (three studies) but was negatively correlated with sunlight or UV radiation (two studies), COVID-19 incidence and mortality were positively associated with wind speed (one study). One study reported that the effect of air pressure and UV radiation on COVID-19 activity was unknown. The effects of air pollution, seasonal changes, wind speed, precipitation, and UV radiation on COVID-19 incidence or mortality remain unclear. However, factors proposed as having the greatest influence on COVID-19 incidence or mortality include air pollution, wind speed, and wastewater. Sunlight exposure and warm climates likely assist with reducing COVID-19 incidence or mortality, with the infection having a winter seasonality.

The activities of the legislative branch play a pivotal role in the process of public administration, serving as the main source for the development of legal norms and regulatory acts. In recent years, the work of the National Assembly, the legislative body of the Republic of Armenia (RA), has seen a decrease in the number of "Primary" laws and a significant increase in amendments and additions to the existing laws, which indicates the existence of problems related to the quality and stability of legislation. This paper examines the need to introduce electronic governance systems in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia from the perspective of increasing the efficiency, transparency of the legislative process, and level of public participation. The issues of legislative acts classification, information exchange, feedback, automation of correspondence, and coordination of legal references are analyzed, as well as solutions are proposed to clarify legislation, eliminate contradictions, and introduce an indicator of the "qualitative value of the law." Areas that are incompletely represented in terms of legislative regulation are also presented, which is an important guideline for strategic planning of legislative reforms.