A Framework of Intelligent Mental Health Monitoring in Smart Cities and Societies

In any smart city and society, the citizens' mental health is one of the utmost concerns. Nowadays, people from different sectors of our community face a severe mental health threat due to the prolonged pandemic of COVID-19. Depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviours, and posttraumatic stress disorder are widespread terms nowadays for students, health care workers, jobless people, etc. And Machine Learning (ML), image processing, expert systems, Internet of Things (IoT) are performing an essential function in the significant acceleration of the automation process within the healthcare industry. Therefore, this article aims to address the problem of preventing mental health disorders by early predicting individuals using the developed web portal "Mind Turner”;and by integrating the mentioned emerging tools in this way, later chronic mental health disorders can be avoided. We used the Random Forest Classifier to detect stress levels from the Question-Answer-based assessment, and SVM is used to detect facial emotions. Finally, both are combined using Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Logic to predict the probable mental health of a person, i.e. acute depression, moderate depression and not depressed. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of IETE Journal of Research is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Connecting the dots: Kerala's use of digital technology during the COVID-19 response.

Digital tools are increasingly being applied to support the response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in India and elsewhere globally. This article draws from global frameworks to explore the use of digital tools in the state of Kerala across the domains of communication, surveillance, clinical management, non-clinical support, and core health system readiness and response. Kerala is considered India's first digital state, with the highest percentage of households with computers (24%) and the internet (51%) in India, 95% mobile phone penetration, 62% smartphone penetration and 75% digital literacy. Kerala has long been a model for the early adoption of digital technology for education and health. As part of the pandemic response, technology has been used across private and public sectors, including law enforcement, health, information technology and education. Efforts have sought to ensure timely access to health information, facilitate access to entitlements, monitor those under quarantine and track contacts, and provide healthcare services though telemedicine. Kerala's COVID-19 pandemic response showcases the diverse potential of digital technology, the importance of building on a strong health system foundation, the value of collaboration, and the ongoing challenges of data privacy and equity in digital access.