ABSTRACT
Water heating in Pakistan and its neighboring countries predominantly relies on inefficient, natural gas-wasting water heaters whose mechanical design has remained largely unmodified since their inception in the 1960s. The inefficiency of these water heaters has added much to the woes of depleting gas reserves of the region, leading to a widening demand-supply gap. Pakistan is facing its worst ever natural gas crisis due to a COVID-19 hit economy that cannot carry the burden of expensive imports, especially during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict that has sent the gas prices soaring in the international market. We respond to this challenge with a sense of urgency by proposing a solution that minimizes the wastage of natural gas in water heating, which consumes about half the gas supplied to residential consumers in the country. Our solution replaces the mechanical control of the water heater with an IoT-inspired, electrical retrofit design combining hardware and software for smart control through user-defined schedules or machine learning, while solving several challenges that arise from replacing a mechanical control system with an electrical one. Empirical results demonstrate 70% reduction in consumption. © 2022 ACM.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There are concerns of increased food insecurity rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is no evidence to date about families with children with an acute or chronic illness. Parents with a child admitted to the hospital may also experience hospital-based food insecurity, defined as the inability of caregivers to afford adequate food during their child's hospitalization. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to measure the prevalence of household and hospital-based food insecurity in an academic pediatric hospital setting during the COVD-19 pandemic. We also explored the effects of food insecurity on parental distress and overall caregivers' experiences obtaining food during their hospital stay. DESIGN/METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study from April to October 2020. Household food insecurity was measured using the 18-item U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module. Three adapted questions about hospital-based food insecurity were added. Parental distress was measured with the validated Distress Thermometer for Parents: "0" indicates "no distress" and "10" indicates "extreme distress". Descriptive statistics were used to assess the proportions of food insecurity. Linear regression models were used to explore the relationship between food insecurity and parental distress adjusted for potential confounders. To explore caregivers' experiences we included one open-ended question in our survey, asking: "Do you have any other feedback regarding your food situation during your child's hospital admission?". Recurrent themes were identified using qualitative analysis. RESULTS: 851 families were reached by telephone and 775 (91.0%) provided consent to participate. 435 (56.1%) completed at least one questionnaire [Figure 1 Study Flow Diagram]. Caregivers described a high prevalence of household (34.2%) and hospital-based (38.0%) food insecurity. Both adult (B= 0.21 [95% CI 0.07-0.36]), child (B= 0.38 [95% CI 0.10-0.66]) and hospital-based (B= 0.56 [95% CI 0.30-0.83]) food insecurity were significantly associated with parental distress independent of covariates [Table]. In the qualitative analysis, the financial burden and emotional and practical barriers obtaining food in the hospital were identified as important themes. Parents also commented that they "need to eat to be able to take part in the care of their child during hospitalization". CONCLUSION: Both household and hospital-based food insecurity were highly prevalent in caregivers and significantly associated with parental distress, independent of covariates. High parental distress is known to be associated with a child's maladjustment to illness and adherence with medical treatment. Hospitals need to strongly consider reducing barriers for parents to obtain food for themselves during their child's admission in order to reduce parental distress.