bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Does the Real Estate Market and Renewable Energy Induce Carbon Dioxide Emissions? Novel Evidence from Turkey
Authors: Qashou Yazan , Samour Ahmed , Abumunshar Mohammed
Published: January 2022

In the literature, the linkage between income, energy, and carbon emissions has been widely examined and most of the empirical studies have not investigated the impact of the real estate market on their empirical models. Our study endeavors to present a novel topic by investigating the influence of the real estate market on Turkey’s environmental quality, using an advanced method of the Bootstrap Autoregressive Distributed Lag (BARDL). We estimate that consumption of renewable energy contributes significantly to CO2 emissions, while real income increases the environmental degradation in both the short and long run. Furthermore, our study demonstrates that the real estate market contributes negatively to the deduction of carbon emissions in Turkey. A one percent increase in the real estate market will cause a rise in Turkey’s carbon level by 0.010% and 0.009% in the short and long term, respectively. Our research suggests that Turkey should design new strategies for sustainable real estate markets to improve the environmental quality by supporting green investment projects.
Energy Efficient Design and Control of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Systems
Authors: Shin Oh-Soon
Published: January 2022

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has recently been recognized as a promising solution for cellular systems to meet exponentially growing demands for mobile data over limited radio spectrum [...]
A Predictive Model of Leaf Flammability Using Leaf Traits and Radiant Heat Flux for Plants of Fire-Prone Dry Sclerophyll Forest
Authors: Krix Daniel W. , Murray Brad R.
Published: January 2022

The differential flammability of individual plant species in landscape-scale fire behaviour is an important consideration, but one that is often overlooked. This is in part due to a relative dearth in the availability of plant flammability data. Here, we present a highly accurate predictive model of the likelihood of plant leaves entering flaming combustion as a function of leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf area (LA) and radiant heat flux using species of fire-prone dry sclerophyll forests of south-eastern Australia. We validated the performance of the model on two separate datasets, and on plant species not included in the model building process. Our model gives accurate predictions (75–84%) of leaf flaming with potential application in the next generation of fire behaviour models. Given the global wealth of species’ data for LMA and LA, in stark contrast to leaf flammability data, our model has the potential to improve understanding of forest flammability in the absence of leaf flammability information.
Design and Testing of a Novel Unoccupied Aircraft System for the Collection of Forest Canopy Samples
Authors: Krisanski Sean , Taskhiri Mohammad Sadegh , Montgomery James , Turner Paul
Published: January 2022

Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) are beginning to replace conventional forest plot mensuration through their use as low-cost and powerful remote sensing tools for monitoring growth, estimating biomass, evaluating carbon stocks and detecting weeds; however, physical samples remain mostly collected through time-consuming, expensive and potentially dangerous conventional techniques. Such conventional techniques include the use of arborists to climb the trees to retrieve samples, shooting branches with firearms from the ground, canopy cranes or the use of pole-mounted saws to access lower branches. UAS hold much potential to improve the safety, efficiency, and reduce the cost of acquiring canopy samples. In this work, we describe and demonstrate four iterations of 3D printed canopy sampling UAS. This work includes detailed explanations of designs and how each iteration informed the design decisions in the subsequent iteration. The fourth iteration of the aircraft was tested for the collection of 30 canopy samples from three tree species: eucalyptus pulchella, eucalyptus globulus and acacia dealbata trees. The collection times ranged from 1 min and 23 s, up to 3 min and 41 s for more distant and challenging to capture samples. A vision for the next iteration of this design is also provided. Future work may explore the integration of advanced remote sensing techniques with UAS-based canopy sampling to progress towards a fully-automated and holistic forest information capture system.
Adaptive Strategies of Seedlings of Four Mediterranean Co-Occurring Tree Species in Response to Light and Moderate Drought: A Nursery Approach
Authors: Pardos Marta , Calama Rafael
Published: January 2022

In Mediterranean environments, light and water are clearly dominant ecological drivers of seedling growth and survival, and their interaction could modify productivity and forest composition. We examine the early response of seedlings of four co-occurring Mediterranean tree species (Pinus pinea, Juniperus thurifera, Quercus ilex and Quercus faginea) grown in the nursery to differing light and water availability conditions. Morphological (survival, height, biomass) and physiological (shoot midday water potential, net photosynthesis, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, Fv/Fm, PSII and ETR) traits were studied, along with biomass allocation traits and drought resistance and plasticity indices. A significant effect of both factors was mainly shown for growth and morphological traits, while survival, physiological traits and allometry were affected by either water availability or light, being more remarkable the effect of water availability over light. Drought severely limited Q. faginea’s survival under both light intensities. The high plasticity of J. thurifera and Q. ilex seedlings to different light and water availability environments will confer these two species with an adaptive advantage in the early growth stages in comparison with P. pinea and Q. faginea seedlings. Thus, to maintain the codominance of the four species, silvicultural interventions should focus on the joint management of all of them.
The Effect of the Conversion from Natural Broadleaved Forests into Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.) Plantations on Soil Microbial Communities and Nitrogen Functional Genes
Authors: Guo Jiahuan , Feng Huili , McNie Pierce , Wang Weifeng , Peng Changhui , Feng Lei , Sun Jiejie , Pan Chang , Yu Yuanchun
Published: January 2022

The conversion of forests could change soil characteristics and, in turn, impact the microbial community. However, the long-term effect of forest transformation on bacterial and archaeal composition and diversity, especially on nitrogen functional communities, is poorly understood. This study aimed to explore the response of soil bacterial and archaeal communities, as well as nitrogen functional groups, to the conversion from natural broadleaved forests to Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolate (Lamb.) Hook.) plantations in subtropical China by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Except for soil bulk density (BD) and ammonium nitrogen (NH4+–N) content, other soil properties all decreased with the conversion from natural forests to plantations. Alpha diversity of bacteria and archaea declined with the transformation from natural forests to plantations. The composition of bacteria and archaea was significantly different between natural forests and plantations, which could be mainly attributed to the change in the content of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), nitrate nitrogen (NO3−–N), and available phosphorus (AP). The conversion of natural forests to plantations decreased the gene copies of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), and nifH (nitrogen fixation function) but increased denitrification gene copies (i.e., nirS, nirK, and nosZ). In summary, our study emphasizes the long-term negative effect of the conversion from natural broadleaved forests into Chinese fir plantations on the diversity and richness of soil microbial communities, thereby deeply impacting the cycling of soil nitrogen.
Prediction of Mechanical Properties of Thermally Modified Wood Based on TSSA-BP Model
Authors: Li Ning , Wang Wei
Published: January 2022

In order to demonstrate whether the sparrow search algorithm can show good performance in optimization, this paper improves the prediction model by this algorithm and predicts the change data of wood mechanical properties under different conditions, which better reflects the connection between the process parameters of wood heat treatment and the change of wood mechanical properties. The article takes the five main mechanical property parameters of thermally modified wood: compressive strength along the grain, flexural strength, flexural elastic modulus, radial hardness, and tangential hardness, respectively, as the objects of study and improves the sparrow search algorithm by Tenting chaotic mapping and then optimizes the Back Propagation (BP) network model by this algorithm. The results show that the number of iterations of the optimized Tent-Sparrow search algorithm-Back Propagation network model (TSSA-BP) is only one-eighth that of the original BP network model, and the convergence speed is greatly improved, the root mean square error of the TSSA-BP model is at least one-half times that of the original BP model, and the optimized model fits the original data better in terms of predicted values; thus, this article provided a feasible prediction algorithm for the field related to the mechanical property changes of wood after heat treatment.
Efficient Next-Hop Selection in Multi-Hop Routing for IoT Enabled Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Altowaijri Saleh M.
Published: January 2022

The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm allows the integration of cyber and physical worlds and other emerging technologies. IoT-enabled wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are rapidly gaining interest due to their ability to aggregate sensing data and transmit it towards the central or intermediate repositories, such as computational clouds and fogs. This paper presents an efficient multi-hop routing protocol (EMRP) for efficient data dissemination in IoT-enabled WSNs where hierarchy-based energy-efficient routing is involved. It considers a rank-based next-hop selection mechanism. For each device, it considers the residual energy to choose the route for data exchange. We extracted the residual energy at each node and evaluated it based on the connection degree to validate the maximum rank. It allowed us to identify the time slots for measuring the lifetime of the network. We also considered the battery expiry time of the first node to identify the network expiry time. We validated our work through extensive simulations using Network Simulator. We also implemented TCL scripts and C language code to configure low-power sensing devices, cluster heads and sink nodes. We extracted results from the trace files by utilizing AWK scripts. Results demonstrate that the proposed EMRP outperforms the existing related schemes in terms of the average lifetime, packet delivery ratio, time-slots, communication lost, communication area, first node expiry, number of alive nodes and residual energy.
Mechanical, Durability and Corrosion Properties of Basalt Fiber Concrete
Authors: Elshazli Mohamed T. , Ramirez Kevin , Ibrahim Ahmed , Badran Mohamed
Published: January 2022

The effect of using basalt fibers on the fresh, mechanical, durability, and corrosion properties of reinforced concrete was investigated in this study. The study was performed using different basalt fiber volume fractions of 0.15%, 0.30%, 0.45%, and 0.50%, while two different water/cement (w/c) ratios of 0.35 and 0.40 were utilized. The results were compared to conventional concrete (PC) as well as steel fiber concrete (SFC) with 0.30% and 0.50% steel fibers volume fractions. An extensive experimental program of 336 samples was conducted in four stages as follows: testing for fresh properties included slump and unit weight tests; mechanical properties testing included compressive strength tests, split tensile strength tests, flexural strength tests, and average residual strength tests; durability testing included unrestrained shrinkage and surface resistivity tests; and a Rapid Macrocell corrosion evaluation test for corrosion properties. The test results showed that the use of basalt fibers reduces slump values as the fiber volume fraction increases; however, with the use of the appropriate amount of High Range Water Admixture (HRWA), target slump values can be achieved. Moreover, a considerable improvement in the compressive, tensile, flexural, average residual strength and durability properties was achieved in case of using basalt fibers. On the other hand, corrosion rates increased with the increase in fiber volumes. However, it can be concluded that utilizing a 0.30% fibers volume fraction is the optimum ratio with an overall acceptable performance with respect to mechanical and corrosion properties.
In Vitro Protein Digestibility of Selected Seaweeds
Authors: De Bhowmick Goldy , Hayes Maria
Published: January 2022

Seaweed biomass is considered a valuable and potential, alternative protein source but it is currently under-exploited. Seaweed or Macroalgae do not require arable land and freshwater for their cultivation, they are fast growing and contain several health ingredients and beneficial macronutrients. In this study, we determined the in vitro k-Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score (k-PDCAAS) values of six different, Irish seaweeds using the rapid k-PDCAAS method. Based on the amino acid profile and protein content of each seaweed, the in vitro protein digestibility and k-PDCAAS scores were calculated. In addition, the limiting amino acid(s) for each of the six seaweeds was/were determined. Results suggest that although the in vitro digestibility was quite similar for all analyzed seaweeds, their k-PDCAAS scores varied significantly. The red seaweed Palmaria palmata had a k-PDCAAS score of 0.69 ± 0.014, while Fucus serratus had a value of 0.63 ± 0.084 and Alaria esculenta a value of 0.59 ± 0.021. The seaweeds were found to be rich in essential amino acids and taurine. Overall, the amino acid composition of the seaweeds studied suggests that they are suitable alternative protein sources for use in human nutrition providing both essential and non-essential amino acids to the consumer.
Epigenomic Modifications in Modern and Ancient Genomes
Authors: Niiranen Laura , Leciej Dawid , Edlund Hanna , Bernhardsson Carolina , Fraser Magdalena , Quinto Federico Sánchez , Herzig Karl-Heinz , Jakobsson Mattias , Walkowiak Jarosław , Thalmann Olaf
Published: January 2022

Epigenetic changes have been identified as a major driver of fundamental metabolic pathways. More specifically, the importance of epigenetic regulatory mechanisms for biological processes like speciation and embryogenesis has been well documented and revealed the direct link between epigenetic modifications and various diseases. In this review, we focus on epigenetic changes in animals with special attention on human DNA methylation utilizing ancient and modern genomes. Acknowledging the latest developments in ancient DNA research, we further discuss paleoepigenomic approaches as the only means to infer epigenetic changes in the past. Investigating genome-wide methylation patterns of ancient humans may ultimately yield in a more comprehensive understanding of how our ancestors have adapted to the changing environment, and modified their lifestyles accordingly. We discuss the difficulties of working with ancient DNA in particular utilizing paleoepigenomic approaches, and assess new paleoepigenomic data, which might be helpful in future studies.
Regulation of Replication Stress in Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres by Fanconi Anaemia Protein
Authors: Li Duda , Hou Kailong , Zhang Ke , Jia Shuting
Published: January 2022

Fanconi anaemia (FA)-related proteins function in interstrand crosslink (ICL) repair pathways and multiple damage repair pathways. Recent studies have found that FA proteins are involved in the regulation of replication stress (RS) in alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). Since ALT cells often exhibit high-frequency ATRX mutations and high levels of telomeric secondary structure, high levels of DNA damage and replicative stress exist in ALT cells. Persistent replication stress is required to maintain the activity of ALT mechanistically, while excessive replication stress causes ALT cell death. FA proteins such as FANCD2 and FANCM are involved in the regulation of this balance by resolving or inhibiting the formation of telomere secondary structures to stabilize stalled replication forks and promote break-induced repair (BIR) to maintain the survival of ALT tumour cells. Therefore, we review the role of FA proteins in replication stress in ALT cells, providing a rationale and direction for the targeted treatment of ALT tumours.
Fostering Collective Approaches in Supporting Perinatal Mental Healthcare Access for Migrant Women: A Participatory Health Research Study
Authors: Markey Kathleen , Noonan Maria , Doody Owen , Tuohy Teresa , Daly Tony , Regan Ciara , O’Donnell Claire
Published: January 2022

Perinatal mental health is a growing public health concern. The mounting evidence examining the prevalence of perinatal mental illness identifies specific vulnerabilities and risk factors among migrant women. We know that migrant women experience persistent and systematic barriers in accessing healthcare and that healthcare services do not always respond appropriately to migrant women’s needs, highlighting the need for targeted interventions in supporting positive perinatal mental health among migrant women. The purpose of this participatory health research study was to explore perinatal mental healthcare for migrant women in Ireland, from the perspectives of a diverse range of stakeholders (healthcare service providers, community organisations/networks/associations and migrant women). A key focus of this study was to collaboratively explore solution-focused approaches to improving access to supports and healthcare services for migrant women experiencing perinatal mental illness. Following ethical approval, data were collected during three key convenings, utilising the design principles of world café philosophies. Thematic analysis led to the generation of the following two themes: Building Capability and Capacity and Empowering Migrant Women. The main conclusions lie in the provision of whole-system approaches in collectively, collaboratively and proactively planning strategies that address the many factors that affect access to healthcare services for migrant women experiencing perinatal mental illness. Drawing on the collective perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders, our innovative solution focused on providing recommendations aimed at strengthening supports and healthcare services for migrant women.
Shorter Incubation Period among Unvaccinated Delta Variant Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients in Japan
Authors: Ogata Tsuyoshi , Tanaka Hideo , Irie Fujiko , Hirayama Atsushi , Takahashi Yuki
Published: January 2022

Few studies have assessed incubation periods of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Delta variant. This study aimed to elucidate the transmission dynamics, especially the incubation period, for the Delta variant compared with non-Delta strains. We studied unvaccinated coronavirus disease 2019 patients with definite single exposure date from August 2020 to September 2021 in Japan. The incubation periods were calculated and compared by Mann–Whitney U test for Delta (with L452R mutation) and non-Delta cases. We estimated mean and percentiles of incubation period by fitting parametric distribution to data in the Bayesian statistical framework. We enrolled 214 patients (121 Delta and 103 non-Delta cases) with one specific date of exposure to the virus. The mean incubation period was 3.7 days and 4.9 days for Delta and non-Delta cases, respectively (p-value = 0.000). When lognormal distributions were fitted, the estimated mean incubation periods were 3.7 (95% credible interval (CI) 3.4–4.0) and 5.0 (95% CI 4.5–5.6) days for Delta and non-Delta cases, respectively. The estimated 97.5th percentile of incubation period was 6.9 (95% CI 5.9–8.0) days and 10.4 (95% CI 8.6–12.7) days for Delta and non–Delta cases, respectively. Unvaccinated Delta variant cases had shorter incubation periods than non–Delta variant cases.
Incidence of Voice Disorders among Private School Teachers in Taiwan: A Nationwide Longitudinal Study
Authors: Chen Bo-Lei , Cheng Ya-Yun , Lin Cheng-Yu , Guo How-Ran
Published: January 2022

Background: Teachers are more likely to use a loud voice at work than the general working population, but few longitudinal studies have been conducted on their risk of voice disorders. The occurrence of voice disorders in private school teachers was assessed by using the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000 of Taiwan, which contains information on a random sample of 1 million beneficiaries of National Health Insurance. Methods: This study included private school teachers who were under 35 years old and newly employed between 2000 and 2010, and used workers with other occupations as the comparison cohort. Patients with voice disorders were identified using diagnostic codes on insurance claims. Cox proportional hazards regressions were applied to obtain relative risk estimates. Results: After adjusting for age, sex, income, and comorbidities of sinusitis and laryngitis, private school teachers had a higher risk of developing voice disorders (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.58; 95% confidence intervals: 1.43–1.75). In addition, the finding that elementary and high-school teachers had a higher risk than college teachers (HR: 2.56 vs. 1.44) and the pattern of increases in cumulative incidence over time supported a dose–response relationship between teaching and voice disorders. Conclusions: Private school teachers had higher risks of voice disorders. The results support the causality between occupation and voice disorders in teachers.
Longitudinal Patterns of Grandchild Care in South Korea
Authors: Park Aely
Published: January 2022

This study examined the longitudinal patterns of grandchild care to observe the influence of factors related to social participation, financial support to grandparents, demographic characteristics, and family structure on classifying the grandchild care. The rate of grandparent care for grandchildren was increasing, and the amount of time commitment for grandchild care was large in South Korea. Understanding how grandchild care unfolds over time and who is likely to provide ongoing grandchild care helps to advance the knowledge about grandparents providing grandchild care. The total sample consisted of 333 South Korean grandparents derived from the 3 waves of nationally representative data. This study utilized growth mixture modeling to identify latent classes of longitudinal patterns of grandchild care, and ran a multinomial logistic regression to examine the relationships between factors related to grandparents, adult children, and family structure and the identified latent classes. Grandchild care was classified into one of three categories: low-level decrease, high-level decrease, and low-to-high increase. Grandparents in the group of low-to-high increase were more likely to have higher financial dependence on adult children and have lower social participation than grandparents in other groups. Findings indicate that there are distinct subgroups among grandparents who care for their grandchildren. Additionally, those in the three classifications varied according to financial support received from adult children, social participation, and personal and family structure. Our findings inform policymakers to provide older adults a means to maintain their self-sufficiency. The community needs to provide programs and resources for working parents on behalf of grandchild care.
Associations between Frequency of Dairy Intake with Body Composition and Excess Adiposity in Preschool Children from Poland
Authors: Matłosz Piotr , Wyszyńska Justyna , Czarny Wojciech , Mazur Artur , Herbert Jarosław
Published: January 2022

Evidence suggests there has been a decrease in childhood dairy consumption. There is a need for further studies to evaluate the types of dairy products in relation to the risk of obesity in pediatric population. The aim of the study was to determine the associations between the frequency of consumption of different types of dairy products and body composition and excess adiposity in preschool children from Poland. A cross-sectional study of 1172 children aged 5–6 years was conducted using a bioelectrical impedance analysis for body composition estimation and a modified food frequency questionnaire (FFQ-6) to assess the habitual diets of the participants. Among the analyzed dairy products, milk was consumed most often, followed by fruit yoghurts, yellow cheese, and cottage cheese, and natural yoghurt was the least common. Participants that consumed fruit or natural yoghurt more frequently had higher adipose tissue content. The logistic regression analysis by the method of forward selection showed that more frequent consumption of fruit yoghurt significantly increased the risk of excess adiposity among the total sample (OR = 1.20, p < 0.001). This study revealed that higher consumption of fruit yoghurt could be significant determinant of excess adiposity in Polish preschool children.
Psychotherapeutic Techniques for Distressing Memories: A Comparative Study between EMDR, Brainspotting, and Body Scan Meditation
Authors: D’Antoni Fabio , Matiz Alessio , Fabbro Franco , Crescentini Cristiano
Published: January 2022

Objectives: We explored the effects of a single 40-min session of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Brainspotting (BSP), and Body Scan Meditation (BSM) in the processing of distressing memories reported by a non-clinical sample of adult participants. Design: A within-subject design was used. Methods: Participants (n = 40 Psychologists/MDs) reported four distressing memories, each of which treated with a single intervention. EMDR, BSP, and BSM were compared with each other, and with a Book Reading (BR) active control condition, using as dependent measures, SUD (Subjective Units of Disturbance) and Memory Telling Duration (MTD) on a 4-point timeline: Baseline, Pre-Intervention, Post-Intervention, Follow-up. Results: SUD scores associated with EMDR, BSP, and BSM significantly decreased from Pre- to Post-Intervention (p < 0.001). At Post-Intervention and Follow-up, EMDR and BSP SUD scores were significantly lower than BSM and BR scores (p < 0.02). At both Post-Intervention and Follow-up, BSM SUD scores were lower than BR scores (p < 0.01). A reduction in MTD was observed from Pre- to Post-Intervention for EMDR and BSP conditions (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Overall, results showed beneficial effects of single sessions of EMDR, BSP, or BSM in the processing of healthy adults’ distressing memories. Study limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Translation, Cultural Adaptation, and Content Validation of the Palliative Care Self-Efficacy Scale for Use in the Swedish Context
Authors: Andersson Sofia , Granat Lisa , Brännström Margareta , Sandgren Anna
Published: January 2022

The Palliative Care Self-Efficacy Scale (PCSE) is a valid instrument in English for assessing healthcare professionals’ self-efficacy in providing palliative care; it has not been translated into Swedish. The aim of this study was to describe the translation, cultural adaptation, and content-validation process of the PCSE scale. In this study, forward and backward translations, pretesting including an expert panel (n = 7), and cognitive interviewing with possible healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses, and assistant nurses) (n = 10) were performed. Experts in palliative care rated items on a Likert scale based on their understandability, clarity, sensitivity, and relevance. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and modified kappa statistics were calculated. Healthcare professionals were interviewed using the think-aloud method. The translation and validation process resulted in the final version of the PCSE scale. The average I-CVI for sensitivity was evaluated and approved. Most of the items were approved for clarity, some items lacked understandability, but a majority of the items were considered relevant. The healthcare professionals agreed that the items in the questionnaire evoked emotions, but were relevant for healthcare professionals. Thus, the Palliative Care Self-Efficacy scale is relevant for assessing healthcare professionals’ self-efficacy in palliative care in a Swedish care context. Further research using psychometric tests is required.
Impact of Prolonged Absence of Organized Training on Body Composition, Neuromuscular Performance, and Aerobic Capacity: A Study in Youth Male Soccer Players Exposed to COVID-19 Lockdown
Authors: Alvurdu Sümer , Baykal Cihan , Akyildiz Zeki , Şenel Ömer , Silva Ana Filipa , Conte Daniele , Clemente Filipe Manuel
Published: January 2022

The aim of this study is to examine how physical performance has changed after 15 weeks (109 days) long-term absence of organized training in youth soccer players imposed by the stay at home orders. A total of sixty-eight young male soccer players from different age categories (U15, U16, U17 and U19) voluntarily participated in the prospective cohort study. Body fat percentage (BF%), counter-movement jump (CMJ), 30 m sprint, change-of-direction (COD) and yo-yo intermittent recovery test level-1 (YYIRTL-1) were evaluated twice (before and after the detraining period). Subsequently, 2 × 2 repeated measures ANOVA was used to investigate group and time differences in repeated measurements. A significance level of p < 0.05 was implemented. CV and SWC values were calculated to test the reliability of the tests performed at different times. Statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS statistics software (v.25, IBM, New York, NY, USA). Significant increments in BF%, 30 m sprint, and COD (left and right), and also significant decrements in CMJ and YYIRTL-1, were found after the detraining period. A long-term detraining period due to the stay at home orders has a detrimental effect on body composition, neuromuscular performances, and aerobic capacity in youth soccer players.
Health and the Megacity: Urban Congestion, Air Pollution, and Birth Outcomes in Brazil
Authors: Rangel Marcos A. , Tomé Romina
Published: January 2022

We studied the health effects of economic development in heavily urbanized areas, where congestion poses a challenge to environmental conditions. We employed detailed data from air pollution and birth records around the metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil, between 2002 and 2009. During this period, the megacity experienced sustained growth marked by the increases in employment rates and ownership of durable goods, including automobiles. While better economic conditions are expected to improve infant health, air pollution that accompanies it is expected to do the opposite. To untangle these two effects, we focused on episodes of thermal inversion—meteorological phenomena that exogenously lock pollutants closer to the ground—to estimate the causal effects of in utero exposure to air pollution. Auxiliary results confirmed a positive relationship between thermal inversions and several air pollutants, and we ultimately found that exposure to inversion episodes during the last three months of pregnancy led to sizable reductions in birth weight and increases in the incidence of preterm births. Increased pollution exposure induced by inversions also has a significant impact over fetal survival as measured by the size of live-birth cohorts.
Automatic Markerless Motion Detector Method against Traditional Digitisation for 3-Dimensional Movement Kinematic Analysis of Ball Kicking in Soccer Field Context
Authors: Palucci Vieira Luiz H. , Santiago Paulo R. P. , Pinto Allan , Aquino Rodrigo , Torres Ricardo da S. , Barbieri Fabio A.
Published: January 2022

Kicking is a fundamental skill in soccer that often contributes to match outcomes. Lower limb movement features (e.g., joint position and velocity) are determinants of kick performance. However, obtaining kicking kinematics under field conditions generally requires time-consuming manual tracking. The current study aimed to compare a contemporary markerless automatic motion estimation algorithm (OpenPose) with manual digitisation (DVIDEOW software) in obtaining on-field kicking kinematic parameters. An experimental dataset of under-17 players from all outfield positions was used. Kick attempts were performed in an official pitch against a goalkeeper. Four digital video cameras were used to record full-body motion during support and ball contact phases of each kick. Three-dimensional positions of hip, knee, ankle, toe and foot centre-of-mass (CMfoot) generally showed no significant differences when computed by automatic as compared to manual tracking (whole kicking movement cycle), while only z-coordinates of knee and calcaneus markers at specific points differed between methods. The resulting time-series matrices of positions (r2 = 0.94) and velocity signals (r2 = 0.68) were largely associated (all p < 0.01). The mean absolute error of OpenPose motion tracking was 3.49 cm for determining positions (ranging from 2.78 cm (CMfoot) to 4.13 cm (dominant hip)) and 1.29 m/s for calculating joint velocity (0.95 m/s (knee) to 1.50 m/s (non-dominant hip)) as compared to reference measures by manual digitisation. Angular range-of-motion showed significant correlations between methods for the ankle (r = 0.59, p < 0.01, large) and knee joint displacements (r = 0.84, p < 0.001, very large) but not in the hip (r = 0.04, p = 0.85, unclear). Markerless motion tracking (OpenPose) can help to successfully obtain some lower limb position, velocity, and joint angular outputs during kicks performed in a naturally occurring environment.
Level of Physical Activity and Its Relationship to Self-Perceived Physical Fitness in Peruvian Adolescents
Authors: Palacios-Cartagena Roxana Paola , Parraca Jose A. , Mendoza-Muñoz Maria , Pastor-Cisneros Raquel , Muñoz-Bermejo Laura , Adsuar Jose Carmelo
Published: January 2022

Background: Physical activity and physical fitness play an important role in adolescence. Both are considered to be indicators of the current and future health status of young adults. The main objective of this article was to report the normative values of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A) and the International Fitness Scale (IFIS) instruments in Peruvian school adolescents. Methods: A sample of 1229 participants (622 girls and 607 boys) aged between 12 and 17 years was used. The type of study was descriptive-comparative. All measures used were obtained by means of self-administered instruments. The PAQ-A was used to assess the level of physical activity and the IFIS to assess the self-perceived physical fitness level of the adolescents. Results: It was observed that the PAQ-A questionnaire results obtained from the total sample was 2.34; significantly higher for boys (2.41) compared with girls (2.27). For the IFIS, the total score was 3.07, with boys obtaining 3.13 and girls 2.97. Conclusions: It was concluded that there was a direct relationship between the level of PA and self-perceived PF in Peruvian adolescents. Furthermore, adolescent boys were more physically active than girls and they had a better self-perceived PF with the exception of flexibility. Finally, there was a higher weight category involved at the lower level of PA.
Risk-Perception Change Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine’s Side Effects: The Role of Individual Differences
Authors: Colautti Laura , Cancer Alice , Magenes Sara , Antonietti Alessandro , Iannello Paola
Published: January 2022

The COVID-19 vaccine appears to be a crucial requirement to fight the pandemic. However, a part of the population possesses negative attitudes towards the vaccine. The spread of conspiracy theories and contradictory information about the pandemic have altered the population’s perception of risk. The risk-perception of the vaccine’s side effects may be affected by individual differences. The complex relationship between risk-perception and individual differences is relevant when people have to make decisions based on ambiguous and constantly changing information, as in the early phases of the Italian vaccination campaign. The present study aimed at measuring the effect of individual differences in risk-perception associated with the COVID-19 vaccine’s side effects in a context characterized by information ambiguity. An online survey was conducted to classify a sample of Italian pro-vaccine people into cognitive/behavioral style groups. Furthermore, changes in vaccine risk-perception after inconsistent communications regarding the vaccine’s side effects were compared between groups. The results showed that “analytical” individuals did not change their perception regarding the probability of vaccine side effects but changed their perception regarding the severity of side effects; “open” and “polarized” individuals neither changed their perception regarding the probability nor of the severity of side effects, showing a different kind of information processing, which could interfere with an informed decision-making process.
Artificial Intelligence Enabled Personalised Assistive Tools to Enhance Education of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders—A Review
Authors: Barua Prabal Datta , Vicnesh Jahmunah , Gururajan Raj , Oh Shu Lih , Palmer Elizabeth , Azizan Muhammad Mokhzaini , Kadri Nahrizul Adib , Acharya U. Rajendra
Published: January 2022

Mental disorders (MDs) with onset in childhood or adolescence include neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) (intellectual disability and specific learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorders (ASD)), as well as a broad range of mental health disorders (MHDs), including anxiety, depressive, stress-related and psychotic disorders. There is a high co-morbidity of NDDs and MHDs. Globally, there have been dramatic increases in the diagnosis of childhood-onset mental disorders, with a 2- to 3-fold rise in prevalence for several MHDs in the US over the past 20 years. Depending on the type of MD, children often grapple with social and communication deficits and difficulties adapting to changes in their environment, which can impact their ability to learn effectively. To improve outcomes for children, it is important to provide timely and effective interventions. This review summarises the range and effectiveness of AI-assisted tools, developed using machine learning models, which have been applied to address learning challenges in students with a range of NDDs. Our review summarises the evidence that AI tools can be successfully used to improve social interaction and supportive education. Based on the limitations of existing AI tools, we provide recommendations for the development of future AI tools with a focus on providing personalised learning for individuals with NDDs.
Exploring the Physiological and Psychological Effects of Digital Shinrin-Yoku and Its Characteristics as a Restorative Environment
Authors: Takayama Norimasa , Morikawa Takeshi , Koga Kazuko , Miyazaki Yoichi , Harada Kenichi , Fukumoto Keiko , Tsujiki Yuji
Published: January 2022

This study investigated the physiological and psychological therapeutic effects of a digital Shinrin-yoku environment constructed indoors in an urban facility as well as the characteristics of the environment that contribute to restorativeness (restorative traits). We measured the fluctuations in the physical and mental states of 25 subjects by obtaining both before–after measurements and continuous measurements while exposed to a digital Shinrin-yoku environment that reproduced visual, auditory, and olfactory elements. The results demonstrated that the parasympathetic nerve activity was significantly increased and that the heart rate was significantly decreased during the exposure compared with that during the resting state. As for mood, five of the six Profile of Mood States (POMS) scales (“Tension–Anxiety,” “Depression,” “Anger–Hostility,” “Fatigue,” and “Confusion”) were significantly decreased after the experience. In addition, psychological restorative effects were also confirmed, with a significant decrease in “negative affect” (measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)) and a significant increase in the sense of restorativeness (Restorative Outcome Scale (ROS)) after the experience. In contrast, comparing the digital Shinrin-yoku environment with the actual forest environment and the urban environment using POMS, PANAS, ROS, and Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS), the psychological effects and environmental traits of the digital Shinrin-yoku were found to be considerably similar to those of the actual forest environment.
SIT: A Spatial Interaction-Aware Transformer-Based Model for Freeway Trajectory Prediction
Authors: Li Xiaolong , Xia Jing , Chen Xiaoyong , Tan Yongbin , Chen Jing
Published: January 2022

Trajectory prediction is one of the core functions of autonomous driving. Modeling spatial-aware interactions and temporal motion patterns for observed vehicles are critical for accurate trajectory prediction. Most recent works on trajectory prediction utilize recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to model temporal patterns and usually need convolutional neural networks (CNNs) additionally to capture spatial interactions. Although Transformer, a multi-head attention-based network, has shown its notable ability in many sequence-modeling tasks (e.g., machine translation in natural language processing), it has not been explored much in trajectory prediction. This paper presents a Spatial Interaction-aware Transformer-based model, which uses the multi-head self-attention mechanism to capture both interactions of neighbor vehicles and temporal dependencies of trajectories. This model applies a GRU-based encoder-decoder module to make the prediction. Besides, different from methods considering the spatial interactions only among observed trajectories in both encoding and decoding stages, our model will also consider the potential spatial interactions between future trajectories in decoding. The proposed model was evaluated on the NGSIM dataset. Compared with other baselines, our model exhibited better prediction precision, especially for long-term prediction.
A Point-of-Interest Recommendation Method Exploiting Sequential, Category and Geographical Influence
Authors: Wang Xican , Liu Yanheng , Zhou Xu , Wang Xueying , Leng Zhaoqi
Published: January 2022

Point of interest (POI) recommendation as an important service in location-based social networks has developed rapidly, which can help users find more interesting unknown locations and facilitate service providers to provide users with more accurate notifications or advertisements. Some existing work has addressed the data sparsity problem of collaborative filtering by incorporating contextual information into the model. However, they ignore the sequence relationship contained in the user’s historical check-in records, which makes it difficult to accurately model the user’s preference and affects the final recommendation results. To acquire users’ preference for a location more accurately, this paper proposes a new POI recommendation framework exploiting sequential, category, and geographical influence. Firstly, we obtain the latent vector of POI and the latent vector of the user’s preference for POI from the user’s check-in sequence based on the word embedding model. Next, a virtual common access sequence for users is constructed according to the user’s check-ins, a new similarity computation method is present combining category differentiation and POI latent vector. Then, we apply it to the collaborative filtering framework to get the user’s behavioral preference probability of POI. In addition, the kernel density estimation method is employed to get the user’s geographical preference probability of POI by considering the geographical influence. Finally, the POI recommendation list is obtained by the weighted fusion of the two users’ preference probability to improve the performance of the POI recommendation. Experimental results on two datasets indicate that the proposed method has better performance in terms of three evaluation metrics than the other five POI recommendation methods.
Discovering New G-Quadruplex DNA Catalysts in Enantioselective Sulfoxidation Reaction
Authors: Festa Carmen , Esposito Veronica , Benigno Daniela , De Marino Simona , Zampella Angela , Virgilio Antonella , Galeone Aldo
Published: January 2022

The natural human telomeric G-quadruplex (G4) sequence d(GGGTTAGGGTTAGGGTTAGGG) HT21 was extensively utilized as a G4 DNA-based catalytic system for enantioselective reactions. Nine oligonucleotides (ODNs) based on this sequence and containing 8-bromo-2′-deoxyadenosine (ABr), 8-oxo-2′-deoxyadenosine (Aoxo) or β-L-2′-deoxyadenosine (AL) at different single loop positions were investigated to evaluate their performances as DNA catalysts in an enantioselective sulfoxidation reaction of thioanisole. The substitution of an adenosine in the loops of HT21 with these modified residues had a negligible impact on the G4 DNA structural features, thermal stability, and catalytic activity, since almost all investigated ODNs were able to form G-quadruplexes strictly resembling that of HT21 and catalyze a full conversion of the thioanisole substrate. More marked effects were obtained in chiral selectivity of G4 DNA metalloenzymes, considering that in most cases the DNA-modified catalysts induced lower enantioselectivities compared to the natural one. However, the HT21 derivative containing an AL residue in the first loop sequence significantly proved to be capable of producing about 84% enantiomeric excess, the highest enantioselectivity for DNA-based oxidation reaction to date.
Detecting Bacterial–Human Lateral Gene Transfer in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Authors: Akimova Ekaterina , Gassner Franz Josef , Greil Richard , Zaborsky Nadja , Geisberger Roland
Published: January 2022

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a very common and mostly incurable B-cell malignancy. Recent studies revealed high interpatient mutational heterogeneity and worsened therapy response and survival of patients with complex genomic aberrations. In line with this, a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of specific genetic aberrations would reveal new prognostic factors and possible therapeutic targets. It is known that chromosomal rearrangements including DNA insertions often play a role during carcinogenesis. Recently it was reported that bacteria (microbiome)–human lateral gene transfer occurs in somatic cells and is enriched in cancer samples. To further investigate this mechanism in CLL, we analyzed paired-end RNA sequencing data of 45 CLL patients and 9 healthy donors, in which we particularly searched for bacterial DNA integrations into the human somatic genome. Applying the Burrows–Wheeler aligner (BWA) first on a human genome and then on bacterial genome references, we differentiated between sequencing reads mapping to the human genome, to the microbiome or to bacterial integrations into the human genome. Our results indicate that CLL samples featured bacterial DNA integrations more frequently (approx. two-fold) compared to normal samples, which corroborates the latest findings in other cancer entities. Moreover, we determined common integration sites and recurrent integrated bacterial transcripts. Finally, we investigated the contribution of bacterial integrations to oncogenesis and disease progression.