Common Behavior Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of Community Detection Agglomerative Technique Algorithms and Metrics on Citation Network

Social Network Analysis is a discipline that represents social relationships as a network of nodes and edges. The construction of social network with clusters will contribute in sharing the common characteristics or behaviour of a group. Partitioning the graph into modules is said to be a community. Communities are meant to symbolize actual social groups that share common characteristics. Citation network is one of the social networks with directed graphs where one paper will cite another paper and so on. Citation networks will assist the researcher in choosing research directions and evaluating research impacts. By constructing the citation networks with communities will direct the user to identify the similarity of documents which are interrelated to one or more domains. This paper introduces the agglomerative technique algorithms and metrics to a directed graph which determines the most influential nodes and group of similar nodes. The two stages required to construct the communities are how to generate network with communities and how to quantify the network performance. The strength and a quality of a network is quantified in terms of metrics like modularity, normalized mutual information (NMI), betweenness centrality, and F-Measure. The suitable community detection techniques and metrics for a citation graph were introduced in this paper. In the field of community detection, it is common practice to categorize algorithms according to the mathematical techniques they employ, and then compare them on benchmark graphs featuring a particular type of assortative community structure. The algorithms are applied for a sample citation sub data is extracted from DBLP, ACM, MAG and some additional sources which is taken from and consists of 101 nodes (nc) with 621 edges € and formed 64 communities. The key attributes in dataset are id, title, abstract, references SLM uses local optimisation and scalability to improve community detection in complicated networks. Unlike traditional methods, the proposed LS-SLM algorithm is identified that the modularity is increased by 12.65%, NMI increased by 2.31%, betweenness centrality by 3.18% and F-Score by 4.05%. The SLM algorithm outperforms existing methods in finding significant and well-defined communities, making it a promising community detection breakthrough.

Associations between 11 parental discipline behaviours and child outcomes across 60 countries

ObjectivesTo test associations between 11 caregiver aggressive and non-aggressive discipline behaviours and outcomes (aggression, distraction and prosocial peer relations) of children under 5 years in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).ParticipantsData...

Comparison of the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life, Sleep Quality, and Oral Health Literacy in Sleep and Awake Bruxism: Results from Family Medicine Practice.

Bruxism is a common oral behaviour. This study aimed to compare oral health-related quality of life, sleep quality, and oral health literacy in patients with and without possible sleep bruxism (SB) and awake bruxism (AB). A cross-sectional study including 249 volunteers was conducted in a family medicine clinic of a tertiary hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. The American Sleep Medicine Association Bruxism Diagnostic Criteria, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) tool, Decay Missing Filled Total Teeth (DMFT) score, and Health Literacy Dental Scale-Short Form (HeLD-14) were assessed by face-to-face interviews. Data were examined using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests, Spearman correlation, and logistic regression analysis. The presence of SB and AB was detected as 41.4% and 21.7%, respectively, among 91 males and 158 females, with a mean age of 36.64 ± 11.60 years. Sleep and awake bruxers had a lower oral health-related quality of life (odds ratio (OR): 0.816, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.770-0.864 and OR: 0.923, 95% CI = 0.956-0.982, respectively). Poor sleep quality was detected 1.28 times higher in sleep bruxism (OR: 1.277, 95% CI = 1.152-1.415) and 1.14 times higher in awake bruxism (OR: 1.141, 95% CI = 1.230-1.058). The DMFT score was found to be 1.13 times higher in SB (OR: 1.129, 95% CI = 1.043-1.223). A higher HeLD-14 score was associated with a lower DMFT score (p < 0.001; r = -0.240). The oral health literacy score was lower in AB and SB groups than in patients without bruxism, but it was not statistically significant (p = 0.267, p = 0.376). A lower oral health-related quality of life and poor sleep quality would be expected in the presence of SB or AB. However, patients may not be aware of it unless asked by a physician regardless of oral health literacy level.

The Effect of Fire Training Given with Virtual Reality Applications on Individual Awareness

The use of virtual reality applications, which entered our lives with the concept of Industry 4.0, in training contributed to increasing the security awareness of individuals and indirectly to developing security culture studies. Obviously, the maximum efficiency that can be obtained in Occupational Health and Safety studies will occur due to behavioural changes in employees. For this reason, it should be ensured that the safety perceptions of the employees are kept at the highest level with appropriate and continuous training. In recent Occupational Health and Safety studies, the importance of developing technology has caused these studies to evolve in a different direction. The study's main purpose in this context is to evaluate whether the fire training given with virtual reality applications contributes to the development of fire safety skills and raising awareness in individuals. This study aims to reveal the teaching of basic fire safety skills to vocational and technical students and academicians at universities, their fire preparedness and their common behaviour in fire situations by using fire extinguishing systems through virtual reality and fire simulation. In the study, 47 questions including one group pre-test post-test, 31 prepared for the scale and 6 interview questions, one of the experimental methods consisting of 10 multiple-choice questions, the scale and face-to-face interviews were conducted. Participants were able to moderately to completely control events in terms of heredity, adaptation/containment, and sensory attachment; In terms of interface quality, it has been determined that they can control events between none and moderate. There is no significant difference between the presence levels and sub-dimensions of the participants in terms of age factor. It can be said that the training with virtual reality is effective in improving the success of the participants in fire training. After the study, it was determined that 38 out of 40 participants increased their success in fire protection subjects. It will be ensured that the fire training given in Turkey will be given more efficiently and effectively by using technological infrastructures. With the feedback received from this study, the existing virtual reality application improvement and virtual reality applications that are planned to be developed will be studied.

Design Rule of Electron- and Hole-Selective Contacts for Polycrystalline Silicon-Based Passivating Contact Solar Cells.

A crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell with a polycrystalline silicon/SiOx (poly-Si/SiOx) structure, incorporating both electron and hole contacts, is an attractive choice for achieving ideal carrier selectivity and serving as a fundamental component in high-efficiency perovskite/Si tandem and interdigitated back-contact solar cells. However, our understanding of the carrier transport mechanism of hole contacts remains limited owing to insufficient studies dedicated to its investigation. There is also a lack of comparative studies on the poly-Si/SiOx electron and hole contacts for ideal carrier-selective solar cells. Therefore, this study aims to address these knowledge gaps by exploring the relationship among microstructural evolution, dopant in-diffusion, and the resulting carrier transport mechanism in both the electron and hole contacts of poly-Si/SiOx solar cells. Electron (n+ poly-Si/SiOx/substrate)- and hole (p+ poly-Si/SiOx/substrate)-selective passivating contacts are subjected to thermal annealing. Changes in the passivation properties and carrier transport mechanisms of these contacts are investigated during thermal annealing at various temperatures. Notably, the results demonstrate that the passivation properties and carrier transport mechanisms are strongly influenced by the microstructural evolution of the poly-Si/SiOx layer stack and dopant in-diffusion. Furthermore, electron and hole contacts exhibit common behaviors regarding microstructural evolution and dopant in-diffusion. However, the hole contacts exhibit relatively inferior electrical properties overall, mainly because both the SiOx interface and the p+ poly-Si are found to be highly defective. Moreover, boron in the hole contacts diffuses deeper than phosphorus in the electron contacts, resulting in deteriorated carrier collection. The experimental results are also supported by device simulation. Based on these findings, design rules are suggested for both electron and hole contacts, such as using thicker SiOx and/or annealing the solar cell at a temperature not exceeding the critical annealing temperature of the hole contacts.

Help-Seeking: A Qualitative Study of Help-Seeking Behaviours of Students in Public Secondary Schools in Northeast Nigeria

Researchers from Western countries have studied how adolescents seek help, displaying that many young people are apathetic towards seeking professional counselling. However, using Western samples to highlight the common help-seeking behaviours (HSBs) of adolescents has significantly created a gap in the literature amongst members of indigenous communities in Northeast Nigeria. The literature is yet to understand the dynamics that help promote the HSBs of learners in public secondary schools in the community. Differently, previous studies have been delimited to learners as samples, thus discounting validations by school counsellors and managers. This study employed the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) technique for twenty-four student samples and in-depth interviews with four teacher-counsellors and four in-school administrators to explore the phenomenon of study in a real-world context. Using NVivo 10 software to analyse participants’ data corpus, the study has generated five emergent themes, namely: (i) Responsibility; (ii) Communalism; (iii) Value and belief norms; (iv) Counselling management in schools, and (v) Multicultural biases. As recommendations, the study suggests the need for counsellors to be multiculturally versatile—be aware of cultural interfaces and implications on counselling relationships as much as build linkages—advocacies, collaborations via the school Parents Teacher Association (PTA) and honour confidentiality in counselling.

“Your Protection is in Your Hands Only”: User Awareness and Adoption of Privacy and Security Practices in Five Majority World Countries

Technology companies frequently develop and launch features to protect privacy, reduce user harm, and increase security. But adoption is inconsistent at best. Businesses might increase awareness through prominent placement on user interfaces or in-product promotions, and drive adoption through changes to default user settings, or by guiding users to tutorials that encourage them to engage with a new feature. These solutions can be effective but fail to capture key factors that inform use and adoption – particularly in the majority world. In this study, we conducted qualitative interviews with 24 participants in five majority world countries across three continents: the Philippines, Brazil, India, Egypt, and Nigeria (N = 120). We assess the awareness and use of privacy and security features related to internet usage generally, and internet-connected mobile devices specifically. Participants often cited worries about being victimized by financial scammers, and highlighted how frequent sharing of devices, a common behavior, resulted in consistent concerns about privacy. We identify barriers and concerns around use and adoption for users in these regions and offer a holistic analytical framework that can be leveraged by actors in the space to better understand user behaviors and attitudes, and design accordingly.

Development of a Cat Behaviour Issues Assessment Scale (CABIAS) Assessing Problem Behaviours in Cats.

Problem behaviours in cats, such as urine marking, scratching, fear, and problems of cohabitation between cats, can present a potential welfare problem for those affected cats and have a negative impact on the human-animal bond. The aim of this study was to develop a Cat Behaviour Issues Assessment Scale (CABIAS) for caregivers to assess these common problem behaviours in cats, and to investigate aspects of the validity and reliability of the CABIAS. The CABIAS uses an index score as a scoring system combining aspects of the frequency and intensity of the problem behaviour. An electronic survey was developed, and 384 households, each with two participants able to observe the cat's behaviour, were recruited for the study. The participants were asked to record their cat's behaviour independently at weekly intervals over a 6-week period. A FELIWAY Optimum diffuser (containing a commercial feline pheromone complex) was provided to half of the participants, to be used during part of the study. The participants were subdivided into four groups according to whether a problem behaviour was present (or not) and whether the pheromone diffuser was provided (or not). The results demonstrated that the index scores for each problem behaviour had very high inter-rater reliability. There was a high correlation between the index scores and the impact the problem behaviours had on the caregivers. In those cats with a declared problem behaviour where the product was used, a reduction in index scores was observed over the duration of the study. The CABIAS was shown to exhibit satisfactory validity, reliability, and sensitivity to change in the current study, suggesting that it may be valuable as a tool for assessing and monitoring scratching, inter-cat cohabitation, urine marking, and fear in cats. The CABIAS could be used by veterinarians and behaviourists to assess these problem behaviours in individual cats and monitor responses to treatment. The CABIAS could also be considered as a research tool to assess the efficacy of interventions aimed at improving these problems.

A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Brief Health Behaviour Change Interventions on Service Users Accessing the Third and Social Economy Sector

There are well-established relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and all aspects of health. Brief interventions offer a cost-effective method to target health behaviours, helping to reduce these health inequalities. Furthermore, the third and social economy (TSE) sector, which encompasses all not-for-profit groups and organisations that operate outside of the family, household, and government, offers access to those of lower SES and a motivated workforce with established relationships with service users. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the effectiveness of brief interventions targeting health behaviours and their social determinants, when delivered within TSE settings or by TSE service providers (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022301969). Eight databases were searched for brief health behaviour change interventions lasting under 30 minutes per session, delivered by volunteers within the TSE sector or delivered within the TSE sector provided by or within a TSE, from all possible publication dates to February 2022. Behaviours relating to smoking, diet, alcohol, physical activity, housing, or finance were included. Narrative synthesis and Cochrane risk of bias tools were applied. Eight eligible studies were identified, most measuring smoking behaviour and with a considerable risk of bias. Only one study was set both within a TSE setting and delivered by TSE providers. The most common behaviour change techniques applied were the provision of information on both the consequences of the behaviour and further support. Brief interventions showed a minimal, if any, reduction in smoking behaviour and cholesterol levels, with more intensive interventions resulting in a far greater improvement in smoking, diet, and physical activity behaviours than brief intervention. This study highlighted a lack of research on brief interventions within the TSE sector, particularly for alcohol consumption. More qualitative research is needed to explore the feasibility and acceptability of brief interventions within the TSE settings. Limitations are discussed, including the high risk of bias of included studies and the exclusion of mental health.

Snack quality and snack timing are associated with cardiometabolic blood markers: the ZOE PREDICT study

BackgroundSnacking is a common diet behaviour which accounts for a large proportion of daily energy intake, making it a key determinant of diet quality. However, the relationship between snacking frequency, quality and timing with cardiometabolic health remains unclear.DesignDemography, diet, health (fasting and postprandial cardiometabolic blood and anthropometrics markers) and stool metagenomics data were assessed in the UK PREDICT 1 cohort (N = 1002) (NCT03479866). Snacks (foods or drinks consumed between main meals) were self-reported (weighed records) across 2–4 days. Average snacking frequency and quality [snack diet index (SDI)] were determined (N = 854 after exclusions). Associations between snacking frequency, quality and timing with cardiometabolic blood and anthropometric markers were assessed using regression models (adjusted for age, sex, BMI, education, physical activity level and main meal quality).ResultsParticipants were aged (mean, SD) 46.1 ± 11.9 years, had a mean BMI of 25.6 ± 4.88 kg/m2 and were predominantly female (73%). 95% of participants were snackers (≥ 1 snack/day; n = 813); mean daily snack intake was 2.28 snacks/day (24 ± 16% of daily calories; 203 ± 170 kcal); and 44% of participants were discordant for meal and snack quality. In snackers, overall snacking frequency and quantity of snack energy were not associated with cardiometabolic risk markers. However, lower snack quality (SDI range 1–11) was associated with higher blood markers, including elevated fasting triglycerides (TG (mmol/L) β; – 0.02, P = 0.02), postprandial TGs (6hiAUC (mmol/L.s); β; – 400, P = 0.01), fasting insulin (mIU/L) (β; – 0.15, P = 0.04), insulin resistance (HOMA-IR; β; – 0.04, P = 0.04) and hunger (scale 0–100) (β; – 0.52, P = 0.02) (P values non-significant after multiple testing adjustments). Late-evening snacking (≥ 9 pm; 31%) was associated with lower blood markers (HbA1c; 5.54 ± 0.42% vs 5.46 ± 0.28%, glucose 2hiAUC; 8212 ± 5559 vs 7321 ± 4928 mmol/L.s, P = 0.01 and TG 6hiAUC; 11,638 ± 8166 vs 9781 ± 6997 mmol/L.s, P = 0.01) compared to all other snacking times (HbA1c remained significant after multiple testing).ConclusionSnack quality and timing of consumption are simple diet features which may be targeted to improve diet quality, with potential health benefits.Clinical trial registry number and websiteNCT03479866, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03479866?term=NCT03479866&draw=2&rank=1

Therapists’ prototypes of common mental disorders – An empirical identification

BackgroundAlthough earlier studies concluded that clinicians' prototypes of patients with mental disorders can influence diagnostic decisions, it remains unclear how presumably more or less prototypical features were identified in these studies. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to empirically identify therapists’ prototypes of major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, borderline personality disorder, and bipolar disorder. MethodPsychotherapists (N = 69) filled out an online survey and answered questions on the most common thoughts, feelings, behaviors, appearance, life circumstances, age, and gender of a typical person with each disorder. Additionally, they rated the DSM-5 criteria according to how much they think about each criterion when picturing a typical person with the respective disorder. ResultsThe most frequently mentioned features are reported and associations between features are visualized by means of network analyses. Besides some exceptions, therapists’ responses were mostly in line with the DSM-5 criteria and prevalence rates in patients with each disorder. LimitationsThe main limitation is the fact that categorization of therapists’ responses into features depended on subjective decisions. Despite efforts to make this process as objective as possible, replication could lead to slightly different results. ConclusionTherapists' prototypes might be helpful to make diagnostic decisions in typical situations but could lead to incorrectly diagnosing or overlooking a disorder in less typical situations. The results of the current study should inform further research on the influence of prototypes on diagnostic decisions. Additionally, the current findings should be used to increase therapists’ awareness of prototypes of different mental disorders and the importance of accurate diagnosis.

Unified small‐signal model for DC‐DC converters based on the three‐state switching cell operating in discontinuous conduction mode

SummaryUnified small‐signal modeling approaches are of paramount importance for the design of controllers and closed‐loop control systems in power electronic converters. In this sense, this work proposes the small‐signal analysis of non‐isolated dc‐dc converters employing the three‐state switching cell (3SSC) in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). The modeling technique relies on the very same principles of the pulse width modulation (PWM) switch while not involving matrix operations, but only basic concepts related to electric circuits. Considering that the waveforms associated with the terminals of the 3SSC in DCM have a common behavior in all basic dc‐dc converters, it is possible to derive the small‐signal models for both operating regions of the 3SSC, that is, non‐overlapping mode (NOM) and overlapping mode (OM). Thus, one can effectively demonstrate that the same circuit can represent both modes, even though the coefficients that describe the models are calculated from distinct equations. The theoretical claims are validated in the frequency and time domains while comparing the model with the converter. The obtained results evidence that the unified model can accurately represent converters based on the 3SSC in DCM.

Analysis of the brain transcriptome for substance-associated genes: An update on large-scale genome-wide association studies.

Substance use disorder (SUD) arises from the initiation to subsequent regular, irregular and harmful use of substances such as alcohol, tobacco/nicotine and cannabis. While thousands of genetic variants have been identified from recent large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS), understanding their functions in substance involvement and investigating the mechanisms by which they act in the addiction circuits remains challenging. In this study, we re-analysed the brain regional transcriptome data from the most comprehensive postmortem transcriptomic study, with a focus on up- or down-regulation of substance-associated protein-coding genes in the addiction circuit-related brain regions (AddictRegions), including six cortical and 11 subcortical regions. We found that substance-associated genes were overrepresented in AddictRegions. Interestingly, we observed a greater degree of genetic overlap between initiation and use and between use and SUD than between initiation and SUD. Moreover, substance initiation, use and SUD-associated genes tend to shift their enriched AddictRegions from the cortical for initiation and, to a lesser extent, substance use to subcortical regions for SUD (e.g., thalamus, substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area). We also uncovered a pattern of coordinated cortical up-regulation and subcortical down-regulation for the genes associated with tobacco initiation and alcohol use. Moreover, the Gene Ontology terms of glutamate receptor activity and neurotransmitter binding were most significantly overrepresented in AddictRegion-upregulated, substance-associated genes, with the strongest enrichment for those involved in common substance use behaviours. Overall, our analysis provides a resource of AddictRegion-related transcriptomes for studying substance-associated genes and generates intriguing insights into the genetic control of substance initiation, use and SUD.

Creating a reference range of common problem behaviors and replacement behaviors in neurotypical children

AbstractThere are limited resources outlining age‐referenced rates of problem behavior displayed by neurotypical children. Such information is important for practitioners as a basis for social comparison when they are targeting behavior reduction goals for neurodivergent clients. We distributed a survey to parents of children aged 1–10 years without a developmental diagnosis in which parents reported frequency of five problem behaviors across a 24‐h period, as well as commonly targeted replacement behaviors. Problem behavior was reported across all age groups to varying degrees based on topography and age. Replacement behaviors, such as waiting and tolerating denials generally improved as children increased in age but still largely remained below 80% of opportunities. The present study may serve as a reference for researchers and clinicians to set goals that are developmentally appropriate.

Taming Aerial Communication with Flight-Assisted Smart Surfaces in the 6G Era: Novel Use Cases, Requirements, and Solutions

Aerial communication is gradually taking an assertive role within common societal behaviors by means of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), high-altitude platforms (HAPs), and fixed-wing aircrafts (FWAs). Such devices can assist general operations in a diverse set of heterogeneous applications, such as video surveillance, remote delivery, and connectivity provisioning in crowded events and emergency scenarios. Given their increasingly higher technology penetration rate, telco operators started looking at the sky as a new potential direction to enable a three-dimensional (3D) communication paradigm. However, designing flying mobile stations involves addressing a daunting number of challenges, such as an excessive onboard control overhead, variable battery drain, and advanced antenna design. To this end, the newly born smart surfaces technology may come to help: reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) may be flexibly installed on board to control the terrestrial propagation environment from an elevated viewpoint by involving low-complex and battery-limited solutions. In this article, we focus on identifying the key optimization aspects to be considered when designing RIS-based aerial networks, and in particular the associated control architecture, by shedding light on novel use cases, corresponding requirements, and potential solutions.

Pattern of sexually transmitted infections from a tertiary care hospital, Pokhara: A six-month retrospective study

Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are major public health problem that have profound effect in reproductive and mental health. STIs have direct impact on sexual and reproductive health through stigmatization, infertility, and cancers and can increase the risk of HIV.2 Unprotected sexual contact with an infected partner is the most important risk factor associated with STI. Pattern of STI varies from region to region depending on socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and educational factor. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess pattern of STIs in a tertiary level hospital, Pokhara. Materials and Methods: The following is a hospital-based retrospective study conducted in the Dermatology department of Pokhara academy of health sciences (PoAHS). All patients who attended the STI clinic of dermatology OPD from 2078/05/01 to 2078/11/30 B.S. with clinical manifestations of STI and associated positive serological investigation with their risky sexual behavior, related information was recorded in STI register and was analyzed. HIV cases are enrolled directly to antiretroviral therapy clinic of PoAHS, so HIV cases were not included in the study. Results: Out of 87 STI patients, 71.3% were males and 28.7% were females. The mean age of patient with STI was 31.34+8.4. The most common diagnosis was syphilis 55.2% followed by urethral discharge syndrome 16.1%. STIs were common among married individuals 74.7%. Most common high-risk sexual behavior among patients with STI was multiple sexual partners 79.3%. Conclusion: The study showed that the prevalence of STIs is still high in the society. Lack of awareness, delinquent behavior, and an inconsistent use of condoms during sexual contact may be the major contributing factors.

Construction of influencing factors model for public information avoidance behavior in major infectious disease outbreaks based on meta-ethnography

ObjectiveMajor infectious disease outbreaks are highly susceptible to diffuse outbreaks due to their sudden and more widespread nature. Compared to previous outbreaks such as the Spanish flu and SARS in China, COVID-19 has greatly affected the health of citizens and the economic development of countries worldwide, and is representative of major infectious disease outbreaks in many ways. Information avoidance, a common information behaviour during major infectious disease outbreaks, can alleviate the stress caused by information overload as a strategy to reduce negative emotions and maintain optimism. However, it can also bias risk perceptions and avoid content of greater value. Therefore, a deeper understanding of public information behaviour, particularly how and why relevant information is circumvented, places a demand on researchers. MethodsA meta-ethnographic qualitative research methodology was used, and the seven steps of the methodology were strictly followed, including identifying integration themes, defining the connotations of integration themes, reading original studies, identifying relationships between studies, inter-translation between studies, synthetic translation, and presenting integration results. 26 original studies were integrated in a unified research framework, with a macro perspective that integrates consistent as well as complex and even contradictory findings and identifies dominant factors. ConclusionsIdentify demographic factors, information literacy, risk perception, cognitive structure, information quality, information sources, external characteristics of information, and environmental characteristics sub-dimensions around the dimensions of ‘individual’, ‘information’ and ‘environment’. The study also explored the factors under each sub-dimension. The study finally identified three dimensions, nine sub-dimensions and 26 factors, and obtained a more complete theoretical framework to construct a “model of factors influencing public information avoidance behaviour in major infectious disease epidemics”, with a view to providing a theoretical basis and practical reference for relevant departments in guiding public information behaviour and health practices in major infectious disease epidemics.

Montessori Education: A Study on the Impact of Montessori Preschools in Washington on Short-Term Emotional Development in Children

This research paper investigates how Montessori preschool education impacts short-term emotional development in children ages 3-5 in Washington state, compared to conventional forms of education. This study employs a multimethod approach including a quantitative parental survey measuring common adolescent behaviors on a five-point Likert scale along with a qualitative Montessori educator survey coded for key themes of Montessori education that support emotional development. The findings from the quantitative parental survey show that while both Montessori and conventional preschool students are on track for emotional development, there is a significant disparity as Montessori students were found to have higher emotional development. Furthermore, the educator survey suggests that there are four main aspects of Montessori curriculum: respect, independence/individualization, community/diversity, and conflict resolution. Overall, the results of this study provide valuable insights on the effectiveness of Montessori education in regard to promoting emotional development in preschoolers and how it could be further utilized to inform educational practices and curriculum in conventional preschools.

Prevalence of common mental disorders among medical students in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The prevalence of mental distress is common for medical students in China due to factors such as the long duration of schooling, stressful doctor-patient relationship, numerous patient population, and limited medical resources. However, previous studies have failed to provide a comprehensive prevalence of these mental disorders in this population. This meta-analysis aimed to estimate the prevalence of common mental disorders (CMDs), including depression, anxiety, and suicidal behaviors, among medical students in China. We conducted a systematic search for empirical studies on the prevalence of depression, anxiety, suicide attempt, suicide ideation, and suicide plan in Chinese medical students published from January 2000 to December 2020. All data were collected pre-COVID-19. The prevalence and heterogeneity estimations were computed by using a random-effects model and univariate meta-regression analyses. A total of 197 studies conducted in 23 provinces in China were included in the final meta-analysis. The prevalence data of depression, anxiety, suicide attempt, suicide ideation, and suicide plan were extracted from 129, 80, 21, 53, and 14 studies, respectively. The overall pooled crude prevalence for depression was 29% [38,309/132,343; 95% confidence interval (CI): 26%-32%]; anxiety, 18% (19,479/105,397; 95% CI: 15%-20%); suicide ideation, 13% (15,546/119,069; 95% CI: 11%-15%); suicide attempt, 3% (1,730/69,786; 95% CI: 1%-4%); and suicide plan, 4% (1,188/27,025; 95% CI: 3%-6%). This meta-analysis demonstrated the high prevalence of CMDs among Chinese medical students. Further research is needed to identify targeted strategies to improve the mental health of this population.

Predicting moose behaviors from tri-axial accelerometer data using a supervised classification algorithm

BackgroundMonitoring the behavior of wild animals in situ can improve our understanding of how their behavior is related to their habitat and affected by disturbances and changes in their environment. Moose (Alces alces) are keystone species in their boreal habitats, where they are facing environmental changes and disturbances from human activities. How these potential stressors can impact individuals and populations is unclear, in part due to our limited knowledge of the physiology and behavior of moose and how individuals can compensate for stress and disturbances they experience. We collected data from collar-mounted fine-scale tri-axial accelerometers deployed on captive moose in combination with detailed behavioral observations to train a random forest supervised classification algorithm to classify moose accelerometer data into discrete behaviors. To investigate the generalizability of our model to collared new individuals, we quantified the variation in classification performance among individuals.ResultsOur machine learning model successfully classified 3-s accelerometer data intervals from 12 Alaskan moose (A. a. gigas) and two European moose (A. a. alces) into seven behaviors comprising 97.6% of the 395 h of behavioral observations conducted in summer, fall and spring. Classification performance varied among behaviors and individuals and was generally dependent on sample size. Classification performance was highest for the most common behaviors lying with the head elevated, ruminating and foraging (precision and recall across all individuals between 0.74 and 0.90) comprising 79% of our data, and lower and more variable among individuals for the four less common behaviors lying with head down or tucked, standing, walking and running (precision and recall across all individuals between 0.28 and 0.79) comprising 21% of our data.ConclusionsWe demonstrate the use of animal-borne accelerometer data to distinguish among seven main behaviors of captive moose and discuss generalizability of the results to individuals in the wild. Our results can support future efforts to investigate the detailed behavior of collared wild moose, for example in the context of disturbance responses, time budgets and behavior-specific habitat selection.