Fourth Version Research Articles

Functional hearing loss and developmental imbalances.

Functional hearing loss (FHL) is a disorder in which there are abnormal values on a hearing test, despite the absence of organic abnormalities in the peripheral and central auditory pathways. Here, we examined the developmental characteristics of FHL and the importance of intervention by analyzing the clinical characteristics of children with this disorder. We retrospectively examined 16 patients assessed under a diagnosis of FHL. After interventions such as psychological counseling by our pediatrics and psychiatry departments, we compared the clinical profiles of patients in which hearing was "improved/normalized" and "unimproved". Fourteen patients visited a pediatrician and two chose not to do so. A discrepancy between the maximum and minimum values of the four index scores was observed in all patients in which WISC-IV (the fourth version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) was performed (n=12). The discrepancy between the verbal comprehension index (VCI) and perceptual reasoning index (PRI) was significantly greater in "unimproved" patients than in "improved/normalized" patients. Hearing improved, or was normalized, after intervention in six of 16 patients. Developmental imbalances were suspected in all 12 children who visited a pediatrician and completed the WISC-IV. Cooperation with pediatricians, psychiatrists, and other health professionals is desirable in supporting patients diagnosed with FHL.

The impact of pharmaceutical care intervention on the depressive symptoms of patients diagnosed with hypothyroidism

Pharmaceutical care interventions are a set of recommendations/interventions given by the pharmacist to improve therapeutic compliance, reduce complications, solve a drug therapy problem and improve patients' quality of life with chronic diseases by achieving patient satisfaction. The role of pharmaceutical care intervention in improving the condition of patients with hypothyroidism is still uncovered in Sulaimani city in Iraq, therefore, the current study aimed to evaluate the role of pharmaceutical care interventions in improving the outcome of psychological abnormalities in patients diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Fifty-eight patients were enrolled in the study and were randomly allocated into two groups: pharmaceutical care and the control group, both groups were interviewed by the pharmacist using a specific questionnaire. It is the fourth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) for assessing their psychological state at the beginning and the at the end of the study and data are recorded by the pharmacist. Blood samples were collected and utilized for analyzing the levels of thyroid function tests, lipid profile tests and blood glucose parameters at baseline and six weeks after. The pharmaceutical care group received all the education about their medications and how to minimize drug-related problems; improve the outcome and quality of life. Additionally, the pharmaceutical intervention included correcting some biochemical parameters. The study findings suggest that pharmaceutical care intervention and the pharmacist’s role over six-weeks period could improve the patient’s psychological condition. In addition, it can improve some biochemical parameters and quality of life significantly.

Effect of a sensory diet smartphone application on the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A feasibility study

IntroductionSensory integration and sensory diet can improve the symptoms of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This feasibility study aimed to evaluate the effect of using a sensory diet smartphone application by mothers on the main symptoms of their children with ADHD, including hyperactivity, attention deficit, and impulsivity. MethodsWe conducted a need assessment study with the collaboration of 15 occupational therapists, developed an Android-based prototype, and evaluated it in terms of usability with the participation of 12 available mothers of children with ADHD. 12 other selected children were divided into control and experimental groups. At first, these children were evaluated using the hyperactivity subscale of the fourth version of the Pediatric Symptoms Questionnaire, and after two months of using the application by the mothers of the children in the experimental group, both groups were re-evaluated using the same questionnaire. We compared the mean score of this questionnaire before and after the mothers’ use of the application. ResultsThe application included 105 sensory diet exercises presented in animated format with accompanying text explanations. According to mothers' feedback, the usability of the application was rated at a high level with an average score of 8.35 out of 9. In the experimental group, attention deficit significantly improved compared to the pre-intervention stage (Mean ± SD = 13.67 ± 6.86 vs. 22 ± 6.13, P-value<0.0001) and compared to the control group after the intervention (P-value = 0.048). Additionally, after the intervention, the experimental group showed significant improvements in impulsivity (mean difference = −1.33) and hyperactivity (mean difference = −4.67) compared to the pre-intervention (P-value = 0.025 and 0.034, respectively). However, these improvements were not statistically significant when compared to the control group (P-value = 0.937 and 0.58, respectively). ConclusionThe findings suggest that sensory diet smartphone applications have the potential to help alleviate symptoms related to attention deficit in children with ADHD.

Update on the fourth version of the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing: relevance for the Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing.

Update on the fourth version of the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing: relevance for the Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing.

Say it right: measuring the impact of different communication strategies on the decision to get vaccinated

BackgroundVaccine hesitancy is a concerning menace to the control of vaccine-preventable diseases. Effective health communication could promote an overall understanding of the importance, risks, and benefits of vaccination and reduce vaccine hesitancy.MethodsIn this survey, four fictitious newspaper articles addressing an emerging bogus disease and its vaccine were randomly assigned to participants. The first version focused on information about the disease; the second was akin to the first, including a case description and image. The third version focused on vaccine safety/efficacy; the fourth version was like the third, including a case description and image. After reading a single version of the article, participants responded if they would take the vaccine and if they would vaccinate their children. We used chi-squared tests for comparisons and investigated interactions with vaccine-hesitant attitudes.ResultsWe included 5233 participants between August/2021 and January/2022; 790 were caregivers of a child ≤ 5 years old, and 15% had prior vaccine hesitancy. Although most declared intention to take the vaccine, the percentage was highest among those exposed to the newspaper article focusing on the vaccine safety/efficacy with the case description and picture (91%; 95% confidence interval 89–92%), and lowest among participants exposed to the article focusing on the disease with no case description (84%; 95% confidence interval 82–86%). Similar trends were observed in the intention of offspring vaccination. We found evidence of effect modification by vaccine-hesitant attitudes, with a higher impact of communication focusing on vaccine safety/efficacy compared to that focusing on disease characteristics among hesitant participants.ConclusionCommunication strategies focusing on different aspects of the disease-vaccine duet may impact vaccine hesitancy, and storytelling/emotive imagery descriptions may improve risk perception and vaccine uptake. Moreover, the effect of message framing strategies may differ according to previous vaccine hesitant attitudes.

Evaluating the implementation of the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory-4 (MPAI-4) in three rehabilitation settings in Quebec: a mixed-methods study protocol

IntroductionStroke is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, placing an immense burden on patients and the health system. Timely access to rehabilitation services can improve stroke survivors’ quality...

Animal Detection and Counting from UAV Images Using Convolutional Neural Networks

In the last decade, small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs/drones) have become increasingly popular in the airborne observation of large areas for many purposes, such as the monitoring of agricultural areas, the tracking of wild animals in their natural habitats, and the counting of livestock. Coupled with deep learning, they allow for automatic image processing and recognition. The aim of this work was to detect and count the deer population in northwestern Serbia from such images using deep neural networks, a tedious process that otherwise requires a lot of time and effort. In this paper, we present and compare the performance of several state-of-the-art network architectures, trained on a manually annotated set of images, and use it to predict the presence of objects in the rest of the dataset. We implemented three versions of the You Only Look Once (YOLO) architecture and a Single Shot Multibox Detector (SSD) to detect deer in a dense forest environment and measured their performance based on mean average precision (mAP), precision, recall, and F1 score. Moreover, we also evaluated the models based on their real-time performance. The results showed that the selected models were able to detect deer with a mean average precision of up to 70.45% and a confidence score of up to a 99%. The highest precision was achieved by the fourth version of YOLO with 86%, as well as the highest recall value of 75%. Its compressed version achieved slightly lower results, with 83% mAP in its best case, but it demonstrated four times better real-time performance. The counting function was applied on the best-performing models, providing us with the exact distribution of deer over all images. Yolov4 obtained an error of 8.3% in counting, while Yolov4-tiny mistook 12 deer, which accounted for an error of 7.1%.

How Gender and Primary Language Influence the Acquisition of Economic Knowledge of Secondary School Students in the United States and Germany

Economics has become an essential component of secondary school curricula in many countries as a result of the growing awareness that young adults need fundamental economic knowledge to manage their personal finances. Accordingly, an increasing number of comparative studies are being conducted of commonalities and differences in students’ economic knowledge and its most decisive influencing factors within and across countries. In this study, we compare the performance of secondary school students in the United States (N = 3517) and Germany (N = 983) on the fourth version of the Test of Economic Literacy. We investigate two personal characteristics that have been found to influence the students’ acquisition of economic knowledge: gender and primary language. Although these two characteristics have been considered in numerous studies of economic education in both countries, they have not been investigated together in an international comparison, which would allow more effective pedagogical approaches for economic education to be formulated. We found male students in both countries exhibited greater economic knowledge, and students whose primary language was the same as the national language performed better. We discuss implications for economic education in both countries and cross-nationally.

Study on Certification Criteria of Building Energy and Environmental Performance in the Context of Achieving Climate Neutrality

Increased greenhouse gas emissions have led to a global warming threat. As a result, countries have tended to focus their decision-making attention on energy-saving strategies. Specifically, the concept of green building has been developed for the construction sector. It aims to create energy-efficient structural activities (new constructions, repairs, or renovated constructions) that will be carried out in line with the determined criteria. With the concept of green building and the need to establish criteria and standards to ensure energy efficiency, green building certification systems have come to the fore. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) certification systems have been developed. This article investigates the achievements of the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) category of LEED-certified projects in Türkiye and Europe. A comparison study of countries was carried out, based on the fourth version of the LEED BD+C framework that was developed for new green building projects. The study’s primary goal is to show the linear correlation between market value and IEQ. It was revealed that the gross domestic product does not affect IEQ applications. Although Türkiye was ranked first in applying for IEQ credits, its economic development level is lower than that of other European countries.

Convalescent plasma for people with COVID-19: a living systematic review.

Convalescent plasma for people with COVID-19: a living systematic review.

Standardization and Investigation of Internal Consistency, Reliability, and Criterion Validity of the Fourth Version of the Millon Test (MCMI-IV)

Objective: The aim of this research was to standardize and investigate the internal consistency, reliability, and criterion validity of the fourth version of the Millon Test (MMCI-IV). Materials and Methods: This study employed an analytical-cross-sectional approach, considering the nature of standardization. The current method focused on the current state and situation, involving both descriptive and correlational methods. The study population consisted of all individuals who referred to counseling centers or clinics in Tehran from June 2022 to September 2022, were at least 18 years old, had a minimum of five years of education, and sought initial treatment or were referred to these centers. In this study, 500 individuals were selected from the population using purposive sampling. The measurement tools included MMCI-IV and the revised form of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2RF). Statistical analysis was performed using Cronbach's alpha, split-half method, test-retest reliability, Pearson correlation coefficient, and SPSS-26 statistical software. Findings: Cronbach's alpha and internal consistency, assessed using the split-half method with Spearman-Brown correction, indicated acceptable coefficients for all scales and subscales of this test at a 95% confidence level (p &lt; 0.05). Additionally, the reliability results of this test, assessed using the split-half method, showed significant coefficients at a 95% confidence level, indicating its suitability for reliability (p &lt; 0.05). However, the criterion validity (concurrent validity) of this test with the MMPI-2RF was not confirmed in any of its scales as the correlation coefficient was not significant at a 95% confidence level (p &gt; 0.05). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the standardized fourth version of the Millon Test demonstrates good internal consistency and reliability. However, it does not show concurrent validity with the MMPI-2RF. Therefore, caution should be exercised when using this test as a substitute for the MMPI-2RF.

Road Pothole Detection Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery and Deep Learning Technique

Potholes are considered the main factor for road defects, which leads to road status deterioration, which, consequently will lead to increased road accidents. The first step in road maintenance is to inspect the road surface and then accurately detect potholes. However, manually identifying them is costly and time-consuming. In this study, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery was used to create orthophotos of the roads and, using deep learning methods, potholes were detected. The used deep learning method in this study is the "you only look once" (YOLO) algorithm. YOLO is one of the "deep learning-based approaches" to detecting objects and is a single-stage network which requires only one forward propagation across the neural network and focuses on the entire image. The fourth version of YOLO is YOLOV4, which has two different architectures (YOLOv4 and YOLOv4-tiny). Two roads were chosen as the study areas, and to generate the orthophotos of the roads, UAV was used to acquire images. To train both methods in the process of detecting potholes using deep learning, 5300 images were used, 90% used for training and 10% applied for testing. The two used architectures were trained for 6000 iterations. Both methods were evaluated based on the average loss, mean average precision (mAP), and training and testing time. The results showed that the (mAP) values for YOLOv4 and YOLOv4-tiny were 91. 2% and 85.7%, respectively. At the end of the 6000 iterations, the average loss for YOLOv4 is 0.30% and for YOLOv4-tiny is 0.34%. In the training process, YOLOv4 needs 29 seconds for each iteration, while YOLOv4-tiny requires only 8 seconds. In the test process, YOLOv4-tiny is faster at detecting potholes than YOLOv4. The approaches were tested on orthophotos created by processing UAV photos. When comparing the detection of both architectures with visual detection, the results showed that YOLOv4 was able to detect most of the potholes on roads, but YOLOv4-tiny detected a lower number of potholes.

IMG/VR v4: an expanded database of uncultivated virus genomes within a framework of extensive functional, taxonomic, and ecological metadata.

Viruses are widely recognized as critical members of all microbiomes. Metagenomics enables large-scale exploration of the global virosphere, progressively revealing the extensive genomic diversity of viruses on Earth and highlighting the myriad of ways by which viruses impact biological processes. IMG/VR provides access to the largest collection of viral sequences obtained from (meta)genomes, along with functional annotation and rich metadata. A web interface enables users to efficiently browse and search viruses based on genome features and/or sequence similarity. Here, we present the fourth version of IMG/VR, composed of >15 million virus genomes and genome fragments, a≈6-fold increase in size compared to the previous version. These clustered into 8.7 million viral operational taxonomic units, including 231 408 with at least one high-quality representative. Viral sequences in IMG/VR are now systematically identified from genomes, metagenomes, and metatranscriptomes using a new detection approach (geNomad), and IMG standard annotation are complemented with genome quality estimation using CheckV, taxonomic classification reflecting the latest taxonomic standards, and microbial host taxonomy prediction. IMG/VR v4 is available at https://img.jgi.doe.gov/vr, and the underlying data are available to download at https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/portal/IMG_VR.

Truth and Transparency, Compromise and Climate Change

Truth and Transparency, Compromise and Climate Change

CCRobot-IV: An Obstacle-Free Split-Type Quad-Ducted Propeller-Driven Bridge Stay Cable-Climbing Robot

This letter presents CCRobot-IV, the fourth version of a climbing robot designed for bridge cable-inspection tasks. CCRobot-IV inherits design features from the previous CCRobot series, and has improved capability for crossing cables with obstacles such as helical ribs, small metal accessories, and various other obstacles. CCRobot-IV consists of a quad-ducted propeller-driven climbing precursor and an affiliated payload-carrying body. Because a quad-ducted propeller does not depend on friction generated by mutual contact and extrusion, the precursor’s locomotion is decoupled from the surface of the bridge cable and the obstacles on it. When the precursor climbs up to reach the set position, it uses its gripper’s self-locking palms to grasp the bridge cable, which creates a fixed anchor point that allows the payload-carrying body to pull itself up using wires and two winches (which are a type of driving wheel that do not require extrusion force on the cable to produce adhesion and friction). Therefore, the robot’s payload capacity is also decoupled from adhesion to the cable surface, and thus the entire system has obstacle-free operation. Experimental tests and field tests have demonstrated CCRobot-IV’s climbing performance, payload capacity, and potential application utility.

Role of SNAP-25 MnlI variant in impaired working memory and brain functions in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

IntroductionAttention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a hereditary neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by working memory (WM) deficits. The MnlI variant (rs3746544) of the synaptosomal‐associated protein 25 (SNAP‐25) gene is associated with ADHD. In this study, we investigated the role and underlying mechanism of SNAP‐25 MnlI variant in cognitive impairment and brain functions in boys with ADHD.MethodWe performed WM capacity tests using the fourth version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC‐IV) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis for the resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 56 boys with ADHD divided into two genotypic groups (TT homozygotes and G‐allele carriers). Next, Spearman's rank correlation analysis between the obtained ReHo values and the WM index (WMI) calculated for each participant.ResultsCompared with G‐allele carrier group, there were higher ReHo values for the left medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and higher WM capacity in TT homozygote group. Contrary to TT homozygote group, the WM capacity was negatively correlated with the peak ReHo value for the left mPFC in G‐allele carrier group.ConclusionThese findings suggest that SNAP‐25 MnlI variant may underlie cognitive and brain function impairments in boys with ADHD, thus suggesting its potential as a new target for ADHD treatment.

The Effect of Adlerian Play Therapy on Working Memory of Female Students Seven to Twelve Years Old With Mild Intellectual Disability

Objective Intellectual disability is a common neurodevelopmental disorder. Working memory deficit can affect children. One of the effective methods in the field of learning is playing games and the application of play therapy techniques. In this method, children are allowed to practice useful social behaviors and experience new thoughts and feelings in a safe environment with supportive relationships. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of Adlerian play therapy on the working memory of female students aged 7 to 12 years with mild intellectual disability. Materials &amp; Methods Out of 60 female students aged 7 to 12 years with a diagnosis of mild intellectual disability in Fatemeh Zahra Special School in Qom, 28 students met the inclusion criteria. They were divided into the experimental and control groups by 1: 1 random allocation. The experimental group received the Adlerian therapy protocol for ten weeks in three 45-minute sessions (30 sessions) every week. The working memory of both groups was examined in three stages, including pre-test, post-test, and one month later, without receiving any intervention for follow-up, by the fourth version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). Data analysis was done by Shapiro-Wilk, Friedman, Mann-Whitney, and Bonferroni tests and generalized estimation equation by SPSS software v. 22 at the significance level of 5%. Results Most of the subjects in each group were aged 7 years (first grade) with six people (43%), whereas the lowest frequency was related to the age of 9 years (third grade) with two people (14%) per group. The mean and standard deviation of the working memory subtest in the experimental group increased from 6.28 3.66 in the pre-test to 10.4 86 in the post-test and increased to 12.64 5.25 in the follow-up stage. However, in the control group, the mean and standard deviation changed from 5.92 3.19 in the pre-test to 5.64 3.17 and 5.85 3.41 in the post-test and follow-up, respectively. In the experimental group, there was a significant difference in the mean score of working memory in all stages of measurement (p&lt; 0.05). In the pre-test stage, there was no significant difference in the mean score of working memory in the experimental and control groups (p&gt;0.05). In the post-test stage, because the P was very close to 0.05, we can ignore it and consider it significant. In the follow-up stage, there was a significant difference in the mean score of working memory in the experimental and control groups (P&lt;0.05). Conclusion It seems that child-centered Adlerian play therapy has a persistent effect on the working memory of students with mild intellectual disabilities. Therefore, Adlerian play therapy can be used in educational planning to enhance the working memory of these students

Past and Present in Japanese Historiography: Four Versions of Presentism

For many intellectual historians, presentism is viewed as a cardinal sin—linked to unreflective anachronism and the inappropriate projection of present-day values onto a very different past context. However, by embracing the ways in which the present inevitably shapes our modes of inquiry, our historical interests, and even the moral underpinnings of our analysis, we can find in the present tools that can make our history better, and help make sense of historical debates and controversies. This essay gives an account of Japanese historiography organized around four versions of presentism. The first is political presentism, an analytic lens that emerged in the “objectivity debate” over what constituted politicized scholarship and reflected the political antagonisms of the Cold War in Asia. Consciously or unconsciously, political convictions shape our scholarship. The second version is the presentism of social context. Each decade that followed the Asia–Pacific War possessed its particular zeitgeist, and histories written during those moments were products of their time. The third form of presentism is the connection between past and present via analogy or likeness: using a past event or person to understand the present and vice versa. To analogize past and present means finding a correspondence that makes the past feel familiar and less “other.” The fourth version of presentism is the project of contemporary history: the past in the present, the past leading to the present, the present as the starting point for historical inquiry.

Novel Diagnostic Criteria for Functional Esophageal Disorders

The diagnosis of functional esophageal disorders has evolved from conventional manometry in 1970s to high-resolution manometry in 2010s. The conventional manometry was based on linear plot, whereas newly developed high-resolution manometry is based on spatiotemporal plots. Additionally, novel parameters including integrated relaxation pressure, distal contractile integral, and distal latency have expanded our understanding of pathophysiology of functional esophageal disorders including esophageal achalasia. Following three rounds of revision, the fourth version of Chicago classification of esophageal motility disorders was developed, which is more closely related to clinical situations compared with the previous versions. Moreover, functional lumen imaging probe (FLIP), based on the distensibility of esophageal lumen and sphincter, has also strengthened our understanding of functional esophageal disorders.

Temporal and Spatial Patterns of Biomass Burning Fire Counts and Carbon Emissions in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) Region during 2003–2020 Based on GFED4

Biomass burning (BB) plays an important role in the formation of heavy pollution events during harvest seasons in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region by releasing trace gases and particulate matter into the atmosphere. A better understanding of spatial-temporal variations of BB in BTH is required to assess its impacts on air quality, especially on heavy haze pollution. The fourth version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED4)’s fire counts and carbon emissions data were used in this research, which shows the varying number of fire counts in China from 2003 to 2020 demonstrated a fluctuating but generally rising trend, with a peak in 2013. Most fire counts were concentrated in three key periods: March (11%), June–July (33%), and October (9.68%). The increase in fire counts will inevitably lead to the growth of carbon emissions. The four major vegetation types of the fires were agriculture (58.1%), followed by grassland (35.5%), and forest (4.1%), with the fewest in peat. In addition, a separate study for the year 2020 found that the fire counts and carbon emissions were different for this year, with the overall average trend in the study time. For example, the monthly peak fire counts changed from June to March. The cumulative emissions of carbon, CO, CO2, CH4, dry matter, and particulate matter from BB in BTH reached 201 Gg, 39 Gg, 670 Gg, 2 Gg, 417 Gg, and 3 Gg in 2020, respectively.