Frequency Of Outdoor Activities Research Articles

Soundscape and subjective factors affecting residents' evaluation of aircraft noise in the communities under flight routes.

Aircraft noise is one of the most significant sources of environmental pollution in large cities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, strict lockdown in community might increase residents' discomfort with the noise, which could disrupt public activities and reduce subjective well-being. Most of the existing studies considered aircraft noise as a single sound source, which have ignored the influence of other sounds in the community. This paper applied field survey to identify the soundscape and non-acoustic factors related to aircraft noise evaluation. Paper questionnaires were delivered to select residents of three sample residential areas near Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport to investigate residents' general health, evaluation of aircraft noise, community activities, and attitudinal factors. The relationship between respondent's noise evaluations and subjective factors were investigated through statistical analyses controlling for measured aircraft noise levels and the existence of soundscape facilities. The results indicated that the negative effects of aircraft noise were enhanced during the lock down, especially for frequent space users and those residents in poor health status. Under conditions of similar levels of aircraft noise exposure, communities with more birdsong and fountain sounds had lower proportion of highly annoyed respondents and higher level of soundscape ratings. This paper further indicated that personal factors including fear of air travel, noise sensitivity, and the frequency of outdoor activity had increased the level of annoyance to aircraft noise, while higher degree of annoyance to aircraft noise was associated with poor health status. The findings implied the moderating effects of subjective factors and the restorative effects of natural sounds, which could inform aircraft noise control and community consultation strategies by protecting vulnerable populations and creating community soundscape facilities. Future research might conduct a pre- and post-experiment to estimate the potential causal impact of the soundscape intervention.

Seasonal variation in vitamin D status of Japanese infants starts to emerge at 2 months of age: a retrospective cohort study.

Vitamin D seasonality has been reported in adults and children, suggesting that sunlight exposure has effects on 25(OH)D production. While vitamin D deficiency among infants has received significant attention, little is known about the extent to which vitamin D status during early infancy is affected by sunlight exposure. Here, we retrospectively analysed serum 25(OH)D levels of 692 samples obtained from healthy infants aged 1-2 months born at Saitama City Hospital, Japan (latitude 35·9° North) between August 2017 and September 2021. Data regarding the frequency of outdoor activities, formula intake and BMI were also collected and analysed. Month-to-month comparisons of vitamin D levels revealed significant variation in 25(OH)D levels in breastfed infants starting at 2 months, with maximal and minimal levels in September and January, respectively. An outdoor activity score of 0 was most common at 1 month (83·9 %) and a score of 3 was most common at 2 months (81·2 %), suggesting an increased amount of sunlight exposure at 2 months. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed the amount of formula intake to be significantly associated with vitamin D status at both 1 (t = 17·96) and 2 months (t = 16·30). Our results comprise the first evidence that seasonal variation of vitamin D begins at 2 months among breastfed infants from East Asia, though dietary intake appears to be the major determinant of vitamin D status. These findings provide new insights into the influence of dietary and non-dietary factors on vitamin D status during early infancy.

Understanding risks of refractive error among Chinese children amidst pandemic disruptions: results from a rapid survey

BackgroundDespite effectiveness in delaying the spread of the pandemic, frequent and extended disruption to children’s livelihoods have fomented new norms in which learning routines encounter immense change. In particular, increased sedentary e-learning engagement with electronic screens and exposure to stressful circumstances are likely to pose adverse risks for children’s vision development.MethodsThis present study examines the link between near-sighted refractive error, and sedentary exposure to electronic screens, psychosocial stress level, and outdoor activities. A Rapid Survey Methodology (RSM) design was utilized to collect information on subject’s vision condition, sedentary electronic screen use, and level of psychosocial stress, in addition to detailed socio-demographic background characteristics.ResultsThis study involves 2234 subjects enrolled in 1st to 6th grade in primary schools. Every 1 diopter hour increase in electronic screen use per day is associated with 1.036 OR (95% CI =1.024–1.047, p-value< 0.050), while every 1 h • W m− 2 sr− 1 of illuminance-weighted electronic screen use per day is associated with 2.285 OR (95% CI =1.829–2.855, p-value< 0.050) increased likelihood of near-sighted refractive error. Higher level of psychosocial stress is associated with 2.441 OR (95% CI =1.870–3.187, p-value< 0.050) and 2.403 OR (95% CI =1.839–3.141, p-value< 0.050) increased likelihood of near-sighted refractive error. Frequency of outdoor activity is not significantly associated with increased likelihood of near-sighted refractive error (p-value> 0.050).ConclusionsFindings in this study show that many factors, including grade level and prior vision condition, contribute to increased risks of near-sighted refractive error during the COVID-19 pandemic. More strikingly, pandemic-related behavioral modifications such as lengthy sedentary electronic screen use and elevated levels of psychosocial stress are two critical channels affecting children’s eye health.

The study on the distribution characteristics and relevant factors of healthy and long-lived people in multiple regions of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Objective: To investigate the epidemiological characteristics and relevant factors among individuals characterized by their longevity in multiple regions of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and provide a valuable scientific perspective for the research in health and longevity of the elderly in Guangxi. Methods: Registration and face-to-face questionnaire on a door-to-door basis were adopted to collect the demographic characteristics of the long-lived individuals (≥90 years old) in Bama of Hechi city, Yongfu of Guilin city, Dongxing of Fangchenggang city, Guangxi. Then, among the local general population, individuals within the age group between 40 and 85 years old were selected randomly as controls. Correlations were then analyzed between the relative health and longevity of the subjects and their gender, ethnicity, family history, disease history, marital status, the number of family generations, the number of children, smoking, drinking, outdoor activities, sleep and other health-related factors, then the result was subject to further analysis by comparing the long-lived population and the control population respectively. Results: Among 691 500 of the permanent residents of Bama, Yongfu and Dongxing city, 1 005 cases were 90 years old and over with a ratio of 145.34 out of 100 000 persons; within the 1 005 cases, 944 were aged between 90 and 100 (longevity rate: 136.51/100 000) with an average age of (93.28±2.57); 61 cases were aged 100 or over, arriving at a centenarian rate of 8.82/100 000 with an average age of (102.00±3.05) years. Significant differences were found just among three particular factors - regional distribution (P=0.014), history of disease (P=0.002), four generations of family (P=0.008) between nonagenarians and centenarians (P<0.05), while the other 15 indicators did not show anything noteworthy. The result indicated that longevity and centenarians might be the same group and then we combined both groups into one. By cross-comparison between the longevity-plus- centenarians and the control group in the region, factors listed below exhibited significant correlation with health and longevity: marital status (OR=26.469, 95%CI: 13.208-53.045), number of generations within the family (OR=5.419, 95%CI: 3.418-8.592), number of male offspring (OR=2.013, 95%CI: 1.555-2.607), number of female offspring (OR=1.380, 95%CI: 1.122-1.696), and the frequency of outdoor activities (OR=10.226, 95%CI: 3.164-33.045). Conclusions: The longevity rate is higher in the general natural population in Bama, Yongfu and Dongxing of Guangxi. The phenomenon may owe to favorable family structure, atmosphere within or out of the family or other elements related with social surrounding. Among them all, mentality, inclination to physical exercise and regular rhythm of life may all exert tremendous contributory influence here.

Usability and Feasibility of a Smartphone App to Assess Human Behavioral Factors Associated with Tick Exposure (The Tick App): Quantitative and Qualitative Study.

BackgroundMobile health (mHealth) technology takes advantage of smartphone features to turn them into research tools, with the potential to reach a larger section of the population in a cost-effective manner, compared with traditional epidemiological methods. Although mHealth apps have been widely implemented in chronic diseases and psychology, their potential use in the research of vector-borne diseases has not yet been fully exploited.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the usability and feasibility of The Tick App, the first tick research–focused app in the United States.MethodsThe Tick App was designed as a survey tool to collect data on human behaviors and movements associated with tick exposure while engaging users in tick identification and reporting. It consists of an enrollment survey to identify general risk factors, daily surveys to collect data on human activities and tick encounters (Tick Diaries), a survey to enter the details of tick encounters coupled with tick identification services provided by the research team (Report a Tick), and educational material. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we evaluated the enrollment strategy (passive vs active), the user profile, location, longitudinal use of its features, and users’ feedback.ResultsBetween May and September 2018, 1468 adult users enrolled in the app. The Tick App users were equally represented across genders and evenly distributed across age groups. Most users owned a pet (65.94%, 962/1459; P<.001), did frequent outdoor activities (recreational or peridomestic; 75.24%, 1094/1454; P<.001 and 64.58%, 941/1457; P<.001, respectively), and lived in the Midwest (56.55%, 824/1457) and Northeast (33.0%, 481/1457) regions in the United States, more specifically in Wisconsin, southern New York, and New Jersey. Users lived more frequently in high-incidence counties for Lyme disease (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 3.5, 95% CI 1.8-7.2; P<.001) and in counties with cases recently increasing (IRR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-3.2; P=.03). Recurring users (49.25%, 723/1468) had a similar demographic profile to all users but participated in outdoor activities more frequently (80.5%, 575/714; P<.01). The number of Tick Diaries submitted per user (median 2, interquartile range [IQR] 1-11) was higher for older age groups (aged >55 years; IRR 3.4, 95% CI 1.5-7.6; P<.001) and lower in the Northeast (IRR[NE] 0.4, 95% CI 0.3-0.7; P<.001), whereas the number of tick reports (median 1, IQR 1-2) increased with the frequency of outdoor activities (IRR 1.5, 95% CI 1.3-1.8; P<.001).ConclusionsThis assessment allowed us to identify what fraction of the population used The Tick App and how it was used during a pilot phase. This information will be used to improve future iterations of The Tick App and tailor potential tick prevention interventions to the users’ characteristics.

Using Blogs to Improve Elementary School Students’ Environmental Literacy in Science Class

&lt;p style="text-align:justify"&gt;The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of blog activities on elementary students’ environmental literacy in science class. The relationships between students’ environmental literacy levels, their parents’ interest in environmental activities and the frequency of outdoor activities they do have also been also examined. Pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design has been utilized. The participants of the study are 80 seventh-grade elementary school students. The data have been gathered through “Environmental Literacy Scale”. After that, the instructor has created a blog to share some movies, animations and reflective questions for all the students. The students could follow and engage in all the sharing. The activities have lasted for eight weeks. Descriptive statistics, t-test and regression analysis have been tested via the data. The results have indicated that there is a significant difference between pre and post test scores regarding the students’ “environmental knowledge”, “attitude towards environment” and “being responsible for environment”. Furthermore; positive but weak relationship has been detected between students’ environmental literacy levels and parents’ interests in environmental activities. On the other hand, there is a moderate, positive correlation between students’ interest in environmental problems and involving in outdoor activities with parents(r=0.423, p=0.001). Overall, students’ involvements in blog activities and doing outdoor activities with parents have been found to be effective in acquiring environmental literacy.&lt;/p&gt;

Promoting Usage of Location-based Services, an Approach Based on Intimacy Theory and Data Mining Techniques

Objectives: To explore factors pertain to Smartphone users’ resistance to location-based services using data mining techniques, and to develop strategies to promote the usage of LBS. Methods: To analysis Smartphone users’ characteristics and conduct user segmentation, we used K-mean clustering to segment 165 Smartphone users based on their intimacy with service providers. Then, decision tree analysis was used to explore the characteristics for each user group. At last, the association rule analysis was used to figure out the relationship among users’ Smartphone usage patterns and their willingness to use LBS and willingness to provide location information. Findings: The result shows that Smartphone users can be clearly categorized into five groups based their intimacy towards LBS providers. The user group that showed the highest intimacy to service providers is also characterized as high willingness to use LBS and also high willingness to share their location information. Also, we explored the factors that prevent users from disclosing their location information and factors that facilitate users to use LBS for each users group respectively. The results suggest that in addition to the privacy concern, the concerns of battery life, data usage and perceived low usefulness are also accounted for users’ hesitation to share their location information to use LBS. The high needs of life information (traffic, weather and restaurant), high frequency of outdoor activities, friends’ recommendation as well as unlimited data plan were associated with users’ high intention to use LBS. Based on the association analysis result, the promotion strategies were developed for each user group respectively. Applications/Improvements: This study extends the knowledge of factors hinder users from using LBS, and also provides LBS providers with practical insights about how to promote users to a higher intimacy group.

DOĞAYA BAĞLILIK ÖLÇEĞİNİN TÜRKÇE’YE ADAPTASYONU

This study aimed to adapt Nature Relatedness (NR) Scale into Turkish. This scale was developed by Nisbet, Zelenski and Murphy (2009) to measure cognitive, affective and physical connection of people with nature. While the instrument was being adapted to Turkish, the characteristics of Turkish language, cultural, social and environmental structures were considered. During the translation process, expert opinions were taken for the language validity. Data set was collected from 859 (449 female, 408 male, 2 participants did not indicate gender) university students. In order to provide construct validity, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted. EFA results revelaed that the scale included three dimensions with 44.71% variation. CFA analysis indicated good fit indices (RMSEA= .078, CFI= .94 GFI= .87, X2/sd= 4.78). These three sub-dimensions were NR-self, NR-perspective and NR-experience. Cronbach-alpha reliability coefficient of NR scale was found as .88. As for reliability, Cronbach-alpha reliability coefficient of NR-self, NR-perspective and NR-experience were found respectively as .87, .74 and .73. Furthermore, to support construct vailidity the relationships between NR and pro-environmental behaviors, NR and environmental concerns and NR and frequency of outdoor activities were investigated. The results revealed that Turkish version of the Nature Relatedness Scale was a reliable and valid instrument and the scale was explained well with three factors

Study on Design Strategies for Improving Outdoor Thermal Comfort in the Cold Regions of China

Along with the improvement of dwelling quality, the length of time and frequency of outdoor activities in winter greatly increase in the north China area, although the outdoor thermal environments are still unsatisfactory. It is necessary for both planners and architects to improve outdoor thermal environments in the cold regions of north China. This paper firstly introduces the general winter climate features in some north China cities. Then, it takes Xi'an city as an example to show the shortage of uncomfortable outdoor environment. Thirdly, the design strategies to improve outdoors thermal comfort include wind and snow protection, sunlight usage, environmental zones and recreational facilities, etc. are discussed.

飲料水の成分並びに日常生活習慣等と骨密度の関連

In order to elucidate the influence of drinking water components and lifestyle on bone density, we carried out chemical analysis of the water drunk by 463 adult females (mean age: 49.9 ± 11.0 years) living in Saitama Prefecture, together with questionnaire survey and ultrasonic bone densitometry measurement. It was found that, in both pre- and post-menopausal women, the larger the body weight the higher the bone density. In the pre-menopausal group, furthermore, bone density tended to increase as the subjects did more frequently out-door activities and as Ca concentration in their drinking water was higher. In the post-menopausal women, higher bone density was associated with higher intake of milk and dairy products at present. According to statistical analysis, the factors whose correlations with bone density were greater in the order: frequency of out-door activities, Ca concentration in drinking water, and body weight for pre-menopausal women; body weight, and the consumption of milk and dairy products for post-menopausal women. Our present results indicated that, in addition to physical factors and lifestyle, Ca concentration in water was related to bone density, though only among women before menopause. In this particular area, therefore, the quality of drinking water might be an important factor which is related to bone density.