Integral Index Research Articles

International Cooperation Between Universities And Business As A Condition For Raising Human Development Level

One of the main indicators of human development is the integral indicator Human Development Index, which includes an assessment of the quality and standard of living of the population, and also takes into account the level of educational development of the population. The authors identified the development of network interaction between universities and business at the international level as one of the ways to increase the level of this indicator. The article analyzes the indicators of life expectancy, the level of income of the population, as well as some macroeconomic indicators of the six neighboring countries. Conclusions are drawn about a possible increase in the Human Development Index indicator based on improving the network interaction between the higher education system and the real sector of the economy, and one of the factors for enhancing network interaction in the labor market is labor mobility, and at the level of macroeconomic development international labor migration. In addition, the authors proposed a number of measures to strengthen the tightness of the network interaction between the customers of personnel and the educational services market, and indicated the forms of such interaction at the international and domestic level.

ENSURING FOOD SECURITY UNDER GLOBAL CHALLENGES

The article is aimed at assessing the state of food security of Ukraine. The level of food security in Ukraine is checked according to the internal system of parameters and international methodologies. Analysis of the level of food security in Ukraine by the Global Food Security Index shows that it lags far behind not only the leading countries but also from neighboring countries. The situation requires consideration of not only existing but also promising challenges and threats to the maintenance of food security. In the future, this will increase the competitiveness of agricultural enterprises in the global food market. To achieve this goal, general scientific and special research methods were used, the main of which are the following: dialectics, scientific abstraction, statistical, and graphic analysis. The study substantiates the use of a methodology for assessing food security, which involves the calculation of four components and an integral index of food security of the state. As a result of the use of the proposed methodology, an assessment of the state of food security of Ukraine is implemented. The obtained results served to compare them with similar indicators of the countries of the world and Europe. The calculations show that food security, first of all, should be considered from the standpoint of ensuring economic security, taking into account the fact that the latter reveals internal opportunities and determines strategic alternatives to socio-economic growth to ensure public welfare under conditions of market relations. The article proposes tools for strengthening food security based on compliance with the requirements of the principles of ensuring food security, including self-sufficiency, multifunctionality, social justice, independence, stability, balance and rationality. To strengthen food security, it is proposed to strengthen such components as physical accessibility and economic accessibility of food, as they guarantee the quality and safety of agriculture, and it is also worth paying attention to improving natural resources and sustainability. The challenges and problems of the domestic agro-industrial complex, which plays a significant role in the world market and ensures food security, are analyzed. Measures to ensure increased food security are proposed.

Личностные особенности студентов с разным уровнем психологического благополучия

The article presents the study of personality traits of psychological wellbeing of students in the 2022/23 academic year (during Russia’s Special Military operation). The study has revealed that only a small part of the students in the sampling had a high level of psychological wellbeing, and almost a third of them had a low level of psychological wellbeing. The study has found significant differences among the students with various subjective indices of psychological wellbeing. Correlations between integral indices of psychological wellbeing and students’ personality traits have been found. The following predictors of psychological wellbeing have been revealed: emotional instability, external locus of control, avoidance coping strategy (they predict the decrease of psychological wellbeing), and extraversion, self-control, expressiveness, seeking social support coping strategy (they predict the increase of psychological wellbeing).

Достойная жизнь личности: императивы формирования и основания параметрической модели

The article examines the phenomenon of a decent life, which acts, at the same time, as a target functionality for the development of the individual, and also as an «incubator» for the expanded reproduction of the creative and intellectual form of human capital, which is a critical factor in the creation of large-scale, continuous and radical innovations. The methodological outline of the work is based on an interdisciplinary approach to identifying the qualitative integrity of an individual’s life with the «dignity» of a progressive creator, as well as on the use of the heuristic potential of paired categories of dialectics in the course of considering decompositional forms of human capital corresponding to a decent creative and working life of the individual. The method of unity of qualitative and quantitative analysis was also used in the development of a parametric model of a decent life for an individual. The scientific novelty of the research results lies in the development of an original parametric model with the corresponding integral index of a decent life (DLI). The following seem new: the interpretation of the essence of a decent life as a spiritual and moral form of the level and quality of life; immanent in the life of an individual with «dignity», the phenomenon of the creative and intellectual form of human capital with the corresponding parameters and indicators; conclusion about the need to ensure complementary unity of two types of growth of synergetic complexity: endogenous (personal) and exogenous (socio-economic); the imperative of the «renaissance» of the individualistic concept, based on new liberalism and methodological socio-individualism. The scientific and practical significance of the results obtained lies in the possibility of concretizing the state’s socio-economic policy in the sphere of increasing the level and quality of creative and working life of the owners of human capital, as well as updating the metric system of human «measurement» to solve the problems of technological sovereignty and national security of the country.

Integrative indexes reveal the tolerance of winter wheat to different overwinter freezing injury.

Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a crucial crop that guarantees food supply in the North China Plain (NCP). As the frequency of extreme cold events increases, it is necessary to explore the freezing resistance of different wheat varieties in order to clarify planting boundaries and help with risk assessment. In this study, 2-year controlled experiments were conducted to explore the effect of freezing temperatures (T air) and freezing durations on three winterness types. A set of indexes were used to characterize the subfreezing stress on wheat tiller, leaf, and final yield. Logistical regressions were used to quantify the temperature threshold for 10%, 30%, and 50% of freezing injury. The results showed that the lower temperature threshold of tiller (LT) varied from -9.6 to -15.9°C, -10.7 to -19.1°C and -11.4 to -21.2°C for LT10, LT30, and LT50, respectively. The difference between LT and yield loss (YL) indexes reduced with decreased winterness types and was -0.1 to 3.4°C, -0.7 to 2.1°C, and 0.3 to 0.9°C higher compared with YL thresholds for winterness, semi-winterness, and weak-winterness types, respectively. The average minimum soil temperature was 7.5, 4.8, and 4.2°C higher than T air for 1-, 2-, and 3-day treatment, respectively. Soil effective negative accumulated temperature hours (TSEh) ranged from 6.9 to 12.0, 48.4 to 6.9, and 84.7 to 106.9°C·h for 10%, 30%, and 50% tiller mortality, respectively. Freezing treatment with T air < -12, -9, and -8°C obviously decreased leaf Fv/Fm for the three varieties and Fv/Fm declined obviously after 5 days of recovery under field conditions. Our results provided multiple indexes for quantifying subfreezing damage in practical wheat production and could shed light on future risk assessment.

Санкционные риски и региональное развитие (на примере России)

Economic sanctions and countersanctions are expanding worldwide, posing spatially heterogeneous threats to most countries. The study aims to develop and test a methodology for assessing regional exposure to sanctions risks using Russian data. The share of foreign trade with the countries that introduced restrictions can be used to evaluate the exposure to new trade barriers. In several cases, this share exceeded 50 %, necessitating a rapid reorientation of product flows in Nenets, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Areas, Komi, and Murmansk region. The Kaliningrad, Kaluga, and Leningrad regions exhibit high import dependence in the production sector, particularly in the automotive industry, due to their active involvement in global supply chains. Sanctions against large legal entities created risks for the stability of regional economies but the increase in demand for domestic products offset this impact. Foreign enterprises exiting the market posed risks of disrupting production chains but also provided opportunities for local business development. Before some countries introduced sanctions, their companies had held more than 20 % of the market share in Kaluga, Moscow region, and the city of Moscow. However, the share of foreign firms that announced complete withdrawal exceeded 5 % of the market only in the Komi, Samara, Leningrad, and Moscow regions. An integral index of exposure was proposed based on the mentioned indicators. Its value is lower for the regions with a more diversified economy and foreign trade. The greatest risks were observed in the closely connected to the European Union northwestern territories of Russia: Karelia, Komi, Kaliningrad, Leningrad, and Arkhangelsk regions. In 2022, regions with a high index value were more likely to experience a decline in economic activity, but in 2023, this impact was less explicit due to economic adaptation and transformation. Based on the results of the study, some recommendations can be formulated.

Russian Volga federal district regions’ digitalisation as a factor of their sustainable development

The article presents the author’s methodology for calculating the integral index of the level of sustainable development of Russian regions, taking into account the digital component. The object of the study is the sustainable development of the subjects of the Volga Federal District of Russia. The results of the assessment made it possible to divide the subjects under study into three groups depending on the value of the integral subindex for 2021. These groups include regions of the first group (sustainable development leaders), regions of the second group (regions with moderate sustainable development) and regions of the third group (sustainable development outsiders). Based on the results obtained, conclusions are drawn regarding the level of sustainable development of the subjects of the Volga Federal District of the Russian Federation, taking into account the digital aspect. The proposed methodology can be used for annual monitoring of the sustainability of Russian regions in four areas of development and public administration.

Practice and Analysis of Rural Planning and Design for the Integration of Agriculture, Culture and Tourism in the Context of Big Data

Abstract In the contemporary society of globalization and rapid information technology development, rural areas face unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Rural planning and design are essential for regional economic development, cultural heritage, and ecological protection. As an innovative development model, integrating agriculture, culture, and tourism provides new ideas for rural revitalization. Big data technology can help analyze the countryside’s development potential more accurately and allocate resources more efficiently to promote the science and refinement of rural planning and design. This study establishes a GIS management system supported by geographic information data, uses Oracle database to manage spatial information and attribute information, and utilizes vector slicing technology and WebGL graphic rendering to achieve rapid rendering and diverse expression of maps. In creating an agricultural, cultural, and tourism integration index system, the entropy index method is used to assign weights to each index, and the coupling coordination degree model is set up. The coupling degree of Tibet’s agricultural, cultural, and tourism industry from 2011-2021 has increased from 0.219 to 0.769, and the coupling coordination degree has increased from 0.158 to 0.778, which shows an excellent upward trend. The study shows that big data technology can effectively improve the quality and efficiency of rural planning and design, and promote the development of agricultural, cultural, and tourism integration.

Structural capital in the system of technological development of s

The current state of socio-economic development, characterized by a radical change in the technical and technological paradigm in a globalized world, is marked by new phenomena and processes. In contrast to previous eras, when the formation of new technological methods of production was based on a small number of breakthrough inventions that changed the structure of production, today we observe an avalanche-like development of inventions, the products of which destroy the stability of all spheres of society. Accordingly, all resources possessed by a modern company must meet the requirements of the time in terms of their quality. Under such conditions, not only intellectual capital but also other components, that enable companies to maneuver in their innovative development, become very important. Based on the analysis of modern conceptual approaches to determining the essence of the categories “structural capital” and “intellectual capital”, the article forms the concept of “national structural capital”. The latter is presented as an infrastructure for the formation, implementation and development of national human capital, an organizational and institutional system for the expanded reproduction of knowledge and skills of members of society. For the quantitative measurement of national structural capital, a methodological framework is proposed, which is based on the integral index of national structural capital created by the authors; its components are justified: knowledge &amp; technology outputs, intangible assets, research &amp; development (R&amp;D), knowledge workers, knowledge absorption. Based on the proposed methodology for determining the integral index of national structural capital, its value was calculated for 26 countries for 2018-2020 and the dynamics for the period under study were shown.

Literature and art integration education: A Study on the Integration of Teaching Resources in Colleges and Universities in the Context of “Five Educational Programs”

Abstract The “five education” is a new way of thinking and a new paradigm of educational practice in the new era. After analyzing the integrated teaching practice model in the context of “five education” from multiple dimensions, the study establishes a teaching resources integration index system based on the CIPP evaluation model in terms of background, input, process, and result. Taking the integration of teaching resources in the College of Fine Arts and College of Literature of a university in Xinjiang as the research object, analyze the integration measurement of teaching resources and the influencing factors of teachers’ teaching ability. The results show that the teaching management process is the greatest contributor to the integration of teaching resources (0.251). The integration of teaching resources in the sample universities is at a good level (3.811), and their faculty management and teaching process management are excellent. The positive and significant influence of teachers’ teaching cognitive ability, teaching practical ability, and teaching monitoring ability and their dimensions on teachers’ teaching ability was verified (p &lt; 0.05), and the degree of influence was moderate. This paper discusses the integration of teaching resources in the context of “five education”, which can help to promote deep change in classroom teaching and build a high-quality education system.

Improvement of the methodology for analyzing the urban environment quality management with the use of smart technologies

The process of integrating digital technologies into urban spaces is inherently linked to scientific and technological progress. Providing effective urban services through the wide introduction of innovative technologies becomes a priority not only for local authorities, but also for state development programs. The article presented the author's methodology for analyzing the management of urban environment quality with the use of smart technologies, based on the calculation of the integral index of urban environment quality on the basis of statistical data, both non-digital and digital, reflecting various aspects of the modern urban environment. The author's methodology includes the use of three key methods: a comparative analysis of research objects based on the calculation of the integral index of urban environment quality; a sociological survey of residents of a million-strong city on the attractiveness and comfort of living in a particular area of the municipality (taking into account the issues of digitalization of certain areas of the urban environment); a comprehensive analysis of municipal programs for the development of various areas of the urban environment.

Анализ социально-демографического потенциала в территориальном разрезе (на примере регионов Сибири)

The research topic actuality is defined by the Russian nationwide demographic tendencies with low birthrate and high mortality rate, which define the processes of population aging. In the research the analyzes of social-demographic potential of Siberian macroregional territories through several demographic estimates is performed: general coefficients of birthrate, mortality rate, migration growth, types of age structures. The integral indices of depopulation coefficients and migration condition in sixteen Siberian regions in five-years period have been calculated by the author. Significant territorial disproportions in demographic disadvantage coefficients have been revealed, the difference between minimal and maximal rates in the context of the regions is 4.3 times. The Republic of Tyva and Yamalo-Nenetsky autonomous okrug are the regions with higher indices of socialdemographic potential, with high rates of natural population growth, total birthrate coefficient, progressive age structure and population growth. The lowest indices of demographic potential have been revealed in the Omsk oblast, the Kemerovo oblast and the Altai krai, with long-term rates of natural and migration outflow, low total coefficient of birthrate, regressive age structure. It is underlined in the work that considering unequal population location in Siberia most of population is located on the territories with high coefficients of demographic disadvantage. As a result of received data the rating of regions has been offered by the author, and typology of Siberian territories according to wellbeing of social-demographic potential has been shown cartographically.

Ecological monitoring of water bodies: Bioindication, microalgae biodiversity indices

The paper presents data on biomonitoring the pollution state of aquatic environments through the development of microalgae. The presented results are based on the correlation of basic parameters of the aquatic environment state. This includes the determination of microalgae species composition, quantitative characteristics of abundance and biomass, as well as a number of hydrochemical parameters. Additionally, integral indices of biodiversity such as Serens-Cherkanovsky, Margalef, Shannon-Weaver, Simpson, and Pielou were calculated and cluster analysis of the basic aquatic environment state was performed. The comparison of trends revealed that the studied water bodies possess unique characteristics. Overall, these water bodies are able to handle anthropogenic stress, which is demonstrated through self-purification processes. However, this phenomenon is slowed down in the case of the Nizhnekalmius reservoir.

University Campus as a Complex Pedestrian Dynamic Network: A Case Study of Walkability Patterns at Texas Tech University

Statistical mechanics of walks defined on the spatial graphs of the city of Lubbock (10,421 nodes) and the Texas Tech University (TTU) campus pedestrian network (1466 nodes) are used for evaluating structural isolation and the integration of graph nodes, assessing their accessibility and navigability in the graph, and predicting possible graph structural modifications driving the campus evolution. We present the betweenness and closeness maps of the campus, the first passage times to the different campus areas by isotropic and anisotropic random walks, as well as the first passage times under the conditions of traffic noise. We further show the isolation and integration indices of all areas on the campus, as well as their navigability and strive scores, and energy and fugacity scores. The TTU university campus, a large pedestrian zone located close to the historical city center of Lubbock, mediates between the historical city going downhill and its runaway sprawling body.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the “Green” Growth Policy Pursued at the Regional Level in the Republic of Kazakhstan

The purpose of the article is to evaluate the effectiveness of the "green" growth policy pursued at the regional level. An analysis of various approaches to assessing the sustainability of the socio-economic development of the region is presented. To achieve this purpose, a comprehensive methodology was used, considering territorial factors and sectoral conditions for the development of the regions. Domestic and foreign experience in assessing the sustainability and effectiveness of the territory development were analyzed. Existing methods for assessing the region stability are studied. An integral indicator of sustainable development of the region is calculated, which includes indicators of economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The typology of Kazakhstan regions has been carried out according to the level of their environmental and economic development for the purposes of developing an effective environmental and innovation policy. It has been proved that the list of socio-economic indicators used in the calculation of the integral index makes it possible to determine with a sufficient degree of certainty the effectiveness of the ongoing regional development policy from the standpoint of observing the principles of "green" growth. It has been revealed that the modern model of socio-economic development of the country and its regions requires further efforts to develop adequate indicators of "green" development that consider economic, social and environmental components in a balanced way. The empirical conclusions of the work can find practical application in the process of developing an effective environmental and economic regional policy.

"WAR STATE" AND "WELFARE STATE" SYMBIOSIS IN THE POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION OF UKRAINE

The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of the war on social protection and social security in the country, to examine the interdependence between the level of social security of the population and the military power of the state, to develop effective mechanisms for strengthening social protection in Ukraine during the war and its post-war recovery. Methodology. The use of multi-criteria analysis of integral indices such as the index of security threats, the index of refugees and displaced persons, the index of comprehensive national power, as well as the use of formulas for calculating the power of the state, made it possible to trace the impact of the war on the social component, the development of social security, the institutionalisation process of social protection systems, the creation of ministries of national welfare in order to overcome the socio-economic consequences of the war. The results of the study demonstrate the synergistic effect of strengthening the state's defence capabilities, its military strength and increasing the effectiveness of social policy, the level of social security of the country's citizens. Practical implications. The Ukrainian model of state functioning in times of war is defined as a symbiosis, a combination of effective social protection policy and strengthening the country's military power through systematic support of the army: "a strong home front is a strong army". Value/Originality. Russia's full-scale war against sovereign Ukraine, like a litmus test, has revealed the instability of the global system and convincingly proves the need to develop the Ukrainian model of a "social welfare state in wartime" with an emphasis on strengthening the military component.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPHERE OF HOSPITALITY IN STRATEGY RECOVERYOF THE TOURIST INDUSTRY OF UKRAINE

By defining a strategy for the tourism industry's recovery in the Western region of Ukraine, the study aims to support a methodical approach to evaluating the sector's economic attractiveness from the perspectives of the government, investors, and consumers. This plan will ensure the growth of positive externalities and minimize negative dynamics within the ecosystem during the post-conflict phase. The method of analyzing hierarchies was used, with the help of which the index of the economic attractiveness of the hospitality sector was evaluated for the level of reproduction of the tourism industry. Regarding the relative coherence of indicators of the appeal of the hospitality sector of the Carpathian tourist destination, an interaction between the starting data and the vectors of the matrices of pairwise comparisons was correlated. Using average weight criteria, the integral index of the hospitality sector's attractiveness for the Carpathian region of Ukraine was computed.

Prospects for the use of Gaussian quadrature to determine the mean integral refractive index of air by its local values measured at two points of the trace

The Earth’s atmosphere has a significant impact on the results of laser range measurements on near-earth traces. This influence is caused by the dependence of the laser signal propagation speed on the refractive index of the air, which varies along the measured trace. Correct accounting of this influence is important for the implementation of metrological traceability of linear measurements from a length measurement standard to distance measurements in large-scale construction, geodesy, geodynamics, navigation, etc. To ensure the required accuracy of such measurements, their results shall be corrected by introducing a correction for the mean refractive index of air along the signal trajectory.&#x0D; The simplest and most commonly used method for determining this correction is based on the representation of the integral of the refractive index by the quadrature trapezoidal formula in its simplest form, which requires the determination of only two local values of the refractive index at the endpoints of the trace. The accuracy of this method is often insufficient. In this regard, this paper presents the results of the research that will further substantiate a more accurate model for determining the correction under discussion based on two local refractive index values. The proposed model is based on the use of Gaussian quadrature, for which local values are determined not at the end points of the trace, but within the integration interval.

Assessing torrentiality in catchments of the tropical Andes: A morphometric approach

Torrential flows represent one of the most catastrophic natural hazards in the Andes, and Colombia is not an exception. We computed and analyzed ten morphometric indexes, classified by the catchment geometry and relief characteristics, for 149 torrential catchments across Colombian Andes three branches (Western, Central, and Eastern cordilleras). We divided the study area into six tectonic-stratigraphic regions, and employed statistical tests such as the Shapiro-Wilk and ANOVA One-Way Permutation tests to assess index distributions within each region. The ANOVA One-Way Permutation test results revealed significant differences in the distributions of form factor (p-value 0.048), mean gradient (p-value 0.009), relief ratio (p-value 0.003), Melton ratio (p-value 0.006), and hypsometric integral (p-value 0.000) indices among regions. Likewise, the pairwise comparison tests identified that the following regions are different between them for Melton ratio: Central Cordillera and Plateau Antioqueño (p-value 0.032), Garzón Massif and Plateau Antioqueño (p-value 0.015), Garzón Massif and Santander Massif (p-value 0.05), and Plateau Antioqueño and Western Cordillera (p-value 0.032); for relief ratio: Central Cordillera and Plateau Antioqueño (p-value 0.0219), Estern Cordillera and Plateau Antioqueño (p-value 0.0425), Garzón Massif and Plateau Antioqueño (p-value 0.0058), Plateau Antioqueño and Western Cordillera (p-value 0.053); for hypsometric integral: Central Cordillera and Western Cordillera (p-value 0.0004), Eastern Cordillera and Western Cordillera (p-value 0.0004), Garzón Massif and Western Cordillera (p-value 0.0004), Plateau Antioqueño and Western Cordillera (p-value 0.0161), and Santander Massif and Western Cordillera (p-value 0.002). Based on the findings we computed confidence intervals for the population median of the studied morphometric parameters according to the region employing a non-parametric bootstrapping method. The statistical analysis highlights the importance of the geological and geomorphological features in the morphometric indices analysis as part of the torrential flow susceptibility assessment.Applying our findings, we tested proposed thresholds in a case study of the Santander Massif (Eastern Cordillera of Colombia), focusing on the 2020 Piedecuesta Flow. In the study case, we demonstrated the relevance of identifying the feeder catchments where the morphometric indices would be calculated from, especially in areas where significant hydrologic changes occur. Volumetric concentration variations along the Piedecuesta Flow path highlight the need to prioritize the recognition of feeder catchments as an imperative part of the susceptibility assessment. Our approach enriches the knowledge base for identifying torrential-prone basins and has important implications for natural hazard management, aiming at mitigating the impact of torrential flows in the Andes.

Комплексна оцінка постнатальних факторів ризику рекурентних респіраторних інфекцій у дітей дошкільного віку

Purpose - to determine the influence degree of particular postnatal risk factors to the likelihood of the recurrent course of acute respiratory infections (ARI) in preschool children. Materials and methods. Three hundred and fourteen children (176 boys and 138 girls) aged 1 to 6 years old, undergoing inpatient treatment on ARI, were involved in the clinical study. The number of ARI episodes during their previous year of life, as well as the presence or absence of 19 potential postnatal risk factors associated with recurrent respiratory infections (RRI), were taken into account for the examined children. Additionally, two integral indices of ARI recurrence, namely the infection index (InI) and resistance index (InR), were calculated. The statistical processing of the primary digital data obtained was performed by IBM SPSS Statistics 28 licensed program. A сross-tabulation method was applied to compute the odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). Results. The difference between the age subgroups of the examined preschool children in the ARI episodes number during their previous year of life was demonstrated (H=11.243; p=0.047). First of all, the higher incidence of ARI was detected among the patients aged 36 to 71 months compared with those aged 12 to 35 months. Besides, the weak but significant correlation was revealed between six stratified age subgroups of children and their clinical diagnoses (φc=0.183; p=0.006). The studied integral indicators of the recurrent course of ARI (InI and InR) are inversely correlated with the majority of the postnatal risk factors considered, with the degree of the relationship strength being higher for InR than for InI. Conclusions. The majority of the potential RRI risk factors registered, namely 10 out of 19, separately increase the probability of children belonging to the group with more frequent ARI episodes. The most significant risk factors of RRI were as follows: 1) breastfeeding for 0-4 months after birth (OR=2.868; p&lt;0.001; 95% CI: 1.681-4.895), 2) an older child in a family attending an organized childhood group (OR=2.814; p&lt;0.001; 95% CI: 1.662-4.763); 3) second-hand smoke exposure (OR=2.537; p&lt;0.001; 95% CI: 1.509-4.267). The prevalence of the studied RRI risk factors among the preschool children does not correlate with their significance in contributing to more frequent ARI episodes. The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol was approved by the Local ethics committees of the institutions mentioned in the paper. An informed parental consent was obtained for the study in children. No conflict of interests was declared by the author.