Search Results (6,730)

In the context of achieving the goal of carbon neutrality, exploring the changes in land demand and ecological carbon stocks under future scenarios at the urban level is important for optimizing regional ecosystem services and developing a land-use structure consistent with sustainable development strategies. We propose a framework of a coupled system dynamics (SD) model, patch generation land-use simulation (PLUS) model, and integrated valuation of ecosystem services and trade-offs (InVEST) model to dynamically simulate the spatial and temporal changes of land use and land-cover change (LUCC) and ecosystem carbon stocks under the NDS (natural development scenario), EPS (ecological protection scenario), RES (rapid expansion scenario), and HDS (high-quality development scenario) in Nanjing from 2020 to 2040. From 2005 to 2020, the expansion rate of construction land in Nanjing reached 50.76%, a large amount of ecological land shifted to construction land, and the ecological carbon stock declined dramatically. Compared with 2020, the ecosystem carbon stocks of the EPS and HDS increased by 2.4 × 10⁶ t and 1.5 × 10⁶ t, respectively, with a sizable ecological effect. It has been calculated that forest and cultivated land are the two largest carbon pools in Nanjing, and the conservation of both is decisive for the future carbon stock. It is necessary to focus on enhancing the carbon stock of forest ecosystems while designating differentiated carbon sink enhancement plans based on the characteristics of other land types. Fully realizing the carbon sink potential of each ecological functional area will help Nanjing achieve its carbon neutrality goal. The results of the study not only reveal the challenges of ecological conservation in Nanjing but also provide useful guidance for enhancing the carbon stock of urban terrestrial ecosystems and formulating land-use planning in line with sustainable development strategies. Full article

Background/Objectives: Empathy and emotional regulation (susceptibility and resistance) play an important role in a nurse’s well-being and the provision of high-quality care. This phenomenon has not yet been studied in the context of nurses working in neuroscience. This study aimed to explore the perceptions related to empathy among nurses working in neuroscience contexts. Methods: Employing a mixed-methods approach, we conducted an online quantitative survey with 211 nurses working in various neuroscience settings using the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES) and 15 online semistructured qualitative interviews to delve deeper into empathetic experiences. The mean and measures of dispersion, such as standard deviation, were used to analyze the quantitative data. Thematic analysis investigated qualitative data, and data triangulation was performed. Results: The quantitative findings revealed no significant differences in empathy or emotional regulation across the different neuroscience settings but highlighted an increase in susceptibility related to young age (under 29) and years of service (first 5 years). The interviews brought to light the challenges nurses face in highly emotional situations and the strategies they employ to manage empathy and maintain professional detachment, such as self-care strategies, awareness development, and team support. One hindering factor is managers. Conclusions: The findings of this study underscore the essential role of empathetic capability in nursing care in neuroscience. The experience of younger nurses and the first 5 years of employment are elements to be considered by managers for burnout risk. Nurses demonstrate susceptibility and resistance and maintain a balance in dealing with high-emotional-stress situations. The implications of these findings are significant and should guide future research and practice in the field of neuroscience nursing. Full article

This paper aims to present the views of Greek school principals on whether and how working amid the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affected principal–teacher relationships. It mainly focuses on the factors that contributed to the quality and course of these relationships. A qualitative methodology was adopted. Data were collected from 57 principals of public primary and secondary schools who answered the open-ended questions of an online questionnaire. Written answers were analyzed using the method of thematic analysis. The analysis revealed that, given the adverse working conditions, principal–teacher relationships were affected to varying degrees and in different ways in each school unit. For forty-seven percent of principals, the relationships remained unaffected; for forty percent, the relationships worsened; and for thirteen percent, they became stronger. It was found that teacher-related factors (attitude towards increased duties/obligations and ability to manage stress and fear), as well as work climate-related factors (communication and interaction, togetherness, and pre-existing work climate) contributed to the course of principal–teacher relations amid the pandemic. The findings provide practical and theoretical implications for school leadership and human resources management in a crisis context. Full article

This paper presents a novel methodology for short-term load forecasting in the context of significant shifts in the daily load curve due to the rapid and extensive adoption of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). The proposed solution, built upon the Similar Days Method (SDM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN), introduces several novelties: (1) selection of similar days based on hidden representations of day data using Autoencoder (AE); (2) enhancement of model generalization by utilizing a broader set of training examples; (3) incorporating the relative importance of training examples derived from the similarity measure during training; and (4) mitigation of the influence of outliers by applying an ensemble of ANN models trained with different data splits. The presented AE configuration and procedure for selecting similar days generated a higher-quality training dataset, which led to more robust predictions by the ANN model for days with unexpected deviations. Experiments were conducted on actual load data from a Serbian electrical power system, and the results were compared to predictions obtained by the field-proven STLF tool. The experiments demonstrated an improved performance of the presented solution on test days when the existing STLF tool had poor predictions over the past year. Full article

Great advances in stitching high-quality retinal images have been made in recent years. On the other hand, very few studies have been carried out on low-resolution retinal imaging. This work investigates the challenges of low-resolution retinal images obtained by the D-EYE smartphone-based fundus camera. The proposed method uses homography estimation to register and stitch low-quality retinal images into a cohesive mosaic. First, a Siamese neural network extracts features from a pair of images, after which the correlation of their feature maps is computed. This correlation map is fed through four independent CNNs to estimate the homography parameters, each specializing in different corner coordinates. Our model was trained on a synthetic dataset generated from the Microsoft Common Objects in Context (MSCOCO) dataset; this work added an important data augmentation phase to improve the quality of the model. Then, the same is evaluated on the FIRE retina and D-EYE datasets for performance measurement using the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM). The obtained results are promising: the average PSNR was 26.14 dB, with an SSIM of 0.96 on the D-EYE dataset. Compared to the method that uses a single neural network for homography calculations, our approach improves the PSNR by 7.96 dB and achieves a 7.86% higher SSIM score. Full article

In the context of high academic pressure and inadequate physical activity (PA) among adolescents, it is important to study how the physical environment and students’ perceptions affect their physical activity during school recess. An empirical study was conducted in four secondary schools in Xi’an to gather data on students’ physical activity using DJI Mini Drone recordings and self-reported questionnaires. Three physical activity indices—concentration, type richness and intensity—were visualized and quantified for intercomparison. This study found that physical environmental factors such as the building shape complexity and green space proportion significantly affected the PA concentration and intensity indices, whereas the campus area per student, the average distance to PA facilities and the number of PA facilities indicated a strong correlation with the PA richness index at the school level. Additionally, perceived environmental factors like space safety, facilities enjoyment and visual accessibility exerted influence on the PA intensity and frequency at the individual level. The study’s results confirmed previous findings from a social–ecological perspective and provide a comprehensive assessment framework that includes the spatial organization/spatial quality of the school and the perceived variables of safety, comfort, aesthetics, accessibility and functionality. By incorporating spatial, perceptual and behavioral aspects, this approach provides an efficient and integrated analytical methodology to promote adolescents’ health in school. Full article

The transformative impact of technological advancements has ushered in a new era in education, digitizing traditional learning approaches into accessible E-learning platforms. In the context of India, where students increasingly rely on digital education, the multitude of available platforms has introduced a challenge: selecting the most suitable one. This project addresses this concern by providing information on the optimal E-learning platform. The selection is based on critical criteria such as cost-effectiveness, user experience, technological factors, assessment methods, and the quality of education. To determine the significance of each criterion and rank them, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-AHP) method is employed. Subsequently, the Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (Fuzzy-TOPSIS) is utilized to evaluate and identify the best E-learning platform. The key findings from this research aim to guide students, educators, and institutions in making informed decisions about E-learning platforms, ultimately enhancing the digital learning experience for Indian students. Full article

Bioelectrical signal measurements play a crucial role in clinical diagnosis and continuous health monitoring. Conventional wet electrodes, however, present limitations as they are conductive gel for skin irritation and/or have inflexibility. Here, we developed a cost-effective and user-friendly stretchable dry electrode constructed with a flexible network of Ag/AgCl nanowires embedded in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). We compared the performance of the stretched Ag/AgCl nanowire electrode with commonly used commercial wet electrodes to measure electrocardiogram (ECG), electromyogram (EMG), and electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. All the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the as-fabricated or stretched (50% tensile strain) Ag/AgCl nanowire electrodes are higher than that measured by commercial wet electrodes as well as other dry electrodes. The evaluation of ECG signal quality through waveform segmentation, the signal quality index (SQI), and heart rate variability (HRV) reveal that both the as-fabricated and stretched Ag/AgCl nanowire electrode produce high-quality signals similar to those obtained from commercial wet electrodes. The stretchable electrode exhibits high sensitivity and dependability in measuring EMG and EEG data, successfully capturing EMG signals associated with muscle activity and clearly recording α-waves in EEG signals during eye closure. Our stretchable dry electrode shows enhanced comfort, high sensitivity, and convenience for curved surface biosignal monitoring in clinical contexts. Full article

In the context of the coordinated development of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, examining the spatial connections and network structure characteristics of the tourism economy holds substantial theoretical and practical significance. This study constructs a tourism economic quality evaluation index system from four dimensions and optimizes the tourism economic gravity model by incorporating time distance and weight factors to dynamically simulate the intensity of tourism economic spatial connection (ITESC). Based on the new perspective of relational data, social network analysis is employed to investigate the spatial correlation network characteristics and group structure changes in the tourism economy within the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration (BTHUA). The results demonstrate a significant improvement in overall tourism economic quality from 2013 to 2022, with the average quality increasing from 0.128 in 2013 to 0.157 in 2022. Tourism economic spatial connections are prevalent among cities, exhibiting heterogeneous characteristics, characterized by density in the north and relatively sparse in the south. The network cohesion of ITESC strengthens, and the network structure evolves from a highly centralized to a multi-centralized configuration, with increasingly frequent cooperation and interaction in tourism between cities. Beijing, Tianjin, and Shijiazhuang occupy central positions in the network, exhibiting strong ITESC and a high degree of connectivity, generating a significant “trickle-down effect” on peripheral cities. Consequently, strengthening ITESC between peripheral cities and core areas, as well as enhancing the bidirectional spillover of tourism development between cities, is crucial for the future sustainable and coordinated development of tourism in the BTHUA. Full article

Background: Insulin resistance, a key factor in developing type 2 diabetes mellitus, is linked to various health conditions. The basis of its treatment is lifestyle modification. However, adherence to nutritional and other medical recommendations can be challenging for chronic disease patients due to many factors, including demographics, social context, gender, age, and the patient’s baseline health condition. This study aims to evaluate the impact of online support group members on the diet quality of women with insulin resistance. Methods: This study was conducted as an online survey consisting of KomPAN (validated food frequency questionnaire) augmented with questions regarding using professional counseling and membership in support groups. The study covered 1565 women with insulin resistance, 1011 of whom were associated with the online support group. Results: The mean pHDI (pro-health diet index) was 5.18 ± 2.69 in the support groups and 4.86 ± 2.69 in the control group (p = 0.0319. There were no significant differences in the nHDI (non-health diet index). We found that the pHDI is associated with financial situations, the household’s situation, occupation education level, and medical or dietitian care, whereas occupation, medical, and dietitian care affect the nHDI. Membership in support groups is related to a higher pHDI and state of self-assessment of nutritional knowledge. Conclusions: Our study indicates a relationship between participation in online support groups and dietary behaviors and the subjective assessment of nutrition knowledge. Future research should focus on elucidating the mechanisms behind these influences and exploring how these communities can be optimized for broader public health initiatives. Full article

Uncrewed aerial system (UAS) structure from motion (SfM) monitoring strategies for individual trees has rapidly expanded in the early 21st century. It has become common for studies to report accuracies for individual tree heights and DBH, along with stand density metrics. This study evaluates individual tree detection and stand basal area accuracy and precision in five ponderosa pine sites against the range of SfM parameters in the Agisoft Metashape, Pix4DMapper, and OpenDroneMap algorithms. The study is designed to frame UAS-SfM individual tree monitoring accuracy in the context of data processing and storage demands as a function of SfM algorithm parameter levels. Results show that when SfM algorithms are properly tuned, differences between software types are negligible, with Metashape providing a median F-score improvement over OpenDroneMap of 0.02 and PIX4DMapper of 0.06. However, tree extraction performance varied greatly across algorithm parameters, with the greatest extraction rates typically coming from parameters causing increased density in dense point clouds and minimal point cloud filtering. Transferring UAS-SfM forest monitoring into management will require tradeoffs between accuracy and efficiency. Our analysis shows that a one-step reduction in dense point cloud quality saves 77–86% in point cloud processing time without decreasing tree extraction (F-score) or basal area precision using Metashape and PIX4DMapper but the same parameter change for OpenDroneMap caused a ~5% loss in precision. Providing reproducible processing strategies is a vital step in successfully transferring these technologies into usage as management tools. Full article

This study explores the effects of trees on the acoustic and thermal environment in addition to people’s responses to trees in different contexts. Through field measurements conducted during the summer of 2023 at the campus of the Southwest University of Science and Technology in Mianyang, residents’ neutral points were locally found to be 52.2 dBA (acoustic) and 23.8 °C (thermal). Further, at their maximum, the trees were able to reduce heat stress by 4 °C (indicated by the physiologically equivalent temperature—PET) and the noise level by 10 dBA (indicated by the A-weighted sound pressure—LAeq); this was achieved by trees with a crown diameter of 20 m. Subjective acoustic and thermal responses varied depending on the context. Acoustically, their neutral LAeq values toward the sounds of traffic, teaching, sports, and daily life were 46.9, 52.5, 51.0, and 52.7 dBA, respectively. Thermally, pedestrians’ neutral PET values were 24.2, 26.1, 22.3, and 25.1 °C, respectively, under the same conditions. These phenomena might be a consequence of the effects of sound frequencies. Future urban forestry research should focus on planting for environmental quality improvement. Full article

The intent of quality high school physical education (PE) is to develop a connection with students to help enhance their desire to continue engagement beyond K–12 education. While traditional instructional approaches may produce benefits, it is important to recognize continued data suggesting reasons for decreased student motivation and participation. The purpose of this study was to investigate student responses in their perceived control, value, emotions, and intentions for future activity as it pertained to differing content areas throughout their PE curriculum. The participants included 72 9th grade students. The students participated in five instructional units: modified volleyball, spikeball, outdoor adventure, yoga, and drumfit. At the conclusion of each unit, students responded to a virtual survey utilizing previously validated instruments measuring a variety of emotional contexts. The results were analyzed using a variety of measurements. The in-depth data revealed that student intention may be more anchored in value and emotion than previously identified. Students’ emotional connection to the content appears to be vital to their motivation, engagement, and intention to engage in the activity outside of PE. Based on these findings, teachers should make a concerted effort to select content based on student interests and value, instead of choosing content they find interesting and meaningful. Full article

Not having an intimate partner constitutes a common state in contemporary post-industrial societies. The current research aimed to address the question of whether single people score higher than mated people in various dimensions of quality of life. For this purpose, we employed quantitative research methods, measuring different aspects of quality of life that we treated as the dependent variables, with relationship status as the independent variable. In a sample of 1929 participants from Greece and Turkey, we found that relationship status was not significantly associated with physical health, relationships with friends and family, self-development, independence, recreation, or participation in social and communal activities. On the other hand, it was significantly associated with material goods, disposable income, social support, sexual satisfaction, and having children, with mated people scoring higher than single people. Despite using different methodologies for data collection, similar results were obtained in the two cultural contexts. Full article

COVID-19-associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a rare autoimmune disorder characterized by a range of polymorphic manifestations, similar to but distinct from other well-known inflammatory syndromes in children. We conducted a retrospective–descriptive study in which we summarized the clinical presentation of, biomarker variations in, and complications occurring in patients diagnosed with MIS-C, admitted to the Emergency Clinical Hospital for Children “Sf. Ioan”, Galati, between July 2020 and June 2024. A total of 36 children met the MIS-C classification criteria according to the WHO-approved case definitions. A total of 41.7% (n = 15) were male and 58.3% (n = 21) were female. The median age of the study group was 4 years (IQR: 1.75–9.25 years). Surgical involvement was suspected in 16.7% (n = 6) of the patients, while 52.8% (n = 19) required intensive care. Clinically, fever was the most common symptom present in 89% (n = 32) of the cases. Gastrointestinal disorders were also common, with 50% (n = 18) presenting with inappetence, 42% (n = 15) with vomiting, and 39% (n = 14) with abdominal pain from admission, which worsened over time. Paraclinically, all patients exhibited signs of inflammation, and 86.1% (n = 31) had hydroelectrolytic and acid–base imbalances. The median hospital stay was 10 days (IQR: 7–12 days), with a stagnant clinical course in most cases. The inflammatory mechanisms in MIS-C, which can affect the secretion of antidiuretic hormone (ADH), were correlated with hydroelectrolytic disturbances and may lead to severe complications. For this reason, it is imperative to evaluate hydroelectrolytic disorders in the context of MIS-C and use diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers to develop effective therapeutic management strategies, ultimately improving the quality of life of affected children. Full article