Dose-response associations,physical activity intensity and mortality risk:A narrative review

Physical activity is consistently associated with reduced mortality,decreased risk for non-communicable diseases,and improved mental health in observational studies.Randomized controlled trials and observational Mendelian randomization studies support causal links between physical activity and health outcomes.However,the scarcity of evidence from randomized controlled trials,along with their inherent challenges like exposure contrasts,healthy volunteer biases,loss to follow-up,and limited real-world dose-response data,warrants a comprehensive approach.This review advocates synthesizing insights from diverse study designs to better understand the causal relationship between physical activity,mortality risk,and other health outcomes.Additionally,it summarizes recent research since the publication of current physical activity recommendations.Novel observational studies utilizing device-measured physical activity underscore the importance of every minute of activity and suggest that all intensity levels confer health benefits,with vigorous-intensity potentially requiring lower volumes for substantial benefits.Future guidelines,informed by device-measured physical activity studies,may offer refined age-specific recommendations,emphasize vigorous-intensity physical activity,and include daily step counts as a simple,easily assessable metric using commercial wearables.

The History of Controlling and Treating Infectious Diseases in Ancient China

Infectious diseases are the common enemies of mankind.In the course of historical development,they persistently threaten human health and safety.Even today,despite the developments in medical science,we cannot escape the fear and suffering caused by infectious diseases.Whether in ancient or modern times,the source of infection,route of transmission,and a susceptible population are the three key conditions for the prevalence and spread of infectious diseases.All factors closely related to these three conditions can affect the prevalence of infectious diseases.China is one of the cradles of world civilization.The ancient people accumulated a great deal of experience and lessons in the long struggle against infectious diseases.In the face of the current threat posed by widespread infectious disease,it is imperative to review and summarize ancient Chinese ideas and health policies on epidemic prevention and control to inspire contemporary efforts in the prevention and control of infectious disease.The combination of prevention-oriented epidemic prevention ideology and traditional medicine provides valuable insights,especially for impoverished and medically underserved regions.

A Blind Batch Encryption and Public Ledger-Based Protocol for Sharing Sensitive Data

For the goals of security and privacy preservation,we propose a blind batch encryption-and public ledger-based data sharing protocol that allows the integrity of sensitive data to be audited by a public ledger and allows privacy information to be preserved.Data owners can tightly manage their data with efficient revocation and only grant one-time adaptive access for the fulfillment of the requester.We prove that our protocol is semanticallly secure,blind,and secure against oblivious requesters and malicious file keepers.We also provide security analysis in the context of four typical attacks.

Use of cognitive-behavioral career coaching to reduce work anxiety and depression in public employees

BACKGROUND Public employees worldwide are increasingly concerned about work anxiety and depression.Cognitive-behavioral career coaching has emerged as a promising strategy for addressing these mental health disorders,which can negatively impact on a person's overall well-being and performance.AIM To examine whether cognitive-behavioral career coaching reduces work anxiety and depression among Nigerian public employees.METHODS A total of 120 public employees(n=60)suffering from severe anxiety and depression were randomly assigned to the treatment or control groups in this study.Cognitive behavioral coaching was provided twice a week to those in the treatment group,whereas no treatment was given to those in the control group.As part of the study,the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scales and Beck Depression Inventory were used to collect data.RESULTS Analysis of covariance of the data from participants indicates a significant effect of cognitive-behavioral career coaching on work anxiety and depression.CONCLUSION Insights into the underlying mechanisms by which cognitive behavior career coaching exerts its effects have been gained from this study.Also,the study has gathered valuable data that can inform future practice and guide the development of strategies for supporting mental health at work.

Publicness:The Basis of Constructing a Public Administration Discipline in China

The legitimacy crisis of public administration has a long history.From a historical perspective,an analysis of five Western pathways in the discipline of public administration shows that the roots of this crisis lie in the lack of a public nature.From a theoretical perspective,the“publicness”of public administration should be defined along the dimensions of public administration powers,actors,targets,methods and values.In terms of practice,the uniqueness of China’s public power framework,the influence of traditional political culture on the public nature of Chinese public administration and the provisions governing this public nature at different stages of China’s development constitute the unique public nature of the construction of Chinese public administration.The discipline construction of Chinese public administration should be rebuilt so that its public nature forms the basis of its legitimacy,in accord with historical logic,theoretical logic and practical logic.We should construct a publicness discourse system of Chinese public administration that adheres to the value guidance of publicness and should frame research topics on the basis of publicness.This will ultimately form a research paradigm for the public nature of public administration that will consolidate the foundation of the legitimacy of the discipline construction of public administration.

Extreme rain event highlights the lack of governance to face climate change in the Southeastern coast of Brazil

New rainfall records were registered in the southeastern region of Brazil during February 2023.The amount of rain in the north coast region of the State of São Paulo was more than 650 mm in less than two days.Landslides and tragedies with a socioeconomically vulnerable population marked this climatic extreme.The country has a regulatory system that suggests the elaboration and implementation of municipal public policies aimed at territorial organization,environmental conservation,and the prevention of disasters induced by natural hazards.In addition,both federal and state funds earmarked for such hazard's prevention have been underutilized over the last decade.In addition to this current devastating climate episode,other events were registered in this decade,reinforcing that financial governance is a key challenge to face the climate crisis in Brazil.The predicted future extreme events in different regions of Brazil will require a different governance system to minimize social inequality,seek sustainable alternatives for urban environments and manage to adapt cities for the challenges posed by climate change.

Assessing trends in wildland-urban interface fire research through text mining: a comprehensive analysis of published literature

Research on fires at the wildland-urban inter-face(WUI)has generated significant insights and advance-ments across various fields of study.Environmental,agri-culture,and social sciences have played prominent roles in understanding the impacts of fires in the environment,in protecting communities,and addressing management challenges.This study aimed to create a database using a text mining technique for global researchers interested in WUI-projects and highlighting the interest of countries in this field.Author’s-Keywords analysis emphasized the dominance of fire science-related terms,especially related to WUI,and identified keyword clusters related to the WUI fire-risk-assessment-system-“exposure”,“danger”,and“vulnerability”within wildfire research.Trends over the past decade showcase shifting research interests with a growing focus on WUI fires,while regional variations highlighted that the“exposure”keyword cluster received greater atten-tion in the southern Europe and South America.However,vulnerability keywords have relatively a lower representation across all regions.The analysis underscores the interdisci-plinary nature of WUI research and emphasizes the need for targeted approaches to address the unique challenges of the wildland-urban interface.Overall,this study provides valu-able insights for researchers and serves as a foundation for further collaboration in this field through the understanding of the trends over recent years and in different regions.

Discreet investors exert greater influence on cooperation in the public goods game

This paper studies the evolutionary process of cooperative behavior in a public goods game model with heterogeneous investment strategies in square lattices.In the proposed model,players are divided into defectors,cooperators and discreet investors.Among these,defectors do not participate in investing,discreet investors make heterogeneous investments based on the investment behavior and cooperation value of their neighbors,and cooperators invest equally in each neighbor.In real life,heterogeneous investment is often accompanied by time or economic costs.The discreet investors in this paper pay a certain price to obtain their neighbors'investment behavior and cooperation value,which quantifies the time and economic costs of the heterogeneous investment process.The results of Monte Carlo simulation experiments in this study show that discreet investors can effectively resist the invasion of the defectors,form a stable cooperative group and expand the cooperative advantage in evolution.However,when discreet investors pay too high a price,they lose their strategic advantage.The results in this paper help us understand the role of heterogeneous investment in promoting and maintaining human social cooperation.

Does social information affect the settlement decisions of resident birds in their second breeding attempt?A case study of the Japanese Tit(Parus minor)

Individuals may gather information about environmental conditions when deciding where to breed in order to maximize their lifetime fitness.They can obtain social information by observing conspecifics and heterospecifics with similar ecological needs.Many studies have shown that birds can rely on social information to select their nest sites.The location of active nests and the reproductive success of conspecifics and heterospecifics can provide accurate predictions about the quality of the breeding habitat.Some short-lived species can facultatively reproduce two and/or more times within a breeding season.However,few studies have focused on how multiplebrooding individuals select nest sites for their second breeding attempts.In this study,we use long-term data to test whether the Japanese Tit(Parus minor)can use social information from conspecifics and/or heterospecifics(the Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea,the Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus and the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher Ficedula zanthopygia)to select a nest site for the second breeding attempt.Our results showed that the nest boxes occupied by tits on their second breeding attempt tended to be surrounded by more breeding conspecific nests,successful first nests of conspecifics,and fewer failed first nests of conspecifics than the nest boxes that remained unoccupied(the control group).However,the numbers of breeding heterospecific nests,successful heterospecific nests,and failed heterospecific nests did not differ between the nest boxes occupied by tits on their second breeding attempt and the unoccupied nest boxes.Furthermore,the tits with local successful breeding experience tended to choose areas with more successful first nests of conspecifics than those without successful breeding experience.Thus,we suggest that conspecifics'but not heterospecifics'social information within the same breeding season is the major factor influencing the nest site selection of Japanese Tits during second breeding attempts.

Dynamic analysis of major public health emergency transmission considering the dual-layer coupling of community–resident complex networks

We construct a dual-layer coupled complex network of communities and residents to represent the interconnected risk transmission network between communities and the disease transmission network among residents. It characterizes the process of infectious disease transmission among residents between communities through the SE2IHR model considering two types of infectors. By depicting a more fine-grained social structure and combining further simulation experiments, the study validates the crucial role of various prevention and control measures implemented by communities as primary executors in controlling the epidemic. Research shows that the geographical boundaries of communities and the social interaction patterns of residents have a significant impact on the spread of the epidemic, where early detection, isolation and treatment strategies at community level are essential for controlling the spread of the epidemic. In addition, the study explores the collaborative governance model and institutional advantages of communities and residents in epidemic prevention and control.

Smartphone-Based Wi-Fi Analysis for Bus Passenger Counting

In the contemporary era of technological advancement,smartphones have become an indispensable part of individuals’daily lives,exerting a pervasive influence.This paper presents an innovative approach to passenger countingonbuses throughthe analysis ofWi-Fi signals emanating frompassengers’mobile devices.The study seeks to scrutinize the reliability of digital Wi-Fi environments in predicting bus occupancy levels,thereby addressing a crucial aspect of public transportation.The proposed system comprises three crucial elements:Signal capture,data filtration,and the calculation and estimation of passenger numbers.The pivotal findings reveal that the system demonstrates commendable accuracy in estimating passenger counts undermoderate-crowding conditions,with an average deviation of 20%from the ground truth and an accuracy rate ranging from 90%to 100%.This underscores its efficacy in scenarios characterized by moderate levels of crowding.However,in densely crowded conditions,the system exhibits a tendency to overestimate passenger numbers,occasionally doubling the actual count.While acknowledging the need for further research to enhance accuracy in crowded conditions,this study presents a pioneering avenue to address a significant concern in public transportation.The implications of the findings are poised to contribute substantially to the enhancement of bus operations and service quality.

A Game-Theoretic Approach to Safe Crowd Evacuation in Emergencies

Obstacle removal in crowd evacuation is critical to safety and the evacuation system efficiency. Recently, manyresearchers proposed game theoreticmodels to avoid and remove obstacles for crowd evacuation. Game theoreticalmodels aim to study and analyze the strategic behaviors of individuals within a crowd and their interactionsduring the evacuation. Game theoretical models have some limitations in the context of crowd evacuation. Thesemodels consider a group of individuals as homogeneous objects with the same goals, involve complex mathematicalformulation, and cannot model real-world scenarios such as panic, environmental information, crowds that movedynamically, etc. The proposed work presents a game theoretic model integrating an agent-based model to removethe obstacles from exits. The proposed model considered the parameters named: (1) obstacle size, length, andwidth, (2) removal time, (3) evacuation time, (4) crowd density, (5) obstacle identification, and (6) route selection.The proposed work conducts various experiments considering different conditions, such as obstacle types, obstacleremoval, and several obstacles. Evaluation results show the proposed model’s effectiveness compared with existingliterature in reducing the overall evacuation time, cell selection, and obstacle removal. The study is potentially usefulfor public safety situations such as emergency evacuations during disasters and calamities.

Assessment of public perspectives and barriers towards dengue preventive practices using the Health Belief Model in Puducherry,India:A cross-sectional study

Objective:To assess the perspectives and barriers towards dengue preventive practices among the residents of Puducherry,India.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 300 households in Puducherry,using a population-proportionate(7:3)distribution from urban and rural areas by grid sampling.One adult interview per household was conducted and the participants were selected using a KISH grid.A semi-structured questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model(HBM)with additional questions on knowledge assessment was used.Knowledge was assessed based on the correctness of answers and the HBM scores were calculated on a 5-point Likert scale.Participants were categorized based on the median score under each domain.Logistic regression was used for adjusted analysis and models were built to predict the performances in each domain.Results:Four percent of the participants lacked basic knowledge regarding dengue transmission.While 208(69.3%)participants did not consider themselves at risk of contracting dengue within the next year,majority perceived dengue as a disease with low severity.Around 49.3%(148)were skeptical about the benefit of time and money spent on dengue prevention.Inadequate government efforts were stated as the major barrier(47.0%)and frequent reminders(142,47.3%)as the major cue to action.Age above 50 years(aOR 1.78,95%CI 1.04-3.06,P=0.037)and rural locality(aOR 2.68,95%CI 1.52-4.71,P=0.001)were found to be significantly associated with poor knowledge scores.Urban participants had a significantly higher chance to perceive low susceptibility as compared to the rural counterparts(aOR 1.74,95%CI 1.05-2.9,P=0.03).Participants with less than a high school education had low perceived benefits(aOR 2.46,95%CI 1.52-3.96,P<0.001)and low self-efficacy scores(aOR 2.66,95%CI 1.61-4.39,P<0.001).Conclusions:This study identifies key gaps in dengue prevention,including low perceived susceptibility,mild disease perception,limited knowledge of breeding sites,and overreliance on government efforts.Tailoring interventions to community needs,stratified to factors influencing the community perspectives can significantly improve dengue prevention efforts.

Fatal cases in pediatric patients after post-exposure prophylaxis for rabies:A report of two cases

Rationale:Rabies is a zoonotic disease with a high mortality,primarily transmitted through the bite of infected mammals,particularly dogs and cats.Despite being a well-known disease since ancient times,it continues to cause a significant number of human deaths worldwide,with approximately 65000 fatalities reported annually.Patient concerns:We present two fatal cases of rabies in a 12-year-old immigrant boy and a 7-year-old boy.The first case was subject to a 24-hour delay in receiving appropriate medical attention and rabies preventive measures due to the lack of awareness among emergency hospital staff,leading to the administration of wound dressing only.The second case received timely rabies immunoglobulin administration;however,there was a 4-day delay in administering the fourth dose of the rabies vaccine,despite presenting evident symptoms of rabies.Diagnosis:Postmortem examination of brain samples from both patients confirmed the presence of rabies virus.Interventions:Post-exposure prophylaxis for rabies.Outcomes:Both patients were admitted to the hospital after the manifestation of rabies-related symptoms,with the 12-year-old child seeking medical care 47 days after the animal bite and the 7-year-old child seeking medical care 58 days after the exposure.Finally,the first patient died after 27 days and the second patient died after 40 days of hospitalization.Lessons:There is an urgent need for heightened awareness and education among both healthcare professionals and the public regarding the urgency of seeking immediate medical attention after potential rabies exposure.Timely recognition and initiation of post-exposure prophylaxis are pivotal in preventing the progression of the disease.Strengthening surveillance and reporting systems,coupled with continuous training for healthcare professionals,can contribute to early detection and management of rabies cases.

A comparative study on characteristics of retracted publications across different open access levels

Purpose:Recently,global science has shown an increasing open trend,however,the characteristics of research integrity of open access(OA)publications have rarely been studied.The aim of this study is to compare the characteristics of retracted articles across different OA levels and discover whether OA level influences the characteristics of retracted articles.Design/methodology/approach:The research conducted an analysis of 6,005 retracted publications between 2001 and 2020 from the Web of Science and Retraction Watch databases.These publications were categorized based on their OA levels,including Gold OA,Green OA,and non-OA.The study explored retraction rates,time lags and reasons within these categories.Findings:The findings of this research revealed distinct patterns in retraction rates among different OA levels.Publications with Gold OA demonstrated the highest retraction rate,followed by Green OA and non-OA.A comparison of retraction reasons between Gold OA and non-OA categories indicated similar proportions,while Green OA exhibited a higher proportion due to falsification and manipulation issues,along with a lower occurrence of plagiarism and authorship issues.The retraction time lag was shortest for Gold OA,followed by non-OA,and longest for Green OA.The prolonged retraction time for Green OA could be attributed to an atypical distribution of retraction reasons.A comparative study on characteristics of retracted publications across different open access levels Research limitations:There is no exploration of a wider range of OA levels,such as Hybrid OA and Bronze OA.Practical implications:The outcomes of this study suggest the need for increased attention to research integrity within the OA publications.The occurrences offalsification,manipulation,and ethical concerns within Green OA publications warrant attention from the scientific community.Originality/value:This study contributes to the understanding of research integrity in the realm of OA publications,shedding light on retraction patterns and reasons across different OA levels.

Effect of distribution of fines on evolution of cooperation in spatial public goods game

In the realm of public goods game,punishment,as a potent tool,stands out for fostering cooperation.While it effectively addresses the first-order free-rider problem,the associated costs can be substantial.Punishers incur expenses in imposing sanctions,while defectors face fines.Unfortunately,these monetary elements seemingly vanish into thin air,representing a loss to the system itself.However,by virtue of the redistribution of fines to cooperators and punishers,not only can we mitigate this loss,but the rewards for these cooperative individuals can be enhanced.Based upon this premise,this paper introduces a fine distribution mechanism to the traditional pool punishment model.Under identical parameter settings,by conducting a comparative experiment with the conventional punishment model,the paper aims to investigate the impact of fine distribution on the evolution of cooperation in spatial public goods game.The experimental results clearly demonstrate that,in instances where the punishment cost is prohibitively high,the cooperative strategies of the traditional pool punishment model may completely collapse.However,the model enriched with fine distribution manages to sustain a considerable number of cooperative strategies,thus highlighting its effectiveness in promoting and preserving cooperation,even in the face of substantial punishment cost.

Monocular Distance Estimated Based on PTZ Camera

This paper introduces an intelligent computational approach for extracting salient objects fromimages and estimatingtheir distance information with PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) cameras. PTZ cameras have found wide applications innumerous public places, serving various purposes such as public securitymanagement, natural disastermonitoring,and crisis alarms, particularly with the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence and global infrastructuralprojects. In this paper, we combine Gauss optical principles with the PTZ camera’s capabilities of horizontal andpitch rotation, as well as optical zoom, to estimate the distance of the object.We present a novel monocular objectdistance estimation model based on the Focal Length-Target Pixel Size (FLTPS) relationship, achieving an accuracyrate of over 95% for objects within a 5 km range. The salient object extraction is achieved through a simplifiedconvolution kernel and the utilization of the object’s RGB features, which offer significantly faster computingspeeds compared to Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Additionally, we introduce the dark channel beforethe fog removal algorithm, resulting in a 20 dB increase in image definition, which significantly benefits distanceestimation. Our system offers the advantages of stability and low device load, making it an asset for public securityaffairs and providing a reference point for future developments in surveillance hardware.

Detecting the distribution of and public attitudes to charismatic alien species based on media coverage

Charismatic species are often reported by the media,providing information for detecting population status and public perception.To identify the number and distribution of free-living Black Swan(Cygnus atratus),a charismatic alien species in Chinese mainland and to detect the public and the media attitudes to the species,we analyzed the reports and emotional tendency from media coverage in 2000-2022 using manual reading,crawler extraction and latent Dirichlet allocation.A total of 6654 Black Swans were reported at 711 sites,including 147 individuals at 30 nature reserves.Successful breeding was reported at one-fourth of the total sites,including five nature reserves.The proportion of positive emotional tendency to Black Swans was overwhelming in the reports and was higher than that to alien species in general,suggesting that the public and the media are unaware of the risk of biological invasion.Effective management of invasive species requires the media clarifies the invasion risk of charismatic alien species.Promoting the unity between the harmfulness of abstract concept of alien species and the charisma of a specific alien species among the public help effective management.

The potential impact of increased whole grain consumption among Chinese adults on reducing healthcare costs and carbon footprint

Excessive consumption of refined grains harms human health and ecosystem viability.Whole grains,as a healthy and sustainable alternative to refined grains,can benefit individual health by providing dietary fiber,B vitamins,and bioactive substances.Additionally,they aid in improving the environment due to their higher extraction rate and lower carbon emission during the processing stage.However,few studies have attempted to evaluate the economic and social benefits of increasing the amount of whole grain in grain intake.This paper estimates the potential savings in healthcare costs and reduced food carbon footprints(CFs)that could result from a shift toward whole grain consumption following the Chinese Dietary Guidelines(CDG).We investigate hypothetical scenarios where a certain proportion(5–100%)of Chinese adults could increase their whole grain intakes as proposed by CDG to meet the average shortfall of 30.2 g.In that case,the healthcare costs for associated diseases(e.g.,type2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM),cardiovascular disease(CVD),and colorectal cancer(CRC))are expected to reduce by a substantial amount,from USD 2.82 to 56.37 billion;the carbon emission levels are also projected to decrease by0.24–5.72 million tons.This study provides compelling evidence that advocating for the transition towards greater consumption of whole grain products could benefit individual health,the environment,and society,by reducing both healthcare costs and carbon emissions.

How to enhance agricultural plastic waste management in China?Insights from public participation

Agricultural plastics play a pivotal role in agricultural production.However,due to expensive costs,agricultural plastic waste management(APWM)encounters a vast funding gap.As one of the crucial stakeholders,the public deserves to make appropriate efforts for APWM.Accordingly,identifying whether the public is willing to pay for APWM and clarifying the decisions’driving pathways to explore initiatives for promoting their payment intentions are essential to address the dilemma confronting APWM.To this end,by applying the extended theory of planned behavior(TPB),the study conducted an empirical analysis based on 1,288 residents from four provinces(autonomous regions)of northern China.Results illustrate that:1)respondents hold generally positive and relatively strong payment willingness towards APWM;2)respondents’attitude(AT),subjective norm(SN),and perceived behavioral control(PBC)are positively correlated with their payment intentions(INT);3)environmental cognition(EC)and environmental emotion(EE)positively moderate the relationships between AT and INT,and between SN and INT,posing significant indirect impacts on INT.The study’s implications extend to informing government policies,suggesting that multi-entity cooperation,specifically public payment for APWM,can enhance agricultural non-point waste management.