A review of mechanism of action of outdoor exposure in preventing myopia incidence and progression

Various studies have suggested several environmental,pharmacological,medical,and optical interventions and some are in use but their efficacy in myopia control may be transient,and the cellular,molecular,and biochemical mechanisms involved unclear.Daylight exposure is currently regarded as an effective and enduring strategy in the control of myopia development and progression.However,the mechanism behind the effect of outdoor exposure and its association with genetic predisposition and other relatively more significant environmental factors on myopia is still a conundrum.This review focuses on survey-based and intervention-based studies carried out to propose a mechanism that accounts for myopia development and important for its control.

Evaluation of Mechanical Properties and Surface Quality of Wood from Bosnia and Herzegovina Exposed to Outdoor Conditions

This study investigated the mechanical properties of beech(Fagus sylvatica L.)and fir(Abies alba)wood from Bosnia and Herzegovina under outdoor exposure.Samples were exposed for 3-month exposure to assess bending strength,color changes,and surface quality.Results showed outdoor exposure negatively affected mechanical properties,particularly in samples with extended finger joints,causing significant surface cracks in uncoated samples.Beech wood exhibited notable color changes under exposure,with approximately 50%darkening without coating compared to 25%under covered conditions.Coated samples displayed minimal color changes,affirming the efficacy of surface treatment.Fir wood exhibited a roughness of 8.264μm,while beechwood average roughness increased from 6.767 to 13.916μm after exposure,with micro-pore development affecting water performance.Microscopic analysis identified prevalent fungal colonies,including Penicillium,Aureobasidium,Sclerophoma,and Chaetomium,underscoring their role in organic matter decomposition.This study highlights the importance of wood exposure and treatment selection for various applications.

Impact of Outdoor Activities in Different Landscape Environments on the Physical and Mental Health of College Students

To investigate whether outdoor activities have an improvement effect on the emotions of young people and the differences in the impact of outdoor activities on the emotions of young people under different landscape environmental conditions,the participating students are asked to engage in outdoor activities in different landscape environments and divided into four groups.Each group is assigned to engage in outdoor activities in four types of landscape areas:open lawn area,low shrub area,dense forest area,and waterfront area.The activities include outdoor yoga and making leaf mandalas.The results show that outdoor yoga has the best effect on reducing pulse and blood pressure and regulating emotions in open lawn area and waterfront area,followed by leaf mantras in waterfront area and outdoor yoga in dense forest area.However,both activities have no significant effect in low shrub area.

XIZANG AIMS TO BECOME AN OUTDOOR SPORTS HEAVEN

Enriched with stunning landscape and soaring mountains,the Xizang Autonomous Region has been making big efforts to make the region a destination for climbers and other outdoor sports aficionados.Profound climber and guide Ngakwang Dorje,41,established an outdoor sports company ten years ago,specializing in activities like climbing,trekking,and hiking for domestic outdoor sports enthusiasts.

A Semantic-Sensitive Approach to Indoor and Outdoor 3D Data Organization

Building model data organization is often programmed to solve a specific problem,resulting in the inability to organize indoor and outdoor 3D scenes in an integrated manner.In this paper,existing building spatial data models are studied,and the characteristics of building information modeling standards(IFC),city geographic modeling language(CityGML),indoor modeling language(IndoorGML),and other models are compared and analyzed.CityGML and IndoorGML models face challenges in satisfying diverse application scenarios and requirements due to limitations in their expression capabilities.It is proposed to combine the semantic information of the model objects to effectively partition and organize the indoor and outdoor spatial 3D model data and to construct the indoor and outdoor data organization mechanism of“chunk-layer-subobject-entrances-area-detail object.”This method is verified by proposing a 3D data organization method for indoor and outdoor space and constructing a 3D visualization system based on it.

Deep Pyramidal Residual Network for Indoor-Outdoor Activity Recognition Based on Wearable Sensor

Recognition of human activity is one of the most exciting aspects of time-series classification,with substantial practical and theoretical impli-cations.Recent evidence indicates that activity recognition from wearable sensors is an effective technique for tracking elderly adults and children in indoor and outdoor environments.Consequently,researchers have demon-strated considerable passion for developing cutting-edge deep learning sys-tems capable of exploiting unprocessed sensor data from wearable devices and generating practical decision assistance in many contexts.This study provides a deep learning-based approach for recognizing indoor and outdoor movement utilizing an enhanced deep pyramidal residual model called Sen-PyramidNet and motion information from wearable sensors(accelerometer and gyroscope).The suggested technique develops a residual unit based on a deep pyramidal residual network and introduces the concept of a pyramidal residual unit to increase detection capability.The proposed deep learning-based model was assessed using the publicly available 19Nonsens dataset,which gathered motion signals from various indoor and outdoor activities,including practicing various body parts.The experimental findings demon-strate that the proposed approach can efficiently reuse characteristics and has achieved an identification accuracy of 96.37%for indoor and 97.25%for outdoor activity.Moreover,comparison experiments demonstrate that the SenPyramidNet surpasses other cutting-edge deep learning models in terms of accuracy and F1-score.Furthermore,this study explores the influence of several wearable sensors on indoor and outdoor action recognition ability.

Research and Application of Ecological Outdoor Ground Structure with Composite Water Storage and Drainage Function

In order to solve the problems of surface runoff increase,water accumulation in rainy days and urban heat island effect,an ecological outdoor ground structure with composite water storage and drainage functions was studied and applied in this paper:Through the comprehensive design of road ground,road inspection well,garden inspection well and drainage pipe network,it can quickly store and drain ground water,alleviate the urban heat island effect,realize plant infiltration irrigation,and achieve the purpose of saving water and energy.

Outdoor Corrosion Performance Study of Selected Construction Materials in Bonny Island

Corrosion studies are important due to the enormous cost involved in the replacement of materials in all kinds of applications. The outdoor study on corrosion behavior of aluminum sheet, chequered aluminum plate and zinc alloys roofing sheet commonly used as construction material within a highly industrial settlement were examined using the gravimetric technique. The outdoor corrosion of these alloys at different sites was observed via its exposure to atmospheric conditions, monitored and recorded for 12 months at an interval of 2 months. Results depicted a process spanning the initial and intermediate stages of corrosion. The samples of construction materials at Bonny island showed substantial weight losses and rate of corrosion which varied largely on percentage of atmospheric humidity, salt precipitations, industrial aerosols and corrosive gases present at the exposure site as well as the nature of the material and the presence of protective coating formed during corrosion process. The rapid rate of deterioration of these materials causes severe economic importance on the indigenes’ activities including the oil and gas industries and other construction companies on the island. Thus, there is urgent need for research concerned with methods to control or prevent excessive deterioration of metals in Bonny Island.

Simulation Evaluation of Outdoor Noise Environment in Buildings

Green campus design has become an essential strategy to enhance campus life and learning.However,noise pol-lution remains a troubling aspect that impacts teaching and learning processes,even causing harm to the health of students and teachers.Therefore,acoustic environment quality design is crucial.This article focuses on the expansion project of a school campus in Shenzhen.We simulated and analyzed the outdoor noise environment separately for the proposed teach-ing building,as well as the existing buildings like the dining hall,teaching building,and laboratory building.The results showed that the proposed teaching building was mainly affected by surrounding noise,with the worst outdoor noise being in classrooms adjacent to the teaching building in the south and the basketball court at the west of the classroom,with maximum noise values reaching 73 dB and 66 dB,respectively.In the future,these rooms should be renovated to achieve an excellent indoor soundproof environment.

Research on the Outdoor Activities and Spatial Characteristics of the Elderly in College Communities:Taking a University in Northern China as an Example

In view of the aging population in the country,college communities can better meet the needs of the elderly in the community by developing hardware facilities,environmental resources,and management systems.However,in China,the research on elderly care in colleges is still in its infancy.The paper presents an analysis on the characteristics of the elderly group,outdoor activities,and space characteristics in college communities through the field survey of a university in the north,questionnaire survey and interview with the elderly.Suggestions for optimizing the outdoor activities space of the elderly in college communities are then provided,hoping to provide some reference for relevant research.

Prediction model of the radiation from ground surface to the occupant in outdoor space

The outdoor ground radiation including the emitted radiation and reflected radiation plays an important role in the outdoor thermal environment. In this paper, based on the hypothesis of that the occupant body can be equivalent to a human cylinder and the outdoor ground surface is diffusive for radiation, a mathematical model is advanced to describe the radiation from the ground surface to the occupant. Through theoretical analysis of the mathematical model, general formulas for calculating the radiation arriving at the occupant from an annular ground surface and infinite ground surface are obtained. It shows that, the radiation from ground surface to the occupant depends on the surface temperature, reflectivity and emissivity, the arrange within the radius of 8.0m encircling the occupant can be defined as the dominant radiating area which radiates 90% radiation to the occupant. The radiative potentials of different pavement surface such grass, asphalt concrete surface, granite slab surface, terracotta bricks, colored concrete interlocking blocks are also compared with the datum measured by Tan Slew-Ann and Fwa Tien-Fang in Singapore, it shows that, in the summer sunny day, grass surface radiates more radiation in the morning but less in the afternoon than other pavement materials. Finally, discussions of reducing the radiation of outdoor ground surface are presented and main conclusions are drawn for improving the outdoor thermal environment.

Associations between near work, outdoor activity, parental myopia and myopia among school children in Aba, Nigeria

●AIM:To assess the influence of near work,time outdoor and parental myopia on the prevalence of myopia in school children in Aba,Nigeria.●METHODS:Primary and secondary school children aged between 8 and 15 y were randomly recruited from 12 schools in Aba.Information on family history,near work and outdoor activity was obtained using myopia risk factor questionnaire.Cycloplegic refraction was performed using autorefraction technique.Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent refraction(SER)≤-0.50 D in the poorer eye.Data were analysed for 1197(male:538 and female:659)children with full relevant data.●RESULTS:Risk of developing myopia was positively associated with parental myopia[odds ratio(OR):6.80;95%CI,2.76-16.74;P<0.01)for one myopic parent and(OR:9.47;95%CI,3.88-23.13;P<0.01)for two myopic parents,longer daily reading hour(OR:1.21;95%CI,1.03-1.42;P=0.02)and less time outdoors(OR:0.8;95%CI,0.74-0.87;P<0.01).●CONCLUSION:Parental history of myopia is the most important risk factor associated with myopia.In addition,children with both parents being myopic has increased odds of developing myopia than those with one myopic parent.It is recommended therefore,that children spend more time outdoors as this could reduce the prevalence and progression of myopia.

An assessment of the climatic suitability of Afriski Mountain Resort for outdoor tourism using the Tourism Climate Index(TCI)

Tourism Climatic Indices(TCIs)are widely used in the global North to quantify the climatic suitability of a destination for tourism.Only one such study has been conducted in southern Africa to date.It is in a chronic shortage of research on tourism and climate change in the southern hemisphere.This study presents the application of the TCI in Lesotho,calculated for the eastern Lesotho Highlands.The region has an emerging tourism sector,which primarily comprises outdoor activities.These include hiking,horse-riding,music festivals,mountain biking,cultural visits,sightseeing,and at the Afriski lodge,skiing and snowboarding.These activities are reliant on climatic conditions that are conducive to the activity taking place,prolonged periods outdoors,and tourist satisfaction of the activity.Climate is a major determinant of both the length of season for these activities and the timing of peak tourist arrivals.Rising temperatures and changes in relative humidity and precipitation pose real threats to hiking,sightseeing and snow tourism at Afriski.The reliance of tourism in the region on specific climatic conditions for successful tourism prompted the use of the TCI.TCI results classify the eastern Lesotho Highlands as having‘good'climatic conditions with an overall TCI score of 64 for the period 2012-2017.Monthly TCI scores for the eastern Lesotho reveal a bimodal-shoulder,meaning the peak climatic conditions are in the regional summer months(December to February).This conflicts with the peak tourist seasons of summer and winter,which align with South African school holidays,and the timing of the most profitable tourism activity(skiing)which occurs during the winter months of June,July and August.Lesotho is landlocked by South Africa.TCI analysis for South Africa reveals more suitable climatic conditions for tourism than Lesotho,with significantly higher scores of 80-89.

The measurement of time spent outdoors in child myopia research： a systematic review

The purpose of this article is to summarize the methods most commonly used to measure time spent outdoors and provide a comprehensive review of time and activity recording methods with the aim of encouraging the development of new methods. PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched from Jan. 1st, 1990 to Aug. 31th, 2017. Studies including the following specific terms： “outdoor”, “outside”, “outdoor activity”, “outside activity”, “outdoor time”, “outside time”, and “outdoor AND measurement of time spent outdoors” were considered for this review. In total, three kinds of outdoor time measurements were discussed. Questionnaires have the longest history and are the most thoroughly revised instruments for assessing time spent outdoors, but recall bias is their most substantial drawback. Global positioning system （GPS） tracking can distinguish between indoor and outdoor locations, but its utility is limited due to several factors such as subject compatibility. Light exposure measurement devices are newly emerging, but all of these devices require good subject cooperation. Further efforts and exploration are needed to develop better methods and new tools to record exposure to the outdoors in real time. Moreover, inventing a new device by combining two or more types of devices mentioned above and using the latest technology of en ergy supplementation and autoswitching may make the best use of the advantages and bypass the disadvantages of each tool.

Effects of Outdoor Temperature on Blood Pressure in a Prospective Cohort of Northwest China

Objective The relationship between outdoor temperature and blood pressure(BP) has been inconclusive. We analyzed data from a prospective cohort study in northwestern China to investigate the effect of outdoor temperature on BP and effect modification by season.Methods A total of 32,710 individuals who participated in both the baseline survey and the first follow-up in 2011–2015 were included in the study. A linear mixed-effect model and generalized additive mixed model(GAMM) were applied to estimate the association between outdoor temperature and BP after adjusting for confounding variables.Results The mean differences in systolic blood pressure(SBP) and diastolic blood pressure(DBP)between summer and winter were 3.5 mm Hg and 2.75 mm Hg, respectively. After adjusting for individual characteristics, meteorological factors and air pollutants, a significant increase in SBP and DBP was observed for lag 06 day and lag 04 day, a 0.28 mm Hg(95% CI: 0.27–0.30) per 1 °C decrease in average temperature for SBP and a 0.16 mm Hg(95% CI: 0.15–0.17) per 1 °C decrease in average temperature for DBP, respectively. The effects of the average temperature on both SBP and DBP were stronger in summer than in other seasons. The effects of the average temperature on BP were also greater if individuals were older, male, overweight or obese, a smoker or drinker, or had cardiovascular diseases(CVDs), hypertension, and diabetes.Conclusions This study demonstrated a significant negative association between outdoor temperature and BP in a high-altitude environment of northwest China. Moreover, BP showed a significant seasonal variation. The association between BP and temperature differed by season and individuals' demographic characteristics(age, gender, BMI), unhealthy behaviors(smoking and alcohol consumption), and chronic disease status(CVDs, hypertension, and diabetes).

Influence of Surrounding Structures upon the Aerodynamic and Acoustic Performance of the Outdoor Unit of a Split Air-Conditioner

DC-inverter split air-conditioner is widely used in Chinese homes as a result of its high-efficiency and energy-saving. Recently, the researches on its outdoor unit have focused on the influence of surrounding structures upon the aerodynamic and acoustic performance, however they are only limited to the influence of a few parameters on the performance, and practical design of the unit requires more detailed parametric analysis. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics（CFD） and computational aerodynamic acoustics（CAA） simulation based on FLUENT solver is used to study the influence of surrounding structures upon the aforementioned properties of the unit. The flow rate and sound pressure level are predicted for different rotating speed, and agree well with the experimental results. The parametric influence of three main surrounding structures（i.e. the heat sink, the bell-mouth type shroud and the outlet grille） upon the aerodynamic performance of the unit is analyzed thoroughly. The results demonstrate that the tip vortex plays a major role in the flow fields near the blade tip and has a great effect on the flow field of the unit. The inlet ring＇s size and throat＇s depth of the bell-mouth type shroud, and the through-flow area and configuration of upwind and downwind sections of the outlet grille are the most important factors that affect the aerodynamic performance of the unit. Furthermore, two improved schemes against the existing prototype of the unit are developed, which both can significantly increase the flow rate more than 6 %（i.e. 100 m3·h～（-1）） at given rotating speeds. The inevitable increase of flow noise level when flow rate is increased and the advantage of keeping a lower rotating speed are also discussed. The presented work could be a useful guideline in designing the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of the split air-conditioner in engineering practice.

Who is at risk in the French mountains? Profiles of the accident victims in outdoor sports and mountain recreation

The risk of both severe and frequent injury associated with active pursuits in mountain areas is acknowledged. This phenomenon is all the most relevant to investigate in France that there is a growing enthusiasm for outdoor sports and recreation. This paper focuses on the social-demographic and sporting profiles of accident victims. Our intent is to better understand who is specifically at risk, while practicing mountain recreation, in the French mountains. Such identification doubtlessly constitutes an important asset in order to enhance prevention. Three critical activities are notably tackled, among some others: hiking, a widespread activity that exposes many practitioners to hazardous settings; mountaineering and ski touring, supposedly entailing the most severe injuries.In order to align the information collected, then provide estimations based on the reasoned crossing of these secondary data, we consulted and summarised all the databases that we knew of on the French territory: rescue team intervention reports, aggregated statistics from the sports ministry, sporting federation accident declarations, avalanche experts statistics, mountain guides union accident/incident reports, healthcare facilities admissions, etc. Only the sources consideredto be the most reliable and representative were used, owing to the number of cases processed, the exhaustive nature of data collection, or the level of information detail available. Our method also included consultation of all the parties playing an active role in prevention, training and mountain rescue, thus ensuring a participative, co-constructive approach to the study with the people that have the best knowledge of victim profiles. Around fifty such parties were interviewed on the methods implemented, the benefits and limits of current data, and the main expectations in terms of accidentology progress, thus further enhancing the credibility of the study proposed in this paper. Our results show that the parent population profiles(in terms of age, gender, place of residence, etc.), weighted by the level of exposure(frequency of participation, level of engagement, etc.) appears to have an impact on the accident victim profiles. There is certainly a very marked gender bias and a serious age impact to be taken into account, as well as the influence of the level of experience, which counter certain preconceived ideas and which, at the very least, go against instinct. However, aside from a probable over-exposure of experienced or expert participants, much remains to be explained concerning the accident mechanisms and circumstances involved. At this stage, we regret the analytic deficiencies induced by a lack ofknowledge concerning the parent populations in many cases, which makes interpretation difficult.

Quantitative Analysis of the Outdoor Thermal Comfort in the Hot and Humid Summertime of Shenzhen, China

Outdoor thermal comfort has always been a major issue due to its irreplaceable role in maintaining good health and energy use. Thus,quantitative analysis of outdoor thermal comfort and discussions on influential factors seem very necessary to achieve the climate-conscious urban design. Therefore,an outdoor thermal comfort questionnaire survey and the simultaneous field measurement were conducted in six different places during the hot and humid summertime in Shenzhen. The results show that the overall weather conditions during the investigation can be expressed with high temperature and high humidity with strong solar radiation. The micro-meteorological parameters of six test sites vary greatly due to their different regional spatial layouts.Moderate range of air temperature( Ta) is between 28 to 30 ℃ while that of relative humidity( RH) mainly concentrates in 60%-70% with the thermal sensation votes. The main influential factors impacting outdoor thermal comfort are obtained and Tahas the greatest effect. The overall thermal comfortable ranges in Shenzhen are expressed by the range of 28. 14-32. 83 ℃ of PET and 24. 74-30. 45 ℃ of SET*. With the correlation analysis between the characteristic parameters of regional spatial layout and thermal climate and thermal comfort,it reveals that increasing the coverage ratio of water and green space( S) helps lower Taand increase RH. The global solar radiation( G) has a significant negative correlation with the height of buildings( H) and a positive correlation with sky view factor( SVF). Overall,reasonable configuration of the regional spatial layout contributes to providing a thermal comfortable environment.

Renovation of Outdoor Environment in Old Residential Communities Suitable for the Elderly against the Background of Population Aging

More old residential communities have become unsuitable for the elderly because of the aging of outdoor physical environment and functional degradation. This paper investigated behaviors and mental activities of the elderly, problems of outdoor environment in old residential communities, and proposed strategies for the renovation of old residential communities from the perspectives of outdoor environment, road, greening and public supporting facilities according to demands of the elderly on outdoor environment, so as to provide them a comfortable and reasonable outdoor environment.

Indoor and outdoor BTX levels in Barcelona City metropolitan area and Catalan rural areas

Five aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, and three isomeric xylenes) were monitored in indoor and outdoor air of 7 public buildings and 54 private homes, located in Barcelona City metropolitan area and in several rural areas of Catalonia. The sampling was carried out over four periods: spring-summer and winter of 2000, and summer and winter of 2001. Passive ORSA 5 Dra¨ger samplers were used for benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX) adsorption. BTX were extracted with carbon disulphide and analysed using ...