A Scale of Parental Anxiety about Pediatric Emergency Medical Care Services of Japan: Development, Reliability, Validity, Generalizability and Usefulness

Aim: The purpose of this study was to develop a scale, “parental anxiety about pediatric emergency medical care services” (PAPEMCS), and to evaluate its psychometric properties. Methods: Participants were 14,510 parents with children 6 years old or younger in Kagawa Prefecture. Using each half of the participants, exploratory factor analysis was performed to generate items and factors for the PAPEMCS, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to establish the construct validity. The generalizability of the PAPEMCS was evaluated by congruence tests and multigroup CFA. The usefulness of the PAPEMCS was established by the relationship between the PAPEMCS and non-urgent usage of pediatric emergency medical care services (PEMCS). Results: The PAPEMCS compromised 4 factors: “anxiety about quality of PEMCS”, “anxiety about PEMCS system”, “anxiety about public support”, and “anxiety about private support”. All reliability estimates (polychoric ordinal alpha coefficients, item-rest correlations), the item discrimination, 5 fit indices for CFA, the convergent validity (indicator reliabilities, composite reliabilities, average variance extracteds), and the discriminant validity fulfilled the acceptability thresholds. All generalizability estimates fulfilled the predetermined levels of acceptability (Tucker’s congruence coefficients, congruence tests, strict factorial invariance). The usefulness of the PAPEMCS was established by the higher scores of the PAPEMCS being related to non-urgent usage of PEMCS. Conclusions: The PAPEMCS demonstrated satisfactory reliability, validity, generalizability and usefulness. The PAPEMCS is useful to quantify the contents and extent of parental anxiety about PEMCS, and to clarify the mechanisms of non-urgent PEMCS usage.

Time usage analysis and satisfaction comparison by occupational area according to the sex of single-parent families

BACKGROUND Single-parent families are burdened with dual roles as parents amidst economic poverty due to the lack of a spouse.Single parents also face the complications of time poverty.AIM To examine the time use of single-parent families by dividing their time into occupational area and explore the differences in time deficiency and life satisfaction.METHODS In this study,the time usage in the‘2019 time of life survey’data of the National Statistical Office is classified based on the fourth edition of the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework,and the time use and satisfaction of single-parent families classified according to sex.In the‘2019 time of life survey’of the National Statistical Office,the subjects who selected single-parent families in the‘single parent-parent-grandchild households’item were first selected.The data of 404 parents from single-parent families were selected next.The time usage,time deficiency,and life satisfaction were analyzed by occupational area.RESULTS The subjects spent the most time resting and sleeping,followed by engaging in instrumental activities of daily living(IADLs),work,and health management.As a result of comparing the subjects by sex,it was found that the male subjects spent more time on work than the female subjects,and the female subjects spent more time on IADLs,education and social participation.As a result of comparing time deficiency and life satisfaction,the male subjects felt that they lacked time compared to the female subjects.There was no significant difference in life satisfaction.By examining whether single-parent families'time use by occupa tional area affected the time deficiency,it was found that male's working time make them feel they have less time,while female's leisure time makes them feel they have more time.CONCLUSION This study made it possible to determine the characteristics of single-parent households’time use and sex differences.Furthermore,it is expected to be used as basic data for measures to solve not only time poverty,but also economic poverty in single-parent families.

Progress of Scale Effects in Land Use

The concepts of scale and scale effect in land use were introduced in this study,and the relationship between scale effect and land use was also discussed,which showed the deficiency in present studies and the trend of further studies.

Sustainable Intensification of Cultivated Land Use and Its Influencing Factors at the Farming Household Scale: A Case Study of Shandong Province, China

Promoting the sustainable intensification of cultivated land use(SICL) has become crucial for ensuring a sufficient supply of grain and important agricultural products, as well as for the sustainable use of resources. Taking widely used areas of Shandong Province in China as examples, an analytical scale and level framework for SICL is constructed in this study. It measures the level of SICL through material flow analysis, constructs Tobit models to analyze the influencing factors of SICL at the farming household scale,and analyzes the transition mechanisms of SICL. The results show that the overall level of SICL in Shandong Province is low, and the spatial distribution is uneven. There are relatively more farmers participating in unsustainable intensification than in medium or low levels of SICL, with farmers working at a high level of SICL making up the smallest proportion. The factors that determine the level of SICL at which farmers work vary significantly. More male farmers operate at a low SICL level than female farmers, while females outnumber males at a high SICL level. This is mainly related to the regional distribution of age and population. Meanwhile, with larger cultivated land areas, there is a lower degree of land fragmentation, with a higher level of SICL corresponding to a smaller distance to the nearest town closer within 1–5 km from the town center. We can see the level of SICL and its processes themselves are closely related to time and space scales. Based on the above analysis, it is necessary to clarify the standard processes of SICL to adapt them to local conditions. This includes instructing managers on how to improve resource utilization, increase the sustainable development of cultivated land and establish a comprehensively efficient and functional SICL mechanism. The sustainable intensification of cultivated land use and its specific application in the new era are conducive to enriching the frontier theories and methodology of sustainable development, and are of great significance to the advancement of green agriculture and the decision-making of rural high-quality development.

AN INSIGHT ON DRIVERS OF LAND USE CHANGE AT REGIONAL SCALE

The studies of driving forces of regional land use change (LUC) are to reveal the real motivation behind the LUC and its interacting mechanism, so as to simulate and predict the process of LUC. Presently, studies rooting from different natural and socio-economic backgrounds and from different scales have deepened the people’s understanding and cognition to driving forces of regional LUC. Biophysical driving forces are relatively stable, and have the cumulating effects. Human driving forces are relatively active, and are main driving forces of short-term regional LUC. Existing regional LUC models can answer the three main problems: which contribution (why), which location (where) and what rate (when). But, regional land use system is defined as the self-organized system, usually affected by the cri- tical value area and sudden change, and controlled by different stages. To reduce the impact of critical threshold and break on land use system, the studies of LUC driving forces will aim at following priority areas: data linkage between remote sensing and no-remote sensing data; underlying driving force identification; driving factor quantification; driving factor scale dependence; and driving process integration simulation.

A method for choice of optimum scale on land use monitoring in Tarim River Basin

Optimal scale is one of the important issues in ecology and geography.Based on land-use data of the Tarim River Basin in Xinjiang of China in the 1950s,regarding the area of land use types as the parameter in scale selecting,the histograms of the patches in area are charted.Then,by reinforcing the normalized scale variances(NSV) with 3 landscape indi-ces,the scale characteristics of land use in the Tarim River Basin can be summarized.(1) NSV in the Tarim River up to a maximum at scale of 1:50,000 which is considered appropriate for the Tarim River.(2) Diversity indices of saline land are consistent with NSV's.Diversity indices and NSV of sandy land showed that the appropriate scale is in the same scale domain.There is a significant difference between diversity indices and NSV of forestland and shrub-land.(3) Fractal dimension of sandy land and saline land showed a hierarchical structure at a scale of 1:10,000.Fractal dimension of forestland and shrubland are distributed under the same hierarchical structure in the region.

Effects of Finer Scale Soil Survey and Land-Use Classification on SWAT Hydrological Modelling Accuracy in Data-Poor Study Areas

The limited availability of high-quality spatial data often limits the development of hydrological modelling in developing countries. Hydrological models with data at different scales may generate large uncertainties in modelling outputs. This study analysed the accuracy of four SWAT built models that combine soil and land use/land cover (LULC) data at the scale of 1:250,000 and 1:100,000 in a basin of Mexico. SWAT model allowed determining that large-scale maps produced better results than data from small-scale. Sensitivity analysis with different soil data was less than LULC data. However, the small-scale can be used for exploratory purposes when testing SWAT performance.

Investigating the Impact of Familiarity and Product Conditions on The Ease of Use of a Product

Ease of use is one of the main criteria that customers consider when making a purchase decision.To provide a pleasant experience to the customers,offering products or services consisting of advanced features and functions is no longer enough,due to the existing competition in the global market.In reality,the ease of use of any product is influenced by the conditions of the product and the familiarity of the user.This study examines the influence of the familiarity and the product conditions on the ease of use of a product.This only explains how the conditions of the product and the familiarity of the user,influence on the ease of use of a product when the usage hours of a product increases.A case study would be conducted to validate the results.The results of this study indicate that in the case where both the product conditions and the familiarity has been varied,the ease of use of the product has been increased from 0.229 to 0.380 gradually within the 10 weeks period.Through these results valuable guidance could be obtained by the manufacturers to identify how the ease of use level of a product deviates from the standard level when the usage hours of the product would increase.

Factors Affecting DMO’s Website Use Intention, and Visiting Intention: A SEM Model on the Impact of E-Destination Image and DMO’s Website Design

The aim of this study is to identify and analyze ways to increase usage of destination website and motivate website visitors’intention to actually visit the destination.The sample population is South Koreans who visit the VisitBritain website,the homepage of Britain’s national tourism agency.The data for this study were collected by a self-participated online survey on the blog of VisitBritain Korea,which is directly linked to the VisitBritain Korea website.Using structural equation modeling,six hypotheses were tested.The results show that the destination image on the destination marketing organization(DMO)website,quality of the destination website design including three dimensions(information quality,system quality,and service quality),and customers’satisfaction formed by high quality of the website design have a significant impact on website visitors’use intention and increase their visiting intention to the destination.Based upon the results of the analysis,managerial implications and areas for future research are proposed.

Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Soil Nitrogen Distribution under Different Land Uses in a Watershed in the Hilly Area of Purple Soil,China

Quantification of soil spatial and temporal variability at watershed scale is important in ecological modeling, precision agriculture, and natural resources management. The spatio-temporal variations of soil nitrogen under different land uses in a small watershed （12.10 km^2） in the hilly area of purple soil at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in southwestern China were investigated by using conventional statistics, geostatistics, and a geographical information system in order to provide information for land management and control of environmental issues. A total of 552 soil samples （o to 15 cm） from 276 sites within the watershed were collected in April and August of 2o11, and analyzed for soil total nitrogen （STN） and nitrate nitrogen （NO3-N）. We compared spatial variations of STN and NO3-N under different land uses as well as the temporal variations in April （dry season） and August （rainy season）. Results showed that STN contents were deeply affected by land-use types; median STN values ranged from 0.94to 1.27g.kg-I, and STN contents decreased in the following order： paddy field 〉 foresfland 〉 sloping cropland. No significant difference was found for STN contents between April and August under the same land use. However, NO3- N contents were 23.26, 10.58, and 26.19 mg·kg^-1 in April, and 1.34, 8.51, and 3.00 mg·kg^-1 in August for the paddy field, sloping cropland and forestland, respectively. Nugget ratios for STN indicatedmoderate spatial dependence in the paddy field and sloping cropland, and a strong spatial dependence in forestland. The processes of nitrogen movement, transformation, absorption of plant were deeply influenced by land use types; as a result, great changes of soil nitrogen levels at spatial and temporal scales were demonstrated in the studied watershed.

A Study of Factors Affecting the Intention to Use Mobile Payment Services in Vietnam

The goal of this paper is to spot out factors affecting the intention to use mobile payment service plan in Vietnam. This study attempts to analyze the impact of various variables extracted from mobility, convenience, compatibility, M-payment knowledge, ease to use, usefulness, risk,, trust, and safe to use on intention to use mobile payment. Quantitative questionnaire is used to measure responses of participants. The statistical analysis method employed in this study is to apply Structural Equation Modeling to test all hypotheses. The results indicate that the strong predictors of the intention to use M-payment are perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. All respondents show that they do not care about risk when they have intention to use mobile payment services. Convenience of mobility, compatibility, and mobile payment knowledge have impacts on ease to use and usefulness. Among of them, compatibility has the most significant impact o11 ease to use and usefulness in the opinion of those surveyed. Specially, it proved that trust of safe to use has no significant impact on usefulness, but instead has direct impact on intension to use mobile payment services. The outcomes of this research have important connotations for the improvement and development of mobile payment services in Vietnam. Therefore, at the end of this paper, some suggestions based on research results are given for the future development of mobile payment service business in Vietnam.

Response of CH_4 emission of paddy fields to land management practices at a microcosmic cultivation scale in China

The terrestrial ecosystem may be either a source or a sink of CH_4 in rice paddies, depending, to a great extent, on the change of ecosystem types and land use patterns. CH_4 emission fluxes from paddy fields under 4 cultivation patterns (conventional plain culture of rice(T1), no-tillage and ridge culture of rice(T2), no-tillage and ridge culture of rice and wheat (T3), and rice-wheat rotation(T4)) were measured with the closed chamber technique in 1996 and 1998 in Chongqing, China. The results showed that differences existed in CH_4 emission from paddy fields under these land management practices. In 1996 and 1998, CH_4 emission was 71 48% and 78 82%(T2), 65 93% and 57 18%(T3), and 61 53% and 34 22%(T4) of that in T1 during the rice growing season. During the non-rice growing season, CH_4 emission from rice fields was 76 23% in T2 and 38 69% in T1 The accumulated annual CH_4 emission in T2, T3 and T4 in 1996 decreased by 33 53%, 63 30% and 65 73%, respectively, as compared with that in T1 In 1998, the accumulated annual CH_4 emission in T1, T2, T3 and T4 was 116 96 g/m^2, 68 44 g/m^2, 19 70 g/m^2 and 11 80 g/m^2, respectively. Changes in soil physical and chemical properties, in thermal and moisture conditions in the soil and in rice plant growth induced by different land use patterns were the dominant causes for the difference in CH_4 emission observed. The relative contribution of various influencing factors to CH_4 emission from paddy fields differed significantly under different land use patterns. However, the general trend was that chlorophyll content in rice leaves, air temperature and temperature at the 5 cm soil layer play a major role in CH_4 emission from paddy fields and the effects of illumination, relative humidity and water layer depth in the paddy field and CH_4 concentration in the crop canopy were relatively non-significant. Such conservative land use patterns as no-tillage and ridge culture of rice with or without rotation with wheat are thought to be beneficial to reducing CH_4 emission from paddy fields and are, therefore, recommended as a significant solution to the problems of global(climatic) change.

The relationship between farm size and fertilizer use efficiency:Evidence from China

Low fertilizer use efficiency is commonly found in China’s agriculture sector. It is critical to understand the drivers of fertilizer use in order to increase fertilizer use efficiency(FUE). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between farm size and FUE based on farm-level data in China. The results suggest a positive farm size–FUE relationship. The estimated elasticities of farm size for rice, maize, wheat–maize, and rice–maize are similar, and the average elasticity of farm size is around 0.2. Statistically, a 1% increase in farm size is associated with a 0.2%increase in FUE. The positive effect of farm size on FUE is not due to the increase in yield, but the reduction in fertilizer use while keeping yield largely unchanged. The findings suggest that promoting the expansion of farm size may increase FUE, and thus reduce environmental pollution caused by fertilizer overuse.

Do large-scale farmers use more pesticides? Empirical evidence from rice farmers in five Chinese provinces

It is of great theoretical and practical significance to understand the rules of the differences in pesticide use behaviors between large-scale and small-scale farmers,so as to regulate the behavior of farmers differently and improve the quality and safety of rice.The overall pesticide use behavior of large-scale farmers was characterized by large doses and high application frequency,while that of small-scale farmers was characterized by small doses and low application frequency.The econometric test showed that(i)the proportion of staple food ration has a significant negative impact on the single dose exceeding the standard and pesticide application frequency of small-scale farmers,and the increase of the proportion of staple food ration will reduce the demand among small-scale farmers for pesticides;(ii)yield effect has a greater impact on the frequency of pesticide application by large-scale farmers,and the large yield effect will increase the frequency of pesticide application among large-scale farmers.Therefore,in pesticide use behaviors,large-scale farmers should reduce pesticide quantity and increase efficiency,while small-scale farmers improve the level of plant protection.

Alcohol and drug use disorders in adult attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder:Prevalence and associations with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptom severity and emotional dysregulation

BACKGROUND High risk of alcohol and drug use disorders in people with attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD)calls for exploratory research of relationships with clinical features of ADHD.AIM To estimate prevalence of alcohol/drug use disorders and associations with ADHD symptom severity and emotional dysregulation,in adults with ADHD.METHODS This observational cross-sectional clinical study consisted of patients admitted to a private psychiatric outpatient clinic in Oslo,Norway(2014-2018).Five-hundred and fifty-eight eligible patients diagnosed with ADHD(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,Fifth Edition(DSM-5)criteria)agreed to participate.Alcohol and drug use disorders were diagnosed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview(MINI).Dependence and abuse were merged into“use”disorder as in MINI version 7.0/DSM-5.Questions were related both to lifetime and the past 12-mo.ADHD severity was assessed by the Adult ADHD Self Report Scale(ASRS).Subdivisions of the ASRS questionnaire as inattentive items and hyperactive/impulsivity items were recorded separately.Emotional dysregulation was assessed by the eight-item version of Barkley’s Current Behavior Scale-Self Report.RESULTS The 12-mo prevalence was 5.3%for alcohol use disorder and 13.7%for drug use disorder.The lifetime prevalence was 12.0%for alcohol use disorder and 27.7%for drug use disorder.Men had higher rates of both alcohol use disorder and drug use disorder compared to women.The prevalence of drug use disorder was more than twice that of alcohol use disorder for both sexes.The drugs most participants reported having used were(in descending order):Amphetamine(19.1%),cannabis(17.1%),cocaine or ecstasy(7.4%),benzodiazepines(7.4%),and heroin or other opioids(2.9%).Lifetime drug use disorder was significantly associated with both hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms and emotional dysregulation symptom severity.Lifetime alcohol use disorder,on the other hand,was not significantly associated with ADHD symptoms or emotional dysregulation when adjusted for gender and age.CONCLUSION Patients with ADHD have a high lifetime prevalence of drug use disorder,which is associated with higher levels of hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms and emotional dysregulation.

Comparing Eight Computing Algorithms and Four Consensus Methods to Analyze Relationship between Land Use Pattern and Driving Forces

Although many computing algorithms have been developed to analyze the relationship between land use pattern and driving forces (RLPDF), little has been done to assess and reduce the uncertainty of predictions. In this study, we investigated RLPDF based on 1990, 2005 and 2012 datasets at two spatial scales using eight state-of-the-art single computing algorithms and four consensus methods in Jinjing rive catchment in Hunan Province, China. At the entire catchment scale, the mean AUC values were between 0.715 (ANN) and 0.948 (RF) for the single-algorithms, and from 0.764 to 0.962 for the consensus methods. At the subcatchment scale, the mean AUC values between 0.624 (CTA) and 0.972 (RF) for the single-algorithms, and from 0.758 to 0.979 for the consensus methods. At the subcatchment scale, the mean AUC values were between 0.624 (CTA) and 0.972 (RF) for the single-algorithms, and from 0.758 to 0.979 for the consensus methods. The result suggested that among the eight single computing algorithms, RF performed the best overall for woodland and paddy field;consensus method showed higher predictive performance for woodland and paddy field models than the single computing algorithms. We compared the simulation results of the best - and worst-performing algorithms for the entire catchment in 2012, and found that approximately 72.5% of woodland and 72.4% of paddy field had probabilities of occurrence of less than 0.1, and 3.6% of woodland and 14.5% of paddy field had probabilities of occurrence of more than 0.5. In other words, the simulation errors associated with using different computing algorithms can be up to 14.5% if a probability level of 0.5 is set as the threshold. The results of this study showed that the choice of modeling approaches can greatly affect the accuracy of RLPDF prediction. The computing algorithms for specific RLPDF tasks in specific regions have to be localized and optimized.

Forecast of the Scale of Urban Construction Land in Chongqing Municipality during the Period 2010-2014

With the rapid development of China's modern cities,the scale of urban construction land has experienced dramatic changes.The forecast of urban construction land is the important content of urban construction development,and guarantee for healthy,rapid and intensive development of cities,therefore,we must reasonably determine the scale of urban construction land.Based on the status quo of construction land in Chongqing Municipality during the period 2000-2009,this article selects GM(1,1) model,linear model and non-linear model,to forecast the scale of construction land and each type of land subordinate to it in Chongqing Municipality during the period 2010-2014,respectively.The results show that the construction land in Chongqing Municipality will increase substantially during the period 2010-2014,and the area of each type of land subordinate to construction land will also increase to varying degrees,therefore the land contradictions will become more prominent.

Evaluation of Broadleaf Tree Diversity at the Basin Scale—In Case of Artificial <i>Chamaecyparis obtusa</i>Forests

In recent years, the various functions required of forests, especially the conservation of biodiversity, have been attracting increasing attention in Japan and worldwide. In Japan, 67% of national land is covered by forest, 41% of which is artificial forest (i.e., plantations). Therefore, forest biodiversity conservation efforts should also target artificial forests. In this paper, we seek to promote sustainable forest management that considers biodiversity conservation by examining indices that can be used by forest managers to evaluate the diversity of broadleaf trees. The result was that evaluation of broadleaf tree diversity in artificial forests at a basin scale was possible by combining several types of indicators.

Preparation of GaN Powder of Nanometer Scale by MOCVD Using DEGA as Precursor

GaN powder of nanometer scale was prepared by metal organic chemical vapor deposition using diethylgallium azide as precursor. The resulting powder was characterized by XRD and TEM. It has been found that the particle size of the powder obtained is affected by the deposition temperature, and the fine crystals formed in temperature range 500 similar to 650 degrees C were hexagonal.