Towards model checking product lines in the digital humanities: an application to historical data

Rapid development in computing techniques and databases’ systems have aided in the digitization of, and access to, various historical (big) data, with significant challenges of analysis and interoperability. The Death and Burial Data, Ireland project aims to build a Big Data interoperability framework loosely based on the Knowledge Discovery Data (KDD) process to integrate Civil Registration of Death data with other data types collated in Ireland from 1864 to 1922. For our project, we resort to a Document Type Description (DTD) product line to represent and manage various representations and enrichments of the data. Well-formed documents serve as contracts between a provider (of the data set) and its customers (the researchers that consult them). We adopt the Context-Free Modal Transition Systems as a formalism to specify product lines of DTDs. The goal is to then proceed to product line verification using context-free model checking techniques, specifically the M3C checker of [14] to ensure that they are fit for purpose. The goal is to later implement and manage the corresponding family of data models and processes in the DIME framework, leveraging its flexible data management layer to define and efficiently manage the interoperable historical data framework for future use. The resulting hierarchical product line verification will allow our technical platform to act as a high-quality service provider for digital humanities researchers, providing them with a wide range of tailored applications implementing the KDD process, whose essential business rules are easily checked by a standard DTD checker

Influence of COVID-19 on lifestyle behaviors in the Middle East and North Africa Region: a survey of 5896 individuals

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has affected health and lifestyle behaviors of people globally. This project aims to identify the impact of COVID-19 on lifestyle behavior of individuals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during confinement. Methods: We conducted an online survey in 17 countries (Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Iraq, and Sudan) from the MENA region on August and September 2020. The questionnaire included self-reported information on lifestyle behaviors, including physical activity, eating habits, smoking, watching television, social media use and sleep before and during the pandemic. Logistic regression was performed to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on lifestyle behaviors. Results: A total of 5896 participants were included in the final analysis and 62.8% were females. The BMI of the participants was 25.4 ± 5.8 kg/m2. Around 38.4% of the participants stopped practicing any physical activities during the confinement (P < 0.001), and 57.1% reported spending more than 2 h on social media (P < 0.001). There were no significant changes in smoking habits. Also, 30.9% reported an improvement in their eating habits compared with 24.8% reported worsening of their eating habits. Fast-food consumption decreased significantly in 48.8% of the study population. This direct/indirect exposure to COVID-19 was associated with an increased consumption of carbohydrates (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.02–1.17; P = 0.01), egg (OR = 1.08; 95% CI = 1.02–1.16; P = 0.01), sugar (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.02–1.16; P = 0.02), meat, and poultry (OR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.06–1.20; P < 0.01). There was also associated increase in hours spent on watching television (OR = 1.07; 95% CI = 1.02–1.12; P < 0.01) and social media (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.01–1.18; P = 0.03). However, our results showed a reduction in sleeping hours among those exposed to COVID-19 infection (OR = 0.85; 95% CI = 0.77–0.94; P < 0.01). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an increase in food consumption and sedentary life. Being exposed to COVID-19 by direct infection or through an infected household is a significant predictor of amplifying these changes. Public health interventions are needed to address healthy lifestyle behaviors during and after the COVID-19 pandemic