Eating behavior and physical activity of senior citizens during the COVID-19 lockdown

A new coronavirus has arisen, causing a pandemic of serious respiratory syndrome in humans. The COVID-19 pandemic has a major effect on human health, resulting in abrupt lifestyle changes, social distances and loneliness at home. The goal of this study was to examine the immediate effect of the pandemic on eating behavior and physical activity among the elderly population aged 60 years and older. Data on the features of the senior citizens' profile, eating habits and physical activity during the lock-up were evaluated and analyzed in this report. In addition, the correlation, key and interaction effects of some of the essential variables in the analysis were also evaluated. The findings of the study revealed a need to promote eating habits that may help to minimize the health inequalities created by eating disorders. Moreover, the synergies between the various determinants of eating habits were found to be deficient. Home restrictions and confinement of the participants also reduced the overall physical activty level of the participants. Income class appeared as a factor on the interaction between eating behavior and physical activity. Recognizing these findings may be significant in developing health promotion programs for older people during the remaining period of quarantine or future ones. There is a need for health education as a response scheme to COVID-19 in low-income settings, and it is essential that approaches are contextually suitable with the vulnerable age group

Methodology for Analysis of Diet Grit Size on Molar Attrition for Fourche Maline and Caddo People

Using the Murphy (1959) system for scoring the degree of dentin exposure, Fourche Maline (Woodland) molars show a greater attrition rate than Caddo (Mississippian) molars. Archeological evidence suggests that this differential in attrition rates is caused by the use of stone grinders for food preparation in the Fourche Maline culture and their absence among the Caddo. Analysis of scratches on the occlusal surface of molars from these samples confirms this hypothesis. Several techniques for observing these scratches and reconstructing the grit sizes and grit particle frequencies responsible for this differential abrasion are evaluated

Editorial: Habitat and distribution models of marine and estuarine species: Advances for a sustainable future

The physical and biological characterization of suitable habitats and species-specific models to estimate their extent are valuable for conservation and fisheries management. As exploited species and habitats face challenges from anthropogenic influences, such as fishing and climate change, the identification and protection of habitats becomes increasingly important. Most of the papers within this special topic issue used some form of species distribution model (SDM) to identify habitats used by fishes (Asch et al.; Crear et al.; Fabrizio et al.; Freidland et al.; Zydlewski et al.), marine mammals (Astarloa et al.), nearshore invertebrates (Cristiani et al.; Behan et al.), or deep-sea communities (Bowden et al.; Saunders et al.). A few papers focused on developing methods to better describe habitats (Griffin et al.; Henderson et al.; Cecino et al.), while other papers investigated model performance and incorporation of new statistical methods to improve model accuracy (Asch et al.; Behan et al.; Bowden et al.). Below we provide a synthesis of these papers under the topics of data sources used for analyses, statistical methods, stationarity and model performance, connectivity, and management implications; weconclude with a consideration of opportunities for advancing this field of stud

Effects of anthropogenic disturbance on forest birds and butterflies in the Philippines

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Dynamic L-type CaV1.2 channel trafficking facilitates CaV1.2 clustering and cooperative gating.

L-type CaV1.2 channels are key regulators of gene expression, cell excitability and muscle contraction. CaV1.2 channels organize in clusters throughout the plasma membrane. This channel organization has been suggested to contribute to the concerted activation of adjacent CaV1.2 channels (e.g. cooperative gating). Here, we tested the hypothesis that dynamic intracellular and perimembrane trafficking of CaV1.2 channels is critical for formation and dissolution of functional channel clusters mediating cooperative gating. We found that CaV1.2 moves in vesicular structures of circular and tubular shape with diverse intracellular and submembrane trafficking patterns. Both microtubules and actin filaments are required for dynamic movement of CaV1.2 vesicles. These vesicles undergo constitutive homotypic fusion and fission events that sustain CaV1.2 clustering, channel activity and cooperative gating. Our study suggests that CaV1.2 clusters and activity can be modulated by diverse and unique intracellular and perimembrane vesicular dynamics to fine-tune Ca2+ signals

Evanescent-wave coupled right angled buried waveguide: Applications in carbon nanotube mode-locking

In this paper we present a simple but powerful subgraph sampling primitive that is applicable in a variety of computational models including dynamic graph streams (where the input graph is defined by a sequence of edge/hyperedge insertions and deletions) and distributed systems such as MapReduce. In the case of dynamic graph streams, we use this primitive to prove the following results: -- Matching: First, there exists an $\tilde{O}(k^2)$ space algorithm that returns an exact maximum matching on the assumption the cardinality is at most $k$. The best previous algorithm used $\tilde{O}(kn)$ space where $n$ is the number of vertices in the graph and we prove our result is optimal up to logarithmic factors. Our algorithm has $\tilde{O}(1)$ update time. Second, there exists an $\tilde{O}(n^2/\alpha^3)$ space algorithm that returns an $\alpha$-approximation for matchings of arbitrary size. (Assadi et al. (2015) showed that this was optimal and independently and concurrently established the same upper bound.) We generalize both results for weighted matching. Third, there exists an $\tilde{O}(n^{4/5})$ space algorithm that returns a constant approximation in graphs with bounded arboricity. -- Vertex Cover and Hitting Set: There exists an $\tilde{O}(k^d)$ space algorithm that solves the minimum hitting set problem where $d$ is the cardinality of the input sets and $k$ is an upper bound on the size of the minimum hitting set. We prove this is optimal up to logarithmic factors. Our algorithm has $\tilde{O}(1)$ update time. The case $d=2$ corresponds to minimum vertex cover. Finally, we consider a larger family of parameterized problems (including $b$-matching, disjoint paths, vertex coloring among others) for which our subgraph sampling primitive yields fast, small-space dynamic graph stream algorithms. We then show lower bounds for natural problems outside this family

Earliest Eocene mammalian fauna from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum at Sand Creek Divide, southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89881/1/Papers On Paleontology 36 02-15-2012.pd

Teaching Competency in the Digital Era in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines

This study investigated the challenges of teaching in the digital environment and identified digital competency among lecturers in higher learning institutions in the digital era. The survey was carried out from April to September 2022 with 155 valid responses among 200 lecturers, 77.5% response rate from private and public higher learning institutions from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. PLS-SEM was used to analyse the survey results and hypothesis testing was conducted through bootstrapping. Among the seven hypotheses proposed, six were accepted and one was rejected, which was the development of digital learning resources towards competency teaching in the digital era. Keywords: teaching competency, digital era, higher learning institutions, PLS-SEM eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI

Teaching Competency in the Digital Era in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines

This study investigated the challenges of teaching in the digital environment and identified digital competency among lecturers in higher learning institutions in the digital era. The survey was carried out from April to September 2022 with 155 valid responses among 200 lecturers, 77.5% response rate from private and public higher learning institutions from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. PLS-SEM was used to analyse the survey results and hypothesis testing was conducted through bootstrapping. Among the seven hypotheses proposed, six were accepted and one was rejected, which was the development of digital learning resources towards competency teaching in the digital era

Imaging in thick samples, a phased Monte Carlo radiation transfer algorithm

This work was supported by the EPSRC (Grant No. EP/K503162/1).Significance : Optical microscopy is characterized by the ability to get high resolution, below 1  μm, high contrast, functional and quantitative images. The use of shaped illumination, such as with lightsheet microscopy, has led to greater three-dimensional isotropic resolution with low phototoxicity. However, in most complex samples and tissues, optical imaging is limited by scattering. Many solutions to this issue have been proposed, from using passive approaches such as Bessel beam illumination to active methods incorporating aberration correction, but making fair comparisons between different approaches has proven to be challenging. Aim : We present a phase-encoded Monte Carlo radiation transfer algorithm (φMC) capable of comparing the merits of different illumination strategies or predicting the performance of an individual approach. Approach : We show that φMC is capable of modeling interference phenomena such as Gaussian or Bessel beams and compare the model with experiment. Results : Using this verified model, we show that, for a sample with homogeneously distributed scatterers, there is no inherent advantage to illuminating a sample with a conical wave (Bessel beam) instead of a spherical wave (Gaussian beam), except for maintaining a greater depth of focus. Conclusion : φMC is adaptable to any illumination geometry, sample property, or beam type (such as fractal or layered scatterer distribution) and as such provides a powerful predictive tool for optical imaging in thick samples.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe