Western Fires are Burning Higher in the Mountains at Unprecedented Rates: It’s a Clear Sign of Climate Change

The Western U.S. appears headed for another dangerous fire season, and a new study shows that even high mountain areas once considered too wet to burn are at increasing risk as the climate warms. Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. West is in severe to exceptional drought right now, including large parts of the Rocky Mountains, Cascades and Sierra Nevada. The situation is so severe that the Colorado River basin is on the verge of its first official water shortage declaration, and forecasts suggest another hot, dry summer is on the way. Warm and dry conditions like these are a recipe for wildfire disaster

Evaluation of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) in identifying active females who are prone to injury

Background: The validity of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) in identifying active females who are predisposed to injury has not been specifically reviewed. This study aims to synthesize the literature on the ability of the FMS to identify at-risk active females. Methods: Six online databases, including PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, Science Direct, SPORTDiscus and Google Scholar, were searched for the period of April 2006 to September 2021. Out of the 61 potential references, 17 were reviewed in detail with respect to the inclusion criteria; ten were ultimately included. The risk of bias, applicability and level of the studies were then identified using the QUADAS-2 and a checklist for assessing methodological quality. The following data were obtained from the included studies: year of publication, title, study type, participants’ demographic, sample size, FMS cutoff point, injury definition, statistical analyses used, FMS results and study level. Results: Generally, the quality of eight studies was poor to moderate due to both small sample sizes and short follow-up periods. Except for a study on military members, all studies were carried out on team sports players. The overall bias of the studies was low, but there was an unclear amount of bias for participant selection. Two studies reported no predictive validity for the FMS, while three defended its predictive validity; the rest partially supported the FMS as a valid diagnostic tool. The reliability of the recommended cutoff point was confirmed, though cutoffs higher than 14 were significantly associated with the predictive ability of the FMS. Conclusion: Although the FMS is reliable for clinical practice, and the current literature shows promise regarding the predictive ability of the FMS among active females, concerns remain regarding its validity in identifying at-risk females. Given the lack of clarity in the literature on the use of the FMS in females, further well-organized studies with larger sample sizes and longer monitoring periods are highly recommended. The sensitivity and specificity of the recommended cutoff of ≤ 14 has considerably decreased , and higher cutoff values should be applied to increase the FMS predictive ability. Level of evidence: The level of evidence was determined to be 2b

Effects of the FIFA 11+ and a modified warm-up programme on injury prevention and performance improvement among youth male football players

Introduction The effects of the FIFA11+ programme (the 11+) on ankle and groin injuries and performance have remained questionable. The latter, particularly, has potentially reduced the implementation rate and applicability of the programme. This study aimed to evaluate the mid-to-long-term effects of the 11+ and a modified programme including football-specific exercises on injury prevention and performance improvement. Materials and methods Three teams of the Iranian Youth League (division two) volunteered to participate in this study and were randomly assigned to two intervention groups (F11+; n = 29, M11+; n = 31) and a control group (n = 30). The F11+ followed the FIFA 11+ programme, whereas the M11+ performed modified exercises three times weekly as a warm-up protocol before training and competition through a football season. The control group carried out its routine warm-ups, including joggings, basic football drills, and static stretches, while having no injury prevention approaches. Lower extremity injuries, as well as exposure time for each player, were recorded. The football-specific performance was assessed using the Illinois Agility and Slalom Dribbling tests. ANOVA, Fisher Freeman Halton, and chi-square tests were used to analyze the data. Results Injury incidences differed significantly between groups (p = 0.02, C = 0.40), with M11+ reporting the lowest incidence. Significant differences between the pre- and posttest as well as differences between the groups for development over time were revealed for the Illinois agility and dribbling speed (p≤0.01). Both performance tests demonstrated a large time effect, as the effect sizes for time in agility and dribbling speed were 0.74 (CI = [0.66; 0.79]) and 0.86 (CI = [0.79; 0.87]), respectively. The effect size for the interaction can be categorized as medium, with 0.38 (CI = [0.25; 0.49]) for agility and 0.52 (CI = [0.40; 0.61]) for dribbling speed. M11+ showed the largest improvement in both. Discussion Mid-to-long-term application of a structured dynamic warm-up that integrates injury prevention and performance approaches may lower injury incidences and improve youth subelite players’ performance. Although additional studies with larger samples are needed to prove the results of the current study, the amateur clubs/teams could integrate such twofold dynamic warm up into their routine training plan and benefit its advantages on injury prevention and performance improvement

Thrombocytopenia as a Marker of Patient Outcome in Medical Intensive Care Unit

Introduction: Thrombocytopenia is a common hematologic disorder observed in many pathological conditions in critically ill patients. The current study aimed at investigating the prevalence of thrombocytopenia and its relationship with the length of stay and mortality among intensive care unit (ICU) patients.Methods: The current prospective cohort study enrolled 150 patients consecutively admitted to the medical ICU during a nine-month period. Patients’ baseline characteristics and underlying diseases were recorded. Laboratory findings and admission mean platelets and platelet counts on the 3rd day of admission were obtained. Patients were divided into thrombocytopenic (platelet count of less than 150×109/L or decrease of platelet to more than 50%) and non-thrombocytopenic groups according to the 3rd day platelet count.Results: Thrombocytopenia was detected in 53(35%) patients while 13 patients (8.6%) had severe thrombocytopenia (platelets count < 50 × 109/L). ICU stay and mortality were significantly higher in patients with thrombocytopenia compared with non-thrombocytopenic patients (16 ± 2.7 vs 12 ± 2.4 days, P = 0.01) and (45.5% vs 37.3%, P = 00.1) respectively.Conclusions: Platelet might be considered as a prognosis monitor in ICU settings. Severe thrombocytopenia could be mentioned as a poor prognostic factor for increased mortality and prolonged hospitalization period in ICU patients

Determination of Sustainable Tourism Development Strategies in Coastal Areas with Emphasis on Nature-based Tourism, Coastal Area of Bandar Mogham to Bandar Hasineh in Hormozgan Province

Nature-based tourism as one of the types of tourism can play an important role in the sustainable development of regions and also have important effects on improving the physical and mental health of tourists. Bandar Lengeh County has several natural capacities such as unique sandy, rocky and coral beaches, numerous islands, salt domes and unique mountain landscapes that indicate the proper capacity of this county for the development of nature-based tourism. However, it's potential and actual capacities have not yet been used effectively. The aim of this study is to determine the strategies for the development of sustainable tourism with an emphasis on nature-based tourism in the western region of Bandar Lengeh County. For this purpose, first, the internal factors (strength and weakness) and external (opportunity and threat) were determined using SWOT technique and the opinion of experts and then based on them, the strategies for developing nature-based tourism in the region have been identified, Finally, the strategies were ranked using the quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) technique. The results show that strategies such as providing nature-based tourism equipment and facilities on the region's coasts, providing equipment for water sports and recreation on the region's coasts, and guiding tourists from Fars province, Kish island and the Persian Gulf countries to the region are more important in order than other strategies. The findings of this study can be considered by managers, decision-makers and planners in order to plan and develop nature-based tourism and subsequently achieve sustainable development in this region

A Review on Application of Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Microgrids

A microgrid can be formed by the integration of different components such as loads, renewable/conventional units, and energy storage systems in a local area. Microgrids with the advantages of being flexible, environmentally friendly, and self-sufficient can improve the power system performance metrics such as resiliency and reliability. However, design and implementation of microgrids are always faced with different challenges considering the uncertainties associated with loads and renewable energy resources (RERs), sudden load variations, energy management of several energy resources, etc. Therefore, it is required to employ such rapid and accurate methods, as artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, to address these challenges and improve the MG's efficiency, stability, security, and reliability. Utilization of AI helps to develop systems as intelligent as humans to learn, decide, and solve problems. This paper presents a review on different applications of AI-based techniques in microgrids such as energy management, load and generation forecasting, protection, power electronics control, and cyber security. Different AI tasks such as regression and classification in microgrids are discussed using methods including machine learning, artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic, support vector machines, etc. The advantages, limitation, and future trends of AI applications in microgrids are discussed.©2022 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Feasibility of Implementing Multi-factor Authentication Schemes in Mobile Cloud Computing

Abstract-Mobile cloud computing is a new computing technology, which provides on-demand resources. Nowadays, this computing paradigm is becoming one the most interesting technology for IT enterprises. The idea of computing and offloading data in cloud computing is utilized to overcome the inherent challenges in mobile computing. This is carried out by utilizing other resource providers besides the mobile device to host the delivery of mobile applications. However, this technology introduces some opportunities as new computing concept, several challenges, including security and privacy are raised from the adoption of this IT paradigm. Authentication plays an important role to mitigate security and privacy issue in the mobile cloud computing. Even some authentication algorithms are proposed for mobile cloud computing, but most of these algorithms designed for traditional computing models, and are not using cloud capabilities. In mobile cloud computing, we access to pooled computation resources and applying more complicated authentication schemes is possible. Using different authentication factors, which is called multifactor authentication algorithms, has been proposed for various areas. In this paper, feasibility of implementation of different kinds of multi-factor authentication protocols are discussed. Furthermore, the security and privacy of these algorithms are analyzed. Finally, some future directions are recommended

Electromyography of scapular stabilizers in people without scapular dyskinesis during push-ups

Background: Push-up (PU) is widely considered an effective exercise to stabilize the scapular, especially if performed on unstable surfaces. However, available studies cover a wide range of exercise variations and differ according to exercise prescription, muscle selection and study design. Therefore, findings are contradictory, and conclusions for a proper application of the PU are difficult to draw. Objective: To synthesize the available literature on the changes in the activity of the periscapular muscles in individuals without scapular dyskinesis while performing different types of PU on unstable surfaces. Search procedure: Four online databases were searched from the earliest publications to 9 August 2023, using predefined keywords. Out of the 2,850 potential references identified in the primary search, 92 studies were reviewed in detail, of which 38 met the inclusion criteria and were included. Methodological quality was evaluated using a standardized form based on the Newcastle‒Ottawa scale for observational studies. Data combination was performed using CMA (v3), and the random-effects model was used to calculate the standardized mean difference (SMD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: The use of unstable surfaces in people without scapular dyskinesis led to increased activity of the upper trapezius during the PU (p = 0.017; I2 = 84.95%; SMD = 0.425 [95% CI 0.077, 0.773]) and knee PU (p = 0.023; I2 = 70.23%; SMD = 0.474 [95% CI 0.066, 0.882]) exercises and increased activity of the middle trapezius (MT) (p = 0.003; I2 = 64.50%; SMD = 0.672 [95% CI 0.225, 1.119]) and serratus anterior (SA) (p = 0.039; I2 = 4.25%; SMD = 0.216 [95% CI 0.011, 0.420]) muscles during the push-up plus (PUP) exercise. Conclusion: Using an unstable support base during PU does not necessarily increase the activity of all scapular stabilizers. The amount of muscle activity depends on the type of PU other than the type of support base. If an unstable surface is used, PUP exercise appears to be the most effective modality to increase the quality of training, improve performance, and prevent the occurrence of scapular dyskinesis due to the increase in the activity of the MT and SA muscles