Role of objectively measured sedentary behaviour in physical performance,frailty and mortality among older adults: A short systematic review

Sedentary behaviour (SB) has recently emerged as an independent risk factor for different health outcomes. Older adults accumulate long time in SB. Understanding the role that SB plays on health is crucial for a successful aging. This short systematic review summarizes the current evidence related to the effects of objectively measured SB on frailty, physical performance and mortality in adults ≥60?years old. The literature search produced 271 records for physical performance (n?=?119), frailty (n?=?31), and mortality (n?=?121). Finally, only 13 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. All articles but one included in the physical performance section (n?=?9) showed a negative association between longer time spent in SB and physical performance. A significant association of SB with higher odds of frailty was found, however this association disappeared after adjusting for cognitive status. Lastly, two of the three included studies showed positive associations between SB and mortality, but this effect decreased or even disappeared in the more adjusted models. In conclusion, there is consistency that SB is negatively associated with physical performance. However, the relationship between objectively measured SB and frailty incidence and mortality rates remains unclear and deserves further research. The use of homogenous criteria to assess SB and the inclusion of more robust research designs will help clarifying the independent effects that SB could have on physical performance, frailty, and mortality. This will ultimately help designing more efficient and comprehensive physical activity guidelines for older adults.     

Perceived health problems in swimmers according to the chemical treatment of water in swimming pools

The objective of this study was to determine which chemical treatment used for disinfecting water in indoor swimming pools had the least impact on users' perceptions of health problems, and which generated the greatest satisfaction with the quality of the water. A survey on satisfaction and perceived health problems was given to 1001 users at 20 indoor swimming pools which used different water treatment methods [chlorine, bromine, ozone, ultraviolet lamps (UV) and salt electrolysis]. The findings suggest that there is a greater probability of perceived health problems, such as eye and skin irritation, respiratory problems and skin dryness, in swimming pools treated with chlorine than in swimming pools using other chemical treatment methods. Pools treated with bromine have similar, although slightly better, results. Other factors, such as age, gender, time of day of use (morning and afternoon) and type of user (competitive and recreational), can also affect the probability of suffering health problems. For all of the above, using combined treatment methods as ozone and UV, or salt electrolysis produces a lower probability of perceived health problems and greater satisfaction.     

Evaluation and publication delay in Ibero-American scientific journals

This article analyses the review, acceptance and publication dates of a sample of 21,890 articles from 326 Ibero-American scientific journals from all subject areas and countries included in the Latindex Catalogue 2.0 and published between 2018 and 2020 (freely available as an open access dataset). The aim is to discover evaluation and publication times. The evaluation process takes a median of 110 days, the publication process, a median of 82 days, and the whole process, a median of 224 days. Statistical differences are found according to periodicity, subject areas, countries, existence of a printed version and article type (Call for Papers or General articles). From the data we find that the delay in publication is longer than publishers themselves report to the DOAJ. STEM areas present the most similarity in publication patterns, having a higher number of evaluation days (Ed) than publication days (Pd); Arts and Humanities present the opposite pattern, with a higher Pd than Ed. In the case of Social Sciences, the times are similar. General articles and Call for Papers articles differ in terms of Ed, but not Pd, indicating that Call for Papers revisions are faster.     

A survey on the light-fastness properties of organic-based Alaska Native artifacts

A series of light-fastness tests were conducted on a group of ethnographic objects that will be on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution Arctic Studies Center, a recent addition to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center in Alaska. The objects surveyed belong to the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. This work was designed as a feasibility study on the use of a micro-fading tester as a non-contact and non-destructive technique to evaluate the light-stability of materials present in ethnographic collections. A broad range of objects containing a wide variety of materials were selected for the study. The materials investigated included a variety of dyes applied on silk, cotton, and wool substrates along with some unusual materials such as tanned skin and seal gut skin. The results from this investigation have allowed establishing exhibition recommendations taking into consideration the sensitivity of each object, light levels in the museum building, and estimated light exposures based on the duration of the exhibit. The micro-fading tester has proven to be a very useful tool for determining the light-stability of ethnographic materials without causing any harm to the objects. Objects containing equivalent materials are usually classified under a general category based on their probable sensitivity to light. However, micro-fading test results have permitted the detection of dissimilarities among some of these objects, which could be associated to variations in prior fading histories, the quality of raw materials, and different preparation methods.     

Revisiting Cross-document Structure Theory for multi-document discourse parsing

Multi-document discourse parsing aims to automatically identify the relations among textual spans from different texts on the same topic. Recently, with the growing amount of information and the emergence of new technologies that deal with many sources of information, more precise and efficient parsing techniques are required. The most relevant theory to multi-document relationship, Cross-document Structure Theory (CST), has been used for parsing purposes before, though the results had not been satisfactory. CST has received many critics because of its subjectivity, which may lead to low annotation agreement and, consequently, to poor parsing performance. In this work, we propose a refinement of the original CST, which consists in (i) formalizing the relationship definitions, (ii) pruning and combining some relations based on their meaning, and (iii) organizing the relations in a hierarchical structure. The hypothesis for this refinement is that it will lead to better agreement in the annotation and consequently to better parsing results. For this aim, it was built an annotated corpus according to this refinement and it was observed an improvement in the annotation agreement. Based on this corpus, a parser was developed using machine learning techniques and hand-crafted rules. Specifically, hierarchical techniques were used to capture the hierarchical organization of the relations according to the proposed refinement of CST. These two approaches were used to identify the relations among texts spans and to generate multi-document annotation structure. Results outperformed other CST parsers, showing the adequacy of the proposed refinement in the theory.     

Emotions’ management within the Real Madrid football club business model

Recent changes in the sports industry – derived from increasing financial pressures – have led to the update of existing business models. Particularly in football, the dominant clubs develop new business models based on the spectators’ commitment to the sport. Packed stadiums attract more people who consume both the matches and the many other associated goods and services. In an experience economy, the lever is the tapping of their emotions by an increasingly sophisticated value proposal. Groups of passionate supporters lead the way to the establishment of communities with a common interest in the club. Following a qualitative methodology (interviews and other texts’ analysis) our study of the Real Madrid Football Club (RM) business model suggests that one of the biggest football clubs in the world is creating a business model based on the emotions of its supporters. This finding could be useful for other clubs in many different countries.     

Self-protection profiles of worth and academic goals in university students

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This work analyzes the possible existence of self-protection profiles based on a combination of self-handicapping (behavioral and claimed) strategies...