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Background and objective Pain spans a broad spectrum of diseases and types that are highly prevalent and cause substantial disease burden for individuals and society. Up to 40% of people affected by pain receive no or inadequate treatment. Providing a scalable, time-, and location-independent way for pain diagnostic, management, prevention and treatment mobile health applications (MHA) might be a promising approach to improve health care for pain. However, the commercial app market is rapidly growing and unregulated, resulting in an opaque market. Studies investigating the content, privacy and security features, quality and scientific evidence of the available apps are highly needed, to guide patients and clinicians to high quality MHA. Contributing to this challenge, the present study investigates the content, quality, and privacy features of pain apps available in the European app stores. Methods An automated search engine was used to identify pain apps in the European Google Play and Apple App store. Pain apps were screened and checked for systematic criteria (pain-relatedness, functionality, availability, independent usability, English or German). Content, quality and privacy features were assessed by two independent reviewers using the German Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS-G). The MARS-G assesses quality on four objectives (engagement, functionality, aesthetics, information quality) and two subjective scales (perceived impact, subjective quality). Results Out of 1034 identified pain apps 218 were included. Pain apps covered eight different pain types. Content included basic information, advice, assessment and tracking, and stand-alone interventions. The overall quality of the pain apps was average M = 3.13 (SD = 0.56, min = 1, max = 4.69). The effectiveness of less than 1% of the included pain apps was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. Major problems with data privacy were present: 59% provided no imprint, 70% had no visible privacy policy. Conclusion A multitude of pain apps is available. Most MHA lack scientific evaluation and have serious privacy issues, posing a potential threat to users. Further research on evidence and improvements privacy and security are needed. Overall, the potential of pain apps is not exploited., Highlights • A multitude of mobile health apps for pain is available in the app stores. • Less than 1% of the available apps have been evaluated in an RCT. • Major issues with data privacy are present. • Overall quality of engagement, functionality aesthetics and content is moderate. • The potential of apps for pain is not exploited.

In response to the outbreak of COVID-19 the national landscape of higher education changed quickly and dramatically to move “online” in the Spring semester of 2020 While distressing to both faculty and students, it presents a unique opportunity to explore how students responded to this unexpected and challenging learning situation In four undergraduate STEM courses that incorporated course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs)—which are often focused on discovery learning and laboratory research—we had an existing study in progress to track students' interest development at five time points over the Spring 2020 semester Via this ongoing study we were able to investigate how students stay engaged in their college science courses when facing unexpected challenges and obstacles to their learning Longitudinal survey data from 41 students in these CURE courses demonstrated that students' situational interest dropped significantly when their CURE courses unexpectedly shifted from hands-on, discovery-based, and laboratory-based instruction to online instruction Although we observed a dramatic decline in student interest in general after the CURE courses moved fully online, the decline rates varied across students Students who were able to make meaningful connections between the learning activities and their personal or career goals were more likely to maintain a higher level of interest in the course Implications for practice are discussed © Copyright © 2020 Wang, Bauer, Burmeister, Hanauer and Graham

Quantitative estimates of the hydrologic effects of climate change are essential for understanding and solving potential transboundary water conflicts in the Zerafshan river basin, Central Asia.This paper introduces an identification of runoff generation processes and a detection of changes in hydrological regimes supporting Mann–Kendall trend analysis for streamflows.By this, the effective available and future water resources are identified for the Zerafshan.The results for the subbasins in the upper Zerafshan and for the reference station at the upper catchment outlet indicate that glacier melt is the most significant component of river runoff. The Mann–Kendall trend analysis confirms the regime analysis with the shift in the seasonality of the discharge. Furthermore, the results of the Kendall–Theil Robust Line for predicted long-term discharge trends show a decreasing annual discharge.The experience gained during this study emphasizes the fact that the summer flood, urgently required for the large irrigation projects downstream in Uzbekistan, is reduced and more water will be available in spring. Additionally, following the estimation of future discharges in 50 and 100 years the hydrological changes are affecting the seasonal water availability for irrigation. This analysis highlighted that water availability is decreasing and the timing of availability is changing. Hence, there will be more competition between upstream Tajikistan and downstream Uzbekistan. Planned projects within the basin might have to be reconsidered and the changed scenario of water availability needs to be properly taken into account for long-term basin scale water management.

The Vakhsh and Pyandj rivers, main tributaries of the Amu Darya River in the mountainous region of the Pamir Alay, play an important role in the water resources of the Aral Sea basin (Central Asia). In this region, the glaciers and snow cover significantly influence the water cycle and flow regime, which could be strongly modified by climate change. The present study, part of a project funded by the European Commission, analyses the hydrological situation in six benchmark basins covering areas of between 1800 and 8400km(2), essentially located in Tajikistan, with a variety of topographical situations, precipitation amounts and glacierized areas. Four types of parameter are discussed: temperature, glaciation, snow cover and river flows. The study is based mainly on a long-time series that ended in the 1990s (with the collapse of the Soviet Union) and on field observations and data collection. In addition, a short, more recent period (May 2000 to May 2002) was examined to better understand the role of snow cover, using scarce monitored data and satellite information. The results confirm the overall homogeneous trend of temperature increase in the mountain range and its impacts on the surface water regime. Concerning the snow cover, significant differences are noted in the location, elevation, orientation and morphology of snow cover in the respective basins. The changes in the river flow regime are regulated by the combination of the snow cover dynamics and the increasing trend of the air temperature.

This paper introduces the conjunctive use of a deterministic water quality model and water balance criteria for supporting the assessment of simulation and to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed operation strategies. By this, the applicability of enhanced reservoir operation strategies addressing both water quality as well as water quantity aspects under water deficit conditions in dry years can be shown. Arguments will be developed to address stakeholders and decision makers in the context of a more conservative past operation regime. Results are presented for the Kaparas reservoir, which is located in the lower Amu Darya River, on the border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. As being one out of four large reservoirs of the Tuyamuyun Hydro Complex (THC), the Kaparas reservoir could be increasingly used for drinking water supply for the lower Amu Darya region. The results for the dry year 2001 indicates that the combination of simulation together with practical assessment criteria confirm the applicability of adapted operation rules for THC reservoirs and ways can be found to supply the local population (of the lower Amu Darya region) with more potable water of higher quality even subject to a parallel reduction of water deficits. Future aggravation of water stress due to increasing population growth and water quality deterioration will require a more comprehensive consideration of water quality aspects in many arid and semi arid regions. The experience gained during this study emphasizes the fact that classical deterministic water quality models provide effective tools to address even more complex water quality problems under water stressed conditions, provided processing of results is performed, to support the decision making process.