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Motivation and math anxiety are crucial in performance and satisfaction, and augmented reality (AR) may be a useful tool in enhancing these factors because it provides users with interesting visual experiences. Since related empirical research is limited in investigating the effects of using free mobile AR apps integrating Keller's ARCS (attention-relevance-confidence-satisfaction) motivation model on learning motivation, anxiety, and outcomes between students with different levels of anxiety in primary math education, this study investigated whether mobile AR differently affected learning, motivation, and math anxiety between students with high and low anxiety. The results showed that the AR group performed better than the non-AR group, and high-anxiety learners in the AR group outperformed in algebra and geometry. The AR group had higher motivation based on Keller's ARCS model. The high-anxiety learners had higher confidence and satisfaction and lower anxiety when learning using mobile AR. The AR users were satisfied with ease of use, usefulness, playfulness, and benefit from exploration and hands-on experiences. Moreover, high-anxiety users in the AR group had higher perceptions of exploration, hands-on experiences, and playfulness. This study includes the participants' experience in adopting mobile AR for their learning and discusses its constraints.

With continued development of related technologies, Web 2.0 has become an important site of learning innovation. In particular, social networking sites such as Facebook, which have become popular, have the potential to function as an educational tool enabling peer feedback, interaction, and learning in a social context. Preparing appropriate environments for learners with different needs is essential to learning in general and online learning in particular. Yet, in order to create such learning environments, educators must understand differences in students' learning styles. Although some research focuses on the effects of individual differences such as age and gender on the use of social networking sites, experimental research related to students' learning styles is still limited. This study used Kolb's Learning Style Model to investigate differences in student learning outcomes and satisfaction using mobile Facebook for learning, according to learning style. Results showed that participants with "Assimilating" and "Diverging" learning styles performed better than those with "Accomodating" and "Converging" learning styles did and had higher self-efficacy, observational modelling and habit strength toward learning in mobile Facebook. The paper also makes suggestions for integrating mobile Facebook into class and recommendations for future research.

This study develops a single‐atom Pt‐loaded graphitic carbon nitride (SA‐Pt/CN) and evaluates its piezo‐flexocatalytic properties by conducting a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and Rhodamine B (RB) dye degradation test under ultrasonic vibration in the dark. SA‐Pt/CN has a hydrogen gas yield of 1283.8 µmol g−1 h−1, which is 23.3 times higher than that of pristine g‐C3N4. Moreover, SA‐Pt/CN enhances the dye degradation reaction rate by ≈2.3 times compared with the pristine sample. SA‐Pt/CN exhibits lattice distortion and strain gradient enlargement caused by the single atom Pt at the N sites of g‐C3N4, which disrupts the symmetric structure and contributes to the enhancement of piezoelectric and flexoelectric polarization. As far as it is known, this is the first study to investigate the piezo‐flexocatalytic reaction of SA‐Pt/CN without light irradiation and provides new insights into single‐atom piezocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational safety and health education is usually lecture-based, and students generally have limited retention. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) facilitates students to learn and explore more actively in safe environments. However, learning with the aid of IVR may not guarantee better learning achievement, practical skills, and positive attitudes. It may also distract students from their cognitive processing. Studies suggest that appropriate pedagogy should be supported. The science-technology-society-environment (STSE) learning approach was applied, which coincides with occupational safety and health education’s focus and emphasises students’ observation, exploration, experiment, and problem-solving in their lives. The study combined the STSE learning approach and IVR (STSE-IVR) to improve occupational safety and health education. The results showed that students using STSE-IVR had higher learning achievement, practical skills, competencies, attention, and meditation than those in the conventional-IVR group (providing direct instruction). The students’ learning behavioural patterns were also compared and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a sample of 706, z < 1.5 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) selected from optical photometric variability in three of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) deep fields (E2, C3, and X3) over an area of 4.64 deg2. We construct light curves using difference imaging aperture photometry for resolved sources and non-difference imaging PSF photometry for unresolved sources, respectively, and characterize the variability significance. Our DES light curves have a mean cadence of 7 d, a 6-yr baseline, and a single-epoch imaging depth of up to g ∼ 24.5. Using spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, we find 26 out of total 706 variable galaxies are consistent with dwarf galaxies with a reliable stellar mass estimate (⁠|$M_{\ast }\lt 10^{9.5}\, {\rm M}_\odot$|⁠ ; median photometric redshift of 0.9). We were able to constrain rapid characteristic variability time-scales (∼ weeks) using the DES light curves in 15 dwarf AGN candidates (a subset of our variable AGN candidates) at a median photometric redshift of 0.4. This rapid variability is consistent with their low black hole (BH) masses. We confirm the low-mass AGN nature of one source with a high S/N optical spectrum. We publish our catalogue, optical light curves, and supplementary data, such as X-ray properties and optical spectra, when available. We measure a variable AGN fraction versus stellar mass and compare to results from a forward model. This work demonstrates the feasibility of optical variability to identify AGNs with lower BH masses in deep fields, which may be more 'pristine' analogues of supermassive BH seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Diabetes knowledge is important for people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) to improve their health. Therefore, it is important to validate an instrument for assessing diabetes knowledge. The present study aimed to validate the 24-item Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ). Patients and Methods: The 24-item DKQ and Diabetes-specific Quality of Life Module (DMQoL) were administered to 425 patients (mean±SD age=58.4± 11.6) with type 2 DM. Results: The 24-item DKQ was first examined for its factor structure using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Items with low factors loadings were removed and 18 items were retained to make a DKQ-18. In DKQ-18, five factors were identified, which were named as diabetes etiology and symptoms (F1), intermediate nursing (F2), complications (F3), diet and treatment (F4), and elementary nursing (F5). The DKQ-18 had satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's α= 0.732 and McDonald's ω=0.748), good known-group validity (participants with a higher level of education showed better score in DKQ-18; participants with HbA1c ≤ 7 had better score in DKQ-18 compared to group of HbA1c level > 8.5), acceptable test–retest reliability (r=0.69), adequate responsiveness (DKQ-18 can detect knowledge change), and concurrent validity with DMQoL. Conclusion: The DKQ-18 is a valid measure for assessing diabetes knowledge. The DKQ-18 could evaluate participants' diabetes knowledge and improve their diabetes knowledge and self-care through a diabetes team and serve as a tool to evaluate the knowledge of participants with type 2 DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the optical gri photometric variability of a sample of 190 quasars within the SDSS Stripe 82 region that have long-term photometric coverage during ∼1998−2020 with SDSS, PanSTARRS-1, the Dark Energy Survey, and dedicated follow-up monitoring with Blanco 4m/DECam. With on average ∼200 nightly epochs per quasar per filter band, we improve the parameter constraints from a Damped Random Walk (DRW) model fit to the light curves over previous studies with 10–15 yr baselines and ≲ 100 epochs. We find that the average damping time-scale τDRW continues to rise with increased baseline, reaching a median value of ∼750 d (g band) in the rest frame of these quasars using the 20-yr light curves. Some quasars may have gradual, long-term trends in their light curves, suggesting that either the DRW fit requires very long baselines to converge, or that the underlying variability is more complex than a single DRW process for these quasars. Using a subset of quasars with better-constrained τDRW (less than 20 per cent of the baseline), we confirm a weak wavelength dependence of τDRW∝λ0.51 ± 0.20. We further quantify optical variability of these quasars over days to decades time-scales using structure function (SF) and power spectrum density (PSD) analyses. The SF and PSD measurements qualitatively confirm the measured (hundreds of days) damping time-scales from the DRW fits. However, the ensemble PSD is steeper than that of a DRW on time-scales less than ∼ a month for these luminous quasars, and this second break point correlates with the longer DRW damping time-scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media platforms such as Facebook have been a crucial web traffic source for content providers. Content providers build websites and apps to publish their content and attract as many readers as possible. More readers mean more influence and revenue through advertisement. As Internet users spend more and more time on social media platforms, content websites also create social media presence, such as Facebook pages, to generate more traffic and thus revenue from advertisements. With so much content competing for limited real estate on social media users' timelines, social media platforms begin to rank the contents by user engagements of previous posts. Posting content to social media that receives little user interaction will hurt the content providers' future presence on social media. Content websites need to consider business sustainability when utilizing social media, to ensure that they can respond to short-term financial needs without compromising their ability to meet their future needs. The present study aims to achieve this goal by building a model to predict the advertisement revenue, which is highly correlated with user engagements, of an intended social media post. The study examined combinations of classification methods and data resampling techniques. A content provider can choose the combination that suits their needs by comparing the confusion matrices. For example, the XGBoost model with undersampled data can reduce the total post number by 87%, while still making sure that 49% of the high-performance posts will be posted. If the content provider wants to make sure more high-performance posts are posted, then they can choose the DNN(Deep Neural Network) model with undersampled data to post 66% of high-performance posts, while reducing the number of total posts by 69%. The study shows that predictive models could be helpful for content providers to balance their needs between short-term revenue income and long-term social media presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background : Gallstone disease (GD) is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular disease. However, it is unknown whether GD contributes to atrial fibrillation (AF). We aimed to investigate the association between GD and AF. Methods : We performed a population-based cohort study using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database between 2001 and 2011. A GD cohort of 230,076 patients was compared with a control cohort consisting of an equal number of patients matched for age, sex, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal comorbidities. Results : In total, 5,992 (49.8/10,000 person-years) patients with GD and 5,804 (44.5/10,000 person-years) controls developed AF. GD increased AF risk with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.20 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.16–1.25]. In patients with GD but without cholecystectomy, the HR of AF reached 1.57 (95% CI = 1.50–1.63). After cholecystectomy, the HR of AF significantly decreased to 0.85 (95% CI = 0.81–0.90). Among the three age groups with GD (<45, 45–64, and ≥65 years), the adjusted HRs of AF were 1.59 (95% CI = 1.08–2.33), 1.31 (95% CI = 1.18–1.45), and 1.18 (95% CI = 1.13–1.22), respectively. Compared with patients with a CHA2DS2-VASc score equal to 0, the HRs of AF risk among total cohort patients and a score equal to 1, 2, 3, and ≥ 4 were 1.28 (95% CI = 1.15–1.43), 2.26 (95% CI = 2.00–2.56), 3.81 (95% CI = 3.35–4.34), and 5.09 (95% CI = 4.42–5.87), respectively. Conclusion : This population-based longitudinal follow-up study showed that patients with GD had an increased AF risk. Moreover, cholecystectomy was related to reduced AF risk. Cardiovascular checkups may be necessary for patients with GD, especially those who are young and have other typical risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Limited data are available on the risk ratios for fatal cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcome from gout and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in non-diabetic individuals. Methods Nationwide population-based retrospective prospective study with a 5-year follow-up to investigate the association between physician-diagnosed gout and CKD in non-diabetics aged 50 and above who had no pre-existing serious CVD and the subsequent risk of death from CVD. Hazard ratios (HR) of CVD mortality were adjusted for gender, age, smoking- and alcoholism-related diagnoses, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, atrial fibrillation and Charlson’s comorbidity index score. Results A case cohort (n=164,463) having gout and a control cohort (n= 3,694,377) having no gout were formed. The prevalence of gout in this study was 4.26% whereas that of gout plus CKD was 8.17%. Male to female ratio among the individuals with gout was 3.2:1. The relative risk (RR) of subsequent cardiovascular mortality between the case and control cohort was 1.71 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.66-1.75). The presence of CKD in nondiabetic subjects with no gout (control group) has a RR of CVD mortality at 3.05 (95% CI, 2.94-3.15). The presence of gout has protective effect on subjects with CKD with a RR of 1.84 (95% CI, 1.71-1.98). As compared with individuals with no gout, the adjusted HR (aHR) for CVD mortality among the individuals with gout was 1.10 (95% CI 1.07-1.13). In a Cox model, when compared with subjects having neither gout nor CKD, the aHR in subjects with no gout but with CKD is 1.76 (95% CI, 1.70-1.82); in subjects with gout but without CKD, 1.10 (1.07-1.13); interestingly, the aHR is attenuated in subjects with concomitant gout plus CKD which is 1.38 (1.29-1.48). Conclusions Among non-diabetic individuals aged 50 years or above who had no preceding serious CVD, those with gout were 1.1 times more likely to die from CVD as were individuals without gout. The presence of gout appears to attenuate the risk of subsequent CV mortality in subjects with CKD. Further studies should focus on finding an explanation for the protective effect of gout on CV mortality in patients with CKD.

We report on continued, ∼15-yr long, broad Balmer emission lines in three metal-poor dwarf emission-line galaxies selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy. The persistent luminosity of the broad Balmer emission indicates the galaxies are active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with virial black hole masses of ∼106.7–107.0 M⊙. The lack of observed hard X-ray emission and the possibility that the Balmer emission could be due to a long-lived stellar transient motivated additional follow-up spectroscopy. We also identify a previously unreported blueshifted narrow absorption line in the broad H α feature in one of the AGNs, indicating an AGN-driven outflow with hydrogen column densities of order 1017 cm−2. We also extract light curves from the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey and the Zwicky Transient Facility. We detect probable AGN-like variability in three galaxies, further supporting the AGN scenario. This also suggests the AGNs are not strongly obscured. This sample of galaxies are among the most metal-poor that host an AGN (Z  = 0.05–0.16 Z⊙). We speculate they may be analogues to seed black holes which formed in unevolved galaxies at high redshift. Given the rarity of metal-poor AGNs and small sample size available, we investigate prospects for their identification in future spectroscopic and photometric surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explain apparent differences among mammography screening services in Sweden using individual data on participation in screening and with breast cancer–specific survival as an outcome. Methods: We analysed breast cancer survival data from the Swedish Cancer Register on breast cancer cases from nine Swedish counties diagnosed in women eligible for screening. Data were available on 38,278 breast cancers diagnosed and 4312 breast cancer deaths. Survival to death from breast cancer was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier estimate, for all cases in each county, and separately for cases of women participating and not participating in their last invitation to screening. Formal statistical comparisons of survival were made using proportional hazards regression. Results: All counties showed a reduction in the hazard of breast cancer death with participation in screening, but the reductions for individual counties varied substantially, ranging from 51% (95% confidence interval 46–55%) to 81% (95% confidence interval 74–85%). Survival rates in nonparticipating women ranged from 53% (95% confidence interval 40–65%) to 74% (95% confidence interval 72–77%), while the corresponding survival in women participating in screening varied from 80% (95% confidence interval 77–84%) to 86% (95% confidence interval 83–88%), a considerably narrower range. Conclusions: Differences among counties in the effect of screening on breast cancer outcomes were mainly due to variation in survival in women not participating in screening. Screening conferred similarly high survival rates in all counties. This indicates that the performance of screening services was similar across counties and that detection and treatment of breast cancer in early-stage reduces inequalities in breast cancer outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the association between tumor location on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) and outcomes of prostate cancer patients after primary total prostate cryoablation (PTPC). Between March 2010 and December 2012, consecutive 192 prostate cancer patients receiving PTPC were enrolled. Tumor locations were determined and classified as anterior apex (AA), anterior midgland (AM), anterior base (AB), posterior apex (PA), posterior midgland (PM) and posterior base (PB) using mpMRI. Midline location, central location, seminal vesicle invasion, extraprostatic extension, multiple tumors, and tumor volume were also identified. Prostate local recurrence and biochemical failure were considered as primary and secondary endpoints, respectively. Tumors on mpMRI were identified in 148 (77.1%) patients. Tumor locations were most frequently noted in PM (89, 46.4%), followed by AM (55, 28.6%), PB (53, 27.6%), PA (46, 24%), AA (35, 18.2%) and AB (31, 16.1%). Midline and central tumors were observed in 34 (17.7%) and 14 (7.3%) patients, respectively. During a median follow-up duration of 81 months (range, 2–114 months), 71 (37.0%) and 29 (40.8%) patients experienced biochemical failure and local recurrence, respectively. Multivariable analyses revealed only AA tumors increased the risk of local recurrences (HR = 2.98, 95% CI. 1.36–6.49). None of location-related parameters was associated with biochemical failure. Tumor location on mpMRI has a significant association with local tumor recurrence in patients receiving PTPC. Physicians should be cautious when conducting cryoablation for prostate tumors in AA location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periodically variable quasars have been suggested as close binary supermassive black holes. We present a systematic search for periodic light curves in 625 spectroscopically confirmed quasars with a median redshift of 1.8 in a 4.6 deg2 overlapping region of the Dark Energy Survey Supernova (DES-SN) fields and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82 (SDSS-S82). Our sample has a unique 20-yr long multicolour (griz) light curve enabled by combining DES-SN Y6 observations with archival SDSS-S82 data. The deep imaging allows us to search for periodic light curves in less luminous quasars (down to r ∼23.5 mag) powered by less massive black holes (with masses ≳ 108.5 M ⊙) at high redshift for the first time. We find five candidates with significant (at >99.74 per cent single-frequency significance in at least two bands with a global p-value of ∼7 × 10−4–3 × 10−3 accounting for the look-elsewhere effect) periodicity with observed periods of ∼3–5 yr (i.e. 1–2 yr in rest frame) having ∼4–6 cycles spanned by the observations. If all five candidates are periodically variable quasars, this translates into a detection rate of |${\sim }0.8^{+0.5}_{-0.3}$|  per cent or |${\sim }1.1^{+0.7}_{-0.5}$| quasar per deg2. Our detection rate is 4–80 times larger than those found by previous searches using shallower surveys over larger areas. This discrepancy is likely caused by differences in the quasar populations probed and the survey data qualities. We discuss implications on the future direct detection of low-frequency gravitational waves. Continued photometric monitoring will further assess the robustness and characteristics of these candidate periodic quasars to determine their physical origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus (AGN), DES J0218−0430, in a redshift z  = 0.823 galaxy in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Supernova field. We select DES J0218−0430 as an AGN candidate by characterizing its long-term optical variability alone based on DES optical broad-band light curves spanning over 6 yr. An archival optical spectrum from the fourth phase of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey shows both broad Mg  ii and broad H β lines, confirming its nature as a broad-line AGN. Archival XMM–Newton X-ray observations suggest an intrinsic hard X-ray luminosity of |$L_{{\rm 2-12\, keV}}\approx 7.6\pm 0.4\times 10^{43}$| erg s−1, which exceeds those of the most X-ray luminous starburst galaxies, in support of an AGN driving the optical variability. Based on the broad H β from SDSS spectrum, we estimate a virial black hole (BH) mass of M • ≈ 106.43–106.72 M⊙ (with the error denoting the systematic uncertainty from different calibrations), consistent with the estimation from OzDES, making it the lowest mass AGN with redshift > 0.4 detected in optical. We estimate the host galaxy stellar mass to be M * ≈ 1010.5 ± 0.3 M⊙ based on modelling the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution. DES J0218−0430 extends the M •– M * relation observed in luminous AGNs at z  ∼ 1 to masses lower than being probed by previous work. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of using optical variability to identify low-mass AGNs at higher redshift in deeper synoptic surveys with direct implications for the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time at Vera C. Rubin Observatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is of paramount importance to evaluate the impact of participation in organized mammography service screening independently from changes in breast cancer treatment. This can be done by measuring the incidence of fatal breast cancer, which is based on the date of diagnosis and not on the date of death.Methods: Among 549,091 women, covering approximately 30% of the Swedish screening-eligible population, the authors calculated the incidence rates of 2473 breast cancers that were fatal within 10 years after diagnosis and the incidence rates of 9737 advanced breast cancers. Data regarding each breast cancer diagnosis and the cause and date of death of each breast cancer case were gathered from national Swedish registries. Tumor characteristics were collected from regional cancer centers. Aggregated data concerning invitation and participation were provided by Sectra Medical Systems AB. Incidence rates were analyzed using Poisson regression.Results: Women who participated in mammography screening had a statistically significant 41% reduction in their risk of dying of breast cancer within 10 years (relative risk, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.51-0.68 [P < .001]) and a 25% reduction in the rate of advanced breast cancers (relative risk, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.66-0.84 [P < .001]).Conclusions: Substantial reductions in the incidence rate of breast cancers that were fatal within 10 years after diagnosis and in the advanced breast cancer rate were found in this contemporaneous comparison of women participating versus those not participating in screening. These benefits appeared to be independent of recent changes in treatment regimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]