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BackgroundDuring the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, social media platforms have become active sites for the dissemination of conspiracy theories that provide alternative explanations of the cause of the pandemic, such as secret plots by powerful and malicious groups. However, the association of individuals’ beliefs in conspiracy theories about COVID-19 with mental health and well-being issues has not been investigated. This association creates an assessable channel to identify and provide assistance to people with mental health and well-being issues during the pandemic. ObjectiveOur aim was to provide the first evidence that belief in conspiracy theories regarding the COVID-19 pandemic is a predictor of the mental health and well-being of health care workers. MethodsWe conducted a survey of 252 health care workers in Ecuador from April 10 to May 2, 2020. We analyzed the data regarding distress and anxiety caseness with logistic regression and the data regarding life and job satisfaction with linear regression. ResultsAmong the 252 sampled health care workers in Ecuador, 61 (24.2%) believed that the virus was developed intentionally in a lab; 82 (32.5%) experienced psychological distress, and 71 (28.2%) had anxiety disorder. Compared to health care workers who were not sure where the virus originated, those who believed the virus was developed intentionally in a lab were more likely to report psychological distress and anxiety disorder and to have lower levels of job satisfaction and life satisfaction. ConclusionsThis paper identifies belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories as an important predictor of distress, anxiety, and job and life satisfaction among health care workers. This finding will enable mental health services to better target and provide help to mentally vulnerable health care workers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Making the university and its teachers and students alike as sustainable entrepreneurs are central endeavours in this age of sustainable development today. This paper presents an in-depth case study to examine the development of sustainable entrepreneurship of Tsinghua University of China at institutional and curricular levels. The paper first proposes an analytical model of the sustainable university as the alignment of six elements based on three interrelated propositions. The paper then applies the model to study Tsinghua's culture of sustainability and entrepreneurship and its strategies from green university to sustainable university. Next the paper discusses five cases courses in sustainability education from diverse disciplines with shared goal to foster sustainability competence as global competence and shared pedagogies for experiential learning. The paper concludes with theoretical discussions of institutional-level sustainable entrepreneurship and also practical discussions of shared characteristics and challenges of curricular-level sustainable entrepreneurship with special references of pedagogical and digital opportunities and challenges. The paper presents findings from a self-reflective practitioner-as-researcher action research jointly conducted by the instructors of case courses. The paper used a mixed-method approach with participatory observation, interview, focus-group, survey, and curricular development experiments.

Karst aquifers are crucial for providing fresh water worldwide but are also incredibly sensitive to human impact and climate change. This study aims to reconstruct the historical water levels of karst springs, despite the lack of data. By combining collected data, we have created a detailed numerical model to understand the complex behavior of karst aquifers. Our research reveals significant drops in the water levels at Longtan Spring, mainly due to the overuse of groundwater and inadequate water recharge, which is critical for the success of the Springs Resurgence project. We have also mapped out historical groundwater levels and identified the necessary conditions to get the spring flowing again. The model proved to be reliable during its calibration from 2000 to 2007, with an average Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient of 0.52 for the monitoring wells. For the period from 1960 to 2019, our model showed a strong correlation coefficient of over 0.97 when compared with data from the GRACE satellite mission, demonstrating its high accuracy. The approach we have taken in this study provides a feasible way to figure out historical water levels in karst springs, which is vital for protecting these essential fresh water sources. This work will provide a strong basis for policies to restore the spring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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