MEDICAL AND SOCIAL MONITORING OF INCIDENCE RATE OF ACUTE BRONCHITIS AND PNEUMONIA IN CHILDERN (BASED ON DATA FROM MICROBIOLOGICAL LABORATORY OF THE CITY OF HLUKHIV, SUMY REGION)

The article emphasizes on medical and social monitoring of the incidence of acute bronchitis and pneumonia in children and elucidates the peculiarities of the course of these diseases during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been established that the main cause of acute respiratory viral infection (ARVI), including pneumonia and bronchitis, and other respiratory diseases, is an impairment of the mechanisms of specific and non-specific protection. In terms of prevalence, bronchitis and pneumonia occupy the first place among broncho-pulmonary diseases in children. Recurrent bronchitis occurs in children of different ages, but most often in the childhood period from 4 to 7 years. The highest number of hospitalized children with acute bronchitis and pneumonia was observed in the city of Hlukhiv and the Hlukhiv district, Sumy region, in 2019; the number of boys significantly exceeded the number of girls. The main cause for the decrease in the incidence and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is still remaining unclear. Although this decrease in incidence was attributed to reduced exposure and risk factors during the initial phase of a pandemic, it is now understood that biological factors that interfere with the pathogenesis of infection and the immune response may play a protective role in children compared to the more aggressive clinical manifestations seen in adults. The data obtained demonstrate the patients with acute bronchitis have different numbers of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Some patients, 43 out of 64, have normal ESR values, within 4-12 mm / h (p <0.05). With an exacerbation of the process, an increase in ESR is noted in the range of 12-14 mm / h in 21 patients. We have found out acute pneumonia in children is associated with complex changes in blood parameters, and, in particularly, with neutrophilic leukocytosis, increased hemoglobin up to 170 ± 1.4 g / l, an accelerated ESR, a significant increase in platelets. The positive effect of physiotherapy exercises and massage can also improve the parameters of the peripheral blood in the children. Thus, these supportive measures maintain the general mechanisms of homeostasis.

From social interactions to private environmental behaviours: The case of consumer food waste

Consumer food waste, like many environmental behaviours, takes place in private, and is not directly subject to social monitoring. Nevertheless, social interactions can affect private opinions and behaviours. This paper builds an agent-based model of interactions between consumers heterogeneous in their sociability, initial opinions and behaviours related to food waste and willingness to consider different opinions, in order to assess how social interactions can affect private behaviours. Compared to existing models of opinion dynamics, we innovate by including a range of ``cognitive dissonance'' between stated opinions and actual behaviours that consumers are willing to accept before changing one of the two. We calibrate the model using questionnaire data on household food waste in Italy. We find that a limited degree of mixing between different socio-demographic groups, namely adult and young consumers, is enough to trigger change, but a certain openness of mind is required from more wasteful individuals. Equally, a small group of environmentally committed consumers can attract a sizeable share of the population towards low-waste behaviours if they show a certain variability of opinions and are willing to compromise with individuals in their close neighbourhood in terms of opinions. These findings can help design effective interventions to promote pro-environmental behaviours, taking advantage of the beneficial network effects while anticipating negative externalities.

Setting the Social Monitoring Framework for Nature-Based Solutions Impact: Methodological Approach and Pre-Greening Measurements in the Case Study from CLEVER Cities Milan

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are currently being deployed in many European Commission Horizon 2020 projects in reaction to the increasing number of environmental threats, such as climate change, unsustainable urbanization, degradation and loss of natural capital and ecosystem services. In this research, we consider the application of NBS as a catalyst for social inclusivity in urban regeneration strategies, enabled through civic participation in the co-creation of green interventions with respect to social cohesion and wellbeing. This article is focused on a social monitoring framework elaborated within the H2020 CLEVER Cities project, with the city of Milan as a case study. Firstly, we overviewed the major regeneration challenges and expected co-benefits of the project, which are mainly human health and wellbeing, social cohesion and environmental justice, as well as citizen perception about safety and security related to the NBS implementation process. Secondly, we examined the relevance of using NBS in addressing social co-benefits by analyzing data from questionnaires against a set of five major indicators, submitted to citizens and participants of activities during pre-greening interventions: (1) Place, use of space and relationship with nature, (2) Perceived ownership and sense of belonging, (3) Psychosocial issues, social interactions and social cohesion, (4) Citizen perception about safety and security, and lastly, we analyzed (5) knowledge about CLEVER interventions and NBS benefits in relation to socio-demographics of the questionnaires’ respondents. Thirdly, we cross-referenced a wind-rose multi-model of co-benefits analysis for NBS across the regeneration challenges of the project. Because of the COVID-19 emergency, in this research we mainly focused on site observations and online questionnaires, as well as on monitoring pre-greening scenarios in three Urban Living Labs (ULLs) in Milan, namely CLEVER Action Labs. Lastly, this study emphasizes the expected social added values of NBS impact over long-term urban regeneration projects. Insights from the pre-greening surveys results accentuate the importance of the NBS interventions in citizens’ perceptions about their wellbeing, general health and strong sense of neighborhood belonging. A wider interest towards civic participation in co-management and getting informed about NBS interventions in the Milanese context is also noted.

Perigenual and Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Afferents Converge on Common Pyramidal Cells in Amygdala Subregions

The subgenual (sgACC) and pregenual (pgACC) anterior cingulate are important afferents of the amygdala, and have different cytoarchitecture, connectivity, and function. The sgACC is associated with arousal mechanisms linked to salient cues, while the pgACC is engaged in conflict decision-making, including in social contexts. How they influence the amygdala at the cellular level has not been explored in higher species. In monkeys, we placed same size, small volume tracer injections into sgACC and pgACC of the same hemisphere, and examined their terminal distribution to better understand how these different functional systems communicate with the amygdala. The sgACC has broad-based termination patterns in the amygdala, while the pgACC has a more restricted pattern which was always nested in sgACC terminals. Overlap of labeled fibers from each area occurred in subregions of the accessory basal and basal nuclei, termed 'hotspots'. In triple-labeling confocal studies, we found that the majority of randomly selected CAMIIα (+) cells (putative amygdala glutamatergic neurons) in 'hotspots' received dual contacts from the sgACC and pgACC. The ratio of dual contacts onto CAMIIα (+) cells occurred over a surprisingly narrow range in all 'hotspots', suggesting a consistent, tight balance of afferent contacts on postsynaptic projection neurons. We also found differences in bouton size from each afferent input. Large boutons, which are associated with greater synaptic strength, were approximately 3 times more frequent on sgACC versus pgACC axon terminals. Together, the results reveal a nested interaction in which pgACC ('conflict/social monitoring') terminals converge with the broader sgACC ('salience') terminals at both the mesoscopic and cellular level in 'hotspots', and do so in a tightly balanced manner. sgACC afferents have axonal bouton sizes consistent with a 'driver' function whereby new arousing cues (sgACC) can rapidly influence higher cognitive computations such as social/conflict monitoring.

Socio-psychological diagnostics and forecasting protest behavior of youth in the digital environment

The article provides the results of a search empirical study of the impact of digital communications on the protest behavior of young people in the digital environment. The authors conducted the study on the basis of the State University of Management from November 2019 to April 2020. In the course of its implementation, the civil and political practices of student youth during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and mass self-isolation were studied and updated. The paper determines the most common forms of protest activity of university students, names the main reasons for their participation or non-participation in mass protest actions. It has been empirically proven that the increase in protest behavior of young people is determined by an increase in the amount of political information with a high number of likes and reposts. In order to deactivate protest moods among young people, reduce the threats of their protest behavior and improve attitudes towards the authorities, the authors developed practical recommendations that involve social monitoring of sites, forums, pages and communities on the Internet, where young people can freely express their opinions, express dissatisfaction, and receive explanations about the actions of the authorities. The study also recommends to stimulate “feedback” with the authorities, improve public opinion on the actions or inaction of the authorities, increase the influence of citizens’ assessments on the work of state and municipal authorities. The paper states the importance of tracking youth groups prone to extremism, carrying out preventive measures with students in schools, students in colleges and universities, teaching them legal literacy. To get answers to questions about the political and economic consequences awaiting our country after the end of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as about the essence of the predicted threats, the authors plan the study on a more representative sample.

Regional Ethnic and Confessional Situation in the Russian Federation: Arrangements for Monitoring

The article introduces new methodological foundations for analyzing the current ethno-social and ethno-confessional situation in various constituents of the Russian Federation, namely an ethno-social and confessional monitoring based on systematic, selective, and process approaches. Modern ethnic and confessional processes manifest the transformation of traditional social institutions and communications in traditional economy and social organization as a result of state policy. The structural and functional method made it possible to identify the historical context of the impact that religious organizations produce on traditional social institutions. The authors tested a systematic approach to the analysis of the ethnosocial and ethno-confessional situation on three levels: 1) interstate (macro) level in the transboundary zones of southern Russia), 2) regional (mega) level of the fractal and network social organization, 3) micro level within the boundaries of sample polygons. The article also focuses on the problems of secondary analysis of historiographical sources about the history of state national and confessional politics in the XIX – early XXI centuries. It introduces basic definitions used in regional ethno-social monitoring. The topic needs further integrated and applied research.

Cell Phone Access and Election Fraud: Evidence from a Spatial Regression Discontinuity Design in Afghanistan

This paper examines the impact of cell phone access on election fraud. I combine cell phone coverage maps with the location of polling centers during the 2009 Afghan presidential election to pinpoint which centers were exposed to coverage. Results from a spatial regression discontinuity design along the two-dimensional coverage boundary suggest that coverage deters corrupt behavior. Polling centers just inside coverage report a drop in the share of fraudulent votes of 4 percentage points, while the likelihood of a fraudulent station decreases by 8 percentage points. Analyses of the effect of coverage on citizen participation in election monitoring, election-related insurgent violence, and the tribal composition of villages suggest that the observed declines in fraud are likely attributed to cell phone access strengthening social monitoring capacity. (JEL D72, K16, K42, O17, Z13)

The Ad Creation Process

The business of music and advertising involves finding, licensing, and producing music that enhances the influence of advertising messages. This chapter is a primer on the entire process of producing music for advertising. The process starts with the determination of the advertising text and the consideration of the options and best practices for defining the desired music characteristics. Then it is critical to search for good candidates from sources that range from composing new music to obtaining the rights to pre-existing popular songs. Next comes assembling the production team. This step includes discussion of tools that can measure and provide objective data to assist in the decision. Key music production and licensing terms are explained along with best practices and some case study information. Finally, the process ends with the use of social monitoring tools such as Nielsen social ratings that measure the influence, sentiment, and effectiveness of the advertising message.