ASEAN towards a Global Halal Logistics through the Digitally-Enabled Community

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is leading the development of global halal trade and has the opportunity to become a leader in the global halal supply chain, especially in global halal logistics. Given the push towards digital transformation in creating a halal ecosystem and regarding the agenda of ASEAN towards a digitally-enabled economy, this study wants to examine whether ASEAN digitally-enabled community is correlated with ASEAN's chances of becoming a global halal logistics. Through a correlation test, it is found that there is a statistically significant relationship between ASEAN digitally-enabled community, as measured in internet subscribers/users per 100 persons and cellular/mobile phone per 100 persons, and the opportunity for ASEAN to become a global halal logistics, measured in ASEAN GDP, total air cargo, total trade in goods, and international air passenger traffic. This is probably the first study that preliminarily confirms digitally-enabled community is very important to strengthen ASEAN's opportunities to become the global halal logistics.

Using Mobile Phone-based Text Message to Recruit Representative Samples: Assessment of a Cross-Sectional Survey about the COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitation.

Background: Limited research has examined mobile phone-based platforms for survey recruitment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Our objective was to investigate the feasibility and representativeness of mobile phone-based advertisement during a preliminary study about COVID-19 vaccine hesitation in Brazil. Moreover, we evaluate whether the older population can be reached through mobile phone-based platforms of the survey. Methods: We conducted a study in December 2021 based on a preliminary survey about the COVID-19 vaccine hesitation in Assis, Brazil, Sao Paulo state. From a list of the adult population hesitant for the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, we sent a mobile phone-based advertisement inviting the participants to answer the survey for one week. The respondent's data were collected in a Google form platform. The comparison between the target population and the respondents was made using the Chi-squared test and the Welch's test, using a P-value of .05 as significative. Results: The response rate was 9.99% after one week. The mean age of the respondent group was 33.97 (SD 14.99) and 35.05 (SD 14.19) of the population, with a P-value of .192 and a Cohen's d coefficient of 0.0754, corresponding to a small effect size between groups. We demonstrate that the mobile phone-based survey is a feasible and representative strategy during the pandemics in Brazil. Moreover, the older population respondent was representative. Conclusion: We achieved a representative sample of respondents using the mobile phone-based survey in Brazil. Furthermore, it was representative in all sociodemographic and health characteristics assessed. Finally, these findings suggest the method is a highly feasible and economical means of recruiting for survey research.

Mobile Phone Radiation Deflects Brain Energy Homeostasis and Prompts Human Food Ingestion

Obesity and mobile phone usage have simultaneously spread worldwide. Radio frequency-modulated electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) emitted by mobile phones are largely absorbed by the head of the user, influence cerebral glucose metabolism, and modulate neuronal excitability. Body weight adjustment, in turn, is one of the main brain functions as food intake behavior and appetite perception underlie hypothalamic regulation. Against this background, we questioned if mobile phone radiation and food intake may be related. In a single-blind, sham-controlled, randomized crossover comparison, 15 normal-weight young men (23.47 ± 0.68 years) were exposed to 25 min of RF-EMFs emitted by two different mobile phone types vs. sham radiation under fasting conditions. Spontaneous food intake was assessed by an ad libitum standard buffet test and cerebral energy homeostasis was monitored by 31phosphorus-magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements. Exposure to both mobile phones strikingly increased overall caloric intake by 22–27% compared with the sham condition. Differential analyses of macronutrient ingestion revealed that higher calorie consumption was mainly due to enhanced carbohydrate intake. Measurements of the cerebral energy content, i.e., adenosine triphosphate and phosphocreatine ratios to inorganic phosphate, displayed an increase upon mobile phone radiation. Our results identify RF-EMFs as a potential contributing factor to overeating, which underlies the obesity epidemic. Beyond that, the observed RF-EMFs-induced alterations of the brain energy homeostasis may put our data into a broader context because a balanced brain energy homeostasis is of fundamental importance for all brain functions. Potential disturbances by electromagnetic fields may therefore exert some generalized neurobiological effects, which are not yet foreseeable.

RF-EMF Exposure Emitted From Mobile/cellular Phone and Risk of Glioma, Meningioma and Acoustic Neuroma: A Meta-analysis

IntroductionTo evaluate the association between mobile/cellular phone use and risk of three intracranial tumors (glioma, meningioma and acoustic neuroma) based on case-control studies through pooling the published data .MethodsWe conducted a systematic literature search in databases including PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library up to September 2021. The primary outcome was the risk of tumors by mobile/cellular phone use, which was measured by pooling each odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). The random- or fixed-effects model was applied to combine the results depending on the heterogeneity of the analysis.ResultsWe ultimately included 6 articles for glioma, 6 articles for meningioma and 8 for acoustic neuroma from 1999 to 2015 . There was no significant association between mobile/cellular phone use and risk of glioma (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.81-1.17; I²=76.9%, p=0.001) and acoustic neuroma (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.76-1.25; I²=60.7%, p=0.013). And no statistical significance was observed between any subgroup of duration of use and these two type of cancer. Howerver, mobile phone use was associated with decrease the risk of meningioma, especially when the time since first use was between 0-5 years (OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.76-0.90; I²=39.5%, p=0.142) and 5-10 years (OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.75-0.93; I²=32.3%, p=0.194), while the protective effect disappeared in longer term (more than 10/11 years)(OR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.80-1.03; I²=0.0%, p=0.870). ConclusionEvidence from our study mobile/cellular phone use may decreased risk of meningioma. Further studies are needed to explore the possible influence of long-term use of mobile phone and underlying mechanism.

Mental workLoad Accumulation Effect of Mobile Phone Distraction in L2 Autopilot Mode

As self-driving vehicles become more common, there is a need for precise measurement and definition of when and in what ways a driver can use a mobile phone in autonomous driving mode, for how long it can be used, the complexity of the call content, and the accumulated psychological load. This study uses a 2 (driving mode) * 2 (call content complexity) * 6 (driving phase) three-factor mixed experimental design to investigate the effect of these factors on the driver's psychological load by measuring the driver's performance on peripheral visual detection tasks, pupil diameter, and EEG components in various brain regions in the alpha band. The results showed that drivers' mental load levels converge between manual and automatic driving modes as the duration of driving increases, regardless of the level of complexity of the mobile phone conversation. This suggests that mobile phone conversations can also disrupt the driver's cognitive resource balance in automatic driving mode, as it increases mental load while also impairing the normal functioning of brain functions such as cognitive control, problem solving, and judgment, thereby compromising driving safety.

Thermodynamic Rarity Assessment of Mobile Phone PCBs: A Physical Criticality Indicator in Times of Shortage

Rising prices in energy, raw materials, and shortages of critical raw materials (CRMs) for renewable energies or electric vehicles are jeopardizing the transition to a low-carbon economy. Therefore, managing scarce resources must be a priority for governments. To that end, appropriate indicators that can identify the criticality of raw materials and products is key. Thermodynamic rarity (TR) is an exergy-based indicator that measures the scarcity of elements in the earth’s crust and the energy intensity to extract and refine them. This paper uses TR to study 70 Mobile Phone (MP) Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) samples. Results show that an average MP PCB has a TR of 88 MJ per unit, indicating their intensive use of valuable materials. Every year the embedded TR increases by 36,250 GWh worldwide -similar to the electricity consumed by Denmark in 2019- due to annual production of MP. Pd, Ta and Au embedded in MP PCBs worldwide between 2007 and 2021 contribute to 90% of the overall TR, which account for 75, 600 and 250 tones, respectively, and increasing by 11% annually. This, coupled with the short lifespan of MP, makes PCBs an important potential source of secondary resources.