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Purpose: In this paper, the author has tried to outline the main ideas in connection with what the author conceives to be the university of the future, a university that should not only educate people within the university system but also prepare them to fill specific job positions at both local and global levels, apart from necessarily providing them with the critical thinking and competences in autonomous learning that will make them flexible and capable of adapting to the job market and to a fast-changing world in general. Design/methodology/approach: The author has revised some of the major issues that are going to determine the direction of the university of the future, i.e. the employment opportunities of tomorrow;the role of new technologies, especially the impact of artificial intelligence (AI);quality in higher education;and internationalization. Findings: The author has also pointed out the importance of the technologies and the great role they indisputably play in present and future education at all levels, a fact that has been particularly and hugely enhanced and promoted by the COVID-19 pandemic situation, thereby facilitating and fostering distance learning. This is very much connected to the application of AI to higher education, another unavoidable issue of utmost importance for the university of the future. While these technological advances present a challenge to universities, which must determine which are necessary and desirable and how to implement them, it is, ultimately, our responsibility to use them, in an ethical way, to the benefit of our students. The university of the future also has to be of high quality, and this involves carrying out important and decisive action having to do with matters of inclusion, hiring policies and the expansion of international opportunities for all parties involved. Originality/value: This paper outlines the main ideas in connection with what the author conceives to be the university of the future, a university that should not only educate people within the university system but also prepare them to fill specific job positions at both local and global levels, apart from necessarily providing them with the critical thinking and competences in autonomous learning that will make them flexible and capable of adapting to the job market and to a fast-changing world in general. Moreover, the role of new technologies (especially the impact of AI), quality and internationalization are also discussed as relevant factors in this view of the university of the future. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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Attaining self-regulation is a major developmental task in infancy, in which many children show transient difficulties. Persistent, clinically relevant difficulties in self-regulation include excessive crying or sleeping disorders. Many families with affected children are burdened with multiple psychosocial risk. This suggests that regulatory problems are best conceptualized as the maladaptive interplay of overly burdened parents and a dysfunctional parent–child interaction. The current study examines whether social isolation and bonding difficulties function as mediating mechanisms linking maternal psychopathology to (1) children's excessive crying and (2) sleeping problems. The sample comprised N = 6598 mothers (M = 31.51 years) of children between zero to three years of age (M = 14.08 months, 50.1% girls). In addition to socio demographic data, the written questionnaire included information on maternal depression/anxiety, isolation, bonding, and children's regulatory problems. Hypotheses were tested with a mediation model controlling for psychosocial risk and child characteristics. As expected, maternal symptoms of depression/anxiety were linked to infants‘ excessive crying and sleeping problems. Social isolation and bonding difficulties mediated this association for excessive crying as well as for sleeping problems, but social isolation was a single mediator for sleeping problems only. The findings provide important insights in the mediating pathways linking maternal psychopathology to children's regulatory problems.
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The present study assessed factors associated with maternal preferences for their children's educational format (i.e., completely in-person, completely online/remote, or hybrid of in-person and online/remote) for return to school during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether these associations differed between full-time employed mothers and mothers who were not employed. Participants were 911 mothers of school-aged children from the United States (full-time employed, n = 650;not employed, n = 261). Recruitment took place online via social media during Summer 2020. Questionnaires on school modality preference, maternal work status, and demographic characteristics were filled out online through Qualtrics. Compared to mothers who were not employed, full-time employed mothers were more likely to endorse a preference for a hybrid in-person and online/remote educational format for their children and less likely to endorse a preference for a completely online/remote educational format for their children. The factor most strongly associated with maternal preferences for their children's educational format for return to school in both groups of mothers was being worried about my child getting COVID-19 and their health being severely impacted (rs's ranged from −56 to −58;p <.01). Regardless of maternal employment status, this factor continued to have the strongest association with a maternal preference for a completely online educational format in the polynomial regression analysis after controlling for relevant demographic variables (Odds Ratios ranged from 3.63 to 37.64;p <.01). These findings highlight that concerns about child health during the COVID-19 pandemic influence maternal preferences for their children's educational format, regardless of maternal employment status.
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Young adulthood (18–30 years old) is a crucial period due to its developmental tasks such as career establishment and financial independence. However, young adults' relative lack of resources makes them vulnerable to employment disruptions (job loss and income loss), which may have both immediate and long-term effects on their financial wellbeing and mental health. The economic impact of COVID-19 restrictions resulted in an increase in unemployment and a decrease in income worldwide, especially for young adults. This study examined to what extent and how job loss and income loss due to the pandemic influenced young adults' perception of their present financial wellbeing, future financial wellbeing, and psychological wellbeing by using cross-sectional survey data collected from six countries (China, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, and the United States). Results showed that the impact of income loss and job loss on all three types of wellbeing were mediated by young adults' negative perception of the COVID-19 lockdown restriction (i.e., perceived as a misfortune). Cross-country differences existed in the key variables. The association between employment disruptions, young adults' perception of the COVID-19 lockdown restriction, and wellbeing were equivalent across countries except China. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.
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Previous data have suggested an antiviral effect of teriflunomide, including against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent underlying the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We undertook an in vitro investigation to evaluate the inhibitory activity of teriflunomide against SARS-CoV-2 in a cell-based assay. Teriflunomide was added to Vero (kidney epithelial) cells that had been infected with SARS-CoV-2. A nucleocapsid immunofluorescence assay was performed to examine viral inhibition with teriflunomide and any potential cytotoxic effect. The 50% effective concentration (EC(50)) for teriflunomide against SARS-CoV-2 was 15.22 μM. No cytotoxicity was evident for teriflunomide in the Vero cells (i.e., the 50% cytotoxic concentration [CC(50)] was greater than the highest test concentration of 100 μM). The data were supported by additional experiments using other coronaviruses and human cell lines. In the SARS-CoV-2-infected Vero cells, the prodrug leflunomide had an EC(50) of 16.49 μM and a CC(50) of 54.80 μM. Our finding of teriflunomide-mediated inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection at double-digit micromolar potency adds to a growing body of evidence for a broad-ranging antiviral effect of teriflunomide.
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Background: Japan has witnessed an unusual increase in the number of suicides among women during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. An analysis is required to identify the influencing factors during the pandemic and develop new measures for preventing suicides. Methods: Data on the number of monthly suicides were collected from the National Police Agency of Japan. The expected number of suicides among women during the pandemic was estimated using a time-series model based on pre-pandemic data, considering year-to-year trends. The observed-to-expected (O/E) ratio of suicides was estimated from March 2020 to October 2021 using job status, suicide motive, and age. Results: The number of suicides among women in Japan increased beyond the expected number until October 2021. The O/E ratio based on job status, suicide motive, and age (except self-employed, unknown job status, and women aged ≥80 years) was significantly above 1.0 from March–December 2020, and the increase in suicides continued in almost all categories in 2021. Conclusion: Although several reasons were reported for increased suicides among women in Japan during the pandemic (eg, economic downturn, financial instability, and loneliness), suicides increased irrespective of job status, suicide motive, or age. Comprehensive measures to prevent suicide might have been important during the pandemic, instead of limiting interventions to the reported specific population. © 2022 Kohtaro Kikuchi et al.
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Importance: Anxiety disorders are common, highly distressing, and impairing conditions. Effective treatments exist, but many patients do not access or respond to them. Mindfulness-based interventions, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) are popular and can decrease anxiety, but it is unknown how they compare to standard first-line treatments. Objective: To determine whether MBSR is noninferior to escitalopram, a commonly used first-line psychopharmacological treatment for anxiety disorders. Design, Setting, and Participants: This randomized clinical trial (Treatments for Anxiety: Meditation and Escitalopram [TAME]) included a noninferiority design with a prespecified noninferiority margin. Patients were recruited between June 2018 and February 2020. The outcome assessments were performed by blinded clinical interviewer at baseline, week 8 end point, and follow-up visits at 12 and 24 weeks. Of 430 individuals assessed for inclusion, 276 adults with a diagnosed anxiety disorder from 3 urban academic medical centers in the US were recruited for the trial, and 208 completed the trial. Interventions: Participants were 1:1 randomized to 8 weeks of the weekly MBSR course or the antidepressant escitalopram, flexibly dosed from 10 to 20 mg. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome measure was anxiety levels as assessed with the Clinical Global Impression of Severity scale (CGI-S), with a predetermined noninferiority margin of -0.495 points. Results: The primary noninferiority sample consisted of 208 patients (102 in MBSR and 106 in escitalopram), with a mean (SD) age of 33 (13) years;156 participants (75%) were female;32 participants (15%) were African American, 41 (20%) were Asian, 18 (9%) were Hispanic/Latino, 122 (59%) were White, and 13 (6%) were of another race or ethnicity (including Native American or Alaska Native, more than one race, or other, consolidated owing to low numbers). Baseline mean (SD) CGI-S score was 4.44 (0.79) for the MBSR group and 4.51 (0.78) for the escitalopram group in the per-protocol sample and 4.49 (0.77) vs 4.54 (0.83), respectively, in the randomized sample. At end point, the mean (SD) CGI-S score was reduced by 1.35 (1.06) for MBSR and 1.43 (1.17) for escitalopram. The difference between groups was -0.07 (0.16;95% CI, -0.38 to 0.23;P =.65), where the lower bound of the interval fell within the predefined noninferiority margin of -0.495, indicating noninferiority of MBSR compared with escitalopram. Secondary intent-to-treat analyses using imputed data also showed the noninferiority of MBSR compared with escitalopram based on the improvement in CGI-S score. Of patients who started treatment, 10 (8%) dropped out of the escitalopram group and none from the MBSR group due to adverse events. At least 1 study-related adverse event occurred for 110 participants randomized to escitalopram (78.6%) and 21 participants randomized to MBSR (15.4%). Conclusions and Relevance: The results from this randomized clinical trial comparing a standardized evidence-based mindfulness-based intervention with pharmacotherapy for the treatment of anxiety disorders found that MBSR was noninferior to escitalopram. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03522844. © 2023 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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Fibromyalgia (FM) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are two diseases that are frequently codiagnosed and present many similarities, such as poor tolerance to physical exercise. Although exercise is recommended in their daily routine to improve quality of life, little is known about how CFS codiagnosis affects that. Using scientifically validated questionnaires, we evaluated the psychological state and quality of life of patients with FM (n = 70) and how habitual physical exercise (HPE) reported by patients with only FM (FM-only n = 38) or codiagnosed with CFS (FM + CFS, n = 32) influences those aspects. An age-matched reference group of "healthy” women without FM (RG, n = 70) was used. The FM-only group presented a worse psychological state and quality of life compared to RG, with no influence of CFS codiagnosis. The patients of the FM-only and FM + CFS groups who perform HPE presented better levels of stress and state anxiety, but with no differences between them. Depression and trait anxiety improved only in women with just FM. CFS codiagnosis does not worsen the psychological and quality of life impairment of FM patients and does not have a great influence on the positive effect of HPE.
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US workers receive unemployment benefits if they lose their job, but not for reduced working hours. In alignment with the benefits incentives, we find that the labor market responded to COVID-19 and related closure-policies mostly on the extensive (12 pp outright job loss) margin. Exploiting timing variation in state closure-policies, difference-in-differences (DiD) estimates show, between March 12 and April 12, 2020, employment rate fell by 1.7 pp for every 10 extra days of state stay-at-home orders (SAH), with little effect on hours worked/earnings among those employed. Forty percentage of the unemployment was due to a nationwide shock, rest due to social-distancing policies, particularly among "non-essential” workers. © 2022 The Authors. Contemporary Economic Policy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Western Economic Association International.
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Our findings have implications for ensuring an equitable economy that aligns with the needs of those working within it (particularly those in ill-health or facing greater insecurity). Making flexible work more accessible to those that need it, and addressing training needs that have emerged during the pandemic is key. Objective: Disruption to working lives spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic may shape people's preferences for future employment. We aimed to identify the components of work prioritized by a UK sample and the employment changes they had considered since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A nationally representative longitudinal household survey was conducted in Wales at two time points between 2020 and 2021. Results: Those in poorer health prioritized flexibility and were more likely to consider retiring. Those with limiting preexisting conditions or low mental well-being were more likely to consider becoming self-employed. Those experiencing financial insecurity (including those with high wage precarity or those furloughed) were more likely to consider retraining, becoming self-employed, or securing permanent employment. Conclusions: Ensuring flexible, secure, and autonomous work is accessible for individuals facing greater employment-related insecurity may be key.
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Emergency use authorizations (EUAs) are a mechanism to allow for the availability and use of medical products during a public health emergency. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of products have been authorized for use under an EUA. This has led to legal issues—most prominently, the legality of vaccine mandates. Language within the statute that created the EUA pathway has been subject to varying interpretations that could refuse or allow the implementation of EUA vaccine mandates and suits have been filed against organizations that have established vaccine mandates as a term of continued employment.
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Burnout in hospice and palliative care nurses is a growing issue, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies have focused specifically on burnout in this population. A scoping review was undertaken to identify what is known about burnout among hospice and palliative care nurses, and to unify disparate findings. Analysis of eight articles revealed three overarching categories: personal factors, organizational/workplace factors, and nursing professional development factors. Each category was then divided into three cross-cutting subcategories: contributory and noncontributory factors, mitigating factors, and workplace issues. Recommendations for individuals include self-care as well as self-awareness of intrinsic characteristics that can predispose one to burnout. Within the workplace, leaders are challenged to support evidence-based practice and ongoing education. Role modeling positive communication skills, effective conflict mitigation, responsiveness, promotion of equity, and workplace commitment also help to create a culture of wellness. Nursing professional development may aid in resilience-building, and promotion of self-efficacy, self-confidence, and assertiveness. Although all identified recommendations were derived from the literature, no interventional studies have been conducted to test the effects of suggested interventions. Future research should include interventional studies as well as qualitative research to capture nuanced experiences of burnout in hospice and palliative care nurses.
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, "smart working” (hereafter SW) has become the norm for millions of workers around the world. A new way of working for most workers and in particular in Italy, a country where the use of SW was extremely rare before the pandemic. The aim of this paper, was to highlights whether smart working, adopted to face and survive global crises, could be really a suitable tool to generate benefits for companies, society, reduce environmental impacts and guarantee autonomy and flexibility for workers as well as a balance between private life. The analysis was conducted on a sample of 2753 individuals based in Italy during the period January and February 2021 using PLS-SEM model. The contribution of this study to research is identified in clarifying the potential of SW to create sustainable Smart Cities. © 2022 Elsevier Inc.
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Purpose: The present study is an intra-industry analysis, which aims to investigate whether the impact of COVID-19 on employment level, clientele rate, liquidity constraints and sustainability aspect of different food outlets is symmetric or asymmetric in nature. Design/methodology/approach: With the help of well-structured questionnaire, the study has surveyed 80 food outlets in total by interviewing the managers and owners of these outlets. Food outlets have been classified into four categories namely international, national, local and street food outlets. Econometric techniques like MANOVA and Garret ranking have been employed to fulfil the objective of the study. Findings: The results depict that the impact of COVID-19 on employment level and liquidity constraints is significantly asymmetric amongst different groups of food outlets, even though the decline in extent of clientele is somewhat same for all groups. The survival aspect of outlets also witnesses clear-cut asymmetry in results as big outlets have greater potential to survive for longer if lockdown happens again when compared to street food outlets as their financial availability and stability differ. Research limitations/implications: The sample size of study is restricted, mainly due to lesser number of national franchise's food outlets available in Amritsar, though other categories of eateries were sufficient in number. Further, the study is restricted only to one district of Punjab state, whereas for future research, inter-district comparison can be done. Practical implications: The findings reveal that the street food outlets may gain by fostering its online functioning. Similarly national food outlets are encouraged to alter their business strategies to revive their sales against their competitors. Originality/value: This study is one of the explorer studies to analyse the impact of COVID-19 by making an intra-industry comparison for the eatery industry – considering four different categories of eateries. The classification of eateries helps in analysing whether the employment level, clientele rate, liquidity constraints and survival perspective have been affected symmetrically for the whole eateries industry or does severity of being affected differ asymmetrically. The study makes a contribution by adding a new string of dimension to the existing load of literature in the domain of hospitality. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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Background: Building a safety culture is essential to facilitate infection prevention and control (IPC) adherence in workplaces. We aimed to explore perceptions, barriers and facilitators to IPC procedures by the Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) at Howard Springs International Quarantine Facility (HSIQF). Methods: We performed a descriptive analysis of a cross-sectional survey administered to the AUSMAT employed at HSQIF from October 2020 to April 2021. We described motivation, training and compliance to IPC adherence and Likert scales described the level of agreement to the success of IPC procedures across the domains of communication, risk, trust, safety and environment, from the individual, team and organisational perspective. Results: There were 101 participants (response rate 59%, 101/170) and 70% (71/101) were clinical. There was strong agreement to the success of IPC procedures, with a median 4 (agree) or 5 (strongly agree) across each domain and perspective of the 67 Likert items. Clinical staff reported slightly higher agreement than non-clinical staff across Likert items. To improve IPC compliance, most reported that daily training should be provided (77/97, 79%) and daily training was very or extremely effective (91/97, 93%). Participants were motivated by protecting self, friends, family and the community rather than workplace pressures. Barriers to IPC compliance were the ambient environment and fatigue. Conclusions: A safety culture was successfully built at HSQIF to optimise IPC adherence whilst managing multiple hazards including prevention of COVID-19 transmission. Strategies implemented by AUSMAT at the quarantine facility may inform the development of safety culture in other settings. © 2022 The Author(s)
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Purpose: The United States has seen a rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs);the need to increase access for screening is essential to reverse this trend, especially for vulnerable populations such as LGBT+ individuals, people of color, or those at a low socioeconomic status. This study's primary objective is to assess preferences for mail-in STI screening among participants assigned female at birth already established with a primary care clinic. The study aims to provide insight into the need for clinicians to adopt mail-in testing for patients to improve screening access. Methods: Participants were recruited for this cross-sectional study from a clinical database of established patients with a focus on USPSTF recommendations for STI screening such as assigned female at birth (AFAB) and aged 18–24 years. Recruitment was done through a mailer from September to October 2021, inviting participants to complete an online survey. Statistical analyses were conducted using SAS software (SAS Institute Inc., Cary NC), version 9.4. Results: Overall, there was as a higher preference for home testing (61/88 = 0.69, 95% CI 0.59-0.79) among respondents. LGBT+ identity, age, recent clinical encounter, relationship status, living situation, or race and/or ethnicity, were not statistically significant associated with preference for home testing. However, there were lower odds for preferring home collection among participants with less education (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.08-0.77, p<0.05), who lacked insurance (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.06-0.67, p<0.05), or were unemployed (OR 0.28, 95% CI 0.08-0.95;p<0.05). Conclusions: Results from this survey indicate the desire for home testing among individuals from all demographics, influenced by social determinants of health such as education level and employment and insurance status. with overall acceptability for self-collection STI screening through mail-in methods (61/88=0.69;95% CI 0.59-0.79). The rising rates of STIs among young adults and delays in routine STI services secondary due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and budget cuts emphasize the importance of new approaches to STI screening. Primary care clinics can expand needed screening by integrating such methods into workflows for established patients. These findings indicate a need for innovative outreach efforts to curb rising rates of STIs in the United States with additional consideration for research specific to LGBT+ health care needs, updated USPSTF recommendations for screening, and inclusive public health messaging. Sources of Support: Dr. Tana Chongsuwat was supported by the University of Wisconsin Primary Care Research Fellowship, funded by grant T32HP10010 from the Health Resources and Services Administration. The study was funded by a small grant by the University of Wisconsin Department of Pediatrics.
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From an increasingly early age, girls and boys handle technology, and digital education must become an essential part of the training of young people. The European Union has recognized that it is urgent to strengthen training in digital competence throughout Europe so that Member States can recover from the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to building the foundations for a more ecological and digital Europe. In line with European policies, Spain has designed a national plan for digital skills, providing a strategic framework aligned with the 2030 agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). From the private sector, digital education initiatives have also been proposed. Thus, the Vodafone Spain Foundation has designed and is carrying out an educational program for the development of digital competence. In this educational program, gamification is part of both the training activities and the evaluation process, and in both cases, it is understood as a strategy aimed to promote engagement to the training process. This chapter presents the educational program DigiCraft for the development of digital competence and the evaluation process designed to verify their acquisition, in which the game has a fundamental pedagogical role. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Rationale: To reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), including school closures, hand hygiene, mask mandates, and social distancing, were enforced in Arkansas from 3/2020-2/2021. We hypothesized that the presence of NPIs would correlate with a decrease in asthma exacerbations and viral infections. Methods: Demographic information was collected on subjects with asthma exacerbations or viral infections from 3/2018-5/2022, including age, race, ethnicity, and sex. To evaluate the effects of NPIs, three periods were considered: pre- (03/2018-02/2020), during (03/2020-02/2021), and post- (03/2021-05/2022) NPIs. ANOVA analysis and generalized linear models were performed to determine statistical significance. The stringency of NPIs was evaluated using publicly available data (Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker), which allows for direct comparison of Arkansas NPI status to exacerbation data during the same time periods. Results: 5055 asthma exacerbations (3322 unique subjects) occurred between 3/2018-5/2022. Asthma exacerbations decreased from 3/2020-3/2021 and returned to pre-pandemic numbers by summer 2021 (p<0.0001). Similar downward trends occurred for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) with out-of-season return in summer 2021 (p<0.0001). Rhinovirus was present throughout NPIs. The mean age of exacerbations decreased by 0.9 years when comparing the during NPIs and after NPIs periods (p = 0.0002). An increase in the proportion of exacerbations was noted for non-black and other/unknown ethnicity subjects during and after NPIs. Conclusions: Fewer asthma exacerbations occurred during the most significant NPI employment period (03/2020-02/2021), and an increase in exacerbations was seen as mitigation strategies were relaxed, which correlated with timing of increasing RSV infections.