Short-term relation between air pollutants and hospitalizations for respiratory diseases: analysis by temporal association rules.

This study investigates the relation between exposure to critical air pollution events with multipollutant (CO, PM10, PM2.5, NO2, O3, and SO2) and hospitalizations for respiratory diseases in the metropolitan area of São Paulo (RMSP) and in the countryside and coastline, from 2017 to 2021. Data mining analysis by temporal association rules searched for frequent patterns of respiratory diseases and multipollutants associated with time intervals. In the results, pollutants PM10, PM2.5, and O3 showed high concentration values in the three regions, SO2 on the coast, and NO2 in the RMSP. Seasonality was similar between pollutants and between cities and concentrations significantly higher in winter, except for O3, which was present in warm seasons. Hospitalizations were recurrent during the transition from summer to colder periods. In approximately 35% of the total days with hospitalization greater than the annual average, one or more pollutants had a high concentration. The rules showed that PM2.5, PM10, and O3 pollutants are strongly associated with increased hospitalizations in the RMSP (PM2.5 and PM10 with 38.5% support and 77% confidence) and in Campinas (PM2.5 with 66.1% support and 94% confidence) and the pollutant O3 with maximum support of 17.5%. On the coast, SO2 was related to high hospitalizations (43.85% support and 80% confidence). The pollutants CO and NO2 were not associated with the increase in hospitalizations. The ratio delay indicates the pollutants that were associated with hospitalizations, having concentration remained above the limit for three days, oscillating in smaller hospitalizations on the 1st day and again higher on the 2nd and 3rd days of delay, in a decreasing way. In conclusion, high pollutant exposure is significantly associated with daily hospitalization for respiratory problems. The cumulative effect of air pollutants increased hospitalization in the following days, in addition to identifying the pollutants and which pollutant combinations are most harmful to health in each region.

Interaction through mobile technology in short-term university courses.

Nowadays, online or distance learning postgraduate schools program the academic period in different sequentially developed modules. This article assesses the impact of the programming of short-term university courses (30-60 days) on the frequency and quality of interaction when communication takes place through mobile technologies. Frequency corresponded to the messages generated by actors in learning environments, and quality was quantified using a scale of interaction levels operated by assessing the content of the messages issued by the actors. Results revealed that there is no correlation between interaction and academic performance in short-term courses. Additionally, a downward trend was observed in the number of individuals involved and in the frequency and quality of interaction throughout the course.

A conceptual framework for studying the strength of plant-animal mutualistic interactions.

The strength of species interactions influences strongly the structure and dynamics of ecological systems. Thus, quantifying such strength is crucial to understand how species interactions shape communities and ecosystems. Although the concepts and measurement of interaction strength in food webs have received much attention, there has been comparatively little progress in the context of mutualism. We propose a conceptual scheme for studying the strength of plant-animal mutualistic interactions. We first review the interaction strength concepts developed for food webs, and explore how these concepts have been applied to mutualistic interactions. We then outline and explain a conceptual framework for defining ecological effects in plant-animal mutualisms. We give recommendations for measuring interaction strength from data collected in field studies based on a proposed approach for the assessment of interaction strength in plant-animal mutualisms. This approach is conceptually integrative and methodologically feasible, as it focuses on two key variables usually measured in field studies: the frequency of interactions and the fitness components influenced by the interactions.