Search Results (3,824)

The abrupt COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 offered a unique natural experiment to examine vegetation productivity responses to sudden declines in human activity. Although vegetation often responds to environmental changes with time lags, how such lags operate under short-term, intensive disturbances remains unclear. This study combined multi-source environmental data with an interpretable machine learning framework (XGBoost-SHAP) to analyze spatiotemporal variations in net primary productivity (NPP) across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region during the strict lockdown (March–May) and recovery (June–August) periods, using 2017–2019 as a baseline. Results indicate that: (1) NPP showed a significant increase during lockdown, with 88.4% of pixels showing positive changes, especially in central urban areas. During recovery, vegetation responses weakened (65.31% positive) and became more spatially heterogeneous. (2) Integrating lagged environmental variables improved model performance (R² increased by an average of 0.071). SHAP analysis identified climatic factors (temperature, precipitation, radiation) as dominant drivers of NPP, while aerosol optical depth (AOD) and nighttime light (NTL) had minimal influence and weak lagged effects. Importantly, under lockdown, vegetation exhibited stronger immediate responses to concurrent temperature, precipitation, and radiation (SHAP contribution increased by approximately 7.05% compared to the baseline), whereas lagged effects seen in baseline conditions were substantially reduced. Compared to the lockdown period, anthropogenic disturbances during the recovery phase showed a direct weakening of their impact (decreasing by 6.01%). However, the air quality improvements resulting from the spring lockdown exhibited a significant cross-seasonal lag effect. (3) Spatially, NPP response times showed an “urban-immediate, mountainous-delayed” pattern, reflecting both the ecological memory of mountain systems and the rapid adjustment capacity of urban vegetation. These findings demonstrate that short-term removal of anthropogenic disturbances shifted vegetation responses toward greater immediacy and sensitivity to environmental conditions. This offers new insights into a “green window period” for ecological management and supports evidence-based, adaptive regional climate and ecosystem policies. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented slowdown in global economic and transportation activities, offering a unique opportunity to assess the relationship between human activity and atmospheric pollution. This study analyzes global variations in major air pollutants and meteorological conditions during the pandemic period using multi-satellite and reanalysis datasets. Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) data were obtained from the OMI sensor aboard NASA’s Aura satellite, while carbon monoxide (CO) observations were taken from the MOPITT instrument on Terra. Reanalysis products from MERRA-2 were used to assess CO, sulfur dioxide (SO₂), black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and key meteorological variables, including temperature, precipitation, evaporation, wind speed, and direction. Average concentrations of pollutants for April, May, and June 2020, representing the lockdown phase, were compared with the average values of the same months during 2017–2019, representing pre-pandemic conditions. The difference between these multi-year means was used to quantify spatial changes in pollutant levels. Results reveal widespread reductions in NO₂, CO, SO₂, and BC concentrations across major industrial and urban regions worldwide, consistent with decreased anthropogenic activity during lockdowns. Meteorological analysis indicates that the observed reductions were not primarily driven by short-term weather variability, confirming that the declines are largely attributable to reduced emissions. Unlike most previous studies, which examined local or regional air-quality changes, this work provides a consistent global-scale assessment using harmonized multi-sensor datasets and uniform temporal baselines. These findings highlight the strong influence of human activities on atmospheric composition and demonstrate how large-scale behavioral and economic shifts can rapidly alter air quality on a global scale. The results also provide valuable baseline information for understanding emission–climate interactions and for guiding post-pandemic strategies aimed at sustainable air-quality management. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most globally disruptive social events in recent history, bringing widespread lockdowns, restrictions on movement, remote work, mass vaccination campaigns, and millions of deaths worldwide. These unprecedented circumstances have reshaped many aspects of social life, including perceptions of safety and firearm ownership. This study examines changes in reported gun ownership before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, using binary logistic regression analyses of General Social Survey (GSS) data from 2018 and 2021. Analysis revealed that reported gun ownership remained stable at approximately 35% in both years. However, the demographic and social profile of gun owners shifted significantly. Demographic factors such as sex, US birth, marital status, and income consistently predicted ownership in both years, while race, middle-class identification, and political party affiliation emerged as significant predictors only during the pandemic, with Democrats becoming significantly less likely to report gun ownership. The results demonstrate how social crises can reshape the composition of firearm owners rather than overall rates, with implications for public policy and safety. Full article

We explore a rigorous formulation of agent-based SIR epidemic dynamics as a discrete-state Markov process, capturing the stochastic propagation of infection or an invading agent on networks. Using indicator functions and corresponding marginal probabilities, we derive a hierarchy of evolution equations that resembles the classical BBGKY hierarchy in statistical mechanics. The structure of these equations clarifies the challenges of closure and highlights the principal problem of systemic complexity arising from stochastic but generally not fully chaotic interactions. Monte Carlo simulations are used to validate simplified closures and approximations, offering a unified perspective on the interplay between network topology, stochasticity, and infection dynamics. We also explore the impact of lockdown measures within a networked agent framework, illustrating how SIR dynamics and structural complexity of the network shape epidemic with propagation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Italy taken as an example. Full article

Background: The (COVID-19) pandemic profoundly disrupted daily routines and physical activity (PA), especially among university students, due to restrictions and limited access to sports facilities. As this group is particularly vulnerable to sedentary lifestyles and mental health issues, understanding their PA patterns is crucial. This study explores overall and domain-specific PA levels and the influence of sociodemographic factors, offering insights for promoting sustainable PA strategies in higher education during and beyond health crises. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among University of Foggia students during the pandemic. The participants completed the validated Italian IPAQ-Long to assess PA across various domains. Associations with demographics and perceived barriers were analyzed via t tests, ANOVA, and nonparametric tests. Results: A total of 301 students completed the survey. Despite barriers such as limited living space, low income, and sports facility closures, 66% of the participants reported high PA levels, mainly through work-related and leisure activities. This remains insufficient. PA varied significantly by gender, income, residence, and employment status: males reported higher leisure PA, whereas females engaged more in active transport and domestic activities. Rural residents and those with moderate incomes demonstrated higher overall PA, whereas employed students presented lower activity levels. These findings underscore the complex socioeconomic and environmental factors shaping PA behavior during an unprecedented global health crisis. Conclusions: The findings reveal that students’ resilience in maintaining PA is a coping mechanism despite socioeconomic and environmental barriers. Tailored, accessible PA initiatives integrated into university curricula can enhance student well-being, academic performance, and long-term health during and after public health emergencies. Universities should adopt accessible, equity-oriented PA initiatives to promote physical and mental health and enhance public-health preparedness during future emergencies. Full article

Cortisol is built into the circadian clock mechanism, but it is also the body’s natural response to stress. Insight into sex-specific cortisol fluctuations may elucidate individual differences in physiological and pathological patterns. This cross-sectional study examined sex-specific adaptation to stress induced by COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown in foreign medical students at I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ukraine (TNMU). Salivary cortisol was analyzed using cluster-based mathematical modeling to identify natural groupings in the data. Perceived stress was measured using Perceived stress scale-10 (PSS-10). The academic success was accessed from the official records of the TNMU. Average value of area under the curve (AUC) of daily salivary cortisol from the whole sample showed that men had higher cortisol than women. Mathematical clustering explained shift of the cortisol peak, and divided sample into 5 clusters—two of which had predicted daily cortisol pattern and represented most participants (65.6% men and 73.6% women), while the rest had aberrant daily cortisol pattern. Females had higher total PSS-10 score than males. PSS-10 subscales correlated with aberrant daily cortisol pattern. Unexpectedly, COVID-related circumstances did not have impact on participants’ academic success. Full article

Understanding the impact of human disturbance on urban vegetation is a key issue in urban sustainability, particularly in complex urban ecosystems. Using the COVID-19 lockdown as a quasi-natural experiment, this study examined vegetation responses to varying disturbance intensities across a university campus, comparing a low-disturbance phase (April 2022) with short-term recovery (July 2022, when human activity resumed) and long-term recovery (April 2024). Human disturbance was quantified based on activity restriction, duration, and population density, while vegetation responses were assessed using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC) across woodlands, lawns, and greenways. Results revealed significant spatial and temporal variability: High-intensity zones showed rapid but short-lived recovery, driven by seasonal phenology and the structural filling of exposed surfaces, but failed to sustain these gains over the long term. In contrast, moderate- and low-intensity areas exhibited more stable, long-term recovery, consistent with the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis. Woodlands demonstrated strong ecological stability, lawns maintained consistent recovery under regular management, and greenways showed greater resilience in enclosed segments. These findings indicate that regulated human activity can coexist with ecological resilience, providing evidence-based insights for differentiated management of urban green spaces and sustainable recovery strategies. Full article

Teacher occupational health is a critical issue worldwide that COVID-19 has worsened. While previous research has highlighted the impact of chronic work-related stress and limited personal resources on burnout, much of this research relies on cross-sectional data that do not capture how these effects develop over time. Additionally, the role of positive organizational factors remains underexplored. Our study examined burnout trajectories among 101 Portuguese elementary teachers (94.1% women, M = 46.03 years, 85.6% enrollment rate) over five data collection points spanning the 1st and 2nd COVID-19 waves (2019–2021) and investigated the impact of organizational climate on teacher burnout indicators. Main work-related stressors were identified through an open-ended question. Trajectories of occupational stress and burnout were analyzed using independent ANOVAs, and moderation analyses tested the relationship between organizational climate, occupational stress, and burnout indicators. Results showed a significant drop in perceived personal accomplishment during the first lockdown. Key stressors included greater job demands and more strained interpersonal relationships. Organizational climate significantly moderated the effect of work-related stress on emotional exhaustion, while having a positive main effect on personal accomplishment. This research contributes to a strengthened theoretical understanding of burnout as a dynamic, context-sensitive process, offering new empirical evidence, especially in underrepresented educational systems like Portugal. It emphasizes the importance of addressing contextual factors when working to reduce teacher burnout. Rethinking professional development and workplace relationships is essential for supporting teachers’ occupational health in today’s uncertain educational environments. Full article

In recent years, China has made strong national commitments to waste reduction and circular economy, including the implementation of mandatory municipal solid waste separation policies and the rollout of zero-waste city initiatives. These efforts represent a strategic shift toward systemic environmental governance. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020—and the subsequent implementation of the country’s stringent zero-COVID policy—led to an abrupt disruption of these programs. Under this policy, strict lockdowns, quarantine of both confirmed and suspected cases, and city-wide containment became top priorities, sidelining environmental initiatives such as waste separation and sustainable waste infrastructure development. This study investigates how Chinese residents’ motivations for waste separation evolved across three key phases: pre-pandemic, during the zero-COVID enforcement period, and post-pandemic recovery. Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior and pro-environmental behavior theory, we developed an extended model incorporating pandemic-related social, psychological, and policy variables. Based on 526 valid questionnaire responses collected in late 2023 in Shanghai, we conducted structural equation modeling and repeated-measures analysis. Findings reveal a significant shift from externally driven compliance—reliant on governmental enforcement and service provision—to internally motivated behavior based on environmental values and personal efficacy. This transition was most evident after the pandemic, suggesting the potential for sustained pro-environmental habits despite weakened policy enforcement. Our findings underscore the importance of strengthening internal drivers in environmental governance, especially under conditions where policy continuity is vulnerable to systemic shocks such as public health emergencies. Full article

This study aimed to determine carbonyl compound concentrations and assess their potential health risk in indoor air at three homes in different areas of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) during the COVID-19 lockdown. Sampling was conducted from March to April 2021, during the home office confinement period. Average concentrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, acetone, propionaldehyde, and butyraldehyde in living rooms ranged from 84.15 to 74.93 μg m⁻³, 66.49 to 50.20 μg m⁻³, 60.01 to 41.35 μg m⁻³, 74.58 to 63.02 μg m⁻³, 10.90 to 6.21 μg m⁻³, and 12.45 to 9.91 μg m⁻³, respectively. In bedrooms, concentrations ranged from 84.76 to 59.70 μg m⁻³, 50.12 to 51.73 μg m⁻³, 59.74 to 37.25 μg m⁻³, 76.62 to 59.72 μg m⁻³, 14.45 to 8.40 μg m⁻³, and 10.72 to 8.82 μg m⁻³, respectively. All measured carbonyls had significant indoor concentrations, exceeding those reported in other studies worldwide. From the statistical analysis, it was found that there were significant differences in carbonyl levels between the studied homes. This suggests diverse and prevalent sources in these environments. E-cigarette vapors clearly increased acrolein levels, and the use of personal care and household products (PCHPs) also contributed to higher carbonyl concentrations indoors. The lifetime cancer risk coefficient (LTCR) and hazard quotient (HQ) values for formaldehyde and acetaldehyde exceeded WHO and US EPA recommendations, indicating increased risks of both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects. Full article

Background: Better understanding factors leading to suicide and prevention opportunities is a global public health priority. This qualitative pilot study tested whether reviewing inquest recordings could generate insights during COVID-19 and inform public health prevention programmes across a predominantly rural and coastal area where there are significant health inequalities. Methods: Fifty-five inquest recordings reached a suicide conclusion between March 2020 and January 2021. Stratified sampling was used to obtain two samples from each month. Template analysis was employed to thematically analyse data from 30 inquests. Results: Risk factors during this period were social isolation, anxiety, difficulty in routine creation and maintenance, low mood and economic impact. Remote working in a more rural/coastal area impacted both healthcare service users and staff. Lockdown and other multiple risk factors impacted those at increased risk of poor mental health and suicide. Conclusions: There is a need to identify those at risk and with deteriorating mental health. All age trauma-informed approaches are needed to prevent individuals from reaching crisis along with more equitable services and community support due to the complex nature of suicide. This requires consideration of digital access/exclusion, training, continuity of care and enhanced care of those with additional needs and multiple vulnerabilities. Full article

COVID-19 lockdown announcements triggered global waves of panic buying, leading to widespread panic buying of essential goods and supply chain disruptions. Although the acute phase of the pandemic has passed, panic buying continues to emerge during natural disasters, extreme weather events, and other crisis-related disruptions, highlighting the ongoing need for evidence-based strategies to address its psychological drivers. Social cognition constructs, including willingness, intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and risk perceptions, have been identified as modifiable psychological predictors of panic buying. However, few studies have experimentally tested theory-driven interventions aimed at modifying these mechanisms. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a brief, online intervention based on integrated social cognition models in reducing panic-buying-related cognitions during a hypothetical lockdown scenario. A pre-registered randomized controlled trial was conducted with Australian grocery shoppers (N = 140), who were randomly allocated to an intervention or control condition. Participants completed self-report measures assessing their willingness, intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and risk perceptions at both pre- and post-intervention times. The hypotheses were partially supported. Compared with the control condition, the intervention group reported greater reductions across targeted psychological constructs. For hygiene products, significant decreases were observed across all five constructs, and for non-perishable foods, willingness, intention, and attitudes significantly decreased. For cleaning products, reductions were evident for attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions. These findings suggest that theory-informed, scalable interventions can effectively modify the social cognition processes underlying panic buying. This study extends existing research and demonstrates the potential for brief, theory-based communication strategies to reduce panic-buying-related cognitions. Future research should evaluate these interventions in real-world settings and explore mechanisms to target automatic cognitive processes. Full article

This study examines how the explanations about school violence are constructed in Chilean online newspapers after the country—which had the longest period of school closures—returned to in-person classes. During early 2022, several complaints of school violence surged compared to the lockdown years, prompting questions about how the media shaped public interpretations of this rise. Using a content analysis of three Chilean online newspapers (“SoyChile”, “ElMostrador”, and “LUN”), this study reconstructed the Subjective Theories (STs) conveyed in their coverage. All articles (n = 50) published during three strategic periods of the 2022 school year were analyzed to identify explicit and implicit theories about the causes, intervening conditions, and strategies for addressing school violence. The most prevalent ST framed school violence as a structural problem, appearing 27 times. This narrative portrays the phenomenon as both inevitable and beyond the control of key actors, such as caregivers, teachers, school leaders, authorities, and students, ultimately reducing perceived accountability and agency in prevention or intervention efforts. Media discourse tended to legitimize explanations that locate school violence outside the sphere of individual or institutional responsibility. Full article

Public health emergencies (PHEs) test the crisis response capacity of grassroots organizations like China’s Residential Committees (RCs). While existing research attributes this capacity to factors like resource mobilization or state-society relations, its deeper structural foundations in land regimes and spatial configurations remain underexplored, particularly in Global South urbanization contexts. To fill this gap, this study develops a “Grassroots Organizational Capacity” (GOC) analytical framework, which disaggregates capacity into four dimensions: information, implementation, mobilization and cooperation, and coercion. We then employ this framework in a comparative case study of urban (Jiayi) and rural (Hedong) neighbourhoods in Nanhai, China, during the 2022 lockdown. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with ten key stakeholders in 2022, the findings reveal divergent types of governance. In the rural case, collective land ownership and open spaces foster an “Embedded Autonomy” type, enabling a proactive response through dense social networks. In the urban case, state land dependency and spatial fragmentation lead to a “Reactive Co-Governance” type, which relies on top-down state intervention. This study’s contribution is to provide a case-based illustration of how land and space structures are actively associated with grassroots crisis response effectiveness, rather than serving as passive backdrops. Full article

Previous studies have shown that religion and spirituality can provide resources to cope with aging and impact the well-being of older adults. However, whether religiosity and well-being are linked depends on how they are measured. Moreover, the size of statistically significant effects often remains small or even negligible. In Switzerland, two historical religious communities—Catholic and Protestant—have coexisted for centuries, providing an opportunity for exploring potential differences in religious practices of members of these two communities and their effects on well-being. Two populations were targeted: elderly people engaged in organized volunteering and elderly people receiving home care services. A total of 617 volunteers and 614 home care clients returned complete and valid questionnaires. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 43 volunteers and 35 home care clients to gain deeper insights into their experiences. Since the data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, we also explored how participants experienced the semi-lockdown restrictions. The results show that knowing religious affiliation is not sufficient to predict well-being. The degree of identification with the declared affiliation must also be taken into account. Differences between Protestants and Catholics can be highlighted, especially when considering religious practices in more detail. The impact of the pandemic on well-being is only moderately associated with religiosity. Full article