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Backround: Education and medical training were impacted heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic. Exposed to stress and burnout, many trainees, including medical students and residents, exhibited psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. In contrast, others were asymptomatic. A better understanding of clinical variability among medical trainees exposed to overwhelming stress could be helpful for planning and navigating future emergencies. Objectives: To elucidate the role of vulnerability and resilience of young medical students and residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a pilot study, by psychiatric interview of both symptomatic and asymptomatic students and residents from three Southern California universities. Formal IRB approval was not sought due to the pilot, urgency, and the supportive nature of the intervention; however, all participants provided informed consent prior to the interviews.Methods: Screening for early signs of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation was completed by using semi-structured psychiatric interviews based on DSM-5 criteria. Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ), a 32-item checklist designed to promote explicit and comprehensive reporting of qualitative research studies, was utilized.In general, the trainees who harbored second thoughts about their suitability for medical profession exhibited more symptoms of mental distress compared to the students and residents who believed they were “meant” to be physicians. Results: Our findings suggest that doubts about the practice of medicine may be associated with increased psychiatric distress during crisis situations, although further controlled research is needed to clarify causality, as this was a small, non-controlled pilot study that did not control for confounding variables such as pre-existing mental health status, personality traits, or academic performances. Conversely, problem identification and early treatment may mitigate the emergence of psychiatric symptoms.Conclusions: Our pilot study is in line with larger studies that looked at preexisting emotional distress as a deterrent for adequate response during disasters.

The International Coffee Convention 2024 (ICC2024) continued the discussions initiated at ICC2023, focusing on coffee's transition and the industry's challenges. The event, held on October 17-18 in Mannheim, started with a welcome speech from Vanúsia Nogueira, the Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), and brought together leading industry figures, experts, and stakeholders. The convention examined multiple aspects of the coffee sector, including the future landscape of coffee species, particularly the potential of Coffea canephora and other species such as C. racemosa and C. stenophylla. A key highlight was an exclusive satellite workshop, organized in partnership with the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the Coffee Consulate, RD2Vision, and supported by the ICO, which addressed the use of coffee genetic resources within the framework of the Nagoya Protocol. Coffee production's environmental footprint emerged as a central theme of the conference, with discussions covering deforestation policies, fermentation techniques, and processing methods. The sessions explored innovations in coffee preparation and business, from roasting techniques to crafting the perfect Café Crème. The program included analyses of coffee's nutritional impacts, health benefits and risks, and the evidence supporting health claims. Sustainable use of coffee by-products was also featured, stressing both challenges and opportunities. ICC2024 gathered international experts who shared scientific knowledge and practical insights. The convention ended with the presentation of the Kaldi Award, recognizing significant contributions to the coffee industry. Through this comprehensive program, ICC2024 contributed to shaping coffee's future by facilitating truly interdisciplinary knowledge exchange and addressing key industry challenges and opportunities.

Awassi sheep demonstrate a robust capacity to thrive in arid climates, underscoring the feasibility of sheep farming in challenging environments. However, productivity constraints necessitate the application of selective breeding techniques and improved management practices. This study, conducted at the Al-Fjaj Station in Jordan, analyzed 2,263 weight records from Awassi sheep reared under a semi-intensive system to assess the environmental and genetic determinants of lamb weight and to estimate heritability and breeding values. Analysis of variance indicated that factors such as birth type, sex, parity, and ewe age at lambing significantly influenced lamb weight. Notably, single-born lambs were heavier at birth, males consistently exhibited greater weights than females, and lambs from younger ewes were initially lighter but demonstrated compensatory growth over time. Although strong positive correlations were observed among weaning, six-month, and yearling weights, birth weight had a relatively minor influence on subsequent weight development. The findings further revealed that individual rams exerted a significant effect on lamb weights, with heritability estimates indicating a moderate genetic contribution. These results suggest that selection based on a single weight trait may confer benefits across other traits and that the observed decline in breeding values with age supports the application of index selection. In conclusion, the strategic selection of rams with superior breeding values, in conjunction with rigorous monitoring of weight measures, is critical for advancing genetic progress and ensuring sustainable lamb production in arid regions.

There is currently an enlivened debate regarding the possibility of AI consciousness and/or sentience, as well as arguably more partial capabilities we associate with consciousness such as intelligence or creativity. The debate itself can be traced back to the inception of computing, but its current revitalisation is powered by recent advancements in the field of artificial intelligence that saw a swift increase in its capabilities to act in seemingly human-like ways. I argue that the debate is methodologically flawed, as it approaches the question of AI consciousness, intelligence, etc. as a decidable question dealing with matters of fact. Those engaged in the debate are driven by a desire to find a suitable definition of e.g. consciousness that would allow them to definitively settle the question of whether a particular AI system is conscious. However, drawing on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later philosophy, I argue that no such definition exists, because the predicates in question are inherently vague (meaning that any verdicts they yield are bound to be vague, too). Moreover, the impression that we might be dealing with directly unobservable matters of fact is itself a flawed generalisation of the practice of observation reports to the practice of sensation reports[1]. In reality, third-person consciousness (sentience, agency, etc.) attributions are independent of a stipulated internal process happening inside those persons (or systems, in the case of AI). Therefore, the only sense in which the question of e.g. AI consciousness can be meaningfully asked is a pragmatic sense: what is it best to think of such systems as? But this question is subject to sociological and psychological factors, not conceptual ones. Therefore, it cannot be decided by the aforementioned strategies.

This study offers a systematic and comprehensive overview of the research in economics published throughout the first quarter of the twenty-first century (from the year 2000 to the end of 2024). To undertake the endeavor, every article published in each of seven selected top journals in the field has been classified according to a pre-specified list of one hundred keywords. Three keywords selected from the list were assigned to each article, given the subjects they cover and the methods of analysis they employ. The proposed exercise reveals a widely diversified science, which touches every aspect of human decision-making and human interaction, at every imaginable scale and regardless of geography. It is also a science that looks at the past to understand the future, and a body of knowledge capable of reinventing itself in the face of the evolution of society. Much more than before, economics deals today with such themes as income inequality, climate change, healthcare, education, and gender and race issues; while maintaining a close look at traditional micro and macro topics, such as market competition or business fluctuations. Methodologically, a gradual revolution has taken place, with natural experiments progressively becoming a fundamental tool of economic inquiry.

Introduction:Aedes species are a major public health concern due to their ability to be efficient vectors of dengue, and other arboviruses. Ovitrap is an entomological surveillance tool designed to measure the density of Aedes. Ovitraps used for monitoring can detect Aedes mosquito populations, thus acting as an early warning system to prevent dengue outbreaks. Meteorological factor such as temperature and rainfall played great role in affecting the abundance of Aedes mosquitoes. This study aimed to assess the presence and abundance of Aedes species, and to determine the correlation of meteorological factors with Ovitrap index. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in coastal area of Besut district, Terengganu state of Malaysia. The study samples were 3120 Ovitraps placed in only occupied premises. Data were collected from Besut Meteorological Department database and respective Ovitrap sentinel stations. The independent variables were environmental temperature and rainfall density, while the dependent variable was Ovitrap index which served as the indicator for Aedes density. Descriptive and correlation analysis were employed for assessing the Ovitrap index, and determining the correlation of Ovitrap Index with temperature, and rainfall distribution. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results:Aedes distribution study showed that Aedesaegypti were more prevalent than Aedes albopictus, with 2,383 larvae of Aedes aegypti being recorded compared to 2,198 larvae of Aedes albopictus. The findings also revealed a significant correlation between the Ovitrap index and temperature (r=0.82, p=0.03) but the analysis showed no statistically significant correlation between the Ovitrap index and the rainfall distribution, with (r=0.15, p=0.62). Conclusion: Temperature plays important role in determining Aedes distribution. The high population of Aedes aegypti highlights the need for proper control actions such as Aedes source reduction.

In this paper, we introduce an approximated quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) formulation on satisfiability (SAT) problems derived from real-world applications. The proposed method is an inexact (approximated) formalization of a SAT instance to a QUBO, where the ground state of the QUBO does not correspond to the solution of the SAT instance. The method leverages the fact that practical SAT instances often contain many binary (size 2) clauses, allowing us to directly use a MAX2SAT formalization. In comparative experiments using existing formulations, the proposed method exhibits superior performance on the pigeonhole principle, graph coloring problems, and a subset of instances from the SAT Competition 2023.