Impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the research environment and motivation of researchers in Japan

Spatial summation of pain is associated with pain expectations: Results from a home-based paradigm

The purpose of this study was to reproduce the previously observed spatial summation of pain effect (SSp) using non-laboratory procedures and commercial equipment. An additional aim was to explore the association between expectations and SSp. The Cold Pressor Task (CPT) was used to induce SSp. Healthy participants (N = 68) immersed their non-dominant hands (divided into 5 segments) into cold water (CPT). Two conditions were used 1) gradual hand immersion (ascending condition) and 2) gradual hand withdrawal (descending condition). Pain intensity was measured on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Psychological factors, such as the participants' expectations of pain intensity were also measured on a VAS. Results showed significant SSp (χ2(4) = 116.90, p < 0.001), reproduced with non-laboratory equipment in a home-based set-up. Furthermore, two novel findings were observed: i) there was a significant correlation between expectations and perceived pain, indicating a link between pain expectations and SSp, ii) spatial summation increased with the increase in duration exposure to the noxious stimulus (Wald χ2(8) = 80.80, p < 0.001). This study suggests that SSp is associated with pain expectations and can be formed by a mixture of excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms potentially driven by temporal characteristics of neural excitation. Moreover, this study proposes a new feasible way to induce SSp using a home-based set-up.

A bibliometric approach to understanding the recent development of self-sufficient fish feed production utilizing agri-food wastes and by-products towards sustainable aquaculture

The global agri-food industry generates a large volume of waste annually, which causes both environmental and economic problems. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the use of agri-food wastes and by-products to produce self-sufficient fish feed. This study aimed to analyze the intellectual structure of the recent research on the utilization of agri-food wastes and by-products as self-sufficient fish feed materials based on 922 Scopus-indexed core collection documents from 252 journals written by 4420 authors from 73 countries with an annual growth rate of 18.65% over the last four years (2019-2022). This bibliometric study implemented knowledge domain visualization (KDV) using VOSViewer and Biblioshiny in the Bibliometrix R-package to investigate the basic scientometric profile of the selected fields. The results showed that Dawood M.A.O., with PageRanks of 0.0732, 19 total publications, 695 global citations from 2019 to 2022, and closeness values of 0.25, was the most productive author within the field. Subsequently, China was determined to be the most productive country (93 valid documents) and have the strongest collaboration network. Major research hotspots in the field included aquaculture and sustainable aquaculture, fish feed with agri-food waste, rainbow trout species, the development of a circular economy, probiotic applications, and cell signaling cytokines and peptides. This bibliometric study provides comprehensive information on the intellectual domain and research landscape on self-sufficient fish feed and also shows how interest in this research topic and similar ones is growing.

Prediction models for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on research activities of Japanese nursing researchers using deep learning

AIM

This study aimed to construct and evaluate prediction models using deep learning to explore the impact of attributes and lifestyle factors on research activities of nursing researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A secondary data analysis was conducted from a cross-sectional online survey by the Japanese Society of Nursing Science at the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 1089 respondents from nursing faculties were divided into a training dataset and a test dataset. We constructed two prediction models with the training dataset using artificial intelligence (AI) predictive analysis tools; motivation and time were used as predictor items for negative impact on research activities. Predictive factors were attributes, lifestyle, and predictor items for each other. The models' accuracy and internal validity were evaluated using an ordinal logistic regression analysis to assess goodness-of-fit; the test dataset was used to assess external validity. Predicted contributions by each factor were also calculated.

RESULTS

The models' accuracy and goodness-of-fit were good. The prediction contribution analysis showed that no increase in research motivation and lack of increase in research time strongly influenced each other. Other factors that negatively influenced research motivation and research time were residing outside the special alert area and lecturer position and living with partner/spouse and associate professor position, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Deep learning is a research method enabling early prediction of unexpected events, suggesting new applicability in nursing science. To continue research activities during the COVID-19 pandemic and future contingencies, the research environment needs to be improved, workload corrected by position, and considered in terms of work-life balance.

Support nursing researchers' need from academic societies during COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey

The activities of nursing researchers have been constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the types of support and related factors that nursing researchers hope to receive from academic societies during the pandemic and to obtain suggestions for the role of academic societies in supporting nursing researchers and expanding research. An online survey was conducted with 1532 Japan Academy of Nursing Science members. The survey included 19 items of potential support from the society during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as open-ended questions. Data were analyzed statistically and qualitatively. For 9 of the 19 items, over 50% of respondents reported that they "needed" or "very much needed" support. Multivariate analysis results showed that younger respondents and those with family members requiring care were significantly more likely to report needs for some items. In the open-ended comments, there were several suggestions for activities, including "Lobbying for revision of regulations on research implementation." Nursing researchers expressed needs for support that reflect their demographic characteristics and situations, including collaboration across organizations and securing research-promotion and skill-development opportunities online.

Relationship between research activities and individual factors among Japanese nursing researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aim

To explore the individual factors (such as gender, division of household labor, childcare and elder care) and their impact on research activities in the Japanese nursing research community during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic from April to June in 2020.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Methods

An online survey with a self-reported questionnaire was conducted on Japan Academy of Nursing Science members to explore the impacts of individual factors among Japanese nursing researchers from April to June 2020. A multivariate logistic regression model was used for data analysis.

Results

A total of 1,273 participants (90.7% female, 85.8% university faculty) were included in the analysis. This survey showed that no evidence of a significant gender gap was found in research activities in Japanese nursing researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research activities during the pandemic were associated with time and motivation.

Academic surgery amid the COVID-19 pandemic: A perspective of the present and future challenges

This narrative review describes the trials and tribulations of academic surgeons in four major cities of their respective countries and the solutions they retained to keep academia alive in their practice. The four pillars of an "academic surgeon" _teaching, producing scientific works presented in meetings, publications and research_ are dealt with bearing in mind the modifications brought about by the pandemic and the solutions to keep academia active. Throughout the pandemic, the ultimate goal has been and will be to improve care and train the next generation of surgeons and encourage and monitor researchers, guide the mentees through the tasks of leadership, and foster good sound presentations at scientific meetings and encourage innovative and fruitful publications. The pros and cons of the alternatives imposed by the pandemic for the above-mentioned academic components, based on the literature, are reviewed and analyzed as they are taking place today in Shanghai, Milan, Graz, TaiChung and Hsinchu. Our perspective for the future is that teaching will take a new aspect and make wide use of electronic platforms, but also, the face-to-face modality will surface again. According to local needs and funding, many will most likely choose the hybrid solution (electronic and presential). Production of scientific works in meetings has gained momentum, again with the hybrid solution being preferred. Scientific publications have already increased on topics that are no longer related to COVID-19, and both clinical and experimental research are flourishing. This review can provide insight to guide young and accomplished academic surgeons through these difficult times and beyond, promoting a renaissance of clinical research and relevant publications, teaching of surgery and scientific meetings with a hybrid approach, and, finally, contribute to the training and formation of a new generation of surgeons for the future post-COVID-19 era.

Job satisfaction, academic motivation, and organizational citizenship behavior among lecturers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-national comparative study in Japan and Malaysia

Job satisfaction and its antecedents and outcomes are important areas of focus in the social sciences research, and higher education is no exception. The importance of this issue has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, using a cross-national study conducted in Malaysia and Japan, we collected data on lecturers’ job satisfaction and two of its outcomes, namely, academic motivation and individual-level organizational citizenship behavior (OCBI) to test our evidence-based theoretical model, which explains the relationships between these variables. We also added age, gender, and tenure as covariates to our model. Our partial least squares structural equation modeling estimation results at the aggregate and country levels showed that the effect of job satisfaction on OCBI was mainly transmitted through academic motivation. We also observed that Malaysian and Japanese lecturers did not show a statistical difference in terms of the relationships described between the variables in our model. Additionally, the relationship between academic motivation and OCBI was nonlinear based on the data from the Malaysian sample, and we explained this phenomenon from both theoretical and practical/policy perspectives. Moreover, our results showed that age plays an important role in the model when it is estimated using data from the Malaysian higher education system. We discussed our findings in detail in terms of theoretical and practical implications.

Choice and allocation characteristics of faculty time in Korea: effects of tenure, research performance, and external shock

Academics generally should meet both teaching duty and research performance requirements. Since their work time is finite, academics need to allocate time for research, teaching, and other types of work. This means that universities or governments might enhance the efficiency of their faculty systems or educational policies by understanding academics’ preferences for choice and allocation of their work time. We analyzed the work time allocation preferences of 450 Korean academics in science and engineering fields based on the multiple discrete–continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model. We classified work time into either of research, teaching, or other tasks and investigated the relationship between academics’ preferences in choosing and allocating their work time and faculty system (e.g., tenure), individual characteristics (e.g., research productivity) and external shock (e.g., COVID-19). Analysis results show that academics with either of tenure, higher research productivity, or commercialization experience preferred to allocating their work time firstly to research, i.e., rather than to teaching or other tasks, while this was not the case for the academics after the pandemic. In general, academics appeared not to prefer allocating their work time firstly to teaching. Implications of our study are twofold. First, the higher education sector needs to incentivize academics’ teaching time allocation for enhanced effectiveness of education. Second, universities and governments urgently need systems and policies to facilitate academics’ research time allocation for enhanced research productivity as we find deteriorated preference for research time allocation after COVID-19.

Evaluating the Impact of COVID-19 on Society, Environment, Economy, and Education

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused drastic changes across the globe, affecting all areas of life. This paper provides a comprehensive study on the influence of COVID-19 in various fields such as the economy, education, society, the environment, and globalization. In this study, both the positive and negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on education are studied. Modern technologies are combined with conventional teaching to improve the communication between instructors and learners. COVID-19 also greatly affected people with disabilities and those who are older, with these persons experiencing more complications in their normal routine activities. Additionally, COVID-19 provided negative impacts on world economies, greatly affecting the business, agriculture, entertainment, tourism, and service sectors. The impact of COVID-19 on these sectors is also investigated in this study, and this study provides some meaningful insights and suggestions for revitalizing the tourism sector. The association between globalization and travel restrictions is studied. In addition to economic and human health concerns, the influence of a lockdown on environmental health is also investigated. During periods of lockdown, the amount of pollutants in the air, soil, and water was significantly reduced. This study motivates researchers to investigate the positive and negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in various unexplored areas.

Urban Forest Research in Malaysia: A Systematic Review

Sustainable urban development is a major issue in developing countries, namely in environmental and social aspects. Urban forests have the potential to address these issues. Thus, it is not surprising that urban forest research is slowly gaining traction in these regions. However, there have been limited urban forest research reviews focusing on developing countries, especially tropical countries in the global south. Research reviews are vital in identifying the distribution of research themes, hence revealing research gaps and needs. Therefore, this review paper aims to provide a deep insight into the development of urban forest research in Malaysia in the past 20 years. The core purpose of this review is to analyze the distribution of research themes in Malaysia, thus identifying research gaps and needs in developing countries. A total of 43 articles were selected for this review, using the PRISMA framework. The distribution of research articles showed a continuous increase over time, especially for the past five years (2016 to 2021). The reviewed articles were categorized according to five emerging research themes in urban forestry. More than 41% of the reviewed articles fell under Theme 1 (the physicality of urban forests), with the majority being on biodiversity (n = 10). Theme 5 (the governance of urban forest) had the lowest research output (n = 3). Urban forestry research is slowly gaining prominence globally including the global south; however, there are obvious preferences in research focus, causing some research questions to be neglected. These research gaps are especially evident in four areas—soil science, ecophysiology, valuation (economics), and environmental justice. These research gaps should be addressed by the scientific community to ensure a thorough and complete research growth pertaining to urban forestry.