Building boom boosts malaria-carrying, invasive mosquito in Ethiopia, evidence shows

Anopheles stephensi poses major threat to cities in Africa, where malaria has primarily been a rural disease

Peer-Reviewed Publication

EMORY UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

SAMPLING FOR MOSQUITO LARVA IN THE WATER OF A MANMADE PIT AT A CONSTRUCTION SITE MADE OF SIMPLE EARTHERN WALLS COVERED IN PLASTIC SHEETING.

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CREDIT: PHOTO BY GONZALO VAZQUEZ-PROKOPEC

A malaria-carrying mosquito that thrives in urban environments is moving into Africa where a construction boom may be one factor helping the newcomer feel at home. 

Lancet Planetary Health published the findings on the ecology of the invasive Anopheles stephensi mosquito led by Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, a professor in Emory University’s Department of Environmental Sciences.

The invasion of stephensi poses a major threat to urban populations in Africa, where malaria has primarily been a rural disease. While most of the limited data available on stephensi in Africa has been gathered during the rainy season, this study focused on the city of Jigjiga in eastern Ethiopia during the peak of the dry season. 

Stephensi was first detected in Jigjiga in 2018 and has persisted there despite harsh dry seasons of around three rainless months.

“We found that during this period of low-water availability, Anopheles stephensi is primarily exploiting habitats associated with construction,” says Vazquez-Prokopec, a leading expert in the disease ecology of urban mosquitos.

The researchers, including Jigjiga University entomologists, searched for standing water at locations across the city to sample for mosquito larvae. 

Dry-season nurseries

The results showed that the major habitats consistently infested with stephensi larvae, serving as mosquito nurseries during the dry season, were the manmade pits used to store water at construction sites and small-scale, brick-making facilities. 

Targeting these sites for control of stephensi larvae during the dry season may represent a unique opportunity for resource-strapped public health officials to mitigate malarial outbreaks in the city, Vazquez-Prokopec says. 

He cites stocking the construction pits with larvae-eating fish as one potential intervention, since the large pits are kept filled with water during the lengthy process of constructing buildings.

Jigjiga, which grew from around 126,000 inhabitants in 2007 to 800,000 today, is pocked with construction sites and brick-making facilities. The building boom accelerated even further in 2018, following major political reform in Ethiopia.

Building booms are occurring throughout much of Africa, as the continent is the most rapidly urbanizing on Earth.

“Anopheles stephensi arrived in Africa at the best time for the mosquito, but the worst time for the people,” Vazquez-Prokopec says.

An international collaboration

The research was funded by a rapid-response grant from the Emory Global Health Institute. 

Emory has a long history of public health projects in Ethiopia. Through its Office of Global Strategies and Initiatives, the university has developed an on-the-ground network of local expertise, including a country office in Addis Ababa, established in 2010. 

Co-authors of the current paper include Solomon Yared and Elyas Abdulahi from Jigjiga University; Araya Gebresilassie and Esayas Akillu from Addis Ababa University; Uriel Kitron from Emory University; Gabriela Gonzalez-Olvera, Azael Che-Mendoza, Wilbert Bibiano-Marin and Pablo Manrique-Saide from the Autonomous University of Yucatán, Mexico; Elizabeth Waymire and Tamar Carter from Baylor University; Jo Lines from the London School of Public Health, Oscar Kirstein from the Israel Ministry of Health and Audrey Lenhart from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Changing the dynamics of malaria in Africa

Malaria annually kills around 620,000 people globally, mostly in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.

Stephensi, long a major vector of malaria in Asia, was first identified in Africa in a port city of Djibouti in 2012. It has since been detected in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. The insect has already sparked several urban outbreaks of malaria in Africa, including in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia’s second-largest city.

The invader brings a challenging new twist to malaria-eradication efforts on the continent, where malaria is overwhelmingly a rural disease, spread by other species of mosquitos that are adapted to live in rural areas. African public health officials have made great strides controlling the disease, using methods targeting the unique behaviors of these rural mosquitos and the lifestyles of people in the countryside.

Stephensi, however, is a game changer. This species of mosquito can live in rural environments but also thrives in urban areas. It’s resistant to insecticides and adept at surviving dry seasons. Its arrival in Africa poses a serious potential threat to millions of city dwellers who have little or no immunity from repeated prior exposure to malaria.

“Different methods of surveillance and control than those used in the countryside will be needed to combat malaria spread by Anopheles stephensi,” Vazquez-Prokopec says.

Indoor spraying and the use of bed nets impregnated with insecticide, for instance, are malaria interventions in rural areas. That’s because night is the peak biting time for the two mosquito species that are currently the primary malaria vectors in Africa.

Stephenesi, however, tends to bite outside and at dusk before people have gone to bed.

Tracking urban mosquitos

For more than 15 years, Vazquez-Prokopec has traced outbreaks of viral diseases spread by another urban mosquito, Aedes aegypti, including dengue fever, Zika and chikungunya. His research in South America and Mexico considers the interactions of mosquitos, pathogens and people.  

The goal is to zero in on the most effective ways for cash-strapped public health officials to control outbreaks of these mosquito-borne diseases in sprawling, densely-packed cities where many people live in substandard housing.

Dengue fever alone sickens nearly 100 million people a year globally, although its annual death toll of around 40,000 people is far less than that of malaria.

Global mapping techniques

After identifying the man-made construction pits as the primary habitats for the stephansi larvae, the researchers entered their GPS coordinates into Google Earth to visualize their locations. It became apparent that the sites provided a unique spectral signature —  demarcated by size, color contrast and the presence of water — that allowed the researchers to easily identify other construction pits throughout Jigjiga.

Historical data archived by Google Earth gave the researchers a view into how the pattern of the construction sites evolved in relation to the rapid development of the city since 2016. Google Earth maps also reveal the gradient of population density as the semirural outskirts gradually become absorbed by urban development.

“It may be possible to use Google Earth like a time machine as one tool to understand the dynamics of how stephensi exploits human habitats to survive and to expand its range,” Vazquez-Prokopec says.

Expanding the research

Funded by a $270,000 grant from the CDC, Vazquez-Prokopec and his colleagues are now expanding their research into stephensi in Jigjiga along with several other Ethiopian cities. 

They will use satellite data to explore urban-rural gradients across these cities, from the fully developed centers to the outskirts where there is less development but a greater presence of domesticated animals such as cattle and sheep.

“We want to understand how different habitats across this developmental gradient influence the presence of stephensi,” Vazquez-Prokopec says. “We want to answer questions such as whether the mosquitos are reproducing faster in one area or another and the factors that may be influencing these differences.”

Zeroing in on hotspots

Better understanding the behaviors of the mosquitos within different ecologies will allow the researchers to develop a suite of tools to control stephensi.

“The goal is to provide tools and guidance that enables public health officials to control these mosquitos as effectively as possible, so that their limited resources are not wasted,” Vazquez-Prokopec says. “Detecting patterns can enable public health workers to predict where hotspots may occur. That gives them an opportunity to prevent, or at least mitigate, an outbreak.”

The dengue-virus-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito is also present in African cities, Vazquez-Prokopec notes, along with other species of the insect that have adapted to urban environments. 

Working to control urban malaria outbreaks spread by stephensi may simultaneously help to control some other urban mosquito-borne diseases, although each disease and mosquito species presents unique challenges.

Aedes aegypti, for instance, only bites humans and lives almost exclusively in urban areas. Stephensi, however, also bites cattle and other animals and can get established in rural environments.

“Whenever possible, we will look for opportunities to synergize control methods across species of mosquitos,” Vazquez-Prokopec says.

Preparing for continued spread of stephensi

Djibouti, the first place in Africa that stephensi was identified, had made such gains in controlling malaria that it appeared the disease might be eliminated in the country. Since the arrival of stephensi, however, malaria exploded in Djbouti, rising from just 27 cases in 2012 to 70,000 cases in 2020, mostly in Djibouti City.

It is not clear whether urban malaria will follow a similar pattern as stephensi spreads across Africa. But it is important to realize the growing potential for malaria outbreaks in African cities, Vazquez-Prokopec says.

“Even if urban malaria only contributes to a small percentage of the disease burden in Africa it could still take a tremendous toll,” he says. “It’s important to learn everything we can about the disease ecology of stephensi as it enters new habitats so we can give public health officials effective tools to reduce its impact on people.”

 

Mosquito larvae collected from a pit of standing water at a construction site. A pipette is used to separate out stephensi larvae from other species.

CREDIT

Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec

Solomon Yared, left, from Jigjiga University and Esayas Aklilu of Addis Ababa University, center, discuss findings in the lab. Araya Gebresilassie, also of Addis Ababa University, uses a stereomicroscope to distinguish different species of adult mosquitos.

CREDIT

Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokop

JOURNAL

The Lancet Planetary Health

DOI

10.1016/S2542-5196(23)00250-4 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Building the vector in: Construction practices and the invasion and persistence of Anopheles stephensi in Jigjiga, Ethiopia

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Dec-2023

 CAPITALI$M IS CHILD ABUSE

Even a brief experience of poverty enough to harm a children’s development

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN

A one-off experience of poverty is enough to impact on a child’s development, according to a new study conducted by sociologists in Trinity College Dublin.

Parenting stress and reduced ability to invest in healthy activities, such as reading to young children, have been identified by the researchers as the key factors impacting on children’s development. 

The study used data for more than 7,000 children from the Growing Up in Ireland 2008 birth cohort, tracking them at ages 9 months, 3 years, 5 years and 9 years. This covered the period from 2008 to 2017, when the living standards of many Irish families fluctuated with the recession and recovery. Reporting an experience of poverty at just one of these interviews was classified as “one-off poverty” while those who reported poverty at three or four interviews were in “persistent poverty”.  

The research investigated the connections between exposure to poverty in early to middle childhood and children’s cognitive and behavioural difficulties assessments at different ages. 

Although it is well established that children from poorer families are at a higher risk of educational and behavioural difficulties, this study gives us fresh insights into why this happens. 

Mengxuan (Suri) Li, PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology, Provost’s PhD Project awardee and the lead author of the study, commented: “We thought that persistent poverty would be the most harmful, but we found that even one spell in poverty negatively impacts on child development, especially if experienced around the age three. This is because falling behind early makes it difficult to catch up later.”

Yekaterina Chzhen, Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology, added: “We also found that behaviour problems in early childhood make it more difficult for children to learn, resulting in a negative feedback loop over time.

"The study has several policy implications. Poorer families need to be enabled to engage in cognitively stimulating activities with their children. They also need to be supported so that they are less vulnerable to parenting stress. However, instead of interventions targeting poor parents, a more direct approach is to tackle poverty itself through redistributive taxes and benefits, and service provision, according to the authors."

An electronic version of the paper, entitled ‘Parental investment or parenting stress? Examining the links between poverty and child development in Ireland’, was recently published in a leading European sociological journal European Societies ahead of the print edition. The paper can be downloaded from the journal’s website. 

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JOURNAL

European Societies

DOI

10.1080/14616696.2023.2275592 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Nov-2023

 

Workplace culture is preventing men from taking paternity leave, writes Claudine Mangen

In an exploratory study, John Molson School professor finds that entrenched gender roles discourage new fathers from prioritizing family over professional obligations

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

CLAUDINE MANGEN

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CREDIT: CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY

In many countries, even those with paternity leave enshrined in law, workplace culture and gendered roles in childcare remain stubbornly regressive.

In a new study of paternity leave experiences in French accounting firms, researchers find male professionals would prefer to spend more time with their partners and newborn babies. However, many men  are pressured to delay or forego paternity leave because of workplace obligations.

According to the article published in the journal Accounting Horizons, a range of experiences is associated with fatherhood and paternity leave.

These experiences include frustration over low levels of moral and material support provided by their employers and difficulty reconciling fatherhood and their professional demands. The researchers also found a tendency by the new fathers to consider parental leave an extended vacation rather than a time to support and bond with their newborn child.

“Most men are reluctant to take their allotted leave simply because they understand how their professional world works,” says the paper’s co-author Claudine Mangen, a professor of accountancy at the John Molson School of Business.

“Parental leave is accepted for women. But men who take it are seen as violating the norm that they should focus on their profession. While we know women pay a professional price for focusing on raising children, men are very worried that they will pay an even higher one.

“The standards are different for men.”

Legal but not encouraged

The researchers kept the sample size deliberately small for this exploratory study. They interviewed 13 men working in auditing firms in France. The sample included partners, senior managers, managers and a senior, and all but one had children. All worked at mid-tier firms or at one of three Big Four (KPMG, PwC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte) firms.

The researchers identified five themes in their interviews:

1. Fathers are reluctant to take paternity leave. Those who did were likely to schedule their leaves around peaks and troughs of the work year, often in August.

2.      Paternity leaves are incompatible with professional work. Many fathers delayed or forewent their leaves due to work constraints.

1. Firms accommodate mothers more than fathers. In France, women are entitled to 16 weeks of leave. Fathers are legally entitled to five weeks. Also, the researchers found that firms were eager to plan for and advertise maternity leaves in ways they did not for paternity leaves.

1. Paternity leaves are considered vacations. Both fathers and their colleagues often viewed time away from work as an opportunity to relax with their families and cut down on work, not to provide intense care for their newborns.

1. Fathers’ emotional experiences vary. Some disliked care work or discussing personal affairs at work, while others were frustrated or stressed about requesting leave and having work intrude on it. Still others expressed regret at missing paternity leave or family life due to work.

“We wanted the study to provide a range of experiences because we did not know whether men were actually happy with the status quo. It turns out that many of them are not,” says Mangen, who holds the RBC Professorship in Responsible Organizations.

““Men are worried about the pervasive culture of overwork in the workforce — and not only in professional service firms.”

Mangen says organizations should be reassessing their efforts in fostering equitable workplaces. Companies must rethink strategies around gender inequality if they are serious about their publicly stated goals.

“Firms need to take a long hard look at the unarticulated assumptions around work and hierarchy,” she says.

“One assumption is that a senior leader is a man who does not engage with his children.

“Senior leaders are role models, so this has an effect across the company. Entry-level accountants who have children will understand the implicit message being sent by those at the top.”

Claire Garnier of KEDGE Business School and Edwige Nortier of Université Paris Dauphine-PSL co-authored the paper.

Read the cited paper: “Men’s Experiences of Paternity Leaves in Accounting Firms”

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JOURNAL

Accounting Horizons

DOI

10.2308/HORIZONS-2022-099 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Men’s Experiences of Paternity Leaves in Accounting Firms

 

Mice pass the mirror test, a classic indicator of self-recognition

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CELL PRESS

 

VIDEO: 

MOUSE DURING THE MARK TEST

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CREDIT: NEURON/YOKOSE ET AL.

Researchers report December 5 in the journal Neuron that mice display behavior that resembles self-recognition when they see themselves in the mirror. When the researchers marked the foreheads of black-furred mice with a spot of white ink, the mice spent more time grooming their heads in front of the mirror—presumably to try and wash away the ink spot. However, the mice only showed this self-recognition-like behavior if they were already accustomed to mirrors, if they had socialized with other mice who looked like them, and if the ink spot was relatively large.

The team identified a subset of neurons in the hippocampus that are involved in developing and storing this visual self-image, providing a first glimpse of the neural mechanisms behind self-recognition, something that was previously a black box in neurobehavioral research.

“To form episodic memory, for example, of events in our daily life, brains form and store information about where, what, when, and who, and the most important component is self-information or status,” says neuroscientist and senior author Takashi Kitamura of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “Researchers usually examine how the brain encodes or recognizes others, but the self-information aspect is unclear.”

The researchers used a mirror test to investigate whether mice could detect a change in their own appearance—in this case, a dollop of ink on their foreheads. Because the ink also provided a tactile stimulus, the researchers tested the black-furred mice with both black and white ink. Though the mirror test was originally developed to test consciousness in different species, the authors note that their experiments only show that mice can detect a change in their own appearance, but this does not necessarily mean that they are “self-aware.”

They found that mice could indeed detect changes to their appearance, but only under certain conditions. Mice who were familiar with mirrors spent significantly more time grooming their heads (but not other parts of their bodies) in front of the mirror when they were marked with dollops of white ink that were 0.6 cm2 or 2 cm2. However, the mice did not engage in increased head grooming when the ink was black—the same color as their fur—or when the ink mark was small (0.2 cm2), even if the ink was white, and mice who were not habituated to mirrors before the ink test did not display increased head grooming in any scenario.

“The mice required significant external sensory cues to pass the mirror test—we have to put a lot of ink on their heads, and then the tactile stimulus coming from the ink somehow enables the animal to detect the ink on their heads via a mirror reflection,” says first author Jun Yokose of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “Chimps and humans don't need any of that extra sensory stimulus.”

Using gene expression mapping, the researchers identified a subset of neurons in the ventral hippocampus that were activated when the mice “recognized” themselves in the mirror. When the researchers selectively rendered these neurons non-functional, the mice no longer displayed the mirror-and-ink-induced grooming behavior. A subset of these self-responding neurons also became activated when the mice observed other mice of the same strain (and therefore similar physical appearance and fur color), but not when they observed a different strain of mouse that had white fur.

Because previous studies in chimpanzees have suggested that social experience is required for mirror self-recognition, the researchers also tested mice who had been socially isolated after weaning. These socially isolated mice did not display increased head grooming behavior during the ink test, and neither did black-furred mice that were reared alongside white-furred mice. The gene expression analysis also showed that socially isolated mice did not develop self-responding neuron activity in the hippocampus, and neither did the black-furred mice that were reared by white-furred mice, suggesting that mice need to have social experiences alongside other similar-looking mice in order to develop the neural circuits required for self-recognition.

“A subset of these self-responding neurons was also reactivated when we exposed the mice to other individuals of the same strain,” says Kitamura. “This is consistent with previous human literature that showed that some hippocampal cells fire not only when the person is looking at themselves, but also when they look at familiar people like a parent.”

Next, the researchers plan to try to disentangle the importance of visual and tactile stimuli to test whether mice can recognize changes in their reflection in the absence of a tactile stimulus—perhaps by using technology similar to the filters on social media apps that allow people to give themselves puppy-dog faces or bunny ears. They also plan to study other brain regions that might be involved in self-recognition and to investigate how the different regions communicate and integrate information.

“Now that we have this mouse model, we can manipulate or monitor neural activity to comprehensively investigate the neural circuit mechanisms behind how self-recognition-like behavior is induced in mice,” says Yokose.

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This research was supported by the Endowed Scholar Program, the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the Daiichi Sankyo Foundation of Life Science, and Uehara Memorial Foundation.

Neuron, Yokose et al., “Visuotactile integration facilitates mirror-induced self-directed behavior through activation of hippocampal neuronal ensembles in mice” https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(23)00803-6

Neuron (@NeuroCellPress), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that has established itself as one of the most influential and relied upon journals in the field of neuroscience and one of the premier intellectual forums of the neuroscience community. It publishes interdisciplinary articles that integrate biophysical, cellular, developmental, and molecular approaches with a systems approach to sensory, motor, and higher-order cognitive functions. Visit http://www.cell.com/neuron. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.

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JOURNAL

Neuron

DOI

10.1016/j.neuron.2023.10.022 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Visuotactile integration facilitates mirror-induced self-directed behavior through activation of hippocampal neuronal ensembles in mice

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Dec-2023

 

Harvesting water from air with solar power

Atmospheric water harvester provides water to arid communities using hygroscopic gel and salts

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS

 

IMAGE: 

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF THE DAYTIME ATMOSPHERIC WATER HARVESTING CYCLE.

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CREDIT: WANG RUZHU

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2023 – More than 2.2 billion people currently live in water-stressed countries, and the United Nations estimates that 3.5 million die every year from water-related diseases. Because the areas most in need of improved drinking water are also located in some of the sunniest places in the world, there is strong interest in harnessing sunlight to help obtain clean water.

Researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China developed a promising new solar-powered atmospheric water harvesting technology that could help provide enough drinking water for people to survive in those difficult, dryland areas. They published their work in Applied Physics Reviews, an AIP Publishing journal.

“This atmospheric water harvesting technology can be used to increase the daily water supply needs, such as household drinking water, industrial water, and water for personal hygiene,” said author Ruzhu Wang.

Historically, researchers have faced challenges when injecting salt into hydrogels as the higher salt content reduced the swelling capacity of the hydrogel due to the salting-out effect. This led to salt leakage and the water absorption capacity decreased. 

“We were impressed that even when up to 5 grams of salt was injected into 1 gram of polymer, the resulting gel maintained good swelling and salt-trapping properties,” said Wang.

The researchers synthesized a super hygroscopic gel using plant derivatives and hygroscopic salts that was capable of absorbing and retaining an unparalleled amount of water. One kilogram of dry gel could adsorb 1.18 kilograms of water in arid atmospheric environments and up to 6.4 kilograms in humid atmospheric environments. This hygroscopic gel was simple and inexpensive to prepare and would consequently be suitable for large-scale preparation.

In addition, the team adopted a prototype with desorption and condensation chambers, configured in parallel. They employed a turbofan in the condensation chamber to increase the recovery of desorbed water to more than 90%.

In an outdoor prototype demonstration, the team found it released adsorbed water even in the morning or afternoon when the sun is weak. The system could also achieve simultaneous adsorption and desorption during the daytime.

The team will work to achieve simultaneous adsorption and desorption using renewable energy to maximize daily water yield per unit mass of adsorbent to further optimize the system’s performance for practical applications in water generation.

In addition to daily water production, sorbent materials that harvest atmosphere water could also play an important role in future applications such as dehumidification, agriculture irrigation, and thermal management for electronic devices.

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The article “Daytime air-water harvesting based on super hygroscopic porous gels with simultaneous adsorption-desorption” is authored by Chengjie Xiang, Xinge Yang, Fangfang Deng, Zhihui Chen, and Ruzhu Wang. It will appear in Applied Physics Reviews on Dec. 5, 2023 (DOI: 10.1063/5.0160682). After that date, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0160682.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Applied Physics Reviews features articles on significant and current topics in experimental or theoretical research in applied physics, or in applications of physics to other branches of science and engineering. The journal publishes both original research on pioneering studies of broad interest to the applied physics community, and reviews on established or emerging areas of applied physics. See https://aip.scitation.org/journal/are.

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JOURNAL

Applied Physics Reviews

DOI

10.1063/5.0160682 

ARTICLE TITLE

Daytime air-water harvesting based on super hygroscopic porous gels with simultaneous adsorption-desorption

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Dec-2023

 

INU scientists propose a model to predict personal learning performance for virtual reality-based safety training

Their proposed machine learning approach utilizes real-time biometric data and aims to proactively prevent occupational hazards among construction workers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INCHEON NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

RESEARCHERS FROM KOREA PROPOSE A NEW LEARNING PERFORMANCE PREDICTION APPROACH THAT CAN INCREASE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY TRAINING, IMPROVE PERSONALIZED SAFETY, AND CREATE A SAFE WORKING ENVIRONMENT FOR WORKERS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY.

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CREDIT: TIMA MIROSHNICHENKO

In Korea, occupational hazards are on the rise, particularly in the construction sector. According to a report on the ‘Occupational Safety Accident Status’ by Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor, the industry accounted for the highest number of accidents and fatalities among all sectors in 2021. To address this rise, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency has been providing virtual reality (VR)-based construction safety content to daily workers as part of their educational training initiatives.

Nevertheless, current VR-based training methods grapple with two limitations. Firstly, VR-based construction safety training is essentially a passive exercise, with learners following one-way instructions that fail to adapt to their judgments and decisions. Secondly, there is an absence of an objective evaluation process during VR-based safety training. To address these challenges, researchers have introduced immersive VR-based construction safety content to promote active worker engagement and have conducted post-written tests. However, these post-written tests have limitations in terms of immediacy and objectivity. Furthermore, among the individual characteristics that can affect learning performance, including personal, academic, social, and cognitive aspects, cognitive characteristics may undergo changes during VR-based safety training.

To address this, a team of researchers led by Associate Professor Choongwan Koo from the Division of Architecture & Urban Division at Incheon National University, Korea, has now proposed a groundbreaking machine learning approach for forecasting personal learning performance in VR-based construction safety training that uses real-time biometric responses. Their paper was made available online on October 7, 2023, and will be published in Volume 156 of the journal Automation in Construction in December 2023.

“While traditional methods of evaluating learning outcomes that use post-written tests may lack objectivity, real-time biometric responses, collected from eye-tracking and electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors, can be used to promptly and objectively evaluate personal learning performances during VR-based safety training,” explains Dr. Koo.

The study involved 30 construction workers undergoing VR-based construction safety training. Real-time biometric responses, collected from eye-tracking and EEG to monitor brain activity, were gathered during the training to assess the psychological responses of the participants. Combining this data with pre-training surveys and post-training written tests, the researchers developed machine-learning-based forecasting models to evaluate the overall personal learning performance of the participants during VR-based safety training.

The team developed two models—a full forecast model (FM) that uses both demographic factors and biometric responses as independent variables and a simplified forecast model (SM) which solely relies on the identified principal features as independent variables to reduce complexity. While the FM exhibited higher accuracy in predicting personal learning performance than traditional models, it also displayed a high level of overfitting. In contrast, the SM demonstrated higher prediction accuracy than the FM due to a smaller number of variables, significantly reducing overfitting. The team thus concluded that the SM was best suited for practical use.

Explaining these results, Dr. Koo emphasizes, “This approach can have a significant impact on improving personal learning performance during VR-based construction safety training, preventing safety incidents, and fostering a safe working environment.” Further, the team also emphasizes the need for future research to consider various accident types and hazard factors in VR-based safety training.

In conclusion, this study marks a significant stride in enhancing personalized safety in construction environments and improving the evaluation of learning performance!

 

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Reference

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2023.105115

Authors: Dajeong Choi1, Seungwon Seo1, Hyunsoo Park1, Taehoon Hong2, and Choongwan Koo1,

Affiliations:

1Division of Architecture & Urban Design, Incheon National University

2Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University

 

 

About Incheon National University

Incheon National University (INU) is a comprehensive, student-focused university. It was founded in 1979 and given university status in 1988. One of the largest universities in South Korea, it houses nearly 14,000 students and 500 faculty members. In 2010, INU merged with Incheon City College to expand capacity and open more curricula. With its commitment to academic excellence and an unrelenting devotion to innovative research, INU offers its students real-world internship experiences. INU not only focuses on studying and learning but also strives to provide a supportive environment for students to follow their passion, grow, and, as their slogan says, be INspired.

Website: http://www.inu.ac.kr/mbshome/mbs/inuengl/index.html

 

About the author

Professor Choongwan Koo obtained his Ph.D. degree in the field of Sustainable Construction Engineering and Management from Yonsei University in 2014 and has a good mix of academic and industrial experiences. He has also worked as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2016–2018. His research is focused on the field of smart construction management and intelligent facility management with a transformative and innovative strategy towards enhancing construction safety, for example, VR-based construction safety training, heat strain management, and vision-based safe working environments. He is currently focusing on smart construction management and intelligent facility management as a director of research projects funded by government agencies such as the National Research Foundation (NRF-2020R1C1C1004147).

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JOURNAL

Automation in Construction

DOI

10.1016/j.autcon.2023.105115 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Forecasting personal learning performance in virtual reality-based construction safety training using biometric responses