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The critical challenge for the commercialization of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is their operational stability. PSCs’ outdoor operation exposes the cells to a combination of stress factors that are difficult to reproduce by indoor testing due to diurnal and seasonal variations. This highlights the need for outdoor testing under operational conditions. The effect of climate conditions on outdoor operational lifetime/ degradation of n‐i‐p PSCs is systematically studied herein. Their lifetime indicators are determined in different seasons, and correlated with the outdoor irradiance and temperatures measured simultaneously. Based on this outdoor measurement analysis and indoor light cycling stability tests, it is suggested that ambient temperatures induce a more significant effect than the irradiance on the PSC's lifetime/ degradation. The study also suggests different roles played by the temperatures during the diurnal light versus dark periods: the day/ light time maximum temperatures have a more significant effect on the long‐term degradation. In contrast, minimum temperatures during the night/ dark cycles significantly affected the diurnal reversible degradation and the initial fast degradation. The results show that the commonly used lifetime indicators T80 and T50 are climate‐dependent, and their use for comparative purposes is valid only if measured in similar climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of curing conditions including temperatures (0°C, 5°C, 10°C, 20°C and 40 °C), relative humidities (30%RH, 60%RH and 90%RH) and outdoor curing on the strength and capillary water absorption of styrene‐butadiene copolymer (SB) modified calcium sulphoaluminate (CSA) cement mortar cured for 360 days were studied. The results showed that when the addition of SB reached 10% and more, the flexural strength increased and the capillary water absorption decreased significantly. Appropriate temperature and relatively high humidity were conducive to the development of flexural and compressive strength. The capillary water absorption increased with increasing temperature and decreasing humidity. Compared with curing under different temperatures and relative humidities controlled by laboratory, the modified mortar cured outdoors with more than 10% SB addition had higher strength and lower capillary water absorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While people with intellectual disabilities tend to refrain from physical activity, outdoor physical activity programs increase motivation to engage in physical activity. Method: Eighty adults with intellectual disabilities participated in a 12‐month outdoor physical activity program. Attendance was used to assess feasibility. Aerobic capacity (6‐min walk test), lower extremity endurance (30‐s chair stand), and mobility (timed up and go) were assessed at three‐time points: before, during, and after the program. Six interviews were also conducted with six staff members and participants. Results: The physical activity program was feasible, with all six groups completing the year‐long activity. The six‐minute walk and timed‐up‐and‐go tests improved significantly. The qualitative analysis indicates the program's strengths (instructors' qualities and programs' social component) and weaknesses (dependency on weather and bureaucracy). Conclusion: Among adults with intellectual disabilities, a long‐term outdoor physical activity program is feasible as a means for increasing aerobic capacity and improving mobility ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Given the agonistic nature of near work to promote axial elongation and the antagonistic nature of time outdoors to prevent myopia, we aimed to investigate the following: (a) how the short‐term effect of near work performed outdoors (Experiment 1) influences axial length and (b) how near work performed in two different dioptric profiles (uncluttered and cluttered) alters the changes in central axial length (Experiment 2). Methods: Forty‐six adults (age range: 19–32 years) participated in the study. In Experiment 1, 22 participants completed a 15‐min distance task and a reading task in both the outdoor (~30,000 lux) and indoor (~70 lux) locations. In Experiment 2, 24 participants performed the same reading task at a study desk in uncluttered and cluttered reading environments. Pre‐ and post‐task ocular biometry measurements were performed for each session using a non‐contact biometer. Results: In Experiment 1, a significant increase in axial length from baseline was found after performing reading tasks in both outdoor (mean ± SEM: +12.3 ± 3.4 μm, p = 0.001) and indoor locations (+11.9 ± 3.1 μm, p = 0.001). In Experiment 2, axial length increased significantly from baseline to post reading task, in both uncluttered (+17.9 ± 3.5 μm, p < 0.001) and cluttered reading environments (+19.2 ± 2.9 μm, p < 0.001). No significant changes in axial length were observed either between outdoor and indoor locations (p = 0.92) or between the uncluttered and cluttered reading environment (p = 0.75). Conclusion: Independent of light intensity (outdoor or indoor location) and dioptric profile of the near‐work environment (uncluttered or cluttered), a 15‐min reading task led to a significant increase in axial length. While the long‐term effects of these findings need to be evaluated, practitioners should emphasise how near work can reduce the beneficial effects of time outdoors, while providing recommendations related to time outdoors for myopia control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three quantum dot luminescent solar concentrators (QDLSCs) are constructed to assess their performance in an outdoor environment over an entire year. The QDLSCs have a 45×50×1.2 cm3 PMMA‐Kraton‐PMMA sandwich structure with either InP/ZnSe/ZnS, CuInS2/ZnS, or CdSe/CdS/ZnS core/shell quantum dots incorporated in the Kraton interlayer. Furthermore, two reference LSCs are included: one using Lumogen F Red 305 as the luminophore and one without a luminophore in the Kraton layer. The power conversion efficiency is assessed for a cloudy and a sunny day, showing the influence of diffuse and direct irradiance. Moreover, the influence of mounting orientation and direct irradiance is analyzed for individual solar strips attached to the sides. Long‐term results show an efficiency increase of CuInS2/ZnS and InP/ZnSe/ZnS QDLSC while the CdSe/CdS/ZnS QDLSCs and the Lumogen LSC show a pronounced drop in efficiency in the first 3 months. Photodegradation studies under continuous white light exposure for 420 h are performed on smaller pieces cut from the QDLSCs before their assembly outdoors and show similar trends to those observed in the 1 year outdoor study. Future research will focus on the postmortem analysis of the QDLSCs and increasing the efficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding our beliefs and experiences means we must often explore our childhood experiences, and reflect on how, at certain points in our life, a range of barriers, obstacles, and societal or social constructs have resulted in shaping the opportunities we had and our behaviours in accessing them. Herein we consider and reflect on the paper '"Muddy Glee": rounding out the picture of women and physical geography fieldwork' and take inspiration to reframe and discuss a broader context of childhood experiences in setting the background for the observations made within the paper. We highlight and discuss three key provocations, which provide a framework to explore how social constructions of gender, from within the womb onwards, impact women's experiences, challenges, and pleasures of fieldwork in geography, and moreover link these experiences to the restrictions on access to the outdoors women experience in everyday life. Understanding our beliefs and experiences means we must often explore our childhood experiences, and reflect on how, at certain points in our life, a range of barriers, obstacles, and societal or social constructs have resulted in shaping the opportunities we had and our behaviours in accessing them. Herein we consider and reflect on the paper '"Muddy Glee": rounding out the picture of women and physical geography fieldwork' and take inspiration to reframe and discuss a broader context of childhood experiences in setting the background for the observations made within the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To study the prevalence and risk factors of myopia with data from a questionnaire study conducted in 1983 among Finnish school children. Methods: School children (n = 4 961) from the 1st, 5th and 8th grades of school (7‐, 11‐ and 15‐year‐olds) in Central Finland were screened for vision followed by a questionnaire, which was returned by 4 352 (87.7%) participants. Myopia was categorized based on the questionnaire. Items concerned daily time spent on near work and outdoor activities, excluding time spent at school, watching TV and parental myopia and the associations of myopia with these factors were studied. Results: The prevalence of myopia was 3%, 15% and 27% among the 7‐, 11‐ and 15‐year‐olds, and if daily near work at home was ≤1 hr, myopia prevalence was 0.5%, 3.3% and 17.6%, respectively. The adjusted risk of myopia for each daily near work hour was OR 1.476 (95% confidence interval 1.099–1.984, p = 0.010), OR 1.346 (1.170–1.584, p < 0.001) and OR 1.206 (1.076–1.352, p = 0.001), in the 3 age groups, respectively. The adjusted risk of myopia for each daily hour spent outdoors was OR 0.764 (0.648–0.900, p = 0.001) in the 11‐year‐olds and OR (0.840, 0.743–0.950, p = 0.005) in the 15‐year‐olds. Outdoors time prevented myopia at different levels of near work, although less at the highest levels, and near work increased risk of myopia with the level of outdoors time. If the ratio between near work and outdoors time was ≤0. 5 or >1.5, the prevalence of myopia was 1.4% versus 5.6%, 6.3% versus 24.7% and 15.9% versus 36.9%, among the 7‐, 11‐ and 15‐year‐olds, respectively. The higher prevalence of myopia among the 11‐ and 15‐year‐old girls than boys was explained by more near work and less outdoor time among the girls. Having two myopic parents roughly doubled the risk of myopia compared to if one myopic parent in the 11‐ and 15‐year‐olds. Conclusions: Myopic parents, greater near work time, less outdoors time, a higher near work/outdoors ratio, and being a girl increased the risk of myopia. Myopia was rare in the 7‐ and 11‐year‐olds if daily near work at home did not exceed one hour or if the near work/outdoors ratio was not higher than 0.5. Outdoors time was associated with the prevalence of myopia at all levels of near work, although the association was weaker at the highest level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare 3‐year myopic progression between Finnish and Singaporean children. Methods: Myopic progression was compared between 9‐year‐old (mean age 9.7 ± 0.4 years, n = 92) and 11‐year‐old (mean age 11.7 ± 0.4 years, n = 144) Finnish (Finnish RCT) children and Singaporean children matched by age and refraction (SCORMMatched, n = 403) and 7‐ to 8‐year‐old Singaporean children matched only by refraction (SCORM Young, n = 186). Spherical equivalent (SE) was between −0.50 and −3.00 D. Refraction with cycloplegia was controlled annually for 3 years. Information on parental myopia, mother's education, time spent on near‐work and outdoor time was gathered by parental questionnaire. Results: Three‐year myopic progression was −2.08 ± 0.96 D and −1.30 ± 0.69 D in the Finnish RCT and Singaporean SCORM Matched 9‐year‐olds, respectively, and −1.34 ± 0.78 D, and −0.52 ± 0.44 D in the 11‐year‐olds, respectively (p < 0.001 between all groups). Myopic progression was fastest (−2.69 ± 0.89 D) in the SCORM 7‐year‐olds and similar between the SCORM Matched 9‐year‐olds and Finnish RCT 11‐year‐olds (p = 0.55). The Finnish RCT and SCORM Matched children showed significant differences in both daily near‐work time (1.8 ± 1.0 versus 3.4 ± 1.9 hours per day, p < 0.001) and outdoor time (2.6 ± 0.9 versus 0.5 ± 0.4 hours per day, p < 0.001). These differences did not, however, explain the differences in myopic progression between the groups. More time spent outdoors was associated with less myopic progression in the Finnish RCT (r = 0.17, p = 0.009) group only. In the whole materials, greater myopic progression was associated with younger age at baseline (p < 0.001), younger age was associated with mother's higher education (p < 0.001), and mothers higher education was associated with myopia in both parents (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Age at baseline was the most significant factor associated with myopic progression. However, at the same age and with the same initial refraction, the Finnish and Singaporean children showed different myopic progression. This result remains unexplained. Thus, age of myopia onset should be considered when comparing myopic progression between different samples and conducting treatment trials. Parental myopia may be a weak indicator of heredity of myopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine the effect of the definition of high myopia on its prevalence and risk factors for high myopia. Methods: A total of 240 myopic schoolchildren (119 boys and 121 girls) at the mean age of 10.9 years (range 8.8–12.8 years) were recruited to a randomized clinical trial of myopia treatment among children from 3rd‐ and 5th grades of school referred for an eye examination due to poor distant vision and having no previous spectacles. Clinical follow‐ups, including refraction with cycloplegia, were conducted annually at 3 years [third follow‐up here = clinical follow‐up 1, (n = 237)], and thereafter twice at approximately 10‐year intervals [clinical follow‐ups 2 (n = 179) and 3, (n = 134)]. Additional refraction values between follow‐ups 2 and 3 were received from ophthalmologists and opticians' prescriptions and records. The most recent adulthood refraction measure available was taken as the final refraction value for 204 (85%) of the original cohort [mean follow‐up time (±standard deviation) 22.1 (±3.9) years]. Parental myopia, time spent on reading and close work, watching TV and outdoor activities were assessed with a questionnaire at the clinical follow‐ups. The influence of different definitions of high myopia on its prevalence was analysed. The associations of different factors with high myopia were investigated. Results: Mean spherical equivalent (SE) at baseline was −1.43 (±0.60) D, ranging from ‐0.38 D to −3.00 D. At follow‐up end, mean SE of the more myopic eye was −5.29 (±1.95) D, ranging from −1.00 D to −11.25 D. High myopia prevalence with the definitions SE < −6.00 D in the right eye and SE ≤ −6.00 D or ≤−5.00 D in either eye was 24%, 32% and 52%, respectively. In this study, high myopia was defined as spherical equivalent (SE) ≤ −6.00 D in either eye. If both parents were myopic, the odds ratio (OR) of having high myopia was 3.9 (95% CI: 1.5–10.4). Younger age at baseline predicted higher prevalence of high myopia; baseline ages between 8.8 and 9.7 and between 11.9 and 12.8 years gave prevalences 65% and 7%. Higher myopia at baseline, higher myopic progression between the first follow‐ups and more time spent on reading and close work as compared with time spent outdoors were associated with high myopia. Conclusion: About 32% of the children receiving first spectacles for myopia between ages of 8.8–12.8 years had high myopia (SE ≤ −6.00 D in either eye) in adulthood. Different definitions of high myopia ranging between −5 D and −6 D lead to large differences in prevalence. A generally accepted definition of high myopia is thus needed. Parental myopia, age at baseline, myopic progression during the first post onset year, and more time spent on reading and close work and less on outdoor activities in childhood were associated with adulthood high myopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to understand how children perceive their environment, exploring the affordances children perceive to influence their physical activity (PA) behaviour when outside. Participants included boys and girls aged 10–12 years (n = 15) living in Scotland. Children’s visual and verbal representations of their perceived environment were analysed to assess environmental determinants of PA. The findings suggested that physical affordances that offer a sense of risk were important to children’s play spaces. Social affordances influenced where the children went in their environment and the features they utilised as part of play behaviour; strangers were considered threatening depending on whether the activity was recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Conjunctival ultraviolet autofluorescence ( CUVAF) has been used in previous Southern Hemisphere myopia research as a marker for time spent outdoors. The validity of CUVAF as an indicator of time spent outdoors is yet to be explored in the Northern Hemisphere. It is unclear if CUVAF represents damage attributed to UV exposure or dry eye. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between CUVAF measures, self-reported time spent outdoors and measures of dry eye. Methods Participants were recruited from University staff and students ( n = 50, 19-64 years; mean 41). None were using topical ocular medications (with the exception of dry eye treatments). Sun exposure and dry eye questionnaires (Ocular Surface Disease Index and McMonnies) were completed by the participant. Dryness was also assessed using slit lamp biomicroscopy and invasive tear break up time. Images of the temporal and nasal conjunctiva from the right and left eye were captured using a bespoke photography system. The total CUVAF area, average CUVAF pixel intensity per mm2 and total CUVAF pixel intensity were analysed using MATLAB R2013a (The MathWorks Inc). Results Of the 50 participants, 42% were classified as having dry eye. Self-reported sunglasses use was negatively associated with all CUVAF measures (Kruskal Wallis total CUVAF area, p = 0.04, ptrend = 0.03, average CUVAF pixel intensity p = 0.02, ptrend = 0.02, total CUVAF pixel intensity: p = 0.04, ptrend = 0.02). Time spent outdoors was positively associated with all CUVAF measures (Spearman's correlation coefficients, total CUVAF area: r = 0.37, p = 0.01, average CUVAF pixel intensity: r = 0.36, p = 0.01, total CUVAF pixel intensity: r = 0.37, p = 0.01) and remained significant when sunglasses use was controlled for (partial correlation, total CUVAF area: r = 0.32, p = 0.03, average CUVAF pixel intensity: r = 0.39, p = 0.01, total CUVAF pixel intensity: r = 0.39, p = 0.03). Neither CUVAF area nor intensity measures were associated with any dry eye measure (Ocular Surface Disease Index: all p ≥ 0.41, corneal staining: all p ≥ 0.38, McMonnies: all r ≤ 0.09 all p ≥ 0.52, slit lamp biomicroscopy: all r ≤ 0.20 all p ≥ 0.17, invasive tear break up time: all r ≤ −0.07 all p ≥ 0.31). Conclusions CUVAF area and intensity were not associated with clinical measures of dry eye. Greater CUVAF area and intensity were associated with wearing sunglasses less frequently and spending more time outdoors. If sunglass wear is accounted for, CUVAF may be a useful biomarker of time spent outdoors in future myopia studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine myopic progression and factors connected with myopic progression. Methods: Myopic schoolchildren, with no previous spectacles, 119 boys and 121 girls, were recruited during 1983-1984 to a randomized 3-year clinical trial of bifocal treatment of myopia with a subsequent 20-year follow-up. Participants' mean age at Baseline was 10.9, ranging from 8.7 to 12.8 years. An ophthalmological examination was carried out annually for 3 years and twice thereafter at ca. 10-year intervals. Additional refraction values were received from prescriptions issued by different ophthalmologists and opticians. Altogether, 1915 refraction values were available. Reading distance and accommodation were measured at each control visit. Data on parents' myopia, daily time spent on reading and close work, outdoor activities and watching television were gathered with a structured questionnaire. Results: Using bifocals (+1.75 add) or reading without glasses or accommodation stimulus during the 3-year period in childhood did not correlate with adulthood refraction. Short reading distance in childhood predicted higher adulthood myopia among females. The factors predicting faster myopic progression were parents' myopia and less time spent on sports and outdoor activities at childhood. Time spent on reading and close work in childhood was related to myopic progression during the first 3 years but did not predict adulthood myopia. Myopia throughout follow-up was higher among those who watched television <3 hr daily than those who spent more time watching television. Mean myopic progression 8 years after age 20-24 was -0.45 D ± 0.71 (SD), and in 45% of cases, progression was =0.5 D. Conclusions: In nearly half of the cases, myopia beginning at school continued to progress into adulthood. Higher adulthood myopia was mainly related to parents' myopia and less time spent on sports and outdoor activities in childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citation information: Charman WN. Myopia, posture and the visual environment. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt 2011, 31, 494-501. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-1313.2011.00825.x Abstract Evidence for a possible role for the peripheral retina in the control of refractive development is discussed, together with Howland's suggestion (Paper presented at the 13th International Myopia Conference, Tubingen, Germany, July 26-29, 2010) that signals to generate appropriate growth might be derived from ocular oblique astigmatism. The dependence of this, or similar peripheral mechanisms, on exposure to a uniform field of near-zero dioptric vergence is emphasized: this is required to ensure a consistent relationship between the astigmatic image fields and the retina. This condition is satisfied by typical outdoor environments. In contrast, indoor environments are likely to be unfavourable to peripherally-based emmetropization, since dioptric stimuli may vary widely across the visual field. This is particularly the case when short working distances or markedly asymmetric head postures with respect to the visual task are adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machines that provide people with nearby sources of outdoor warmth have become increasingly popular in the UK as a crop of mushroom-shaped technologies has started to spring up outside many public houses and private homes in this country. Yet this development has also received considerable condemnation from advocates of sustainable consumption, who have seemingly been disgusted by the societal self-indulgence that they see in these devices. Moving away from these more immediate forms of outrage, this paper enriches our understanding of their arrival by considering these heaters in terms of cultural conventions of thermal adaptation and the changing geographies that can be attached to them. Through these means, it is argued that a more nuanced understanding of why these technologies have become prevalent is produced and that an existing disciplinary interest in embodied outdoor experience is taken towards some important new spaces for study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article Nick Swarbrick, Glynnis Eastwood and Kris Tutton highlight the importance of the outdoor environment as an educational resource, and explore the relationship between self-esteem and successful learning through the forest school project being run in Oxfordshire. It looks at the history and practice of forest school in England, and draws on recent research to suggest ways in which ‘alternative’ or non-traditional educational projects might be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatiotemporal context plays an important role in episodic memory. While temporal context effects have been frequently studied in the laboratory, ecologically valid spatial context manipulations are difficult to implement in stationary conditions. We investigated whether the neural correlates of successful encoding (subsequent memory effect) can be captured in a real‐world environment. An off‐the‐shelf Android smartphone was used for wireless mobile EEG acquisition and stimulus presentation. Participants encoded single words, each of which was presented at a different location on a university campus. Locations were approximately 10–12 m away from each other, half of them with striking features (landmarks) nearby. We predicted landmarks would improve recall performance. After a first free recall task of verbal stimuli indoors, participants performed a subsequent recall outdoors, in which words and locations were recalled. As predicted, significantly more words presented at landmark locations as well as significantly more landmark than nonlandmark locations were recalled. ERP analysis yielded a larger posterior positive deflection during encoding for hits compared to misses in the 400–800 ms interval. Likewise, time‐frequency analysis revealed a significant difference during encoding for hits compared to misses in the form of stronger alpha (200–300 ms) and theta (300–400 ms) power increases. Our results confirm that a vibrant spatial context is beneficial in episodic memory processing and that the underlying neural correlates can be captured with unobtrusive smartphone EEG technology. The advent of mobile EEG technology promises to unveil the relevance of natural physical activity and natural environments on memory. This study is the first to use smartphone mobile EEG to capture neural correlates of successful memory formation in the real world. Participants encoded words at outdoor campus locations while on smartphone EEG recording. Crucially, our encoding setting closely resembled the day‐to‐day episodic memory experience, by providing a unique temporal and spatial context for every encoding stimulus, thereby overcoming the invariant spatial context of stationary laboratory settings. Further, we were able to explore the positive impact of feature‐rich locations (landmarks) on episodic memory performance. The advent of mobile EEG technology promises to unveil the relevance of natural environments on memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]