Pinteraction = 0.029) was detected for the risk of lung function impairment. The risk of lung function impairment  and high neutrophils  was significantly higher in the highest vs. the lowest quartile of MBP in participants with low/normal DDIR but not in in participants with high DDIR. The results of this study showed that high DDIR was associated with less lung function impairment related with DBP exposure, and the inhibiting of the neutrophil recruitment might be the potential mechanism.This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between the daily dietary intake of riboflavin (DDIR) and impaired lung function associated with dibutyl phthalate (DBP) exposure. Data of 4631 adults in this national cross-sectional survey were included. Urinary mono-benzyl phthalate (MBP) was used to evaluate the level of DBP exposure. The ln-transformed urinary creatinine-corrected MBP (ln(MBP/UCr)) level was used in the statistical models. High DDIR was defined as the DDIR ≥1.8 mg per day. The results of lung function impairment and high monocytes were significantly higher in the highest MBP group compared with the lowest MBP group. A significant interaction between ln(MBP/UCr) and DDIR ( Phthalates are widely used as plasticizers in polyvinyl chloride products, medical devices, and toys . The serOne previous study suggested that the concentration of phthalates metabolites in lung of rats is low , and theRiboflavin, a water-soluble vitamin, is critical for cellular growth and function. It can be obtained from various foods and participates in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory processes . PreviouConsidering the factors above, this population-based study aimed to evaluate two topics including the relationship between DBP exposure and lung function, and the role of daily dietary intake of riboflavin (DDIR) on lung function impairment related with DBP exposure in U.S. population.http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm (accessed on 1 February 2022). We examined national cross-sectional data in three consecutive NHANES cycles  from the NHANES database. Data on riboflavin intake, alternatives of phthalates, and lung function of adults (≥18 years old) were retrieved from the database. The informed consents of this study were obtained, and the ethics was approved by the National Center for Health Statistics Research Ethics Review Board.In this study, we used publicly available data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted by the CDC. This national cross-sectional survey was designed to collect information on the health and nutrition status of the American population. The detailed information about the NHANES study can be found online at 2), race , level of education , smoking , history of diabetes , history of hypertension , lung function, concentration of urinary phthalate metabolites (see the following definition), and count and percentage of blood cells were included.The collected data included demographic information, underlying disease, daily riboflavin intake from foods and beverages , urinary phthalate metabolites, and lung function. Finally, age , sex , body mass index  (accessed on 1 February 2022). The value below the lower limit of detection was divided by square root of 2. Urinary MBP was used to evaluate the level of DBP exposure. In this study, the value of diethylhexyl phthalates was calculated as the sum of the concentrations of mono-(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate, mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate, and mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate. We used urinary creatinine-corrected urinary phthalate metabolites levels in the statistical models to reduce the differences of urinary phthalate metabolites caused by different urinary flow. Creatinine-adjusted urinary phthalate metabolites were also ln-transformed in the analysis. Compared with the group with normal lung function, MBP was the only significantly increased urinary phthalate metabolites in the group with declined lung function, so we used MBP as the main research object in the whole study.Urinary phthalate metabolites were used to evaluate the exposure of phthalate and its alternatives in humans. We included 12 kinds of urinary phthalate metabolites  phthalate, mono-ethyl phthalate, mono-(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate, mono-(2-ethyl)-hexyl phthalate, mono-isobutyl phthalate, mono-isononyl phthalate, mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate, and mono-benzyl phthalate), which were tested in all the NHANES cycles from 2007 to 2012. The methodology of detections for urinary phthalate metabolites was described on the NHANES official website (wwwn.cdc.gov/Nchs/Nhanes/2011-2012/SPXRAW_G.htm) (accessed on 1 February 2022).Spirometry was conducted for the included participants in this survey during 2007–2012; meanwhile, individual fractional exhaled nitrous oxide (FeNO) was also measured. The spirometers used in the study were Ohio 822/827 dry-rolling seal volume spirometers. The procedures of spirometry were based on the current standards for pulmonary function, equipment, testing, and interpretation set by the American Thoracic Society. The participants’ spirometry results were evaluated by a computerized algorithm. Examinees with an FEV1/FVC% less than the lower limit of normal determined for his or her age, sex, weight, height, and race/ethnicity or those who had a FEV1/FVC% less than 70% were considered as people with lung function impairment. Lower limit of normal for the FEV1/FVC was calculated based on the sample persons’ age, sex, height, and race/ethnicity . The valhttp://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/fsrg) (accessed on 1 February 2022). The FNDDS includes comprehensive information that can be used to code individual foods and portion sizes reported by participants and also includes nutrient values for calculating nutrient intakes. Foods/beverages or portions that could not be matched to items in the database were resolved by scientists. Finally, the daily dietary intake of riboflavin (DDIR) in milligram (mg) was calculated from the total food and beverages consumption. The median of DDIR was 1.83 mg in this study, and the recommended intake of daily intake of riboflavin was 1.4~1.8 mg, and therefore, we defined high DDIR as DDIR ≥ 1.8 mg.The 24 h detailed dietary intake information was collected in the dietary interview. United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) was used to calculate the nutrient intakes . Prespecified subgroup analyses were conducted to assess whether the observed association of risk of lung function impairment and urinary MBP was modified by sex, age, race, education, sex, BMI, history of diabetes, smoke, history of hypertension, respiratory diseases, and DDIR status. The ORs were adjusted for sex, age, race, education, smoke, history of hypertension, and respiratory diseases in subgroup analysis. A Pinteraction was calculated by a likelihood ratio test, which compared the models with and without interaction terms. Restricted cubic spline regression with 3 knots at the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentiles was used to explore the potential dose–response relationship between ln(MBP/UCr) and lung function impairment. The reference level was set at 6.31. A Pnonlinearity was obtained by testing the null hypothesis that regression coefficients of the second splines are equal to zero. p < 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 25.0 software and R 4.10 software.Continuous variables were presented as means ± standard deviation (SD). Categorical variables were analyzed by the χ2 test or the Fisher’s exact test, as appropriate. Logistic regression was applied to estimate odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between risk of lung function impairment and urinary MBP. We divided the included participants into quartiles of ln(MBP), with the lowest quartile being the reference group. The linear trends in risk estimates across quartiles of ln(MBP/UCr) were calculated by one degree-of-freedom trend test . We adjuIn general, 30,422 subjects were invited to participate in the NHANES cross-sectional study between 2005 and 2018. Participants without the results of urinary phthalate metabolites and spirometry were excluded. 4631 participants aged ≥18 years old were finally included in this study. The detailed information of screening process was shown in Ptrend < 0.05). (Ptrend = 0.092).We divided study population into 4 groups by the quartiles of ln(MBP(ng/L)/UCr(g/dL)). The clinical characteristics, lung function, and the blood cells of the four groups are shown in < 0.05). . Howeverp-value for the nonlinear dose–response manner was insignificant (Pnonlinear = 0.605).We have performed a dose–response analysis of the relationship between ln(MBP/UCr) and lung function impairment. It was observed that the higher concentration of MBP in urine was consistent with higher risk of all of lung function impairment . Howeverquartiles 4 vs. 1 1.35, 95% CI, 1.05–1.73; Ptrend = 0.017). However, the results showed that there was no significant difference of FeNO between the highest MBP group vs. the lowest MBP group .The associations of DBP exposure and lung function impairment among the four groups are shown in quartiles 4 vs. 1 1.37, 95% CI, 1.02–1.84; Ptrend = 0.048) and , respectively, in the highest vs. the lowest quartiles of ln(MBP/UCr).The associations of MBP and four kinds of blood cells among the four groups are shown in Pinteraction = 0.029) and history of hypertension (Pinteraction = 0.031) was detected for lung function impairment. Specifically, the highest fourth of MBP was found to be associated with higher risks of lung function impairment  in people without hypertension; lower risk of lung function impairment  was found in participants with higher DDIR. However, no significant interaction was found for remaining predefined factors.The subgroup analyses on the associations of concentration of urinary MBP and lung function impairment (highest vs. the lowest quartiles of ln(MBP/UCr)) are shown in n = 2178) and higher DDIR group (n = 2251). The effects of MBP on lung function impairment, peripheral monocytes, and neutrophils were evaluated in the two groups, respectively. After the full adjustment for confounders, the result of lung function impairment was significantly higher in the highest MBP group compared with lowest MBP group  in the participants with low/normal DDIR. However, for participants with high DDIR, the highest vs. the lowest quartiles of MBP were not found to be at increased risks of lung function impairment . The risk of high monocytes was not significant higher in the highest vs. the lowest quartiles of MBP in participants with low/normal DDIR but was significantly higher in the highest vs. the lowest quartiles of MBP  in participants with higher DDIR. The risk of high neutrophils was significantly higher in the highest vs. the lowest quartiles of MBP  in participants with low/normal DDIR but insignificantly higher  in participants with high DDIR.Two hundred and two participants were excluded due to the miss data of DDIR, and 4429 participants were included in the comprehensive subgroup analyses of the of DDIR . These pIn this national cross-sectional study, we revealed significant associations of concentration of urinary MBP with the risk of lung function impairment. Moreover, higher monocytes and neutrophils may contribute to lung function impairment associated with DBP exposure. Subgroup analyses further showed that these harmful associations between urinary MBP and lung function impairment were insignificant in people with high DDIR. High DDIR might reduce the neutrophil recruitment to alleviate the lung function impairment in the presence of DBP exposure.Inhalation of DBP contributes to a large proportion of DBP intake due to the high concentration of DBP in indoor air. MBP is one of the main DBP metabolites , and MBPIn our study, we found that monocytes and neutrophils were higher in the high urinary MBP groups, and the trend of the changes in monocytes and neutrophils were also significant. Therefore, urinary MBP level was harmfully associated with changes in lung function and might be mediated by monocytes and neutrophils. One previous study reported the interaction between DBP and macrophages was mediated through PPARγ, which was highly expressed in macrophages ,20. As wInterestingly, our subgroup analysis suggested that the lung function of participants with higher DDIR were less likely to be affected by DBP than patients with lower/normal DDIR. The relationship between riboflavin intake and lung function impairment associated with phthalates exposure is still unknown. Some previous studies suggested that riboflavin can suppress neutrophil accumulation, inhibit reactive oxidant generation, and improve oxidative DNA damage in a murine model of AA-induced colonic inflammation, sepsis and ischemia/reperfusion injury ,27. A siThere were several strengths in this study. Firstly, to our knowledge, this is the first population-based study to explore the relationship between DDIR and lung function impairment in the presence of DBP exposure. Secondly, we comprehensively analyzed the relationship between urinary MBP and lung function impairment and found the lung function impairment is associated with high levels of urinary MBP. Thirdly, this is the first study to reveal that the immuno-modulatory effects of riboflavin and changes of neutrophils might be the potential mechanism.Limitations of this study should also be noted. Firstly, most measurements and questionnaires were completed at the same time, so we can only obtain clues rather than determine the direct causality in a large sample of population. Secondly, it is necessary to detect urinary MBP at different time points because the level of MBP at one time point cannot represent the long-term level of DBP exposure. Furthermore, we also need to follow up regarding the changes of lung function. Similarly, the 24 h dietary questionnaire made it difficult to accurately discern the persisting nutrition intake. Therefore, it is necessary to complete a daily diet questionnaire during a long period. Thirdly, we also need to test the serum riboflavin concentration to explore the true riboflavin exposure because the riboflavin will be excreted through urine when it is beyond a certain level. Finally, the actual relationship between the number of monocytes and neutrophils in blood and in alveolar lavage fluid should be explored, and further study can focus on the neutrophil accumulation in lung tissue in an experimental murine model of lung function impairment associated with DBP exposure.In summary, our study suggests that higher concentration of urinary MBP was associated with higher risk of lung function impairment, and the harmful association might be mediated by monocytes and neutrophils. A positive association between high DDIR and lung function in the presence of DBP exposure was observed in this study, and the inhibiting of the neutrophil recruitment might be the potential mechanism.


N = 396) and Sweden (N = 309).Social emotional competence is fundamental to the positive development of children and youth. Accurately understanding and assessing children’s social emotional competencies, using psychometrically sound instruments, are essential to global efforts to support children’s social emotional learning, academic achievements, and health. This study examined the psychometric properties of a teacher-reported measure of young children’s social emotional competence, the Social Competence Scale – Teacher edition (SCS-T), in two samples of children growing up with varied economic resources/conditions, cultural norms, and educational experiences, namely Pakistan  latent mean differences between the samples. Compared to the Swedish sample, the Pakistani sample was 1.80 units lower on social competence  and 1.86 units lower on academic skills . The implications of these findings in light of efforts to promote positive child development in diverse parts of the world are considered.Using structural equation modelling, bi-factor confirmatory factor analysis models implying shared variance, among all items and domain-specific shared variance, among the prosocial items, emotion regulation items, and academic skills items resulted in good fitting models in each respective sample. Invariance testing across samples revealed a subset of items from each factor structure with partial scalar invariance, whereby five items had equal thresholds and could be comparable across the two samples. Thus, results provided partial support for hypotheses 1, 2, and 3, in that the posited three factor model (H1) was not clearly supported and a bi-factor model evidenced the best fit, among tested models, for both samples. Further, partial scalar invariance (H3) was found for five items out of 25 items, concerning social competence and academic skills. In regards, to the posited research question, the results of Z-tests showed significant ( The development of young children’s social emotional competence (SEC) is a complex, dynamic process that brings together children’s actions, emotions, thoughts, and takes place internally , as well as within an interpersonal context . Core coThe importance of SEC is also supported by an expanding number of descriptive and experimental studies that connect SEC with better concurrent and prospective adjustment in children and adolescents e.g., . As a caN = 356) during preschool. In REDI, immediate intervention benefits were found for vocabulary, literacy skills, emotional knowledge, and improved social cognitions  was developed for use in the Fast Track study . The SCSThe theory that guided the present study was CASEL’s five competence domain model, and the five domains consist of self-awareness, self-management, relationship skills, social awareness, and responsible decision making . The SCSThe SCS-T also concerns the relationship skills domain in the CASEL model, namely those interpersonal skills “… needed to successfully interact with others” , p. 409.To illustrate the potential promise of the SCS-T, one can look to a study conducted with the Fast Track control group – this group included a normative group of children and children at risk for behavioural problems. The Fast Track control group did not take part in any Fast Track prevention activities . Fast TrN = 753, including high risk and normative children), showed that teacher-rated prosocial/communication skills  of the control group children, while the children attended kindergarten, were significantly related to several important outcomes at the age of 25 . Specifically, results showed that those children rated as having better skills in this domain in kindergarten by their teachers were more likely to graduate from high school and college, were more likely to have stable employment and to have fewer problems on young adult indicators of crime, substance use, and poor mental health  and a total score that combines all subscales typically evidence good internal consistency of Cronbach alpha coefficients of 0.80 or higher , however family systems are trending towards nuclear family structures in recent years with this trend moving faster in urban populations . Pakistakatchi classes remain common practice; whereby young unregistered children attend school with their older, registered sibling, and follow along with the existing lesson, within the same classroom in a multi-grade environment, and without any formal teaching directed to the younger unregistered child. The Pakistani government made a commitment (in 2002) to formalise katchi in public schools and increase the use of child-centred methods, due to a lack of resources and financing, children remain in crowded classrooms, with outdated syllabi, didactic and autocratic approaches to learning, and summative examinations  and was: Do mean levels of the measured social emotional competencies and academic skills significantly vary across samples?This research question was posed given that the ways in which children may typically express these competencies and how they are perceived by their teachers may differ in form and function across the samples  given thN = 309) attended preschool in one of three municipalities in a large Swedish city. Participants were 53% male and 47% female. Participating children had an average age of four and half years old . Approximately 36% of the sample had a language, other than Swedish, as their first language and/or were multilingual (Swedish and another first language). First languages other than Swedish were varied and for example included: Arabic, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Thai, and Turkish. Children’s family socio-economic status was not collected for this study. Preschools in three municipalities participated in this study and the median total income from employment and business income in 2016 (at the approximate time of data collection) for those living in two of these municipalities was below the county median and one other municipality was above the county median (The child participants (y median .N = 396) from for profit non-elite private sector preschools in middle-income neighbourhoods of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad in Pakistan. Participating children were 49% male and 51% female. Participating children had an average age of four years old .Child participants consisted of preschool children . As part of the wider study, research assistants also observed the children at play and gave child participants several tasks measuring, for example, social problem solving, theory of mind, emotional recognition, and aspects of executive functioning . FollowiTranslation of the SCS-T, into Swedish, was guided by a committee approach . InitialPakistani study. The study procedure and circumstances of the Pakistani study has several parallels to the Swedish study, in that recruitment in both studies took place first at the preschool level. However, in this case, instead of convenience sampling (as was used in the Swedish study), a purposive sampling technique was used in the Pakistani study to recruit seven private sector preschools . IndividAs Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, and while sharing official status with English, it is the preferred and dominant language used for inter-communication between different ethnic groups. Step 1: Evaluation of relevance of scale items for Pakistani children. The first step, before going to the translation phase, was to evaluate the items of the scales. Seven experts, comprising four preschool teachers and three academics, each with more than 20 years’ experience of working with young children in school settings, were contacted. Together, they reviewed and evaluated the relevance of the items to preschool children in this study. The items were found relevant to the behaviours of children usually observed in Pakistani schools.Step 2: Forward translation of items. Next, a group of six bilingual experts were approached. Of these, two were school teachers having Master degrees in English and Education and a command of Urdu and English language; three were PhD scholars working in the field of developmental psychopathology and social psychology; and one was an educationist who had experience working with young children and also proficient in both languages. They translated the items keeping in view the conceptual equivalence. These translations were further reviewed to exclude any repetitions.Step 3: Committee approach. A three-member committee reviewed and evaluated the most appropriate translation of the scale. The members were researchers and faculty members in the discipline of Psychology and having adequate experience in item construction and translation.Step 4: Back translation of items. In this step, three bilingual experts were asked to back translate the Urdu version of the scale selected through committee approach. The minimum education of these bilinguals were Masters and they were not familiar with the original version of the scale.Step 5: Final item selection. A committee of three members evaluated the three back translations and compared the original version and back translation. The items, which conveyed the closest meanings to the original scale and were deemed most appropriate, were retained. Twenty items were retained. The committee recommended the final version used in this study analysis for further use in research.Teachers in this study, in general were not considered to be study participants, and thus no demographic information was recorded for teachers as part of the child assessment. However, it can be noted that in Swedish preschools, it is typical to have teachers and other helping staff who vary in their education in education and child development with some teachers regularly having undergraduate to masters level university degrees and with other helping staff having a three year upper secondary school training in the area to those with little formal education . In PakiSocial Competence Scale – Teacher Version contains 25 items that are designed to index three subscales, namely: Prosocial/Communication Skills , Emotional Regulation Skills , and Academic Skills ,” “A little (1),” “Moderately well (2),” “Well (3),” and “Very well (4)” .r = 0.83). The psychometrics for the SCS-T with these study samples are described in the results section.As noted in the introduction, the SCS-T in U.S. and Australian studies has shown good scale reliability  for the SCS-T were evaluated using structural equation modelling (SEM) based CFAs. These models are presented in p ≥ 0.05, RMSEA < 0.05, CFI ≥ 0.95, TLI ≥ 0.95, and SRMR < 0.05. Chi square difference tests were used to compare nested models.As shown in Multigroup analyses conducted in Mplus, starting with a configural invariance model. Configural invariance is when the same factor structure holds across groups, in this case samples. A metric invariance model was then specified. Metric invariance includes both equivalent factor structures and equal factor loadings. Finally, based on the results from the first two steps, a partial scalar invariance model was specified. Scalar invariance includes equivalent factor structures, equal factor loadings, and equal intercepts or thresholds.Finally, we compared the Swedish and Pakistani samples on the means of the latent variables that exhibited partial scalar invariance: social competence and academic skills.and domain-specific shared variance among the prosocial/communication skills items, among the emotion regulation skills items, and among the academic skills items. This analysis addressed H1 which posited a three-construct factor structure consisting of prosocial/communication skills, emotion regulation skills, and academic skills. These analyses addressed H3. As shown in the Multigroup section in z = −6.41, p < 0.001) and 1.86 units lower on academic skills . There were indeed some significant across sample differences on the five items.Compared to the Swedish group, the Pakistani group was 1.80 units lower on prosocial/communication skills  and feasibility of the SCS-T for use with children in Swedish and Pakistani urban preschools. The implications of our findings, in light of efforts to promote positive child development in diverse parts of the world, lend support for the importance of establishing psychometric performance of SEL instruments across cultural and societal contexts where children are living.Our initial hypotheses (H1 and H2) were partially supported by the fit indices, factor loadings, and latent construct correlations, as well as composite reliabilities, based on the final SCS-T bi-factor model in, both samples; even though the children in these samples are growing up with varied economic resources/conditions, cultural norms, and educational experiences. Although a three factor model was not clearly supported by the results (H1 not supported in full) a bi-factor model had the best fit, across the tested models, across samples. A bi-factor model implies that there is shared variance among all items as well as domain-specific shared variance among the prosocial items, emotion regulation items, and the academic skills items; or in other words, that all items load onto a general/global factor, as well as a series of skill-specific factors. These findings are in line with the CASEL five competence domain model’s  associatpartial scalar invariance (H3); whereby five items from the SCS scales’ social competence and academic subscales allowed for comparison between samples. When compared (RQ), we found that the Pakistani sample had lower social competence and academic skills than the Swedish sample (on a subset of comparable SCS-T items). Child development is tied to the specific cultural and social contexts in which the child is developing . The cultural and social context provides specific socialisation contexts that interact with the unique abilities and competencies of the developing child  and/or at the classroom level as a result of teacher variance  . NotwithThis study is cross-sectional and therefore any causal relations between any of the study constructs, or developmental changes across time cannot be inferred. Further, both samples consisted of children coming from schools who wished to participate and were interested in receiving access to, and training in, a social emotional learning curriculum  or receiving additional classroom management training . Even though there were some important similarities in the sample study procedures , there were also variations in some regards . Further, aspects of culture or features of the educational context at participating preschools were not directly measured in this study, and within each sample there is linguistic and cultural diversity. The samples in this study were not intended to be nationally representative. Therefore, any cross-sample findings are generalizable to the present samples, and any further generalisation of findings to Swedish or Pakistani children in general should not be made in the absence of research that specifically has the intention to examine this research topic in nationally representative samples of children.Despite these limitations, clear study strengths include the first time use and examination of the psychometric properties of the SCS with children attending preschools in Sweden and Pakistan. Thus, opening up the possibility of the use of the SCS more widely in Swedish and Pakistani early childhood educational contexts. Other important advances are the free availability of this psychometrically useful instrument in two additional languages (Swedish and Urdu), see data availability statement for details about how to access these editions of the instrument, as well as information about how to possibly score this instrument with children attending preschool in the respective countries. Further studies are needed to have greater confidence in the factor structure of this instrument in the wider population, yet the present study provides a starting point for this future line of inquiry.This study also highlights the need for more consideration into the situation in which results point to partial invariance and guidelines for interpretation of such findings. Regarding the invariance testing conducted with the SCS-T in this study, standards for acceptability of partial invariance vary from notions that half of all items  to a majAt a fundamental level, this study also helps to develop increased insight into variations in children’s SEC. We entered this study with an expectation consistent with Social competence is increasingly recognized as a dependable predictor of an array of public health outcomes including education, employment, criminal activity, substance use, and mental health and well-being across the life-course e.g., . The avaRequests for de-identified data for the study analyses in this article can be made to the corresponding author by qualified researchers (PhD.) with Swedish and Pakistani ethical approval for secondary data analysis. This procedure complies with the ethical approval for the studies in this article.The Swedish study had ethical approval from a Regional Ethics Review Board in Sweden (dnr. 2012/1714-31/5). The Pakistani Study had ethical approval from the Advanced Study and Research Board (AS & RB) of Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad Pakistan. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.ST, AK, KE, AI, LF-W, and LE participated in the manuscript conceptualization and writing. LF-W, ST, AI, and KE: data curation. ST and KE: formal analysis. LE, LF-W, and AI: funding acquisition. ST, AI, LF-W, and LE: investigation. LE, LF-W, and AI: methodological design. ST, LE, LF-W, and AI: project administration. All authors: writing—review and editing, and approve this publication and are accountable for the accuracy of the work in this article. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.Funders of the Swedish Study included: combined funding from the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, the Swedish Research Council, Formas, and VINNOVA (dnr: 259-2012-71), the Clas Groschinsky Memorial Fund, and Stockholm University’s Centrum för Kompetensutveckling inom Vård och Omsorg (CKVO).The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


The municipality of Romblon in the Philippines is an island known for its marble industry. The subsurface of the Philippines is known for its limestone. The production of marble into slab, tiles, and novelty items requires heavy equipment to cut rocks and boulders. The finishing of marble requires polishing to smoothen the surface. During the manufacturing process, massive amounts of particulates and slurry are produced, and with a lack of technology and human expertise, the environment can be adversely affected. Hence, this study assessed and monitored the environmental conditions in the municipality of Romblon, particularly the soils and sediments, which were affected due to uncontrolled discharges and particulates deposition. A total of fifty-six soil and twenty-three sediment samples were collected and used to estimate the metal and metalloid (MM) concentrations in the whole area using a neural network-particle swarm optimization inverse distance weighting model (NN-PSO). There were nine MMs; e.g., As, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cu, Ba, Mn, Zn and Fe, with significant concentrations detected in the area in both soils and sediments. The geo-accumulation index was computed to assess the level of contamination in the area, and only the soil exhibited contamination with zinc, while others were still on a safe level. Nemerow’s pollution index (NPI) was calculated for the samples collected, and soil was evaluated and seen to have a light pollution level, while sediment was considered as “clean”. Furthermore, the single ecological risk (Er) index for both soil and sediment samples was considered to be a low pollution risk because all values of Er were less than 40. Metal and metalloid (MM) contamination in soils and sediments, and its subsequent release into groundwater or surface waters, is considered to be a major environmental concern. The extent of MM contamination can be attributed to many factors, such as microbial activity, the physicochemical properties of the media, and location sources . GloballSoil pollution and its adverse effects by heavy metal contamination are often irreversible , and theElevated MM concentration in soil can be due to natural causes or anthropogenic activities. The spatial heterogeneity of MMs in soils can be a result of topography, climate, or other natural factors  includin2 and a population of more than 40,000 people, where the primary livelihood is agriculture, livestock raising, and marble mining and processing. Romblon is known as the marble capital of the Philippines, having the largest and highest-quality marble deposits. The increasing population and the aspiration to develop more marble-based products raised the concern of the community due to environmental pollution, particularly soil contamination by MMs, which has been associated with mining activities. The mining of marble in Romblon for commercial use started in the 1970s. However, to date, there has been no research conducted in the area to determine the presence and extent of MM accumulation in soils in Romblon. Hence, this research was carried out in order to provide information to the community and local government units to allow them to create appropriate programs and necessary interventions.Romblon town, the capital municipality of the province of Romblon in the Philippines, is part of the Romblon Island Group located at the center of the archipelago and is almost wholly underlain by the Romblon metamorphic rocks . It is aAccording to research by Adepoju and Adekoya , even smSpatial concentration maps have been frequently used in the monitoring of the quality of soils and sediments impacted by heavy metals. In the Asian continent, the use of spatial concentration mapping in soils and sediments has been broadly implemented and includes research carried out in the western Asian region ,16, the The employment of innovative tools, such as machine learning methods, is consistent with the interdisciplinary shift toward Industry 4.0 and has become increasingly common over the past few years. One of the focal points of Industry 4.0 is artificial intelligence. This is crucial for the development of various technical specialties . The ArtThe island municipality of Romblon is located in the Philippines, with coordinates of 12.5294° N and 122.2881° E. The climate of the island falls under Type III of the Corona climatic classification system, with no pronounced wet and dry seasons, but it is relatively dry from January to May. Its topography is mostly composed of hills and it has a maximum elevation of approximately 400 m above sea level. The soil and sediment samples collected were spatially distributed across the municipality of Romblon, as shown in A total of fifty-six soil and twenty-three sediment samples were collected from twenty-six barangays of the municipality of Romblon. The sampling locations were spatially distributed over the island municipality of Romblon, targeting barangays that would best represent the whole area. Top soils were collected using a grab stainless trowel, while sediment was collected using an Eckman  grab samThe preparation and MM concentration analysis were conducted at the Mapua-RSU Joint Laboratory at RSU Sawang campus in the municipality of Romblon, Philippines. The soil and sediment samples were stored in zipper bags upon collection and transported to the laboratory for preparation following the work of Wang et al.  and EPA iP) and Nemerow’s pollution index (NPI) values (nP) [iP and nP, were calculated based on Equations (1) and (2).iP is the single factor index, iC is the heavy metal concentrations in the soil samples (mg/kg), and iS is the soil quality standard value for each element (mg/kg) [The contamination levels of the soil were assessed using Single Factor index (ues (Pn) . The com (mg/kg) .(2)Pn=PPimax is the maximum value of the single factor index and avePi is the average value of the computed iP. The grading standards for the pollution indices are shown in The Nemerow’s synthetic pollution index can be calculated using the equation above. Wherein, RI) developed by Hackanson was widely used to assess the ecological dangers of heavy metal pollution in sediments, soils, and water [RI is shown by Equation (3)RI represents the total number of risk factors observed in the soil samples, rE indicates the monomial potential ecological risk factor for each component, and iT is the metal toxic response factor. The iT values for Pb, Cr, Ni, Mn, Cu, and Cd were 5, 2, 5, 1, 5, and 30, respectively [The potential ecological risk index  interpolation, which enforces the estimated value of a point that was influenced more by nearby known points rather than those farther away. In IDW interpolation, the sample points are weighted during interpolation, such that the influence of one point relative to another declines with the distance from the unknown point to be determined. Conventional deterministic approaches, on the other hand, were frequently created under certain constraints and do not work in different real-world situations. The performance is restricted using default settings and the scarcity of accurate observations. Due to the ANN-PSO algorithm’s capacity for modeling non-linear datasets and its adaptation to real-world circumstances, combined with the IDW approach, provides solution to this concern .nC is the measured concentration of the element in the environment and nB is the geo-chemical background value in the soil.Another way to identify the degree of contamination of soils and sediments would be by using Muller’s geo-accumulation index. This method compares the background concentration of heavy metals in the area versus its current concentration . Backgrogeo ofI ≤ 0, no contamination; 0 < geoI ≤ 1, no contamination to moderately contaminated; 1 < geoI ≤ 2, moderately contaminated; 2 < geoI ≤ 3, moderately to heavily contaminated; 3 < geoI ≤ 4, heavily contaminated; 4 < geoI ≤ 5, heavily to extremely contaminated; and geoI ≥ 5, extremely contaminated [The following values indicate the degree of contamination in soil: aminated ,43.The MMs concentration in soil and sediment samples were recorded and showed that the highest concentration detected in soil was 41.25 mg/kg (Ba), 236.60 mg/kg (Pb), 10.60 mg/kg (Cr), 31.28 mg/kg (Ni), 591.84 mg/kg (Mn), 233.10 mg/kg (Cu), 0.005 mg/kg (As), 6367.01 mg/kg (Fe), and 542.96 mg/kg (Zn). While sediments showed maximum concentrations of 13.71 mg/kg (Ba), 37.59 mg/kg (Pb), 12.91 mg/kg (Cr), 13.71 mg/kg (Ni), 14.93 mg/kg (Mn), 233.10 mg/kg (Cu), 0.003 mg/kg (As), 3201.14 mg/kg (Fe), and 13.422 mg/kg (Zn). nP value shows how much pollution each metal is likely to contribute to contaminate a certain environmental medium.Nemerow’s pollution index was determined in order to assess the degree of soil contamination in the municipality of Romblon. The nP value of 1.72 for soil, indicating a light pollution level contamination across the municipality. In comparison to the single factor pollution indices, the values of nP were higher due to the few samples that exhibited a higher MMs concentration, because nP accounted for the highest index observed in these sets of data. This was illustrated by the outliers in nP value that also indicated a clean pollution level for the municipality. Because no observed iP values reached intermediate or severe level pollution, this minimized the risk of metal contamination that may pose a threat upon human exposure through dermal contact, incidental ingestion, and impact by agricultural crops quality [iP values of soil and sediments from the municipality were observed to be less than 1, as shown in As shown in  quality ,47,48,49rE value indicated that there was low pollution risk in soil and that the soil was clean.The study area’s single ecological risk index for soil and sediments had an order of Cd < Cr < Ni < Mn < Pb < Cu and Cd < Pb < Mn < Cr < Ni < Cu, respectively, as shown in p < 0.01), respectively, for soils as shown in p < 0.01 expresses the statistical significance of the relationship and association of metals in soil and sediments. The correlation matrix for sediments and soils are presented in Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between MMs in both soils and sediments. The degree of metal interdependence and association in both soils and sediments was determined. The correlation coefficients and matrices of Ni-Cr, Ni-Mn, Ni-Cu, and Cu-Pb were 0.957, 0.423, 0.376, and 0.886 , Mn (49.44 mg/kg), and Zn (109.58 mg/kg); and for twenty-three sediment samples, Fe (1146.44 mg/kg), Mn (41.09 mg/kg), and Zn (6.08 mg/kg). An X-ray fluorescence scanner was used to measure this concentration with comparable accuracy to ICP. Another index used to assess this metal concentration was the geo-accumulation index, which identifies the contamination level in a certain area. The


A considerable amount of discarded building materials are produced each year worldwide, resulting in ecosystem degradation. Self-compacting concrete (SCC) has 60–70% coarse and fine particles in its composition, so replacing this material with another waste material, such as recycled aggregate (RA), reduces the cost of SCC. This study compares novel Artificial Neural Network algorithm techniques—Levenberg–Marquardt (LM), Bayesian regularization (BR), and Scaled Conjugate Gradient Backpropagation (SCGB)—to estimate the 28-day compressive strength (f’c) of SCC with RA. A total of 515 samples were collected from various published papers, randomly splitting into training, validation, and testing with percentages of 70, 10 and 20. Two statistical indicators, correlation coefficient (R) and mean squared error (MSE), were used to assess the models; the greater the R and lower the MSE, the more accurate the algorithm. The findings demonstrate the higher accuracy of the three models. The best result is achieved by BR (R = 0.91 and MSE = 43.755), while the accuracy of LM is nearly the same (R = 0.90 and MSE = 48.14). LM processes the network in a much shorter time than BR. As a result, LM and BR are the best models in forecasting the 28 days f’c of SCC having RA. The sensitivity analysis showed that cement (28.39%) and water (23.47%) are the most critical variables for predicting the 28-day compressive strength of SCC with RA, while coarse aggregate contributes the least (9.23%). The most significant component of the building business is concrete. Because durability has become one of the most critical issues in building reinforced concrete structures with long service lives and with the development of construction technologies in recent years, it is necessary to manufacture well-designed concrete as a robust material for construction ,2,3.Concrete is the most used building material globally. Because numerous types of concrete with different admixtures are being created, the understanding of advanced concrete design procedures has expanded . One of The fundamental difference between self-compacting and ordinary concrete is the quantities of components used in the mixing process. SCC is recognized as the era’s most creative concrete, with the ability to self-settle in building zones without vibratory power. Self-compacting concrete sinks under its weight by following a flowing course . SCC is The unprecedented growth of the building sector through the decades has resulted in a disproportionate use of natural properties; demolition, and construction waste (DCW) has gathered in a large volume, and landfilling recycled aggregates (RA) can cause environmental destruction ,10,11. TSimultaneously, natural resources are decreasing because of rapid modern urbanization. Mountains, the principal supply of high-quality aggregates, rapidly diminish ,18. As aRecent advances in concrete material research have paved the road for alternative materials as long-term replacements for traditional ones ,23,24,25The second technique is to skip all the experimental work, decreasing environmental deterioration and natural resource waste. Many researchers are focusing on soft computing strategies these days. These computational approaches such as machine learning or artificial neural network techniques have lately emerged as practical tools for modeling and estimating various issues, notably in concrete modeling characteristics . The humIn ANN, different algorithms are there. In this study, three algorithms were selected based on their performances. The Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm often requires more memory, but it is faster. Even though Bayesian regularization requires more time, it can produce strong generalization for challenging, small, or complex datasets. The Scaled Conjugate Gradient Backpropagation algorithm, on the other hand, utilizes less memory than the preceding ones.The primary purpose of this study is to use artificial neural networks to validate and forecast the compression strength of CC utilizing RA. Different techniques, such as Levenberg–Marquardt (LM), Bayesian regularization (BR), and Scaled Conjugate Gradient Backpropagation (SCGB), are developed and compared for this purpose.In deep learning, artificial neural networks (ANN) are a crucial method. A subset of machine learning called deep learning (DL) enables the computation of multilayer neural networks. In contrast to artificial intelligence’s primary objective of enabling machines to mimic human behavior, machine learning employs statistical techniques to enable computers to grow over time. The key contrast between machine learning and deep learning is that in DL, pattern extraction and categorization are completed automatically. However, with machine learning, feature extraction is still necessary, and the computer handles categorization and prediction .An artificial neural network (ANN) is a complex mathematical and computational model that is based on the extensive biological neural network in the human brain . It may Each unique and specific algorithm can be used to run an ANN. The following sections cover LM, BR, and SCGB from a research standpoint.The Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) approach iteratively seeks out the function’s least value. A multidimensional function may be expressed as the sum of squares of nonlinear real-valued functions ,38. ThisBayesian regularized artificial neural networks (BRANNs), which can shorten or eliminate the requirement for time-consuming cross-validation, are more reliable than traditional back-propagation neural networks (BPNNs), which are less reliable . BayesiaThe basic backpropagation method is used to modify the weights in the direction of steepest fall or highest negative gradient. This is the method through which the performance function can degrade the quickest. Although the function descends the negative gradient the quickest, it is demonstrated that this does not necessarily indicate the quickest integration .The conjugate gradient (CG) algorithms seek a direction that achieves faster convergence than the steepest descent way while maintaining the error reduction attained in the earlier stages, and this activity is known as the conjugate direction. In most CG algorithms, the step size changes with each iteration. A search is undertaken along the conjugate gradient direction to determine the step size that will minimize the performance function along that line .A method other than the line search approach can also estimate the step size. The goal is to combine the model trust region approach of the LM algorithm with the CG methodology. This strategy is known as SCGB, which was initially reported in the literature by Møller (1993) .Design parameters are adjusted separately for each iteration user, which is essential for the algorithm’s success. This is a substantial advantage over line-based algorithm searches .The compressive strength of self-compacting concrete containing recycled aggregates is validated and predicted in this study using artificial neural networks. Based on the author’s best understanding of the research currently available, there has not been a significant study on using various deep learning techniques to forecast the compressive strength of SCC with RA, which marks its novelty. Several techniques, including the Levenberg–Marquardt (LM), Bayesian regularization (BR), and Scaled Conjugate Gradient Backpropagation (SCGB) algorithms, are applied for this objective. Two statistical indicators, correlation coefficient  and mean square error (MSE), are employed for the selection of the best model among them all. Sensitivity analysis is then conducted to determine the impact of each input variable on the output variable. The present study will provide comprehensive knowledge to the readers about these three algorithms for the prediction and validation of SCC with RA.Information is acquired from numerous study articles. 3), with most of it being between 180 and 600 (kg/m3). The maximum sample number is around 40, corresponding to a cement concentration of 635 kg/m3. Likewise, the mineral admixture (X2) varies between 0 and 515 kg/m3. The water content (X3) varies from around 45 to 277 (kg/m3), as indicated in 3), with most values between 770 and 1000 (kg/m3). The coarse aggregates (X5) range from 328 to 1170 (kg/m3), with typical values falling between 680 and 920 (kg/m3). The superplasticizer content (X6) is between 0 and 16 kg/m3. It can be seen from the figures that out of all 515 samples, everyone contributes to the respective input variable.The input variables from X1 to X5 have a vast range of values, but the variable X6 has a limited range of values. The cement content (X1) ranges from 78 to 635  and the variable of output (compression strength) was investigated to see if there was a link . The PeaAn artificial neural network is a data prediction framework based on present characteristics developed from the human mind structure known as an artificial neural network (ANN). This system is made up of neurons, which are functional blocks. Weights link neurons, which are generally chosen at random initially. Various epochs enhance or reduce the importance of a learning process to finally produce the ideal network that can predict it with fair accuracy .As an outcome, a trained neural network may produce the intended output by receiving the inputs and considered the updated weights, as shown in When developing an ANN model, several aspects must be considered. The initial step is to choose the most optimal ANN model structure. The data must then be entered into the chosen ANN model regarding input and output. After that, the experience must be used to select the activation function, number of layers, number of hidden layers, and number of neurons in each layer ,107.Considering The Levenberg–Marquardt (LM), Bayesian regularization (BR) and Scaled Conjugate Gradient Backpropagation (SCGB) techniques were employed and compared in this work. MATLAB software was used to design and run the network.Even though the Levenberg–Marquardt method is quicker, it frequently uses more memory. As seen by an increase in the mean square error of the validation samples, training automatically ends when generalization stops improving. However, even if Bayesian regularization takes more time, it can yield good generalization for complicated, minor, or challenging datasets. Training comes to an end because of adaptive weight loss (regularization). On the other side, the Scaled Conjugate Gradient Backpropagation technique uses less memory than the previous ones. When generalization stops improving, training automatically terminates, as seen by an increase in the mean square error of the validation samples ,108.The three phases of the network are training, validation, and testing. Mean squared error (MSE) and coefficient of correlation  were used to assess the models’ performance ,110, as Regression is acknowledged to be the most important metric for determining the accuracy of a network’s overall accuracy. R-values are used to assess the relationship between outputs and projected targets. The R-value of a strong association is 1, whereas the R-value of a random relationship is 0 .Mean squared error is the average squared disparity between outputs and objectives. It is preferable if the value is as low as possible. If the value is 0, there is no error.The model was performed using three different algorithms: LM, BR, and SCG with the results compared and explained below.To find the best model, the algorithm is continuously trained. The model’s performance with 10 total neurons is shown in Epoch 47 is found out to be most suitable option for LM algorithm network training because, while the mistakes in training data decline over time, the errors in validation and test data rise. In the Levenberg–Marquardt method, Mu is the learning rate, and 0.01 was chosen after specific iterations b. The trRegression analysis is then performed. The results of all performance measures, including R-value and MSE of the whole model with training, validation, and test, are finally summarized in Similarly, the Bayesian regularization approach is used to train the model. The model’s performance with the same number of neurons is depicted in 10 was chosen after several rounds, as seen in It can be seen from Following that, a regression analysis was carried out in the same way. The training and testing correlations between the model’s input and output variables are shown in Scaled Conjugate Gradient Backpropagation (SCGB) is used for model training. The model’s performance with 10 total neurons is shown in Epoch 37 is the suitable option for this network training because while training data errors decrease over time, validation errors and test data increase. For training, validation, and testing, Following that, a study of regression is then performed. y-axis represents projected values, whereas the blue line represents experimental values of SCC compressive strength using recycled aggregates. The data set of 515 samples is shown on the x-axis.The three approaches were compared based on experimental data and ANN predictions. The higher discrepancy between the two lines shows the greater error between the two parameters. The values predicted by LM and BR algorithms correlate well with the experimental values, as evident from the graphs. In contrast, a more significant difference between the two lines is indicated by the SCG algorithm. As shown in max(xi) and fmin(xi) are the estimated maximum and minimum compressive strength in reference to the variables of input.Sensitivity analysis demonstrates how one single input variable influences the output variable. The impact of the input variables on the output variable increases with increasing sensitivity levels. The input variable has a sizable influence on the variables of output prediction, as claimed by Shang et al. . SensitiFine aggregate, cement, water, admixture, superplasticizer, and coarse aggregate are all-important input factors in estimating the compressive strength of self-compacting concrete with recycled aggregate. Findings of this sensitivity study are shown in This research aims to predict and compare the compressive strength of self-compacting concrete (SCC) modified with recycled aggregates (RA) using three different artificial neural network (ANN) algorithms: LM, BR, and SCG. The six input parameters that train the model are cement, water, admixtures, coarse aggregates, fine aggregates, and superplasticizer. R-value and MSE were employed as measures for assessment. The following findings were obtained from this research.In developing LM, BR, and SCG models, a total of 515 samples were acquired from research papers and randomly distributed into 70%, 10%, and 20% for training (360), validation (52), and testing (103), respectively. Due to the built-in validation mechanism in the training stage of the BR algorithm, the ratio became 80% for training and 20% for testing.For the present study, three algorithms, LM, BR, and SCG, were trained and evaluated, giving an overall accuracy of 90%, 91%, and 70%, respectively, with MSE values of 48.14, 43.75, 113.42. The SCG algorithm is the worst model for forecasting SCC compressive strength, with RA having poor correlation and mean squared error.Bayesian regularization gives better results than LM and SCG, with the highest coefficient of correlation (R = 91%) and the lowest MSE (43.75). However, in the meantime, the LM algorithm also gave nearly the same coefficient of correlation (R = 90%) with a much shorter processing time than the BR algorithm.The findings demonstrated that the LM and BR algorithms are suitable models and can be adapted to predict the 28 days compressive strength of self-compacting concrete amended with recycled aggregates.According to the model’s sensitivity analysis, the most significant parameter determining compressive strength is cement, contributing 28.39%. Water, with a contribution of 23.47%, is another crucial variable in predicting compressive strength in the same setting. The variable with the lowest occurrence, on the other hand, was coarse aggregate (9.23%). All the data suggest that cement and water improve the compressive strength of SCC with RA, but coarse aggregate reduces it. Admixture, fine aggregates, and superplasticizers, on the other hand, play a minor role in the development of the model.


This study purposed to provide a bibliometric overview of child language (CL) research from 1900 to 2021 and identify major trends in CL. A total of 48,453 research articles related to the CL were identified from the Web of Science. Co-authorship, co-word, and co-citation analysis was conducted by using VOSviewer and CiteSpace. The following was analyzed: annual distribution of related papers; related disciplines; mainstream journals; geographical and institutional distribution; hot topics; keyword burst detection; and co-citation analysis of journals, authors, and references. Results showed that, under the impact of new empirical methods and new theories, the field of CL is undergoing great changes. Research hotspot and the research trends mainly concentrated on autism spectrum disorder, school readiness, oral language, reading comprehension, exposure, bilingualism, vocabulary, input, skills, kindergarten, cochlear implants, and intervention. More and more pieces of research focus on the individual difference in CL development and the importance of intervention in language education by typically developing children and some children with disabilities or language disorders. Besides, child second language acquisition also attracted a lot of attention. This bibliometric analysis is of great reference significance for researchers to understand the progress and discipline development trend in this field. Language learning and development in early childhood is the most critical period of one’s life. The excellent way of child language (CL) acquisition has long attracted the attention of researchers. As early as the 18th century, German Philosopher Dietrich Tiedemann observed and described the psychological and linguistic development process of his child. The early research on children’s language acquisition mainly adopted the method of diary recording e.g., . Since tThe development and the progress of language acquisition research benefit from new technologies and methods, such as online testing of children’s language knowledge development . In addiIn recent years, children’s language acquisition has gradually developed into the across-disciplinary research field, covering sociology, pedagogy, psychology, physiology, etc. Over the preceding decades, psychologists, experts, linguists, clinicians, and teachers have been researching CL trying to explain it using differing theoretical and experimental approaches. Researchers focus on various issues, such as the development of children’s language, the acquisition of children’s language ability, and the constraints of children’s language. Moreover, other issues also attracted many attentions, such as the differences between second language learning (adulthood) and first language acquisition; and whether the specific stage of language development is a common phenomenon across languages . There iHow children acquire language and how they process language have attracted extensive attention from governments, international organizations, and research institutions all over the world. After decades of development, research results of CL are numerous and still growing rapidly. Research methods are diverse, including cross-sectional e.g.,  and longA traditional literature review will not clearly reveal the numerous networks, structures, interactions, intersections, evolution, or derivations of the various schools of thought on CL. These relationships birth new knowledge, which may not provide a hot spot analysis or indicate what frontiers to explore. The international literature develops fast and its dynamism challenges literature mining research. Bibliometric analysis can make up for the limitations of a traditional literature review and give a macroscopic overview of many pieces of academic literature . The bibExcavating the research focus developments, current hotspots, and important research directions from big data is the challenge. A macroscopic overview of CL was conducted using bibliometric analysis to achieve this goal. The following aspects were analyzed: annual distribution of related papers; the related disciplines; journal productivity; geographical and institutional distribution; hot topics; references with the strongest citation bursts; recent CL publications; and collaboration networks consisting of authors, organizations, and countries. This study tries to address the following questions:1)What are the most influential journals and discipline distribution in the CL research field?2)Which documents, authors, institutions, and regions are most influential in this field?3)What are the most frequently investigated CL themes and topics?4)What are the changes and trends in this field?The publications indexed by the Social Sciences Citation Index , the Citation Index Expanded , and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index  were retrieved in the Web of Science (WoS) core collection database of Thomson Reuter on 10 April 2021. WoS is a globally recognized database, reflecting the level of scientific research. It has consistently been recognized as the world’s most authoritative scientific literature index tool, which can provide the most important research results in the field of science. SSCI, SCI, and A&HCI databases were identified as the most authoritative scientific and technological literature retrieval tools in the world, containing more than thousands of international and influential academic journals. The procedure of the bibliometric analysis is described in The field tag “child language” was searched in the topic field using the advanced search command. The formula used for retrieval was: TS = child language AND LANGUAGE: English AND DOCUMENT TYPES: Article. WoS Citation Indexes: SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, and A&HCI. There were 50,686 articles collected at first. Document types and languages were confined to articles in English. Peer-reviewed articles were chosen for bibliometric analysis because they were recognized as “have better academic standing” . A time There were 48,707 articles obtained by using WoS categories refine function, such as “linguistics” , “rehabilitation” , “psychology developmental” , “audiology speech language pathology” , “psychology experimental” , and others. Duplicate papers have been deleted by using the “remove duplicates (WoS)” function. There remained 48,707 documents. Then, irrelevant literature was excluded. Finally, there were 48,454 data used for analysis in CiteSpace and VOSviewer.Full records and cited references of the publications were saved as plain text. The valid data obtained in Stage 1 were used for bibliometric analysis in Stage 2. The analyses were conducted: yearly quantitative distribution of the literature; mainstream journals and discipline distribution; co-authorship analysis among researchers, organizations, and countries/regions; co-word analysis: keywords co-occurrence analysis and burst detection analysis; and co-citation analysis among journals, authors, and references.The development of CL research was overviewed. Co-operation networks, outstanding contributions, clusters, research trends, hot topics, and future directions were analyzed and reviewed.As the number of documents increased, the subjectivity, incompleteness, time constraints, and other weaknesses of the traditional review become more manifested. A more scientific bibliometric method is needed to fully understand and evaluate the literature in a research field. Bibliometric analysis, which includes quantitative evaluation of scientific work, was used in this study. Various knowledge maps showed the development of scientific knowledge. Large-scale bibliometric maps display in an easy-to-interpret way . BibliomVOSviewer (1.6.15)  was alsoIn order to explore the relationship and cluster of the mainstream journals, the “minimum number of documents of a source” was set at 40 in VOSviewer. Precisely, 222 journals out of 2,999 sources met the thresholds. It is unusual to display thousands of nodes in a network map because too many nodes are difficult to interpret . UsuallyCo-authorship analysis was utilized to explore the cooperation relationship among key researchers, organizations, countries, and regions. The settings for co-authorship analysis of VOS viewer were as follows: type of analysis: co-authorship; unit of analysis: authors; counting method: full counting; maximum number of authors per document: 25; minimum number of documents of an author: 25. Of the 103,946 authors, 210 authors met the thresholds and were used in the final network. The authors with the greatest total link strength were selected. The largest set of connecting items includes 166 items. If an author used different names in publications, it could not be merged, unless a unique digital identity strategy such as ORCID was used .Settings for analyzing organizations in VOSviewer were as follows: analysis: co-authorship + organizations; counting method: full counting; maximum number of organizations per document: 25. Minimum number of documents of an organization: 110. Of the 16,003 organizations, 167 meet the thresholds.The settings for analyzing countries/regions were as follows: analysis: co-authorship + countries; counting method: full counting; minimum number of documents of a country or region: 20. Of the 164 countries and regions, 78 met the thresholds.Co-word analysis was used to detect important topics in the CL field. The settings for keywords co-occurrence network in VOSviewer were as follows: the initial step was to extract “all keywords” from titles and abstracts. A fraction counting method was used to detect 66,858 keywords. The threshold “minimum number of occurrences of a keyword” was set to 400 to create a readable map. Of the 66,858 keywords, 139 items met the threshold.N: 50; top N%: 10%. For analyzing the word burst detection between 2011 and 2021, the parameter settings were as follows: years per slice: 1; node types: keywords; term type: noun phrases + burst terms; top N per slice: 50; and top N%: 10%. Approximately, 29,324 records were collected.For analyzing the word burst detection, CiteSpace parameter settings were as follows: years per slice: 10; node types: keyword; term type: noun phrases + burst terms; top Co-citation analysis was employed to discover the most cited journals, authors, and publications . The “miThe “minimum number of citations of a source” was set to 1,000 for the author citation analysis. Of the 334,713 authors, 120 meet the threshold. The settings for reference co-citation analysis were as follows: types of analysis: co-citation; unit of analysis: cited reference; counting method: full counting; threshold: minimum number of citations of a cited reference: 250. Of the 869,771 cited references, 175 met the threshold.The present study analyzed the relevant literature from the macro to the micro, from the intuitive to the complex, from the whole to the part, and from the general to the specific. Specifically, the analysis includes the literature quantitative distribution analysis; mainstream journals and discipline distribution analysis; researchers, organizations, and countries/regions analysis; hot topics analysis; and journal, author, and reference co-citation analysis.In the similarity visualization map, the distance between two items reflects the similarity or correlation between items. Clustering methods were used to divide topics into different clusters, each with unique colors . GeneralRelated publications quantity distribution is a key indicator, which reveals the historical development tendency of a scientific discipline or a research field, and it will help to detect the publication trends . Annual As shown in A dual-map overlay map shows the discipline co-occurrence network. A dual-map overlay simultaneously displays both the citing overlay and the cited overlay . There wThe map on the left is the citing map, and the cited map is on the right . The forz = 1,695,203, f = 71,931). This indicates that “PSYCHOLOGY and EDUCATION HEALTH” are both major areas and provide a solid foundation for CL research. The rest disciplines in the citing area link to the other disciplines, such as “5. HEALTH, NURSING, MEDICINE,” “6. MATHEMATICAL, MATHEMATICS, MECHANICS,” “8. MOLECULAR, BIOLOGY GENETICS,” “14. DERMATOLOGY, DENTISTRY, SURGERY.” The dotted line represents a lot of cross-referencing between the two disciplines.The dual-map overlay reveals that CL articles were published in almost all major disciplines. The links between the citing and cited matrices of journals were almost everywhere in the overlay map. For instance, the discipline “PSYCHOLOGY, EDUCATION HEALTH” is in lake-blue, and this discipline was the sixth in the source field and the seventh in the reference field. The layer containing the 48,707 bibliographic records on CL was added. Then, the source field and the reference field were linked in various colors. The links are almost everywhere in the source area, which shows that the influence of CL is widespread. Relatively, more citing journals originated from “6. PSYCHOLOGY, EDUCATION HEALTH” in the left finally link to the “7. PSYCHOLOGY, EDUCATION SOCIAL” in the cited area in the right ; 12.11% have 3 ; 7.52% have 4 ; 5.15% have 5 ; 3.77% have 6 ; 2.9% have 7 ; 2.31% have 8 publications ; 1.86% have 9 publications ; and 1.56% have 10 publications . Three authors have 81 publications, respectively. They are the most prolific authors in the CL field. Author cooperation networks in the CL research field appear in VOSviewer was used to explore how researchers collaborate in the CL research field. For the 103,946 authors, 24.53% have published 2 articles (As shown in n = 60), Leonard, L. B. (n = 59), Justice, L. M. (n = 46), Conti-Ramsden, G. (n = 30), and Goldin-Meadow, S. (n = 25). The authors who were cited most were Pickles, A. , Justice, L. M. , Charman, T. , Lord, C. , and Pianta, R. C. . Through content analysis, it is found that most of the authors with high number of articles or high citation focus on investigating the language development of children with language disorders. The 10 authors who had the most publications and strongest co-authorship are listed in The largest set of items gathers in the center of the network. Three contributors with the most publications were analyzed in detail as follows: Justice, L. M. has published most articles and cited most about CL. n = 64), Bishop, D. V. M. (n = 60), Lawrence, L. (n = 59), Conti-Ramsden, G. (n = 30), and Goldin-Meadow, S. (n = 25). Information about Justice, L. M. (n = 64), Bishop, D. V. M. (n = 60), and Lawrence, L. (n = 59) has been introduced in the former section. Conti-Ramsden, G. did a lot of contribution to the development of young children with language disorders. Approximately, 77% of Conti-Ramsden, G.’s publications (n = 23 papers) were related to language disorder, and the factors affect language impairment. Goldin-Meadow, S. has put forward fundamental insights in many fields of cognitive science. There are numerous researchers that made great contributions to the CL field.As the first author, the top five authors with the most papers are as follows; Justice, L. M.  of organizations (University of Toronto (n = 809), Harvard University (n = 767), University of North Carolina (n = 729), University College London (n = 713), and Vanderbilt University (n = 632). Harvard University has the strongest total link strength  within this cluster. The University of Toronto has the second strongest total link strength . These data show that these core institutions maintain close academic ties with other institutions.izations . The redUniversity of Toronto, University of North Carolina, Ohio State University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Oxford, and University College London, mainly lead CL research cooperation , and the second-largest total link strength (n = 928). The second most prolific organization was Harvard University (n = 767), which is cited most . University of North Carolina has 729 TP and 33,466 total citations. Their cooperation was very close and has great influence in CL research.The organization with the most publications is Countries and regions cooperation networks are visually mapped in n = 1,873), Netherlands , Italy , France , and Sweden (n = 993) co-authored a lot. In Cluster 2 (green), United States , Japan (n = 416), Brazil (n = 456), and the Taiwan region of China (n = 248) were deeply linked to the cooperation in CL research. In Cluster 3 (blue), Spain , Chile (n = 185), Mexico (n = 173), Argentina (n = 73), and Colombia (n = 70) has close cooperation with each other. In Cluster 4 (yellow), England , Scotland (n = 631), Ireland (n = 326), and Wales (n = 255) kept a wide range of cooperation with other countries/regions. In Cluster 5 (purple), Canada , Australia , China , and New Zealand (n = 452) cooperated closely with each other. Five clusters were closely related.Link thickness represents collaboration strength, and the node size represents the number of publications from countries . The coln = 22,783) and the total link strength . England is the second with 5,336 publications and 4,046 total links strength. It is worth mentioning that this paper only analyzes the papers written in English. Papers written in other languages, such as Spanish, French, and Chinese, deserve further study. The average publication year (APY) of the United States was 2010. While the APY of both China and Spain was 2015, indicating that Chinese and Spanish scholars have paid more and more attention to this topic.The main countries/regions co-operation characteristics are shown in Many research topics and themes have emerged and evolved in CL research over time. Data collected in the WoS database were evaluated to draw a network of co-occurring keywords and scientific categories in the CL research field. This section explores hot topics and keyword burst detection.Keywords include nouns or phrases, which are efficient indexes to provide insight into research topics and research trends for the scientific field . KeywordA co-occurrence network of all keywords was created by VOSviewer. For each keyword, the total strength of the co-occurrence links with other keywords was calculated. The strength of the link between two keywords represented the frequency of the two keywords being used simultaneously in the article. The keywords with the greatest total link strength were selected. Total link strength was 330,534. A total of 139 items were divided into four clusters with 9,205 links .In Cluster # 1 (red) consists of 48 items with 138 links, and 9,811 total links strength . The occCluster # 2 (green) includes 58 items from 229 links, and 19,537 total link strength . The occCluster # 3 (blue) includes 56 items with 230 links, and 1,858 total link strength . The occCluster # 4 (yellow) consists of 40 items with 218 links, and 3,112 total link strength . The occThe evolution of color from purple to red represents the variation of the hot topic over time. As shown in Trending topics in CL research between 1900 and 2021 were analyzed by keyword burst analysis. Citation burst indicates that the scientific community during this period has or is paying special attention to certain specific issues over time. Keyword citation bursts refer to keywords that had a dramatic increase in the number of citations. Burst detection is an analysis method, searching keywords has attracted special attention of relevant scientific circles in a certain period. Keyword bursts indicate a sharp increase in the prominence of these keywords in the citation index and can partly reflect the dynamics of a scientific domain. Author and keyword bursts are important indicators for the researchers to identify the emerging or dying research trends . Burst dIn The second strongest keyword is “disability” , which has strongest burst during 1990–2009. Additionally, other keywords, including “specific language impairment,”  “autism spectrum disorder,”  “language disorder,”  “learning disability,”  “reading disability,” , and “disorder” , have been trending topics since 1992. In addition to the research of typically developing children, the language acquisition of children with disabilities also attracts much attention. Since 1996, the language development of children with disabilities has become the main field of CL research, particularly the study of “deficit,” “otitis media,” “infantile autism,” and “dyslexia.” The theme of the research changes quickly with time. Factors that would affect the CL acquisition are getting more and more attention, such as “mother,” “family,” “school,” “childhood,” “toddler,” and “brain.” Performance of CL also attracts considerable attention, such as “discourse,” “awareness,” “memory,” “speech,” “speech perception,” “behavior,” “ability,” and “achievement.” Specific research on “awareness” was a hot topic, such as “phonological awareness,” “morphological awareness,” and “phonemic awareness.” The keyword with the earliest burst was “intelligence,” which occurred in 1985.What have been the hot keywords in recent 10 years? The author also conducted a keyword burst detection analysis about the last decade. Twenty-one most common keywords having the strongest citation bursts during the last 10 years have been sorted by strength, starting time, and duration . The redThe keywords framed in orange have been hot topics since 2018 . The topEach paper usually quotes many references, which are represented as nodes in the co-citation visualization network. The links between nodes indicate how often they reference in the same article. The hypothesis is that if two references are often co-cited, it may indicate that the two references are related in some aspects. The double relationship between cited references and their citing papers can be found through the connection between literature. Co-citation refers to the number of instances of two items  cited in the third article . This paJournal co-citation network was conducted using VOSviewer. The network visualization appears in Child Development , Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research , Developmental Psychology , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders , and Journal of Child Language . These journals have contributed significantly to CL research. The citations of these journals are more than the others in the CL field. The top 10 journals in the co-citation network are shown in Journals with higher co-citation frequency have larger fonts, which are more prominent in Author co-citation network was performed by VOSviewer. The network visualization is shown in The 120 items were divided into 4 clusters with 6,969 links . The totReference co-citation analysis evaluates references cited by references in the CL field. Co-citation refers to that when two references are cited in an article. Reference co-citation analysis was conducted by VOSviewer. For each of the 175 cited references, the total strength of the co-citation links with other cited references will be calculated. The cited references with the greatest total link strength will be selected.The 869,771 bibliographic recordings from 1900 to 2021 are visualized in Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences.” Researchers cite this reference as the formula they use to compute effect size. This suggests that empirical research accounts for the majority in the field of children’s language acquisition. The third work cited most was The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test.” Dunn, L. M. published the first Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) scale in 1959. Then, Dr. Dunn, L. M. and his wife, Dunn, L., published several revisions to the PPVT test. His son, Dunn, D. M., is the co-author of the PPVT-4. The PPVT-4 is widely used for assessing vocabulary acquisition. The test is used to measure the understanding of vocabulary of children and adults. In sum, all these classic pieces of literature provide a lot of ideas and inspiration for the academic community to explore how children acquire language.The work that has been cited most was Using the bibliometric analysis method, this study has analyzed the publications in the past 121 years. The research shows a multi-disciplinary integration trend. Researchers have systematically analyzed and explained the process and essence of children’s language acquisition from the perspectives of linguistic, psychology experimental, psychology developmental, rehabilitation, language linguistics, and other disciplines. The theory and experimental methods of language acquisition are constantly updated, which makes the research in this field flourish. In recent years, the maturity of language acquisition theories and methods has led to a sharp increase in the number of publications and citations on related topics. The research methods also show a trend from putting forward a single theoretical hypothesis to the combination of theory and experiment. Many researchers used the observation method, corpus-based approach, case study, longitudinal study, and horizontal study to explore various elements of children’s language development, including the phonological, lexical, and syntactic analysis. Especially, the cognitive perspective of the interaction between external environmental stimuli and children’s language processing initiative has attracted extensive attention.The aim and the scope of most mainstream journals were related to the children with language disorders. The mainstream categories were linguistic and psychology. The nodes of diverse disciplines are closely connected, forming a clear, multi-directional, and multi-disciplinary citation spatial network structure. Most publications in linguistics focus on language acquisition, second language acquisition, language development, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, syntax, pragmatics, semantics, and language ability. It is the core discipline of children’s language research. The second is psychology, mainly related to developmental psychology and experimental psychology. It mainly studies children’s speech behavior observation, language ability test, working memory, knowledge, learning, and other fields. In terms of rehabilitation, research focused on special children or vulnerable children, carried out research on the diagnosis and treatment of children with language disorder and hearing impairment, as well as the screening, diagnosis, and rehabilitation of pathological language loss of children with high and low functional autism, to verify the groups whose language development is lower than the norm of typically developing children. Many researchers focus on pedagogy, such as educational environment creation, educational intervention, cultural resources, early reading, personal interaction, peer communication, follow-up, and so on.Cross-disciplinary collaboration requires the researchers should not only master linguistic theories and experimental methods of traditional language research methods but also be good at cooperating with researchers of other relevant disciplines to understand the broader relationship between language, mind, and brain in a cross-disciplinary way. The cooperation and exchange between scholars from different research fields can stimulate new ideas and make more innovative discoveries. Opportunities and challenges coexist. Differences in academic backgrounds may create obstacles in the dialogue between scholars. For example, there were still great disputes and differences in the research on the internal mechanism of language acquisition and how the external environmental factors work. To explore the main issues and focus of debate in the CL research field, researchers should not only master linguistic theories and experimental methods of cognitive science but also be good at cooperating with researchers in other disciplines, such as cognitive science, developmental psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, etc.The main researchers, institutions, countries, and journals with the largest number of papers or cited frequency come from developed countries. They paid more attention to use some new experimental methods to explore how children acquire language and the influencing factors. The most concerned problem of authors with large number of articles or high citation rate is to study the language development of children with language disabilities. Besides, empirical papers were found to be cited more often. It showed to be noted that citation frequency can reflect popularity of a journal or the head of a lab more than quality of research . In sum,Research trend analysis can provide some insights for researchers and educational practitioners to identify which are important research directions. Through content analysis, it is found that researchers pay attention to these topics: (1) children’s language ability testing and development, language behavior observation, and strategies; (2) the internal mechanism and physiological characteristics of children’s language development; (3) language diversity of children development; (4) performance of typically developing children and children with developmental language disorder, such as cognition and medical clinical diagnosis; (5) empirical research based on data analysis; (6) children’s language policy and language teacher education; and (7) the language phenomenon of bilingual children has attracted much attention of academic circles. Burst detection analysis showed that the prominent topics of high concern in the latest academic circles (2018–2021) were as follows: “impact,” “socioeconomic status,” “bilingualism,” “experience,” “association,” and “mother.” These keywords focus on the influence factors of language acquisition. Language development is limited by many environmental factors. For instance, in addition to the influence of parents, the social environment is also influenced by children’s peers and other adults. Physical environment may play a significant role in the development of CL. Continuous language assessment is critical to ensure timely intervention to prevent language disorders in children. More research is needed on specific environmental factors and their relationship with children’s language development.Foreign research focuses on the internal and external mechanisms of children’s individual language from macro policy-making to micro. The research scope is broad and involves rich research contents. The research methods include qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research. Topics related to children’s language education and language diagnosis and rehabilitation of children with language disorders were the research focus. More and more researchers pay attention to the language development and education of disadvantaged children. In short, the results of bibliometric analysis show that the research field of children’s language development is extensive, cross-disciplinary.This study will help readers understand the dynamic development trend of CL from research results. It will help scholars quickly identify the hot spots and focus issues of CL research, guide them to find the most influential references, and choose the most influential or relevant researchers and institutions to cooperate. Through the analysis of the results, it will help researchers to find the main journal contribution direction and promote the further development of research achievements in scientific research institutions.Under the impact of new empirical materials and new theories, the field of CL is undergoing profound changes. This paper makes a bibliometric analysis of the research trend and evolution of child language research in the past 100 years. Results showed that, especially, in the past two decades, the attention of child language research has been very high, and the relative publication amount has increased sharply. This study visualized the most productive and leading journals and disciplines. Cross-disciplinary collaboration can not only solve the shackles caused by the complexity of children’s language acquisition research but also mobilize the knowledge reserve of each involved field and give full play to their expertise. The collaboration between researchers and educational practitioners would grow.The co-authorship analysis shows that multi-author publications account for a large proportion. Research of is topic involves a wide range of disciplines. This shows the broad theme and multidisciplinary nature of CL research. In addition, the most prolific organizations and countries were displayed. Keyword co-occurrence showed that the theme of the CL study changes quickly. This shows that researchers pay more and more attention to compare the typical development of children and children with language disorders. Co-citation analysis shows the leading co-cited journals, the major co-cited authors, and the most influential co-cited references. The most cited papers are those about experimental methods and theories, laying the foundation for the follow-up research.Findings of this study will contribute to the research in this field. However, there are some limitations of this study. Firstly, the datum collection of this research was limited to the research paper indexed by SSCI, SCIE, and A&HCI, written in English in WoS. Other databases, such as PubMed or Scopus, deserve attention. Only journal articles in CL were used for the bibliometric analysis. Other types such as dissertations, books, and conference papers may be investigated in the future study. Bibliometric analysis on previous work provided some suggestions and valuable references for researchers in the CL field.The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/XG formulated the research questions, collected the data, conducted the bibliometric analysis, wrote the draft of the manuscript and revised it. The author approved the submitted version.The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. 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