Creating added-value filet product from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) by salting and smoking method: physicochemical and textural attributes

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are currently consumed as live fish, primarily for catering or consumers, as an alternative to salmon in sashimi or dishes. However, Covid-19 has hampered store and restaurant operations. Therefore, developing suitable processing conditions to extend its shelf life, such as online distribution specifications while enhancing the filets' commercial value, would raise its production value. In this study, we investigated the fish filets salted in a 5% salt solution for 2 days and then smoked at 65 degrees C for 4 h under different storage conditions. As result, the higher rate of salt penetration and water loss in the resolved rigor mortis group was associated with tenderization of the meat compared to the rigor mortis group. Thermal-shrinkage and thermal-induced tissue destruction of the smoked fish filets during processing which affects the appearance, flavor, chewiness and overall acceptability. Nevertheless, according to the results of a consumer-type evaluation, the product characteristics of the fish filets from the resolution of rigor mortis group were consistent with those of the rigor mortis group, except for a weaker aroma. Thus, these results explain the relationship between frozen stored fish and the quality of processed products. The economic concept of regulating and distributing scheduling production between raw materials and finished products in the food industry conveys promising findings that will contribute to developing sustainable food processing systems.

Virtual student mobility on Zoom: digital platforms and differentiated experiences of international education and (im)mobilities in a time of pandemic

Against the backdrop of growing prevalence of digital platforms in higher education, strong considerations are being made for the potential of virtual student mobility in the aftermath of the pandemic. While extant literature on digital education platforms has shed light on the relationships between platform interfaces and wider political economies, less is known about students' experiences of virtually mediated mobility and immobility. This article draws upon research that examines how students and universities are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent impact on border control and international travel. First, it discusses how the socio-technical platform of Zoom extends and stabilises students' imagined, communicative, and aspirational mobilities in a context of stalled physical mobility. Second, it underlines the crevices and moorings of digital platforms in the mediation of students' experiences of mobility and immobility. Third, it examines how students refashion their (im)mobile subjectivities in and through digital spaces vis-a-vis a negotiation of co-presences in a renewed context of virtual interaction. In doing so, we argue the role of corporeal mobility, social interaction, and inhabiting tangible places remain a core aspect of student mobility experiences and aspirations.

Implications of the Improvement in Atmospheric Fine Particles: A Case Study of COVID-19 Pandemic in Northern Taiwan

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in northern Taiwan led to the implementation of Level 3 alert measures during 2021 and thereby impacted the air quality significantly, which provided an unprecedented opportunity to better understand the control strategies on air pollutants in the future. This study investigated the variations in sources, chemical characteristics and human health risks of PM2.5 comprehensively. The PM2.5 mass concentrations decreased from pre-alert to Level 3 alert by 49.4%, and the inorganic ions, i.e., NH4+, NO3- and SO42-, dropped even more by 71%, 90% and 52%, respectively. Nonetheless, organic matter (OM) and elemental carbon (EC) simply decreased by 36% and 13%, which caused the chemical composition of PM2.5 to change so that the carbonaceous matter in PM2.5 dominated instead of the inorganic ions. Correlation-based hierarchical clustering analysis further showed that PM2.5 was clustered with carbonaceous matter during the Level 3 alert, while that clustered with inorganic ions during both pre-alert and post-alert periods. Moreover, 6 sources of PM2.5 were identified by positive matrix factorization (PMF), in which secondary nitrate (i.e., aging traffic aerosols) exhibited the most significant decrease and yet primary traffic-related emissions, dominated by carbonaceous matter, changed insignificantly. This implied that secondary traffic-related aerosols could be easily controlled when traffic volume declined, while primary traffic source needs more efforts in the future, especially for the reduction of carbonaceous matter. Therefore, cleaner energy for vehicles is still needed. Assessments of both carcinogenic risk and non-carcinogenic risk induced by the trace elements in PM2.5 showed insignificant decrease, which can be attributed to the factories that did not shut down during Level 3 alert. This study serves as a metric to underpin the mitigation strategies of air pollution in the future and highlights the importance of carbonaceous matter for the reduction in PM2.5.

CdcSegNet: Automatic COVID-19 Infection Segmentation from CT Images

It has been more than two years since the outbreak of COVID-19, which has spread to almost every corner of the world and killed a great number of people. Rapid detection and screening have become an important means of controlling the spread of COVID-19. Segmentation of COVID-19 infected tissue from computed tomography (CT) images of a patient’s lungs can provide clinicians with important information to quantify and diagnose COVID-19. However, the accuracy of medical image segmentation is seriously affected by such factors as the low contrast between the infected tissue and the edge of the surrounding environment, the large variation of the infected tissue and the lack of labeling data. Therefore, a deep learning model called CdcSegNet to accurately segment lung lesions from CT images infected by COVID-19 is proposed. In our method, transfer learning is introduced to solve the problem of lack of annotation data, and three modules, i.e., continuous dilated convolution module (CDC), parallel dual attention module (PDA) and additional multi-core pooling layer (AMP) are innovatively proposed to solve the problem of fuzzy segmentation boundary and to segment effectively infected tissues. Extensive experiments and comparison studies are made, and demonstrate that our model CdcSegNet has high accuracy in COVID-19 segmentation, and is superior to the state-of-the-art models in terms of DICE, SEN, SPE, PPV, and VOE. IEEE

Non-Cooperative Game for Edge Server Placement in Wireless Body Area Network

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become the worst public health event in the whole world, threatening the physical and mental health of hundreds of millions of people. However, because of the high survivability of the virus, it is impossible for humans to eliminate viruses completely. For this reason, it is particularly important to strengthen the prevention of the transmission of viruses and monitor the physical status of the crowd. Wireless sensors are a key player in the fight against the current global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, where they are playing an important role in monitoring human health. The Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) composed of these wireless sensor devices can monitor human health data without interference for a long time, and update the data in almost real time through the Internet of Things (IoT). However, because the data monitored by the devices is relatively large and the transmission distance is long, only transmitting the data to medical centers through the personal devices (PB) cannot get feedback in time. We propose a non-cooperative game-based server placement method, which is named ESP-19 to improve the efficiency of transmission data of wireless sensors. In this paper, experimental tests are conducted based on the distribution of Shanghai Telecom's base stations, and then the performance of ESP-19 is evaluated. The results show that the proposed method in this paper outperforms the comparison method in terms of service delay. © 2022 IEEE.

Impact of COVID-19 and green finance on transportation energy carbon emissions in China: From the perspective of an automobile energy consumption structure

Background: In China, the transportation sector is the main energy consumer and the main source of carbon emissions. Reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector is an important goal for China, especially during the current period of economic development. Due to the impact of pandemic shocks, the rapid development of green finance is conducive to supporting the transportation sector in achieving a carbon peak. Thus, we examined whether the development of green finance is still effective under the impact of a pandemic and the actual effect of green finance on the reduction of carbon emissions. Methods: In this study, we searched the internet for consumption structure data of vehicles and green finance indices of 30 Chinese provinces and cities from 2016 to 2021. A regression discontinuity model was constructed to test the effect of pandemic shock and green finance development on the reduction of transportation energy carbon emissions. Results: The results show that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has helped people change their preference toward more energy-efficient vehicles and reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector. Green finance can effectively contribute to the reduction of transportation energy carbon emissions;however, the overall mitigation effect is limited. Conclusion: The empirical evidence is not only helpful in assessing the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic but also conducive to the appropriate establishment of policy tools for supporting green finance development, which is further conducive to reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector. Copyright © 2023 Liu, Cheng, Guan, Liu, Zhang, Li and Yang.

Efficacy and safety of arbidol in the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia: a systematic review based on current and previous antiviral therapy.

Objective: To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of arbidol in the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19). Method(s): Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), cohort studies, and case-control studies on the efficacy and safety of arbidol for COVID-19, influenza, andother respiratory virus infections were collected by searching related database at home and abroad and network platform for preprint of Health Science Papers (medRxiv) (up to April 25, 2020). Quality of the enrolled studies was evaluated by bias risk assessment tool of Cochrane collaboration network and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Meta-analysis and descriptive analysis of relevant outcome indicators were performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Result(s): A total of 15 studies were enrolled in the study, including 7 cohort studies with high-quality and 8 RCTs, 6 of which were with low bias risk and the other 2 of which were with medium bias risk. Among these studies, 8 were on arbidol treatment for COVID-19, including 5 retrospective cohort studies, 2 prospective cohort studies, and 1 RCT, and involving 809 patients (479 patients in the arbidol group and 330 in the control group);7 were RCTs on arbidol treatment for influenza or other respiratory virus infections, involving 1 471 patients (745 patients in the arbidol group and 726 in the control group).In these studies, patients were treated with arbidol (0.15-1.2 g daily for 5-21 d) in the arbidol group while with the other antiviral agents or without any antiviral drug in the control group. Meta analysis on the efficacy and safety of arbidol in treatment for COVID-19 showed that the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) nucleic acid negative conversion rate in the arbidol group was significantly higher than that in the control group [71.7% (109/152) vs. 58.8% (94/160), relative risk (RR)=1.30, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01-1.67, P=0.04];the difference of time taken for 2019-nCoV nucleic acid negative conversion between the 2 groups was not statistically significant (standardized mean difference=-0.17, 95%CI: -0.72-0.38, P=0.55);the difference of disease improvement rate shown by chest CT on day 7 after treatment between the 2 groups was not statistically significant [46.2% (30/65) vs. 50.7% (36/71), RR=0.88, 95%CI: 0.39-1.98, P=0.76];and the difference of incidence of adverse reactions between the 2 groups was not statistically significant [16.9% (39/231) vs. 19.2% (47/245), risk difference (RD)=-0.03, 95%CI: -0.10-0.04, P=0.44]. Meta analysis on the safety of arbidol in treatment for influenza and other respiratory virus infections showed that the incidence of adverse reactions in the arbidol group was significantly lower than that in the control group [5.9% (44/745) vs. 11.3% (82/726), RR=0.52, 95%CI: 0.37-0.74, P<0.01]. Conclusion(s): Arbidol could effectively increase the 2019-nCoV nucleic acid negative conversion rate and it might be safe to treat COVID-19 using arbidol.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.

Spatiotemporal characteristics of ozone and the formation sensitivity over the Fenwei Plain.

High surface ozone (O3) levels affect human and environmental health. The Fenwei Plain (FWP), one of the critical regions for China's "Blue Sky Protection Campaign", has reported severe O3 pollution. This study investigates the spatiotemporal properties and the causes of O3 pollution over the FWP using high-resolution data from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) from 2019 to 2021. This study characterizes spatial and temporal variations in O3 concentration by linking O3 columns and surface monitoring using a trained deep forest machine learning model. O3 concentrations in summer were 2-3 times higher than those found in winter due to higher temperatures and greater solar irradiation. The spatial distributions of O3 correlate with the solar radiation showing decreased trends from the northeastern to the southwestern FWP, with the highest O3 values in Shanxi Province and the lowest in Shaanxi Province. For urban areas, croplands and grasslands, the O3 photochemistry in summer is NOx-limited or in the transitional regime, while it is VOC-limited in winter and other seasons. Reducing NOx emissions would be effective for decreasing O3 levels in summer, while VOC reductions are necessary for winter. The annual cycle in vegetated areas included both NOx-limited and transitional regimes, indicating the importance of NOx controls to protect ecosystems. The O3 response to limiting precursors shown here is of importance for optimizing control strategies and is illustrated by emission changes during the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak.

Emotion Focused Therapy and Chinese American Clients: An Exploration Using the Cultural Lens Approach

Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States and of this group, Chinese Americans represent the largest subgroup. Some scholars have speculated that more symptom-focused and directive psychotherapeutic approaches may be more congruent with Chinese Americans' conceptualization of treatment than traditional Western modalities. Although these approaches may be more culturally appropriate and efficacious for some Chinese American clients, they presuppose that Chinese American clients have difficulties or an inability to express or communicate underlying emotional distress. As a consequence of this generalization, mental health therapists may assume that emotion-oriented psychotherapeutic approaches such as Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) will not benefit this population. Notwithstanding efforts to expand the relevance of EFT, there remains little research examining the cultural validity of EFT across cultural groups, particularly for Chinese American clients. In this article, we use the Cultural Lens Approach to assess the relevance and applicability of EFT for Chinese American individuals and couples. The aim of this article is to provide clinical direction for therapists using EFT with Chinese American clients and energize the field to conduct further research examining the relevance and applicability of psychotherapeutic approaches with this client group. Further, this article aims to combat stereotypes and Western notions of mental health, which may be limiting clinical and research perspectives on mental healthcare for Chinese Americans. This exploration comes at a time when Chinese Americans are at increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes due to race-based violence and discrimination observed during the COVID-19 pandemic.Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Introduction

As of January 2020, there were about 5.3 million international students worldwide, many of who are now impacted by the global outbreak of COVID-19. With countries suspending cross-border movements, internationalization activities across campuses and colleges have been forced to a halt. Study abroad and exchange programs were suspended. International students were recalled and sent home. Universities are scrambling to cope with the shift toward online and remote learning, which may or may not meet the expectations of students who aspire to gain overseas learning experiences, and in places where the coronavirus has resurged campuses have been closed down. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), underexclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Religious beliefs and food waste prevention practices: mechanisms of divine and environmental awareness

Under the crisis of food and energy shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is emergently important to emphasize food waste prevention in the tourism and hospitality industry because people around the world have started traveling in the post-pandemic era. Based on norm activation model and individualism-collectivism, this study proposes a perspective of religious beliefs to conceptualize divine awareness (i.e. divine retribution and divine rewards) and environmental awareness (i.e. resource scarcity and eco-friendly) on the formation of food waste prevention practices. A total of 571 samples from Taiwan and 483 samples from the United States was collected. Both countries showed that religious beliefs improved divine retribution, divine rewards, and religious food waste prevention practices. Divine rewards enhanced tourists' awareness of resource scarcity and eco-friendly, and resource scarcity led to religious food waste prevention practices. Interestingly, the effects of divine retribution on resource scarcity and eco-friendly were significant only in Taiwan. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

[Epidemiological characteristics of a 2019-nCoV outbreak caused by Omicron variant BF.7 in Shenzhen].

Objective: To explore the epidemiological characteristic of a COVID-19 outbreak caused by 2019-nCoV Omicron variant BF.7 and other provinces imported in Shenzhen and analyze transmission chains and characteristics. Methods: Field epidemiological survey was conducted to identify the transmission chain, analyze the generation relationship among the cases. The 2019-nCoV nucleic acid positive samples were used for gene sequencing. Results: From 8 to 23 October, 2022, a total of 196 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Shenzhen, all the cases had epidemiological links. In the cases, 100 were men and 96 were women, with a median of age, M (Q1, Q3) was 33(25, 46) years. The outbreak was caused by traverlers initial cases infected with 2019-nCoV who returned to Shenzhen after traveling outside of Guangdong Province.There were four transmission chains, including the transmission in place of residence and neighbourhood, affecting 8 persons, transmission in social activity in the evening on 7 October, affecting 65 persons, transmission in work place on 8 October, affecting 48 persons, and transmission in a building near the work place, affecting 74 persons. The median of the incubation period of the infection, M (Q1, Q3) was 1.44 (1.11, 2.17) days. The incubation period of indoor exposure less than that of the outdoor exposure, M (Q1, Q3) was 1.38 (1.06, 1.84) and 1.95 (1.22, 2.99) days, respcetively (Wald χ2=10.27, P=0.001). With the increase of case generation, the number and probability of gene mutation increased. In the same transmission chain, the proportion of having 1-3 mutation sites was high in the cases in the first generation. Conclusions: The transmission chains were clear in this epidemic. The incubation period of Omicron variant BF.7 infection was shorter, the transmission speed was faster, and the gene mutation rate was higher. It is necessary to conduct prompt response and strict disease control when epidemic occurs.

Analysis of medication regularities of epidemic disease prescription in Treatise on Febrile Diseases and mechanism of core drugs in treatment of COVID-19

Objective To analyze the medication rules of related epidemic disease prescription in Treatise on Febrile Diseases based on data mining, and the mechanism of "Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix)-Huangqin (Scutellariae Radix)” as the core drugs in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by network pharmacology, in order to explore the contemporary value of classical prescriptions in the treatment of epidemic diseases. Methods The prescriptions for treating epidemic diseases in Treatise on Febrile Diseases were screened, and the medication rules such as drug frequency, flavor and meridian tropism as well as correlation, apriori algorithm were analyzed by using software such as R language. The mechanism of the core drugs in the medication pattern in the treatment of COVID-19 was explored by the network pharmacology. A "disease-drug-ingredient-target” network was constructed on the selected components and targets with Cytoscape. The key targets were introduced into String database for network analysis of protein-protein interaction (PPI), and gene ontology (GO) functional analysis and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were conducted in R language. Results A total of 61 prescriptions for treating epidemic diseases in Treatise on Febrile Diseases were included, including 52 traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). In the top 20 high-frequency drugs, warm drugs, spicy drugs and qitonifying drugs were mainly used, mostly in the spleen and lung meridian. Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix) and Huangqin (Scutellariae Radix) herb pair had the strongest correlation. A total of five clusters were excavated: supplemented formula of Xiaochaihu Decoction (小柴胡汤), Sini Decoction (四逆汤), supplemented formule of Maxing Shigan Decoction (麻杏石甘汤), Fuling Baizhu Decoction (茯苓白术汤) and Dachengqi Decoction (大承气汤). A total of 45 active ingredients, 189 action targets of Bupleuri Radix-Scutellariae Radix herb pair, and 543 targets of COVID-19 were obtained from TCMSP and Genecards, and 64 intersection targets were generated. The results of the network analysis showed that the main components of core drugs pair against COVID-19 may be quercetin, wogonin, kaempferol baicalein, acacetin etc., and the core targets may be VEGFA, TNF, IL-6, TP53, AKT1, CASP3, CXCL8, PTGS2, etc. A total of 1871 related entries and 164 pathways were obtained by GO and KEGG enrichment analysis, respectively. Conclusion In Treatise on Febrile Diseases, the treatment of epidemic diseases mainly chose pungent, warm, spleen-invigorating and qi-tonifying herbs, such as Xiaochaihu Decoction, Sini Decoction and Dachengqi Decoction, etc. It was found that Bupleuri Radix-Scutellariae Radix core herb pair prevent and treat COVID-19 through multi-target targets such as PTGS2, IL-6 and TNF. The ancient prescriptions for treating epidemic disease in Treatise on Febrile Diseases may have significant reference value for the prevention and treatment of new epidemic diseases today. © 2023 Editorial Office of Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs. All rights reserved.

Can Investors Profit from Utilizing Technical Trading Rules during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

In the past, it was believed that investors may generate abnormal returns (AR) for trading stocks by employing technical trading rules. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, stock markets around the world seem to suffer a serious impact. Therefore, whether investors can beat the markets by applying technical trading rules during the period of COVID-19 pandemic becomes an important issue for market participants. The purpose of this study is to examine the profitability of trading stocks with the use of technical trading rules under the COVID-19 pandemic. By trading the constituent stocks of DJ 30 and NASDAQ 100, we find that almost all of the trading rules employed in this study fail to beat the market during the COVID-19 pandemic period, which is different from the results in 2019. The revealed findings of this study may shed light on that investors should adopt technical trading with care when stock markets are seriously affected by black swan events like COVID-19. © 2023 World Scientific Publishing Company.