Analysis of Benefits and Potential Damage from Covid-19 Vaccination

Intro: COVID-19 Vaccination has proven to be very effective in preventing infection and progression to severity and death. However, there were concerns about very rare but potentially fatal adverse reactions after vaccination;myocarditis/pericarditis, TTS/VITT et al. It suggested that the evaluation of the two values of personal safety and public benefit is necessary. Method(s): The benefit of vaccination was measured by the number of critically ill patients prevented from vaccination. The number of critically ill patients predicted in the future was measured through two Methods: based on a fixed scenario, and using a mathematical model. Damage through vaccination was calculated as the occurrence of TTS/VITT, Myocarditis/Pericarditis, and of severe cases. Finding(s): The evaluation results on vaccine safety and effectiveness were made in the form of age restrictions for vaccination by each vaccine platform. As a result of the evaluation, the AstraZeneca vaccine was limited to those under the age of 30 but there was no restriction on the age of mRNA vaccination. In addition, the risks and benefits of vaccination for children aged 5-11 years and 12-17 years of age were evaluated respectively, and it was confirmed that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential harm in children and adolescents. Conclusion(s): Our nation has the own policy for COVID 19 vaccination from the results. The pandemic situation has presented a new approach to the benefits and risks of large-scale vaccination. In particular, the method of comparing the risks and benefits of vaccination was considered as a useful method for health communication.Copyright © 2023

Localization using Multi-Focal Spatial Attention for Masked Face Recognition

Since the beginning of world-wide COVID-19 pandemic, facial masks have been recommended to limit the spread of the disease. However, these masks hide certain facial attributes. Hence, it has become difficult for existing face recognition systems to perform identity verification on masked faces. In this context, it is necessary to develop masked Face Recognition (MFR) for contactless biometric recognition systems. Thus, in this paper, we propose Complementary Attention Learning and Multi-Focal Spatial Attention that precisely removes masked region by training complementary spatial attention to focus on two distinct regions: masked regions and backgrounds. In our method, standard spatial attention and networks focus on unmasked regions, and extract mask-invariant features while minimizing the loss of the conventional Face Recognition (FR) performance. For conventional FR, we evaluate the performance on the IJB-C, Age-DB, CALFW, and CPLFW datasets. We evaluate the MFR performance on the ICCV2021-MFR/Insightface track, and demonstrate the improved performance on the both MFR and FR datasets. Additionally, we empirically verify that spatial attention of proposed method is more precisely activated in unmasked regions. © 2023 IEEE.

Rapid-cycle designs to adapt interventions for COVID-19 in safety-net healthcare systems.

Racial/ethnic minority, low socioeconomic status, and rural populations are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Developing and evaluating interventions to address COVID-19 testing and vaccination among these populations are crucial to improving health inequities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the application of a rapid-cycle design and adaptation process from an ongoing trial to address COVID-19 among safety-net healthcare system patients. The rapid-cycle design and adaptation process included: (a) assessing context and determining relevant models/frameworks; (b) determining core and modifiable components of interventions; and (c) conducting iterative adaptations using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. PDSA cycles included: Plan. Gather information from potential adopters/implementers (e.g., Community Health Center [CHC] staff/patients) and design initial interventions; Do. Implement interventions in single CHC or patient cohort; Study. Examine process, outcome, and context data (e.g., infection rates); and, Act. If necessary, refine interventions based on process and outcome data, then disseminate interventions to other CHCs and patient cohorts. Seven CHC systems with 26 clinics participated in the trial. Rapid-cycle, PDSA-based adaptations were made to adapt to evolving COVID-19-related needs. Near real-time data used for adaptation included data on infection hot spots, CHC capacity, stakeholder priorities, local/national policies, and testing/vaccine availability. Adaptations included those to study design, intervention content, and intervention cohorts. Decision-making included multiple stakeholders (e.g., State Department of Health, Primary Care Association, CHCs, patients, researchers). Rapid-cycle designs may improve the relevance and timeliness of interventions for CHCs and other settings that provide care to populations experiencing health inequities, and for rapidly evolving healthcare challenges such as COVID-19.

Racial/ethnic minority, low socioeconomic status, and rural populations experience a disproportionate burden of COVID-19. Finding ways to address COVID-19 among these populations is crucial to improving health inequities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rapid-cycle design process for a research project to address COVID-19 testing and vaccination among safety-net healthcare system patients. The project used real-time information on changes in COVID-19 policy (e.g., vaccination authorization), local case rates, and the capacity of safety-net healthcare systems to iteratively change interventions to ensure interventions were relevant and timely for patients. Key changes that were made to interventions included a change to the study design to include vaccination as a focus of the interventions after the vaccine was authorized; change in intervention content according to the capacity of local Community Health Centers to provide testing to patients; and changes to intervention cohorts such that priority groups of patients were selected for intervention based on characteristics including age, residency in an infection "hot spot," or race/ethnicity. Iteratively improving interventions based on real-time data collection may increase intervention relevance and timeliness, and rapid-cycle adaptions can be successfully implemented in resource constrained settings like safety-net healthcare systems.

Predictions for architectural and urban spaces in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Delphi survey of Korean experts

Studies on the factors of the COVID-19 pandemic that influence architecture and spaces have presented various, often contradictory, findings, and the same is true for studies making predictions. Considering this, this study aims to use the Delphi technique, an analytical method for synthesizing the opinions of experts across diverse fields to determine major issues in the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 eras as wells as the architectural and urban spaces in which future changes are expected. This study derived keywords representing major trends and issues that would lead to changes in architectural and urban spaces in the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 eras, predicted the change patterns for each keyword, and determined the architectural and urban spaces expected to undergo major changes. The experts predicted these keywords to show a variety of changes, including the pattern of increasing influence during the COVID-19 pandemic and then decreasing in influence after the pandemic, the pattern of small influence during the pandemic and the increase in influence after the pandemic, and the pattern of greater influence during and after the pandemic. Furthermore, they predicted that most of the post-COVID-19 changes would occur in the housing sector. Developing architectural guidelines that could incorporate these changes is thus necessary. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Architectural Institute of Japan, Architectural Institute of Korea and Architectural Society of China.

Donor motivation in the era of the COVID-19 crisis: Focusing on South Korean health diplomacy and response aid to COVID-19

COVID-19 has brought an unprecedented global economic burden. The widely held view is that, during times of economic crisis, there are reduced flows of foreign aid due to budgetary constraints. Although some countries' actions seem aligned with this perspective, others, including South Korea, have acted counter-intuitively. South Korea has implemented health-related diplomacy, initiating the Agenda for Building Resilience against COVID-19 through the Development Cooperation (ABC) program. This program provides countries with COVID-19 diagnosis kits, personal protective equipment, such as masks, and health-related capacity for building and development projects. We attempt to understand the behavior of donors in the crisis context and, thus, examine South Korea as a representative case. Using South Korean health-related diplomacy as our case study, we show that South Korea has considered both its interests and recipients' needs. Furthermore, a quantitative study with newly constructed data from the ABC program reveals that South Korea provides higher amounts of Official Development Assistance (ODA) via its ABC program to recipients with whom it enjoys close economic ties and with whom it has given higher amounts of ODA. The latter finding suggests a path-dependent act in foreign aid allocation.

FEDERATED LEARNING DISTRIBUTED CONSENSUS ALGORITHM FOR TELEMEDICINE

Recently, as the importance of telemedicine increases due to the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in the safe use of medical data is increasing. The need for safe and effective management of personal information is emerging as the number of hacking cases related to personal information is increasing due to the activation of big data utilization and the activation of telemedicine due to the 4th industrial revolution. In addition, since personal information used in the medical field is classified as sensitive information, it is necessary to focus more on security. However, in order to access one's own medical information in telemedicine and big data environments, it must be provided anytime, anywhere. In Korea, medical information is currently managed in the form of centralization where local hospitals store and manage each patient's data. Therefore, the problem of centralized data management was solved by applying block-chain technology. It provides more free information exchange in cooperative telemedicine and ensures the privacy of patient information while safely reaching mutual agreements © 2022 Little Lion Scientific

Inspection Data Exchange and Visualization for Building Maintenance using AR-enabled BIM

After the COVID-19 outbreak, a new concept of building maintenance (BM) systems is needed because current approaches highly rely on physical contact between workers, engineers, and managers. It imposes health and safety risks as increasing concerns about infections and spreads. This adds burdens to take unavoidable close contact and health risks to building owners, occupants, workforce, and society at large. In this respect, a new BM system was developed that enables reliable virtual communication and reduces BM response times by filling gaps between users and building managers. The proposed system is based on a concept of a cyber-physical system (CPS) using augmented reality (AR) and building information modeling (BIM) to promote non-contact building management. In this system, AR plays an important role in inspecting and visualizing defects in the real world, and the detected defect information is stored and managed by cloud-based BIM in cyberspace. This paper focuses on data visualization and management in the CPS-based non-contact building management system. A cloud-based database and mobile application are developed for data management purposes. In addition, this paper presents BIM data exchange and visualization in AR applications. Target image-based localization and tracking in BIM are also tested. The test results showed that the model alignment and localization accuracy are reliable for building maintenance works. Using the new BM mechanism, we expect that the related workers, building owners, and occupants will experience a reliable building maintenance process based on CPS-based information exchange from both users and facility managers while maintaining social distance. © 2022 International Association on Automation and Robotics in Construction.

Numerical Analysis of RF-Induced Heating While Wearing Face Mask at Magnetic Resonance Imaging

In response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, wearing face masks in public places and common facilities has been strongly recommended to help prevent the further spread of the virus. However, conductive components of the face mask carry the potential risk of radio-frequency (RF)-induced heating when exposed to an RF electromagnetic field, particularly during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this study, a realistic human head model wearing a face mask exposed to a strong RF electromagnetic field in 1.5 T, 3 T, and 7 T MRI was simulated. A nose wire in contact with the skin and a mask sheet with relatively high electrical conductivity, emulating a silver nanoparticle-coated face mask, was modeled to investigate the worst case of RF-induced heating that could occur during the MRI scan. 24 scenarios were simulated by using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD)-based electromagnetic solver and thermal-transient solver from Sim4Life commercial simulation software. According to the results, a notable enhancement in the specific absorption rate (SAR) and temperature rise was observed in the local region of the skin where the wire contacted the skin around the edge of the high-conductive mask sheet. In particular, a maximum of a 12-fold increase in mass-averaged SAR and a temperature increase of more than 8.0 degrees C occurred because of the conductive face mask at 3 T, compared to the normal polymer-based face mask with low conductivity. Our results confirmed that the degree of RF-induced heating due to the face mask could be completely different depending on the RF frequency of the MRI, location where the nose wire contacted the skin, and conductivity of the mask sheet. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the face mask as a factor for RF-induced heating during MRI. These findings are important for providing a safety guide that allows patients to safely undergo MRI while wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19-Associated Portal Vein Thrombosis Post-Cholecystitis

This case study describes a 45-year-old Caucasian male with a past medical history of obesity, hypertension, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, who in the setting of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia, developed portal vein thrombosis (PVT) presenting as an acute abdomen after hospital discharge from a cholecystitis episode. PVT is a very infrequent thromboembolic condition, classically occurring in patients with systemic conditions such as cirrhosis, malignancy, pancreatitis, diverticulitis, autoimmunity, and thrombophilia. PVT can cause serious complications, such as intestinal infarction, or even death, if not promptly treated. Due to the limited number of reports in the literature describing PVT in the COVID-19 setting, its prevalence, natural history, mechanism, and precise clinical features remain unknown. Therefore, clinical suspicion should be high for PVT, in any COVID-19 patient who presents with abdominal pain or associated signs and symptoms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of COVID-19-associated PVT causing extensive thrombosis in the portal vein and its right branch, occurring in the setting of early-stage cirrhosis after a preceding episode of cholecystitis.

Understanding Drivers of Changes in Green Space Assessments: Focusing on the Green Flag Award

Background and objective: The benefits of green spaces are starting to be recognized, particularly after the emergence of COVID-19. However, only well-managed green spaces deliver positive benefits. To maintain green spaces, various assessment tools have been developed. The Green Flag Award (GFA), which is the UK’s national audit tool, is focused on the structure and criteria of green spaces assessment. However, we do not know about the changes that drive our understandings of well-managed green spaces, impacts of the GFA, or changes in other assessment tools. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand the changes that drive the development of green space assessment tools, with a focus on the GFA, to deliver a framework for the long-term management of these spaces. Methods: This study employed the Protocol and Reporting result with Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, and Analysis (PSALSAR) and Develop frameworks, as well as the assessment-focused place-keeping analytical framework. The PSALSAR framework was used to ensure accuracy, systematisation, exhaustiveness, and reproducibility. The assessment-focused place-keeping analytical framework was employed to understand the contribution of green space assessment tools in the long-term management of these spaces. Results: First, well-managed green spaces (GS) were positively associated with quality of life, which is a widely known fact. However, the approach to managing GS in the long term is a key issue. Second, the GFA had great impacts on the ability to manage GS well by providing developed domains and reflecting contemporary GS issues. Third, drivers of GS assessment tools include the persistence and importance of conventional maintenance, emphasis on accessibility by expanding practical boundaries, the inevitability of enhancing community involvement, and diversity of involvement in the judging process. Lastly, assessment-focused, place-keeping analytical frameworks imply that approaches to long-term management should be contextualised based on policy, funding, governance, partnership, and maintenance. Conclusion: Understanding changes that drive GS assessment and its association with GS management should be prioritised. This study concludes that approaches to GS assessment should be framed in the context of long-term management, underscored by understanding contemporary GS issues. © 2022 by the Society for People, Plants, and Environment.

Together or alone on the prosocial path amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: the partitioning effect in experiential consumption

Purpose: During these unprecedented times, acts of charity are deemed essential to help individuals in need and support the social safety net. Given the importance of prosocial behavior for survival through the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, the authors investigate the effects of partitioning experiential consumption and self-construal on consumer responses. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the literature on partitioning and self-construal, the findings across three experimental studies provide novel insights into the interplay between partitioning and self-construal, and offer psychological processes on prosocial and behavioral intention. Findings: Individuals with predominantly independent (vs. interdependent) self-construals and those primed with independent (vs. interdependent) self-construals showed higher prosocial intention when the experiential product ad was in an aggregated (vs. partitioned) format. The fit between the type of format and self-construal leads to the high control coping mechanism, and ultimately prosocial intention. Originality/value: Partitioning experiential consumption has not been directly examined using self-construal, providing novel insights into consumer reactions during the pandemic. This paper provides practical implications to practitioners and researchers to better understand and adapt to shifting digital consumption patterns. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Superhydrophobic and Self-Sterilizing Surgical Masks Spray-Coated with Carbon Nanotubes

Coronavirus has affected the entire global community owing to its transmission through respiratory droplets. This has led to the mandatory usage of surgical masks for protection against this lethal virus in many countries. However, the currently available disposable surgical masks have limitations in terms of their hydrophobicity and reusability. Here, we report a single-step spray-coating technique for the formation of a superhydrophobic layer of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) on a melt-blown polypropylene (PP) surgical mask. The sprayed SWCNTs form a nanospike-like architecture on the PP surface, increasing the static contact angle for water from 113.6° ± 3.0° to 156.2° ± 1.8° and showing superhydrophobicity for various body fluids such as urine, tears, blood, sweat, and saliva. The CNT-coated surgical masks also display an outstanding photothermal response with an increase in their surface temperature to more than 90 °C within 30 s of 1 sun solar illumination, confirming its self-sterilization ability. Owing to the cumulative effect of the superhydrophobicity and photothermal performance of the SWCNTs, the CNT-coated masks show 99.99% higher bactericidal performance toward Escherichia coli than pristine masks. Further, the virucidal ability of the SWCNT-coated mask, tested by using virus-like particles, was found to be almost 99% under solar illumination. As the spray-coating method is easily scalable, the nanotube-coated mask provides cost-effective personal protection against respiratory diseases. © 2021 American Chemical Society.

Comprehensive Review on Facemask Detection Techniques in the Context of Covid-19

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) had an enormous impact on humanity. Till May 2021, almost 172 million people have been affected globally due to the contagious spread of Covid-19. Although the distribution of vaccines has been started, the worldwide mass distribution is yet to happen. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), wearing a facemask can reduce the contagious spread of Covid-19 significantly. The governments of different countries have recommended implementing the "no mask, no service" method to impede the spread of Covid-19. However, even the improper wearing of a facemask can obstruct the goal and lead to the spread of the virus. Therefore, to ensure public safety, a system for monitoring facemasks on faces, commonly known as a facemask detection algorithm, is essential for overcoming this crisis. The facemask detection algorithms are part of the object detection algorithms which are used to detect objects in an image. Among the various object detection algorithms, deep learning showed tremendous performance in facemask detection for its excellent feature extraction capability than the traditional machine learning algorithms. However, there remains a lot of scope for future research to build an efficient facemask detection system. Therefore, this study aims to draw attention to the researchers by providing a narrative and meta-analytic review on all the published works related to facemask detection in the context of Covid-19. Because facemask detection algorithms are run mainly by adopting object detection algorithms, this paper also explores the progress of object detection algorithms over the last few decades. A comprehensive analysis of different datasets used in facemask detection techniques by many studies has been explored. The performance comparison among these algorithms is discussed in narrative and meta-analytic approaches. Finally, this study concludes with a discussion of some of the major challenges and future scope in the related field.

COVID-19 Uncertainty and Temporal Framing in Advertising for Online Experiential Consumption

During the period of uncertainty and lack of control caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we investigated how consumers evaluate online experiences using messages framed in different temporal perspectives. In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, companies have been offering their experiential services online either in single long sessions (i.e., proximal framed message) or multiple short sessions over time (i.e., distal framed message). We found significant two-way interactions between temporal frames and levels of uncertainty, such that consumers with high (vs. low) levels of uncertainty respond more favorably when a distal (vs. proximal) framed message is applied. The path from fluency to high-control coping explained the interaction effect between temporal framing and levels of uncertainty on behavioral outcomes toward experience goods. © Copyright © 2021, American Academy of Advertising.

Environmental contamination in the isolation rooms of COVID-19 patients with severe pneumonia requiring mechanical ventilation or high-flow oxygen therapy.

BACKGROUND: Identifying the extent of environmental contamination of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is essential for infection control and prevention. The extent of environmental contamination has not been fully investigated in the context of severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients. AIM: To investigate environmental SARS-CoV-2 contamination in the isolation rooms of severe COVID-19 patients requiring mechanical ventilation or high-flow oxygen therapy. METHODS: Environmental swab samples and air samples were collected from the isolation rooms of three COVID-19 patients with severe pneumonia. Patients 1 and 2 received mechanical ventilation with a closed suction system, while patient 3 received high-flow oxygen therapy and non-invasive ventilation. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) was used to detect SARS-CoV-2; viral cultures were performed for samples not negative on rRT-PCR. FINDINGS: Of the 48 swab samples collected in the rooms of patients 1 and 2, only samples from the outside surfaces of the endotracheal tubes tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by rRT-PCR. However, in patient 3's room, 13 of the 28 environmental samples (fomites, fixed structures, and ventilation exit on the ceiling) showed positive results. Air samples were negative for SARS-CoV-2. Viable viruses were identified on the surface of the endotracheal tube of patient 1 and seven sites in patient 3's room. CONCLUSION: Environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2 may be a route of viral transmission. However, it might be minimized when patients receive mechanical ventilation with a closed suction system. These findings can provide evidence for guidelines for the safe use of personal protective equipment.