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Existing studies show that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on crime occurrences. However, it remains to be empirically examined whether the regular pandemic prevention and control measures in China can significantly affect the spatial patterns of crimes. To fill this gap, this study chosed the central urban area of Haining City in Zhejiang Province, which had taken the regular pandemic prevention and control measures, as the research area. Using standard deviation ellipse and kernel density estimation methods, this study examined the spatiotemporal patterns of theft crimes between February 2018 and July 2021 in the study area. The results show that: 1) While there were no significant changes in the hourly patterns of theft crimes within a day, the monthly number of thefts in the study area decreased by an average of 53% after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and fluctuated between 100 to 200 thefts per month. The regular COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures had a long-term and stable inhibitory effect on the number of theft crimes in Haining City. 2) The intensity and amount of hotspots for theft crimes in the study area decreased significantly during February 2020 and July 2021 when compared with the pre-pandemic period, and the spatial distribution patterns of theft crimes were relatively stable. 3) For the 12 crime hotspots identified for the pre-pandemic period, the monthly number of crimes decreased between 52% and 78% on average after the outbreak while trajectories of their quarterly temporal changes differed significantly. The average crime drop for the 12 hotspot areas were 63%, which was higher than that for the whole study area. 4) Seven crime-control measures were identified among the regular pandemic prevention and control measures based on the routine activity theory and the crime triangle theory. Functional type of place, geographic location, and pre-pandemic local governance ability all played an important role in affecting the actual crime-control effects of the seven regular COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures. The results of this study are important for understanding the spatial evolution of crimes under the influence of major public health emergencies and for formulating scientific strategies for crime prevention and control. © 2023, Editorial office of PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. All rights reserved.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on both the financial market and the real economy, leading to widespread concern about the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) responsibilities and shareholders' wealth. This paper examines the relationship between ESG responsibility and stock returns in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and investigates the impact of ESG responsibility on stock price resilience. The results indicate that corporate ESG scores have positive impacts on stock returns during and after the COVID-19 crisis, with the positive impacts of ESG being more significant in the post-crisis period. Among the different ESG dimensions, environmental responsibility (ESG_E) has a more significant impact on stock returns, while social responsibility (ESG_S) and governance responsibility (ESG_G) have mixed impacts during the crisis. Furthermore, during and after the outbreak of COVID-19, the positive impacts of ESG are more pronounced among firms located in low-trust regions and firms with lower analyst coverage. Additionally, the study finds that corporate ESG responsibility help restore the resilience of stock prices during the crisis, with better ESG performance leading to stronger stock price resilience. Overall, the results strongly support the conclusion that ESG has acted as an "equity vaccine” during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.
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[Background] Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, staff of the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) have been burdened with heavy epidemic prevention control, and excessive occupational stress can cause depression and other psychological problems. [Objective] To explore the status of occupational stress, resilience, and depression of CDC staff and potential relationships between them. [Methods] From December 2020 to April 2021, a survey was conducted at provincial and municipal levels, and the stratified cluster sampling method was used at county (district) level to select a total of 3 514 samples. Their occupational stress, resilience, and depression status were evaluated using the Chinese Effort-Reward Imbalance Scale (ERI), the Chinese Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Independent sample t test, analysis of variance, chi2 test, Pearson correlation analysis, and mediation test (structural equation model) were conducted. [Results] The positive rate of occupational stress was 34.29% in the CDC staff, the resilience score was 66.28+/-15.32, and the positive rate of depression was 48.58%. Significant differences were found in the positive rates of occupational stress among different groups of gender, age, education background, marital status, administrative duty, weekly exercise frequency, chronic disease prevalence, and participation in epidemic control (P < 0.05);in the resilience scores among different groups of gender, age, administrative duty, weekly exercise frequency, chronic disease prevalence, and participation in epidemic control (P < 0.05);in the positive rates of depression among different groups of gender, age, educational background, personal monthly income, weekly exercise frequency, chronic disease prevalence, and participation in epidemic control (P < 0.05). Occupational stress was negatively correlated with resilience (r=-0.165, P < 0.01). Resilience was negatively correlated with depression (r=-0.383, P < 0.01). Occupational stress was positively correlated with depression (r=0.343, P < 0.01). The structural equation embracing a partial mediating effect of resilience on the relationship occupational stress and depression was established, and the partial mediating effect was 0.039, accounting for 10.46% of the total effect. [Conclusion] High positive rates of occupational stress, reduced resilience, and depression are shown among CDC staff in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, and resilience partially mediates the effect of occupational stress on depression. The study findings suggest that improving resilience may reduce occupational stress and depression in CDC staff.Copyright © 2022, Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention. All rights reserved.
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Objective: To investigate the application value of third-generation dual-source CT(3-G DSCT) low-dose scan mode combined with iterative reconstruction technology in the screening of COVID-19 and to evaluate the radiation dose. Method(s): One hundred and twenty patients suspected of COVID-19 from December 2019 to February 2020 were retrospectively analysed and randomly divided into two groups (test group and conventional group, 60 patients in each). The parameters for test group included 3-G DSCT, Turbo Flash scan mode, CARE kV, with reference 90 kV, pitch 2.0, and ADMIRE algorithm, while those parameters for conventional group included the 128-slice CT, conventional spiral scan mode, 120 kV, pitch 1.2, and FBP algorithm. The CT values of aorta, spinal posterior muscle, and subcutaneous fat, the aortic noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast noise ratio (CNR) were compared to evaluate the image quality between two groups. Two experienced doctors scored the image quality using a double-blind method, and compared the CT dose index volume (CTDIvol), dose-length product (DLP), and effective dose (E) of the two groups. Result(s): The CT value of the aorta and spinal posterior muscle and the aortic SNR in the test group were (45.38+/-4.77), (53.41+/-8.44) HU, and 2.82+/-0.59, and significantly higher than those in the conventional group [(39.68+/-6.26), (42.66+/-6.32) HU, 2.58+/-0.61, t=5.608, 7.897, 2.162, P<0.05]. The aortic noise, CNR and subjective scores between the two groups had no significant difference( P>0.05). The CTDIvol, DLP, and E in the test group were (3.09+/-1.02) mGy, (107.57+/-32.81) mGy*cm, (1.51+/-0.46) mSv, significantly lower than those in the conventional group [(7.00+/-1.80) mGy, (261.65+/-73.93) mGy*cm, (3.66+/-1.03) mSv;t=-14.680, -14.756, -14.756, P<0.05]. Conclusion(s): In the screening of COVID-19, using low-dose scanning mode of 3-G DSCT combined with iterative reconstruction technology would provide diagnostic quality images and meanwhile effectively reduce the radiation dose and improve the SNR of the image.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.
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The COVID-19 outbreak and the Russia-Ukraine conflict are significant economic challenges for China. Meanwhile, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) entered into force on 1 January 2022, establishing the world's largest free trade zone with the world's largest population, the most diverse mix of members, and the highest development potential for reviving China's economy. The RCEP's second chapter goes beyond current global and regional free trade agreements, stipulating tariff reductions and their methods, which have had a noticeable impact on member countries' imports and exports. This study investigates the impact of RCEP tariff concessions on China's imports and exports, as well as industry development, by examining the various types of tariff concessions and tax cuts available. © 2022, International Network of Customs Universities. All rights reserved.
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Background: BAT1806/BIIB800 is a proposed biosimilar to reference tocili-zumab (TCZ). A Phase III randomised, double-blind, active-controlled clinical trial was conducted as part of a biosimilar development programme. Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy, pharmacokinetics (PK), safety and immu-nogenicity of BAT1806/BIIB800 in comparison with EU-sourced TCZ in subjects with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis with inadequate response to meth-otrexate (MTX). Methods: The study was conducted at 55 centres in China and Europe, between June 2018 and January 2021. Eligible subjects were randomised in a 2:1:1 ratio to one of three treatment groups: (1) BAT1806/BIIB800 up to Week 48, (2) TCZ up to Week 48, or (3) TCZ up to Week 24, followed by BAT1806/BIIB800 from Week 24 to Week 48, administered intravenously every 4 weeks at a dose of 8mg/kg. The primary endpoint was the proportion of subjects achieving an ACR20 response at timepoints pre-specifed to meet the requirements of different Regulatory Agencies: Week 12, for EMA;Week 24, for FDA and NMPA. Equivalence margins applied to differences in ACR20 response rates in the BAT1806/BIIB800 and TCZ treatment groups were pre-specifed as follows: +/-14.5% for EMA (95% confdence interval (CI));-12.0%,15% for FDA (90% CI);+/-13.6% for NMPA (95% CI). Secondary endpoints included pharmacokinetics, safety and immunogenicity. The ICH E9(R1) estimands framework including intercurrent events (related or unrelated to the COVID19 pandemic) was implemented for the ACR20 evaluation. A logistic regression model including 'region' (China and Eastern Europe) and 'previous biologic or targeted synthetic DMARD use' (Yes/No) as captured in Interactive Web Response System as stratifcation factors was utilised to assess equivalence for the primary endpoint. The difference in response rates was estimated and corresponding confdence intervals were derived to assess equivalence for the primary endpoint. This presents results up to Week 24. Results: In total, 621 subjects were randomised to receive BAT1806/BIIB800 (N=312), TCZ (N=155), or TCZ followed by BAT1806/BIIB800 (N=154). The groups were comparable in terms of baseline demographics and disease characteristics, including age, gender, disease activity and disease duration. The estimated proportions of subjects achieving an ACR20 response in the BAT1806/BIIB800 vs. the TCZ groups, respectively, were 68.97% vs. 64.82% at Week 12 and 69.89% vs. 67.94% at Week 24. The estimated difference between ACR response rates was 4.15% (95% CI-3.63, 11.93) at week 12, and 1.94% (90% CI-4.04, 7.92;95% CI-5.18, 9.07) at Week 24. The CIs for the estimated differences between the treatment groups were within the pre-defned equivalence margins (Figure 1). The treatment groups were comparable in terms of serum trough levels, incidence of TEAEs and ADA/NAb positivity (Table 1). Conclusion: BAT1806/BIIB800 has demonstrated equivalent efficacy at Week 12 and Week 24 and a similar PK, safety and immunogenicity profile as reference tocilizumab up to Week 24.
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Background and aims: COVID-19 pandemic is affecting triage of strokes in emergency. We aimed to find whether COVID-19 delayed the reperfusion treatment in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. Methods: The Shanghai Stroke Service System (4S) is a regional network that prospectively registries AIS patients within 7 days. Data with COVID- 19 negetive was extracted from January 2018 to December 2020. Compared to quality measures in 2018-2019, the performance during COVID- 19 outbreak (mainly during 1st quarter of 2020) and post were analyzed. The primary outcome was door to needle time (DTN). The secondary outcomes included the rate of reperfusion treatment and hospitalization cost. Results: Our study included 69,258 patients from 64 stroke centers. During 1st quarter 2018 to 4th quarter 2019, there was an overall downward trend of DTN (P trend=0.006). However, during 1st and 2nd quarters 2020, there was a significant delay of DTN. After outbreak in China, the average DTN plus mandatory COVID-19 PCR test dropped back to <60 minutes. The drop of reperfusion rate was also associated to COVID-19 outbreak (57.92% pre vs 51.74% during, P<0.001), while improved after, compared to those of previous(57.92% pre vs 62.32% post, P<0.001). The cost was slightly declined in 1st quarter 2020 (-$125 USD), which reflected changes in reperfusion rates. Conclusions: In 2020, COVID-19 pandemic prolonged the DTN during COVID-19 outbreak but improved after in Shanghai. Although the prevention protocol and PCR test are still in place, acute stroke care in Shanghai has back to normal post pandemic. (Figure Presented).
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The quality of the dataset affects the accuracy of the artificial intelligence model, but it is a lot of work to manually detect errors related to the quality evaluation of the dataset, and it may not be possible to perform quality evaluation through simple viewing. Therefore, we propose an image dataset quality measurement model, including nine evaluation metrics, and analyze the evaluation metrics from three aspects: definition, calculation formula and description. Based on the label file, the quality of the dataset file and the content of the dataset is evaluated, and the evaluation standard is given to judge whether the quality of the dataset is qualified. The measurement model and evaluation criteria proposed in this article were verified against the Cifar-10 dataset and the COVID-CT dataset, and the problems of label accuracy and label category imbalance were found, which proved the effectiveness of the method in this paper. © 2021 IEEE.
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Socio-economic development is undergoing changes in China, such as the recently proposed carbon peak and carbon neutral targets, new infrastructure development strategy and the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Meanwhile, the new-round marketization reform of the electricity industry has been ongoing in China since 2015. Therefore, it is urgent to evaluate the risk of electric power grid investment in China under new socio-economic development situation, which can help the investors manage risk and reduce risk loss. In this paper, a hybrid novel multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method combining the latest group MCDM method, namely, Bayesian best-worst method (BBWM) and improved matter-element extension model (IMEEM) is proposed for risk evaluation of electric power grid investment in China under new socio- economic development situation. The BBWM is used for the weights’ determination of electric power grid investment risk criteria, and the IMEEM is employed to rank risk grade of electric power grid investment. The risk evaluation index system of electric power grid investment is built, including economic, social, environmental, technical and marketable risks. The risk of electric power grid investment under new socio-economic development situation in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China is empirically evaluated by using the proposed MCDM method, and the results indicate that it belongs to “Medium” grade, but closer to “High” grade. The main contributions of this paper include: (1) it proposes a hybrid novel MCDM method combining the BBWM and IMEEM for risk evaluation of electric power grid investment;and (2) it provides a new view for risk evaluation of electric power grid investment including economic, social, environmental, technical and marketable risks. The proposed hybrid novel MCDM method for the risk evaluation of electric power grid investment is effective and practical. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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In order to analyze the effects of risk perception attribute on the long-distance travel mode choice behavior under the duration of public health emergencies, a multivariate Logit model is built for travel mode choice considering residents' risk perception difference. According to the 1 643 effective questionnaires collected from the internet during the COVID-19 in March 2020, the model parameters are calibrated using SPSS. The main risk perception factors affecting travelers' travel mode choices were obtained, and the sensitivity analysis of each factor was carried out. The results show that the prevention and control measures and the understanding of the measures have a significant influence on the choice of travel mode. Compared with air transportation, the increased exposure rate has a negative influence on the choice probability of railway transportation and a positive influence on the choice probability of road transportation. Keeping low air prices during the COVID-19 and increasing publicity of prevention and control measures for air transport can improve the choice probability of air transportation. Copyright © 2020 by Science Press.
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Objective: To investigate the application value of third-generation dual-source CT(3-G DSCT) low-dose scan mode combined with iterative reconstruction technology in the screening of COVID-19 and to evaluate the radiation dose. Methods: One hundred and twenty patients suspected of COVID-19 from December 2019 to February 2020 were retrospectively analysed and randomly divided into two groups (test group and conventional group, 60 patients in each). The parameters for test group included 3-G DSCT, Turbo Flash scan mode, CARE kV, with reference 90 kV, pitch 2.0, and ADMIRE algorithm, while those parameters for conventional group included the 128-slice CT, conventional spiral scan mode, 120 kV, pitch 1.2, and FBP algorithm. The CT values of aorta, spinal posterior muscle, and subcutaneous fat, the aortic noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast noise ratio (CNR) were compared to evaluate the image quality between two groups. Two experienced doctors scored the image quality using a double-blind method, and compared the CT dose index volume (CTDIvol), dose-length product (DLP), and effective dose (E) of the two groups. Results: The CT value of the aorta and spinal posterior muscle and the aortic SNR in the test group were (45.38±4.77), (53.41±8.44) HU, and 2.82±0.59, and significantly higher than those in the conventional group [(39.68±6.26), (42.66±6.32) HU, 2.58±0.61, t=5.608, 7.897, 2.162, P<0.05]. The aortic noise, CNR and subjective scores between the two groups had no significant difference( P>0.05). The CTDIvol, DLP, and E in the test group were (3.09±1.02) mGy, (107.57±32.81) mGy•cm, (1.51±0.46) mSv, significantly lower than those in the conventional group [(7.00±1.80) mGy, (261.65±73.93) mGy•cm, (3.66±1.03) mSv;t=-14.680, -14.756, -14.756, P<0.05]. Conclusions: In the screening of COVID-19, using low-dose scanning mode of 3-G DSCT combined with iterative reconstruction technology would provide diagnostic quality images and meanwhile effectively reduce the radiation dose and improve the SNR of the image. Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health threat. A hospital in Zhuhai adopted several measures in Fever Clinic Management (FCM) to respond to the outbreak of COVID-19. FCM has been proved to be effective in preventing nosocomial cross infection. Faced with the emergency, the hospital undertook creative operational steps in relation to the control and spread of COVID-19, with special focuses on physical and administrative layout of buildings, staff training and preventative procedures. The first operational step was to set up triaging stations at all entrances and then complete a standard and qualified fever clinic, which was isolated from the other buildings within our hospital complex. Secondly, the hospital established its human resource reservation for emergency response and the allocation of human resources to ensure strict and standardised training methods through the hospital for all medical staff and ancillary employees. Thirdly, the hospital divided the fever clinic into partitioned areas and adapted a three-level triaging system. The experiences shared in this paper would be of practical help for the facilities that are encountering or will encounter the challenges of COVID-19, i.e. to prevent nosocomial cross infection among patients and physicians.