Research on the Relationship between Teacher Expectations and College Students' Online English Learning Engagement

As a critical influencing factor of learning engagement, teacher expectation plays a vital role in ensuring the quality of online teaching under COVID-19. This paper investigates the relationship between teacher expectations (three dimensions of teacher support, teaching interaction, and academic feedback) on students' online English learning engagement (three dimensions of cognitive engagement, behavioral engagement, and emotional engagement) in e-learning through a questionnaire survey of 513 college students. Pearson correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were applied as research methods. The results manifest that college students' online English learning engagement was above average, but emotional engagement needs improvement. In addition, teacher expectations of teaching interaction positively and significantly predict English e-learning engagement. Based on this, the article puts forward suggestions on the future of online teaching from the aspects of online teaching design, feedback quality of teachers and students, innovative teaching practice of technology empowerment to effectively play the role of teachers as scaffolding and improve the effectiveness of online English teaching. © 2023 IEEE.

Examining the Association between Pre-service Teachers' Self-efficacy and TPACK Competencies in Online Internships under COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-service teachers must devote time and effort to familiarizing themselves with the online educational internship system and adapting their pedagogy to the new internship mode that integrates information and communication technologies. Under such a circumstance, teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) plays a critical role in making them competent in online internships, and their self-efficacy can facilitate their TPACK development. Based on the data collected from 202 pre-service teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in China through online surveys, this study investigated the association between their self-efficacy and their TPACK during the online internship. The results of multiple regression analyses suggested that pre-service teachers' personal and general teaching efficacies significantly predicted TPACK competencies to varying degrees. To be specific, pre-service teachers' personal teaching efficacy significantly and positively predicted all the TPACK dimensions;meanwhile, GTE only significantly and positively predicted Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK). Also, the conclusions, implications, and suggestions for theory and practice were discussed. © 2023 IEEE.

Measuring College Students' Satisfaction with the Teaching Effectiveness of Online English Courses Based on the IPA Model

The English learning ability and academic performance of pre-service teachers affect the future professional development of preschool and primary education teachers. The English course has been transferred to online due to COVID-19. Whether the practicability of e-learning is consistent with students' expectations primarily affect teaching effectiveness. A paired-sample t-test on the importance and satisfaction of online English learning effectiveness of pre-service teachers from freshmen to juniors at a private university revealed no significant difference in the overall importance and satisfaction. Then the coordinated system is constructed according to the Importance -Performance Analysis (IPA) to identify the critical indicators for improving the teaching effect of online courses. The results imply that network stability and teachers' timely responses to students' questions should be concentrated. In addition, students are pretty satisfied with the e-learning platform, teaching quality and management, which should be further maintained. The suggestions for improving the effectiveness of online English teaching in private universities are proposed accordingly. © 2023 IEEE.

(FS)-S-3: Free Flow Fever Screening

Identification of people with elevated body temperature can reduce or dramatically slow down the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19. We present a novel fever-screening system, (FS)-S-3, that uses edge machine learning techniques to accurately measure core body temperatures of multiple individuals in a free-flow setting. (FS)-S-3 performs real-time sensor fusion of visual camera with thermal camera data streams to detect elevated body temperature, and it has several unique features: (a) visual and thermal streams represent very different modalities, and we dynamically associate semantically-equivalent regions across visual and thermal frames by using a new, dynamic alignment technique that analyzes content and context in real-time, (b) we track people through occlusions, identify the eye (inner canthus), forehead, face and head regions where possible, and provide an accurate temperature reading by using a prioritized refinement algorithm, and (c) we robustly detect elevated body temperature even in the presence of personal protective equipment like masks, or sunglasses or hats, all of which can be affected by hot weather and lead to spurious temperature readings. (FS)-S-3 has been deployed at over a dozen large commercial establishments, providing contact-less, free-flow, real-time fever screening for thousands of employees and customers in indoors and outdoor settings.

Topological Data Analysis of Spatial Systems

In this chapter, we discuss applications of topological data analysis (TDA) to spatial systems. We briefly review a recently proposed level-set construction of filtered simplicial complexes, and we then examine persistent homology in two cases studies: street networks in Shanghai and anomalies in the spread of COVID-19 infections. We then summarize our results and provide an outlook on TDA in spatial systems. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Tuberculosis - United States, 2021

What is already known about this topic? The number of reported U.S. tuberculosis (TB) cases decreased sharply in 2020, possibly related to multiple factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. What is added by this report? Reported TB incidence (cases per 100,000 persons) increased 9.4%, from 2.2 during 2020 to 2.4 during 2021 but was lower than incidence during 2019 (2.7). Increases occurred among both U.S.-born and non-U.S.-born persons. What are the implications for public health practice? Factors contributing to changes in reported TB during 2020-2021 likely include an actual reduction in TB incidence as well as delayed or missed TB diagnoses. Timely evaluation and treatment of TB and latent tuberculosis infection remain critical to achieving U.S. TB elimination.

How Right Now? Supporting Mental Health and Resilience Amid COVID-19

The How Right Now communication initiative (HRN) was developed to facilitate resilience amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. HRN was designed as a conduit for promoting mental health and addressing feelings of grief, worry, and stress experienced during this time. This article provides an overview of the rapid, mixed-method, culturally responsive formative research process undertaken to inform the development of HRN. Specifically, it describes how HRN's disproportionately affected audiences (adults aged 65 and older and their caregivers, adults with preexisting physical and mental health conditions, adults experiencing violence, and adults experiencing economic distress) describe and discuss emotional resilience, what they need to be resilient, and what factors contribute to the perceptions of their ability to "bounce back" from the conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collection methods included an environmental scan (n >= 700 publications), social listening (n >= 1 million social media posts), partner needs-assessment calls (n = 16), partner-convened listening sessions with community members (n = 29), online focus groups (n = 58), and a national probability survey (n = 731), all in English and Spanish. Results revealed that HRN's audiences have diverse perceptions of what constitutes resilience. However, common factors were identified across populations to support resilience amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including informal and formal social support and access to services to meet basic needs, including food and housing resources. Stress, anxiety, depression, and experience with stigma and discrimination were also linked to resilience. Understanding the perspectives and experiences of disproportionately affected populations is vital to identifying supports and services, including the engagement of community stakeholders.

Protection Degree and Migration in the Stochastic SIRS Model: A Queueing System Perspective

With the prevalence of COVID-19, the modeling of epidemic propagation and its analyses have played a significant role in controlling epidemics. However, individual behaviors, in particular the self-protection and migration, which have a strong influence on epidemic propagation, were always neglected in previous studies. In this paper, we mainly propose two models from the individual and population perspectives. In the first individual model, we introduce the individual protection degree that effectively suppresses the epidemic level as a stochastic variable to the SIRS model. In the alternative population model, an open Markov queueing network is constructed to investigate the individual number of each epidemic state, and we present an evolving population network via the migration of people. Besides, stochastic methods are applied to analyze both models. In various simulations, the infected probability, the number of individuals in each state and its limited distribution are demonstrated. IEEE

How right now: The role of social determinants of health as they relate to emotional well-being amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

Pandemics are stressful times, full of uncertainty and fear. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans have experienced feelings of stress, grief, and loss. How Right Now (HRN) – and its Spanish-language counterpart, Qué Hacer Ahora (QHA) – is an evidence-based, culturally-relevant communication campaign designed to promote and strengthen the emotional well-being and resiliency of populations adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with support from the CDC Foundation, the campaign aims to help all Americans but has a specific focus on some of the disproportionately affected groups, including adults over 65 and their caregivers, individuals with pre-existing physical and mental health conditions, people experiencing violence, and those experiencing economic distress. Based on rapid, but robust, formative research, HRN offers audience-centric messages representing the real, everyday experiences and emotions that these audiences are having and addresses them in actionable ways. These include messages that address the social and structural barrier that disproportionately-affected groups have been facing long before the pandemic — and which are felt more acutely now. This paper provides an overview of the rapid, mixed-method, culturally-responsive formative research process undertaken to inform the development of HRN. Specifically, it describes how HRN’s disproportionately-affected audiences describe and discuss their emotiona well-being during COVID-19 through the lens of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). We introduce a secondary theory, Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being (VCHW), which conceptualizes holistic well-being and the conditions that give rise to it and identifies levers for community change and improvement. Data collection methods included an environmental scan (n≥700 publications);social listening (n≥1 million social media posts);partner needs-assessment calls (n=16);partner-convened listening sessions with community members (n=29), online focus groups (n=10), and a national probability survey (n=731), all in English and Spanish. Findings suggest that HRN’s priority audiences’ emotional well-being and SDOH are interconnected. Disruptions in SDOH du to the COVID-19 pandemic can lead to emotional well-being challenges (e.g., anxiety) for HRN’s priority audiences. While some disruptions may lead some people to adapt, connect with others, and be more resilient, there is a disparate impact of emotional well-being amid COVID-19 for those already experiencing disparities linked to SDOH. Understanding the perspectives and experiences of disproportionately affected populations through the lens of SDOH is vital to identifying the kinds of supports and services – like How Right Now/Qué Hacer Ahora – required for these populations. © 2021 Weston Medical Publishing. All rights reserved.

Role orientation and function of medical social workers in prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019

From the perspective of social work, this article shares the experiences of medical social workers of Shanxi Bethune Hospital providing service in general practice clinic, hospital wards, and related communities;and explores the multiple roles of social workers as care giver, coordinator, counselor and educator in prevention and control of COVID-19 at the grassroots level. The article also summaries their work in Balingqiao Community Health Service Center, and proposes suggestions for community welfare service and organizing volunteer team in community epidemic prevention and control. © 2020 Chinese Medical Association

Immune imbalance mechanism and intervention strategy in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Coronaviruses, a large family of single-stranded RNA viruses, are responsible for three large-scale worldwide epidem¬ics in the first two decades of the 21st century. Thus, it is im¬perative to strengthen the research on coronaviruses. This review summarizes the similarities and differences of three coronaviruses (including SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2) in struc¬ture, gene, origin, infectiousness and pathogenicity. Then, the review illuminates immune response mechanism and intervention strategies in terms of cytokine storm, neutrophil extracellular traps, imbalance of lymphocyte subsets in patients infected with coronaviruses based on experimental studies and clinical cases reports. Finally, new therapeutic strategies and ideas are put forward for the prevention and treatment of Coronavirus disease 2019( COVID-19).