ABSTRACT
This chapter, "Flexible Employment Development in Post-COVID Economic Revival” as it flows from the title, is devoted to flexible employment in post-pandemic period. The economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has had profound impacts on the labor market. Compared with regular employment, flexible employment represented by non-standard employment, part-time job, self-employment and other forms that rely on the Internet platform have played an increasingly more important role in China's economic revival. This chapter focuses on flexible employment development during the post-COVID economic recovery in China. Specifically, it summarizes the current situation of flexible employment in China in the post-COVID era first, and then further discusses the factors that may affect flexible employment as well as potential barriers under the global spread of COVID-19. On this basis, some possible suggestions are put forward. With a more flexible labor market in the future, greater attention should be paid to stabilizing employment;in addition, policies should be strengthened to support workers and enterprises, along with appropriate standards of flexible employment and comprehensive social protection systems. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
Following their surge in popularity during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, e-learning and virtual education remain a noteworthy and rapidly developing part of the educational landscape. Still relatively immature in its development, virtual reality in particular promises extraordinary potential for positive educational outcomes. Given this potential, it is essential to deepen our understanding of the needs and attitudes of the public regarding its use. Based on Twitter data, our research focuses on the use of virtual reality in biology, chemistry and physics education, providing an analysis of popularity and other trends, along with public attitudes. Major results of our study include the finding that the application of virtual reality in chemistry was the most discussed among these three subjects between July 2016 and July 2022, and the discovery of a strong positive correlation between the frequency of tweets and the launch of hardware and software products. Our overview of the traffic on these three subjects is likely to be of particular value to software developers and virtual reality content creators. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Passengers significantly affect airport terminal energy consumption and indoor environmental quality. Accurate passenger forecasting provides important insights for airport terminals to optimize their operation and management. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly increased the uncertainty in airport passenger since 2020. There are insufficient studies to investigate which pandemic-related variables should be considered in forecasting airport passenger trends under the impact of COVID-19 outbreaks. In this study, the interrelationship between COVID-19 pandemic trends and passenger traffic at a major airport terminal in China was analyzed on a day-by-day basis. During COVID-19 outbreaks, three stages of passenger change were identified and characterized, i.e., the decline stage, the stabilization stage, and the recovery stage. A typical "sudden drop and slow recovery” pattern of passenger traffic was identified. A LightGBM model including pandemic variables was developed to forecast short-term daily passenger traffic at the airport terminal. The SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values was used to quantify the contribution of input pandemic variables. Results indicated the inclusion of pandemic variables reduced the model error by 27.7% compared to a baseline model. The cumulative numbers of COVID-19 cases in previous weeks were found to be stronger predictors of future passenger traffic than daily COVID-19 cases in the most recent week. In addition, the impact of pandemic control policies and passengers' travel behavior was discussed. Our empirical findings provide important implications for airport terminal operations in response to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Identifying the patients at higher risk for poor outcomes after radiotherapy (RT) during coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) era is an unmet clinical need. Methods: The Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Clarivate Analytics Web of Science, PubMed and Wiley-Blackwell Cochrane Library databases were searched. Eligible studies were required to address the outcomes of cancer patients who underwent RT during the COVID-19 era. The primary outcome was early mortality, while secondary outcomes included length of hospital stay, hospital admission, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and use of mechanical ventilation. Pooled event rates were calculated, and meta-regression and 'leave-one-out' sensitivity analyses were performed. Results: Twelve eligible studies were included out of 928. The prevalence of early mortality after COVID-19 infection was 21.0%. The prevalence of hospital admission, ICU admission and mechanical ventilation was 78.1, 15.4 and 20.0%, respectively. Meta-regression showed that older age was significantly and positively associated with early mortality (β = 0.0765± 0.0349, p = 0.0284), while breast cancer was negatively associated with early mortality (β=-1.2754±0.6373, p = 0.0454). Conclusions: Older age adversely impacts the early mortality rate in cancer patients during COVID-19 era. The risks of interruption/delay of cancer treatment should be weighed against the risk of increased morbidity and mortality from the infection. A global registry is needed to establish international oncologic guidelines during the COVID-19 era. © 2021 The Author(s).
ABSTRACT
Public health emergencies will pose an enormous challenge to healthcare service systems. As COVID-19 rage across the globe, we realize that COVID-19 exposes the problem of inadequate research on the dispatch of emergency medical personnel in response to a major epidemic outbreak. In the face of major public health emergencies, failure in timely satisfaction of healthcare demands by local healthcare professionals necessitates human resource support from other regions. To address this issue, further research is needed to gain better insights into interregional emergency human resource allocation. This paper aims to offer attention to patients' medical needs and suppose that there are support hubs outside the outbreak region offering an external supply of medical personnel. The hospitals in these support hubs are categorized based on variables such as capacity, medical capability, and the number of dispatched personnel per day. An interregional emergency allocation model was established to consider the proper doctor-patient ratio and nurse-patient ratio in emergency response using methods such as mathematical programming. And relevant management suggestions were then offered via analysis. Research in this paper provides allocation models and proposals that healthcare professionals can refer to when making resource allocation decisions in emergency response. © 2022 ACM.
ABSTRACT
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic a public health disaster of global concern on the 30th January 2020. With the highly infectious COVID-19 virus inevitably spreading across nations and causing significant health and economic impacts, leveraging Digital Mobile Technologies (DMTs) by frontline healthcare practitioners has been touted as a lifeline. Since January 2020, various frontline health workers, health experts, and health institutions across the globe have progressively embraced the use of numerous DMTs as an essential means of restraining the highly infectious disease spread. DMTs such as smart mobile phones and other digital mobile technologies are the reliable means of sharing pertinent health information, awareness, and surveillance as well as facilitating access to crucial healthcare services, especially in designated COVID-19 health facilities. Therefore, this study employed, an online survey using an exploratory-based research design to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized the usage of DMTs among (n=1,126) frontline healthcare practitioners in three leading tertiary hospitals in Ghana. We adopted technology acceptance model (TAM) to study the adoption and utilization of DMTs and their limitations by frontline healthcare workers in COVID-19 management. We found that 75.1% (n=846 out of 1,126) of frontline healthcare workers, comprising nurses, medical doctors, physician assistants, and COVID-19 contact tracers were aware of DMTs, adopted and used DMTs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its management. However, 93.0% (n=784 out of 846) of those who were aware of the DMTs employed them in their daily operations beyond the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analyses also indicate that increased usage of these DMTs has significantly enhanced public healthcare campaigns and education on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana. These mobile applications have also improved and boosted healthcare communications among practitioners on measures against the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of originality, this study expands our understanding of digital technology in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in less studied regions such as Africa, West Africa, and Ghana to be specific. Secondly, the study contributes to filling a gap in our understanding of how theories such as TAM function in crisis communication management. Finally, the study recommends health authorities and governments in developing countries incorporate DMTs in their current health care systems, especially in public health emergencies like COVID-19 preparedness. © 2022 by authors.
ABSTRACT
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, there are more needs for remote patient care especially in rehabilitation requiring direct contact. However, traditional Chinese rehabilitation technologies, such as gua sha, often need to be implemented by well-trained professionals. To automate and professionalize gua sha, it is necessary to record the nursing and rehabilitation process and reproduce the process in developing smart gua sha equipment. This paper proposes a new signal processing and sensor fusion method for developing a piece of smart gua sha equipment. A novel stabilized numerical integration method based on information fusion and detrended fluctuation analysis (SNIF-DFA) is performed to obtain the velocity and displacement information during gua sha operation. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the traditional numerical integration method with respect to information accuracy and realizes accurate position calculations. This is of great significance in developing robots or automated machines that reproduce the nursing and rehabilitation operations of medical professionals. IEEE
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Identifying the patients at higher risk for poor outcomes after radiotherapy (RT) during coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) era is an unmet clinical need. Methods: The Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Clarivate Analytics Web of Science, PubMed and Wiley-Blackwell Cochrane Library databases were searched. Eligible studies were required to address the outcomes of cancer patients who underwent RT during the COVID-19 era. The primary outcome was early mortality, while secondary outcomes included length of hospital stay, hospital admission, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and use of mechanical ventilation. Pooled event rates were calculated, and meta-regression and 'leave-one-out' sensitivity analyses were performed. Results: Twelve eligible studies were included out of 928. The prevalence of early mortality after COVID-19 infection was 21-0%. The prevalence of hospital admission, ICU admission and mechanical ventilation was 78.1, 15.4 and 20.0%, respectively. Meta-regression showed that older age was significantly and positively associated with early mortality (beta = 0.0765 +/- 0.0349, p = 0.0284), while breast cancer was negatively associated with early mortality (beta = -1.2754 +/- 0.6373, p = 0.0454). Conclusions: Older age adversely impacts the early mortality rate in cancer patients during COVID-19 era. The risks of interruption/delay of cancer treatment should be weighed against the risk of increased morbidity and mortality from the infection. A global registry is needed to establish international oncologic guidelines during the COVID-19 era.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically imperiled the health system worldwide. It may also negatively impact the cascade of care of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the progress on WHO 2030 goal of HCV elimination. In this study, we used a multinational, multicenter cohort to estimate the change in the completion of DAA therapy, HCV RNA testing, and clinical encounter during pandemic. Methods: We collected data patients who underwent DAA therapy at three tertiary medical centers in Los Angeles (US), Xi'an (China), and Nanjing (China) between January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 and followed until November 30, 2020. We compared the proportions of HCV patients who completed DAA therapy as well as had HCV RNA testing and follow-up visits during and after the end of the HCV therapy between COVID-19 pandemic and the periods before pandemic. Additionally, we determined the frequency and predictive factors of utilization of telemedicine. Results: A total of 256 patients with HCV infection were included. Despite no significant reduction in the completion of DAA before and during the pandemic, the proportion of patients undergoing HCV RNA testing during DAA treatment decreased from about 80% before pandemic to 67% during the pandemic, with a more prominent decrease in the US. There were less than 10% of patients who had HCV RNA testing 12 weeks post-treatment during COVID-19 era. Compared to pre-pandemic period, post-treatment clinic encounter decreased significant in China but elevated in the US. Further analysis showed that the increase was due to the surge in utilization of telemedicine. However, the increased number of follow-up visits during COVID-19 pandemic period did not result in an increase in HCV RNA testing. Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic carried profound impact on the cascade of care for HCV patients in both the US and China. Despite the increased use of telemedicine in the US, the adherence to recommendations for HCV RNA testing was still disappointingly low. Stakeholders should identify the modifiable barriers and reinforce the care while withstanding the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Left unmitigated, climate change poses a catastrophic risk to human health, demanding an urgent and concerted response from every country. The 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change and The Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change have been initiated to map out the impacts of climate change and the necessary policy responses. To meet these challenges, Tsinghua University, partnering with the University College London and 17 Chinese and international institutions, has prepared the Chinese Lancet Countdown report, which has a national focus and builds on the work of the global Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change. Drawing on international methodologies and frameworks, this report aims to deepen the understanding of the links between public health and climate change at the national level and track them with 23 indicators. This work is part of the Lancet's Countdown broader efforts to develop regional expertise on this topic, and coincides with the launch of the Lancet Countdown Regional Centre in Asia, based at Tsinghua University. The data and results of this report are presented at the provincial level, where possible, to facilitate targeted response strategies for local decision-makers. Based on the data and findings of the 2020 Chinese Lancet Countdown report, five recommendations are proposed to key stakeholders in health and climate change in China: (1) Enhance inter-departmental cooperation. Climate change is a challenge that demands an integrated response from all sectors, urgently requiring substantial inter-departmental cooperation among health, environment, energy, economic, financial, and education authorities. (2) Strengthen health emergency preparedness. Knowledge and findings on current and future climate-related health threats still lack the required attention and should be fully integrated into the emergency preparedness and response system. (3) Support research and raise awareness. Additional financial support should be allocated to health and climate change research in China to enhance health system adaptation, mitigation measures, and their health benefits. At the same time, media and academia should be fully motivated to raise the public and politicians' awareness of this topic. (4) Increase climate change mitigation. Speeding up the phasing out of coal is necessary to be consistent with China's pledge to be carbon neutral by 2060 and to continue to reduce air pollution. Fossil fuel subsidies must also be phased out. (5) Ensure the recovery from COVID-19 to protect health now and in the future. China's efforts to recover from COVID-19 will shape public health for years to come. Climate change should be a priority in these interventions. © 2021, Science Press. All right reserved.
ABSTRACT
Thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione (TPD) unit has been widely used to construct a great deal of D-π-A p-type copolymers due to its strong electron-deficient property. However, there are limited reports on the TPD-based n-type materials, particularly small molecule non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs), mainly due to the time-consuming synthetic routes. Herein, two new TPD-based NFAs named as TPD-Th1 and TPD-Th3 were successfully obtained, adopting indacenodithiophene (IDT) as the central core and rhodanine (R) or 2-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)rhodanine (RCN) as the terminal electron-withdrawing unit. Both TPD-Th1 and TPD-Th3 exhibit highly planar structure due to the intramolecular noncovalently conformational locking between the O atom on the TPD unit and H atoms of two neighboring thiophene ring. The optimized PTB7-Th:TPD-Th3 photovoltaic devices show a much higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.53% in comparison with PTB7-Th:TPD-Th1 (PCE = 0.62%). The latter lower PCE could be attributed to the unmatched LUMO energy levels. Our results open a unique way to utilize TPD to construct small molecule NFAs to achieve a relatively high VOC and PCE. © 2020
ABSTRACT
Although social media are extensively employed in health communication promotion, their online and offline connection has rarely tested. This qualitatively study used a sample of 30 communication experts and health professionals to explore the role of social media in mitigating COVID-19 infections and its implications to people's health in Zanzibar. The findings revealed that social media are powerful platforms in providing health awareness information for mitigating COVID-19 and these platforms have enabled people to understand local medicines used to reduce the COVID-19 infections. In addition, there is high connection between online health information and offline people's health actions. Furthermore, Social media usage poses no threat to peoples' health during pandemic, however, there is high risk to affect those who lack Internet media literacy. Although social media poses no threat to some Internet media literate users, digital media literacy should be provided to all people in order to use these platforms more useful in mitigating infected diseases without compromising public health in Zanzibar and Africa at large.