ABSTRACT
Due to the spread of COVID-19, the number of people who experienced the exhibits was less than planned. Nevertheless, we were able to deliver surprises and smiles to the participants at the venues where we could provide the experiences. We believe that these interactions with the advanced technologies of our laboratories, which are not normally accessible to the public, enabled many people to experience firsthand NTT's innovativeness. Going forward, we will continue to work on creating new experiences using ICT and connect people with each other. © 2022 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
For >2 years, Japan’s government has been urging the populace to take countermeasures to prevent COVID‐19, including mask wearing. We examined whether these preventive behaviors have affected the rate and degree of sensitization against pollen and house dust antigens in patients with allergic rhinitis. We retrospectively surveyed 2565 patients who had undergone allergy blood testing during the period 2015–2021. We subdivided this period into eras based on the COVID‐19 pandemic: the pre‐COVID (2015–2019, n = 1879) and COVID (2020–2021, n = 686) eras. The positive rates for Japanese cedar and cypress in the 40–59‐year‐olds and those for house dust in the 20–39‐ year‐olds were significantly reduced in the COVID era versus those in the pre‐COVID era. Each group’s mean antigen‐specific CAP scores decreased significantly from the 1st to 2nd era: from 1.98 to 1.57 for cedar (p < 0.01), 1.42 to 0.95 for cypress (p < 0.05), and 2.86 to 2.07 for house dust (p < 0.01). Our survey of the patients’ clinical records indicates that 47.5% of the pollinosis patients reported improvement in nasal symptoms after the three seasons of pollen dispersion in the COVID era. Japan’s quarantine policies designed to combat the spread of COVID‐19 thus coincide with pivotal measures to alleviate allergic reactions. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
ABSTRACT
This study is to clarify the current situation of convention business and analyze the preferences of convention attendees in the time of Covid-19 pandemic. To clarify the research objectives, this study employed the statistical data of questionnaire survey on the perceptions of convention attendees in the Japanese Society of Hot Spring Science, Japan. The questionnaire survey was conducted in November 2020. The survey instrument was divided into 4 parts: demographic information, reasons for participation, types of meeting, and priority of countermeasures against Covid-19. Even in the time of Covid-19, 60% of the respondents answered that they hope to participate in convention by onsite meeting because they are willing to meet other participants who can share their knowledge. On the other hand, there are advantages such as no transportation fees and infection prevention by holding convention in online. Moreover, online meetings give a new business opportunity for IT-related jobs. However, holding online meeting does not bring economic impact to local area in the perspective of tourism industry. Without economic impact to local area, local tourism industry starts to decline. It means loss of employment and cultural properties. During Covid-19 pandemic, online meetings can be considered as an option. However, after the Covid-19 pandemic gets resolved, onsite meeting or at least hybrid meetings will be recommended. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
This work aims to demonstrate that three medium sized cities-Araguaína (TO), Imperatriz (MA) and Marabá (PA), located in the Legal Amazon, suffered a significant impact from the pandemic due to the spread of the virus following the flow of capital in the country. This impact was probably due to the characteristics of economic development linked to the production of commodities, which interconnect them with large national and international producing centers and consumers, independently of their capitals. To demonstrate the dynamics of dissemination, the occurrences of Acute Respiratory Syndrome for the three states (TO, MA and PA) as well as confirmed cases of COVID-19 were quantitatively analyzed for the cities studied and their respective capitals. The data made available by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and the Epidemiological Bulletins released by the State Health Secretariats and City Halls were collected. As a result, it was observed that the disease growth rates are higher in three cities, as they behave in a similar fashion with respect to the pandemic and differentiate to each other by the incidence of COVID-19 in their respective cities. It is argued that in a post-COVID-19 period, the characteristics of interconnection between the three cities must be valued, through public policies that promote the development of the region with a focus on reorganizing the city for its people. © 2020, Universidade de Taubate. All rights reserved.