ABSTRACT
Origin destination (OD) data describing passengers' flows is essential for improving bus route operational efficiency. Manual collection of OD data is still conducted, so automatic OD data acquisition using the internet of things (IoT) is desired. One method utilizes Bluetooth beacon identifiers to understand passengers' flows while considering their privacy. Still, while random MAC addresses can estimate the number of devices there, they are insufficient for generating ODs. In contrast, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government promoted the exposure notification system to prevent secondary infection. The smartphone app exchanges short-term identifiers called Rolling Proximity Identifiers (RPIs), updated every 15 minutes. This research aims to realize tracking during bus rides with only a few RPIs carryovers, since bus rides are only about an hour long at most. We evaluated the system on a bus in Kyoto City and successfully tracked passengers for 55 minutes, the experiment's maximum length. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The protracted coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an unprecedented global health, social, economic, and psychological crisis. COVID-19 is transmitted via droplets, which include volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by COVID-19 carriers. As a result, medical healthcare workers interacting with COVID-19 patients are at a high risk of infection. In this study, we measured the concentration of total VOCs (TVOCs) in the droplets of patients during conversations. Method(s): Thirty patients aged 20-88 years were enrolled in this study. The amounts of VOCs, formaldehyde (HCHO), and carbon dioxide (CO2) as surrogate parameters for the patient's droplets were measured at a distance of 1 m from the patients under the following conditions: 1) no conversation with a mask on, 2) conversation with a mask on, 3) conversation without a mask on, and 4) no conversation without a mask on. Result(s): The average concentrations of TVOCs (mg/m3 ), HCHO (mg/m3 ), and CO2 (ppm) were all the lowest before the masked conversation (1.79 +/- 1.72, 0.25 +/- 0.25, 1193 +/- 516), increased during the masked conversation (1.99 +/- 1.87, 0.29 +/- 0.24, 1288 +/- 555), were the highest during the unmasked conversation (3.10 +/- 1.86, 0.45 +/- 0.28, 1705 +/- 729), and decreased to baseline after the unmasked conversation (1.89 +/- 1.88, 0.26 +/- 0.27, 1191 +/- 518, respectively). Variations in TVOC and HCHO concentrations were positively correlated with patient age (TVOC: r = 0.42, p = 0.019 and HCHO: r = 0.47, p = 0.008). Conclusion(s): Wearing a mask reduced the VOC concentrations measured during conversations more than when a mask was not worn. Therefore, wearing a mask can reduce the emission of airborne droplet-derived VOCs and thereby reduce the risk of transmission of unknown patient-derived infections. Clinical Trial Registration no: The Clinical Trial Registration no: (UMIN000039595).Copyright © 2023 Ito et al.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to understand the psychological support problems brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and differences in responses to these problems. The results of a web-based survey of 318 clinical psychologists showed that 90 % of participants believed that problems occurred due to infection prevention measures, while about half of the participants believed that problems occurred due to changes in the framework of support, such as the introduction of remote psychological support and the reduction of face-to-face support. The four problems that arose in psychological support were "poverty of conversation,” "difficulty in communication,” "difficulty in stable support,” and "disagreement among staff.” Psychologists responded to the problems in three ways: "devising communication,” "verbalization,” and "strengthening multidisciplinary cooperation.” From the results, it was clear that problems such as poor conversation, communication difficulties, and difficulties in stable support occurred in both face-to-face support under infection prevention measures and in the introduction of remote psychological support. © 2022 Japanese Psychological Association. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been declared a pandemic and the number of infected individuals and deaths continue to increase globally. COVID-19 is transmitted through airborne droplets formed during coughing and sneezing and from the saliva of infected patients. Medical healthcare workers are often at risk of infection. This study measured the aerosol derived from the droplets of patients during the conversation. Methods: Overall, 25 patients aged 21 to 87 years were enrolled. The amount of droplets from the patient was measured under the following four conditions: 1) no conversation with the mask on;2) conversation with the mask on;3) conversation without the mask;and 4) no conversation without the mask. Particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5) and PM with a diameter of 10 μm or less (PM10) were measured as representative aerosols at a position of 1 meter from the patients. Results: The concentrations of PM2.5 (μg/m3) were as follows: 22.7 ± 10.2 before the conversation with the mask, 24.2 ± 10.2 during the conversation with the mask, 32.3 ± 14.7 during the conversation without the mask, and 23.1 ± 9.9 after the conversation without the mask. The concentrations of PM10 (μg/m3) were as follows: 39.8 ± 18.2 before conversation with the mask, 41.9 ± 18.5 during conversation with the mask, 55.5 ± 27.2 during conversation without the mask, and 40.4 ± 17.8 after conversation without the mask. The variations in the PM2.5 and PM10 correlated negatively with the age of patients (PM2.5: R = -0.51, p = 0.0009 and PM10: R = -0.53, p = 0.0063). Conclusion: Wearing a mask can prevent airborne droplet formation and reduce transmission of infection.