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Featured Application: Healthcare, remote sensing, and military. Background: Over the last few decades, telepresence robots (TRs) have drawn significant attention in academic and healthcare systems due to their enormous benefits, including safety improvement, remote access and economics, reduced traffic congestion, and greater mobility. COVID-19 and advancements in the military play a vital role in developing TRs. Since then, research on the advancement of robots has been attracting much attention. Methods: In critical areas, the placement and movement of humans are not safe, and researchers have started looking at the development of robots. Robot development includes many parameters to be analyzed, and trajectory planning and optimization are among them. The main objective of this study is to present a trajectory control and optimization algorithm for a cognitive architecture named auto-MERLIN. Optimization algorithms are developed for trajectory control. Results: The derived work empirically tests the solutions and provides execution details for creating the trajectory design. We develop the trajectory algorithm for the clockwise direction and another one for the clockwise and counterclockwise directions. Conclusions: Experimental results are drawn to support the proposed algorithm. Self-localization, self-driving, and right and left turn trajectories are drawn. All of the experimental results show that the designed TR works properly, with better accuracy and only a slight jitter in the orientation. The jitter is found due to the environmental factor caught by the sensors, which can be filtered easily. The results show that the proposed approach is less complex and provides better trajectory planning accuracy. © 2023 by the authors.
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Since the pandemic first appeared in early 2020, the manufacturing industry across the globe has experienced a decline. Concerns regarding public health were present at the start of the new decade, and as the pandemic reached its peak in March 2020, manufacturers all over the world were forced to contend with high demand, reduced workforce requirements, subsequent lockdowns, and major disruptions to their supply chains to prevent the global spread of the pandemic. No research has been done on the interaction of these variables because the idea of VSCM is still relatively new, particularly in Malaysia's manufacturing industry. The purpose of this study is to present management researchers with a novel idea for coping with a pandemic situation in today's business environment. Furthermore, the purpose of this research is to determine VSCM practices that contribute to company sustainability so that such future incidents can be controlled and revamped. The report also advocated a VSCM framework to improve supply chain resilience and sustainability. This study's objective is to analyze the relationship between viable supply chain management (VSCM) practices and company sustainability for manufacturing companies in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. 197 respondents from Malaysian manufacturing companies were surveyed using a quantitative approach. Using PLS-SEM analysis, all surveys are examined. As a result, the direct relationship between VSCM and company sustainability has demonstrated a significant positive effect. The implication of this study is to strengthen the viability and reliability of viable supply chain management and contribute further to the COVID-19 outbreak's impact on company sustainability. Moreover, a successful supply chain model would guarantee that manufacturers are compelled to respond swiftly to safeguard and support their employees and maintain operations that are critical lifelines for consumers and communities. © 2023 by the authors.
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Introduction: COVID-appropriate behavior refers to the development of those habits that may serve to limit the disease's spread and, thus, reduce the number of individuals affected. Vaccinated individuals may be less willing to comply with COVID-appropriate conduct due to their perception of a diminished health risk. Consequently, the present study was conducted to assess public's attitude regarding COVID preventive measures following vaccination.. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted among adults aged 18 and above. 200 individuals who had received either both doses of COVID-19 or at least one dosage of either COVID-19 participated in this survey, which was performed online and involved the distribution of a self-administered questionnaire via social media. Result(s): Covishield was the most commonly administered vaccination (70%), followed by Covaxin (23%). The majority of respondents adhered to mask use after vaccination (82,5%), but 15% of respondents adhered to mask use less after vaccination than before. 2.5% of respondents reported an increase in mask use. Physical distancing was shown to be less after vaccination among (65.5%) than before vaccination. 19% of study participants reported that their frequency of hand washing with soap and water decreased following vaccination. 31% of respondents said that their usage of hand sanitizer dropped following vaccination. Conclusion(s): It should be stressed to the public that getting vaccination does not make them invincible foe the various new strains in circulation of the virus. Strict policy making should be emphasized to make people follow COVID appropriate behavior at all times.Copyright © 2023, Institute of Medico-legal Publication. All rights reserved.
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In this era of post-COVID-19, humans are psychologically restricted to interact less with other humans. According to the world health organization (WHO), there are many scenarios where human interactions cause severe multiplication of viruses from human to human and spread worldwide. Most healthcare systems shifted to isolation during the pandemic and a very restricted work environment. Investigations were done to overcome the remedy, and the researcher developed different techniques and recommended solutions. Telepresence robot was the solution achieved by all industries to continue their operations but with almost zero physical interaction with other humans. It played a vital role in this perspective to help humans to perform daily routine tasks. Healthcare workers can use telepresence robots to interact with patients who visit the healthcare center for initial diagnosis for better healthcare system performance without direct interaction. The presented paper aims to compare different telepresence robots and their different controlling techniques to perform the needful in the respective scenario of healthcare environments. This paper comprehensively analyzes and reviews the applications of presented techniques to control different telepresence robots. However, our feature-wise analysis also points to specific technical, appropriate, and ethical challenges that remain to be solved. The proposed investigation summarizes the need for further multifaceted research on the design and impact of a telepresence robot for healthcare centers, building on new perceptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023 Tech Science Press. All rights reserved.
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As the number of people infected with COVID-19 continues to rise, a number of nations have implemented state wide quarantines. This has resulted in a global financial crisis that is having severe impacts on countries all around the world. As a direct consequence of the epidemic, unemployment rates have increased in a number of different regions, which has a substantial and detrimental effect on trade across the globe. In light of the current state of the economy, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is causing a shift in the manner in which businesses evaluate their bitcoin holdings. The application of AI in a commercial setting has the potential to produce a wide range of beneficial results. We are spared from completing as much manual labour as a direct result of the favourable effects that AI has had on technology. These consequences can be noticed in our day-to-day lives. In the event that there is a pandemic, having knowledge of AI and the various strategies it employs, such as the classifier model, could be beneficial. Humans will be better suited to make decisions if they have rapid access to the analyses and projections that are created by AI and big data. In order to be prepared for the arrival of the new world, the company is putting in more effort, in collaboration with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups, to improve the administration of virtual enterprises by having a presence on a variety of different e-trade systems. Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently being utilised in a variety of settings to assist with the process of identifying and implementing workable solutions to a variety of problems that can develop in the workplace. AI is being used to improve business operations in a wide variety of spheres, including marketing, fraud detection, algorithmic trading, customer assistance, portfolio management, and product recommendations based on customer preferences. These are just few of the sectors. These are just a few examples of the kinds of problems that artificial intelligence might be able to solve in the future. Given the present worth of cryptocurrencies, technological developments may also be made in order to improve the performance of the rules that have been provided and produce the most accurate conclusion that is possible. © 2022 IEEE.
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Objective: To determine the frequency of myocarditis in patients recovered from COVID-19 infection. Study Design: Analytical Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Department, Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology/ National Institute of Heart Disease (AFIC/NIHD), Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jul 2020 till Apr 2022. Methodology: All patients who underwent Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging after recovery from COVID-19 were enrolled. Non-probability consecutive sampling technique was used for sample selection and was calculated on the basis of G-power. Data of patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria was selected. All PCR positive cases of COVID-19 who recovered from COVID-19 and completed their 12 days of isolation not exceeding 60 days of 1st Polymerase chain reaction positive, and who have any symptoms of shortness of breath, fatigue and chest pain with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) on 2D-echocardiogram were included in the study. Data was recorded, stored, and analyzed by using SPSS version-21. Quantitative data was reported as Mean±SD. Categorical variables were reported as frequency and percentage. To determine the association between different variables Chi square test was used. Results: A total 83 patients were included in this study who recovered from COVID-19 and underwent Cardiovascular magnetic resonance. Mean age of the patients was 39.17±12.9 years. 67(80.72%) were male while 16(19.28%) were females. 50(60%) had myocarditis after recovery from COVID-19. This study showed statistically significant association of all the Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging findings with Myocarditis (p<0.05) at 95% confidence interval and 5% margin of error. Conclusion: Early detection of COVID-19 related myocarditis will help in better management of patient. In such patients, cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging is the modality of choice, since it allows for noninvasive assessment of myocardial edema and fibrosis, as well as therapeutic guidance and improved patient outcomes. © 2022, Army Medical College. All rights reserved.
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In this era of post-COVID-19, humans are psychologically restricted to interact less with other humans. According to the world health organization (WHO), there are many scenarios where human interactions cause severe multiplication of viruses from human to human and spread worldwide. Most healthcare systems shifted to isolation during the pandemic and a very restricted work environment. Investigations were done to overcome the remedy, and the researcher developed different techniques and recommended solutions. Telepresence robot was the solution achieved by all industries to continue their operations but with almost zero physical interaction with other humans. It played a vital role in this perspective to help humans to perform daily routine tasks. Healthcare workers can use telepresence robots to interact with patients who visit the healthcare center for initial diagnosis for better healthcare system performance without direct interaction. The presented paper aims to compare different telepresence robots and their different controlling techniques to perform the needful in the respective scenario of healthcare environments. This paper comprehensively analyzes and reviews the applications of presented techniques to control different telepresence robots. However, our feature-wise analysis also points to specific technical, appropriate, and ethical challenges that remain to be solved. The proposed investigation summarizes the need for further multifaceted research on the design and impact of a telepresence robot for healthcare centers, building on new perceptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023 Tech Science Press. All rights reserved.
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Background and objectives: To determine the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and the associated risk factors among healthy blood donors from Peshawar Pakistan, during the second and third waves of the CO-VID-19 pandemic. Methods: The study was conducted on 4047 healthy (with no history or symptoms of COVID-19) blood donors attending regional blood center Peshawar between Nov 2020 and June 2021. Demographic data was collected and donors were screened for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using electrochemilumines-cence immunoassay (ECLIA). Results: The mean age of the participants was 27.27±7.13 and the majority (99%) were males. Overall, 59% (2391/4047) of the blood donors were reactive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. An increasing trend in seropositivity was observed from 45.5% to 64.8% corresponding to the second and third wave of the pandemic in Pakistan. Logistic regression analysis revealed significantly higher odds of seropositivity among male donors compared to females. Similarly, in multivariable analysis, the odds ratio for seropositivity among blood types AB, A, and B were, 1.6, 1.4, and 1.3 (CI 95%) times higher compared to blood group O (P-value ≤0.0001). Conclu-sions: Seropositivity of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among blood donors gradually increased during the second and third wave of the pandemic in Pakistan indicating a widespread prevalence of Covid-19 in the general population. Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 varies with ABO blood types, with blood group O associated with low risk of infection.
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Workload and stress of healthcare workers has increased manifolds as result of COVID-19. Healthcare workers in developing countries like Pakistan face lack of resources and psychological support in addition to changes in work routines, fear, isolation and separation from families. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence of depressive symptoms among healthcare workers in Pakistan during COVID-19 pandemic. PubMed and Google Scholar were searched on January 2nd 2022. We included cross-sectional studies published during COVID outbreak in Pakistan (from January 2020 to December 2021). We extracted data on study characteristics and depression prevalence. Random effects models was used to conduct Meta-analysis. In total, 10 studies involving 12507 participants were included. The pooled prevalence of depression was 25.5% (95% CI, 19.5% to 32.5%), with significant between-study heterogeneity (I2= 95.83%, Q=216.15, p < 0.001). This calls for urgent actions and interventions to support mental health care of healthcare workers in Pakistan.
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Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the blockage of a blood clot in the pulmonary arteries of the lungs. PE is a common phenomenon and requires prompt treatment. Despite advancement in the treatment and diagnosis it has a substantial mortality rate. Recent studies suggest that the novel Covid-19 infection is associated with rising trend of PE. Patients with Covid-19 may be at high risk of complications related to thrombotic condition in the consequences of stasis blood flow and irregular inflammatory response. The main objective of this article is to assess the incidence of PE in covid-19 hospitalized patients. Material and Method: We reviewed more than 160 medical records of the patients admitted to the Coivd-19 ward during the peak of first wave of Covid-19 pandemic. This study was conducted at Saidu Teaching Hospital Swat from June 2020 to Sep 2020in the time frame of 4 months. The real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to diagnose the Covid-19 in the patients and for the PE computed Tomography pulmonary angiogram(CPTA) was used. Results: In this study, 160 patients have participated of which 7 developed PE. This represents that the incidence of PE was 3% among individuals. Conclusion: In the Covid 19 Hospitalized patients Incidence of Pulmonary Embolism is a common phenomenon. For the patients having a high respiratory rate, smoking history, and low level of oxygen preventive measures should be considered.
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Studies on Mg substituted Zn-Cu ferrites with chemical formula of Zn0.6Cu0.4−xMgxFe2O4 were synthesized by solid-state reaction technique. The structural phase of all the samples is characterized by XRD, show single phased cubic spinel structure. Density of the samples increases with the increase of Mg quantity. Average grain diameter decreases with increasing Mg content. All samples show soft ferromagnetic behavior as confirmed from the M-H hysteresis loop obtained from the VSM analysis. Thesaturation magnetization decreases with increasing Mg quantity. Increasing and decreasing trend of coercivity with the increase of Mg quantityis observed, which led to the slightly hard magnetic phase. The high frequencies create more effective for the ferrite grains of advanced conductivity and minor dielectric constant for all the samples but the AC electrical resistivity and dielectric constant are initiate to be more operational at lower frequencies. The variation of resistivity, dielectric constant with the Mg concentration is completely related to the porosity and bulk density.
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Background: Acute respiratory illness caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) involved the whole globe within no time. Various studies published globally have shown variable severity of disease and mortality. The objective of our study was to describe clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the disease in our setup. Methods: in this descriptive case series, individuals with signs and symptoms of Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and asymptomatic patients with history of close contact to confirmed COVID-19 patients were considered for SARS-CoV-2 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Epidemiological and clinical features of only PCR positive cases were recorded. Data regarding hospitalization status, exposure to known COVID-19 patients, clinical feature and clinical outcome of patients was collected and interpreted. Results: A total of 266 patients were found to be SARS-CoV 2 PCR positive which were included in the study. Mean age of patients was 39.45+/-31.9 years and majority of the patients in our study were male, i.e., 238 (89.5%). Most common clinical features among COVID-19 symptomatic patients were fever and dry cough followed by myalgias and sore throat. Eighteen (7%) out of 266 died in our setup. Time duration of viral shedding after initial positive PCR varied between 11 days to up to more than 55 days. Conclusion: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) can present with wide range of clinical spectrum and disease can be life threatening. Severity of disease, requirement of ICU care and mortality were directly related to age of the patient and underlying comorbidities. Rigorous precautionary measures are of utmost importance particularly in this high-risk population.
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The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is a third member of its group that has introduced public health catastrophes around the globe. Since, its emergence in Wuhan, China by December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 infected millions of human population along with many casualties globally. The transmission potential of SARS-CoV-2 between humans has already been studied. Despite this transmission in human population, the primary origin of SARS-CoV-2 has been linked with bats by the help of an intermediate (secondary) host. This study was assumed to investigate the possible secondary or intermediate host to shuttle down the SARS-CoV-2 transmission and further to mitigate future pandemics. The antigenic surface/spike (S) protein was used for the structural and genomic analysis through currently available computer assisted technology. For the In-silico analysis, 43 sequences of S-protein of coronaviruses originated in various species were retrieved from nucleotide database of NCBI. These sequences were matched to find any similarities/differences by employing pairwise and multiple sequence alignment. The phylogenetic analysis was conducted to observe the relation among different species through MEGA software. Finally, comparative analysis for structures of S-protein (superimposition) was done with reference structure by using UCSF Chimera software. The results of this study expressed maximum match of S-protein sequences of human coronavirus with Bat and with Pangolin sequences respectively. The Phylogenetic analysis between Bat and Pangolin showed that SARS-CoV-2 transmitted from bats to humans possibly through the intermediate host of Pangolin. © 2021 Friends Science Publishers