ABSTRACT
In accordance with global economic prosperity, the frequencies of food delivery and takeout orders have been increasing. The pandemic life, specifically arising from COVID-19, rapidly expanded the food delivery service. Thus, the massive generation of disposable plastic food containers has become significant environmental problems. Establishing a sustainable disposal platform for plastic packaging waste (PPW) of food delivery containers has intrigued particular interest. To comprise this grand challenge, a reliable thermal disposable platform has been suggested in this study. From the pyrolysis process, a heterogeneous plastic mixture of PPW was converted into syngas and value-added hydrocarbons (HCs). PPW collected from five different restaurants consisted of polypropylene (36.9 wt%), polyethylene (10.5 wt%), polyethylene terephthalate (18.1 wt%), polystyrene (13.5 wt%), polyvinyl chloride (4.2 wt%), and other composites (16.8 wt%). Due to these compositional complexities, pyrolysis of PPW led to formations of a variety of benzene derivatives and aliphatic HCs. Adapting multi-stage pyrolysis, the different chemicals were converted into industrial chemicals (benzene, toluene, styrene, etc.). To selectively convert HCs into syngas (H2 and CO), catalytic pyrolysis was adapted using supported Ni catalyst (5 wt% Ni/SiO2). Over Ni catalyst, H2 was produced as a main product due to C[sbnd]H bond scission of HCs. When CO2 was used as a co-reactant, HCs were further transformed to H2 and CO through the chemical reactions of CO2 with gas phase HCs. CO2-assisted catalytic pyrolysis also retarded catalyst deactivation inhibiting coke deposition on Ni catalyst. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.
ABSTRACT
Early vaccination efforts and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were insufficient to prevent a surge of COVID-19 cases triggered by the Delta variant. A compartment model that includes age, vaccination, and variants was developed. We estimated the transmission rates using maximum likelihood estimation, and phase-dependent NPIs according to government policies from 26 February to 8 October 2021. Simulations were done to examine the effects of varying dates of initiation and intensity of eased NPIs, arrival timing of Delta, and speed of vaccine administration. The estimated transmission rate matrices show distinct patterns, with transmission rates of younger groups (0-39 years) much larger with Delta. Social distancing (SD) level 2 and SD4 in Korea were associated with transmission reduction factors of 0.63-0.70 and 0.70-0.78, respectively. The easing of NPIs to a level comparable to SD2 should be initiated not earlier than 16 October to keep the number of severe cases below Korea's healthcare capacity. Simulations showed that a surge prompted by Delta can be prevented if the number of people vaccinated daily or SD level when Delta arrived was higher. The timing of easing, intensity of NPIs, vaccination speed, and screening measures are key factors in preventing another epidemic wave.
ABSTRACT
In the recent COVID-19 situation, Telecare Medical Information System (TMIS) is attracting attention. TMIS is one of the technologies used in Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) and can provide patients with a variety of remote healthcare services. In TMIS environments, sensitive data of patients are communicated via an open channel. An adversary may attempt various security attacks including impersonation, replay, and forgery attacks. Therefore, numberous authentication schemes have been suggested to provide secure communication for TMIS. Sahoo et al. proposed a mutual authentication scheme based on biometrics and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) in 2020. However, we find out that Sahoo et al.’s scheme cannot resist insider and privileged insider attacks and cannot guarantee patient anonymity. In this paper, we propose a secure ECC-based three-factor mutual authentication protocol that guarantees the privacy of patients for TMIS. We conduct informal security analysis to prove that our protocol is secure from various security attacks. In addition, we perform formal security analyses using the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA), Burrows-Abadi-Needham (BAN) logic, and the Real-Or-Random (ROR) model. Furthermore, we assess our protocol’s performance and compare it to other protocols. As a result, our protocol has lower communication costs, and better security features compared to related existing protocols. Therefore, our protocol is more appropriate for TMIS environments than other related protocols. Author
ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused an unprecedented distress in the community, but also significant physical and psychological exhaustion amongst healthcare workers (HCWs), that could lead to serious effects on our healthcare system. This study was conducted to assess burnout among oncologists and other healthcare professionals at a large academic center. Methods: An electronic 10- minute questionnaire was sent to actively employed physicians, APRNs and PAs at the University of Miami. Survey items evaluated various personal and professional characteristics including COVID related stress. Burnout was examined with Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), which evaluated severity across two domains: emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. The logistic regression model was used to estimate association between study variables and high burnout levels. Odds ratio (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were obtained. Continuous variables were tested using two-sample t-test by high burnout status. Results:The survey was sent to 739 HCWs, out of which 182 (24.6%) completed the entire survey;63.7% were physicians, 8.6% fellows, and 27.4% APRN or PA. The pandemic led to rescheduling of professional activities (22.2%), increased workload (59.5%), job insecurity (28.6%), and decreased leadership opportunities (32.2%). 62.3% of respondents reported decreased exercise;44.8% reported new sleep disorder;56.1% reported increased home responsibilities;childcare arrangements were affected in 60.6%;61.4% struggled to maintain work-life balance. 70 of 182 respondents were broadly from the fields of Oncology and Palliative Care. 9 out of these 70 respondents reported high depersonalization, 27 reported high emotional exhaustion, and 33 reported overall high burnout symptoms on either emotional exhaustion or depersonalization scales. Amongst physicians holding positions from PGY4 through licensed attendings with less than 5 years' experience, 62.5% (95%CI=35.4-84.8) showed high burnout rate (10 of 16), which was not statistically different from older physicians (11 of 27=40.7% (95%CI=22.4-61.2)). No difference in burnout was seen for other study variables including gender, marital status, and race/ethnicity. Conclusions: COVID-19 pandemic has incited not only an unmatched level of practice changes, but also extraordinary psycho-social uncertainty, leading to a considerable impact on HCWs' wellbeing. Long working hours, lack of sleep, fear of losing job, transition to tele-medicine, risk of getting infection and putting their family at risk, lack of childcare, pressure of home schoolingall seem to have caused an increased physical and psychological pressure among HCWs and warrants an examination of potential coping mechanisms. This study sets the stage for more elaborate research to illustrate and guide the development of wellness programs imperative to the well-being of HCWs.
ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic affected oncology practice in ways that are still evolving. In particular, COVID-19 has led to changes in cancer treatment for patients (pts) infected with COVID, which may have long-term implications for both COVID and cancer-related outcomes. In this retrospective analysis, we describe changes in cancer management over time for cancer pts diagnosed with COVID-19 at two academic institutions in Northern California. Methods: Adult and pediatric pts diagnosed with COVID19 receiving active cancer management, defined as therapy/surgery/diagnostics within 3 weeks of COVID diagnosis, were identified through the EMR. Patients whose care was affected by COVID-19 were identified and analyzed for significant intra-group differences with regards to management type, treatment intent, and the time of COVID-19 diagnosis ('early' was defined as March to June 2020 and 'late' as July 2020 to January 2021). The duration and characteristics of such changes were compared across subgroups. Chi-squared test was used to compare the incidence of delays between subgroups. Results: Among 134 COVID-positive pts on active cancer management, 83 (62%) had significant changes in management that consisted primarily of treatment delays. More delays were identified in patients treated with curative intent earlier in the course of the pandemic compared to later (OR 4.1, p=0.022). This difference was not seen among pts treated with palliative intent. In addition, pts on oral (PO) therapy were significantly less likely to have treatment changes than those on IV/IM therapy (OR 0.32, p=0.005). This difference was driven by a decrease in management changes for those on PO therapy in the later time period (OR 0.27, p=0.026). Pts diagnosed later were more likely to have delays due to clinical reasons rather than institutional policy (OR 6.2, P<.005). The median delay in both time frames was 21 days. Comparison of subgroups is shown in the table. Conclusions: We found significant changes in management of cancer pts with COVID-19 that evolved over time. Oncologists have become increasingly willing to continue therapy for cancer pts treated with curative intent and pts on oral therapy. Changes in cancer therapy have become more frequently related to patient clinical status, and less so due to institutional policies. It will be important to analyze how these changes in management are ultimately reflected in cancer outcomes in order to equip patients and oncologists to react to the next pandemic.