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The aim of this study is to explore the preference of corporations for sponsorship motives and the impact of sponsorship motives on sponsoring intention in the post-epidemic era of COVID-19. Taking a Taiwanese company as a case study, a total of 60 expert groups comprising 300 respondents (the management of the sampled companies) were surveyed in the post-epidemic period, with data being collected from 60 sampled companies in February-May 2022. Data were analyzed by using two different functional approaches, including fuzzy preference relations (FPR) for the first survey (study 1) and structural equation model (SEM) for the second survey (study 2). Results reveal that corporate image is the most preferential motive of sponsorship and also demonstrates the most significant and positive influence on sponsoring intention. Meanwhile, the measured factor of performing corporate social responsibility (CSR) appears the most correlated with the construct of corporate image. Based on the results, the study can fully fill the gap between sponsorship motives and sponsoring intention in sponsorship knowledge. Additionally, the conjunction of FPR and SEM can also create methodological synergies, namely, enhancing complementary effects and achieving better holistic analysis. Findings also suggest that special attention should be paid to CSR, which plays a pivotal role in affecting the decision of corporations for sponsorship motives and sponsoring intention and, in a post-epidemic era, continuing to develop CSR actions to enhance corporate image can be the best strategy while facing internal and external challenges of implementing sustainable development (SD).
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Maritime education and training (MET) for seafarers who operate ships has struggled to flexibly adapt to technological and environmental changes. In particular, as social demand for online MET arose due to COVID-19, the need for sustainable MET beyond traditional teaching methods grew exponentially. In order to identify the most optimal MET methods among face-to-face and online methods, this study reviewed the concepts and applications of existing MET methods, grouped them using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, and supplemented this structure through a designed survey. The results showed that the online methods had the greatest weight, and the "XR (extended reality) within the metaverse" teaching method had the highest priority. This study identified which MET methods should be prepared for the post-COVID era through quantitative analysis. We confirmed the need for attention to XR within the metaverse as a field of online methods in the future. Furthermore, our findings reveal that online education platforms via metaverse-based "expansion" and "connection" are needed, and pave the way for future research to expand empirical studies on MET satisfaction regarding existing International Maritime Organization model courses.
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Purpose: Under uncertain circumstances, digital technologies are taken as digital transformation enablers and driving forces to integrate with medical, healthcare and emergency management research for effective epidemic prevention and control. This study aims to adapt complex systems in emergency management. Thus, a digital transformation-driven and systematic circulation framework is proposed in this study that can utilize the advantages of digital technologies to generate innovative and systematic governance. Design/methodology/approach: Aiming at adapting complex systems in emergency management, a systematic circulation framework based on the interpretive research is proposed in this study that can utilize the advantages of digital technologies to generate innovative and systematic governance. The framework consists of four phases: (1) analysis of emergency management stages, (2) risk identification in the emergency management stages, (3) digital-enabled response model design for emergency management, and (4) strategy generation for digital emergency governance. A case study in China was illustrated in this study. Findings: This paper examines the role those digital technologies can play in responding to pandemics and outlines a framework based on four phases of digital technologies for pandemic responses. After the phase-by-phase analysis, a digital technology-enabled emergency management framework, titled "Expected digital-enabled emergency management framework (EDEM framework)” was adapted and proposed. Moreover, the social risks of emergency management phases are identified. Then, three strategies for emergency governance and digital governance from the three perspectives, namely "Strengthening weaknesses for emergency response,” "Enhancing integration for collaborative governance,” and "Engaging foundations for emergency management” that the government can adopt them in the future, fight for public health emergency events. Originality/value: The novel digital transformation-driven systematic circulation framework for public health risk response and governance was proposed. Meanwhile, an "Expected digital-enabled emergency management framework (EDEM model)” was also proposed to achieve a more effective empirical response for public health risk response and governance and contribute to studies about the government facing the COVID-19 pandemic effectively. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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Is it possible to predict COVID-19 vaccination status prior to the existence and availability of COVID-19 vaccines? Here, we present a logistic model by regressing decisions to vaccinate in late 2021 on lagged sociodemographic, health, social, and political indicators from 2019 in a sample of New Zealand adults aged between 18 and 94 (M-age = 52.92, SD = 14.10;62.21% women;N = 5324). We explain 31% of the variance in decision making across New Zealand. Significant predictors of being unvaccinated were being younger, more deprived, reporting less satisfaction with general practitioners, lower levels of neuroticism, greater levels of subjective health and meaning in life, higher distrust in science and in the police, lower satisfaction in the government, as well as political conservatism. Additional cross-sectional models specified using the same, and additional COVID-19-specific factors are also presented. These findings reveal that vaccination decisions are neither artefacts of context nor chance, but rather can be predicted in advance of the availability of vaccines.
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Objectives: There are concerns for COVID-19 vaccination in causing thyroid dysfunction and triggering thyroid autoimmunity. Also, data on the impact of pre-existing thyroid autoimmunity on COVID-19 vaccination efficacy are limited. We evaluated the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on thyroid function and antibodies, and the influence of pre-existing thyroid autoimmunity on neutralizing antibody (NAb) responses. Methods: Adults without history of COVID-19 or thyroid disorders who received COVID-19 vaccination between 14 June 2021 and 8 August 2021 at three vaccination centers were recruited. All participants received two doses of vaccines. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4), free triiodothyronine (fT3), anti-thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) and anti-thyroglobulin (anti-Tg) antibodies were measured at baseline and 8 weeks after the first dose of vaccination. Post-vaccination NAb against SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain was measured. Results: In total, 215 individuals were included (129 BNT162b2 [60%] and 86 CoronaVac [40%] recipients): mean age 49.6 years, 37.2% men, and 12.1% positive for anti-TPO/anti-Tg at baseline. After vaccination, TSH levels did not change (p=0.225), but fT4 slightly increased (from 12. 0±1.1 to 12.2±1.2 pmol/L, p<0. 001) and fT3 slightly decreased (from 4.1±0.4 to 4. 0±0.4 pmol/L, p<0. 001). Only 3 patients (1.4%) had abnormal thyroid function after vaccination: two occurred among BNT162b2 recipients - both were subclinical thyrotoxicosis (TSH 0.32mIU/L, fT4 11.51pmol/L and fT3 4.40pmol/L;TSH 0.34mIU/L, fT4 12.67pmol/L and fT3 4.22pmol/L;both were anti-TPO and anti-Tg negative before and after vaccination);one occurred among CoronaVac recipients - isolated mild low fT3 (TSH 0.90mIU/L, fT4 9.94pmol/L and fT3 2.33pmol/L;anti-TPO/Tg negative before and after vaccination). All three recipients were asymptomatic. Both anti-TPO and anti-Tg titers increased modestly after vaccination (anti-TPO: from 7.50 [IQR: 5.90-11.2] to 9.80 IU/mL [IQR: 7.80-13.1], p<0. 001;anti-Tg: from 12.4 [IQR: 11.1-14.9] to 15.7 IU/mL [IQR: 14.2-18.2], p<0. 001), without significant changes in anti-TPO/Tg positivity. Changes in thyroid function and anti-thyroid antibodies were generally consistent between BNT162b2 and CoronaVac recipients, although anti-TPO titer rise was greater after BNT162b2 (p<0. 001). NAb responses were similar between individuals with and without pre-existing thyroid autoimmunity (p=0.855). Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccination was associated with a modest increase in anti-thyroid antibody titers. Anti-TPO increase was greater among BNT162b2 recipients. However, there was no clinically significant thyroid dysfunction 8 weeks post-vaccination. NAb responses were not influenced by pre-existing thyroid autoimmunity. Our results provided important reassurance to people to proceed to COVID-19 vaccination.Presentation: No date and time listed
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The threat of COVID-19 maximizes the demands for live video streaming. How to provide a video streaming service with low latency becomes one urgent and necessary research issue. This paper would survey and discuss the critical factors to impact transmission latency from the perspective of software implementation of a web streaming engine. Based on the initial experiment, the proposed live video web streaming engine can achieve under 3-second latency. © 2022 IEEE.
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This study proposes a new assistive device that ensures consistency and improves safety in sample collection for detecting upper respiratory diseases such as COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic and the various mutations of the coronavirus have increased the demand for swab-sampling–based specimen collection. Currently, the most accurate method of collecting respiratory specimens is to insert a cotton swab through the nasal passage and touch the nasopharyngeal wall. Here, the success of sampling is subjectively determined by the force applied to the swab;test results may therefore vary based on the degree of training of the medical staff, and excess force can sometimes cause pain and aftereffects in patients. Therefore, we developed a device that measures the force applied to the swab when it is inserted up to the nasopharyngeal wall and indicates this to medical staff with an audiovisual signal. In this study, we introduce the details of the sample collection devices and validate the developed device through phantom model experiments. The results of five model experiments confirm that when both visual and auditory signals were given to medical staff, more consistent swab sampling was achieved than the conventional method without signals. © ICROS 2022.
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PURPOSE: Thyroid dysfunction in COVID-19 carries clinical and prognostic implications. In this study, we developed a prediction score (ThyroCOVID) for abnormal thyroid function (TFT) on admission amongst COVID-19 patients. METHODS: Consecutive COVID-19 patients admitted to Queen Mary Hospital were prospectively recruited during July 2020-May 2021. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4) and free triiodothyronine (fT3) were measured on admission. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify independent determinants of abnormal TFTs. ThyroCOVID was developed based on a clinical model with the lowest Akaike information criteria. RESULTS: Five hundred and forty six COVID-19 patients were recruited (median age 50 years, 45.4% men, 72.9% mild disease on admission). 84 patients (15.4%) had abnormal TFTs on admission. Patients with abnormal TFTs were more likely to be older, have more comorbidities, symptomatic, have worse COVID-19 severity, higher SARS-CoV-2 viral loads and more adverse profile of acute-phase reactants, haematological and biochemical parameters. ThyroCOVID consisted of five parameters: symptoms (malaise), comorbidities (ischaemic heart disease/congestive heart failure) and laboratory parameters (lymphocyte count, C-reactive protein, and SARS-CoV-2 cycle threshold values). It was able to identify abnormal TFT on admission with an AUROC of 0.73 (95% CI 0.67-0.79). The optimal cut-off of 0.15 had a sensitivity of 75.0%, specificity of 65.2%, negative predictive value of 93.5% and positive predictive value of 28.1% in identifying abnormal TFTs on admission amongst COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSION: ThyroCOVID, a prediction score to identify COVID-19 patients at risk of having abnormal TFT on admission, was developed based on a cohort of predominantly non-severe COVID-19 patients.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Triiodothyronine , C-Reactive Protein , COVID-19/diagnosis , COVID-19/epidemiology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , SARS-CoV-2 , Thyroid Function Tests , Thyroid Gland , Thyrotropin , ThyroxineABSTRACT
In order to face the requirement of distant education after covid-19, this paper has presented a cyber-physical co-existence environment for practical distance learning events, we called it as a “Co-existing Practical Environment, CPE”. CPE includes: “Holographic Wearable Device, HWD” for behavior sensing and vision sharing mechanism, cloud “Digital Twin Model, DTM” database for expert correcting variables real time, and collaborative fabrication discussion interface. We built an immersive HoloLens interface to help distance learning participators, understanding the concept of structural mechanics form morphs with mix-reality sensing, communicating the augmented information of parts of models for collaborative fabrication, and sharing the views of operation process for lecturers to solve the technical problems instantly. Furthermore, users are able to make their own custom digital twin project in CPE and optimize their fabricating process by adding more realistic material factors, operation callbacks, or analyzing their practice results in parameters relationships. This paper revised an application of holographic technology with a practical distance learning workshop as example, and discover CPE as a new kind of co-creation, cross-field, and remotely prepared cooperation mechanism. While the epidemic is still ragging, we are looking further researchers of more immersive methods for distance education. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Purpose: Under uncertain circumstances, digital technologies are taken as digital transformation enablers and driving forces to integrate with medical, healthcare and emergency management research for effective epidemic prevention and control. This study aims to adapt complex systems in emergency management. Thus, a digital transformation-driven and systematic circulation framework is proposed in this study that can utilize the advantages of digital technologies to generate innovative and systematic governance. Design/methodology/approach: Aiming at adapting complex systems in emergency management, a systematic circulation framework based on the interpretive research is proposed in this study that can utilize the advantages of digital technologies to generate innovative and systematic governance. The framework consists of four phases: (1) analysis of emergency management stages, (2) risk identification in the emergency management stages, (3) digital-enabled response model design for emergency management, and (4) strategy generation for digital emergency governance. A case study in China was illustrated in this study. Findings: This paper examines the role those digital technologies can play in responding to pandemics and outlines a framework based on four phases of digital technologies for pandemic responses. After the phase-by-phase analysis, a digital technology-enabled emergency management framework, titled “Expected digital-enabled emergency management framework (EDEM framework)” was adapted and proposed. Moreover, the social risks of emergency management phases are identified. Then, three strategies for emergency governance and digital governance from the three perspectives, namely “Strengthening weaknesses for emergency response,” “Enhancing integration for collaborative governance,” and “Engaging foundations for emergency management” that the government can adopt them in the future, fight for public health emergency events. Originality/value: The novel digital transformation-driven systematic circulation framework for public health risk response and governance was proposed. Meanwhile, an “Expected digital-enabled emergency management framework (EDEM model)” was also proposed to achieve a more effective empirical response for public health risk response and governance and contribute to studies about the government facing the COVID-19 pandemic effectively. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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Purpose: The corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in mandatory masking of patients and physicians during outpatient visits. This study evaluated the changes in intraocular pressure (IOP) according to mask use. Methods: This prospective study enrolled 30 healthy volunteers (60 eyes). IOP was measured via Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT) for the subjects wearing one of four commonly used masks: dental, bi-folding Korean Filter (KF)94, tri-folding KF94, and dust masks. Subjects with IOP measurement errors of more than 5 mmHg were rechecked with another GAT type. Results: The mean IOP measured via GAT before mask wearing was 13.7 +/- 1.7 mmHg. It was 13.5 +/- 2.1, 14.0 +/- 2.3, 14.3 +/- 2.5, and 13.8 +/- 1.6 mmHg with the dental, bi-folding KF94, tri-folding KF94, and dust masks, respectively. There were no significant differences in IOP according to mask type (p = 0.635). IOP errors above 5 mmHg were detected in three subjects who had contact between the GAT feeler arm and tri-folding KF94 mask during IOP measurement. Conclusions: The IOP as measured via GAT is artificially elevated by mechanical interference from the tri-fold KF94 mask. To minimize such mask-induced artifacts in GAT measurements, compress the patient's mask or change the mask type to prevent any contact during measurement.
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Currently, the world is experiencing a global pandemic due to the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a disease stemming from a novel coronavirus. The main measure used to contain the rapid spread and to control this virus’s contamination rate is social distancing. This method has dramatically affected citizens’ daily lives. To this end, replacing face-to-face meetings with virtual meetings using cloud videoconferencing application solutions has emerged. This approach has indeed solved this problem for millions of schools, companies, governments, and individuals worldwide. However, security and privacy concerns arise. The number of videoconferencing users has increased during the pandemic, yet some applications offer only unencrypted communication for unpaid users. Moreover, uninvited attendees can join virtual meetings, collect sensitive information about users and shared files, and participate in them using deepfake tools. To resolve this dilemma, we propose in this paper a lightweight, scalable blockchain-based authentication mechanism to secure cloud videoconferencing. Private blockchain, as a decentralized network, can handle user authentication and provide complete data privacy to shared information in a virtual meeting. Moreover, to reduce the latency and mining processing overhead and for scalability of the system, we use a time-based consensus algorithm. Our simulation shows very low latency results, perfect for a video system © 2022, Human-centric Computing and Information Sciences.All Rights Reserved.
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This article aims to present current COVID-19 vaccination considerations for patients on immunotherapeutics for the management of immune-mediated dermatological diseases and summarize the recommendations relevant to clinical practice in Taiwan. These Taiwan Dermatological Association (TDA) recommendations are intended to be dynamic in nature and serve as an interim guide to optimize patient care at this current juncture. It is expected that our clinical practice would continually evolve and be informed by new evidence that emerges in this pandemic. © 2021 Dermatologica Sinica Published by Wolters Kluwer-Medknow.
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There are around 300 night markets in Taiwan, and they have been drawing an increasing number of tourists in recent years. As a result, public awareness over air quality in the night markets has grown tremendously. In response to this, a specific night market in Kaohsiung City was chosen for this study in order to characterize the existing air quality in and around the night markets. In this present study, we employed an Industrial Source Complex Short-Term (ISCST3) air quality model for the simulation of PM2.5 diffusions. The model as a technique can simulate the pollutants emissions, diffusions, transportation, and pollution sources in specific areas and subsequently evaluate the influence between the source and the receiver. Therefore, we compared pollutants emissions data from several air quality monitoring stations with our sampling data of three different sampling sites in Kaohsiung City. The findings of this study showed that the average concentration of PM2.5 was in the range of 29-61 mu g m(-3) during opening hours of the night market, whereas the average concentration of PM2.5 range was between 22-38 mu g m(-3) before the night market opening hours. The concentration of metallic elements (ME) (Mg, Na, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Al, Ba, Cd, Pb and Ca) was determined with the support of Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). During the night market opening hours, the result disclosed that the ME concentrations in PM2.5 was in an increasing order as follows: Na > Fe > Al > Ca. With respect to the concentration of carbonaceous species, our results showed that the highest total carbon (TC) concentration was found to be 6.52 mu g m(-3) during the downwind sampling interval. The highest elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) concentration were found to be 6.53 mu g m(-3) and 2.70 mu g m(-3) of the PM2.5 concentration, respectively. This study's findings have significant consequences for Taiwan policymakers and urban planners, particularly those responsible for coordinating environmental protection and economic development in cities. Therefore, policy actions to abate urban air pollution can be attained on diverse governing echelons, resulting in synergistic effects such as a reduction in climate change impacts.
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OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the impact of glycaemic status on clinical outcomes and anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody (Ab) response among patients with predominantly non-severe COVID-19, highly relevant to the current COVID-19 vaccination programme. METHODS: We included consecutive adults admitted to Queen Mary Hospital for COVID-19 from July 2020 to May 2021. Glycaemic status was defined by HbA1c on admission: normoglycaemia (<5.7%), prediabetes (5.7-6.4%) and diabetes (≥6.5% or known diabetes). Clinical deterioration was defined by radiological progression, new oxygen requirement, intensive care unit admission, or death. COVID-19 survivors had Ab measurements at 1-month, 2-month, 3- month and 6-month post-discharge, with a live SARS-CoV-2-based microneutralization assay which correlated well with anti-SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain IgG (≥1:20 defined as positive). RESULTS: Among 605 patients (age 50.2 - 17.1 years;45.1% men;96.9% non-severe COVID-19), 325 had normoglycaemia, 185 had prediabetes and 95 had diabetes. 74 had clinical deterioration (12.2%): 16 required intensive care and 4 died. Clinical deterioration was more likely with worse glycaemic status (P < 0.001) and higher HbA1c (OR 1.403, P < 0.001). Older age (P < 0.001), higher viral loads (P < 0.001), higher C-reactive protein (CRP) (P < 0.001) and symptomatic presentation (P = 0.008), but not glycaemic status/HbA1c, independently predicted clinical deterioration. 314 patients had Ab measured upon follow-up (1-month: 295;2-month: 227;3-month: 207;6-month: 122). Ab titres were comparable across glycaemic status throughout follow-up period. CRP (P = 0.003), but not glycaemic status/HbA1c, was the only positive independent determinant of Ab levels. Rate of decline of Ab titre was comparable across glycaemic status, and did not correlate with HbA1c. Furthermore, most patients remained Ab-positive throughout follow-up (1-month: 94.9%, 2-month: 93.8%, 3-month: 87.4%, 6-month 80.3%), similar across glycaemic status. CONCLUSION: Worse glycaemic status was associated with a higher chance of clinical deterioration in COVID-19, contributed by older age, more severe inflammation and higher viral loads. Importantly, glycaemic status did not adversely influence the Ab response.
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Marine debris, a global environmental issue today, is a major threat to Bali seas which are famous for its natural beauty and aggravated by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of marine debris in Bali Island, especially in the southern region and to analyze the feasibility of incineration as one of the waste treatment processes. This research was conducted by utilizing secondary data and literature reviews from related previous studies. Water content and caloric value were measured directly using the ASTM E 790-15 and ASTM D 5865-11a standards. Marine debris generation from 2013 to 2019 tends to decrease from 1.22 kg/km.day to 0.46 kg/km.day. Organic waste (59.4%) comprised the largest marine debris followed by plastic waste (13.4%) and diapers (11.9%). Thermal technology such as incineration can be introduced to treat marine debris. The standard application of incinerator technology is moisture content and caloric value. The water content of marine debris is reportedly 54.56%, therefore, further preliminary processing is needed, especially for waste with high moisture content, such as diapers and organic waste. The potential calorific value of marine debris during the COVID-19 pandemic obtained from calculating the total waste was 12.05 MJ/kg which still did not meet the incinerator application’s standard criteria. © 2021 Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Universitas Airlangga.
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination has recently started worldwide. As the vaccine supply will be limited for a considerable period of time in many countries, it is important to devise the effective vaccination strategies that reduce the number of deaths and incidence of infection. One of the characteristics of COVID-19 is that the symptom, severity, and mortality of the disease differ by age. Thus, when the vaccination supply is limited, age-dependent vaccination priority strategy should be implemented to minimize the incidences and mortalities. In this study, we developed an age-structured model for describing the transmission dynamics of COVID-19, including vaccination. Using the model and actual epidemiological data in Korea, we estimated the infection probability for each age group under different levels of social distancing implemented in Korea and investigated the effective age-dependent vaccination strategies to reduce the confirmed cases and fatalities of COVID-19. We found that, in a lower level of social distancing, vaccination priority for the age groups with the highest transmission rates will reduce the incidence mostly, but, in higher levels of social distancing, prioritizing vaccination for the elderly age group reduces the infection incidences more effectively. To reduce mortalities, vaccination priority for the elderly age group is the best strategy in all scenarios of levels of social distancing. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of vaccine supply and efficacy on the reduction in incidence and mortality.
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The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused significant challenges throughout the world and a rapid, reliable diagnostic test is in high demand. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was one of the most quickly established methods of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) detection and is considered to be the gold standard. In this report, we share our experience of using two different testing platforms: the cobas 6800 SARS-CoV-2 test, an automated system that was recently granted Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA, and a laboratory-developed test based on the protocol from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC). There was an overall 96.2% agreement between the two platforms. However, the positive agreement between the two platforms was only 80.0%. We found 3 instances of discordance between the two systems and this emphasized the need for timely diagnosis with a reliable testing platform.