Platform Behavior under Market Shocks: A Simulation Framework and Reinforcement-Learning Based Study

We study the behavior of an economic platform (e.g., Amazon, Uber Eats, Instacart) under shocks, such as COVID-19 lockdowns, and the effect of different regulation considerations. To this end, we develop a multi-agent simulation environment of a platform economy in a multi-period setting where shocks may occur and disrupt the economy. Buyers and sellers are heterogeneous and modeled as economically-motivated agents, choosing whether or not to pay fees to access the platform. We use deep reinforcement learning to model the fee-setting and matching behavior of the platform, and consider two major types of regulation frameworks: (1) taxation policies and (2) platform fee restrictions. We offer a number of simulated experiments that cover different market settings and shed light on regulatory tradeoffs. Our results show that while many interventions are ineffective with a sophisticated platform actor, we identify a particular kind of regulation - fixing fees to the optimal, no-shock fees while still allowing a platform to choose how to match buyers and sellers - as holding promise for promoting the efficiency and resilience of the economic system. © 2023 ACM.

The significance of educational level in acquiring good literacy of COVID-19: a case study in Indonesia

Background. Surveys on Public Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (PKAP) have been conducted in various countries with respondents from the public as well as health workers. Measuring the knowledge of the public about COVID-19 is very important to determine the knowledge gap among the public and also as an evaluation of the preventive efforts for COVID-19. Objective. The purpose of this research was to determine whether education level is a factor that affects one's literacy about COVID-19. Materials and Methods. This is cross-sectional research with online-based data collection using the Kobo toolbox application. The data collection was carried out from the 19th of April until the 2nd of May 2020. The number of people under study is 792. The level of knowledge was measured using 12 research questions with true or false question types. the multivariable logistic regression was carried out. Results. Most of the respondents (52.5%) were in the young age group (15-35 years old), were male (57.3%), and had a bache-lor or diploma education level (62.1%). Furthermore, most of the respondents had good knowledge (65.4%). The higher the respon-dents' educational level means, the better knowledge they had concerning COVID-19 (P=0.013). Conclusions. Public knowledge about COVID-19 is affected by their level of education. A good level of knowledge about COVID-19 was found among respondents with master's and doctoral degrees. This finding can contribute to the prevention of COVID-19, in which the priority of educating communities about COVID-19 should be given to those having an educational level below a master's degree.Copyright © the Author(s), 2023.

Remote arts therapy in collaborative virtual environment: A pilot case study

Motivated by the unique experience of creating three-dimensional artworks in virtual reality (VR) and the need for teletherapy due to the global pandemic, we conducted this pilot case study to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of using a custom-designed collaborative virtual environment (CVE) to enable remote arts therapy. Three participants (two females and one male) experiencing moderate to high stress as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) joined this study. Each participant had eight 45-minute one-on-one sessions with the therapist for eight consecutive weeks. These eight sessions covered eight art creation themes and were delivered following pre-designed protocols. The CVE was the only medium to facilitate the sessions, during which the therapist and the participants were physically separated into two rooms. The quantitative and qualitative results suggested that the CVE-enabled approach was generally feasible and was welcomed by both the participants and the therapist. However, more evidence of the approach's effectiveness in enhancing the participants' mental wellbeing is needed because the results of the pilot case study were affected by the pandemic. The advantages and disadvantages of this approach and the CVE were investigated from practicality and technological affordance perspectives. Potential improvements to the CVE are also proposed to better facilitate the practice of remote arts therapy in CVE. We encourage future studies to cautiously investigate CVE-enabled remote arts therapy in clinical settings and collect more evidence regarding its effectiveness in addressing clinically diagnosed mental disorders and other complications. Copyright © 2023 Li and Yip.

Investigation on health and professional consciousness and mental health of military medical students during coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic.

Objective To understand the health and professional consciousness and mental health of military medical students during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. Methods From Feb. 17 to Feb. 20, 2020, an electronic questionnaire was used to investigate the attitudes and coping styles of military medical students towards quarantine and delay of school opening, their attitudes towards online teaching, and health and professional consciousness during COVID-19 epidemic;and their mental health status was scored by symptom checklist 90 (SCL-90). Results A total of 2 736 valid questionnaires were collected. The students basically understood and agreed with the quarantine and delay of school opening during the epidemic, and 70.83% (1 938/2 736) supported online teaching. During the quarantine period, 85.31% (2 334/2 736) of the students chose to listen to music or watch TV series for relaxation, and 64.69% (1 770/2 736) insisted on learning, reading literatures or writing papers. Students could basically form the habits of washing hands frequently and wearing masks, and their consciousness of health protection was higher than that before the epidemic. For military medical students, their professional beliefs and determination have been strengthened during the epidemic, and many students wanted to join in the fight against the epidemic. The survey found that 12.94% (354/2 736) of the students had mental health symptoms, and the top 3 SCL-90 factors were obsessive-compulsive disorder (78.53%, 278/354), interpersonal sensitivity (64.12%, 227/354), and depression (44.07%, 156/354). Conclusion During the epidemic, military medical students can generally adapt to the difficult environment and improve themselves. The mental health problems of military medical students have their own characteristics, special attention must to be paid, and the humanistic education of medical students should be strengthened.Copyright © 2022, Second Military Medical University Press. All rights reserved.

User centred design of Orygen virtual worlds: The next generation of telehealth for youth mental health care

Background: Rapid uptake of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic has opened a gateway to improving access to mental health care. However, existing platforms are not fit-for-purpose, resulting in poor treatment engagement. Virtual worlds (VW) are an innovative technology whereby users can meet and interact in real time using personally tailored avatars within 3D virtual environments. VWs may improve engagement and access to youth mental health care by offering a fun and interactive social space, with customizable features capable of supporting delivery of psychosocial treatment. The aim of this study was to develop a purpose-built VW designed to support delivery of youth mental health care. Method(s): A user centred design framework was employed to develop a prototype of Orygen Virtual Worlds (OVW) across 8 sessions with 8 young people with lived experience. Sessions progressed from basic concept validation, through to persona and journey mapping, and finishing with several user testing sessions to iteratively develop the prototype. Result(s): End users (young people) were overall very positive about the potential for VWs to supplement youth mental health services. Iterative feedback and testing identified core features needed to ensure the platform was usable, safe and capable of delivering effective individual, group and peer interventions. Conclusion(s): This presentation will showcase the development of this innovative new platform for delivering engaging, accessible and effective youth mental health care for hard-to-reach youth. Results will be discussed in context of the unique development approach informed by user centred design principles and implementation science.

The Ultimate Owner of Environmental, Social, and Governance Investment

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected society in immeasurable ways, including investment. As the pandemic has impacted society's values, it has proven to be a major turning point for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment. This investment approach, which evaluates a company's ESG ratings alongside traditional financial metrics, was already "coming off a banner year,” and its reach continues to expand. Although numerous studies have investigated the impact of ESG scores on financial returns and the trend in ESG investment strategies, only a limited number of studies have attempted to capture the key players in ESG investment. Therefore, to determine the most influential investors in the ESG investment field, the cumulative impacts are calculated based on the ESG scores of invested companies, the total market price of invested companies, and the investor history portfolio report. We perform an iteration of calculation to convey the impacts that the invested companies have on the ultimate investors, and we identify the major players in the field and differences in the trend by type of investor and country. Copyright © 2022 Keeley, Li, Takeda, Gloria and Managi.

Investigation on health and professional consciousness and mental health of military medical students during coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic

Objective To understand the health and professional consciousness and mental health of military medical students during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. Methods From Feb. 17 to Feb. 20, 2020, an electronic questionnaire was used to investigate the attitudes and coping styles of military medical students towards quarantine and delay of school opening, their attitudes towards online teaching, and health and professional consciousness during COVID-19 epidemic;and their mental health status was scored by symptom checklist 90 (SCL-90). Results A total of 2 736 valid questionnaires were collected. The students basically understood and agreed with the quarantine and delay of school opening during the epidemic, and 70.83% (1 938/2 736) supported online teaching. During the quarantine period, 85.31% (2 334/2 736) of the students chose to listen to music or watch TV series for relaxation, and 64.69% (1 770/2 736) insisted on learning, reading literatures or writing papers. Students could basically form the habits of washing hands frequently and wearing masks, and their consciousness of health protection was higher than that before the epidemic. For military medical students, their professional beliefs and determination have been strengthened during the epidemic, and many students wanted to join in the fight against the epidemic. The survey found that 12.94% (354/2 736) of the students had mental health symptoms, and the top 3 SCL-90 factors were obsessive-compulsive disorder (78.53%, 278/354), interpersonal sensitivity (64.12%, 227/354), and depression (44.07%, 156/354). Conclusion During the epidemic, military medical students can generally adapt to the difficult environment and improve themselves. The mental health problems of military medical students have their own characteristics, special attention must to be paid, and the humanistic education of medical students should be strengthened.Copyright © 2022, Second Military Medical University Press. All rights reserved.

Clinical Efficacy of Modified Sanxiaoyin in Treatment of Mild or Moderate COVID-19 Patients:Based on Retrospective Analysis.

Objective: To retrospectively analyze the clinical data of 52 patients with coronavirus disease-2019 COVID-19 and explore the clinical efficacy of modified Sanxiaoyin on mild/moderate COVID-19 patients. Method(s): The propensity score matching method was used to collect the clinical data of mild or moderate COVID-19 patients enrolled in the designated hospital of the Second Hospital of Jingzhou from December 2019 to May 2020. A total of 26 eligible patients who were treated with modified Sanxiaoyin were included in the observation group,and the 26 patients treated with conventional method were the regarded as the control. The disappearance of clinical symptoms,disappearance time of main symptoms,efficacy on traditional Chinese medicineTCMsymptoms,hospitalization duration,laboratory test indicators,and CT imaging changes in the two groups were compared. Result(s): The general data in the two groups were insignificantly different and thus they were comparable. After 7 days of treatment,the disappearance rate of fever,cough, fatigue,dry throat,anorexia,poor mental state,and poor sleep quality in the observation group was higher than that in the control groupP<0.05,and the difference in the disappearance rate of expectoration and chest distress was insignificant. For the cases with the disappearance of symptoms,the main symptomsfever, cough,fatigue,dry throat,anorexia,chest distressdisappeared earlier in the observation group than in the control groupP<0.01. After 7 days of treatment,the scores of the TCM symptom scale of both groups decreasedP<0.01,and the decrease of the observation group was larger that of the control groupP<0.01. All patients in the two groups were cured and discharged. The average hospitalization duration in the observation group12.79+/-2.68dwas shorter than that in the control group15.27+/-3.11dP<0.01. The effective rate in the observation group92.31%,24/26was higher than that in the control group76.92%,20/26. After 7 days of treatment,the lymphocyteLYMcount increasedP<0.05,and white blood cellWBCcount and neutrophilNEUTcount decreased insignificantly in the two groups. Moreover,levels of C-reactive protein CRP,erythrocyte sedimentation rateESR,and procalcitoninPCTreduced in the two groups after treatmentP<0.01and the reduction in the observation group was larger than that in the control group P<0.01. Through 7 days of treatment,the total effective rate on pulmonary shadow in the observation group 90.00%,18/20was higher than that in the control group77.27%,17/22P>0.05and the improvement of lung shadow in the observation group was better than that in the control groupP<0.01. Conclusion(s):Modified Sanxiaoyin can significantly alleviate fever,cough,fatigue,anorexia,chest distress,poor sleep quality,and other symptoms of patients with mild or moderate COVID-19,improve biochemical indicators,and promote the recovery of lung function. This paper provides clinical evidence for the application of modified Sanxiaoyin in the treatment of mild or moderate COVID-19.Copyright © 2022, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Institute of Chinese Materia Medica. All rights reserved.

Quantification Annotation in ISO 24617-12, Second Draft

This paper describes the continuation of a project that aims at establishing an interoperable annotation scheme for quantification phenomena as part of the ISO suite of standards for semantic annotation, known as the Semantic Annotation Framework. After a break, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the project was relaunched in early 2022 with a second working draft, which deals with certain issues in the annotation of quantification in a more satisfactory way than the original first working draft.

The transformation of microclimate adaption in public spaces by smart ventilation approach: a case study of Eastern Banlieue memory industrial Park, China

With the normalization of the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, there is an urgent need to develop a healthy urban public space. However, because of the fast urbanization process with a series of problems, such as PM2.5 air pollution, the Urban Heat Island, and the relatively high frequency of static winds under the influence of its topography, the ventilation problem in the public spaces of Chengdu is of great importance. Along these lines, in this work, the history of theoretical research on urban ventilation is summarized and reviewed first to evaluate the urban wind environment. Second, so far, qualitative methods are mainly adopted for the evaluation methods of microclimate adaptation. However, the practical application has achieved few results. Meanwhile, there is still a lack of comprehensive and unified research on the multi-element of human microclimate comfort in public space. For this reason, the urban ventilation assessment system was established in this work according to the physical, physiological, and psychological aspects, with 9 indices selected and ranked. Then, an optimization strategy for rebuilding the urban public space was proposed for improving the wind environment microclimate adaption on three levels: macro city-regional level, meso block linear space, and micro space node. By taking Eastern Banlieue Memory Industrial Park as an example, the statistical data were systematically investigated on the spot from the results of 249 wind environment questionnaires, and 30 Delphi expert consultation questionnaires. Combined with the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation, the results reveal that most public spaces in the study area were below 0.6 m/s in more than 80% of the public space, and wind-based environmental problems obviously exist without any ventilation improvement measures. Combined with the background of the carbon peak era, the ventilation environment of the urban public space is not conducive to using active ventilation equipment. The solution of a complete set of regional intelligent ventilation systems was thoroughly discussed here, while some innovative sustainable systematic solutions and urban ventilation furniture combined with a geothermal heat pump and cloud data platform were formulated.

Critical care nurses' knowledge, preparedness and experiences of managing COVID-19 in Australia

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic has again highlighted the crucial role of the frontline healthcare workers, including practitioners in critical care settings, in case management, disease surveillance, policy development, and clinical education and training. This study aims to explore Australian critical care nurses' knowledge, preparedness and experiences of managing SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Method(s): A cross-sectional study of Australian critical care nurses was conducted between June and September 2020. An anonymous online survey was sent out to the members of the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN) to collect data about their knowledge, preparedness and experiences during COVID-19 outbreak. Data were summarised and reported using descriptive statistics. Textual data were analysed using conventional content analysis technique. Result(s): A total of 138 critical care nurses participated in this study. Most respondents reported 'good' to 'very good' level of knowledge about COVID-19, and used a variety of sources to obtain up-to-date information about COVID-19. A majority (82.3%) believed they were 'moderately' or 'extremely' prepared for managing COVID-19 by the time they answered the survey, and 93.4% had received specific education, training or instruction about COVID-19. Most participants were involved in assessing (89.3%) and treating (92.4%) COVID-19 cases. Varying levels of concerns about contracting SARS-CoV-2 were expressed by respondents. The most significant challenges during the COVID-19 outbreak were lack of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and fear of their shortage. Conclusion(s): These findings can be used in planning for successful outbreak management during the current COVID-19 pandemic and in future outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases.Copyright © 2021

Design of real-time ECG monitoring wearable equipment based on the Holter system

The COVID-19 epidemic has largely restricted the traditional offline medical treatment model. In this study, we designed ECG monitoring smart clothing based on the Holter system after identifying and analyzing the needs of patients and doctors. This clothing is a wearable device that integrates monitoring and remote diagnosis, building a general network platform to realize remote data transfer sharing and online interactive auxiliary diagnosis. Wearable clothing that can monitor ECG in real time is designed and developed by intelligently integrating limb lead wires, conductive fiber fabrics, lead interfaces, and electrode signal storage receivers by using the human body sensing conduction principle of real-time ECG monitoring. Wearable real-time ECG monitoring clothing can help patients achieve fast virtual medical care and auxiliary diagnosis, and solve the design issues with electrode signal storage receivers. © 2022 IEEE.

Monitoring of CT dose and analysis of radiological protection in CT modules applied for COVID-19.

Objective: To investigate the safety and protection level of radiological treatment in the CT modules in the makeshift hosptials in Wuhan during the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 cases. Method(s): The layout of the CT modules in makeshift hospitals, radiological protection facilities and personal protective equipment were investigated. Based on the national standards, the CT dose index was estimated and the radiological protection level at the CT modules were measured. Result(s): The layout of the CT modules in makeshift hospitals is reasonable, with well-equipped radiological protection facilities. Of 23 CT modules, 20 were up to standards with acceptability of 87.0%. The other three were unqualified each with 1 detection points having values in excess of the national standards. Which, after being modified immediately reached the national standards. In addition, CT dose index for 7 CT modules were estimated, with CTDIW within +/-7.5%. Conclusion(s): The CT modules in Wuhan meet the requirements of radiological safety and protection during the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 cases.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.

The immunomodulatory effects of Qushi Jianpi Hewei Decoction (QJHD) for patients with COVID-19 by metagenomics and transcriptomic sequencing

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Several studies have confirmed that intestinal microflora dysbiosis correlates with the severity of COVID-19 patients. Clinical meta-analysis and our data show that the circulating miRNAs like miRNA-146 and the levels of serum cytokines in the peripheral blood are closely related to mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. Despite the widespread use of traditional herbal medicine for COVID-19 in China, the mechanisms remain largely uncovered. Aim of the study: We conducted an observational case-control study to verify the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese herbal medicine Qushi Jianpi Hewei Decoction (QJHD) for mild to moderate COVID-19 patients, and investigated the potential biomolecular mechanisms through metagenomics and transcriptomic sequencing methods. Material(s) and Method(s): QJHD was given orally twice a day individually for 14 to 28 days. A total of 10 patients were enrolled in the study and given QJHD. We observed advantages in clinical cure time rate, and the relief of gastrointestinal symptoms as compared with reports in the literature. The metagenomics sequencing data of fecal microflora and transcriptomic sequencing data of blood cell in patients with SARS-Cov-2 infection patients were selected compared to the healthy control donors. Result(s): No serious adverse events were reported. Meanwhile, the transcriptome analysis showed a decrease of the hsa-miR-21-5p expression in peripheral blood without QJHD. The species composition analysis showed an increase in the expression of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in the intestinal tract;The interleukin-10 (IL-10) expression also in COVID-19 patient decreased in peripheral blood compared with healthy control donors. And we found an improvement in these parameters in patients taking QJHD. Conclusion(s): Our findings show that QJHD could improve clinical outcomes of mild to moderate COVID-19 patients, probably through beneficial immunomodulatory effects by regulating Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in the intestinal tract and hsa-miR-21 and IL-10 expression in peripheral blood. (chictr.org.cn, ChiCTR2000030305)Copyright © 2022 The Author(s)

Coping with COVID-19 using contact tracing mobile apps

Purpose: To cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, contact tracing mobile apps (CTMAs) have been developed to trace contact among infected individuals and alert people at risk of infection. To disrupt virus transmission until the majority of the population has been vaccinated, achieving the herd immunity threshold, CTMA continuance usage is essential in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. This study seeks to examine what motivates individuals to continue using CTMAs. Design/methodology/approach: Following the coping theory, this study proposes a research model to examine CTMA continuance usage, conceptualizing opportunity appraisals (perceived usefulness and perceived distress relief), threat appraisals (privacy concerns) and secondary appraisals (perceived response efficacy) as the predictors of individuals' CTMA continuance usage during the pandemic. In the United States, an online survey was administered to 551 respondents. Findings: The results revealed that perceived usefulness and response efficacy motivate CTMA continuance usage, while privacy concerns do not. Originality/value: This study enriches the understanding of CTMA continuance usage during a public health crisis, and it offers practical recommendations for authorities. © 2023, Chenglong Li, Hongxiu Li and Shaoxiong Fu.

Global natural gas development trend and enlightenment

In 2021, the contradiction between natural gas supply and demand in various regions around the world was prominent caused by multiple factors, such as the reduced global COVID-19, slowly recovered world economy, resumed growth of energy consumption, intertwined geopolitical and financial risks, significantly risen and violently fluctuated energy prices. The global natural gas development trend is predicted by analyzing the development direction of the petroleum industry, natural gas supply and demand base level, trend of trade volume, and natural gas reserves distribution and output change. The results show that natural gas reserves are abundant in the world, and the investment in natural gas exploration and development has rebounded driven by the demand growth and price rise;The proportion of natural gas in the world energy consumption structure is increasing, which plays an important role in promoting the global energy transition;The global natural gas supply and demand shows a pattern of "tight balance”, in which the Asia Pacific is the major importer of natural gas, and it is expected that natural gas will surpass oil to grow to be the world's largest energy. In the future, it is suggested that China should actively adjust its energy strategy, enhance its linkage with international energy market, improve the energy prices monitoring and judgement mechanism, timely adjust its foreign strategic cooperation in energy business, increase domestic investment in natural gas exploration and development, enhance multilateral international energy cooperation, and stick to the bottom line of energy security, accelerate the construction of natural gas operation system integrating "reserve increase, supply security and price stabilization”, and improve the ability to respond to crises, so as to better cope with the challenges posed by global energy development and natural gas market fluctuations. Copyright © 2022, Petroleum Industry Press, PetroChina. All rights reserved.

Progress on development of vaccines against 2019-nCoV.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 caused by the 2019-nCoV (SARS-CoV-2), with its high pathogenicity and contagiousness, it has posed a serious threat to global public health security. Up to now, the pathogenesis of 2019-nCoV is unclear, and there is no effective treatment. Vaccine as one of the most effective strategies to prevent virus infection has become a hot area. Based on the current understanding of 2019-nCoV, the development of 2019-nCoV vaccines covers all types: inactivated virus vaccine, recombinant protein vaccine, viral vector-based vaccine, mRNA vaccine, and DNA vaccine, etc. In this review, we focus on the candidate targets of the novel coronavirus, and the types, development status and progress of 2019-nCoV vaccines in order to provide information for further research and prevention.Copyright © 2021 Chinese Medical Association

Progress on development of vaccines against 2019-nCoV.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 caused by the 2019-nCoV (SARS-CoV-2), with its high pathogenicity and contagiousness, it has posed a serious threat to global public health security. Up to now, the pathogenesis of 2019-nCoV is unclear, and there is no effective treatment. Vaccine as one of the most effective strategies to prevent virus infection has become a hot area. Based on the current understanding of 2019-nCoV, the development of 2019-nCoV vaccines covers all types: inactivated virus vaccine, recombinant protein vaccine, viral vector-based vaccine, mRNA vaccine, and DNA vaccine, etc. In this review, we focus on the candidate targets of the novel coronavirus, and the types, development status and progress of 2019-nCoV vaccines in order to provide information for further research and prevention.Copyright © 2021 Chinese Medical Association