ABSTRACT
Sustainable economic development plans have been shattered by the devastating COVID-19 crisis, which brought about an economic recession. The companies are suffering from financial losses, leading to financial distress and disengagement from sustainable economic goals. Many companies fail to achieve considerable financial performances, which may lead to unachieved organizational goal and a loss of direction in decision-making and investment. According to the past studies, there has been no comprehensive study done on the financial performance of the companies based on liquidity, solvency, efficiency, and profitability ratios by integrating the entropy method and fuzzy technique for order reference based on similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) model in portfolio investment. Therefore, this paper aims to propose a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model, namely the entropy-fuzzy TOPSIS model, to evaluate the financial performances of companies based on these important financial ratios for portfolio investment. The fuzzy concept helps reduce vagueness and strengthen the meaningful information extracted from the financial ratios. The proposed model is illustrated using the financial ratios of companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). The results show that return on equity and debt-to-equity ratios are the most influential financial ratios for the performance evaluation of the companies. The companies with good financial performance, such as the best HD company, have been determined based on the proposed model for portfolio selection. A mean-variance (MV) model is used to validate the proposed model in the portfolio investment. At a minimum level of risk, the proposed model is able to generate a higher mean return than the benchmark DJIA index. This paper is significant as it helps to evaluate the financial performance of the companies and select the well-performing companies with the proposed model for portfolio investment. © 2023 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
Public opinion in social media is increasingly becoming a critical factor in pandemic control. Understanding the emotions of a population towards vaccinations and COVID-19 may be valuable in convincing members to become vaccinated. We investigated the emotions of Japanese Twitter users towards Tweets related to COVID-19 vaccination. Using the WRIME dataset, which provides emotion ratings for Japanese Tweets sourced from writers (Tweet posters) and readers, we fine-tuned a BERT model to predict levels of emotional intensity. This model achieved a training accuracy of MSE = 0.356. A separate dataset of 20,254 Japanese Tweets containing COVID-19 vaccine-related keywords was also collected, on which the fine-tuned BERT was used to perform emotion analysis. Afterwards, a correlation analysis between the extracted emotions and a set of vaccination measures in Japan was conducted. The results revealed that surprise and fear were the most intense emotions predicted by the model for writers and readers, respectively, on the vaccine-related Tweet dataset. The correlation analysis also showed that vaccinations were weakly positively correlated with predicted levels of writer joy, writer/reader anticipation, and writer/reader trust.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) variants pose unique challenges with inevitable premature death when cases of severe disease exponentially rise in a healthcare system. It is imperative that palliative care is provided with a proactive approach to symptom recognition, assessment, management and treatment escalation to ensure comfort throughout the course of this illness. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the characteristics, symptom burden, palliative care management and outcomes of COVID-19 patients referred to a palliative care unit (PCU) in a single tertiary hospital. Clinical outcomes specifically observed the management of agitation in these patients based on their Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale (RASS) scores. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary hospital by reviewing electronic medical records and extracting data from 1st June 2021to 31st July 2021 of all COVID-19 patients referred to the PCU. RESULTS: A cohort of 154 (75 males, 79 females) COVID-19 patients was referred to the PCU with a mean age of 67 (20- 95) years. The median number of days of COVID-19 illness before referral was 7(4-11), with 79.3% of patients being in categories 4 and 5. The median duration of the PCU involvement was 4(1-24) days; 74% of families were engaged in virtual platform communication. The most prevalent symptoms were dyspnoea (73.4%) and agitation (41.6%). Common medications used were opioids, antipsychotics and benzodiazepines. Among agitated patients, none had RASS scores above +2 in the last encounter. Palliative care doctors in the team reported complete effectiveness in patient's symptom control in 74% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: A hallmark of severe COVID-19 is rapid deterioration, which calls for proactive assessment and urgent palliation. Breathlessness and agitation are priority symptoms to address. Among agitated patients, benzodiazepines and antipsychotics are highly effective in addressing agitation and reducing RASS scores. Communication with families using virtual platforms is effective in providing a supportive presence and closure when face-to-face communication is not possible.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Palliative Care , Aged , Benzodiazepines , COVID-19/therapy , Female , Humans , Male , Referral and Consultation , Tertiary Care CentersABSTRACT
Background: Early, rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 is essential in healthcare settings in order to implement appropriate infection control precautions and rapidly assign patients to care pathways. Rapid testing methods, such as SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen testing (RAT) may improve patient care, despite a lower sensitivity than real-time PCR (RT-PCR) testing. Methods: Patients presenting to an Emergency Department (ED) in Melbourne, Australia, were risk-stratified for their likelihood of active COVID-19 infection, and a non-randomised cohort of patients were tested by both Abbott Panbio™ COVID-19 Ag test (RAT) and SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR. Patients with a positive RAT in the 'At or High Risk' COVID-19 group were moved immediately to a COVID-19 ward rather than waiting for a RT-PCR result. Clinical and laboratory data were assessed to determine test performance characteristics; and length of stay in the ED was compared for the different patient cohorts. Findings: Analysis of 1762 paired RAT/RT-PCR samples demonstrated an overall sensitivity of 75.5% (206/273; 95% CI: 69·9-80·4) for the Abbott Panbio™ COVID-12 Ag test, with specificity of 100% (1489/1489; 95% CI: 99·8-100). Sensitivity improved with increasing risk for COVID-19 infection, from 72·4% (95% CI: 52·8-87·3) in the 'No Risk' cohort to 100% (95% CI: 29·2-100) in the 'High Risk' group. Time in the ED for the 'At/High Risk' group decreased from 421 minutes (IQR: 281, 525) for those with a positive RAT result to 274 minutes (IQR:140, 425) for those with a negative RAT result, p = 0.02. Interpretation: The positive predictive value of a positive RAT in this setting was high, allowing more rapid instigation of COVID-19 care pathways and an improvement in patient flow within the ED. Funding: Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
ABSTRACT
• Bioinspired sandwich CFRP composite is 0.73–4.4 more cost effective compared to steel. • CFRP and recycled concrete is useful in lightweight prefabricated construction. • Barriers identified: behavioral, technical, infrastructural, market and legal barriers. • Advanced prefabricated construction recommended in future smart cities and new projects. • Welfare, safety training and collaboration required for Covid-19 resilient construction industry. Modular prefabricated construction has attracted global attention to meet increasing housing demands and infrastructural deficits owing to its construction speed and efficiency. Unfortunately, the benefits of such modular prefabricated structures are undermined by heavy steel utilization, which is susceptible to corrosion, and contributes to their heavy weight leading to transportation and erection problems during construction. Bioinspired lightweight sandwich CFRP composite reinforcement is investigated as an alternative to steel along with recycled concrete for sustainable prefabricated construction using a performance-based hybrid Taguchi-Response surface methodology multi-objective optimization approach. The optimized result exhibited improved mechanical properties and favourable, ductile failure mode attributed to the Bauschinger strain-reversal effects and composite actions of the bio-inspired CFRP reinforcements. Comparatively, the bioinspired sandwich composite reinforcement was found to be 0.73–4.4 times more cost-effective than steel reinforced concrete structures in terms of fracture toughness and has potential applications in lightweight prefabricated (modular) concrete structures. This study also revealed prevalence of behavioral, technical, infrastructural, market and legal barriers which hinder adoption of prefabricated construction and can be overcomed through appropriate regulatory framework, standards, centers of excellence, demonstration projects and incentives for advanced prefabricated construction. Government authorities should promote advanced prefabricated composite construction in new construction projects and future smart cities to minimize construction wastes and carbon emission problems prevalent in most cities, provide employment support to construction companies, improving safety/welfare training and encourage collaboration among construction firms to improve resilience of construction industry to on-going Covid-19 and future pandemics and associated socio-economic impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Composite Structures is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
ABSTRACT
Modular prefabricated construction has attracted global attention to meet increasing housing demands and infrastructural deficits owing to its construction speed and efficiency. Unfortunately, the benefits of such modular prefabricated structures are undermined by heavy steel utilization, which is susceptible to corrosion, and contributes to their heavy weight leading to transportation and erection problems during construction. Bioinspired lightweight sandwich CFRP composite reinforcement is investigated as an alternative to steel along with recycled concrete for sustainable prefabricated construction using a performance-based hybrid Taguchi-Response surface methodology multi-objective optimization approach. The optimized result exhibited improved mechanical properties and favourable, ductile failure mode attributed to the Bauschinger strain-reversal effects and composite actions of the bio-inspired CFRP reinforcements. Comparatively, the bioinspired sandwich composite reinforcement was found to be 0.73-4.4 times more cost-effective than steel reinforced concrete structures in terms of fracture toughness and has potential applications in lightweight prefabricated (modular) concrete structures. This study also revealed prevalence of behavioral, technical, infrastructural, market and legal barriers which hinder adoption of prefabricated construction and can be overcomed through appropriate regulatory framework, standards, centers of excellence, demonstration projects and incentives for advanced prefabricated construction. Government authorities should promote advanced prefabricated composite construction in new construction projects and future smart cities to minimize construction wastes and carbon emission problems prevalent in most cities, providing employment support to construction companies, improving safety/welfare training and encourage collaboration among construction firms to improve the resilience of the construction industry to Covid-19.