Capturing Secchi disk depth by using Sentinel-2 MSI imagery in Jiaozhou Bay, China from 2017 to 2021

Water clarity is a key parameter for assessing changes of aquatic environment. Coastal waters are complex and variable, remote sensing of water clarity for it is often limited by low spatial resolution. The Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) imagery with a resolution of up to 10 m are employed to solve the problem from 2017 to 2021. Distribution and characteristics of Secchi disk depth (SDD) in Jiaozhou Bay (JZB) are analyzed. Subtle changes in localized small areas are discovered, and main factors affecting the changes are explored. Among natural factors, precipitation and wind play dominant roles in variation in SDD. Human activities have a significant influence on transparency, among which fishery farming has the greatest impact. This is clearly evidenced by the significant improvement of SDD in JZB due to the sharp decrease in human activities caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Copyright © 2022 The Authors

Ultrashort Peptides for the Self-Assembly of an Antiviral Coating

Antiviral compounds are important for generating sterile surfaces. Here, two extremely short peptides, DOPA-Phe-NH2 and DOPA-Phe(4F)-NH2 that can self-assemble into spherical nanoparticles with antiviral activity are presented. The peptide assemblies possess excellent antiviral activity against bacteriophage T4 with antiviral minimal inhibitory concentrations of 125 and 62.5 µg mL−1, for DOPA-Phe-NH2 and DOPA-Phe(4F)-NH2, respectively. When the peptide assemblies are applied on a glass substrate by drop-casting, they deactivate more than 99.9% of bacteriophage T4 and Canine coronavirus. Importantly, the peptide assemblies have low toxicity toward mammalian cells. Overall, the findings can provide a novel strategy for the design and development of antiviral coatings for a decreased risk of viral infections. © 2023 The Authors. Advanced Materials Interfaces published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Applications in Sciences in the prevention of COVID-19

Purpose: The main purpose of this work is to provide an overview of the COVID-19 issue, this article discusses in detail and fully the important and meaningful applications of Decision Sciences to the prevention of COVID-19. Because COVID-19 is an extremely hot topic and the most fascinating question in recent years, the research on this topic is very interesting and noticed by scientists. Design/methodology/approach: In the scope of this study, we first introduce definitions and issues related to COVID-19 and study the negative impacts of COVID-19 diseases on all sectors of society. We then provide a comprehensive introduction to the applied aspects of Decision Science in the prevention of COVID-19. Findings: The findings of our research help people have a correct, complete, overview,and comprehensive view of the COVID-19 issue. All COVID-19 issues are discussed in great detail and completeness in this article. Originality/value: All the issues discussed in this study are original and new in the literary literature. Practical implications: This will help the countries'leaders have the best way to fight the COVID-19 pandemic more effectively and cost-effectively. © 2022 Hindawi Limited. All rights reserved.

Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on the HIV testing and health care delivery at a university hospital in Taiwan, 2020-2021

Background: To contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, non-pharmacologic interventions, including lockdown and social distancing, may have adverse impact on access to HIV testing and care. This study investigated the impact of Covid-19 on HIV testing and care at a major hospital in Taiwan in 2020-2021. Method(s): The numbers of clients seeking anonymous HIV voluntary counseling and testing were compared 2 years before (2018-2019) and 2 years after Covid-19 outbreak (2020-2021). People living with HIV (PLWH) who sought care at the hospital during 2018-2021 were included to examine the status of HIV care delivery and disposition. Result(s): The annual number of HIV screening tests performed had significantly decreased from 2507 to 2794 in 2018 and 2019, respectively, to 2161 and 1737 in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The rate of discontinuation of HIV care among PLWH was 3.7% in 2019, which remained unchanged in 2020 (3.7%) and 2021 (3.8%). The respective percentage of annual plasma HIV RNA testing <2 times increased from 8.4% to 7.8% in 2018 and 2019 to 7.0% and 10.7% in 2020 and 2021, so was that of annual syphilis testing <2 times (10.1% and 8.8%-7.9% and 12.0%). The rates of plasma HIV RNA <200 copies/ml ranged from 97.0% to 98.1% in 2018-2021. Conclusion(s): During the Covid-19 pandemic, access to HIV counseling and testing was significantly limited. While the number of HIV-related testing decreased, the impact of Covid-19 on the continuity of antiretroviral therapy and viral suppression among PLWH appeared to be minimal in Taiwan. Copyright © 2022

Record or Recall? Exploring Self-Reported Dietary Assessment Methods for Office Workers during the COVID-19 Work-from-Home Period

The workplace represents an important venue to influence eating behaviors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the workplace has rapidly shifted from office to home (WfH). Here, two mobile self-reported dietary assessment methods were compared (4-hour Recall vs. Food Record) to monitor food intake for WfH. A within-subject study involving 30 participants was conducted over a 4-week period. We assessed the workload and acceptance of these two methods using questionnaires and follow-up interviews. Results of questionnaires revealed that most participants presented high acceptance of Food Record related to a more flexible completion time and lower mental burden. Based on interviews, we presented a set of design insights to promote WfH healthy eating, including integrating reminders into daily routines, simplifying the tracking process, and adding gaming elements. Then, we discussed design implications, including integrating digital tools into daily routines and designing simple and playful using processes, to promote healthy eating during the WfH period. © 2022 Owner/Author.

Joint Graph-Sequence Learning for Molecular Property Prediction

Molecular property prediction has achieved promising improvement for accelerating drug development with machine learning models. The emergence of graph neural networks especially benefits the discriminative representation learning of molecular graph data, which has become the key challenge of molecular property prediction. However, most of the existing works extract either graph features or sequence features of molecules, while the significant information from both graph and sequence representations is not well discovered and utilized. In this paper, we propose a Joint Graph-Sequence framework, JointGS, for learning high-quality molecular property representations by jointly capturing information from both graph and sequence molecular data. Specifically, JointGS contains a sequence encoder and a graph encoder working in parallel for learning sequence-level and graph-level molecular embeddings, respectively. Moreover, an attentional feature fusion mechanism is presented to better aggregate graph-sequence molecular embeddings. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed JointGS can achieve superior molecular property prediction performance, especially in the SARS-CoV dataset for screening potential molecules benefiting the COVID-19 drug development. © 2022 IEEE.

Assessment of Atmospheric PM2.5 and PCDD/Fs Collected by Different High-volume Ambient Air Sampling Systems

To evaluate the difference in hazardous air pollutants in PM2.5 between reference method (National Institute of Environmental Analysis;NIEAA205) and high-volume air sampler (European standard:EN14907 and Japan method), we set up a sampling station on the campus of National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University, northern Taiwan, during 2014-2015. Both vapor and solid phases of dioxins were collected using high-volume samplers, according to EN14907 and Japan method. The flow rate was set at 500 L min(-1) and 1000 L min(-1), respectively. To compare the difference with the high-volume air sampler, we simultaneously used the reference air sampler based on Taiwan NIEA A205.11C, at the flow rate of 16.7 L min(-1) (BGI PQ200-FRM). The mass concentrations of PM2.5 measured with NIEA A205, EN14907, and Japan method were 20.2 +/- 8.79, 25.4 +/- 10.5 and 28.6 +/- 13.9 mu g m(-3), respectively. The difference of the mass concentration of PM2.5 obtained from two different methods was lower than 3.9%. Moreover, the concentrations of PCDD/F between solid and vapor phases were 56.9-1,090 and 38.6-67.1 fg m(-3) via EN14907 and 51.1-1,150 and 18.4-81.8 fg m(-3) via Japan method, respectively. Obviously, there is no significant difference between these two samplers. Compared to the method of NIEA, high volume air sampling method not only provided equivalently good quality data but offer a higher sample quantity for analyzing the trace level chemical component of hazardous air pollutants and the toxicity in different areas.

Radiotherapy Quality Assurance;is volume review all that matters?

Purpose or Objective RTQA practice is known to have significant variation amongst institutions worldwide. It is critical to maintaining patient safety, treatment effectiveness and accuracy. However there is no standard practice, with often only target volume delineation reviewed alone and performed retrospectively. Previous studies have highlighted higher rates of changes made in more complex techniques and subsites. This study aims at evaluating our prospective structured peer review process in a proton beam therapy (PBT) centre. Materials and Methods We reviewed the RTQA cases of all patients treated at The Christie Proton Beam Centre since its opening in November 2018 until February 2021. The RTQA process is carried out weekly, is subsite specific and every case has their target volumes and plans reviewed in detail in the presence of consultants, fellows, physicists and dosimetrists. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the peer review meetings are now virtual. Every peer review has a standardised RTQA form filled. We classified the peer reviews as having major/minor or no change. A major change was one where the target volumes (GTV and/or CTV) were too small or big;dose fractionation was incorrect to that of the prescription treated and any plan that was changed. A minor change was one where there were minor modifications to the target volumes, OARs or non-essential suggestions in relation to the plan that didn’t result in the plan being altered eg. addition of an OAR. Results There was a total of 1,209 peer reviews for 462 patients. 100% of cases had both volumes and plans peer reviewed prospectively. 591 were reviews of target volumes and 618 were plan reviews. In total there were 208 (17%) major changes, 194 (16%) minor and 807 (67%) with no changes. Of the major changes 137 (66%) were target volumes and 71 (34%) plans. Of the minor changes 174 (90%) were target volumes and 20 (10%) plans. There were more major and minor changes in the brain and head & neck subsites possibly due to their complexity. When diagnoses in the brain were categorised (Table 1) and reviewed against changes using a chi-squared test the resulting p-value = 0.027 suggests a significant relationship between type of diagnoses and likely need for change following peer review.(Table Presented) Conclusion Target volume delineation and radiotherapy plans particularly in brain, head & neck as well as other complex subsites require mandatory prospective review as highlighted above. We have shown this to be practically achievable and successful despite challenging times

Proximity, Knowledge Transfer and Resilience in a cluster – take the Evolution of Hsinchu Science Park for example

The continuous transfer of knowledge within an industrial cluster is a key element for the cluster to maintain its long-term competitiveness. In recent years, various shocks have occurred frequently, and issues related to the resilience of regional economies and industrial clusters have attracted attention. These shocks may also hinder the transfer of knowledge within industrial clusters, thereby limiting the development of industrial clusters. However, most of the previous studies have focused on economic performance, and little attention has been paid to how knowledge exchanges within the firms in cluster are affected by shocks. Therefore, this study adopted a resilience perspective, examined the evolution of innovation modes and proximity within industrial clusters, and constructed a four-quadrant analytical framework consisting of two types of proximity and two types of innovation modes, respectively. We attempted to examine whether shocks cause the shift of innovation modes and proximity in the four-quadrant analytical framework to fill the aforementioned gap. In order to further explored its connotation and make future policy advice more valuable, this study used the concept of life cycle development of clusters to analyze evolution. We took the Hsinchu Science Park as the research object, and used the global financial crisis in 2008 and the Covid-19 in 2020 as the shocks to compare the change of innovation modes and proximity at different life cycle stage. © 2021, Chung Hua University. All rights reserved.

The Publication Ethics of Preprints and Preprints’ Influence on Knowledge Dissemination during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Preprints are a crucial vehicle for knowledge dissemination in modern times. The vigorous development of the preprint industry demonstrates the significance of open science and represents a significant change in the manner research results are disseminated. This study explores preprints through literature analysis. Specifically, publication ethics issues related to preprints and their role in knowledge dissemination during the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed. First, this study examines the history and characteristics of preprints, investigating their functions and features in academic research and knowledge dissemination. Further, three issues related to publication ethics resulting from the knowledge dissemination model of preprints are presented. The study also sheds light on preprints in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the quantity and quality of preprints. In addition, the positive impact of preprints on knowledge dissimilation during the COVID-19 pandemic and some latent problems are also discussed. Finally, the author of this study proposes suggestions for institutions and individuals serving different roles in the academic community regarding the aspects in which they can help promote the publication ethics and rightful knowledge dissemination of preprints. © 2022. Journal of Educational Media and Library Sciences.All Rights Reserved

Factors associated with developing COVID-19 among cancer patients in New York City

Importance: Given concerns that cancer patients may be at increased risk of COVID-19 and may have more severe complications if infected, there have been profound changes to routine cancer care. We aimed to identify risk factors for developing COVID-19 among cancer patients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of cancer patients tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection between March 1, 2020 and June 6, 2020 at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH)/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) in New York City. During this time period, all hospitalized patients (starting April 4, 2020) and all symptomatic cancer patients seen in the outpatient clinics were tested for COVID-19. Our primary outcome of interest was COVID-19 test results, defined as positive (SARS-CoV-2 detected on at least one test) or negative (not detected on any COVID-19 tests). Clinical data extraction included: age, sex, race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, Asian, other, unknown), body mass index (BMI), smoking status, time since cancer diagnosis, cancer type, current cancer status, most recent cancer treatment type within the past year, time since last cancer treatment prior to COVID-19 testing, and infusion center visit within the past year. Chi-squared tests and multivariable logistic regression were used to examine the association between demographic, clinical, tumor and treatment-related factors and COVID-19 test results while controlling for covariates. Results: A total of 1,174 cancer patients were tested for COVID-19 with 317 (27%) patients testing positive. Demographic characteristics of the study population included a median age of 67 years (range, 1-103), 55.1% female, and 35.7% non-Hispanic white, 32.5% Hispanic, 15.2% non-Hispanic black, and 4.0% Asian. About 27.2% had a recent cancer diagnosis, 56.7% had active disease, and 56.7% were on active cancer treatment within the past year. In multivariable analysis, older age and higher BMI were associated with COVID-19. Compared to non-Hispanic whites, black and Hispanic cancer patients were more likely to test positive for COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR]=2.21, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.44-3.40 and OR=2.71, 95% CI=1.91-3.83, respectively). A recent cancer diagnosis, active disease, and active cancer treatment were not associated with COVID-19. Compared to cancer patients not on active treatment, those receiving chemotherapy were less likely to develop COVID-19 (OR=0.65, 95% CI=0.44-0.95). We observed excess deaths among cancer patients who tested positive vs. negative for COVID-19 (28.4% vs. 8.3%, p<0.001). Conclusions and Relevance: Consistent with the general population, we found that older age, minority race/ethnicity, and obesity were associated with COVID-19 among cancer patients. Surprisingly, patients on active treatment including chemotherapy were not at increased risk for COVID-19. Therefore, delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic should be minimized.

Trust and credibility of information sources related to COVID-19 among high-risk ethnically diverse adults at the onset of the New York City outbreak: A cross-sectional survey conducted via a community health portal

In March 2020, days after New York shut down to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, we developed a cross-sectional, participant-administered electronic survey to explore how New Yorkers were impacted by and were responding to the ongoing crisis. A critical component of the survey was to assess how credible and trustworthy respondents found various information sources. To advertise and distribute the survey, we embedded an invitation to participate using a popup on the GetHealthyHeights.org website. GetHealthyHeights was designed using community-based participatory research for the medically-underserved, urban, and largely Latinx community of Washington Heights-Inwood, New York City. We received 321 responses from April through July 2020. Participant ages ranged from 25 to 87, and 25% were Latinx. Results showed that the choice of and trust in different COVID-19 information sources were observed to be significantly different across demographic variables, including gender, age, race, and chronic health conditions. In the domains of trust and information source credibility, designers should account for perspectives of diverse subgroups.

Comparison of CNN Architecture for Thermal Face Emotion Classification

After the corona pandemic, people's feelings of depression are increasing in most countries. Emotion recognition is an essential technology for the increasing demand for non-face-to-face medical services to reduce the risk of infection. A skin temperature pattern can be used as one of the indicators indicating the emotional state. In this paper, the self-constructed thermal image DB was applied to the existing CNN architecture for facial expression classification and performance evaluation was performed. As a result, it was confirmed that the network in which several kernels are applied in parallel in order to extract various features has good performance. © 2021 IEEE.

Study on calibration of mask protective effect detector based on precise photometer

With the outbreak of COVID-19 masks as the most important personal protective equipment, its necessity and importance becomes evident. Particle protective performance, as the key index of masks, the accuracy of its test result is very important. In this study, based on the high-precision photometer, the calibration method of particle protective performance testers for mask is studied. The protective performance is evaluated by the percentage of particle concentration reduction of before and after the mask. Photometric method is a relatively mature technology of particle concentration measurement, with advantages of portability and quick response. In our study, two photometers are used in the calibration. In order to ensure the accuracy, it is necessary to calibrate the two photometers first. Aerosol with concentrations about 1, 10, 20 and 30 mg/m3 is generated in the test chamber, respectively. The filter weight method is used to measure the concentration in the test chamber as the standard values. Within the weighing time, the concentration test results measured by the two photometers are recorded and calibrated with the concentration results measured by the weight method. For the two calibrated photometers, one is used to measure the particle concentration in the test chamber, the other is used to measure the particle concentration in the mask which is attached to the head mold. In this way, the particle protective performance value measured by the instrument can be calibrated. In our experiment, the extended uncertainty of the calibration results are lower than 3%. © 2021 SPIE.

ARM: A Real-Time Health Monitoring Mobile Application

Considering the risks and difficulties of providing in-patient medical services, this is of great significance to develop mobile applications which are able to provide remote healthcare. This paper proposes a Real-time Health Monitoring Mobile Application that enables patients to remotely report health cues to healthcare teams and receive treatment plans. This allows healthcare team to collect and analyse blood oxygen, heart rate and body temperature which are reported by a Bluetooth interconnected sensory device. Yet, a chat environment is provided that allows patients to submit self-questionaries and communicate with healthcare teams in real time. In addition, this allows healthcare teams to access the patients’ health records and profiles and remotely monitor their health status. According to the test results (i.e., functional, system, front-end, back-end and hardware), this mobile application is able to offer a number of promising benefits -mainly remote basic checkup with minimum contact risks especially during COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Inhalation therapy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: Inhalation therapy allows conveying drugs directly into the airways while minimizing the systemic exposure. Nebulizers can be used by patients unable to use metered-dose inhalers or other inhalers. However, this procedure generates aerosol and causes environmental contamination or disease transmission. Thus, the usage of inhalation therapy should be cautious, especially in the current COVID- 19 pandemic. Besides, the device can also be a reservoir for pathogens and lead to further infection. The use of nebulizers also requires disassembly and cleaning of after each dose. Objectives: This survey aimed to evaluate the compliance of hospital policy regarding the use of inhalation therapy. Methods: This survey was conducted as a part of infection prevention and control program in a 2600-bed teaching hospital. Infection control personnel designed a structured questionnaire and visited the in-patient services during Dec. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020. The survey included the environment control (single room, close door, or close curtain if more than one bed), cleaning methods after use, and who handle the procedure. Results: A total of 84 wards were audited. 38% of the wards did not close the door and 33% did not close the curtain while performing nebulization. To clean the devise after use, the use of tap water flowed by boiled water was most common (32%), followed by sterile water (21%) and 6% used tap water only. The cleaning procedure was performed by nurses (30%) or family/care givers (19%). After the survey, Center for Infection Control had made a consensus with Department of Integrated Diagnostics & Therapeutics and Department of Nursing. The main guidance include: 1) suggest use nebulization in single room only and close the door, if not feasible, suggest close the curtain around the patient area;2) sterile water or boiled water should be used as the last step in cleaning;3) the cleansing procedure should be performed by nurse and trained family/ caregiver. Conclusion: In the era of COVID-19 pandemic, nebulization therapy may carry the risk of inducing aerosol and increase the risk of disease transmission. Through the survey, we notice the infection control practice of nebulization in the hospital should be strengthen. Isolation methods (door/curtain) and cleaning procedure are the two key points need improvement.

Development of a point-of-care mortality risk score for hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Rationale: While several COVID-19-specific mortality risk scores exist, they lack the ease of use given their dependence on online calculators and algorithms. Objectives: The objectives of this study were (1) to design, validate, and calibrate a simple, easy-to-use mortality risk score in a hospitalized COVID-19 population. Methods: Multi-hospital health system in New York City. Patients (n=4840) with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV2 infection who were admitted between March 1 and April 28, 2020. Gray's K-sample test for the cumulative incidence of a competing risk was used to assess and rank 48 different variables' associations with mortality. Candidate variables were added to the composite score using DeLong's test to evaluate their effect on predictive performance (AUC) of in-hospital mortality. Final AUCs for the new score, SOFA, qSOFA, and CURB-65 were assessed on an independent test set. Results: Of 48 variables investigated, 36 (75%) displayed significant (p<0.05 by Gray's test) associations with mortality. The variables selected for the final score were (1) oxygen support level, (2) troponin, (3) blood urea nitrogen, (4) lymphocyte percentage, (5) Glasgow Coma Score, and (6) age. The new score, COBALT, outperforms SOFA, qSOFA, and CURB-65 at predicting mortality in this COVID-19 population: AUCs for initial, maximum, and mean COBALT scores were 0.81, 0.91, and 0.92, compared to 0.77, 0.87, and 0.87 for SOFA. Conclusions: The COBALT score provides a point-of-care tool to estimate mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with superior performance to SOFA and other scores currently in widespread use.