Generation of APN-chimeric gene-edited pigs by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in strategy

The prevalence of porcine enteric coronaviruses (PECs), including transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV), porcine delta coronavirus (PDCoV), and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), poses a serious threat to animal and public health. Here, we aimed to further optimize the porcine aminopeptidase N (pAPN) gene editing strategy to explore the balance between individual antiviral properties and the biological functions of pAPN in pigs. Finally, APN-chimeric gene-edited pigs were produced through a CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in strategy. Further reproductive tests indicated that these gene-edited pigs exhibited normal pregnancy rates and viability. Notably, in vitro viral challenge assays further demonstrated that porcine kidney epithelial cells isolated from F1-generation gene-edited pigs could effectively inhibit TGEV infection. This study is the first to report the generation of APN-chimeric pigs, which may provide a natural host animal for characterizing PEC infection with APN and help in the development of better antiviral solutions. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

Remote Laboratory as an Educational Tool in Robotics Experimental Course

A remote lab is a technology that allows participants to efficiently conduct experimental teaching where users can connect to lab equipment from anywhere without being in a specific physical location. The COVID-19 pandemic affects all areas of human activity. As a result, students did not receive face-to-face instruction, and access to the laboratory was limited or practically impos-sible, and access to laboratory facilities has been limited or nearly impossible. Especially in engineering education, students' practical abilities cannot be devel-oped comprehensively. In this paper, this paper built an online remote robotics experiment system using digital twin (DT) technology and IoT technology and adopted ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evalua-tion) teaching method. With these measures, students can design and debug robot programs at home, just like in the laboratory. This study sent questionnaires to 64 students, and 58 were returned. The results show that more than 80% of students believe that the remote labs for industrial robotics courses have improved the efficiency and quality of students' skills training as opposed to virtual simulation and watching videos on the computer.

Improving Quality of Care for Incarcerated Youth with Opioid Misuse and Opioid Use Disorder

Purpose: Opioid-related morbidity and mortality have risen in many settings. In particular, the prevalence of opioid misuse in incarcerated youth exceeds that of the general adolescent population and overdose mortality within 2 weeks of release is 129 times higher. In 2016, 1 out of 10 adolescent deaths were opioid-related. In King County, WA, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of opioid-related overdose in youth under the age of 20 increased twofold from 10 in 2019 to 21 in 2020. Despite such trends, most incarcerated individuals who could benefit from treatment do not receive it. Our goal was to implement a quality improvement (QI) project to evaluate the prevalence of opioid misuse in adolescents and improve protocols to support youth with opioid use disorder (OUD) at a juvenile detention center in King County, WA. Methods: From March 2020-April 2021, providers at the Clark Children and Family Justice Center (CFJC) implemented a QI project to improve quality of care for youth with opioid misuse and OUD. We conducted a chart review to determine prevalence of opioid misuse among youth. We reviewed the change in percentage of youth referred for substance misuse after the implementation of 2 change interventions: provider buprenorphine waiver training and the development of an opioid use management and referral protocol. Providers completed buprenorphine waiver training in June 2020. We developed and initiated protocols in September 2020 to screen adolescents for opioid use and withdrawal, support buprenorphine induction and maintenance, provide youth with overdose prevention training and naloxone kit, and improve care coordination to ensure a smooth transition of care for youth with OUD returning to their communities. This project was reviewed by the University of Washington IRB and determined to be “not human subjects research” as defined by federal and state regulations. Results: The prevalence of opioid misuse of youth ages 12-17 at CFJC from September 2020-April 2021 was 16.9% in comparison to 3.6% in the general population in 2016. From March-May 2020, prior to providers completing buprenorphine waiver training, only 60% of youth who reported substance misuse were referred to the CFJC-Health Clinic for consultation by the next available clinic day. From June-August 2020, after providers completed buprenorphine waiver training, 81% of youth who reported substance misuse were referred for consultation. From Sept 2020-April 2021, after implementation of a referral and management protocol for opioid use and withdrawal, almost all (90%) of youth reporting misuse were referred. Conclusions: Similar to previous literature, we found that the prevalence of opioid misuse among adolescents at CFJC was significantly higher than in the general population. Our findings demonstrate that two change interventions of provider buprenorphine training and the development of protocols to facilitate the assessment and management of opioid misuse and OUD increased the rate of youth who received treatment for OUD at CFJC. Further refinement of these guidelines is needed to ensure that all youth admitted to CFJC with opioid misuse and OUD receive timely consultation and support to decrease the rate of opioid-related morbidity and mortality in confined youth. Sources of Support: None.

Development of Machine Learning Models for Prediction of IT project Cost and Duration

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21, the digital economy remains solid and sustainable. This trend continues to drive massive demand for Information Technology (IT) projects. Underestimated costs and time are considered one of the most critical IT project risks that directly impact a project's success or failure. Currently, there is a lack of models, tools, and techniques capable of effectively predicting cost and duration. This study aims to find a solution to enhance prediction capability by using a machine learning (ML) model. An experiment was conducted comparing the performance of each ML model utilizing three distinct datasets and fourteen different models against six performance indicators. The results indicated the existence of a highly reliable, effective, consistent, and accurate ML model with a significant degree of augmentation compared to conventional predictive project management tools and techniques. © 2022 IEEE.

Criminal law regulation of criminal acts involving COVID-19 epidemic

On the eve of the 2020 Spring Festival, the new coronavirus pneumonia broke out, normal social order was affected, and crimes involving the epidemic increased. On February 6, 2020, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued "Opinions on Punishment of Crimes Obstructing the Prevention and Control of the Novel Coronavirus Infection Pneumonia Epidemic According to Law", which clearly stipulates nine types of crimes that hinder the prevention and control of the epidemic. In order to clarify and solve some outstanding problems of inconsistent understanding of the application of laws in the practice of epidemic prevention and control, the Supreme People's Procuratorate selected cases that accounted for a large portion of cases, reflected many problems, and urgently required practical practices;they then issued ten batches of "Typical Cases of Crimes Obstructing the Prevention and Control of the New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic by Procuratorial Organs across the Country". This article is mainly based on the "Prosecutors across the country handle typical cases of crimes obstructing the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in accordance with the law", analyzing economic and property crimes, crimes that disrupt the order of social management, and crimes that endanger public safety.

Fast Recovery or Stagnation? The Maritime Industry post COVID-19

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in February 2020, the global maritime trade plunged by 9% in H1 2020, an unprecedented loss since the trade decrease triggered by the 2008 Financial Crisis. In addition to the disruptions of supply chains and decline of transportation sectors brought on by the pandemic, surging nationalism and protectionism, the retreat of globalization, and calls for more diversified global value chains and decoupling of economies have heightened the adverse impacts on survival and sustainable growth of the shipping industry. As a result, many people have adopted a more pessimistic view, and predicted that “the short-term outlook for maritime trade is grim, and that the industry’s recovery is fraught with uncertainty,” according to one UNCTAD report. Some even proclaimed to “wave goodbye to the greatest era of globalization,” wrote The Economist in May of 2020. This article argues that the maritime industry will have a strong and speedy recovery from the downturns despite transportation disruptions brought on by COVID-19, outcry for diversification of supply chains, and changes escalated and exacerbated by nationalist sentiments and protectionist conflicts. The adverse factors that the shipping industry faces would be marginal rather than fundamental in nature. Those marginally higher risks could be managed and ameliorated by multinational enterprises through alternate cross-border business strategies and harnessing of new technologies. Panic over the changes in supply chains (including nearshoring and reshoring) and diversifying production sites could be mitigated by emerging profitability earned from global specialization, rent-seeking strategies, and orchestrating a transformation in global value chains. Most importantly, pandemic-driven fears that globalization could be “killed” will be minimized when actual data shows just the opposite - that globalization is expanding. The paper also analyzes the elements that could strengthen the fast recovery and sustainable growth of the maritime industry. The vertical and horizontal integrations of maritime companies, especially the massive multinational enterprises, show their vast capacity in the cross-border movements of ideas, technology and portfolio capital, and consequently would help build up global production scale of economies and global amortization. Emerging technologies and their increasingly commonplace applications in digitalization, automation and robotics in maritime sectors, is crucial to sustaining both short-term productivity and long-term growth of the maritime industry. The research provides evidence for why the maritime industry is poised for an expeditious post-pandemic recovery and seeks to answer many puzzling questions while our world still operates under globally disruptive and unprecedented pressures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021 21st Annual General Assembly, IAMU AGA 2021 - Proceedings of the International Association of Maritime Universities ,IAMU Conference. All rights reserved.

Immersive virtual reality (VR) Classroom to enhance learning and increase interest and enjoyment in the secondary school science curriculum

This paper describes how an Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) Classroom in a secondary school in Singapore is used to enhance learning through visualization and deepen understanding of science and increase interest and enjoyment in science. The VR Classroom is a futuristic classroom that taps the affordances of VR and AR to enhance HCI (Human-Computer Interactions) through visualization and interactivity, as well as increase engagement and enjoyment in the school curriculum. About the size of a regular classroom, this VR Classroom has three units of Oculus Rifts coupled adorned with life-size wall Augmented Reality posters of the Coronavirus and cells. Drawing from the author's experience in implementing VR lessons as a part of everyday classroom practice, this paper aims to provide practical ideas for educators to leverage on the affordances of virtual reality technologies to plan and design VR lessons. The author will also share sample lesson ideas on how educators can use VR 360 degrees videos to reach out to their students during this COVID-19 pandemic to complement the inquiry learning experience. The immersive and interactive nature of VR makes it an ideal tool for differentiated instruction to cater to diverse learners and learning needs especially during this pandemic. Data from findings using grounded theory and quantitative studies on affective outcomes show that there is significant increase in students' enjoyment in learning science when immersive VR is used and that the use of immersive VR increases students' self-efficacy. These findings have implications on the pedagogical design of lessons that use immersive VR. © 2021

Teleconsulting in the time of a global pandemic: Application to anesthesia and technological considerations

As a result of the various restrictions associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic, the practice of veterinary telehealth is likely to grow substantially. One area in which high quality care can be maintained while respecting physical distancing is teleconsulting, which describes the relationship between an attending and off-site consulting veterinarian. This guide uses a dentistry case to illustrate the provision of real-time anesthesia consulting, with a focus on the technological considerations central to facilitating live, 2-way video-communication. Case selection, teamwork, and patient safety are also discussed.