ABSTRACT
Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) is an attractive target for developing immune modulators to enhance innate immunity against ssRNA virus infections, including hepatitis C and COVID-19. Ten 3-(5-hydroxyphenyl)-5-phenyl-2-pyrazolines were tested using TLR7 reporter cells, overexpressing TLR7 and the NF-B-inducible SEAP reporter gene to discover a novel TLR7 agonist enhancing innate immunity. Of these, 2-(3-(2-hydroxynaphthalen-1-yl)-5-(4-methoxyphenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)thiazol-4(5H)-one (compound 6) showed the best TLR7 agonistic activity, and further experiments were carried out to study the immune-modulatory capability of compound 6. Treatment with compound 6 rapidly induced phosphorylation of IRAK4, IKKα/β, IBα, and p65/RelA in THP1 monocytic cells. In addition, it increased the expression of NF-B-regulated innate cytokines, such as TNFα and IL1β, in THP1 monocytic cells. These data suggest that compound 6 induces an innate immune response by agonizing TLR7 activity in THP1 human monocytic cells. Therefore, compound 6 can be used as an innate immune modulator to develop antiviral agents and vaccine adjuvants. © 2023 Ji Hwan Kim et al.
ABSTRACT
This study explored how undergraduate students at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa sought and consumed information about the virus that causes COVID-19. This study also examined student perceptions of the severity of and their susceptibility to the virus and their main concerns about it. Four hundred fifty-six students completed online surveys between October and early December of 2020 and 2021. Students reported low to moderate levels of information seeking across four domains: (1) knowledge about COVID-19 and its symptoms;(2) preventing the spread of the virus;(3) the current state of the pandemic in Hawai'i;and (4) the likely future of the pandemic in Hawai'i. Overall, websites, television, and Instagram were the top 3 channels used by students to seek information for these domains. Students reported primarily paying attention to information from government and news organizations as sources. However, students' preferred channels and sources varied with the type of information they sought. Students also reported believing that COVID-19 is severe and that they are susceptible to being infected with it. The more time students reported seeking information, the greater their perceptions of COVID-19's severity across all domains. Students' primary concerns about COVID-19 centered on state regulations/policies, vaccines, tourism/travel, the economy, and pandemic/post-pandemic life. These findings can help public health practitioners in Hawai'i determine how best to reach an undergraduate student population with information related to COVID-19. ©Copyright 2023 by University Health Partners of Hawai'i (UHP Hawai'i).
ABSTRACT
Global value changes continued to expand until the late 2000s. On the other hand, regional value chains have formed around major regional hubs due to the expansion of domestic demand in emerging economies, such as China, and strengthened trade protectionism since the global financial crisis. Such changes lead to the reorganisation of value chains, focusing on domestic markets (reshoring) or neighbouring countries (nearshoring). In particular, the importance of supply chain risk management has been highlighted following disruptions to the supply network due to the COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019. In this regard, major countries such as the USA and the EU are rapidly shifting to regional value chains for stable and sustainable production, rather than primarily aiming for production efficiency targeted at reducing costs. Industries in particular are more exposed to such supply chain risks under the existing structure and it now has become extremely important for businesses to take reaction to such risks. This is especially important for major industries in a country such as automobile or semiconductor manufacturing industries in South Korea. The aim of this study, therefore, is to establish the basis for the simultaneous growth of ports and linked industries by examining the existing structure of the global value chain for the automotive industry, which has a strong presence in South Korea’s domestic economy. In this regard, this research carries out a supply chain analysis focusing on the imports and exports of automotive parts. It also analyses the current structural risks and suggests risk management measures to secure a stable supply chain. © 2021 Jungseok Research Institute of International Logistics and Trade.
ABSTRACT
Purpose - Semiconductors are a significant export item for Korea that is expected to continue to contribute significantly to the Korean economy in the future. Thus, the semiconductor industry is a critical component in the 4th Industrial Revolution and is expected to continue growing as the nonface-to-face economy expands as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, this paper aims to empirically investigate how semiconductors are imported and exported in Korea from a global supply chain perspective by analysing import and export data at the micro-level. Design/methodology - This study conducts a multifaceted analysis of the global supply chain for semiconductors and related equipment in Korea by examining semiconductor imports and exports by semiconductor type, year, target country, mode of transportation, airport/port, and domestic region, using import/export micro-data. The visualisation, flow analysis, and Bayesian Network methodologies were used to compensate for the limitations of each method. Findings - Korea is a major exporter of semiconductor memory and has the world's highest competitiveness but is relatively weak in the field of system semiconductors. The trade deficit in 'semiconductor equipment and parts' is clearly growing. As a result, continued investment in 'system semiconductors' and 'semiconductor equipment and parts' technology development is necessary to boost exports and ensure a stable supply chain. Originality/value - Few papers on semiconductor trade in Korea have been published from the perspective of the global supply chain or value chain. This study contributes to the literature in this area by focusing on import and export data for the global supply chain of the Korean semiconductor industry using a variety of approaches. It is our hope that the insights gained from this study will aid in the advancement of SCM research.
ABSTRACT
The spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has caused trillions of dollars of damages to the governments and health authorities by affecting the global economies. It is essential to identify, track and trace COVID-19 spread at its earliest detection. Timely action can not only reduce further spread but also help in providing an efficient medical response. Existing schemes rely on volunteer participation, and/or mobile traceability, which leads to delays in containing the spread. There is a need for an autonomous, connected, and centralized paradigm that can identify, trace and inform connected personals. We propose a novel connected Internet of Things (IoT) based paradigm using convolution neural networks (CNN), smart wearable, and connected E-Health to help governments resume normal life again. Our autonomous scheme provides three-level detection: Inter-object distance for social distancing violations using CNN, area-based monitoring of active smartphone users and their current state of illness using connected E-Health, and smart wearable. Our exhaustive performance evaluation identifies that the proposed scheme with CNN YOLOv3 achieves up to 90% mean average precision in detecting social distancing violations, as compared to existing YOLOv2 achieving 70% and faster R-CNN with 76%. Our evaluation also identifies that wearing protective gear reduces spread by 50%, and timely actions in the first hour can help avoid three times COVID-19 exposure. © 2021 Turkiye Klinikleri. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Contagious disease pandemics present a significant threat worldwide in terms of both human health and economic damage. New diseases emerge annually and place enormous burdens on many countries. Additionally, using humans to handle pandemic situations increases the chances of disease spreading. Therefore, various technologies that do not directly involve humans should be employed to handle pandemic situations. The Internet of Drones (IoDT), artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain are emerging technologies that have revolutionized the modern world. This article presents a blockchain-based AI-empowered pandemic situation supervision scheme in which a swarm of drones embedded with AI is engaged to autonomously monitor pandemic outbreaks, thereby keeping human involvement as low as possible. A use case based on a recent pandemic (i.e., COVID-19) is discussed. Two types of drone swarms are used to handle multiple tasks (e.g., checking face masks and imposing lockdowns). A lightweight blockchain is considered to handle situations in remote areas with poor network connectivity. Additionally, a two-phase lightweight security mechanism is adopted to validate the entities in the proposed scheme. A proof of concept is established using an experimental environment setup and dataset training. An analysis of the experimental results demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed scheme.