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Large crowds in public transit stations and vehicles introduce obstacles for wayfinding, hygiene, and physical distancing. Public displays that currently provide on-site transit information could also provide critical crowdedness information. Therefore, we examined people's crowd perceptions and information preferences before and during the pandemic, and designs for visualizing crowdedness to passengers. We first report survey results with public transit users (n = 303), including the usability results of three crowdedness visualization concepts. Then, we present two animated crowd simulations on public displays that we evaluated in a field study (n = 44). We found that passengers react very positively to crowding information, especially before boarding a vehicle. Visualizing the exact physical spaces occupied on transit vehicles was most useful for avoiding crowded areas. However, visualizing the overall fullness of vehicles was the easiest to understand. We discuss design implications for communicating crowding information to support decision-making and promote a sense of safety. © 2023 ACM.
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Objective To summarize the clinical features, viral load changes, and outcomes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant infection in mother-infant dyads during lactation period. Methods A total of 24 pairs of lactating mothers and infants under one year old who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 and hospitalized in Lingang Branch of Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital from April 8 to May 30, 2022, were selected as the lactation group in this retrospective study. Another 24 non-lactating mothers, with children of one to three years old, who matched with those mothers in the lactation group in clinical classification and admission date were selected as the control group. Vaccination status, clinical symptoms, daily cycle threshold (Ct) of open reading frame 1ab (ORF1ab) gene and nucleocapsid protein (N) gene, and the duration of positive nucleic acid test were compared between the groups and were analyzed using two independent samples t test, one-way analysis of variance, LSD test, and Chi-square test. Results Among the 24 infants in the lactation group with an age of (6.5±2.1) months, 23 cases were mild type, one was common, and none had been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. The maternal age of the lactation and the control group did not differ statistically [(28.7±6.4) vs (28.2±5.2) years, t=0.30, P=0.768]. Mothers with mild type accounted for 88% (21/24) and those with common for 12% (3/24) in both groups of mothers. Three mothers received one dose of vaccine and two received two in the lactation group, while three received one dose and three received two in the control group [21%(5/24) vs 25%(6/24), χ2=0.12, P=0.731]. The most common symptoms of lactating infants were fever (100%, 24/24), followed by diarrhea (58%, 14/24), cough (50%, 12/24), and wheeze (29%, 7/24), those of the lactating mothers were fever (75%, 18/24), cough (75%, 18/24), and sore throat (63%, 15/24), while those of non-lactating mothers were cough (88%, 21/ 24), sore throat (71%, 17/24), and fever (58%, 14/24). The duration of positive nucleic acid test was the shortest in the lactating infants [(9.2±2.1) d (5-14 d)], followed by mothers in the control group [(11.2± 2.4) d (6-16 d)] and mothers in the lactation group [(14.0±4.2) d (8-26 d)] (LSD test, all P<0.05). Each day from day 2 to 9 after diagnosis, Ct values of nucleic acid of infants in the lactation group were all higher than those of mothers in both the lactation and control groups (LSD test, all P<0.05). On day 10, Ct value of nucleic acid infants was higher than that in mothers in the lactation group (ORF1ab gene: 37.91±4.34 vs 32.79±5.47;N gene: 37.95±4.58 vs 32.66±5.77), which was lower than those in mothers in the control group (ORF1ab gene: 32.79±5.47 vs 35.90±4.17;N gene: 32.66±5.77 vs 36.08±4.16) (LSD test, all P< 0.05). On day 11, the nucleic acid Ct values of mothers in the lactation group were all lower than those in the control group (ORF1ab gene: 35.03±3.74 vs 37.84±3.26, t=－2.78, P=0.008;N gene: 35.30±3.75 vs 38.11±2.90, t=－2.90, P=0.006). On day 12, Ct value of ORF1ab gene and N gene in mothers in the lactation group were similar to those in mothers in the control group (both P>0.05). Conclusions The SARS-CoV-2 vaccination rate of mothers and infants were low during lactation. Lactating infants infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant have low virus load and may have a quick recovery, while for the lactating mothers, the virus load is high and the recovery is slow. © 2022 Chinese Medical Journals Publishing House Co.Ltd. All rights reserved.
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In December 2019, the endemic of COVID-19 broke out in Wuhan, China. The disease is highly contagious and quickly spreads at home and abroad, causing great concern. However, there are no definite effective antiviral drugs in clinical use. Given the urgency of the COVID-19 outbreak, based on the diagnosis and treatment recommendation and relavant researches, this article describes the optional antiviral drugs such as remdesivir, oseltamivir, arbidol, lopinavir/ritonavir, ribavirin, and interferon-alpha to provide a reference for treatment of COVID-19.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, there has been increased participation in online interactivities as offline travels are limited, and tourism recovery has been delayed. This study used a modified non-recursive unidirectional regressive model to understand the influence of marketing communication on behavioural participation influenced by online functions from WeChat (Moment, Subscription, Channel, and Mini-Program) and intention variables (Subjective Norm, Affection, and Perceived Value) for tourist participation. Overall, 173 valid e-questionnaire feedbacks were received, and the data were processed using SPSS.26 to test the empirical hypotheses using manual path analysis for model fitting. The inductive research findings can help interpret general questions for managerial applications as they fulfil the requirements of identifying potential tourists and actively promote the participation behaviours of subsequent leisure travels. The findings of this study can help enhance the causal relationship between WeChat marketing and leisure travelling participation and internalise the influence of online functionality on intention, which is generally considered an intermediary factor. It combines the impacts of psychological variables and consumer behaviour on marketing management. The modified theoretical model represents a change in marketing strategy and simplifies mass marketing for reviving tourism in Shanghai. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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Objective: To evaluate the imaging features of CT scan in patients with COVID-19. Method(s): Clinical data of 56 patients with COVID-19 from January 17 to 19, 2020 admitted to Wenzhou Central Hospital and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University were retrospectively reviewed. The clinical manifestations, lung imaging characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with different severity were analyzed with SAS software. Result(s): Fever (92.8%, 52/56), dry cough (75.0%, 42/56) and asthenia (58.9%, 33/56) were the first symptoms in most of the patients;some patients also had shortness of breath (25.0%, 14/56) and pharyngeal pain (10.7%, 6/56). Chest high-resolution CT scan showed that in 42 moderate patients, ground glass-like high-density shadows in the lung were observed in 30 cases (71.4%);localized plaque consolidation shadows and bronchial inflation signs were observed in 10 cases (23.8%). In 12 severe patients, 11 had high-density patches involving multiple lung lobes (>=3). In 2 critically ill patients the patches and stripes involving the entire lung were observed;and cord-like high-density shadow, local consolidation and fibrosis were also shown. Conclusion(s): The multiple ground-glass changes outside the lungs are early imaging manifestations of COVID-19 patients. The increase in pulmonary lobe consolidation and fibrosis may indicate the disease progression, and the degree of lung consolidation and fibrosis is closely related to the disease severity.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.
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Since the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 occurred in December 2019, the reduction of population mobility has curbed the spread of the epidemic to some extent but also prolonged the waiting time for the treatment of patients with gastric cancer. Based on fully understanding the different staging characteristics of gastric cancer, clinical departments should develop reasonable out-of-hospital management strategies. On one hand, reasonable communication channels should be established to allow patients to receive adequate guidance out of the hospital. On the other hand, shared decisions with patients should be made to adjust treatment strategies, and education on viral prevention should be implemented to minimize the impact of the epidemic on tumor treatment.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.
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In December 2019, the endemic of COVID-19 broke out in Wuhan, China. The disease is highly contagious and quickly spreads at home and abroad, causing great concern. However, there are no definite effective antiviral drugs in clinical use. Given the urgency of the COVID-19 outbreak, based on the diagnosis and treatment recommendation and relavant researches, this article describes the optional antiviral drugs such as remdesivir, oseltamivir, arbidol, lopinavir/ritonavir, ribavirin, and interferon-alpha to provide a reference for treatment of COVID-19.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.
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Objective: To evaluate the imaging features of CT scan in patients with COVID-19. Method(s): Clinical data of 56 patients with COVID-19 from January 17 to 19, 2020 admitted to Wenzhou Central Hospital and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University were retrospectively reviewed. The clinical manifestations, lung imaging characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with different severity were analyzed with SAS software. Result(s): Fever (92.8%, 52/56), dry cough (75.0%, 42/56) and asthenia (58.9%, 33/56) were the first symptoms in most of the patients;some patients also had shortness of breath (25.0%, 14/56) and pharyngeal pain (10.7%, 6/56). Chest high-resolution CT scan showed that in 42 moderate patients, ground glass-like high-density shadows in the lung were observed in 30 cases (71.4%);localized plaque consolidation shadows and bronchial inflation signs were observed in 10 cases (23.8%). In 12 severe patients, 11 had high-density patches involving multiple lung lobes (>=3). In 2 critically ill patients the patches and stripes involving the entire lung were observed;and cord-like high-density shadow, local consolidation and fibrosis were also shown. Conclusion(s): The multiple ground-glass changes outside the lungs are early imaging manifestations of COVID-19 patients. The increase in pulmonary lobe consolidation and fibrosis may indicate the disease progression, and the degree of lung consolidation and fibrosis is closely related to the disease severity.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.
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Background/objectives: According to the reported cases, more than 100 athletes were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in March 2020 alone, and this has created an increased interest in the effect of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on athletes. This promoted us to study the spread of COVID-19 in athletes and formulate prevention strategies. Methodology: We collected and analyzed the demographic information, such as nationality, sex, age, name, sport played, sport level, source and cause of infection, date of symptoms onset or confirmation of positive status, date of recovery, location of infection contraction, symptoms, and the people infected by the contracted athletes, of 521 infected athletes worldwide, as of the end of July, 2020. Results: The cohort comprised 95.49% male athletes; 57.2% were aged 19-35 years, with the average age 23 years. Most of these cases emerged in March 2020 (27.3%) and June 2020 (30.1%), 90.8% of cases were active athletes and 74.2% were professional players, 45.2% of infected athletes exhibited mild symptoms and 30.6% of them were asymptomatic; however, 23.1% of the cases died, including cases aged less than 40 years. Most infected athletes represented soccer (46.6%), football (15.9%), and basketball (10.9%). Most of the infected athletes were from the United States, Western Europe, and Eastern Asia. The athletes primarily contracted the infection in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. The spread of COVID-19 in these athletes primarily occurred during training- and game-related activities. More than 60% of the infected athletes were unaware of their source of infection. Conclusion: It found that the halting of training and matches, isolation of athletes at home, and timely testing can effectively control the spread of COVID-19 among athletes, and it is recommended that athletes discontinue international travel, especially to countries with a high epidemic risk.
Contexte/objectifs: Rien qu'en mars 2020, plus de 100 athlètes auraient été infectés par le coronavirus 2 du syndrome respiratoire aigu sévère, ce qui nous a amenés à étudier la propagation du COVID-19 et à élaborer des stratégies de prévention. Méthodologie: Nous avons recueilli et analysé des données démographiques sur la nationalité, le sexe, l'âge, le nom, le projet sportif, le niveau de mouvement, l'origine et les causes de l'infection, la date de l'apparition ou de la confirmation de l'état positif, la date du rétablissement, l'emplacement de la contraction, les symptômes et les personnes infectées de 521 athlètes infectés. Au niveau mondial, à la fin de juillet 2020. Résultats: Il y a 95,49 % d'hommes dans ce groupe ; 57,2 % sont âgés de 19 à 35 ans et l'âge moyen est de 23 ans. Au maximum, en mars 2020 (27,3 %) et en juin 2020 (30,1 %), 90,8 % étaient des athlètes actifs, 74,2 % des athlètes professionnels, 45,2 % des athlètes infectés présentaient des symptômes modérés et 30,6 % ne présentaient aucun symptôme. Au total, 23,1 % des cas sont mortels, dont les moins de 40 ans. Les athlètes infectés sont principalement le football (46,6 %), le football (15,9 %) et le basket-ball (10,9 %). Les athlètes infectés venaient principalement d'Europe occidentale et des États-Unis. Ces athlètes ont été infectés principalement aux États-Unis, en Europe occidentale et au Japon. La diffusion du COVID-19 parmi ces athlètes se fait principalement dans le cadre d'activités de formation et de compétition. Plus de 60 % des athlètes infectés ne savent pas d'où ils viennent infection. Conclusions: Constatant que l'arrêt de l'entraînement et des compétitions, l'isolement des athlètes chez eux et la détection rapide permettent de contrôler efficacement la propagation du COVID-19 chez les athlètes, et recommandant aux athlètes de cesser de voyager à l'étranger, en particulier pour les pays à haut risque épidémiologique.
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The COVID-19 pandemic shows growing demand of robots to replace humans for conducting multiple tasks including logistics, patient care, and disinfection in contaminated areas. In this paper, a new autonomous disinfection robot is proposed based on aerosolized hydrogen peroxide disinfection method. Its unique feature lies in that the autonomous navigation is planned by developing an atomization disinfection model and a target detection algorithm, which enables cost-effective, point-of-care, and full-coverage disinfection of the air and surface in indoor environment. A prototype robot has been fabricated for experimental study. The effectiveness of the proposed concept design for automated indoor environmental disinfection has been verified with air and surface quality monitoring provided by a qualified third-party testing agency. Note to Practitioners - Robots are desirable to reduce the risk of human infection of highly contagious virus. For such purpose, a novel autonomous disinfection robot is designed herein for automated disinfection of air and surface in indoor environment. The robot structure consists of a mobile carrier platform and an atomizer disinfection module. The disinfection modeling is conducted by using the measurement data provided by a custom-built PM sensor array. To achieve cost-effective and qualified disinfection, a full-coverage path planning scheme is proposed based on the established disinfection model. Moreover, for specifically disinfecting the frequently contacted objects (e.g., tables and chairs in offices and hospitals), a target perception algorithm is proposed to mark the localization of these objects in the map, which are disinfected by the robot more carefully in these marked areas. Experimental results indicate that the developed disinfection robot offers great effectiveness to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2004-2012 IEEE.
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Energy crisis and increasing rigorous management standards pose significant challenges for solid waste management worldwide. Several emerging diseases such as COVID-19 aggravated the already complex solid waste management crisis, especially sewage sludge and food waste streams, because of the increasingly large production year by year. As mature waste disposal technologies, landfills, incineration, composting, and some other methods are widespread for solid wastes management. This paper reviews recent advances in key sewage sludge disposal technologies. These include incineration, anaerobic digestion, and valuable products oriented-conversion. Food waste disposal technologies comprised of thermal treatment, fermentation, value-added product conversion, and composting have also been described. The hot topic and dominant research foci of each area are summarized, simultaneously compared with conventional technologies in terms of organic matter degradation or conversion performance, energy generation, and renewable resources production. Future perspectives of each technology that include issues not well understood and predicted challenges are discussed with a positive effect on the full-scale implementation of the discussed disposal methods. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd
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Background: Improved physical fitness is important for preventing COVID-19-related mortality. So, combined training can effectively increase peak oxygen consumption, physical fitness, body composition, blood pressure, and the healthrelated characteristics of adults; however, its impact in the elderly remains unclear. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of combined training on older adults. Four electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Medline, and Web of Science) were searched (until April 2021) for randomized trials comparing the effect of combined training on cardiorespiratory fitness, physical fitness, body composition, blood pressure, and cardiometabolic risk factors in older adults. Results: Combined training significantly improved peak oxygen consumption compared to no exercise (WMD = 3.10, 95% CI: 2.83 to 3.37). Combined resistance and aerobic training induced favorable changes in physical fitness (timed up-and-go = -1.06, 30-s chair stand = 3.85, sit and reach = 4.43, 6-minute walking test = 39.22, arm curl = 4.60, grip strength = 3.65, 10-m walk = -0.47, maximum walking speed = 0.15, one-leg balance = 2.71), body composition (fat mass = -2.91, body fat% = -2.31, body mass index = -0.87, waist circumference = -2.91), blood pressure (systolic blood pressure = -8.11, diastolic blood pressure = -4.55), and cardiometabolic risk factors (glucose = -0.53, HOMA-IR = -0.14, high-density lipoprotein = 2.32, total cholesterol = -5.32) in older individuals. Finally, the optimal exercise prescription was ≥ 30 min/session × 50-80% VO2peak, ≥ 3 times/week for ≥ 12 weeks and resistance intensity 70-75% one-repetition maximum, 8-12 repetitions × 3 sets. Conclusions: Combined training improved VO2peak and some cardiometabolic risk factors in older populations. The dose-effect relationship varied between different parameters. Exercise prescriptions must be formulated considering individual needs during exercise.
Contexte: L'amélioration de la condition physique est importante pour prévenir la mortalité liée au COVID-19. Ainsi, l'entraînement combiné peut augmenter efficacement la consommation maximale d'oxygène, la forme physique, la composition corporelle, la tension artérielle et les caractéristiques liées à la santé des adultes; cependant, son impact chez les personnes âgées reste incertain. Méthodes: Cette revue systématique et cette méta-analyse visaient à évaluer les effets de l'entraînement combiné chez les personnes âgées. Quatre bases de données électroniques (PubMed, Scopus, Medline et Web of Science) ont été consultées (jusqu'en avril 2021) pour trouver des essais randomisés comparant l'effet d'un entraînement combiné sur l'aptitude cardiorespiratoire, la forme physique, la composition corporelle, la tension artérielle et les facteurs de risque cardiométabolique chez les personnes âgées. Résultats: Au total, 37 publications ont été incluses dans cette étude. L'entraînement combiné a considérablement amélioré la consommation maximale d'oxygène par rapport à l'absence d'exercice (DMP = 3,10, IC95 % : 2,83 à 3,37). La combinaison résistance + entraînement aérobie a entraîné des changements favorables dans la forme physique (démarrage chronométré = −1,06, position assise pendant 30 s = 3,85, position assise et lever = 4,43, test de marche de 6 minutes = 39,22, flexion des bras = 4,60, adhérence force = 3,65, marche de 10 m = −0,47, vitesse de marche maximale = 0,15, équilibre sur une jambe = 2,71), composition corporelle (masse grasse = −2,91, pourcentage de graisse corporelle = −2,31, indice de masse corporelle = −0,87, taille circonférence = −2,91), tension artérielle (pression artérielle systolique = −8,11, pression artérielle diastolique = −4,55) et facteurs de risque cardiométabolique (glucose = −0,53, HOMA-IR = −0,14, lipoprotéines de haute densité = 2,32, cholestérol total = −5,32) chez les personnes âgées. Enfin, la prescription d'exercice optimale était ≥ 30 min/séance × 5080 % VO2pic, ≥ 3 fois/semaine pendant ≥ 12 semaines et résistance à une intensité de 7075 % une répétition maximale, 812 répétitions × 3 séries. Conclusions: L'entraînement combiné a amélioré la VO2pic et certains facteurs de risque cardiométabolique chez les populations âgées. La relation dose-effet variait entre les différents paramètres. Les prescriptions d'exercice doivent être formulées en tenant compte des besoins individuels pendant l'exercice.
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Recently, the viral propagation of mis/disinformation has raised significant concerns from both academia and industry. This problem is particularly difficult because on the one hand, rapidly evolving technology makes it much cheaper and easier to manipulate and propagate social media information. On the other hand, the complexity of human psychology and sociology makes the understanding, prediction and prevention of users' involvement in mis/disinformation propagation very difficult. This themed series on "Multi-Disciplinary Dis/Misinformation Analysis and Countermeasures" aims to bring the attention and efforts from researchers in relevant disciplines together to tackle this challenging problem. In addition, on October 20th, 2021, and March 7th 2022, some of the guest editorial team members organized two panel discussions on "Social Media Disinformation and its Impact on Public Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic," and on "Dis/Misinformation Analysis and Countermeasures - A Computational Viewpoint." This article summarizes the key discussion items at these two panels and hopes to shed light on the future directions.
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Objective: To analyze the performance of emergency response to 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) positive cases in an international test competition in an Winter Olympic Game venue and provide evidences for the COVID-19 prevention and control in similar competitions. Methods: A retrospective analysis on the epidemiological investigation and nucleic acid test results of the cases, the implementation of prevention and control measures, including the communication with sport teams and others, was conducted. Results: The positive cases of 2019-nCoV among entering people were detected before entry, at airport, hotel and venue. Two positive cases were reported before entry, 2 positive cases infected previously and 3 asymptomatic cases were reported after the entry. The venue public health team and local CDC conducted epidemiological investigation and contact assessment jointly in a timely and efficient manner. No local secondary transmission occurred, but the nucleic acid test results of positive persons fluctuated, posing serious challenges to the implementation of prevention and control measures. Conclusion: In large scale international competition, there is high risk of imported COVID-19. It is necessary to fully consider the fluctuation of nucleic acid test results, the criteria for determination and cancellation of positive results and give warm care to positive cases in the emergency response.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , SARS-CoV-2 , Retrospective Studies , SeasonsABSTRACT
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the pandemic that has had the greatest impact on world economic development in recent years. Early detection is critical to identify patients with COVID-19, chest x-ray is used for early detection is a rapid, extensive and cost-effective method. The existing technology use deep learning methods, and have achieved very good results. However, the training time of deep learning method is long, and the model size makes it difficult to deploy on hardware system. In this work, we have proposed an attention-based ResNet50v2 network, and taken the network as the teacher network to transfer the knowledge to the student network by knowledge distillation. Thus, the student network has higher accuracy and sensitivity to the positive samples of COVID-19 under the condition of low model parameters, high training speed. The experimental results show that our network of teacher and student have achieved 100% accuracy and sensitivity in both COVID-19 and Normal binary classification. In addition, the accuracy rate of teacher network is 98.20%, the sensitivity is 99.58%, the accuracy rate of student network is 97.68%, the sensitivity is 99.17% in the COVID-19, Viral pneumonia and Normal multiple classification, and the parameters of the student network are only 0.269M. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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This paper proposes a novel time-frequency feature fusion method to recognise patients' behaviours based on the Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar system, which can locate patients as well as recognise their current actions and thus is expected to solve the shortage of medical staff caused by the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19). To recognise the patient's behaviour, the FMCW radar is utilised to acquire point clouds reflected by the human body, and the micro-Doppler spectrogram is generated by human motion. Then features are extracted and fused from the time-domain information of point clouds and the frequency-domain information of the micro-Doppler spectrogram respectively. According to the fused features, the patient's behaviour is recognised by a Bayesian optimisation random forest algorithm, where the role of Bayesian optimisation is to select the best hyper-parameters for the random forest, i.e. the number of random forest decision trees, the depth of leaves, and the number of features. The experimental results show that an average accuracy of 99.3% can be achieved by using the time-frequency fusion with the Bayesian optimisation random forest model to recognise six actions.
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In this Innovative Practice Full Paper we present an approach where we coupled several proven pedagogical practices to enhance student engagement during the time of remote/hybrid instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of these approaches was team-based learning throughout the entire semester which aided in student motivation. A second practice implemented was game-based learning to drive student engagement and excitement. This game-based learning approach used a semester-long scoring system which allowed students to compete for bonus points both on an individual and team basis. This enabled students to practice their teaming skills. Lastly, there was a major focus on diversity & inclusion in addition to teamwork in the course. Students were arranged into teams in an optimized manner by the CATME software. The optimization constraints were chosen using best practices for diversity in race & ethnicity, gender, skill levels, and leadership philosophy, while also considering students with similar schedules for availability purposes. The course also contained instructional modules on effective teamwork as well as contributions in the field of electrical engineering by underrepresented minorities. This paper details the innovative coupling of these practices and how they fit into the course's overall plan. Classroom activity and student perceptions associated with these practices were assessed via structured classroom observation using the COPUS protocol and collection of survey/focus group data, respectively. Assessment results are discussed, along with challenges encountered in this electromagnetics course in the hybrid/remote learning environment.
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After the outbreak of COVID-19, it spread rapidly all over the world. A large number of infected patients have led to a sharp increase in medical waste. This puts great pressure on the medical waste treatment system. The disposal capacity of the system may not be able to meet such a large amount of medical waste, which may lead to delayed treatment of infectious medical waste (IMW) and accumulation of non-infectious medical waste (NMW). Therefore, this paper proposes that it is necessary to classify IMW and NMW, and reconstruct the domestic waste disposal plant to treat NMW to alleviate the pressure of the treatment system. This paper also establishes an eco-economics model to optimize the emergency disposal scheme. The effectiveness of the model is verified by a real case in Wuhan. It is found that the location and carbon emission coefficient of the domestic waste disposal plants are the key factors affecting its selection. At the same time, sufficient budget may lead to waste money. In addition, carbon emission and total cost always change in the opposite trend when the budget changes. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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As the COVID-19 pandemic rampages across the world, the demands of video conferencing surge. To this end, real-time portrait segmentation becomes a popular feature to replace backgrounds of conferencing participants. While feature-rich datasets, models and algorithms have been offered for segmentation that extract body postures from life scenes, portrait segmentation has yet not been well covered in a video conferencing context. To facilitate the progress in this field, we introduce an open-source solution named PP-HumanSeg. This work is the first to construct a large-scale video portrait dataset that contains 291 videos from 23 conference scenes with 14K fine-labeled frames and extensions to multi-camera teleconferencing. Furthermore, we propose a novel Self-supervised Connectivity-aware Learning (SCL) for semantic segmentation, which introduces a self-supervised connectivity-aware loss to improve the quality of segmentation results from the perspective of connectivity. And we propose an ultra-lightweight model with SCL for practical portrait segmentation, which achieves the best trade-off between IoU and the speed of inference. Extensive evaluations on our dataset demonstrate the superiority of SCL and our model.