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Children are one of the groups most influenced by COVID-19-related social distancing, and a lack of contact with peers can limit their opportunities to develop social and collaborative skills. However, remote socialization and collaboration as an alternative approach is still a great challenge for children. This paper presents MR.Brick, a Mixed Reality (MR) educational game system that helps children adapt to remote collaboration. A controlled experimental study involving 24 children aged six to ten was conducted to compare MR.Brick with the traditional video game by measuring their social and collaborative skills and analyzing their multi-modal playing behaviours. The results showed that MR.Brick was more conducive to children's remote collaboration experience than the traditional video game. Given the lack of training systems designed for children to collaborate remotely, this study may inspire interaction design and educational research in related fields. © 2023 ACM.
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China's aging population has deeply affected the sustainable development of the Chinese economy. Based on the provincial panel data of China's population and economic indicators from 2000 to 2020, this paper develops a panel vector autoregressive model to analyze the effect of China's aging population on economic growth under the paths of household consumption and national savings, respectively. The results show that an aging population inhibits household consumption and promotes national saving, which has both direct and indirect effects on economic growth. In particular, an aging population is not conducive to sustainable economic development in the context of China's slow population growth over the past three years and the contraction of the global economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with the empirical results, this paper puts forward corresponding policy recommendations, as follows: improve the pension security system;develop the silver-hair industry;expand domestic demand in China;encourage fertility;and increase human capital investment to provide an impetus for sustainable economic development.
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Background: Characterization studies of COVID-19 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are limited in size and scope. The aim of the study is to provide a large-scale characterization of COVID-19 patients with COPD. Methods: We included thirteen databases contributing data from January-June 2020 from North America (US), Europe and Asia. We defined two cohorts of patients with COVID-19 namely a ‘diagnosed' and ‘hospitalized' cohort. We followed patients from COVID-19 index date to 30 days or death. We performed descriptive analysis and reported the frequency of characteristics and outcomes among COPD patients with COVID-19. Results: The study included 934,778 patients in the diagnosed COVID-19 cohort and 177,201 in the hospitalized COVID-19 cohort. Observed COPD prevalence in the diagnosed cohort ranged from 3.8% (95%CI 3.5-4.1%) in French data to 22.7% (95%CI 22.4-23.0) in US data, and from 1.9% (95%CI 1.6-2.2) in South Korean to 44.0% (95%CI 43.1-45.0) in US data, in the hospitalized cohorts. COPD patients in the hospitalized cohort had greater comorbidity than those in the diagnosed cohort, including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Mortality was higher in COPD patients in the hospitalized cohort and ranged from 7.6% (95%CI 6.9-8.4) to 32.2% (95%CI 28.0-36.7) across databases. ARDS, acute renal failure, cardiac arrhythmia and sepsis were the most common outcomes among hospitalized COPD patients. Conclusion: COPD patients with COVID-19 have high levels of COVID-19-associated comorbidities and poor COVID-19 outcomes. Further research is required to identify patients with COPD at high risk of worse outcomes. Copyright: © 2023 Moreno-Martos D et al.
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the interaction between the accessibility of various urban public facilities and the price of urban space by analysing the influence of urban hospitals and rail accessibility on housing prices. In recent years, with the development of social civilisation and the influence of COVID-19, people have become increasingly interested in the quality of hospitals in their living environment. This makes medical convenience (hospital accessibility) a crucial element in determining housing prices. At the same time, people regard rail as one of the important means to access hospitals. Therefore, demonstrating the intrinsic value of accessibility to hospitals and rail in residential areas is essential. As a point of reference, this paper presents an empirical analysis of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China, a city in a developing nation with relatively widespread access to hospitals during a significant rail construction period. The study demonstrates the interaction between hospital and rail accessibility and their moderate influence on housing prices, which is geographically heterogeneous. The study also determines the optimal metric model for assessing geographical interaction based on the significance and stability of the interaction in geographic space. It concludes with a discussion of the findings and social recommendations. Copyright © 2022 Chen, Lin, Cao, Han, You, Shyr, Lu and Huang.
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Eight to ten percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food loss and waste. Tackling the challenges of food loss and sustainable food waste management is key to fulfilling the Paris Agreement. However, among the Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement, very few countries make references to food loss and waste. In this work, we reviewed the problem of food loss and waste from a global viewpoint and highlighted the opportunities of managing food loss and waste towards carbon mitigation and beyond. The importance of developing a coherent collaboration among all associated stakeholders was implied. Some recent policy developments and the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic are discussed followed by the summarization of potential solutions to tackling the fool loss and waste challenge.
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Purpose: Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, ventilation in a small cabin where social distancing cannot be guaranteed is extremely important. This study aims to find out the best configuration of open and closed windows in a moving car at varying speeds to improve the ventilation efficiency. The effectiveness of other mitigation measures including face masks, taxi screens and air conditioning (AC) systems are also evaluated. Design/methodology/approach: Each window is given three opening levels: fully open, half open and fully closed. For a car with four windows, this yields 81 different configurations. The location of virus source is also considered, either emitting from the driver or from the rear seat passenger. Then three different travelling speeds, 5 m/s, 10 m/s and 15 m/s, are examined for the window opening/closing configurations that provide the best ventilation effect. A study into the effectiveness of face masks is realised by adjusting virus injection amounts;and the simulation of taxi screens and AC system simply requires a small modification to the car model. Findings: The numerical studies identify the top window opening/closing configurations that provide the most efficient ventilation at different moving speeds, along with a comprehensive ranking list. The results show that fully opening all windows is not always the best choice. Simulations evaluating other mitigation measures confirm good effect of face masks and poor performance of taxi screens and AC systems. Originality/value: This work is the first large-scale numerical simulation and parametric study about different window opening/closing configurations of a moving car. The results provide useful guides for travellers in shared cars to mitigate Covid-19 transmission risks. The findings are helpful to both individuals' health and society's recovery in the Covid-19 era and they also provide useful information to protect people from other respiratory infectious diseases such as influenza. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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The observed monthly mean PM2.5 concentration in South Korea during December 2020 has decreased by 2.3 mu g/m(3), compared to that during the same month in the previous year, but the drivers of the change have been veiled yet.This study quantitatively examines the roles of the potential drivers of the PM2.5 decrease during December 2020. Air quality simulations for December 2019 and December 2020 show that the change in meteorology conditions have increased the PM2.5 concentrations by 1.4 mu g/m(3) in South Korea, but the changes in the Northeast Asian emissions have decreased the PM(2.5 )concentrations by 3.7 mu g/m(3) in the country. In addition, foreign emission impact on the nationwide PM2.5 concentrations estimated from a set of the sensitivity simulations with the Community Multi-scale Air Quality model and adjusted with the surface observations in China has increased by 1.9 mu g/m(3) in December 2020, compared to that for December 2019. It means that the upwind foreign emission condition was not helpful in the downwind PM2.5 decrease. On the contrary, the domestic impact has decreased by 4.2 mu g/m(3) over the country, which compensated the increase in the foreign impact for the month. The observed monthly mean NO2 concentrations have decreased by 5% and 8% for South Korea and the Seoul Metropolitan Area, respectively, compared to the same month in 2019. When a simple observation-based emission adjustment was applied, a 5% decrease in the national total NO, emissions for the month was estimated. The causality of NO2 decrease still needs further investigations, but the seasonal PM2.5 management and social distancing after the COVID-19 re-outbreak at the end of November might have led to the reduction in the anthropogenic emissions (i.e., NOx) and thus the PM2.5 concentrations during the month.
ABSTRACT
The observed monthly mean PM2.5concentration in South Korea during December 2020 has decreased by 2.3 μg/m3, compared to that during the same month in the previous year, but the drivers of the change have been veiled yet. This study quantitatively examines the roles of the potential drivers of the PM2.5decrease during December 2020. Air quality simulations for December 2019 and December 2020 show that the change in meteorology conditions have increased the PM2.5concentrations by 1.4 μg/m3in South Korea, but the changes in the Northeast Asian emissions have decreased the PM2.5concentrations by 3.7 μg/m3in the country. In addition, foreign emission impact on the nationwide PM2.5concentrations estimated from a set of the sensitivity simulations with the Community Multi-scale Air Quality model and adjusted with the surface observations in China has increased by 1.9 μg/m3in December 2020, compared to that for December 2019. It means that the upwind foreign emission condition was not helpful in the downwind PM2.5decrease. On the contrary, the domestic impact has decreased by 4.2 μg/m3over the country, which compensated the increase in the foreign impact for the month. The observed monthly mean NO2concentrations have decreased by 5% and 8% for South Korea and the Seoul Metropolitan Area, respectively, compared to the same month in 2019. When a simple observation-based emission adjustment was applied, a 5% decrease in the national total NOxemissions for the month was estimated. The causality of NO2decrease still needs further investigations, but the seasonal PM2.5management and social distancing after the COVID-19 re-outbreak at the end of November might have led to the reduction in the anthropogenic emissions (i.e., NOx) and thus the PM2.5concentrations during the month. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the changed parenting experiences of mothers of elementary school kids living in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak in Korea. Methods: From July to August in 2020, 10 mothers parenting elementary school students under the COVID-19 were interviewed in depth. For data analysis, a phenomenological research methodology suggested by Colaizzi was used. Results: According to the analysis, the experiences of mothers consisted of four categories: the ‘pain from the uncontrollable COVID-19‘, ‘the problem of family relations due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation’, ‘standing firm against the drastic changes', and ‘accepting the world changed by the COVID-19'. Conclusion: The findings in this study vividly represent the parenting experiences of mothers of elementary school students after the outbreak of COVID-19. As the pandemic persists, mothers parenting elementary school students feel complex emotions and experience exhaustion, but in the process, they found family members growing positively and trying to adjust to each other to overcome the crisis. To support positive adaptation to catastrophic situations, an institutional and political foundation is needed to develop a systematic crisis management program customized for mothers and families of elementary school students. The results of this study can be used as basic data when establishing national policies and support systems so that mothers parenting elementary school students can better adapt to and overcome crisis situations. © 2021 Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing. All Rights Reserved.