An Adaptive Fusion Risk-Zone Detection Network and its Application

COVID-19 has caused a pandemic and adverse effects in many fields on a global scale. The city scale quarantine has demonstrated its effectiveness in controlling the epidemic. Conversely, it is costly and risky in inducing economic and social challenges. A compromised solution is to place quarantine measures at high-risk zones on a local scale. Therefore, it is important to investigate risk zones for conducting cost insensitive precautionary measures. The urban data depict the characteristics of different city zones, which offers an opportunity for detecting the high-risk zones. Yet, the high noise-to-signal ratio requires an efficient procedure to rule out irrelevant information in the informative raw urban data and adapt to the risk detection task. In this paper, we propose an Adaptive Fusion Risk-zone Detection Network (AFRDN), which fuses the static and dynamic multi-sourced urban data in an adaptive manner. Specifically, AFRDN first extracts diverse information-rich features from raw urban data with various encoders in the embedding learning module. Then, the AFRDN takes a hierarchical late fusion strategy by fusing the static embedding and the attentive hidden state of dynamic features in the deep latent space. To capture the most relevant information for risk-zone detection, the AFRDN adapts each dimension in the fused embedding with multi-head self-attention blocks. We have collected a real-world dataset including six Chinese cities and conducted extensive experiments to evaluate our framework. Simulation experiments and comparative analysis results show that the AFRDN is effective and feasible for early detection of infectious diseases high-risk zones. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Pattern Recognition & Artificial Intelligence is the property of World Scientific Publishing Company and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

The Roles of Information Valence, Media Literacy and Perceived Information Quality on the Association Between Frequent Social Media Exposure and COVID-19 Vaccination Intention.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine the associations between frequent exposure to positive/negative information about vaccine efficacy/safety on social media and intention of COVID-19 vaccination, and to test if media literacy and perceived information quality would moderate such associations. DESIGN: A multi-city cross-sectional survey. SETTING: At five universities in different regions of China. SUBJECTS: 6922 university students (a response rate of 72.3%). MEASURES: frequency of exposure to social media information about COVID-19 vaccination, media literacy, perceived information quality, intention of COVID-19 vaccination, and sociodemographic characteristics. ANALYSIS: Logistic regression analysis was conducted to test main and interaction effects. RESULTS: Higher exposure to positive information about vaccine efficacy (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.30, P < .001) and vaccine safety (AOR = 1.27, P < .001) were positively associated with vaccination intention. No significant associations were shown between exposure to negative information about vaccine efficacy/safety and vaccination intention. Higher net exposure to negative vs positive information was negatively associated with vaccination intention (AOR = .82, P < .001). High media literacy was further found to attenuate the effect of negative information exposure and strengthen that of positive information exposure. Perceived information quality was not a significant moderator. CONCLUSION: The valence of social media information regarding the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines and individuals' media literacy jointly shaped COVID-19 vaccination intention. The findings can inform the development of effective health promotion strategies for enhancing COVID-19 vaccination.

Adoption of Preventive Measures During the Very Early Phase of the COVID-19 Outbreak in China: National Cross-sectional Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of COVID-19 in China occurred around the Chinese New Year (January 25, 2020), and infections decreased continuously afterward. General adoption of preventive measures during the Chinese New Year period was crucial in driving the decline. It is imperative to investigate preventive behaviors among Chinese university students, who could have spread COVID-19 when travelling home during the Chinese New Year break. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we investigated levels of COVID-19-related personal measures undertaken during the 7-day Chinese New Year holidays by university students in China, and associated COVID-19-related cognitive factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional anonymous web-based survey was conducted during the period from February 1 to 10, 2020. Data from 23,863 students (from 26 universities, 16 cities, 13 provincial-level regions) about personal measures (frequent face-mask wearing, frequent handwashing, frequent home staying, and an indicator that combined the 3 behaviors) were analyzed (overall response rate 70%). Multilevel multiple logistic regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: Only 28.0% of respondents (6684/23,863) had left home for >4 hours, and 49.3% (11,757/23,863) had never left home during the 7-day Chinese New Year period; 79.7% (19,026/23,863) always used face-masks in public areas. The frequency of handwashing with soap was relatively low (6424/23,863, 26.9% for >5 times/day); 72.4% (17,282/23,863) had frequently undertaken ≥2 of these 3 measures. COVID-19-related cognitive factors (perceptions on modes of transmission, permanent bodily damage, efficacy of personal or governmental preventive measures, nonavailability of vaccines and treatments) were significantly associated with preventive measures. Associations with frequent face-mask wearing were stronger than those with frequent home staying. CONCLUSIONS: University students had strong behavioral responses during the very early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak. Levels of personal prevention, especially frequent home staying and face-mask wearing, were high. Health promotion may modify cognitive factors. Some structural factors (eg, social distancing policy) might explain why the frequency of home staying was higher than that of handwashing. Other populations might have behaved similarly; however, such data were not available to us.

Does government intervention affect CO2 emission reduction effect of producer service agglomeration? Empirical analysis based on spatial Durbin model and dynamic threshold model.

Achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality is an inherent requirement for countries to promote green recovery and transformation of the global economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. As "a smoke-free industry," producer services agglomeration (PSA) may have significant impacts on CO2 emission reduction. Therefore, based on the nightlight data to calculate the CO2 emissions of 268 cities in China from 2005 to 2017, this study deeply explores the impact and transmission mechanism of PSA on CO2 emissions by constructing dynamic spatial Durbin model and intermediary effect model. Furthermore, the dynamic threshold model is used to analyze the nonlinear characteristics between PSA and CO2 emissions under different degrees of government intervention. The results reveal that: (1) Generally, China's CO2 emissions are path-dependent in the time dimension, showing a "snowball effect." PSA significantly inhibits CO2 emissions, but heterogeneous influences exist in different regions, time nodes, and sub-industries; (2) PSA can indirectly curb CO2 emissions through economies of scale, technological innovation, and industrial structure upgrading. (3) The impact of PSA on China's CO2 emissions has an obvious double threshold effect under different degree of government intervention. Accordingly, the Chinese government should increase the support for producer services, dynamically adjust industrial policies, take a moderate intervention, and strengthen market-oriented reform to reduce CO2 emissions. This study opens up a new path for the low-carbon economic development and environmental sustainability, and also fills in the theoretical gaps on these issues. The findings and implications will offer instructive guideline for early achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

Prevalence and factors of influenza vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic among university students in China.

BACKGROUND: Previous outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases (e.g., SARS) had increased the uptake of influenza vaccination (IV). It is uncertain whether such was also true for COVID-19. This study hence investigated prevalence of IV behavior/intention prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic and associated cognitive factors. METHODS: A self-administered, online, and anonymous cross-sectional survey was conducted among 6,922 university students of five provinces in China during November 1-28, 2020 (response rate: 72.3%). RESULTS: Of all the participants, 35.1% self-reported behavioral intention of IV (next 12 months), while 62.9% reported an increased intention of IV due to COVID-19. However, only 4.7% and 2.9% had taken up IV during the 12-month period prior to the outbreak (1/2019-12/2019) and during the COVID-19 outbreak (1-11/2020), respectively. Adjusted for the background factors, the multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that in general the COVID-19 related perceptions (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and perceived chance of having another wave of COVID-19 outbreak) were significantly and positively associated the IV behavior (during the COVID-19 outbreak) and intention of IV uptake in the next 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced actual behavior and intention of IV uptake among university students during the pandemic. Efforts are warranted to reduce the intention-behavior gap of IV uptake; modification of perceived susceptibility and perceived severity regarding COVID-19 may help. Future longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to confirm the findings of this study and explore other factors affecting IV uptake during the COVID-19 period.

Research Progress on the Role of Microglia Membrane Proteins or Receptors in Neuroinflammation and Degeneration.

Microglia are intrinsic immune cells of the central nervous system and play a dual role (pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory) in the homeostasis of the nervous system. Neuroinflammation mediated by microglia serves as an important stage of ischemic hypoxic brain injury, cerebral hemorrhage disease, neurodegeneration and neurotumor of the nervous system and is present through the whole course of these diseases. Microglial membrane protein or receptor is the basis of mediating microglia to play the inflammatory role and they have been found to be upregulated by recognizing associated ligands or sensing changes in the nervous system microenvironment. They can then allosterically activate the downstream signal transduction and produce a series of complex cascade reactions that can activate microglia, promote microglia chemotactic migration and stimulate the release of proinflammatory factor such as TNF-α, IL-ß to effectively damage the nervous system and cause apoptosis of neurons. In this paper, several representative membrane proteins or receptors present on the surface of microglia are systematically reviewed and information about their structures, functions and specific roles in one or more neurological diseases. And on this basis, some prospects for the treatment of novel coronavirus neurological complications are presented.

Does the opening of high-speed railways improve urban livability? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

With the spread of “urban disease”, urban livability has aroused common concern in academic circles at home and abroad. High-speed railway opening is substantially affecting the development of cities. Based on the data of 271 cities in China from 2005 to 2018, this paper applies the entropy method to calculate urban livability level, and then the difference-in-differences (DID) model and mediatory effect model are constructed to test the impact and mechanism of high-speed railway (HSR) opening on urban livability. The findings show that: (1) Overall, HSR opening has significantly improved urban livability by 13.04%. After alleviating the endogenous problem and conducting a series of robustness tests, the conclusions are still valid. (2) Mechanism analysis indicates that HSR opening improves urban livability by promoting economic growth, talent agglomeration and industrial structure upgrading. Among them, the industrial structure upgrading effect is the strongest, followed by talent agglomeration and economic growth. (3) The heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotion effect of HSR opening on urban livability is more significant in the central and western regions and large-sized cities. Accordingly, the feasible path to improve urban livability through HSR opening is proposed. Finally, in the face of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world economy, more channels to enhance urban livability are expected to cope with the future “the global talent war”.

Dualistic Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccination Intention among University Students in China: From Perceived Personal Benefits to External Reasons of Perceived Social Benefits, Collectivism, and National Pride.

Vaccination is one of the most effective ways of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccine hesitancy is prevalent, and relatively few studies have explored how variables related to personal and external motives have affected the intention to vaccinate. The present study investigated the association between perceived personal benefits, variables reflecting external motives (i.e., perceived social benefits, collectivism, and national pride) and intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination among university students in China. The interaction between perceived personal benefits and the three factors reflecting external motives on intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination was also examined. A total of 6922 university students from five provinces of China completed a cross-sectional survey. Results showed that adjusting for significant background variables, perceived personal benefits, perceived social benefits, collectivism, and national pride were all significant factors of intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination. Results from interaction analyses also showed that the association between perceived personal benefits and COVID-19 vaccination intention was stronger among those with lower levels of national pride. Findings highlighted the important role of self-directed interest and external motives in promoting uptake of COVID-19 vaccination.

Prosociality and Social Responsibility Were Associated With Intention of COVID-19 Vaccination Among University Students in China.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination is expected to end the pandemic; a high coverage rate is required to meet this end. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of behavioral intention of free/self-paid COVID-19 vaccination and its associations with prosociality and social responsibility among university students in China. METHODS: An anonymous online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 6922 university students in five provinces in China during November 1-28, 2020. With informed consent, participants filled out an online survey link distributed to them via WeChat study groups. The response rate was 72.3%. RESULTS: The prevalence of behavioral intentions of free COVID-19 vaccination was 78.1%, but it dropped to 57.7% if the COVID-19 vaccination involved self-payment (400 RMB; around 42 USD). After adjusting for background factors, prosociality (free vaccination: adjusted odds ratio [ORa] = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.09-1.12; self-paid vaccination: ORa = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.07-1.09) and social responsibility (free vaccination: ORa = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.14-1.19; self-paid vaccination: ORa = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.11-1.14) were positively associated with the two variables of COVID-19 vaccination intention. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated the positive effects of prosociality and social responsibility on the intention of COVID-19 vaccination. Accordingly, modification of prosociality and social responsibility can potentially improve COVID-19 vaccination. Future longitudinal and intervention studies are warranted to confirm such associations across populations and countries.

Behavioural intention of receiving COVID-19 vaccination, social media exposures and peer discussions in China.

The study aimed to investigate behavioural intentions to receive free and self-paid COVID-19 vaccinations (BICV-F and BICV-SP) among Chinese university students if the vaccine was 80% effective with rare mild side effects, to examine their associations with social media exposures and peer discussions regarding COVID-19 vaccination, and to explore the mediational role of perceived information sufficiency about COVID-19 vaccination. An online anonymous survey (N = 6922) was conducted in November 2020 in five Chinese provinces. Logistic regression and path analysis were adopted. The prevalence of BICV-F and BICV-SP were 78.1% and 57.7%. BICV-F was positively associated with the frequencies of passive social media exposure (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.32, P < 0.001), active social media interaction (AOR = 1.13, P < 0.001) and peer discussions (AOR = 1.17, P < 0.001). Indirect effects of the three factors on BICV-F via perceived information sufficiency were all significant (P < 0.001). The direct effect of active social media interaction on BICV-F was significantly negative (P < 0.001). Similar associations/mediations were observed for BICV-SP. The COVID-19 vaccination intention of Chinese university students needs improvement. Boosting social media exposures and peer discussions may raise students' perceived information sufficiency and subsequently increase their vaccination intention. Considering the potential negative effect of active social media interaction, caution is needed when using social media to promote COVID-19 vaccination.

Factors Influencing Depression and Mental Distress Related to COVID-19 Among University Students in China: Online Cross-sectional Mediation Study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 epidemic may elevate mental distress and depressive symptoms in various populations in China. OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the levels of depression and mental distress due to COVID-19, and the associations between cognitive, behavioral, and psychosocial factors, and depression and mental distress due to COVID-19 among university students in China. METHODS: A large-scale online cross-sectional study (16 cities in 13 provinces) was conducted among university students from February 1 to 10, 2020, in China; 23,863 valid questionnaires were returned. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 was used to assess depression. Structural equation modeling was performed to test mediation and suppression effects. RESULTS: Of the 23,863 participants, 47.1% (n=11,235) reported high or very high levels of one or more types of mental distress due to COVID-19; 39.1% (n=9326) showed mild to severe depression. Mental distress due to COVID-19 was positively associated with depression. All but one factor (perceived infection risks, perceived chance of controlling the epidemic, staying at home, contacted people from Wuhan, and perceived discrimination) were significantly associated with mental distress due to COVID-19 and depression. Mental distress due to COVID-19 partially mediated and suppressed the associations between some of the studied factors and depression (effect size of 6.0%-79.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Both mental distress due to COVID-19 and depression were prevalent among university students in China; the former may have increased the prevalence of the latter. The studied cognitive, behavioral, and psychosocial factors related to COVID-19 may directly or indirectly (via mental distress due to COVID-19) affect depression. Interventions to modify such factors may reduce mental distress and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Intention to Receive the COVID-19 Vaccination in China: Application of the Diffusion of Innovations Theory and the Moderating Role of Openness to Experience.

COVID-19 has caused a devastating impact on public health and made the development of the COVID-19 vaccination a top priority. Herd immunity through vaccination requires a sufficient number of the population to be vaccinated. Research on factors that promote intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination is warranted. Based on Diffusion of Innovations Theory, this study examines the association between the perceived efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccination, use of social media for COVID-19 vaccine-related information, openness to experience and descriptive norm with the intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, and the moderating role of openness to experience among 6922 university students in mainland China. The intention to receive the free and self-paid COVID-19 vaccination is 78.9% and 60.2%, respectively. Results from path analyses show that perceived efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccination, use of social media for COVID-19 vaccine-related information, and openness to experience and descriptive norm are all positively associated with the intention to receive COVID-19 free and self-paid vaccination. The association between the perceived efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccination and descriptive norm with the intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination is stronger among those with a lower level of openness to experience. Our findings support the usefulness of Diffusion of Innovations Theory and the moderating role of openness of experience in explaining intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Negative cognitive and psychological correlates of mandatory quarantine during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in China.

Quarantine plays a key role in controlling the pandemic of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This study investigated (a) the associations between mandatory quarantine status and negative cognitions (perceived discrimination because of COVID-19 and perceived risk of COVID-19 infection)/mental health status (emotional distress because of COVID-19, probable depression, and self-harm/suicidal ideation), (b) the associations between the negative cognitions and mental health status, and (c) potential mediations between quarantined status and probable depression and self-harm/suicidal ideation via COVID-19-related negative cognitions/emotional distress. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 24,378 students of 26 universities in 16 Chinese cities (February 1-10, 2020). Correlation coefficients, odds ratios (OR), structural equation modeling, and other statistics were used for data analysis. Mandatory quarantined status was significantly and positively associated with perceived discrimination (Cohen's d = 0.62), perceived high/very high risk of infection (OR = 1.61), emotional distress (Cohen's d = 0.46), probable depression (OR = 2.54), and self-harm/suicidal ideation (OR = 4.98). Perceived discrimination was moderately and positively associated with emotional distress (Spearman correlation = 0.44). Associations between perceived risk of infection and mental health variables were significant but relatively weak. Cross-sectional mediation models showed good model fit, but the overall indirect paths via COVID-19-related negative cognitions/emotional distress only accounted for 12-15% of the total effects between quarantined status and probable depression and self-harm/suicidal ideation. In conclusion, quarantined participants were more likely than others to perceive discrimination and exhibit mental distress. It is important to integrate mental health care into the planning and implementation of quarantine measures. Future longitudinal studies to explore mechanisms underlying the mental health impact of quarantines are warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).