Digital twin enhanced tribo-test service

Tribo-tests play a crucial role in the evaluation of the material performance of tribo-pairs. Traditionally, tribo-tests are performed onsite and tightly depend on experienced human operators. However, some public health emergencies such as covid-19 have a substantial impact on daily human life, including product and service systems. Therefore, this chapter aims to develop a new tribo-test service pattern, that is, digital twin enhanced remote tribo-test. A digital twin enhanced tribo-test service framework is proposed, which includes the modeling stage and the application stage of tribo-test service. A case study is presented to showcase how to implement the proposed framework. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Occupational Social Work: A Field of Practice in Need of Revival

The COVID-19 pandemic focused attention on the high levels of occupational stress experienced by frontline and essential workers. Occupational stress is also not unique to these workers as demonstrated by the consistently high rates of suicide within certain occupational groups. Occupational social work is the specialized field most suited to address the needs of workers under stress, yet it has been in decline in the United States since the 1990s. The factors contributing to this decline are put forward, including managed care, the dominance of the advanced clinical social work license, and the lack of a social work presence in occupational stress effectiveness research. The implications for practice regarding the actions that can be taken by the profession to revive this field and be more responsive to vulnerable workers are discussed. © The Author(s) 2023.

Navigating international order transition in the Indo Pacific

The world is in crisis. The Covid pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war signify a potential order transition in the international system. The Indo Pacific is at the center of gravity of great power competition between the US and China. How have policy elites in the region perceived the potential order transition against the background of US-China strategic competition? How have states, including both great and secondary powers, chosen different strategies to cope with security and economic turbulence in the Indo Pacific? This special issue intends to shed some light on these questions by critically examining the diverse perceptions and policy choices of the United States, China, South Korea, India, Japan, Indonesia, and the UK during the period of potential order transition in the Indo Pacific. It provides an academic platform for scholars to engage in this 'order transition' topic from different theoretical perspectives as well as from respective national angles in the Indo Pacific. It suggests that the complexity of the international order itself has made the 'order transition' more complicated and difficult than before. It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, and it is the most challenging time for state leaders and scholars alike.

COVID-19's impact on the Chinese tourism and hospitality sector

Tourism and hospitality that once occupied billions of economic outputs every year was blown seriously by the COVID-19 outbreak. The slow of domestic and international interactions has drained the tourism and hospitality industries' customer flows greatly. Millions of practitioners are struggling for crisis remission. Though scholars have noted the plight of the hospitality industry, most previous studies have focused on the pandemic effects on the hospitality industry in the short run. Few have investigated the whole industry's long-term sustainability under the pandemic, which is increasingly important as the pandemic is going beyond expected. This chapter aims to explore measures and innovations that help hotels recover from pandemic shock and develop long-term sustainability during the outbreak. Based on the framework of Clauss T, the author studied the business model and innovation of the Chinese hotel industry in the post-pandemic era by integrating the importance of hygiene upgrades, local market expansion, and stakeholder management to the industry. © 2022, IGI Global. All rights reserved.

Developing a Novel Method for Disinfection and Sterilization Using a Charged Ozonated mist

The COVID-19 virus has caused a large-scale global outbreak and has become a major public health issue 1. Although there are several vaccines, herd immunity will likely take a long time to establish, and it is not clear whether the existing vaccines are completely effective against evolved versions of the virus. The COVID-19 virus as well as other respiratory viruses can be spread through coughing, sneezing, skin contact, etc., and can enter the human body from the eyes, nasal cavity, and oral cavity. © 2021 IEEE.

Evaluation of the VOC pollution pattern and emission characteristics during the Beijing resurgence of COVID-19 in summer 2020 based on the measurement of PTR-ToF-MS

A second wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections emerged in Beijing in summer 2020, which provided an opportunity to explore the response of air pollution to reduced human activity. Proton-transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) coupled with positive matrix factorization (PMF) source apportionment were applied to evaluate the pollution pattern and capture the detailed dynamic emission characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the representative period, with the occurrence of O-3 pollution episodes and the Beijing resurgence of COVID-19. The level of anthropogenic VOC was lower than during the same period in previous years due to the pandemic and emission reduction measures. More than two thirds of the days during the observation period were identified as high-O-3 days and VOCs exhibited higher mixing ratios and faster consumption rates in the daytime on high-O-3 days. The identified VOC emission sources and the corresponding contributions during the whole observation period included: vehicle + fuel (12.41 +/- 9.43%), industrial process (9.40 +/- 8.65%), solvent usage (19.58 +/- 13.46%), biogenic (6.03 +/- 5.40%), background + long-lived (5.62 +/- 11.37%), and two groups of oxygenated VOC (OVOC) factors (primary emission and secondary formation, 26.14 +/- 15.20% and 20.84 +/- 14.0%, respectively). Refined dynamic source apportionment results show that the 'stay at home' tendency led to decreased emission (-34.47 +/- 1.90%) and a weakened morning peak of vehicle + fuel during the Beijing resurgence. However, a growing emission of primary OVOCs (+51.10 +/- 8.28%) with similar diurnal variation was observed in the new outbreak and afterwards, which might be related to the enhanced usage of products intended to clean and disinfect. The present study illustrated that more stringent VOC reduction measures towards pandemic products should be carried out to achieve the balanced emission abatement of NO (x) and VOC when adhering to regular epidemic prevention and control measures.

Design of an intelligent purification and disinfection apparatus for air conditioning units

With the sudden outbreak and rapid spread of COVID-19, global economic development and social stability have been seriously affected. The virus mainly spreads infection among people on a large scale through the air. People are gradually focusing on how to use HVAC system, so that it can play a more efficient and positive role in epidemic prevention and control. Consequently, we designed an intelligent purification and disinfection apparatus for air-conditioning units. The apparatus integrates rapid virus detection and high-efficiency disinfection functions. It uses a modular design and different operating modes for different levels of epidemic periods. This apparatus is not only suitable for daily life, but also can meet the prevention and control requirements during the epidemic period, which takes the economy, energy saving, and environmental protection into account. © 2021 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.

Impact of remote continuous positive airway pressure set-up on treatment usage and effectiveness

Introduction: Initiating treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) traditionally relies on in-person visits with trained therapists to provide hands-on instruction regarding CPAP usage and mask fit. To overcome geographic barriers and reduce COVID-19 transmission, health systems increasingly rely on remote set-ups of mailed equipment. Despite a strong rationale for the mailed approach, relative effectiveness is unclear. Methods: Our VA medical center shifted from in-person to mailed CPAP dispensation during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Using VA administrative and wireless CPAP usage data, we assembled a cohort of patients with newly diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who initiated CPAP for the first time from July 2019 to August 2020. Our primary outcome was mean nightly usage over the first 90 days. We compared patients with in-person vs. mailed CPAP dispensation using generalized linear models adjusted for age, gender, race, and Charlson Comorbidity Index. Among patients with >1 hour of overall usage, we compared secondary outcomes of leak, apnea hypopnea index (AHI), and obstructive/central apnea indices. Results: We identified 693 patients with newly diagnosed OSA whose CPAP was provided in-person and 296 who had CPAP mailed. Nightly usage in the first 90 days was modest in both groups (in-person: 149.7, mailed: 152.9 min/night), and we did not detect a difference in adjusted models (+7.6 min/night, 95%CI -13.6-28.8). We also did not detect a difference in 95th percentile leak (-1.2 liter/minute, 95%CI -3.3-0.9). Device-detected AHI was relatively low overall (in-person: 3.2, mailed: 4.1 events/hour), but was greater in the mailout group (+1.0/hour, 95%CI 0.2-1.7). AHI differences appeared to be driven by obstructive (+0.5/hour, 95%CI 0.2-0.8) but not central events (-0.1, 95% CI -0.2-0.4). Risk of AHI>5 was comparable between groups (in-person: 17.3%, mailed: 19.0%, OR 1.2, 95%CI 0.8-1.7). Conclusion: We were able to switch from an in-person to a mailbased system of CPAP initiation without a change in CPAP adherence or mask leak. While AHI was slightly greater in the mailed group, the clinical significance of this finding is unclear. Future work will need to evaluate the impact of remote CPAP dispensation on patient-centered outcomes.

The Balance of Infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific: BRI, Institutional Balancing, and Quad's Policy Choices

This paper examines how the Quad countries, Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, have countervailed China's Belt and Road Initiative in the Indo-Pacific through various institutional efforts both individually and collectively. It argues that the existing approach of offering an alternative to China's BRI will hardly be successful. Although the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has weakened China's financial and economic capacities in sustaining and expanding its BRI projects, it is unlikely that China will give up the BRI under Xi Jinping's leadership. This, however, creates an opportunity for the Quad countries to weigh in on the future BRI in the post-COVID era. These Quad countries could consider employing an 'inclusive institutional balancing' strategy to constrain, change, and shape China's BRI behaviour from the inside. Inclusive institutional balancing will be also a viable strategy for recipient countries to maximize their economic interests in the balance-of-infrastructure game among great powers in the Indo-Pacific in the post-COVID era.

Changes in China's anthropogenic emissions and air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns led to a sharp drop in socio-economic activities in China in 2020, including reductions in fossil fuel use, industry productions, and traffic volumes. The short-term impacts of lockdowns on China's air quality have been measured and reported, however, the changes in anthropogenic emissions have not yet been assessed quantitatively, which hinders our understanding of the causes of the air quality changes during COVID-19. Here, for the first time, we report the anthropogenic air pollutant emissions from mainland China by using a bottom-up approach based on the near-real-time data in 2020 and use the estimated emissions to simulate air quality changes with a chemical transport model. The COVID-19 lockdown was estimated to have reduced China's anthropogenic emissions substantially between January and March in 2020, with the largest reductions in February. Emissions of SO2, NOx, CO, non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), and primary PM2.5 were estimated to have decreased by 27ĝ€¯%, 36ĝ€¯%, 28ĝ€¯%, 31ĝ€¯%, and 24ĝ€¯%, respectively, in February 2020 compared to the same month in 2019. The reductions in anthropogenic emissions were dominated by the industry sector for SO2 and PM2.5 and were contributed to approximately equally by the industry and transportation sectors for NOx, CO, and NMVOCs. With the spread of coronavirus controlled, China's anthropogenic emissions rebounded in April and since then returned to the comparable levels of 2019 in the second half of 2020. The provinces in China have presented nearly synchronous decline and rebound in anthropogenic emissions, while Hubei and the provinces surrounding Beijing recovered more slowly due to the extension of lockdown measures. The ambient air pollution presented much lower concentrations during the first 3 months in 2020 than in 2019 while rapidly returning to comparable levels afterward, which have been reproduced by the air quality model simulation driven by our estimated emissions. China's monthly anthropogenic emissions in 2020 can be accessed from 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5214920.v2 (Zheng et al., 2021) by species, month, sector, and province. © Copyright:

High expression of ACE2 in the human lung leads to the release of IL6 by suppressing cellular immunity: IL6 plays a key role in COVID-19.

OBJECTIVE: The pathogenesis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains clear, and no effective treatment exists. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19 and uses ACE2 as a cell receptor to invade human cells. Therefore, ACE2 is a key factor to analyze the SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included 9,783 sequencing results of different organs, analyzed the effects of different ACE2 expression patterns in organs and immune regulation. RESULTS: We found that ACE2 expression was significantly increased in the lungs and digestive tract. The cellular immunity of individuals with elevated ACE2 expression is activated, whereas humoral immunity is dampened, leading to the release of many inflammatory factors dominated by IL6. Furthermore, by studying the sequencing results of SARS-CoV-2-infected and uninfected cells, IL6 was found to be an indicator of a significant increase in the number of infected cells. However, although patients with high expression of ACE2 will release many inflammatory factors dominated by IL6, cellular immunity in the colorectum is significantly activated. This effect may explain why individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection have severe lung symptoms and digestion issues, which are important causes of milder symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: This finding indicates that ACE2 and IL6 inhibitors have important value in COVID-19.

[Novel coronavirus induces testicular injury: Analysis of causes and follow-up monitoring]

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by 2019 novel coronavirus has become a global public health challenge. In addition to the typical respiratory symptoms, COVID-19 can induce damage to testicular spermatogenesis. This study focuses on the possible causes and follow-up monitoring of testicular injury induced by COVID-19.

Reovirus, isolated from SARS patients

Beijing has been severely affected by SARS, and SARS-associated coronavirus has been confirmed as its cause. However, clinical and experimental evidence implicates the possibility of co-infection. In this report, reovirus was isolated from throat swabs of SARS patients, including the first case in Beijing and her mother. Identification with the electron microscopy revealed the characteristic features of reovirus. 24 of 38 samples from other SARS cases were found to have serologic responses to the reovirus. Primers designed for reovirus have amplified several fragments of DNA, one of which was sequenced (S2 gene fragment), which indicates it as a unique reovirus (orthoreovirus). Preliminary animal experiment showed that inoculation of the reovirus in mice caused death with atypical pneumonia. Nevertheless, the association of reovirus with SARS outbreak requires to be further investigated. FAU - Duan, Qing

Study of the Mechanism of the Reyanning Mixture Involved in Treating Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Based on Network Pharmacology

At present, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread all over the world, and the best way to effectively carry out drug diagnosis and treatment presents difficulties for all medical staff. In China, some traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) have been successfully applied to the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 and have achieved good clinical results, including the Reyanning mixture. In this study, we systematically analyzed the mechanism of the Reyanning mixture and its effects against SARS-CoV-2 based on the method of network pharmacology. Here, we used the TCM Systems Pharmacology database and employed a similarity algorithm to screen and identify the bioactive ingredients and potential targets of the Reyanning mixture. The GeneCards database was used to predict and screen the disease targets and build the active ingredient target network diagram. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were performed to construct the target signal pathway associations. The STRING tool was used to reconstruct the protein-protein interaction network. As a result, 27 candidate targets, such as tumor necrosis factor, interferon gamma, tumor protein P53, C-reactive protein, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, were identified among the 33 bioactive ingredients of the 4 TCMs in the Reyanning mixture with effects on treating SARS-CoV-2. These targets were significantly enriched in 20 KEGG pathways and associated with 48 diverse GO terms. All of these targets may play a role in inhibiting inflammatory reactions, regulating immune function, and reducing lung injury to achieve the purpose of treating SARS-CoV-2.