Enhancing YOLOv3-tiny for Mask Detection in Natural Scenes

With the worldwide spread of COVID-19, people's life safety has been greatly threatened. So, we consider using YOLOv3-tiny algorithm to detect mask wearing. Since there are few detection models for correctly wearing masks, we decided to use three classifications to detect correctly wearing masks, incorrectly wearing masks, and not wearing masks. Besides, in order to enhance the performance of our model in small object detection, we propose the k-means++ algorithm to make the size of the initial anchor boxes closer to the actual size of the object, and add a YOLO detection layer to effectively improve the accuracy of a small object. The results show that the mAP@50 values of our model are 4.68% higher than YOLOv3-tiny algorithm. Our model has significantly improved the detection ability of crowd scenes, and mask detection is more accurate and robust, which has good application value for mask detection in natural scenes. © 2022 IEEE.

Child Welfare Service Adaptations during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Balancing Worker Safety and Doing Essential Work

Using a socio-ecological framework, this qualitative study provides an understanding of the context of child welfare workers' worries and concerns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is part of a larger mixed-methods research project that included qualitative interviews with child welfare workers to explore approaches to child welfare services and child safety interventions for newcomer families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main question that frames this study is how Ontario workers and managers managed their worries and concerns about the pandemic. The participants we interviewed talked about their personal safety and navigating modified work during the pandemic. The fear of getting sick with COVID-19 when visiting multiple families resulted in stress and anxiety for some workers. For others, work modifications resulting from the pandemic created challenges in terms of childcare, increased isolation due to working remotely, case assignments/planning, and blurred family/work boundaries. Child welfare workers in Ontario felt excluded from the provincial designation "essential service workers” during the pandemic, making them feel that their work was unacknowledged by the government. Despite this lack of a designation, we centralize the issue of essential work in our analysis to underscore the challenges faced by child welfare workers and the potential supports that can be provided in and out of their work settings as the pandemic continues to unfold.

Securing the Safety Net: Lessons From Nonprofit Organizations on TANF Access During COVID-19

The functioning of the U.S. social safety net as a support for low-income families depends on various means-tested programs and a system of both public agencies and nonprofit organizations. Using in-depth interviews (n = 5) and a survey of nonprofit employees (n = 73), we seek to understand the role of nonprofits in promoting equitable access to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Our findings reveal that public assistance programs are a necessary support for families, but that access is not always easy or equitable, and nonprofits form a protective layer of support providing resources and guidance for those most in need. Implications for policy and partnerships between the various components of the social safety net are discussed.

How Do COVID-19 Risk, Life-Safety Risk, Job Insecurity, and Work-Family Conflict Affect Miner Performance? Health-Anxiety and Job-Anxiety Perspectives.

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has created challenging working conditions in coal-production activities. In addition to the massive loss of resources for miners, it has had a devastating impact on these individuals' mental health. Based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory and a resource-loss perspective, this study examined the impact of COVID-19 risk, life-safety risk, perceived job insecurity, and work-family conflict on miners' job performance. Moreover, this study investigated the mediating role of job anxiety (JA) and health anxiety (HA). The study data were collected through online structured questionnaires disseminated to 629 employees working in a coal mine in China. The data analysis and hypothesis generation were conducted using the structural equation modeling (partial least squares) method. The results demonstrated that the perception of COVID-19 risk, life-safety risk, job insecurity, and work-family conflict negatively and significantly impacted miners' job performance. In addition, JA and HA negatively mediated the relationships between the perception of COVID-19 risk, life-safety risk, perceived job insecurity, work-family conflict, and job performance. The findings of this study can give coal-mining companies and their staff useful insights into how to minimize the pandemic's effects on their operations.

Innovative Eco-Friendly Biocide Technologies for Improving Daily Life Safety

The article discusses the Silver Bullet disinfectant developed by the authors and the innovative technology of volumetric aerosol disinfection. It is shown that the effectiveness of this disinfectant significantly exceeds the leading foreign analogues, and the described disinfection technology is the most adequate for combating coronavirus infection due to the identified air-aerosol method of its spread. At the same time, the Silver Bullet disinfectant is environmentally friendly, since it was developed on the basis of hydrogen peroxide and complex silver compounds with a prolonged bacteriostatic effect. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Application of "internet plus" teaching platform in higher education under covid-19 epidemic

Novel coronavirus is raging, impacting and affecting all areas of society, seriously threatening people's life safety and social stability. COVID-19 epidemic has brought various influences on Chinese college teaching, and online teaching in colleges and universities is facing various difficulties and challenges. In order to ensure the personal safety of teachers and students and solve the problem of teaching in schools, the General Office of the Ministry of Education has successively issued measures such as "postponing the start of school"and "stopping classes without stopping school". In the special period of outbreak, the advantages of online teaching are prominent, and the rapid development of network and technology provides a high-quality platform and channel for its implementation. Online teaching through computers, TV, mobile phones and other terminals makes up for the lack of face-to-face communication between teachers and students under special circumstances. This paper analyzes the application of the Internet plus online teaching platform in higher education, and explores how to integrate the network teaching resources better under the COVID-19 epidemic, and build the network learning community that all parties participate in, so as to give full play to the advantages of network teaching. © 2021 ACM.

Quality of life and safety impact of COVID-19 associated smell and taste disturbances.

OBJECTIVE: The association between COVID-19 and chemosensory loss has garnered substantial attention, however to date little is known about the real-life consequences of impairment in this unique patient population. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) and personal safety deficits experienced by patients with COVID-19 infection. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, longitudinal questionnaires. SETTING: National survey. METHODS: A longitudinal web-based nationwide survey of adults with COVID-19 and/or a sudden change in smell and taste was launched April 10, 2020. Previously published questions on chemosensory-related QOL and safety events were asked at the 6-month follow-up survey. RESULTS: As of February 10, 2021, 480 eligible respondents took the 6-month questionnaire, of whom 322 were COVID-19 positive. Impact on QOL was substantial with 96% of subjects reporting at least one of the defined deficits, and over 75% reporting at least 3 of these. "Reduced enjoyment of food" was the most common complaint (87%), while 43% of subjects self-reported depression. The prevalence of safety-related issues was common in this population, with over 57% reporting at least one, and 36% reporting 2 or more events. Of the events asked, the inability to smell smoke that others could perceive was the most common at 45%. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 associated chemosensory losses have a real and substantial impact on both quality of life and safety, beyond mere inconvenience. The high prevalence of these issues despite a relatively short period of olfactory deficit should alert clinicians to the serious risks to an already vulnerable patient population.