Why resist?: opposition to mask-wearing during the Covid-19 pandemic in Greece

This study investigates the factors that might have affected the implementation of the mask-wearing measure in Greek society from March 2020 to November 2021. To do so, this study utilizes a critical review of dominant characteristics of modern Greek society followed by a systematic review of the most recent literature on mask-wearing attitudes. The data in this study is derived from official Greek governmental announcements regarding the mask-wearing measure during the pandemic and the depiction of attitudes towards mask-wearing through Greek digital media, including digital newspapers, informative magazines and websites, and digital news sites. The article argues that the main preventive factors relate to distrust towards authority, including specific identified barriers according to relevant literature. More importantly, this study reinforces the significance of the adequate appreciation of the historical, cultural and social context within which political measures are implemented regardless of their global scale and universal necessity. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Southeast European & Black Sea Studies is the property of Routledge 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.)

Required Personal Protective Equipment for Prehospital Healthcare Provider in COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Aims. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious disease, and a variety of personal protective equipment (PPE) has been recommended as preventive measures for prehospital emergency personnel, which has led to considerable challenges and a great confusion for the personnel. This review aims to identify different types of PPE required in the care of COVID-19 patients in prehospital emergency system.Material and methods. This study was carried out by searching through databases including: Pubmed, Proqust, Google Scholar, and Cinahl. All articles that recommended different types of PPE against COVID-19 and infectious diseases for prehospital emergency personnel were collected in a table.Results. After carrying out the initial search in the databases, 1,009 studies were obtained and then 16 articles were selected. The findings seem to suggest using equipment including: gloves, face shields (shield/goggles), protective clothes (medical jumpsuit/scrubs), surgical masks, N-95 masks, powered air purifying respirators (PAPR), hair covers, shoe covers and washing up the hands by the emergency medical service (EMS) personnel.Discussion. The scrutiny of the relevant studies showed that each of them advised the EMS personnel to use a number of PPE. The present study highlighted the fact that there are other components of the PPE which can be useful to them.Conclusion. This study identified the most appropriate PPE needed for prehospital emergency personnel against COVID-19, and it is believed that planning for adequate access to this equipment and training on how to use them can significantly help to reduce the infection among the personnel.

The aerolayer: airborne filtration by aerodynamic focusing and growth

In this work, a novel approach for airborne filtration with particular reference to medical (non-oil) medical mask is discussed. Here, and contrariwise to current approaches, filtration is attained neither by reducing the hydraulic diameter of the pore nor by increasing the fibre layers thickness-both of them with a strong penalty in the breathability of the mask, but rather by aerodynamic focussing and growth of the particles themselves. Aerodynamic focussing of particles is achieved by a proper simple parallel rearrangement of the traditional crisscrossing fibres-a configuration which we called the aerolayer;and the growth by coalescence. Utilizing a simplified geometrical and physical model, an expression for the required length of the aerolayer was derived. It is shown that the aerolayer is not only able to increase the probability of capture for small particles but also can potentially improve the breathability by reduction of the total thickness of the current layers required. Additional R &D is required in order to arrive to the most optimized practical design of the aerolayer. © 2023, Indian Academy of Sciences.

Face mask detection using deep convolutional neural network and multi-stage image processing

• A customized image dataset is built for research on face mask detection. • The dataset is manually labeled to provide high annotation accuracy. • For Face mask detection customized CNN with multi-step image processing is used. • The performance of the proposed CNN is compared with YOLO v3 and Faster R-CNN. • Two publicly available datasets including MAFA and MOXA used for validation. Face mask detection has several applications including real-time surveillance, biometrics, etc. Face mask detection is also useful for surveillance of the public to ensure face mask wearing in public places. Ensuring that people are wearing a face mask is not possible with monitoring staff;instead, automatic systems are a much better choice for face mask detection and monitoring to help manage public behaviour and contribute to restricting the outbreak of COVID-19. Despite the availability of several such systems, the lack of a real image dataset is a big hurdle to validating state-of-the-art face mask detection systems. In addition, using the simulated datasets lack the analysis needed for real-world scenarios. This study builds a new dataset namely RILFD by taking real pictures using a camera and annotating them with two labels (with mask, without mask) which are publicly available for future research. In addition, this study investigates various machine learning models and off-the-shelf deep learning models YOLOv3 and Faster R-CNN for the detection of face masks. The customized CNN models in combination with the 4 steps of image processing are proposed for face mask detection. The proposed approach outperforms other models and proved its robustness with a 97.5% of accuracy score in face mask detection on the RILFD dataset and two publicly available datasets (MAFA and MOXA). [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Image & Vision Computing is the property of Elsevier B.V. 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.)

Face masks for respiratory viral illness prevention in healthcare settings: a concise systemic review and meta-analysis

Background and Objectives: There are conflicting views regarding face mask guidelines amongst healthcare staff to prevent transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), influenza and other respiratory viral infections (RVIs). We conducted a thorough meta-analysis to statistically compare mask use versus no mask use efficacy for RVIs in healthcare settings. Materials and Methods: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines were used for selecting researches published between 2003 and June 2022 from different databases, including Publisher Medline (PubMed), Web of Science, etc.;6 studies qualified for inclusion. Data was pooled from in vivo randomized control, case-control and observational studies dealing with the relationship between face mask use and no use by patients or health personnel and RVI prevention in healthcare setups. Results: The fixed and random-effects model was carried out to determine pooled odds ratios (ORs) and their respective 95 percent confidence intervals (CIs). The results revealed that wearing a face mask significantly reduced the risk of contracting a respiratory viral illness in hospital settings, with pooled OR (95% CI) of 0.11 (0.04 to 0.33) (probability value (P) <0.08). Conclusion: Masks largely succeeded in stopping respiratory virus transmission, as evidenced by the meta-analysis of 6 studies (a total of 927 individuals). [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Iranian Journal of Microbiology is the property of Tehran University of Medical Sciences 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.)

Using Fibre recovered from face mask waste to improve printability in 3D concrete printing

Surgical face mask usage has rapidly increased in the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This generates vast amounts of plastic waste, causing significant risks to the ecosystem. Thus, this study assesses the potential of using recycled fibre from face mask waste as fibre reinforcement in 3D concrete printing (3DCP) applications to improve printability while reducing landfill waste. The effect of recycled fibre from waste face masks on the rheological characteristics of printable mixes and the mechanical performance of printed elements was evaluated for different contents of shredded face masks (i.e., 1% and 2% by vol). The rheological properties like static and dynamic yield strengths, apparent viscosity, and thixotropic behaviour, along with compressive and flexural strength, were evaluated for 3D printed specimens and mechanical properties were compared to their mould-cast counterparts. Further, the variation in the interlayer bond strength and porosity due to different fibre dosages was also investigated. In addition, a comparative study on the fresh and hardened properties was performed for the printable mixes with polypropylene (PP) fibres and face masks. The addition of face masks significantly improved the rheological properties with good extrudability and buildability for all the dosages. Compared to face masks, mixes with PP fibres showed poor extrudability with higher fibre dosages. The compressive strength was increased by 41% for a 1% dosage of face masks when compared to the unreinforced concrete. Furthermore, the flexural strength when tested along the weaker interface, showed an increase of 74% and 82% for the addition of 1% and 2% face mask content. The interlayer bond strength of 1% face mask content showed 21% improvement and was observed to have the highest surface moisture content. The mechanical performance of face masks and PP fibres are observed to be comparable for 1% dosage. The mechanical properties of printed and mould-cast specimens were also observed to be similar. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Cement & Concrete Composites is the property of Elsevier B.V. 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.)

Porous carbon tubes from recycling waste COVID-19 masks for optimization of 8 mol% Y2O3-doped tetragonal zirconia polycrystalline nanopowder.

Disposable polypropylene medical masks are widely used to protect people from injury caused by COVID-19 worldwide. However, disposable medical masks are non-biodegradable materials, and the accumulation of waste masks can pollute the environment and waste resources without a reasonable recycling method. The aims of this study are to transform waste masks into carbon materials and to use them as a dispersant in preparing high-quality 8 mol% Y2O3-doped tetragonal zirconia nanopowders. The waste masks were carbonized to get a carbon source in the first step, then KOH was used to etch the carbon source creating a micropores structure in the carbon material after the carbon-bed heat treatment method. The resulting carbon material is a porous tube structure with a high specific surface area (1220.34 m2/g) and adsorption capacity. The as-obtained porous carbon tubes were applied as a dispersant to produce 8 mol% Y2O3-doped tetragonal zirconia nanopowders, and the resulting nanopowders owned well-dispersed and had the smallest particle size than that prepared by activated carbon as a dispersant. Besides, the sintered 8 mol% Y2O3-doped tetragonal zirconia ceramic possessed high density, which resulted in higher ionic conductivity. These findings suggest that waste face masks can be recycled to prepare high-added-value carbon materials and provide a green and low-cost method to reuse polypropylene waste materials.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Use, Reuse and Disposal of Face Masks during COVID-19 Pandemic amongst University Students of Karachi

Objective: This study is intended to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice towards use, reuse and disposal of face masks amongst university students of Karachi. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in a period of 1 month on the students of Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Bahria University of Medical and Dental College, Liaquat National Hospital and Medical College, Iqra University, SZABIST, Bahria University, and Karachi University. Non-probability convenience sampling was used to conduct an online questionnaire survey assessing personal information, knowledge and attitude toward face mask disposal. Results: A total of 386 valid questionnaires were included in the study. 87.3 % of participants wear face masks regularly. Only 24.4 % of students had adequate knowledge about face masks disposal. The majority of participants discarded the face masks in general trash bins, which is very alarming for public health. 39.1 % showed a positive attitude towards cooperating always with relevant authorities on face masks disposal. 69.2 % were very concerned about hazards associated with improper face masks disposal. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the necessity of policies and strict implementation should be introduced by relevant authorities to ensure the proper use and disposal of face masks in order to narrow the gap the university students have towards the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding use, reuse and disposal of face masks. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Annals of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital & Karachi Medical & Dental College is the property of Knowledge Bylanes 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 Masks We Wear: Watchmen, Infrastructural Racism, and Anonymity

As COVID-19 has led to the politicization of masks and the donning of masks, the prescient commentary that emerges from HBO's Watchmen speaks to our contemporary moment, replete with animosity, distrust, and wounding. Race, the legacy of racial injustice, and anonymity are major themes found throughout the series, which highlight the complicated nature of social control and the infrastructural legacy of racism. The mask itself is a site of struggle with polarizing calls for freedom from the mask as tyranny and freedom through the mask as safety, all during a public health crisis. In Watchmen, the deployment of infrastructural control and the implications of masking and unmasking are enacted through racist ideologies and promises of safety through anonymity. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Television & New Media is the property of Sage Publications Inc. 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.)

Three birds, one stone: Disinfecting and turning waste medical masks into valuable carbon dots for sodium hydrosulfite and Fe3+ detection enabled by a simple hydrothermal treatment.

Disposable medical masks are widely used to prevent respiratory infections due to their ability to block virus particles from entering the human body. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted the importance of medical masks, leading to their widespread use around the world. However, a large number of disposable medical masks have been discarded, some carrying viruses, which have posed a grave threat to the environment and people's health, as well as wasting resources. In this study, a simple hydrothermal method was used for the disinfection of waste medical masks under high-temperature conditions as well as for their transformation into high-value-added carbon dots (CDs, a new type of carbon nanomaterial) with blue-emissive fluorescence, without high energy consumption or environmental pollution. Moreover, the mask-derived CDs (m-CDs) could not only be used as fluorescent probes for sensing sodium hydrosulfite (Na2S2O4), which is widely used in the food and textile industries but is seriously harmful to human health, but also be used for detecting Fe3+ which is harmful to the environment and human health due to its wide use in industries.

Extending the Protection Ability and Life Cycle of Medical Masks through the Washing Process.

The reuse of decontaminated disposable medical face masks can contribute to reducing the environmental burden of discarded masks. This research is focused on the effect of household and laboratory washing at 50 °C on the quality and functionality of the nonwoven structure of polypropylene medical masks by varying the washing procedure, bath composition, disinfectant agent, and number of washing cycles as a basis for reusability. The barrier properties of the medical mask were analyzed before and after the first and fifth washing cycle indirectly by measuring the contact angle of the liquid droplets with the front and back surface of the mask, further by measuring air permeability and determining antimicrobial resistance. Additional analysis included FTIR, pH of the material surface and aqueous extract, as well as the determination of residual substances-surfactants-in the aqueous extract of washed versus unwashed medical masks, while their aesthetic aspect was examined by measuring their spectral characteristics. The results showed that household washing had a stronger impact on the change of some functional properties, primarily air permeability, than laboratory washing. The addition of the disinfectant agent, didecyldimethylammonium chloride, contributes to the protective ability and supports the idea that washing of medical masks under controlled conditions can preserve barrier properties and enable reusability.

Mechanism of microwave-assisted iron-based catalyst pyrolysis of discarded COVID-19 masks

Inexpensive iron-based catalysts are the most promising catalysts for microwave pyrolysis of waste plastics, especially a large number of disposable medical masks (DMMs) with biological hazards produced by spread of COVID-19. However, most synthesized iron-based catalysts have very low microwave heating efficiency due to the enrichment state of iron. Here, we prepared FeAlOx catalysts using the microwave heating method and found that the microwave heating efficiency of amorphous iron and hematite is very low, indeed, these materials can hardly initiate pyrolysis at room temperature, which limits the application of iron-based catalysts in microwave pyrolysis. By contrast, a mixture of DMMs and low-valent iron oxides produced by hydrogen reduction at 500 °C can be heated by microwaves to temperatures above 900 °C under the same conditions. When the hydrogen reduction temperature was incerased to 800 °C, the content of metallic iron in the catalyst gradually increased from 0.34 to 21.43%, which enhanced the microwave response ability of the catalyst, and decreased the gas content in the pyrolysis product from 78.91 to 70.93 wt%;corresponding hydrogen yield also decreased from 29.03 to 25.02 mmolH2·g-1DMMs. Moreover, the morphology of the deposited solid carbon gradually changed from multi-walled CNTs to bamboo-like CNTs. This study clarifies the pyrolysis mechanism of microwave-assisted iron catalysts and lays a theoretical foundation for their application in microwave pyrolysis. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Knowledge, practice, and barriers of optimal mask usage among general public – A cross-sectional study from Kerala, South India

Background: Social distancing, mask, and sanitizers are advised to cut the chain of transmission of the droplet and airborne infection since the first case of COVID-19 was reported from Wuhan. Universal mask usage is advised by the center for disease control. Despite this, it is assumed that there is no adequate mask practice. Aims and Objectives: The objectives of the study are as follows: (1) To assess the knowledge and practice regarding optimal mask usage in a different setting by the general community. (2) To identify the barriers for optimal mask usage as experienced by users. Materials and Methods: We did a cross-sectional study in Kerala using self-made validated questionnaire translated to Malayalam, the regional language distributed by web based Google form. The sample size was calculated as 200 with an assumption of awareness regarding mask usage among the general public to be at least 60% with a confidence interval of 95 and allowable error of 10% Knowledge was considered as high if 80–100%, moderate if 60–79% and low if 0–59%. The practice was considered as good if >75, 74–50 satisfactory and if <50, it is termed as unsatisfactory. Results: Overall knowledge regarding masks and their usage was 52. 88% which is low. Only 38% were doing satisfactory practice. There were lacunae in knowledge regarding mask reusage (39.9%), ideal masks in hospital settings (43.3%). Only 26.4% practiced optimal method of mask removal and 38.4% safe mask disposal. Major barriers for mask usage were suffocation (49.3%) and exertional dyspnea (46.9%). Conclusion: More awareness needs to be created among the public for COVID appropriate behavior with a focus on mask usage. There is a need to address the commonly observed barriers for adhering to mask practice. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Masked face recognition with principal random forest convolutional neural network (PRFCNN)

Masked face recognition embarks the interest among the researchers to find a better algorithm to improve the performance of face recognition applications, especially in the Covid-19 pandemic lately. This paper introduces a proposed masked face recognition method known as Principal Random Forest Convolutional Neural Network (PRFCNN). This method utilizes the strengths of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with the combination of Random Forest algorithm in Convolution Neural Network to pre-train the masked face features. PRFCNN is designed to assist in extracting more salient features and prevent overfitting problems. Experiments are conducted on two benchmarked datasets, RMFD (Real-World Masked Face Dataset) and LFW Simulated Masked Face Dataset using various parameter settings. The experimental result with a minimum recognition rate of 90% accuracy promises the effectiveness of the proposed PRFCNN over the other state-of-the-art methods. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Scenes From Masked and Anonymous i

The title of Bob Dylan's 1971 movie Masked and Anonymous provides a framework for reading the function of masks in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Antimicrobial Properties of CuO Particles Deposited on a Medical Mask.

Medical face masks help to reduce the transmission of pathogens, however, the number of infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant pathogens continues to increase. The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial effect of an experimental medical mask layer coated with copper oxide using an environmentally friendly non-thermal physical vapour deposition approach. Pure CuO nanoparticles were successfully deposited on the middle layer of a face mask. The particles were distributed in different size clusters (starting from less than 100 nm dots going up to about 1 µm cluster-like structures). The CuO clusters did not form uniform films, which could negatively influence airflow during use of the mask. We investigated the antimicrobial properties of the experimental mask layer coated with CuO NPs using 17 clinical and zoonotic strains of gram-negative, gram-positive, spore-forming bacteria and yeasts, during direct and indirect contact with the mask surface. The effectiveness of the coated mask layer depended on the deposition duration of CuO. The optimal time for deposition was 30 min, which ensured a bactericidal effect for both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, including antimicrobial-resistant strains, using 150 W power. The CuO NPs had little or no effect on Candida spp. yeasts.

Effects of the face mask on the skin during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: The use of face mask in these COVID-19 times has increased manifolds. This has led to various skin problems due to the adverse reaction caused by the mask. This study aimed to observe the skin effects of the face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic among individuals in Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study in different regions of Saudi Arabia with data collection was done using a self-administered online questionnaire in the adults above 18 years of age of both sexes. Results: The study involved 516 participants who were mostly young population with male predominance. In general, 37% of face skin reactions related to mask use, whereas 63% of participants did not notice any skin reaction from face mask wearing. Most of them wear surgical masks (85.5%), of which 36.7% of them reported adverse skin reactions (ASRs) related to surgical masks. Furthermore, using the mask for >4 h is approximately double the risk of skin changes, and a significant association has been found between the duration of mask use and ASRs. Finally, no significant association was observed between prolonged face mask use and aggravation of pre-existing skin diseases by face masks. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of skin reactions associated with face masks was 37%. The most frequent skin reaction was acne and itching symptoms, followed by acne alone. Regarding mask type, both surgical and cloth masks were associated with a significantly high incidence of ASRs, which was statistically significant. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Advances in Human Biology is the property of Wolters Kluwer India Pvt Ltd 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.)

Discarded COVID-19 masks-derived-doped porous carbon for lithium-sulfur batteries.

Despite the high theoretical capacity and energy density of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, the development of Li-S batteries has been slow due to the poor electrical conductivity and the shuttle effect of the electrode materials, resulting in low sulfur utilization and fast long-term cycling capacity decay. The modified carbon materials are often used as sulfur hosts to significantly improve the cycling performance of the materials, but also bring high-cost issues. Here, the porous carbon materials are synthesized quickly and conveniently by the microwave cross-linking method using discarded medical masks as carbon sources and concentrated sulfuric acid as solvent. However, poor surface and structural properties limit the application of materials. The porous carbon material is modified with p-toluene disulfide and urea as the sulfur and nitrogen sources by the microwave cross-linking method, which not only improves the porosity and specific surface area of the porous carbon material, but also improved the electrical conductivity and interlayer spacing of the material. As synthesized SN-doped porous carbon is employed as the sulfur host, which exhibits a high discharge capacity (1349.3 mAh g-1) at 0.1°C, the S-porous C/S, N-porous C/S, and SN-porous C/S can maintain 78.1, 43.9, and 59.5% of the initial capacity after 500 cycles. The results indicate that the doping of S and N atoms provides sufficient active sites for the chemisorbed lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) to improve the reaction kinetics of the materials.

Environmental Hazard of Polypropylene from Disposable Face Masks Linked to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Possible Mitigation Techniques through a Green Approach

The COVID-19 outbreak again underlined plastic items' importance in our daily lives. The public has widely utilized disposable face masks constructed of polypropylene polymer materials as effective and inexpensive personal protective equipment (PPE) to inhibit virus transmission. The consequences of this have resulted in millions of tons of plastic garbage littering the environment due to inappropriate disposal and mismanagement. Surgical masks are among them, and this study aimed to assess the biodegrading efficiency of disposable face masks using Pseudomonas aeruginosa VJ 1. This work used a bacterial strain, Pseudomonas aeruginosa VJ 1, obtained from sewage water-contaminated surface soil in Tiruchirappalli, India, to investigate the biodegradation of polypropylene (PP) face masks. The mask pieces were incubated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa VJ 1 culture in three different solid and liquid media for 30 days at 37°C. Surface changes and variations in the intensity of functional groups and carbonyl index variations were confirmed using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis to ensure microbial degradation (up to 5.37% weight reduction of PP films within 30 days). These findings show that Pseudomonas aeruginosa VJ 1 could be a good choice for biodegrading PP masks without harming our health or the environment. There is a need for a novel solution for the degradation of PP. The methods and strain presented here reveal the potential biodegrading agents of PP masks. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Chemistry is the property of Hindawi Limited 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.)

Methods for audiovisual recognition of people in masks

In the modern world, wearing masks, respirators and facial clothes is very popular. The novel coronavirus pandemic that began in 2019 has also significantly increased the applicability of masks in public places. The most affective person recognition methods are identification by face image and voice recording. However, person recognition systems are facing new challenges due to masks covering most of the subject’s face. Existence of new problems for intelligent systems determines the relevance of masked person recognition systems research, therefore the subject of the study is the systems and datasets for masked people recognition. The article discusses analysis of the main approaches to masked people identity recognition: masked face recognition, masked voice recognition and audiovisual methods. In addition, this article includes comparative analysis of images and recordings datasets required for person recognition systems. The results of the study showed that among the methods that use face images the most effective are methods based on convolutional neural networks and the mask area feature extraction. The methods of x-vector analysis showed a slight drop in efficiency which allows us to conclude that they are applicable in the tasks of recognizing the identity of a speaker in a mask. Results of this study help with formulation of requirements for perspective masked person recognition systems and determining directions for further research. © 2022, ITMO University. All rights reserved.