ABSTRACT
Covid-19 epidemic has harmed the global economy. Particularly, the restaurant sector has been severely impacted by the rapid spread of the virus. The use of digital technology (DT) has been utilized to execute risk-reduction methods as service innovation tools. In this work, a genetic algorithm optimization is used to cope with the problems caused by the restrictions due to Covid-19 to optimize the management of the spaces in commercial and industrial structures. The approach through the GA involves the selection of the best members of a population that change genome based on the epochs. The digitization of a commercial or industrial environment becomes an optimal methodology for carrying out virtual design of work environments. Digitization thus becomes a strategy for the reduction of both monetary and time cost. Focusing on the case study, satisfactory results emerge supported by tests that reveal an appreciable robustness and open new scenarios for different applications of the methodology developed in this work, always in the context of optimal management of industrial and commercial spaces. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Vaccines have proved to be effective in reducing mortality of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a part of the population is still reluctant to be vaccinated. Thus, the aim of this work was to apply a framework to create Personas, fictional representations of real people, to assess the characteristics of the population willing to be vaccinated in order to develop personalized eHealth-based interventions to increase compliance to vaccinations. Data was collected through an online survey at the beginning of 2021. Multiple dimensionality reduction methods were used as input for K-Medoids clustering with PAM algorithm to create Personas. The optimal number of Personas and dimensionality reduction method to be used were evaluated through the average silhouette graph and the percentage of statistically different attributes between Personas. From 1070 respondents, three Personas were identified. Persona 3 showed statistically significant lower trust in institutions, lower education and lower willingness of being vaccinated when compared to the other two Personas. The developed approach to create Personas was deemed able to identify the main characteristics of those more prone not willing to be vaccinated, suggesting that behavioral change techniques should focus on taking advantage of the closer social circle of those reluctant to vaccines. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected global economies including food industry. The food service industry is unable to operate normally and faces issues such as frequent leave requests, shortened business hours and reduction in the number of seats in restaurants to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As a result, several restaurants have been forced to close. Therefore, this study proposes a game system that applies the mechanism of the prediction market to solicit ideas from employees for recovery of sales in small restaurants and effective use of ingredients (including reduction of food waste) under the business scenario in COVID-19. In such a game, routine restaurant operations can be understood, current issues can be analyzed and the deductions from these can be used as a reference for subsequent business opportunities. The game will improve communication between owners and employees. Understanding the contents of food waste will be beneficial to employees and consumers. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
A Cu film with the ability to rapidly inactivate the COVID-19 virus was easily fabricated at approximately 23°C on a Na-free glass substrate. The well-adhered Cu films with thickness of approximately 16 μm and surface area of 8.71 10-3 m2 g-1 were obtained by immersion of the glass substrate into an aqueous solution with dissolved Cu (II) complex of ammonia and ascorbic acid. The interface bonded between the film and glass substrate was very strong, such that the film did not peel off even when it was exposed to an ultrasonic wave of 100 mW (42 kHz) in water. The anti-COVID-19 activity in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) is effective within 2 h and is faster than that of commercial copper plates. The changes in the relative abundance of Cu2O and CuO crystallines on the Cu film due to DMEM treatment and those in surface morphology were examined by X-ray diffraction peak analysis and field emission-scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The flame atomic absorption analyses of the recovered solutions after DMEM treatment indicated that the Cu ions from the Cu film with DMEM treatment for 1 hour at a concentration of 0.64 ± 0.03 ppm were eluted 2.3 times faster than those from the Cu plate. The rapid elution of Cu ions from Cu2O crystallines on the film in the early stage is the primary factor in the inactivation of the COVID-19 virus, as elucidated from the time dependence of eluted Cu ions by DMEM treatment. Results from thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) of the powder scratched from the Cu film suggested that a trace amount of organic residues remaining in the Cu film was important in the rapid activity. © 2022 World Scientific Publishing Company.