Effect of Vaccination on Risk of Exposure to Airborne Infectious Disease During the Boarding Process in a Commercial Aircraft Using Agent-Based Simulation

As increasing proportions of the world's population have received at least one dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, everyday activities start to be resumed, including travels. The present study investigates the impact of immunization on the risk of exposure to an infectious disease such as COVID-19, during the boarding process in a commercial airplane. An agent-based simulation model considers different vaccine types and vaccination rates among passengers. The results show significant decrease in the median exposure risk, when the vaccination rate increases from 0% to 100%, but also that people in seats adjacent to an infectious passenger are in much higher risk, for a similar vaccination coverage. Such results provide quantitative evidence of the importance of mass immunization, and also that, when full vaccination is not guaranteed for 100% of passengers, it may be recommendable to avoid full occupancy of the aircraft, by implementing physical distancing when assigning seats. © 2022 IEEE.

Prevention of COVID-19 infection in swimming competitions

The purpose of this study was to examine of countermeasures to infection in swimming competitions under COVID-19 pandemic. In swimming competitions, the same criteria as for other sporting events cannot be used, because participants use the spectators' seats. In a swimming competition, crowded and/or close-contact situations are not formed, since each swimmer uses each lane in the race. However, swimmers in a competition may be crowded in the warm-up pool and locker room. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the control of the number of participants in the swimming competition in the order of the locker room and the warm-up pool. The results of this study show that the number of swimmers using the locker room at the same time is an important factor.

The design and research of cargo seat cover for transport of cargo in passenger aircraft cabin under the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper analyses the current situation of passenger aircraft cabin cargo and the measures taken by airlines under the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. An innovative product cargo seat cover for flexible passenger-to-cargo conversion is proposed in response to potential problems, and product styling, material composition, design philosophy, cost and application value are researched. The aim of paper is to meet the changing requirements and challenges under the COVID-19 pandemic by exploring new models and innovative products for aircraft passenger-to-cargo conversion, and bring more possibilities to the aviation industry by breaking the inherent passenger-to-cargo mindset. © 2022 SPIE.

Carsharing Vehicle Fleet Selection from the Frequent User’s Point of View

Short-term car rental services, i.e., carsharing, is a solution that has been developing better and better in urban transport systems in recent years. Along with intensive expansion, service providers have to face an increasing number of challenges to compete with each other. One of them is meeting the expectations of customers about the fleet of vehicles offered in the system. While this aspect is noticed in the literature review mainly in terms of fleet optimization and management, there is a research gap regarding the appropriate selection of vehicle models. In response, the article was dedicated to identifying the vehicles that were best suited to carsharing systems from the point of view of frequent customers. The selection of appropriate vehicles was treated as a multi-criteria decision issue, therefore the study used one of the multi-criteria decision support methods—ELECTRE III. The work focuses on researching the opinions of users (experts) who often use carsharing services in Poland. The study included a list of the most popular vehicles in Europe in 2021, including classic, electric, and hybrid cars, and a list of 11 evaluation criteria. The research results indicate for frequent users the advantage of conventional drive vehicles over electric and hydrogen vehicles. Moreover, they indicate that the best vehicles are relatively large cars (European car segments C and D) with the greatest possible length, boot capacity, engine power, number of safety systems, and quality. On the other hand, the least important issues are the number of seats in the vehicle and the number of doors. Interestingly, the vehicles selected by frequent users questioned the concept of small city cars, which occupied a small public space on which carsharing was supposed to focus. The results obtained support the operators of carsharing services in making fleet decisions.

The Post-pandemic Era Study on the Design of High-speed Railway Seats

The COVID-19 has led to people’s increased concern about health issues. In this paper, we investigate the needs of users traveling by high-speed rail in the post-pandemic era and optimize the design of high-speed rail seats, and evaluate the feasibility. Methodology: Using INPD combined with AHP and QFD to guide the design of high-speed railway seats, we use INPD as the main line of research and SET factor analysis to find the product opportunity gaps;using questionnaires and user interviews to research different high-speed railway travelers and derive various needs of users for high-speed railway seats;AHP was used to calculate and prioritize the target user requirements, and then QFD was used to determine the weights of each design requirement point. Conclusion: This paper aims to provide design ideas and future development trends for the design of high-speed railway seats in the post-pandemic era by using INPD, AHP and QFD methods. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Impact of Seat Inclination and Misalignment on Airborne Pollutant Transport in a Single-Aisle Aircraft Cabin

Airborne pollutant transport in an aircraft cabin is greatly affected by the created airflow. The seat layout can impact the flow and thus the pollutant transport. Most studies have adopted symmetric upright seats for simplicity. The influence of seat inclination and seat misalignment on airflow and pollutant transport is still unclear. This investigation adopted a validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method to study the airflow and airborne pollutant distribution in a single-aisle cabin with seven rows of seats. The pollutant was assumed to be released from a passenger seated in the middle of three adjacent seats. A total of five different seat layouts were considered, including all of the upright seats, the inclination of three adjacent seats, the inclination of all of the seats in half a cabin, the inclination of all of the seats in a whole cabin, and the misalignment seat rows across the aisle. The flows in both the cross and longitudinal sections were compared. The pollutant concentrations in the respiratory zone of the passengers in different seats were adopted to evaluate the cross-contamination. The results revealed that the symmetric seat layout aids to circumscribe the released pollutant in a small region and reduces the cross-contamination either by maintaining the upright seats or inclining all of the seats. Contrarily, any inclination of seats or a misalignment of seat rows should be avoided during the pandemic since an asymmetric seat layout would generate asymmetric flow and strengthen the spreading of pollutants.

Effects of Environmental Features in Small Public Urban Green Spaces on Older Adults’ Mental Restoration: Evidence from Tokyo

Exposure to small public urban green spaces (SPUGS) has been demonstrated to have mental benefits for older adults. However, studies on identifying the objective environmental features of SPUGS and their effects on mental restoration for older adults remain limited. This study employed a multilevel regression model to investigate the restorative and vitalizing effects of the environmental features of 11 SPUGS in Tokyo. Onsite measurements were conducted in Kita-Ku, and 202 older adults were surveyed. The results showed that: (1) The fitting curve of the green view index and Restoration Outcome Scale (ROS) score showed an inverted U shape—both green view index and boundary enclosure had a strong impact on the mental restoration of older adults;(2) The colorfulness index showed the strongest relationship with the vitalizing effect. (3) The sky view factor and number of seats only influenced the ROS score, while the results of revitalization suggest that large areas of water should be avoided. (4) Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) was also confirmed to have negative effects on the mental restoration of older adults in autumn. These empirical findings can be used as a resource to promote the mental health of older adults in the design of SPUGS in high-density Asian countries.

Assessment of the spread of COVID-19 in seven countries using a seasonal adjustment method

Early identification of the trends in the number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases is essential. Weekly periodicity and irregular fluctuations affect the time series of the number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases. However, a 7-day moving average and a rolling 7-day total delay identifying the trend changes because of assigning a low weight to the most recent day. Additionally, they cannot adjust for the fluctuations due to moving holidays.For the first time, this study shows that X-13ARIMA-SEATS (X-13), one of the seasonal adjustment methods, can apply to the analysis of the changes in the number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases with examples of seven countries: Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan.This study successfully extracts trend components, calendar-induced components (weekly periodicity and fluctuations due to moving holidays), and irregular components from the time series of seven countries by X-13. Thus, compared to a 7-day moving average and a rolling 7-day total, the method in this study can facilitate more rapid and accurate assessment and strategic responses to the spread of COVID-19. Furthermore, the method could be effective for analyzing other daily data with weekly periodicity. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Statistical Journal of the IAOS is the property of IOS Press 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.)

After the Epidemic, Is the Smart Traffic Management System a Key Factor in Creating a Green Leisure and Tourism Environment in the Move towards Sustainable Urban Development?

The purpose of this study is to explore, after the epidemic, the intelligent traffic management system, which is the key to creating a green leisure tourism environment in the move towards sustainable urban development. First, quantitative research, snowballing, and convenience sampling methods are used to analyze 750 questionnaires with a basic statistical test, t-test, ANOVA test, and the Pearson product–moment correlation coefficient (PPMCC) method. Qualitative research and a semi-structured interview method are used to collect the opinions of six experts on the data results. Finally, the results are discussed with the multivariate inspection method. Although the current electric bicycle system is convenient, the study found that the service quality of the airport is sufficient;that the fare of the subway is low and popular with students if the system can ease the crowd during peak hours;and that the login and security check time can be shortened, which can help improve the operating convenience of the system interface and link the information of leisure and tourism activities. On the other hand, adjusting fares, increasing seats, planning for women-only ticketing measures and travel space, providing disinfection or cleaning facilities in public areas, and improving passenger’s public health literacy and epidemic prevention cooperation will further enhance the student travel experience, improve the smart city and green tourism network, and help achieve sustainable urban tourism.

Spatial Distribution of Exhalation Droplets in the Bus in Different Seasons

In closed buses, the spread of droplets with viruses/bacteria may cause the spread of respiratory infectious diseases. Discrete phase modeling is used to simulate the diffusion characteristics and concentration distribution of droplets at different temperatures and different exhalation positions by ANSYS FLUENT software. The integral concentration of droplets at different locations can be quantified, which leads to identification of low-risk areas and high-risk areas in the bus. Results show that a higher outdoor temperature leads to lower droplets’ diffusion speed and longer time until the droplets reach the driver. In addition, based on the integral concentration of droplets at the seats, regardless of whether a passenger exhales droplets in the front row of the bus, the position of the rear door or the last row of the bus, the seats in the last row of the bus away from the door belong to the low-risk area. In contrast, the seats near the door and the middle seat in the bus are higher risk areas. Consequently, this study proposed sitting on a seat in the low-risk area as a means to reduce the risk of passengers. Moreover, safety protection facilities around the driver should be modified to improve the isolation of the upper area of the driver’s location, so as to effectively prevent the droplet diffusion towards the driver, thereby effectively reducing the driver’s risk of infection.

Video Analytics based Intelligent Transport System for passenger flow forecast and Social Distancing Indication

Crowd density management in the transport sector is still one of the ongoing research problems. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is one of the branches of smart cities that aim to achieve better traffic efficiency. The intelligent transport system optimizes the traffic congestion control by acquiring real time data. Optimized traffic congestion control demands a robust system that could count the number of people inside a carrier for taking optimized decisions. In this paper we proposed an intelligent algorithm named Modified Intelligent Centroid Tracker and Counter (MICTC) that could detect, count, and measure the distance between humans in a closed and controlled environment. The proposed algorithm is vision based and the scope of the work is to optimize the congestion control inside the passenger carrier and supports countless use cases like smart transport, buildings, and other demography where social distancing is enforced. MICTC algorithm not only offers visual indication with a bounding box but also generates metadata which gives a clear picture to the concerned operational or administrative head regarding the current passenger count status. The work deployed in the public transport sector as a candid spot to operate. The algorithm delivers an adequate transport facility to the public, as it gathers information on crowd density in a public transport medium to the commuters of every region. The work gathers crowd density information and provides commuters a suggestion on availability of seats in the carrier, which then saves time, avoids catching the crowded carriers, ensures social distancing, and standardizes the public transportation system which has practical significance. On experimental analysis we could infer that the proposed approach works with accuracy of 0.81,0.83, 0.85, 0.88, 0.82, 0.89 on VISOR, Kaggle, CALTECH, Penn-Fudan, Daimler Mono and INRIA respectively.

Seasonality in COVID-19 times.

COVID-19 hit the economy in an unprecedented way, changing the data generating process of many series. We compare different seasonal adjustment methods through simulations, introducing outliers in the trend and seasonality to reproduce the heterogeneity in the series during COVID-19.

COVID-19 and urban spaces: A new integrated CFD approach for public health opportunities.

Safe urban public spaces are vital owing to their impacts on public health, especially during pandemics such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Urban public spaces and urbanscape elements must be designed with the risk of viral transmission in mind. This work therefore examines how the design of urbanscape elements can be revisited to control COVID-19 transmission dynamics. Nine proposed models of urban public seating were thus presented and assessed using a transient three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, with the Eulerian-Lagrangian method and discrete phase model (DPM). The proposed seating models were evaluated by their impact on the normalized air velocity, the diameter of coughing droplets, and deposition fraction. Each of the proposed models demonstrated an increase in the normalized velocity, and a decrease in the deposition fraction by >29%. Diagonal cross linear and curved triangle configurations demonstrated an improved airflow momentum and turbulent flow, which decreased the droplets deposition fraction by 68%, thus providing an improved, healthier urban public seating option.