Neighborhood-Level Particle Pollution Assessment during the COVID-19 Pandemic via a Novel IoT Solution

In recent years, the concentration levels of various air pollutants have been constantly increasing, primarily due to the high vehicle flow. In 2020, however, severe lockdowns in Greece were imposed to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a rapid reduction in the concentration levels of air pollutants such as PM2.5 and PM10 in the atmosphere. Initially, this paper seeks to identify the correlation between the concentration levels of PM10 and the traffic flow by acquiring data from low-cost IoT devices which were placed in Thessaloniki, Greece, from March to August 2020. The correlation and the linearity between the two parameters were further investigated by applying descriptive analytics, regression techniques, Pearson correlation, and independent T-testing. The obtained results indicate that the concentration levels of PM10 are strongly correlated to the vehicle flow. Therefore, the results hint that the decrease in the vehicle flow could result in improving the quality of environmental air. Finally, the acquired results point out that the temperature and humidity are weakly correlated with the concentration levels of PM10 present in the atmosphere.

Changes in purchasing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic and impacts on trip patterns

Consumer behavior has changed over time, influenced by the emergence of e-commerce and e-delivery services. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the use of technologies influencing people's behavior for shopping activities and access to services. This study aims to understand the changes in commuting patterns for purchases, trip chaining, and the decision of internet purchases during the pandemic, by identifying groups with similar behaviors and relationships with their socioeconomic characteristics. For this purpose, data were collected in May 2020, considering the travel patterns for purchases and the use of the Internet during this period. Shopping patterns, chained travel, and the decision to purchase over the Internet are characterized by descriptive statistical analysis. Next, cluster analysis is used to identify groups of individuals with similar behavior changes and subsequent analysis of socioeconomic variables related to the groups. Preliminary results showed that travel reduction due to purchases is higher among women and users of public transport. There has been a significant reduction in travel for the consumption of durable goods and chained trips for general purchases. Consumption of convenience products and essential goods over the Internet increased among people who had never bought such products online and started doing so during the pandemic. Among the factors of choice for internet purchase, the absence of direct contact with people during the purchase gained significant relevance during the pandemic. These changes in behavior bring to light the need for a reflection on the effectiveness of urban logistics solutions and a discussion of the impacts of reducing trips to purchases.

Influences of Problem-Based Online Learning on the Learning Outcomes of Learners

Influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has become a major learning mode for most university students in China. For high-quality online teaching, teachers must optimize the teaching mode and strengthen the enthusiasm of students in classroom learning. In this study, a comparative experiment was carried out based on the course Cross-border E-commerce Customer Services for sophomore E-commerce majors at Huanghuai University in Zhumadian City, Henan Province, China. In the experiment, the teaching effect of the problem-based learning (PBL) mode in higher education was verified and gender differences in learning outcomes of learners who accepted PBL were analyzed. Results showed a significant difference at the 0.01 level between pre- and post-test results of the experimental group (t=−11.367, p=0.000), proving the teaching effect of PBL. The academic performances of the experimental class are significantly better compared with those of the control class, indicating that PBL is more beneficial to improve learning outcomes of students than traditional teaching methods. Gender has significant influences on post-test results at the 0.01 level (p=0.002<0.01). The median of final exam scores of male students is obviously higher than that of female students. Research conclusions can provide important references to test the effectiveness of PBL in learning outcomes of a specific subject, construct a PBL mode that can promote deep learning, and facilitate development of university teaching from knowledge teaching to core quality training of students.

Influences of Use of Flipped Classroom Models on the Learning Outcomes of Students Majoring in Road and Bridge Engineering Technology

The new "Internet+” teaching mode during the COVID-19 pandemic has guaranteed the smooth learning progress of university students in China. High-efficiency reconstruction of time and space for knowledge teaching and internalization based on informationalized teaching mean is an important approach to online learning. A flipped classroom is a teaching mode that is formed through bottom-up exploration. Combined with teaching practical situations, the flipped classroom realizes the transformation from the teacher-centered mode to the student-oriented mode successfully and has important value to the teaching of professional core courses, which are difficult to be learned. In this study, 80 freshmen majoring in Road and Bridge Engineering Technology at Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute in Henan Province of China were selected as research objects, and Road Survey Design and Lofting was chosen as the teaching course. Under these circumstances, a teaching experiment comparison was designed. The experimental group used flipped classroom technology based on Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) motivation model theory, while the control group used the traditional teaching mode. Research results demonstrate that before the experiment, the learning outcomes of two groups in Road Survey Design and Lofting were basically consistent (P=0.908>0.05) without obvious differences. After finishing the experiment, the post-test results of the control group have not improved significantly compared with the pre-test results (P=0.0938>0.05). However, the post-test results of the experimental group have improved significantly compared with the pretest results (P < 0.001). The average scores of the experimental group are far higher than that of the control group, thus indicating the evident progress of the experimental group. Noticeable differences in the post-test results between the experimental group and the control group are observed (P < 0.001). The research results are of great significance to enriching the teaching mode of core application courses for engineering majors in university, as they provide evidence that the flipped classroom increases the learning interests and motivation of students and demonstrate the teaching effect of flipped classroom technology in universities © 2023, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Do Socially Responsible Indices Outperform the Market During Black Swan Events: Evidence from Indian Markets During Global Financial and COVID-19 Crises

This paper aims to examine and compare the effect of black swan events on the performance of companies with strong Environmental, Social, and (Corporate) Governance (ESG) backgrounds with that of other companies. Compared to established firms, companies with ESG backgrounds are perceived to be stable that will help them outperform established companies that are volatile during times of crisis. This research focuses on SENSEX for conventional market index and BSE GREEENEX and S & P BSE CARBONEX for ESG indices. We evaluated performances of the three indices during U.S. Debt Ceiling Crisis (2011-12), Black Monday China, BREXIT and Demonetization (2015-16), and COVID-19 (2020) crisis. We checked whether ESG indices outperformed conventional index significantly using Student's T-test. We have also compared the volatility of the three indices during the different black swan periods using the GARCH model.

The effect of COVID-19 on nursing program passing scores.

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly challenged nursing education. Nursing programs had to continue providing quality nursing education in an altered environment where much of what was traditionally face-to-face learning was forced online and into simulation. The purpose of this quantitative comparative ex post facto designed study, using secondary data and guided by Knowles's adult learning theory, was to determine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing students' nursing program passing scores before and during the pandemic. The results of the independent t test were a statistically significant decrease (p < .001) in the nursing program passing scores for students during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. The implications of this analysis provide information to nursing educators, and nursing programs can use this study to recognize there are students requiring extra support in the face of a challenge such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effects of ATDE Teaching Mode during Online Teaching on Creative Thinking Ability of Learners

Online teaching based on computer and network technology has become a vital teaching mode under the current situation of the overwhelming COVID-19 epidemic. Teachers and students who fully understand and master basic knowledge and skills of various information technologies in online learning can stimulate students' interest in learning information technology and train their ability in information collection, processing, and use. Given the lack of face-to-face communication and deep emotional exchange, online teaching has poor performance in improving the creative thinking ability of learners. During online teaching, teachers train the innovation consciousness quality of students in online courses successfully and improve the creative thinking ability of learners by using "asking," "thinking," "doing," and "evaluation," that is, the ATDE teaching mode. In this study, a teaching experiment was carried out on 41 undergraduates admitted in 2018 who majored in civil engineering at Zhengzhou University of Industrial Technology, Henan Province, China. Students were divided into the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group adopted the ATDE teaching mode for the course Design of concrete structure, while the control group applied the traditional teaching mode. A questionnaire survey of students' creative thinking ability was conducted for both groups. Results showed that university students' creative, emotional attitude under the ATDE teaching mode was far higher than that under the traditional (F=6.490, p=0.015). The creative thinking performance of university students under the ATDE teaching mode was higher than that under the traditional teaching mode (F=7.468, p=0.009). The Pearson correlation coefficient between creative, emotional attitude and creative thinking performance was 0.985 in the late test stage, which was higher than in the early test stage (0.480), which reveals that the ATDE teaching mode was conducive to improving course learning effect of students majoring in civil engineering. Research conclusions can provide some references to investigate the feasibility of ATDE teaching mode in universities and offer a new choice and feasible path to train students' creative thinking ability.

Influences of Problem-Based Online Learning on the Learning Outcomes of Learners

Influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has become a major learning mode for most university students in China. For highquality online teaching, teachers must optimize the teaching mode and strengthen the enthusiasm of students in classroom learning. In this study, a comparative experiment was carried out based on the course Cross-border E-commerce Customer Services for sophomore E-commerce majors at Huanghuai University in Zhumadian City, Henan Province, China. In the experiment, the teaching effect of the problem-based learning (PBL) mode in higher education was verified and gender differences in learning outcomes of learners who accepted PBL were analyzed. Results showed a significant difference at the 0.01 level between pre and post-test results of the experimental group (t = −11.367, p = 0.000), proving the teaching effect of PBL. The academic performances of the experimental class are significantly better compared with those of the control class, indicating that PBL is more beneficial to improve learning outcomes of students than traditional teaching methods. Gender has significant influences on post-test results at the 0.01 level (p = 0.002 < 0.01). The median of final exam scores of male students is obviously higher than that of female students. Research conclusions can provide important references to test the effectiveness of PBL in learning outcomes of a specific subject, construct a PBL mode that can promote deep learning, and facilitate development of university teaching from knowledge teaching to core quality training of students. © 2023,International Journal of Emerging Technologies in LearningAll Rights Reserved.

COVID-19 Impacts on Self-Reported Food Safety Behaviors in Florida Youth

Measures to protect against the spread of COVID-19 include guidance on personal and environmental hygiene. Some guidelines related to COVID-19 directly align with or have similarity to evidence-based food safety practices (FSP) taught in nutrition education classes, including handwashing and washing produce before eating.To understand the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth handwashing and washing produce before eating behaviors.Data were collected from youth (N = 1,098) in grades 3-5 who participated in SNAP-Education (SNAP-Ed) and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) in Florida. Utilizing common self-report survey measures, baseline measures from 3 years prior to the pandemic and 3 months during the pandemic were compared for handwashing before eating and washing produce before eating. Due to incomplete data collection during the first 8 months of the pandemic, only behaviors from October 20-January 31 intervals (October 2018- January 2021) were compared to control for seasonal differences.Behavioral measures are based on a frequency scale from 1 to 4 (4 being the most frequent). An independent samples t test was used to compare baseline FSP scores from intervals before and during the pandemic.No significant difference was found in the frequency of handwashing before and during COVID-19 (3.16 vs 3.18, respectively, P = 0.76). A significant increase was found in the frequency of washing produce before eating before and during COVID-19 (3.14 vs 3.31, respectively, P = 0.008).This study did not find any significant changes in handwashing frequency during COVID-19, however, a significant increase in washing produce prior to eating was found. Handwashing prior to eating is a current CDC guideline for COVID-19 mitigation while washing produce prior to eating is not (CDC 2021). Changes in lifestyle and/or eating arrangements during the pandemic might explain these findings.

Food Security at a Private, Midwestern University During COVID-19

Food insecurity among college students has been estimated between 32.9% to 50.9% of students. Food insecurity among college students is associated with poor nutrition, higher stress levels, and poorer academic outcomes. First-generation, low-income, and students of color are at higher risk of food insecurity.To assess food security at a private university during the COVID-19 pandemic.This cross-sectional study was conducted in Fall 2020 at a private, Midwestern university with approximately 5,400 students. Participants were recruited via email. An online survey was administered to 393 students, aged 18-53 years (M = 20.69 ± 4.07). Participants were predominantly White (n = 338, 86%), US citizens (n = 383, 98%), majority female (n = 300, 76%), mostly undergraduate (n = 361, 92%), and 113 (29%) were first-generation students. Eighty-one (21%) participants reported living with a parent/guardian.The USDA's 18-item Household Food Security Survey was used to assess food security. A total food security score was calculated, and participants categorized as high, marginal, low, or very low food security. A t test was performed to determine if a difference existed between food security scores for participants who were/were not first-generation students.Of the 393 participants, 199 (50.6%) reported high food security, 73 (18.6%) marginal, 51 (13.0%) low, and 70 (17.8%) very low. Based on the USDA classification, 69.2% were food secure while 30.8% were food insecure. First-generation students had significantly greater food insecurity (M = 3.22 ± 3.40) than non-first-generation students (M = 1.67 ± 2.63), [t(169.27) = 4.37, P < 0.000].Food security among participants was higher than estimates for college students pre-COVID-19. One possible explanation is that more students may have been living at their permanent residences due to remote learning. First-generation students continue to be at high risk for food insecurity. Nutrition educators can collaborate with administrators and other stakeholders to provide resources to increase food security among students.

Does the Risks and Rewards of the Healthcare Companies Leads to Faith Based Investments? Evidence from Indian Stock Market

Increasing cases due to COVID-19 has not only obstructed health and day today lives of people, but also it has affected on economic development of India. Healthcare sector has grown as one of India's principal sectors, in generating revenue as well as in job creation. Healthcare sector in India is developing at a abrupt pace owing to its wide ranges of services in addition to products and increase in the expenditure by public as well as private players. Stock exchanges use to play a important role economic development of an nation. Stocks of various companies' use to trade in the security exchanges which includes predictable returns then also risk. The investors invest in the stock exchanges with an anticipated return in the future. The real returns of different stocks vary from anticipated return because of variability in the stock exchanges. As soon as the instability of the security exchanges oncrease the risk includes in the investment also goes up. So, investment in security exchanges involve high risk for investors. It necessitates to make proper planning and analyse the risk then return. Therefore, this research work is related to analyses the risk and returns of Sensex and major indices of Healthcare Companies. The risk as well as return has analyzed by considering the daily closing prices of sample indices. This research is based on secondary data. This has been collected from various website for a period of 10 years from 1st January 2012 to 31st December 2021. For attaining the objectives as well as test the hypothesis, various tools like correlation, descriptive statistics and t test have been used. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

Research on the relationship between college students' employability and IT skills training based on mixed research methods.

In the Internet era, there is a mismatch between the skill demands of the IT industry in China and the employment prospects of computer science graduates. The COVID-19 pandemic has particularly highlighted co-existing challenges for industry recruitment and student employment. Many education institutions see IT skills training as a way to solve this conflict. The present paper employs a mixed methods approach to explore factors regarding computer science students' employability. The study used a questionnaire informed by an indepth literature review, full scale development theory and the theory of competency-based education. Reliability analysis and factor analysis methods were used to assess component reliability and structural validity. A total of 323 valid questionnaires were collected and subjected to mean and variance analyses to explore significant differences, including in terms of gender, in student employability. The results show that: (1) employability is divided into nine factors; (2) IT skills training can improve employability; (3) the employability level of computer science students who participate in IT skills training is high; (4) there are significant gender differences in professional ethics, scientific spirit and job-seeking skills, but no significant gender differences in humanistic qualities, computer cognition and operation skills, software design and development skills, system use and innovation skills, sustainable development capacity and teamwork skills. The identification of student employability factors can help education institutions to improve their training and can be used as a standard for students' self-evaluation and selfimprovement. The paper also provides suggestions for education institutions about how to set up IT skills training programmes to enhance students' future employment prospects in the IT industry.

Do Religious Students in Korea Have Different Opinions about the Risk and Dangers of Covid-19 Compared to NonReligious Students?

This paper tried to explore the view of religious and non-religious people on severity of coronavirus disease 2019 in South Korea. Authors employs a survey method to investigate if religious people in South Korea have different opinions about the risk and dangers of coronavirus disease 2019 compared to non-religious people. The samples for this research were collected via Google Form and paper-pencil based from the university students of Korea. Correlation coefficient tests was performed and the difference-of-means t-test to see if there was a significant correlation between religiosity and the belief that the coronavirus is dangerous. The results showed that is no strong evidence to support our hypothesis. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

Do Religious Students in Korea Have Different Opinions about the Risk and Dangers of Covid-19 Compared to Non-Religious Students?

This paper tried to explore the view of religious and non-religious people on severity of coronavirus disease 2019 in South Korea. Authors employs a survey method to investigate if religious people in South Korea have different opinions about the risk and dangers of coronavirus disease 2019 compared to non-religious people. The samples for this research were collected via Google Form and paper-pencil based from the university students of Korea. Correlation coefficient tests was performed and the difference-of-means t-test to see if there was a significant correlation between religiosity and the belief that the coronavirus is dangerous. The results showed that is no strong evidence to support our hypothesis.

KURUMSAL YÖNETÍM ENDEKSÍNDE YER ALAN ve YER ALMAYAN BANKALARIN KOVÍD 19 SALGIN SÜRECÍNDEKÍ PERFORMANSI

2019 yılının ikinci yarısında Çin’de ortaya çıkan ve geçtiğimiz iki yıl boyunca, bütün dünyada ve ülkemizde etkisini gösteren Koronavirüs salgını, dünyada gelmiş geçmiş en büyük felaketi ve krizi insanoğluna yaşatmaya devam etmektedir. Salgın sebebiyle ortaya çıkmış olan krizi en ez zararla atlatabilmek için yapılan çalışmalar artarak devam etmekte olup, küresel anlamda aşının yaygın hale gelmesiyle salgına çözüm oluşturulabileceği bilim insanları tarafından dile getirilmektedir. Bu çalışma ile 2020 ve 2021 yıllarında dünyada ve ülkemizde daha önce hiç karşılaşılmayan düzeyde bir ekonomik ve sosyal durgunluğun ortaya çıkmasına sebep olan salgının Türkiye üzerine etkilerinin incelenmesi hedeflenmiştir. Çalışmada BIST kurumsal yönetim endeksi (XKURY) ve BIST Bankalar endeksinde (XBANK) yer alan toplam 11 bankanın verileri kullanılmıştır. Salgının dünyaya yayılmaya başladığı dönem “4Ç2019” olarak kabul edilmiştir. Bu sebeple çalışmaya salgın öncesindeki 5 çeyrek dönemle, salgın sürecindeki 5 çeyrek dönemin verileri analize dahil edilmiştir. n örnek sayısının 30’dan küçük olması ve aynı örneklem grubunda yer alan bankaların, farklı çeyrek dönemlerde yapılan, aktif karlılık, kaldıraç oranı, özkaynak karlılığı, kredi/mevduat oranı ve özkaynak / toplam varlık oran ölçümlerinin ortalamalarının göz önüne alınıp karşılaştırma yapılması sebebiyle istatistiksel analizlerde bağımlı örneklemler t testi kullanılmıştır. Íncelemeler sonucunda, çalışmaya konu olan bütün finansal performans göstergeleri için, salgın öncesi ve salgın sürecindeki dönemlerin arasında anlamlı farkların meydana geldiği istatistiksel olarak görülmüştür.Alternate : The Corona virus pandemic, which emerged in China in the second half of 2019 and affected the whole world, including our country, for the past two years, continues to cause humanity to experience the greatest disaster and crisis ever in the world. Studies to overcome the crisis that has arisen due to the pandemic with the least damage continue, and scientists state that a solution to the pandemic can be created with the spread of the vaccine globally. It is aimed to examine the effects of the pandemic on Turkey, which caused an unprecedented level of economic and social recession in the world and in our country in 2020 and 2021. Data of 11 banks in the BIST corporate governance index (XKURY) and BIST Banks index (XBANK) are included in the study. The period when the pandemic started to spread around the world was accepted as “Q42019”. Then, the data of the 5 quarters before the pandemic and the 5 quarters during the epidemic process were included in the analysis. The number of samples is less than 30 and the averages of financial performance criteria such as return on assets, leverage ratio, return on equity, loan/deposit ratio, and equity/total asset ratios of banks in the same sample group will be compared hence paired samples t-test was preferred in the analysis. As a result of the analyzes, it was determined that there were statistically significant differences between the periods before and during the pandemic for all financial performance indicators that were the subject of the study.

A multi-criteria-based analytical study of the impact of COVID-19 on ELSS fund performance

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on the performance of select equity linked savings scheme (ELSS) funds in India for two different time periods namely June 2019 (before COVID-19) and June 2021 (after COVID-19) using risk, return and market perception based criteria. We use a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework of level based weight assessment (LBWA) and measurement of alternatives and ranking according to compromise solution (MARCOS). We test the group harmony using Kendall's concordance coefficient. We find that the result is validated and shows stability in the sensitivity analysis. To the best of our knowledge, the present work is the first of its kind that assesses the impact of COVID-19 on asset management companies (AMC) of ELSS funds from multiple perspectives. We observe that AMCs are unable to maintain their performance and ranks which suggests a highly competitive and fragmented nature of India's growing ELSS funds.

Empirical analysis on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food insecurity in South Africa.

The study sought to ascertain the changes in the food insecurity status of households during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study made use of secondary data obtained from the 5 Waves of the National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM). Descriptive statistics, food insecurity index and independent sample t-test were used to compare the mean differences in the food insecurity statuses of the households over the 5 Waves. The study found that there was an increase in food insecurity as the COVID-19 progressed from Wave 1 to 5. Significant differences at the 1% level were observed between Wave 5 and Wave 1 as well as between Wave 5 and Wave 3. The study concludes that there was food security in the initial progression of the COVID-19 pandemic which deteriorated. The study recommends a reconsideration of the scrapping of the top ups on the social grants. This will likely tighten the dire economic situation the households find themselves in. There is need to expand the social safety nets to accommodate the vulnerable in society. Short and localised value chains should be promoted to improve food accessibility during times of crisis.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON DIGITAL PAYMENTS IN INDIA

In the current situations, COVID-19 pandemic is bringing second thoughts about reaching cash as the cases rise up. Due to theses reason some are wanting to go cashless to have contactless transactions. The main purpose of the study is to understand how people have made a greater move towards digital payments and it is going to be adopted by different people from different age groups, gender, and occupation. This study covers the awareness, perception, and behavior of the general public towards the change in payment system from traditional to digital. The main and objective of this study is to highlight the changes which have come over in the payment system in India. The primary data of this study was collected by circulating a Google form to the general public and the sample size is 100. Statistical tools like Chi-Square test, Paired T-Test, ANOVA, Graphical presentations are used. Fromm the study we come to a conclusion that COVID-19 brought a change in the method of payments. Though people might now restrain themselves from using digital payments but if the banks and government take proper measures, people will definitely switch to digitalized payments.

A Hybrid Feature Selection Approach to Screen a Novel Set of Blood Biomarkers for Early COVID-19 Mortality Prediction.

The increase in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has placed pressure on healthcare services worldwide. Therefore, it is crucial to identify critical factors for the assessment of the severity of COVID-19 infection and the optimization of an individual treatment strategy. In this regard, the present study leverages a dataset of blood samples from 485 COVID-19 individuals in the region of Wuhan, China to identify essential blood biomarkers that predict the mortality of COVID-19 individuals. For this purpose, a hybrid of filter, statistical, and heuristic-based feature selection approach was used to select the best subset of informative features. As a result, minimum redundancy maximum relevance (mRMR), a two-tailed unpaired t-test, and whale optimization algorithm (WOA) were eventually selected as the three most informative blood biomarkers: International normalized ratio (INR), platelet large cell ratio (P-LCR), and D-dimer. In addition, various machine learning (ML) algorithms (random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), extreme gradient boosting (EGB), naïve Bayes (NB), logistic regression (LR), and k-nearest neighbor (KNN)) were trained. The performance of the trained models was compared to determine the model that assist in predicting the mortality of COVID-19 individuals with higher accuracy, F1 score, and area under the curve (AUC) values. In this paper, the best performing RF-based model built using the three most informative blood parameters predicts the mortality of COVID-19 individuals with an accuracy of 0.96 ± 0.062, F1 score of 0.96 ± 0.099, and AUC value of 0.98 ± 0.024, respectively on the independent test data. Furthermore, the performance of our proposed RF-based model in terms of accuracy, F1 score, and AUC was significantly better than the known blood biomarkers-based ML models built using the Pre_Surv_COVID_19 data. Therefore, the present study provides a novel hybrid approach to screen the most informative blood biomarkers to develop an RF-based model, which accurately and reliably predicts in-hospital mortality of confirmed COVID-19 individuals, during surge periods. An application based on our proposed model was implemented and deployed at Heroku.

Measuring the Changes in Physical Activity of Students: Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic

Despite experiencing the pandemic for more than a year, it is undeniable that most people are still in shock and are still in the process of adapting. As every aspect transitioned to a new normal, positive and negative changes towards every individual have occurred. One of which is the changes in physical activities. As the COVID-19 protocols and safety measures restrict physical interactions, people are obligated to avoid outdoor activities. With that, occurrence with the decline of physical activities is evident. To address this issue, this study focused on assessing and measuring the changes in physical activity of undergraduate students in Mapua University before and during the pandemic. The respondents were tasked to comply with a 16-question survey questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The researchers disseminated the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) to obtain the needed data. Upon applying descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (paired-sample t-test), results showed an extensive change in students' physical activities. Results showed that from having a total of 97 students who met the WHO recommendations before the pandemic, 54 students were recorded to have met the recommendations during the pandemic. This shows how the phenomena affected physical activities. Before the pandemic, most of the respondents tended to meet the MET minute per week;however, data showed a contradicting result during the pandemic. On the other hand, based on the paired-sample t-test results, dimensions work, and travel and sedentary behavior showed significant differences in students' physical activities before and during the pandemic. © 2022 ACM.