Continuous Sign Language Interpretation to Text Using Deep Learning Models

The COVID-19 pandemic has obligated people to adopt the virtual lifestyle. Currently, the use of videoconferencing to conduct business meetings is prevalent owing to the numerous benefits it presents. However, a large number of people with speech impediment find themselves handicapped to the new normal as they cannot communicate their ideas effectively, especially in fast paced meetings. Therefore, this paper aims to introduce an enriched dataset using an action recognition method with the most common phrases translated into American Sign Language (ASL) that are routinely used in professional meetings. It further proposes a sign language detecting and classifying model employing deep learning architectures, namely, CNN and LSTM. The performances of these models are analysed by employing different performance metrics like accuracy, recall, F1- Score and Precision. CNN and LSTM models yield an accuracy of 93.75% and 96.54% respectively, after being trained with the dataset introduced in this study. Therefore, the incorporation of the LSTM model into different cloud services, virtual private networks and softwares will allow people with speech impairment to use sign language, which will automatically be translated into captions using moving camera circumstances in real time. This will in turn equip other people with the tool to understand and grasp the message that is being conveyed and easily discuss and effectuate the ideas. © 2022 IEEE.

SARS-CoV-2: Origin, Pathogenesis and Therapeutic Interventions

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coron-avirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) rapidly infected a large population in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. Since then, it has been spread all over the world, causing a pandemic termed as Coronavirus Disease 2019 or COVID-19. It has infected over 32 million people and caused more than nine lakhs ca-sualties worldwide to date. Till now, no specific drug or vaccine has been developed to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2. WHO has announced that maintaining personal hygiene and social distancing are the best available options against COVID-19. Various experimental and re-purposed drugs are being used as preventive and supportive therapy in different parts of the world. Comprehensive information about SARS-CoV-2 is required to develop therapeutic approaches for the prevention of COVID-19. In this article, we have comprehensively reviewed the origin, structure, and infection mechanism of SARS-CoV-2. We have also discussed the pathology of COVID-19, and various therapeutic interventions that are being used for drug development against COVID-19.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.