Environmental Risk Perception and Preventive Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Central Taiwan.

Due to traffic and industrial and seasonal air pollution, wearing masks outside the home has long been a daily habit for many people in Taiwan. After the emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which has an incubation period of up to 14 days, wearing masks and maintaining social distancing was advised to reduce exposure to this new environmental risk. This study investigates open and semi-open spaces in three districts in central Taiwan, using a non-participant observation method, with the aim of understanding people's mask-wearing behavior. The results indicate that mask-wearing rates were higher in urban areas than in rural ones and among females than males. By age cohort, mask-wearing was most prevalent among young adults and middle-aged people and least prevalent among minors, with the elderly occupying a middle position. Masks were also more likely to be worn in semi-open spaces than in open ones. This study enriches our understanding of environmental risk perception of the pandemic and of public perceptions, which are vital to increasing the adoption of preventative measures.

An automated and portable antimicrobial susceptibility testing system for urinary tract infections.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are bacterial infections that 1) commonly affect females, 2) can pose high risks to impair kidney function, 3) are often treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics, and 4) are associated with high recurrence rates due to the evolution of drug-resistant strains. To choose the appropriate antibiotic, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) among a panel of antibiotics should be determined before administration to avoid inadequate dosing or use of wrong antibiotics. To meet with the unmet needs, we developed a bead-based method for bacterial preconcentration with capture rates ranging from 20-50% and then automatically performed on-chip AST on an automated device which was composed of a pneumatic control module, a temperature control module and a chip image processing module. The developed portable system was capable of automatically conducting AST and MIC measurements using urine samples (via image analysis) in only 4.5-9 h and tested on four common UTIs bacterial strains. This compact system may therefore be promising for point-of-care personalized medicine in the near future.

A Theoretical Analysis of Why Hybrid Ensembles Work.

Inspired by the group decision making process, ensembles or combinations of classifiers have been found favorable in a wide variety of application domains. Some researchers propose to use the mixture of two different types of classification algorithms to create a hybrid ensemble. Why does such an ensemble work? The question remains. Following the concept of diversity, which is one of the fundamental elements of the success of ensembles, we conduct a theoretical analysis of why hybrid ensembles work, connecting using different algorithms to accuracy gain. We also conduct experiments on classification performance of hybrid ensembles of classifiers created by decision tree and naïve Bayes classification algorithms, each of which is a top data mining algorithm and often used to create non-hybrid ensembles. Therefore, through this paper, we provide a complement to the theoretical foundation of creating and using hybrid ensembles.

NBT-II cell locomotion is modulated by restricting the size of focal contacts and is improved through EGF and ROCK signaling.

Focal contacts, large macromolecular complexes that link the extracellular matrix and the internal cell cytoskeleton, are thought to govern cell locomotion. However, the maturation process through which focal contacts control the cellular migratory machinery by changes in size and molecular composition remain unclear. Here, we fabricated cell growth substrates that contained linear ECM strips of micron- or submicron-width in order to limit the enlargement of focal contacts. We found that NBT-II cells plated on the submicron substrate possessed smaller focal complexes that exhibited a highly dynamic turnover. These cells possessed various leading edges at multiple sites of the cell periphery, which prevented the cell from advancing. In contrast, cells grown on the micron-width substrate possessed large and stable focal adhesions. Most of these cells were elongated bipolar cells that were tethered at both ends and were immobile. Further, EGF and ROCK signaling pathways can modulate the cellular migratory responses according to the substrate guidance. On the submicron-width substrate, EGF treatment increased the focal contact size and the contractile force, causing these cells to develop one leading edge and migrate along the submicron-sized ECM paths. In contrast, inhibition of ROCK signaling decreased the focal contact size for cells plated on the micron substrate. These cells became less tethered and were able to migrate along or even across the micron-sized ECM paths. Our results indicate that formation and maturation of focal contacts is controlled by both ECM cues and intracellular signaling and they play a central role in directed cell motion.