scholarly journals A monitoring system for evaluation of COVID-19 infection risk

2021 ◽  
Vol 2069 (1) ◽  
pp. 012192
Author(s):  
Jevgenis Telicko ◽  
Daniels Dagis Vidulejs ◽  
Andris Jakovics

Abstract Monitoring systems allow operators to accomplish the greatest comfort indoors, but, as a rule, the available parameters are not enough to analyse the epidemiological threat in buildings. Due to the pandemic and increasing incidence of the disease, there is a need for monitoring systems that can provide the necessary information to analyse the risk of infection. With timely notification of people about the risks, such a system could not only increase safety in buildings, but also save crucial resources such as the work of medical personnel. This paper presents an example of real-world implementation of a cheap and scalable system to indicate risks and inform people inside. To achieve this, an appropriate set of sensors and communication protocols was selected, and processing of indirect measurements with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms was carried out on an embedded Jetson Nano computer. Based on the experiments and a review of the literature, the necessary parameters for measurements were selected. Detailed analysis of measured data for risk evaluation is provided in [1].

2020 ◽  
Vol 144 (9) ◽  
pp. 1048-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabella Aquila ◽  
Matteo Antonio Sacco ◽  
Ludovico Abenavoli ◽  
Natalia Malara ◽  
Vincenzo Arena ◽  
...  

Context.— The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is significantly changing methodologic approaches in all branches of the health system. From a forensic point of view, this event is partly changing the manner in which forensic pathologists and all those who work in autopsy services operate, but above all, it is changing the patterns established for years by which cadavers are analyzed postmortem. Objective.— To present a review of the literature and a proposal for COVID-19 autopsy protocols. To contain the infection risk, a revision of all the protocols that until now have been applied to the examination of bodies that require autopsy services is required. Data Sources.— Currently, the diagnosis and postmortem analysis of positive or suspected COVID-19 cases plays a crucial role in scientific research. A review of the main recommendations proposed by international scientific societies regarding the risk of infection during autopsy was carried out. Scientific papers currently available via the PubMed NCBI search engine on COVID-19 postmortem diagnosis were also examined. Conclusions.— Throughout the history of medicine, autopsy has been fundamental to the understanding of multiple pathogenic processes that are investigated postmortem. The purpose of the study is to propose an operating protocol that can be useful for all clinical and forensic autopsies, with particular reference to the correct methods to be applied to the examination of positive or suspected COVID-19 cases, regarding both the autopsy procedure and the collection and analysis of biological samples.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Yamakawa

In a human society with emergent technology, the destructive actions of some pose a danger to the survival of all of humankind, increasing the need to maintain peace by overcoming universal conflicts. However, human society has not yet achieved complete global peacekeeping. Fortunately, a new possibility for peacekeeping among human societies using the appropriate interventions of an advanced system will be available in the near future. To achieve this goal, an artificial intelligence (AI) system must operate continuously and stably (condition 1) and have an intervention method for maintaining peace among human societies based on a common value (condition 2). However, as a premise, it is necessary to have a minimum common value upon which all of human society can agree (condition 3). In this study, an AI system to achieve condition 1 was investigated. This system was designed as a group of distributed intelligent agents (IAs) to ensure robust and rapid operation. Even if common goals are shared among all IAs, each autonomous IA acts on each local value to adapt quickly to each environment that it faces. Thus, conflicts between IAs are inevitable, and this situation sometimes interferes with the achievement of commonly shared goals. Even so, they can maintain peace within their own societies if all the dispersed IAs think that all other IAs aim for socially acceptable goals. However, communication channel problems, comprehension problems, and computational complexity problems are barriers to realization. This problem can be overcome by introducing an appropriate goal-management system in the case of computer-based IAs. Then, an IA society could achieve its goals peacefully, efficiently, and consistently. Therefore, condition 1 will be achievable. In contrast, humans are restricted by their biological nature and tend to interact with others similar to themselves, so the eradication of conflicts is more difficult.


2008 ◽  
Vol 137 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. HALL ◽  
D. BIXLER ◽  
L. E. HADDY

SUMMARYAn outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) occurred in a college football team in August 2006. Of 109 players on the team roster, 88 (81%) were interviewed during a cohort investigation. Twenty-five cases were identified, six of which were culture-confirmed. Available culture isolates were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), which identified two different MRSA strains associated with the outbreak. Playing positions with the most physical contact (offensive linemen, defensive linemen, and tight ends) had the greatest risk of infection [risk ratio (RR) 5·1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2·3–11·5. Other risk factors included recent skin trauma (RR 1·9, 95% CI 0·95–3·7), use of therapeutic hydrocollator packs (RR 2·5, 95% CI 1·1–5·7), and miscellaneous training equipment use (RR 2·1, 95% CI 1·1–4·1). The outbreak was successfully controlled through team education and implementation of improved infection-control practices and hygiene policies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 100078
Author(s):  
María Dolores Corbacho Abelaira ◽  
Fernando Corbacho Abelaira ◽  
Alberto Ruano-Ravina ◽  
Alberto Fernández-Villar

Author(s):  
Tse Guan Tan ◽  
Jason Teo

AbstrakTeknik Kecerdasan Buatan (AI) berjaya digunakan dan diaplikasikan dalam pelbagai bidang, termasukpembuatan, kejuruteraan, ekonomi, perubatan dan ketenteraan. Kebelakangan ini, terdapat minat yangsemakin meningkat dalam Permainan Kecerdasan Buatan atau permainan AI. Permainan AI merujukkepada teknik yang diaplikasikan dalam permainan komputer dan video seperti pembelajaran, pathfinding,perancangan, dan lain-lain bagi mewujudkan tingkah laku pintar dan autonomi kepada karakter dalampermainan. Objektif utama kajian ini adalah untuk mengemukakan beberapa teknik yang biasa digunakandalam merekabentuk dan mengawal karakter berasaskan komputer untuk permainan Ms Pac-Man antaratahun 2005-2012. Ms Pac-Man adalah salah satu permainan yang digunakan dalam siri pertandinganpermainan diperingkat antarabangsa sebagai penanda aras untuk perbandingan pengawal autonomi.Kaedah analisis kandungan yang menyeluruh dijalankan secara ulasan dan sorotan literatur secara kritikal.Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa, walaupun terdapat berbagai teknik, limitasi utama dalam kajianterdahulu untuk mewujudkan karakter permaianan Pac Man adalah kekurangan Generalization Capabilitydalam kepelbagaian karakter permainan. Hasil kajian ini akan dapat digunakan oleh penyelidik untukmeningkatkan keupayaan Generalization AI karakter permainan dalam Pasaran Permainan KecerdasanBuatan. Abstract Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques are successfully used and applied in a wide range of areas, includingmanufacturing, engineering, economics, medicine and military. In recent years, there has been anincreasing interest in Game Artificial Intelligence or Game AI. Game AI refers to techniques applied incomputer and video games such as learning, pathfinding, planning, and many others for creating intelligentand autonomous behaviour to the characters in games. The main objective of this paper is to highlightseveral most common of the AI techniques for designing and controlling the computer-based charactersto play Ms. Pac-Man game between years 2005-2012. The Ms. Pac-Man is one of the games that used asbenchmark for comparison of autonomous controllers in a series of international Game AI competitions.An extensive content analysis method was conducted through critical review on previous literature relatedto the field. Findings highlight, although there was various and unique techniques available, the majorlimitation of previous studies for creating the Ms. Pac-Man game characters is a lack of generalizationcapability across different game characters. The findings could provide the future direction for researchersto improve the Generalization A.I capability of game characters in the Game Artificial Intelligence market.


Since blood transfusion is linked to the magnitude of the surgical procedure, comparing transfused patients to untransfused patients will always be confounded by infection risks due to factors related to the procedure. To control for these factors one must compare patients transfused with red cells from different sources or prepared in a manner which minimize infection risk. Patients transfused with homologous blood have infection rates several fold higher than recipients of equal values of autologous blood undergoing the same operative procedure (20-23). Homologous blood recipients have significantly longer hospital stays attributed to treating infections. The cost of a blood transfusion exceeds the cost of collection, storage and administration because of transfusion's association with length of stay. In this era of cost-containment the association with prolonged stay may ultimately curtail the use of blood. Homologous blood can be filtered to remove donor leukocytes which may be contributing to immune suppression and infection risk. A prospective randomized trial comparing the infection rates among colorectal cancer patients receiving filtered and unfiltered blood has been conducted (9). There were 17 infectious complications among the 56 recipients of whole blood and one infectious complication among the 48 recipients of filtered blood. Infections were prevented by the seemingly simplistic addition of a $25/filter to every bag of blood transfused. These clinical studies are very convincing: homologous blood transfusion is associated with increased risk of infection in every clinical situation examined. In multivariate analyses transfusion was a significant predictor of infection after consideration of other variables measured and in the majority of those studies transfusion was the single most significant factor. Patients receiving homologous blood exhibited an incidence of infectious complications that was approximately four times higher than patients receiving autologous blood. The association of transfusion with infection is found among patients undergoing surgery for cardiac, orthopedic and gastrointestinal disorders and for trauma as well as among unoperated patients transfused for bums and gastrointestinal bleeding. The observation that nosocomial infections are increased in these studies argues strongly that the association of transfusion with infection is not simply a reflection of transfusion as a marker of tissue destruction and contamination. Infections that develop in transfused patients away from the site of trauma or in the absence of trauma, cannot be attributed to the quantity of tissue destroyed or to the degree of bacterial contamination. Filtered blood can remove leukocytes and prevent postoperative infections. Since filtering blood can significantly reduce the incidence of infection among transfused patients, all transfused blood will be passing through filters in the very near future. EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES RELATING BLOOD TRANSFUSION TO INCREASED RISK OF INFECTION Patients are extremely heterogeneous and even in prospective randomized trials, factors which influence patients' participation affect the outcome despite double-blinding and randomization. In animal studies using syngeneic strains with identical housing, lighting, access to food and water, control over the extent of injury, use of antibiotics and exposure to other variables the influence of a single variable such as blood transfusion can be measured. Dr. Waymack's laboratory has intensively studied parameters which interact with transfusion in

1995 ◽  
pp. 296-296

2011 ◽  
pp. 274-295
Author(s):  
Christine Simard ◽  
Josianne Basque

This chapter discusses how cultural variables can be taken into account when designing computer-based learning environments (CLEs). Its purpose is to identify concrete recommendations to guide instructional engineering of computer-based learning for diverse cultures through a review of the literature on the subject. First, this chapter describes the background in which such recommendations have emerged, and identifies some of the issues underlying instructional design for diverse cultures. Then it introduces models and guidelines on how cultural variables can be taken into account when designing CLEs. Specific recommendations are organized using a method of instructional engineering for CLEs called MISA (Paquette, 2003) as a frame of reference. This is followed by a discussion on future trends and future research directions.


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