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During attempts to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic in China, higher education programs shifted their traditional educational models to online models. This paper aimed to explore how Chinese universities organized online teaching and learning during the pandemic. It investigated the factors affecting the implementation of online teaching and provided policy recommendations for improving the quality of education in the post-pandemic period. The primary data for this study came from in-depth interviews with nine students and five teaching and administrative staff at eight major universities in mainland China. Literature was obtained in both English and Chinese from January 2020 to September 2021. Peer-reviewed journals, policy reports, and university documents regarding online education in Chinese universities were reviewed, and their challenges and countermeasures were investigated. The paper found that the implementation of online education was affected by various sources, including technologies, teachers' teaching skills, network information literacy, and students' learning motivations and self-directed learning skills. Based on the insiders' views, the paper suggested that to promote the quality of online education in the post-COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutes and programs could develop their infrastructure construction, improve teachers' quality of teaching, and focus on students' learning motivations.

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation between fear of COVID-19 and mental health of nurses and the effects of psychological capital and burnout in this relation., Design: A cross-sectional study., Methods: The online surveys were conducted among mainland Chinese nurses. Participants (n = 445; average age 32.89 ± 6.76 years) completed an online-questionnaire based on the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Psychological Capital Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey for Medical Professionals Scale and the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey. Data analysis was conducted by Pearson's correlation analysis, Harman single-factor test and the bootstrap method for mediating effect testing., Results: (1) The study demonstrated a significant direct effect of fear of COVID-19 on nurses' mental health, as well as on mediating factors such as burnout and psychological capital. (2) Regression analyses confirmed that while psychological capital bolstered mental health, burnout undermined it, with fear of COVID-19 further imposing a negative influence. (3) Fear of COVID-19 exerted an effect on the mental health of nurses by the independent and chain intermediary functions of psychological capital and burnout, resulting in a total mediating effect of -0.233., (© 2024 The Authors. Nursing Open published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The enhancement of regional comprehensive development ability is significantly impacted by the study on the implementation effect of regional integration strategies. The integration strategy's impact on urban development during COVID-19 in the Yangtze River Delta(YRD) is unclear. According to prior industrial transfer theory, Hefei, Anhui's capital, is difficult to transfer industries, and other YRD cities push industry integration in Anhui. This study employs the theory of economic and land resource use to examine the resilience of the industrial economy during an epidemic by using industrial land as a representation of industrial economic development. The three cities in Anhui-Wuhu, Maanshan, and Chuzhou (Wu-ma-Chu) were selected as the research area. The study employed the UNet deep learning method to detect the land use types in Wu-ma-Chu. The land transfer matrix and the standard deviation ellipse were utilised to research the alterations in industrial land use and the spatial distribution of industrial output value, respectively. The results showed that the industrial land in Machu continued to grow during the outbreak, highlighting the resilience of the region's industrial economy. During 2019-2022, the elliptical ring of industrial output value is distributed in Nanjing, revealing the radiating role of Nanjing in integrating into the integration of the YRD. This confirms China's YRD integration strategy, strengthens regional economic resilience, and encourages coordinated regional economic development., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Higher education informatization (HEI) is an interdisciplinary field that examines the use and integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in higher education. This paper provides a bibliometric and visual analysis of the research trends, patterns, and topics in this field. Using the Web of Science database, the authors selected and analyzed 199 SCI and SSCI papers on HEI published from 2000 to 2023 by VOSviewer and CiteSpace software. The results indicate that the publication volume of HEI research has grown significantly in recent years. The author network shows the collaboration and contribution of different researchers and institutions, while the journal network reveals the multidisciplinary nature and scope of the field. The keyword network and the burst keyword analysis identify the main research themes and the emerging hot topics in HEI. The co-citation network of sources illustrates the theoretical and methodological foundations and influences of the field. The paper concludes with some implications and suggestions for future HEI research.

Aim: Being front-line healthcare professionals is associated with possible severe information anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigating signs of information anxiety is the first and key step of its targeted medical intervention. This study aims to explore the signs of front-line healthcare professionals' information anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic., Design: This study is qualitative research. Grounded theory was used to classify information anxiety signs of front-line healthcare professionals., Methods: Twenty-four front-line healthcare professionals from a general hospital with over 5000 beds in Wuhan were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. According to the frequency and frequency variation of signs appearing in interviews, the trends of signs during the virus encounter, lockdown, flattening and second wave were compared. Based on the interviews, those signs that were conceptually related to each other were extracted to construct a conceptual model., Results: Psychological signs (emotion, worry, doubt, caution, hope), physical signs (insomnia, inattention, memory loss, appetite decreased) and behavioural signs (panic buying of goods, be at a loss, pay attention to relevant information, change habits) could be generalized from 13 subcategories of information anxiety signs. Psychological signs were the most in every period of the pandemic. Furthermore, psychological signs decreased significantly during lockdown, while behavioural and physical signs increased. Finally, severe psychological and behavioural signs were associated with physical signs., (© 2024 The Author(s). Nursing Open published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Residents' adoption of preventive behaviours proved beneficial in preventing the large-scale transmission of the virus during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak. It is critical to investigate how social media triggers residents' preventive behaviour decisions during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: This paper selected online shopping as a specific preventive behaviour for empirical investigation. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted through the Sojump website from 1 to 15 March 2020, and a total of 1,289 valid questionnaires were collected from China. This paper uses multiple regression analysis to investigate the heterogeneous impacts of different information sources on residents' online shopping willingness and online shopping behaviour and the heterogeneous impacts of different information content in social media on the transformation of residents' online shopping willingness and online shopping behaviour. Results: The findings indicate that both official-media and self-media positively promote residents' online shopping willingness and behaviour, with official-media having a stronger promotional effect than self-media. Furthermore, official-media and self-media can collaboratively promote residents' online shopping willingness and online shopping behaviour. The ease-of-use and usefulness of information significantly promoted the transformation of residents' online shopping willingness. Conclusions: This study analyses the heterogeneous impacts of social media on residents' preventive behaviours from the perspectives of information source differentiation and information content differentiation, which enriches related studies and provides feasible paths for promoting residents' preventive behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2019n-CoV has swept the whole world, people's daily life is affected seriously and the public space system is facing to major challenges. Community public space should be re-evaluated and optimized as people change the way they use it. This research conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey in China, which collected the opinions of residents on community public space from the perspective of epidemic prevention and social needs to select research indicators. The questionnaire data were processed through the frequency analysis method, precedence chart and TOPSIS. We found: (1) under the background of the epidemic, people pay more attention to the satisfaction of leisure activities in community public space and the control of social spacing during activities; (2) the current assessment result of community public space risk of 2019-nCoV exposure is 0.386, which is relatively high; and (3) the exposure risk of the community can be effectively reduced by controlling for the two indicators of social distance and social facility sterilization. When the social distance is 1.8–3 m and the facility sterilization is once a day, the community public space minimizes exposure risk. In view of the above results, this paper selects the Wuhan start-up area of Wuhan, China, as an example for carrying out the optimization design of community public space based on the epidemic and the design the space optimization model for the two indicators of social distance and facility disinfection from both software and hardware aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human adenovirus type 41 (HAdV-F41) usually causes pediatrics gastroenteritis. However, it was reported to be associated with the outbreaks of severe acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology (SAHUA) in pediatrics during COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of enteric HAdV-F41 in 37,920 paediatric gastroenteritis cases from 2017 to 2022 in Guangzhou, China. All children presented were tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 during the "zero-COVID" period. The main clinical symptom of the children was diarrhea (96.5%). No fatalities nor liver abnormal symptoms was found. In 2021, one year since the pandemic of COVID-19, the prevalence of HAdV-F41 abruptly increased from 3.71% to 8.64% (P < 0.001). All of HAdV-F41 circulating worldwide were classified into eight different subtypes (G1-G8) based on the phylogenetic clustering permutation of the four capsid genes of HAdV-F41. G3 was the predominant subtype (56.2%; 77/137). CRV5 isolates from SAHUA cases belong to this subtype, in which N312D and H335D mutations in the short fiber knob were identified in both Guangzhou and CRV5 isolates, presumably changing the virus tropism by directly interacting with the heparin sulfate (HS) receptor. Additionally, a novel recombinant G6 subtype, which is unique and only circulating in China was first identified in this study. This is the first study highlighting the prevalence of HAdV-F41 in paediatric cases of gastroenteritis during COVID-19 pandemic in China. The clinical and viral evolution finding of HAdV-F41 provide insight into the clinical characteristics of children with HAdV-F41 infections as well as the uncertain role of HAdV-F41 in the cause of SAHUA., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a great alteration in teaching methodologies by adding technology to the syllabi. Indeed, the integration of technology has presented significant opportunities for language teachers to adjust to the current situation. However, it gives rise to challenges and stressors that cause burnout. Beyond work-associated issues, burnout is believed to be influenced by various factors, and with the advent of the Positive Psychology (PP) approach, there has been a shift in understanding that negative emotional states experienced by individuals can be redirected toward a positive trajectory. This shift has spurred an increasing interest in investigating the value of teachers' Psychological Capital (PsyCap) in dealing with burnout. Furthermore, the study recognizes the significance of other personal factors, including individual differences and the personality of teachers. Therefore, the present study makes efforts to unravel the intricate relationships among personality traits, PsyCap, and burnout experienced by Chinese EFL teachers in the context of Technology-enhanced instructions (TEIs). To achieve this, a total of 550 Chinese EFL teachers currently engaged in TEI settings were selected, and they responded to three relevant questionnaires. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the study found that teachers' burnout was negatively associated with PsyCap and certain personality traits, specifically openness, extroversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Conversely, an increase in neuroticism was found to be positively associated with higher levels of teachers' burnout. These results highlight the importance of enhancing PsyCap and fostering positive personality traits to mitigate burnout among EFL teachers in technology-enhanced instructional settings., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

PM 2.5 is a main atmospheric pollutant with various sources and complex chemical compositions, which are influenced by various factors, such as anthropogenic emissions (AE) and meteorological conditions (MC). MC have a significant impacts on variations in atmospheric pollutant; therefore, emission reduction policies and ambient air quality are non-linearly correlated, which hinders the accurate assessment of the effectiveness of control measures. In this study, we conducted online observations of PM 2.5 and its chemical composition in Hohhot, China, from December 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020, to investigate how the chemical compositions of PM 2.5 respond to the variations in AE and MC. Moreover, the random forest (RF) model was used to quantify the contributions of AE and MC to PM 2.5 and its chemical composition during severe hazes and the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period. During the clean period, MC reduced PM 2.5 concentrations by 124%, while MC incresed PM 2.5 concentrations by 49% during severe pollution episode. Inorganic aerosols (SO 4 2- , NO 3 - , and NH 4 + ) showed the strongest response to MC. MC significantly contributed to PM 2.5 (36%), SO 4 2- (32%), NO 3 - (29%), NH 4 + (28%), OC (22%), and SOC (17%) levels during pollution episodes. From the pre-lockdown to lockdown period, AE (MC) contributed 52% (48%), 81% (19%), 48% (52%), 68% (32%), 59% (41%), and 288% (-188%) to the PM 2.5 , SO 4 2- , NO 3 - , NH 4 + , OC, and SOC reductions, respectively. The variations in MC (especially the increase in relative humidity) rapidly generated meteorologically sensitive species (SO 4 2- , NO 3 - , and NH 4 + ), which led to severe winter pollution. This study provides a reference for assessing the net benefits of emission reduction measures for PM 2.5 and its chemical compositions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Previous research has identified social isolation as a significant detriment to the wellbeing of older adults. However, studies that consider endogenous issues are scarce. The present paper examines the impact of the recent exogenous shock, the COVID-19 pandemic on the wellbeing of the older adult population using a longitudinal dataset from China for the period 2016-2020. The results of this study indicate that the life satisfaction of Chinese older adults was negatively affected, e particularly in regions where social distancing measures were more strictly enforced. Declines in physical and mental health were found to be attributable to declines in life satisfaction. Those who experienced greater exposure to the pandemic were more likely to suffer from chronic disease, illness, and insomnia, and many found it challenging to complete tasks during the lockdown. Furthermore, heterogeneity estimation shows that these effects are stronger among the rural older adult, females, those without a spouse, and those with less education., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wang, Zhou and Wang.)

Logistics resilience is a significant representation of sustainable development ability and a necessary support for high-quality economic development. In order to explore the influencing factors and realization mechanism of the improvement of logistics resilience of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the high-quality and sustainable development of the economy, this paper comprehensively considers factors of the supply and demand relationship of the logistics market, industrial structure and ecological environment, and evaluates the urban logistics resilience of the Yangtze River Economic Belt by using POI data and statistical data. Combined with the spatial Durbin model, the influencing factors and spatial spillover effects of inter-city logistics resilience were revealed. This study found that the urban logistics resilience in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River has been high. Except Chongqing and Shanghai, the COVID-19 epidemic happened in 2020 led to a significant decrease in logistics resilience. In the meanwhile, every 1% increase in the logistics resilience of the city will promote the logistics resilience of the adjacent cities by 0.145%. Economic condition and urban development potential have positive effects on logistics resilience of the city and its adjacent cities. The economic condition has a direct effect coefficient of 0.166 and an indirect effect coefficient of 0.181, The direct and indirect effects of urban development potential are significantly positive, and the coefficients are 0.001 and 0.006, respectively. The level of information, government support and ability of technological innovation are helpful for the improvement of urban logistics resilience while hindering the enhancement of logistics resilience in adjacent cities. The research area can be extended in the future and more influencing factors can be considered in the future., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Huang. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The past COVID-19 outbreak caused a huge impact on China's cruise industry. Now that China's cruise industry is about to recover, how to assess the risks faced by the cruise industry has become an important issue. On this basis, this paper constructs China's cruise tourism supply chain and supply chain risk assessment system based on the research contributions made by previous researchers, evaluates the risk indicators of China's cruise tourism supply chain based on the catastrophe theory, and derives the risk assessment results through the catastrophe progression method, which can be used as a reference for the safe operation of cruise lines in the future., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Gan, Liu. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Ammonia (NH 3 ) plays an important role in the formation of atmospheric particulate matter, but the contribution of traffic-related emissions remains unclear, particularly in megacities with a large number of vehicles. Taking the opportunity of the stringent COVID-19 lockdowns implemented in Beijing and Shanghai in 2022, this study aims to estimate the traffic-related NH 3 emissions in these two megacities based on satellite observations. Differences between urban and suburban areas during the lockdown and non-lockdown periods are compared. It was found that despite different dominating sources, the overall NH 3 concentrations in urban and suburban areas were at a similar level, and the lockdown resulted in a more prominent decrease in urban areas, where traffic activities were most heavily affected. The traffic-related contribution to the total emission was estimated to be ∼30% in megacities, and ∼40% in urban areas, which are about 2-10 times higher than that in previous studies. The findings indicate that the traffic-related NH 3 emissions have been significantly underestimated in previous studies and may play a more critical role in the formation of air pollution in megacities, especially in winter, when agricultural emissions are relatively low. This study highlights the importance of traffic-related NH 3 emissions in Chinese megacities and the need to reassess the emissions and their impacts on air quality., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Improving the resilience of wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs) has never been more important with rising risks of disasters under climate change. Beyond physical damages, non-physical shocks induced by disasters warrant attention. Human mobility is a vital mediator in transferring the stresses from extreme events into tangible challenges for urban sewage systems by reshaping influent characteristics. However, the impact path remains inadequately explored. Leveraging the stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment, this study aims to quantify and interpret the heterogeneous impacts of mobility reduction on the influent characteristics of WWTFs with different socio-economic, infrastructural, and climatic conditions. To achieve this goal, we developed a research framework integrating causal inference and interpretable machine learning techniques. Based on the empirical data from China, we find that 79.1% of the studied WWTFs, typically located in cities with well-developed drainage infrastructures and low per capita water usage, exhibited resilience against drastic mobility reduction. In contrast, 20.9% of the studied WWTFs displayed significant variations in influent characteristics. Large-capacity WWTFs in subtropical regions encountered challenges with low-load operations, and small-capacity facilities in suburban areas grappled with nutrient imbalances. This study provides valuable insights to equip WWTFs in anticipating and adapting potential variations in influent characteristics triggered by mobility reduction., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this paper, we introduce the mixed-frequency data model (MIDAS) to China's insurance demand forecasting. We select the monthly indicators Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), China Economic Policy Uncertainty Index (EPU), Consumer Price Index (PPI), and quarterly indicator Depth of Insurance (TID) to construct a Mixed Data Sampling (MIDAS) regression model, which is used to study the impact and forecasting effect of CCI, EPU, and PPI on China's insurance demand. To ensure forecasting accuracy, we investigate the forecasting effects of the MIDAS models with different weighting functions, forecasting windows, and a combination of forecasting methods, and use the selected optimal MIDAS models to forecast the short-term insurance demand in China. The experimental results show that the MIDAS model has good forecasting performance, especially in short-term forecasting. Rolling window and recursive identification prediction can improve the prediction accuracy, and the combination prediction makes the results more robust. Consumer confidence is the main factor influencing the demand for insurance during the COVID-19 period, and the demand for insurance is most sensitive to changes in consumer confidence. Shortly, China's insurance demand is expected to return to the pre-COVID-19 level by 2023Q2, showing positive development. The findings of the study provide new ideas for China's insurance policymaking., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The global population influx during the COVID-19 pandemic poses significant challenges to public health, making the prevention and control of infectious diseases a pressing concern. This paper aims to examine the impact of population influx on the spread of infectious diseases, with a specific emphasis on the mediating role of air pollution in this process. A theoretical analysis is conducted to explore the relationship between population influx, air pollution, and infectious diseases. Additionally, we establish a series of econometric models and employ various empirical tests and analytical techniques, including mediation effect test, threshold effect test, and systematic GMM test, to evaluate our hypotheses. The results indicate that: (1) Population influx directly and indirectly impacts infectious diseases. Specifically, population influx not only directly elevates the risk of infectious diseases, but also indirectly increases the incidence rate of infectious diseases by intensifying air pollution. (2) The impact of population inflow on infectious diseases exhibits regional heterogeneity. Compared to central and western China, the eastern regions exhibit a significantly higher risk of infectious diseases, exceeding the national average. (3) External factors influence the relationship between population influx and infectious diseases differently. Personal income and medical resources both help mitigate the risk of infectious diseases due to population influx, with medical resources having a more substantial effect. Contrary to expectations, abundant educational resources have not reduced the risk, instead, they have exacerbated the risk associated with population influx. This paper provides a scientific basis for formulating effective strategies for the prevention and control of infectious diseases., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Fu and Zhu.)

In the process of hikers' choosing a destination, searching for information is one of the important elements, playing a decisive role in decision-making. Based on the Baidu Index for "hiking," this paper analyzes the spatial and temporal characteristics of and factors that influenced network attention to hiking in China from 2016 to 2021. The study found that (1) Network attention to hiking in China was generally relatively stable across the period studied, with highly uneven distribution between different months. The search volume was higher on weekends, and mobile searches increased year by year, far exceeding computer searches. (2) Different regions in China experienced different levels of network attention, with the highest levels in the east, followed by the center, and the lowest in the west. Except for East China, network attention to hiking was highly unevenly distributed within each region. (3) The COVID-19 pandemic increased the geographical concentration index and coefficient of variation but reduced the primacy index. A region's level of economic development, degree of network development, population size, and population age structure are proposed as factors that affect network attention to hiking., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Purpose: Previous studies on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have focused on factors that influence the achievement of negative conversion of viral RNA. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the genetic mutations in different SARS-CoV-2 strains on the negative conversion time (NCT) among imported cases in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, in order to provide valuable insights for developing targeted epidemic prevention guidelines., Methods: This retrospective study involved 146 imported SARS-CoV-2 cases in Hangzhou from 8 April 2021 to 11 June 2022. We compared the SARS-CoV-2-specific indicators, clinical indexes, and NCT among the wild-type (WT), Delta, and Omicron groups. Spearman correlation analysis was used to identify the correlations of NCT with mutation types/frequencies., Results: The mean age of the imported cases was 35.3 (SD: 12.3) years, with 71.92 % males and 28.08 % females. The mean cycle threshold (Ct) values of open reading frame 1ab (ORF1ab) and nucleocapsid (N) RNA were 25.17 (SD: 6.44) and 23.4 (SD: 6.76), respectively. The mutations of SARS-CoV-2 strains were mainly located in N, membrane (M), spike (S), ORF1a, ORF1b, ORF3a, ORF6, and ORF9b genes among the WT, Delta, and Omicron groups. NCT was significantly prolonged in the WT and Delta groups compared to the Omicron group. T lymphocyte, white blood cell, eosinophil, and basophil counts were dramatically higher in the WT group than the Delta group. White blood cell, red blood cell, and basophil counts were significantly lower in the Delta group than the Omicron group. Spearman correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation between the NCT of viral RNA and mutation types of viral genes of WT and Omicron strains. Additionally, NCT was markedly negatively correlated with the frequencies of five mutations in Omicron strains (ORF1b:P1223L, ORF1b:R1315C, ORF1b:T2163I, ORF3a:T223I, and ORF6:D61L)., Conclusions: This study indicates that five mutations in Omicron strains (ORF1b:P1223L/R1315C/T2163I, ORF3a:T223I and ORF6:D61L) shortened NCT in imported SARS-CoV-2 cases., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Using the policy package pilot implemented in Hubei Province, China, in April 2020 as a natural experiment, we use the synthetic control (SC) and synthetic difference in differences (SDID) methods to estimate the impact of the Chinese government's support policy on the economic resilience and to analyze the mechanisms by which it impacts. This study finds that the policy package has contributed to the growth of economic resilience in the pilot provinces, with the policy package increasing the average economic resilience of the pilot provinces by 0.062 compared to their potential resilience. The validity and robustness of the above conclusions are objectively confirmed by multidimensional quantitative outcomes such as placebo tests, ranking tests, and replacements in calculating resilience. The mechanism analysis shows that the investment in real estate development, the stimulus for consumption, and the core industry development are virtual channels for the policy package to promote economic resilience growth in the pilot provinces. Moreover, traditional investment in transportation fixed assets plays a minor role. This paper quantitatively corroborates the academic idea that government governance capacity affects regional economic resilience (RER), and research can provide empirical support for regional economic recovery and policy support under a major crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the resumption of work and production following the COVID-19 pandemic, many cities entered a "transition phase", characterized by the gradual recovery of emission levels from various sources. Although the overall PM 2.5 emission trends have recovered, the specific changes in different sources of PM 2.5 remain unclear. Here, we investigated the changes in source contributions and the evolution pattern of pollution episodes (PE) in Wuhan during the "transition period" and compared them with the same period during the COVID-19 lockdown. We found that vehicle emissions, industrial processes, and road dust exhibited significant recoveries during the transition period, increasing by 5.4%, 4.8%, and 3.9%, respectively, during the PE. As primary emissions increased, secondary formation slightly declined, but it still played a predominant role (accounting for 39.1∼ 43.0% of secondary nitrate). The reduction in industrial activities was partially offset by residential burning. The evolution characteristics of PE exhibited significant differences between the two periods, with PM 2.5 concentration persisting at a high level during the transition period. The differences in the evolution patterns of the two periods were also reflected in their change rates at each stage, which mostly depend on the pre-PE concentration level. The transition period shows a significantly higher value (8.4 μg m -3 h -1 ) compared with the lockdown period, almost double the amount. In addition to local emissions, regional transport should be a key consideration in pollution mitigation strategies, especially in areas adjacent to Wuhan. Our study quantifies the variations in sources between the two periods, providing valuable insights for optimizing environmental planning to achieve established goals., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The devastating effects of COVID-19 pandemic have widely affected human lives and economy across the globe. There were significant changes in the global environmental conditions in response to the lockdown (LD) restrictions made due to COVID-19. The direct impact of LD on environment is analysed widely across the latitudes, but its secondary effect remains largely unexplored. Therefore, we examine the changes in particulate matter (PM₂.₅) during LD, and its impact on the global croplands. Our analysis finds that there is a substantial decline in the global PM₂.₅ concentrations during LD (2020) compared to pre-lockdown (PreLD: 2017-2019) in India (10-20%), East China (EC, 10%), Western Europe (WE, 10%) and Nigeria (10%), which are also the cropland dominated regions. Partial correlation analysis reveals that the decline in PM₂.₅ positively affects the cropland greening when the influence of temperature, precipitation and soil moisture are limited. Croplands in India, EC, Nigeria and WE became more greener as a result of the improvement in air quality by the reduction in particulates such as PM₂.₅ during LD, with an increase in the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) of about 0.05-0.1, 0.05, 0.05 and 0.05-0.1, respectively. As a result of cropland greening, increase in the total above ground biomass production (TAGP) and crop yield (TWSO) is also found in EC, India and Europe. In addition, the improvement in PM₂.₅ pollution and associated changes in meteorology also influenced the cropland phenology, where the crop development stage has prolonged in India for wet-rice (1-20%) and maize (1-10%). Therefore, this study sheds light on the response of global croplands to LD-induced improvements in PM₂.₅ pollution. These finding have implications for addressing issues of air pollution, global warming, climate change, environmental conservation and food security to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

As a response to the damage caused by the spread of COVID-19, the Chinese government has implemented severe quarantine measures that have greatly affected the operational patterns of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper explores the critical role of dynamic capabilities (DCs) in helping Chinese SMEs manage crises, adjust their business strategies, and mitigate the uncertainty caused by the epidemic. Although the importance of DCs in promoting organizational resilience is well recognized, academic research on their specific contributions to business model innovation (BMI) and SME performance improvement during crises remains scarce. Our study fills this gap by pioneering the development and empirical testing of a microintegrated mediation model linking DCs, BMI and organizational performance. By surveying 257 Chinese SMEs severely affected by a pandemic, we verify our hypotheses using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Our results strongly show a positive relationship between DCs and BMI and SME performance. In addition, we found that BMI plays a partial mediating role in the interrelationship between DCs and SME performance. Our findings clarify the critical role of BMI as a channel through which SMEs' DCs can be transformed into higher performance in the face of sudden crises. Thus, our results not only contribute to the broader discussion of strategic management and organizational theory but also provide theoretical and practical insights into the mechanisms by which SMEs can increase their flexibility and resilience in a crisis. Thus, our results not only contribute to the broader discussion of strategic management and organizational theory but also provide theoretical and practical insights into the mechanisms by which SMEs can increase their flexibility and resilience in a crisis. Importantly, this study suggests policy and market strategies that can support SMEs in leveraging DCs and BMI for sustained performance, thereby contributing valuable insights for policymakers and business leaders aiming to fortify economic stability and growth in the face of global health emergencies., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Huang, Ichikohji. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

In this paper, we present findings from four separate studies using different data sources and methods to examine Chinese attitudes toward the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical results consistently indicate a marked and significant decline in Chinese attitudes toward the US between late 2019 and the end of 2022. Using a quasi-experimental design and granular survey data that exploit daily variations in public opinion, we offer additional evidence that the decline in Chinese attitudes toward the United States followed a distinct pattern not true for Chinese attitudes toward other countries. Specifically, the rise in Chinese unfavorability toward the United States closely corresponded to the heightened Chinese attention to the pandemic's progression in the United States. These results collectively suggest a causal effect of COVID-19, shedding light on how public health crises, international relations, and media jointly shape the increasing enmity between the two great powers., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

Background: While health inequality has been the focus of past scholarly discussions, COVID-19's outbreak and spread have provided a new arena for discussing health inequality, particularly in the context of urban-rural disparities in China. This paper explores the impact of COVID-19 on urban-rural health inequality, and the roles played by socioeconomic status and social capital., Methods: A cross-sectional observational collected data on demographics, mental health, socioeconomic status, and social capital. An online survey was administered from August 27 to August 30, 2020, and, 1936 valid samples were received. Mental health was measured using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18). This study applied the ordinary least squares regression (OLS) model, and data analysis was performed using STATA., Results: There were 1936 participants, with an equal distribution of genders. Multiple regression analysis showed that the mental health levels of rural youth were superior to those of urban youth ( p  = 0.049), especially when the epidemic was not severe ( p  = 0.013). Socioeconomic status had a significant positive promotion effect on mental health ( p  = 0.008), but the interaction effect between socioeconomic status and the urban-rural divide indicated that the promotion effect of socioeconomic status on the mental health of urban youth was greater than that of rural youth ( p  = 0.04). Social capital had a significant positive promotion effect on mental health ( p  = 0.000), and the interaction effect indicated that this promoting effect did not differ between urban and rural areas ( p  > 0.05)., Competing Interests: The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Xiao.)

Background: The information epidemic emerged along with the COVID-19 pandemic. While controlling the spread of COVID-19, the secondary harm of epidemic rumors to social order cannot be ignored., Objective: The objective of this paper was to understand the characteristics of rumor dissemination before and after the pandemic and the corresponding rumor management and debunking mechanisms. This study aimed to provide a theoretical basis and effective methods for relevant departments to establish a sound mechanism for managing network rumors related to public health emergencies such as COVID-19., Methods: This study collected data sets of epidemic rumors before and after the relaxation of the epidemic prevention and control measures, focusing on large-scale network rumors. Starting from 3 dimensions of rumor content construction, rumor propagation, and rumor-refuting response, the epidemic rumors were subdivided into 7 categories, namely, involved subjects, communication content, emotional expression, communication channels, communication forms, rumor-refuting subjects, and verification sources. Based on this framework, content coding and statistical analysis of epidemic rumors were carried out., Results: The study found that the rumor information was primarily directed at a clear target audience. The main themes of rumor dissemination were related to the public's immediate interests in the COVID-19 field, with significant differences in emotional expression and mostly negative emotions. Rumors mostly spread through social media interactions, community dissemination, and circle dissemination, with text content as the main form, but they lack factual evidence. The preferences of debunking subjects showed differences, and the frequent occurrence of rumors reflected the unsmooth channels of debunking. The χ 2 test of data before and after the pandemic showed that the P value was less than .05, indicating that the difference in rumor content before and after the pandemic had statistical significance., Conclusions: This study's results showed that the themes of rumors during the pandemic are closely related to the immediate interests of the public, and the emotions of the public accelerate the spread of these rumors, which are mostly disseminated through social networks. Therefore, to more effectively prevent and control the spread of rumors during the pandemic and to enhance the capability to respond to public health crises, relevant authorities should strengthen communication with the public, conduct emotional risk assessments, and establish a joint mechanism for debunking rumors., (©Xiaoqi Liu, Qingyuan Hu, Jie Wang, Xusheng Wu, Dehua Hu. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 15.05.2024.)

As an emerging business modality and Internet format, live streaming e-commerce has developed rapidly since its emergence in 2016, especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in late 2019, when an increasing number of businesses from other industries attracted participation. However, with the development of the live streaming e-commerce industry, the industry's market environment is becoming increasingly chaotic. Therefore, during this period, government departments continuously formulate and implement relevant industry policies. In order to exploring the cooperation network structure, policy content distribution, and implementation effectiveness characteristics among publishers, this paper constructs a three-dimensional analysis framework of policy from the perspective of policy tools, policy effectiveness evaluation and policy publishers. The results show that in terms of policy tools, the overall structure of policy tools in the live streaming e-commerce industry is unreasonable, and different types of policy tools are significantly diverse. The proportion of environmental policy tools is greater than that of demand-based and supply-based policy tools, accounting for 62.97%, and among them, the tools related to industry regulation and management account for the largest proportion of the total, which greatly suppresses the enthusiasm of various entities in the industry for development. In terms of policy effectiveness evaluation, most of the policies do not formulate detailed long-, medium-, or short-term goals, nor are the policy priorities, incentive measures, or action modes perfect, indicating that the government's pushing and pulling forces for the live streaming e-commerce industry are insufficient. Finally, in the subject dimension of policy release, the synergy of relevant subjects is constantly improving, but there is also a phenomenon of over-concentration in the synergistic departments., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected human social contact patterns, but there is limited understanding regarding the post-pandemic social contact patterns. Our objective is to quantitatively assess social contact patterns in Suzhou post-COVID-19., Methods: We employed a diary design and conducted social contact surveys from June to October 2023, utilizing paper questionnaires. A generalized linear model was utilized to analyze the relationship between individual contacts and covariates. We examined the proportions of contact type, location, duration, and frequency. Additionally, age-related mixed matrices were established., Results: The participants reported an average of 11.51 (SD 5.96) contact numbers and a total of 19.78 (SD 20.94) contact numbers per day, respectively. The number of contacts was significantly associated with age, household size, and the type of week. Compared to the 0-9 age group, those in the 10-19 age group reported a higher number of contacts (IRR = 1.12, CI: 1.01-1.24), while participants aged 20 and older reported fewer (IRR range: 0.54-0.67). Larger households (5 or more) reported more contacts (IRR = 1.09, CI: 1.01-1.18) and fewer contacts were reported on weekends (IRR = 0.95, CI: 0.90-0.99). School had the highest proportion of contact durations exceeding 4 h (49.5%) and daily frequencies (90.4%), followed by home and workplace. The contact patterns exhibited clear age-assortative mixing, with Q indices of 0.27 and 0.28., Conclusions: We assessed the characteristics of social contact patterns in Suzhou, which are essential for parameterizing models of infectious disease transmission. The high frequency and intensity of contacts among school-aged children should be given special attention, making school intervention policies a crucial component in controlling infectious disease transmission., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: A large number of psychological consequences including sleep health emerged during the 2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Sleep patterns in toddlers are vulnerable to negative environmental exposures, however, very few studies on this topic have been published so far., Objectives: In this paper, we aimed to investigate the sleep patterns and associated factors in toddlers from China confined at home in the context of COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: From April to November 2021, a convenience sample of 493 parents of young children aged (12-35 months) were surveyed from Fuzhou, Sanming, Quanzhou, Nanping, and Longyan cities in the Fujian Province, China. A cross-sectional survey was conducted via Electronic questionnaires to collect parent and child social-demographic characteristics. The Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ) was used to collect data on sleep practices, sleep duration and patterns, as well as the number of nocturnal awaking ., Results: The mean age of toddlers was 2.11 years old, and 52.54% (259/493) were males. Among the 493 toddlers' sleep patterns, 331(67.1%) initiated sleep accompanied by parents, 67(13.6%) slept independently, 59 (12.0%) were breast fed/bottle fed to initiate sleep, 27 (5.5%) were held and 9 (1.8%) rocked. The clear longitudinal association between the duration of night-time sleep, the frequency of nighttime awakenings, and various sleep patterns remains clear (p < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that sleep initiation with bottle-feeding/breast-feeding and rocked significantly increased the frequency of nighttime awakenings and reduced the duration of nighttime sleep (p < 0.05), as held was dramatically only for increasing the number of nighttime awakenings (p < 0.05). Multi-variate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that toddlers with severe sleep difficulties had a higher probability of being rocked to initiate sleep (p < 0.05). Conversely, young children with minor sleep problems were more apt to be in bed alone to initiate sleep (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, most infants and toddlers initiated sleep accompanied by parents and tend to have electronic media exposure before bedtime. Increased waking at night may be associated with sleep initiation with breast-feeding/bottle-feeding. Therefore, pediatric practitioners in primary community hospitals should pay attention to the education and promotion of sleep hygiene and parenting knowledge of young children to avoid the formation of poor sleep hygiene habits., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

COVID-19 lockdowns reduced nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) emissions in many countries. We aim to quantify the changes in these pollutants and to assess the attributable changes in mortality in Jiangsu, China; California, U.S.; Central-southern Italy; and Germany during COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020. Accounting for meteorological impacts and air pollution time trends, we use a machine learning-based meteorological normalization technique and the difference-in-differences approach to quantify the changes in NO 2 and PM 2.5 concentrations due to lockdowns. Using region-specific estimates of the association between air pollution and mortality derived from a causal modeling approach using data from 2015 to 2019, we assess the changes in mortality attributable to the air pollution changes caused by the lockdowns in early 2020. During the lockdowns, NO 2 reductions avoided 1.41 (95% empirical confidence interval [eCI]: 0.94, 1.88), 0.44 (95% eCI: 0.17, 0.71), and 4.66 (95% eCI: 2.03, 7.44) deaths per 100,000 people in Jiangsu, China; California, U.S.; and Central-southern Italy, respectively. Mortality benefits attributable to PM 2.5 reductions were also significant, albeit of a smaller magnitude. For Germany, the mortality benefits attributable to NO 2 changes were not significant (0.11; 95% eCI: -0.03, 0.25), and an increase in PM 2.5 concentrations was associated with an increase in mortality of 0.35 (95% eCI: 0.22, 0.48) deaths per 100,000 people during the lockdown. COVID-19 lockdowns overall improved air quality and brought attributable health benefits, especially associated with NO 2 improvements, with notable heterogeneity across regions. This study underscores the importance of accounting for local characteristics when policymakers adapt successful emission control strategies from other regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The digital economy (DIE), a new economic form with digitalization at its core, has become an important driving force for promoting regional economy development. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring the impact path of the DIE on carbon emission efficiency (CEE) is conducive to giving full play to the "carbon-reduction-and-efficiency-enhancement" role of the DIE, and to promoting the realization the "dual carbon" goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. In this paper, the Yellow River Basin (YRB) and the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) are taken as study areas, the panel Tobit model is used to explore the impact of the DIE on CEE, and the intermediary-effect model and threshold-effect model are constructed to test the intermediary and threshold effects of technological innovation, respectively. The results show that the DIE has a U-shaped nonlinear impact on CEE in both the YRB and the YREB and that the impact has regional heterogeneity. Technological innovation can play a mediating effect between the DIE and CEE, whereas the mediating effect in the YRB is stronger than that in the YREB. Technological innovation has a threshold effect on the DIE to improve CEE, while the threshold value in the YREB is higher than that in the YRB. Furthermore, this paper proposes some suggestions to guide regional low-carbon and sustainable development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 required risk communications to mitigate the virus' spread. However, social media not only conveyed health information to minimize the contagion, but also distracted from the threat by linking it to an externalized 'other'-primarily those appearing to be of Chinese descent. This disinformation caused the attribution of blame to Chinese people worldwide. In Canada's Greater Toronto Area, Chinese individuals reported widespread public stigma that compounded their risk of contagion; to the degree that it was driven by cognitive dissonance, it generated experiences of social and cultural vulnerability. In this paper, we draw on the aforementioned study's findings to explain how the risk perception and threat appraisal of Chinese diaspora individuals were impacted by different cognitive dissonance pathways. These findings explore how storytelling is a viable intervention with which to target and mitigate cognitive dissonance. Indeed, the mechanisms of cognitive dissonance can modify risk perception and mitigate social and cultural vulnerability, thereby averting potential long-term negative consequences for one's mental health and well-being. We hope our guidance, training educators to target pathways of cognitive dissonance by drawing on storytelling (with humour), can assist them to better convey information in ways that are more inclusive during public health emergencies.

Infectious diseases pose a severe threat to human health and are accompanied by significant economic losses. Studies of urban outbreaks of infectious diseases are diverse. However, previous studies have neglected the identification of critical events and the evaluation of scenario-based modeling of urban infectious disease outbreak emergency management mechanisms. In this paper, we aim to conduct an empirical analysis and scenario extrapolation using a questionnaire survey of 18 experts, based on the CIA-ISM method and scenario theory, to identify the key factors influencing urban infectious disease outbreaks. Subsequently, we evaluate the effectiveness of urban infectious disease outbreak emergency management mechanisms. Finally, we compare and verify the actual situation of COVID-19 in China, drawing the following conclusions and recommendations. (1) The scenario-based urban infectious disease emergency management model can effectively replicate the development of urban infectious diseases. (2) The establishment of an emergency command center and the isolation and observation of individuals exposed to infectious diseases are crucial factors in the emergency management of urban outbreaks of infectious disease., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Yuan, Liu and Dong.)

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrants were among the most socially vulnerable in Western countries. The Chinese diaspora in Canada were one such group due to the widespread cultural stigma surrounding their purported greater susceptibility to transmit and become infected by COVID-19. This paper aims to understand the social vulnerability of the Chinese diaspora in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, during the first wave of COVID-19 from an explanation of their risk perception and threat appraisal of risk communication. We conducted secondary data analysis of 36 interviews using critical realism. The participants self-identified as being of Chinese descent. The results were used to develop a model of how social vulnerability occurred. In brief, cognitive dissonance was discovered to generate conflicts of one's cultural identity, shaped by social structures of (i) stigma of contagion, (ii) ethnic stigma, and (iii) public sentiment, and mediated by participants' threat appraisal and (iv) self-reliance. We assert that risk communicators need to consider their audiences' diverse socialization in crafting messages to modify behaviors, create a sense of responsibility, and mitigate public health threats. A lack of awareness of one's cognitive dissonance driven by cultural vulnerability may heighten their social vulnerability and prevent them from taking action to protect themself from high-risk events.

This paper evaluates the effects of economic shocks to current and expected income reduction on mental wellbeing. We use individual-level data from three East Asian countries; China, Japan, and South Korea, during the early phases of the pandemic when the COVID-induced economic shocks were severe. The findings reveal significant causal effects from current and expected income reduction on different aspects of mental health deterioration, including anxiety, trouble sleeping, boredom, and loneliness. Interestingly, we found that expectations of future income loss have a significantly larger effect on people's mental wellbeing compared to current falls in income. This has significant implications for the design of policies to support income during pandemics., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Although all walks of life are paying less attention to COVID-19, the spread of COVID-19 has never stopped. As an infectious disease, its transmission speed is closely related to the atmosphere environment, particularly the temperature (T) and PM 2.5 concentrations. However, How T and PM 2.5 concentrations are related to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and how much their cumulative lag effect differ across cities is unclear. To identify the characteristics of cumulative lag effects of environmental exposure under city differences, this study used a generalized additive model to investigate the associations between T/PM 2.5 concentrations and the daily number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases (NNCC) during the outbreak period in the second half of 2021 in Shaoxing, Shijiazhuang, and Dalian. The results showed that except for PM 2.5 concentrations in Shaoxing, the NNCC in the three cities generally increased with the unit increase of T and PM 2.5 concentrations. In addition, the cumulative lag effects of T/PM 2.5 concentrations on NNCC in the three cities reached a peak at lag 26/25, lag 10/26, and lag 18/13 days, respectively, indicating that the response of NNCC to T and PM 2.5 concentrations varies among different regions. Therefore, combining local meteorological and air quality conditions to adopt responsive measures is an important way to prevent and control the spread of SARS-CoV-2., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Ozone has been reported to increase despite nitrogen oxides reductions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and ozone formation needs to be revisited using volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are rarely measured during the pandemic. Here, a total of 98 VOCs species were monitored in an economy-active city in China from January 2021 to August 2022 to assess contributions to ozone formation during the pandemic. Total VOCs concentrations were 35.55 ± 21.47 ppb during the entire period, among which alkanes account for the largest fraction (13.78 ppb, 38.0%), followed by aromatics (6.16 ppb, 16.8%) and oxygenated VOCs (OVOCs, 5.69 ppb, 15.7%). Most VOCs groups (e.g., alkenes, OVOCs) and individual species (e.g., isoprene, methyl vinyl ketone) display obvious seasonal and diurnal variations, which are related to their sources and reactivities. No weekend effects of VOCs suggest limited influences from traffic emissions during pandemic. Aromatics and alkenes are the major contributors (39% and 33%) to ozone formation potential, largely driven by o/m/p-xylene (21%), ethylene (15%), toluene (9%). Secondary organic aerosol formation potential is dominated by toluene (>50%) despite its low proportion (5%). Further inclusion of VOCs and meteorology in the Random Forest model shows good ozone prediction performance (R 2  = 0.77-0.86, RMSE = 11.95-19.91 μg/m 3 , MAE = 8.89-14.58 μg/m 3 ). VOCs and NO 2 contribute >50% of total importance with the largest difference in importance ratio of VOCs/NO 2 in the summer and winter, implying ozone formation regime may vary. No seasonal variations in importance of meteorology are observed, while importance of other variables (e.g., PM 2.5 ) is highest in the summer. This work identifies critical VOCs groups and species for ozone formation during the pandemic, and demonstrates the feasibility of machine learning algorithms in elucidation of ozone formation mechanisms., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Inflammation is linked to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related heart failure (HF), but the specific mechanisms are unclear. This study aimed to assess the relationship between specific inflammatory factors, such as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17, interferon (IFN)-α, and IFN-γ, and COVID-19-related HF., Methods: We retrospectively identified 212 adult patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized at Shanghai Public Health Center from March 1 to May 30, 2022 (including 80 patients with HF and 132 without HF). High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), and inflammatory factors, including IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17, IFN-α, and IFN-γ, were compared between patients with COVID-19 with and without HF., Results: Patients with COVID-19 having and not having HF differed with regard to sex, age, hs-CRP, PCT, and IL-6 levels (p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated a significant positive association between IL and 6 and HF (odds ratio = 1.055; 95 % confidence interval: 1.019-1.093, p < 0.005). Sex, age, and hs-CRP were also associated with HF. Women had a greater risk of HF than men. Older age, higher levels of hs-CRP, and IL-6 were associated with a greater risk of HF., Conclusions: In patients with COVID-19, increased IL-6 levels are significantly associated with COVID-19-related HF., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Modern diplomacy in the 21st century has become increasingly complex, requiring a broader scope or the performance of more tasks that extend beyond the traditional high politics of old. This means that current diplomats must deal with more diverse global concerns due to the nature of the post-Cold War era marked by diplomatic inflation, the decline of US hegemony, the rise of China, nuclear proliferation, climate change, globalisation, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to this diversification of the diplomatic agendas and the inclusion of a growing number of stakeholders, the diplomatic field is experiencing an amplified array of challenges. Therefore, this article examines these major changes and their impact on modern diplomacy by utilising the theoretical framework of the English School where the emphasis is on a 'society of states' and a world united by common humanity. The research also employs a comprehensive qualitative analysis of the mentioned post-Cold War issues and how diplomacy can contribute to mitigating them. The paper then concludes by recommending the need for a more specialised diplomatic corps who are well-versed in technological advancements and digital platforms. By becoming more specialised, diplomacy can become more effective and thus, remain a vital tool in navigating the intricacies of contemporary international politics while mitigating the major challenges the globe faces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early 2020, the spread of COVID-19 resulted in the wide use of online classes in China. Drawing on Foucault’s disciplinary power and De Certeau’s strategy-tactic dialectic, this paper explores the online learning practice of students in a rural junior middle school at Yu Town in Central China during the pandemic, through interviewing the students, teachers, and parents. The findings show that the teachers and the students engaged in a power game in online education and employed a series of strategies and tactics to realize the control and resistance through the creative use of media technologies. The study reveals the paradox that the rural students’ agency and resistance, enabled by the media technologies, may result in negative consequences for their learning and further broaden the gap between rural and urban students, thus reproducing the system that they are dissatisfied with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated a global mental health crisis, with a particularly pronounced impact on the entrepreneurial sector. This paper presents a comparative analysis of mental health challenges among entrepreneurs in China during the pandemic, with a specific focus on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Dyslexia. The study assesses the prevalence of ADHD and dyslexia symptoms among established and emerging entrepreneurs in China, finding notable occurrences within this group. The research also examines the self-care practices of these entrepreneurs, shedding light on their approaches during the pandemic period. The findings highlight a complex interplay between mental health issues and entrepreneurial activities, suggesting that certain ADHD and dyslexia traits may offer unexpected benefits in the entrepreneurial realm. These insights are critical for developing supportive frameworks that leverage the strengths of neurodiverse entrepreneurs while mitigating associated challenges, especially in a post-pandemic economic landscape. The study concludes with policy and practice recommendations to bolster the wellbeing and resilience of entrepreneurs facing the multifaceted impacts of the pandemic., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The linkages between the US and China, the world's two major agricultural powers, have brought great uncertainty to the global food markets. Inspired by these, this paper examines the extreme risk spillovers between US and Chinese agricultural futures markets during significant crises. We use a copula-conditional value at risk (CoVaR) model with Markov-switching regimes to capture the tail dependence in their pair markets. The study covers the period from January 2006 to December 2022 and identifies two distinct dependence regimes (stable and crisis periods). Moreover, we find significant and asymmetric upside/downside extreme risk spillovers between the US and Chinese markets, which are highly volatile in crises. Additionally, the impact of international capital flows (the financial channel) on risk spillovers is particularly pronounced during the global financial crisis. During the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine 2022 war, the impact of supply chain disruptions (the non-financial channel) is highlighted. Our findings provide a theoretical reference for monitoring the co-movements in agricultural futures markets and practical insights for managing investment portfolios and enhancing food market stability during crises., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Hu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has profoundly impacted the global economy and human health. The paper mainly proposed an improved susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered (SEIR) epidemic model with media coverage and limited medical resources to investigate the spread of COVID-19. We proved the positivity and boundedness of the solution. The existence and local asymptotically stability of equilibria were studied and a sufficient criterion was established for backward bifurcation. Further, we applied the proposed model to study the trend of COVID-19 in Shanghai, China, from March to April 2022. The results showed sensitivity analysis, bifurcation, and the effects of critical parameters in the COVID-19 model.

Since the global outbreak of COVID-19, the virus has continuously mutated and can survive in the air for long periods of time. This paper establishes and analyzes a model of COVID-19 with self-protection and quarantine measures affected by viruses in the environment to investigate the influence of viruses in the environment on the spread of the outbreak, as well as to develop a rational prevention and control measure to control the spread of the outbreak. The basic reproduction number was calculated and Lyapunov functions were constructed to discuss the stability of the model equilibrium points. The disease-free equilibrium point was proven to be globally asymptotically stable when $ R&#95;0 < 1 $, and the endemic equilibrium point was globally asymptotically stable when $ R&#95;0 > 1 $. The model was fitted using data from COVID-19 cases in Chongqing between November 1 to November 25, 2022. Based on the numerical analysis, the following conclusion was obtained: clearing the virus in the environment and strengthening the isolation measures for infected people can control the epidemic to a certain extent, but enhancing the self-protection of individuals can be more effective in reducing the risk of being infected and controlling the transmission of the epidemic, which is more conducive to the practical application.

Objective: During the COVID-19 pandemic, people posted help-seeking messages on Weibo, a mainstream social media in China, to solve practical problems. As viruses, policies, and perceptions have all changed, help-seeking behavior on Weibo has been shown to evolve in this paper., Methods: We compare and analyze the help-seeking messages from three dimensions: content categories, time distribution, and retweeting influencing factors. First, we crawled the help-seeking messages from Weibo, and successively used CNN and xlm-roberta-large models for text classification to analyze the changes of help-seeking messages in different stages from the content categories dimension. Subsequently, we studied the time distribution of help-seeking messages and calculated the time lag using TLCC algorithm. Finally, we analyze the changes of the retweeting influencing factors of help-seeking messages in different stages by negative binomial regression., Results: (1) Help-seekers in different periods have different emphasis on content. (2) There is a significant correlation between new daily help-seeking messages and new confirmed cases in the middle stage (1/1/2022-5/20/2022), with a 16-day time lag, but there is no correlation in the latter stage (12/10/2022-2/25/2023). (3) In all the periods, pictures or videos, and the length of the text have a significant positive effect on the number of retweets of help-seeking messages, but other factors do not have exactly the same effect on the retweeting volume., Conclusion: This paper demonstrates the evolution of help-seeking messages during different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in three dimensions: content categories, time distribution, and retweeting influencing factors, which are worthy of reference for decision-makers and help-seekers, as well as provide thinking for subsequent studies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Jiang, Yao and Song.)

The problem of repeated epidemic fluctuations in the normalized prevention and control stage is revealed by data from January 20, 2020, to January 30, 2023. In order to improve the collaborative response of the public and government departments to public health emergencies and avoid repeated fluctuations of the epidemic, a tripartite evolutionary game model of the public, local government, and central government departments is constructed, focusing on the evolutionary paths and evolutionary stabilization strategies of the three subjects, and the influence of each element on the evolutionary results is simulated by numerical simulation in Matlab, and based on the inadequacy of the static reward and punishment mechanism, a dynamic Based on the shortcomings of static reward and punishment mechanism, dynamic reward and punishment mechanism is introduced to control the stability of the evolving system. The study shows that (1) with the increase of the initial willingness of the three parties, the rate of the public choosing the discretionary flow strategy slows down, and the collaborative prevention and control process can be accelerated. (2) The reward and punishment mechanism of central government departments has a positive incentive effect on the local government's strict prevention and control and the public's conscious isolation. Appropriately increasing rewards, formulating reasonable subsidy strategies, and increasing penalties for violations are conducive to the overall optimization of the system, and the punishment mechanism is most sensitive to the regulation of the public's discretionary mobility behavior. (3) Government departments' prevention and control costs can influence their enthusiasm for strict prevention and control and real-time supervision. Reducing the human resources cost, time cost, and financial cost of prevention and control is conducive to government departments performing their duties more responsibly. (4) The static punishment mechanism fails to make timely adjustments according to the strategy choice of each actor. It cannot control the stability of the evolving system. In contrast, the dynamic punishment mechanism considers the punishment parameters to link the casual isolation rate with the lenient prevention and control rate, which can effectively control the system's fluctuating instability and is the system's stability control strategy. Finally, combining theoretical and simulation analysis, management suggestions are made for controlling repeated fluctuations of the epidemic in practice, and the research limitations of this paper are explained., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Selecting an appropriate intensity of epidemic prevention and control measures is of vital significance to promoting the two-way dynamic coordination of epidemic prevention and control and economic development. In order to balance epidemic control and economic development and suggest scientific and reasonable traffic control measures, this paper proposes a SEIQR model considering population migration and the propagation characteristics of the exposed and the asymptomatic, based on the data of COVID-19 cases, Baidu Migration, and the tourist economy. Further, the factor traffic control intensity is included in the model. After determining the functional relationship between the control intensity and the number of tourists and the cumulative number of confirmed cases, the NSGA-II algorithm is employed to perform multi-objective optimization with consideration of the requirements for epidemic prevention and control and for economic development to get an appropriate traffic control intensity and suggest scientific traffic control measures. With Xi'an City as an example. The results show that the Pearson correlation coefficient between the predicted data of this improved model and the actual data is 0.996, the R-square in the regression analysis is 0.993, with a significance level of below 0.001, suggesting that the predicted data of the model are more accurate. With the continuous rise of traffic control intensity in different simulation scenarios, the cumulative number of cases decreases by a significant amplitude. While balancing the requirements for epidemic prevention and control and for tourist economy development, the model works out the control intensity to be 0.68, under which some traffic control measures are suggested. The model presented in this paper can be used to analyze the impacts of different traffic control intensities on epidemic transmission. The research results in this paper reveal the traffic control measures balancing the requirements for epidemic prevention and control and for economic development., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Xiang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Resource-based regions support national economic development and are essential sources of basic energy and raw materials. In the post-pandemic era, however, there are practical situations to deal with, such as a fractured industrial chain, a weaker industrial structure, and a sharp reduction in economic benefits. Based on data collected from 68 cities in China, from 2010 to 2021, with 816 observations, this paper explores the industrial development process of resource-based regions in China and the change in the toughness of the industrial structure under the impact of COVID-19. The paper studies and analyzes industrial development trends, industrial structure toughness, and spatial spillover effects. The methods used are the Markov chain model and the Industrial Structure Advancement Index. By building the spatial Dubin model, the paper analyzes the spatial spillover effect of regional industrial development. It decomposes the spillover effect using the partial differential model based on regression. The results show that, during the study period, the comprehensive development level of industries in resource-based regions in China was slowly improving and tended to stabilize after entering the post-pandemic era. The evolution of an advanced industrial structure is significantly heterogeneous among regions, and each region has different toughness. The impact of COVID-19 has reduced the toughness of China's resource-based regions' industrial structure. The spatial spillover effect of regional industrial development is significant. Labor force, technology input, and industrial-structure optimization have different impacts on the industrial development of neighboring regions. In the post-pandemic era, China has used new management methods for more innovation. In order to achieve low-carbon, environmental protection, and sustainable development of resources, realize the rapid recovery of the toughness of industrial structure in China's resource-based cities, and reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, China proposes to expand the supply of resources, improve the allocation of resources, optimize the direction, promote the rational flow and efficient aggregation of various factors, and enhance the impetus for innovation and development., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 He et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: As the impact of COVID-19 on normal production and living conditions diminishes, this serious emergency is come to an end. China's policy framework has facilitated positive adjustment over the past 3 years by timely modifying its emergency response to changes in viruses and epidemics. This paper aims to explore the logic of China's policy framework that promoted policy adjustment through crisis learning during COVID-19., Methods: By gathering and classifying China's epidemic prevention policies throughout the past 3 years, integrating policy texts, and analyzing key events, this article examines the process of supporting policy adjustment through crisis learning in the policy system during COVID-19., Results: The Chinese government's COVID-19 policy adjustment process can be divided into four stages, namely 'The period of stress response', 'The period of COVID-19 prevention and control', 'The period of regular prevention and control', and 'The period of overall adjustment'. The policy adjustments in each stage demonstrate the logic and effectiveness of crisis learning in the promotion policy adjustment. The study has determined that the motivational logic comprises three crucial elements: security requirements, accountability pressure, and reputation management. The institutional logic encompasses both the organizational and resourceful environments, and the institutional and cultural environment. Additionally, the behavioral logic of policy adaptation aligns with the strategy of crisis learning. Meanwhile, the logical framework of 'crisis learning-policy adjustment' can be verified using the Chinese government's policy adjustment in COVID-19 as an example., Conclusion: Establishing an effective post-crisis learning system is crucial to improving the effectiveness of crisis response. There is a logical link between crisis learning and policy adjustment. The implementation of policy adjustment needs to be based on the results of crisis learning. Government departments are essential for crisis learning and policy adjustment., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wei, Xu and Xu.)

Supply chain disruptions caused by major public health crises will severely impact the economic growth. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the above proposition, taking the strict lockdown policy and supply chain disruption in Hubei Province at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic as a case, to provide decision-making reference for the government in supply chain management under major public health crisis. To achieve this goal, this paper firstly measures the supply chain network of Hubei province via the multi-region and multi-sector value-added model; then empirically studies the impact of lockdown policy and supply chain disruption on provincial economic growth, with the monthly data of 31 provinces covering January 2018 to December 2022, by the Difference in Difference method. The results show that: the lockdown policy and supply chain disruption under the Covid-19 epidemic negatively affected provincial economic growth; moreover, supply chain disruptions make provinces closer to Hubei more vulnerable to economic shocks. The results are significant in the placebo test, and are further supported in the robustness test of alternative variables and data. We further discussed the Business Cycle Co-movement between Hubei and other provinces, and the probable impact mechanism of supply chain interruption on economic growth in the Covid-19 epidemic. This study shows that supply chain network plays an important role in the transmission of interregional economic shocks, as well as its importance for economic growth, especially in major public health crises., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.