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With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) architectures and protocols, new video analytics systems and surveillance applications have been developed. In conventional systems, all the streams produced by cameras are sent to a centralized node where they can be seen by human operators whose task is to identify uncommon on abnormal situations. However, this way, much bandwidth is necessary for the system to work, and the number of necessary resources is proportional to the number of cameras and streams involved. In this paper, we propose an interesting approach to this problem: transforming any IP camera into a cognitive object. A cognitive camera (CC) can be considered a classic connected camera with onboard computational power for intelligent video processing. A CC can understand and interact with the surroundings, intelligently analyze complex scenes, and interact with the users. The IoT Edge Computing approach decreases latency in the decision-making process and consumes a tiny portion of bandwidth concerning the stream of a video, even in low resolution. CCs can help to address COVID-19. As a preventive measure, proper crowd monitoring and management systems must be installed in public places to limit sudden outbreaks and improve healthcare. The number of new infections can be significantly reduced by adopting physical distancing measures earlier. Motivated by this notion, a real-time crowd monitoring and management system for physical distance classification using CCs is proposed in this research paper. The experiment on Movidius board, an AI accelerator device, provides promising results of our proposed method in which the accuracies can achieve more than 85% from different datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study assessed the adherence to PPE (mask, gowns, and gloves) at the workplace, as well as to non-pharmacological preventive measures (NPPM) outside of the workplace among healthcare workers. • NPPM was defined as physical distance as hardly ever and/or never approaches other people within 1.5 meters, social isolation as leaving home less than once a week; hand hygiene as performing hand hygiene ≥ 6 times per period; and adherence to the use of a mask outside of the workplace was defined as on all outings and hardly ever/never removes the mask. • High adherence to PPE was independently associated with younger age, professional category, work in an area of direct patient assistance; use of public transportation, or adherence to NPPM outside of the workplace. This study assessed, using a self-reported questionnaire, the adherence to PPE (mask, gowns, and gloves) at the workplace, as well as to non-pharmacological preventive measures (NPPM) (physical distance defined as hardly ever and/or never approaches other people within 1.5 meters, social isolation as leaving home less than once a week, hand hygiene was defined as performing hand hygiene ≥ 6 times per period, and adherence to the use of a mask outside of the workplace was defined as on all outings and hardly ever and/or never removes the mask) outside of the workplace among 1,296 health care workers (HCWs), including if NPPM adherence was associated with COVID-19 in HCWs. High adherence to PPE was independently associated with younger age, professional category, work in an area of direct patient assistance; use of public transportation, or adherence to NPPM outside of the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On January 31, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of a novel coronavirus responsible for an infection termed COVID-19 as a global public health emergency. To slow the spread of the coronavirus, countries around the world have been implementing various measures, including school and institutional closures, lockdown and targeted quarantine for suspected infected individuals. More than a third of the world's population have been home confined less than 4 months after the start of the outbreak. The present article aims to advise healthy individuals and athletes who are in lockdown regarding their lifestyle in order to keep healthy, safe and fit. The advice contained in the present article could apply to anyone aiming at remaining in good physical and mental health while forced to undergo lockdown, quarantine, or limited movement (movement control order). Boosting the immune system is crucial during such periods for confined people and especially for confined athletes. Specific recommendations must be followed concerning boosting the immune system through physiological and psychological management. This article analyses the available scientific evidence in order to recommend a practical approach, focusing on nutrition, intermittent fasting or caloric restriction, vitamin D insufficiency, sleep pattern, exercise, and psychodynamic aspects as factors impacting the immune system and human health in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On January 31, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of a novel coronavirus responsible for an infection termed COVID-19 as a global public health emergency. To slow the spread of the coronavirus, countries around the world have been implementing various measures, including school and institutional closures, lockdown and targeted quarantine for suspected infected individuals. More than a third of the world's population have been home confined less than 4 months after the start of the outbreak. The present article aims to advise healthy individuals and athletes who are in lockdown regarding their lifestyle in order to keep healthy, safe and fit. The advice contained in the present article could apply to anyone aiming at remaining in good physical and mental health while forced to undergo lockdown, quarantine, or limited movement (movement control order). Boosting the immune system is crucial during such periods for confined people and especially for confined athletes. Specific recommendations must be followed concerning boosting the immune system through physiological and psychological management. This article analyses the available scientific evidence in order to recommend a practical approach, focusing on nutrition, intermittent fasting or caloric restriction, vitamin D insufficiency, sleep pattern, exercise, and psychodynamic aspects as factors impacting the immune system and human health in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On January 31, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of a novel coronavirus responsible for an infection termed COVID-19 as a global public health emergency. To slow the spread of the coronavirus, countries around the world have been implementing various measures, including school and institutional closures, lockdown and targeted quarantine for suspected infected individuals. More than a third of the world's population have been home confined less than 4 months after the start of the outbreak. The present article aims to advise healthy individuals and athletes who are in lockdown regarding their lifestyle in order to keep healthy, safe and fit. The advice contained in the present article could apply to anyone aiming at remaining in good physical and mental health while forced to undergo lockdown, quarantine, or limited movement (movement control order). Boosting the immune system is crucial during such periods for confined people and especially for confined athletes. Specific recommendations must be followed concerning boosting the immune system through physiological and psychological management. This article analyses the available scientific evidence in order to recommend a practical approach, focusing on nutrition, intermittent fasting or caloric restriction, vitamin D insufficiency, sleep pattern, exercise, and psychodynamic aspects as factors impacting the immune system and human health in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the problem of airborne transmission caused by droplets/droplet nuclei containing infectious viruses such as influenza A, tuberculosis, and SARS-CoV-2, the transmission dynamics of infectious droplets in indoor environments, from the generation/emission from an infected subject to the exposure of the target subject via indoor air, must be comprehended seamlessly and accurately. Research on indoor airborne transmission requires rigorous prior ethical review, and experimental studies on humans (in vivo and/or in vitro) are severely limited. Therefore, research methods based on in silico models; i.e., numerical modeling and analysis approaches, are preferred, owing to their flexibility for case and sensitivity analyses. In this study, assuming airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in an indoor environment, we develop and perform a seamless and continuous numerical analysis of infectious droplet dispersion from a coughing infected subject and the subsequent inhalation exposure of a target subject (via the respiratory tract) through transient breathing. We focus on the effects of respiration patterns, particle-size changes due to evaporation, and indoor physical distance between the subjects, on the exposure concentration and distribution of inhaled droplets in the respiratory tract. The results show that, when an infected person coughs within a physical distance of 1 m, inhalation exposure results in significant differences in the inhalation–exhalation timing of breathing, and local environmental conditions have a dominant effect on the inhalation exposure. In short-range airborne transmission, the particle-size change due to evaporation has a dominant effect on the estimation of the inhalation exposure concentration in the respiratory tract. • Seamless analysis of airborne virus transmission in indoor environment. • Droplet-size change due to evaporation substantially affects inhalation exposure. • Breathing time affects inhalation exposure concentration in short distances. • Physical distancing contributes more to infection control than ventilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional methods for constructing brain functional network often need to artificially set a certain threshold, which requires professional and technical personnel to do this work. In order to overcome this deficiency, this study proposed a new method that can automatically construct brain functional network from electroencephalogram (EEG) data, based on positional relations among the vertices and network motif theories. To verify this method, resting state and task state EEG data were converted into brain functional networks with both the new method and traditional methods to explore the discrepancies of network features. The results showed that the mean physical distance increased with the increasing of network edges, evidently suggesting that higher weights of the edges have shorter physical distances, which is the direct model foundation. Besides, consistent results of network features were obtained among these methods, especially in weighted networks, indicating that this new method had the same capacity in accurately characterizing network features compared with the traditional methods. Moreover, this new method can efficiently distinguish the networks that have big differences in the weights, if the network has higher weights, the corresponding network would have more edges, which is in line with one of the traditional methods that using a threshold of weight. We also applied this model in mental fatigue detection, and the results of network characteristics, which obtained from the model and traditional method, have the same variation tendency, approximate values, and similar statistical differences, demonstrating that the proposed model can replace the traditional methods in differentiating similar brain functional states. The new method have potential applications in real-time brain functional networks construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leading health authorities have suggested short-range airborne transmission as a major route of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, there is no simple method to assess the short-range airborne infection risk or identify its governing parameters. We proposed a short-range airborne infection risk assessment model based on the continuum model and two-stage jet model. The effects of ventilation, physical distance and activity intensity on the short-range airborne exposure were studied systematically. The results suggested that increasing physical distance and ventilation reduced short-range airborne exposure and infection risk. However, a diminishing return phenomenon was observed when the ventilation rate or physical distance was beyond a certain threshold. When the infectious quantum concentration was less than 1 quantum/L at the mouth, our newly defined threshold distance and threshold ventilation rate were independent of quantum concentration. We estimated threshold distances of 0.59, 1.1, 1.7 and 2.6 m for sedentary/passive, light, moderate and intense activities, respectively. At these distances, the threshold ventilation was estimated to be 8, 20, 43, and 83 L/s per person, respectively. The findings show that both physical distancing and adequate ventilation are essential for minimising infection risk, especially in high-intensity activity or densely populated spaces. [Display omitted] • A dilution factor was derived from a two-stage jet model. • Physical distancing reduces short-range airborne exposure and infection risk. • High ventilation also reduces short-range airborne exposure and infection risk. • High ventilation does not reduce infection risk at very close distances. • Threshold distance for short-range airborne infection control can be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]