Sustained reductions in online search interest for communicable eye and other conditions during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Infodemiology Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Deiner ◽  
Gerami D. Seitzman ◽  
Stephen D. McLeod ◽  
James Chodosh ◽  
Thomas M. Lietman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Volume Data ◽  
Exact Tests ◽  
Online Search ◽  
P Values ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Wide Range

BACKGROUND At the start of the COVID 19 pandemic, we found reduced numbers of google searches for the term conjunctivitis. We hypothesized that physical distancing during COVID-10 reduced the spread of contagious eye disease. Here we test this hypothesis a year later, expanding to include other communicable conditions. OBJECTIVE Determine if reduction in USA searches for terms related to conjunctivitis and other common communicable diseases occurred in spring-winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and compare this outcome to terms representing non-communicable conditions, COVID-19, and to seasonality. METHODS Weekly relative search frequency volume data from Google trends for 68 search terms in English for the USA, were obtained for the weeks of March 2011 through February 2021. Terms were classified a priori as 16 terms related to COVID-19, 29 terms representing communicable conditions and 23 terms representing control non-communicable conditions. To reduce bias, all analyses were conducted while masked to term names, classifications and locations. To test for the significance of changes during the pandemic, we detrended and compared post-pandemic values to that expected based on pre-pandemic trends, per season, computing 1 and 2 sided P-values. We then compared these P-values between term groups using Wilcoxon rank-sum and Fisher exact tests to assess if non-COVID terms representing communicable disease were more likely to show significant reductions in search in 2020-21 than terms not representing such disease. We also assessed any relationship between a term’s seasonality and reduced search for it in 2020-21 seasons. P-values were subjected to FDR correction prior to reporting. Data were then unmasked. RESULTS Terms representing conjunctivitis and other communicable conditions had sustained reduced search in the first 4 seasons of the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic, compared to prior years. In comparison, search for non-communicable condition terms was significantly less reduced (Wilcoxon and Fisher’s Exact Tests, P < 0.001; summer, autumn, winter). A significant correlation was also found between reduced search for a term in 2020-21 and seasonality of that term (Theil-Sen, P < 0.001; summer, autumn, winter). COVID-19 related conditions were significantly elevated compared to prior years, and influenza-related terms were significantly lower than prior years in winter 2020-21 (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS We demonstrate the low-cost and unbiased use of online search data to study how a wide range of conditions may be affected by large-scale interventions or events such as social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings support emerging clinical evidence implicating social distancing and the COVID-19 pandemic in the reduction of communicable disease. They also agree with elevation of ocular conditions suggested to be linked to COVID-19 infection or behavioral changes such as mask-wearing. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable

Teaching application of watercolor light color technique

2020 ◽  
pp. 002072092093683
Author(s):  
Yin Shi
Keyword(s):  
Art Education ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Art Curriculum ◽  
Repeated Practice ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Light Color ◽  
Teaching Application ◽  
Design Drawing

As a branch of watercolor painting, watercolor light color has been widely used in different fields. In the field of design, designers use the convenience, quickness, transparency and brilliance of watercolor to draw a design drawing. In the field of art creation, watercolor is usually the best choice for painters to go out to sketch and create large-scale drawings. In the field of art education, watercolor tools are easy to carry, low-cost and easy to operate, which can facilitate students’ repeated practice and outside Sketching is helpful to cultivate students’ sense of color and observation ability. Therefore, as a branch of art curriculum, watercolor light color has a wide range of uses and great practicability, which is worth exploring and studying.

scholarly journals Process Design Kit and Design Automation for Flexible Hybrid Electronics

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 117-123
Author(s):  
Tsung-Ching Huang ◽  
Ting Lei ◽  
Leilai Shao ◽  
Sridhar Sivapurapu ◽  
Madhavan Swaminathan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Process Design ◽  
Design Automation ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Thin Film Transistor ◽  
Solution Process ◽  
Oxide Semiconductor ◽  
Wearable Electronics ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract High-performance low-cost flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) are desirable for applications such as internet of things and wearable electronics. Carbon nanotube (CNT) thin-film transistor (TFT) is a promising candidate for high-performance FHE because of its high carrier mobility, superior mechanical flexibility, and material compatibility with low-cost printing and solution processes. Flexible sensors and peripheral CNT-TFT circuits, such as decoders, drivers, and sense amplifiers, can be printed and hybrid-integrated with thinned (&lt;50 μm) silicon chips on soft, thin, and flexible substrates for a wide range of applications, from flexible displays to wearable medical devices. Here, we report (1) a process design kit (PDK) to enable FHE design automation for large-scale FHE circuits and (2) solution process-proven intellectual property blocks for TFT circuits design, including Pseudo-Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (Pseudo-CMOS) flexible digital logic and analog amplifiers. The FHE-PDK is fully compatible with popular silicon design tools for design and simulation of hybrid-integrated flexible circuits.

scholarly journals Green Preparation of Fluorescent Carbon Quantum Dots from Cyanobacteria for Biological Imaging

Polymers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Wang ◽  
Pei Yang ◽  
Qian Feng ◽  
Taotao Meng ◽  
Jing Wei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Dots ◽  
Carbon Source ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Average Diameter ◽  
Carbon Quantum Dots ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Low Cytotoxicity

Biomass-based carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have become a significant carbon materials by their virtues of being cost-effective, easy to fabricate and low in environmental impact. However, there are few reports regarding using cyanobacteria as a carbon source for the synthesis of fluorescent CQDs. In this study, the low-cost biomass of cyanobacteria was used as the sole carbon source to synthesize water-soluble CQDs by a simple hydrothermal method. The synthesized CQDs were mono-dispersed with an average diameter of 2.48 nm and exhibited excitation-dependent emission performance with a quantum yield of 9.24%. Furthermore, the cyanobacteria-derived CQDs had almost no photobleaching under long-time UV irradiation, and exhibited high photostability in the solutions with a wide range of pH and salinity. Since no chemical reagent was involved in the synthesis of CQDs, the as-prepared CQDs were confirmed to have low cytotoxicity for PC12 cells even at a high concentration. Additionally, the CQDs could be efficiently taken up by cells to illuminate the whole cell and create a clear distinction between cytoplasm and nucleus. The combined advantages of green synthesis, cost-effectiveness and low cytotoxicity make synthesized CQDs a significant carbon source and broaden the application of cyanobacteria and provide an economical route to fabricate CQDs on a large scale.

scholarly journals 3145 An Evaluation of Machine Learning and Traditional Statistical Methods for Discovery in Large-Scale Translational Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (s1) ◽  
pp. 2-2
Author(s):  
Megan C Hollister ◽  
Jeffrey D. Blume
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Random Forest ◽  
Gene Expression Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Expression Data ◽  
P Values ◽  
Machine Learning Methods

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: To examine and compare the claims in Bzdok, Altman, and Brzywinski under a broader set of conditions by using unbiased methods of comparison. To explore how to accurately use various machine learning and traditional statistical methods in large-scale translational research by estimating their accuracy statistics. Then we will identify the methods with the best performance characteristics. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We conducted a simulation study with a microarray of gene expression data. We maintained the original structure proposed by Bzdok, Altman, and Brzywinski. The structure for gene expression data includes a total of 40 genes from 20 people, in which 10 people are phenotype positive and 10 are phenotype negative. In order to find a statistical difference 25% of the genes were set to be dysregulated across phenotype. This dysregulation forced the positive and negative phenotypes to have different mean population expressions. Additional variance was included to simulate genetic variation across the population. We also allowed for within person correlation across genes, which was not done in the original simulations. The following methods were used to determine the number of dysregulated genes in simulated data set: unadjusted p-values, Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted p-values, Bonferroni adjusted p-values, random forest importance levels, neural net prediction weights, and second-generation p-values. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Results vary depending on whether a pre-specified significance level is used or the top 10 ranked values are taken. When all methods are given the same prior information of 10 dysregulated genes, the Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted p-values and the second-generation p-values generally outperform all other methods. We were not able to reproduce or validate the finding that random forest importance levels via a machine learning algorithm outperform classical methods. Almost uniformly, the machine learning methods did not yield improved accuracy statistics and they depend heavily on the a priori chosen number of dysregulated genes. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: In this context, machine learning methods do not outperform standard methods. Because of this and their additional complexity, machine learning approaches would not be preferable. Of all the approaches the second-generation p-value appears to offer significant benefit for the cost of a priori defining a region of trivially null effect sizes. The choice of an analysis method for large-scale translational data is critical to the success of any statistical investigation, and our simulations clearly highlight the various tradeoffs among the available methods.

scholarly journals A Low-Cost Electromagnetic Docking Guidance System for Micro Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shilin Peng ◽  
Jingbiao Liu ◽  
Junhao Wu ◽  
Chong Li ◽  
Benkun Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles ◽  
Underwater Vehicles ◽  
Guidance System ◽  
Electromagnetic Signal ◽  
Spatiotemporal Resolution ◽  
Search Coil ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Processing Subsystem

As important observational platforms for the Smart Ocean concept, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that perform long-term observation in fleets are beneficial because they provide large-scale sampling data with a sufficient spatiotemporal resolution. Therefore, a large number of low-cost micro AUVs with docking capability for power recharge and data transmission are essential. This study designed a low-cost electromagnetic docking guidance (EMDG) system for micro AUVs. The EMDG system is composed of a transmitter coil located on the dock and a three-axial search coil magnetometer acting as a receiver. The search coil magnetometer was optimized for small sizes while maintaining sufficient sensitivity. The signal conditioning and processing subsystem was designed to calculate the deflection angle (β) for docking guidance. Underwater docking tests showed that the system can detect the electromagnetic signal and successfully guide AUV docking. The AUV can still perform docking in extreme positions, which cannot be realized through normal optical or acoustic guidance. This study is the first to focus on the EM guidance system for low-cost micro AUVs. The search coil sensor in the AUV is inexpensive and compact so that the system can be equipped on a wide range of AUVs.

scholarly journals High-Sensitivity Flexible Pressure Sensor-Based 3D CNTs Sponge for Human–Computer Interaction

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 3465
Author(s):  
Jianli Cui ◽  
Xueli Nan ◽  
Guirong Shao ◽  
Huixia Sun
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Sensor ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Pressure Sensors ◽  
Chemical Vapor ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Wearable Electronics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Flexible Pressure Sensors

Researchers are showing an increasing interest in high-performance flexible pressure sensors owing to their potential uses in wearable electronics, bionic skin, and human–machine interactions, etc. However, the vast majority of these flexible pressure sensors require extensive nano-architectural design, which both complicates their manufacturing and is time-consuming. Thus, a low-cost technology which can be applied on a large scale is highly desirable for the manufacture of flexible pressure-sensitive materials that have a high sensitivity over a wide range of pressures. This work is based on the use of a three-dimensional elastic porous carbon nanotubes (CNTs) sponge as the conductive layer to fabricate a novel flexible piezoresistive sensor. The synthesis of a CNTs sponge was achieved by chemical vapor deposition, the basic underlying principle governing the sensing behavior of the CNTs sponge-based pressure sensor and was illustrated by employing in situ scanning electron microscopy. The CNTs sponge-based sensor has a quick response time of ~105 ms, a high sensitivity extending across a broad pressure range (less than 10 kPa for 809 kPa−1) and possesses an outstanding permanence over 4,000 cycles. Furthermore, a 16-pixel wireless sensor system was designed and a series of applications have been demonstrated. Its potential applications in the visualizing pressure distribution and an example of human–machine communication were also demonstrated.

scholarly journals Fabrication of Functional Materials for Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarawut Tontapha ◽  
Pikaned Uppachai ◽  
Vittaya Amornkitbamrung
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Dye Sensitized Solar Cells ◽  
Light Condition ◽  
Functional Materials ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Dye Sensitized ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Sensitized Solar Cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been developed as a promising photovoltaic cell type in recent decades because of their low cost, environmental friendliness, ease of fabrication, and suitability for a wide range of indoor and outdoor applications, especially under diverse shaded and low-light condition. They are typically composed of three main components: a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) substrate-based working electrode with wide-bandgap semiconductors and dye sensitizer molecules, an electrolytic mediator based on redox couple species, and a TCO-based counter electrode consisting of catalyst materials. The development of intrinsic and functional organic, inorganic, metal oxide, composite, and carbon-based materials has been intensively studied to enhance the efficiency of DSSCs. A simple and low-cost fabrication process that uses natural products is also considered essential for further large-scale production. In this article, we review the fabrication of various functional materials and their effects on DSSC performance.

scholarly journals Using mobile phones as acoustic sensors for high-throughput mosquito surveillance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haripriya Mukundarajan ◽  
Felix J H Hol ◽  
Erica A Castillo ◽  
Cooper Newby ◽  
Manu Prakash
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Mosquito Species ◽  
Mobile Network ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Mosquito Surveillance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Species Specific

AbstractThe direct monitoring of mosquito populations in field settings is a crucial input for shaping appropriate and timely control measures for mosquito-borne diseases. Here, we demonstrate that commercially available mobile phones are a powerful tool for acoustically mapping mosquito species distributions worldwide. We show that even low-cost mobile phones with very basic functionality are capable of sensitively acquiring acoustic data on species-specific mosquito wingbeat sounds, while simultaneously recording the time and location of the human-mosquito encounter. We survey a wide range of medically important mosquito species, to quantitatively demonstrate how acoustic recordings supported by spatio-temporal metadata enable rapid, non-invasive species identification. As proof-of-concept, we carry out field demonstrations where minimally-trained users map local mosquitoes using their personal phones. Thus, we establish a new paradigm for mosquito surveillance that takes advantage of the existing global mobile network infrastructure, to enable continuous and large-scale data acquisition in resource-constrained areas.

scholarly journals Impresión 3D como Herramienta Didáctica para la Enseñanza de Algunos Conceptos de Ingeniería y Diseño

Ingeniería ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin Blasnilo Rua Ramirez ◽  
Fernando Jimenez Diaz ◽  
German Andres Gutierrez Arias ◽  
Nelson Iván Villamizar
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
3D Printer ◽  
Course Grades ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Technical Specifications ◽  
Future Work

Context: 3D printing can be used for a wide range of tasks such as the design and testing of prototypes and finished products in a shorter time. In mechanical engineering, prototype designs are continuously generated in academic class activities and final coursework projects by students and teachers. However, students show limitations while understanding the abstract concepts represented with such designs.Method: Firstly, a large scale 3D printer with improved technical specifications compared to traditional market options and similar price, was fabricated. By means of free software and hardware tools and easy-to-obtain alternative manufacturing materials, it was possible to decrease its manufacturing and operating costs. Then a set of study cases utilising the 3D printer in three different subject classes were designed and tested with two cohorts of students of Mechanical Engineering programme.Results: It was feasible to fabricate a cost-effective and practical 3D printer for constructing prototypes and pieces that benefit teaching and learning concepts in engineering and design areas. The experiments carried out in three subjects of engineering courses with second-year students, showed a similar trend of improving the average course grades, as it was observed in two cohorts in different terms.Conclusions: This type of low cost 3D printer obtained academic advantages as a didactic tool for the learning process in engineering and design subjects. Future work will consider applying this tool to other courses and subjects to further evaluate its convenience and effectivity.

Preparation of Metal-Gr Composite Coatings via Electro-Plating for High Performances: A Review

MRS Advances ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (35) ◽  
pp. 1913-1928
Author(s):  
Sishi Li ◽  
Yanpeng Yang ◽  
Gongsheng Song ◽  
Qiang Fu ◽  
Chunxu Pan
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Corrosion Resistance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Composite Coatings ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Electro Deposition ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Wear And Corrosion Resistance

ABSTRACTDeveloping metal-based composite coatings with improved mechanical properties and good corrosion resistance has been an attractive research topic in recent years. Graphene (Gr), as a new type of two-dimensional (2D) carbon nanomaterial with excellent physical, chemical and mechanical properties, can be used as a reinforcement to improve hardness, tensile strength, wear and corrosion resistance of metal-based composites. There have been substantial efforts focused on the fabrication of metal-Gr composite coatings via various approaches. Electro-deposition is an effective electrochemical method with wide range of advantages, such as a fast deposition rate, simple set-up with large scale production and relatively low cost. This overview covers the previous research and development studies on metal-Gr composite coatings using electro-deposition method and the resulting properties. In addition, recent work in this area which provides a developed process with industrial production perspective, is discussed.

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