Exploring Emerging Governance Models of Transnational Research Partnership and the Influence of Science Globalism Under the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Longitudinal Study of a PIRE Project in Taiwan and the USA

During the pandemic, virtual Transnational higher education (TNHE) became one of the solutions to support researchers and students in continuing academic research collaborations, intercultural competence, and global awareness acquisition via a virtual platform. This case study explores the implementation of the MOST-NSF Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) research project between Taiwan and the USA in terms of governance modes and research productivity according to Knight's Functional, Organizational, a Political approaches (FOPA) model. The study finds that the political and functional models are somehow consistent with the national needs of scientific development. Second, the COVID-19 crisis intensified international collaboration and justified the supremacy of global sciences, which has overridden national and individual interests. The case study provides feasible management modes and research collaboration experiences for the researchers who would like to implement transnational higher education with other foreign partners in the post-pandemic era. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Physical immobility and virtual mobility: Mediating everyday life from a Karen refugee camp in Thailand

This article reflects on how offline and online everyday life coexists for encamped, young Karen living in protracted displacement. As part of the special issue ‘Cultures of (im)mobile entanglements', edited by Earvin Cabalquinto and Koen Leurs, I centre the voices of young Karen living in Mae La refugee camp in Thailand and unpack how personal and social relationships are built and maintained physically in the camp, as well as in digitally mediated spaces. I focus on the tensions of (im)mobility and how life and presence were mediated before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. I emphasise the influence of culture, society, and infrastructure on my participants' living trajectories and find how social media expands their lived reality far beyond the confinement of the camp. © The Author(s) 2023.

Efficacy of a Polyclonal Ovine Fab (PR020) Against SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Background. Passive immune therapies may be useful in mitigating severe COVID-19. The hamster model has been successfully used to study efficacy of COVID-19 treatments. Our objective with this research is to demonstrate initial efficacy of a new polyclonal ovine Fab raised against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (PR020) as a treatment for COVID-19. Methods. Hamsters were treated with PR020 via intraperitoneal route at a dose of 120 mg/kg or a vehicle control once every 24 hours for 8 days, starting 1 day prior to viral challenge with Victoria/1/2020 SARS-CoV-2. Sampling to detect viral RNA and clinical observations were taken throughout the challenge phase. Necropsy occurred 1 day following the last dose of PR020, and tissues were assessed for histopathology and viral RNA. Results. Hamsters receiving vehicle alone lost weight more rapidly than the PR020 group (Figure 1, p< 0.05 day 4 onward). Clinical illness scores for the PR020 group were lower compared to control animals (Figure 2, p< 0.05 day 3 onward). While viral shedding assessed by throat swab did not differ between groups, viral RNA levels in lung tissue was significantly lower in PR020-treated animals (Figure 3, p< 0.05). PR020-treated animals also showed significantly less pathological changes in the lung compared to controls (Figure 4, p=0.0022). (Figure Presented) Conclusion. Treatment with PR020 resulted in a positive clinical outcome (e.g. less weight loss and lower clinical signs). While treatment appeared to have little effect in the nasopharynx, there was a positive effect in the lower respiratory tract, with substantially less viral RNA in the lungs of the group given PR020 and a decrease in the lung histopathology, including consolidation.

Developing a Framework Addressing the Sexual Health Needs of Patients Treated with Head and Neck Radiation Treatment

Aim: Head and neck (H&N) cancer patients do not receive treatment to their sexual organs, but these patients undergo a multimodality approach to treatment and its effects may still negatively affect their sexual health (SH). Radiation therapists (RTs) have a unique opportunity to develop a strong rapport with patients and to discuss sensitive issues related to relationship, body image and intimacy (RBI). This project aimed to address the SH needs of our H&N patients by providing RTs at our institution with the knowledge and skills to provide SH information to our patients. We also addressed increasing our accessibility to SH information by creating a specific SH document tailored to help our patients who are receiving H&N radiation treatment. Process: This Quality Innovation involved a multidisciplinary collaborative effort. We surveyed our staff to identify the perceived barriers in preventing RTs from having a SH conversation with their H&N patients. This needs assessment allowed us to identify how we can best help our staff. Working with our institution's patient education and patient partners groups, we created a patient education document on SH concerns for patients receiving H&N radiation treatment. We also created education sessions for our RTs to improve their knowledge about SH concerns. The workshops covered the impact of sexual dysfunction in oncology;clinical approaches to optimizing sexual healthcare in oncology;and provided future direction on how to access resources for our patients. Finally, we standardized the procedures and improved RT practical skills by creating documentation processes and conversational scripts for staff to help them initiate conversations about these sensitive topics. Benefits/Challenges: A challenge we experienced during our project included inconsistent staffing due to COVID19 interruptions. This project experienced a 7 month pause due to clinical demands at our institution. In addition, our team lost a team champion as they had left the institution. This challenge was rectified by recruiting extra team champions to help facilitate this project. The benefits of our quality initiative interventions included increasing our staff knowledge and comfort levels in having SH conversations with our H&N patients through educational staff workshops. For consistent staff delivery, we standardized the procedure and provided staff with conversational scripts so that staff could start a SH conversation with their patients. Impact/Outcomes: This quality initiative is midway through completion. Four team champions of this project were able to receive SH training in oncology, and other team members have various experience in sexual health care in oncology. So far, we have conducted one educational SH workshop for staff. Based on participant feedback, staff were motivated and eager to increase their knowledge and skill levels. Another education session will be organized for early 2022, focused on H&N sexual health. Prior to clinical implementation, the champions piloted the process with patients. From participant interviews, patients were very appreciative and accepting of SH information from RTs. This initiative will be fully implemented in late January. Copyright © 2022

Individual Altruism Cannot Overcome Congestion Effects in a Global Pandemic Game

A key challenge in responding to public health crises such as COVID-19 is the difficulty of predicting the results of feedback interconnections between the disease and society. As a step towards understanding these interconnections, we pose a simple game-theoretic model of a global pandemic in which individuals can choose where to live, and we investigate the global behavior that may emerge as a result of individuals reacting locally to the competing costs of isolation and infection. We study the game-theoretic equilibria that emerge from this setup when the population is composed of either selfish or altruistic individuals. First, we demonstrate that as is typical in these types of games, selfish equilibria are in general not optimal, but that all stable selfish equilibria are within a constant factor of optimal. Second, there exist infinitely-many stable altruistic equilibria;all but finitely-many of these are worse than the worst selfish equilibrium, and the social cost of altruistic equilibria is unbounded. Our work is in sharp contrast to recent work in network congestion games in which all altruistic equilibria are socially optimal. This suggests that a population without central coordination may react very poorly to a pandemic, and that individual altruism could even exacerbate the problem. © 2022 IEEE.

Sustainable Remote Work for Radiation Therapists: Implementation in a Large Urban Radiation Therapy Centre

Purpose: The COVID 19 pandemic created an urgent need to reduce onsite staff at the hospital. Remote work was implemented for Radiation Therapists (RTs) to reduce COVID 19 transmission, conserve personal protective equipment and facilitate physical distancing for staff required onsite. We report our experiences with a rapid pivot to remote work for RTs during the pandemic and the plan for a sustainable remote work strategy. Material(s) and Method(s): On March 16, 2020, our multi-site healthcare network provided emergency guidelines for remote work. The guidelines included the ability to perform full job duties remotely, appropriate space and equipment, no impact on patient care, and operational feasibility. RTs were asked to self-identify to their Supervisor if they met these requirements and wanted to work remotely. Commencing March 23, 2020, rotations were developed for on and offsite schedules balancing operational needs, skill mix, equity between team members, and cohorting to minimize COVID risk. Those performing direct patient facing activities were not able to work from home. Activities that could be performed remotely included radiation therapy planning, process and protocol development, quality assurance checks, project or research activities, and telephone patient education. Organizational implementation of technology solutions supported this rapid pivot to remote work. For example, remote access was required to clinical applications, email, and document management. Microsoft Teams was used for virtual communication and meetings. Result(s): From March 2020 to Dec 2021, 133 (64%) RTs worked remotely for >=1 day. 32% of RTs worked >100 shifts remotely, and 12% worked more than 200 shifts remotely. This resulted in 15,413 remote work shifts (25% of total shifts worked) for an average of 685 remote work shifts per month, peaking to a maximum of 1096 shifts during March 2021. Generally, remote work was well received by RTs. Many RTs reported benefits, including eliminating lengthy commutes, improved flexibility, reduced distractions and a break from PPE. Initially, there were some IT challenges, such as slow connectivity and incompatible home equipment, that made remote work difficult. Some RTs reported a sense of social isolation. There was a perceived lack of fairness between those who could and could not work remotely. There were also some challenges communicating between onsite and offsite teams, shift coverage, and onsite support. Conclusion(s): Overall, we demonstrated that RTs can successfully work remotely over a multi-year timeframe. Generally, this was a positive experience for RTs, who reported improved work-life balance and more flexibility with job duties. However, there were concerns about a lack of fairness for those in patient-facing roles. Despite these concerns, most RTs support continuing with remote work. Our department will continue with a long-term remote work strategy based on best practices for remote work and input from RTs Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

HIV-1 DIAGNOSES in NORTH CAROLINA, 2018-21: INCIDENT INFECTIONS and DRUG RESISTANCE

Background: Knowing the true incidence of HIV-1 infections (recent infections) among people newly diagnosed is pivotal to monitoring the course of the epidemic. We have developed a Primer ID Next Gen Sequencing (PID-NGS) assay to identify recent infection by measuring within-host viral diversity over multiple regions of the HIV-1 genome. We implemented a state-wide project to identify recent infections and transmitted drug resistance mutations (DRMs) in diagnostic samples in near real time. Methods: Serum samples from individuals with newly HIV-1 diagnoses (diagnostic sample collected within 30 days of diagnosis) were sequenced. PID-NGS libraries were constructed covering the coding regions for protease, a portion of reverse transcriptase, integrase, and the env gene. The use of the PID-NGS strategy allows for significant error correction and also a definition of the sampling depth of the viral population. Recent infection was defined as within 9-month of infection. DRMs were summarized at detection sensitivities of 30%, 10% and 1% based on viral population sampling depth. Results: From Jan 2018 to Jun 2021, we successfully sequenced partial genomes from 743 individuals with new diagnoses. Year 2020 had the lowest number of new diagnoses (Fig 1a, red bar). Overall, 39.2% of samples were inferred to have represented infection within the previous 9 months. Percent of recent infection varied significantly over the years, increasing from 29.6% in late 2018 to 50.9% in early 2020, but decreasing significantly to 32.7% in 2021 (Fig 1a, blue lines). Individuals younger than 30 y/o were more likely to be identified with recent infection (p<0.01). NNRTI DRMs, especially K103N, were the most abundant DRMs. Fig 1b shows the trend of DRMs over the four years. We observed a trend of decrease in the overall NNRTI DRMs and an increase in the NRTI DRMs in the population. Further analysis suggests that the increase in NRTI DRMs were from TAMs and their revertants, while clinically important NRTI DRMs (K65R and M184) were low (<1%). Conclusion: We have demonstrated a state-wide, all-in-one platform to monitor HIV-1 recency and DRMs in new diagnoses. The number of new diagnoses decreased significantly in 2020 in concert with the COVID-19 pandemic which suggests a decrease in overall HIV testing. The decline in the percentage of recent infections in early 2021 signals a return to broader HIV-1 testing and diagnosis. The increase of other NRTI DRMs suggests ongoing evolution at these sites within the viral population.

INFLAMMATION, EXERCISE CAPACITY, CHRONOTROPY, and SYMPTOMS in POST-ACUTE COVID-19

Background: Cardiopulmonary symptoms and reduced exercise capacity can persist after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mechanisms of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 ("PASC" or "Long COVID") remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that systemic inflammation would be associated with reduced exercise capacity and pericardial/myocardial inflammation. Methods: As part of a COVID recovery cohort (NCT04362150) we assessed symptoms, biomarkers, and echocardiograms in adults >2 months after PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. In a subset, we performed cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), ambulatory rhythm monitoring (RM), and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) >12 months after acute infection. Associations between symptoms and oxygen consumption (VO2), cardiopulmonary parameters and biomarkers were evaluated using linear and logistic regression with adjustment for age, sex, BMI, and time since infection. Results: We studied 120 participants (median age 51, 42% female, and 47% had cardiopulmonary symptoms at median 7 months after acute infection). Elevated hsCRP was associated with symptoms (OR 1.32 per doubling, 95%CI 1.01-1.73, p=0.04). No differences in echocardiographic indices were found except for presence of pericardial effusions among those with symptoms (p=0.04). Of the subset (n=33) who underwent CMR at a median 17 months, all had normal cardiac function (LVEF 53-76%), 9 (27%) had pericardial effusions and none had findings suggestive of prior myocarditis. There were no differences on RM by symptoms. On CPET, 33% had reduced exercise capacity (peak VO2 <85% predicted). Individuals with symptoms had lower peak VO2 compared to those reporting recovery (28.4 vs 21.4 ml/kg/min, p=0.04, Figure). Elevated hsCRP was independently associated with lower peak VO2 after adjustment (-9.8 ml/kg/min per doubling, 95%CI-17.0 to-2.5;p=0.01, Figure). The predominant mechanism of reduced peak VO2 was chronotropic incompetence (HR 19% lower than predicted, 95%CI 11-26%;p<0.0001, Figure). Chronotropic incompetence on CPET correlated with lower peak HR during ambulatory RM (p<0.001). Conclusion: Persistent systemic inflammation (hsCRP) is associated with pericardial effusions and reduced exercise capacity > 1 year after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. This finding appears to be driven mainly by chronotropic incompetence rather than respiratory compromise, cardiac pump dysfunction, or deconditioning. Evaluation of therapeutic strategies to target inflammation and/or chronotropy to alleviate PASC is urgently needed.

Comparison of telehealth versus centre-based pulmonary rehabilitation in clinical practice

Introduction/Aim: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to implementation of telehealth pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), which remains a favourable alternative to the traditional centre-based model in jurisdictions where the risk of patient vulnerability to COVID-19 is high. This study compares the outcomes between telehealth PR and centre-based PR in people with chronic respiratory disease. Methods: Retrospective data were collected between December 2020 and October 2021 from chronic respiratory disease patients who undertook 6-8 weeks of either twice weekly supervised centre-based PR or telehealth PR involving once-weekly telephone/video calls from an experienced clinician guiding patients on home-based exercise. Telehealth PR was the default model of care, with centrebased PR only offered if telehealth was not possible due to safety, feasibility or previous failure of telehealth PR or if patients (ILD only) agreed to participate in a specific research project that involved centre-based attendance. Outcomes included functional capacity, dyspnoea, health related quality of life (HRQoL) and global rating of change. Results: Thirty-two patients undertook centre-based PR (age 70(8) years, ILD = 20(63%), COPD = 9(28%), other = 3 (9%)) and 32 patients undertook telehealth PR (age 72(12), COPD = 20(63%), ILD = 7(22%), other = 5(15%)). There were no significant differences between groups for functional capacity, dyspnoea or HRQoL (Table 1). However, a greater proportion of patients perceived their overall condition had improved following telehealth PR (63% vs. 47%, p = 0.009). Both groups achieved significant improvements in HRQoL at end rehabilitation. Significant improvement in functional capacity following PR was seen only in the centre-based group (n = 29), although this outcome was only available in 12 (38%) telehealth PR patients. Conclusion: Telehealth PR produces improvements in functional capacity and HRQoL that are equivalent to centre based PR and is associated with a perceived overall benefit by a greater proportion of participants. Telehealth PR is a suitable alternative to the standard centre-based approach telerehabilitation may not be equivalent to centre-base. (Figure Presented).

A Market Segmentation Analysis for an eVTOL Air Taxi Shuttle

This paper presents details of a market segmentation analysis conducted using data from a stated preference survey we designed to model competition among an electric air taxi service, autonomous ground vehicles, and traditional ground vehicles for an air taxi shuttle to major commercial airports in the United States. This paper is based on data collected from January 8 to April 7, 2021, and includes 2,439 responses from individuals who took at least two trips by air in 2019 before COVID-19;have annual household incomes of at least $75K;and live in the Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas–Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, New York, or San Francisco combined statistical areas (CSAs). Factor analysis of respondents’ perceptions of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft identified two dimensions: Concern and Enthusiasm. Cluster analysis of the scores on these factors identified seven meaningful clusters, which differed on a variety of demographic, travel behavior, and attitudinal variables, as well as on respondents’ inclination to adopt eVTOL for traveling to a commercial airport. © 2021, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved.

Astronomers for Planet Earth: Embracing Virtual Communication Induced by the COVID-19 Pandemic to Help Tackle the Climate Crisis

Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E) is a global collective, whose main goal is to communicate the fragility of our planet from an astronomical perspective. A4E works hard to equally engage with astronomers and educators worldwide, by encouraging the communities to reduce emissions and providing a space to collaborate and share resources. These actions have led to increased sustainability and the incorporation of climate change lessons and activities into teaching and outreach. With the global shift to online communication due to Covid-19, Astronomers for Planet Earth has utilised digital tools in the form of online conferences and seminars, high-impact journal articles, webinars, social media, and video production to engage its audience and grow a membership of around 1300 astronomers in 70 countries around the world. Our article addresses the importance of communicating the climate crisis from an astronomical perspective and explores the successes and challenges of our group's virtual communication with the astronomy community and the general public thus far.

Inclusivity for children with autism spectrum disorders: Parents' reflections of the school learning environment versus home learning during COVID-19.

Whilst attendance in mainstream school helps encourage inclusivity, these environments are recognised as being particularly challenging for young people with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The COVID-19 pandemic brought a novel transition as young people moved from school to home-learning. This study compared the experiences of parents of children with ASD and co-occurring health difficulties of school-learning environments with their home-learning environments during COVID-19 lockdown. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted on semi-structured interviews from six parents of children (aged 8-15 years old) with ASD. Four superordinate themes were generated: Interactions between Health, ASD and Learning Environments; School Support and Managing Health Needs; Seeking Solutions; and Learning from COVID-19 Lockdown. The study highlighted the impact of ASD and co-occurring health difficulties on learning where parents found ways to provide positive home-learning environments which could be used and/or transferred back into school environments. These results hold real-world implications where educators could treat sensory and ASD friendly environments as standard and include genuine adjustments for children with ASD and additional needs. A flexible home-learning approach using parental knowledge around environmental adjustments that support learning, wellbeing and a sense of inclusion should be prioritised for children's overall development and wellbeing in these unprecedented times, and beyond.

Fast Mapping onto Census Blocks

Pandemic measures such as social distancing and contact tracing can be enhanced by rapidly integrating dynamic location data and demographic data. Projecting billions of longitude and latitude locations onto hundreds of thousands of highly irregular demographic census block polygons is computationally challenging in both research and deployment contexts. This paper describes two approaches labeled "simple" and "fast". The simple approach can be implemented in any scripting language (Matlab/Octave, Python, Julia, R) and is easily integrated and customized to a variety of research goals. This simple approach uses a novel combination of hierarchy, sparse bounding boxes, polygon crossing-number, vectorization, and parallel processing to achieve 100,000,000+ projections per second on 100 servers. The simple approach is compact, does not increase data storage requirements, and is applicable to any country or region. The fast approach exploits the thread, vector, and memory optimizations that are possible using a low-level language (C++) and achieves similar performance on a single server. This paper details these approaches with the goal of enabling the broader community to quickly integrate location and demographic data.