Early Warning Scheme of COVID-19 related Internet Public Opinion based on RVM-L Model.

Internet public opinion is affected by many factors corresponding to insufficient data in the very short period, especially for emergency events related to the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). To effectively support real-time analysis and accurate prediction, this paper proposes an early warning scheme, which comprehensively considers the multiple factors of Internet public opinion and the dynamic characteristics of burst events. A hybrid relevance vector machine and logistic regression (RVM-L) model is proposed that incorporates multivariate analysis, which adopts Lagrange interpolation to fill in the gaps and improve the forecasting effect based on insufficient data for COVID-19-related events. In addition, a novel metric critical interval is introduced to improve the early warning performance. Detailed experiments show that compared with existing schemes, the proposed RVM-L-based early warning scheme can achieve the prediction accuracy up to 96%, and the intervention within the critical interval can reduce the number of public opinions by 60%.

A Dual-Chamber Serial⁻Parallel Piezoelectric Pump with an Integrated Sensor for Flow Rate Measurement.

A new concept of a dual-chamber serial-parallel piezoelectric pump with an integrated sensor (DSPPIS) is presented in this paper. By means of dividing a piezoelectric bimorph into an actuator and a sensor, sensing function is integrated onto the DSPPIS for flow rate measurement. A prototype of the DSPPIS was manufactured and assembled from a finished piezoelectric bimorph. Then, frequency and voltage characteristics were tested to evaluate the performance of the DSPPIS with serial and parallel connection. Experimental results show that the optimal frequency range of DSPPIS can be achieved and determined by itself through monitoring the sensing voltage when driven by a fixed voltage of 150 Vpp and a frequency range of 40⁻400 Hz. For a fixed frequency of 100 Hz and a voltage range of 50⁻250 Vpp, both the sensing voltage and output flow rate increase with the increase of driving voltage. It is observed that there is a positive correlation between sensing voltage and output flow rate, which was further fitted by using linear function. The correlation coefficients for the DSPPIS with serial and parallel connection are calculated as 0.9716 and 0.9054, respectively. As a result, the DSPPIS demonstrated in this paper has realized the measurement of flow rate without the additional flow-sensing equipment both in serial and parallel connection.

Zn2SnO4-Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanohybrids for Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalysis.

Zn2SnO4-reduced graphene oxide photocatalysts were synthesized by using SnCl4 5H2O, Zn(NO3)2 · 6H2O and graphene oxide via hydrothermal process. The structure, morphology, specific surface area and photo response of the as-prepared nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Transmission electron microscopy, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra, Brunauer-emmett-teller surface area measurement and Photoluminescence emission spectra. Experimental results showed that the Zn2SnO4 nanoparticles, with 20-30 nm a size range, were uniformly dispersed on the surfaces of reduced graphene oxide. Moreover, the as-prepared Zn2SnO4-reduced graphene oxide photocatalysts exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activities for degradation of Rhodamine B compared to those of pure Zn2SnO4. When the amount of reduced graphene oxide was 4 wt%, it showed the highest photocatalytic efficiency of 99.7% for 240 min, and the photocatalytic efficiency was still 98.5% after it was recycled 4 times. It also possessed the band gap of 2.48 eV and specific surface area of 58.1 m2 g-1.

Acupuncture for moderate to severe allergic rhinitis: A non-randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect and safety of acupuncture therapy on patients with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis. METHODS: A non-randomized controlled design was used to compare between the acupuncture group and the medication group. The acupuncture group received 8-week acupuncture therapy, and the medication group received budesonide nasal spray with cetirizine tablets for 8 weeks. The clinical symptoms and signs were analyzed before treatment, at 4 and 8 weeks after the start of treatment, and at 12 weeks after the end of treatment. Furthermore, the clinical efficacy and safety indicators were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: A total of 76 participants consisting of 38 in each of the two groups were enrolled. The scores of each clinical symptom and sign, including sneezing, runny nose, stuffy nose, nasal itching, and turbinate edema, and the total scores decreased over time in both groups (all P<0.05); and no difference was found in the scores between the two groups (P>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the effective rates of the acupuncture group at 4 and 8 weeks after the start of treatment as well as at 12-week follow-up compared with those of the medication group (83.3% vs. 91.2%, and 94.4 % vs. 85.3%; and 80.6 % vs. 82.4%, all P>0.05). Experimental items including blood routine, urine routine, aspartate transaminase, alanine aminotransferase, urea nitrogen and creatinine were all in the normal reference ranges during the treatment in the acupuncture group. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture therapy has a comparable effect to the medication treatment on patients with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis, and it is safe with no severe adverse effects.

Independent prognostic factors for fatality in patients with urinary tract infection caused by Serratia marcescens.

In a retrospective study of 329 cases of nosocomial urinary tract infection caused by Serratia marcescens, 16 (4.9%) were fatal. Female gender (OR, 3.9; CI95, 1.3-11.7; P = .014) and secondary S. marcescens bacteremia (OR, 6.5; CI95, 1.5-28.6; P = .013) were independent prognostic factors for fatality.