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Singapore relies heavily on the tourism industry, which was severely affected by COVID-19. During the early phase of the pandemic, the Singapore government created a campaign reassuring locals and encouraging them to “travel” within Singapore. During the pandemic, travelers’ focus shifted to pandemic-related topics. This study examined 8441 customer textual reviews from seven luxury hotels in the Marina Bay area through Google Travel derived from SCTM 3.0. In order to determine the new attributes affecting customer satisfaction, this study used UCINET 6.0 and Text2Data as part of text mining. Subsequently, SPSS was used for descriptive analysis and regression analysis to identify the relationship between the attributes in the customer textual reviews and the overall satisfaction of the customers. The results showed that all the attributes were significant in terms of overall customer satisfaction, with three attributes, sentiment polarity, readability, and word length, positively affecting overall customer satisfaction. Through social media and online platforms, consumers express their thoughts and feelings about online reviews of many products and services. With the adopted methodology, the industry may be able to benefit from this abundance of information in order to adjust strategies and increase financial benefits post-COVID-19.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak worldwide, the global tourism industry has taken a severe hit. To fully understand the impact of the pandemic on tourists’ travel behavior, an intercultural survey was carried out through a large-scale online questionnaire. This survey aims to determine whether cultural differences and different ages might play a role in tourists’ behavior during the COVID-19. Data collected from 942 respondents from mainland China and overseas through different age groups were subjected to data analysis. The results demonstrate cognition and consumer behavior differentiate culturally and significantly between different ages, which is highlighted when they choose travel modes, transportation, and companions. The implications of the study are also provided in the end.

Au cours des dernières décennies, les décideurs et les scientifiques se sont montrés de plus en plus préoccupés par la mise en œuvre du programme de développement durable (DD). À ce jour, peu d'efforts sont déployés pour inculquer une sensibilisation et une éducation précoces au développement durable (EDD) aux étudiants de première année afin qu'ils deviennent des citoyens du monde efficaces et responsables. En tant que tel, l'apprentissage des questions socioscientifiques (SSI) à base de produits chimiques organiques dans le monde scientifique est important pour promouvoir une prise de conscience précoce parmi les étudiants en chimie de premier cycle en développement durable. Dans ce manuscrit, pour la première fois, le dessin de bande dessinée est utilisé comme instruction d'apprentissage pour inculquer l'apprentissage de l'EDD aux étudiants de première année à l'Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. Dans cette activité, les élèves ont créé leurs propres bandes dessinées en ce qui concerne les SSI à base de produits chimiques organiques qu'ils ont lus et ont partagé leurs propres bandes dessinées, ainsi que leurs essais de réflexion sur le système de gestion de l'apprentissage (LMS). Sur la base d'un résultat d'enquête, l'implication des élèves dans l'activité en cours leur a permis de se familiariser avec les SSI à base de produits chimiques organiques. En outre, ils ont exprimé un degré élevé de satisfaction à l'égard de l'activité mise en œuvre et du contenu chimique qu'ils ont appris dans ce cours sur la base de l'essai de réflexion reçu par l'instructeur du cours dans le LMS. En las últimas décadas, ha habido una creciente preocupación por parte de los responsables políticos y científicos para implementar la agenda de desarrollo sostenible (SD). Hasta la fecha, se hacen pocos esfuerzos para inculcar la conciencia temprana y la educación para el desarrollo sostenible (eds) entre los estudiantes de primer año para convertirse en ciudadanos globales efectivos y responsables. Como tal, el aprendizaje de cuestiones sociocientíficas basadas en productos químicos orgánicos (ISQ) dentro del mundo científico es importante para promover la conciencia temprana entre los estudiantes de química en SD. En este manuscrito, por primera vez, el dibujo de cómics se utiliza como instrucción de aprendizaje para inculcar el aprendizaje de ESD entre los estudiantes de primer año de la Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. En esta actividad, los estudiantes hicieron sus propios cómics con respecto a las ISQ basadas en productos químicos orgánicos que han leído y compartido sus propios cómics, junto con sus ensayos reflexivos sobre el sistema de gestión del aprendizaje (LMS). Según el resultado de una encuesta, la participación de los estudiantes en la actividad actual ha resultado en su familiaridad con las SSI basadas en productos químicos orgánicos. Además, han expresado un alto grado de satisfacción hacia la actividad implementada y el contenido de química que aprendieron en este curso basado en el ensayo reflexivo recibido por el instructor del curso en el LMS. Over the past decades, there had been a growing concern for policy makers and scientists to implement the sustainable development (SD) agenda. To date, little efforts are made to instil early awareness and education for sustainable development (ESD) amongst the first-year undergraduates to become effective and responsible global citizens. As such, the learning of organic chemical-based socio-scientific issues (SSIs) within the scientific world is important to promote early awareness amongst chemistry undergraduates in SD. In this manuscript, for the first time comics drawing is being used as learning instruction to instil the ESD learning amongst first-year undergraduates at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. In this activity, students made their own comics with regard to organic chemical-based SSIs they have read and shared their own comics, together with their reflective essays on the learning management system (LMS). Based on a survey result, students' involvement in the current activity has resulted in their familiarity with the organic chemical-based SSIs. In addition, they have expressed a high degree of satisfaction toward the implemented activity and the chemistry content they learnt in this course based on the reflective essay received by the course instructor in the LMS. على مدى العقود الماضية، كان هناك قلق متزايد لدى صانعي السياسات والعلماء لتنفيذ جدول أعمال التنمية المستدامة (SD). حتى الآن، لا يُبذل سوى القليل من الجهود لغرس الوعي المبكر والتعليم من أجل التنمية المستدامة (ESD) بين طلاب السنة الأولى ليصبحوا مواطنين عالميين فعالين ومسؤولين. على هذا النحو، فإن تعلم القضايا الاجتماعية والعلمية القائمة على المواد الكيميائية العضوية (SSIs) داخل العالم العلمي مهم لتعزيز الوعي المبكر بين طلاب الكيمياء الجامعيين في التنمية المستدامة. في هذه المخطوطة، يتم استخدام الرسم الهزلي لأول مرة كتعليم تعليمي لغرس تعلم التعليم من أجل التنمية المستدامة بين طلاب السنة الأولى في جامعة ماليزيا تيرينجانو. في هذا النشاط، صنع الطلاب قصصهم المصورة الخاصة فيما يتعلق بـ SSIs العضوية القائمة على المواد الكيميائية التي قرأوها وشاركوها في قصصهم المصورة، جنبًا إلى جنب مع مقالاتهم التأملية حول نظام إدارة التعلم (LMS). استنادًا إلى نتيجة الاستطلاع، أدت مشاركة الطلاب في النشاط الحالي إلى إلمامهم بدراسات الحالة الاجتماعية القائمة على المواد الكيميائية العضوية. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، أعربوا عن درجة عالية من الرضا عن النشاط المنفذ ومحتوى الكيمياء الذي تعلموه في هذه الدورة بناءً على المقال التأملي الذي تلقاه مدرس الدورة في نظام إدارة التعلم.

This randomized clinical study explored the effects of two cord care methods on hydration, temperature, pH, and floras at the cord area in high-risk newborns. One group used the water method; and the other group used the alcohol method. Seventy-two newborns, including premature newborns, in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a university-affiliated hospital in South Korea were enrolled from August 2011 to May 2012. Hydration, temperature, pH, and floras were measured daily until the cords fell off. The results showed no difference between the groups in hydration, temperature, pH, and the colonization of floras, but cord detachment in the alcohol group took 2 days longer (12.8 [5.7] days) than in the water group (10.9 [4.1] days). Our findings suggest that the clean-and-dry method of cord care, which uses water, could be sufficient, possibly even better than alcohol in maintaining the physiologic surface milieu of the cord area with less chance of infection and manipulation in NICUs with optimal infection control.

Gastric cancer has a high mortality rate worldwide, but it can be prevented with early detection through regular gastroscopy. Herein, we propose a deep learning-based computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) system applying data augmentation to help doctors classify gastroscopy images as normal or abnormal. To improve the performance of deep learning, a large amount of training data are required. However, the collection of medical data, owing to their nature, is highly expensive and time consuming. Therefore, data were generated through deep convolutional generative adversarial networks (DCGAN), and 25 augmentation policies optimized for the CIFAR-10 dataset were implemented through AutoAugment to augment the data. Accordingly, a gastroscopy image was augmented, only high-quality images were selected through an image quality-measurement method, and gastroscopy images were classified as normal or abnormal through the Xception network. We compared the performances of the original training dataset, which did not improve, the dataset generated through the DCGAN, the dataset augmented through the augmentation policies of CIFAR-10, and the dataset combining the two methods. The dataset combining the two methods delivered the best performance in terms of accuracy (0.851) and achieved an improvement of 0.06 over the original training dataset. We confirmed that augmenting data through the DCGAN and CIFAR-10 augmentation policies is most suitable for the classification model for normal and abnormal gastric endoscopy images. The proposed method not only solves the medical-data problem but also improves the accuracy of gastric disease diagnosis.

In traditional herbal medicine, the Polyscias fruticosa has been frequently used for the treatment of ischemia and inflammation. Oxidative stress mediated by elevated glutamate levels cause neuronal cell death in ischemia and various neurodegenerative diseases. However, so far, the neuroprotective effects of this plant extract against glutamate-mediated cell death have not been investigated in cell models. The current study investigates the neuroprotective effects of ethanol extracts of Polyscias fruticosa (EEPF) and elucidates the underlying molecular mechanisms of EEPFs relevant to neuroprotection against glutamate-mediated cell death. The oxidative stress-mediated cell death was induced by 5 mM glutamate treatment in HT22 cells. The cell viability was measured by a tetrazolium-based EZ-Cytox reagent and Calcein-AM fluorescent dye. Intracellular Ca2+ and ROS levels were measured by fluorescent dyes, fluo-3 AM and 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCF-DA), respectively. Protein expressions of p-AKT, BDNF, p-CREB, Bax, Bcl-2, and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) were determined by western blot analysis. The apoptotic cell death was measured by flow cytometry. The in vivo efficacy of EEPF was evaluated using the Mongolian gerbil mouse by surgery-induced brain ischemia. EEPF treatment showed a neuroprotective effect against glutamate-induced cell death. The EEPF co-treatment reduced the intracellular Ca2+ and ROS and apoptotic cell death. Furthermore, it recovered the p-AKT, p-CREB, BDNF, and Bcl-2 levels decreased by glutamate. The EEPF co-treatment suppressed the activation of apoptotic Bax, the nuclear translocation of AIF, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway proteins (ERK1/2, p38, JNK). Further, EEPF treatment significantly rescued the degenerative neurons in the ischemia-induced Mongolian gerbil in vivo model. EEPF exhibited neuroprotective properties that suppress glutamate-mediated neurotoxicity. The underlying mechanism of EEPF is increasing the level of p-AKT, p-CREB, BDNF, and Bcl-2 associated with cell survival. It has therapeutic potential for the treatment of glutamate-mediated neuropathology.

Plastic waste accumulation has been recognized as one of the most critical challenges of modern societies worldwide. Traditional waste management practices include open burning, landfilling, and incineration, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions and economic loss. In contrast, emerging techniques for plastic waste management include microwave-assisted conversion, plasma-assisted conversion, supercritical water conversion, and photo reforming to obtain high-value products. Problems with poorly managed plastic waste are particularly serious in developing countries. This review article examines the emerging strategies and production of various high-value-added products from plastic waste. Additionally, the uses of plastic waste in different sectors, such as construction, fuel production, wastewater treatment, electrode materials, carbonaceous nanomaterials, and other high-value-added products are reviewed. It has been observed that there is a pressing need to utilize plastic waste for a circular economy and recycling for different value-added products. More specifically, there is limited knowledge on emerging plastic waste conversion mechanisms and efficiency. Therefore, this review will help to highlight the negative environmental impacts of plastic waste accumulation and the importance of modern techniques for waste management.

Battery safety is an ever-increasing significance to guarantee consumer's safety. Reducing or preventing the risk of battery fire and explosion is a must for battery manufacturers. Major reason for the occurrence of fire in commercial lithium-ion batteries is the flammability of conventional organic liquid electrolyte, which is typically composed of 1 M LiPF6 salt and ethylene carbonate (EC)-based organic solvents. Herein, we report the designed 1 M LiPF6 and EC-based nonflammable electrolyte including methyl(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)carbonate, which breaks the conventional perception that EC-based liquid electrolyte is always flammable. The designed electrolyte also provides high anodic stability beyond the conventional charge cut-off voltage of 4.2 V. A graphite∥LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 lithium-ion full cell with our designed EC-based nonflammable electrolyte with a small fraction of vinylene carbonate additive under an aggressive condition of 4.5 V charge cut-off voltage, 0.5C rate, and 45 °C exhibits increased capacity, reduced interfacial resistance, and improved performance and rate capability. A basic understanding of how a high-voltage cathode-electrolyte interface and anode-electrolyte interface are stabilized and how failure modes are mitigated by fire-preventing electrolyte is discussed.