Crowded Places Research Articles

Adherence to COVID-19 measures and the associated factors: evidence from a two-wave longitudinal study in Singapore

BackgroundAt the onset of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic when pharmaceutical interventions were not readily available, governments relied on public health mandates and social distancing measures to counter rising infection rates. In order to address the dearth of longitudinal studies, this study sought to identify factors associated with continued adherence to COVID-19 preventive behaviours in Singapore.MethodsData were from a two-wave longitudinal cohort study; baseline study was conducted from May 2020 to June 2021 and follow-up study from October 2021 to September 2022. Participants (n = 858) were Singapore residents, aged 18 and above, and able to speak English, Chinese or Malay. Weighted multivariable logistic regressions were conducted to identify factors associated with adherence to the COVID-19 measures.ResultsAdherence rates of ‘avoid dining out’, ‘crowded places’, ‘people with flu symptoms’ and ‘small group gatherings’ at baseline were 39.41%, 60.82%, 79.82%, and 44.82% respectively. All measures had a decrease in adherence rates across the two-waves. Older age groups were associated with greater adherence to ‘avoid dining out’ and ‘avoid crowded places’. Having high trust in local public health experts was associated with greater adherence to ‘avoid crowded places’ and ‘avoid people with flu symptoms’. Fear of family and friends getting infected with COVID-19 was associated with ‘avoid dining out’ and ‘avoid crowded places’.ConclusionsSoft interventions like nudges can be implemented at crowded places to remind the public of the ease of transmitting the virus to their loved ones. Increasing media presence of public health experts can be a viable alternative to improve adherence.

A Survey on Women Safety and Health Monitoring System

Women safety is a very big issue even in this modern world running with advanced technologies. After a history of times, women got a freedom of equality at the workplace, asset rights, family law, and education. Even Feminist Movement, claimed during 20th Century, Women are not safe anywhere and violence against women and girl child’s happening everywhere during the lonely travelling on roads, picnic spots, work and deserted places. Though we have many armies and super forces to protect everybody, the day to day crime rate against women has not been reduced. There are several safety devices available to protect the women during the violence, but need more human intervention such as entering the data, or shaking the device roughly. We propose a solution for a secure and peaceful environment for women with handbag safety hand-held devices with the aim to provide false proof women safety devices by overcoming the disadvantages in existing system. When we are talking more about Women empowerment, Women achievements it is also very important to think about women safety since a huge numbers (848) of women’s are Indian Women Are Harassed, Raped, Killed Every Day. The proposed work aims at IoT based women safety device by hardware controller attached to the handbag, android application and Bluetooth connectivity in Smartphone. By pressing the controller button, the device alerts the first holder, relatives stored in the database and police when a woman is not safe. The main advantage of the work is, the device works without internet connectivity. Additional features such as protecting the valuable things to be stolen by thieves in crowded places or buses by a separate alarming system, heartbeat sensor setup to monitor heart rate, fingerprint scanner for effecting accessing of the devices and also the mobile android application provide the victim’s location to reach the women and safeguard the women from any harassment at the right time. The main thought of this paper is that it will not only protect the women from physical harassment during odd hours but also safe the women health when it is found abnormal, as a single device comparatively.

Impact of yoga and naturopathy on stress, anxiety, heart rate variability, and quality of life of a patient with social anxiety disorder

Abstract: A 32-year-old male diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD) visited our hospital with complaints of avoiding social events due to fear of negative judgment, difficulty in conveying thoughts, embarrassment, and overthinking. He also struggled to initiate conversations and experienced agoraphobia, which made him feel anxious in crowded places. He underwent a 23-day comprehensive yoga and naturopathy intervention. Compared to the baseline, the postintervention assessment showed a reduction in Perceived Stress Scale score and Hamilton Anxiety Rating scores and improvement in heart rate variability (HRV) and Short Form (SF)-36 healthy survey. It suggests that yoga and naturopathy might be beneficial in decreasing stress and anxiety and in enhancing HRV and quality of life of people with SAD. However, as this is a single case report, more studies are recommended to validate the findings of this study.

SPCANet: congested crowd counting via strip pooling combined attention network.

Crowd counting aims to estimate the number and distribution of the population in crowded places, which is an important research direction in object counting. It is widely used in public place management, crowd behavior analysis, and other scenarios, showing its robust practicality. In recent years, crowd-counting technology has been developing rapidly. However, in highly crowded and noisy scenes, the counting effect of most models is still seriously affected by the distortion of view angle, dense occlusion, and inconsistent crowd distribution. Perspective distortion causes crowds to appear in different sizes and shapes in the image, and dense occlusion and inconsistent crowd distributions result in parts of the crowd not being captured completely. This ultimately results in the imperfect capture of spatial information in the model. To solve such problems, we propose a strip pooling combined attention (SPCANet) network model based on normed-deformable convolution (NDConv). We model long-distance dependencies more efficiently by introducing strip pooling. In contrast to traditional square kernel pooling, strip pooling uses long and narrow kernels (1×N or N×1) to deal with dense crowds, mutual occlusion, and overlap. Efficient channel attention (ECA), a mechanism for learning channel attention using a local cross-channel interaction strategy, is also introduced in SPCANet. This module generates channel attention through a fast 1D convolution to reduce model complexity while improving performance as much as possible. Four mainstream datasets, Shanghai Tech Part A, Shanghai Tech Part B, UCF-QNRF, and UCF CC 50, were utilized in extensive experiments, and mean absolute error (MAE) exceeds the baseline, which is 60.9, 7.3, 90.8, and 161.1, validating the effectiveness of SPCANet. Meanwhile, mean squared error (MSE) decreases by 5.7% on average over the four datasets, and the robustness is greatly improved.

The Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Monkey Pox (Mpox) Among Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students in Gujarat, India.

The global spread of monkeypox (mpox) has raised concerns about public health preparedness, particularly among young adults. This study aimed to assess and compare the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding mpox among undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students in Gujarat, India. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 605 students (402 UG, 203 PG) from one of the tertiary hospitals (PG) and a medical colleges (UG) in Gujarat. A structured questionnaire assessed knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding mpox. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and independent t-tests. PG students demonstrated significantly higher knowledge scores than UG students (mean score 8.4 vs6.5 out of 10, p<0.001). They showed greater awareness of mpox (187/203, 92.1% vs314/402, 78.1%, p<0.001) and a better understanding of transmission routes, symptoms, and preventive measures. PG students also exhibited more positive attitudes, with a higher perception of mpox as a serious threat (152/203, 74.9% vs 241/402, 60.0%, p<0.001) and a greater willingness to get vaccinated (172/203, 84.7% vs 281/402, 69.9%, p<0.001). In terms of practices, PG students reported better adherence to preventive measures, including regular hand hygiene (127/203, 62.6% vs201/402, 50.0% always practicing, p=0.002) and wearing face masks in crowded places (168/203, 82.8% vs298/402, 74.1%, p=0.017). Significant differences in KAP regarding mpox exist between UG and PG students, with PG students consistently demonstrating higher levels of awareness, more positive attitudes, and better preventive practices. These findings highlight the need for targeted educational interventions to enhance mpox preparedness among university students, with particular attention to undergraduate populations.

About the global strategy for the prevention of influenza in 2019–2030

The development of modern methods of epidemiological control, on the one hand, and the creation of modern methods of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment, which will be available to all strata of society, on the other hand, is the key to preventing the pandemic spread of influenza in the world. Today, influenza is a serious threat to human health globally, which covers all countries of the world. Thus, according to the World Health Organization estimates, about 1 billion cases of influenza are registered annually worldwide, of which 3–5 million are severe cases and 290,000–650,000 are cases of death due to severe complications of respiratory dysfunction caused by influenza. Children are more susceptible to acute respiratory viral infections and influenza in the general population due to the physiological instability of the immune system, being mostly in crowded places and in large social groups (kindergartens, schools, entertainment centers), which increases the probability of infection. The risk group consists of patients with chronic pathology, particularly affecting the heart and lungs, who have problems with the immune system.

STUDI KASUS: COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY UNTUK MENGURANGI KECENDERUNGAN KECEMASAN SOSIAL PADA SISWA SEKOLAH DASAR

Excessive feelings of fear characterize students with social anxiety and worry and avoidance of social situations, especially in the school environment. Students quickly feel nervous and anxious when they are in a crowded environment or public place, such as avoiding appearing in front of the class, not daring to refuse or reprimand others, speaking in a low voice, not daring to answer or ask questions, not looking the other person in the eye, and being afraid. Others poorly view them. This case study involves a fifth-grade elementary school (Sekolah Dasar/SD) student who has experienced social anxiety for the past year. The subject feels uncomfortable in crowded places and has negative thoughts about other people's views of him. Assessment is carried out by observation, interviews, psychological tests (WISC, CSCT, graphic), and the Liebowitz social anxiety scale. The intervention provided to reduce social anxiety in subjects used a cognitive-behavioral approach, namely, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, carried out for nine sessions. The intervention results showed that the subjects could identify irrational thoughts and change them to be more rational, decreasing anxiety levels when appearing in front of the class and interacting with other people in the class and school environment according to the predetermined intervention targets.

Ethnomathematics Study: Geometrical Concept in Kudus Market Snacks

Most students consider mathematics difficult, because it is abstract. To respond to this, teachers can use ethnomathematics in learning mathematics so that mathematics is easy to understand. One of the ethnomathematics objects that can be used is market snacks. Market snacks are traditional foods that are often sold in crowded places such as markets. This study aims to analyze the geometrical concepts that exist in various forms of market snacks in Kudus. This research uses a type of qualitative research with an ethnographic approach. Data collection used semi-structural interviews with 3 market snack sellers, literature studies, and documentation. The results of the study found that there are geometric concepts in market snacks. Triangular, rectangular, and circular shapes are found, while for spatial shapes, rectangular pyramids, blocks, spheres, triangular prisms, and tubes are found. The research results can be used as an alternative source of learning mathematics, especially in geometry material.

Estimating the Health-Related Quality of Life Benefit of Prophylactic Treatment for COVID-19 in Immunocompromised People: A Multimethod Valuation Study.

Background: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for COVID-19 provides additional protection, beyond vaccines alone, for individuals who are immunocompromised (IC). This may reduce the need for preventative behavioral modification, such as shielding-a behavioral restriction limiting an IC individual to minimize face-to-face interactions and/or crowded places. Therefore, PrEP may improve psychosocial well-being and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for individuals with IC conditions. Objective: To estimate the potential HRQoL and utility benefit of PrEP for prevention of COVID-19 in individuals with IC conditions who may not have an adequate response of full vaccination (and therefore are at "highest risk" of severe COVID-19) that can be used in future economic evaluations of preventative therapies against COVID-19. Methods: Vignettes describing HRQoL associated with 2 pre-PrEP states (shielding and semi-shielding behavioral restrictions) and a post-PrEP state were developed from a literature review and tested through interviews with clinicians (n = 4) and individuals with IC conditions (n = 10). Vignettes were valued by a general population sample (N = 100) using a visual analog scale (VAS), time trade-off (TTO), and EQ-5D-5L. A sample of individuals with IC conditions (n = 48) valued their current HRQoL and a post-PrEP vignette using VAS and EQ-5D-5L. Results: Individuals with IC conditions reported a mean current EQ-5D-5L score of 0.574, and 0.656 for post-PrEP based on the vignette. PrEP would lead to behavior changes for 75% (30/40) of individuals with IC conditions and an emotional benefit for 93% (37/40) of individuals with IC conditions. Mean values from the general population valuation based on EQ-5D-5L ranged from 0.606 ("shielding") to 0.932 ("post-PrEP"). Conclusion: This study quantified the expected health state utility benefit of reduced psychosocial burden and behavioral restriction. PrEP would potentially result in a utility gain between 0.082 and 0.326, dependent on valuation approach and expected change in behavioral restrictions, leading to improvements in daily activities and emotional well-being.

EMG-based prediction of step direction for a better control of lower limb wearable devices

Background and objectivesLower-limb wearable devices can significantly improve the quality of life of subjects suffering from debilitating conditions, such as amputations, neurodegenerative disorders, and stroke-related impairments. Current control approaches, limited to forward walking, fall short of replicating the complexity of human locomotion in complex environments, such as uneven terrains or crowded places. Here we propose a high-level controller based on two Support Vector Machines exploiting four surface electromyography (EMG) signals of the thigh muscles to detect the onset (Toe-off intention decoder) and the direction (Directional EMG decoder) of the upcoming step. Methods and materialsWe validated a preliminary version of the approach by acquiring EMG signals from ten healthy subjects, performing steps in four directions (forward, backward, right, and left), in three different settings (ground-level walking, stairs, and ramps), and in both steady-state and static conditions. Both the Toe-off intention and Directional EMG decoders have been tested with a 5-fold cross-validation repeated five times, using linear and radial-basis-function kernels, and by changing the classification output timing, from 200 ms before to 50 ms after the toe-off. ResultsThe Toe-off intention decoder reached a median accuracy of 83.34 % (interquartile range (IQR): 6.48) and specificity of 92.72 % (IQR: 3.62) in its radial-basis-function version, while the Directional EMG decoder's median accuracy ranged between 73.92 % (IQR: 5.8), 200 ms before the toe-off, to 92.91 % (IQR: 4.11), 50 ms after the toe-off, with the radial-basis-function kernel implementation. For both the Toe-off intention and Directional EMG decoders the radial-basis-function version achieved better performances than the linear one (Wilcoxon signed rank test, p < 0.05). Conclusions and significanceThe combination of the two decoders proved to be a promising solution to detect the step initiation and classify its direction, paving the way for wearable devices with a broader range of movements and more degrees of freedom, ultimately promoting usability in uncontrolled settings and better reactions to external perturbations. Additionally, the encumbrance of the setup is limited to the thigh of the leg of interest, which simplifies the implementation in compact devices, concurrently limiting the sensors worn by the subject.

Towards Generating Authentic Human-Removed Pictures in Crowded Places Using a Few-Second Video.

If we visit famous and iconic landmarks, we may want to take a photo of them. However, such sites are usually crowded, and taking photos with only landmarks without people could be challenging. This paper aims to automatically remove people in a picture and produce a natural image of the landmark alone. To this end, it presents Thanos, a system to generate authentic human-removed images in crowded places. It is designed to produce high-quality images with reasonable computation cost using short video clips of a few seconds. For this purpose, a multi-frame-based recovery region minimization method is proposed. The key idea is to aggregate information partially available from multiple image frames to minimize the area to be restored. The evaluation result presents that the proposed method outperforms alternatives; it shows lower Fréchet Inception Distance (FID) scores with comparable processing latency. It is also shown that the images by Thanos achieve a lower FID score than those of existing applications; Thanos's score is 242.8, while those by Retouch-photos and Samsung object eraser are 249.4 and 271.2, respectively.

KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS OF STUDENTS ABOUT COVID-19: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

The COVID-19 outbreak has become an immediate public health threat. To contain the spread of the virus, the Kazakhstani government adopted emergency measures nationwide, including the closure of schools and universities, workplaces and subsequently lockdown. Objective. We aimed at studying knowledge and awareness about the sources, symptoms, and prevention measures of COVID-19 among students. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted at al-Farabi KazNU, Almaty, Kazakhstan. Sample size was 5440 university students. A questionnaire was conducted on asking to assess the knowledge of students about COVID-19- related information, including questions on ways of spreading, symptoms, and vulnerable groups. In addition, preventive measures were evaluated. Results. Social media and media identified the most informative sources of information. The overall median knowledge score was 14 out of 19. Age and grade, studying at medical faculty, marital status and having children were associated with good knowledge about COVID-19. Moreover, according to students, practising a healthy lifestyle (60.1%), avoiding crowded places (59.4%), avoid touching your nose, mouth, and eyes with unwashed hands (58.5%) were effective preventive measures. Conclusion. Knowledge and awareness are essential tools in preventing disease. Students demonstrated fair good knowledge, although training programs for students about infectious diseases should be provided.

Enhancing Study Space Utilization at UCL: Leveraging IoT Data and Machine Learning

University College London (UCL) has more than 51,000 students along with a challenge to find available study space. UCL has improved its Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure to better analyze space occupancy in order to solve this. Current systems offer real-time information, but they are only available in crowded places. Therefore, this study presents a data analysis system that recommends the best study areas by using Machine Learning (ML) and historical data. The main library, student center, and science library at UCL are the top three study places. The goal of this study is to transform raw occupancy data from these venues into useful insights. The development of an independent system written in Python was facilitated by research into dataset optimization, ML regressions, popularity patterns, and feature analysis. This technique uses historical trends to forecast occupancy rates for the future.

FENOMENA PENGGUNAAN SIMBOL-SIMBOL KEAGAMAAN PENGEMIS JALANAN DI KOTA MEDAN

Beggars are people who beg in public in various ways that beggars do in order to get money and goods that are useful for themselves. Begging is also usually done in crowded places such as houses of worship, red lights, markets, and people's homes. By begging someone obtains material easily and does not require the ability to work. The methodology used in this study uses a qualitative approach such as interviews with eleven beggars in the city of Medan. By processing data such as collecting information and analyzing the findings obtained. The large number of beggars in the city of Medan has a negative impact on society with low human resources, especially for religion which is a symbol of making it easier to carry out begging activities such as using caps, headscarves, koko clothes, and other Islamic clothing. The theoretical approach is carried out using the theory of Symbolic Interactionism which has a placement towards a person's way of solving problems in his life through the process of thinking and placing himself as an object and subject. The existence of cooperation between the community and the government can eliminate the phenomenon of begging which is still widely practiced by beggars, moreover Islam is made a begging religion in public, so that religious symbols may not be used for individual use.

FROM THE CONCEPT OF THE DRAFT POLICE CHARTER OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE TO ITS STRUCTURE AND CONTENT: VIEWS OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION OF SENATOR A.A. MAKAROV (1906-1917). PART 5. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE POLICE OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE TO MAINTAIN IMPROVEMENT AND ORDER IN PUBLIC PLACES (STREETS, SQUARES, BOULEVARDS, EMBANKMENTS, BRIDGES, CANALS, HIGHWAYS AND WATERWAYS)

The complex of responsibilities assigned to the police by the norms of the fourth section of the draft Police Charter is considered. These responsibilities are related, on the one hand, to monitoring the improvement of streets, squares, boulevards, embankments, piers, as well as other components of the infrastructure of the population, and, on the other hand, to ensuring the personal safety of the population and maintaining public order in crowded places. Prevention of unreasonable noise, singing, shouting, rioting, any unauthorized acts aimed at violence and causing disturbance on the streets, squares or other public places, or at least outside these places, but in violation of public order and tranquility. The measures taken by the police in relation to direct traffic participants and vehicle owners are highlighted. Separately, such areas of police activity are designated as ensuring a healthy lifestyle for citizens: preventing drunkenness; confiscation of mentally ill persons and persons who are intoxicated in public places; suppression of the use of obscene words and expressions, attempts to abuse domestic animals. Separately, the author highlights purely police means of establishing proper order in public places, including dispersing unruly crowds and attracting troops. The responsibilities of the police of the Russian Empire to prevent beggary, loitering, measures taken to prevent these offenses, as well as to suppress the unlawful behavior of gypsies (arrangement of tents, tents, leading a nomadic lifestyle) are given.

Violent crowd flow detection from surveillance cameras using deep transfer learning–gated recurrent unit

AbstractViolence can be committed anywhere, even in crowded places. It is hence necessary to monitor human activities for public safety. Surveillance cameras can monitor surrounding activities but require human assistance to continuously monitor every incident. Automatic violence detection is needed for early warning and fast response. However, such automation is still challenging because of low video resolution and blind spots. This paper uses ResNet50v2 and the gated recurrent unit (GRU) algorithm to detect violence in the Movies, Hockey, and Crowd video datasets. Spatial features were extracted from each frame sequence of the video using a pretrained model from ResNet50V2, which was then classified using the optimal trained model on the GRU architecture. The experimental results were then compared with wavelet feature extraction methods and classification models, such as the convolutional neural network and long short‐term memory. The results show that the proposed combination of ResNet50V2 and GRU is robust and delivers the best performance in terms of accuracy, recall, precision, and F1‐score. The use of ResNet50V2 for feature extraction can improve model performance.

Camouflage Drone

This drone is a exciting example of how technology can build or create new possibilities for future. This is a camouflage drone with the ability to change its colors which will make it invisible to our naked eyes. Artificial intelligence is also used in this drone which enables it to dodge any obstacle on its own without any commands and also recognize different facial structure with the help of mini spy camera. AI drones are equipped with advanced computer vision systems using cameras and sensors to accurately perceive the surrounding environment. Drones can take over. Facial images used for biometric identification. Protecting Civilians from criminals is getting difficult every day for authorities and governments. Meaning Several steps are necessary to protect citizens from criminals. They are also criminals in crowded places. In this paper, we will cover state-of-the-art facial recognition. The drone technology are one type of robot that is becoming increasingly popular and useful

Mask wearing detection algorithm based on improved Yolov7

Manual inspection of the mask is too time-consuming and laborious. In order to detect whether a mask is worn in a crowded public place, a mask-wearing detection method based on improved YOLOV7 is proposed, which uses Depth wise separable convolution instead of conventional convolution, in order to integrate the local feature information and the whole image information deeply, Dilated Convolution was used to improve the Pyramid Pooling Module (DC-PPM) , at last, the loss function of target location is optimized, which makes it not only have the ability of feature extraction to fuse the whole and local information, but also have the ability of not losing the detail information. The experimental results show that the detection accuracy and speed of the algorithm are 95.07% and 79 frames/s respectively, which are 3.4% and 14 frames/s higher than the original YOLOV7 algorithm, very good to meet the actual application needs.

Passenger Routing Algorithm for COVID-19 Spread Prevention by Minimising Overcrowding

COVID-19 has become a pandemic which has resulted in measures being taken for the health and safety of people. The spreading of this disease is particularly evident in indoor spaces, which tend to get overcrowded with people. One such place is the airport where a plethora of passengers gather in common places, such as coffee shops and duty-free shops as well as toilets and gates. Guiding the passengers to less overcrowded places within the airport may be a solution to reduce disease spread. In this paper, we suggest a passenger routing algorithm whereby the passengers are guided to less crowded places by using a weighting factor, which is minimised to accomplish the desired goal. We modeled a number of shops in an airport using the AnyLogic software and we tested the algorithm showing that the exposure time is less with routing and that people are appropriately spread out across the common spaces, thus preventing overcrowding. Finally, we added a real airport in Kavala, Greece to show the efficiency of our approach.

The Process of Proving Participation in the Crime of Terrorism in Indonesia

Objective: Terror is different from war; acts of terrorism are not subject to the procedures of warfare because the implementation is always sudden and the target victims are often civilians who are in crowded places. In early 2018, the tragedy of terrorism inmates at the Mobile Brigade Command Detention Center (Mako Brimob) in Kelapa Dua, Santa Maria Tak Bercela Church, GKI Diponegoro, Surabaya Central Pentecostal Church Sawahan Congregation, and Makassar Cathedral Church in March 2021 shook hearts with extraordinary horror. In an instant, there were victims of death, trauma, injuries, and lifelong disabilities. So that this can be categorized as a crime against humanity and a serious threat to the sovereignty of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. Purposes of the Research: This research aims to examine and discuss the process of proving participation in the crime of terrorism in Indonesia. Methods: This type of research is normative juridical research, conducted by examining library materials or secondary data using a statutory and conceptual approach. Results and Discussion/Value: Judges play a crucial role in establishing justice during the proof process in the trial of terrorist crimes since the criminal act of terrorism has expanded and taken on multiple interpretations in the law. In order to convict a suspect as a result of an actual act and not just a notion or an ideology that cannot be used as an error, participation must be properly evaluated before labeling the suspect as the culprit in this case.