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Perception of COVID-19 impacts on the construction industry over time
, Article Cogent Engineering ; Volume 9, Issue 1 , 2022 ; 23311916 (ISSN) ; Alvanchi, A ; Rahimi, M ; Sharif University of Technology
Cogent OA
2022
Abstract
The emergence of COVID-19 has been changing in the world since 2020 and prompted social, cultural, and economic systems to adjust their structures, routines, and processes. The economic aspects of the pandemic appeared soon, and many industries changed their workflow and procedures through a mandatory or recommended quarantine. Knowing the impact of COVID-19 on different areas of construction projects, concerns and considerations, and preparedness levels of corresponding entities helps construction managers to cope with the new situation. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on construction professionals’ perceptions over time. For this purpose, a...
Shadow of cyber ostracism over remote environment: Implication on remote work challenges, virtual work environment and employee mental well-being during a Covid-19 pandemic
, Article Acta Psychologica ; Volume 225 , 2022 ; 00016918 (ISSN) ; Murad, M ; Mirza, F ; Chaudhary, N. I ; Saeed, M ; Sharif University of Technology
Elsevier B.V
2022
Abstract
This study aimed to identify the influence of workplace cyber ostracism on employee online work engagement and employee mental well-being with the mediating roles of remote work challenges such as loneliness, procrastination, work-home interference, and ineffective communication. As amidst lockdown due to COVID-19, the data was collected from 303 respondents through an online questionnaire that was distributed in virtual groups among friends, relatives, and other fellows who were working in the private sector organizations of Pakistan. The hypotheses were tested using the partial least square structural equation modeling PLS-SEM technique. The findings of this study showed that workplace...
Targeted pulmonary drug delivery in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) therapy: A patient-specific in silico study based on magnetic nanoparticles-coated microcarriers adhesion
, Article International Journal of Pharmaceutics ; Volume 609 , 2021 ; 03785173 (ISSN) ; Shamloo, A ; Alishiri, M ; Mozhdehbakhsh Mofrad, Y ; Akherati, F ; Sharif University of Technology
Elsevier B.V
2021
Abstract
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly most confirmed cases develop respiratory syndromes. Using targeted drug delivery by microcarriers is one of the most important noteworthy methods for delivering drugs to the involved bronchi. This study aims to investigate the performance of a drug delivery that applies microcarriers to each branch of the lung under the influence of a magnetic field. The results show that by changing the inlet velocity from constant to pulsatile, the drug delivery performance to the lungs increases by ∼31%. For transferring the microcarriers to the right side branches (LUL and LLL), placing the magnet at zero height and ∼30° angle yields the best outcome....
Modeling the impact of mitigation policies in a pandemic: A system dynamics approach
, Article International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction ; Volume 82 , 2022 ; 22124209 (ISSN) ; Habibi Moshfegh, P ; Morshedi, M. A ; Kashani, H ; Sharif University of Technology
Elsevier Ltd
2022
Abstract
In the absence of effective and adequate vaccines, healthcare decision-makers must rely on non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such as lockdown, testing, hospital capacity building, and increasing the number of medical staff to control the outbreak of an infectious disease like COVID-19. This manuscript presents a System Dynamics (SD) model to analyze the healthcare system performance under various NPIs during a pandemic. The proposed model, which extends the commonly-used Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) model, comprises four sub-models: outbreak, hospital performance, medicine supply, and staff functionality. These sub-models work in harmony to stimulate the impact of...
First principle simulation of coated hydroxychloroquine on Ag, Au and Pt nanoparticles
, Article Scientific Reports ; Volume 11, Issue 1 , 2021 ; 20452322 (ISSN) ; Akbari, M ; Rezaee, P ; Koochaki, A ; Maaza, M ; Jamshidi, Z ; Sharif University of Technology
Nature Research
2021
Abstract
From the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic, the potential antiviral properties of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine (CQ) against SARS-CoV-2 suggested that these drugs could be the appropriate therapeutic candidates. However, their side effects directed clinical tests towards optimizing safe utilization strategies. The noble metal nanoparticles (NP) are promising materials with antiviral and antibacterial properties that can deliver the drug to the target agent, thereby reducing the side effects. In this work, we applied both the quantum mechanical and classical atomistic molecular dynamics approaches to demonstrate the adsorption properties of HCQ/CQ on Ag, Au, AgAu, and Pt...
Effects of COVID-19-related psychological distress and anxiety on quality of sleep and life in healthcare workers in Iran and three European countries
, Article Frontiers in Public Health ; Volume 10 , 2022 ; 22962565 (ISSN) ; Tahvilian, P ; Koohestani, S ; Maghooli, K ; Jafarnia Dabanloo, N ; Sarhangi Kadijani, M ; Jahantigh, S ; Zangeneh Soroush, M ; Saliani, A ; Sharif University of Technology
Frontiers Media S.A
2022
Abstract
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has considerably affected human beings most of whom are healthcare workers (HCWs) combating the disease in the front line. Methods: This cross-sectional study aims to explore the effects of stress and anxiety caused by COVID-19 on the quality of sleep and life in HCWs, including physicians, nurses, and other healthcare staff. In this global study, we asked 1,210 HCWs (620 and 590 volunteers from Iran and European countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy, respectively), who age 21–70, to participate in the test. Several measures of COVID-related stress, anxiety, sleep, and life quality, including the 12-item General Health Questionnaire...
Pandemic-Aware Day-Ahead demand forecasting using ensemble learning
, Article IEEE Access ; Volume 10 , 2022 , Pages 7098-7106 ; 21693536 (ISSN) ; Ahmadi, A ; Taheri, S ; Fotuhi Firuzabad, M ; Moeini Aghtaie, M ; Lehtonen, M ; Sharif University of Technology
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc
2022
Abstract
Electricity demand forecast is necessary for power systems' operation scheduling and management. However, power consumption is uncertain and depends on several factors. Moreover, since the onset of covid-19, the electricity consumption pattern went through significant changes across the globe, which made the forecasting demand more challenging. This is mainly due to the fact that pandemic-driven restrictions changed people's lifestyles and work activities. This calls for new forecasting algorithms to more effectively handle these conditions. In this paper, ensemble-based machine learning models are utilized for this task. The lockdown temporal policies are added to the feature set in order...
Csr Effect on Customer Loyalty during a Pandemic: a Case Study of Mobile-Phone Operator Companies in Iran
, M.Sc. Thesis Sharif University of Technology ; Kiamehr, Mehdi (Supervisor)
Abstract
Customer loyalty plays one of the most vital roles in business profitability. This concept gives special prominence to attaining new customers, which is by far less costly than attracting new ones. Therefore, investigating the impact of factors affecting customer retention is of precise significance. In the respect, corporate social responsibility, as an imperative factor impacting customer loyalty, gained more attention by various companies in the last decades.Over the past few months, the world has encountered the hazard of the Coronavirus pandemic. Most aspects of daily life in different parts of the globe have been affected by this disease. Companies are no exception. The coronavirus has...
An Application of Deep Reinforcement Learning for Ambulance Allocation to Emergency Departments under Overcrowding Situation
, M.Sc. Thesis Sharif University of Technology ; Akhavan Niaki, Taghi (Supervisor)
Abstract
In the last decade, emergency department (ED) overcrowding has become a national crisis for the US healthcare system. Increasing mortality rates, decreasing quality of care, financial losses due to walkouts, and ambulance diversion are some of the consequences of ED overcrowding. Given the increasing demand in terms of ambulance utilization which we can see an instance of it in the COVID-19 pandemic, being able to allocate service requests to EDs efficiently, becomes a key function of emergency medical services. in this investigation, an algorithm of deep reinforcement learning called deep Q-learning is used to address this problem and to assign ambulances to ED's appropriately. under...
Scheduling the Shifts of Physicians During Covid-19 Pandemic
, M.Sc. Thesis Sharif University of Technology ; Rafiee, Majid (Supervisor)
Abstract
People's lives have been affected by the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Due to the high infectivity, governments have screened people, imposed curfews, mandated the use of masks, and so on to reduce the rate of transmission of the disease among people. Meanwhile, infected people are getting treatments: people who are slightly affected are quarantined at home, and those who are heavily affected are treated in hospitals. Hence there is an excessive increase in the hospital workload. On the one hand, this increased workload leads to physical fatigue and, on the other hand, to psychological problems, stress, etc. for the healthcare professionals. Therefore, it is very important to take care of...
Fair Multi-Dose Multi-Vaccine Distribution with Uncertain Demand
, M.Sc. Thesis Sharif University of Technology ; Haji, Alireza (Supervisor) ; Fatahi Valilai, Omid (Supervisor)
Abstract
Among disasters, outbreaks of pandemics account for excessive human and material damages,including a significant number of deaths. During any pandemic and once an or a set of effective vaccines have been identified/produced, governments all around the world enter a crucial phase when a crucial demand for an effective global vaccination campaign arises to vaccinate the population to stop/avoid the disease, knowing that the vaccines are not immediately available and may even become available with considerable delays (i.e., delivery and validation delays). Therefore, such phase of a pandemic is very crucial to identify and produce effective vaccines as well as to globally and equitably...
Recent clinical findings on the role of kinase inhibitors in COVID-19 management
, Article Life Sciences ; Volume 306 , 2022 ; 00243205 (ISSN) ; Baghbanzadeh, A ; Nakhlband, A ; Baradaran, B ; Jafari, S ; Bagheri, Y ; Raei, F ; Montazersaheb, S ; Farahzadi, R ; Sharif University of Technology
Elsevier Inc
2022
Abstract
The highly pathogenic, novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has emerged as a once-in-a-century pandemic with poor consequences, urgently calling for new therapeutics, cures, and supportive interventions. It has already affected over 250 million people worldwide; thereby, there is a need for novel therapies to alleviate the related complications. There is a paradigm shift in developing drugs and clinical practices to combat COVID-19. Several clinical trials have been performed or are testing diverse pharmacological interventions to alleviate viral load and complications such as cytokine release storm (CRS). Kinase-inhibitors have appeared as potential antiviral agents for COVID-19...
Telemedicine and computer-based technologies during coronavirus disease 2019 infection; a chance to educate and diagnose
, Article Archives of Iranian Medicine ; Volume 23, Issue 8 , 2020 , Pages 561-563 ; Mirzaei Fard, M ; Habibi Hatam Ghale, F ; Rezaei Kalat, A ; Fathi, A ; Shariati, M ; Sadr Nabavi, A ; Miri, R ; Bidkhori, H. R ; Aelami, M. H ; Sharif University of Technology
Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran
2020
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now of global concern due to its rapid dissemination across the globe. The rapid spread of this viral infection, along with many of its unknown aspects, has posed new challenges to the health care systems. The main challenging effects of COVID-19 are rapid dissemination through close contact and varying clinical severity among different individuals. Furthermore, the medical staff in endemic areas are becoming exhausted and deal with a considerable level of job burnout, which can negatively affect their medical decision making. Also, due to the variable pulmonary manifestations of COVID-19, some physicians may misdiagnose patients. To overcome these...
A Mathematical Model for Providing Home Care Services by Hospital During COVID-19 Pandemic
, M.Sc. Thesis Sharif University of Technology ; Eshghi, Kourosh (Supervisor)
Abstract
In this study, providing home care services by hospitals in the epidemic situations such as COVID-19 is proposed for the first time. Moreover, a mathematical formulation is developed to provide simultaneous decision-making about serving patients without COVID-19, scheduling nurses in the non-COVID-19 wards of hospitals, and scheduling and routing for nurses to serve patients at home. This problem aims to develop essential compatibilities to keep people safe and help continue vital healthcare services during the COVID-19 and similar pandemics. Accordingly, nurses' preferences, the number of available hospital beds, the patient-to-nurse ratio, the Unavailability of some nurses due to COVID-19,...
Conversion of Waste Personal Protective Equipment Against Corona Into Valuable Fuel Products by Thermal Decomposition Method
, M.Sc. Thesis Sharif University of Technology ; Fotovat, Farzam (Supervisor)
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased environmental risks due to widespread face mask use in production, consumption, and disposal. This study uses surgical single-use as a pyrolysis feedstock due to increased demand. This study investigates the conversion of valuable materials from waste through the recycling of surgical single-use masks in a fluidized bed. The first stage of this study focused on identifying and specifying the main components in the filter layers of disposable surgical masks, which were the compounds in the filter layers made of polypropylene. TGA curves investigated thermal behavior of disposable surgical mask layers, revealing pyrolysis feedstock can produce volatile...
A new hybrid risk-averse best-worst method and portfolio optimization to select temporary hospital locations for Covid-19 patients
, Article Journal of the Operational Research Society ; October , 2021 ; 01605682 (ISSN) ; Ishizaka, A ; Salamirad, A ; Sharif University of Technology
Taylor and Francis Ltd
2021
Abstract
Choosing the right place to set up temporary hospitals is one of the most important and urgent measures for pandemic response. To solve this problem, we propose a new hybrid approach based on two steps. Firstly, since human health is highly sensitive to the impact of decisions about temporary hospital locations and a mistake may pose severe threat to human lives, we propose a new risk-averse multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach. To choose the alternatives with the fewest possible weaknesses, a comprehensive hierarchal structure of relevant criteria categorized into environmental, social, economic, and infrastructural, along with a new risk-averse best-worst method (BWM), are...
How do the smart travel ban policy and intercity travel pattern affect COVID-19 trends? Lessons learned from Iran
, Article PLoS ONE ; Volume 17, Issue 10 October , 2022 ; 19326203 (ISSN) ; Mohammadpour, S. I ; Dahaghin, M ; Sharif University of Technology
Public Library of Science
2022
Abstract
COVID-19, as the most significant epidemic of the century, infected 467 million people and took the lives of more than 6 million individuals as of March 19, 2022. Due to the rapid transmission of the disease and the lack of definitive treatment, countries have employed non-pharmaceutical interventions. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the smart travel ban policy, which has been implemented for non-commercial vehicles in the intercity highways of Iran since November 21, 2020. The other goal was to suggest efficient COVID-19 forecasting tools and to examine the association of intercity travel patterns and COVID-19 trends in Iran. To this end, weekly confirmed cases and...
Modeling, estimation, and model predictive control for Covid-19 pandemic with finite security duration vaccine
, Article 30th International Conference on Electrical Engineering, ICEE 2022, 17 May 2022 through 19 May 2022 ; 2022 , Pages 78-83 ; 9781665480871 (ISBN) ; Baghbadorani, R. R ; Sharif University of Technology
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc
2022
Abstract
Spreading Covid19 has significantly impacted humans' affairs worldwide, either economically or in a sanitary manner. Besides social distance and hospitalization, making and introducing different vaccines help us ameliorate infection and mortality rates. In this research, we use a nonlinear dynamic model for Covid19, with eight states named susceptible, exposed, infected, quarantined, hospitalized, recovered, deceased, and insusceptible populations. Also, we use social distancing, hospitalization, and vaccination rate as three control inputs. This research aims to stop the Covid-19 from spreading worldwide and minimize exposed, infected and deceased populations using model predictive control....
The effects of supervised and non-supervised upper limb virtual reality exercises on upper limb sensory-motor functions in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease
, Article Human Movement Science ; Volume 85 , 2022 ; 01679457 (ISSN) ; Taghizadeh, G ; Azad, A ; Behzadipour, S ; Sharif University of Technology
Elsevier B.V
2022
Abstract
Background: Impairments of upper limb (UL) sensory-motor functions are common in Parkinson's disease (PD). Virtual reality exercises may improve sensory-motor functions in a safe environment and can be used in tele-rehabilitation. This study aimed to investigate the effects of supervised and non-supervised UL virtual reality exercises (ULVRE) on UL sensory-motor functions in patients with idiopathic PD. Methods: In this clinical trial study, 45 patients with idiopathic PD (29 male) by mean ± SD age of 58.64 ± 8.69 years were randomly allocated to either the control group (conventional rehabilitation exercises), supervised ULVRE or non-supervised ULVRE. Interventions were 24 sessions, 3...
Whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV2 strains circulating in Iran during five waves of pandemic
, Article PLoS ONE ; Volume 17, Issue 5 May , 2022 ; 19326203 (ISSN) ; Nejati, A ; Salimi, V ; Jandaghi, N.Z.S ; Sadeghi, K ; Abedi, A ; Zarchi, A. S ; Gouya, M. M ; Mokhtari Azad, T ; Sharif University of Technology
Public Library of Science
2022
Abstract
Purpose Whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV2 is important to find useful information about the viral lineages, variants of interests and variants of concern. As there are not enough data about the circulating SARS-CoV2 variants in Iran, we sequenced 54 SARS-CoV2 genomes during the 5 waves of pandemic in Iran. Methods After viral RNA extraction from clinical samples collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, next generation sequencing was performed using the Nextseq platform. The sequencing data were analyzed and compared with reference sequences. Results During the 1st wave, V and L clades were detected. The second wave was recognized by G, GH and GR clades. Circulating clades during the 3rd...