Higher education institutions (HEIs), among other social systems, have an irreplaceable role in combating COVID-19. However, we know little about institutional and individual factors that might facilitate university students’ beliefs and behaviors toward preventive behaviors for COVID-19 within the higher education context. Our study applies an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model to investigate the structural relationships among the institutional climate, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and preventive behaviors of university students and to detect the moderating impacts of perceived risk on the structural model. Data were collected from 3693 university students at 18 universities in Beijing, China through an online survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and multigroup analysis were performed to examine the empirical model. The results reveal that (1) the institutional climate has a significant, direct effect on preventive behaviors for COVID-19 among university students, (2) the TPB components, namely attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, partially mediate the relationship between the institutional climate and preventive behaviors for COVID-19, and (3) perceived risk moderates several paths in the model. Theoretical and practical implications are offered, and recommendations for future research are outlined.

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The cranial endo- and dermal skeletons, which comprise the vertebrate skull, evolved independently over 470 million years ago and form separately during embryogenesis. In mammals, much of the cartilaginous chondrocranium is transient, undergoing endochondral ossification or disappearing, so its role in skull morphogenesis is not well studied and it remains an enigmatic structure. We provide complete three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of the laboratory mouse chondrocranium from embryonic day 13.5 through 17.5 using a novel methodology of uncertainty-guided segmentation of phosphotungstic enhanced 3D microcomputed tomography images with sparse annotation. We evaluate the embryonic mouse chondrocranium and dermatocranium in 3D and delineate the effects of a Fgfr2 variant on embryonic chondrocranial cartilages and on their association with forming dermal bones using the Fgfr2cC342Y/+ Crouzon syndrome mouse. We show that the dermatocranium develops outside of and in shapes that conform to the chondrocranium. Results reveal direct effects of the Fgfr2 variant on embryonic cartilage, on chondrocranium morphology, and on the association between chondrocranium and dermatocranium development. Histologically we observe a trend of relatively more chondrocytes, larger chondrocytes, and/or more matrix in the Fgfr2cC342Y/+ embryos at all timepoints before the chondrocranium begins to disintegrate at E16.5. The chondrocrania and forming dermatocrania of Fgfr2cC342Y/+ embryos are relatively large, but a contrasting trend begins at E16.5 and continues into early postnatal (P0 and P2) timepoints, with the skulls of older Fgfr2cC342Y/+ mice reduced in most dimensions compared to Fgfr2c+/+ littermates. Our findings have implications for the study and treatment of human craniofacial disease, for understanding the impact of chondrocranial morphology on skull growth, and potentially on the evolution of skull morphology.

Electromyography (EMG) has been widely used for the functional assessment of muscles. On the other hand, sonography has been commonly used to detect the morphological information of human muscles in both static and dynamic conditions. In this study, we demonstrated the feasibility to use the continuous signals about the architectural changes of muscles detected in real-time from ultrasound images to characterize muscles under isometric contraction. We named this signal as sonomyography (SMG). Synchronized ultrasound images and surface EMG (SEMG) signals were continuously collected from the right biceps brachii during the isometric contraction and subsequent relaxation periods together with the generated torque. The relationships among the SEMG, the muscle deformation SMG and the torque were investigated for the contraction phase. The results suggested that the SMG together with EMG signals may potentially provide a more comprehensive assessment for the muscle functions.

With the advent of the web, mobiles, and service-oriented technologies, many are looking forward to seeing how these technologies can shape our lives on a daily basis. This paper describes a project that is set out to simulate the technologies in question through a day in the life of a knowledge worker in the 21st century. The project uses Jini, a distributed object computing infrastructure that allows services to announce their presence and what they can do when networked together. This paper briefly introduces the architecture of Jini, including its plug and play and self-healing features, describes the scenarios simulated in the day of the life of a worker, and reports on the challenges that lie ahead for the technology used and for the scenarios to be realised.

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