COVID-19 mortality among Massachusetts workers and the association with telework ability, 2020.

Background: Working outside the home put some workers at risk for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) exposure and might partly explain elevated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mortality rates in the first months of the pandemic in certain groups of Massachusetts workers. To further investigate this premise, we examined COVID-19 mortality among Massachusetts workers, with a specific focus on telework ability based on occupation.

Methods: COVID-19-associated deaths between January 1 and December 31, 2020 among Massachusetts residents aged 18-64 years were analyzed.

A switching method for traveling/standing wave transportation modes in two-dimensional acoustic fields using a dual-transducer support structure.

The dual-transducer support structure discussed has the advantages of a simple structure and low cost, as well as allowing for the use of both Traveling-Wave (TW) and Standing-Wave (SW) acoustic transportation, supporting its use in pharmaceutical and biochemical analysis, for example. By adjusting the distance between the vibrating plate and the reflector which forms SW field in the y direction, the control of the position of the SW nodes or the TW component along the x direction allows the formation of a Two-Dimensional Standing Wave (2D-SW) or a Traveling Wave (TW) acoustic field, and these could be used for transportation in the x direction. It has been found that the x position of the SW nodes can be adjusted through changing the temporal phase shift, θ, which permits multiple objects to be transported using the 2D-SW mode.

Acoustic-propelled micro/nanomotors and nanoparticles for biomedical research, diagnosis, and therapeutic applications.

Acoustic manipulation techniques have gained significant attention across various fields, particularly in medical diagnosis and biochemical research, due to their biocompatibility and non-contact operation. In this article, we review the broad range of biomedical applications of micro/nano-motors that use acoustic manipulation methods, with a specific focus on cell manipulation, targeted drug release for cancer treatment and genetic disease diagnosis. These applications are facilitated by acoustic-propelled micro/nano-motors and nanoparticles which are manipulated by acoustic tweezers.

Simultaneous measurement of temperature and salinity based on a hole-assisted dual-core fiber.

An optical fiber sensor based on a hole-assisted dual-core fiber (HADCF) has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated for dual-parameter measurements. The dual-mode interferometer created uses the LP mode and LP mode in the suspended core of a specialist optical fiber, combined with a directional coupler formed by using the suspended core and the center core in a 16 mm long HADCF. Using this, the simultaneous measurement of salinity (due to the presence of NaCl) and temperature has been achieved through monitoring the interference dip and resonance dip.