The Study of Alternative Fire Commanders' Training Program during the COVID-19 Pandemic Situation in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

In Taiwan, firefighters are responsible for transporting confirmed coronavirus cases to hospitals or epidemic prevention hotels. During the epidemic, in order to reduce the chance of cross-infection between the general public and the fire brigade, traditional collective mobilization training was limited. As a solution, this study combines a fire command course (C1) and a VR simulation for training fire station captains (VRST) and then applies the pre- and post-test evaluation approaches and the after-class questionnaire to summarize the learning effectiveness.

Using Smartphones for Indoor Fire Evacuation.

Fire smoke reduces the visibility of emergency direction signs, rendering them ineffective for providing appropriate guidance along evacuation routes in a fire situation. This is problematic because civilians may select evacuation routes that expose them to smoke or fire in a burning building. This study proposed using a smartphone voice-guided evacuation system (SVGES) to provide alternative evacuation routes for civilians trapped at a fire scene.

Anatomic development of the upper airway during the first five years of life: A three-dimensional imaging study.

Purpose: Normative data on the growth and development of the upper airway across the sexes is needed for the diagnosis and treatment of congenital and acquired respiratory anomalies and to gain insight on developmental changes in speech acoustics and disorders with craniofacial anomalies.

Methods: The growth of the upper airway in children ages birth to 5 years, as compared to adults, was quantified using an imaging database with computed tomography studies from typically developing individuals. Methodological criteria for scan inclusion and airway measurements included: head position, histogram-based airway segmentation, anatomic landmark placement, and development of a semi-automatic centerline for data extraction.

Study of Relationships between Ceiling Smoke Leakage Rate and Evacuation Time in the Ward.

With reference to the requirements of CNS 15038 and testing principles, this study proposes a set of equipment for measuring the leakage volume of ceilings and provides detailed assembly specifications for future users. In this study, a total of 405 tests were conducted as part of a set of experiments for measuring the leakage volume of ceilings, using various ceiling materials, ceiling sizes, and construction methods, in conjunction with the principles of fluid mechanics, to propose a method for evaluating the leakage volume of ceilings of various sizes and materials. Two cases-bottom-up airflow and top-down airflow-were considered.

Wayfinding of Firefighters in Dark and Complex Environments.

Firefighters searching in dark and complex environments might lose their orientation and endanger themselves at the fireground. This study conducted experiments in the Training Facility of the New Taipei City Fire Department (NTFD), Taiwan. The objective of the experiments was to analyze the profile of each firefighter by a 13-factor self-report survey and their wayfinding time in dark and complex environments (DCEs).

Online Statistical Inference for Large-Scale Binary Images.

We present a unified online statistical framework for quantifying a collection of binary images. Since medical image segmentation is often done semi-automatically, the resulting binary images may be available in a sequential manner. Further, modern medical imaging datasets are too large to fit into a computer's memory.

A Novel Registration-Based Semiautomatic Mandible Segmentation Pipeline Using Computed Tomography Images to Study Mandibular Development.

Objective: We present a registration-based semiautomatic mandible segmentation (SAMS) pipeline designed to process a large number of computed tomography studies to segment 3-dimensional mandibles.

Method: The pipeline consists of a manual preprocessing step, an automatic segmentation step, and a final manual postprocessing step. The automatic portion uses a nonlinear diffeomorphic method to register each preprocessed input computed tomography test scan on 54 reference templates, ranging in age from birth to 19 years.

Hyoid bone fusion and bone density across the lifespan: prediction of age and sex.

The hyoid bone supports the important functions of swallowing and speech. At birth, the hyoid bone consists of a central body and pairs of right and left lesser and greater cornua. Fusion of the greater cornua with the body normally occurs in adulthood, but may not occur at all in some individuals.

Design-based guidelines for the semantic perception of emergency signs.

The current study applies semantic differential to explore the semantic perception of emergency signs, in an attempt to analyze the meanings of emergency signs in regard to the psychological exigencies of the general public. The results indicate that problems concerning recognition accuracy have been observed, but also that the evaluation of the semantic meaning of the signs is positive. However, a number of emotional factors also emerge, indicating that if improvements should be made to the existing emergency signs, it would better facilitate evacuation in the event of an emergency.