Objective: There are widespread shortages of personal protective equipment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reprocessing filtering facepiece particle (FFP)-type respirators may provide an alternative solution in keeping healthcare professionals safe. Design: Prospective, bench-to-bedside. Setting: A primary care-based study using FFP-2 respirators without exhalation valve (3M Aura 1862+ (20 samples), Maco Pharma ZZM002 (14 samples)), FFP-2 respirators with valve (3M Aura 9322+ (six samples) and San Huei 2920V (16 samples)) and valved FFP type 3 respirators (Safe Worker 1016 (10 samples)). Interventions: All masks were reprocessed using a medical autoclave (17 min at 121°C with 34 min total cycle time) and subsequently tested up to three times whether these respirators retained their integrity (seal check and pressure drop) and ability to filter small particles (0.3–5.0 µm) in the laboratory using a particle penetration test. Results: We tested 33 respirators and 66 samples for filter capacity. All FFP-2 respirators retained their shape, whereas half of the decontaminated FFP-3 respirators showed deformities and failed the seal check. The filtering capacity of the 3M Aura 1862 was best retained after one, two and three decontamination cycles (0.3 µm: 99.3%±0.3% (new) vs 97.0±1.3, 94.2±1.3% or 94.4±1.6; p<0.001). Of the other FFP-2 respirators, the San Huei 2920 V had 95.5%±0.7% at baseline vs 92.3%±1.7% vs 90.0±0.7 after one-time and two-time decontaminations, respectively (p<0.001). The tested FFP-3 respirator (Safe Worker 1016) had a filter capacity of 96.5%±0.7% at baseline and 60.3%±5.7% after one-time decontamination (p<0.001). Breathing and pressure resistance tests indicated no relevant pressure changes between respirators that were used once, twice or thrice. Conclusion: This small single-centre study shows that selected FFP-2 respirators may be reprocessed for use in primary care, as the tested masks retain their shape, ability to retain particles and breathing comfort after decontamination using a medical autoclave.
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Social networks and news outlets entrust content curation to specialised algorithms from the broad family of recommender systems. Companies attempt to increase engagement by connecting users with ideas they are more likely to agree with. Eli Pariser, the author of the term filter bubble, suggested that it might come as a price of narrowing users' outlook. Although empirical studies on algorithmic recommendation showed no reduction in diversity, these algorithms are still a source of concern due to the increased societal polarisation of opinions. Diversity has been widely discussed in the literature, but little attention has been paid to the dynamics of user opinions when influenced by algorithmic curation and social network interaction.This paper describes our empirical research using an Agent-based modelling (ABM) approach to simulate users' emergent behaviour and track their opinions when getting news from news outlets and social networks. We address under which circumstances algorithmic filtering and social network dynamics affect users' innate opinions and which interventions can mitigate the effect.The simulation confirmed that an environment curated by a recommender system did not reduce diversity. The same outcome was observed in a simple social network with items shared among users. However, opinions were less susceptible to change: The difference between users' current and innate opinions was lower than in an environment with users randomly selecting items. Finally, we propose a modification to the collaborative filtering algorithm by selecting items in the boundary of users' latitude of acceptance, increasing the chances to challenge users' opinions.
Algorithmic curation is a helpful solution for the massive amount of content on the web. The term is used to describe how platforms automate the recommendation of content to users. News outlets, social networks and search engines widely use recommendation systems. Such automation has led to worries about selective exposure and its side effects. Echo chambers occur when we are over-exposed to the news we like or agree with, distorting our perception of reality (1). Filter bubbles arise where the information we dislike or disagree with is automatically filtered out – narrowing what we know (2). While the idea of Filter Bubbles makes logical sense, the magnitude of the "filter bubble effect", reducing diversity, has been questioned [3]. Most empirical studies indicate that algorithmic recommendations have not locked large audience segments into bubbles [4]. However, little attention has been paid to the interplay between technological, social, and cognitive filters. We proposed an Agent-based Modelling to simulate users' emergent behaviour and track their opinions when getting news from news outlets and social networks. The model aims to understand under which circumstances algorithmic filtering and social network dynamics affect users' innate opinions and which interventions can mitigate the effect. Agent-based models simulate the behaviour of multiple individual agents forming a larger society. The behaviour of the individual agents can be elementary, yet the population's behaviour can be much more than the sum of its parts. We have designed different scenarios to analyse the contributing factors to the emergence of filter bubbles. It includes different recommendation algorithms and social network dynamics. Cognitive filters are based on the Triple Filter Bubble model [5].References1.Richard Fletcher, 20202.Eli Pariser, 20123.Chitra & Musco, 20204. Möller et al., 20185. Daniel Geschke et al, 2018
Mondkapjes, of mondmaskers, zijn door de SARS-COV-2 pandemie niet meer uit het straatbeeld weg te denken. De kwaliteit en comfort van de pasvorm van medische en niet-medische mondmaskers wordt bepaald door hoe goed het mondmasker overeenkomt met de afmetingen van het gezicht van de drager. Echter is er geen goed overzicht van de antropometrie van het gelaat van de Nederlandse bevolking waardoor de pasvorm van mondmaskers nu vaak niet optimaal is. Er is dus vraag naar een laagdrempelige en veilige manier om gezichtskenmerken in kaart te brengen en betere ontwerprichtlijnen voor mondkapjes. Driedimensionaal (3D) scannen doormiddel van Light Detection and Ranging (LiDaR) technologie in combinatie met slimme algoritmes lijkt wellicht een manier om gezichtskenmerken snel en laagdrempelig vast te leggen bij grote groepen mensen. Daarnaast geeft het 3D scannen van gezichten de mogelijkheid om niet enkel de afmetingen van gezichten te meten, maar ook 3D pasvisualisaties uit te voeren. Hoewel 3D scannen geen nieuwe technologie is, is de LiDaR technologie pas sinds 2020 geïntegreerd in de Ipad en Iphone waardoor het toegankelijk gemaakt is voor consumenten. Doormiddel van een research through design benadering zal onderzocht worden of deze technologie gebruikt kan worden om betrouwbare en valide opnames te maken van gezichten en of er op basis hiervan ontwerprichtlijnen ontwikkeld kunnen worden. In dit KIEM GoCi-project zal daarnaast ingezet worden om een kennisbasis en netwerk op te bouwen voor een vervolg aanvraag over de inzet van 3D technologieën in de mode-industrie.
There are many digital tools and online agendas that try to help people in getting a clear overview of the cultural events and venues available in their city. They generate an overview which is quite suitable for finding commercial, mainstream entertainment events but most of the time they lack the ‘in depth’ content. As such, they are quite ‘generic’ and overlook the niches and specific sub-genres that define the heart of the cultural sector of a city (and match the individual preferences of the consumer). On the other hand, larger cities, with more than 100.000 inhabitants, may have websites or apps that counter this mainstream approach but tend to be too ‘cultural’, in the sense that they focus on artistic niche cultures or on specific events for very small target audiences. Both approaches make it challenging for (starting) artists to reach their potential audiences in a structural way and in that sense ‘valorise’ their content. A combination of those approaches could work, but that leads to the problem of overchoice, and requires a better filtering system. The “Just What I Want project” aims to bridge this gap in approach and uses the knowledge of experienced parties like the Groningen Night Mayor and the conclusions that were drawn after 3 years of the existence of the Here & Now in Groningen platform to generate a new form of cultural participation. This participation is intended to suit a wide variety of audiences and their potential events as well as venues and the audience that they search for.
There are many digital tools and online agendas that try to help people in getting a clear overview of the cultural events and venues available in their city. They generate an overview which is quite suitable for finding commercial, mainstream entertainment events but most of the time they lack the ‘in depth’ content. As such, they are quite ‘generic’ and overlook the niches and specific sub-genres that define the heart of the cultural sector of a city (and match the individual preferences of the consumer). On the other hand, larger cities, with more than 100.000 inhabitants, may have websites or apps that counter this mainstream approach but tend to be too ‘cultural’, in the sense that they focus on artistic niche cultures or on specific events for very small target audiences. Both approaches make it challenging for (starting) artists to reach their potential audiences in a structural way and in that sense ‘valorise’ their content. A combination of those approaches could work, but that leads to the problem of overchoice, and requires a better filtering system. The “Just What I Want project” aims to bridge this gap in approach and uses the knowledge of experienced parties like the Groningen Night Mayor and the conclusions that were drawn after 3 years of the existence of the Here & Now in Groningen platform to generate a new form of cultural participation. This participation is intended to suit a wide variety of audiences and their potential events as well as venues and the audience that they search for.
