The prevalence of listeriosis in China has been increasing in recent years. Listeriosis primarily spreads through contaminated food. However, the resilient causative organism, Listeria monocytogenes, and its extended incubation period pose challenges in identifying risk factors associated with food consumption and food-handling habits. This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with food consumption and food-handling habits for listeriosis in China. A matched case-control study (1:1 ratio) was conducted, which enrolled all eligible cases of listeriosis between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2022 in China. Basic information and possible risk factors associated with food consumption and food-handling habits were collected. Overall, 359 patients were enrolled, including 208 perinatal and 151 non-perinatal cases. Univariate and multivariable logistic analyzes were performed for the perinatal group. For the perinatal and non-perinatal groups, ice cream and Chinese cold dishes were the high-risk foods for listeriosis (odds ratio (OR) 2.09 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.23-3.55; OR 3.17 95% CI: 1.29-7.81), respectively; consumption of leftovers and pet ownership were the high-risk food-handling habits (OR 1.92 95% CI: 1.03-3.59; OR 3.00 95% CI: 1.11-8.11), respectively. In both groups, separation of raw and cooked foods was a protective factor (OR 0.27 95% CI: 0.14-0.51; OR 0.35 95% CI: 0.14-0.89), while refrigerator cleaning reduced the infection risk by 64.94-70.41% only in the perinatal group. The identification of high-risk foods and food-handling habits for listeriosis is important for improving food safety guidelines for vulnerable populations.

This study examines the impact of artificial-intelligence-generated content tools on students' critical thinking skills and their attitudes towards these tools. A survey of 851 students from a Chinese university was conducted to investigate their usage patterns, motivations, perceived benefits and risk awareness, and the importance of critical thinking skills. The study also explores how libraries and librarians can help students develop critical thinking skills. The findings reveal that male and non-binary students utilized artificial intelligence tools more frequently, highlighting a research gap. The study uncovers motivations such as saving time and effort. It also demonstrates students' awareness of the risks and limitations, emphasizing the need for critical thinking skills in navigating artificial-intelligence-generated content tools. These findings have significant implications for academic libraries, as students expressed a desire for education and training in artificial intelligence literacy and critical thinking. Libraries can provide resources, workshops and guidance to empower students in informed and critical thinking practices.

Introduction:Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus) is a common foodborne pathogen in coastal areas of China. Most epidemiological studies on V. parahaemolyticus have focused on foodborne disease outbreaks, with fewer studies based on long-term, continuous, and systematic sentinel surveillance. Methods:Data were collected from the national foodborne disease active surveillance program in 31 provincial-level administrative divisions (PLADs) in China from 2013 to 2022. V. parahaemolyticus-positive cases were collected for further analysis in this study. Results:From 2013 to 2022, the National Foodborne Disease Case Surveillance System identified 23,818 cases of V. parahaemolyticus foodborne infection in China. Patient ages ranged from 2 months to 100 years, with an average age of 38.41 years. These cases primarily occurred in coastal areas during summer. A new serotype, O10:K4, emerged in 2020 and has become the dominant serotype over O3:K6. Conclusions:V. parahaemolyticus infection is common in the eastern coastal areas of China and is strongly associated with aquatic food consumption. This study recommends that food regulatory authorities increase routine surveillance and inspection during high-risk periods and in high-risk areas. Authorities should also use social media platforms to conduct extensive public education campaigns on the prevention and control of V. parahaemolyticus-associated foodborne disease.

What is already known about this topic?:Foodborne diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) outbreaks constitute a significant global public health concern, yet comprehensive data on outbreak incidence and epidemiological characteristics in China remain limited. What is added by this report?:Between 2011 and 2022, there were 413 foodborne DEC outbreaks reported to foodborne disease outbreak surveillance system, resulting in 8,127 illnesses, 2,565 hospitalizations, and one fatality. Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) emerged as the predominant causative pathogen (48.82% of outbreaks), with school canteens being the most frequent outbreak setting (21.79%). What are the implications for public health practice?:This systematic analysis of foodborne DEC outbreak trends and epidemiological characteristics in China over the past decade provides crucial insights for enhancing outbreak investigation capabilities and identifying specific etiologies, food vehicles, and high-risk settings associated with these outbreaks.

Foodborne diseases have become a serious public health problem worldwide, and foodborne disease outbreaks have placed a heavy disease burden on China. Foodborne disease outbreaks occur most frequently among families in China. The objectives of this study were to analyze the cause of household foodborne disease outbreaks in China from 2010 to 2020 and to identify where preventive measures could be targeted. All data were obtained from the China Foodborne Disease Surveillance System Report. A total of 17,985 outbreaks, which resulted in 73,252 illnesses, 38,829 hospitalizations, and 1269 deaths, were reported in this period. Most household outbreaks of foodborne diseases occurred in May-October, and the highest number occurred in July (3620 outbreaks, 20%). The province with the highest number of outbreaks was Yunnan Province (4829 outbreaks), followed by Hunan Province (2264 outbreaks). The attribution analysis revealed that fungi (mainly poisonous mushrooms) were the most implicated food category, with 8873 (49.3%) cases. The second was poisonous plants and their products, with 1552 (8.6%) cases. Fungi were the primary etiologic agent, with 31,125 illnesses, accounting for 42.5% of the incidents. Inedibility and misuse (9423 outbreaks), unknown origin (2505 outbreaks), and improper processing (2365 outbreaks) were the main contributing factors causing outbreaks of foodborne diseases. The results show that southwest China was a high-risk area for household foodborne diseases. Therefore, public health institutions should strengthen supervision and food safety education of residents to reduce the outbreaks of household foodborne diseases.

This study aims to analyze the needs of researchers in a regional comprehensive university for research data management services; discuss the options for developing a research data management program at the university; and then propose a phased three-year implementation plan for the university libraries. The method was to design a survey to collect information from researchers and assess and evaluate their needs for research data management services. The results show that researchers' needs in a regional comprehensive university could be quite different from those of researchers in a research-intensive university. Also, the results verify the hypothesis that researchers in the regional comprehensive university would welcome the libraries offering managed data services for the research community. Therefore, this study suggests a phased three-year implementation plan. The significance of the study is that it can give some insights and helpful information for regional comprehensive universities that are planning to develop a research data management program.

Introduction:In terms of food preparation settings, catering service facilities have been identified as locations with the highest incidence of foodborne disease outbreaks in China. Since 2010, the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment has established the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (FDOSS) to monitor foodborne disease outbreaks. Consequently, data from the FDOSS has provided a more accurate depiction of the epidemic characteristics of outbreaks within these facilities.Methods:From 2010 to 2020, the FDOSS gathered data related to the prevalence of outbreaks, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths linked to foodborne disease outbreaks in catering service facilities. This study examined the temporal and geographical distribution, pathogenic factors, and contributing variables of these outbreaks over the course of the decade.Results:From 2010 to 2020, China's catering service facilities reported 18,331 outbreaks, which resulted in 206,718 illnesses, 68,561 hospitalizations, and 201 deaths. The second and third quarters of the year accounted for 76.12% of the outbreaks and 72.93% of the cases. The primary pathogenic factors were pathogenic organisms, which caused 4,883 (26.64%) outbreaks, 94,047 (45.50%) cases, 32,170 (46.92%) hospitalizations, and 21 (10.45%) deaths. There were 5,607 (30.59%) outbreaks in restaurants, 2,876 (15.69%) outbreaks from street vendors, and 2,560 (13.97%) outbreaks in employee canteens in China.Conclusions:The implementation of relevant control methods, including health education and promotion, is critical for addressing foodborne diseases in catering service facilities. Regular food safety training sessions for restaurant personnel and managers are essential to ensuring the effective management of these health risks.

Today, an increasing number of music educators are incorporating modern technologies, including virtual reality (VR), to train music students. This study aims to examine the effect of VR training on the mastery of the five elements of singing by utilizing a quasi -experimental method and survey questionnaires. Additionally, the study investigates students' preferences between two teaching methods: traditional training with piano accompaniment and training with VR equipment. The experiment involved 35 first- and second -year university vocal music majors. The study utilized a survey tool and IBM SPSS Statistics to process the data, employing paired t -tests, frequency analysis, regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient to measure the effectiveness of the two training models. The results indicated that VR training had a positive impact on singers' mastery of the five elements and associated singing techniques. Furthermore, music students expressed a preference for VR training over piano accompaniment. Consequently, this study addresses a research gap by employing VR in singing teaching and training and introduces a new teaching tool to academic music programmes.

ObjectiveTo study the epidemiological characteristics of foodborne disease outbreaks in China in 2016.MethodsThe foodborne disease data collected from National Foodborne Disease Outbreaks Surveillance System were analyzed.Results4 056 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported in 31 provinces, which caused 32 812 illnesses and 213 deaths. Mushroom poisoning caused the largest percentage of outbreaks and deaths, accounting for 40.7% (991/2 435) and 74.1% (146/197), respectively. Microbiological agents caused the largest percentage of illnesses (59.3%, 12 910/21 769).ConclusionMicrobial foodborne disease remains a serious food safety issues in China. Mushroom poisoning frequently occurred all over the country.

This study aimed to understand the epidemiological characteristics of foodborne disease outbreaks related to meat and meat products in China from 2002 to 2017. Data collected from the National Foodborne Diseases Surveillance System and searched databases were analyzed. From 2002 to 2017, China reported 2815 outbreaks caused by foodborne diseases related to meat and meat products, resulting in 52,122 illnesses and 25,361 hospitalizations, and 96 deaths. Outbreaks were markedly seasonal and concentrated from May to September, accounting for 66.93%. Outbreaks were concentrated mainly in China's eastern coastal and southern regions. Unidimensional attribution analysis revealed that livestock meat was the most commonly implicated food category causing the outbreaks, accounting for 28.67%. Bacteria were the most common pathogenic cause of outbreaks, accounting for 51.94%. Clostridium botulinum was the most common pathogenic cause of death, accounting for 34.38%. Improper processing was the most common contributing factor, accounting for 27.89%. Households were the most common food preparation location causing the outbreak, accounting for 34.39%. Two-dimensional and multidimensional attribution analysis found that Salmonella contamination occurred in different locations and regions, mainly caused by various contributing factors and improper processing. Nitrite poisoning is caused by improper processing in households in East China. Bacterial causes were the commonest agents associated with foodborne diseases related to meat and meat products, and improving the safety and quality of meat and meat product should be a priority.

Research Data Management (RDM) has become increasingly important for more and more academic institutions. Using the Peking University Open Research Data Repository (PKU-ORDR) project as an example, this paper will review a library-based university-wide open research data repository project and related RDM services implementation process including project kickoff, needs assessment, partnerships establishment, software investigation and selection, software customization, as well as data curation services and training. Through the review, some issues revealed during the stages of the implementation process are also discussed and addressed in the paper such as awareness of research data, demands from data providers and users, data policies and requirements from home institution, requirements from funding agencies and publishers, the collaboration between administrative units and libraries, and concerns from data providers and users. The significance of the study is that the paper shows an example of creating an Open Data repository and RDM services for other Chinese academic libraries planning to implement their RDM services for their home institutions. The authors of the paper have also observed since the PKU-ORDR and RDM services implemented in 2015, the Peking University Library (PKUL) has helped numerous researchers to support the entire research life cycle and enhanced Open Science (OS) practices on campus, as well as impacted the national OS movement in China through various national events and activities hosted by the PKUL.

Emotional singing can affect vocal performance and the audience’s engagement. Chinese universities use traditional training techniques for teaching theoretical and applied knowledge. Self-imagination is the predominant training method for emotional singing. Recently, virtual reality (VR) technologies have been applied in several fields for training purposes. In this empirical comparative study, a VR training task was implemented to elicit emotions from singers and further assist them with improving their emotional singing performance. The VR training method was compared against the traditional self-imagination method. By conducting a two-stage experiment, the two methods were compared in terms of emotions’ elicitation and emotional singing performance. In the first stage, electroencephalographic (EEG) data were collected from the subjects. In the second stage, self-rating reports and third-party teachers’ evaluations were collected. The EEG data were analyzed by adopting the max-relevance and min-redundancy algorithm for feature selection and the support vector machine (SVM) for emotion recognition. Based on the results of EEG emotion classification and subjective scale, VR can better elicit the positive, neutral, and negative emotional states from the singers than not using this technology (i.e., self-imagination). Furthermore, due to the improvement of emotional activation, VR brings the improvement of singing performance. The VR hence appears to be an effective approach that may improve and complement the available vocal music teaching methods.

National Molecular Tracing Network for Foodborne Disease Surveillance (TraNet) was launched in 2013, which is the only real-time whole-genome sequencing (WGS)-based subtyping network in China for effective foodborne disease surveillance. TraNet covers three levels of public health laboratories, national, provincial, and municipal. The TraNet national databases have a total of more than 54,000 entries representing seven common foodborne bacteria from humans, food, and environments. Raw sequence data are uploaded to TraNet by Data Delivery Center. Assembled sequence data, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles, antibiotic resistance patterns, and epidemiological data are submitted to national pathogen-specific databases managed by China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment. PFGE patterns and WGS-based subtyping are compared for rapid differentiation of clusters of geographically diverse foodborne infections. WGS-based TraNet has played significant roles in improving foodborne disease surveillance in China for rapid outbreak investigation, source tracking, and cluster analysis of particular pathogens across the country.

Introduction: Foodborne diseases are a growing public health problem and have caused a large burden of disease in China. This study analyzed epidemiological characteristics of foodborne diseases in China in 2020 to provide a scientific basis for prevention and control measures. Methods: Data were collected from 30 of 31 provincial-level administrative divisions (PLADs) in the mainland of China, excluding Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, via the National Foodborne Disease Outbreaks Surveillance System. The number and proportion of outbreaks, illnesses, hospitalizations, deaths by setting, pathogen-food category pairs and etiology were calculated. Results: In 2020, 7,073 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported, resulting in 37,454 illnesses and 143 deaths. Among the identified pathogens, microbial pathogens were the most common confirmed etiology, accounting for 41.7% of illnesses. Poisonous mushrooms caused the largest proportion of outbreaks (58.0%) and deaths (57.6%). For venues where foodborne disease outbreaks occur, household had the highest number of outbreaks (4,140) and deaths (128), and catering service locations caused the largest proportion of illnesses (59.9%). Outbreaks occurring between June and September accounted for 62.8% of total outbreaks. Conclusions: Foodborne disease outbreaks mainly occurred in households. Microbial pathogens remained the top cause of outbreak-associated illnesses. Poisonous mushrooms were ranked the top cause of deaths in private homes in China. The supervision and management of food safety and health education should be strengthened to reduce the burden of foodborne diseases. Publicity should be increased to reduce the incidence of mushroom poisonings in families, and supervision and management of food should be strengthened to reduce microbial contamination.

Summary Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm consists of a number of autonomous and collaborative UAV nodes. The purpose of the research is to address the hypotheses: an efficient centralized resources management scheme should be adopted to meet the mission‐oriented feature of UAV swarms, while a distributed fault‐tolerant mechanism should be adopted to meet the characteristics of complex environment and address the issue of high failure rate of UAV nodes. By using an experimental modeling method, this paper proposes a management model and related mechanisms fitting for UAV swarms with the feature of “centralized decision making and distributed task execution.” The model allows UAV nodes to manage their own resources autonomously and execute centralized decisions accordingly. The advantage of the model is that the master node of a UAV swarm is able to perceive all the resources of the system and the status of all (or some) of the UAVs efficiently; therefore, it provides a supportive environment for the UAV swarm application to make centralized decisions and optimize those decisions. Additionally, this paper proposes a distributed fault‐tolerant model and related mechanisms to address the issue of high failure rate of UAV nodes, as well as the system vulnerability caused by harsh environment. Finally, this study developed a prototype system designed and implemented by OMNeT++ to confirm the truth of the hypotheses. The analysis of the experimental data and simulation results of the prototype validated the feasibility and usability of the distributed fault‐tolerant mechanism and demonstrated its value for the mission‐oriented UAV swarms.

图书盘点是RFID技术在图书馆领域的常见应用,但通常需要耗费大量的人力与时间,业界迫切需要实现更高效、更准确地自动盘点.本文介绍了武汉大学图书馆近年来在RFID图书自动盘点机器人应用上的实践,并验证其盘点的准确率和工作效率,对进一步的优化提出了建议.

美国由于媒体报道2019新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情而引发的公众的公共卫生焦虑情绪十分普遍,错误的信息会导致对华人和华裔美国人的歧视.因此,获取关于这种病毒以及一般性传染病的权威的可信任的信息比以往任何时候都更为重要.这份报告采用关键词检索,使用“新冠病毒”“图书馆”这两个关键词并通过谷歌搜索,对搜索结果页面中的美国国家级图书馆网站、州立和地区性公共图书馆以及学术图书馆和大学图书馆关于2019新冠病毒主题建立的网页内容和建议性质的资源进行了梳理和归纳总结,试图回答以下几个问题:面对2019新冠病毒肺炎疫情,公共图书馆和图书馆员们自己应该了解些什么？美国国家级专业图书馆在做些什么？州立和地区公共图书馆提供了哪些资源和服务？学术图书馆和大学图书馆又是如何应对？梳理分析结果发现,各级各类图书馆各司其职,扮演不同的角色.他们不仅起到了传播权威可靠可信的知识和信息的作用,还扮演了教育者的角色,教育公众学习公共卫生常识甚至专业知识,并提供相应的咨询服务和应急事件服务,疏导和缓解民众不必要的恐慌心理及情绪.

Foodborne disease remains a major public health problem worldwide. To understand the epidemiology and changes of foodborne disease in China, data reported to the National Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System during 2003–2017 were collected. A total of 19,517 outbreaks, which resulted in 235,754 illnesses, 107,470 hospitalizations, and 1,457 deaths, were reported in this period. Of the 13,307 outbreaks with known etiology, 31.8% of outbreaks were caused by poisonous mushrooms, followed by Vibrio parahaemolyticus (11.3%), saponin (8.0%), Salmonella (6.8%), nitrite (6.4%), pesticide (4.8%), Staphylococcus aureus (4.2%) and Bacillus cereus (3.0%). Among 18,955 outbreaks with reported setting, 46.6% were associated with food prepared in a household, followed by 22.5% with food prepared in a restaurant, and 18.4% prepared in a canteen. Of the 13,305 outbreaks associated with a single food category, fungi (mainly poisonous mushroom) were the most commonly implicated food category, followed by meats, vegetables, aquatic animals, condiments, poisonous plants (such as saponin, tung oil or seed, aconite) and grains (such as rice, noodle, rice noodle). Analysis of foodborne disease outbreaks can provide insight into the most important causative agents and sources of foodborne disease, and assist public health agencies determine the high-risk etiology and food pairs, specific points of contamination and settings to reduce foodborne disease illnesses.

Next-generation Integrated Library Systems (ILSs) have been maturing and are adopted by more and more academic libraries. Many academic libraries have joined a consortium to collaboratively move towards a shared next-generation ILS that sustains a deeper collaboration. Has this been a trend for academic libraries to share the new system in consortia? What are the opportunities, challenges, and benefits a shared ILS would bring to small- or medium-sized libraries within a consortium? This presentation will examine the adoption of the leading next-generation ILS products to reveal the trends, and offer an individual institutional perspective on the opportunities, challenges, and benefits that the shared ILS has brought.

2019年8月21日和22日,笔者参加了在德国柏林Wildau应用科技大学召开的国际图联大会IFLA WLIC会前卫星会议信息技术分会.分会主题是“机器人在图书馆:挑战或机遇”. 在题为“用于图书馆的人工智能机器人:探索性问题”的演讲中,来自美国罗德岛大学图书馆的副教授兼首席技术官Bohyun Kim首先概述了机器人和人工智能机器人的定义.然后,Bohyun Kim专注于3个主题:(1)我们可能期望在未来的图书馆看到什么样的机器人;(2)人们的信息搜寻活动可能形成什么样的人机关系;(3)新的人机关系可能产生什么样的伦理和社会问题.