[ti:‘Hackathon’ Winners Provide Solutions for Fighting COVID-19] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]United Nations officials are praising winners of an international "hackathon" [00:07.20]for creating technical solutions to fight the disease COVID-19. [00:14.20]The hackathon, called CodeTheCurve, was launched on April 6. [00:22.52]More than 160 young people from 26 countries entered the competition. [00:30.08]The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, provided support for the hackathon. [00:41.12]Additional support came from the American technology company IBM and the European software business SAP. [00:52.84]At first, each team received more than 20 hours of training from computer experts, [01:00.32]the hackathon's organizers and other technology companies. [01:06.00]Then, the actual competition began. [01:09.88]The teams – made up of members under age 25 - had just seven days to develop their COVID-19 solutions. [01:22.56]During this period, they received help from technical experts, all of them volunteers. [01:31.28]In the end, the hackathon's organizers declared three winning teams in different areas. [01:39.56]The team honored for its solution in the "social and health issues" category [01:46.16]was recognized as the overall CodeTheCurve winner. [01:51.28]This team, called X-COV, was based in Spain. [01:57.08]It created a data model combining artificial intelligence - AI - programs, machine learning [02:06.36]and imaging technology to analyze chest X-rays of COVID-19 patients. [02:14.44]The device-based tool is designed to speed up the process of identifying severe coronavirus cases [02:23.88]and to help doctors make faster, more informed decisions. [02:30.60]Joaquin Lopez led the Spanish team. [02:35.36]He told an online event announcing the winners [02:38.84]that his team was made up of students, radiologists and researchers. [02:46.08]The project began when Lopez started talking with doctors and hospital officials. [02:53.36]He asked them if there was an immediate need in the medical community [02:58.36]to process x-ray data from COVID-19 patients. [03:04.40]The answer, he said, was a very strong ‘yes.' [03:09.12]"Do you have the data? And they said yes, we have tons of data. [03:12.52]If you want to analyze chest x-rays from patients, [03:16.32]we have thousands of them in this hospital and there are many other hospitals that will help you on this." [03:22.28]Lopez said one thing his team learned was the importance of doing research. [03:29.16]He said they spent a lot of time talking with people who would use the system, and not just working on coding. [03:38.16]Another winning team was VRoam of Toronto, Canada. [03:43.44]This team – made up completely of high school students - won in the "Ensuring Continued Learning" category. [03:52.28]A representative of the group, Christy Xie, said the team developed an app [03:59.08]that uses virtual reality - VR - to show a virtual world. [04:05.48]This software program lets users explore different places around the world while exercising. [04:14.32]The system uses AI technology to present well-known places and provide facts about them. [04:22.88]Users are required to wear VR eyeglasses, which are connected to a mobile device. [04:30.88]Christy Xie said the idea came about because members of her team [04:36.80]were all stuck at home because of public safety measures. [04:41.80]Some had to cancel planned trips to other countries. [04:46.80]In addition, the students had limited exercise choices. [04:52.20]She said the app provides a solution for all these issues. [04:58.96]"It is an app that combines exercise and learning together, so that people are able to travel the world [05:06.24]and they can learn, visit historical sites, and exercise from home." [05:10.48]She added that the experience showed her team how unprepared communities were for the health crisis [05:19.60]and how the situation affected the whole education system. [05:25.00]"It really just emphasizes the point that anything is possible. [05:28.40]Like, we could be hit by a pandemic, but at the same time we are able to work together as a team." [05:33.64]The third winning team, called COVIDImpact, was led by Ali Serag of Vancouver, Canada. [05:43.64]His team developed an assistance solution for small businesses, [05:49.44]which has already begun working with some Canadian companies. [05:54.68]Serag explained that the system is designed to "equip founders and business owners [06:02.84]with everything they need to immunize their business to COVID-19 and its after-effects." [06:11.40]The system identifies government and private programs that can assist and provide financial support [06:19.96]to small businesses during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. [06:26.96]It includes collecting real-time news about the coronavirus and providing this news to businesses. [06:35.64]Serag said the tool uses AI and machine learning to predict how small businesses [06:43.48]might be affected in future pandemics to permit them to take steps to prepare beforehand. [06:52.12]I'm Bryan Lynn. [06:54.48]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM