scholarly journals The Balancing Role of Distribution Speed against Varying Efficacy Levels of COVID-19 Vaccines under Variants

Author(s):  
Daniel Kim ◽  
Pinar Keskinocak ◽  
Pelin Pekgun ◽  
Inci Yildirim

Objective: Recent mutations in SARS-CoV-2 raised concerns about diminishing vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 caused by particular variants. Even with a high initial efficacy, if a vaccine efficacy drops significantly against variants, or if it cannot be distributed quickly, it is uncertain whether the vaccine can provide better health outcomes than other vaccines. Hence, we evaluated the trade-offs between speed of distribution vs. efficacy of multiple vaccines when variants emerge. Methods: We utilized a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered-Deceased (SIR-D) model to simulate the impact of immunization using different vaccines with varying efficacies and assessed the level of infection attack rate (IAR) under different speeds of vaccine distribution. Results: We found that a vaccine with low efficacy both before and after variants may outperform a vaccine with high efficacy if the former can be distributed more quickly. Particularly, a vaccine with 65% and 60% efficacy before and after the variants, respectively, can outperform a vaccine with 95% and 90% efficacy, if its distribution is 46% to 48% faster (with the selected study parameters). Conclusions: Our results show that speed is a key factor to a successful immunization strategy to control the COVID-19 pandemic even when the emerging variants may reduce the efficacy of a vaccine.

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-72
Author(s):  
Herlin Hamimi ◽  
Abdul Ghafar Ismail ◽  
Muhammad Hasbi Zaenal

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam which has a function of faith, social and economic functions. Muslims who can pay zakat are required to give at least 2.5 per cent of their wealth. The problem of poverty prevalent in disadvantaged regions because of the difficulty of access to information and communication led to a gap that is so high in wealth and resources. The instrument of zakat provides a paradigm in the achievement of equitable wealth distribution and healthy circulation. Zakat potentially offers a better life and improves the quality of human being. There is a human quality improvement not only in economic terms but also in spiritual terms such as improving religiousity. This study aims to examine the role of zakat to alleviate humanitarian issues in disadvantaged regions such as Sijunjung, one of zakat beneficiaries and impoverished areas in Indonesia. The researcher attempted a Cibest method to capture the impact of zakat beneficiaries before and after becoming a member of Zakat Community Development (ZCD) Program in material and spiritual value. The overall analysis shows that zakat has a positive impact on disadvantaged regions development and enhance the quality of life of the community. There is an improvement in the average of mustahik household incomes after becoming a member of ZCD Program. Cibest model demonstrates that material, spiritual, and absolute poverty index decreased by 10, 5, and 6 per cent. Meanwhile, the welfare index is increased by 21 per cent. These findings have significant implications for developing the quality of life in disadvantaged regions in Sijunjung. Therefore, zakat is one of the instruments to change the status of disadvantaged areas to be equivalent to other areas.


2021 ◽  
pp. 108602662199006
Author(s):  
Peter Tashman ◽  
Svetlana Flankova ◽  
Marc van Essen ◽  
Valentina Marano

We meta-analyze research on why firms join voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) to assess the impact of program stringency, or the extent to which they have rigorous, enforceable standards on these decisions. Stringency creates trade-offs for firms by affecting programs’ effectiveness, legitimacy, and adoption costs. Most research considers singular programs and lacks cross program variation needed to analyze program stringency’s impact. Our meta-analysis addresses this by sampling 127 studies and 23 VEPs. We begin by identifying common institutional and resource-based drivers of participation in the literature, and then analyze how program stringency moderates their impacts. Our results suggest that strictly governed VEPs encourage participation among highly visible and profitable firms, and discourage it when informal institutional pressures are higher, and firms have prior experience with other VEPs or quality management standards. We demonstrate that VEP stringency has nuanced effects on firm participation based on the institutional and resource-based factors facing them.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 7411-7422 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Brewer

Abstract. This review covers the development of ocean acidification science, with an emphasis on the creation of ocean chemical knowledge, through the course of the 20th century. This begins with the creation of the pH scale by Sørensen in 1909 and ends with the widespread knowledge of the impact of the "High CO2 Ocean" by then well underway as the trajectory along the IPCC scenario pathways continues. By mid-century the massive role of the ocean in absorbing fossil fuel CO2 was known to specialists, but not appreciated by the greater scientific community. By the end of the century the trade-offs between the beneficial role of the ocean in absorbing some 90% of all heat created, and the accumulation of some 50% of all fossil fuel CO2 emitted, and the impacts on marine life were becoming more clear. This paper documents the evolution of knowledge throughout this period.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 72-82
Author(s):  
Lizzie Caperon ◽  
Lina Brand-Correa

This study explores the under-researched link between clean energy and public health outcomes, and offers new insights into the link between wider access to clean energy and progress towards health outcomes, in particular the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. This is the first study to consider the impact of a run-of-river hydropower plant (RORHP) in a remote rural community in Zambia in relation to health outcomes. Exploring this relationship establishes how the health benefits which renewable energy can bring can be capitalised upon to meet the health-related objectives of the United Nations sustainable development goals. Workshops and semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders including community members, health workers, business owners, and key people involved with the plant, to establish health and social impacts of the introduction of electricity in the community of Ikelenge. Findings are used to establish both synergies and trade-offs of the RORHP on the health of the community, and recommendations are made for the continued improvement of health following the introduction of the RORHP, to achieve further progress towards meeting SDG targets.


Author(s):  
Ayhan Guney ◽  
Ilkin M. Sabiroglu ◽  
Cihan Bulut

Every country has experienced various capital accumulation processes due to their own specific conditions. Differences in these conditions have ensured various countries to enter the process of economic development in dissimilar historical periods. Due to the central characteristics of the previous command economic system and the impact of powerful heritage from the USSR on the bureaucratic administration, Azerbaijan is still having difficulties in transitioning to a free-market economy. Today, the transition to an open market economy for Azerbaijan is not completely realized. This research attempts to investigate the major factors of the formation process of the capitalist economic structure in Azerbaijan before and after the demise of the Soviet Union.It focused on the fundamental role of oil and relatively, the agricultural sector and also looked into the types of capitalism the country is currently experiencing based upon certain criteria and statistical indicators.


Author(s):  
Edy Effendi ◽  
Muhammad Imron

Research on the role of the APIP review of the Ministry/agency Work Plan and Budget document to determine the impact on the efficiency of ministry/agency spending (case study at the Ministry of Religion). The method used in this study uses simple linear regression with dummy. The use of linear regression is used to examine the relationship between independent variables (certain types of expenditure) and dependent variables (total expenditure). Whereas, dummy is used to find out before and after the APIP review is done. Throughout the author's search, this research has never been done. Based on the results of linear regression obtained, the APIP review significantly had a positive effect on official travel expenditure and honorarium but did not significantly affect building spending and equipment. Abstrak   Penelitian atas peran reviu APIP atas dokumen Rencana Kerja dan Anggaran Kementerian Negara/Lembaga untuk mengetahui dampaknya terhadap efisiensi belanja kementerian/lembaga (studi kasus pada Kementerian Agama). Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini menggunakan regresi linier sederhana dengan dummy. Penggunaan regresi liner digunakan untuk meneliti hubungan antara variable independen (jenis belanja tertentu) dan variable dependen (total belanja). Sedangkan, dummy digunakan untuk mengetahui sebelum dan setelah reviu APIP dilakukan. Sepanjang penelusuran penulis, penelitian ini belum pernah dilakukan. Berdasarkan hasil regresi linier diperoleh, reviu APIP signifikan berpengaruh positif terhadap  belanja perjalanan dinas dan honorarium tetapi tidak signifikan berbengaruh terhadap belanja gedung dan alat.


Accounting ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 167-178
Author(s):  
Mahfod Mobarak Aldoseri ◽  
Nasr Taha Hassan ◽  
Magdy Melegy Abd El Hakim Melegy

This paper aims to examine the effect of audit committee characteristics on audit report lag, and also explores whether this effect will vary between before and after mandatory adoption of IFRS in Saudi listed companies. Based on a Saudi sample of 388 firm-year observations from 2015 to 2018, the Poisson regression analysis shows that among audit committee characteristics, only audit committee financial experience significantly influences the timing of financial reporting. The result indicates a weak influence of audit committees on timeliness of financial reporting, which is consistent with the results of most of previous studies. On the other hand, the results show a strong impact of the adoption of IFRS on the context of that relationship, where the results show the impact of IFRS on audit report lag, audit committee quality and the association between them.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 789-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Agostini ◽  
Anna Nosella

Purpose In today’s knowledge economy the ability to innovate and develop new products is a key factor to sustain firm performance. Within this context, analysing the role of different components of intellectual capital (IC) becomes of foremost importance, as well as an under-investigated issue for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of human, organisational and relational capital (RC) on radical innovation performance (RIP), as well as to examine whether organisational capital (OC) and RC mediate the relationship between human capital (HC) and RIP and whether OC moderates the relationship between RC and RIP. Design/methodology/approach The methodology consisted of a factor analysis and different regression models to test for mediation and moderation. The analyses are carried out on a sample of 150 micro firms and SMEs involved in the production of machinery or instruments and located in Italy. Findings Results show that HC is directly associated to RIP, as well as OC and RC that totally mediate the relationship between HC and RIP. Moreover, OC positively moderates the relationship between RC and RIP. Originality/value This study is particularly interesting because it adopts an overarching perspective on IC testing the interplay between the different components of IC. In addition, it focusses on the SME context which is under-investigated as far as IC and performance measurement is concerned.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Winters ◽  
Tanja Krone ◽  
Kristin Nieman ◽  
Suzan Wopereis ◽  
Sabina Bijlsma ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives A key to a successful personalized nutrition (PN) strategy is tailoring the behavior intervention to achieve sustained behavior change consistent with desired health outcomes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a digitally-delivered, systems biology-based PN program (Habit, LLC, Oakland, CA), that included nutrition and behavior advice, and meals. Methods In this single-arm, multi-phase, open-label study (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03424395), participants (n = 107; 67% female), 30–59 years of age, were provided a Fitbit® Activity Tracker and instructions to complete an at-home kit that included collection of DNA and capillary blood before and after (30 and 120 min) consuming a mixed macronutrient challenge beverage. Lifestyle behavior data and activity levels were collected at baseline. Participants completed a 10-week control phase and a 10-week PN program intervention phase that included tailored nutrition and behavior advice, and meals (2 meals/day, 5 days/week). Validated quality of life, perceived stress, diet self-efficacy, and eating behavior questionnaires were administered to assess behavior before and after the intervention. Data from 73 compliant participants (66% female) were included in the analysis. Anthropometric and biological results were used to categorize participants into subgroups including Protein Seekers (PS) and Range Seekers (RS). Results Participants reported feeling fuller faster after the intervention, relative to before (P = 0.002), which could be linked to the dietary recommendations and behavior advice. Analysis by gender showed men reported more control over their eating patterns during negative events at baseline, compared to women (P = 0.005). This difference was not evident at the end of the intervention with women reporting slightly more, and men slightly less control. PS entered the study with a higher weight and BMI (P < 0.001 for both) and reported eating more quickly than RS (P = 0.003). This difference diminished, and by the end of the intervention PS did not differ from RS which could reflect the tailored advice provided. Conclusions These and other data provide novel insights on how a tailored personalized intervention that targeted food behavior may help drive positive changes in health outcomes. Funding Sources Habit, LLC.


Processes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Yue ◽  
Xing Hua ◽  
Jianyuan Li

Although corporate capability has been recognized as a key factor affecting corporate acquisition performance, the role of R&D capability in acquisition performance has not been fully explained. The aim of this paper was to research the impact of internal R&D on acquisition performance according to a sample of 215 acquisitions of Chinese listed pharmaceutical companies from 2012 to 2016. First, it was found that R&D has a significant negative effect on acquisition performance. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the acquisition motive and the ownership of the acquiring firm have a moderating effect on the relationship between R&D and acquisition performance. Compared to non-technical acquisitions, the negative effect of internal R&D on acquisition performance was reduced for technical acquisitions. Compared with non-state-owned-enterprise acquisition, the negative effect of internal R&D on the acquisition performance of state-owned enterprises was weakened. Our study enriches the research of the path dependence theory on the acquisition performance of enterprises and also the interpretation of acquisition performance on the basis of internal and external innovation and the institutional theory.


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