Japan's Covid mitigation strategy and its epidemic prediction

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.1101/2021.05.06.21256476 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yasuharu Tokuda ◽

Toshikazu Kuniya

Keyword(s):

Curve Fitting ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Compartmental Model ◽

Mitigation Strategy ◽

State Of Emergency ◽

Epidemic Curve ◽

Epidemic Prediction ◽

One Year ◽

Reported Data ◽

Original Virus

The COVID-19 epidemic curve in Japan was constructed based on daily reported data from January 14, 2020 until April 20, 2021. A SEIR compartmental model was used for the curve fitting by updating the estimation per wave. In the current vaccination pace of 1/1000, restrictions (state of emergency in Japan) would be repeated 4 times until the end of next March. In the case of 1/500, another round of restriction would be required in the summer 2021, after which the infection would be mitigated. In the case of 1/250, there would be no need for restriction after the current spring restriction. The scenario of completing the vaccination of 110 million people by the end of March 2020 corresponds to the case of 1/250 in this curve. When considering the likely spread of variant with greater infectiousness (here we assume 1.3 times greater than the original virus), 1/500 pace of vaccination would not be enough to contain it and need several series of restrictions. There are currently several variants of concern that are already spreading in urban areas in this country. In the new stage of the replacement of variants, if the vaccination pace could not be quadrupled from the current pace, Japan could not become a zero covid (zero corona) country at least one year.

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Military Coup in Burma Draws International Condemnation and Pressure

The American Journal of International Law ◽

10.1017/ajil.2021.31 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 115 (3) ◽

pp. 558-567

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Social Media ◽

International Organizations ◽

The United States ◽

Military Coup ◽

State Of Emergency ◽

Media Companies ◽

One Year ◽

Head Of Government ◽

The Military

On February 1, 2021, the military in Burma overthrew the democratically elected government, declared a one-year state of emergency, and installed Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as the head of government. Since the coup, the military has cracked down on protestors, killing over 800 people and detaining many more. Numerous countries and international organizations, including the United States and the United Nations, have condemned the coup and ensuing violence and called for the restoration of a democratic government. The United States and other countries have also imposed rigorous sanctions on the Burmese military, its officials and affiliated corporations, and social media companies have imposed content restrictions to prevent the spread of pro-military propaganda.

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Quality of life of the elderly population during the virus Covid-19 pandemic with special reference to agriculturists

Ekonomika poljoprivrede ◽

10.5937/ekopolj2004155r ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 67 (4) ◽

pp. 1155-1167

Author(s):

Pavle Radanov ◽

Ivana Lešević ◽

Pavle Brzaković ◽

Dragan Pajić

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Elderly Population ◽

The Elderly ◽

Special Importance ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

State Of Emergency ◽

The Republic

In the Republic of Serbia, on March 15 th , 2020 Government decided to declare a state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the measures was a movement ban for people over 65 in urban areas and those over 70 in rural areas. This research should indicate how people over 65 in urban areas have endured this situation, especially in relation to the same population in rural areas, as well as implications of the movement ban on the quality of life of the elderly population. Special importance is given to the rural population engaged in agriculture. A tool of data collection in this research was anonymous survey. Respondents' answers were statistically processed, which led to clear conclusions about the large negative consequences for the elderly population, including the agricultural activities in rural areas. Covid-19 is still present, which opens further questions related to the quality of life of the elderly population, if necessity for similar measures recurs in the future.

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CREATING MULTI-TEMPORAL MAPS OF URBAN ENVIRONMENTS FOR IMPROVED LOCALIZATION OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ◽

10.5194/isprs-archives-xliii-b2-2020-317-2020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol XLIII-B2-2020 ◽

pp. 317-323

Author(s):

J. Schachtschneider ◽

C. Brenner

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Autonomous Vehicles ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Seasonal Effects ◽

Data Set ◽

Multi Temporal ◽

One Year

Abstract. The development of automated and autonomous vehicles requires highly accurate long-term maps of the environment. Urban areas contain a large number of dynamic objects which change over time. Since a permanent observation of the environment is impossible and there will always be a first time visit of an unknown or changed area, a map of an urban environment needs to model such dynamics.In this work, we use LiDAR point clouds from a large long term measurement campaign to investigate temporal changes. The data set was recorded along a 20 km route in Hannover, Germany with a Mobile Mapping System over a period of one year in bi-weekly measurements. The data set covers a variety of different urban objects and areas, weather conditions and seasons. Based on this data set, we show how scene and seasonal effects influence the measurement likelihood, and that multi-temporal maps lead to the best positioning results.

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Inteligentne rozwiązania w miastach w czasie pandemii - wybrane obszary, funkcje i zastosowania

e-mentor ◽

10.15219/em88.1504 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 88 (1) ◽

pp. 55-63

Author(s):

Dominika P. Brodowicz ◽

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Public Institutions ◽

Healthcare Sector ◽

Virus Infections ◽

State Of Emergency ◽

Safety And Health ◽

The World ◽

The Face ◽

Modern Technologies

Today's cities face many challenges, including those related to the aging of the population, climate change, or broadly understood public safety and health. Examples from many places around the world show that without access to modern technologies, cities, companies, and public institutions could not function, provide services or care for the safety of billions of people living in urban areas. That is especially vital in conditions of the threat to many people's health and life and shutdown of economies caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the article aims to present selected examples of smart solutions used in cities in the face of the challenges related to ensuring security. Their functionality in pandemic conditions is also described both at present and if the state of emergency continued for the following years. The study proved that the importance of smart solutions for contemporary cities' functioning is growing in the face of the threat to the residents' health and life caused by COVID-19. That mainly applies to tools in the area of e-government, e-education, and e-services in the healthcare sector, including applications for reporting and informing about clusters of virus infections.

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Abstract P397: Cardiovascular Health Among US Adults In Metropolitan And Micropolitan Statistical Areas

Circulation ◽

10.1161/circ.129.suppl_1.p397 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 129 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Fleetwood Loustalot ◽

Jing Fang ◽

Latetia Moore ◽

Nilay S Shah ◽

Linda Schieb

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Cardiovascular Health ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Health Indicators ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable ◽

Health Score ◽

Health Standards ◽

The Mean ◽

Reported Data

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the US and primary risk factors for CVD are well known. Promoting the ideal state of cardiovascular (CV) health factors and behaviors has been previously defined as CV health. The objective of this study is to assess CV health among US adults in urban areas. Methods: Data from the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2011 were used for analysis and included 307,101 participants from 198 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas (MMSA) with an adequate sample size for estimates (range: 493 to 9,241 participants). Seven indicators were used to define ideal levels of CV health using self-reported data: no hypertension, no diabetes, no high cholesterol, no current smoking, no obesity, and meeting physical activity guidelines and fruit and vegetable consumption targets. Each metric was given a score (0=no, 1=yes) and summed. The percentage achieving ideal CV health (all 7 metrics at ideal level), good CV health (6-7 metrics at ideal levels), poor CV health (0-2 metrics at ideal levels), and the mean CV health score were calculated for each MMSA. Estimates and 95% confidence intervals were age-standardized. Results: Overall, 16.7% (16.4-17.1) and 11.5% (11.2-11.8) of participants among the 198 MMSAs had good and poor CV health, respectively. Few respondents in MMSAs met all ideal CV health standards (<1%), likely driven by the limited number of participants meeting fruit and vegetable consumption targets (5.7%) in this sample. The overall mean CV health score was 3.91 (3.90-3.92). The percentage of participants with good CV health varied from 3.0% (1.5-5.8) (Mobile, AL) to 23.8% (17.0-32.3) (Kalispell, MT). The percentage of participants with poor CV health varied from 6.1% (4.2-8.6) (Boulder, CO) to 26.5% (18.2-36.8) (Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA). The mean CV health score ranged from 3.44 (3.2-3.7) (Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA) to 4.7 (4.5-4.9) (Boulder, CO). Conclusions: Across select US MMSAs, few adults met ideal CV health standards, and only 16% had good CV health. CV health varied significantly across MMSAs. Reducing the burden and mitigating the deleterious effects of CVD can be achieved through the promotion of CV health. Local clinical and public health agencies have the unique opportunity to tailor evidenced-based interventions to promote CV health in their populations. The methodology and findings used in this study can be utilized by local jurisdictions to target lagging health indicators with focused interventions.

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The effectiveness of hypertension management in China: a community-based intervention study

Primary Health Care Research & Development ◽

10.1017/s1463423618000853 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 ◽

Author(s):

Xiaoguo Zheng ◽

Feng Xiao ◽

Ruili Li ◽

Delu Yin ◽

Qianqian Xin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Healthcare System ◽

Primary Healthcare ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Blood Pressure Reduction ◽

Hypertension Management ◽

Hypertension Control ◽

Community Based ◽

One Year

Abstract Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of hypertension management and analyse the factors associated with blood pressure reduction within China’s primary healthcare system. Background: Hypertension is one of the leading risk factors for global disease burden and is strongly associated with cardiovascular diseases. In China, hypertension is a serious public health problem, but few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of hypertension management in China’s primary healthcare system. Methods: The study sites were 24 primary healthcare institutions, selected using multistage stratified random sampling method. In each institution, hypertension patients aged at least 35 years who agreed to participate and had no disabilities or mental health problems were enrolled for hypertension management. Participants received comprehensive interventions in the primary healthcare system via a team. After a one-year intervention, data from 6575 hypertension patients were analysed to check the effectiveness of hypertension management and examined factors associated with hypertension control. Findings: There was an overall mean reduction of 4.5 mmHg in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and 1.9 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The blood pressure reduction after one year was greater in rural patients than in urban patients, 6.6 mmHg versus 3.4 mmHg for SBP and 2.6 mmHg versus 1.6 mmHg for DBP, respectively. The hypertension control rate also increased more in rural areas (22.1%) than in urban areas (10.6%) after the one-year intervention. Age, body mass index, region and being in an urban area had a significant negative association with the reduction of SBP (P < 0.05). Education level and baseline SBP showed a significant positive association (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Community-based hypertension management by general practitioners was feasible and effective. The effectiveness of hypertension management in rural areas was greater than in urban areas. Intervention strategies should pay more attention to patients in rural areas and western China.

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Temperature Measurements on a Solar and Low Enthalpy Geothermal Open-Air Asphalt Surface Platform in a Cold Climate Region

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13040979 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 979 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Caner Çuhac ◽

Anne Mäkiranta ◽

Petri Välisuo ◽

Erkki Hiltunen ◽

Mohammed Elmusrati

Keyword(s):

Heat Flux ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Storage System ◽

Energy Resource ◽

Cold Climate ◽

Solar Irradiation ◽

Solar Heat ◽

Heat Collector ◽

One Year

Solar heat, already captured by vast asphalt fields in urban areas, is potentially a huge energy resource. The vertical soil temperature profile, i.e., low enthalpy geothermal energy, reveals how efficiently the irradiation is absorbed or radiated back to the atmosphere. Measured solar irradiation, heat flux on the asphalt surface and temperature distribution over a range of depths describe the thermal energy from an asphalt surface down to 10 m depth. In this study, those variables were studied by long-term measurements in an open-air platform in Finland. To compensate the nighttime heat loss, the accumulated heat on the surface should be harvested during the sunny daytime periods. A cumulative heat flux over one year from asphalt to the ground was 70% of the cumulative solar irradiance measured during the same period. However, due to the nighttime heat losses, the net heat flux during 5 day period was only 18% of the irradiance in spring, and was negative during autumn, when the soil was cooling. These preliminary results indicate that certain adaptive heat transfer and storage mechanisms are needed to minimize the loss and turn the asphalt layer into an efficient solar heat collector connected with a seasonal storage system.

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Special Issue on the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes

Journal of Disaster Research ◽

10.20965/jdr.2017.p0645 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (sp) ◽

pp. 645-645

Author(s):

Haruo Hayashi

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Peer Review Process ◽

Extended Period ◽

Seismic Intensity ◽

Intensity Level ◽

Special Issue ◽

Mountainous Regions ◽

The 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes ◽

One Year ◽

2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes

At 9:26 pm on April 14, 2016, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck directly beneath Kumamoto prefecture, Japan, producing a seismic intensity level (JMA) of 7 in Mashiki Town. Although the earthquake damage forecasting system in operation at the time predicted that this earthquake would cause no damage, it resulted in extensive human casualties and property damage centered in Mashiki Town. Past midnight on April 16, 28 hours after the first shock, the second and main shock hit, which recorded magnitude 7.3 and was the strongest recorded urban earthquake in Japan since 1995. The hypocenter extended from Kumamoto prefecture to Oita prefecture, cutting across the island of Kyushu. Mount Aso also saw increased volcanic activities which led to several landslides. This resulted in the collapse of the Great Aso Bridge, an important transportation point, causing the loss of human lives as well as obstruction of traffic for an extended period. Much confusion arose in the process of implementing measures in response to the earthquakes, which produced damage in urban areas as well as hilly and mountainous regions, raising many issues and prompting several new approaches. Researchers in many fields have conducted various activities at the disaster sites in the one-year period following the earthquakes, and produced significant findings in many areas. In order to make these results available to the wider global community, JDR is releasing a special issue on the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes with excellent papers and reports to mark their one-year anniversary. While the submitted papers to this special issue went through our regular peer review process, no publication charge was imposed so as to encourage as many submissions as possible. It is our hope that this special issue will contribute to throwing light on the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes in its entirety.

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Parents´ Knowledge about the Effects of Oral Hygiene, Proper Nutrition and Fluoride Prophylaxis on Oral Health in Early Childhood

Balkan Journal of Dental Medicine ◽

10.2478/bjdm-2018-0005 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 26-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aleksandrija Djordjevic

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Oral Health ◽

Oral Hygiene ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Education Institution ◽

Preventive Dentistry ◽

One Year ◽

The One ◽

The Impact

SummaryBackground/Aim: Health education, as one of the important aspects of preventive dentistry, plays an important role in promoting and achieving good oral health. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of parents´ knowledge about the effects of oral hygiene, proper nutrition and fluoride prophylaxis on oral heath in early childhood. Material andMethods: Parents were asked to fill a questionnaire which consisted of three sections, oral hygiene, fluoride prophylaxis and nutrition. The study included 136 parents of children, aged between 3-6 years. The survey was conducted in pedagogical-education institution - PE “Our happiness” - Leposavic, Kosovo and Metohia, Serbia. Results: More than 58% parents from urban areas and 63% parents from rural areas were informed that the teeth should be brushed at least twice a day (p=0.007). Only 31.11% of parents from urban and 15.22% of parents from rural areas were informed that a child should visit dentists for the first time, at the one year of age (p=0.083). The analysis of the questionnaire section regarding the nutrition and oral health, showed that parents from rural areas were better informed than parents from urban areas. Awareness about fluoride and their role in preventive dentistry was poor, as only 3% of children from urban and 1% of children from rural areas were using tablets based on fluoride while only 1% of children from urban and none from rural areas were using fluoride mouth rinses. Conclusions: The study showed that parents have the knowledge about the impact of oral hygiene, food and fluoride prophylaxis on the oral health but unfortunately they do not apply their knowledge in practice.

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