scholarly journals Spatiotemporal analyses illuminate the competitive advantage of a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern over a variant of interest

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Russell ◽  
Collin O'Connor ◽  
Erica Lasek-Nesselquist ◽  
Jonathan Plitnick ◽  
John P Kelly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Immune Evasion ◽  
York City ◽  
Scan Statistics ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Novel Variants ◽  
Spatiotemporal Analyses ◽  
Time Scan

The emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants in late 2020 and early 2021 raised alarm worldwide and prompted reassessment of the management, surveillance, and projected future of COVID-19. Mutations that confer competitive advantages by increasing transmissibility or immune evasion have been associated with the localized dominance of single variants. Thus, elucidating the evolutionary and epidemiological dynamics among novel variants is essential for understanding the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we show the interplay between B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.526 (Iota) in New York (NY) from December 2020 to April 2021 through phylogeographic analyses, space-time scan statistics, and cartographic visualization. Our results indicate that B.1.526 likely evolved in the Bronx in late 2020, providing opportunity for an initial foothold in the heavily interconnected New York City (NYC) region, as evidenced by numerous exportations to surrounding locations. In contrast, B.1.1.7 became dominant in regions of upstate NY where B.1.526 had limited presence, suggesting that B.1.1.7 was able to spread more efficiently in the absence of B.1.526. Clusters discovered from the spatial-time scan analysis supported the role of competition between B.1.526 and B.1.1.7 in NYC in March 2021 and the outsized presence of B.1.1.7 in upstate NY in April 2021. Although B.1.526 likely delayed the rise of B.1.1.7 in NYC, B.1.1.7 became the dominant variant in the Metro region by the end of the study period. These results reveal the advantages endemicity may grant to a variant (founder effect), despite the higher fitness of an introduced lineage. Our research highlights the dynamics of inter-variant competition at a time when B.1.617.2 (Delta) is overtaking B.1.1.7 as the dominant lineage worldwide. We believe our combined spatiotemporal methodologies can disentangle the complexities of shifting SARS-CoV-2 variant landscapes at a time when the evolution of variants with additional fitness advantages is impending.

Christopher Wheeldon

2021 ◽  
pp. 735-753
Author(s):  
Rachel Straus
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Broadway Musical ◽  
The Press ◽  
Michael Jackson

In 2000, English-born Christopher Wheeldon became the first artist-in-residence at New York City Ballet (NYCB). The press compared his choreography to George Balanchine’s. This chapter discusses Wheeldon’s critically acclaimed NYCB ballet Polyphonia (2001) in relation to the “thick narrative” of the company’s history. It argues that Wheeldon’s collaborations with NYCB dancers Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto, in Polyphonia and other works, produced a unique aesthetic, one that transcended Balanchine’s neoclassical legacy. The chapter ends by considering how Wheeldon’s controversial decision to direct the Broadway musical about Michael Jackson is not out of character, but emblematic of his propensity to embrace the role of an outsider, who works to understand the unfamiliar and who surpasses what is expected of him.

The Import of a Narrative : The Role of Aesthetics and Discursive Elements in Fabricating Change in the Centre of São Paulo

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Kalichman ◽  
Beatriz Rufino
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
York City ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Urban Transformation ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
The Past

This chapter examines the use of aesthetic and discursive elements in the production of a narrative about República, a district in the central area of São Paulo (Brazil) that has been transformed through a real estate boom in the past ten years. We focus on newly built studio apartments, and on the efforts to differentiate them from the quitinetes, apartments with similar features built in the 1950s and 1960s that have been heavily stigmatized. We situate our analysis of this purposeful urban transformation within a context intertwined with urban marketing, publicity, and image making. Our research shows the strong presence of an industrial aesthetic in the area, which we understand as being a deliberate echo of the gentrification process that took place in SoHo in New York City in the 1970s.

Support at Any Distance? The Role of Location and Prejudice in Public Opposition to the “Ground Zero Mosque”

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (04) ◽  
pp. 753-759
Author(s):  
Brian F. Schaffner
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
York City ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Ground Zero ◽  
Multicultural Center ◽  
Public Opposition

AbstractIn 2010, a debate erupted about plans to construct a mosque (as part of a larger multicultural center) approximately two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City. The main justification given by those who opposed the mosque was that building it so close to Ground Zero would appear to be insensitive. Public opinion appeared to support this notion, as large majorities of Americans registered their opposition to the mosque in surveys conducted at the time. In this article, I examine whether distance was, in fact, an important factor influencing citizens' opposition to the mosque. Using a survey experiment, I asked for opinions on the building of a mosque while randomizing how far the mosque was located from Ground Zero. Results from the experiment indicate that opposition to the mosque was unaffected by how far the mosque would be located from Ground Zero, but strongly influenced by factors such as partisanship, ideology, and tolerance for out groups.

Corporate Role of New York City in the Metropolitan Hierarchy

1990 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 370 ◽  
Author(s):  
James O. Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City

scholarly journals Do Social Connections Reduce Moral Hazard? Evidence from the New York City Taxi Industry

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Kirabo Jackson ◽  
Henry S Schneider
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Moral Hazard ◽  
York City ◽  
Instrumental Variable ◽  
Incomplete Contracts ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Taxi Industry ◽  
Driving Outcomes

This study investigates the role of social networks in aligning the incentives of agents in settings with incomplete contracts. Specifically, the study examines the New York City taxi industry where taxis are often leased and lessee-drivers have worse driving outcomes than owner-drivers due to moral hazard. Using within-driver variation and instrumental variable strategies to remove selection, we find that drivers leasing from members of their country-of-birth community exhibit significantly reduced effects of moral hazard, representing an improvement of almost one-half of a standard deviation of the outcome measures. Screening is ruled out as an explanation, and other mechanisms are investigated. (JEL D82, D86, L92, Z13)

Belford: A Mid-Atlantic Fishing Community Facing Change

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 14-18
Author(s):  
Barbara Jones
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Fishing Communities ◽  
Commercial Fishing ◽  
Fishing Community ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Traditional Fishing

Belford is a small (about 1.32 square miles), relatively isolated, fishing community. It is nestled between Port Monmouth and Leonardo on Route 36 in the Bayshore area of Middletown, New Jersey. It sits across the bay from New York City such that the view from the fishing port is of New York City and the Earle Naval Pier. Belford is a mix of houses and small businesses, although the primary economic focus is the Belford Seafood Cooperative and the beach/fishing access areas. Ethnographic data was collected for the Belford commercial fishing port as part of a larger effort to provide information that can be used to assess the impacts of changes in the regulatory environment on fisheries and fishing communities. The profile of Belford the follows contributes to other work done on the likely social impacts of alternative regulatory actions, as well as developing scientifically defensible criteria for determining fishery dependency. This research also contributes to our understanding of the role of gentrification on traditional fishing communities, particularly the stress gentrification puts on traditional behaviors.

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