scholarly journals Contribution of Schools to Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Czechia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyril Brom ◽  
Jakub Drbohlav ◽  
Martin Šmíd ◽  
Milan Zajíček
Keyword(s):  
Primary Schools ◽  
School Attendance ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Primary Method ◽  
Growth Reduction ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
School Year ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPurposeIt is unclear how much opening of schools during Covid-19 pandemic contributes to new SARS-CoV-2 infections among children. We investigated the impact of school opening with various mitigation measures (masks, rotations, mass testing) on growth rate of new cases in child cohorts ranging from kindergartens to upper secondary in Czechia, a country heavily hit by Covid-19, since April 2020 to June 2021.MethodsOur primary method is comparison of the reported infections in age cohorts corresponding to school grades undergoing different regimes. When there is no opportunity for such a comparison, we estimate corresponding coefficients from a regression model. In both the cases, we assume that district-level infections in particular cohorts depend on the school attendance and the external environment in dependence on the current overall risk contact reduction.ResultsThe estimates of in-cohort growth rates were significantly higher for normally opened schools compared to closed schools. When prevalence is comparable in the cohorts and general population, and no further measures are applied, the in-cohort growth reduction for closed kindergartens is 29% (SE=11%); primary: 19% (7%); lower secondary: 39% (6%); upper secondary: 47% (6%). For secondary education, mitigation measures reduce school-related growth 2-6 times.ConclusionConsidering more infectious SARS-CoV-2 variants and the ‘long covid’ risk, mitigation measures in schools, especially in secondary levels, should be implemented for the next school year. Some infections, however, are inevitable, even in kindergartens (where mitigation measures are difficult to implement) and primary schools (where they may not work due to low adherence).

Technical Risks and Mitigation Measures in Combustion Turbine Project Development

2002 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 228-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Grace ◽  
J. Scheibel
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Life Cycle Costs ◽  
Project Development ◽  
Technical Risk ◽  
Technical Risks ◽  
Interruption Costs ◽  
The Impact

Project developers, insurers, financiers, and maintenance organizations have an interest in quantifying technical risks and evaluating risk mitigation alternatives for combustion turbine (CT) power plants. By identifying exposure to risk early in the project development process, optimal procurement decisions, and mitigation measures can be adopted for improved financial returns. This paper describes a methodology used to quantify all nonfuel O&M costs, including scheduled and unplanned maintenance, and business interruption costs due to unplanned outages. The paper offers examples that demonstrate the impact of technical risk on project profitability. An overview of activities required for addressing technical risk as part of the equipment selection and procurement process is provided, and areas of technical improvements for reducing life cycle costs are described.

scholarly journals Protecting clinical trials in cystic fibrosis during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: risks and mitigation measures

Trials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke van Koningsbruggen-Rietschel ◽  
Fiona Dunlevy ◽  
Veerle Bulteel ◽  
Kate Hayes ◽  
Anne Verbrugge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Cystic Fibrosis ◽  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Home Delivery ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Site Location ◽  
Phone Calls ◽  
Source Data Verification ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has disrupted clinical trials worldwide. The European Cystic Fibrosis Society-Clinical Trials Network (ECFS-CTN) has tracked clinical trial disruption by surveying its 58 trial sites across 17 European countries and collated information on measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and ensure trial continuity. Here, we present recommendations on how to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure to patients and trial staff by implementing remote trial visits where possible, using home assessments, video and phone calls, electronic consent, and home delivery of study drugs. We discuss the practicalities of remote source data verification, protocol amendments, changing trial site location, and staff absences and home working. We outline recommendations on how to protect trial outcomes, including home assessments, safety reporting, protocol deviations, and recruitment challenges. Finally, we discuss the importance of continued access to study drugs via extension trials for some patients. This guidance was co-created from the shared knowledge and experience of sites in our network and was re-distributed directly to all ECFS-CTN sites to help mitigate the impact of further waves of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We will also use this guidance to assist companies, academia, and consortia with future protocol design and risk mitigation plans. This guidance can be applied to clinical trials in other diseases and could help sites that are not supported by clinical trial networks.

scholarly journals The Effect of You Can Do It! Education in Six Schools on Student Perceptions of Well-Being, Teaching-Learning and Relationships

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Professor Michael Edwin Bernard ◽  
Kate Walton
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional Wellbeing ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
School Year ◽  
It Education ◽  
The Impact

This research investigated the impact of a social and emotional learning program, You Can Do It! Education (YCDI), on different aspects of student social and emotional wellbeing. YCDI was implemented on a whole-school basis in six primary schools with six matched schools serving as controls. At the end of the school year, students in grade 5 in both types of schools completed the Attitudes to School Survey (Victorian Department of Education) and, again, at the end of the following school year when they were in grade 6. Results indicated significant improvements over time on different aspects of student well-being in the YCDI schools and not in the non-YCDI schools. The positive impact of a train-the-trainer model used in this study in a variety of schools under naturally occurring conditions holds promise for low-cost, preventive mental health programs.

scholarly journals Improving vaccination coverage and offering vaccine to all school-age children will allow uninterrupted in-person schooling in King County, WA: Modeling analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloe Bracis ◽  
Mia Moore ◽  
David A Swan ◽  
Laura Matrajt ◽  
Larissa Anderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Base Case ◽  
King County ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
Base Case Scenario ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
School Year ◽  
The Impact

Background: The mass rollout of COVID vaccination in early 2021 allowed local and state authorities to relax mobility and social interaction regulations in spring 2021 including lifting all restrictions for vaccinated people and restoring in-person schooling. However, the emergence and rapid spread of highly transmissible variants combined with slowing down the pace of vaccination created uncertainty around the future trajectory of the epidemic. In this study we analyze the expected benefits of offering vaccination to children age 5-11 under differing conditions for in-person schooling. Methods: We adapted a mathematical model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, calibrated to data from King County, Washington, to handle multiple variants with increased transmissibility and virulence as well as differential vaccine efficacies against each variant. Reactive social distancing is implemented driven by fluctuations in the number of hospitalizations in the county. We simulate scenarios offering vaccination to children aged 5-11 with different starting dates and different proportions of physical interactions (PPI) in schools being restored. The impact of improving overall vaccination coverage among the eligible population is also explored. Cumulative hospitalizations, percentage reduction of hospitalizations and proportion of time at maximum social distancing over the 2021-2022 school year are reported. Findings: In the base-case scenario with 85% vaccination coverage of 12+ year-olds, our model projects 4945 (median, IQR 4622-5341) total COVID-19 hospitalizations and 325 (median, IQR 264-400) pediatric hospitalizations if physical contacts at schools are fully restored (100% PPI) for the entire school year compared to 3675 (median, IQR 2311-4725) and 163 (median, IQR 95-226) if schools remained closed. Reducing contacts in schools to 75% PPI or 50% PPI through masking, ventilation and distancing is expected to decrease the overall cumulative hospitalizations by 2% and 4% respectively and youth hospitalizations by 8% and 23% respectively. Offering early vaccination to children aged 5-11 with 75% PPI is expected to prevent 756 (median, IQR 301-1434) hospitalizations and cut hospitalizations in the youngest age group in half compared to no vaccination. It will largely reduce the need of additional social distancing over the school year. If, in addition, 90% overall vaccination coverage is reached, 60% of remaining hospitalizations will be averted and the need of extra mitigation measures almost certainly avoided. Conclusions: Our work highlights that in-person schooling is possible if reasonable precaution measures are taken at schools to reduced infectious contacts. Rapid vaccination of all school-aged children will provide meaningful reduction of the COVID health burden over this school year but only if implemented early. Finally, it remains critical to vaccinate as many people as possible to limit the morbidity and mortality associated with the current surge in Delta variant cases.

scholarly journals Hands-On Experience of Crowdsourcing for Flood Risks. An Android Mobile Application Tested in Frederikssund, Denmark

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Frigerio ◽  
Luca Schenato ◽  
Giulia Bossi ◽  
Matteo Mantovani ◽  
Gianluca Marcato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Response ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Weather Forecast ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Exposed Population ◽  
Hands On ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Design And Testing

There is evidence that the toll of death and destruction caused by natural hazards is rising. This is often ascribed to the impact of climate change that resulted in an increased frequency of extreme meteorological events. As a consequence, it is realistic to expect that the casualties and damages caused by floods will increase in the near future. Advanced weather forecast is a fundamental tool to predict the occurrence of floods and structural mitigation measures are crucial for flood protection. However, these strategies should be associate with tools to promote and increase natural-disaster awareness and nonstructural mitigation measures in the exposed population. To bridge this gap, we coupled innovative, ICT-based technologies with crowdsourcing. The idea is to exploit geospatial data gathered by citizens and volunteers with their own devices such as mobile phones to provide authorities with relevant information in case of flood emergencies. This paper describes the design and testing of an Android application named MAppERS (Mobile Applications for Emergency Response and Support), thought to enhance active participation and response of the population in territorial and flood-risk mitigation in Frederikssund, Denmark. The results of the piloting fully validate MAppERS as an effective tool to support the decision-making process during a crisis and to improve the awareness of the community and their disaster resilience.

A proposed analytic framework for determining the impact of an antimicrobial resistance intervention

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yrjo T. Grohn ◽  
Carolee Carson ◽  
Cristina Lanzas ◽  
Laura Pullum ◽  
Michael Stanhope ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Enteric Bacteria ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Biological Synthesis ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Suitable Framework ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractAntimicrobial use (AMU) is increasingly threatened by antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The FDA is implementing risk mitigation measures promoting prudent AMU in food animals. Their evaluation is crucial: the AMU/AMR relationship is complex; a suitable framework to analyze interventions is unavailable. Systems science analysis, depicting variables and their associations, would help integrate mathematics/epidemiology to evaluate the relationship. This would identify informative data and models to evaluate interventions. This National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis AMR Working Group's report proposes a system framework to address the methodological gap linking livestock AMU and AMR in foodborne bacteria. It could evaluate how AMU (and interventions) impact AMR. We will evaluate pharmacokinetic/dynamic modeling techniques for projecting AMR selection pressure on enteric bacteria. We study two methods to model phenotypic AMR changes in bacteria in the food supply and evolutionary genotypic analyses determining molecular changes in phenotypic AMR. Systems science analysis integrates the methods, showing how resistance in the food supply is explained by AMU and concurrent factors influencing the whole system. This process is updated with data and techniques to improve prediction and inform improvements for AMU/AMR surveillance. Our proposed framework reflects both the AMR system's complexity, and desire for simple, reliable conclusions.

scholarly journals ANALYSING DELAY IMPACT FROM POTENTIAL RISK FACTORS ON PROJECT DELIVERY OF OIL AND GAS PIPELINE: A CASE STUDY IN IRAQ

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
LAYTH A KRAIDI ◽  
Raj Shah ◽  
Wilfred Matipa ◽  
Fiona Fiona Borthwick
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Project Delivery ◽  
Analysis Framework ◽  
Potential Risk Factors ◽  
South Of Iraq ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this paper is to present the design and specifications of an integrated Delay Analysis Framework (DAF), which could be used to quantify the delay caused by the Risk Factors (RFs) in Oil and Gas Pipelines (OGPs) projects in a simple and systematic way. The main inputs of the DAF are (i) the potential list of RFs in the projects and their impact levels on the projects and the estimated maximum and minimum duration of each task. Monte Carlo Simulation integrated within @Risk simulator was the key process algorithm that used to quantify the impact of delay caused by the associated RFs. The key output of the DAF is the amount of potential delay caused by RFs in the OGP project. The functionalities of the developed DAF were evaluated using a case study of newly developed OGP project, in the south of Iraq. It is found that the case study project might have delayed by 45 days if neglected the consideration of the RFs associated with the project at the construction stage. The paper concludes that identifying the associated RFs and analysing the potential delay in advance will help in reducing the construction delay and improving the effectiveness of the project delivery by taking suitable risk mitigation measures.  

Understanding students’ preferences on school mid-day meal menu in India

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 805-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jabir Ali ◽  
Mohammad Akbar
Keyword(s):  
Primary Schools ◽  
School Attendance ◽  
Evaluation Studies ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Content Type ◽  
School Meal ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the difference in students’ preferences on weekly menu of school mid-day meal (MDM) program in Uttar Pradesh, India. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on primary structured questionnaire survey through personal interviews using multi-stage stratified sampling technique. This comprehensive survey covered 2,400 primary and upper primary students belonging to eight districts of Uttar Pradesh – Allahabad, Balrampur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Hathras, Kanpur Nagar, Mathura, Shahjahanpur and Varanasi. A total of 60 schools have been selected from each district, covering a total of 480 primary and upper primary schools. Simple statistical tools have been used to analyze the surveyed data such as cross-tabulation, percentage distribution and rank analysis. Further, six research hypotheses have been formulated to analyze the difference in school meal menu preferences among the students and χ2-statistics has been used to test the significance level of these hypotheses. Findings – Survey results indicate that more than 90 percent students eat MDM in the school as per the weekly menu. Result of χ2-test indicates that choices on school meal menu among the students differ significantly across weekdays. Rice-pulses or rice-sambar served on Tuesday is reported to be the first preferred food of children given first preference by around 30 percent, followed by kadi-rice or kheer which is served on Wednesday. The results of χ2-tests exhibited a significant difference on weekly menu choices by gender, kitchen types, rural and urban locations and geographical regions. About 27 percent of the students reported that they want to have a change in the menu. When further probed about the kind of changes desired in the menu, puri-vegetables was found to be the most preferred choice of the respondents, beside halwa/kheer and rice with pulses/vegetables/kadi being the next preferred choices. Practical implications – The present study provides managerial implications to the policy makers and scheme/program implementers for better understanding of the students’ preferences on school MDM weekly menu. Originality/value – There are several evaluation studies undertaken by various agencies to assess the impact of MDM program on school attendance, retention and nutritional status of children. However, there are limited numbers of studies available, which have measured the students’ preferences on school MDM menu.

Residents’ perceptions of risk towards residential property in Canterbury NZ subsequent to the earthquakes

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Bond
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Residential Property ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Transient Nature ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Market Behaviour

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate residents’ perceptions of risk towards owning and living in residential property in Christchurch subsequent to the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes to identify how these perceptions impact on the price residents are willing to pay for affected property. Such market behaviour can motivate homeowners to adopt risk mitigation measures. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was developed and the Web link distributed to Canterbury residents via the media. This method of distribution was adopted, as a postal survey was not possible due to the number of homes that had been destroyed by the earthquakes and the highly transient nature of the community as a result. Findings – The results indicate that with the recent earthquake experience, residents are demonstrating risk mitigation behaviours through an aversion to investing in properties affected by, or with a risk of, liquefaction. Specifically, the majority of respondents had strong reservations about buying Technical Category 3 property, and would be prepared to pay 20 per cent (or > 20 per cent) less for it, indicating some stigma towards affected property. Further, most respondents would now prefer the construction of their home to be of a type that fared better in the earthquakes: lightweight, single-storey, with a concrete slab foundation. These housing preferences will likely drive the market towards the adoption of risk mitigation measures in the retrofit of existing homes as well as in the design and construction of new homes. Research limitations/implications – Due to the number of homes that had been destroyed by the earthquakes and the highly transient nature of the community as a result, probability sampling was not possible. This, together with the low response rate, means that the respondents surveyed may not be representative of the Christchurch population. Practical implications – The outcomes of this research will be of interest not only to homeowners wanting to know how their home’s value has been impacted by market perceptions towards earthquake and liquefaction damage, particularly in the worst-affected areas, but also the rating valuers tasked with assessing property values for rating purposes. Property developers and builders involved in the repair of existing homes and construction of new homes will also want to know current market preferences. Government bodies will find the results informative of how the media has, and can be used, to motivate market behaviour towards risk mitigation, particularly in regard to “material risk” (as described in Solberg et al., 2010), that is risk from a scientific and technical viewpoint of probability of future risk, and as related to what has become known about these risks in terms of building structure, height, age, soil type/land categories and flood zones. Further, the results provide a gauge of how the community perceived the handling of the recovery process, so that the weaknesses highlighted can be addressed, which will help restore community trust. Originality/value – This study fills a research void on the impact of residents’ perceptions of risk towards home ownership in a city impacted by significant earthquakes and resulting liquefaction.

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