scholarly journals Simple mathematical models for controlling COVID-19 transmission through social distancing and community awareness

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed S. Elgazzar
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Small World ◽  
Vaccination Rate ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Community Awareness ◽  
Sufficient Degree ◽  
And Control

Abstract The novel COVID-19 pandemic is a current, major global health threat. Up till now, there is no fully approved pharmacological treatment or a vaccine. Also, its origin is still mysterious. In this study, simple mathematical models were employed to examine the dynamics of transmission and control of COVID-19 taking into consideration social distancing and community awareness. Both situations of homogeneous and nonhomogeneous population were considered. Based on the calculations, a sufficient degree of social distancing based on its reproductive ratio is found to be effective in controlling COVID-19, even in the absence of a vaccine. With a vaccine, social distancing minimizes the sufficient vaccination rate to control the disease. Community awareness also has a great impact in eradicating the virus transmission. The model is simulated on small-world networks and the role of social distancing in controlling the infection is explained.

Environmental innovation practices and operational performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1325-1357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobo Gomez-Conde ◽  
Rogerio Joao Lunkes ◽  
Fabricia Silva Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Management Control ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Operational Performance ◽  
Institutional Pressures ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Environmental Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovation Practices ◽  
And Control

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of management accounting and control systems (MACS) on environmental innovation practices and operational performance. Specifically, this study relies on Simons’ levers of control (LOC) framework to investigate how managers implement environmental innovation practices. This paper hypothesizes that a forward-looking use of MACS (i.e. interactive use) triggers the implementation of environmental innovation practices, resulting in higher operational performance. Furthermore, the authors argue that the monitoring role of MACS (i.e. diagnostic use) combined with environmental training improves the effect of environmental innovation practices on operational performance. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses are examined through a questionnaire survey. The analyses are based on responses in an empirical study from 89 Brazilian hotels. Findings Empirical findings from a hierarchical moderated regression analysis support the hypothesized links. Originality/value This study contributes to the environmental management and management control literature by providing novel evidence on the roles MACS play in the field of sustainable development. Based on the LOC framework, the authors shed light on the understanding of how managers introduce and monitor environmental innovation practices, as well as also outlining the key effects of environmental training in enabling the novel abilities of managers and employees to better understand environmental data and identify novel potential environmentally friendly solutions in the case of deviations. This paper also adds to Wijethilake et al. (2017), providing new empirical evidence on how firms design, implement and use MACS that capture institutional pressures for sustainability from multiple stakeholders.

Domestic Poetics: Hippias' House in Achilles Tatius

2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Whitmarsh
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Love Elegy ◽  
Achilles Tatius ◽  
Roman Literature ◽  
Patriarchal Ideology ◽  
A Site ◽  
And Control

Other Greek novels open in poleis, before swiftly shunting their protagonists out of them and into the adventure world. Why does Achilles Tatius' Leucippe and Clitophon open in a house (with no sign of any political apparatus), and stay there for almost one quarter of the novel? This article explores the cultural, psychological, and metaliterary role of the house in Achilles, reading it as a site of conflict between the dominant, patriarchal ideology of the father and the subversive intent of the young lovers. If the house principally embodies the authoritarian will of the father to order and control, it nevertheless provides the lovers with opportunities to re-encode space opportunistically as erotic. The house cannot be reconstructed archaeologically (Clitophon is too flittish a narrator for that), but it is nevertheless clearly divided into different qualitative zones—diningroom, bedrooms, garden—each of which has its own psychosocial and emotional texture, its own challenges, and its own resources. Achilles' modelling of the house may reflect Roman ideas of domestic aristocratic display, and perhaps even the influence of Roman literature (particularly love elegy).

scholarly journals African swine fever virus – the possible role of flies and other insects in virus transmission

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateusz Fila ◽  
Grzegorz Woźniakowski
Keyword(s):  
African Swine Fever Virus ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
African Swine Fever ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Haemorrhagic Disease ◽  
And Control

AbstractAfrican swine fever (ASF) is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease of pigs and wild boars. It presents a serious threat to pig production worldwide, and since 2007, ASF outbreaks have been recorded in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and the Baltic States. In 2014, the disease was detected in Poland. ASF is on the list of notifiable diseases of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Due to the lack of an available vaccine and treatment, the countermeasures against the disease consist in early detection of the virus in the pig population and control of its spread through the elimination of herds affected by disease outbreaks. Knowledge of the potential vectors of the virus and its persistence in the environment is crucial to prevent further disease spread and to understand the new epidemiology for how it compares to the previous experience in Spain gathered in the 1970s and 1980s.

scholarly journals Mathematical modelling and phylodynamics for the study of dog rabies dynamics and control: A scoping review

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. e0009449
Author(s):  
Maylis Layan ◽  
Simon Dellicour ◽  
Guy Baele ◽  
Simon Cauchemez ◽  
Hervé Bourhy
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modelling ◽  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Domestic Dog ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Dynamics And Control ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Background Rabies is a fatal yet vaccine-preventable disease. In the last two decades, domestic dog populations have been shown to constitute the predominant reservoir of rabies in developing countries, causing 99% of human rabies cases. Despite substantial control efforts, dog rabies is still widely endemic and is spreading across previously rabies-free areas. Developing a detailed understanding of dog rabies dynamics and the impact of vaccination is essential to optimize existing control strategies and developing new ones. In this scoping review, we aimed at disentangling the respective contributions of mathematical models and phylodynamic approaches to advancing the understanding of rabies dynamics and control in domestic dog populations. We also addressed the methodological limitations of both approaches and the remaining issues related to studying rabies spread and how this could be applied to rabies control. Methodology/principal findings We reviewed how mathematical modelling of disease dynamics and phylodynamics have been developed and used to characterize dog rabies dynamics and control. Through a detailed search of the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases, we identified a total of n = 59 relevant studies using mathematical models (n = 30), phylodynamic inference (n = 22) and interdisciplinary approaches (n = 7). We found that despite often relying on scarce rabies epidemiological data, mathematical models investigated multiple aspects of rabies dynamics and control. These models confirmed the overwhelming efficacy of massive dog vaccination campaigns in all settings and unraveled the role of dog population structure and frequent introductions in dog rabies maintenance. Phylodynamic approaches successfully disentangled the evolutionary and environmental determinants of rabies dispersal and consistently reported support for the role of reintroduction events and human-mediated transportation over long distances in the maintenance of rabies in endemic areas. Potential biases in data collection still need to be properly accounted for in most of these analyses. Finally, interdisciplinary studies were determined to provide the most comprehensive assessments through hypothesis generation and testing. They also represent new avenues, especially concerning the reconstruction of local transmission chains or clusters through data integration. Conclusions/significance Despite advances in rabies knowledge, substantial uncertainty remains regarding the mechanisms of local spread, the role of wildlife in dog rabies maintenance, and the impact of community behavior on the efficacy of control strategies including vaccination of dogs. Future integrative approaches that use phylodynamic analyses and mechanistic models within a single framework could take full advantage of not only viral sequences but also additional epidemiological information as well as dog ecology data to refine our understanding of rabies spread and control. This would represent a significant improvement on past studies and a promising opportunity for canine rabies research in the frame of the One Health concept that aims to achieve better public health outcomes through cross-sector collaboration.

scholarly journals Rapid Serological Testing for Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-107
Author(s):  
Sultan M. Faheem ◽  
Jancie D’Mello ◽  
Sultan M. Kaleem ◽  
Burra V. L. S. Prasad ◽  
Khalid Siddiqui
Keyword(s):  
Protective Immunity ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Serological Testing ◽  
Prophylactic Measure ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Effective Care ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
And Control

With the onset of the novel coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) that emerged from Wuhan in China, the need of the hour can be summarized into two groups. The first one is a potent vaccine as a prophylactic measure to prevent the virus from infecting people, and the second is a rapid diagnosis of the disease to help healthcare professionals and government authorities to plan and control the spread and provide effective care and treatment. This review delves into the latter, describing the COVID-19 and its treatment, including the race for an effective vaccine, and highlighting the role of serological testing in managing the pandemic since a well-designed study to understand mechanisms and serological correlations of protective immunity is crucial for rational clinical and public health policies. In conclusion, swift vaccination and response tactics, such as social distancing, hand hygiene, wearing of masks, and, if required, lockdown practices continue to be important in managing the pandemic while carefully monitoring any possible outbreak due to the variants.

scholarly journals The role of race and scientific trust on support for COVID-19 social distancing measures in the United States

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254127
Author(s):  
Sara Kazemian ◽  
Sam Fuller ◽  
Carlos Algara
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Institutional Trust ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Media ◽  
Racial Lines ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Pundits and academics across disciplines note that the human toll brought forth by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States (U.S.) is fundamentally unequal for communities of color. Standing literature on public health posits that one of the chief predictors of racial disparity in health outcomes is a lack of institutional trust among minority communities. Furthermore, in our own county-level analysis from the U.S., we find that counties with higher percentages of Black and Hispanic residents have had vastly higher cumulative deaths from COVID-19. In light of this standing literature and our own analysis, it is critical to better understand how to mitigate or prevent these unequal outcomes for any future pandemic or public health emergency. Therefore, we assess the claim that raising institutional trust, primarily scientific trust, is key to mitigating these racial inequities. Leveraging a new, pre-pandemic measure of scientific trust, we find that trust in science, unlike trust in politicians or the media, significantly raises support for COVID-19 social distancing policies across racial lines. Our findings suggest that increasing scientific trust is essential to garnering support for public health policies that lessen the severity of the current, and potentially a future, pandemic.

Small World Architecture for Building Effective Virtual Organisations

2009 ◽  
pp. 190-211
Author(s):  
Lu Liu ◽  
Nick Antonopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Variable ◽  
Virtual Organisations ◽  
Small World ◽  
Psychological Ownership ◽  
Grid Technology ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
And Control ◽  
Affective Dimensions ◽  
Grid Based

The aim of this chapter is to appreciate the need for and propose some thoughts on modelling trust–control dynamics for communities that use grid technology. It takes the viewpoint that members within a grid-based community require a trust framework that brings together and takes into account both social and technological approaches to trust. It also emphasises the importance of the simultaneous analysis of trust and control in their co-development. In line with the duality perspective that considers trust and control as independent yet interrelated dimensions, trust is explored in its relation to control. Control is examined as a multi-dimensional phenomenon that includes personal, formal, and social scopes. The analysis of trust appeals to its cognitive and affective dimensions. The model introduced also takes into account the mediating role of psychological ownership in the trust–control dynamics. Specifically, shared psychological ownership is singled out as a new explanatory variable of this dynamic.

scholarly journals Impacts of Social and Economic Factors on the Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Qiu ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
Wei Shi
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Factors ◽  
Transmission Rate ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Virus Spread ◽  
Government Response ◽  
Machine Learning Approach ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

AbstractThis paper examines the role of various socioeconomic factors in mediating the local and cross-city transmissions of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) in China. We implement a machine learning approach to select instrumental variables that strongly predict virus transmission among the rich exogenous weather characteristics. Our 2SLS estimates show that the stringent quarantine, massive lockdown and other public health measures imposed in late January significantly reduced the transmission rate of COVID-19. By early February, the virus spread had been contained. While many socioeconomic factors mediate the virus spread, a robust government response since late January played a determinant role in the containment of the virus. We also demonstrate that the actual population flow from the outbreak source poses a higher risk to the destination than other factors such as geographic proximity and similarity in economic conditions. The results have rich implications for ongoing global efforts in containment of COVID-19.

scholarly journals A Modelling Analysis of Strategies for Relaxing COVID-19 Social Distancing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
George J Milne ◽  
Simon Xie ◽  
Dana Poklepovich
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Optimal Strategies ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Modelling Analysis ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
Modelling Studies ◽  
Individual Based Simulation ◽  
Robust Measures ◽  
And Control

AbstractBackgroundThe ability of countries to contain and control COVID-19 virus transmission via social distancing is critical in the absence of a vaccine. Early activation of robust measures has been shown to control the daily infection rate, and consequential pressure on the health care system. As countries begin to control COVID-19 spread an understanding of how to ease social distancing measures to prevent a rebound in cases and deaths is required.MethodsUsing COVID-19 transmission data from the outbreak source in Hubei Province, China prior to activation of containment measures, we adapted an established individual-based simulation model of the city of Newcastle, Australia. Simulation of virus transmission in this model, with and without, social distancing measures activated permitted us to quantify social distancing effectiveness. Optimal strategies for relaxing social distancing were determined under two settings: with high numbers of daily cases, as in New York; and where early social distancing activation resulted in limited ongoing transmission, as in Perth, Australia.FindingsIn countries where strong social distancing measures were activated after the COVID-19 virus had spread widely, our study found these measures are required to be maintained for significant periods before being eased, to return to a situation where daily case numbers become low. In countries where early responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been highly successful, as in Australia, we show that a staged relaxation of social distancing prevents a rebound in cases.InterpretationModelling studies and direct observation have shown that robust and timely social distancing have the most effect in containing the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Questions arise as to the duration of strong social distancing measures, given they are highly disruptive to society and economic activity. This study demonstrates the necessity of holding robust social distancing in place until COVID-19 virus transmission has significantly decreased, and how they may then be safely eased.

Transmission, Prevention and Therapeutic Strategies for COVID-19: Updates and Challenges

Coronaviruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 02 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habibur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Control Measure ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Immune Therapies ◽  
Global Health Care ◽  
Repurposed Drugs ◽  
Transmission Prevention ◽  
And Control

Background: Almost the whole world is observing a pandemic like never before in the last century, affecting the human lifestyle and economies known as coronavirus disease -2019 (COVID-19). A new severe acute respiratory syndrome that has emerged in China in late 2019 and spread in more than 210 countries makes a global health care emergency. Objective: Considering the epidemiological features of COVID-19, it is crucial to prevent the spread of such a highly infectious disease through effective control methods such as early detection, isolation, and treatment strategies. Conclusion: This review highlights the virus transmission routes among communities and control measure to improve the quarantine and isolation of infected individuals. The "gold standard" molecular and other rapid diagnostic tests used to detect SARS-CoV-2 and their benefits and limitations have reported. Several repurposed drugs, including antivirals, trailed for COVID-19 patients and supportive treatments such as general, cellular, and immune therapies with the role of vitamins in the safe deployment for COVID-19 patients, have also discussed. Finally, the review also encompasses an overview and update about the recent development of COVID-19 vaccines and ongoing clinical studies, which can provide further research advances.

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