The Problems Experienced by Employees with Chronic Disease during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Chronic diseases served as a silent global epidemic before the pandemic, and individuals living with chronic disease now form one of the groups most affected by COVID-19. This study aims to determine the problems that employees with chronic disease face during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the study, data were collected from 952 individuals who live with chronic disease in Turkey. Of these, 76.6% of respondents worked for the public sector, a large majority of whom (67.7%) have worked full time during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was found that the COVID-19 fear level of employees living with chronic disease was higher than moderate (21.061 ± 7.607). When the variables affecting the COVID-19 fear level are listed in order of relative significance, eating problems, residing in the Mediterranean region, having asthma, and working as a female employee made the greatest impact, respectively. Necessary conditions of work should be provided to those living with chronic disease who could adapt themselves to working flexibly or working from home, so that they would not feel isolated from business life. This group should be provided with essential protective equipment, their working conditions must be reviewed and vaccination priority could be given to them.

The Joint Contributions of Environmental Filtering and Spatial Processes to Macroinvertebrate Metacommunity Dynamics in the Alpine Stream Environment of Baima Snow Mountain, Southwest China

While macroinvertebrates are extensively investigated in many river ecosystems, meta-community ecology perspectives in alpine streams are very limited. We assessed the role of ecological factors and temporal dynamics in the macroinvertebrate meta-community assembly of an alpine stream situated in a dry-hot valley of Baima Snow Mountain, China. We found that spatial structuring and environmental filtering jointly drive the structure of macroinvertebrate meta-community, with relative contributions to the variance in community composition changing over time. RDA ordination and variation partitioning indicate that environmental variables are the most important predictors of community organization in most scenarios, whereas spatial determinants also play a significant role. Moreover, the explanatory power, identity, and the relative significance of ecological factors change over time. Particularly, in the years 2018 and 2019, stronger environmental filtering was found shaping community assembly, suggesting that deterministic mechanisms predominated in driving community dynamics. However, spatial factors had a stronger predictive power on meta-community structures in 2017, implying conspicuous dispersal mechanisms which may be owing to increased connectivity amongst sites. Thereby, we inferred that the alpine stream macroinvertebrate metacommunity composition can be regulated by the interaction of both spatial processes and environmental filtering, with relative contributions varying over time. Based on these findings, we suggest that community ecology studies in aquatic systems should be designed beyond single snapshot investigations.

Analysis of Regular Patterns in Un-weighted Directed Graphs

Time evolving networks tend to have an element of regularity. This regularity is characterized by existence of repetitive patterns in the data sequences of the graph metrics. As per our research, the relevance of such regular patterns to the network has not been adequately explored. Such patterns in certain data sequences are indicative of properties like popularity, activeness etc. which are of vital significance for any network. These properties are closely indicated by data sequences of graph metrics - degree prestige, degree centrality and occurrence. In this paper, (a) an improved mining algorithm has been used to extract regular patterns in these sequences, and (b) a methodology has been proposed to quantitatively analyse the behavior of the obtained patterns. To analyze this behavior, a quantification measure coined as "Sumscore" has been defined to compare the relative significance of such patterns. The patterns are ranked according to their Sumscores and insights are then drawn upon it. The efficacy of this method is demonstrated by experiments on two real world datasets.

Distribution Strategies of Vascular Plants at the Reclaimed Lands at the Saemangum Sea Dike

The distribution of plant communities in the reclaimed land of the southwestern coasts of South Korea, along with the environmental or plant factors, was studied through canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and the competitor (C), stress tolerator (S), and ruderal (R) (CSR) ecological strategies. The coastal reclaimed land plants were classified into three plant-factor groups in the CCA biplot diagram. Axis1 was correlated with LS, SLA, CH, and FS. Axis 2 was correlated with LDMC, FP, and LDW. The reclaimed landplants were classified into three soil-factor groups in the CCA biplot diagram. First, the group factor was correlated with SAND. Second, the group factor was distributed according to T-N and TOC. Third, the group factor was distributed according to Salinity content. To clarify the relative significance of competition, stress, and disturbance in the distribution process of plant communities, the CSR distribution model was adopted. Sixteen of the 19 species were allocated to the factors related to the ruderals strategies such as R/CR and CR including R/CSR, SR/CSR, and CR/CSR, and SC strategies. They displayed ruderal and competition adaptation strategies reflecting the ecological environment. Seven species showed R/CR (ruderal/competitor-ruderal) strategies; Aeschno meneindica, Chenopodium album var. centrorubrum, Lolium perenne, Lotus corniculatus var. japonicus, Phragmites communis, Portulaca oleracea, and Soncous brachyotus and 6 species showed CR (competitor-ruderal) strategies; Bidens frondosa, Echinochloa crus-galli, Echino chloaoryzicola, Erigeron canadensis, Fimbristy lislongispica and Setaria viridis. The three species with R-related strategies were Artemisia princeps, Lolium perenne, and Trifolium repens. The distribution patterns of the CCA diagrams and CSR triangles may provide a useful scientific basis for protecting and restoring reclaimed lands and their valuable ecosystem services, from the increasing disturbances.

Organizations Decentered: Data Objects, Technology and Knowledge

Data are no longer simply a component of administrative and managerial work but a pervasive resource and medium through which organizations come to know and act upon the contingencies they confront. We theorize how the ongoing technological developments reinforce the traditional functions of data as instruments of management and control but also reframe and extend their role. By rendering data as technical entities, digital technologies transform the process of knowing and the knowledge functions data fulfil in socioeconomic life. These functions are most of the times mediated by putting together disperse and steadily updatable data in more stable entities we refer to as data objects. Users, customers, products, and physical machines rendered as data objects become the technical and cognitive means through which organizational knowledge, patterns, and practices develop. Such conditions loosen the dependence of data from domain knowledge, reorder the relative significance of internal versus external references in organizations, and contribute to a paradigmatic contemporary development that we identify with the decentering of organizations of which digital platforms are an important specimen.

An exploratory study of US craft brewery owners’ motivations for adopting environmental practices

Purpose Craft brewers in the USA have long sought to improve the efficiency of beer production to achieve their primary aims of improving the product and increasing profit margins. More recently, however, there has been a move toward the adoption of more sustainable production techniques aimed at reducing the environmental impact of the brewing process itself. This study aims to investigate the factors that drive engagement with environmental practices among US craft brewery owners. Design/methodology/approach The present study uses an exploratory sequential mixed methods design where, first, a qualitative thematic analysis was conducted via semi-structured in-depth interviews with 31 craft brewers from across the USA. Second, a quantitative online survey was distributed to craft brewers nationwide, and 237 valid responses were collected to rank the preidentified motivational factors. Findings The findings of the present study are in alignment with those of previous studies conducted in a broader business context. This study contributes to an understanding of the factors driving environmental engagement, as well as their relative significance to craft brewers, which is critical to increasing the ability to target financial and physical resources and make the brewing process more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Research limitations/implications The study has theoretical and practical implications for craft breweries, policymakers and academics. From the perspective of policy, there is limited work exploring this topic in the specific context of craft brewing. This study, thus, contributes to an understanding of the factors driving environmental engagement, as well as their relative significance to craft brewers – which is critical to increasing the ability to target resources, both financial and material, and make the brewing process more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Originality/value Identifying exactly what it is that guides the decision-making processes of craft brewery owners, in regard to the adoption of new or improved environmental practices, has several advantages. First, it serves as a guide to help breweries adapt to the evolving needs of a progressive society; second, it assists government and policymakers in formulating effective and relevant legislation; and third, it helps consumers to better understand their role and position in business processes and decision-making.

11. Major Issues in IR: Climate Change, Terrorism, Religion, Power and Hegemony

This chapter examines four of the most important issues in international relations (IR): climate change, international terrorism, religion, and balance and hegemony in world history. It also considers the different ways in which these issues are analysed by the various theories presented in this book. The chapter begins with a discussion of what the issue is about in empirical terms, the problems raised and why they are claimed to be important, and the relative significance of the issue on the agenda of IR. It then explores the nature of the theoretical challenge that the issues present to IR and how classical and contemporary theories handle the analysis of these issues. The chapter addresses how climate change has become a first order challenge of international relations and IR theories, Samuel Huntington’s ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis, the influence of religion on politics, and how throughout history different state systems have come to equilibrate on either balance of power or hegemony.

Mathematical Model of the Transmission Dynamics of Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) Pandamic Disease with Optimal Control

In this paper, we have developed a deterministic mathematical model that discribe the transmission dynamics of novel corona virus with prevention control. The disease free and endemic equilibrium point of the model were calculated and its stability analysis were prformed. The reproduction number R0 of the model which determine the persistence of the disease or not was calculated by using next generation matrix and also used to determine the stability of the disease free and endemic equilibrium points which exists conditionally. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis of the model was performed on the parameters in the equation of reproduction to determine their relative significance on the transmission dynamics of COVID- 19 pandemic disease. Finally the simulations were carried out using MATLAB R2015b with ode45 solver. The simulation results illustrated that applying prevention control can successfully reduces the transmission dynamic of COVID-19 infectious disease.

A Bioinformatic Investigation of Proteasome And Autophagy Expression in The Central Nervous System

The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy lysosome pathway (ALP) play major roles in protein quality control. However, data regarding the relative significance of UPS and ALP in the central nervous system (CNS) remain limited. In this study, we reckon the quantitative expression status of UPS- and ALP-related genes and their products in the CNS compared to that in other tissues. We collected human and mouse gene expression datasets from the reference expression dataset (RefEx) and Genevestigator (a tool for handling curated transcriptomic data from public repositories) and human proteomics data from the proteomics database (ProteomicsDB). The expression levels of genes and proteins in four categories—ubiquitin, proteasome, autophagy, and lysosome in cells and tissues were extracted. Perturbation of expression by drugs was also analyzed based on the four categories. Compared to that for the other three categories, proteasome gene expression was consistently low in the CNS of mice, and was more pronounced in humans. Neural stem cells and neurons showed low proteasome gene expressions when compared to non-neuronal stem cells. Proteomic analyses, however, did not show trends similar to those observed in the gene expression analyses. Perturbation analyses revealed that agents such as azithromycin and vitamin D3 upregulated the expression of both the UPS and ALP. Disproportional expression of the UPS and ALP might play a role in the pathophysiology of CNS disorders and this imbalance might be redressed by several therapeutic candidates.

Language, Thought, and the Linguistics Wars

This chapter provides brief overviews of the role that language plays in culture and thought, of the job that linguists do to investigate the roles that language plays, and of the dispute among linguists that forms the narrative core of this book, as well as introducing the linguists who drove that dispute: Noam Chomsky, Ray Jackendoff, Robin and George Lakoff, Jim McCawley, Paul Postal, and Haj Ross. That dispute hinged on the relative significance of linguistic structure and linguistic meaning for the way we understand language and its relation to thought.