Immunization Stress-Related Responses: Mitigating Patient Fears and Associated Side Effects Amidst a Global Vaccination Effort

The event of receiving a vaccine can lead to feelings of stress and anxiety for many patients and may present as adverse events. With coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mass vaccination efforts, adverse events following immunization, including immunization stress-related reactions (ISRR), have subsequently increased. Traditionally rare, but increasingly common, cluster events have also become a concern. Demonstrated in recent publications by Hause et al. concerning Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine clinics, these adverse events can lead to personal apprehension towards receiving vaccines, as well as public distrust towards the immunization process. To combat ISRRs, mass vaccination clinics across the United States must create administration protocols to mitigate these responses. Anticipation and swift management can play a substantial role in minimizing frequency and severity of these reactions and prevent future vaccine hesitancy.

Higher dimensional topology and generalized Hopf bifurcations for discrete dynamical systems

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>In this paper we study generalized Poincaré-Andronov-Hopf bifurcations of discrete dynamical systems. We prove a general result for attractors in <inline-formula><tex-math id="M1">\begin{document}$ n $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>-dimensional manifolds satisfying some suitable conditions. This result allows us to obtain sharper Hopf bifurcation theorems for fixed points in the general case and other attractors in low dimensional manifolds. Topological techniques based on the notion of concentricity of manifolds play a substantial role in the paper.</p>

Telemedicine Readiness Across Medical Conditions in a US National Representative Sample of Older Adults

Telemedicine has provided older adults the ability to seek care remotely during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. However, it is unclear how diverse medical conditions play a role in telemedicine uptake. A total of 3379 participants (≥65 years) were interviewed in 2018 as part of the National Health and Aging Trends Study. We assessed telemedicine readiness across multiple medical conditions. Most chronic medical conditions and mood symptoms were significantly associated with telemedicine unreadiness, for physical or technical reasons or both, while cancer, hypertension, and arthritis were significantly associated with telemedicine readiness. Our findings suggest that multiple medical conditions play a substantial role in telemedicine uptake among older adults in the US. Therefore, comorbidities should be taken into consideration when promoting and adopting telemedicine technologies among older adults.

Automation of Basketball Match Data Management

Despite the fact that sport plays a substantial role in people’s lives, funding varies significantly from one discipline to another. For example, in Poland, women’s basketball in the lower divisions, is primarily developing thanks to enthusiasts. The aim of the work was to design and implement a system for analyzing match protocols containing data about the match. Particular attention was devoted to the course of the game, i.e., the order of scoring points. This type of data is not typically stored on the official websites of basketball associations but is significant from the point of view of coaches. The obtained data can be utilized to analyze the team’s game during the season, the quality of players, etc. In terms of obtaining data from match protocols, a dedicated algorithm for identifying the table was used, while a neural network was utilized to recognize the numbers (with 70% accuracy). The conducted research has shown the proposed system is well suited for data acquisition based on match protocols what implies the possibility of increasing the availability of data on the games. This will allow the development of this sport discipline. Obtained conclusions can be generalized to other disciplines, where the games are recorded in paper form.

Stakeholder participation in sustainability assessment of non-wicked problems: The case of a future seaweed industry in Sweden

Acceptance by, and cooperation with relevant stakeholders in developing new sustainability initiatives when they are generally perceived as positive, is one of the keys for successful implementation of such new sustainability initiatives later on. It is remarkable, however, that ample literature exists about involving stakeholders in research projects focusing on problems with diverging views (controversy) around facts and values (wicked problems), but there is very little literature addressing whether and how to involve relevant stakeholders in case of initiatives where diverging norms and values do not play a (substantial) role, like in sustainability assessment for a future seaweed industry. This perspectives paper addresses that gap, and explores how to design such sustainability assessment, illustrated by how stakeholder interaction influenced the assessment and its results for a future seaweed industry in Sweden, followed by a discussion whether and how a similar approach may benefit sustainability assessment of other non-wicked sustainability initiatives.

Commentary Left ventricle restoration. Keep the door open.

Surgical left ventricle restoration (SVR) was firstly by Cooley in 1958 with the “linear suture technique”, and three decades later, Dor used a circular patch to reconstruct the left ventricle excluding the scarred parts of the septum and ventricular wall. It gained popularity and eventually almost abandoned after the contrasting literature evidences. Hassanabad et al. presented a comprehensive review of current literature on surgical ventricle restoration (SVR) techniques and clinical outcomes, trying to understand if SVR has still a substantial role in the modern medicine.

The post-COVID-19 retail landscapes

This paper offer insight to the substantial role of the small and medium retailers (S&M) and how Covid-19 has impacted the sector. The economic contribution of this group of retailers have been noted to be high. Policy measures of the government of South Africa in response to the pandemic was severe on the informal retailers who were stopped from operating their businesses. The paper highlighted the internal and external struggles and opportunities of the retailers. There is the need to revalue the sector according to its contribution to the society, assist the retailers to improve on their infrastructure, formalise their practises, embark on reform programmes aimed at improving their capacities.

Does tourism affect house prices in Turkey? Evidence from smooth structural break tests

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of tourism activities on house prices in Turkey from January 2010 to March 2020. Design/methodology/approach It is used newly developed cointegration and causality tests based on Fourier approximation. These methods consider smooth structural breaks and do not need to recognize a priori date number and/or form of breaks. Findings Empirical findings show that international tourism activities have a substantial role in the escalation of house prices in Turkey. Findings also indicate a rise in industrial production enhances house prices while the mortgage lending rate exhibits a negative influence on house prices. Additionally, the evidence from Fourier causality tests reveals the unilateral causal linkage from tourism to house prices. This situation also shows that the tourism sector has a substantial role in stabilizing house prices’ rapid rise as a policy implication. Originality/value Although a large number of papers have been analyzing the link between house prices and macroeconomic variables, this study eliminates the lack of papers examining the link between tourism and house prices in Turkey by using the new cointegration and causality methods that consider smooth structural changes.