COVID-19 Passport as a Factor Determining the Success of National Vaccination Campaigns: Does It Work? The Case of Lithuania vs. Poland

As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic poses a global threat, it is of utmost importance that governments should find effective means of combating vaccine hesitancy and encouraging their citizens to vaccinate. In our article, we compare the vaccination outcomes in the past months in two neighbouring post-communist EU states, Lithuania and Poland. Both introduced COVID-19 certificates, but only the former followed with gradual limitations for those who failed to get vaccinated, beginning with restricted access to restaurants, sports facilities and indoor events, and finally banning residents without a certificate from entering supermarkets or larger shops and using most services. By contrast, in Poland, the certificate remained a tool for international travel only. We show using statistical data that Lithuania’s strict policy, regardless of its social implications, led to markedly higher vaccination outcomes in all age groups than those in Poland at the time.

Effect of COVID-19 on the phytosanitary condition and commercialization of avocado in Jalisco

<p>Avocado crop (<em>Persea americana</em>) in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco, Mexico, is affected by pests and diseases that have worsened with the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Damage to fruits has increased due to the reduction of the workforce by more than half, which restricts crop sampling and the timely control of pests. Furthermore, the closure of businesses and the consequent lack of agricultural inputs have affected the management and profitability of avocado crop. The restricted access to markets such as Monterrey, Mexico City and Guadalajara has also affected avocado availability.</p>

Wireless Coiled Tubing Disrupts the Industry by Enabling Use of Conventional Coil Tubing for Access and Matrix Acidizing of Multilaterals and Extended Reach Carbonate Reservoirs

As the number of Extended Reach Wells (ERW) with multilaterals and restricted access due to electric submersible pumps (ESP) increases, so does the challenge to enable access and stimulation to these wells to maintain production rates. This paper describes a Slim Access and Stimulation System (SASS) development program launched to develop a game changing technology to give operators the ability to maintain high production rates in unconventional developments. There is available technology today to accurately access extended reach lateral wells, even with restricted access. But the technology is limited to logging only, as the tools and/or control wire are not acid resistant and would limit the pump rate through the coil tubing for pumping acid. The new system would require a tool suite which was acid resistant, enable slim access to the laterals, and have the ability to perform multiple stimulation jobs in one run, with monitoring and control from surface without a wire inside the coiled tubing. The SASS development program gave birth to three separate and revolutionary new technologies: two-way wireless communication and energy harvesting with integrated production logging suite, slim and high-power open hole tractor with a wire bypass to power the tool string, and semi-autonomous lateral access sub, which finds, enters, and confirms the lateral access. The three game changing technologies have application as standalone products, however the real value occurs when they combined as a Slim Access and Stimulation System, run on conventional coiled tubing. The paper will describe working methods and technology incorporated to provide access to restricted extended reach laterals and perform multiple stimulation jobs in a single run. The SASS development program is a testament of how the industry can tackle complex challenges, introducing new technologies across in multiple domains while still adapting to conventional methods. The paper highlights the full system design approach method used to understand and combine features of downhole tools, surface equipment, and operational and handling routines to achieve the overall design goal.

Restricted Access Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Biological Sample Preparation

Restricted access molecularly imprinted polymers (RAMIPs) have been efficiently used for the extraction of small organic molecules from untreated biological matrices (e.g. blood, plasma, serum, and milk). These materials have been obtained by modifying the external surface of conventional molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) with hydrophilic monomer grafting, crosslinked protein capsule or a combination of both. These sorbents aggregate the selectivity of MIPs with the ability to exclude macromolecules of restricted access materials (RAMs), being widely employed in solid phase extraction techniques, beyond their use in sensors. In this review, we discuss about the design and application of RAMIPs in biological sample preparation, emphasizing the future trends and remaining challenges of this technology for bioanalyses.

Material and embodied resources in the accomplishment of closings in technology-mediated business meetings

This study uses conversation analysis (CA) and video-recorded data from an international company to investigate closings in technology-mediated (i.e. distant) meetings. The focus is on the situated affordances and multimodal resources that the chair and participants deploy to transition from meeting talk to a coordinated exit. Due to restricted access to bodily-visual leave-taking behaviours, other mutually recognized practices need to be implemented to initiate and advance closings: (1) when closing is made relevant as the next step, (2) when opportunity spaces to move out of the closing emerge, and (3) when departure from the meeting needs to be negotiated. This progression requires the close coordination of co-participants’ vocal and embodied conduct in the physical setting and rendering actions publicly intelligible via the screen at specific moments. The analysis portrays closings as emergent, collaborative accomplishments, in which the import of multimodal turn constructions and (dis)aligning behaviours must be negotiated in situ.

‘It’s a Gendered Issue, 100 Per Cent’: How Tough Bail Laws Entrench Gender and Racial Inequality and Social Disadvantage

Women’s rates of remand, or pre-trial detention, have grown dramatically in Australia and the rates at which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are incarcerated without conviction are particularly high. However, there is little research examining bail and remand practices and their relationship to social inequalities. This article presents findings from research on the drivers behind women’s increasing rates of custodial remand in Victoria—a jurisdiction that has significantly restricted access to bail through legislative reforms. Drawing on data derived from interviews with criminal defence and duty lawyers, we outline how bail and remand practices systematically disadvantage women experiencing housing insecurity and domestic and family violence (DFV), increasing their risk of becoming trapped in longer-term cycles of incarceration. Our analysis reinforces the need to move away from ‘tough on crime’ approaches to bail. It also highlights unintended consequences of DFV reforms, including further marginalising and punishing criminalised women who are victim-survivors.