Socioeconomic and Political Dimensions of COVID-19 Dispersion

This study aims to provide understanding on how certain factors lead to the formation of clusters of areas of COVID-19 dispersion to guide policy decisions and government actions. It utilized an ecological study design which analyzes data at the population or group level. The units of observation are the barangays in Cebu City. These barangays are the nodes in the network and the edge considered is the presence of areas of convergence. In order to identify the nodes for this study, data mining was done to get the number of reported COVID-19 cases in Cebu City from the Cebu City Health Office as of May 23, 2020. Only thirty-nine (39) barangays with COVID-19 cases were included in the study. Results revealed that although public and private transportation is controlled during the implementation of Enhanced Community Quarantine, it is assumed that the spread started prior to implementation of strict prohibitions which led to the rise of cases later on. Even at the time of the strict community quarantine restrictions, economic activities related to basic necessities were still allowed. For instance, public markets were open with prohibitions related to schedules only. This implies that people are still mobile at certain times despite the presence of restrictions. People still converge in areas where economic activities are present.

Do Venture Capital Investors Learn from Public Markets?

We examine whether venture capital (VC) investors learn information contained in public market stock prices. VCs are less likely to stage finance startups and syndicate with other VCs when stock prices are more informative. An instrumental variable approach suggests that the relation is likely causal. The startup’s initial public offering (IPO) prospect is the plausible information contained in stock prices learned by VCs. The effect of VC learning on staging and syndication is more pronounced when collecting information is more costly and the information learned is more reliable. Evidence from a survey of VC investors confirms that they actively learn information from the public market. VCs’ learning from the public market significantly affects their investments across startup firms. Our paper sheds new light on the real effects of financial markets and suggests that the informational role of security prices is much broader than what we have thought. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.

Temporal assessment of the medicinal plants trade in public markets of the state of Paraíba, northeastern Brazil

Background Open and public markets are the main providers of medicinal plants in urban environments. The present study evaluated the medicinal plants sold in public markets in different municipalities in the mesoregions of the state of Paraíba, northeast of Brazil, and the possible variations in the supply of these plants in the markets over the course of a year. Methods Interviews with medicinal plant traders were conducted in four mesoregions of different climatic and phytophysiognomic characteristics (ranging from Caatinga to Atlantic Forest). The versatility of the species sold was elucidated using the relative importance (RI) index, and the set of species sold by each informant in each mesoregion was compared with each other by one-way Anosim and by the analysis of main coordinates. Results Thirty-five plant traders identified 163 medicinal plant species (151 genders and 76 families) and more 17 non identified species. The most frequent families were Fabaceae (19 species), Asteraceae (12), Lamiaceae (11), and Myrtaceae (6). Punica granatum, Zingiber officinale, and Myracrodruon urundeuva were the species with the highest RI. The analysis of similarity showed distinct differences between the Sertão and all other mesoregions. The Agreste, an ecotone area, was also the area where more species of other regions was found. The absence of 88 species in at least one of the trading locations at some stage of the fieldwork was recorded. Conclusions The presence and absence of the commercialized species do not seem to be related to the period of the year or the mesoregion. There were differences in the inventory of plants commercialized in markets in recent years. We identified an intermediate zone of knowledge and use of species commercialized between the studied localities.

Founders without Limits

Big Tech has flourished on the US public markets in recent years with numerous blue-chip IPOs, from Google and Facebook, to new kids on the block such as Snap, Zoom, and Airbnb. A key trend is the burgeoning use of dual-class stock. Dual-class stock enables founders to divest of equity and generate finance for growth through an IPO, without losing the control they desire to pursue their long-term, market-disrupting visions. Bobby Reddy scrutinises the global history of dual-class stock, evaluates the conceptual and empirical evidence on dual-class stock, and assesses the approach of the London Stock Exchange and ongoing UK regulatory reforms to dual-class stock. A policy roadmap is presented that optimally supports the adoption of dual-class stock while still protecting against its potential abuses, which will more effectively attract high-growth, innovative companies to the UK equity markets, boost the economy, and unleash the true potential of 'founders without limits'.

Diversity of Filamentous Molds Producing Mycotoxins in Rice Called "Deni Kachia" Sold on the Markets of Daloa (Côte d’Ivoire)

Filamentous fungi are frequent contaminants of many plant substrates and certain animal products. Their presence can improve the organoleptic quality of the product or alter it and lead to the accumulation of toxic secondary metabolites, such as mycotoxins. The objective of this work is to characterize the filamentous fungi isolated from the rice "deni kachia" stored and sold on public markets in the city of Daloa. A count and isolation of filamentous fungi, followed by macroscopic and microscopic identification was carried out. Several genera of filamentous fungi was identified. These are the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium and others. The different species of molds identified by conventional biochemical techniques were confirmed by the API 50 CH freezer.The genera Aspergillus and Penicillium are the most predominant in the samples analyzed. The presence of these species with their ability to produce mycotoxins suggests that contaminated rice poses a risk to the health of consumers.

Detection of Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli, and virulence genes in poultry products marketed in Northeastern Brazil

In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobcater coli, and virulence genes in fresh, chilled, and frozen chicken carcasses with livers and gizzards sold in public markets and supermarkets. Of the 90 samples analyzed, C. jejuni was the most prevalent, with 28.8% of positive samples, whereas C. coli was positive in 15.6% of samples. In public market samples, C. coli had a higher prevalence than C. jejuni, with 16.7% positive samples detected, whereas in supermarket samples, C. jejuni was more prevalent (36.7% positivity). C. jejuni was detected in all forms of commercialized carcasses; however, there was a higher prevalence (43.3%) in chilled samples than C. coli, which was not detected in frozen samples but showed a higher prevalence (16.7%) in fresh samples. Both species were detected in different poultry products, with C. jejuni being more prevalent (53.3%) in liver samples. C. coli showed a higher prevalence in samples of meat pieces (10%). The presence of five virulence genes related to adherence (Peb1, JlpA, CadF, and CapA) and invasion (CiaB) was also observed in both species.

Public Policies for Procurement under COVID19

Public procurement is a main issue in the frontline of Governments fighting COVID 19 pandemic as the need for additional and urgent acquisitions as well as the need to consolidate the supply chains and to promote sustainable and innovative procurement have been a source of deep changes and main challenges disturbing public markets and invalidating several assumptions of the traditional public contracting. In this paper, the development of appropriate public policies to cope with these challenges is studied following the approach suggested by several authors and including four stages: a Stage on Facts and Issues where the main challenges and conditions are studied, the Options Stage to describe which polices and procedures can be adopted, a Values Stage stating the main values to be pursued and, finally, a Policies Stage including the selection of the recommended policies. The analysis of the challenges and facts includes the study of a taxonomy of short and longer term needs and the available options are based on the comparative study of procedures ruled by the European Directives on Public Procurement approved on 2014. The major values to be respected include the principle of competition which is a major institutional principle of the European Treaty and of the Directives as well as the goal of promoting sustainable and innovative public procurement. Several indicators are suggested to describe the application of the public procurement policies adopted across EU and their comparative analysis is presented using the TED data for contracts concerning COVID 19. The case of Portugal is discussed and final remarks about the recommended public policies are also included herein.

QUALITY CONTROL TOOLS IN THE ANALYSIS OF COVID-19 CAUSED PROBLEMS

Quality control tools are taught in engineering careers to analyze and try to solve problems in the production of goods and in the performance of service businesses. Those tools can be used to analyze and understand many problems. The coronavirus pandemic has caused many problems around the world, like many people infected in people’s agglomerations in public transportation, in celebrations like parties, in political rallies and in public markets because of the people not wearing masks. A Pareto diagram clearly shows the most dangerous comorbidities in case of covid-19 infection. A lot of doctors and nurses have been contagious around the world in many cases because of lack of protection materials for them, hopefully health and safety procedures (check lists) and Poka Yoke devices are being created and implemented to reduced contagion. In this paper we identified and analyzed some covid-19 caused problems using basic quality control tools and for some cases we proposed solutions to them. Examples of a Pareto Diagram in analyzing the death rate in age ranges is used to explain the decrement in deaths in the United States of America if certain age groups are first vaccinated, an Ishikawa Diagram is used to analyze the ineffective distant learning in Mexico, a Check List is elaborated to avoid contagion in shopping and a Dispersion Diagram is used to find a relation between the number of contagious and the number of deaths in many countries of the world. Some other tools are briefly explained and some problems which could be analyzed with those are identified. The examples could enhance the interest of the students in learning the usefulness of those tools in a variety of fields.

Widespread Contamination of SARS-CoV-2 on Highly Touched Surfaces in Brazil During the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although SARS-CoV-2 surface contamination has been investigated in temperate climates, few studies have been conducted in the tropics. Here, we investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 on high-touch surfaces in a large city in Brazil. A total of 400 surface samples were collected in February 2021 in the City of Recife, Northeastern Brazil. A total of 97 samples (24.2%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-qPCR using the CDC-USA protocol. All the collection sites, except one (18/19, 94.7%) had at least one environmental surface sample contaminated. SARS-CoV-2 positivity was higher in public transport terminals (47/97, 48.4%), followed by health care units (26/97, 26.8%), public parks (14/97, 14.4%), public markets (4/97, 4.1%), and beach areas (4/97, 4.1%). Toilets, ATMs, handrails, playground, and outdoor gym were identified as fomites with the highest rates of viral contamination. Regarding the type of material, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found more commonly on metal (45/97, 46.3%), followed by plastic (18/97, 18.5%), wood (12/97, 12.3%), rock (10/97, 10.3%), concrete (8/97, 8.2%), and glass (2/97, 2.0%). Taken together, our data indicated extensive SARS-CoV-2 contamination in public surfaces and identified critical control points that need to be targeted to break SARS-CoV-2 transmission chains.