Population-Adjusted Egalitarianism

Egalitarianism focuses on the well-being of the worst-off person. It has attracted a lot of attention in economic theory, for instance when dealing with the sustainable intertemporal allocation of resources. Economic theory has formalized egalitarianism through the Maximin and Leximin criteria, but it is not clear how they should be applied when population size may vary. In this paper, I present possible justifications of egalitarianism when considering populations with variable sizes. I then propose new versions of egalitarianism that encompass many views on how to trade-off population size and well-being. I discuss some implications of egalitarianism for optimal population size. I first describe how population ethical views affects population growth. In a model with natural resources, I then show that utilitarianism always recommend a larger population for low levels of resources, but that this conclusion may not hold true for larger levels.

Intersection of Climate Change and Health: An Explication of the Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity

The US National Academy of Medicine released its consensus study for the next decade entitled The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path To Achieve Health Equity (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). This paper examines the report, its implications for nursing globally, its focus on systemic, structural, and institutional racism, and the intersection with climate change and deleterious health consequences. The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) has led in addressing the critical role of the nursing profession in achieving optimal population health outcomes in the US. Yet, relevance exists for nursing in other global areas. The most recent US report focuses on social determinants of health (SDoH) and explicitly addresses climate change as a looming public health threat. An analysis of the key foci of nursing’s role in climate change amidst the critical role of health equity globally is explicated.

Effects of Planting Density and Weeding Frequency on the Corn Growth and Yield in Intercropping System with Peanut

The research aimed to determine the optimal population ratio at each frequency of weeding for the growth and yield of maize. It was carried out from February to May 2020 in the field. There are 2 treatment factors tested arranged in a splite plot design, which was repeated 3 times using a completely randomized block design (CRBD). The first factor is the frequency of weeding as the main plot (Main Plot) consisting of no weeding, 1 x weeding (21 DAS), 2 x weeding (21 DAS and 42 DAS). The second factor is the ratio of the population as sub-plots, consisting of 100% corn + 0% peanuts, 80% corn + 20% peanuts, 60% corn + 40% peanuts, 40 % corn + 60% peanuts, 20% corn + 80% peanuts. The results showed that the growth and yield of maize in the intercropping system with peanuts gave the same response to the population ratio at all weeding frequencies. The planting density of 40% maize + 60% peanuts produced the highest response on the variables of stem diameter (24.675 mm), plant fresh weight (667.51 grams) and biomass weight (79.924 grams). While the highest response to weeding frequency was 2 times (21 DAS and 42 DAS) only on plant fresh weight (588.08 grams).

IMPLEMENTASI DUA MODEL CROSSOVER PADA ALGORITMA GENETIKA UNTUK OPTIMASI PENGGUNAAN RUANG PERKULIAHAN

The lecture mapping process is often hampered by the number and capacity of rooms, this condition often occurs because of the many obstacles that must be fulfilled. For example, there are courses offered in one semester that cannot be slots in space and time and the lecturer can teach at the same time for different courses. This is experienced by the Informatics Engineering Study Program of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Udayana University, which offers a fairly large subject in each semester, causing optimization of the lecture space to often experience problems. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) is a model in the optimization of lecture space based on the natural selection mechanism through; coding problem, generate initial population, calculate fitness value, selection, crossover, mutation and optimal population. In this research, the optimization process implements two crossover models in the genetic algorithm, namely the n-point crossover and the cycle crossover. Based on the research that has been carried out, two crossover models provide optimal space usage mapping. From testing the n-point crossover model system gives the best fitness 1 in the 361 generation with a computation time of 11.08 while the cycle crossover model produces the best fitness 1 in the 361 generation with a computation time of 15.08.

Optimal Population Policy with Health Care and Lethal Pollution

Optimal population policy is examined in the following setup. Families invest in capital, spend on health care and determine their number of children. Firms produce output from labor, capital and pollutants. Pollution increases, but private and public health care decrease mortality dynamically, with lags. Our main findings are the following. A marginal increase in public health care improves welfare as long as it diminishes the mortality rate more than that in private health care. The government can decentralize the social optimum by a parental tax on newborns and a Pigouvian tax on pollutants. Private health care should not be taxed.

Exploring Implementation of Personal Breast Cancer Risk Assessments

Personal Breast Cancer (BC) Risk Assessments (PBCRA) have potential to stratify women into clinically-actionable BC risk categories. As this could involve population-wide genomic testing, women’s attitudes to PBCRA and views on acceptable implementation platforms must be considered to ensure optimal population participation. We explored these issues with 31 women with different BC risk profiles through semi-structured focus group discussions or interviews. Inductive thematic coding of transcripts was performed. Subsequently, women listed factors that would impact on their decision to participate. Participants’ attitudes to PBCRA were positive. Identified themes included that PBCRA acceptance hinges on result actionability. Women value the ability to inform decision-making. Participants reported anxiety, stress, and genetic discrimination as potential barriers. The age at which PBCRA was offered, ease of access, and how results are returned held importance. Most women value the opportunity for PBCRA to inform increased surveillance, while highlighting hesitance to accept reduced surveillance as they find reassurance in regular screening. Women with BRCA pathogenic variants value the potential for PBCRA to identify a lower cancer risk and potentially inform delayed prophylactic surgery. This study highlights complexities in adopting advances in BC early detection, especially for current users who value existing processes as a social good.

The Relationship Between the COVID-19 Pandemic and Vaccine Hesitancy: A Scoping Review of Literature Until August 2021

Background: Vaccines have been contributing to eradicate or drastically reduce the incidence of common diseases. Simultaneously, vaccine hesitancy is considered among the top ten global health threats. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a tremendous impact on health, economics, and society worldwide, while also reinforcing faulty beliefs about the necessity of vaccine programs as a whole. This study aims to synthesise evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vaccine hesitancy.Methods: A scoping review of literature between 1 January 2020 and 1 August 2021 was performed.Results: COVID-19 vaccine acceptance decreased from more than 70 to <50% in 8 months starting from January 2020. Healthcare professionals demonstrate higher rates of vaccine receptivity than the public, which was more influenced by (social) media. The circulation of misinformation was associated with increased fear of side effects related to COVID-19 vaccines. Regarding other vaccines coverage, parents' intentions to vaccinate their children against influenza increased 15.8% during the COVID-19 pandemic so far. Nonetheless, the number of vaccines administered decreased, influenced by factors like fear of being exposed to the virus at healthcare facilities and restrictions.Conclusions: Several efforts should be undertaken to improve vaccine acceptance and coverage now and beyond the pandemic to optimal population protection.

An F2 Barley Population as a Tool for Teaching Mendelian Genetics

In the context of a general genetics course, mathematical descriptions of Mendelian inheritance and population genetics are sometimes discouraging and students often have serious misconceptions. Innovative strategies in expositive classes can clearly encourage student’s motivation and participation, but laboratories and practical classes are generally the students’ favourite academic activities. The design of lab practices focused on learning abstract concepts such as genetic interaction, genetic linkage, genetic recombination, gene mapping, or molecular markers is a complex task that requires suitable segregant materials. The optimal population for pedagogical purposes is an F2 population, which is extremely useful not only in explaining different key concepts of genetics (as dominance, epistasis, and linkage) but also in introducing additional curricular tools, particularly concerning statistical analysis. Among various model organisms available, barley possesses several unique features for demonstrating genetic principles. Therefore, we generated a barley F2 population from the parental lines of the Oregon Wolfe Barley collection. The objective of this work is to present this F2 population as a model to teach Mendelian genetics in a medium–high-level genetics course. We provide an exhaustive phenotypic and genotypic description of this plant material that, together with a description of the specific methodologies and practical exercises, can be helpful for transferring our fruitful experience to anyone interested in implementing this educational resource in his/her teaching.