Japan's economy is poised for recovery

Significance In its wake, the cabinet under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a record JPY55.7tn (USD490bn) economic relief package, billed as a step toward a 'live with corona' world in which the disease is endemic but does not disrupt the economy. Impacts Pent-up demand may increase sales of manufactured consumer goods. Restrictions on foreign labour will be eased, which will increase the foreign workforce once pandemic-related entry restrictions are lifted. Auto industry recovery and manufacturing revival more broadly also support a positive outlook as supply shortages appear to be resolving.

Einwanderung in Zeiten von Corona

After the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, most states enacted new measures to constrain international mobility. By May 8th, 2020, more than 93% of the world’s population lived in states with special entry bans and more than three billion lived in countries whose borders were almost completely closed to non-citizens. Can such measures be justified? If so, would this undermine the open borders view? This paper examines these questions. It argues, first, that, although short-term entry bans and other similar measures designed to protect public health can be justified, these bans need to be designed with a number of exemptions, in particular, for asylum seekers and refugees. Even in times of pandemic, completely closed borders are indefensible. It argues, second, that although extreme versions of the open borders position may have difficulty accepting this conclusion, other versions of the position can consistently justify special entry restrictions.

Using Knowledge Graphs to Plausibly Infer Missing Associations in EMR Data

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are increasingly being deployed at primary points of care and clinics for digital record keeping, increasing productivity and improving communication. In practice, however, there still exists an often incomplete picture of patient profiles, not only because of disconnected EMR systems but also due to incomplete EMR data entry – often caused by clinician time constraints and lack of data entry restrictions. To complete a patient’s partial EMR data, we plausibly infer missing causal associations between medical EMR concepts, such as diagnoses and treatments, for situations that lack sufficient raw data to enable machine learning methods. We follow a knowledge-based approach, where we leverage open medical knowledge sources such as SNOMED-CT and ICD, combined with knowledge-based reasoning with explainable inferences, to infer clinical encounter information from incomplete medical records. To bootstrap this process, we apply a semantic Extract-Transform-Load process to convert an EMR database into an enriched domain-specific Knowledge Graph.

Assessing Impacts to National Park Visitation From COVID-19

Yosemite National Park is a popular tourist destination with high visitation levels that have increased throughout the summer season over the past several decades. Like with other protected areas, high visitation levels pose challenges for coordinating resources, infrastructural capacity, and visitor experiences. Use limits, including rationing vehicle entry at gates by reservation, are one possible strategy to manage visitation levels. After an initial full closure, the park chose to operationalize a multiphased permit system for day-use and overnight entry over the course of the pandemic in accordance with local and national guidelines for operational safety. While park closures and other entry restrictions have been common in recent years due to wildland fires and other natural hazards, the pandemic-related entry limits represent a nearly yearlong experiment. The prolonged entry ration along with restrictions to group activities has limited visitation and potentially reduced transmission of the novel coronavirus. We review the per capita COVID-19 case count in surrounding counties given the flow of tourism from outside the region, assess the changes in access to the park with the novel reservation system, compare monthly visitation during the 2020 use limits with prior decadal averages, detail how high visitation levels and crowding persist, and review the Park’s plans for an ongoing day-use permit system. We conclude with the ongoing challenges managers face in light of continued high visitation. Readers will be able to debate the efficacy of use limits and what may be a sustainable level of visitation for the park.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LIFTING ENTRY RESTRICTIONS TO NORTHERN CYPRUS ON WORKING POPULATION DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The aim of this study was to try to understand how working population is feeling about going to work after North Cyprus authorities has lifted entry restrictions to country starting from 1st of July 2020 which has led to a spike in positive cases. The study had 81 responses from employees working in various organizations.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LIFTING ENTRY RESTRICTIONS TO NORTHERN CYPRUS ON WORKING POPULATION DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The aim of this study was to try to understand how working population is feeling about going to work after North Cyprus authorities has lifted entry restrictions to country starting from 1st of July 2020 which has led to a spike in positive cases. The study had 81 responses from employees working in various organizations.

Implications of Entry Restrictions to Address Externalities in Aquaculture: The Case of Salmon Aquaculture

This paper investigates production license management when regulation constrains the number of production licenses to address production externalities. This is increasingly relevant for aquaculture production where disease issues threaten future seafood supply. The regulatory problem is analyzed in the context of Norwegian salmon aquaculture where a stop in issuance of new production licenses has been implemented to address social costs of parasitic sea lice. Our theoretical model shows that restricting number of licenses raises prices and shifts production efforts excessively towards greater stocking of fish per license. Hence, the policy cannot achieve a first-best welfare-maximizing allocation. Furthermore, restricting entry by limiting number of licenses can create regulatory rents, which effectively subsides rather than tax the source of the externality.