COVID-19 Vaccine Rollouts and the Reproduction of Urban Spatial Inequality: Disparities Within Large U.S. Cities in March and April 2021 by Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Composition

Rollouts of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. were opportunities to redress disparities that surfaced during the pandemic. Initial eligibility criteria, however, neglected geographic, racial/ethnic, and socioeconomic considerations. Marginalized populations may have faced barriers to then-scarce vaccines, reinforcing disparities. Inequalities may have subsided as eligibility expanded. Using spatial modeling, we investigate how strongly local vaccination levels were associated with socioeconomic and racial/ethnic composition as authorities first extended vaccine eligibility to all adults. We harmonize administrative, demographic, and geospatial data across postal codes in eight large U.S. cities over three weeks in Spring 2021. We find that, although vaccines were free regardless of health insurance coverage, local vaccination levels in March and April were negatively associated with poverty, enrollment in means-tested public health insurance (e.g., Medicaid), and the uninsured population. By April, vaccination levels in Black and Hispanic communities were only beginning to reach those of Asian and White communities in March. Increases in vaccination were smaller in socioeconomically disadvantaged Black and Hispanic communities than in more affluent, Asian, and White communities. Our findings suggest vaccine rollouts contributed to cumulative disadvantage. Populations that were left most vulnerable to COVID-19 benefited least from early expansions in vaccine availability in large U.S. cities.

The Role of Societal Aspects in the Formation of Official COVID-19 Reports: A Data-Driven Analysis

This paper investigates the role of socioeconomic considerations in the formation of official COVID-19 reports. To this end, we employ a dataset that contains 1159 pre-processed indicators from the World Bank Group GovData360 and TCdata360 platforms and an additional 8 COVID-19 variables generated based on reports from 138 countries. During the analysis, a rank-correlation-based complex method is used to identify the time- and space-varying relations between pandemic variables and the main topics of World Bank Group platforms. The results not only draw attention to the importance of factors such as air traffic, tourism, and corruption in report formation but also support further discipline-specific research by mapping and monitoring a wide range of such relationships. To this end, a source code written in R language is attached that allows for the customization of the analysis and provides up-to-date results.

The Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Among Medical Residents: A Cross-Sectional Study in Iran

Medicine is a stressful job. It is shown in several studies that decreased clinical function, disturbance in decision making, and the doctor-patient relationship, anxiety, depression, alcohol and substance abuse, and suicide are associated with stress. So, it is important to investigate the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among medical staff. This is a cross-sectional study on the Tehran University of Medical Sciences residents, and 152 residents were surveyed by the DASS-21 questionnaire, which measures the depression, anxiety, and stress level. One hundred fifty-two residents (24.5% male, 75.5% female) with a mean age of 29.6 (SD=2.96) were surveyed. According to this study results, 23% of residents had severe to extremely severe depression, 24.9% had severe to extremely severe anxiety, and 33.8% had severe to extremely severe stress. Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among Tehran University of Medical Sciences residents are higher than some other countries and universities, and it could be due to more working pressure in our educational hospitals. However, similar studies in different countries have not similar results, especially about the associated factors; so, more studies should be done, especially with the interventional and socioeconomic considerations, to address these issues.

The Role of Societal Aspects in the Formation of Official COVID-19 Reports: A Data-Driven Analysis

This paper investigates the role of socioeconomic considerations in the formation of official COVID-19 reports. To this end, we employ a dataset that contains 1,159 preprocessed indicators from the World Bank Group GovData360 and TCdata360 platforms and an additional 8 COVID-19 variables generated based on reports from 138 countries. During the analysis, a rank-correlation-based complex method is used to identify the time- and space-varying relations between pandemic variables and the main topics of World Bank Group platforms. The results not only draw attention to the importance of factors such as air traffic, tourism, and corruption in report formation but also support further discipline-specific research by mapping and monitoring a wide range of such relationships. To this end, an R Notebook is attached that allows for the customization of the analysis and provides up-to-date results.

Water and Land as Shared Resources for Agriculture and Aquaculture: Insights from Asia

Although agriculture and aquaculture depend on access to increasingly scarce, shared water resources to produce food for human consumption, they are most often considered in isolation. We argue that they should be treated as integrated components of a single complex system that is prone to direct or indirect tradeoffs that should be avoided while also being amenable to synergies that should be sought. Direct tradeoffs such as competition for space or the pollution of shared water resources usually occur when the footprints of agriculture and aquaculture overlap or when the two practices coexist in close proximity to one another. Interactions can be modulated by factors such as hydropower infrastructure and short-term economic incentives, both of which are known to disrupt the balance between aquaculture and agriculture. Indirect tradeoffs, on the other hand, play out across distances, i.e., when agricultural food sources are diverted to feed animals in aquaculture. Synergies are associated with the culture of aquatic organisms in rice paddies and irrigation waters, seasonal rotations of crop cultivation with aquaculture, and various forms of integrated agriculture–aquaculture (IAA), including jitang, a highly developed variant of pond-dike IAA. Policy decisions, socioeconomic considerations, and technology warrant increased scrutiny as determinants of tradeoffs and synergies. Priority issues for the future include guiding the expansion of aquaculture from its traditional base in Asia, taking advantage of the heterogeneity that exists within both agricultural and aquaculture systems, the development of additional metrics of tradeoffs and synergies, and adapting to the effects of climate change.

A prospective, multisite study analyzing the percentage of urological cases that can be completely managed by telemedicine

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of telemedicine due to confinement measures. However, the percentage of outpatient urological cases that could be managed completely by telemedicine outside of the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be determined. We conducted a prospective multisite study involving all urologists working in the region of Quebec City. Methods: During the first 4 weeks of the regional confinement, 18 pediatric and adult urologists were asked to determine after each telemedicine appointment, if it translated into a complete (CCM), incomplete (ICM), or suboptimal case management (SCM, adequate only in the context of the pandemic). Results: 1679 appointments representing all urological areas were registered. Overall, 67.6 [65.3;69.8]%, 27.1 [25.0;29.3]% and 4.3 [3.5;5.4]% were reported as CCM, SCM and ICM, respectively. The CCM ratio varied according to the reason for consultation, with cancer suspicion (52.9 [42.9;62.8]%) and pediatric reasons (38.0 [30.0;46.6]%) showing the lowest CCM percentages. CCM percentages also varied significantly based on the setting where it was performed, ranging from 61.1% (private clinic) to 86.8% (endourology and general hospital). Conclusion: We show that two thirds of all urological outpatient cases could be completely managed by telemedicine outside of the pandemic. After the pandemic, it will be important to incorporate telemedicine as an alternative for a patient’s first or follow-up visit, especially those with geographical, pathological and socioeconomic considerations.

Optimizing agricultural production with socioeconomic considerations: A case study from Palestine

Agriculture is not only the main source of income to most Palestinian families; it is also the link to connect them to their valuable land and water resources. Farmers seek assistance from agronomists and decision makers to cultivate the proper products. In this study, the best selection of agricultural crops is addressed in the multiple-objective context. The study deals with three conflicting objective functions: net benefit, agricultural production, and labor employment. Four-stage procedure is adopted combining multiple-objective optimization, simple valuation methods, cluster analysis, and multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methods. Pareto optimal curves are used to evaluate the marginal prices of both land area and labor day. The theories of utility and benefit cost are applied to rank the non-dominant alternatives. Two MCDM methods, namely weighted goal programming and step methods, are employed in the evaluation. The above methodology is applied to the case study of Qalqilya District in which irrigated agriculture under semi-arid conditions prevails. The results show that Pareto optimal is a powerful tool to determine the marginal price of non-monetary commodities. It is also found that the average annual net benefit, agricultural production, and labor employment for the cultivated area are $941,423, 3,288 tons, and 14,671 days, respectively, in the best compromise plan. The inclusion of socioeconomic considerations in decision making on agricultural systems is crucial for their sustainable development.

Optimizing agricultural production with socioeconomic considerations: A case study from Palestine

Agriculture is not only the main source of income to most Palestinian families; it is also the link to connect them to their valuable land and water resources. Farmers seek assistance from agronomists and decision makers to cultivate the proper products. In this study, the best selection of agricultural crops is addressed in the multiple-objective context. The study deals with three conflicting objective functions: net benefit, agricultural production, and labor employment. Four-stage procedure is adopted combining multiple-objective optimization, simple valuation methods, cluster analysis, and multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methods. Pareto optimal curves are used to evaluate the marginal prices of both land area and labor day. The theories of utility and benefit cost are applied to rank the non-dominant alternatives. Two MCDM methods, namely weighted goal programming and step methods, are employed in the evaluation. The above methodology is applied to the case study of Qalqilya District in which irrigated agriculture under semi-arid conditions prevails. The results show that Pareto optimal is a powerful tool to determine the marginal price of non-monetary commodities. It is also found that the average annual net benefit, agricultural production, and labor employment for the cultivated area are $941,423, 3,288 tons, and 14,671 days, respectively, in the best compromise plan. The inclusion of socioeconomic considerations in decision making on agricultural systems is crucial for their sustainable development.

Transitions to Future Energy Systems: Learning from a Community Test Field

This article explores the challenges of transitioning towards future energy systems in a solar test field within the eco-community of Tamera, Portugal. We examine what findings can point to wider actionability and how. First, we consider how Tamera’s solar test field has addressed energy transition challenges. We unpack the nature of stability and change in achieving 60 percent energy autonomy; trace the linkages to spatiotemporal issues implicated in this sociotechnical process informed by keen commitment to energy justice; and dwell on the test field’s socioeconomic considerations at its interface with the Portuguese institutional framework and global connections. Second, we identify which findings can fertilise policy and action across European contexts. Considerations in gradually installing sub-100 kW solar capacity contrast starkly with the current proliferation of grid-scale solar in southern Portugal, raising questions about the actionability of knowledge on sociotechnical transitions. We co-generate ideas on how such contextualised epistemological advances can aid our understanding of societal energy transitions. The article encourages socially informed, integrated policy pathways. It speaks to building epistemological complementarities between applied researchers and practicing agents; problematises linking across scale between a community and institutionalising powers; and calls for actionable efforts that integrate systems thinking and power dynamics towards transformation.