scholarly journals Editorial

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 365-366
Author(s):  
Pınar Yazgan
Keyword(s):  
Human Mobility ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Population Movements ◽  
Social Fragmentation ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Pandemic Threat ◽  
Key Topics ◽  
Education And Employment ◽  
Level Of Effort

Discourses of a global pandemic threat have marked 2020 and 2021. In the process, inequalities and increasing social fragmentation in health, technology, education and employment have deepened. Global risks and uncertainties have been part of the agenda for two years. Ironically not the acceleration of mobility, but extreme restrictions by national and international bodies over population movements have been apparent and linked to biosecurity concerns. Thus, biosecurity and spread of viruses have become some key topics for discussing human mobility practices and strategies. Dealing with security issues with risks and uncertainties can be likened to walking through a maze that dynamically changes depending on the level of effort.

Human mobility models reveal the underlying mechanism of seasonal movements across China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bing Song ◽  
Xiao-Yong Yan ◽  
Suoyi Tan ◽  
Bin Sai ◽  
Shengjie Lai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Engineering ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Gravity Models ◽  
Mobility Models ◽  
Temporal And Spatial Distribution ◽  
Population Movements ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Time Periods

Understanding the spatial interactions of human mobility is crucial for urban planning, traffic engineering, as well as for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. Although many models have been developed to model human mobility, it is not clear whether such models could also capture the traveling mechanisms across different time periods (e.g. workdays, weekends or holidays). With one-year long nationwide location-based service (LBS) data in China, we investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics of population movements during different time periods, and make thorough comparisons for the applicability of five state-of-the-art human mobility models. We find that population flows show significant periodicity and strong inequality across temporal and spatial distribution. A strong “backflow” effect is found for cross-city movements before and after holidays. Parameter fitting of gravity models reveals that travels in different type of days consider the attractiveness of destinations and cost of distance differently. Surprisingly, the comparison indicates that the parameter-free opportunity priority selection (OPS) model outperforms other models and is the best to characterize human mobility in China across all six different types of days. However, there is still an urgent need for development of more dedicated models for human mobility on weekends and different types of holidays.

scholarly journals Impact on Air Quality of the COVID-19 Lockdown in the Urban Area of Palermo (Italy)

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (20) ◽  
pp. 7375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcello Vultaggio ◽  
Daniela Varrica ◽  
Maria Grazia Alaimo
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Area ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Infected People ◽  
National Crisis ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Pm 10 ◽  
The Impact

At the end of 2019, the first cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported in Wuhan, China. Thereafter, the number of infected people increased rapidly, and the outbreak turned into a national crisis, with infected individuals all over the country. The COVID-19 global pandemic produced extreme changes in human behavior that affected air quality. Human mobility and production activities decreased significantly, and many regions recorded significant reductions in air pollution. The goal of our investigation was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the concentrations of the main air pollutants in the urban area of Palermo (Italy). In this study, the trends in the average concentrations of CO, NO2, O3, and PM10 in the air from 1 January 2020 to 31 July 2020 were compared with the corresponding average values detected at the same monitoring stations in Palermo during the previous five years (2015–2019). During the lockdown period (10 March–30 April), we observed a decrease in the concentrations of CO, NO2, and particulate matter (PM)10, calculated to be about 51%, 50%, and 45%, respectively. This confirms that air pollution in an urban area is predominantly linked to vehicular traffic.

scholarly journals Machine Learning on the COVID-19 Pandemic, Human Mobility, and Air Quality: A Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Mokhlesur Rahman ◽  
Kamal Chandra Paul ◽  
Md. Amjad Hossain ◽  
G. G. Md. Nawaz Ali ◽  
Md. Shahinoor Rahman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Viral Spread ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Review Study

The ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic is affecting every facet of human lives (e.g., public health, education, economy, transportation, and the environment). This novel pandemic and citywide implemented lockdown measures are affecting virus transmission, people’s travel patterns, and air quality. Many studies have been conducted to predict the COVID-19 diffusion, assess the impacts of the pandemic on human mobility and air quality, and assess the impacts of lockdown measures on viral spread with a range of Machine Learning (ML) techniques. This review study aims to analyze results from past research to understand the interactions among the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown measures, human mobility, and air quality. The critical review of prior studies indicates that urban form, people's socioeconomic and physical conditions, social cohesion, and social distancing measures significantly affect human mobility and COVID-19 transmission. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are inclined to use private transportation for necessary travel purposes to mitigate coronavirus-related health problems. This review study also noticed that COVID-19 related lockdown measures significantly improve air quality by reducing the concentration of air pollutants, which in turn improves the COVID-19 situation by reducing respiratory-related sickness and deaths of the people. It is argued that ML is a powerful, effective, and robust analytic paradigm to handle complex and wicked problems such as a global pandemic. This study also discusses policy implications, which will be helpful for policymakers to take prompt actions to moderate the severity of the pandemic and improve urban environments by adopting data-driven analytic methods.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Borescope: uma ferramenta intuitiva, escalável e flexível para compreender e correlacionar padrões de mobilidade da população e casos de infecção

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio A. de A. Rocha ◽  
Nilson L. Damasceno ◽  
Peron R. de Sousa
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Intelligent Data Analysis ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Interactive Tool ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Research Problems

Lack of physical distancing, isolation, and social interactions are some of the key factors that have contributed to the spread of COVID-19 and transformed it into this global pandemic. Combining and correlating human mobility with the COVID-19 cases being reported may help to determine possible hotspots. Further, it may also help to provide guidance on how to possibly make lifestyle changes and choices to avert/limit future waves of this pandemic or a similar one. This project aims to cope with the research problems involved in the development of a graphical and interactive tool that performs intelligent data analysis of visually selected geo-temporal subsets of collected information. As a result of the project, it was launched the COVID-19 Borescope, which is shown in Figure 1.

scholarly journals Deadly intracranial bleed in patients with dengue fever: A series of nine patients and review of literature

2016 ◽  
Vol 07 (03) ◽  
pp. 423-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Jo Ee ◽  
Gee Teak Sheng ◽  
Nasser Abdul Wahab
Keyword(s):  
Dengue Fever ◽  
Nonstructural Protein ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Intracranial Bleed ◽  
Ns1 Antigen ◽  
Pandemic Threat ◽  
Ct Brain ◽  
The Moment ◽  
High Index Of Suspicion

ABSTRACT Introduction: Dengue fever is a global pandemic threat with increasing incidence. To date, there are no cures and the effectiveness of dengue vaccines is still uncertain. World Heath Organization introduced expanded dengue syndrome to include unusual presentations of dengue fever including severe neurologic complications. One of the deadly complications is intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Methodology: We collected data of patients with ICH diagnosed via a plain computed tomography of the brain (CT brain) with thrombocytopenia and positive Dengue virus type 1 nonstructural protein (NS1) antigen test or positive dengue serology IgM from January 2014 till June 2015 at our center. Nine patients were included and all 20 other remaining patients reported in literature so far are discussed. Discussion: We found that all patients in our center requiring neurosurgical intervention died. Another interesting observation is that detection of Dengue IgG usually meant more severe ICH and poorer outcomes. From our series, platelet levels did not seem to influence the outcome. Conclusion: We recommend that for early detection of ICH, Dengue IgG should be routinely screened and a high index of suspicion be maintained. Future research should be focused on determining predictors of ICH in patients with dengue fever so that preventive steps can be taken as mortality is high and no treatment seems beneficial at the moment once severe ICH occurs.

scholarly journals Reduction of Human Mobility Matters during Early COVID-19 Outbreaks: Evidence from India, Japan and China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 2826
Author(s):  
Zhehao Ren ◽  
Ruiyun Li ◽  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Bin Chen ◽  
Che Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Mobility ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Reproductive Number ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Virus Spread ◽  
Illness Onset ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Imported Cases ◽  
Local Transmission ◽  
Japan And China

Mobility restrictions have been a heated topic during the global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, multiple recent findings have verified its importance in blocking virus spread. Evidence on the association between mobility, cases imported from abroad and local medical resource supplies is limited. To reveal the association, this study quantified the importance of inter- and intra-country mobility in containing virus spread and avoiding hospitalizations during early stages of COVID-19 outbreaks in India, Japan, and China. We calculated the time-varying reproductive number (Rt) and duration from illness onset to diagnosis confirmation (Doc), to represent conditions of virus spread and hospital bed shortages, respectively. Results showed that inter-country mobility fluctuation could explain 80%, 35%, and 12% of the variance in imported cases and could prevent 20 million, 5 million, and 40 million imported cases in India, Japan and China, respectively. The critical time for screening and monitoring of imported cases is 2 weeks at minimum and 4 weeks at maximum, according to the time when the Pearson’s Rs between Rt and imported cases reaches a peak (>0.8). We also found that if local transmission is initiated, a 1% increase in intra-country mobility would result in 1430 (±501), 109 (±181), and 10 (±1) additional bed shortages, as estimated using the Doc in India, Japan, and China, respectively. Our findings provide vital reference for governments to tailor their pre-vaccination policies regarding mobility, especially during future epidemic waves of COVID-19 or similar severe epidemic outbreaks.

scholarly journals Political Leaders’ Discourses and Securitization of Migration: A Comparison of Turkey and the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Selin Kabacaoğlu ◽  
Fulya Memişoğlu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Leader ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Political Discourses

With the growing importance of human mobility in the global agenda since the early 1990s, international migration has increasingly evolved into a securitized phenomenon. This has also made international migrantsa prominent target group of security speech acts. The main objective of this study is to explore migration-security nexus in the context of political discourses. The paper brings a comparative perspective to the role of political leader discourses in the securitization of migration by examining the cases of the United States (USA), hosting the largest number of international migrants, and Turkey, the world’s top refugee hosting country. Through the analytical lens of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and securitization theory, the study unpacks the rhetoric used by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and American President Donald John Trump towards migrants/ asylum seekers. As the key findings demonstrate, the way the two leaders reflect the migration-security relationship to their speech acts significantly varies. President Trump associates migrants with security issues in multiple ways including social, political and economic spheres, while President Erdoğan’s discourse links migrants with security issues inthe economic realm, but his general discourse reflects a desecuritization approach. In both countries, it is observed that the discourses of political leaders concerning migrants and asylum seekers exert influence on public opinion.

scholarly journals Malaysia in 2020

Asian Survey ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-105
Author(s):  
Azmil Tayeb
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Pandemic Threat ◽  
National Alliance

It was a tumultuous year for Malaysia. As the country was experiencing the onset of the first wave of COVID-19 in late February 2020, the majority coalition, the Alliance of Hope (Pakatan Harapan) that formed the federal government at the time broke apart due to defections, symbolized by the so-called Sheraton Move. A new government led by the National Alliance (Perikatan Nasional, PN) coalition came into power after the king appointed its leader, Muhyiddin Yassin, prime minister, replacing Mahathir Mohamad. The PN government immediately faced two severe challenges: the global pandemic threat and the crisis of legitimacy due to weak coalition building. This article mainly focuses on the second challenge, namely the ways the PN government has been able to avoid a parliamentary vote of no confidence and keep its coalition intact, albeit precariously.

scholarly journals Ecology – all-planetary and universal science

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Chelyapina ◽  
Eduard Arustamov
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Scientific Conference ◽  
Peaceful Coexistence ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The World ◽  
Pandemic Threat ◽  
Environmentally Sound ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Ecological Worldview

The article dedicated to the environmental exhibition and scientific conference in Ufa emphasizes the high relevance of the problem under consideration and calls for a transition from political confrontation, which is full of the historical development of the world, to peaceful coexistence that unites all countries and peoples of the world. The danger that has been hanging over humanity in recent years in the form of a global pandemic threat brings to the fore issues not of political confrontation and military confrontation between countries, but the problems of human survival in the conditions of a catastrophic accumulation of sources of environmental problems that lead to the pollution of vast territories and the impossibility of continuing life on them. To solve these issues, it is necessary to form an ecological worldview in people, which should begin from an early age, so that in all subsequent life the individual not only observes the conditions of environmentally sound behavior and life, but also is intolerant of various manifestations and situations of violation of harmonious existence with the surrounding natural environment.

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