Artificial intelligence for Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) Pandemic

COVID-19 outbreak has created havoc around the world and has brought life to a disturbing halt claiming thousands of lives worldwide and infected cases rising every day. With technological advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI-based platforms can be used to deal with COVID-19 pandemic and accelerate the processes ranging from crowd surveillance to medical diagnosis. This paper renders a response to battle the virus through various AI techniques by making use of its subsets such as Machine Learning (ML), Deep learning (DL) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). A survey of promising AI methods which could be used in various applications to facilitate the processes in this pandemic along potential of AI and challenges imposed are discussed thoroughly. This paper relies on the findings of the most recent research publications and journals on COVID-19 and suggests numerous relevant strategies. A case study on the impact of COVID-19 in various economic sectors is also discussed. The potential research challenges and future directions are also presented in the paper.

Artificial Intelligence for the Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) Pandemic

COVID-19 outbreak has created havoc around the world and has brought life to a disturbing halt claiming thousands of lives worldwide and infected cases rising every day. With technological advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI-based platforms can be used to deal with COVID-19 pandemic and accelerate the processes ranging from crowd surveillance to medical diagnosis. This paper renders a response to battle the virus through various AI techniques by making use of its subsets such as Machine Learning (ML), Deep learning (DL) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). A survey of promising AI methods which could be used in various applications to facilitate the processes in this pandemic along potential of AI and challenges imposed are discussed thoroughly. This paper relies on the findings of the most recent research publications and journals on COVID-19 and suggests numerous relevant strategies. A case study on the impact of COVID-19 in various economic sectors is also discussed. The potential research challenges and future directions are also presented in the paper.

From the Law of Value Debate to the One-Child Policy in China: On Accounting and Biopolitics

This article argues that the origins of the one-child policy beginning in 1980 in China, and its development into the current system of “comprehensive population management,” are to be found not in any unfolding of a statist or authoritarian logic, or within the parameters of a nominally “socialist” project, but rather in a return to a properly capitalist set of concerns and governmental techniques, the first iteration of which can be traced to the 1920s and 1930s. With regard to the broad set of economic reforms launched in the period 1979–81, it is argued that the one-child policy is absolutely continuous with other reforms across economic sectors (agricultural responsibility systems and urban enterprise reforms) and discontinuous with anything we might understand as population management in the period 1949–76. The “law of value debate” in 1979, which “resolved” a long-standing set of issues concerning national accounting, planning, and accumulation, is found to be—despite its apparently Marxist character, derivation, and vocabulary—the passage through which a capitalist developmental logic was reintroduced into Chinese governing, with significant consequences.

Tracking a Circular Economy Transition Through Jobs: Method Development and Application in Two Cities

The methodology presented in this paper produces a circular economy jobs (CE jobs) measure. Using jobs as a proxy indicator, these measure gives cities a robust number to indicate progress toward the circular economy and is designed to serve as a first step in developing a circular economy strategy. The CE jobs measure tracks the inputs and outputs of goods in a city's “boundaries” through the material import dependency of the city's economic sectors. At the same time, tracking and assessing the circularity of the local jobs in these economic sectors will also provide city leaders with an indication of which sectors circularity is happening and could potentially happen. This paper also concludes that the process of coming to the CE jobs has two parts, the first more relevant to the local government and the second better influenced by the national government. Both need to come together for a truly circular local economy to happen.

BIM Approach in Construction Safety—A Case Study on Preventing Falls from Height

The construction industry has one of the highest occupational accident incidence rates among all economic sectors. Currently, building information modelling (BIM) appears to be a valuable tool for analysing occupational safety issues throughout the construction life cycle of projects, helping to avoid hazards and risks and, consequently, increasing safety. This work investigates BIM methodology and the application of related technologies for building safety planning and demonstrates the potential of this technology for the integrated implementation of safety measures during the design phase and construction site management. The first step consisted of a literature review on applying BIM-related technologies for safety in the design and planning phases. Following this, to show the potentialities of construction simulation, a case study based on BIM 4D to prevent falls from height was developed. With BIM 4D, it is possible to follow the construction process over time, giving the construction safety technicians, designers, supervisors and managers the capability to analyse, in each phase, the potential risks and identify which safety measures should be implemented. BIM can effectively integrate safety measures from the design phase to the construction and use phase and enable integrated safety planning within construction planning, leading to reliable safety management throughout the construction process.

Circular Economy Impact Analysis on Stock Performances: An Empirical Comparison with the Euro Stoxx 50® ESG Index

Environmental issues have a considerable impact in all economic sectors, also influencing financial markets. As a result, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) awareness is rising in the financial sector. In this perspective, the concept of circular economy (CE) assumes central relevance. The aim of our study is to investigate the relationship between CE strategies and market performance; to this end, we use ESG scores as a proxy for CE. Our initial assumption is that since CE is a component of the “E” factor—in that it can generate positive and measurable environmental impacts—then it can be associated with the ESG score. Therefore, we can methodologically overcome the lack of a specific score related to CE. We use a preselection model based on historical performance by verifying the percentages of the presence of stocks in the two selected indices, namely ESG Euro Stoxx 50® and Euro Stoxx 50-ESG. Overall, we find that ESG profiles have a positive impact on stock performance, although ESG scores do not express higher performance per se. Furthermore, our analysis shows that, to date, there is no evidence that CE initiatives can influence stock returns.

Strategies for the Mobilization and Deployment of Local Low-Value, Heterogeneous Biomass Resources for a Circular Bioeconomy

With the Bioeconomy Strategy, Europe aims to strengthen and boost biobased sectors. Therefore, investments in and markets of biobased value chains have to be unlocked and local bioeconomies across Europe have to be deployed. Compliance with environmental and social sustainability goals is on top of the agenda. The current biomass provision structures are unfit to take on the diversity of biomass residues and their respective supply chains and cannot ensure the sustainability of feedstock supply in an ecological, social and economical fashion. Therefore, we have to address the research question on feasible strategies for mobilizing and deploying local, low-value and heterogeneous biomass resources. We are building upon the work of the IEA Bioenergy Task40 scientists and their expertise on international bioenergy trade and the current provision of bioenergy and cluster mobilization measures into three assessment levels; the legislative framework, technological innovation and market creation. The challenges and opportunity of the three assessment levels point towards a common denominator: The quantification of the systemic value of strengthening the potentially last remaining primary economic sectors, forestry, agriculture and aquaculture, is missing. With the eroding importance of other primary economic sectors, including fossil fuel extraction and minerals mining, the time is now to assess and act upon the value of the supply-side of a circular bioeconomy. This value includes the support the Bioeconomy can provide to structurally vulnerable regions by creating meaningful jobs and activities in and strengthening the resource democratic significance of rural areas.

The Need for Health Education and Vaccination—Importance of Teacher Training and Family Involvement

The health emergency due to COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of vaccination and its impact on social welfare. Inequalities have surfaced that affect the most vulnerable and those millions of children do not receive the necessary vaccines. Health education becomes a fundamental resource for citizens to access universal rights. One thousand people from 76 countries on five continents participated in this research in 2019–2020, from the health, education, and economic sectors. A descriptive cross-sectional study with a quantitative design was used. The instrument used was a correctly validated questionnaire: VACUNASEDUCA. The objectives were to reflect on the adequacy of teacher training and their awareness for the proper use of vaccines and to analyze the knowledge of parents about the consequences of vaccination. The results demonstrate the importance of teacher training and health education, with positive involvement of the family. The most favorable group is female, under 30 years, from the European continent, with a very high Human Development Index (HDI), and from the education sector. In conclusion, it is noted that, within the framework of the fourth industrial revolution, education must be configured with innovative approaches and tools, making it necessary to intervene in the context considering their cultural characteristics and promoting healthy lifestyle habits.

To Rebuild or to Refurbish? An Analysis of the Financial Convenience of Interventions on Urban Consolidated Contexts

In the current historical moment of post-crisis recovery, the real estate sector has a dual role: i) through the construction industry and its impacts on related economic sectors, it is called upon to be an active part of the economic recovery; ii) the enhancement of existing property assets is of primary importance in the containment of greenhouse gases and the achievement of the objectives set by the United Nations [1]. In this context, the various players involved in the real estate market have outlined the importance of being supported by assessment methodologies. That allows to point out not only the opportunities of the investment, but also the risks that may invalidate the initial forecasts, nullifying the success of the initiative. To this end, this research develops a multi-criteria Key Performance Indicator aimed at analyzing the feasibility of real estate initiatives that allows to provide a synthetic scoring on the financial sustainability of each investment and to compare different types of initiatives (e.g. new construction, demolition and reconstruction, renovation, etc.).

Technological innovations in the textile sector in the canton of Esmeraldas, Ecuador

Talking about innovation and entrepreneurship, although it may seem similar, it is not. However, both concepts should always go hand in hand when undertaking any business idea and even more so, those that seek to empower entrepreneurs, in addition to seeking to strengthen the economic sectors of their region. The general objective of the research is to analyze the technological innovations in the textile sector in the canton of Esmeraldas-Ecuador, seeking to know the perception of the people with respect to this particular topic and its inclusion in this new modern era that is currently being lived, which is totally surrounded by technology. The population selected with the people who belong to the textile sector of the canton mentioned above, having a sample of 10 people to whom a semi-structured interview was applied, consisting of five (5) items that are related to the objective of the research, finally the technique and tool used for the processing and analysis of data is the software program Atlas. Ti software, which allows storing and recording the opinions obtained from the sample.