In this paper, the design of a low cost portable ventilator with performance analysis have been done to solve the scarcity of respiratory ventilators for COVID-19 patients. The materials used to build the system are: DC motor, rotating disc and pneumatic piston. The system input is the patient heart beat and the output is volume of air to the patient lung with adjusted breathing rate. This ventilator adjusts the breathing rate to the patient depending on his heart beat rate. (...) The performance analysis of this system have been done using Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) and Full State Feedback H2 controllers. Comparison of the system with the proposed controllers have been done using a step change and a random change of the patient heart beat and a promising result have been analyzed successfully. (shrink)

In this paper, the design of a low cost portable ventilator with performance analysis have been done to solve the scarcity of respiratory ventilators for COVID-19 patients. The materials used to build the system are: DC motor, rotating disc and pneumatic piston. The system input is the patient heart beat and the output is volume of air to the patient lung with adjusted breathing rate. This ventilator adjusts the breathing rate to the patient depending on his heart beat rate. (...) The performance analysis of this system have been done using Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) and Full State Feedback H2 controllers. Comparison of the system with the proposed controllers have been done using a step change and a random change of the patient heart beat and a promising result have been analyzed successfully. (shrink)

A ventilator is a device that provides cool air by moving the air in or out of the lungs, inhaling a patient who is not fit to smell, or breathing properly. In this paper, a resistive chest belt sensorbased mechanical ventilator is designed to provide the COVID-19 patient with the volume of air you need to deliver with the expansion of the patient's chest in need of more air. The resistive band sensor senses the expansion of the patient's chest (...) and controls the solenoid valve attached to the oxygen compressor. The function of the respirator is tested with the MATLAB / Simulink tool with the help of a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) Controller and a promising result obtained. (shrink)

In this paper, the stability control of the inverted pendulum on a cart with a disturbance forces has been done using observer based and full state feedback H2 controllers. The Lagrangian equation has been used to model the system equation of motions and linearized the system to the unstable upward position. Comparison of the system stability has been simulated by comparing the proposed controllers using Matlab/Scripts and a promising results has been analyzed successfully.

In this paper, a metal cutting machine position control have been designed and simulated using Matlab/Simulink Toolbox successfully. The open loop response of the system analysis shows that the system needs performance improvement. Static output feedback and full state feedback H 2 controllers have been used to increase the performance of the system. Comparison of the metal cutting machine position using static output feedback and full state feedback H 2 controllers have been (...) done to track a set point position using step and sine wave input signals and a promising results have been analyzed. (shrink)

The U.S. FDA has issued emergency use authorizations for monoclonal antibodies for non-hospitalized patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 disease and for individuals exposed to COVID-19 as post-exposure prophylaxis. One EUA for an oral antiviral drug, molnupiravir, has also been recommended by FDA’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee, and others appear likely in the near future. Due to increased demand because of the Delta variant, the federal government resumed control over the supply and asked states to ration doses. As (...) future variants with increased infectivity and/or severity emerge, further rationing may be required. We identify relevant ethical principles and priority groups for access to therapies based on an integrated approach to population health and medical factors. Using priority categories to allocate scarce therapies effectively operationalizes important ethical values. This strategy is preferable to the current approach of categorical rules based on vaccination, immunocompromise status, or older age, or the ad hoc consideration of clinical risk factors. (shrink)

It is a matter of fact that Europe is facing more and more crucial challenges regarding health and social care due to the demographic change and the current economic context. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has stressed this situation even further, thus highlighting the need for taking action. Active and Assisted Living technologies come as a viable approach to help facing these challenges, thanks to the high potential they have in enabling remote care and support. Broadly speaking, AAL can be (...) referred to as the use of innovative and advanced Information and Communication Technologies to create supportive, inclusive and empowering applications and environments that enable older, impaired or frail people to live independently and stay active longer in society. AAL capitalizes on the growing pervasiveness and effectiveness of sensing and computing facilities to supply the persons in need with smart assistance, by responding to their necessities of autonomy, independence, comfort, security and safety. The application scenarios addressed by AAL are complex, due to the inherent heterogeneity of the end-user population, their living arrangements, and their physical conditions or impairment. Despite aiming at diverse goals, AAL systems should share some common characteristics. They are designed to provide support in daily life in an invisible, unobtrusive and user-friendly manner. Moreover, they are conceived to be intelligent, to be able to learn and adapt to the requirements and requests of the assisted people, and to synchronise with their specific needs. Nevertheless, to ensure the uptake of AAL in society, potential users must be willing to use AAL applications and to integrate them in their daily environments and lives. In this respect, video- and audio-based AAL applications have several advantages, in terms of unobtrusiveness and information richness. Indeed, cameras and microphones are far less obtrusive with respect to the hindrance other wearable sensors may cause to one’s activities. In addition, a single camera placed in a room can record most of the activities performed in the room, thus replacing many other non-visual sensors. Currently, video-based applications are effective in recognising and monitoring the activities, the movements, and the overall conditions of the assisted individuals as well as to assess their vital parameters. Similarly, audio sensors have the potential to become one of the most important modalities for interaction with AAL systems, as they can have a large range of sensing, do not require physical presence at a particular location and are physically intangible. Moreover, relevant information about individuals’ activities and health status can derive from processing audio signals. Nevertheless, as the other side of the coin, cameras and microphones are often perceived as the most intrusive technologies from the viewpoint of the privacy of the monitored individuals. This is due to the richness of the information these technologies convey and the intimate setting where they may be deployed. Solutions able to ensure privacy preservation by context and by design, as well as to ensure high legal and ethical standards are in high demand. After the review of the current state of play and the discussion in GoodBrother, we may claim that the first solutions in this direction are starting to appear in the literature. A multidisciplinary debate among experts and stakeholders is paving the way towards AAL ensuring ergonomics, usability, acceptance and privacy preservation. The DIANA, PAAL, and VisuAAL projects are examples of this fresh approach. This report provides the reader with a review of the most recent advances in audio- and video-based monitoring technologies for AAL. It has been drafted as a collective effort of WG3 to supply an introduction to AAL, its evolution over time and its main functional and technological underpinnings. In this respect, the report contributes to the field with the outline of a new generation of ethical-aware AAL technologies and a proposal for a novel comprehensive taxonomy of AAL systems and applications. Moreover, the report allows non-technical readers to gather an overview of the main components of an AAL system and how these function and interact with the end-users. The report illustrates the state of the art of the most successful AAL applications and functions based on audio and video data, namely lifelogging and self-monitoring, remote monitoring of vital signs, emotional state recognition, food intake monitoring, activity and behaviour recognition, activity and personal assistance, gesture recognition, fall detection and prevention, mobility assessment and frailty recognition, and cognitive and motor rehabilitation. For these application scenarios, the report illustrates the state of play in terms of scientific advances, available products and research project. The open challenges are also highlighted. The report ends with an overview of the challenges, the hindrances and the opportunities posed by the uptake in real world settings of AAL technologies. In this respect, the report illustrates the current procedural and technological approaches to cope with acceptability, usability and trust in the AAL technology, by surveying strategies and approaches to co-design, to privacy preservation in video and audio data, to transparency and explainability in data processing, and to data transmission and communication. User acceptance and ethical considerations are also debated. Finally, the potentials coming from the silver economy are overviewed. (shrink)

Previous research has shown that women are disproportionately negatively affected by a variety of socio-economic hardships, many of which COVID-19 is making worse. In particular, because of gender roles, and because women’s jobs tend to be given lower priority than men’s (since they are more likely to be part-time, lower-income, and less secure), women assume the obligations of increased caregiving needs at a much higher rate. This unfairly renders women especially susceptible to short- and long-term economic insecurity and decreases (...) in wellbeing. Single-parent households, the majority of which are headed by single mothers, face even greater risks. These vulnerabilities are further compounded along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, class, and geography. Drawing upon the philosophical literature on political responsibility and structural injustice (specifically, the work of Iris Marion Young), I argue that while the state may not have had either foresight into, or control over, the disproportionate effect the pandemic would have on women, it can nonetheless be held responsible for mitigating these effects. In order to do so, it must first recognize the ways in which women have been affected by the outbreak. Specifically, policies must take into account the unpaid labor of care that falls on women. Moreover, given that this labor is particularly vital during a global health pandemic, the state ought to immediately prioritize the value of this work by providing financial stimuli directly to families, requiring employers to provide both sick leave and parental leave for at least as long as schools and daycares are inoperational, and providing subsidized emergency childcare. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to intense conversations about ventilator allocation and reallocation during a crisis standard of care. Multiple voices in the media and multiple state guidelines mention reallocation as a possibility. Drawing upon a range of neuroscientific, phenomenological, ethical, and sociopolitical considerations, the authors argue that taking away someone’s personal ventilator is a direct assault on their bodily and social integrity. They conclude that personal ventilators should not be part of reallocation pools and that triage protocols (...) should be immediately clarified to explicitly state that personal ventilators will be protected in all cases. (shrink)

this article makes the case that the rationale of open science and responsible innovation will help to build public planetary goods: the necessity of this rationale is illustrated on the COViD-19 case.

The main target of this paper is to control the speed of DC motor by comparing the actual and the desired speed set point. The DC motor is designed using Fuzzy logic and MPC controllers. The comparison is made between the proposed controllers for the control target speed of the DC motor using square and white noise desired input signals with the help of Matlab/Simulink software. It has been realized that the design based on the fuzzy logic controller track (...) the set pointwith the best steady state and transient system behavior than the design with MPC controller. Finally, the comparative simulation result prove the effectiveness of the DC motor with fuzzy logic controller. (shrink)

This article approaches the COVID-19 pandemic as an inherently antagonistic phenomenon. To do so, it carries forward the philosophical contentions that Žižek outlines in his Pandemic! COVID-19 Shakes the World, as well as his wider work. With reference to the parallax Real and McGowan’s Hegelian contradiction, it is demonstrated that Žižek’s philosophical premises hold a unique importance in politically confronting COVID-19. Indeed, by drawing specific attention to the various ways in which our confrontations with the Real expose (...) the limitations of our socio-ideological orders, it is argued that it is in these very limitations that the limits of the Real are transposed through the various “fictions” we employ to fight and perceive it. In outlining this confrontation, a focused discussion on the Real as “impossible” – a “characteristic” that affords an important political significance for the present context and its ongoing limitations – is provided. In conclusion, if the COVID-19 pandemic demands a new “commons”, and if our response to the crisis should be one where the desires of the nation-state are regulated and controlled, then, it may not simply be enough that we “demand the impossible”. Instead, it is today that the impossible demands a new “us”. (shrink)

The late Robert Veatch, one of the United States’ founders of bioethics, never tired of reminding us that the paradigm-shifting contribution that bioethics made to patient care was to liberate patients out of the hands of doctors, who were traditionally seen to know best, even when they decidedly did not know best. It seems to us that with the advent of COVID-19, health policy has come full-circle on this. COVID-19 gave rise to a large number of purportedly (...) “ethical” guidance documents aiming to assist health care providers and practitioners with responding to the ethical challenges that might arise in their response to the pandemic. Ethics has two primary functions: provide clear action guidance, and provide clear action justification. The documents in question arguably reflect the ultimate policy triumph of bioethical “principlism”, and, perhaps surprisingly, as a corollary, the ultimate triumph of “doctor-knows-best”. (shrink)

The paper begins with a retrospective of the debates on the origin of life: the virus or the cell? The virus needs a cell for replication, instead the cell is a more evolved form on the evolutionary scale of life. In addition, the study of viruses raises pressing conceptual and philosophical questions about their nature, their classification, and their place in the biological world. The subject of pandemics is approached starting from the existentialism of Albert Camus and Sartre, the replacement (...) of the exclusion ritual with the disciplinary mechanism of Michel Foucault, and about the Gaia hypothesis, developed by James Lovelock and supported in the current pandemic by Bruno Latour. The social dimensions of pandemics, their connection to global warming, which has led to an increase in infectious diseases, and the deforestation of large areas, which have caused viruses to migrate from their native area (their "reservoir") are highlighted below. The ethics of pandemics is approached from several philosophical points of view, of which the most important in a crisis of such global dimensions is utilitarianism which involves maximizing benefits for society in direct conflict with the usual (Kantian) view of respect for people as individuals. After a retrospective of the COVID-19 virus that caused the current pandemic, its life cycle and its history, with an emphasis on the philosophy of death, the concept of biopower initially developed by Foucault is discussed, with reference to the practice of modern states of control of the populations and the debate generated by Giorgio Agamben who states that what is manifested in this pandemic is the growing tendency to use the state of emergency as a normal paradigm of government. An interesting and much debated approach is the one generated by the works of Slavoj Žižek, who states that the current pandemic has led to the bankruptcy of the current "barbaric" capitalism, wondering if the path that humanity will take is a neo-communism. Another important negative effect is desocialization, with the conclusion of some philosophers that we cannot exist independently of our relationships with others, that a person's humanity depends on the humanity of those around him. The last section is dedicated to forecasting what the world will look like after the pandemic, and there are already signs of a paradigm shift, including the sudden disappearance of the "wall" ideology: a cough was enough to make it suddenly impossible to avoid the responsibility that every individual has it towards all living beings for the simple fact that he is part of this world, and of the desire to be part of it. The whole is always involved in part, because everything is, in a sense, in everything and in nature there are no autonomous regions that are an exception. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to restore the supremacy that once belonged to politics. One of the virtues of the virus is its ability to generate a more sober idea of ​​freedom: to be free means to do what needs to be done in a specific situation. -/- CONTENTS: -/- Abstract Introduction 1 Viruses 1.1 Ontology 2 Pandemics 2.1 Social dimensions 2.2 Ethics 3 COVID-19 3.1 Biopolitics 3.2 Neocommunism 3.3 Desocialising 4 Forecasting Bibliography -/- DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31039.74405/1. (shrink)

Background: Health care practitioners are recognized to have a large influence in shaping uptake of vaccine in new borns, children, adolescents, as well as adults. Parents remain more secure in their decisions when health care practitioners communicate successfully with them about vaccine dangers and benefits, the value as well as necessity for vaccinations, as well as vaccine safety. Thus, immunization remain the foundation of the primary health care system, an indisputable human right as well as a global health and development (...) success story, saving millions of lives yearly. Recently, we have vaccines to prevent more than 20 life threatening diseases, helping people of all ages live longer, healthier lives. Yet despite tremendous progress, far too many people around the world, including nearly 20 million infants yearly have insufficient access to vaccines. In some countries, progress has stalled or even reversed, and there is a real risk that complacency will undermine past achievements. Purpose: The current study aimed to explores vaccine hesitancy, its barriers and impact studies regarding COVID-19 decision impacts. Also, to provides policy and decision makers and operational staff with evidence to inform decisions to promote vaccine uptake across Bayelsa State. Methods: A literature review tried to do a deep dive by using a variety of search engines such as Scopus, Research Gate, Mendeley, Summon, PubMed, Google Scholar, Hinari, Dimension, Academia, CAB Abstract, OARE Abstract, SSRN search strategy to retrieve research publications, “grey literature” and expert working group reports, including author’s field experience. Findings: Absence of uniform methods of organization in the various health care facilities upon which we were obliged to rely. Thus affecting the overall immunization programme and health system. Hence policy must urgently address these challenges with emphasis on policy clarity while continuously improving infrastructure. Conclusions: Bayelsa State is categorized as low/poor performing as the findings suggest that the involvement of community-based leaders can improve community participation and acceptance while enhancing and strengthening integrated disease surveillance and Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) monitoring and reporting systems; and conducting integrated advocacy and communications activities to promote demand for vaccination as part of increasing overall demand and acceptability of all essential Primary Health Centers (PHC) services, thus, breaking barriers of vaccine hesitancy. (shrink)

This paper has two objectives 1) to study the influence of digital and new technology on COVID-19 diagnosis and healthcare 2) To propose the integral guideline solutions of the infectious disease for the future. COVID-19 stands for corona (CO), virus (VI), disease (D), or SARS-CoV-2, is a respiratory virus first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China(WHO, 2019). It is an epidemiological crisis that caused the deaths and sudden destruction of wealth and health of people around the (...) world. Many countries responded to the crisis with what could only be called urgent prevention and treatment. In the 21st century, our society is based on digital and new technology that can control and prevent the COVID-19 pandemics. However, these ways for solving the problem of COVID-19 pandemics are rising an epistemological crisis too. There are some problems with the COVID-19 diagnosis. From Buddhist philosophy perspective, COVID-19 teaches us the coronavirus is causing us to experience some heightened forms of the three marks of our existence which are the impermanence (aniccā), the suffering (duḥkha), and the non-self (anatta). The establishment of scientific expertise and innovation has shown its value and educating the public about testing, diagnosis, communication, treatment, and vaccine development technology for prevention the of infectious diseases in the future. (shrink)

Aim: The aim of this study is to reveal the convergence of public health ethics, institutional, collective, and individual ethics obligation during the COVID-19 pandemic and give some explanations with online media reports. Method: The study method is qualitative content analysis; this method was chosen as it would suit best the purpose of the study. The Turkish Medical Association, Turkish Public Health Association, and online newspaper articles and videos have been scanned using keywords. After that, related online reports and (...) interviews have been classified and analyzed according to the context in between May 22, 2020 and November 16, 2020. No official ethical permission was obtained as the study was conducted through open access internet news sites. Results: The COVID-19 scientific committee and the Ministry of Health has suggested a new way of normal life called controlled social life for all places in Turkey. In the frame of these recommendations, with the Google research engine, many articles of online media including some announcements of medical and legal associations, interviews, and calls made by the authorities were selected and analyzed. These articles and interviews containing each problem and pieces of information provided for the common understandings of the society were selected and evaluated at three topics individual, collective and state and institutional responsibility and obligations. Conclusion: Although the warnings of associations, health authorities, and scientists are mostly about personal-civil responsibility, some occurring practices have caused violations. In addition, the level of education, perception capacity, and habits that include existing social-cultural and religious rituals have prevented people from adapting to this new style of life, in other words, controlled social life. Therefore, besides the original national culture and customs, universal ethical responsibilities and obligations should teach starting from primary school and should consist of whole life understanding as a higher perspective. (shrink)

In this study, we conceptualized a framework capturing recurring troublesome elements of mental states such as depression and general anxiety, assessing them by applying standard clinical inventory. The study explores the extent to which danger control and fear control under the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM) threat impact job insecurity, with uncertainty phenomenon causing afflicting effect on the experiential nature of depression heightened by anxiety. With the aim to explore the job insecurity relationship with anxiety and depression, and measure the (...) impact of EPPM threat, an empirical study was conducted in the United States on a sample of 347 white collar employees. Demographic data, EPPM threat, job insecurity, anxiety, and depression data were collected via a standardized questionnaire during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The findings of the study suggest that job insecurity has a significant impact on depression and anxiety, whereas the threat of COVID-19 has a significant impact on depression. Mediating effects of job insecurity and EPPM threat impact on anxiety were not established in the study. The study contributes to the apprehension of the repercussions of major environmental disruptions on normal human functioning, and it investigates the effects of self-reported protective behaviors on risk perception. The study also explains the underlying mechanisms of coping behavior as possible antecedents to mental disorders. When subjected to stressful events, heightened psychological arousal causes physical and psychological challenges of affected employees to manifest as behavioral issues. (shrink)

The technological revolution and appropriation of internet tools began to reshape the material basis of society and the urban space in collaborative, grassroots, leaderless, and participatory actions. The protest squares’ representation on Television screens and mainstream media has been broad. Various health, governmental, societal, and urban challenges have marked the advent of the Covid-19 virus. Inequalities have become more salient as poor people and minorities are more affected by the virus. Social distancing makes the typical forms of protest impossible (...) to carry out. Under social distancing, some state-led policies took advantage of social media to focus on the Covid-19 pandemic to silence social and political activities, censor criticism, and control the press. However, during the pandemic era, the movements for social justice have been particularly active, focusing on defending workers’ rights, mutual aid and solidarity, monitoring policymakers, and popular education. These progressive movements combined concrete practices and experiences to confront the reactionary, capitalist, and governmental actors that sought to shape and envision the world. Through different case studies of protest movements during the pandemic in Europe, the UK, and Asia, this paper argues that at the time of rising racial, social, and economic inequalities, the social activities adapted to the circumstances determined by the social distancing and the impossibility of people gathering in physical spaces. Subsequently, the people in different countries had various individual and collective responses to the support of health workers, systemic inequalities, loss of jobs, and other societal and financial challenges imposed by the governments. It means that, rather than disappearing, the social movements have adapted to the unexpected situations during the pandemic outbreak. The pandemic broke the new digital global wave of protests in this sense. (shrink)

In this paper, a vertically moving base inverted pendulum control analysis has been done using Matlab/Simulink Toolbox. Because the vertically moving base inverted pendulum system is nonlinear and highly unstable, a feedback control system is used to make the system controlled and stable. A PI and PID controllers are used to improve the stability of the pendulum. Comparison of the vertically moving base inverted pendulum using PI and PID controllers for tracking a desired angular position of the system using (...) a step and random input signals and a promising results have been obtained succesfully. (shrink)

In this paper, a vertically moving base inverted pendulum control analysis has been done using Matlab/Simulink Toolbox. Because the vertically moving base inverted pendulum system is nonlinear and highly unstable, a feedback control system is used to make the system controlled and stable. A PI and PID controllers are used to improve the stability of the pendulum. Comparison of the vertically moving base inverted pendulum using PI and PID controllers for tracking a desired angular position of the system using (...) a step and random input signals and a promising results have been obtained succesfully. (shrink)

Biopower refers to the practice of modern nation-states through an explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugation of bodies and the control of populations. Foucault used the term to refer specifically to public health practices, among other regulatory mechanisms. Biopolitics is a concept that takes into account the management of the life and populations of a governed region. Biopolitics produces a generalized disciplinary society and regulatory controls through population biopolitics. Giorgio Agamben states that what is manifesting in (...) this pandemic is the growing tendency to use the state of emergency as a normal paradigm of government. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.29380.04488 . (shrink)

In this study, the performance improvement of a payload angle deflection of a gantry crane has been studied and simulated using MATLAB/Simulink toolbox successfully. H2 optimal and observer based controllers has been used to minimize the payload angular deflection by controlling the trolley position. The gantry crane has been compared with the proposed controllers to track the reference trolley position using step and sine wave signals and a promising results have been achieved.

Proportional integral observer (PIO) for tracking a nonlinear method has a lower sentiency to cipher the state and output variables. So a more nonlinear controller has to be else to control to activity. In this paper, a fuzzy logic (FLC) controller has been added to the PIO to meliorate the calculation transmute. A fuzzy proportional integral observer (FPIO) for following a nonlinear system has been premeditated to decimate the susceptibleness to cipher the tell (...) and turnout variables with the existent posit and product variables. The FPIO controller has been tested for improving the estimation control using a nonlinear quarter vehicle active suspension system with a nonlinear hydraulic actuator. A comparison simulation of the proposed nonlinear system for estimating the state variables and tracking the output (suspension deflection) with a set point bump road disturbance using FPIO and PIO. The comparison simulation result shows that the estimated state variables and system output match the actual ones perfectly using a fuzzy PIO controller. (shrink)

The study investigated ethical considerations and science diplomacy on coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic in Nigeria. The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Nigeria has spread quickly to about 34 states out of the 36 states and over 5000 persons have tested positive as at the time of this research after the first index case of an Italian and there is a projection that in coming days and weeks the number of infected persons and states will increase. The (...) study was guided by two objectives and also adopted the normative ethical theory. The study employed the methods of exposition and critical analysis to explain better the ethical issues and science diplomacy of Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Data was sourced from secondary sources such as journal articles, newspaper, books and internet sources. The findings of the study showed that the citizens have some obligations that will aid the containment of the virus and as well as the government. The study also found out that science diplomacy was used, which has led to Nigeria collaborating with China to get medical aids to effectively fight the pandemic. Consequently, the study recommended amongst others that the Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) should adopt and enforce the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidance for Managing Ethical Issues in Infectious Disease Outbreak as a working document in crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic that has ravaged Nigeria and the government should involve more in science diplomacy with other countries so that it will help in the fight against Covid-19 and other diseases that may occur in the future. (shrink)

Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has significantly affected human health around the world, causing many complications. However, it is not fully understood how the body compositions of individuals affected in the short or long term after disease. In this study, we aimed to show the effects of Covid-19 on body composition and phase angle values, using Bioelectrical Impedance Analayser. -/- Methods: Subjects were selected from individuals in the 18-60 age group, who had survived COVID-19 disease. 33 (...) individuals who had survived it 1-3 months ago, and 30 individuals who had survived it 3-6 months ago were included in the study. -/- Results: Effects of COVID-19 on basal metabolism and body composition and the ratio of damaged cells in the body after the disease were determined. Basal metabolic rate, lean body mass, body cell mass, total body fluid, intracellular fluid, and phase angle values were found to be significantly changed in the 3-6 months range compared to that of 1-3 months. -/- Conclusion: These results indicate that the basal metabolism and body composition parameters of the body become better, and the proportion of damaged cells decreases as time goes on after suffering COVID-19, reaching values close to normal in 1-3 months and quite better values in 3-6 months. It can be concluded that, although covid-19 influences body composition parameters and cell integrity in survivors of Covid 19 disease, these effects are limited to 3-6 months. (shrink)

Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has significantly affected human health around the world, causing many complications. However, it is not fully understood how the body compositions of individuals affected in the short or long term after disease. In this study, we aimed to show the effects of Covid-19 on body composition and phase angle values, using Bioelectrical Impedance Analayser. -/- Methods: Subjects were selected from individuals in the 18-60 age group, who had survived COVID-19 disease. 33 (...) individuals who had survived it 1-3 months ago, and 30 individuals who had survived it 3-6 months ago were included in the study. -/- Results: Effects of COVID-19 on basal metabolism and body composition and the ratio of damaged cells in the body after the disease were determined. Basal metabolic rate, lean body mass, body cell mass, total body fluid, intracellular fluid, and phase angle values were found to be significantly changed in the 3-6 months range compared to that of 1-3 months. -/- Conclusion: These results indicate that the basal metabolism and body composition parameters of the body become better, and the proportion of damaged cells decreases as time goes on after suffering COVID-19, reaching values close to normal in 1-3 months and quite better values in 3-6 months. It can be concluded that, although covid-19 influences body composition parameters and cell integrity in survivors of Covid 19 disease, these effects are limited to 3-6 months. (shrink)

We conducted a systematic literature review on the ethical considerations of the use of contact tracing app technology, which was extensively implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid and extensive use of this technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, while benefting the public well-being by providing information about people’s mobility and movements to control the spread of the virus, raised several ethical concerns for the post-COVID-19 era. To investigate these concerns for the post-pandemic situation and provide direction for (...) future events, we analyzed the current ethical frameworks, research, and case studies about the ethical usage of tracing app technology. The results suggest there are seven essential ethical considerations—privacy, security, acceptability, government surveillance, transparency, justice, and voluntariness—in the ethical use of contact tracing technology. In this paper, we explain and discuss these considerations and how they are needed for the ethical usage of this technology. The fndings also highlight the importance of developing integrated guidelines and frameworks for implementation of such technology in the post- COVID-19 world. (shrink)

Accurate and precise trajectory tracking is crucial for a quadrotor to operate in disturbed environments. This paper presents a novel tracking hybrid controller for a quadrotor UAV that combines the Adaptive and Fuzzy logic controller. The Adaptive fuzzy controller is implemented to govern the behavior of two degrees of freedom quadrotor UAV. The proposed controller allows controlling the movement of UAVs to track a given trajectory in a 2D vertical plane. The Fuzzy Logic system provides an (...) automatic adjustment of the Adaptive parameters to reduce tracking errors and improve the quality of the controller. The results showed perfect behavior for the control law to control a quadrotor trajectory tracking task. To show the effectiveness of the intelligent controller, simulation results are given to confirm the advantages of the proposed control method, compared with Fuzzy and Proportional integral derivative (PID) control methods. (shrink)

In this study, the design and performance investigation of the permanent magnet machines have been done to increase the mechanical and electrical outputs improvement of the systems. A Permanent Magnet DC Motor (PMDM) and Generator (PMDG) have been modelled and designed to improve the angular position and generated current respectively. In this research, augmentation based H2 optimal and H4 synthesis controllers have been designed as a controller for the two systems and a comparison between the proposed controller for (...) tracking a reference inputs and a promising results have been obtained. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how different (even conflicting) interventions on nature can be scientifically justified: interventions can be deemed "effective" only in relation to specific target variables - in relation to variables the values of which we seek to control. Choosing the "right" target variables, in turn, depends on our values and pragmatic aims. This essay is based on a presentation given at the symposium "Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the COVID-19 Pandemic", organised at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced (...) Studies on 16 June 2020. (shrink)

Sporting competitions have been beset by change due to COVID-19. Some commentators and sportspeople worried that this affected the integrity of these competitions. Focussing on European football, I suggest that one way of understanding integrity is in terms of fairness. I argue that many changes introduced a form of luck that is already common and widespread and that many changes were also justified. Thus, they did not affect the integrity of these competitions in this way. I then suggest that (...) there is another integrity issue lurking: that the changes affected the character of these competitions, rendering them unrecognizable. I briefly explore this issue. (shrink)

In this paper we describe a technical system for DC motor speed control. The speed of DC motor is controlled using Neural Network Based Model Reference and Predictive controllers with the use of Matlab/Simulink. The analysis of the DC motor is done with and without input side Torque disturbance input and the simulation results obtained by comparing the desired and actual speed of the DC motor using random reference and sinusoidal speed inputs for the DC motor with Model Reference and (...) Predictive controllers. The DC motor with Model Reference controller shows almost the actual speed is the same as the desired speed with a good performance than the DC motor with Predictive controller for the system with and without input side disturbance. Finally the comparative simulation result prove the effectiveness of the DC motor with Model Reference controller. (shrink)

Transnational, global trades, investments, and travels, amongst other drivers of globalization, helps to reverberate the deadly coronavirus pandemic from Wuhan, China, across the world like whirl fire. In order to contain the infectious spread of the pandemic, and mitigate its negative effects on macro-economic variables, the World Health Organization, (WHO) designed Covid-19 protocols that are being enforced by governments and people of the world. Based on the above account, the study examined the Second wave effect of Covid’19 pandemic (...) on transportation business: Keke-napep and Motorcycle transport systems in Asaba metropolis, Nigeria. The main objective is to empirically determine the real impact of the pandemic on rural land transport business. The study employed structured questionnaire and interview methods to generate data from the 250 respondents selected using the census sampling technique. Out of the 250 sets of questionnaires administered, 235 (94%) were retrieved while 15 (6%) were rejected. The statistical tools used for analyzing data were correlation and multiple regression techniques. Findings were that covid’19 pandemic negatively affected rural land transport business. The study concludes that, the coronavirus pandemic caused a contraction in transport business. It is therefore recommended that, there is a need for government to relax the stringent covid’19 protocols to allow economic activities to resume again. Campaigns on safety and hygiene should be intensified so that the populace will imbibe the culture of general cleanliness and personal hygiene, amongst others. (shrink)

In this paper, a 3 DOF gyrscope position control have been designed and controlled using optimal control theory. An input torque has been given to the first axis and the angular position of the second axis have been analyzed while the third axis are kept free from rotation. The system mathematical model is controllable and observable. Linear Quadratic Integral (LQI) and Linear Quadratic State Feedback Regulator (LQRY) controllers have been used to improve the performance of the system. (...) Comparison of the system with the proposed controllers for tracking a desired step and random angular position have been done using Matlab/Simulink Toolbox and a promising results has been analyzed. (shrink)

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) positions itself as an institution primarily dedicated to the health and betterment of “student-athletes” across the country, but in reality it is not so virtuous. This paper will show how decisions made during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 undermine the stated purpose of the current intercollegiate sports model in the United States. It will begin by presenting the claimed goals and values of the NCAA. Then, it will show how many decisions made during (...) the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 are incompatible with these goals. In doing so, it will illustrate that there is one purpose that is far more in line with decisions during the 2020 pandemic: revenue generation through mass entertainment. Even for those who have long bought into the NCAA’s noble rhetoric, COVID-19 is mask off for the NCAA’s “collegiate model” myth. (shrink)

Nos meses de Junho/Julho - 2019, houve relatos de vazamento de patógenos do Fort Detrick, instalação do Comando Médico do Exército dos EUA, conhecido por desenvolver armas biológicas e que abriga um dos muitos laboratórios BSL-4 do país. Em agosto de 2019, a instalação foi fechada para investigação e a imprensa não teve acesso a informações detalhadas. -/- Em setembro de 2019, um vírus mortal começou a se espalhar nos EUA infectando 26 milhões de pessoas naquele outono, com pelo menos (...) 250.000 hospitalizadas e 20.000 mortes. Posteriormente o Dr. Robert Redfield, diretor do Centro de Controle e Prevenção de Doenças dos EUA, reconheceu perante o Comitê do Congresso, que algumas mortes por influenza foram mais tarde diagnosticadas como de Covid-19. -/- Em 18 de outubro de 2019, dia do início dos Jogos Mundiais Militares em Wuhan, que contou com a presença de militares americanos, a Fundação Bill & Melinda Gates e o Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security em parceria com o Fórum Econômico Mundial, promovem uma simulação de pandemia de coronavírus em Nova York, reunindo líderes empresariais e agentes do governo. -/- Em novembro de 2019, o prefeito de Belleville, Nova Jersey, Michael Melham, passou mal e seu diagnóstico foi uma grave pneumonia posteriormente confirmado como sendo Covid-19. Falei com Michael sobre a veracidade dos fatos e ele me confirmou o diagnóstico. Disse que possui dois testes de anticorpos positivos para a Covid-19. -/- Em janeiro de 2019 a revista Science publicou um artigo questionando a teoria oficial de que o vírus havia sido transmitido de um animal para um ser humano no mercado de Wuhan e outro estudo publicado na revista The Lancet, concluiu que 13 das primeiras 41 pessoas diagnosticadas com Covid-19 não tiveram nenhum contato com o mercado de Wuhan, além disso, o Dr. Daniel Lucey, professor de doenças infecciosas da Georgetown University Medical Center, disse baseado em evidências, que o "paciente zero", foi infectado antes de dezembro de 2019, mais precisamente entre outubro e início de novembro de 2019, mas o diagnóstico era de pneumonia e assim o vírus começou a se espalhar por Wuhan. -/- Agora, não é porque o novo coronavírus surgiu na China, que sua origem seja o laboratório de Wuhan, a gripe espanhola por exemplo, se disseminou no mundo a partir da Europa matando 50 milhões de pessoas e sua origem estava no Fort Riley, em Kansas, EUA. (shrink)

Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), produced by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a global pandemic, giving rise to a serious health threat globally. The global Covid-19 pandemic is a setback for sustainable development and compromise the world commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The measures taken to control the spread of the virus and the slowdown of economic activities during lockdown have significant effects on the environment. Therefore, this review discuss the indirect positive (...) and negative impacts of Covid-19 pandemic towards sustainable environment. This study indicates that, the pandemic situation significantly improves air quality in different cities across the world, reduces the emission of greenhouse gases, and decreases water and noise pollution, which may help in the restoration of the ecosystem. In addition, there are also some negative impact of Covid-19, such as increase of medical waste, haphazard use and disposal of disinfectants, mask, and gloves; and burden of untreated wastes continuously endangering the environment. It points to the fact that the net effect has been positive; in terms of reduction in greenhouse emissions, oil exploration activities, and pollution. It is expected that the proper implementation of the proposed suggestion might be helpful for the global environmental sustainability. (shrink)

Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), produced by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a global pandemic, giving rise to a serious health threat globally. The global Covid-19 pandemic is a setback for sustainable development and compromise the world commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The measures taken to control the spread of the virus and the slowdown of economic activities during lockdown have significant effects on the environment. Therefore, this review discuss the indirect positive (...) and negative impacts of Covid-19 pandemic towards sustainable environment. This study indicates that, the pandemic situation significantly improves air quality in different cities across the world, reduces the emission of greenhouse gases, and decreases water and noise pollution, which may help in the restoration of the ecosystem. In addition, there are also some negative impact of Covid-19, such as increase of medical waste, haphazard use and disposal of disinfectants, mask, and gloves; and burden of untreated wastes continuously endangering the environment. It points to the fact that the net effect has been positive; in terms of reduction in greenhouse emissions, oil exploration activities, and pollution. It is expected that the proper implementation of the proposed suggestion might be helpful for the global environmental sustainability. (shrink)

The COVID-19 crisis has forced a difficult trade-off between limiting the health impacts of the virus and maintaining economic activity. Welfare economics offers tools to conceptualize this trade-off so that policy-makers and the public can see clearly what is at stake. We review four such tools: the Value of Statistical Life (VSL); the Value of Statistical Life Years (VSLYs); Quality-Adjusted Life-Years (QALYs); and social welfare analysis, and argue that the latter are superior. We also discuss how to choose policies (...) that differentially affect people’s wellbeing. We argue in favor of evaluating policies using a Social Welfare Function (SWF), which evaluates the possible distributions of wellbeing across individuals that may result from a policy. Such a function, we argue, should regard increases in the wellbeing of the less well-off as especially valuable. We then use a model to illustrate how such a framework can help evaluate two broad policy types in response to the pandemic: eradication of the virus, and more lenient control of the spread. Our model reveals how such evaluations depend on many empirical facts but also on key value judgments about the relative importance of health and on the extent of special concern for the worse off. The purpose of this brief is not to make precise recommendations, as conditions vary widely across countries and over time, but to provide a methodology. (shrink)

The coronavirus pandemic, like its predecessors - AIDS, Ebola, etc., is evidence of the evolutionary instability of the socio-cultural and ecological niche created by mankind, as the main factor in the evolutionary success of our biological species and the civilization created by it. At least, this applies to the modern global civilization, which is called technogenic or technological, although it exists in several varieties. As we hope to show, the current crisis has less ontological as well as epistemological roots; its (...) reason lies in the main evolutionary trends in the development of science as a social institution. It was only later that epistemological factors were transformed into existential-ontological factors associated with the asymmetry of the existence of civilization and our biosocial nature. The perception or ignorance of a risk factor as a real fact is determined by the presence or absence of knowledge about it. In other words, risk is the result of the integration of the corresponding ontological concept into the general categorical structure. The plurality of such structures is a hallmark of multidisciplinary ontologies, each of which is associated with its own factual continuum. The aim of this study was to conceptually model for support relativistic parameter of evolutionary efficiency of stable evolutionary human strategy (SESH) in its techno-rationalistic module. The meaning of this term is equivalent to the category of scientific and technological development. (shrink)

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic leads to e-commerce’s explosive growth with brands such as Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo and The Gioi Di Dong, etc. Since then, e-commerce activities have been going into practice in the life of every Vietnamese person and are constantly developing. The article presents the current situation of the e-commerce industry in recent years through discussion to analyze, evaluate and have a broader perspective on the development of e-commerce, thereby offering some development policies.

A question arising from the COVID-19 crisis is whether the merits of cases for climate policies have been affected. This article focuses on carbon pricing, in the form of either carbon taxes or emissions trading. It discusses the extent to which relative costs and benefits of introducing carbon pricing may have changed in the context of COVID-19, during both the crisis and the recovery period to follow. In several ways, the case for introducing a carbon price is stronger (...) during the COVID-19 crisis than under normal conditions. Oil costs are lower than normal, so we would expect less harm to consumers compared to normal conditions. Governments have immediate need for diversified new revenue streams in light of both decreased tax receipts and greater use of social safety nets. Finally, supply and demand shocks have led to already destabilized supply-side activities, and carbon pricing would allow this destabilization to equilibrate around greener production for the long-term. The strengthening of the case for introducing carbon pricing now is highly relevant to discussions about recovery measures, especially in the context of policy announcements from the European Union and United States House of Representatives. Key Policy Insights: • Persistently low oil prices mean that consumers will face lower pain from carbon pricing than under normal conditions. • Many consumers are more price-sensitive during the COVID-19 context, which suggests that a greater relative burden from carbon prices would fall upon producers as opposed to consumers than under normal conditions. • Carbon prices in the COVID-19 context can introduce new revenue streams, assisting with fiscal holes or with other green priorities. • Carbon pricing would contribute to a more sustainable COVID-19 recovery period, since many of the costs of revamping supply chains are already being felt while idled labor capacity can be incorporated into firms with lower carbon-intensity. (shrink)

Lucrarea debutează cu o retrospectivă a dezbaterilor privind originea vieții: virusul sau celula? Virusul are nevoie de celulă pentru replicare, în schimb celula este o formă mai evoluată pe scara evoluționistă a vieții. În plus, studiul virușilor ridică întrebări conceptuale și filozofice presante despre natura lor, clasificarea lor, și locul lor în lumea biologică. Subiectul pandemiilor este abordat pornind de la existențialismul lui Albert Camus și Sartre, înlocuirea ritualului de excludere cu mecanismul disciplinar al lui Michel Foucault, și despre ipoteza (...) Gaia, dezvoltată de James Lovelock și susținută în actuala pandemie de Bruno Latour. În continuare sunt evidențiate dimensiunile sociale ale pandemiilor, legătura lor cu încălzirea globală care a dus la o creștere a bolilor infecțioase, și despădurirea unor zone întinse, care au determinat virușii să migreze din zona lor nativă („rezervorul” lor). Etica pandemiilor este abordată din mai multe puncte de vedere filosofice, din care cel mai important într-o criză de asemenea dimensiuni globale este utilitarismul care presupune maximizarea beneficiilor pentru societate în conflict direct cu viziunea obișnuită (kantiană) privind respectul față de persoane ca indivizi. După o retrospectivă a virusul COVID-19 care a cauzat actuala pandemie, a ciclului său de viață și a istoriei sale, cu accent pe filosofia morții, este discutat conceptul de bioputere dezvoltat inițial de Foucault, cu referire la practica statelor naționale moderne de control al populațiilor și dezbaterea generată de Giorgio Agamben care afirmă că ceea ce se manifestă în această pandemie este tendința crescândă de a folosi starea de excepție ca o paradigmă normală de guvernare. O altă abordare de interes și foarte dezbătută este cea generată de lucrările lui Slavoj Žižek, care afirmă că actuala pandemie a dus la falimentul actualului capitalism ”barbar”, întrebându-se dacă nu cumva drumul pe care îl va lua omenirea este un neo-comunism. Un alt efect negativ important este desocializarea, cu concluzia unor filosofi că nu putem exista independent de relațiile noastre cu ceilalți, că umanitatea unei persoane depinde de umanitatea celor din jurul ei. Ultima secțiune este dedicată previziunilor despre cum va arăta lumea după pandemie, existând deja semne ale unei schimbări de paradigmă, inclusiv dispariția bruscă a ideologiei legate de „ziduri”: o tuse a fost suficientă pentru a face dintr-o dată imposibilă evitarea responsabilității pe care fiecare individ o are față de toate ființele vii pentru simplul fapt că este parte a acestei lumi, și a dorinței de a fi parte a ei. Întregul este întotdeauna implicat în parte, pentru că totul este, într-un anumit sens, în tot și în natură nu există regiuni autonome care să constituie o excepție. Pandemia COVID-19 pare să restabilească supremația care a aparținut cândva politicii. Una din virtuțile virusului este capacitatea acestuia de a genera o idee mai sobră de libertate: a fi liber înseamnă a face ceea ce trebuie făcut într-o situație specifică. -/- CUPRINS: -/- Abstract Introducere 1 Viruși 1.1 Ontologia 2 Pandemii 2.1 Dimensiuni sociale 2.2 Etica 3 COVID-19 3.1 Biopolitica 3.2 Neocomunism 3.3 Desocializarea 4 Previziuni Bibliografie -/- DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.27611.39205 . (shrink)

Since March of 2020, the world has been brought to its knees by unscientific and unethical mandates. These mandates have destroyed the world economy and the lives of countless innocent individuals. The “cure” that has been offered by medical bureaucrats and politicians has been more deadly than the disease (COVID-19). The imposition of ludicrous lockdowns, mask-wearing, coerced vaccination, and vaccine passports have not only proved to be ineffective, but also much more harmful than SARS-CoV-2 and all its variants. (...) class='Hi'>COVID-19 has a recovery rate of close to 99% for most of the world’s population, however, despite this, institutions and power-hungry individuals have trampled upon our civil liberties and ignored our inalienable human rights. It is precisely as Thomas Paine famously stated: “The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes.” -/- Many lives have been gratuitously lost because of the administration of deadly medical treatments, and the rejection of effective treatments that follow genuine science. In the process, informed consent has been disparaged and desecrated. For over two years, we were instructed to “trust the science,” but the “science” advocated by medical bureaucrats and greedy politicians was the reason why the world was turned upside-down. In the face of these crimes against humanity, justice will only be brought by real courts and real judges, but this will require the awakening of a critical mass. This book serves as an instrument for this awakening. (shrink)

Study shows that mask-wearing is a critical factor in stopping the COVID-19 transmission. By the time of this article, most states have mandated face masking in public space. Therefore, real-time face mask detection becomes an essential application to prevent the spread of the pandemic. This study will present a face mask detection system that can detect and monitor mask-wearing from camera feeds and alert when there is a violation. The face mask detection algorithm uses a haar cascade classifier to (...) find facial features from the camera feed and then utilizes it to detect the mask-wearing status. With the increasing number of cases all over the world, a system to replace humans to check masks on the faces of people is greatly needed. This system satisfies that need. This system can be employed in public places like transport stations and malls. It will be of great help in companies and huge establishments where there will be a lot of workers. Alongside this, we have used basic concepts of transfer learning in neural networks to finally output the presence or absence of a face mask in an image or a video stream. Experimental results show that our model performs well on the test data with 100 percent and 99 percent precision and recall, respectively. We are making a savvy framework that will identify whether the specific user has worn the mask or not and further tell the accuracy level of the detection. Our framework will be python and AI-based which will be safe and quick for implementation. This system will be of great help there because it is easy to obtain and store the data of the employees working in that Company and will very easily find the people who are not wearing the mask and a will be sent to that respective person to take Precautions not wearing a mask. Potential delays are analyzed, and efforts are made to reduce them to achieve real-time detection. The experiment result shows that the presented system achieves a real-time 45fps 720p Video output, with a face mask detection response of 0.15s and the accuracy of detection 99%. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of challenges to the globalized world. Globally, it has decimated over six million lives. Since 2019, it has shook the world in many respects, especially, it disrupted economies and societies and halted the majority of human endeavor. Commentaries and reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the media showed an alarming situation that could be damning in low and middle income countries. Economic pundits and global public health experts also anticipated doom (...) and gloom for African countries. However, in terms of mortality, the Americas, Europe and Asia have suffered more losses. Irrespective of these loses in Europe, Africa’s case needs better appreciation within our contemporary historical discourse. The burgeoning challenge of the COVID disease and mortalities arising thereby, among other things, necessitated the introduction of policies based on the WHO’s historical understanding of how the world has dealt with pandemics in the past. Some of the strategies that were deployed to fight the pandemic included hand washing under running water with soap, the use of alcohol based hand sanitizers, the wearing of nose masks, social distancing, self isolation as well as partial and complete lockdowns of states and communities. The major economic disruption really came about as a result of many lockdown policies that were implemented by several countries in Africa without proper reference to their own societal contexts. These issues notwithstanding, it is important to emphasize that the extent of the impact on different communities differed to a large extent, even though there were similar levels of the nature of the infection and the general economic outlook among the global community. This current contribution on the COVID-19 discourse used political economy and economic shock as bases to highlight the extent of the impact of the disease by highlighting examples from respective countries in Africa, namely, Ghana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Algeria and South Africa. In particular, the impact of policies like lock-down on some of these African countries are highlighted for further discussions in future empirical research. The study relied on contemporary historical evidence from multidisciplinary sources on health, economics, policy, and other related studies on epidemiology, public health, health education and promotion, reports and sources from the World Health Organization (WHO). Specifically, the authors have used published research in Lancet, the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, BMJ Global Health, Frontiers in Public Health and the Pan African Medical Journal. The others were African Development Review, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Africa Spectrum and International Journal of Financial Research including several other empirical research. In attempting a social and economic interpretation based on contemporary historical sense, the findings of this present study suggest that African political actors or leaders should make persistent or steady efforts to strengthen the economies of their states to lessen economic shocks and social costs that come about as a result of pandemics such as the COVID-19. It also identified the fact that within the globalized space, application of policies from other countries including international organizations should not be devoid of context. -/- . (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of challenges to the globalized world. Globally, it has decimated over six million lives. Since 2019, it has shook the world in many respects, especially, it disrupted economies and societies and halted the majority of human endeavor. Commentaries and reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the media showed an alarming situation that could be damning in low and middle income countries. Economic pundits and global public health experts also anticipated doom (...) and gloom for African countries. However, in terms of mortality, the Americas, Europe and Asia have suffered more losses. Irrespective of these loses in Europe, Africa’s case needs better appreciation within our contemporary historical discourse. The burgeoning challenge of the COVID disease and mortalities arising thereby, among other things, necessitated the introduction of policies based on the WHO’s historical understanding of how the world has dealt with pandemics in the past. Some of the strategies that were deployed to fight the pandemic included hand washing under running water with soap, the use of alcohol based hand sanitizers, the wearing of nose masks, social distancing, self isolation as well as partial and complete lockdowns of states and communities. The major economic disruption really came about as a result of many lockdown policies that were implemented by several countries in Africa without proper reference to their own societal contexts. These issues notwithstanding, it is important to emphasize that the extent of the impact on different communities differed to a large extent, even though there were similar levels of the nature of the infection and the general economic outlook among the global community. This current contribution on the COVID-19 discourse used political economy and economic shock as bases to highlight the extent of the impact of the disease by highlighting examples from respective countries in Africa, namely, Ghana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Algeria and South Africa. In particular, the impact of policies like lock-down on some of these African countries are highlighted for further discussions in future empirical research. The study relied on contemporary historical evidence from multidisciplinary sources on health, economics, policy, and other related studies on epidemiology, public health, health education and promotion, reports and sources from the World Health Organization (WHO). Specifically, the authors have used published research in Lancet, the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, BMJ Global Health, Frontiers in Public Health and the Pan African Medical Journal. The others were African Development Review, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Africa Spectrum and International Journal of Financial Research including several other empirical research. In attempting a social and economic interpretation based on contemporary historical sense, the findings of this present study suggest that African political actors or leaders should make persistent or steady efforts to strengthen the economies of their states to lessen economic shocks and social costs that come about as a result of pandemics such as the COVID-19. It also identified the fact that within the globalized space, application of policies from other countries including international organizations should not be devoid of context. (shrink)

Current COVID-19 pandemic and previous SARS/MERS outbreaks have caused a series of major crises to global public health. We must integrate the large and exponentially growing amount of heterogeneous coronavirus data to better understand coronaviruses and associated disease mechanisms, in the interest of developing effective and safe vaccines and drugs. Ontologies have emerged to play an important role in standard knowledge and data representation, integration, sharing, and analysis. We have initiated the development of the community-based Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (...) (CIDO). As an Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) library ontology, CIDO is an open source and interoperable with other existing OBO ontologies. In this article, the general architecture and the design patterns of the CIDO are introduced, CIDO representation of coronaviruses, phenotypes, anti-coronavirus drugs and medical devices (e.g. ventilators) are illustrated, and an application of CIDO implemented to identify repurposable drug candidates for effective and safe COVID-19 treatment is presented. (shrink)

In this paper, a two-link manipulator system stability performance is designed and analyzed using Optimal control technique. The manipulator system is highly nonlinear and unstable. The system is modelled using Lagrangian equation and linearized in upward unstable position. The closed loop system is designed using optimal sliding mode controller. The system is compared with a known PID controller with an impulse applied and disturbance torques and a promising results has been obtained.