bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The association of UV with rates of COVID-19 transmission and deaths in Mexico: the possible mediating role of vitamin D
Authors: Skutsch M , Dobler C , McCall M.B.B , Ghilardi A , Salinas M , McCall M.K , Fenner Sanchez G 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe first COVID-19 case in Mexico was confirmed on 26 February 2020 and by May 3 the number of registered cases had risen to 30,927. However the rate of transmission varied greatly from city to city. We used data on temperature, humidity and ultraviolet radiation (UV) from 45 cities all over the country to explore whether there was an association between these variables and rates of transmission and rates of accumulation of COVID-19 ascribed deaths. The advantage of an in-country study of this kind is that many of the variables that can confound international studies are held constant (e.g. public health policies, methods of reporting, cultural, behavioural and genetic factors). Although the official statistics undoubtedly greatly underestimate the situation in Mexico due to lack of testing, they are underestimated in all cities so this should not introduce bias across the sample. We found that temperature and humidity had no discernible association with transmission rates but that UV during the transmission period was negatively correlated with rates of transmission, suggesting a sterilizing effect. UV in the January preceding the epidemic had a slightly higher association with transmission rates than UV during the transmission period itself. We also found negative associations of UV in the transmission period and in January with rate of cumulative deaths, but at lower levels of statistical significance. We conclude that in addition to a sterilizing effect during the transmission period, UV may have a physiological effect in reducing transmission and deaths due to COVID-19, most likely through the medium of vitamin D production in the body. This follows the growing body of medical evidence that vitamin D deficiency is associated with severity of COVID-19. However, we also found a negative correlation between altitude and rates of COVID-19 transmission, distinct and independent of the UV effect, which may indicate that other physiological processes are also present. In a multiple regression, altitude and UV together accounted for 18% of the variation in transmission rates between cities.
Relation between rich-club organization versus brain functions and functional recovery after acute ischemic stroke
Authors: Wang Lu , Lau Kui Kai , Li Leonard SW , Wong Yuen Kwun , Yau Christina , Mak Henry KF , Hui Edward S 
Published: May 2020

AbstractStudies have shown that rich-club may underlie brain function and be associated with many brain disorders. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relation between poststroke brain functions and functional recovery versus the rich-club organization of the structural brain network of patients after first-time acute ischemic stroke. A cohort of 16 first-time acute ischemic stroke patients (11 males; 5 females) was recruited. Structural brain networks were measured using diffusion tensor imaging within 1 week and at 1, 3 and 6 months after stroke. Motor impairment was assessed using the Upper-Extremity Fugl-Meyer motor scale and activities of daily living using the Barthel Index at the same time points as MRI. The rich-club regions that were stable over the course of stroke recovery included the bilateral dorsolateral superior frontal gyri, right supplementary motor area, and left median cingulate and paracingulate gyri. The network properties that correlated with poststroke brain functions were mainly the ratio between communication cost ratio and density ratio of rich-club, feeder and local connections. The recovery of both motor functions and activities of daily living were correlated with higher normalized rich club coefficients and shorter length of local connections within a week after stroke. The communication cost ratio of feeder connections, the length of rich-club and local connections, and normalized rich club coefficients were found to be potential prognostic indicators of stroke recovery. Our results provide additional support to the notion that different types of network connections play different roles in brain functions as well as functional recovery.
Mobility-Guided Modeling of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Metro Manila
Authors: Egwolf Bernhard , Nicanor Austriaco O.P. 
Published: May 2020

ABSTRACTCOVID-19 is a novel respiratory disease first identified in Wuhan, China, that is caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. To better understand the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, we have used real-time mobility data to modify the DELPHI Epidemiological Model recently developed at M.I.T., and to simulate the pandemic in Metro Manila. We have chosen to focus on the National Capital Region, not only because it is the nation’s demographic heart where over a tenth of the country’s population live, but also because it has been the epidemiological epicenter of the Philippine pandemic. Our UST CoV-2 model suggests that the government-imposed enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) has successfully limited the spread of the pandemic. It is clear that the initial wave of the pandemic is flattening, though suppression of viral spread has been delayed by the local pandemics in the City of Manila and Quezon City. Our data also reveals that replacing the ECQ with a General Community Quarantine (GCQ) will increase the forecasted number of deaths in the nation’s capital unless rigorous tracing and testing can be implemented to prevent a second wave of the pandemic.
To isolate, or not to isolate: a theoretical framework for disease control via contact tracing
Authors: Lunz Davin , Batt Gregory , Ruess Jakob 
Published: May 2020

AbstractContact tracing is an essential tool in the public health battle for epidemiological control of infectious diseases. Contact tracing via case-by-case interviews is effective when contacts are known and outbreaks are small. Smartphone applications that keep track of contacts between users offer the possibility to scale contact tracing to larger outbreaks with minimal notification delays. While the benefits of reduced delays are widely recognised, it is less well understood how to best implement the tracing and notification protocol. The application will detect a multitude of contacts encountering an individual who later tests positive. Which of these contacts should be advised to self-isolate? The resolution hinges on an inherent trade-off: the more contacts notified, the greater the disease control, at the cost of more healthy individuals being instructed to self-isolate. In this study, based on a compartmental model tailored to the COVID-19 pandemic, we develop a framework to incorporate testing with limited resources coupled with a mechanistic description of digital contact tracing. Specifically, we employ a family of distributions characterising contact exposure and infection risk, and introduce a notification threshold that controls which level of exposure triggers notification. We detail how contact tracing can prevent disease outbreak, as a function of adoption rate, testing limitations, and other intervention methods such as social distancing and lockdown measures. We find an optimal notification threshold that balances the trade-off by minimising the number of healthy individuals instructed to self-isolate while preventing disease outbreak.
Exposing the need for a training programme in paediatric and adolescent gynaecology for paediatric and GP trainees
Authors: Cosgrave EJ , Geraghty JM , Geoghegan AR 
Published: May 2020

AbstractObjectiveAs paediatric and adolescent gynaecology (PAG) falls within the remit of paediatrics and gynaecology, training in both specialties is underdeveloped. There is a paucity of research investigating trainee knowledge of PAG, while postgraduate paediatric training demonstrates little focus in the field. Compounding this, a finite number of PAG specialists means clinical training is limited. We hypothesize that knowledge deficits exist among paediatric and GP trainees and that this has future implications for increased morbidity in girls.Design, Setting and ParticipantsA structured questionnaire assessing PAG was distributed to forty paediatric and GP trainees in October 2019 in a tertiary paediatric hospital.Results60% (24) incorrectly identified vulvovaginitis as candidal infection. 80% (32) were unable to identify labial adhesions. 62% (25) were unable to define menorrhagia. 100% (9) of GP trainees said they would prescribe the OCP compared with 51% (16) of paediatric trainees. 52% (21) did not consider STI screening when appropriate. 75% (30) believed genital warts invariably warrant referral to child sexual assault clinic. 70% (28) could not identify female genital mutilation. 60% (24) did not consider imperforate hymen as a cause of primary amenorrhoea. 67% (27) misdiagnosed lichen sclerosis.ConclusionsA knowledge deficit among trainees was evident in relation to PAG conditions. Misdiagnosis and delayed treatment could lead to considerable increased morbidity for girls and we postulate that a key intervention which may prove effective in improving trainee competency in PAG lies in the introduction of a structured training curriculum for all clinicians involved in PAG practice.
Burden of COVID-19 pandemic in India: Perspectives from Health Infrastructure
Authors: Sahoo Harihar , Mandal Chaitali , Mishra Suyash , Banerjee Snigdha 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading rapidly across the country but India’s testing regime is far from the global standards. It is important to identify the states where testing needs expansion and the magnitudes of active COVID cases are higher focusing on current health infrastructure to meet the pandemic. The data on COVID-19 was extracted from the Application Programming Interface. Test positive rate, test per confirmed case, recovery rate, case fatality rate, and percent distribution of active cases were computed. Availability of hospitals, hospital beds, intensive care unit and ventilators per lakh population was also computed by public and private sector. The result revealed that, Maharashtra constitutes more than one-third positive cases in the country. More than a quarter of the active cases in India belonged to the Mumbai district of Maharashtra, followed by the Chennai district (9.4%) and Ahmedabad district (9.1%). Further, about 40 percent of the active cases in India belonged to the 11 districts of Maharashtra. The increased test positive rate in Maharashtra and Gujarat to almost double in last one month is a concern. In order to bring the states and the country in right track, the test positive rate need to be brought down to below 2 percent. The procurement of higher number of high throughput machine, the Cobas 6800 testing machine, is need of the hour. Only few states have adequate health infrastructure. The priority should be the laid on expansion of more laboratories and hospitals, storage of PPE kit, testing kit, and indigenously developed vaccines.HighlightsMaharashtra is having the highest number of positive cases followed by Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Maharashtra constitutes more than one-third positive cases in the country, but the test per confirmed cases (8) is much lower than the other states.More than a quarter of the active cases in India belonged to the Mumbai district (26.1%) of Maharashtra, followed by the Chennai district (9.4%) and Ahmedabad district (9.1%). Further, about 40 percent of the active cases in India belonged to the 11 districts of Maharashtra.The test positive rate is higher in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi is a concern.The recovery rate in India increased substantially by 26.5 percent point from 11.9 percent on April 14 to 38.4 percent on May 17, 2020.The case fatality rate of Covid-19 in India declined by 0.2 percent from 3.4 percent on April 14 to 3.2 percent on May 17 in India.The number of Dedicated Covid Hospitals is not sufficient in India.The available ventilators in the country will deficit in near future to cater to a growing number of active Covid-19 patients and the burden of other communicable and non-communicable diseases.India has only 569 testing laboratories (396 govt. and 173 private) against its 1.35 billion population. The procurement of higher number of high throughput machine, the Cobas 6800 testing machine, is need of the hour.
Monitoring of regional labor markets and the main trends of labor underutilization in Russia
Authors: Sibirskaya Elena V. , Volkova Maria V. , Oveshnikova Lyudmila V. , Shchukina Natalia A. , Lula Paweł 
Published: May 2020

PurposeIn the recent two decades, a model of the labor market formed in Russia; it differs from the model that is peculiar for most developed countries. Its specific feature consists in the fact that adaptation to the fluctuations of the economic situation takes place by means of changes in the labor price, not by means of changes in employment and unemployment.Design/methodology/approachSuch model ensures high and stable level of employment and low level of unemployment with significant pro-cyclic fluctuations of wages. Changes that take place in the sphere of employment of population in labor markets and gradual implementation of collection of information in view of the forms of labor activities into the practices of different countries led to the necessity for reconsidering the previously adopted international standards.FindingsThis is due to the fact that the normative documents present the treatment of unemployment without the criterion “job search,” and new indicators of measuring potential labor force and incomplete employment were adopted. The authors analyze the situation of labor underutilization, which is important for characterizing a region of the Russian Federation by the indicator of unmet need for employment.Originality/valueThe offered information could be used for wider monitoring of the labor market, studying the volume and tendencies in the sphere of unemployment, evaluating the problems of integration in the labor market, studying the connection between employment and poverty and forecasting the tendencies.
Cape Town’s gay village: from “gaytrified” tourism Mecca to “heterosexualised” urban space
Authors: Hattingh Chris , Bruwer Juan-Pierré 
Published: May 2020

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the factors that led to Cape Town’s gay village to transform from a “gaytrified” tourism mecca to a “heterosexualised” urban space, from a gay leisure space owner perspective.

Design/methodology/approach
Empirical observations of the six remaining gay leisure space owners in De Waterkant (population) are taken into account by using semi-structured interviews. All narratives are analysed in Altas.ti – qualitative data analysis software – to identify applicable factors, which participants believe are contributing to the “de-gaying” of Cape Town’s gay village.

Findings
From the conducted analyses, it becomes apparent that Western theorisation of the “de-gaying” of gay villages is not universally applicable as certain factors contributing to De Waterkant’s demise appear to be location-specific, suggesting that Western theory is insufficient to explain gay spatial realities in non-Western contexts such as South Africa. The identified factors responsible for the “de-gaying” of De Waterkant adversely affect Cape Town’s status as a gay capital and its ability to market this gay neighbourhood to attract the gay tourism market. This may result in lost socio-economic opportunities considering the financial contribution of gay travellers to the local tourist economy.

Originality/value
This study is the first of its kind to use first-hand narratives of the six remaining gay business owners in De Waterkant and marks the first attempt to investigate the factors, from a non-Western perspective, which led to the “de-gaying” of Africa’s only gay village. Taking into account the socio-economic value added by gay tourism, the findings provide the first non-Western perspective on the demise of Africa’s and South Africa’s only gay neighbourhood from a gay leisure space owner perspective, including the possible repercussions on Cape Town’s local tourist economy. Some tactical considerations and recommendations are suggested to ensure the continuation of gay tourism in the city.
IT strategy and business strategy mediate the effect of managing IT on firm performance: empirical analysis
Authors: Ilmudeen Aboobucker , Bao Yukun 
Published: May 2020

PurposeThe multifaceted effect of IT in organizations has been widely examined. However, the intervening role of IT strategy and business strategy on the effect of managing IT on firm performance remains less strong. This study examines how managing information technology (MIT) effects on firm performance by looking at the mediating role of IT strategy and business strategy.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the resource-based view of IT and contingency perspective, theoretical insights for managing IT and the mediating effect of IT strategy and business strategy on firm performance are established. The model is empirically tested by using hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling for the data collected through the survey of 194 senior IT and business managers in China.FindingsThe significant and impactful relationship found in the model for the proposed idea. The results show that both IT strategy and business strategy partially mediate the effect of managing IT on firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings highlight that managing IT does not merely influence better firm performance; instead, the coherent amalgamation of IT strategy and business strategy can enrich firm performance. The theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.Originality/valueIn line with the call for rigorous research to integrate the managing IT and firm strategies, this study demonstrates the mediating role of business strategy and IT strategy between the managing IT and the firm performance relationship, hence contributing to the IS research literature.
Effects of crime and violence on business confidence: evidence from Rio de Janeiro
Authors: Almeida André Filipe Guedes , Montes Gabriel Caldas 
Published: May 2020

PurposeDue to the fact that crime and violence affect the economy and the business environment, and since the economic environment affects entrepreneurs' expectations and therefore their decisions, this study analyzes the effect of both violence and crime on the confidence of entrepreneurs from the state of Rio de Janeiro.Design/methodology/approachMaking use of time series methodology, the authors provide OLS and GMM estimates for the effects of violence and crime on the business confidence index of entrepreneurs in Rio de Janeiro. The analysis of the Rio de Janeiro case is relevant since Rio de Janeiro is the second state, after São Paulo, with the largest participation in the Brazilian GDP, and crime and violence have very high indicators in this state. The analysis comprises the period between January 2012 and July 2018 (monthly data).FindingsThe results suggest that violence and crime negatively impact business confidence in Rio de Janeiro. The estimates reveal that, among all economic and noneconomic variables, the third variable with the greatest impact on business confidence is “cargo thefts.” An increase of one standard deviation in this variable reduces business confidence by approximately 2.48 basis points, while increases of one standard deviation in “violent deaths,” “commerce thefts” and “extortion” reduce business confidence by approximately 1.24, 1.46 and 1.47 bp, respectively. The impacts caused by these violence and crime variables are greater than the effect caused by an increase of one standard deviation in the real interest rate.Practical implicationsThe findings reveal that a stable economic environment with economic growth is as important to business confidence as the adoption of policies aimed at increasing public security through the fight against crime and violence.Originality/valueIf on the one hand the literature provides evidence that crime is harmful to the economy, on the other hand no study has so far analyzed the impact of crime and violence on business confidence. This type of analysis is relevant since confidence is an important aspect in the expectation formation process and thus to production and investment decisions and economic activity. Thus, this study is the first to analyze the effects of crime and violence on business confidence and consequently, the first to explore the consequences of crime on the economy through the expectations channel.
Predicting the impact of operational and financial variables on bullwhip effect using threshold regression: Indian context
Authors: Gupta Sachin , Saxena Anurag 
Published: May 2020

PurposeThe operational aspects of supply chain, when handled correctly, results in diminishing the impact of the bullwhip effect. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of operational and financial variables on the bullwhip effect. Various operational factors that contribute to the bullwhip effect in a supply chain are identified and their impact on variability in production is measured at manufacturer’s end in the supply chain.Design/methodology/approachTen different sectors of the Indian economy are identified and analyzed on the basis of bullwhip effect. The ratio of change in production with respect to change in demand is taken as a metric to measure the bullwhip effect. Initially, the impact of identified variables on bullwhip effect is analyzed using the linear regression analysis and then to gain more insights, the threshold regression model is applied according to the change in bullwhip ratio.FindingsThe study identifies four threshold regions in which bullwhip ratio is changing its slope considerably. The operational and financial variables impacting bullwhip effect differently in these four regions provide useful insights about how the variables are impacting the bullwhip effect.Research limitations/implicationsPast 11 years of observations on identified operational and financial variables are studied for ten different sectors. The operational and financial variables are identified on basis of available literature but may not be exhaustive in nature.Practical implicationsThe present study implies that the emphasis must be given to the magnitude of the bullwhip ratio. Strategies must be adopted that result in mitigation of bullwhip effect. Such mitigation strategies must not only be restricted on the basis of type of product or sector, perhaps they must be on the basis of threshold region of bullwhip ratio.Originality/valueThe study suggests a novel approach to study the bullwhip effect in supply chain management using the application of threshold regression considering the bullwhip ratio as a threshold variable.