Public Health Policy and Infectious Disease Control: Lessons from Recent Outbreaks

This research explores the complex dynamics of public health policy and its crucial role in managing pandemics, considering the unprecedented challenges presented by recent outbreaks of infectious diseases. Examining the worldwide consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ebola outbreak, we analyze the insights gained from these emergencies, highlighting the necessity for flexible policy development, cooperative endeavors, and the incorporation of community-led strategies. This study adds to the current discussion on pandemic preparedness and the development of robust public health systems. This research paper examines the significant influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ebola outbreak on worldwide public health. It specifically analyzes the efficacy of public health policies and the involvement of mathematical models in managing infectious diseases. Understanding the development of public health responses requires considering the historical context of infectious disease outbreaks such as the Spanish Flu, H1N1, SARS, and MERS. This study conducts a comparative analysis of the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ebola outbreak, taking into account their distinct challenges and contextual factors. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has presented a multifaceted global health crisis that requires swift and flexible public health measures. Conversely, the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo revealed difficulties that are unique to areas affected by conflict and emphasized the significance of involving the community in efforts to control the disease. The paper explores the global ramifications of these outbreaks, encompassing not only health consequences but also economic, societal, and international relations implications. The interdependence of global health is examined by analyzing the responses to COVID-19 and Ebola, highlighting the crucial requirement for collaborative endeavors, exchange of information, and fair allocation of resources. The research utilizes a case study methodology, specifically examining the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ebola outbreak as illustrative instances. Data collection encompasses the evaluation of implemented public health policies, the utilization of mathematical models for analysis, and the contemplation of ethical ramifications in the study of global health emergencies. The paper concludes by providing policy recommendations derived from the insights gained from these outbreaks. It highlights the importance of flexible and data-driven policymaking, international collaboration, and the incorporation of community-led strategies

Fractal Inspired Models of Quark and Gluon Distributions and Longitudinal Structure Function FL(x, Q2) at small x

In recent years, Fractal Inspired Models of quark and gluon densities at small x have been proposed. In this paper, we investigate longitudinal structure function F-L (x, Q2) within this approach. We make predictions using the QCD based approximate relation between the longitudinal structure function and the gluon density. As the Altarelli-Martinelli equation for the longitudinal structure function cannot be applied to Model I due to the presence of a singularity in the Bjorken x-space we consider Model II only. The qualitative feature of the prediction of Model II is found to be compatible with the QCD expectation.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication on 10-07-2010 in Indian Journal of Physic

Pandemic influenza A(H1N1) 2009 outbreak in a residential school at Panchgani, Maharashtra, India

Background & objectives: An outbreak of influenza was investigated between June 24 and July 30, 2009 in a residential school at Panchgani, Maharashtra, India. The objectives were to determine the aetiology, study the clinical features in the affected individuals and, important epidemiological and environmental factors. The nature of public health response and effectiveness of the control measures were also evaluated. Methods: Real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was performed on throat swabs collected from 82 suspected cases to determine the influenza types (A or B) and sub-types [pandemic (H1N1) 2009, as well as seasonal influenza H1N1, H3N2]. Haemagglutination inhibition assay was performed on serum samples collected from entire school population (N = 415) to detect antibodies for pandemic (H1N1) 2009, seasonal H1N1, H3N2 and influenza B/Yamagata and B/Victoria lineages. Antibody titres ≥ 10 for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 and ≥ 20 for seasonal influenza A and B were considered as positive for these viruses. Results: Clinical attack rate for influenza-like illness was 71.1 per cent (295/415). The attack rate for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 cases was 42.4 per cent (176/415). Throat swabs were collected from 82 cases, of which pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus was detected in 15 (18.3%), influenza type A in (6) 7.4 per cent and influenza type B only in one case. A serosurvey carried out showed haemagglutination inhibition antibodies to pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in 52 per cent (216) subjects in the school and 9 per cent (22) in the community. Interpretation & conclusion: Our findings confirmed an outbreak of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 due to local transmission among students in a residential school at Panchgani, Maharashtra, India

An efficient algorithm to calculate intrinsic thermoelectric parameters based on Landauer approach

The Landauer approach provides a conceptually simple way to calculate the intrinsic thermoelectric (TE) parameters of materials from the ballistic to the diffusive transport regime. This method relies on the calculation of the number of propagating modes and the scattering rate for each mode. The modes are calculated from the energy dispersion (E(k)) of the materials which require heavy computation and often supply energy relation on sparse momentum (k) grids. Here an efficient method to calculate the distribution of modes (DOM) from a given E(k) relationship is presented. The main features of this algorithm are, (i) its ability to work on sparse dispersion data, and (ii) creation of an energy grid for the DOM that is almost independent of the dispersion data therefore allowing for efficient and fast calculation of TE parameters. The inclusion of scattering effects is also straight forward. The effect of k-grid sparsity on the compute time for DOM and on the sensitivity of the calculated TE results are provided. The algorithm calculates the TE parameters within 5% accuracy when the K-grid sparsity is increased up to 60% for all the dimensions (3D, 2D and 1D). The time taken for the DOM calculation is strongly influenced by the transverse K density (K perpendicular to transport direction) but is almost independent of the transport K density (along the transport direction). The DOM and TE results from the algorithm are bench-marked with, (i) analytical calculations for parabolic bands, and (ii) realistic electronic and phonon results for $Bi_{2}Te_{3}$.Comment: 16 Figures, 3 Tables, submitted to Journal of Computational electronic

Environmental Analyses to Inform Transitions to Sustainable Diets in Developing Countries: a Component of the EATS Project

Sustainable diets are an environmental, economic and public health imperative, but identifying clear intervention points is challenging. The Entry points to Advance Transitions towards Sustainable diets (EATS) project seeks to repackage existing data, combined with an interview-informed awareness of current national and sub-national policy processes, to inform food system-level decision making. Here we view historic trends in food supply in Vietnam and Kenya as a proxy for national average diets, and consider them in terms of the greenhouse gas emissions and cumulative energy demand associated with producing that food. Economic prosperity in Vietnam in recent decades has led to increases in meat consumption and, in turn, amplified increases in diet level environmental impacts. Mild levels of beef consumption in Vietnam have now overcome the most popular meat, pork, as the dominant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, historically consistent levels of dairy and beef in Kenya dominate diet-level environmental impacts. This preliminary work will be integrated into later stages of the EATS project to promote systemic approaches to sustainable development

Environmental analyses to inform transitions to sustainable diets in developing countries: case studies for Vietnam and Kenya

Purpose Sustainable diets are an environmental, economic, and public health imperative, but identifying clear intervention points is challenging. Decision-making will require descriptive analyses from a variety of perspectives, even under the inevitable uncertainty introduced by limited data. This study uses existing data to provide a diet-level perspective on environmental impact from food production in the case study countries of Vietnam and Kenya. Methods FAO food supply data at decadal time steps were used as a proxy for national average diets in Vietnam and Kenya. We combined these data with estimates of the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) and water use impact associated with producing food commodities. Generic GHGE factors were derived from a survey of the life cycle assessment literature. Country- and commodity-specific blue water use estimates were used, reflecting country-of-origin for import-dominated commodities. The AWARE characterization model was used to offer a diet-associated water scarcity footprint. Trends in diet-associated environmental impacts were interpreted in light of diet shifts, economic development trends, and other factors. Results and discussion Increasing per capita food supply in Vietnam, and in particular increases in meat, have led to rising diet-associated per capita GHGE. While supply of beef remains 5.2 times smaller than pork—the dominant meat—increases in beef demand in the past decade have resulted in it becoming second only to rice in contribution to diet GHGE. The water use and water scarcity footprint in Vietnam follow an increasing trend comparable to food supply. On the other hand, historically consistent levels of dairy and beef in Kenya dominate diet-level GHGE. Water use associated with the Kenyan diet shows marked increases between the 1990s and 2000s due to imports of wheat and rice from water-stressed regions. Environmental performance data for characteristic food production systems in these and other developing countries are needed to improve the representativeness and reliability of such assessments. Conclusions Despite data limitations, the methods and results presented here may offer a fresh perspective in sustainable development policy deliberations, as they offer an entry point to linking environmental impact and consumption behaviors and can elucidate otherwise obscure or unexpected outcomes. A clear need emerges for further environmental analysis of dominant production systems within both Vietnam and Kenya

Object search by manipulation

We investigate the problem of a robot searching for an object. This requires reasoning about both perception and manipulation: some objects are moved because the target may be hidden behind them, while others are moved because they block the manipulator’s access to other objects. We contribute a formulation of the object search by manipulation problem using visibility and accessibility relations between objects. We also propose a greedy algorithm and show that it is optimal under certain conditions. We propose a second algorithm which takes advantage of the structure of the visibility and accessibility relations between objects to quickly generate plans. Our empirical evaluation strongly suggests that our algorithm is optimal under all conditions. We support this claim with a partial proof. Finally, we demonstrate an implementation of both algorithms on a real robot using a real object detection system

Daksha: On Alert for High Energy Transients

We present Daksha, a proposed high energy transients mission for the study of electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources, and gamma ray bursts. Daksha will comprise of two satellites in low earth equatorial orbits, on opposite sides of earth. Each satellite will carry three types of detectors to cover the entire sky in an energy range from 1 keV to >1 MeV. Any transients detected on-board will be announced publicly within minutes of discovery. All photon data will be downloaded in ground station passes to obtain source positions, spectra, and light curves. In addition, Daksha will address a wide range of science cases including monitoring X-ray pulsars, studies of magnetars, solar flares, searches for fast radio burst counterparts, routine monitoring of bright persistent high energy sources, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, and probing primordial black hole abundances through lensing. In this paper, we discuss the technical capabilities of Daksha, while the detailed science case is discussed in a separate paper.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Additional information about the mission is available at https://www.dakshasat.in

Science with the Daksha High Energy Transients Mission

We present the science case for the proposed Daksha high energy transients mission. Daksha will comprise of two satellites covering the entire sky from 1~keV to $>1$~MeV. The primary objectives of the mission are to discover and characterize electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave source; and to study Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). Daksha is a versatile all-sky monitor that can address a wide variety of science cases. With its broadband spectral response, high sensitivity, and continuous all-sky coverage, it will discover fainter and rarer sources than any other existing or proposed mission. Daksha can make key strides in GRB research with polarization studies, prompt soft spectroscopy, and fine time-resolved spectral studies. Daksha will provide continuous monitoring of X-ray pulsars. It will detect magnetar outbursts and high energy counterparts to Fast Radio Bursts. Using Earth occultation to measure source fluxes, the two satellites together will obtain daily flux measurements of bright hard X-ray sources including active galactic nuclei, X-ray binaries, and slow transients like Novae. Correlation studies between the two satellites can be used to probe primordial black holes through lensing. Daksha will have a set of detectors continuously pointing towards the Sun, providing excellent hard X-ray monitoring data. Closer to home, the high sensitivity and time resolution of Daksha can be leveraged for the characterization of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to ApJ. More details about the mission at https://www.dakshasat.in