COVID-19 vaccine equity for the Global South: Vaccination challenges and opportunities for small and poor countries

The effects of COVID-19 have significantly interrupted countries and the social order across the globe. However, the developing countries which could not manufacture or even buy the most wanted commodity: COVID-19 Vaccine, looked on as the situation got worse even in the wealthy nations. Diplomacy seems a ray of hope among developing countries as wealthy nations have used almost all the vaccines themselves. The goal of this study was to critically analyze the challenges and opportunities around the COVID-19 pandemic, especially vaccine distribution and access, and the role of diplomacy in this process in selected countries in Africa. We used the narrative literature review approach. We examined the cases of Uganda, Ghana, and South Africa on the COVID-19 vaccine distribution. We found minimal accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing nations. African and other developing countries have since depended on vaccine donations. Affordability makes it challenging for wealthy countries to lend a hand while ensuring their population and market needs are catered for. We propose that nationals in the Global South must strengthen their diplomatic systems and negotiation skills with wealthy countries while reinforcing public health systems. Developing countries must build alliances to engage with high-income countries as equal partners.O

Cooperative Second-Generation Breeding and Testing of Coastal Douglas-fir in the US Pacific Northwest

Forest tree improvement got underway in the Pacific Northwest of the USA in the 1950s. Graft incompatibility became evident by the early 1960s and dampened enthusiasm for grafted clonal orchards for this species A different approach, the IFA-PNW �Progressive Tree Improvement System� was launched in 1966. The emphasis here was on forming local cooperatives to share costs, and on progeny testing large numbers of trees using wind-pollinated seed in small testing zones. This phase ran from 1967 till 1993, during which over 26,000 first-generation parents were tested in 109 breeding units (between local cooperatives, the USDI Bureau of Land Management, the USDA Forest Service and WA Department of Natural Resources), with over 3 million progeny test trees planted. A second-generation breeding and testing strategy was developed between 1996 and 1997: Adjacent first-generation testing programs could merge to share genetic material for breeding and testing. Breeding population size for any merged programs should be at least 300 selections. Within a breeding population, breeding groups of 20-30 selections each would be used to manage inbreeding and create multiple populations. The top 10-20 percent of selections within a breeding population could also be assigned an elite population. A minimum of nine breeding groups would be needed within a given testing zone. Each new testing zone was to use all of the families from "local" breeding groups and only the most elite selections from breeding groups originating further away from the testing zone. Each selection would be used in at least two crosses. The committee proposed using three types of tests, each with a specific purpose and design: family-ranking/selection tests; longterm stability tests; and adaptability-screening tests. Breeding and testing is in various stages of completion for seven different programs, which would lead to nine or 10 testing zones. The rule of thumb in choosing selections (first-generation parents, forward selections from open-pollinated progeny tests and from full-sib orchards) crossed to form the second-generation populations has been a 1 in 10 between-family selection intensity. Most selections were based on age-15 height. Where available information on stem sinuosity, forking, ramicorn branches and wood specific gravity were also considered. Between five and six tests have been established per testing zone, with 20 trees planted per family per site in single-tree plots. Trials established to date have contained from 143 to 283 full-sib crosses. All tests are fenced to protect the seedlings from browse. Tests will probably be measured twice, around seven and 12 years from seed (or when the trees are 15 and 30 feet tall respectively).Papers and abstracts from the 27th Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference held at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma on June 24-27, 2003

Enabling Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications through Unlicensed Spectrum

© 2018 IEEE. In this article, we aim to address the question of how to exploit the unlicensed spectrum to achieve URLLC. Potential URLLC PHY mechanisms are reviewed and then compared via simulations to demonstrate their potential benefits to URLLC. Although a number of important PHY techniques help with URLLC, the PHY layer exhibits an intrinsic trade-off between latency and reliability, posed by limited and unstable wireless channels. We then explore MAC mechanisms and discuss multi-channel strategies for achieving low-latency LTE unlicensed band access. We demonstrate, via simulations, that the periods without access to the unlicensed band can be substantially reduced by maintaining channel access processes on multiple unlicensed channels, choosing the channels intelligently, and implementing RTS/CTS

Use of Mobile Phones for Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling in Sri Lankan Tea Estates: A Formative Study

Despite the availability of free health services, children residing in Sri Lanka’s less developed plantation sector are more likely to be undernourished than children in urban and rural sectors. Hence, we need new approaches to improve their nutritional status. One promising approach involves mobile health initiatives, which is used effectively in other countries in primary health care settings. We studied the nature of mobile phone use in this community, and their perceptions on using m-health counseling for infant and young child feeding. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were the study methods. We found that mobile phone usage is common in this community hence; m-health platform could be a promising initiative to strengthen the existing face to face nutritional advice provided by the field health workers to improve the nutritional status of children

Fake news on Social Media: the Impact on Society

AbstractFake news (FN) on social media (SM) rose to prominence in 2016 during the United States of America presidential election, leading people to question science, true news (TN), and societal norms. FN is increasingly affecting societal values, changing opinions on critical issues and topics as well as redefining facts, truths, and beliefs. To understand the degree to which FN has changed society and the meaning of FN, this study proposes a novel conceptual framework derived from the literature on FN, SM, and societal acceptance theory. The conceptual framework is developed into a meta-framework that analyzes survey data from 356 respondents. This study explored fuzzy set-theoretic comparative analysis; the outcomes of this research suggest that societies are split on differentiating TN from FN. The results also show splits in societal values. Overall, this study provides a new perspective on how FN on SM is disintegrating societies and replacing TN with FN.</jats:p

Enabling Technologies for Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications: From PHY and MAC Layer Perspectives

© 1998-2012 IEEE. Future 5th generation networks are expected to enable three key services-enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine type communications and ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC). As per the 3rd generation partnership project URLLC requirements, it is expected that the reliability of one transmission of a 32 byte packet will be at least 99.999% and the latency will be at most 1 ms. This unprecedented level of reliability and latency will yield various new applications, such as smart grids, industrial automation and intelligent transport systems. In this survey we present potential future URLLC applications, and summarize the corresponding reliability and latency requirements. We provide a comprehensive discussion on physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layer techniques that enable URLLC, addressing both licensed and unlicensed bands. This paper evaluates the relevant PHY and MAC techniques for their ability to improve the reliability and reduce the latency. We identify that enabling long-term evolution to coexist in the unlicensed spectrum is also a potential enabler of URLLC in the unlicensed band, and provide numerical evaluations. Lastly, this paper discusses the potential future research directions and challenges in achieving the URLLC requirements

GPs' decision-making when prescribing medicines for breastfeeding women: Content analysis of a survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many breastfeeding women seek medical care from general practitioners (GPs) for various health problems and GPs may consider prescribing medicines in these consultations. Prescribing medicines to a breastfeeding mother may lead to untimely cessation of breastfeeding or a breastfeeding mother may be denied medicines due to the possible risk to her infant, both of which may lead to unwanted consequences. Information on factors governing GPs' decision-making and their views in such situations is limited.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>GPs providing shared maternity care at the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne were surveyed using an anonymous postal survey to determine their knowledge, attitudes and practices on medicines and breastfeeding, in 2007/2008 (n = 640). Content analysis of their response to a question concerning decision-making about the use of medicine for a breastfeeding woman was conducted. A thematic network was constructed with basic, organising and global themes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>335 (52%) GPs responded to the survey, and 253 (76%) provided information on the last time they had to decide about the use of medicine for a breastfeeding woman. Conditions reported were mastitis (24%), other infections (24%) and depressive disorders (21%). The global theme that emerged was "<it>complexity of managing risk in prescribing for breastfeeding women"</it>. The organising themes were: <it>certainty around decision-making; uncertainty around decision-making; need for drug information to be available, consistent and reliable; joint decision-making; the vulnerable "third party" </it>and <it>infant feeding decision</it>. Decision-making is a spectrum from a straight forward decision, such as treatment of mastitis, to a complicated one requiring multiple inputs and consideration. GPs use more information seeking and collaboration in decision-making when they perceive the problem to be more complex, for example, in postnatal depression.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>GPs feel that prescribing medicines for breastfeeding women is a contentious issue. They manage the risk of prescribing by gathering information and assessing the possible effects on the breastfed infant. Without evidence-based information, they sometimes recommend cessation of breastfeeding unnecessarily.</p

Knowledge retention in ERP implementations: the context of UK SMEs

Knowledge retention (k-retention) is vital for various enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), though it is a highly demanding and challenging task. The aim of this paper is to investigate different types of approaches to k-retention and factors influencing k-retention in SMEs. Our study adopts a grounded theory approach with cases based on 12 ERP implementations in UK SMEs. We analyze our data using thematic analysis. The findings reveal specific elements that support the k-retention of ERP package knowledge and business process knowledge. These elements are: k-retention tools, documentation, human capital and the understanding of k-retention challenges. In addition to insights from these aspects, our study reveals two additional factors (project management and organizational culture) that influence ERP package k-retention and business process k-retention. Based on these findings, we develop an ERP k-retention (EKR) framework that can be utilized by SMEs which are considering implementing ERP systems, to facilitate knowledge retention during implementation

NMR methods to monitor the enzymatic depolymerization of heparin

Heparin and the related glycosaminoglycan, heparan sulfate, are polydisperse linear polysaccharides that mediate numerous biological processes due to their interaction with proteins. Because of the structural complexity and heterogeneity of heparin and heparan sulfate, digestion to produce smaller oligosaccharides is commonly performed prior to separation and analysis. Current techniques used to monitor the extent of heparin depolymerization include UV absorption to follow product formation and size exclusion or strong anion exchange chromatography to monitor the size distribution of the components in the digest solution. In this study, we used 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) survey spectra and NMR diffusion experiments in conjunction with UV absorption measurements to monitor heparin depolymerization using the enzyme heparinase I. Diffusion NMR does not require the physical separation of the components in the reaction mixture and instead can be used to monitor the reaction solution directly in the NMR tube. Using diffusion NMR, the enzymatic reaction can be stopped at the desired time point, maximizing the abundance of larger oligosaccharides for protein-binding studies or completion of the reaction if the goal of the study is exhaustive digestion for characterization of the disaccharide composition. In this study, porcine intestinal mucosa heparin was depolymerized using the enzyme heparinase I. The unsaturated bond formed by enzymatic cleavage serves as a UV chromophore that can be used to monitor the progress of the depolymerization and for the detection and quantification of oligosaccharides in subsequent separations. The double bond also introduces a unique multiplet with peaks at 5.973, 5.981, 5.990, and 5.998 ppm in the 1H-NMR spectrum downfield of the anomeric region. This multiplet is produced by the proton of the C-4 double bond of the non-reducing end uronic acid at the cleavage site. Changes in this resonance were used to monitor the progression of the enzymatic digestion and compared to the profile obtained from UV absorbance measurements. In addition, in situ NMR diffusion measurements were explored for their ability to profile the different-sized components generated over the course of the digestion