The global response : how cities and provinces around the globe tackled COVID-19 outbreaks in 2021—authors’ reply

We would like to thank Ngo et al., for expressing their interest in our work. In our recent work, we looked at the preventive measures that were undertaken by various cities and provinces across the globe to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. In their correspondence, Ngo et al., have raised potential concerns in association with the data presented and certain definitions used in the paper. Upon receipt of their letter, we revisited our data sources. Herein, we provide a point-by-point response to the concerns raised by Ngo et al

The global response: How cities and provinces around the globe tackled Covid-19 outbreaks in 2021

Background: Tackling the spread of COVID-19 remains a crucial part of ending the pandemic. Its highly contagious nature and constant evolution coupled with a relative lack of immunity make the virus difficult to control. For this, various strategies have been proposed and adopted including limiting contact, social isolation, vaccination, contact tracing, etc. However, given the heterogeneity in the enforcement of these strategies and constant fluctuations in the strictness levels of these strategies, it becomes challenging to assess the true impact of these strategies in controlling the spread of COVID-19.Methods: In the present study, we evaluated various transmission control measures that were imposed in 10 global urban cities and provinces in 2021 Bangkok, Gauteng, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, London, Manila City, New Delhi, New York City, Singapore, and Tokyo.Findings: Based on our analysis, we herein propose the population-level Swiss cheese model for the failures and pit-falls in various strategies that each of these cities and provinces had. Furthermore, whilst all the evaluated cities and provinces took a different personalized approach to managing the pandemic, what remained common was dynamic enforcement and monitoring of breaches of each barrier of protection. The measures taken to reinforce the barriers were adjusted continuously based on the evolving epidemiological situation.Interpretation: How an individual city or province handled the pandemic profoundly affected and determined how the entire country handled the pandemic since the chain of transmission needs to be broken at the very grassroot level to achieve nationwide control

Optically pumped atoms

Covering the most important knowledge on optical pumping of atoms, this ready reference is backed by numerous examples of modelling computation for optical pumped systems. The authors show for the first time that modern scientific computing software makes it practical to analyze the full, multilevel system of optically pumped atoms. To make the discussion less abstract, the authors have illustrated key points with sections of MATLAB codes. To make most effective use of contemporary mathematical software, it is especially useful to analyze optical pumping situations in the Liouville sp

Save your blushes and stop routine thrombus aspiration during primary pci

This editorial refers to 'Myocardial blush and microvascular reperfusion following manual thrombectomy during percutaneous coronary interventions for ST elevation myocardial infarction: insights from the TOTAL trial'(dagger), by V. Sharma et al., on page 1891

Save your blushes and stop routine thrombus aspiration during primary pci

This editorial refers to \u27Myocardial blush and microvascular reperfusion following manual thrombectomy during percutaneous coronary interventions for ST elevation myocardial infarction: insights from the TOTAL trial\u27(dagger), by V. Sharma et al., on page 1891

High Speed, Multi-Channel, Thermal Instrument Development in Support of HyspIRI-TIR

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is currently developing an end-to-end instrument which will provide a proof of concept prototype vehicle for a high data rate, multi-channel, thermal instrument in support of the Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI)-Thermal Infrared (TIR) space mission. HyspIRI mission was recommended by the National Research Council Decadal Survey (DS). The HyspIRI mission includes a visible shortwave infrared (SWIR) pushboom spectrometer and a multispectral whiskbroom thermal infrared (TIR) imager. The prototype testbed instrument addressed in this effort will only support the TIR. Data from the HyspIRI mission will be used to address key science questions related to the Solid Earth and Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems focus areas of the NASA Science Mission Directorate. Current designs for the HyspIRI-TIR space borne imager utilize eight spectral bands delineated with filters. The system will have 60m ground resolution, 200mK NEDT, 0.5C absolute temperature resolution with a 5-day repeat from LEO orbit. The prototype instrument will use mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) technology at the focal plane array in time delay integration mode. A custom read out integrated circuit (ROIC) will provide the high speed readout hence high data rates needed for the 5 day repeat. The current HyspIRI requirements dictate a ground knowledge measurement of 30m, so the prototype instrument will tackle this problem with a newly developed interferometeric metrology system. This will provide an absolute measurement of the scanning mirror to an order of magnitude better than conventional optical encoders. This will minimize the reliance on ground control points hence minimizing postprocessing (e.g. geo-rectification computations)

A Sub-5mW Evanescent Field Atom Guide with Nanofibers towards Guided Atom Interferometry with Membrane Waveguides

Great progress has been made in the field of quantum inertial sensors, from the laboratory to the real-world use, which will ultimately require sensor miniaturization and ruggedization for dynamic motion. However, lateral atomic movement with respect to the sensing axis limits inertial sensing, which inspires the atom guides to ensure transverse atomic confinement. Compared to a relatively large free-space optical mode, an evanescent field (EF) mode with an advantageously small mode area allows for stronger atom-light interactions and lower optical power requirements for the atom guides. We study EF atom guides in nanofibers and waveguides with traveling evanescent waves, rather than EF optical lattices with standing evanescent waves. Our preliminary demonstration of an EF atom guide takes place on a nanofiber using 685 nm and 937 nm lights, and we experimentally show that the atomic coherence of the EF atom guide (685/937 nm) is similar to the EF optical lattice. By replacing the 685 nm light with 793 nm light, we further demonstrate the sub-5mW EF atom guide (793/937 nm) on nanofibers and assess relative power reduction of 61$\%$ on nanofibers and 78$\%$ on membrane waveguides, compared to nanofibers (685/937 nm), for the same optical potential depth. Power reduction is beneficial for reducing total optical power requirements and improving heat dissipation in vacuum for atom guiding on chip-based membrane-photonic devices. To connect this work with EF-guided atom interferometry, we evaluate the viability and potential benefits of using the low-power light configuration on membrane waveguides, presenting fabricated linear and circular waveguides for future demonstrations. This is a promising step towards a chip-scale quantum inertial sensor array with reduced size, weight, and power.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure