Editorial: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Socio-economic systems in the post-pandemic world; Design thinking, strategic planning, management, and public policy

The declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, led to unprecedented events. All regions of the world participated in implementing preventive health measures such as physical distancing, travel restrictions, self-isolation, quarantines, and facility closures. The pandemic started global disruption of socio-economic systems, covering the postponement or cancellation of public events, supply shortages, schools and universities' closure, evacuation of foreign citizens, a rise in unemployment and inflation, misinformation, the anti-vaccine movement, and incidents of discrimination toward people affected by or suspected of having coronavirus disease. Attempts have been made to protect the oldest age group at risk, but in many cases, this has led to over-restriction and age discrimination. The rationale for working on the Research Topic "Socio-economic systems in the post-pandemic world: Design thinking, strategic planning, management, and public policy" was the need to start reflecting on resilience and lessons learned from this public health event that revealed the global unpreparedness in critical areas. Also, the pandemic triggered both top-down (e.g., policy tools toward labor markets) and bottom-up (e.g., social and technological innovations in education) responses that needed more in-depth analyzes. This Research Topic covers interdisciplinary contributions addressing new thinking, challenges, and transformations required for post-pandemic global, national, regional, and local realities. The presented Research Topic combines studies focused on recognizing the actions and interventions leading to the recovery of socio-economic systems during the tail end and after the pandemic. The studies delivered recommendations regarding, among others, the care of vulnerable, planning socio-economic restart, and imagining the "new normal.

The Effect of Ru substitution for Ni on the superconductivity in MgCNi3-xRux

The superconductor MgCNi3 has been chemically doped by partial substitution of Ru for Ni in the solid solution MgCNi3-xRux for 0<x<0.5. Magnetic and specific heat measurements show that the Sommerfeld parameter (gamma_exp) and TC decrease immediately on Ru substitution, but that a TC above 2K is maintained even for a relatively large decrease in gamma_exp. Ferromagnetism is not observed to develop through Ru substitution, and the normal state magnetic susceptibility is suppressed.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figure

Editorial: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Socio-economic systems in the post-pandemic world: Design thinking, strategic planning, management, and public policy

Copyright © 2022 Klimczuk, Berde, Dovie, Klimczuk-Kochanska and Spinelli. Overview: The declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, led to unprecedented events. All regions of the world participated in implementing preventive health measures such as physical distancing, travel restrictions, self-isolation, quarantines, and facility closures. The pandemic started global disruption of socio-economic systems, covering the postponement or cancellation of public events, supply shortages, schools and universities' closure, evacuation of foreign citizens, a rise in unemployment and inflation, misinformation, the anti-vaccine movement, and incidents of discrimination toward people affected by or suspected of having coronavirus disease. Attempts have been made to protect the oldest age group at risk, but in many cases, this has led to over-restriction and age discrimination. The rationale for working on the Research Topic “Socio-economic systems in the post-pandemic world: Design thinking, strategic planning, management, and public policy” was the need to start reflecting on resilience and lessons learned from this public health event that revealed the global unpreparedness in critical areas. Also, the pandemic triggered both top-down (e.g., policy tools toward labor markets) and bottom-up (e.g., social and technological innovations in education) responses that needed more in-depth analyzes. This Research Topic covers interdisciplinary contributions addressing new thinking, challenges, and transformations required for post-pandemic global, national, regional, and local realities. The presented Research Topic combines studies focused on recognizing the actions and interventions leading to the recovery of socio-economic systems during the tail end and after the pandemic. The studies delivered recommendations regarding, among others, the care of vulnerable, planning socio-economic restart, and imagining the “new normal.” The presented Research Topic includes 27 articles prepared by 113 authors from all continents. This set of texts contains seven types of papers covering: 14 original research articles (Beno and Hvorecky; Bhandari et al.; Bjursell et al.; Breitenbach et al.; El Deeb; Ferchiou et al.; Kieslinger et al.; Liu et al.; Musango et al.; Poppe; Rasul et al.; Rivera-Rodriguez and Urdinola; Suomi et al.; Chen et al.), two perspective articles (Lee and Kang; Takewaki), four review articles (Contreras et al.; Kumar, Malla et al.; Singu et al.; Hamid and Mir), one study protocol article (Marston et al.), three opinion articles (Lever and Safra; Sciacchitano and Bartolazzi; Vlacha and Feketea), one conceptual analysis article (Auriemma and Iannaccone), and two brief research reports (Kumar, Kodidela et al.; Sun et al.). The editors have identified six themes underpinning and linking together the finally selected papers. The identified macro themes help to distinguish the main contribution focus and the areas of application of the published research. However, these studies are also a testimony of the pandemic's impact on each and every significant aspect of our societies

Muon spin rotation/relaxation measurements of the non-centrosymmetric superconductor Mg10Ir19B16

We have searched for time-reversal symmetry breaking fields in the non-centrosymmetric superconductor Mg$_{10}$Ir$_{19}$B$_{16}$ via muon spin relaxation in zero applied field, and we measured the temperature dependence of the superfluid density by muon spin rotation in transverse field to investigate the superconducting pairing symmetry in two polycrystalline samples of signficantly different purities. In the high purity sample, we detected no time-reversal symmetry breaking fields greater than 0.05 G. The superfluid density was also found to be exponentially-flat as T$\to$0, and so can be fit to a single-gap BCS model. In contrast, the lower purity sample showed an increase in the zero-field $\mu$SR relaxation rate below T$_c$ corresponding to a characteristic field strength of 0.6 G. While the temperature-dependence of the superfluid density was also found to be consistent with a single-gap BCS model, the magnitude as T$\to$0 was found to be much lower for a given applied field than in the case of the high purity sample. These findings suggest that the dominant pairing symmetry in high quality Mg$_{10}$Ir$_{19}$B$_{16}$ samples corresponds to the spin-singlet channel, while sample quality drastically affects the superconducting properties of this system.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, revised version resubmitted to PR

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Socio-Economic Systems in the Post-Pandemic World: Design Thinking, Strategic Planning, Management, and Public Policy

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease that was first recognized in China in late 2019. Among the primary effects caused by the pandemic, there was the dissemination of health preventive measures such as physical distancing, travel restrictions, self-isolation, quarantines, and facility closures. This includes the global disruption of socio-economic systems including the postponement or cancellation of various public events (e.g., sporting, cultural, or religious), supply shortages and fears of the same, schools and universities closure, evacuation of foreign citizens, a rise of unemployment, changes in the international aid schemes, misinformation, and incidents of discrimination toward people affected by or suspected of having the COVID-19 disease. The pandemic has brought to the fore unpreparedness in critical areas that require attention, amid prospects and challenges. Moreover, considerable reorganization efforts are required with implications for assets, resources, norms, and value systems. COVID-19 is challenging the concept of globalization and stimulating responses at the levels of local and regional socio-economic systems that lead to the mobilization of assets that have been unrecognized earlier on, such as various forms of economic capital, social capital, cultural capital, human capital, and creative capital. For example, through digital channels, local groups are forming to create schemes of support for physical and mental wellbeing. These emerging exchanges lead to various social and technological innovations by building on skills and assets that are less important in the free-market economy, such as empathy, skills for crafts, making and fixing; locally grown microgreens; and micromanufacturing. Isolation and local living are also making it much harder to ignore the civic responsibilities towards communities, meant as individuals, vulnerable groups, and local businesses. Whilst the pandemic is limiting physical participation, this challenging time is uncovering alternative ways of mutual support, which may create long-term benefits for socio-economic systems, including environmental and biodiversity protection, reduction of the air pollution, and climate action. The pandemic’s threat to public health will hopefully be overcome with implications for disruption for an extended period that we are unable to forecast at this stage. It is key to focus on studies recognizing the activities and interventions leading to the recovery of socio-economic systems after the pandemic. Reflecting and planning on how societies and economies will go back to “business as usual” requires new forms of communication and cooperation, imaginative design thinking, new styles of management, as well as new tools and forms of participation in various public policies. Many questions related to the care of the vulnerable, economic restart, and the risk of future pandemics, to mention but a few, are already occupying the academic, scientific, experts, and activist communities, who have started to imagine the “new normal.

Stoichiometry, Spin Fluctuations, and Superconductivity in LaNiPO

Superconductivity in LaNiPO is disrupted by small (~5%) amounts of non-stoichiometry on the lanthanum site, even though the electronic contribution to the heat capacity increases with increasing non-stoichiometry. All samples also exhibit specific heat anomalies consistent with the presence of ferromagnetic spin fluctuations (Tsf ~ 14 K). Comparison of layered nickel phosphide and nickel borocarbide superconductors reveals different structure-property correlations in the two families.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.