Impacts of Covid-19 on developing countries and the catch-up effect

Since its emergence, COVID-19 has disrupted life globally. The World Bank, IMF, and OECD determined the pandemic to have had a severe impact on the world's economy in 2020, even more so than the World Financial Crisis in 2008. Whilst COVID-19 affected all countries, developing markets were especially vulnerable to the crisis due to their high employment rates in the informal sector and lower fiscal capabilities. Whilst forecasts for global economic growth in 2021 are optimistic, the recovery will vary between the different regions and income levels. This thesis aimed to compare the impacts of the pandemic on the economies of developing and advanced countries. The paper focused on evaluating developing markets' future capabilities to converge their GDP per capita with developed countries through higher GDP growth rates. Therefore, economic growth was analysed per region and income level for 2020, and forecasts for 2021 until 2026 were assessed. Additionally, the long-term impact of the decline of production factors in 2020 and the importance of existing levels of production factors for future development were evaluated. The findings revealed that the pandemic severely impacted both advanced and emerging economies. However, the crisis affected future growth prospects to varying degrees in the different regions of the world. As advanced economies recover fast, convergence is deemed volatile until 2022, and each region of emerging markets experiences divergent GDP per capita growth for at least one year. While Asian and European emerging markets display higher than average growth, Latin America can sustain growth rates similar to those in advanced economies. In contrast, the African countries and the Middle East struggle the most to reach high growth, mainly exhibiting divergent per capita growth rates in the future. Nonetheless, overcoming the effects of the pandemic is essential for all emerging markets, as a prolonged impact would considerably damage their convergence possibilities. Therefore, the rapid distribution of vaccines, leading to a faster reopening of the economies, is essential. The current forecast indicates that the decline in production factors during 2020 has a limited impact on future GDP per capita growth. Combined with additional economic contributions provided by governments, this supports a positive outlook for the future. To continue achieving sustained growth, emerging economies need to focus on advancing their level of investment and on further improving and expanding access to education. Lastly, the institutions within emerging countries, such as the rule of law, need to be strengthened. All the mentioned factors have shown a significant relation with higher growth and were recommended policy measures to support development in emerging economies even before COVID-19. However, since the pandemic is still ongoing, its impact should be re-evaluated continuously to derive the necessary policies to support the global economic recovery

FISH mapping and molecular organization of the major repetitive sequences of tomato

This paper presents a bird's-eye view of the major repeats and chromatin types of tomato. Using fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) with Cot-1, Cot-10 and Cot-100 DNA as probes we mapped repetitive sequences of different complexity on pachytene complements. Cot-100 was found to cover all heterochromatin regions, and could be used to identify repeat-rich clones in BAC filter hybridization. Next we established the chromosomal locations of the tandem and dispersed repeats with respect to euchromatin, nucleolar organizer regions (NORs), heterochromatin, and centromeres. The tomato genomic repeats TGRII and TGRIII appeared to be major components of the pericentromeres, whereas the newly discovered TGRIV repeat was found mainly in the structural centromeres. The highly methylated NOR of chromosome 2 is rich in [GACA](4), a microsatellite that also forms part of the pericentromeres, together with [GA](8), [GATA](4) and Ty1-copia. Based on the morphology of pachytene chromosomes and the distribution of repeats studied so far, we now propose six different chromatin classes for tomato: (1) euchromatin, (2) chromomeres, (3) distal heterochromatin and interstitial heterochromatic knobs, (4) pericentromere heterochromatin, (5) functional centromere heterochromatin and (6) nucleolar organizer regio

Efficacy and tolerability of four antimalarial combinations in the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Senegal

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In view of the high level of chloroquine resistance in many countries, WHO has recommended the use of combination therapy with artemisinin derivatives in the treatment of uncomplicated malaria due to <it>Plasmodium falciparum</it>. Four antimalarial drug combinations, artesunate plus amodiaquine (Arsucam^®), artesunate plus mefloquine (Artequin^®), artemether plus lumefantrine (Coartem^®; four doses and six doses), and amodiaquine plus sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, were studied in five health districts in Senegal.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This is a descriptive, analytical, open, randomized study to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of these four antimalarial combinations in the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria using the 2002 WHO protocol.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All drug combinations demonstrated good efficacy. On day 28, all combinations resulted in an excellent clinical and parasitological response rate of 100% after correction for PCR results, except for the four-dose artemether-lumefantrine regimen (96.4%). Follow-up of approximately 10% of each treatment group on day 42 demonstrated an efficacy of 100%.</p> <p>The combinations were well tolerated clinically and biologically. No unexpected side-effect was observed and all side-effects disappeared at the end of treatment. No serious side-effect requiring premature termination of treatment was observed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The four combinations are effective and well-tolerated.</p

EEG oscillations reveal neural correlates of evidence accumulation

Recent studies have begun to elucidate the neural correlates of evidence accumulation in perceptual decision making, but few of them have used a combined modeling-electrophysiological approach to studying evidence accumulation. We introduce a multivariate approach to EEG analysis with which we can perform a comprehensive search for the neural correlate of dynamics predicted by accumulator models. We show that the dynamics of evidence accumulation are most strongly correlated with ramping of oscillatory power in the 4–9 Hz theta band over the course of a trial, although it also correlates with oscillatory power in other frequency bands. The rate of power decrease in the theta band correlates with individual differences in the parameters of drift diffusion models fitted to individuals’ behavioral data

3D non-linear MHD simulation of the MHD response and density increase as a result of shattered pellet injection

The MHD response and the penetration of a deuterium shattered pellet into a JET plasma is investigated via the non-linear reduced MHD code JOREK with the neutral gas shielding (NGS) ablation model. The dominant MHD destabilizing mechanism by the injection is identified as the local helical cooling at each rational surface, as opposed to the global current profile contraction. Thus the injected fragments destabilize each rational surface as they pass through them. The injection penetration is found to be much better compared to MGI, with the convective transport caused by core MHD instabilities (e.g. 1/1 kink) contributing significantly to the core penetration. Moreover, the injection with realistic JET SPI system configurations is simulated in order to provide some insights into future operations, and the impact on the total assimilation and penetration depth of varying injection parameters such as the injection velocity or fineness of shattering is assessed. Further, the effect of changing the target equilibrium temperature or q profile on the assimilation and penetration is also investigated. Such analysis will form the basis of further investigation into a desirable configuration for the future SPI system in ITER.EURATOM 63305