A systematic review of emerging respiratory viruses at the Hajj and possible coinfection with Streptococcus pneumoniae

This article is made available for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.Background The annual Hajj to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia attracts millions of pilgrims from around the world. International health community's attention goes towards this mass gathering and the possibility of the development of any respiratory tract infections due to the high risk of acquisition of respiratory viruses. Method We searched MEDLINE/PubMed and Scopus databases for relevant papers describing the prevalence of respiratory viruses among Hajj pilgrims. Results The retrieved articles were summarized based on the methodology of testing for these viruses. A total of 31 studies were included in the quantitative/qualitative analyses. The main methods used for the diagnosis of most common respiratory viruses were polymerase chain reaction (PCR), culture and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Influenza, rhinovirus and parainfluenza were the most common viruses detected among pilgrims. Coronaviruses other than MERS-CoV were also detected among pilgrims. The acquisition of MERS-CoV remains very limited and systematic screening of pilgrims showed no infections. Conclusions Well conducted multinational follow-up studies using the same methodology of testing are necessary for accurate surveillance of respiratory viral infections among Hajj pilgrims. Post-Hajj cohort studies would further evaluate the impact of the Hajj on the acquisition of respiratory viruses

Mean-field limit for collective behavior models with sharp sensitivity regions

We rigorously show the mean-field limit for a large class of swarming individual based models with local sharp sensitivity regions. For instance, these models include nonlocal repulsive-attractive forces locally averaged over sharp vision cones and Cucker-Smale interactions with discontinuous communication weights. We construct global-in-time defined notion of solutions through a differential inclusion system corresponding to the particle descriptions. We estimate the error between the solutions to the differential inclusion system and weak solutions to the expected limiting kinetic equation by employing tools from optimal transport theory. Quantitative bounds on the expansion of the 1-Wasserstein distance along flows based on a weak-strong stability estimate are obtained. We also provide different examples of realistic sensitivity sets satisfying the assumptions of our main results

Numerical modeling of strain rate hardening effects on viscoplastic behavior of metallic materials

The main goal of the present work is to provide a finite strain elasticviscoplastic framework to numerically account for strain, strain rate hardening, and viscous effects in cold deformation of metallic materials. The aim is to provide a simple and robust numerical framework capable of modeling the main macroscopic behavior associated with high strain rate plastic deformation of metals. In order to account for strain rate hardening effects at finite strains, the hardening rule involves a rate dependent saturation hardening, and it accounts for linear hardening prevailing at latter deformation stages. The numerical formulation, finite element implementation, and constitutive modeling capabilities are assessed by means of decremental strain rate testing and constant strain rate loading followed by stress relaxation. The numerical results have demonstrated the overall framework can be an efficient numerical tool for simulation of plastic deformation processes where strain rate history effects have to be accounted for

Cooperation, competition and the emergence of criticality in communities of adaptive systems

The hypothesis that living systems can benefit from operating at the vicinity of critical points has gained momentum in recent years. Criticality may confer an optimal balance between exceedingly ordered and too noisy states. We here present a model, based on information theory and statistical mechanics, illustrating how and why a community of agents aimed at understanding and communicating with each other converges to a globally coherent state in which all individuals are close to an internal critical state, i.e. at the borderline between order and disorder. We study --both analytically and computationally-- the circumstances under which criticality is the best possible outcome of the dynamical process, confirming the convergence to critical points under very generic conditions. Finally, we analyze the effect of cooperation (agents try to enhance not only their fitness, but also that of other individuals) and competition (agents try to improve their own fitness and to diminish those of competitors) within our setting. The conclusion is that, while competition fosters criticality, cooperation hinders it and can lead to more ordered or more disordered consensual solutions.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures. Supplementary Material: 8 page

Kualitas Pencahayaan Buatan Pada Ruang Rawat Inap Di Rumah Sakit. (Studi Kasus Rsup Prof. Dr. R. D. Kandou Manado)

Rumah sakit bisa dikatakan sebagai pusat sumber dari berbagai jenis mikroorganisme yang bisa menimbulkan banyak masalah kesehatan baik kepada petugas, perawat, dokter serta pasiennya yang berada di rumah sakit tersebut, maka pengaturan pencahayaan buatan dalam ruangan secara keseluruhan perlu mendapatkan perhatian khusus. Pengaturan pencahayaan buatan merupakan prasyarat terciptanya netralitas cahaya yang sesuai dengan standard berdasarkan SNI 03-6575-2001 Ruang Rawat Inap memerlukan tingkat Pencahayaan 250 Lux ,maka perlu melakukan penelitian seberapa besar kualitas pencahayaan buatan pada ruang rawat inap di RSUP Prof Dr.R.D. Kandou Manado yang sangat berpengaruh terhadap aktivitas dan konsumsi energy yang terjadi di rumah sakit.Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif dan kuantitatif dengan pendekatan postpositivistik-rasionalistik yang di teliti sebanyak 7 (tujuh) ruangan yang mewakili ruang rawat inap umum dengan hasil Penilaian okupan terhadappencahayaan buatan jawaban maupun respon dari okupan lewat kuesioner rata-rata 61,54% merespon perlu menambah lampu. Pencahayaan buatan tujuh ruang Rawat Inap yang di teliti memperoleh nilai kuat cahaya tidakmencapai standar pencahayaan menurut SNI-03-6575-2001