Case Of Singapore Research Articles

Monkey pox: A public health emergency.

Human monkeypox virus, a double-stranded DNA virus belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family with two genetic clades identified as West African and Central African [1]. First detected in 1958 when there was an outbreak of a vesicular disease among monkeys held in captivity being transported from Africa to Copenhagen, Denmark for research. The first case of monkeypox in humans was seen in a 9-year-old child belonging to the rural area of Zaire in August 1970, having smallpox-like vesicular lesions on the skin [1]. There have been reports of imported sporadic cases in Singapore, the UK, and the US from 2018 until recently in 2022, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic [2], an outbreak of monkeypox cases in the UK, other European and non-European countries was reported with confirmed cases of 2677 up to June 21, 2022 [3]. It is still not understood how the virus is transmitted to humans. It is assumed that the primary source of infection transmission is from animals to humans by handling monkeypox-infected animals. Secondary human-human transmission occurs through large respiratory droplets, contact with bodily fluids, lesions, and polluted surfaces such as clothing or linens [1,4]. Currently, many cases in the ongoing outbreak have been traced to sexual transmission, particularly among men who identify as gay or bisexual [5]. Initial symptoms begin with fever, headache, fatigue, and lymphadenopathy. Mucosal lesions in the mouth followed by lesions of skin on the face and extremities develop after 1–2 days. The lesions may vary in number from a small amount to thousands and may or may not spread to other parts of the body [6]. However, monkeypox cases reported in the current ongoing outbreak are atypical in nature with the characteristic rash developing in the genital and perianal areas with or without spreading to other body parts [7]. Even though, there is no specific treatment for monkeypox, the smallpox antivirals such as cidofovir, brincidofovir, and tecovirimat show activity against monkeypox with the latter two drugs having US FDA approval for use in treating smallpox. Most likely these medications would be reserved for treating severe cases or immunocompromised individuals and can be obtained through a public health department or the CDC [8]. The smallpox vaccines are believed to be effective in preventing monkeypox and as postexposure prophylaxis. JYNNEOS, which is a new generation smallpox vaccine, has an FDA indication for preventing monkeypox, and the older generation ACAM2000 used off-label can be used as well. Immediate post-exposure administration of the prophylactic vaccine can avoid infection or significantly reduce it. Alternative postexposure prophylaxis is vaccinia immune globulin in cases where the smallpox vaccine is contraindicated [8]. JYNNEOS vaccine can be administered in two doses, 28 days apart [9], and ACAM2000, which is a replication-competent live vaccinia virus vaccine can be administered as a single dose [10]. In conclusion, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, monkeypox poses a great threat and has the potential to become a pandemic but with proper preventive strategies, the chances of containment of this disease increase to a great extent. Monkeypox, like most other viral infections, has symptomatic treatment. Educating patients and healthcare workers in areas where this disease is endemic is of utmost importance. People with knowledge about monkeypox can practice social distancing and other preventive strategies such as wearing a mask, washing hands regularly, and practicing safe sex. Healthcare workers with adequate knowledge about this disease can devise treatment plans and diagnostic strategies to help curb this virus among the masses. The infected individual must remain in isolation, wear a surgical mask, and keep the lesions covered as much as reasonably possible until all lesion crusts have naturally fallen off and a new skin layer has formed. Hospitals in endemic areas must acquire vaccines and medicines in time and make them available to the o masses. Government should encourage people to get vaccinated and educate and aware the general population about this through numerous social media platforms including TV, social media platforms, and messages on mobile phones. In areas where access to these things is lesser, mass campaigns need to be organized and people need to be taught in simple language, easy to understand. Ethical approval N/A. Sources of funding I declare no financial or competing interests. Author contributions Ahmed Kamal Siddiqi: Study concept and design. Umeed Khan: Acquisition of the data and drafting of the manuscript. Muhammad Adil Obaid: Acquisition of the data and drafting of the manuscript. Conflicts of interest I declare no financial or competing interests. Registration of research studies Name of the registry: N/A/ Unique Identifying number or registration ID: N/A. Hyperlink to your specific registration (must be publicly accessible and will be checked): N/A. Guarantor Ahmed Kamal Siddiqi [email protected] +92–03121222808. Consent N/A.

Assessing ASEAN’s Liberalized Electricity Markets: The Case of Singapore and the Philippines

The efforts towards the liberalization of electricity markets have sped up recently in some countries within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. This step of opening up the electricity markets is aimed at establishing competitive and efficient electricity markets that not only reduce electricity prices, but also support a sustainable future by reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from electricity generation and promoting the wider adoption of renewable energy (RE)-based electricity generation. This paper assesses the effects of the electricity market liberalization process in Singapore and the Philippines on these expected outcomes during the period 2015–2020. The regression analysis results suggest that in the specified period, the liberalization of the electricity market in Singapore has delivered both household and industry electricity price reductions and improvement in the RE share. However, there is no significant effect of the electricity market liberalization process on the electricity generated CO2 emissions. For the same period, the results imply that with the electricity market liberalization process in the Philippines, the electricity prices for household consumers and electricity-generated CO2 emissions have increased. Additionally, the liberalization process has no significant impact on both the RE share and industry electricity prices in the Philippines. To overcome the obstacles and strike a balance between the expected outcomes, policy recommendations are given for ASEAN economies following the pathway of liberalized electricity markets.

Anti-Death Penalty Advocacy: A Lawyer’s View From Australia

This article reviews the executions of Australians in the region and the Australian responses over the past two decades. Informed by the author’s legal defence role in death penalty cases in Singapore and Indonesia, the article explores developments in anti–death penalty advocacy since 2015: the parliamentary enquiry, the ‘whole of government’ strategy led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the efforts made by Australia and Australians in Asia.

Global monkeypox outbreak 2022: First case series in Singapore

Monkeypox is a global health emergency. Prior to 2022, there were few reports of monkeypox outside of endemic countries, which were mostly travel-related. Since May 2022, an exponential increase in monkeypox infections in previously non-endemic countries has been reported. Unlike previous outbreaks of monkeypox, which were zoonotically transmitted and presented with generalised vesicular eruptions after prodromal symptoms, cases of the current outbreak feature significant travel and sexual history, and atypical localised genital eruptions with unpredictable onset relative to viral prodrome-like symptoms. We summarise the 15 Singapore cases reported to date as of August 2022, and highlight salient clinical clues that may aid physicians in narrowing the broad differential diagnosis of an acute vesicular genital eruption. Although research into vaccination and antiviral strategies is ongoing, monkeypox is currently conservatively managed. Clinical vigilance and a high index of suspicion are required to facilitate early detection and isolation of cases to contain transmission in Singapore.

Scientific Evidence of a Clash between Das Sollen and Das Sein in the book Oligarchy by Jeffrey A Winters

Winters’ book is a must-read for students of comparative democratizationand its focus on power and coercion is a helpful corrective to New InstitutionalEconomics. One of the central, and most discomforting claims, advanced byWinters is that oligarchy is perfectly compatible with democracy, an insight hetraces back to Aristotle. Civil oligarchies can be democratic, but need not be, asdemonstrated by the case of Singapore. This Asian city-state also serves toremind us about the tentative relationship between the rule of law anddemocracy. Singapore tamed both its oligarchs and its political oppositionthrough the courts

IMPLEMENTASI SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE (SVM) DALAM MEMPREDIKSI JUMLAH PENYAKIT DEMAM BERDARAH (STUDI KASUS PENYEBARAN DEMAM BERDARAH DI SINGAPURA)

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is an infectious disease caused by dengue virus infection and is transmitted through the bite of female mosquito species Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Environmental factors are one of the causes of the high prevalence of dengue fever, including the layout of buildings, water reservoirs, indentations in the soil, temperature and other things that can help the Aedes mosquito life cycle take place. The purpose of this study is to predict the spread of dengue disease using the SVM (Support Vector Machine) method with rainfall data in Singapore from 2014 to 2018, weather data and pain data, comparing this study with previous research by Adeline Ong in 2014 entitled " Predicting Dengue Cases in Singapore”, as well as knowing the results of predicting the distribution of DHF using the SVM method in the form of variance values (R2) with linear, gaussian and polynomial kernels. The results of the experiment found that the lowest error value was shown by the linear kernel with an error rate of 35.15%, with a variance value of 64.85%.

Estimation of timing of infection from longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 viral load data: mathematical modelling study

BackgroundMultiple waves of the COVID-19 epidemic have hit most countries by the end of 2021. Most of those waves are caused by emergence and importation of new variants. To prevent importation of new variants, combination of border control and contact tracing is essential. However, the timing of infection inferred by interview is influenced by recall bias and hinders the contact tracing process.MethodsWe propose a novel approach to infer the timing of infection, by employing a within-host model to capture viral load dynamics after the onset of symptoms. We applied this approach to ascertain secondary transmission which can trigger outbreaks. As a demonstration, the 12 initial reported cases in Singapore, which were considered as imported because of their recent travel history to Wuhan, were analyzed to assess whether they are truly imported.ResultsOur approach suggested that 6 cases were infected prior to the arrival in Singapore, whereas other 6 cases might have been secondary local infection. Three among the 6 potential secondary transmission cases revealed that they had contact history to previously confirmed cases.ConclusionsContact trace combined with our approach using viral load data could be the key to mitigate the risk of importation of new variants by identifying cases as early as possible and inferring the timing of infection with high accuracy.

Vocational English language education in multilingual context: the case of Singapore

ABSTRACT Given the emergence of English as a global lingual franca, English proficiency has become necessary for workers in many sectors and therefore should be given special attention in vocational education and training. While there is no shortage of research on vocational education and training in general, this body of work lacks a focus on English language education. In view of this gap, this study adopts a desk research approach to examine research published in journal papers, book chapters, dissertations, and websites to provide an overview of vocational English language education in Singapore, and examines how policy makers, educators and researchers in Singapore and beyond may benefit from the knowledge of Singapore’s practices. The findings of this study are presented with a focus on 1) Singapore’s language policy; 2) historical changes in English language education in Singapore schools; and 3) vocational English language education in Singapore’s secondary schools, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), and other institutions. This success story of the city state can offer practical reference to other nations, particularly in addressing issues of diversity resulting from a multilingual and multiethnic population and also the varied ability of students in the education system.

Comparing Smart Country Experiences: The Cases of Estonia and Singapore

Teknolojik gelişmelere paralel olarak kentler hızlı bir dönüşüm sürecine girmiştir. Bu dönüşümle birlikte, kentte yaşayanların talepleri ve beklentileri de sürekli güncellenmiştir. Yöneticilerin, politika üretim sürecine bakış açısı, vatandaşlar ile kurduğu ilişki, paydaşları karar mekanizmalarına katma süreci ve hizmet sunum biçimi değişimlerden bazılarıdır. Kentlerde yaşanan bu değişim ve dönüşümün yansıması olarak akıllı kent kavramı son yıllarda popüler tartışma konusu haline gelmiştir. Bağımsızlığını 1991 yılında kazanan Estonya, gerek blok zincir teknolojisini kullanarak gerekse dijital vatandaşı oluşturmaya yönelik çalışmalar yürüterek başarı sağlamıştır. Asya kıtasının en güneyinde yer alan, doğal kaynaklar yönünden fakir olan ancak günümüzde dünyanın önemli ticaret merkezi konumunda bulunan Singapur örnek bir dijital dönüşüm performansı sergilemiştir. Bu yönüyle bu iki ülke incelemeye değer örnek olarak seçilmiştir. Estonya’nın ve Singapur’un nasıl bir dijital dönüşüm yaşadığı ve kısa sürede gerçekleşen bu dönüşümde, diğer kentlere ilham olabilecek uygulamaların neler olduğu sorularına yanıtlar aranmıştır. Estonya’da, özelikle Tallinn kentinde, akıllı kentin akıllı ekonomi, akıllı hareketlilik, akıllı çevre, akıllı insan, akıllı yönetişim ve akıllı yaşam bileşenlerine yönelik olarak projeler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Estonya’nın öne çıkan akıllı ve dijital projeleri arasında; temassız mobil ödeme, otonom araç, Üç Boyutlu Kentsel Bilgi Modeli, SmartEnCity Girişimi, dijital imza, mobil kimlik kartı, e-ikamet, DigiDoc, e-kabine, e-kanun, e-vergi, e-okul, çevrimiçi oylama, x-road veri katmanı ve Telliskivi Loomelinnak Dönüşüm Projesi yer almaktadır. Singapur’un gerçekleştirdiği akıllı projeler ise; Lab on Wheels ve SkillsFuture programları, HealthHub, OneService, SafeEntry, MyTransport.SG mobil uygulamaları, Auto Rider Otonom Aracı ve üç boyutlu baskı merkezidir. Çalışmanın temel amacı, Singapur ve Estonya’da gerçekleştirilen akıllı veya dijital uygulamaları saptayarak geliştirilen projeler üzerinden karşılaştırmalı değerlendirme yapmaktır. Çalışmada, nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden biri olan örnek durum incelemesi yöntemi kullanılmıştır.

Platform Urbanization, its recent acceleration, and implications on citizenship. The case of Singapore

ABSTRACT Digital platforms operating on a global scale (social media, commerce, services, e-government and e-management services) are increasingly critical means for communication, exchange, and daily life, even without a direct use of platforms or connected devices. Their growing ecosystem and locally specific variations increase possibilities for data collection and targeting specific user profiles. Work life has become increasingly dependent on platforms including, for example, Microsoft's power platform, Google cloud, or the Apple iOS system. But also within community services and urban development, platforms are increasingly forming a firm component that may be for submitting taxes, getting health services, reporting suspicious activities in the neighborhood, profiling a political campaign, monitoring energy performances, or providing new employment opportunities. We argue that these processes in fact describe a specific kind of urbanization that is driven and administered through the digital means of platform technologies. This process of platform urbanization imbues every aspect of the urban environment and has experienced an acceleration during the recent pandemic. This contribution introduces the concept of platform urbanization and investigates the implications on citizenship and its digital realm, followed by an attempt to expand its conception. To bolster our argument, we discuss the case of Singapore, where the monitoring and control of the virus spread expedited the nation’s digitization efforts and where platform corollaries of the pandemic were seamlessly incorporated into an increasingly digital urban environment. In what follows, the last section brings about a series of questions addressing an urban digital citizenship scenario within platform urbanization as a space of empowerment, inclusion and participation.

Tourism and Exports: The Case of Singapore

In this article, we examine the relationship between inbound tourism and exports in Singapore. We address whether there is a long-run relationship between exports and tourism and the direction of causality between these two variables. Our findings suggest a long-run relation between Singapore's exports and inbound tourism and that the causation is bidirectional. This implies that inbound tourism in Singapore results in a higher demand for its domestic products. This increased demand for Singaporean products, in turn, acting as a positive advertising campaign in favor of Singapore, promotes inbound tourism to this country. The policy implication of these findings is twofold. First, inbound tourism in Singapore not only contributes directly to GDP, employment, and the current account via tourism revenues but also by stimulating exports it improves further the current account of Singapore. Secondly, the stimulation of exports induced by inbound tourism creates favorable sustainability conditions for the entire tourism sector. however, one should be cautious that this effect is taking more than 9 months to materialize and that inbound tourism may initially have a negative impact effect on Singapore's exports as the overtime effect of tourism on exports exhibits a J-curve behavior.

An Agile Systems Modeling Framework for Bed Resource Planning During COVID-19 Pandemic in Singapore.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on health systems globally. The sufficiency of hospitals' bed resource is a cornerstone for access to care which can significantly impact the public health outcomes.ObjectiveWe describe the development of a dynamic simulation framework to support agile resource planning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore.Materials and MethodsThe study data were derived from the Singapore General Hospital and public domain sources over the period from 1 January 2020 till 31 May 2020 covering the period when the initial outbreak and surge of COVID-19 cases in Singapore happened. The simulation models and its variants take into consideration the dynamic evolution of the pandemic and the rapidly evolving policies and processes in Singapore.ResultsThe models were calibrated against historical data for the Singapore COVID-19 situation. Several variants of the resource planning model were rapidly developed to adapt to the fast-changing COVID-19 situation in Singapore.ConclusionThe agility in adaptable models and robust collaborative management structure enabled the quick deployment of human and capital resources to sustain the high level of health services delivery during the COVID-19 surge.

COVID-19 among healthcare workers of a tertiary-care hospital in Singapore

Background: Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is the largest acute tertiary-care hospital in Singapore. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk of acquiring COVID-19 in both the community and workplaces. SGH has a robust exposure management process including prompt contact tracing, immediate ring fencing, lock down of affected cubicles or single room isolation for patient contacts, and home isolation orders for staff contacts of COVID-19 cases during the containment phase of the pandemic. Contacts were also placed on enhanced surveillance with PCR testing on days 1 and 4 as well as daily antigen rapid tests (ARTs) for 10 days after exposure. Here, we describe the characteristic of HCWs with COVID-19 during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This retrospective observational study included all SGH HCWs who acquired COVID-19 during the third wave (ie, the 18-week period from September 1 to December 31, 2021) of the COVID-19 pandemic. Univariate analysis was used to compare characteristics of work-associated infection (WAI) and community-acquired infection (CAI) among HCWs. Results: Among a workforce of >10,000 at SGH, 335 HCWs acquired COVID-19 during study period. CAI (exposure to known clusters or household contact) accounted for 111 HCW infections (33.1%). Also, 48 HCWs (14.3%) had a WAI (ie, acquired at their work places where there was no patient contact). Among WAsI, only 5 HCWs had hospital-acquired infection (confirmed by phylogenetic analysis). The sources of exposure for the remaining 176 HCWs were unknown. Weekly incidence of COVID-19 among HCWs was comparable to the epidemiology curve of all cases in Singapore (Fig. 1 and 2). The mean age of HCWs with COVID-19 was 39.6 years, and most were women. At the time of positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test, 223 HCWs were symptomatic, and 67 (20.0%) of them had comorbidities. Only 16 HCWs (4.8%) required hospitalization, and all recovered fully with no mortality (Table 1). Being female was associated with community COVID-19 acquisition (OR, 4.6, P Conclusions: During the thrid wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a higher percentage of HCWs at SGH acquired the infection from the community than from the workplace. Safe management measures, such as universal masking, social distancing, and robust exposure management processes including prompt contact tracing and environmental disinfection, can reduce the risk of COVID-19 in the hospital work environment.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None

Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Is Not a Common Cause of Chronic Cough; A Singapore Case Series

Background: Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is believed to be a common cause of chronic cough. There is a paucity of data on GERD-related cough (GERC) from Singapore. Our aim was to examine the prevalence, demographics and clinical features of GERC patients seen in a large teaching hospital in Singapore.Methods: We did a retrospective review of patients referred to the respiratory clinic for evaluation of chronic cough (≥ 6 weeks in duration). All patients diagnosed with GERC were further classified into 2 groups based on the likelihood of esophageal reflux being the cause of cough. 1) Likely GERC and 2) Possible GERC. We describe the demographics, clinical characteristics and the outcomes of these patients.Results: Of the 330 chronic cough patients seen over a 6 years period, 45 patients (13%) were diagnosed with GERC. Most were women (69%), the median age was 53 years and the median duration of symptoms was 26 weeks. Fourteen patients were in the Likely group and 31 in the Possible group. Throat symptoms or signs were found in 77 % of patients.Conclusions: Amongst patients referred for cough to a specialist clinic, GERD was not seen as a common cause. Throat signs and symptoms were common and could add weight to the diagnosis of GERC. There was no particular timing for the cough with regards to day or night.

POLITICAL STABILITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE: EXAMPLE OF SINGAPORE

The article examines the impact of political stability on the economic development in Singapore. An attempt has been made to find an answer to the question of which regime determines economic growth: authoritarian or democratic. The study used descriptive, systematic and comparative methods, which allowed to analyze the impact of political stability on economic development of Singapore. The Singapore case should be viewed more as an exception to the rule than as an example of explaining the economic efficiency of authoritarian regimes. The study concludes that Singapore’s sustainable development cannot be explained by the influence of only one independent variable – political stability. Many other factors should be taken into account: cultural, historical, geographical, human. The economic success of this state was largely due to a consistent policy focused on achieving long-term results – economic growth and effective and rational planning, which became possible thanks to the political stability of the state.

Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of alternative fuels and powertrains for medium-duty trucks: A Singapore case study

• Compared battery electric (BEV), fuel cell (FCV) and conventional diesel trucks. • FCVs running on gaseous H 2 from methane reduce GHG emissions by 23–30% • In the near term, FCVs have lower emissions than BEVs and adequate travel range. • Better data on vehicle production emissions for emerging technologies is essential. Alternatives to conventional diesel engines in medium/heavy-duty commercial trucks offer promising solutions to decarbonize road freight. We compare the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from diesel, battery electric (BEV) and hydrogen fuel cell (FCV) medium-duty urban delivery trucks (gross vehicle weight 3.5 – 7 metric tonnes) in Singapore, including the vehicle and fuel production, use phase and end-of-life stages. Use phase energy demand was estimated by simulating energy consumption on local real-world driving cycles. BEVs powered by the 2019 electricity mix had up to 11% lower GHG emissions than conventional diesel, but doubling battery capacity to meet travel range requirements resulted in up to 12% higher emissions. FCVs using gaseous hydrogen via steam methane reforming achieved 23 – 30% GHG reductions while satisfying range requirements. Efforts in obtaining updated and reliable data on vehicle production remain critical for assessments of emerging technologies and enacting evidence-based policies to decarbonize road freight.

Prediction of dengue fever outbreaks using climate variability and Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques in a stochastic susceptible-infected-removed model

The recent increase in the global incidence of dengue fever resulted in over 2.7 million cases in Latin America and many cases in Southeast Asia and has warranted the development and application of early warning systems (EWS) for futuristic outbreak prediction. EWS pertaining to dengue outbreaks is imperative; given the fact that dengue is linked to environmental factors owing to its dominance in the tropics. Prediction is an integral part of EWS, which is dependent on several factors, in particular, climate, geography, and environmental factors. In this study, we explore the role of increased susceptibility to a DENV serotype and climate variability in developing novel predictive models by analyzing RT-PCR and DENV-IgM confirmed cases in Singapore and Honduras, which reported high dengue incidence in 2019 and 2020, respectively. A random-sampling-based susceptible-infected-removed (SIR) model was used to obtain estimates of the susceptible fraction for modeling the dengue epidemic, in addition to the Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique that was used to fit the model to Singapore and Honduras case report data from 2012 to 2020. Regression techniques were used to implement climate variability in two methods: a climate-based model, based on individual climate variables, and a seasonal model, based on trigonometrically varying transmission rates. The seasonal model accounted for 98.5% and 92.8% of the variance in case count in the 2020 Singapore and 2019 Honduras outbreaks, respectively. The climate model accounted for 75.3% and 68.3% of the variance in Singapore and Honduras outbreaks respectively, besides accounting for 75.4% of the variance in the major 2013 Singapore outbreak, 71.5% of the variance in the 2019 Singapore outbreak, and over 70% of the variance in 2015 and 2016 Honduras outbreaks. The seasonal model accounted for 14.2% and 83.1% of the variance in the 2013 and 2019 Singapore outbreaks, respectively, in addition to 91% and 59.5% of the variance in the 2015 and 2016 Honduras outbreaks, respectively. Autocorrelation lag tests showed that the climate model exhibited better prediction dynamics for Singapore outbreaks during the dry season from May to August and in the rainy season from June to October in Honduras. After incorporation of susceptible fractions, the seasonal model exhibited higher accuracy in predicting outbreaks of higher case magnitude, including those of the 2019–2020 dengue epidemic, in comparison to the climate model, which was more accurate in outbreaks of smaller magnitude. Such modeling studies could be further performed in various outbreaks, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to understand the outbreak dynamics and predict the occurrence of future outbreaks.

Changing attitudes about online continuing education and training: A Singapore case study

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated an unprecedented education crisis, causing severe disruption to global education systems. One consequence has been an increased demand for online educational platforms, leading to a shift from face-to-face to online teaching. This was the case in Singapore where online educational provisions were quickly adopted and implemented by institutions providing continuing education and training to adult learners. This paper reports on the data from a survey of 258 participants on the accessibility and effectiveness of the different modes of learning (i.e. online learning, face-to-face learning, and a combination of both) based on comparisons prior to and after the onset of COVID-19. The findings indicate that familiarity with online platforms enhances the potential efficacy of online provisions of continuing education and training, but also illuminate issues concerning the kinds of experiences required for effective continuing education and training, with implications for providers and educators in and beyond Singapore.

Life cycle climate change mitigation through next-generation urban waste recovery systems in high-density Asian cities: A Singapore Case Study

The potential of implementing waste recovery strategies on three kinds of waste – food, sewage, and plastic – in reducing waste-related greenhouse gas emissions in Singapore was evaluated using life cycle assessment. It was found that the proposed strategies are capable of reducing 1,087.80 kgCO2-eq per tonne of plastic waste, 53.00 kgCO2-eq per tonne of food waste, and 43.86 kgCO2-eq for the combination of one tonne of sewage waste and one tonne of food waste. When uncertainties of the three waste streams were considered in sensitivity analysis and projections of waste quantities to 2025 were performed up to a 95% confidence level, it was found that the proposed strategies could reduce about 37.13% of the GHG emissions from the business-as-usual disposal waste technology (that is, incineration). This corresponds to an average reduction of 0.53 million tonnes CO2-eq per year, which is equivalent to the annual GHG emissions from electricity consumptions of 256,322 households in Singapore.

Accounting for the role of asymptomatic patients in understanding the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study from Singapore

Abstract Objectives To forecast the true growth of COVID-19 cases in Singapore after accounting for asymptomatic infections, we study and make modifications to the SEIR (Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered) epidemiological model by incorporating hospitalization dynamics and the presence of asymptomatic cases. We then compare the simulation results of our three epidemiological models of interest against the daily reported COVID-19 case counts during the time period from 23rd January to 6th April 2020. Finally, we compare and evaluate on the performance and accuracy of the aforementioned models’ simulations. Methods Three epidemiological models are used to forecast the true growth of COVID-19 case counts by accounting for asymptomatic infections in Singapore. They are the exponential model, SEIR model with hospitalization dynamics (SEIHRD), and the SEIHRD model with inclusion of asymptomatic cases (SEAIHRD). Results Simulation results of all three models reflect underestimation of COVID-19 cases in Singapore during the early stages of the pandemic. At a 40% asymptomatic proportion, we report basic reproduction number R 0 = 3.28 and 3.74 under the SEIHRD and SEAIHRD models respectively. At a 60% asymptomatic proportion, we report R 0 = 3.48 and 3.96 under the SEIHRD and SEAIHRD models respectively. Conclusions Based on the results of different simulation scenarios, we are highly confident that the number of COVID-19 cases in Singapore was underestimated during the early stages of the pandemic. This is supported by the exponential increase of COVID-19 cases in Singapore as the pandemic evolved.