Imperfect Protection Research Articles

Dynamic analysis and optimal control of HIV/AIDS model considering the first 95% target

Based on the level of awareness of the population, an HIV/AIDS model is developed, which focused on the first 95% plan developed by UNAIDS. The threshold of model and the expressions of the disease‐free equilibrium and the endemic equilibrium are calculated, proving the existence of backward bifurcation. Backward bifurcation is caused by the imperfect protection rate of susceptible population due to education. Using China's actual data for parameter fitting, it is found that new HIV infections are on an upward trend. In response to this phenomenon, publicity and education, condoms, screening, and treatment of infected populations are considered as control measures. It is concluded that publicity and education is the primary strategy. This measure can not only effectively reduce the number of infected populations but also effectively increase the awareness rate of HIV‐infected populations. It is recommended to use condoms and have fewer sexual partners during sexual contact. Numerical simulation verifies that early stage publicity and education are much more important than post‐infection screening and treatment measures.

Evolutionary Game Analysis of Copyright Protection for NFT Digital Works Considering Collusive Behavior

The non-fungible tokens trading of digital content works, as an emerging business model, has rapidly developed while also posing challenges to current copyright protection. The NFT infringement incidents in recent years have exposed many issues, such as lack of government regulation, imperfect copyright protection mechanisms, and illegal profits from service platforms. Considering the collusive behavior during the NFT minting process, this study uses evolutionary game theory to model a game composed of three populations: digital content creators; NFT service platforms; and government regulatory agencies. We derived and analyzed the replication dynamics of the game to determine the evolutionary stability strategy. In addition, combined with numerical simulations, we also analyzed the impact of individual factors on the stability of system evolution. This study identifies that the incentives and fines set by the government must be above a certain threshold in order for game results to develop toward an ideal equilibrium state, and the government can try to improve the efficiency of obtaining and updating market information and set dynamic punishment and reward mechanisms based on this. This study also found that excessive rewards are not conducive to the government fulfilling its own regulatory responsibilities. In this regard, the government can use information technology to reduce the cost of regulation, thereby partially offsetting the costs brought about by incentive mechanisms. In addition, the government can also enhance the governance participation of platforms and creators to improve the robustness of digital copyright protection by strengthening media construction and cultivating public copyright awareness. This study helps to understand the complex relationship between NFT service platforms, digital content creators, and government regulatory authorities and proves the practical meaning of countermeasures and suggestions for improving government digital copyright regulations.

CURRENT STATUS AND PROPOSALS REGARDING THE PROTECTION OF THE CIVILIAN POPULATION

The Code of Civil Protection of Ukraine is the main legislative document regulating measures for the protection of civilians. A number of normative documents were created to protect the population from the action of conventional means of destruction, air shock wave, in accordance with the requirements of the legislation. The current legislation and building codes on technical measures of civil protection did not provide for the realities of war, did not take into account the needs of people with limited mobility. For the second year, the war continues, people are dying, and the leadership of the State Emergency Service sees no problems in protecting civilians and has no desire to change the existing imperfect civil protection system. The overwhelming number of current shelters and anti-radiation shelters was built in Soviet times and according to Soviet standards. Today, buildings meet the requirements of the mid-20th century for protective properties, but do not at all meet the modern requirements and realities of war. In particular, the estimated capacity of storages and anti-radiation shelters does not correspond to the anthropological parameters of modern man, including the less mobile population groups. An analysis of the regulatory documentation of the countries of the world showed that the capacity indicators specified in the standards are most likely an error that occurred several decades ago and has been repeated during this time. We analyzed the possibility of using shelters facilities in accordance with the planning of benches and beds according to the recommendations of the State Emergency Service. We proposed the necessary parameters or placing for placing rows of benches and beds in shelters and anti-radiation shelters. The given examples show that using existing shelters cannot be acceptable according to the State Emergency Services standards and recommendations.However, after carrying out a set of measures for the reconstruction and refurbishment of these buildings, these premises can be used as temporary structures to protect the population.

Human mobility increased with vaccine coverage and attenuated the protection of COVID-19 vaccination: A longitudinal study of 107 countries.

The World Health Organization has raised concerns that vaccinated people may reduce physical and social distancing more than necessary. With imperfect vaccine protection and the lifting of mobility restrictions, understanding how human mobility responded to vaccination and its potential consequence is critical. We estimated vaccination-induced mobility (VM) and examined whether it attenuates the effect of COVID-19 vaccination on controlling case growth. We collected a longitudinal data set of 107 countries between 15 February 2020 and 6 February 2022 from Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports, the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, Our World in Data, and World Development Indicators. We measured mobility in four categories of location: retail and recreational places, transit stations, grocery stores and pharmacies, and workplaces. We applied panel data models to address unobserved country characteristics and used Gelbach decomposition to evaluate the extent to which VM has offset vaccination effectiveness. Across locations, a 10-percentage-point (pp) increase in vaccine coverage was associated with a 1.4-4.3 pp increase in mobility (P < 0.001). VM was greater in lower-income countries (up to 7.9 pps; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 5.3 to 10.5, P < 0.001) and in earlier stages of vaccine rollouts (up to 19.2 pps; 95% CI = 15.1 to 23.2%, P < 0.001). VM decreased the effectiveness of vaccines in controlling case growth by 33.4% in retail and recreation places (P < 0.001), 26.4% in transit stations (P < 0.001), and 15.4% in grocery stores and pharmacies (P = 0.002). VM provides support for the Peltzman effect; it attenuates but does not completely counter vaccine effectiveness. Our study findings suggest strategies for mitigating the unintended consequences of VM, including reducing short-term mobility responses after vaccination, prioritizing mobility in grocery-type places and workplaces, and accelerating rollouts at earlier stages of vaccination, especially in lower-income countries.

Research and Application of Environmental Protection Standardization System for Energy and Power Companies

At present, the national environmental protection is showing a high-pressure and strict management situation, environmental protection requirements are getting higher and higher, environmental protection supervision factors are increasing, and environmental protection law enforcement standards are becoming more and more stringent. Energy and power companies have problems such as weak awareness of environmental protection and law-abiding, imperfect environmental protection management system, inadequate construction and operation management of environmental protection facilities, lack of systematic environmental risk investigation and assessment, and inability to effectively identify and avoid enterprise environmental protection risks. The environmental protection situation faced by enterprises and companies is unprecedentedly severe. Based on the PDCA cycle theory as the theoretical basis for constructing the environmental standardization system of Energy and power companies, and drawing on national standards as the basis for the preparation of the environmental standardization system of Energy and power companies, the "double pre-control" involving ecological and environmental protection, institutional mechanism, daily management, compliance management, ecological protection and restoration governance, air pollution prevention and control (organized), air pollution prevention and control (organized), air pollution prevention and control (unorganized), water pollution prevention and control, Solid waste pollution prevention and control, other pollution prevention and control (noise pollution prevention, gas) and other 10 first-class elements and a number of standards required by the energy and power companies environmental protection standardization system, and invite experts in the field to hold seminars, through experts to view materials, onsite questions, exchange opinions and other methods to improve and improve the environmental protection standardization system of Energy and power companies. based on Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), the system elements are reasonably assigned, the scoring criteria of the standardized system are developed, and the final weight scores are obtained through the application in energy and power enterprises to provide energy and power enterprises with ideas of risk self-examination and risk warning to avoid the risk of environmental penalties.

Robust Cycling of Ultrathin Li-Metal Enabled By Nitrate-Preplanted Li Powder Electrode

The Li metal anode has been spotlighted for large-scale battery systems such as electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems (ESSs) because of its high theoretical energy density and lowest potential. However, the Li metal anode still has the several challenging issues like Li dendrite growth and many side reactions. Our strategy to this problem is to utilize Li metal powder (LMP), which has superior advantages in reducing local current and utilizing slurry-based coating process for wide-width electrodes. Nevertheless, the spherical shape of LMP with the imperfect protection layer can be lost during the long-term cycling, which leads to dead particles formation and ununiform Li distribution.In this work, we present a LMP electrode having pre-planted nitrates (LN-LMP). The LiNO3 additive in the LMP electrode can chemically replace the native layer with the uniform Li3N-rich passivation layer on the surface during the simple slurry mixing process. Furthermore, residual LiNO3 was continuously released toward electrolyte, thereby repairing the SEI during cycling. As a result, the 20 µm‐thick LN‐LMP electrodes exhibited the robust cycling performances compared to control cells with conventional LMPs and LiNO3‐containing electrolytes.

Asset Prices with Investor Protection and Survival Analysis of Shareholders in the Cross-Sectional Economy

In this paper, we consider a dynamic asset pricing model in a cross-sectional economy with two firms where a controlling shareholder cannot divert output in one firm with perfect investor protection for minority shareholders and where he can divert a fraction of output in the other firm with imperfect protection. After obtaining the parameters of asset prices by solving the shareholders' consumption-portfolio problems in equilibrium, our model features the effect of investor protection and cross-section in the economy. Furthermore, some survival analysis of the shareholders is presented and sufficient conditions on extinction of the shareholders are given in either firm. Our numerical results are in line with some empirical evidence: (i) poorer investor protection in the cross-sectional economy enables the controlling shareholder to hold less shares of the firm with perfect protection and more shares of the firm with imperfect protection, decreases stock gross returns of both firms, increases stock volatilities of both firms, and decreases interest rates of the economy; (ii) compared with the economy with the single relative firm, for the firm with perfect protection, cross-section enables the controlling shareholder to hold less shares, decreases stock returns, increases stock volatilities slightly and decreases interest rates, while for the firm with imperfect protection, cross-section enables the controlling shareholder to hold more shares, increases stock returns and volatilities and increases interest rates.

Models to assess imported cases on the rebound of COVID-19 and design a long-term border control strategy in Heilongjiang Province, China.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China in December 2019, it has spread quickly and become a global pandemic. While the epidemic has been contained well in China due to unprecedented public health interventions, it is still raging or not yet been restrained in some neighboring countries. Chinese government adopted a strict policy of immigration diversion in major entry ports, and it makes Suifenhe port in Heilongjiang Province undertook more importing population. It is essential to understand how imported cases and other key factors of screening affect the epidemic rebound and its mitigation in Heilongjiang Province. Thus we proposed a time switching dynamical system to explore and mimic the disease transmission in three time stages considering importation and control. Cross validation of parameter estimations was carried out to improve the credibility of estimations by fitting the model with eight time series of cumulative numbers simultaneous. Simulation of the dynamics shows that illegal imported cases and imperfect protection in hospitals are the main reasons for the second epidemic wave, the actual border control intensities in the province are relatively effective in early stage. However, a long-term border closure may cause a paradox phenomenon such that it is much harder to restrain the epidemic. Hence it is essential to design an effective border reopening strategy for long-term border control by balancing the limited resources on hotel rooms for quarantine and hospital beds. Our results can be helpful for public health to design border control strategies to suppress COVID-19 transmission.

E-evidence and e-court in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic: A study from Ukraine

The possibility of using information technology in courts can be called a novelty and a progressive innovation in Ukraine. This is is an important factor in improving the efficiency of the openness and transparency of justice and simplifies judicial procedure, shortens court proceedings and procedural time limits, reduces operating costs, and saves time for all the participants of the process while cases are under consideration. Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, rapid judicial reforms have taken place around the world to ensure access to justice in this new environment. Insufficient levels of information and technical support for the courts in Ukraine, the lack of a single format for data exchange between automated document management systems of various instances and specialisations, imperfect information protection systems, and insufficient regulation of the information legislation remain problematic issues in the functioning of e-justice systems, all of which require further study. Addressing these issues will help justice in Ukraine to reach a new level in the coming years. Since the e-justice system is aimed at optimising the work of courts through the informatisation of processes, and electronic means of proof are designed to ensure the rights of litigants to use electronic information, the interaction of the notion of electronic evidence with the e-justice system is quite possible. This interaction will increase the efficiency of the judiciary and the quality of justice. This article examines the development of information technology in the courts of Ukraine, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, analyses court decisions rendered in the context of the pandemic, and reflects on the real state of the judicial system in the adoption and examination of electronic evidence. It should be noted that the procedure for processing, submitting, and examining electronic evidence is currently not fully regulated, so the use of electronic evidence in litigation is not always effective. All of the above indicates the need to refine the current procedural codes in terms of introducing clear rules for the collection, execution, submission, and examination of electronic evidence.

LEGAL REGULATION OF MOST DANGEROUS MICROORGANISMS STRAINS HANDLING

The statutory basis of Ukraine on the treatment of strains of most dangerous microorganisms has been analyzed, and the terminology important for further understanding of the issue has been clarified. The aim of the paper is to study the state of legal regulation in Ukraine of relations in the field of treatment of strains of especially dangerous microorganisms, to pro- vide analysis of the current legislation of Ukraine in this area, as well as the practice of its application. Theoretical bases of legal support of legitimation of activity in this sphere, including that for the purpose of protection of biological safety have been established. The necessity of legal regulation of participants of relations concerning treatment of strains of especially dangerous microorganisms activity has been substantiated. The current state of legal regulation of relations in the field of strain management requires, given the intersectoral nature of the isssue, consideration of the creation of a single intersectoral authority for the supervision of hazardous biological objects. Such a authority may not only be a licensing authority, but also responsible for the introduction of a register of owners of hazardous biological objects that are not economic entities (for example, individuals – owners of collections of such biological objects).

Aggregation induced by the synergy of sodium chloride and high-pressure improves chlorophyll stability

The development of green vegetable processing is still limited by the imperfect green protection now. Chlorophyll (Chl), the main pigment presented in green vegetables, was studied that the effects of NaCl on the stability of it, and the synergy of NaCl and high-pressure on Chl protection. Compared to the control, the retention of Chl was increased by 80.14% and the activation energy was 62.7% higher in 7.8% NaCl solution. When the pressure was 600 MPa with 7.8% NaCl, the synergy of NaCl and high-pressure increased the Chl retention by 100%. The restriction of NaCl to H2O provided Chl with a lower polarity environment and increased the contact between Chl molecules. And the fluorescence quenching confirmed the aggregation of Chls induced by high-pressure. This study explains the mechanism of green protection by NaCl and high-pressure, broadening the horizon for the development of color protection in vegetable processing.

Moving forward with an imperfect vaccine

Even vaccines used in largely successful disease control programmes (eg, measles, polio, or smallpox) have required high vaccine coverage, often with multiple doses, and do not lead to perfect durable immunity for all people. As vaccines are developed against a wide range of pathogens, including malaria1 and SARS-COV-2,2 and many vaccines confer only short-term and modest levels of individual protection, the global community is left to balance limited resources between investments in developing better vaccines and public health efforts to provide imperfect but widespread protection to the masses.

Reusable snorkel masks adapted as particulate respirators.

IntroductionDuring viral pandemics, filtering facepiece (FFP) masks together with eye protection form the essential components of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers. There remain concerns regarding insufficient global supply and imperfect protection offered by currently available PPE strategies. A range of full-face snorkel masks were adapted to accept high grade medical respiratory filters using bespoke-designed 3D-printed connectors. We compared the protection offered by the snorkel to that of standard PPE using a placebo-controlled respirator filtering test as well as a fluorescent droplet deposition experiment. Out of the 56 subjects tested, 42 (75%) passed filtering testing with the snorkel mask compared to 31 (55%) with a FFP3 respirator mask (p = 0.003). Amongst the 43 subjects who were not excluded following a placebo control, 85% passed filtering testing with the snorkel versus to 68% with a FFP3 mask (p = 0.008). Following front and lateral spray of fluorescence liquid particles, the snorkel mask also provided superior protection against droplet deposition within the subject’s face, when compared to a standard PPE combination of FFP3 masks and eye protection (3.19x108 versus 6.81x108 fluorescence units, p<0.001). The 3D printable adaptors are available for free download online at https://www.ImperialHackspace.com/COVID-19-Snorkel-Respirator-Project/.ConclusionFull-face snorkel masks adapted as particulate respirators performed better than a standard PPE combination of FFP3 mask and eye protection against aerosol inhalation and droplet deposition. This adaptation is therefore a promising PPE solution for healthcare workers during highly contagious viral outbreaks.

In situ scanning tunneling microscopy study of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole local inhibition effects on copper corrosion at grain boundary surface terminations

New insight on local inhibition effects of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (MBI) on early stage intergranular corrosion of copper in hydrochloric acid solution is reported from in situ analysis at the nanometer scale and comparison with 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) effects in the same pre-adsorption and corrosion testing conditions. Macroscopic cyclic voltammetry analysis, including grains and grain boundary (GB) network, showed a passivation-like behavior in the Cu(I) oxidation range, specific to MBI since not observed with MBT and assigned to the anodic formation of a surface film of Cu(I)-MBI reaction products protecting against dissolution. Electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy analysis revealed net intergranular dissolution, mitigated by the imperfect protection provided by the anodically formed MBI layer. It also showed local accumulation of reaction products in the GB surface regions, blocking preferential dissolution. For random GBs, blocking by local accumulation of reaction products was dominant, in agreement with the expected higher reactivity of these GBs generating more Cu(I) ions under anodic polarization and thus less efficiently protected by the anodically formed MBI layer. For Coincidence Site Lattice (CSL) boundaries, mitigated net dissolution was more frequently observed. Coherent twins showed equally efficient inhibition in the GB surface region than on adjacent grains. MBI inhibition was less efficient than MBT inhibition with more Cu(I) reaction products generated on the grains to form a surface film and their preferential local accumulation more frequently observed in the GB surface regions.

Foreign Direct Investment’s Impact on China’s Economic Growth, Technological Innovation and Pollution

In recent years, China has gradually become one of the countries with the largest levels of foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI has played a significant role in promoting Chinese economic development, and the FDI technology spillover effect is one of the core forces driving China towards reaching new growth milestones. Therefore, due to the country’s interest in development, there is competition for FDI throughout China. However, the existing imperfect environmental protection system cannot prevent FDI from flowing into China’s highly polluting and resource-intensive industrial chain, possibly causing serious environmental problems. Therefore, the topic of properly introducing foreign capital to promote development and effectively end China’s current environmental pollution crisis has become a research focus. To explore FDI’s impact on China’s economic growth, technological innovation, and environmental pollution, we use Chinese provincial panel data for 2004–2016 to construct a dynamic panel simultaneous-equation model. Considering the interrelationships between the equations, we construct economic models of economic growth, technological innovation, and pollution emissions, and incorporate them into the same research system for generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation. Our results show that FDI has a significant and positive direct impact on China’s economic growth and technological innovation, and can furthermore have a significant pull effect on the domestic economy through the backward spillover channel. At the same time, FDI has a direct and significant impact on the increase in regional waste-water discharge, while exhibiting a pollution halo effect on the emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) emissions directly. In addition, we observe “benign feedback mechanism” between technological innovation output and these three types of pollution, namely SO2 emission, COD emissions, and ammonia and nitrogen discharge.

Patent protection and threat of litigation in oligopoly

In a context of imperfect patent protection, this paper analyses the strategic use of patents from a novel perspective; patents are seen as a means available to the incumbent firm to control entry and, more importantly, to influence the post-entry market interaction process effectively, by creating the conditions that favour collusion. The level of patent protection chosen by the incumbent affects the likelihood that a potential entrant will be found guilty of patent infringement. This mechanism can operate as a punishment device that eases the conditions for collusion sustainability. Therefore, in a sense, patent protection can be regarded as an instrument allowing replication of the monopoly outcome in the context of a contestable market.

Mathematical analysis of a human papillomavirus transmission model with vaccination and screening.

We formulate a mathematical model to explore the transmission dynamics of human papillomavirus (HPV). In our model, infected individuals can recover with a limited immunity that results in a lower probability of being infected again. In practice, it is necessary to revaccinate individuals within a period after the first vaccination to ensure immunity to HPV infection. Accordingly, we include vaccination and revaccination in our model. The model exhibits backward bifurcation as a result of imperfect protection after recovery and because the basic reproduction number is less than one. We conduct sensitivity analysis to identify the factors that markedly affect HPV infection rates and propose an optimal control problem that minimizes vaccination and screening cost. The optimal controls are characterized according to Pontryagin's maximum principle and numerically solved by the symplectic pseudospectral method.

Past Management Spurs Differential Plant Communities within a Giant Single-Clone Aspen Forest

Sustainable aspen ecosystems hold great promise for global biodiversity conservation. These forests harbor relatively high species diversity, yet are threatened by fire suppression, land development, timber-focused management, extended droughts, and chronic herbivory. “Pando” is a high-profile quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) forest in Utah, USA which is putatively the ‘largest living organism on earth.’ Pando comprises an estimated 47,000 genetically identical stems, but is threatened by human impacts. Our interest in the present study is whether changes to the giant organism were affecting understorey vegetation and whether discrete zones are displaying divergent community compositions. For instance, recent research has demonstrated strong herbivory impacts that are affecting portions of Pando differentially. This study consists of 20 randomly distributed vegetation survey plots within three de facto management regimes (hereafter, management group or type) along an herbivory protection gradient: No Fence, 2013 Fence (total protection), and 2014 Fence (imperfect protection). The plant survey was supplemented by previously-established forest and herbivore measurements to test for community assemblage explanatory agents. Sixty-eight species were found across the entire study. Analyses indicated strong links between management group orientation, species assemblages, and tree density/canopy openings. We found distinct evidence that within management group species composition was more similar than across groups for two of the three pairings. However, the other pairing, the most successfully protected area and the completely unprotected area, was not statistically distinct; likely a result a deteriorating overstorey in these two areas, whereas the third management type (2014 Fence) exhibited higher canopy cover. Indicator species analysis found that a small group of plant species had statistical allegiances to specific management groups, suggesting resource preference selection within Pando. Ordination analysis searching for causal factors reached two broad conclusions: (1) aspen regeneration, and therefore long-term resilience, is being negatively affected by chronic animal browsing and (2) current understorey species diversity is highest where forest canopy gaps are abundant. Future research at the massive Pando clone will continue informing linkages between understorey communities and overstorey-driven ecological pathways.

Imperfect patent protection, licensing, and willingness to pay for the innovation

This article analyzes the ways in which imperfect patent protection affects patent holders’ licensing decisions, firms’ willingness to pay for the innovation, and social welfare. We consider a cost-reducing innovation by either an incumbent or a (potential) entrant. According to our analysis, when patent protection is high enough, the entrant is willing to pay more compared with the incumbent, it licenses the innovation exclusively, and it acts as a non-practicing entity. In the case of low patent protection, the threat of imitation discourages licensing agreements, and consequently, the incumbent ends up investing more. Thus, the level of patent protection impacts the structure of the market, affecting R&D appropriability and social welfare.

Research on Satisfaction of Habitat Natural Environment

With the continuous development of China’s economy and the deepening of urbanization construction, the public’s requirements for the quality of living environment are getting higher and higher. The good natural environment of human habitat is the necessary prerequisite for the sustainable development of regional social economy. On the one hand, it is also a powerful guarantee for improving public satisfaction and improving the quality of public life. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration is centered on the capital and is an extremely important area for population gathering in China. However, due to many factors such as fragile ecological environment, unreasonable economic structure, imperfect environmental protection and management system, etc. It faces greater pressure for improvement.