Indirect Benefits Research Articles

The Broader Economic Value of Treatment for Diabetic Macular Edema.

To simulate economic outcomes for individuals with diabetic macular edema (DME) and estimate the economic value of direct and indirect benefits associated with DME treatment. Our study pairs individual and cohort analyses to demonstrate the value of treatment for DME. We used a microsimulation model to simulate self-reported vision (SRV) and economic outcomes for individuals with DME. Four scenarios derived from clinical trial data were simulated and compared for a lifetime horizon: untreated, anti-VEGF therapy, laser, and steroid. To quantify the relative magnitude of costs and benefits of DME treatment in the U.S., we used a cohort-level analysis based on real-world treatment parameters derived from published data. In the model, excellent/good SRV roughly corresponded to 20/40 or better visual acuity. A representative 51-year-old treated for DME would spend 30-35% additional years with excellent/good SRV and 29-32% fewer years with fair/poor SRV relative to being untreated. A treated individual would experience 4-5% greater life expectancy and 9-13% more quality-adjusted life-years. Indirect benefits from treatment included 6-9% more years working, 12-19% greater lifetime earnings, and 8-16% fewer years with disability. For the U.S. DME cohort (1.1. million people), total direct benefit was $63.0 billion over 20 years, and total indirect benefit was $4.8 billion. Net value (benefit - cost) of treatment ranged from $28.1 billion to $52.8 billion. Treatment for DME provides economic value to patients and society through improved vision, life expectancy, and quality of life and indirectly through improved employment and disability outcomes.

LITERASI EKONOMI DALAM PANDANGAN FILSUF ADAM SMITH DAN KONTRIBUSINYA TERHADAP PENDIDIKAN

The purpose of this study is to determine economic literacy in the view of philosopher Adam Smith and its contribution to education. The research methodology used is a literature-based approach, which is based on books, notes, and summaries of previous research findings. The direct and indirect economic benefits of education, i.e. how it is viewed as an investment that yields long-term benefits. The notion of investing in education is developing rapidly, and it is increasingly widely accepted that the growth of the education sector is a necessary condition for the expansion of other development sectors in all countries.

LITERASI EKONOMI DALAM PANDANGAN FILSUF ADAM SMITH DAN KONTRIBUSINYA TERHADAP PENDIDIKAN

The purpose of this study is to determine economic literacy in the view of philosopher Adam Smith and its contribution to education. The research methodology used is a literature-based approach, which is based on books, notes, and summaries of previous research findings. The direct and indirect economic benefits of education, i.e. how it is viewed as an investment that yields long-term benefits. The notion of investing in education is developing rapidly, and it is increasingly widely accepted that the growth of the education sector is a necessary condition for the expansion of other development sectors in all countries.

Historical Population-Level Impact of Infant 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV13) National Immunization Programs on Invasive Pneumococcal Disease in Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Israel, and the United States

This study estimates the annual population-level impact of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) infant national immunization programs (NIPs) on vaccine-type and non-vaccine type invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) incidence across all ages using national surveillance data. We identified countries (Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Israel, and the US) with national IPD active surveillance data that introduced the seven-valent PCV (PCV7) followed by PCV13, which also reported annual serotype- and age group-specific incidence. We extracted IPD incidence by serotype groupings [PCV13 minus PCV7 (PCV13-7) serotypes; PCV13-7 serotypes excluding serotype 3; non-PCV13 serotypes; and the 20-valent (PCV20) minus PCV13 (PCV20-13) serotypes] and by age groups (< 2years, 2-4years, 5-17years, 18-34years, 35-49years, 50-64years, and ≥ 65years). For each country, we calculated the annual relative change in IPD incidence (percent change), and the corresponding incidence rate ratio (IRR), for 7 years post introduction compared to the year prior to PCV13 program initiation. PCV13-7 vaccine-type IPD incidence consistently decreased over time following introduction of PCV13 across countries, reaching an approximate steady state after 3-4years in ages < 5years, with roughly 60-90% decrease (IRRs = 0.1-0.4) and after 4-5years in ages ≥ 65years with approximately 60-80% decrease (IRRs = 0.2-0.4). Incidence declines were more substantial for the PCV13-7 grouping when excluding serotype 3. Non-PCV13 serotype incidence was variable by country and age group, ranging from virtually no serotype replacement compared to the PCV7 period across ages in the US to increases for other countries ranging from 10 to 204% (IRRs = 1.10-3.04) in children < 5years and 41% to 123% (IRRs = 1.41-2.23) in ages ≥ 65years. Countries with longstanding PCV13 infant NIPs have observed substantial direct and indirect benefits, which are demonstrated in this study by the reduction in PCV13-7 IPD incidence compared to PCV7 period in all age groups. Over time, non-PCV13 serotypes have emerged in response to the reduction of incidence of PCV13-unique serotypes. Higher-valent PCVs are needed to address this emerging pneumococcal disease burden as well as the direct vaccination of both pediatric and adult populations against the most prevalent circulating serotypes.

Peningkatan Pendapatan Masyarakat Melalui Budidaya Lebah Madu Di Desa Tuva Kecamatan Gumbasa Kabupaten Sigi Sulawesi Tengah

Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) is one of the forest resources that have a comparative advantage and are most in contact with the people living around the forest. One of the NTFPs that has been proven to have an impact on increasing the income of people living around the forest is honeybees. Honey beekeeping can provide direct benefits by utilizing products produced by honeybees such as honey, royal jelly, bee pollen, wax, adhesive (propolis), and honey poison. In addition, honeybee cultivation can provide indirect benefits, namely increasing plant productivity through a mutually beneficial symbiosis between plants and honeybees. The goal to be achieved in this service program is to help partner farmer group communities in Tuva Village, Gumbasa District, Sigi Regency to increase their income through optimal honeybee cultivation skills. The methods used to achieve goals and targets are forms of science and technology implementation such as counseling, training, and mentoring. The method used is persuasive-educative-communicative-participative. Counseling and training will include explaining: Honeybee Cultivation Techniques, techniques for making bee boxes, and how to harvest honey effectively. The results of the service show that the members of the farmer group are very interested in cultivating honeybees in their area. Honey beekeeping activities in Tuva Village can increase the income of farmer groups.

The Impact of a Revised National Childhood Immunization Schedule on Vaccination Defaulters.

Immunization schedules affect community vaccine uptake rates, especially in children who have defaulted on their regular immunization timelines. In 2020, Singapore revised its National Childhood Immunization Schedule (NCIS) to incorporate two new combination vaccines: the hexavalent hepatitis, diphtheria, acellular pertussis, tetanus (DTaP), hemophilus influenzae b (Hib), inactivated poliovirus (IPV) (6-in-1), and the quadrivalent measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccines, thus reducing the mean number of clinic visits and vaccine doses by two. Our database study aims to evaluate the impact of the 2020 NCIS on catch-up vaccination uptake rates in children at 18 and 24 months of age and the catch-up immunization rates of individual vaccines at two years. Vaccination data from two cohorts, in 2018 (n = 11,371) and in 2019 (n = 11,719), were extracted from the Electronic Medical Records. Catch-up vaccination rates increased by 5.2% and 2.6% in children on the new NCIS at 18 and 24 months, respectively. The uptake of individual 5-in-1 (DTaP, IPV, Hib), MMR, and pneumococcal vaccines increased by 3.7%, 4.1%, and 1.9% at 18 months. Reduced vaccination doses and visits in the new NCIS bring direct and indirect benefits to parents and promote vaccination adherence for their children. These findings highlight the importance of timelines in improving catch-up vaccination rates in any NCIS.

The COVID-19 pandemic and repurchase intention in building brand engagement in the airline industry

PurposeGripped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline industry has faced many restrictions. Based on the determining factor of repurchase intention, this research paper addresses the roles of brand engagement (BE) and consumer trust during the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachA number of 439 out of 500 questionnaires, which were distributed among the Iranian airlines' customers, were completed and returned (an 87% response rate). SmartPLS 3 was used to carry out the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in order to validate the research hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, BE had a significant effect on customer purchase intention. In addition, BE boosted customer trust and thereby increased repurchase intention. Perceived risks of COVID-19 moderated these relationships. The findings also show that airline customers are highly sensitive to various perceived risks and were especially so during the COVID-19 pandemic. These perceived risks have major impacts on customers' intention to reuse the services of airline companies. High levels of perceived risk decrease customer trust, BE and repurchase intention rates, and vice versa.Practical implicationsThis paper provides authorities and decision-makers of the air transport industry with several practical recommendations based on the research findings. As the results confirmed, there is a worthwhile relationship between BE and customer trust; regarding the both direct and indirect benefits of customer trust for for-profit firms and the huge importance of trust in creating competitive advantages, different airline companies need to implement various strategies to engage customers with their brand names, and thereby institutionalize trust in their customers' minds during the pandemic. Since customer trust was also found to improve repurchase intention rates significantly, authorities of the airline industry must take actions to reduce feelings of mistrust and risk among consumers and increase customer trust during COVID-19.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to explore the effect of BE on airline customers' repurchase intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has produced practical suggestions to employees and activists of the air transport industry regarding the use of BE as a tool to restore customer trust during and after the COVID-19 epidemic. This research focuses on the airline industry, which is particularly interesting given the industry's intensely competitive environment and the dramatic effect of COVID-19 on the industry.

Starships are active eukaryotic transposable elements mobilized by a new family of tyrosine recombinases

Transposable elements in eukaryotic organisms have historically been considered "selfish," at best conferring indirect benefits to their host organisms. The Starships are a recently discovered feature in fungal genomes that are, in some cases, predicted to confer beneficial traits to their hosts and also have hallmarks of being transposable elements. Here, we provide experimental evidence that Starships are indeed autonomous transposons, using the model Paecilomyces variotii, and identify the HhpA "Captain" tyrosine recombinase as essential for their mobilization into genomic sites with a specific target site consensus sequence. Furthermore, we identify multiple recent horizontal gene transfers of Starships, implying that they jump between species. Fungal genomes have mechanisms to defend against mobile elements, which are frequently detrimental to the host. We discover that Starships are also vulnerable to repeat-induced point mutation defense, thereby having implications on the evolutionary stability of such elements.

Social and paternal female choice for male MHC genes in golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana).

Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) play important roles in vertebrate immunocompetence. MHC genes thus offer females indirect benefits to mate choice through the production of offspring of an optimal MHC genotype. Females may choose males with specific MHC haplotypes, dissimilar MHC genotypes, MHC heterozygous males or MHC-diverse males. We tested these four alternatives for both female social and paternal choice in wild golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) by examining overall genetic variability (via microsatellites) and four MHC-genes (DRB1, DRB2, DQA1 and DQB1). Monte Carlo randomization tests showed that MHC dissimilarity was favoured for social choice (males to which females were socially affiliated) and intermediate MHC dissimilarity was favoured in paternal choice (fathers of offspring). No evidence of inbreeding avoidance was found for either social or paternal mates. We found that MHC heterozygotes, higher microsatellite multilocus heterozygosity and higher microsatellites diversity were favoured for social mates, and higher microsatellite diversity was favoured for paternal mates. Independent of male age, we found that the formation of male-female social pairings is significantly predicted by compatibility based on the sharing of MHC haplotypes. However, we found no evidence of independent genetic effects on the duration of male-female social pairings, male social status (achieving OMU leader male status or not), the number of females with which individual leader males paired, the likelihood of potential male-female pairings producing offspring, or whether males fathered offspring or not. Overall, our findings suggest different genetic factors are involved in social and paternal choice in R. roxellana.

Factorial CGE‐Based Analysis for the Indirect Benefits of the Three Gorges Project

AbstractLarge‐scale hydraulic projects (LHPs) have become increasingly significant in river basin flood‐risk management. Although LHPs’ direct flood‐retention benefits have been clearly shown, there has been a dearth of a comprehensive examination of their indirect implications, which can be more long‐lasting and substantial in both environmental and economic terms. Thus, this study develops a factorial computable general equilibrium (CGE)‐based LHP‐effect analysis approach (FLEA) to quantify the indirect impacts of LHPs and simulate postflood recovery strategies under diverse scenarios. The FLEA integrates a factorial analysis with a dynamic CGE framework, including a flood module that connects hydraulic initiatives to the economy during floods. The FLEA is applied to the Three Gorges Project (TGP). The results demonstrate that ∼$57 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and ∼12.9 Mt CO2eq reduction would be created annually through supply chains by the TGP. When floods strike, the TGP has the potential to save ∼$21 billion in GDP directly and reduce long‐term GDP losses by ∼50% throughout the reconstruction period. The TGP can have a considerable indirect impact on manufacturing. Furthermore, improved regulations and maintenance for the TGP may be desired for mitigating long‐term flood‐related losses, which is more crucial than aggressive postflood fiscal stimuli.

New Horizons: Testosterone or Exercise for Cardiometabolic Health in Older Men.

Middle-aged and older men have typically accumulated comorbidities, are increasingly sedentary, and have lower testosterone concentrations (T) compared to younger men. Reduced physical activity (PA) and lower T both are associated with, and may predispose to, metabolically adverse changes in body composition, which contribute to higher risks of cardiometabolic disease. Exercise improves cardiometabolic health, but sustained participation is problematic. By contrast, rates of T prescription have increased, particularly in middle-aged and older men without organic diseases of the hypothalamus, pituitary, or testes, reflecting the unproven concept of a restorative hormone that preserves health. Two recent large randomized trials of T, and meta-analyses of randomized trials, did not show a signal for adverse cardiovascular (CV) events, and T treatment on a background of lifestyle intervention reduced type 2 diabetes by 40% in men at high risk. Men with both higher endogenous T and higher PA levels have lower CV risk, but causality remains unproven. Exercise training interventions improve blood pressure and endothelial function in middle-aged and older men, without comparable benefits or additive effects of T treatment. Therefore, exercise training improves cardiometabolic health in middle-aged and older men when effectively applied as a supervised regimen incorporating aerobic and resistance modalities. Treatment with T may have indirect cardiometabolic benefits, mediated via favorable changes in body composition. Further evaluation of T as a pharmacological intervention to improve cardiometabolic health in aging men could consider longer treatment durations and combination with targeted exercise programs.

Founder-CEOS’ procedural fairness: How and when it matters to new venture ambidexterity

Different from the typical research about procedural fairness that focuses on lower level leaders and its influence on non-managerial teams, we pay particular attention to founder-CEOs’ procedural fairness. To investigate whether and how founder-CEOs’ procedural fairness could help to promote new ventures’ competitiveness, we first link this leadership quality to new ventures’ ambidexterity and propose new venture team members’ advice-seeking behavior as a mediator. We next predict that this indirect benefit is moderated by environmental dynamism, since the association between founder-CEOs’ procedural fairness and new venture teams’ advice-seeking behavior can be lessened when environmental dynamism is not high. Results based on a multi-sourced and time-lagged survey of founder-CEOs and all new venture team members in 92 Chinese new ventures support our predictions. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications.

Group-Based Participatory Arts Interventions Validate Personhood for those Living with Dementia

Participatory arts-based interventions for people living with dementia involve the collaborative creation and performance of poetry, story, song, dance, and visual arts. These programs are designed to support self-expression and productive collaboration among people living with dementia while stimulating positive social interactions and feelings of empowerment and validation. In this commentary, we explore the use and potential benefits of validation in the implementation of person-centered participatory arts interventions in the context of dementia care. We offer a novel framework for understanding validation as a common intervention method during these activities, organized into five themes: collaboration, connection, communication, creation, and confirmation. These validation opportunities are suggested to offer direct benefits for participants as well as indirect benefits when modeled in the presence of formal care providers and family members. Clinicians and other transdisciplinary care providers are encouraged to understand, use, and teach these and other validation-focused arts interventions with persons living with dementia.

Visualizing Benefits of Case Management Software Using Utility Effect Chains

Labor shortages lead to crucial investment decisions, such as selecting software supporting work processes. The healthcare sector stands out because of additional restructuring due to demographic changes. This is particularly true for the care sector; hence, customized case management software (CMSW) solutions for healthcare professionals are being developed. In an increasingly profit-oriented healthcare system, sustainability, cost-effectiveness and quantification of benefits of investments play a major role. We analyzed research dealing with the benefits of case and care management software and, additionally, interviewed case managers who use recently developed CMSW within a case study. We used utility effect chains to visualize and quantify the gathered benefits of an information system (IS) investment along with the healthcare system in Germany. The findings show that benefits from care management software need to be seen more holistically. Utility effect chains can serve as a helpful instrument for the visualization of indirect benefits in healthcare. The most significant benefits of CMSW were found to be various cost savings for each of the participating stakeholders, a reduction in redundant entries of patient data and the prevention of cost-intensive revolving door cases. Additionally, the insight into patient records reduces time-consuming communication among health experts and family caregivers.

Ecotourism in Marine Protected Areas as a tool to valuate natural capital and enhance good marine governance: A review

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are essential to reach the UN Ocean’s Decade challenges and the Sustainable Development Goal 14 (life bellow water – conserve coastal and marine areas), and their crucial role for the health of the planet was highlighted in the United Nations Ocean Conference. However, often these MPA’s are no more than Paper Parks, with poor financial and human resources, thus lacking effectiveness. Moreover, they frequently trigger conflicts with local communities, by imposing restrictions to their activities with no alternative or compensations, causing serious governance inefficiencies. Thus, within the UN Oceans Decade, MPA’s must face simultaneously three of the challenges: Protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity (Challenge 2); Develop a sustainable and equitable ocean economy (Challenge 4) and Change humanity’s relationship with the ocean (Challenge 10). To address those challenges, it becomes clear that management models of MPA’s had to find ways to value natural capital and, at the same time, involve local communities and stakeholders in the governance processes. The conservation of biodiversity has both direct and indirect economic benefits for many sectors of the economy, namely tourism, being ecotourism considered one of the segments particularly adequate to value natural capital. Ecotourism, defined as “environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas”, to enjoy and appreciate nature, is often used to enhance the natural capital, while protecting and promoting protected areas. Several studies have been carried out about ecotourism in MPA’s all over the world, particularly in the 21stcentury. In this article, we analyzed several case studies focusing ecotourism in MPAs, to better understand the connection between the development of this industry, the development of sustainable blue economy, and the efforts for ocean conservation. From the analysis conducted, we conclude that ecotourism development and community participation are of paramount importance in achieving sustainable development in MPAs, although there is still room to new advances improving good marine governance.

Forest fire and smoke detection using deep learning-based learning without forgetting

BackgroundForests are an essential natural resource to humankind, providing a myriad of direct and indirect benefits. Natural disasters like forest fires have a major impact on global warming and the continued existence of life on Earth. Automatic identification of forest fires is thus an important field to research in order to minimize disasters. Early fire detection can also help decision-makers plan mitigation methods and extinguishing tactics. This research looks at fire/smoke detection from images using AI-based computer vision techniques. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are a type of Artificial Intelligence (AI) approach that have been shown to outperform state-of-the-art methods in image classification and other computer vision tasks, but their training time can be prohibitive. Further, a pretrained CNN may underperform when there is no sufficient dataset available. To address this issue, transfer learning is exercised on pre-trained models. However, the models may lose their classification abilities on the original datasets when transfer learning is applied. To solve this problem, we use learning without forgetting (LwF), which trains the network with a new task but keeps the network’s preexisting abilities intact.ResultsIn this study, we implement transfer learning on pre-trained models such as VGG16, InceptionV3, and Xception, which allow us to work with a smaller dataset and lessen the computational complexity without degrading accuracy. Of all the models, Xception excelled with 98.72% accuracy. We tested the performance of the proposed models with and without LwF. Without LwF, among all the proposed models, Xception gave an accuracy of 79.23% on a new task (BowFire dataset). While using LwF, Xception gave an accuracy of 91.41% for the BowFire dataset and 96.89% for the original dataset. We find that fine-tuning the new task with LwF performed comparatively well on the original dataset.ConclusionBased on the experimental findings, it is found that the proposed models outperform the current state-of-the-art methods. We also show that LwF can successfully categorize novel and unseen datasets.

Sustainability of mangrove forest management in the former bauxite mining area on Bintan Island

Background : The bauxite mining area on Bintan Island continues to expand into the mangrove forest area. Mangrove forests have ecological, economic, and social importance, which must be managed accordingly to maintain their sustainability. This research was conducted to examine the sustainability of mangrove forest management in the former bauxite mining area on Bintan Island. Methods: The approach used is Multi Dimensional Scaling- Rapid Appraisal for Sustainability through the modified Rapfish ordinance software technique for the Mangrove Ecosystem. The type of data used is quantitative, covering five dimensions of sustainability, namely ecological, economic, social, legal and institutional as well as technology. Results: The results showed that the sustainability index status of the ecological, social, legal and institutional dimensions was quite sustainable, while the sustainability index of the economic dimension was unsustainable, and the technological dimension was less sustainable. Attributes of levers that are sensitive to the sustainability of mangrove forest management are: 1) Mangrove density, 2) Substrate fraction, 3) sedimentation, 4) Mangrove importance index, 5) Bio-concentration factor, 6) Benefit value direct, 7) Indirect benefit value, 8) Dependence on mangrove forest as a source of livelihood, 9) Corporate Social Responsibility funding support, 10) Community income, 11) Community health level, 12) Community perception, 13) Legality of mangrove area and mining, 14) Pollution monitoring technology in ex-mining areas and 15) Mangrove rehabilitation technology. Conclusions:The status of the mangrove forest sustainability index on Bintan Island is quite good. the economic and technological dimensions can be upgraded to sustainable status by carrying out management that is more focused on the lever attributes of the ecological, social, legal and institutional dimensions.

Tourism Development to Enhance Resident Well-Being: A Strong Sustainability Perspective

Tourism research must recognise recent advances in sustainability theory if it is to progress conceptually and in the policy domain. By applying the method of critical review, this paper demonstrates the relevance of the capitals approach to sustainable tourism development, with human well-being identified as the ultimate objective of the process. Distinguishing between weak and strong sustainability, a policy framework is developed to merge the capitals approach with well-being outcomes to determine the direct and indirect benefits of tourism developments to stakeholders and destination residents. Several challenges must be addressed if sustainability principles and practices are to be embedded in tourism policymaking.

Sobriety, social capital, and village network structures

External shocks or stimuli can have significant effects on community network structures, which in turn can affect relationship ties and social capital. To this point, however, few studies analyze impacts of self-help programs, such as those targeting substance abuse, on network structures or measures of social capital. This study analyzes the effects of a randomized control trial (RCT) in western Kenya that included an intervention aimed at decreasing alcohol abuse using group therapies and spousal level counseling. Using dyadic network data collected from alcohol-using households, the analysis finds that two nearby same-gender peers randomly assigned to the treatment group are 9 percentage points [pp] more likely to have an agricultural information link with their peer and 8 pp more likely to work with their peer compared to two individuals in the control group. Additional individual-level results find that assignment to the treatment significantly increases an individual’s network centrality as measured by degree, closeness, and betweenness. I explore potential mechanisms and find evidence suggesting network effects at the intensive and extensive margin and the development of support linkages all likely contributed to these results. This study shows that programs utilizing peer effects can not only have positive impacts on alcohol consumption, but also positive spillover effects on relationship ties and on a treated individual’s network centrality. The results thus suggest significant positive impacts of the program on social capital, and points to the indirect benefits of substance abuse programs (and self-help programs in general) on communities.

Quantifying the direct and indirect protection provided by insecticide treated bed nets against malaria

Long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) provide both direct and indirect protection against malaria. As pyrethroid resistance evolves in mosquito vectors, it will be useful to understand how the specific benefits LLINs afford individuals and communities may be affected. Here we use modelling to show that there is no minimum LLIN usage needed for users and non-users to benefit from community protection. Modelling results also indicate that pyrethroid resistance in local mosquitoes will likely diminish the direct and indirect benefits from insecticides, leaving the barrier effects intact, but LLINs are still expected to provide enhanced benefit over untreated nets even at high levels of pyrethroid resistance.