ABSTRACT
Demand for Brazilian beef has been growing positively over the years, marked by rising exports, mainly from Asian countries. Given that different links in the chain impact the price, verifying how the price of corn, live cattle and the exchange rate may be related to the attractiveness of acquiring slaughterhouse shares, impacting prices. The increase in demand for beef, also as a result of covid-19, may be raising market values of Brazilian beef slaughterhouses. Given the interest in verifying these influences and predicting the behavior and volatility of prices quoted in shares, the present study aims to analyze the behavior and prices of shares of publicly traded meatpacking companies operating in Brazil, JBS (JBSS3), Marfrig (MFRG3) and Minerva (BEEF3) in relation to the dollar-real exchange rate (USD-BRL) and commodity prices: corn (CCMM3) and live cattle (BGIF3). The historical series analyzed from January 2015 to September 2021 were obtained from Brasil Bolsa Balcao, totaling 9,768 observations. Econometric tests and correlation analysis were used to verify behaviors. The results of the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test were higher than the critical values, indicating that the series are non-stationary due to the existing trend. Correlations with BGIF3, CCMM3 and USD-BRL were strong positive for MFRG3 and JBSS3. For BEEF3 there was no correlation. It is concluded that the trend is towards a rise in the prices of stock assets with a significant increase observed in 2019, remaining in 2020 and 2021 in relation to 2015, denoting the high sensitivity to market effects.
ABSTRACT
As of 14 December 2021, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused nearly 269 million confirmed cases and almost 5.3 million deaths worldwide. Chest computed tomography (CT) has high diagnostic sensitivity for the detection of pulmonary disease in COVID-19 patients. Toward timely and accurate clinical evaluation and prognostication, radiomic analyses of CT images have been explored to investigate the correlation of imaging and non-imaging clinical manifestations and outcomes. Delta (∆) radiomics optimally performed from pre-infection to the post-critical phase, requires baseline data typically not obtained in clinical settings;additionally, their robustness is affected by differences in acquisition protocols. In this work, we investigated the reliability, sensitivity, and stability of whole-lung radiomic features of CT images of nonhuman primates either mock-exposed or exposed to SARS-CoV-2 to study imaging biomarkers of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Images were acquired at a pre-exposure baseline and post-exposure days, and lung fields were segmented. The reliability of radiomic features was assessed, and the dynamic range of each feature was compared to the maximum normal intra-subject variation and ranked. © 2022 SPIE
ABSTRACT
With the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency rooms are faced with major challenges because they act as the interface between outpatient and inpatient care. The dynamics of the pandemic forced emergency care at the University Hospital Münster to extensively adjust their processes, which had to be carried out in the shortest time possible. This included the establishment of an outpatient coronavirus test center and a medical student-operated telephone hotline. Inside the hospital, new isolation capacities in the emergency room and a dedicated COVID-19 ward were set up. The patient flow was reorganized using flow diagrams for both the outpatient and inpatient areas. The general and special emergency management was optimized for the efficient treatment of COVID-19-positive patients and the staff were trained in the use of protective equipment. This report of our experience is intended to support other emergency departments in their preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic.