Insight of Zoonotic Viruses at Human-Animal Interfaces in Cambodia

*Presenting author Emerging infectious diseases have been causing outbreaks in humans for centuries and most infectious diseases originate in animals. Re-emerging zoonotic pathogens are rapidly increasing in prevalence or geographic range and causing a significant and growing threat to global health. The present work provides an insight of zoonotic viruses risk at human-bat/rodent interfaces in Cambodia. We conducted studies to investigate the circulation of zoonotic viruses and the risk of exposure in human living at the interfaces with bats and rodents. Rodent's samples were collected in rural and urban areas of Cambodia. Organs were tested for Hantavirus, Orthohepevirus species C and Arenavirus. Bat's samples were collected in Steung Treng for Sarbecovirus and in Battambang and Kandal for Nipah virus detection. People working/living at the human-animal interfaces were screened for IgG antibodies. In rodents (750), hantavirus was detected in 3.3% rodents from urban areas only. Seoul orthohantavirus was the most predominant virus followed by Thottapalayam virus. HEV-C was detected only in rodents from urban settings (1.8%). Arenavirus was detected in both rural (6.8%) and urban (2.5%) areas. In humans (788), the seroprevalence of IgG antibodies against hantavirus, HEV-A and Arenavirus was 10.0%, 24% and 23.4% respectively. NiV was detected in flying fox's urines collected between 2013-2016 in Kandal (0.63%) and in Battambang (1.03%). Blood samples collected in both provinces were negative for NiV antibodies. SARS-CoV-2 related virus was detected in Rhinolphus shameli in Steung Treng in 2010, 2020 and 2021. Blood samples from people living at the vicinity of positive bats were positive for antibodies against CoV (7.7%), but no specific neutralizing SARS-CoV2 antibodies were detected. Our studies provided insight of the risk of zoonoses in Cambodia and highlighted the importance of zoonotic surveillance and further One Health effort to prevent, detect, and respond to future cross-species transmission.Copyright © 2023

Reducing academic flying beyond COVID‐19: Drivers, alternatives, and avenues for change

This paper seeks to advance our understanding of the underlying reasons that sustain high levels of academic flying, and examines how a low‐carbon academia with less air travel might come about. Data from 30 interviews with academics showed that expectations of internationalisation, networking, and ideals of a productive academic stand among the strongest drivers of academic flying. These drivers come forth from underlying objectives such as pursuing excellence in research and working towards successful careers. Findings from this research suggest that institutional and cultural change are prerequisites to mainstream practical alternatives to academic flying, such as wider use of digital communication tools, grounded travelling, and low‐carbon conferences and meetings. We see a role for universities, grant‐providing authorities, and other academic organisations to include environmental standards and criteria in internationalisation strategies, the concept of excellence, and funding evaluation processes. From our analysis of academics' experiences during the COVID‐19 pandemic, we identify three factors that appear essential in determining whether digital communication tools can substitute for physical presence: (1) desired type of interaction, (2) existing social relations among participants, and (3) number of participants. Finally, we discuss whether and to what extent voluntary guidelines, the adoption of digital tools, and other soft measures may lead to cuts in academic flying at the scale and pace required for meeting climate targets, suggesting that enforcing limits on academic air travel might be unavoidable. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Geographical Journal is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Zooanthropogenic potential of SARS-CoV-2 virus: Implications for vaccine-mediated immunity

The human pandemic caused by Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that started in December, 2019 is still continuing in various parts of the world. The SARS-CoV-2 has evolved through sporadic mutations and recombination events and the emergence of alternate variants following adaptations in humans and human-to-animal transmission (zooanthraponosis) has raised concerns over the efficacy of vaccines against new variants. The animal reservoir of SARS-CoV-2 is unknown despite reports of SARS-CoV- 2-related viruses in bats and pangolins. A recent report of back-andforth transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between humans and minks on mink farms in the Netherlands has sparked widespread interest in zooanthroponotic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 followed by reemergence to infect human populations. The risk of animal to human transmission depends on virus-host interaction in susceptible species that may be short-term or long term risks. The short term risk might be due to infection to humans during the viremic stage in susceptible animals. The long term risk might be either due to persistence of the virus at population level or latency of infection leading to risk of evolution and re-emergence of the virus. Experimental studies have identified a range of animals that are susceptible and permissive to SARS-CoV-2 infection viz. cats, ferrets, hamsters, mink, non-human primates, tree shrews, raccoon dogs, fruit bats, and rabbits. The health impacts of SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals are unknown and it is likely that other susceptible species have not been discovered yet. Apart from farmed animals, stray cats and rodents have been identified as a potential opportunity for ongoing transmission in intense farming situations. Recognizing animal species that are most susceptible to infection is the first step in preventing ongoing transmission from humans. Minimizing the risk of zooanthraponosis requires multi-sectoral coordination that includes implementation of strict biosecurity measures such as controlled access to farms that house susceptible animals, bio-secure entry and exit protocols, disinfection protocols in farm, down time for animal transport vehicles and daily assessments of human handlers for exposure to SARS-CoV- 2. Hence, active surveillance in animal species that are prioritized based on risk assessment need to be initiated in coordination with health and environment sectors for early identification of emerging and re-emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus in animals.

Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Aircraft Boarding Strategies Using Discrete Event Simulation

Aviation is one of the most severely impacted industries by COVID-19. The passenger boarding-process is not only a bottleneck but is also one of the riskiest processes for COVID-19 transmission. There is a need for a decision-support tool that can proactively test the impact of COVID-19 policies on the passenger boarding-process. We achieve this by developing an adaptable modeling approach to Discrete Event Simulation (DES) that simulates the process of boarding under different COVID-19 policies and boarding-strategies. DES model was created using time and motion studies, flightlogs and manuals. Programing-logic was created using n=29 subject-matter experts. As a demonstrator-case, we tested seven of the most common boarding-strategies under different COVID-19 stages: pre-COVID, COVID-19 stage 1 and 2. Preliminary-results show the COVID-19 transmission risk may be decreased with a trade-off: passenger-satisfaction may decrease due to an increase in boarding-time and waiting-time. Steffen's method was most-effective in minimizing COVID-19 risk but is the most difficult to implement. Reverse pyramid and Window Middle Aisle, while slightly less effective than Steffen's method, but overall, more-effective and easier to implement with minimal COVID-19 risk. For COVID-19 stage 1 and 2, boarding time increased up to 33% and 64%, respectively, in-comparison to baseline pre-pandemic conditions. Further, up to 1.5 and 6.6 seat and aisle interferences along with a jetway-seat time of up to 13 minutes were observed. The developed modeling approach serves as a direct response to ICAO's (International Civil Aviation Organization) need for a tool to proactively test and develop policies that minimize COVID-19 risk. © 2022 Operations and Supply Chain Management Forum. All rights reserved.

Ethical-decision making of ‘Flights to Nowhere' passengers in the COVID-19 and climate change era

With international travel halting as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19, several airlines sought to offer Flights to Nowhere as a way to generate revenue and keep their aircrafts flight-ready. Flights to Nowhere are sightseeing flights that start and finish at the same airport without landing elsewhere. These flights have been heavily criticized for creating unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. This research explores the ethical decision-making process and the subsequent rationalization of taking Flights to Nowhere. Using cognitive dissonance theory and neutralization techniques, we analyse in-depth interviews with passengers that have recently taken a Flight to Nowhere. Passengers did not immediately make the connection between Flights to Nowhere and climate change but on reflection, they justified these flights using a range of neutralization techniques including an appeal to higher loyalties, denial of injury, and justification by comparison.

Catalysing regional integration in Africa: The role of infrastructure

Now, more than ever, infrastructure integration in Africa has become critical to recalibrating Africa's growth strategy toward increased intraregional trade, especially in an era of global isolationism, protectionism and supply chain disruptions from COVID and the war in Ukraine. This paper investigates the extent to which infrastructure development and integration can act as a catalyst for trade, innovation and income improvements in Africa. Using panel data analysis, we show that the infrastructure sector with the strongest multiplier effect on economic activity is the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, followed by the transport sector, the electricity sector and, last, the water sector. This ranking of the catalytic role of infrastructure sectors should guide policy prioritisation on infrastructure investments to accelerate growth and unlock the potential of the AfCFTA. Benchmarking exercises on infrastructures' catalytic role in the regional economic communities (RECs) show that infrastructure has had the strongest impact on economic outcomes in the East African Community bloc, making the EAC a type of flying‐geese RECs for other regions to emulate.

Flies (Insecta, Diptera) collected in the environment of dairy farms as carriers of Rotavirus A and betacoronavirus.

AIMS: We aimed to investigate the prevalence of rotavirus and coronavirus in dipterans that commonly inhabit the environment of dairy farms. METHODS AND RESULTS: We collected 217 insect specimens from nine dairy farms, which were examined through hemi-nested RT-PCR followed by Sanger sequencing in search of VP1 and N genes for rotavirus and bovine coronavirus-BCoV, respectively. With a predominance of Muscidae (152/217 = 70%) 11 families of Diptera were identified. Rotavirus A (RVA) and betacoronavirus (BCoV) were detected in 14.7% (32/217) and 4.6% (10/217) of the dipterans, respectively. Sequencing of the amplicons was possible for 11.5% (25/217) of RVA and 0.5% (1/217) of BCoV, confirming the presence of these pathogens. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the role of dipterans as carriers of RVA and BCoV of great relevance for public and animal health.

Managing academic air travel emissions: Towards system-wide practice change

The high carbon emissions arising from academic air travel has become a priority issue for university sustainability programmes. However, efforts to mitigate academic air travel emissions requires the commitment and attention of a range of actors. It is essential to comprehensively identify and understand the factors affecting academics’ established aeromobility as a critical step towards system-wide practice change. This research explores this issue by proposing a practice-based academic flying framework and empirically applying the framework. This research found that cognitive norms are the key to affecting academic air travel decisions. The change of cognitive norms depends on collective action of all stakeholders. The empirical application allows the framework to align with university practices and provide stakeholders with a sufficient understanding of factors affecting academic air travel practices. We conclude with a call for all stakeholders to collaboratively create an environment that supports academics through a period of post-COVID practice transition.

Faecal virome of the Australian grey-headed flying fox from urban/suburban environments contains novel coronaviruses, retroviruses and sapoviruses.

Bats are important reservoirs for viruses of public health and veterinary concern. Virus studies in Australian bats usually target the families Paramyxoviridae, Coronaviridae and Rhabdoviridae, with little known about their overall virome composition. We used metatranscriptomic sequencing to characterise the faecal virome of grey-headed flying foxes from three colonies in urban/suburban locations from two Australian states. We identified viruses from three mammalian-infecting (Coronaviridae, Caliciviridae, Retroviridae) and one possible mammalian-infecting (Birnaviridae) family. Of particular interest were a novel bat betacoronavirus (subgenus Nobecovirus) and a novel bat sapovirus (Caliciviridae), the first identified in Australian bats, as well as a potentially exogenous retrovirus. The novel betacoronavirus was detected in two sampling locations 1375 km apart and falls in a viral lineage likely with a long association with bats. This study highlights the utility of unbiased sequencing of faecal samples for identifying novel viruses and revealing broad-scale patterns of virus ecology and evolution.

Aviation policy instrument choice in Europe: high flying and crash landing? Understanding policy evolutions in the Netherlands and Germany

In the public debate on climate change in Europe, aviation transport has become a bone of contention and thus also a target of political regulation. While the actual available policy instruments, their designs and effects have been extensively studied, their political economy has remained a rather blind spot of research. Therefore, in this article we explore factors accounting for the instrument choice in aviation policy. Revealing most different evolutions in this matter, the Netherlands and Germany represent appropriately illustrative cases for a comparative exploration. Based on the Political Process-inherent Dynamics Approach, we shed light on a highly complex and limiting institutional environment for aviation policy-making and ultimately identify diverging conceptions of problem structures as well as different configurations of party competition as main explanatory factors for instrument choice and aviation policy evolution.

Collecting Local Views on the Post-Covid Future of Flying Using Online Qualitative Methods: A Case Study of Bristol, UK

The aviation sector represents an important terrain for contemporary environmental politics and policy. This position has been complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to a dramatic slowdown in international travel and threatened the position of the aviation and airline sectors. The temporality of this decline remains unclear. In this article, we present online qualitative research that explores how people think their flying habits might change in the future-in the wake of both Covid-19 and resultant social restrictions and awareness of climate breakdown. To do so, we foreground our analysis in Bristol, United Kingdom-a city characterized by a strong brand of green politics and debates surrounding airport expansion and the role of aviation in a net-zero future. This work adopted a research design conducted entirely online, incorporating surveys disseminated via local media and online focus groups. Findings from this work demonstrate that close to 60% of those surveyed will likely fly less in a post-Covid future. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted a "reimagination" of flying-with important behavioral, policy, and justice implications. Our objective in presenting this work is twofold-first to illuminate emergent patterns of behavioral change in flying post-Covid and, second, to critically reflect on conducting online qualitative research in a pandemic. © 2022 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

First record of non-flying mammalian contributors to pollination in a tropical montane forest in Asia.

This study aims to identify the flower visitors of Mucuna thailandica (Fabaceae), endemic plant species in montane forests in Thailand, to determine their potential pollinators. The genus Mucuna produces papilionaceous flowers and has an explosive flower-opening step. Explosive opening rapidly exposes stamens and pistil from keel petals and releases pollen. The flower of this species depends completely on animals to perform this step, essential for pollination success. Using a camera trap survey, we revealed that non-flying mammals, such as squirrels (Callosciurus sp.) and masked palm civets (Paguma larvata), opened flowers explosively. Thus, these mammals contribute to the pollination of M. thailandica. This is the first report of non-flying mammals contributing to pollination in montane forests in tropical Asia.

Double Hybrid Tailsitter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with Vertical Takeoff and Landing

We propose a new concept and architectural design for a double hybrid tailsitter unmanned aerial vehicle with vertical takeoff and landing capability. Basically, it consists of a modified flying wing with a single combustion powertrain set and a multirotor with 2 powertrain sets with electric motors. To this end, we have designed, built, and tested a prototype that spends less energy on vertical taking off and landing and also on horizontal flight, for maximizing flight endurance and distance.With electric propellers fixed at the leading wing edge, the tailsitter has two standard surfaces for elevation control and two vertical stabilizers that are used to give the necessary direction on vertical takeoff and landing. Experiments and results show the versatility of our hybrid tailsitter for operations in a restricted field. We performed several tests starting with the aircraft on the ground in vertical positioning. These tests include executing vertical takeoffs and landing, transitions from vertical to horizontal flight modes and transitions back from horizontal to vertical flight modes, and hovering, which were carried out successfully. Transition fourth and back from combustion to multirotor modes are inherent to some of those flight mode transitions, which have been performed smoothly.We also performed tests (in bench) to estimate the flight endurance. Final autonomous flight adjustments were not performed due to the Covid-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. To this end the proposed and currently built prototype has proven to be functional as an effective hybrid UAV system. Author

First report on metabarcoding analysis of gut microbiome in Island Flying Fox (Pteropushypomelanus) in island populations of Malaysia.

Flying fox (Pteropushypomelanus) belongs to the frugivorous bats, which play a crucial role in maintaining proper functioning of an ecosystem and conservation of the environment. Bats are well-known carriers of pathogenic viruses, such as BatCov RaTG13 from the coronavirus family that share 90.55% with SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen causing recent global pandemic coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). However, bats' possible role as a carrier of pathogenic bacteria is less explored. Here, using metabarcoding analysis through high-throughput sequencing, we explored the gut microbiome composition of different island populations on the east and west coasts of Peninsula Malaysia. The 16S rRNA gene in samples from Redang Island, Langkawi Island, Pangkor Island and Tinggi Island was amplified. Bacterial community composition and structure were analysed with α and ß diversity metrics. A total of 25,658 operational taxonomic units at 97% similarity were assigned to eight phyla, 44 families, 61 genera and 94 species of microbes. The Proteobacteria was the dominant phylum in all populations. Meanwhile, the genera Enterobacter, Pseudomonas and Klebsiella, isolated in this study, were previously found in the rectum of other fruit bats. Our analyses suggest that Redang Island and Langkawi Island have high bacteria diversity. Thus, we found geographic locality is a strong predictor of microbial community composition and observed a positive correlation between ecological features and bacterial richness.

Flying cars and bigots: projecting post-COVID-19 worlds through the atlas of the civic imagination as refuge for hope: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies

In April 2020, the Civic Imagination Project at the University of Southern California, funded by the MacArthur Foundation, asked participants around the world to share some of their reflections on what the world of 2060 might look like, and what roles the COVID-19 pandemic may have played in transforming how we live and relate to each other. For the past six years, the Civic Imagination Project has been conducting world-building workshops with groups across America and around the world. Our workshops encourage participants to imagine together what the future might look like under the premise that before we can change the world, we have to be able to collectively imagine what a better world looks like. For this paper, our team draws tools from speculative fiction to create a process where communities come together and propose what an alternative world might look like. While it is still too early for any preliminary analysis, we anticipate being able to map responses from many different parts of the world, and in particular, across different regions in the United States. We are interested in the tensions amongst utopian, dystopian, protopian and heterotopian visions at a time of enormous anxiety.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Against Covid-19 Pandemic: Main Applications and Limitations

This paper presents the role and limitations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in emergency situations especially during the Covid-19 outbreak. The world had faced lot of disasters through the years leading to a flurry of innovation. New business opportunities have merged especially in the automation revolution. UAVs are small aircraft, mainly known as drones, that are used as technology for public safety companies. A Flying Ad Hoc Network is a network composed by UAVs. They are used in different military and civilian applications especially in areas where there is no infrastructure or where it is difficult to access. In emergency situations, like Covid-19 pandemic that many countries fight nowadays, these technologies help the authorities to control and limit the propagation of the virus. Spraying of disinfectants, temperature scanning, broadcasting of warning messages or detection of suspicious movements, many situations where UAVs can be used. In some countries, UAVs are also used to transport medical supplies including vaccines or deliver food supplies to customers. Because Covid-19 is still so contagious, it is safer to minimize human-to-human contact and use more technologies. However, due to their specific nature, UAVs present some limitations. Solutions to address these limitations are also discussed in this article. © 2021 IEEE.

DEVELOPING AN ORGANOID MODEL TO UNDERSTAND THE BAT GASTROINTESTINAL EPITHELIAL RESPONSE TO THE SEVER ACUTE RESPIRATORY CORONA VIRUS-2 (SARS-COV-2)

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is caused by the severe acute respiratory corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) which as of right now has infected 10% of world’s population and has caused >1.5 million deaths worldwide. In addition to respiratory symptoms, COVID-19 causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea in more than half of infected subjects. This indicates that SARS-CoV-2 not only infects the respiratory tract, but also the gastrointestinal. Bats are thought to be the original reservoir for SARS-CoV-2, since SARS-CoV-2 is 96% identical to the bat coronavirus RatG13, which was identified in horseshoe bats. However, coronaviruses fail to cause overt disease in the bats, whereas strong cytopathic effects were observed in human respiratory and gastrointestinal epithelial cells upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. The goal of our research is to compare the response of primary intestinal epithelial cells of bats and humans to SARS-CoV-2 infection in order to better understand the cellular mechanism that allow bats to harbor coronaviruses without developing disease symptoms. To study the SARS-Co-V-2 infection in bats, we have, for the first time, established organoids lines from the stomach, proximal and distal small intestine of three adult Jamaican Fruit Bats (Artibeus jamaicensis). Organoids were successfully generated from both fresh and frozen tissue and could be passaged at least 25 times and frozen and thawed with no apparent changes in growth and morphology. Microscopic analysis showed that bat gastric and intestinal organoids were composed of a simple columnar epithelium and secreted variable amounts of mucus. We also observed spontaneous development of gland and crypt structures, indicating appropriate differentiation (Fig. 1). When seeded on transwell inserts, both gastric and intestinal organoid cells consistently developed a transepithelial resistance, demonstrating intact barrier function. Using confocal microscopy, we showed that both gastric and intestinal organoids from bats expressed angiotensin I converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a key receptor for SARS-CoV-2 entry. Our innovative experimental platform will enable us to study multiple aspects of coronavirus infection including viral evolution and determinants of spillover events in a relevant primary cell model system. Importantly, we will utilize the bat organoid model to identify nonpathogenic cellular pathways that enable tolerance to SARS-CoV-2 in the reservoir hosts for this virus, potentially informing novel treatment strategies in human COVID-19 patients.

Mapping global flying aircraft activities using Landsat 8 and cloud computing

Satellite-based remote sensing might provide a potential way for monitoring the global flight activities and their environment impacts, while the remote sensing community pays less attention on it. In this study, we presented a flying aircraft detection algorithm which effectively handles the noise on Landsat 8 OLI cirrus band caused by energetic particles in the South Atlantic Anomaly region, and a new framework based on cloud infrastructure was proposed to map global flying aircraft activities from 2013 to 2020 using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data. Validation was performed for 254 scenes recorded for various cloudy and surface conditions and vapor contents. The overall percentages of false alarms and omissions for these validation images were 5.37% and 7.80%, respectively. Limited to the resolution of Landsat data, cloud, the size and flight altitude of the aircraft, 42.99% flying aircraft were undetected compared with the FlightRadar24. Instead of using the Google Earth Engine, we employed more flexible cloud computing techniques, Google Cloud Storage and Google Calculation Engine, to construct our framework for the larger volume data. A total of 1.94 million Landsat images were analyzed to obtain the activities maps, and the results showed that globally flying aircraft increased by 25.85% from 2014 to 2019 (the year 2013 was excluded for the low coverage of Landsat scenes), with an annual rate of 4.31%. In 2020, flying aircraft were reduced by 40% compared with 2019 due to the influence of COVID-19 and traveling restrictions, and Europe was the most severely affected by COVID-19, with an 84.59% decline of flying aircraft in April 2020. This study provides a unique long-term supplement to monitor aviation activities and their climate impact.