ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has completely disrupted and possibly permanently changed the way humans travel. In Puerto Rico, major travel restrictions to the island have persisted at different levels since March 2020, which heavily influenced residents' travel behaviors. However, it remains unclear about how big the impact is and how inequitable it might be. The goal of this study is to evaluate COVID-19's impacts on Puerto Rican's travel behaviors by analyzing travel flows from Puerto Rico to the contiguous US with a modified gravity model. The roles of socioeconomic factors regarding the Puerto Rican travelers and COVID-19 factors regarding the destination US states have been assessed. COVID-19 was a strong deterring factor of travel at the beginning of the pandemic and also in the winter of 2020, but it did not keep Puerto Ricans from traveling during the summer 2020 when most travel restrictions were lifted. We found that the elderly population of Puerto Rico, despite being more vulnerable to COVID-19, were much more likely to travel during the pandemic. We also found that, during the holiday season in 2020, some socioeconomically disadvantaged populations were more likely to be traveling, a direct contradiction to their travel flows the year prior. These findings shed light on about how disproportionately affected populations behavior changed from pre-pandemic to after the pandemic started. With the continuance of the pandemic, this information is extremely valuable for future planning with respect to emergency management, travel regulation, and social benefit. © 2023 Wuhan University. Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we conduct an empirical study of the impact of language distance on Thailand's foreign trade on the basis of trade data from Thailand and its 21 trade partners within 17 years, by applying the trade gravity model, in which the WALS language index is selected and weighted to measure the language distance and then introduced it into the trade gravity model as explanatory variable. The results show that: (1) language and bilateral trade flow are negatively related;(2) the language distance has negative significant influence on Thailand's bilateral trade flow;(3) language influence on Thailand's foreign trade cannot be overlooked. It should be highlighted by scholars as well as the relevant departments of the country;(4) the decline of global trade volume is seriously affected by the outbreak of COVID-19. © 2022 ACM.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to model, map, and identify why some areas present a completely different dispersion pattern of COVID-19, as well as creating a risk model, composed of variables such as probability, susceptibility, danger, vulnerability, and potential damage, that characterises each of the defined regions. The model is based on a risk conceptual model proposed by Bachmann and Allgower in 2001, based on the wildfire terminology, analysing the spatial distribution. Additionally, a model based on population growth, chaotic maps, and turbulent flows is applied in the calculation of the variable probability, based on the work of Bonasera (2020). The results for the Portuguese case are promising, regarding the fitness of the said models and the outcome results of a conceptual model for the epidemiological risk assessment for the spread of coronavirus for each region. © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Aiming at the problem of residents' need to travel during the epidemic, this paper designs a risk assessment method based on the spatial interaction of space-time objects in the epidemic-related area, and evaluates the epidemic risk in the associated area based on an improved gravity model and a one-dimensional steady-state water quality migration model. Based on the Floyd algorithm and according to the residents' choice preferences, an optimal path solution model that simultaneously considers the epidemic risk factor and travel distance is established and the algorithm is verified. An actual road network in Shenyang City was used for example verification, and the difference between the path guidance during the regular period and the epidemic period was compared. The results show that the improved Floyd algorithm can effectively avoid epidemic-related areas. As residents increase their preference for risk avoidance, the length of the guide path will gradually increase, but the risk of infection will gradually decrease. © 2021 SPIE.