Diagnosis of COVID-19 from the X-Ray images using BAT Algorithm with Deep Convolutional Neural Network

The COVID-19 widespread has posed a chief contest to the scientific community around the world. For patients with COVID-19 illness, the international community is working to uncover, implement, or invent new approaches for diagnosis and action. A opposite transcription-polymerase chain reaction is currently a reliable tactic for diagnosing infected people. This is a time- and money-consuming procedure. Consequently, the development of new methods is critical. Using X-ray images of the lungs, this research article developed three stages for detecting and diagnosing COVID-19 patients. The median filtering is used to remove the unwanted noised during pre-processing stage. Then, Otsu thresholding technique is used for segmenting the affected regions, where Spider Monkey Optimization (SMO) is used to select the optimal threshold. Finally, the optimized Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) is used for final classification. The benchmark COVID dataset and balanced COVIDcxr dataset are used to test projected model's performance in this study. Classification of the results shows that the optimized DCNN architecture outperforms the other pre-trained techniques with an accuracy of 95.69% and a specificity of 96.24% and sensitivity of 94.76%. To identify infected lung tissue in images, here SMO-Otsu thresholding technique is used during the segmentation stage and achieved 95.60% of sensitivity and 95.8% of specificity. © 2023 IEEE.

DUE DILIGENCE IN PANDEMIC: STATE ACCOUNTABILITY FOR COVID-19 UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has tested the response capacity of the international community. This article analyses the due diligence principle and the various international legal instruments that restate it in an assessment of the possible actions that states could have taken to avoid or, at least, contain the initial outbreak of the pandemic.

Catalysing innovation and digital transformation in combating the Covid-19 pandemic: Whole-of government collaborations in ICT, R&D, and business digitization in Singapore

IMPACTThis article illustrates how collaborative partnerships between the public and private sectors played a critical role in developing and deploying innovative practices in Singapore to manage the Covid-19 crisis. The study provides some important lessons for the international community to reduce the impact of emergencies by leveraging collaborative partnerships for innovation.Alternate :Collaborative partnerships between the public and private sectors played a critical role in developing and deploying innovative practices to overcome Covid-19 in Singapore. The extant literature has not paid adequate attention to the determinants for managing collaborative partnerships in the emergency context. Using the case of digital transformation and ICT deployment in Singapore, the authors show how and why rapid reactions and responses to pandemics and other emergencies can be achieved through public–private partnerships for collaborative innovation.

Israel's COVID-19 Diplomacy in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Europe

Israel's aid initiatives have historically been facilitated through the Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV). However, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted MASHAVs ability to provide assistance due to budget cuts and government instability. As such, Israel's COVID-19 diplomacy initiative took on greater importance in maintaining its presence and reputation internationally. This article analyzes Israel's approach to COVID-19 diplomacy, which involved providing medical teams, PPE, and surplus vaccines to approximately 20 countries, and examines the political and strategic calculations behind Israel's decision to extend assistance to specific countries. The article argues that Israel's COVID-19 diplomacy initiative was more limited in scope and geography compared to other countries with similar economic development levels, and aid efforts were concentrated in regions where Israel has sought to increase its involvement in recent years, particularly sub-Saharan Africa and Central Europe. Finally, the article assesses the impact of Israel's COVID-19 diplomacy initiative on its diplomatic relations with recipient countries and the broader international community.

Prospects for attaining the multidimensional poverty target of SDG 1.2: evidence from the most recent multiyear harmonized data for 75 developing countries

This paper uses recent multiyear harmonized data on multidimensional poverty for 75 developing countries to judge prospects for attaining SDG Target 1.2 of reducing multidimensional poverty by one-half. Exponential rate of decline in multidimensional poverty headcount is calculated and extrapolated to the SDG period 2015–2030 to see whether the rate of decline would lower multidimensional poverty headcount by 50% over the 15-year period. There are 43 countries in which the observed rate of decline is large enough to reduce the headcount by half in 15 years. These countries had a total population of 3.9 billion and multidimensional poverty headcount of 580.7 million. There are 24 countries, with multidimensional poverty headcount of 549.9 million, where rate of reduction is not large enough to lower MDP headcount by one-half in 15 years. There are 8 countries that may or may not make the target. The international community needs to focus on the 24 countries that are likely to miss the target even in the pre-COVID scenario studied in this research. When post-COVID data become available in a few years, it should be possible to reassess the situation and to judge the effect of COVID on prospects for reaching the SDG Target 1.2.

Pandemic Diseases and Re-examination of the Concept of National Security

Pandemics are not a new phenomenon in human history or international relations. Over the centuries, pandemics have affected the course of human history by changing people's perceptions and approach regarding national security and international stability. Pandemics have also affected mobility and behavior among different communities of the world. In today's world of proliferating nontraditional challenges, pandemics are the newest addition to a growing list of national security threats and government priorities. The coronavirus pandemic is prompting national governments around the world to re-examine and update their national security concept and devise new, more effective measures to manage and mitigate the impacts of public health crises. © 2023 World Scientific Publishing Company.

International human rights law and the intangible face of ageism

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show the potential of international human rights law to raise awareness of the international community about ageism and its three aspects – old age discrimination, stereotyping and prejudices against older persons. The author evaluates the ability of international human rights law to encourage states to take action against these phenomena and looks for new solutions. The author also intends to examine if there are international law instruments compelling states to reject stereotypes and prejudices on older persons if there is no treaty devoted to them.Design/methodology/approachThe author applies methods relevant to legal science. The core human rights treaties, soft law documents and activities of human rights bodies are selected, analysed and interpreted.FindingsThe core human rights treaties require going beyond their literal interpretation to observe older persons' rights. States should interpret them in good faith, relying on the ageing mainstreaming approach. Instruction to states on how to do so lies in the soft law and output of the international human rights bodies. However, there is also room for improvement. Therefore, the author proposes adopting a targeted resolution on counteracting ageism and its components, updating positions by international treaty bodies, and involving various human rights procedures and specialised agencies in the fight against intangible dimensions of ageism.Originality/valueIt is the first study analysing awareness about stereotyping and prejudices against older persons from international human rights law. The author indicates untapped possibilities of the fight against ageism and its intangible dimensions under international law.

Implementation of Mask Wearing Recognition

Because of the pandemic of COVID-19 since 2020, it seriously affects people's daily life and causes huge economic loss. Recently, the international community has mostly adopted an attitude of coexisting with Covid-19. We cannot ignore the harm the virus can bring to us. In order to effectively protect everyone from the virus, the most basic and effective way is to wear a mask to keep you away from exposure to the virus when going to public areas. Vision intelligence can play an important role in public health issues. In this paper, we utilize the object detection method to implement an actual mask wearing recognition system which can detect if people have a face mask on their face, and send a warning message if not wearing a mask. YOLOv3 is the basic framework for our implementation. After training and fine-tuning processes, the implemented model can perform effectively and correctly. © 2022 IEEE.

The European Journal of Comparative Economics

The rapid global spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 has changed the world. While a massive effort is under way to develop a vaccine, economists have debated whether the shock to the global economy will be 'temporary' or 'permanent'. Given the research interest on the biggest challenge in the modern history, we made an attempt to predict potential economic consequences of a pandemic in a short- and long-term perspective on the basis of the scientific works, experts' opinions and currently available data. An experience of influenza pandemic became a theoretical framework for research. The novelty and timeliness of our research relies on being able to study the impact of pandemic for global economy, government policy and business just at the beginning of its spreading. The research informs citizens and policymakers about the risks, possible ways to prevent economic crisis and how to deal with the potential consequences with a particular focus on COVID-19 response of international community.

A Diplomatic Remedy for the Global Medical Community: Information Security in Health Care as a Topic of International Negotiations

Although key countries consider it part of their critical infrastructure, health care infrastructure has not been a priority in international talks on cybersecurity. But health care organizations have been targets of cyberattacks in recent years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled the international community to pay special attention to information security in health services. As stated above, it was addressed in the OEWG's 2021 report. Also, ways have been proposed to use international cooperation channels for practical work to solve the problem. By 2010, the topic of the information security of critical infrastructure was fixed on the agenda of international negotiations under UN auspices.

ISU DAN CABARAN SEKTOR HULUAN DAN HILIRAN INDUSTRI SAWIT

Perkembangan industri kelapa sawit di Malaysia bermula pada tahun 1917 dengan pembukaan ladang sawit pertama di Tennamaran, Selangor. Seterusnya, pada awal dekad 1960-an, pembukaan ladang sawit meningkat dengan mendadak apabila FELDA membuka tanah rancangan secara besar-besaran selaras dengan dasar kerajaan pada masa tersebut untuk membasmi kemiskinan di kalangan penduduk luar bandar. Pada masa kini, kelapa sawit telah menjadi antara tanaman komoditi yang terpenting Malaysia. Rantaian nilai industri kelapa sawit terbahagi kepada tiga segmen iaitu sektor huluan, pertengahan dan hiliran. Sektor huluan terdiri daripada aktiviti penyediaan anak pokok, penanaman dan penuaian Buah Tandan Segar. Peringkat pertengahan pula adalah pengilangan yang melibatkan pemprosesan dan penapisan BTS daripada ladang atau yang diterima daripada pekebun kecil bagi menghasilkan minyak sawit mentah. Akhirnya, minyak sawit mentah akan diproses selanjutnya di peringkat hiliran bagi tujuan simpanan dan pasaran sama ada domestik atau eksport dan akhirnya sampai ke pengguna yang lazimnya adalah produk makanan. Walaupun pelbagai kejayaan yang dicapai oleh sektor sawit negara sepanjang 100 tahun industri tersebut bertapak di Malaysia, terdapat pelbagai isu dan cabaran yang dihadapi oleh industri sawit negara. Sehubungan itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk (i) mengenal pasti isu dan cabaran utama sektor huluan, pertengahan dan hiliran kelapa sawit dan (ii) apakah usaha-usaha dan cadangan penambahbaikan yang telah dijalankan bagi mengatasi isu dan cabaran ini. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif untuk menyelidik isu dan cabaran sektor huluan, pertengahan dan hiliran industri kelapa sawit melalui temu bual sebagai instrumen kajian utama dan analisis dokumen sebagai sokongan. Kajian ini mendapati bahawa antara isu utama industri sawit negara adalah kekurangan tenaga buruh, kelestarian alam sekitar perladangan dan pengilangan sawit, persepsi negatif terhadap minyak sawit daripada masyarakat antarabangsa dan halangan perdagangan. Isu dan cabaran ini perlu diatasi dengan berkesan antaranya hubungan diplomatik serta peningkatan kepercayaan konsumer terhadap produk sawit yang memerlukan pendekatan yang strategik.Alternate :The development of the oil palm industry in Malaysia began in 1917 with the establishment of the first oil palm plantation in Tennamaran, Selangor. Subsequently, the establishment of oil palm plantations increased dramatically in the early 1960s when FELDA opened up large-scale plantations in line with the Government's policy to eradicate poverty. Presently, oil palm has become one of Malaysia's most important commodity crops. The value chain of the palm oil industry is divided into three segments, namely upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. The upstream sector consists of seedling preparation activities, planting, and harvesting of fresh fruits bunches (FFBs). The midstream sector is the manufacturing process that involves the processing and refining of FFB which is harvested from the plantation or collected from smallholders to produce crude palm oil. Eventually, crude palm oil will be further treated in the downstream sector to be stored or marketed either domestically or exported before eventually reaching the consumers. The final product is usually a food product. Albeit the various successes achieved by the palm oil industry within the 100 years of progress in Malaysia, there are various issues and challenges faced by the country's palm oil industry

Using Supervised Learning Models for Creating a New Fake News Analysis and Classification of a COVID-19 Dataset: A case study on Covid-19 in Iran

Today, the growth of the coronavirus as a pandemic and its global expansion is a significant concern in our society and the international community. However, in recent years, many individuals have shifted their major source of news and information to social networks. Consequently, the widespread dissemination of false and misleading information on social media is significant for most politicians. Our effort is not only against COVID-19 but against an 'infodemic' as well. To address this, on COVID-19, we have collected and released a labeled dataset of 7,000 social media postings Persian data, and articles of authentic and false news. Covid 19 fake news has been detected in other languages such as Arabic, English, Chinese, and Hindi. We execute a multi-label task (actual vs. fictitious) on the labeled dataset and compare it to six machine learning baselines: Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, Naive Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbors, and Random Forest. On the test set, the support vector machine gives us the best results, with an 89 percent accuracy rate. © 2022 IEEE.

COVID-19 Pandemic and the Fault Lines of Citizenship Education

The COVID-19 pandemic is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime emergency. While it seems that the end is nigh, there is also a renewed talk of the looming fourth wave spurred by the mutated Delta, Delta+, and other variants. The pandemic has made several fault lines visible in almost all societies. These include but are not limited to the tentativeness of our knowledge (especially science), the precariousness of our health systems, and failings of the educational systems, particularly citizenship education. While the COVID-19 pandemic will be long remembered as the health crisis of our times;we contend that the pandemic is also an educational crisis. Results of neoliberal neglect of citizenship-related education are now apparent in form of unethical, unjust, racist, and socially irresponsible attitudes and behaviors of individuals, collectives, and states. At the individual level, these are obvious in the irresponsible behaviors that endanger the lives of fellow citizens. At the community level, the failure of citizenship education is evident in vaccination inequality both within and between societies. Finally, at the level of international community, one can see vaccination nationalism, and politically and economically motivated vaccination diplomacy as markers of unethical citizenship.

The Geopolitics of the North African Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic: Opportunities and Challenges

The sudden outbreak of the Coronavirus in January 2020 took the world by surprise. Initial state-response was mired by confusion, uncertainty, apprehension, and near demoralization. However, several countries around the world, including some Middle Eastern and North Africa countries (MENA) took the challenge seriously in the early stages and set an example to be emulated globally. The objective of this article is to examine the response of the North African countries to the pandemic, examine the opportunities and the challenges facing the region, and add up the lessons learned in order to be better prepared for impending crises facing the nation-state, the region at large, and the international community. This survey article seeks to highlight the common denominators whenever possible and examine country-specific conditions that determine the success or the failure in dealing with the Corona Crisis in Middle East and North Africa.

The Political Economy of Rights to the COVID-19 Vaccine in Southern Africa

Access to vaccine and medical technologies is a right derived from the right to health as enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and other international and national conventions. However, there is a void between the commitment in principle to enhancing this access as part of the right to benefit from scientific progress on the one hand, and technical considerations surrounding universal access to health goods on the other hand. In Southern Africa, studies on the COVID-19 vaccine focused on how the international community has failed to commit itself to helping developing countries in providing aid towards vaccine procurement. Little effort has been directed at exploring alternatives to the manufacturing of generic vaccine. The study aimed to explore the possibilities of increasing the availability of generic vaccines in Southern Africa. An exploration of the potential of state institutions together with Africa-based pharmaceutical companies to ascertain the possibility of carrying out the task of manufacturing the vaccine was done. This was done through document analysis from literature that has been published on vaccine production of even other diseases as well as that of COVID-19. Literature comprised of official documents, academic publications as well as company documents. In addition to that, an analysis of documents on the enabling legal framework was also conducted. Through document analysis, national medicine policies that were reviewed indicated that although health is a constitutional right, the drafting of it did not factor the element that lack of access to vaccines seriously compromise the right to health. There was inadequate availability of human expertise, while commitment at national level was insignificant. On the enabling legal framework, it was noted that the World Trade Organisation, Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property also created inequality of access by prioritising intellectual rights more than access to health. Given the lack of expertise, insignificant national commitment, and promotion of the rights to health in some Southern African states, a higher mortality risk is imminent. Hence the need for a comprehensive establishment of equitable access to COVID-19 vaccine in Southern Africa countries.

Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout and Human Rights Ramifications in Africa: Balancing the Onus to Protect the Right to Health and the Freedom of Conscience in Zimbabwe and South Africa

Given the socioeconomic and health security ramifications of the COVID-19 sickness since the beginning of the year 2020, the discovery of vaccinations has been a huge breakthrough. The international community and national governments' common commitment to preserve citizens' right to the greatest attainable health standards have fuelled the urgent need for vaccine development. Even though any COVID-19 vaccination should be seen as a global public good, the African continent has lagged in the dissemination of COVID-19 vaccines. The human rights implications of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out on the African continent are examined in this research, which is based on secondary data sources and focuses on Zimbabwe and South Africa, two neighbouring Southern African countries. The research demonstrates that the African continent is confronted with a slew of concerns, including vaccine accessibility, price, and transparency. The paper also reveals a conflict that has arisen between governments' recommendations that everyone is vaccinated to protect all members of society and the freedom of some members of society to interpret the vaccine through the lens of their religious and cultural beliefs, including their freedom to express their beliefs and choose whether or not to be vaccinated. This circumstance is providing and will continue to pose a significant challenge for African governments in their efforts to implement mass immunization.

United States Supports International Efforts to End Conflict in Northern Ethiopia

Since the outbreak of conflict in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray in November 2020, the international community has attempted to pressure Ethiopia, Eritrea, and regional Tigrayan forces to cease hostilities. The election of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018 “marked the beginning of a political transition” for Ethiopia, which had been governed by a “coalition of ethno-regional parties” called the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) since 1991.1 The Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF) had long dominated the EPRDF, despite the fact that Tigrayans make up only seven percent of Ethiopia's population.2 Repression by the EPRDF prompted several years of protests led by Ethiopia's “largest ethnic group, the Oromo, and by members of the second largest group, the Amhara,”3 and brought Abiy, “the EPRDF's first Oromo leader,” to power with promises of reform.4 Abiy's “government released political prisoners, removed terrorist designations on opposition groups, . . . loosened media and civil society restrictions,” and prosecuted former officials for abuses and corruption.5 Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his efforts, especially his negotiation of an end to a long-running border dispute with Eritrea, which borders the Tigray region.6 There were increasing frictions, however, between Abiy and the TPLF. 16 In an ultimately successful effort to stop the Tigrayan force's advance, Abiy called on civilians to take up arms, went to the front lines, and deployed armed drones reportedly acquired from the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Iran.17 Amidst improving security conditions, on February 15, Ethiopia's parliament voted to lift the state of emergency declared in November.18 Since the outbreak of the conflict, the international community, including the United States, has repeatedly called on the parties to cease hostilities.19 The African Union (AU) has played a leading role in mediation efforts in the region, deploying AU High Representative for the Horn of Africa region and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.20 Both the United States and the United Nations have expressed support for the AU efforts.21 The need to end the conflict has become more urgent as the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia has deteriorated. 32 The order authorized the secretary of the treasury to impose sanctions on, among others, the governments involved in the conflict, military or security forces operating in northern Ethiopia, and persons engaged in or complicit in human rights abuses, threats to security, obstructing humanitarian assistance, or a variety of other harmful actions in northern Ethiopia.33 The White House framed the sanctions as targeting those “responsible for, or complicit in, prolonging the conflict, obstructing humanitarian access, or preventing a ceasefire,” while promising that the United States would “seek to ensure personal remittances to non-sanctioned persons, humanitarian assistance to at-risk populations, and longer-term assistance programs and commercial activities that address basic human needs continue to flow to Ethiopia and the greater Horn of Africa region through legitimate and transparent channels.”

Windows of repression: Using COVID-19 policies against political dissidents?

What explains the great variation in the adoption, timing, and duration of government policies made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? In this article, we explore whether government incentives to repress domestic dissidents influence their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that COVID-19 containment policies are observationally equivalent to those that abusive governments use to limit domestic dissent – that is, policies that restrict citizens’ freedom of movement. This creates an opportunity for abusive governments to engage in repressive behavior without countervailing pressure from citizens and the international community. Following this logic, we expect abusive governments to be more likely to adopt restrictive policies, adopt them earlier in the course of the pandemic, and take longer to relax restrictions. Empirically, we find that governments that have recently engaged in state violence against civilians or abused citizens’ human rights were about 10% more likely to enact lockdown and curfew policies. Compared to less repressive countries, these policies were implemented approximately 48 days earlier in the pandemic and kept in place for approximately 23 days longer. Overall, our results advance our understanding of how the repressiveness of state institutions can shape policy responses to a global health crisis.

The UN Security Council and gender in health emergencies: what comes next?

Operative paragraph 7 of UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2532 (2020) acknowledges ‘the critical role that women are playing in the COVID-19 response efforts’, the ‘disproportionate negative impact the pandemic is having on women and girls’, and ‘calls for concrete actions to minimise this impact and ensure the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and youth in the development and implementation of an adequate and sustainable response to the pandemic’. This Resolution is clear in its language: states must recognise and respond to the gendered effects of the pandemic. The adoption of Resolution 2532 and subsequently 2565 (2021) is an important opportunity to further integrate health emergencies and UNSC’s Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. The language is deliberate: it offers global health a set of mechanisms on how to integrate gender into complex crises and, in turn, offers WPS a chance to engage with health and pandemics as a security challenge for women and girls. However, as previous health emergencies and the WPS agenda show us, Resolutions are not a panacea: they are political compromises often riddled with contradictions and are dependent on states and the international community to implement them.