Better News about Math: A Research Agenda

Relevance of research topic. The global COVID-19 pandemic is forcing government regulators to adjust the priorities of the state budget and tax system. Under such conditions, it is particularly important to ensure the effectiveness of the system of formation and implementation of the country's budget which allows to create conditions for expanding fiscal space. Formulation of the problem. Restrictive measures in the fight against the global COVID-19 pandemic negatively affects the fiscal policy of the state. Taxpayers need support from the state which in turn affects the structure of revenue and expenditure budgets at all levels. To increase the level of socio-economic development of the country and territorial communities it is necessary to ensure balanced fiscal regulation. Analysis of recent research and publications. The issue of formation and implementation of the country's budget is widely reflected in the works of foreign and domestic scholars: J. Keynes, A. Laffer, R. Musgrave, P. Samuelson, J. Stiglitz, W. Tanzi, I. Adamenko, Y. Zhalilo, L. Lysiak, I. Lukianenko, V. Makohon, M. Pasichnyi, Yu. Radionov, I. Chuhunov and others. Selection of unexplored parts of the general problem. The growing fiscal risks caused by the destabilizing impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic require strengthening the soundness of the process of formation and implementation of the country's budget. Problem setting, research goals. The main objectives of the study are: to show the peculiarities of the formation and implementation of the country's budget in the global COVID-19 pandemic; to substantiate the main directions of improving the system of formation and implementation of the country's budget under modern conditions. The purpose of the study is to assess the peculiarities of the formation and implementation of the country's budget in the global COVID-19 pandemic. Research methodology. The article uses a set of methods and approaches: systemic and structural approach, statistical analysis, structuring, comparative approach, factorial approach, etc. Results of work. The essence and role of the fiscal system under the conditions of social and economic instability are revealed. The peculiarities of the formation and implementation of the national budget in the global COVID-19 pandemic are shown. The comparative analysis and assessment of the main budget and tax indicators in the countries with developed and transformational economies is carried out. The main directions of improving the system of formation and implementation of the country's budget under conditions of the global COVID-19 pandemic at all levels of the budget system are substantiated. Area of application of results. The results of the study can be used in the formation and implementation of fiscal policy under modern conditions. Conclusions. The crisis provoked by the global COVID-19 pandemic is negatively affecting the fiscal policy of the state, and therefore public authorities must take prudent and reasonable measures of discretionary fiscal policy, including during the formation and implementation of the state budget. Significant fiscal support measures taken by the government to combat COVID-19 are designed to support taxpayers by reducing tax pressures and increasing state social assistance, which is important to ensure economic growth and employment. Health policy, unemployment benefits, government support for corporate liquidity, remittances and wage subsidies increase the expenditure side of the budget. On the other hand, the difficult macroeconomic conditions caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic create and maintain significant budgetary risks while ensuring the proper level of revenue execution of budgets at all levels.

Evidence suggests low health literacy is prevalent in the United States and associated with worse clinical outcomes, yet few studies have investigated health literacy in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of low health literacy and numeracy in lupus patients and to examine its association with disease characteristics. Patients with SLE were recruited from an academic center clinic. Participants completed in-person assessments of health literacy (Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine, REALM) and numeracy (Numeracy Understanding in Medicine Instrument Shortened Version, S-NUMi). Clinical disease activity measures were obtained, including urine protein to creatinine ratio (UPC), Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) and physician global assessment (PhGA) scores. Ninety-five SLE patients participated in the study; 13% had low health literacy and 73% had limited health numeracy. Patients with lower health literacy and numeracy were more likely to be Black, have Medicaid insurance, and earn income <$50 K annually. In linear regression models, patients with limited health numeracy had, on average, PhGA scores 0.31 points higher (95% CI: 0.02, 0.60) than patients with adequate numeracy, after adjusting for race and age. No clinical outcomes were associated with health literacy. In this exploratory study, we found SLE patients with low numeracy had higher disease activity. Our findings indicate that lower health literacy and numeracy are more common among Black and socioeconomically disadvantaged patients. Additional research will be needed to investigate the impact of health literacy on other outcomes and racial disparities in SLE.

The Right to Seek Asylum in Canada (During a Global Pandemic)

In the global COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents are regarded as especially burdened due to school closures and leisure activities being banned, often reducing peer contacts to zero. Experiencing restrictions while being uninvolved in decision-making processes left them with little control over their daily lives. Meanwhile, research highlights that optimism can act as a buffer against the impact of daily hassles and is considered an important resource for mental health. To understand the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for adolescents' lives, this study examined how momentary perceived control and perceived personal and societal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic relate to momentary optimism. Using experience-sampling data from N = 242 (Mage = 15.89; 86% female) adolescents assessed during the second pandemic wave in Germany, multilevel modeling revealed positive associations between adolescents’ momentary perceived control and their momentary optimism at both the within- and between-person level. Additionally, perceived consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic showed specific associations with momentary optimism: Whereas perceived societal consequences were directly related to lower momentary optimism, perceived personal consequences strengthened the relationship between momentary perceived control and optimism. These findings highlight the role of perceived control as an important resource for optimism both as a general tendency and within specific situations in daily life. This way, our results may shed light on how to support adolescent optimism during states of emergency, such as a worldwide pandemic.

A recapitulation of speaker reluctance before and during the pandemic It would be far from true to say the global Covid-19 pandemic is over. Looking at secondary education, however, a number of English teachers must feel that they went full circle: From the ‘usual’ teaching in a classroom to online-lessons, distance learning, some hybrid models and back to the classroom. Looking back at the time before the outbreak of Coronavirus, teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) included various difficulties, students’ reluctance to speak being one of the omnipresent ones. As a ubiquitous problem, teachers invest great amounts of energy into convincing their students to vocally take part in class — rightly so, given the importance of speaking for the students’ development of speaking competence. To build and foster speaking competence, also phrased as communicative ability, verbal student interaction is required in every phase of learning the language. This again relies on positive attitudes towards speaking activities that allow for practice of oral production and reproduction (Szpotowicz 2012, Savaşçı 2013). Despite all efforts, too little student participation appeared to be a recurring problem already before the pandemic (Savaşçı 2013). But when the virus outbreak became a global pandemic and schools switched to online lessons, different studies showed the same pattern: Participation decreased in general and feelings of restraint regarding oral participation grew (Meşe &amp; Sevilen 2021, Bray et al. 2021, Unger et al. 2020).

887 STEMI in the Time of COVID-19: NSW Data

BackgroundRecently, machine learning (ML) has been transforming our daily lives by enabling intelligent voice assistants, personalized support for purchase decisions, and efficient credit card fraud detection. In addition to its everyday applications, ML holds the potential to improve medicine as well, especially with regard to diagnostics in clinics. In a world characterized by population growth, demographic change, and the global COVID-19 pandemic, ML systems offer the opportunity to make diagnostics more effective and efficient, leading to a high interest of clinics in such systems. However, despite the high potential of ML, only a few ML systems have been deployed in clinics yet, as their adoption process differs significantly from the integration of prior health information technologies given the specific characteristics of ML.ObjectiveThis study aims to explore the factors that influence the adoption process of ML systems for medical diagnostics in clinics to foster the adoption of these systems in clinics. Furthermore, this study provides insight into how these factors can be used to determine the ML maturity score of clinics, which can be applied by practitioners to measure the clinic status quo in the adoption process of ML systems.MethodsTo gain more insight into the adoption process of ML systems for medical diagnostics in clinics, we conducted a qualitative study by interviewing 22 selected medical experts from clinics and their suppliers with profound knowledge in the field of ML. We used a semistructured interview guideline, asked open-ended questions, and transcribed the interviews verbatim. To analyze the transcripts, we first used a content analysis approach based on the health care–specific framework of nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability. Then, we drew on the results of the content analysis to create a maturity model for ML adoption in clinics according to an established development process.ResultsWith the help of the interviews, we were able to identify 13 ML-specific factors that influence the adoption process of ML systems in clinics. We categorized these factors according to 7 domains that form a holistic ML adoption framework for clinics. In addition, we created an applicable maturity model that could help practitioners assess their current state in the ML adoption process.ConclusionsMany clinics still face major problems in adopting ML systems for medical diagnostics; thus, they do not benefit from the potential of these systems. Therefore, both the ML adoption framework and the maturity model for ML systems in clinics can not only guide future research that seeks to explore the promises and challenges associated with ML systems in a medical setting but also be a practical reference point for clinicians.

Objective: This paper examines the interconnectedness of stock market indices between the United States and four Latin American countries: Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and Chile. Particularly, it focuses on linkages and spillover effects, analyzing both the tails and the mean of the distribution.Design/Methodology: To address this gap identified in the literature, this study investigates the pre- and post-COVID-19 periods using the Quantile Vector Autoregression (QVAR) approach.Findings: The analysis revealed significant time variations in co-movements between stock indices, with notable peaks during the 2014–2017 and 2020–2021 periods. These peaks correspond to OPEC’s strategic shift in oil production and the global COVID-19 pandemic. Connectedness levels above 50 % underscore a high degree of interdependence, with the strongest connectedness observed in extreme quantiles, which signals increased risks during critical market conditions.Conclusions: This study identified significant volatility interconnectedness among U.S. and Latin American stock indices, with peaks during major global events such as OPEC’s 2014 strategy shift and the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil emerges as a key driver of regional volatility transmission. Analysis of extreme quantiles revealed heightened spillovers during turbulent periods, underscoring increased market risk. These findings emphasize the impact of geopolitical and economic factors on market dynamics and offer valuable insights for investors, risk managers, and policymakers to navigate periods of elevated market uncertainty.Originality: These findings highlight pronounced volatility spillovers in the extreme tails of the distribution, accentuating increased uncertainty and risks associated with significant market fluctuations.

“In Honorable Remembrance to All Generations”: Commemoration and the Making of Mormon Battalion Memory, 1921–2021

Beginning with the current monument debate, focussed in the United States on Confederate statuary but coming to envelop cities in Europe and elsewhere, I consider how a variety of on-site and more remote audiences to commemoration can help us think not only about activism around older monuments, but what kind of history art can represent in public space. From the use of ‘pussy hats’ in the Women’s Marches to Cai Guo-Qiang’s simultaneously celebratory and premonitory use of fireworks to simulate nuclear explosions, ambitious public art works both with specific sites and on social media and in the press, materially and performatively. Reviewing dominant theories of materiality, mediation, and commemoration, I plead for a concept not of static materiality but of materializing history open to a plurality of interests—what Michael Rothberg calls multidirectional memory. This, the introduction argues and the later chapters will show, is at work in many artists’ efforts to commemorate or raise awareness of overwhelming subjects that connect the local to the global—from patterns of labor and domination to environmental degradation and the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Affinity for technology and group cohesion link to mental health during social isolation in Italy and Japan

SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to cleverly mimic the FURIN-cleavage site in human ENaC-α, unlike any prior coronavirus strain, shedding new light on the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in COVID-19 patients.

The global COVID-19 pandemic caused various economic contraction in most countries, including all of China¡¯s major trading partners. Using a difference-in-differences model, this study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on China¡¯s monthly exports from January 2019 to May 2020. We find strong and robust evidence that China¡¯s exports to countries at high risk from the pandemic experienced a larger decline than exports to low-risk countries after the onset of the pandemic, with the prices of exports increasing significantly. Furthermore, the results of a triple differences model show heterogeneous effects across different industries and goods. Chinese industries located upstream in the global value chain are more vulnerable than those located downstream. Industries with high labor and contract intensity (proxies for processing trade) experienced greater declines than other industries. Exports of goods with high import elasticity of substitution experienced higher prices and moderate volume losses due to the pandemic.

Background: Since the start of the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic, which originated in December 2019 in Hubei Province in China, evidence of nursing staff displaying mental health (MH) symptoms and disorders began to rapidly emerge. Research from as early as February 2020 suggests MH conditions such as anxiety, depression and insomnia have been shown to be the most prevalent complaints amongst health professionals (Li et al., 2020). According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) (2020) on the 11th of March 2020 there were 114 countries affected by the virus, with 118,000 cases of the disease worldwide and 4,291 deaths globally. Aim: This narrative literature review aims to identify which Mental Health Disorders (MHDs) have been found to be most evident in nursing professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic and to establish the extent to which they are prevalent. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted from the 1st of January 2020 until the 14th of October 2020 and the data collated from 11 databases (CINAHL, Embase, Medline, PsycInfo, PubMed, PsycArticles, Psychology &amp; Behavioural Science Collection, Cochrane, ProQuest, Scopus and Google Scholar). A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) flow diagram was employed to depict the flow of information through the different phases of the narrative review, mapping the number of records identified, included and excluded, and the reasons for exclusions to demonstrate the process of establishing the final body of evidence analysed. A total of fifteen studies are included in the final synthesis for this secondary research which comprised studies of varying types and methodologies. Results: Anxiety dominated the majority of studies and demonstrated the highest percentage of nursing professionals affected by this disorder. Anxiety was found to be between 8.1% to 77.3% prevalent, with between 2.17% and 27.3% of the participants in the included studies deemed to suffer from a severe form of anxiety disorder. Depression was the second most dominant disorder in the participants, ranging from 26%-37.5% and moderate to severe depression was observed in 6.7% and 16.8% overall. A large proportion of studies demonstrated a significant prevalence of insomnia ranging from 28.75%-38.9%. A strong link between all three MHDs showed a similar pattern through all of the included studies in relation to nurse demographics and their working environment. Conclusion: As the pandemic continues, more research is required to be able to identify other potential MHDs, which may emerge, and to what extent they do so. Furthermore, interventions must be identified and implemented accordingly to reduce the number of nurse professionals dealing with MH issues, which result in longer-term conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The COVID-19 global pandemic has significantly impacted people throughout the United States and the World. While it was initially believed the virus was transmitted from animal to human, person-to-person transmission is now recognized as the main source of community spread. This article integrates data into physics-based models to analyze stability of the rapid COVID-19 growth and to obtain a data-driven model for spread dynamics among the human population. The proposed mass-conservation model is used to learn the parameters of pandemic growth and to predict the growth of total cases, deaths, and recoveries over a finite future time horizon. The proposed finite-time prediction model is validated by finite-time estimation of the total numbers of infected cases, deaths, and recoveries in the United States from March 12, 2020 to December 9, 2020.