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Article
Publication date: 12 July 2023

Ji Kai, Ming Liu, Yue Wang and Ding Zhang

Nucleic acid testing is an effective method of accurate prevention and control and a key measure to block the spread of the epidemic. However, the fraud in nucleic acid testing

Abstract

Purpose

Nucleic acid testing is an effective method of accurate prevention and control and a key measure to block the spread of the epidemic. However, the fraud in nucleic acid testing occurred frequently during epidemics. This paper aims to provide a viable scheme for the government to strengthen the supervision of nucleic acid testing and to provide a new condition for the punishment for the negative act of the government and the upper limit of the reward for nucleic acid testing institution of no data fraud.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper formulates an evolutionary game model between the government and nucleic acid testing institution under four different mechanisms of reward and punishment to solve the issue of nucleic acid testing supervision. The authors discuss the stability of equilibrium points under the four distinct strategies and conduct simulation experiments.

Findings

The authors find that the strategy of dynamic reward and static penalty outperforms the strategies of static reward and static penalty, dynamic reward and static penalty, static reward and dynamic penalty, dynamic reward and dynamic penalty. The results reveal the appropriate punishment for the negative act of the government can enhance the positivity of the government's supervision in the strategy of dynamic reward and static penalty, while the upper limit of the reward for nucleic acid testing institution of no data fraud cannot be too high. Otherwise, it will backfire. Another interesting and counterintuitive result is that in the strategy of dynamic reward and dynamic penalty, the upper limit of the penalty for data fraud of nucleic acid testing institution cannot be augmented recklessly. Otherwise, it will diminish the government's positivity for supervision.

Originality/value

Most of the existing evolutionary game researches related to the reward and punishment mechanism and data fraud merely highlight that increasing the intensity of reward and punishment can help improve the government's supervision initiative and can minimize data fraud of nucleic acid institution, but they fall short of the boundary conditions for the punishment and reward mechanism. Previous literature only study the supervision of nucleic acid testing qualitatively and lacks quantitative research. Moreover, they do not depict the problem scenario of testing data fraud of nucleic acid institution regulated by the government via the evolutionary game model. Thus, this study effectively bridges these gaps. This research is universal and can be extended to other industries.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2022

Cheng Zhou, Rao Li, Xiaoju Xiong, Jie Li and Yuyue Gao

This study presented the experience of improving the nucleic acid sample collection and transportation service in response to the epidemic. The main purpose is that through…

Abstract

Purpose

This study presented the experience of improving the nucleic acid sample collection and transportation service in response to the epidemic. The main purpose is that through intelligent path planning, combined with the time scheduling of sample points, the process of obtaining results to determine the state of COVID-19 patients could be speeding up.

Design/methodology/approach

The research optimized the process, including finding an optimal path to traverse all sample points in the hospital area via intelligent path planning method and standardizing the operation through the time sequence scheduling of each round of support staff to collect and send samples in the hospital area, so as to ensure the shortest time in each round. And the study examines these real-time experiments through retrospective examination.

Findings

The real-time experiments' data showed that the proposed path planning and scheduling model could provide a reliable reference for improving the efficiency of hospital logistics. Testing is a very important part of diagnosis and prompt results are essential. It shows the possibility of applying the shortest-path algorithms to optimize sample collection processes in the hospital and presents the case study that gives the expected outcomes of such a process.

Originality/value

The value of the study lies in the abstraction of a very practical and urgent problem into a TSP. Combining the ant colony algorithm with the genetic algorithm (ACAGA), the performance of path planning is improved. Under the intervention and guidance, the efficiency of hospital regional logistics planning was greatly improved, which may be of greater benefit to critical patients who must go through fever clinic during the epidemic. By detailing how to more rapidly obtain results through engineering method, the paper contributes ideas and plans for practitioners to use. The experience and lessons learned from Tongji Hospital are expected to provide guidance for supporting service measures in national public health infrastructure management and valuable reference for the development of hospitals in other countries or regions.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 30 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2021

Yang Liu, Yi Chen, Kefan Xie and Jia Liu

This research aims to figure out whether the pool testing method of SARS-CoV-2 for COVID-19 is effective and the optimal sample size is in one bunch. Additionally, since the…

Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to figure out whether the pool testing method of SARS-CoV-2 for COVID-19 is effective and the optimal sample size is in one bunch. Additionally, since the infection rate was unknown at the beginning, this research aims to propose a multiple sampling approach that enables the pool testing method to be utilized successfully.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors verify that the pool testing method of SARS-CoV-2 for COVID-19 is effective under the situation of the shortage of nucleic acid detection kits based on probabilistic modeling. In this method, the testing is performed on several samples of the cases together as a bunch. If the test result of the bunch is negative, then it is shown that none of the cases in the bunch has been infected with the novel coronavirus. On the contrary, if the test result of the bunch is positive, then the samples are tested one by one to confirm which cases are infected.

Findings

If the infection rate is extremely low, while the same number of detection kits is used, the expected number of cases that can be tested by the pool testing method is far more than that by the one-by-one testing method. The pool testing method is effective only when the infection rate is less than 0.3078. The higher the infection rate, the smaller the optimal sample size in one bunch. If N samples are tested by the pool testing method, while the sample size in one bunch is G, the number of detection kits required is in the interval (N/G, N).

Originality/value

This research proves that the pool testing method is not only suitable for the situation of the shortage of detection kits but also the situation of the overall or sampling detection for a large population. More importantly, it calculates the optimal sample size in one bunch corresponding to different infection rates. Additionally, a multiple sampling approach is proposed. In this approach, the whole testing process is divided into several rounds in which the sample sizes in one bunch are different. The actual infection rate is estimated gradually precisely by sampling inspection in each round.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 52 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1993

Adrian Eley

In order to maintain food safety standards, conventionalmicrobiological methods are still being used to detect bacteria andother organisms in food. However, these techniques are…

Abstract

In order to maintain food safety standards, conventional microbiological methods are still being used to detect bacteria and other organisms in food. However, these techniques are not ideal, as often it can be many days before results are known‐which may be of particular economic importance for those foods with a short shelf‐life. The introduction of newer technology, such as nucleic acid probe and related amplification technology in other fields, has transformed the detection of many organisms. The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) allows nucleic acid probes, with their inherent specificity, to be used to detect organisms present in very low numbers within a short period of time. However, at present, in food microbiology, there are technical problems with using the PCR, as certain components in food interfere with the reaction. When these problems are resolved and with prospects for semi‐automation of the PCR technique, there should be enormous potential for the rapid detection of bacteria in foods, with consequent benefits to the food industry and to consumers.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science, vol. 93 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 April 2023

Majid Monajjemi and Fatemeh Mollaamin

Piperidine side chain-functionalized N, N′-bissalicylidene phenylene di amine di-anion (salphen) consisting of salphen-Zn and salphen-Cu are able to intercalate with nucleic base…

Abstract

Purpose

Piperidine side chain-functionalized N, N′-bissalicylidene phenylene di amine di-anion (salphen) consisting of salphen-Zn and salphen-Cu are able to intercalate with nucleic base stacking of DNA and can be applied as an optical DNA hybridization detector. Attaching DNA and salphen to glass surfaces has been done via coating the surface with the silane coupling agents containing 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane that was synthesized for acting as a high-affinity RNA carrier matrix. The Schiff base salphen-zinc (II) and salphen-Cu (II) complexes-labelled probe to target nucleic acid renders a colour change of the DNA biosensor to a green and red background colour for zinc and copper, respectively. This study aims to indicate that the DNA biosensor data with high efficiency is used for detection of dengue virus serotypes 2 (DENV-2) and Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) concentration via salphen-Zn (II) and salphen-Cu (II), respectively, in human samples.

Design/methodology/approach

1H-NMR and 13C-NMR have been used via PerkinElmer LAMBDA 35 instrument. The authors also used a double beam spectrophotometer with (CH3)4Si (TMS) as reference and dimethyl sulfoxide as solvent reference in pH = 7.0. Various DNA concentrations have been used for UV spectrophotometry at 300 nm and 400 nm for zinc and copper complexes, respectively. BRUKER mass spectra with DIONEX Ultimate 3000 LC model were used for all measurements. Mettler Teledo model (DSC882e) of differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used for measure the melting temperature of metal zinc and copper complexes. The morphology of the silica Nano spheres (SiNs) were scanned by FESEM with Model JSM-6700F from Japan.

Findings

The Cu (II) and Zn (II)-salphen-viruses DNA system for CHIKV and DENV-2, respectively, in different concentration have been investigated via various spectroscopies (Figure 3). CHIKV and DENV-2 DNA were selected from human saliva and urine samples as models for conformations of human G4-DNA. By increasing the amounts of DNAs, and G4, the UV–Vis bands of located above 300 nm, experienced a hypochromic effect. The Cu2+ complex exhibits selectivity towards the G4, and there is a similar affinity for Zn2+ complex binds to the G4. These results collectively suggest that the Cu2+ complex is stronger than the Zn2+ complex. The authors have found copper (II) and zinc (II) compounds and nucleic acid-complexes are strongly fluorescent molecules in the low energy range, from the visible to the near-infrared. Since the fluorescent emission of Zn (II) and Cu (II) complexes are enhanced by the binding to nucleic acids upon visible light exposure when bound to DNA. These complexes are important as selective fluorescent probes for nucleic acids and to highlight their potential application. UV–vis spectroscopy is an accurate for finding the extent of ligand interaction with DNA and metallic complexes–DNA binding. Generally, the binding of intercalative compounds to DNA can be characterized through absorption spectral titrations, where lowering in absorbance (hypochromism) and shift to longer wavelengths (red shift) were observed in this work.

Originality/value

The serum samples have been provided as citrate and collected in tubes after blood is allowed to clot. Then, it has been separated by centrifugation, and the authors have kept serum refrigerated at 4°C or frozen at –20°C. It is notable; specimens have been confirmed by Centres for Disease Control (CDC)-Dengue Branch previously. For the work, these samples have been frozen previously, and the diagnostic practiced tests at the CDC-Dengue Branch have been validated in serum and plasma. Therefore, plasma separated in lavender or heparins are suitable and acceptable for serology testing.

Article
Publication date: 3 May 2023

Yan Pei

The purpose of this paper is to figure out how authoritarian regimes conduct crisis management through application of technology, institutions and people.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to figure out how authoritarian regimes conduct crisis management through application of technology, institutions and people.

Design/methodology/approach

By means of a literature review, this paper briefly reviews the digital governance of authoritarianism and its approach in crisis management. Then, a case study with empirical analysis is conducted to explain how an authoritarian regime would perceive and manage crises in the digital era.

Findings

China’s response towards COVID-19 was mainly based on digitalised grid management. Government’s perception of the crisis directly influences directions of institutions, while technology is developed, applied and iterated with the needs of institutions, rather than the public interests. And for the general public, the level of trust in the government directly affects the acceptance of technology.

Originality/value

Previous studies on crisis management of authoritarian governments in the digital era have mostly been conducted from a techno-ethical perspective. However, this paper verifies that the use of technology in crisis management requires involvement of institutions and public.

Details

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, vol. 17 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6166

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 October 2020

Shaolong Wu and Muhua Lin

The purpose of this study is to analyze the scope and magnitude of Chinese budgetary responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

1005

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyze the scope and magnitude of Chinese budgetary responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

This study analyzes budgetary response in China by means of public reports, news reports and policy documents.

Findings

The Chinese responses were comprehensive, flexible and fast. Through the normal authorization process, simplifying procedures of budget allocation and special legislative approval after the surge of COVID-19 cases, China used many budgetary measures to help suffering businesses and households to buffer the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic. It also increased public health spending very quickly so subnational governments could control and prevent the pandemic with the necessary resources. International relief efforts have also been increased. These findings show the unique strength of the Chinese political system, which is very flexible and quick in resource mobilization.

Originality/value

This study offers a quick review of the Chinese budgetary responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlights some of the future concerns and needs of the Chinese government in domestic and global health areas.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. 32 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Keywords

Expert briefing
Publication date: 13 December 2022

This comes after weeks of protests against enforcement of the policies and worsening economic data. The government did not prepare the public for the sudden policy transition…

Details

DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB274655

ISSN: 2633-304X

Keywords

Geographic
Topical
Article
Publication date: 31 May 2019

Jennifer Gratrix, Petra Smyczek, Lindsay Bertholet, M.C. Lee, Diane Pyne, Dan Woods, Keith Courtney and Rabia Ahmed

Incarceration provides an opportunity for screening and treatment of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs) in high-risk groups. The purpose of this paper is to…

Abstract

Purpose

Incarceration provides an opportunity for screening and treatment of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs) in high-risk groups. The purpose of this paper is to determine positivity rates of STBBI screening within correctional facilities using opt-in strategies and estimate the proportion of admissions tested.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional, retrospective review of testing data from January 2012 to August 2015 from three provincial correctional facilities located in Alberta, Canada was completed. Analysis variables included STBBI, gender, facility, collection year and age. STBBI-stratified analysis was performed to identify correlates for positivity using univariate and logistic regressions.

Findings

Overall prevalence of chlamydia was 11.2 percent and gonorrhea was 3.5 percent; correlates for both were younger age and facility type. The syphilis prevalence rate was 3.2 percent; correlates included being female, older age, adult facilities, with later years being protective. In total, 14 (0.3 percent) newly diagnosed HIV cases were found, prevalence increased with age. HBV prevalence was 1.7 percent with no significant correlations. Nearly one-tenth (n=422) of those screened for HCV antibody were positive; all variables were significantly correlated. Overall estimates of the proportion of admissions tested by STBBI were low and ranged from 4.8 to 16.1 percent.

Originality/value

This study found high rates of STBBI in correctional facilities and showed that only a small proportion of the population was tested using an opt-in strategy. Shifting to an “opt-out” strategy may be warranted.

Details

International Journal of Prisoner Health, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-9200

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2021

Minyu Wu and Kun Kong

This paper aims to investigate the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives adopted by Chinese firms during the outbreak of COVID-19. Facing this unknown, unexpected and…

1286

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives adopted by Chinese firms during the outbreak of COVID-19. Facing this unknown, unexpected and devastating disease, Chinese corporations demonstrated their CSR in different approaches. The purpose of this paper is to explore how CSR influences the decisions of the corporations that respond to a severe incident and how corporations can achieve their mission or strategic objectives by responding to a serious incident.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on secondary data and thematic analysis, this paper examines six Chinese corporations which are the leading firms in their respective industries.

Findings

This paper finds that firms adopted a mixed approach to conducting their CSR initiatives, including altruistic, strategic and citizenship CSR initiatives. This paper also confirms that strategic CSR initiatives were in line with the five dimensions of strategic CSR including centrality, specificity, proactivity, visibility and voluntarism. In addition, this paper also shows that a company could create its competitive advantage by carrying out CSR initiatives that are able to strengthen its value chain activities or the competitive context. This is based on the partnership built by the firms with their stakeholders to recognize the shared value.

Practical implications

This paper shows the implication that business leaders should understood the role of a business in society and the importance of stakeholders’ expectations. The underlying philosophy is that CSR could strengthen the resilience of society; business organizations need to operate in a healthy society.

Originality/value

This paper provides insights of Chinese corporations responding to a severe social incident. It highlights the strategic perspective of CSR initiatives and the linkage between CSR activities and a firm’s competitive advantage.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. 21 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

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