cord-004091-gex0zvoa 2020 For this study, we ran eight ABMs to test various combinations of individual and group learning, using different information sources-with or without interactions among agents-as factors in the BNs. We investigate the extent to which the epidemic spreads, depending on these different learning approaches regarding risk perception and coping decisions. The empirically-driven BNs model a two-stage decision process of people facing a disease risk: learning to update risk perceptions (threat appraisal, BN1 in Fig 1) and making decisions about how to adapt their behavior during the epidemic (coping appraisal, BN2 in Fig 1) . To evaluate the impact of individual and social intelligence on agents'' learning processes regarding risk perception and coping appraisal and the resulting patterns of disease spread, we used four output measures: disease diffusion, risk perception, spatial patterns, and model performance. Finally, in M7, where household agents learned risk perception in decentralized groups and learned to cope individually, 2,911 infected cases were recorded (Table 3) . cord-004935-z86x3hnu 2012 Several papers in the literature employ agent-based modeling approach for providing reasonable solutions to dynamic optimization problems (DOPs). We present these in a tabular form called "Agent Based Dynamic Optimization Problem Solution Strategy" (ABDOPSS). ABDOPSS distinguishes different classes of agent based algorithms (via communication type, cooperation type, dynamism domain and etc.) by specifying the fundamental ingredients of each of these approaches with respect to problem domain (problems with dynamic objective functions, constraints and etc.). A classification scheme is introduced and presented in a tabular form called agent based dynamic optimization problem solution strategy (ABDOPSS). In this regard, a classification scheme is designed and presented in a tabular form called ABDOPSS (Agent Based Dynamic Optimization Problem Solution Strategy). Dynamic vehicle routing problem (DVRP) with two types of uncertainty, arrival time and service time, was employed in order to compare the performance of agent-based solution and on-line optimization approach. cord-005033-voi9gu0l 2008 In this paper, we develop an extended CA simulation model to study the dynamical behaviors of HIV/AIDS transmission. Additional, we divide the post-infection process of AIDS disease into several sub-stages in order to facilitate the study of the dynamics in different development stages of epidemics. Higher population density, higher mobility, higher number of infection source, and greater neighborhood are more likely to result in high levels of infections and in persistence. Ahmed and Agiza (1998) develop a CA model that takes into consideration the latency and incubation period of epidemics and allow each individual (agent) to have distinctive susceptibility. We also define four types of agents that are characterized by different infectivity (and susceptibility) and various forms of neighborhood to represent four types of people in real life. To capture this, we extend classical CA models by allowing each agent to have its own attributes such as mobility, infectivity, resistibility (susceptibility) 2 and different extent of neighborhood. cord-007367-e31zhty6 2015 We estimate, using an agent-based model, the effect of network position of different hospital worker groups on the spread of infectious diseases in a hospital. Following the theoretical discussion, we use our newly collected data on healthcare worker and patient contacts to model the spread of an infectious disease in a hospital setting. The model allows us to identify the healthcare worker groups that would be expected to play the largest role in the spread of infectious diseases, in terms of network position, in this hospital setting. Because of these difficulties we use a simulation approach to help us measure the average and marginal effects of individuals belonging to different worker groups in our hospital contact data. We discuss the data and use agent-based models to identify the healthcare workers whose position in the hospital contact network has the potential to create large numbers of infections in the hospital. cord-008495-gjn8kh2t 2007 cord-009481-6pm3rpzj 2009 In the second section, we describe a canonical model for resource allocation decision making for an intelligent adversary problem using an illustrative bioterrorism example with notional data. (16) In our example, we will use four of the recommendations: model the decisions of intelligent adversaries, include risk management, simplify the model by not assigning probabilities to the branches of uncertain events, and do not normalize the risk. (29) In our defenderattacker-defender decision analysis model, we have the two defender decisions (buy vaccine, add a Bio Watch city), the agent acquisition for the attacker is uncertain, the agent selection and target of attack is another decision, the consequences (fatalities and economic) are uncertain, the defender decision after attack to mitigate the maximum possible casualties, and the costs of defender decisions are known. We use multiple objective decision analysis with an additive value (risk) model to assign risk to the defender consequences. cord-013470-1obua17m 2020 Plasmonic sensors are used as detection devices that have important properties, such as rapid recognition, real-time analysis, no need labels, sensitive and selective sensing, portability, and, more importantly, simplicity in identifying target analytes. Various recent studies indicate that plasmonic sensors can be a key platform for monitoring biological and chemical threat agents owing to their combination of different charming properties such as sensitivity, rapid, unlabeled, low cost, real time, and portability [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] . Various recent studies indicate that plasmonic sensors can be a key platform for monitoring biological and chemical threat agents owing to their combination of different charming properties such as sensitivity, rapid, unlabeled, low cost, real time, and portability [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] . In this review, the recent developments of plasmonic sensors are overviewed for biological and chemical threat agents'' detection. cord-016361-upjhmfca 2019 When a new case of infectious disease is suspicious in Health Center, actors will collaborate to report it to Provincial Health Division through Health Zone Executive Team. This paper focuses precisely on improving the process of reporting health data from the peripheral level to the hierarchy for rapid decision-making and anticipate as much as possible the medical response using multi-agent systems (MAS). Two main ways of research can be studied in this paper: the use of mobile phone as a relevant medium to rapidly transfer medical data and the multi-agent system that is powerful to simulate organizational skills to anticipate diseases spreading. In the process described in Fig. 3 , the agents use some knowledge and tasks to perform a main goal together: collecting data in order to respond with efficiency to epidemic. cord-016819-6r4qf63o 2012 The system was applied to four UEEs: (1) an intentional attack by a deliberate use of a biological agent (Amerithrax), (2) a spontaneous outbreak of a new or re-emerging disease ("swine flu"), (3) a spontaneous outbreak by an accidental release of a pathogen (Sverdlovsk anthrax), and (4) a spontaneous natural outbreak of a known endemic disease that may mimic bioterrorism or biowarfare (Kosovo tularemia). This UEE analysis is a subtle and detailed differentiation through assessment of BA feasibility in comparison with other outbreak scenarios, in particular: (1) a spontaneous outbreak of a new or re-emerging disease (NR) (such as "swine fl u"), (2) a spontaneous outbreak by an accidental release of a pathogen (AR) (such as the Sverdlovsk anthrax outbreak), and (3) a spontaneous natural outbreak of a known endemic disease that may mimic bioterrorism or biowarfare (NE) (such as the Kosovo tularemia outbreak). cord-016912-vnx74hft 2005 Technologies required for strategic actionable net-centric biological defense systems consist of : 1) multiplexed multi-array sensors for threat agents and for signatures of the host response to infection; 2) novel vaccines and restricted access antivirals/bacterials to reduce emergence of drug resistant strains preand post-event; 3) telemedicine capabilities to deliver post-event care to 20,000 victims of a biological strike; and 4) communication systems with intelligent software for resource allocation and redundant pathways that survive catastrophic attack. The large increase in numbers of sensors (for high explosives [HX], biological and chemical agents, meteorological conditions) together with the rapid changes in op tempo required to manage emergence of clinical disease would suggest a need for the development of systems capable of autonomous generation of an alert when threat conditions arise. cord-017096-pnxjrtgo 2019 Up-converting phosphor technology-based point-of-care testing (UPT-POCT) can detect bioterrorism agents from various samples with high sensitivity and specificity, in particular it shows robust performance for complicated samples, such as food, powder, viscera and grains. Sensitivity and specificity are crucial to the performance evaluation for a detection method, and the evaluations of UPT-POCT for detection of different bioterrorism agents are shown in Table 16 .1. cholerae in 102 field water samples obtained from sample collection sites in Guangzhou city (China), UPT-POCT is more sensitive than the isolation-culture method and colloidal gold immnochromatography assay, and its sensitivity could match that of real-time fluorescent PCR with fewer false positive results (Hao et al. Compared with these methods, the simple sampletreatment process based on its high tolerance, and the simple sample-loading manner of UPT-POCT, reduces the potential for the spread of bioterrorism agents in the detection process. Evaluation of up-converting phosphor technology-based lateral flow strips for rapid detection of Bacillus anthracis Spore, Brucella spp., and Yersinia pestis cord-018463-a6qu0cuv 2018 The anthrax attack coincided with the first report in 2002 of the de novo synthesis in the test tube of a pathogenic human virus, poliovirus, that was equally shocking because it indicated that dangerous infectious agents could be produced in laboratories outside of government control. These events were synchronous with the advent of a new discipline, Synthetic Biology, which was an emerging area of research that can broadly be described "as the design and construction of novel artificial biological pathways, organisms or devices, or the redesign of existing natural biological systems." The synthesis of viruses, or more broadly expressed: each experiment in Synthetic Biology, fits the definition of "Dual Use Research" – the dual use dilemma in which the same technologies can be used for the good of humans and misused for bioterrorism. cord-018947-d4im0p9e 2012 This is also relevant for the following challenges, as boundedly rational agents may react inefficently and with delays, which questions the efficient market hypothesis, the equilibrium paradigm, and other fundamental concepts, calling for the consideration of spatial, network, and time-dependencies, heterogeneity and correlations etc. While it is a well-known problem that people tend to make unfair contributions to public goods or try to get a bigger share of them, individuals cooperate much more than one would expect according to the representative agent approach. In economics, one tries to solve the problem by introducing taxes (i.e. another incentive structure) or a "shadow of the future" (i.e. a strategic optimization over infinite time horizons in accordance with the rational agent approach) [96, 97] . One of the most important drawbacks of the representative agent approach is that it cannot explain the fundamental fact of economic exchange, since it requires one to assume a heterogeneity in resources or production costs, or to consider a variation in the value of goods among individuals. cord-020568-c5425959 2007 The avian flu outbreak in several Asian countries killing approximately 50 million chickens has revealed the need for establishing rapid molecular diagnostics for mass screening of the Biological threat agents may be difficult to detect and identify quickly and reliable both from a civilian (public health) and a military point of view. Real-time PCR is the most commonly used nucleic acid-based method for specific and sensitive identification of biological threat agents. Internal controls may consist of either a plasmid or a DNA fragment in which the amplified DNA sequence is Several real-time PCR assays have been outlined for a number of biological threat agents, and commercial kits containing the specific reagents are available. An essential part of bioterrorism preparedness and response includes the design of efficient and reliable systems for detection and identification of biological threat agents. Classical microbiology, immunoassays, and nucleic acid-based methods, including molecular forensics, are laboratory approaches for detecting, identifying, and verifying various biological threat agents. cord-020766-0gacqii4 2006 In medical fields, it offers a wide range of tools that can be used as drug delivery platforms [3] , better contrast agents in imaging [4] , chip-based bio-laboratories [5] and nanoscale probes [6] that are able to track cell movements and manipulate molecules. Nanotechnology in the medical field offers a wide range of tools that can be used as drug delivery platforms, better contrast agents in imaging, chip-based biolabs and nanoscale probes able to track cell movements and manipulate molecules [10] . Nanoscale cantilevers, constructed as part of a larger diagnostic device, can provide rapid and sensitive detection of inflammation and cancer-related molecules and to evaluate how various drugs bind to their targets at a concentration 20 times lower than clinical threshold. Paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are a new class of contrast agents that are finding increasing applications in the field of diagnostics and molecular imaging based on magnetic resonance (MR) [23] . cord-021887-22lop0pk 2015 This trend culminated with the October 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, which elevated bioterrorism to the forefront of international dialogue and heightened public concerns regarding systemic health care preparation against the threat of biological attacks. Physicians and other health care workers must therefore maintain a high index of suspicion of bioterrorism, and recognize suggestive epidemiologic clues and clinical features to enhance early recognition and guide initial management of casualties. Multiple features make smallpox an attractive biological weapon and ensure that any reintroduction into human populations would be a global public health catastrophe: it is stable in aerosol form, has a low infective dose, is associated with up to a 30% case-fatality rate, and has a large vulnerable target population because civilian vaccination was terminated in 1972. 42 Although not always clinically apparent, the psychological effect of a bioterrorism event is certainly a significant and important consideration for ongoing public health management strategies following any biological threat or terrorist attack. cord-021917-z9wpjr0d 2009 • Health care workers, accustomed to putting the welfare of patients ahead of their own in emergency situations, must be prepared for the proper use of personal protective equipment and trained in specific plans for the response to an infective or bioterrorism event. Although intensivists working in developed countries generally have little experience treating specific illnesses caused by serious bioweapon pathogens, these diseases result in clinical conditions that commonly require treatment in intensive care units (ICUs) (e.g., severe sepsis and septic shock, hypoxemic respiratory failure, and ventilatory failure). An optimal medical response to a bioweapon attack will require all or most of the following: early diagnosis, rapid case finding, large-scale distribution of countermeasures for postexposure prophylaxis or early treatment, immediate isolation of contagious victims, and enhanced capacity for providing medical care to seriously and critically ill victims. cord-022003-cvawdes6 2015 New, naturally occurring infections with the potential to cause large-scale human diseases and death continue to emerge at an ever-increasing rate throughout the world, and it is conceivable that these pathogens could also be weaponized by enterprising scientists. Important existing biological agents with the potential for weaponization for military or terrorist use include the following: Another way to view the relative importance of the above list of agents and diseases list is to consider The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strategy. • Availability • Ease of production and dissemination • Potential for high morbidity and mortality rates and major health impact Agents • Emerging and reemerging infectious diseases such as Nipah virus, hantavirus, human influenza, avian influenza, SARS and SARSassociated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) cord-022034-o27mh4wz 2009 They include presence of disease outbreaks of the same illness in noncontiguous areas, disease outbreaks with zoonotic impact, different attack rates in different environments (indoor versus outdoor), presence of large epidemics in small populations, increased number of unexplained deaths, unusually high severity of a disease for a particular pathogen, unusual clinical manifestations owing to route of transmission for a given pathogen, presence of a disease (vector-borne or not) in an area not endemic for that particular disease, multiple epidemics with different diseases in the same population, a case of a disease by an uncommon agent (smallpox, viral hemorrhagic fevers, inhalational anthrax), unusual strains of microorganisms when compared to conventional strains circulating in the same affected areas, and genetically homogenous organisms isolated from different locations. cord-024981-yfuuirnw 2020 The World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization define a disaster as "an event that occurs in most cases suddenly and unexpectedly, causing severe disturbances to people or objects affected by it, resulting in the loss of life and harm to the health of the population, the destruction or loss of community property, and/or severe damage to the environment. After the events of 9/11, much attention has been given to the possibility of another mass casualty act of terrorism, especially with weapons of mass destruction, that include chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological, and explosive devices (CBNRE), or other forms of violence such as active shooter incidents and mass shootings (Jacobson and Severin 2012) . Antidote therapy should be given as usual for nerve agents, including atropine, diazepam, and pralidoxime chloride (United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, National Library of Medicine 2019; United States Department of Health and Human Services, Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management (CHEMM) 2019). cord-027337-eorjnma3 2020 The motivation for such a framework is illustrated on a artificial market functioning with canonical asset pricing models, showing that dependencies specified by copulas can enrich agent-based models to capture both micro-macro effects (e.g. herding behaviour) and macro-level dependencies (e.g. asset price dependencies). Section 2 provides some background: it elaborates on the combined need of agent-based modeling and of quantitative methods, illustrating the challenges on a running example based on canonical trader models for asset pricing, and gives a short presentation on copula theory. In other words, by this formula, it is possible to calculate the probability of rare events, and therefore estimate systematic risk, based on the dependencies of aggregation variables and on the knowledge of micro-behaviour specified by group density functions of the agent-based models. cord-123804-cgvikrwm 2020 We first formulate a microscopic multi-agent epidemic model where every agent can choose its activity level that affects the spread of the disease. Then by minimizing agents'' cost functions, we solve for the optimal decisions for individual agents in the framework of game theory and multi-agent reinforcement learning. Nash Equilibrium According to (7), the expect cost for an infected agent only depends on its own action. However, as shown in the right plot in Fig. 7(b) , the agents learned to flatten the curve faster than in case 1, mainly because healthy agents are more cautious (converge faster to low activity levels) when they start to consider cumulative costs. Note that when m k is high, the healthy agents still prefer low activity level, though the optimal actions for infected agents are low. cord-130778-d6jtz3pm 2020 Here we address quantitatively this issue using an agent-based model to simulate a workplace with extrovert and introvert agent stereotypes that differ solely on their propensities to initiate a social interaction. Here we address quantitatively the productivity and social interaction issue using an agent-based model to simulate a workplace scenario where the agents exhibit two social stereotypes, viz., extroverts and introverts, that differ solely on their propensities to initiate a conversation. Social distancing is modeled by controlling the number of attempts an agent makes to find a conversation partner and the motivation to work (mood) is assumed to increase with the time spent talking and decrease with the time spent alone. The time intervals where the mean cumulative productivity decreases correspond to the periods when the agent is participating in a social interaction and are associated with the increase of its motivation. cord-209269-7ojtwe78 2020 In the present work, we study how the number of simulated clients (occupancy) affects the social distance in an ideal supermarket. In this subsection, we characterize distance between agents during the simulations with the modified contractile particle model (CPM) for different allowed capacities. The different time scales and the number of cases in its both panels confirm that the first hour is dominated by particular long lines waiting for checkout, while in the second hour (Fig. 8 B) the duration of social distance events less than 2 m are dominated by the shorter process, i.e.: the picking time at products. Different operational models, display similar macroscopic observables regarding social distances at values greater than 2 m indicating that the results are robust with respect to microscopic collision avoidance resolution and also suggesting that the simulated paths of the particles are more influenced by the geometry, shopping list, and time-consuming process, than by the particular avoidance mechanism. cord-214774-yro1iw80 2020 This paper develops an agent-level simulation model, termed ALPS, for simulating the spread of an infectious disease in a confined community. From an epidemiological perspective, as large amount of infection, containment, and recovery data from the this pandemic becomes available over time, the community is currently relying essentially on simulation models to help assess situations and to evaluate options [1] . In this paper we develop a mathematical simulation model, termed ALPS, to replicate the spread of an infectious disease, such as COVID-19, in a confined community and to study the influence of some governmental interventions on final outcomes. [10] construct a detailed agent-based model for spread of infectious diseases, taking into account population demographics and other social conditions, but they do not consider countermeasures such as lockdowns in their simulations. In this section we develop our simulation model for agent-level interactions and spread of the infections across a population in a well-defined geographical domain. cord-249836-s303s1tm 2020 In the field of biocybersecurity (BCS), the strengths within biotechnology and cybersecurity merge, along with many of their vulnerabilities, and this could spell increased trouble for biodefense, as novel threats can be synthesized and disseminated in ways that fuse the routes of attacks seen in biosecurity and cybersecurity. Physical examples of this, in order, can be direct exposures to a pathogen like an injection or sneeze (single), poorly developed applications that unnecessarily group people (stagers), and poorly ventilated buildings, and poorly planned infrastructures that amplify or provide the threats (stages). Yet, the idea of using agents such as this for groups not bound by this treaty has never been greater, for the reasons elaborated below, including the lowered cost and increased accessibility to genetic modification, greater accessibility to targeting techniques (see Delivery Systems, below), centralized supply modalities (see in Delivery Systems), and an increasing number mechanisms by which to deliver a hypothetical biological agent (see Threat Vectorization) [9] . cord-255140-3dwqqgv1 2013 Although some experts state that the risk of a largescale bioterrorist attack is low, 7 in a more recent analysis, US Senators Graham and Talent quote their conclusion form the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism in 2010, which stated "unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a [biologic] weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013." 8 Anthrax in particular remains such a concern, because of both the lethality of the agent and also the potential availability given the number of governments that produced weaponized anthrax in the past. The mode of deployment as a biological weapon in the past has often been through infected vectors 22 ; however, a modern bioterrorist would most like deploy the agent via aerosolization and it could present as: primary pneumonic tularemia (inhalation), oculoglandular tularemia (eye contact), ulceroglandular (broken skin contact), or oropharyngeal (mucous membrane contact without deep inhalation). cord-255514-wvjw8h4m 2020 Assuming that tax audits and jumps in the risky asset both follow self-exciting Hawkes processes, we provide a semi-analytical solution to this problem for an agent with constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) utility. Considering audit memory, we investigate how an agent makes decisions about consumption, investment, and tax evasion in a financial market allowing for jump contagion. In this section, to demonstrate more clearly the implications of audits with memory for the power-utility agent''s tax evasion, consumption and investment decisions, we consider the Poisson jump-diffusion model (16) for the risky asset price; accordingly our analysis is based on the results in Corollary 3.4. First, compared to the benchmark, the high (low) risk-averse agent tends to conceal more (less) of their risky investment when tax audits have memory property. These results indicate that audit memory reduces evasion more (less) efficiently by reducing the tax and increasing the fine for the high (low) risk-averse agent. cord-264350-4zxp3uae 1984 The focus of this year''s chapter is on agents with activity A brief update of this year''s advances More comprehensive reviews dealing VIRAL RESPIRATORY DISEASE RNA viruses are the major causative factors of the various forms of acute respiratory disease .8 respiratory tract are probably the most common cause of symptomatic human infections. Ribavirin (l-~-~-ribofuranosyl-1,2,~-triazole-3-carboxamide) -This nucleoside has activity against a broad range of DNA and RNA viruses in An tissue culture and in animal model systems.2 analysis of the status of ribavirin 3) as an is still unresolved but may involve guanosine nucleotides and inhibition of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase.Z6 In a clinical trial against influenza A, oral ribavirin failed to alter clinical signs and symptoms of the disease.2 However, it OR OR has recently been reported to have a therapeutic effect against both influenza A and influenza B virus infections when administered to patients by inhalation of small-particle aerosol through a face m a s k . cord-265017-byyx2y47 2016 In the United States, bioterrorism became a household word in October 2001, when Bacillus anthracis (the causative agent of anthrax) spores were introduced into the US Postal Service system by several letters dropped into a mailbox in Trenton, New Jersey (see Fig. 1 .1). At the same time as the French were signing the 1925 Geneva Protocol, they were developing a biological warfare program to complement the one they had established for chemical weapons during World War I (Rosebury and Kabat, 1947) . What many people do not know about the group is that it developed and attempted to use biological agents (anthrax, Q fever, Ebola virus, and botulinum toxin) on at least 10 other occasions. To illustrate these points we will briefly discuss four items of international interest that have been emphasized in the media: accidental shipment of live anthrax-positive controls samples, the 2014/2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in South Korea and Saudi Arabia, and a massive outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). cord-266189-b3b36d72 2020 In this paper, we propose an agent-based social simulation tool, ASSOCC, that supports decision makers understand possible consequences of policy interventions, but exploring the combined social, health and economic consequences of these interventions. Based on data from previous pandemics, initial economic policies were based on the expectation of getting back to normal within a limited amount of time, with many governments soldering the costs for the current period, it is increasingly clear that impact may be way above what governments can cope with, and a new ''normal'' economy will need to be found (Bénassy-Quéré et al. In this section, we describe the epidemics, economics and social science models that are needed to support decision makers on policies concerning the COVID-19 crisis and the complexity of combining these models. We model the direct and indirect effect on the spread of the virus when schools are closed and people work from home. cord-276616-odmnvv7m 1995 Conclusions drawn from the vaccination trials and transmission experiments were that ~crapie, given by subcutaneous inoculation, had a latent period of 2 years and longer; that the infective agent was resistant to 0.35% formalin; that the disease appeared more quickly and in a higher percentage of recipients following intracerebral than following~subcutaneous injection; and that the causative agent was probably a filtrable virus. There are many difficulties in studying either the natural or experimentally induced diseases: the animals involved, the incubation period required for the emergence of the disease, the innate resistance of a proportion of the population seen as an expression of genetic influences, the differing behaviour of strains of agents isolated from a given species, the symptomatology, the pathology, the uncertain nature of the agent and its means of transmission, the perceived ''lack'' of an immunological response or changes in the immune system, and the biological hazards involved in conducting experiments. cord-285617-nyocnvvj 2014 Also, 14 existing Fact Sheets were updated: (1) human prions other than vCJD, (2) the chronic wasting disease prion, (3) the vCJD prion, (4) bartonella, (5) Coxiella burnetii the agent of Q fever, which resulted in a massive outbreak in the Netherlands from 2007 to 2010 precipitated by high-intensity goat farming, (6) HEV due to increasing reports of RNA-positive blood donors in Japan and Europe; of note, in the Netherlands, increasing numbers precipitated by high-intensity pig farming, (7) Japanese encephalitis (JE) complex, (8) tick-borne encephalitis viruses (TBEV), (9) dengue viruses with three transfusion-transmission clusters, one each reported in Hong Kong, Singapore and Puerto Rico, (10) human parvovirus B19, (11) hepatitis A virus (HAV) due to a large multi-state outbreak in the US, (12) Anaplasma phagocytophilum with eight transfusion transmissions reported in the US, (13) Erhlichia including the first report of transfusion transmission in the US, (14) B. cord-288348-b10e023s 1979 Of the many viruses identified in stools, only two groups have met the criteria as definite etiologic agents of epidemic gastroenteritis in human subjects: rotaviruses and the small 27 nm agents [Norwalk-like agents) ( of investigations which began with an epidemic of gastroenteritis occurring in the newborn in the Baltimore-Washington area in the fall of 1941. Rotaviruses have been established as enteritis viruses by isolation and purification from stools of subjects suffering from gastroenteritis, and by induction of disease and seroconversion in both animals and volunteer subjects with purified preparations, Epidemiologic studies on the prevalence of rotavirus infections have shown these ubiquitous agents to be a major cause of gastroenteritis in children. Local immune factors, such as secretory immunoglobulin A or interferon, may therefore be important in protection against rotavirus infection, Alternatively, reinfection in the presence of circulating antibody could reflect the presence of multiple serotypes of virus [37] ; at least four agents in human subjects have been characterized to date [38-411. cord-293148-t2dk2syq 2020 In the more realistic scenario of a core-periphery structure with multiple locations, we unexpectedly find that the time spent by agents in their base location does not influence the endemic prevalence in the SIS model and the epidemic size in the SIR model, which are measures of the overall fraction of population that is affected by the disease. Here, we propose a one-dimensional model that provides some analytical intuitions on the influence that the randomness α, the probability of jumping outside the base location p, and the presence of a core-periphery structure have in the evolution of SIS and SIR epidemic processes. We consider the two-dimensional agent-based model and numerically study the influence of the randomness α, the probability of jumping outside the base location p, and the presence of a core-periphery structure on the evolution of SIS and SIR epidemic processes. cord-297287-0i4nc353 2020 Using agent-based simulations on small world networks, we observe phase transitions for epidemic spread related to: 1) Global social distancing with a fixed probability of adherence. Phase transitions and control measures for network epidemics self-isolate in response to one infected social contact) all the way up to 97% with low levels of any type of social distancing. Because our goal is to understand the behavior of phase transitions regarding total number of infections in our model, we conducted secondary simulations on a refined parameter space based on the results of our regression tree analysis. There is also a clear interaction between the social distance probability and viral shedding parameters and the resulting number of infected agents and the length of the epidemic. Social distancing controls in this model exhibit a phase transition regarding total number of infections, either when imposed globally or when based on individual response to infected contacts. cord-300731-i2ow33bk 2004 Although sites and mechanisms of action and the pathologies caused by different chemical insults vary, common biochemical signaling pathways, molecular mediators, and cellular processes provide targets for MTMC drugs. The biochemical pathways associated with chemical toxicity can involve proteases, inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin (IL)-1, IL-8, and other molecules such as platelet activating factor (PAF), N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors, acetylcholine (ACh), substance P, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) (for review, see Ref. 14). These mediators and receptors can influence inflammatory responses associated with cellular processes such as degranulation, apoptosis, and necrosis that contribute to pathologies caused by chemical agents. Therefore, many classes of compounds used as countermeasures to chemical warfare agents such as PARP inhibitors, proteases inhibitors, adenosine agonists, and NMDA receptor antagonist, although not chiefly thought of as anti-inflammatory drugs, have anti-inflammatory pharmacology (Table I ) (for review, see Ref. 14) . cord-315617-mhm9wh9q 2004 However, it is the developments over the past years that are causing the greatest concern: new threats to the security of nations are emerging in the form of terrorist organizations that seem to increasingly explore novel ways of spreading terror [1] . Terrorists will know that using highly infectious agents such as the smallpox virus for biological attacks might well mean their spread also to their own followers because they do not have smallpox vaccine or other preventative measures available. tuberculosis, Nipah virus) Third highest priority agents include emerging pathogens that could be engineered for mass dissemination in the future because of: -availability -ease of production and dissemination -potential for high morbidity and mortality rates and major health impact in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks, with numerous letters allegedly containing B. cord-318683-1yxurnev 2018 • Personal protective equipment should be improved to become more user friendly • Improved surge capacity (the ability to rapidly gear up the health system to cope with a sudden, large increase in patients with a serious, contagious disease) is required, particularly in peripheral areas • The capacity of general and reference laboratories should be increased, to keep developing faster, more reliable diagnostic tests • New and improved vaccines (pre-exposure and post-exposure) and treatment regimens should be developed • Clinical and environmental surveillance needs to increase • Syndromic surveillance systems can be maintained to register suspicious or confirmed cases reported by physicians, and the data can be used to improve risk communication programmes and to monitor the progress of an outbreak • An adequate stockpile of vaccines and medications should be maintained, both nationally and internationally • To improve preparedness for natural and bioterrorist outbreaks, international cooperation should include joint exercises involving multiple countries and constant improvement in the exchange of information on potential bioterrorism threats and management cord-320172-qw47pf9r 2000 In common with other changes induced in the digestive tract of rats and cynomolgus monkeys by the administration of recombinant human epidermal growth factor, the tongue showed squamous epithelial hyperplasia characterised by a uniform increase in the thickness of the squamous epithelium in both species (Breider et al., 1996; Reindel et al., 1996) . Detailed study of hypertrophy, protein synthesis, and intracellular cAMP activity in the salivary glands of rats treated for 10 days with isoprenaline (isoproterenol), a series of β-adrenergic receptor agonists and the phosphodiesterase inhibitors, theophylline and caffeine, showed that similar effects occurred with all agents although differences in the degree of hypertrophy, the nature of pro-tein and glycoprotein synthesis and Golgi membrane enzyme activity were recorded (Wells and Humphreys-Beher, 1985) . Studies in the rat have shown that diffuse atrophy of the gastric glands characterised by a decrease in the number and size of parietal, chief and mucous cells occurs transiently following truncal vagotomy but histological features return to normal by about 1 month after surgery (Nakamura, 1985) . cord-324656-6xq5rs0u 2006 PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was (1) to identify the requirements for syndromic, disease surveillance and epidemiology systems arising from events such as the SARS outbreak in March 2003, and the deliberate spread of Bacillus anthracis, or anthrax, in the US in 2001; and (2) to use these specifications as input to the construction of a system intended to meet these requirements. Such systems should avoid transferring patient identifiable data, support two-way communications and be able to define and incorporate new and unknown diseases and syndrome definitions that should be reported by the system. The EHR systems used by GPs in Norway use the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC), which is more specifically symptom-related than ICD-9 and ICD-10, making it more applicable for syndromic and disease surveillance use. The two-way communication supported by the Snow Agent system''s epidemiology service makes it possible to update the computer systems that feed the disease surveillance system with new kinds of data. cord-328181-b2o05j3j 2020 The Epidemiology Workbench provides access to an agent-based model in which demographic, geographic, and public health information a community together with a social distancing and testing strategy may be input, and a range of possible outcomes computed, to inform local authorities on coping strategies. 3 Building a multi-objective model for COVID-19: the agent-based route Based on the discussion above, our current research efforts have focused on the development of an integrated simulation model capable of a) accurately reflecting known dynamics of the current pandemic and the qualitative results of other models, b) simulating data-driven stochastic heterogeneity across agent populations to more realistically reflect the variability of underlying human populations when the model is applied, c) integrating economic considerations in association with observable features of the pandemic, d) allowing detailed simulation of known public policy measures at different times, intensities and dates, and e) providing a simple interface for non-expert users to configure and interpret. cord-332583-5enha3g9 2020 ABMs are seeing increased incorporation into both the biology and mathematics classrooms as powerful modeling tools to study processes involving substantial amounts of stochasticity, nonlinear interactions, and/or heterogeneous spatial structures. Here we present a brief synopsis of the agent-based modeling approach with an emphasis on its use to simulate biological systems, and provide a discussion of its role and limitations in both the biology and mathematics classrooms. Whether students are working with ABMs in life science or math modeling classes, it is helpful for them to learn how to read and understand flow diagrams as they are often included in research publications that use agent-based modeling. While not every student necessarily needs to take a course exclusively focused on agent-based modeling, every undergraduate biology student should have the opportunity to utilize an ABM to perform experiments and to collect and analyze data. cord-340131-refvewcm 2020 Exponential-like growth can be observed only in the beginning of the spread, where the number of people that do not have the disease is a lot bigger in comparison to the infectious individuals. When the pandemic runs through the population a key figure is the maximum number of active cases. That means that any measure that leads to the reduction of that probability would reduce the maximum number of active cases and hence would help to reduce the risk of pushing the health care system to its limit. The model makes it possible to explore the effects of the different parameters on the behaviour of the spread and key outcomes such as peak number of active cases or total number of affected individuals. The fraction of the population that got infected and the maximum fraction of active cases is displayed in the control panel of pansim to allow users to compare different simulation outcomes. cord-340827-vx37vlkf 2011 Seminal studies by Ryan and Gross (1943) and Griliches (1957) examined the effects of social connections on the adoption of a new behavior, specifically the adoption of hybrid corn in the U.S. Looking at aggregate adoption rates in different states, these authors illustrated that the diffusion of hybrid corn followed an S-shape curve over time: starting out slowly, accelerating, and then ultimately decelerating. The shape of the distribution F determines which equilibria are tipping points: equilibria such that only a slight addition to the fraction of agents choosing the action 1 shifts the population, under the best response dynamics, to the next higher equilibrium level of adoption (we return to a discussion of tipping and stable points when we consider a more general model of strategic interactions on networks below). While the above models provide some ideas about how social structure impacts diffusion, they are limited to settings where, roughly speaking, the probability that a given individual adopts a behavior is simply proportional to the infection rate of neighbors. cord-342636-mmlnm3mz 2020 We elaborate on micro-social structures such as social-psychological factors and distributed ruling behaviors to grow an artificial society where the interactions among agents may exhibit the spreading of the virus. We can see the micro-social used in the simulations as three parts, i.e.: the internal state of the agents, the mobility in our artificial world, and the spreading of the disease based on the first two properties. When it comes to closing down the public spaces (in the simulation we omit the social attraction points) and encouraging the effective physical distancing measures to the population, the number infection rate is suppressed a little. As we simulated the usage of masks in our agent-based model, the slowing rate of infection does give effect even though it needs time to suppress the number of active cases. Thus from our sets of experiments in the agent-based simulation, some tweaks of interventions due to the pandemic at the micro-level, the emerged macro-level is observed, including some emerged social aspects. cord-348106-agwdmtug 2020 The rapid growth in omnichannel (e.g., Web, call center, sales agent, store) shopping and the need to effectively allocate resources across channels are prompting managers and researchers to better understand cross-channel effects, that is, the effects of marketing efforts in one distribution channel on shopping outcomes in other channels. While the effect of marketing efforts in a channel on shopping outcomes in a dissimilar (with a different primary influence role) channel is positive (e.g., exclusive agent, the Web, and the call center channels are complementary), the magnitudes of the cross-channel effects are asymmetric. While the effect of marketing efforts in a channel on shopping outcomes in a dissimilar (with a different primary influence role and richness) channel is positive (e.g., J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f Journal Pre-proof exclusive agent, the Web, and the call center channels are complementary), the directions and extent of cross-channel effects are asymmetric. cord-349066-546ozkly 2014 The methods of detection include cultivation of bacteria and fungi on growth medium, isolation of viruses in cell culture, and identification of the agent biochemically, antigenically, or genetically. Visualization of an agent in infected tissue can provide a diagnosis based on specific morphological characteristics or identify the category of organism, for example, gram-positive or gram-negative bacterium or virus (e.g., eosinophilic cytoplasmic inclusion bodies in neurons in rabies virus infection). Specific diagnoses require isolation of the agent in culture, microscopic visualization of the pathogen in tissue lesions, and/or detection of a specific host immune response to the organism. Identification of fungi has been accelerated greatly in microbiology laboratories by performing either hybridization tests or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on media growing a fungus that is not identifiable by conventional morphological techniques such as blood culture bottles that contain yeast growth. cord-353297-jizitnfl 2008 The requirements for an ideal biological warfare agent include availability, ease of production, stability after production, a susceptible population, absence of specific treatment, ability to incapacitate or kill the host, appropriate particle size in aerosol so that the virus can be carried long distances by prevailing winds and inhaled deeply into the lungs of unsuspecting victims, ability to be disseminated via food or water, and the availability of a vaccine to protect certain groups. Instead, the ectromelia virus vector expressing IL-4 altered the host''s immune response to this virus resulting in lethal infections in normally genetically Classification of viral agents that are considered to be of concern for bioterrorism and biowarfare and those that have been weaponized or studied for offensive or defensive purposes as part of former or current national biological weapons programs resistant mice (e.g., C57BL/6). cord-354130-mi7saerx 2004 The limitations of molecular methods are that they are relatively expensive, they can yield both false negative and false positive results, their high sensitivity makes them prone to cross-contamination, and many substances found in blood, feces, and other animal tissues can function Methods such as exposing sentinels to soiled bedding, as used traditionally with mice housed in static isolator cages, also require reassessment for their applicability in IVC systems. There are many ways of detecting an infectious agent that has been transmitted to one or more rodents housed in IVCs. The most direct method of surveillance is to monitor the colony mice themselves for evidence of an infection. The decreased intercage spread of an infectious agent means that infections are sporadic and confined to just a few cages at a time, and it is therefore essential to use an adequate sample size when monitoring mice housed in IVC systems. cord-355024-v5lahyw4 2016 An infectious disease can be defined as an illness due to a pathogen or its toxic product, which arises through transmission from an infected person, an infected animal, or a contaminated inanimate object to a susceptible host. The outcome of exposure to an infectious agent depends, in part, upon multiple host factors that determine individual susceptibility to infection and disease. The goal of secondary prevention is to halt the progress of an infection during its early, often asymptomatic stages so as to prevent disease development or limit its severity; steps important for not only improving the prognosis of individual cases but also preventing infectious agent transmission. Broadly, public health efforts to control infectious diseases focus on primary and secondary prevention activities that reduce the potential for exposure to an infectious agent and increase host resistance to infection. A susceptible host is an individual who is at risk of infection and disease following exposure to an infectious agent. cord-355834-kziy850d 2020 In addition, the combination of water repellents (decrease bio-receptivity) plus biocides (decrease biological activity) has been reported to be effectively inhibiting microbial growth in mortars, white concretes and autoclaved aerated concretes [45, 46] . Mortar with antimicrobial watertight admixture had higher pH(6.8) and lower concentration of sulfuric acid(3.78  10 -8 mol/L) compared to that (6.6 and 2.56  10 À7 mol/L) of plain mortar Zinc oxide, sodium bromide, copper slag, ammonium chloride, cetyl-methylammonium bromide [19] Algae Mortar Adding 20 wt% zinc oxide and 20 wt% sodium bromide exhibited the most effective algal inhibition under laboratory conditionThe addition of 20 wt% sodium bromide and 10 wt% cetyl-methyl-ammonium bromide (an organic antimicrobial agent) showed highest inhibitory effects at under field condition FNA [44] N.A. Concrete H 2 S uptake rate decreased by 84-92% 1-2 months and viable bacterial cells reduced from 84.6 ± 8.3% to 10.7 ± 4.3% within 39 h after FNA spray.