Utilization of Mobile Phone Data Analysis: Pandemic Epidemiology

Prof. K.H. Grantz et al., and his collaboration research team at various universities from USA have been reviewed on the utilization of mobile phone data analysis in this COVID-19 pandemic epidemiology. This research review was reported in Nature Communications journal published on 30^th September 2020.

Usage of mobile phone data analysis should be considered with a careful understanding of the present populations with their behavior is an outbreak response in this pandemic epidemiology. It was proposed to assess the potential drivers with a spatiotemporal spread and also to monitor the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to support the contact tracing efforts. Further, they have reviewed various applications used for mobile phone data analysis with proper guidance and evaluation of COVID-19 response in this pandemic epidemiology. Also with the relevance of these various applications for infectious disease with transmission control for the potential sources and implications of selection bias in mobile phone data. For balancing the social and economic costs, the public health response is seeking effectively to mitigate this pandemic condition. Interpretation of the data analysis for public health decision making was discussed in detail [1-3].

Mobile phone data has become one of the best information sources for the large-scale population. It can be seen that there has been increasing interest and significant attention has grown towards for the development of innovative methods and tools. These methods are mainly employed for the public health response to inform via mobile phone data that includes digital data, which can be collected passively through mobile phone operators and actively collected via recently developed applications. Hence, these data can be collected in high and low-income settings that can make changes in mobility and clustering patterns, to capture, in the near real-time analysis [4].

Utilization of mobile phone data during pandemic response:

Utilization of mobile phone data is to inform various aspects during the response in this pandemic condition. It can be seen that at the individual level, the mobile phone data can be used to enhance contact tracing and also to understand patterns of individual contacts. Whereas, at the population level, it can be seen that clustering or human mobility will help for the evaluation of the impact on NPIs with the quantifying changes to identify the required hotspots of some additional or different interventions that need to be applied.

Figure 1. Usage of mobile phone data of public health response and their possible biases [1].

Monitoring and evaluation of current interventions during the release:

The mobile phone data can be widely used in the telecom geolocation data to track the population movements for public health to date. Call Detail Records (CDRs) were been periodically collected by the mobile phone operators which contain the time stamp of preferred GPS location with a unique identifier for all subscribers. Hence, this readily available data offers high coverage to estimate the mobility patterns of individuals used with mobile devices. Also, it can be noted that a similar time-resolved GPS location data can be collected via for certain applications.

For the identification of potential hotspots and to capture the real-time population density, the NPIs effect can be monitored through subscriber density metrics with the combination of the recorded GPS location and timestamp of CDRs. The use of Bluetooth data (records of proximal interactions between Bluetooth-enabled devices) can be used to quantify for the real-time density or physical clustering of subscribers. Most of the contact tracing apps are collected via Bluetooth and/or GPS location data to create trails of contacts for a period (14-28 days). Rapid tracing is enabled with a very higher proportions of affected individuals. However, these apps will reduce the amount of time that a potentially infected person would have to infect others [1, 2].

Evaluation and the ability of mobile phone data for representing the population risk:

The primary advantage of using the mobile phone data is the possibility of collecting the bespoke data quickly in different areas to specific epidemiologic and social contexts urging this pandemic the situation, where the tailored responses are required for the usage of mobile phone data, fewer assumptions on the transportability with derived mobility and contact metrics across various populations are very essential.

Evaluating behavior for the determination of the appropriate resolution:

Mostly the mobile phone data is used to describe possible mechanistic drivers of transmission, and to understand aggregate for the population-level behaviors. On focusing the pandemic response shift from containment and mitigation to sustained surveillance, perhaps, even local elimination would be required for a very high targeted responses. But, there would be a promise aggregating individual-level data which provides the additional epidemiologically with the relevant information.

Mobile phone data integration for the decision making:

Integration of mobile phone data has showed greater promise for characterizing individual-level and population behaviors, although it remains considerable uncertainty around how to appropriately account for the patterns within these mobile data. Further, the policy decisions were been informed via the mobile data ‘which should be considered’ for ‘which populations’ and ‘which behaviors that would have been excluded from data'. Also for ‘which it approaches for the design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of mobile phone data.

Our SNB team have emphasize this research article to enrich our viewer’s knowledge about the utilization of mobile phone data analysis in this pandemic epidemiology. The main key feature is the near real-time nature of mobile phone data that should inform the response appropriately to rapidly-changing situations. Indeed, the effective utilization of mobile phone data will require direct, an iterative collaboration between researchers, mobile phone operators, and other public health officials. This form of reciprocal collaboration would have facilitate the rapid processing and bespoke data analysis which can help to ensure the participation of mobile phone operators continuously. At the same time, the interpretation of these data analysis is very essential to contextualize since they have been integrated from the public health decision making.

References

K.H. Grantzet al.,Nature Communications, 11, 4961(2020).
R.M. Anderson et al.,Lancet 395, 931 (2020).
D.Fisher, A.Wilder-Smith, Lancet 395, 1109 (2020).
C.O. Buckee, et al.,Science, 368, 145 (2020).

--- Dr. Y. Sasikumar

School of Materials Science and Engineering,

Tianjin University of Technology, China

Email:sasikumar@163.com

Website Profile: https://sites.google.com/view/drsasikumar

Comments

Electro-Organic Synthesis: Next Emerging Technique

Industrial developments, excessive energy consumption, sustainable technologies, environmental cleaning processes are major topics of political and social discourse. Current innovations are rated not only focusing on their benefit and utility but also concerning their eco-friendly approaches. The development of green technological processes is becoming more important and requires harmless energy sources. Particularly over the past decade, the severe limitations of fossil resources intensify the movement towards sustainable synthesis techniques with a strict cutback in the ecological footprint [ 1 ]. Electro-organic synthesis belongs to the synthetic organic chemistry discipline that facilities the direct use of electricity to generate valuable compounds. Hence, it is possible to transfer green aspects of sustainable energy sources to the whole production process [ 2 ]. Since the Kolbe’s discoveries of using electricity as a reagent for organic transformations over 170 years ago, ...

Designing of Corrosion Resistant Alloys via Percolation Theory

Canada and USA Scientists have reported on designing of corrosion-resistant alloys via percolation theory and published in Nature Materials on 01 February 2021. Nickel–chromium, Iron–chromium binary alloys can serve as the prototypical corrosion-resistant metals owing to its presence of a nanometre-thick protective passive oxide film. The main key criterion for good passive behavior is the passive film should be compromised via a scratch or abrasive wear that can be reformed with a little metal dissolution. This could be a principal reason for the stainless steels and other chromium containing alloys that are used for critical applications which ranges from nuclear reactor components to biomedical implants. A long-standing unanswered question in corrosion science is the unravelling of the compositional dependence of the electrochemical behavior of the alloys [ 1, 2 ]. The discovery of the family of these alloys were increased its rate with the advent of artificial intelligence, da...

AN ACT OF FACE MASK MATERIAL USED TO PROTECT US FROM SARS-COV-2

“ In the absence of a vaccine, or effective antiviral, one of our only remaining strategies for controlling COVID-19 is to physically block the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community ” On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic [1] . In the absence of a vaccine, or effective antiviral, one of our only remaining strategies for controlling COVID-19 is to physically block the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community. Given that COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, the most effective physical defense likely involves widespread public use of face coverings, in conjunction with other control measures [ 2 ] . Face coverings (also variously referred to as face masks, nonmedical masks, community masks or barrier masks ) function primarily in source control; capturing droplets expelled by an infected individual [3] . Figure 1. DIY masks to protect against from viruses sounds like a crazy idea. source click here In the absence of an...

Electric Vehicle: Public Health and Climate Benefits

A research team led by Daniel Peters at Northwestern University has investigated that if we introducing electrifying vehicles in the streets of the United States could annually prevent hundreds-to-thousands of premature accidental deaths.This work highlights the potential of a synergistic solution to reduce CO 2 emissions by hundreds to millions of tons annually. The estimate of economic damages induced by introducing electrifying vehicles (EV) adoption is substantial. With current infrastructure, about 25% of electrifying vehicles adoption in the US can save approximately $16.8 billion annually, has been told in the study entitled"Public Health and Climate Benefits and Trade offs of U.S. Vehicle Electrification," in GeoHealth on 13 th August 2020 [1] . Vehicle electrification in the United States could prevent hundreds to thousands of premature deaths annually while reducing carbon emissions by hundreds of millions of tons. This highlights the potential of co-beneficial...

Novel Approach of Plastic Waste to Flash Graphene

Prof. Algozeeb and his research collaboration team have investigated an novel approach of upcycling plastic waste (PW) products to flash graphene (FG). This method relies on Flash Joule Heating (FJH) to convert PW into FG. A sequential direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) flash is used in order to make a high-quality graphene. In this FJH process, they established without catalyst and works for PW mixtures that can make the process suitable for handling landfill PW. In 21 st century, PW pollution is considerable one among the various environmental issues. A very large fraction of PW ends up in the ocean, which leads to the formation of micro- and nanoplastics that threaten marine life, micro-organisms, useful bacteria, and humans. From the intense carbon footprint process, most of these synthesized plastics are used only once before dumping into landfills or water ways that terminate in the oceans. Hence, upcycling PW to higher value materials and chemicals is econ...

PROSPECTS ON PHOTOBIOREFINERY

Very recently, Prof. Dr. K. Faungnawakij and his research group have summarized a mini review report on an emerging renewable technique of Photobiorefinery . This is one of the beyond technique of Artificial Photosynthesis (AP) [1] . Despite great promises, AP technologies for solar H2 production and CO2 reduction are far uncompetitive to other promising technologies at the current stage . However, despite an enormous effort, time, and budget paid on AP-related researches throughout several decades, AP technologies have struggled to strive beyond laboratory demonstration except a very few exceptions [2] . This bitter reality makes the translation of this excellent science to practical application questionable [3] . Technoeconomic analysis shows that without achieving the aggressive technology targets, this technology will not be commercially viable. This has directed the research community towards the development of highly efficient yet expensive devices. While tremendous p...

Electromagnetic Field: Non-Chemical Water Treatment Technology

An interesting review report on “A critical review of the application of electromagnetic fields for scaling control in water systems: mechanisms, characterization, and operation” was reported by Lu Lin, Wenbin Jiang, Xuesong Xu and Pei Xu published in Nature Partner Journals Clean Water published on June 2020 [1] . Water is the precious matter in the world. source U.S. General Services Administration has interested on non-chemical water treatment technologies. It has mentioned following important points: n on-chemical technology promises to increase the period between required blow-down cycles, thus reducing water consumption , minimizes associated issues of chemical storage, handling, and disposal, and may permit on-site re-use of cooling-tower “blow-down” water as “grey water” , it promises to be life cycle cost effective based solely on the reduction in chemical costs , this technology may reduce or eliminate chemical costs, it may not reduce other contractor costs ...

Single-Atom Catalysis in Chemistry World

The recent interest on the heterogeneous single-atom catalysts (SACs) were composed of atomically dispersed active metal cen ters in catalyst research field, because of the increased atom utilization and unique catalytic properties of such materials, which differ greatly from those of conventional nano or subnano counter parts. In this case, the fabrication of SACs are challenging, especially in the case of noble metal based catalysts and many researches are ongoing in this field for the development of improved catalysts. Many chall enges have faced for the hybridization of controlling of single atoms in suitable host materials, but it has also equally opened with unique opportunities for catalyst design. SACs with atomically dispersed active metal centers on supports represent an intermediary between heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis. Therefore, understanding the homogeneous catalysis prototype creates a great opportunity for designing SACs and developing related applications....

A Novel Green Synthesis of Au/TiO2 Nanocomposites

Prof. Lahiru A. Wijenayaka, Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC), Mahenwatte, Pitipana, Homagama, Sri Lanka and his collaboration team has reported on the interesting materials for effective environmental alternative remediation via nontoxic, low cost and eco-friendly methods dedicated to the scientific community. Here, a novel, facile, and green synthetic approach to synthesize gold nanoparticle decorated over TiO 2 (Au/TiO 2 ) nanocomposites for sustainable environmental development has been discussed [ 1 ] . Based on various metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) photocatalysts, titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) is the most widely used, owing to its effective and excellent results in optical transmittance, high refractive index, chemical stability, concurrently being stable, nontoxic, and inexpensive [ 2 ]. They are highlighted with the following points: (i) Synthesis of the Au/TiO 2 nanocomposite, (ii) Microscopic characterization, (iii) Dye adsorption on Au/TiO 2 and (iv) Photoca...

Postdocs Crisis: The "Last Generation" of Scientists

Postdoctoral Researchers play a vital role in the research productivity of several countries and serving as leaders, mentors, guides, teachers, and scientists. These researchers have developed their own skills and preparing themself for their scientific research careers with various research groups worldwide. Even performing in a short term, they need to spend additional years in some special cases for succession in their research careers. Senior research investigators or leaders who have promised to their younger colleagues or students for a long term contract in the academics should find a new pathway to make it possible to stay and plan for their long-term career. Also, these investigators should be more flexible, patience, and supportive for everyone in their research groups. But the main key point which they should focus on that was the researchers who want to pursue fulfilling careers in science elsewhere need to be supported in all means, whatever matters, whoever may be, the ta...

Search This Blog