The Epidemic Failure Cycle hypothesis: Towards understanding the global community’s recent failures in responding to an epidemic

Within a few years, the global community has failed twice in responding to large viral infection outbreaks: the Ebola epidemic in 2014 and the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic in 2020. There is, however, no systematic approach or research available that analyses the repeated failures with regard to an adequate response to an epidemic. For a better understanding of failing societal responses, we propose a framework called the ‘Epidemic Failure Cycle’ (EFC). The EFC consists of four phases: Negligence, Arrogance/Denial, Panic and Analysis/Self-criticism. These phases fit largely with the current World Health Organization pandemic influenza phases: Interpandemic, Alert, Pandemic, Transition. By utilizing the Ebola epidemic and the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic as case studies, we show striking similarities in the response to these outbreaks during both crises. Finally, we suggest three major areas to be of utmost importance for triggering and maintaining the EFC. In terms of ecology, zoonoses, supposed to be the main biological origin for virus epidemics, have been largely neglected by politicians, the media and the scientific community. Socioeconomic and cultural conditions such as harsh living and working conditions as well as conspiracy theories hinder effective preventive and counter measures against epidemics. Lastly, in terms of epistemology, the reliance on knowledge about previous outbreaks has led to slow and inadequate decisions.

Pengaruh Prosentase Serat Kelapa Sawit Terhadap Umur Fatik Beban Aksial Komposit Matriks Resin

Palm Oil Industries, not only provide so many benefits, but also has a negative impact in the form of organic waste as by products of palm oil industries. Therefore, the utilization of oil palm fiber waste needs to be developed, including for structural components that retain load, through various studies in order to reduce the volume of waste caused by oil palm. One of the simplest types of load is axial load. The purpose of this study is to make polymer matrix composite materials reinforced with oil palm fiber, and then test the life cycle of fatigue failure axial load, of polymer matrix composite materials with several different percentages of fiber content. The material used as a matrix is Yukalac® 157 BTQN-EX unsaturated polyester resin (UPRs), and the catalyst uses methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKPO) and Oil palm fibers as reinforcement. The content of palm oil fiber is divided into three level i.e: 3%, 5%, and 7%. The effect of the percentage content of the volume of palm oil fiber on the cycle of fatigue failure of the polymer matrix composite material were analyzed. So that later this palm matrix resin fiber composite material can really be utilized for structural components that retain load. By utilizing palm oil fiber in the production of composite materials, it is hoped that this will reduce the volume of organic waste from palm oil processing. Fatigue testing results on the percentage of palm oil fiber content of 3% obtained the shortest failure cycle life is 7.67 cycles. As for the percentage of palm oil content of 7%, the longest failure cycle was obtained to 18.33 cycles.

Failure Analysis of Automatic Access Pedestrian Gate Turnstile using SolidWorks Simulation Model

This research work is focused on the failure analysis of Automatic Access Pedestrian Gate Turnstile using SolidWorks Simulation Model. Failure analysis was carried out on both static and dynamic failure of the system putting into consideration the yield stress, resultant displacement, failure cycle, percentage damage, maximum strain and most importantly factor of safety. The results of Von Mises stress analysis showed that a maximum value of 5.77Mpa yield strength was obtained. A displacement of 0.257737m and a strain value of 2.03989×10-5 were obtained respectively. The fatigue simulation damage factor was not up to 100% though is up to 50%. At the endurance limit or fatigue limit, the SN curve flattens at 106 cycle. A safety of 61 was recorded with the system which is above 1, thus the system is safe and efficient and can be used for security check.