Analysing the Required Properties of Business Simulation Games to Be Used in E-Learning and Education

Business simulation games are considered as effective tools for the empowerment and mediation of business content learning. They act as serious games which contribute to learning through a simulation of real-life situations and busi-ness environments. They are especially useful in the area of business management processes and business strategies. The blending of designed simulation technology and content curricula offers participants (players, students) a risk-free opportunity to test out a range of relevant strategies to drive business results. By customizing computer-based business simulations, participants can integrate key strategic and financial priorities. This paper provides a brief review of busi-ness simulations that serve learning purposes. The first part presents a short introduction and description of business games and their evaluation properties, and the second part provides a brief evaluation and analysis of selected business simulation games.

Impact of vaccine supplies and delays on optimal control of the COVID-19 pandemic:mapping interventions for the Philippines

Background::Around the world,controlling the COVID-19 pandemic requires national coordination of multiple intervention strategies.As vaccinations are globally introduced into the repertoire of available interventions,it is important to consider how changes in the local supply of vaccines,including delays in administration,may be addressed through existing policy levers.This study aims to identify the optimal level of interventions for COVID-19 from 2021 to 2022 in the Philippines,which as a developing country is particularly vulnerable to shifting assumptions around vaccine availability.Furthermore,we explore optimal strategies in scenarios featuring delays in vaccine administration,expansions of vaccine supply,and limited combinations of interventions.Methods::Embedding our work within the local policy landscape,we apply optimal control theory to the compartmental model of COVID-19 used by the Philippine government’s pandemic surveillance platform and introduce four controls:(a)precautionary measures like community quarantines,(b)detection of asymptomatic cases,(c)detection of symptomatic cases,and(d)vaccinations.The model is fitted to local data using an L-BFGS minimization procedure.Optimality conditions are identified using Pontryagin’s minimum principle and numerically solved using the forward-backward sweep method.Results::Simulation results indicate that early and effective implementation of both precautionary measures and symptomatic case detection is vital for averting the most infections at an efficient cost,resulting in>99%reduction of infections compared to the no-control scenario.Expanding vaccine administration capacity to 440,000 full immunizations daily will reduce the overall cost of optimal strategy by 25%,while allowing for a faster relaxation of more resource-intensive interventions.Furthermore,delays in vaccine administration require compensatory increases in the remaining policy levers to maintain a minimal number of infections.For example,delaying the vaccines by 180 days(6 months)will result in an 18%increase in the cost of the optimal strategy.Conclusion::We conclude with practical insights regarding policy priorities particularly attuned to the Philippine context,but also applicable more broadly in similar resource-constrained settings.We emphasize three key takeaways of(a)sustaining efficient case detection,isolation,and treatment strategies;(b)expanding not only vaccine supply but also the capacity to administer them,and;(c)timeliness and consistency in adopting policy measures.