Hotel Recovery Post Pandemic: Is Rebranding Required?

For hotel business to survive during COVID-19 Pandemic requires to conduct major adjustment in almost all aspects of operation. This qualitative study was conducted to assess the operation adjustment that may affect the hotel brand. Data was gathered from respondents comprising managers and decision-makers of 5-to-3-star hotels in Bali, Indonesia that remain open during the pandemic, using online survey and interview. The results show that during the pandemic, hotels have made major operation adjustment to survive;whilst, maintaining the same quality standard, applying meticulous CHSE (Cleanliness Health Safety Environment) protocol, and keeping the customers informed through online promotion platforms regarding the hotel's condition being ready to host guests. The adjustment made includes reducing operation cost, shifting target market into domestic market to maintain cash flow to cover operation, adjusting the rate and prices to adapt the weaker customer's buying power, applying flexible booking and refund conditions, human resource policy and planning rearrangement, reducing the quantity of room offered and menu list items in Food and Beverage outlets. The hotel business resilient was owned to the professionalism of hoteliers, thus hotel rebranding is not required as the quality of the products offered is the same with those before the pandemic;at post-pandemic, it would be simply sifting the target market back to pre-pandemic. © 2022 Ernawati, N.M., et al.

Exploring Romanian Engineering Students' Perceptions of Covid-19 Emergency e-Learning Situation. A Mixed-Method Case Study

The Covid-19 pandemic is the most disturbing event in the lifetime of most of our planet's citizens. The lockdown measures directly impacted many areas of our lives, including the educational sector, because locking down countries meant implicitly locking down the educational system. Moreover, what was first considered a temporary solution for an extraordinary situation began to look more and more like a medium to long-term general rule. Nevertheless, the questions are: are we all ready to move the entire educational process online and fully understand the challenges and implications for all stakeholders involved? This two-part research aims to provide some answers to these questions by identifying and analyzing the perceptions of Romanian engineering students enrolled at "Gheorghe Asachi" Technical University of Iasi (TUIASI) regarding the changes registered in the past year once the emergency e-learning situation started. The first part of the research was conducted between April and May 2020 through an online survey among 134 engineering students. It aimed at identifying the students' perception of the online learning systems provided by their university, considering the significant speed with which changes were imposed. In addition, this research phase focused on students' access to resources and knowledge to use and integrate online learning into their study routine. The second part of the research was carried out after almost a year of e-learning between March and April 2021 and consisted of six online focus groups with 36 students and aimed at identifying the main advantages and challenges students experience throughout the online educational process. The research revealed that although students are digital natives, they still have difficulties harnessing e-learning's advantages and integrating them into their study routine. Another significant aspect refers to the changing role of the professor perceived not only as an instructor but as a mentor during a time of crisis. The study results can offer higher education institutions insight and valuable information that can be used in designing and implementing online and hybrid activities and classes that better fit the students' needs and expectations in terms of e-learning.

3-Pyridinylidene Derivatives of Chemically Modified Lupane and Ursane Triterpenes as Promising Anticancer Agents by Targeting Apoptosis.

Cancer persists as a global challenge due to the extent to which conventional anticancer therapies pose high risks counterbalanced with their therapeutic benefit. Naturally occurring substances stand as an important safer alternative source for anticancer drug development. In the current study, a series of modified lupane and ursane derivatives was subjected to in vitro screening on the NCI-60 cancer cell line panel. Compounds 6 and 7 have been identified as highly active with GI50 values ranging from 0.03 µM to 5.9 µM (compound 6) and 0.18-1.53 µM (compound 7). Thus, these two compounds were further assessed in detail in order to identify a possible antiproliferative mechanism of action. DAPI (4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) staining revealed that both compounds induced nuclei condensation and overall cell morphological changes consistent with apoptotic cell death. rtPCR analysis showed that both compounds induced upregulation of proapoptotic Bak and Bad genes while downregulating Bcl-XL and Bcl-2 antiapoptotic genes. Molecular docking analysis revealed that both compounds exhibited high scores for Bcl-XL inhibition, while compound 7 showed higher in silico Bcl-XL inhibition potential as compared to the native inhibitor ATB-737, suggesting that compounds may induce apoptotic cell death through targeted antiapoptotic protein inhibition, as well.

Does moral reasoning influence public values for health care priority setting?: A population-based randomized stated preference survey.

OBJECTIVE: Preferences of members of the public are recognized as important inputs into health care priority-setting, though knowledge of such preferences is scant. We sought to generate evidence of public preferences related to healthcare resource allocation among adults and children. METHODS: We conducted an experimental stated preference survey in a national sample of Canadian adults. Preferences were elicited across a range of scenarios and scored on a visual analogue scale. Intervention group participants were randomized to a moral reasoning exercise prior to each choice task. The main outcomes were the differences in mean preference scores by group, scenario, and demographics. RESULTS: Our results demonstrate a consistent preference by participants to allocate scarce health system resources to children. Exposure to the moral reasoning exercise weakened but did not eliminate this preference. Younger respondent age and parenthood were associated with greater preference for children. The top principles guiding participants' allocative decisions were treat equally, relieve suffering, and rescue those at risk of dying. CONCLUSIONS: Our study affirms the relevance of age in public preferences for the allocation of scarce health care resources, demonstrating a significant preference by participants to allocate healthcare resources to children. However, this preference diminishes when challenged by exposure to a range of moral principles, revealing a strong public endorsement of equality of access. Definitions of value in healthcare based on clinical benefit and cost-effectiveness may exclude moral considerations that the public values, such as equality and humanitarianism, highlighting opportunities to enrich healthcare priority-setting through public engagement.