Subjective well-being and school engagement before versus during the COVID-19 pandemic: What good are positive emotions?

The present study overcomes the limited empirical evidence on the association between well-being and school engagement in times of adversity by exploiting available data from two large and comparable samples of eighth graders; one obtained prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the second obtained during the pandemic. Results suggest that adolescents were less engaged with their learning context during the pandemic, as well as lower in positive and negative affect, but slightly more satisfied with life. Through SEM we found a stronger positive association between positive affect and school engagement in the COVID-19 group compared with the pre-COVID-19 group. This finding highlights the important role of positive affect in supporting better academic functioning in the aftermath of a global crisis.

Inhaled nebulised unfractionated heparin (UFH) for the treatment of hospitalised patients with COVID-19: A randomised controlled pilot study.

There is a strong scientific rationale to use nebulised unfractionated heparin (UFH) in treating patients with COVID-19. This pilot study investigated whether nebulised UFH was safe and had any impact on mortality, length of hospitalisation and clinical progression, in the treatment of hospitalised patients with COVID-19. This parallel group, open label, randomised trial included adult patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted to two hospitals in Brazil. One hundred patients were planned to be randomised to either "standard of care" (SOC) or SOC plus nebulized UFH. The trial was stopped after randomisation of 75 patients due to falling COVID-19 hospitalisation rates. Significance tests were 1-sided test (10% significance level). The key analysis populations were intention to treat (ITT) and modified ITT (mITT) which excluded (from both arms) subjects admitted to ITU or who died within 24 h of randomisation. In the ITT population (n = 75), mortality was numerically lower for nebulised UFH (6 out of 38 patients; 15.8%) versus SOC (10 out of 37 patients; 27.0%), but not statistically significant; odds ratio (OR) 0.51, p = 0.24. However, in the mITT population, nebulised UFH reduced mortality (OR 0.2, p = 0.035). Length of hospital stay was similar between groups, but at day 29, there was a greater improvement in ordinal score following treatment with UFH in the ITT and mITT populations (p = 0.076 and p = 0.012 respectively), while mechanical ventilation rates were lower with UFH in the mITT population (OR 0.31; p = 0.08). Nebulised UFH did not cause any significant adverse events. In conclusion, nebulised UFH added to SOC in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 was well tolerated and showed clinical benefit, particularly in patients who received at least 6 doses of heparin. This trial was funded by The J.R. Moulton Charity Trust and registered under REBEC RBR-8r9hy8f (UTN code: U1111-1263-3136).

DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS OF RISKS ON SERVICE-ORIENTED SUPPLY CHAIN: A COVID-19 PANDEMIC PERSPECTIVE

Purpose - A solid service-oriented foundation is required to make supply chain management a competitive advantage, especially in this Covid-19 pandemic. A well-established service-oriented supply chain becomes more adaptable to changing client expectations. This study aims at analysing the direct and indirect impact of risks on the service-oriented supply chain from a pandemic perspective. Design/methodology/approach - The Q-sort method is applied with the participation of nine top-level managers to initially review the reliability, validity, and unidimensionality of research concepts. Then a questionnaire containing these measuring variables is developed to obtain the opinions of those who are experienced in logistics and supply chain management. These empirical data are analysed based on Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to evaluate direct and indirect effects of risks on supply chain performance. Findings - The risk is inherent in service-oriented supply chains, affecting both direct and indirect performance. The proposed risk model explains 33.6 percent of Supplier performance, 46.4 percent of Operational performance, 47.1 percent of Customer satisfaction, and 46.5 percent of Finance variation. We found that service-oriented supply chains effectively monitor demand risk. External risk has the smallest impact on supply chain performance measures, whereas demand risk has the smallest effect. That a service-oriented supply chain is focused on meeting customer demand and managing demand-related risks is reinforced by these findings. Research limitations/implications - In the literature on supply chain risk management, resilience studies and disruption management receive less attention than studies on risk assessment and risk mitigation (Katsaliaki et al., 2021). Future supply chain risk management research should differentiate between risk-as an event and/or risk-as a process since they have different periodic effects on response management and resilience. Originality/value - This is a pioneering study looking at the risk side of service-oriented supply chain. The data using in this research is from a large-scale survey supported by Japanese Government to promote ASEAN sustainable socio-economic development. This dataset collected during the Covid-19 pandemic to validate our models is an interesting and topical point of this study. © 2022 Universidade do Minho. All rights reserved.

The Resonant Effect of Risks on Supply Chain Performance: A Covid-19 Perspective

Purpose - This paper investigates the resonant effect of risks on supply chain performance under COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach - Eleven managers attended and applied the Q-sort method to evaluate the unidimensionality, reliability and validity of research concepts. Afterwards, a comparative model containing the single effects of risks on supply chain performance was developed as a basis for comparison with the theoretical model. The impacts of each risk on supply chain performance were demonstrated in both models. When the parameters of the theoretical model are greater than those in the competitive model, the resonant effect mechanism is proven and vice versa. Findings - 63% variance of supply chain performance was explained by our risk model, which includes positive and negative resonant effects between risks. It is a remarkable rate compared with the comparative model and previous studies. Whilst a positive relationship (α ≥ 0) increases the effect of the impacted risk on the output, a negative relationship (α ≤ 0) decreases this effect, bringing benefits for companies which “see” these opportunities. Thus, practitioners should treat risk as an opportunity rather than a threat. Research limitations/implications - A positive optimal resonant model is necessary to maximize the impact of risks on supply chain performance. Hence, companies can predict the worst-case scenario when six risks occur simultaneously. However, companies can devise mitigating techniques if a negative optimal resonant model is detected. Although risks can not be eliminated, their impact is likely to be abated by using a new paradigm. Originality/value - The data used in this research is from a large-scale survey supported by Japanese Government to promote ASEAN sustainable socio-economic development. This dataset collected during the Covid-19 pandemic to validate our models is an interesting and topical point of this study. © 2022 Universidade do Minho. All rights reserved.