ABSTRACT
Halal tourism witnessed significant growth during the second half of the decade ended on December 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic. This expansion can be witnessed equally in academic research and the Halal tourism industry. Keeping in view the phenomenal growth this research reviews the very high-quality research literature on Halal tourism to consolidate its findings and recommendations. It performs a thematic analysis of 74 articles published between the period 2009 to 2020 i.e., up to before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, listed in the A* and A ranked journals of the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC). It consolidates research methodologies, themes, dependent/independent and mediating/moderating variables, which ultimately lead to a master conceptual framework of research. It highlights that the research on Halal tourism is in its developing stages, with more themes emerging in recent years. It suggests that every country must reflect the blend of its own culture duly enveloped in the Shariah parameters. Finally, this review of the literature highlights a nexus between Social values, tourism services, and Islamic stipulations, as a way forward for research and developments in the Halal tourism research and industry.
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Background & Objective: Biological markers for the prediction of acquiring Covid-19 risk are deficient and there is a dire need of immediate research data. The objective of the study was to predict the link of ABO blood group types along with Rh factor distribution with the severity of Covid-19. Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional survey conducted in medicine department of Pakistan Ordnance Factory Hospital, Wah Cantt Pakistan, from August 2020 to December 2020 after approval of IRB. Participants tested positive for presence of Covid-19 infection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were included in the study. Covid-19 infection severity was measured through mild, moderate and severe disease categories and analyzed. ABO blood group and Rh subgroups data for all the Covid-19 infected patients were obtained from the laboratory section of the hospital and analyzed. Data was entered in SPSS v 26 and analyzed. Cox regression model was used to find out the severity of Covid-19. Results: Total 248 patients were included;75% patients were male and 25% were females. The mean age of the patients was 52.77+or-15.58 years. A very significant association was found between ABO blood group types, Rh factor antigen and severity of Covid-19 (p=0.001). When stratified ABO, Rh antigen blood group with health status of all patients there was a very significant association between them (p=0.013). An insignificant association between male and female odds ratio of ABO blood group types but blood group B, Rh positive antigen was more susceptible in Covid-19 positive patients. Conclusion: There is a link between ABO blood group types along with Rh factor antigen (B+ and O+) with the severity of Covid-19 positive patients. ABO blood group types and Rh factor can be used as a potential marker/tool to predict the susceptibility of acquiring Covid-19 infection as well as for severity of the infection.
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The objective of this research is to consolidate the literature published on the COVID-19 crisis impact on global stock markets to gain managerial implications from the crisis. It performs a thematic bibliometric review of the literature published in Scopus-ranked journals since the beginning of the pandemic using FCWI, Piecharts, and VOSViewer. It identifies the most under-researched regions and eight emerging sub-themes. The research finds that the benchmark theme is market behavior during the COVID-19 crisis, whereas an emerging benchmark theme is the markets after the COVID-19 crisis. The holistic view of the literature supporting eight sub-themes suggests that the government's role is of utmost importance to handle the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, which should be industry-specific. It identifies that all eight sub-themes of the research are the future research directions in all and specifically in the South American, African, South East Asian, and Oceania regions till the crisis continues. © 2023 by the authors. Licensee ESJ, Italy.
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This study explores the duration gap risk management of Islamic banks during the COVID-19 crisis using online focus group studies. There are 12 participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and UAE. Findings suggest that COVID-19 has increased the duration gaps of Islamic banks. The causes include, lack of business opportunities, relaxations in terms of policy rates, restructuring offered by central banks and attitudes of the customers of Islamic banks to avail relaxations offered, whether they need it or not. Finally, the crisis has exhibited that customers have managed their spending according to conventional theories of demands of money and Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
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Purpose The present study aims to identify and evaluate the socioeconomic barriers to effective COVID-19 pandemic transmission control in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The study identifies multiple socio-economic barriers through an extensive literature review. The preliminary analysis unveiled 15 socio-economic barriers. Nine experts were contacted to collect data and finalize the most prominent barriers to COVID-19 transmission control using the DELPHI method. The Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method was used to process and interpret the data collected and a cause-effect relationship was established among the barriers. Findings The finalized barriers to effective COVID-19 pandemic transmission control were evaluated using DEMATEL which grouped criteria into two grouped criteria - cause and effect. The DEMATEL analysis shows that poor safety culture, lack of strategy and goal setting, lack of resources, late realization and recognition of the pandemic problem and lack of expertise and capacity in disaster and risk management fall into the cause group. These factors are critical as they directly affect the remaining barriers identified in the study. Originality/value Despite the collective global efforts, the national economies have been struggling to completely control COVID-19 transmission control. Pakistan's economy has been facing the third wave of the pandemic. It is mandatory to identify the barriers and evaluate them to develop a comprehensive strategy ensuring that there would be no fourth wave. The study identifies and evaluates the barriers to COVID-19 transmission control in Pakistan using the integrated DELPHI-DEMATEL framework. The findings would help the government, experts and strategists to develop a comprehensive disaster and risk management strategy.
ABSTRACT
Cotton is the main cash crop in Pakistan and it contributes 0.8% shares in GDP (Gross domestic product). The area of cotton in Pakistan is increased in recent years but its production is decreasing due to unfavorable climatic conditions. COVID-19 outbreak has also an effect on cotton consumption. From August 2019 to July 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced global cotton consumption by 15%. Agricultural extension and advisory activities play an important role in agricultural development and can help to improve the living conditions of farmers. Keeping in view the importance of working in agriculture field staff for cotton, the present study was designed to analyze the quality of knowledge transferred by agriculture field staff. The present study was based on primary data and conducted in the district Muzfargarh becsasue it is one of major cotton producing district of Pujnab, Pakistan. A total of 180 respondents were taken from Tehsil Alipur of Muzfargarh from different union councils through a simple random sampling technique and interviewed through a pretested structured interview schedule. The data collected was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). About 58% of the respondents identified that extension meetings are good source of information and 37.7% of the respondent said that agricultural field staff visit them on monthly basis. Impact of improved cotton management practices on health rated satisfactory by 52.77% of respondents. Based on findings it is recommended that the government should work with all stakeholders to implement regular training programs for cotton farmers in all areas. Monitoring of agricultural field staff should also be done on regular basis. Modern ways of communications should be implemented in rural areas for the quality of knowledge transfer among cotton growers.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) frequently involves the respiratory system causing pneumonia. The disease started in December 2019 and is now a global pandemic. The disease is not limited to the respiratory system and cardiac, cutaneous, and neurological involvement has been reported. Psychiatric features of agitation and delirium have also been described in COVID-19. It is yet to be determined whether this will have any long term effect on the quality of life of these patients. We report a case of delirium in a COVID-19 patient who had also developed spontaneous pneumothorax on the day 15 of illness. Few of such case reports have been reported internationally but to the best of authors' knowledge, no such case has been reported in Pakistan. © 2021, Army Medical College. All rights reserved.
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Emerging voices of patients in the form of opinions and expectations about the quality of care can improve healthcare service quality. A large volume of patients' opinions as online doctor reviews (ODRs) are available online to access, analyze, and improve patients' perceptions. This paper aims to explore COVID-19-related conversations, complaints, and sentiments using ODRs posted by users of the physician rating website. We analyzed 96,234 ODRs of 5,621 physicians from a prominent health rating website in the United Kingdom (Iwantgreatcare.org) in three-time slices (i.e., from February 01 to October 31, 2020). We employed machine learning approach, dynamic topic modeling, to identify prominent bigrams, salient topics and labels, sentiments embedded in reviews and topics, and patient-perceived root cause and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analyses to examine SWOT for healthcare organizations. This method finds a total of 30 latent topics with 10 topics across each time slice. The current study identified new discussion topics about COVID-19 occurring from time slice 1 to time slice 3, such as news about the COVID-19 pandemic, violence against the lockdown, quarantine process and quarantine centers at different locations, and vaccine development/treatment to stop virus spread. Sentiment analysis reveals that fear for novel pathogen prevails across all topics. Based on the SWOT analysis, our findings provide a clue for doctors, hospitals, and government officials to enhance patients' satisfaction and minimize dissatisfaction by satisfying their needs and improve the quality of care during the COVID-19 crisis. © 2021 University of Kuwait. All rights reserved.
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Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global outbreak caused by novel SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). Study aims to evaluate knowledge and practices of healthcare workers (HCW) regarding infection prevention and control of corona virus disease Material and methods: A cross sectional validation study was conducted. Study was conducted at department of Medicine, Pakistan Ordinance Factory Hospital, Wah Cantt. Study duration was 2 months (May 2020-June2020)A sample size of 217 HCW was calculated using WHO calculator. HCW were selected through non probability sampling (consecutive). Ethical permission was taken and research consent was signed by each participant. SPSS version 24 was used for analysis purpose. Post stratification fissure exact and chi-square test was applied. We found p value ≤0.05 as statistically significant. Results: Total 217 HCW were included in our study. Out of them, 85 (39.2%) were male and 132 (60.8%) were female in our study. Mean age of HCW was 34.5±2.4SD. In knowledge assessment majority of HCW had fair knowledge (46.5%), followed by good (30%) and poor knowledge (23.5%) regarding corona virus associated infection control and prevention. In practice assessment, among all those, 38.2% HCW showed better practices while 61.8% showed poor practices. Knowledge is significantly associated with virus transmission mode (p = 0.00), close contact (p = 0.000), protection from COVID-19 in triage area (p = 0.000), wearing PPE (p = 0.000) etc. Conclusion: Corona virus disease is a major challenge in resource limited countries. Healthcare workers showed relatively improved knowledge and practices regarding infection prevention and control in this COVID-19 Pandemic.