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Purpose The present study is mainly concerned with investigating the migration to online learning under the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and analysing the adoption of technology in the context of Indian educational organisations. The purpose of the paper is to identify aspects that explain and predict the adoption propensity of new technology by users as a dependent variable, with perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PE) as independent variables and personality and self-efficacy as the moderator variables. Design/methodology/approach An online as well as offline survey is collected from N = 202 employees (teachers/faculty) from private (N = 97) and public (N = 105) educational organisations located in India. A conceptual model of technology adoption is developed and validated, measuring the impact of Big Five personality factors and self-efficacy on technology adoption. Findings Results of moderation analysis suggest that personality traits moderate the relationship between PU, PE and acceptance of technology (TAP). Originality/value The present research uniquely contributes to the limited literature on the role of personality and self-efficacy in adopting technology and the outcomes. Furthermore, the research captures the theoretical and practical understanding of the PU, PE and TAP link in educational organisation and COVID-19 context.
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Purpose: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, national restrictions were implemented limiting social gatherings and disrupting many facets of everyday life including sports. To gain a better understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the social and emotional well-being of children and adolescents in sports, the present study examined parental perspectives of female youth competitive cheerleaders during the national pandemic.
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The outbreak of COVID-19 is a global public health challenge and has affected many countries, including India. The nationwide lockdown was imposed in India from March 25 to May 31, 2020 to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. The study intends to assess the impact of the absence of major anthropogenic activities during the various phases of the COVID-19 lockdown (LDN) period on the daily mean concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 in six populated cities of Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Udaipur, Ajmer, and Alwar in the state of Rajasthan. Investigation has been done for the different periods, including the pre-lockdown—PRELD (January 1–March 4, 2020), partial lockdown—PLDN (March 5–24, 2020), COVID-19 lockdown—LDN (March 25–May 31, 2020), and unlocking—ULC (June 1–August 31, 2020) phases. We have also compared the mean concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 with the same period of the year 2019. A significant improvement in air quality during the COVID-19 LDN period was noticed in all cities compared to 2019 and for the same period of the year 2020. However, the levels of PM2.5 and PM10 were seen to rise during the second, third, and fourth LDN phases compared to the first LDN, indicating that the subsequent lockdowns started with some relaxations and dusty conditions. On the other hand, wind-blown dust is another vital source of PM10, resulting in high concentrations in the summer months (April–May). Significant reductions in PM2.5 (~25–50%) and PM10 (20–37%) in all six cities during the LDN period compared with PRELD were estimated. However, with significant variations from city to city, the lowest reductions in PM2.5 (~25%) and PM10 (~20%) were measured in Jodhpur and Ajmer, respectively. It was noticed that the episodes of rainfall and transport of oceanic air masses resulted in a reduction of particles during the ULC period compared to the LDN period. The air quality index was, more or less, in the “good to satisfactory” category during the first 3 LDN periods, whereas it was moderate for Jodhpur, Jaipur, and Ajmer during the last LDN period. The study will be helpful to determine mitigation policies to minimize air pollution, especially in developing regions. Copyright © 2022 Yadav, Vyas, Kumar, Sahu, Pandya, Tripathi, Gupta, Singh, Dave, Rathore, Beig and Jaaffrey.
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Introduction: The Coronavirus disease is a systemic infection associated with changes in haematological parameters, which have asignificant role in early risk stratification and prognostication in theaffected patients.Aims &Objectives: To study the haematological parameters Hemoglobin(Hb), Mean Corpuscular Volume(MCV),Red celldistribution width(RDW),total leukocyte count(TLC), NeutrophilLymphocyte ratio (NLR), Absolute eosinophil count(AEC), Absolutelymphocyte count(ALC) and platelet count(PC)] in patients ofCOVID-19 s wave, at our tertiary care institute.Materials &Methods: The study was conducted on 214 COVID-19patients admitted to our institute from April 2021 to June 2021.Data was collected from Central laboratory records in Microsoft exceland analysed using student SPSS version 26.0.Result: The mean age of the patients was 53.46 ± 13.09 years with amale to female ratio of 1.9:1. Anemia was observed in 143 patients(66.82%).Normal MCV was observed in 128 (59.81%) and RDW wasincreased in 159(74.29%) while TLC was normal in 109(50.93%)followed by leukocytosis in 99 (46.26%) and leukopenia in 6(2.8%)patients. NLR was raised in 207 (96.72%) patients. Eosinopenia in205(95.79%), lymphopenia in 156(72.89%) while normal PC wasobserved in 140(65.42%), decreased in 69 (32.24%) and increased in5(2.42%) patients.Conclusions: Anaemia, increased RDW, increased NLR, lymphopenia and eosinopenia were associated with COVID 19 disease.
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Timely cleaning of dustbin is a big challenge and if left unaddressed, it may pose several health risks by making the place unhygienic. Current system for the waste management in local areas of small and highly populated cities is sluggish which leads to a lot of garbage strewn all over the city. The rate of generation of waste is so high that if the garbage collector doesn't visit a place for a couple of days it creates the conditions adverse. In covid-19 pandemic situation, it was very important to monitor and decompose medical waste properly. The handling of normal home garbage was also challenging due to lockdown. In this situation automatic monitoring and controlling of garbage using IOT can play a significance role in garbage management. This paper proposes a smart and fast approach for waste management by creating a network of smart dustbins equipped with sensors and microcontrollers in a city which is monitored by a central control unit to speed up the process in an intelligent and smart way thereby eliminating such hazardous conditions caused by the current sluggish system. The proposed system also takes into account the issue of improper internet connectivity. © 2021 IEEE.