ABSTRACT
The current work seeks to explore the relevant factors that influence intention to use FinTech, i.e., perceived risk, benefit and trust keeping perceived effect of COVID-19 as moderator in India. Data have been collected using a structured questionnaire. The data collected have been validated using the validity and reliability techniques. Factor analysis and path analysis have been performed to test the research model, and finally, interactive moderation effects of the COVID-19 have been examined. Outcomes of the study showed that intention to use FinTech services has positively significant impact with perceived benefits and trust and negatively significant impact with perceived risk. The findings identify the key dimensions related to factors effecting intention to use FinTech and therefore, must be paid attention to by service providers in motivating their consumer to use financial technology. In addition, results will assist managers at FinTech companies to understand the importance of these services during COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the novel COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a major black swan event which has caused shock waves and severely hurt the sentiments of market participants. The pandemic has raised uncertainties and risks all over the world, impacting substantially the world’s 20 largest economies. While the stock markets’ intense reaction to the official news of the pandemic is well known, the reaction of largest world economies during the initial phases of the outbreak until 11th March 2020 is not very well established. Therefore, the present study investigates how stock markets in world’s 20 largest economies have reacted to major events and press releases associated with disease from the beginning of the pandemic (i.e., 31st December 2020 till 11th March 2020). The results of the study suggest that the declaration of the novel COVID-19 as a pandemic was the most devastating event for stock markets. This was confirmed by using various parametric and non-parametric tests. In addition, the last event was further analyzed by observing CARs of various indices individually. © 2022 IGI Global. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Electrical power dispatch at a minimum cost of operation has been a challenging issue for thermal power stations and has research work has been carried out for decades. It has been observed that day by day resources of conventional energy are depleting so, the world is shifting towards renewable energy sources. This paper presents a novel technique COVID-19 Optimizer Algorithm (CVA) for solving the economic load dispatch problem of solar generation systems and thermal generating plants of a power system. The proposed method can be considered for solving the various types of economic load dispatch (ELD) problem considering numerous constraints viz. ramp rate limit & prohibited operating zones. Simulation results proved that the technique proposed performs way better than other modern optimization algorithms both in terms of quality of result obtained as well as computational efficiency. The robust nature of the CVA technique in solving solar integrated ELD problems can be inferred from the results. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has effected 223 countries globally with approximately 223,491,168 confirmed cases (by 9th September 2021) and these alarming numbers bring chaos among the people. These figures are calculated over a period of 21 months, emerging since December, 2019 to September, 2021. No other virus in the history has reached such high numbers which makes this Covid-19 pandemic a novel in nature. Therefore, significant measures need to be taken, in terms of medical assistance as well restrictions need to be imposed for socializing which would help in minimizing the number of people being effected by covid-19. The focus of this study is to identify the trend of patients being diagnosed over a specific period of time such as Weekdays or Weekends. Further, the patterns have been identified country wise and the co-relation has been highlighted among the countries and observed cases. Later, the data has been fed to clustering algorithm i.e. K-Means in order to group the similar characteristics of Covid-19 factors. This study would help the officials to take appropriate measurements in order to control the pandemic situation.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals' stamina and wellbeing. This study examines the psychological impact of COVID-19 on healthcare professionals. METHODS: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in July 2020 after institutional review board approval at a tertiary care institution in Lahore, Pakistan. A total of 175 healthcare workers participated following an online Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) questionnaire invitation and 41 were excluded following pre-existing mental health conditions. Data was analysed using MS Excel and SPSS Amos 23. Chi-squared test and regression were applied for comparison and impact of confounding variables respectively (p<0.05 was considered significant). RESULTS: Out of 134, 66 (49%) were doctors, 24 (18%) were nurses and 44 (33%) were non-medical professionals. Ninety-five (70%) with age 21-30 years. Male to female ratio was 2:1. Overall mean depression score accounted for 6.89 ± 6.64; anxiety score was 7.28 ± 6.74 and stress score was 8.83 ± 6.93. Mild depression, anxiety and stress was noted in 21 (15.6%), eight (6%) and 27 (20.1%) healthcare workers, respectively. A statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was observed among healthcare workers for depression, anxiety and stress. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated considerable impact of COVID-19 on mental health of healthcare workers. A well-structured targeted mental health support programme is needed urgently to support and reduce the long-term impact on healthcare workers' mental health and wellbeing.