ABSTRACT
Until recently, addressing the environmental externalities associated with the use of the private car and single occupancy vehicles has been the focus of the airport ground access policies worldwide. However, with the emerging unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, which have already changed the way we live, work, and travel, encouraging a change in commuter behavior has become even more important. This has necessitated that existing strategies be reconsidered in favor of adapting to a highly uncertain ‘‘COVID-19 world.'' Historically, there has been a dearth of literature relating to airport employees' ground access even though as a group employees represent an important segment of airport users with complex access requirements. This paper therefore focuses on airport employee related airport ground access strategies considering an emerging understanding of the future impacts of COVID-19 on global air travel. Pre-COVID strategies are investigated by conducting a documentary analysis of the most recent ground access strategies of 27 UK airports. The findings reveal that airport ground access strategies were mainly focused on setting targets and producing policy measures in favor of reducing car use and increasing the use of more sustainable transport modes including public transport, car sharing, and active travel (walking, cycling). However, measures encouraging public transport and car sharing will be more difficult to implement because of social distancing and fear of proximity to others. Instead, initiatives encouraging remote working, active travel, and improved staff awareness will be at the forefront of the future ground access strategy development. © National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2021.
ABSTRACT
Introduction - In today's intense competitive environment, businesses that want to have a sustainable competitive advantage must put the customer at the centre of all their activities and create customer loyalty by offering products and services that will provide customer satisfaction. One of the key elements of ensuring customer satisfaction is the effective handling of customer complaints, which is defined as the customers expressing their dissatisfaction with unmet expectations and unsatisfied needs verbally or in writing. The concept of a complaint as a response of customers' dissatisfaction with the products and services they experience is an invaluable feedback mechanism for businesses to resolve issues relating to their products and services. Aim - The aim of this chapter is to emphasise the importance of the concept of complaint as an important part of customer relations management and an effective marketing tool for the tourism sector. As a service sub-sector, the simultaneous production and consumption of services in the tourism sector ensures customer satisfaction more than concrete products, due to their inseparable nature. For this reason, handling, evaluating and finalising customer complaints has an important function and value in providing the necessary information for tourism enterprises to become aware of their deficiencies and mistakes. Complaint management has started to play an even more critical role for the tourism industry in preventing customer losses due to dissatisfaction, especially considering the shrinkage in demand in the sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Method - Firstly the concept of complaint and the importance of complaints for businesses were explained, customer complaint behaviour and the factors affecting this behaviour were examined in detail, the concept of online complaint was mentioned and the subject was evaluated in terms of tourism businesses. Results - While the effective management and resolution of complaints should be seen as a goal by every tourism business, it is vital that they understand customer complaint behaviours, the factors affecting this behaviour and how complaints should be managed in a way that will result in favour of the business. Conclusion - A complaint management process that enables customers to easily report their complaints to businesses and produces solutions as soon as possible will positively affect customer satisfaction. In this context, in order to reduce the negative effects on tourism enterprises, especially through the pandemic, business need to have clear and easy-to-access procedures, provide a quick response, show reliability and consistency in providing a solution, keeping the complainant informed of progress, have employees who can communicate with empathy and courtesy, have enough employees to deal with the situation, and adopt proactive approaches to prevent complaints rather than reducing the volume of complaints. Originality/Value - This research contributes to the literature in terms of complaining behaviour, examining the factors affecting this behaviour and emphasising the importance of the concept of complaints in the tourism sector. In addition, the research is important in terms of examining the contributions of an effective complaint management system in reducing the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism sector, which is one of the sectors mostly affected on a global scale.
ABSTRACT
Drawing upon economic and environmental sustainability, this study explores how developing the operational resilience of the medical supply chain (MSC) contributes to maintaining healthcare in the face of disruption risks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, an optimization-based roadmap is proposed by employing lean tools to achieve and realize MSC resilience. A novel two-stage stochastic optimization model and robust counterpart are developed with the objective of overall cost minimization to cope with the unknowable demand uncertainty represented by scenarios. The reason behind proposing a scenario-based stochastic model is to implement preparedness strategies during the (re)design phase by making strategic and operational level decisions. That being the case, seven cases are generated based on the demand uncertainty intervals along with seven different reliability levels for sensitivity analysis. Computational experiments are conducted through a real case study to compare the centralized and decentralized distribution models in terms of efficiency and responsiveness. The results obtained by the stochastic model and robust counterpart are compared to demonstrate how strong the proposed model is. On top of that, lean tools are used to visualize and analyze the improvement opportunities to contribute to the methodology. By doing so, this paper presents novel theoretical and empirical insights regarding MSC resilience. The computational results emphasize the importance of employing a pre-disruption strategy via the proposed methodology to design a resilient MSC to be prepared for pandemic-related risk. The findings from the sensitivity analysis also verify that regardless of the disruption degree, the developed roadmap with the centralized distribution model leads to up to 40% improvements in terms of the overall cost, order lead time, emission amount, and inventory shortage metrics. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd
ABSTRACT
In an influential article, Shah et al. (2015) hypothesized that resource scarcity weakens the effect of irrelevant contextual factors on economic valuations. The hypothesis that "scarcity frames value” qualifies the applicability of standard theories of rational choice and suggests a revised psychological foundation. In support, Shah et al. showed that differences in the willingness to pay for a commodity depending on where it was purchased (a fancy hotel vs. a run-down store) and in the willingness to travel to receive a fixed discount depending on the size of the purchase (a cheap vs. an expensive computer) were smaller among those with low personal incomes. In a large-scale preregistered experiment (N = 3,442), we tested whether scarcity framed value during the COVID-19 pandemic as well. The sample exhibited the canonical context effects overall. Consistent with the hypothesis, these effects tended to be smaller among those facing higher scarcity of personal income. Extending the original findings, economic valuations of low-income earners improved, particularly when scarcity was on the minds of the participants, as those with high financial and other resource scarcity concerns were less susceptible to the context effects. Our findings indicate that scarcity frames value, especially when it is cognitively salient, and emphasize the importance of considering contextual factors when attempting replications. © 2023 The Author(s)
ABSTRACT
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may affect the mental status of health care professionals. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the mental health effects of the COVID-19 epidemic on health care professionals in the pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). Subjects and methods: Our study was conducted prospectively between 01.04.20 and 10.04.20. The created questionnaire was applied to health care professionals through online platforms. Thus it was involved in 5 different institutions that participated from different regions of Turkey. With the questionnaire, we applied;the participants' age, gender, the general status of contamination and the level of COVID-19 knowledge were questioned. Besides;Beck Anxiety Scale, Acute Stress Scale (PCL-5), STAI-1 and STAI-2 (State and Trait Anxiety Inventory 1-2) scales were used to determine the anxiety levels. Results: A survey of 210 participants, 86 (41%) doctors, 124 (59%) nurses, were included in our study. When we evaluate the Beck anxiety levels, the majority of the participants (44%) were normal, while about one third had mild anxiety. When we evaluated the acute stress scale, all participants had a certain amount of stress levels. The majority (80 people each (38%)) experienced mild and moderate acute stress. Being female and having chronic disease poses a high risk for anxiety (OR, 0.330;95% CI, 0.087-1.250, p <0.05 and OR, 0.246;95% CI, 0.068-1.116, p<0.05), preoccupation (OR, 0.603;95% CI 0.261-1.395, p<0.05 and OR, 0.433;95% CI, 0.122-1.538, p<0.05) and acute stress (OR, 0.294;95% CI, 0.033-2.649, p<0.05 and OR, 0.317;95 % CI 0.060-1.679, p<0.05). Professional definition, marital status and having a child do not pose any risk factors. Conclusion: Our study has shown that the COVID-19 outbreak affects the mental status of health care professionals working at PICU at various levels.
ABSTRACT
Introduction – In today’s intense competitive environment, businesses that want to have a sustainable competitive advantage must put the customer at the centre of all their activities and create customer loyalty by offering products and services that will provide customer satisfaction. One of the key elements of ensuring customer satisfaction is the effective handling of customer complaints, which is defined as the customers expressing their dissatisfaction with unmet expectations and unsatisfied needs verbally or in writing. The concept of a complaint as a response of customers’ dissatisfaction with the products and services they experience is an invaluable feedback mechanism for businesses to resolve issues relating to their products and services. Aim – The aim of this chapter is to emphasise the importance of the concept of complaint as an important part of customer relations management and an effective marketing tool for the tourism sector. As a service sub-sector, the simultaneous production and consumption of services in the tourism sector ensures customer satisfaction more than concrete products, due to their inseparable nature. For this reason, handling, evaluating and finalising customer complaints has an important function and value in providing the necessary information for tourism enterprises to become aware of their deficiencies and mistakes. Complaint management has started to play an even more critical role for the tourism industry in preventing customer losses due to dissatisfaction, especially considering the shrinkage in demand in the sector due to the COVID19 pandemic. Method – Firstly the concept of complaint and the importance of complaints for businesses were explained, customer complaint behaviour and the factors affecting this behaviour were examined in detail, the concept of online complaint was mentioned and the subject was evaluated in terms of tourism businesses. Results – While the effective management and resolution of complaints should be seen as a goal by every tourism business, it is vital that they understand customer complaint behaviours, the factors affecting this behaviour and how complaints should be managed in a way that will result in favour of the business. Conclusion – A complaint management process that enables customers to easily report their complaints to businesses and produces solutions as soon as possible will positively affect customer satisfaction. In this context, in order to reduce the negative effects on tourism enterprises, especially through the pandemic, business need to have clear and easy-to-access procedures, provide a quick response, show reliability and consistency in providing a solution, keeping the complainant informed of progress, have employees who can communicate with empathy and courtesy, have enough employees to deal with the situation, and adopt proactive approaches to prevent complaints rather than reducing the volume of complaints. Originality/Value – This research contributes to the literature in terms of complaining behaviour, examining the factors affecting this behaviour and emphasising the importance of the concept of complaints in the tourism sector. In addition, the research is important in terms of examining the contributions of an effective complaint management system in reducing the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism sector, which is one of the sectors mostly affected on a global scale. © 2022 by Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to analyze perceived leisure benefits of male and female high school students who had different leisure choices. The study was designed as a cross-sectional quantitative study and 335 high school students consisted study sample. In the study to collect data, the Turkish version of the Leisure Benefit Scale was used. The scale has three factors such as physical, psychological, and sociological leisure benefits. The data were analyzed with SPSS 23. Cronbach Alpha was calculated for internal consistency, the One-Sample Kolmogorov Smirnov test was used to check normality, and the Kruskal Wallis test was used to determine the differences between males and females at a 95 confidence level. As a result, this study showed no significant difference in the variable leisure benefit for male participants, on the other hand, significant differences emerged in favor of female participants who chose sports and exercise as a leisure activity.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between physical activity, mood and nutrition of amateur football players and the differences in mood and nutritional variables depending on their physical activity status. 286 amateur league footballers whose leagues were suspended due to the pandemic participated in the study. Brunel Mood Scale was used to determine the mood of the athletes, the International Physical Activity Scale was used to determine the physical activity levels, and the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire was used to evaluate the nutritional status. After testing the normality of the distribution, the Spearman correlation coefficient was used for correlational analysis. Kruskal Wallis H test was used to evaluate mood and nutrition according to physical activity groups, and the Mann Whitney U test was used in paired groups to determine the source of the difference. When the fatigue and vigor scores of the inactive and minimally active players were examined, it was seen that the difference between them was statistically significant in favor of the football players included in the minimally active group. When the results of the nutrition variables were examined, it was seen that the difference between the variables of emotional eating, cognitive restraint and susceptibility to hunger was in favor of the minimally active group. In all mood variables according to the physical activity levels of Health Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA) active and inactive football players, all of the statistically significant differences observed in all nutritional variables except uncontrolled eating were in favor of the HEPA active group (p<.05). All of the statistically significant differences observed in all mood variables according to the physical activity levels of minimally active and HEPA active football players were in favor of the HEPA active group (p<.05). No statistically significant difference was observed between the nutritional variables of minimally active and HEPA active football players (p>.05). The results of this research showed that maintaining regular physical activity was an important preventive strategy for mental health and nutrition during the mandatory isolation period, such as the current coronavirus pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Background: We aimed to evaluate the significance of continuing audiovestibular practice during the Covid-19 pandemic in the audiology clinic of the university hospital. Methods: The precautions, test procedures, and risk factors associated with the practice of audiology were evaluated. The number and diagnoses of the cases between 23 March and 23 May 2020 were also compared with the results of the same 2 months in 2019 in an attempt to evaluate the alterations in the audiology practice. Results: The audiology practice has continued during the pandemic, and numerous audiovestibular tests like newborn hearing screening, pure tone and speech audiometry, auditory brainstem response (ABR) test, bedside vestibular assessment, videomystagmography (VNG), caloric test, vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP), computerized dynamic posturography (CDP), video head impulse test (vHIT), intraoperative cochlear implant measurement, and postop cochlear implant fittings were performed. The number of tests has decreased significantly in the course of the pandemic (p < 0.01). No evidence of Covid-19 disease was detected in the audiology staff and patients. In general, no major risk was seen during testing under protective measures except for vestibular testing which induced vomiting and taking out the mask for lip reading during cochlear implant fitting in the elderly. Conclusion: It is possible to perform audiovestibular tests during the Covid-19 pandemic by wearing necessary protective equipment and disinfecting the potential surfaces. Vomiting during vestibular tests, uncovering the nose and mouth for lip reading, and small-sized test cabins are the main risk factors of contamination in the audiology clinics.
ABSTRACT
The COVID pandemic has passed its first peak for now in many countries while some are still on the rise, with some facing a second wave of cases. Precautions and infection control measures for both pediatric and adult pulmonary function testing (PFT) have been a topic of debate during the pandemic. Many centers had to close their PFT laboratories during the initial periods of the pandemic and are reopening as the numbers of new cases are decreasing. This review aims to summarize different practices of PFT laboratory management in different countries, including patient appointments, personal protective equipment, testing room requirements and telemedicine during and immediately following the COVID pandemic.