Experiences of Kyrgyzstani Frontline Healthcare Workers during the "Black July” of 2020: a Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: The peak of the pandemic in Kyrgyzstan occurred in July 2020 with highest infection rates, almost 1000 cases daily, compared to 100 cases prior to this date. The state health system was fatally unprepared to accommodate patients, mobilize medical staff, or provide clear instructions to the population. This study explores personal narratives of healthcare practitioners who were affected by and survived COVID-19 during the "Black July” of 2020 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. METHOD: Healthcare workers (n=10) were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. Interviews were transcribed then analyzed in accordance with interpretative phenomenological study guidelines. RESULTS: The narratives demonstrated both post-traumatic depreciation and post-traumatic growth, resulting in changes of attitudes, lifestyle, and identity. An important aspect of identity shift included an emerging desire for increased self-care, which was characterized by resistance against a heroic Hippocratic ideal to "to save everybody”. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 is perceived as a psycho-socio-cultural phenomenon, which has transformed the identities of healthcare workers in the Kyrgyz Republic. Further research is recommended into developing rehabilitation programs for healthcare workers. © Authors, 2022.

Mental distress among female physicians working in occupational health activities during the COVID-19 pandemic

IntroductionDepression, anxiety and stress are mental disorders that impact the quality of life of workers. Depression has symptoms of inertia, anhedonia, dysphoria, lack of interest/involvement, self-depreciation, devaluation of life and discouragement. Anxiety is characterized by excitation of the autonomous nervous system, musculoskeletal effects, situational anxiety, subjective anxiety, and experiences. The clinical stress has difficulty to relax, nervous excitement, easy perturbation/agitation and irritability/exaggerated reaction and impatience. This study aims to present the prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety and stress among female physicians who worked in Occupational Health activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.Materials & MethodsDescriptive cross-sectional study carried out in Brazil during Sep-Nov 2020. Participants were invited through social networks, using the snowball method. The questionnaire was available on a website requesting data about sociodemographic characteristics, education, and occupational aspects and the short version of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21).Results and ConclusionsAmong the 249 female participants, the mean age was 46.3 years (sd 13.5). Most had a partner (64.2%), reported skin color as white (81.9%) and lived in the Brazilian Southeast region (64.6%). The average time since graduation was 12.1 years (sd 8.6). Most participants had professional activities in private sector companies (58.2%) and reported working 40 to 59 hours per week (41.3%). The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 48.6%, with 39.5% being severe or very severe, 31.4% moderate and 28.9% mild. Regarding anxiety, the prevalence was 36.5%, with 47.1% severe or very severe, 35.1% moderate and 17.6% mild. Finally, in relation to stress, its prevalence was 54.2%, with 39.9% severe or very severe, 29.6% moderate and 30.4% mild. Understanding the profile of mental disorders among medical workers is important to design prevention and health promotion strategies for this population, in order to develop quality of life, well-being and productivity.

The Rupee-Dollar Ratio Fluctuations: Challenges and Impact on the Economy

Indian witnessed its record lowest ever currency fall in a matter of few days. The Rupee loss meant that it's a gain for the US Dollar. There have been numerous reasons which paved way to the diminishing value of Indian rupee. Within a timeframe of just 75 years a sharp rise to 79INR/1USD could be witnessed in the year 2022. The value of Rupees has diminished by about seventeen times during this time frame. There has been numerous reasons for the fall in the vale of Rupee such as the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation rate, crude oil price change etc. the fall in Rupee value has put the Indian economy in great stress and challenge creating an impact on the economy. This paper attempts to make a Rupee-Dollar comparison since 2016 to 2022 using data collected from reliable sources and using SPSS software to evaluate the results obtained. Copyright © 2022, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved.

Remote work: Aircraft noise implications, prediction, and management in the built environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly changed workplace management. Most workplaces have adopted the work-from-home policy to minimize the risk of community spread. Consequently, housing estates remain largely occupied during office hours. Since some housing estates are situated in the vicinity of an airport, noise pollution resulted from the takeoff and landing of aircraft is now more noticed by residents, causing annoyance. This problem would be most acute for those located directly under the flight path. Before the pandemic, such aircraft operations had lower effect on the residents because most of them were not at home but at workplaces. Evidently, it is timely that more emphasis should now be placed during urban planning to predict and minimize aircraft noise in the built environment. This article first defines the aircraft noise metrics commonly used to assess environmental impact. Preceded by an overview of how aircraft noise affects the built environment, this article reviews how various aircraft noise prediction models have been used in urban planning. Lastly, this article reviews how aircraft noise can be managed for better acoustic comfort of the residents. Anticipating the adoption of hybrid work arrangement moving forward, this article aims to provide urban planning professionals with an avenue to understand how aircraft noise can negatively affect the built environment, which, in turn, justify why prediction and management of aircraft noise should be emphasized from the outset of urban planning.

Cross-Border Tourism on the Russian-Chinese Border in 2014-2019

The article examines the dynamics of cross-border tourism and developments in the tourism industry in the Russian-Chinese borderland after 2014. Using Blagoveshchensk and Heihe and Khabarovsk and Fuyuan as case studies, the article shows that due to the change in tourist flow structure after the 2014-ruble depreciation, Russian and Chinese border cities have customized their service industry to accommodate Chinese tourists. Mapping of the service sector openness of border cities conducted based on fieldwork data and media materials demonstrates that central districts of border towns concentrate the majority of businesses catering to clients from the neighboring state. This conclusion confirms the role of central districts of border towns as thermometers of cross-border dynamics as they react first to fluctuations in exchange rates and tourist flows. The article provides an overview of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cross-border flows and the tourism industry in the Russian-Chinese borderland and concludes that the earlier reorientation towards domestic tourists allowed Heihe and Fuyuan to be better prepared for a new external shock. The tourism industry in Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk, on the contrary, suffered significant losses and found itself in a situation of high uncertainty, where it is hardly possible to predict when Chinese tourists will return. © 2021 The authors.

COVID-19 and deferred tax reversals

Purpose>This paper aims to examine the financial statement impact resulting from the tax depreciation on buildings that was reinstated on 25 March 2020 as part of the New Zealand Government’s coronavirus (COVID-19) tax support package. The COVID-19 pandemic and the tax relief created an accounting response to map the environment to accounting reports, reversing previously recognized deferred tax liabilities and increasing reported income as a result.Design/methodology/approach>This is an exploratory and descriptive study to understand the accounting response and impact on companies’ financial statements following a COVID-19 tax relief to support businesses in a dire financial situation as the effects of COVID-19 took hold.Findings>First, the accounting response provided the appropriate mapping from the COVID-19 environment to accounting reports. Second, the financial statement impacts are material, especially for companies with extensive holdings of buildings that are held for use. Third, while the accounting relief was immediate, the economic (cash flow) support does not occur until a year later.Research limitations/implications>The financial statement impacts are based on a subset of NZX 50 companies with the available information at the time of writing. However, they do not compromise the external validity of the findings because the tax depreciation relief applies to other listed companies, unlisted public and private companies, trust, partnerships and individuals.Practical implications>The New Zealand Government could have been more helpful to businesses by allowing an immediate depreciation deduction in the 2020 year as opposed to implementing it from 2021. Further, it could have legislated a backlog depreciation deduction from 2010 – when the depreciation on buildings was disallowed – to 2020.Originality/value>This paper documents the evolution of the accounting for deferred taxes when the New Zealand Government withdrew the tax depreciation in 2010, how NZ IAS 12 evolved as a result of that event and now the reversal effect with the reinstatement of the tax depreciation during COVID-19. The paper also blends in the accounting responses and considers whether they are opportunistic or efficient.

Contributions and challenges of voluntary organizations towards the integration of refugees into the job market

Purpose>This study aims to understand the contributions and challenges of voluntary organizations towards the integration of refugees into the job market.Design/methodology/approach>Descriptive research with a qualitative approach based on interpretivism was used, applied to mediators of social entities in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.Findings>The findings of this study support the importance of voluntary organizations in the employment of refugees, based on background that will contribute directly to the training of displaced persons in the Brazilian labor market. Meanwhile, difficulties such as post-employment refugee monitoring, legislative obstacles to the verification of skills, structural and human capital limitations of mediators, the national economic crisis and the lack of government support are identified as the main challenges for long-term assistance to refugees.Practical implications>The results of the study can foster greater participation of public policymakers and society in supporting the third sector, aiming at a greater reach in the provision of services of mediators for the effective integration of refugees in Brazil.Originality/value>This study contributes to the literature on the integration of refugees into the labor market by demonstrating the importance of voluntary organizations in this process. It also demonstrates how the main challenges of the third sector in the Brazilian context impact its support in facilitating and maintaining the employment of displaced persons.

MACROECONOMIC POLICY AS RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC COVID - 19

The financial crisis triggered by the pandemic of COVID-19 significantly curtailed the activities of world financial systems. With the onset of the crisis in 2020, there has been a deterioration in macroeconomic indicators: a drop in GDP, an increase in the unemployment rate and an increase in public debt. Unlike the previous, expected debt crisis of 2008, the sudden corona crisis was welcomed by financial systems with significantly higher liquidity and capitalization. Despite positive expectations based on better performance of financial systems, uncertainty and the need for financial stability were present. Therefore, the highest expectations were directed towards economic policymakers, regulation and supervision of the financial systems. The impact of the emerging crisis is particularly pronounced in small and open economies such as Republic of Croatia, where there is a strong dependence on international market trends and thus a sensitivity to crises and external shocks. With the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, Republic of Croatia faced the problem of depreciation pressure on the domestic currency. It was stopped rapidly by the interventions of the Croatian National Bank, which achieved monetary and macroeconomic stability and provided assistance to the economy. Although central banks and other financial system supervisors and regulators have played an important role in overcoming the crisis and supporting the economy, uncertainty about macroeconomic stability remains. Following the COVID-19 lockdown of economies and their reopening in mid-2021, demand for goods and services has increased, leading to rising prices and inflation in Europe and the United States of America. The aim of this paper is to present the effects of the crisis caused by COVID-19 and to analyze the measures introduced to financially stabilize and support the economy.

Fast Recovery or Stagnation? The Maritime Industry post COVID-19

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in February 2020, the global maritime trade plunged by 9% in H1 2020, an unprecedented loss since the trade decrease triggered by the 2008 Financial Crisis. In addition to the disruptions of supply chains and decline of transportation sectors brought on by the pandemic, surging nationalism and protectionism, the retreat of globalization, and calls for more diversified global value chains and decoupling of economies have heightened the adverse impacts on survival and sustainable growth of the shipping industry. As a result, many people have adopted a more pessimistic view, and predicted that “the short-term outlook for maritime trade is grim, and that the industry’s recovery is fraught with uncertainty,” according to one UNCTAD report. Some even proclaimed to “wave goodbye to the greatest era of globalization,” wrote The Economist in May of 2020. This article argues that the maritime industry will have a strong and speedy recovery from the downturns despite transportation disruptions brought on by COVID-19, outcry for diversification of supply chains, and changes escalated and exacerbated by nationalist sentiments and protectionist conflicts. The adverse factors that the shipping industry faces would be marginal rather than fundamental in nature. Those marginally higher risks could be managed and ameliorated by multinational enterprises through alternate cross-border business strategies and harnessing of new technologies. Panic over the changes in supply chains (including nearshoring and reshoring) and diversifying production sites could be mitigated by emerging profitability earned from global specialization, rent-seeking strategies, and orchestrating a transformation in global value chains. Most importantly, pandemic-driven fears that globalization could be “killed” will be minimized when actual data shows just the opposite - that globalization is expanding. The paper also analyzes the elements that could strengthen the fast recovery and sustainable growth of the maritime industry. The vertical and horizontal integrations of maritime companies, especially the massive multinational enterprises, show their vast capacity in the cross-border movements of ideas, technology and portfolio capital, and consequently would help build up global production scale of economies and global amortization. Emerging technologies and their increasingly commonplace applications in digitalization, automation and robotics in maritime sectors, is crucial to sustaining both short-term productivity and long-term growth of the maritime industry. The research provides evidence for why the maritime industry is poised for an expeditious post-pandemic recovery and seeks to answer many puzzling questions while our world still operates under globally disruptive and unprecedented pressures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021 21st Annual General Assembly, IAMU AGA 2021 - Proceedings of the International Association of Maritime Universities ,IAMU Conference. All rights reserved.

Technical Efficiency of Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Dairies in Poland: Toward the First Link of the Supply Chain

Several studies conducted in various countries have addressed the technical efficiency of dairies. However, there is a paucity of research on the technical efficiency of dairies in Poland, particularly in relation to their legal form (i.e., cooperatives vs. non-cooperatives). The existing literature also does not provide insights into the technical efficiency of these entities with respect to different regions’ milk production capacity. Therefore, this paper aims to: (1) evaluate and compare the technical efficiency of cooperative and non-cooperative dairies in Poland, and (2) examine dairies’ technical efficiency due to spatial disparities in milk production potential. We use data envelopment analysis (DEA) to investigate the technical efficiency of 108 dairies in Poland for the year 2019. The milk production capacity of provinces is examined by applying the zero unitarization method. The results show that when assuming constant returns to scale (CRS), dairy cooperatives are less technically efficient than non-cooperatives, whereas when assuming variable returns to scale (VRS), these differences are not statistically significant. For inefficient dairies, we observe the greatest potential for improvement in labor costs and depreciation. Both cooperatives and non-cooperatives operate mostly under decreasing returns to scale. Thus, the potential for enhancing the technical efficiency of dairies through the consolidation process seems to be exploited. Our findings reveal that the technical efficiency of dairies in Poland is not differentiated by regional milk production potential.

Bilevel transportation problem in neutrosophic environment

In the current times of the predominance of COVID-19, almost all the countries are conducting inoculation drives. Given the market’s inability to compute how much to manufacture, how to transport and the frequently changing demand, the cost of safely and timely transporting the vaccines from factory to syringe is currently indeterminate. In this paper, we formulate this situation using a bilevel transportation problem with neutrosophic numbers (BLTP-NN). The problem comes from a vaccine manufacturing company where the vaccine is produced and then transported to different distribution centres from where it is further transported to various health centres for the conduction of their vaccination drive. The authors have tried to perceive this situation from two perspectives by formulating two different problems. The first problem is a bilevel linear fractional transportation problem which aims at minimizing the transportation cost in proportion to per unit maximization of quantity transported. The second problem is a bilevel indefinite quadratic transportation problem which aims at minimizing the transportation cost and depreciation cost. In both problems, cost coefficients are neutrosophic numbers along with availabilities and demands in the constraint set. These formulated bilevel transportation problems in neutrosophic environment are solved using goal programming strategy to arrive at a satisfactory solution. The relevance of this work is to help the decision makers in budgeting their finances related to the transportation by strategic disbursement leading to a smooth administration of vaccination program.

Digital Marketing of Bulgarian Natural Heritage for Tourism and Recreation

The need for a closer and enhanced connection with nature, as the basis for human wellbeing, reinforces the importance of natural heritage governance, including wider and much improved access to information about nature-based tourism and recreation. This research seeks to reveal how Internet content can support the digital identification of nature sites and their branding as tourist destinations. To this end, it analyzes 20 exemplary websites, each known around the world, and highlights important current trends in the structuring and attractiveness of the information provided. Based on the devised benchmarking criteria, the study develops a benchmarking approach that improves digital “packaging” and marketing of natural heritage for the purposes of tourism, recreation, leisure, and sports, and then tests it in Bulgaria. The procedure includes the selection of 57 natural heritage sites and rating the content of their official websites. The results show an unsatisfactory level of representation of the heritage value of the Bulgarian NH and a severe depreciation of the provision of the necessary tourism and recreation information, in comparison to the selected global benchmark. Besides the outline of the most frequent gaps and shortcomings, the results provide managers with suggestions about the development of a “natural heritage” brand for tourism and recreation, which features amplification of site identity and messaging, plus enhancement of its visibility. The conclusions are applicable to a wide variety of geographical contexts and audiences in nature-based destination governance.

Post-traumatic stress, growth, and depreciation during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from Turkey.

Background: A worldwide health threat, the COVID-19 pandemic, has highlighted the need to focus on its mental health impact. However, literature on mental health effects including post-traumatic consequences of the pandemic is scarce. Objective: The current study examined post-traumatic stress (PTS), growth (PTG), and depreciation (PTD) during the pandemic, and explored factors associated with these mental health outcomes in an adult community sample from Turkey. Method: A total of 685 participants responded to an online survey that gathered data on sociodemographic characteristics, financial loss during the pandemic, time spent at home and frequency of social media use, perception of COVID-related risks, stress, and event-related rumination. Data analysis included correlation and regression analyses. Results: Results showed that PTS, PTG, and PTD were positively correlated with each other. Younger age and being single were associated with higher PTS and PTD, and lower education levels predicted all three outcomes. Experiencing financial loss during the pandemic, more frequent social media use to follow COVID-related news and posts, and longer time spent at home during the pandemic were associated with higher PTS. Anticipating financial risks during the pandemic were associated with all outcomes while anticipating health-related risks due to COVID-19 and perceived stress levels predicted PTS and PTD but not PTG. Both intrusive and deliberate rumination were associated with higher levels of PTS and PTD, and PTG was predicted solely by deliberate rumination. Moreover, provisional PTSD was indicated in 47.9% of the participants. Membership to the provisional PTSD group was predicted by age, level of education, time spent on social media, anticipating COVID-19-related health risks, perceived stress, and event-related rumination. Conclusions: The current study provides empirical evidence for the short-term post-traumatic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related factors, which can help to guide mental health services during the pandemic.

Antecedentes: La pandemia del COVID-19, una amenaza de salud mundial, ha puesto de relieve la necesidad de centrarse en su impacto en la salud mental. Sin embargo, la literatura relacionada con los efectos en la salud mental, incluidas las consecuencias postraumáticas de la pandemia, es escasa.Objetivo: Este estudio examino el estrés postraumático (PTS por sus siglas en inglés), crecimiento (PTG por sus siglas en inglés) y depreciación (PTD por sus siglas en inglés) durante la pandemia y exploró los factores asociados con estos resultados en salud mental en una muestra de una comunidad adulta de Turquía.Método: Un total de 685 participantes respondieron a una encuesta en línea que reunió características sociodemográficas, pérdidas económicas durante la pandemia, tiempo en el hogar y frecuencia del uso de redes sociales, percepción de riesgos relacionados con COVID-19, estrés y rumiación de eventos relacionados. El análisis de datos incluyó análisis de correlación y regresión.Resultados: Los resultaros mostraron que PTS, PTG y PTD se correlacionaron positivamente entre sí. Menor edad y la soltería se asociaron con más altos PTS y PTD, y menor nivel de educación predijo los tres resultados. Experimentar pérdidas económicas durante la pandemia, un uso de redes sociales más frecuente para seguir las noticias y publicaciones relacionadas con COVID y el pasar más tiempo en el hogar durante la pandemia estuvieron asociados con PTS más altos. La anticipación de los riesgos económicos durante la pandemia estuvo asociada con todos los resultados, mientras que anticiparse a los riesgos relacionados con la salud debido a COVID-19 y los niveles de estrés percibidos predijeron PTS y PTD pero no PTG. Tanto la rumiación deliberada como intrusiva estuvieron asociadas con niveles más altos de PTS y PTD y el PTG se predijo únicamente por rumiación deliberada. Además, TEPT provisorio se indicó en un 47,9% de los participantes. La pertenencia al grupo provisorio de TEPT se predijo por la edad, nivel de educación, tiempo dedicado a las redes sociales, la anticipación de los riesgos en salud relacionados con COVID-19, estrés percibido y rumiación relacionada con esos eventos.Conclusiones: El presente estudio proporciona evidencia empírica para los efectos postraumáticos a corto plazo de la pandemia COVID-19 y sus factores relacionados, que pueden ayudar a orientar los servicios de salud mental durante la pandemia.