ABSTRACT
In this research paper, COVID-19 tracing data are utilized to form two dataset networks, one is based on the virus transition between the world countries, as the dataset consists of 36 countries and 75 relationships between them. Whereas the other dataset is an attributed network based on the virus transition among the contact tracing in the Kingdom of Bahrain. This type of networks that is concerned in tracking a disease or virus was not formed based on COVID-19 virus transmission. © 2023 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
This paper is aimed on examining and testing the effect of mobile banking services on customer spending behavior and the changes caused by this influence of the COVID-19 pandemic in The Kingdom of Bahrain. In this study, the online banking services is the independent variable, where customer spending behavior is the dependent variable, COVID-19 pandemic is the moderator variable of the study. The study is focused on examining and testing the impact of the online banking services toward the consumer spending and saving behavior on making decision either to buy or save. The data will be collected in a primary form where the questionnaire survey method will be adopted to gather responses from bank consumers in the Kingdom of Bahrain and will be analyzed through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS) tool by using the built-in functions such as regression, mediation, scale, correlation, coefficient, significant, and moderation analysis. The results of the study will show the acceptance and rejection of the hypotheses of the study. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
A smart city incorporates information and communication technology (ICT) to achieve operational excellence, public info sharing, and the integrity of state services and citizen satisfaction. Nowadays, Bahrain has started a drive forward into smart cities, whereby urban areas can be more effective, habitable, and sustainable in the short and long term with the direct involvement of government, citizens, and enterprises. Food service providers should pay attention to consumer concerns regarding food safety since they have the ability to alter the use of their services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and state societal distancing regulations. This study intends to build and construct a Smart Restaurant Order System that provides an automated dining experience that eliminates the need for people to wait staff. When the epidemic struck, however, it became not only one of the just methods to purchase, yet indeed one of the safer, as it required little to no human interaction. As a result, both restaurants and people have embraced technology more quickly. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic brought unexpected and drastic changes to the way individuals work and their workplaces. As a way to control and limit the spread of the virus, almost all service providers from different sectors needed to move to a remote working setting to follow the safety efforts and social distancing measures imposed by health authorities. This sudden change has carried with it many difficulties especially within the educational sector because of its strong reliance on social interaction. This study aims to identify some of the main challenges affecting the teaching environment after the shift to remote teaching. To achieve this, unstructured interviews were conducted with faculty members from a higher education institution in Bahrain. Three human-centered design and ideation tools were used to analyze the interviews' outcomes and to propose solutions: Creative Matrix, Lotus Blossom, and Three Hats. The proposed solutions using the first two tools were further analyzed using the Three Hats methodology. Accordingly, four viable solutions were selected and proposed as a way to improve the online teaching environment and solve the majority of the identified challenges. The proposed solutions are: designing a rewarding and motivation system, using AI-based course content optimization and assessment creation system, students' cheating prevention mechanism, and creating clear and precise policies and procedures to control the online teaching/learning environment. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
E-commerce plays an important and prominent role in the modern era, especially with the continued emergence of new technologies, which opened new horizons for entrepreneurs and business owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to pursue business growth. Currently, SMEs are no longer limited to practicing their business activities locally but internationally. Digitalization has a vital role in elevating the state of competitiveness between firms, which prompts many SMEs to acquire technologies that facilitate the business transition to e-commerce considering gaining a competitive advantage over their rivals and maintaining relevance in their field. This research will further explore the different challenges SMEs faced in Bahrain during the Covid-19 period and analyze the various obstacles faced during e-commerce adaptation. The analysis considers three main categories: organizational Readiness, environmental Readiness, and technological Readiness. This study aims to demonstrate SMEs' willingness to transition their business activities to e-commerce after the devastating repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. A questionnaire was designed and shared with 110 employees working at SMEs, and 100 responses were received and selected to be the research sample size. The research revealed that SMEs in Bahrain faced many obstacles to transform into e-commerce businesses during the pandemic and among the challenges were the financial cost of such transformation. The study provided further recommendations for future studies. © 2022 IEEE.
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In this study, game theory is used to determine the effect of vaccination and booster shots in containing COVID-19 in Bahrain. The study is divided into three parts and in each part, the payoff matrix and the biometric is generated. The Nash equilibrium points are determined by marking the maximum value in the first entry of each column and the maximum value in the second entry of each row. The results show that the vaccination and the booster shots significantly reduce the number of infected individuals, the number of patients reaching the ICU, and the number of deaths due to COVID-19. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents a significant challenge to the medical profession, increasing in the presence of microbial co-infection. Bacterial and Fungal co-infections increase the risk of morbidity and mortality in patients with COVID-19. AIM: To study the bacterial profile in patients with COVID-19 who needed admission to receive treatment in the main centres concerned with managing COVID-19 disease in the Kingdom of Bahrain. METHODS: The study was a retrospective observational analysis of the bacterial profile and the bacterial resistance in patients with confirmed COVID-19 disease who needed admission to receive treatment in the main centres assigned to manage patients with COVID-19 disease in the Kingdom of Bahrain from February to October 2020. We used the electronic patients' records and the microbiology laboratory data to identify patients' demographics, clinical data, microbial profile, hospital or community-acquired, and the outcomes. RESULTS: The study included 1380 patients admitted with confirmed COVID-19 disease during the study period. 51% were admitted from February to June, and 49% were admitted from July to October 2020, with a recurrence rate was 0.36%. There was a significant increase in bacterial and fungal co-infection in the second period compared to the first period. The most common isolated organisms were the gram-negative bacteria (mainly Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, and Escherichia coli), the gram-positive bacteria (mainly coagulase negative Staphylococci, Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus) and fungaemia (Candida galabrata, Candida tropicalis, Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida parapsilosis, Aspergillus niger). The hospital-acquired infection formed 73.8%, 61.6%, 100% gram-negative, gram-positive and fungaemia. Most of the hospital-acquired infection occurred in the second period with a higher death rate than community-acquired infections. CONCLUSION: Bacterial and fungal co-infections in patients admitted with confirmed COVID-19 disease pose higher morbidity and mortality risks than those without co-infections. We should perform every effort to minimize these risks.