Dual Role of Leadership in ‘Janus-Faced' Telework from Home

The ‘forced' telework from home during the pandemic changed the practices, routines, and especially the working contexts of many employees in a leadership position as leaders themselves became teleworkers in addition to those they were expected to lead. This chapter looks at the challenges and resources of working from home (WFH)-and their ambivalences-among teleworkers and teleworking leaders during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey data was collected immediately after the lockdown. From this data, two subsets were filtered. First, the responses of teleworkers (N = 228) and, second, of teleworking leaders (N = 195) were identified and analysed in regard to the ‘the most challenging' and ‘the most rewarding' issues when working from home. The study shows that telework from home is ‘Janus-faced': telework is simultaneously challenging and rewarding in several respects. In addition, teleworking leaders have a dual role, as they must both adapt to working at home as teleworkers themselves and to being leaders of homeworkers. The findings can be used for designing, organizing, performing, and leading hybrid work in the future. In this evolving ʼnew normal, ' leaders need to adapt to their dual role, learn new leadership competencies, and encourage their employees to lead themselves. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

Leader crisis communication and salesperson resilience in face of the COVID-19: The roles of positive stress mindset, core beliefs challenge, and family strain

The resilience of B2B sales forces is crucial in face of severe wide-ranging challenges during a crisis. This study aims to investigate the role of leader communication of the crisis in promoting salesperson resilience during the COVID-19. The data were gathered from 418 salespersons from 36 manufacturing firms in times of the COVID-19. The data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated the positive relationship between leader crisis communication and salesperson resilience, mediated by salespersons' positive stress mindset. Family strain and core beliefs challenge were found to attenuate the positive linkage between leader crisis communication and salespersons' positive stress mindset. Theoretical and practical implications are presented. This study offers insights to help managers in B2B organizations better understand and implement mechanisms that can foster resilience among their B2B sales forces in the COVID-19 outbreak and other crises. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

VR-mediated storytelling of experience in destination branding: hybrid 4D transformations1

In COVID-19 era, destination branding faces the challenge of digitalization and virtual reality (VR) in particular. The fundamentals of VR-mediated storytelling in destination branding are in the process of being developed. There is a luck of research on immersive VR-mediated storytelling, scenarios, and messages in destination branding, especially realised with technologies of more complex – hybrid – immersivity (4D). The shift from 2D, 3D to 4D hybrid multisensory VR technologies is not only among the main technology developments – it provokes new research problems with VR-mediated destination branding and storytelling. The authors present the results of theoretical and empirical research of VR-mediated destination storytelling of a brand driven by the newest 4D hybrid multisensory technological approaches on the case of Switzerland. In Switzerland, VR-mediated projects in destination branding are developing actively last years but VR-mediated storytelling research in this field was not provided yet. In this regard, it was chosen 100 destination brand VR projects, presented in 2016–2022, to compare the parameters of VR-mediated storytelling of a brand. VR has to be included into brand storytelling paradigm, which must be rethought for this specific sphere. It was proved that it is more effective to combine different types of experience, virtual and physical both and make the VR-mediated brand storytelling hybrid. In terms of theoretical implications, this paper opened a specific research area by bridging theoretical and empirical ideas of destination branding, VR-mediated storytelling and digital media, technical and social communication. © Shilina M.G., Sokhn M., Wirth J., 2023.

Overcoming COVID-19 pandemic: emerging challenges of human factors and the role of cognitive ergonomics

The present study, an expert review, aimed to discuss the emerging challenges of overcoming COVID-19 from the perspective of human factors and the importance of cognitive ergonomics in helping to cope with the epidemic. Identifying these challenges and the use of cognitive ergonomics to optimize human well-being and system performance can be effective in managing COVID-19. Generally, two main preventive approaches such as social distancing and patient care or treatment approaches are being utilized in response to COVID-19. In this paper, human factors challenges that could emerge from covid-19 preventive approaches were discussed. Social distancing forces presence and increases automated systems that lead to increases in cognitive needs, mental workload, stress, etc. Challenges of treatment and health care include the increased workload of healthcare personnel, stress, changing work systems and task allocation that led to fatigue and stress, threats to patient safety, and disruption of interpersonal interactions from a cognitive ergonomic perspective. It is concluded that the challenges of coping with COVID-19 were numerous and important from the perspective of human factors and the role of cognitive ergonomics is important in controlling the disease;hence, it should be taken into consideration.

Post-Covid-19 Pandemic IT Project Management Skills and Challenges

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has harmed social, financial, and work life. The novel coronavirus has caused problems in all business sectors, including Information Technology(IT). Many Projects have been stopped or delayed due to the impact of this pandemic. Most of the companies recognized the importance of IT to achieve competitive advantage and to survive. Companies are investing a lot of money in IT projects. More than 60% of IT project fail. Lack of professional IT project management is one of the main reasons for that fail. Managing IT projects is a complex problem. Crises such as COVID 19 and uncertainty are increasing the complexity and challenges in IT projects management. This paper investigates what are the IT project management Key success factors required during and after the Pandemic. Secondary data were collected from literature review in the field of IT project management. an online questionnaire was used to collect the primary data from 107 IT firms. 323 respondents were participated. It is concluded that the following Key success factors are required: e-communication, centralization of data, online project monitoring, designing new policies and guidelines for incorporating new work culture, gaining and establishing project risk management exercises, especially cybersecurity and data protection by gaining access to the latest tools, establishing a culture for strict usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to help project managers complete projects safely, and top management support. © 2023 IEEE.

Assessment of the challenges and adaptation strategies of pediatric nurses in charge of caring for children with COVID-19

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic cause severe acute respiratory syndrome. It is a major public health crisis threatening humanity since world war two. Aim(s): This study aimed to assess challenges and adaptation strategies of pediatric nurses in charge of caring for children with COVID-19. Methodology: A descriptive research design was used to conduct this study. Setting(s): This study was carried out at pediatric hospital affiliated to Fayoum university hospitals. A purposive sample of 100 nurses who providing care for children with COVID-19 in the previous mentioned setting. A structured interview questionnaire sheet consisted of four parts were used for data collection: Part (1): Assess characteristics of studied sample;Part (2): Assess pediatric nurses' knowledge regarding caring for children with COVID-19;Part (3): Challenges that faced pediatric nurses in caring of children with COVID-19;Part (4): Adaptation strategies used by pediatric nurses to face of COVID-19 of children. Result(s): The results showed that 55% of the studied nurses had unsatisfactory knowledge level of caring for children with COVID-19. Regarding total challenges 75% of studied nurses had psychological challenges and 65% of the studied nurses had high working pressure. Also, regard adaptation strategy 60%, 55% and 51% of the studied nurses not used cognitive and educational adaptation, psychological and emotional adaptation and physical adaptation respectively. Conclusion(s): The present study concluded that, there was highly statistically significant between total challenges of COVID-19 and total adaptation strategies among pediatric nurses in charge of caring for children with COVID-19. Recommendations: Continuous training program for pediatric nurses to improve using of the adaptation strategies of caring for children during the COVID-19.Copyright © 2023 Scientific Publishers of India. All rights reserved.

Controlled human infection models in COVID-19 and tuberculosis: current progress and future challenges.

Controlled Human Infection Models (CHIMs) involve deliberately exposing healthy human volunteers to a known pathogen, to allow the detailed study of disease processes and evaluate methods of treatment and prevention, including next generation vaccines. CHIMs are in development for both tuberculosis (TB) and Covid-19, but challenges remain in their ongoing optimisation and refinement. It would be unethical to deliberately infect humans with virulent Mycobacteria tuberculosis (M.tb), however surrogate models involving other mycobacteria, M.tb Purified Protein Derivative or genetically modified forms of M.tb either exist or are under development. These utilise varying routes of administration, including via aerosol, per bronchoscope or intradermal injection, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Intranasal CHIMs with SARS-CoV-2 were developed against the backdrop of the evolving Covid-19 pandemic and are currently being utilised to both assess viral kinetics, interrogate the local and systemic immunological responses post exposure, and identify immune correlates of protection. In future it is hoped they can be used to assess new treatments and vaccines. The changing face of the pandemic, including the emergence of new virus variants and increasing levels of vaccination and natural immunity within populations, has provided a unique and complex environment within which to develop a SARS-CoV-2 CHIM. This article will discuss current progress and potential future developments in CHIMs for these two globally significant pathogens.

Mpox multi-antigen mRNA vaccine candidates by a simplified manufacturing strategy afford efficient protection against lethal orthopoxvirus challenge.

Current unprecedented mpox outbreaks in non-endemic regions represent a global public health concern. Although two live-attenuated vaccinia virus (VACV)-based vaccines have been urgently approved for people at high risk for mpox, a safer and more effective vaccine that can be available for the general public is desperately needed. By utilizing a simplified manufacturing strategy of mixing DNA plasmids before transcription, we developed two multi-antigen mRNA vaccine candidates, which encode four (M1, A29, B6, A35, termed as Rmix4) or six (M1, H3, A29, E8, B6, A35, termed as Rmix6) mpox virus antigens. We demonstrated that those mpox multi-antigen mRNA vaccine candidates elicited similar potent cross-neutralizing immune responses against VACV, and compared to Rmix4, Rmix6 elicited significantly stronger cellular immune responses. Moreover, immunization with both vaccine candidates protected mice from the lethal VACV challenge. Investigation of B-cell receptor (BCR) repertoire elicited by mpox individual antigen demonstrated that the M1 antigen efficiently induced neutralizing antibody responses, and all neutralizing antibodies among the top 20 frequent antibodies appeared to target the same conformational epitope as 7D11, revealing potential vulnerability to viral immune evasion. Our findings suggest that Rmix4 and Rmix6 from a simplified manufacturing process are promising candidates to combat mpox.

Rethinking regional economic resilience: Preconditions and processes shaping transformative resilience

The unpredictable impacts of sudden shocks such as the current COVID-19 pandemic or the current energy crisis accelerated by the Russia-Ukraine war have led to a renewed interest in regional economic resilience. Much of the literature focuses attention on how regional economies and industries could bounce back, that is, how they could return to their pre-shock conditions. Other scholars have proposed to construe resilience as bouncing forward to capture the mechanisms and processes that underpin positive adaptation and structural change in response to an acute crisis. In this article, we argue that both conceptualisations do not consider shocks and crises as a window of opportunity for regional economies to transform into a radically different and more desirable trajectory. We bring a new perspective into play, that is, transformative resilience which places shifts towards more sustainable pathways centre stage. This understanding of regional economic resilience acknowledges that a crisis may bring about permanent structural change and considers to what extent these transformations are to the benefit of society and the environment. This article seeks to identify in a conceptual way what factors and dynamics are vital for enhancing the transformative resilience of regions. To this end, we draw on recent insights from the debate on challenge-oriented regional innovation systems and elaborate on the role of pre-shock conditions and various core processes in building up regional transformative resilience.

Do Online Challenge-Based Learning Help Professors Identify and Solve Community Problems During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

This research aims to identify online challenge-based learning (CBL) that builds on the problem-based learning practice to support professors working in two Mexican institutions with solutions to six social challenges defined by the institutions. Thirty-five professors from Tecnologico de Monterrey participated in developing the solutions related to given challenges by taking a social approach. For this activity, an online training session of one week was organized by the Faculty Development and Educational Innovation Center (CEDDIE) of Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico City, Mexico. The data was collected through an online survey based on quantitative and qualitative questionnaires. We received fifteen complete responses out of thirty-five. Analyzing the results of this study affirmed that online CBL activities served professors to promote social interactions, develop pedagogical competencies, and share knowledge based on their learning experience through active collaboration with peers in the same institutions but from different disciplines and campuses to identify and solve existing societal issues. © 2023 IEEE.

Mucormycosis in post-COVID patients: loose cannon waiting to fire at the anaesthesiologist

Background Recently, several cases of mucormycosis in people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been increasingly reported worldwide, in particular from India. As an increasing number of post-COVID patients with mucormycosis are presenting for surgical management, the onus is on the anaesthesiologists to adequately evaluate and optimise such patients.Case presentationWe present three cases to highlight the anaesthetic challenges in patients undergoing functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) with debridement surgery for mucormycosis through a series of three cases. In our manuscript, two cases had comorbidities as a challenge uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension. The third case had difficult intubation due to a small mouth opening which was probably due to swelling and tenderness as a result of rhino orbital mucormycosis.ConclusionsProper anticipation, optimization and timed promptness to deal with the anaesthetic challenges pertaining to the multisystemic involvement and sequelae of mucormycosis should be done.

Guiding employees through the COVID‐19 pandemic: An exploration of the impact of transparent communication and change appraisals

Against the backdrop of the COVID‐19 pandemic and drawing on literature from change management, internal communication and cognitive appraisal theory, this study provided accounts of how transparent communication during organizational change affects employees' cognitive appraisals of the change, behavioural reactions to the change, and subsequently, turnover intentions. Our findings of 414 full‐time US employees revealed that transparent internal communication is positively related to employees' challenge appraisal of the change, which, in turn, is related to change compliance and championing. In addition, transparent communication is negatively associated with threat appraisal of the change, which in turn is connected to lower change compliance. Further, employees' turnover intention was negatively associated with their compliance and championing for the change. This study has made several contributions to internal communication scholarship, appraisal theory and change management literature. We also offer several suggestions to improve communication during organizational change periods. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Contingencies & Crisis Management is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

The ethical, legal and social issues of pandemics: An analysis from the EU perspective

This book proposes an ethical and legal framework to improve the responses to social issues related not only to the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but also to future pandemics. Its contents cover the issues that are likely to be most controversial in any public health crisis. It starts by discussing non-pharmacological measures, such as the appropriateness of confinement, how to control compliance with public health measures and the ethical, legal and social acceptability of health certificates. Then it turns to issues related to the production, distribution and administration of vaccines, with a particular focus on the design and implementation of vaccination policies. Finally, it analyses the most appropriate criteria to develop a triage, when the situation brings us to this terrible scenario. The analyses presented in this book are based on the ethical and legal frameworks, as well as the social context, of the European Union, and aims to address the main dilemmas faced by any liberal democracy dealing with a pandemic: how to reconcile the defense against a public health crisis together with a respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. The European legal systems have developed a number of conceptual tools designed to ensure that there is no room for arbitrariness in the restrictions introduced by the political power in emergency situations, and this book builds upon these tools. The Ethical, Legal and Social Issues of Pandemics: An Analysis from the EU Perspective is a predominantly practice-oriented book, which will help policy makers to adopt policies that effectively combine public health needs with individual rights and freedoms. It will also help health care givers to understand better the ethical and legal issues involved in their work and citizens, in general, to participate in public decision making in an informed manner. Finally, it will help to design tools that faithfully comply with existing fundamental rights standards. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

The Predictive Ability of the Existential Vacuum and Death Anxiety in Psychological Hardiness Among Elderly.

This research paper aimed to identify the level of psychological hardiness, the level of death anxiety, and the level of existential vacuum among the elderly, also the role of the predictive ability of death anxiety and existential vacuum in the psychological hardiness of the elderly at the governorates of Tafilyah and Ma'an in light of the Corona pandemic in Jordan. The descriptive-analytical approach was utilized. sample consists (500) elderly, that were selected by a simple random approach. Then the needed statistical measure was operated to achieve the required results. The results indicated a low level of psychological hardiness, a high level of death anxiety, and an existential vacuum in the elderly. The results show a suitable predictive ability for each of death anxiety and the existential vacuum in reducing psychological hardiness. The research paper recommended the necessity of rehabilitating the elderly in Jordan regarding the mental and psychological aspects.

Efficacy of commercial live vaccines against QX-like infectious bronchitis virus in Japan.

Infectious bronchitis, an acute and highly contagious disease that affects chickens, is caused by the infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). The antigenic variant QX-like IBV was first reported in China in 1996 and is now endemic in many countries. Our previous study reported the first detection and isolation of QX-like IBVs in Japan and that they were genetically related to the recently detected strains in China and South Korea. The pathogenicity of 2 Japanese QX-like IBV strains (JP/ZK-B7/2020 and JP/ZK-B22/2020) was evaluated by inoculating specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens with 102 to 106 median embryo infectious dose. Both strains caused clinical signs of respiratory symptoms, gross tracheal lesions, and moderate-to-severe suppression of tracheal ciliostasis. To evaluate the efficacy of commercial IBV live vaccines against the JP/ZK-B7/2020 strain, vaccinated SPF chickens were challenged with the JP/ZK-B7/2020 strain at 104 EID50 (median embryo infectious dose). Only the JP-Ⅲ vaccine provided high levels of protection (reduced suppression of tracheal ciliostasis and reduced viral loads in organs), whereas the Mass vaccine showed little protective effect. Virus neutralization test results and comparisons between IBV genotypes based on the S1 gene suggested that QX-like and JP-III genotypes were closely related. These results suggest that the JP-III IBV vaccine, which has relatively high S1 gene homology with QX-like IBVs, is effective against Japanese QX-like IBV strain.

"Sustainab-lization": Sustainability and Digitalization as a Strategy for Resilience in the Coffee Sector

COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on the world. This study aims to investigate the possible implications of COVID-19 on sustainability and digitalization initiatives, by exploring a sample of 15 Italian coffee companies located in Northern, Central and Southern Italy, to highlight any differences and at the same time identify which are the main strands of their resilient behaviors. "Sustainab-lization" is our idea to define a business model in which sustainability and digitalization are closely related in companies' strategic initiatives. We have analyzed the various actions which have been undertaken to get out of the COVID-19 crisis, focusing on initiatives related to sustainable development and digitalization, critical also to fulfilling some of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. Most of the companies have invested in sustainability and digitalization. The results show, for most of them, a resilient approach towards a sustainable business model, and also through increased digitalization.

The SmithVent Experience and a Framework for Collaborative Distributed Design and Fabrication

This paper addresses the collaborative journey of the SmithVent team, a 30-person distributed group of volunteers, who designed, fabricated, and tested a simplified and cost-efficient ventilator over a three-month period, and won the CoVent-19 Challenge in July 2020. The paper first presents the SmithVent experience through a co-constructed narrative that describes the team's approaches to collaborative distributed design and fabrication. The paper next reviews frameworks from five theoretical lenses and then details the process of extracting, synthesizing, and organizing relevant factors to create a new and emergent framework reflective of the SmithVent experience. Lastly, the paper discusses educational implications of the SmithVent experience and proposed framework, emphasizing that the team's strategies provide a model for educational and industry settings for future collaborative and distributed design and fabrication.

The Interplay of Challenge-Hindrance-Appraisal and Self- Efficacy: Technostress and Remote Working Performance

Measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have caused many employees to work from home;a novel situation in which individuals used information systems (IS) more intensively to stay in touch with co-workers. This novel IS use situation affected individuals differently and resulted in both positive and negative outcomes. Recent calls for research advocate for clarification regarding the conceptualisation of appraisal, which explains different individual responses to objectively equal environments. In particular, challenge-hindrance-research does not differentiate between primary and secondary appraisal. Therefore, it remains unclear how individual capability beliefs, such as self-efficacy, affect challenge and hindrance IS use appraisal. We conduct an empirical study with 1,553 German employees to investigate these relationships and the positive and negative outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that challenge and hindrance IS use appraisal, and remote working self-efficacy are interconnected, yet different constructs. We find that self-efficacy is related to challenge IS use appraisal, rather than hindrance IS use appraisal. Further, challenge IS use appraisal is a driver for performance in a remote working environment. We conclude that there are stressful aspects of IS use that are not influenced by an individual's belief in their abilities. Our study emphasises the importance of remote working self-efficacy and IS use appraisal to mitigate techno-distress and increase performance during remote work.