Impact of Pandemic Outbreak and Targeted Required Reserve Ratio Cut Policy on Stock Return Rate: Evidence from China

This study analyzed the impact of COVID-19 outbreak and targeted required reserve ratio cut policy on stock returns of Chinese listed companies. This paper uses the data of 3,449 A-share listed companies from February 3, 2020 to December 31, 2020 for research, the empirical results showed that stock prices of private enterprises with stronger debt-paying ability and looser financing constraints, and state-owned enterprises with less supply chain credit risks performed better, in the central and western regions, enterprises with stronger solvency and looser financing constraints have better stock price performance during the early stages of pandemic. After the implementation of the targeted RRR cut policy, the stock prices of enterprises with poor solvency, private enterprises, and enterprises in central and western regions with strong financing constraints, state-owned enterprises, and enterprises in eastern region with high credit risks all showed significant reversals, and the stock prices reflected the effect of the targeted RRR cut policy in the short and medium term. Over time, the pandemic has been controlled, and the resumption of work and production has freed most enterprises from financial difficulties. However, due to sporadic outbreaks, large private enterprises and eastern enterprises with strong risk resistance and loose financing constraints enjoy better stock price performance. This study is helpful for enterprises to understand the value of financial flexibility and solvency and provides a reference for enterprises to make financial decisions: how to balance the benefits and costs of solvency. © Tian Wang, Fang Fang and Linhao Zheng, 2023.

Prescriptive Analytics-Based SIRM Model for Predicting Covid-19 Outbreak.

Predicting the outbreak of a pandemic is an important measure in order to help saving people lives threatened by Covid-19. Having information about the possible spread of the pandemic, authorities and people can make better decisions. For example, such analyses help developing better strategies for distributing vaccines and medicines. This paper has modified the original Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered (SIR) model to Susceptible-Immune-Infected-Recovered (SIRM) which includes the Immunity ratio as a parameter to enhance the prediction of the pandemic. SIR is a widely used model to predict the spread of a pandemic. Many types of pandemics imply many variants of the SIR models which make it very difficult to find out the best model that matches the running pandemic. The simulation of this paper used the published data about the spread of the pandemic in order to examine our new SIRM. The results showed clearly that our new SIRM covering the aspects of vaccine and medicine is an appropriate model to predict the behavior of the pandemic.

An Observational Study on the Early Stages of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Pakistan

Bachground: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which started on February 26, 2020 in city of karachi, spread quickly throughout Pakistan. Material(s) and Method(s): The design of this study was a observational study design and this study was conducted at king Edward medical University Lahore. More than 6,200 persons were afflicted by the illness in the first seven weeks, and there were more than 111 documented fatalities. Many problems arise if we contrast the COVID-19 tragedies in Pakistan with those in nations like China, Iran, and the European Union. The geography of the nation, poverty, poor literacy rates, environmental circumstances, sanitary conditions, and dietary habits are only a few of the difficulties we face in containing this epidemic. Although there are terrible circumstances in each of these areas, Pakistan's COVID-19 epidemic was slower than that of other developing nations. Result(s): The impact of COVID-19 appears to be lessened by Pakistan's humid hot temperature, early reaction to COVID-19, population immune system, BCG vaccination, and the proportion of young individuals. In this essay, we explore the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in China, Iran, and Pakistan and present its day-to-day changes. We outline the COVID-19 structure and how it compares to SARS-COV and SARS-COV2. The use of Remdesivir (an adenosine analogue used against RNA viruses), Chloroquine (a widely used anti-malarial drug), convalescent plasma, neutralising antibodies targeting the ACE-2 receptor, and an ACE-2-like molecule that might bind to the S protein of the coronavirus are also covered in terms of treatment options and their drawbacks. Also covered are the effects of COVID-19 on Pakistan's economy and government relief measures. Conclusion(s): In conclusion, it may be said that the support systems in place may not be sufficient to stop the spread of the virus. Even with the meagre assistance offered, it is weaker for rural places where the virus's effects may be severe than in the nation's cities. Further research is required as the epidemic develops to better understand governmental efforts to contain the virus and its effects across the nation.Copyright © 2023 Lahore Medical And Dental College. All rights reserved.

The contribution of infaq funds to socio-economic resilience during COVID-19 pandemic: An Islamic economics insight from Indonesia

This study aimed to analyse the contribution of infaq funds to the social and economic resilience of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic in West Papua, Indonesia. This study uses a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative studies. Qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions with administrators, Dai [Islamic preacher] and mosque congregations to obtain information about the form and mechanism for disbursing infaq funds. Furthermore, the state of distribution of infaq funds is confirmed to the recipient community with an online survey as quantitative data. The data obtained were tabulated and analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics using multiple linear regression assisted by SPSS software 25 version. The research findings show that: firstly, the form of the social-economic contribution of infaq funds is carried out by: (1) financial assistance, (2) social assistance, and (3) health assistance. Secondly, infaq, an instrument of Islamic economics, can contribute to tackling the social and economic impacts of the community amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Thirdly, of the three forms of assistance provided, the health assistance aspect contributed 38.320%, the financial assistance aspect amounted to 37.173% and 24.339% to social assistance. This study shows that the community most needed health and financial assistance from infaq funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contribution: This study complements the existing literature and provides a new scientific treasure. That the infaq fund, as a philanthropy, turned out to be able to contribute to realising the social-economic resilience of the community during a disease outbreak. The form of health, financial and social assistance from infaq funds is a priority in accelerating the community's economic recovery. It can be a countermeasure to socio-economic impacts during disasters and disease outbreaks.

The 21st century disaster: The COVID-19 epidemiology, risk factors and control.

The 21st century will be indelible in the world as ruin of the outbreak of COVID-19 was arose in Wuhan, China has now spread all over the world, up to August 2020. This study was based on the factors affecting the epidemiology of this virus in human societies of global concern. We studied the articles published in journals on various aspects of nCoVID19. The Wikipedia and WHO situation reports have also been searched out for related information. Outcomes were followed up until 2020. The COVID-19 is a virus with pandemic potential which may continue to cause regular infection in human. The pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 threatened public health across the globe in form of system as reflected in the shape of emergency. Approximately 21 million humans are infected and 759,400 have lost their lives till 2020 in all over the world. We have described epidemiological features, reservoirs, transmission, incubation period, rate of fatality, management including recent clinical chemotherapeutic approach and preventive measurements and masses which are at risk of COVID19. This virus causes viral pneumonia when it attacks on respiratory system and multiple failure which can leads to life threatening complications. It is believed to be zoonotic importance although it is not clear from which animal and how it is transmitted. Zoonotic transmission of COVID-19 has not yet known by science. The current study will help to establish a baseline for early effective control of this rapidly spreading severe viral illness. The available data on COVID-19 indicates that older males with comorbidities would have been more infected, which can result in severe respiratory complications. Implementation of preventive measurements, investigation of proper chemotherapeutics and detection of cross species transmission agents must be ensured.

Environmental assessment of casual dining restaurants in urban and suburban areas of peninsular Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Food waste has been considered a global problem due to its adverse impacts on food security, the environment, and the economy; hence needs urgent attention and action. Its generation is expected to increase as the world population grows rapidly, leading to more global waste. This study sought the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on the 1-week operation of selected casual dining restaurants in urban (Ampang, Kuala Lumpur) and suburban areas (Kota Bharu, Kelantan and Jasin, Melaka) of Peninsular Malaysia, as the local community adjusted to life with COVID-19. The food waste in this study was classified into three categories: preparation loss, serving loss, and customer's plate waste. Our material flow analysis revealed that the highest food loss at these locations came from preparation loss (51.37%), followed by serving loss (30.95%), and preparation loss (17.8%). Meanwhile, the total average electricity consumption and its carbon footprint for Ampang were 127 kWh and 13.87 kgCO2e, Kota Bharu 269.8 kWh and 29.47 kgCO2e, and Jasin 142.2 kWh and 15.54 kgCO2e, respectively. As for water, Ampang exhibited 22.93 m3 total average consumption and 7.91 kgCO2e greenhouse emissions from this source, Jasin consuming 17.11 m3 of water and releasing 5.88 kgCO2e of carbon footprint, while Kota Bharu emitted 20.21 kgCO2e of greenhouse gases from its 58.71 m3 water consumption. Our findings indicate a major 'food leak' at the preparation stage, from which the waste could be utilised as livestock feed, and that electricity consumption is a greater carbon emitter than water consumption, suggesting a need for improvement to the kitchen practices and equipment.

TOWARDS A NEW MODEL OF CONSUMER PURCHASING INTENTION OF SMART PRODUCTS DURING CRISES TIMES, CASE OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC OUTBREAK :AN APPLIED STUDY ON FEMALE EMPLOYEES OF THE FACULTY OF ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SCIENCES

Purpose: This study aims to clear the effects of crises, disasters, and pandemics on customers' buying intentions;case of smart products during (Covid-19 pandemic outbreak). The study was applied on a sample of working women at the College of Economic and Administrative Sciences at the University of Baghdad for identifying their purchasing behavior. Theoretical framework: The researcher reviewed related references and researches to crystalize theoretical frame work for completing this study. Design/methodology/approach: The researcher applied the analytical descriptive approach, using a random sample of female students of faculty of Economics and Business Administration Sciences;for collecting primary data;using (LIKERT's five graded questionnaire). Findings: The study findings cleared that Corona Epidemic (Covid-19) had negative effects on all economic, social, and environmental activities;in the form of complete or partial closure;there for there was a clear shortage in the supply of products and services;which minimizes satisfying the customers' effective demand of various products and services. Research Practical & Social implications: Final findings of this study supported other studies' findings. It is cleared that consumers changed their purchasing behavior during (Covid-19) out break;they turned to e-marketing purchasing behavior that was not widely used before the spread of the epidemic (Covid-19), and therefore there was a change in purchasing intention, in order to avoid infection. Findings cleared that it is necessary to wide applications of e-marketing during crises times in all aspects. Originality/value: This study didn't contain any part of any other published study of any other person, nor materials which has been accepted for possessing any scientific degree of any university. © 2022 by the Author(s).

What Factors Will Influence Chinese International Traveling for Leisure in the Post-COVID-19 Era: Role of Health Priorities and Health-Related Information Literacy.

China used to be the world's leading nation in terms of international (outward) tourism till the COVID-19 outbreak. However, due to the COVID-19 crisis, several new macro and micro-level factors might affect their international (outward) traveling behavior. The purpose of the current research was to examine the avoidance of international traveling for leisure in the Chinese population. The goal of the study was to highlight the importance of information self-efficacy and digital literacy as the key factors influencing tourists' traveling readiness. To achieve the goal, the study adapted the quantitative instruments from existing sources to map media exhaustion, information overload, and perceived health concerns, i.e., perceived effectiveness of health-protective measures, fear of new possible outbreaks, and pandemic crisis at source and destination. Chinese citizens' opinions were collected during the third quarter of the year 2022. Specifically, the quantitative survey from China collected a total number of 1308 respondents. This study used the statistical analysis software SPSS to analyze collected data. The findings conclude that the role of media is pivotal to shaping and predicting future trends in tourism preferences, perception of protective measures against COVID-19, and perceived seriousness of the pandemic crisis in the Chinese population. In addition, technology readiness (as hard self-efficacy) and health-related information literacy (soft self-efficacy) are critical to cope with the dark aspects of information exhaustion, overload, and pandemic seriousness in the post-truth era. The study is unique, as it examines the role of the seriousness of the pandemic at its source and destination and fear of new outbreaks simultaneously, underlining the potential future of immersive tourism (i.e., virtual reality, augmented reality, or mixed reality-based tourism). This study has drawn interesting theoretical and practical implications for researchers, policymakers, and academicians.

Substantial Role of Big Data in Global Outbreak: From Tracking and Diagnosing Virus to Vaccine Discovery

The recent pandemic is ramification of coronavirus SARS-CoV2. This outbreak has greatly affected every domain of individuals’ lives. It has spread over 214 countries and over 392 million positive cases were reported till February 6, 2022. Due to the latest breakthroughs in the sphere of digital divide, Big Data can aid in dealing with the enormous data of COVID-19 derived from state health surveillance, health monitoring, and daily briefing of government bodies. “Big data” is huge amounts of facts that work wonderfully. It has become a subject of particular interest for the last 2 decades due to its unseen significant potential in it. The purpose of the current review is to overview the potential applications of Big Data. Furthermore, issues and challenges associated with the solutions to the pandemic situations were highlighted and last, recommendations were provided for effective control of the pandemic situation. This review is an effort to provide a fresh insight into the way of big data in terms to stop the pandemic outbreak. © 2022 AVES. All Rights Reserved.

The lived experience of healthcare workers in quarantine: Findings of a systematic review, meta-synthesis and meta-summary.

AIMS: In pandemics, infection exposure and quarantine represent critical occupational risks for healthcare workers (HCWs). However, while the psychological consequences of HCWs' quarantine have been reviewed, other potential implications of quarantine on HCWs, such as those that are work-, professional-, social- and private-related, have not been summarised to date. Summarising quarantined HCWs' experiences in the current and past pandemics, as investigated with qualitative studies, might improve awareness of their needs, concerns, and the consequences of quarantine on their personal lives. Therefore, the lived experience of quarantined HCWs was reviewed and subjected to meta-synthesis and -summary. METHODS: A systematic review of qualitative studies followed by a meta-synthesis and -summary allowing an interpretative integration of the findings of qualitative studies, was performed. PubMed, CINHAL and Scopus databases were explored up to 31 January, 2021, without any limitation in time. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. Methods and findings are reported according to the Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research statement. RESULTS: A total of 635 records were retrieved and five studies were included. Overall, five themes summarised the lived experience of quarantined HCWs: 1) Being emotionally challenged; 2) Living the quarantine limitations; 3) Losing freedom; 4) Accepting the quarantine; and 5) Staying away from me. The most frequent categories across studies were 'Feeling stressed' and 'Being constrained' (both 100%). The least frequent were 'Feeling sad' (20%), 'Enjoying my family' (20%) and 'Being refused as a family member' (20%). CONCLUSIONS: The lived experience of HCWs is multidimensional, the implications of which also affect private spheres of life: the immediate family and wider relatives. Understanding and learning from HCWs' lived experiences might support policymakers, public health authorities and managers with the goal of maintaining the highest physical and mental health of staff during outbreaks. Timely services supporting HCWs, both during and after episode(s) of quarantine, are suggested to prevent additional burdens on frontline professionals.

A STUDY ON THE ‘COMMON VERSION’ OF ANTI-COVID-19 PLANNING MODE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS: TAKING THE ANTI-COVID-19 PLANS OF COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN TAIWAN AS AN EXAMPLE

Purpose Higher education institutions (HEIs) can better know how to act when COVID-19 pandemic further evolves, by learning how other higher education institutions handle this pandemic. Facing global pandemic outbreak, what prevention planning modes for crisis management were taken by HEIs? Did they take the reactive and short-term emergency planning or a proactive planning mode? This study aims to systematically review the anti-COVID-19 plans of colleges and universities in Taiwan to identify a planning gap and provide a comprehensive campus anti-pandemic framework for future reference. Design/methodology/approach The documentary analysis was adopted to study the anti-COVID-19 plans of colleges and universities in Taiwan. The samples include 160 colleges and universities. Variety forms of documents were collected for systematic evaluation in this study, including institutional information on the COVID-19 websites (Chinese/ English), and their anti-COVID-19 plans. Findings/results (1)98% of the samples set up anti-COVID-19 websites for communicating with internal and external stakeholders. 34% of HEIs publicized their presidential letters, releasing peak time being in February and March, 2020. Only 25% of the samples issued their anti-COVID-19 meeting minutes, and only 17.5% of them issued both Chinese and English versions. The websites showed that internal and external communication decreased as the pandemic got eased. (2)Regardless of their institutional characteristics and size, all the anti-COVID-19 plans followed the same roadmaps issued by the Central Epidemic Control Center (CECC) and by the Ministry of Education. The common version of planning mode, only 2 main categories and 5 types of planning, was identified. Despite of the differences in the length of the plans, not many differences existed among institutions. (3)The anti-COVID-19 plans remained incomplete since they all had ‘emergency plan’ (EP) and most of them also had ‘academic continuity planning’ (ACP), but a planning gap showed up in ‘business continuity management’ (BCM). (4)Insufficient data collection for the anti-COVID-19 plans constituted a problem. The risk assessment was made on school gathering, student societies, and admission affairs but not comprehensively on the core affairs at the institutional level, teaching, research, and services, and followed by planning institutional risk management for anti-COVID-19 plan. Based on the findings, this study argues that anti-COVID-19 prevention planning mode tends to be reactive rather than proactive because the frequency of communication and discussion within institutions declined as COVID-19 eased, and regardless of institutional characteristics and size, the presence of the ‘common version’ of anti-COVID-19 plans and lack of risk assessment and crisis management planning remain unchanged, especially the lack in the sector of ‘business continuity management’ (BCM). When HEIs do not conduct risk assessment of the core activities (institutional, teaching and learning, research, and services) caused by the COVID-19, the planning mindset of the risk management taken by HEIs and its justification will be weakened. Since this study collected the published information from institutional websites for documentary analysis, the findings must be limited by the extent of how HEIs revealed their anti-COVID-19 measures. It implies that the planning mode revealed in the anti-COVID-19 websites and plans might represent part of, instead of the whole, institutional responses. Therefore, the interpretation of the findings drawn from institutional open data should pay attention to data limitation and to avoid overgeneralization. Originality/value This is the first empirical study to systematically review the anti-COVID-19 plans of 160 colleges and universities in Taiwan. Based on the empirical data, the ‘common version’ of planning mode reveals a reactive rather than a proactive mode, to global pandemic outbreak. Thus, this study proposes a comprehensive campus anti-pandemic framework as re erence for HEIs to go beyond the current emergency reactive model in order to better cope with the future. Suggestions/implications ‘Never let a crisis go to waste’ said Sir Winston Churchill. For higher education institutions, planning for anti-COVID-19 pandemic not only requires a well-thought crisis management, but also using this knowledge to inform and prepare for the likely future pandemic. Pandemic outbreak offers HEIs an opportunity to assess institutional risk assessment and based on it to refine their crisis management. It can strengthen institutional proactive planning mindset to enhance their resilience and agility when dealing with other or similar crisis and unforeseen challenges in the future. © 2022,Contemporary Educational Research Quarterly.All Rights Reserved

Marketing Activities and Covid-19: A Mediating Role of Performance of Micro Enterprises in Southeast of Nigeria

Introduction: The study examines the relationship between marketing activities and COVID-19 as a mediating role of performance of micro enterprises in Southeast of Nigeria. Materials and Method: The applied survey research design with close ended questionnaire which was administered to the respondents who were the owners of micro enterprises in South East of Nigeria. The variables used were wearing of mask, hand washing with water and sanitizer, staying at home and keeping social distance which were used as measures of COVID-19 and marketing activities were measured with price, product, promotion and place while performance were measured using expansion, survival, number of employees, and capital employed. The population of the study is the entire micro enterprises in Southeast of Nigeria and the sample size of 389 was derived using Taro Yamane formula. The variables were tested for reliability and result showed that all the variables were reliable. The study used Partial Least Square Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) to test the hypotheses and to determine if there is an effect of independent variables on dependent variable. Results: COVID-19 is significant in enhancing performance of micro enterprises in Southeast of Nigeria and marketing activities is significant in solving COVID-19 problem by Micro enterprises in Southeast of Nigeria while marketing activities is insignificant in achieving performance by Micro enterprises in Southeast of Nigeria. Conclusion: The study recommended that Micro enterprises in Southeast of Nigeria should continue to apply price concept, product concept, promotion, and place strategy in conducting their activities since it helps in solving the problem of COVID-19 and minimize the rate of spread of the virus since marketing activities are conducted by observing the government policies of COVID-19.

Lessons from the Distribution Pattern of Urban Parks and Factors that Contribute to Control COVID-19 Outbreak in Neighborhood Design

The novel coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is spreading over South Asia at alarming rates. In Sri Lanka, urban cities like Colombo with high population densities are challenged to control the spread of the virus due to the unprecedented clustering of people in public parks. However, allowing access to such spaces is a vital requirement to ensure the health and wellbeing of the neighborhood. Since the gatherings and crowding in open parks are inevitable, the risk of being infected is irrepressible. Thus, it is of paramount importance to study the physical distribution of parks and playgrounds in dense neighborhoods of the Colombo metro area to evaluate their user attraction and risk index, in order to reinvent strategies to ease the pandemic outbreak. This study investigates five main variables: neighborhood density (ND), park values (PV), user mobility (UM), park capacity (PC) and park extent (PE) of 34 public parks and playgrounds located within the Colombo metro area. Each variable was visualized using Geographical Information System and space syntax and further correlated using SPSS software. PVs are designed to numerically interpret user attraction towards selected settings. From the relationship between each variable with park values, it was identified that large-scale parks with multifunctional facilities attract more users than small pockets of neighborhood playgrounds. Thus, study findings strongly suggest that parks and playgrounds should be distributed in more isolated pockets to absorb the threshold of park users within a neighborhood bubble, while discouraging visitors from outside the bubble. Through fragmenting the large scale municipal and district parks and facilitating the local parks of less than 0.05 square kilometers, the attraction of users can be controlled. Overall, moderation of facilities can reduce 41% of the total attraction to parks. The even distribution of facilities encourages more utilization of neighborhood, community, and pocket parks, which leads to the creation of neighborhood pockets. The study suggests that suitable planning and design recommendations regarding park profiles can encourage small neighborhood parks to promote livability through easing the outbreak. © 2021 IEEE.

Sentiment-Based Spatiotemporal Prediction Framework for Pandemic Outbreaks Awareness Using Social Networks Data Classification

According to the World Health Organization, several factors have affected the accurate reporting of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak status, such as limited data collection resources, cultural and educational diversity, and inconsistent outbreak reporting from different sectors. Driven by this challenging situation, this study investigates the potential expediency of using social network data to develop reliable early information surveillance and warning system for pandemic outbreaks. As such, an enhanced framework of three inherently interlinked subsystems is proposed. The first subsystem includes data collection and integration mechanisms, data preprocessing, and hybrid sentiment analysis tools to identify tweet sentiment taxonomies and quantitatively estimate public awareness. The second subsystem comprises the feature extraction unit that identifies, selects, embeds, and balances feature vectors and the classifier fitting and training unit. This subsystem is designed to capture the most effective linguistic feature combinations with more spatial evidence by using a variety of approaches, including linear classifiers, MLPs, RNNs, and CNNs, as well as pre-trained word embedding algorithms. The last is the modeling and situational awareness evaluation subsystem, which measures temporal associations between pandemic-relevant social network activities and officially announced infection counts in the most hazardous geolocations. The proposed framework was developed and tested using a combination of static datasets and real-time scraped Twitter data. The results of these experiments showed the remarkable performance of the framework in assessing the temporal associations between public awareness and outbreak status. It also showed that the Decision Tree Classifier with Unigram+TF-IDF feature vectors outperformed other conventional models for sentiment classification and geolocation classification with an accuracy of 94.3% and 80.8, respectively. As indicated, conventional machine learning algorithms didn't achieve a precision of more than 80%, while, for instance, MLP with self-embedding layer, Word2Vec, and GloVe pre-trained word embedding resulted in very poor accuracy of 10%, 36%, and 32%, respectively. However, adding the PoS tag one-hot encoding embedding increased the validation accuracy from 36% to approximately 89%, while the best performance for the second subsystem was achieved by Bi-LSTM with RoBERTa word embedding, with an accuracy of 96%. The achieved results reveal that the proposed framework can proactively capture the potential hazards associated with the prevalence of infectious diseases as an effective early detection and info-surveillance awareness system.

Changes in the education landscape caused by COVID-19: Opportunities and challenges from UAE perspective

The study aim is to identify the opportunities for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) educational sector during COVID-19. A survey was conducted among a sample of 100 teachers from 20 UAE higher education institutions. Teachers use online learning tools that cannot fully provide the benefits of face-to-face meetings with students. The research methodology is based on primary and secondary data analysis. Teacher questionnaire was formed;it contains 9 questions on distance learning actualization in a pandemic. Only 25% of those surveyed agreed with the inclusiveness and ease of remote learning technologies use, 20% expected that after a lockdown, learning could return to the status quo;55% disagreed that the technologies used stimulate creativity and have an evidence base. Among key findings are that almost all respondents (95%) see the necessary reform of distance education for its further adaptation in the post-COVID-19 period. The study shows a significant imperfection of the applied online learning technologies. Studies from around the world have shown that school shutdowns have had similar consequences for most education systems. © 2022 Birlesik Dunya Yenilik Arastirma ve Yayincilik Merkezi. All rights reserved.

A dynamic location-arc routing optimization model for electric waste collection vehicles

Waste collection management plays a crucial role in controlling pandemic outbreaks. Electric waste collection systems and vehicles can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of sanitary processes in municipalities worldwide. The waste collection routing optimization involves designing routes to serve all customers with the least number of vehicles, total traveling distance, and time considering the vehicle capacity. This paper proposes a dynamic location-arc routing optimization model for electric waste collection vehicles. The proposed model suggests an optimal routing plan for the waste collection vehicles and determines the optimal locations of the charging stations, dynamic charging arcs, and waste collection centers. A genetic algorithm and grey wolf optimizer are used to solve the large-sized random generated NP-hard location-arc routing problems. We present a case study for the city of Edmonton in Canada and show the grey wolf optimizer outperforms the genetic algorithm. We further demonstrate the total number of waste collection centers, charging stations, and arcs for dynamic charging needed to ensure a minimum required service for electric vehicles throughout Edmonton's entire waste collection system.

COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities in the Online University Education

The COVID-19 pandemic had a very severe impact on the education both in schools and in universities. In the span of several weeks, educators around the world had to transform completely the teaching method and students had to adapt to the new form of learning. The following article reviews the opinions of university students based on three different studies – one before the pandemic and the distance learning, one in the middle of it and one in the end of the distance learning. The goal is to see how students' thinking and perceptions of online learning has changed over the last three years as a result of different conditions © 2022. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications.All Rights Reserved.

Study on the Localization of Fangcang Shelter Hospitals During Pandemic Outbreaks.

In the event of pandemic, it is essential for government authority to implement responses to control the pandemic and protect people's health with rapidity and efficicency. In this study, we first develop an evaluation framework consisting of the entropy weight method (EWM) and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to identify the preliminary selection of Fangcang shelter hospitals; next, we consider the timeliness of isolation and treatment of patients with different degrees of severity of the infectious disease, with the referral to and triage in Fangcang shelter hospitals characterized and two optimization models developed. The computational results of Model 1 and Model 2 are compared and analyzed. A case study in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, is used to demonstrate the real-life applicability of the proposed models. The two-stage localization method gives decision-makers more options in case of emergencies and can effectively designate the location. This article may give recommendations of and new insights into parameter settings in isolation hospital for governments and public health managers.

SARS-CoV-2 gained a novel spike protein S1-N-Terminal Domain (S1-NTD).

The clue behind the SARS-CoV-2 origin is still a matter of debate. Here, we report that SARS-CoV-2 has gained a novel spike protein S1-N-terminal domain (S1-NTD). In our CLuster ANalysis of Sequences (CLANS) analysis, SARS-CoV/SARS-CoV-2 S1-NTDs displayed a close relationship with OC43 and HKU1. However, in the complete and S1-NTD-free spike protein, SARS-CoV/SARS-CoV-2 revealed closeness with MERS-CoV. Further, we have divided the S1-NTD of SARS-CoV-2 related viruses into three distinct types (Type-I to III S1-NTD) and the S1-NTD of viruses associated with SARS-CoVs into another three classes (Type-A to C S1-NTD) using CLANS and phylogenetic analyses. In particular, the results of our study indicate that SARS-CoV-2, RaTG13, and BANAL-20-52 viruses carry Type-I-S1-NTD and other SARS-CoV-2-related-bat viruses have Type-II and III. In addition, it was revealed that the Pangolin-GX and Pangolin-Guangdong lineages inherited Type-I-like and Type-II-like S1-NTD, respectively. Then our CLANS study shows the potential for evolution of Type-I and Type-III S1-NTD from SARS-CoV-related viruses Type-A and Type-B S1-NTDs, respectively. Furthermore, our analysis clarifies the possibility that Type-II S1-NTDs may have evolved from Type-A-S1-NTD of SARS-CoV-related viruses through Type-I S1-NTDs. We also observed that BANAL-20-103, BANAL-20-236, and Pangolin-Guangdong-lineage viruses containing Type-II-like S1-NTD are very close to SARS-CoV-2 in spike genetic areas other than S1-NTD. Possibly, it suggests that the common ancestor spike gene of SARS-CoV-2/RaTG13/BANAL-20-52-like virus may have evolved by recombining the Pangolin-Guangdong/BANAL-20-103/BANAL-20-236-like spike gene to Pangolin-GX-like Type-I-like-S1-NTD in the unsampled bat or undiscovered intermediate host or possibly pangolin. These may then have evolved into SARS-CoV-2, RaTG13, and BANAL-20-52 virus spike genes by host jump mediated evolution. The potential function of the novel Type-I-S1-NTD and other types of S1-NTDs needs to be studied further to understand better its importance in the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and for future pandemic preparedness.

Wicked multi-problems (COVID-19+Oil Spill plus wildFires) in Brazil and their effects on socioeconomic vulnerability

Purpose - This research aims to identify Brazil's socioeconomic vulnerability to wicked multi-problems arising from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (2019-2020), from the most extensive (similar to 3,000 km) oil spill in tropical oceans (2019/2020) and from the highest rate of wildfires in the last decade. Design/methodology/approach - To this end, the authors measured the socioeconomic vulnerabilities of the 27 Brazilian states to these multi-problems (COVID-19 + Oil Spill + wildFire), considering the effects of these events individually and together. In addition, the authors calculated the vulnerability indices using two variables: production value and number of jobs created by an economic activity. Findings - Results show the states of Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro as the most susceptible, with a potential loss of 74.2% in production value and 47% in active employment relationships, caused by these overlapping events in time. The results also demonstrate that the country has failed in the coordination and management of these events (separately and jointly), showing difficulties especially in the stages of immediate response and recovery. Originality/value - Regarding its contributions, this paper innovates by establishing an unprecedented overlap of wicked problems, linking this concept to the analysis of socioeconomic vulnerability of the affected communities, through a model that applies to other regions worldwide.