Search results for: covid- 19

Authors: Saveria Capecchi

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The aim of the quali-quantitative research conducted in the spring of 2021 (still in the midst of the Covid-19 emergency) was to analyze the relationship between the imaginary of 142 girls aged 10-12 from two Italian cities in the Emilia-Romagna region (the capital, Bologna, and Parma) and the influence that various socialization agents can have on it, with particular attention to social media. In order to investigate the relationship between imagination and media, two tools were used: first, the girls wrote an essay in class about their future lives, imagining waking up one morning as a thirty-year-old adults. Six types of "dreams" reflecting the values and lifestyles characteristic of contemporary Italian society emerged. Additionally, the girls completed a questionnaire on their leisure time and, in particular, media consumption aimed at identifying their favorite characters. The results provided insights into understanding the reference values and lifestyles that define their subculture (they belong to the so-called Generation Z). Another interesting aspect of this research is the possibility of comparing the results with those of a similar study on preadolescent imaginary conducted in 1995, involving 292 girls from Milan and Bologna, belonging to the Millennial generation. The narratives about the imagined adult life reflect some crucial changes undergone by Italian society in a quarter of a century: there are advancements towards gender equality, and the imagined family is increasingly detached from tradition. There is a more persistent dream of a life marked by beauty, wealth, and fame, while at the same time, there is a greater social commitment, from solidarity with marginalized people to environmentalism. Furthermore, the mentioned new digital and robotic professions will project us into the near future.

Keywords: gender equality, gender stereotypes, imaginary, preadolescents, social media

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Authors: Siham Rahoui, Amr Mahfouz, Amr Arisha

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In a highly competitive environment characterised by uncertainty and disruptions, such as the recent COVID-19 outbreak, supply chains (SC) face the challenge of maintaining their cost at minimum levels while continuing to provide customers with high-quality products and services. More importantly, businesses in such an economic context strive to maintain survival by keeping the cost of undertaken activities (such as logistics) low and in-house. To do so, managers need to understand the costs associated with different products and services in order to have a clear vision of the SC performance, maintain profitability levels, and make strategic decisions. In this context, SC literature explored different costing models that sought to determine the costs of undertaking supply chain-related activities. While some cost accounting techniques have been extensively explored in the SC context, more contributions are needed to explore the potential of time driven activity-based costing (TDABC). More specifically, more applications are needed in the manufacturing context of the SC, where the debate is ongoing. The aim of the study is to assess the capability of the technique to assess the operational performance of the logistics function. Through a case study methodology applied to a manufacturing company operating in the automotive industry, TDABC evaluates the efficiency of the current configuration and its logistics processes. The study shows that monitoring the process efficiency and cost efficiency leads to strategic decisions that contributed to improve the overall efficiency of the logistics processes.

Keywords: efficiency, operational performance, supply chain costing, time driven activity based costing

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Authors: Choumous Mannoubi, Dahlia Kairy, Brigitte Vachon

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The use of technology allows clinicians to provide an individualized approach in a cost-effective manner and to reach a broader client base more easily. Such interventions can be effective in ensuring self-management and follow-up of people with diabetes, reducing the risk of complications by improving accessibility to care services, and better adherence to health recommendations. Consideration of users' opinions and fears to inform the design and implementation stages of these telehealth services seems to be essential to improve their acceptance and usability. The objective of this study is to describe the telepractice of nutritionists supporting the therapeutic management of diabetic patients and document the functional requirements of nutritionists for the design of a tele-nutrition platform. To best identify the requirements and constraints of nutritionists, we conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 10 nutritionists who offered tele-nutrition services. Using a qualitative design with a descriptive approach based on the Nutrition Care Process Model (mNCP) framework, we explored in depth the state of nutritionists' telepractice in public and private health care settings, as well as their requirements for teleconsultation. Qualitative analyses revealed that nutritionists primarily used telephone calls during the COVID 19 pandemic to provide teleconsultations. Nutritionists identified the following important features for the design of a tele-nutrition platform: it should support interprofessional collaboration, allow for the development and monitoring of a care plan, integrate with the existing IT environment, be easy to use, accommodate different levels of patient literacy, and allow for easy sharing of educational materials to support nutrition education.

Keywords: telehealth, nutrition, diabetes, telenutrition, teleconsultation, telemonitoring

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Authors: S. Łęgowik-Świącik

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This article is a contribution to the research into the determinants of value creation via digital platforms in variable operating conditions. The dynamics of the market environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have made enterprises built on digital platforms financially successful. While many classic companies are struggling with the uncertainty of conducting a business and difficulties in the process of value creation, digital platforms create value by modifying the existing business model to meet the changing needs of customers. Therefore, the objective of this publication is to understand and explain the relationship between value creation and the conversion of the business model built on digital platforms under pandemic conditions. The considerations relating to the conceptual framework and determining the research objective allowed for adopting the hypothesis, assuming that the processes of value creation are evolving, and the measurement of these processes allows for the protection of value created and enables its growth in changing circumstances. The research methods, such as critical literature analysis and case study, were applied to accomplish the objective pursued and verify the hypothesis formulated. The empirical research was carried out based on the data from enterprises listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange: Amazon, Alibaba, and Facebook. The research period was the years 2018-2021. The surveyed enterprises were chosen based on the targeted selection. The problem discussed is important and current since the lack of in-depth theoretical research results in few attempts to identify the determinants of value creation via digital platforms. The above arguments led to an attempt at theoretical analysis and empirical research to fill in the gap perceived by deepening the understanding of the process of value creation through network effects via digital platforms under pandemic conditions.

Keywords: business model, digital platforms, enterprise management, pandemic conditions, value creation process

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Authors: Janell Jayamohan

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A pilot project based on the Theory of Planned Behavior was completed at a single sex female international high school in order to improve the quality of comprehensive sex education in a 12th grade classroom. The student sample is representative of a growing phenomenon of “Third Culture Kids” or global nomads; often in today’s world, culture transcends any one dominant influence and blends values from multiple sources. The Objective was to improve intentions of condom use during the students’ first or next intercourse. A peer-education session which focused on condom attitudes, social norms, and self-efficacy - central tenets of the Theory of Planned Behavior - was added to an existing curriculum in order to achieve this objective. Peer educators were given liberty of creating and executing the lesson to their homeroom, a sample of 23 senior students, with minimal intervention from faculty, the desired outcome being that the students themselves would be the best judge of what is culturally relevant and important to their peers. The school nurse and school counselor acted as faculty facilitators but did not assist in the creation or delivery of the lesson, only checked for medical accuracy. The participating sample of students completed a pre and post-test with validated questions assessing changes in attitudes and overall satisfaction with the peer education lesson. As this intervention was completed during the Covid-19 pandemic, the peer education session was completed in a virtual classroom environment, limiting the modes of information delivery available to the peer educators, but is planned to be replicated in an in-person environment in subsequent cycles.

Keywords: adolescents, condoms, peer education, sex education, theory of planned behavior, third culture kids

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Authors: Sanjay Sinha, Mohd Umair Khan

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The level of income inequality in India has been worrisome as the World Inequality Report termed it as a “poor and unequal country, with an affluent elite”. As important as income is to understand inequality and deprivation, it is just one dimension. But the historical roots and current realities of inequality and deprivation in India lies in many of the non-income dimensions such as housing, nutrition, education, agency, sense of inclusion etc. which are often ignored, especially in solution-oriented research. The level of inequality and deprivation among the tribal is one such case. There is a corpus of literature establishing that the tribal communities in India are disadvantageous on various grounds. Given their rural geography, issues of access and quality of basic facilities such as education and healthcare are often unaddressed. COVID-19 has further exacerbated this challenge and climate change will make it even more worrying. With this background, a succinct measurement tool at the village level is necessary to design short to medium-term actions with reference to risk mitigation for tribal communities. This research paper examines the level of inequality and deprivation among the tribal communities in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh state of India using a Multidimensional Inequality and Deprivation Index based on the Alkire-Foster methodology. The methodology is theoretically grounded in the capability approach propounded by Amartya Sen, emphasizing on achieving the “beings and doings” (functionings) an individual reason to value. In the index, the authors have five domains, including Livelihood, Food Security, Education, Health and Housing and these domains are divided into sixteen indicators. This assessment is followed by domain-wise short-term and long-term solutions.

Keywords: Andhra Pradesh, Alkire-Foster methodology, deprivation, inequality, multidimensionality, poverty, tribal

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Authors: Albana Hasimi, Edlira Tako, Elvin Çomo, Partizan Malkaj, Blerina Papajani, Ledjan Malaj, Mirela Ndrita

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Many endeavors have been exerted during the last years for developing new artificial polymeric membranes which fulfill the demanded conditions for biomedical uses. One of the most tested polymers is Poly(vinyl alcohol) [PVA]. Ours groups, is based on the possibility of using PVA for personal protective equipment against covid. In them, we explore the possibility of modifying the properties of the polymer by adding Montmorillonite [MMT]. Heat-treatment above the glass transition temperature are used to improve mechanical properties mainly by increasing the crystallinity of the polymer, which acts as a physical network. Temperature-Modulated Differential Scanning Calorimetry (TMDSC) measurements indicated that the presence of 0.5% MMT in PVA causes a higher Tg value and shaped peak of crystallinity. Decomposition is observed at two of the melting points of the crystals during heating 25-240oC and overlap of the recrystallization ridges during cooling 240-25oC. This is indicative of the presence of two types (quality or structure ) of polymer crystals. On the other hand, some indication of improvement of the quality of the crystals by heat-treatment is given by the distinct non-reversing contribution to melting. Data on sorption and transport of water in polyvinyl alcohol films: PVA pure and PVA/MMT matrix, modified by thermal treatment, are presented. The thermal treatment has aftereffect the films become more rigid, and because of this, the water uptake is significantly lower in membranes. That is indicates by analysis of the resulting water uptake kinetics. The presence 0.5% w/w of MMT has no significant impact on the properties of PVA membranes. Water uptake kinetics deviates from Fick’s law due to slow relaxation of glassy polymer matrix for all membranes category.

Keywords: crystallinity, montmorillonite, nanocomposite, poly (vinyl alcohol)

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Authors: Alireza Jalalvand, Maryam Saleh, Somayeh Behjat Khatouni, Zahra Bahri Najafi, Foroozan Fatahinia, Narges Ismailzadeh, Behrokh Farahmand

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Object: In the last two decades, the recent outbreak of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) imposed a global pandemic in the world. Despite the increasing prevalence of the disease, there are no effective drugs to treat it. A suitable and rapid way to afford an effective drug and treat the global pandemic is a computational drug study. This study used molecular docking methods to examine the potential inhibition of over 50 antiviral drugs against three fundamental proteins of SARS-CoV-2. METHODS: Through a literature review, three important proteins (a key protease, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), and spike) were selected as drug targets. Three-dimensional (3D) structures of protease, spike, and RdRP proteins were obtained from the Protein Data Bank. Protein had minimal energy. Over 50 antiviral drugs were considered candidates for protein inhibition and their 3D structures were obtained from drug banks. The Autodock 4.2 software was used to define the molecular docking settings and run the algorithm. RESULTS: Five drugs, including indinavir, lopinavir, saquinavir, nelfinavir, and remdesivir, exhibited the highest inhibitory potency against all three proteins based on the binding energies and drug binding positions deduced from docking and hydrogen-bonding analysis. Conclusions: According to the results, among the drugs mentioned, saquinavir and lopinavir showed the highest inhibitory potency against all three proteins compared to other drugs. It may enter laboratory phase studies as a dual-drug treatment to inhibit SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: covid-19, drug repositioning, molecular docking, lopinavir, saquinavir

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Authors: Matheus Borges Carneiro, Fabiane Leticia Lizarelli, José Carlos De Toledo

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The evolution of quality management by companies was strongly enabled by, among others, ISO 9001 certification, which is considered a crucial requirement for several customers. Likewise, performance measurement provides useful insights for companies to identify the reflection of their decision-making process on their improvement. One of the most used performance measurement models is the balanced scorecard (BSC), which uses four perspectives to address a firm’s performance: financial, internal process, customer satisfaction, and learning and growth. Studies related to ISO 9001 and business performance have mostly adopted a quantitative approach to identify the standard’s causal effect on a firm’s performance. However, to verify how this influence may occur, an in-depth analysis within a qualitative approach is required. Therefore, this paper aims to verify the impact of ISO 9001:2015 on Brazilian firms’ performance based on the balanced scorecard perspective. Hence, nine certified companies located in the Southeast region of Brazil were studied through a multiple case study approach. Within this study, it was possible to identify the positive impact of ISO 9001 on firms’ overall performance, and four Critical Success Factors (CSFs) were identified as relevant on the linkage among ISO 9001 and firms’ performance: employee involvement, top management, process management, and customer focus. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of interviews was limited to the quality manager specialist, and the sample was limited since several companies were closed during the period of the study. This study presents an in-depth analysis of how the relationship between ISO 9001 certification and firms’ performance in a developing country is.

Keywords: balanced scorecard, Brazilian firms’ performance, critical success factors, ISO 9001 certification, performance measurement

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Authors: Amy Guidera, Steven Busby, Christian Williams, David Phillippi

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College students are a priority preventative healthcare population that can engage in high-risk behaviors which may concurrently increase the potential for unsafe sexual practices, including contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Early education, screening, treatment, and partner notification are important interventions for breaking the chain of transmission and recurrence in relation to preventing poor health outcomes and mitigating college dropout rates. The aim of this quality improvement project was to determine if the reduction in STI screening costs for college students (aged 18-30 years old) would increase the amount of STI screenings conducted at a university health center over the course of an academic semester while evaluating our ability to achieve an improved quality of care at a reduced cost, along with improved STI reporting and documentation. This study was conducted through retrospective chart reviews of STI-related visits and utilized the RADAR matrix to provide a guiding, iterative mechanism to continuously reassess goals and outcomes defined in a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between a university health center and the state department of health (DOH) laboratory. The project failed to increase the amount of STI screenings, most likely due to the emergence of COVID-19, but resulted in improved quality of care for students, improved STI-related visit documentation and reporting, and significantly reduced costs for STI screening for collegiate students at a southeastern private university campus.

Keywords: college health, college students, preventive health, reproductive health, sexually transmitted infections, young adults

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Authors: Ryan Houser

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Introduction: Previous studies have found that public health systems within the United States are inadequately prepared for an act of biological terrorism. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, few studies have evaluated bioterrorism preparedness of Emergency Medical Services, even in the accelerating environment of biothreats. Methods: This study utilized an Internet-based survey to assess the level of preparedness and willingness to respond to a bioterrorism attack and identify factors that predict preparedness and willingness among Nebraska EMS (Emergency Medical Services ) providers. The survey was available for one month in 2021, during which 190 EMS providers responded to the survey. Results: Only 56.8% of providers were able to recognize an illness or injury as potentially resulting from exposure to a CBRN agent. The provider Clinical Competency levels range from a low of 13.6% (ability to initiate patient care within his/her professional scope of practice and arrange for prompt referral appropriate to the identified condition(s)) to a high of 74% (the ability to respond to an emergency within the emergency management system of his/her practice, institution and community). Only 10% of the respondents are both willing and able to effectively function in a bioterror environment. Discussion: In order to effectively prepare for and respond to a bioterrorist attack, all levels of the healthcare system need to have the clinical skills, knowledge, and abilities necessary to treat patients exposed. Policy changes and increased focus on training and drills are needed to ensure a prepared EMS system which is crucial to a resilient state. EMS entities need to be aware of the extent of their available workforce so that the country can be prepared for the increasing threat of bioterrorism or other novel emerging infectious disease outbreaks. A resilient nation relies on a prepared set of EMS providers who are willing to respond to biological terrorism events.

Keywords: bioterrorism, prehospital, EMS, disaster, emergency, medicine, preparedness, policy

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Authors: Predrag Kavaric, Vladimir L. Jubic, Maxim Cadenovic

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The patient was transferred from his dentist to our tertiary medical institution. In anamnesis, we got information that his dental intervention was two years ago when he got dental implants but because of the coronavirus pandemic event, he didn’t finish the whole procedure. After two years, he decided that he will continue his work at his dentist, then his dentist noticed that there is no earlier inserted implant in the upper jaw on the right side. They do Panoramic X-ray and find that the implant is all in the maxillary sinus cavity. The flour of the maxilla was intact without any fistula on the place where the implant was inserted in the maxilla bone, After that initial diagnostic they sent the patient to maxillofacial surgery and otorhinolaryngology. We asked for a CT scan of paranasal sinuses, which confirmed the foreign body in the right maxillary sinus. The plan was that in general anesthesia we do FESS and try to find a foreign body in the maxillary sinus or in case of failure to do Caldwel Luc on that side. After preoperative preparation in GA, we do FESS. In inspection, we find small polyps and chronically changed mucosa of osteomeatal complex and right maxillary sinus. After removing polyps we did uncinectomy and medial maxillectomy. With Heuweiser Antrum grasping forceps after several attempts we managed to extract a foreign body from the bottom of the right maxillary sinus. On the first postoperative day we did detamponade, and then we discharge the patient from hospital. The Covid pandemic has contributed to the postponement of a large number of planned operations, which has resulted in various complications in the treatment of a number of patients. In this case, it happened that the implant was most likely rejected by the bone but in the direction of the maxillary sinus, which is not a common cause. On the other hand, the success was that less traumatic intervention was able to remove the foreign body from the maxillary sinus in which it was located. Since the sinus floor is free of bone defects, it can be continued relatively quickly with dental procedures.

Keywords: x-ray, surgery, maxillar sinus, complication, fees

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Authors: Zwelenkani Mdlalose

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From the moment Covid 19 was declared a pandemic it became clear that conspiracy theories would significantly impact our response to the crisis that the virus was to become. Central to the interest in conspiracy theories evoked by a pandemic is a more general concern for the impact they have on society and social harmony. The specific brand of Conspiracy Theory that is in question is not any and all theories about conspiracies but rather those conspiracy theories which contradict official accounts. For example, where the official account on the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 is of a conspiracy involving 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda against targets in the United States, the nature of conspiracy theory under study is the one contradicting this official account to the extent that its attributes the attacks not to al-Qaeda militants but to actors in the United States government itself. The study is not an investigation into the truth value of conspiracy theories but rather an attempt at observing the essential qualities of the type of belief that is belief in conspiracy theories compared to belief in official accounts provided by authoritative sources such as governments, experts and mainstream media. These qualities include the psychological, epistemic and socio-political foundations on which belief in conspiracy theories are established. Based on a foundational understanding of the sort of belief that are beliefs in conspiracy theories, we may then extrapolate implied ethical demands on both authoritative bodies and actors as well as believers in conspiracy theories. For example: in their unofficial ‘non-factual’ status, is there not some violation of epistemic right in the same way we observe in cases where people are prejudiced because of their religious beliefs? In other words, is there an epistemic injustice suffered by believers in conspiracy theories in the way their beliefs are rejected as illegitimate? Conversely, to what extent do believers bear an epistemic responsibility in their adoption of their beliefs in conspiracy theories. From this position, perhaps we can then develop responses to the problem that foster greater social harmony even in the midst of suspicion and distrust.

Keywords: conspiracy theories, subjugated knowledge, epistemic injustice, epistemic responsibility

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Authors: H. E. Amb. Terry Earthwind Nichols

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Over the years Ambassador Nichols observed that successful companies all have one thing in common - belief in people. His observations of people in many companies, industries, and countries have also concluded one thing - groups of achievers far exceed the expectations and timelines of their superiors. His experience with achieving this has brought forth a model for the 21st century that will not only exceed expectations of companies, but it will also set visions for the future of business globally. It is time for real discussion around the future of work and the business model that will set the example for the world. Methodologies: In-person observations over 40 years – Ambassador Nichols present during the observations. Audio-visual observations – TV, Cinema, social media (YouTube, etc.), various news outlet Reading the autobiography of some of successful leaders over the last 75 years that lead their companies from a distinct perspective your people are your commodity. Major findings: People who believe in the leader’s vision for the company so much so that they remain excited about the future of the company and want to do anything in their power to ethically achieve that vision. People who are achieving regularly in groups, division, companies, etcetera: Live more healthfully lowering both sick time off and on-the-job accidents. Cannot wait to physically get to work as much as they can to feed off the high energy present in these companies. They are fully respected and supported resulting in near zero attrition. Simply put – they do not “Burn Out”. Conclusion: To the author’s best knowledge, 20th century practices in business are no longer valid and people are not going to work in those environments any longer. The average worker in the post-covid world is better educated than 50 years ago and most importantly, they have real-time information about any subject and can stream injustices as they happen. The Consortium Model is just the model for the evolution of both humankind and business in the 21st century.

Keywords: business model, future of work, people, paradigm shift, business management

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Authors: N. Ayob, N. C. Nkosi, R. P. Burger, S. J. Piketh, F. Letlaila, O. Maphosa

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South African higher tertiary institution have been faced with high dropout rates. About 50 to 60% of first years drop out to due to various reasons one being inadequate academic support. Geography 111 (GEOG 111) module is historically known for having below 50% pass rate, high dropout rate and identified as a first year risk module. For the first time GEOG 111 (2021) on the Mahikeng Campus admitted 150 students pursuing more than 6 different qualifications (BA and BSc) from the Humanities Faculty and FNAS. First year students had difficulties transitioning from secondary to tertiary institutions as we shifted to remote learning while we navigate through the Covid-19 pandemic. The traditional method of teaching does not encourage students to help each other. With remote learning we do not have control over what the students share and perhaps this can be a learning opportunity to embrace peer learning and change the manner in which we assess the students. The purpose of this pilot study was to assist GEOG111 students with academic challenges whilst improving their University experience. This was a qualitative study open to all GEOG111, repeaters, students who are not confident in their Geographical knowledge and never did Geography at high school level. The selected 9 Golden Key International Honour Society Geography mentors attended an academic mentor training program with module lecturers. About 17.6% of the mentees did not have a geography background however, 94% of the mentees passed, 1 mentee had a mark of 38%. 11 of the participants had a mark >60% with one student that excelled 70%. It is evident that mentorship helped students reach their academic potential. Peer learning and mentoring are associated with improved academic performance and allows the students to take charge of their learning and academic experience. Thus an important element as we transform pedagogies at higher learning institutions.

Keywords: geography, risk module, peer mentoring, peer learning

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Authors: Edeaghe Ehikhamenor, Jennifer Nnamdi

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Introduction: Gender-based violence (GBV) was a well-known global crisis before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic burden only intensified the crisis. With prevailing lockdowns, increased poverty due to high unemployment, especially affecting females, and other mobility restrictions that have left many women trapped with their abusers, plus isolation from social contact and support networks, GBV cases spiraled out of control. Prevalence of economic with cultural disparity, which is greatly manifested in Nigeria, is a major contributory factor to GBV. This is made worst by religious adherents where the females are virtually relegated to the background. Our societal approaches to investigations and sanctions to culprits have not sufficiently applied forensic/DNA tools in combating these major vices. Violence against women or some rare cases against men can prevent them from carrying out their duties regardless of the position they hold. Objective: The main objective of this research is to highlight the origin of GBV, the victims, types, contributing factors, and the applications of forensics/DNA tools and remedies so as to minimize GBV in our society. Methods: Descriptive information was obtained through the search on our daily newspapers, electronic media, google scholar websites, other authors' observations and personal experiences, plus anecdotal reports. Results: Findings from our exploratory searches revealed a high incidence of GBV with very limited or no applications of Forensics/DNA tools as an intervening mechanism to reduce GBV in Nigeria. Conclusion: Nigeria needs to develop clear-cut policies on forensics/DNA tools in terms of institutional framework to develop a curriculum for the training of all stakeholders to fast-track justice for victims of GBV so as to serve as a deterrent to other culprits.

Keywords: gender-based violence, forensics, DNA, justice

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Authors: Jingqian Xiao

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The rapid wave of urbanization triggered by China’s economic growth over the past few decades has inevitably impacted the country’s educational landscape. Educational spaces in China shifted during the 1990s when, due to the government’s tax reforms, large numbers of rural schools were abolished or merged with urban schools, resulting in an “urbanization” of school content and values. While urbanized education is now the status quo, there is as yet no literature review, to our best knowledge, that comprehensively summarizes academic work on this phenomenon. Besides, most research on Chinese educational urbanization relies on basic policy deductions, and there is room for improvement in both the quality and quantity of empirical research on this topic. This paper, therefore, reviews relevant literature on educational urbanization in China from three interrelated factors that shape educational inequality between urban and rural China, namely the urbanization in educational space, school content, and educational values. Results find that the main discussion on Chinese educational urbanization often addresses how Chinese rural education can be improved by reforming the urbanization model to revitalize rural society. While the complete urbanization of Chinese education does not seem feasible, the rapidly changing nature of China’s development patterns and political landscape means the course of Chinese education may shift at any time. When the government does decide to fulfill its intentions to improve the countryside, many formerly dilapidated rural schools may be revived, but for the moment, both rural and urban education in China suffers from governmental neglect. In addition, the breakout of COVID-19, which led to a sudden spread of online education that reopened the gap between the educational conditions and the cultural capital of families in rural and urban areas, has also posed new challenges for China’s attempts to resolve conflicting interests between urban and rural schools and promote educational equality.

Keywords: Chinese education, educational inequality, rural and urban education, urbanization in education

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Authors: Nandini Mohan, Thiruvengadam R. B.

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Mahatma Gandhi advocated that the true indicator of modern India lay in the development of its villages. This has been proven with the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic and the surfacing predicament of our urban centers. Developed on the Industrialization model, the current state of the metropolis is of rampant overcrowding, high rates of unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, and resources to cater to the growing population. A majority of each city’s strength composes of the migrant population, demonstrated through the migrant crisis, a direct repercussion of COVID-19. This paper explores the ideology of how rural development can act as a tactic to counter the high rates of rural-urban migration. It establishes the need for a rural push, as India is predominantly an agrarian economy, with a vast disparity between the urban and rural centers due to its urban bias. It seeks to define development in holistic terms. It studies the models of ‘cluster’ as conceptualized by V.K.R.V. Rao, and detailed by Architect Charles Correa in his book, The New Landscape. The paper reexamines the theory of cluster development through existing models proposed by the government of India. Namely, PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas), DRI (Deendayal Research Institute), and Rurban under Shyama Prasad Mukharjee Rurban Mission. It analyses the models, their strengths, weaknesses, and reasons for their failure and success to derive parameters for the ideation of an archetype model. A model of rural development that talks of the simultaneous development of existing adjacent villages, by the introduction of set unique functions, that may turn into self-sustaining clusters or agglomerations in the future, which could serve as the next step for Indian village development based on the cluster ideology.

Keywords: counter migration, models of rural development, cluster development theory, India

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Authors: Peaceman Sopazi, Mabila Mathebula, John Smallwood

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Recent health and safety (H&S) concerns and their resultant impact on railway operations, namely, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or collectively known as SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) pandemic and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), which have dominated public discourse, brought into question as to whether, or not, some aspects of how we have so far managed safety oversight as railway regulatory bodies and operators will remain relevant in a changing railway environment. Railway practitioners have generally found themselves between a proverbial rock and a hard place by being confronted by emerging challenges which have brought along great opportunities for sustainability. As witnesses and participants to the progressively introduced railway safety management, and transformation regimes, this paper attempts to share gathered field experience on adaptable regulatory oversight and safety awareness. The discourse is approached from a South African context but also with an informed perspective of what seems to work and what usually does not. The authors share their own multi and transdisciplinary experience coupled with insights they have gained as researchers of global trends in general safety management and specific aspects of railway safety management, for sustainability. In addition to sharing a largely experience-based methodology for survival, suggestions are offered for consideration as a way of keeping the railway safety management discourse alive as practitioners navigate a new path which is shrouded in a cloud of untold uncertainty. The authors further believe that the right timing for the implementation of the proposed suggestions in this paper will produce beneficial outcomes. Finally, the paper will identify areas that are still open for further investigation for and by researchers and practitioners alike.

Keywords: health & safety management, safety awareness, railway safety management, railway systems sustainability

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Authors: Danielle Shackley, Yetunde Folajimi

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As more people turn to the internet seeking health-related information, there is more risk of finding false, inaccurate, or dangerous information. Sentiment analysis is a natural language processing technique that assigns polarity scores to text, ranging from positive, neutral, and negative. In this research, we evaluate the weight of a sentiment analysis feature added to fake health news classification models. The dataset consists of existing reliably labeled health article headlines that were supplemented with health information collected about COVID-19 from social media sources. We started with data preprocessing and tested out various vectorization methods such as Count and TFIDF vectorization. We implemented 3 Naive Bayes classifier models, including Bernoulli, Multinomial, and Complement. To test the weight of the sentiment analysis feature on the dataset, we created benchmark Naive Bayes classification models without sentiment analysis, and those same models were reproduced, and the feature was added. We evaluated using the precision and accuracy scores. The Bernoulli initial model performed with 90% precision and 75.2% accuracy, while the model supplemented with sentiment labels performed with 90.4% precision and stayed constant at 75.2% accuracy. Our results show that the addition of sentiment analysis did not improve model precision by a wide margin; while there was no evidence of improvement in accuracy, we had a 1.9% improvement margin of the precision score with the Complement model. Future expansion of this work could include replicating the experiment process and substituting the Naive Bayes for a deep learning neural network model.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, Naive Bayes model, natural language processing, topic analysis, fake health news classification model

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Authors: Halonen

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Covid-19 pandemic and the succeeding crises have profoundly shaken the accustomed ways of interaction and thereby challenged the customary engagement patterns among entrepreneurs Consequently, this has led to the experience of lack of collegial interaction for some. Networks and relationships are a crucial factor to strengthening resilience, being especially significant in non-ordinary times. This study aims to shed light on entrepreneurs’ resilience development in and through entrepreneurs’ communal and training space. The context for research is a communal training space in a municipality in Finland of which goal is to help entrepreneurs to experience of peer support and community as part of the "tribe" is strengthened, the entrepreneurs' well-being at work, resilience, ability to change, innovativeness and general life management is strengthened. This communal space is regarded as an example of a physical community of practice (CoP) of entrepreneurs. The research aims to highlight the importance of rediscovering the “new normal” communality as itself but as a key building block of resilience. The initial research questions of the study are: RQ1: What is the role of entrepreneurs’ CoP and communal space in nurturing resilience development among them? RQ2: What positive entrepreneurial outcomes can be achieved through established CoP. The data will be gathered starting from the launch of the communality space in September 2023 onwards. It includes participatory observations of training gatherings, interviews with entrepreneurs and utilizes action research as the method. The author has an active role in participating and facilitating the development. The full paper will be finalized by the fall 2024. The idea of the new normal communality in a CoP among entrepreneurs is to be rediscovered due to its positive impact on entrepreneur’s resilience and business success. The other implications of study can extend to wider entrepreneurial ecosystem and other key stakeholders. Especially emphasizing the potential of communality in CoP for fostering entrepreneurs’ resilience and well-being ensuing business growth, community-driven entrepreneurship development and vitality of the case municipality.

Keywords: resilience, resilience development, communal space, community of practice (CoP)

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Authors: Estephanie S. López Contreras, Vicente Aranda Palacios, Daniela Flores Silva, Felipe Oliveros Olivares, Romina Riquelme Escobedo, Iñaki Westerhout Usabiaga

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This research explored whether the context of online instruction has influenced the development of first-year English-teaching students' communication skills, being these speaking and listening. The theoretical basis finds its niche in the need to bridge the gap in knowledge about the Chilean online educational context and the development of English communicative skills. An interpretative paradigm and a phenomenological design were implemented in this study. Twenty- two first-year students and two teachers from an English teaching training program participated in the study. The students' ages ranged from 18 to 26 years of age, and the teachers' years of experience ranged from 5 to 13 years in the program. For data collection purposes, semi- structured interviews were applied to both students and teachers. Interview questions were based on the initial conceptualization of the central phenomenon. Observations, field notes, and focus groups with the students are also part of the data collection process. Data analysis considered two-cycle methods. The first included descriptive coding for field notes, initial coding for interviews, and creating a codebook. The second cycle included axial coding for both field notes and interviews. After data analysis, the findings show that students perceived online classes as instances in which active communication cannot always occur. In addition, changes made to the curricula as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic have affected students' speaking and listening skills.

Keywords: attitudes, communicative skills, EFL teaching training program, online instruction, and perceptions

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Authors: Chun Yu, Tahlia M. Farrant, Max G. Marschall

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Most of Australia’s school classrooms are equipped with operable windows and occupant-controlled air-conditioners that do not provide fresh air. This can result in insufficient ventilation and high indoor CO₂ levels, which comes at a detriment to occupant productivity and health. This paper reports on the results of an in-situ study capturing indoor CO₂ levels in classrooms at a school in Victoria, Australia. The study consisted of 3 measurement periods: First, CO₂ levels pre-pandemic were measured, finding that the readings exceeded the recommended ASHRAE threshold of 1000 ppm more than 50% of the time, with levels often rising as high as 5000 ppm. Then, after the staff had been informed of the poor indoor air quality and the Victorian government had put COVIDSAFE measures in place, a second data set was captured; the impact was significant, with now only about 30% of readings above the ASHRAE threshold, and values rarely exceeding 2500 ppm. Finally, devices were installed that gave the occupants visual feedback when CO₂ levels were high, thus prompting them to open the windows; this further improved the air quality, with now less than 20% of readings above the threshold and values rarely exceeding 1500 ppm. The study suggests that, while relying on occupants to operate windows can lead to poor indoor air quality due to insufficient ventilation, it is possible to considerably influence occupant behavior through education and feedback devices. While these interventions alone did not mitigate the problem of inadequate ventilation entirely, they were sufficient to keep CO₂ levels within a generally healthy range. Considering the large energy savings that are possible by foregoing mechanical ventilation, it is evident that natural ventilation is a feasible operation method for school buildings in temperate climates, as long as classrooms are equipped with CO₂ feedback devices.

Keywords: COVID, CO₂, education, feedback devices, health, indoor air quality, natural ventilation, occupant behaviour

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Authors: Penina Orenstein

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In today’s world, particularly with COVID-19 a constant worldwide threat, organizations need greater visibility over their supply chains more than ever before, in order to find areas for improvement and greater efficiency, reduce the chances of disruption and stay competitive. The concept of supply chain mapping is one where every process and route is mapped in detail between each vendor and supplier. The simplest method of mapping involves sourcing publicly available data including news and financial information concerning relationships between suppliers. An additional layer of information would be disclosed by large, direct suppliers about their production and logistics sites. While this method has the advantage of not requiring any input from suppliers, it also doesn’t allow for much transparency beyond the first supplier tier and may generate irrelevant data—noise—that must be filtered out to find the actionable data. The primary goal of this research is to build data maps of supply chains by focusing on a layered approach. Using these maps, the secondary goal is to address the question as to whether the supply chain is re-engineered to make improvements, for example, to lower the carbon footprint. Using a drill-down approach, the end result is a comprehensive map detailing the linkages between tier-one, tier-two, and tier-three suppliers super-imposed on a geographical map. The driving force behind this idea is to be able to trace individual parts to the exact site where they’re manufactured. In this way, companies can ensure sustainability practices from the production of raw materials through the finished goods. The approach allows companies to identify and anticipate vulnerabilities in their supply chain. It unlocks predictive analytics capabilities and enables them to act proactively. The research is particularly compelling because it unites network science theory with empirical data and presents the results in a visual, intuitive manner.

Keywords: data mining, supply chain, empirical research, data mapping

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Authors: Fildzah Badzlina, Mega Puspa Sari

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To rest the body after a full day of activities, the body needs sleep. During sleep, the body's response to external stimuli will be reduced and relatively inactive so that it is used to optimize the body's biological functions that cannot be done when awake. College students often experience poor sleep quality because of the dense activities carried out during the day. In addition, the level of physical activity of college students is also relatively low. Based on previous research, college students who have low physical activity have poor sleep quality. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between physical activity and sleep quality in college students of the University of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. Hamka. This study used a cross-sectional research design with 107 respondents as research subjects. Samples were taken using the purposive sampling technique. The data was taken using a google form which was distributed to all college students in September 2021. The statistical test used was Chi-square. The results of this study showed that 85 (79.4%) college students experienced poor sleep quality during the Covid-19 Pandemic Period. Most respondents were 96 women (89.7%) and 32.7% (35 people) aged 20 years. In the pocket money category, most college students (71%) got pocket money less than 500.000 rupiahs per month. A total of 52 respondents (48.6%) had a moderate level of physical activity category. Poor sleep quality was more common in male students (90.9%) compared to female students (78.1%) (p>0.05). In the group with poor sleep quality, 88.9% of students were categorized in Rp. 500.001 to Rp. 1.000.000 for pocket money, 80.3% of students included in the category Rp. 500.000 or less, and 61.5% of students are included in the category of Rp. 1.000.000 or more. Poor sleep quality was more common among students in the age category 20 years (84.1%), compared to students in the age category > 20 years (71.1%). For the level of physical activity in the poor sleep quality group, 87% were included in the category of heavy physical activity, 82.7% included in the moderate level of physical activity, and 68.8% included in the category of low-level physical activity. There was no significant relationship between gender, pocket money, age, and physical activity with sleep quality (p>0.05).

Keywords: college students, physical activity, sleep quality, university students

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Authors: Zahra Soltani Shal

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic marks an extraordinary global public health crisis unseen in the last century, with its rapid spread worldwide and associated mortality burden. Healthcare resilience during a pandemic is crucial not only for continuous and safe patients care but also for control of any outbreak. Aim: The present study was conducted to discover the organizational variables effective in increasing resilience and continuing the work of nurses in critical and stressful pandemic conditions. Method: The study population is nurses working in hospitals for patients with coronavirus. Sampling was done purposefully and information was collected from 15 nurses through In-depth semi-structured interviews. The interview was conducted to analyze the data using the framework analysis method consisting of five steps and is classified in the table. Results: According to the findings through semi-structural interviews, among organizational variables, organizational commitment (Affective commitment, continuous commitment, normative commitment) has played a prominent role in nurses' resilience. Discussion: despite the non-withdrawal of nurses and their resilience, due to the negative quality of their working life, the mentioned variable has affected their level of performance and ability and leads to fatigue and physical and mental exhaustion. Implications for practice: By equipping hospitals and improving the facilities of nurses, their organizational commitment can be increased and lead to their resilience in critical situations. Supervisors and senior officials at the hospitals should be responsible for nurses' health and safety. A clear and codified program in critical situations and comprehensive management is effective in improving the quality of the work-life of nurses. Creating an empathetic and interactive environment can help promote nurses' mental health.

Keywords: organizational commitment, quality of work life, nurses resilience, pandemic, coronavirus

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Authors: Svitlana Panchenko

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Tourism in Ukraine is an underdeveloped branch of the economy, religious tourism is in its infancy. New challenges of the time, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war are making adjustments, and religious tourism is now in a difficult situation. Although, as scientists describe, it was religious tourism during the pandemic that proved to be a sustainable form of tourism, surviving due to the stability of faith of believers. Tourism in Germany is quite developed and profitable industry, so its interesting for studing such places of pilgrimage in Bavaria as: Passau, Regensburg, Munich, these cities are rich in their shrines and sacred places. In Germany, religious tourism is a well-developed economic sector, so it is necessary to study this issue from the point of view of attracting foreign tourists to Ukrainian lands to visit the shrines. For example, the city of Trier received a large part of the relics of Saint Matthew the Apostle, the relics of the Saint have remained a place of world Christian pilgrimage for centuries. This is the only city in Germany where there are relics of the apostle. Basically, all the relics of the holy apostles are kept in Italy, some in Spain and France. It is important to study different confessional groups, their psychology, the purpose of the pilgrimage, description of shrines. The subject of the study is religious tourism in the cities and villages of Transcarpathia and Bavaria, taking into account the psychological characteristics of pilgrims from a multi-confessional point of view. The article used the culturological, phenomenological, religious studies methods, which allows to analyze the problems of religious tourism from this point of view, taking into account the specifics of this sphere. The results of the research consist in the study of multi-confessional shrines on the example of Ukrainian and German towns to study the importance of cultural heritage and pilgrimage routes, taking into account the psychological factors of pilgrims.

Keywords: communications, cultural heritage, pilgrimage, religious tourism

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Authors: Pablo Andres Flores Siguenza, Noe Rodrigo Guaman Guachichullca

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Sustainable practices have received increasing attention from academics and companies in recent decades due to, among many factors, the market advantages they generate, global commitments, and policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, addressing resource scarcity, and rethinking waste management. The search for ways to promote sustainability leads industries to abandon classical methods and resort to the use of innovative strategies, which in turn are based on quantitative analysis methods and tools such as life cycle analysis (LCA), which is the basis for sustainable production and consumption, since it is a method that analyzes objectively, methodically, systematically, and scientifically the environmental impact caused by a process/product during its entire life cycle. The objective of this study is to develop an LCA of the antibacterial gel product throughout its entire supply chain (SC) under the methodology of ISO 14044 with the help of Gabi software and the Recipe 2016 method. The selection of the case study product was made based on its relevance in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its exponential increase in production. For the development of the LCA, data from a Mexican company are used, and 3 scenarios are defined to obtain the midpoint and endpoint environmental impacts both by phases and globally. As part of the results, the most outstanding environmental impact categories are climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and terrestrial ecotoxicity, and the stage that generates the most pollution in the entire SC is the extraction of raw materials. The study serves as a basis for the development of different sustainability strategies, demonstrates the usefulness of an LCA, and agrees with different authors on the role and importance of this methodology in sustainable development.

Keywords: sustainability, sustainable development, life cycle analysis, environmental impact, antibacterial gel

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Authors: Antonella Poce, Deborah Seid Howes, Maria Rosaria Re, Mara Valente

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The Creative Industries education contexts, Museum Education in particular, generally presents a low emphasis on the use of new digital technologies, digital abilities and transversal skills development. The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of these abilities and skills in cultural heritage education contexts: gaining digital skills, museum professionals will improve their career opportunities with access to new distribution markets through internet access and e-commerce, new entrepreneurial tools, or adding new forms of digital expression to their work. However, the use of web, mobile, social, and analytical tools is becoming more and more essential in the Heritage field, and museums, in particular, to face the challenges posed by the current worldwide health emergency. Recent studies highlight the need for stronger partnerships between the cultural and creative sectors, social partners and education and training providers in order to provide these sectors with the combination of skills needed for creative entrepreneurship in a rapidly changing environment. Considering the above conditions, the paper presents different examples of digital learning experiences carried out in Italian and USA contexts with the aim of promoting digital skills in museum professionals. In particular, a quali-quantitative research study has been conducted on two international Postgraduate courses, “Advanced Studies in Museum Education” (2 years) and “Museum Education” (1 year), in order to identify the educational effectiveness of the online learning strategies used (e.g., OBL, Digital Storytelling, peer evaluation) for the development of digital skills and the acquisition of specific content. More than 50 museum professionals participating in the mentioned educational pathways took part in the learning activity, providing evaluation data useful for research purposes.

Keywords: digital skills, museum professionals, technology, education

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Authors: Hermanus J. Moolman

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The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on the society and companies in South Africa. This raises questions about the position of creditors of companies facing financial distress and the actions that directors should take to cater to the interests of creditors. The extent to which directors owe their duties and consideration to creditors has been the subject of debate. The directors of a solvent company owe their duties to the company in favour of its shareholders. When the company becomes insolvent, creditors are the beneficiaries of the directors’ duties. However, the intermittent phase between solvency and insolvency, otherwise referred to as the realm of insolvency, is not accounted for. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether South African company law appropriately addresses the duties that directors owe to creditors and the extent of consideration given to creditors’ interests when the company is in the realm of insolvency and has started business rescue proceedings. A comparative study on South Africa, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and international instruments was employed to achieve the purpose statement. In the United States of America and the United Kingdom, the focus shifts from shareholders to the best interests of creditors when business recue proceedings commence. Such an approach is not aligned with the purpose of the Companies Act of 2008 that calls for a balance of interests of all persons affected by a company’s financial distress and will not be suitable for the South African context. Business rescue in South Africa is relatively new when compared to the practices of the United States of America and the United Kingdom, and the entrepreneurial landscape in South Africa is still evolving. The interests of creditors are not the only interests at risk when a company is financially distressed. It is recommended that an enlightened creditor value approach is adopted for South Africa, where the interests of creditors, albeit paramount, are balanced with those of other stakeholders. This approach optimises a gradual shift in the duties of directors from shareholders to creditors, without disregarding the interests of shareholders.

Keywords: business rescue, shareholders, creditors, financial distress, balance of interests, alternative remedies, company law

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