Context Of COVID-19 Research Articles

Capital Flight and Exchange Rate Policy in Covid-19 Context: What are the Explanatory Factors in the Franc Zone and Non-Franc Zone Countries?

The aim of this study is to make a comparative analysis of the macroeconomic and institutional determinants of capital flight between franc zone and non-franc zone countries over the 1984-2018 period. The pooled mean groups (PMG) regression results show that the exchange rate negatively and significantly determines capital flight in the franc zone countries, while in the non-franc zone countries, the exchange rate positively but insignificantly determines capital flight. We are more interested in this subject because of the persistence of capital flight in these areas after the Covid-19 crisis. Our main recommendation is to put in place policies to control exchange rate fluctuations, especially in the non-franc zone countries. This could help limit expectations of capital flight when for cyclical reasons, exchange rates depreciate.

The influence of educational and emotional support on e-learning acceptance: An integration of social support theory and TAM.

Flexible education is considered the primary function of e-learning, however, empirical evidence during the COVID-19 pandemic has also demonstrated that students may seek emotional comforts in e-learning to alleviate their negative emotions. This study aims to provide a holistic view of the antecedents of college students' e-learning acceptance by integrating social support theory with the technology acceptance model. Specifically, drawing upon social support theory, this study adopted perceived educational support and perceived emotional support as two driving factors and examined their influences on students' continuous intention in e-learning. The model was empirically validated using survey data from 512 college respondents in China during the first wave of the pandemic. Our results suggested that while perceived educational support exerts a major influence on e-learning acceptance, perceived emotional support also has an important role to play. Besides, the analytics results suggested that the two facets of support had different influencing patterns: perceived educational support has a positive and significant relationship with both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, whereas perceived emotional support solely has a significant relationship with perceived ease of use. Additionally, compared with the prior studies, the effect size ( ) between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness is larger in the present study (COVID-19 context). These findings stress the need to better understand the mechanism by which social support influences college students' e-learning acceptance and to make use of various kinds of social supports to enhance perceived ease of use (e.g. human-computer interface), promote perceived usefulness, and ultimately motivate more students' continuance intention in e-learning.

Quality early childhood education and care in a time of COVID-19.

Contextual approaches to high quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) seek to capture the complexity of children's lives, developing pedagogical approaches that are responsive to children's needs and interests. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic provided a complex layer to the question of what constitutes quality ECEC. A mixed methods appreciative inquiry of educators' and parents' views of quality in one ECEC setting in England, became an unexpected ethnographic exploration of quality ECEC in the time of a global pandemic. The findings indicate how features of quality, such as offering a range of learning environments and structuring the pedagogic environment to offer free-flowing play, had to be adapted to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The focus on quality shifted, prioritising the health and safety of families and staff, over the quality and variety of the curriculum. Greater emphasis was also placed on children's social and emotional well-being to support their ability to understand and manage the changes to routines in response to the pandemic. The findings demonstrate that the early years workforce remains central to understanding and supporting quality, concluding that quality ECEC is shaped by adaptability - adapting to the needs of children, families, staff, and the unprecedented context of COVID-19. The focus on adaptability seeks to highlight how educators frequently respond to unique contexts in juggling concepts of quality ECEC. Consequently, a recommendation is made for future educator training to consider the importance of adaptability, in providing a useful framework for reimaging quality ECEC post COVID-19.

COVID-19 Stressors and Aggression among Chinese College Students: The Mediation Role of Coping Strategies.

Although college students experienced excessive stressors (COVID-19 disease and negative COVID-19 news) during the COVID-19 pandemic, few studies have been aimed at coping strategies used by college students to deal with stress caused by the pandemic. Coping strategies are efforts to deal with anxiety in the face of a perceived threat or stress. Aggression is harmful social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or harm upon another individual. In the present study, we aimed to examine the direct effect of stressors resulting from the pandemic on college students' aggression, as well as the indirect effect via their coping strategies. Through a cross-sectional survey of 601 Chinese college students (M-age = 20.28), we tested the proposed framework. We first found that information stressors of COVID-19 ranked highest among the four stressors of the pandemic. Results also indicated that college students' stressors of COVID-19 were directly and positively associated with their aggressive behavior. For the indirect effect, college students would adopt both adaptive coping strategies (self-help strategy) and maladaptive coping strategies (avoidance strategy and self-punishment strategy) with the stressors of COVID-19. Furthermore, adaptive coping strategy (approach strategy) was negatively related to their aggression, whereas maladaptive coping strategy (avoidance strategy and self-punishment strategy) was positively related to their aggressive behavior. The present research extends the general strain theory in the COVID-19 context. Practical implications are also discussed.

Sweeteners World Trade and Behaviour in the Pandemic. Evidence from Honey Remedies Nexus Mountain Apis Mellifera Product.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12355-023-01243-6.

Influence of fear on anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and behaviour against vaccination

Pandemics are a global threat, with vaccination being the main weapon of control. Fear, an unpleasant emotional state caused by a threatening stimulus perception, is known to be behind inhibitory behaviours; being, with mistrust, the basis of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories (CTs). It would be appropriate to know the fear influence on these theories. In this way, a cross-sectional online survey was applied to 2.987 subjects, in a COVID-19 context, characterized by high levels of uncertainty and mistrust, with the aims of analyse the relationship between some anti-vaccine CTs and vaccination intention (VI), also the influence of fear to vaccination (VF) on TCs and VI in this context. As result, all CTs were positive predictors of VF and negative predictors of VI. The correlations were significant (p <0.001), from moderate to high, for all analysed variables, with a significant and moderate directionality and size of association. Regression analysis indicated a moderate and significant explained variance (r2 = 0.54) of CTs + VF in VI. The analysis also indicates that safety and security CTs were more strongly associated with VF (r2 = 0.347) and VI (r2 = 0.46) than other CTs. Obtained results were more significant than those found by other researchers. Knowing in each case the main anti-vaccine CTs and the associated fear can help to plan programs to increase vaccination levels.

Suicidal ideation among men during COVID-19: Examining the roles of loneliness, thwarted belongingness, and personality impairment.

Suicidal ideation (SI) is a known precursor to suicide among men. While loneliness and thwarted belongingness (TB) have been identified as key factors influencing SI, no study has reported on all three constructs to investigate whether loneliness is associated with SI by way of TB. Furthermore, it is not clear whether personality impairment has a moderating role on this process. The present study examined the impact of loneliness on SI among men and whether TB mediated this relationship. Additionally, the study investigated whether personality impairment (i.e., self-functioning, interpersonal functioning) moderated the relationship between loneliness and TB. Canadian men (N=434) completed an online survey that included self-report assessments of the study constructs. Conditional process modeling was used to test the indirect effect of loneliness on SI via the mediating effect of TB. Findings indicated a significant association between loneliness and SI that was mediated by TB. Further, impairment in self-functioning moderated the relationship between loneliness and TB, indicating that the relationship was stronger among men with greater difficulties in self-functioning. The findings are important to consider within the COVID-19 context, as they point to the need to reduce the detrimental impacts of loneliness, thereby potentially mitigating male SI.

How digitalization reinvented entrepreneurial resilience during COVID-19

The emergence of new digital technologies has transformed entrepreneurship and, very likely, enabled many new and established ventures to avoid bankruptcy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital technologies are key to identifying, evaluating and exploiting opportunities, scaling a venture's competitiveness, improving efficiency and innovating, especially during uncertain times. We explore how digital technologies reinvented entrepreneurial resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and distill the digital artifacts, platforms and infrastructures used by entrepreneurs to demonstrate entrepreneurial resilience. We analyzed 42 reflective interviews featuring successful entrepreneurs from How I Built This “Resilience Series” podcast that explore how entrepreneurs responded to the COVID-19 crisis. We adopted a systematic approach to identify and describe the behaviors, actions and strategies related to digitalization to reinvent the business in the uncertain and resource-constrained context of COVID-19. The data analysis yielded thirteen first-order codes categorized into five second-order themes: creative digital pivoting, digital infrastructures, social impact through digital technology, burdens to digital adoption, and growth through digitalization. These second-order themes reveal to function as both enablers and barriers to entrepreneurial resilience in this adverse context. Our exploratory analysis suggests how digitalization influences entrepreneurial resilience.

Adolescents' social and moral reasoning about COVID-19 public health behaviors

Examining the forms of social and moral reasoning adolescents use is important for understanding youth engagement with public health guidelines. The present work examined adolescents' perceptions of social norms and associated reasoning in the COVID-19 context. Participants (n = 127, M age = 17.00, SD = 0.71) negatively evaluated other teenagers who broke COVID-19 guidelines and reasoned about harm reduction to justify breaking these rules, but also recognised the importance of protecting mental health as one reason to spend time with friends counter to these rules. Further, adolescents reported that they were more likely to engage in public health behaviors compared to their peers or the average teenager, suggesting a social norm of lower engagement with these guidelines. Together, this evidence documents the importance of considering social norms and moral reasoning in framing communication efforts that target adolescents' adherence to public health guidelines.

Canadian news media coverage of suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to concerns about increases in suicidal behaviour. Research indicates that certain types of media coverage of suicide may help reduce suicidality (the Papageno effect), while other types may increase suicidality (the Werther effect). This study aimed to examine the tone and content of Canadian news articles about suicide during the first year of the pandemic. Articles about suicide from Canadian news sources were collected and coded for adherence to responsible reporting of suicide guidelines. Articles which directly discussed suicidal behaviour in the COVID-19 context were identified and compared to other suicide articles in the same period. Lastly, a thematic analysis was conducted on the sub-sample of articles discussing suicide in the COVID-19 context. The sub-set of articles about suicide in the COVID-19 context (n = 103) contained significantly more putatively helpful content compared to non-COVID-19 articles (n = 457), such as including help information (56.3% Vs 23.6%), quoting an expert (68.0% Vs 16.8%) and educating about suicide (73.8% Vs 24.9%). This lower adherence among non-COVID-19 articles is concerning as they comprised over 80% of the sample. On the plus side, fewer than 10% of all articles provided monocausal, glamourized or sensational accounts of suicide. Qualitative analysis revealed the following three themes: (i) describing the epidemiology of suicidal behaviour; (ii) discussing self and communal care; and (iii) bringing attention to gaps in mental health care. Media articles about suicide during the first year of the pandemic showed partial adherence to responsible reporting of suicide guidelines, with room for improvement.

Real-world human gender classification from oral region using convolutional neural netwrok

Gender classification is an important biometric task. It has been widely studied in the literature. Face modality is the most studied aspect of human-gender classification. Moreover, the task has also been investigated in terms of different face components such as irises, ears, and the periocular region. In this paper, we aim to investigate gender classification based on the oral region. In the proposed approach, we adopt a convolutional neural network. For experimentation, we extracted the region of interest using the RetinaFace algorithm from the FFHQ faces dataset. We achieved acceptable results, surpassing those that use the mouth as a modality or facial sub-region in geometric approaches. The obtained results also proclaim the importance of the oral region as a facial part lost in the Covid-19 context when people wear facial mask. We suppose that the adaptation of existing facial data analysis solutions from the whole face is indispensable to keep-up their robustness.

Neutrophils and their friends.

Neutrophils and their friends.

Community and Informal Care Providers at the Heart of Universal Health Coverage in sub-Saharan Africa: A Position Paper

Globally, increased demand on often scarce healthcare resources and those challenges incumbent in responding to the coexistence of infectious and non-communicable diseases warrant the need to address persistent health inequities. Understanding the complex intersectionality of vulnerability and reaching those in most critical need of healthcare lies at the heart of fostering and sustaining resilient healthcare systems. Harnessing the long-recognised value of Community and Informal Care Providers (CICPs) is instrumental to Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The present COVID-19 context serves as a poignant example of where access to formal healthcare services by many has become increasingly difficult. Here, the value of informal or volunteer-led health services has been a lifeline for many. For several decades, formal reportage has evidenced the established role of CICPs, particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa with quantifiable efficacy across a number of domains, such as, maternal and child health, neglected tropical disease prevention, tuberculosis care and malaria control. CICPs have been sustainable and effective as a conduit between the formal and informal health sectors, and between health facilities and the remotest of communities. Maximising the function of CICPs relies on socio-culturally, geographically sensitive, and bespoke support; psychosocial, practical, and logistical capacitation coupled with situationally and culturally appropriate monitoring and evaluation. The Astana Declaration highlights the centrality of building on existing knowledge, insight and resource. We therefore argue that CICPs are indispensable in Africa’s move towards UHC, and hold promise for acceptable, accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare to everyone who needs to get, be and stay healthy.

Physical activity intention-behavior gap during the COVID-19 pandemic: the moderating role of motivation and health-belief

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to identify the psychological mechanism that moderates the physical activity intention-behaviour gap during the pandemic based on self-determination theory (SDT) and the health belief model (HBM). A retrospective, longitudinal survey design was adopted, with participants assessed in two waves (T1 and T2) at one-year intervals. Online questionnaires reflecting the context of the COVID-19 pandemic were developed to measure the intention to engage in physical activity (exercise), actual frequency, motivation (autonomous/controlled motivation), and health belief (perceived susceptibility). Of the 336 subjects who participated in the first survey (T1) with exercise intention and frequency, 194 responded to the second survey (T2) with exercise frequency and psychological characteristics (motivation and health beliefs). After data screening, a total sample size of 190 was used for the analysis. The hierarchical regression analysis showed that even in a controlled condition for past exercise intention and frequency, significant predictions were made for the current exercise frequency during the pandemic from controlled motivation and perceived susceptibility. The results also verified significant moderating effects, whereby the physical activity intention-behaviour gap decreased with highly controlled motivation but increased with high perceived susceptibility to infectious diseases in the COVID-19 context. The findings in this study suggest that the desire to be recognised for performing physical activities and the perception that participation in physical activity does not raise the risk of infection had a significant role in reducing the gap between physical activity intention during the pandemic.

Remotely and collaboratively evaluating a campus-based therapy dog program during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the wellbeing of university students and adults in general, emphasizing the need for mental health programming that was compliant with physical distancing mandates. The present evaluation investigated mental health and social connection within the context of COVID-19 by remotely evaluating a virtual animal-assisted activity at the University of Saskatchewan – PAWS Your Stress. The purpose of this article is to outline our evaluation methods and findings, while calling specific attention to the collaborative strategies that were implemented within a remote, time-sensitive context. The evaluation findings revealed that remote animal-assisted programming can facilitate connections with humans and animals, and promote multiple mental health benefits, despite the lack of physical interaction with the animals. Our lessons learned indicate that remote program logic modelling workshops are feasible when suited to audience demographics. Further, our experience suggests that the Most Significant Change technique (a qualitative, participatory, storytelling method that elicits outcome data) can be useful in time-restricted evaluations, and the necessity of central steps in the process may vary depending on evaluation goals. This project has implications for future evaluation work, by demonstrating the effective use of remote methods that allowed for successful stakeholder collaboration.

The impact of distance education on nursing students course performance in a sino-foreign cooperative program during the onset of COVID-19: a quasi-experimental study

BackgroundThe outbreak of COVID-19 changed many studies’ teaching mode in higher education profoundly, including nursing. This study evaluated the impact of distance education on the course performance of nursing students in a nursing fundamentals course during the epidemic of COVID-19.MethodsThis is a comparative prospective and retrospective quasi-experimental study. Nursing students in a Sino-foreign cooperative program were allocated to either an intervention group (distance education, n = 48) or control group (face-to-face teaching, n = 36). A self-efficacy questionnaire, an academic engagement scale and grades of the final written examination were used to evaluate the students’ self-efficacy, academic engagement and academic performance, respectively. The data in this study were analyzed by two independent sample t-tests and the Chi-square test.Students experiencing distance teaching had worse academic performance (p = 0.001) and lower levels of learning behavior self-efficacy (p<0.05). The total score of academic engagement (p = 0.04) for students experiencing distance teaching were significantly lower than the scores of those students in the control group.ConclusionsIn the context of COVID-19, nursing students conducted using distance education had poor course performance.

Arundhati Roy as an Environmentalist with special reference to the context of Covid-19

Arundhati Roy as an Environmentalist with special reference to the context of Covid-19

In COVID-19 Context: A Review and Revelations Study of Sporting Events on the Impact of Sports Tourism Development in China, the United States and Japan

This paper uses a comparative analysis method of literature compilation to review the impact of sports events on sports tourism development, and the strategies to develop the sports tourism response in combination with sports events in China, the United States, and Japan during the COVID-19 epidemic. In the United States, continuous repair or reconstruction of infrastructure, support for related industries, continuous hosting of sports events, and rational planning of post-event legacy took place. In Japan, the trends included building a sports tourism destination brand, using new media webcasting and short video promotion, applying digital intelligence technology, and setting sustainable development goals. In China, sports tourism started late, and despite strong support from national policies and the continued development of the boutique route, the sports tourism destination brand effect is still weak, and some areas of infrastructure management struggle, coupled with the shackles of the epidemic. Hence, there is a pressing need for the rapid recovery of China’s sports tourism development. This study proposes the integration of digital intelligence technology into the process to develop intelligent sports tourism, effective practices of sustainable development, the transformation of post-competition heritage into livelihood resources, support for related industries to create sports tourism complexes, and the use of new media and short videos to establish the brand image of sports tourism destinations.

Mental health of community health workers in the COVID-19 context.

This study aimed to analyze the factors related to the mental health of Community Health Workers (ACS) in the COVID-19 context. A total of 1,935 ACS from four Northeastern capitals and four cities in the inland region of Ceará participated. The following data were collected: sociodemographic; professional; SRQ-20; WHOQOL-Bref, exposure to violence, General Self-Efficacy Scale (EAEG), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), COVID-19-related information, and the coronavirus anxiety scale (EAC). Approximately 40.5% had SRQ > 7, signaling high levels of Common Mental Disorders (CMD)/mental health issues. We adopted the Multiple linear (backward) regression. We observed that the increased risk of CMD was influenced by exposure to violence, EAC, not knowing they had COVID-19, not knowing the variables that reduced the risk, the physical and psychological domains of the WHOQOL-Bref, not having increased working hours, and not having had COVID-19. The data reveal the multidimensional dynamics of mental health and help understand the relationship between community violence, COVID-19, quality of life, age, and ESF working time with the mental health of ACS.

A Multiscale Geospatial Dataset and an Interactive Visualization Dashboard for Computational Epidemiology and Open Scientific Research.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continued to strike as a highly infectious and fast-spreading disease in 2020 and 2021. As the research community actively responded to this pandemic, we saw the release of many COVID-19-related datasets and visualization dashboards. However, existing resources are insufficient to support multiscale and multifaceted modeling or simulation, which is suggested to be important by the computational epidemiology literature. This work presents a curated multiscale geospatial dataset with an interactive visualization dashboard under the context of COVID-19. This open dataset will allow researchers to conduct numerous projects or analyses relating to COVID-19 or simply geospatial-related scientific studies. The interactive visualization platform enables users to visualize the spread of the disease at different scales (e.g., country level to individual neighborhoods), and allows users to interact with the policies enforced at these scales (e.g., the closure of borders and lockdowns) to observe their impacts on the epidemiology.