Time Of COVID-19 Research Articles

Elastic Rituals: A Multi-Religious Analysis of Adaptations to the COVID-19 Crisis

The COVID-19 crisis truly challenged social interaction, the use of space and objects, as well as our sense of purpose and meaning in life. In this context, religious communities faced sudden interruption of their usual activities, lack of access to communal spaces and a global epidemic that summoned ancient “medieval plague” anxieties to work with. This article focuses on the vast repertoire of adaptations and reactions to the crisis that several religious communities developed in Spain. Our research is based on 40 conversations with members of Protestant and Evangelical denominations, Sunni Islam, Orthodox churches, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Church of Scientology, Baha’i, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Christian Science and Paganism, all of them minorities in the traditionally Catholic country. To analyze this repertoire of adaptations we focus on three aspects: the general context of changes and challenges, the ritual adaptations and the subjective experience of the adaptations. Grace Q. Zhang’s theories on linguistic elasticity will be applied to understand the elasticity of ritual adaptations in COVID times.

The utilization of CAMEL framework in analyzing the financial soundness of commercial banks in Malaysia: Pre and in the time of Covid 19

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many aspects of the economy, including commercial banking. This research aims to analyze the health of Malaysia's commercial banks before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. To accomplish this, the authors employed the CAMEL framework, widely recognized as one of the best tools for evaluating a bank's health. The study aims to comprehend the pandemic's impact on the financial health of banks during the pandemic. Secondary data was gathered from the financial statements of eight local commercial banks from 2017 to 2021. Results from this study suggest that the performance of commercial banks in Malaysia was generally stable and well-capitalized, with low non-performing loans and strong profitability before and during COVID-19. This study offers a new understanding of the effect of the pandemic on banking operations in Malaysia, a country whose financial system depends mainly on banks.

Revaluing Work(ers): The Role of Labor Education in the “Time of COVID”

With its rich history of supporting the advancement of the working class and the union movement, labor education has continued to evolve and change, influenced by social conditions, the needs of workers and unions, and the attitudes of the institutions in which it is anchored. This essay assesses the arguments about labor education offered by Victor Devinatz and Robert Bruno and considers how the field of labor education should respond to the challenges and opportunities offered by the “time of COVID.

The Hospitality Industry in Times of Covid: Changes in Management and Recovery Strategies: A Look from the Hotel Sector in Marrakech

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism sector worldwide has undergone all kinds of changes, from operational to organizational. This study responds to requests for research on the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the hotel industry by analyzing the changes produced by this crisis as well as the management strategies implemented by hotels to counter its consequences in Marrakech. Information collected from in-depth interviews with hotel managers, the analysis of the content of information published by specialized entities and the descriptive bibliographic review from academic sources allowed a diagnosis of these establishments at the most critical moment, identify survival strategies and future prospects. As a result, tourism and hospitality are among the sectors most affected by the pandemic, and hotels continue to devise strategies to reduce costs, strengthen safety protocols and, above all, design new products that meet the new requirements of the guest. Based on these results, this research suggests practical implications for helping hotel managers formulate strategies to create a secure customer experience.

The Hospitality Industry in Times of Covid: Changes in Management and Recovery Strategies: A Look from the Hotel Sector in Marrakech

The Hospitality Industry in Times of Covid: Changes in Management and Recovery Strategies: A Look from the Hotel Sector in Marrakech

Reddit in the Time of COVID

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, much of life moved online. Platforms of all types reported surges of activity, and people remarked on the various important functions that online platforms suddenly fulfilled. However, researchers lack a rigorous understanding of the pandemic's impacts on social platforms---and whether they were temporary or long-lasting. We present a conceptual framework for studying the large-scale evolution of social platforms and apply it to the study of Reddit's history, with a particular focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. We study platform evolution through two key dimensions: structure vs. content and macro- vs. micro-level analysis. Structural signals help us quantify how much behavior changed, while content analysis clarifies exactly how it changed. Applying these at the macro-level illuminates platform-wide changes, while at the micro-level we study impacts on individual users. We illustrate the value of this approach by showing the extraordinary and ordinary changes Reddit went through during the pandemic. First, we show that typically when rapid growth occurs, it is driven by a few concentrated communities and within a narrow slice of language use. However, Reddit's growth throughout COVID-19 was spread across disparate communities and languages. Second, all groups were equally affected in their change of interest, but veteran users tended to invoke COVID-related language more than newer users. Third, the new wave of users that arrived following COVID-19 was fundamentally different from previous cohorts of new users in terms of interests, activity, and likelihood of staying active on the platform. These findings provide a more rigorous understanding of how an online platform changed during the global pandemic.

Asian Courts in Times of COVID: Virtualization and the New Normal

AbstractThe unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has caused restrictive measures to be established in many sectors including the legal and judicial sector; an example is the use of electronic litigation systems and video-conferencing facilities for trials. With the implementation of changes in the legal and judicial sector to adapt to restrictions arising from the pandemic, there is the question of whether the current rules governing civil-court proceedings are designed to accommodate these changes. This article seeks to explore the measures taken by courts in response to the pandemic with a focus on Asia, notably Singapore. The article will outline the legal basis for the use of live video links for the purpose of witness evidence-taking under Singapore law and the possible implications will be reviewed taking Singapore’s civil proceedings as an example in comparison with other jurisdictions.

The glorious life.

I read the editorial ‘Love in the time of COVID: The value of the hug’ with great interest. This shows how therapeutic it is to give and receive compassionate care, both for the children and the clinician. I have often found that the view from the side of the child and the family is very different. We may not be able to make it better, we may not always get it right, but what families seem to remember most is that we tried our very best, that we were kind. It takes me back to a simpler time when I was a postgraduate doctor in India in a tertiary government hospital. We received patients from all parts of the state, they came in buses, travelling overnight with seriously ill children in their arms. The resources in the hospital were minimal, every investigation had to be planned carefully. Clinical diagnosis was key, timely treatment was of absolute essence. As junior residents, we paced the intensive care setting with 20 beds, silently through the night willing our patients to remain alive. Sitting at the bed of a child with TB meningitis, another with encephalitis, treating an infant with sepsis, treating a child with status epilepticus. Comforting parents, reassuring an old grandparent who must have been 80 if she was a day and the sole carer of the child with TB meningitis. The children, magically resilient, got better, not because of us but probably in spite of us. In a few days, they would give us a single red rose, a bunch of bananas or in one case an overflowing bag of beans. The parents would tell us that specific instructions had been issued by the 5-year-old (who had arrived unconscious and was treated for encephalitis) that the freshest and the ‘reddest’ rose be procured for the doctor from the market. Our shifts would go on for 36 hours. At five in the evening, I would drag my weary self to the bus stop to make the 1 hour journey home. Some of my patients who had got better would also be on the bus. There would be great excitement as I boarded. The bus driver would greet me like an old friend. An expansive welcome. He would ask the passengers who sat in the seat parallel to the driver's seat, to move. I would smile gratefully and sink into the vacated space. I would be wedged between flower sellers, old grandmothers (with huge smiles) weaving garlands of jasmine, the younger ones would be squeezed together near my feet. The driver would be very pleased once I had settled in. The moving bus, the loquacious chatter of the driver and the eager contribution of the passengers would lull me to sleep surrounded by the fragrant smell of jasmine. An hour later, I would be gently nudged awake by a tooth less grandmother with the most wonderful smile. And waved off cheerfully by a cohort of people. If I was not careful the driver would probably have taken the bus off the highway and dropped me straight at the door of my house. A different life, a different way of looking after each other and the children, because you could and because it mattered. It was a kind of love. And a simpler time. Amongst the many lessons that COVID has taught us, perhaps the most important ones are that compassion and empathy are a vital part of human interactions, now more so than ever.

Cancer in the time of COVID: Trends in presentation, staging, and demographic disparities in breast, uterus, and gynecologic cancers at an NCORP site.

e18809 Background: COVID-19 shutdowns decreased access to preventive care with disparate impacts on minority patients. Racial disparities in cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survival have been studied and seen in the US. Methods: All new pathologically confirmed breast, uterus, ovary, cervix, vulvar, and vaginal cancer diagnoses at an NCORP site from 01/01/2018 to 12/31/2021 were examined for trends in stage of presentation and demographics. COVID-19 shutdown was defined as 3/15/2020 to end of study period. Categorical analysis of stage by tumor type was performed using chi square tests. Demographics were analysed using Analysis of Variance tests. Results: 2173 cases were included: 1267 cases pre-shutdown, 906 post. 1583 patients identified as White, 442 as Black, 62 as Asian, 47 as Hispanic, and 39 as Other. Breast (N = 1285) and uterine cancers (N = 396) were analyzed in greater depth due to larger numbers of cases. No significant shifts were seen in the racial breakdown of new cancer diagnoses across all examined types. No significant shifts were seen in the stage at time of diagnosis. There was a decrease in new diagnoses per day post COVID with 1.58 diagnoses per day pre-shutdowns compared to 1.38 post. Breast cancer data was notable for significant differences in age of diagnoses across racial and ethnic groups: from 54 in Hispanic patients to 63 in White Patients. No significant shifts in age of diagnosis were seen. No significant difference of stage of presentation existed at any stage of diagnosis. Number of cases per day for all stages decreased post shutdowns. Largest differences were seen in stage 1A (0.62 pre, 0.43 post; -31%) and stage 1B (0.11 pre, 0.06 post; -43%). Stage 0 cases demonstrated a smaller decrease post COVID in rate of cases per day (0.19 pre, 0.16 post; -17%). Later stages beyond 1 were analyzed in aggregate due to low numbers of cases and demonstrated a decrease in presentations per day (0.09 pre, 0.07 post; -24%). Uterus cancer showed no significant difference in stage post shutdown. Diagnoses per day did not change post shutdown. Decreases in early presentations (stage 1 and 2) and increases in late presentations (stage 3 and 4) were seen, but findings were not significant and few cases were available for analysis. No shift in percentages of new diagnoses in racial and ethnic minorities were seen. Conclusions: COVID-19 shutdowns did not significantly alter stage of presentation or demographics of patients presenting with new cancer diagnoses at this NCORP site. Underlying disparities in age of presentation by racial groups were seen. Decreased numbers of new cancer diagnoses per day were seen post-shutdowns while incidence of cancer in the US is increasing overall, suggesting some patients with cancer in our community went undiagnosed and may present later or at a later stage, though future longitudinal research is needed.

Facial expression recognition of masked faces using deep learning

Facial expression recognition (FER) represents one of the most prevalent forms of interpersonal communication, which contains rich emotional information. But it became even more challenging during the times of COVID, where face masks became a mandatory protection measure, leading to the challenge of occluded lower-face during facial expression recognition. In this study, deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) represents the core of both our full-face FER system and our masked face FER model. The focus was on incorporating knowledge distillation in transfer learning between a teacher model, which is the full-face FER DCNN, and the student model, which is the masked face FER DCNN via the combination of both the loss from the teacher soft-labels vs the student soft labels and the loss from the dataset hard-labels vs the student hard-labels. The teacher-student architecture used FER2013 and a masked customized version of FER2013 as datasets to generate an accuracy of 69% and 61% respectively. Therefore, the study proves that the process of knowledge distillation may be used as a way for transfer learning and enhancing accuracy as a regular DCNN model (student only) would result in 46% accuracy compared to our approach (61% accuracy).

Letter from the Chair

Greetings SIGIR Members! The new Executive Committee ( Ryen White , Vice Chair; Carsten Eickhoff , Treasurer; Laura Dietz , Secretary; and Ben Carterette , Past Chair) is completing its first year of service. This year was an interesting year, as we emerge from the Covid times with new challenges.

Analysis of teachers in the use of digital resources in online teaching and assessment in COVID times

The study considered the use of online learning applications for instructional delivery and assessment purposes in higher institutions of learning that stimulates a new atmosphere where lecturers could utilize these facilities to promote learning. The study also determined the gender difference between lecturers use of online learning applications for instructional delivery and classroom assessment in a post-covid context. The digital applications analyzed in this study include Google classroom, Email, Moodle, Canvas, Google, Microsoft Team, Zoom, Google Meet, Cisco Webinar, Facebook groups, Open Educational Resources (OERs), Google docs, Google slide, WhatsApp and Telegram Channel. At present, however, opinions are divided over the extent to which lecturers utilize these online learning applications in instruction and assessment. A descriptive survey research design was adopted with 152 participants (n = 88 males and n = 64 females) for the study and the instrument used for data collection was Utilization of Online Leaning Applications in Classroom Instruction and Continuous Assessment Questionnaire (UOLACICAQ). On December 2021, the participants completed the Questionnaire. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined using Cronbach’s Alpha and the reliability index of .93 was obtained. Results of the study show a low extent of utilization of online learning applications in classroom instruction and continuous assessment (Canvas, Microsoft Team, Google Meet, Cisco Webinar, OERs, Google slide, Telegram Channel, Facebook groups, Moodle, Google Classroom, learning management systems, Google forms and Google sheet). There was however, a significant difference between male and female lecturers' use of online learning applications for continuous assessment. Lecturers’ utilization of online learning applications in instruction and assessment of learning will expose them to different online learning applications used in delivery instructions and assessing students’ learning. The research supplies good idea of the instrument for measuring those staked learning outcomes in higher institution. However, lecturers do not differ in terms of the extent to which they use online learning applications while delivering instructions in the classroom based on gender.

A Quality Improvement Innovation for Reproductive Health Planning in the Time of COVID.

To see if an outreach approach with telehealth is feasible and acceptable to patients to talk about their reproductive health; and as a secondary outcome, capture data on time spent on the visit and what kind of information was discussed. A registry was created from three family physicians' panels of all adult patients with anticipated ability to become pregnant ages 18-45 who had not had a documented reproductive health discussion in the previous 6 months. Using that registry, outreach was performed to schedule a telehealth visit to discuss their reproductive health with their primary care provider. The visit was standardized using the One Key Question approach. For patients who agreed to participate in the research, the patient completed a survey about their experience. The provider also completed a survey on the time spent and the issues addressed. Two hundred and six patients were called. Ninety patients (44%) could not be reached. Of the remaining patients, 34 scheduled either a telehealth or in-person visit and 7 also agreed to participate in the survey. New information was uncovered in the visit in 86% of participants. The most common need uncovered during the visit was unrelated medical needs (71%), followed by preconception health education/advice (43%) and contraception needs/counseling (29%). Most participants found the telehealth visit valuable. An outreach methodology can uncover unmet health needs, both reproductive and otherwise. We found that people who had the visit often needed something, but a majority of patients declined the visit saying that they did not think they needed it. It is possible that patients are not aware of the value of reproductive health discussions, and therefore clinicians need to take every opportunity to have these discussions whenever possible, whether through outreach or inreach (during already scheduled visits).

The Hidden Side of Addiction: Allostatic Load, Health Disparities, and Opioids in the Time of COVID

For years, advocates had worked toward this moment. On November 30, 2021, the nation’s first medically supervised drug injection facility (officially “overdose prevention center”) opened in New York City. The public response—even in a bastion of progressive politics—was surprisingly negative. Opponents claimed that the centers would encourage drug use and moral decay. Why help people who are willfully making bad choices? Why waste public resources, especially when a much larger pandemic loomed?

Organizational Policy Implementation to Address Covid-19 Impacts: A Comparative Case Study on Thomas Cook Travels and Akbar Travels

Purpose: The pandemic made huge negative impacts on the travel business globally. Massive shakes in different parts of the travel industry led to the shutdown of different travel companies during the outbreak of Covid-19. This research identifies two prominent travel agencies for a detailed study. Thomas Cook Travels is the oldest travel firm, it underwent complete bankruptcy and was undertaken by forex holidays in 2012. Akbar Travels is another leading travel company operating in different countries. This study focuses on assessing the customer/tourist and employee policies made by Thomas Cook Travels and Akbar Travels. NOISE analysis is a strategic planning tool to identify the strengths and needs of the current state of business and it gives light on the Improvements, Opportunities, and Expectations. The study emphasizes the current strength, needs, opportunities, and improvements. Design: This research adopted the case study method by using a descriptive research design. Secondary data has been collected and analyzed to find out the factors affecting the tourism industry after Covid -19. NOISE analysis was conducted to explore the travel business of Akbar Travels and Thomas cook travels and also to identify the features and excellence of each travel firm and the expected improvements for the smooth run of the business. Findings: The study constitutes that Thomas Cook Travels is running on a strategy and focused on business research on a yearly basis analysis. Yearly annual reports which are published and have public access, are suggesting the best possible areas of development and recommended the removal of low-profit products and services. Travel products from Thomas Cook Travels designed with the changes in commercial environments made them suitable for the business. Competitive forex services were very well helpful for travelers during the time of the pandemic. Multiple sources of income helped Travels to survive in the time of covid. Comprehensive regaining of business after the pandemic made their position the second-best travel firm in India. Originality value: This study includes a detailed analysis of the travel and tourism business and its operational excellence in the post-Covid scenario with special reference to Akbar Travels and Thomas Cook Travels. It also compares the functioning of Thomas Cook’s and Akbar’s travels. Paper type: A case study

Cushing's Disease in the time of COVID

Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology ISSN 1470-3947 (print) | ISSN 1479-6848 (online)

The Reality of Trauma; the Trauma of Reality

ABSTRACT This study is particularly relevant because of COVID, and the traumatic experience we are living through together in the present. This article is, however, not, or not only, about the time of COVID: through current events we examine the psychological effects of mass trauma on the individual, the complex relationship of the me (the subject) and the we (the group, the Intersubjective), and the genesis of reality. We focus on how the outer events in the here-and-now become an internal, subjective reality, and what role is played by the group, the intersubjective community, in the genesis of reality. Between the outer reality and the individual’s internal, psychic reality we distinguish a third reality: we reality. In our interpretation, we reality is an intersubjective construct, the result of a process of symbolization: a dream in the field created through the interaction of individuals interacting in the here-and-now.

Study Abroad in the time of COVID: (Re)Shaping Language Learning Affordances

This paper is a longitudinal qualitative study exploring the experiences of ten students who embarked on Study Abroad (SA) programmes at a time when restrictions were placed on movement; and access to spaces and people were curtailed. Pre-COVID, SA had often been positioned as the optimal means of ensuring linguistic gains. However, social and spatial restrictions impacted the where, who, why and how of language learning affordances (LLAs). This study aims to analyse the extent to which COVID-19 measures impacted on access to the target language (TL) within the educational environment and how this affected students’ ability to co-construct LLAs.The participants are university students from a range of home and host countries: Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, China, Romania, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Data were generated via narrative interviews. Each participant was interviewed twice, at the mid-way point of the sojourn and at the end. Data were analysed using the affordance framework proposed by Kyttä (2002) and adapted by Devlin & Tyne (2021).Findings show that access to TL environments fluctuated and was dependent on the ever-changing restrictions in the host country. Being essentially a field of prohibited action, the environment was not conducive in producing potential LLAs and reshaped the type and number of affordances during SA.

Editorial: Participatory action research in a time of COVID and beyond

EDITORIAL article Front. Sustain. Food Syst., 02 May 2023Sec. Social Movements, Institutions and Governance Volume 7 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1186104

"A Comparative Study Of Spending Money By Public Sector Units (Psus) On Corporate Social Responsibility Projects: With Special Reference to Iocl & Bpcl at the Time of Covid"

"A Comparative Study Of Spending Money By Public Sector Units (Psus) On Corporate Social Responsibility Projects: With Special Reference to Iocl & Bpcl at the Time of Covid"