Current Coronavirus Crisis Research Articles

The Impact of Oral Health Status on COVID-19 Severity: A Systematic Literature Review of 25 Studies

Objectives: Several risk factors have been recognized in the progress of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) toward a severe stage. Poor oral health has been relevant to many systemic diseases due to higher inflammation. This study sought to aim the influence of oral health status on severe COVID-19. Methods: A systematic search of the medical literature was done using a combination of search terms of online databases including PubMed/Medline, Medline, SCOPUS, Ovid, Cochrane database, and Google Scholar from December 1st, 2019 to July 30th, 2021. Only articles written in the English language were selected. Results: A total of 352 studies were reviewed for relevance, specified by the title, abstract, and full copy leading to a yield of 25 articles satisfying inclusion criteria. COVID-19 patients with poor oral health status were at a higher risk of intensive care unit (ICU) hospitalization, need for mechanical ventilation, first and second-week deterioration, delayed recovery period, and mortality. Predisposing individuals to serious systemic diseases, conducting pathogens to the lower airways, developing bacterial co-infection, impairing the function of the innate immune system, increasing expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme-II (ACEII) receptors, and enhancing expression of inflammatory cytokines are oral-related risk factors for severe COVID-19 infection. Conclusions: This systematic literature review presents that poor oral health status is linked to severe COVID-19 complications. Monitoring and maintaining oral health, identifying risk groups, and developing appropriate recommendations are simple strategies to combat the current coronavirus crisis.

Foreign Ownership and Capital Structure in Times of Crises: Case of South Korea

This paper presents the results of analysis of the role of foreign investors in capital structure choice. The analysis is conducted using regression analysis of panel data. Operating with data of 809 companies listed in the South Korean market in 1997-2020, we demonstrate that the debt-to-equity ratio of companies with foreign investors is lower than in the rest of thefirms. In this case, foreign investors’ monitoring of a company’s performance can be a substitute for debt financing as a disciplining mechanism for management. Foreign investors also indirectly affect the capital structure by impacting the speed of adjustment to the target leverage. The results of our study show that the speed of adjustment to the target debt-to-equity ratio increases along with a rise in foreign investor participation. The results are most pronounced for over-leveraged firms. Whereas during financial crises, we observe no effect of the presence of foreign investors on the changes in the target debt-to-equity ratio, we find a significant increase in the speed of adjustment to the target leverage in companies withforeign investors. During the current coronavirus crisis, corporate debt of companies with foreign investors is decreasing even more, while the speed of adjustment decreases. We attribute these effects to the non-financial nature of the crisis, which makes the role of foreign investors in monitoring management less meaningful. In practice, results can be used bycompany managers when facing crises or other macroeconomic shocks. The results obtained can also be used by public authorities in shaping policies to stimulate foreign investment.

An Exploration of Students’ Attitudes Toward Employment Services in Private Schools: The Case of the Sanya Institute of Technology

Providing long-term career coaching or counseling has become an increasingly important part of university life as the coronavirus pandemic rapidly sweeps across the world. Career coaching has become one of the most important drivers of revenue and enrollment growth in nongovernmental schools. However, little research has been carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of these long-term career coaching or counseling services. Accordingly, this study aims to use a mixed method approach to track and measure students’ satisfaction from private higher vocational colleges to identify opportunities for improving employment services. Students were asked how satisfied they were with employment services provided by this private vocational school. The results obtained lead us to suggest that private higher vocational colleges could strengthen the employability of graduates by providing a wide variety of enrichment activities and establishing a regular monitoring mechanism to evaluate perceptions of their engagement and educational experiences in the current coronavirus crisis.

Ling Ma’s Severance: A Dystopian Pre/Post-Apocalyptic Novel in the Time of Covid-19

In her attempt to write an apocalyptic fictional story, Ling Ma succeeds in creating an extraordinarily believable and engrossing anti-utopian image of the world. Her debut, Severance (2018), transcends the dystopian apocalyptic genre and becomes an impressive prophecy that partially comes true during the current Coronavirus crisis. It announces her as a talented author with its mix of humor, anger, terror and satire. Ma intends her book to be a critique of Capitalism. That is why she magnifies its harmful side effects through the lens of a destructive illness that starts with flu-like symptoms and develops into a pandemic. However, her book rings shocking and frighteningly true these days with the widespread of Covid-19. This research examines Ma’s Severance from a dystopian pre/post-apocalyptic perspective and highlights the similarities between its events and what happens during the current Covid-19 pandemic. The analogy between both pandemics proves that dystopian apocalyptic works are not always science fictional. First, the research briefly traces the origin of dystopian apocalyptic literature. Then, it discusses the use of common characteristics of this genre in the novel. Among them are the loss of individualism, the spread of plagues and pandemics, totalitarianism, the regimented lives of citizens, using the ‘defamiliarization’ technique, and emphasis on the theme of survivorship..

The return of the ‘Black Swan’? Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the Covid-19 pandemic

This article’s first goal is to propose an interpretation of a historical event of major economic, political, and religious significance with attributes resembling those of the current Covid-19 pandemic: the Roman Empire’s conversion to Christianity. The second goal is to explain and analyze the Christian pilgrimage market and to suggest that, due to its unique nature and attributes, this specific segment has the potential to serve as a preferred focus and an exit strategy from the Coronavirus crisis. The research offers a historical interpretation of Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land using the theory of the ‘Black Swan’, an economic term introduced by Professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb in 2007. Here we attempt to compare two Black Swans: one that occurred in the year ad 325 and the current Covid-19 pandemic. The economic Black Swan of 325 was the Roman Empire’s conversion to Christianity, a process that caused fatal damage to the myrrh and frankincense economy and completely changed the economy of the southern Land of Israel. In the case of the current crisis, this article suggests that the present conditions may transform the tourism industry in Israel. Based on an analysis of the unique attributes of the Christian pilgrimage sector, it also posits that this specific segment may provide a preferred focus and an exit strategy from the current Coronavirus crisis. The contribution of this article lies in its contemplation of a connection between current and past events, as well as in its consideration of specific market segments (pilgrimage) in the context of national and global exit strategies. The article’s broader goal is to gain a better understanding of the pandemic’s impact not only on the tourism industry as a whole but on its specific segments.

Current coronavirus crisis and past pandemics - What can happen in post-COVID-19 agriculture?

Currently, there is an alarming increase in food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic in many countries throughout the world. This will be seen particularly in the countries of the Global South (developing countries). Many countries are trying to show efforts to keep agriculture, food industry and markets running, the supply chains and access to the markets and affordable food is still not secured. Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are going to/or already have affected the poor and other marginalised groups, mainly those with less purchasing power. It is necessary to mitigate the pandemic's impacts across the food system, enhance the resilience of food systems and avoid any potential food shortages. Therefore, this paper provides an overview of past pandemics and tries to synthesise the main lessons learned from these while also outlining visions of post-COVID-19 agriculture and the effects on food security.

МЕТОДОЛОГІЧНІ АСПЕКТИ ФОРМУВАННЯ КОНЦЕПЦІЇ СТРАТЕГІЧНОГО УПРАВЛІННЯ ЕКОНОМІЧНОЮ СТІЙКІСТЮ ТЕЛЕКОМУНІКАЦІЙНОГО ПІДПРИЄМСТВА

The article identifies the need to develop methodological aspects of the formation of the concept of strategic management of economic stability of the telecommunications enterprise, which operates in modern crisis conditions. The proposed concept of strategic management of economic stability is formed on the basis of a targeted approach to the activation of certain local mechanisms for strategic management of economic stability of a telecommunications company in the current coronavirus crisis. The scientific novelty of this concept is to determine the methodological approaches and directions of meeting the needs of the telecommunications enterprise in working capital on the basis of activating local mechanisms of strategic management of its economic stability. The difference of the proposed local mechanisms from other mechanisms of the financial sphere of the enterprise is the presence of a common category – working capital, which means that the organizational and economic mechanism of strategic management of economic stability of the telecommunications company operates on the basis of working capital to finance measures to ensure it. It is determined that for the effective organization of strategic management of the enterprise it is necessary to use modern management concepts. It is established that the methodology of strategic management of economic stability of a telecommunications enterprise is formed on the basis of synergetic effect and complex interaction of system, process, functional, target, resource, synergetic, situational, strategic and integrated approaches. external influences, financial flows, foreign economic activity and control over the level of economic stability in the direction of its provision and increase in the long run. Thus, due to the fact that the telecommunications company is constantly experiencing dynamic market fluctuations, crisis processes of the national economy and acute need for capital, the need to form mechanisms for strategic management of economic stability of the telecommunications company in the form of certain theoretical and methodological principles. the practical implementation of which will promote the mobilization and efficient use of financial resources.

Money Attitudes and Personal Finances During the COVID-19

Background: Most of the research relates to previous major financial crises. The current coronavirus crisis is still ongoing, so the current analysis focuses primarily on people’s current preferences based on surveys.Research objectives: This work focuses on the analysis of the financial preferences of the group of people living and working in the Małopolskie Voivodeship in the last year. The choice of the form of makingpurchases, payments as well as savings and investments in the face of limitations caused by COVID-19 were analysed.Research design and methods: The adopted analytical-synthetic method is calculated to signal specific areas raising ethical doubts. Their exemplification leads to an attempt to define the key problem of modern finance, which is breaking away from the foundation of ethical values and, consequently, abandoning the common good as the social goal of all human activity.Results: The obtained results do not allow for the conclusion that in the analysed group, money attitudes significantly differentiate the financial choices of respondents during the restrictions related to COVID-19. The analysis of other factors related to the preferences of financial management allows for partial confirmation of hypothesis regarding the interest in online shopping and non-cash forms of payment has increased.Conclusions: The papers proved that the restrictions related to the coronavirus resulted in a significant increase in interest in new technologies, online shopping and modern payment methods.

Broad virus inactivation using inorganic micro/nano-particulate materials.

Inorganic materials can provide a set of tools to decontaminate solid, liquid or air containing viral particles. The use of disinfectants can be limited or not practical in scenarios where continuous cleaning is not feasible. Physicochemical differences between viruses raise the need for effective formulations for all kind of viruses. In the present work we describe two types of antimicrobial inorganic materials: i) a novel soda-lime glass (G3), and ii) kaolin containing metals nanoparticles (Ag or CuO), as materials to disable virus infectivity. Strong antiviral properties can be observed in G3 glass, and kaolin-containing nanoparticle materials showing a reduction of viral infectivity close to 99%. in the first 10 ​min of contact of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). A potent virucidal activity is also present in G3 and kaolin containing Ag or CuO nanoparticles against all kinds of viruses tested, reducing more than 99% the amount of HSV-1, Adenovirus, VSV, Influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 exposed to them. Virucidal properties could be explained by a direct interaction of materials with viruses as well as inactivation by the presence of virucidal elements in the material lixiviates. Kaolin-based materials guarantee a controlled release of active nanoparticles with antiviral activity. Current coronavirus crisis highlights the need for new strategies to remove viruses from contaminated areas. We propose these low-cost inorganic materials as useful disinfecting antivirals in the actual or future pandemic threats.

Global Foreign Direct Investment: Structural Changes in the Current Crisis

The current crisis, as well as complicated economic relations between countries, sustainable development risks of global value chains (GVCs), and international trade protectionism cause changes in the modern system of global foreign direct investment (FDI). Due to the complexity of these risks and the vulnerability of the world economy to future global recessions, it is necessary to develop a new concept of cross-border capital flows in the form of FDI. The research aims to identify structural changes in global FDI in the context of international trade and capital market challenges. Structural and dynamic analysis and a descriptive assessment were conducted to examine global foreign direct investment in the system of international capital movement, taking into account the unstable economic environment. A test of the impact of the current coronavirus crisis revealed that the retrospective transformation of global FDI occurred due to changes in the internationalisation of companies, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and regional structure of FDI. Corporate disinvestment and the growing importance of intangible assets also played an important role. As a result, the slowdown in global FDI led to a decline in reinvested earnings in many economic sectors. As the long-term recovery of the world economy will be largely determined by the dynamics of global FDI, transnational companies (TNCs) should consider local crises and strive to geographically distribute capital investment. The research revealed that the differentiation of national GVC strategies and new approaches to foreign outsourcing of TNCs are the main risks of regionalisation or nationalisation of global value chains and a corresponding decrease in FDI. The findings can be used to modify well-known FDI concepts, taking into account their impact on modern international economic relations.

Pandemics and planning: immediate-, medium- and long(er)-term implications of the current coronavirus crisis on planning in Britain

Pandemics and planning: immediate-, medium- and long(er)-term implications of the current coronavirus crisis on planning in Britain

Eurobonds: Three Lessons from China’s “Debt Centralization/Decentralization” Experience

Abstract Eurobonds, dubbed as Coronabonds in the context of the current coronavirus crisis, are being hotly debated among the euro area member states amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The debate is in many ways a retread of the euro area sovereign debt crisis of 2011–2012. As China’s “debt centralization/decentralization” experience is comparable with the introduction of Eurobonds in the European Union (EU) in terms of institutional mechanism design, we review our previous series of studies of China’s “debt centralization/decentralization” experience to shed some light on the Eurobonds debate. We obtain three key lessons. First, the introduction of Eurobonds in EU is likely to soften the budget constraint of the governments of the euro area member states. Second, it is also likely to strengthen the moral hazard incentives of the governments of the euro area member states to intentionally overstate their budget problems. Finally, the magnitudes of the moral hazard effects generated by the introduction of Eurobonds in EU are likely larger than their respective counterparts in China.

The Economic Impact of COVID-19 from a Global Perspective

The world has been waging a fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) since December 2019. The current coronavirus crisis is a catastrophe affecting billions of families worldwide. So far, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc across the globe: by slowing down economic growth; decreasing global trade; hurting health sector; increasing unemployment and underemployment; reducing FDI and hurting the tourism sector. This study investigates the economic costs of COVID-19. By using descriptive analysis, this study shows that the major economic variables, such as economic growth, global trade, health sector, unemployment and underemployment, foreign direct investment and travel and tourism sector have significantly affected by COVID-19.

МІКРОКРЕДИТУВАННЯ ЯК ІНСТРУМЕНТ РОЗВИТКУ ФІНАНСОВИХ ПОСЛУГ ДЛЯ МАЛОЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕНИХ ВЕРСТВ НАСЕЛЕННЯ

In the current coronavirus crisis, there is an exacerbation of economic and social problems that provoke a deterioration of the situation in a country with poverty. In such circumstances, the poor are particularly vulnerable, whose income for survival and so below the subsistence level. The loss of even a small source of income can lead to negative consequences. In such conditions, the task of the state is to adapt social policy to such changes, taking into account the capabilities of the financial sector. One of the rather new for Ukraine, but already popular tools for the development of financial services and financial inclusion for such a social group is microcredit. This article is devoted to his research, which provides a theoretical analysis of the nature and main features of microcredit, their main representatives (microfinance organizations and their brands) in Ukraine and their financial characteristics. In essence, this is a type of consumer loan that is provided for a relatively short period (up to one month) at a fairly high interest rate (average 2%) per day in the amount of less than one minimum wage. At the same time, there is a growing popularity of remote (online) service, which involves minimal time and does not require many documents from customers. The main providers of such services are microfinance organizations, whose presence are constantly growing in the market and are characterized by diversified activities – sometimes represented by several brands. A study of the top 10 leaders showed fluctuations in daily and annual interest rates, and a study of their net income – the profitability of this type of business over the past two years. In this regard, there is a need to increase attention to their activities by the main regulator – the National Bank of Ukraine. Despite existing measures to increase consumer protection in the process of obtaining microcredit services and prohibiting unethical actions of collectors through debt collection, it is recommended to develop a system for identifying and preventing credit risks to prevent future financial losses and intensify information campaign to increase financial literacy of the poor.

Analysis and Forecast of Marketing Strategies and PR in the Condition of the Coronavirus Pandemic

The current coronavirus crisis is forcing many companies to adjust their strategies and marketing plans. It would be a big mistake to abandon promotion altogether, because for the market, a crisis is not a destruction, but a changing environment. Who will be able to adapt to change and most importantly — to prepare for the next stage, success awaits. But we must act carefully and with a view to the future. Thus, the aim of the article is to identify the role of marketing strategies and PR during coronavirus, analyze the advantages and disadvantages of existing marketing strategies, as well as to develop a mechanism for selecting the most successful of them. It is investigated that the increase of online purchases leads to an increase in the impact of in-app advertising, more developed logistics in the regions; consumers also prefer remote methods of product selection more often than personal shopping. It is determined that non-standard vector for improving the brand reputation are educational or commercials. It is also investigated that socially-oriented marketing successfully replaces part of traditional communications; however, the proportion of routine interactions still requires routine audience work practices. Socially-oriented topics should include: communication about the internal structure of the company and measures to adapt to the conditions, assistance and special conditions for its employees; publications on external prosocial, such as donations; use of the platform as a training platform, dissemination of educational material; manifestation of sectoral solidarity. It is considered that thematic strategies optimally fit into anti-crisis procedures. It is determined that a more tolerant attitude to the private sector allows to level the negative with less effort and produce an organic positive through communication with people; the population spends more time and effort on consumption and content creation, but is oversaturated with dry and pragmatic formats. It has been investigated that search engine promotion supports the position of the site for the sake of filling the marketing funnel, not just conversions; the combination of channels reduces the cost of context and targeting, allowing you to clearly specify the audience and spend organic resources only on the target segment.

Pandemics and the politics of difference: rewriting the history of internationalism through nineteenth-century cholera

AbstractThis article revisits the origins of internationalism in the field of health and shows how the cholera epidemics of the nineteenth century, much like the current coronavirus crisis, brought global differences such as social inequalities, political hierarchies, and scientific conflicts to the fore. Beyond drawing parallels between the cholera epidemics and the current crisis, the article argues for combining imperial and social histories in order to write richer and more grounded histories of internationalism. It explores this historiographical and methodological challenge by analysing the boardrooms of the international sanitary conferences, Middle Eastern quarantine stations catering for Mecca pilgrims, and ocean steamships aiming to move without delay during a worldwide health crisis.

The effect of business cycle expectations on the German apprenticeship market: estimating the impact of Covid-19

A firm’s expectation about the future business cycle is an important determinant of the decision to train apprentices, especially as German firms typically offer apprenticeships to either fill future skilled worker positions, or as a substitute for other types of labor. The current coronavirus crisis will have a strong and negative impact on the German economy, according to the current business cycle expectations of German firms. To the extent that the training decisions of firms depend on these perceptions, we expect a downward shift in firm demand for apprentices and consequently also a decrease in the equilibrium number of apprenticeship contracts. To assess the impact of changes in business cycle expectations, we analyze German data on the apprenticeship market at the state-level and at the occupation-level within states from 2007 to 2019. We apply first-differences regressions to account for unobserved heterogeneity across states and occupations, allowing us to identify the association between changes in two popular measures of business cycle expectations (the ifo Business Climate Index and the ifo Employment Barometer) and subsequent changes in the demand for apprentices, the number of new apprenticeship contracts, unfilled vacancies and unsuccessful applicants. We find that the German apprenticeship market prior to the current crisis can be characterized by excess demand for apprentices (although there are matching problems in some states, with both a high share of unfilled vacancies and a high share of unsuccessful applicants). Taking into account the most recent data on business cycle expectations up to June 2020, we estimate that the coronavirus-related decrease in firms’ expectations about the business cycle can be associated with a predicted 8% decrease in firm demand for apprentices and a 6% decrease in the number of new apprenticeship positions in Germany compared to 2019 (− 30,000 apprenticeship contracts; 95% confidence interval: ± 8000).

Basel IV Postponed: A Chance to Regulate Shadow Banking?

In the aftermath of the 2007 global financial crisis, regulators have agreed a substantial tightening of prudential regulation for banks operating in the traditional banking sector (TBS). The TBS is stringently regulated under the Basel Accords to moderate financial stability and to minimise risk to government and taxpayers. While prudential regulation is important from a financial stability perspective, the flipside is that the Basel Accords only apply to the TBS, they do not regulate the shadow banking sector (SBS). While it is not disputed that the SBS provides numerous benefits given the net credit growth of the economy since the global financial crisis has come from the SBS rather than traditional banking channels, the SBS also poses many risks. Therefore, the fact that the SBS is not subject to prudential regulation is a cause of serious systemic concern. The introduction of Basel IV, which compliments Basel III, seeks to complete the Basel framework on prudential banking regulation. On the example of this set of standards and its potential negative consequences for the TBS, this paper aims to visualise the incentives for TBS institutions to move some of their activities into the SBS, and thus stress the need for more comprehensive regulation of the SBS. Current coronavirus crisis forced Basel Committee to postpone implementation of the Basel IV rules – this could be perceived as a chance to complete the financial regulatory framework and address the SBS as well.

The Potential of Impact and Integral Investing for Sustainable Social Development and the Role of Academia in Their Dissemination

With the increasing challenges our society faces, ranging from environmental issues to the current coronavirus crisis, interest in a new way of investing, known as impact investing, has also been increasing. In addition, recently, an even more conscious way of investing, known as integral investing, has appeared. In this article, the concepts of impact investing and integral investing are described and compared and their positive impacts on society are documented. The importance of people and leaders with corresponding ethics, morals, and personal values for the success of the investments is explained. As both impact and integral investing have the potential to meet the challenges of present-day society and to contribute to its further sustainable development, they should be addressed in academic research and higher education. Therefore, this article seeks to answer the question of whether these concepts are reflected in academia. To answer this question, a bibliometric analysis was conducted. The findings show that there is a modest but growing academic interest in impact investing and very little interest in integral investing. Reasons to take these topics into account in research and education are discussed in the final part of the article.

‘Everyone Has Secrets’: Revealing the Whistleblower in Hollwood Film in the Examples of <em>Snowden</em> and <em>The Fifth Estate</em>

‘Everyone Has Secrets’: Revealing the Whistleblower in Hollwood Film in the Examples of <em>Snowden</em> and <em>The Fifth Estate</em>