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Background and Objectives: In March 2020, the WHO declared the SARS‐CoV‐2 corona virus a pandemic which caused a great disruption to global society and had a pronounced effect on the worldwide supply of blood. Materials and Methods: In 2022 an on‐line meeting was organised with experts from Austria, Canada, Germany, Greece, Netherlands and United States to explore the opportunities for increasing preparedness within blood systems for a potential future pandemic with similar, or more devastating, consequences. The main themes included the value of preparedness, current risks to the blood supply, supply chain vulnerabilities, and the role of innovation in increasing resiliency and safety. Results: Seven key recommendations were formulated and including required actions at different levels. Conclusion: Although SARS‐CoV‐2 might be seen as a unique event, global health risks are expected to increase and will affect blood transfusion medicine if no preparedness plans are developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the recent pandemic of coronavirus, known as the COVID-19 outbreak, the supply chains have been impacted most significantly. Manufacturers of certain items have experienced a substantial increase in demand, and on the other hand, raw materials supply, to produce those items, has reduced because of supply failure. To overcome these challenges, this paper proposes some strategies to improve service level during an extraordinary pandemic outbreak, such as COVID-19, for the most wanted products such as toilet paper. This study considers meeting the increased demand of the customers for an essential product of daily life like toilet paper during a pandemic is beyond the traditional economic objective, i.e., increase profit, of the manufacturers. Instead, this should be more about the social responsibility of all the manufactures to ensure that they can serve more customers. Motivated by this and taking toilet paper as an example of the product, we first analyzed the current scenario of the manufacturing and the demand for the product and then proposed some strategies to deal with this unprecedented risk and analyzed the results. We have compared the results, using hypothetical data, between the current scenario and proposed strategies. The result shows that sharing information and resources from all manufacturers to produce under a single brand, emergency sourcing, producing basic quality items, and packing in the smallest sizes have a significant positive impact on the service level. This paper first investigates the strategies for a high-demand and essential item during a pandemic situation and proposes strategies to deal with this unique, extraordinary disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic severely tested the resilience and robustness of supply chains for medically critical items and various common household goods. Severe and prolonged shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators in the United States have revealed vulnerabilities in the supply chains of such essential products in a time of need. Consequently, corporations have felt public pressure to rethink their supply chains. We begin this paper by examining the underlying causes of the prolonged shortages of critical products in the US as well as government’s and some companies’ initial response. Drawing from the lessons learned from the COVID pandemic, we propose a research agenda and opportunities to develop responsive supply chains to fight future pandemics. These opportunities revolve around measures that are intended to improve the supply chain responsiveness of essential products to combat future pandemics and other major public health emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to explore the management learning during a long-term crisis like a pandemic. The paper addresses both what health-care managers have learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the management learning is characterized. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a qualitative case study carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic at two different public hospitals in Sweden. The study, conducted with semi-structured interviews, applies a combination of within-case analysis and cross-case comparison. The data were analyzed using thematic deductive analysis with the themes, i.e. sensemaking, decision-making and meaning-making. Findings: The COVID-19 pandemic was characterized by uncertainty and a need for continuous learning among the managers at the case hospitals. The learning process that arose was circular in nature, wherein trust played a crucial role in facilitating the flow of information and enabling the managers to get a good sense of the situation. This, in turn, allowed the managers to make decisions meaningful for the organization, which improved the trust for the managers. This circular process was iterated with higher frequency than usual and was a prerequisite for the managers' learning. The practical implications are that a combined management with hierarchical and distributed management that uses the normal decision routes seems to be the most successful management method in a prolonged crisis as a pandemic. Practical implications: The gained knowledge can benefit hospital organizations, be used in crisis education and to develop regional contingency plans for pandemics. Originality/value: This study has explored learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and found a circular process, "the management learning wheel," which supports management learning in prolonged crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast-moving world came to halt with the outbreak of Coronavirus in 2020. In the 21st century, often referred to as the 'Digital Age', where everyone was running to achieve new heights of success everyday, a pandemic applied a break on the world and introduced a new way of life, i.e., lockdown, a life with all the boundations that one can't even thought of. The purpose of this study is to unveil the current situation of the world after the outbreak of the pandemic, the impact of the COVID-19, the new life during the lockdown and the way people adapt themselves towards the new normal. It also presents the positive impact of the pandemic on nature and the efforts of doctors and scientists to protect the world from this pandemic and their invention of vaccine against the virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID‐19 pandemic has revealed how unprepared operations and supply chain professionals are for "abnormal" conditions. Understanding how the production and operations management field can affect the trajectory and especially the remediation of pandemics is a critical, but understudied, area of research from descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive perspectives. Fourteen research articles in this special issue have attempted to fill this gap with rigor. We first summarize these articles in six categories, (1) public policies and government interventions, (2) hospital capacity, (3) propagation of pandemics, (4) humanitarian operations, (5) private partnerships, and (6) vaccine production, by drawing out the themes addressed. As we look ahead at pandemics yet to come, we note there is still much research needed and conclude by discussing emergent interest in promising themes for studying pre‐pandemic, during pandemic, and post‐pandemic operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented shock to economic activity with abrupt and unexpected changes in household consumption behavior. This paper investigates how the spread of the pandemic and government interventions have affected consumer spending using daily card transaction data in the Baltics. The analysis shows significant effects on the amount and composition of debit and credit card transactions. First, the number of new COVID-19 infections or deaths has a strongly negative effect. Second, while public health measures designed to contain the spread of the pandemic has a negative effect, economic support measures designed to assist businesses and households have a stimulative effect. Third, there is heterogeneity across spending categories, but the drop is mostly concentrated in sectors that are restricted by lockdowns and the risk of infection. Fourth, the impact of government interventions, especially in terms of stimulating consumer spending, appears to be more pronounced on goods than services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is on COVID-19, the December 2019 dated respiratory epidemic or infection that has ravaged most, if not all, of the world's 253 "countries" (consisting of 194 independent nation-states, 55 dependent-states, Antarctica, and 3 other territories). Readers of this paper should be aware of at least three facts. First, as of January 2022, the submission date of this paper, COVID-19 continues to impact the world, although to a much lesser extent, given the protection afforded by the mRNA vaccines, the boosters, and the antiviral medications (e.g., oseltamivir, penciclovir, acyclovir, Paxlovid, etc.). Second, the paper should be regarded as being inconclusive in both its outlook and its list of references; it provides, at best, an intermediary account of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Third, like the Spanish Flu of 1918, it is speculated that the COVID-19 pandemic will not endure beyond three years and will conclude as an endemic problem by, hopefully, early 2023. Therefore, the paper is partitioned into three sections which, respectively, address the infection's three phases: epidemic (initial infection), pandemic (worldwide infection) and endemic (pervasive but nonlife-threatening infection) phases. The lessons learned from the range of decisions made throughout the COVID-19 phases should help to inform and better prepare the world for future pathogens and deadly diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the fore the everyday and exceptional challenges for mothers. Rarely, however, did research or social commentary acknowledge the multiplicities of motherhood during this prolonged period of risk, disruption, and uncertainty. This paper draws upon interviews with 24 mothers living in Aotearoa New Zealand during the pandemic, including women who were pregnant and gave birth during lockdowns, teenage mothers, single and low-income mothers, and working mothers. The sample was intentionally diverse, including M?aori, Pacific, Asian and migrant mothers. Engaging an intersectional lens on motherhood and women's health, this paper builds upon and extends feminist research on mothers' experiences during the pandemic, highlighting the many different challenges facing mothers of diverse social, cultural, and economic positionalities and during various stages of motherhood. Across the sample, we reveal the significant emotional toll on mothers, particularly with the absence of critical social, medical and health support systems during lockdown periods and sustained social restrictions. Many of the women described how the pandemic affected their feelings about motherhood, prompting newreflections on their relationships with the home, family, work, and broader society. Despite some similarities, the pandemic experiences of M?aori, Pacific, migrant and single mothers were further intensified by various forms of isolation, judgement, and discrimination. In this way, the pandemic shed light on the gendering of everydaymaternal life, but also the need formore intersectional culturally and gender-responsive policies that acknowledge the multi-layered complexities of mothers' lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This viewpoint takes up the Covid-19 pandemic as a trigger for a research agenda around societally engaged international business (IB) research. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is organized as a viewpoint. First, it provides an overview of Covid-19 research in business and management and IB in particular. Second, it introduces a societally engaged IB perspective, around poverty and human rights as well as trade. Findings: The paper offers an annotated introduction to the paper contributions of the special issue with three clusters, "re-reading the crisis", "crisis protectionism" and "firm strategies during the pandemic". Research limitations/implications: The paper points to future research opportunities in terms of crisis management and societally engaged IB research. Practical implications: The Covid-19 crisis poses new questions for research on international business and its related disciplines. In particular, the political, economic and societal disruption which the pandemic has caused highlights the importance of addressing broader societal issues such as climate change, poverty and inequality through a purposeful and forward-looking research agenda. Originality/value: The paper and the special issue are some of the first combined research outputs on the Covid-19 pandemic in international business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The article aims to identify factors that influence changes in revenues in Polish companies during the COVID-19 pandemic and to improve the efficiency of the allocation of state aid. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses a logit model to analyze data from a survey of 10950 medium-sized Polish non-financial enterprises, reviews the relevant literature, and focuses on the Polish market. For the purposes of the survey, in addition to the sector breakdown, we proposed measures based on financial data to qualify companies according to their business profile. Findings: The revenues of companies responding to the lockdown are driven by the sector and the company profile. Service companies were more vulnerable to the negative effects of the pandemic, while manufacturing companies and those selling to final retail customers were more resilient. Research limitations/implications: Future research could focus on developing more accurate models to predict the decline in revenues during a pandemic. The study focused on mediumsized enterprises in Poland. Practical implications: The paper suggests that state aid policies should consider not only the sector but also the company profile. It also implies that companies must adapt to market changes and consumer preferences due to the pandemic. Originality/value: This article provides new information on factors that affect changes in revenues in Polish companies during the pandemic. It is valuable for policy makers, researchers, and companies seeking to improve their pandemic response strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How should we think about crime deterrence in times of pandemics? The economic analysis of crime tells us that potential offenders will compare the costs and the benefits from crime and from innocence and then choose whichever option is more profitable. We must therefore ask ourselves how this comparison is affected by the outbreak of a pandemic and the policy changes which may accompany it, such as governmental restrictions, social distancing, and responses to economic crises. Using insights from law and economics, this paper investigates how the various components in the cost-benefit analysis of crime might change during a pandemic, focusing on Covid-19 as a test case. Building on classical theoretical models, existing empirical evidence, and behavioral aspects, the analysis reveals that there are many potentially countervailing effects on crime deterrence. The paper thus highlights the need to carefully consider which aspects are applicable given the circumstances of the pandemic, as whether crime deterrence will increase or decrease should depend on the strength of the effects at play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current computer systems are accumulating huge amounts of information in several application domains. The outbreak of COVID-19 has increased rekindled interest in the use of data mining techniques for the analysis of factors that are related to the emergence of an epidemic. Data mining techniques are being used in the analysis and interpretation of information, which helps in the discovery of patterns, planning of isolation policies, and even predicting the speed of proliferation of contagion in a viral disease such as COVID-19. This research provides a comprehensive study of various data mining algorithms that are used in conjunction with epidemiological prediction models. The document considers that there is an opportunity to improve or develop tools that offer an accurate prognosis in the management of viral diseases through the use of data mining tools, based on a comparative study of 35 research papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has created global hardship on individuals and businesses alike. This paper provides a brief history of the frauds and scams discovered over the pandemic period of 2020 through 2022. During this difficult period, fraudsters continued to wreak havoc using trickery and deception to cause financial harm to both individuals and businesses. This paper begins with a brief examination of the COVID-19 timeline and various agencies definitions of fraud. Next, the authors discuss key pieces of legislation passed during the COVID-19 years. The final portion of this paper contains a brief summary of various pandemic-era frauds including an examination of the first COVID-19 fraud that was discovered in 2020. Several material frauds from 2020 through 2022 will conclude the review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the explanatory potential of the social origins theory advanced by L. Salamon and H. Anheier. This examination follows two tracks. The first track is a comparative investigation of the conceptual affinity between the social origins, on one hand, and the theories of welfare regimes and varieties of capitalism, on the other. We argue that the conceptual affinity between these three theories lies in the fact that they explore what could be referred to as vertical and horizontal interactions between state and market. Vertical interactions are based on the legitimate coercion by government authorities, while horizontal relations develop at the initiative of their autonomous members. The social origins approach introduces yet another essential dimension, that of civic self-organization, into the analysis of vertical and horizontal interactions embodied in state/market relationships. Similarity of underlying conceptual foundations might suggest that all three theories would generate similarly strong academic interest in reexamining their analytical tools and applying their approaches to the diversity of new social and economic realities. The literature indicates that both the welfare regimes and varieties of capitalism have generated robust academic discussions, whereas the conceptual and analytical potential of the social origins remains relatively less explored. It has become particularly evident in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic which gave rise to a number of studies that apply the frameworks of the welfare regimes and varieties of capitalism to examine cross-country differences in government social welfare policies. However, the social origins theory seems not to have generated comparably rich research testing its explanatory power in the new conditions triggered by the pandemic challenges. To address this gap, the paper follows a second track which investigates pandemic-induced transformations in nonprofit sectors of Germany, Austria, UK and USA – countries representing three "basic" nonprofit regimes immediately corresponding to Esping-Andersen's welfare state typology: welfare partnership, social democratic and liberal. Applying the analytical lens of the social origins approach, we look at how the impact of the pandemic moved the measurable parameters of nonprofit sectors: the scope of the third sector, the volunteer share of the workforce, the extent of nonprofits' engagement in the provision of social services, and the share of government financial support for the sector. We further look at the pandemic-induced changes in the composition of the "tool kit" employed in government-nonprofit cooperation. Thus, testing the explanatory potential of the social origins approach, we observe that responses to pandemic challenges have contributed to a degree of convergence of both liberal and social democratic nonprofit regimes with the welfare partnership pattern. However, path dependency, which is suggested by the regimes' "moorings" embedded in the social origins approach, remains strong enough to explain the observed viability of the core features typical of "basic" nonprofit regimes in times of the pandemic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits the compulsory licensing mechanism set forth by Articles 31-31bis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement and the wholesale waiver the WTO issued during the COVID-19 pandemic, aimed at reducing vaccine prices to make them available to poor countries. The article argues that amendment of these mechanisms in line with the proposals set forth by the current literature may not be sufficient and complementary, supporting steps may be necessary to ensure accessibility of poor countries to medicines or vaccines in future pandemics, particularly in cases of their limited production capacity, in the short and medium run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sport fanship is immeasurable and represents one of society's most universal leisure activities. The current collection of research on the fanship phenomena is truly global: 25 scholars from 4 continents (including North and south America, UK, Australia, Norway, Netherland, and Israel) looked closely at various dimensions of sport fanship. The ongoing COVID pandemic presents both spectators on and off the field with various challenges side to unique opportunity to rethink the way sport fans consume and interact. Thus, the aim of this double special issue with 13 papers was to assemble both applied or theoretical research from experts within fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, political science, economy, media, and gender studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: When the coronavirus pandemic 2019 (COVID‐19) emerged, concerns were also raised regarding the safety of allergen immunotherapy (AIT). The German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI) conducted a survey to collect real‐world data on the daily routine of administering subcutaneous AIT (SCIT) and sublingual AIT (SLIT) during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods: A web‐based retrospective survey using the online platform survio with 26 standardized questions was used to survey physicians treating allergic patients during the pandemic. Results: Three hundred and forty‐five physicians who regularly offer and perform AIT in German‐speaking countries responded to the questions. 70.4% of the respondents stated that they regularly initiated and dosed up SCIT for inhalant allergies (41.4% venom‐SCIT, 73.6% SLIT), and 85.2% of the respondents stated that they continued SCIT for inhalant allergies during the maintenance phase in a regular way (59.1% venom‐SCIT, 90.4% SLIT) in healthy patients without current symptoms indicating an infection with COVID‐19. With regard to tolerability, there was no evidence for increased occurrence of adverse events in patients without current symptoms of COVID‐19 infection during the pandemic. Conclusions: This retrospective study demonstrated adherence to national and international position papers of AIT during the COVID‐19 pandemic in German‐speaking countries. Besides, the survey has confirmed a good tolerability of AIT for both SCIT and SLIT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This theme was chosen because tourism is an important branch of a country's economy. The HORECA industry generates 1.7% of GDP and between 3 and 4% of GDP together with related industries. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that broke out in Romania in February 2020, the Romanian Government was forced to apply certain restrictive measures that affected the economy, the worst hospital industry. This paper analyzed the revenues registered in the HORECA sector in Romania for the years 2019-2020-2021 (before the pandemic / during the emergency period / post-pandemic period). A comparative analysis was performed for the indicators: annual profit, turnover, number of tourists, number of overnight stays, types of services sought. The study was conducted on 8,357 touristic units and the results will be presented in the paper. The aim of the paper is to analyze the losses suffered by the tourism industry in 2020 and the recovery of tourism after the lifting of restrictions in Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by Said's concept of exile, Camus' 1947 novel The Plague, and testimonies from our students, this paper explores the striking similarities between experiences of exile and the COVID-19 pandemic. Both exile and the pandemic are seen as intrusive forces causing rupture and discontinuity in one's life at the physical, psychological and socio-cultural levels. This paper demonstrates that for many Palestinians – including us and our students – the pandemic manifests what Freud termed 'repetition compulsion'. That is, many of our students interpret the detrimental and precarious impact of the pandemic as a complex form of exile, a nuanced understanding that blends a historical, communal memory of displacement with a present, universal crisis. This paper further explains that the themes of exile and displacement in Camus' The Plague provide us and our students with a focal point to examine the striking, albeit anachronistic, similarities between the pandemic caused by Israeli occupation and the COVID-19 virus. This uncanny relationship between the pandemic and exile is further substantiated by the fact that the pandemic has provided cover, or at least distraction, for the escalation of oppressive political actions, thus deepening the entrenchment of a physical and psychological 'exile' for Palestinians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few years, Online Education has been an interesting research topic. Many educationists are working on the future and the scope of online education. The COVID-19 outbreak has become a major source of imparting knowledge among children about their health and safety. While talking about EdTech, it should be kept in mind that internet connectivity and the lecturer play an important role in defining the effectiveness of online education. The paper mainly focuses on online education as the new emerging business in the country. The paper also talks about its growing role and increasing contribution to GDP in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, there was less awareness and trend of online learning; however, it is interesting to know that the outbreak of the pandemic has highlighted the importance of online learning, and it has emerged as a rare business that has shown an upward trend in the crisis. Online learning has emerged as an affordable, convenient and time-efficient method of gaining knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since COVID-19 first made its appearance, the economy of the whole world has been facing unprecedented challenges. As a result of this, researchers investigated the effects of COVID-19 on a variety of important macroeconomic factors pertaining to the Nigerian economy between March 2020 and July 2022. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) were the sources of information regarding the number of cases of Covid-19. The Central Bank of Nigeria was the source of information regarding the value of the country's currency, the interest rate, and the inflation rate (CBN). After subjecting the data to a battery of econometric tests. The number of deaths caused by COVID-19 had a significant impact on interest rates, in contrast to the very little impact that confirmed cases of the virus had. There was a statistically and clinically significant association between COVID-19 validated cases and the inflation rate in Nigeria. This correlation was seen in the country. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic Granger was the cause of macroeconomic indices such as Nigeria's currency rate and interest rate respectively. According to the findings of this study, it is thus feasible to draw the conclusion that the COVID-19 outbreak had an effect on the naira as well as interest rates and inflation in Nigeria. According to the results of the investigation, the authors of the paper came to the conclusion that in order to keep prices stable despite the continuing pandemic, the government of Nigeria should adopt more stringent fiscal and monetary policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index rankings by the RSF, India ranks 161 out of 180 countries. One of the important indicators that the index bases the ranking on is the level of violence against the journalists and their overall safety. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian government cracked down on the press by reprimanding any form of dissent regarding their policies. This has resulted in journalists from various parts of the country being arrested, detained, and harassed. The much-debated Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 and Disaster Management Act, 2005 were implemented to invoke curbs to contain the spread of coronavirus in India. The paper examines the consequences of the infodemic on the safety of journalists in the context of declining press freedom in the country in the context of the aforementioned acts. The analysis of cases focuses on highlighting how the laws introduced to "contain" the spread of the virus has been used as a tool to gatekeep the truth regarding the implementation of coronavirus policies by way of stifling the voice of journalists. The analysis reveals how various legal, political, and economic factors contribute to the lack of safety of journalists in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was felt on a global scale in nearly every aspect of life, but disruption was particularly observable within the sphere of education. Students engaged in initial teacher education at this time commonly experienced major upheavals within both their academic studies and their practical teaching placements in schools at the community level. This paper presents data collected from a small-scale study conducted at a higher education institution in Ireland and provides insights regarding students' experiences of completing educational placement requirements in early childhood and primary school settings during the pandemic. A total of 204 participants took part in the study by responding to an online questionnaire. Findings revealed both the challenges and opportunities they faced in their own academic learning, the impact of public health regulations on their teaching practice and performance, and the challenges of work-life imbalance. These insights are examined considering previous research, and the paper concludes with suggestions for future practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses U.S. pandemic-related propaganda, as a mode of administering society, selves, and the COVID-19 virus relevant to other national contexts. The paper examines what I call pandemic revanchism, which, in order to stoke U.S. culture wars, propag(and)ates the COVID-19 epidemic by sensationalizing the trivial and normalizing the extraordinary or absurd. Banal forms of administrative grotesquerie mobilize a community of alt-health (non)sense and tie freedom to a viral and literally infectious resentment and retaliatory collateral mortality. The paper first develops the framework of FOOB ('folklore of operational banality') to scrutinize how ordinary health/medical administration and reactionary power relations alike level sense and non-sense. It then offers a performative analysis that shows human geographies of routinized anti-establishment refusal and conspiratorial organizing related to the pandemic. The FOOB approach refuses to simply admonish pandemic revanchism and, instead, tracks how this form of administration consolidates social terrains and quotidian online activity. The analysis seeks to level criticism in a way that undermines social division. It does so by remaining open to reasonable doubts about biomedicalization that are swept up in alt-health and pandemic-related propaganda, and by foregrounding how policy, affect, and storylines routinize extremisms within the American public terrain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we draw on our subjective experiences as two female early‐career academics during the global COVID‐19 pandemic. While we acknowledge that the pandemic had negative implications for many female scholars due to compulsory telework or increased family responsibilities, we also want to shed light on the empowering experiences shaped by collegial support that became an important part of our pandemic story. We build on the theory of liminality to explain how the events triggered by the pandemic allowed us to break out of our uncomfortable occupational limbo (i.e., feeling "locked‐in" to the identity of a foreign‐born PhD graduate) and, through creating a kind of equality, resulted in some unique opportunities and challenges. During these difficult times, shaped by an increasing fear of us or our family catching COVID‐19, we embarked on a betwixt‐and‐between state that allowed us to grow as academics as a part of a collective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affected by high debt, online competition and geopolitical uncertainty, global tourism has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic crisis, halting traffic and staggering the lockdown of all countries. This paper analyzes the factors that caused tourism to collapse in 2020 and implicitly precarious economic effects. Romania will be the country studied for analysis, even if the direct contribution of tourism to GDP was 2.70% (2019) and total contribution (direct and indirect) of 5.2% (2019). The key questions posed are those related to the search for means to return to normalcy and to find ways to recover the hospitality industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Present paper discusses the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the Habits of people. The main objective of this paper is not only to identify the change in the Habits but also to disclose the activities in which people were spending their time during this pandemic. This paper is based on primary data which is collected through a Questionnaire with the contribution of 100 Respondents. Content available on online websites and sources was also taken into consideration for the work and finally concluded that covid-19 had impacted the lifestyle of people and habits as well. This paper also finds out the positive and negative results seen due to changes in the Habits of the people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collection of papers we have put together for this special themed section originally emerged from a desire to explore how the rapid and wholescale transformation of everyday spaces brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic might change, challenge and shift experiences and understandings of the gendered body. Since 2020, we have witnessed and experienced the dramatic alteration of everyday mobilities and a concurrent reconfiguration of spatial and embodied relations. The pandemic, and responses to it, has transformed the locations in which subjects routinely situate themselves, and the quotidian bodily practices they participate in, with immediate and lasting impact. Such a moment called for a revisiting of established theoretical and methodological paradigms in feminist geography - many of which developed from within the pages of this journal - which understand the relationship between space and the gendered body to be a mutually constitutive one. If the gendered body is understood as a processual assemblage shaped by the spaces within which it is formed, what do such radical spatial reconfigurations of embodied relations mean for gendered subjects? These papers, then, represent an opportunity to revisit and reflect upon core debates about gender, embodiment, and space in feminist geography, understanding the pandemic via a gendered lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The use of over-the-top (OTT) platforms grew substantially after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. With the pandemic receding, there is a concern that users may not continue with their subscriptions. To counter this, OTT service providers must strategize proactively to retain and acquire new users once the pandemic abates. Positing that understanding the consumption values that users ascribe to OTT platform usage can provide useful customer retention insights, the purpose of this paper is to use the theory of consumption value (TCV) to study the values that users derived from their use of OTT following the onset of the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The mixed-method approach is used to collect qualitative and quantitative data. Analysis of qualitative responses collected through interviews of 12 current OTT platform users helped identify two categories of OTT platform-specific values: attribute-level and benefit-based. Next, the study examined the association of values thus identified with one another, as well as with continued intentions to use OTT platforms, by analyzing data collected from 371 existing users. Findings: The findings indicated that functional value quality and social value, representing the attribute-level values, were positively associated with two benefit-based values – functional value price and emotional value (EMV). Next, EMV was not only associated with intentions but also partially mediated the association of attribute-level values with intentions. Premium subscription purchased and increased viewing time were confirmed to have moderating effects on the association between attribute-level and benefit-based values. Originality/value: The study is amongst the foremost research initiatives to examine consumption values derived from OTT platform usage after the onset of the pandemic. Its novelty also comes from its identifying OTT platform-specific consumption values for the first time and adding a new dimension to the TCV by examining the interplay of these values in the OTT platform context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discourse in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic explored its likely effects on the tourism sector including the nature of recovery. Viewed through the lens of Evolutionary Economic Geography, this paper examines the preferences of four stakeholder groups for future tourism development in Northern Devon. Specifically, it reports on their views from 2021 and 2022 of three potential scenarios which were elaborated before the pandemic, and it explores whether COVID-19 was a trigger event for a change in trajectory. There was consistent support for the most sustainable trajectory, which represented the continuation of the existing arc of development, not a fundamental change in direction triggered by COVID-19. Not only does this finding contribute a retrospective critique of early opinions on possible COVID-induced change, it suggests an alternative view of the role of trigger events in destination evolution. The pandemic offered space for reflection on tourism development, as a form of 'mindful continuation' of transformation, not a 'mindful deviation' identified in some previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the current research trends in sustainability through an extensive literature review and propose future research agenda under the ambit of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Specifically, the present study aims to uncover the current state of the literature and thereby develop an understanding of how the pandemic has impacted the dimensions of sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the objective, the authors adopted a five-step literature review process, combined with bibliometric and network analysis. The authors also considered news articles and reports of international organizations to comprehensively achieve the research objective. Findings: The study results show how the pandemic has impacted the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The results also highlight the list of authors, countries and institutions that have proactively worked towards eliminating the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Research limitations/implications: The study provides an in-depth understanding of the scholarly contributions to the field of sustainability since the COVID-19 outbreak. The study is useful for policymakers and businesses interested in understanding how the pandemic has impacted the dimensions of sustainability and possible mitigation strategies. Furthermore, the study also provides future research directions in the intersection of pandemic and sustainability dimensions. Specific research questions (RQs) are also proposed to help future research. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is a pioneer attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding of the existing and rapidly growing literature on COVID-19 and its relationship with the various dimensions of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deadly Coronavirus pandemic is ravaging the world, with dire consequences in virtually all sectors, and across all categories of people. However, vulnerable groups such as the homeless are likely to suffer more devastating effects. Owing to the impracticability of recommended preventive measures among the homeless, they are susceptible to get infected, and possibly die of the virus. The objective of this paper is to examine the vulnerability of the homeless to coronavirus infection and how the circumstances surrounding homelessness could exacerbate the plight of this category of people. The paper relies on secondary data and adopts critical analysis in examining the plight of the homeless regarding the pandemic. It concludes that thousands of the homeless could get infected with Covid-19, and possibly die as a result of the pandemic owing to their vulnerability, occasioned by the condition of homelessness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of life. When it comes to business, the pandemic has particularly been harsh. While sale and profit graphs depicted a sharp dip for some sectors, other sectors faced an exponential rise in customer demand, owing to the nature of products. Items of daily use, hygiene, and other retail products were sold more during the pandemic-led lockdown. While this had a positive impact on profits in retail industries, at the same time, it opened a can of worms with legal implications and compliance issues. Much like the pandemic, the legal issues it brought were also complex. This paper attempts to critically discuss the major compliance issues in retail contracts inter alia other allied and ancillary legal challenges faced by the retail business. The paper will also attempt to present recommendations for effective compliance of legal standards for the ease of business while also assessing the post-pandemic challenges and combatting mechanisms. Since the pandemic did not affect all sectors homogenously, this paper will delineate the impacts on food and non-food sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many health networks became increasingly interactive in implementing a consulting approach to telemedicine before the COVID-19 pandemic. To mitigate patient trafficking and reduce the virus exposure in health centers, several GPs, physicians and people in the video were consulted during the pandemic at the start. Video and smartphone consultations will allow well-insulated and high-risk medical practitioners to maintain their patient care security. Video appointments include diabetes, obesity, hypertension, stroke, mental health, chemotherapy and chronic pain. Many urgent diseases, including an emergency triage for the eye, may also be used for online consultations and triages. The COVID-19 pandemic shows that healthcare option for healthy healthcare and the potential to increase to a minimum, such as video consultations, have grown quickly. The dissemination of COVID-19 viruses now aims at extending the use of Video-Health Consultations by exchanging insights and simulations of health consultations and saving costs and healthcare practices as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our paper focuses on video consulting privacy. This essay further presents the advantages and inconveniences of video consultation and its implementation. This paper suggests the most recent video encryption method known as high efficiency video coding selective encryption (HEVC SE). Our video consultation schema has been improved to secure video streaming on a low calculation overhead, with the same bit rate and to ensure compatibility with the video format. The contribution is made with RC5, a low complexity computer, to encrypt subsets of bin-strings binarized in the HEVC sense using the context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) method through the bypass binary arithmetic coding. This sequence of binstrings consists of a non-zero differential transforming cosine (DCT) coefficient bit, MVD sign bits, remainder absolute DCT suffixes and absolute MVD suffixes. This paper also examines the efficiency assessment of the use of the RC5 with its modes of operations in the HEVC CABAC SE proposed. This study chooses the best operating mode for RC5 to be used for the healthcare video consultation application. Security analysis, such as histogram analysis, correlation coefficient testing and key sensitivity testing, is presented to protect against brute force and statistical attacks for the proposed schema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to examine how community engagement can be influenced by responsible leadership during crises. It looks at the phenomenon of community engagement and responsible leadership in India during the Covid-19 pandemic, using the collective responses of community. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses netnography, which studies community interpretations through their online social communication. The perceptions on how engaged the Indian community felt during the pandemic were studied by collecting and analysing their postings on social media. Findings: The findings suggest that responsible leadership – through the building of trust, open communication, collective consciousness and mindful action – is an effective way to positively engage stakeholders and influence community response during a pandemic. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature of responsible leadership and community engagement during crises. It is an attempt to link public leadership with responsible leadership and its impact on community engagement in a novel way, filling a void in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan registered its first COVID-19 related deaths in last week of February 2020. South Asia as a region remained considerably affected by the deadly pandemic with countries like India, Iran and Bangladesh registering a high rate of fatalities and alarming rise in positive cases. Initial impact of the disease on Pakistan was quite severe and with a weak economy and broken public health system, it was anticipated that Pakistan might not be able to withstand the economic, social and psychological impact of the pandemic. However, the Pakistan government adopted the whole-of-the-nation approach by integrating its well-organized military institution along with other state and civilian institutions and tackled the pandemic proactively. The paper, using the Explanatory Case Study technique, analyses Pakistan's dynamic response mechanism from February to October 2020, referred to as "First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic". The conclusions show that Pakistan orchestrated a coherent response mechanism by creating an effective governance structure, integrating multiple institutions, resorting to smart lockdowns, taking pro-poor economic measures and converting the challenges into opportunities by making indigenous COVID-19 related medical innovations through research universities. Capacity building of testing facilities, protective equipment and specialized patient care coupled with awareness through effective media campaigns paid rich dividends. Implementation of coordinated and effective response measures not only restricted the disease spread but also helped in sustaining the fragile economy of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Filozofija i Drustvo is the property of University of Belgrade, Institute for Philosophy & Social Theory and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)