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Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, in-person data collection methods have been considerably hampered by requirements for social distancing and safety. Consequently, academic inquiry has shifted largely to virtual means, leading to the considerable growth of virtual qualitative research. Conducting virtual research in post-conflict contexts, such as Sri Lanka, with increased state surveillance, security concerns, and censorship presents researchers with additional tensions, particularly during a pandemic. Limited literature, however, has grappled with these unique situations. This paper addresses this gap by reflecting on the process of conducting virtual qualitative research through a case study of faculty members in peace education instruction at Sri Lankan universities. The study drew on semi-structured interviews (n = 32), documentary evidence, and memos created during the data collection and analysis stages. This paper discusses the challenges and complexities of conducting virtual research within the intersections of peace education, post-conflict legacies, ethical dimensions, and positionality dimensions, which are interwoven, adding several layers of considerations in this context. Furthermore, the paper chronicles the key tensions faced: surveillance and consent, residual embodiments, and the choices made in response to navigate them. This paper concludes with a discussion around these tensions and aims to expand the literary discourse beyond the technological aspects of conducting virtual research. The study highlights the need for future research into residual embodiments, ethical and micro-ethical issues, and practical challenges in virtual research in conflict-affected contexts, suggesting that institutions should provide researchers with training to address these complexities and support robust knowledge co-creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the individual might feel isolated, and his psychological capital (PsyCap) is negatively influenced. Most research on peer support has focused on its contribution to employee well-being when the peers are in the same workplace. Scant research targets the times of lockdowns and social distancing. This paper investigates how peer support influences employee PsyCap during the COVID-19 pandemic. By conducting a questionnaire with N = 42 employees and three online focus groups with N = 15 employees out of N = 350 employees working at an international organization operating in Egypt as a bilateral development partner funded by the German government, the paper concludes that peer support has a positive influence on employee PsyCap, especially self-efficacy, hope, and optimism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A global health and economic crisis was created by the spread of Covid-19 across the world during the course of 2020 and into 2021. This Special Issue of the International Review of Applied Economics brings together papers analysing various aspects of this twin crisis. The crisis led to massive intervention by governments, both to tackle the health crisis - through lock-downs; social distancing measures; test, trace and isolate programmes; and to develop and then provide vaccinations - and to offset the economic damage created by the lock-downs, the fall in travel and trade, and so forth. Several of the papers take up the challenge of how we might 'build back better'. The leading expert on organisational studies and organisational behaviour John Child notes that while the Covid-19 pandemic intensified many of the economic and social problems that societies were already facing, the public response to the crisis points to a constructive way forward, including people participating in collective activities to contribute to addressing the common challenge, arguing that "it is timely to widen participation in organisational decision-making as an approach to addressing many of the problems which will continue to be with us post-Covid, and which indeed the pandemic has exacerbated". These further challenges include inequality, and the climate crisis. Both could be tackled through a global Green New Deal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's declaration of a state of pandemic on 27 March 2020 to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has elicited debates on the impact of government's policy responses, such as national lockdowns, on the economy of the country. Some pundits support lockdown measures by arguing that they save many lives. Others acknowledge the efficacy of lockdowns in combating the spread of COVID-19 but argue that they have a devastating impact on the economy and livelihoods. However, both pro- and anti-lockdown commentators neglect African indigenous approaches in combatting the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. The current paper offers a consolidated approach on how African indigenous approaches might be practically and pragmatically integrated with South Africa's COVID-19 policy responses. Drawing on Afrocentric theory, this paper argues that a combination of Western and African indigenous approaches can be more successful in combating the spread of COVID-19 if they are incorporated into a synthesis that adopts useful elements of each. This paper argues that by insisting on national lockdowns, social distancing, self-isolation, and the use of facemasks and vaccines as the only means of combating COVID-19, the South African government is discrediting the use of indigenous African knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWhile the COVID-19 pandemic has affected many educational practices, it has also acted as an amplifier, accelerating emergent trends. One such trend concerns the nature of distance doctoral education that, even before the pandemic, was characterised by conceptual ambiguity. This article re-considers the meaning of “distance doctoral education” in a context where the on/off-campus binary has been profoundly disrupted. In this paper, we locate off-campus doctoral education in the intersecting literatures on distance and doctoral education, then advance the “post-” framework we use to conceptualise contemporary off-campus and distance doctoral study. Empirically, our paper draws on insights from a 2022 survey of 521 distance doctoral students, which demonstrate the complexity and variation evident in the manifestations of “distance” reported. We propose that we may have entered a post-distance doctoral education terrain, where previous conceptualisations of distance or proximity are altered. Our paper offers implications for thinking about doctoral education in such a context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Journal of Change Management is the property of Routledge 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.)

The high rate of mortality and global panic for the past 6 months because of Covid-19 pandemic calls for concern. Among the precautionary measures from international health organizations and governments to her citizens are the total lock-down, self-isolation, physical distancing, and handwashing mechanisms. Thus, this study attempts to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of these mechanisms by residents and tourists in George Town Heritage City traditional shophouses and proffer possible ways to mitigate future pandemics, especially concerning interior design components of a typical traditional shophouse. To achieve this, a phenomenology type of qualitative research was adopted. Data were collected via observations of selected traditional shophouses in George Town Heritage City, face-to-face interviews conducted, and validated via secondary sources. Findings show that it is difficult to practice some of the precautionary measures as recommended by appropriate authorities in majority of the George Town Heritage City traditional shophouses because of renovation and modernization to the original design. As part of the practical implications, this study is advocating for the modification of future design and construction to mitigate the spread of the contagious pandemic in shophouses. Also, this paper intends to stir-up key stakeholders and open new areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 health communicators around the globe have had to reach, urge, and persuade individuals and communities to adopt appropriate health protective behaviors. They have used a mix of communication channels, including outdoor media and public signage which are the focus of this paper. Drawing on a comparative linguistic landscape analysis, this paper critically examined the amount, content, and prominence of Covid-19 signage in Hackney, a London borough severely hit by the first wave of the pandemic. Having analyzed 1288 signs collected between May and July 2020, we found significant differences in Covid-19 signage between deprived and less deprived areas. These differences (e.g., in messaging about staying at home) have created inequalities in access to Covid-19 related health information and guidance. We also explored the changes in Covid-19 signage over time and the tailoring of risk and health messages to minority communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an original protest event analysis (PEA) dataset covering 30 European countries, this paper provides three sets of results. Despite its unlikeliness due to lockdowns and social distancing measures, protest during COVID-19 has hardly been put to a halt even if, as a result of the restrictions imposed by the lockdown measures on the opportunities of public collective actions, protest occurred at significantly lower levels compared to pre-COVID-19 times, in terms of number of events and, above all, in terms of the number of participants. Moreover, protest was refocused on COVID-19-related issues, in particular on protest against the restrictions imposed by the government lockdowns, while non-COVID-19 issues, in particular economic issues, were crowded out. In addition, protest during the COVID-19-crisis also responded to highly contingent national context conditions which varied between the different regions of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acknowledging the overreaching importance of WHO guidelines of frequent handwashing with soap and water in battling COVID-19, this paper unravels the state of water supply in Indian cities and examines the challenges of conventional water policy and governance assumptions amid the COVID-19 crisis in India. Urban citizens, especially living in the slums, very often need to rush to access the water sources, making social distancing practically impossible. Apart from increasing public investment, this paper argues for rethinking the existing framework of water supply through institutional reforms focusing on decentralisation, community participation, and adoption of integrated water resource management policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding people's concepts of illness and health is key to crafting policies and communications campaigns to address a particular medical concern. This paper gathers cultural knowledge on infectious disease causation, prevention, and treatment the Philippines that are particularly relevant for the COVID-19 pandemic, and analyzes their implications for public health. This paper draws from ethnographic work (e.g. participant observation, interviews, conversations, virtual ethnography) carried out individually by each of the two authors from February to September 2020. The data was analyzed in relation to the anthropological literature on local health knowledge in the Philippines. We find that notions of hawa (contagion) and resistensiya (immunity) inform people's views of illness causation as well as their preventive practices - including the use of face masks and 'vitamins' and other pharmaceuticals, as well as the ways in which they negotiate prescriptions of face mask use and physical distancing. These perceptions and practices go beyond biomedical knowledge and are continuously being shaped by people's everyday experiences and circulations of knowledge in traditional and social media. Our study reveals that people's novel practices reflect recurrent, familiar, and long-held concepts - such as the moral undertones of hawa and experimentation inherent in resistensiya. Policies and communications efforts should acknowledge and anticipate how these notions may serve as either barriers or facilitators to participatory care and improved health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 and its imposed social confinement entailed a radical shift in research, supervision and learning in doctoral education. Heightened flexibility in delivery, sensitivity and compassion and greater reliance on technology sought to address not merely scholars' pedagogical but holistic needs, which became more prominent during the pandemic. Face-to-face doctoral supervision and academic events were conducted online to overcome hurdles presented by 'social distancing'. We examine how the dynamics of our group supervision for international doctoral scholars changed after shifting to online mode. We employed an autoethnographic approach to highlight evolving rewards and challenges in conducting online meetings with a group of international scholars. Focusing on this group is timely since the 'working-from-home' mode contributed to doctoral scholars' isolation and stress that they experienced. This paper: a) exemplifies the psychological benefits fostered by online meetings; and b) highlights creative virtual pedagogies and practices worth adopting even after the pandemic is over. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced marketers to adjust to different consumer responses the world over. Country responses have ranged from complete lockdowns to informal guidelines on avoiding infection. Limiting physical interactions through social distancing is key to mitigating health risks. Yet, some mitigating behaviours such as home delivery versus going to the supermarket come with a higher financial cost. A survey of American and Canadian consumers examined relationships among income, financial strain, and risky social distancing behaviours. Regression analyses found that financial strain had a stronger effect on the incidence of risky behaviours than did income. These relationships were found in the USA but not in Canada. The paper discusses the results and presents the implications for international marketers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fight against negative neighbourhood effects has been led by urban regeneration policies aimed at mixing by ethnicity, income, tenure as well as demolition and poverty deconcentration – all of which sought to create mixed communities with improved reputations. This paper is based on the methodology applied in my PhD research and outlines how Participatory Photo Mapping (PPM) can evaluate impact and explore internal neighbourhood reputations providing both temporality and depth to the perception of urban spaces affected by change. PPM has involved residents of two European disadvantaged neighbourhoods (New Deal for Communities area, Bristol; Ponte Lambro, Milan) in the active and collaborative construction of their own narratives on the area and its developments and interventions. While also referring to the empirical findings, this paper focuses on the design and delivery of PPM and covers the challenges and the opportunities of the research method, conducted in times of Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and social distancing. Despite the remote but innovative setting (Google My Maps) and data collection (online focus groups and 1–1 interviews), PPM confirms being an empowering tool to 're-create' place images from within and give voice to urban areas where territorial stigma tends to prevail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the role and value of the so-called 'balcony performances' – community special events, organized during the first national lockdown in Italy in March-May 2020. Following the constructionist research paradigm, in-depth interviews were collected and analysed to understand how through engaging with special events, residents found ways to deal with uncertainty and distress during the time of lockdown. Balcony events allowed participants to connect with others at a distance, express and share their feelings and emotions and, eventually, transform fear and worry into hope and positivity. The paper reiterates the vital ritualistic role of events in community life and introduces a conceptual framework of the transformative power of events. The framework explains how during times of uncertainty, improvisational creativity within neighbourhoods, expressed in special events, can provide a platform for resilience building and community cohesion. The paper also puts forward a new perspective on residential balconies as event venues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been growing concerns that social distancing and stay-at-home mandates have exacerbated loneliness for older people. Empirical evidence about older people's experiences of loneliness and COVID-19 have quantified this phenomena without considering how older people themselves define and understand loneliness. This paper explores how older New Zealanders conceptualized and experienced loneliness under 'lockdown' stay-at-home measures. This multi-methods qualitative study combines data from letters (n = 870) and interviews (n = 44) collected from 914 people aged over 60 and living in Aotearoa, New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a reflexive thematic analysis to conceptualise this data. We identify three interconnected ways in which older people conceptualised and experienced loneliness: (1) feeling disconnected relating to lack of emotional closeness to another often resulting from being physically separated from others and not being able to touch; (2) feeling imprisoned relating to separation from preferred identities and activities and was frequently associated with boredom and frustration; and (3) feeling neglected which often related to feeling let down by generalised and idealised forms of support, such as one's neighbourhood and health care system. Older New Zealanders experienced lockdown loneliness in three interconnected ways rather than as a stable and homogenous experience. Māori, Pacific, Asian and New Zealand European older people often discussed loneliness in different ways; attesting to loneliness being a culturally-mediated concept shaped by expectations around desirable social interaction. We conclude the paper with implications for research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws principally from COVID-19 diaries written by young women whom we had previously trained as peer researchers in a mobility study of low-income neighbourhoods in Abuja, Cape Town and Tunis. Some live with parents or older extended family members, others have children in their care, but concerns around avoiding contagion have forced all peer researchers to reflect on their everyday socio-spatial mobility practices. This includes whether/how much they need to travel or can substitute virtual for physical travel; which transport mode to take and when; what precautions they must take on the move; what strategies of engagement are required to cope with externally imposed rules and contingencies – and the potential impact of their negotiations, decisions and experiences on the health of those dear to them at home. Reflections on these pandemic-induced responsibilities range from social distancing and mask wearing to issues around handling cash, modes of greeting and travel to funerals. The personal interpretations of responsibility that are reported in individual diaries point to the complexity of entanglements between everyday mobility practices on city streets and negotiated relations of care within the household (and other relational settings) that have emerged and deepened as the COVID story unfolds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has long been evidence of the benefit of a modal shift toward cycling can bring to meeting several pressing urban challenges including ill-health, climate change, and poor air quality. In the wake of COVID-19, policy-makers have identified a modal shift toward cycling as part of the solution to mobility challenges introduced by social distancing measures. However, beyond exemplar areas, cycling has been largely characterized by a stubbornly-low modal share. In this paper, we use the 'ordinary city' – in cycling terms – of Liverpool as a case study to understand this. We apply practice theory in doing so, finding the provision of materials for cycling is the key factor in supporting a modal shift. Not only do they provide the means to support the practice of cycling in the city, but they also have a key role in shaping individuals perceptions of, and the skills required to cycle. We then reflect upon the utility of practice theory in understanding the patterns of everyday life, finding it was particularly well suited in understanding the interactions between different factors which influence modal choice. We go on to identify practical challenges in its application within our analysis raising questions around an inconsistent analysis of influential factors including 'driver behavior' and 'political commitment'. We suggest how this might be overcome, through the isolation of such factors within a category of 'action of others', this we argue means the findings in this paper have broad relevance to researchers and policy-makers alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In some countries, far-reaching 'lockdown' measures to contain the spread of coronavirus were implemented early in 2020. In Austria, these early measures were met with a high degree of compliance among the country's population. In this paper, we draw upon qualitative interviews, and ask how people made sense of the restrictions imposed during the first lockdown in April 2020 and what shaped their compliance. Empirical research has so far tried to explain compliance by means of people's disposition and motivations as well as demographic and social characteristics. Instead of focussing on who is compliant, we aim to understand how people practice compliance. We do this by approaching compliance through the concepts of values and practice. First, our findings indicate that people assess whether measures are suitable and legitimate in relation to the values of science, the law, and morality. Second, people assign additional personal value to compliance by stressing its positive implications on their own lives. By adopting a nuanced perspective on compliance as inextricably linked to peoples' values and practices, our paper critically contributes to the political and scholarly discussion of pandemic public health measures. Understanding compliance through the lens of values shows how people make sense of the measures in the context of their everyday lives, helping us to move away from a binary understanding of (non-)compliance that has become morally charged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The needs for autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle navigation (AUN) have been emerging for recent years due to the growth of the logistic industry and the need for social distancing during the pandemic. There have been different methods trying to overcome the AUN task, and most of them have focused on deep reinforcement learning (DRL). But the results were still far from satisfactory, and even if the result was good, the environment was usually too trivial and simple. We report in this paper one of the causes of low success rate for AUN in our previous work, which is the apprehensive behavior of agents. After numerous episodes of training, when the agent faces risky scenes, it often moves back and forth repeatedly until running out of the limited steps. Hence, in this paper, we propose a new role, LifeGuard, into the popular DRL model, Actor-Critic, to tackle the apprehensive behavior and expect a better success rate. In addition, we developed a pilot method of unsupervised classification for sequential data to further enhance our reward function from previous work, augmentative backward reward function. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method can eliminate the apprehensive behavior and gain higher success rates than the state-of-the-art method, FORK, with lesser effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses disruption to norms of funeral attendance experienced in the UK during the COVID−19 pandemic as a lens to illuminate why and how funeral attendance can matter. It draws on an extensive qualitative dataset, gathered through semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of 68 individuals who were bereaved and/or worked or volunteered in death care during the COVID−19 pandemic. It first examines interviewees' concerns about the insufficiency of funerals when gatherings were restricted. Second, it depicts the range of additional and alternative ways people found to pay tribute to the deceased and to offer and seek support when conventional funeral attendance was limited. Third, it explains why, for some, the smaller funerals necessitated by pandemic restrictions were welcome experiences. These findings support a development of Bailey and Walter's influential theorising concerning 'configurational eulogies': while a 'well-attended' funeral still matters to many, mourners contribute to configurational eulogies through a diverse and evolving range of activities. The shifts in funeral gatherings and activities prompted by the COVID−19 pandemic can be understood as part of dynamic processes of reconfiguring eulogistic repertoires in changing social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During Covid-19, most in-person intergenerational service-learning programs were halted or transitioned to virtual formats due to social-distancing guidelines. This study qualitatively examined in-person and virtual versions of the Lives Well Lived program, which matches older adults (OAs) with undergraduate students to participate in a mutual interviewing, life review project. Post-test data from open-ended questions were analyzed to compare themes regarding program outcomes. Recognition of OA interindividual differences, intergenerational relationship's value, and decreased fear of aging themes developed in both program versions but there were also differences. Participants in the virtual version regretted not engaging in person, did not mention altruism/empathy, expressed appreciation of peer relationships in addition to OA relationships, and disliked writing reflection papers. Recommendations are given for ensuring similar learning outcomes when engaging in virtual programming, whether due to COVID-19 or in additional situations to pandemics, such as rural settings, lack of transportation/mobility, or time limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent work and silent classrooms appear to be part of a wider discourse adopted by some schools across England and promoted as good practice by England's Education Secretary. This paper explores the effect of grouped and individual seating on the engagement of four boys in small group sessions teaching the English Language GCSE. Observations show how behaviour was detrimental when pupils were sat independently and in rows but improved when they were grouped together. The social constructivist elements of learning facilitated by grouped seating helped pupils find English relevant to their own lives and made the lesson more accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 appeared in Vietnam in January 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially announced the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the new strain of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) around the globe on 1-3-2020. From 1-4-2020, Vietnam introduced social distancing to prevent the spread of the disease in society, affecting every social class, including 'internal' migrant workers who were often formerly farmers. This paper reports on research evaluating the impact of the pandemic on the internal migrant 'reserve army of labour' now working in industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Internal migrant workers make up the majority of employees, at 70% to 85.5% and this article offers a chance to evaluate Marxist categories of work, along with the point of view of the systems and social network approaches, to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts production activities at IPs & EPZs. The paper asks how management of workplaces in the face of the pandemic imposed coping strategies affecting levels of employment and lives of migrant workers at EPZs and IPs. Looking especially at migrant workers' strategies in facing the challenges of the pandemic, the use of Marx's "floating, latent and stagnant" categories of the "reserve army of labour" is reconsidered on the basis of information from available statistical data and from detailed interviews and observations in the Project "Improving the effectiveness of dialogue and collective bargaining in private enterprise and foreign directed investment enterprises in HCMC" under a grant from the Ho Chi Minh City Science and Technology Development Fund, 2020-22 - HCMFOSTED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought changes to the way medical care is delivered to keep health workers safe while simultaneously managing available resources. The well-being of patients and healthcare workers is crucial and has become a topic of debate as the world faces adjusts to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, there is need to consider innovative methods of delivering medical care. Telehealth and digital health care which is the provision of medical care via Information Communication Technology (ICT) with highspeed telecommunications systems, has increasingly becoming popular in providing medical care services can be adopted to reduce infections during quarantine and social distancing practices. Specifically, by means of document and literature review this paper discusses the role of telehealth and digital care solutions, types and application of telehealth, and current policies for COVID-19. More importantly, findings from the article present the human, infrastructure, and institutional determinants that influence the adoption of telehealth and digital care solutions during the pandemic. The findings discuss how telehealth and digital care technologies can benefit the society. This study provides implications to informs medical staffs on the potential of digital technologies to provide support during and after the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing research interest in the effects of social distancing measures introduced to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on social interaction, interpersonal relationships, and personal wellbeing. In the soccer arena, too, players, referees, managers, and fans are subject to social distancing measures when engaging in joint activities in times of the pandemic. This paper examines to what extent agents on the soccer pitch have adapted joint communicative acts such as goal celebrations and surrounding the referee as part of social distancing measures. It does so by focusing particularly on interactions between player-player (goal celebrations) and player-referee (issuing of yellow/red cards) in broadcasted Premier League games pre- and post-lockdown during the 2019/20 season by examining and comparing two datasets: games in the last round before the three-month lockdown break (round 29, 10 games, 7–9 March 2020) and the games in the first round after the restart of season 2019/20 with the implemented social distancing rules as prescribed by the Premier League's Season 2019/20Restart Guide (round 30, 10 games, 19–22 June 2020). Based on an exploratory, qualitative multimodal analysis of a total of 43 goal celebrations and the issuing of 66 yellow cards and one red card in the two datasets, we highlight varying realizations of similar joint communicative acts, thereby demonstrating how agents on the pitch adapt their interaction to social distancing rules. The results show players' occasional hesitation to gather closely with other players to celebrate a goal and their deviation to more common practices of engaging with others during times of COVID-19, for example fist bumps. Adaptation of interaction can also be observed with regard to player-referee interactions following a booking, most notably concerning surrounding the referee in contested decisions: While players still move towards the referee seemingly crowding the referee, there is, in some scenes, a visible restraint by players to ensure enough distancing between the players and the referee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early adolescents are accustomed to using information technology (IT) for different purposes as a part of their everyday life. While IT use can provide many benefits, it can also include negative experiences, such as feelings of stress (i.e. technostress). Considering that young IT users' technostress perspectives have remained limited in the literature, this paper attempts to contrast their experiences with aspects from earlier research. A qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews with 31 primary and secondary school students reveals that early adolescents have encountered stressful IT use experiences that vary based on the degree of stress. The experiences relate to different dimensions of IT use, namely 1) online social (media) behaviour, 2) notification-driven behaviour, 3) social distancing and online education behaviour, and 4) gameplay and other aspects of IT use behaviour. Common denominators for these experiences include the attention or time required by IT use and coming across unwanted content or communications. In addition to reporting negative feelings and emotions, the participants mentioned physical strains, including headache and exhaustion. Although early adolescents can face experiences that can be contrasted with similar stressors and strains as adults, the distinct characteristics of their IT use should be considered in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread and prevalence of COVID-19 in several countries had effected several parts of human relations, political governance and shuttered individual and corporate livelihoods. While works have being developed to provide understanding of the issues related to COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of such works has largely been on industrialised world, neglecting Africa. But undeniable is that the pandemic created new ways of social relations and affected economic well-being on the continent. Using online research survey instrument, the paper examined the effects of COVID-19 containment measures, its effects on social relations, and its effect on individual and household economy. All the 325 respondents, who were randomly selected from across the country to participate in the survey, returned the online questionnaire. Inferential and descriptive statistics were utilised for data analysis. Among others, the paper found that as a result of the COVID-19 induced social distancing and lockdown in Nigeria, economically, individual and household finances and income declined; and socially, Nigerians were separated from friends, families and colleagues, and were deprived of their social lifestyle, which were negative for their mental health. It concluded that COVID-19; and social distancing and lockdown had adverse effect on the social and economic life of Nigerians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illuminates kinesthesia's role in ballet training by revealing findings of a study regarding non-tactile corporeal communication termed kinesthetic dialogue. Even before the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) heightened awareness of physical distancing, physical interaction between teacher and student was already increasingly scrutinized. The findings of this study show that during kinesthetic dialogue, tactile communication is non-existent, facilitating collaboration and learning. In a complex pedagogical landscape, where touch is increasingly risky, the conscious application of kinesthetic dialogue during physically distanced studio classes and over online platforms is an effective pedagogical tool. Kinesthetic dialogue becomes central to learning, as teachers may no longer have the option of in-person classes or tactile communication and dancers' technologically mediated identities established during COVID-19 lockdown will continue to represent them online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correct evaluation of the reproductive number R for COVID-19 is central in the quantification of the potential scope of the pandemic and the selection of an appropriate course of action. In most models, R is modeled as a constant - effectively averaging out the inherent variability of the transmission process due to varying individual contact rates, population densities, or temporal factors amongst many. Yet, due to the exponential nature of epidemic growth, the error due to this simplification can be rapidly amplified, and its extent remains unknown. How can this intrinsic variability be percolated into epidemic models, and its impact, better quantified? We study this question here through a Bayesian perspective that captures at scale the heterogeneity of a population and environmental conditions, creating a bridge between the traditional agent-based and compartmental approaches. We use our model to simulate the spread as well as the impact of different social distancing strategies on real COVID-19 data, and highlight the significant impact of the heterogeneity. We emphasize that the contribution of this paper focuses on discussing the importance of the impact of R's heterogeneity on uncertainty quantification from a statistical viewpoint, rather than developing new predictive models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Library began planning for the Fall 2020 semester knowing that COVID-19 and social unrest stemming from police actions across the country would impact library safety for the university community. The goal for reopening was to implement best practices that incorporated University health and safety guidelines as well as student feedback. A task force conducted 12 focus group sessions between June 18–26, 2020, in which 56 university students participated. Students identified physical distancing, personal protective equipment (PPE), and monitoring compliance in the library as primary concerns. The campus libraries made extensive changes to its facilities, access to materials and services, and conduct policies to address these issues. This paper will benefit library leaders and administrators making tough and unprecedented time-sensitive decisions using evidence-based data from stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of "social distancing" and quarantine orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have temporarily limited the ability for queer communities to engage in physical forms of social leisure. This pandemic also serves as a reminder of the importance of leisure spaces for queer communities and their unique leisure experiences. Given this opportunity to (re)examine the importance of queer leisure spaces, this paper will take a critical look at the impact this pandemic has had on queer leisure provision and the ramifications for queer leisure and queering leisure in a post-pandemic world. This paper will examine the current absence of queer leisure outlets, portrayal of public queer spaces, how the response to the sudden elimination of queer leisure spaces can inform our current understanding of leisure, and potential lessons about the connection between physical social engagement and queer leisure spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to quarantine and social distancing, people are attached to and rely on social media more than ever before. The main goal of this paper is to highlight several important areas of research on studying Covid-19 through the lens of social media for information system researchers and call for more future research. The paper will not only discuss their significance and urgency, but also shed light on existing work and potential future research issues and challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic presented numerous, significant challenges for medical schools, including how to select the best candidates from a pool of applicants when social distancing and other measures prevented "business as usual" admissions processes. However, selection into medical school is the gateway to medicine in many countries, and it is critical to use processes which are evidence-based, valid and reliable even under challenging circumstances. Our challenge was to plan and conduct a multiple-mini interview (MMI) in a dynamic and stringent safe distancing context. Methods: This paper reports a case study of how to plan, re-plan and conduct MMIs in an environment where substantially tighter safe distancing measures were introduced just before the MMI was due to be delivered. Results: We report on how to design and implement a fully remote, online MMI which ensured the safety of candidates and assessors. Discussion: We discuss the challenges of this approach and also reflect on broader issues associated with selection into medical school during a pandemic. The aim of the paper is to provide broadly generalizable guidance to other medical schools faced with the challenge of selecting future students under difficult conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the COVID-19 global health disaster continues to unfold across the world, calls have been made to address the associated mental illness public crisis. The current paper seeks to broaden these calls by considering the role that positive psychology factors can play in buffering against mental illness, bolstering mental health during COVID-19 and building positive processes and capacities that may help to strengthen future mental health. The paper explores evidence and applications from nine topics in positive psychology that support people through a pandemic: meaning, coping, self-compassion, courage, gratitude, character strengths, positive emotions, positive interpersonal processes and high-quality connections. In times of intense crisis, such as COVID-19, it is understandable that research is heavily directed towards addressing the ways in which people are wounded and weakened. However, this need not come at the expense of also investigating the ways in which people are sustained and strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social scientists often assume that complex externalities, such as pandemics, should be governed through a Pigouvian approach that deems top-down coercion and restrictions sufficient to govern externalities. Yet, the production of public health requires citizens to actively adopt precautionary and cooperative measures. Moreover, as Elinor Ostrom's work on global warming suggests, externalities can be governed through polycentric approaches that match the scale and nestedness of the externality with appropriate governance structures from the bottom-up. Drawing on Vincent and Elinor Ostrom's work, this paper explores the notions of nestedness, polycentricity and coproduction to shed light on the nature of modern public health challenges. It provides a framework for understanding global challenges by pointing out two crucial, yet neglected, features of complex externalities: first, social distancing and other public health measures are coproduction processes. Second, responding to health externalities is a problem of governing nested externalities at different scales. This provides a suitable conceptual foundation for responding to future global challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestreaming and filming death rites and funeral ceremonies to enable remote engagement proliferated rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many expect these options to remain prevalent going forward. This paper draws on interviews with a diverse UK sample of 68 bereaved people, funeral directors, officiants and celebrants. It illustrates how, and explains why, people's experiences and evaluations of hybrid funerals can vary. In a context when in-person gatherings were limited, hybridisation played a valuable role in enabling more people to engage with funerals. However, virtual attendance was often considered less satisfying than in-person attendance because it did not enable people to participate well in the funeral activities that mattered to them or to participate with others as they would in person. Scope for participation was partly contingent on the functionality and use made of technology, including whether and which steps were taken to facilitate engagement and a sense of connection for those joining online. People's evaluations of hybrid funerals could also reflect their relationships to the deceased and their frames of reference – for example, whether they were comparing virtual attendance to attending in person, or to being unable to attend at all, or to an overwhelmingly large funeral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Since the coronavirus disease 2019-mandated social distancing policy has been lifted worldwide, the circulation of influenza is expected to resume. Currently, oseltamivir is approved as the first-line agent for influenza prevention and treatment. Areas covered: This paper reviews the updated evidence in the pharmacology, resistance mechanisms, clinical pharmacy management, and real-world data on oseltamivir for influenza. Expert opinion: Oseltamivir is an oral prodrug of oseltamivir carboxylate, an influenza A and B neuraminidase inhibitor. Recently, the therapeutic efficacy of oseltamivir has been demonstrated in several trials. Oseltamivir is generally well-tolerated but may lead to neuropsychiatric events and bleeding. Oseltamivir-resistant influenza virus has been associated with the H275Y mutation in the influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus, while most strains are still sensitive to oseltamivir. Dose adjustment for oseltamivir should be based on creatinine clearance and body weight in pediatric patients with renal failure. According to real-world data from Nanfang Hospital, the annual number of patients prescribed oseltamivir declined from 35,711 in 2019 to 8,971 in 2020, with marked increases in 2022 (20,213) and 2023 (18,071). Among the 206 inpatients, children aged < 6 years who were treated with oseltamivir had the shortest duration to defervescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a taken-for-granted institutional form, shelters for unhoused New Yorkers, through the neo-institutional lens of institutional inertia and critical case study methodology. It focuses on the external shock of COVID-19, NYC's use of unoccupied hotels for social distancing, and the return to shelters when COVID waned. For guidance, we examine other instances of interrupted institutional inertia following shocks. Using Lewin's force field analysis, we explore why changes to some institutional forms amidst COVID persisted while novel approaches to shelter dissipated. We conclude that directly involving unhoused people in the design and implementation of homeless services may improve outcomes. Human service professionals share a body of knowledge and assumptions – a kind of echo chamber that amplifies and confirms beliefs. It is important to look beyond traditional and familiar models of service delivery to find alternative ideas and approaches that may be effective. Returning to Kurt Lewin's concept of force fields provides opportunities to think effectively and holistically about how to modify or change services, policies, and organizations. People served by human services – those with lived experiences – possess unique expertise that can inform organizational decisions and planning in new and helpful ways. As practitioners, we need to find ways to be more inclusive of the perspectives and ideas of those our programs serve through participatory methods of planning, decision making, and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonprofit organizations operating in civil society have become the main channel for social service provision in most neoliberal welfare economies. Social service nonprofits (SSNs) deliver essential services mainly to vulnerable and marginalized populations. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, SSNs have been at the frontline of dealing with its socioeconomic consequences. This paper focuses on the activities and responses to the crisis of SSNs in Israel. Interviews with SSN directors (N = 17) show that they dealt with growing demands for services due to the social implications of the pandemic, along with operational difficulties, such as deterioration in clients' condition, disruption in service continuity, and reduced funding and staff. Next to these difficulties, the findings highlighted the social innovations adopted by SSNs to maintain service provision, such as implementing remote service technologies, forming collaborations, and recruiting volunteers. Implications for the social services and policies are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public support for responses to the coronavirus pandemic has sharply diverged on partisan lines in many countries, with conservatives tending to oppose lockdowns, social distancing, mask mandates and vaccines, and liberals far more supportive. This polarization may arise from the way in which the attitudes of each side is echoed back to them, especially on social media. In this paper, I argue that echo chambers are not to blame for this polarization, even if they are causally responsible for it. They are not to blame, because belief calibration in an echo chamber is a rational process; moreover, the epistemically constitutive properties of echo chambers are not optional for epistemically social animals like us. There is no special problem of echo chambers; rather, there is a problem of misleading evidence (especially higher-order evidence). Accordingly, we ought to respond to misinformation about COVID neither by attempting to dismantle echo chambers nor by attempting to make people more rational, but rather by attempting to supplant unreliable higher-order evidence with better evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa implemented a national lockdown including a ban on the sale of alcohol. This paper describes adults' perspectives on this alcohol ban, focusing on whether they support or oppose this regulation. As part of a longitudinal study that documents South African's experiences of the COVID-19 lockdown, qualitative data were collected from 49 adults and analyzed thematically. Perspectives are framed around the overarching theme of "lives versus livelihoods," presented as support and/or opposition to the ban. Participants who endorsed the ban, as preserving "lives," thought that it facilitated social distancing and therefore limited the spread of COVID-19. Those who opposed the ban suggested that it undermined the "livelihoods" of South Africans, in the context of an already-strained economy. Our findings show that decisions around whether to support or oppose the alcohol ban were informed by critical reflections on the wider socio-behavioral and health implications of such regulations. Further implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies showed that physical distancing and proper hygiene measures mitigate the fast spread of COVID-19. But how far the informal urban settlements residents can adhere to these and other measures are yet to receive in-depth studies in Nigeria. Therefore, this study investigated the level of residents' compliance and proffer possible solutions that will mitigate the pandemic spread. Five cities across Nigeria were engaged as the case study via a phenomenology type of qualitative research. The study combined MAXQDA 2020 with thematic analysis to describe the data. Findings show that majority of the informal urban settlements in Nigeria can enhance the spread of COVID-19. As part of this paper's implications, findings will strengthen collaboration with relevant stakeholders regarding effective control measures and propose measures possibly to be adopted by other developing countries with similar attributes in the informal urban settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced cities worldwide to implement social distancing on a large scale and even lockdowns. City lockdowns are considered a public health policy to reduce virus spread and at the same time to protect vulnerable groups of the population. However, studying the implications of city lockdowns on urban populations' mental and emotional wellbeing has been widely neglected. Using a case study of Indonesia's capital and the largest metropolitan area of Jakarta, this study investigates the temporal dynamics of emotions experienced by the citizen during two months of city-scale lockdown. This paper uses Twitter text data as the source for emotional analysis with almost 9000 tweets. The study suggests that positive emotions were more common than negative texts across all periods under study, with lockdown acting as momentum for enhancing family gatherings and serving as a reminder of the importance of health, as the common positive emotions identified. The study provides evidence on the possibility of crowdsourcing data such as Twitter as an alternative source of data for urban analytics that allows researchers to understand the effect of activities and events in a certain location on its citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Women all over the world face a multitude of issues daily. Unfortunately, one of the most common and tragic concerns that women face, especially those in third world countries, is domestic violence. This research paper has tried to find out and analyze the trend of domestic violence during this current period of lockdown and social distancing measures, which the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated. During our investigations, a few variables intrigued us; these variables do not lead to a simple, uncomplicated conclusion on the occurrence of domestic violence. On the contrary, the pool of 350 respondents (especially from urban areas), which include homemakers and working women alike, education was one such variable that played a pivotal role in preventing domestic violence. Another variable was the effect of social stigma; because many women have internalized the impact of spousal and familial abuse, most of them find it incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to speak up about the struggles they face. We have made use of logistic regression models to verify the independent variables and their validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this autoethnography, BW and I explore the various ways in which my experiences of lockdown during the Coronavirus pandemic are not altogether different from my everyday experiences as a visually impaired person. Further, we make sense of my experience that, notwithstanding the social world's expression of feelings about lockdown and social distancing, my own reactions to disability-imposed lockdown remain unrecognized, invalidated and unseen. Making sense of these experiences of invisibility is essential, since it is only when our experiences are truly contemplated by others that we can have the hope of being fully known. In this paper, my co-author and I explain the various ways in which my experiences of lockdown during the Coronavirus pandemic are not altogether different from my everyday experiences as a visually impaired person; I provide examples to illustrate that there are anxiety-provoking challenges lurking outside my home; Yet, giving in to these anxieties and being confined to my home is too painful to give in to; While my everyday experiences are, too some extent, what the world is experiencing at the current moment with social distancing and lockdown, my feelings about disability-imposed lockdown remain unrecognized, invalidated and unseen; It is important to voice and make known these realities, For it is only when our experiences are truly seen—when we are completely known—that we can move towards self-acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social distancing as a health-related behavior during epidemics and pandemics, can significantly influence their control. In this regard, the identification of the factors influencing behavior change can play a remarkable role in assessing for how behaviors form. This paper is an attempt to show that the extended theory of planned behavior can provide a useful theoretical framework for explaining social distancing in the face of a contagion disease. The results showed that the constructs of attitude, descriptive norms, perceived behavioral control, and self-efficacy significantly influenced the students' intention to adhere to social distancing in the form of university closure. Among these constructs, self-efficacy was found to be the main predictor of the students' intention. Interestingly, the research revealed that injunctive norms were not a significant predictor of the students' intention. Practically, this study is a justification for the use of attitude, descriptive norms, perceived behavioral control, and self-efficacy in planning and decision-making for encouraging students to adhere to social distancing during epidemics and pandemics, like the COVID-19 pandemic. The extended theory of planned behavior is useful in understanding Iranian College Students' Intention toward Social Distancing in COVID-19 Pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of health protection measures depends on public compliance. This paper aims to understand the influence of three different types of communication (i.e., news media, social media, and interpersonal communication) on people's engagement in health protective behavior during a public health crisis. Our C-ENT model of health protective behavior proposes that communication raises perceptions of efficacy, norms, and threat, which in turn influence health protective behavior (communication → efficacy, norms, threat: C-ENT). We test the model for the case of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a representative online survey during the first week of the lockdown in Switzerland (N = 1005). The results support the C-ENT model and illustrate the important role of communication engagement during a public health crisis. News media use was associated with perceptions of behavior-related efficacy and norms and disease-related threat, and these perceptions were positively associated with compliance with social distancing. Social media use and interpersonal communication were related with perceived norms. Social media use was negatively and interpersonal communication positively associated with health behavior-supporting normative perceptions. Our findings suggest taking the distinct pattern among communication types (i.e., news media, social media, and interpersonal communication), perceptions, and behavior into account in order to understand existing dependencies and design respective communication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]