• Title/Summary/Keyword: Pandemics

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Microblogging Sentiment Investor, Return and Volatility in the COVID-19 Era: Indonesian Stock Exchange

  • FARISKA, Putri;NUGRAHA, Nugraha;PUTERA, Ika;ROHANDI, Mochamad Malik Akbar;FARISKA, Putri
    • The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.61-67
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    • 2021
  • The covid-19 pandemic scenario caused the most extensive economic shocks the world has experienced in decades. Maintaining financial performance and economic stability is essential during the pandemic period. In these conditions, where movement is severely restricted, media consumption is considered to be increasing. The social media platform is one of the media online used by the public as a source of information and also expressing their sentiment, including individual investors in the capital market as social media users. Twitter is one of the social media microblogging platforms used by individual investors to share their opinion and get information. This study aims to determine whether microblogging sentiment investors can predict the capital market during pandemics. To analyze microblogging sentiment investors, we classified sentiment using the phyton text mining algorithm and Naïve Bayesian text classification into level positive, negative, and neutral from November 2019 to November 2020. This study was on 68 listed companies on the Indonesia stock exchange. A Vector Autoregression and Impulse Response is applied to capture short and long-term impacts along with a causal relationship. We found that microblogging sentiment investor has a significant impact on stock returns and volatility and vice-versa. Also, the response due to shocks is convergent, and microblogging investors in Indonesia are categorized as a "news-watcher" investor.

Indonesian plastic surgeons' attitude during early period of the COVID-19 pandemic

  • Prasetyono, Theddeus Octavianus Hari
    • Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.17-25
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    • 2021
  • Background: This study aims to report how the practice of plastic surgeons and their attitude was during the first measure period of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: A survey study was held among members of the Indonesian Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons during week 5 after the first report of COVID-19. A 10 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and 1 essay covered key questions on the area of surgery and operating room, clinics, internal meeting, and consultation. The only open-ended question relates to the last MCQ addresses a future "flipped" medical practice. Results: Response rate was 45.6% among 228 members, with 89.4% did no practice or limited their service to emergency and urgent cases only. Only 1.9% kept their official meeting as usual, while the majority modified it. The practice in the operating theatre and clinic were also altered to comply with the measures; with 21.2% from the total respondents only allowed patients with exposure to come for visit after taking 14 days of self-quarantine. Teleconsultation was practiced by 50% of the respondents, while 41.3% agreed and 10.6% disagreed upon the future "flipped" medical practice. Conclusion: In general plastic surgeons have made supportive actions during the pandemic. Surgery was performed with all precautions at the utmost as a reflection of high alert of viral infection. Teleconsultation has been embraced via existing social media. Agreement upon the future "flipped" medical practice is reasonable. All in all, the actions were considered as most relevant.

COVID-19 and Cancer: Questions to Be Answered

  • Hong, Young Seon
    • Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.66-68
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    • 2021
  • The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak to be a pandemic on March 12, 2020. In Korea, there have been 24,027 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 420 deaths as of October 3, 2020. The clinical spectrum of COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic infection to death. Cancer care in this pandemic has radically changed. The literature was reviewed. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it urgently necessary to profoundly re-organize cancer patients' care without compromising cancer outcomes. Several important questions in regard to COVID-19 infection in cancer patients have emerged. Are patients with cancer at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection? Are they at an increased risk of mortality and severe illness when infected with COVID-19? Does anticancer treatment affect the course of COVID-19? Based on the existing research, cancer patients with immunosuppression are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, and cancer patients are more likely to experience severe COVID-19. However, chemotherapy and major surgery do not seem to be predictors of hospitalization or severe disease. Korean background data on patients with cancer and COVID-19 are lacking. Prospective multicenter studies on the outcomes of patients with cancer and COVID-19 should be conducted.

Experiences of Public Officials for the COVID-19 Response in the Community Health Center (보건소 공무원의 코로나19 대응 경험)

  • Son, Haeng-Mi;Yang, Hye-Ryun;Park, Bohyun
    • Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.578-592
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    • 2021
  • Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of public officials working for the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) response in community health centers in South Korea. Methods: A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted using data collected from three focus groups and two individual interviews. Results: The participants performed quarantine tasks in a poor working environment with several problems, such as significant workload, lack of manpower, and inappropriate compensation system. Participants experienced obstacles in performing quarantine works, which had the lack of the detailed quarantine guidelines, work support and cooperation system. Participants suffered from civil complaints. Participants endured sacrifices in their personal lives while partaking in COVID-19 response work without holidays, and subsequently experienced health problems. And also participants said that it was necessary to secure expertise and effective communication for infectious disease management. Conclusion: The study results suggest that policies are required that are aimed to improve the working environment and the recruitment of experts in infectious diseases. In addition, the job stress related to the COVID-19 response by public officials in community health centers must be evaluated, and the relation of their job stress to physical and mental problems, as well as psychosocial stress, must be examined.

A Machine Learning Univariate Time series Model for Forecasting COVID-19 Confirmed Cases: A Pilot Study in Botswana

  • Mphale, Ofaletse;Okike, Ezekiel U;Rafifing, Neo
    • International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.225-233
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    • 2022
  • The recent outbreak of corona virus (COVID-19) infectious disease had made its forecasting critical cornerstones in most scientific studies. This study adopts a machine learning based time series model - Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model to forecast COVID-19 confirmed cases in Botswana over 60 days period. Findings of the study show that COVID-19 confirmed cases in Botswana are steadily rising in a steep upward trend with random fluctuations. This trend can also be described effectively using an additive model when scrutinized in Seasonal Trend Decomposition method by Loess. In selecting the best fit ARIMA model, a Grid Search Algorithm was developed with python language and was used to optimize an Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) metric. The best fit ARIMA model was determined at ARIMA (5, 1, 1), which depicted the least AIC score of 3885.091. Results of the study proved that ARIMA model can be useful in generating reliable and volatile forecasts that can used to guide on understanding of the future spread of infectious diseases or pandemics. Most significantly, findings of the study are expected to raise social awareness to disease monitoring institutions and government regulatory bodies where it can be used to support strategic health decisions and initiate policy improvement for better management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Humanity-Centered Vision of Soft Power for Public Diplomacy's Global Mandate

  • Zaharna, R.S.
    • Journal of Public Diplomacy
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    • v.1 no.2
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    • pp.27-48
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    • 2021
  • Remarkably, despite the growing frequency and severity of global problems such as climate change, earthquakes and health pandemics, public diplomacy has remained largely focused on the goals of state actors and threats from other actors. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the consequences of focusing on individual actors of public diplomacy, including their competitive quest for soft power, over the more pressing needs of humanity and public diplomacy's global mandate. The aim of this piece is to expand the vision of soft power from a competitive state-centric perspective to a broader and more collaborative, humanity-centered perspective. Although public diplomacy's link to power may appear recent and linked to Nye's (2004) concept of soft power, research suggests that it may stem from the traditional diplomacy's "diplomacy of imperialism" (Langer, 1935) that immediately preceded public diplomacy's rise. While this diplomatic heritage may currently dominate public diplomacy perspectives, humankind's global heritages and evolutionary capacity for cooperation suggest another vision is possible. The paper draws upon Alexander Vuving's (2009) explanation of how soft power works in a comparative analysis with Nye's original works to sketch out a new humanity-centered perspective of soft power. The paper concludes with implications of a humanity-centered perspective of soft power for public diplomacy's global mandate.

Effectiveness of the Infectious Disease (COVID-19) Simulation Module Program on Nursing Students: Disaster Nursing Scenarios

  • Hwang, Won Ju;Lee, Jungyeon
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.51 no.6
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    • pp.648-660
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    • 2021
  • Purpose: This study aimed to develop an emerging infectious disease (COVID-19) simulation module for nursing students and verify its effectiveness. Methods: A one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study was conducted with 78 under-graduate nursing students. A simulation module was developed based on the Jeffries simulation model. It consisted of pre-simulation lectures on disaster nursing including infectious disease pandemics, practice, and debriefings with serial tests. The scenarios contained pre-hospital settings, home visits, arrival to the emergency department, and follow-up home visits for rehabilitation. Results: Disaster preparedness showed a statistically significant improvement, as did competencies in disaster nursing. Confidence in disaster nursing increased, as did willingness to participate in disaster response. However, critical thinking did not show significant differences between time points, and neither did triage scores. Conclusion: The developed simulation program targeting an infectious disease disaster positively impacts disaster preparedness, disaster nursing competency, and confidence in disaster nursing, among nursing students. Further studies are required to develop a high-fidelity module for nursing students and medical personnel. Based on the current pandemic, we suggest developing more scenarios with virtual reality simulations, as disaster simulation nursing education is required now more than ever.

Prevalence of Peripheral Vestibular Impairment in Adults with Human Immunodeficiency Virus

  • Millar, Alison;Joubert, Karin;Naude, Alida
    • Korean Journal of Audiology
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.36-42
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    • 2021
  • Background and Objectives: Globally, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is responsible for one of the most serious pandemics to date. The vulnerability of the vestibular system in individuals with HIV has been confirmed, and central vestibular impairments have been frequently reported. However, there are disagreements on the impact of HIV on peripheral vestibular function. Thus, the current study aimed to determine the prevalence of peripheral vestibular impairment, specifically related to the semi-circular canals (SCCs), in HIV-positive individuals receiving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. Subjects and Methods: A total of 92 adults between the ages of 18 and 50 years (divided into two groups) participated in the study. The first group comprised HIV-positive individuals receiving ARV treatment (n1=60), and the second group comprised HIV-negative participants (n2=32). The video head impulse test was used to conduct the head impulse paradigm (HIMP). Results: Bilateral normal HIMP results were obtained in 95% of the HIV-positive participants and all HIV-negative participants. The gain of the left posterior SCCs was significantly lower in the HIV-positive group, while the gains of all other canals between the two groups were comparable. Conclusions: The prevalence of peripheral vestibular impairment in the HIV-positive group was not significantly different from that of the HIV-negative group. The reduced prevalence in the current study may be attributed to participant characteristics, the test battery employed, and the central compensation of the vestibular dysfunctions at the later stages of infection.

COVID-19 Impact on the Quality of Life of Teachers: A Cross-Sectional Study

  • Rabacal, Judith S.;Oducado, Ryan Michael F.;Tamdang, Khen A.
    • Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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    • v.8 no.4
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    • pp.478-492
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    • 2020
  • The COVID-19 global health crisis has affected the mental and psychological health and well-being of the people around the world. However, little is known about the impact of COVID-19 among Filipino teachers. This study was conducted to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life (QoL) of professional teachers in the Philippines. A descriptive cross-sectional study was used involving 139 licensed professional teachers. The COVID-19 Impact on Quality of Life (COV19-QoL) was the primary measure used in this study. Descriptive statistics, t-test, and one-way ANOVA were the statistical tools employed to analyze the data. Results indicated a moderate COVID-19 impact on the QoL of the teachers. There was a significant difference in the impact of COVID-19 on QoL by degree program. However, the impact of COVID-19 on QoL did not significantly differ by age, sex, marital status, employment status, monthly salary, presence of a COVID-19 case near their residence, personal knowledge of someone who was infected or died of COVID-19, presence of a medical condition, and perceived threat. The psychological well-being and QoL of teachers must be recognized and teachers must be provided with support as they continue to adapt to the impact brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study contributes to the growing literature on the impact of the pandemic.

Prevalence of Peripheral Vestibular Impairment in Adults with Human Immunodeficiency Virus

  • Millar, Alison;Joubert, Karin;Naude, Alida
    • Journal of Audiology & Otology
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.36-42
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    • 2021
  • Background and Objectives: Globally, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is responsible for one of the most serious pandemics to date. The vulnerability of the vestibular system in individuals with HIV has been confirmed, and central vestibular impairments have been frequently reported. However, there are disagreements on the impact of HIV on peripheral vestibular function. Thus, the current study aimed to determine the prevalence of peripheral vestibular impairment, specifically related to the semi-circular canals (SCCs), in HIV-positive individuals receiving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. Subjects and Methods: A total of 92 adults between the ages of 18 and 50 years (divided into two groups) participated in the study. The first group comprised HIV-positive individuals receiving ARV treatment (n1=60), and the second group comprised HIV-negative participants (n2=32). The video head impulse test was used to conduct the head impulse paradigm (HIMP). Results: Bilateral normal HIMP results were obtained in 95% of the HIV-positive participants and all HIV-negative participants. The gain of the left posterior SCCs was significantly lower in the HIV-positive group, while the gains of all other canals between the two groups were comparable. Conclusions: The prevalence of peripheral vestibular impairment in the HIV-positive group was not significantly different from that of the HIV-negative group. The reduced prevalence in the current study may be attributed to participant characteristics, the test battery employed, and the central compensation of the vestibular dysfunctions at the later stages of infection.