• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.251-279
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• 2020

This study noted the recent impact of Coronavirus Disease-19 (Corona 19) on the environment surrounding the library, and investigated the libraries' response activities. In addition, related issues on news media and social media were detected based on text mining techniques to engage environmental changes surrounding the library. Key issues were derived from 1,852 news reports on the library related to the Corona 19 situation and 227,983 tweets related to the library during the Corona 19 epidemic. Through this, implications were derived: prolonged 'Untact' situations, increased e-book lending, improved expectations for online services and librarians, and re-conceptualized library space. In addition, the direction of future services was discussed by selecting representative examples of library services provided in the non-face-to-face (untact) situation and dividing them into books, services, and spaces.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.49-54
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• 2020

COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to recognize the necessity of information and telecommunications infrastructure which is base of information and telecommunication. This paper discusses the importance of information and telecommunications infrastructure in COVID-19 pandemic and overview proper institutional measures to fulfill state responsibility for establishment and protection of the infrastructure through documentary survey and normative study with juristic consideration. Information and telecommunications infrastructure has critical functions to respond to the pandemic and is one of the key to make digital transformation. A state is responsible for establishment and protection of Information and telecommunications infrastructure. Institutional measures have significance for the state responsibility and they are formed by not only statute but also constitution with making state object provision for establishment and protection of Information and telecommunications infrastructure. This paper shows premise and direction of further studies on related individual legislation.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

Since the first confirmed case in January 2020, Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) has brought many changes to our society, and Korea is no exception. Some changes are direct and immediate such as restrictions on overseas travel and social distancing, but the others are indirect and slowly adapted such as lifestyle changes impacting industries and businesses. IT service sector is tremendously influenced by COVID-19. IT service is used extensively in response to COVID-19 taking advantage of its non-face-to-face characteristics. In that sense, the industry is positively affected and in some sense invigorated, giving birth to new kind of services. This special issue focuses on introducing how the IT services are affected, what kind of transformations are undergoing, and how these are expedited after COVID-19. This special issue expands and extends the case research section by collecting new IT service case studies concerning these topics. After competitive review process, 11 studies are selected for this special issue which deals with four different but closely related aspects: (1) evolutions of private IT services, (2) transformations in public IT services, (3) impacts in the hospitality and tourism industry, and (4) changes of people's behavior along with COVID-19. The first set reports on the evolution of private IT services that have created terms such as foodtech and edutech as we enter a rapid non-face-to-face situation. The second set consists of studies dealing with the evolution of public IT services. Evolution and rapid response to non-face-to-face appear to be no exception in the public sector. The third includes studies of hospitality and tourism which is most strongly affected by COVID-19. The last set deals with the behavioral changes of users such as technostress in telecommuting. Lessons learned through best practices and key problems identified in these studies may help us to actively respond to the coming waves of changes incurred by COVID-19 in our society as well as in the IT service industry.

• Maritime Security
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.149-173
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• 2020

While the United States and other Western states are in trouble with COVID-19 crisis, China is continuing its aggressive ocean expansion with its Gray-zone strategy. The Gray-zone strategy, which China uses around the South China Sea, refers to a strategy that promotes a change in international politics by creating an unclear state, neither war or peace. China, which is trying to expand its influence across East Asia, will also try to project a Gray zone strategy on the Korean Peninsula. The possible scenarios are as follows: 1) South Korea is accidentally involved in a dispute in the South China Sea, 2) Military conflicts between South Korea and China is caused by illegal fishing of Chinese boats in Yellow Sea, 3) China tries to interfere with Socotra Rock, 4) Unlikely, but possible in the future that China induce the military conflicts between Korea and Japan on the Dokdo issue. In order to cope with these scenarios, Korea should prepare the following measures from a long-term perspective: the creation of an Asian maritime safety fleet, the integ rated operation of the navy and the coast guard in the framework of the national fleet, and strengthening the conflict control system for China's provocations.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.130-134
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• 2021

In the era of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), social distancing and strict visitation policies at hospitals have made it difficult for medical staff to provide high-quality end-of-life (EOL) care to dying patients and their families. There are various issues related to EOL care, including psychological problems of patients and their families, difficulties in EOL decision-making, the complicated grief of the bereaved family, moral distress, and exhaustion of medical staff. In relation to these issues, we aimed to discuss practical considerations in providing high-quality EOL care in the COVID-19 pandemic. First, medical staff should discuss advance care planning as early as possible and use the parallel planning strategy. Second, medical staff should play a role in facilitating patient-family communication. Third, medical staff should actively and proactively evaluate and alleviate dying patients' symptoms using non-verbal communication. Lastly, medical staff should provide care for family members of the dying patient, who may be particularly vulnerable to post-bereavement problems in the COVID-19 era. Establishing a system of screening high-risk individuals for complicated grief and connecting them to bereavement support services might be considered. Despite the challenging and limited environment, providing EOL care is essential for patients to die with dignity in peace and for the remaining family to return to life after the loved one's death. Efforts considering the practical issues faced by all medical staff and healthcare institutions caring for dying patients should be made.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.422-430
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• 2021

Objectives: Pregnant women are especially vulnerable to respiratory infections such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but insufficient research has investigated pregnancy and its outcomes in women with COVID-19. This cross-sectional study compared birth outcomes related to COVID-19 between Bangladeshi pregnant women with and without COVID-19. Methods: The study was conducted at 3 tertiary referral hospitals in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from March to August 2020. Pregnant women admitted for delivery at these hospitals with laboratory results (reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction) were analyzed. Using convenience sampling, we included 70 COVID-19-positive and 140 COVID-19-negative pregnant women. Trained and experienced midwives conducted the interviews. Data were analyzed using the t-test, the chi-square test, and univariate and multivariable linear and logistic regression. Results: Pregnant women with COVID-19 were more likely to give birth to a preterm baby (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06 to 4.37) and undergo a cesarean section (aOR, 3.27; 95% CI, 1.51 to 7.07). There were no significant differences in birth weight, premature rupture of membranes, and the Apgar score at 1 minute or 5 minutes post-delivery between women with and without COVID-19. All the newborn babies who were born to COVID-19-positive women were COVID-19-negative. Conclusions: Our study suggests that pregnant women with COVID-19 were more likely to give birth to a preterm baby and undergo a cesarean section. For this reason, physicians should be particularly cautious to minimize adverse birth outcomes among pregnant women with COVID-19 and their newborn babies.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.217-225
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• 2022

We analyzed efficiency and productivity of the Indian non-life insurance market affected by the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020. Using data envelopment analysis(DEA), we examined non-life insurance companies selling health insurance products in India from FY2013 to FY2019. We found the followings. First, average efficiency of the entire non-life insurance industry worsened in the beginning yet improved later. Second, analyzing the efficiency measures by group, we found that private insurance companies had the highest efficiency, followed by state-run insurance companies and pure health insurance companies. Third, average annual productivity growth rate of companies operating distance selling channels including telemarketing is higher than that of traditional face-to-face channels. During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore, Indian non-life insurance companies should focus their resources and efforts on the development of distance selling channels when establishing business strategies. Besides, it would be interesting to extend our analysis to the post-coronavirus period and we leave this for future research.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.231-239
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• 2022

This study aimed to examine the influence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on areas of Korean medical students' lives, assess concerns, and investigate the strategies they used to cope with stress due to the pandemic. An online survey with a total of 53 items on the impact of COVID-19, concerns, and coping strategies was sent to medical students, and responses were collected from April 27, 2021 to May 30, 2021. In total, 1,329 students were included in the study. Analysis was performed using the chi-square test, independent-sample t-test, and one-way analysis of variance, and the post-hoc Scheffé test or Games-Howell test was performed for multiple comparisons. The main negative impacts of the pandemic were on hobbies/leisure activities and mental health, and medical students expressed the highest levels of concern regarding restriction of movement, returning to everyday life, and risk of infection for family and friends. Female students more strongly agreed that COVID-19 had increased their depressed mood and anxiety (p<0.001 and p=0.003, respectively). Furthermore, the negative impacts of the pandemic on different areas of life significantly affected current levels of depressed mood and anxiety. To cope with pandemic-related stress, students used several strategies such as talking with family or friends (91.5%), sleeping (83.1%), exercising (72.8%), using social networking services (60.8%), drinking alcohol (37.8%), and practicing meditation/mindfulness (24.4%); the effectiveness of these strategies ranged from 3.45 to 4.19 on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1-5). The study findings suggest that COVID-19 has influenced the mental health of medical students and raised concerns in many areas of their lives. Students used various strategies to cope with the pandemic-related stress; since the effectiveness of frequently used approaches varied, it is essential to guide medical students to develop effective coping strategies.

• International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.25-39
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• 2022

Perceptions of Library and Information (LI) professionals in Nigeria and the impact of COVID-19 on libraries, librarians and library services, were studied. The significance of demographic factors on LI professionals' perception of COVID-19 and its impact on libraries was tested. Descriptive survey design and Purpose sampling technique were adopted. LIS professionals in Nigeria constituted the population, and an online questionnaire designed by the researchers through Microsoft Forms was used. Descriptive analysis of respondents' demographic data and their covid-19 perception were presented in frequencies and percentages using tables while multivariate regression technique was used to test the significance of relationship between variables at P < 0.05. Findings revealed that many (61.4%) of the respondents agreed that COVID-19 is real but have personal reservations. However, 47.5% indicated that COVID-19 is a scientific invention. On the impacts of COVID-19 on libraries, the study found that COVID-19 is a game changer that will enhance the creation of new services by libraries, cause the reconfiguration of library space for safe operations in post-COVID, establishment of new rules and regulations, and more reliance on e-resources. On the test of association, educational qualification of respondents had a significant impact on respondents' perceptions that COVID-19 will reduce the use of library print resources (P-value = 0.005, B: 0.38, [95% CI: 0.115 - 0.646]) and that library will create new services to address the changes caused by COVID-19. Also, educational qualification of respondents significantly influenced respondents' perception that COVID-19 is real. The study recommends that libraries should take advantage of the season to innovate, and that public health institutions should continually educate people on corona virus to disabuse people's mind of conspiracy theories.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.264-272
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• 2022

Purpose: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly disrupted cancer screening services worldwide. We aimed to measure the impact of COVID-19 on gastric cancer screening rates based on age, sex, household income, and residential area. Materials and Methods: We analyzed data from the Korean National Cancer Screening Survey from 2017 to 2021 for adults aged 40-74 years. We evaluated the gastric cancer screening rate within two years in accordance with the National Cancer Screening Program protocol recommendations and that within the previous year. We compared the trends in the pre- and post-COVID-19 outbreak periods. Results: Before the COVID-19 outbreak, there was little change in the gastric cancer screening rates until 2019. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the screening rate as per recommendation decreased from 70.8% in 2019 to 68.9% in 2020 and that for one year decreased from 32.7% in 2019 to 27.2% in 2020. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued after 2020, both gastric cancer screening rates as per recommendations and for one year rebounded. Although a similar trend was observed for the upper endoscopy screening rate, the upper gastrointestinal series screening rate decreased from 7.8% in 2020 to 3.1% in 2021. During the pandemic, the screening rate decreased among younger adults (40-49), those residing in metropolitan regions, and those with high incomes. Conclusions: Despite a decline in gastric cancer screening rate during the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate surged in 2021. Further studies are needed to estimate the impact of cancer screening delays on future cancer-related mortalities.