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Covid-19 and indian commerce: an analysis of fast moving consumer goods (Fmcg), and retail industries of tomorrow
Introduction: This paper examines the effect of COVID-19 on Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Retail industries of India and examines emerging trends in these markets. Background: COVID-19 has impacted our lives from all the fronts. Businesses and Global Commerce will never be the same once the world restarts post COVID-19. Multiple new trends like Direct to Consumer model(D2C), Omnichannel fulfilment, etc. would emerge in the industries of tomorrow. Macroeconomic Dynamics, consumer behaviour and supply-side disruptions form a complex network that drives these trends in the economy. This network has to be studied to proactively identify the emerging trends in the industry. Methods: Existing literature on COVID-19 and its effect on business and commerce in India were retrieved through secondary research. The retrieved literature was analyzed to identify emerging trends. Conclusion: Emerging trends in FMCG and Retail industry suggest that the previously existing layers of wholesalers, distribu-tors, etc. between the producer and the end consumer is being eliminated. Companies are leveraging technology to achieve direct distribution and thus, are getting closer to the customer. 2020 Global Research Online. All rights reserved. -
COVID-19 and Mental Health of Indian Youth: Association with Background Variables and Stress
The coronavirus has become a public health concern of the decade, affecting the economic, social, and psychological stability of the whole world. Having understood the detrimental impact of the pandemic to the mental health of people of all age groups, youth is understood to be the most vulnerable population who receives its direct impact. The broad objective was to study the mental health status of Indian youth and its association with various demographic variables. Psychological stress and mental health was another relationship that was explored. A group of 317 participants between the age group of 19 to 29 voluntarily took part in the online survey. Gender was found to be associated with overall mental health status (p < 0.01) as well its correlates, namely anxiety (p < 0.05), depression (p < 0.05), and loss of behavioral control (p < 0.01). Association between age and loss of positive affect (p < 0.05), number of siblings and loss of behavioral control (p < 0.01), and family environment and overall mental health scores (p < 0.001) were found. Similarly, feeling of restlessness during lockdown (p < 0.001), availability of support (p < 0.001), and feeling the need to consult a mental health professional were associated with the overall mental health score as well as all its sub-scales. Further, there were strong negative correlations between psychological stress and overall mental health scores, as well as that of anxiety, depression, and loss of behavioral control and positive affect sub-scales. The study highlighted the need for psychological support services for the youth population of the country to cope with and adapt to the new situation. The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Taylor and Francis Pte Ltd. 2022. -
Covid-19 and Quad's Soft Reorientation
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue comprises a group of countries the US, Japan, Australia, and India, that started maritime collaboration in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The initiative lasted for a brief period before falling apart in 2008. The countries re-banded together in 2017 to consult on ensuring greater security and prosperity in a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and a rules-based order. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the group has been partnering on soft security aspects such as vaccine development and distribution. The paper suggests that this allows the group to become first movers in the areas of specific functional challenges. This paper looks at the role of health diplomacy in the region as a soft power tool. The theory is based on the works of Professor Joseph Nye who first coined the term 'soft power'. It focuses on the role of India in strategic altruism to enhance Quad's strategic influence in the region. Expanding global vaccine supply is an example of reaching out to low- and middle-income countries. The paper argues that enhancing such cooperative mechanisms will allow Quad to balance its cooperative and competitive outlook in the region, linking its security with prosperity and development objectives. 2021 -
Covid-19 and school management
The breakout of COVID-19 from Wuhan, China has shaken the world economy, giving a traumatic experience to people across the world. Most of the countries have locked down their business enterprises. Schools have started teaching online, and teachers have moved to online teaching in no time. School managers are making quick decisions on various challenges faced by their schools. These uncertain conditions have led to the present study. The present study explores the impact of COVID-19 on various dimensions of school management, such as finance, infrastructure, staff training, student enrollment, student retention, student welfare activities, co-curricular activities, and challenges and opportunities; how to maintain efficiency amidst COVID-19 pandemic; and how to reduce the pandemic effect in schools. This research employed the phenomenological qualitative method to address the research problems. The data was collected from the semi-structured online interview and review of related literature. The study describes the effect of COVID-19 on various dimensions of school management. 2022, IGI Global. All rights reserved. -
COVID-19 and stress of Indian youth: An association with background, on-line mode of teaching, resilience and hope
Background: COVID-19 pandemic causes serious threats to physical health and triggers wide varieties of psychological problems, including anxiety and depression. Youth exhibit a greater risk of developing psychological distress, especially during epidemics influencing their wellbeing. Objectives: To identify the relevant dimensions of psychological stress, mental health, hope and resilience and to examine the prevalence of stress in Indian youth and its relationship with socio-demographic information, online-mode of teaching, hope and resilience. Method: A cross-sectional online survey obtained information on socio-demographic background, online-mode of teaching, psychological stress, hope and resilience from the Indian youth. A Factor Analysis is also conducted on the recompenses of the Indian youth on psychological stress, mental health, hope and resilience separately to identify the major factors associated with parameters. The sample size in this study was 317, which is more than the required sample size (Tabachnik et al., 2001). Results: About 87% of the Indian youth perceived moderate to a high levels of psychological stress during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Different demographic, sociographic and psychographic segments were found to have high stress levels due to the pandemic, while psychological stress was found to be negatively correlated with resilience as well as hope. The findings identified significant dimensions of the stress caused by the pandemic and also identified the dimensions of mental health, resilience and hope among the study subjects. Conclusion: As stress has a long-term impact on human psychology and can disrupt the lives of people and as the findings suggest that the young population of the country have faced the greatest amount of stress during the pandemic, a greater need for mental health support is required to the young population, especially in post pandemic situations. The integration of online counselling and stress management programs could assist in mitigating the stress of youth involved in distance learning. 2023 The Author(s) -
COVID-19 and students perception about MOOCs a case of Indian higher educational institutions
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the outcomes of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in the light of COVID-19 concerning the students of higher educational institutions (HEIs) in India. The COVID-19 has disrupted the normal teaching-learning role across the world and has put everyone in a nightmare. HEIs are now requesting students to take up MOOCs to explore and attain knowledge and the same is even followed by the corporate institutions. MOOCs are one of the crisis management solutions to ensure that education is continuous and not disrupted. Design/methodology/approach: The data included in this research has been collected from students of HEIs across India using a convenient sampling method. The collected data was exposed to a factor analysis using a principal component analysis (PCA) technique to reduce multiple dimensions. Findings: The various stakeholders such as the government, HEIs and the MOOC providers have to play a crucial role in developing intellectual human assets for the nations growth and progression by extending flexible and cost-effective learning facilities. Education should be free to boost up the learning motivation, and hence it is the responsibility of the stakeholders to provide few courses free of cost, which will increase the rate of enrolment and student participation. Research limitations/implications: From the research, it is well understood that MOOCs are useful to keep oneself updated with the market and industry trends especially when the world is focusing on business analytics, artificial intelligence and other technologically driven topics and concepts. Practical implications: The present study contributes to the growing body of evidence that MOOCs play an important role in providing flexibility in learning. In the future, if there are similar crisis, which will disrupt education, then the best alternative will be MOOC through which many stakeholders will benefit. Education should be free to boost up the learning motivation, and hence it is the responsibility of the stakeholders to provide few courses free of cost, which will increase the rate of enrolment and student participation. Social implications: Education is a service for the society which will have a long-term positive impact on improving the standard of living of the people. Hence, MOOCs can be one of the educational elements to provide learning opportunities to all age groups. Originality/value: This study has explored the perception of MOOCs among the students of HEIs in India in the COVID-19 pandemic. The fresh data collected from the students is a reflection of their experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown. Indeed, it is quite surprising to know that majority of the respondents have arranged to learn during the pandemic, which shows the thirst and urge to learn. Digital technology and tools are welcomed and accepted by the student community. 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
COVID-19 and the cry of the poor sensitivity and solidarity
[No abstract available] -
COVID-19 and the world with co-morbidities of heart disease, hypertension and diabetes
Newly emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has now spread across the globe in past few months while affecting 26 million people and leading to more than 0.85 million deaths as on 2nd September, 2020. Severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection increases in COVID-19 patients due to pre-existing health co-morbidities. This mini-review has focused on the three significant co-morbidities viz., heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes, which are posing high health concerns and increased mortality during this ongoing pandemic. The observed co-morbidities have been found to be associated with the increasing risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 critical illness as well as to be associated positively with the worsening of the health condition of COVID-19 suffering individuals resulting in the high risk for mortality. SARS-CoV-2 enters host cell via angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors. Regulation of crucial cardiovascular functions and metabolisms like blood pressure and sugar levels are being carried out by ACE2. This might be one of the reasons that contribute to the higher mortality in COVID-19 patients having co-morbidities. Clinical investigations have identified higher levels of creatinine, cardiac troponin I, alanine aminotransferase, NT-proBNP, creatine kinase, D-dimer, aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase in patients who have succumbed to death from COVID-19 as compared to recovered individuals. More investigations are required to identify the modes behind increased mortality in COVID-19 patients having co-morbidities of heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. This will enable us to design and develop suitable therapeutic strategies for reducing the mortality. More attention and critical care need to be paid to such high risk patients suffering from co-morbidities during COVID-19 pandemic. 2020 Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology. All rights reserved. -
Covid-19 Classification and Detection Model using Deep Learning
One of the deadly diseases in recent years is covid19 which is affecting the lives of peoples. Also leading to severe adverse problems and death. Prevention is done using early diagnosis and medication which in turn helps in early detection of the disease. The basic aim of the paper is to identify and further classify the patients using the chest x-rays. From scratch the Convolutional Neural Network is diagnosed producing a very high accurate and optimum results. In recent years, researchers found out that in the radiological images such as like x-rays, the traces of covid-19 can be found. In few areas, a good accuracy of the covid-19 detection cannot be achieved due to lack of the people who test so the artificial intelligence is combined with the radiological image. In machine learning the models used are deep learning by automatizing the actions and making it certain by swift, skillful and proficient outcome produced by the chest images provided by the patients. There are several layers like convolutional layer, max pooling layer etc. which are initiated and are used with aid of ReLU activation function. These images given as inputs are also classified accordingly. There is a sequence of neurons being given as input to the active dense layer and there is a result to the input by a sigmoidal function. There is a rise in efficiency because the models are trained and there is a decline of loss at the same time. If there is a model where fitting is done earlier to the overfitting and is restricted from implementing in the data augmentation. There is a better and efficient involvement of suggestions to models of deep learning. Further there is a classification of chest images for identifying and analyzing covid19. So, to check the Covid detection, the images are used as raw. In this paper a model is proposed to have good accuracy in the classification between Covid and normal and further it can be classified into three categories like Covid, pneumonia, normal. There is a 98.08% for the first one and 87.02% for the second one. By introducing 17 convolutional layers and using the Darknet model used for classifying you only look once (YOLO) for the live identification of the objects and multiple layers of filters are used. In the model there is an initial screening. 2022 IEEE. -
Covid-19 ct lung image segmentation using adaptive donkey and smuggler optimization algorithm
COVID'19 has caused the entire universe to be in existential health crisis by spreading globally in the year 2020. The lungs infection is detected in Computed Tomography (CT) images which provide the best way to increase the existing healthcare schemes in preventing the deadly virus. Nevertheless, separating the infected areas in CT images faces various issues such as lowintensity difference among normal and infectious tissue and high changes in the characteristics of the infection. To resolve these issues, a newinf-Net (Lung Infection Segmentation Deep Network) is designed for detecting the affected areas from the CT images automatically. For the worst segmentation results, the Edge-Attention Representation (EAR) is optimized using Adaptive Donkey and Smuggler Optimization (ADSO). The edges which are identified by the ADSO approach is utilized for calculating dissimilarities. An IFCM (Intuitionistic Fuzzy C-Means) clustering approach is applied for computing the similarity of the EA component among the generated edge maps and Ground-Truth (GT) edge maps. Also, a Semi-Supervised Segmentation (SSS) structure is designed using the Randomly Selected Propagation (RP) technique and Inf-Net, which needs only less number of images and unlabelled data. Semi-Supervised Multi-Class Segmentation (SSMCS) is designed using a Bi-LSTM (Bi-Directional Long-Short-Term-memory), acquires all the advantages of the disease segmentation done using Semi Inf-Net and enhances the execution of multi-class disease labelling. The newly designed SSMCS approach is compared with existing U-Net++, MCS, and Semi-Inf-Net. factors such as MAE (Mean Absolute Error), Structure measure, Specificity (Spec), Dice Similarity coefficient, Sensitivity (Sen), and Enhance-Alignment Measure are considered for evaluation purpose. 2022 Tech Science Press. All rights reserved. -
COVID-19 Effects on Learning Behaviour of Tourism Students for Sustainable Education: The Malaysian Context
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the alarming spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) began to shock the world on 31 December 2019, and it was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei, in China when a patient presented with pneumonia. To date, the virus has recorded over 2,088,663 cases worldwide. The impact of COVID-19 would be precisely worrying as it aggravated not only tourism but also the learning behaviour of tourism students. What are the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the learning behaviour of tourism students? What lessons could be learned to make it more sustainable for the students? And finally, what would be the suggested resilient strategies for the tourism students in the post-pandemic era? There is no original study conducted to focalise investigation on revealing the negative characteristics of COVID-19 and the learning curve of university students in Malaysia. However, the main objectives of this chapter are to provide an overview of the effects of COVID-19 in the learning behaviour of tourism students for sustainable education and the factors that distress students minds and how these helped students to share the positive aspects with others. It is gradually visible that the effects of COVID-19 on learning behaviour and dangers to university students in Malaysia and their significance on students emotional change or learning behaviours are not well perceived. This chapter recommends that educational institutions produce studies to proliferate and document the pandemics impact on the educational system. It is crucial for tourism students for sustainable education in the current time. 2023 Priyakrushna Mohanty, Anukrati Sharma, James Kennell and Azizul Hassan. -
COVID-19 in pregnant women and children: Insights on clinical manifestations, complexities, and pathogenesis
Pregnancy changes the body's immune system to counteract the spectrum of infections, including COVID-19, which can pose complications. Pregnant women are less likely to contract COVID-19 infections than the general public. However, pregnant women are at slightly increased risk of becoming severely unwell if they do catch COVID-19, and congenital conditions in pregnant women may worsen the state of infection and lead to critical stages and even mortality. The possibility of vertical transmission has been reported in only a few cases of COVID-19; however, it was not noted in cases of SARS and MERS. Vaccination coverage in pregnant women remains a challenge. Children are the next suspected and vulnerable population to acquire infection after the first and second waves. Children are disproportionately infected compared with older populations, but the severity of infection is less compared to adults. This review highlights the complexities of COVID-19 in pregnant women and the underlying reasons why children tend to be comparatively less severely affected. Ethnicity, nutrition, lifestyle, and therapeutics influence the severity of infection in children. Low expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors, indigenous virus competence, and maternal immunity is the first-line defense for children against COVID-19. Habituating herbal medicines from childhood may help support a robust and defensive immune system to counteract novel antigens and encourage healthy generations. 2021 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics -
COVID-19 outbreak prediction using quantum neural networks
Artificial intelligence has become an important tool in fight against COVID-19. Machine learning models for COVID-19 global pandemic predictions have shown a higher accuracy than the previously used statistical models used by epidemiologists. With the advent of quantum machine learning, we present a comparative analysis of continuous variable quantum neural networks (variational circuits) and quantum backpropagation multilayer perceptron (QBMLP). We analyze the convoluted and sporadic data of two affected countries, and hope that our study will help in effective modeling of outbreak while throwing a light on bright future of quantum machine learning. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021. -
COVID-19 pandemic and preparedness of teachers for online synchronous classes
COVID-19 pandemic has forced educational institutes to shut down, and teachers are compelled to adopt technology ardently so that the teaching-learning process does not suffer. Gradually, it is being realised that synchronous online classes are required to enhance the teaching-learning experience. The major challenge in India is the lack of preparedness of the teachers, as most teachers have little experience with technology. Nevertheless, they have to adapt themselves quickly. However, to effectively use technology for synchronous online teaching, teachers have to be technology ready and proficient with utilising the platform used for online classes. This study attempts to understand the impact of teachers preparedness on the use of online platforms for synchronous teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper integrates the technology readiness index (TRI) and technology acceptance model (TAM), also known as the TR and acceptance model (TRAM), to investigate the phenomenon mentioned above. Copyright 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. -
COVID-19 pandemic and trade flows: empirical evidence from selected Asian Pacific countries
Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on trade flows in Asia Pacific countries and explores the causality between COVID-19-related shocks and trade. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used two novel techniques, namely, two-stage instrumental-variables (2SIV) approach and Juodis, Karavias and Sarafids (JKS) causality test, to examine trade dynamics in the Asia Pacific region during the pandemic. Findings: Using the monthly trade data of 17 Asia Pacific countries between January 2020 and December 2021, the results were threefold. Firstly, the empirical analysis showed that during the COVID-19 crisis, the flow of exports tended to persist idiosyncratically in comparison to the flow of imports. In particular, a specific finding was that the persistence level in exports was about 20%25% higher than that in imports. Secondly, the authors found that the past values of COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 deaths contain information that helps to predict exports/imports over and above the information contained in the past values of exports/imports alone. Finally, the study established that the government response and stringency indexes have a Granger-causal relationship with exports and imports. Research limitations/implications: For the foreseeable future, these findings have significant policy ramifications. Firstly, if a COVID-19 crisis-like situation emerges in the future, it will be critical for countries to maintain their competitiveness throughout the crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic, while also rebuilding trade relationships wherever possible. Secondly, because information about government responses and measures can also be used to predict future trade flows, prudent management of government responses and stringent measures will be necessary in a crisis like COVID-19 to achieve the optimum level of exports and imports. At the same time, the trading partners should give up the idea of trade protection and focus on finding a way to balance the conflicting needs of imports and exports. Originality/value: To the best of the authors knowledge, the authors, for the first time, used a 2SIV approach and JKS causality test to examine trade dynamics in the Asia Pacific region during the pandemic. In addition, the authors present the first comprehensive analysis of the evolving relationships between export and import flows and governmental policy responses under COVID-19. As a result, it contributes uniquely to both public and international economics. 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
COVID-19 pandemic, risk-reduction strategies and crisis management in the travel insurance sector
Travel has always been considered to be a risky affair as there are multiple uncertainties associated with it. Though the tourism industry has developed sophisticated methods to manage these risks, there are still certain uncontrollable and unforeseen circumstances that might affect the physical, emotional, and mental state of travellers. The result would be a huge financial burden for the traveller and increased frustration towards the tour operator. The concept of travel insurance was introduced to relieve travellers of such unforeseen risks while travelling. Moreover, the Covid 19 pandemic has instilled a sense of fear and doubt among the minds of travellers which affects their travel decision-making to a large extent. Destinations and tourism suppliers have introduced various risk reduction strategies and methods to resolve this issue. This paper focuses on understanding the concept of risk associated with travel, the various dimensions of risk management, and the key strategies adopted by tour operators and suppliers to minimize such risks. 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. -
Covid-19 pandemic: How do the family businesses in India cope with the crisis?
The Covid-19 pandemic brought about a major economic breakdown throughout the world due to the shutting down of businesses and organizations. Covid-19 took a toll on India also, the second-most populous country. In India, family-run businesses are the deep-rooted, oldest, and most widespread form of business ownership. Most family businesses, while keeping the welfare of their customers, employees, and communities in mind, have resorted to remote work and halting non-essential work. The government of India took measures mainly consisting of an increased moratorium period, corporate tax cuts, lower interest on delayed tax payments, extension in return filing deadline, and other policy decisions. This study discusses the impact of Covid-19 on family businesses and how family businesses cope with the shock to the system. In addition, it covers innovative and strategic solutions adopted by the family businesses as a shield to their business against the impact of the crisis and to grow progressively overcoming the pandemic situation. 2023, IGI Global. -
COVID-19 Pandemic: Review on Emerging Technology Involvement with Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the latest technology that has a significant influence on everyones life. During the COVID-19 crisis, cloud computing aids cooperation, communication, and vital Internet services. The pandemic situation made the people switch to online mode. The technology helped to bridge the gap between the work space and personal space. A quick evaluation of cloud computing services to health care is conducted through this study in COVID situation. A short overview on how cloud computing technologies are critical for addressing the current predicament has been held. The paper also discusses distant working of cloud computing in health care. Moreover, cloud infrastructure provides a way to connect with different aid personnel. The patient data can be transferred to the cloud for monitoring, surveillance, and diagnosis. Thus, health care is provided instantaneously to all the individuals. Additionally, the study addresses the privacy and security-related issues with appropriate solutions. The paper also briefs on the different kind of services are provided by different CSPs that are cloud service providers to confront this epidemic. This article primarily focuses on cloud computing technology involvement in COVID, and secondary focus is on other technology like blockchain, drones, machine learning and Internet of things in COVID-19. 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. -
Covid-19, macroeconomic policies, and analysis of the inflation-unemployment dynamics in india
Indian economy could largely withstand the adversities of 2008 recession, the signs of a downturn were clearer by 2017 following the arrival of twin policies, Demonetization as well as the Goods and Services Tax. The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the crisis leading to a significant reduction in production and total expenditure. Although India has resorted to a combination of conventional policies monetary as well as fiscal injections to face the economic crisis, it has had serious negative consequences on production and employment. We investigate the nature of relationship between inflation and unemployment during the recession and the pandemic times using the non-linear regression analysis. The results reveal that the recessionary phase has given way to a stagflationary situation owing to inflation persistence in the short run. We suggest the usefulness of a more comprehensive term structure strat?gy to deal with the adverse supply shocks and policy failures. Indian Institute of Finance.