Impacts of COVID-19 on the Catch of Small-Scale Fishers and Their Families Due to Restriction Policies in Davao Gulf, Philippines

COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization in 2020 with countries putting up several measures to mitigate and flatten the curve of hospitalizations and death from travel bans to home confinements and local lockdowns. This pandemic created health and economic crises, leading to increased incidence of poverty and food crisis especially on both agriculture and the fisheries in many developing nations including the Philippines. The specific objectives of this study were to assess the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the catch per unit effort (CPUE) of small-scale fishers and to determine what factors could influence the volume of their catch during this time of pandemic. Moreover, this also investigated the impact of COVID-19 restrictions to fishers and their families. To do that we surveyed N = 200 small-scale fishers around the Davao gulf using semi-structured questionnaire and inquired on the impact of the COVID-19 to their fishing operation, catch, fishing costs, and their families. The collected socioeconomic variables, including emotional responses to the pandemic were then related to the CPUE and the volume of catch. The results show that fishers were highly affected by the pandemic due to the lockdown policy imposed in the fishing villages during the earlier phases of restrictions by the government. Fishers were affected in terms of the volume of their catch, also fishing costs, and emotionally as they were also frustrated due to the impacts of the hard lockdown. The restricted fishing access was found to have important and major set-back on the fishing operations of fishers and the same was experienced also by the middlemen given the low fish price and reduced mobility of the fish traders. COVID-19 also impacted the fishers, and their families through lack of mobility, food inadequacy, travel restrictions and their children’s education.

Pola Pergerakan Orang di Masa Pandemi dengan Pendekatan Eksploratif di Wilayah Kepulauan Bangka Belitung

COVID-19 has spread around the world and has given a huge impact on people's lives. One of the changes in the COVID-19 condition is the travel pattern of people. Travel patterns can be explained in terms of the flow of vehicles, passengers, and people's mobility from the origin and destination zones within a certain area and period. On the other hand, it is known that travel patterns are an essential factor in solving transportation problems. The change of travel pattern data is needed for transportation planners and policymakers in providing safe transportation during the pandemic. In addition, data on travel patterns also play an important role in determining travel restrictions in an area to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This study tries to analyze travel patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic through an exploratory approach by taking a case study in the Bangka Belitung Province. The results of this study show that the mobility was dominated by intra-island trips during the pandemic, both within Bangka Island and Belitung Island. Furthermore, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of people made changes to their routine's mobility. More than 50% of people did not return to their original travel patterns even though the pandemic conditions had entered the New Normal period. The most influential factor which makes people change their mobility is to take precautions from COVID-19.

Analysis and Prediction of Human Mobility in the United States during the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic using Regularized Linear Models

Since the United States started grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, with the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the world as of August 2020, most states have enforced travel restrictions resulting in drastic reductions in mobility and travel. However, the long-term implications of this crisis to mobility still remain uncertain. To this end, this study proposes an analytical framework that determines the most significant factors affecting human mobility in the United States during the early days of the pandemic. Particularly, the study uses least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regularization to identify the most significant variables influencing human mobility and uses linear regularization algorithms, including ridge, LASSO, and elastic net modeling techniques, to predict human mobility. State-level data were obtained from various sources from January 1, 2020 to June 13, 2020. The entire data set was divided into a training and a test data set, and the variables selected by LASSO were used to train models by the linear regularization algorithms, using the training data set. Finally, the prediction accuracy of the developed models was examined on the test data. The results indicate that several factors, including the number of new cases, social distancing, stay-at-home orders, domestic travel restrictions, mask-wearing policy, socioeconomic status, unemployment rate, transit mode share, percent of population working from home, and percent of older (60+ years) and African and Hispanic American populations, among others, significantly influence daily trips. Moreover, among all models, ridge regression provides the most superior performance with the least error, whereas both LASSO and elastic net performed better than the ordinary linear model.

Role of telemedicine in COVID-19 pandemic – An overview

COVID-19 pandemic has caused worldwide havoc. The present healthcare system is ruined, distancing both patients and doctors. To avoid transmission of infection, travel restrictions were made, making the patient’s visit to the doctor difficult. However, routine checkups for patients not infected with COVID-19 should be given without the threat of getting exposed to other patients in the hospital. In this respect, telemedicine becomes a reliable source that provides health services as well as reduces the infection spread. The first known evidence of real-time (live) video consultation occurred in 1959 at the University of Nebraska where doctors used telemedicine to transmit neurological examinations to students. During the first 3 months of 2020, there was a 50% increase in telehealth visits. Most patients from January to March 2020 approached for a condition other than COVID-19. Many telemedicine applications have been launched for teleconsultation such as Practo, Mfine, TATA Health, and Doctor 24 × 7 provide teleconsultation. Telemedicine has shown a huge impact on the present healthcare system during this pandemic and has placed itself in the spotlight during recent times. Through this paper, the role of telemedicine in the current scenario of pandemics and its development through recent times is discussed.

An International Commentary on Dysphagia and Dysphonia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has had an impact globally with millions infected, high mortality, significant economic ramifications, travel restrictions, national lockdowns, overloaded healthcare systems, effects on healthcare workers’ health and well-being, and large amounts of funding diverted into rapid vaccine development and implementation. Patients with COVID-19, especially those who become severely ill, have frequently developed dysphagia and dysphonia. Health professionals working in the field have needed to learn about this new disease while managing these patients with enhanced personal protective equipment. Emerging research suggests differences in the clinical symptoms and journey to recovery for patients with COVID-19 in comparison to other intensive care populations. New insights from outpatient clinics also suggest distinct presentations of dysphagia and dysphonia in people after COVID-19 who were not hospitalized or severely ill. This international expert panel provides commentary on the impact of the pandemic on speech pathologists and our current understanding of dysphagia and dysphonia in patients with COVID-19, from acute illness to long-term recovery. This narrative review provides a unique, comprehensive critical appraisal of published peer-reviewed primary data as well as emerging previously unpublished, original primary data from across the globe, including clinical symptoms, trajectory, and prognosis. We conclude with our international expert opinion on what we have learnt and where we need to go next as this pandemic continues across the globe.

2021 2nd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Computer Networks and Communications

2021 2ND International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Computer Networks and Communications were successfully held online from 28th to 29th October 2021, Hefei, China. The conference was jointly organized and sponsored by Shaanxi Juxing Exhibition Co., Ltd and Juneng Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. Called by Dr. Tao Wang from School of Data Science and Computer, Sun Yat-Sen University and researcher Shuanghua Yang from the Engineering College, Southern University of Science and Technology, the conference invited scholars and experts in the fields of artificial intelligence, computer networks and communications from various universities to participate in the review and guidance of this conference. The conference focuses on the latest research fields such as “artificial intelligence”, “computer networks” and “Communications”, and aims to provide an international cooperation and exchange platform for experts, scholars and business managers in the fields of artificial intelligence, computer networks and communications application to share their research achievements, discuss the key challenges and research directions of the development of this field, and jointly promote the industrialization cooperation and continuous innovation of international academic achievements. This collection of Proceedings compiles oral and paper presentations submitted by the authors and scrutinized by the Special Committee. The conference was scheduled to be held on October 28-29, 2021 at The Westin Hefei Wanda Hotel, Hefei, Anhui, China. In view of travel restrictions and indoor activities related to COVID-19, we were forced to move the conference online. Attendees were notified one month in advance that the on-site conference was changed to an online conference, and the time and order of the conference were determined. The online conference was held on the video conferencing software Tencent Meeting. The video conference was held on the original date, but due to the large number of attendees, we extended the Meeting for 2 days. Due to the wide coverage of this conference and the large number of attendees, we divided the conference into main venue and sub-venue. The opening ceremony was held in the main venue and a speech was delivered by the invited speaker. After the main venue, we divided the invited 53 authors into 2 groups. Each author spoke for about 10-15 minutes on detailed material in the slides, with the same amount of time set aside for questions and discussion. The format of questioning and discussion was that after each author’s introduction, the conference chairman and committee members asked and answered questions. At least one attendee could ask questions that will be answered by the speaker. This conference has brought together many excellent works and the latest ideas and concepts. New ideas have been provided in the fields of information technology and mechanical engineering applications. For this, we have set up three awards, which were won by six authors. Due to the large number of attendees and the instability of the video conference software, we edited and retained part of the conference speech pictures and videos after the video conference. We put some screenshots of the conference on the official website for display. Although most attendees expressed regret that we had not been able to have the informal face-to-face discussions that usually take place between conferences, the virtual conferences had been surprisingly successful. The organizing and editorial committee of the AICNC 2021 hopes you enjoy the reading of this volume of the JPCS. Besides, we wish to thank all authors and participants for providing their valuable contributions for this proceeding as well as the reviewers for their constructive recommendations and criticism aiding to improve the presented articles. Likewise, we are confident that this issue will serve as a reference for experts, scholars and enterprise managers in the fields of the artificial intelligence, computer networks and communications. Organizing Committee, Scientific Committee, Editorial Committee, Invited Speakers, China, Organizing Institutions are available in the pdf.

Preface

(word. doc) should be separate from the PDFs and include information about their virtual format if this is relevant. This information should include: • The reason(s) why the meeting will take/took place virtually (covid- 19/travel restrictions, etc). • The Forum was held both online and offline. All participants who took part offline provided vaccination certificates. The online forum was held for participants who did not have the opportunity to participate in the forum directly or to submit a report in person. Including, in order to be able for the majority of participants to participate in the Forum in a format convenient for them. • Location where the organisers will be/were. • The Forum was held on the premises of the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Almaty, Kazakhstan • The Model, for example, the plenary, the contributions, the time spent to deliver the talks by each speaker. • • The version of the poster or oral presentation was adopted as a model of reports, both online and offline. Plenary lectures were conducted both online and offline, through the presentation and oral presentation of the speaker. In each section, the time for a report was different, on average it ranged from 20 to 30 minutes. • The discussions, the feasibility, room for Q&A? • All questions and discussions were held in conference halls of 5 sections. Including online. Everyone could ask a question and get an answer, upon completion of the report, 10-15 minutes were allotted for this procedure. • The participants: location and the overall attendance number expected. • The participants took part in the forum on the territory of the Institute of Nuclear Physics. Within 5 days, more than 90% of the participants took part offline. There were more than 90 offline participants in total. In general, about 300 applications were accepted for participation in the forum. • The technology needed to deliver the meeting successfully. • The Forum was provided with the most modern technical equipment. Each section contained several projectors, computers and microphone sets for the participants. To ensure high parallelization of communication, high-speed Internet access was used for each 4G section. • Mention any technical difficulties. • • Technical difficulties during the forum were minor and were resolved as they arose. All forum participants appreciated the high level of technical equipment of the forum. • Mention any drawbacks in the delivery of the conference virtually, e.g. impact on the community. • No shortcomings were identified during the forum. The forum had an extremely positive impact on the public, which was mentioned in his speech for the journalists of the national channel, the chairman of the forum and the general director of the INP Batyrzhan Karakozov. Please make sure that the following information is included in the preface: l. The full list of committees names and affiliations which shall be published as part of the preface. Editors of proceedings, ORGANISING COMMITTEE, INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD, and ORGANIZED BY are available in the pdf.

Assessing the International Student Enrolment Strategies in Australian Universities

Travel restrictions in the COVID-19 pandemic cause a significant drop in international student enrolment. To cope with such drastic change, this study aims to assess the international student enrolment strategies in Australian universities during the pandemic. Using the critical theory as a theoretical framework, this case study first probed into the problems of the current international student enrolment strategies by taking power and discourses into consideration. The problems identified include the marginalisation of international students and hindrance in their empowerment. Then, this study proposed some future directions for international student enrolment in relation to international students' concerns and needs, alongside migration policies and workforce demands. The future directions include increasing their chances to be academically competitive and equip them to prepare for their future career. The findings can be useful for university management to devise better strategies to recruit and retain international students in the post-pandemic era.

The effects of perceived ease of use, electronic word of mouth and content marketing on purchase decision

Purchasing decisions on the Traveloka application has experienced a significant decline since the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. Ticket returns and refunds that occur due to travel restrictions have resulted in a decline in Traveloka's brand image. This study aims to analyze how brand image mediates the effect of perceived ease of use, electronic word of mouth and content marketing towards ticket purchasing decisions on the Traveloka application which was conducted on 130 respondents using the Traveloka application. The research was conducted in June 2021 with data analysis using SmartPLS 3.2.0 software. The results show that perceived ease of use had a negative impact on purchasing decisions, either directly or indirectly through brand image. Electronic word of mouth had a positive impact on purchasing decisions either directly or indirectly through brand image. Content marketing had a negative and significant impact on purchasing decisions, while indirectly through brand image had a positive and significant impact. The role of brand image was very important in increasing the effect of perceived ease of use, electronic word of mouth and content marketing towards purchasing decisions.

Sequel outcome of automobile sector on account of covid – 19 through technical analysis

The COVID – 19 pandemic has deteriorated multiple facets of the stable functioning of economies of most countries. Social restrictions associated with the immediate response to the pandemic has curtailed dynamic functioning of many industries that buttress the economic development of countries. Performance of automotive industries was expected to nosedive following the travel restrictions. One of the major sources of profit for the automotive industries in India is their consumer base in countries like U. K, Germany, and China etc. Severity of the pandemic in these countries entailed trade regulations that propelled a negative trend in the market growth of Indian automotive industries. But the economy of automotive sector of India was saved from a free fall by the countering effect of the domestic demand in private transportation. This paper presents the technical analysis on the Maruti Suzuki Private Limited to measure the stock movement of the Automobile sector in the Indian Stock Market.