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Author(s):  
Indrani Roy

There is a strong coordinated effort by vaccination groups all over the world to put an end to the current crisis of COVID-19. The Mass vaccination first started in the UK on 8th December 2020 and soon afterward covered all of the globe. Now sufficient data are available to analyse and compare some results to explore many aftereffects of vaccination. Some influence variables on transmissions of the disease were discussed e.g., mass vaccination, lockdown and seasonality. To address seasonality, similarities between COVID-19 and seasonal Flu are discussed to gain useful insight. Like Flu, seasonality was shown to play a dominant role in transmissions of COVID-19 in the Eu-rope and US. In terms of mass vaccination, adverse reactions after vaccination received attention, as health and safety issues of the general public are of prime importance. Apart from direct side effects, the secondary effect of mass vaccination needs attention too. After the initiation of vaccination programme , almost all countries experienced a sudden surge of transmission and most countries had to impose strict lockdown measures. Many countries, those showed a low prevalence of the disease, suddenly showed a steep jump after the onset of mass vaccination. Some countries even followed a synchronized pattern between the rate of transmissions and the variation of vaccine doses; the pattern seemed distinct with the sudden steep rise/fall in vaccine doses (e.g., countries India, Indonesia among others). In that context, fast mutation of the virus and new variants after mass vaccination and possible mechanisms/consequences were discussed. Balanced discussion, critical and open analyses are desperately needed in the current crucial stage. Debating, questioning and criticism are always the foundation of good science and the main pillars to its progress. Following that objective, it is an effort to explore pragmatically, areas relating to the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine and the exit strategy via the pathway of vaccination. Policymakers, academics, patients and common people will be greatly benefitted from such critical, transparent and balanced analyses.


2022 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas C Walker
Keyword(s):  

Foods ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Naji Sulaiman ◽  
Andrea Pieroni ◽  
Renata Sõukand ◽  
Zbynek Polesny

Wild food plants (WFPs) have been an important source of human nutrition since ancient times, and it particularly revives when conventional food is not available due to emergency situations, such as natural disasters and conflicts. The war in Syria has entered 10 years since it started in 2011, and it has caused the largest war-related crises since World War II. Nearly 60% of the Syrian population (12.4 million people) are food-insecure. WFPs are already culturally important in the region, and may be supplementing local diets during this conflict. Our study aimed to uncover the conflict’s effect on the use of WFPs and to know what species are consumed by local people during the current crisis. The fieldwork was carried out between March 2020 and March 2021 in the Tartus governorate located in the coastal region of Syria. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 participants (26 women and 24 men) distributed in 26 villages along the study area. We recorded the vernacular names, uses, plant parts used, modes of preparation and consumption, change in WFP use before and during the conflict, and informants’ perceptions towards WFPs. We documented 75 wild food plant species used for food and drink. Almost two-thirds (64%) of informants reported an increase in their reliance on wild plants as a food source during the conflict. The species of Origanum syriacum, Rhus coriaria, Eryngium creticum, and Cichorium intybus were among the most quoted species by informants. Sleeq (steamed leafy vegetables), Zaatar (breakfast/dinner food), and Louf (soup) were the most popular wild plant-based dishes.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atm S. Alam ◽  
Ling Ma ◽  
Andy Watson ◽  
Vindya Wijeratne ◽  
Michael Chai

Higher education institutions are globally facing unprecedented disruptive trends, which have rapidly changed the landscape of global higher education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While transnational education (TNE) is increasingly becoming popular as a provision for internationally recognised education at the doorstep of students, the temporary shift from traditional classroom teaching and learning (T&L) to remote online T&L caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for all stakeholders to provide the similar student experience as previously. Regarding TNE programmes, the emergency replacement of traditional classrooms with virtual ones has also raised significant challenges of both equity and pedagogy. However, given the current crisis in higher education, TNE can be a cornerstone in rebuilding the post-COVID-19 international education system. This chapter explores the challenges faced by the TNE programmes based on a systematic literature review and information gathered informally from various stakeholders and discusses the opportunities and future impacts in teaching, learning, and student support as the post-COVID-19 educational landscape emerges. It also provides an insight into how a sustainable transnational learning community can be developed for the quality and sustainability of international higher education in this new decade.


Author(s):  
Christian Lear

This article examines a current crisis within media librarianship regarding the challenges for academic libraries in providing streaming access to video resources despite the growing need for users to have streaming access. The article discusses this crisis largely within the context of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease of 2019) and how the pandemic has exacerbated the problem. This article also posits a possible solution to the issue through the application of controlled digital lending (CDL) to video resources for a pedagogical purpose. The article demonstrates the extent of the crisis, examines how other media librarians have addressed the problem, and shows the limitations to the solutions that have so far been offered. It then broadly discusses the concept of CDL and how this practice could be applied to video resources to address the frequent inability of libraries to provide streaming access to videos.


Author(s):  
Mary Foltz ◽  
Adrian Shanker ◽  
Liz Bradbury ◽  
Kristen Leipert

With the emergence of COVID-19 in the U.S., many LGBTQ people found ourselves reflecting upon the early years of HIV/AIDS and how our communities responded to the lack of robust federal and state response to this preceding public health crisis. As the leaders of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center (BSC) in eastern Pennsylvania became a central resource for our community sharing up-to-date information about COVID-19 and organizing vaccine clinics, they also recognized the historic nature of this moment as many elders in our community consistently tried to make sense of the current crisis by contemplating their past AIDS activism and organizing. In March of 2020, BSC staff and archivists received grant funding to conduct an oral history project called "40 Years of Public Health in the LGBTQ Community: Collecting and Curating Local LGBTQ Health Experiences From HIV/AIDS to COVID-19," which recorded both timely commentary on the impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ people and memories of HIV/AIDS organizing that seemed urgent and relevant to our contemporary moment. Offering excerpts from oral histories collected in 2020, this piece explores how COVID-19 spurred LGBTQ people in the Lehigh Valley to share stories about communal grief, health inequity, political responses to pandemics, and organizing to support the health of minoritized communities.


2022 ◽  
pp. 121-139
Author(s):  
Trif Victorița

This chapter analyzes the assessment literature related to the current crisis and compares the differences according to global and local perspectives. The qualitative analysis aims to examine the significant effects of unexpected COVID-19 challenge (restrictions, online learning, remote learning) on learning outcomes (how to redefine assessment in the pandemic) and to identify the best experiences collected (the key modifications assumed in assessment). The data collected from studies published between March 2020 and March 2021 were investigated using coding techniques and thematic analyses. The results of the content analysis demonstrate that in e-learning there are new types of feedback in e-classes, multi-person meetings, remote working, adaptive tools of assessment, and modified strategies. Anxiety, stress, and depression involve taking on new trends: new best practices, new forms of psychological counseling, new attitudes towards assessment and the reexamination of paradigms, theories, and models of representation knowledge.


2022 ◽  
pp. 75-96
Author(s):  
M. Alan Kazlev

A synthesis of Marshall McLuhan's typology of media, Carl Jung's theory of the Collective Unconscious, Teilhard de Chardin's Evolution, and Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy is used to explain the current crisis of Western Civilisation, as well as suggest possible responses. McLuhan described the transition from print to electronic (and now digital) media. Jung explored the collective unconscious and the power of the archetypes. Teilhard posited three evolutionary spheres; here, a further stage is added, the Psychosphere, equated with the Jungian unconscious. And Steiner referred to a threefold polarity of spiritual hierarchies that influence human consciousness and society. Conspiracism and the disinformation crisis comes about through archetypes working through the lower psychecological zones. Orientation to positive epigenetic, imaginal, and divine realities, with their high degree of holism and mythopoetic creativity, offers an alternative to both the paranoia of conspiracism and the reductionism of materialism.


2022 ◽  
pp. 285-300
Author(s):  
Rebecca S. Putman ◽  
Kathryn V. Dixon

Our nation is experiencing a “student achievement crisis” in literacy. Some of the blame for the current crisis in literacy education has been laid at the feet of teacher education programs and their professors. Many pundits of teacher education and literacy education suggest that the solution to increasing reading achievement is simple: Emphasize and teach science of reading (SOR) principles in teacher education programs. In theory, this approach is reasonable; however, the purpose of this chapter is to examine some of the challenges in making the complex content of the SOR accessible to preservice teachers. The authors will also offer possible solutions to help make the SOR more comprehensible so that preservice teachers can increase their transfer of technical and pedagogical knowledge to authentic classroom contexts.


2022 ◽  
pp. 73-85
Author(s):  
Mounir Rabah-Rabbou ◽  
Abdelaziz Zitouni ◽  
Mustapha Zahir ◽  
Abdelghani Boudiaf

Developing the resilience of hospitals in this period of crisis is no longer a choice but rather has become a matter of course for survival. The use of this concept to understand how organizations can overcome the current crisis seems relevant insofar as the research will first identify the human and organizational constraints that are a source of vulnerability for public hospitals and then understand the main practices undertaken by the university hospital to deal with the COVID-19 crisis in terms of the HR function, and finally see to what extent these practices can contribute to the resilience of the public hospital.


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