SMEs Sustainability in Times of Crisis

The global crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic among the population and at the level of companies, state institutions, etc., underlined the importance of analysing its impact at different levels (intern, national and international level). The concepts of sustainability, development and growth must be aware, adapted and implemented more and more frequently, even constantly, in order to cope with the current evolution of the economy (and not only). The paper is an empirical research conducted in the North-East Region of Romania, aiming to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on local companies (especially SME’s), in the context of existing correlation between the COVID-19 impact on resizing, restricting, changing the number of active employees, changing revenue, changing turnover and changing profit, based on the Spearman correlation coefficients. In this sense, it was important to implement sustainability strategies and ensure the activity and resources of companies in the long term, because the effects of an economic crisis (natural resources, human resources, not only financial) are felt in 2021 and will be felt in the future 10 years. The paper concludes with two practical solutions to ensure the sustainability of the companies involved in the study, solutions that can be applied by all companies that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attentiveness to Early Warning Drought Information: Implications for Policy Support and Climate Risk Reduction in Ghana

Successful drought planning is dependent on the generation of timely and accurate early warning information. Yet there is little evidence to explain the extent to which crop farmers pay attention to and assimilate early warning drought information that aids in the policy formulation in support of drought risk reduction. A socioecological survey, using a structured questionnaire administered to 426 crop farming households, was carried out in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region, Ghana. The data analytic techniques used were frequency tables, relative importance index, and multinomial logistics embedded in SPSS v.20 software. The results show that crop farmers predominantly rely on agricultural extension officers for early warning drought information, with an estimated 78% of them paying little to very much attention to the information. The likelihood ratio Chi-square test showed that there is a significant improvement in fit as X2 (20) = 96.792, p < 0.000. Household status, average monthly income, and age were the significant predictors for crop farmers paying no attention at all to early warning drought information, while household status was the only significant factor among those paying a little attention. The drive to build a climate-resilient society with effective early warning centers across Ghana will receive 60% lower support from crop farmers paying no to a little attention as compared to farmers paying very much attention to early warning drought information. Broader stakeholder engagements should be carried out to harness inclusive support from crop farmers to build a climate-resilient society in Ghana.

Assessing Sexual Behavior Patterns among Student Athletes of Senior High Schools in the Upper East Region, Ghana

The purpose of this study was to investigate the sexual behavior patterns of student athletes of senior high schools in the Upper East Region of Ghana and to assess the differences in sexual behavior patterns between male and females. A sample of 400 student athletes using a convenience sampling technique from public senior high schools was drawn to complete a self-designed research study. Descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test tool were used to analyze the collected data. The results showed that student athletes practiced various forms of sexual behaviors such as celibacy, foreplay, vaginal-penile sex, sexual fantasy, masturbation, oral sex, and anal sex. The Chi-square analysis showed significant gender differences in prevalence of masturbation (χ2 (1, n = 400) = 4.6962, probability = 0.030) and sexual fantasy (χ2 (1, n = 400) = 6.8477, probability = 0.009), but not vaginal-penile intercourse (χ2 (1, n = 400) = 1.3197, probability = 0.251) and celibacy (χ2, (1, n = 400) = 0.0721, probability = 0.788). The study concludes that student athletes of senior high schools might be vulnerable to unplanned parenthood and are at risk of STIs, including HIV. Regular health promotion campaigns on sexual risk-taking behaviors are required to help reduce the prevalence of student athletes’ indulgence in risky sexual behavior patterns that can harm their health. It is essential to implement gender-specific interventions (e.g., decision-making skills) when addressing the problems of sexual behaviors among the student athletes in the region.

A Review of Thermal Design for Buildings in Hot Climates

Most of the developed world currently lives above the tropic of Cancer in cold climate regions. It follows that most of the top architectural firms are from the same countries, and most of their work is based on that experience. Experience that does not travel well to hotter countries. This paper is mainly concerned with the climates of the Middle East region, which are hot in summer and have mild or cold winters, and where the humidity ranges from dry to humid. It is a review of the factors, designs, and solutions that designers sometimes ignore, undervalue, or on the other hand, put too much weight on when working in such climates. An overview of thermal solutions is conducted, and a critique and suitability of each one for hotter climates are offered. Some of the solutions, which are thought to be helpful, have little benefit, especially traditional ones, which are not up to present-day standards and lifestyles. Others, such as courtyards, do more harm than good. A couple of case studies to evaluate houses with and without thermal measures showed improvements of 23-48%. The paper will evaluate architectural, cooling, and building design solutions according to suitability in dry and medium humidity, warm and hot countries.

Orthohantavirus infection in two rodent species that inhabit wetlands in the central-east region of Argentina

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is an emerging infectious disease caused by orthohantaviruses associated to rodents of the Cricetidae family, Sigmodontinae subfamily, in the American continent. Previous research carried out in central-east region of Argentina, recorded potential orthohantavirus host rodents in diverse environments, but infected rodents were particularly present on Paraná wetlands islands. The aims of this research were (1) to determine the orthohantavirus host in the rodent community focused on islands of Paraná River Delta, an endemic zone of HPS, (2) to identify temporal and spatial factors associated with orthohantavirus prevalence variations, (3) to compare the individual characteristics of seropositive and seronegative rodents and, (4) to explore the association between orthohantavirus seroprevalence and rodent community characteristics in the Paraná River Delta, central-east region of Argentina. Capture of small rodents was done between August 2014 and May 2018 on seven islands located in central-east region of Argentina. In this HPS endemic zone, 14.9% of Oligoryzomys flavescens and 1.5% of Oxymycterus rufus of the sampled rodents had antibodies against orthohantavirus. The individuals that were more likely to become seropositive were the reproductively active adult males. Even though O. flavescens inhabit all islands, the seropositive individuals were only present in two of these, suggesting spatial heterogeneity in the viral distribution. We found that two months later of periods with low temperature, seroprevalence increased probably due to a higher proportion of adults in the population. Additionally, higher seroprevalence was associated with greater diversity of the rodent assemblage. This association could support the idea that a rescue effect or amplification of the prevalence of orthohantavirus would be taking place by means of secondary host as O. rufus, a novelty for this species and for the region. This finding may be significant if one takes into account that O. rufus was the second most abundant species in the area of islands studied and is one of the most abundant species on the islands and riparian sectors of the study zone. In conclusion, the relative risk of HPS could be high on wetlands of Paraná River Delta in the central-east region of Argentina where several favourable factors for the transmission of orthohantavirus are combined, such as the presence of several host species, two of them numerically dominant, high percentages of infection and a high degree of occupational exposure of the human population due to rural activities, the most frequently associated nationwide with HPS.

Organizational learning, resilience and psychological empowerment as antecedents of work engagement during COVID-19

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and work engagement (WE) in the Middle East region amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to test the mediating role of employee resilience (ER) and psychological empowerment (PE) on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe sample size was 208 respondents working in the Middle East area during COVID-19. Hypotheses were tested using regression analysis with bootstrapping.FindingsThe findings indicate a significant positive impact of OL on WE. Moreover, both constructs – ER and WE – were identified as mediators for this relationship.Practical implicationsPractical implications within this study call for organizations to focus on promoting a learning culture in order to adapt and respond effectively to unprecedented external challenges.Originality/valueThe current study extends previous research and strengthens the antecedents of WE, namely, OL, ER and PE in the Middle East region while controlling for COVID-19 perceptions.

Assessing the impact of Transportation on Climate Change

India's North-East Region has greater demand for road and personalized modes of transport powered by fossil fuels. And due to emissions, there has been evidence of climate change. It has been found that diesel cars cause greater emissions (per kilometer travelled) as compared to petrol cars; therefore, the use of diesel should be discouraged. The chapter suggests that the emissions in case of public transport passenger-km are lesser than other modes of transport. However, in the North-East Region, there is negligible share of public transport due to poor infrastructure and service facilities. Therefore, improvements should be made with regard to public transport system so that considerable number of passengers shifts to public transport modes. Further, it is inferred that use of alternate vehicle or fuel technologies like hybrid electric vehicles, biofuel, biodiesel, hydrogen fuel need to be initiated to mitigate the climate change.