Introduction: Beyond Borders, Labels, and Divides

We live in a time of deep political and social divisions that permeate our everyday conversations, relationships, and life experiences. As such, it has become increasingly difficult to engage classroom conversations on seemingly open topics without labeling, assuming, or being pulled into positions that stymie openness, curiosity, and critical thinking. This book explores the use of globally informed, culturally rooted approaches to dialogue in the classroom. In this introductory chapter, we describe the genesis of this book;contextualize dialogue within the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;provide beginning descriptions of inclusion, intersectionality, and authenticity;distinguish dialogue from other practices;and discuss times in which dialogue may not be possible. Finally, we conclude with an overview of each chapter contribution in this book. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.

Global Perspectives on Dialogue in the Classroom: Cultivating Inclusive, Intersectional, and Authentic Conversations

This book explores globally-informed, culturally-rooted approaches to dialogue in the classroom. It seeks to fill gaps in communication and education literature related to decolonizing dialogue and breaking binaries by decentering Eurocentric perspectives and providing space for dialogic practices grounded in cultural wealth of students and teachers. We first describe the book's genesis, contextualize dialogue within the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and share guiding concepts of inclusion, intersectionality, and authenticity in dialogue and pedagogy. We also distinguish dialogue from other practices and times in which dialogue may not be possible. The book brings fresh and urgent perspectives from authors across different disciplines, including ceramics, religious studies, cultural studies, communication, family therapy, and conflict resolution. The chapters distill the idea of dialogue within contexts like a bible circle, university sculpture studio, trauma and peacebuilding program, and connect dialogue to teaching, learning, and emerging ideas of power disruption, in-betweenness, and relationality. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.

Extension of Goal-Directed Behavior Model for Post-Pandemic Korean Travel Intentions to Alternative Local Destinations: Perceived Risk and Knowledge

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, tourists have been increasingly concerned over various risks of international travel, while knowledge of the pandemic appears to vary significantly. In addition, as travel restrictions continue to impact adversely on international tourism, tourism efforts should be placed more on the domestic markets. Via structural equation modeling, this study unearthed different risk factors impacting Korean travelers' choices of alternative local destinations in the post-pandemic era. In addition, this study extended the goal-directed behavior framework with the acquisition of perceived risk and knowledge of COVID-19, which was proven to hold a significantly superior explanatory power of tourists' decisions of local alternatives over foreign countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, desire was found to play an imminent mediating role in the conceptual mod-el, maximizing the impact of perceived risk on travel intentions. Henceforth, this research offers meaningful theoretical implication as the first empirical study to deepen the goal-directed behaviour framework with perceived risk and knowledge in the context of post-COVID-19 era. It also serves as insightful knowledge for Korean tourism authorities and practitioners to understand local tourists' decision-making processes and tailor effective recovery strategy for domestic tourism.”. © 2023, Tech Science Press. All rights reserved.

Investment Approach by Alpha Value: Case of Firms Listed on the Stock Market in Vietnam Period Before and After the Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper has approached the investment method by alpha value as the excess return to compensate for risks other than the market risk with the data sample of filtered stocks from three major exchanges of the Vietnam stock market HOSE, HNX, and UPCOM from January 2016 to December 2020. Then, we compare the performance of the portfolio through 2021, the year Vietnam fell into the 4th wave of Covid and was the hardest hit. The results of the paper have shown that the portfolio selected by the alpha method has eliminated the beta market risk of the portfolio and has the actual portfolio return higher than the general rate of return of the stock market index, thereby reinforcing and proving the effectiveness of the alpha investment model. © 2022 The authors and IOS Press.

Factors Influencing Elementary Teachers’ Readiness in Delivering Sex Education amidst Covid-19 pandemic

The emergence of variants of Covid-19, the persistence of lockdowns in many countries, and the necessity to maintain sustainable education have resulted in a shift from the traditional classroom to virtual space. As such, there is a strong need to leverage technological advances while mitigating the challenges faced by primary teachers. Through the incorporation of eight elements, the authors sought to better understand factors that influence teacher readiness to deliver sex education in primary schools. Structural Equation Modeling was employed to assess the proposed conceptual model. The online survey was designed and distributed by Google Forms. Based on the results from 383 individuals, the findings revealed that facilitating conditions, educational policy, and parental involvement all had a relationship with teacher readiness. Digital content positively influenced performance expectancy and effort expectancy. Sexual knowledge had a statistically significant and positive influence on effort expectancy. Finally, openness had a statistically significant and positive influence on performance expectancy. The significant exceptions were that effort expectancy was not found to predict teacher readiness, and performance expectancy was not found to influence teacher readiness. The reasons for these non-significant correlations were briefly discussed and more studies on this topic are called to investigate these unexpected outcomes in more detail. The level of readiness, as well as theoretical and practical implications for scholars and practitioners, were discussed. ©Authors

Burnout, inter-role conflicts, and job performance among bankers who have children during social isolation

Social isolation is a globally accepted policy of governments worldwide to halt the rapid spread of coronavirus in the community. As a result, all banks must be closed, and bank officers must work from home through the Internet instead of at their offices. Hence, stressors and conflicts wreak havoc on bank officers’ mental health and work productivity. This study focused on determining the influence of burnout and inter-role conflicts on the working performance of bankers who have got children. An online structured questionnaire was utilized to survey 326 bankers throughout the nation. The PLS-SEM and Smart PLS were adopted to analyze and test hypotheses. The findings corroborated the harmful effects of burnout and inter-role conflicts on the job performance of bankers who have got children. Three variables were determined to positively affect burnout, such as occupational stress, parenting stress, and inter-role conflicts, whereas the role ambiguity and role overload sparked the inter-role conflicts of bankers. This study recommended four practical suggestions for both bankers and banks’ policymakers, including: achieving work-family balance is a challenging task;the need to implement more robust organizational support policies to remove the burden and job-stressors;the administrative workload should be reduced and cut off;and bankers individually should get familiar with saying “No” to the unimportant and taking care of themselves during pandemic isolation. © Hai Ninh Nguyen, 2021.

Preliminary Research for Anomaly Detection in Fog-Based E-Assessment Systems

The COVID epidemic situation is getting more complicated, which makes direct communication between people more difficult. The development of science and information technology makes the geographical distance narrow. It is very necessary to build an Education Management Information System (EMIS) which is deployed by Fog Computing Paradigm because of its advantages. In educational applications, to assess learners’ ability on acquiring knowledge, the test function is an indispensable part of the online learning support system. This system supports learners’ evaluation by them-self automatically. Thus, it is necessary to analyze learners’ data for anomaly detection. Then, we propose an overall architecture and point out two basic factors for anomaly detecting in Fog-Based E-Assessment Systems. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

The Effect of Perceived Organizational Support on Employee Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Study in Vietnam

Employee engagement at workplace is very important for organizations, however, the motivators to keep the employees engaged vary. It has been normally observed that personality and job satisfaction has been the main causes which can motivate employees. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a lot of changes, and the main aim of this study is to analyze the determinants of employee engagement during Covid-19 pandemic with the mediating role of Perceived organizational support and Perceived family support. Through a survey instrument, data was collected from 216 employees working at corporate offices in Hanoi, Vietnam. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to test the study hypotheses using Smart-PLS. The study underlined the significant positive effect of Perceived Organizational support and Perceived Family Support on Employee Engagement. Moreover, Employee engagement also measures the indirect effects from factors such as colleague support, supervisor support, organizational support, spousal support and family members supports on Employee Engagement. Some discussions are given based on the findings of this research in comparison with findings of prior studies in different contexts. This research is evidenced in the emerging countries and Vietnam as the case study.

Virtual physical assessment training during the COVID-19 pandemic - student pharmacists' performance & perceptions

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted pharmacy education and caused significant transformation in student learning and assessment. Pharmacy PA faculty transformed the traditional PA teaching and practicum to virtual utilising Zoom. PA practicum consists of demonstration of a set of short videos, followed by students identifying incorrect techniques, describing the correct technique, and the purpose of the specific PA skill. After completion of the virtual PA practicum examination, students were invited to complete a 20-item survey about their perceptions. Most students preferred blended learning (56.8%) format over in-class, even though students performed significantly better on the traditional practicum (0.89+0.13) rather than the virtual (0.84+0.11). Hands-on skills are an integral part to PA instruction and learning, making innovations in virtual delivery and assessment vital for student success. This pandemic gave opportunities to explore curricular innovations as our virtual formats provided alternative approaches to review and summative assessment of PA.