Classification of "Near-patient" and "Point-of-Care" SARS-CoV-2 Nucleic Acid Amplification Test Systems and a first approach to evaluate their analytical independence of operator activities.

BACKGROUND: European legislation defines as "near-patient testing" (NPT) what is popularly and in other legislations specified as "point-of-care testing" (POCT). Systems intended for NPT/POCT use must be characterized by independence from operator activities during the analytic procedure. However, tools for evaluating this are lacking. We hypothesized that the variability of measurement results obtained from identical samples with a larger number of identical devices by different operators, expressed as the method-specific reproducibility of measurement results reported in External Quality Assessment (EQA) schemes, is an indicator for this characteristic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Legal frameworks in the EU, the USA and Australia were evaluated about their requirements for NPT/POCT. EQA reproducibility of seven SARS-CoV-2-NAAT systems, all but one designated as "POCT", was calculated from variabilities in Ct values obtained from the respective device types in three different EQA schemes for virus genome detection. RESULTS: A matrix for characterizing test systems based on their technical complexity and the required operator competence was derived from requirements of the European In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR) 2017/746. Good EQA reproducibility of the measurement results of the test systems investigated implies that different users in different locations have no recognizable influence on their measurement results. CONCLUSION: The fundamental suitability of test systems for NPT/POCT use according to IVDR can be easily verified using the evaluation matrix presented. EQA reproducibility is a specific characteristic indicating independence from operator activities of NPT/POCT assays. EQA reproducibility of other systems than those investigated here remains to be determined.

Quality assessment of global health care system in the shadow of COVID-19: - a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: The healthcare system is critical to the country's overall growth, which involves the healthy development of individuals, families, and society everywhere. This systematic review focuses on providing an overall assessment of the quality of healthcare delivery during COVID-19. METHODOLOGY: The literature search was conducted from March 2020 till April 2023 utilising the databases "PubMed," "Google Scholar," and "Embase." A total of nine articles were included. Descriptive statistics was performed using Microsoft Excel. PROSPERO registration ID- CRD42022356285. RESULTS: According to the geographic location of the studies included, four studies were conducted in Asia [Malaysia(n = 1); India (Madhya Pradesh) (n = 1); Saudi Arabia(n = 1); Indonesia (Surabaya) (n = 1)], three in Europe [U.K. (n = 1); Poland (n = 1); Albania (n = 1)] and two in Africa [Ethiopia(n = 1); Tunisia (n = 1)]. Overall patient satisfaction was found highest among studies conducted in Saudi Arabia (98.1%) followed by India (Madhya Pradesh) (90.6%) and the U.K. (90%). CONCLUSION: This review concluded five different aspects of patients satisfaction level i.e. reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibility. It was found that the empathy aspect had the greatest value of the five factors, i.e., 3.52 followed by Assurance with a value of 3.51.

Delivering Safe Surgical Care While Simultaneously Caring for Patients With COVID-19; Assessment of Patient Selection, Volume and Outcomes in a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Objectives: Compare patient selection and postoperative outcomes after surgical treatment for gastrointestinal disorders before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Methods: We assessed gastrointestinal surgeries conducted at a tertiary center from 2017-2021 for differences in patient populations and procedures before (up to February 2020) and during the pandemic (March 2020 to December 2021). We analyzed mortality, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) length of stay, admission to ICU and postoperative complications for complex procedures using descriptive statistics and regression models. Results: 7309 procedures were analyzed, showing a caseload reduction in March and October 2020, but no statistical evidence for fewer overall procedures overall. Population characteristics differed with lower Body Mass Indices in 2020 and 2021, more patients smoking and with diabetes treated in 2020. There was no increased mortality, ICU length of stay and in 1,144 complex procedures assessed low overall morbidity at 90 days postoperative. Conclusion: Delivering surgical care while treating patients for COVID-19 in the same hospital was safe. Healthcare officials should consider continuing surgical care during future health crises as consequences of limiting surgical treatment for gastrointestinal disorders may be fatal for patients.

The influence of Internet banking services quality on e-customers' satisfaction of Saudi banks: comparison study before and during COVID-19

Purpose>The main purpose of this study is to compare e-customer satisfaction in Saudi banks before and during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by assessing the e-service quality dimension before and during the pandemic.Design/methodology/approach>To examine e-customer satisfaction among Saudi bank e-customers, data were collected using convenience sampling methods utilizing two questionnaires before and during COVID-19, distributed to Saudi bank e-customers. The sample size of collecting data of 588 bank e-customers was analyzed through a well-known statistical technique, multiple regression and paired sample t-test, using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) software and Excel.Findings>It is found that efficiency is the major determinant of e-customers' satisfaction with banks in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi context is different from other countries. There are differences between the impact of Internet banking e-service quality on e-customer service before and during the COVID-19.Practical implications>This research has a crucial inference for the managerial level practically. This study has important implications for the banks to satisfy their e-customers by increasing customer service level and enhancing the interaction in the site to solve the e-customers problem immediately by creating an effective support team to encourage the effect of responsiveness. In particular, website managers should review their website framework and create an easily organized site for e-customers.Originality/value>The research improves past studies' methodology by testing the impacts between the constructs before and during COVID-19. This research is a significant addition to the current literature collection.

Analysis of the nucleic acid detection quality assessment results from novel coronavirus laboratories in 43 disease control institutions in Qinghai province in 2021

Objective To assess the quality of nucleic acid testing in 43 Novel Coronavirus laboratories of disease control institutions in Qinghai Province that have passed the acceptance inspection, so as to ensure the accuracy and reliability of nucleic acid testing results. Methods Five samples for quality control assessment were distributed to each testing institution. The quality of nucleic acid testing was carried out following the requirements of the testing technical guidelines in the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Prevention and Control Program (Seventh Edition) issued by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Each detection reagentwas prepared by the member units participating in the assessment. The nucleic acid detection ability of each institution was evaluated by comparing the testing results with the expected results of the assessment samples. Results Fortythree disease control institutions participated in the assessment, all the testing results were collected within the specified time. The overall compliance rate of this assessment was 100. 00%. A total of 10 manufacturers' nucleic acid extraction kits and 9 manufacturers' nucleic acid amplification kits were involved. One hundred percent of the kits detected the ORF1ab gene and N gene of the Novel Coronavirus. Conclusion The nucleic acid detection capacity of the disease control institutions in Qinghai has been further improved by making this Novel Coronavirus quality control assessment. The assessment createsa solid foundation for the prevention and control of the Novel Coronavirus epidemic in Qinghai. © 2023, Editorial Department of Medical Pest Control. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the nucleic acid detection quality assessment results from novel coronavirus laboratories in 43 disease control institutions in Qinghai province in 2021

Objective To assess the quality of nucleic acid testing in 43 Novel Coronavirus laboratories of disease control institutions in Qinghai Province that have passed the acceptance inspection, so as to ensure the accuracy and reliability of nucleic acid testing results. Methods Five samples for quality control assessment were distributed to each testing institution. The quality of nucleic acid testing was carried out following the requirements of the testing technical guidelines in the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Prevention and Control Program (Seventh Edition) issued by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Each detection reagentwas prepared by the member units participating in the assessment. The nucleic acid detection ability of each institution was evaluated by comparing the testing results with the expected results of the assessment samples. Results Fortythree disease control institutions participated in the assessment, all the testing results were collected within the specified time. The overall compliance rate of this assessment was 100. 00%. A total of 10 manufacturers' nucleic acid extraction kits and 9 manufacturers' nucleic acid amplification kits were involved. One hundred percent of the kits detected the ORF1ab gene and N gene of the Novel Coronavirus. Conclusion The nucleic acid detection capacity of the disease control institutions in Qinghai has been further improved by making this Novel Coronavirus quality control assessment. The assessment createsa solid foundation for the prevention and control of the Novel Coronavirus epidemic in Qinghai. © 2023, Editorial Department of Medical Pest Control. All rights reserved.

Prevention and Control of COVID-19 Infection and Property Management: Evidence from Wuhan, China

Property enterprise has contributed significantly to the prevention and control of COVID-19, and its functions received positive feedback from the urban residents via a survey. Detailed data on confirmed COVID-19 cases in 446 communities in Wuhan were collected and the property fee of each community was used to assess the quality of the property services provided. Both binary logit and ordered logit models were used to measure the impact of property fees on the pandemic prevention and control efficiency of each community. The results showed that a higher property fee corresponded to a better property service and a higher probability that the residential community would be free of COVID-19. Furthermore, where property fees were higher, pandemic prevention and control efficiency increased and the community achieved a lower pandemic risk level. In conclusion, the promotion of high-quality property services is conducive to community disease prevention and control in the case of a pandemic.

Joint Decisions of Components Replacement and Spare Parts Ordering Considering Different Supplied Product Quality

In addition to equipment maintenance decisions, spare parts ordering decisions from different suppliers play a key role in reducing related costs (e.g., maintenance, inventory and ordering costs). Since suppliers may use different production technologies and materials, spare parts (or products) from different suppliers can be different in quality. Nevertheless, in recent studies, the quality of spare parts is rarely considered to incorporate both equipment maintenance and spare parts ordering. In this paper, we investigate the joint optimization of condition-based maintenance and spare parts provisioning policy under two suppliers with different product quality. We formulate a sequential-decision problem with a Markov decision process and consequently obtain an optimal maintenance and ordering policy by an exact value iteration algorithm. To improve computation efficiency, based on the principle of sequential optimization, we develop heuristic methods. Extensive numerical experiments are conducted to assess the overall performance of the developed heuristic methods. Compared to the optimal method, results showed that the average cost gap is about 2% and computation time is reduced by 94% on average under the proposed heuristic method. Note to Practitioners—This paper is motivated by the observation that automobile industries tried to integrate emergency suppliers from which spare parts have different quality into maintenance schedules to avoid stockout and reduce equipment failure during the Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, the article focuses on balancing the trade-offs between condition-based maintenance and inventory management from two suppliers with different lead times and spare parts quality for multi-unit systems. On the one hand, effective maintenance scheduling relies on spare parts for replacement to ensure the stability of production. On the other hand, inventory management needs to select the supplier with appropriate lead time and product quality to reduce the ordering cost and avoid stockout based on the degradation states of equipment. The joint optimization of these two aspects serves to reduce the total maintenance and ordering cost. Nevertheless, most existing research aims to optimize them separately. In this paper, we formulate the joint decision problem considering the two aspects based on a Markov decision process. We obtain an optimal maintenance and ordering policy by an exact value iteration algorithm and present heuristics to improve the computation efficiency when the system contains multiple machines. Practitioners can implement the proposed methodology to make condition-based maintenance and inventory management when spare parts with different qualities are ordered from two suppliers. To balance cost and computational efficiency, it is suggested to implement the optimal policy by an exact value iteration algorithm when the number of machines is small in the system and use the heuristic methods when the number of machines is large (i.e., usually larger than 3). IEEE

Digital Economy, Industrial Structure, and Environmental Quality: Assessing the Roles of Educational Investment, Green Innovation, and Economic Globalization

This study constructs a digital economy (DE) index and explores its impact on environmental quality by utilizing data from China's 287 prefecture-level cities from 2013 to 2019. Unlike past studies, this research examines the indirect effect of DE on environmental pollution through the channels of industrial structure and educational investment. Further, it also analyzes the moderating role of economic globalization and green technology innovation in the nexus between DE and environmental quality. The empirical results indicate that DE significantly and positively enhances environmental quality by mitigating environmental pollution. This outcome remained stable after a series of empirical analyses and stability checks. Secondly, DE positively affects ecological and environmental quality by improving education levels and upgrading industrial structures. Thirdly, green technological innovation and economic globalization positively and significantly moderate the effect of DE development on ecological and environmental quality. Fourthly, associations between the development of DE and environmental quality are heterogeneous in terms of regions and markets, among which the most significant impact exists in the eastern area and the area with higher marketization. Based on the empirical findings, this paper provides comprehensive recommendations for promoting the DE and advancing China's environmental quality. Based on the results, important policy implications are suggested.

Passive Video Quality Assessment Using Lab and Remote Testing

In this chapter, research about the assessment of video quality for gaming content will be provided. At first, a dataset that was used for the development of the ITU-T Rec. G.1072 will be presented. The dataset was created in a laboratory environment using the passive test paradigm described in Chap. 3. Next, some results of the collected video quality ratings will be illustrated. While QoE assessment studies traditionally make use of controlled laboratory environments, there are also other possibilities to conduct user studies without a laboratory environment. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented many researchers from performing lab studies, the concept of supervised and unsupervised remote studies got lots of attention. By using such a remote study design, two studies assessing video quality ratings of similar conditions as in the previously mentioned dataset were conducted. These two studies allow to address three research topics that will be the focus of the remainder of this chapter. At first, it will be investigated whether video quality ratings obtained using the remote study design are comparable to those collected in the lab environment. Second, a comparison between video quality ratings collected using a stimulus duration of 20 s instead of 30 s will be performed, which tries to answer whether it is enough to use a shorter stimulus duration as proposed in ITU-T Rec. P.809. Lastly, the differences between using a discrete 5-point ACR scale and the extended continuous 7-point scales will be investigated. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Quality assessment of E-learning website using asymmetric impact–performance analysis and Kano's customer satisfaction model: a case study based on WebQual 4.0

Purpose: Using asymmetric impact–performance analysis for examining an asymmetric relationship between user satisfaction and website features, the present research aims to identify features of high priority for quality improvement. For doing so, the current research was conducted in the context of the E-learning website of the most prestigious university in Iran, namely, the University of Tehran. Design/methodology/approach: The main question was which of the three groups of basic, performance and excitement factors has the required dimensions of the quality of the website based on the model WebQual 4.0 by considering Kano's user satisfaction model and impact–performance analysis. This is a descriptive survey, applied and cross-sectional study. The study population included Tehran University's students who enrolled in virtual courses in the academic year 2020–2021 from which a sample of 457 students was selected. The data collection tool was the questionnaire of Webqual 4.0, as well as a researcher-made questionnaire to measure end-user satisfaction. Findings: Using structural equation modeling and multiple regression, the findings showed that the customer's overall satisfaction with the mentioned website is primarily affected by the feature interaction with services, including the two structures of trust and empathy, and then the dimensions of usability and quality of information. Examining the Webqual 0.4 dimensions indicated that the website usability dimension is a part of the high-performance excitement factors group, the information quality dimension is a part of the high-performance basic factors group and the website interaction dimension is in the low-performance basic factors group. Originality/value: The research is highly innovative taking the theoretical model of Kano and methodological investigation of asymmetric impact–performance analysis into consideration alongside the WebQual 4.0 as a fundamental model for website assessment. Moreover, the research was conducted on an E-learning website, which is unique and a necessity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The Effect of Work Engagement and Perceived Organizational Support on Turnover Intention among Nurses: A Meta-Analysis Based on the Price–Mueller Model

Aim. To elaborate on the relationship between work engagement, perceived organizational support, and the turnover intention of nurses by analysing some potential moderators. Background. Nurses' turnover intention is negatively impacted by their level of work engagement and perceptions of organizational support. However, it is challenging to reach a consistent conclusion. Methods. Data were acquired from six electronic databases. Each study was evaluated using the quality assessment tool for cross-sectional studies of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). STATA 15.0 was used to analyse the data, and a random effects model was used. The groups that included two or more studies were added to the moderator analysis. Results. A total of 40 study articles involving 23,451 participants were included. The turnover intention of nurses was inversely associated with work engagement (coefficient: −0.42) and perceived organizational support (coefficient: −0.32). A substantial moderating role was played by cultural background, economic status, working years, and investigation time (P<0.05). Conclusion. Work engagement and organizational support significantly reduced turnover intention among nurses. Considering the acute shortage of nurses worldwide, nurses with lower wages, fewer working years, and lower levels of work engagement should be given more attention and support from their organizations. Implications for Nursing Management. The meta-analysis suggested that managers should give their employees a more organizational support and promote their work engagement to motivate nurses' retention intention and maintain a stable workforce with little employee turnover.

Groundwater Contamination Monitoring for Pollution Measurement and Transmission Applying WQI Approaches from a Region of the Erode District, Tamilnadu, India

The present research deals with the Risk assessment of groundwater quality. 79 groundwater samples were collected from domestic and agricultural usage open and bore wells during January 2021(COVID-19 Pandemic Period). Groundwater samples were tested to determine the physicochemical parameters using standard testing procedure for the preparation of spatial distribution maps of each parameter based on the World Health Organization (WHO) standard. Multivariate statistical analysis has shown the source of groundwater pollution from secondary leaching of chemical weathering of rocks. From the Water Quality Index and bivariate plot reveals that less than 20% of the area comes under high and very high-risk zone. The types of hardness diagram showed 32.91% of the samples fall in hard brackish water as illustrated by the Piper trilinear diagram. The research outcome result shows that the least percentage of industrials effluents due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not working for all industries during lock down period.

The Importance of Monitoring the Work-Life Quality during the COVID-19 Restrictions for Sustainable Management in Nursing

The aim of this study was to investigate the work-life quality and related workplace factors of nursing employees working in hospitals during the COVID-19 restrictions. Employees in nursing carry out nursing care at various levels of healthcare. Work-life quality refers to an individual's feelings concerning work and outcomes and depends on different working characteristics and conditions. Quantitative research based on a cross-sectional study was used. This cross-sectional study included 486 employees in nursing from four Slovenian acute care hospitals. The results showed that most employees in nursing assessed the work-life quality on a moderate level: 76% were satisfied with their work, and 89% assessed their well-being at the workplace as positive. Considering the leaders' support, the number of patients, adequate information, teamwork, working position, use of days off, and equipment for safe work, we can explain the 53.5% of the total variability of work-life quality. We also found that work-life quality had an essential effect on well-being at the workplace (β = 0.330, p < 0.001) and work satisfaction (β = 0.490, p < 0.001) of employees in nursing. Work-life quality refers to an employees' feelings about their workplace, and its monitoring is important for higher employees' well-being and health. For management and policymakers in nursing, it is important to design strategies to ensure an adequate number of competent employees and establish a supportive leadership system. Work-life quality is an important factor in the recruitment and retention of the nursing workforce. Flexible working conditions and policy changes can improve work-life quality and balance. Nursing management must understand the influencing factors of work-life quality to improve nursing employee retention strategies.

Measuring Quality of Life in Residential Aged Care Using the EQ-5D-5L: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Impact of Cognition Level and Proxy Perspective on Interrater Agreement

Quality of life (QoL) is an important outcome in aged care, but self-report is not always possible due to the high prevalence of cognitive impairment in older aged care residents. This study aims to assess the impact of family member proxy perspective (proxy-proxy or proxy-person) on interrater agreement with resident self-report by different cognition levels. The influence of proxy perspective and cognition level is a significant gap in the extant literature which this study seeks to address. A cross-sectional study was undertaken with residents classified into cognition subgroups according to the Mini Mental State Examination. Residents completed the self-report EQ-5D-5L, a well-established generic measure of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Family member proxies completed EQ-5D-5L proxy version 1 (proxy-proxy perspective, where the proxy responds based on their own opinions) and proxy version 2 (proxy-person perspective, where the proxy responds as they believe the person would). Interrater agreement was assessed using the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) for utility scores and the weighted kappa for dimension-level responses. Sixty-three residents (n = 22 no cognitive impairment, n = 27 mild impairment, and n = 14 moderate impairment) and proxies participated. EQ-5D-5L utility scores were lower for proxies compared with residents (self-report = 0.522, proxy-proxy = 0.299, and proxy-person = 0.408). Interrater agreement with self-report was higher for proxy-person (CCC = 0.691) than for proxy-proxy (CCC = 0.609). Agreement at the dimension level was higher for more easily observable dimensions, such as mobility, compared to less observable dimensions, such as anxiety/depression. Resident self-reported and proxy family member-reported HRQoL assessments, using the EQ-5D-5L, are different but may be more closely aligned when the proxy is specifically guided to respond from the person's perspective. Further research is needed to address the impact of divergences in self-report and proxy-report ratings of HRQoL for quality assessment and economic evaluation in aged care.

Pareto-Optimized AVQI Assessment of Dysphonia: A Clinical Trial Using Various Smartphones

Multiparametric indices offer a more comprehensive approach to voice quality assessment by taking into account multiple acoustic parameters. Artificial intelligence technology can be utilized in healthcare to evaluate data and optimize decision-making processes. Mobile devices provide new opportunities for remote speech monitoring, allowing the use of basic mobile devices as screening tools for the early identification and treatment of voice disorders. However, it is necessary to demonstrate equivalence between mobile device signals and gold standard microphone preamplifiers. Despite the increased use and availability of technology, there is still a lack of understanding of the impact of physiological, speech/language, and cultural factors on voice assessment. Challenges to research include accounting for organic speech-related covariables, such as differences in conversing voice sound pressure level (SPL) and fundamental frequency (f0), recognizing the link between sensory and experimental acoustic outcomes, and obtaining a large dataset to understand regular variation between and within voice-disordered individuals. Our study investigated the use of cellphones to estimate the Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) in a typical clinical setting using a Pareto-optimized approach in the signal processing path. We found that there was a strong correlation between AVQI results obtained from different smartphones and a studio microphone, with no significant differences in mean AVQI scores between different smartphones. The diagnostic accuracy of different smartphones was comparable to that of a professional microphone, with optimal AVQI cut-off values that can effectively distinguish between normal and pathological voice for each smartphone used in the study. All devices met the proposed 0.8 AUC threshold and demonstrated an acceptable Youden index value.

Need of Technological Interventions for Indoor Air Quality and Risk Assessment Upon Short-Term Exposure: A Futuristic Approach

The variation in ambient air pollution hampers indoor air quality (IAQ), and even the short-term variation is very hazardous for the exposed population. Technological interventions including sensors, smartphones and other gadgets are implemented to build smart environments. However, these interventions are still not fully explored in developing countries like India. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it very important to keep a tab on the air we breathe in as those already suffering from respiratory troubles are prone to fall victim to the deadly disease. In such a scenario, even a rise in pollution for a short duration is dangerous to the exposed pollution. Such short-term exposure facilitated by the meteorological creates a disaster for environmental health. The short-term rise in the concentration of pollutants makes things worse for the exposed people, even indoors. It is therefore critical to come up with a concrete solution to predict the IAQ instantly and warn the exposed population which can be only achieved by technological interventions and futuristic Internet of Things-based computational predictions. This chapter is intended to elaborate the health hazards linked to short-term rise in pollutants, which often goes unnoticed but has a critical impact and how with the help of IoT-based applications, the short-term variation can be predicted through different strategies. Similarly, the assessment of the health impact associated with short-term exposure to air pollution is also significant, and different exposure assessment models and computational strategies are discussed in the course of the study. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Preface

International Conference on Geospatial Science for Digital Earth Observation (GSDEO 2021)The international conference on "Geospatial Science for Digital Earth Observation” (GSDEO) 2021 was successfully held on a virtual platform of Zoom on March 26th and 27th, 2021. The conference was jointly organized by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS), Kolkata chapter, and the Department of Geography, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Adamas University. Due to the non-predictable behaviour of the COVID-19 second wave, which imposed restrictions on organizing offline events, the GSDEO (2021) organizing committee decided to organize the conference online, instead of postponing the event.Remotely sensed data and geographic information systems have been increasingly used together for a vast range of applications, which include land use/land cover mapping, water resource management, weather forecasting, environmental monitoring, agriculture, disaster management, etc. Currently, intensive research is being carried out using remotely sensed data on the geoinformatics platform. New developments have led to dynamic advances in recent years. The objective of the international conference on Geospatial Science for Digital Earth Observation (GSDEO 2021) was to bring the scientists, academicians, and researchers, in the field of geo-environmental sciences on a common platform to exchange ideas and their recent findings related to the latest advances and applications of geospatial science. The call for papers received an enthusiastic response from the academic community, and over 100+ participants from 50+ colleges, universities, and institutions participated in the conference. In total 50+ research papers had been presented through the virtual Zoom conference platform in GSDEO 2021.The conference witnessed the presentation of research papers from diverse applied fields of geospatial sciences, which include the application of geoinformatics in geomorphology, hydrology, urban science, land use planning, climate, and environmental studies. There were four sessions namely, TS 1: Geomorphology and Hydrology, TS 2: Urban Science, TS 3: Social Sustainability and Land Use Planning, and TS 4: Climate and Environment. Each session was further subdivided, into two parts, namely Technical Session 1-A and 1-B. Each sub-session had been designed with one keynote speech and 5 oral presentations. Oral sessions were organized in two parts and offered through live and pre-recorded components based on the preference of the presenters. The presentation session was followed by a live Q&A session. The session chairs moderated the discussions. Similarly, poster sessions were organized in three parts and offered e-poster, live, and pre-recorded components. The best presenter of each sub-session received the best paper award.Dr. Prithvish Nag, Ex-Director of NATMO & Ex Surveyor General of India delivered the inaugural speech, and Dr. P. Chakrabarti, Former Chief Scientist of the DST&B, Govt. of West Bengal delivered a special lecture after the inaugural session. Eight eminent keynote speakers, Prof. S.P. Agarwal from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Prof. Ashis Kumar Paul from Vidyasagar University, Prof. Soumya Kanti Ghosh from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Prof. L. N. Satpati from the University of Calcutta, Prof. R.B. Singh from the University of Delhi, Dr. A.K. Raha, IFS (Retd), Prof. Gerald Mills from the University College Dublin and Prof. Sugata Hazra from Jadavpur University enriched the knowledge of participants in the field of geoinformatics by their informative lectures. The presentations and discussions widely covered the various spectrums of geoinformatics and its application in monitoring natural resources like vegetation mapping, agricultural resource monitoring, forest health assessment, water, and ocean resource management, disaster management, land resource management, water and climate studies, drought vulnerability assessment, groundwater quality monitoring, accretion mapping and the use of geospatial sci nce in studying morphological, hydrological, and other biophysical characteristics of a region etc. Application of geoinformatics in predicting urban expansion, urban climate, disaster management, healthcare accessibility, anthropogenic resource monitoring, spatial-interaction mapping, and, sustainable regional planning were well-discussed topics of the conference.List of Committees, photos are available in the pdf.

Total quality management in Peruvian goods companies during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThe aim of this research is to empirically assess the nine dimensions of the Total Quality Management (TQM) model, which have been categorized into four blocks: the top management block, the supplier block, the process management block and the customer block. The nine dimensions represent key strategic activities of company performance. A comparative analysis of companies with ISO 9001 certification and those without certification in a developing country during the COVID-19 pandemic is carried out.Design/methodology/approachA survey was administered to the management of 259 Peruvian goods companies (in the mining, repair and manufacturing sectors) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey consisted of 35 Likert-scale items, which were grouped into the following nine TQM dimensions: Top management (leadership), quality planning, quality audit and assessment, product design, suppliers' quality management, process control and improvement, education and training, quality circles and focus on customer satisfaction. Then, Cronbach's alpha, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, the Mann–Whitney U test and means were computed for each of the dimensions. This analysis made it possible to estimate significant differences between ISO 9001 certified and non-certified goods companies in terms of the dimensions.FindingsThe results showed that, for ISO 9001 certified companies, the averages for all of the dimensions were significantly different from those of non-certified companies, except for the education and training dimension. ISO 9001 certified companies scored higher than non-certified companies in the TQM dimensions. For both certified and non-certified companies, the leadership dimension had the highest average and the quality circles dimension had the lowest average.Originality/valueThis study addresses two main gaps highlighted in the research on quality management: the application of Quality Management Systems (QMS) in developing countries like Peru, and the impact of ISO 9001 on the performance of goods companies during the COVID-19 pandemic.