Fuzzy Clustering Methods to Identify the Epidemiological Situation and Its Changes in European Countries during COVID-19

Hierarchical Analysis of Forms of Support for Employees in the Field of Health Protection and Quality of Work during the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Desired Post-Pandemic Forms of Support

Issues of employee support during the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-pandemic period are of an interdisciplinary nature. Moreover, these should be considered from both an epistemological and a practical perspective. The aim of this study was to determine what forms of support for employees in terms of health and quality of work were provided by employers during the pandemic and what forms of support will be expected by employees after it ceases. The research process was carried out in two stages: primary and secondary exploration and quantitative clarification. In the first stage, a systematic review of the literature and a critical analysis of the so-called grey literature was performed. In the second stage, computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) methodology was used. Ward's method was used for data analysis. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic forced employers to search for new solutions to enable the continuation of their business activities, which consisted of switching from the traditional form of work to a remote form. The transition to the remote work mode changed the approach to the forms of work support provided for employees, with particular emphasis on the health of employees and the quality of work. The changes in the forms of support for employees in terms of health and quality of work were either bottom-up or top-down. Employers tried to provide access to remote infrastructure as much as possible, but the consequences of remote work in terms of the physical and mental health of employees were rarely noticed or considered. After the pandemic, online health support and access to the appropriate equipment and tools for remote work are unlikely to be needed.

Entropy-Based Applications in Economics, Finance, and Management

The concept of entropy originated from physics (precisely, from thermodynamics), but it has been utilized in many research fields to characterize the complexity of a system and to investigate the information content of a probability distribution [...]

Malaysia PM10 Air Quality Time Series Clustering Based on Dynamic Time Warping

Air quality monitoring is important in the management of the environment and pollution. In this study, time series of PM10 from air quality monitoring stations in Malaysia were clustered based on similarity in terms of time series patterns. The identified clusters were analyzed to gain meaningful information regarding air quality patterns in Malaysia and to identify characterization for each cluster. PM10 time series data from 5 July 2017 to 31 January 2019, obtained from the Malaysian Department of Environment and Dynamic Time Warping as the dissimilarity measure were used in this study. At the same time, k-Means, Partitioning Around Medoid, agglomerative hierarchical clustering, and Fuzzy k-Means were the algorithms used for clustering. The results portray that the categories and activities of locations of the monitoring stations do not directly influence the pattern of the PM10 values, instead, the clusters formed are mainly influenced by the region and geographical area of the locations.

Government Intervention, Human Mobility, and COVID-19: A Causal Pathway Analysis from 121 Countries

Based on data from 121 countries, the study assesses the dynamic effect and causality path of the government epidemic prevention policies and human mobility behaviors on the growth rates of COVID-19 new cases and deaths. Our results find that both policies and behaviors influenced COVID-19 cases and deaths. The direct effect of policies on COVID-19 was more than the indirect effect. Policies influence behaviors, and behaviors react spontaneously to information. Further, masks give people a false sense of security and increase mobility. The close public transport policy increased COVID-19 new cases. We also conducted sensitivity analysis and found that some policies hold robustly, such as the policies of school closing, restrictions on gatherings, stay-at-home requirements, international travel controls, facial coverings, and vaccination. The counterfactual tests suggest that, as of early March 2021, if governments had mandated masking policies early in the epidemic, the cases and deaths would have been reduced by 18% and 14% separately. If governments had implemented vaccination policies early in the pandemic, the cases and deaths would have been reduced by 93% and 62%, respectively. Without public transportation closures, cases and deaths would have been reduced by 40% and 10%, respectively.

The Social Dimension of Security: The Dichotomy of Respondents’ Perceptions during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The main goal of the study was to make a subjective assessment of the social security of households during the coronavirus pandemic. In order to achieve this goal, a three-stage primary research based on the CAWI method (computer-assisted web interview) was conducted on households in Poland in April, June, and September 2020. The research used statistical methods of structure evaluation and the fuzzy TOPSIS method. It assessed the security of households and respondents’ subjective perceptions of the loss of financial stability, income, and employment, as well as presenting the deterioration of the situation of their households in the immediate future. The respondents also assessed the possible deterioration of the situation in Poland, the growth of poverty in families and unemployment in the immediate future. In addition, the respondents’ subjective assessments of the level of insecurity about the future of their households and the situation in Poland were quantified. One of the most important conclusions was the dichotomy in the respondents’ perceptions, as they assessed the situation of their households better than the situation in Poland. The research shows that in April 2020, i.e., at the first stage of the research, the respondents strongly felt that the financial situation of their households had deteriorated. In June 2020 (stage II) this perception weakened slightly because they may have considered the pandemic situation to be temporary. However, in September 2020 (stage III) the sense of the possible deterioration of their financial situation increased again due to the ongoing pandemic and its consequences.