The impact of COVID-19 as a necessary evil on air pollution in India during the lockdown

The study objective is to contemplate the effectiveness of COVID-19 on the air pollution of Indian territory from January 2020 to April 2020. We have executed data from European Space Agency (ESA) and CPCB online portal for air quality data dissemination. The Sentinel - 5 P satellite images elucidate that the Air quality of Indian territory has been improved significantly during COVID-19. Mumbai and Delhi are one of the most populated cities. These two cities have observed a substantial decrease in Nitrogen Dioxide (40-50%) compared to the same period last year. It suggests that the emergence of COVID-19 has been proved to a necessary evil as being advantageous for mitigating air pollution on Indian territory during the lock-down. The study found a significant decline in Nitrogen Dioxide in reputed states of India, i.e., Delhi and Mumbai. Moreover, a faded track of Nitrogen Dioxide can be seen at the Maritime route in the Indian Ocean. An upsurge in the environmental quality of India will also be beneficial for its neighbor countries, i.e., China, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan.

Effects of internal service quality on nurses' job satisfaction, commitment and performance: Mediating role of employee well-being

AIM

The attitudes and behaviours of nursing staff are critical to determine patients' satisfaction and to have a competitive advantage for any healthcare organization. This study is set to investigate the effects of internal service quality (ISQ) on nurses' job satisfaction, employee commitment, well-being and job performance in the healthcare sector of Pakistan. Further, this study also examines the mediating role of nurses' well-being for the relationship of job satisfaction and commitment with their job performance.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional quantitative research. A self-administered survey was used to collect data from 412 nursing employees of 20 private sector healthcare centres operating in Pakistan. Partial least square of structural equation model (PLS-SEM) and structural equation modelling (SEM) were employed through Smart PLS 3.2.8 for data analysis.

RESULTS

Study results revealed that ISQ directly effects employees' satisfaction, commitment, well-being of the nursing employees. Moreover, employees' well-being has mediated job satisfaction and job performance relationship; however, well-being did not mediate the relationship between commitment and job performance.

Mitigating effect of perceived organizational support on stress in the presence of workplace ostracism in the Pakistani nursing sector

BACKGROUND

Nursing has a reputation for being a predominantly stressful profession. Prior studies focus on the overt antecedents of stress like bullying, harassment, and verbal aggression from patients as well as colleagues. Employee stress has been receiving attention for decades, yet there is a research gap on the role of workplace ostracism as an antecedent of stress for nurses. This study aimed to consider the effect of workplace ostracism on the perceived stress of nurses while considering the moderating role of perceived organizational support.

METHODS

This study is quantitative. A time-lagged survey was conducted in private and public hospitals of Pakistan. Data were collected from 241 nurses. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software and analysis of a moment structures (AMOS) software were employed for data analysis, such as bootstrapping analysis, Sobel test, and regression analysis.

RESULTS

Results demonstrated that workplace ostracism is positively associated with stress, while perceived organizational support has a moderating relationship. Perceived organizational support mitigates the adverse effects of workplace ostracism on nurses.

CONCLUSION

This study contributes significantly to nursing literature by identifying workplace ostracism as one of the significant antecedents of stress for nurses. Perceived organizational support shows that employees are cared for and appreciated by the organization, which lessens the strength of perceived stress due to workplace ostracism.

Gauging the air quality of New York: a non-linear Nexus between COVID-19 and nitrogen dioxide emission

The primary objective of the study is to analyse the relationship between COVID-19 and nitrogen dioxide in New York City during the global pandemic. Notably, the study has investigated the direct influence of lockdown circumstances (due to COVID-19) and plunge in the population of New York on its environmental contamination. The study utilized the Non-Linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model to ascertain the asymmetric impact of COVID-19 on the environmental quality of the USA. The results reveal that lockdown has played a significant role in the environmental quality of the USA. Notably, an escalation in the registered cases of COVID-19 has a meaningful and indirect relationship with environmental pollution in the UAS. Besides, as the lockdown state goes normal, it results in an explosion in the environmental pollution in the USA. Also, deaths due to COVID-19 substantively improve the environmental quality in the short-term period as well as in the long-term period.

Contemplating the Impact of the Moderators Agency Cost and Number of Supervisors on Corporate Sustainability Under the Aegis of a Cognitive CEO

The social cognitive theory emphasizes the risk-taking behavior of an entrepreneur, which leads him to make the right decisions. In this regard, this study formulates the concept of the cognitive CEO through the DAE statistical technique. Specifically, CEO attributes such as CEO age, CEO compensation, CEO tenure, goodwill, and the number of CEO-attended meetings are used as inputs that influence the intangible assets, the output. Chinese SMEs have been selected for empirical analysis for the years 2014-2018. The empirical results reveal that having a cognitive CEO augmented corporate sustainability, while agency cost and the number of supervisors strongly diminished corporate sustainability. Meanwhile, high earnings per share and high total assets are vehicles for maintaining the sustainable growth of firms. Additionally, it is indicated that firms with a loan burden cannot maintain sustainable corporate growth. Lastly, the execution of 2SLS and GMM instrumental regressions authenticate the veracity of results.

Modeling the relationship between carbon emissions and environmental sustainability during COVID-19: a new evidence from asymmetric ARDL cointegration approach

The study aims to examine the CO2 emissions by considering the implication of COVID-19 under strict lockdown in India. The nonlinear (asymmetric) relationship is investigated between CO2 emission and COVID-19 with its specific determinants. The positive and negative asymmetries of COVID-19 determinants are also captured by using econometric techniques. The daily data series of CO2 emission, new confirmed cases, confirmed deaths, and lockdown as dummy variables from January 30, 2020, to December 1, 2020, for India is analyzed by employing the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model. This research revealed a significant nonlinear relationship between CO2 emission and COVID-19. The bound test and asymmetric coefficients are confirmed by the variables' long- and short-run relationships. The dynamic multiplier graphs present that India's strict lockdown due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 patients significantly reduces toxic gas emissions, especially CO2 emissions. This asymmetric relationship has been proficiently declared that unhealthy public routine, extra traffic, and unhygienic gases released in the air become the reason for environmental destruction. The lockdown is practically imposed for specific periods and reasons, contributing to reducing toxic emissions, but it is not a permanent solution for environmental sustainability. The government of India, policymakers, and environmentalists should make people aware of unhealthy and environmentally envying activities and policies and long-term applicable strategies should be designed to upgrade the environment's quality.

Resistance of some cultivated Brassicaceae to infestations by Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae)

Selecting insect-resistant plant varieties is a key component of integrated management programs of oligophagous pests such as diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), but rigorous research on important life history parameters of P. xylostella in relation to host plant resistance is rare. We evaluated six conventional brassicaceous species, namely, Brassica napus L. 'Q2', B. rapa L., B. juncea (L.) Czern., B. carinata L., B. oleracea L., and Sinapis alba L., and two herbicide-tolerant cultivars, namely, B. napus 'Liberty' and B. napus 'Conquest' for their resistance against P. xylostella. Brassicaceae species and cultivars varied considerably in their susceptibilities as hosts for P. xylostella. Sinapis alba and B. rapa plants were highly preferred by ovipositing females and trichome density on adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces had nonsignificant effects on P. xylostella oviposition. Larval survival was similar on the genotypes we tested, but host plants significantly affected larval and pupal developmental time, herbivory, pupal weight, silk weight, adult body weight, forewing area and longevity (without food) of both male and female P. xylostella. Larval and pupal development of females was fastest on B. juncea and S. alba, respectively. Specimens reared on B. napus Liberty and B. oleracea, respectively, produced the lightest female and male pupae. Defoliation by both female and male larvae was highest on B. rapa, whereas least herbivory occurred on S. alba. Females reared on S. alba were heavier and lived longer in the absence of food than their counterparts raised on other tested host plants. Brassica oleracea could not compensate for larval feeding to the level of the other species we evaluated. B. napus Conquest, B. napus Q2, B. carinata, B. rapa, and S. alba produced, respectively, 1.6-, 1.8-, 1.8-, 3.9-, and 5.5-fold heavier root systems when infested than their uninfested counterparts, suggesting that these species were better able to tolerate P. xylostella infestations.

Signifying the imperative nexus between climate change and information and communication technology development: a case from Pakistan

The globe has faced technological affluence that enormously revolutionized the lives of humankind. Today, the manufacturing process of the energy sector, production sector, agriculture sector, and service sector is exclusively or partially based on ICT tools. The key intention of this investigation is to find out the impacts of the utilization of ICT on CO₂ emission. However, this investigation also evaluates the influence of investment in ICT and the trade of ICT tools on CO₂ emission. Further, the estimation examined the subsistence of environment Kuznets curve (EKC) theory, for the nation of Pakistan. The investigation employed an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and found that the utilization of ICT has a negative impact on CO₂ emission. Moreover, the long-run results revealed that the import of ICT equipment is more beneficial for the environment quality of Pakistan. However, ICT apparatus manufactured in Pakistan might produce electronic waste due to non-utilization of green technology. The study reported bidirectional causality between ICT and CO₂ emission. These results point towards that the emergence of ICT in industries and daily life possesses a significant and positive role in climate change in Pakistan. Also, this study corroborates the veracity of EKC in Pakistan.

The influence of energy consumption and economic growth on environmental degradation in BRICS countries: an application of the ARDL model and decoupling index

The multi-dimensional pollutions in the earth zone due to the degradation of the environmental levels have been emerging as an urgent issue in the developing economies. The BRICS group of countries holds a unique position in the emerging economies, playing a leading role in reinforcing political power globally and domestically. This study examines the annual time series over the period of 1971-2017 for Brazil, India, China, and South Africa, and 1990-2017 for Russia, to explore the relationship between environmental quality and economic growth in correspondence with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis as well as the Decoupling Index (DI). The presence of an EKC strongly supports any of the individualistic environmental determinants effected in the long run by Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL), building linkage with the approach of the co-integration and the DI, which brings about economic growth as well as CO2 emission and environmental degradation simultaneously. A short-run relationship and presence of the EKC hypothesis are observed in Brazil, Russia, and India with 92%, while China's (55%) and South Africa's (79%) have a slower speed of adjustment to long-run equilibrium. This study concludes that economic expansion and environmental degradation are interrelated in the long run. Environment degradation (CO2 emission) can be eradicated by continuous economic growth, management of energy demands and energy crises, implementation of environmentally sustainable policies, application of green technologies for the use of natural resources, and controllability of urban population growth with immediate and effective actions.

Elucidating the effectiveness of cognitive CEO on corporate environmental performance: the mediating role of corporate innovation

This study contemplates the effectiveness of the cognitive CEO on corporate environmental performance for the 1058 listed Chinese firms on Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges for the years 2015-2019. The contributive concept of the cognitive CEO has been demonstrated through CEO tenure, education, goodwill, and attainment of tacit knowledge while implementing the DAE statistical technique. Additionally, the corporate environmental performance has been formulated, signifying the eight environmental attributes. Convincingly, innovation is intertwined with corporate environmental responsibility, which has been analyzed as a mediator. Remarkably, our findings envisage the cognitive CEO as a promoter of corporate environmental responsibility. Meanwhile, under the patronage of the cognitive CEO, innovation output has been ascertained as a vigorous intensifier of corporate environmental performance as compared with innovation input. Moreover, firms exhibiting specific characteristics like firm age, presence of independent directors, and being a state-owned enterprise proclaim their orientation towards corporate environmental responsibility. Specifically, under the patronage of stakeholder theory, empirical results have been interpreted. Significantly, the integrity of empirical results has been authenticated via the execution of GMM instrumental regression. Lastly, the implication of the study recommends the mangers, academicians, and organizational theorists to perceive the significance of cognitive CEO who can manage the funds for both innovation and corporate environmental responsibility.

Elongating Nexus Between Workplace Factors and Knowledge Hiding Behavior: Mediating Role of Job Anxiety

Purpose

The study objective is to investigate the relationship between workplace ostracism, workplace incivility, and knowledge hiding behavior (evasive hiding, playing dumb, rationalized hiding) while considering the mediating role of job anxiety.

Methods

The study collected data through structured questionnaires from 275 participants (ie, employees) working in the small to medium-sized enterprise of five big cities of Pakistan. The study adopted a structured equation modeling technique for data analysis.

Results

Significantly, the study results suggest a positive effect of workplace ostracism and workplace incivility on employees’ knowledge hiding behavior, and job anxiety significantly mediates the relationship between workplace ostracism, workplace incivility, and knowledge hiding behavior of employees.

Conclusion

The present study highlights the need to examine the personality disposition for understanding the relationship between the variables (eg, workplace ostracism, workplace incivility, knowledge hiding behavior). Employees’ inappropriate behavior had suppressed by initiating a campaign for a realistic job preview, setting an exceptional example. The study significantly contributes to the current literature on knowledge hiding behavior by presenting valuable insight into organizational and individual variables, subsequently influencing the knowledge hiding behavior of individuals. Indeed, this study is the first to investigate the predictive effect of the proposed variables.

Extending the Association Between Leader-Member Exchange Differentiation and Safety Performance: A Moderated Mediation Model

PURPOSE

This study examines and analyses the impact of leader-member exchange differentiation (LMXD) on employee safety performance.

METHODS

A quantitative study was conducted on a sample of 357 Chinese construction industry employees through a structured questionnaire. The research hypothesis was tested by using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique.

RESULTS

The results showed that LMXD could directly and positively affect the negative emotions and indirectly affect the safety performance of employees through the mediating effect of negative emotions and work engagement. Interpersonal trust has a moderating impact on the relationship between LMXD and negative emotions.

CONCLUSION

This study contributes to the literature on organizational behavior. Employee workplace safety is a great challenge in the construction industry. Enterprises should pay attention to the negative impact of LMXD. A fair working environment has significant importance to the employee's safety.

Signifying the Relationship between Fear of COVID-19, Psychological Concerns, Financial Concerns and Healthcare Employees Job Performance: A Mediated Model

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has undoubtedly created immense health problems in the global healthcare sector. Apart from its impact on physical health, it has devastatingly affected the psychological well-being of individuals. Based on Affective Events Theory (AET), the current study aims to contemplate the relationship between Fear of COVID-19 (CVF), psychological concerns (PC), and financial concerns (FC) while considering the impact on the healthcare employees' job performance (JP). Moreover, this study investigates the mediating role of job anxiety (ANX), stress (ST), and depression (DEP). The data were collected through an online structured questionnaire (Google Forms) from 489 employees working in the healthcare centers of Pakistan. The structured equation modeling (partial least square) approach is adopted for data analysis. The study results showed that Fear of COVID-19, psychological and financial concerns positively and significantly affect healthcare workers' job performance. Depression, anxiety, and stress mediated the relationship between Fear of COVID-19, psychological concerns, financial concerns, and job performance. The study theoretically and practically contributes to the existing literature on psychological and mental health by providing a better understanding of the individual variables that affect employees' job performance.

Recent Progress for the Utilization of Curcuma longa, Piper nigrum and Phoenix dactylifera Seeds against Type 2 Diabetes

Background

Diabetes mellitus is an important human disease afflicting many from various walks of life in different countries. Even though modern medicines contribute a variety of effective treatment options, they can have several unfavourable effects. The intention of this review is to organize and discuss various studies that have been previously conducted on the effectiveness of these herbal plants in diabetes.

Method

By using various electronic search databases, a comprehensive English literature search was conducted. Different search terms were used by combining all the search fields in titles, abstracts and keywords.

Results

Curcuma longa,a spice, is commonly known as turmeric and belongs to the family Zingiberaceae. Piper nigrumis also a spice, commonly called black pepper, and belongs to the family Piperaceae. Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as date fruit, belongs to the family Arecaceae. From ancient times, they have been traditionally used for the treatment of various diseases. Among various activities, regulation of hyperglycaemia is considered one of their important effects. One of the aetiological factors implicated in the development of diabetes and its complications is the damage induced by free radicals. Antioxidant properties of antidiabetic compounds would be more beneficial. Extracts of these plants have shown hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic effects by the involvement of several mechanisms. In the future, further studies are needed to investigate the mechanisms involved in their hypoglycaemic potential and their active constituents as synthetic analogues.

Conclusions

This review focusses on some medicinal plants that have antidiabetic effect, thus contributing to the reduction of risk factors associated with diabetes, and related beneficial effects are compiled.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers' psychological and mental health: The moderating role of felt obligation

BACKGROUND

The ravages of COVID-19 have created a worldwide emergency in healthcare units. Under these circumstances, the perception of an infection threat is primarily affecting the employees' performance in reducing contagion effects.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to develop substantial measures of support for healthcare employees to maintain adequacy in job performance.

METHODS

Data were collected from state-owned hospitals in Pakistan to test the current study's proposed model. We applied structural equation modeling through a partial least square regression in addition to the blindfolding approach in Smart-PLS. Confirmatory factor analysis was also employed to measure the study's validity.

RESULTS

The current study's findings show that the perception of a threat from COVID-19 and the inadequate protective measures have influenced frontline healthcare workers' performance levels. The mediating path of depression symptoms indicated the threat of COVID-19 and the absence of protective measures as potential determinants of poor performance. However, an employee's ability to feel obligated toward their job duties reduces the effect of depression on employee performance.

CONCLUSION

The current model highlights an individual's feelings of obligation to maintain their performance level by minimizing the effect of depression and professional anxiety. The present study extensively described the psychological constraints healthcare workers are facing during the current pandemic. Current research addressing healthcare employees' mental health is vital for better prevention and control during pandemic circumstances. The current study's findings extend the emerging understanding of employee psychology in such circumstances.

Recent analytical tools to mitigate carbon-based pollution: New insights by using wavelet coherence for a sustainable environment

Anthropogenic activities are a ubiquitous source of carbon-based pollution. A sustainable environment is endangered due to inefficiently regulated pollution policies, and the rise in world population further enhances the severity of this formidable challenge. This study has investigated the impact of the annual CO₂ emissions in Pakistan on electricity production from different sectors, GDP, and the population by focusing on the control of carbon-based pollution. This research study intends to fill the gap in previous studies by providing significant measures to link the control of carbon-based pollution, increased GDP, and Pakistan's population, using data from 1990 to 2020. A set of 15 variables are mainly used to investigate all of these relations. Carbon pollution drastically impacts both the external and internal environment. The graphical analysis undertaken in this study finds an upward trend and significant positive correlation among the variables. It demonstrates that Pakistan shows minimal contribution in CO₂ emission compared to other Asian economies, but in recent decades, an increasing growth rate has been noticeable and needs to be controlled. The ECM and ARDL approaches confirm that all the variables positively affect CO₂ emission both in the long- and short-term, except for electricity production from gas and hydro in the long term, which shows negative relation. The long-term shifts also indicate that high CO₂ emissions can be recovered from by adjusting these variables. The study also suggests that the government should convert high carbon use to low carbon energy use to control CO₂ emissions in Pakistan.

Testosterone Level in Testicular Cancer Patients after Chemotherapy

Background

The use of chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer began at the start of the 20th century in an attempt to narrow the universe of chemicals that affect the disease. Metastatic testicular cancer has always been sensitive to chemotherapy.

Subjects and Method

A retrospective and prospective study was performed of patients who had undergone testicular cancer from 2011-2013. The overall age of the testicular cancer patients at the time of diagnosis, their marital status, stage of disease and treatment strategies, testosterone level etc were analysed using linear regression and t-test.

Results

Most of the patients had seminoma tumour. A greater number of patients were diagnosed in the later stages of the disease. Before chemotherapy, testosterone level was normal and decreased during chemotherapy but after completion, it returned to normal level.

Conclusion

There is an early onset of testicular cancer in the Pakistani population. There is no effect of chemotherapy on testosterone production in late survivors.

Service Innovation in Human Resource Management During COVID-19: A Study to Enhance Employee Loyalty Using Intrinsic Rewards

This research focuses on the employee loyalty aspect of private hospitals in Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic, seriously impacted by strict work demand and work-family conflict. To manage this issue, social rewards and psychological rewards played a role as a mediator. The study uses a causal research design with a correlational study design in a non-contrived environment. Minimal researcher interference has been assured. AMOS 24 has been used to deal with the mediation in study design with bootstrap methodology. The study was conducted on 250 nurses of different private hospitals across Punjab province using a proportionate stratified sampling technique. A finding of this study suggests that nurses remain loyal to their organizations despite having uncompromising work demands and facing work-family conflict when they are provided with social and psychological rewards on their job by their organizations.

Does energy use and economic growth allow for environmental sustainability? An empirical analysis of Pakistan

The rapid growth of environmental pollution and the destruction of eco-systems force every individual economy to focus on environmentally friendly economic development. This research explores economic growth, energy use, foreign direct investment, agriculture, industrialization, and urban population growth with environmental sustainability proxied as CO₂ emissions from 1971 to 2018. Econometric methods are employed for different purposes as the unit root for the stationary check. ARDL determines the long-run relationship, while the Decoupling Index examines the growing speed of variables and CO₂ emissions, and VECM has been used for short- and long-run causalities. The study's findings confirm the long-run impact of all environmental pollution variables as ECM-1 is negatively significant. The short-run causality test shows CO₂ emissions because of economic growth (GDP =  > CO₂ ≠ GDP), energy use (ENU =  > CO₂ ≠ ENU), and foreign direct investment (FDI =  > CO₂ ≠ FDI) at a 1% level. In contrast, CO₂ emissions are not the Granger cause of GDP, ENU, and FDI. Economic growth, energy use, and foreign direct investment will increase CO₂ emission, not vice versa. The study findings suggest that governments should move toward adopting green technology by implementation of green fiscal policies.