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This study examines the association between environmental sustainability, governance factors and national culture with COVID-19 impact. We aim to draw implications for thinking and researching environmental accountability at a higher level than the organisation. We draw on the conceptual lens of deep ecology. Using a sample of 44 countries, we find that that countries with a higher level of corporate carbon emissions experienced a greater impact from COVID-19. Moreover, countries with higher accountability and government effectiveness are associated with a lower COVID-19 impact, implying that productive policy responses to the pandemic were employed in such settings. The study also finds that the positive association between carbon emissions and COVID-19 impact is less pronounced for countries with an individualism culture. This suggests that policy responses, such as social distancing, may have yielded better results in these cultural contexts. Furthermore, it is found that the positive impact of carbon emissions on COVID-19 impact is lower for countries having long-term orientation and environmental value orientation cultures.

The purpose of this study was to identify and exhibit the interrelationships among COVID-19’s impacts on supply chain activities. Based on a literature review and the manager’s input, twenty COVID-19 impacts were collected. An integrated approach of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and grey-decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (G-DEMATEL) was used to reveal the causal interrelationships among the COVID-19 impacts. Initially, a questionnaire survey was administered among 220 respondents for EFA. Based on the outcome of EFA, the twenty COVID-19 impacts were categorized into seven critical areas. Then, based on the experts’ inputs, G-DEMATEL was utilized to reveal the causal interrelationships among various COVID-19 impacts. The results indicate that disruption management, relationship management, and production management are the top three critical areas that need to be addressed in the COVID-19 crisis. Disruption in supply, ripple effect on supply chain operations, and obsolescence of machines were found to be the most influential impacts while disproportionateness between supply and demand, difficulty in demand forecasting, and reduced cash inflow were found to be the most influenced impacts. This study’s outcomes will help policymakers and supply chain managers develop strategies to restructure supply chain networks. This study is an original contribution to the analysis of COVID-19 impacts in the supply chain activities in India due to the use of EFA and G-DEMATEL. This study considers India only, and hence, the outcomes lack generalizability. A study considering multiple developing countries could generalize these findings.

Geopsychiatry, a newly emerging discipline within psychiatry, examines the influence of geopolitical determinants on mental health and mental illness. Geopolitical determinants include conflict and wars, global austerity, climate change, public health crises (such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)), and migration. This study focuses on the two significant areas of climate change and migration. Climate change can affect mental health directly or indirectly in a variety of ways, including chronic (global warming) and acute (heat waves and environmental disasters) events. Certain groups of migrants, including migrating children, older migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, are particularly vulnerable to developing psychiatric disorders. The convergence of climate change and migration is significantly complicating the already highly difficult situation for mental health services worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where access to care is limited. Despite this, the majority of studies examining mental health impacts of these events originate from high-income countries, and there is still a lack of effective preventive and treatment strategies. In 2023, the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) set up a Special Interest Group on Geopsychiatry with a clear and explicit aim to summarize current evidence and propose strategies to tackle geopolitical challenges on mental health. The Special Interest Group aims to support regional and local groups across all psychiatric disciplines and stakeholders dedicated to building local consensus, prioritizing research, crafting policies, and collating and sharing good clinical practices. With such significant effort, we can expand our understanding and collaboration on geopsychiatry and make changes to the care of people with geopolitical and mental health challenges around the globe.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a sudden change from normal conditions to disruption conditions, and industrial sectors have experienced eroded growth. In particular, the manufacturing industry experienced a slowdown due to the sudden disruption in supply and demand. This situation stimulates the manufacturing industry to recover from this current challenging disruption. This study investigates the impact of supply chain integration on business performance through supply chain resilience, supply chain flexibility, and innovation system in Indonesia’s manufacturing companies. Data collection has obtained as many as 470 questionnaires considered valid for further analysis. Data analysis used the partial least square (PLS) technique using smartPLS software version 3.0. The results show that supply chain integration affects innovation system, supply chain flexibility, and supply chain resilience because of its ability to share complete product information and share production planning. Innovation systems and supply chain flexibility enhance supply chain resilience through the ability to deal with sudden changes in customer demand and production problems. Supply chain integration improves business performance through innovation, supply chain flexibility, and supply chain resilience in the COVID-19 era. This research could be the best practice for managers in restoring manufacturing performance quickly. This study also contributes to the current research in supply chain management.

The progress of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) research in school buildings has increased profusely in the last two decades and the interest in this area is still growing worldwide. IEQ in classrooms impacts the comfort, health, and productivity of students as well as teachers. This article systematically discusses IEQ parameters related to studies conducted in Indian school classrooms during the last fifteen years. Real-time research studies conducted on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), Thermal Comfort (TC), Acoustic Comfort (AcC), and Visual Comfort (VC) in Indian school classrooms from July 2006 to March 2021 are considered to gain insight into the existing research methodologies. This review article indicates that IEQ parameter studies in Indian school buildings are tortuous, strewn, inadequate, and unorganized. There is no literature review available on studies conducted on IEQ parameters in Indian school classrooms. The results infer that in India, there is no well-established method to assess the indoor environmental condition of classrooms in school buildings to date. Indian school classrooms are bleak and in dire need of energy-efficient modifications that maintain good IEQ for better teaching and learning outcomes. The prevailing COVID-19 Pandemic, Artificial Intelligence (AI), National Education Policy (NEP), Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), Internet of Things (IoT), and Green Schools (GS) are also discussed to effectively link existing conditions with the future of IEQ research in Indian school classrooms.

Load forecasting is extremely important for day today operations and trading of any distribution utility. In recent times due to pandemic situation, the imposition of lockdown has caused all the commercial and industrial activities to shutdown. This has profoundly impacted the entire nation’s electrical demand consumption. The consumption levels as well as the profiles have changed drastically. This has affected the forecast accuracy of the utilities exposing them to financial and technical risks. This paper presents and analyses the impact of COVID 19 on load consumption of a urban distribution utility. It also proposes a new forecasting model called ‘Quick Learn Approach’ (QLA) developed specifically for such lockdown period. Its main aim is to quickly learn and adapt to the constantly changing load consumption pattern while giving fairly accurate forecasts. The performance of the QLA model is compared with several other standard forecasting models so as to ensure its effectiveness.

AbstractChina’s long-term sustainability faces socioeconomic and environmental uncertainties. We identify five key systemic risk drivers, called disruptors, which could push China into a polycrisis: pandemic disease, ageing and shrinking population, deglobalization, climate change, and biodiversity loss. Using an integrated simulation model, we quantify the effects of these disruptors on the country’s long-term sustainability framed by 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Here we show that ageing and shrinking population, and climate change would be the two most influential disruptors on China’s long-term sustainability. The compound effects of all disruptors could result in up to 2.1 and 7.0 points decline in the China’s SDG score by 2030 and 2050, compared to the baseline with no disruptors and no additional sustainability policies. However, an integrated policy portfolio involving investment in education, healthcare, energy transition, water-use efficiency, ecological conservation and restoration could promote resilience against the compound effects and significantly improve China’s long-term sustainability.