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Few studies on population-specific health effects of extreme temperature on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) deaths have been conducted in the subtropical and tropical climates of China. We examined the association between extreme temperature and CVD across four cities in China. We performed a two-stage analysis; we generated city-specific estimates using a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) and estimated the overall effects by conducting a meta-analysis. Heat thresholds of 29 °C, 29 °C, 29 °C, and 30 °C and cold thresholds of 6 °C, 10 °C, 14 °C, and 15 °C were observed in Hefei, Changsha, Nanning, and Haikou, respectively. The lag periods for heat-related CVD mortality were observed only for 0–2 days, while those of cold-related CVD mortality were observed for 10–15 days. The meta-analysis showed that a 1 °C increase above the city-specific heat threshold was associated with average overall CVD mortality increases of 4.6% (3.0%–6.2%), 6.4% (3.4%–9.4%), and 0.2% (−4.8%–5.2%) for all ages, ≥65 years, and <65 years over a lag period of 0–2 days, respectively. Similarly, a 1 °C decrease below the city-specific cold threshold was associated with average overall CVD mortality increases of 4.2% (3.0%–5.4%), 4.9% (3.5%–6.3%), and 3.1% (1.7%–4.5%), for all ages, ≥65 years, and <65 years over a lag period of 0–15 days, respectively. This work will help to take appropriate measures to reduce temperature-mortality risk in different populations in the subtropical and tropical climates of China.

In this paper, we apply game theory to study the price competition between drugstores and hospitals in China’s pharmaceutical supply chain. Motivated by drug shortages and price disparity problems, we build a simplified model with one supplier, one hospital, and one drugstore in which the sellers sell one kind of drug and compete on price. The hospital receives a discount from the government when ordering the drug and both sellers face a price-sensitive and uncertain demand. The existence and uniqueness of a Nash equilibrium are proved and closed-form solutions are found for linear demand cases. We characterize the pricing and ordering decisions of the hospital and drugstore. The analysis shows that high ex-factory price, high price sensitivity, and a small discount are three factors contributing to drug shortages. We consider two special kinds of linear demand to obtain insights into the drug price disparity problem.

Air pollution is a major issue all over the world because of its impacts on the environment and human beings. The present review discussed the sources and impacts of pollutants on environmental and human health and the current research status on environmental pollution forecasting techniques in detail; this study presents a detailed discussion of the Artificial Intelligence methodologies and Machine learning (ML) algorithms used in environmental pollution forecasting and early-warning systems; moreover, the present work emphasizes more on Artificial Intelligence techniques (particularly Hybrid models) used for forecasting various major pollutants (e.g., PM2.5, PM10, O3, CO, SO2, NO2, CO2) in detail; moreover, focus is given to AI and ML techniques in predicting chronic airway diseases and the prediction of climate changes and heat waves. The hybrid model has better performance than single AI models and it has greater accuracy in prediction and warning systems. The performance evaluation error indexes like R2, RMSE, MAE and MAPE were highlighted in this study based on the performance of various AI models.

In this paper, we have examined the effects of COVID-19 on the socio-economic condition of the three-wheeled electric vehicle drivers in some selected areas of Bangladesh from the cross-sectional data (September–November 2020). The results of linear regression indicate that under COVID-19 conditions, age (p = 0.022) and hardship (p = 0.000) positively, and education (p = 0.036), driving duration (p = 0.023), COVID consciousness (p = 0.086) and easy bike vehicle (p = 0.000) negatively affects income of the respondents. The deaths of COVID in the district (p = 0.003), income (p = 0.000), age (p = 0.037), easy bike vehicle (p = 0.018), debt (p = 0.059) and sufferings of diseases (p = 0.044) positively, and property holdings (p = 0.028), residence in urban areas (p = 0.004) and COVID consciousness (p = 0.082) negatively affect the family expenditure. The results from binary logistics regressions show that diseases sufferings (adjusted p = <0.001; unadjusted p = <0.001), corona fear (unadjusted p = 0.005; adjusted p = <0.001) have positive, and income (unadjusted p = <0.001; adjusted p = <0.001), cooking fuel (unadjusted p = 0.003; adjusted p = 0.091) and easy bike vehicle (unadjusted p = <0.001; adjusted p = 0.288) have negative association with hardship or misery due to COVID-19; death of COVID-19 in the district (unadjusted p = 0.008; adjusted p = 0.037), hardship or misery (adjusted p = 0.005; adjusted p = 0.001), and urban dwelling area (unadjusted p = 0.002; adjusted p = 0.004) have positive, and access to pure drinking water (unadjusted p = 0.005; adjusted p = 0.011) has negative link with corona fear; and, family savings (unadjusted p = 0.001; adjusted p = 0.013), satisfaction in the current job (unadjusted p = <0.001; adjusted p = <0.001), and government medical service (unadjusted p = 0.065; adjusted p = 0.012) have positive affiliation, and household size (unadjusted p = 0.007; adjusted p = 0.020) has negative affiliation with the continuation desire of the current job of respondents. All the obtained results are consistent and have significant policy implications.

The current COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis has evolved to epic proportions and placed some of the cruise lines on the verge of bankruptcy. This research aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the crisis. Using an inductive qualitative approach, interviews were conducted with eight frequent cruisers who were at home and eight cruise ship employees who were employed by various cruise companies and who were working on cruise ships during the COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis. The findings revealed a systematic failure within the cruise industry management to understand the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of this study highlight the importance of health-related perceived risks on the nature and impact of the COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis. This study supports the overall theory of cruise tourism and crisis management by extending the chaos theory and its principals on the COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis. The managerial implications for cruise lines are outlined.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made many urban policymakers, planners, and scholars, all around the globe, rethink conventional, neoliberal growth strategies of cities. The trend of rapid urbanization, particularly around capital cities, has been questioned, and alternative growth models and locations have been the subjects of countless discussions. This is particularly the case for the Australian context: The COVID-19 pandemic heightened the debates in urban circles on post-pandemic urban growth strategies and boosting the growth of towns and cities across regional Australia is a popular alternative strategy. While some scholars argue that regional Australia poses an invaluable opportunity for post-pandemic growth by ‘taking off the pressure from the capital cities’; others warn us about the risks of growing regional towns and cities without carefully designed national, regional, and local planning, design, and development strategies. Superimposing planning and development policies meant for metropolitan cities could simply result in transferring the ills of capital cities to regions and exacerbate unsustainable development and heightened socioeconomic inequalities. This opinion piece, by keeping both of these perspectives in mind, explores approaches to regional community and economic development of Australia’s towns and cities, along with identifying sustainable urban growth locations in the post-pandemic era. It also offers new insights that could help re-shape the policy debate on regional growth and development.

The COVID-19 crisis provides an opportunity for sustainable renewal and requires responsible leaders who are responsive to stakeholder needs and able to innovate in light of new challenges. This study draws on stakeholder theory and responsible leadership theory to examine (a) the challenges industry leaders face as a result of COVID-19 and (b) their innovative responses in light of their responsibilities to stakeholders and society. We conducted a corpus linguistics study based on high-volume media websites reporting tourism and hospitality news on leadership and innovation. We applied a stakeholder and social responsibility lens to the data analysis. We discovered that, despite the challenges that leaders faced, some transcended self-interest or integrated self-interest with consideration for the interest of others and formed partnerships with other stakeholders resulting in win-win solutions. In particular, we found evidence of leaders who (1) responded to the needs of owners, employees, customers, and community stakeholders and (2) developed not only incremental innovations but substantial ones benefitting stakeholders in business and society. We discuss responsible leadership as a pathway for transforming the tourism and hospitality industry towards a more sustainable and community-centred ‘new normal’. Based on our findings, we present recommendations for future research and policymakers.

The health benefits of nature are well recognised. However, nature prescriptions (nature-based health interventions) are not routine in many health systems. We interviewed health stakeholders (n = 13) who prescribe and provide nature prescriptions, to identify enablers and barriers surrounding nature prescriptions in Australia. Participants emphasised the importance of collaboration between health disciplines, community, government and industry sectors, alongside appropriate infrastructure. Patient-centred, accessible care supporting behavioural change and social wellbeing was enabling. Participants identified a need for increased awareness, accessible local resources and responsiveness regarding climate change. The findings reveal key considerations to inform effective implementation of nature prescribing for enhanced community health.