2022
Authors
Pereira, MA; Dinis, DC; Ferreira, DC; Figueira, JR; Marques, RC;
Publication
EXPERT SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATIONS
Abstract
The ongoing outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 has been deeply impacting health systems worldwide. In this context, it is pivotal to measure the efficiency of different nations' response to the pandemic, whose insights can be used by governments and health authorities worldwide to improve their national COVID-19 strategies. Hence, we propose a network Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate the efficiencies of fifty-five countries in the current crisis, including the thirty-seven Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, six OECD prospective members, four OECD key partners, and eight other countries. The network DEA model is designed as a general series structure with five single-division stages - population, contagion, triage, hospitalisation, and intensive care unit admission -, and considers an output maximisation orientation, denoting a social perspective, and an input minimisation orientation, denoting a financial perspective. It includes inputs related to health costs, desirable and undesirable intermediate products related to the use of personal protective equipment and infected population, respectively, and desirable and undesirable outputs regarding COVID-19 recoveries and deaths, respectively. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study proposing a cross-country efficiency measurement using a network DEA within the context of the COVID-19 crisis. The study concludes that Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and New Zealand are the countries exhibiting higher mean system efficiencies. Their national COVID-19 strategies should be studied, adapted, and used by countries exhibiting worse performances. In addition, the observation of countries with large populations presenting worse mean efficiency scores is statistically significant.
2022
Authors
Maciel, A; Castro, JA; Ribeiro, C; Almada, M; Midão, L;
Publication
Int. J. Digit. Curation
Abstract
2022
Authors
Grzywinska Rapca, M; Duarte, N; Kulli, A; Enkelejda, G;
Publication
Central European Economic Journal
Abstract
This paper aims to identify changes in consumption by students from Albania, Poland and Portugal in the era of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The study was conducted on a sample of 668 students of the Qiriazi University College and Aldent University in Albania, the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland and the School of Technology and Management of Porto Polytechnic in Portugal. The estimated volumes of basic macroeconomic indicators for this period prove that the crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic may be the cause of many adverse changes in various areas of life. The empirical study aimed to determine the impact of the epidemiological situation on changes in the shopping habits of students - designated as young consumers. The main goal was to identify differences in the purchasing decisions of young consumers depending on gender and nationality. The research instrument was a standardized survey questionnaire, which was divided into three thematic blocks. The first part of the questionnaire contains questions on the housing conditions of students, in the second part - activity on the labor market, and in the third part - issues related to shopping and the use of cultural services and the way of spending free time. Some conclusions were drawn from the research: (1) pandemic did not change the periodicity of purchases, (2) from online buying did not show a boom in the samples analyzed in this study, (3) students from these countries changed their shopping behavior in terms of shopping places. The conclusions formulated in the study, as well as the topicality of the issues, allow them to be considered useful for institutional entities interested in observing changes in consumption during the pandemic. The scientific contribution of theoretical and empirical considerations is primarily the systematization of theoretical foundations and the conceptualization of the category of factors determining the diversity of purchasing behavior of young people (students). © 2022 Malgorzata Grzywinska-Rapca et al., published by Sciendo.
2022
Authors
Carvalho, CL; Barbosa, B;
Publication
Research Anthology on Managing Crisis and Risk Communications
Abstract
2022
Authors
Vranas, M; Lu, Y; Rasool, S; Croteau, N; Krett, JD; Sauvé, V; Gehring, K; Fon, EA; Durcan, TM; Trempe, J;
Publication
Open Biology
Abstract
2022
Authors
Severino, R; Rodrigues, J; Ferreira, LL;
Publication
2022 IEEE 27TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND FACTORY AUTOMATION (ETFA)
Abstract
As IoT technologies mature, they are increasingly finding their way into more sensitive domains, such as Medical and Industrial IoT, in which safety and cyber-security are paramount. While the number of deployed IoT devices continues to increase annually, they still present severe cyber-security vulnerabilities, turning them into potential targets and entry points to support further attacks. Naturally, as these nodes are compromised, attackers aim at setting up stealthy communication behaviours, to exfiltrate data or to orchestrate nodes of a botnet in a cloaked fashion. Network covert channels are increasingly being used with such malicious intents. The IEEE 802.15.4 is one of the most pervasive protocols in IoT, and a fundamental part of many communication infrastructures. Despite this fact, the possibility of setting up such covert communication techniques on this medium has received very little attention. We aim at analysing the performance and feasibility of such covert-channel implementations upon the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol. This will enable a better understanding of the involved risk and help supporting the development of further cyber-security mechanisms to mitigate this threat.
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