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| 2. |
- Ikuta, K. S., et al.
(author)
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Global mortality associated with 33 bacterial pathogens in 2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
- 2022
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In: Lancet. - : Elsevier BV. - 0140-6736. ; 400:10369, s. 2221-2248
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Reducing the burden of death due to infection is an urgent global public health priority. Previous studies have estimated the number of deaths associated with drug-resistant infections and sepsis and found that infections remain a leading cause of death globally. Understanding the global burden of common bacterial pathogens (both susceptible and resistant to antimicrobials) is essential to identify the greatest threats to public health. To our knowledge, this is the first study to present global comprehensive estimates of deaths associated with 33 bacterial pathogens across 11 major infectious syndromes. Methods We estimated deaths associated with 33 bacterial genera or species across 11 infectious syndromes in 2019 using methods from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, in addition to a subset of the input data described in the Global Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance 2019 study. This study included 343 million individual records or isolates covering 11 361 study-location-years. We used three modelling steps to estimate the number of deaths associated with each pathogen: deaths in which infection had a role, the fraction of deaths due to infection that are attributable to a given infectious syndrome, and the fraction of deaths due to an infectious syndrome that are attributable to a given pathogen. Estimates were produced for all ages and for males and females across 204 countries and territories in 2019. 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) were calculated for final estimates of deaths and infections associated with the 33 bacterial pathogens following standard GBD methods by taking the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles across 1000 posterior draws for each quantity of interest. Findings From an estimated 13.7 million (95% UI 10.9-17.1) infection-related deaths in 2019, there were 7.7 million deaths (5.7-10.2) associated with the 33 bacterial pathogens (both resistant and susceptible to antimicrobials) across the 11 infectious syndromes estimated in this study. We estimated deaths associated with the 33 bacterial pathogens to comprise 13.6% (10.2-18.1) of all global deaths and 56.2% (52.1-60.1) of all sepsis-related deaths in 2019. Five leading pathogens-Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa-were responsible for 54.9% (52.9-56.9) of deaths among the investigated bacteria. The deadliest infectious syndromes and pathogens varied by location and age. The age-standardised mortality rate associated with these bacterial pathogens was highest in the sub-Saharan Africa super-region, with 230 deaths (185-285) per 100 000 population, and lowest in the high-income super-region, with 52.2 deaths (37.4-71.5) per 100 000 population. S aureus was the leading bacterial cause of death in 135 countries and was also associated with the most deaths in individuals older than 15 years, globally. Among children younger than 5 years, S pneumoniae was the pathogen associated with the most deaths. In 2019, more than 6 million deaths occurred as a result of three bacterial infectious syndromes, with lower respiratory infections and bloodstream infections each causing more than 2 million deaths and peritoneal and intra-abdominal infections causing more than 1 million deaths. Interpretation The 33 bacterial pathogens that we investigated in this study are a substantial source of health loss globally, with considerable variation in their distribution across infectious syndromes and locations. Compared with GBD Level 3 underlying causes of death, deaths associated with these bacteria would rank as the second leading cause of death globally in 2019; hence, they should be considered an urgent priority for intervention within the global health community. Strategies to address the burden of bacterial infections include infection prevention, optimised use of antibiotics, improved capacity for microbiological analysis, vaccine development, and improved and more pervasive use of available vaccines. These estimates can be used to help set priorities for vaccine need, demand, and development. Copyright (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
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| 3. |
- Ahmad, Naveed, et al.
(author)
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Csr communication through social media : A litmus test for banking consumers’ loyalty
- 2021
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In: Sustainability (Switzerland). - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 13:4, s. 1-16
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Prior literature in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has largely focused on investigating its relationship with organizational-related outcomes, whereas the impact of CSR on consumer behavior is largely ignored in the recent literature. Further, most of the prior studies have investigated CSR with a philanthropic viewpoint, but its importance in achieving marketing-related outcomes is something that is to date, underexplored. Hence, the aim of the present study is to investigate the impact of CSR communication through social media on consumer loyalty with the mediating effect of consumers’ brand admiration in the banking sector of Pakistan. The banking sector was selected due to the reason that this sector is homogenized in nature and creating consumers’ loyalty due to this homogenized character of this sector is challenging. The data of the present study were collected from different banking consumers through an adapted questionnaire on a five-point Likert scale. A total of 448 fully filled questionnaires were received which included 289 male and 159 female banking consumers. The results of the present study revealed that CSR communications through social media have a positive impact on consumer loyalty, and consum-ers’ brand admiration partially mediates this relationship. The findings of the present study would help policymakers from banking institutions to use CSR strategy from the perspective of marketing which is undoubtedly very important for every organization in the current digital age.
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| 4. |
- Awan, Khalil, et al.
(author)
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The impact of work–family enrichment on subjective career success through job engagement : A case of banking sector
- 2021
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In: Sustainability (Switzerland). - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 13:16
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To survive in the current competitive era, organizations need continuous performance and development. The performance of any organization is linked with their employees’ performance. However, employees give their best when they see subjective career success in the organization. There are certain factors such as work–family enrichment (WFE) that affect employee’s subjective career success. The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between work–family enrichment and subjective career success through the mediating effect of work engagement. The data for this study were collected from various private banks located in a large metropolitan city through a self-administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed through the structural equation modeling (SEM) method. The results confirmed that work–family enrichment (WFE) positively affects subjective career success (SCS), and job engagement (JE) completely mediates this relationship. These findings will be helpful for banking sector policymakers to improve the subjective career success of personnel at the workplace through WFE and JE.
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| 6. |
- Guo, Mengmeng, et al.
(author)
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The relationship of csr and employee creativity in the hotel sector : The mediating role of job autonomy
- 2021
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In: Sustainability (Switzerland). - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 13:18
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite the growing surge in the literature about employee creativity, the mainstream literature largely views it from an organizational perspective, and ignores the underlying mechanism that motivates employees to be engaged in different creative tasks. Against this backdrop, the current work was carried out to explore the relationship of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee creativity with the mediating effect of autonomy to explain the motivational pull for employee creativity. The data were collected from the employees of the hotel sector of Pakistan through a self-administered questionnaire (n = 511) and were analyzed by employing the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The results revealed that CSR, through the mediating effect of job autonomy, influences employees’ creativity significantly. The findings of the current analysis will help both academia and professionals from the hotel sector to understand the importance of CSR as a booster for employee creativity. Furthermore, the potential role of job autonomy as a mediator in explaining this relationship will also help policymakers to understand the importance of freedom at the workplace to engage the workforce in different extra-roles, including creativity.
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Impact of substantive staging and communicative staging of sustainable servicescape on behavioral intentions of hotel customers through overall perceived image : A case of boutique hotels
- 2021
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In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 18:17
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Customers have become very sensitive regarding the innovative evaluation of servicesDue to competition in the hospitality industry, it is a challenge for hotel marketers to understand customers’ behavior. There is scant research in the hotel industry of Pakistan and especially on boutique hotels. This research seeks to measure the relationship between substantive, communicative elements of the sustainable servicescape and behavioral intentions (word of mouth) in a boutique hotel setting. However, the mediating effect of the overall perceived image is examined between these constructs. Responses of boutique hotel visitors were collected from Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Murree. Data were analyzed by using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results display that both substantive and communicative servicescape elements positively affect the perceived image of customers, which has a positive influence on behavioral intentions such as word of mouth (WOM)Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
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| 8. |
- Mahmood, Asif, et al.
(author)
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Unleashing the barriers to CSR implementation in the sme sector of a developing economy : A thematic analysis approach
- 2021
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In: Sustainability (Switzerland). - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 13:22
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from the perspective of sustainability has been a part of the academic discussion in recent years. Different studies have also highlighted the inability of the SME sector to implement a CSR plan to achieve sustainability objectives. How-ever, why this sector is unable to adopt CSR is something that has not been properly attended by contemporary scholars. Against this backdrop, the current study aims to explore the major barriers that inhibit SMEs from implementing CSR and sustainability measures. The current study data were collected from the senior management of different SMEs in Pakistan and were analyzed using thematic analysis to extract different patterns of themes. The results unveil that the “lack of finances” is the most critical barrier for CSR, followed by the “lack of CSR knowledge.” The implications for theory and practice are also discussed in detail.
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| 9. |
- Mallhi, Tauqeer Hussain, et al.
(author)
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Mental Health and Coping Strategies among University Staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic : A Cross-Sectional Analysis from Saudi Arabia
- 2023
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In: Sustainability. - : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 15:11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study examined psychological health and coping strategies among faculty and staff at a Saudi Arabian university. A web-based self-administered survey was used to assess probable anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and coping strategies by using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and Brief-COPE scale, respectively. Of 502 participants (mean age 36.04 +/- 10.32 years, male: 66.3%), 24.1% (GAD-7 >= 10) had probable anxiety. Anxiety score was significantly higher in females (p < 0.001), those with a history of COVID-19 infection (p = 0.036), and participants with less work experience (p = 0.019). Approximately 40% of participants met the criteria of probable depression, with females (p < 0.001) and participants with less experience having more depressive symptoms. Around one-fourth (27.7%) of study participants indicated probable PTSD (score +/- 33), with higher symptoms in females (p <0.001), less experienced staff (p < 0.00 1), and academic staff (p = 0.006). Correlation analysis indicated a significant positive correlation between anxiety and depression (r = 0.844, p < 0.001), anxiety and PTSD (r = 0.650, p < 0.001), and depression and PTSD (r = 0.676, p < 0.001). Active coping, religious/spiritual coping, and acceptance were common coping strategies, while substance use was the least adopted coping method among the study participants. This study indicated a high prevalence of probable psychological ailments among university staff.
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| 10. |
- Sarfraz, Amina, et al.
(author)
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Catalytic Effect of Silicon Carbide on the Composite Anode of Fuel Cells
- 2021
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In: ACS Applied Energy Materials. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 2574-0962. ; 4:7, s. 6436-6444
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- High efficiency, fuel flexibility, and sustainable energy conversion make fuel cells attractive compared to conventional energy systems. The direct ethanol fuel cells have attracted much attention because of the direct utilization of ethanol fuel. Anode materials are required to enhance the catalytic activity of the liquid fuel, which oxidize the fuel at lower operating temperature. Therefore, the catalytic effect using silicon carbide has been investigated in the LiNiO2-delta anode. The material has been characterized, and it is found that SiC shows a cubic structure and LiNiO2-delta exhibits a hexagonal structure, while the LiNiO2-delta-SiC composite exhibits a mixed cubic and hexagonal phase. Scanning electron microscopy depicts that the material is porous. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis shows the presence of Si-O-Si, Si-C, C=O, and Si-OH bonding. The LiNiO2-delta-SiC composite (1:0.3) exhibited a maximum electrical conductivity of 1.34 S cm(-1) at 650 degrees C with an electrical band gap of 0.84 eV. The fabricated cell with the LiNiO2-delta-SiC anode exhibits a power density of 0.20 W cm(-2) at 650 degrees C with liquid ethanol fuel. The results show that there is a promising catalytic activity of SiC in the fuel cell anode.
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