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In India, people with disabilities (PWDs) have emerged as one of the most vulnerable populations during COVID-19, particularly those living in informal settlements. Although the government has made efforts to ensure healthcare access for all, these efforts seem inadequate considering that PWDs' needs vary greatly depending on type and degree of disability. The purpose of the study is to identify barriers in healthcare access for PWDs in Mumbai's informal settlements during COVID-19.

A qualitative approach employed multiple case study methods. Eight PWDs were selected as cases from the informal settlements of M-East Ward, Mumbai. The data was gathered using observation and interaction with the PWDs. Data were analyzed for emergent themes to explore the presence, meaning, and relationships of barriers faced by PWDs accentuated by pandemic.

Findings indicate a complex and compounded interplay of structural, administrative, psycho-social, and technological factors which created numerous challenges for PWDs to access healthcare provisions during pandemic. These factors include socioeconomic challenges, the built environment inaccessibility, limited transportation facilities, and lack of trained healthcare personnel to support PWDs.

This research adds to an understanding of the barriers faced by PWDs and provides insights for formulating contextualized policies to ensure accessible health services for PWDs when needed. Findings point out ways in which understanding the barriers would help to identify the gaps in the resource system, and to mobilize required resources in the relevant healthcare departments.

The first Wisconsin Ph.D.s who came to MSU with an institutional bent were agricultural economists and included Henry Larzalere (Ph.D. 1938) whose major professor was Asher Hobson. Larzalere recalls the influence of Commons who retired in 1933. Upon graduation, Larzalere worked a short time for Wisconsin Governor Phillip Fox LaFollette who won passage of the nation’s first unemployment compensation act. Commons had earlier helped LaFollette’s father, Robert, to a number of institutional innovations.⁴ Larzalere continued the Commons’ tradition of contributing to the development of new institutions rather than being content to provide an efficiency apologia for existing private governance structures. He helped Michigan farmers form cooperatives. He taught land economics prior to Barlowe’s arrival in 1948, but primarily taught agricultural marketing. One of his Master’s degree students was Glenn Johnson (see below). Larzalere retired in 1977.

The recent period, also called the “era of algorithms”, has brought remarkable transformations both in personal life and in the way of doing business. Developing and implementing digital technologies depend on the availability of human capital, a resource that is increasingly difficult to find. Countries are in competition for this resource, and attracting talent has become a goal often difficult to achieve. In this context, the current chapter seeks to evaluate human capital contribution to the digital competitiveness of the EU countries and to describe the moderating role of digitization in the development of human capital through migration management. Investigating the digital competitiveness of the EU countries, we demonstrated that the most important driver of the major differences between these countries is human capital. In this context, migration becomes both an opportunity and a threat, and its digital management is of tremendous importance.

Archaeological evidence from the prehistoric Spondylus industry of coastal Ecuador is analyzed here to clarify how craft production was structured and the role that it played in the rise of social complexity. Many models of social development propose that elite cooption of specialized craft production can be a useful avenue through which aspiring elites can gain differential status. Contrary to the expectations of these models, data from coastal Ecuador indicates that craft production of sumptuary goods was an activity primarily carried out by household units for the benefit of the domestic economy. Increased trafficking with northern Peruvian states at ca. 750 seems to have promoted local social stratification by attracting large numbers of households to the restricted locales where they could exploit these resources, which in turn prompted a strengthening of the kinds of political conditions that facilitate orderly interaction and minimize internal social conflict.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge negative impact on the world’s hotel industry from the beginning of 2020. As a result of the pandemic, the majority of hotels around the world have decided to close temporarily. It examines the challenges faced by hotel managers and the strategies used to survive.

This research can motivate hotel companies around the world to better understand pandemic situations and develop effective anti-pandemic policies. Based on online in-depth interviews with 25 hotel managers, the findings shed light on the various challenges to hotels.

Findings have shown that the hotel industry has been able to adapt their business for the short term with post-COVID-19 strategies still having limitations. To survive the duration of the pandemic hotels have adopted strategies: reducing employees, promotions and discounts and changing the market segment, as well as levels of maintenance of hygiene and cleanliness. The hotel industry can implement opportunities toward change through government support, crisis management, cooperation with travel agencies and technology.

The current research is to determine the impact of COVID-19 and the adaptive strategies on the hotel sector in the Siem Reap province by the following objectives: (1) To analyse the impacts of COVID-19 in the hotel sector, (2) To identify adaptive strategies in dealing with COVID-19 in the hotel sector and (3) To explore post-COVID-19 strategies of the hotel sector after the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative method was employed in the research online and in-depth interviews were conducted with the owner and general manager.

The study suggests that hotels focus more on survival strategies for the short term, so the topic for future research could be to investigate details of strategies after the COVID-19 pandemic in order to research what the hotels' strategic solutions will be and how they will manage the operation after the COVID-19 pandemic for long-term strategies.

Farmers are increasingly diversifying their agribusinesses to adapt to new market opportunities, and for many, this has meant offering farm experiences to tourists. The purpose of this study was to examine the motivations and constraints of farm tourism microentrepreneurs in North Carolina, USA. Results from thematic analysis of interviews with 15 farmers suggest that microentrepreneurs are motivated by the flexibility to structure their time and to be outside. Farmers indicated that they are devoted to sharing their farming heritage and educate tourists about their work and community ethic. Microentrepreneurial success was defined as the ability to continue to hold on to farmland and barriers included illness, aging, and lack of support from public agencies.