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Malnutrition has a significant effect on the onset and progression of infective pathology. The malnutrition status in COVID-19 cases are not understood well. Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) is a new and detailed assessment of nutrition and inflammation cases. This study aims to investigate the effect of PNI on mortality in COVID-19 patients.

In total, 334 patients (males, 142; females, 192; 64.5 ± 12.3 years of age) with COVID-19 bronchopneumonia were enrolled in this investigation. Cases were divided into two groups with respect to survival (Group 1: survivor patients, Group 2: non-survivor patients). Demographic and laboratory variables of COVID-19 cases were recorded. Laboratory parameters were calculated from blood samples taken following hospital admission. PNI was calculated according to this formula: PNI = 5 * Lymphocyte count (10⁹/L) + Albumin value (g/L).

When the patients were assessed with respect to laboratory values, leukocytes, neutrophils, CRP, ferritin, creatinine and D-Dimer parameters were significantly lower in Group 1 patients than Group 2 patients. Nevertheless, serum potassium value, lymphocyte count, calcium and albumin values were significantly higher in Group 1 cases than in Group 2 cases. PNI value was significantly lower in Group 2 cases than in Group 1 cases (39.4 ± 3.7 vs 53.1 ± 4.6).

In this retrospective study of COVID-19 cases, it can be suggested that PNI may be a significant risk factor for mortality. In conclusion of this research, high-risk patients with COVID-19 can be determined early, and suitable medical therapy can be begun in the early duration.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and explore blockchain technology and its potential implementation to hospitality and tourism firms’ wide range of business operations and transactions from a technological and functional point of view. This study’s central interest is to produce novel and rigorous in-depth-review analysis and foundations for a broad discussion and outlook on the potential applications of blockchain technology benefiting hospitality and tourism research, as well as the industry as a whole.

This study identifies and proposes several potential areas of the adoption and implementation of blockchain technology to the hospitality and tourism industry, including payment and cryptocurrencies, tracking and service customization, the disintermediation of hospitality and tourism, innovative loyalty programs, smart contracts, integrated property management systems, verified rating and review systems, collaborative initiatives and due diligence and smart tourism, each of which represents fertile avenues for future research.

This paper provides extensive critical discussions, reviews and answers to a fundamental question: “What critical functions of Blockchain mechanisms can be implemented to the existing core operational (i.e. booking and reservation systems, guest management, etc.) and business functions (i.e. loyalty/reward programs, agent transactions, etc.) of hospitality and tourism companies?”.

Future studies should specifically delve further into various angles of this “BizTech” environment based not only on business operations and competition but also on vendor and customer collaboration.

This study intends to serve as a guidance for future research, facilitate knowledge accumulation and create a new understanding and awareness in both practice and academia. One of the most important applications of blockchain in this industry would be that pertaining to direct booking, online reservation systems (i.e. airlines and online travel agencies) and check-in/out with digital identities. With industry-wide blockchain adoption, guests’ personal information can be digitally validated, saved and secured as previously established cryptographically secured codes verify one’s identity without disclosing essential personal information.

It is obvious that the hospitality and tourism industry needs urgent technological transformation, industrial innovations and new growth avenues such as the adoption of blockchain technology and systems to maintain its global market share in the future. Therefore, the implementation of blockchain systems can promote the formation of multi-center (i.e. guest operations and customer service), weakly intermediated (i.e. loyalty programs and/or review and rating systems) areas in this industry.

Amidst ongoing digital transformation, the current paper provides a 360-degree overview of technology-adoption in Tourism and Hospitality. By combining and consolidating a wide range of sources, mainly in the tourism literature, the analysis depicts how the complex technological ecosystem often enhances or hinders the successful adoption, integration and interoperability of different technologies.

The critical review method was used to assess, analyse and synthesise existing literature in the area of digitisation in tourism and hospitality. The critical review process included a thematic analysis of the literature, where recurring themes, patterns and trends were identified towards addressing the study’s research questions.

The analysis identifies current trends, opportunities, challenges and strategies for technology adoption in tourism and hospitality, the implications for theory, practicable executive directions and avenues for further research.

The paper’s main contribution lies in its comprehensive identification, consideration and incorporation of all primary contemporary technological elements, and the ensuing development of a corresponding conceptual charting framework, which illustrates a multifaceted process with practical implications for various stakeholders, including businesses, authorities, consumers and employees.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the utilisation of patient wristbands (PWs) and patient identification (PI) process in a training hospital in Ankara, Turkey.

This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in a training hospital with 640 beds, accreditied by Joint Commission International. The views of 348 patients and 419 hospital personnel on the implementation of patient wristbands and identification process were evaluated.

The results indicated that lack of information among patients about the importance of PWs and the misknowledge among staff participants on when, where, and by whom PWs should be put on and verified were the weakest points in this hospital.

PI process must be strictly implemented according to the standard procedures of patient safety. Both patients and hospital personnel should be trained continuously, and training sessions must be held to increase their awareness about the importance of PWs and identification process.

Finding new ways and using new methods for increasing knowledge about PI and PWs are necessary. Hospital management should prepare a written PI and PW policy and procedure documents by taking the views of patients and hospital personnel and share these with them.

This study incorporates the views and attitudes of patients and health care personnel in improving health care quality by increasing awareness about PI and wristbands.

This chapter addresses the impact of gendered social capital in developing countries to understand the barriers and opportunities to women's entrepreneurship with social capital development and also to examine factors influencing the development of social capital for women and how the identified factors benefit the creation of their entrepreneurial activities. This study follows a systemic literature review to achieve the purpose of the research by examining the selected articles in both English and Turkish, followed by factor comparison between developing, developed countries, and world datasets obtained from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database. The finding shows that social capital strongly impacts the entrepreneurial activities among women entrepreneurs in developing countries, especially in Turkey. Although the academic and practical studies on this field were started about two decades ago in Turkey, it has faced a radical increase in last 5 years and many practitioners and scholars working on these concepts. The clusters in English and Turkish resources are almost the same; however, the density and number of key terms are much lower in Turkish literature which shows a gap for Turkish researchers to publish more in this field to examine variables for better view about women entrepreneurship and social capital related to it.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the extent and content of the sustainability disclosure of public and foundation (private but not-for-profit) universities in Turkey.

Subsequent to a systematic literature review of six academic databases and the National Thesis Center, a content analysis using a combination of Global Reporting Initiative and campus assessment tools from previous studies is conducted on stand-alone sustainability reports and websites of a purposive sample of eight universities in Turkey.

Infrequent and unsystematic sustainability practice done through websites seems to be more prevalent than formal reporting through international initiatives. Research and practice diverge by focusing on different sustainability indicators. Sustainability needs to be integrated into teaching and curriculum through university policies and regulations. Foundation universities show greater effort in sustainability reporting than public universities.

The research is limited by the availability of mostly self-reported, dispersed and unaudited data by foundation universities in addition to framework-imposed specificities. Furthermore, there is only one public university with a formal sustainability report in the sample.

The findings offer suggestions for developing extra sustainability indicators and may assist local policy-makers and researchers in their efforts to improve sustainability reporting by local universities.

This comprehensive research effort is one of the few studies from a non-Western country perspective and the only study on Turkey in relation to universities and sustainability reporting.

This study aims to present a state-of-the art review on information and communication technology (ICT) research in hospitality and tourism published between 2014 and 2017.

A total of 288 full-length articles from eight top-tier hospitality and tourism journals were gathered by harnessing a systematic literature search approach. Subsequently, the authors used a qualitative content analysis to review, analyse and assign all included articles into a framework with six consumer-related and five supplier-related research streams.

In terms of volume (i.e. the amounts and ratios of ICT research in top-tier journals by publication year) and variety (i.e. the diversity of research topics), a significant progression of ICT research in hospitality and tourism is observed. However, some old and new knowledge gaps are still inadequately addressed, thus requiring scholars and practitioners to conduct additional research in the future.

The accumulation of knowledge and actionable clues in this study is expected to keep practitioners updated with the overwhelming volume of ICT research.

This study contributes to the literature by accelerating the accumulation of knowledge on research topics and setting forth an agenda for future research. The findings also complement prior literature reviews by providing an overview of how knowledge on ICT research in hospitality and tourism has progressed since 2014.

This research focuses on suggesting an optimized model for selecting best employees using advanced multi-criteria decision making method to a supply chain firm, who is planning to start a new cold chain business vertical.

Study has been conducted in a supply chain firm in North India, who wants to expand its business with the help of efficient team members. In total 38 applicants were considered for the study, as selected by the firm after initial screening from pool of talent. AHP-LP and TOPSIS-LP integrated approach were applied separately for evaluation and implementation of personnel selection model. Further, both the approaches were compared to find the best fit and optimized model.

As per the findings, both AHP and TOPSIS can be used to select the best candidate among the alternatives available. TOPSIS was found easier to implement as it involves ranking of applicants with respect to each skills required for respective job profile only once, whereas AHP involves pair-wise comparison among candidates with respect to each skills required for respective job profile and normalization of each comparison, resulting in the formation of number of comparison matrices. However, AHP is more reliable as it considers consistency check for each level of pair-wise comparison. Hence, there is a chance to avoid or revise the human judgment error. Integrated ranking and optimization approach minimizes the cost by suggesting the relevant positions to be filed to make an efficient team.

Group of interviewers are involved in the decision-making process, hence there are chances of biasness in ranking method which can influence the group decision. Research is limited to a particular geography of North India therefore needs to be tested for other regions also in order to generalize. The research will help the third party logistics (3PL) and other related firms in efficient team selection.

The researcher focuses on formalizing a method for potential candidate selection by considering the constraints of the organization. It has been observed that limited researches have been done on the application of AHP-LP or TOPSIS-LP integrated approach for selection process. Hence, this research proposes two integrated ranking-optimization method and suggests the best fit by comparing both the approaches.

The purpose of this study synthesises the body of research revolving around blockchain technology (BCT) whilst drawing on the technology-organization-environment framework, resource-based theory and theory of constraints, to conceptualize capabilities (enablers) and constraints (barriers) of BCT in the hospitality and tourism (H&T) industry.

A systematic literature review of BCT in the hotel and tourism industry has been achieved through two databases, i.e. Scopus and Web of Science. From 544 articles selected between the years 2008 and 2023 (first quarter), a sample of 49 articles was used to structure existing research on this subject.

The findings of this systematic literature review of BCT in the H&T literature establish a solid groundwork for assessing the evolution of this research area over time. Findings are classified into two groups: capabilities (enablers) and constraints (barriers) of BCT based on publication year, different research methods, theoretical underpinnings and applicable contexts.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first attempts to synthesize studies related to BCT in H&T research by combining three theoretical approaches. It serves as a foundation to evaluate the development of BCT studies in this field.