Bereavement is an extremely personal feeling, but Japanese society tends to disapprove of displays of negative personal emotion or weakness. For ages, mourning rituals like funerals provided an ...exception where social permission was given to sharing grief and seeking support. However, the form and significance of Japanese funerals have changed rapidly over the past generation, and especially since the advent of COVID-19 restrictions on assembly and travel. This paper overviews the trajectory of changes and continuities in mourning rituals in Japan, looking at their psychological and social impacts. It goes on to summarize recent Japanese research showing that appropriate funerals are not merely of psychological and social benefit, but may have an important role in reducing or supporting grief that might otherwise require medical and social work intervention.
Healthy democracies require ethical leadership and respect for rules, but since the 2000s we have witnessed serious attacks on standards in the UK Parliament. Two narratives about scandals will ...reveal cultural and social aspects that are often ignored by the public, journalists and parliamentary scholars. A slow development of conditions led to a scandal over misuse of expenses in 2009, while rule-breaking in Parliament during Prime Minister Johnson's term in office emerged more suddenly, in part out of the rupture of Brexit. Making sense of these cases about standards, and the connections between them, requires a theoretical approach that goes beyond looking at the bad behaviour of individuals or rotten cultures within a malfunctioning system. In the gap between the two, you find relationships. I make an argument for a relational, cultural and historical approach within which people act in complex configurations of interdependence as both individuals and socialised actors.
Young fathers often view studying in HE positively, and perceive the benefits to include improving self-confidence, reconnecting with lost learning opportunities, building better career prospects, ...and becoming a better role model for their children. However, despite these perceived benefits, not all young fathers decide to study in HE. The financial burden of course fees are often prohibitive and some young fathers do not want to risk losing income or interrupting their existing careers. They face challenges such as knowing what HE opportunities are available and experience difficulties in navigating the application process. Others feel that they are not sufficiently qualified to study at a higher level. For those young fathers who do go on to study, they may also experience difficulties entering and sustaining their HE journey. Once enrolled, common challenges include the demands of childcare, financial pressures, and well-being concerns. To complicate matters, young fathers rarely seek out support from HE providers or other formal services. With the educational outcomes of young fathers being a cause for concern and due to the hidden nature of this group who are largely absent from statistics, this qualitative study draws attention to this under-researched area and guides future policy and practice.
Within the national economy, the public sector occupies an important place due to the specific activities carried out within it, activities considered indispensable for the smooth running of society, ...both at the central and local level. Within the financial-accounting management of public institutions, particular importance is assigned to the phases of budget execution of expenses. Our study proposed an analysis of the four phases of the budget execution process of expenses, from the perspective of the specific processing of each phase and the methodological implications on accounting management, trying to highlight both the necessary information and the information provided, so that, finally, to be able to conclude on the contribution that these phases have in supporting the general approach of substantiating some decisions by the financial-accounting management.
Health, like education, defense or social protection, represents a field of particular importance, which requires a significant volume of resources, a large amount of services, as well as the entire ...population as a consumer. The actuality of the article resides in the complexity of the compulsory health care insurance funds, especially in conditions of crisis and financial stress. The aim of the article is to highlight the existing problems in the effective execution of the compulsory health care insurance funds, but also their reconfiguration in the context of the reduction and aging of the population as a demographic indicator, which greatly affects the consumption of medical goods and services. The main results obtained as a result of the investigations, consist in performing a broad diagnosis of the compulsory health care insurance funds, as well as offering practical recommendations for improving the respective process. Regrettably, the uncertainty and financial tension we are in, requires us to find new opportunities to maintain and develop the financing mechanisms of the healthcare system, but also to control costs.
To combat the brittleness of hard nc-CrAlN/a-SiN x nanocomposite (nc-: nanocrystalline, a-: X-ray amorphous), different Ni content (from 0 to 39.8at.%) is doped via magnetron sputtering. Glancing ...Angle X-ray Diffractometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy are employed to investigate the microstructural evolution. With increased Ni, the grain size decreases accompanied with morphology change, from dense glassy to coarse columns. With 4.2at.% Ni, scratch toughness of nc-CrAlN/a-SiN x hard nanocomposite (28GPa) is improved by around 200% at expense of only 18% hardness.
Methods Fifteen mongrel dogs were randomly divided into three groups: cervical vagosympathetic nerve stimulation (VNS) group, RAP group, VNS+RAP group. bilateral cervical vagosympathetic trunks was ...isolated in every dog, and the cranial ends of the vagosympathetic nerves were ligated.
Purpose
Drawing on the behavioral theory of the firm (BTF), this study aims to understand the role of organizational slack in the manufacturing industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.
...Design/methodology/approach
Using panel data of publicly traded manufacturing firms in the USA over a 12-quarter time period, this study uses generalized least squares modeling to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Results show that the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on manufacturing firms’ performance and organizational slack weakens the negative relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and firm performance. In addition, when a positive performance aspirational gap (PAG) exists, the negative relationship between COVID-19 pandemic and firm performance in firms with high levels of organizational slack is further weakened.
Originality/value
This study contributes to organizational studies by investigating the contingent impact of organizational slack in the setting of COVID-19 pandemic. This study also contributes to the BTF by investigating how firm PAG, combined with the abundance of organizational slack, moderates the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on firm performance.
The authors tested the effect of ambient scents in a shopping mall environment. Two competing models were used. The first model is derived from the environmental psychology research stream by ...Mehrabian and Russel (1974) and Donovan and Rossiter (1982) where atmospheric cues generate pleasure and arousal, and, in turn, an approach/avoidance behavior. The emotion–cognition model is supported by Zajonc and Markus (1984). The second model to be tested is based on Lazarus' (1991) cognitive theory of emotions. In this latter model, shoppers' perceptions of the retail environment and product quality mediate the effects of ambient scent cues on emotions and spending behaviors. Positive affect is enhanced from shoppers' evaluations. Using structural equation modeling the authors conclude that the cognitive theory of emotions better explains the effect of ambient scent. Managerial implications are discussed.
The financial status of households is vulnerable to chronic diseases which entail high medical expenses and income loss. Financial strain can be assessed by four indicators: a household surplus ...indicator, the liquid asset/debt ratio, a solvency indicator, and a liquidity indicator. We investigated the association between catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) and financial ratio indicators in households with chronic diseases in South Korea.
This study applied thresholds to the financial ratios to determine the financial strain. We conducted multiple logistic regression analyses to determine whether CHE is associated with financial strain. Furthermore, we analyzed the relationship between CHE and basic financial indicators, absolute finance size, using multiple linear regression.
When CHE occurred, all financial ratio indicators deteriorated. However, this was not due to decreases in the absolute size of wealth and income, but rather the relative balance between finances. In particular, the loss of liquid assets was a major factor in the deterioration. In addition, all types of labor-related income deteriorated; only private transfer income increased.
This study revealed that CHE in households with chronic diseases negatively impacts household finances. It was found that financial coping strategies are only resource consuming.
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