AimHealthcare workers have directly provided care for COVID-19 patients, and have faced many additional sources leading to poor mental health. The study aimed to investigate the mental health problems and related factors among healthcare staff in Vietnam.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional mixed methods study, combining quantitative and qualitative research methods, was performed among 400 healthcare workers working at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases and Ninh Binh General Hospital from the first day of treatment for COVID-19 patients to May 01, 2020.ResultsThe results (...) showed that 8.0% of participants had stress, 17.5% of participants had anxiety, and 14.8% of participants had depression. Approximately 50% of participants reported that they had at least one of these symptoms. The findings illustrated that stress, anxiety, and depression were associated with the position in a hospital, health status during the COVID-19 pandemic, family members/relatives infected with COVID-19, physical and mental support from friends, family, and community, department, years of working, and the average work hours per day of healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19.ConclusionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers who worked in the hospital providing treatment and care for COVID-19 patients dealt with mental health problems such as stress, anxiety, and depression. It is necessary to promote mental health among healthcare workers, to contribute to the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak in Vietnam. (shrink)

This paper will examine Choir Boy, a trans coming-of-age novel by Charlie Anders, to disrupt historically rooted medical narratives of gender transition. Through a disability studies lens, this paper locates vocal performance as a means of speaking back to gatekeeping practices held in place by medical authorities since the inception of transsexuality as a classificatory category. Offering imaginative alternatives to “wrong body” diagnostics, this analysis places cultural texts in conversation with disability theory to reframe the trans self as a singing (...) body that cannot be reduced to normalizing biomedical practices. Choir Boy frames vocal performance as a mode of gender expression and as a survival strategy against violence. The trans counter-narratives offered by Anders resist the medicalization of trans bodies and the classification of some bodies as not “trans enough” to qualify for transition. Choir Boy locates vocal performance and not binary gender identification as impetus for transition, thereby advocating for trans self-determination over medical access. (shrink)

This article is a queer reading of the doctrine of miraculous conception and an exploration into how applying an intersex lens to these conception texts can liberate an intersex Jesus. In it, I explain the basics of intersex and otherwise queer theologies, before looking at sex difference in the New Testament through the figures of eunuchs, and conducting an intersex reading of Jesus’ conception and biology. I argue that, if we believe Mary to be a virgin at the moment of (...) Jesus’ conception, with no external male influence, then Jesus is necessarily a chromosomal ‘female’ (and therefore intersex, due to his ‘male’ physical appearance). I then discuss the ways in which his biology can transcend prescriptive roles of sex, mirroring how his social behaviour transcends prescriptive roles of gender. What this queer reading of Jesus can tell us relates to a gender-expansive view of deity – troubling rigid Church institutions by celebrating the breaking of binaries that constrain us. (shrink)

Parental environmental education in early childhood is vital for nurturing environmental awareness and ecological protection. This study investigates how parents’ nature engagement methods influence children’s environmental awareness and participation in protection activities. Using the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework with data from 516 children and their primary caregivers across 23 elementary summer schools in five urban Chinese cities, the findings reveal varying impacts of parental engagement methods. Raising animals and plants is positively associated with environmental awareness (moderate reliability) and protection activities (high (...) reliability). Visiting museums about endangered and extinct species enhances children’s environmental awareness, while learning about insects and their habits improves their participation in protection activities (both high reliability). However, outdoor learning experiences and playing in natural environments (e.g., parks and forests) show ambiguous effects. These results underscore the value of family-centered environmental education, emphasizing the crucial roles of direct nature interactions and providing actionable insights for child-focused environmental policies. (shrink)

Parental influence plays a crucial role in shaping children’s behaviors. While several studies have examined parents’ roles in fostering children’s sustainable habits, they often treat parental influence as a single construct, overlooking the distinct roles of fathers and mothers, as well as the influence of cultural values and norms. This study explores the distinct roles of Chinese fathers and mothers in shaping children’s waste reusing and recycling behaviors. Using Bayesian Mindsponge Framework analytics, the study analyzed responses from 516 children and (...) their corresponding caregivers (either fathers or mothers) from 23 elementary summer schools across five major urban cities in China. The analysis revealed that mothers were central agents of influence, with their recycling behavior and mother-child engagement showing positive and highly reliable associations with children’s waste reusing and recycling practices. The impact of mothers’ recycling behaviors was further amplified by children’s frequency of perceiving their mother’s waste reusing and recycling actions. Meanwhile, fathers’ direct engagement and role modeling (when their actions were frequently perceived by their children) also positively influenced children’s behaviors. Still, these effects were less reliable than those of mothers. These findings suggest that policymakers and educators should design interventions that leverage mothers’ natural role as influencers while actively encouraging greater involvement from fathers in environmental education. (shrink)

Studying the psychology behind the purchase of eco-friendly products and second-hand items can offer valuable insights to promote sustainable consumer behavior. This paper examines factors influencing Italian consumers’ willingness to pay regarding bio-based clothing and second-hand items. Drawing from data collected from 402 Italian participants, we examine how motivations and socio-demographic factors are associated with willingness to pay in the context of sustainable fashion. Our findings reveal that motivations related to environmental concerns are positively associated with consumers’ willingness to pay (...) higher premiums for bio-based clothing. Higher income and education levels are also associated with the willingness to pay higher premiums. Meanwhile, motivation related to vintage appeal is associated with lower desired discounts for second-hand items, particularly among older consumers. Gender differences also influence discount preferences, with men seeking larger discounts on second-hand clothing compared to women. By providing insights into Italian consumers’ sustainable fashion choices, this study offers implications for businesses, policymakers, and researchers aiming to promote eco-conscious consumption and sustainability in the fashion industry. (shrink)

The rapidly evolving space tourism industry faces significant challenges in building consumer trust and balancing emotional appeal with factual accuracy—both essential for reducing uncertainty and fostering long-term public engagement in this high-risk sector. This study examines the key factors shaping individuals’ intentions to participate in space tourism, with a focus on their perceived trustworthiness, usefulness, and immersiveness of information on social media. Applying Mindsponge Theory, we explore the interplay between trust evaluation and subjective cost-benefit judegement of individuals in high-risk tourism (...) context. The findings reveal that while trustworthiness positively influences participation intention, its role diminishes when usefulness and immersiveness are particularly strong. This suggests that space tourists, who are naturally inclined toward risk-taking, prioritize experiential rewards—such as novelty, prestige, and emotional engagement—over concerns about information reliability. These insights offer practical implications for marketing in high-risk industries, highlighting the importance of immersive storytelling, exclusivity, and transformative experiences over conventional trust-building measures. Future research should investigate how personal risk tolerance, prior experience, and cognitive biases shape thought processes, decision-making, and behaviors in extreme tourism contexts. (shrink)

Good people often die badly, and, sometimes, bad people die well. Both are true for complex reasons. We worry that the tropic formulation trades on a simplistic anthropology that belies the complexities of how persons operate in the world. In this essay, we are interested in these complexities and a better theological acknowledgement of them, not least because the fantasy of the good death ill prepares one for real death. We argue that valorizing pious religious death and profane ugly death (...) loses sight of these complexities, which we think should comprise any account Christians give about what persons are and are in their dying—an account that often goes by the name “theological anthropology.” It is the simplistic theological anthropology more than the tropic formulation—the anthropology the trope smuggles in—that concerns us. Our argument proceeds by first examining the fantasy of the good death, measuring it against a historical record with an examination of the Ars Moriendi tradition, and then thinking more broadly about what motivates it. Along the way, we consider a recent film, The Farewell, where good-death fantasies comically run up against death’s reality and where goodness, truth, and beauty show up anyhow. (shrink)

We consider structures of the form (Z;+,C), where C is an additive cyclic order on (Z;+). We show that such structures are dp-minimal and in this way produce a continuum-size family of dp-minimal expansions of (Z;+) such that no two members of the family define the same subsets of Z.

Cognitive theories of emotion propose that the interpretation of emotion-eliciting situations crucially shapes affective responses. Implicit or automatic biases in these interpretations may hinder emotion regulation and thereby increase risk for the onset and maintenance of psychological disorders. In this study, participants were randomly assigned to a positive or negative interpretation bias training using ambiguous social scenarios. After the completion of the training, a stress task was administered and changes in positive and negative affect and self-esteem were assessed. The results (...) demonstrate that the interpretation bias training was successful in that participants exhibited a tendency to interpret novel scenarios in accordance with their training condition. Importantly, the positive training condition also had a protective effect on self-esteem. Participants in this condition did not exhibit a decrease in self-esteem after the stress task, whereas participants in the negative condition did. These results demonstrate that implicit cognitive biases can be trained and that this training affects self-esteem. Implications of these findings for research on psychopathology and emotion regulation are discussed. (shrink)

Originally published in 1986. All students of social science must confront a number of important philosophical issues. This introduction to the philosophy of the social sciences provides coherent answers to questions about empiricism, explanation and rationality. It evaluates contemporary writings on the subject which can be as difficult as they are important to understand. Each chapter has an annotated bibliography to enable students to pursue the issues raised and to assess for themselves the arguments of the authors.

How and why did comparative political economy lose sight of the sources of growing macroeconomic and political instability, a problem that encompassed a growing financial bubble and then a crash in the housing market, a period of sluggish growth that plausibly constitutes secular stagnation, and a crisis of political legitimacy manifesting itself in the rise of antisystem “populist” parties? A gradual shift in CPE’s research agenda from macroeconomic to microeconomic concerns, and from demand-side to supply-side explanations, diminished its ability to (...) analyze adequately the central economic and political problems of the past twenty years. This article traces CPE’s evolution through successive “supermodels” that constituted its core research foci. To understand the current crisis, CPE needs to revisit and update its original roots in Keynes, macroeconomics, and the demand side. This shift is already happening at the margins, as CPE scholars struggle to understand the current crisis. (shrink)

Building on a previous piece that harnessed both the handbook that Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1548/ 1991 ) authored to guide his work – the _Spiritual Exercises_ – and the account of his own transformation experience captured in the _Autobiography_ – to appropriate the dynamics of Ignatius’ _Spiritual Exercises_ into a series of life-affirming questions and delineate his transformation into four phases (Carey and Tran 2023 ), this essay continues our exploratory inquiry. Following a brief overview of the contemporary (...) organizational leadership context, our article positions Ignatius’ insights on transformation within the transformational leadership discourse and considers his contribution to the professional formation of business leaders. Our study concludes with qualitative examples of how insights from St. Ignatius’ conversion process has encouraged online graduate students of organizational leadership in their quest to transition from profession to purpose. To further fuse theory and practice, the student reflections are categorized according to the Ignatian-inspired questions that inaugurated our theoretical inquiry and guides our pedagogical practice as organizational leadership educators. (shrink)

In this essay I argue that Christian political participation as envisioned by those I term “Augustinian democrats”—a group of Protestant ethicists following a path cleared by Jeffrey Stout’s 2004 Democracy and Tradition—is founded upon an elegantly rendered political ontology, but leaves incomplete a description of the practical task and place of the church. My contention is that this incompletely developed practical task is not accidental to the manner in which these Augustinians complete the speculative, ontological task. The completion of the (...) speculative task combined with the incompletion of the practical task, I conclude, nevertheless results in a hybrid and especially interesting picture of personhood that points to an understanding of Protestantism as the attempt to recover human individuality within Christianity. (shrink)

Wildfires have become an increasing global threat to public health and quality of life. Many countries employ air quality monitoring and reporting systems to mitigate health risks associated with air pollution, including wildfire smoke. This study investigates the factors influencing individuals’ sensitivity to air quality information, specifically their likelihood of reducing or ceasing outdoor activities in response to air quality ratings, with a focus on wildfire smoke exposure in the western United States. Using the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics, the (...) study analyzed data from 2,237 participants in the Boise Metropolitan Area of Idaho and Boise State University. The findings reveal that women, older individuals, and those with higher educational levels are more likely to reduce outdoor activities at lower unhealthy AQI levels (the lowest being ‘good air quality,’ while the highest being ‘hazardous air quality’), while individuals with higher incomes are less responsive. Women and older adults, in particular, are even more likely to eliminate all outdoor activities. Additionally, individuals who perceive wildfire smoke as more severe than other natural disasters are more inclined to reduce or eliminate outdoor activities at lower unhealthy air quality levels. Experiences of wildfire smoke-related illness—either personally or within their households—further amplify this effect. These findings highlight the importance of localized, context-specific approaches to AQI dissemination and wildfire smoke risk communication to build resilience and safeguard public health in the face of escalating wildfire challenges driven by climate change. (shrink)

For some time, clinical ethics committees (CECs) have been a prominent feature of hospitals in North America. Such committees are less common in the United Kingdom and Europe. Focusing on the UK, this paper evaluates why CECs have taken so long to evolve and assesses the roles that they should play in health care policy and clinical decision making. Substantive and procedural moral issues in medicine are differentiated, the former concerning ethicolegal principles and their paradigmatic application to clinical practice and (...) the latter dealing with how such application should be negotiated in the face of disagreement and/or uncertainty. It will be argued that the role of CECs is both substantive and procedural. Provided that they do not overstep their appropriate moral and professional boundaries, CECs will be shown to have an important and positive function in improving hospital care within the UK and elsewhere. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Using The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola as a Basis for a Buddhist-Christian RetreatLen Tischler and Andre Delbecqorigin of the retreatJesuit (Catholic) universities have struggled to preserve their religious worldview and pass it on to their students, faculty, and staff. Given that most faculty and administrators at these universities are laypeople and many are not Catholic, the universities depend largely on their campus mission/ministry offices for this purpose. (...) One of the primary methods of sharing their worldview has been to provide retreats for students.The retreats are introspective with a religious and Jesuit orientation. Most student retreats are conducted over a weekend; some over a full week. Most Jesuit universities get fewer than ten percent of their students to attend one retreat in their four years on campus. Far fewer students attend more than one retreat. These schools also attempt to encourage faculty and staff to attend similar retreats, and participation in these retreats is similarly modest.Retreats have been a primary tool for the formation of Jesuit priests. Their formation program includes taking at least two retreats of twenty-eight to thirty days each. These retreats use the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, a specific pattern of reflective meditation and introspection over twenty-eight days that leads to greater clarity about one’s life. The Spiritual Exercises are deeply theistic and are focused on the person of Jesus.Jesuit universities have an increasing number of non-Catholics and non-Christians. For most Christians, shorter retreats or spiritually directed meditations based on the Exercises and undertaken over a number of weeks (referred to as the nineteenth annotation form) are the preferred form. However, there have been limited resources for juxtaposing the Ignatian Exercises with non-Christian traditions.With the above in mind, the authors designed a three-day retreat that follows the pattern and purpose of the Exercises for a Christian, but which presents in parallel [End Page 213] meditations and reflections from the Buddhist tradition. (Sarita Tamayo-Moraga, Bo Tep, and Juan Velasco were co-designers of the retreat and co-authors of the manuscript for the retreat.) This allows Ignatian perspectives on the unfolding spiritual journey and Buddhist wisdom to be shared between Christians and Buddhists. To test our design, a first retreat was undertaken by spiritually mature adults with some experience with the interface between Buddhism and Christianity.the retreatThe Spiritual Exercises are published with contemporary commentary in a number of books. Originally written in the early1500s, they have been rewritten or interpreted for modern times. Often both the original commentary by Ignatius and a contemporary interpretation are provided. Since our retreat was only three days, the essence of each section of the Exercises was summarized in a page or so. With the help of three Buddhist teachers (Sarita Tamayo-Moraga, Bo Tep, and Juan Velasco), we then spent the better part of a year meditating with the Ignatian passages and then searching a variety of Buddhist writings for passages that spoke to a similar spiritual challenge within the Buddhist worldview. A manuscript (Andre L. Delbecq, Sarita Tamayo-Moraga, Bo Tep, Len Tischler, and Juan Velasco, Ignatius and the Buddha in Conversation: A Resource for a Religiously Plural Dialog, self-published, 2014) was created that comprised six sections, each containing a summary of the essence of a section from the Exercises followed by the related Buddhist writings. Original artwork related to both traditions was prepared by a talented Zen artist.For the initial retreat we chose people who had a deep background in both traditions with approximately an equal number of Buddhists and Catholics. Since our focus was Jesuit universities, we chose mostly academics, but there were also two executives. Participants were asked to read the manuscript containing the reflections from the Exercises and Buddhist wisdom before the retreat so that they would be familiar with the content. Catholics and some Buddhists also read the Exercises in full. There were twelve participants.The retreat was structured into six parts. Each part began with two thirty-minute meditations, one on the Ignatian Exercises in the corner with the Ignatius icon, the other on the Buddhist quotes in the corner with... (shrink)

Universities and funders in many countries have been using Journal Impact Factor (JIF) as an indicator for research and grant assessment despite its controversial nature as a statistical representation of scientific quality. This study investigates how the changes of JIF over the years can affect its role in research evaluation and science management by using JIF data from annual Journal Citation Reports (JCR) to illustrate the changes. The descriptive statistics find out an increase in the median JIF for the top (...) 50 journals in the JCR, from 29.300 in 2017 to 33.162 in 2019. Moreover, on average, elite journal families have up to 27 journals in the top 50. In the group of journals with a JIF of lower than 1, the proportion has shrunk by 14.53% in the 2015–2019 period. The findings suggest a potential ‘JIF bubble period’ that science policymaker, university, public fund managers, and other stakeholders should pay more attention to JIF as a criterion for quality assessment to ensure more efficient science management. (shrink)

Plagiarism in higher education has become widespread among students in Vietnam. This paper aims to examine the seriousness of the problem by comparing the severity of plagiarism in two universities, one of which uses Turnitin software to check its student reports. For that purpose, 977 samples have been drawn from 1434 required graduation reports written by senior undergraduates in the economics and management field from 2013 to 2015. Turnitin’s “Similarity Index” was used to check for alleged plagiarism, which was found (...) to be more widespread at the university not using Turnitin. At that university, 91.7% of the graduation reports were defined as plagiarized, while 61.7% of the reports were plagiarized at the university using the software. The main source of this problem was the use of information from the internet without citing the original authors. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a nudge for public–private cooperation in healthcare to rapidly cope with limited resource. However, Vietnam’s historical reliance on a public healthcare system, combined with a traditional emphasis on socialization in the Polanyian sense, hindered the swift integration of the private sector. This research investigates path dependency in Vietnam’s public health sector, using theories including path dependency, Karl Polanyi’s double movement with legal analysis method to analyze the interplay of historical decisions, and socialist policies in healthcare. Recognizing (...) these institutional and market governance flaws, a deeper understanding of the role of law becomes vital in crafting strategies for a more resilient and sustainable healthcare system in Vietnam. In this article, Ho Chi Minh City is chosen as a case study due to its notable mix of public–private healthcare facilities and its status as a leading area in infection cases during the third COVID-19 wave. The article suggests that there should be a change in the way public and private sectors work together, one that is more in line with market-driven solutions which requires solid legal framework for cooperation beyond merely mobilizing resources. (shrink)

It has become fashionable to question attempts to derive internationally agreed duties of clinical care from more general theories of human rights. For example, some argue that such attempts risk moral abstraction through their neglect for the importance of culture and community in shaping moral consciousness and are thus often unhelpful in the resolution of concrete moral dilemmas within medicine. Others denounce the importance of general moral principles altogether in bioethics and attempt to articulate what are claimed to be more (...) practical approaches to resolving moral conflict. This paper challenges such arguments. It does so through arguing that: i) all humans everywhere have the same basic human needs; ii) the satisfaction of these needs varies with culture; iii) the imputation of moral duties on others entails respect for their right to basic need satisfaction, including the right to choose between cultures; iv) internationally accepted clinical duties of care embrace presumptions about the duties and rights of patients which follow from these more general principles and v) problems of moral indeterminacy that arise from putting these principles into practice can be resolved through associated procedural policies of rational negotiation and compromise. The moral importance and practicality of respect for individual human rights within the practice of medicine is thus defended. Indeed, the paper concludes by arguing that without belief in human rights linked to a theory of basic human needs, communitarian theories of morality are incoherent. (shrink)

Background The scrutiny surrounding gender-affirming medical treatment (GAMT) for youth has increased, particularly concerning the limited evidence on long-term treatment outcomes. The Standards of Care 8 by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health addresses this by outlining research evidence suggesting “effective” outcomes of GAMT for adolescents. However, claims concerning what are considered “effective” outcomes of GAMT for adolescents remain implicit, requiring further reflection. Methods Using trans negativity as a theoretical lens, we conducted a theory-informed reflexive thematic analysis of the (...) literature cited in the “Research Evidence” section of the SOC8 Adolescents chapter. We selected 16 articles that used quantitative measures to assess GAMT outcomes for youth, examining how “effective” outcomes were framed and interpreted to uncover implicit and explicit normative assumptions within the evidence base. Results A total of 44 different measures were used to assess GAMT outcomes for youth, covering physical, psychological, and psychosocial constructs. We identified four main themes regarding the normative assumptions of “effective” treatment outcomes: (1) doing bad: experiencing distress before GAMT, (2) moving toward a static gender identity and binary presentation, (3) doing better: overall improvement after GAMT, and (4) the absence of regret. These themes reveal implicit norms about what GAMT for youth should achieve, with improvement being the benchmark for “effectiveness.” Discussion We critically reflect on these themes through the lens of trans negativity to challenge what constitutes “effective” GAMT outcomes for youth. We explore how improvement justifies GAMT for youth and address the limitations of this notion. Conclusions We emphasize the need for an explicit discussion on the objectives of GAMT for adolescents. The linear narrative of improvement in GAMT for adolescents is limited and fails to capture the complexity of GAMT experiences. With currently no consensus on how the “effectiveness” of GAMT for adolescents is assessed, this article calls for participatory action research that centers the voices of young TGD individuals. (shrink)

Pride expressions draw attention to one’s achievement, and therefore can enhance one’s status. However, such attention has been linked to negative interpersonal consequences (i.e. envy). Fortunately, people have been found to regulate their pride expressions accordingly. Specifically, pride expressions are lower when the domain of the achievement is of high relevance to observers. We set out to replicate this effect in a non-Western sample. Additionally, we extended the current finding by investigating the moderating role of self-monitoring, an individual’s ability and (...) willingness to adjust their behaviours under different social contexts to cultivate status. This allows us to explore the previously assumed underlying status motive in regulating pride expressions. Data from two preregistered studies (N1 = 913; N2 = 1081) replicated the effect that pride expressions are inhibited when the achievement domain is relevant. A significant main effect of self-monitoring was found, such that high self-monitors express more pride than low self-monitors, consistent with the conceptualisation of self-monitoring as rooted within a status-enhancement motive. The assumed interaction effect between domain relevance and self-monitoring was not significant. Our findings suggest that the effect of domain relevance on pride expression is robust and status driven. (shrink)

This study aims to predict the shear strength of reinforced concrete deep beams based on artificial neural network using four training algorithms, namely, Levenberg–Marquardt, quasi-Newton method, conjugate gradient, and gradient descent. A database containing 106 results of RC deep beam shear strength tests is collected and used to investigate the performance of the four proposed algorithms. The ANN training phase uses 70% of data, randomly taken from the collected dataset, whereas the remaining 30% of data are used for the algorithms’ (...) evaluation process. The ANN structure consists of an input layer with 9 neurons corresponding to 9 input parameters, a hidden layer of 10 neurons, and an output layer with 1 neuron representing the shear strength of RC deep beams. The performance evaluation of the models is performed using statistical criteria, including the correlation coefficient, root mean square error, mean absolute error, and mean absolute percentage error. The results show that the ANN-CG model has the best prediction performance with R = 0.992, RMSE = 14.02, MAE = 14.24, and MAPE = 6.84. The results of this study show that the ANN-CG model can accurately predict the shear strength of RC deep beams, representing a promising and useful alternative design solution for structural engineers. (shrink)

The article examines the status of free speech in Vietnam in light of some of the explosive debates that have flared up in both the US and Europe. It argues that unlike in the West the Vietnamese case requires a critical defense to augment the space for free speech as such. To lead up to this conclusion, the essay looks at two case studies of literary censorship in Vietnam to demonstrate that, since the middle of the twentieth-century, literary speech has (...) been synonymous with political speech. Given the limited space for political speech itself, the essay concludes by advancing a version of the autonomy defense of free speech as one viable critical resource in the Vietnamese context. (shrink)

In Norway, by tradition a Lutheran country, the puritan ethics of a moral minority has a strong influence on the development and manifestations of medical ethics. Those who exert this influence are found primarily among politicians, the clergy, and, last but certainly not least, among nurses and doctors. The focus of interest is not so much on problems of bioethical moral theory or the teaching of bioethics to students, but very much on attitudes and policies with regard to substantive issues (...) traditionally regarded in Norway as burning bioethical issues, such as: medical research ethics, abortion, prenatal diagnosis, euthanasia, definitions of death, and reproductive technologies. (shrink)

This article contributes to the limited literatures on small- and medium-size enterprises and corporate social responsibility. Using an institutional theoretical framework, we analyzed fieldwork interviews with twenty SMEs and perspectives of 165 SME managers and workers in textiles, garment, and footwear industries, the most important wage-earning sector in Vietnam. Having understood in the context of a developing “market economy with socialist orientation”, we find that socially responsible practices and expectations developed long before the arrival of CSR as a western concept (...) and an MNC agenda. While identifying and contributing ideas concerning forms of “informal” CSR practices—influenced by social and cultural expectations—to the CSR/sme literature, we are conscious of the mixed effects of these practices and the ongoing nuanced negotiations between workers and managers in these SMEs. In our research, we found that it takes both domestic and international stakeholders to improve labor conditions in Vietnam under the banner of CSR. (shrink)

Recent decades have witnessed widespread agrarian transitions in mainland Southeast Asia. This paper examines how agrarian transitions are shaped by multiple drivers of change, and how these interwoven processes have triggered shifts in agricultural extension practices in three countries in the Lower Mekong Basin: Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Drawing on interviews with experts working on the fields of agrarian studies and rural development, this paper argues that agrarian transitions not only put a strain on agricultural extension systems in responding to (...) evolving needs, but they also stimulate the co-production of innovative agricultural extension models to address gaps left by the limited presence of extensionists. The study gains insight into challenges faced by extensionists, including a lack of resources, skills, and capacities to meet growing needs, which simultaneously urged them to excel in their work performance. The paper highlights the proactive role of ‘champions’ in orchestrating collective efforts towards the co-production of innovative agricultural extension models (e.g. Metkasekor), and the formulation of pluralistic extension platforms in enabling such ‘co-learning-to-act’ practices. By translating these insights into the broader contexts of agricultural and rural development in the Mekong region and beyond, this paper aims to make a two-fold contribution. First, it will assert how the ‘business-as-usual’ extension model has failed to adequately address emerging needs as a result of agrarian transitions. Second, it will provide pathways for the recognition and legitimisation of the pluralistic extension approach that fosters stakeholders’ co-learning and productive engagement in extension practices. (shrink)

Contributing to a lack of studies related to generic skills assessment, especially in non-Western university contexts, this article reports a study that explored practices and challenges of assessing students’ GS in the Business Administration programmes in six Vietnamese universities. Content analysis of interviews with 41 teachers of skills subjects and specialised subjects revealed that teachers were organising different formative and summative GS-assessment activities. Unfortunately, the analysis indicated that their GS-assessment practices were fragmented across subjects in the curriculum. Teachers’ beliefs regarding (...) their roles in the university, teachers’ expertise and several contextual factors were found to influence their assessment practices. The article argues that leadership should be exercised more effectively in order to remove obstacles and engage teachers with assessing GS, which will yield washback effect on students’ learning of these skills. (shrink)

Nowadays, the power systems are getting more and more complicated because of the delays introduced by the communication networks. The existence of the delays usually leads to the degradation and/or instability of power system performance. On account of this point, the traditional load frequency control approach for power system sketches a destabilizing impact and an unacceptable system performance. Therefore, this paper proposes a new LFC based on adaptive integral second-order sliding mode control approach for the large-scale power system with communication (...) delays. First, a new linear matrix inequality is derived to ensure the stability of whole power systems using Lyapunov stability theory. Second, an AISOSMC law is designed to ensure the finite time reachability of the system states. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the AISOSMC is designed for LFC of the LSPSwCD. In addition, the report of testing results presents that the suggested LFC based on AISOSMC can not only decrease effectively the frequency variation but also make successfully less in mount of power oscillation/fluctuation in tie-line exchange. (shrink)

Philosophy & Social Criticism, Volume 48, Issue 4, Page 603-618, May 2022. The article examines the status of free speech in Vietnam in light of some of the explosive debates that have flared up in both the US and Europe. It argues that unlike in the West the Vietnamese case requires a critical defense to augment the space for free speech as such. To lead up to this conclusion, the essay looks at two case studies of literary censorship in Vietnam (...) to demonstrate that, since the middle of the twentieth-century, literary speech has been synonymous with political speech. Given the limited space for political speech itself, the essay concludes by advancing a version of the autonomy defense of free speech as one viable critical resource in the Vietnamese context. (shrink)

Philosophy & Social Criticism, Volume 48, Issue 4, Page 603-618, May 2022. The article examines the status of free speech in Vietnam in light of some of the explosive debates that have flared up in both the US and Europe. It argues that unlike in the West the Vietnamese case requires a critical defense to augment the space for free speech as such. To lead up to this conclusion, the essay looks at two case studies of literary censorship in Vietnam (...) to demonstrate that, since the middle of the twentieth-century, literary speech has been synonymous with political speech. Given the limited space for political speech itself, the essay concludes by advancing a version of the autonomy defense of free speech as one viable critical resource in the Vietnamese context. (shrink)

Dans un régime comme celui de la République populaire de Chine, où prévaut la suprématie d’un Parti-État unique, la politique et le politique constituent, a fortiori plus qu’ailleurs, la chasse gardée de l’élite dirigeante du pays, à savoir les cadres du Parti communiste. Cet article tente de saisir qui sont les élites politiques aux commandes de la Chine d’aujourd’hui à travers l’analyse du modus operandi de l’École des cadres du Parti de Shanghai. L’étude de cette institution, qui participe à la (...) régulation de la circulation des élites et constitue l’un des lieux privilégiés de la transmission et de l’exercice du pouvoir, permet, par-delà son propre fonctionnement, d’éclairer la nature et le devenir même du régime. S’il apparaît que les forces modernisatrices, en assimilant davantage l’École du Parti à un institut d’administration publique, œuvrent à la professionnalisation du métier de cadre, c’est également et avant tout afin de mieux perpétuer l’hégémonie du Parti-État unique.In a regime where the one Party-State rule still prevails, as is the case in the People’s Republic of China, the polity and politics constitute – here more than anywhere else – the private ground of the country’s ruling elite, i.e. the cadres of the Communist Party. This article attempts to grasp who the political elites in control of contemporary China are, by analyzing the modus operandi of the Shanghai Party School for Cadres. The study of an institution that takes part in the circulation of the elites and hence constitutes one of the privileged playing fields for the transmission and the exercise of power, allows, beyond the understanding of its own working, to shed light on the very nature and evolution of the regime. If the modernizing forces appear to work towards the professionalization of the cadres’ craft by equating the Party School to an institute of public administration, they ultimately do so in order to better perpetuate the supremacy ofthe one-Party system. (shrink)

Religious beliefs are defined as thinking, feeling and behaving in accordance with the beliefs and teachings of a religious system. In other words, religious beliefs are indicative of the role of religion in the individual and social life of people, as well as adherence to values and beliefs in daily life, performing religious practices and rituals and participating in activities of religious organisations. Religious beliefs are a set of dos and don'ts, and values are considered one of the most important (...) psychological supports that can provide meaning in all moments of life and save a person from meaninglessness by providing explanatory support in specific situations. In addition, work conscience is defined as a feeling of inner commitment to comply with agreed-upon requirements for work. In other words, work conscience means heartfelt satisfaction and practical commitment to the tasks that a person is supposed to perform properly, in a way that there will be no negligence in performing the duty even if no supervisor oversees the activity. Given the significant role of nurses in hospitals, especially during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the religious beliefs of healthcare employees have become more important. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of religious beliefs on the work conscience of 1800 Muslim nurses in Iraq during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Standard questionnaires were applied to assess the respondents' religious beliefs and work conscience. In addition, data analyses (Cronbach's alpha, Pearson's correlation, etc.) were performed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). According to the results, religious beliefs have a positive effect on nurses' work conscience (p = 0.822). CONTRIBUTION: The findings of this study showed that the employees of an organisation, especially nurses and healthcare staff, can rely on their religious beliefs and benefit from their advantages in order to strengthen their work conscience during a hard time such as the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

Parametric cognitive models are increasingly popular tools for analyzing data obtained from psychological experiments. One of the main goals of such models is to formalize psychological theories using parameters that represent distinct psychological processes. We argue that systematic quantitative reviews of parameter estimates can make an important contribution to robust and cumulative cognitive modeling. Parameter reviews can benefit model development and model assessment by providing valuable information about the expected parameter space, and can facilitate the more efficient design of experiments. (...) Importantly, parameter reviews provide crucial—if not indispensable—information for the specification of informative prior distributions in Bayesian cognitive modeling. From the Bayesian perspective, prior distributions are an integral part of a model, reflecting cumulative theoretical knowledge about plausible values of the model's parameters (Lee,2018). In this paper we illustrate how systematic parameter reviews can be implemented to generate informed prior distributions for the Diffusion Decision Model (DDM; Ratcliff and McKoon,2008), the most widely used model of speeded decision making. We surveyed the published literature on empirical applications of the DDM, extracted the reported parameter estimates, and synthesized this information in the form of prior distributions. Our parameter review establishes a comprehensive reference resource for plausible DDM parameter values in various experimental paradigms that can guide future applications of the model. Based on the challenges we faced during the parameter review, we formulate a set of general and DDM-specific suggestions aiming to increase reproducibility and the information gained from the review process. (shrink)

One of the most important questions when determining when it is appropriate to procure organs from a deceased organ donor is what can be considered death. Currently, there is significant debate over whether brain death is an appropriate method of declaring an individual dead. As it would be illicit to cause the death of a patient by removing their organs, a medical professional must be certain that a brain dead patient is, in fact, dead before the procedure. In this paper, (...) the author makes the case in support of considering brain death actual death. (shrink)

UTILIZING MICHEL FOUCAULT'S CONCEPTION OF "PLAGUE" AS A DESCRIPtion of states of exception, this essay analyzes America's plans to genetically screen illegal immigrants. It argues that liberal democratic theory presupposes the exceptionalism of the nation-state and hence justifies sacrifices to appease the tragic order of things. The use of genetic technology in current American immigration policy instantiates these "necessary" sacrifices, extending agency and visibility in a never-ending struggle to foreclose every manner of contingency. In contrast, I offer a "doxological" view (...) of space that, eschewing this tragic economy, re-imagines the world by resisting foreclosure and "laboring" to remain open. After theorizing the genetic screening of illegal immigrants through Foucault's "plague" and Hans Jonas' work on sacrifice, I articulate the globalized nation-state as the exception for violence and conclude with political theology's more capacious view of space and cultural identity. (shrink)

The two main figures of authority in contemporary psychoanalysis are Freud and Lacan. Yet there is an intrusion that is missed in this utterance. Zhuangzi serves as this extra intrusion, the third figure of authority in psychoanalysis. Both Freud and Lacan arguably owe their existence to such a text. There is a gap, however, in that Freud and Lacan published limited engagements with Zhuangzi. This study aims not to plug the gap altogether, but to confront it. A close reading of (...) the text suggests a pairing of Zhuangzi with Lacan and not the other way around, in the precise sense that Lacan materialized Zhuangzi. (shrink)

Can paradoxical or ambiguous sexual identities and practices change, or even go beyond, the meanings of masculinity and femininity? In other words: can the body be a source of social change? To answer this question I turn to the work of two theorists: Luce Irigaray and Judith Butler. After an account of their ideas, various sexual practices and identities will be described. The question is whether these practices and identities affect the meanings of masculinity and femininity. It will be concluded (...) that, even in our postmodern world with its technological opportunities the division into the two sexes is extraordinarily persistent. However, we can expect some change from the extension of the categories of masculinity and femininity, rather than from attempts to break free from them altogether. (shrink)

Income distribution continues to be a major problem of the countries. Turkey is one of the countries that are in the high Gini Coefficient if we compare it with the EU members. It is known that Turkey has applied various economic policies to solve this problem. In order to ensure social justice the application of redistribution policies is the first solution that comes in mind. However, its implementation option is limited due to its negative effect on economic growth. The most (...) effective option to ensure social justice is to give importance to the education sector without compromising on the economic growth. In this study we will discuss, firstly, income distribution movements over the years and analyze its impact on the political economy. Especially in the time period of 1977-2014, the effects of an increase in the economic growth due to an increase in the number of primary, secondary and university graduates will be investigated by using the ARDL boundary test approach. The obtained finding of the long term relationship of these variables and the contribution of their relationship on the estimated result of an increase in the education index caused by a decrease in the Gini Coefficient that is shown in the form of improvement effects of income distribution. According to the findings in the literature the investments made for education in Turkey have made a significant contribution to the improvement of income distribution. Lastly, in order to increase the influence of education on economy some policy recommendations have been discussed in the study. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediational role of relational psychological contract in social beliefs and work input attitude dependency. We analyzed data taken from employees in four different organizations operating in the Pomeranian market. A mediation analysis showed a strongly mediating role of psychological contract in the negative relationship between perception of life as a zero-sum game and work input. The motivational effect of the relational psychological contract, that is the role of job security, interesting work, (...) a career in the company, opportunities for promotion and other HRM practices prevail over the significance of personal beliefs, especially when these are negative. If the company lacks the appropriate HRM systems then day-to-day social exchanges can be crucial in modifying the social beliefs of the employee. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to show the relationship between John XXIII and Robert K. Greenleaf’s understanding of leadership. By taking into consideration Greenleaf’s theory of servant-leadership – from conceptualization to model development – and Larry Spears’ influential rubric of ten servant-leadership characteristics, we will show how servant-leadership theory goes in line with that of John XXIII when both are based on a notion of the common good and human dignity.

This essay reads W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction and Óscar Romero’s third pastoral letter, The Church and Popular Political Organizations, as offering a liberation-driven and Gospel-minded account of coalitional solidarity. After tracing Du Bois’s analysis of the “public and psychological wage” of racial capitalism and its divide-and-conquer strategy, the authors turn to how democracy for Du Bois involves a double maneuver of looking up from concrete reality to look out for coalitional solidarity. The authors also find a similar (...) double maneuver in the teaching and ministry of the martyred archbishop, St. Óscar Romero. They then examine convergences between Du Bois’s Black Marxism and Romero’s Catholic social teaching, as well as important divergences. They conclude by considering implications for community organizing efforts today. (shrink)

In this paper, we discuss the weakness of current action languages for sensing actions with respect to modeling domains with multi-valued fluents. To address this problem, we propose a language with sensing actions and multi-valued fluents, called AMK, provide a transition function based semantics for the language, and demonstrate its use through several examples from the literature. We then define the entailment relationship between action theories and queries in AMK, denoted by ⊧AMK, and discuss some properties about AMK.

This essay offers an account of traditioned theological speech where speaking necessarily comes with the entailments and constraints of speaking for and being spoken for. It contrastively portrays critiques of tradition qua tradition as confused, where the confusion unfurls in endless critique—where nothing escapes, including traditions of liberation—resulting in banalities at the heart of Christian ethics.

This article aims to clarify the epistemological foundations of the Freudian energetics model, starting with a historical review of the 19th century scientific context in which Freud's research lay down its roots. Beyond the physiological and anatomical references of Project for a Scientific Psychology, the physiology Freud makes reference to is in reality primarily anchored in an epistemological model derived from physics. Whilst across the Rhine, the autonomy of physiology in relation to physics was far from being accomplished, as a (...) counterpoint, in France, the revolution in physiology driven by Claude Bernard established itself autonomously from physics,. In contrast, Freud's scientific landscape is entirely dominated by the physics elevated to the rank of an ideal science. The influence of Helmholtz, who is both a medical doctor and a physicist, has a determining influence on Freud's training. The discoveries in physics at that time, in particular the formulation of the principle of 'conservation of force' - first principle of thermodynamics - will constitute the points of reference upon which Freud will elaborate his energetics model, then subsequently, the idea of economy in his metapsychology. In this way we can trace both the historic and epistemological path that led Freud from a concept based on physics, and more specifically thermodynamic energy, to an idea of nervous energy that constitutes the basis of the concept of "quantity" as it is stated as 'first fundamental idea' in Project for a Scientific Psychology. This notion will subsequently evolve, and lead Freud to the introduction of the concept of 'psychical energy,' this time in a purely metapsychological sense. (shrink)

This paper focuses on learning that takes place outside formal classrooms within groups or teams. Based on the conceptual framework of informal learning, adult learning and lifelong learning, it investigates how two contrasting groups of adult learners in Vietnam, Mekong doctors and Hanoi hairdressers, learn, interact, and collaborate through their informal learning experiences in the workplace. These are two ‘co-present groups’ or two ‘complex systems’. For Vietnamese learners, the challenges of Confucian heritage culture, or the lack of awareness of cultural (...) differences, created obstacles to collaboration and participation. The contribution to this Special Issue argues that co-present group learning applies well to non-Western Confucius-based cultures and other countries with similar values, despite this lack of awareness of cultural differences. (shrink)

Rapid urbanization in Vietnam significantly impacts the environment and human well-being. Public parks are crucial for enhancing social and environmental sustainability in urban areas, yet their establishment and expansion require substantial funding. This study investigates the factors influencing Vietnamese urban residents’ willingness to donate to planting projects in public parks, utilizing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF), which combines Mindsponge Theory’s informational entropy-based notion of value with Bayesian analysis. Analyzing data from 535 residents in major Vietnamese cities, we found that while (...) men visit public parks more frequently, they are less willing to donate to planting projects. Older residents visit parks more often and are more willing to donate, while higher-income individuals show greater willingness to donate. Most motivations—such as relaxation, physical activities, nature enjoyment, socializing, and family time—are positively linked to park visit frequency and indirectly to donation willingness. However, only relaxation and enjoyment of nature are directly associated with willingness to donate. Interestingly, higher education levels and visiting parks for children’s educational activities are associated with lower donation willingness. These findings hint at the possible existence of the free-riding problem, gender inequality, ineffective environmental education, and lack of awareness of public parks’ natural value, as well as opportunities to cultivate an eco-surplus culture through nature interactions in public parks. (shrink)

A programme of research into conflict (e.g. violence, absconding, medication refusal) and containment (e.g. seclusion, special observation, physical restraint) in inpatient psychiatry has been under way at City University, London, UK, for the past 10 years. Recent research findings, plus the challenges posed by ongoing projects, have made apparent the need for greater clarity about the overarching concepts of ‘conflict’ and ‘containment’. This paper pulls together research findings pertaining to this issue, and conducts a reasoned analysis of what common characteristics (...) might underlie ‘conflict’ and ‘containment’. It is concluded that these are patient threats to safety, and the staff maintenance of safety. Details are presented on the inclusions and exclusions that follow from taking such a position, and potential definitions offered. On the grounds of this conceptual analysis, plus evidence for moderate degrees of statistical association between behaviours and events in each domain, it is concluded that it is legitimate to conduct analyses at the level of total conflict and containment rates, as well as at the level of individual types of behaviours and events (e.g. verbal abuse, sedation). Some of the mathematical difficulties in the analysis of total conflict and containment are addressed, and results of a weighting exercise presented. This exercise challenges our perception of the severity of some containment measures that are becoming more commonly used in acute psychiatry. (shrink)