This study explores how the presence of a depressive disorder amplifies the negative impact of chronic physical illnesses on life satisfaction when the two co-occur, compared with the effects of each chronic condition alone. This study employs multivariate logistic regression to examine these associations using data from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a large-scale national health survey. The analysis revealed that individuals with both a physical and a mental health condition had significantly lower odds of reporting life satisfaction compared with those with only a single physical condition. In particular, arthritis, one of the most prevalent chronic health conditions among adults in the United States, emerged as especially significant. Respondents with arthritis were less likely to report life satisfaction than those without the condition or those with other chronic health conditions. This negative impact was further intensified when arthritis co-occurred with depressive disorder. The odds ratio for arthritis alone was 0.847, already relatively low among the chronic health conditions analyzed. However, when combined with depressive disorder, it dropped sharply to 0.449. This substantial decline highlighted how the coexistence of a mental health disorder can significantly amplify the adverse effects of arthritis on life satisfaction. A similar pattern was observed for asthma, where the odds ratio decreased from 0.877 (asthma alone) to 0.633 when combined with depressive disorder. These findings demonstrate the critical importance of integrating mental health care into the management of chronic physical illnesses, as the interaction between the two can substantially diminish individuals’ life satisfaction.
The main causes of the persistent Somali armed conflict are clannism, tribalism, economic hardship, and extreme poverty coupled with a protracted absence of legitimate governing institutions responsible to deliver the affairs of the state in the comity of nations. As such, various external actors intervene in an effort to mitigate the effects of the conflict and restore peace. Given that neither the Additional Protocol II of 1977 nor Article 3, Common to the Conventions, describe what an armed dispute is, there has been inherent confusion regarding whether or not a non-international armed conflict exists in the national territories of States experiencing internal violence occurrences since the 1949 Geneva Conventions were issued. However, over 30 articles have been reviewed, whereas such articles study the international humanitarian law principles in war atmosphere under the international law in the atmosphere of war and armed conflicts in order to acknowledge its impacts on fragile civilians and provide access to humanitarian aid workers operating in the region. However, the review articles uncovered numerous violations, breaches, and atrocities of IHL by the national and international peacekeeping missions in conflict-affected areas in order to grasp the magnitude of the catastrophe. This article’s goal is the issue of the confusion brought about by the lack of an accurate definition of armed conflict. The aforementioned problem hurts the hors de combat or protected population protection that must constantly be provided during armed conflicts.
State crafting, dysfunctionality and failure is an interesting and an emerging area in political studies as well as international affairs. This area has been remotely examined by both African and Western scholars. The paper comprehensively examined state dysfunctionality in the context of state failure of South Sudan. The paper conceptualized state dysfunctionality as inability of the state to perform its functions of service delivery of public goods and particularly, security to its own citizens. While the paper surveyed the role of political elites in understanding state-crafting and failure of South Sudan, empirically, its argues that South Sudanese political elites, particularly, from Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) known today as South Sudanese People Defense Forces (SSPDF) have contributed to South Sudanese state failure than crafting. This is demonstrated through elites struggle over power, secretive ethnic politics and rewarding rebellions, corruption and resources usurp and protracted conflicts. The paper deployed primary and secondary sources in tapping the understanding of South Sudanese political elites in state-crafting and failure. It combines case study and process tracing methods to contextualize and validate causal chains and empirical casual processes. The study used a sample size of 200 respondents with persuasive and cluster sampling in understanding state dysfunctionality, the role political elites in South Sudanese state-crafting and failure. The findings indicated that political elites from Government of South Sudan and particularly, the party with majority seats in the government, SPLM and military wing, SPLA aka SSPDF have led to South Sudanese state failure. The tribal outfits such as the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE) have had a big hand in South Sudanese state failure. Finally, the paper draws conclusions that reversing South Sudanese state failure requires the political elites, the SPLM to eschew zero-sum power struggle, rent seeking rebellions, secretive ethnic politics, conflicts and corruption. This demands adherence to institutionalism and visionary leadership. The paper recommends further research to SPLM and SPLA elites to reverse state failure and rescue South Sudan from collapse.
Russian regional life expectancy at birth is shown to improve 1996-2019 using the average life expectancy as well as by gender with the extremely high gender gap decreasing. Life expectancy at the traditional retirement age also increases using a broad measure of economic development (Human Development Index) but not with a narrow measure (per capita real GRP). Regional female life expectancy except for a few outlier regions such as Moscow city converges over time while regional male life expectancy forms two convergence clubs with one converging at a much higher speed than the other indicating that the extremely low male life expectancy in Russia is more heterogeneous than female life expectancy.
Traffic accidents happen all the time. It’s a situation that can happen in any transportation network, including the one in the study area, where safety steps aren’t good enough. The study then looked at how safe the roads are on the Halsema Highway in the Philippines. In particular, it found out what the main reasons are for traffic accidents along Halsema Highway and how well safety standards are being followed. The goal is to come up with ways to lessen the bad effects of land transportation traffic accidents. A questionnaire checklist was the main tool used to collect data, with human interviews and observation also being used. T-tests and both quantitative and qualitative study methods were used to look at the data that was collected. The results show that mistakes made by people are the main reason why cars crash on the Halsema Highway. There is a high level of compliance with road safety standards (2.63) and traffic engineering (2.56), but only a modest level of compliance with traffic signs (2.46). Right now, it’s clear that some Halsema Highway drivers don’t care about safety. On the other hand, there are some issues and concerns that need to be addressed when it comes to road safety standards, especially when it comes to traffic signs that aren’t big enough.
This study was conceptualized because COVID-19 pandemic brought adversity to most employees, such as death within the family, illness, fear of having it, and the like. Thus, there is a need to assess the employees’ current levels of resilience quotient and understand the factors that contribute to it which can be an effective tool in developing resilient employees’ programs. The respondents of this study were the 84 employees of a maritime university in Iloilo City, Philippines comprised of faculty and staff selected through simple random sampling. The validated and reliability-tested Resilience Quotient (RQ) assessment questionnaire of Russell and Russell (2007) was used in this study. The statistical tools used were mean, One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), t-test of independent samples, and Scheffe test set at .05 level of significance. Results revealed that when taken as an entire group, the resilience quotient level of the maritime university employees’ was high which means that they are optimistic, focused on solutions, always think of individual accountability, open and flexible, and always manages stress and anxiety. It also showed that employees had a higher score in the “personal vision” dimension and the lowest score in the “organized” dimension. The employees' length of service to the institution significantly affected their level of resilience quotient. It is recommended that employees may use their personal vision in their resilience capabilities to develop their organizing skills and find ways to generate a level of order and structure that provides them with the focus and stability they need to do their individual jobs.
The way HR and organizations interact and support their workforce has been changed forever by conversational AI chatbots. This study investigates chatbots’ role in enhancing job seekers’ and employees’ experiences, using CV Warehouse a case study, a leading resume writing and CV distribution service provider. The research focuses on how the integration of chatbots into HR processes at CV Warehouse affected recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and support. The results show that chatbots are helpful for users through personalized assistance given promptly, making HR work smoothly and increasing productivity. In addition to this, there are challenges such as technological limitations, user adaptation, and data privacy concerns. Furthermore, perspectives have been provided for discussions relating to the benefits of using chatbots in HR and the associated challenges faced by organizations that might want to implement them. These findings will help us understand how conversational AI can be used to optimize HR practices supporting organization objectives.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a significant public health concern in developing countries like Bangladesh, where women face an elevated susceptibility to them due to the confluence of various risk factors. This study delves into the socioeconomic determinants of women’s health focusing on selected NCD biomarkers (Body Mass Index (BMI) and blood pressure measurement), utilizing the 2017-2018 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS). Understanding the complex socioeconomic determinants and dynamics of women’s health in Bangladesh, especially from the NCDs’ perspective, is essential given the critical role that women’s health plays in societal welfare and socioeconomic advancement, particularly in the face of rapid economic growth and demographic shifts. The multinomial logit analysis shows that wealth, age, and women’s education were significant factors in all BMI categories, whereas employment status was significant only in the case of obesity. Being employed as opposed to being unemployed lowered the probability of being in higher BMI categories, whilst age, wealth, and higher education levels raised that likelihood. Age emerged to be a significant predictor of hypertension, with older individuals more likely to be hypertensive. Employment negatively impacted hypertension, while higher wealth slightly increased the likelihood of normal blood pressure. Given that older and wealthier women are predisposed to overweight, obese, and hypertensive, and considering the advantageous impact of employment in reducing hypertension risks, public health policies should focus on age-specific interventions to manage and prevent hypertension and obesity among older women. Moreover, efforts to promote health education and lifestyle modifications among wealthier individuals, enhance workplace wellness programs to leverage the protective effects of employment on health, and increase educational initiatives to raise awareness about healthy living and preventive healthcare are warranted. These targeted strategies can address the socioeconomic determinants of health, improving NCD biomarker outcomes for women across different age groups and economic backgrounds in Bangladesh.
Apple is successful in the smartphone market, and the advertisement is an important factor in its success. In this study, the author is going to make a study from the critical pragmatic view to analyze the pragmatic identity that is presupposed in its 2020 Special Event. Through the analysis, three pragmatic identities are implied in its advertisement. They are environmentalist, movie professionals, and trendsetters. The aim of this paper is to help consumers to avoid the presupposition trap in the advertisement.
The purpose of this research is to observe the usefulness of devising speaking activities based on the core text of English for developing language proficiency in English specially in reading comprehension skills. The research has been conducted at Federal Government College Bahawalpur and the participants were students of Intermediate level and teachers from private and Government colleges. Quantitative experimental research design was employed. A total 62 students were selected and divided into control group and experimental group. During the first stage six speaking activities were conducted with both the groups. The findings show that group discussion was the most successful speaking activity. In the second stage lesson plans involving speaking activities based on reading comprehension texts were devised and conducted in the experimental group classroom. The findings reveal that there is a marked increase in the post test scores of experimental group which indicates that English speaking activities based on core text result in an improvement of students’ reading comprehension.
Job satisfaction is the positive expressive feedback and attitudes workers have toward their jobs. It is viewed as a very significant issue within all types of establishments. But there is limited research exploring job satisfaction in the educational context, and as such, there is a deficiency in the understanding of the issues that particularly affect university English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions about their job satisfaction. Therefore, this study explored, within the precinct of Herzberg (1959) theory, the EFL teachers job satisfaction in Ningxia, China. A purposive sampling design was used to select 10 informants chosen from Ningxia in China while series of in-depth interviews were conducted and data analyzed thematically using NVIVO software. The study analysis, assessed job satisfaction through multiple facets that revealed job satisfaction as depending basically upon what the university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teachers in Ningxia, China gets from their job. Thus, it is recommended that the management of university where English as a Foreign Language are taught should set in motion strategies to sustain the current situation. Similarly, future researchers should extent the focus of job satisfaction research to low socioeconomic countries in relation to intrinsic values.
Resilience – the ability of a dynamic system to withstand, or adapt to, threats or risk to its stability, viability, or development – is an important component of environmental, economic, and social systems. While resilience has been studied extensively from individual-, family-, and community-level perspectives, substantially less work has been devoted to understanding resilience through a lens that crosscuts system levels so that an integrated model of resilience can be developed. This research aims to address this gap by identifying a link between family and community resilience as reported by 593 emerging adults. Results support the hypothesis that family resilience predicts community resilience during the transition to adulthood. The results support the proposed framework presented by Houston (2018) in which community resilience is positioned well for both top-down and bottom-up comparisons. The results are also consistent with the dynamic systems perspective which posits that resilience occurs as a result of interactions between and within the levels of complex systems to include the individual, family, and community. These results assist in understanding mechanisms by which resilience emerges from internal and external interactions between and within levels of each system and across developmental transitions.
India is one of the worldwide tourist goals. The current study focused on it in the context of tourism policy and its industry, which is rapidly growing, particularly in Delhi and Mumbai. The rapid growth of India's tourism industry is affected by several factors, including the country's high economic growth rate over the past decade and the fact that it is now one of the more affordable destinations for foreign tourists. Additionally, several significant challenges are associated with developing the Indian tourism industry. To address these challenges and ensure that India's tourism industry continues to increase in the years to come, the government has introduced several new tourism policies aimed at improving the infrastructure available in the country and making it easier for tourists to come and visit. These policies include introducing a dedicated high-speed rail link between Delhi and Mumbai, developing a new visa policy for foreign visitors, and simplifying the process for acquiring permits for filming or photography in popular tourist attractions nationwide. Overall, these policies represent a significant step in developing the Indian tourism industry and will go a long way towards guaranteeing that the country remains a popular destination for tourists worldwide for many years; this study focused on it deeply based on earlier investigations.
The purpose of this research study was to investigate the perceptions of supervisory feedback of student-teachers involved in the teaching practicum in a Malaysian Teacher Education Institute. The sample, which was conveniently selected based on student-teachers’ interest and availability, consisted of 24 student-teachers from the Teacher Education Institute. Data were obtained by means of questionnaire. Data were analyzed qualitatively. After considering the perceptions of the student-teachers participating in this study, the findings suggested a characterisation of supervisory feedback that contributed to deepen the existing knowledge about feedback in the teaching practicum context. It enables to shed more lights into the areas of second language teaching in the classroom as the findings would be able to provide more support for future management and development of teacher education in Malaysia.
The anticipated nursing shortage requires a closer look at academic predictors of success for first-year nursing students. Literature shows that there is a significant shortage of students graduating from nursing programs to replace the nurses leaving the workforce. This study examined whether self-efficacy and self-esteem predict student success for first-year baccalaureate nursing students taking an introductory science course: Biology for Science Majors (BIO 130). Understanding the relationships between self-efficacy, self-esteem, and the end-of-course grade to measure academic success can inform future student success programming for undergraduate nursing students. The study used a correlation design to determine relationships between students’ self-efficacy, self-esteem, and academic success. The independent variables were self-efficacy and self-esteem. The dependent variable was student academic success measured by students’ final course grades. Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis indicated a weak relationship between scores on the General-Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) and final course grades. Similarly, a weak relationship was found between scores on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the final course grades. This finding remained consistent when controlling for each independent variable.
The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic had numerous social, political, and economic consequences. However, many studies suggest the labor market is the most affected area compared to the others. This is because some of the workers were forced to quit due to the presence of the pandemic at their places of employment. This particular paper focuses on performing a comprehensive survey on the effects of Covid-19 on labor markets. It is well known that the Covid pandemic has led to widespread job losses and a decrease in labor force participation. The unemployment rate had risen significantly, and the number of people out of work increased by millions. The labor market was also being affected by decreased working hours and increased temporary layoffs. The literature on labor economics is divided into two distinct areas of the effect of the pandemic. On one side, there are papers conducted on the general impact of the pandemic on the labor market, including demand and supply of labor, unemployment, and the heterogeneous effect of Covid on different groups and ages. On the other side, some studies are related to the Covid specific topics which are new to the literature of labor economics, such as work from home, remote working, lockdowns, and social distancing. One other evolving part is the Post Covid era and the recovery phase.
This research is about determining the major rural development concept and programs implemented by the national government and how they impact the ordinary Filipino’s life satisfaction. the The study found that (1)The national rural development program is anchored on providing access to financing for agricultural production; (4) A significant part of the national rural development program is for calamity assistance (5) There is a slow pace of agrarian reform; (6) There is weak job creation in the rural areas thus period 2001-2009 has seen the most Filipinos forced abroad to find work in the country’s history wherein 1.42 million were deployed last year which was equivalent to almost 3,900 Filipinos leaving every day; and (7) There is the whole issue of livelihood sustenance, technical knowhow, technology, competition, cost of production, unpredictable calamities and most of all, ready markets for the produce in the rural areas. After twenty (20) years, the ordinary Filipno does not base his life satisfaction on whether or not the national government can develop the rural areas.
Kidnapping for ransom is a worldwide phenomenon and Nigeria is not an exception. The problem, now endemic, is a phenomenal substitute for robbery, and one of Nigeria’s biggest challenges. Nigeria today tops the global scale of kidnapping for ransom cases, with 2,371 incidents recorded in the initial six months of 2021. The victims include foreign workers, school children, traditional rulers, clergymen, politicians, and ordinary Nigerians. Apart from the physical, psychological and hysterical impact on victims, it has adversely impacted the economy. The paper examines factors behind the upsurge and the government’s inability to arrest the drift. It has been established that crime is fuelled by a plethora of economic, social, political, and security-related factors, principally unemployment, poverty, and the availability of small arms. Given the current spate of kidnapping and the helplessness of the government, Nigeria is at a crossroads, facing a monster that can consume it anytime. It is recommended that the government should adopt policies to end official corruption, alleviate poverty and fight unemployment. It should also create a responsible and well-motivated security apparatus to tackle kidnapping, in addition to stiff punishment to serve as deterrence.
This study aims to describe the perspectives and lived experiences of physicians and users who used telemedicine during Covid-19 in Bahrain. The study is based on in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with physicians and users in order to explore their perspectives on using telemedicine during the pandemic. Interview analysis revealed that healthcare professionals’ proactiveness in offering and using telemedicine services during the pandemic contributed significantly to its acceptance and use by patients. Results show that telemedicine users have positive attitude regarding their telemedicine experience and they have high tendency toward using its services even after the pandemic is over, especially for chronic conditions and follow-ups. Results also show that despite the readiness of users for using the telemedicine, some telemedicine services still need improvements in the insurance services, controlled medicine regulation, applications and training for hospital staff and users/patients. The study provides valuable information for the successful implementation of telemedicine services in Bahrain.
In early 2020, governments around the world imposed various non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to slow the spread of COVID-19. NPIs like stay-at-home (or “lockdown”) orders were especially effective in mitigating virus transmission but could also significantly disrupt people's usual activities. Given the hypothesized relationship between routine disruption and stress (e.g., Hou, Lai, Ben-Ezra, & Goodwin, 2020), we predicted that the amount of daily-life disruption people experienced during lockdowns would significantly predict their stress levels. To test this hypothesis, we collected data from over 300 adults living across the United States via an online survey. Analyses revealed that lockdowns did disrupt participants’ daily routines, that most participants experienced several stress symptoms during lockdowns, and that overall life disruption strongly correlated with stress scores (r = .50). Subsequent multiple linear regression analyses revealed that changes in just 4-5 activities were driving this relationship—exercising, relaxing, using social media, eating, and volunteering—and that disruptions to these behavioral routines predicted between 24-32% of the variance in participants’ stress symptoms. Overall, our results showed that many disruptions in daily routines correlated with stress during lockdowns but that some activity changes were more strongly related to stress than others.
