Bold Action Research Articles

A religious minority tax in healthcare? Insights from Muslim American physicians

Physicians from marginalized racial, ethnic, sexual, and gender backgrounds often encounter adversity, ranging from overt discrimination to subtle microaggressions, which impacts their professional careers. Consequently, concerted efforts to promote workforce diversity in healthcare have begun to tackle these issues. In this study, we further these efforts by uplifting the voices of a minority religious community, Muslim physicians, and their experiences in the medical profession. Using a community-engaged research approach, we recruited 18 physicians from 3 national Muslim clinician organizations who had worked at a university hospital within the last 20 years to participate in semi-structured interviews focused on how their religious identity intersects with experiences of discrimination and accommodation. Deploying a phenomenological framework, we identified four emergent themes that cut across the 18 interviews. The physicians’ experiences demonstrated that they i) shouldered extra labor to uphold their religious identity, (ii) denied their personal experiences of religious discrimination, (iii) feared religious discrimination, and (iv) mislabeled their personal management of religious practices as institutional accommodations. These experiences suggest that the additional responsibilities and burdens that saddle underrepresented racial and ethnic identities in medicine – dubbed “the minority tax” – extend to this religious minority group. They also highlight a unique set of psychological and professional costs associated with carrying a Muslim identity in the physician workforce. Our findings underscore the need for healthcare systems to take bold action in creating non-discriminatory, inclusive, and equitable working environments that attend to the religious identities of diverse physicians.

Potential pension fund losses should not deter high-income countries from bold climate action

Gregor Semieniuk (PhD, Economics, New School for Social Research) is Assistant Research Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He researches the political economy of rapid, policy-induced structural change required for the transition to a low-carbon economy. Gregor has published widely on this topic, won grants to study it, and regularly speaks to policy and academic audiences, most recently testifying on stranded fossil-fuel assets before the US Senate Committee on the Budget. Previously, Gregor was on the faculty at SOAS University of London and University of Sussex, and he is an Honorary Professor at University College London. Lucas Chancel is an Associate Professor of Economics at Sciences Po and co-director of the World Inequality Lab at the Paris School of Economics, as well as a Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard. He is the author of dozens of research articles and book chapters on global inequality and environmental issues. He coordinates and edits the World Inequality Reports, which present the latest data on global economic and environmental inequality. His work has attracted media and policy attention worldwide and his book, “Unsustainable inequalities” (Harvard University Press, 2020), featured in the Financial Times and Nature’s best books of the year. Eulalie Saïsset is a specialist in environmental public policies and resulting inequalities. She is a graduate engineer from Mines Paris where she focused on the sociological and political dimensions of the environmental transition. She also holds a master’s degree in public policy and development economics from the Paris School of Economics, where her dissertation focused on the redistributive aspects of stranding fossil fuel assets. Eulalie previously worked at the World Bank in Washington DC as a transport consultant for the Africa region. She also carried out the analysis of European industrial decarbonization policies at the think-tank La Fabrique de l’Industrie. Philip B. Holden completed his DPhil in computational modeling of X-ray lasers in 1991, after which he held research positions in the University of York, Université Paris-Sud, and the Czech Institute of Physics. He then spent 10 years in the finance sector, designing and modeling approximately $2 billion of “big ticket” asset financings. He returned to academia via an MSc in Quaternary Science from the University of London (RHUL/UCL) and joined the Open University in 2007. Phil’s main focus now is the development of computationally efficient Earth system models, with particular focus on interdisciplinary applications and integrated assessment. Dr. Jean-Francois Mercure is Senior Climate Economist at the World Bank and Associate Professor in Climate Policy at the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, UK. His research focuses on developing theory, models, and methods for public policy appraisal in climate policy, and for assessing the effectiveness and socio-economic impacts of diverse types of low-carbon, energy, and other climate policies. He also develops methods to understand and assess climate-related financial risks. He co-leads two major programs at the World Bank on analytical tool development and capacity development for finance ministries. Neil R. Edwards is Professor of Earth System Science and University Lead for Sustainability Research at The Open University, UK. After studying mathematics at Cambridge and Leeds Universities, Neil became deeply involved with the early development of comprehensive Earth system models in the 1990s, playing a key role in developing the grid-enabled integrated Earth system (GENIE) framework and related models. Through GENIE, he contributed to the multi-millennial climate projections of the fourth and fifth IPCC assessment reports and has published extensively on climate dynamics, integrated assessment and climate impact modeling, and uncertainty quantification. He has published over 100 refereed papers.

Bilateral Federalism, Value-Based Healthcare and the Future of Canadian Intergovernmental Diplomacy on Health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare some profound challenges facing the preservation of Canada's single-payer, publicly administered healthcare system. At the same time, it may have presented an opportunity to take bold action on system reform. Part of that opportunity may lie in linking recent developments in intergovernmental diplomacy (termed bilateral federalism) with the growing emphasis on value-based healthcare initiatives coming out of some of the provinces. Bilateralism may be a means to steer reform efforts toward a value-based healthcare system that can articulate pan-Canadian values while accommodating provincial asymmetry in a highly decentralized federation like Canada.

Past Experiences and Current Mindset Reveal Crisis Mechanism and Financial sustainability Insights. Evidences from Albania

Periodic economic crises have been a well-recorded phenomenon in nations with capitalist economies since the first half of the 19th century. The effects and repercussions of the global financial crisis of 2007 were undoubtedly felt, even in a small nation like Albania. During the crisis, it became evident that traditional policies that stressed macroeconomic stability were insufficient and that bold action by central banks was necessary to offer flexibility in monetary policy regulations and ensure crisis recovery. This article provides a theoretical explanation of the crisis process as well as a discussion of the Bank of Albania's policy decisions made during two separate crises, the Global Financial Crisis and the Covid-19 Pandemic. In order to emphasize the most significant events and interpret the insights in each stage of the financial cycle, this article was undertaken from the perspective of comparison of various timelines. When looking at financial crises from a macroeconomics perspective, the descriptive method is used to analyse the evidence in a country like Albania. The findings of this study highlight the measures made by the Bank of Albania and the government to manage the economic crisis and strive to reduce its long-term repercussions. The purpose of the study is to provide macroeconomic indicator data on the Central Bank of Albania's response to the aforementioned crises in order to aid policymakers in reflecting on the direction of their policies during two separate periods of crisis.

Institutional Courage: An Antidote to Institutional Betrayal and Broken Trust

An emerging area of interest is how institutional betrayal among nurses might lead to issues of nurse well-being, such as burnout and turnover. In this phenomenon, the organization, whether by explicit actions or the abstract ethos of the work environment, can become a contributing factor to psychological well-being. Within health care, the systemization and corporatization of medical services has contributed to a more institutional identity. Institutional actions that defy the expectation for safety and violate relationships between individual and institution are termed institutional betrayal. In any case or among any population of nurses, the key element of institutional betrayal is a violation of trust. If trust is lacking and the relationship with the organization is broken, then the person would feel a psychological weight or some sort of strain on their ethos that wears on their resilience. For nurses, this fractured relationship then makes patient care feel more like work than caring, which then cascades to burnout. In a system depleted of institutional trust, nurses might feel useless and wasted in the churn of the “system,” so they become depersonalized and bitter. Building back institutional trust becomes a pivotal way to counteract the trauma of betrayal. Rebuilding trust takes acts of courage. It is not easy for an organization or institution to admit it harmed people, and likely even more difficult as public relations and brand image become critical factors in health care business practices. But to admit these faults and take bold action is an act of institutional courage, one that can help heal the wounds experienced by nurses and larger society.

Diverted Flight Path: The California Art Education Association’s Progress Toward Sustainable Runways

Art education associations across the United States have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the force of societal change has impacted all aspects of both the personal and professional lives of teachers. Leadership that is elected and currently serving during this point of inflection find themselves in turbulent positions that demand adaptation to stay relevant as well as “flight plans” that responsibly steward organizations toward sustainability and future succession. As COVID-19 moves into an endemic phase and art educators shift their practice toward embracing the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and access (EDIA), the California Art Education Association (CAEA) has taken bold action to confront contemporary challenges. In this article, I share a perspective on organizational change that both traces the evolution of EDIA work within CAEA and provides a preliminary flight plan that outlines current activities and potentialities for future sustainable initiatives.

Exploring Subordinates' Perceptions and Experiences with Abusive Leaders in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study

Exploring Subordinates' Perceptions and Experiences with Abusive Leaders in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study

Social Reward Behaviour in Two Groups of European Grey Wolves (Canis lupus lupus)—A Case Study

Prosociality occurs in many species and is likely to be a crucial factor for the survival of group-living animals. Social feedback is an important mechanism for the coordination of group decisions. Since group-living animals with specific personality axes, i.e., boldness, are known to provide certain benefits for their group, bold actions might receive more prosocial feedback than other actions. Our case study aims to determine whether bold behaviour, i.e., novel object interaction (Nobj), might be answered more frequently with prosocial behaviours. We investigated the differences in the frequency of occurrence in prosocial behaviours after three different individual actions in two groups of grey wolves. We aim to outline the development of a social reward behavioural category as part of social feedback mechanisms. We used Markov chain models for probability analyses, and a non-parametric ANOVA to test for differences between the influences of individual behaviours on the probability of a prosocial behaviour chain. We additionally tested for the potential influences of age, sex and personality on the frequency of Nobj. Our results suggest that bold interactions are more often responded to with prosocial behaviour. Bold behaviour might be more often socially rewarded because of its benefits for group-living animals. More research is needed to investigate whether bold behaviour is more frequently responded to prosocially, and to investigate the social reward phenomenon.

Battered But Not Broken: A Composite of the Experiences of Black Librarians at Public, 2-Year Colleges – Dissertation of the Year

Objective: Black librarians account for just 5.4% of academic librarians in the U.S. in a period in which enrollments for Black students steadily increases. While national programs aimed at recruitment exist, too little attention is focused on the environments and cultures that influence the attrition of racially minoritized groups. This study investigated the experiences of Black librarians at public, 2-year colleges in the U.S. to better understand how they navigate, cope, and succeed amongst the challenges of academic librarianship. The following question guided the study: what are the experiences of Black librarians at public, 2-year colleges? Methods: Using Critical Race Methodology’s composite counterstory (CCS) and through two, ninety-minute interviews with four narrators, the experiences of Black librarians were leveraged to construct and reconstruct the storied lives of Black librarians in community college libraries. Results: The findings show the hostile environments Black librarians encounter in their work as educators at community colleges. Across and within their stories, four themes were found: retaliation, derailment, gendered racism, and violence. The narrators reported their work is made difficult in these environments, often creating barriers to retention (profession), promotion (organization), professional acknowledgment, and success. Conclusions: Implications for practice and research suggest bold action to counter the cultures of white supremacy to include intersectional audits for the organization, changes in HR policies, training and practices, and an emphasis on cohort hiring from national organizations among other recommendations.

Three Variables in the Training of Famale Soccer Players: The Relationship between Psychological Skills, Mental Energy and Courage

This study investigated whether psychological skills played a mediating role between athletic mental energy and sports courage in training female soccer players. The study developed an original theoretical model, which was tested using the Sobel test. The sample consisted of 307 female soccer players from the women's soccer leagues of the 2021-2022 Turkish Football Federation. Data were collected using a sociodemographic characteristics questionnaire, the Soccer Psychological Skills Scale-16 (SPSS-16), the Sports Courage Scale-31 (SCS-31), and the Athletic Mental Energy Scale (AMES). Psychological skills affected athletic mental energy and courage positively. Athletic mental energy affected sports courage positively. Psychological skills played a mediating role between athletic mental energy and sports courage. The results confirmed the theoretical model. Authorities should encourage female soccer players to engage in bold actions and inform them about the significance of athletic mental energy and psychological skills. This study will pave the way for further research and contribute to the literatüre.

A STUDY ON AWARENESS OF CERVICAL CANCER AND SCREENING IN A PRIMARY HEALTH CENTRE IN RURAL CHENNAI

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cause of death worldwide especially among women in India. Certain studies says that among the women diagnosed with cervical cancer, around 75% of the women presents to hospital during the end stage which results in increased mortality and morbidity. Our study is prospective study regarding the awareness of cervical cancer and Pap smear among women who came to Rural PHC. In Chennai. The objectives of the study was to nd about the awareness of cervical cancer and screening among the patients. Based on the data collected, we came to know that most of women who came to OPD had very less knowledge regarding the Cervical cancer and screening. Huge burden of mortality related to cervical cancer is a consequence of decades of neglect by the global health care community. Clearing the path to cervical cancer elimination needs a bold strategic action, improved community awareness, rapidly expanded workforce capacity, strengthening the health system and introduction of affordable technology

Rigorous theory-based intervention research is the bold action needed to address oral health disparities and inequities.

The Consensus Statement about behavioral and social sciences in oral health encourages future research to draw on testable theories that specify causal pathways that reflect the complex nature of oral health. In this commentary, we amplify the importance of explicit and well-specified theory in oral health intervention research, acknowledging that problematic use of theory has limited its utility in developing effective public health interventions. Also, we affirm the need to focus on determinants of oral health-and health inequities-most likely to drive meaningful change, and to understand the causal pathways that connect drivers of change from the individual to the global level. We view theory-based, causal mechanisms research as a powerful approach to building successful public health interventions, and suggest resources to inspire such research, including exemplary studies, methodologies, and collaborative initiatives that facilitate strong theory-based public health research.

Review: Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand, by John Markoff

Review: <i>Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand</i>, by John Markoff

Planning for Future Is Critical to Protecting Our Profession and Americans’ Mental Health

Planning for Future Is Critical to Protecting Our Profession and Americans’ Mental Health

Arab Republic of Egypt

Egypt exhibited resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic shock following timely policy response supported by the 2020 Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) and 2020–21 Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). While performance under the SBA was strong, the immediate health crisis delayed efforts to re-invigorate much needed structural reforms while high public debt vulnerabilities continued to expose the country to changes in global financial conditions and investor sentiments. As economic recovery gained momentum during FY2021/22, imbalances also started building amidst a stabilized exchange rate. The outbreak of Russia’s war on Ukraine crystallized pre-existing pressures, giving way to capital outflows and large reserves losses while high commodity prices led to rising inflation. Trade spillovers have also been significant given Egypt’s dependence on Russia and Ukraine for wheat and tourism. In October, the authorities took bold policy actions to unwind prior policy distortions including a shift to a flexible exchange rate while taking measures to help shield the Egyptian population from a mounting cost-of-living crisis. But global uncertainty casts a long shadow on Egypt’s recovery and the longstanding need for advancing deep structural reforms to spur sustainable, inclusive, and job-rich growth remains.

Assessing climate action progress of the City of Toronto

The Canadian City of Toronto’s progress is evaluated for the implementation of its climate action plan, TransformTO, and its effectiveness in reducing sectoral emissions. Following a brief history of climate action in Toronto, the key climate policies and programs are subjected to a content analysis and assessed using an aggregate evaluation framework composed of qualitative indicators commonly used to track municipal climate action. The results of this assessment reveal that the city has made steady progress in reducing emissions, surpassing its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 30% reduction below 1990 levels. However, Toronto is not on track to meet its 2030 target of a 65% emissions reduction from 1990 levels. Without transformational action across all sectors, it is unlikely to meet the 2030 and 2040 targets. The results are intended to strengthen implementation and evaluation efforts in Toronto. The discussion will be of interest to decision-makers and practitioners who seek to accelerate implementation of municipal climate action plans. <em><strong>Policy relevance</strong></em> This paper is intended to support and strengthen the City of Toronto’s implementation of its climate action plan, TransformTO, and supporting Net Zero Strategies. Of potential relevance to policymakers in other Canadian cities is the role of ambitious top-down target-setting of the municipal organization and city at large for pursuing bold climate action, even in the face of significant constraints (e.g. provincial building code and energy grid, difficulties in accessing utilities energy use data). Policymakers may also draw insights from the Toronto context for leveraging staff and community commitment to climate action by involving them in planning and implementation of emissions reductions strategies. Useful recommendations are provided for overcoming modeling deficiencies and data limitations, while advancing transformative climate action through multi-sectoral partnerships, policies that support market transformation, the scale-up of low carbon programs and investments in low carbon infrastructure.

DECODING THE DNA OF SUSTAINABLE LEADERS

AbstractThe author details his project of interviewing fellow Chief Executive Officers/CEOs about one of today's most important topics, sustainability. How can executives lead their organizations to sustainability? This project began with “a career‐changing conversation I had at the World Economic Forum's Davos 2019 with Lise Kingo, then president of the United Nations Global Compact, and a pioneer of the “triple bottom line”—balancing economic, social and environmental priorities.” He notes that “in 2000, more than 10,000 companies including my own, Russell Reynolds Associates, pledged to help meet the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.” But nearly 20 years after that pledge was made, things seemed stalled. At the same time, some leaders seemed to be doing well. He and Kingo “developed a blueprint of Sustainable Leadership, which set out the specific mindset and skills business leaders would need to move the dial on sustainability—everything from having an almost instinctive understanding of the role their organization plays in society, to working hand‐in‐hand with stakeholders, and applying a disruptive mindset to everything they do.” He also describes “moonshotters,” leaders who “are ready to commit to bold action without even necessarily knowing what the exact solution is or how they will get there.”

THE ROLE OF UKRAINIAN SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES WITHIN THE WAR IN UKRAINE

: The analysis of Ukrainian special operations forces’ capabilities is an important endeavor in studying the development of the war from Ukraine – as a consequence of the Russian Army invasion, in February 24, 2022. The actions of the Ukrainian elite military forces contributed to the failure of the initial Russian military planners’ strategic aims. National Ukrainian Army initiated the preparations to defend against an invasion force of the Russian Federation Armed Forces of 200,000 militaries, grouped in tactical units around the Ukrainian borders. Special operations Ukrainian forces had the significant role of stopping Moscow’s objectives established at the beginning of the Russian invasion and of obtaining these remarkable results within the fights against the Russian army’s units; they stood out especially within the planned action of defeating the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. The role of Ukrainian special operations forces within the war in Ukraine consisted in bold actions behind the adversaries’ lines, resulting in destroying certain command points and in eliminating several important commanders from the command chain of the Russian Federation invasion forces. Ukrainian special operations forces engaged efficiently the fight with the Russian elite forces that landed in the neighborhood of Kyiv and also blocked the military actions that intending to get the control over certain strategic objectives. Interrupting the logistic flow of the Russian Armed Forces, destroying the Russian logistic centers from Ukrainian and Russian territory, as well as organizing resistance cells for guerrilla fight within the Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russians are among the successful missions of the Ukrainian special operations forces. The endeavor of the current article is to analyze the Ukrainian special operations force’ transformation process since 2014 – an evolution from a structure specific for the „Spetsnaz” and Soviet Union (U.R.S.S) to the current capabilities and modern endowment, driven upon a development &amp; training program, commonly developed with special forces units from NATO armies.

INTEGRATED ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT (IERM) FOR PENSION FUND ORGANISATIONS: FROM A TECHNOLOGY POINT OF VIEW

Any appraisal at this point must keep in mind that the epidemic is far from over and that the pandemic was economic and financial consequences has been considerably reduced due to the strong governmental efforts. Such event occurred in this digital era has shaped many financial institutions, including the pension funds, to take bold policy actions to overcome this issue in the future, as their role in protecting and managing people`s retirement savings is crucial and critical (Feher and Bidegain, 2020). A pension fund is also an institutional investor who invests substantial sums of money in public and private enterprises. The principal purpose of a pension fund is to ensure that there will be enough money to cover employees' pensions once they retire in the future. Proper Integrated Enterprise Risk Management (IERM) is needed to cater for ISO 31000: 2018 Risk Management Standard – Principles and Guidelines and ISO 27001:2013 Information technology — Security techniques — Information security management systems — Requirements. This paper attempts to highlight the key IT-related risk factors and IERM in the context of a pension fund in this digitalization and post Covid-19 era; among others is the enhancement of performance of the investment system, digital readiness, technology-related processes, and system integrity.

Operația Kerci-Eltigen în jurnalele de război ale marinei germane

"Almost in parallel with the withdrawal of the Axis troops from the Taman area in the Caucasus, the Soviets prepared a bold landing action on the Kerch peninsula in Crimea. The landings, carried out in two areas, south and north of the city of Kerch, were aimed at supporting the offensive from the north of the Sea of Azov and capturing Crimea. The present study focuses on the naval actions that took place predominantly in the area of the southern bridgehead, where the Axis naval forces were able to block the supply of enemy troops."