Good News Research Articles

“Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given”: Lukan Table Practices in the Faith Formation of Christian Communities

Luke’s Eucharistic pattern not only serves as a Christological marker, but formative pattern for Christian faith communities. In this article, I appeal to Luke’s Eucharistic pattern to advance the claim that hospitable Eucharistic table practices are not only consistent with Luke’s Christology but also form faith that is capable of confronting and dismantling psychological disgust responses to outsiders. This motif is expanded in Luke–Acts, where acts of table fellowship become the places where socio-moral barriers are transgressed, signaling the good news of the gospel, especially for Gentiles. Drawing from biblical scholarship as well as recent work in psychology, I will advance the claim that hospitable Eucharistic practices not only expose disgust psychology in the faith formation of persons but also act as a potential balm, forming persons according to the good news proclaimed in Luke–Acts.

‘Legion: life in the Roman Army’ The British Museum exhibition

At a time when the Parthenon Sculptures refuse to go away (in every sense of the phrase) and uncatalogued items were allegedly found to have been sold off by a member of staff, The British Museum needs some good news. There must have been sighs of relief all round when their new exhibition in the (itself often controversial: Puffett 2023) BP Gallery, Legion: life in the Roman Army, opened to almost universal press acclaim (e.g. Clark 2024; Jones 2024); it runs from 1 February to 23 June 2024. However, some (perfectly valid) observations in her blog by a scholar qualified in the field triggered a ‘woke alarm’ in some less-qualified quarters (McGrath 2024). It was always likely to be a crowd pleaser, with something for every “exercitologist” (Bishop 2014: 24), whether amateur or professional. For those visitors who had cut their Roman military teeth on Graham Webster's seminal Roman Imperial Army (Webster 1969, 1979, 1985), it was going to have its work cut out to satisfy.

The Canadian AIDA and the EU AI Act: Will Sanity Prevail as they more closely align? – Part 1

Abstract On June 16, 2022, the Canadian government introduced Bill C- 27, sponsored by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, to update Canada’s federal privacy legal landscape. As earthshaking as that legislation was to the privacy regime in Canada, the impact of Bill C-27 was not limited to privacy regulation. Notably, Bill C-27 also introduced the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (“AIDA”), which aims to introduce regulations in Canada regarding the design, development, and use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) systems. As we have previously written, while the AIDA is Canada’s first potential law aimed explicitly at regulating AI, it is in many cases influenced by the European Union’s then-proposed Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (the “EU AI Act”) introduced on April 21, 2021. Time has since elapsed, and now AIDA - with the November 2023 introduction of new proposed (and substantive) amendments - and the July 2024 publication of the final EU Council-approved EU AI Act, have become increasingly aligned: good news for organizations in the AI industry. There do, however, continue to exist differences between the two items of legislation which can present traps for the unwary.

Good News for You is Good News for Me: The Effect of Coworker Disclosure on Employee Vitality

Good News for You is Good News for Me: The Effect of Coworker Disclosure on Employee Vitality

Global equity, commodities and bond market response to Israel-Hamas war

This study used event study methodology to examine the impact of Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel in global equity, commodities, and bond markets. The results show that negative abnormal returns in global equity markets are limited to the Middle East region. The major world economies - China, Europe and the US, present insignificant abnormal returns. The increase in geopolitical risk, however, brings good news for commodities and bonds that observe significant positive abnormal returns with the intensification of the conflict. This result means that bonds and commodities are a hedge against stocks on average and a safe haven against conflict risk.

Juridical Review of Government Regulation 40 of 2019 Regarding the Marriage of Believers in Indonesia

Marriage registration for religious beliefs in Indonesia has been recognized by the state, whereas previously there was no recognition from the state and there was no legal certainty for adherents of this religious belief. The recognition of the religious beliefs that exist in Indonesia as beliefs and religions is good news for all believers in Indonesia, where the condition is that adherents of these beliefs have registered with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology. This is as regulated in PP Number 40 of 2019 concerning Population Administration, where this regulation regulates all forms of administration and procedures for registering marriages for believers. This research uses a normative legal approach method. In this research, library data collection techniques (library research). The results of research on the Juridical Review of PP 40 of 2019 on the Marriages of Believers in Indonesia show that the registration of marriages for adherents of this religion is contained in Government Regulation Number 40 of 2019 concerning population administration, in this Government Regulation regulates marriage procedures for adherents of the faith who wish to those carrying out a marriage can register their marriage at the government's public service agency, namely at the Regency/City Population and Civil Registration Service where the prospective couple is domiciled. The legal obstacles that arise in registering marriages of believers in Indonesia make the implementation of PP Number 40 of 2019 still ineffective due to the lack of religious leaders who have a decree to marry prospective couples who want to get married, so difficulties will arise in the process of registering marriages at the Population Service Office. and Civil Registration if it is slow or impossible to issue a Letter of Blessing for a Faithful Couple who has entered into a Marriage.

Between Exchange Rate Returns and Crude Oil Returns in Oil-Importing Countries

Fluctuations in the financial markets stem from the reactions of investors to both market activities and more wide-ranging macroeconomic indices. This research examines the interconnectivity between returns on exchange rates and crude oil prices for ten oil-importing countries. Quarterly data spanning the period from 2000Q1 to 2022Q4 was used in the estimation. Returns had to be calculated from raw data, which were exchange rates and crude oil prices. The research methodologies include quantile regression and VAR-GARCH estimations. The study revealed a long-term association between crude oil market returns and foreign exchange markets, with currency fluctuations negatively impacting crude oil returns. The spill-over effect from the currency market to the oil market is weaker than the transmission effect from the oil market to the currency market of oil-importing countries. In particular, it was empirically established that shocks from past volatility in the currency markets of countries that import oil had commensurately lower volatility in the oil market by 6 percent. Whereas, the spillover from the crude oil market to the currency market depicts that increased turbulence on the crude oil market in the current period stimulated 55.66 percent amplified volatility in the currency market for oil-importing nations. Oil returns had a volatility persistence value of 0.1255, ratifying the weak volatility persistence of oil returns. The size of the volatility persistence of exchange rate returns is 0.997, an indication of high volatility persistence for currency returns. The study found the absence of leverage effects for currency values given a positive coefficient with a magnitude of 0.8529. In other words, bad news does not cause higher turbulence in exchange rate returns than good news will. For crude oil returns, the size of the leverage effects term is -0.0529, which is negative and significant (p<.05), implying that bad news in oil-importing economies has asymmetric impacts on the volatility of returns on crude oil prices. In effect, the oil price returns react more strongly to bad news than these returns react to good news. The findings of the study underscore the intricate relationships between local currencies and energy prices within the context of a global financial market, highlighting the significance of understanding these dynamics for effective decision-making and risk management in an increasingly interconnected world. It was recommended, among others, that international collaboration amongst countries is crucial given the global nature of energy markets.

Spotlight on nurses' smoking prevalence and addiction in Istanbul, Türkiye, the leading country in the implementation of WHO MPOWER policies

ObjectiveTürkiye is the leading country that has been applying the MPOWER criteria of the World Health Organization for years. However, the prevalence of smoking among nurses appears to be high, according to the literature. Therefore, we aimed to determine the prevalence, addiction levels, and dynamics of tobacco smoking among nurses in Türkiye.MethodIn this descriptive cross-sectional study, a questionnaire (prepared in cooperation with the “World Health Organization”) and the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence were administered to 529 nurses working at a tertiary-care university hospital in 2020. Logistic regression was performed to determine factors predicting smoking.ResultsThe prevalence of smoking among nurses was 32.7% (n = 173). The mean Fagerström test score indicated a "low dependence" level (score: 3 ± 2.6). Both results were higher for males. A relationship was found between trying smoking cigarette and hookah. Of the “current smokers” group, 102 (60.4%) stated that they wanted to quit smoking. Only 21 (27.6%) of the nurses who have tried to quit smoking thus far have received professional help.ConclusionThe prevalence of smoking among nurses working at a tertiary-care university hospital was relatively low compared to that among nurses in Türkiye. While females are normally expected to smoke less, the high prevalence of smoking among nurses (most of them female) raises the question of the professional basis of this situation. However, the low rate of receiving professional help reveals the lack of promotion and accessibility of smoking cessation outpatient clinics in the faculty environment. Finally, the perception that hookah is an alternative tobacco product leads to cigarette smoking. The good news was that nurses had a low dependency rate.

Recovering from geopolitical risk: An event study of Huawei's semiconductor supply chain

Amidst the ongoing globalisation of supply chains, geopolitical issues have emerged as a significant source of supply chain risk for firms. This has recently been illustrated in the trade sanctions adopted by the US against the Chinese semiconductor industry, particularly in the accessing of semiconductor chips. A notable event here, that we focus on in this paper, involves how the leading telecommunications company Huawei has been impacted by this and most interestingly how they have been able to respond, by being able to successfully launch new chip-based products during the US semiconductor chip technology blockade, despite the sanctions ban. This has been achieved with the support of key supplier, SMIC, who has become a major 7 nm chip supplier for Huawei. Employing the event study research method, this study initially examines the stock market's response to Huawei's new product release with these new SMIC-sourced semiconductor chips. It also appraises the propagation effects on Huawei's and SMIC's supply chain partners. This exposes the differential impact on the supply chain members of Huawei (focal firm) and SMIC (main supplier). The results reveal predominantly positive responses from Huawei's suppliers and customers, as well as SMIC's suppliers and customers, to these incidents, with Huawei's suppliers' and SMIC's suppliers' and customers' share prices responding positively to the release of Huawei's new product, exhibiting substantial median stock market reaction of 1.53%, 1.62%, and 2.52% on Day 0, respectively, it shows, in contrast, that Huawei's customers did not exhibit a positive share price reaction to the development of this newly sourced product. It is noteworthy that SMIC's supply of chips to Huawei has had a significantly positive impact on both Huawei and SMIC's suppliers and customers. With the impact varying across different roles within the supply chains, this study provides useful insights for understanding the propagation effect of good news in the supply chain resulting from firms' proactive action in response to imposed sanctions for a key supply component.

Information Ambiguity, Market Institutions, and Asset Prices: Experimental Evidence

We explore how information ambiguity and traders’ attitudes toward such ambiguity affect expectations and asset prices under three different market institutions. Specifically, we test a theoretical prediction that information ambiguity will lead market prices to overreact to bad news and underreact to good news. We find that such an asymmetric reaction exists and is strongest in individual prediction markets. It occurs to a lesser extent in single price call markets. It is weakest of all in double auction markets, in which buyers’ asymmetric reaction to good/bad news is cancelled out by the opposite asymmetric reaction of sellers. This paper was accepted by Camelia Kuhnen, finance. Funding: Financial support from a Tier 1 Grant from MOE of Singapore [Grant RG 69/19], NTU-WeBank JRC [Grant NWJ-2020-003], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 72303170, 72141304], and the National Key Research and Development Program of China [Grant 2022YFC3303304] is gratefully acknowledged. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.01223 .

Good news urban tourism researchers! 19 ways to enhance the usefulness of your observational video analysis research

PurposeThe present article encourages urban tourism researchers use pre-recorded (like YouTube, TikTok and security camera footage) and self-recorded video data in research. The author highlighted the benefits of doing so for urban tourism scholars, as well as ways in which these investigators can use the observational video analysis technique to produce convincing findings and advance their field.Design/methodology/approachTo accomplish the purpose, the author reviewed 25 scholarly articles on the topic from several fields.FindingsOne benefit of observational video analysis research (OVAR), the author highlighted, was the ability of scholars in different locations to simultaneously observe interactions, the focus of the study, in their natural setting and discuss them. This practice is not possible with traditional ethnographic research. Also, one way the author mentioned researchers can accomplish rigor in their OVAR project is through multimodal transcription. With multimodal transcription, verbal and non-verbal happenings in videos are transliterated and later analyzed.Research limitations/implicationsIt is hoped because of the present article, increased use of the technique in urban tourism research will be seen.Originality/valueThe present article is the first, to the best of the author’s knowledge, to detail how rigor can be accomplished in OVAR in urban tourism.

Do successive performance matter for tone management? Evidence from China

ABSTRACT This paper investigates whether managers deliberately adjust the tone of their non-financial disclosure depending on their firm performance over multiple periods. Using 13,995 firm-year MD&As (Management Discussion and Analysis) in annual reports of companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2009 to 2019, we first observe a bias towards good news disclosure by managers in their MD&A section. More importantly, we find that this asymmetric tone management is more pronounced when a firm’s performance declines consecutively. In cross-sectional tests, we provide evidence that the relationship between asymmetric tone management and successive performance is weaker for firms with state ownership and those with a high marketability index. We suggest that in non-U.S. markets, such as China, asymmetric tone management is more likely to reflect the opportunistic behaviour of managers. Overall, our study sheds new light on tone management in emerging markets and highlights the importance of a multi-period relation in understanding managers’ tone management behaviour.

How do stock markets react to dividend announcements during the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from the GCC markets

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how stock markets responded to corporate dividend policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Likewise, it explores how efficiently market prices incorporate the news by examining the speed of stock price adjustment to various dividend announcements.Design/methodology/approachThe sample includes 741 dividend announcements from 2017 to 2021 made by 326 firms listed in the stock markets of the GCC countries. A series of regression analyses examine how dividend announcements influence the market reaction during the COVID-19 pandemic, controlling for other well-documented firm characteristics.FindingsThis study reveals an adverse stock price reaction to all the dividend announcements in most GCC markets. The findings also show strong asymmetric effects of COVID-19 on how the markets react to different dividend changes. Likewise, the authors show that investors tend to underreact to the good news of dividend increases amid hard times of crises due to prevailing uncertainty and bearish sentiment. Besides, regression results reveal that firms with dividend reductions during the pandemic experience less adverse market reactions than dividend-decreasing firms prepandemic.Practical implicationsFor firms, the findings confirm the role that corporate dividend policy can play in conveying signals to investors, especially during hard times of crises and turbulences, thereby affecting their share price. For policymakers, the results substantially affect market efficiency and firm valuation in the GCC markets.Originality/valueThis study is not only one of the first few attempts to scrutinize how the pandemic has affected the market reaction to changes in corporate dividend policies but also, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first to examine how corporate dividend policy could affect stock markets during COVID-19 in the context of GCC markets.

Analyst forecast revision consistency and reversal: Evidence of stock market efficiency

AbstractThis study reexamines the information content and market price discovery associated with individual analysts' earnings forecast revisions. We refine the definition of high‐innovation revisions as high‐innovation consistent forecast revisions and high‐innovation reversal forecast revisions. Cross‐sectional analysis shows that high‐innovation reversal good (bad) news revisions, although having larger forecast changes, cause fewer upward (downward) post‐revision price shifts than high‐innovation consistent good (bad) news revisions. We also find that the market can distinguish which group of analysts provides more useful information about firms’ true value, but it takes some time for the market to digest this useful information.

Water and war

ABSTRACT Water has been a factor in wars and other violent conflicts for thousands of years. Water can be a trigger of conflict, a casualty of conflict, or a weapon of conflict. In modern times, water-related conflicts appear to be increasing in number, with many of these occurring at the sub-state level, such as between opposing militant groups or between groups with different ethnic and cultural heritages. Action to prevent, mitigate, and recover from these conflicts is possible and available, but insufficiently applied. Investments in the broader effort to create more equitable, sustainable, resilient societies are urgently needed. The good news is that we no longer lack the technological capability to create that world, and action at all levels of society, from the local to the global, will help to foster peace and sustain and protect water resources for everyone.

P-416 Good and bad news regarding low luteal-phase progesterone during natural cycle frozen embryo transfer: it’s rare, but rescue-therapy may not be enough to fix it

Abstract Study question Do low circulating luteal-phase progesterone levels during natural cycle frozen embryo transfer (NC-FET) affect live birth rates (LBR) and can rescue-therapy advert possible detrimental outcomes? Summary answer Low luteal-phase progesterone occurred in only approximately 3% of all FETs. However, when it occurred, LBR were lower despite the use of additional rescue-strategy. What is known already Low serum progesterone on the day of FET is known to be associated with a reduction in pregnancy rates and rescue-therapy (i.e. the increase and/or change in the route of administration of exogenous progesterone) has been shown to be useful in reducing its potential hindering effects. However, these findings are mostly limited to studies assessing artificial FET cycles. Following NC-FET, the data is not only scarce but also less clear regarding both the incidence of such low circulating levels and whether rescue-therapy may be useful in such cases or not. Study design, size, duration A total of 2292 patients (32.5% did an IVF with egg donation and 10,4% did an IVF with PGT-a) who underwent a NC-FET at blastocyst stage in a single infertility center between 2014 and 2021 were included in this retrospective cohort study. The cycles were subdivided into three groups of progesterone levels the day of FET: <10ng/ml, 10-20ng/ml and >20ng/ml. The primary outcome was LBR, with secondary outcomes including miscarriage and neonatal outcomes. Participants/materials, setting, methods Patients underwent endometrial preparation in either a true, modified or natural proliferative phase (NPP) NC-FET. Luteal-phase support was routinely provided using micronized vaginal progesterone. Rescue intramuscular progesterone was systematically administered whenever low midluteal progesterone (below 1 standard deviation of the center’s mean) levels were detected. Maternal age and body mass index (BMI), year of treatment, ovarian response, endometrial thickness, cause of infertility and embryo quality were controlled by means of a multivariable logistic regression. Main results and the role of chance The mean age (± standard deviation) of patients was 38.3±4.5 years, while mean weight and BMI were 62.6±10.7 kg and 23.3±3.7kg/m2, respectively. Only 72 (3.1%) cycles had FET day circulating progesterone below 10 ng/mL, while 1084 (47.3%) and 1136 (49.6%) had 10-20 ng/mL and >20 ng/mL, respectively. The unadjusted LBRs in the subgroup with progesterone <10ng/ml, 10-20ng/ml and >20ng/ml were, respectively, 43.5%, 52.7% and 49.6%, differences that were not statistically significant in this non-adjusted analysis (p = 0.151). However, following confounder adjustment using multivariable logistic regression, progesterone <10ng/ml was associated with a lower LBR (adjusted odds-ratio 0.568; 95% confidence interval 0.330-0.977), a finding that occurred despite the aforementioned use of rescue progesterone therapy in this subgroup. The miscarriage rate, in the <10ng/ml subgroup was higher (26.1%), but without statistically significance, comparing to other subgroups (19% and 20.5% respectively). Limitations, reasons for caution This study is limited by its retrospective design. Moreover, as different NC-FET protocols were included, further research should be performed to assess whether this effects differs according to each protocol. Also the number of embryos transfered varied also affecting the final conclusion. Wider implications of the findings This study raises the hypothesis that low midluteal progesterone may be rare in NC-FETs. However, to our knowledge, it is also the first to posit that rescue-therapy may be insufficient to restore adequate endometrial function. Further research should assess eventual pathophysiological differences between artificial and NCs to justify such findings. Trial registration number not applicable

O-123 Trends and challenges in the practice of ART in China

Abstract China is a large country with a population of over 1.4 billion. In 1988, the first in-vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) baby was born in Peking University Third Hospital. In the following 3 decades, assisted reproductive technology (ART) has developed rapidly in China, and the availability and accessibility of the ART service have improved markedly. In 2004 totally, only 37 institutions had passed the administrative licensing procedure to carry out ART. While in 2020, 536 institutions obtained the ART license. Since 2016, the total number of ART service cycles(Artificial insemination included)has exceeded 1 million, and the number of babies born has exceeded 300,000, accounting for about 2% of the total live births in China in 2016. At present, assisted reproductive technology has become one of the important medical interventions for the treatment of infertility in China, which has brought good news to infertile couples and their families, and has made great contributions to social harmony and family happiness. Cycles per million population (C/M) in 2009 was 120. In 2020, it has increased to 668, with more and more infertile couples having access to this technique in China. The success rate of assisted reproductive technology remained stable. In 2020, the clinical pregnancy rates (CPR)of conventional IVF and ICSI fresh embryo transfer cycles reached 52.4% and 49.4%, respectively, and the live birth rates were 43.0% and 40.6%, respectively. The clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate of frozen-thawed embryo cycle were 51.3% and 40.5% per transfer. With the widespread application of embryo freezing technology, the cumulative live birth rate was estimated to reach 49.5% (CLBR estimate) in 2020. The safety monitoring indicators of assisted reproductive technology showed that since 2015, the multiple pregnancy rates of conventional IVF, ICSI and FET have decreased year by year, and have dropped to 22.4%, 21.4% and 17.6% in 2020, respectively. The incidence of moderate-severe ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS) and severe bleeding were also under control, within a reasonable range. Assisted reproductive technology, which involves many medical, social, ethical and legal issues, is a special clinical technology with limit application for medical indication. The Chinese government attaches great importance to the quality and safety management of assisted reproductive technology. A series of management documents such as the Administrative Measures for Human Assisted Reproductive Technology, the Regulations for Human Assisted Reproductive Technology and so forth, have been issued since 2001. Further improvement of key performance indicators (KPIs) correlated with ART quality and safety control is of the top priority and also challenging. In addition, the ART surveillance data in China is still aggregated data, which does not include important indicators such as age stratification, infertile factors or indications and delivery gestational age, maternal and infant outcomes, with some limitations for surveillance. Continuous improvement of data quality, and initiation of cycle-based data collection and security measures of case information are also challenging for the next step.

Gold characteristics as safe haven and assets diversification for Sharia stocks in Indonesia

Purpose This study aims to determine the role of gold as a safe haven, hedge and asset diversification for Shariah stock in conditions of extreme stock market declines. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative approach is used by applying the threshold generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (TGARCH) model to capture bad or good news in the market condition and quantile regression method to obtain the extreme values of stock returns in several market conditions. The data used were the daily closing price of gold and the Jakarta Islamic Index from January 2011 to October 2022. Findings The average conditions show gold does not have a hedge property and only acts as an asset diversification. Second, gold has a substantial, safe haven property in every economic condition. However, the safe-haven property of gold seemed to weaken during the most extreme stock market decline. Thus, although gold appears as a safe haven and asset diversification, it remains a risky investment and only provides a minor role in the face of the extreme stock market period. Practical implications This research provides a discourse and literature for Islamic investors and investor managers to choose the right investment instrument in various economic conditions where gold has a function as diversification and safe haven in their asset portfolio under any other asset portfolio conditions which is also in line with modern portfolio theory. For policymakers, the study can be used as material for consideration in making policies related to the accessibility of gold as an investment instrument. Originality/value This study presents the originality by using the price of Antam gold as a proxy for gold investment during the latest research year data and focusing on case studies in Islamic capital market in Indonesia. Moreover, this research provides quantile regression that sharply discussion in various economics condition.

Short selling and the pricing of PIN information risk

We present evidence that the pricing of the probability of informed trading (PIN) information risk varies substantially with stocks’ short selling environment. For lightly shorted stocks, their risk-adjusted returns (alphas) increase reliably with both the good news (PIN_G) and bad news (PIN_B) components of their PIN. The positive PIN-alpha relations decline and then disappear as stocks’ shorting activity increases. Our findings are consistently evident with shorting-interest, shorting-flow, and the probability of informed shorting, and are more prominent for smaller-cap stocks. Our findings support theories where asymmetric information with imperfectly competitive markets can impact stocks’ cost of equity.

Shared analyst coverage, 52-week high, and cross-firm return predictability

In this study, we show that the return predictability of analyst-connected firms is positively correlated with nearness to 52-week high stock prices. Our results are robust to tax loss selling and penny stocks and when controlling for market factors and macroeconomic conditions. The impact of the 52-week high on the analyst-connected momentum effect is stronger among focal stocks of smaller firms, those with lower institutional ownership, and those with less analyst coverage. Moreover, the greater the number of shared analysts, the stronger the relationship between firm fundamentals, resulting in stronger return predictability. When both focal and analyst-connected firms have stock prices near (far from) their 52-week highs, there is a stronger underreaction to good (bad) news about analyst-connected firms.