National Calamity Research Articles

Historical Origin and Evolution of Late-Joseon Perceptions on the Miraculous Perspiration of Buddhist Statues

This paper analyses historical documents from ancient China through to Korea’s Chosŏn Dynasty, seeking to understand why the <i>Veritable Records of the Chosŏn Dynasty</i> predominantly documented instances of perspiration in Buddhist statues, often overlooking other types of miraculous phenomena associated with them. In China, records documenting the perspiration of Buddhist statues have existed since at least the 7th century. The perspiration of these statues was commonly regarded as a significant omen, foretelling calamities such as wars and the downfall of dynasties. A similar perception of sweating in Buddhist statues was evident during the late Koryŏ period, as corroborated by a poem from Yi Saek 李穡 (1328-1396), featured in <i>Mokŭn chip</i> 牧 隱集, as well as by Yi Kyubo’s 李奎報 (1168-1241) “Organized Miracle Records of the Sixteenfoot Golden Statue at Wangryunsa” (王輪寺丈六金像靈驗收拾記). Given that Buddhism was the state ideology of the Koryŏ dynasty, Buddhist statues known for perspiration were venerated as state-protection statues, serving as early harbingers of impending calamities for the country. With the change of dynasty and the adoption of Confucianism as the political ideology during the Chosŏn period, the perspiration of Buddhist statues began to be perceived as chaei 災異, or a portent, signifying improper governance by the ruler. However, the transition in perception from a Buddhist miracle to a Confucian portent was not smooth, leading to debates among court officials who advanced conflicting arguments on how to respond to reports of perspiring Buddha statues. Nonetheless, since portents in the Confucian worldview were considered important clues to understanding the movement of <i>ch’ŏnmyŏng</i> 天命, or the Mandate of Heaven, a considerable number of reports on perspiring Buddhist statues were included in the <i>Veritable Records of the Chosŏn Dynasty</i> until the early 18<sup>th</sup> century. The notion that the perspiration of a Buddhist statue predicts national calamities continues in modern and contemporary Korea, as evidenced by Yi Nŭnghwa’s <i>Chosŏn Pulgyo t’ongsa</i> and various news reports.

Treatment or Prevention? the matter of Priority in the Anti-tuberculosis Movement at the Turn of the 20th Century France.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze discussions on the matter of priority in treatment and prevention that took place in the medical community, the government and social hygiene associations to tuberculosis referred to as one of the national calamity in France at the turn of the 20th century. In other words, it is to show that treatment and prevention have complementary properties in France's anti-tuberculosis movement, considering the discussions on which institutions should preferably be expanded - between the Sanatorium that values medical treatment and the anti-tuberculosis dispensary that values social prevention. Tuberculosis, which is known to have existed from the ancient times, spread to the era of industrialization and urbanization, resulting in a large loss of lives in the second half of the 19th century following cholera in the first half of the century. Starting in Germany in the middle of this century, Sanatorium established a treatment for tuberculosis patients with air therapy, proper exercise or rest, and diet. In France, a public Sanatorium was built for the lower class, not like a luxury resort style Sanatorium for the wealthy class, from the 1890s. The spread was slow, however, due to financial problems. In the 1900s, anti-tuberculosis dispensary as a health center were increasingly built in working class quarters. The debate over whether to support the sanatorium or the dispensary was ignited at first, but since the mid-to-late 1900s, the two institutions' roles, namely, medical treatment and social prevention, have been recognized as complementary. The Anti-tuberculosis dispensary Act of 1916 and the Sanatorium Act of 1919 systematically supported the complementary relationship between treatment and prevention in fighting against tuberculosis.

The impact of teleworking in psychologists during COVID-19: Burnout, depression, anxiety, and stress.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has forced mental health professionals to adapt quickly. The pandemic has created multiple new tasks for the psychologist. In addition to the various stressors closely linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists were forced to make their services more flexible. Teleworking was a way of continuing to work.ObjectiveThis study aimed to identify the impact of working pattern on the levels of burnout, depression, anxiety, and stress.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study based on an online questionnaire applied to eighty-three Portuguese psychologists. Data were collected from May 9 to June 8, 2020, a period comprising the declaration of a national calamity and then state of emergency, and the subsequent ease of lockdown measures. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory Scale and Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale were used. Univariate multiple linear regression models were estimated for each mental health outcome.ResultsSignificant differences were found between psychologists working in the workplace and in teleworking at the personal burnout, work-related burnout, client-related burnout, depression, and stress. In multiple linear regression, teleworking, not working, and being unmarried was significantly associated with higher levels of depression. Teleworking was significantly associated with higher stress scores and client-related and work burnout.ConclusionsThis exceptional time of sudden, mandatory, and high-intensity teleworking, required rapid adaptation, giving rise to new stressors that might have been responsible for burnout levels in psychologists.

Finance Commissions and Disaster Risk Funding: A Paradigm Shift in Methodology by Fifteenth Finance Commission

Disaster risk financing has been in practice since the Second Finance Commission in the form of a Margin Money Scheme. Later, it was replaced with a Calamity Relief Fund and a National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF)/National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). These funds were based on expenditure-based funding, from which a state is provided relief funds based on its past expenditure. There have been a lot of discrepancies as states like Uttarakhand, with high hazard risk vulnerability, received ₹1,158 crore, and Haryana, comparatively a less hazard risk vulnerability state, received ₹1,699 crore for 2015–2020 from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). States and other agencies like National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) have been demanding, for replacing this expenditure-based funding with a state-specific hazard/disaster risk vulnerability for a long time. The Fifteenth Finance Commission addressed this long-standing demand by incorporating an innovative methodology for disaster risk funding. It made a slight departure from the past method and included area, population and disaster risk index for calculating a state’s share in disaster risk funding. This article analytically examines the past and present methodologies of disaster risk funding by applying quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Predicting resilience determinants to counter farmers’ suicide in National Calamity devastated area of India: A binary logistic regression analysis

Predicting resilience determinants to counter farmers’ suicide in National Calamity devastated area of India: A binary logistic regression analysis

PUBLIC POLICIES, PANDEMIC AND CORRUPTION: THE “VACUNAGATE” CASE IN PERU

In the period from March to October 2021, the presidency of the Republic of Peru under Martín Vizcarra Cornejo had developed a series of public policies that sought to address the Covid-19 pandemic, including a process that involved the search and acquisition of vaccines against the virus that had left the country in a situation of national calamity. Upon leaving the government, preliminary inquiries had determined that the negotiation and acquisition of vaccines involved a series of acts that could generate an alleged commission of crimes, until it was certified that the vaccine inoculation process had been carried out on characters of the direction of government and people linked to the scope of the presidency of the country. As a result of this situation, the situation in Peru is analyzed in a text developed under a qualitative hermeneutical methodology, analyzing the negative impact of the alleged crimes committed during the development of public policy that sought to address the pandemic. , as a study problem. The proposed objective is the evaluation of the constitutional and criminal responsibilities and the formulation of a reform of the State policy in Peru for the attention of emergencies in a state of exception is proposed as a hypothesis.

Segmenting anti-Muslim sentiment in Australia: Insights for the diverse project of countering Islamophobia

Islamophobia is a global issue. Our nationwide survey of Australians, undertaken in 2015 and 2016, reveals the extent of this national calamity in Australia. But Islamophobia is not universal in its manifestation. Latent Class Analysis was used to develop a typology of Islamophobia in Australia. The results place Australians in four classes based on their perception of Islam: Islamophobes (13% of the population); those who are unsure about diversity and have some concerns about Muslims (24%), those with progressive attitudes about diversity but with concerns about Muslims (50%); and progressives who have no concerns about Muslims (13%). We offer a conceptual challenge to those who assert that there is a singular, legitimate approach to challenging Islamophobia. Our analysis offers a pragmatic enablement of the diverse work of those anti-racist practitioners who undertake the day-to-day work of challenging Islamophobia in our schools, workplaces, community and recreation venues.

Physician Burnout in Primary Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Portugal.

BackgroundPrimary care physicians have been present on the frontline during the ongoing pandemic, adding new tasks to already high workloads. Our aim was to evaluate burnout in primary care physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as associated contributing factors.MethodsCross-sectional study with an online questionnaire disseminated through social media, applying the snowball technique. The target population was primary care physicians working in Portugal during the first outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to sociodemographic data, the questionnaire collected responses to the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), the Resilience Scale and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21). Data were collected from May 9 to June 8, 2020, a period comprising the declaration of a national calamity and then state of emergency, and the subsequent ease of lockdown measures. Levels of burnout in 3 different dimensions (personal, work, and patient-related), resilience, stress, depression, and anxiety were assessed. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with burnout levels.ResultsAmong the 214 physician respondents, burnout levels were high in the 3 dimensions. A strong association was found between gender, years of professional experience, depression and anxiety, and burnout levels.ConclusionsPhysician burnout in primary care is high and has increased during the pandemic. More studies are needed in the long term to provide a comprehensive assessment of COVID-19’simpact on burnout levels and how to best approach and mitigate it during such unprecedented times.

Joaquín Dicenta: «una calamidad nacional»

Joaquín Dicenta fue un autor muy polémico en su momento. Su controvertida fama provocó que algunos coetáneos le consideraran como «una calamidad nacional». A partir de las razones para justificar esta caracterización, el artículo repasa su trayectoria y establece las dificultades para incorporar a Joaquín Dicente al actual canon literario.

Unsafety and Unions in Singapore’s state-led industrialization, 1965–1994

ABSTRACT Industrial hazards are a neglected part of the history of Singapore’s successful industrialization since independence in 1965. Our paper investigates risk in the competitive shipbuilding and repair industry across three decades and four serious accidents in the industry. The risk was determined by a group of factors: the political economy of the state-led industrialization program, the nature of work within the industry, the degree of supervision by safety officers and subcontractors; and the characteristics of the workforce, including the foreign workers. However, the key element was the Singapore state, which took a leading role in both the tripartite system of industrial relations and the industrial safety regime. The state and management shared the view that industrial development was crucial to Singapore’s survival. With the emphasis on productivity and the framing of industrial failure as a national calamity, unions and workers had little say in objecting to perilous work or proposing suitable remedies. While the government instituted numerous efforts to address occupational hazards, many failed to translate to the vessel and the factory floor.

“The Heart of this People is in its right place”: The American Press and Private Charity in the United States during the Irish Famine

The potato blight that struck Ireland in 1845 led to ineffable suffering that sent shockwaves throughout the Anglosphere. The Irish Famine is deemed to be the first national calamity to attract extensive help and support from all around the world. Even though the Irish did not receive adequate support from the British government, their ordeal was mitigated by private charity. Without the donations from a great number of individuals, the death toll among the famished Irishmen and Irishwomen would have been definitely higher. The greatest and most generous amount of assistance came from the United States. In spite of the fact that the U.S. Congress did not decide to earmark any money for the support of famine-stricken Ireland, the horrors taking place in this part of the British Empire pulled at American citizens’ heartstrings and they contributed munificently to the help of the Irish people. Aiding Ireland was embraced by the American press, which, unlike major British newspapers, lauded private efforts to bring succour to the Irish. Such American newspapers as the Daily National Intelligencer, the New York Herald and the Liberator encouraged their readers to contribute to the relief of Ireland and applauded efforts to help the Irish. The aim of this essay is to argue that the American press, in general, played a significant role in encouraging private charity in the United States towards the Irish at the time of An Gorta Mór and, thus, helped to save many lives.

Enhancing Electric Grid, Critical Infrastructure, and Societal Resilience with Resilient Nuclear Power Plants (rNPPs)

This paper, the fourth in a series, presents the results of a study conducted to explore the role current U.S. commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) play and the role a new type of NPP—a resilient nuclear power plant (rNPP)—could play in enhancing U.S. electric Grid, Critical Infrastructure, and societal resilience. A rNPP is a NPP intentionally designed, sited, interfaced, and operated in a manner to enhance Grid resilience. Four specific rNPP applications are discussed: (1) rNPPs as “flexible operations” electricity generation assets, (2) rNPPs as anchors of nuclear hybrid energy systems, (3) rNPPs as Grid Black Start Resources, and (4) rNPPs as anchors of Resilient Critical Infrastructure Islands. These four applications, individually and collectively, could enhance U.S. Grid, Critical Infrastructure, and societal resilience during normal conditions and in the wake of major national calamities stemming from natural hazards and/or malevolent human actions. rNPPs would be both tactical and strategic resilience assets, thereby extending the value proposition of nuclear energy well beyond that associated with nuclear power’s traditional baseload electricity generation. These are important topics as society grows increasingly dependent on electricity, and the natural hazard and malevolent human threat portfolio to the Grid continues to evolve.

Push and Pull factors of migration amongst livestock rearers distressed by national calamity in India: A Polytomous Universal Model analysis

An endeavor was made to figure out push and pull factors of migration amongst livestock rearers distressed by national calamity in India. Reckoning ordinal response of 160 respondents; 86, 38 and 36 respondents were classified as not-adopter, partially adopter and fully adopter of migration, respectively; subsequently coding it into 0, 1 and 2 for the final Polytomous Universal Model (PLUM). Triangulation of different tests was done to justify aptness of PLUM. Predictor variables viz. age, income, livestock-holding [odds ratio (OR), 0.638; 99% CI of Estimate (E) =-.799 to -.101] and skilled work was statistically significant at 1% level but age and livestock-holding was found to be negatively significant. However, remaining 2 explanatory variables viz. expectation level and land holdings increased the probability for migration among farmers. Major push factor of migration was non-availability ofwork during agricultural lean season and pull factor was expectation of higher income. This plausibly signifies that, if curbing migration from rural to urban region is a policy agenda of government, variables identified through PLUM, viz. age, income, livestock-holding and skilled work should be given due consideration. The researchers conclude that the identified predictive variables could become cornerstone for migratory research work among livestock rearers, as such an investigation is scarce in India and worldwide.

Lightning Risk: An Under-Valued Disaster?

<div><p><em>Lightning is a very common natural phenomenon which primarily solicits little attention. In this climate – allied innate localized activity, high electric charges are generated which cause disastrous outcomes, both physically and economically. Many lives are burnt and severe losses are suffered due to this natural disaster. But, it is often doubted that the deaths and economic losses due to lightening are under reported. Many reasons are cited as difficult in getting authentic figures, inadequacy of the government rules in the reporting areas etc. Disaster relief is also outside the sphere of such calamity. Comparison between the loss figures due to lightning with other disaster loss figures also reveals that the former ranks higher than the latter. Still, many of the lightning disasters are not properly accounted and recompensed by National Calamity and Relief Fund or any other such Relief Funds. The article is an attempt to see the depth of such an issue and major challenges faced by the victims to get the compensation from the authorities. Also, suggestions are sought to arrive at a satisfying solution to such an unnoticed problem.</em></p></div>

The Construction of Korean Female Images in the Korean War Novels From an Orientalist Perspective

Abstract The Korean female images as prostitutes, bar girls, refugees, and victims of sexual violence are often found in both American novels and Korean novels of the Korean War. This essay tries to analyze how the exotic portrayals and images are constructed in American novels in accordance with Western indigenous culture and the general conception of Eastern inferiority in comparison to the superiority of Western civilization. With the pervasiveness of ethnocentrism, the Korean female images are portrayed as the Other and exotica of the East. Consequently, what they suffered in the calamity of war has been erased. However, similar female images that appeared in the Korean novels of the Korean War are far more complicated. They are relegated to a peripheral status in the national calamities wrought by the war. They are constructed within the frame of the absence of men's support in families, extreme poverty, and the legitimization of prostitution and breakdown of traditional Korean society and culture. In a word, the construction of these Korean female images conveys strong cultural and historical influences.

Galvanizing Moments: St.Elgin's College Responds (Fiction)

Professor of History Ian Gestrode's campus life is suddenly, unexpectedly disrupted by the events of September 11, 2001. On the same day a colleague dies of a heart attack. Gestrode struggles with the conflicting emotions of national calamity and personal loss. The campus responds prematurely with little prescience through carelessly planned day of reflection and discourse. The author offers a personal tribute to one if his students, who died at the Pentagon that day.

Is that Environmental Factor Affected the Distressed Farmers’ most!? - An Exploratory Factor Analysis of Constraint and Amelioration Strategies in National Calamity Hit Region of India

The Kosi River is infamous in India for its rapid and recurrent changes of course and the widespread flood damages it causes almost annually. But, the flood of 18th August, 2008 was the most devastating down the memory lane of the survival. The destruction was of such a magnitude that state government of Bihar had to seek World Bank (Project ID: P122096) assistance. Keeping this in view, an earnest effort was made to study the perceived constraints of distressed farmers and strategies for its amelioration. To materialize pretested closed structured interview schedule the application of the principle axis factoring vis-à-vis exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was done among 60 respondents from the non-sample. EFA extracted 4 latent broad constraints having Eigen value >1 that was rechristened as: environmental, pecuniary, policy and miscellaneous constraints. Finally, 20 specific constraints under 4 broad constraints were used to collect data from 160 respondents in the sample area. Garret methodology was used to rank the specific constraints under broad constraints. Friedman two-way ANOVA by ranks test deciphered that severity order of broad constraints was environmental, pecuniary, miscellaneous and policy constraints respectively. Since, the World Bank project is running in full swing in the calamity stricken region and so the four broad constraints as well as the 20 specific constraints identified and suggestion to ameliorate these can be vital for policy formulation and its implementation. The authors also suggest that in case of dearth of fund the most severe environmental constraints should be given due weightage followed by severity of other broad constraints.

The Political Economy of Intergovernmental Transfers—Evidence from Indian Disaster Relief

India’s National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) is a discretionary federal grant that supports the sub-national governments with their disaster relief efforts. Evidence suggests that discretionary intergovernmental transfers in countries with national coalition governments contribute to distributive politics. Coalition formateur(s) use these transfers to form or hold together fractious coalitions. We use data on the NCCF from 1997 to 2013 for 23 Indian states to test for distributive politics. Our results show no evidence of NCCF contributing to distributive politics. We argue instead that the NCCF contributes to a different political phenomenon— tactical redistribution.

GENESIS OF INDO PAK DISCORD

<p><em>The history of Indian Subcontinent is the history of friendship and hatred, trust and suspicion and conflict and cooperation between the two communities Hindus and Muslims. The two nation states (and later three), that were carved out of this subcontinent formed the part of the single nation which was the undivided India. The two countries India and Pakistan despite being the parts of one single civilization are generally seen as the arch rivals of one another.</em></p><p><em>In many ways there are no two countries in the world which have so much in common as India and Pakistan. Parts of the same state, India and Pakistan have more common heritage and interests than probably any other two countries in the world. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in Pakistan are as much part of India’s history as Delhi, Agra, Ajmer and Lucknow are of Pakistan; at least four languages are spoken commonly in both the countries and the two national languages of Pakistan are two national languages of India as well; the same literary figures are held in the highest esteem – Tagore and Iqbal, Nazrul Islam and Waris Shah, Ghalib and Sarat Chandra Chatterjee; dresses are common in large parts of India and Pakistan, food habits, manners, customs and even the humor are common. Music and dancing, art and painting draw common inspirations and observe common forms<sup>1</sup>. For centuries, people of both the countries have lived on the same land mass, have faced the heat and dust, the cold and snow together have gone through the national calamities such as famine and drought and floods together. And then together they saw the rulers come from the far away land and they tasted the dust of common humiliation. And in the initial stages, they even started fighting the foreign ruler together. The bondage of history, geography and culture is too strong to be overlooked. </em></p>

Role of Youth Organizations in the Rehabilitation of School Drop Outs

Children and youth are the future assets of any society and they should be nurtured, groomed and protected as they grow. They need to be facilitated to master the developmental tasks and competencies required to take on adult role in the society later. The responsibility to facilitate such growth mainly falls on the government. However, the issue is so huge and enormous that it calls for a supportive and proactive role from other major stakeholders such as educational institutions, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), parents, teachers, educationists, social workers and youth workers. Education is by far the most significant means of the avenues available for children and youth to grow and safely navigate childhood and adolescence in to the adult world. Education not only provides children and youth with job related competencies but also plays a major role in their character formation and social skills. When children drop out of education in their early formative years, it becomes a personal loss as well as a national calamity. They become a burden to themselves and society in their later years. This paper attempts to look at the issue of school drop outs, reasons for young people to drop out and the role of one of the stakeholders – the youth organizations in handling the issue.