A safe haven in times of crisis: The appeal of family companies as employers amid the COVID-19 pandemic
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PROVIDER: S-EPMC9345852 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:In this work, we examine the changes in demand for bike-sharing platforms with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Using the fixed-effects regression formulation of difference-in-differences, we evaluate how the demand for bike-sharing platforms changed after the first cases of Covid were discovered and after the first executive orders were implemented. Accounting for weather conditions, socio-economic characteristics, time trends, and fixed effects across cities, our findings indicate that there is an increase in daily bike-sharing trips by 22% on average after the first Covid-19 case diagnosis, and a decrease of 30% after the first executive order implementation in each municipality, using the data up to August 2020. Moreover, we observe a 22% increase in weekday-specific trip frequency after the first Covid-19 case diagnosis and a 28% decrease in weekend-specific trip frequency after the first executive order implementation. Finally, we find that there is an increase in the frequency of trips on bike-sharing platforms in more bike-friendly, transit-friendly, and pedestrian-friendly cities upon both the first Covid-19 case diagnosis and the first executive order implementation.
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Project description:COVID-19 caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 has gripped essentially all countries in the world, and has infected millions and killed hundreds of thousands of people. Several innovative approaches are in development to restrain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. In particular, BCG, a vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), is being considered as an alternative therapeutic modality. BCG vaccine is known to induce both humoral and adaptive immunities, thereby activating both nonspecific and cross-reactive immune responses in the host, which combined could effectively resist other pathogens including SARS-CoV-2. Notably, some studies have revealed that SARS-CoV-2 infectivity, case positivity, and mortality rate have been higher in countries that have not adopted BCG vaccination than in countries that have done so. This review presents an overview of the concepts underlying BCG vaccination and its nonspecific immuological effects and protection, resulting in 'trained immunity' and potential utility for resisting COVID-19.
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Project description:The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of teleworking on self-reported job satisfaction and workers' productivity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was administered to 331 teleworkers belonging to industrial companies, whose data were analyzed with a PLS-SEM structural equation model. The results indicate that communication with coworkers, time spent teleworking, and workplace suitability positively affect self-reported productivity, while trust on the part of supervisors and workplace suitability positively affect job satisfaction. On the other hand, work-family conflict negatively affects job satisfaction and self-reported productivity, whereas communication with coworkers, support from supervisor and time spent teleworking have no significant effect on job satisfaction. This study provides relevant information for industrial organizations to improve the job-satisfaction and productivity in large scaled teleworking contexts, as should have been implemented during the mandatory preventive isolation due to the health crisis related to the transmission of SARs-CoV-2.
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Project description:Several studies underlined the negative effects of forced social isolation on emotional processes in younger population. The current study aimed to review existing evidence of the pandemic's impact on the emotional regulation of Italian children aged 0-12 years in order to identify personal and contextual factors that may adversely impact their developmental process. Different electronic databases (Web of Science, APA PsycInfo, APA PsycArticles, MEDLINE, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and Scopus) were used to identify peer-reviewed studies published in English and Italian. Thirteen studies were included in the review, covering a total of 18.843 children. All studies reported negative effects of the lockdown on a child's emotional processes. The most affected were children aged 3-5 years, those living in Northern Italy, and those with low socioeconomic status (SES) families. Alterations in emotional processes were associated with sleep disturbances, quality of family relationships, personality structures, the coping strategies used, and time spent with technological devices. Finally, two- (time × parenting) and three-way (time × parenting × environmental sensitivity) interactions resulted significantly in predicting a child's emotional regulation, respectively, in terms of externalizing and internalizing behaviors. This review remarks that children's emotional processes were negatively impacted during social lockdown, especially where acute social isolation interacted with a set of dispositional and situational risk factors.
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Project description:ObjectiveA common assertion in the social media literature is that passive media use undermines affective wellbeing, and active media use enhances it. The present study investigated the effects of social media use on negative affective wellbeing during pandemic crises and examined the mechanism underlying these effects through perceived uncertainty.MethodsThree studies were conducted during the Delta variant phase in the post-peak period of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Participants were recruited from the medium-high-risk infection areas in late August 2022. Study 1 used a cross-sectional survey to explore the relationships between social media use, uncertainty, and negative affect during the pandemic crisis. Study 2 employed a repeated-measures experiment to demonstrate how social media use and (un)certainty impact negative affect. Study 3 utilized a one-week experience sampling design to examine the role of uncertainty in the relationship between social media use and negative affect in real life.ResultsDespite some inconsistencies regarding social media use's direct effect on negative affect, across the three studies, perceived uncertainty was critical in linking pandemic-related social media use to individuals' negative affect, particularly for passive use.ConclusionsThe relationships between social media use and affective wellbeing are complex and dynamic. While the perception of uncertainty provided an underlying mechanism that links social media use to individuals' affective wellbeing, this mechanism may be further moderated by individual-level factors. More research is needed as we seek to understand how social media use impacts affective wellbeing in uncertain contexts.
| S-EPMC10272698 | biostudies-literature
Project description:During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, many commonalities shared by Bitcoin and gold raise the question of whether Bitcoin can hedge inflation or provide a safe haven as gold often does. By estimating a Vector Autoregression (VAR) model, we provide systematic evidence on the relationship among inflation, uncertainty, and Bitcoin and gold prices. Bitcoin appreciates against inflation (or inflation expectation) shocks, confirming its inflation-hedging property claimed by investors. However, unlike gold, Bitcoin prices decline in response to financial uncertainty shocks, rejecting the safe-haven quality. Interestingly, Bitcoin prices do not decrease after policy uncertainty shocks, partly consistent with the notion of Bitcoin's independence from government authorities. We also find an interesting asymmetry in the drivers of Bitcoin price dynamics between the bullish and bearish market. The main findings hold with or without the COVID-19 pandemic episode.
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Project description:IntroductionHuman trafficking is a widespread public health problem across the United States. In recognition of the incredible need among victims and survivors of human trafficking for longitudinal, trauma-informed care, the Medical Safe Haven (MSH) was developed in 2016 through the Dignity Health Family Medicine Residency Program in Sacramento, California, and subsequently expanded to 2 other Dignity Health residency program sites. The MSH program included 3 sessions of trafficking-specific curriculum for resident physicians to prepare them to provide care for MSH patients. The current study aimed to evaluate resident physician learner confidence after participating in the MSH curriculum along with perceptions of the MSH program as a whole upon their graduation.MethodsThe study was a retrospective, preassessment/postassessment design. Resident physicians completed surveys that assessed learner confidence after each of the 3 training sessions, utilizing Likert scale items. Third-year resident physicians also completed a survey that included scaled and open-ended questions. Paired t-tests were used to evaluate the data in addition to content analysis for the open-ended questions.ResultsThere were significant increases in learner confidence after the training sessions on all items measured, including identifying and caring for victims and survivors of trafficking. Third-year residents responded that the MSH program helped them to more effectively communicate and care for victims and survivors and many planned to take the trauma-informed care model to their future practices.ConclusionWhile generalizability of the study was limited due to the retrospective design, the MSH program was found to have a meaningful impact on the resident physicians who participated in the training.
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Project description:Just as Koch's postulates formed the foundation of early infectious disease study, Stanley Falkow's molecular Koch's postulates define best practice in determining whether a specific gene contributes to virulence of a pathogen. Fundamentally, these molecular postulates state that if a gene is involved in virulence, its removal will compromise virulence. Likewise, its reintroduction should restore virulence to the mutant. These approaches are widely employed in Cryptococcus neoformans, where gene deletion via biolistic transformation is a well-established technique. However, the complementation of these mutants is less straightforward. Currently, one of three approaches will be taken: the gene is reintroduced at the original locus, the gene is reintroduced into a random site in the genome, or the mutant is not complemented at all. Depending on which approach is utilized, the mutant may be complemented but other genes are potentially disrupted in the process. To counter the drawbacks of the current approaches to complementation we have created a new tool to assist in this key step in the study of a gene's role in virulence. We have identified and characterized a small gene-free region in the C. neoformans genome dubbed the "safe haven", and constructed a plasmid vector that targets DNA constructs to this preselected site. The plasmid vector integrates with high frequency, effectively complementing a mutant strain without disrupting adjacent genes. qRT-PCR of the flanking genes on either side of the safe haven site following integration of the targeting vector revealed no changes in their expression, and no secondary phenotypes were observed in a range of phenotypic assays including an intranasal murine infection model. Combined, these data confirm that we have successfully created a much-needed molecular resource for the Cryptococcus community, enabling the reliable fulfillment of the molecular Koch's postulates.
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Project description:Prior research has shown that that management control practices change in response to global crises, yet we have little understanding of the behavioral consequences of these changes. The purpose of this study is to explore the behavioral effects that stem from crisis-induced changes to management control practices and the factors that intensify or diminish these effects. Using survey data from business unit managers in the Netherlands, our results show that firms tighten their budget controls in response to a negative impact of Covid-19. In turn, the tightening of budget controls is positively associated with employees’ emotional exhaustion because of increased perceptions of role ambiguity and role conflict. We furthermore find that the effect of tighter budget controls on role ambiguity is mitigated when managers perceive that the budget controls are used in an enabling way prior to the crisis but heightened with increased trust in senior management. These results suggest that if firms use their budgets to help managers acquire a deeper understanding of their tasks and responsibilities, they are better able to respond to a negative shock and the accompanying tightening of budget controls, which helps mitigate the undesired behavioral response of increased role ambiguity and emotional exhaustion. Our findings also suggest that trust, which usually is beneficial to organizations, has a ‘dark’ side in that managers will push themselves harder to reciprocate the trust they have in their senior managers, which exacerbates the effect of tighter budget controls on role ambiguity and, in turn, emotional exhaustion.
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