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The Nordic Model is the 20th-century Scandinavian recipe for combining stable democracies, individual freedom, economic growth and comprehensive systems for social security. But what happens when Sweden and Finland – two countries topping global indexes for competitiveness, productivity, growth, quality of life, prosperity, and equality – start doubting themselves and their future? Is the Nordic Model at a crossroads? Historically, consensus, continuity, social cohesion, and broad social trust have been hailed as key components for the success and for the self-images of Sweden and Finland. In the contemporary, however, political debates in both countries are increasingly focused on risks, threats, and worry. Social disintegration, political polarization, geopolitical anxieties, and threat of terrorism are often dominant themes. This book focuses on what appears to be a paradox: countries with low income differences, high faith in social institutions, and relatively high cultural homogeneity becoming fixated on the fear of polarization, disintegration, and diminished social trust. Unpacking the presentist discourse of "worry" and a sense of interregnum at the face of geopolitical tensions, digitalization, and globalization, as well as challenges to democracy, the chapters take steps back in time and explore the current conjecture through the eyes of historians and social scientists, addressing key aspects of and challenges to both the contemporary and future Nordic Model. In addition, the functioning and efficacy of the participatory democracy and current protocols of decision-making are debated. This work is essential reading for students and scholars of the welfare state, social reforms, and populism, as well as Nordic and Scandinavian studies.

Introduction: The provision of health care services in Kenya was devolved from the national government to the counties in 2013. Evidence suggests that health system performance in Kenya remains poor. The main issue is poor leadership resulting in poor health system performance. However, most training in Kenya focuses on "leaders" (individual) development as opposed to "leadership" training (development of groups from an organization). The purpose of that study was to explore the impact of leadership training on health system performance in selected counties in Kenya. Methods: A quasi-experimental time-series design was employed. Pretest, posttest control-group design was utilized to find out whether the leadership development program positively contributed to the improvement of health system performance indicators compared with the non-trained managers. Questionnaires were administered to 31 trained health managers from the public, private for-profit, and private not-for-profit health institutions within the same counties. Results: The pretest and posttest means for all the six health system (HS) pillar indicators of the treatment group were higher than those of the control group. The regression method to estimate the DID structural model used to calculate the "fact" and "counterfactual" revealed that training had a positive impact on the intended outcome on the service delivery, information, leadership and governance, human resources, finance, and medical products with impact value ≥1 (57.2). Conclusion: The study findings support both hypotheses that trained health care management teams had a significant difference in the implementation status of priority projects and, hence, had a significant impact on health system performance indicators compared with non-trained managers.

INTRODUCTION: Online tools are increasingly utilized in clinical trial recruitment. A/B testing is an effective technology used in political campaigns and commercial marketing to improve contributions or sales. However, to our knowledge, A/B has not been described in the context of clinical trial recruitment. METHODS: Two A/B testing experiments were implemented on the recruitment website of the Study To Understand Fall Reduction and Vitamin D in You (STURDY), a response-adaptive, two-stage, randomized controlled trial. Commercial A/B platforms randomized web-users to different versions of the trial's website landing page; Experiment 1 included two infographic versions and Experiment 2 included three video versions. We compared web-user engagement metrics between each version and the original landing page. We determined the effect of each version compared to the original landing page on the likelihood of a web-user to (1) request more information about the trial, (2) complete a screening visit, or (3) enroll in the trial. RESULTS: A total of 2605 and 374 web-users visited the trial's website during Experiment 1 and 2, respectively. Response to the online interest form significantly differed by infographic version in Experiment 1. The number of individuals who engaged with website content and pages significantly differed by video in Experiment 2. CONCLUSION: In a pilot study implementing A/B testing of a clinical trial recruitment website, different versions of the website led to differences in web-user engagement and interest in the trial. A/B testing tools offer a promising approach to test the effectiveness of clinical trial recruitment materials and to optimize recruitment campaigns.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus induced disease-2019 (COVID-19), is a type of common cold virus responsible for a global pandemic which requires immediate measures for its containment. India has the world's largest population aged between 10 and 40 years. At the same time, India has a large number of individuals with diabetes, hypertension and kidney diseases, who are at a high risk of developing COVID-19. A vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2, may offer immediate protection from the causative agent of COVID-19, however, the protective memory may be short-lived. Even if vaccination is broadly successful in the world, India has a large and diverse population with over one-third being below the poverty line. Therefore, the success of a vaccine, even when one becomes available, is uncertain, making it necessary to focus on alternate approaches of tackling the disease. In this review, we discuss the differences in COVID-19 death/infection ratio between urban and rural India; and the probable role of the immune system, co-morbidities and associated nutritional status in dictating the death rate of COVID-19 patients in rural and urban India. Also, we focus on strategies for developing masks, vaccines, diagnostics and the role of drugs targeting host-virus protein-protein interactions in enhancing host immunity. We also discuss India's strengths including the resources of medicinal plants, good food habits and the role of information technology in combating COVID-19. We focus on the Government of India's measures and strategies for creating awareness in the containment of COVID-19 infection across the country.

Background: The original 46-item diabetes quality of life (DQOL) scale has been translated into different languages, and the translated DQOL has shown good reliability and validity after deleting some items. The aim of this study was to translate the diabetes quality of life (DQOL) scale into Afaan Oromoo and to culturally adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the DQOL-Afaan Oromoo (DQOL-AO) among people living with T2D in Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a convenience sampling technique was conducted in 2020. The DQOL was translated and adapted to Afaan Oromoo. Item–total correlations and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) assessed factor structure; the Cronbach's alpha assessed internal consistency and relationships with gender, educational status, marital status, age, and employment status; and status of diabetes-related disease assessed the construct validity of the DQOL-AO. Results: 417 participants responded to all items of the DQOL. Item–total correlation analysis and EFA produced a 34-item DQOL-AO with four subscales, which demonstrated that the internal consistency of the overall DQOL-AO was 0.867, and scores were 0.827, 0.846, 0.654, and 0.727 for the impact, satisfaction, social/vocational worry, and diabetes-related worry subscales, respectively. Statistically significant differences between QOL were obtained in educational status (F = 7.164, p < 0.001) and employment status (F = 4.21, p = 0.002). Individuals who attended college and above and government employees had better QOL. Conclusion: The 34-item DQOL-AO provided preliminary evidence as a reliable and valid tool to measure diabetic-related QOL before it can be widely used among adults living with T2D who speak Afaan Oromoo.

Although masks (face coverings) are a prime tool in fighting airborne pathogens, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States the use of masks encountered resistance based on existing patterns of cultural division. We argue that mask wearing must be understood basis on existing cultural frames assessed at both the individual level and the state level. We relied on prominent frameworks in cultural psychology: individualism-collectivism as well as independent and interdependent self-construals, the tightness-looseness framework, U.S. honor cultures, and political orientation as predictors. Using multilevel modeling, in a sample of 633 respondents from 45 U.S. states we investigated mask-wearing behavior, masks' perceived utility, implications for well-being, and the social meaning attributed to masks. Conservatism was linked to lower mask wearing, and consistently unfavorable perceptions of mask wearing. Collective interdependence predicted favorable perceptions of masks, as did state-level differences in collectivism; both constructs were linked with viewing mask wearing to be normative. Independent self-construal predicted a greater intent to wear masks, even though masks were also evaluated less favorably. Mediation analyses revealed that a single mediator, the perceived utility of mask wearing, was implicated in translating the effects of different cultural predictors into behavior. Additional findings highlighted that in tightener (vs. looser) states masks wearing was conceived of as a civic duty, whereas in U.S. honor states mask were seen as spoiling one's public image. Our discussion focuses on the cultural and political context of mask wearing, argues that different communities in the U.S. respond to its symbolic and social meaning, and suggest strategies to increase mask wearing among those who are otherwise reluctant to do so.

BACKGROUND: Low-dose aspirin therapy reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and may have a positive effect on the prevention of colorectal cancer. We evaluated the population-level expected effect of regular low-dose aspirin use on cardiovascular disease (CVD), colorectal cancer (CRC), gastrointestinal bleeding, symptomatic peptic ulcers, and intracranial hemorrhage, using a microsimulation study design. METHODS: We used individual-level state transition modeling to assess the impact of aspirin in populations aged 50–59 or 60–69 years old indicated for low-dose aspirin usage for primary or secondary CVD prevention. Model parameters were based on data from governmental agencies from the UK or recent publications. RESULTS: In the 50–59 years cohort, a decrease in incidence rates (IRs per 100 000 person years) of non-fatal CVD (-203 and −794) and fatal CVD (-97 and-381) was reported in the primary and secondary CVD prevention setting, respectively. The IR reduction of CRC (-96 and −93) was similar for primary and secondary CVD prevention. The IR increase of non-fatal (116 and 119) and fatal safety events (6 and 6) was similar for primary and secondary CVD prevention. Similar results were obtained for the 60–69 years cohort. CONCLUSIONS: The decrease in fatal CVD and CRC events was larger than the increase in fatal safety events and this difference was more pronounced when low-dose aspirin was used for secondary compared to primary CVD prevention. These results provide a comprehensive image of the expected effect of regular low-dose aspirin therapy in a UK population indicated to use aspirin for CVD prevention.

INTRODUCTION: Commercial payments for implant-based breast reconstruction have increased within the past decade while reimbursements have stagnated for microsurgical techniques. The physician payment to Work Relative Value Unit(wRVU) ratio allows for standardization when comparing procedures of differing complexity. This study aims to characterize payment-per-RVU for common breast and non-breast microsurgical procedures. METHODS: The Massachusetts All-Payer Claims Database was queried from 2010–2014 for microsurgical and breast reconstruction related Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes were further used to categorize procedures by anatomic region including head and neck, breast, trunk, and extremities. Physician payments, for both commercial and governmental, were aggregated by anatomic region and CPT code. Payment distributions were described with means and medians and compared using statistical tests. RESULTS: Among 3,435 commercial claims, distributions of physician payments-per-wRVU for microsurgical and common breast procedures differed only for breast free flaps billed through S-Codes(p<0.001). Microsurgical breast procedures(19364) had significantly greater median payments-per-wRVU compared to microsurgery of the head & neck, trunk, upper extremities(p=0.004). Payment-per-wRVU for common breast and non-breast microsurgical procedures did not differ significantly amongst governmental claims(p=0.103). CONCLUSION: Adjustment of physician payments by RVU did not show significant variability across common breast procedures, except for S-Codes, suggesting payments are mostly driven by differences in wRVUs and individual contractual negotiations. Lower payments-per-wRVU for other regions compared to breast suggests an opportunity for negotiation with commercial payers.

According to the current concerns about social welfare and environmental protection, integrated in a model assimilated to intrabusiness relations, our research started from the analysis of the initial model SAM, which will be transformed in order to develop the SAMI model under six research objectives. The need of improving SAM matrix started to connect it directly to the regional economic systems and continued to a new approach on Input-Output Analysis. Nowadays, SAM describes the intraregional connections between regional economic actors using the role of different income categories. Moreover, SAM can quantify different regional multipliers. All deficiencies previously identified in connection to SAM model have been reviewed and resolved within the proposed SAMI model by the authors of this paper. The purpose of this research is the launch of an absolutely new mathematical model (SAMI) and its practical testing at regional level. This model is able to systematize the links between the local and regional businesses, under the matrix (SAMI) flow, for all kinds of companies and to assist the regional decision, as well. Czamanski was not able to escape from the input-output prison's approach. This is why he continued to use the linear interdependencies between the industries, economic sectors and economic actors. The income is able only to approximate the individuals and other economic actors' welfare. If the increase in the average and aggregate income is doubled by an unfair distribution of income in two countries which have the same average income, the effects on welfare vary a lot. A relatively similar effect comes from the government policy differences in income distribution and redistribution.

The liberal international order is a fragmented institutional complex, comprising often disparate elements. One of these is a distinctive institutional approach to the global organization of cultural difference. This approach combines universal Westphalian sovereignty (and the pluralist interstate order it facilitates) with international human rights norms that seek to protect the cultural freedoms of individuals. I term this institutional amalgam "global pluralism". Like many elements of the liberal order, such pluralism is now under challenge, confronted by resurgent ethno-nationalism, politicized religion, and civilizational chauvinism. The key question is whether global pluralism has the adaptive capacities to withstand such challenges. This article develops a theoretical framework for comprehending these institutional capacities. Conceiving global pluralism as a "diversity regime," I argue that such regimes always rest on social "recognition contracts," and that these give them certain structural characteristics: configurations of political authority and modes of cultural recognition. Focusing on these characteristics, I compare global pluralism with past Western and non-Western diversity regimes, and clarify the adaptive strengths and weaknesses of different institutional forms. This contractual-structural analysis exposes the historical uniqueness of global pluralism but also its structural vulnerabilities. While global pluralism has distinct advantages over past diversity regimes—principally, that it does not itself generate unstable cultural cleavages and hierarchies—it requires complex forms of social contracting to sustain, and its individualist mode of recognition struggles to accommodate collectivist cultural claims. Such contracting is essential, however, if global pluralism is to withstand current challenges, all of which involve collectivist claims.

Elite philanthropy – voluntary giving at scale by wealthy individuals, couples and families – is intimately bound up with the exercise of power by elites. This theoretically oriented review examines how big philanthropy in the United States and United Kingdom serves to extend elite control from the domain of the economic to the domains of the social and political, and with what results. Elite philanthropy, we argue, is not simply a benign force for good, born of altruism, but is heavily implicated in what we call the new age of inequalities, certainly as consequence and potentially as cause. Philanthropy at scale pays dividends to donors as much as it brings sustenance to beneficiaries. The research contribution we make is fourfold. First, we demonstrate that the true nature and effects of elite philanthropy can only be understood in the context of what Bourdieu calls the field of power, which maintains the economic, social and political hegemony of the super-rich, nationally and globally. Second, we demonstrate how elite philanthropy systemically concentrates power in the hands of mega foundations and the most prestigious endowed charitable organizations. Third, we explicate the similarities and differences between the four main types of elite philanthropy – institutionally supportive, market-oriented, developmental, and transformational – revealing how and why different sections within the elite express themselves through philanthropy. Fourth, we show how elite philanthropy functions to lock in and perpetuate inequalities rather than remedying them. We conclude by outlining proposals for future research, recognizing that under-specification of constructs has hitherto limited the integration of philanthropy within the mainstream of management and organizational research.

Elite philanthropy—voluntary giving at scale by wealthy individuals, couples and families—is intimately bound up with the exercise of power by elites. This theoretically oriented review examines how big philanthropy in the United States and United Kingdom serves to extend elite control from the domain of the economic to the domains of the social and political, and with what results. Elite philanthropy, we argue, is not simply a benign force for good, born of altruism, but is heavily implicated in what we call the new age of inequalities, certainly as consequence and potentially as cause. Philanthropy at scale pays dividends to donors as much as it brings sustenance to beneficiaries. The research contribution we make is fourfold. First, we demonstrate that the true nature and effects of elite philanthropy can only be understood in the context of what Bourdieu calls the field of power, which maintains the economic, social and political hegemony of the super-rich, nationally and globally. Second, we demonstrate how elite philanthropy systemically concentrates power in the hands of mega foundations and the most prestigious endowed charitable organizations. Third, we explicate the similarities and differences between the four main types of elite philanthropy—institutionally supportive, market-oriented, developmental and transformational—revealing how and why different sections within the elite express themselves through philanthropy. Fourth, we show how elite philanthropy functions to lock in and perpetuate inequalities rather than remedying them. We conclude by outlining proposals for future research, recognizing that under-specification of constructs has hitherto limited the integration of philanthropy within the mainstream of management and organizational research.

Sport as a model of human creativity is a form of physical activity that has very complex dimensions, which undergo a systematic process in the form of all activities or efforts that can encourage, arouse, develop and foster one's physical and spiritual potential. as individuals or members of society. in the form of games, competitions/contests, and intensive physical activities to obtain recreation, victory, and peak potential. Sport is currently a trend or lifestyle for some of the general public, even to the point of becoming a basic need in life. National development through the development of sports in Indonesia in this reform era has become a strategic vehicle, especially improving the quality of human resources, as well as the formation of the character and character of the nation, in this paper many factors play a role in success in the field of sports, one of which the author wants to examine the differences and similarities between the performance sports system that runs in Indonesia and China. This study aims to compare the development of achievement sports systems carried out in Indonesia and China in order to improve the quality and competence of sports. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method with data collection techniques through documentation studies. The results of this study conclude that the government's contribution is needed in preparing winning strategies, training facilities, increasing competition opportunities and increasing resources that can be assisted by a team of academics and researchers from universities to find new techniques in training to support the maximum use of sport science. Keywords: achievement sports system, Indonesia, China.

This paper fills a gap in the existing literature by answering the following question: is the effect of envy on people's intention to share information the same in offline settings and on online social networks? Two studies demonstrate (1) how envy that results from upward social comparisons affects people's intention to share information and (2) the difference between online and offline settings. The likelihood of sharing information susceptible of triggering envy is lower on online social networks than in an offline scenario. In digital environments, feelings of envy depend on the number of social comparisons that the individual is exposed to. This research recommends (a) incorporating tools that allow online social network users to feel part of their network's successes, (b) promoting offline diffusion of information, and (c) encouraging people to play an active role when using online social networks. To date the literature has paid no attention to envy as an engine of information sharing. This aspect is especially relevant when discussing platforms whose main goal is precisely information sharing and that offer fertile ground for upward social comparisons. ; The authors would like to thank the Ramón Areces Commercial Distribution Chair for financing a mobility grant of Dr. Suárez a visiting scholar at the Robert H. Smith School of Business of the University of Maryland on early stages of this project. Dr. Chica was supported by the Ramón y Cajal program [RYC‐2016‐19800]. This work was also supported by the project SIMARK [PY18‐TP‐4475] granted by the Andalusian Government and by the University of Oviedo [PAPI‐19‐EMERG‐15].

Many recommendations were made by the Indonesia's government to prevent the occurrence of COVID-19 infection. One of those recommendations is to make several behavioural changes, such asincreasing the consumption of foods containing vitamin A, C, E, and zinc to increase immunity system in the body. These eating pattern can be influenced by several factors, such as individual perceptions. Thepurpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the concept of the health belief model and the eating pattern of Nutrition Students of UNUSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method of this study was analytic observational study with cross sectional design. The instruments used in this study were online questionnaire regarding the health belief model and semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQFFQ). All respondents had a high perception of the seriousness of the COVID-19 disease, benefits in increasing consumption of healthy foods, support for eating healthy foods, and self efficacy to adopt healthy eating pattern. 47.8% of respondents had a low perception of barriers to healthy behavior, while 65.5% of respondents had a high perception of susceptibility to COVID-19 infection. Most of the respondents had adequate daily intake of vitamin A (93.8%) and vitamin C (74.3%). There was a difference in vitamin Cintake between the group with high perceived barrier and the low perceived barrier group (p value 0.037). There was significantly negative relationship between perceived barrier and vitamin E intake in the subjects, which means that if a person has higher barriers to consuming vitamin E, the person's vitamin E intake will also be lower. Keywords : COVID-19, health belief model, antioxidant, eating pattern