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Rising income inequality is taking a toll on people's subjective well-being (SWB), and many commentators have implicated the role of material possessions, and thereby marketing, in this regard. Making a more nuanced argument, this research proposes that certain material possessions—namely, favorite possessions—can mitigate the detrimental psychological effect of income inequality on SWB. In support of this proposition, experimental data from nine countries (N = 3,687) and social media posts from 138 countries (N = 31,332) converge to show that, while SWB generally declines as income inequality increases, encouraging consumers to attend to their favorite possessions can mitigate the negative effect of inequality on SWB. This is because attending to favorite possessions reduces consumers' tendency to make social comparisons related to material resources and wealth, which otherwise arise when income inequality is high. Consequently, even when they perceive high income inequality, consumers feel less deprived relative to others, which buffers their SWB. These findings have meaningful consumer welfare implications. In particular, one way consumers can feel happier with their quality of life in an unequal society is to avoid comparing their material wealth with that of others and instead attend to the material possessions most special to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social entrepreneurs' behaviour and performance are critical for social enterprises' success, along with the actors' affective commitment, work engagement and personal values, as conceptualised by Schwartz's value theory. This study is set to explore the interrelationships among these variables collecting quantitative data from 226 Greek social entrepreneurs. Seven research hypotheses are tested offering evidence in support of the influence of affective commitment and work engagement on entrepreneurs' performance, while considering affective commitment as precursor of work engagement. Further, evidence is placed for the effect of the higher-order values of Self-Transcendence, Openness to Change, and Conservation on the above variable relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate the gender gap in personal financial distress within the United States. Our study commences with a rigorous quantification of the gender disparity in financial distress, employing Logit regressions. Additionally, we perform a standard meditation analysis to dissect potential channels of income shocks and financial choices as well as their relative contributions to the gender disparity in financial distress. Leveraging data from the NLSY79 CYA panel, we empirically uncover that women are associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing financial distress than men. Furthermore, we provide evidence that women's susceptibility to adverse income shocks and tendency towards making suboptimal financial choices are two potential mechanisms, with the latter accounting for a higher proportion in the identified gender gap than the former. Our findings are confirmed by various robustness checks including exploring other financial distress dimensions, accommodating additional personality traits, employing targeted subsample analyses, performing heterogeneity tests, using clustered standard errors at the regional level, and switching to an alternative sample. Our study sheds light on the effect of gender in personal financial fragility and the role of gender gap in economic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Methods Results Conclusion The current study examined the association between the possession of personal growth initiative (PGI) skills and symptoms of mental illness (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) and the potential mediating role of daily engagement of PGI skills during the COVID‐19 pandemic.The participants consisted of 73 individuals (Mage = 41.62, SDage = 12.44) who were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Data for possessed PGI was collected in April 2020, and the daily survey started approximately 1 month later at the beginning of May 2020 for 29 days.Controlling for demographic variables, multilevel mediation models revealed significant association between PGI skills and PGI engagement. However, our hypothesized indirect effects were not found. When inspecting the direct effects controlling for the effect of PGI engagement and demographic variables, the paths between PGI skills and both depression and anxiety were negatively associated. When examining the effect of time, there were no significant changes during the period of 29 days in the levels of PGI skills among individuals. However, a significant fluctuation within individuals in how much participants have utilized PGI skills during the study period was found.The current study highlights the influence of PGI skills at both the between‐individual as well as within‐individual levels in predicting symptoms of mental illness, and it also uncovers the role of PGI skills by separating into general PGI skills and individual's daily engagement in utilizing the PGI skills in predicting symptoms of mental illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last four decades there has been a significant growth of interest in mindfulness-based practices and their potential to foster improvements in health, wellbeing and human functioning in a variety of clinical and nonclinical populations. With this growth has come a renewed interest in understanding the psychological processes involved as well as the neuropsychological mechanisms by which such practices operate and effect transformative personal experiences and positive change. The current perspective paper (i) presents a basic taxonomy of meditation types and the structure and function of the processes believed to be involved, (ii) describes these components in terms of key neuroanatomical regions of interest, and (iii) critically appraises current findings regarding EEG measures as they relate to different aspects of meditation, functional activity and connectivity across regions of interest. The correlates between mindfulness and EEG are well described in terms of attentional and interoceptive processes and neuroanatomical regions of interest. To a lesser extent, there is also a growing understanding of such correlates for meditation techniques centred on compassion and loving-kindness meditation. However, the same does not apply to wisdom-based and null-state meditation practices where consistent associations between neuropsychological processes and EEG characteristics have proven elusive. These latter practices are viewed by many as key to fostering the deeper transformative experiences underlying psychological and spiritual development, and although studies of null-state meditation have yielded promising theoretical developments, more research is required. Future research could also benefit from better standardisation of EEG measures and analytic techniques to allow more robust metanalyses, and greater consistency of terminology regarding the fundamental components of meditation practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Method Findings The experience of being a patient has been regarded as one of the principal means through which psychotherapists' skills and personal qualities have been nurtured. While it has been hard to demonstrate the effects of therapist personal therapy on patient outcomes, qualitative studies suggest that many practitioners regard personal therapy as highly valuable. The aim of this study was to explore the meaning of personal therapy in relation to a broader contextual understanding of therapist life experience and practice.In‐depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 mid‐career therapists and analysed using a hermeneutic, phenomenologically informed thematic approach.Participants typically reported that they had received therapy prior to entering training in order to address symptoms and/or life problems. In addition, many had been in therapy at later points in their life, as part of training programmes. The experience of an accepting and authentic therapy relationship has helped them to become more generous towards others and more able to set boundaries. Expressing vulnerability in a patient role made them feel safer in prioritising presence with their own patients. They also reflected that their therapist became a useful internalised point of reference and that disappointments in their therapies had sensitised them to what can be hurtful for patients. These themes are examined in relation to findings from analyses of how these therapists interacted with their own patients. Implications are discussed for understanding the contribution of personal therapy to therapist development, and in relation to the conduct of therapy outcome research as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: A patient's perceived sensitivity to medicines (PSM) might influence the reported side effects of a treatment. The experience of side effects can result in personal and structural costs (such as nonadherence). Research on nocebo mechanisms and the workings of side effect reporting has been disproportionally smaller compared to the emerging evidence of the individual and clinical impact of the matter. In this study, we explored and re-examined the association between PSM and reported side effects within a specific population (chronic low back pain patients receiving acupuncture treatment), including possible mediating variables (i.e., gender, medical and nonmedical care utilization, optimism, pessimism, anxiety, depression and treatment expectation). Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial that examined the influence of treatment outcome expectations in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients. All measures in the analysis were self-assessments. We explored the association between PSM, reported side effects and personal characteristics using correlational and regression analyses. Results: Our sample consisted of 152 CLBP patients (65.8% female), the mean age was 39.5 years (SD = 12.5). We found positive correlations between PSM and reported side effects (r = 0.24; p < 0.01) and between PSM and anxiety (r = 0.21; p < 0.05). However, the subsequent regression analyses did not confirm a mediating or moderating effect of anxiety between PSM and reported side effects. Conclusion: We confirmed and extended earlier research on PSM. Our study involved a specific pain population receiving a nonpharmacological intervention. Our results highlight the importance of targeting PSM and anxiety within a treatment to take measures to mitigate the prevalence of side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The height disadvantage promotes third-party punishment (TPP). • Third-parties are influenced by negative emotions resulting from height disadvantage. • The N1, P3 components are linked to the influence of height disadvantage on TPP. • The height disadvantage also evoked more theta power, and more alpha power. The study employed event-related potential (ERP), time–frequency analysis, and functional connectivity to comprehensively explore the influence of male's relative height on third-party punishment (TPP) and its underlying neural mechanism. The results found that punishment rate and transfer amount are significantly greater when the height of the third-party is lower than that of the recipient, suggesting that male's height disadvantage promotes TPP. Neural results found that the height disadvantage induced a smaller N1. The height disadvantage also evoked greater P300 amplitude, more theta power, and more alpha power. Furthermore, a significantly stronger wPLI between the rTPJ and the posterior parietal and a significantly stronger wPLI between the DLPFC and the posterior parietal were observed when third-party was at the height disadvantage. These results imply that the height disadvantage causes negative emotions and affects the fairness consideration in the early processing stage; the third-party evaluates the blame of violators and makes an appropriate punishment decision later. Our findings indicate that anger and reputation concern caused by height disadvantage promote TPP. The current study holds significance as it underscores the psychological importance of height in males, broadens the perspective on factors influencing TPP, validates the promoting effect of personal disadvantages on prosocial behavior, enriches our understanding of indirect reciprocity theory, and extends the application of the evolution theory of Napoleon complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have suggested that procrastination can result in negative effects, such as anxiety and decline in academic performance; however, procrastination can be either active or passive. This study explored the serial mediation effect of personal mastery and creative self- concept in the correlation between active procrastination and creative thinking. A sample of 536 participants was asked to complete a series of questionnaires. The results demonstrated that creative self-concept played a mediating role in the correlation between active procrastination and creative thinking. Moreover, personal mastery and creative self-concept serially mediated the association between active procrastination and creative thinking. This study identified the critical factors associated with creative thinking and provided a reference for educators' interventions for improving students' creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dysphoric individuals perceive mental tasks as more demanding and show increased cardiovascular responses during the performance of easy cognitive tasks. Recent research on action shielding indicates that providing individuals with personal control over their tasks can mitigate the effects of manipulated affective states on cardiovascular responses reflecting effort. We investigated whether the shielding effect of personal choice also applies to the effect of dispositional negative mood on effort. N = 125 university students with high (dysphoric) versus low (nondysphoric) depressive symptoms engaged in an easy cognitive task either by personal choice or external assignment. As expected, dysphoric individuals showed significantly stronger cardiac PEP reactivity during task performance when the task was externally assigned. Most importantly, this dysphoria effect disappeared when participants could ostensibly personally choose their task. Our findings show that the previously observed shielding effect of personal action choice against incidental affective stimulation also applies to dispositional negative affect. Dysphoric individuals show increased cardiovascular responses when performing easy cognitive tasks. This study revealed that personal control over the task to be performed can attenuate the effects of dispositional negative affect on effort‐related cardiovascular responses. The present study extends recent research on action shielding. The shielding effect of personal choice against incidental affective stimulation also applies to dispositional negative affect related to individuals' depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adoption of standalone eHealth tools is low among persons in lower socioeconomic groups. The preventive integrated eHealth approach combines blended care with an active and personal approach to facilitate access to local care, tailored to the needs of the participant. We describe the four step preventive integrated eHealth approach for individuals with a low socioeconomic position and the realist evaluation protocol of the intervention and implementation. The realist evaluation centers around the question, 'what works for whom in what circumstances and why'. Methods: The study population will consist of adult individuals with a low socioeconomic position, who participate in the preventive integrated eHealth approach in one of the participating locations in the Netherlands. The four-step intervention consists of: (1) a proactive invitation of participants by care professionals, (2) the use of an eHealth tool that produces a personalized health report, (3) a personal consultation with a care professional to discuss the personalized health report and set a goal to work on, and (4) active referral to local social and health care. An initial program theory theorized from literature and stakeholder involvement is presented. Qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis with participants (survey at zero, three and twelve months and focus groups at six months) and professionals (interviews at three months) will inform the realist evaluation and serves to test and refine the initial program theory. Discussion: Our mixed-methods realist evaluation on the effect and implementation of a personal and active blended care approach will elucidate what elements trigger the mechanisms and responses of how individuals with a low socioeconomic position experience the preventive integrated eHealth approach. This will inform the way a preventative health check incorporating eHealth can be used to its full potential for low socioeconomic positioned groups to help close the digital divide and contribute to reduce health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do we know when someone knows us? Does it matter whether the knower is a human or a machine? Following the theory of interpersonal knowledge, a between-subjects experiment investigated whether a doctor's incorporation of individualized knowledge about a patient's social or medical history enhances doctor-patient relationships in online conversations. Patients in this study conversed with either a human doctor, an AI doctor, or an AI-assisted human doctor. Following previous research, additional factors such as perceptions of effort, relational closeness, privacy intrusiveness, and the provision of privacy control were assessed. Results showed that an AI doctor enhanced patient satisfaction when it employed social individuation messages, which triggered perceptions of increased effort, but only when patients could activate privacy control. Perception of relational closeness with a human doctor and an AI-assisted human doctor did not seem to require social individuation and privacy control. The study concludes with implications for the theory of interpersonal knowledge and AI-mediated communication research, as well as practical implications for improving chatbot medical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite research has identified several social resources to promote employees' knowledge sharing behavior, studies on the effect of personal resources are limited. Thus, our research intends to contribute by examining the role of employee mindfulness as an essential personal resource in influencing their knowledge sharing behavior. Based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, we propose that employee mindfulness can promote employees' knowledge sharing behavior through enhancing their thriving at work, and this effect is moderated by abusive supervision. Using a field study with multi-wave data, we found that employee mindfulness was positively related to employees' knowledge sharing behavior through their thriving at work, and this positive effect was stronger when abusive supervision was high than low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Adab / Al-ādāb is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Maintenance goals have a fundamental albeit understudied role in human motivation. From health to relationships, to personal possessions and the environment, the things people value require regular care. When maintaining a friendship, for instance, one may need to catch‐up regularly, share life updates and offer support, and occasionally make time to meet and spend time together. Distinct from the more commonly studied approach and avoidance goals, maintenance goals focus on sustaining current states over time, a process that has recently begun to attract increasing scholarly attention. This paper explores the construct of maintenance goals; It provides a comprehensive review of key findings and offers a novel perspective on the potential role of maintenance in individual and collective behavior, centering on topics such as well‐being, leadership, and group perceptions across different cultural contexts. By integrating theory with empirical evidence, this review underscores the necessity of incorporating maintenance goals into a broader psychological framework and recognizes their potential to inform interventions aimed at fostering resilience and stability in an ever‐changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation can lead to wage inequalities through different channels. This paper explores this relationship, focusing on the direct and spillover (indirect) effects of these channels on personal wage inequalities in Brazilian regions. Product and process innovation are measured by patents and the acquisition of foreign technology through imports of capital goods respectively. Based on data that covers 482 regions from 2003 to 2014, we use the Spatial Durbin Model with spatial fixed effects to control spatial dependence and heterogeneity across regions. The results point to a positive association between our measures of innovation and wage inequalities. However, as we found a non‐linear relationship between imports of capital goods and wage inequality, an increase in imports of capital goods may reduce wage inequality. Other variables may also cause inequality to fall, such as the share of the population with a higher education degree and social skills. Drivers behind an increase in inequality are female participation in the workforce and the level of GDP per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antisocial behaviour by social media users has escalated, which in turn has created various socio-psychological implications for users and society at large. However, there is a paucity of empirical research on the concept of cyber aggression inclination (CAI) and its personal and situational antecedents in the context of social media. This study explores and measures the CAI of general social media users and examines the personal and situational factors affecting CAI. Data was collected using an online survey resulting in a sample of respondents who are active social media users. A total of 101 responses were received of which 71 were complete. Primary data was analysed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test eight hypotheses. Findings suggest perceived anonymity, impulsive use of social media and subjective norms are correlated with and CAI. We could not find any conclusive evidence to suggest a significant association exerted by prior aggression victimisation, social pressure, and perceived incident severity on CAI. This paper makes original contributions to the field of cyberpsychology where a more specific form of antisocial behaviour has been studied in social media settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining a ship's identity is usually based on a critical and integral analysis of several approaches and lines of evidence. Based on Harpster's seminal work, an insight into this endeavour is developed here for the Deltebre I site. The archaeological information obtained since 2008 from the remains of the cargo, hull structure, equipment, and personal possessions, combined with documentary data, helped to address the dating, type, function, and provenance of the vessel. More specifically, we discuss its links with the British ordnance ships Southampton and Magnum Bonum, lost in 1813 at the mouth of the Ebro river, Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Person re-identification (ReID) has made great strides thanks to the data-driven deep learning techniques. However, the existing benchmark datasets lack diversity, and models trained on these data cannot generalize well to dynamic wild scenarios. To meet the goal of improving the explicit generalization of ReID models, we develop a new Open-World, Diverse, Cross-Spatial-Temporal dataset named OWD with several distinct features. (1) Diverse collection scenes: multiple independent open-world and highly dynamic collecting scenes, including streets, intersections, shopping malls, etc. (2) Diverse lighting variations: long time spans from daytime to nighttime with abundant illumination changes. (3) Diverse person status: multiple camera networks in all seasons with normal/adverse weather conditions and diverse pedestrian appearances (e.g., clothes, personal belongings, poses, etc.). (4) Protected privacy: invisible faces for privacy critical applications. To improve the implicit generalization of ReID, we further propose a Latent Domain Expansion (LDE) method to develop the potential of source data, which decouples discriminative identity-relevant and trustworthy domain-relevant features and implicitly enforces domain-randomized identity feature space expansion with richer domain diversity to facilitate domain-invariant representations. Our comprehensive evaluations with most benchmark datasets in the community are crucial for progress, although this work is far from the grand goal toward open-world and dynamic wild applications. The project page is https://github.com/fxw13/OWD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Service Industries Journal is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cigarette smoking continues to decline in the U.S., but cannabis use is increasing. Many people who smoke cigarettes also use cannabis. This study examines the characteristics of persons who co-use and those who do not co-use and the likelihood of quitting cigarettes for callers to Kick It California, a large state tobacco quitline. Data were examined from Kick It California callers from January 2020 through December 2023 (N=45,151), including those from a subgroup randomly sampled and reached for evaluation at 7 months after quitline enrollment (n =3,545). The rate of cigarette smoking cessation at 7 months after enrollment for people who co-use cannabis was compared with that for people who do not. Analyses started in 2023 and concluded in January 2024. More than a quarter (27.2%) of Kick It California callers co-used cannabis. They were more likely to be male, to be younger, and to have a mental health condition than those who did not. Those who co-use cannabis and those who do not have similar rates of receiving quitline counseling or using Food and Drug Administration–approved cessation aids. Controlled for effects of personal characteristics and use of smoking-cessation services, people who co-use cannabis were less likely to quit cigarette smoking 7 months after enrollment (23.2% vs 28.9%; p <0.001). Among those who co-use, 42.9% intended to quit using cannabis in the next 30 days. A substantial percentage of tobacco quitline callers use cannabis. Those who do co-use quit cigarette smoking at a lower rate than those who do not. Over 40% of people who co-use reported intention to quit cannabis, making tobacco quitlines a rich environment to learn about people who co-use and develop strategies for intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the lands of Western Azerbaijan, every stone and rock says, "I am the ancient Oghuz tribe, the Turkic homeland." There are Turkish traces both above and below the ground. The Armenians who falsified the above ground are trying to erase these traces from below the ground as well. Armenians, the spoils of history, completely destroyed the old face of the city of Iravan and hid it underground. They demolished the Gantar market in the Azerbaijani city of Yerevan and built a children's park in its place. Now, the personal belongings belonging to the Khan of Iravan, as well as the material and spiritual evidence of Azerbaijan's heritage found here during the excavation, made it difficult for the authors of Armenian lies, so they make up tales with a thousand lies and bury the truth under the ground again. They are destroying the history and culture underground. These vandals have not only erased their traces on the historical and ethnic lands of Azerbaijanis, but also carried out genocide against their toponyms. They changed the names of 703 settlements where Azerbaijanis used to live and made them Armenian. Presenting themselves to the world as an "ancient nation", a "civilized nation", Armenians in reality show a real "example" of barbarism and vandalism against the cultural heritage of Azerbaijanis, and they present themselves as "the first nation to accept Christianity" so that Christian countries support them. The strange thing is that the place names they changed still consist of Turkish words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Financial & Business Studies Journal / Maǧallaẗ Al-Dirāsāt Al-Māliyyaẗ wa Al-Tiǧāriyyaẗ is the property of Beni Suef University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study explores the factors influencing university students' social entrepreneurial intentions based on the values-beliefs-norms theory. Data were collected from 769 Chinese university students through online surveys. The hypotheses were tested using partial least squares-structural equation modeling. The results confirmed the positive influence of altruistic and traditional values on normative beliefs. Awareness of the consequences and attribution of responsibility had no significant effect on personal norms among university students, which have been discussed in-depth in relation to the phenomenon of inadequate student socialization due to closed-loop management policies at Chinese universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the findings verified the positive and significant effects of personal, injunctive, and descriptive social norms on social entrepreneurship intentions. With the aim of promoting social entrepreneurship among university students and broadening the understanding of the phenomenon of social entrepreneurs, this study provides a favorable direction and expands the discussion on the topic. The results will help the government and universities foster more effective prosocial behaviors among university students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Building upon the conservation of resources theory and the episodic process model of performance, this research addresses the gap in understanding how daily variations in two personal resources, particularly their interaction, affect job performance. Specifically, this study examines the influence of vigor and mindfulness on daily fluctuations in task performance considering the potential compensation effect between these personal resources in the workplace. Methods: We conducted a five-day online diary study involving 192 participants (926 daily observations). At the conclusion of each workday, participants were asked to assess their level of mindfulness and vigor in the workplace using validated scales, as well as estimate their task performance. Results: Multilevel analyses showed that both daily mindfulness and daily vigor positively predict self-reported task performance. The interaction between mindfulness and vigor was significant. The results suggest that high levels of mindfulness can compensate for low levels of vigor, and vice versa. Discussion: Exploring the interplay of personal resources at work provides a valuable starting point for individual-tailored interventions that enable individuals to reach their full potential. Enhancing employees' mindfulness may increase job performance directly and empowers workers to compensate for periods of low energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal growth and self‐expressive goals have become increasingly important in modern marriages. In dual‐earner couples, sharing work‐related experiences with the partner can be particularly important in promoting mutual support for each other's personal growth. The current study examined dual‐earner couples' sharing of work‐related experiences and how it influenced both partners' relationship satisfaction and personal well‐being. A total of 102 heterosexual dual‐earner couples were recruited from communities in Hong Kong. They completed a pretest survey, a 14‐day daily diary study, and a follow‐up survey 1 year later. The Actor‐Partner Interdependence Model was adopted to analyze the dyadic effects of sharing positive and negative work‐related experiences on relationship satisfaction and personal well‐being on the same day and 1 year later. In general, the sharing of both positive and negative work‐related experiences had beneficial effects on the outcomes. Specifically, wives' sharing had more immediate effects on both partners' relational and personal well‐being, whereas husbands' sharing had more long‐term effects on the partner's personal well‐being. The findings highlight the importance of work‐related sharing in dual‐earner couples. Practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal identification systems based on electroencephalographic (EEG) signals have their own strengths and limitations. The stability of EEG signals strongly affects such systems. The human emotional state is one of the important factors that affects EEG signals' stability. Stress is a major emotional state that affects individuals' capability to perform day-to-day tasks. The main objective of this work is to study the effect of mental and emotional stress on such systems. Two experiments have been performed. In the first, we used hand-crafted features (time domain, frequency domain, and non-linear features), followed by a machine learning classifier. In the second, raw EEG signals were used as an input for the deep learning approaches. Different types of mental and emotional stress have been examined using two datasets, SAM 40 and DEAP. The proposed experiments proved that performing enrollment in a relaxed or calm state and identification in a stressed state have a negative effect on the identification system's performance. The best achieved accuracy for the DEAP dataset was 99.67 % in the calm state and 96.67 % in the stressed state. For the SAM 40 dataset, the best accuracy was 99.67 % , 93.33 % , 92.5 % , and 91.67 % for the relaxed state and stress caused by identifying mirror images, the Stroop color-word test, and solving arithmetic operations, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Araucaria is the property of Araucaria-Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofia, Politica y Humanidades and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we propose a control process for a service robot that runs errands for personal belongings using technology elements for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Initially, it classifies each space on a grid map mapped based on the indoor environment using Generalized Voronoi Graph (GVG) and registers the location of objects in each classified space, forming a topological map. Subsequently, it utilizes Google’s Speech To Text (STT) to identify voice commands, and integrates this information with the object details on the topological map to automatically generate feasible destinations for the robot based on the estimated location of the object. In an experiment involving instructing the robot with three voice commands for five types of personal belongings located within a simulated household environment, the system achieved a success rate of over 90% in accomplishing errands to the specified locations. This confirms the feasibility of the proposed system for location-based robot services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On June 30, 1960, the independence of the Belgian Congo, once personal possession for 23 years of the Belgian King Leopold II, was proclaimed as the “Republic of the Congo”. Emery-Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961) played a capital role in this emancipation which resulted in the consecration of Joseph Kasavubu as first President of the Republic of Congo and himself, Emery Patrice Lumumba, as Prime Minister. Congo has proclaimed its independence, but the new country remains plagued by violence and infighting. Belgian troops and peacekeepers from the United Nations intervene in the territory as a standoff begins between Kasavubu and Lumumba. On September 14, 1960, Colonel Joseph Désiré Mobutu led a first coup d’état which was followed by the arrest and assassination of Lumumba. The following years would be punctuated by rebellions and fighting interspersed with ceasefires in protest against the dictatorship established by the Mobutu regime after its second coup d’état, five years later, during a new political crisis. After thirty-two years of unchallenged reign, Mobutu was ousted from power by Mzee Laurent Désiré Kabila in May 1997 and since then, it has been difficult to speak of the real independence of the country, which became the Democratic Republic of Congo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Surveys in Europe show that immigration is more of a challenge than an opportunity for a significant number of people. However, little attention is given to attitudes toward immigration in the Middle East. This paper examines the effects of personal values and religiosity on the anti-immigration attitudes of citizens in the Middle East and North African countries. Design/methodology/approach: Utilizing data from the World Values Survey, we analyze how personal values and religiosity affect anti-immigration attitudes in nine Middle Eastern countries. The data covers individual-level data of 9 MENA countries from the WVS Round 7 (2017–2022). Factor analysis is applied as a data reduction method. Afterward, an OLS regression analysis is conducted on the pooled data. Findings: Anti-immigration attitudes increase with age, education, and religiosity. Personal values such as national pride, support for nationals, and belongingness to one's country significantly affect anti-immigration attitudes. Furthermore, the importance of religion as a measure of religiosity was found to be positively associated with anti-immigration attitudes. Originality/value: This paper contributes to underexplored literature by investigating how individual-level determinants, such as demographic indicators, personal values, and religious factors, shape anti-immigration attitudes in the MENA context, distinct from European dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited evidence about the gender- and obesity-specific effects of personal care product and plasticizing chemicals (PCPPCs) on short sleep duration in adults. We evaluated the gender- and obesity-specific association of co-exposure to PCPPCs and short sleep duration among adults aged 20–60 years using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2016, a secondary data source from the United States. Seventeen PCPPCs, including five phenols, two parabens, and ten phthalates, were detected, and sleep duration was assessed among 3012 adults. Logistic regression, weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were employed. We found that bisphenol A (BPA), mono (caboxy-isooctyl) phthalate (MCOP), and mono (3-carboxypropyl) phthalate (MCPP) were consistently positively associated with short sleep duration in both females and males regardless of obesity status, except for BPA with general obesity. In particular, mono benzyl phthalate (MBzP) revealed a positive association in females, mono (2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP) revealed a positive association in males, and MiBP revealed a positive association in abdominal obesity. Similar associations were observed in the mixture. Our study highlights that PCPPCs are independently associated with an increasing risk of short sleep duration in adults both individually and as a mixture; however, gender- and obesity-specific differences may have little effect on certain individual PCPPCs on short sleep duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Higher education students experience significant levels of exhaustion in their studies, yet there are limited evidence-based support programs available. Therefore, this study evaluated a novel intervention approach by testing the effectiveness of two online interventions based on the study demands-resources framework. These interventions aimed to balance demands and resources. Derived from the theoretical assumptions of the framework, we hypothesized that the interventions would increase study and personal resources, engagement, and study crafting, and decrease study demands, exhaustion, and self-undermining. Additionally, we hypothesized that demands and resources would mediate the effects of the intervention on engagement, exhaustion, study crafting, and self-undermining. Methods: Conducted as a randomized controlled trial with a waitlist control group (n = 71), the study involved participants in two intervention groups who engaged with the interventions for 2 weeks. Intervention group 1 (n = 64) focused on adapting demands, while intervention group 2 (n = 70) focused on increasing resources. The design allowed for a comparison of the effectiveness of these different approaches. Participants completed questionnaires before and after the intervention, and at a 5-week follow-up. Results: Results of the analyses of variance with repeated measures revealed that the interventions had significant positive effects on the personal resource mindfulness, two study crafting strategies, self-undermining, and exhaustion. Notably, intervention group 2 exhibited more positive outcomes. The hypothesized mediation effects through mindfulness were partially supported. Discussion: The study demonstrates the considerable potential of interventions based on the study demands-resources framework for higher education institutions in supporting student well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of training with a personal, portable laparoscopic endo-trainer (PLET) on residents' laparoscopic skills. Methods: The study took place at a tertiary-care academic university hospital in Switzerland. All participants were randomized to either a home- or hospital-based PLET training group, and surgical skill performance was assessed using five laparoscopic exercises. 24 surgical residents, 13 females and 11 males, were enrolled at any training stage. Nine residents completed the assessments. Endpoints consisted of subjective and objective assessment ratings as well as exercise time and qualitative data up to 12 weeks. The primary outcome was the difference in exercise time and secondary outcomes included performance scores as well as qualitative data. Results: The hospital-based training group performed exercises number 1, 3 and 4 faster at 12 weeks than at baseline (p =.003, < 0.001 and 0.024). Surgical skill performance was not statistically significantly different in any of the endpoints between the hospital- and home-based training groups at 12 weeks. Both the subjective and objective assessment ratings significantly improved in the hospital-based training group between baseline and 12 weeks (p =.006 and 0.003, respectively). There was no statistically significant improvement in exercise time as well as subjective and objective assessment ratings over time in the home-based training group. The qualitative data suggested that participants who were randomized to the hospital-based training group wished to have the PLET at home and vice versa. Several participants across groups lacked motivation because of their workload or time constraints, though most believed the COVID-19 pandemic had no influence on their motivation or the time they had for training. Conclusion: The PLET enhances laparoscopic surgical skills over time in a hospital-based training setting. In order to understand and optimize motivational factors, further research is needed. Trial registration: This trial was retrospectively registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT06301230). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to explore the influence of personal effects (hedonic, perfectionism), interpersonal (snob, bandwagon, Veblen) and materialism on the intention to buy basic hygiene products considered luxury by people at the base of the economic pyramid. Quantitative cross-sectional research was carried out through a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed by structural equations modeling (SEM), obtaining optimal adjustment indices. 248 people between 18 and 72 years old from the base of the pyramid, residing in Bogotá (Colombia), participated. The findings suggest that the consumption of hygiene products considered luxury is motivated by the feeling of well-being, pleasant experiences, and positive emotions, as well as by the satisfaction they generate; and there is no influence on the perception of quality, the need for demonstration, differentiation, or membership in a group. The findings of this study are novel and on the one hand allow us to understand that the consumption of luxury products in the base population of the pyramid is not anchored only to the study of non-essential sumptuous products, and on the other hand it shows that its functionality is not limited to demonstration or aspirational consumption, as has traditionally been studied. The implications for academia and industry of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role of the popular job searching website LinkedIn and its effects on personal branding, self-esteem and job search behavior self-efficacy. The experiment examined the pre and post changes of these constructs after participants completed a LinkedIn training workshop and found statistically significant results for the experimental group. These findings suggest that career development professionals should consider incorporating LinkedIn training workshops as a means of enhancing employees' personal brands and job search behavior self-efficacy. The results also highlight the potential of technological interventions in career development. Future research should explore the long-term effects of LinkedIn training on personal branding and job search outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moral disengagement is an important aggressive and moral cognition. The mechanisms of changes in moral disengagement remain unclear, especially at the within‐person level. We attempted to clarify this by exploring the serial effects of personal relative deprivation and hostility on civic moral disengagement. We conducted a three‐wave longitudinal survey with 1058 undergraduates (63.61% women; mean age = 20.97). The results of the random intercept cross‐lagged panel model showed that personal relative deprivation at Wave 1 and hostility at Wave 2 formed a serial effect on the within‐person changes in civic moral disengagement at Wave 3, and the longitudinal indirect effect test showed that the within‐person dynamics in hostility at Wave 2 acted as a mediator. The results of multiple group analysis across genders further showed that the longitudinal indirect role of hostility at Wave 2 was only observed for men, but not for women, which indicates the moderating effect of gender. These findings facilitate an understanding of the mechanisms of aggressive cognitions at the within‐person level and offer implications for the prevention and intervention of aggression from the perspective of moral cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study deals with the results from the 2018–2023 fieldwork at the cemetery of Hala Sultan Tekke. The aim of the project is the safeguarding, excavation, recording, and study of tombs exposed to farming, erosion, and looting. The stratigraphy of the tombs that were used over generations represents an excellent complement to the sequence of occupation in the city. The mortuary gifts and personal belongings date mainly to the fifteenth to thirteenth centuries BCE and confirm far-reaching trade, further underlining the role of the city as a trading center in the Mediterranean economic system. The material evidence corroborates connections with societies of the Mycenaean, Minoan, Hittite, Levantine, and Egyptian spheres of culture as well as networks with regions as far away as Sardinia, the Baltic Sea, Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, and India. In addition, several find contexts provide valuable information about the complex mortuary customs of the Late Cypriot period. *Warning: This article deals with human bones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income comparisons between farm and non‐farm households play a crucial role in many aspects of farm policy. Using household income data from tax returns of all Norwegian taxpayers in the period 2006–2015 we study these income differences. We find that the unconditional mean income is higher for farm households, but with important differences depending on the comparison group considered. We also find that the income difference is reduced when we control for differences in the personal characteristics of the different non‐farm comparison sub‐groups. This finding implies that income comparison using unconditional means, as frequently done in agricultural policy making, is potentially misleading. We also show that the income effect of personal characteristics is not the same for different comparison sub‐groups, as has been assumed in previous studies of income disparities. Differences in personal characteristics, and the income effect of those characteristics, therefore need to be accounted for if income comparisons between farmers and non‐farmers are to inform farm support policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The years 1838–1924 in colonial India saw the first organized exodus of around 1.5 million. These emigrants were employed as indentured laborers in the various plantations owned by the Empire. Along with the people, what migrated were objects like clothes and jewelry. While some of these items were provided by the plantation regimes, others were brought by the emigrants. Though there have been studies about the lives on the plantations, the marine lives of the travelers and their personal belongings have been neglected. Objects such as clothes and jewelry not only have cultural significance but also form part of the emigrants' memory. This article critically analyses the usage of cultural artifacts as "floating signifiers" and how these artifacts are altered with a change of setting. Building on the ideas of Bhabha, Skinner, and others, this article aims to understand the role of material possessions in the lives of the plantation workers. The narratives discussed allow readers to witness changes in the role of materials like clothes and jewelry accompanying the emigrants on their voyage to the plantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceptually natural standard‐dynamic‐range (SDR) images reproduced under normal viewing conditions should retain enough information for the human observer to estimate the time at which the actual high‐dynamic‐range (HDR) scene was captured without recourse to artificial information. Currently, both global‐ and local‐tone mapping operators (TMOs) seem to have comparable levels of performance. Therefore, we first consider the constraints created in the actual human visual system by eye movement, and buttress a hypothesis with a demonstration. We briefly review the imperceptible illuminance effects yielded by the personal circadian clock suggested by chronophysiological research and other related effects, because our previous study suggested that the characteristics of the human visual system dynamically varies depending on the individual's circadian pattern. Finally, we conduct two psychophysical experiments based on the hypothesis that the human visual system employs several global TMOs at the first stage for information compression that depend on individual‐circadian‐visual‐features (ICVF). The results suggest that (1) no participant can perceive actual‐capture‐time (ACT) and (2) sensitive observers can discriminate reproduced images based on virtual‐shooting‐time (VST) effects induced by different types of global TMOs. We also discover that the VST‐based discrimination differs widely among people, but most are unaware of this effect as evidenced by daily conversations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A personal norms intervention strategy is an effective way to reduce food waste behavior. However, the mechanism controlling how personal norms affect food waste behavior needs to be further investigated. In addition, previous studies have reported that weight control is part of this mechanism, but few studies have focused on how internal (personal norms) and external beauty (weight control) act simultaneously on individuals. This study constructed an analytical framework with personal norms as the independent variable, emotions as the mediating variable, and weight control as the moderating variable from a cognitive perspective. A stratified regression approach was used to analyze 835 validated questionnaires on food waste at the consumption level (outside the home) that were collected from across China. The results showed that (1) Chinese consumer personal norms about eating at restaurants and outside the home exacerbated food waste behavior; (2) consumer emotions mediated the effect of personal norms on food waste behavior; and (3) weight control moderated both paths associated with the mediating effect of emotions, and its cubic term had a more significant moderating effect. Policy recommendations are proposed based on the conclusions of this study that will effectively reduce food waste behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imagery of wine and tea is important in classical and modern Chinese poetry, with an intricate relationship between the two especially evident in the work of Taixu 太虛 (1890–1947), a prominent poet–monk in 20th-century China. Taixu's attitude toward wine—a drink that is deeply rooted in Chinese culture—evolves significantly over time, from initial approval to eventual condemnation due to its detrimental effects on both personal health and society. Nevertheless, it continues to feature prominently in his poetry. The same is true of tea, which Taixu often uses to evoke either Buddhist study or his own healthy lifestyle. This article explores this and other complex meanings in Taixu's poems, such as his association of wine with knights and tea with hermits. It also discusses how he achieves a delicate balance between the two beverages, sometimes employing both types of imagery in a single poem—a literary innovation that helped to establish his reputation as a central figure in modern Chinese poetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]