Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are gaining worldwide recognition. The question of whether CSR and sustainability programs benefit an organisation's financial success is still being debated. This study aims to verify this phenomenon by examining the current literature pattern on this relationship using bibliometric and systematic review analysis. It further provides a taxonomy for understanding this association. VOSviewer is used to obtain comprehensive dataset mapping and clustering in the field. The manuscript offers promising insights regarding academia by assessing the pattern of publication trends, the most influential author in the area, and analysing the methodological and theoretical underpinnings of CSR, sustainability and firm performance linkage. The outcome of this study provides exploratory insights into research gaps and avenues for future research.

Aim/Purpose: This paper aims to empirically quantify the financial distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The paper also aims to identify the most important predictors of financial distress pre- and mid-pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge toll, not only on human lives but also on many businesses. This provided the impetus to assess the impact of the pandemic on the financial status of Jordanian companies. Methodology: The initial sample comprised 165 companies, which was cleansed and reduced to 84 companies as per data availability. Financial data pertaining to the 84 companies were collected over a two-year period, 2019 and 2020, to empirically quantify the impact of the pandemic on companies in the dataset. Two approaches were employed. The first approach involved using Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) based on Altman’s (1968) model to obtain the Z-score of each company over the investigation period. The second approach involved developing models using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) with 15 standard financial ratios to find out the most important variables in predicting financial distress and create an accurate Financial Distress Prediction (FDP) model. Contribution: This research contributes by providing a better understanding of how financial distress predictors perform during dynamic and risky times. The research confirmed that in spite of the negative impact of COVID-19 on the financial health of companies, the main predictors of financial distress remained relatively steadfast. This indicates that standard financial distress predictors can be regarded as being impervious to extraneous financial and/or health calamities. Findings: Results using MDA indicated that more than 63% of companies in the dataset have a lower Z-score in 2020 when compared to 2019. There was also an 8% increase in distressed companies in 2020, and around 6% of companies came to be no longer healthy. As for the models built using ANNs, results show that the most important variable in predicting financial distress is the Return on Capital. The predictive accuracy for the 2019 and 2020 models measured using the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) graph was 87.5% and 97.6%, respectively. Recommendations for Practitioners: Decision makers and top management are encouraged to focus on the identified highly liquid ratios to make thoughtful decisions and initiate preemptive actions to avoid organizational failure. Recommendation for Researchers: This research can be considered a stepping stone to investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the financial status of companies. Researchers are recommended to replicate the methods used in this research across various business sectors to understand the financial dynamics of companies during uncertain times. Impact on Society: Stakeholders in Jordanian-listed companies should concentrate on the list of most important predictors of financial distress as presented in this study. Future Research: Future research may focus on expanding the scope of this study by including other geographical locations to check for the generalisability of the results. Future research may also include post-COVID-19 data to check for changes in results.

Beside making organizations look like their peers through the adoption of similar attributes (which we call alignment), this paper highlights the fact that conformity also enables organizations to stand out by exhibiting highly salient attributes key to their field or industry (which we call conventionality). Building on the conformity and status literatures, and using the case of major U.S. symphony orchestras and the changes in their concert programing between 1879 and 1969, we hypothesize and find that middle-status organizations are more aligned, and middle-status individual leaders make more conventional choices than their low- and high-status peers. In addition, the extent to which middle-status leaders adopt conventional programming is moderated by the status of the organization and by its level of alignment. This paper offers a novel theory and operationalization of organizational conformity, and contributes to the literature on status effects, and more broadly to the understanding of the key issues of distinctiveness and conformity.

Theories of status rarely address unearned status gain—an unexpected and unsolicited increase in relative standing, prestige or worth, attained not through individual effort or achievement, but from a shift in organizationally valued characteristics. We build theory about unearned status gain drawing from a qualitative study of 90 U.S.-based employees of a Japanese organization following a company-wide English language mandate. These native English-speaking employees believed that the mandate elevated their worth in the organization, a status gain they attributed to chance, hence deeming it unearned. They also reported a heightened sense of belonging, optimism about career advancement, and access to expanded networks. Yet among those who interacted regularly with Japanese counterparts, narratives also revealed discomfort, which manifested in at least two ways. These informants engaged in "status rationalization," emphasizing the benefits Japanese employees might obtain by learning English, and prevaricated on whether the change was temporary or durable, a process we call "status stability appraisal." The fact that these narratives were present only among those working closely with Japanese employees highlights intergroup contact as a factor in shaping the unearned status gain experience. Supplemental analysis of data gathered from 66 Japanese employees provided the broader organizational context and the nonnative speakers' perspective of the language shift. These findings expand our overall understanding of status dynamics in organizations, and show how status gains can yield both positive and negative outcomes.

Growing workforce diversity increases the likelihood that supervisors and subordinates will differ along demographic lines, a situation that has important implications for their relationship quality and individual outcomes. In a sample of 1,253 employees from 54 work-units, we investigate the effects of differences in disability status between supervisors and subordinates on leader-member-exchange (LMX) quality and subsequent performance ratings, and find that incongruence in general is related to lower LMX quality and lower performance. In addition, we propose and find an asymmetrical effect of disability incongruence, such that LMX quality is worse in dyads in which the supervisor has a disability than in dyads in which the subordinate has a disability. Furthermore, we investigate the moderating role of unit-level climate for inclusion on this relationship and find support for a buffering effect of inclusive climates on the negative incongruence-LMX relationship for scenarios in which the supervisor, but not the subordinate, has a disability. We build relevant theory for the relational demography, disability, LMX, and organizational climate literatures by predicting these effects on the basis of status mechanisms. These findings have important practical implications, as they provide companies with a feasible way to manage their diverse workforce.

SHC dismayed over Sindh govt 'dragging its feet on the matter'

A federal appeals court has ruled the Department of Education improperly rejected Grand Canyon University's switch from for-profit to nonprofit status, granting a key point in the Christian school's appeal of a record fine.

affaritaliani.it
 
 
08-11-2017.-
  
Alessandro Sahebi
 

Triangle, VA — The United Mine Workers Association is suing the Mine Safety and Health Administration and its administrator, David Zatezalo, over the legality of the agency’s removal of a Sophia, WV, mine from Pattern of Violations status.

Arlington, VA — Top-ranking Democrats in the House Education and the Workforce Committee and the Workforce Protections Subcommittee are questioning the legality of a Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission decision to remove a Sophia, WV, mine from Mine Safety and Health Administration Pattern of Violations status.

The MSA G1 Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus offers integrated and enhanced solutions to exceed users’ needs today as well as years into the future.

Washington — OSHA has warned Arizona, South Carolina and Utah to adopt their own version of the agency’s emergency temporary standard on COVID-19 for health care workers or face possible revocation of their State Plan status, according to multiple reports.

Washington — Citing Arizona’s “pattern of failures to adopt and enforce standards and enforcement policies at least as effective” as those used by OSHA, the agency is proposing to “reconsider and revoke” the final approval of the state’s State Plan for oversight of worker safety and health.

Washington — OSHA has extended until July 5 the deadline to comment on its proposal to revoke Arizona’s State Plan status.

Washington — OSHA will reopen, for an additional 60 days, the comment period on its proposal to revoke Arizona’s State Plan status, the agency has announced.

Washington — Arizona’s State Plan for oversight of worker safety and health will remain in place after OSHA announced its plan to withdraw a proposed rule to “reconsider and revoke” the final approval status of the plan.

Washington — The Department of Labor’s regulatory agenda for Fall 2021, released Dec. 10, includes a proposed rule that – should OSHA decide to move forward on it – would revoke Arizona’s State Plan status.

The Immix certification program is based on employee training, as well as system and infrastructure requirements.

Washington — OSHA will soon be able to issue certifications in support of T and U nonimmigrant status visas, a move the agency contends will aid in some workplace safety investigations.

The G1 SCBA is lightweight and has a low-profile design that decreases stress and fatigue.

Children's Geographies; 06/01/2022
(AN 156867997); ISSN: 14733285
Academic Search Premier

Abstract This article explores the emergence of cocktail culture in interwar Singapore. Mixed alcoholic drinks were consumed by British men in Singapore from at least the 1910s, including the famous “Singapore Sling.” However, it was not until the 1920s that cocktails became the drink of choice for elite men and women from Singapore’s Chinese, British, […]

The post The Cosmopolitans: Cocktail Culture, Gender, and Social Status in Interwar Singapore was curated by information for practice.

Numerous studies have explored the impact of pre- and post-migration factors on the overall health of migrant populations. The objective of this study is to enhance our understanding of additional determinants… Read the full article ›

The post Assessing the health status of migrants upon arrival in Europe: a systematic review of the adverse impact of migration journeys was curated by information for practice.

Volume 36, Issue 5, September-October 2024, Page 427-433. Read the full article ›

The post Impact of work type and APOE-e4 status on cognitive functioning in older women was curated by information for practice.

Current Directions in Psychological Science, Ahead of Print. Conspiracy theories have been treated mostly as a homogeneous phenomenon in empirical research. However, to fully understand their causes and consequences, a multifaceted approach to conspiracy theories would be useful. Here, we propose an organizational framework with three facets (groups, ideology, and status) to conceptualize conspiracy theories. […]

The post Conspiracy Theories: Groups, Ideology, and Status as Three Distinct Bases for Expressions in Society was curated by information for practice.

Russia is making pointless and even strange steps in and around space, and they are all the more sad because they cost the Russian budget a lot of money and deprive the nation of the space power status. Why the United States would like to work with Russia in space, but Russia would not The space race has been getting increasingly intense lately. Different countries declare their claims to the Moon. It appears that China is going to be the first to go there. The exploration or even the colonisation of Mars is next on the list. Space exploration by private corporations is in full swing:

The performance of a high-Z photon-counting detector for powder diffraction measurements at high (>50 keV) energies is characterized, and the appropriate corrections are described in order to obtain data of higher quality than have previously been obtained from 2D detectors in these energy ranges.

Third- and fourth-generation synchrotron light sources with high fluxes and beam energies enable the use of innovative X-ray translucent experimental apparatus. These experimental devices access geologically relevant conditions whilst enabling in situ characterization using the spatial and temporal resolutions accessible at imaging beamlines. Here, Heitt Mjölnir is introduced, a heated miniature triaxial rig based on the design of Mjölnir, but covering a wider temperature range and larger sample volume at similar pressure capacities. This device is designed to investigate coupled thermal, chemical, hydraulic and mechanical processes from grain to centimetre scales using cylindrical samples of 10 mm × 20 mm (diameter × length). Heitt Mjölnir can simultaneously reach confining (hydraulic) pressures of 30 MPa and 500 MPa of axial stress with independently controlled sample pore fluid pressure < 30 MPa. This internally heated apparatus operates to temperatures up to 573 K with a minimal vertical thermal gradient in the sample of <0.3 K mm−1. This new apparatus has been deployed in operando studies at the TOMCAT (Swiss Light Source), I12 JEEP (Diamond Light Source) and PSICHÉ (Synchrotron SOLEIL) beamlines for 4D X-ray microtomography with scan intervals of a few minutes. Heitt Mjölnir is portable and modular, allowing a wide range of 4D characterizations of low-grade metamorphism and deformational processes. It enables spatially and temporally resolved fluid–rock interaction studies at conditions of crustal reservoirs and is suitable for characterization of material properties in geothermal, carbonation or subsurface gas storage applications. Technical drawings and an operation guide are included in this publication.

Mevalonate kinase is central to the isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway. Here, high-resolution X-ray crystal structures of two mevalonate kinases are presented: a eukaryotic protein from Ramazzottius varieornatus and an archaeal protein from Methanococcoides burtonii. Both enzymes possess the highly conserved motifs of the GHMP enzyme superfamily, with notable differences between the two enzymes in the N-terminal part of the structures. Biochemical characterization of the two enzymes revealed major differences in their sensitivity to geranyl pyrophosphate and farnesyl pyrophosphate, and in their thermal stabilities. This work adds to the understanding of the structural basis of enzyme inhibition and thermostability in mevalonate kinases.

Long-term population trends for some North American pollinators -- bees, birds, bats, and other animals and insects that spread pollen so plant fertilization can occur -- are demonstrably downward, says a new report from the National Research Council.

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine says that Medicare’s value-based payment programs could take into account social risk factors – such as low socio-economic position, residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods, or race and ethnicity – but any proposal to do so will entail both advantages and disadvantages that need to be carefully considered.

FiberSMART is a versatile, well-tolerated sugar alternative that can be consumed multiple times per day.

Additionally, the company is on track to achieve its goal of sending zero waste to landfill by 2025.

Environmental and health impacts have prompted beverage-makers to explore the benefits of using glass for their primary packaging, experts note.

Empowering Readers to Overcome Adversity and Embrace Resilience

The ebook version of Little Bit Of Faith will be available at no charge August 20 through August 21, 2024 at Amazon.

Demonstrating Best-in-Class Implementation Expertise on Dassault Systèmes Solutions

PROLIM, a global leader in PLM, IT, Mendix, and Cloud Services, proudly announces its achievement of AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner Status.

Insights from SeniorMatch Highlight Changing Relationship Preferences and Online Dating Habits

Modernizing the USDA's IT Infrastructure

We Build Mortgage and Title Companies for Real Estate Brokers and Builders

The United States of KAILASA, the First Sovereign State of Hindus, has achieved a historic milestone with the United Nations recognizing its juridical statehood and sovereign status through the publication of its 18th report.

New Microsoft Cloud Partner Program is focused on proficiency in six cloud solution areas

Five consultants from Denny Cherry and Associates Consulting (DCAC), a full-service IT consulting company, have been awarded Microsoft MVP status.

Walker is the author of several award-winning articles and books. His second book, My Saddest Pleasures: 50 Years on the Road, was recognized by the Peace Corps Writers for Best Travel Writing. The Guatemala Reader debuted as a #1 New Release

The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that an employer was properly penalized for failing to make an indemnity payment to an injured worker because of a dispute over when and if…

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld the modification of a worker’s status from totally to partially disabled. Case: Hines v. Aria Health (WCAB), No. 708 C.D. 2023, 08/22/2024, unpublished. Facts and procedural…

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld the denial of a municipal employer’s petition to convert an injured worker’s status from temporarily totally disabled to temporarily partially disabled. Lamont Turner worked for…

Research Highlights: The socioeconomic status of first-time moms in early pregnancy may affect their cardiovascular health up to seven years later. Socioeconomic status — education level, income level, health insurance status and health literacy — of ...