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Cost overruns are a common issue in the construction industry of developing countries particularly Pakistan. Construction industry of Pakistan is playing important role for development and economic growth of Pakistan. Comprehensive understanding is required to overcome this cost overrun problem. The objective of this study is to identify the critical cost overrun factors in construction industry of Pakistan. To accomplish this objective, a detailed literature review was carried initially, which resulted in identifying 49 common cost overrun factors in the construction sector. Second, a structured questionnaire with a 5-point likert scale was designed and disseminated to 33 highly experienced stakeholders in Pakistan's construction industry to obtain opinion on critical cost overrun factors. Data was collected and analysed using mean score analysis. Based on mean scores critical cost overrun factors are schedule delay, financial difficulties faced by contractor, fluctuation in price of materials, poor site management, poor contract management, inadequate planning, fraudulent practices and kickbacks, frequent design changes, change in scope of project. This study convey a better understanding of critical cost overrun factors to stake holders of construction Industry of Pakistan in order to mitigate the cost overrun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry is one of the major sectors in every nation that provides several services to individuals and other sectors. Researchers are studying the challenges facing this sector to develop integrated and scalable solutions to improve its efficiency, which can be reflected in the growth of the national economy. Accordingly, this study aims to analyze the important factors affecting cost overruns in construction projects among the main project stakeholders. The current study adopted a quantitative approach using a questionnaire survey to achieve this aim. The survey targeted the main construction project stakeholders. The data collected were analyzed using the Relative Important Index (RII), Rank Agreement Factor (RAF), and Percentage Rank Agreement Factor (PRAF) methods. The study results revealed that the most important category affecting project cost overruns is Financial-Related Factors. Additionally, the study findings revealed that owners and contractors agreed that an increase in fuel cost was the most critical factor. Meanwhile, the PRAF method showed that the critical factors affecting cost overrun are frequent design changes, fuel cost increase, high transportation cost, extra quantity during construction, and owner's financial difficulties. These findings can help construction industry professionals to assess and predict the critical factors affecting cost overruns of their projects. Predicting these factors helps develop necessary plans to reduce the impact of cost overruns in construction projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to test and analyze the effect of financial distress on tax avoidance mediated by transfer pricing in manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2020-2022. This study uses a descriptive method with a quantitative approach. The number of samples taken in this study was 48 companies. The sampling technique was carried out with a nonprobability sampling approach, namely the purpose sampling method. The findings of this study are transfer pricing is not able to mediate the effect of financial distress on tax avoidance; transfer pricing affects tax avoidance, and financial distress affects tax avoidance. This research implies that it is expected to contribute and refer to further research on the analysis of financial distress on tax avoidance mediated by transfer pricing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 crisis affects the well-being of people everywhere in the world in terms of economic, social relationships, and health. Individuals at 50 age and older are a more vulnerable part of the society, who experience difficulties with the existing economic implications. Being less adaptive to the external circumstances out of the household, the literature shows that older adults tend to be exposed to higher risks for worsening mental health. The current study aims to analyze the relationship between the economic state and mental health status as consequences of the Covid-19 crisis. We track the changes in mental health state with a dependency on household monthly income state. The main practical benefit of analyzing income instability and financial difficulties over mental health status is that it may lead to understanding the importance of government support to the population of 50 age and over. The study contributes to the literature, devoted to a major social question, proposing the implementation of public strategies to ensure sustainability and wellbeing for adult individuals in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations are currently working in increasingly complicated situations, owing to the rapid changes in the environments. Pandemics, financial difficulties, and external pressure from public, governments, and NGOs compel educational institutions to the increasing complexity of their operations to achieve sustainability in the sense of resilience and long-term viability of their operations. Some previous research discovered sustainable leadership has a positive and significant impact on the functioning of educational institutions. It is, however, insufficient to explain and relate the effect of recent technology change and use. As a further step, this research investigates the moderating effect of IT sophistication on the links between long-term leadership and educational institution success. The sophistication includes developing human capacity, developing strategy, and forming partnerships, developing long term goals from short term objectives, creating diversified workplaces, and learning lessons from the past. It is also directly related with listening ability, which is one of the variables that contribute to long-term leadership success. When it comes to defining institutional performance, the new measurement is also conceptually proposed to be linked to creating value. It brings together more critical components of the organization, such as quality management and intellectual capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aimed to analyze the effects of stakeholder pressure and financial performance on sustainability reporting. Stakeholder pressure was measured based on environmental pressure, shareholder pressure, consumer pressure, and employee pressure. Financial performance was measured based on profitability, liquidity, and leverage. The population of this research was all mining-sector firms listed on the IDX in the period 2017–2019. The sample of this research was extracted by the purposive sampling technique. The research findings showed that the variables profitability, liquidity, leverage, employee performance, and consumer pressure were affected by sustainability reporting, while the other variables, environmental pressure, and shareholder pressure, were not affected by sustainability reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Present a literary review on business sustainability, as well as the main practices used both in its assessment and in judgment formulation and opinion issuing about the business continuity ability. By studying the business performance and its evaluation process, the aim is to observe the contribution of the financial analysis, both in its traditional and more developed aspects, to the construction of an opinion on the business continuity. To detect the influence and possible usage of practices or indicators of business health prediction in determining the opinion on the companies’ continuity ability. Identify potential common grounds between the business bankruptcy prediction and the continuity assessment. Evaluate to what extent the growing concern and investment in the research of the anticipation and causes of business bankruptcy and its ability to recovery may contribute to the usage of the instruments that it has been being developed, as well as their dissemination both in the academic and professional environment. (Macedo 2017, Peres 2022) Finally, reflect and observe the main drivers in business continuity’s judgment construction and opinion issuance, evaluating its evolution, attempting to contribute to its improvement. Methodology: The theoretical framework was constructed through the review of the available reference bibliography regarding the topics under discussion, followed by the necessary explanation of the most important concepts, with an approach aimed at identifying potential connections between them. Results: We sought to establish the basis for identifying evidence, albeit in a preliminary aspect of literary review, regarding the use of more advanced and resilient methodologies of financial analysis, better techniques and their particularities in order to enable the study of these effects on formulation of judgment and issuance of opinion on business continuity. In addition to reflecting on financial analysis, performance and business continuity, as main conclusion we observed that in the formulation and substantiation of the opinion or judgment on continuity, a global and widespread practice of using objective metrics, supported by resilient financial analysis indicators, such as bankruptcy prediction models is not identified. (Ryu et al 2007, Carvalho 2013, Geiger et al 2019) This demonstrates that there is still a long way to go, regarding the usage of more than simply elementary indicators, of univariate analysis, or lesser that that, only the analyst's experience, so that these models and techniques are an effective instrument to support the construction opinion and determination of business continuity (Breia et al 2014, Peres and Antão 2017, Peres and Carvalho 2024). Originality: The search for identifying and anticipating situations of financial difficulties or breakdown of business continuity is a current topic as well as being particularly important in crisis situations and given the growing number of company closures. Complement studies already developed, focusing on the Iberian economy, allowing for in-depth research into bankruptcy and business sustainability, enabling the triggering of improvements in the application of the techniques described. Emphasize the dissemination and dissemination of these, highlighting their importance in the life of companies and implementing their instrumental use by management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Financial distress is a state under which the organisation's financial position is unstable yet has not gone bankrupt. Many manufacturing companies in Indonesia experienced corporate financial instability, revenues from manufacturing companies continued to fluctuate, and some companies experienced negative operating profits. It creates a significant effect on financial distress, where it is not just the business that will incur losses but also the stakeholders. Thus, the present study attempts to analyse the factors (i.e., liquidity, profitability, leverage, company size, and interest rates) that affect financial distress in Jakarta Stock Exchange-listed companies, Indonesia. This study uses secondary data collected from two sources, i.e., the Central Bureau of Statistic and Financial Services Authority website for 2012 to 2018. The data analysed using multiple linear regression by assisting with econometric software, namely Eviews-10. This study found that liquidity, profitability, leverage, and interest rate significantly affect financial distress. Besides that, firm size does not affect financial distress. The results showed that, from the independent variables studied, it was proven that the liquidity variable and the interest rate had a negative effect on financial distress. Meanwhile, the variables of profitability and leverage have a positive effect on financial distress. It means that company leaders must consider liquidity, profitability, leverage, company size and interest rates to avoid financial distress. However, it is also necessary to pay attention to the Economic Stimulus, which can moderate these variables' relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the cointegration and causality relationships between business confidence and financial stress for the PIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain) based on monthly data covering between January 2008 and December 2019. Panel ARDL methodology and Pooled Mean Group estimation techniques are used to test the short-run and long-run relationships between the variables. The findings indicate that financial stress is significantly and negatively affected by business confidence in the examined countries in both the long run and short run. Furthermore, the current month's financial stress level is negatively affected by the last month's business confidence and financial stress levels. Finally, a univariate causality relationship running from business confidence towards financial stress is revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to determine the effect of financial distress, management change, audit opinion, institutional ownership, and company size both partially and jointly on the change of auditors. This study uses a sample of manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2011-2018. The number of companies sampled was 160 companies with a total of 883 observations. The results showed partially, only management change variables and audit opinion have a significant effect on auditor switching, while financial distress, institutional ownership, and company size variables do not show a significant effect on auditor switching. TAudit opinion, auditor switching, company size, financial distress, institutional ownership, management changehe findings in this study contribute to the issue of auditor switching that is influenced by financial distress, management change, audit opinion, institutional ownership, and company size which are still being debated, especially for cases in capital markets in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the failure determinants of small and medium enterprises in Serbia. The aim is to examine the relationship between size and age, and the failure of small and medium-sized enterprises. The analysis was performed on data from a survey conducted in Serbia in small and medium-sized enterprises during 2018 and 2019, which had financial difficulties and at some point ceased or dramatically changed the business operations. Separate statistical analyzes were conducted for the size of small and medium enterprises and the factors of failure, and for the age of enterprises, in order to determine the categories that are more sensitive to financial distress than others. The results indicate that enterprises in Serbia are differently affected by the financial crisis when looking at the size of companies, while attitudes about certain factors of failure do not differ. Further, in the case of the age of the enterprise, the results show that younger enterprises are more prone to financial crises and bankruptcy than more mature enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste management and treatment is an important way to combat environmental pollution and contribute to improving human health because waste, air, water and soil pollution contribute negatively by increasing the level of environmental pollution considering also the high level of urbanization and living standards nowadays. Many countries in the world face problems that arise as a result of poorly managed waste and Kosovo is one of them. Waste generation increases with population growth Kosovo has an area of 10,905.25km, and 38 municipalities with 1,469 settlements organized according to the laws of the country. According to Kosovo Agency of Statistics, the resident population in Kosovo is about 1,798,506 inhabitants. In Kosovo during 2018 were generated about 227 kg per capita compared to 2007,157 kg per person. Due to such increase of water quantity, almost all the cities of Kosovo face challenges in ensuing sustainable waste management, including financial and legal ones. The purpose of this paper is to identify the main challenges of Peja municipality in Kosovo in managing waste in sustainable way and comparing it with Ljubljana city in Slovenia. The research method includes analyzing literature and legislation, distribution of questionnaire and interviews. Results proof that the current legislation in Kosovo on sustainable waste management generally is in line with good practices but lacks proper implementation. The legislation provides also a good financing mechanism for sustainable waste management but there is still a lack of budget to achieve sustainable waste management objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article builds on scientific work, which in the framework of the in-the-go analysis has identified a practice-making problem for the performance of air rescue services in the field, with an emphasis on the network of landing areas, their information (technical) security and the risks associated with the decision-making process for conducting the flight under minimum time disposition conditions for the safe achievement of the landing area and the rescue helicopter landing itself on the selected area. The emergence of air rescue service on the territory of the former Czechoslovakia was a response to a reasonable request to address the problem of time-consuming availability of urgent medical care, the time of reaching the patient was long to the need for an acute solution to the emergence of a critical situation. As well as the time it takes to transport the patient to an adequate medical facility or to a higher workplace. Due to the increase in automobile, tourism and leisure activities, there has been pressure to address the availability of urgent pre-medical care. The inclusion of helicopter rescue paramedics in the comprehensive ambulance service system also became a solution to address similar requirements in the surrounding countries. The establishment and deployment of helicopter rescue medical services (VZZS) was gradually implemented in the capital and other regional towns. In parallel with the emerging Centre’sof the VZZS, various types of helicopters were tested which potentially met the requirements for the performance of the intended tasks under consideration, several types of light, medium and heavy helicopters were deployed. During the test operation and the knowledge gained in practice, the benefits of heavy helicopters have proved to be superfluous in practice. The difficulty of the dimensions of the helicopter landing areas has been identified as problematic. Similarly, the requirement of one patient, possibly one patient accompanied by specialist medical staff, was statistically confirmed. In view of these facts, the operation of large heavy helicopters as a potential is not used. The most suitable type of helicopters for deployment in the performance of HEMS tasks proved to be small light helicopters with a small radius of the blades of the supporting rotor. The short-lived radius of the support rotor has been proven to be used in the search for an area of suitable dimensions for off-road landing. By reducing the difficulty to the dimensions of the helicopter landing area in the field, the number of suitable landing areas and thus the availability of healthcare has increased many times. In the subsequent period, development occurred in terms of rescue equipment as well as technical equipment of helicopters for the implementation of special rescue operations, first through the suspended equipment. The development of aeronautics technology has also been used to develop technical means. More extensively, helicopter equipment was carried out by on-board winch, allowing the ground-based rescue of persons from inaccessible terrain, the disposition of the doctor and the emergency services to an inaccessible location, the evacuation of persons from these places. With the adaptation of the technical equipment and the ability of operators to carry out the activity in parallel, the number of requirements for hems deployment in different parts of the country has increased. In carrying out the operation with the assistance of an on-board winch, a stopover was required in the operation to date after the injured person was lifted from the ground to load the patient into the helicopter, which puts it difficult to make available a suitable landing area at an available distance from the point of intervention. In view of the year-round operation of these flights, the availability of an appropriate and safe landing area at an achievable distance is becoming essential, especially in the winter months. The most successful deployment may be considered to be the implementation of rescue operations with the help of an on-board winch in a high-mountain environment. The difficulty of the conditions makes it difficult to factor in weather conditions. The weather changes very quickly in these locations, and it can be concluded that the unexpected is not expected. The long-term forecast for the specific part of the mountain range is essentially unfeasible, the financial and technical difficulty does not allow the equipping of individual valleys, saddles and mountain shields with measuring technology for the collection and distribution of data on the condition and day running of the weather. Flights performed in given locations are primarily dependent on environmental knowledge, local specificities and anabolism. With the rule, an experienced pilot in a given location can decide on the execution of a flight or not to execute it based on his own experience. Despite such experienced personnel, there are weather changes that are unexpected and unforeseen and require an urgent decision to land on the ground, in the locations where the current VZZS helicopter is located. Due to the non-construction of the network of landing surfaces, the implementation of a safety landing is subject to an appropriate place in the range at a given moment. However, it should be remembered that the alpine environment is inhospitable, rocky with large slopes, steeps and places that meet the condition of inclination and dimension for helicopter landing is in individual valleys and alpine places minimum. After the rescue operation has been completed and the patient is subsequently rescued, the rescued person is transported by air to the nearest medical facility. The network of health facilities in the territory of the Slovak Republic is represented in all regions. The scope of healthcare provided in individual facilities varies. Regional hospitals provide basic health care. Larger complicated procedures are carried out in higher workplaces and in the network of terminal hospitals. The reason for such a division is the requirement to equip hospitals with the necessary medical equipment and, first and foremost, qualified staff. The general problem of securing qualified staff does not allow staff to be provided to specialized workplaces in all hospitals. It is more effective to provide sufficient number of qualified staff in higher workplaces, which are usually in faculty and university hospitals, located with the rule in county towns and terminal hospitals in the capital. A patient requiring intervention at such a workplace is transported by ground or air component of the rescue system to a higher workplace. The assumption of the coming years rather suggests a decline in qualified staff and will therefore increase the demands from regional hospitals for the acute transport of people from regional hospitals to higher or terminal hospitals. These requirements mean and will continue to require, to a greater extent, to ensure the time benefit and gentle transport of the deployment of Air Rescue Service helicopters to carry out such transports. For the purposes of this article, we will rename these flights as Secondary Transports. Secondary transports are carried out at day and night time throughout the year, depending on current weather conditions.The very nature of these flights clearly indicates that they will be carried out from the known permanent areas of HEMS Centre’s to the known landing areas of regional and local hospitals with known dislocation and specification with regard to the region in which they are located. However, a perfect knowledge of the environment, regional specificities and weather anomia’s, but also the current situation in the area of the landing area and weather conditions in the area, is not sufficient to carry out these flights. The permanent areas for hems helicopter landing are named as areas of public interest (PIS). The PIS areas were built as a temporary makeshift solution during the creation and development of the SZZS. In the following years, however,they were not overhauled and developed, but they remained in makeshift form in the immediate vicinity of hospitals without further development. They are currently being degraded. In the following post, we will discuss them in more detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In schools, the teachers’ responsibilities are not just limited to preparation for teaching, handling students, preparing and marking examination papers, but they also have school administration responsibilities. The amount of administrative workload may also be perceived as an interference with the time for the teachers to plan and prepare for their teaching. There has been an increase in the number of Mathematics teachers in Brunei Darussalam who chose to change their career path from being a teacher. In addition, few incidents have been reported where teachers were emotionally affected by the amount of their workloads. This study investigated which aspects contributed to Bruneian Mathematics teachers’ stress, and how do these teachers manage their workload stress inside and outside their schools. In total, 116 Mathematics teachers responded to an online questionnaire, which was based on a 4-point Likert scale. The participants comprised of Mathematics teachers who taught at the primary (38), secondary (49), post-secondary (20) school levels, and also at the tertiary level including the technical schools in Brunei (9). The main factors that were found to have contributed to the Mathematics teachers’ stress were the teachers’ workload, the public’s perspective of a teacher, financial burden and the students’ behaviour and performance. In managing workload stress within the school, 56% of the respondents believed that teamwork on the workload can help them lessen the stress acquired. Meanwhile for outside school, workload stress may be reduced with family activities or going on vacations. The existence of stress on our Mathematics teachers and how they can cope with stress will need to be addressed accordingly if we are to promote a healthy workplace culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most important condition for the success of commercial organizations is the effective management of financial resources, focused on strengthening financial stability in the current and long vista. Morphological analysis of interpretations of financial stability revealed the emphasis of Russian and foreign researchers on the functioning of organizations in a turbulent environment. The imbalance of the national economy is the most important exogenous factor affecting the financial stability of organizations, respectively, the opposition to the unstable external environment is one of the main tasks of financial stability management. Considering financial stability management as a system, the article presents the main functions of the management subsystem. It is shown that the management of financial stability of the organization in a turbulent environment should ensure its stable development at a certain level of risk. It is proposed to include the tools of strategic management and, above all, the system of balanced indicators in the process of financial stability management in the conditions of turbulence of the external environment, which allows to more accurately determine the level of financial stability of the organization and to specify management decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction-related ill health, including respiratory conditions, hand–arm vibration syndrome, musculoskeletal disorders and stress-related issues, has enormous personal and financial cost. Following research on major construction projects, a range of interventions are proposed in this paper, illustrated by examples from the Thames Tideway Tunnel project in London, UK. A consistent approach to occupational health management and health surveillance is needed across construction, with a commitment to better training and improved portability of occupational health data. Major projects are critical to raising health management standards, but good practices need to be universally adopted in small- to medium-sized enterprises to achieve lasting improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stressful life events are commonly assumed to be responsible for changes in psychological distress in the context of economic downturns, but relatively few studies test these pathways empirically, and even fewer account for the broad range of employment, financial, and housing related hardships individuals nay face during turbulent times (Burgard and Kalousova 2015). The present study provides new insights about the connection between recessions and mental health by investigating whether 1) the number of recession-related hardships matter for changes in distress within individuals over time, and 2) perceptions of powerlessness both mediate and amplify the association between recession hardships and changes in distress. To achieve these objectives, this study draws on two waves of a large national survey--the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS; N=2,077)--that were collected before (2005/2006) and after (2013/2014) the Great Recession in America. OLS with lagged depend variable models produce three major findings. First, net of a wide range of social and demographic characteristics, more recession-related hardships lead to greater increases in both powerlessness and distress between waves. Second, adjusting for changes in powerlessness partly explains the association between recession hardships and changes in distress. Third, changes in powerlessness magnify the association between recession hardships and psychological distress--hardships are more distressing for individuals that report greater increases powerlessness. Taken together, these patterns support the structural amplification hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses qualitative data to investigate how having student loans effect families. Through interviews with sixty people currently working as lawyers in the US I found student loans become an additional factor in negotiating family resources. The necessity or existence of student loans had the ability to create financial stress on the family unit, even when the student loan allowed for higher incomes and would be deemed a good financial "investment." I found three primary life events in which student loans became additional factors in negotiating family resources. First, when individuals negotiated how to pay for higher education with their parents, second when individuals with student loans began looking for life partners and third when individuals tried to plan and negotiate with their partner and children regarding how to pay for their children's subsequent education while also saving for retirement. By showing the non- monetary ways in which student loans affect family life, this study reveals that student loans should be studied more broadly to better understand how they can become barriers to family cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a large body of research has established that financial strain is associated with deleterious mental health outcomes, little is known about the potential mediating mechanisms, which might limit the extent to which scholars understand how and why financial strain impairs mental health. Using the three waves (2011-2015) of the Canadian Work Stress and Health Study (CAN-WSH) along with structural equation models, we ask: (1) does work-family interface (i.e., work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict) mediate the relationship between financial strain and psychological distress. And (2) do any observed patterns differ for men and women. Our results indicate that work-to-family conflict mediates the relationship between financial strain and psychological distress. However, there is little evidence suggesting the mediating effect of family-to-work conflict. Moreover, we observe that some paths appear to differ for men and women. The research and policy implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on over 8 million eviction records from 28 states, this study documents a feature of housing insecurity--serial evictions--undetected by previous research. Serial evictions occur when a property manager files to evict the same household repeatedly from the same address. This study shows serial evictions to be common: filings associated with serial cases made up more than half of eviction filings in our sample. In-depth interviews with property managers, tenants, and court officials document the dynamics and consequences of serial evictions. When the barriers to entry are low, property managers use housing court to help them collect rent and late fees; they routinely pass court costs on to tenants, thereby increasing the latter's financial hardship. For the average tenant who experiences serial evictions, fines and fees can increase housing costs by as much as 22%. Tenants report that being taken to court multiple times also produces psychological strain, social withdrawal, and legal cynicism. Serial evictions exacerbate tenants' housing cost burden and compromise their quality of life in ways not reflected by the standard indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past theory and research in medical sociology has frequently focused on the association between financial strain and physical health across the life course. However, the direction of effect between these two variables is still unclear. We help to clarify the relationship between these variables by conduction formal tests to identify the leading indicator in two independent samples of mid- and later life adults. Results from both samples provide some evidence that financial strain is the leading indicator. We find no evidence that physical health is the leading indicator or that this association is completely bidirectional. Implications for theory and future directions for research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite considerable advances in research on flourishing, we still have limited knowledge about the extent to which flourishing domains are actually valued. This paper examines support for six flourishing domains - emotional health, physical health, purpose, character strengths, social connectedness, and financial security. A survey of 2,370 respondents demonstrated that these domains are indeed nearly universally valued. The survey was performed using un-identifiable participant data from randomly sampled employees of Aetna, a CVS Health business. A two-factor model, which fit the data best, suggested the presence of two distinct dimensions of material and psychosocial well-being importance. Women and men ranked the six domains in the same order, though women ranked each more highly than men. Having daily spiritual practice was the strongest predictor for five out of six of the individual domains - all but financial security. These valuations were associated with higher well-being scores within and across domains, with the cross-domain associations highest for character strengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The workplace is a major source of stress in modern societies. The extent to which one aspect of organizational procedure, namely financial transparency, impacts stress and notions of justice remains unclear. Drawing on 2011 British Workplace Employment Relations Survey data, this study investigates the transparency-stress relationship, how it might be mediated or moderated by other organizational dynamics, and whether or not the impact might be conditional. Our hierarchical analyses of nearly 20,000 workers across over 2,000 unique workplace establishments reveal that financial transparency reduces stress almost linearly across different levels of transparency--an ameliorating effect that is robust even in the face of a wide range of worker and workplace controls, and that is stronger in firms with lower average incomes and with collective bargaining contracts. Casual mediation analysis demonstrate that positive managerial assessments are the major mechanism underlying this relationship, while job security and organizational commitment play a much more limited role. We elaborate on these findings and conclude by suggesting that much more attention is warranted in the work, organizations and health literatures to how institutional and organizational context, and the structural and relational encounters therein, impact the well-being of individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines changes in women's status in the household over the life course. Using nationally representative longitudinal data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), the study focuses on two key life course transitions: entry into childbearing and the cessation of childbearing through the adoption of permanent contraceptive methods (female sterilization). Becoming a mother was associated with increased spousal communication and physical mobility but had no effect on household financial decision-making. The cessation of childbearing was associated with a decline in restrictions on physical mobility, expanded control over household resources, and increased spousal communication. The findings illustrate the need for demographers to consider life cycle dimensions of women's social status and complicate our understanding of the direction of causality between women's status in the household and fertility behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of this paper is the study of the financial stress - macroeconomic fundamentals interrelations and the usefulness of financial stress as a leading indicator of macrofundamentals. We construct a set of financial stress indices for 25 countries, both developed and developing. After assessing these indices ability to capture periods of macrofinancial instability, a forecasting exercise is conducted, where major macroeconomic variables are forecasted using the aforementioned early warning indicators. The out-of-sample forecasting evidence verifies the ability of these financial stress indices to act as valuable modern tools for assessing the vulnerability of a range of economies. We suggest that such aggregate financial risk capturing tools can be of great interest for policy makers, as well as individual investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a policy response to some fiscal challenges in small Upstate New York cities that have significant public and private college student populations. These populations require unfunded outlays to ensure public safety for college students, which add to municipal fiscal stress. We undertake an empirical analysis of some affected small cities, and propose a targeted fee to help balance city budgets negatively effected by the greater expenditures needed to ensure the safety of residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case report illustrates a unique presentation of a female with a 30cm fungating right breast mass, who was aware of its rapidly increasing size over three years, but avoided obtaining medical aid. The patient eventually presented due to a sudden escalation of symptoms in her breast. She underwent a right mastectomy. Histology revealed that the tumour was a fibroadenoma with elements of malignant Phyllodes tumour. Analysis of the clinical presentation, past history, assessment and medical outcome of this patient are included in this case report. An association between the patient's avoidance of medical attention and her role as full time carer for her disabled daughter as well as financial stresses are discussed. The epidemiology, diagnosis and management of Phyllodes breast tumour are also included in the case report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial statements are prepared so that the financial information can be used by stakeholders to better understand and mange the firm. An important aspect of using financial statements is to help make better decisions, especially as related to the financial impact of the decisions. Effective interpretation and use of financial statements is important because poor financial capitalization is a leading cause for small firm failure (Coleman, 2000 and Carter and Van Auken, 2005). Because poor decisions can lead to financial stress and failure, the role of financial statements is central to maintaining firm competitiveness and solvency (Coleman, 2000; Wiklund and Shepherd, 2005). In this paper we examined factors associated with whether SME owners: (1) use financial statements and (2) comfort with their ability to interpret financial statements. Both issues are important to examine because of the importance of financial statements among all stakeholders. The vast majority of the research on the use of financial information and financial statements has been focused on large firms. There appears to be few papers on how SMEs use financial statements in making decisions (Shields, 2010). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crisis has shown that deposit insurance issues matter a lot for financial stability. It is essential to have properly functioning deposit insurance schemes in place when financial stress emerges. And it is essential that these robust insurance frameworks are built sufficiently in advance in good times, given that it is often too late to improvise once the problems occur. The resilience of mature financial markets proved to be much weaker than we thought. Risk management frameworks, from governance arrangements to models, were unable to cope with incentive structures that led to excessive leverage and risk-taking. Neither supervisory arrangements nor market discipline were able to prevent the crisis, and markets proved to be less efficient and less self-stabilising than we thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current financial crisis proved again, that financial system stability is crucial for a sound economy. However, there is neither a widely accepted definition of financial system stability, nor a widespread framework for measuring it. Recently some authors tried to develop a financial stability index - a continuous measure of financial system stability, where extreme values signal financial crises. This paper proposes a new approach for constructing a synthetic stability index by means of taxonomic analysis. Then this new index is compared with a few of the frameworks for developing a financial stability index described in the literature. It is found, that most weighting schemes produce similar results, so the crucial step in the index construction is the choice of variables. Finally, some conclusions are drawn on the stability of the Polish financial system in the period from 1998 till present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two fundamental propositions are explored: 1) do differences in exposure to social stress account for variations in stress exposure for race and gender and 2) do variations in stress exposure account for the additional stress burden that women caught in the intersections of race, class and gender experience. As regards predicting depressive symptoms, the types of strains that were implicated for Black males was having a serious illness, low decision making latitude jobs, perceptions of financial stress and adverse health behaviors. For Black females, not feeling safe in their neighborhoods and demands from family were predictors of depressive symptoms. Moreover, discrimination and the stress induced by racist acts were significant predictors of adverse mental health for both Black males and Black females. For Whites, the antecedents of stress that were implicated in mental health risk were more acute than chronic. Results indicate for White males that the most influential events associated with depressive symptoms were being a victim of a robbery and not feeling safe in the residential neighborhoods. Not being married, relationship hassles, too many spousal demands, and perceptions of chronic strains were strongly related to depressive symptoms for White females. Placing "social strains" in comparative perspective for status groups, results from the paper provide evidence that the types of stressors Black males and Black females experience are chronic and systemic strains that are a result of racial stratification. For Whites, the predictors of adverse mental health seem to be more domestic than systemic. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How workers perceive, label, and cope with stressful job conditions and how job produced strains relate to overall psychological well-being are identified as research, agenda items for organizational stress researchers. Occurrences which are construed as attacking the financial status of people are suggested to be underattended to critical work events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of the ability to make ends meet on the duration of unemployment around the Great Recession. Our thought experiment can be summarised as follows: we are in steady-state. What happens to the duration of unemployment if we put some people into financial distress? Do these persons get out of unemployment faster? Is the change in odds of getting re-employed constant over the duration of unemployment? Does this effect vary with the outside environment, for instance, with the local labour market, the socio-economic circumstances in a particular country, the business cycle, etc.? Did the Great Recession make a difference regarding the outcomes. Methodologically, our study follows a discrete time duration approach as proposed by Jenkins (1995) in order to estimate re-employment hazards. The control variables we use consider those previously proposed in the literature. We also attempt to address potential endogeneity by lagging our distress variable, the ability to make ends meet. Overall, our contribution is the large scale of data of EU-SILC during the years before and after 2008. Other than most previous studies, we attempt to find the causal impact of distress on unemployment duration including the role of the Great Recession in thisframework. Our results suggest that financially distressed people get out of unemployment slower than those not in distress, but this effect changes over the course of unemployment. In particular, our findings can be summarised as follows: 1. Distressed people get out of unemployment slower in general than those not in distress. 2. The Great Recession decreases re-employment probabilities for both, distressed and non-distressed people. 3. With the increasing length of an unemployment spell, distress increases the probability of getting re-employed. This is not so before the fourth month of unemployment. 4. Males are facing lower re-employment probabilities than women. 5. In Mediterranean- and Central and Eastern Europe, survival probabilities in unemployment have generally smaller differentials than in North-west Europe when comparing people having-with those not having problem with making ends meet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]