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This paper presents a study on 80 countries that evaluates the socioeconomic factors in containing the spread and mortality of COVID-19. Our results show that the long-term social factors such as lower personal freedom, better education in science, and past coronavirus outbreak experience are more effective than the economic factors such as higher healthcare-associated factors per 1000 population and larger GDP. However, using GDP per capita as the instrumental variable, we also find that the richer countries with a high degree of personal freedom have a higher number of infection or death cases per million population because they would be less likely to adhere to and implement the policy of the movement restrictions to restrict their access to goods and services. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

A multistage biometric verification system uses multiple biometrics and/or multiple biometric verifiers to generate a verification decision. The core of a multistage biometric verification system is reject option which allows a stage not to give a genuine/impostor decision when it is not confident enough. This paper studies the effectiveness of symmetric rejection for multistage biometric verification systems. The symmetric rejection method determines the reject region by symmetrically rejecting equal proportion of genuine and impostor scores. The applicability of a multistage biometric verification system depends on how secure and user convenient it is, which is measured by the performance–cost trade-off. This paper analyzes the performance–cost trade-off of symmetric rejection method by conducting extensive experiments. Experiments are performed on two biometric databases: (1) publicly available NIST database and (2) a keystroke database. In addition, the symmetric rejection method is empirically compared with two existing rejection methods: (1) sequential probability ratio test-based method, which uses score-fusion and (2) Marcialis et al.’s method, which does not use score fusion. Results demonstrate strong effect of symmetric rejection method on creating a secure and user convenient multistage biometric verification system.

Students may lack the motivation to read for many reasons, including inadequate access to interesting texts, limited encouragement to read for pleasure from adults, instructional practices that do not foster engagement in learning, or a history of reading failure. This article focuses on students with reading disabilities who may have a long-standing dislike of reading born of repeated negative experiences with learning to read. Motivating these students to read for pleasure may seem like an unattainable goal. However, past difficulties in reading do not necessarily mean that children will dislike reading forever. In conjunction with appropriate academic interventions, student interest in reading might be improved by motivational interventions aligned with a theoretical framework discussed in this article: (a) choosing interesting texts to read, (b) stimulating knowledge-based interest, and (c) enhancing task-based interest.

Following the 2007–2008 financial crisis, there is widespread interest in understanding how derivative use drives bank lending behavior. Our paper examines the impact of bank ownership structure on the relationship between derivative use and lending activities of U.S. banks. We find that lending recovered faster in larger banks than smaller banks post-crisis and in line with Diamond’s (Diamond DW 1984 Financial intermediation and delegated monitoring. Rev Econ Stud 51:393–414) systemic risk reduction theory, derivative use is positively associated with lending growth. Ownership is significant in explaining the magnitude of the relationship even after controlling for alternative specifications of the derivative use variable. In both normal and crisis periods, the speed of adjustment of lending to derivatives use by stock banks lags that of mutual banks. We suggest that speculative trading in derivatives substitutes for lending growth to a larger extent for stock banks compared to mutual banks. These findings may have important implications for investors and bank regulators. © 2020, Academy of Economics and Finance.

The Kepler mission and subsequent ground-based follow-up observations have revealed a number of exoplanet host stars with nearby stellar companions. This study presents speckle observations of 57 Kepler objects of interest (KOIs) that are also double stars, each observed over a 3-8 yr period, which has allowed us to track their relative motions with high precision. Measuring the position angle and separation of the companion with respect to the primary can help determine if the pair exhibits common proper motion, indicating it is likely to be a bound binary system. We report on the motions of 34 KOIs that have close stellar companions, three of which are triple stars, for a total of 37 companions studied. Eighteen of the 34 systems are confirmed exoplanet hosts, including one triple star, while four other systems have been subsequently judged to be false positives and twelve are yet to be confirmed as planet hosts. We find that 21 are most likely to be common proper motion pairs, 4 are line-of-sight companions, and 12 are of an uncertain disposition at present. The fraction of the confirmed exoplanet host systems that are common proper motion pairs is approximately 86% in this sample. In this subsample, the planets are exclusively found with periods of less than 110 days, so that in all cases the stellar companion is found at a much larger separation from the planet host star than the planet itself. A preliminary period-radius relation for the confirmed planets in our sample suggests no obvious differences at this stage with the full sample of known exoplanets. © 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Facial expression emojis are commonly used in digital communications and marketing campaigns. However, it is less known how the design of emojis may affect consumer responses. To address this gap, this research examines the impact of emojis’ facial asymmetry levels on consumer judgments. Findings across four studies demonstrate that compared with their symmetric counterparts, asymmetric facial expression emojis are more likely to receive favorable consumer evaluations. This effect is driven by perceptions of human expression resemblance and emotional expression strength and tends to be more prominent among consumers with a higher level of emotional sensitivity. Moreover, marketing messages including an asymmetric (vs. a symmetric) emoji are more likely to generate positive consumer responses.

We report the discovery by the ground-based Hungarian-made Automated Telescope Network (HATNet) survey of the transiting exoplanet HAT-P-68b, which has a mass of 0.724 ± 0.043 MJ, and radius of 1.072 ± 0.012 RJ. The planet is in a circular P = 2.2984 day orbit around a moderately bright V = 13.937 ± 0.030 magnitude K-dwarf star of mass ${0.673}_{-0.014}^{+0.020}$ M⊙, and radius 0.6726 ± 0.0069 R⊙. The planetary nature of this system is confirmed through follow-up transit photometry obtained with the Fred L. Whipple Observatory (FLWO) 1.2 m telescope, high-precision radial velocities measured using Keck I/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES), FLWO 1.5 m/Tillinghast Reflector Echelle Spectrograph (TRES), and Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP) 1.9 m/Sophie, and high-spatial-resolution speckle imaging from WIYN 3.5 m/DSSI. HAT-P-68 is at an ecliptic latitude of +3° and outside the field of view of both the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite primary mission and the K2 mission. The large transit depth of 0.036 mag (r band) makes HAT-P-68b a promising target for atmospheric characterization via transmission spectroscopy.

Despite the fact that HIV- and AIDS-related stigma is consistently identified as an impediment to HIV prevention, a multilevel conceptualisation of HIV- and AIDS-related stigma continues to be poorly understood. The role of multilevel HIV- and AIDS-related stigma in the HIV prevention and intervention behaviours of Asian American and Pacific Islander who have sex with men in the USA is particularly overlooked. Psychology has contributed significantly to the identification of individual or interpersonal level factors influencing HIV- and AIDS-related stigma, while sociology has contributed to a more societal perspective. This dichotomy has led to the absence of a multilevel conceptual framework for analysing the HIV- or AIDS-related stigma experienced by Asian American and Pacific Islander who have sex with men in the USA. In this paper, we argue for need to develop such a model which is culturally grounded and bridges the individual, interpersonal and societal conceptualisations of stigma prominent in the social science literature. To that end, we use Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to explore the manifestation of HIV stigma at the micro, meso and macro levels and how these might impact on HIV testing and HIV service utilisation among Asian American and Pacific Islander men who have sex with men. We conclude by identifying some practice and research implications.

Alcohol (ethanol) use is almost normative by late adolescence, in most western countries. It is important to identify factors that distinguish those who progress from alcohol initiation to sustained use of the drug, from those that keep a controlled pattern of drinking. The factors precipitating this transition may change across development. This study analyzed associations between behavioral endophenotypes and ethanol intake at three developmental periods. Exp. 1 measured ethanol drinking at postnatal day 18, via an intraoral infusion procedure, in male or female pre-weanling rats screened for anxiety response in the light-dark box test and for distance traveled in a novel open field. Exp. 2 measured, in juvenile/adolescent or young adult rats, the association between shelter seeking, exploratory/risk-taking behaviors, anxiety or hedonic responses, and ethanol intake. Ethanol intake in pre-weanlings was explained by distance traveled in a novel environment, whereas anxiety responses, measured in the multivariate concentric square field apparatus (MSCF), selectively predicted ethanol intake at adolescence, but not at adulthood. Those juvenile/adolescents with lower mean duration of visit to areas of the MSCF that evoke anxiogenic responses exhibited heightened ethanol intake. These findings suggest that the association between anxiety and ethanol intake may be specifically relevant during adolescence. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC

What is known on the subject?: The loss of a parent for an adult can be devastating and can impact other relationships. The adult, in absence of parental love and support, may question their own identity. What this paper adds to existing knowledge?: A narrative is used to explain the adults’ experience of parental death and their new identity of being orphaned. What are the implications for practice?: Increased awareness for adults grieving the loss of a parent(s), as to the normalcy of feeling orphaned Adults grieving the death of a parent(s) are provided resources and support in addressing their grieving process. Abstract: Introduction When a parent dies during their child's adulthood, the life of the adult is altered as the familiarity of parental love and safety changes. The isolation and loneliness penetrates deeply as the orphaned adult must now navigate their world in absence of the most significant people in their lives, their parents. Aim To assist persons affected by parental death in understanding the normalcy of feeling orphaned while grieving. Method The use of a personal narrative to provide mental health support to others. Results The resumption of a routine that existed before parental death is possible, but takes time. Intermittent periods of grief can occur throughout one's life. Discussion When grief interrupts one's ability to function daily and the affected adult has relationships impacted by their parent's death, it is recommended that the adult seek mental health treatment. Implications for Practice Narratives can be used with persons affected by parental loss, to provide an example of normal versus complicated grieving and identify when mental health treatment is needed. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT; E.L. Deci & R.M. Ryan, 1985, 2000) and using corporate samples (N = 284; 63% Male; Mean Age = 34, SD = 6.09) from high-tech firms in China, this empirical study explored the path model from satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, through autonomous motivation to employees' innovative work behavior (“IWB”; J. De Jong & D. Den Hartog, 2010). It also simultaneously examined the interactions between autonomous work motivation and individual values (collectivism, H.C. Triandis (1995); uncertainty avoidance, R. J. House, P. J. Hanges, M. Javidan, P. W. Dorfman, & V. Gupta (2004); and power distance, J. Farh, R.D. Hackett, & J. Liang (2007)) in the conditioned path model. The regression results obtained from conditional PROCESS analysis (A.F. Hayes, 2013, 2018) suggest that basic psychological needs satisfaction is positively related to employees' IWB via autonomous motivation, but that these indirect effects were weaker when employees' power distance value orientation was high. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. © 2020 by the Creative Education Foundation, Inc.

Sensory Penalties aims to reinvigorate a conversation about the role of sensory experience in empirical investigation. It explores the visceral, personal reflections buried within forgotten criminological field notes, to ask what privileging these sensorial experiences does for how we understand and research spaces of punishment and social control.

Drawing on theoretical literature on the mothering discourse, I explore how incarcerated men give meaning to their relationships with their mothers. Using 24 in-depth interviews with incarcerated adult men, I argue that adherence to the mothering discourse results in sons holding their mothers’ maternal practices to impossibly high standards while simultaneously feeling obligated to reconcile with their mothers even when doing so is tremendously difficult. I also advance the concept of “maternal fusion”—the process through which the identities of mothers and their children are intertwined—to examine how incarcerated adult sons reproduce gendered mothering ideologies in their narratives of (a) negative early childhood and adolescent relationships with their mothers and (b) reconciliation as they reflect on their relationships with their mothers as adult sons.

"The Lamb's New Song" argues that the Book of Revelation is the primary model for the Christ-centered liturgy of early Dissenting hymnbooks. In particular, the depiction of heavenly worship in Revelation, in which the slain Lamb is exalted to the throne of God and then sung a new song, is fundamental to the theology and symbolic vocabulary of the early British hymn. Dissenting writers in the 1690s drew on the Apocalypse to challenge the hegemony of the psalter in congregational worship, replacing the recital of scriptural psalms with the creation of new hymns to Christ. The essay features the work of Richard Davis, a controversial Independent minister whose Hymns Composed on Various Subjects (1694) anticipates Watts ground-breaking volume Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707). Both writers foreground the christological drama at the heart of Revelation, in which the crucified and enthroned Lamb brings access to God, whose presence is made real during the public enactment of the hymn. The essay also challenges the influential theory of Stephen Marini, whose "Hymnody as History" (2002) posits an unbridgeable spiritual distance between the divine and human realms as a defining feature of eighteenth-century Anglophone hymns, a claim that fails to account for their central apocalyptic features. Putting early British hymnography in dialogue with New Testament studies can help show that British hymnists engaged with scriptural texts not simply as sources of doctrine and devotion but as fonts of inspiration and creativity.

Child and Adolescent Development: A Social Justice Approach features portraits of development at each stage interwoven with the findings of developmental science research on how inequitable resources and opportunities, which are influenced by social, economic, and political factors, can impact development. The text also presents findings on how such data can be used to reduce inequities for children and their families, thereby optimizing development and allowing individuals to reach their full potential no matter who they are. The text begins with a chapter that briefly describes the stages, domains, and patterns of child and adolescent development, as well as traditional and contemporary theories. Subsequent chapters provide insight into the research methods of developmental science and explain how epigenetic influences affect development. The book then progresses chronologically, discussing the physical, cognitive, and emotional changes that occur within each stage, guiding readers through a tapestry of development from conception through adolescence. Throughout, Pan & Zoom sections supply both big-picture and microscopic understandings of development, Tech & Media asides highlight the influences that technology and media can have on child and adolescent development, and Mentor Minutes provide readers with practical wisdom through interviews with diverse professionals working in the field. Featuring a timely and much-needed perspective on development, Child and Adolescent Development is an ideal resource for courses in psychology, education, counseling, human services, and social work.

Over the past decade, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and The Joint Commission have identified that communication problems are a root cause of most serious adverse events and that patients with limited English proficiency are more likely than others to suffer physical harm when such errors occur. It is essential to educate nursing students on the challenges of patients with limited English proficiency and empower them with tools, such as the National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services standards, to minimize this phenomenon in their future nursing practice. We describe an educational intervention designed to accomplish this using Kolb’s experiential learning theory as a foundation for implementation.

This study examined student, parent, and faculty perceptions of academic development needs and related comprehensive school counseling program services from four urban middle and high schools. Participants (n = 1,032) completed a survey designed to assist schools in planning and evaluating their career and college readiness programs, and exploring perceived student support needs. Statistically significant differences were observed in stakeholder perceptions among 12 identified interventions that support improved academic development, through factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) and pairwise comparisons analysis. Findings provide valuable information about prioritizing student academic counseling services strategically and effectively, to meet program needs of students in high-poverty schools.

“Build the Social Justice Bridge” was a participatory photography project that engaged international group workers in an assessment of group work as a social justice profession. Inspired by principles of photovoice research, the project invited social work students, educators, and practitioners from around the world to contribute photographs and brief narratives that represented the relationship between group work and social justice. The photographs were exhibited during the opening session of the 2018 Symposium of the International Association for Social Work with Groups (IASWG) in South Africa, where more than 200 participants from ten countries reflected on the meaning of the photos for the group work community. In viewing the photos, symposium participants identified a common vision of social justice as well as culturally-specific approaches to group work. Implications are drawn for the internationalization of professional knowledge. © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.