New Heathenry between past and present. The case of Ásatrúfélagið and Samfundet Forn Sed

As a variant of alternative spirituality derived from postmodern fluidity and fragmentation of large narratives, Nordic Heathenry has gone through a revival for the past decades. Due to the common ground of potentially völkish/ethnicist views shared by far-right milieus, it has been confronted with the risk of the extremist framework dominating the reception of Norse symbols and myths. While many strains of heathenry might present similarities in their neo-romantic nativist revival, some have been attempting to focus on a heritage discourse that can become acceptable and normalized in society, reflecting an open and inclusive attitude. The Asatru Association in Iceland and The Old Way in Sweden, through their public message and stated mission, underline the need for the freedom to reinvent myth and ritual while remaining anchored in the present, thus distancing themselves from other cultural appropriations and proclaiming their own role in society. The very flexible view on myth and ritual constitutes a defining aspect for the identity of these movements.

Mengimplementasikan Dwi Kewarganegaraan Kristen dalam Era Pos-Sekulerisme

This article examines the relationship of the Church to politics in post-secularism popularized by Jurgen Habermas. The research method used in this research is literature study. This research finds that, Post-secularism offered by Habermas provides space for the Church to translate the wealth contained in religion into a public message. In the view of post-secularism the Church has an important role to fill in the empty spaces that cannot be achieved by rationality. Habermas's thoughts on post-secularism also serve as a bridge to harmonize faith and rationality, as well as to explain dual citizenship as an unrelated Christian political view.Artikel ini menelaah hubungan Gereja dengan politik dalam pos-sekulerisme yang dipopulerkan oleh Jurgen Habermas. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah studi pustaka. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa, Pos-sekulerisme yang ditawarkan oleh Habermas memberi ruang Gereja untuk menerjemahkan kekayaan yang terkandung dalam agama menjadi pesan publik. Dalam pandangan pos-sekulerisme Gereja mempunyai peran penting untuk mengisi ruang kosong yang tidak dapat dijangkau oleh rasionalitas. Pemikiran Habermas mengenai pos-sekulerisme juga menjadi jembatan untuk menyelaraskan iman dan rasional, sekaligus menerangkan kewarganegaraan ganda sebagai pandangan politik Kristen yang selama ini tidka dimengerti.

Social media communication of public institutions. Case study: Representation of the European Commission in Romania

With the development of social networks and their becoming as the main means of informing citizens about the activities of local, central and European public administration, more and more institutions have synchronized their institutional communication strategy with the functioning mechanisms and characteristics of Social Media. At the same time, in the age of social networks, concepts for authority and control of the public message have been reconfigured, and most public institutions have understood that in Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Youtube, etc.), institutions do not have control over the message, but the essential role in the dissemination and control of the message is played by the online public.

Understanding South Korea’s Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Real-Time Analysis

This case study focuses on the epidemiological situation of the COVID-19 outbreak, its impacts and the measures South Korea undertook during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the first case was confirmed on 20 January 2020, South Korea has been actively experiencing the COVID-19 outbreak. In the early stage of the pandemic, South Korea was one of the most-affected countries because of a large outbreak related to meetings of a religious movement, namely the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, in a city called Daegu and North Gyeongsang province. However, South Korea was held as a model for many other countries as it appeared to slow the spread of the outbreak with distinctive approaches and interventions. First of all, with drastic and early intervention strategies it conducted massive tracing and testing in a combination of case isolation. These measures were underpinned by transparent risk communication, civil society mobilization, improvement of accessibility and affordability of the treatment and test, the consistent public message on the potential benefit of wearing a mask, and innovation. Innovative measures include the mobile case-tracing application, mobile self-quarantine safety protection application, mobile self-diagnosis application, and drive-thru screening centres. Meanwhile, the epidemic has brought enormous impacts on society economically and socially. Given its relationship with China, where the outbreak originated, the economic impact in South Korea was predicted to be intense and it was already observed since February due to a decline in exports. The pandemic and measures undertaken by the government also have resulted in social conflicts and debates, human-right concerns, and political tension. Moreover, it was believed that the outbreak of COVID-19 and the governmental responses towards it has brought a huge impact on the general election in April. Despite of the large outbreak in late February, the Korean government has flattened the COVID-19 curve successfully and the downward trend in the number of new cases remained continuously as of 30 April. The most distinctive feature of South Korea’s responses is that South Korea conducted proactive case finding, contacts tracing, and isolations of cases instead of taking traditional measures of the containment of the epidemic such as boarder closures and lockdowns.

ON THE PREPARATION OF FOREIGN STUDENTS FOR STUDENT LOCAL READINGS "THE NATIVE LAND, FOREVER FAVORITE..."

Student scientific and practical conferences are an important component of enhancing students' independent and cognitive activities. The article discusses the features of individual work with foreign students in the preparation of an oral public message and its presentation at a regional conference. It is noted that the participation of foreign students in scientific and practical conferences increases interest in the study of the Russian language, contributes to.

A Model of Central Bank Communication

Chapter 3 introduces a simple bargaining model that determines how precisely (or not) committee members will communicate with the mass public. The game assumes that the monetary committee consists of an agenda-setting chair and a median committee member, who bargain over the content of an official policy statement, aiming to send a consensual public message. The equilibrium outcomes illustrate different predicted levels of vagueness in the policy statement as a consequence of whether members have alike or opposing preferences or biases. The main empirical implications investigated in the rest of the book are introduced: When the chair and member have opposing preferences, policy statements will be more precise than when the chair and the member have similar preferences; when the chair and the member have opposing preferences, the more dissimilar they are, the greater the number of edits to the policy statement; and finally, more precise economic information will attenuate the publics’ inflation expectations, reducing aggregate inflation.

Functional fear predicts public health compliance in the COVID-19 pandemic

In the current context of the global pandemic of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), health professionals are working with social scientists to inform government policy on how to slow the spread of the virus. An increasing amount of social scientific research has looked at the role of public message framing, for instance, but few studies have thus far examined the role of individual differences in emotional and personality-based variables in predicting virus-mitigating behaviors. In this study we recruited a large international community sample (N = 324) to complete measures of self-perceived risk of contracting COVID-19, fear of the virus, moral foundations, political orientation, and behavior change in response to the pandemic. Consistently, the only predictor of positive behavior change (e.g., social distancing, improved hand hygiene) was fear of COVID-19, with no effect of politically-relevant variables. We discuss these data in relation to the potentially functional nature of fear in global health crises.

Endogenous Monitoring in a Partnership Game

I consider a repeated game in which, due to imperfect monitoring, no collusion can be sustained. I add a self-interested monitor who commits to obtain private signals of firms’ actions and sends a public message. The monitor makes an offer specifying the precision of the signals obtained and the amount to be paid in return. First, with a low monitoring cost, collusive equilibria exist. Second, collusive equilibria are monitor-preferred. Third, in monitor-preferred equilibria, firms’ payoffs are decreasing in the discount factor. My model helps explain cartel agreements between self-interested parties and firms in legal industries in the United States and Europe. (JEL C73, D43, D82, L12)

Smoking status and mortality outcomes following percutaneous coronary intervention

Objective The aim of this study was to assess the impact of smoking on short (30-day) and intermediate (30-day to 6-month) mortality following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Background The effect of smoking on mortality post-PCI is lacking in the modern PCI era. Methods This was a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data comparing short- and intermediate-term mortality amongst smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers. Results The study cohort consisted of 12,656 patients: never-smokers ( n = 4288), ex-smokers ( n = 4806) and current smokers ( n = 3562). The mean age (±standard deviation) was 57 (±11) years in current smokers compared with 67 (±11) in ex-smokers and 67 (±12) in never-smokers; p < 0.0001. PCI was performed for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in 84.1% of current smokers, 57% of ex-smokers and 62.9% in never-smokers; p < 0.0001. In a logistic regression model, the adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals (CIs)) for 30-day mortality were 1.60 (1.10–2.32) in current smokers and 0.98 (0.70–1.38) in ex-smokers compared with never-smokers. In the Cox proportional hazard model, the adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) for mortality between 30 days and 6 months were 1.03 (0.65–1.65) in current smokers and 1.19 (0.84–1.67) in ex-smokers compared with never-smokers. Conclusion This large observational study of non-selected patients demonstrates that ex-smokers and never-smokers are of similar age at first presentation to PCI, and there is no short- or intermediate-term mortality difference between them following PCI. Current smokers undergo PCI at a younger age, more often for ACS, and have higher short-term mortality. These findings underscore the public message on the benefits of smoking cessation and the harmful effects of smoking.

The Ebenezer Gospel

This chapter details Martin Luther King, Jr.’s stint as “copastor” of Ebenezer Baptist Church, which lasted for less than one hundred months. Although he did not preach at Ebenezer every Sunday, he spoke there often enough to establish “my gospel,” an evolving, sometimes volatile interpretation of God’s will for Ebenezer and the world. The Ebenezer Gospel is what the preacher King said to his people over the course of his pastorate. It is important to gather the fragments of this gospel into a coherent whole because he carried a modified version of it into world history, thus making knowledge of the Ebenezer Gospel essential to an understanding of his public message—his quest for justice, yearning for redemption, insistence on nonviolence, embrace of suffering, prophetic rage, and all else that emerged from his Sundays in Atlanta. King’s Ebenezer sermons are the religious subtext for his sermon to the nation.