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This paper examines whether financial distress is associated with tax avoidance and whether the COVID-19 pandemic moderates such association.

The sample covers 38,958 firm-year observations from 32 countries during the period 2015–2020. Financial distress is measured using the ZSCORE by Altman (1968), while tax avoidance is based on the book-tax difference.

Financially distressed firms exhibit low tax avoidance pre- and during the pandemic periods. The authors find higher tax avoidance during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, but the pandemic enhances the negative relationship between financial distress and tax avoidance.

The study offers evidence on how financial distress drives firms to engage in more tax avoidance when firms globally encountered various levels of financial difficulty sparked by the economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The findings provide insights to policymakers on the need to monitor and incentivise financially distressed firms, especially during economic challenges due to pandemic.

This study adds to the limited, albeit important, evidence on the joint effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and financial distress on tax avoidance.

This study aims to answer the following questions which have not been investigated in the literature to the best knowledge: Is there any bubble in the German housing sector between 2005–2009 and 2012–2017? and Is there any linkage between economic policy uncertainty and the housing sector price index?

This study aims to shed some light on the German’s housing sector by investigating the housing sector bubble and the causal link between the housing sector index and economic policy uncertainty in Germany, using GSADF, Granger causality, Toda Yamamoto causality and wavelet coherence tests.

The findings reveal that there are some bubbles in the housing sector in Germany for the periods investigated, there is a positive correlation between economic policy uncertainty and housing sector price index at different frequencies and different periods and between 2008 and 2009 and between 2011 and 2013, economic policy uncertainty leads housing sector price index. The consistency of the findings from wavelet coherence is confirmed by the outcomes of Granger causality and Toda Yamamoto causality tests.

To the best knowledge, this is the first study that empirically investigates the relationship between the housing sector and EPU using a novel wavelet econometric method. In addition, this paper extends the research focused on the associations between the housing sector and EPU, by checking the bubbles in the market in different time horizons by using the longest available data span. Furthermore, the consistency of the findings from wavelet causality is confirmed by the outcomes of Granger causality and Toda Yamamoto causality tests. Finally, compared to the previous literature on the relationship between housing and EPU, the study uses a hedonic index for housing for the first time in the case of Germany.

A methodology of structuring a garment production simulation model using a spreadsheet is described to minimize the average daily production cost through the investigation of various man‐machine combinations. The capability and usability of an easily available modern spreadsheet Excel 7.0 to simulate a simple garment production system is accessed with an attempt to demonstrate the simulation model building in a user friendly environment rather than learning and using costly simulation programming languages or simulation software packages. Simulation has evaluated the resource utilization and measured the system performance and developed strategies for taking operational decisions in a logical and better way to minimize the garment production cost. It may also assist and benefit the garment production managers to plan, design and operate their systems in an efficient manner in a competitive environment.

Managers are constantly making decisions that affect profit. One of the decision‐making areas which is crucial to all managers concerns profit planning. Attempts to show how cost‐volume‐profit (CVP) analysis, aided by the computer spreadsheet, can be applied to the practical profit planning situation in the hospitality industry. Paradoxically, CVP analysis is one of the most widely referred to techniques in managerial accounting, but all too often it is not used to its full potential in the operating environment. Aims at encouraging greater use of the CVP approach to hospitality profit planning.

The purpose of this research is to assess public perception of food‐related hazards by Portuguese consumers at major metropolitan areas. A contrast was searched between controllable and non‐controllable hazards.

The Perceived Food Risk Index developed by Fife‐Schaw and Rowe, was administered to a sample of 666 subjects through a door to door interview using a random route walk procedure and following a quota sampling controlled for sex, age and location. Risk perception was evaluated over ten risk characteristics, for each of the hazards.

Through principal component analysis, two main components were identified: “Knowledge” and “Dread”. A perceptual map of the hazards was built over these two dimensions. A high level of worry and concern associated with fatty foods was found, clearly contradicting the expected attenuation of risk perception associated to greater perceived personal control. Contrarily to previous findings for other populations, GMOs yielded lower levels of both “Knowledge” and “Dread”. Based on risk perceptions, consumers were grouped in four segments: optimists, unconfident, fearless, and fearful.

This work adds to knowledge on the Portuguese consumer and its risk perceptions, a fairly unreported topic, thus helping to the success of food safety communication by different stakeholders.

The purpose of this study is to explore relationships between cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer (CA), and diet using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping techniques to investigate spatial trends.

Databases containing CVD and CA deaths are listed by state in the USA; databases containing state food consumption statistics, therefore, were sought. Available databases indicating dietary patterns were used to create spatial maps of the USA using ArcGIS (ESRI, Redlands, CA, version 9.2), to visually show trends in relationships among CVD, CA, and diet. Correlations and linear regression were used to determine statistical relationships among variables.

Maps show visual relationships between CVD and CA death rates, and a statistically significant positive correlation (r=0.765; p=0.0005) was also found. Southeastern states have the highest death rates for both diseases. Negative correlations were found between CVD and CA deaths and household expenditure for nuts (r=−0.525; p=0.0005 and r=−0.526; p=0.0005, respectively), and CVD deaths and fruit and vegetable intake (r=−0.423; p=0.002). Household expenditure for nuts was a predictor of CVD (β=−0.469, p=0.002) and CA (β=−0.490, p=0.002) deaths.

These trends indicate a need for further research on diet and these diseases, and for state‐wide dietary studies to facilitate research using GIS mapping. Food consumption patterns, especially nuts, may be related to CVD and CA death rates. Southeastern states should be targeted for nutrition intervention and education programs.

This article provides an in-depth study of leader resilience during the prolonged COVID-19 crisis.

The research is based on interviews with leaders in the hotel, retail and manufacturing industries during the pandemic. The analytical framework is individual resilience as both a process and an outcome. The analysis method is a combination of deductive and inductive content analysis.

This study offers a rich description of the interaction among the behavioural, situational and individual factors influencing leaders during the various stages of the global COVID-19 crisis.

Highlighting the role of leaders' personal reflections on the interaction between resilience factors and leaders' identity work, this paper contributes to the field by introducing an extended model of leader resilience.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how food aid providers in Sussex and Southwest London responded and managed during the pandemic.

The methodological approach consists of three inter-related layers. A qualitative description research approach based on naturalistic inquiry, supplemented by site visits and personal observations was used.

The pandemic catalysed dramatic, often positive, changes to the provision of food aid, with a move away from the traditional food bank model. It brought about increased coordination and oversight, as well as the upscaling of capabilities, infrastructure and provisions.

The paper contributes to the literature on food aid in the UK It provides evidence for how providers are transforming the sector for the better and potentially helping to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the theory and practice of governance for integrated care, using the case of New Zealand’s healthcare alliances.

This is descriptive analysis.

Alliance governance provides considerable scope for bringing health professional together to focus on whole system approaches to care design. As such, it facilitates care integration.

This is a descriptive review.

Descriptions of alliance governance in New Zealand and in general are rare in the literature. This paper fills this gap.

Social prescribing is a model of integrated care, in which primary healthcare staff can link patients to the social care sector. However, social prescribing can occur in different forms. To better understand the concept of social prescribing, this literature review examines the role of the link workers, activities and target groups.

A literature review was conducted. Studies before May 2020 were considered. In total, 1,700 studies were identified using the databases Pubmed, PsycInfo, Cinahl, Web of Science and Cochrane Library. After eligibility checks, 16 studies were included in the final analysis.

A few studies warned of a deeper engagement of the link worker due to service dependency, but most studies encouraged an active and supportive role of the link worker. Participants engaged in social, physical and counseling activities. The majority of studies emphasized the importance of linking group activities with personal preferences and identity needs. The main target groups were composed of individuals with psychosocial needs, but some studies also included patients with physical or mental illnesses.

Social prescribing is widely advocated as an innovative model of integrated care. However, few studies have looked into the complex system of social prescribing. This study analyzes the linking processes, activities and target groups in extant social prescribing programs.