Search results for: social welfare

Authors: Raya Hamed Hilal Al Maamari

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The Gulf societies have been undergoing radical changes due to the technology transfer. It altered the humanities attitudes, especially, youth habits as they have become an addicted to using social media. This study aimed to find out the ratio of social media in guiding youth to participate with government’s institutions in decision-making and developing their societies. The study considered a descriptive study, social survey method was used on a sample of 100 young from different gulf countries, using an electronic questionnaire, as well as, some interviews with famous leaders of youth groups. Finally, the researcher suggested some effective ways activate youth efforts using social media in an effective manner to plan for the development policy in the community. The findings illustrated that social media plays a vital role in encouraging youth to participate enthusiastically in providing services. Noticeably, social media contains large numbers of youth. Therefore, the influences will be widely and feasible. Moreover, the study indicated the fact that most of the youth teamwork started in social media. Then, it has been growing in the real society.

Keywords: community, participation, social media, youth

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Authors: Xinyu Wang

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In the context of the rapid development of Internet technology and the increasing prevalence of online social media, this study investigates the impact of digital communication on social learning. Through three behavioral experiments, we explore both affective and cognitive social learning in online environments. Experiment 1 manipulates the content of experimental materials and two forms of feedback, emotional valence, sociability, and repetition, to verify whether individuals can achieve online emotional social learning through reinforcement using two social learning strategies. Results reveal that both social learning strategies can assist individuals in affective, social learning through reinforcement, with feedback-based learning strategies outperforming frequency-dependent strategies. Experiment 2 similarly manipulates the content of experimental materials and two forms of feedback to verify whether individuals can achieve online knowledge social learning through reinforcement using two social learning strategies. Results show that similar to online affective social learning, individuals adopt both social learning strategies to achieve cognitive social learning through reinforcement, with feedback-based learning strategies outperforming frequency-dependent strategies. Experiment 3 simultaneously observes online affective and cognitive social learning by manipulating the content of experimental materials and feedback at different levels of social pressure. Results indicate that online affective social learning exhibits different learning effects under different levels of social pressure, whereas online cognitive social learning remains unaffected by social pressure, demonstrating more stable learning effects. Additionally, to explore the sustained effects of online social learning and differences in duration among different types of online social learning, all three experiments incorporate two test time points. Results reveal significant differences in pre-post-test scores for online social learning in Experiments 2 and 3, whereas differences are less apparent in Experiment 1. To accurately measure the sustained effects of online social learning, the researchers conducted a mini-meta-analysis of all effect sizes of online social learning duration. Results indicate that although the overall effect size is small, the effect of online social learning weakens over time.

Keywords: online social learning, affective social learning, cognitive social learning, social learning strategies, social reinforcement, social pressure, duration

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Authors: Mariam Shalaby, Kayla Krause, Raisha Ismail, Daniel George

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Introduction: The Pennsylvania State College of Medicine Refugee Initiative is a student-run organization that works with eleven Syrian and Congolese refugee families. Since 2016, it has used grant funding to make weekly produce purchases at a local market, provide tutoring services, and develop trusting relationships. This case study explains how the Refugee Initiative shifted focus to face new challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Methodology: When refugees who had previously attained stability found themselves unable to pay the bills, the organization shifted focus from food security to direct assistance such as applying for unemployment compensation since many had recently lost jobs. When refugee families additionally struggled to access hygiene supplies, funding was redirected to purchase them. Funds were also raised from the community to provide financial relief from unpaid rent and bills. Findings: Systemic challenges were encountered in navigating federal/state unemployment and social welfare systems, and there was a conspicuous absence of affordable, language-accessible assistance that could help refugees. Finally, as struggling public schools failed to maintain adequate English as a Second Language (ESL) education, the group’s tutoring services were hindered by social distancing and inconsistent access to distance-learning platforms. Conclusion: Ultimately, the pandemic highlighted that a charity-based arrangement is helpful but not sustainable, and challenges persist for refugee families. Based on the Refugee Initiative's experiences over the past year of the COVID-19 pandemic, several needs must be addressed to aid refugee families at this time, including: increased access to affordable and language-accessible social services, educational resources, and simpler options for grant-based financial assistance. Interventions to increase these resources will aid refugee families in need in Central Pennsylvania and internationally

Keywords: COVID-19, health, pandemic, refugees

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Authors: Wahid Ahmad Dar, Irshad Ahmad Najar

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The influence of social media is percolating to every corner of our social life. It is also changing the social sphere of the classroom in particular and education in general. This paper tries to explore the ways in which social media is influencing student-teacher relationship. Differences have been found in student’s ability to draw benefits from using ICT. Besides digital divides in access and usage, there are attitudinal differences among students towards ICT aligned with traditional forms of social differences. The paper particularly focusses on how students from diverse backgrounds are using social media to interact with their teachers and how such interactions differ on the basis of social class, gender and residential background of students. A qualitative research methodology has been used for answering these questions. Open-ended questionnaire has been designed and administered to a sample of postgraduate students from University of Kashmir drawn purposively ensuring optimum number of subjects from all backgrounds. The data were analyzed by content analysis, deciphering general patterns in the data.

Keywords: social media, student-teacher relationship, social class, gender

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Authors: Naila Tallas Mahajna, Jamal Al Khateeb

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This study examined the level of social communication problems, social anxiety, and mood problems among children with ASD (age 6-13 years) enrolled in special classes (n=46) and regular classes (n=36) from teachers' perspective in the schools of a part of Palestine. Teachers responded to three questionnaires - social communication problems, social anxiety and mood problems- that were used to answer the research questions. Results: social communication problems, social anxiety and mood problems were of medium rates for students with ASD enrolled in reguler and special classes. No significant differences in the level of social communication problems could be attributed to class type (Regular, Special) or the grade level-(1st – 3rd, 4th - 6th). There were significant differences in social anxiety levels that could be attributed to grade level in favor of the 4th - 6th grades but there were no significant differences according to class type (Regular, Special). There were statistically significant differences in mood problems levels that could be attributed to the class type in favor of special classes, but no differences were found according to grade level. There was a direct significant relationship between communication problems, social anxiety, and mood problems. Conclusion: social communication problems may be an important risk factor for the development of social anxiety and mood problems among students with ASD.

Keywords: social communication problems, social anxiety, mood problems, autism spectrum disorders

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Authors: Mohammad Hossein Panahi

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Modern social sciences developed in Western Europe, and from there, it disseminated to the rest of the world, including Muslim World. Within the hierarchical world social science system that emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries, the West occupied the center, and the Third and Muslim Worlds fell into its periphery. Many social scientists, especially sociologists, in the Third and Muslim World since the 1970s have criticized this worldwide unequal division of scientific labor and have called for the development of independent/indigenous social sciences relevant to their own social conditions. Based on the conceptual framework of the World Social Science System, this paper studied the encounter of Muslim social scientists/sociologists with the Western social sciences. Using inductive thematic content analysis as the method of research, the author analyzed 32 purposefully selected articles from among over 500 collected articles from the 1970s to 2018 and categorized the obtained themes. The findings revealed three main types of encounters: reception, indigenization, and Islamization. ‘Reception’ refers to the encounter of those Muslim social scientists who embrace the positivist approach and believe that Western social sciences are valid and applicable worldwide, including the Muslim World. ‘Indigenization’ refers to the approach of those Muslim social scientists who, along with many critical Third World social scientists, reject the universality of Western social sciences and call for the development of indigenous social sciences. ‘Islamization’ refers to the position of those religious Muslim social scientists who believe that Muslim nations should Islamize social sciences based on the Islamic value and knowledge systems, in order to attain viable social sciences and free themselves from Western domination. Discussing these encounters, their supporters and opponents, the paper concludes that despite various efforts, none of the two alternatives to the Western social sciences have been able to replace it so far.

Keywords: indigenization, Islamization, Muslim world, social sciences, world social science system

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Authors: Bashaiar Alsanaa

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Social media have totally converged with social life all around the globe. Using social media applications and mobile phones have become somewhat of an addiction to most people. Driving while using mobile applications falls under such addiction when usage is not of urgency. This study aims to investigate the impact of using such applications while driving in the small, rich state of Kuwait, where most people juggle more than one phone for different purposes. Positive and negative effects will be explored in detail as well as causes for these effects and possible reasons. A full range of recommendations will be presented so as to give other countries a specific case study upon which to build solutions and remedies to this emerging and dangerous social phenomenon.

Keywords: communications, driving, mobile, social media

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Authors: Murat Sengoz, Mustafa Kemal Topcu

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This study aims to contribute to efforts of Turkey to increase research and development to overcome mid-income level trap by discussing regulations on patenting and licensing. Knowledge and technology transfer from universities to business world is attached great significance to increase innovation. Through literature survey, it is observed that the States accomplished to boost the economy and increase welfare by the Bayh-Dole Act enacted in 1980. Thus, this good practice is imitated by other nations to make technological developments. The Act allows universities to acquire patent right in research programs funded by government to increase technology transfer from universities whilst motivating real sector to use research pools in the universities. An act similar with Bayh-Dole could be beneficial to Turkey since efforts in Turkey are to promote research, development and innovation. Towards this end, the impact of Bayh-Dole Act on the patent system for universities in the Sates is deliberately examined, applicability in Turkey is discussed. However, it is conceded that success rate of applying Bayh-Dole Act in Turkey would be low once Turkey mainly differs from the States regarding social, economic and cultural traits.

Keywords: Bayh-Dole Act, knowledge transfer, license, patent, spin-off

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Authors: Akwesi Assensoh-Kodua

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Online Social Networks (OSN) has come and gone, yet the explosion of business activities on such platforms continuous to surge high, giving advantage to the bold entrepreneurs. It is therefore a practical requirement that practitioners and researchers understand the key determinants of costumers’ online social network business activities and continuance intention. An exploratory literature research to examine OSN continuous intention of business participants on OSN revealed that the practice of doing business on social network has come to stay and the following factors are the likely drivers for this new business model: perceived trust, perceived ease of use, confirmation, habit, social norm, perceived behavioural control, expected benefit, and satisfaction are the most probable factors that can lead to online social network (OSN) continuance intention.

Keywords: online social network, continuance intention, business continuance

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Authors: Justin M. Swanson, Anna Nelson, Daniel Handysides, Patti Herring, Christopher Hill

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Not only may social media use have a psychological impact, but increased use may be tied to decreases in physical activity and influencing sedentary behaviors. Social media can be used to share physically active lifestyles and possibly influence others to participate. In contrast, social media use may have adverse effects by decreasing participation in exercise. This study used a qualitative design to examine the relationship between social media use and exercise patterns. Participants were asked questions about their social media habits and how it might impact their physical activity behaviors. Self-reported exercise seemed to increase after viewing others engage in relatable activities or viewing someone that has overcame challenges. To increase the likelihood of engaging in exercise, exercise related posts should be low in difficulty, require few materials, or displayed progress from the individual posting.

Keywords: social media, exercise, physical activity, adults

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Authors: Bob Wang

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This study investigates the impact of social media usage on Chinese adolescents’ appearance anxiety. A total of 366 respondents were surveyed online about their self-perception regarding appearance and their social media usage. Each individual participant was asked about the type and frequency of social media usage as well as their opinion on statements regarding appearance anxiety. Participants were also asked to give short answers about their coping mechanism with appearance anxiety. Social media usage had a complex relationship with appearance anxiety, as most individuals acknowledged the appearance-related pressure generated by social media but also showed resilience towards appearance anxiety. Results suggest a wide impact of appearance anxiety on Chinese adolescents and highlight the person-specific resilience mechanisms adopted by those youths.

Keywords: appearance anxiety, self-perception, social media, coping mechanisms

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Authors: Chan Eang Teng, Tang Mui Joo

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In the beginning of the prevalence of social media, it would be an obvious trend that the young adult age group has the highest population among the users on social media. However, apart from the age group of the users are becoming younger and younger, the elderly group has become a new force on social media, and this age group has increased rapidly. On top of that, the influence of social media towards the elderly is becoming more significant and it is even trending among them. This is because basic computer knowledge is not instilled into their life when they were young. This age group tends to be engrossed more than the young as this is something new for them, and they have the mindset that it is a new platform to approach things, and they tend to be more engrossed when they start getting in touch with the social media. Generally, most of the social media has been accepted and accessed by teenagers and young adult, but it is reasonable to believe that the social media is not really accepted among the elderly. Surprisingly, the elderlies are more addicted to the social media than the teenagers. Therefore, this study is to determine and understand the relationship between the elderly and social media, and how they employ social media in their lives. An online survey on 200 elderly aged 45-80 and an interview with a media expert are conducted to answer the main questions in the research paper. Uses and Gratification Approach is employed in theoretical framework. Finding revealed that majority of the respondents use social media to connect with family, friends, and for leisure purposes. The finding concluded that the elderly use social media differently according to their needs and wants which is in par with the highlight of Uses and Gratification theory. Considering the significantly large role social media plays in our culture and daily life today, the finding will shed some light on the effect of social media on the elderly or senior citizens who are usually relegated into a minority group in today’s age where the internet and social media are of great importance to our society and humanity in general. This may also serve to be useful in understanding behavioral patterns and preference in terms of social media usage among the elderly.

Keywords: elderly, Facebook, Malaysia, social media

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Authors: Madiha Gohar, Ayesha Abrar

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Social entrepreneurship has gained currency in the field of entrepreneurship, however, the theoretical underpinning and the contextual influences on the creation and operations of social enterprises are still in infancy. Contextual influences on entrepreneurial endeavors of women have been researched, and it is assumed that like commercial entrepreneurship, some socio-cultural factors are most suitable for the creation of women social enterprises. This research is an effort to explore the contextual influences on women social enterprises using institutional theory as the main conceptual framework. A case study analysis was used to assess the formal and informal institutional influences on women social entrepreneurs and their enterprises. The personal accounts of women social entrepreneurs reveal the importance of formal and informal institutions; however, they advocate greater consideration of informal institutions for their entrepreneurial endeavors.

Keywords: case study, institutional theory, women social entrepreneurship, Pakistan

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Authors: B. Thanasansomboon, S. Choemprayong, N. Parinyanitikul, U. Tanlamai

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Being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, the patients as well as their caretakers are affected physically and mentally. Although the medical systems in Thailand have been attempting to improve the quality and effectiveness of the treatment of the disease in terms of physical illness, the success of the treatment also depends on the quality of mental health. Metastatic breast cancer patients have found that social support is a key factor that helps them through this difficult time. It is recognized that social support in different dimensions, including emotional support, social network support, informational support, instrumental support and appraisal support, are contributing factors that positively affect the quality of life of patients in general, and it is undeniable that social support in various forms is important in promoting the quality of life of metastatic breast patients. However, previous studies have not been dedicated to investigating their quality of life concerning affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to develop integrated social support through social networks to improve the quality of life of metastatic breast cancer patients in Thailand.

Keywords: social support, metastatic breath cancer, quality of life, social network

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Authors: Pranee Liamputtong, Hala Kurban

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Based on the therapeutic landscape theory, this paper examines how young Middle-Eastern refugee individuals perceive their health and well-being and address the barriers they face in their new homeland and the means that helped them to form social connections in their new social environment. Qualitative methods (in-depth interviews and mapping activities) were conducted with ten young people from refugee backgrounds. Thematic analysis method was used to analyse the data. Findings suggested that the young refugees face various structural and cultural inequalities that significantly influenced their health and well-being. Mental health well-being was their greatest health concern. All reported the significant influence the English language had on their ability to adapt and form connections with their social environment. The presence of positive social support in their new social environment had a great impact on the health and well-being of the participants. The findings of this study have implications for social justice among refugees. They also contributed to the role of therapeutic landscapes and social support in helping young refugees to feel that they belonged to the society, and hence assisted them to adapt to their new living situation.

Keywords: young refugees, Middle-Eastern, social support, social justice

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Authors: Trevor G. Gates

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In global communities, volunteering is an important yet rapidly changing mechanism of civic engagement. However, the volunteer rate in the US significantly declined by as much as five percent during the last two decades, resulting in increased interest in what it takes to attract and recruit volunteers. Volunteers are utilized across a number of sectors, including working within the social welfare sector either with disadvantaged individuals and communities or indirectly through advocacy As with many mainstream community groups, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) organizations actively rely on the contributions of volunteers. Consequently, community organizations must adopt strategies to attract and retain volunteers to continue to deliver their services and remain competitive. For LGBTQ+ organizations, this means an increased understanding of volunteers’ motivations and, in particular, LGBTQ+ volunteers, as they have historically been more involved due to ongoing stigmatization. In this paper, I reviewed existing literature in order to provide insights for non-profits who are managing volunteer resources for LGBTQ+ people by identifying important characteristics of LGBTQ+ volunteers and discussing what volunteering entails. Motivational factors are outlined, and the role of volunteerism in the LGBTQ+ community is explored. The benefits of volunteering and the needs of volunteers are discussed.

Keywords: volunteer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender

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Authors: M. El Mousadik, F. Elkandoussi

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The concern for increased rigor in social management has led more and more Moroccan business leaders to question the value of applying social audit as an essential tool in the management of human resources. Hotel companies are not excluded; in fact, they are expected to implement such an audit to develop sound and credible human resources management (HRM) policies. The main objective of this paper is to establish the relationship between the practice of social audit as a tool, and its impact on the tourism sector, especially on hotels at one of the Morocco’s first and most popular city for tourism, Agadir. This exploratory study of properties in Agadir has revealed that hotel executives are aware of the importance of social auditing to hone their decisions in the field of HRM.

Keywords: social audit, hotel companies, human resources management, social piloting

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Authors: Sawsan Kamal Kalil El Galad, Heba Shafik Ibrahim Mohamed, Rania Ismail Moussa

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New developments in the technological world have made the internet an innovative way for individuals and families to communicate. Social media sites help in fulfilling communication needs and wants of their users. The use of social media may have an effect on the family relation either in a positive or negative manner. This study aimed to investigate the family relationships among users and non users of social media. The study followed a cross- sectional descriptive comparative research design. It was conducted on 360 employees, at Damanhour University in Elbeheira, Egypt. Brief Family Relationship Scale (BFRS) was used to collect the data of this study. The results revealed that the mean score of the social media users is slightly increased in relation to the non users of social media mean score with no significant difference between both groups. It was concluded that using social media for short time has no effect on the family relationship, sitting with family in daily base satisfy the social and emotional needs of its member and enhance family relations. Recommendations encompassed that the time spent on social media should be assessed regularly to prevent being isolated from the family members. Educational programs to increase the parent’s awareness how to deal with their children regarding social media and its risks.

Keywords: social media, family relationships, communication needs, culture

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Authors: Jung Lee

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This study identifies how the cultivation capabilities of social capital influence the overall attitudes of social media users and how these influences differ across user groups. First, the cultivation capabilities of social capital are identified from three aspects, namely, social capital accessibility, potentiality and sensitivity. These three types of social capital acquisition capabilities collectively represent how the social media users perceive the social media environment in terms of possibilities for social capital creation. These three capabilities are hypothesized to influence social media satisfaction and continuing use intention. Next, two essential activities in social media are identified, namely, posting and replying, to categorise social media users based on behavioral patterns. Various social media activities consist of the combinations of these two basic activities. Posting represents the broadcasting aspect of social media, whereas replying represents the communicative aspect of social media. We categorize users into four from communicators to observers by using these two behaviors to develop usage pattern matrix. By applying the usage pattern matrix to the capability model, we argue that posting behavior generally has a positive moderating effect on the attitudes of social media users, whereas replying behavior occasionally exhibits the negative moderating effect. These different moderating effects of posting and replying behavior are explained based on the different levels of social capital sensitivity and expectation of individuals. When a person is highly expecting social capital from social media, he or she would post actively. However, when one is highly sensitive to social capital, he or she would actively respond and reply to postings of other people because such an act would create a longer and more interactive relationship. A total of 512 social media users are invited to answer the survey. They were asked about their attitudes toward the social media and how they expect social capital through this practice. They were asked to check their general social media usage pattern for user categorization. Result confirmed that most of the hypotheses were supported. Three types of social capital cultivation capabilities are significant determinants of social media attitudes, and two social media activities (i.e., posting and replying) exhibited different moderating effects on attitudes. This study provides following discussions. First, three types of social capital cultivation capabilities were identified. Despite the numerous concerns about social media, such as whether it is a decent and real environment that produces social capital, this study confirms that people explicitly expect and experience social capital values from social media. Second, posting and replying activities are two building blocks of social media activities. These two activities are useful in explaining different the attitudes of social media users and predict future usage.

Keywords: social media, social capital, social media satisfaction, social media use intention

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Authors: Islah Ud Din, Amna Bibi

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The current study was carried out to examine the perceived social support, resilience and relapse risk in recovered addicts. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from recovered addicts. A multidimensional scale of perceived social support by was used to measure the perceived social support. The brief Resilience Scale (BRS) was used to assess resilience. The Stimulant Relapse Risk Scale (SRRS) was used to examine the relapse risk. Resilience and Perceived social support have substantial positive correlations, whereas relapse risk and perceived social support have significant negative associations. Relapse risk and resilience have a strong inverse connection. Regression analysis was used to check the mediating effect of resilience between perceived social support and relapse risk. The findings revealed that perceived social support negatively predicted relapse risk. Results showed that Resilience plays a role as partial mediation between perceived social support and relapse risk. This Research will allow us to explore and understand the relapse risk factor and the role of perceived social support and resilience in recovered addicts. The study's findings have immediate consequences in the prevention of relapse. The study will play a significant part in drug rehabilitation centers, clinical settings and further research.

Keywords: perceived social support, resilience, relapse risk, recovered addicts, drugs addiction

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Authors: Supannee Chaiumporn

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This article is to introduce the meaning and form of social quality moving process as indicated by members of two suburb communities with different social and cultural contexts. The form of social quality moving process is very significant for the community and social development, because it will make the people living together with sustainable happiness. This is a qualitative study involving 30 key-informants from two suburb communities. Data were collected though key-informant interviews, and analyzed using logical content description and descriptive statistics. This research found that on the social quality component, the people in both communities stressed the procedure for social quality-making. This includes the generousness, sharing and assisting among people in the communities. These practices helped making people to live together with sustainable happiness. Living as a family or appear to be a family is the major social characteristic of these two communities. This research also found that form of social quality’s moving process of both communities stress relation of human and nature; “nature overpower humans” paradigm and influence of religious doctrine that emphasizes relations among humans. Both criteria make the form of social’s moving process simple, adaptive to nature and caring for opinion sharing and understanding among each other before action. This form of social quality’s moving process is composed of 4 steps; (1) awareness building, (2) motivation to change, (3) participation from every party concerned (4) self-reliance.

Keywords: social quality, form of social quality moving process, happiness, different social and cultural context

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Authors: Tristance Kee

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With the unprecedented increase in elderly population globally, it is critical to search for new sustainable housing and urban development alternatives to traditional housing options. This research examines concepts of elderly migration pattern in the context of a high density city in Hong Kong to Mainland China. The research objectives are to: 1) explore the relationships between soon-to-be-old elderly and their intentions to move to Mainland upon retirement and their demographic characteristics; and 2) What are the desired amenities, locational factors and activities that are expected in the soon-to-be-old generation’s retirement housing environment? Primary data was collected through questionnaire survey conducted using random sampling method with respondents aged between 45-64 years old. The face-to-face survey was completed by 500 respondents. The survey was divided into four sections. The first section focused on respondent’s demographic information such as gender, age, education attainment, monthly income, housing tenure type and their visits to Mainland China. The second section focused on their retirement plans in terms of intended retirement age, prospective retirement funding and retirement housing options. The third section focused on the respondent’s attitudes toward retiring in Mainland for housing. It asked about their intentions to migrate retire into Mainland and incentives to retire in Hong Kong. The fourth section focused on respondent’s ideal housing environment including preferred housing amenities, desired living environment and retirement activities. The dependent variable in this study was ‘respondent’s consideration to move to Mainland China upon retirement’. Eight primary independent variables were integrated into the study to identify the correlations between them and retirement migration plan. The independent variables include: gender, age, marital status, monthly income, present housing tenure type, property ownership in Hong Kong, relationship with Mainland and the frequency of visiting Mainland China. In addition to the above independent variables, respondents were asked to indicate their retirement plans (retirement age, funding sources and retirement housing options), incentives to migrate to retire (choices included: property ownership, family relations, cost of living, living environment, medical facilities, government welfare benefits, etc.), perceived ideal retirement life qualities including desired amenities (sports, medical and leisure facilities etc.), desired locational qualities (green open space, convenient transport options and accessibility to urban settings etc.) and desired retirement activities (home-based leisure, elderly friendly sports, cultural activities, child care, social activities, etc.). The finding shows correlations between the used independent variables and consideration to migrate for housing options. The two independent variables indicated a possible correlation were gender and the frequency of visiting Mainland at present. When considering the increasing property prices across the border and strong social relationships, potential retirement migration is a very subjective decision that could vary from person to person. This research adds knowledge to housing research and migration study. Although the research is based in Mainland, most of the characteristics identified including better medical services, government welfare and sound urban amenities are shared qualities for all sustainable urban development and housing strategies.

Keywords: elderly migration, housing alternative, soon-to-be-old, sustainable environment

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Authors: Tewelde Gebresslase Haile, S. P. Singh

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To bridge the existing knowledge gap on public intervention implementations, this study estimates the impact of social protection intervention (SPI) on alleviating social vulnerability. Following a multi-stage sampling, primary information was gathered through a self-administered questionnaire, FGD, and interviews from the target households located at four systematically selected districts of Tigrai, Ethiopia. Factor analysis and Propensity Score Matching are applied to construct Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and measuring the counterfactual impact of selected intervention. As a multidimensional challenge, social vulnerability is found as an important concept used to guide policy evaluation. Accessibility of basic services of Social Affairs, Agriculture, Health and Education sectors, and Food Security Program are commonly used as SPIs. Finally, this study discovers that the households who had access to SPI have scored 9.65% lower SVI than in the absence of the intervention. Finally, this study suggests the provision of integrated, proactive, productive, and evidence-based SPIs to alleviate social vulnerability.

Keywords: social protection, livelihood assets, social vulnerability, public policy SVI

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Authors: Saba Aziz

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Social enterprises are playing a growing role in transforming the lives of individuals and communities around the world, providing innovative solutions to critical social and environmental issues such as education, job creation, and health care. Women are increasingly utilising services of these enterprises to overcome socio-economic constraints and increase their access to business and market. This article systematically reviews the available literature on the role of social enterprises on women's empowerment in South Asia. Twelve key terms were specified and researched on five databases. Some of the literature was excluded based on the lack of evidence on the involvement of social enterprises. Remaining literature was rated according to the quality; due to methodological inconsistency, the findings are presented in a descriptive form. The relevant studies review the impact of social enterprises on women’s economic, social, relational, health, personal and political aspects of empowerment. In discussion, we outline areas for further research on social enterprises activity that impacts women’s overall empowerment specifically in South Asia.

Keywords: social enterprise, women empowerment, systematic review, well-being, social impact, micro finance, South Asia, Pakistan

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Authors: Ekaterina Donii

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Understanding interpersonal competence, social interaction and peer relationships of gifted children is a concern for specialists in the field of gifted education. To gain more in-depth knowledge concerning the social functioning of gifted children among peers, we decided to study the social abilities of gifted children in a heterogeneous academic environment. Eight gifted children (5 of age 7, 1 of age 8.5, 1 of age 9.5 and 1 of age 10), their classmates (10 of age 7-8, 12 of age 8.5-9, 16 of age 9.5-10) and teachers participated in the study. The sociometric questionnaire analysis was based on the method of Rodríguez and Morera to check the social status of the gifted children among classmates. The Instrument Observational Protocol for Interactions within the Classroom (OPINTEC-v.5) was used to assess the social interactions between the gifted students, their classmates, and the teacher within the educational context. While doing a task together, the gifted children interacted more with popular and neither popular nor gifted classmates than with rejected classmates. While spending time together, the gifted children interacted more with neither popular nor rejected classmates than with popular or rejected classmates. All gifted children chose other gifted and non-gifted classmates for interaction, established close relations and demonstrated good social abilities interacting with their classmates. The aim of this study was to examine the social interactions, social status, and social network of the gifted students in a regular classroom. The majority of the gifted children were popular among their classmates and had good social skills. We should be alert, though, for those gifted children who do have social problems, in order to help them functioning in a regular classroom.

Keywords: gifted, heterogeneous environment, sociometric status, social interactions

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Authors: C. Arslan, K. Yakar

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Social media is one of the most important and effective means of social interaction among people in which they create, share and exchange their ideas via photos, videos or voice messages. Although there are lots of communication tools. Social media sites are the most prominent ones that allows the users articulate themselves in a matter of seconds all around the world with almost any expenses and thus, they became very popular and widespread after its emergence. As the usage of social media increases, it becomes an effective instrument in social matters. While it is possible to use social media to emphasize basic human rights and protest some failures of any government as in “Arab Spring”, it is also possible to spread propaganda and misinformation just to cause long lasting insurgency, upheaval, turmoil or disorder as an instrument of intervention to internal affairs and state sovereignty by some hostile groups or countries. It is certain that social media has positive effects on participation in democracies allowing people express themselves freely and limitlessly, but obviously, the misuse of it is very common and it is quite possible that even a five-minute-long video record can topple down a government or give a solid reason to a government to review its policies on some certain areas. As one of the most important and effective means of participation, social media presents some opportunities as well as risks. In this study, the place of social media for participation in democracies will be demonstrated under the light of opportunities and risks.

Keywords: social media, democracy, participation, risks, opportunities

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Authors: Saba Latif

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The use of social media among university students is a topic of ongoing debate, with conflicting views on its impact on academic achievement. This study aimed to explore the relationship between social media use and academic achievement among university students and to identify factors that may contribute to positive or negative effects. The study used a mixed-methods design, including a survey of 500 university students and qualitative interviews with a subset of participants. The survey results showed that social media use was prevalent among students, with Facebook and Instagram are the most commonly used platforms. The findings also indicated a positive relationship between social media use and academic achievement, with students who reported higher levels of social media use also reporting higher GPAs. However, the qualitative interviews revealed that excessive use of social media could be a distraction that hinders academic performance, especially when students use it to procrastinate or to stay up late at night. Overall, the findings suggest that social media use can have both positive and negative effects on academic achievement among university students. Responsible and balanced use of social media, such as setting limits on usage and avoiding procrastination, may help students maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks.

Keywords: social media, university, achievement, effective, learning

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Authors: Suha Alawadhi, Malak Alrasheed

Abstract:

In the recent past, public participation in governments has been declined to a great extent, as citizens have been isolated from community life and their ability to articulate demands for good government has been noticeably decreased. However, the Internet has introduced new forms of interaction that could enhance different types of relationships, including government-public relationship. In fact, technology-enabled government has become a catalyst for enabling social inclusion. This exploratory study seeks to investigate public perceptions in Kuwait regarding the use of social media networks in government where social capital is built to achieve social inclusion. Social capital has been defined as social networks and connections amongst individuals, that are based on shared trust, ideas and norms, enable participants of a network to act effectively to pursue a shared objective. The quantitative method was used to generate empirical evidence. A questionnaire was designed to address the research objective and reflect the identified constructs: social capital dimensions (bridging, bonding and maintaining social capital), social inclusion, and social equality. In this pilot study, data was collected from a random sample of 61 subjects. The results indicate that all participants have a positive attitude towards the dimensions of social capital (bridging, bonding and maintaining), social inclusion and social equality constructs. Tests of identified constructs against demographic characteristics indicate that there are significant differences between male and female as they perceived bonding and maintaining social capital, social inclusion and social equality whereas no difference was identified in their perceptions of bridging social capital. Also, those who are aged 26-30 perceived bonding and maintaining social capital, social inclusion and social equality negatively compared to those aged 20-25, 31-35, and 40-above whose perceptions were positive. With regard to education, the results also show that those holding high school, university degree and diploma perceived maintaining social capital positively higher than with those who hold graduate degrees. Moreover, a regression model is proposed to study the effect of bridging, bonding, and maintaining social capital on social inclusion via social equality as a mediator. This exploratory study is necessary for testing the validity and reliability of the questionnaire which will be used in the main study that aims to investigate the perceptions of individuals towards building social capital to achieve social inclusion.

Keywords: government, social capital, social inclusion, social networks

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Authors: Eko Budi Santoso, Kazia Laturette, Stanislaus Adnanto Mastan

Abstract:

This study aims to examine the association between disclosure of social responsibility and tax aggressiveness in developing countries, namely Thailand. This is due to the increasing trend of disclosure of social responsibility in developing countries, even though this disclosure of information is still voluntary. On the other hand, developing countries have low taxation rate and investor protection infrastructures that allow the disclosure of social responsibility to be used opportunistically as a tool to fool the attainment of interests. This study also examines the role of assurance on the association between corporate social responsibility disclosure and tax aggressiveness. The assurance aims to provide confidence that the disclosure of social responsibility by the company is valid. This research builds an index to measure the disclosure of social responsibility based on the rules issued by the innovative Global Reporting. The results of the study are based on a sample of publicly traded companies in Thailand, which showed a positive association between disclosure of corporate social responsibility and tax aggressiveness, but it was further discovered that these results were mitigated by the existence of assurance against disclosure of corporate social responsibility. The results of this study indicate that the disclosure of corporate social responsibility can show that the company cares about the issue of social responsibility but does not automatically make the company as one that holds ethical values ​​in its business practices.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility disclosure, tax aggressiveness, sustainability assurance, business ethics

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Authors: Angela Cristina Da F. De Oliveira, Salma E. Asmar, Norbert P. Battlori, Yaz Vera, Uriel R. Valencia, Tâmara Duarte Borges, Antoni D. Bueno, Leandro Batista Costa

Abstract:

As homeothermic animals, pigs manifest maximum performance when kept at comfortable temperature levels, represented by a limit where thermoregulatory processes are minimal (18 - 20°C). In a stress situation where it will have a higher energy demand for thermal maintenance, the energy contribution to the productive functions will be reduced, generating health imbalances, drop in productive rates and welfare problems. The hypothesis of this project is that 5% starch replacement per 5% sunflower oil (SO), in growing and finishing pig’s diet (Iberic x Duroc), is effective as a nutritional strategy to reduce the negative impacts of thermal stress on performance and animal welfare. Seventy-two crossbred males (51± 6,29 kg body weight- BW) were housed according to the initial BW, in climate-controlled rooms, in collective pens, and exposed to heat stress conditions (30 - 32°C; 35% to 50% humidity). The experiment lasted 90 days, and it was carried out in a randomized block design, in a 2 x 2 factorial, composed of two diets (starch or sunflower oil (with or without) and two feed intake management (ad libitum and restriction). The treatments studied were: 1) control diet (5% starch x 0% SO) with ad libitum intake (n = 18); 2) SO diet (replacement of 5% of starch per 5% SO) with ad libitum intake (n = 18); 3) control diet with restriction feed intake (n = 18); or 4) SO diet with restriction feed intake (n = 18). Feed was provided in two phases, 50–100 Kg BW for growing and 100-140 Kg BW for finishing period, respectively. Hematological, biochemical and growth performance parameters were evaluated on all animals at the beginning of the environmental treatment, on the transition of feed (growing to finishing) and in the final of experiment. After the experimental period, when animals reached a live weight of 130-140 kg, they were slaughtered by carbon dioxide (CO2) stunning. Data have shown for the growing phase no statistical interaction between diet (control x SO) and management feed intake (ad libitum x restriction) on animal performance. At finishing phase, pigs fed with SO diet with restriction feed intake had the same average daily gain (ADG) compared with pigs in control diet with ad libitum feed intake. Furthermore, animals fed with the same diet (SO), presented a better feed gain (p < 0,05) due to feed intake reduce (p < 0,05) when compared with control group. To hematological and biochemical parameters, animals under heat stress had an increase in hematocrit, corpuscular volume, urea concentration, creatinine, calcium, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase (p < 0,05) when compared with the beginning of experiment. These parameters were efficient to characterize the heat stress, although the experimental treatments were not able to reduce the hematological and biochemical stress indicators. In addition, the inclusion of SO on pig diets improve feed gain in pigs at finishing phase, even with restriction feed intake.

Keywords: hematological, performance, pigs, welfare

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