Search results for: social factors

Authors: Min Pan, An-Hsu Chen

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Burnout has been proved to be one of the factors that hinder the development and sport performances of athletes while moral disengagement is the psychological mechanism used by athletes to elevate the guilt caused by conducting the anti-social behaviors to gain competitive advantages and in sports which have both been discussed extensively. The sports devaluation in burnout may undermine the sportsmanship of athletes therefore may serve as one of factors of moral disengagement in sports. Nonetheless, the connection between athlete burnout and moral disengagement in sports is yet established. Hence, the study aims to investigate whether there is the correlation between athlete burnout and moral disengagement in sports. Participants of this study are 120 collegiate athletes who specialize in seven different sports (e.g., fence, boxing, taekwondo, and etc.) with average training hours of 3.7 per day and 4.5 days per week. Athlete Burnout Questionnaire and Moral Disengagement in Sports – Short were administrated as the research instruments. Data collected were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and step-wise regression. The results show, participants demonstrate mild to moderate burnout and moral disengagement in their perspective sports disciplines. Moreover, athletes specialize in different sports experience distinct burnout situations while there is no significant variation of moral disengagement in different sports. It is also found, moral disengagement in sports has significant and positive correlations with emotional and physical exhaustion as well as sports devaluation in athlete burnout. Furthermore, athlete burnout can positively predict moral disengagement in sports while sports devaluation plays an important role within. It can be concluded that, athlete burnout may contribute to their tendency of moral disengagement in sport. By relieving the burnout level may help improve their moral disengagement inclination in sports. The finding may contribute to the current literature regarding athlete burnout and moral disengagement in sports.

Keywords: athlete burnout, dehumanization, moral disengagement, reduced sense of accomplishment

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Authors: Tya M. Arthur

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Purpose: BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) adolescents face racism and discrimination at a young age. These early experiences have short- and long-term impacts on their health and overall well-being. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between perceived racial discrimination at school and health risk behaviors and experiences of BIPOC adolescents. Methods: Data from the 2021 Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (ABES) were analyzed. All demographic data were summarized using frequencies and chi-squared tests. A univariate and multivariate logistic regression model was used to test the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and selected health risk factors. All analyses were conducted using STATA SE 18. Results: A total of 42.2% of the BIPOC adolescents in the study indicated being treated unfairly at school due to their race. The majority of those who reported being discriminated against were Black/African American or Multiple Race-Hispanic. Asian adolescents were almost 5 times more likely to face racial discrimination at school compared to their American Indian/Alaska Native counterparts (OR = 4.86, 95% CI [2.69-8.77], p < 0.001). Other risk predictors of racial discrimination included being female (OR = 1.38, 95% CI [1.13-1.68], p = 0.002) and feeling disconnected at school (OR = 1.76, 95% CI [1.30-2.38], p < 0.001). After adjustment for health risk behaviors and experiences, BIPOC adolescents were still more likely to face racial discrimination with even higher odds. Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the depth of racial discrimination faced by BIPOC adolescents at school. Greater attention should be placed on racial discrimination as a social determinant of health and a public health crisis.

Keywords: racial discrimination, adolescents, heath risk factors, BIPOC

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Authors: Hyun-E Yeom

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Patients’ views about the cause of hypertension may influence their present and proactive behaviors to regulate high blood pressure. This study aimed to examine the internal structure underlying the causal beliefs about hypertension and the influence of causal beliefs on self-care intention and medical compliance in Korean patients with hypertension. The causal beliefs of 145 patients (M age = 57.7) were assessed using the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised. An exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the factor structure of the causal beliefs, and the factors’ influence on self-care intention and medication compliance was analyzed using multiple and logistic regression analyses. The four-factor structure including psychological, fate-related, risk and habitual factors was identified and the psychological factor was the most representative component of causal beliefs. The risk and fate-related factors were significant factors affecting lower intention to engage in self-care and poor compliance with medication regimens, respectively. The findings support the critical role of causal beliefs about hypertension in driving patients’ current and future self-care behaviors. This study highlights the importance of educational interventions corresponding to patients’ awareness of hypertension for improving their adherence to a healthy lifestyle and medication regimens.

Keywords: hypertension, self-care, beliefs, medication compliance

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Authors: Oscar E. Cariceo

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In Chile, social workers´ professional training is developed in the undergraduate level, mainly. Despite the fact that several schools have been launched Master of Social Work programs, the Bachelor in Social Work is the minimum qualification to start a professional career. In the current Chilean higher education system, there exist different financial aid options in order to guarantee equal access to higher education. These policies, which are student loans and scholarships, basically, are applied and distributed by Government agencies. They are linked to academic performance and socio-economic needs, in terms of standardized test scores and social vulnerability criteria. In addition, institutions that enroll students with high scores, also receive direct financial support. In other words, social work students must compete for the resources to pay for college tuitions and fees with other students from different programs and knowledge fields and, as a consequence, they can indirectly enhance schools´ money income. This work aims to describe the reality of social work students to access to financial aid in Chile. The analysis presents the results of the University Selection Test of students, who were accepted in social work undergraduate programs during 2014 related to their qualifications to apply to three main financial aid programs, and their contribution to attracting resources to their schools. In general, data show that social work students participate in a low proportion in the distribution of financial aid, both student loans and scholarships. Few of them reach enough scores to guarantee direct financial resources to their institutions. Therefore, this situation has deep implications on equal access to higher education for vulnerable students and affects equal access to training options for young social workers, due to the highly competitive financial aid system.

Keywords: social work, professional training, higher education, financial aid, equity

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Authors: Ted Gournelos

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Marketing approaches in practice and academic literature usually foreground the importance of product and brand awareness in strategy. Decisions emphasize justifications and promotions of existing projects, which has the unintended consequence of pushing marketing, public relations, and other communications to secondary strategies and tactics rather than as inherent pieces of organizational development. In other words, marketers implement what others have already decided. This is a challenge not only for the communications field, but also for the organizations themselves, since integrated communications employees are often the primary, if not the only, touchpoints for client/customer/user research and interaction. Organizations thus become increasingly out of touch, raising the risk of public or human resources crisis and decreasing the focus on opportunities for development and growth. This paper will discuss the potential for social entrepreneurship to refocus marketing and communications professionals on primary strategy, and suggest best practices for developing initiatives not only to impact marketing efforts themselves, but also the guiding organizational approaches to project management, human resources, corporate social responsibility, and research. It will provide a comparative analysis of social media marketing efforts conducted by food security non-governmental organizations from several countries, pointing out both flaws and areas of opportunity for integration with for-profit organizational strategy, and discuss the implications of descriptive, proactive, and interactive messaging.

Keywords: social enterprise, strategy, innovation, social media

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Authors: Olamide Shittu, Olayinka Akanle

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Value Chain Analysis is a common method of examining the stages involved in the production of a product, mostly agricultural produce, from the input to the consumption stage including the actors involved in each stage. However, the Functional Institutional Analysis is the most common method in literature employed to analyze the value chain of products. Apart from studying the relatively neglected phenomenon of recycled polymer products in Lagos Metropolis, this paper adopted the use of social network analysis to attempt a grounded theory of the nature of social network that exists among the value chain actors of the subject matter. The study adopted a grounded theory approach by conducting in-depth interviews, administering questionnaires and conducting observations among the identified value chain actors of recycled polymer products in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria. The thematic analysis of the collected data gave the researchers the needed background to formulate a truly representative network of the social relationships among the value chain actors of recycled polymer products in Lagos Metropolis. The paper introduced concepts such as Transient and Perennial Social Ties to explain the observed social relations among the actors. Some actors have more social capital than others as a result of the structural holes that exist in their triad network. Households and resource recoverers are at disadvantaged position in the network as they have high constraints in their relationships with other actors. The study attempted to provide a new perspective in the study of the environmental value chain by analyzing the network of actors to bring about policy action points and improve recycling in Nigeria. Government and social entrepreneurs can exploit the structural holes that exist in the network for the socio-economic and sustainable development of the state.

Keywords: recycled polymer products, social network analysis, social ties, value chain analysis

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Authors: Akosua Asantewaa Anane

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Social media and its networking sites have become beneficial to society. With the advent of Web 2.0, many people are becoming technologically savvy and attracted to internet-based activities. With the click of a button, users are now sharing more information on topics, events and issues than before. A new phenomenon in the Ghanaian journalism sphere is the advent of blogger and citizen journalism, some of whom have become niche authorities. Niche authorities have emerged through the habitual and persistent curation of news on specific topics, resulting in the steady growth and emergence of valuable contributions to news sharing. Minimal studies have been conducted on niche authorities and their role in social activism in Ghana. This study, anchored on Cialdini’s Six Principles of Persuasion (reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity), explores the features of niche authorities, their areas of expertise, as well as their authoritative voices in the curation of news stories. Using qualitative content analysis, cyber ethnography and thematic analysis of purposively sampled social media posts of five niche authorities, the study interrogates how these niche authorities employ the six principles of persuasion on their platforms to spark conversations on development, social inclusion and gender-based issues in the country. The study discusses how niche authorities deploy the principles in social activism and further recommends nurturing and mentoring communication strategies to progressively guide the youth to become future niche authorities in news curation and news sharing.

Keywords: social activism, cialdini’s six principles of persuasion, news curation, niche authorities

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Authors: Hamna Hamid, Kashmala Zaman

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between self-efficacy, resilience and social support among clinical psychologists, counselors and teachers of special schools. The study also assesses the gender differences on self-efficacy, resilience, social support and vicarious trauma and also vicarious trauma differences among three professions i.e. clinical psychologists, counselors and teachers of special schools. A sample of 150 women and 97 men were handed out a set questionnaire to complete: General Self-Efficacy Scale, Brief Resilience Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and Vicarious Trauma Scale. Results showed that there is significant negative correlation between self-efficacy, resilience and vicarious trauma. Women experiences higher levels of vicarious trauma as compared to men. While clinical psychologists and counselors experience higher levels of vicarious trauma as compared to teachers of special schools. Moderation effect of social support is not significant towards resilience and vicarious trauma.

Keywords: self-efficacy, resilience, vicarious trauma, social-support

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Authors: Mohd. A. M. Rahim, Yahaya Hassan, Mathumalar L. Fahrni

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Second line antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen is used when patients fail their first line regimen. There are many factors such as non-adherence, drug resistance as well as virological and immunological failure that lead to second line highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen treatment failure. This study was aimed at determining predictor factors to treatment failure with second line HAART and analyzing median survival time. An observational, retrospective study was conducted in Sungai Buloh Hospital (HSB) to assess current status of HIV patients treated with second line HAART regimen. Convenience sampling was used and 104 patients were included based on the study’s inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data was collected for six months i.e. from July until December 2013. Data was then analysed using SPSS version 18. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to measure median survival times and predictor factors for treatment failure. The study population consisted mainly of male subjects, aged 30-45 years, who were heterosexual, and had HIV infection for less than 6 years. The most common second line HAART regimen given was lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r)-based combination. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients on LPV/r demonstrated longer median survival times than patients on indinavir/ritonavir (IDV/r) based combination (p<0.001). The commonest reason for a treatment to fail with second line HAART was non-adherence. Based on Cox regression analysis, other predictor factors for treatment failure with second line HAART regimen were age and mode of HIV transmission.

Keywords: adherence, antiretroviral therapy, second line, treatment failure

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Authors: Nien-Te Kuo, Yi-Sung Cheng, Kuo-Chien Chang

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Cultural festival tourism is now seen by many as an opportunity to facilitate community development because it has significant influences on the economic, social, cultural, and political aspects of local communities. The potential for tourist attraction has been recognized as a useful tool to strengthen local economies from governments. However, most community festivals in Taiwan are short-lived, often only lasting for a few years or occasionally not making it past a one-off event. Researchers suggested that most governments and other stakeholders do not recognize the importance of building a partnership with residents when developing community tourism. Thus, the sustainable community tourism development still remains a key issue in the existing literature. The success of community tourism is related to the attitudes and lifestyles of local residents. In order to maintain sustainable tourism, residents need to be seen as development partners. Residents’ support intention for tourism development not only helps to increase awareness of local culture, history, the natural environment, and infrastructure, but also improves the interactive relationship between the host community and tourists. Furthermore, researchers have identified the social capital theory as the core of sustainable community tourism development. The social capital of residents has been seen as a good way to solve issues of tourism governance, forecast the participation behavior and improve support intention of residents. In addition, previous studies have pointed out the role of community participation and place identity in increasing resident support intention for tourism development. A lack of place identity is one of the main reasons that community tourism has become a mere formality and is not sustainable. It refers to how much residents participate during tourism development and is mainly influenced by individual interest. Scholars believed that the place identity of residents is the soul of community festivals. It shows the community spirit to visitors and has significant impacts on tourism benefits and support intention of residents in community tourism development. Although the importance of community participation and place identity have been confirmed by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, real-life execution still needs to be improved. This study aimed to use social capital theory to investigate the social structure between community residents, participation levels in festival tourism, degrees of place identity, and resident support intention for future community tourism development, and the causal relationship that these factors have with cultural festival tourism. A quantitative research approach was employed to examine the proposed model. Structural equation model was used to test and verify the proposed hypotheses. This was a case study of the Kaohsiung Zuoying Wannian Folklore Festival. The festival was located in the Zuoying District of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. The target population of this study was residents who attended the festival. The results reveal significant correlations among social capital, community participation, place identity and support intention. The results also confirm that impacts of social capital on support intention were significantly mediated by community participation and place identity. Practical suggestions were provided for tourism operators and policy makers. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, Republic of China, under the grant MOST-105-2410-H-328-013.

Keywords: community participation, place identity, social capital, support intention

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Authors: Noof Eid Al Shammari

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Background: Living with haemodialysis (HD) can impose several physical and social restrictions on the lives of individuals. Usually, the patient has three dialysis sessions per week that each run for three to four hours. This limits the social life of patients and causes a lower quality of life, in conjunction with the fact that people with chronic kidney disease must follow strict fluid and food regimens and use multiple medications. Given these factors, patients undergoing HD generally need psychological support. Objective: This scoping review study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of physical and breathing exercises on quality of life (QOL) and psychophysical status in patients undergoing HD. Methodology: Searches for relevant studies were performed in four databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Google Scholar, and PubMed) for articles published between 2011 and 2021. Out of all the searched literature, ten studies met the inclusion criteria (8 randomised controlled trials, one quasi-experimental study, and one pilot study), with a total of 588 patients. Different types of physical and breathing exercises were used (breathing, cardiopulmonary, and physical exercises). Results: All included studies in this scoping review revealed that most of the aerobic or anaerobic exercises, as well as breathing exercises, had a positive effect and significantly improved patients’ QOL, physical functioning, and psychological status. Conclusions: In this review, most of the articles demonstrated a positive effect of physical and breathing exercises on the QOL and psychophysical status of HD patients. Based on the findings of these studies, physical and breathing exercises were shown to improve muscle strength and other health-related aspects of QOL, including sexual, social, cognitive, and physical functions. However, more studies will need to be conducted with a larger sample to determine the best intervention that could be implemented and standardised in nursing care for patients undergoing HD.

Keywords: physical exercise, breathing exercises, quality of life, depression, hemodialysis

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Authors: Narges Sadat Myrmousavy, Maryam Eslampanah

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The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between social capital and knowledge sharing is the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. They are descriptive correlation study. The study sample consisted of all the experts in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance helping professionals headquarters in Tehran in the summer period is 2012, the number is 650. Random sampling is targeted. The sample size is 400. The data collection tool was a questionnaire that was used for the preparation of a standard questionnaire. They also examine the assumptions of the regression coefficient for the relationship between variables in order to investigate the main hypothesis test is used. The findings suggest that the structural and knowledge-sharing between components, there is a direct relationship. The components of the relationship between Impression management and knowledge sharing, there is a direct relationship. There was no significant relationship between Individual pro-social motives and knowledge sharing. Both components of the cognitive aspects of open mindedness and competence are directly related with knowledge sharing. Finally, the comparison between the different dimensions of social capital, the largest of its structure, and its relationship with knowledge sharing is the least relation.

Keywords: social capital, knowledge sharing, ministry of culture and Islamic guidance (Iran), open mindedness, pro-social motives

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Authors: Zoaib Mirza

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Pakistan is an Islamic country that got its partition from India in 1947 so that the people could practice the religion of Islam. The ideology of Pakistan was based on the notion that sovereignty only belonged to God Almighty (in Arabic, God means “Allah”), and Muslims will live in accordance with Islam principles. The Quran (Holy Book) and Sunnah (authentic practices of Prophet Mohammad, Peace Be Upon Him, that explains the application of the Quran) are foundations of the Islamic principles. It has been over 75 years, but unfortunately, Pakistan, due to its own political, social, and economic mistakes, is responsible for not being able to become a true Islamic nation to justify its partition from India. The rationale for writing this paper is to analyze the factors that led to changes in the democratic movements impacting the country's political, social, and economic growth. The methodology to examine the historical and political context of Pakistan’s history is by referencing the scholarly work of Israr Ahmed, a Pakistani Islamic theologian, philosopher, and Islamic scholar. While from a Western perspective, Karl Marx, Mar Weber, Hannah Arendt, Sheldon Wolin, Paulo Freire, and Jacques Ranciere's philosophies specific to totalitarianism, politics, military rule, religion, capitalism, and superpower are used as the framework to analyze Pakistan’s democracy. The study's findings conclude that Pakistan's democracy is unstable and has been impacted by military and civilian governance, which led to political, social, and economic downfall. To improve the current situation, the citizens of Pakistan have to realize that the success of a nation is only dependent on the level of consciousness of the leader and not the political system. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every citizen to be conscious of how they select their leader and take responsibility for the current situation in Pakistan.

Keywords: Pakistan, Islam, democracy, totalitarianism, military, religion, capitalism

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Authors: Maffo Maffo Nicole Liliane, Mounmeni Kpoumie Hubert, Mbaire Matindje Karl Marx, Zapfack Louis

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Sacred forests play a valuable role in conserving local biodiversity and provide numerous ecosystem services in Cameroon. The study was carried out in the sacred forests of Bandrefam and Batoufam (western Cameroon). The aim was to estimate the diversity of woody species, carbon stocks and degradation factors in these sacred forests. The floristic inventory was carried out in plots measuring 25m × 25m for trees with diameters greater than 10 cm and 5m × 5m for trees with diameters less than 10 cm. Carbon stocks were estimated using the non-destructive method and the allometric equations. Data on degradation factors were collected using semi-structured surveys in the Bandrefam and Batoufam neighborhoods. The floristic inventory identified 65 species divided into 57 genera and 30 families in the Bandrefam Sacred Forest and 45 species divided into 42 genera and 27 families in the Batoufam Sacres Forest. The families common to both sacred forests are as follows: Phyllanthaceae, Fabaceae, Moraceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Rubiaceae, Meliaceae, Anacardiaceae, and Sapindaceae. Three genera are present in both sites. These are: Albizia, Macaranga, Trichillia. In addition, there are 27 species in common between the two sites. The total carbon stock is 469.26 tC/ha at Batoufam and 291.41 tC/ha at Bandrefam. The economic value varies between 15 823 877.05 fcfa at Batoufam and 9 825 530.528 fcfa at Bandrefam. The study shows that despite the sacred nature of these forests, they are subject to degradation factors such as bushfires (35.42 %), the creation of plantations (23.96 %), illegal timber exploitation (21.88 %), young people's lack of interest in the notion of conservation (9.38 %), climate change (7.29 %) and growing urbanization (2.08 %). These factors threaten biodiversity and reduce carbon storage in these forests.

Keywords: sacred forests, degradation factors, carbon stocks, semi-structured surveys

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Authors: Célia Barreto Carvalho, Carolina da Motta, José Pinto-Gouveia, Ermelindo Bernardo Peixoto

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Auditory hallucinations among the most invalidating and distressing experiences reported by patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, leading to feelings of powerlessness and helplessness towards their illness. In more severe cases, these auditory hallucinations can take the form of commanding voices, which are often related to high suicidality rates in these patients. Several authors propose that the meanings attributed to the hallucinatory experience, rather than characteristics like form and content, can be determinant in patients’ reactions to hallucinatory activity, particularly in the case of voice-hearing experiences. In this study, 48 patients diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia presenting auditory hallucinations were studied. Multiple regression analyses were computed to study the influence of several developmental aspects, such as family and social dynamics, bullying, depression, and socio-cognitive variables on the auditory hallucinations, on patients’ attributions and relationships with their voices, and on the resulting invalidation of hallucinatory experience. Overall, results showed how relationships with voices can mirror several aspects of interpersonal relationship with others, and how self-schemas, depression and actual social relationships help shaping the voice-hearing experience. Early experiences of victimization and submission help predict the attributions of omnipotence of the voices, and increased hostility from parents seems to increase the malevolence of the voices, suggesting that socio-cognitive factors can significantly contribute to the etiology and maintenance of auditory hallucinations. The understanding of the characteristics of auditory hallucinations and the relationships patients established with their voices can allow the development of more promising therapeutic interventions that can be more effective in decreasing invalidation caused by this devastating mental illness.

Keywords: auditory hallucination, beliefs, life events, schizophrenia

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Authors: X. Li, J. Sundquist, C. Sjöstedt, M. Winkleby, K. S. Kendler, K. Sundquist

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Aims: This study examines the association between the incidence of drug abuse (DA) and linking (communal) social capital, a theoretical concept describing the amount of trust between individuals and societal institutions. Methods: We present results from an 8-year population-based cohort study that followed all residents in Sweden, aged 15-44, from 2003 through 2010, for a total of 1,700,896 men and 1,642,798 women. Social capital was conceptualized as the proportion of people in a geographically defined neighborhood who voted in local government elections. Multilevel logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and between-neighborhood variance. Results: We found robust associations between linking social capital (scored as a three level variable) and DA in men and women. For men, the OR for DA in the crude model was 2.11 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.02-2.21] for those living in areas with the lowest vs. highest level of social capital. After accounting for neighborhood-level deprivation, the OR fell to 1.59 (1.51-1-68), indicating that neighborhood deprivation lies in the pathway between linking social capital and DA. The ORs remained significant after accounting for age, sex, family income, marital status, country of birth, education level, and region of residence, and after further accounting for comorbidities and family history of comorbidities and family history of DA. For women, the OR decreased from 2.15 (2.03-2.27) in the crude model to 1.31 (1.22-1.40) in the final model, adjusted for multiple neighborhood-level and individual-level variables. Conclusions: Our study suggests that low linking social capital may have important independent effects on DA.

Keywords: drug abuse, social linking capital, environment, family

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Authors: Katie Kilgour, Brendan Turner, Carly Catella, Michael Daniele, Stefano Menegatti

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In vivo, the extracellular matrix (ECM) provides biochemical and mechanical properties that are instructional to resident cells to form complex tissues with characteristics to develop and support vascular networks. In vitro, the development of vascular networks can be guided by biochemical patterning of substrates via spatial distribution and display of peptides and growth factors to prompt cell adhesion, differentiation, and proliferation. We have developed a technique utilizing peptide ligands that specifically bind vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), erythropoietin (EPO), or angiopoietin-1 (ANG1) to spatiotemporally distribute growth factors to cells. This allows for the controlled release of each growth factor, ultimately enhancing the formation of a vascular network. Our engineered tissue constructs (ETCs) are fabricated out of gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA), which is an ideal substrate for tailored stiffness and bio-functionality, and covalently patterned with growth factor specific peptides. These peptides mimic growth factor receptors, facilitating the non-covalent binding of the growth factors to the ETC, allowing for facile uptake by the cells. We have demonstrated in the absence of cells the binding affinity of VEGF, EPO, and ANG1 to their respective peptides and the ability for each to be patterned onto a GelMA substrate. The ability to organize growth factors on an ETC provides different functionality to develop organized vascular networks. Our results demonstrated a method to incorporate biochemical cues into ETCs that enable spatial and temporal control of growth factors. Future efforts will investigate the cellular response by evaluating gene expression, quantifying angiogenic activity, and measuring the speed of growth factor consumption.

Keywords: growth factor, hydrogel, peptide, angiogenesis, vascular, patterning

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Authors: Siti Dewi Aisyah

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The rise of the Internet in the late twentieth century rapidly gains information and understands the world through screens. The digital way of communication through the Internet becomes an ordinary daily pattern. In the digital era, Fashion has been tremendously shared on social media platform especially because of the emergence of #OOTD (Outfit of the Day). Fashion cannot survive without the media. The media have played a vital role in shaping fashion into the complex cultural phenomenon it has become, and fashion has become an intrinsic part of today’s visual culture, and vice versa. Islamic Muslim Fashion has become a trend in Indonesia. It is said that social media has a huge impact in its development. Indonesia is ranked among the most users of social media. That is why people who wear hijab also use social media for different purposes, one of this is to introduce hijab fashion. Consequently, they are becoming famous in social media. Social media has become a tool for communicating their beliefs as a Muslim as well as personal branding as a good hijabi yet with a fashionable style. This study will examine how social media especially Blog and Instagram can lead the movement of Islamic Modest Fashion in Indonesia, how it triggers the consumer culture to hijabi, how they visualize their style in their social media. This research had been conducted through in-depth interviews with several bloggers who created Hijabers Community who have made a new trend in Islamic fashion and also Instagrammers who made their feeds as a style inspiration. This research is based on empirical research with qualitative methods (text and picture analysis). The methodology used for this research is by analyzing Blog and Instagram through visual analysis on the social media especially about the Islamic Modest Fashion trend. This research also contains a literature review of a diverse group of works on topics related to the study. This research will be examined through several theoretical frameworks including the study of social media, visual analysis and consumer culture. Fashion and consumer culture are also two main topics because fashion furthermore leads to consumer culture. The benefit of this research is for gaining the insight how social media can visualize the trend in hijab fashion style of Indonesian people.

Keywords: blog, consumer culture, hijab fashion, instagram, style, visual analysis

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Authors: F. Ghandehari, H. Lu, L. El-Jahel, D. Jayasuriya

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Disagreement among investors is a fundamental aspect of financial markets, significantly influencing market dynamics. Measuring this disagreement has traditionally posed challenges, often relying on proxies like analyst forecast dispersion, which are limited by biases and infrequent updates. Recent movements in social media indicate that retail investors actively seek financial advice online and can influence the stock market. The evolution of the investing landscape, particularly the rise of social media as a hub for financial advice, provides an alternative avenue for real-time measurement of investor sentiment and disagreement. Platforms like Reddit offer rich, community-driven discussions that reflect genuine investor opinions. This research explores how social media empowers retail investors and the potential of leveraging textual analysis of social media content to capture daily fluctuations in investor disagreement. This study investigates the relationship between daily investor disagreement and trading volume, focusing on the role of social media platforms in shaping market dynamics, specifically using data from WallStreetBets (WSB) on Reddit. This paper uses data from 2020 to 2023 from WSB and analyses 4,896 firms with enough social media activity in WSB to define stock-day level disagreement measures. Consistent with traditional theories that disagreement induces trading volume, the results show significant evidence supporting this claim through different disagreement measures derived from WSB discussions.

Keywords: disagreement, retail investor, social finance, social media

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Authors: Stevens Phaphadi Mamorobela

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The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of social media in SMEs to stay abreast with information about the latest news and developments and to predict the future world of business. The national shutdown regulations for curbing the spread of the Covid-19 virus resulted in SMEs having to distribute large volumes of information through social media platforms to collaborate and conduct business remotely. How much of the information shared on social media is used by SMEs as significant knowledge for economic rent is yet to be known. This study aims to investigate the facilitating conditions that enable SMEs’ intention to use social media as a knowledge-sharing platform to create economic rent and to cope with the Covid-19 challenges. A qualitative research approach was applied where semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 SME owners located in the Gauteng province in South Africa to identify and explain the facilitating conditions of SMEs towards their intention to use social media as a knowledge-sharing tool in the Covid-19 era. The study discovered that the national lockdown regulations towards curbing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic had compelled SMEs to adopt digital technologies that enabled them to quickly transform their business processes to cope with the challenges of the pandemic. The facilitating conditions, like access to high bandwidth internet coverage in the Gauteng region, enable SMEs to have strong intentions to use social media to distribute content and to reach out to their target market. However, the content is shared informally using diverse social media platforms without any guidelines for transforming content into rent-yielding knowledge.

Keywords: facilitating conditions, knowledge sharing, social media, intention to use, SME

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Authors: Yuan Fang, Wang-Ming Li, Yi-Chen Ruan

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Rural healthy old-age care for urban elderly who go to surrounding villages on vacation is a new mode of old-age care in developed coastal areas of China. Such villages that receive urban elderly can be called old-caring villages. Due to the popularity of healthy old-age care in rural areas, more and more urban elderly people participate in the ranks of rural old-age care, resulting in excessive number of tourists in some old-caring villages, exceeding the carrying capacity of the village. Excessive passenger flow may damage the ecological environment, social environment, and facilities environment of the village, and even affect the development potential of the village pension industry. On the basis of on-site investigation and questionnaire survey, this paper summarizes the willingness and behavioral characteristics of the urban elderly population and finds that it will have a certain impact on the old-caring villages in the process of pension vacation in the aspects of ecology, construction, society, and economy. According to the influence of tourists, the paper constructs a system of capacity restriction factors of the old-caring villages, which includes four types: ecological environment capacity, policy environment capacity, perceived congestion capacity, and village service capacity, and fourteen specific indicators. It will provide a theoretical basis for reasonable control of the development scale of the old-caring villages.

Keywords: old-caring villages, restriction factors system, tourists' influence, environmental capacity

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Authors: Meiqun Yin, Jidong Zhang, Fan Liu

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The paper investigates the impact of social media on audit opinion. The numbers of posting and reposting negative reports from SINA Micro-blog are collected to measure the influence of social media. The research collected the samples from Chinese public firms from 2012 to 2014. It is found that the numbers of posting and reposting negative reports in SINA Micro-Blog would significantly relate to the qualified opinion while controlling firm size. Another finding is that the numbers of posting and reposting negative reports would be much more significantly impact on audit opinion if the firm received a qualified opinion in the previous period. It is also found that the involvement of more independent directors has no relationship with the influence of social media on audit opinion.

Keywords: association, social media, audit opinion, SINA Micro-Blog

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Authors: R. Ziaie Moayed, S. Taghvamanesh

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So far several methods by different researchers have been developed in order to calculate the bearing capacity factors of foundations and retaining walls. In this paper, the bearing capacity factor Ny (shape factor) for different types of foundation have been investigated. The formula for bearing capacity on c–φ–γ soil can still be expressed by Terzaghi’s equation except that the bearing capacity factor Ny depends on the surcharge ratio, and friction angle φ. Many empirical definitions have been used for measurement of the bearing capacity factors N

Keywords: bearing capacity, bearing capacity factor Nγ, irregular foundations, shape factor

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Sofiya An, Akbota Kanderzhanova, Assel Akhmetova, Faye Foster, Chee K. Chan

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Healthcare, education and social support for children with autism in Kazakhstan has been evolving and transforming over the last three decades. There is still limited knowledge of the use of complementary and alternative medicine by families caring for autistic children in this post-Soviet region. An exploratory qualitative focus group study of Kazakhstani families was carried out to capture and understand their experiences of using complementary and alternative (CAM) medicine. A total of six focus groups were conducted in five cities across the country including Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Kyzylorda, Karaganda and Taraz. The perceived factors driving the availability, choice, and use of complementary and alternative medicine by families of autistic children in the country were distilled and evaluated. The data collected was analyzed using a framework analysis and themes and subthemes were developed. Two major themes stood out. The first was the “unmet needs”, which relates to the predisposing factors that motivate parents to CAM uptake, and the second was the “chasing hope”, which relates to the enabling factors that facilitate parents’ uptake of CAM. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a latent underlying motivation underscoring these two themes as well. Parents of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children in Kazakhstan have to deal with many challenges when seeking treatment for their children with ASD. They are prepared and resort to try out whatever CAM interventions available. The motivation and rationale of choice of use is driven by the lack of options and the hope of any potential positive outcome rather than from rational decisions based on efficacy or the evidence-based data of CAM. Parents get desperate and are willing to try CAM regardless of and independent of their cultural and belief systems and they do not want to miss out just in case it might work. This study also gives an international and cross-cultural perspective on the motives, choice and practice of parents with ASD children using CAM in Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, Central Asia, complementary and alternative medicine, cross-cultural perspective, qualitative research

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Authors: D. Szinay, O. Perski, A. Jones, T. Chadborn, J. Brown, F. Naughton

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Background: The uptake of health and wellbeing smartphone apps is largely influenced by popularity indicators (e.g., rankings), rather than evidence-based content. Rapid disengagement is common. This study aims to explore how and why potential users 1) select and 2) engage with such apps, and 3) how increased engagement could be promoted. Methods: Semi-structured interviews and a think-aloud approach were used to allow participants to verbalise their thoughts whilst searching for a health or wellbeing app online, followed by a guided search in the UK National Health Service (NHS) 'Apps Library' and Public Health England’s (PHE) 'One You' website. Recruitment took place between June and August 2019. Adults interested in using an app for behaviour change were recruited through social media. Data were analysed using the framework approach. The analysis is both inductive and deductive, with the coding framework being informed by the Theoretical Domains Framework. The results are further mapped onto the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation - Behaviour) model. The study protocol is registered on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/jrkd3/). Results: The following targets were identified as playing a key role in increasing the uptake of and engagement with health and wellbeing apps: 1) psychological capability (e.g., reduced cognitive load); 2) physical opportunity (e.g., low financial cost); 3) social opportunity (e.g., embedded social media); 4) automatic motivation (e.g., positive feedback). Participants believed that the promotion of evidence-based apps on NHS-related websites could be enhanced through active promotion on social media, adverts on the internet, and in general practitioner practices. Future Implications: These results can inform the development of interventions aiming to promote the uptake of and engagement with evidence-based health and wellbeing apps, a priority within the UK NHS Long Term Plan ('digital first'). The targets identified across the COM-B domains could help organisations that provide platforms for such apps to increase impact through better selection of apps.

Keywords: behaviour change, COM-B model, digital health, mhealth

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Authors: Z. Wang, F. Pashaei Kamali, J. A. Posada Duque, P. Osseweijer

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Globally, the aviation sector is seeking for sustainable solutions to comply with the pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Jet fuels derived from biomass are generally perceived as a sustainable alternative compared with their fossil counterparts. However, the establishment of jet biofuels supply chains will have impacts on environment, economy, and society. While existing studies predominantly evaluated environmental impacts and techno-economic feasibility of jet biofuels, very few studies took the social / socioeconomic aspect into consideration. Therefore, this study aims to provide a focused evaluation of social sustainability for aviation biofuels with a supply chain perspective. Three potential jet biofuel supply chains based on different feedstocks, i.e. sugarcane, eucalyptus, and macauba were analyzed in the context of Brazil. The assessment of social sustainability is performed with a process-based approach combined with input-output analysis. Over the supply chains, a set of social sustainability issues including employment, working condition (occupational accident and wage level), labour right, education, equity, social development (GDP and trade balance) and food security were evaluated in a (semi)quantitative manner. The selection of these social issues is based on two criteria: (1) the issues are highly relevant and important to jet biofuel production; (2) methodologies are available for assessing these issues. The results show that the three jet biofuel supply chains lead to a differentiated level of social effects. The sugarcane-based supply chain creates the highest number of jobs whereas the biggest contributor of GDP turns out to be the macauba-based supply chain. In comparison, the eucalyptus-based supply chain stands out regarding working condition. It is also worth noting that biojet fuel supply chain with high level of social benefits could result in high level of social concerns (such as occupational accident, violation of labour right and trade imbalance). Further research is suggested to investigate the possible interactions between different social issues. In addition, the exploration of a wider range of social effects is needed to expand the comprehension of social sustainability for biofuel supply chains.

Keywords: biobased supply chain, jet biofuel, social assessment, social sustainability, socio-economic impacts

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Authors: Marita Canina, Carmen Bruno

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Digital Do It Yourself (DIY) is a contemporary socio-technological phenomenon, enabled by technological tools. The nature and potential long-term effects of this phenomenon have been widely studied within the framework of the EU funded project ‘Digital Do It Yourself’, in which the authors have created and experimented a specific Digital Do It Yourself (DiDIY) co-design process. The phenomenon was first studied through a literature research to understand its multiple dimensions and complexity. Therefore, co-design workshops were used to investigate the phenomenon by involving people to achieve a complete understanding of the DiDIY practices and its enabling factors. These analyses allowed the definition of the DiDIY fundamental factors that were then translated into a design tool. The objective of the tool is to shape design concepts by transferring these factors into different environments to achieve innovation. The aim of this paper is to present the ‘DiDIY Factor Stimuli’ tool, describing the research path and the findings behind it.

Keywords: co-design process, digital DIY, innovation, toolkit

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Supattra Kanchanopast

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The purpose of this study was to study the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty through social media of service business. This study collected data from 187 customers who have used social media of service business to buy product or service in Thailand. Statistics including frequency, percentage, standard deviation and Person’s Correlation test were used. The finding revealed that the majority of the respondents were female, 25-40 years old, graduated the bachelor degree, had monthly income 15,000-25,000 Baht and worked in private sectors. The mostly respondents have reserved the accommodation/homestay/hotel through Facebook about 3-4 times. The hypothesis testing disclosed that the satisfaction in customer invitation and data presentation perspective had a correlation with the level of customer loyalty: recommendation to others in terms of sharing. In addition, the satisfaction in customer relationship management perspective had a positive correlation with customer loyalty through social media of service business with respect to repeat purchase and recommendation to others at the 0.05 level of significance.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, relationship, service business, social media

Procedia PDF Downloads 441

Authors: Sandy Elsayed, Aya Mohamed, Noha Nassar

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Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social deficits and repetitive behavior. Multiple studies suggest that oxidative stress and neuroinflammation are key factors in the etiology of ASD and often associated with worsening of ASD-related behaviors. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF-2) is a transcription factor that promotes expression of antioxidant response element genes in oxidative stress. In ASD subjects, decreased expression of NRF-2 in frontal cortex shifted the redox homeostasis towards oxidative stress, and resulted in inflammation evidenced by elevation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) transcriptional activity. Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is a NRF-2 activator that is used in the treatment of psoriasis and multiple sclerosis. It participates in the transcriptional control of inflammatory factors via inhibition of NF-κB and its downstream targets. This study aimed to investigate the role of DMF in alleviating the cognitive impairments and behavior deficits associated with ASD through mitigation of oxidative stress and inflammation in prenatal valproic acid (VPA) rat model of autism. Methods: Pregnant female Wistar rats received a single intraperitoneal injection of VPA (600 mg/kg) to induce autistic-like-behavioral and neurobiological alterations in their offspring. Chronic oral gavage of DMF (150mg/kg/day) started from postnatal day (PND) 24 till PND62 (39 days). Prenatal VPA exposure elicited autistic behaviors including decreased social interaction and stereotyped behavior. Social interaction was evaluated using three-chamber sociability test and calculation of sociability index (SI), while stereotyped repetitive behavior and anxiety associated with ASD were assessed using marble burying test (MBT). Biochemical analyses were done on prefrontal cortex homogenates including NRF-2, and NF-κB expression. Moreover, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene expression and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-) protein expression were evaluated as markers of inflammation. Results: Prenatal VPA elicited decreased social interaction shown by decreased SI compared to control group (p < 0.001) and DMF enhanced SI (p < 0.05). In MBT, prenatal injection of VPA manifested stereotyped behavior and enhanced number of buried marbles compared to control (p < 0.05) and DMF reduced the anxiety-related behavior in rats exhibiting ASD-like behaviors (p < 0.05). In prefrontal cortex, NRF-2 expression was downregulated in prenatal VPA model (p < 0.0001) and DMF reversed this effect (p < 0.0001). The inflammatory transcription factor NF-κB was elevated in prenatal VPA model (p < 0.0001) and reduced (p < 0.0001) upon NRF-2 activation by DMF. Prenatal VPA expressed higher levels of proinflammatory cytokine TNF- compared to control group (p < 0.0001) and DMF reduced it (p < 0.0001). Finally, the gene expression of iNOS was downregulated upon NRF-2 activation by DMF (p < 0.01). Conclusion: This study proposes that DMF is a potential agent that can be used to ameliorate autistic-like-changes through NRF-2 activation along with NF-κB downregulation and therefore, it is a promising novel therapy for ASD.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorders, dimethyl fumarate, neuroinflammation, NRF-2

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Authors: Noel Smith

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To achieve professional registration, UK social workers need to complete a programme of education and training which meets standards set down by central government. When it comes to practice, social work in local authorities must fulfil requirements of national legislation but there is considerable local variation in the organisation and delivery of services. This presentation discusses the on-going reform of social work education by central government in the context of research of social work services in a local authority. In doing so it highlights that the ‘direction of travel’ of the national reform of social work education seems at odds with the trajectory of development of local social work services. In terms of education reform, the presentation cites key government initiatives including the knowledge and skills requirements which have been published separately for, respectively, child and family social work and adult social work. Also relevant is the Government’s new ‘teaching partnership’ pilot which focuses exclusively on social work in local government, in isolation from social work in NGOs. In terms of research, the presentation discusses two studies undertaken by Professor Smith in Suffolk County Council, a local authority in the east of England. The first is an equality impact analysis of the introduction of a new model for the delivery of adult and community services in Suffolk. This is based on qualitative research with local government representatives and NGOs involved in social work with older people and people with disabilities. The second study is an on-going, mixed method evaluation of the introduction of a new model of social care for children and young people in Suffolk. This new model is based on the international ‘Signs of Safety’ approach, which is applied in this model to a wide range of services from early intervention to child protection. While both studies are localised, the service models they examine are good illustrations of the way services are developing nationally. Analysis of these studies suggest that, if services continue to develop as they currently are, then social workers will require particular skills which are not be adequately addressed in the Government’s plans for social work education. Two issues arise. First, education reform concentrates on social work within local government while increasingly local authorities are outsourcing service provision to NGOs, expecting greater community involvement in providing care, and integrating social care with health care services. Second, education reform focuses on the different skills required for working with older and disabled adults and working with children and families, to the point where potentially the profession would be fragmented into two different classes of social worker. In contrast, the development of adult and children’s services in local authorities re-asserts the importance of common social work skills relating to personalisation, prevention and community development. The presentation highlights the importance for social work education in the UK to be forward looking, in terms of the changing design of service delivery, and outward looking, in terms of lessons to be drawn from international social work.

Keywords: adult social work, children and families social work, European social work, social work education

Procedia PDF Downloads 297