The evolution of conformist transmission in social learning when the environment changes periodically.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakahashi, Wataru

2007-08-01

Conformity is often observed in human social learning. Social learners preferentially imitate the majority or most common behavior in many situations, though the strength of conformity varies with the situation. Why has such a psychological tendency evolved? I investigate this problem by extending a standard model of social learning evolution with infinite environmental states (Feldman, M.W., Aoki, K., Kumm, J., 1996. Individual versus social learning: evolutionary analysis in a fluctuating environment. Anthropol. Sci. 104, 209-231) to include conformity bias. I mainly focus on the relationship between the strength of conformity bias that evolves and environmental stability, which is one of the most important factors in the evolution of social learning. Using the evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) approach, I show that conformity always evolves when environmental stability and the cost of adopting a wrong behavior are small, though environmental stability and the cost of individual learning both negatively affect the strength of conformity.

England and Wales: Stable fertility and pronounced social status differences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wendy Sigle-Rushton

2008-07-01

Full Text Available For nearly three decades, the total fertility rate in England and Wales has remained high relative to other European countries, and stable at about 1.7 births per woman. In this chapter, we examine trends in both period and cohort fertility throughout the twentieth century, and demonstrate some important differences across demographic and social groups in the timing and quantum of fertility. Breaking with a market-oriented and laissez-faire approach to work and family issues, the last 10 years have seen the introduction of new social and economic policies aimed at providing greater support to families with children. However, the effect of the changes is likely to be limited to families on the lower end of the income scale. Rather than facilitating work and parenthood, some policies create incentives for a traditional gendered division of labour. Fertility appears to have remained stable despite, rather than because of, government actions.

[Research advances in identifying nitrate pollution sources of water environment by using nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes].

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, Wei; Liang, Zhi-wei; Li, Wei; Zhu, Yao; Yanng, Mu-yi; Jia, Chao-jie

2013-04-01

Water body' s nitrate pollution has become a common and severe environmental problem. In order to ensure human health and water environment benign evolution, it is of great importance to effectively identify the nitrate pollution sources of water body. Because of the discrepant composition of nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes in different sources of nitrate in water body, nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes can be used to identify the nitrate pollution sources of water environment. This paper introduced the fractionation factors of nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes in the main processes of nitrogen cycling and the composition of these stable isotopes in main nitrate sources, compared the advantages and disadvantages of five pre-treatment methods for analyzing the nitrogen and oxygen isotopes in nitrate, and summarized the research advances in this aspect into three stages, i. e. , using nitrogen stable isotope alone, using nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes simultaneously, and combining with mathematical models. The future research directions regarding the nitrate pollution sources identification of water environment were also discussed.

Maternal Insomnia and Children's Family Socialization Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Gregory, Alice M.; Moffitt, Terrie E.; Ambler, Antony; Arseneault, Louise; Houts, Renate M.; Caspi, Avshalom

2012-01-01

Study Objectives: To examine concurrent associations between maternal insomnia and different aspects of the family socialization environment. Design: Mothers reported on their symptoms of insomnia in a private standardized interview and interviewers evaluated the family socialization environment using the Coder's Inventory. Setting: Assessments were conducted in participants' homes within the U.K. Patients or Participants: One thousand one hundred sixteen mothers of British children enrolled in the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) study were invited to participate when their children were aged 12 years. Interventions: N/A. Measurements and Results: After controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES), mothers' relationship status, and maternal depression, maternal insomnia was associated with a poorer family socialization environment (β = −0.10, [95% confidence intervals (CI) = −0.16, −0.04], P Ambler A; Arseneault L; Houts RM; Caspi A. Maternal insomnia and children's family socialization environments. SLEEP 2012;35(4):579-582. PMID:22467996

Evolution of learning in fluctuating environments: when selection favors both social and exploratory individual learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Borenstein, Elhanan; Feldman, Marcus W; Aoki, Kenichi

2008-03-01

Cumulative cultural change requires organisms that are capable of both exploratory individual learning and faithful social learning. In our model, an organism's phenotype is initially determined innately (by its genotypic value) or by social learning (copying a phenotype from the parental generation), and then may or may not be modified by individual learning (exploration around the initial phenotype). The environment alternates periodically between two states, each defined as a certain range of phenotypes that can survive. These states may overlap, in which case the same phenotype can survive in both states, or they may not. We find that a joint social and exploratory individual learning strategy-the strategy that supports cumulative culture-is likely to spread when the environmental states do not overlap. In particular, when the environmental states are contiguous and mutation is allowed among the genotypic values, this strategy will spread in either moderately or highly stable environments, depending on the exact nature of the individual learning applied. On the other hand, natural selection often favors a social learning strategy without exploration when the environmental states overlap. We find only partial support for the "consensus" view, which holds that individual learning, social learning, and innate determination of behavior will evolve at short, intermediate, and long environmental periodicities, respectively.

Stable Early Maternal Report of Behavioral Inhibition Predicts Lifetime Social Anxiety Disorder in Adolescence

Science.gov (United States)

Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea; Degnan, Kathryn Amey; Pine, Daniel S.; Perez-Edgar, Koraly; Henderson, Heather A.; Diaz, Yamalis; Raggi, Veronica L.; Fox, Nathan A.

2009-01-01

The odds of a lifetime diagnosis of social anxiety disorder increased by 3.79 times for children who had a stable report of behavioral inhibition from their mothers. This finding has important implications for the early identification and prevention of social anxiety disorder.

Trajectories of childhood weight gain: the relative importance of local environment versus individual social and early life factors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megan A Carter

Full Text Available To determine the association between local environmental factors with child weight status in a longitudinal study, using a semi-parametric, group-based method, while also considering social and early life factors.Standardized, directly measured BMI from 4-10 y of age, and group-based trajectory modeling (PROC TRAJ were used to estimate developmental trajectories of weight change in a Québec birth cohort (n = 1,566. Associations between the weight trajectories and living location, social cohesion, disorder, and material and social deprivation were estimated after controlling for social and early life factors.FOUR WEIGHT TRAJECTORY GROUPS WERE ESTIMATED: low-increasing (9.7%; low-medium, accelerating (36.2%; medium-high, increasing (43.0%; and high-stable (11.1%. In the low-increasing and medium-high trajectory groups, living in a semi-urban area was inversely related to weight, while living in a rural area was positively related to weight in the high-stable group. Disorder was inversely related to weight in the low-increasing group only. Other important risk factors for high-stable weight included obesity status of the mother, smoking during pregnancy, and overeating behaviors.In this study, associations between local environment factors and weight differed by trajectory group. Early life factors appear to play a more consistent role in weight status. Further work is needed to determine the influence of place on child weight.

Social network analysis of study environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blaženka Divjak

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Student working environment influences student learning and achievement level. In this respect social aspects of students’ formal and non-formal learning play special role in learning environment. The main research problem of this paper is to find out if students' academic performance influences their position in different students' social networks. Further, there is a need to identify other predictors of this position. In the process of problem solving we use the Social Network Analysis (SNA that is based on the data we collected from the students at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb. There are two data samples: in the basic sample N=27 and in the extended sample N=52. We collected data on social-demographic position, academic performance, learning and motivation styles, student status (full-time/part-time, attitudes towards individual and teamwork as well as informal cooperation. Afterwards five different networks (exchange of learning materials, teamwork, informal communication, basic and aggregated social network were constructed. These networks were analyzed with different metrics and the most important were betweenness, closeness and degree centrality. The main result is, firstly, that the position in a social network cannot be forecast only by academic success and, secondly, that part-time students tend to form separate groups that are poorly connected with full-time students. In general, position of a student in social networks in study environment can influence student learning as well as her/his future employability and therefore it is worthwhile to be investigated.

Social cognition and interaction training for patients with stable schizophrenia in Chinese community settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yongguang; Roberts, David L; Xu, Baihua; Cao, Rifang; Yan, Min; Jiang, Qiongping

2013-12-30

Accumulated evidence suggests that Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) is associated with improved performance in social cognition and social skills in patients diagnosed with psychotic disorders. The current study examined the clinical utility of SCIT in patients with schizophrenia in Chinese community settings. Adults with stable schizophrenia were recruited from local community health institutions, and were randomly assigned to SCIT group (n = 22) or a waiting-list control group (n = 17). The SCIT group received the SCIT intervention plus treatment-as-usual, whereas the waiting-list group received only treatment-as-usual during the period of the study. All patients were administered the Chinese versions of the Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP), Face Emotion Identification Task (FEIT), Eyes task, and Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) at baseline of the SCIT treatment period and at follow-up, 6 months after completion of the 20-week treatment period. Patients in SCIT group showed a significant improvement in the domains of emotion perception, theory of mind, attributional style, and social functioning compared to those in waiting-list group. Findings indicate that SCIT is a feasible and promising method for improving social cognition and social functioning among Chinese outpatients with stable schizophrenia. © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Manual for the Use of Stable Isotopes in Entomology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-06-01

result of problem driven inquisitiveness and technological advances, and are framed by the social and political environment. Although the external environment may mould the technological path, a technology will only become obsolete if there are viable substitution products or methods. Stable isotope methods are a substitute for many radionuclide methods. The progress made in stable isotope science over the past twenty years is a direct result of the interplay of the above factors. Stable isotopes are omnipresent in the environment and pose no health or environmental risks. Advances in isotope ratio mass spectrometry in terms of detection, accuracy and automation have broadened experimental possibilities immensely over the past twenty years. It was recognised that there was significant potential for answering many of the entomologist?s biological and ecological questions using stable isotopes, an expertise the Soil Science Unit of the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory in Seibersdorf had long fostered; therefore collaboration with the Entomology Unit at the same Laboratory was established. A number of collaborative experiments were carried and subsequently published. It was soon recognised that stable isotopes have tremendous potential in entomological research and although there were numerous studies using stable isotopes in ecology, their use in entomology per se was limited. Thus it was felt that a publication was required to make stable isotope techniques more widely known among entomologists. This manual will attempt to provide an introduction to the use of stable isotopes in entomological research. It will strive to communicate the basic principles and techniques of stable isotope science and provide a springboard for further interest and research in this area

Adolescents' social environment and depression: social networks, extracurricular activity, and family relationship influences.

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Michael J; Schmidt, Christopher; Abraham, Anisha; Walker, Leslie; Tercyak, Kenneth

2009-12-01

The present study examined components of adolescents' social environment (social network, extracurricular activities, and family relationships) in association with depression. A total of 332 adolescents presenting for a routine medical check-up were self-assessed for social network risk (i.e., smoking habits of best male and female friends), extracurricular activity level (i.e., participation in organized sports teams, clubs, etc.), family relationship quality (i.e., cohesion and conflict), and symptoms of depression (i.e., minimal, mild, moderate/severe). Results of a forward linear regression modeling indicate that social environment components were associated with a significant proportion of the variance in adolescent depression (Adjusted R (2) = .177, p social network (beta = .107, p depression symptoms. Conversely, adolescents who engaged in more extracurricular activities (beta = -.118, p depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the important role that the social environment plays in adolescent depression, as well as yields new insights into socially-based intervention targets that may ameliorate adolescent depression. These intervention targets may be gender-specific, include positive social network skills training, increase adolescents' engagement in organized activities, and attend to the quality of their family relationships.

From Personal to Social: Learning Environments that Work

Science.gov (United States)

Camacho, Mar; Guilana, Sonia

2011-01-01

VLE (Virtual Learning Environments) are rapidly falling short to meet the demands of a networked society. Web 2.0 and social networks are proving to offer a more personalized, open environment for students to learn formally as they are already doing informally. With the irruption of social media into society, and therefore, education, many voices…

Associations of social environment, socioeconomic position and social mobility with immune response in young adults: the Jerusalem Perinatal Family Follow-Up Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, Gabriella M; Friedlander, Yehiel; Calderon-Margalit, Ronit; Enquobahrie, Daniel A; Huang, Jonathan Yinhao; Tracy, Russell P; Manor, Orly; Siscovick, David S; Hochner, Hagit

2017-12-21

Immune response to cytomegalovirus (CMV) impacts adult chronic disease. This study investigates associations of childhood and adulthood social environment, socioeconomic position (SEP) and social mobility with CMV response in young adults. Historical prospective study design. Subcohort of all 17 003 births to residents of Jerusalem between 1974 and 1976. Participants included 1319 young adults born in Jerusalem with extensive archival and follow-up data, including childhood and adulthood SEP-related factors and anti-CMV IgG titre levels and seroprevalence measured at age 32. Principal component analysis was used to transform correlated social environment and SEP-related variables at two time points (childhood and adulthood) into two major scores reflecting household (eg, number of siblings/children, religiosity) and socioeconomic (eg, occupation, education) components. Based on these components, social mobility variables were created. Linear and Poisson regression models were used to investigate associations of components and mobility with anti-CMV IgG titre level and seroprevalence, adjusted for confounders. Lower levels of household and socioeconomic components in either childhood or adulthood were associated with higher anti-CMV IgG titre level and seropositivity at age 32. Compared with individuals with stable favourable components, anti-CMV IgG titre level and risk for seropositivity were higher in stable unfavourable household and socioeconomic components (household: β=3.23, P<0.001; relative risk (RR)=1.21, P<0.001; socioeconomic: β=2.20, P=0.001; RR=1.14, P=0.01), downward household mobility (β=4.32, P<0.001; RR=1.26, P<0.001) and upward socioeconomic mobility (β=1.37, P=0.04; RR=1.19, P<0.001). Among seropositive individuals, associations between household components and mobility with anti-CMV IgG titre level were maintained and associations between socioeconomic components and mobility with anti-CMV IgG titre level were attenuated. Our study

Early and adult social environments have independent effects on individual fitness in a social vertebrate.

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, Vérane; Lemaître, Jean-François; Allainé, Dominique; Gaillard, Jean-Michel; Cohas, Aurélie

2015-08-22

Evidence that the social environment at critical stages of life-history shapes individual trajectories is accumulating. Previous studies have identified either current or delayed effects of social environments on fitness components, but no study has yet analysed fitness consequences of social environments at different life stages simultaneously. To fill the gap, we use an extensive dataset collected during a 24-year intensive monitoring of a population of Alpine marmots (Marmota marmota), a long-lived social rodent. We test whether the number of helpers in early life and over the dominance tenure length has an impact on litter size at weaning, juvenile survival, longevity and lifetime reproductive success (LRS) of dominant females. Dominant females, who were born into a group containing many helpers and experiencing a high number of accumulated helpers over dominance tenure length showed an increased LRS through an increased longevity. We provide evidence that in a wild vertebrate, both early and adult social environments influence individual fitness, acting additionally and independently. These findings demonstrate that helpers have both short- and long-term effects on dominant female Alpine marmots and that the social environment at the time of birth can play a key role in shaping individual fitness in social vertebrates. © 2015 The Author(s).

Psychosocial Mechanisms Linking the Social Environment to Mental Health in African Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Mama, Scherezade K; Li, Yisheng; Basen-Engquist, Karen; Lee, Rebecca E; Thompson, Deborah; Wetter, David W; Nguyen, Nga T; Reitzel, Lorraine R; McNeill, Lorna H

2016-01-01

Resource-poor social environments predict poor health, but the mechanisms and processes linking the social environment to psychological health and well-being remain unclear. This study explored psychosocial mediators of the association between the social environment and mental health in African American adults. African American men and women (n = 1467) completed questionnaires on the social environment, psychosocial factors (stress, depressive symptoms, and racial discrimination), and mental health. Multiple-mediator models were used to assess direct and indirect effects of the social environment on mental health. Low social status in the community (p health. Psychosocial factors significantly jointly mediated the relationship between the social environment and mental health in multiple-mediator models. Low social status and social support were associated with greater perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and perceived racial discrimination, which were associated with poor mental health. Results suggest the relationship between the social environment and mental health is mediated by psychosocial factors and revealed potential mechanisms through which social status and social support influence the mental health of African American men and women. Findings from this study provide insight into the differential effects of stress, depression and discrimination on mental health. Ecological approaches that aim to improve the social environment and psychosocial mediators may enhance health-related quality of life and reduce health disparities in African Americans.

Social media management and media environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Šiđanin Iva

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the system of services that social media management can offer to a variety of users. As social media systems are emerging, social media management can strengthen teams in social media and help to manage numerous social channels and distribution of social information from one place. Social media management is a system of procedures that are used to manage the flow of information in the environment of social media. This involves connecting with social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ecademy, YouTube and many others, then the aggregation and management of social data. Social media management services are analysed through various fields, such as managing multiple social media profiles, mail scheduling and filtering, reporting and analytics. Social media management enables managing personal business through social media, which contributes to a significant reduction in expenditures. The paper also discusses the importance of social media management in marketing activities and various forms of social promotion, which allow companies to easily reach their customers.

Social Interaction Development through Immersive Virtual Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Beach, Jason; Wendt, Jeremy

2014-01-01

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if participants could improve their social interaction skills by participating in a virtual immersive environment. The participants used a developing virtual reality head-mounted display to engage themselves in a fully-immersive environment. While in the environment, participants had an opportunity…

Psychosocial Mechanisms Linking the Social Environment to Mental Health in African Americans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scherezade K Mama

Full Text Available Resource-poor social environments predict poor health, but the mechanisms and processes linking the social environment to psychological health and well-being remain unclear. This study explored psychosocial mediators of the association between the social environment and mental health in African American adults. African American men and women (n = 1467 completed questionnaires on the social environment, psychosocial factors (stress, depressive symptoms, and racial discrimination, and mental health. Multiple-mediator models were used to assess direct and indirect effects of the social environment on mental health. Low social status in the community (p < .001 and U.S. (p < .001 and low social support (p < .001 were associated with poor mental health. Psychosocial factors significantly jointly mediated the relationship between the social environment and mental health in multiple-mediator models. Low social status and social support were associated with greater perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and perceived racial discrimination, which were associated with poor mental health. Results suggest the relationship between the social environment and mental health is mediated by psychosocial factors and revealed potential mechanisms through which social status and social support influence the mental health of African American men and women. Findings from this study provide insight into the differential effects of stress, depression and discrimination on mental health. Ecological approaches that aim to improve the social environment and psychosocial mediators may enhance health-related quality of life and reduce health disparities in African Americans.

[Social learning as an uncertainty-reduction strategy: an adaptationist approach].

Science.gov (United States)

Nakanishi, Daisuke; Kameda, Tatsuya; Shinada, Mizuho

2003-04-01

Social learning is an effective mechanism to reduce uncertainty about environmental knowledge, helping individuals adopt an adaptive behavior in the environment at small cost. Although this is evident for learning about temporally stable targets (e.g., acquiring avoidance of toxic foods culturally), the functional value of social learning in a temporally unstable environment is less clear; knowledge acquired by social learning may be outdated. This paper addressed adaptive values of social learning in a non-stationary environment empirically. When individual learning about the non-stationary environment is costly, a hawk-dove-game-like equilibrium is expected to emerge in the population, where members who engage in costly individual learning and members who skip the information search and free-ride on other members' search efforts coexist at a stable ratio. Such a "producer-scrounger" structure should qualify effectiveness of social/cultural learning severely, especially "conformity bias" when using social information (Boyd & Richerson, 1985). We tested these predictions by an experiment implementing a non-stationary uncertain environment in a laboratory. The results supported our thesis. Implications of these findings and some future directions were discussed.

Real-geographic-scenario-based virtual social environments: integrating geography with social research

OpenAIRE

Min Chen; Li He; Hui Lin; Chunxiao Zhang; Mingyuan Hu

2013-01-01

Existing online virtual worlds, or electronic environments, are of great significance to social science research, but are somewhat lacking in rigour. One reason is that users might not participate in those virtual worlds in the way they act in real daily life, communicating with each other in familiar environments and interacting with natural phenomena under the constraints of the human–land relationship. To help solve this problem we propose the real-geographic-scenario-based virtual social ...

Social Networks as Learning Environments for Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.A.Cortés

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Learning is considered as a social activity, a student does not learn only of the teacher and the textbook or only in the classroom, learn also from many other agents related to the media, peers and society in general. And since the explosion of the Internet, the information is within the reach of everyone, is there where the main area of opportunity in new technologies applied to education, as well as taking advantage of recent socialization trends that can be leveraged to improve not only informing of their daily practices, but rather as a tool that explore different branches of education research. One can foresee the future of higher education as a social learning environment, open and collaborative, where people construct knowledge in interaction with others, in a comprehensive manner. The mobility and ubiquity that provide mobile devices enable the connection from anywhere and at any time. In modern educational environments can be expected to facilitate mobile devices in the classroom expansion in digital environments, so that students and teachers can build the teaching-learning process collectively, this partial derivative results in the development of draft research approved by the CONADI in “Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia”, "Social Networks: A teaching strategy in learning environments in higher education."

Psychosocial mechanisms linking the social environment to mental health in African Americans

Science.gov (United States)

Resource-poor social environments predict poor health, but the mechanisms and processes linking the social environment to psychological health and well-being remain unclear. This study explored psychosocial mediators of the association between the social environment and mental health in African Amer...

The Effect of Social Interaction on Learning Engagement in a Social Networking Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Jie; Churchill, Daniel

2014-01-01

This study investigated the impact of social interactions among a class of undergraduate students on their learning engagement in a social networking environment. Thirteen undergraduate students enrolled in a course in a university in Hong Kong used an Elgg-based social networking platform throughout a semester to develop their digital portfolios…

Distribution tactics for success in turbulent versus stable environments: A complexity theory approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roger Bruce Mason

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This article proposes that the external environment influences the choice of distribution tactics. Since businesses and markets are complex adaptive systems, using complexity theory to understand such environments is necessary, but it has not been widely researched. A qualitative case method using in-depth interviews investigated four successful, versus less successful, companies in turbulent versus stable environments. The results tentatively confirmed that the more successful company, in a turbulent market, sees distribution activities as less important than other aspects of the marketing mix, but uses them to stabilise customer relationships and to maintain distribution processes. These findings can benefit marketers by emphasising a new way to consider place activities. How marketers can be assisted, and suggestions for further research, are provided.

Stable isotopes in Lithuanian bioarcheological material

Science.gov (United States)

Skipityte, Raminta; Jankauskas, Rimantas; Remeikis, Vidmantas

2015-04-01

Investigation of bioarcheological material of ancient human populations allows us to understand the subsistence behavior associated with various adaptations to the environment. Feeding habits are essential to the survival and growth of ancient populations. Stable isotope analysis is accepted tool in paleodiet (Schutkowski et al, 1999) and paleoenvironmental (Zernitskaya et al, 2014) studies. However, stable isotopes can be useful not only in investigating human feeding habits but also in describing social and cultural structure of the past populations (Le Huray and Schutkowski, 2005). Only few stable isotope investigations have been performed before in Lithuanian region suggesting a quite uniform diet between males and females and protein intake from freshwater fish and animal protein. Previously, stable isotope analysis has only been used to study a Stone Age population however, more recently studies have been conducted on Iron Age and Late medieval samples (Jacobs et al, 2009). Anyway, there was a need for more precise examination. Stable isotope analysis were performed on human bone collagen and apatite samples in this study. Data represented various ages (from 5-7th cent. to 18th cent.). Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis on medieval populations indicated that individuals in studied sites in Lithuania were almost exclusively consuming C3 plants, C3 fed terrestrial animals, and some freshwater resources. Current investigation demonstrated social differences between elites and country people and is promising in paleodietary and daily life reconstruction. Acknowledgement I thank prof. dr. G. Grupe, Director of the Anthropological and Palaeoanatomical State Collection in Munich for providing the opportunity to work in her laboratory. The part of this work was funded by DAAD. Antanaitis-Jacobs, Indre, et al. "Diet in early Lithuanian prehistory and the new stable isotope evidence." Archaeologia Baltica 12 (2009): 12-30. Le Huray, Jonathan D., and Holger

Promoting Social Nurturance and Positive Social Environments to Reduce Obesity in High-Risk Youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Dawn K; Sweeney, Allison M; Kitzman-Ulrich, Heather; Gause, Haylee; St George, Sara M

2017-03-01

Nurturing environments within the context of families, schools, and communities all play an important role in enhancing youth's behavioral choices and health outcomes. The increasing prevalence rates of obesity among youth, especially among low income and ethnic minorities, highlight the need to develop effective and innovative intervention approaches that promote positive supportive environments across different contexts for at-risk youth. We propose that the integration of Social Cognitive Theory, Family Systems Theory, and Self-Determination Theory offers a useful framework for understanding how individual, family, and social-environmental-level factors contribute to the development of nurturing environments. In this paper, we summarize evidence-based randomized controlled trials that integrate positive parenting, motivational, and behavioral skills strategies in different contexts, including primary care, home, community, and school-based settings. Taken together, these studies suggest that youth and parents are most likely to benefit when youth receive individual-level behavioral skills, family-level support and communication, and autonomous motivational support from the broader social environment. Future investigators and healthcare providers should consider integrating these evidence-based approaches that support the effects of positive social climate-based interventions on promoting healthy eating, physical activity, and weight management in youth.

Organizational socialization in team sport environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Benson, A J; Evans, M B; Eys, M A

2016-04-01

Socialization tactics are often used to manage initial group member interactions in a way that facilitates transition experiences. Although this process is heavily researched in organizational contexts, we sought to extend this line of inquiry to sport by examining the nature of socialization tactics used to integrate new members into existing teams. Interviews were conducted with 12 coaches and 12 athletes from several Canadian Interuniversity Sport teams to explore the nature of socialization and the circumstances underscoring why certain approaches are taken over others. A key process involved establishing congruency of role expectations between incoming athletes and group leaders, and socialization processes balanced expectations of conformity with encouragement of individual personalities within the group. A conceptual basis to examine socialization into team sport environments is discussed in relation to the extant organizational theories, and the practical implications of delineating sport socialization tactics are forwarded. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Longitudinal influences of neighbourhood built and social environment on children's weight status.

Science.gov (United States)

Gose, Maria; Plachta-Danielzik, Sandra; Willié, Bianca; Johannsen, Maike; Landsberg, Beate; Müller, Manfred J

2013-10-15

The objective was to examine longitudinal 4-year-relationships between neighbourhood social environment and children's body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) taking into account the built environment. Furthermore, we have analysed the influence of potential interactions between the social environment and family/social data on children's BMI-SDS. Between 2006-2008 and 2010-2012, anthropometric measurements were conducted among 485 children (age at baseline: 6.1 (5.8-6.4)). Socio-demographic characteristics and perception of residential environment were reported by parents. Geographic Information Systems were used to examine street length, number of food outlets and distance to the nearest playground and park/green space within an 800 m Euclidian buffer of each participant address point. Additional data on neighbourhood characteristics (e.g., traffic density, walkability, crime rates) were obtained from the State Capital of Kiel, Germany. In a multivariate model, walkability, street type, socioeconomic status of the district and perceived frequency of passing trucks/buses were associated with BMI-SDS over 4 years, but only neighbourhood SES had an effect on change in BMI-SDS. However, familial/social factors rather than neighbourhood environment (especially social environment) had an impact on children's BMI-SDS over 4 years. Thus, social inequalities in childhood overweight are only partially explained by social neighbourhood environment.

Analysis of Rapidly Developing Low Cloud Ceilings in a Stable Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Bauman, William H., III; Barrett, Joe H., III; Case, Jonathan L.; Wheeler, Mark M.; Baggett, G. Wayne

2006-01-01

Forecasters at the Space Meteorology Group (SMG) issue 30 to 90 minute forecasts for low cloud ceilings at the Space Shuttle Landing Facility (TTS) to support Space Shuttle landings. Mission verification statistics have shown ceilings to be the number one forecast challenge for SMG. More specifically, forecasters at SMG are concerned with any rapidly developing clouds/ceilings below 8000 ft in a stable, capped thermodynamic environment. Therefore, the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) was tasked to examine archived events of rapid stable cloud formation resulting in ceilings below 8000 ft, and document the atmospheric regimes favoring this type of cloud development. The AMU examined the cool season months of November to March during the years of 1993-2003 for days that had low-level inversions and rapid, stable low cloud formation that resulted in ceilings violating the Space Shuttle Flight Rules. The AMU wrote and modified existing code to identify inversions from the morning (-10 UTC) Cape Canaveral, FL rawinsonde (XMR) during the cool season and output pertinent sounding information. They parsed all days with cloud ceilings below 8000 ft at TTS, forming a database of possible rapidly-developing low ceiling events. Days with precipitation or noticeable fog burn-off situations were excluded from the database. In the first phase of this work, only the daytime hours were examined for possible ceiling development events since low clouds are easier to diagnose with visible satellite imagery. Phase II of this work includes expanding the database to include nighttime cases which is underway as this abstract is being written. For the nighttime cases, the AMU will analyze both the 00 UTC soundings and the 10 UTC soundings to examine those data for the presence of a low-level inversion. The 00 UTC soundings will probably not have a surface-based inversion, but the presence of inversions or "neutral" layers aloft and below 8,000 ft will most likely help define the stable

Theoretical Foundations for Enhancing Social Connectedness in Online Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Slagter van Tryon, Patricia J.; Bishop, M. J.

2009-01-01

Group social structure provides a comfortable and predictable context for interaction in learning environments. Students in face-to-face learning environments process social information about others in order to assess traits, predict behaviors, and determine qualifications for assuming particular responsibilities within a group. In online learning…

The Influence of Social Media on Collaborative Learning in a Cohort Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natasha James-Waldon

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This paper provides an overview of the impact that social media has on the development of collaborative learning within a cohort environment in a doctoral program. The researchers surveyed doctoral students in an education program to determine how social media use has influenced the doctoral students. The study looked at the following areas: a the ability of social media use to develop a collaborative learning environment, b access to social media content which supports learning, and c whether social media use has contributed to the enhancement of the doctoral students’ academic achievement and learning progress. As social media use and on-line learning become more prevalent in education, it is important to continue to understand the impact that social media has on improving students’ ability to achieve their academic goals. This study provides insight on how doctoral students used social media and how social media use has influenced academic development in their cohort environment. In addition, this paper provides a discerning view into the role social media plays when developing a collaborative learning environment in a cohort.

THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND NEUROGENESIS IN THE ADULT MAMMALIAN BRAIN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia eLieberwirth

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Adult neurogenesis—the formation of new neurons in adulthood—has been shown to be modulated by a variety of endogenous (e.g., trophic factors, neurotransmitters, and hormones as well as exogenous (e.g., physical activity and environmental complexity factors. Research on exogenous regulators of adult neurogenesis has focused primarily on the non-social environment. Most recently, however, evidence has emerged suggesting that the social environment can also affect adult neurogenesis. The present review details the effects of adult-adult (e.g., mating, conspecific, and chemosensory signal exposure and adult-offspring (e.g., gestation, parenthood, and exposure to offspring interactions on adult neurogenesis. In addition, the effects of a stressful social environment (e.g., lack of social support and dominant-subordinate interactions on adult neurogenesis are reviewed. The underlying hormonal mechanisms and potential functional significance of adult-generated neurons in mediating social behaviors are also discussed.

Does social environment influence learning ability in a family-living lizard?

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Julia L; Noble, Daniel W A; Byrne, Richard W; Whiting, Martin J

2017-05-01

Early developmental environment can have profound effects on individual physiology, behaviour, and learning. In birds and mammals, social isolation during development is known to negatively affect learning ability; yet in other taxa, like reptiles, the effect of social isolation during development on learning ability is unknown. We investigated how social environment affects learning ability in the family-living tree skink (Egernia striolata). We hypothesized that early social environment shapes cognitive development in skinks and predicted that skinks raised in social isolation would have reduced learning ability compared to skinks raised socially. Offspring were separated at birth into two rearing treatments: (1) raised alone or (2) in a pair. After 1 year, we quantified spatial learning ability of skinks in these rearing treatments (N = 14 solitary, 14 social). We found no effect of rearing treatment on learning ability. The number of skinks to successfully learn the task, the number of trials taken to learn the task, the latency to perform the task, and the number of errors in each trial did not differ between isolated and socially reared skinks. Our results were unexpected, yet the facultative nature of this species' social system may result in a reduced effect of social isolation on behaviour when compared to species with obligate sociality. Overall, our findings do not provide evidence that social environment affects development of spatial learning ability in this family-living lizard.

Promoting Social Nurturance and Positive Social Environments to Reduce Obesity in High Risk Youth

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Dawn K.; Sweeney, Allison M.; Kitzman-Ulrich, Heather; Gause, Haylee; St. George, Sara M.

2017-01-01

Nurturing environments within the context of families, schools, and communities all play an important role in enhancing youth’s behavioral choices and health outcomes. The increasing prevalence rates of obesity among youth, especially among low income and ethnic minorities, highlight the need to develop effective and innovative intervention approaches that promote positive supportive environments across different contexts for at risk youth. We propose that the integration of Social Cognitive Theory, Family Systems Theory, and Self-Determination Theory offers a useful framework for understanding how individual, family and social-environmental level factors contribute to the development of nurturing environments. In this paper, we summarize evidence-based randomized controlled trials that integrate positive parenting, motivational, and behavioral skills strategies in different contexts, including primary care, home, community, and school-based settings. Taken together, these studies suggest that youth and parents are most likely to benefit when youth receive individual-level behavioral skills, family-level support and communication, and autonomous motivational support from the broader social environment. Future investigators and health care providers should consider integrating these evidence-based approaches that support the effects of positive social climate-based interventions on promoting healthy eating, physical activity, and weight management in youth. PMID:28229248

Social Pre-treatment Modulates Attention Allocation to Transient and Stable Object Properties

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katalin Oláh

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Increasing evidence suggests that ostensive-communicative signals in social learning situations enable observers to focus their attention on the intrinsic features of an object (e.g. color at the expense of ignoring transient object properties (e.g. location. Here we investigated whether off-line social cues, presented as social primes, have the same power to modulate attention allocation to stable and transient object properties as on-line ostensive-communicative cues. The first part of the experiment consisted of a pre-treatment phase, where adult male participants either received intensive social stimulation or were asked to perform non-social actions. Then, they participated in a change detection test, where they watched pairs of pictures depicting an array of five objects. On the second picture, a change occurred compared to the first picture. One object changed either its location (moving forward or backward or was replaced by another object, and participants were required to indicate where the change had happened. We found that participants detected the change more successfully if it had happened in the location of the object; however, this difference was reduced following a socially intense pre-treatment phase. The results are discussed in relation to the claims of the natural pedagogy theory.

Individual and shared effects of social environment and polygenic risk scores on adolescent body mass index.

Science.gov (United States)

Coleman, Jonathan R I; Krapohl, Eva; Eley, Thalia C; Breen, Gerome

2018-04-20

Juvenile obesity is associated with adverse health outcomes. Understanding genetic and environmental influences on body mass index (BMI) during adolescence could inform interventions. We investigated independent and interactive effects of parenting, socioeconomic status (SES) and polygenic risk on BMI pre-adolescence, and on the rate of change in BMI across adolescence. Genome-wide genotype data, BMI and child perceptions of parental warmth and punitive discipline were available at 11 years old, and parental SES was available from birth on 3,414 unrelated participants. Linear models were used to test the effects of social environment and polygenic risk on pre-adolescent BMI. Change in BMI across adolescence was assessed in a subset (N = 1943). Sex-specific effects were assessed. Higher genetic risk was associated with increased BMI pre-adolescence and across adolescence (p parenting was not significantly associated with either phenotype, but lower SES was associated with increased BMI pre-adolescence. No interactions passed correction for multiple testing. Polygenic risk scores from adult GWAS meta-analyses are associated with BMI in juveniles, suggesting a stable genetic component. Pre-adolescent BMI was associated with social environment, but parental style has, at most, a small effect.

Using a social capital framework to enhance measurement of the nursing work environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheingold, Brenda Helen; Sheingold, Steven H

2013-07-01

To develop, field test and analyse a social capital survey instrument for measuring the nursing work environment. The concept of social capital, which focuses on improving productive capacity by examining relationships and networks, may provide a promising framework to measure and evaluate the nurse work environment in a variety of settings. A survey instrument for measuring social capital in the nurse work environment was developed by adapting the World Bank's Social Capital - Integrated Questionnaire (SC-IQ). Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analyses were applied to assess the properties of the instrument. The exploratory factor analysis yielded five factors that align well with the social capital framework, while reflecting unique aspects of the nurse work environment. The results suggest that the social capital framework provides a promising context to assess the nurse work environment. Further work is needed to refine the instrument for a diverse range of health-care providers and to correlate social capital measures with quality of patient care. Social capital measurement of the nurse work environment has the potential to provide managers with an enhanced set of tools for building productive capacity in health-care organisations and achieving desired outcomes. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Social Organization, Physical Environment, and Infant-Caretaker Interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Woodson, R. H.; da Costa-Woodson, E. M.

1984-01-01

Relationships of infant/caretaker interaction with the social organization and the physical environment of the home were examined in rural Malay and Chinese families living in Malaysia. Findings are discussed in terms of the integration of behavioral characteristics, patterns of social organization, and arrangements of the physical environment…

A design approach to socially adaptive lighting environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Magielse, R.; Ross, P.R.

2011-01-01

Historically light has been a catalyst for social life to emerge. In recent years of lighting research the social effect of light has been underexposed. The environments we occupy on a daily basis are used for a wider variety of activities. Consequently, lighting conditions need to become sensitive

How does the social environment 'get into the mind'? Epigenetics at the intersection of social and psychiatric epidemiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Toyokawa, Satoshi; Uddin, Monica; Koenen, Karestan C; Galea, Sandro

2012-01-01

The social environment plays a considerable role in determining major psychiatric disorders. Emerging evidence suggests that features of the social environment modify gene expression independently of the primary DNA sequence through epigenetic processes. Accordingly, dysfunction of epigenetic mechanisms offers a plausible mechanism by which an adverse social environment gets "into the mind" and results in poor mental health. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the studies suggesting that epigenetic changes introduced by the social environment then manifest as psychological consequences. Our goal is to build a platform to discuss the ways in which future epidemiologic studies may benefit from including epigenetic measures. We focus on schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anorexia nervosa, and substance dependence as examples that highlight the ways in which social environmental exposures, mediated through epigenetic processes, affect mental health. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Links between social environment and health care utilization and costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Brault, Marie A; Brewster, Amanda L; Bradley, Elizabeth H; Keene, Danya; Tan, Annabel X; Curry, Leslie A

2018-01-01

The social environment influences health outcomes for older adults and could be an important target for interventions to reduce costly medical care. We sought to understand which elements of the social environment distinguish communities that achieve lower health care utilization and costs from communities that experience higher health care utilization and costs for older adults with complex needs. We used a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach. We classified community performance based on three outcomes: rate of hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions, all-cause risk-standardized hospital readmission rates, and Medicare spending per beneficiary. We conducted in-depth interviews with key informants (N = 245) from organizations providing health or social services. Higher performing communities were distinguished by several aspects of social environment, and these features were lacking in lower performing communities: 1) strong informal support networks; 2) partnerships between faith-based organizations and health care and social service organizations; and 3) grassroots organizing and advocacy efforts. Higher performing communities share similar social environmental features that complement the work of health care and social service organizations. Many of the supportive features and programs identified in the higher performing communities were developed locally and with limited governmental funding, providing opportunities for improvement.

Incubation environment impacts the social cognition of adult lizards.

Science.gov (United States)

Siviter, Harry; Deeming, D Charles; van Giezen, M F T; Wilkinson, Anna

2017-11-01

Recent work exploring the relationship between early environmental conditions and cognition has shown that incubation environment can influence both brain anatomy and performance in simple operant tasks in young lizards. It is currently unknown how it impacts other, potentially more sophisticated, cognitive processes. Social-cognitive abilities, such as gaze following and social learning, are thought to be highly adaptive as they provide a short-cut to acquiring new information. Here, we investigated whether egg incubation temperature influenced two aspects of social cognition, gaze following and social learning in adult reptiles ( Pogona vitticeps ). Incubation temperature did not influence the gaze following ability of the bearded dragons; however, lizards incubated at colder temperatures were quicker at learning a social task and faster at completing that task. These results are the first to show that egg incubation temperature influences the social cognitive abilities of an oviparous reptile species and that it does so differentially depending on the task. Further, the results show that the effect of incubation environment was not ephemeral but lasted long into adulthood. It could thus have potential long-term effects on fitness.

An Inexpensive, Stable, and Accurate Relative Humidity Measurement Method for Challenging Environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wei; Ma, Hong; Yang, Simon X

2016-03-18

In this research, an improved psychrometer is developed to solve practical issues arising in the relative humidity measurement of challenging drying environments for meat manufacturing in agricultural and agri-food industries. The design in this research focused on the structure of the improved psychrometer, signal conversion, and calculation methods. The experimental results showed the effect of varying psychrometer structure on relative humidity measurement accuracy. An industrial application to dry-cured meat products demonstrated the effective performance of the improved psychrometer being used as a relative humidity measurement sensor in meat-drying rooms. In a drying environment for meat manufacturing, the achieved measurement accuracy for relative humidity using the improved psychrometer was ±0.6%. The system test results showed that the improved psychrometer can provide reliable and long-term stable relative humidity measurements with high accuracy in the drying system of meat products.

Effect of Family Education and Social Environment to Student Characteristic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charina Oktaviani

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The research aims to know whether or not an influence of family education and social environment on the characteristics of students during the accounting lesson at class XI IPS SMA Negeri I Pati; to know whether or not an influence of social environment on the characteristics of students during the accounting lesson at class XI IPS SMA Negeri I Pati; and to know whether or not an influence between family education and social environment on the characteristics of students during the accounting lesson at class XI IPS SMA Negeri I Pati. The population in this research is 71 students of class XI SMA Negeri I Pati. Method of data analysis in this research consists of percentage descriptive analysis, descriptive statistic, prerequisite test covering normality test and linearity test, multiple linear regression analysis, classical assumption test covering multicollinearity test and heteroscedasticity test, hypothesis test covering simultaneous test (F, coefficient of simultaneous determination (R2, partial test (t, and partial determinant coefficient (r2. Results shows that family education and social environment both simultaneously and individually have positive impacts on the student characteristics.

Longitudinal Influences of Neighbourhood Built and Social Environment on Children’s Weight Status

Science.gov (United States)

Gose, Maria; Plachta-Danielzik, Sandra; Willié, Bianca; Johannsen, Maike; Landsberg, Beate; Müller, Manfred J.

2013-01-01

The objective was to examine longitudinal 4-year-relationships between neighbourhood social environment and children’s body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) taking into account the built environment. Furthermore, we have analysed the influence of potential interactions between the social environment and family/social data on children’s BMI-SDS. Between 2006–2008 and 2010–2012, anthropometric measurements were conducted among 485 children (age at baseline: 6.1 (5.8–6.4)). Socio-demographic characteristics and perception of residential environment were reported by parents. Geographic Information Systems were used to examine street length, number of food outlets and distance to the nearest playground and park/green space within an 800 m Euclidian buffer of each participant address point. Additional data on neighbourhood characteristics (e.g., traffic density, walkability, crime rates) were obtained from the State Capital of Kiel, Germany. In a multivariate model, walkability, street type, socioeconomic status of the district and perceived frequency of passing trucks/busses were associated with BMI-SDS over 4 years, but only neighbourhood SES had an effect on change in BMI-SDS. However, familial/social factors rather than neighbourhood environment (especially social environment) had an impact on children’s BMI-SDS over 4 years. Thus, social inequalities in childhood overweight are only partially explained by social neighbourhood environment. PMID:24132135

Longitudinal Influences of Neighbourhood Built and Social Environment on Children’s Weight Status

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manfred J. Müller

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The objective was to examine longitudinal 4-year-relationships between neighbourhood social environment and children’s body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS taking into account the built environment. Furthermore, we have analysed the influence of potential interactions between the social environment and family/social data on children’s BMI-SDS. Between 2006–2008 and 2010–2012, anthropometric measurements were conducted among 485 children (age at baseline: 6.1 (5.8–6.4. Socio-demographic characteristics and perception of residential environment were reported by parents. Geographic Information Systems were used to examine street length, number of food outlets and distance to the nearest playground and park/green space within an 800 m Euclidian buffer of each participant address point. Additional data on neighbourhood characteristics (e.g., traffic density, walkability, crime rates were obtained from the State Capital of Kiel, Germany. In a multivariate model, walkability, street type, socioeconomic status of the district and perceived frequency of passing trucks/busses were associated with BMI-SDS over 4 years, but only neighbourhood SES had an effect on change in BMI-SDS. However, familial/social factors rather than neighbourhood environment (especially social environment had an impact on children’s BMI-SDS over 4 years. Thus, social inequalities in childhood overweight are only partially explained by social neighbourhood environment.

Non-Chemical Stressors in a Child’s Social Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Non-chemical stressors exist in the built, natural and social environments including physical factors (e.g., noise, temperature and humidity) and psychosocial factors (e.g., poor diet, smoking, illicit drug use)[1]. Scientists study how non-chemical stressors (e.g., social suppor...

Co-Evolution of Social Learning and Evolutionary Preparedness in Dangerous Environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindström, Björn; Selbing, Ida; Olsson, Andreas

2016-01-01

Danger is a fundamental aspect of the lives of most animals. Adaptive behavior therefore requires avoiding actions, objects, and environments associated with danger. Previous research has shown that humans and non-human animals can avoid such dangers through two types of behavioral adaptions, (i) genetic preparedness to avoid certain stimuli or actions, and (ii) social learning. These adaptive mechanisms reduce the fitness costs associated with danger but still allow flexible behavior. Despite the empirical prevalence and importance of both these mechanisms, it is unclear when they evolve and how they interact. We used evolutionary agent-based simulations, incorporating empirically based learning mechanisms, to clarify if preparedness and social learning typically both evolve in dangerous environments, and if these mechanisms generally interact synergistically or antagonistically. Our simulations showed that preparedness and social learning often co-evolve because they provide complimentary benefits: genetic preparedness reduced foraging efficiency, but resulted in a higher rate of survival in dangerous environments, while social learning generally came to dominate the population, especially when the environment was stochastic. However, even in this case, genetic preparedness reliably evolved. Broadly, our results indicate that the relationship between preparedness and social learning is important as it can result in trade-offs between behavioral flexibility and safety, which can lead to seemingly suboptimal behavior if the evolutionary environment of the organism is not taken into account.

Physiological and behavioral responses to the social environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davis, D.E.

1978-01-01

Physiological and behavioral reactions to the social environment are mediated in nature principally through aggressive interactions, although in some cases other aspects of the environment such as temperature or predators are important. Observations from 1946-50 of changes in populations of rats after alteration of social conditions suggested the hypothesis that changes in birth and mortality rates followed aggressive interactions. The pituitary-adrenal-gonadal mechanism provided a process that could be tested in three types of conditions: laboratory, simulated field, and field. Changes in social environment can result from: seasonal changes in conditions; appearance of transients; habitat changes due to succession; and increase of population. It became apparent from laboratory research that a physiological feedback from aggressive behavior could reduce birth rates and increase mortality rates. Studies in nature showed that a reduction of Norway rat population by 38 percent was followed by a reduction of adrenal weight by 32 percent. Also as the population of rats increased the weight of the adrenals increased. A comprehensive study of woodchucks, started in 1957, showed that the alteration of age composition and the increase in immigration was associated with increased adrenal function. Research by others on lemmings shows that the adrenals at the peak of a population fluctuation are larger and produce more hormones than at the low point. No evidence was obtained to support the hypothesis that genetic selection for aggressive behavior within the population occurs during the increase or decline of a population. The changes occur within an individual. The future of studies of responses to the social environment will require experimental programs in nature that last for a decade or more, long enough to monitor changes in numbers under a variety of conditions

Adaptive behavior in economic and social environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Droste, E.J.R.

1999-01-01

Various economic and social environments feature repeated interaction of decision-makers. Firms compete for market shares continually, politicians enter into debates almost every day, and friends communicate regularly. When decision-makers accumulate experience and collect new information each time

Designing for social interaction in open-ended play environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Valk, L.; Bekker, T.; Eggen, J.H.

2015-01-01

Interactive technology is becoming more strongly integrated in innovative play solutions. As play is often a social experience, understanding the dynamic social context in which such play takes place is an essential step in designing new interactive play environments. In this paper, we explore the

The Influence of Social Media on Collaborative Learning in a Cohort Environment

OpenAIRE

Natasha James-Waldon; Debbi Bromley; Zandra Henry; Silas Wandera

2016-01-01

This paper provides an overview of the impact that social media has on the development of collaborative learning within a cohort environment in a doctoral program. The researchers surveyed doctoral students in an education program to determine how social media use has influenced the doctoral students. The study looked at the following areas: a) the ability of social media use to develop a collaborative learning environment, b) access to social media content which supports learning, and c) whe...

Strengthening Social Capital Through Residential Environment Development for Older Chinese in a Canadian Context.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Hai

2016-01-01

Among Canada's visible-minority population 65 years of age or older, nearly four out of ten are Chinese. However, little research has been devoted to the examination of the role of the housing environment in building social capital for older Chinese despite the increase in this population and related social issues. The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese elders' experience of social capital and how it is affected by their residential environment in a Canadian context. In this qualitative study, forty-three Chinese elders in a Canadian context were interviewed with a focus group approach. Findings indicate that the environments in which these older adults lived either hindered or assisted them in building or increasing their social capital. A culturally and linguistically homogeneous residential environment does not necessarily provide positive support to older Chinese for their acquisition of social capital. Adversities in the environment, such as maltreatment or lack of support from their immediate micro environment (family), tended to motivate older adults to improve their social capital for problem-solving. The study offers implications from research findings to social work practice and concludes with an analysis of limitations.

Stable social relationships between unrelated females increase individual fitness in a cooperative bird.

Science.gov (United States)

Riehl, Christina; Strong, Meghan J

2018-04-11

Social animals often form long-lasting relationships with fellow group members, usually with close kin. In primates, strong social bonds have been associated with increased longevity, offspring survival and reproductive success. However, little is known about the fitness effects of social bonds between non-kin, especially outside of mammals. In this study, we use long-term field research on a cooperatively breeding bird, the greater ani ( Crotophaga major ), to ask whether adult females benefit by remaining in long-term associations with unrelated, co-breeding females. We find that females that have previously nested together synchronize their reproduction more rapidly than those nesting with unfamiliar partners, which leads to lower competition and higher fledging success. Importantly, although previous experience with a co-breeding female influenced reproductive synchrony, the degree of reproductive synchrony did not influence whether co-breeding females remained together in subsequent years, ruling out the alternate hypothesis that highly synchronized females are simply more likely to remain together. These results indicate that switching groups is costly to females, and that social familiarity improves reproductive coordination. Stable social relationships therefore have significant fitness consequences for cooperatively nesting female birds, suggesting that direct benefits alone may favour the evolution of associations between non-relatives and contribute to long-term group stability. © 2018 The Author(s).

Neighbourhood green space, social environment and mental health: an examination in four European cities.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruijsbroek, Annemarie; Mohnen, Sigrid M; Droomers, Mariël; Kruize, Hanneke; Gidlow, Christopher; Gražulevičiene, Regina; Andrusaityte, Sandra; Maas, Jolanda; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J; Triguero-Mas, Margarita; Masterson, Daniel; Ellis, Naomi; van Kempen, Elise; Hardyns, Wim; Stronks, Karien; Groenewegen, Peter P

2017-07-01

This study examines the relationship between neighbourhood green space, the neighbourhood social environment (social cohesion, neighbourhood attachment, social contacts), and mental health in four European cities. The PHENOTYPE study was carried out in 2013 in Barcelona (Spain), Stoke-on-Trent (United Kingdom), Doetinchem (The Netherlands), and Kaunas (Lithuania). 3771 adults living in 124 neighbourhoods answered questions on mental health, neighbourhood social environment, and amount and quality of green space. Additionally, audit data on neighbourhood green space were collected. Multilevel regression analyses examined the relation between neighbourhood green space and individual mental health and the influence of neighbourhood social environment. Mental health was only related to green (audit) in Barcelona. The amount and quality of neighbourhood green space (audit and perceived) were related to social cohesion in Doetinchem and Stoke-on-Trent and to neighbourhood attachment in Doetinchem. In all four cities, mental health was associated with social contacts. Neighbourhood green was related to mental health only in Barcelona. Though neighbourhood green was related to social cohesion and attachment, the neighbourhood social environment seems not the underlying mechanism for this relationship.

Detecting Rumors Through Modeling Information Propagation Networks in a Social Media Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yang; Xu, Songhua; Tourassi, Georgia

2015-01-01

In the midst of today's pervasive influence of social media content and activities, information credibility has increasingly become a major issue. Accordingly, identifying false information, e.g. rumors circulated in social media environments, attracts expanding research attention and growing interests. Many previous studies have exploited user-independent features for rumor detection. These prior investigations uniformly treat all users relevant to the propagation of a social media message as instances of a generic entity. Such a modeling approach usually adopts a homogeneous network to represent all users, the practice of which ignores the variety across an entire user population in a social media environment. Recognizing this limitation of modeling methodologies, this study explores user-specific features in a social media environment for rumor detection. The new approach hypothesizes that whether a user tends to spread a rumor is dependent upon specific attributes of the user in addition to content characteristics of the message itself. Under this hypothesis, information propagation patterns of rumors versus those of credible messages in a social media environment are systematically differentiable. To explore and exploit this hypothesis, we develop a new information propagation model based on a heterogeneous user representation for rumor recognition. The new approach is capable of differentiating rumors from credible messages through observing distinctions in their respective propagation patterns in social media. Experimental results show that the new information propagation model based on heterogeneous user representation can effectively distinguish rumors from credible social media content.

A major and stable QTL associated with seed weight in soybean across multiple environments and genetic backgrounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, Shin; Sayama, Takashi; Fujii, Kenichiro; Yumoto, Setsuzo; Kono, Yuhi; Hwang, Tae-Young; Kikuchi, Akio; Takada, Yoshitake; Tanaka, Yu; Shiraiwa, Tatsuhiko; Ishimoto, Masao

2014-06-01

We detected a QTL for single seed weight in soybean that was stable across multiple environments and genetic backgrounds with the use of two recombinant inbred line populations. Single seed weight (SSW) in soybean is a key determinant of both seed yield and the quality of soy food products, and it exhibits wide variation. SSW is under genetic control, but the molecular mechanisms of such control remain unclear. We have now investigated quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for SSW in soybean and have identified such a QTL that is stable across multiple environments and genetic backgrounds. Two populations of 225 and 250 recombinant inbred lines were developed from crosses between Japanese and US cultivars of soybean that differ in SSW by a factor of ~2, and these populations were grown in at least three different environments. A whole-genome panel comprising 304 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci was applied to mapping in each population. We identified 15 significant QTLs for SSW dispersed among 11 chromosomes in the two populations. One QTL located between Sat_284 and Sat_292 on chromosome 17 was detected (3.6 soybean.

Opinions of Pre-service Social Studies Teachers about Using Historical Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aslı AVCI AKÇALI

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This research aimed to identify the knowledge, attitude and skill levels of pre-service social studies teachers about using historical environment in teaching. Based on this aim it can be included in the scope of the survey research. Participants of the research which was realized in 2015-2016 academic year were 75 senior grade pre-service teachers in the department of social studies teaching of a university from the north of Turkey. In the research, qualitative approach was followed in data collection. A questionnaire including open-ended questions and semi-structured interview technique were used. The data were analyzed according to the content analysis method. As the result of the study, it was identified that pre-service social studies teachers had knowledge to a certain extent about the definition of the historical environment, elements of it, educational attainments it might provide and the method and techniques which can be applied to use it. Moreover, they did not have enough knowledge about the nearby historical environment. Furthermore, it was propounded that attitude levels of the participants about using historical environment in social studies teaching were high whereas the skill levels were low.

A Stable Coordination Complex of Rh(IV) in an N,O-Donor Environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sinha, Shashi B. [Department of Chemistry, Yale University, 225 Prospect; Shopov, Dimitar Y. [Department of Chemistry, Yale University, 225 Prospect; Sharninghausen, Liam S. [Department of Chemistry, Yale University, 225 Prospect; Vinyard, David J. [Department of Chemistry, Yale University, 225 Prospect; Mercado, Brandon Q. [Department of Chemistry, Yale University, 225 Prospect; Brudvig, Gary W. [Department of Chemistry, Yale University, 225 Prospect; Crabtree, Robert H. [Department of Chemistry, Yale University, 225 Prospect

2015-12-10

We describe facial and meridional isomers of [RhIII(pyalk)3], as well as meridional [RhIV(pyalk)3]+ {pyalk =2-(2-pyridyl)-2-propanoate}, the first coordination complex in an N,O-donor environment to show a clean, reversible RhIII/IV redox couple and to have a stable Rh(IV) form, which we characterize by EPR and UV–visible spectroscopy as well as X-ray crystallography. The unprecedented stability of the Rh(IV) species is ascribed to the exceptional donor strength of the ligands, their oxidation resistance, and the meridional coordination geometry.

The neighborhood social environment and body mass index among youth: a mediation analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veitch Jenny

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background This study aimed to examine associations between aspects of the neighborhood social environment and body mass index (BMI in youth both cross-sectionally and prospectively; and whether this association was mediated by physical activity, screen-time and sedentary time. Methods Data were collected in 2004 and 2006 in high and low socio-economic areas of Melbourne, Australia. In 2004, 185 children aged 8-9 years (47% boys and 359 children aged 13-15 years (45% boys participated. Parents reported their perceptions of aspects of the social environment (i.e. social networks and social trust/cohesion, and physical activity (i.e. time spent outdoors by their children; and their younger children's walking and cycling trips and screen-time (i.e. TV viewing, computer use. The older children self-reported their walking and cycling trips and their screen-time. All children wore an accelerometer to objectively assess outside-school hours moderate- to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary time. BMI was calculated from height and weight measured in 2004 and 2006. Multilevel linear regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between the social environment and BMI. Mediation analyses using the products of coefficient method were conducted to determine whether associations between the social environment and BMI were mediated by the time spent in a range of physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Results Cross-sectional and prospective regression analyses showed that a more positive social network and higher social trust/cohesion was related to lower BMI among children. There was no evidence that time spent in physical activity or sedentary behaviors mediated this relation, despite significant associations between social networks and screen-time and between screen-time and BMI. Conclusions The findings suggest that the neighborhood social environment may be important for preventing overweight and obesity in children. Further

The neuroscience of social decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Rilling, James K; Sanfey, Alan G

2011-01-01

Given that we live in highly complex social environments, many of our most important decisions are made in the context of social interactions. Simple but sophisticated tasks from a branch of experimental economics known as game theory have been used to study social decision-making in the laboratory setting, and a variety of neuroscience methods have been used to probe the underlying neural systems. This approach is informing our knowledge of the neural mechanisms that support decisions about trust, reciprocity, altruism, fairness, revenge, social punishment, social norm conformity, social learning, and competition. Neural systems involved in reward and reinforcement, pain and punishment, mentalizing, delaying gratification, and emotion regulation are commonly recruited for social decisions. This review also highlights the role of the prefrontal cortex in prudent social decision-making, at least when social environments are relatively stable. In addition, recent progress has been made in understanding the neural bases of individual variation in social decision-making.

Do Hostile School Environments Promote Social Deviance by Shaping Neural Responses to Social Exclusion?

Science.gov (United States)

Schriber, Roberta A; Rogers, Christina R; Ferrer, Emilio; Conger, Rand D; Robins, Richard W; Hastings, Paul D; Guyer, Amanda E

2018-03-01

The present study examined adolescents' neural responses to social exclusion as a mediator of past exposure to a hostile school environment (HSE) and later social deviance, and whether family connectedness buffered these associations. Participants (166 Mexican-origin adolescents, 54.4% female) reported on their HSE exposure and family connectedness across Grades 9-11. Six months later, neural responses to social exclusion were measured. Finally, social deviance was self-reported in Grades 9 and 12. The HSE-social deviance link was mediated by greater reactivity to social deviance in subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, a region from the social pain network also implicated in social susceptibility. However, youths with stronger family bonds were protected from this neurobiologically mediated path. These findings suggest a complex interplay of risk and protective factors that impact adolescent behavior through the brain. © 2018 Society for Research on Adolescence.

Supporting tactical intelligence using collaborative environments and social networking

Science.gov (United States)

Wollocko, Arthur B.; Farry, Michael P.; Stark, Robert F.

2013-05-01

Modern military environments place an increased emphasis on the collection and analysis of intelligence at the tactical level. The deployment of analytical tools at the tactical level helps support the Warfighter's need for rapid collection, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence. However, given the lack of experience and staffing at the tactical level, most of the available intelligence is not exploited. Tactical environments are staffed by a new generation of intelligence analysts who are well-versed in modern collaboration environments and social networking. An opportunity exists to enhance tactical intelligence analysis by exploiting these personnel strengths, but is dependent on appropriately designed information sharing technologies. Existing social information sharing technologies enable users to publish information quickly, but do not unite or organize information in a manner that effectively supports intelligence analysis. In this paper, we present an alternative approach to structuring and supporting tactical intelligence analysis that combines the benefits of existing concepts, and provide detail on a prototype system embodying that approach. Since this approach employs familiar collaboration support concepts from social media, it enables new-generation analysts to identify the decision-relevant data scattered among databases and the mental models of other personnel, increasing the timeliness of collaborative analysis. Also, the approach enables analysts to collaborate visually to associate heterogeneous and uncertain data within the intelligence analysis process, increasing the robustness of collaborative analyses. Utilizing this familiar dynamic collaboration environment, we hope to achieve a significant reduction of time and skill required to glean actionable intelligence in these challenging operational environments.

Intraspecific variation in social organization by genetic variation, developmental plasticity, social flexibility or entirely extrinsic factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Schradin, Carsten

2013-05-19

Previously, it was widely believed that each species has a specific social organization, but we know now that many species show intraspecific variation in their social organization. Four different processes can lead to intraspecific variation in social organization: (i) genetic variation between individuals owing to local adaptation (between populations) or evolutionarily stable strategies within populations; (ii) developmental plasticity evolved in long-term (more than one generation) unpredictable and short-term (one generation) predictable environments, which is mediated by organizational physiological effects during early ontogeny; (iii) social flexibility evolved in highly unpredictable environments, which is mediated by activational physiological effects in adults; (iv) entirely extrinsic factors such as the death of a dominant breeder. Variation in social behaviour occurs between individuals in the case of genetic variation and developmental plasticity, but within individuals in the case of social flexibility. It is important to study intraspecific variation in social organization to understand the social systems of species because it reveals the mechanisms by which species can adapt to changing environments, offers a useful tool to study the ultimate and proximate causes of sociality, and is an interesting phenomenon by itself that needs scientific explanation.

Perceptions of the hospital ethical environment among hospital social workers in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Pugh, Greg L

2015-01-01

Hospital social workers are in a unique context of practice, and one where the ethical environment has a profound influence on the ethical behavior. This study determined the ratings of ethical environment by hospital social workers in large nationwide sample. Correlates suggest by and compared to studies of ethical environment with nurses are explored. Positive ratings of the ethical environment are primarily associated with job satisfaction, as well as working in a centralized social work department and for a non-profit hospital. Religiosity and MSW education were not predictive. Implications and suggestions for managing the hospital ethical environment are provided.

More than Just a Break from Treatment: How Substance Use Disorder Patients Experience the Stable Environment in Horse-Assisted Therapy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ann Kern-Godal

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Inclusion of horse-assisted therapy (HAT in substance use disorder (SUD treatment is rarely reported. Our previous studies show improved treatment retention and the importance of the patient–horse relationship. This qualitative study used thematic analysis, within a social constructionist framework, to explore how eight patients experienced contextual aspects of HAT's contribution to their SUD treatment. Participants described HAT as a “break from usual treatment”. However, four interrelated aspects of this experience, namely “change of focus”, “activity”, “identity”, and “motivation,” suggest HAT is more than just a break from usual SUD treatment. The stable environment is portrayed as a context where participants could construct a positive self: one which is useful, responsible, and accepted; more fundamentally, a different self from the “patient/self” receiving treatment for a problem. The implications extend well beyond animal-assisted or other adjunct therapies. Their relevance to broader SUD policy and treatment practices warrants further study.

a New Ontological Perspective for Integration of Social and Physical Environments: Disability and Rehabilitation Context

Science.gov (United States)

Gharebaghi, Amin; Abolfazl Mostafavi, Mir

2016-06-01

Social dimension of environment is an important aspect that should be reflected in research works related to studying the interactions between human and the environment. However, this dimension is usually neglected when representing the environment in geographic information systems for different applications. For instance, disability as a result of the interaction between human and environment is influenced by social and physical dimensions of environment. Although, this aspect is highlighted in most conceptual disability models by defining various taxonomies of the environment, from ontological perspective justifying and connecting social dimension to the physical dimension of the environment is not clearly determined. Integrating social dimension of the environment with its physical dimension for disability studies is a challenging task, which is the main objective of the present study. Here, we review some of the disability models and their perspective about classifying the environment. Then, from ontological perspective, their limitations are discussed and a new approach for the classification of concepts form the environment is presented. This approach facilitates and simplifies integration of social dimension in ontologies for more effective assessment of disability issue in Geographic Information System.

Assessing the Nexus of Built, Natural, and Social Environments and Public Health Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Archer, R.; Alexander, S.; Douglas, J.

2017-12-01

This study investigates community-related environmental justice concerns and chemical and non-chemical health stressors from built, natural, and social environments in Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) County and East Oakland, California. The geographical distribution of health outcomes is related to the built and natural environments, as well as impacts from the social environment. A holistic systems view is important in assessing healthy behaviors within a community, because they do not occur in isolation. Geospatial analysis will be performed to integrate a total environment framework and explore the spatial patterns of exposure to chemical and non-chemical stressors and access to health-promoting environments. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis using primary and secondary existing data will be performed to determine how social environments impact exposure to chemical health stressors and access to health-promoting built and natural environments. This project will develop a comprehensive list of health-promoting built and natural environments (e.g., parks and community gardens) and polluting sites (e.g., shipping ports and sources of pollution not included in federal regulatory databases) in East Oakland and SELA. California Department of Public Health and U.S. Decennial Census data will also be included for geospatial analysis to overlay the distribution of air pollution-related morbidities (e.g. asthma, diabetes, and cancer) and access to health-promoting built and natural environments and related community assets, exposure to polluting industries, social disorganization, and public health outcomes in the target areas. This research will help identify the spatial and temporal distribution and cumulative impacts of critical pollution hotspots causing community environmental health impacts. The research team will also map how social environments impact exposure to chemical health stressors and access to health-promoting built and natural environments. The

Interaction Between Physical Environment, Social Environment, and Child Characteristics in Determining Physical Activity at Child Care

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gubbels, J.S.; Kremers, S.P.J.; Kann, D.H.H. van; Stafleu, A.; Candel, M.J.J.M.; Dagnelie, P.C.; Thijs, C.; Vries, N.K.de

2011-01-01

Objective: To investigate the association between the child-care environment and physical activity of 2- and 3-year-olds. Based on an ecological view of environmental influences on health behavior, we hypothesized that the social and physical environment, as well as child characteristics (age and

Social constructivist learning environment in an online professional practice course.

Science.gov (United States)

Sthapornnanon, Nunthaluxna; Sakulbumrungsil, Rungpetch; Theeraroungchaisri, Anuchai; Watcharadamrongkun, Suntaree

2009-02-19

To assess the online social constructivist learning environment (SCLE) and student perceptions of the outcomes of the online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice that was designed based on social constructivism theory. The online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was carefully designed by organizing various activities, which were intended to encourage social interaction among students. The Constructivist Online Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) was applied to assess the SCLE. Course evaluation questionnaires were administered to assess student perceptions of this online module. The result from the COLLES illustrated the development of SCLE in the course. The students reported positive perceptions of the course. An online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was effective in promoting SCLE.

Effect of Contemporary Social Environment, Drug Abuse and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effect of Contemporary Social Environment, Drug Abuse and Cultism on the Health of ... This health situation comes as results of substance abuse which these ... the patent medicine stores, from hard drugs like (marijuana, cannabis) or others ...

Medical education and social environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Rasool, Ahsan; Qayum, Iftikhar; Ahmad, Ashfaq; Farooq, Umer; Shah, Awais Ali; Waqas, Muhammad; Rasool, Maleeha; Hameed, Sania; Kanwal, Rana; Azmat, Muneeba; Marwat, Saleem; Afridit, Faheem

2014-01-01

A positive learning environment and quality of course content have an imperative role in academic achievement of students. This study aims to assess students' point of view about the quality of education and social environment of a public sector medical college in Pakistan. Relative scarcity of data from students' perspective merited this study. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken at Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad, Pakistan, including 300 medical students from all five years of the MBBS course. Systematic random sampling was used with a kth interval of 4 for each class. Self-administered questionnaire was used and contained items related to academics, learning environment, learning resources, teaching methodologies and student-friendly activities. The data were analysed using SPSS-16. There were 265 respondents (88.3%) to the questionnaire with males accounting for 58.9% (n=156). In general students showed satisfaction with quality of content being taught; however there was discontent towards various academic and non- academic facilities provided to the students. Only 44.10% and 31.50% students reported provision of academic related facilities and interactive sessions as up to mark respectively; 83% students reported that undergraduate medical research was in need of improvement; 55.5% and 60.2% reported that facilities in hostel and recreational facilities needed improvement respectively; and 52.8% students stated presence of a healthy, student friendly, encouraging environment was not up to mark. Although course content and teaching methodologies are generally satisfactory, a healthy, student friendly, encouraging environment is vet to be created to help students foster their abilities completely.

Influence of the environment on participation in social roles for young adults with down syndrome.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kitty-Rose Foley

Full Text Available The concept of disability is now understood as a result of the interaction between the individual, features related to impairment, and the physical and social environment. It is important to understand these environmental influences and how they affect social participation. The purpose of this study is to describe the social participation of young adults with Down syndrome and examine its relationship with the physical and social environment.Families ascertained from the Down syndrome 'Needs Opinion Wishes' database completed questionnaires during 2011. The questionnaires contained two parts, young person characteristics and family characteristics. Young adults' social participation was measured using the Assessment of Life Habits (LIFE-H and the influences of environmental factors were measured by the Measure of the Quality of the Environment (MQE. The analysis involved descriptive statistics and linear and logistic regression.Overall, participation in daily activities was higher (mean 6.45 than in social roles (mean 5.17 (range 0 to 9. When the physical and/or social environment was reported as a facilitator, compared to being no influence or a barrier, participation in social roles was greater (coef 0.89, 95%CI 0.28, 1.52, coef 0.83, 95%CI 0.17, 1.49, respectively. The relationships between participation and both the physical (coef 0.60, 95% CI -0.40, 1.24 and social (coef 0.20, 95%CI -0.47, 0.87 environments were reduced when age, gender, behavior and functioning in ADL were taken into account.We found that young adults' participation in social roles was influenced more by the physical environment than by the social environment, providing a potentially modifiable avenue for intervention.

Influence of the environment on participation in social roles for young adults with down syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Foley, Kitty-Rose; Girdler, Sonya; Bourke, Jenny; Jacoby, Peter; Llewellyn, Gwynnyth; Einfeld, Stewart; Tonge, Bruce; Parmenter, Trevor R; Leonard, Helen

2014-01-01

The concept of disability is now understood as a result of the interaction between the individual, features related to impairment, and the physical and social environment. It is important to understand these environmental influences and how they affect social participation. The purpose of this study is to describe the social participation of young adults with Down syndrome and examine its relationship with the physical and social environment. Families ascertained from the Down syndrome 'Needs Opinion Wishes' database completed questionnaires during 2011. The questionnaires contained two parts, young person characteristics and family characteristics. Young adults' social participation was measured using the Assessment of Life Habits (LIFE-H) and the influences of environmental factors were measured by the Measure of the Quality of the Environment (MQE). The analysis involved descriptive statistics and linear and logistic regression. Overall, participation in daily activities was higher (mean 6.45) than in social roles (mean 5.17) (range 0 to 9). When the physical and/or social environment was reported as a facilitator, compared to being no influence or a barrier, participation in social roles was greater (coef 0.89, 95%CI 0.28, 1.52, coef 0.83, 95%CI 0.17, 1.49, respectively). The relationships between participation and both the physical (coef 0.60, 95% CI -0.40, 1.24) and social (coef 0.20, 95%CI -0.47, 0.87) environments were reduced when age, gender, behavior and functioning in ADL were taken into account. We found that young adults' participation in social roles was influenced more by the physical environment than by the social environment, providing a potentially modifiable avenue for intervention.

Designing for Learning: Online Social Networks as a Classroom Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gail Casey

2011-11-01

Full Text Available This paper deploys notions of emergence, connections, and designs for learning to conceptualize high school students’ interactions when using online social media as a learning environment. It makes links to chaos and complexity theories and to fractal patterns as it reports on a part of the first author’s action research study, conducted while she was a teacher working in an Australian public high school and completing her PhD. The study investigates the use of a Ning online social network as a learning environment shared by seven classes, and it examines students’ reactions and online activity while using a range of social media and Web 2.0 tools.The authors use Graham Nuthall’s (2007 “lens on learning” to explore the social processes and culture of this shared online classroom. The paper uses his extensive body of research and analyses of classroom learning processes to conceptualize and analyze data throughout the action research cycle. It discusses the pedagogical implications that arise from the use of social media and, in so doing, challenges traditional models of teaching and learning.

A Lesson on Social Role Theory: An Example of Human Behavior in the Social Environment Theory

OpenAIRE

Agnes M. Dulin

2007-01-01

This paper discusses the social role theory, a theory of Human Behavior in the Social Environment (HBSE). Relevance of this topic is briefly discussed, as well as a definition of the theory and its historical background. Empirical research that employs this theory will be discussed.Recommendations will be made for future theory development and implications for social work education will conclude the discussion.

Social science literature on the environment: review and prospects for energy studies. A preliminary literature survey

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sommers, P.

1975-01-01

Much of the social science literature on environment is of recent origin and represents the response of the social science research community to a complex societal problem in which technology is a major factor. Energy represents another such problem to which the social science research community is now turning its attention. Because energy problems and environment problems have some similarities and because energy-conversion processes have large effects on the environment, a review of the social science literature on environment was undertaken. The purposes of this review are as follows: (1) to study the possible utility in energy research of some of the concepts developed in social science research on the environment; (2) to study the possible utility in energy research of some of the methodologies utilized in social science research on the environment; and (3) to study the extent to which the results of social science research on the environment have contributed to the development of policy. The first two items above receive major attention in this preliminary literature survey. 50 references.

Dynamically analyzing cell interactions in biological environments using multiagent social learning framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chengwei; Li, Xiaohong; Li, Shuxin; Feng, Zhiyong

2017-09-20

Biological environment is uncertain and its dynamic is similar to the multiagent environment, thus the research results of the multiagent system area can provide valuable insights to the understanding of biology and are of great significance for the study of biology. Learning in a multiagent environment is highly dynamic since the environment is not stationary anymore and each agent's behavior changes adaptively in response to other coexisting learners, and vice versa. The dynamics becomes more unpredictable when we move from fixed-agent interaction environments to multiagent social learning framework. Analytical understanding of the underlying dynamics is important and challenging. In this work, we present a social learning framework with homogeneous learners (e.g., Policy Hill Climbing (PHC) learners), and model the behavior of players in the social learning framework as a hybrid dynamical system. By analyzing the dynamical system, we obtain some conditions about convergence or non-convergence. We experimentally verify the predictive power of our model using a number of representative games. Experimental results confirm the theoretical analysis. Under multiagent social learning framework, we modeled the behavior of agent in biologic environment, and theoretically analyzed the dynamics of the model. We present some sufficient conditions about convergence or non-convergence and prove them theoretically. It can be used to predict the convergence of the system.

Using a Total Environment Framework (Built, Natural, Social Environments) to Assess Life-long Health Effects of Chemical Exposures

Science.gov (United States)

EPAseeks applications for research on how pollution affects human health in the context of the total environment – built, natural, and social environments interacting together with inherent characteristics and interactions.

Stable-unstable transition for a Bose-Hubbard chain coupled to an environment

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Chu; de Vega, Ines; Schollwöck, Ulrich; Poletti, Dario

2018-05-01

Interactions in quantum systems may induce transitions to exotic correlated phases of matter which can be vulnerable to coupling to an environment. Here, we study the stability of a Bose-Hubbard chain coupled to a bosonic bath at zero and nonzero temperature. We show that only above a critical interaction the chain loses bosons and its properties are significantly affected. The transition is of a different nature than the superfluid-Mott-insulator transition and occurs at a different critical interaction. We explain such a stable-unstable transition by the opening of a global charge gap. The comparison of accurate matrix product state simulations to approximative approaches that miss this transition reveals its many-body origin.

Integration of the social environment in a mobility ontology for people with motor disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Gharebaghi, Amin; Mostafavi, Mir-Abolfazl; Edwards, Geoffrey; Fougeyrollas, Patrick; Gamache, Stéphanie; Grenier, Yan

2017-07-07

Our contemporary understanding of disability is rooted in the idea that disability is the product of human-environment interaction processes. People may be functionally limited, but this becomes a disability only when they engage with their immediate social and physical environments. Any attempt to address issues of mobility in relation to people with disabilities should be grounded in an ontology that encompasses this understanding. The objective of this study is to provide a methodology to integrate the social and physical environments in the development of a mobility ontology for people with motor disabilities (PWMD). We propose to create subclasses of concepts based on a Nature-Development distinction rather than creating separate social and physical subclasses. This allows the relationships between social and physical elements to be modelled in a more compact and efficient way by specifying them locally within each entity, and better accommodates the complexities of the human-environment interaction as well. Based on this approach, an ontology for mobility of PWMD considering four main elements - the social and physical environmental factors, human factors, life habits related to mobility and possible goals of mobility - is presented. We demonstrate that employing the Nature-Development perspective facilitates the process of developing useful ontologies, especially for defining the relationships between the social and physical parts of the environment. This is a fundamental issue for modelling the interaction between humans and their social and physical environments for a broad range of applications, including the development of geospatial assistive technologies for navigation of PWMD. Implications for rehabilitation The proposed perspective may actually have much broader interests beyond the issue of disability - much of the interesting dynamics in city development arises from the interaction between human-developed components - the built environment and its

Social environments and interpersonal distance regulation in psychosis: A virtual reality study.

Science.gov (United States)

Geraets, Chris N W; van Beilen, Marije; Pot-Kolder, Roos; Counotte, Jacqueline; van der Gaag, Mark; Veling, Wim

2018-02-01

Experimentally studying the influence of social environments on mental health and behavior is challenging, as social context is difficult to standardize in laboratory settings. Virtual Reality (VR) enables studying social interaction in terms of interpersonal distance in a more ecologically valid manner. Regulation of interpersonal distance may be abnormal in patients with psychotic disorders and influenced by environmental stress, symptoms or distress. To investigate interpersonal distance in people with a psychotic disorder and at ultrahigh risk for psychosis (UHR) compared to siblings and controls in virtual social environments, and explore the relationship between clinical characteristics and interpersonal distance. Nineteen UHR patients, 52 patients with psychotic disorders, 40 siblings of patients with a psychotic disorder and 47 controls were exposed to virtual cafés. In five virtual café visits, participants were exposed to different levels of social stress, in terms of crowdedness, ethnicity and hostility. Measures on interpersonal distance, distress and state paranoia were obtained. Baseline measures included trait paranoia, social anxiety, depressive, positive and negative symptoms. Interpersonal distance increased when social stressors were present in the environment. No difference in interpersonal distance regulation was found between the groups. Social anxiety and distress were positively associated with interpersonal distance in the total sample. This VR paradigm indicates that interpersonal distance regulation in response to environmental social stressors is unaltered in people with psychosis or UHR. Environmental stress, social anxiety and distress trigger both people with and without psychosis to maintain larger interpersonal distances in social situations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The feasibility and acceptability of virtual environments in the treatment of childhood social anxiety disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Nina; Beidel, Deborah C.; Spitalnick, Josh

2013-01-01

Objective Two significant challenges for the dissemination of social skills training programs are the need to assure generalizability and provide sufficient practice opportunities. In the case of social anxiety disorder, virtual environments may provide one strategy to address these issues. This study evaluated the utility of an interactive virtual school environment for the treatment of social anxiety disorder in preadolescent children. Method Eleven children with a primary diagnosis of social anxiety disorder between 8 to 12 years old participated in this initial feasibility trial. All children were treated with Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children, an empirically supported treatment for children with social anxiety disorder. However, the in vivo peer generalization sessions and standard parent-assisted homework assignments were substituted by practice in a virtual environment. Results Overall, the virtual environment programs were acceptable, feasible, and credible treatment components. Both children and clinicians were satisfied with using the virtual environment technology, and children believed it was a high quality program overall. Additionally, parents were satisfied with the virtual environment augmented treatment and indicated that they would recommend the program to family and friends. Conclusion Virtual environments are viewed as acceptable and credible by potential recipients. Furthermore, they are easy to implement by even novice users and appear to be useful adjunctive elements for the treatment of childhood social anxiety disorder. PMID:24144182

Social Constructivist Learning Environment in an Online Professional Practice Course

Science.gov (United States)

Sakulbumrungsil, Rungpetch; Theeraroungchaisri, Anuchai; Watcharadamrongkun, Suntaree

2009-01-01

Objective To assess the online social constructivist learning environment (SCLE) and student perceptions of the outcomes of the online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice that was designed based on social constructivism theory. Design The online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was carefully designed by organizing various activities, which were intended to encourage social interaction among students. The Constructivist Online Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) was applied to assess the SCLE. Course evaluation questionnaires were administered to assess student perceptions of this online module. Assessment The result from the COLLES illustrated the development of SCLE in the course. The students reported positive perceptions of the course. Conclusion An online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was effective in promoting SCLE. PMID:19513147

Genomic Analysis of Genotype-by-Social Environment Interaction for Drosophila melanogaster Aggressive Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Rohde, Palle Duun; Gaertner, Bryn; Ward, Kirsty; Sørensen, Peter; Mackay, Trudy F C

2017-08-01

Human psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder often include adverse behaviors including increased aggressiveness. Individuals with psychiatric disorders often exhibit social withdrawal, which can further increase the probability of conducting a violent act. Here, we used the inbred, sequenced lines of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) to investigate the genetic basis of variation in male aggressive behavior for flies reared in a socialized and socially isolated environment. We identified genetic variation for aggressive behavior, as well as significant genotype-by-social environmental interaction (GSEI); i.e. , variation among DGRP genotypes in the degree to which social isolation affected aggression. We performed genome-wide association (GWA) analyses to identify genetic variants associated with aggression within each environment. We used genomic prediction to partition genetic variants into gene ontology (GO) terms and constituent genes, and identified GO terms and genes with high prediction accuracies in both social environments and for GSEI. The top predictive GO terms significantly increased the proportion of variance explained, compared to prediction models based on all segregating variants. We performed genomic prediction across environments, and identified genes in common between the social environments that turned out to be enriched for genome-wide associated variants. A large proportion of the associated genes have previously been associated with aggressive behavior in Drosophila and mice. Further, many of these genes have human orthologs that have been associated with neurological disorders, indicating partially shared genetic mechanisms underlying aggression in animal models and human psychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2017 by the Genetics Society of America.

Design of New Food Technology: Social Shaping of Working Environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Broberg, Ole

2000-01-01

A five-year design process of a continuous process wok has been studied with the aim of elucidating the conditions for integrating working environment aspects. The design process is seen as a network building activity and as a social shaping process of the artefact. A working environment log...... is suggested as a tool designers can use to integrate considerations of future operators' working environment....

The natural environment as an area of Corporate Social Responsibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wolak-Tuzimek Anna

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Areas of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR have been defined in ISO 26000. Guidelines of the International Standardisation Organisation distinguish seven areas: corporate governance, human rights, labour practices, natural environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues, social commitment and development of local communities. This article presents good practices implemented by enterprises in the individual areas, in particular, actions in the area of the natural environment. Two research hypotheses are posited concerning the rate of implementing good CSR practices and the number of actions in the natural environment area. National Responsible Business Forum research and a survey of a group of enterprises in the Mazovian region, conducted by the authors in 2014–2016, served to verify the hypotheses. The results imply that the number of good practices realised in CSR areas tends to grow. In addition, actions in the area of the natural environment rank third with regard to good practices implemented.

Students' use of social software in self-organized learning environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mathiasen, Helle; Dalsgaard, Christian

2006-01-01

The paper will argue that new possibilities of digital media, especially social software, have a potential regarding development of self-organized learning environments and facilitating self-governed activities. Based on a sociological perspective, the paper will clarify the concepts of informal...... and formal learning used in this paper. It is argued that formal and informal conditions of learning can supplement each other within an educational setting. A formal setting of project work forms the basis of informal, selfgoverned activities of students. The paper will argue that social software tools can...... support students' self-governed activities and their development of self-organized learning environments....

Social Tagging in a Scholarly Digital Library Environment: Users' Perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Noorhidawati, A.; Hanum, N. Fariza; Zohoorian-Fooladi, N.

2013-01-01

Introduction: This paper reports an exploratory study examining how users participate in social tagging activities in a scholarly digital library environment to learn about their motivations, behaviour, and practices. Method: This study was conducted in two phases: a survey to investigate usage and attitudes of social tagging tool, and a…

Social environments and interpersonal distance regulation in psychosis : A virtual reality study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geraets, Chris N W; van Beilen, Marije; Pot-Kolder, Roos; Counotte, Jacqueline; van der Gaag, Mark; Veling, Wim

BACKGROUND: Experimentally studying the influence of social environments on mental health and behavior is challenging, as social context is difficult to standardize in laboratory settings. Virtual Reality (VR) enables studying social interaction in terms of interpersonal distance in a more

Improvement of social infrastructure as a way to ensure a comfortable urban environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stein Elena

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In the 21st century the mankind to came to understanding that the comfortable living environment is the basis of a high-quality life, which represents the strategic resource of the state. The comfortable environment consists of numerous factors, which include the social infrastructure as well. The author of the article stats with the statement that the project of creation of the comfortable urban environment includes: economical, commercial and budget efficiency of the project, ecological consequences or results of the project impact on the environment, contribution of the project implementable to improvement of the social environment. Developing such approach, the author comes to a wider concept of the life quality. Thus, all three elements of the project of creation of the comfortable urban environment influence the quality of life of the population. According to the research results, presented in the article it becomes obvious that medical-and-demographic characteristics are being improved when the development of housing is followed by the corresponding development of the social infrastructure. Thus, the author makes the conclusion that for the solution of the task of creation of the social infrastructure as the environment for a healthy lifestyle, development of managerial decisions, which are made not on intuition basis but on rational estimation taking into account above-mentioned factors are necessary.

Social networks and online environments: when science and practice co-evolve

OpenAIRE

Rosen, Devan; Barnett, George A.; Kim, Jang Hyun

2011-01-01

The science of social network analysis has co-evolved with the development of online environments and computer-mediated communication. Unique and precise data available from computer and information systems have allowed network scientists to explore novel social phenomena and develop new methods. Additionally, advances in the structural analysis and visualization of computer-mediated social networks have informed developers and shaped the design of social media tools. This article reviews som...

Virtual Environments Using Video Capture for Social Phobia with Psychosis

Science.gov (United States)

White, Richard; Clarke, Timothy; Turner, Ruth; Fowler, David

2013-01-01

Abstract A novel virtual environment (VE) system was developed and used as an adjunct to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) with six socially anxious patients recovering from psychosis. The novel aspect of the VE system is that it uses video capture so the patients can see a life-size projection of themselves interacting with a specially scripted and digitally edited filmed environment played in real time on a screen in front of them. Within-session process outcomes (subjective units of distress and belief ratings on individual behavioral experiments), as well as patient feedback, generated the hypothesis that this type of virtual environment can potentially add value to CBT by helping patients understand the role of avoidance and safety behaviors in the maintenance of social anxiety and paranoia and by boosting their confidence to carry out “real-life” behavioral experiments. PMID:23659722

Pronounced within-individual plasticity in sperm morphometry across social environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Immler, Simone; Pryke, Sarah R; Birkhead, Tim R; Griffith, Simon C

2010-06-01

Sperm morphometry (i.e., size and shape) and function are important determinants of male reproductive success and are thought to be under stabilizing selection. However, recent studies suggest that sperm morphometry can be a phenotypically plastic trait, which can be adjusted to varying conditions. We tested whether different behavioral strategies in aggression between aggressive red and nonaggressive black males of the color polymorphic Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae) can influence sperm morphometry. We show pronounced within-individual phenotypic plasticity in sperm morphometry of male Gouldian finches in three different social environments. Both red and black males placed in intermediate to high competitive environments (high frequency of red males) increased the relative length of their sperm midpiece. By contrast, red males placed in low to intermediate competitive environments (higher frequency of black males) increased the length of the sperm flagellum. Significant changes in stress and sex steroid hormone levels (in response to the competitive environment) appear to influence sperm traits in red but not in black males, suggesting that changes in hormonal levels are not solely responsible for the observed changes in sperm morphometry. These findings imply that males can adjust sperm morphometry across social environments.

Socially dominant mice in C57BL6 background show increased social motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunkel, Thaddeus; Wang, Hongbing

2018-01-15

A series of behavioral tests measuring social dominance, social motivation, and non-social motivation are examined in adult male C57BL6 mice. By using the well-known tube dominance test to determine social dominance and rank, we find that, in the absence of competition for resource and mating, group-housed mouse cage-mates display stable and mostly linear and transitive social hierarchies. Mice with top and bottom social ranks are subjected to a three-chamber social interaction test to measure social motivation. The top ranked mice spend more time interacting with a stranger mouse than the bottom ranked mice, suggesting that social dominance may positively influence social motivation. When subjected to a novel environment, mice with different social ranks show similar locomotion and exploring activity in the open field test, suggesting no detectable difference in certain aspects of non-social motivation. These results demonstrate a behavioral correlation between social dominance and social motivation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ROMANIAN ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT – RESPONSIBILITY POLICIES AND BUSINESS ETHICS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

GHEORGHE Stefan

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Corporations regarded as socially responsible can benefit from a large satisfied clientage while the public image of social irresponsibility can end up with a boycott or any other hostile actions from costumers. Positive contributions to social development can be considered by companies as long term investments in the consolidation of a safer community life, better educated and much more equitable which corporations can benefit from by unfolding their activities in a more dynamic, stable and resourceful environment. These are serious economic reasons which can be in the advantage of economic agents who can commit towards different social groups.

[Learning about social determinants of health through chronicles, using a virtual learning environment].

Science.gov (United States)

Restrepo-Palacio, Sonia; Amaya-Guio, Jairo

2016-01-01

To describe the contributions of a pedagogical strategy based on the construction of chronicles, using a Virtual Learning Environment for training medical students from Universidad de La Sabana on social determinants of health. Descriptive study with a qualitative approach. Design and implementation of a Virtual Learning Environment based on the ADDIE instructional model. A Virtual Learning Environment was implemented with an instructional design based on the five phases of the ADDIE model, on the grounds of meaningful learning and social constructivism, and through the narration of chronicles or life stories as a pedagogical strategy. During the course, the structural determinants and intermediaries were addressed, and nine chronicles were produced by working groups made up of four or five students, who demonstrated meaningful learning from real life stories, presented a coherent sequence, and kept a thread; 82% of these students incorporated in their contents most of the social determinants of health, emphasizing on the concepts of equity or inequity, equality or inequality, justice or injustice and social cohesion. A Virtual Learning Environment, based on an appropriate instructional design, allows to facilitate learning of social determinants of health through a constructivist pedagogical approach by analyzing chronicles or life stories created by ninth-semester students of medicine from Universidad de La Sabana.

Relations between the school physical environment and school social capital with student physical activity levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Button, Brenton; Trites, Stephen; Janssen, Ian

2013-12-17

The physical and social environments at schools are related to students' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels. The purpose of this study was to explore the interactive effects of the school physical environment and school social capital on the MVPA of students while at school. Data from 18,875 grade 6-10 students from 331 schools who participated in the 2009/10 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey were analyzed using multi-level regression. Students answered questions on the amount of time they spend in MVPA at school and on their school's social capital. Administrator reports were used to create a physical activity related physical environment score. The school physical environment score was positively associated with student MVPA at school (β = 0.040, p < .005). The association between the school social capital and MVPA was also positive (β = 0.074, p < .001). The difference in physical environments equated to about 20 minutes/week of MVPA for students attending schools with the lowest number of physical environment features and about 40 minutes/week for students attending schools with the lowest school social capital scores by comparison to students attending schools with the highest scores. The findings suggest that school social capital may be a more important factor in increasing students MVPA than the school physical environment. The results of this study may help inform interventions aimed at increasing student physical activity levels.

Designing a Social Environment for Human-Robot Cooperation.

Science.gov (United States)

Amram, Fred M.

Noting that work is partly a social activity, and that workers' psychological and emotional needs influence their productivity, this paper explores avenues for improving human-robot cooperation and for enhancing worker satisfaction in the environment of flexible automation. The first section of the paper offers a brief overview of the…

Associations between physical activity and the neighbourhood social environment: baseline results from the HABITAT multilevel study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rachele, Jerome N; Ghani, Fatima; Loh, Venurs H Y; Brown, Wendy J; Turrell, Gavin

2016-12-01

Limitations have arisen when measuring associations between the neighbourhood social environment and physical activity, including same-source bias, and the reliability of aggregated neighbourhood-level social environment measures. This study examines cross-sectional associations between the neighbourhood social environment (perceptions of incivilities, crime, and social cohesion) and self-reported physical activity, while accounting for same-source bias and reliability of neighbourhood-level exposure measures, using data from a large population-based clustered sample. This investigation included 11,035 residents aged 40-65years from 200 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia, in 2007. Respondents self-reported their physical activity and perceptions of the social environment (neighbourhood incivilities, crime and safety, and social cohesion). Models were adjusted for individual-level education, occupation, and household income, and neighbourhood disadvantage. Exposure measures were generated via split clusters and an empirical Bayes estimation procedure. Data were analysed in 2016 using multilevel multinomial logistic regression. Residents of neighbourhoods with the highest incivilities and crime, and lowest social cohesion were reference categories. Individuals were more likely to be in the higher physical activity categories if they were in neighbourhoods with the lowest incivilities and the lowest crime. No associations were found between social cohesion and physical activity. This study provides a basis from which to gain a clearer understanding of the relationship between the neighbourhood social environment and individual physical activity. Further work is required to explore the pathways between perceptions of the neighbourhood social environment and physical activity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Psychological factors of the readiness of teachers to ensure social security in the educational environment.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shmeleva E.A.

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The negative sociocultural transformations that are taking place in modern society and the resulting psychological transformation of personality and mode of life strongly require searching for ways of providing social safety to the next generation, with teachers being the implementers of this process. Teachers’ professionalism is determined by their willingness to solve personal and socially relevant problems, including the willingness to provide social security for other people, to thwart social risks, and to build constructive interpersonal relationships. The aim of our research was to reveal and to analyze the psychological factors affecting the readiness of teachers to ensure social security in educational environments. The environmental factors of social risk have been theoretically characterized. It has been shown that the essential factor in ensuring students’ social security is providing a safe social environment in educational institutions; such an environment provides the learners and the teachers with sociopsychological security and psychosocial well-being. The empirical part of our study was devoted to identifying negative social phenomena in the schools in the Ivanovo region (with the help of a questionnaire administered to 700 students and to identifying the personally and professionally important qualities of the teachers and the subjective psychological factors of their readiness to ensure social security in the educational environment (through interviewing 300 teachers; the administration of the questionnaires and the interviewing were followed by an assessment of their significance (with the help of a questionnaire administered to 140 teachers. Using factor analysis we identified the relevant indicators and grouped them into six factors of the readiness of teachers to ensure a safe educational environment. Relevant personal and professional qualities of teachers were revealed; these are the subjective factors of the

Genomic Analysis of Genotype-by-Social Environment Interaction for Drosophila melanogaster Aggressive Behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rohde, Palle Duun; Gartner, Bryn; Ward, Kirsty

2017-01-01

Human psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder often include adverse behaviors including increased aggressiveness. Individuals with psychiatric disorders often exhibit social withdrawal, which can further increase the probability...... of conducting a violent act. Here, we used the inbred, sequenced lines of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) to investigate the genetic basis of variation inmale aggressive behavior for flies reared in a socialized and socially isolated environment. We identified genetic variation for aggressive...... behavior, as well as significant genotype-by-social environ- mental interaction (GSEI); i.e., variation among DGRP genotypes in the degree to which social isolation affected aggression. We performed genome-wide association (GWA) analyses to identify genetic variants associated with aggression within each...

Merging social networking environments and formal learning environments to support and facilitate interprofessional instruction.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Sharla; Greidanus, Elaine; Carbonaro, Michael; Drummond, Jane; Patterson, Steven

2009-04-28

This study describes the redesign of an interprofessional team development course for health science students. A theoretical model is hypothesized as a framework for the redesign process, consisting of two themes: 1) the increasing trend among post-secondary students to participate in social networking (e.g., Facebook, Second Life) and 2) the need for healthcare educators to provide interprofessional training that results in effective communities of practice and better patient care. The redesign focused on increasing the relevance of the course through the integration of custom-designed technology to facilitate social networking during their interprofessional education. Results suggest that students in an educationally structured social networking environment can be guided to join learning communities quickly and access course materials. More research and implementation work is required to effectively develop interprofessional health sciences communities in a combined face-to-face and on-line social networking context.

[Influence of home nurture environment on language development and social emotion in children with developmental language disorder].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Guo-Kai; Liu, Gui-Hua; Qian, Qin-Fang; Ge, Pin; Xie, Yan-Qin; Yang, Min-Yan; Wang, Zhang-Qiong; Ou, Ping

2017-05-01

To investigate the influence of home nurture environment on language development and social emotion in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). The 1-3 Years Child Home Nurture Environment Scale, Gesell Developmental Scale, and Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment Scale were used for the evaluation of 125 children with DLD. A total of 130 children with normal language development matched for age and sex were enrolled as control group. Compared with the control group, the DLD group had a significantly higher proportion of children in a bad home nurture environment and significantly lower scores of all domains of home nurture environment (Pnurture environment score was positively correlated with the level of language development (r=0.536, Pnurture environment had direct influence on language development in children with DLD and affected their language development via the mediating effect of social emotion. Home nurture environment influences language development and social emotion in children with DLD, and social emotion has a partial mediating effect between home nurture environment and language development.

Understanding environment-influenced swarm behavior from a social force perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, J.; Lu, D.; Jiang, Y.; Lee, Z.; Zhang, Y.; Yu, J.

2018-02-01

The relevant research on swarm behavior has focused on the facts that when individuals agree with other members in the system globally consistent behaviors are generated and that individual decisions are completely dominated by other members. In fact, when individuals generate their own behavior strategies, they tend to consider not only the influences of other members but also autonomically consider their current environment. For example, in the social foraging of flocks, the behavior strategy of each individual animal is influenced by the food distribution, and individual movement patterns are characterized by a highly efficient search strategy-Lévy walks. To investigate this, this paper proposes using an environment-driven social force perspective to explore the Lévy walks of individuals in a group in patchy food environments. This model adopts the concept of social force to quantify the social effects and the interactions between individuals and food. The coordination between forces is a key in the formation of individual behavior strategies. Our simulation results show a power-law frequency distribution for agent flight lengths that conforms to Lévy walks and verifies the hypothesis of a relationship between food density and the Lévy index. In our model, the flock still exhibits collective consistency and cohesion and yields a high value for the order parameter and population density when moving between food patches. In addition, our model explains the intraspecific cooperation and competition that occurs during foraging as proposed in related work. The simulation also validates the impact of two inducements for individual behaviors compared with several benchmark models.

Epigenetics: a link between addiction and social environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ajonijebu, Duyilemi C; Abboussi, Oualid; Russell, Vivienne A; Mabandla, Musa V; Daniels, William M U

2017-08-01

The detrimental effects of drug abuse are apparently not limited to individuals but may also impact the vulnerability of their progenies to develop addictive behaviours. Epigenetic signatures, early life experience and environmental factors, converge to influence gene expression patterns in addiction phenotypes and consequently may serve as mediators of behavioural trait transmission between generations. The majority of studies investigating the role of epigenetics in addiction do not consider the influence of social interactions. This shortcoming in current experimental approaches necessitates developing social models that reflect the addictive behaviour in a free-living social environment. Furthermore, this review also reports on the advancement of interventions for drug addiction and takes into account the emerging roles of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in the etiology of drug addiction and that HDAC may be a potential therapeutic target at nucleosomal level to improve treatment outcomes.

Family social environment in childhood and self-rated health in young adulthood

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roustit Christelle

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Family social support, as a form of social capital, contributes to social health disparities at different age of life. In a life-course epidemiological perspective, the aims of our study were to examine the association between self-reported family social environment during childhood and self-reported health in young adulthood and to assess the role of family functioning during childhood as a potential mediating factor in explaining the association between family breakup in childhood and self-reported health in young adulthood. Methods We analyzed data from the first wave of the Health, Inequalities and Social Ruptures Survey (SIRS, a longitudinal health and socio-epidemiological survey of a random sample of 3000 households initiated in the Paris metropolitan area in 2005. Sample-weighted logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between the quality of family social environment in childhood and self-rated health (overall health, physical health and psychological well-being in young adults (n = 1006. We used structural equation model to explore the mediating role of the quality of family functioning in childhood in the association between family breakup in childhood and self-rated health in young adulthood. Results The multivariate results support an association between a negative family social environment in childhood and poor self-perceived health in adulthood. The association found between parental separation or divorce in childhood and poor self-perceived health in adulthood was mediated by parent-child relationships and by having witnessed interparental violence during childhood. Conclusion These results argue for interventions that enhance family cohesion, particularly after family disruptions during childhood, to promote health in young adulthood.

The Intersection of Social Presence and Impression Management in Online Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Houtman, Eveline; Makos, Alexandra; Meacock, Heather-Lynne

2014-01-01

In our day-to-day routines, we are being asked to extend ourselves into virtual environments that capture mere glimpses of who we are and what we think. As education focuses on the development of online learning environments, we are once again asked to recreate ourselves for another environment. This article explores aspects of social presence and…

Social neighborhood environment and sports participation among Dutch adults: does sports location matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Kramer, D; Stronks, K; Maas, J; Wingen, M; Kunst, A E

2015-04-01

Studies on the relation between the social neighborhood environment and sports participation have produced inconsistent results. Use of generic sports outcomes may have obscured associations only apparent for sports at certain locations. This study aims to assess the association between the social neighborhood environment and three location-specific sports outcomes. Repeated cross-sectional data on sports participation (any type of sports, sports at indoor sports clubs, sports at outdoor sports clubs, sports on streets) were obtained from 20 600 adults using the Dutch national health survey 2006-2009. Data on neighborhood social safety and social capital were obtained using the Dutch Housing Research 2006. Over 40% of Dutch adults participated in any type of sports. Indoor sports clubs were most popular. Multilevel logistic regression analyses revealed that neighborhood social safety was positively associated with sports at indoor sports clubs [odds ratio (OR) = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.06-1.48), but not with the other sports outcomes. Contrary, neighborhood social capital was positively associated with sports on streets only (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.17-2.44). The results suggest that a positive social neighborhood environment enhances sports participation, but that this impact depends on the location of the sports activity. This study highlights the importance of using location-specific sports outcomes when assessing environmental determinants. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Discourses on the influence of the social environment in the drive towards a healthier lifestyle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Siiger, Charlotte

Research question: How do Danish middle-aged urban dwellers verbalize the influence of their social environment in the drive towards a healthier lifestyle? Data: 10 semi-structured, qualitative interviews; six men and five women with high blood pressure, overweight, signs of diabetes or high...... cholesterol level. Concepts: Discourse, self-technology , social mirroring, role , social identity . Conclusion: Interviewees draw on a 'discourse of lifestyle changes' containing two sub-discourses: the ‘sub-discourse of encouragement’ vs. the 'sub-discourse of fear’. The near social environment (family...

Modeling Age-Friendly Environment, Active Aging, and Social Connectedness in an Emerging Asian Economy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Ming Lai

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper empirically tested eight key features of WHO guidelines to age-friendly community by surveying 211 informal caregivers and 402 self-care adults (aged 45 to 85 and above in Malaysia. We examined the associations of these eight features with active aging and social connectedness through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. A structural model with satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices (CMIN/df = 1.11, RMSEA = 0.02, NFI = 0.97, TLI = 1.00, CFI = 1.00, and GFI = 0.96 indicates that transportation and housing, community support and health services, and outdoor spaces and buildings are statistically significant in creating an age-friendly environment. We found a statistically significant positive relationship between an age-friendly environment and active aging. This relationship is mediated by social connectedness. The results indicate that built environments such as accessible public transportations and housing, affordable and accessible healthcare services, and elderly friendly outdoor spaces and buildings have to be put into place before social environment in building an age-friendly environment. Otherwise, the structural barriers would hinder social interactions for the aged. The removal of the environmental barriers and improved public transportation services provide short-term solutions to meet the varied and growing needs of the older population.

Controlling social stress in virtual reality environments.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dwi Hartanto

Full Text Available Virtual reality exposure therapy has been proposed as a viable alternative in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder. Therapists could benefit from extensive control of anxiety eliciting stimuli during virtual exposure. Two stimuli controls are studied in this study: the social dialogue situation, and the dialogue feedback responses (negative or positive between a human and a virtual character. In the first study, 16 participants were exposed in three virtual reality scenarios: a neutral virtual world, blind date scenario, and job interview scenario. Results showed a significant difference between the three virtual scenarios in the level of self-reported anxiety and heart rate. In the second study, 24 participants were exposed to a job interview scenario in a virtual environment where the ratio between negative and positive dialogue feedback responses of a virtual character was systematically varied on-the-fly. Results yielded that within a dialogue the more positive dialogue feedback resulted in less self-reported anxiety, lower heart rate, and longer answers, while more negative dialogue feedback of the virtual character resulted in the opposite. The correlations between on the one hand the dialogue stressor ratio and on the other hand the means of SUD score, heart rate and audio length in the eight dialogue conditions showed a strong relationship: r(6 = 0.91, p = 0.002; r(6 = 0.76, p = 0.028 and r(6 = -0.94, p = 0.001 respectively. Furthermore, more anticipatory anxiety reported before exposure was found to coincide with more self-reported anxiety, and shorter answers during the virtual exposure. These results demonstrate that social dialogues in a virtual environment can be effectively manipulated for therapeutic purposes.

Controlling social stress in virtual reality environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartanto, Dwi; Kampmann, Isabel L; Morina, Nexhmedin; Emmelkamp, Paul G M; Neerincx, Mark A; Brinkman, Willem-Paul

2014-01-01

Virtual reality exposure therapy has been proposed as a viable alternative in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder. Therapists could benefit from extensive control of anxiety eliciting stimuli during virtual exposure. Two stimuli controls are studied in this study: the social dialogue situation, and the dialogue feedback responses (negative or positive) between a human and a virtual character. In the first study, 16 participants were exposed in three virtual reality scenarios: a neutral virtual world, blind date scenario, and job interview scenario. Results showed a significant difference between the three virtual scenarios in the level of self-reported anxiety and heart rate. In the second study, 24 participants were exposed to a job interview scenario in a virtual environment where the ratio between negative and positive dialogue feedback responses of a virtual character was systematically varied on-the-fly. Results yielded that within a dialogue the more positive dialogue feedback resulted in less self-reported anxiety, lower heart rate, and longer answers, while more negative dialogue feedback of the virtual character resulted in the opposite. The correlations between on the one hand the dialogue stressor ratio and on the other hand the means of SUD score, heart rate and audio length in the eight dialogue conditions showed a strong relationship: r(6) = 0.91, p = 0.002; r(6) = 0.76, p = 0.028 and r(6) = -0.94, p = 0.001 respectively. Furthermore, more anticipatory anxiety reported before exposure was found to coincide with more self-reported anxiety, and shorter answers during the virtual exposure. These results demonstrate that social dialogues in a virtual environment can be effectively manipulated for therapeutic purposes.

Controlling Social Stress in Virtual Reality Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Hartanto, Dwi; Kampmann, Isabel L.; Morina, Nexhmedin; Emmelkamp, Paul G. M.; Neerincx, Mark A.; Brinkman, Willem-Paul

2014-01-01

Virtual reality exposure therapy has been proposed as a viable alternative in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder. Therapists could benefit from extensive control of anxiety eliciting stimuli during virtual exposure. Two stimuli controls are studied in this study: the social dialogue situation, and the dialogue feedback responses (negative or positive) between a human and a virtual character. In the first study, 16 participants were exposed in three virtual reality scenarios: a neutral virtual world, blind date scenario, and job interview scenario. Results showed a significant difference between the three virtual scenarios in the level of self-reported anxiety and heart rate. In the second study, 24 participants were exposed to a job interview scenario in a virtual environment where the ratio between negative and positive dialogue feedback responses of a virtual character was systematically varied on-the-fly. Results yielded that within a dialogue the more positive dialogue feedback resulted in less self-reported anxiety, lower heart rate, and longer answers, while more negative dialogue feedback of the virtual character resulted in the opposite. The correlations between on the one hand the dialogue stressor ratio and on the other hand the means of SUD score, heart rate and audio length in the eight dialogue conditions showed a strong relationship: r(6) = 0.91, p = 0.002; r(6) = 0.76, p = 0.028 and r(6) = −0.94, p = 0.001 respectively. Furthermore, more anticipatory anxiety reported before exposure was found to coincide with more self-reported anxiety, and shorter answers during the virtual exposure. These results demonstrate that social dialogues in a virtual environment can be effectively manipulated for therapeutic purposes. PMID:24671006

Quantifying the physical, social and attitudinal environment of children with cerebral palsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Dickinson, Heather O; Colver, Allan

2011-01-01

To develop an instrument to represent the availability of needed environmental features (EFs) in the physical, social and attitudinal environment of home, school and community for children with cerebral palsy. Following a literature review and qualitative studies, the European Child Environment Questionnaire (ECEQ) was developed to capture whether EFs needed by children with cerebral palsy were available to them: 24, 24 and 12 items related to the physical, social and attitudinal environments, respectively. The ECEQ was administered to parents of 818 children with cerebral palsy aged 8-12 years, in seven European countries. A domain structure was developed using factor analysis. Parents responded to 98% of items. Seven items were omitted from statistical models as the EFs they referred to were available to most children who needed them; two items were omitted as they did not fit well into plausible domains. The final domains, based on 51 items, were: Transport, Physical - home, Physical - community, Physical - school, Social support - home, Social support - community, Attitudes - family and friends, Attitudes - teachers and therapists, Attitudes - classmates. ECEQ was acceptable to parents and can be used to assess both the access children with cerebral palsy have to the EFs that they need and how available individual EFs are.

Neighbourhood green space, social environment and mental health: an examination in four European cities.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruijsbroek, A.; Mohnen, S.M.; Droomers, M.; Kruize, H.; Gidlow, C.; Grazuleviciene, R.; Andrusaityte, S.; Helbich, M.; Maas, J.; Nieuwenhuijsen, M.J.; Triguero-Mas, M.; Masterson, D.; Ellis, N.; Kempen, E. van; Hardyns, W.; Stronks, K.; Groenewegen, P.P.

2017-01-01

Objectives: This study examines the relationship between neighbourhood green space, the neighbourhood social environment (social cohesion, neighbourhood attachment, social contacts), and mental health in four European cities. Methods: The PHENOTYPE study was carried out in 2013 in Barcelona

Neighbourhood green space, social environment and mental health : an examination in four European cities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruijsbroek, Annemarie; Mohnen, Sigrid M.; Droomers, Mariël; Kruize, Hanneke; Gidlow, Christopher; Gražulevičiene, Regina; Andrusaityte, Sandra; Maas, Jolanda; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.; Triguero-Mas, Margarita; Masterson, Daniel; Ellis, Naomi; van Kempen, Elise; Hardyns, Wim; Stronks, Karien; Groenewegen, Peter P.

2017-01-01

Objectives: This study examines the relationship between neighbourhood green space, the neighbourhood social environment (social cohesion, neighbourhood attachment, social contacts), and mental health in four European cities. Methods: The PHENOTYPE study was carried out in 2013 in Barcelona (Spain),

Neighbourhood green space, social environment and mental health: an examination in four European cities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruijsbroek, Annemarie; Mohnen, Sigrid M.; Droomers, Mariël; Kruize, Hanneke; Gidlow, Christopher; Gražulevičiene, Regina; Andrusaityte, Sandra; Maas, Jolanda; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.; Triguero-Mas, Margarita; Masterson, Daniel; Ellis, Naomi; van Kempen, Elise; Hardyns, Wim; Stronks, Karien; Groenewegen, Peter P.

2017-01-01

This study examines the relationship between neighbourhood green space, the neighbourhood social environment (social cohesion, neighbourhood attachment, social contacts), and mental health in four European cities. The PHENOTYPE study was carried out in 2013 in Barcelona (Spain), Stoke-on-Trent

Social interactions in different environments impacts and motivates reproductive displays in college students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Wortham

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Social environments can have an impact on the interactions between the sexes, specifically pre-courtship behaviors. Sexual selection theory may explain social interactions of the sexes, where males display and attract mates more than females. These behaviors may intensify in a sexual environment. It was hypothesized that individuals would display more in a sexualized environment compared to a non-sexualized location. This research sampled N = 880 participants at a university in a southern state in North America and asked which unisex sunglasses they preferred. While the most popular non-showy sunglasses were selected the most, showy new arrival sunglasses were selected more often when the surveyor’s behavior was flirty, compared to normal behavior and dressing sexy. Thus, social interactions such as flirting between the sexes impacted the behaviors of others and increased the intensity of reproductive displays. At the location with sexualized behaviors and dress, individuals selected the non-showy sunglasses, possibly to draw attention to their bodies in swimsuits, whereas at the non-sexy location, new arrivals were chosen at a higher frequency, possibly to stand out when wearing normal clothes. The sexes chose to stand out at equal frequencies as did single participants and people in a relationship, suggesting that all individuals are trying to display and attract mates equally. Social environments impacted display behaviors and the motivation to display is discussed. Keywords: Sociology, Psychology

Compete, coordinate, and cooperate: How to exploit uncertain environments with social interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulze, Christin; Newell, Ben R

2015-10-01

Countless decisions, from the trivial to the crucial, are made in complex social contexts while facing uncertain consequences. Yet a large portion of decision making research focuses on either the effects of social interaction or the effects of environmental uncertainty by examining strategic games against others or individual games against nature. Drawing a connection between these approaches, the authors extend a standard individual choice paradigm to include social interaction with 1 other person. In this paradigm, 2 competing decision makers repeatedly select among 2 options, each offering a particular probability of a fixed payoff. When both players choose the same, correct option, the payoff is evenly split; when they choose different options, the player choosing the correct option receives the full payoff. The addition of this social dimension gives players an opportunity to fully exploit an uncertain environment via cooperation: By consistently choosing opposite options, two players can exploit the uncertain environment more effectively than a single player could. We present 2 experiments that manipulate environmental (Experiment 1) and social (Experiment 2) aspects of the paradigm. In Experiment 1, the outcome probabilities were either known or unknown to participants; in Experiment 2, participants' attention was drawn to individual or group gains by introducing either within- or between-group competition. Efficient cooperation did not emerge spontaneously in Experiment 1. Instead, most people probability maximized, mirroring the behavior observed in individual choice. By contrast, between--group competition in Experiment 2 facilitated efficient-but not always equitable--exploitation of uncertain environments. This work links the concepts of individual risky choice and strategic decision making under both environmental and social uncertainty. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

MAXIMIZING SOCIAL VALUE IN THE HOTEL ONLINE ENVIRONMENT USING AN ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmen Păunescu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The paper analyses the possibilities that hoteliers have to create and maximize the social value of their online platforms, in terms of their functionality and usage, in order to improve sales and increase hotels’ performance. It also discusses the opportunities that hotel managers can take to improve the hotel online decision-making strategy to convert more effectively visitors into actual customers. Although social value creation of online platforms has been well researched in the specialized literature, recent research has not examined the ways the online social value can be maximized and put into effective commercial use. The paper reviews the dimensions and characteristics of the hotel online environment by integrating literature analysis and field research practices. It employs the analytic hierarchy process method to analyse key elements of the hotel online environment that can serve as a focal point for value creation. The literature review and field research conducted pinpoint three possibilities of creating online social value: (a building online trust, (b ensuring high quality of the online service, and (c providing effective online communication experience. The paper results have given deeper understanding regarding potential areas of the hotel online environment where social value can be obtained. They prove applicability of the analytic hierarchy process method for evaluation and selection of strategies for online social value creation. At the same time, the paper provides new valuable insights to hoteliers, which might support their decisions to improve the business by proactively incorporating strategies for online social value maximization.

Rank acquisition in rhesus macaque yearlings following permanent maternal separation: The importance of the social and physical environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Wooddell, Lauren J; Kaburu, Stefano S K; Murphy, Ashley M; Suomi, Stephen J; Dettmer, Amanda M

2017-11-01

Rank acquisition is a developmental milestone for young primates, but the processes by which primate yearlings attain social rank in the absence of the mother remain unclear. We studied 18 maternally reared yearling rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) that differed in their social and physical rearing environments. We found that early social experience and maternal rank, but not individual traits (weight, sex, age), predicted dominance acquisition in the new peer-only social group. Yearlings also used coalitions to reinforce the hierarchy, and social affiliation (play and grooming) was likely a product, rather than a determinant, of rank acquisition. Following relocation to a familiar environment, significant rank changes occurred indicating that familiarity with a physical environment was salient in rank acquisition. Our results add to the growing body of literature emphasizing the role of the social and physical environment on behavioral development, namely social asymmetries among peers. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects Of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) On Hyper Media Computer Mediated Environments (HCMEs)

OpenAIRE

Yoon C. Cho

2011-01-01

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are known as tools to interact and build relationships between users/customers in Hyper Media Computer Mediated Environments (HCMEs). This study explored how social networking sites play a significant role in communication between users. While numerous researchers examined the effectiveness of social networking websites, few studies investigated which factors affected customers attitudes and behavior toward social networking sites. In this paper, the authors inv...

Parents of Children with Asperger Syndrome or with Learning Disabilities: Family Environment and Social Support

Science.gov (United States)

Heiman, Tali; Berger, Ornit

2008-01-01

The study examined the family environment and perceived social support of 33 parents with a child diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and 43 parents with a child with learning disability, which were compared to 45 parents of children without disabilities as a control group. Parents completed the Family Environment Scale and Social Support Scale…

Application of the stable-isotope system to the study of sources and fate of Hg in the environment: A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yin Runsheng; Feng Xinbin; Shi Wenfang

2010-01-01

With the improvement of analytical methods and the development of multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (MC-ICP/MS), research on non-traditional stable isotope (Cu, Zn, Fe, Se, Mo, Cr, Hg) in geochemistry has made tremendous progress in the past decade. Recent studies have demonstrated that both organic and inorganic reactions may cause Hg isotope fractionation, and variations of Hg isotopic composition in the environment have been successfully employed to explain Hg pollution history, Hg sources and tracking Hg pathways in nature. Furthermore, Hg isotopic fractionation studies can be a powerful tool in the calibration of global Hg cycling models. Stable isotope geochemistry of Hg is therefore becoming a new frontier subject in earth sciences. Based on summarizing previous research, this paper outlines the main advances in the study of Hg stable isotopes with particular emphasis placed on a brief explanation of Hg isotope analytical techniques, possible Hg isotope fractionation mechanisms observed in both natural and experimental processes, Hg isotope composition variations in different environmental matrices, and the application prospects of the Hg stable isotopes in environmental geosciences.

Explaining the role of personal, social and physical environment factors on employed women's physical activity: a structural equation analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Bakhtari Aghdam, Fatemeh; Baghiani Moghaddam, Mohammad Hossein; Asghari Jafarabadi, Mohammad; Allahverdipour, Hamid; Dabagh Nikookheslat, Saed; Noorizadeh, Roghaieh

2013-05-13

PA is a multi-factorial behavior that is affected by interpersonal, intra personal, environmental and social factors. In this study we applied explanatory model to determine the total, indirect and direct impact of physical environment, personal factors and social support on PA among employed women. This study was a correlational cross-sectional study which was conducted to model total, indirect and direct impact of environmental, psychological and social factors on PA. A total of 200 women were chosen from Tabriz University by using convenience sampling method. Data about demographic characteristics, psychological variables, social and physical environment were gathered by using self-reported questionnaire and also the PA was measured by using the International PA Questionnaire and pedometer. personal factors, physical and social environment, showed direct effects on PA. Social factors could be seen to have indirect effects on PA through their influence on personal factors such as pros, cons and self-efficacy; also physical environment had indirect effects on PA through social environment. The total effects of physical and social environment on PA type were respectively 0.17, 0.16 on walking, 0.05, 0.07 on moderate activity and 0.15, 0.18 on vigorous activity. Findings from this study indicated that social factors had indirect effects on walking, moderate and vigorous activity, especially through the effects on these factors of self-efficacy, physical environment, pros and cons, and the interactive role of individual, environmental and social impacts on PA. The current study identifies that psychological, physical and social factors could be shown to have direct and indirect influences on all forms of activity. The barriers of PA were the most predictor of this behavior, and based on results, it can be concluded that decreasing the barriers along with improving social and physical environment can lead to increasing PA and health promotion.

The social responsibility commitment to the community and care environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martha Elena López Regalado

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The concept of csr has evolved in recent years, currently the main objective of the Company cannot lie only meet the monetary needs of the shareholders, but to seek the participation of all stakeholders in the company, with the different stakeholders that interact with the environment either customers, suppliers, employees and society at large, impacting the community with socially responsible actions. Because the concept has acquired new shades as social, economic and environmental responsibility among others, being on the great responsibility of the actions of companies to make social or common good acts to achieve their objectives without harming their economies community, the next job is presented focusing especially on two major indicators of social responsibility such as environmental care, and welfare of the community.

Social-pedagogical accompaniment of foreign students’ socialization: the experience of practical realization in educational-cultural environment of a higher educational institution

OpenAIRE

Bilyk, Olena

2017-01-01

The analysis of the features of introduction of the social-pedagogical accompaniment of foreign students’ socialization in educational-cultural environment of a higher educational institution is realized in this article. There is offered to consider the social-pedagogical accompaniment of foreign students’ socialization as a type of social-pedagogical activity, directed on their protection, help and support in the process of acculturation by interaction of accompanied person (foreign student)...

[Influence of social environment on caries prevalence in early childhood].

Science.gov (United States)

Tusek, Ivan; Carević, Momir; Tusek, Jasmina

2011-01-01

Early childhood caries (ECC) is a special form of caries that affects decideous teeth with rapid progression and numerous complications. The aim of the study was to define the prevalence of ECC in children of the South Backa area, the importance of social environment for the prevalence and severity of ECC, and define the model for its prevention. The survey was the cross-sectional analytical study in the 10% sample of children, aged 13-64 months, different sex, social status and human environment. Severity and prevalence of ECC were assessed by dental check-ups. The epidemiological data were obtained by the interview of parents. The tests of significant statistical differences were performed by the analysis variance and chi2 (p family (46.9%) and in part-time employed mothers (47.2%) who had only elementary education (59.3%) and were poorly informed about oral health. The highest prevalence (47.1%) of ECC was found in children whose parents had the lowest income per month. Type 1 of ECC was the most presented one (75.0%). The higher prevalence and more severe ECC were found in the third and the next born male child from rural environment.

Environment within the US-Mexico border: Environmental NGOs, new social partners?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miriam Alfie Cohen

2002-01-01

Full Text Available This article highlights the role played by the ONG’S in front of the environmental damage in the border region, which we share with the United States. Its objective is to show the scope and the achievements, as well as the challenges and the goals of these new social actors. If we agree about the environment damage is one of the global issues, presented as an critical concern both for the Northern countries as for the Southern countries. The Mexico-United States borderline is an excellent test laboratory to verify not only the existence and action of new groups and social individuals, but also to bring to a discussion table the damage, chaos and environment dangers of this region shared with the United States.

Social environment affects juvenile dispersal in great tits (Parus major)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nicolaus, Marion; Michler, Stephanie P. M.; Jalvingh, Kirsten M.; Ubels, Richard; van der Velde, Marco; Komdeur, Jan; Both, Christiaan; Tinbergen, Joost M.; Wilson, Ken

1. Habitat selection can affect individual fitness, and therefore, individuals are expected to assess habitat quality of potential breeding sites before settlement. 2. We investigated the role of social environment on juvenile dispersal behaviour in the great tit (Parus major). Two main

The Influence of Social Media on Collaborative Learning in a Cohort Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Wandera, Silas; James-Waldon, Natasha; Bromley, Debbi; Henry, Zandra

2016-01-01

This paper provides an overview of the impact that social media has on the development of collaborative learning within a cohort environment in a doctoral program. The researchers surveyed doctoral students in an education program to determine how social media use has influenced the doctoral students. The study looked at the following areas: a)…

Social neighborhood environment and sports participation among Dutch adults: Does sports location matter?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kramer, D.; Stronks, K.; Maas, J.; Wingen, M.; Kunst, A.E.

2015-01-01

Studies on the relation between the social neighborhood environment and sports participation have produced inconsistent results. Use of generic sports outcomes may have obscured associations only apparent for sports at certain locations. This study aims to assess the association between the social

Social neighborhood environment and sports participation among Dutch adults: does sports location matter?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kramer, D.; Stronks, K.; Maas, J.; Wingen, M.; Kunst, A. E.

2015-01-01

Studies on the relation between the social neighborhood environment and sports participation have produced inconsistent results. Use of generic sports outcomes may have obscured associations only apparent for sports at certain locations. This study aims to assess the association between the social

Developing a "Social Presence Scale" for E-Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Kilic Cakmak, Ebru; Cebi, Ayça; Kan, Adnan

2014-01-01

The purpose of the current study is to develop a "social presence scale" for e-learning environments. A systematic approach was followed for developing the scale. The scale was applied to 461 students registered in seven different programs at Gazi University. The sample was split into two subsamples on a random basis (n1 = 261; n2 =…

Learning Direction of Attention for a Social Robot in Noisy Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Nicolai Bæk; Tan, Zheng-Hua; Lindberg, Børge

2015-01-01

It is essential for social robots to be able to locate and direct attention towards communicating persons, however the operating environments can be challenging. When using sound source localization (SSL) acoustic noise sources can distract the robot, which interrupts the desired interaction...... with people. Since the noise sources can be of many different kinds, it is important for the robot to adapt to any environment. In this paper we present a simple strategy for a robot to adapt to the environment using feedback from a face detection routine, thus eventually only directing attention towards...

The social and learning environments experienced by underrepresented minority medical students: a narrative review.

Science.gov (United States)

Orom, Heather; Semalulu, Teresa; Underwood, Willie

2013-11-01

To review the literature on the social and learning environments experienced by underrepresented minority (URM) medical students to determine what type of interventions are needed to eliminate potential barriers to enrolling and retaining URM students. The authors searched MEDLINE, PubMed, Ovid HealthStar, and Web of Science, and the reference lists of included studies, published between January 1, 1980, and September 15, 2012. Studies of the learning and social environments and of students' satisfaction, experiences with discrimination or unfair practices, and academic performance or progress, as well as assessments of programs or interventions to improve URM students' academic performance, were eligible for inclusion. The authors identified 28 studies (27 unique data sets) meeting the inclusion criteria. The results of the included studies indicated that URM students experienced less supportive social and less positive learning environments, were subjected to discrimination and racial harassment, and were more likely to see their race as having a negative impact on their medical school experiences than non-URM students. Academic performance on standardized exams was worse, progress less timely, and attrition higher for URM students as well. For URM students, an adverse climate may be decreasing the attractiveness of careers in medicine, impairing their academic performance, and increasing attrition. Improvements to the social and learning environments experienced by URM students are needed to make medicine a more inclusive profession. The current environment of health care reform creates an opportunity for institutions to implement strategies to achieve this goal.

Understanding Social OER Environments--A Quantitative Study on Factors Influencing the Motivation to Share and Collaborate

Science.gov (United States)

Pirkkalainen, Henri; Jokinen, Jussi P. P.; Pawlowski, Jan M.

2014-01-01

Social software environments are increasingly used for open education: teachers and learners share and collaborate in these environments. While there are various possibilities for the inclusion of such social functionalities for OER, many organizational, individual and technological challenges can hinder the motivation of teachers to share and…

Making choice between competing rewards in uncertain versus safe social environment:role of neuronal nicotinic receptors of acetylcholine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan eChabout

2013-08-01

Full Text Available In social environments, choosing between multiple rewards is modulated by the uncertainty of the situation. Here, we compared how mice interact with a conspecific and how they use acoustic communication during this interaction in a 3 chambers task (no social threat was possible and a Social Interaction Task, SIT (uncertain situation as two mice interact freely. We further manipulated the motivational state of the mice to see how they rank natural rewards such as social contact, food, and novelty seeking. We previously showed that beta2-subunit containing nicotinic receptors -2*nAChRs- are required for establishing reward ranking between social interaction, novelty exploration, and food consumption in social situations with high uncertainty. Knockout mice for 2*nAChRs -2-/-mice- exhibit profound impairment in making social flexible choices, as compared to control -WT- mice.Our current data shows that being confronted with a conspecific in a socially safe environment as compared to a more uncertain environment, drastically reduced communication between the two mice, and changed their way to deal with a social conspecific. Furthermore, we demonstrated for the first time, that 2-/- mice had the same motivational ranking than WT mice when placed in a socially safe environment. Therefore,2*nAChRs are not necessary for integrating social information or social rewards per se, but are important for making choices, only in a socially uncertain environment.This seems particularly important in the context of Social Neuroscience, as numerous animal models are used to provide novel insights and to test promising novel treatments of human pathologies affecting social and communication processes, among which Autistic spectrum disorders and schizophrenia.

Association of Social Support and Family Environment with Cognitive Function in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qin; Yang, Zhi-Kai; Sun, Xiu-Mei; Du, Yun; Song, Yi-Fan; Ren, Ye-Ping; Dong, Jie

♦ BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment (CI) is a common phenomenon and predictive of high mortality in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. This study aimed to analyze the association of social support and family environment with cognitive function in PD patients. ♦ METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of PD patients from Peking University First Hospital and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University. Global cognitive function was measured using the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS), executive function was measured by the A and B trail-making tests, and other cognitive functions were measured by the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. Social support was measured with the Social Support Scale developed by Xiaoshuiyuan and family environment was measured with the Chinese Version of the Family Environment Scale (FES-CV). ♦ RESULTS: The prevalence of CI and executive dysfunction among the 173 patients in the study was, respectively, 16.8% and 26.3%. Logistic regression found that higher global social support (odds ratio [OR] = 1.09, 1.01 - 1.17, p = 0.027) and subjective social support predicted higher prevalence of CI (OR = 1.13, 1.02 - 1.25, p = 0.022), adjusting for covariates. Analyses of the FES-CV dimensions found that greater independence was significantly associated with better immediate memory and delayed memory. Moreover, higher scores on achievement orientation were significantly associated with poorer language skills. ♦ CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that social support is negatively associated with the cognitive function of PD patients and that some dimensions of the family environment are significantly associated with several domains of cognitive function. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis.

[Neighborhood environment quality, individual-level social capital, and depressive symptoms among adolescents].

Science.gov (United States)

Asakura, Takashi

2011-09-01

We aimed to develop measures to assess features of neighborhood quality and individual social capital, as well as their associations with depressive symptoms among early adolescents. To determine whether relations of depressive symptoms with neighborhood quality might be contingent upon the level of individual cognitive social capital, neighborhood-by-cognitive social capital interaction terms were examined. A qualitative study was conducted to elicit the perceptions of early adolescents about their neighborhood environment. Subsequently, we recruited 2,002 eighth graders and asked for responses to a self-administered questionnaire. The variables analyzed in this study were the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (10 items), features of neighborhood quality, cognitive and structural individual social capital, and demographics. We adopted a generalized estimating equation regression model for the multivariate analysis. The analytic sample was 1,786 with no missing variable in the models. Seven subscales were devised to assess quality features of neighborhood environments with an examination of validity and reliability: "availability of services," "good neighborhood relations," "spaces for recreation," "insecurity and danger of accidents," "dirty-looking, squalid, unclean," "civic communities," and "aesthetic look." We also developed a scale of individual cognitive social capital, which consisted of three constructs: "social trust," "reciprocity," and "social norms." Additionally, the number of social activities in which subjects participated was counted as an indicator of the structural aspect of individual social capital. On examination with the generalized estimating equation regression model, "availability of services," "insecurity and danger of accidents," "dirty-looking, squalid, unclean," and cognitive social capital were significantly associated with the CES-D scores controlling for demographics. We also found a significant interplay between

iSocial: delivering the Social Competence Intervention for Adolescents (SCI-A) in a 3D virtual learning environment for youth with high functioning autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Stichter, Janine P; Laffey, James; Galyen, Krista; Herzog, Melissa

2014-02-01

One consistent area of need for students with autism spectrum disorders is in the area of social competence. However, the increasing need to provide qualified teachers to deliver evidence-based practices in areas like social competence leave schools, such as those found in rural areas, in need of support. Distance education and in particular, 3D Virtual Learning, holds great promise for supporting schools and youth to gain social competence through knowledge and social practice in context. iSocial, a distance education, 3D virtual learning environment implemented the 31-lesson social competence intervention for adolescents across three small cohorts totaling 11 students over a period of 4 months. Results demonstrated that the social competence curriculum was delivered with fidelity in the 3D virtual learning environment. Moreover, learning outcomes suggest that the iSocial approach shows promise for social competence benefits for youth.

Social amplification of risk in the Internet environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Ik Jae

2011-12-01

This article analyzes the dynamic process of risk amplification in the Internet environment with special emphasis on public concern for environmental risks from a high-speed railway tunnel construction project in South Korea. Environmental organizations and activists serving as social stations collected information about the project and its ecological impact, and communicated this with the general public, social groups, and institutions. The Internet provides social stations and the public with an efficient means for interactive communication and an open space for active information sharing and public participation. For example, while the website of an organization such as an environmental activist group can initially trigger local interest, the Internet allows this information to be disseminated to a much wider audience in a manner unavailable to the traditional media. Interaction among social stations demonstrates an amplifying process of public attention to the risk. Analyses of the volume of readers' comments to online newspaper articles and public opinions posted on message board of public and nonprofit organizations show the ripple effects of the amplification process as measured along temporal, geographical, and sectoral dimensions. Public attention is also influenced by the symbolic connotations of risk information. Interpretations of risk in religious, political, or legal terms intensify public concern for the environmental risk. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

The challenge of social networking in the field of environment and health.

Science.gov (United States)

van den Hazel, Peter; Keune, Hans; Randall, Scott; Yang, Aileen; Ludlow, David; Bartonova, Alena

2012-06-28

The fields of environment and health are both interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary, and until recently had little engagement in social networking designed to cross disciplinary boundaries. The EU FP6 project HENVINET aimed to establish integrated social network and networking facilities for multiple stakeholders in environment and health. The underlying assumption is that increased social networking across disciplines and sectors will enhance the quality of both problem knowledge and problem solving, by facilitating interactions. Inter- and trans-disciplinary networks are considered useful for this purpose. This does not mean that such networks are easily organized, as openness to such cooperation and exchange is often difficult to ascertain. Different methods may enhance network building. Using a mixed method approach, a diversity of actions were used in order to investigate the main research question: which kind of social networking activities and structures can best support the objective of enhanced inter- and trans-disciplinary cooperation and exchange in the fields of environment and health. HENVINET applied interviews, a role playing session, a personal response system, a stakeholder workshop and a social networking portal as part of the process of building an interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary network. The interviews provided support for the specification of requirements for an interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary network. The role playing session, the personal response system and the stakeholder workshop were assessed as useful tools in forming such network, by increasing the awareness by different disciplines of other's positions. The social networking portal was particularly useful in delivering knowledge, but the role of the scientist in social networking is not yet clear. The main challenge in the field of environment and health is not so much a lack of scientific problem knowledge, but rather the ability to effectively communicate, share

[Person-organization fit as a mediator of relationship between work environment and stress among social workers].

Science.gov (United States)

Waszkowska, Małlgorzata; Andysz, Aleksandra; Merecz, Dorota

2014-01-01

Occupational stress of social workers is associated with various psychosocial hazards in the work environment. Some of them affect person-organization fit (P-O fit). The aim of the study was to verify a hypothesis on the mediating role of P-O fit in the relationship between work environment and stress. The research was based on a sample of 500 social workers directly involved in social work. The data were obtained using the Person-Organization Fit Questionnaire by Czarnota-Bojarska, the Work Environment Questionnaire developed by the Department of Occupational Psychology, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) by Cohen et al. As revealed by the regression analysis of the 4 analyzed work environment factors, only organizational politics was significantly related with perceived stress. Complementary and supplementary dimensions of P-O fit and identification with organization were the mediators of the relationship between organizational policies and stress, but only complementary fit proved to be a total mediator. The results of the study suggest that person-organization fit, especially its complementary aspect, is an essential determinant of accomplishing the core functions of social work and good practice among social workers.

A Conceptual Framework of Immersive Shared Environments Emphasizing Social Interaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mi Jeong Kim

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The effectiveness of visual displays has often been linked to the sense of presence embodied by immersive visualization. However, efforts analyzing how presence is associated with multi-users’ quality of communication, including visualization capabilities to assist in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC, are still unfolding. This research is an exploratory study on social interaction, which aims to improve the presentation and communication of complex data through immersive simulation techniques. This paper reviews key concepts such as presence and immersion to identify factors that influence communication in the representative literature. It then introduces the Hub for Immersive Visualization and eResearch (HIVE with a focus on the technological components. Finally it presents a conceptual framework of immersive shared environment, which enables multi-users to understand how to implement social interaction in a system efficiently or to determine whether a visualization system could support communication effectively. Future studies to validate the proposed framework are discussed, particularly in the context of cognitive factors in a shared environment.

Living with robots: investigating the user acceptance of social robots in domestic environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Graaf, M.M.A.

2015-01-01

Over the most recent decades, the field of social robotics has advanced rapidly. There are a growing number of different types of robots, and their roles within society are expanding. This dissertation has argued that investigating the long-term acceptance of social robots in home environments is

MANAGING SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE TURBULENT ENVIRONMENT (review of the scientific conference

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. G. Dehanova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Current article is dedicated to All-Rissian scientific conference “ Managing social change in the turbulent environment”.Modern social unstable environment determine the search for new solutions in managing change. The crucial transformations and changes take place in the main subjects of social life – family organizations and the state. External and internal risks actualize the study of adaptation processes in the management of social change at every level of social policy. It is necessary to identify the impact of new technological, demographic and cultural factors on the established trends of social dynamics.The main aim of the conference was an identification of new trends in the managing social processes on the base of cooperation between the state, nongovernmental organizations and people. The scientific conference was devoted to the analysis of social change in the conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity. The proposals for optimization of social dynamics will revise the experience of social practices in theRussian Federationand foreign countries. 

METHODS OF STATISTICAL MONITORING OF PROFESSIONAL ORIENTATION WORK OF SOCIAL EDUCATORS IN PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleksandr M. Korniiets

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the application of social services WEB 2.0 for personal learning environment creation that is used for professional orientation work of social educator. The feedback is must be in personal learning environment for the effective professional orientation work. This feedback can be organized through statistical monitoring. The typical solution for organizing personal learning environment with built-in statistical surveys and statistical data processing is considered in the article. The possibilities of the statistical data collection and processing services on the example of Google Analytics are investigated.

A review of chronic pain impact on patients, their social environment and the health care system.

Science.gov (United States)

Dueñas, María; Ojeda, Begoña; Salazar, Alejandro; Mico, Juan Antonio; Failde, Inmaculada

2016-01-01

Chronic pain (CP) seriously affects the patient's daily activities and quality of life, but few studies on CP have considered its effects on the patient's social and family environment. In this work, through a review of the literature, we assessed several aspects of how CP influences the patient's daily activities and quality of life, as well as its repercussions in the workplace, and on the family and social environment. Finally, the consequences of pain on the health care system are discussed. On the basis of the results, we concluded that in addition to the serious consequences on the patient's life, CP has a severe detrimental effect on their social and family environment, as well as on health care services. Thus, we want to emphasize on the need to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to treatment so as to obtain more comprehensive improvements for patients in familial and social contexts. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to promote more social- and family-oriented research initiatives.

Effects of the social environment during adolescence on the development of social behaviour, hormones and morphology in male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).

Science.gov (United States)

Bölting, Stefanie; von Engelhardt, Nikolaus

2017-01-01

Individual differences in behaviour are widespread in the animal kingdom and often influenced by the size or composition of the social group during early development. In many vertebrates the effects of social interactions early in life on adult behaviour are mediated by changes in maturation and physiology. Specifically, increases in androgens and glucocorticoids in response to social stimulation seem to play a prominent role in shaping behaviour during development. In addition to the prenatal and early postnatal phase, adolescence has more recently been identified as an important period during which adult behaviour and physiology are shaped by the social environment, which so far has been studied mostly in mammals. We raised zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ) under three environmental conditions differing in social complexity during adolescence - juvenile pairs, juvenile groups, and mixed-age groups - and studied males' behavioural, endocrine, and morphological maturation, and later their adult behaviour. As expected, group-housed males exhibited higher frequencies of social interactions. Group housing also enhanced song during adolescence, plumage development, and the frequency and intensity of adult courtship and aggression. Some traits, however, were affected more in juvenile groups and others in mixed-age groups. Furthermore, a testosterone peak during late adolescence was suppressed in groups with adults. In contrast, corticosterone concentrations did not differ between rearing environments. Unexpectedly, adult courtship in a test situation was lowest in pair-reared males and aggression depended upon the treatment of the opponent with highest rates shown by group-reared males towards pair-reared males. This contrasts with previous findings, possibly due to differences in photoperiod and the acoustic environment. Our results support the idea that effects of the adolescent social environment on adult behaviour in vertebrates are mediated by changes in

Workplace social and organizational environments and healthy-weight behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Tabak, Rachel G; Hipp, J Aaron; Marx, Christine M; Brownson, Ross C

2015-01-01

The workplace is an important setting for health promotion including nutrition and physical activity behaviors to prevent obesity. This paper explores the relationship between workplace social environment and cultural factors and diet and physical activity (PA) behaviors and obesity among employees. Between 2012 and 2013, telephone interviews were conducted with participants residing in four Missouri metropolitan areas. Questions included demographic characteristics, workplace socio/organizational factors related to activity and diet, and individual diet and PA behaviors, and obesity. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine associations between the workplace socio/organizational environment and nutrition, PA, and obesity. There were differences in reported health behaviors and socio/organizational environment by gender, race, age, income, and worksite size. For example, agreement with the statement the 'company values my health' was highest among Whites, older employees, and higher income workers. As worksite size increased, the frequency of reporting seeing co-workers doing several types of healthy behaviors (eat fruits and vegetables, doing PA, and doing PA on breaks at work) increased. In adjusted analyses, employees agreeing the company values my health were more likely to engage in higher PA levels (aOR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.09-2.16) and less likely to be obese (aOR=0.73, 95% CI: 0.54-0.98). Seeing co-workers eating fruits and vegetables was associated with increased reporting of eating at least one vegetable per day (aOR=1.43, 95% CI: 1.06-1.91) and seeing co-workers being active was associated with higher PA levels (aOR 1.56, 95% CI: 1.19-2.05). This research suggests that social/organizational characteristics of the workplace environment, particularly feeling the company values the workers' health and to seeing co-workers engaging in healthy behaviors, may be related to nutrition and PA behaviors and obesity. These findings point to the potential for

Workplace social and organizational environments and healthy-weight behaviors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachel G Tabak

Full Text Available The workplace is an important setting for health promotion including nutrition and physical activity behaviors to prevent obesity. This paper explores the relationship between workplace social environment and cultural factors and diet and physical activity (PA behaviors and obesity among employees.Between 2012 and 2013, telephone interviews were conducted with participants residing in four Missouri metropolitan areas. Questions included demographic characteristics, workplace socio/organizational factors related to activity and diet, and individual diet and PA behaviors, and obesity. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine associations between the workplace socio/organizational environment and nutrition, PA, and obesity.There were differences in reported health behaviors and socio/organizational environment by gender, race, age, income, and worksite size. For example, agreement with the statement the 'company values my health' was highest among Whites, older employees, and higher income workers. As worksite size increased, the frequency of reporting seeing co-workers doing several types of healthy behaviors (eat fruits and vegetables, doing PA, and doing PA on breaks at work increased. In adjusted analyses, employees agreeing the company values my health were more likely to engage in higher PA levels (aOR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.09-2.16 and less likely to be obese (aOR=0.73, 95% CI: 0.54-0.98. Seeing co-workers eating fruits and vegetables was associated with increased reporting of eating at least one vegetable per day (aOR=1.43, 95% CI: 1.06-1.91 and seeing co-workers being active was associated with higher PA levels (aOR 1.56, 95% CI: 1.19-2.05.This research suggests that social/organizational characteristics of the workplace environment, particularly feeling the company values the workers' health and to seeing co-workers engaging in healthy behaviors, may be related to nutrition and PA behaviors and obesity. These findings point to the

The Effects of Integrating Social Learning Environment with Online Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Raspopovic, Miroslava; Cvetanovic, Svetlana; Medan, Ivana; Ljubojevic, Danijela

2017-01-01

The aim of this paper is to present the learning and teaching styles using the Social Learning Environment (SLE), which was developed based on the computer supported collaborative learning approach. To avoid burdening learners with multiple platforms and tools, SLE was designed and developed in order to integrate existing systems, institutional…

French days on stable isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

These first French days on stable isotopes took place in parallel with the 1. French days of environmental chemistry. Both conferences had common plenary sessions. The conference covers all aspects of the use of stable isotopes in the following domains: medicine, biology, environment, tracer techniques, agronomy, food industry, geology, petroleum geochemistry, cosmo-geochemistry, archaeology, bio-geochemistry, hydrology, climatology, nuclear and particle physics, astrophysics, isotope separations etc.. Abstracts available on CD-Rom only. (J.S.)

Fostering Verbal and Non-Verbal Social Interactions in a 3D Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment: A Case Study of Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders Learning Social Competence in iSocial

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xianhui; Laffey, James; Xing, Wanli; Galyen, Krista; Stichter, Janine

2017-01-01

This case study describes the verbal and nonverbal social interaction of 11 youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders in a 3D Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment-iSocial. The youth were developing social competence through participation in a social competence intervention curriculum implemented online so as to provide access to high quality…

The influence of the social environment context in stress and coping in sport

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kerdijk, Carlijn; van der Kamp, John; Polman, Remco

2016-01-01

Lazarus (1999) model of stress and coping is based on the reciprocal interaction between the person and the environment. The aim of this study therefore was to examine whether the social environment (significant others) are of influence on the stress and coping of team athletes. The study consisted

Person-organization fit as a mediator of relationship between work environment and stress among social workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Małgorzata Waszkowska

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Occupational stress of social workers is associated with various psychosocial hazards in the work environment. Some of them affect person-organization fit (P-O fit. The aim of the study was to verify a hypothesis on the mediating role of P-O fit in the relationship between work environment and stress. Material and Methods: The research was based on a sample of 500 social workers directly involved in social work. The data were obtained using the Person-Organization Fit Questionnaire by Czarnota-Bojarska, the Work Environment Questionnaire developed by the Department of Occupational Psychology, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10 by Cohen et al. Results: As revealed by the regression analysis of the 4 analyzed work environment factors, only organizational politics was significantly related with perceived stress. Complementary and supplementary dimensions of P-O fit and identification with organization were the mediators of the relationship between organizational policies and stress, but only complementary fit proved to be a total mediator. Conclusions: The results of the study suggest that person-organization fit, especially its complementary aspect, is an essential determinant of accomplishing the core functions of social work and good practice among social workers. Med Pr 2014;65(2:219–228

Social accounting –factor for developing the enterprise’s internal and external environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ungureanu, M.

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Social responsibility represents a strategic approach that allows an economic entity to anticipate and solve its problems with third parties, for long-term successful projects. Thus, reputation becomes an invaluable asset which, although intangible, should be used with caution. This paper aims to analyze the role of the traditional accounting system, reflecting the impact of economic activities on the social environment in which they operate. It also makes reference to the opportunity to implement the concept of social accounting into enterprise practice, mainly by analyzing social policies’ costs and benefits.

Social housing, multi-ethnic environments and the training of social educators: combined anthropological and educational perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flavia Virgilio

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The paper presents part of a broader project that explores the role played by informal citizenship learning in social housing urban environments (SHe and the related educational challenges for social educators, NGO practitioners and also researchers. In this article, in particular, I focus on issues related with social educators’ and NGO practitioners’ professional training. The aim of the paper, in this perspective, is to offer some introductory theoretical and methodological remarks for the training of NGO practitioners working in SHe. The basis for this reflection is the idea of informal learning (Schugurensky, 2000, the concepts of learning for reflexive citizenship and learning for active citizenship (Johnston, 2005 and anthropology of citizenship (Ong, 1999, 2003. In the research process, we have intersected instruments and methodologies coming from the different fields of anthropology and educational sciences. Our hypothesis consists in considering the possibility that exploring the professional field of social educators in SHe with an ethnographic approach could contribute to improve reflexive attitudes of social educators and shape their educational attitudes.

Quantifying the physical, social and attitudinal environment of children with cerebral palsy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dickinson, Heather O; Colver, Allan; Michelsen, Susan Ishøy

2011-01-01

To develop an instrument to represent the availability of needed environmental features (EFs) in the physical, social and attitudinal environment of home, school and community for children with cerebral palsy....

Role of Social Presence and Cognitive Absorption in Online Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Leong, Peter

2011-01-01

This article investigates the relationships between social presence, cognitive absorption, interest, and student satisfaction in online learning. A hypothesized structural equation model was developed to study these critical variables that may influence interaction in online learning environments. Contrary to expectations, the study determined…

Designing for Learning: Online Social Networks as a Classroom Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Casey, Gail; Evans, Terry

2011-01-01

This paper deploys notions of emergence, connections, and designs for learning to conceptualize high school students' interactions when using online social media as a learning environment. It makes links to chaos and complexity theories and to fractal patterns as it reports on a part of the first author's action research study, conducted while she…

Boys and girls on the playground: sex differences in social development are not stable across early childhood.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stéphanie Barbu

Full Text Available Sex differences in human social behaviors and abilities have long been a question of public and scientific interest. Females are usually assumed to be more socially oriented and skillful than males. However, despite an extensive literature, the very existence of sex differences remains a matter of discussion while some studies found no sex differences whereas others reported differences that were either congruent or not with gender stereotypes. Moreover, the magnitude, consistency and stability across time of the differences remain an open question, especially during childhood. As play provides an excellent window into children's social development, we investigated whether and how sex differences change in social play across early childhood. Following a cross-sectional design, 164 children aged from 2 to 6 years old, divided into four age groups, were observed during outdoor free play at nursery school. We showed that sex differences are not stable over time evidencing a developmental gap between girls and boys. Social and structured forms of play emerge systematically earlier in girls than in boys leading to subsequent sex differences in favor of girls at some ages, successively in associative play at 3-4 years, cooperative play at 4-5 years, and social interactions with peers at 5-6 years. Preschool boys also display more solitary play than preschool girls, especially when young. Nevertheless, while boys catch up and girls move on towards more complex play, sex differences in social play patterns are reversed in favor of boys at the following ages, such as in associative play at 4-5 years and cooperative play at 5-6 years. This developmental perspective contributes to resolve apparent discrepancies between single-snapshot studies. A better understanding of the dynamics of sex differences in typical social development should also provide insights into atypical social developments which exhibit sex differences in prevalence, such as autism.

Boys and girls on the playground: sex differences in social development are not stable across early childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbu, Stéphanie; Cabanes, Guénaël; Le Maner-Idrissi, Gaïd

2011-01-28

Sex differences in human social behaviors and abilities have long been a question of public and scientific interest. Females are usually assumed to be more socially oriented and skillful than males. However, despite an extensive literature, the very existence of sex differences remains a matter of discussion while some studies found no sex differences whereas others reported differences that were either congruent or not with gender stereotypes. Moreover, the magnitude, consistency and stability across time of the differences remain an open question, especially during childhood. As play provides an excellent window into children's social development, we investigated whether and how sex differences change in social play across early childhood. Following a cross-sectional design, 164 children aged from 2 to 6 years old, divided into four age groups, were observed during outdoor free play at nursery school. We showed that sex differences are not stable over time evidencing a developmental gap between girls and boys. Social and structured forms of play emerge systematically earlier in girls than in boys leading to subsequent sex differences in favor of girls at some ages, successively in associative play at 3-4 years, cooperative play at 4-5 years, and social interactions with peers at 5-6 years. Preschool boys also display more solitary play than preschool girls, especially when young. Nevertheless, while boys catch up and girls move on towards more complex play, sex differences in social play patterns are reversed in favor of boys at the following ages, such as in associative play at 4-5 years and cooperative play at 5-6 years. This developmental perspective contributes to resolve apparent discrepancies between single-snapshot studies. A better understanding of the dynamics of sex differences in typical social development should also provide insights into atypical social developments which exhibit sex differences in prevalence, such as autism.

Concept mapping applied to the intersection between older adults' outdoor walking and the built and social environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanson, Heather M; Schiller, Claire; Winters, Meghan; Sims-Gould, Joanie; Clarke, Philippa; Curran, Eileen; Donaldson, Meghan G; Pitman, Beverley; Scott, Vicky; McKay, Heather A; Ashe, Maureen C

2013-12-01

For older adults, the ability to navigate walking routes in the outdoor environment allows them to remain active and socially engaged, facilitating community participation and independence. In order to enhance outdoor walking, it is important to understand the interaction of older adults within their local environments and the influence of broader stakeholder priorities that impact these environments. Thus, we aimed to synthesize perspectives from stakeholders to identify elements of the built and social environments that influence older adults' ability to walk outdoors. We applied a concept mapping approach with the input of diverse stakeholders (N=75) from British Columbia, Canada in 2012. A seven-cluster map best represented areas that influence older adults' outdoor walking. Priority areas identified included sidewalks, crosswalks, and neighborhood features. Individual perceptions and elements of the built and social environments intersect to influence walking behaviors, although targeted studies that address this area are needed. © 2013.

"Adventures of Harvey" - Use, Acceptance of and Relationship Building with a Social Robot in a Domestic Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Klamer, Tineke; Ben Allouch, Somaya; Heylen, Dirk

The goal of this study was to improve our understanding about how older people use social robots in domestic environments and in particular whether and how they build relationships with these robots. Three participants interacted with the Nabaztag, a social robot, for a 10-day period in their own home environment. Some of our findings are (1) utilitarian-, hedonic-, and social factors are important when accepting social robots, (2) utilitarian-, hedonic- and social factors are important for building a relationship with the Nabaztag, (3) there is a relationship between name-calling and relationship building and (4) there is a relationship between using non-verbal- and verbal communication and relationship building.

No evidence for sex-specific effects of the maternal social environment on offspring development in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica).

Science.gov (United States)

Langen, Esther M A; von Engelhardt, Nikolaus; Goerlich-Jansson, Vivian C

2018-07-01

The social environment of reproducing females can cause physiological changes, with consequences for reproductive investment and offspring development. These prenatal maternal effects are often found to be sex-specific and may have evolved as adaptations, maximizing fitness of male and female offspring for their future environment. Female hormone levels during reproduction are considered a potential mechanism regulating sex allocation in vertebrates: high maternal androgens have repeatedly been linked to increased investment in sons, whereas high glucocorticoid levels are usually related to increased investment in daughters. However, results are not consistent across studies and therefore still inconclusive. In Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), we previously found that pair-housed females had higher plasma androgen levels and tended to have higher plasma corticosterone levels than group-housed females. In the current study we investigate whether these differences in maternal social environment and physiology affect offspring sex allocation and physiology. Counter to our expectations, we find no effects of the maternal social environment on offspring sex ratio, sex-specific mortality, growth, circulating androgen or corticosterone levels. Also, maternal corticosterone or androgen levels do not correlate with offspring sex ratio or mortality. The social environment during reproduction therefore does not necessarily modify sex allocation and offspring physiology, even if it causes differences in maternal physiology. We propose that maternal effects of the social environment strongly depend upon the type of social stimuli and the timing of changes in the social environment and hormones with respect to the reproductive cycle and meiosis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lateralized behaviour of a non-social cichlid fish (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) in a social and a non-social environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Moscicki, Michele K; Reddon, Adam R; Hurd, Peter L

2011-09-01

Cerebral lateralization, the partitioning of cognitive function preferentially into one hemisphere of the brain, is a trait ubiquitous among vertebrates. Some species exhibit population level lateralization, where the pattern of cerebral lateralization is the same for most members of that species; however, other species show only individual level lateralization, where each member of the species has a unique pattern of lateralized brain function. The pattern of cerebral lateralization within a population and an individual has been shown to differ based on the stimulus being processed. It has been hypothesized that sociality within a species, such as shoaling behaviour in fish, may have led to the development and persistence of population level lateralization. Here we assessed cerebral lateralization in convict cichlids (Amatitlania nigrofasciata), a species that does not shoal as adults but that shoals briefly as juveniles. We show that both male and female convict cichlids display population level lateralization when in a solitary environment but only females show population level lateralization when in a perceived social environment. We also show that the pattern of lateralization differs between these two tasks and that strength of lateralization in one task is not predictive of strength of lateralization in the other task. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

POSSIBILITY TO CREATE A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE IN TODAY’S WORKING ENVIRONMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anca BRATU

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose – This paper aims to debate the possibility of creating a social enterprise in a certain region of Romania. Design/methodology/approach – In the first section there is a theoretical approach of some aspects of societal change processes and seven trends which indicate the change processes within the working environment. From the same point of view, there are also mentioned different types of entrepreneurial activities. The paper ends with a case study which is dealing with the study of the potential to create social enterprises to support rural communities in Bistrita Nasaud. Findings – The data provides an array of social problems that are facing the people of this region: the lack of jobs, of qualifications required by the market, poverty, social exclusion of vulnerable groups. Practical implications/originality/value – The presentation of a case study specific to social entrepreneurship within a larger theoretical framework triggers a complex approach in compliance with the specified theoretical aspects.

Monitoring of the aerobe biodegradation of chlorinated organic solvents by stable isotope analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Horváth, Anikó; Futó, István; Palcsu, László

2014-05-01

Our chemical-biological basic research aims to eliminate chlorinated environmental contaminants from aquifers around industrial areas in the frame of research program supported by the European Social Fund (TÁMOP-4.2.2.A-11/1/KONV-2012-0043). The most careful and simplest way includes the in situ biodegradation with the help of cultured and compound specific strains. Numerous members of Pseudomonas bacteria are famous about function of bioremediation. They can metabolism the environmental hazardous chemicals like gas oils, dyes, and organic solvents. Our research based on the Pseudomonas putida F1 strain, because its ability to degrade halogenated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene. Several methods were investigated to estimate the rate of biodegradation, such as the measurement of the concentration of the pollutant along the contamination pathway, the microcosm's studies or the compound specific stable isotope analysis. In this area in the Transcarpathian basin we are pioneers in the stable isotope monitoring of biodegradation. The main goal is to find stable isotope fractionation factors by stable isotope analysis, which can help us to estimate the rate and effectiveness of the biodegradation. The subsequent research period includes the investigation of the method, testing its feasibility and adaptation in the environment. Last but not least, the research gives an opportunity to identify the producer of the contaminant based on the stable isotope composition of the contaminant.

Understanding the influence of social interactions on individual's behavior pattern in a work environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chen, Chih-Wei; Aztiria, Asier; Ben Allouch, Soumaya; Aghajan, Hamid; Salah, Albert Ali; Lepri, Bruno

2011-01-01

In this work, we study social interactions in a work environment and investigate how the presence of other people changes personal behavior patterns. We design the visual processing algorithms to track multiple people in the environment and detect dyadic interactions using a discriminative

Exploring the Role of the Built and Social Neighborhood Environment in Moderating Stress and Health

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Tse-Chuan

2014-01-01

Background Health researchers have explored how different aspects of neighborhood characteristics contribute to health and well-being, but current understanding of built environment factors is limited. Purpose This study explores whether the association between stress and health varies by residential neighborhood, and if yes, whether built and social neighborhood environment characteristics act as moderators. Methods This study uses multilevel modeling and variables derived from geospatial data to explore the role of neighborhood environment in moderating the association of stress with health. Individual-level data (N=4,093) were drawn from residents of 45 neighborhoods within Philadelphia County, PA, collected as part of the 2006 Philadelphia Health Management Corporation's Household Health Survey. Results We find that the negative influence of high stress varied by neighborhood, that residential stability and affluence (social characteristics) attenuated the association of high stress with health, and that the presence of hazardous waste facilities (built environment characteristics) moderated health by enhancing the association with stress. Conclusions Our findings suggest that neighborhood environment has both direct and moderating associations with health, after adjusting for individual characteristics. The use of geospatial data could broaden the scope of stress–health research and advance knowledge by untangling the intertwined relationship between built and social environments, stress, and health. In particular, future studies should integrate built environment characteristics in health-related research; these characteristics are modifiable and can facilitate health promotion policies. PMID:20300905

Well-Being and the Social Environment of Work: A Systematic Review of Intervention Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Daniels, Kevin; Watson, David; Gedikli, Cigdem

2017-08-16

There is consistent evidence that a good social environment in the workplace is associated with employee well-being. However, there has been no specific review of interventions to improve well-being through improving social environments at work. We conducted a systematic review of such interventions, and also considered performance as an outcome. We found eight studies of interventions. Six studies were of interventions that were based on introducing shared social activities into workgroups. Six out of the six studies demonstrated improvements in well-being across the sample (five studies), or for an identifiable sub-group (one study). Four out of the five studies demonstrated improvements in social environments, and four out of the five studies demonstrated improvements in indicators of performance. Analysis of implementation factors indicated that the interventions based on shared activities require some external facilitation, favorable worker attitudes prior to the intervention, and several different components. We found two studies that focused on improving fairness perceptions in the workplace. There were no consistent effects of these interventions on well-being or performance. We conclude that there is some evidence that interventions that increase the frequency of shared activities between workers can improve worker well-being and performance. We offer suggestions for improving the evidence base.

Interactive Environments: Opportunities for Social Innovation and Public Health Initiatives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Predrag K. Nikolic

2016-05-01

Full Text Available How to keep people in a “good health”, longer and healthier life is more than just a phrase listed in a sustainable strategies it became crucial issue for any future social innovation initiative and community needs. New technologies and its application in everyday living surrounding are affecting a way we are interacting between each other and with services around us. As a result, we are facing huge psychological and cultural shift in human behavior and raising of new social practices. We are in need of using new approaches and models in order to provoke human behavior change which is more than ever depending on content and context users can reach in interactive environments they are approaching through their devices or in a physical space. New powerful playground for social innovations is born.

Rural Latinos' mental wellbeing: a mixed-methods pilot study of family, environment and social isolation factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Stacciarini, Jeanne-Marie R; Smith, Rebekah; Garvan, Cynthia Wilson; Wiens, Brenda; Cottler, Linda B

2015-05-01

Upon immigration to the rural areas in the US, Latino families may experience cultural, geographic, linguistic and social isolation, which can detrimentally affect their wellbeing by acting as chronic stressors. Using a community engagement approach, this is a pilot mixed-method study with an embedded design using concurrent qualitative and quantitative data. The purpose of this study is to evaluate family and social environments in terms of protective factors and modifiable risks associated with mental well-being in Latino immigrants living in rural areas of Florida. Latino immigrant mother and adolescent dyads were interviewed by using in-depth ethnographic semistructured interviews and subsequent quantitative assessments, including a demographic questionnaire and three structured instruments: the Family Environment Scale Real Form, the SF-12v2™ Health Survey and the short version (eight items) of PROMIS Health Organization Social Isolation. This mixed-method pilot study highlighted how family, rural, and social environments can protect or impair wellbeing in rural Latino immigrant mother and adolescent dyads.

Virtual reality experiments linking social environment and psychosis: A pilot study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veling, W.; Brinkman, W.P.; Dorrestijn, E.; van der Gaag, M.

2014-01-01

Initial studies with healthy subjects and individuals with high risk for psychosis have suggested that virtual reality (VR) environments may be used to investigate social and psychological mechanisms of psychosis. One small study reported that VR can safely be used in individuals with current

Preliminary Study on the Role of Social Presence in Blended Learning Environment in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Jusoff, Kamaruzaman; Khodabandelou, Rouhollah

2009-01-01

This paper contributes to the growing body of knowledge which identifies benefits for Blended Learning in the understanding of social processes role. It reports on an exploratory study into the role of social presence in blended learning environment. Employing a qualitative methodology, the study sought to understand social presence of learners in…

Improved perceived indoor environment in renovated and energy-retrofitted social housing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Henrik Nellemose

2017-01-01

, noise from outside and too little daylight. The evaluation shows that it is possible to achieve a win-win situation, with both energy savings and improved perceived indoor environment. The evaluation also reveals that careful attention is needed to avoid introducing annoying noise from new technical......The purpose of the present study was, among other things, to evaluate how tenants perceived the indoor environment in renovated and energy-retrofitted social housing erected in the 1960s. Tenants answered a questionnaire to quantify problems and satisfaction with the indoor environment before...... and after the renovation work. A majority of tenants perceived the indoor environment improved for all parameters: temperature, draught, air quality, noise and daylight, after the renovation work. In particular, the tenants experienced fewer problems with too low temperature and draught during the winter...

Social Skills Deficits in a Virtual Environment Among Spanish Children With ADHD.

Science.gov (United States)

García-Castellar, Rosa; Jara-Jiménez, Pilar; Sánchez-Chiva, Desirée; Mikami, Amori Y

2018-06-01

Research assessing the social skills of children with ADHD has predominantly relied upon North American samples. In addition, most existing work has been conducted using methodology that fails to use a controlled peer stimulus; such methods may be more vulnerable to cultural influence. We examined the social skills of 52 Spanish children (ages 8-12) with and without ADHD using a controlled Chat Room Task, which simulates a virtual social environment where peers' responses are held constant, so that participants' social skills may be assessed. After statistical control of typing and reading comprehension skills, Spanish children with ADHD gave fewer prosocial comments and had greater difficulty remembering central details from the conversation between the peers, relative to comparison children. The virtual Chat Room Task may be useful to assess social skills deficits using a controlled paradigm, resulting in the identification of common social deficiencies cross-culturally.

The social dynamics of healthy food shopping and store choice in an urban environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Cannuscio, Carolyn C; Hillier, Amy; Karpyn, Allison; Glanz, Karen

2014-12-01

To respond to the high prevalence of obesity and its associated health consequences, recent food research and policy have focused on neighborhood food environments, especially the links between health and retail mix, proximity of food outlets, and types of foods available. In addition, the social environment exerts important influences on food-related behaviors, through mechanisms like role-modeling, social support, and social norms. This study examined the social dynamics of residents' health-related food-shopping behaviors in 2010-11 in urban Philadelphia, where we conducted 25 semi-structured resident interviews-the foundation for this paper-in addition to 514 structured interviews and a food environment audit. In interviews, participants demonstrated adaptability and resourcefulness in their food shopping; they chose to shop at stores that met a range of social needs. Those needs ranged from practical financial considerations, to fundamental issues of safety, to mundane concerns about convenience, and juggling multiple work and family responsibilities. The majority of participants were highly motivated to adapt their shopping patterns to accommodate personal financial constraints. In addition, they selectively shopped at stores frequented by people who shared their race/ethnicity, income and education, and they sought stores where they had positive interactions with personnel and proprietors. In deciding where to shop in this urban context, participants adapted their routines to avoid unsafe places and the threat of violence. Participants also discussed the importance of convenient stores that allowed for easy parking, accommodation of physical disabilities or special needs, and integration of food shopping into other daily activities like meeting children at school. Food research and policies should explicitly attend to the social dynamics that influence food-shopping behavior. In our social relationships, interactions, and responsibilities, there are

Social influence on evacuation behavior in real and virtual environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Max Kinateder

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Virtual reality (VR is a promising tool to study evacuation behavior as it allows experimentally controlled, safe simulation of otherwise dangerous situations. However, validation studies comparing evacuation behavior in real and virtual environments are still scarce. We compare the decision to evacuate in response to a fire alarm in matched physical and virtual environments. 150 participants were tested individually in a one-trial experiment in one of three conditions. In the Control condition, the fire alarm sounded while the participant performed a bogus perceptual matching task. In the Passive bystander condition, the participant performed the task together with a confederate who ignored the fire alarm. In the Active bystander condition, the confederate left the room when the fire alarm went off. Half of the participants in each condition experienced the scenario in the real laboratory, and the other half in a matched virtual environment with a virtual bystander, presented in a head-mounted display. The active bystander group was more likely to evacuate, and the passive bystander group less likely to evacuate, than the control group. This pattern of social influence was observed in both the real and virtual environments, although the overall response to the virtual alarm was reduced; positive influence was comparable, whereas negative influence was weaker in VR. We found no reliable gender effects for the participant or the bystander. These findings extend the bystander effect to the decision to evacuate, revealing a positive as well as the previous negative social influence. The results support the ecological validity of VR as a research tool to study evacuation behavior in emergency situations, with the caveat that effect sizes may be smaller in VR.

Social scientific engagement with health and environment debates: classical roots and contemporary sub-disciplines

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kopnina, H.; Keune, H.; Kopnina, H.; Keune, H.

2010-01-01

n this chapter, we first sketch a historic picture by introducing health and environment from the perspective of some classical scholars of social science: Malthus, Marx, Durkheim and Weber. Main issues being raised in this respect are the relation between the natural and the social, human world on

Social Integration and Sleep Disturbance: A Gene-Environment Interaction Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David A. Sbarra

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: Low levels of perceived social integration, or loneliness, are associated with increased risk for a range of poor health outcomes. Sleep disturbance plays a central role in the evolutionary theory of loneliness, which provides a mechanistic account of how low levels of social integration may negatively impact health. No studies, however, have examined whether the association between social integration and sleep disturbance is consistent with a causal effect after accounting for genes that are common to both variables.  Method: Using twin data ('N' = 905 twin pairs from the nationally-representative Midlife in the United States (MIDUS survey, I evaluated a series of bivariate twin models exploring whether the phenotypic association between low social integration and sleep disturbance can be explained by shared genetics. In addition, the current study specified a series of quantitative models for studying gene x environment (G X E interactions to determine whether the genetic and environmental influences on sleep disturbance differ as a function of social integration. Results: The phenotypic association between social integration and sleep disturbance was fully accounted for by genes that are common between the two variables, suggesting that within-twin pair differences in social integration do not exert a causal influence on sleep disturbance. Social integration, however, moderated the non-shared environmental influence on sleep disturbances, with the greatest environmental influences observed at the lowest levels of social integration. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that an essential feature of the evolutionary model of loneliness may need refinement or elaboration. The moderation findings are discussed in terms of the fit with a stress-buffering model of social support in which environmental influences on sleep disturbance are strongest when social resources are low.

Assessing the online social environment for surveillance of obesity prevalence.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rumi Chunara

Full Text Available Understanding the social environmental around obesity has been limited by available data. One promising approach used to bridge similar gaps elsewhere is to use passively generated digital data.This article explores the relationship between online social environment via web-based social networks and population obesity prevalence.We performed a cross-sectional study using linear regression and cross validation to measure the relationship and predictive performance of user interests on the online social network Facebook to obesity prevalence in metros across the United States of America (USA and neighborhoods within New York City (NYC. The outcomes, proportion of obese and/or overweight population in USA metros and NYC neighborhoods, were obtained via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance and NYC EpiQuery systems. Predictors were geographically specific proportion of users with activity-related and sedentary-related interests on Facebook.Higher proportion of the population with activity-related interests on Facebook was associated with a significant 12.0% (95% Confidence Interval (CI 11.9 to 12.1 lower predicted prevalence of obese and/or overweight people across USA metros and 7.2% (95% CI: 6.8 to 7.7 across NYC neighborhoods. Conversely, greater proportion of the population with interest in television was associated with higher prevalence of obese and/or overweight people of 3.9% (95% CI: 3.7 to 4.0 (USA and 27.5% (95% CI: 27.1 to 27.9, significant (NYC. For activity-interests and national obesity outcomes, the average root mean square prediction error from 10-fold cross validation was comparable to the average root mean square error of a model developed using the entire data set.Activity-related interests across the USA and sedentary-related interests across NYC were significantly associated with obesity prevalence. Further research is needed to understand how the online social environment relates to

VITAL ENERGY AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT: INTERFACES BETWEEN WESTERN THOUGHT AND INDIGENOUS COSMOLOGY – THE JAVAÉ CASE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Eduardo Panosso

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Unlike what happens in Western capitalist societies, who think the world so disruptive, creating dichotomies as culture / nature and society / environment, indigenous thought in such oppositions are not common. Thus, indigenous peoples do not live a crisis mentality on the environment. The Javaé provides elements with which it becomes possible to think about their "ideas" of body and vital energy and how these inform their practices and their relationship with social and environmental. Understanding this concept as something that includes a social totality that includes humans and nonhumans, and thus, maintaining a social and ecological balance.

Safety in numbers: does perceived safety mediate associations between the neighborhood social environment and physical activity among women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods?

Science.gov (United States)

Timperio, Anna; Veitch, Jenny; Carver, Alison

2015-05-01

The aim of this study is to examine associations between the neighborhood social environment and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA)(1) and walking among women, and whether these associations are mediated by perceived personal safety. Women (n = 3784) living in disadvantaged urban and rural neighborhoods within Victoria, Australia completed a self-administered survey on five social environment variables (neighborhood crime, neighborhood violence, seeing others walking and exercising in the neighborhood, social trust/cohesion), perceived personal safety, and their physical activity in 2007/8. Linear regression analyses examined associations between social environment variables and LTPA and walking. Potential mediating pathways were assessed using the product-of-coefficients test. Moderated mediation by urban/rural residence was examined. Each social environment variable was positively associated with engaging in at least 150 min/week of LTPA (OR = 1.16 to 1.56). Only two social environment variables, seeing others walking (OR = 1.45) and exercising (OR = 1.31), were associated with ≥ 150 min/week of walking. Perceived personal safety mediated all associations. Stronger mediation was found in urban areas for crime, violence and social trust/cohesion. The neighborhood social environment is an important influence on physical activity among women living in disadvantaged areas. Feelings of personal safety should not be included in composite or aggregate scores relating to the social environment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Group Awareness of Social and Cognitive Behavior in a CSCL Environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Phielix, Chris; Prins, Frans; Kirschner, Paul A.

2011-01-01

Phielix, C., Prins, F. J., & Kirschner, P. A. (2010). Group awareness of social and cognitive behavior in a CSCL environment. In K. Gomez, L. Lyons, & J. Radinsky (Eds.), Learning in the Disciplines: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2010): Volume 1 (pp.

Reflections of the social environment in chimpanzee memory: applying rational analysis beyond humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Jeffrey R; Marewski, Julian N; Schooler, Lael J; Gilby, Ian C

2016-08-01

In cognitive science, the rational analysis framework allows modelling of how physical and social environments impose information-processing demands onto cognitive systems. In humans, for example, past social contact among individuals predicts their future contact with linear and power functions. These features of the human environment constrain the optimal way to remember information and probably shape how memory records are retained and retrieved. We offer a primer on how biologists can apply rational analysis to study animal behaviour. Using chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) as a case study, we modelled 19 years of observational data on their social contact patterns. Much like humans, the frequency of past encounters in chimpanzees linearly predicted future encounters, and the recency of past encounters predicted future encounters with a power function. Consistent with the rational analyses carried out for human memory, these findings suggest that chimpanzee memory performance should reflect those environmental regularities. In re-analysing existing chimpanzee memory data, we found that chimpanzee memory patterns mirrored their social contact patterns. Our findings hint that human and chimpanzee memory systems may have evolved to solve similar information-processing problems. Overall, rational analysis offers novel theoretical and methodological avenues for the comparative study of cognition.

Conceptions of ability as stable and self-evaluative processes: a longitudinal examination.

Science.gov (United States)

Pomerantz, E M; Saxon, J L

2001-01-01

It has generally been taken for granted that conceiving of ability as stable leads to negative self-evaluative processes, particularly in the face of failure. Yet, a close examination of the empirical findings suggests that the picture may be more complex. In this research, a three-wave longitudinal design spanning 12 months was employed. Older elementary school children (N = 932) indicated their conceptions of academic and social ability as stable to external forces and to internal forces. They also provided information about the importance they place on academic and social competence, their knowledge about academic and social performance, their preference for academic challenge, their perceptions of academic and social competence, and their attributions for academic and social performance. Children's grades in school and their acceptance by peers were obtained as indicators of performance. Over time, conceiving of ability as stable to external forces, particularly in the academic domain, appeared to heighten the importance placed on competence, performance knowledge, preference for challenge, perceptions of competence, and self-enhancing attributions. In contrast, conceptions of ability as stable to internal forces, particularly in the academic domain, appeared to be fostered by placing little importance on competence, a lack of performance knowledge, avoidance of challenge, negative perceptions of competence, self-deprecating attributions, and poor performance.

The impact of the hospital work environment on social support from physicians in breast cancer care.

Science.gov (United States)

Ansmann, Lena; Wirtz, Markus; Kowalski, Christoph; Pfaff, Holger; Visser, Adriaan; Ernstmann, Nicole

2014-09-01

Research on determinants of a good patient-physician interaction mainly disregards systemic factors, such as the work environment in healthcare. This study aims to identify stressors and resources within the work environment of hospital physicians that enable or hinder the physicians' provision of social support to patients. Four data sources on 35 German breast cancer center hospitals were matched: structured hospital quality reports and surveys of 348 physicians, 108 persons in hospital leadership, and 1844 patients. Associations between hospital structures, physicians' social resources as well as job demands and control and patients' perceived support from physicians have been studied in multilevel models. Patients feel better supported by their physicians in hospitals with high social capital, a high percentage of permanently employed physicians, and less physically strained physicians. The results highlight the importance of the work environment for a good patient-physician interaction. They can be used to develop interventions for redesigning the hospital work environment, which in turn may improve physician satisfaction, well-being, and performance and consequently the quality of care. Health policy and hospital management could create conditions conducive to better patient-physician interaction by strengthening the social capital and by increasing job security for physicians. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stable "trait" variance of temperament as a predictor of the temporal course of depression and social phobia.

Science.gov (United States)

Naragon-Gainey, Kristin; Gallagher, Matthew W; Brown, Timothy A

2013-08-01

A large body of research has found robust associations between dimensions of temperament (e.g., neuroticism, extraversion) and the mood and anxiety disorders. However, mood-state distortion (i.e., the tendency for current mood state to bias ratings of temperament) likely confounds these associations, rendering their interpretation and validity unclear. This issue is of particular relevance to clinical populations who experience elevated levels of general distress. The current study used the "trait-state-occasion" latent variable model (D. A. Cole, N. C. Martin, & J. H. Steiger, 2005) to separate the stable components of temperament from transient, situational influences such as current mood state. We examined the predictive power of the time-invariant components of temperament on the course of depression and social phobia in a large, treatment-seeking sample with mood and/or anxiety disorders (N = 826). Participants were assessed 3 times over the course of 1 year, using interview and self-report measures; most participants received treatment during this time. Results indicated that both neuroticism/behavioral inhibition (N/BI) and behavioral activation/positive affect (BA/P) consisted largely of stable, time-invariant variance (57% to 78% of total variance). Furthermore, the time-invariant components of N/BI and BA/P were uniquely and incrementally predictive of change in depression and social phobia, adjusting for initial symptom levels. These results suggest that the removal of state variance bolsters the effect of temperament on psychopathology among clinically distressed individuals. Implications for temperament-psychopathology models, psychopathology assessment, and the stability of traits are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Enhancing the Resilience of Human-Environment Systems: a Social Ecological Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Stokols

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Resilience studies build on the notion that phenomena in the real world should be understood as dynamic social-ecological systems. However, the scholarly community may not be fully aware that social ecology, as a conceptual framework, has a long intellectual history, nor fully cognizant of its foundational theory. In this article, we trace the intellectual roots and core principles of social ecology and demonstrate how these principles enable a broader conceptualization of resilience than may be found in much of the literature. We then illustrate how the resulting notion of resilience as transactional process and multi-capital formation affords new perspectives on diverse phenomena such as global financial crises and adaptation to environmental stresses to communities and ecosystems. A social-ecological analysis of resilience enables the study of people-environment transactions across varying dimensions, time periods, and scales. Furthermore, in its openness to experiential knowledge and action research, the social ecology framework coheres well with participative-collaborative modes of inquiry, which traverse institutional, epistemological, and scale-related boundaries.

How Urban Youth Perceive Relationships Among School Environments, Social Networks, Self-Concept, and Substance Use.

Science.gov (United States)

Dudovitz, Rebecca N; Perez-Aguilar, Giselle; Kim, Grace; Wong, Mitchell D; Chung, Paul J

2017-03-01

Studies suggest adolescent substance use aligns with academic and behavioral self-concept (whether teens think of themselves as good or bad students and as rule followers or rule breakers) as well as peer and adult social networks. Schools are an important context in which self-concept and social networks develop, but it remains unclear how school environments might be leveraged to promote healthy development and prevent substance use. We sought to describe how youth perceive the relationships among school environments, adolescent self-concept, social networks, and substance use. Semistructured interviews with 32 low-income minority youth (aged 17-22 years) who participated in a prior study, explored self-concept development, school environments, social networks, and substance use decisions. Recruitment was stratified by whether, during high school, they had healthy or unhealthy self-concept profiles and had engaged in or abstained from substance use. Youth described feeling labeled by peers and teachers and how these labels became incorporated into their self-concept. Teachers who made students feel noticed (eg, by learning students' names) and had high academic expectations reinforced healthy self-concepts. Academic tracking, extracurricular activities, and school norms determined potential friendship networks, grouping students either with well-behaving or misbehaving peers. Youth described peer groups, combined with their self-concept, shaping their substance use decisions. Affirming healthy aspects of their self-concept at key risk behavior decision points helped youth avoid substance use in the face of peer pressure. Youth narratives suggest school environments shape adolescent self-concept and adult and peer social networks, all of which impact substance use. Copyright © 2016 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Poor health and loneliness in later life: the role of depressive symptoms, social resources, and rural environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Burholt, Vanessa; Scharf, Thomas

2014-03-01

We draw on cognitive discrepancy theory to hypothesize and test a pathway from poor health to loneliness in later life. We hypothesize that poor health will have a negative influence on social participation and social resources, and these factors will mediate between health and loneliness. We hypothesize that rural environments will amplify any difficulties associated with social participation or accessing social resources and that depression will moderate how intensely people react to levels of social contact and support. We conceptualize a mediation model and a moderated-mediation model. Nationally representative data on older people living in the Republic of Ireland are used to validate the hypothesized pathways. In the mediation model, health has a significant indirect effect on loneliness through the mediating variables social resources and social participation. In the moderated-mediation model, rurality moderates the pathway between health and social resources but not social participation. Depressive symptoms moderate the effect of social resources on loneliness but not social participation. The results provide further credence to cognitive discrepancy theory, suggesting that depressive symptoms influence cognitive processes, interfering with judgments about the adequacy of social interaction. The theory is extended by demonstrating the impact of the environment on loneliness.

A review of chronic pain impact on patients, their social environment and the health care system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dueñas M

2016-06-01

Full Text Available María Dueñas,1 Begoña Ojeda,2 Alejandro Salazar,2 Juan Antonio Mico,3 Inmaculada Failde,2 1Nursing Faculty “Salus Infirmorum”, The Observatory of Pain, University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain; 2Preventive Medicine and Public Health Area, The Observatory of Pain, University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain; 3Department of Neuroscience, Pharmacology, and Psychiatry, CIBER of Mental Health, CIBERSAM, Institute of Health Carlos III, University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain Abstract: Chronic pain (CP seriously affects the patient’s daily activities and quality of life, but few studies on CP have considered its effects on the patient’s social and family environment. In this work, through a review of the literature, we assessed several aspects of how CP influences the patient’s daily activities and quality of life, as well as its repercussions in the workplace, and on the family and social environment. Finally, the consequences of pain on the health care system are discussed. On the basis of the results, we concluded that in addition to the serious consequences on the patient’s life, CP has a severe detrimental effect on their social and family environment, as well as on health care services. Thus, we want to emphasize on the need to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to treatment so as to obtain more comprehensive improvements for patients in familial and social contexts. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to promote more social- and family-oriented research initiatives. Keywords: pain, everyday problems, social relationships, family environment, health services

Summary of presentation for research on social structure, agreement, and conflict in groups in extreme and isolated environments

Science.gov (United States)

1990-01-01

Despite a vast amount of research, little is known concerning the effect of group structure, and individuals' understanding of that structure, on conflict in Antarctic groups. The overall objective of the research discussed is to determine the interrelationships of group structure, social cognition, and group function and conflict in isolated and extreme environments. In the two decades following WWII, a large body of research focused on the physiological, psychological, and social psychological factors affecting the functioning of individuals and groups in a variety of extreme and isolated environments in both the Arctic and Antarctic. There are two primary reasons for further research of this type. First, Antarctic polar stations are considered to be natural laboratories for the social and behavioral sciences and provide an opportunity to address certain theoretical and empirical questions concerned with agreement and conflict in social groups in general and group behavior in extreme, isolated environments in particular. Recent advances in the analysis of social networks and intracultural variation have improved the methods and have shifted the theoretical questions. The research is motivated by three classes of questions: (1) What are the characteristics of the social relations among individuals working and living together in extreme and isolated environments?; (2) What do individuals understand about their group, how does that understanding develop, and how is it socially distributed?; and (3) What is the relationship between that understanding and the functioning of the social group? Answers to these questions are important if we are to advance our knowledge of how individuals and groups adapt to extreme environments. Second, although Antarctic winter-over candidates may be evaluated as qualified on the basis of individual characteristics, they may fail to adapt because of certain characteristics of the social group. Consequently, the ability of winter

The influence of social environment on the smoking status of women employed in health care facilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragana Nikšić

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Bosnia and Herzegovina has a high prevalence of smoking among women, especially among health care professionals. The goal of this study is to investigate the influence of the social environment of women employed in health institutions in relation to the cigarettes smoking habits.Methods: The study included 477 women employed in hospitals, outpatient and public health institutions in Sarajevo Canton Bosnia and Herzegovina. We used a modifi ed questionnaire assessing smoking habits of medical staff in European hospitalsResults: The results showed that 50% of women are smokers, with the highest incidence among nurses (58.1% and administrative staff (55.6%. The social environment is characterized by a high incidence of colleagues (60.1% and friends who are smokers (54.0% at the workplace and in the family (p<0.005. One third of women (27.8%, mainly non-smokers, states that the work environment supports employees smoking (p=0.003.Conclusion: Workplace and social environment support smoking as an acceptable cultural habit and is contributing to increasing rates of smoking among women.

A Social Contract for University-Industry Collaboration: A Case of Project-Based Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Vartiainen, Tero

This study determines a social contract for a form of university-industry collaboration to a project-based learning environment in close collaboration with industry. The author's previous studies on moral conflicts in a project-based learning (PjBL) environment and his 5-year engagement in the PjBL environment are used as background knowledge, and John Rawls' veil of ignorance is used as a method in the contract formulation. Fair and impartial treatment of actors is strived for with the contract which constitutes of sets of obligations for each party, students, clients, and university (instructors) in the chosen project course. With the contract fair and impartial treatment of actors is strived for and the most dilemmatic moral conflicts are tried to be avoided. The forming of the social contract is evaluated, and implications for research and collaborations in practice are offered.

Social environment and healthy ageing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frank Schalkwijk

2017-02-01

Full Text Available growing numbers of people living to older ages, age-related diseases have become an increasing challenge for societies everywhere. Many age-related diseases however, should rather be considered lifestyle-related diseases since lifestyle plays an important role in the etiology and the treatment of cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2I diabetes and many forms of cancer. This has led to a large body of literature investigating the possibility to change people’s lifestyle. Interventions with, for example, physiotherapists that engage in daily physical activity with older people have shown substantial benefits, even reversing type 2 diabetes and some characteristics of the ageing process (1,2. Most lifestyle interventions, however, struggle to achieve sustained, long-term behavioural change (3,4. Few individuals can maintain the effort to adopt a new diet or exercise regime themselves, without intensive coaching by professionals. These interventions are therefore expensive and this hinders the widespread and continued delivery to the growing number of older people with unhealthy lifestyle and (risk for age-related disease. Therefore, it is important to explore novel sustainable and cost-effective methods for lifestyle interventions to combat the burden of agerelated disease in ageing societies. One often overlooked influence on the health behaviour of older people is the effect of the social environment. We believe that peer coaching, in which older people coach each other in achieving lifestyle changes, is such a promising method to deliver health benefits in a sustainable, scalable way. Although there is substantial documentation of the effect of peers on adolescents and children, the influence of peers has been overlooked in older people. In peer coaching, the social environment is applied as a method to deliver an intervention. Peer coaching is a face-to-face intervention in which a group is led by a peer, a non-professional, who shares a

The Social Environment and Childbearing Expectations: Implications for Strength-Based Sexual Health Interventions for Latino Youth.

Science.gov (United States)

vanDommelen-Gonzalez, Evan; Deardorff, Julianna; Herd, Denise; Minnis, Alexandra M

2016-06-01

In the United States, adolescent childbearing is disproportionately higher among Latino youth, a growing population facing substantial social exclusion. Exploring the relationship between the social environment and sexual health outcomes among Latino youth may offer insights into the development of novel interventions. In this study, Latino youth in partnerships were recruited from neighborhood venues in San Francisco and completed in-depth interviews. Youth reported a desire to complete higher education goals prior to starting a family to improve future opportunities and further personal development. Youth stated that social network members, family and partners, were supportive of their individual childbearing expectations. Social environment barriers tied to poverty, immigration status, and gang violence hindered educational attainment. Some differences were noted by gender and immigrant generation. Building on protective social ties and creating avenues in poor, urban neighborhoods for Latino youth to fully access educational opportunities may counter early childbearing and improve sexual health.

Learning as You Journey: Anishinaabe Perception of Social-ecological Environments and Adaptive Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iain Davidson-Hunt

2003-12-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the linkages between social-ecological resilience and adaptive learning. We refer to adaptive learning as a method to capture the two-way relationship between people and their social-ecological environment. In this paper, we focus on traditional ecological knowledge. Research was undertaken with the Anishinaabe people of Iskatewizaagegan No. 39 Independent First Nation, in northwestern Ontario, Canada. The research was carried out over two field seasons, with verification workshops following each field season. The methodology was based on site visits and transects determined by the elders as appropriate to answer a specific question, find specific plants, or locate plant communities. During site visits and transect walks, research themes such as plant nomenclature, plant use, habitat descriptions, biogeophysical landscape vocabulary, and place names were discussed. Working with elders allowed us to record a rich set of vocabulary to describe the spatial characteristics of the biogeophysical landscape. However, elders also directed our attention to places they knew through personal experiences and journeys and remembered from stories and collective history. We documented elders' perceptions of the temporal dynamics of the landscape through discussion of disturbance events and cycles. Again, elders drew our attention to the ways in which time was marked by cultural references to seasons and moons. The social memory of landscape dynamics was documented as a combination of biogeophysical structures and processes, along with the stories by which Iskatewizaagegan people wrote their histories upon the land. Adaptive learning for social-ecological resilience, as suggested by this research, requires maintaining the web of relationships of people and places. Such relationships allow social memory to frame creativity, while allowing knowledge to evolve in the face of change. Social memory does not actually evolve directly out of

Effects of Peers and Social Environment on Adolescent Psychological Well-Being

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew J. Hussey

2013-07-01

Full Text Available We use data from Add Health to estimate models of peer effects and effects of social environment on adolescent psychological well-being. Past literature has focused mostly on the role of peers on adolescents, notably on schooling (GPA, high school graduation, etc. and risk behavioral (smoking, drinking, drug use, etc. outcomes. Our study’s core innovation lies in the conceptual testing of the hypothesis that an enlarged adolescent social environment encompasses support from peers, school, parents, and the neighborhood. In this paper, we isolate the effects of each of these groups on adolescent psychological well-being and find significant effects of support from schools and parents. However, peer effects are insignificant except for the baseline Ordinary Least Squares (OLS model. Separate models for males and females and different age groups are also estimated and similar results are found, although the effects are greatest during late adolescence. Given the likely endogeneity of peer group formation, we also use an instrumental variables (IV approach. The IV results indicate that peer effects are not statistically significant, but otherwise mimic OLS estimates, supporting the presence of a multi-faceted social network influencing adolescent health. These results, reinforced by further statistical testing, suggest that past work limiting influence on adolescent behavior or outcome to only the peers tends to be incomplete.

School environments and social risk factors for child pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions: A case-control study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rothman, Linda; Howard, Andrew; Buliung, Ron; Macarthur, Colin; Richmond, Sarah A; Macpherson, Alison

2017-01-01

Child pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions (PMVCs) have decreased in Canada in the past 20 years. Many believe this trend is explained by the rise in automobile use for all travel. Initiatives to increase walking to school need to consider PMVC risk. Potential risk factors related to walking to school, the built environment and social factors were examined for schools with historically high child PMVC rates. Child PMVCs (age 4-12 years) from 2000 to 2013 and built environment features were mapped within school attendance boundaries in the City of Toronto, Canada. Case and control schools were in the highest and lowest PMVC quartiles respectively. Observational counts of travel mode to school were conducted. Logistic regression evaluated walking to school, built environment and social risk factors for higher PMVC rates, stratified by geographic location (downtown vs. inner suburbs). The mean PMVC rates were 18.8/10,000/year (cases) and 2.5/10,000/year (controls). One-way street density (OR=4.00), school crossing guard presence (OR=3.65) and higher social disadvantage (OR=1.37) were associated with higher PMVCs. Higher residential land use density had a protective effect (OR=0.56). More walking was not a risk factor. While several built environment risk factors were identified for the inner suburbs; only social disadvantage was a risk factor within older urban neighbourhoods. Several modifiable environmental risk factors were identified for child PMVCs. More walking to school was not associated with increased PMVCs after controlling for the environment. School social disadvantage was associated with higher PMVCs with differences by geographic location. These results have important implications for the design of roadways around schools. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Integrating a social network group with a 3D collaborative learning environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pourmirza, S.; Gardner, M.; Callaghan, V; Augusto, J.C.; Zhang, T.

2014-01-01

Although extensive research has been carried out on virtual learning environments and the role of groups and communities in social networks, few studies exist which adequately cover the relationship between these two domains. In this paper, the authors demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating

A basic framework for integrating social and collaborative applications into learning environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moghnieh, Ayman; Blat, Josep

2009-01-01

Moghnieh, A., & Blat, J. (2009). A basic framework for integrating social and collaborative applications into learning environments. Proceedings of the first conference on Research, Reflection, and Innovations in Integrating ICT in Education: Vol. 2 (pp. 1057-1061). April, 22-24, 2009, Lisbon,

LumaFluid: a responsive environment to stimulate social interaction in public spaces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Monaci, G.; Gritti, T.; Van Beers, M.; Vermeulen, A.J.W.A.; Nab, B.; Thomassen, I.; Heijboer, M.; Suijkerbuijk, S.; Walmink, W.; Hendriks, M.

2012-01-01

LumaFluid is an interactive environment that explores new ways to stimulate emotional and social engagement through immersive light effects. A computer vision system detects and tracks persons present inthe LumaFluid square. Using this location information, colored spotlights highlight each person

Visibility and Social Recognition as Psychosocial Work Environment Factors among Cleaners in a Multi-Ethnic Workplace Intervention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kirsten Hviid

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on the psychosocial work environment of immigrant cleaners at a Danish workplace. Today, many cleaners working in Danish cleaning jobs are women from the established immigrant communities, but also labour migrants from the newer EU member states have found their way to the cleaning industry. Studies have drawn attention to immigrants’ low position in the cleaning industry and their increased risk of work injuries. This article is based on a case study of an intervention called “Make a Difference” designed to improve the work environment among cleaners at a multi-ethnic workplace. We used semi-structured interviews, photo logs, observation and participation to investigate how the cleaners experienced their work environment. The cleaners reported an overload of heavy work, related to the concept of a classroom’s “readiness for cleaning”, and they expressed strained social relations and communication in addition to a lack of social recognition and invisibility at the workplace, a school. We analysed these psychosocial work environmental problems by investigating the different forms of social relationships and communication within the group of cleaners, and between the cleaners and the teachers and pupils at the school. Moreover, we discussed why the intervention, based on training of language and cleaning skills and social interaction, only partially improved the cleaners’ psychosocial work environment problems. In this article, we argue that social divisions based on ethnicity between the new and the established group of cleaners, combined with their marginal position and poor work organisation at the school, reinforced the cleaners’ experiences of psychosocial work environment problems. This article suggests that increased effort towards social inclusion at work and improved work organisation, especially for the new labour migrants from newer EU-countries, should be considered.

Visibility and social recognition as psychosocial work environment factors among cleaners in a multi-ethnic workplace intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Hviid, Kirsten; Smith, Louise Hardman; Frydendall, Karen Bo; Flyvholm, Mari-Ann

2012-12-24

This article focuses on the psychosocial work environment of immigrant cleaners at a Danish workplace. Today, many cleaners working in Danish cleaning jobs are women from the established immigrant communities, but also labour migrants from the newer EU member states have found their way to the cleaning industry. Studies have drawn attention to immigrants' low position in the cleaning industry and their increased risk of work injuries. This article is based on a case study of an intervention called "Make a Difference" designed to improve the work environment among cleaners at a multi-ethnic workplace. We used semi-structured interviews, photo logs, observation and participation to investigate how the cleaners experienced their work environment. The cleaners reported an overload of heavy work, related to the concept of a classroom's "readiness for cleaning", and they expressed strained social relations and communication in addition to a lack of social recognition and invisibility at the workplace, a school. We analysed these psychosocial work environmental problems by investigating the different forms of social relationships and communication within the group of cleaners, and between the cleaners and the teachers and pupils at the school. Moreover, we discussed why the intervention, based on training of language and cleaning skills and social interaction, only partially improved the cleaners' psychosocial work environment problems. In this article, we argue that social divisions based on ethnicity between the new and the established group of cleaners, combined with their marginal position and poor work organisation at the school, reinforced the cleaners' experiences of psychosocial work environment problems. This article suggests that increased effort towards social inclusion at work and improved work organisation, especially for the new labour migrants from newer EU-countries, should be considered.

[Assessment of the impact of psycho-social environment on toddlers' physical and neuropsychic development].

Science.gov (United States)

Petrariu, F D; Gavăt, Viorica; Amarandei, Magda Elena

2007-01-01

Psycho-social environment is influencing directly toddler's development, with a major impact in the first three years of life. Family is the first social environment for the infant, and later for toddler, and depending to the quality of this relation will evolve the adult. To assess the impact of psycho-social environment on the toddler's development. We have analyzed by using a questionnaire a number of 200 families, in order to assess their level of environmental risk and to correlate it with the toddlers' development. The highest risk scores were obtained by families who sent the toddler in a foster home, followed by the families who use a day care center, and at last by the families where toddler remains in the family's home till he is 3 years old. 51.66% of the toddlers who goes in a day care center and 85% of the toddlers who are sent to foster home are exposed to a relative risk lower by 2.7 times to be retarded compared to the situation of remaining in the natural home. On the other hand, in family environment with a mild risk there are significant more disharmonic children than in the families with a lower risk score (p = 0.0452). The toddler's chances to evolve, by physical perspective, negatively in institutional environment are significantly higher if he comes from a family with mild risk score than in a family with a lower risk score (p = 0.0157). In every life environment where lives a toddler, confronted with specific problems, should take immediate action the general practitioner, the child development specialist and the environmental health expert, in a coordinate manner, to identify and correct all the aspects who may disturb the normal evolution of the toddler's growth and development.

Social maturity of the identity of seniors as condition of successful adaptation to the modern sociocultural environment

OpenAIRE

Pavlov A.K.

2017-01-01

this article describes social maturity of the identity of seniors as a condition of successful adaptation to the modern sociocultural environment, marks out some criteria of definition of socially mature personality, gives definition to the concept «social competence of the personality».

Participatory Common Learning in Groups of Dairy Farmers in Uganda (FFS approach) and Danish Stable Schools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vaarst, Mette

on a Master Thesis in Health Anthropology and a mini manual to the so-called Stable Schools. Improvements of farming practices should be based on the context of the individual farm and include the goals of the farmer and the farming system. This should be the case in all types of farming systems. Viewing...... learning as a social phenomenon and process, as well as an interaction between the learner and the learning environment (including other farmers) may give opportunities for context based innovations and developments towards a common goal in a group of farmers....

Reflections of the social environment in chimpanzee memory: applying rational analysis beyond humans

Science.gov (United States)

Marewski, Julian N.; Schooler, Lael J.; Gilby, Ian C.

2016-01-01

In cognitive science, the rational analysis framework allows modelling of how physical and social environments impose information-processing demands onto cognitive systems. In humans, for example, past social contact among individuals predicts their future contact with linear and power functions. These features of the human environment constrain the optimal way to remember information and probably shape how memory records are retained and retrieved. We offer a primer on how biologists can apply rational analysis to study animal behaviour. Using chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) as a case study, we modelled 19 years of observational data on their social contact patterns. Much like humans, the frequency of past encounters in chimpanzees linearly predicted future encounters, and the recency of past encounters predicted future encounters with a power function. Consistent with the rational analyses carried out for human memory, these findings suggest that chimpanzee memory performance should reflect those environmental regularities. In re-analysing existing chimpanzee memory data, we found that chimpanzee memory patterns mirrored their social contact patterns. Our findings hint that human and chimpanzee memory systems may have evolved to solve similar information-processing problems. Overall, rational analysis offers novel theoretical and methodological avenues for the comparative study of cognition. PMID:27853606

Population and the environment: a parable of firewood and other tales.

Science.gov (United States)

Nerlove, M

1991-12-01

The author analyzes the relationship between population and the environment, with a focus on "the role which environmental degradation and natural resources depletion may play in producing the...population pressure which lies behind such degradation and depletion especially in developing countries.... The principal conclusion of this analysis is that the possibilities for a stable equilibrium between human population and its environment are quite limited....I show that parental altruism toward their children can only make matters worse, if socially unchecked, by leading to an increase of the birthrate in every environmental state in comparison with that which would occur in its absence." excerpt

SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CARE OF THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE PRESERVICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irma Yazmina Araiza-Delgado

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Today, one of the major challenges facing society is the care of the environment, and for this reason the thematic becomes important for the education system that aims to educate citizens to be able to engage harmoniously into the environment where they are embedded. Therefore, this is research´s aims to understand the social representations of the school student teachers Normal Ricardo Flores Magon regarding the care of the environment, starting from the course Environmental Education for Sustainability and was conducted from a qualitative perspective, to gather information were used the survey and the portfolio of the students as instruments. The results were: the persistence of an anthropocentric paradigm therefore is responsibility to the teacher’s trainers of educators to change this view where prevails a critical and self-centered approach.

Social environment affects the life history tactic of a phoretic mite

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nehring, Volker; Müller, Josef K

2009-01-01

Phoretic animals use their hosts for travelling to habitat patches suitable for reproduction. Some species, such as the mite Poecilochirus carabi, are phoretic as juveniles and cannot leave their habitat once they reach adulthood. Previous work has shown that mites exercise choice over the habitat...... influence of the social environment on a phoretic's habitat choice and life history....

Testosterone Administration Moderates Effect of Social Environment on Trust in Women Depending on Second-to-Fourth Digit Ratio.

Science.gov (United States)

Buskens, Vincent; Raub, Werner; van Miltenburg, Nynke; Montoya, Estrella R; van Honk, Jack

2016-06-10

Animal research has established that effects of hormones on social behaviour depend on characteristics of both individual and environment. Insight from research on humans into this interdependence is limited, though. Specifically, hardly any prior testosterone experiments in humans scrutinized the interdependency of testosterone with the social environment. Nonetheless, recent testosterone administration studies in humans repeatedly show that a proxy for individuals' prenatal testosterone-to-estradiol ratio, second-to-fourth digit-ratio (2D:4D ratio), influences effects of testosterone administration on human social behaviour. Here, we systematically vary the characteristics of the social environment and show that, depending on prenatal sex hormone priming, testosterone administration in women moderates the effect of the social environment on trust. We use the economic trust game and compare one-shot games modelling trust problems in relations between strangers with repeated games modelling trust problems in ongoing relations between partners. As expected, subjects are more trustful in repeated than in one-shot games. In subjects prenatally relatively highly primed by testosterone, however, this effect disappears after testosterone administration. We argue that impairments in cognitive empathy may reduce the repeated game effect on trust after testosterone administration in subjects with relatively high prenatal testosterone exposure and propose a neurobiological explanation for this effect.

The influence of social environment on the smoking status of women employed in health care facilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragana Nikšić

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Bosnia and Herzegovina has a high prevalence of smoking among women, especially among health care professionals. The goal of this study is to investigate the influence of the social environment of women employed in health institutions in relation to the cigarettes smoking habits.Methods: The study included 477 women employed in hospitals, outpatient and public health institutions in Sarajevo Canton Bosnia and Herzegovina. We used a modifi ed questionnaire assessing smoking habits of medical staff in European hospitalsResults: The results showed that 50% of women are smokers, with the highest incidence among nurses (58.1% and administrative staff (55.6%. The social environment is characterized by a high incidence of colleagues (60.1% and friends who are smokers (54.0% at the workplace and in the family (pConclusion: Workplace and social environment support smoking as an acceptable cultural habit and is contributing to increasing rates of smoking among women.

State Authenticity as Fit to Environment: The Implications of Social Identity for Fit, Authenticity, and Self-Segregation.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmader, Toni; Sedikides, Constantine

2017-10-01

People seek out situations that "fit," but the concept of fit is not well understood. We introduce State Authenticity as Fit to the Environment (SAFE), a conceptual framework for understanding how social identities motivate the situations that people approach or avoid. Drawing from but expanding the authenticity literature, we first outline three types of person-environment fit: self-concept fit, goal fit, and social fit. Each type of fit, we argue, facilitates cognitive fluency, motivational fluency, and social fluency that promote state authenticity and drive approach or avoidance behaviors. Using this model, we assert that contexts subtly signal social identities in ways that implicate each type of fit, eliciting state authenticity for advantaged groups but state inauthenticity for disadvantaged groups. Given that people strive to be authentic, these processes cascade down to self-segregation among social groups, reinforcing social inequalities. We conclude by mapping out directions for research on relevant mechanisms and boundary conditions.

Dynamic Scaffolding of Socially Regulated Learning in a Computer-Based Learning Environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Molenaar, I.; Roda, Claudia; van Boxtel, Carla A.M.; Sleegers, P.J.C.

2012-01-01

The aim of this study is to test the effects of dynamically scaffolding social regulation of middle school students working in a computer-based learning environment. Dyads in the scaffolding condition (N = 56) are supported with computer-generated scaffolds and students in the control condition (N =

Mentor-Mentee Interaction and Laboratory Social Environment: Do They Matter in Doctoral Students' Publication Productivity?

Science.gov (United States)

Ynalvez, Marcus Antonius; Ynalvez, Ruby A.; Ramírez, Enrique

2017-01-01

We explored the social shaping of science at the micro-level reality of face-to-face interaction in one of the traditional places for scientific activities--the scientific lab. We specifically examined how doctoral students' perception of their: (i) interaction with doctoral mentors (MMI) and (ii) lab social environment (LSE) influenced…

An exploratory longitudinal study of social and language outcomes in children with autism in bilingual home environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Vanessa; Munson, Jeffrey A; Greenson, Jessica; Hou, Yan; Rogers, Sally; Estes, Annette M

2017-12-01

Little is known about outcomes of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder reared in bilingual homes. There are concerns that social communication deficits among children with autism spectrum disorder may reduce the developmental benefits of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder raised in bilingual environments. We conducted an exploratory analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a larger study to explore associations between home language environment and language ability and social skills in response to early autism spectrum disorder intervention. Participants, aged 12-26 months when recruited, were a subset of a larger 2-year, randomized intervention trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00698997). Children from bilingual homes ( n = 13) began intervention with lower gesture use but otherwise demonstrated equal baseline language and social abilities as compared with age and nonverbal IQ-matched children from monolingual homes ( n = 24). Significant language growth was exhibited by children from both language groups and there was no moderating effect of home language environment. The bilingual home group demonstrated increased gesture use over the course of intervention as compared with the monolingual home group. Preliminary data revealed no basis for concerns regarding negative impact of a bilingual home environment on language or social development in young children with autism spectrum disorder.

Alternative stable states and the sustainability of forests, grasslands, and agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Kirsten A.; Bauch, Chris T.; Anand, Madhur

2016-01-01

Endangered forest–grassland mosaics interspersed with expanding agriculture and silviculture occur across many parts of the world, including the southern Brazilian highlands. This natural mosaic ecosystem is thought to reflect alternative stable states driven by threshold responses of recruitment to fire and moisture regimes. The role of adaptive human behavior in such systems remains understudied, despite its pervasiveness and the fact that such ecosystems can exhibit complex dynamics. We develop a nonlinear mathematical model of coupled human–environment dynamics in mosaic systems and social processes regarding conservation and economic land valuation. Our objective is to better understand how the coupled dynamics respond to changes in ecological and social conditions. The model is parameterized with southern Brazilian data on mosaic ecology, land-use profits, and questionnaire results concerning landowner preferences and conservation values. We find that the mosaic presently resides at a crucial juncture where relatively small changes in social conditions can generate a wide variety of possible outcomes, including complete loss of mosaics; large-amplitude, long-term oscillations between land states that preclude ecosystem stability; and conservation of the mosaic even to the exclusion of agriculture/silviculture. In general, increasing the time horizon used for conservation decision making is more likely to maintain mosaic stability. In contrast, increasing the inherent conservation value of either forests or grasslands is more likely to induce large oscillations—especially for forests—due to feedback from rarity-based conservation decisions. Given the potential for complex dynamics, empirically grounded nonlinear dynamical models should play a larger role in policy formulation for human–environment mosaic ecosystems. PMID:27956605

Alternative stable states and the sustainability of forests, grasslands, and agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Kirsten A; Bauch, Chris T; Anand, Madhur

2016-12-20

Endangered forest-grassland mosaics interspersed with expanding agriculture and silviculture occur across many parts of the world, including the southern Brazilian highlands. This natural mosaic ecosystem is thought to reflect alternative stable states driven by threshold responses of recruitment to fire and moisture regimes. The role of adaptive human behavior in such systems remains understudied, despite its pervasiveness and the fact that such ecosystems can exhibit complex dynamics. We develop a nonlinear mathematical model of coupled human-environment dynamics in mosaic systems and social processes regarding conservation and economic land valuation. Our objective is to better understand how the coupled dynamics respond to changes in ecological and social conditions. The model is parameterized with southern Brazilian data on mosaic ecology, land-use profits, and questionnaire results concerning landowner preferences and conservation values. We find that the mosaic presently resides at a crucial juncture where relatively small changes in social conditions can generate a wide variety of possible outcomes, including complete loss of mosaics; large-amplitude, long-term oscillations between land states that preclude ecosystem stability; and conservation of the mosaic even to the exclusion of agriculture/silviculture. In general, increasing the time horizon used for conservation decision making is more likely to maintain mosaic stability. In contrast, increasing the inherent conservation value of either forests or grasslands is more likely to induce large oscillations-especially for forests-due to feedback from rarity-based conservation decisions. Given the potential for complex dynamics, empirically grounded nonlinear dynamical models should play a larger role in policy formulation for human-environment mosaic ecosystems.

A Typology of Family Social Environments for Institutionalized Juvenile Delinquents: Implications for Research and Treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Veneziano, Carol; Veneziano, Louis

1992-01-01

Family functioning of 411 incarcerated male juvenile delinquents (aged 12-16 years) was studied using the Family Environmental Scale. A typology of family social environments was developed using cluster analysis. Delinquents with the most serious behavioral difficulties come from family environments with few strengths and openly expressed conflict…

Evolution of learning strategies in temporally and spatially variable environments: a review of theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Aoki, Kenichi; Feldman, Marcus W

2014-02-01

The theoretical literature from 1985 to the present on the evolution of learning strategies in variable environments is reviewed, with the focus on deterministic dynamical models that are amenable to local stability analysis, and on deterministic models yielding evolutionarily stable strategies. Individual learning, unbiased and biased social learning, mixed learning, and learning schedules are considered. A rapidly changing environment or frequent migration in a spatially heterogeneous environment favors individual learning over unbiased social learning. However, results are not so straightforward in the context of learning schedules or when biases in social learning are introduced. The three major methods of modeling temporal environmental change--coevolutionary, two-timescale, and information decay--are compared and shown to sometimes yield contradictory results. The so-called Rogers' paradox is inherent in the two-timescale method as originally applied to the evolution of pure strategies, but is often eliminated when the other methods are used. Moreover, Rogers' paradox is not observed for the mixed learning strategies and learning schedules that we review. We believe that further theoretical work is necessary on learning schedules and biased social learning, based on models that are logically consistent and empirically pertinent. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evolution of learning strategies in temporally and spatially variable environments: A review of theory

Science.gov (United States)

Aoki, Kenichi; Feldman, Marcus W.

2013-01-01

The theoretical literature from 1985 to the present on the evolution of learning strategies in variable environments is reviewed, with the focus on deterministic dynamical models that are amenable to local stability analysis, and on deterministic models yielding evolutionarily stable strategies. Individual learning, unbiased and biased social learning, mixed learning, and learning schedules are considered. A rapidly changing environment or frequent migration in a spatially heterogeneous environment favors individual learning over unbiased social learning. However, results are not so straightforward in the context of learning schedules or when biases in social learning are introduced. The three major methods of modeling temporal environmental change – coevolutionary, two-timescale, and information decay – are compared and shown to sometimes yield contradictory results. The so-called Rogers’ paradox is inherent in the two-timescale method as originally applied to the evolution of pure strategies, but is often eliminated when the other methods are used. Moreover, Rogers’ paradox is not observed for the mixed learning strategies and learning schedules that we review. We believe that further theoretical work is necessary on learning schedules and biased social learning, based on models that are logically consistent and empirically pertinent. PMID:24211681

Stable “Trait” Variance of Temperament as a Predictor of the Temporal Course of Depression and Social Phobia

Science.gov (United States)

Naragon-Gainey, Kristin; Gallagher, Matthew W.; Brown, Timothy A.

2013-01-01

A large body of research has found robust associations between dimensions of temperament (e.g., neuroticism, extraversion) and the mood and anxiety disorders. However, mood-state distortion (i.e., the tendency for current mood state to bias ratings of temperament) likely confounds these associations, rendering their interpretation and validity unclear. This issue is of particular relevance to clinical populations who experience elevated levels of general distress. The current study used the “trait-state-occasion” latent variable model (Cole, Martin, & Steiger, 2005) to separate the stable components of temperament from transient, situational influences such as current mood state. We examined the predictive power of the time-invariant components of temperament on the course of depression and social phobia in a large, treatment-seeking sample with mood and/or anxiety disorders (N = 826). Participants were assessed three times over the course of one year, using interview and self-report measures; most participants received treatment during this time. Results indicated that both neuroticism/behavioral inhibition (N/BI) and behavioral activation/positive affect (BA/P) consisted largely of stable, time-invariant variance (57% to 78% of total variance). Furthermore, the time-invariant components of N/BI and BA/P were uniquely and incrementally predictive of change in depression and social phobia, adjusting for initial symptom levels. These results suggest that the removal of state variance bolsters the effect of temperament on psychopathology among clinically distressed individuals. Implications for temperament-psychopathology models, psychopathology assessment, and the stability of traits are discussed. PMID:24016004

Interactions between Neighborhood Social Environment and Walkability to Explain Belgian Older Adults’ Physical Activity and Sedentary Time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veerle Van Holle

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This study examined associations between neighborhood social factors and physical activity (PA and sedentary behavior (SB in older adults. Furthermore, possible moderating effects of neighborhood walkability were explored. Data from 431 community-dwelling Belgian older adults (≥65 years were analyzed. Neighborhood social factors included measures of neighboring, social trust and cohesion and social diversity. Neighborhood walkability was measured objectively. Outcome measures were self-reported weekly minutes of domain-specific walking and TV viewing, and accelerometer-assessed weekly minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA and overall SB. A higher frequency of talking to neighbors was associated with higher levels of self-reported walking for transport and for recreation. Moderation analyses showed that only in highly-walkable neighborhoods, higher social diversity of the neighborhood environment was associated with more transport walking; and talking to neighbors and social interactions among neighbors were negatively associated with overall SB and television viewing, respectively. Findings suggest that a combination of a favorable neighborhood social and physical environment are important to promote older adults’ PA and limit SB.

Theorising the Relationship between Older People and Their Immediate Social Living Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Buffel, Tine; Verte, Dominique; De Donder, Liesbeth; De Witte, Nico; Dury, Sarah; Vanwing, Tom; Bolsenbroek, Anouk

2012-01-01

This article presents a theoretical framework for exploring the dynamics between older people and their immediate social living environment. After introducing a gerontological perspective that goes beyond "microfication," a literature review presents findings from studies that have explored the role of place and locality for older people. Next,…

Maternal effects in the highly communal sociable weaver may exacerbate brood reduction and prepare offspring for a competitive social environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dijk, Rene E.; Eising, Corine M.; Merrill, Richard M.; Karadas, Filiz; Hatchwell, Ben; Spottiswoode, Claire N.

Maternal effects can influence offspring phenotype with short- and long-term consequences. Yet, how the social environment may influence egg composition is not well understood. Here, we investigate how laying order and social environment predict maternal effects in the sociable weaver, Philetairus

Influence of social environment on caries prevalence in early childhood

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tušek Ivan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Early childhood caries (ECC is a special form of caries that affects decideous teeth with rapid progression and numerous complications. Objective. The aim of the study was to define the prevalence of ECC in children of the South Bačka area, the importance of social environment for the prevalence and severity of ECC, and define the model for its prevention. Methods. The survey was the cross-sectional analytical study in the 10% sample of children, aged 13-64 months, different sex, social status and human environment. Severity and prevalence of ECC were assessed by dental check-ups. The epidemiological data were obtained by the interview of parents. The tests of significant statistical differences were performed by the analysis variance and χ2 (p<0.05 test, as well as interdependence of ECC and single characteristics that could be a predictor of the disease by the logistic regression. Results. The prevalence of ECC was 30.5%. The highest disease frequency was found in children of male sex (35.1%, out of kindergardens (54.2%, in the third and the next born child in the family (46.9% and in part-time employed mothers (47.2% who had only elementary education (59.3% and were poorly informed about oral health. The highest prevalence (47.1% of ECC was found in children whose parents had the lowest income per month. Type 1 of ECC was the most presented one (75.0%. Conclusion. The higher prevalence and more severe ECC were found in the third and the next born male child from rural environment.

The E-cigarette Social Environment, E-cigarette Use, and Susceptibility to Cigarette Smoking.

Science.gov (United States)

Barrington-Trimis, Jessica L; Berhane, Kiros; Unger, Jennifer B; Cruz, Tess Boley; Urman, Robert; Chou, Chih Ping; Howland, Steve; Wang, Kejia; Pentz, Mary Ann; Gilreath, Tamika D; Huh, Jimi; Leventhal, Adam M; Samet, Jonathan M; McConnell, Rob

2016-07-01

One concern regarding the recent increase in adolescent e-cigarette use is the possibility that electronic (e-) cigarettes may be used by those who might not otherwise have used cigarettes, and that dual use, or transition to cigarette use alone, may follow. Questionnaire data were obtained in 2014 from 11th/12th grade students attending schools in 12 communities included in the Southern California Children's Health Study. We evaluated the cross-sectional association between e-cigarette use, the social environment (family and friends' use and approval of e-cigarettes and cigarettes), and susceptibility to future cigarette use among never cigarette smokers (N = 1,694), using previously validated measures based on reported absence of a definitive commitment not to smoke. Among adolescents who had never used cigarettes, 31.8% of past e-cigarette users and 34.6% of current (past 30-day) e-cigarette users indicated susceptibility to cigarette use, compared with 21.0% of never e-cigarette users. The odds of indicating susceptibility to cigarette use were two times higher for current e-cigarette users compared with never users (odds ratio = 1.97; 95% confidence interval: 1.21-3.22). A social environment favorable to e-cigarettes (friends' use of and positive attitudes toward the use of e-cigarettes) was also associated with greater likelihood of susceptibility to cigarette use, independent of an individual's e-cigarette use. E-cigarette use in adolescence, and a pro-e-cigarette social environment, may put adolescents at risk for future use of cigarettes. E-cigarettes may contribute to subsequent cigarette use via nicotine addiction or social normalization of smoking behaviors. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Measuring Social Relations in New Classroom Spaces: Development and Validation of the Social Context and Learning Environments (SCALE) Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, J. D.; Baepler, Paul

2017-01-01

This study addresses the need for reliable and valid information concerning how innovative classrooms on college and university campuses affect teaching and learning. The Social Context and Learning Environments (SCALE) survey was developed though a three-stage process involving approximately 1300 college students. Exploratory and confirmatory…

Adult learners in a novel environment use prestige-biased social learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Atkisson, Curtis; O'Brien, Michael J; Mesoudi, Alex

2012-08-13

Social learning (learning from others) is evolutionarily adaptive under a wide range of conditions and is a long-standing area of interest across the social and biological sciences. One social-learning mechanism derived from cultural evolutionary theory is prestige bias, which allows a learner in a novel environment to quickly and inexpensively gather information as to the potentially best teachers, thus maximizing his or her chances of acquiring adaptive behavior. Learners provide deference to high-status individuals in order to ingratiate themselves with, and gain extended exposure to, that individual. We examined prestige-biased social transmission in a laboratory experiment in which participants designed arrowheads and attempted to maximize hunting success, measured in caloric return. Our main findings are that (1) participants preferentially learned from prestigious models (defined as those models at whom others spent longer times looking), and (2) prestige information and success-related information were used to the same degree, even though the former was less useful in this experiment than the latter. We also found that (3) participants were most likely to use social learning over individual (asocial) learning when they were performing poorly, in line with previous experiments, and (4) prestige information was not used more often following environmental shifts, contrary to predictions.  These results support previous discussions of the key role that prestige-biased transmission plays in social learning.

Implementation of Context Aware e-Health Environments Based on Social Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erik Aguirre

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In this work, context aware scenarios applied to e-Health and m-Health in the framework of typical households (urban and rural by means of deploying Social Sensors will be described. Interaction with end-users and social/medical staff is achieved using a multi-signal input/output device, capable of sensing and transmitting environmental, biomedical or activity signals and information with the aid of a combined Bluetooth and Mobile system platform. The devices, which play the role of Social Sensors, are implemented and tested in order to guarantee adequate service levels in terms of multiple signal processing tasks as well as robustness in relation with the use wireless transceivers and channel variability. Initial tests within a Living Lab environment have been performed in order to validate overall system operation. The results obtained show good acceptance of the proposed system both by end users as well as by medical and social staff, increasing interaction, reducing overall response time and social inclusion levels, with a compact and moderate cost solution that can readily be largely deployed.

Effects of emergence time and early social rearing environment on behaviour of Atlantic salmon: Consequences for juvenile fitness and smolt migration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Martin Hage; Johnsson, Jörgen I.; Winberg, Svante

2015-01-01

-reared separately or in co-culture for four months to test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits. Twenty fish from each of the six treatment groups were then subjected to three individual-based behavioural tests: basal locomotor activity, boldness, and escape response. Following behavioural...... suggested to be coupled with individual behavioural traits. Here, we further investigate the link between timing of spawning nest emergence and behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits in fish with different emergence times, and assess...... characterization, the fish were released into a near-natural experimental stream. Results showed differences in escape behaviour between emergence groups in a net restraining test, but the social rearing environment did not affect individual behavioural expression. Emergence time and social environment had...

Group living in squamate reptiles: a review of evidence for stable aggregations.

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Michael G; Pearson, Sarah K; Johnston, Gregory R; Schwarz, Michael P

2016-11-01

How sociality evolves and is maintained remains a key question in evolutionary biology. Most studies to date have focused on insects, birds, and mammals but data from a wider range of taxonomic groups are essential to identify general patterns and processes. The extent of social behaviour among squamate reptiles is under-appreciated, yet they are a promising group for further studies. Living in aggregations is posited as an important step in the evolution of more complex sociality. We review data on aggregations among squamates and find evidence for some form of aggregations in 94 species across 22 families. Of these, 18 species across 7 families exhibited 'stable' aggregations that entail overlapping home ranges and stable membership in long-term (years) or seasonal aggregations. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that stable aggregations have evolved multiple times in squamates. We: (i) identify significant gaps in our understanding; (ii) outline key traits which should be the focus of future research; and (iii) outline the potential for utilising reproductive skew theory to provide insights into squamate sociality. © 2015 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

THE PRINCIPALS’ ROLE IN DEVELOPING SOCIAL CAPITAL FORTHE PROMOTION OF HEALTHY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siphokazi Kwatubana

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Schoolleaders’ individual and collective efforts are essential in the promotion ofhealthy school environments. In this respect, the building of social capital is veryimportant for a school’s improvement. The aim of this paper was to determine therole principals played in developing social capital to enhance healthy schoolenvironments. The study was conducted in two districts, one in the Gauteng andthe other in the Free State provinces of South Africa. It was undertaken as aqualitative research study that involved seven participants. Data collectionstrategies employed included narratives, individual interviews and field notes. Thestudy was considered important in its application of the social capital theory todetermine the role of principals in solicitingeconomic resources for their schools.From the findings, the main challenge that was common in all the participatingschools was the lack of resources for the Promotion ofHealthySchoolEnvironments. It was found that some principals were able to identify andapproach companies that could assist their schools but were then unable to buildtrusting relationships. In view of the findings, this research recommendstrainingto equip principals with skills to enable them tomobilise resources by takingadvantage ofsocial capitalin their communities.

[Testicular testosterone production in male mice of inbred strains PT and CBA/Lac after a long-term period of stable social hierarchy].

Science.gov (United States)

Osadchuk, L V; Gutorova, N V; Kleshchev, M A

2014-04-01

Social dominance can alter testicular testosterone production, although there is pronounced variability in the relationship between social status and pattern of the testosterone response. The study designed to investigate how a long-term period of stable social hierarchy effects on testicular testosterone production in male mice of inbred strains PT and CBA/Lac. Paired males of different genotypes were housed together for 32 days beginning 38 day of age. Dyadic interactions of males generated dominance-subordination relationships during the first day after a social group has been produced and the social rank of each opponent was assessed by asymmetry in agonistic behaviour. Serum level of testosterone and its testicular content were evaluated in male mice of both inbred strains at 70 day of age after pair housing. Control animals were age- and genotype-matched single males that were housed in conventional cages. After a long-term period of pair housing, the serum testosterone level and its testicular content in males of both PT and CBA/Lac strains were not significantly different from the control. There were no significant differences in androgenic parameters between social ranks in male mice of both strains. The results indicate that in laboratory mice the pattern of testicular testosterone response to social hierarchy determined by a social situation, for example, a stability of social interactions, when the importance of aggressive competition for rank is minimal.

Peer Learning in Social Media Enhanced Learning Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne-Maritta Tervakari

2012-09-01

Full Text Available TUT Circle, a dedicated social media service for students at Tampere University of Technology (TUT, was used as a learning environment for the purpose of enhancing students‘ collaboration, communication and networking skills required in business and working life and for promoting peer learning in small groups. Unfortunately, active conversation was limited. The students intensively read content created by other students, but they did not actively present their opinions, arguments or comments. Another reason for the lack of real conversation was procrastination. The students seemed to need more encouragement to comment on or question the ideas of others, more support to promote intergroup interaction and more assistance with time management.

Socialization Environments of Chinese and Euro-American Middle-Class Babies: Parenting Behaviors, Verbal Discourses and Ethnotheories

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Heidi; Abels, Monika; Borke, Jorn; Lamm, Bettina; Su, Yanjie; Wang, Yifang; Lo, Wingshan

2007-01-01

Children's socialization environments reflect cultural models of parenting. In particular, Euro-American and Chinese families have been described as following different socialization scripts. The present study assesses parenting behaviors as well as parenting ethnotheories with respect to three-month-old babies in middle-class families in Los…

Social media indicators of the food environment and state health outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Q C; Meng, H; Li, D; Kath, S; McCullough, M; Paul, D; Kanokvimankul, P; Nguyen, T X; Li, F

2017-07-01

Contextual factors can influence health through exposures to health-promoting and risk-inducing factors. The aim of this study was to (1) build, from geotagged Twitter and Yelp data, a national food environment database and (2) to test associations between state food environment indicators and health outcomes. This is a cross-sectional study based upon secondary analyses of publicly available data. Using Twitter's Streaming Application Programming Interface (API), we collected and processed 4,041,521 food-related, geotagged tweets between April 2015 and March 2016. Using Yelp's Search API, we collected data on 505,554 unique food-related businesses. In linear regression models, we examined associations between food environment characteristics and state-level health outcomes, controlling for state-level differences in age, percent non-Hispanic white, and median household income. A one standard deviation increase in caloric density of food tweets was related to higher all-cause mortality (+46.50 per 100,000), diabetes (+0.75%), obesity (+1.78%), high cholesterol (+1.40%), and fair/poor self-rated health (2.01%). More burger Yelp listings were related to higher prevalence of diabetes (+0.55%), obesity (1.35%), and fair/poor self-rated health (1.12%). More alcohol tweets and Yelp bars and pub listings were related to higher state-level binge drinking and heavy drinking, but lower mortality and lower percent reporting fair/poor self-rated health. Supplemental analyses with county-level social media indicators and county health outcomes resulted in finding similar but slightly attenuated associations compared to those found at the state level. Social media can be utilized to create indicators of the food environment that are associated with area-level mortality, health behaviors, and chronic conditions. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social Adjustment of College Freshmen: The Importance of Gender and Living Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Enochs, Wendy K.; Roland, Catherine B.

2006-01-01

The relationship between living environment, gender and both overall adjustment to college and social adjustment in freshmen students was examined in this study. The College Adjustment Scales were administered to 511 freshmen students living in on-campus housing. There were 259 students living in Freshmen Year Experience (FYE) Halls verses 252…

The Impacts of Network Centrality and Self-Regulation on an E-Learning Environment with the Support of Social Network Awareness

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Jian-Wei; Huang, Hsieh-Hong; Chuang, Yuh-Shy

2015-01-01

An e-learning environment that supports social network awareness (SNA) is a highly effective means of increasing peer interaction and assisting student learning by raising awareness of social and learning contexts of peers. Network centrality profoundly impacts student learning in an SNA-related e-learning environment. Additionally,…

Economic and social development, energy and environment in Latin America and the West Indies - an ovierview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suding, P.H.

1995-01-01

After giving a short overview of the economic and social development of Latin America since 1980 the present article deals with the various problems relating to the energy supply of that region, namely economic growth, diversification, inefficiency, and environmental effects. If discusses the relationships that exist in Latin America between energy, environment, and the social situation and endeavours to outline possible approaches towards a socially and environmentally sustainable development. (UA) [de

Evolutionary stability concepts in a stochastic environment

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Xiu-Deng; Li, Cong; Lessard, Sabin; Tao, Yi

2017-09-01

Over the past 30 years, evolutionary game theory and the concept of an evolutionarily stable strategy have been not only extensively developed and successfully applied to explain the evolution of animal behaviors, but also widely used in economics and social sciences. Nonetheless, the stochastic dynamical properties of evolutionary games in randomly fluctuating environments are still unclear. In this study, we investigate conditions for stochastic local stability of fixation states and constant interior equilibria in a two-phenotype model with random payoffs following pairwise interactions. Based on this model, we develop the concepts of stochastic evolutionary stability (SES) and stochastic convergence stability (SCS). We show that the condition for a pure strategy to be SES and SCS is more stringent than in a constant environment, while the condition for a constant mixed strategy to be SES is less stringent than the condition to be SCS, which is less stringent than the condition in a constant environment.

Dynamic Scaffolding of Socially Regulated Learning in a Computer-Based Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Molenaar, Inge; Roda, Claudia; van Boxtel, Carla; Sleegers, Peter

2012-01-01

The aim of this study is to test the effects of dynamically scaffolding social regulation of middle school students working in a computer-based learning environment. Dyads in the scaffolding condition (N=56) are supported with computer-generated scaffolds and students in the control condition (N=54) do not receive scaffolds. The scaffolds are…

Learning Programming with IPRO: The Effects of a Mobile, Social Programming Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Taylor; Berland, Matthew; Benton, Tom; Smith, Carmen Petrick

2013-01-01

In this paper, we present two studies examining how high school students learn to program in a mobile, social programming environment that we have developed and deployed ("IPRO"). IPRO is delivered, with an associated curriculum, as an iPod Touch app and is freely and publicly available. We find that the affordances of mobility and…

Detection of autotrophic verrucomicrobial methanotrophs in a geothermal environment using stable isotope probing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine eSharp

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Genomic analysis of the methanotrophic verrucomicrobium Methylacidiphilum infernorum strain V4 has shown that most pathways conferring its methanotrophic lifestyle are similar to those found in proteobacterial methanotrophs. However, due to the large sequence divergence of its methane monooxygenase-encoding genes (pmo, ‘universal’ pmoA polymerase chain reaction (PCR primers do not target these bacteria. Unlike proteobacterial methanotrophs, Methylacidiphilum fixes carbon autotrophically, and uses methane only for energy generation. As a result, techniques used to detect methanotrophs in the environment such as 13CH4-stable isotope probing (SIP and pmoA-targeted PCR do not detect verrucomicrobial methanotrophs, and they may have been overlooked in previous environmental studies. We developed a modified SIP technique to identify active methanotrophic verrucomicrobia in the environment by labelling with 13CO2 and 13CH4, individually and in combination. Testing the protocol in M. infernorum strain V4 resulted in assimilation of 13CO2 but not 13CH4, verifying its autotrophic lifestyle. To specifically detect methanotrophs (as opposed to other autotrophs via 13CO2-SIP, a quantitative PCR (qPCR assay specific for verrucomicrobial-pmoA genes was developed and used in combination with SIP. Incubation of an acidic, high-temperature geothermal soil with 13CH4 + 12CO2 caused little shift in the density distribution of verrucomicrobial-pmoA genes relative to controls. However, labelling with 13CO2 in combination with 12CH4 or 13CH4 induced a strong shift in the distribution of verrucomicrobial-pmoA genes towards the heavy DNA fractions. The modified SIP technique demonstrated that the primary methanotrophs active in the soil were autotrophs and belonged to the Verrucomicrobia. This is the first demonstration of autotrophic, non-proteobacterial methanotrophy in situ, and provides a tool to detect verrucomicrobial methanotrophs in other ecosystems.

Detection of autotrophic verrucomicrobial methanotrophs in a geothermal environment using stable isotope probing.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharp, Christine E; Stott, Matthew B; Dunfield, Peter F

2012-01-01

Genomic analysis of the methanotrophic verrucomicrobium "Methylacidiphilum infernorum" strain V4 has shown that most pathways conferring its methanotrophic lifestyle are similar to those found in proteobacterial methanotrophs. However, due to the large sequence divergence of its methane monooxygenase-encoding genes (pmo), "universal" pmoA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers do not target these bacteria. Unlike proteobacterial methanotrophs, "Methylacidiphilum" fixes carbon autotrophically, and uses methane only for energy generation. As a result, techniques used to detect methanotrophs in the environment such as (13)CH(4)-stable isotope probing (SIP) and pmoA-targeted PCR do not detect verrucomicrobial methanotrophs, and they may have been overlooked in previous environmental studies. We developed a modified SIP technique to identify active methanotrophic Verrucomicrobia in the environment by labeling with (13)CO(2) and (13)CH(4), individually and in combination. Testing the protocol in "M. infernorum" strain V4 resulted in assimilation of (13)CO(2) but not (13)CH(4), verifying its autotrophic lifestyle. To specifically detect methanotrophs (as opposed to other autotrophs) via (13)CO(2)-SIP, a quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay specific for verrucomicrobial-pmoA genes was developed and used in combination with SIP. Incubation of an acidic, high-temperature geothermal soil with (13)CH(4) + (12)CO(2) caused little shift in the density distribution of verrucomicrobial-pmoA genes relative to controls. However, labeling with (13)CO(2) in combination with (12)CH(4) or (13)CH(4) induced a strong shift in the distribution of verrucomicrobial-pmoA genes towards the heavy DNA fractions. The modified SIP technique demonstrated that the primary methanotrophs active in the soil were autotrophs and belonged to the Verrucomicrobia. This is the first demonstration of autotrophic, non-proteobacterial methanotrophy in situ, and provides a tool to detect verrucomicrobial methanotrophs

The Value of the Model of a Socially Integral Teaching/Learning Environment in the Classroom from the Point of View of Learners Who Tend to Socially Withdraw

Science.gov (United States)

Kyburiene, Laima; Navickiene, Gemma

2015-01-01

The article gives a review of the investigations publicised in the scientific papers of various countries, which reveal the increase in social closure and analyse the problematic conception of social withdrawal; introduces the theoretical (ideal) model of a socially integral teaching/learning environment in the classroom; uncovers its impact on…

SOCIAL WELL-BEING OF STAVROPOL IN EMPLOYMENT: THE RUSSIAN ENVIRONMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Galina Dmitrievna Gritsenko

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article reflects the results of monitoring the social well-being of the labour community in the Russian environment. The level of stability in the region is largely determined by the social well-being of the population. In this context the most important aspect is a population estimation of the labor market and employment conditions. To this end there has been carried out questionnaire in 2006, 2009 and 2012, the sample - quota, the sample size - more than 1,000 people. The analysis of empirical material used the research “Monitoring the quality of life of the population of the Stavropol Territory” (2014. Comparative analysis of the data allows to suggest a narrowing of the labor market being accompanied by the outflow of labor, especially the young, and by the expansion of the share of pensioners. Detected trend is typical for economically underdeveloped areas. This creates a negative social well-being. However, the natural conditions in the Stavropol region are optimal for the development of agriculture and processing industry, which is especially important in the conditions of implementation of the policy of import substitution. The results confirm the low technological level of production in the economic region, the economic potential is insignificant. Social well-being of the labor community territory corresponds to national trends subsidized regions. This situation leads to the preservation of the investment unattractive edge, social and economic instability of the region, low labor activity of Stavropol region citizens. In the analyzed context must be entered in the policy of the regional authorities innovative mechanisms for socio-economic development of the region, must make the transition from the conservative version of social and economic development of the region in the moderately optimistic.

The Effect of the Social and Physical Environment on Children's Independent Mobility to Neighborhood Destinations.

Science.gov (United States)

Christian, Hayley E; Klinker, Charlotte D; Villanueva, Karen; Knuiman, Matthew W; Foster, Sarah A; Zubrick, Stephan R; Divitini, Mark; Wood, Lisa; Giles-Corti, Billie

2015-06-16

Relationships between context-specific measures of the physical and social environment and children's independent mobility to neighborhood destination types were examined. Parents in RESIDE's fourth survey reported whether their child (8-15 years; n = 181) was allowed to travel without an adult to school, friend's house, park and local shop. Objective physical environment measures were matched to each of these destinations. Social environment measures included neighborhood perceptions and items specific to local independent mobility. Independent mobility to local destinations ranged from 30% to 48%. Independent mobility to a local park was less likely as the distance to the closest park (small and large size) increased and less likely with additional school grounds (P dependent upon the specific destination being visited and the impact of neighborhood features varies according to the destination examined. Findings highlight the importance of access to different types and sizes of urban green space for children's independent mobility to parks.

The applicability of SERVQUAL in different health care environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Dean, A M

1999-01-01

This paper reports on a study that investigates the applicability of a modified SERVQUAL instrument as a means of measuring service quality in two types of health service environments; medical care and health care (incorporating medical, social, cognitive and emotional elements). The research confirms a four factor structure that is stable for both environments, and similar to the service quality dimensions recognised in the literature. However, the relative importance of the dimensions of quality is inconsistent for the two types of health services. These results confirm the suggestion that importance values should be part of the measurement tool. Finally, the extra diagnostic advantage achieved by the use of gap scores to measure service quality, when compared to perception only scores is demonstrated.

An Examination of Classroom Social Environment on Motivation and Engagement of College Early Entrant Honors Students

Science.gov (United States)

Maddox, Richard S.

2010-01-01

This study set out to examine the relationships between the classroom social environment, motivation, engagement and achievement of a group of early entrant Honors students at a large urban university. Prior research on the classroom environment, motivation, engagement and high ability students was examined, leading to the assumption that the…

Factors Affecting Online Impulse Buying: Evidence from Chinese Social Commerce Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Umair Akram

2018-01-01

Full Text Available First, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of situational variables, scarcity and serendipity, on online impulse buying (OIB in Chinese social commerce (SC environment. Second, the study further assesses the moderating role of five dimensions of hedonic shopping value. Data were gathered from 671 online shoppers who come from two metropolitan cities of China, Beijing, and Shanghai. Structure equation modeling utilized was generated by AMOS 23 version to test the study hypotheses. The results confirm that situational factors positively influence the online impulse buying among Chinese online shoppers in SC environment. Four dimensions of hedonic shopping value (social shopping, relaxation shopping, adventure shopping and idea shopping positively moderate the relationship between serendipity and OIB; value shopping is insignificant with moderation effect. The finding is helpful to the online retailers and SC web developers by recommending them to take the scarcity and serendipity in their consideration. These factors have the potential to motivate the consumers to initiate the hedonic shopping aptitude to urge to buy impulsively. Unlike the previous work which remained unsuccessful in incorporating all factors into one study, this study has incorporated irrational and unplanned consumption along with rational and planned one in the same research.

Testosterone: from initiating change to modulating social organisation in domestic fowl ( Gallus gallus domesticus)

Science.gov (United States)

Kent, John P.; Murphy, Kenneth J.; Bannon, Finian J.; Hynes, Niamh M.; Hayden, Thomas J.

2009-07-01

Testosterone (T) concentrations in many species are sensitive to seasonal changes and to changes in social conditions. However, the effect of the natural or endogenous T increase in the juvenile on their social behaviour is not well understood. In this study, T and behaviour were measured from the pro-social juvenile to the adult stage in semi-feral domestic fowl. During the pro-social phase T levels and the distance chicks maintained between each other, i.e. inter-individual distance (IID) were low. Then, as T increased, a corresponding increase in IID occurred and continued in males until dispersal to individual adult male territories. In the new and initially stable adult social structure, T declined and IID remained high, indicating a new behavioural mechanism was in place. Males first mated as T levels were declining. They were then challenged; then T increased, and then IID increased again. Adult male T levels fluctuate, being low or declining in a socially stable environment and increasing following a challenge, suggesting a regulatory or modulating role for T. The results are consistent with T having an endogenous role: in the juvenile, driving behavioural change towards adulthood, and in adulthood, a modulating role regulating social organisation.

Comments on the Paper "Is the Sea Level Stable at Aden, Yemen?" by Albert Parker and Clifford D. Ollier in Earth Systems and Environment (Volume 1, December 2017)

Science.gov (United States)

Rickards, Lesley

2018-02-01

This short note provides comments and a response to the paper published in Earth Systems and Environment by Albert Parker and Clifford D. Ollier (Volume 1, December 2017) entitled "Is the Sea Level Stable at Aden, Yemen?"

Transgenerational effects of social environment on variations in maternal care and behavioral response to novelty.

Science.gov (United States)

Champagne, Frances A; Meaney, Michael J

2007-12-01

Cross-fostering studies in the rat have illustrated the importance of the postnatal environment in mediating the transmission of maternal licking/grooming (LG) from mother to offspring. The authors addressed the question of how postweaning social conditions can alter the patterns of maternal behavior. Juvenile female offspring of high LG and low LG mothers were placed in either standard, enriched, or impoverished postweaning environments for 50 consecutive days and then mated and observed with their own litters. Analysis of LG behavior indicated that the effect of postweaning environment was dependent on the level of postnatal mother-infant interaction. Postweaning isolation reduced exploratory behavior, maternal LG, and oxytocin receptor binding in the offspring of high LG mothers, whereas social enrichment enhanced exploration, LG behavior, and oxytocin receptor binding of low LG offspring. These effects were also transmitted to the next generation of offspring. Thus, maternal LG and the neural mechanisms that regulate this behavior exhibited a high degree of plasticity in response to changes in environment both within and beyond the postnatal period, with implications for the transmission of behavioral response to novelty and maternal care across generations.

Green Marketing: integrated social and environmental responsibility in the marketing environment

OpenAIRE

Dalmoro, Marlon; Venturini, Jonas Cardona; Diniz Pereira, Breno Augusto

2009-01-01

This study aims to describe and analyze as social and environmental responsibility is integrated in the marketing strategy of a Coca-Cola Company franchisee. By the perceptions of Karna, Hansen and Juslin (2001), environment marketing is described based on three hierarchical levels: strategic, structural and functional marketing. There has been developed a qualitative approach through case study, in which the data were collected through semi-structured interviews with people involved in the p...

Possibilities and challenges for physical and social environment research in Brazil: a systematic literature review on health behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Belon, Ana Paula; Nykiforuk, Candace

2013-10-01

This systematic review analyzed articles focused on the relationship between environment (physical, built, perceived, and social) and smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity, diet, and obesity in Brazil. Studies published between 19952011 were retrieved from seven databases and hand searches. Based on the 42 articles reviewed, gaps were identified and recommendations were made for future research. Despite a growing number of studies, the Brazilian literature is still limited. The increase of articles in 2010-2011 coincided with the diversification of lifestyles studied, although physical activity domain remains predominant. Most studies analyzed neighborhood settings and used subjective measures for lifestyle and for environment. The presence of recreational facilities was the main physical environment aspect studied, while safety from crime was the prominent social environment factor. More research is needed to yield a rich body of evidence that leads to theoretical and methodological advances, and that supports interventions aimed at creating healthy environments.

HIV-related stigma in social interactions: Approach and avoidance behaviour in a virtual environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Toppenberg, H.L.; Bos, A.E.R.; Ruiter, R.A.C.; Wigboldus, D.H.J.; Pryor, J.B.

2015-01-01

People living with HIV are a stigmatized group in our society, especially homosexual people living with HIV. One of the behavioural manifestations of stigmatization is an increased interpersonal distance kept during social interactions. Immersive virtual environment technology enables the

Are Tutor Behaviors in Problem-Based Learning Stable? A Generalizability Study of Social Congruence, Expertise and Cognitive Congruence

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Judith C.; Alwis, W. A. M.; Rotgans, Jerome I.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stability of three distinct tutor behaviors (1) use of subject-matter expertise, (2) social congruence and (3) cognitive congruence, in a problem-based learning (PBL) environment. The data comprised the input from 16,047 different students to a survey of 762 tutors administered in three consecutive…

Impact of Social and Built Environment Factors on Body Size among Breast Cancer Survivors: The Pathways Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Shariff-Marco, Salma; Von Behren, Julie; Reynolds, Peggy; Keegan, Theresa H M; Hertz, Andrew; Kwan, Marilyn L; Roh, Janise M; Thomsen, Catherine; Kroenke, Candyce H; Ambrosone, Christine; Kushi, Lawrence H; Gomez, Scarlett Lin

2017-04-01

Background: As social and built environment factors have been shown to be associated with physical activity, dietary patterns, and obesity in the general population, they likely also influence these health behaviors among cancer survivors and thereby impact survivorship outcomes. Methods: Enhancing the rich, individual-level survey and medical record data from 4,505 breast cancer survivors in the Pathways Study, a prospective cohort drawn from Kaiser Permanente Northern California, we geocoded baseline residential addresses and appended social and built environment data. With multinomial logistic models, we examined associations between neighborhood characteristics and body mass index and whether neighborhood factors explained racial/ethnic/nativity disparities in overweight/obesity. Results: Low neighborhood socioeconomic status, high minority composition, high traffic density, high prevalence of commuting by car, and a higher number of fast food restaurants were independently associated with higher odds of overweight or obesity. The higher odds of overweight among African Americans, U.S.-born Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and foreign-born Hispanics and the higher odds of obesity among African Americans and U.S.-born Hispanics, compared with non-Hispanic whites, remained significant, although somewhat attenuated, when accounting for social and built environment features. Conclusions: Addressing aspects of neighborhood environments may help breast cancer survivors maintain a healthy body weight. Impact: Further research in this area, such as incorporating data on individuals' perceptions and use of their neighborhood environments, is needed to ultimately inform multilevel interventions that would ameliorate such disparities and improve outcomes for breast cancer survivors, regardless of their social status (e.g., race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, nativity). Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(4); 505-15. ©2017 AACR See all the articles in this CEBP Focus

Majapahit Terracotta Figurines: Social Environment and Life

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dikdik Adikara Rachman

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This article aimed to determine the three-dimensional visual tradition in the Majapahit kingdom. This was a manifestation of aesthetic that expressed in various forms, one of them was the figurines that represented linkage aspects in Majapahit’s community life. Terracotta was used as the main basic material in making figurines. Figurines indicated two aspects, namely the human relationship with the natural environment surrounding that translated into a mechanism for the creation, and showed the dimensions of social life in the Hindu tradition. The method used is empirical relational visual with text. In addition, the article was the result of field research conducted under the supervision of Sacred Bridge Foundation, which lasted from 2009 to 2010 in Trowulan as a heritage center site of Majapahit that spread over an area of nearly 100 km2. The research finds out that figurines as a proof of authenticity and identity of the Majapahit that understood as the embodiment of visual culture manifestation. 

The Socially Stable Core in Structured Transferable Utility Games

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Herings, P.J.J.; van der Laan, G.; Talman, A.J.J.

2004-01-01

We consider cooperative games with transferable utility (TU-games), in which we allow for a social structure on the set of players, for instance a hierarchical ordering or a dominance relation.The social structure is utilized to refine the core of the game, being the set of payoffs to the players

MODERN THREATS OF SOCIAL SAFETY OF THE EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT AND THEIR PREVENTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Павел Александрович Кисляков

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: identify modern threats of safety of the school and substantiate the direction of their prevention.Methodology: a theoretical analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature on the issues of safety of students.Results: on the basis of theoretical and empirical analysis identified the following threats of social safety of the education environment: criminal threats, threats of extremism and terrorism, physical and mental abuse, interpersonal conflicts, addictive behavior of students. Substantiates the necessity the design of social safety protection, including space of health, space of tolerance, psychologically comfortable space without violence also providing appropriate training of educators.Practical implications: the system of education.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-2-2

ASEAN plus Three (APT) As a Socializing Environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Jiuan

2012-01-01

In East Asia, several formal and informal regional institutions have been established in the last several decades to promote regional integration. However, it is difficult to identify which is the dominant institution and determine how it is working. ASEAN Plus Three (APT), representing the first...... institutionalized effort to combine Northeast and Southeast Asia and further promote integration in this institutionally undeveloped region, is central to the regionalist view of international relations. 1 Moreover, China’ s approach to the establishment of APT and changes in its regional behavior have attracted...... scholarly attention. This article combines an empirical analysis of China’s approach to APT with a theoretical discussion of APT’ s institutional design in order to illustrate how APT is working as an environment of socialization in the context of regional integration....

Social Mobilization, Influence, and Political Warfare: Unconventional Warfare Strategies for Shaping the 21st Century Security Environment

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-08

political environments.39 An interesting and unique case study, it was created as an integrated marketing campaign and not as a traditional social movement...important reason than it was created as an integrated marketing campaign and not as a traditional social movement. By evaluating “Lead India” the study

Provider perceptions of the social work environment and the state of pediatric care in a downsized urban public academic medical center.

Science.gov (United States)

Tataw, David Besong

2011-05-01

The author's purpose through this study was to document and analyze health provider perceptions of their social work environment and the state of pediatric care at Los Angeles County King/Drew Hospital and Medical Center in 2000, after the restructuring and downsizing of the hospital and its community clinics. The research results showed nurses and physicians reporting that both the quality of pediatric care and the provider social work environment were poor. Negative factors in the social work environment included: low employee morale, poorly staffed clinical teams, lack of professional autonomy, perceptions of low quality of care for pediatric patients, and interpersonal issues of poor communication and collaboration among providers. Providers also perceived a non-supportive work environment, sense of powerlessness, poor quality of work, lack of goal clarity from leadership, lack of fairness in leadership behavior, and an organizational leadership that is abandoning its core mission and values, thereby making it difficult for providers to carry out their professional functions. The author's findings in this study suggest a relationship between intra-role conflict, social employment environment and quality of care at King/Drew Medical Center in 2000. Lessons for practice are presented.

Testing differential susceptibility: Plasticity genes, the social environment, and their interplay in adolescent response inhibition.

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Jennifer S; Arias Vásquez, Alejandro; van Rooij, Daan; van der Meer, Dennis; Franke, Barbara; Hoekstra, Pieter J; Heslenfeld, Dirk J; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Faraone, Stephen V; Hartman, Catharina A; Buitelaar, Jan K

2017-06-01

Impaired inhibitory control is a key feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We investigated gene-environment interaction (GxE) as a possible contributing factor to response inhibition variation in context of the differential susceptibility theory. This states individuals carrying plasticity gene variants will be more disadvantaged in negative, but more advantaged in positive environments. Behavioural and neural measures of response inhibition were assessed during a Stop-signal task in participants with (N = 197) and without (N = 295) ADHD, from N = 278 families (age M = 17.18, SD =3.65). We examined GxE between candidate plasticity genes (DAT1, 5-HTT, DRD4) and social environments (maternal expressed emotion, peer affiliation). A DRD4 × Positive peer affiliation interaction was found on the right fusiform gyrus (rFG) activation during successful inhibition. Further, 5-HTT short allele carriers showed increased rFG activation during failed inhibitions. Maternal warmth and positive peer affiliation were positively associated with right inferior frontal cortex activation during successful inhibition. Deviant peer affiliation was positively related to the error rate. While a pattern of differential genetic susceptibility was found, more clarity on the role of the FG during response inhibition is warranted before firm conclusions can be made. Positive and negative social environments were related to inhibitory control. This extends previous research emphasizing adverse environments.

Is green space in the living environment associated with people's feelings of social safety?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maas, J.; Spreeuwenberg, P.; Winsum-Westra, M. van; Verheij, R.A.; Vries, S. de; Groenewegen, P.P.

2009-01-01

The authors investigate whether the percentage of green space in people’s living environment affects their feelings of social safety positively or negatively. More specifically they investigate the extent to which this relationship varies between urban and rural areas, between groups in the

Is green space in the living environment associated with people's feelings of social safety?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maas, J.; Spreeuwenberg, P.; Winsum-Westra, M. van; Verheij, R.A.; Vries, S. de; Groenewegen, P.P.

2009-01-01

Abstract. The authors investigate whether the percentage of green space in people's living environ- ment affects their feelings of social safety positively or negatively. More specifically they investigate the extent to which this relationship varies between urban and rural areas, between groups in

The Use of Facebook in an Introductory MIS Course: Social Constructivist Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Ractham, Peter; Kaewkitipong, Laddawan; Firpo, Daniel

2012-01-01

The major objective of this article is to evaluate via a Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) the implementation of a Social Constructivist learning framework for an introductory Management Information System (MIS) course. Facebook was used as a learning artifact to build and foster a learning environment, and a series of features and…

Possibilities and challenges for physical and social environment research in Brazil: a systematic literature review on health behaviors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Paula Belon

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This systematic review analyzed articles focused on the relationship between environment (physical, built, perceived, and social and smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity, diet, and obesity in Brazil. Studies published between 19952011 were retrieved from seven databases and hand searches. Based on the 42 articles reviewed, gaps were identified and recommendations were made for future research. Despite a growing number of studies, the Brazilian literature is still limited. The increase of articles in 2010-2011 coincided with the diversification of lifestyles studied, although physical activity domain remains predominant. Most studies analyzed neighborhood settings and used subjective measures for lifestyle and for environment. The presence of recreational facilities was the main physical environment aspect studied, while safety from crime was the prominent social environment factor. More research is needed to yield a rich body of evidence that leads to theoretical and methodological advances, and that supports interventions aimed at creating healthy environments.

Research on historical environments in elementary schools’ social sciences textbooks taught in Northern Cyprus

OpenAIRE

Nazım Kaşot; Mete Özsezer

2015-01-01

A comprehensive study has yet to be carried out depending on the historical environment particular to the Elementary Schools in Northern Cyprus. The aim of this study is hence to determine whether the coverage of historical environment subjects in elementary school social sciences textbooks is absorbed or not by the 4th and 5th Grades in the context of both content and visuals. The method of study analysed has been organised in accordance with the qualitative research. The population was not ...

Social environment as a factor affecting exploration and learning in pre-juvenile rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Modlinska, Klaudia; Stryjek, Rafał; Chrzanowska, Anna; Pisula, Wojciech

2018-05-17

Stress associated with social isolation in early life can lead to disturbances in the emotional regulation in adult rats. However, there are no reports on the impact of isolation from the mother while providing contact with peers. Under such conditions, young individuals have the opportunity to interact with others, are able to develop social behaviour, etc. Yet, there is no stimulation and care provided by the mother. We examined the relative impact of maternal contact and sibling contact in the rarely studied pre-juvenile (3rd and 4th week post birth) period on subsequent development. An experiment was designed to compare the impact of different social environments on the animals' behaviour in adulthood. There were three breeding conditions: young with mother, young with peers, and standard breeding conditions. Adult rats were subjected to a T-Maze test to measure the level of exploratory behaviour. Spatial learning was assessed by placing water bottles in the side corridors. The analysis revealed that a distorted environment during the development process has a negative impact on the rats' emotional regulation and a subtle effect on related aspects of adaptive behaviours (i.e. exploration). In the pre-juvenile period, to some degree, contact with peers may be complementary to the mother's influence. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An ecological public health approach to understanding the relationships between sustainable urban environments, public health and social equity.

Science.gov (United States)

Bentley, Michael

2014-09-01

The environmental determinants of public health and social equity present many challenges to a sustainable urbanism-climate change, water shortages and oil dependency to name a few. There are many pathways from urban environments to human health. Numerous links have been described but some underlying mechanisms behind these relationships are less understood. Combining theory and methods is a way of understanding and explaining how the underlying structures of urban environments relate to public health and social equity. This paper proposes a model for an ecological public health, which can be used to explore these relationships. Four principles of an ecological public health-conviviality, equity, sustainability and global responsibility-are used to derive theoretical concepts that can inform ecological public health thinking, which, among other things, provides a way of exploring the underlying mechanisms that link urban environments to public health and social equity. Theories of more-than-human agency inform ways of living together (conviviality) in urban areas. Political ecology links the equity concerns about environmental and social justice. Resilience thinking offers a better way of coming to grips with sustainability. Integrating ecological ethics into public health considers the global consequences of local urban living and thus attends to global responsibility. This way of looking at the relationships between urban environments, public health and social equity answers the call to craft an ecological public health for the twenty-first century by re-imagining public health in a way that acknowledges humans as part of the ecosystem, not separate from it, though not central to it. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Engagement in social media environments for individuals with who use augmentative and alternative communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Caron, Jessica

2016-10-14

Communicative interactions, despite the mode (e.g., face-to-face, online) rely on the communication skills of each individual participating. Some individuals have significant speech and language impairments and require the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) (i.e., signs, speech generating devices) to maximize their communication participation across a variety of on and offline contexts. Use of social media has brought about changes to communication environments, contributing new contexts for engagement. To provide a framework for considering application of engagement theory for interventions around social media use by individuals who use AAC. The author has applied examples from qualitative social media and AAC research to a framework of engagement. No formal data collection was used. Social media use has become a conventional form of communication. Yet recognition of the value of social media (and other electronic modalities) for individuals who use AAC has not been fully translated into practice. The examples used illustrated how the proposed framework can assist in clinical practice and future research directions. Engagement, including the proposed framework for considerations of social media engagement activities, can provide a systematic way to approach social media use for individuals who use AAC.

Uncertain pollination environment promotes the evolution of a stable mixed reproductive system in the self-incompatible Hypochaeris salzmanniana (Asteraceae).

Science.gov (United States)

Arista, M; Berjano, R; Viruel, J; Ortiz, M Á; Talavera, M; Ortiz, P L

2017-09-01

The transition from outcrossing to selfing is a repeated pattern in angiosperm diversification and according to general theory this transition should occur quickly and mixed reproductive systems should be infrequent. However, a large proportion of flowering plants have mixed reproductive systems, even showing inbreeding depression. Recently, several theoretical studies have shown that mixed mating systems can be stable, but empirical studies supporting these assumptions are still scarce. Hypochaeris salzmanniana, an annual species with populations differing in their self-incompatibility expression, was used as a study case to assess the stability of its mixed reproductive system. Here a descriptive study of the pollination environment was combined with measurements of the stability of the self-incompatibility system, outcrossing rate, reproductive assurance and inbreeding depression in four populations for two consecutive years. The reproductive system of populations exhibited a geographical pattern: the proportion of plants decreased from west to east. Pollinator environment also varied geographically, being less favourable from west to east. The self-incompatibility expression of some populations changed markedly in only one year. After selfing, progeny was mainly self-compatible, while after outcrossing both self-incompatible and self-compatible plants were produced. In general, both reproductive assurance and high inbreeding depression were found in all populations and years. The lowest values of inbreeding depression were found in 2014 in the easternmost populations, which experienced a marked increase in self-compatibility in 2015. The mixed reproductive system of H. salzmanniana seems to be an evolutionarily stable strategy, with selfing conferring reproductive assurance when pollinator attendance is low, but strongly limited by inbreeding depression. The fact that the highest frequencies of self-compatible plants appeared in the environments most

The evolution of social learning rules: payoff-biased and frequency-dependent biased transmission.

Science.gov (United States)

Kendal, Jeremy; Giraldeau, Luc-Alain; Laland, Kevin

2009-09-21

Humans and other animals do not use social learning indiscriminately, rather, natural selection has favoured the evolution of social learning rules that make selective use of social learning to acquire relevant information in a changing environment. We present a gene-culture coevolutionary analysis of a small selection of such rules (unbiased social learning, payoff-biased social learning and frequency-dependent biased social learning, including conformism and anti-conformism) in a population of asocial learners where the environment is subject to a constant probability of change to a novel state. We define conditions under which each rule evolves to a genetically polymorphic equilibrium. We find that payoff-biased social learning may evolve under high levels of environmental variation if the fitness benefit associated with the acquired behaviour is either high or low but not of intermediate value. In contrast, both conformist and anti-conformist biases can become fixed when environment variation is low, whereupon the mean fitness in the population is higher than for a population of asocial learners. Our examination of the population dynamics reveals stable limit cycles under conformist and anti-conformist biases and some highly complex dynamics including chaos. Anti-conformists can out-compete conformists when conditions favour a low equilibrium frequency of the learned behaviour. We conclude that evolution, punctuated by the repeated successful invasion of different social learning rules, should continuously favour a reduction in the equilibrium frequency of asocial learning, and propose that, among competing social learning rules, the dominant rule will be the one that can persist with the lowest frequency of asocial learning.

Unveiling Collaborative Group Identities in Social Synthetic Environments from Interaction Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grappiolo, Corrado

used to simulate aspects of real-life, yet by maintaining a customisable level of control of the phenomena under investigation. Examples of social synthetic environments are theoretical games and cooperative computer games. The proposed framework is composed of two pipelined modules. The first one....... This dissertation successfully leverages on the hypothesis that it is possible to infer the existence of group structures by solely focusing on the ongoing interactions. The limitations of the approach and possible strategies to overcome them are also proposed....

Vitamin C impacts anxiety-like behavior and stress-induced anorexia relative to social environment in SMP30/GNL knockout mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Koizumi, Miwako; Kondo, Yoshitaka; Isaka, Ayumi; Ishigami, Akihito; Suzuki, Emiko

2016-12-01

The role of endogenous vitamin C (VC) in emotion and psychiatric measures has long been uncertain. We aimed to investigate how an individual's VC status impacts his or her mental health. Our hypothesis is that body VC levels modulate anxiety, anorexia, and depressive phenotypes under the influence of psychosocial rearing environments and sex. The VC status of senescence marker protein-30/gluconolactonase knockout mice, which lack the ability to synthesize VC, were continuously shifted from adequate (VC+) to depleted (VC-) by providing a water with or without VC. Despite weight loss in both sexes, suppressed feeding was specifically seen in males only during the VC- phase. Anxiety responses in the novelty-suppressed feeding paradigm were worse during the VC-, especially in females. Sensitivity to the forced swim test as determined by the initial latency was significantly shorter in the socially stable animals compared with socially unstable animals during the VC+ condition. The stress coping underlying depressive phenotypes was assessed by immobility duration in a series of forced swim tests. No significant differences were apparent between contrasting VC status. Homeostatic symptoms following stressful behavioral tests consisted of a great loss of appetite during the VC-. It should be noted that anorexia is extremely serious for the females. We conclude that endogenous VC status is critical for determining vulnerability to anxiety and anorexia in a sex-specific manner. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Environment of Older People during the First Year in Senior Housing and Its Association with Physical Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Lotvonen, Sinikka; Kyngäs, Helvi; Koistinen, Pentti; Bloigu, Risto; Elo, Satu

2017-08-25

Increasing numbers of older people relocate into senior housing when their physical performance declines. The change in social environment is known to affect their wellbeing, providing both challenges and opportunities, but more information on the relations between social and physical parameters is required. Thus, we elicited perceptions of the social environment of 81 older people (aged 59-93 years, living in northern Finland) and changes in it 3 and 12 months after relocation to senior housing. We also measured their physical performance, then analysed associations between the social and physical variables. Participants reported that they had freedom to do whatever they liked and generally had enough contact with close people (which have recognized importance for older people's wellbeing), but changes in their physical condition limited their social activity. Moreover, their usual walking speed, dominant hand's grip strength and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) significantly decreased. The pleasantness of the residential community, peer support, constraints on social activity imposed by changes in physical condition, meaningful activity at home and meeting close people all affected these physical performance parameters. Clearly, in addition to assessing physical performance and encouraging regular exercise, the complex interactions among social factors, physical performance and wellbeing should be considered when addressing individuals' needs.

Social Environment of Older People during the First Year in Senior Housing and Its Association with Physical Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Kyngäs, Helvi; Koistinen, Pentti; Bloigu, Risto; Elo, Satu

2017-01-01

Increasing numbers of older people relocate into senior housing when their physical performance declines. The change in social environment is known to affect their wellbeing, providing both challenges and opportunities, but more information on the relations between social and physical parameters is required. Thus, we elicited perceptions of the social environment of 81 older people (aged 59–93 years, living in northern Finland) and changes in it 3 and 12 months after relocation to senior housing. We also measured their physical performance, then analysed associations between the social and physical variables. Participants reported that they had freedom to do whatever they liked and generally had enough contact with close people (which have recognized importance for older people’s wellbeing), but changes in their physical condition limited their social activity. Moreover, their usual walking speed, dominant hand’s grip strength and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) significantly decreased. The pleasantness of the residential community, peer support, constraints on social activity imposed by changes in physical condition, meaningful activity at home and meeting close people all affected these physical performance parameters. Clearly, in addition to assessing physical performance and encouraging regular exercise, the complex interactions among social factors, physical performance and wellbeing should be considered when addressing individuals’ needs. PMID:28841198

Relationship between the Preschool Children's Attitudes towards the Environment and Their Social Status

Science.gov (United States)

Körükçü, Özlem; Gülay Ogelman, Hülya

2015-01-01

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the social position of preschool children and their attitude towards the environment. The sample group of the survey comprised 106 children from five-to-six years age group, attending nursery classes of primary schools affiliated to Ministry of National Education, in Denizli city centre.…

Cross-national social work case analysis: learning from international experience within an electronic environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R. Kloppenburg; V. Gevorgianiene; V. Jakutiene; Peter Hendriks

2008-01-01

This article presents the results of a pilot of a cross-national learning process within the context of social work education. The pilot was carried out in the electronic environment by students from four European universities (Hogeschool Utrecht, Sheffield, Tartu and Vilnius). The analysis of the

Early environment and the development of social behaviours in the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leris, I.

2016-01-01

One of the many advantages of group living is the swift transfer of information between group members. Social learning – learning from others – offers a quick and economical way to acquire information about the local environment and is considered adaptive under a wide range of circumstances.

Does the Social Working Environment Predict Beginning Teachers' Self-Efficacy and Feelings of Depression?

Science.gov (United States)

Devos, Christelle; Dupriez, Vincent; Paquay, Leopold

2012-01-01

We investigate how the social working environment predicts beginning teachers' self-efficacy and feelings of depression. Two quantitative studies are presented. The results show that the goal structure of the school culture (mastery or performance orientation) predicts both outcomes. Frequent collaborative interactions with colleagues are related…

Acceptance and use of a social robot by elderly users in a domestic environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klamer, T.; Ben Allouch, Soumaya

2010-01-01

The study presented in this article aims to improve our understanding of how people use zoomorphic robots in a health related setting in their domestic environments in general and, in particular, whether people are able to build (long- term) relationships with these robots. The influences of social

Socialization and School Environment in an Inclusive Learning Community in the Province of Talca , Chile

OpenAIRE

Marí­a Teresa Muñoz Quezada; Boris Andrés Lucero Mondaca; Claudia Alejandra Cornejo Araya; Pablo Andrés Muñoz Molina; Nelson Eduardo Araya Saravia

2014-01-01

Currently there is concern for promoting healthy and inclusive coexistence in schools. The aim of this research was to assess the perception of socialization and school environment in an inclusive school in the Province of Talca, Chile. We conducted a cross-sectional case study in a sample of 180 students, 193 parents and 21 teachers. A questionnaire evaluating school life was applied to students, parents and teachers and another assessing the school's social climate and bullying was applied ...

Insights into Ancient Human Populations and their Environment through Stable Isotope Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Macko, S. A.

2011-12-01

Fundamental to the understanding of human history is the ability to make interpretations based on artifacts and other remains which are used to gather information about an ancient population. Sequestered in the organic matrices of these remains can be information concerning incidence of disease, population interactions, genetic defects and diet. Stable isotopes have long been used to interpret diet and trophic interactions in modern ecosystems. We suggest that the isotope compositions of a commonly overlooked material, human hair, is an ideal tool to be used in gleaning information, especially on human diets, about ancient civilizations. Hair can be well-preserved and is amenable to routine measurements of 13C, 15N and 34S isotope analyses and distinguishing sources of nutrition. We have isotopically characterized hair from both modern and ancient individuals. There is a wide diversity in isotope values owing, at least partially, to the levels of seafood, corn-fed animals and other grains in diet. Using these isotope tracers, new information regarding historical figures (George Washington, 1799 AD) to perhaps the most ancient of mummies, the Chinchorro of Chile (more than 7000 BP) as well as the Moche of Peru (1500 BP) and the best preserved mummy, the Neolithic Ice Man of the Oetztaler Alps (5200 BP), have been deciphered. It appears that the often-overlooked hair in archaeological sites represents a significant approach for understanding ancient human communities and their environments, as well as new perspectives on our use of our own modern nutritional sources.

Residential Surrounding Greenness, Self-Rated Health and Interrelations with Aspects of Neighborhood Environment and Social Relations.

Science.gov (United States)

Orban, Ester; Sutcliffe, Robynne; Dragano, Nico; Jöckel, Karl-Heinz; Moebus, Susanne

2017-04-01

Previous research suggests that green environments positively influence health. Several underlying mechanisms have been discussed; one of them is facilitation of social interaction. Further, greener neighborhoods may appear more aesthetic, contributing to satisfaction and well-being. Aim of this study was to analyze the association of residential surrounding greenness with self-rated health, using data from 4480 women and men aged 45-75 years that participated in the German population-based Heinz Nixdorf Recall study. We further aimed to explore the relationships of greenness and self-rated health with the neighborhood environment and social relations. Surrounding greenness was measured using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within 100 m around participants' residence. As a result, we found that with higher greenness, poor self-rated health decreased (adjusted OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.82-0.98; per 0.1 increase in NDVI), while neighborhood satisfaction (1.41, 1.23-1.61) and neighborhood social capital (1.22, 1.12-1.32) increased. Further, we observed inverse associations of neighborhood satisfaction (0.70, 0.52-0.94), perceived safety (0.36, 0.22-0.60), social satisfaction (0.43, 0.31-0.58), and neighborhood social capital (0.53, 0.44-0.64) with poor self-rated health. These results underline the importance of incorporating green elements into neighborhoods for health-promoting urban development strategies.

Growth and social behavior in a cichlid fish are affected by social rearing environment and kinship

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Saskia; Thünken, Timo

2014-04-01

Living in groups is a widespread phenomenon in many animal taxa. The reduction of predation risk is thought to be an important cause for the formation of groups. Consequently, grouping behavior is particularly pronounced during vulnerable life stages, i.e., as juveniles. However, group living does not only provide benefits but also imposes costs on group members, e.g., increased competition for food. Thus, benefits of grouping behavior might not be evident when predation risk is absent. The adaptive significance of living and also developing in a group independent from predation risk has received relatively little attention although this might have important implications on the evolution and maintenance of group living. The first aim of the present study was to examine whether the social environment affects juvenile performance in the cichlid fish Pelvicachromis taeniatus and, secondly, whether kinship affects social behavior. Kin selection theory predicts benefits from grouping with kin. Here, we demonstrate that juveniles reared in a group grow on average faster compared to juveniles reared in isolation under standardized laboratory conditions without predation risk. Furthermore, we found significant differences in social behavior between juveniles reared in a group and reared in isolation. Fish reared in isolation were significantly more aggressive and less willing to shoal than group-reared fish. As expected, genetic relatedness influenced social behavior in group-reared fish as well: dyads of juveniles consisting of kin showed increased group cohesiveness compared to non-kin dyads. We discuss the potential benefits of group living in general and living with kin in particular.

Social Web Content Enhancement in a Distance Learning Environment: Intelligent Metadata Generation for Resources

Science.gov (United States)

García-Floriano, Andrés; Ferreira-Santiago, Angel; Yáñez-Márquez, Cornelio; Camacho-Nieto, Oscar; Aldape-Pérez, Mario; Villuendas-Rey, Yenny

2017-01-01

Social networking potentially offers improved distance learning environments by enabling the exchange of resources between learners. The existence of properly classified content results in an enhanced distance learning experience in which appropriate materials can be retrieved efficiently; however, for this to happen, metadata needs to be present.…

The importance of the social environment for physically active lifestyle: results from an international study.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stahl, T.; Rütten, A.; Nutbeam, D.; Bauman, A.; Kannas, L.; Abel, T.; Lüschen, G.; Rodríguez Diaz, J.A.; Vinck, J.; Zee, J. van der

2001-01-01

Physically active lifestyles are regularly associated with improved health and quality of life. Differences in lifestyles in society can partly be understood through the differences in the social and physical environment. This study examines the relationships between reported physical activity, and

Information on the Economic--Social Environment as Didactic Material for Bachelor's or Master's Thesis

Science.gov (United States)

Tamosiunas, Teodoras

2006-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of the research is to investigate how particular information from the environment serves as didactic material for students of Siauliai University Faculty of Social Sciences in learning to carry out scientific analysis and theoretical generalization of data in their theses. Methodology: The main sources--Internet databases,…

Early olfactory environment influences social behaviour in adult Octodon degus.

Science.gov (United States)

Márquez, Natalia; Martínez-Harms, Jaime; Vásquez, Rodrigo A; Mpodozis, Jorge

2015-01-01

We evaluated the extent to which manipulation of early olfactory environment can influence social behaviours in the South American Hystricognath rodent Octodon degus. The early olfactory environment of newborn degus was manipulated by scenting all litter members with eucalyptol during the first month of life. The social behaviour of sexually mature animals (5-7 months old) towards conspecifics was then assessed using a y-maze to compare the response of control (naïve) and treated animals to two different olfactory configurations (experiment 1): (i) a non-familiarized conspecific impregnated with eucalyptol (eucalyptol arm) presented against (ii) a non-familiarized unscented conspecific (control arm). In addition, in dyadic encounters, we assessed the behaviour of control and eucalyptol treated animals towards a non-familiarized conspecific scented with eucalyptol (experiment 2). We found that control subjects explored and spent significantly less time in the eucalyptol arm, indicating neophobic behaviours towards the artificially scented conspecific. Treated subjects explored and spent similar time in both arms of the maze, showing the same interest for both olfactory stimuli presented. During dyadic encounters in experiment 2, an interaction effect between early experience and sex was observed. Control males escaped and avoided their scented partner more frequently than eucalyptol treated male subjects and than females. Both groups did not differ in the exploration of their scented partners, suggesting that avoidance within agonistic context does not relate to neophobic behaviours. Our results suggest that the exposure to eucalyptol during early ontogeny decreases evasive behaviours within an agonistic context as a result of olfactory learning. Altogether, these results indicate that olfactory cues learned in early ontogeny can influence olfactory-guided behaviours in adult degus.

Social Support Networks and HIV/STI Risk Behaviors Among Latino Immigrants in a New Receiving Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Althoff, Meghan D; Theall, Katherine; Schmidt, Norine; Hembling, John; Gebrekristos, Hirut T; Thompson, Michelle M; Muth, Stephen Q; Friedman, Samuel R; Kissinger, Patricia

2017-12-01

The objectives of this study were to: (1) describe the quantity and quality of social support networks of Latino immigrants living in a new receiving environment, and (2) determine the role such networks play in their HIV/STI risk behaviors, including substance use. Double incentivized convenience sampling was used to collect egocentric social support network data on 144 Latino immigrants. Latent class analysis was used for data reduction and to identify items best suited to measure quality and quantity of social support. Moderate and high quantity and quality of social support were protective of HIV/STI sexual risk behavior compared to low quantity and quality of support, after adjustment for gender, years in New Orleans and residing with family. Neither measure of social support was associated with binge drinking. The findings suggest that increased quantity and quality of social support decrease HIV/STI sexual risk behaviors but do not influence binge drinking. Interventions that improve the quantity and quality of social support are needed for Latino immigrants.

The role of social environment on parental care: offspring benefit more from the presence of female than male helpers.

Science.gov (United States)

Brouwer, Lyanne; van de Pol, Martijn; Cockburn, Andrew

2014-03-01

Investment in offspring depends on the costs and benefits to the carer, which can vary with sex and social status. Investment also depends on the effort of others by allowing for compensation (load-lightening), with biparental care studies showing that this depends on the state and type of the other carer. By contrast, studies on cooperative breeders have solely focussed on the effects of group size rather than its composition (i.e. social environment). Here we propose and provide the first test of the 'Social Environment' hypothesis, that is, how the characteristics (here the sex) of other helpers present in the group affect parental care and how this in turn affects offspring fitness in cooperatively breeding red-winged fairy-wrens (Malurus elegans). Breeders provisioned nestlings at a higher rate than helpers, but there was no sex difference in provisioning rate. Compensation to increasing group size varied little with sex and status, but strongly depended on social environment. All group members reduced their provisioning rates in response to an increasing number of male (load-lightening), but not female helpers (additive care). As a result, nestlings received more food and grew faster in the presence of female helpers. The increased nestling growth did convey a fitness advantage due to a higher post-fledging survival to adulthood. Our study provides the first evidence that parental care can depend on social environment. This could be an important overlooked aspect to explain variation in parental care in cooperative breeders in general and in particular the enormous variation between the sexes, which we reveal in a literature overview. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2013 British Ecological Society.

The Meaning of Social Climate of Learning Environments: Some Reasons Why We Do Not Care Enough about It

Science.gov (United States)

Allodi, Mara W.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this article is to analyse reasons underlying the neglect of social climate in education. It discusses the relevance of the concept of social climate in learning environments, presents evidence for its effects and importance in special-needs and inclusive education, presents differences existing between settings and discusses the…

Early social environment affects the endogenous oxytocin system: a review and future directions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily eAlves

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Endogenous oxytocin plays an important role in a wide range of human functions including birth, milk ejection during lactation and facilitation of social interaction. There is increasing evidence that both variations in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR and concentrations of oxytocin are associated with differences in these functions. The causes for the differences that have been observed in tonic and stimulated oxytocin release remain unclear. Previous reviews have suggested that across the life course, these differences may be due to individual factors, e.g. genetic variation (of the OXTR, age or sex, or be the result of early environmental influences such as social experiences, stress or trauma partly by inducing epigenetic changes. This review has three aims. First, we briefly discuss the endogenous oxytocin system, including physiology, development, individual differences and function. Secondly, current models describing the relationship between the early life environment and the development of the oxytocin system in humans and animals are discussed. Finally, we describe research designs that can be used to investigate the effects of the early environment on the oxytocin system, identifying specific areas of research that need further attention.

Social knowledge and signals in primates.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergman, Thore J; Sheehan, Michael J

2013-07-01

Primates are notable for having a rich and detailed understanding of their social environment and there has been great interest in the evolution and function of social knowledge in primates. Indeed, primates have been shown to have impressive understandings of not only other group members but also the complex relationships among them. To be useful, however, social knowledge requires memories from previous encounters and observations about individual traits that are stable. Here, we argue that social systems or traits that make social knowledge more costly or less accurate will favor signals that either supplement or replace social knowledge. Thus, the relationship between signals and social knowledge can be complementary or antagonistic depending on the type of signal. Our goal in this review is to elucidate the relationships between signals and social knowledge in primates. We categorize signals into three types, each with different relationships to social knowledge. (1) Identity signals directly facilitate social knowledge, (2) current-state signals supplement information gained through social knowledge, and (3) badges of status replace social knowledge. Primates rely extensively on identity information, but it remains to be determined to what extent this is based on receiver perception of individual variation or senders using identity signals. Primates frequently utilize current-state signals including signals of intent to augment their interactions with familiar individuals. Badges of status are rare in primates, and the cases where they are used point to a functional and evolutionary trade-off between badges of status and social knowledge. However, the nature of this relationship needs further exploration. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Association between participation in life situations of children with cerebral palsy and their physical, social, and attitudinal environment: a cross-sectional multicenter European study.

Science.gov (United States)

Colver, Allan; Thyen, Ute; Arnaud, Catherine; Beckung, Eva; Fauconnier, Jerome; Marcelli, Marco; McManus, Vicki; Michelsen, Susan I; Parkes, Jackie; Parkinson, Kathryn; Dickinson, Heather O

2012-12-01

To evaluate how participation of children with cerebral palsy (CP) varied with their environment. Home visits to children. Administration of Assessment of Life Habits and European Child Environment Questionnaires. Structural equation modeling of putative associations between specific domains of participation and environment, while allowing for severity of child's impairments and pain. European regions with population-based registries of children with CP. Children (n=1174) aged 8 to 12 years were randomly selected from 8 population-based registries of children with CP in 6 European countries. Of these, 743 (63%) agreed to participate; 1 further region recruited 75 children from multiple sources. Thus, there were 818 children in the study. Not applicable. Participation in life situations. For the hypothesized associations, the models confirmed that higher participation was associated with better availability of environmental items. Higher participation in daily activities-mealtimes, health hygiene, personal care, and home life-was significantly associated with a better physical environment at home (Ptransport and physical environment in the community. Participation in social roles (responsibilities, relationships, recreation) was associated with attitudes of classmates and social support at home. School participation was associated with attitudes of teachers and therapists. Environment explained between 14% and 52% of the variation in participation. The findings confirmed the social model of disability. The physical, social, and attitudinal environment of disabled children influences their participation in everyday activities and social roles. Copyright © 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neighbourhood social and built environment factors and falls in community-dwelling canadian older adults: A validation study and exploration of structural confounding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Afshin Vafaei

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Older persons are vulnerable to the ill effects of their social and built environment due to age-related limitations in mobility and bio-psychological vulnerability. Falls are common in older adults and result from complex interactions between individual, social, and contextual determinants. We addressed two methodological issues of neighbourhood-health and social epidemiological studies in this analysis: (1 validity of measures of neighbourhood contexts, and (2 structural confounding resulting from social sorting mechanisms. Baseline data from International Mobility in Aging Study were used. Samples included community-dwelling Canadians older than 65 living in Kingston (Ontario and St-Hyacinthe (Quebec. We performed factor analysis and ecometric analysis to assess the validity of measures of neighbourhood social capital, socioeconomic status, and the built environment and stratified tabular analyses to explore structural confounding. The scales all demonstrated good psychometric and ecometric properties. There was an evidence of the existence of structural confounding in this sample of Canadian older adults as some combinations of strata for the three neighbourhood measures had no population. This limits causal inference in studying relationships between neighbourhood factors and falls and should be taken into account in aetiological aging research. Keywords: Ecometric analysis, Falls, Social and built environment, Neighbourhoods, Older adults, Social Capital, Structural confounding, Validity

Social determinants and lifestyles: integrating environmental and public health perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Graham, H; White, P C L

2016-12-01

Industrialization and urbanization have been associated with an epidemiological transition, from communicable to non-communicable disease, and a geological transition that is moving the planet beyond the stable Holocene epoch in which human societies have prospered. The lifestyles of high-income countries are major drivers of these twin processes. Our objective is to highlight the common causes of chronic disease and environmental change and, thereby, contribute to shared perspectives across public health and the environment. Integrative reviews focused on social determinants and lifestyles as two 'bridging' concepts between the fields of public health and environmental sustainability. We drew on established frameworks to consider the position of the natural environment within social determinants of health (SDH) frameworks and the position of social determinants within environmental frameworks. We drew on evidence on lifestyle factors central to both public health and environmental change (mobility- and diet-related factors). We investigated how public health's focus on individual behaviour can be enriched by environmental perspectives that give attention to household consumption practices. While SDH frameworks can incorporate the biophysical environment, their causal structure positions it as a determinant and one largely separate from the social factors that shape it. Environmental frameworks are more likely to represent the environment and its ecosystems as socially determined. A few frameworks also include human health as an outcome, providing the basis for a combined public health/environmental sustainability framework. Environmental analyses of household impacts broaden public health's concern with individual risk behaviours, pointing to the more damaging lifestyles of high-income households. The conditions for health are being undermined by rapid environmental change. There is scope for frameworks reaching across public health and environmental

Cross-sectional interactions between quality of the physical and social environment and self-reported physical activity in adults living in income-deprived communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Sawyer, Alexia D M; Jones, Russell; Ucci, Marcella; Smith, Lee; Kearns, Ade; Fisher, Abi

2017-01-01

Understanding the environmental determinants of physical activity in populations at high risk of inactivity could contribute to the development of effective interventions. Socioecological models of activity propose that environmental factors have independent and interactive effects of physical activity but there is a lack of research into interactive effects. This study aimed to explore independent and interactive effects of social and physical environmental factors on self-reported physical activity in income-deprived communities. Participants were 5,923 adults in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Features of the social environment were self-reported. Quality of the physical environment was objectively-measured. Neighbourhood walking and participation in moderate physical activity [MPA] on ≥5 days/week was self-reported. Multilevel multivariate logistic regression models tested independent and interactive effects of environmental factors on activity. 'Social support' (walking: OR:1.22,95%CI = 1.06-1.41,psocial interaction' (walking: OR:1.25,95%CI = 1.10-1.42,pInteractive effects of social and physical factors on walking and MPA were revealed. Findings suggest that intervening to create activity-supportive environments in deprived communities may be most effective when simultaneously targeting the social and physical neighbourhood environment.

Standards of socially responsible management – Impact on sustainable development of the organization, the social and natural environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anton Peršič

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to outline the results of a study on the importance of the introduction/implementation of standards of socially responsible management and their impact on the business performance of organizations as well as to confirm the correlations with the sustainable development of the broader social and natural environment. The research included a population of medium-sized and large organizations (over 50 employees in the fields of marketing services in the Republic of Slovenia. Research results confirmed a direct link of understanding the management standards in organizations with a larger number of employees and the achieved higher income from operations. Research participants are familiar with the requirements of the Quality Management System Standard ISO 9001 and the Environmental Management System Standard ISO 14001, which is particularly significant for older business executives with many years of work experience in the company they run. The hypothesis that the implementation of the principles of social responsibility has a positive impact on sustainable development and the financial indicators of the organization – higher profits, business growth, productivity and cost-effectiveness in operations – has been confirmed.

Social, economic, and political processes that create built environment inequities: perspectives from urban African Americans in Atlanta.

Science.gov (United States)

Redwood, Yanique; Schulz, Amy J; Israel, Barbara A; Yoshihama, Mieko; Wang, Caroline C; Kreuter, Marshall

2010-01-01

Growing evidence suggests that the built environment features found in many high-poverty urban areas contribute to negative health outcomes. Both built environment hazards and negative health outcomes disproportionately affect poor people of color. We used community-based participatory research and Photovoice in inner-city Atlanta to elicit African Americans' perspectives on their health priorities. The built environment emerged as a critical factor, impacting physical and mental health outcomes. We offer a conceptual model, informed by residents' perspectives, linking social, economic, and political processes to built environment and health inequities. Research, practice, and policy implications are discussed within an environmental justice framework.

The Performance Implications of Fit among Environment, Strategy, Structure, Control System and Social Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hasan Fauzi

2009-12-01

domain will be contingent upon strategic behaviors, which are behaviors of members in an organization. The paper integrates the contextual variables including business environment, strategy, organization structure, and control system with corporate performance by using corporate social performance as moderating variable by means of a recent literatures study from strategic management and accounting field.

Examining College Students' Social Environment, Normative Beliefs, and Attitudes in Subsequent Initiation of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Agarwal, Deepti; Loukas, Alexandra; Perry, Cheryl L

2017-11-01

Although use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) is increasingly prevalent among young adults, little is known about predictors of ENDS initiation among this population. We examined the roles of the social environment (i.e., peer ENDS use and household ENDS use), normative beliefs (i.e., social acceptability of ENDS use), and attitudes (i.e., inclination to date someone who uses ENDS) in prospectively predicting initiation of ENDS over a 1-year period among 18- to 29-year-old college students. Participants were 2,110 (18- to 29-year-old) students ( M = 20.27, SD = 2.17) from 24 colleges in Texas who participated in a three-wave online survey, with 6 months between each wave. All participants reported never using ENDS at baseline. A multivariable, multilevel logistic regression model, accounting for clustering of students within colleges, was used to assess if students' social environment, normative beliefs, and attitudes predicted subsequent initiation of ENDS up to 1 year later, adjusting for various sociodemographic factors and number of other tobacco products used. In all, 329 college students (16%) initiated ENDS within 1 year. Results from the logistic regression indicated that college students who were younger (18-24 years old), ever used other tobacco products, indicated a more dense peer network of ENDS users, and had a higher inclination to date someone who uses ENDS had higher odds of initiating ENDS than their peers. Preventing ENDS initiation should be included in college health promotion programs, which should highlight the roles of students' social environment and attitudes regarding ENDS use.

Sex differences in parental care: Gametic investment, sexual selection, and social environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Liker, András; Freckleton, Robert P; Remeš, Vladimir; Székely, Tamás

2015-11-01

Male and female parents often provide different type and amount of care to their offspring. Three major drivers have been proposed to explain parental sex roles: (1) differential gametic investment by males and females that precipitates into sex difference in care, (2) different intensity of sexual selection acting on males and females, and (3) biased social environment that facilitates the more common sex to provide more care. Here, we provide the most comprehensive assessment of these hypotheses using detailed parental care data from 792 bird species covering 126 families. We found no evidence for the gametic investment hypothesis: neither gamete sizes nor gamete production by males relative to females was related to sex difference in parental care. However, sexual selection correlated with parental sex roles, because the male share in care relative to female decreased with both extra-pair paternity and frequency of male polygamy. Parental sex roles were also related to social environment, because male parental care increased with male-biased adult sex ratios (ASRs). Taken together, our results are consistent with recent theories suggesting that gametic investment is not tied to parental sex roles, and highlight the importance of both sexual selection and ASR in influencing parental sex roles. © 2015 The Author(s). Evolution © 2015 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Psychosocial work conditions, social participation and social capital: a causal pathway investigated in a longitudinal study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindström, Martin

2006-01-01

Social capital is often claimed to be promoted by stable social structures such as low migration rates between neighbourhoods and social networks that remain stable over time. However, stable social structures may also inhibit the formation of social capital in the form of social networks and social participation. One example is psychosocial conditions at work, which may be determined by characteristics such as demand and control in the work situation. The study examines the active workforce subpopulation within the Swedish Malmö Shoulder Neck Study. A total of 7836 individuals aged 45-69 years, were interviewed at baseline between 1992 and 1994, and at a 1-year follow-up. Four groups of baseline psychosocial work conditions categories defined by the Karasek-Theorell model (jobstrain, passive, active, relaxed) were analysed according to 13 different social participation items during the past year reported at the 1-year follow-up. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals with the jobstrain group as a reference were estimated. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to assess differences in different aspects of social participation between the four psychosocial work conditions groups. The results show that the respondents within the active category in particular but also the relaxed category, have significantly higher participation in many of the 13 social participation items, even after multivariate adjustments. The results strongly suggest that psychosocial work conditions may be an important determinant of social capital measured as social participation, a finding of immediate public health relevance because of the well known positive association between social participation and health-related behaviours.

Stable convergence and stable limit theorems

CERN Document Server

Häusler, Erich

2015-01-01

The authors present a concise but complete exposition of the mathematical theory of stable convergence and give various applications in different areas of probability theory and mathematical statistics to illustrate the usefulness of this concept. Stable convergence holds in many limit theorems of probability theory and statistics – such as the classical central limit theorem – which are usually formulated in terms of convergence in distribution. Originated by Alfred Rényi, the notion of stable convergence is stronger than the classical weak convergence of probability measures. A variety of methods is described which can be used to establish this stronger stable convergence in many limit theorems which were originally formulated only in terms of weak convergence. Naturally, these stronger limit theorems have new and stronger consequences which should not be missed by neglecting the notion of stable convergence. The presentation will be accessible to researchers and advanced students at the master's level...

Individual Learner Differences In Web-based Learning Environments: From Cognitive, Affective and Social-cultural Perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mustafa KOC

2005-10-01

Full Text Available Individual Learner DifferencesIn Web-based Learning Environments:From Cognitive, Affective and Social-cultural Perspectives Mustafa KOCPh.D Candidate Instructional TechnologyUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUrbana, IL - USA ABSTRACT Throughout the paper, the issues of individual differences in web-based learning, also known as online instruction, online training or distance education were examined and implications for designing distance education were discussed. Although the main purpose was to identify differences in learners’ characteristics such as cognitive, affective, physiological and social factors that affect learning in a web-enhanced environment, the questions of how the web could be used to reinforce learning, what kinds of development ideas, theories and models are currently being used to design and deliver online instruction, and finally what evidence for the effectiveness of using World Wide Web (WWW for learning and instruction has been reported, were also analyzed to extend theoretical and epistemogical understanding of web-based learning.

The Power of Specialized Educational Environments in the Development of Giftedness: The Need for Research on Social Context

Science.gov (United States)

Coleman, Laurence J.

2014-01-01

The paper argues that educators of the gifted have overlooked important evidence on the power of special environments because of our habit of considering cognitive outcomes and an outsider view of evidence as the standard for judging the benefits of special environments. The author proposes that social context be used as a construct to help…

SOCIAL NETWORKS AS THE ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wojsław Czupryński

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The emergence of the global Internet has changed the way the entire human population communicates. The internet has become a platform, where human societies build their lives, and traditional communication over the last few years has been replaced by social networks. Today, social networks are the subject of many debates concerning their advantages, disadvantages and the ideas of what they bring to the future. Portals are not only the way of communication, fun, an idea to spend free time, but also source of social and humanistic knowledge too. Against that, social media could be a huge risk for those who use them. The assigned job above discusses about the topic the detrimental effect what the social networks bring. A series of deviant behaviors caused by use of the portal is also presented in this report. Often they become a dysfunctional generator of actions that manifest themselves among the youth. Consequently, there was a need to take action to stop the growth of this phenomenon among young people. First of all the primary activities at this level are prevention and education in the family.

Tolerance to uncertainty in the context of social support:gender specificity in the youth environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dmitry V. Lifintsev

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the results of a study of social support for young males and females, and also its relationship with tolerance of uncertainty. A series of psychodiagnostic tools were used to study gender determinants of social support, tolerance of uncertainty and interpersonal intolerance in young people with different levels of emotional and instrumental support. Young males and females aged 18–22 years with a high level of tolerance of uncertainty are susceptible to various forms of social support. The ability to accept uncertainty, to function in the system of unclear interpersonal communication and to act in the face of changing circumstances determine the level of satisfaction with social support in the participants. The research (N=165 confirmed the assumption that first and foremost social support as a communicative phenomenon has differences in the perception of emotional forms in young males and females. Secondly, the specific features of person functioning in the social supporting act system are interrelated, including the level of tolerance of uncertainty. Thirdly, social support can reduce human state of uncertainty and eventually neutralize the negative impact of stressful events. The human ability to «see and discover» the social support, be sensitive and attentive to the supporting acts of social environment has a close relationship with the ability to accept uncertainty and maintain stability in a state of discomfort if any.

Gamification, Social Networks and Sustainable Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fábio Silva

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Intelligent environments and ambient intelligence enabled systems provide means to gather rich information from both environments and its users. With the help of such systems, it is possible to foster communities of ambient intelligence systems with community driven knowledge, which is created by individual actions and setups in each of the environments. Such arrangements provides the potential to build systems that promote better practices and more efficient and sustainable environments by promoting the community best examples and engaging users to adopt and develop proactive behaviors to improve their standings in the community. This work aims to use knowledge from communities of intelligent environments to their own benefit. The approach presented in this work uses information from different environments, ranking them according to their sustainability assessment. Recommendations are then computed using similarity and clustering functions ranking users and environments, updating their previous records and launching new recommendations in the process. Gamification concepts are used in order to keep users motivation and engage them actively to produce better results in terms of sustainability.

The Influence of Social Environment on Smoking Behavior Among Adolescents in Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Scriven

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Background:Research suggests that factors in the environment are major determinants of health behavior for populations. This cross-sectional study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods to determine the prevalence of smoking and identify the possible associations between smoking and environmental variables among school pupils in Iran. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was administrated and collected data from 2200, students15-18 from 100 high schools who agreed to take part in the research. The sample was selected from the Iranian Education System Database using a two-stage cluster sample based on a random sample of schools and pupils as a representative sample of this population. Almost 90% of respondents had completed the questionnaires. Examination of the test-retest answers over all questions among 70 students in two weeks interval revealed reliability coefficient ranges 0.72 to 0.98. The Adjusted Enter Logistic Regression Models were applied to significant variables identified through Chi square tests. In addition, 40 of the sample took part in focus groups exploring the facilitators and barriers to smoking behavior. Content analysis was also used to extract themes from the focus group discussions. Results: The effects of social environment variables including peers', mothers', and sisters' smoking on cigarette consumption among young people were explored in this study. Levels of cigarette availability and exposure, effects of parents' attitudes and supervision, legislation on tobacco control, expanding life opportunities and more options for leisure activities perceived as influencing factors on adolescent smoking were all highlighted in the focus group discussions. Conclusion: The qualitative and quantitative findings revealed the impact of social environment on smoking behavior among young people. This study provides strong evidence to support environmentally oriented smoking prevention

Gamification, social networks and sustainable environments

OpenAIRE

Silva, Fábio; Analide, César; Rosa, Luís; Felgueiras, Gilberto; Pimenta, Cedric

2013-01-01

Intelligent environments and ambient intelligence enabled systems provide means to gather rich information from both environments and its users. With the help of such systems, it is possible to foster communities of ambient intelligence systems with community driven knowledge, which is created by individual actions and setups in each of the environments. Such arrangements provides the potential to build systems that promote better practices and more efficient and sustainable environments by p...

The Role of Education for Democracy in Linking Social Justice to the "Built" Environment: The Case of Post-Earthquake Haiti

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, Paul R.; Pluim, Gary; Thésée, Gina

2014-01-01

The manner in which the built environment is constructed has a tremendous effect on the degree to which health, wealth and social outcomes are distributed within a society. This is particularly evident when a crisis of the natural environment affects the built environment, as was the case after the Haitian earthquake of 2010. Understanding the…

Transformed Pedagogical Environment: Humanoids for social skilling of mentally challenged children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rugayah Hashim

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the paper is to describe the transformed pedagogical environment in Malaysia with regards to mentally challenged children. Through interviews with teachers and parents of children schooled at the special, integrative classes in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, the results indicated non-readiness for the teachers and the parents to embrace the assistive technology, the humanoids. Besides the high cost of purchasing the humanoid for each child to be placed at home, social skilling these special children requires human touch. Cultural, and religious aspects abound that negates the progress of pedagogy using humanoids.

Older adults' quality of life - Exploring the role of the built environment and social cohesion in community-dwelling seniors on low income.

Science.gov (United States)

Engel, L; Chudyk, A M; Ashe, M C; McKay, H A; Whitehurst, D G T; Bryan, S

2016-09-01

The built environment and social cohesion are increasingly recognized as being associated with older adults' quality of life (QoL). However, limited research in this area still exists and the relationship has remained unexplored in the area of Metro Vancouver, Canada. This study examined the association between the built environment and social cohesion with QoL of 160 community-dwelling older adults (aged ≥ 65 years) on low income from Metro Vancouver. Cross-sectional data acquired from the Walk the Talk (WTT) study were used. Health-related QoL (HRQoL) and capability wellbeing were assessed using the EQ-5D-5L and the ICECAP-O, respectively. Measures of the environment comprised the NEWS-A (perceived built environment measure), the Street Smart Walk Score (objective built environment measure), and the SC-5PT (a measure of social cohesion). The primary analysis consists of Tobit regression models to explore the associations between environmental features and HRQoL as well as capability wellbeing. Key findings indicate that after adjusting for covariates, older adults' capability wellbeing was associated with street connectivity and social cohesion, while no statistically significant associations were found between environmental factors and HRQoL. Our results should be considered as hypothesis-generating and need confirmation in a larger longitudinal study. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Maternal environment alters social interactive traits but not open-field behavior in Fischer 344 rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamamuro, Yutaka

2008-10-01

Although it is recognized that the genetic background governs behavioral phenotypes, environmental factors also play a critical role in the development of various behavioral processes. The maternal environment has a major impact on pups, and the cross-fostering procedure is used to determine the influence of early life experiences. The present study examined the influence of maternal environment on behavioral traits in inbred Fischer 344 (F344) rats. F344/DuCrlCrlj and Wistar (Crlj:WI) pups were fostered from postnatal day 1 as follows: Wistar pups raised by Wistar dams, F344 raised by Wistar, Wistar raised by F344, and F344 raised by F344. At 10 weeks of age, rats were randomly assigned to an open-field test and social interaction test. In the open-field test, irrespective of the rearing conditions, the activity during the first 1 min was significantly lower in F344 rats than in Wistar rats. Latency to the onset of movement showed no difference between groups. In the social interaction test, the recognition performance during the first 1 min in F344 raised by F344 was significantly shorter than that in the other groups. The onset of recognition to a novel social partner in F344 raised by F344 was significantly delayed, and the delay disappeared upon cross-fostering by Wistar dams. These results raise the possibility that the behavioral phenotype of F344 rats results from the interplay of genetic factors and maternal environment during early life, and that F344 rats are a strain with high susceptibility to rearing conditions for the formation of their emotionality.

Tweeting nano: how public discourses about nanotechnology develop in social media environments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Runge, Kristin K., E-mail: kkrunge@wisc.edu; Yeo, Sara K.; Cacciatore, Michael; Scheufele, Dietram A.; Brossard, Dominique [University of Wisconsin, Department of Life Sciences Communication (United States); Xenos, Michael [University of Wisconsin, Department of Communication Arts (United States); Anderson, Ashley; Choi, Doo-hun; Kim, Jiyoun; Nan, Li; Xuan, Liang; Stubbings, Maria; Su, Leona Yi-Fan [University of Wisconsin, Department of Life Sciences Communication (United States)

2013-01-15

The growing popularity of social media as a channel for distributing and debating scientific information raises questions about the types of discourse that surround emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology, in online environments, as well as the different forms of information that audiences encounter when they use these online tools of information sharing. This study maps the landscape surrounding social media traffic about nanotechnology. Specifically, we use computational linguistic software to analyze a census of all English-language nanotechnology-related tweets expressing opinions posted on Twitter between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011. Results show that 55 % of tweets expressed certainty and 45 % expressed uncertainty. Twenty-seven percent of tweets expressed optimistic outlooks, 32 % expressed neutral outlooks and 41 % expressed pessimistic outlooks. Tweets were mapped by U.S. state, and our data show that tweets are more likely to originate from states with a federally funded National Nanotechnology Initiative center or network. The trend toward certainty in opinion coupled with the distinct geographic origins of much of the social media traffic on Twitter for nanotechnology-related opinion has significant implications for understanding how key online influencers are debating and positioning the issue of nanotechnology for lay and policy audiences.

Tweeting nano: how public discourses about nanotechnology develop in social media environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Runge, Kristin K.; Yeo, Sara K.; Cacciatore, Michael; Scheufele, Dietram A.; Brossard, Dominique; Xenos, Michael; Anderson, Ashley; Choi, Doo-hun; Kim, Jiyoun; Li Nan; Liang Xuan; Stubbings, Maria; Su, Leona Yi-Fan

2013-01-01

The growing popularity of social media as a channel for distributing and debating scientific information raises questions about the types of discourse that surround emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology, in online environments, as well as the different forms of information that audiences encounter when they use these online tools of information sharing. This study maps the landscape surrounding social media traffic about nanotechnology. Specifically, we use computational linguistic software to analyze a census of all English-language nanotechnology-related tweets expressing opinions posted on Twitter between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011. Results show that 55 % of tweets expressed certainty and 45 % expressed uncertainty. Twenty-seven percent of tweets expressed optimistic outlooks, 32 % expressed neutral outlooks and 41 % expressed pessimistic outlooks. Tweets were mapped by U.S. state, and our data show that tweets are more likely to originate from states with a federally funded National Nanotechnology Initiative center or network. The trend toward certainty in opinion coupled with the distinct geographic origins of much of the social media traffic on Twitter for nanotechnology-related opinion has significant implications for understanding how key online influencers are debating and positioning the issue of nanotechnology for lay and policy audiences.

The interplay of physical and social wellbeing in older adults: investigating the relationship between physical training and social interactions with virtual social environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iman Khaghani Far

2015-11-01

study also confirms that a virtual gym service is effective for supporting individually tailored home-based physical training for older adults. The study also confirms that social facilitation tools motivate users to train together in a virtual fitness environment.Discussion. The study confirms that Gymcentral increases the participation of older adults in physical training compare to a similar version of the application without social and persuasive features. In addition, a significant increase in the co-presence of the Social group indicates that social presence motivates the participants to join training sessions at the same time with the other participants. These results are encouraging, as they motivate further research into using home-based training programs as an opportunity to stay physically and socially active, especially for those who for various reasons are bound to stay at home.

An Analysis of Density and Degree-Centrality According to the Social Networking Structure Formed in an Online Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Ergün, Esin; Usluel, Yasemin Koçak

2016-01-01

In this study, we assessed the communication structure in an educational online learning environment using social network analysis (SNA). The communication structure was examined with respect to time, and instructor's participation. The course was implemented using ELGG, a network learning environment, blended with face-to-face sessions over a…

Performative Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Bo Stjerne

2008-01-01

The paper explores how performative architecture can act as a collective environment localizing urban flows and establishing public domains through the integration of pervasive computing and animation techniques. The NoRA project introduces the concept of ‘performative environments,' focusing on ...... of local interactions and network behaviour, building becomes social infrastructure and prompts an understanding of architectural structures as quasiobjects, which can retain both variation and recognisability in changing social constellations.......The paper explores how performative architecture can act as a collective environment localizing urban flows and establishing public domains through the integration of pervasive computing and animation techniques. The NoRA project introduces the concept of ‘performative environments,' focusing...

Broken Homes: Stable Risk, Changing Reasons, Changing Forms.

Science.gov (United States)

Sweetser, Dorrian Apple

1985-01-01

Cohort membership and two measures of social disadvantage were used as explanatory variables in analysis of the risk of growing up in a broken home and of the living arrangements of children with broken homes. The risk of a broken home by age 16 proved to be stable across cohorts and greater for those from disadvantaged homes. (Author/BL)

The Social Semantic Web in Intelligent Learning Environments: State of the Art and Future Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Jovanovic, Jelena; Gasevic, Dragan; Torniai, Carlo; Bateman, Scott; Hatala, Marek

2009-01-01

Today's technology-enhanced learning practices cater to students and teachers who use many different learning tools and environments and are used to a paradigm of interaction derived from open, ubiquitous, and socially oriented services. In this context, a crucial issue for education systems in general, and for Intelligent Learning Environments…

Chlorofluorocarbons and the environment: scientific, economic, social and political issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Badr, O; Probert, S D; O' Callaghan, P W [Cranfield Inst. of Technology, Bedford (GB). Dept. of Applied Energy

1990-01-01

Chlorofluorocarbons have been among the most useful chemical compounds ever developed. However, after more than forty years of a continuously increasing rate of worldwide use in the industrial and domestic sectors, unequivocal evidence has indicated that, if released into Earth's atmosphere, they are amongst the most devastating of pollutants that could threaten the quality of life for future generations. Thus it is not surprising that, for nearly two decades, this dichotomy of interests has been a prominent issue. This report presents the scientific evidence available concerning the impacts of chlorofluorocarbons on the ambient environment. Regional, national and international policies adopted to try to curb their emissions into the atmosphere are summarised. Economic and social consequences of these policies are discussed, together with some of the available and recommended technological solutions to the environmental problem. It is believed that agreements reached internationally to date are insufficient to ensure the adequate protection of the environment. Even an immediate total ban on the production and use of such chemical compounds would not lead to a reversal of the environmental degradation for at least a century, due to the chlorofluorocarbons already in the atmosphere. (author).

Adolescent vigorous physical activity and the neighborhood school environment: examinations by family social class

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svastisalee, Chalida; Schipperijn, Jasper; Holstein, Bjørn Evald

Purpose: To investigate whether associations between daily vigorous physical activity (VPA) and the built environment are patterned according to family social class. Methods: We used self-reported daily VPA measured in 6046 11 to 15-year-old boys and girls in 80 schools. Multi-level stratified...... likely to achieve daily VPA than boys. Among children from low family social class backgrounds, girls were less likely to achieve daily VPA than boys (OR = 0.40; CI: 0.28-0.57). Additionally, children from low family social class backgrounds attending schools with low exposure to walking and cycling...... paths had the lowest odds (OR =0.51; CI: 0.29-0.88) of achieving daily VPA than those attending schools with higher exposure to paths. Conclusions: Findings of this study suggest that a lack of supportive physical activity support in school surroundings may have a greater impact on children of low...

The analysis and design of urban near-home environments according to psycho-social needs and behavior of human beings

OpenAIRE

Serpil, Burçak

1996-01-01

Ankara : Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design and the Institute of Fine Arts of Bilkent University, 1996. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 1996. Includes bibliographical references leaves 129-132. In this study, the design of urban near-home environments is examined considering the social and psychological needs of human beings as well as human spatial behavior. After an introduction to the concepts such as environment, near-home environments, human-e...

Selection of energy source and evolutionary stable strategies for power plants under financial intervention of government

Science.gov (United States)

Hafezalkotob, Ashkan; Mahmoudi, Reza

2017-09-01

Currently, many socially responsible governments adopt economic incentives and deterrents to manage environmental impacts of electricity suppliers. Considering the Stackelberg leadership of the government, the government's role in the competition of power plants in an electricity market is investigated. A one-population evolutionary game model of power plants is developed to study how their production strategy depends on tariffs levied by the government. We establish that a unique evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) for the population exists. Numerical examples demonstrate that revenue maximization and environment protection policies of the government significantly affect the production ESS of competitive power plants. The results reveal that the government can introduce a green energy source as an ESS of the competitive power plants by imposing appropriate tariffs.

Evaluation of social interaction, task management, and trust among dental hygiene students in a collaborative learning environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Saylor, Catherine D; Keselyak, Nancy T; Simmer-Beck, Melanie; Tira, Daniel

2011-02-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of collaborative learning on the development of social interaction, task management, and trust in dental hygiene students. These three traits were assessed with the Teamwork Assessment Scale in two different learning environments (traditional lecture/lab and collaborative learning environment). A convenience sample of fifty-six entry-level dental hygiene students taking an introductory/preclinic course at two metropolitan area dental hygiene programs provided comparable experimental and control groups. Factor scores were computed for the three traits, and comparisons were conducted using the Ryan-Einot-Gabriel-Welsh multiple comparison procedure among specific cell comparisons generated from a two-factor repeated measures ANOVA. The results indicate that the collaborative learning environment influenced dental hygiene students positively regarding the traits of social interaction, task management, and trust. However, comparing dental hygiene students to undergraduate students overall indicates that dental hygiene students already possess somewhat higher levels of these traits. Future studies on active learning strategies should examine factors such as student achievement and explore other possible active learning methodologies.

Improving the Neighborhood Environment for Urban Older Adults: Social Context and Self-Rated Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathis, Arlesia; Rooks, Ronica; Kruger, Daniel

2015-12-22

By 2030, older adults will account for 20% of the U.S. Over 80% of older adults live in urban areas. This study examines associations between neighborhood environment and self-rated health (SRH) among urban older adults. We selected 217 individuals aged 65+ living in a deindustrialized Midwestern city who answered questions on the 2009 Speak to Your Health survey. The relationship between neighborhood environment and self-rated health (SRH) was analyzed using regression and GIS models. Neighborhood variables included social support and participation, perceived racism and crime. Additional models included actual crime indices to compare differences between perceived and actual crime. Seniors who have poor SRH are 21% more likely to report fear of crime than seniors with excellent SRH (p = 0.01). Additional analyses revealed Black seniors are 7% less likely to participate in social activities (p = 0.005) and 4% more likely to report experiencing racism (p older adults living in urban neighborhoods, studies such as this one are important for well-being among seniors. Mitigating environmental influences in the neighborhood which are associated with poor SRH may allow urban older adults to maintain health and reduce disability.

Followership in Ecology/Environment Social Movements.

Science.gov (United States)

Clavner, Jerry B.; Sumodi, Veronica R.

The paper analyzes the failure of the ecology/environmental movement to develop into a social movement and to generate a mass following. The movement has had difficulty not only in organizing collective behavior but also in maintaining the necessary momentum to change into a full-fledged social movement. Obvious reasons are that ecologists…

Food, fat, family and friends : studies on the impact of the social environment on dietary intake

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Feunekes, G.I.J.

1996-01-01

The impact of the social environment on food and fat intake was investigated in several samples including family members, close friends, and meal time companions in the Netherlands. Firstly, a food frequency questionnaire to assess the intake of fat, fatty acids and cholesterol was

Associations of perceived neighborhood physical and social environments with physical activity and television viewing in African American men and women

Science.gov (United States)

Strong, Larkin L.; Reitzel, Lorraine R.; Wetter, David W.; McNeill, Lorna H.

2013-01-01

Purpose Few studies have assessed how attributes of neighborhood environments contribute to sedentary, in addition to active, behaviors. This study investigated associations of perceived social and physical aspects of neighborhood environments with television (TV) viewing and physical activity (PA) in African American adults. Design Cross-sectional analysis of self-reported survey. Setting Large mega-church in Houston, TX. Subjects 1,374 African American men and women. Measures Outcomes included log-transformed daily TV viewing and participation in medium/high levels of PA, measured by the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Neighborhood perceptions were assessed with the Social Cohesion and Trust and the Neighborhood Problems scales. Analysis Multivariable models that controlled for clustering within neighborhoods. Results Reporting more neighborhood problems was significantly associated with greater log-transformed TV viewing in women (β=0.017, SE=0.006, p=0.003), and social cohesion was positively associated with PA in women (OR=1.06, 95% CI=1.02, 1.11, p=0.006). Concerns about litter and walking after dark, and a lack of places to shop were associated with increased TV viewing among women, and concerns about traffic and walking after dark were associated with reduced PA among men. Conclusion Physical and social neighborhood conditions were associated with TV viewing and PA, particularly in women. Neighborhood-based strategies to reduce sedentary behaviors and enhance PA should include attention to social as well as physical aspects of neighborhood environments. PMID:23398134

Associations of perceived neighborhood physical and social environments with physical activity and television viewing in African-American men and women.

Science.gov (United States)

Strong, Larkin L; Reitzel, Lorraine R; Wetter, David W; McNeill, Lorna H

2013-01-01

Few studies have assessed how attributes of neighborhood environments contribute to sedentary, in addition to active, behaviors. This study investigated associations of perceived social and physical aspects of neighborhood environments with television (TV) viewing and physical activity (PA) in African-American adults. Cross-sectional analysis of self-reported survey. Large mega-church in Houston, Texas. A total of 1374 African-American men and women. Outcomes included log-transformed daily TV viewing and participation in medium/high levels of PA, measured by the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Neighborhood perceptions were assessed with the Social Cohesion and Trust and the Neighborhood Problems scales. Multivariable models that controlled for clustering within neighborhoods. Reporting more neighborhood problems was significantly associated with greater log-transformed TV viewing in women (β = .017, SE = .006, p = .003), and social cohesion was positively associated with PA in women (odds ratio = 1.06, 95% confidence interval = 1.02, 1.11, p = .006). Concerns about litter and walking after dark and a lack of places to shop were associated with increased TV viewing among women, and concerns about traffic and walking after dark were associated with reduced PA among men. Physical and social neighborhood conditions were associated with TV viewing and PA, particularly in women. Neighborhood-based strategies to reduce sedentary behaviors and enhance PA should include attention to social as well as physical aspects of neighborhood environments.

[Premature immunosenescence in catecholamines syntesis deficient mice. Effect of social environment].

Science.gov (United States)

Garrido, Antonio; Cruces, Julia; Iriarte, Idoia; Hernández-Sánchez, Catalina; de Pablo, Flora; de la Fuente, Mónica

Healthy state depends on the appropriate function of the homeostatic systems (nervous, endocrine and immune systems) and the correct communication between them. The functional and redox state of the immune system is an excellent marker of health, and animals with premature immunosenescence show a shorter lifespan. Since catecholamines modulate the function of immune cells, the alteration in their synthesis could provoke immunosenescence. The social environment could be a strategy for modulating this immunosenescence. To determine if an haploinsufficiency of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the limiting enzyme of synthesis of catecholamines, may produce a premature immunosenescence and if this immunosenescence could be modulated by the social environment. Adult (9±1 months) male ICR-CD1 mice with deletion of a single allele (hemi-zygotic: HZ) of the tyrosine hydroxylase enzyme (TH-HZ) and wild-type (WT) mice were used. Animals were housed in four subgroups: WT>50% (in the cage, the proportion of WT mice was higher than 50% in relation to TH-HZ), WT50%. Peritoneal leukocytes were collected and phagocytosis, chemotaxis and proliferation of lymphocytes in the presence of lipopolysaccharide were analyzed. Glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase activities as well as oxidized/reduced glutathione ratio were studied. TH-HZ>50% mice showed a deteriorated function and redox state in leukocytes respect to WT>50% and similar to old mice. However, TH-HZ<50% animals had similar values to those found in WT<50% mice. The haploinsufficiency of TH generates premature immunosenescence, which appears to be compensated by living together with an appropriate number of WT animals. Copyright © 2016 SEGG. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Family Social Environment and Parenting Predictors of Alcohol Use among Adolescents in Lithuania

OpenAIRE

Linas Šumskas; Apolinaras Zaborskis

2017-01-01

The role of the family as the social environment in shaping adolescent lifestyle has recently received substantial attention. This study was focused on investigating the association between familial and parenting predictors and alcohol use in school-aged children. Adolescents aged 13- and 15-year from a representative sample (N = 3715) of schools in Lithuania were surveyed during the spring of 2014. The methodology of the cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study wa...

Emotional and social competencies and perceptions of the interpersonal environment of an organization as related to the engagement of IT professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Pittenger, Linda M

2015-01-01

There is a dearth of research focused on the engagement of information technology (IT) professionals. This study analyzed the relationship between emotional and social competencies and the quality of the IT professional's perceptions of the interpersonal environment in an organization as they relate to employee engagement. Validated instruments were used and data was collected from 795 IT professionals in North America to quantitatively analyze the relationship between emotional and social competencies, role breadth self-efficacy (RBSE), with the quality of the IT professional's perceptions of the interpersonal environment, and those perceptions with employee engagement. The study results indicate that specific emotional and social competencies and RBSE relate differently to the quality of the perceptions of the interpersonal environment. The study also reveals how the quality of the IT professional's perceptions of the interpersonal environment relates to how much they engage in the organization. The findings indicate that the relationship between achievement orientation and the perceived interpersonal environment was positive and the relationship between influencing others and the perceived interpersonal environment was negative. Understanding such relationships offers much needed insight to practitioners and can benefit organizations that wish to increase the engagement of their IT professionals. The findings also can support practitioners to more effectively select and develop talent with the desired motives and traits. By doing so, organizations can experience increased employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention, resulting in higher productivity, quality, and profitability.

Consumer-oriented social data fusion: controlled learning in social environments, social advertising, and more

Science.gov (United States)

Grewe, L.

2013-05-01

This paper explores the current practices in social data fusion and analysis as it applies to consumer-oriented applications in a slew of areas including business, economics, politics, sciences, medicine, education and more. A categorization of these systems is proposed and contributions to each area are explored preceded by a discussion of some special issues related to social data and networks. From this work, future paths of consumer-based social data analysis research and current outstanding problems are discovered.

Sex-specific effects of the local social environment on juvenile post-fledging dispersal in great tits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Michler, Stephanie P. M.; Nicolaus, Marion; Ubels, Richard; van der Velde, Marco; Komdeur, Jan; Both, Christiaan; Tinbergen, Joost M.; Gibson, R.

2011-01-01

An individual's decision to disperse from the natal habitat can affect its future fitness prospects. Especially in species with sex-biased dispersal, we expect the cost benefit balance for dispersal to vary according to the social environment (e.g., local sex ratio and density). However, little is

The effect of social environment on alternative mating tactics in male Endler’s guppy, Poecilia wingei

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Řežucha, Radomil; Reichard, Martin

2014-01-01

Roč. 88, č. 2 (2014), s. 195-202 ISSN 0003-3472 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA206/09/1163 Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : alternative mating tactics * courtship * experience * Poecilia wingei * sneaking * social environment Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 3.137, year: 2014

The Relation of Prosocial Orientation to Peer Interactions, Family Social Environment and Personality of Chinese Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Hing Keung; Cheung, Ping Chung; Shek, Daniel T. L.

2007-01-01

This study investigated the relation of peer interactions, family social environment and personality to prosocial orientation in Chinese adolescents. The results indicated no sex differences in general prosocial orientation and inclination to help others, but sex differences in inclination to maintain an affective relationship and inclination to…

From outer space to Earth-The social significance of isolated and confined environment research in human space exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Tachibana, Koji; Tachibana, Shoichi; Inoue, Natsuhiko

2017-11-01

Human space exploration requires massive budgets every fiscal year. Especially under severe financial constraint conditions, governments are forced to justify to society why spending so much tax revenue for human space exploration is worth the cost. The value of human space exploration might be estimated in many ways, but its social significance and cost-effectiveness are two key ways to gauge that worth. Since these measures should be applied country by country because sociopolitical conditions differ in each country and must be taken into consideration, the study on the social significance of human space exploration must take the coloration of a case-study. This paper, focusing on the case of Japan with surveying Japanese literary and national documents as well as taking its sociopolitical conditions into account, examines the social significance of human space exploration. First, we give an overview of the circumstances surrounding Japan's human space exploration program. Derived from the statements of such relevant parties as scholars, journalists, policy makers, and astronauts, this overview indicates that the main concerns about human space exploration in Japan are its social significance and cost-effectiveness (Section 1). Next, an overview of behavioral science-an essential field for human space exploration (referred to in this paper as space behavioral science) that provides support for astronauts-is presented from the perspective of stress research in isolated and confined environments (Section 2). We then give two examples of where such knowledge from space behavioral science research has been applied to terrestrial isolated and confined environments. One is JAXA's support in 2009 for people who were vulnerable to infection by a new strain of flu and accordingly placed in an isolated and confined facility under the Infectious Disease Law and the Quarantine Law. The other is NASA's support in 2010 for Chilean mine workers who were trapped 700 m

Access of children with cerebral palsy to the physical, social and attitudinal environment they need: a cross-sectional European study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Colver, Allan F; Dickinson, Heather O; Parkinson, Kathryn

2011-01-01

for disabled children in Europe. Method. One thousand one-hundred and seventy-four children aged 8-12 years were randomly selected from population-based registers of children with cerebral palsy in eight European regions. 743 children joined the study; one further region recruited 75 children from multiple...... sources. Researchers visited these 818 children and administered the European Child Environment Questionnaire, which records parents' perceptions of availability of the physical, social and attitudinal environment needed in home, school and community. Multilevel, multivariable regression related child...... access on these domains to their impairments and socio-demographic characteristics. Results. Children with more impaired walking ability had less access to the physical environment, transport and social support they needed than other children. They also experienced less favourable attitudes from family...

Social Contact in Virtual Learning Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heilesen, Simon

2013-01-01

A common question is whether technology will replace social contact. In this article it is argued that it will not, provided that we learn to use the characteristics of new media constructively in designing for learning. The term “social”, in this context is taken to mean “purposeful communication......” and not “recreational socializing” (even if socializing may indeed facilitate learning)...

Tracking Reactive Nitrogen Sources, Chemistry and Deposition in Urban Environments Using Stable Isotopes

Science.gov (United States)

Hastings, M. G.; Clark, S. C.; Chai, J.; Joyce, E.; Miller, D. J.; Schiebel, H.; Walters, W.

2017-12-01

Reactive nitrogen (Nr) includes compounds such as nitrogen oxides (NOx, HONO), ammonia (NH3), nitrate (NO3-), ammonium (NH4+), and organic nitrates. These compounds serve major roles in controlling the composition of our atmosphere, and have a direct impact on ecosystem health and water quality. Our research is focused on using stable isotopes of Nr to investigate variations in sources, chemistry, atmospheric transport, and deposition. Our aim is to fingerprint distinct emission sources - such as vehicles, power plants, aircraft, agriculature, wildfires, and lightning - and track their influence in the environment. We have recently characterized vehicle emission plumes, emissions from agricultural soils under different management practices, and (in the near future) wildfire plumes in the western U.S. Our approach targets characterizing the isotopic composition of NOx, HONO, and NH3 at both the emissions source and the plume scale. In contrast to large ranges found for individual tailpipe emissions of NOx, on-road plumes in the U.S. have a mean δ15N of -4.7 ± 1.7‰. The plume scale approach integrates across the typical U.S. fleet giving a representative value that can be used for tracking the impact of this emission source in the environment. NH3 also tends towards a narrow isotopic range when considered at the roadside scale compared to individual vehicles. In agricultural settings, the isotopes of NOx and HONO released from soils under different fertilizer practices is typically very negative in δ15N (-40 to -10‰) and appears to vary most with soil N properties rather than meteorology. Our work is now extending to discern sources influencing Nr deposition in an urban area at the head of New England's largest estuary. National monitoring of N deposition shows decreases in NO3- (but not NH4+) deposition over the last two decades, following better controls on NOx emissions. Wet deposition collected in an urban area exhibits N concentrations that are often 3

THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL STATUS AND ETHNICITY ON DIET IN MEDIAEVAL TALLINN AS SEEN THROUGH STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lightfoot, Emma; Naum, Magdalena; Kadakas, Villu

2016-01-01

, for comparative purposes. The individuals were investigated using carbon, nitrogen and oxygen stable isotope analysis. The results indicate that while all analysed individuals consumed diets based on C3 plants and animals consuming C3 plants, some individuals also consumed small amounts of C4 plants (likely......Food encodes social and cultural values and has an important role to play in defining identities. In mixed populations, diet can be used to distinguish between ‘us’ and ‘them’. This study investigates the extent to which the inhabitants of mediaeval Tallinn, an important trading centre, used food...... millet) or seafood. C 4 plants were consumed by the urban residents buried at the Church of the Holy Spirit and one or two individuals from Sulevimägi. It is thought that millet was an imported food consumed by the middle class. Marine foods were consumed by the individuals at St Catherine’s Church...

Community Core Evolution in Mobile Social Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Xu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Community detection in social networks attracts a lot of attention in the recent years. Existing methods always depict the relationship of two nodes using the temporary connection. However, these temporary connections cannot be fully recognized as the real relationships when the history connections among nodes are considered. For example, a casual visit in Facebook cannot be seen as an establishment of friendship. Hence, our question is the following: how to cluster the real friends in mobile social networks? In this paper, we study the problem of detecting the stable community core in mobile social networks. The cumulative stable contact is proposed to depict the relationship among nodes. The whole process is divided into timestamps. Nodes and their connections can be added or removed at each timestamp, and historical contacts are considered when detecting the community core. Also, community cores can be tracked through the incremental computing, which can help to recognize the evolving of community structure. Empirical studies on real-world social networks demonstrate that our proposed method can effectively detect stable community cores in mobile social networks.

Community core evolution in mobile social networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Hao; Xiao, Weidong; Tang, Daquan; Tang, Jiuyang; Wang, Zhenwen

2013-01-01

Community detection in social networks attracts a lot of attention in the recent years. Existing methods always depict the relationship of two nodes using the temporary connection. However, these temporary connections cannot be fully recognized as the real relationships when the history connections among nodes are considered. For example, a casual visit in Facebook cannot be seen as an establishment of friendship. Hence, our question is the following: how to cluster the real friends in mobile social networks? In this paper, we study the problem of detecting the stable community core in mobile social networks. The cumulative stable contact is proposed to depict the relationship among nodes. The whole process is divided into timestamps. Nodes and their connections can be added or removed at each timestamp, and historical contacts are considered when detecting the community core. Also, community cores can be tracked through the incremental computing, which can help to recognize the evolving of community structure. Empirical studies on real-world social networks demonstrate that our proposed method can effectively detect stable community cores in mobile social networks.

vPELS: An E-Learning Social Environment for VLSI Design with Content Security Using DRM

Science.gov (United States)

Dewan, Jahangir; Chowdhury, Morshed; Batten, Lynn

2014-01-01

This article provides a proposal for personal e-learning system (vPELS [where "v" stands for VLSI: very large scale integrated circuit])) architecture in the context of social network environment for VLSI Design. The main objective of vPELS is to develop individual skills on a specific subject--say, VLSI--and share resources with peers.…

Out of School Learning Environments in Social Studies Education: A Phenomenological Research with Teacher Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Topçu, Ersin

2017-01-01

In this study, it was aimed to determine the remarks of teacher candidates on the place and importance of out of school learning environments in Social Studies education. Phenomenological method, which is one of the qualitative research designs, was used in this study. The work group of the study consists of 73 teacher candidates who conduct out…

Polymedia and Ethnography: Understanding the Social in Social Media

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirca Madianou

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In this essay I argue that social media need to be understood as part of complex environments of communicative opportunities which I conceptualize as polymedia. This approach shifts our attention from social media as discrete platforms to the ways users navigate environments of affordances in order to manage their social relationships. Ethnography emerges as the most appropriate method to capture the relational dynamics that underpin social media practices within polymedia.

High precision and stable structures for particle detectors

CERN Document Server

Da Mota Silva, S; Hauviller, Claude

1999-01-01

The central detectors used in High Energy Physics Experiments require the use of light and stable structures capable of supporting delicate and precise radiation detection elements. These structures need to be highly stable under environmental conditions where external vibrations, high radiation levels, temperature and humidity gradients should be taken into account. Their main design drivers are high dimension and dynamic stability, high stiffness to mass ratio and large radiation length. For most applications, these constraints lead us to choose Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics ( CFRP) as structural element. The construction of light and stable structures with CFRP for these applications can be achieved by careful design engineering and further confirmation at the prototyping phase. However, the experimental environment can influence their characteristics and behavior. In this case, theuse of adaptive structures could become a solution for this problem. We are studying structures in CFRP with bonded piezoel...

Conceptual shifts needed to understand the dynamic interactions of genes, environment, epigenetics, social processes, and behavioral choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Fatimah L C; Niculescu, Mihai D; Jackson, Robert T

2013-10-01

Social and behavioral research in public health is often intimately tied to profound, but frequently neglected, biological influences from underlying genetic, environmental, and epigenetic events. The dynamic interplay between the life, social, and behavioral sciences often remains underappreciated and underutilized in addressing complex diseases and disorders and in developing effective remediation strategies. Using a case-study format, we present examples as to how the inclusion of genetic, environmental, and epigenetic data can augment social and behavioral health research by expanding the parameters of such studies, adding specificity to phenotypic assessments, and providing additional internal control in comparative studies. We highlight the important roles of gene-environment interactions and epigenetics as sources of phenotypic change and as a bridge between the life and social and behavioral sciences in the development of robust interdisciplinary analyses.

Indoor environment and children's health: recent developments in chemical, biological, physical and social aspects.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Cann, Pierre; Bonvallot, Nathalie; Glorennec, Philippe; Deguen, Séverine; Goeury, Christophe; Le Bot, Barbara

2011-12-01

Much research is being carried out into indoor exposure to harmful agents. This review focused on the impact on children's health, taking a broad approach to the indoor environment and including chemical, microbial, physical and social aspects. Papers published from 2006 onwards were reviewed, with regards to scientific context. Most of publications dealt with chemical exposure. Apart from the ongoing issue of combustion by-products, most of these papers concerned semi volatile organic compounds (such as phthalates). These may be associated with neurotoxic, reprotoxic or respiratory effects and may, therefore, be of particular interest so far as children are concerned. In a lesser extent, volatile organic compounds (such as aldehydes) that have mainly respiratory effects are still studied. Assessing exposure to metals is still of concern, with increasing interest in bioaccessibility. Most of the papers on microbial exposure focused on respiratory tract infections, especially asthma linked to allergens and bio-aerosols. Physical exposure includes noise and electromagnetic fields, and articles dealt with the auditory and non auditory effects of noise. Articles on radiofrequency electromagnetic fields mainly concerned questions about non-thermal effects and papers on extremely low-frequency magnetic fields focused on the characterization of exposure. The impact of the indoor environment on children's health cannot be assessed merely by considering the effect of these different types of exposure: this review highlights new findings and also discusses the interactions between agents in indoor environments and also with social aspects. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Where am I? Who am I? The Relation Between Spatial Cognition, Social Cognition and Individual Differences in the Built Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Proulx, Michael J.; Todorov, Orlin S.; Taylor Aiken, Amanda; de Sousa, Alexandra A.

2016-01-01

Knowing who we are, and where we are, are two fundamental aspects of our physical and mental experience. Although the domains of spatial and social cognition are often studied independently, a few recent areas of scholarship have explored the interactions of place and self. This fits in with increasing evidence for embodied theories of cognition, where mental processes are grounded in action and perception. Who we are might be integrated with where we are, and impact how we move through space. Individuals vary in personality, navigational strategies, and numerous cognitive and social competencies. Here we review the relation between social and spatial spheres of existence in the realms of philosophical considerations, neural and psychological representations, and evolutionary context, and how we might use the built environment to suit who we are, or how it creates who we are. In particular we investigate how two spatial reference frames, egocentric and allocentric, might transcend into the social realm. We then speculate on how environments may interact with spatial cognition. Finally, we suggest how a framework encompassing spatial and social cognition might be taken in consideration by architects and urban planners. PMID:26903893

The Development and Validation of an Instrument to Monitor the Implementation of Social Constructivist Learning Environments in Grade 9 Science Classrooms in South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Luckay, Melanie B.; Laugksch, Rudiger C.

2015-02-01

This article describes the development and validation of an instrument that can be used to assess students' perceptions of their learning environment as a means of monitoring and guiding changes toward social constructivist learning environments. The study used a mixed-method approach with priority given to the quantitative data collection. During the quantitative data collection phase, a new instrument—the Social Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (SCLES)—was developed and used to collect data from 1,955 grade 9 science students from 52 classes in 50 schools in the Western Cape province, South Africa. The data were analysed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the new instrument, which assessed six dimensions of the classroom learning environment, namely, Working with Ideas, Personal Relevance, Collaboration, Critical Voice, Uncertainty in Science and Respect for Difference. Two dimensions were developed specifically for the present study in order to contextualise the questionnaire to the requirements of the new South African curriculum (namely, Metacognition and Respect for Difference). In the qualitative data collection phase, two case studies were used to investigate whether profiles of class mean scores on the new instrument could provide an accurate and "trustworthy" description of the learning environment of individual science classes. The study makes significant contributions to the field of learning environments in that it is one of the first major studies of its kind in South Africa with a focus on social constructivism and because the instrument developed captures important aspects of the learning environment associated with social constructivism.

Physical neighborhood and social environment, beliefs about sleep, sleep hygiene behaviors, and sleep quality among African Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Nam, Soohyun; Whittemore, Robin; Jung, Sunyoung; Latkin, Carl; Kershaw, Trace; Redeker, Nancy S

2018-06-01

African Americans (AAs) have a higher prevalence of sleep disorders than other racial/ethnic groups. However, little is known about the relationships among individual and neighborhood factors related to sleep quality in AAs. The purposes of this study were to (1) describe beliefs about sleep, sleep hygiene behaviors, and sleep quality among AAs; and (2) examine the relationships among sociodemographic characteristics, neighborhood environment, beliefs about sleep, sleep hygiene behaviors, and sleep quality. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 252 AA men and women in the Greater New Haven, CT, USA community. We assessed their sociodemographic characteristics, neighborhood environment, beliefs about sleep, sleep hygiene, and sleep quality with the following measures, respectively: the Neighborhood Environment Scale, the brief version of Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep, the Sleep Hygiene Practice Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. We performed descriptive statistics, correlations and multiple hierarchical regression. About 72% of the participants (mean age: 53.88 ± 14.17 years, 77.8% women) reported experiencing sleep disturbance. People with poor sleep quality were more likely to report poorer neighborhood social environment (social cohesion), poorer overall neighborhood environment, more dysfunctional beliefs toward sleep, and poorer sleep hygiene than those who had good sleep quality. In the final multivariate model that controlled for a number of chronic comorbid conditions, neighborhood environment, beliefs about sleep, and sleep hygiene behaviors were significantly associated with sleep quality. Future efforts are needed to improve sleep among AAs by considering both the individual's belief about sleep, sleep hygiene behaviors and neighborhood factors. Copyright © 2018 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social interaction in type 2 diabetes computer-mediated environments: How inherent features of the channels influence peer-to-peer interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewinski, Allison A; Fisher, Edwin B

2016-06-01

Interventions via the internet provide support to individuals managing chronic illness. The purpose of this integrative review was to determine how the features of a computer-mediated environment influence social interactions among individuals with type 2 diabetes. A combination of MeSH and keyword terms, based on the cognates of three broad groupings: social interaction, computer-mediated environments, and chronic illness, was used to search the PubMed, PsychInfo, Sociology Research Database, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases. Eleven articles met the inclusion criteria. Computer-mediated environments enhance an individual's ability to interact with peers while increasing the convenience of obtaining personalized support. A matrix, focused on social interaction among peers, identified themes across all articles, and five characteristics emerged: (1) the presence of synchronous and asynchronous communication, (2) the ability to connect with similar peers, (3) the presence or absence of a moderator, (4) personalization of feedback regarding individual progress and self-management, and (5) the ability of individuals to maintain choice during participation. Individuals interact with peers to obtain relevant, situation-specific information and knowledge about managing their own care. Computer-mediated environments facilitate the ability of individuals to exchange this information despite temporal or geographical barriers that may be present, thus improving T2D self-management. © The Author(s) 2015.

The Neural Circuitry of Expertise: Perceptual Learning and Social Cognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael eHarre

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Amongst the most significant questions we are confronted with today include the integration of the brain's micro-circuitry, our ability to build the complex social networks that underpin society and how our society impacts on our ecological environment. In trying to unravel these issues one place to begin is at the level of the individual: to consider how we accumulate information about our environment, how this information leads to decisions and how our individual decisions in turn create our social environment. While this is an enormous task, we may already have at hand many of the tools we need. This article is intended to review some of the recent results in neuro-cognitive research and show how they can be extended to two very specific types of expertise: perceptual expertise and social cognition. These two cognitive skills span a vast range of our genetic heritage. Perceptual expertise developed very early in our evolutionary history and is likely a highly developed part of all mammals' cognitive ability. On the other hand social cognition is most highly developed in humans in that we are able to maintain larger and more stable long term social connections with more behaviourally diverse individuals than any other species. To illustrate these ideas I will discuss board games as a toy model of social interactions as they include many of the relevant concepts: perceptual learning, decision-making, long term planning and understanding the mental states of other people. Using techniques that have been developed in mathematical psychology, I show that we can represent some of the key features of expertise using stochastic differential equations. Such models demonstrate how an expert's long exposure to a particular context influences the information they accumulate in order to make a decision.These processes are not confined to board games, we are all experts in our daily lives through long exposure to the many regularities of daily tasks and

(AMMI) and genotype by environment interaction

African Journals Online (AJOL)

SARAH

2014-04-30

Apr 30, 2014 ... Background and justification: Lack of stable high yielding cultivars is one ... of advanced finger millet genotypes evaluated in multiple environments, and (ii) identify stable high yielding .... for interaction principal component axis (IPCA) n, γgn ..... Table 2: Analysis of variance for grain yield using AMMI model.

From Brain-Environment Connections to Temporal Dynamics and Social Interaction: Principles of Human Brain Function.

Science.gov (United States)

Hari, Riitta

2017-06-07

Experimental data about brain function accumulate faster than does our understanding of how the brain works. To tackle some general principles at the grain level of behavior, I start from the omnipresent brain-environment connection that forces regularities of the physical world to shape the brain. Based on top-down processing, added by sparse sensory information, people are able to form individual "caricature worlds," which are similar enough to be shared among other people and which allow quick and purposeful reactions to abrupt changes. Temporal dynamics and social interaction in natural environments serve as further essential organizing principles of human brain function. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Socialization and School Environment in an Inclusive Learning Community in the Province of Talca , Chile

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marí­a Teresa Muñoz Quezada

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Currently there is concern for promoting healthy and inclusive coexistence in schools. The aim of this research was to assess the perception of socialization and school environment in an inclusive school in the Province of Talca, Chile. We conducted a cross-sectional case study in a sample of 180 students, 193 parents and 21 teachers. A questionnaire evaluating school life was applied to students, parents and teachers and another assessing the school's social climate and bullying was applied to students in the last two grades. The results indicate that students perceive a positive social climate with a low risk of bullying. Issues of conflict were students’ respect for the rules, being on friendly terms with the teachers, and disciplinary actions on the part of the families. We observed that the inclusive learning system contributes to school life and a positive climate and interactions.

Quantifying food intake in socially housed monkeys: social status effects on caloric consumption

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Mark E.; Fisher, Jeff; Fischer, Andrew; Lee, Vanessa; Harris, Ruth B.; Bartness, Timothy J.

2008-01-01

Obesity results from a number of factors including socio-environmental influences and rodent models show that several different stressors increase the preference for calorically dense foods leading to an obese phenotype. We present here a non-human primate model using socially housed adult female macaques living in long-term stable groups given access to diets of different caloric density. Consumption of a low fat (LFD; 15% of calories from fat) and a high fat diet (HFD; 45% of calories from fat) was quantified by means of a custom-built, automated feeder that dispensed a pellet of food when activated by a radiofrequency chip implanted subcutaneously in the animal’s wrist. Socially subordinate females showed indices of chronic psychological stress having reduced glucocorticoid negative feedback and higher frequencies of anxiety-like behavior. Twenty-four hour intakes of both the LFD and HFD were significantly greater in subordinates than dominates, an effect that persisted whether standard monkey chow (13% of calories from fat) was present or absent. Furthermore, although dominants restricted their food intake to daylight, subordinates continued to feed at night. Total caloric intake was significantly correlated with body weight change. Collectively, these results show that food intake can be reliably quantified in non-human primates living in complex social environments and suggest that socially-subordinate females consume more calories, suggesting this ethologically relevant model may help understand how psychosocial stress changes food preferences and consumption leading to obesity. PMID:18486158

Cybersecurity and privacy issues for socially integrated mobile healthcare applications operating in a multi-cloud environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Muhtadi, Jalal; Shahzad, Basit; Saleem, Kashif; Jameel, Wasif; Orgun, Mehmet A

2017-05-01

Social media has enabled information-sharing across massively large networks of people without spending much financial resources and time that are otherwise required in the print and electronic media. Mobile-based social media applications have overwhelmingly changed the information-sharing perspective. However, with the advent of such applications at an unprecedented scale, the privacy of the information is compromised to a larger extent if breach mitigation is not adequate. Since healthcare applications are also being developed for mobile devices so that they also benefit from the power of social media, cybersecurity privacy concerns for such sensitive applications have become critical. This article discusses the architecture of a typical mobile healthcare application, in which customized privacy levels are defined for the individuals participating in the system. It then elaborates on how the communication across a social network in a multi-cloud environment can be made more secure and private, especially for healthcare applications.

Oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) variant rs1042778 moderates the influence of family environment on changes in perceived social support over time.

Science.gov (United States)

Dobewall, Henrik; Hakulinen, Christian; Keltikangas-Järvinen, Liisa; Pulkki-Råback, Laura; Seppälä, Ilkka; Lehtimäki, Terho; Raitakari, Olli T; Hintsanen, Mirka

2018-08-01

Lack of social support is an established risk factor across health outcomes, making it important to examine its family environmental and genetic determinants. In a 27-year follow-up of the Young Finns Study (N = 2341), we examined with a latent growth curve model whether genes involved in the oxytocin signaling pathway-namely, oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) variants rs1042778, rs2254298, and rs53576-moderate the effect of early-life social experiences on perceived social support across the life span. Mothers reported the emotional warmth and acceptance towards their children at baseline when the participants were from 3 to 18 years old (1980). Perceived family support and support from friends and peripheral sources were assessed in five follow-ups 18 years apart (1989-2007). Maternal emotional warmth and acceptance predicted the initial level of perceived social support across subscales, while the rate of change in family support was affected by the family environment only if participants carried the T-allele of OXTR rs1042778. This gene-environment interaction was not found for the rate of change in support from friends and peripheral sources and we also did not find associations between latent growth in perceived social support and OXTR variants rs53576 and rs2254298. Selective attrition in perceived social support, maternal emotional warmth and acceptance, gender, and SES. Family environment was assessed by a non-standardized measure. OXTR rs1042778 polymorphism seems to contribute to changes in perceived family support in that way that some individuals (T-allele carriers) 'recover', to some extent, from the effects of early-life social experiences, whereas others (G/G genotype carriers) do not. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electric power social tariff: an environment of breach of contract, supply cuts and survival strategies; Tarifa social de energia eletrica: um ambiente de inadimplencia, cortes de fornecimento e estrategias de sobrevivencia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nunes Filho, Fernando Barreto; Nunes, Fernando Barreto; Nunes, Rina Azaryah Barreto. E-mail: fnunes@coelba.com.br

2002-07-01

This paper gives a contribution to the present debate on the electric power social tariff, focusing the maximum kWh level, for the payment difficulties of that client, and the client-concessionaire relationship. Initially, a theoretical basis is presented highlighting the role of the social stratification existent in the urban environment.

Five-year trajectories of social networks and social support in older adults with major depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Voils, Corrine I; Allaire, Jason C; Olsen, Maren K; Steffens, David C; Hoyle, Rick H; Bosworth, Hayden B

2007-12-01

Research with nondepressed adults suggests that social networks and social support are stable over the life course until very late age. This may not hold true for older adults with depression. We examined baseline status and trajectories of social networks and social support at the group and individual levels over five years. The sample consisted of 339 initially depressed adults aged 59 or older (M = 69 years) enrolled in a naturalistic study of depression. Measures of social ties, including social network size, frequency of interaction, instrumental support, and subjective support, were administered at baseline and yearly for five years. Latent growth curve models were estimated for each aspect of social ties. On average, social network size and frequency of interaction were low at baseline and remained stable over time, whereas subjective and instrumental support were high at baseline yet increased over time. There was significant variation in the direction and rate of change over time, which was not predicted by demographic or clinical factors. Because increasing social networks may be ineffective and may not be possible for a portion of people who already receive maximal support, interventions to increase social support may only work for a portion of older depressed adults.

Environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valentini, Chiara

2017-01-01

The term environment refers to the internal and external context in which organizations operate. For some scholars, environment is defined as an arrangement of political, economic, social and cultural factors existing in a given context that have an impact on organizational processes and structures....... For others, environment is a generic term describing a large variety of stakeholders and how these interact and act upon organizations. Organizations and their environment are mutually interdependent and organizational communications are highly affected by the environment. This entry examines the origin...... and development of organization-environment interdependence, the nature of the concept of environment and its relevance for communication scholarships and activities....

Socially Marginalized Environments, Unemployment and Media

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moravčík Oto

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In any society, regardless of its homogeneity and heterogeneity, there are minority groups, or those that require special attention and treatment because of their social and cultural characteristics, physical appearance, or because they have a lifestyle which differs from the dominant group and this causes them to be allocated the social status of minorities. The ongoing transformation of the economy since 1989 is now a major effect which continues to affect economic development. The planned economy and socialist market economy was replaced with the principles of free enterprise and the market mechanism. The market economy is closely tied to the labor market, which we view as the meeting point of labor supply with labor demand, resulting in labor costs - or wages. Position in the labor market is one of the most important factors through which an individual integrates into the social fabric.

Performance Implications of Environment-Strategy-Governance Misfit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lindawati Gani

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This study examines the impacts of matching competitive environment, business strategy, and corporate governance structure on firm performance. We predict that in a dynamic environment, firms pursuing a product differentiation strategy will perform better than firms pursuing a strategy of cost leadership, but the performance differential is affected by the level of board independence and managerial share ownership. In a stable environment, we predict that firms pursuing a strategy of cost leadership will perform better than firms pursuing a product differentiation strategy, and the performance differential is affected by the level of board independence and managerial share ownership. Overall, the results are consistent with the predictions of this study. Board independence and managerial ownership affect the performance differential between product differentiators and cost leaders in a dynamic environment. In a stable environment, however, the results are not statistically significant.

Housing and Social Environments of African (Loxodonta africana and Asian (Elephas maximus Elephants in North American Zoos.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheryl L Meehan

Full Text Available We evaluated 255 African (Loxodonta africana and Asian (Elephas maximus elephants living in 68 North American zoos over one year to quantify housing and social variables. All parameters were quantified for the both the day and the night and comparisons were made across these time periods as well as by species and sex. To assess housing, we evaluated not only total exhibit size, but also individual animals' experiences based on the time they spent in the unique environments into which the exhibits were subdivided. Variables developed to assess housing included measurements of area as a function of time (Total Space Experience, environment type (Indoor, Outdoor, In/Out Choice and time spent on hard and soft flooring. Over the year, Total Space Experience values ranged from 1,273 square feet to 169,692 square feet, with Day values significantly greater than Night values (p<0.001. Elephants spent an average of 55.1% of their time outdoors, 28.9% indoors, and 16% in areas with a choice between being in or out. Time spent on hard flooring substrate ranged from 0% to 66.7%, with Night values significantly greater than Day (p<0.001. Social factors included number of animals functionally housed together (Social Experience and social group characteristics such as time spent with juveniles and in mixed-sex groups. Overall Social Experience scores ranged from 1 to 11.2 and were significantly greater during the Day than at Night (p<0.001. There were few significant social or housing differences between African (N = 138 and Asian (N = 117 species or between males (N = 54 and females (N = 201. The most notable exception was Total Space Experience, with African and male elephants having larger Total Space Experience than Asian and female elephants, respectively (P-value<0.05. The housing and social variables evaluated herein have been used in a series of subsequent epidemiological analyses relating to various elephant welfare outcomes.

Place-focused physical activity research, human agency, and social justice in public health: taking agency seriously in studies of the built environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Blacksher, Erika; Lovasi, Gina S

2012-03-01

Built environment characteristics have been linked to health outcomes and health disparities. However, the effects of an environment on behavior may depend on human perception, interpretation, motivation, and other forms of human agency. We draw on epidemiological and ethical concepts to articulate a critique of research on the built environment and physical activity. We identify problematic assumptions and enumerate both scientific and ethical reasons to incorporate subjective perspectives and public engagement strategies into built environment research and interventions. We maintain that taking agency seriously is essential to the pursuit of health equity and the broader demands of social justice in public health, an important consideration as studies of the built environment and physical activity increasingly focus on socially disadvantaged communities. Attention to how people understand their environment and navigate competing demands can improve the scientific value of ongoing efforts to promote active living and health, while also better fulfilling our ethical obligations to the individuals and communities whose health we strive to protect. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interaction between ADH1B*3 and alcohol-facilitating social environments in alcohol behaviors among college students of african descent.

Science.gov (United States)

Desalu, Jessica M; Zaso, Michelle J; Kim, Jueun; Belote, John M; Park, Aesoon

2017-06-01

Although alcohol-facilitating social environmental factors, such as alcohol offers and high perceived peer drinking norms, have been extensively studied as determinants of college drinking, their role among college students of African descent remains understudied. Furthermore, gene-environment interaction research suggests that the effects of alcohol-facilitating environments may differ as a function of genetic factors. Specifically, the alcohol dehydrogenase gene's ADH1B*3 allele, found almost exclusively in persons of African descent, may modulate the association of risky social environments with alcohol behaviors. The current study examined whether the ADH1B*3 allele attenuated the relationship between alcohol-facilitating environments (ie, alcohol offers and perceived peer drinking norms) and alcohol behaviors. Participants were 241 undergraduate students who self-identified as being of African descent (mean age = 20 years [SD = 4.11]; 66% female). Significant interaction effects of ADH1B*3 with alcohol offers were found on alcohol use frequency (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.14) and on drinking consequences (IRR = 1.21). ADH1B*3 also interacted with perceived peer norms on drinking consequences (IRR = 1.41). Carriers of the ADH1B*3 allele drank less frequently and experienced fewer negative consequences than non-carriers when exposed to lower levels of alcohol offers and perceived peer drinking. In contrast, in high alcohol-facilitating environments, no protective genetic effect was observed. This study demonstrates that ADH1B*3 may protect college students of African descent against alcohol outcomes, although only in low alcohol-facilitating environments. Findings add to the growing body of knowledge regarding genetic and social determinants of alcohol behaviors among college students of African descent. (Am J Addict 2017;26:349-356). © 2017 American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND ENVIRONMENT

OpenAIRE

Neeta Tiwari

2017-01-01

With ever increasing social and environmental problems, the principles of Socio-Economic Sustainable development have gained prime importance. Human activities and their after-effects, direct and indirect, strongly influence nature and its resources. Keeping the huge role played by mankind in sustaining the glory of nature in mind, development goals need to be shaped in accordance with the parallel development and benefit of nature. India, as a developing nation, has a landmark role to play i...

The analysis of public relations role in improving corporate social responsibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Đervida-Lekanić Ružica

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The main objective of modern business is achievement of business excellence and world-class of products and services. Companies which actively and continuously apply modern management methods and techniques, especially in marketing, have significantly better chance to strengthen their competitive capability on global market and to assume stable market position with perspective for further market development. Modern business philosophy implies that organization has to be responsible for its actions and steps towards all stakeholders in the environment. Attaining of business excellence goals of an organization presupposes built corporate social responsibility. The research results presented in this paper were used to analyze the possibilities of using modern methods and techniques of public relations in business organizations and improve corporate social responsibility on the market of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Neurociencia Social y Genómica Social: El Surgimiento del Análisis Interdisciplinario Multinivel

OpenAIRE

Cacioppo, John T; Cacioppo, Stephanie; Cole, Steven W

2013-01-01

Social neuroscience emerged more than 20 years ago and has grown into a mature interdisciplinary scientific field. Research now provides compelling evidence that the structure and function of the nervous system are influenced by the social environment. Recent work in social genomics further underscores the importance of the social environment by demonstrating the influence of the social environment on gene expression. The multi-level, interdisciplinary approach and the integration of animal m...

Mining Learning Social Networks for Cooperative Learning with Appropriate Learning Partners in a Problem-Based Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chih-Ming; Chang, Chia-Cheng

2014-01-01

Many studies have identified web-based cooperative learning as an increasingly popular educational paradigm with potential to increase learner satisfaction and interactions. However, peer-to-peer interaction often suffers barriers owing to a failure to explore useful social interaction information in web-based cooperative learning environments.…

The Effects of Digital Storytelling on Student Achievement, Social Presence, and Attitude in Online Collaborative Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Nam, Chang Woo

2017-01-01

This study investigated the effects of digital storytelling on student achievement, social presence, and attitude in online collaborative learning environments. Students in one middle school course were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment groups after they received initial general instruction regarding teamwork skills. The "digital…

Energy, environment, and policy choices: Summer institutes for science and social studies educators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marek, E.A.; Chiodo, J.J.; Gerber, B.L.

1997-06-01

The Center for Energy Education (CEE) is a partnership linking the University of Oklahoma, Close Up Foundation and Department of Energy. Based upon the theme of energy, environment and public policy, the CEE`s main purposes are to: (1) educate teachers on energy sources, environmental issues and decisionmaking choices regarding public policy; (2) develop interdisciplinary curricula that are interactive in nature (see attachments); (3) disseminate energy education curricula; (4) serve as a resource center for a wide variety of energy education materials; (5) provide a national support system for teachers in energy education; and (6) conduct research in energy education. The CEE conducted its first two-week experimentially-based program for educators during the summer of 1993. Beginning at the University of Oklahoma, 57 teachers from across the country examined concepts and issues related to energy and environment, and how the interdependence of energy and environment significantly influences daily life. During the second week of the institute, participants went to Washington, D.C. to examine the processes used by government officials to make critical decisions involving interrelationships among energy, environment and public policy. Similar institutes were conducted during the summers of 1994 and 1995 resulting in nearly 160 science and social studies educators who had participated in the CEE programs. Collectively the participants represented 36 states, the Pacific Territories, Puerto Rico, and Japan.

Composing Focus: Shaping Temporal, Social, Media, Social Media, and Attentional Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Fife, Jane

2017-01-01

Writers must learn to control factors that influence the ability to focus, especially in what some call a culture of distraction. In our efforts to promote metacognition and flexible writing processes, writing teachers need to engage students in study and discussion of factors in our temporal, social, media, social media, and attentional…