Typically, sociology organizes its debates around a series of issues, which are addressed by presenting opposing alternative pairs. Various theoretical exercises shape this task using the notions of dichotomies, dilemmas, and guiding distinctions. In this article, we begin with a review of this literature, focusing on how these approaches conceptualize relationships and the goals they pursue, before supporting our choice to focus on tensions. Subsequently, we adopt Niklas Luhmann’s Social Systems Theory as the central empirical reference, using the categories of position, conception, and general conception to guide our analysis. Specifically, we explore his conception in three classic tensions that have structured sociological thought since its foundation: individual/society, referring to the delimitation of the discipline’s object of study; knowledge/reality, concerning the foundation of scientific knowledge; and description/critique, regarding the orientation of sociological practice. Given that dualism predominates in the Luhmannian conception, we complement the analysis of each tension with examples of monistic and integrative conceptions. Finally, the conclusions present the results, outlining the potential of our analytical framework.
Daniel Cristóbal Andrade-Girón, Juana Sandivar-Rosas, William Joel Marin-Rodriguez
et al.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of mortality around the world. This underscores the critical need to implement effective predictive tools to inform clinical decision-making. This study aimed to compare the predictive performance of ensemble learning algorithms, including Bagging, Random Forest, Extra Trees, Gradient Boosting, and AdaBoost, when applied to a clinical dataset comprising patients with CVD. The methodology entailed data preprocessing and cross-validation to regulate generalization. The performance of the model was evaluated using a variety of metrics, including accuracy, <i>F</i>1 score, precision, recall, Cohen’s Kappa, and area under the curve (<i>AUC</i>). Among the models evaluated, Bagging demonstrated the best overall performance (accuracy ± SD: 93.36% ± 0.22; <i>F</i>1 score: 0.936; <i>AUC</i>: 0.9686). It also reached the lowest average rank (1.0) in Friedman test and was placed, together with Extra Trees (accuracy ± SD: 90.76% ± 0.18; <i>F</i>1 score: 0.916; <i>AUC</i>: 0.9689), in the superior statistical group (group A) according to Nemenyi post hoc test. The two models demonstrated a high degree of agreement with the actual labels (Kappa: 0.87 and 0.83, respectively), thereby substantiating their reliability in authentic clinical contexts. The findings substantiated the preeminence of aggregation-based ensemble methods in terms of accuracy, stability, and concordance. This underscored the prominence of Bagging and Extra Trees as optimal candidates for cardiovascular diagnostic support systems, where reliability and generalization were paramount.
This paper examines the emerging circular economy trends in universities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The circular economy is a model that aims to reduce waste and maximize the use of resources, promoting sustainable development. The study analyses UAE universities' various initiatives to adopt circular economy practices, including using renewable energy, sustainable building design, and waste reduction strategies. The paper also discusses the challenges and opportunities for implementing circular economy practices in universities in the UAE and highlights examples of circular economy initiatives in various universities. The paper concludes by providing recommendations for universities in the UAE to promote sustainable practices further and contribute to the circular economy movement. The findings of this study provide insights into the emerging circular economy trends in universities in the UAE and offer directions for future research in this area. The ADKAR change management can be adapted to inspire the CE initiatives of the UAE Education sector.
This study evaluates whether older people’s problems are recognised as newsworthy by studying the level of attention they are given in a Slovenian daily newspaper. The data source was Slovenian newspaper articles on old age published in Delo between 2004 and 2018. Quantitative content analysis was
used to evaluate the prevalence of older people’s problems. The study found that 124 (or 10%) of all the articles sampled (N = 1243) on old age in the newspaper reported on older people’s problems in Slovenia. The finding is discussed in relation to the news values theory and sociological scholarship on ageing. According to the results, older people’s problems are less likely to be recognised as
news by journalists and editors because they do not align fully with news values.
Exploring the spatial variations and the impact of spatial and social factors on commuting behavior is vital to promote cities’ sustainable development and improve residents’ daily lives. Based on 2015 1% Population Sample Survey data in Shanghai, this study constructs an improved accessibility index to evaluate the jobs–housing spatial relationship and compares spatial variations and factors of commuting duration and commuting distance at the sub-district level by using spatial autocorrelation analysis, spatial lag model, and spatial error model. In terms of spatial variations, the median commuting distance and commuting duration are 6.32 km and 28.37 min, respectively. Both of them have significant spatial autocorrelation, and the latter is higher. The high–high agglomeration areas of commuting distance scatter between the outer ring road and the outer suburbs. The high–high agglomeration areas of commuting duration are mainly distributed between the middle and the outer ring roads. In terms of affecting factors, the impacts of social factors on the commuting level are more significant than spatial factors. Ignoring the former will overestimate the effects of the latter. Commuting distance is more significantly correlated with spatial factors, and job accessibility is the most critical factor, while commuting duration is more significantly associated with social factors, and education level is the essential factor. There is significant intra-urban heterogeneity and spatial autocorrelation of commuting distance and duration in the metropolis. Social factors are more influential than spatial factors on commuting behavior.
Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General), City planning
Since the founding of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in 2004, this institution has been actively involved in large-scale international cultural relations. The purpose of creating this fund was to preserve and popularize the legacy of the national leader of the Azerbaijani people, Heydar Aliyev, to convey the truth about Azerbaijan to the world community, and to familiarize with its history, culture, and spiritual values. The purpose of this article is to determine the stages of formation and development of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, to analyze the directions of its multi-vector activity and to justify the role of the Foundation in forming a positive image of independent Azerbaijan. Along with general logical methods, the methods of political monitoring, content analysis, historical and comparative analysis are used, which make it possible to highlight the complex of activities carried out by the Fund and to forecast the trends of its further activity. Since the foundation of the Foundation, important projects have been developed and successfully implemented to protect the welfare of the Azerbaijani people, protect their national heritage and moral values. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation, paying special attention to the expansion of cooperation with Islamic countries in the field of science and culture, ensured the achievement of the highest level of development of relations between Azerbaijan and the Islamic Organization for Education, Science and Culture. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation paid serious attention to the expansion of cooperation within the framework of the UN, which resulted in the adoption of the Program on creating conditions for the use of information and communication technologies by people with visual impairments. According to the results of the research, it was established that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, in cooperation with the government, parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, plays the role of one of the effective means of implementing the foreign policy, social, humanitarian, political, economic and cultural strategy of Azerbaijan. The Foundation was able to form a positive image of Azerbaijan on an international scale, establishing constructive cooperation in all spheres, both with individual states and with influential international and regional organizations.
Sociology (General), Economic history and conditions
This article focuses on nationals from Ghana who have lost interest in pursuing migration dreams to Europe and North America after failed attempts to migrate. Many less experienced youths who attempt to migrate to Europe and North America face challenges such as strict immigration laws, high cost of financing migration plans, or illegal recruiters. Some risk their lives through dangerous routes to achieve their migration goals. The negative consequences recorded are numerous, including death en route to Europe and North America. Using life stories, this article lets failed migrants recount the frustration, wasted resources and years spent to fulfil their migration dreams. It discusses individual factors such as experiences that affect the decision not to pursue migration dreams despite the culture of migration in their communities. The article concludes that strict immigration policies in Europe and North America have restricted international migration among less experienced and less skilled youth in Ghana, leading to personal decisions not to migrate but adjust to the conditions at home, and later describing their stay as a preferred decision.
In this paper, we want to show how the act of killing, considered one of the crimes that offends collective morality to a greater degree, can nevertheless be considered a justified act of a moral nature by a group of subjects serving a sentence for murder. We propose the notion of “moral order” to understand the regime of justifications, practical rules that govern deadly violence, and underlying value conceptions that emerge from the narratives of our interviewees. This moral order, which would thrive in conditions of exclusion, would be sustained by social networks that tolerate, reinforce, and regulate the moral codes associated with criminal violence.
Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform, Sociology (General)
Este texto foi proferido na Conferência de abertura do III Negras Antropologias,
realizado nos dias 26 e 27 de novembro de 2019, no Instituto de Ciências
Sociais da Universidade de Brasília. Primeiro apresento um breve histórico
sobre a formação do Coletivo Zora Hurston, composto por estudantes negras
e negros do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia Social da UnB, e
relembro as edições anteriores do evento. Em seguida, ancorada nos trabalhos
de Frantz Fanon, Abdias do Nascimento e Lélia Gonzalez, discuto os efeitos de
suas negras epistemologias na teoria antropológica.
В статье представлены результаты контент-анализа объявлений сайта «Авито» о продаже жилья в трех городах Приволжского федерального округа: Казани, Кирове и Нижнем Новгороде. Цель данной статьи — оценить жилищно-пространственное неравенство и состояние жилищного фонда в городах сквозь призму предложений рынка жилья. Для формирования эмпирической базы был собран сплошной массив объявлений о продаже жилья за фиксированный отрезок времени и проведен структурный контент-анализ информации о продаваемых объектах. Также проведена серия экспертных интервью с риелторами в изучаемых городах. Систематизированы базовые и факультативные параметры, влияющие на ценообразование и престиж недвижимости. В ходе статистического анализа параметров продаваемого жилья сформирован и рассчитан интегральный показатель качества и престижа недвижимости, позволяющий ранжировать объекты рынка жилья с позиции жилищной стратификации. В соответствии с интегральным показателем в каждом городе выделены четыре типа микрорайонов по качеству жилья и степени однородности застройки, определены специфические черты жилищного фонда трех городов. На основе полученных данных построены карты городов, отражающие жилищно-пространственную дифференциацию микрорайонов. Апробированная методика контент-анализа объявлений о продаже жилья может быть использована для исследования жилищной дифференциации других городов, позволяет прогнозировать рыночную стоимость жилья в зависимости от его параметров и престижа районов города, судить о наполненности жилищных классов горожан, выявлять ключевые тенденции изменений жилищного фонда в регионах.
Благодарность. Статья подготовлена при поддержке Российского фонда фундаментальных исследований (РФФИ), грант № 18-011-00627 «Особенности жилищного неравенства в современных российских городах».
Bárbara Castillo-Abdul, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, Ana Larrea-Ayala
This research analyses the contents of the videos of the ten Spanish children's YouTube channels with the highest number of followers and video plays to identify correlations between the thematic axes of the videos and the increase in digital engagement data. Little is known about the topics that the most popular Spanish-language YouTube influencers share with preteens and young adults' audience. In response, this exploratory study will use content analysis to examine this gap and contrast the themes that its videos reflect against others. For this purpose, interpretive-based content analysis is carried out based on an analysis sheet validated by expert judgment. Among the main results, it is shown that most of the children who are the lead character of the channel are currently between 10 and 12 years old, having created the channels an average of five years ago, which shows how early many YouTubers are starting in this industry. There are also differences in the thematic axes of the channels' videos according to the gender of the children's influencers, with a higher representation of male YouTubers devoted to gameplays, while their female peers have a more significant presence in videos in the lifestyle category. It is concluded that there is a need to supervise the contents accessed by children on this platform since it can deepen not only gender gaps but also become a wrong reference of role models.
Based on a definition of co-construction that emphasizes the decision-making participation of two categories of social actors – which makes it possible not to see it everywhere – the co-construction of knowledge is analyzed by referring to a model of partnership research practiced and institutionalized in Quebec since 1992 and in Canada since 2000. After having presented the experiences that nourished our reflection, we set the theoretical guidelines for understanding the co-construction of public policies by highlighting the junction between participatory democracy and representative democracy. In conclusion, we return to the points of convergence between the two co-constructions.
El artículo aborda la relación entre la crisis civilizatoria y las crisis urbanas que las ciudades han experimentado en las últimas décadas. En Occidente se pasó de la crisis urbana, ubicada en el sistema económico social y la legitimidad política, a la “desaparición de las ciudades”, en la cual la comunidad ha dejado de estar fundada en la proximidad o la densidad demográfica local. En América Latina, la crisis urbana del siglo XX en Europa y Estados Unidos resulta más bien la situación normal de sus ciudades, y la crisis civilizatoria ha empeorado esta situación, caracterizada por la informalidad y la carencia de viviendas adecuadas.
Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform, Sociology (General)
This essay discusses the aesthetics of dehierachization in one of the pioneering sitcoms in American television—the CBS-produced Mister Ed (1961–1966). Drawing on the concepts of “the animal subaltern” (Willett), “bestial ambivalence” (Wells), and “liminal animal denizenship” (Donaldson and Kymlicka), I argue that the show constructs its protagonist, a talking horse named Mister Ed, as a shapeshifting character who humorously challenges established assumptions regarding the human/animal dichotomy. Designed as a sitcom, Mister Ed employs a technique that I describe, following Bakhtin, as “carnivalesque humor.” Within this aesthetic framework, the title character figures as an ambiguous and grotesque character who rejects social conventions and restrictions, oscillating between the position of a stand-in for humans and that of a liberated animal. Mister Ed playfully advocates a radical move toward alternative representations of body, identity, and species, even postulating an analogy between the African American Civil Rights Movement and the discourse of animal liberation. Following a long tradition in animal fiction, the show sets out to expose hierarchies and injustices in society by employing an animal as its chief focalizer. Conceived in this manner, Mister Ed challenges what Jacques Derrida has termed “the possibility of the impossible,” namely the notion that animals can never be endowed with a sense of subjectivity. In the comedic, fictional realm of the show, the “impossible” becomes a subversive reality. Mister Ed assumes the position of a powerful subject which is endowed with “non-human agency” (Armstrong). In this sense, Mister Ed creates a scenario in which the “absolutely marginal” (Berger), indeed, returns the viewers’ gaze, inviting them to share and valorize this outside perspective, if only for the duration of one twenty-five minute episode at a time.
The belief that survey research instruments mediating communication between interviewer and respondent influence the quality of data obtained in the interview has become a conventional methodological wisdom long ago. However, the impact of the cognitive load experienced by the interviewer has not been systematically examined. When a questionnaire is filled up by an interviewer it is the latter who has to allocate limited individual resources of attention, memory, visual and motor control, active listening and interpretation in order to minimize the respondent’s misunderstanding of the questions and one’s own errors of the answers’ fixation. However, among various methods of pre-testing or evaluating survey mode effects and assessing instruments’ quality, the methods of multimodal quantitative estimation of instrument-related cognitive load experienced by interviewers during the interview are still rare or lacking. Thus, the article presents a brief review of subjective, behavioral and physiological measures of the cognitive load, which are used in such disciplinary fields as cognitive science, ergonomics, etc., and a discussion of preliminary findings of the field quasi-experiment conducted among the interviewers of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey on the first stage of transition to the CAPI mode. The quasi-experiment findings prove some possibilities and limitations of the parallel use of a version of the cognitive load rating scale developed by F. Paas and a simple physiological measure (heart rate) supplemented with a background screen video capture from Android-based tablets used for CAPI interviews for the multimodal quantitative evaluation and optimization of the interviewer’s cognitive load.
While grounded theory involves many iterations between concept-building and concept-testing, the overall direction of analysis proceeds from loosely related concepts to tightly interrelated theoretical systems. Such a ‘bottom-up’ logic of analysis may lead to a number of problems, for example descriptiveness or missing out on large-scale general patterns. This paper proposes to alleviate these problems by adopting a ‘top-down’ methodological strategy. Such a strategy begins from highlighting the most general patterns in the data. With each step of analysis the patterns are gradually broken down into more specific models. Through this process the gap between the generality of concepts and the specificity of data is reduced, eventually resulting in a middle-range theory. The historical narrative of the construction of a Soviet Estonian personal computer, Juku, is used to demonstrate the strategy in practice.