Hasil untuk "Sociology (General)"

P. Brown

Anh Nu Nguyet Nguyen, Ninh Van Nguyen

Purpose: The objective of this study is to explore and comprehend the factors from the perceived environment that impact travellers' attitudes and trust in agritourism at farms integrated with aquaculture, which have been creatively adapted for tourism purposes. These findings contribute to understanding how agritourism fosters rural innovation and sustainable development by transforming traditional agricultural practices into diversified tourism experiences. The findings of the study could demonstrate that certain outcomes play a crucial role in the successful innovation of rural areas. Methodology/design/approach: The study extensively utilized the Theory of Planned Behavior framework to develop its measurement constructs. Data collection occurred in regions where tourists frequented farms that combine aquaculture with traditional farming practices, yielding a total sample size of 332 respondents. The data were analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method, employing the SmartPLS software version 4.0.9.2. Results: The results identified factors perceived environmentally positive influence on personal perception. Attitude and trust were found to mediate the relationships between perceived environment and revisit intention, with the mediating effect of attitude being stronger than that of trust. Originality of the research: Visitor attitudes significantly determine the innovation from making farms, orchards, aquaculture areas to the experiential tourism business. Successful innovations, such as enhancing rural incomes and sustaining agricultural livelihoods through agritourism transformation, are significantly driven by positive visitor perceptions and trust.

Rosa Gatti

The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to making national borders more visible and less permeable, reasserting the centrality of citizenship “as the ultimate marker of belonging and solidarity”, and reaffirming the distinction between citizens and non-citizens. In this context, citizenship and national belonging functioned as rigid categories for determining entitlement to protection and assistance. Many states failed to guarantee social rights to all residents, leading to forms of exclusion, particularly for non-citizens. Simultaneously, the crisis sparked the emergence of new forms of civic engagement and solidarity “from below,” enacted by civil society to fill the void left “from above.” Volunteerism flourished supporting those facing food insecurity, evictions, and economic hardship. In some cases, immigrants themselves became central protagonists of these initiatives. This paper contributes to debates on inclusive citizenship and solidarity by jointly analyzing the concepts of citizenship from below and solidarity from below, applying them to a case study of grassroots practices promoted by migrants and citizens in the city of Naples (Italy) during the pandemic. Drawing on long term ethnographic research, it examines how, through the creation of transversal alliances and mutual aid networks, these actors responded to systemic exclusion and economic marginality. Special attention is given to two intertwined pathways: migrant-led initiatives such as the S.E.E.D.S. project, and actions embedded in the urban commons (beni comuni), self-managed civic spaces that became material and symbolic infrastructures of proximity and care. Both trajectories fostered inclusive solidarity capable of contesting institutional boundaries and reimagining belonging. The paper shows how these practices reframed citizenship, challenging, and renewing how participants defined and enacted their civic roles through social relations. The analysis extends the theory of acts of citizenship by demonstrating how social and political participation during crisis—particularly by migrant actors—produced new grammars of recognition and belonging. These findings encourage a rethinking of solidarity, alliances, membership, borders, and citizenship in more inclusive and dynamic terms.

Tesfahun Alemayehu Terrefe

This article explores the factors that facilitate or constrain the co‐production of child welfare services (CWS) in the encounters between immigrant parents and child welfare systems. It draws on empirical data from interviews with ten parents who have experience with the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (NCWS) due to allegations of child maltreatment. The data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, involving multiple iterative cycles and theme construction to identify factors that influence active parental participation in the process and, by extension, co‐production of the services. The findings reveal that while a range of factors shape the co‐production of CWS, they highlight the central role of: (a) parents’ negative perceptions of the NCWS and limited awareness of how to engage with the system; (b) the impact of the child welfare system’s approach to intervention; (c) the role of parental trust or distrust in the NCWS; and (d) the quality of relationships and the underlying power dynamics between parents and the NCWS. Yet, while some factors—such as parents’ negative perceptions and limited awareness—appear to have a more pronounced impact on specific stages of co‐production, like early engagement and collaborative planning, others, like trust and power dynamics, exert a crosscutting influence that shapes participation and co‐production across the full spectrum of the intervention process.

Majid Movahed Majd, Razieh Rayanpour, Farzaneh Mosahebfard

Abstract Introduction The number of postmenopausal women is expected to grow dramatically in the coming decades in Iran. Adopting a health-promoting lifestyle (HPL) is essential for improving health and quality of life of this population. This study pursues two objectives: (1) to assess the HPL levels among Iranian postmenopausal women and (2) to investigate the socio-demographic and psychological variables including self-efficacy and self-esteem associated with HPL. Methods In this cross-sectional study with correlational design, 400 married postmenopausal women in Shiraz (southwestern Iran) were selected via stratified random sampling. The data collection tools were the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and a sociodemographic information questionnaire. Pearson’s correlation coefficient test, independent samples t-tests, and stepwise multiple linear regression were used for analyzing the data in SPSS v. 22. Results The average age of natural menopause among participants was 49.33 ± 3.43 years, and they had relatively good HPLP (136.52 ± 21.46). The results highlighted that among all the HPLP subscales, the highest mean score was observed for health responsibility (33.62 ± 6.98), whereas the lowest scores were observed for stress management (12.26 ± 3.13) and physical activity (17.64 ± 6.52). Both self-efficacy (r = 0.445, p < 0.01) and self-esteem (r = 0.425, p < 0.01) demonstrated significant, moderate positive correlations with the total HPL score. Also, there was a significant association between the total HPLP score and two demographic variables: women’s education (r = 0.17, p < 0.01) and husband’s educational level (r = 0.113, p < 0.05). In addition, the HPLP total score had a significant negative relationship with the number of children (r=-0.114, p < 0.05). The stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the variables independently associated with the HPL of participants were self-efficacy (β = 0.32, p < 0.001), self-esteem (β = 0.27, p < 0.001), and occupation (β = 0.144, p < 0.001). Conclusion It is suggested that health care professionals implement comprehensive planning to enhance the HPL of postmenopausal women. Interventions aimed at improving HPL in this population should prioritize strategies to enhance self-efficacy and self-esteem. Particular attention should be paid to women with lower education, unemployment, and a higher number of children.

Corey M. Abramson, Tara Prendergast, Zhuofan Li et al.

Computational developments--particularly artificial intelligence--are reshaping social scientific research and raise new questions for in-depth methods such as ethnography and qualitative interviewing. Building on classic debates about computers in qualitative data analysis (QDA), we revisit possibilities and dangers in an era of automation, Large Language Model (LLM) chatbots, and 'big data.' We introduce a typology of contemporary approaches to using computers in qualitative research: streamlining workflows, scaling up projects, hybrid analytical methods, the sociology of computation, and technological rejection. Drawing from scaled team ethnographies and solo research integrating computational social science (CSS), we describe methodological choices across study lifecycles, from literature reviews through data collection, coding, text retrieval, and representation. We argue that new technologies hold potential to address longstanding methodological challenges when deployed with knowledge, purpose, and ethical commitment. Yet a pragmatic approach--moving beyond technological optimism and dismissal--is essential given rapidly changing tools that are both generative and dangerous. Computation now saturates research infrastructure, from algorithmic literature searches to scholarly metrics, making computational literacy a core methodological competence in and beyond sociology. We conclude that when used carefully and transparently, contemporary computational tools can meaningfully expand--rather than displace--the irreducible insights of qualitative research.

R. Simon, Leda E. Nath

Xiangguo Sun, Hongtao Cheng, Bo Liu et al.

Modern sociology has profoundly uncovered many convincing social criteria for behavioral analysis. Unfortunately, many of them are too subjective to be measured and very challenging to be presented in online social networks (OSNs) for the large data volume and complicated environments to be explored. On the other hand, data mining techniques can better find data patterns but many of them leave behind unnatural understanding to humans. Although there are some works trying to integrate social observations for specific tasks, they are still hard to be applied to more general cases. In this paper, we propose a fundamental methodology to support the further fusion of data mining techniques and sociological behavioral criteria. Our highlights are three-fold: First, we propose an effective hypergraph awareness and a fast line graph construction framework. The hypergraph can more profoundly indicate the interactions between individuals and their environments because each edge in the hypergraph (a.k.a hyperedge) contains more than two nodes, which is perfect to describe social. A line graph treats each social environment as a super node with the underlying influence between different environments. In this way, we go beyond traditional pair-wise relations and explore richer patterns under various sociological criteria; Second, we propose a novel hypergraph-based neural network to learn social influence flowing from users to users, users to environments, environment to users, and environments to environments. The neural network can be learned via a task-free method, making our model very flexible to support various data mining tasks and sociological analysis; Third, we propose both qualitative and quantitive solutions to effectively evaluate the most common sociological criteria like social conformity, social equivalence, environmental evolving and social polarization. Our extensive experiments show that our framework can better support both data mining tasks for online user behaviors and sociological analysis.

Elisa Santana-Monagas, Juan L. Núñez

The present work examines the relation between teachers’ teaching practices (i.e. students’ evaluations of teaching and autonomy support), students’ feelings of boredom, agentic engagement, and motivation. Participants were 225 university students (94 undergraduate students and 131 postgraduate students). The mean age was 26.16 (SD = 7.4); 78.7% women. Students’ evaluations of their teachers’ teaching were assessed with an open-ended questionnaire. Self-reported measures were used for the rest of the variables. To test the hypothesis relations, a structural equation model (SEM) was estimated. Results showed that boredom was negatively predicted by autonomy support practices (β = -.47) and positively predicted by negative sentiment towards teaching practices (β = .23). Results further showed a negative predictive value of boredom on students’ motivation and agentic engagement (β = -.46 and −.24, respectively). This work sheds light on the influence of boredom which could help in the development of training programmes for university teachers. Altogether, results also show a promising future for sentiment analysis techniques in the field of education.

Susobhan Mandal, S. Shankaranarayanan

General relativity and quantum field theory are the cornerstones of our understanding of physical processes, from subatomic to cosmic scales. While both theories work remarkably well in their tested domains, they show minimal overlap. However, our research challenges this separation by revealing that non-perturbative effects bridge these distinct domains. We introduce a novel mechanism wherein, at linear order, spin-2 fields around an arbitrary background acquire \emph{effective mass} due to the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) of either global or local symmetry of complex scalar field minimally coupled to gravity. The action of the spin-2 field is identical to the extended Fierz-Pauli (FP) action, corresponding to the mass deformation parameter $α= 1/2$. We show that this occurs due to the effect of SSB on the variation of the energy-momentum tensor of the matter field, which has a dominant effect during SSB. The extended FP action has a salient feature, compared to the standard FP action: the action has 6 degrees of freedom with no ghosts. For local $U(1)$ SSB, we establish that the effective mass of spin-2 fields is related to the mass of the gauge boson and the electric charge of the complex scalar field. Interestingly, our results indicate that the millicharged dark matter scalar fields, generating dark photons, can produce a mass of spin-2 fields of the same order as the Hubble constant $(H_0)$. Hence, we argue that the dark sector offers a natural explanation for the acceleration of the current Universe.

Jann Zosso

Guided by the Einstein equivalence principle that identifies the phenomenon of gravitation as a manifestation of the dynamics of spacetime in contrast to a localizable force, we review and explore its consequences on formulating a theory of gravity. The resulting space of metric theories of gravity may address open conceptual and observational puzzles through a wealth of effects beyond general relativity, whose traces can be searched for within today's and tomorrow's gravitational testing grounds. Above all, we offer a generic metric theory generalization of Isaacson's approach to the leading-order field equations of physical perturbations with a well-defined notion of energy-momentum carried by the gravitational waves. Within this framework, we identify the backreaction of the Isaacson energy-momentum flux onto the background spacetime with the displacement memory effect that induces a permanent distortion of space after the passage of a gravitational wave. This effect is a well-known prediction of GR whose dominant contribution captures its inherent non-linear nature, manifest in the ability of gravity to gravitate. However, the novel interpretation of memory as naturally arising within the Isaacson approach to gravitational waves comes with two main advantages. Firstly, it allows for a unified understanding of both the null and the ordinary memory effect, which are respectively sourced by unbound energy fluxes that do and do not reach asymptotic null infinity. Secondly, and most importantly, this approach allows for a consistent derivation of the memory formula for a large class of metric theories with considerable lessons to be learned for upcoming future measurements of the memory effect.

G. Hodgson

J. Beckford

In this book James Beckford demonstrates that sociologists have much to gain from a strengthening of the connections between general theories about the changing character of modern western societies and specific studies of religion. The weakness of such connections is indeed one of the most curious features of contemporary sociology.

A. Diekmann, Peter Preisendörfer

Edward Rosenbaum, Judith Lasker, Shailendra Prasad et al.

Participating in Short-Term Experiences in Global Health (STEGHs) has become an increasingly popular way for dental students to learn about the global burden of disease and health inequalities by traveling to a low-income community. However, there is little information available in the dental education literature providing guidelines on best practices for STEGHs. Often little is known about the local dental practice laws and ethics guidelines. One useful resource is the Brocher Declaration. The Brocher Declaration, created by the Advocacy for Global Health Partnerships (AGHP), is a comprehensive document outlining best practices for developing ethical and sustainable global health partnerships. The six guiding principles are: (1) mutual partnership with bidirectional input and learning, (2) empowered host country and community-defined needs and activities, (3) sustainable programs and capacity building, (4) compliance with applicable laws, ethical standards, and code of conduct, (5) humility, cultural sensitivity, and respect for all involved, and (6) accountability for actions. The principles of the Brocher declaration can serve as a foundation for ethics and sustainability and can be easily applied to STEGHs in dental education. The authors present a set of recommendations specific to each principle to guide dental schools in offering STEGHs to their students. Participating in STEGHs represents a unique opportunity for students to learn about the global burden of oral disease, its risk factors, and the population and public health strategies to reduce oral disease in diverse populations. When done ethically, they may serve as a spark for students to become future leaders in global health.

Sharon Weill

Transnational legal research often tends to overlook the local management of justice. It often moves too quickly from the local to the trans/global level, without taking the necessary time to investigate local practices. In addressing this research gap, my aim is to “re-localize“ studies within their geographical context and analyze the trans/national dynamics from within, using a bottom-up approach based on ethnography. This article presents a prolonged ethnography carried between 2017 and 2022 within French terrorism courts by a multidisciplinary team. The article provides an overview of the methodology, highlights the key finding, and offers a methodological framework for future empirical court studies, with the intention of supporting researchers in their future studies. La investigación jurídica transnacional a menudo tiende a pasar por alto la gestión local de la justicia. A menudo pasa demasiado rápido del nivel local al trans/global, sin tomarse el tiempo necesario para investigar las prácticas locales. Al abordar esta laguna en la investigación, mi objetivo es “relocalizar” los estudios dentro de su contexto geográfico y analizar las dinámicas trans/nacionales desde dentro, utilizando un enfoque ascendente basado en la etnografía. Este artículo presenta una etnografía prolongada llevada a cabo entre 2017 y 2022 dentro de los tribunales de terrorismo franceses por un equipo multidisciplinar. El artículo proporciona una visión general de la metodología, destaca el hallazgo clave y ofrece un marco metodológico para futuros estudios empíricos de tribunales, con la intención de apoyar a los investigadores en sus futuros estudios.

Zhendong Wang, Jianmin Bao, Wengang Zhou et al.

Diffusion models have shown remarkable success in visual synthesis, but have also raised concerns about potential abuse for malicious purposes. In this paper, we seek to build a detector for telling apart real images from diffusion-generated images. We find that existing detectors struggle to detect images generated by diffusion models, even if we include generated images from a specific diffusion model in their training data. To address this issue, we propose a novel image representation called DIffusion Reconstruction Error (DIRE), which measures the error between an input image and its reconstruction counterpart by a pre-trained diffusion model. We observe that diffusion-generated images can be approximately reconstructed by a diffusion model while real images cannot. It provides a hint that DIRE can serve as a bridge to distinguish generated and real images. DIRE provides an effective way to detect images generated by most diffusion models, and it is general for detecting generated images from unseen diffusion models and robust to various perturbations. Furthermore, we establish a comprehensive diffusion-generated benchmark including images generated by eight diffusion models to evaluate the performance of diffusion-generated image detectors. Extensive experiments on our collected benchmark demonstrate that DIRE exhibits superiority over previous generated-image detectors. The code and dataset are available at https://github.com/ZhendongWang6/DIRE.

Yulong Li, Andy Zeng, Shuran Song

Most successes in autonomous robotic assembly have been restricted to single target or category. We propose to investigate general part assembly, the task of creating novel target assemblies with unseen part shapes. As a fundamental step to a general part assembly system, we tackle the task of determining the precise poses of the parts in the target assembly, which we we term ``rearrangement planning''. We present General Part Assembly Transformer (GPAT), a transformer-based model architecture that accurately predicts part poses by inferring how each part shape corresponds to the target shape. Our experiments on both 3D CAD models and real-world scans demonstrate GPAT's generalization abilities to novel and diverse target and part shapes.

I. Kawachi, Daniel Kim, A. Coutts et al.