Pre-existing Social Networks Research Articles

From risk factors to disease situations: A socio-spatial analysis of COVID-19 experiences in Lima, Peru

The goal of this qualitative research study, part of an interdisciplinary project, was to understand the overlapping geographical distribution of COVID-19 and tuberculosis burden in Lima. Using an ethnographic approach, we applied the concept of disease situations to explore how inhabitants’ social and spatial situatedness affected their capacity to respond to the pandemic. Our results show that for some populations in Lima, the risk to develop COVID-19 did not emerge suddenly; it could be traced back to situations of living under subsistence models, relying on unstable sources of income, facing food insecurity, depending on certain mechanisms of social protection, residing in precarious living environments and lacking access to quality health care. These populations did not only have less resources to adjust to changes in daily life induced by the pandemic; they were also forced to constantly weigh the risk of COVID-19 against other pressing needs and potentially face increased risks when control measures were actually followed. Pre-existing social networks played fundamental roles as sources of emotional and material support. The lens of disease situations can help to identify and explain spatial and social configurations that enhance vulnerability, as well as resilience mechanisms that are in place to deal with crises. This perspective could inform the design of contextualised prevention and response strategies around health risks in cities as diverse as Lima, whilst building on existing resources at local levels.

The impact of left-behind experience on urban identity of new-generation migrant workers.

We investigate the impact of left-behind experiences on the urban identity of new-generation migrant workers using data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey. The results show the following: (1) The left-behind experience is an important factor undermining the urban identity of new-generation migrant workers, and the conclusion remains consistent after robustness checks, such as propensity score matching. (2) Left-behind experiences of both parents away from home had the most significant negative impact on urban identity. (3) The results of the mechanism tests indicate that the left-behind experience exerts an adverse impact on urban identity through the pathways of poorer physical health, more frequent migration, more challenging job search, and stronger dependence on preexisting social networks. The findings of this study also offer policy suggestions for promoting the urban identity of new-generation migrant workers.

A Relational Theory of Jihadist Affiliate Behaviour: The Case of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State

ABSTRACT Why do some AQ and IS affiliates fight one another while others avoid tension or even coordinate? While the extant theories of environment and power balancing provide inroads into such a puzzle, they overlook key relational factors shaping jihadist affiliate behaviour. In this article, I develop a relational theory of AQ-IS interactions, mapping out three avenues of pre-existing social networks: affiliate-civilian, AQ-IS affiliate and affiliate-unaffiliated rebels. Using several datasets, I examine AQ-IS relations in six regions from 2014 to 2018 with a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis. Rival affiliates conflict less while relying on civilian support and cooperate more as off-shoots.

Social network trajectory of young adults aged 18−35 years diagnosed with a brain tumour: a protocol for a mixed methods study

IntroductionResearch indicates that social networks and roles are disrupted throughout the entire trajectory of someone living with a brain tumour. Young adults aged 18–35 years are particularly vulnerable to such...

A Mixed Method Investigation of Associations Between Caregiver Attachment and Natural Mentoring Relationships Among Black Adolescents

An integral change that occurs during adolescence is the development of independent close relationships outside of the immediate family unit. In addition to relationships with peers, adolescents are commonly engaged in natural mentoring relationships. Natural mentoring relationships are organically formed mentoring bonds between youth and adults in their pre-existing social networks. In an effort to better uncover factors that contribute to the development of natural mentoring relationships among Black adolescents, the current study examined a pathway between adolescents’ attachment to their parents and the quantity of natural mentors they possessed via their perceptions of adults as helpful. Survey data from 217 Black adolescents and interview data from a subsample of participants ( n = 25) and their parents ( n = 25) were utilized. Our findings document how parent-adolescent attachment is experienced among Black families and how attachment may shape adolescents’ willingness to pursue supportive relationships with non-parental adults. In addition, our findings indicate that more secure parent-adolescent attachment predict greater quantity of natural mentoring relationships indirectly via greater perceptions of adults as helpful. Implications of study findings for the promotion of natural mentoring relationships among Black youth are discussed.

“All of Belarus has come out onto the streets”: exploring nationwide protest and the role of pre-existing social networks

ABSTRACT During moments of nationwide mass mobilization, what distinguishes the towns and cities that rise in the first week from those that do not see protest? Taking the case of nationwide protests in Belarus in August 2020, this study employs an original protest event catalogue to investigate what drives mobilization in early-rising localities. I test hypotheses in the protest literature relating to whether pre-existing social networks, or pre-election campaign rallies, influence subsequent protest mobilization. The innovative use of Telegram data demonstrates the platform’s value for social scientists studying protest. My results suggest that pre-existing social networks help drive mobilization in localities by facilitating communication, coordination, and engagement prior to protest onset, priming people to be ready when the moment of protest arrives. This article also highlights the impressive scale of nationwide mobilization in Belarus in 2020, and demonstrates that local networks were engaging in widespread opposition activity even before mass mobilization.

TECHNOLOGY AT TABLE TOP: ROLE OF ADVERTISEMENT VALUE AND PURCHASE INTENTION USING FOOD DELIVERY APPLICATIONS

The current study has effectively studied the factors that impact purchase intention using food delivery apps. The factors included informativeness, entertainment, credibility, irritation, personalization, incentives and advertising value. The study used quantitative approach for collecting data and used correlational design for identifying the relationships. A sample size of 203 respondents was collected from the target population using survey method. The study adopted the convenience sampling as the sampling technique. The data was analyzed using PLS-SEM analysis technique using SmartPLS software version 3.2.8. The study concluded that advertising value had a positive and significant effect on the purchase intention. Credibility had a positive and significant effect on the advertising value. Similarly, entertainment had a positive and significant effect on the advertising value. Incentives had a positive and significant effect on the advertising value. Moreover, informativeness had a significant effect on the advertising value. Also personalization had a positive and significant effect on the advertising value. However, the irritation had a negative and significant effect on the advertising value. Advertising agencies should allow users to exchange advertisement content and comments with friends through their pre-existing social networks, thus executing an efficient viral promotional strategy to increase the perceived advertising value and, in turn, increase the advertised product/brand's purchase intention.

318 Virtual Open House: A Novel Community-Building Initiative in an Emergency Medicine Residency Program

Burnout is highly prevalent in resident physicians and is associated with increased rates of depression, substance use disorder, and suicide. As a result, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education has recognized the importance of addressing and preventing resident burnout, encouraging residency program leaders to support policies and practices that emphasize resident wellness. Residents’ pre-existing social support networks are integral to enhancing overall wellness. Unfortunately, the geographic separation inherent to the residency match process may limit in-person social support from residents’ families and friends. This emotional and physical distance may exacerbate residents’ existing levels of emotional exhaustion and increase barriers to communication with loved ones. Our study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel virtual open house (VOH) in fostering the residency community while enhancing residents’ and loved ones’ perceived comfort initiating and engaging in future discussions about workplace stressors. This was a prospective, observational, single-center study. All 76 residents at the Los Angeles County Emergency Medicine Residency Program and their self-selected loved ones were invited to attend a two-hour structured VOH during the regularly scheduled educational conference in April 2021. At the conclusion of the VOH, all residents and guest attendees received a voluntary anonymous electronic survey. A total of 155 individuals attended the VOH, including 60 residents (38.7%), 86 guests (55.5%), and 11 faculty (7.1%). Forty residents (66%) and 47 guests (54.7%) responded to the post-VOH survey (N=146). Overall, attendees reported that they enjoyed the VOH (95% of residents, n=38; 98% of guests, n=46). Most residents reported that the VOH fostered a greater sense of community (85%, n=34), believed their loved ones now had a better understanding of their training (88.6%, n=31), and felt more likely to discuss workplace challenges with their loved ones moving forward (77.2%, n=27). Similarly, guests felt more a part of the residency family (72.3%, n=34) and noted a better understanding of their loved ones’ residency experience (95.7%, n=45) and the characteristics of the workplace environment (93.6%, n=44). Finally, guests reported feeling more comfortable engaging in (93.6%, n=44) and initiating conversations (87.2%, n=41) about workplace challenges with residents. Themes from the free response section referenced guests’ appreciation for the virtual format in light of travel restrictions and greater insight into the intangibles of residency training. Our findings suggest that VOH is a sustainable and low-cost intervention that may augment residents’ social networks and encourage residents and their loved ones to engage in and initiate discussions about challenges during residency. Given the importance of social support in promoting resident wellness and the frequent geographic separation between residents and their pre-existing social networks, it may be useful for residency program leaders to incorporate a VOH in their existing residency curricula.

When Informality Matters: Participatory Security Reform and Mechanisms of Social Embeddedness in Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico

AbstractWhat are the conditions underlying successful implementation of participatory security mechanisms? Drawing on the case of Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl and from the notion of social embeddedness, we argue that participatory security reforms that aim to include citizens in defining security priorities allow for better adoption of reforms in practice. Local level reforms are not implemented in a social vacuum but rather in pre-existing social networks that are key to their adoption in practice by citizens. However, not all social networks are equal, nor do they operate in the same manner. In ‘Neza’, it is through existing clientelistic networks and socially embedded local brokers that the redes vecinales were implemented and adopted by citizens, leading to varied reform adoption patterns at the very local level.

Using pre-existing social networks to determine the burden of disease and real-life needs in rare diseases: the example of Thygeson's superficial punctate keratitis

BackgroundThygeson’s superficial punctate keratitis (TSPK) is a rare and still poorly understood disease of the ocular surface, responsible for recurrent episodes of photophobia and eye pain. While TSPK is considered as a benign condition, a subset of patients has frequent recurrences or even chronic disease, two situations in which there are currently no therapeutic guidelines. We used a preexisting Facebook TSPK patient support group to assess the clinical journey and the burden of disease of TSPK.ResultsAn online survey was sent to the patient support group. The first part of the questionnaire gathered information on demographics and the patient’s clinical journey [diagnostic modalities, symptoms, duration and frequency of recurrent episodes (RE), efficacy and tolerance to treatments]. The second part focused on quality of life (QoL) using the Ocular Surface Disease-QoL (OSD-QoL) questionnaire. Seventy-two patients out of 595 members of the support group completed the questionnaire during the 3-months study period. Eighty percent of patients developed symptoms before 30 years old, and 47% reported a delay in the diagnosis above 1 year. Sixty percent of patients reported over 5 RE yearly, and 18% of RE lasted more than 3 months. Forty percent of all patients used cyclosporine eyedrops (50% of those with > 5 episodes/year) and it was perceived as effective by 72% of these patients. The impact on daily life activities was judged as severe by 22% of patients, while 38% reported reduced professional activity and 80% were deeply saddened by their eye condition.ConclusionTSPK patients may present with frequent recurrences and/or chronic disease, that result in a severe impact on QoL, and an off-label use of topical immunomodulatory eye drops, suggesting the urgent need for controlled studies. The utility of using social networks for rare ophthalmic disease research includes, faster data collection, data from patients across the globe, and also raises relevant questions about their real needs.

The crafting of alliance cohesion among insurgents: The case of al-Qaeda affiliated groups in the Sahel region

ABSTRACT In spite of several international interventions to contain and degrade militant groups in the Sahel region, al-Qaeda affiliated groups have managed to retain their alliance and even spread and intensify their use of violence. This article explains the cohesion of the insurgency alliance as the outcome of a number of sound strategic decisions. By applying a framework of irregular strategy, the article examines the processes of early adaption to pre-existing social networks and the subsequent shaping through political, violent, and communicative lines of effort. Although the primary purpose of the strategy was not alliance cohesion, the result is that al-Qaeda related networks cooperate across ethnic and social cleavages, despite the many setbacks and dilemmas that local politics generate. The article adds an agency-oriented perspective to the growing literature on insurgency fragmentation and cohesion, which are major factors in the outcome of civil wars.

Bioethics and the use of social media for medical crowdfunding

BackgroundSocial media has globalised compassion enabling requests for donations to spread beyond geographical boundaries. The use of social media for medical crowdfunding links people with unmet healthcare needs to charitable donors. There is no doubt that fundraising campaigns using such platforms facilitates access to financial resources to the benefit of patients and their caregivers.Main textThis paper reports on a critical review of the published literature and information from other online resources discussing medical crowdfunding and the related ethical questions. The review highlighted the benefits of crowdfunding as well as the under-exploration of the risk of having patients’ desires and human rights undermined during online fundraising campaigns. Majority of these campaigns get initiated on behalf of the patients, especially the very sick and dependant. The ethical questions raised relate to the voluntariness of informed consent and the possibility of patients being used as a means to an end. Vulnerability of patients may expose them to coercion, undue influence, manipulation, and violation of their human rights. The success of these campaigns is influenced by the digital skills, pre-existing social networks and, the emotional potency. Healthcare is a public good, and online market forces should not determine access to essential health services. The benefits of crowdfunding cannot be subverted, but it can perpetuate unintended injustices, especially those arising from socio-economic factors.ConclusionsPolicymakers ought to monitor the utilisation of crowdfunding sites to identify policy failures and unmet essential health care needs responsible for driving individuals to use these platforms. The upholding of human rights and the fundamental respect of the individual’s wishes is a moral imperative. The need for an ethics framework to guide different stakeholders during medical crowdfunding needs further examination.

District heating and ambivalent energy transition paths in urban and rural contexts

ABSTRACT Most institutions and industrial actors believe that district heating infrastructure can play a key role in accelerating the transition to low-carbon energy systems. In this article we test this belief in Italy, starting from a census of all existing plants, subdivided by sources of supply and business organization models. We isolate two types of district heating (urban and rural) and find that they are different with respect to their approaches to energy transition. In rural areas, networks constitute systems that can empower the local techno-institutional complex to achieve a technological leap. Set in a pre-existing social network, district heating reinforces a sense of community and facilitates the involvement of various local players in a collective project. In the case of biomass, we are faced with local systems that have almost completed the transition with regard to the production of thermal and sometimes electric energy. In urban areas, on the other hand, networks represent functional devices for the stabilization of the techno-institutional complex. They allow cities to work on the circularity of some economies, generating added value from the same factors of production. The discrepancy between urban and rural contexts thus highlights the need to consider the ambivalence of district heating technology.

Local Trade And Pottery Production In The Cusco Region Before And During The Wari Expansion

This paper assesses the impact of Wari state expansion on local trade networks in the Cusco region of southern Peru through an examination of the distribution of a locally-produced polychrome pottery style called Muyu Urqu. We present distribution data from regional surveys and excavation data from the village site of Ak’awillay to reconstruct the circulation of local ceramic wares and local economic activities before and after the Wari entered the area. Results suggest that the manufacture and trade of this locally-produced pottery style was little affected by Wari presence in Cusco, indicating that early expansionist states do not necessarily overwhelm or replace pre-existing social networks. Our findings add to a growing literature on local responses to Tiwanaku and Wari expansionism and the persistence of local traditions during the Middle Horizon (600–1000 CE) in the South-Central Andes.

Taking to the streets: the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the urbanization of insurgency

ABSTRACTThough the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been able to sustain a rural insurgency in Turkey over several decades, it was unable to sustain the urban insurgency it began in July 2015. This paper looks at the period July 2015 and December 2016 to explore the reasons why, despite the PKK’s experience conducting an insurgency and demonstrated popular support, they were unable to sustain an urban insurgency. It then uses this example to examine the broader conditions under which urban insurgencies may be sustainable. In particular, the hypotheses in this paper look at the complex human and physical landscape of urban environments and the impact of pre-existing social networks.

Working at the \u201cspeed of trust\u201d: pre-existing and emerging social ties in wildfire responder networks in Sweden and Canada

The frequency and severity of natural hazards are predicted to increase with climate change. Collaboration among actors across scales and organizational boundaries is essential to address this escalation. Pre-existing social networks are generally considered a catalyst enabling actors to more quickly address collective action problems. However, empirically derived knowledge about if, how, and why pre-established social networks facilitate effective collaborations in addressing natural hazards is scarce. We use survey data from crisis responders of large-scale wildfires in Sweden and Canada to investigate factors that shape actors’ (i) ability and willingness to form new social ties with other actors and (ii) propensity to “activate” pre-existing social ties. Our results show that many new social ties were established in both events, but also that pre-existing ties comprised a considerable proportion (54–82%) of all ties in use. Using exponential random graph models for temporal networks, we demonstrate that two actors that are working with or have previously worked with a common third actor are more likely to activate pre-existing social ties. Further, new social ties tend to be formed around a few central actors, whereas the opposite seems to apply for the activation of pre-existing ties. The extent to which actors consider others’ organizational affiliation, formal role, previous experience, and level of professionalization differs between the cases. We suggest these tie formation and activation differences can be attributed to diverging organizational contexts varying in their reliance upon self-organizing versus command-and-control approaches.

A Study of Viral Marketing on Social Network in Stream Line Business Model of Data Mining in Management

Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce exponential increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of a computer virus. It can be often word-of-mouth delivered and enhanced online harness the network effect of the Internet and is very useful in reaching a large number of people very fast. The ultimate goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to create viral messages that appeal to individuals with high social networking potential (SNP) and that have a high probability of being presented and spread by these individuals and their competitors in their communications with others in a short period of time. There are several sources of social networks where our model can be applied to, and a few are: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Instagrams, online forums, email mailing lists.

Isotopic evidence for mobility at large-scale human aggregations in Copper Age Iberia: the mega-site of Marroquíes

Settlements incorporating large-scale human aggregations are a well-documented but poorly understood phenomenon across late prehistoric Europe. The authors’ research examines the origins and trajectory of such aggregations through isotope analysis of human skeletal remains from the mega-site of Marroquies in Jaen, Spain. The results indicate that eight per cent of 115 sampled individuals are of non-local origin. These individuals received mortuary treatments indistinguishable from those of locals, suggesting their incorporation into pre-existing social networks in both life and death. This research contributes to our understanding of the extent and patterning of human mobility, which underlies the emergence of late prehistoric mega-sites in Europe.

Unpacking (the) secret: Anonymous social media and the impossibility of networked anonymity

This study focuses on the perceptions and practices of anonymous communication with friends enabled by tie-based anonymous apps. Based on qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with users of the application Secret, the strategies deployed by interviewees in order to de-anonymize other users are emphasized and placed within the broader context of the real-name web. The article shows that Secret was not only based on pre-existing social networks but also drew on the network as a structure of thought. The concept of networked anonymity is introduced to account for the ways that anonymous actors imagine one another as “someone,” rather than as an unknown “anyone.” As such, the survivability of this communicative model is inherently limited by competing forces—the drive to connectivity, on the one hand, and to anonymity, on the other.

Factors contributing to the retention of natural mentors among underrepresented students across the first year of college

The current study examined characteristics of natural mentoring relationships (NMRs; i.e. mentoring relationships that develop organically with adults in one’s pre-existing social network) among underrepresented college students as contributors to NMR retention across the first year of college. The sample consisted of 209 underrepresented college students (73% female; mean age = 18.1, SD = .35) who reported having a natural mentor during the first semester of college. Each participant could report up to five natural mentors and a total of 550 NMRs were reported. We found that more frequent contact and greater relational closeness with natural mentors during the Fall semester of mentees’ first year of college increased the likelihood that NMRs were retained through the Spring semester of the first year. These findings shed light on aspects of NMRs that may be most central to fostering their duration during difficult transitional spaces.