Social Groups Research Articles

Indigenous bridging/foundation education: student feedback on programme successes, challenges and opportunities

Hikitia te Ora (Certificate in Health Sciences) is a 1 year Indigenous bridging foundation programme at the University of Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. The programme aims to increase Māori and Pacific health workforce representation. This qualitative study applied a Kaupapa Māori positioning to elucidate the strengths, challenges, and opportunities of the programme. Data were collected through two workshops and seven focus groups with a total of 67 participants who were students of Hikitia te Ora from past and present cohorts, or their family members. Using a general inductive thematic analysis, the primary themes identified were that programme successes encompassed whanaungatanga (process of establishing relationships), academic and pastoral support, programme structure and the teaching content. Challenges included social cliques and divisive social groupings, timetabling of courses and high workloads. The three areas that emerged for further development include extending Pacific content, increasing the number of students in the programme, and maintaining a programme-specific study space for students. Implementing the findings from this study into Hikitia te Ora is expected to improve educational outcomes for Māori and Pacific students and may have the potential to benefit other bridging foundation courses aiming to promote Indigenous health workforce development.

Contested Information Environment Framework for Assessing Networked Authoritarian Regimes

Abstract Information communication technology (ICT) policy developed to counteract efforts from networked authoritarian regimes to control the information environment must be informed by the information control techniques and strategies that those regimes have at their disposal. This article informs policymakers through the development of a Contested Information Environment Framework that outlines both individual information control techniques and overarching strategies employed by authoritarian regimes. The framework in this article was methodically built through an analysis of the discourse surrounding the efforts of authoritarian state actors to manipulate international and regional social groups by controlling or influencing aspects of information exchanges.

Differentiating mechanism from outcome for ancestry-assortative mating in admixed human populations.

Population genetic theory, and the empirical methods built upon it, often assume that individuals pair randomly for reproduction. However, natural populations frequently violate this assumption, which may potentially confound genome-wide association studies, selection scans, and demographic inference. Within several recently admixed human populations, empirical genetic studies have reported a correlation in global ancestry proportion between spouses, referred to as ancestry-assortative mating. Here, we use forward genomic simulations to link correlations in ancestry between mates to the underlying mechanistic mate-choice process. We consider the impacts of two types of mate-choice model, using either ancestry-based preferences or social groups as the basis for mate pairing. We find that multiple mate-choice models can produce the same correlations in ancestry proportion between spouses; however, we also highlight alternative analytic approaches and circumstances in which these models may be distinguished. With this work, we seek to highlight potential pitfalls when interpreting correlations in empirical data as evidence for a particular model of human mating practices, as well as to offer suggestions toward development of new best practices for analysis of human ancestry-assortative mating.

Transportation and Agon in Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease and Anthills of the Savannah

ABSTRACT This article analyzes public transportation as a trope for networked narrative forms in two novels by Chinua Achebe: No Longer at Ease and Anthills of the Savannah. Combining insights from mobility studies with criticism on tragedy, the present article suggests that intersections of tragedy and transportation remain understudied aspects of Achebe’s fiction. While agon implies the struggle or dispute that drives literary plots in general, I argue that Achebe settles elements of the deliberative agon from classical Greek theatre within transport networks to structure agonistic exchanges amongst characters and social groups, to juxtapose forms of thinking, and to expand the idioms within his novels. As much as Achebe’s novels pivot on the experiences of singular and seemingly heroic protagonists, he is deeply invested in the relations between individuals and collectives and the representation of both in novels concerned with the problems of postcolonial nations and nation-states. As such, Achebe’s transportation systems facilitate fleeting modes of assembly for the exchange of ideas. Studying No Longer at Ease and Anthills of the Savannah together crystallizes the orchestrated and often ironic interplay between individual and collective insights. Achebe’s representations of conviviality and agonism in public transportation thus present models of thinking and feeling collectively in the novel. Moments of transportations in Achebe’s fictional worlds impart the modes of thinking animating the imagination of the nation and the machinery of the state.

Mediators and Predictors of Peritraumatic Dissociation after Devastating Consecutive Earthquakes: The role of social support

Objective: Dissociation involves the tendency to detach from one's environment, own body and mental states. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of psychiatric symptoms, coping strategies with earthquake stress and the relationship between peritraumatic dissociation one month after two earthquakes that occurred 9 hours apart on 6th February 2023 in Turkey. Method: In this cross-sectional, an online questionnaire distributed through social media groups was filled by 786 university students studying in Adana, including Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire (PDEQ), Coping Strategies with Earthquake Stress Scale, and Brief Symptom Inventory. Results: The peritraumatic dissociation showed a weak negative relationship with religious coping strategy and a very weak positive relationship with seeking social support. Obsessive-compulsivity (β=0.650), anxiety (β=0.572), depression (β=-0.316, i.e., negatively), phobic anxiety (β=0.390), positive symptom distress index (β=-1.888), social support (β=0.597) sub-dimensions were found to be important predictors of PDEQ in the linear regression model (explanatory power R2=0.379) with obsessive-compulsivity (30.9%) being the most contributing factor. Peritraumatic dissociation scores were significantly higher in females and in those with damage or destruction in their homes. Mediation analysis revealed that depression indirectly increased the dissociation score, i.e., by decreasing the seeking social support scores, the latter being found to mediate peritraumatic dissociation. Discussion: The most important predictor of peritraumatic dissociation was obsessive-compulsivity symptoms, with the highest risk in those with more anxiety symptoms and who sought more social support. Therefore, social support is suggested to accompany early symptom screening after the earthquake to reduce outcomes like post-traumatic stress disorders. Keywords: Earthquake; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire; Coping Strategies with Earthquake Stress Scale; Brief Symptom Inventory

Negative health classifications: understanding avoidance and social exclusion during a pandemic

AbstractDuring a pandemic, there is a fine line between distancing and avoiding other people, with stigmatizing classifications sometimes transforming social distance into social exclusion. Drawing on Bourdieu's under-utilised theory of classification struggles, this paper conceptualises schemes of pandemic Othering in terms of Negative Health Classifications. Complementing the interactionist approach in pandemic stigma research, classification struggles are a social practice that denote a conceptual link between the individual and social structures of inequality. When social structures are unstable, as was the case during the pandemic, an established common sense can become questionable. Based on the analysis of survey data from 2606 respondents collected during one of the peaks of COVID-19 in Austria and Germany, the paper explores two struggles over health classifications, (1) social cleavages created and exacerbated by individuals who strive to tackle medical crises by avoiding the 'disease carriers', and (2) conflict over illegitimate pandemic practices resulting in the loss of social capital and a polarization of social groups. The findings offer evidence of widespread negative health classifications emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic that future research should explore in their implications for inequalities in other health policy contexts.

Linguacultural variations in the domain of FOOD

AbstractAs the domain of food is an area wherein the role of the conceptual system as a locus of contact is inevitable, it is argued here for the need for empirical study on the divergent and convergent food and language practices and how they may implicitly or explicitly reflect the sociocultural conceptualizations of the environment in which such linguacultural variations exist. To this end, this article intends to report and reflect on the qualitative textual analysis of selected technologically mediated menus in Iraq. As public culturally written texts that are replete with intersemiotic (or heterolingual) features, menus in this context overall come to implicitly index social groups’ relatively shared cultural cognition as related to the formation processes of their identities and transcultural spaces. This, in turn, textualizes the construction of a transnational discourse to resist any politicized and territorialized spaces of hegemony with respect to nation, language, culture, race and ethnicity in context.

Efficient Scheduling of Charger-UAV in Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks: Social Group Optimization Based Approach

Efficient Scheduling of Charger-UAV in Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks: Social Group Optimization Based Approach

Культурный код: определение понятия и практическая проблематика феномена: теоретический обзор

The aim of the study is to form a theoretical core of understanding of this phenomenon within the framework of theoretical review of modern concepts of cultural code. The article considers different definitional, structural and functional aspects of the cultural code, reveals its psychic roots and significance in human behavior, structure, sign-symbolic, figurative and value content, the role of a connecting element between the psyche and culture, the function of a communicative element and an interpreter of cultural texts and a cipher encapsulating the main meanings of culture. The significance of the cultural code in ethnic and national forms of human existence, in the construction of social and cultural identity is established. The key problems and risks associated with the defragmentation of the cultural code are outlined: standardization and unification of cultural codes within the framework of globalization, ideological and cultural wars and propaganda, excessive subordination of culture to market and materialistic principles, erosion of traditional values and meanings and at the same time imbalance between traditional and innovative principles in culture, conflictogenicity and disharmony of socio-cultural space as factors of intergroup and international conflicts, destructive processes, and the emergence of new cultural codes. Based on the generalization and synthesis of the obtained knowledge, a new theoretical and conceptual core of the cultural code is formulated as a structure that determines the image-symbolic and value content of culture, its ethnic and national peculiarities, the prospects of development of the sociocultural environment or the mechanisms slowing down this development, as well as the specificity of unconscious thinking and behavior of the people-expressor of the culture and its codes. In the framework of the proposed concept, the cultural code appears as a kind of “genome” of culture, laying the foundations of its development, determining the nature of interaction and human assimilation of its products, serves as a basic mechanism of specific cultural mastering and transformation of the world around people, as well as a decoder that allows (if correctly interpreted) to read the mental characteristics of social groups and influence them in the mental and behavioral sense.

Aristocrats and Refined Peasants: The Concept of Aristocracy in Swedish Historiography

This article investigates the evolution of aristocracy as a concept in Swedish historiography from the early nineteenth century to the present. In the political climate of the early 1800s, aristocracy became an increasingly contested concept, as reflected in ordinary language and the writing of national histories. A scholarly debate over anti-aristocratic prejudice between the historians Anders Fryxell and Erik Gustaf Geijer in the 1840s illustrates contemporary concerns to define the Swedish aristocracy and its relation to the nation. The debate gave rise to a persistent yet adaptable dualistic view of history, enduring well into the twentieth century. Historians portrayed monarchs, aristocrats, nobles, and peasants in a dualistic manner, dividing social groups into two oppositional forces. By emphasising the agency of freeholding peasants, notions of a Swedish Sonderweg were reinforced, facilitating the conceptualisation of peasant aristocrats. In tracing this historical trajectory, the article demonstrates how the meaning of aristocracy has evolved in response to scholarly objectives and historiographical trends.

Religious labels and food preferences, but not country of origin, support opposing face aftereffects

Face templates can be experimentally manipulated, and category-contingent aftereffects suggest discrete templates across social groups. We tested whether 1) explicit religious labels, 2) food preferences, and 3) country of origin would support religion-contingent aftereffects across Christians and Muslims face sets. While viewing face images, ninety-three participants heard audio that stated either 1) a character's religious identity, 2) preferred food, or 3) country of origin. Participants viewed contracted Christian faces and expanded Muslim faces during the training phase. To measure adaptation, before and after the training phases, participants selected the face out of a pair of expanded and contracted Christian or Muslim faces that they found more attractive. Contingent aftereffects were found in the religious explicit (t(30) = 2.49, p = 0.02, Cohen's d = 0.58) and food conditions (t(30) = −3.77, p < 0.01, Cohen's d = −0.82), but not the country condition (t(30) = 1.64, p = 0.11, Cohen's d = 0.31). This suggests that religious labels and food preferences create socially meaningful groups, but country of origin does not. This is evidence of an impact of social categorization on visual processing.

Association of Life’s Simple 7 lifestyle metric with cardiometabolic disease-free life expectancy in older British men

BackgroundCardiometabolic diseases (CMD), including myocardial infarction, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, are leading causes of disability and mortality globally, particularly for people at an older age. The impact of adhering to the Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) on the number of years an individual will live without CMD in older adults remains less studied.MethodsThis study included a cohort of 2662 British men aged 60–79 years free of CMD at baseline from the British Regional Heart Study (BRHS). Each LS7 factor (BMI, blood pressure, blood glucose, total cholesterol, smoking, physical activity, and diet) was categorized as poor, intermediate, or ideal, and a composite LS7 adherence was determined by summing the number of LS7 ideal levels achieved. Flexible parametric Royston–Parmar proportional-hazards model was applied to estimate CMD-free life expectancy.ResultsHere we show that compared to men with the lowest LS7 adherence [with 18.42 years (95% CI: 16.93, 19.90) of CMD-free life at age 60], men having an ideal LS7 adherence are estimated to gain an additional 4.37 years (95% CI: 2.95, 5.79) of CMD-free life. The CMD-free life gain benefits are consistent across social class groups of manual and non-manual workers. Among LS7 factors, achieving an ideal physical activity provides the largest CMD-free survival benefit: 4.84 years (95% CI: 3.37, 6.32) of additional CMD-free life compared with the physically inactive group.ConclusionsOur study quantifies and highlights the benefits of adhering to the LS7 ideal levels for living a longer life without CMD in older adults.

Awareness and Calibration: The Role of Descriptive Norms and Social Desirability in Accurate IAT Score Predictions of Food Items vs. Social Groups.

Extending research that people are able to predict the patterns of their social group biases on Implicit Association Tests (IATs), we let participants predict and complete IATs toward five different food item pairs and compared the results with the social-groups domain. Participants predicted the patterns of their IAT scores with similar accuracy in both domains, suggesting similar internal awareness (evidenced by comparable within-subjects correlations), even though food evaluations followed less descriptively-normative patterns. At the same time, participants were better-calibrated in communicating their evaluations in the domain of food than social groups (evidenced by higher between-subjects correlations). This discrepancy may partly stem from participants' tendency to refrain from using harsh labels when predicting social group biases, despite their demonstrated awareness of them: IAT scores predicted as "moderate" or "strong" for food preferences tended to be labeled "mild" for social groups. Discussion centers on the importance of distinguishing between awareness and calibration.

Representing science: diversity on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

Abstract Federal advisory committees related to science and technology are important mechanisms for connecting policy-makers with independent experts and the broader public. The balance of represented expertise and viewpoints shapes a committee’s intended advisory role, consensus building processes, and the quality and impact of its policy recommendations. This paper presents the first historical analysis of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and examines its changing balance of social and professional perspectives from 1990 to 2023. We demonstrate that PCAST’s balance has shifted to be more inclusive of different social groups and professional backgrounds over time, particularly under President Biden. We conclude with recommendations for future White House science policy advisory bodies to ensure they are adequately representative of the diversity of perspectives in the US research enterprise and the overall US population.

Attitude and Practices of Paediatric Dentists towards Parental Guidance on Dental Trauma. A cross-sectional survey.

There is a lack of sufficient information about the protocols followed by paediatric dentists in informing parents about traumatic dental injuries as a part of anticipatory guidance. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess paediatric dentists' attitudes and practices about parental guidance regarding these injuries. This was a cross-sectional survey conducted using a validated questionnaire emailed through Google form to approximately 2500 paediatric dentists in various world regions. The sampling method used was a list-based sampling frame followed by simple random sampling. Participants were recruited through national member societies of the International Association of Paediatric Dentistry, personal contacts and social media groups. Only paediatric dentists with at least three years of experience after their post-graduation were only included in the study. Their attitudes and practices towards parental education on dental trauma during the child's first and recalled dental visits were assessed as per their age, gender, country of post-graduation qualification and years of experience in the profession. Chi-Square test was used to evaluate the association between the paediatric dentist response and the continent of practice. Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to assess the level of significance within each variable in relation to the continent of practice. A 95% confidence interval with a significance level of α = 0.05 was used. The overall attitude and practice of paediatric dentists toward parental education on traumatic dental injuries were not satisfactory. Many paediatric dentists do not impart education on emergency care and dental trauma prevention in primary teeth. Parents should be informed about oral hygiene instructions and prevention-oriented interventions during the first visit and about managing traumatic dental injuries.

Self-growth suppression in Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens is caused by a diffusible antagonist.

Microbes in soil navigate interactions by recognizing kin, forming social groups, exhibiting antagonistic behavior, and engaging in competitive kin rivalry. Here, we investigated a novel phenomenon of self-growth suppression (sibling rivalry) observed in Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens USDA 110. Swimming colonies of USDA 110 developed a distinct demarcation line and inter-colony zone when inoculated adjacent to each other. In addition to self, USDA 110 suppressed growth of other Bradyrhizobium strains and several other soil bacteria. We demonstrated that the phenomenon of sibling rivalry is due to growth suppression but not cell death. The cells in the inter-colony zone were culturable but have reduced respiratory activity, ATP levels and motility. The observed growth suppression was due to the presence of a diffusible effector compound. This effector was labile, preventing extraction, and identification, but it is unlikely a protein or a strong acid or base. This counterintuitive phenomenon of self-growth suppression suggests a strategic adaptation for conserving energy and resources in competitive soil environments. Bradyrhizobium's utilization of antagonism including self-growth suppression likely provides a competitive advantage for long-term success in soil ecosystems.

THE MAIN PECULIARITIES OF THE CREATION OF A SYSTEM OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE PRIMARY PREVENTION OF PSYCHOSOMATIC DISEASES OF STUDENT AND YOUNG PUPIL’S

The article analyzes the process and relevance of studying the psychological problems of individuals and social groups, including psychosomatic problems of students and students. Moreover, the analysis of the research of scientists who conducted research within the framework of this problem makes it possible to establish a number of psychological problems inherent in certain social groups. The article also identifies the relationship between these problems and the occurrence and incidence of psychosomatic disorders among members of the social group. The result, on the other hand, allows us to conclude that in order to prevent psychosomatic diseases, it is necessary to solve these psychological problems. In addition, these psychological problems studied and solved by existing technologies of existing approaches in medical psychology.

The Transmission of Cumulative Cultural Knowledge — Towards a Social Epistemology of Non-Testimonial Cultural Learning

ABSTRACT Cumulative cultural knowledge (CCK), the knowledge we acquire via social learning and has been refined by previous generations, is of central importance to our species’ flourishing. Considering its importance, we should expect that our best epistemological theories can account for how this happens. Perhaps surprisingly, CCK and how we acquire it via cultural learning has only received little attention from social epistemologists. Here, I focus on how we should epistemically evaluate how agents acquire CCK. After sampling some reasons why extant theories cannot account for CCK, I suggest that things aren’t as bleak as they might look. I explain how agents deserve epistemic credit for how CCK is transmitted in cultural learning by promoting a central need of their social group: the efficient and safe transmission of CCK. A good initial fit exists between this observation and Greco’s knowledge-economy framework. Ultimately, however, Greco’s account doesn’t straightforwardly account for CCK because of its strict focus on testimony. I point out two issues in the framework due to this focus. The resulting view advocates giving epistemic credit to agents when they act to promote their communities’ epistemic needs in the right way and highlights the various ways in which agents come to do this.

Boarding school syndrome and sibling relationships

A review of the literature on "boarding school syndrome" reveals very little about the impact on sibling attachments of children raised in a boarding school. Such children grow up as part of a multigenerational "sibling" and social group with its own rules and cultural norms. After initial confusion children adapt to living amongst strangers; whilst some flourish, many struggle to adapt to living in a group. This article revisits some of the interviews conducted when researching the book Boarding School Syndrome (Schaverien, 2015) with additional and more recent material. In the book there were stories of siblings separated by the stay of one, or both of them, in boarding school. The focus was on children who were sent away and the multiple losses suffered by these children. Here the aim is to focus on the psychological impact of being raised as a member of a large boarding school group, and on sibling relationships, including the immense losses suffered by sibling(s) left at home.

Equity in HIV/AIDS services requires optimization of mainstreaming sectors in Ethiopia

BackgroundMainstreaming HIV and AIDS across sectors is crucial to close the disparities in service provision and coverage. However, evidence has shown that certain social groups are left behind in receiving HIV/AIDS services. The objective of this study was twofold: to understand the reasons behind the existing inequities and to explore challenges of equity in HIV/AIDS services in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.MethodsTwenty-two adults (aged 26–57 years) from eighteen sectors that are mainstreaming HIV and AIDS were purposefully selected until the point of saturation and participated in a semi-structured in-depth interview conducted between January 20 and February 17, 2023. Interviewees were asked to describe their mainstreaming experiences in equitable HIV/AIDS services, reflect on the challenges and barriers that impede equitable service provision, or explain the reasons behind the existence of inequity in HIV/AIDS services. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, translated, and iteratively analysed, with early analysis informing subsequent interviews. An inductive-reflexive thematic analysis was conducted, whereby themes and subthemes were identified, and the relationships between subthemes and patterns were critically reviewed.ResultsThe challenges to equitable HIV/AIDS service provision were grouped into eight thematic areas: (1) changing contexts that shifts public and government attention to emerging diseases, war and political instability, and poverty; (2) leadership-related, such as the lack of supervision and monitoring, not politicising HIV/AIDS (not providing political attention to HIV/AIDS) and weak intersectoral collaboration; (3) financial constraints due to a random budgeting and contract interruption with non-governmental organisations (NGOs); (4) lack of resources due to scarcity and unfair distribution; (5) inadequate skilled personnel due to inadequate numbers and lack of continuous professional and career development; (6) lack of equity-related evidence-based tools and guidelines; (7) inadequate understanding of equity due to lack of training and misunderstanding, and lack of access to equity-oriented tools and guidelines; and (8) cultural norms, values, and perceptions.ConclusionsThis study identified critical challenges faced in the equitable HIV/AIDS services provision. To achieve equity in HIV/AIDS services, mainstreaming sectors need to invest in mechanisms to sustain services in emergency situations; identify effective leaders to maintain collaboration, monitoring, and evaluation; institutionalise responsive budgeting and establish alternative funds to maintain non-governmental organisations initiatives; provide continuous up-to-date training and create a common evidence-sharing platform; implement proper recruitment, education, and professional development of HIV/AIDS focal persons; and promote and practice culturally safe care. It is, therefore, essential to optimise sectors that are mainstreaming HIV/AIDS and incorporate equity considerations in their strategic plans and working guidelines.