Social Links Research Articles

Classification and Detection of Amharic Language Fake News on Social Media Using Machine Learning Approach

The pervasive idea of web-based media stages brought about a lot of sight and sound information in interpersonal organizations. The transparency and unlimited way of sharing the data via online media stage encourages data spread across the organization paying little mind to its noteworthiness.The multiplication of misdirecting data in regular access news sources, for example, web-based media channels, news websites, and online papers has made it trying to recognize dependable news sources, in this way expanding the requirement for computational devices to give bits of knowledge into the unwavering quality of online substance. The broad spread of phony news contrarily affects people and society. Along these lines, counterfeit news identification via web-based media has as of late become arising research drawing in enormous consideration. Observing the possible damage caused by the rapid spread of fake news in various fields such as politics and finance, the use of language analysis to automatically identify fake news has attracted the attention of the research community. A social networking service is a platform for people with similar interests, activities,or backgrounds to form social networks or social relations. Participants who register on this site with its own expression (often a profile) and social links are generally offered a social network service.

Unpacking SDG target 11.a: What is it about and how to measure its progress?

The pivotal role that urbanisation plays in global development trajectories is clearly acknowledged by the United Nations 2030 Agenda that, among its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, explicitly argues in favour of cities and human settlements to be more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG11). Whereas SDG11 targets are paired with one or more indicators to monitor their achievement, in some cases this process is not straightforward. In particular, when it comes to Target 11.a Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning, the identified indicator does not seem able to grasp the complexity of national and regional governance, policy and planning. With the aim to contribute to this concern, the paper conceptually discusses the contents and implications of the SDG11 target 11.a. On this basis, it develops a multi-dimensional set of indicators to assess the quality of spatial governance and planning in a given context, and divides them into three main categories: (i) procedural indicators, (ii) instrumental indicators and (iii) financial indicators. The result of this work is a toolbox that may support decision-makers and policy-makers in assessing the quality of the efforts they put in place to make their cities and territories more sustainable as well as to reflect on what measures and initiatives could make this action more effective.

Knowledge of and Attitude towards Primary Healthcare among Undergraduate Medical Students

OBJECTIVES: To assess undergraduate medical students’ knowledge of and their attitudes towards primary healthcare and to compare the knowledge and attitudes of students in public and private medical colleges as well as between different demographic groups of students. METHODOLOGY: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted in public and private medical colleges after an ethical approval was granted. Data was collected from 201 undergraduate medical students through a validated (by Chalmers et al. 1997) Primary Health Care Questionnaire (PHCQ) utilizing an online data collection platform of Google Forms. The link to Google Form was distributed via emails and social media links of participating colleges. Data was exported from Google Form into SPSS version 24 and analyzed. RESULTS: The total knowledge score of students ranged from 8 to 17 with the mean knowledge score of 12.62 (SD: 1.398). The total attitude score ranged from 59 to 82 for all the participants with the mean attitude score of 71.12 (SD=4.382). Comparison of knowledge scores showed higher scores in females than males (p=0.004), and significantly higher attitudes scores among private medical students than public (p=0.037). CONCLUSION: Medical students’ gender and setting of their medical studies showed significant influence on their knowledge of and attitudes towards primary healthcare.

Group Relationship Mining of College Students Based on Predictive Social Network

With the rapid development of the Internet, social networks have shown an unprecedented development trend among college students. Closer social activities among college students have led to the emergence of college students with new social characteristics. The traditional method of college students’ group classification can no longer meet the current demand. Therefore, this paper proposes a social network link prediction method-combination algorithm, which combines neighbor information and a random block. By mining the social networks of college students’ group relationships, the classification of college students’ groups can be realized. Firstly, on the basis of complex network theory, the essential relationship of college student groups under a complex network is analyzed. Secondly, a new combination algorithm is proposed by using the simplest linear combination method to combine the proximity link prediction based on neighbor information and the likelihood analysis link prediction based on a random block. Finally, the proposed combination algorithm is verified by using the social data of college students’ networks. Experimental results show that, compared with the traditional link prediction algorithm, the proposed combination algorithm can effectively dig out the group characteristics of social networks and improve the accuracy of college students’ association classification.

What You Like, What I Am: Online Dating Recommendation via Matching Individual Preferences with Features

Dating recommendation becomes a critical task since the rapid development of online dating sites and it is beneficial for users to find their ideal relationships from a large number of registered members. Different users usually have different tastes when choosing their dating partners. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish the users personal features and preferences in dating recommendation methods. However, present approaches dont capture enough user preferences from social graph and attribute data. They also ignore user attributes, which is the complementary and consistent side information of user social graphs. In this paper, we propose a Matching Individual Preferences with Features (MIPF) model to recommend dating partners jointly using user attributes and social graphs. We aim to model user features and preferences to identify what the user has and what the user likes. We also distinguish user preferences into explicit preferences and implicit preferences. The implicit preferences are mined from social graphs, while the explicit preferences are captured from the social links. Additionally, convolutional neural networks are used to extract the latent non-linear information in user attributes. Experiments on real-world online dating datasets demonstrate our MIPF model is superior to existing methods.

Strengthening ties towards a highly-connected world

Online social networks provide a forum where people make new connections, learn more about the world, get exposed to different points of view, and access information that were previously inaccessible. It is natural to assume that content-delivery algorithms in social networks should not only aim to maximize user engagement but also to offer opportunities for increasing connectivity and enabling social networks to achieve their full potential. Our motivation and aim is to develop methods that foster the creation of new connections, and subsequently, improve the flow of information in the network. To achieve our goal, we propose to leverage the strong triadic closure principle, and consider violations to this principle as opportunities for creating more social links. We formalize this idea as an algorithmic problem related to the densest k-subgraph problem. For this new problem, we establish hardness results and propose approximation algorithms. We identify two special cases of the problem that admit a constant-factor approximation. Finally, we experimentally evaluate our proposed algorithm on real-world social networks, and we additionally evaluate some simpler but more scalable algorithms.

Co-Evolution of Viral Processes and Structural Stability in Signed Social Networks

Prediction and control of spreading processes in social networks (SNs) are closely tied to the underlying connectivity patterns. Contrary to most existing efforts that exclusively focus on positive social user interactions, the impact of contagion processes on the temporal evolution of signed SNs (SSNs) with distinctive friendly (positive) and hostile (negative) relationships yet, remains largely unexplored. In this paper, we study the interplay between social link polarity and propagation of viral phenomena coupled with user alertness. In particular, we propose a novel energy model built on Heider's balance theory that relates the stochastic susceptible-alert-infected-susceptible epidemic dynamical model with the structural balance of SSNs to substantiate the trade-off between social tension and epidemic spread. Moreover, the role of hostile social links in the formation of disjoint friendly clusters of alerted and infected users is analyzed. Using three real-world SSN datasets, we further present a time-efficient algorithm to expedite the energy computation in our Monte-Carlo simulation method and show compelling insights on the effectiveness and rationality of user awareness and initial network settings in reaching structurally balanced local and global network energy states.

Agroecological Social Tissue and Local Development in Ecuador: COVID-19 Framework

The multidimensional crisis that Ecuador has experienced as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus since the year 2020 had an impact on agroecological activity and the people involved in it as well, which motivated us to describe the agroecological social tissue in the province of Azuay in Ecuador, in the framework of local development in times of COVID-19. As this is empirical research, a field research type was used with the participation of 498 agroecological associations as the study population, from which a sample of 116 associations was drawn, which collaborated in the collection of information by responding to a structured questionnaire. It is concluded that the social tissue is made up of macro and micro social links that converge in the socio-ecological system of agroecology in four subsystems: socio-cultural, socio-political, eco-structural, and eco-economic, to contribute to local development and meet both the economic and health needs of the social actors in agroecology in the face of the pandemic in the aforementioned country.KEYWORDS: Social behavior, local development, Ecuador, human ecology, social systems.

Assessment Method on United Nation Sustainable Development Goals, Applied for a Sustainable City, with a Focus on Greater Khartoum Services

The first approach for environmentally sustainable development to the global community was introduced in 1992 in the United Nations conference on environment and development, the "Earth Summit", which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.(genda21). Defining Sustainable development as the one that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
 
 Therefore, the study will focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals UN-SDGs and the making of Sustainable cities. The aim of the research is to propose a framework to transform Greater Khartoum into a Sustainable city and to find out criteria for an Assessment Method that is applicable for Greater Khartoum. Which including providing Safe affordable housing and basic services, Sustainable transportation, Sustainable home settlements in the three towns, protect culture and Natural Heritage, Reduce Waste including water, air and solid waste, public access, Green-space, Support positive economic, social, and environmental links between urban and rural areas, National and local disaster risk reduction strategies, Interlinkages and implications for policy-making
 
 In addition, the methodology of the research focuses on defining, identifying, and measuring the indicators and sub-items. The measurement applied through survey and questionnaire. Distributed and distribute to all engineers specialized in architecture, urban, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineers in the three cities (Khartoum-Khartoum North-Omdurman).
 
 Finally, the outcomes of the research, applying the criteria of SDGs to evaluate the present situation in sustainable development criteria in Greater Khartoum; most of the indicator record results the research recorded results show that the goals were not achieved in most of the situations, between (20-30) especially in services (Table 1), waste management and open spaces are average (40-49). Will provide valuable recommendations towards improving the future and urban planning and sustainable development for the Capital city.

Innovative Media Space of the Modern Library

The purpose of the article is to analyze the approaches to the use of modern virtual and augmented reality technologies in the organization of the media space of a modern library. The research methodology is based on methods of semantic analysis of the subject area basic concepts. The main directions of the libraries’ transformation in the conditions of technological and information development of society are considered in the article. The novelty of the study is the analysis of innovative approaches to the use of immersive technologies in the organization of the modern library’s media space. The article presents ways to apply virtual and augmented reality technologies in the direction of storytelling, as well as the use of modern approaches to establishing social and communicative links between the library and readers. Conclusions. The use of innovations in modern libraries and the transformation of book collections into information media space promotes the interest of readers and the promotion of library institutions. Modern libraries are required not only to preserve the classical structure of the information institution as an institution for the collection and preservation of printed and manuscript works but also to become modern information and educational space. Presented approaches to virtualization and the use of augmented reality in modern libraries expand opportunities for the promotion of science, literature, promote the involvement of young people in scientific and cognitive activities.

The impact of COVID-19 on trade relations between Russia and Spain: contributions from the Iberian country

It is undeniable to note that the ties between countries, especially cultural, historical, economic and geopolitical, are rooted in the political foundations that have been laid between nations and countries throughout the process of shaping what today is known as international relations, a discipline that has become one of the most relevant for understanding the contemporary world. Starting from the premise that human groups, and hence the forms of their organization, permanently establish social links and interactions that constitute the dynamic substrate of all societies, it would be appropriate to analyze how they materialize in a specific bilateral sphere, for which a key aspect of mutual economic interests between the Russian Federation and Spain has been chosen. From an economic perspective and through the analysis of statistics on foreign trade of goods, foreign investment and trade barriers, this research will address the evolution of trade relations over the last five years, focusing on the international trade situation that has occurred since the global COVID-19 pandemic and created a multiplicity of opportunities and challenges for trade and investment between the two states in health sector.

Semantic Ambiguities and Classification Struggles in the Post-Socialist Informal Medical Economy

Abstract In this paper I will engage in a process of highlighting the way in which liberal and, later, neoliberal political agendas regulate and establish formal semantic registers in the field of medical informal economy within the Romanian public healthcare system. How accurate is the legalistic approach, which classifies any extra-payment as a bribe? Despite the questionable legal status, the voluntary informal economy acquires the role of establishing bridges at human level between doctor and patient. Far from pleading to accept the conditioning of the medical act by an additional payment from patients or their family members, facts that obviously fall within the scope of illegality, I claim that the labels of “corruption”, “bribe”, “informal payment” cannot be correctly applied to the whole phenomenon of informal exchanges. Moreover, the gifts offered as a form of gratitude or to tame the “medical gaze” even have a role of social link between doctor and patient, helping to bind an unwritten human contract between the two who, in fact, are victims of the same system and its political decision-makers.

Festive and Daily Interaction between Neighbours in Contemporary Lithuania and Bulgaria

The article is based on data from ethnographic field research that was conducted in Vilnius and the Vilnius are in 2017–2020 and in Sofia in 2019. To meet the aims of this research comparing interactions between neighbours in the cities of Sofia and Vilnius respectively, I analysed two types of neighbourhood: the formal, which is determined by territorial proximity and the necessity of mutual assistance; and the informal, which is based on friendly feelings and the desire to spend leisure time and celebrate together. However, the specific features of field research in these cities highlighted another aspect of the neighbourhood, namely, how it functions in public and private spaces. A majority of respondents associated friendship with visiting one another at home, while birthdays were the most common celebration for spending time together. Older respondents, mostly those who were from villages, remember how neighbours would interact in the village environment and how they brought this concept of neighbourhood to the city, naturally comparing it with the situation there and pointing out generational differences. However, in the opinion of the majority, the city environment changed the nature of interactions between neighbours and created a unique concept of neighbourhood that was based on close social links, which sometimes developed into friendship.

Awareness of developmental language disorder amongst workplace managers

BackgroundDevelopmental Language Disorder (DLD) is one of the most prevalent developmental disorders and affects expressive and receptive language with no clear cause (Bishop et al., 2017). Awareness of DLD is currently much lower than other (sometimes less prevalent) disorders such as Autism or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Bishop, 2010). Despite this, it has now been established that the implications of DLD reach well into adulthood (Botting, 2020; Botting et al., 2016; Clegg et al., 2005; Johnson et al., 2010). Thus, DLD may affect not only school progress but also employment. Whilst recent research indicates that the rate of employment in this group was similar to peers (Conti-Ramsden et al., 2018), it also reported lower levels of employment in terms of hours, contracts and employment type. However, there is virtually no research examining why this might be the case. In contrast there is already a growing evidence base surrounding Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Dyslexia in the workplace. Systematic reviews of factors affecting employment in ASD and Dyslexia (de Beer et al., 2014; Scott et al., 2019) have revealed barriers including the job application process itself. Aims & methodsIn this study we aimed to explore managers' awareness of DLD and their views on training, adjustments and feasibility when considering employing an individual with DLD. Specifically, we asked: 1) What awareness do managers have of DLD and how does this compare to awareness of ASD and other developmental disorders? 2) What is the extent of training on DLD and other developmental disorders in the workplace? 3) What barriers to employment are perceived to be most significant by managers? 4) What strategies do managers report as currently in place to help support people with DLD? 5) What are perceived strengths of people with DLD according to managers? ResultsIn total, 77 managers completed an anonymous online survey which was accessed via a social media link. Managers came from a wide variety of backgrounds with an equal split between public and private organisations, and across gender. The number of managers who had heard of DLD was lower than for the other disorders (ADHD, ASD, Dyslexia). This pattern was partly mirrored in the proportion of managers who felt they had received adequate training on communication difficulties. However, training on developmental disorders generally was reported as very scarce. A qualitative examination of barriers identified by managers included interviewing and CV submission, reading and following instructions, lack of clear guidelines around support needed, and financial restrictions in providing support. ConclusionsThese findings support existing literature and have implications for policy and practice – namely that young people with DLD may need to be proactive about disclosing their language needs, and that workplaces need increased basic training in DLD.

Social Mobility and Spatialised Slowness

Abstract This article analyses the individual aspirations of Sierra Leoneans living in France in relation to normative expectations related to mobility. It argues that aspirations and expectations are expressions of spatialized forms of social becoming situated within broader norms concerning socially-valued forms of mobility. Aspirations to social mobility link up distinct places in a fragmented transnational field, transform them as value-laden spaces, and inform migrants’ assessment of their own trajectory within them. Individual aspirations are formulated with regard to spaces migrants have left, spaces they live in, and spaces they would like to reach. Sierra Leoneans living in France have reached a ‘destination country’ and yet, do not experience their situation as the ideal migratory path. Their achievements are measured with regard to expectations of social mobility as imagined in English-speaking spaces, thereby reinforcing the narrative of mobility and the persistence of local idioms of ‘success’ based on historical transnational connections.

Temporal Degree-Degree and Closeness-Closeness: A New Centrality Metrics for Social Network Analysis

In the area of network analysis, centrality metrics play an important role in defining the “most important” actors in a social network. However, nowadays, most types of networks are dynamic, meaning their topology changes over time. The connection weights and the strengths of social links between nodes are an important concept in a social network. The new centrality measures are proposed for weighted networks, which relies on a time-ordered weighted graph model, generalized temporal degree and closeness centrality. Furthermore, two measures—Temporal Degree-Degree and Temporal Closeness-Closeness—are employed to better understand the significance of nodes in weighted dynamic networks. Our study is caried out according to real dynamic weighted networks dataset of a university-based karate club. Through extensive experiments and discussions of the proposed metrics, our analysis proves that there is an effectiveness on the impact of each node throughout social networks.

Social Ties and Jihadist Participation: A Mixed-Methods Approach to the Differential Recruitment of Radicalized Youth in Spain

ABSTRACT The relationship between social ties and jihadist participation has garnered substantial attention from terrorism scholars. However, further research is needed to understand what specific properties of interpersonal bonds influence terrorist involvement and how they operate. Drawing on social network theory, the current study tests the effects of the type, number, and strength of interpersonal ties with jihadist activists in explaining the occurrence and absence of individual engagement in jihadist activities. For that purpose, this paper analyzes the social links of 23 youths involved in terrorism and 21 youths who, despite their attitudinal affinity with jihadism, did not take part in such actions. Combining quantitative and qualitative data and methods of analysis, the study found empirical evidence that participation in jihadism is affected by the number of connections between young people and the global jihadist movement. It also found partial support for the relationship between tie strength and jihadist involvement. However, it rejected the assumption that the type of social tie influences participation.

User-centered evaluation of Discord in midwifery education during the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis of the adaptation of the tool to student needs.

INTRODUCTIONIn the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and in order to overcome the lack of face-to-face contact between students and teachers, the midwifery department of Grenoble (France) decided to use the Discord tool in the training of midwifery students. In order to evaluate the relevance of using instant messaging software for the education of future midwives, the tool was evaluated by the students.METHODSWe conducted, in January 2021, a user-centered online study with all midwifery students in training for the classes of 2020–2021, using the French translation of Anstey and Watson’s Rubric for the Evaluation of eLearning Tools. This evaluation analyzed the different dimensions of Discord in the context of training: functionality, accessibility, technology, design, privacy and data protection, social presence, pedagogical presence, and cognitive presence.RESULTSDiscord had a good functionality for 75% of the students surveyed. They found Discord to be suitable for maintaining social links and creating serious games. But they did not find it useful for following courses or practical work. More than 80% of the midwifery students interviewed agreed that Discord can be adapted to different learning contexts.CONCLUSIONSThe department can continue to use Discord without reservation for the creation of serious games, as well as for maintaining links between students and teaching staff in the department. Discord has the characteristics of a social network, allowing students to connect with each other.

A digitalidade, a vivência pelas telas, a economia da atenção e o mercado do olhar

Digitality is increasing at an anxious pace. The multi-screens form a cyber-territory that shadows the geographical spaces, offering a new dimension to the feeling of existing. In this “continent of bytes”, social ties are mostly articulated around image exchanges. One of the most dramatic signs of these times is the insane search for the capture and negotiation of the look. The look - and what it entails and presupposes - is the essential commodity of the “attention economy”. In an essayistic way, in order to inspire a critical thinking about this capitalist exhibitionistic era, this article articulates concepts from sociology, philosophy, communication and psychoanalysis around the exploration of a structural mark of the human, the look, a subjective potential that establishes primevals bonds with the maternal function and, forever, dynamizes the most diverse social links. It is assumed that we are witnessing a decisive step in the mode of production that, if previously focused on the workforce and the constitution of “docile bodies” adjusted to the machines, today tracks the digital footprints to imprison looks, which, glued to the screens, hypnotize themselves in the trap of attention to nourish the algorithmic business of spirit, behavior, opinion, hatred, faith, shopping, voting.

What data is currently collected on social prescribing outcomes?Case studies of two sites in England

Abstract Whilst a considerable amount of social prescribing activity is taking place across the North West of England, little is known about how different models are being implemented, how data is being collected to support evidence of impact and outcomes, and how these models could be positively or negatively influencing health inequalities. Our study aims to investigate the reach and impact of two social prescribing services by using a mixed-methods approach which will include analysing secondary data from social prescribing management databases held by participating organisations, workshops, focus groups and interviews. Participants will include professionals involved in commissioning, delivery and monitoring and evaluation roles related to social prescribing link workers and members of the public who have accessed social prescribing services. Observational data will also be collected during meetings and informal conversations with those involved in the project. The findings will be reviewed with participants to support the development of a larger research project to explore the effects of social prescribing on health inequalities in ways that are meaningful to stakeholders. In this presentation the findings will be presented and discussed loosely around the following questions: 1. What routinely collected outcome data is currently available to social prescribing researchers (locally, nationally and internationally)?; 2.What is missing from that data regarding meaningful outcomes in relation to health inequalities?; 3. How might social prescribing reduce or exacerbate health inequalities?