城市可持续发展中的文化指标

本文为第三届“文化与城市可持续发展”国际会议的主题发言。本文介绍了会议背景 ,论述了文化及其与可持续发展的关系 ,都市化进程及其发展方向等问题 ,并着重阐述了本次会议的主题即“城市可持续发展中的文化指标” ,确立了本次会议的总体基调和基本政策     

Note From Iran: Self-Reported Elder Abuse in Qazvin, 2012

This brief report provides a first look at self-reported instances of elder abuse by a sample of people 60 years and older living in Qazvin, Iran. Six hundred community-dwelling persons, drawn from the registry files of each health center in Qazin, completed questionnaires during April to October 2012. At least 80% of the participants reported experiencing some form of psychological abuse, financial abuse, and/or neglect at least once during a 2-month period. Physical and sexual abuse were rarely reported. Despite a strong Iranian cultural emphasis on respect for elders, the self-reporting of elder abuse, especially psychological abuse, is greater than our expectation. We recommend that health-related policies and programs begin to identify elder abuse and neglect as a first step in prevention.     

A high breakdown,high efficiency and bounded influence modified GM estimator based on support vector regression

Regression analysis aims to estimate the approximate relationship between the response variable and the explanatory variables. This can be done using classical methods such as ordinary least squares. Unfortunately, these methods are very sensitive to anomalous points, often called outliers, in the data set. The main contribution of this article is to propose a new version of the Generalized M-estimator that provides good resistance against vertical outliers and bad leverage points. The advantage of this method over the existing methods is that it does not minimize the weight of the good leverage points, and this increases the efficiency of this estimator. To achieve this goal, the fixed parameters support vector regression technique is used to identify and minimize the weight of outliers and bad leverage points. The effectiveness of the proposed estimator is investigated using real and simulated data sets.     

Do rich teens get richer? Facebook use and the link between offline and online social capital among Palestinian youth in Israel

Studies have shown that using social networking sites contributes to social capital. This study investigated the association between specific features of Facebook and online social capital. Two contrasting hypothesis were tested. The first posits that the rich get richer, meaning that the creation of social capital online reflects the stock of offline resources already available. In contrast, the compensation hypothesis argues that disadvantaged ethnic minorities are more likely to use social media to compensate for their lack of social capital offline. We tested these two theories among a representative sample of Palestinian teenagers (N?=?567). While we found no gender differences in the use of Facebook’s features, our results highlight the positive correlation between the use of active and passive communication features and perceived social capital online. Moreover, the results support the rich-get-richer model; in that, even among this socially disadvantaged group, the youngsters who already had a store of social capital offline benefitted more from using Facebook.     

Effect of immediate and continuous mother–infant skin-to-skin contact on breastfeeding self-efficacy of primiparous women: A randomised control trial

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of mother–infant immediate skin-to-skin contact on primiparous mother's breastfeeding self-efficacy.Study designA randomised control trial.SettingsThe study was conducted in Omolbanin obstetrics hospital (large tertiary hospital), Mashhad, Iran.Participants114 18–35 year-old primiparous, Iranian, healthy and full term mothers who anticipated normal vaginal delivery and intended to breastfeed their babies.InterventionSkin-to-skin contact immediately after birth and then controlling breastfeeding self-efficacy at 28 days postpartum.Main outcome measureMaternal breastfeeding self-efficacy at 28 days postpartum and success in first breastfeeding and mean time of first breastfeeding initiation.ResultsA total of 92 mother–infant dyads (47 dyads in skin-to-skin care skin-to-skin contact group and 45 dyads in routine care group) were monitored and analysed. In skin-to-skin contact group, breastfeeding self-efficacy was 53.42 ± 8.57 SD as compared to 49.85 ± 5.50 SD in routine care group which is significantly higher in skin-to-skin contact group (p = 0.0003).Successful breastfeeding initiation rate was 56.6% in skin-to-skin contact group as compared to 35.6% in routine care group (p = 0.02).Time to initiate first feed was 21.98 ± 9.10 SD min in SSC group vs. 66.55 ± 20.76 min in routine care group (p < 0.001).ConclusionMother–infant immediate skin-to-skin contact is an easy and available method of enhancing maternal breastfeeding self-efficacy. High breastfeeding self-efficacy increases exclusive breastfeeding duration.     

Do Work Demands and Resources Predict Work-to-Family Conflict and Facilitation? A Study of Iranian Male Employees

This study examined the effects of some work demands-resources on two dimensions of work-to-family interface among Iranian employees. The results of canonical correlation and multiple-regression showed that among work resources (i.e., social support and autonomy), social support was associated negatively with work-to-family conflict and autonomy was associated positively with work-to-family facilitation. Also, among work demands (i.e., job demands and working hours), job demands were associated with both work-to-family conflict and work-to-family facilitation. Unlike previous studies, working hours shows a positive association with work-to-family facilitation, which may be explained by the specific cultural context in Iran. The findings of the study will be of importance to employees and organizations.

Knowledge sharing for innovation performance improvement in micro/SMEs: an insight from the creative sector

Abstract

As economies become more reliant on innovative, knowledge-intensive firms, understanding the interaction between knowledge and improving innovation performance is increasingly important. Although most UK businesses are micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (micro/SMEs), knowledge management research has tended to focus on large companies Knowledge sharing can be critical for innovation performance, especially for smaller players with limited resources. Our study presents an insight from micro/SMEs operating in the highly knowledge-intensive and innovative games/entertainment software development sector. Using a mixed method approach, we investigate knowledge sharing and its contribution to firm innovation performance improvements. Our findings suggest that micro/SMEs are at the forefront of the creative sector precisely because of their smaller size. Our study reveals evidence of knowledge donation but limited evidence of knowledge collection in the knowledge sharing process. We develop a model highlighting the importance of industry context, individual knowledge and organizational size in knowledge sharing for innovation performance.     

Modern Traditionalism: Consanguineous Marriage in Qatar

Consanguineous marriage, or matrimony between biological relatives, is commonplace and on the rise in Qatar, an ethnically heterogeneous Middle Eastern country. Previous studies have demonstrated that modernization often reduces traditional forms of marriage, such as arranged and consanguineous matrimony. Qatar's rapid modernization, however, has coincided with increased rates of endogamy. In this article, the authors examine the social processes that shape normative consanguineous marriage formation and progression in Qatar. On the basis of in‐depth interviews (n = 35) with men and women engaged or married to a cousin, they detail the categorical schemas that lead to consanguineous matrimony: reservation, joking, filtering, engagement, and courtship. In describing these social exchanges, the authors illustrate 2 key features embedded within them: (a) their distinct tempo and (b) how participants frame their experiences using discourses of romantic love. Reflecting larger cultural practices and attitudes in Qatar, the authors found an amalgam of contemporary and conventional that they label modern traditionalism.