scholarly journals The impact of bilingualism on cognitive ageing and dementia

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 205-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Bak
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Cognitive Reserve ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Reverse Causality ◽  
Cognitive Ageing ◽  
Confounding Variables ◽  
Bilingual Communities ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

Abstract Within the current debates on cognitive reserve, cognitive ageing and dementia increasingly showing a positive effect of mental, social and physical activities on health in older age, bilingualism remains one of the most controversial issues. Some reasons for it might be social or even ideological. However, one of the most important genuine problems facing bilingualism research is the high number of potential confounding variables. Bilingual communities often differ from monolingual ones in a range of genetic and environmental variables. In addition, within the same population, bilingual individuals could be different from the outset from those who remain monolingual. We discuss the most common confounding variables in the study of bilingualism, aging and dementia, such as group heterogeneity, migration, social factors, differences in general intelligence and the related issue of reverse causality. We describe different ways in which they can be minimised by the choice of the studied populations and the collected data. In this way, the emerging picture of the interaction between bilingualism and cognitive aging becomes more complex, but also more convincing.

scholarly journals Empirical Analysis of the Financial Behavior of Investors with Brand Approach (Case Study: Tehran Stock Exchange)

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bagher Asgarnezhad Nouri ◽  
Samira Motamedi ◽  
Milad Soltani
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Financial Behavior ◽  
Brand Awareness ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Moderating Role

Abstract Behavioral science in the field of finance and investment is among new topics raised in recent years. The relationship between financial sciences and other fields of social sciences such as financial psychology has caused researchers to do many researches regarding the behavior of investors in the financial markets and their reactions to different situations. Based on the theories of financial behavior, shareholders' decision to buy and sell stocks is under the influence of internal and external psychological factors. Through designing and experimental testing of the model of investors' financial behavior in the Tehran Stock Exchange with an emphasis on brand, this study was an attempt to investigate the influence of these factors. To this end, financial, psychological and social factors were considered as the most important external factors influencing the behavior of investors and, considering the mediating role of brand awareness, their impact on perceived risk and perceived return as well as investment intention was tested. The research population consisted of all individual investors in the Tehran Stock Exchange. In order to determine the sample size, considering unlimited population, Cochran formula was used and hence the sample size was determined to be 145. For data collection, standard questionnaire was used. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire and the research hypotheses were tested using path analysis. The results showed that psychological factors have a positive impact on perceived risk and returns. Financial factors had a positive impact on perceived risk but no impact on perceived return. The impact of social factors on perceived risk and perceived return was not confirmed. Moreover, the results showed that brand awareness has a moderating role in the relationship between social factors and perceived risk and return. However, its moderating role was not confirmed in the relationship between the psychological and financial factors and perceived risk and return. Perceived risk had a positive effect on attitude toward the brand. However, the impact of perceived return on attitude toward the brand was not significant. Finally, the attitude toward the brand had a positive effect on shareholders' investment intention.

scholarly journals The Influence of Social Capital on Farm Household’s Borrowing Behavior in Rural China

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Sun ◽  
Valentina Hartarska ◽  
Lezhu Zhang ◽  
Denis Nadolnyak
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Substitution Effect ◽  
Farm Households ◽  
Reverse Causality ◽  
Heckman Selection Model ◽  
Bonding Social Capital ◽  
On Farm ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

This paper evaluates whether social capital affects the ability of farm households to obtain formal and informal loans. We test for the impact of two measures of social capital. The first measure, kinship, captures the traditional aspects of bonding social capital in rural areas that might affect the probability of getting informal loans. As the economic reforms in China have changed the traditional rural way of life and weakened the role of kinship, more mobile farmers are likely to develop a different kind of social capital also based in the Chinese tradition but not focused exclusively on kin. This friendship social capital is hypothesized to affect farmers’ ability to get both formal and informal loans. We use the Chinese Household Finance Survey data from 2013 and estimate the probability of obtaining credit, while also accounting for the reverse causality. In addition, we use the Heckman selection model to establish how social capital affects not only the probability of getting loans but also the size of the loan. Empirical results suggest that social capital affects borrowing by farm households. In particular, the friendship social capital has a positive effect on farm household’s ability to get formal loans, and has a substitution effect on informal borrowing, while kinship has a positive effect on farm households’ ability to get informal loans. Friendship and kinship are positively associated with the amount of a farm household’s formal and informal loans, respectively.

scholarly journals Empirical Analysis of the Financial Behavior of Investors with Brand Approach (Case Study: Tehran Stock Exchange)

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-121
Author(s):  
Bagher Asgarnezhad Nouri ◽  
Samira Motamedi ◽  
Milad Soltani
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Financial Behavior ◽  
Brand Awareness ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Moderating Role

Abstract Behavioral science in the field of finance and investment is among new topics raised in recent years. The relationship between financial sciences and other fields of social sciences such as financial psychology has caused researchers to do many researches regarding the behavior of investors in the financial markets and their reactions to different situations. Based on the theories of financial behavior, shareholders’ decision to buy and sell stocks is under the influence of internal and external psychological factors. Through designing and experimental testing of the model of investors’ financial behavior in the Tehran Stock Exchange with an emphasis on brand, this study was an attempt to investigate the influence of these factors. To this end, financial, psychological and social factors were considered as the most important external factors influencing the behavior of investors and, considering the mediating role of brand awareness, their impact on perceived risk and perceived return as well as investment intention was tested. The research population consisted of all individual investors in the Tehran Stock Exchange. In order to determine the sample size, considering unlimited population, Cochran formula was used and hence the sample size was determined to be 145. For data collection, standard questionnaire was used. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire and the research hypotheses were tested using path analysis. The results showed that psychological factors have a positive impact on perceived risk and returns. Financial factors had a positive impact on perceived risk but no impact on perceived return. The impact of social factors on perceived risk and perceived return was not confirmed. Moreover, the results showed that brand awareness has a moderating role in the relationship between social factors and perceived risk and return. However, its moderating role was not confirmed in the relationship between the psychological and financial factors and perceived risk and return. Perceived risk had a positive effect on attitude toward the brand. However, the impact of perceived return on attitude toward the brand was not significant. Finally, the attitude toward the brand had a positive effect on shareholders’ investment intention.

Does Gun Control Reduce Violent Crime?

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 488-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Kleck ◽  
Tomislav Kovandzic ◽  
Jon Bellows
Keyword(s):  
Instrumental Variables ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Reverse Causality ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Control Laws ◽  
Mentally Ill Persons ◽  
Sectional Analysis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

Do gun control laws reduce violence? To answer this question, a city-level cross-sectional analysis was performed on data pertaining to every U.S. city with a population of at least 25,000 in 1990 ( n = 1,078), assessing the impact of 19 major types of gun control laws, and controlling for gun ownership levels and numerous other possible confounders. Models were estimated using instrumental variables (IVs) regression to address endogeneity of gun levels due to reverse causality. Results indicate that gun control laws generally show no evidence of effects on crime rates, possibly because gun levels do not have a net positive effect on violence rates. Although a minority of laws seem to show effects, they are as likely to imply violence-increasing effects as violence-decreasing effects. There were, however, a few noteworthy exceptions: requiring a license to possess a gun and bans on purchases of guns by alcoholics appear to reduce rates of both homicide and robbery. Weaker evidence suggests that bans on gun purchases by criminals and on possession by mentally ill persons may reduce assault rates, and that bans on gun purchase by criminals may also reduce robbery rates.

Impact of Digitalization on Service Work in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: An Empirical Study in Tax Consultancies

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-222
Author(s):  
Philipp K. Görs ◽  
Henning Hummert ◽  
Anne Traum ◽  
Friedemann W. Nerdinger
Keyword(s):  
Work Engagement ◽  
Service Work ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
Business Services ◽  
Knowledge Intensive Business Services ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Special Case

Digitalization is a megatrend, but there is relatively little knowledge about its consequences for service work in general and specifically in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). We studied the impact of digitalization on psychological consequences for employees in tax consultancies as a special case of KIBS. We compare two tax consulting jobs with very different job demands, those of tax consultants (TCs) and assistant tax consultants (ATCs). The results show that the extent of digitalization at the workplace level for ATCs correlates significantly positively with their job satisfaction. For TCs, the same variable correlates positively with their work engagement. These positive effects of digitalization are mediated in the case of ATCs by the impact on important job characteristics. In the case of TCs, which already have very good working conditions, the impact is mediated by the positive effect on self-efficacy. Theoretical and practical consequences of these results are discussed.

Comparative study of the impact of two mechanical perforation densities on the behavior of a sandy soil

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-48
Author(s):  
S. Chehaibi ◽  
K. Abrougui ◽  
F. Haouala
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Sandy Soil ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Cone Penetration ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Soil Water Infiltration ◽  
Good Improvement ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Resistance To Penetration

The effects of mechanical perforation densities by extracting soil cores through an aerator Vertidrain with a working width of 1.6 m and equipped with hollow tines spaced of 65 mm, were studied on a sandy soil of a grassy sward in the Golf Course El Kantaoui in Sousse (Tunisia). The mechanical aeration was performed at two densities: 250 and 350 holes/m2. The cone penetration resistance and soil water infiltration were measured. These parameters were performed at initial state before aeration (E0) and then on the 10th, 20th and 30th day after aeration. These results showed that perforation density of 350 holes/m2 had a positive effect on the soil by reducing its cone resistance to penetration compared to the initial state (Rp = 14.8 daN/cm2). At 5 cm depth the decrease in resistance to penetration was 34% and 43% on the 10th and 20th day after aeration, respectively. However, on the 30th day after aeration the soil resistance to penetration tended to grow and its value compared to the initial state decreased only by 21 and 26%, respectively, at 5 and 15 cm of depth only by 10% and 9% with 250 holes/m2 density. The soil water infiltration made a good improvement after aeration compared to the initial state. This parameter increased from 4.8 cm/h to 8.3, 10.9 and 13.1 cm/h with 250 holes/m2 density and to 10, 12.9 and 14.8 cm/h with 350 holes/m2 density on the 10th, 20th and 30th day following the aeration.

Comparing the Impact of Religious Discourse on HIV/AIDS in Islam and Christianity in Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sloane Speakman
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Hiv Prevalence ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Prevalence Rates ◽  
The Social ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Islam And Christianity ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

In examining the strikingly high prevalence rates of HIV in many parts of Africa, reaching as high as 5% in some areas, how does the discourse promoted by the predominant religions across the continent, Islam and Christianity, affect the outlook of their followers on the epidemic? This question becomes even more intriguing after discovering the dramatic difference in rate of HIV prevalence between Muslims and Christians in Africa, confirmed by studies that have found a negative relationship to exist between HIV prevalence and being Muslim in Africa, even in Sub-Saharan African nations. Why does this gap in prevalence rates exist? Does Islam advocate participating in less risky behavior more so than Christianity? By comparing the social construction, epidemiological understanding and public responses among Muslim populations in Africa with Christian ones, it becomes apparent that many similarities exist between the two regarding discourse and that, rather than religious discourse itself, other social factors, such as circumcision practices, contribute more to the disparity in HIV prevalence than originally thought.

THEORETICAL STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF GEOMETRICAL PARAMETERS AND LOCATION OF ROTOR IMPACT ELEMENTS OF AN IMPACT-CENTRIFUGAL GRINDER ON SPEED AND ANGLES OF CRUSHED PARTICLES FLIGHT

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Granulometric Composition ◽  
Theoretical Study ◽  
Process Efficiency ◽  
Geometrical Parameters ◽  
Grinding Process ◽  
Main Work ◽  
Impact Element ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Efficiency Indicators

One of efficiency indicators of grain grinders is grain granulometric composition. The basis of mixed fodder is crushed grain, the particles of which must have a leveled granulometric composition for subsequent mixing and obtaining a high-quality feed mixture. In agricultural production, hammer crushers are widely used, in which the destruction of grain occurs due to the impact of a hinged hammer. The main disadvantage of these crushers is that not the entire surface of the hammers is involved in grinding, thus reduces grinding process efficiency. A slightly different principle of material destruction is laid down in the basis of the proposed design of the shock-centrifugal grinder. Main work is performed by flat impact elements located on the rotor, which serve to accelerate crushed particles with subsequent impact of them on the bump elements. An important step in the design of new constructions of shock-centrifugal grinders is to determine size and location of the impact elements on the rotor, without which the grinding process is not possible. In the calculation method presented, the dependencies for determining the velocities and angles of a single particle flight from the surface of a flat impact element for its specified dimensions are proposed. Two variants of an impact element location on the rotor are considered and analyzed: radial and at an angle in the direction of rotor rotation. As a result of research carried out, it is noted that in the case of inclined position of an impact element on the rotor an increase in flight speed and flight angles change in crushed particles, which gives the opportunity to have a positive effect on grinding process.

The Impact of Coping Strategies on Situational Coping in Daily Life: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study with the mHealth application TrackYourStress (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa O'Rourke ◽  
Carsten Vogel ◽  
Dennis John ◽  
Rüdiger Pryss ◽  
Johannes Schobel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Stress Coping ◽  
Positive Thinking ◽  
Active Stress ◽  
Situational Coping ◽  
Ecological Momentary ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

BACKGROUND It is necessary to cope with situations in daily life to prevent stress-related health consequences. However, coping strategies might differ in their impact on dealing with stressful situations in daily life. Moreover, the effect of coping strategies on situational coping might differ between women and men. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of coping strategies on situational coping in everyday life situations and to investigate gender differences. METHODS An ecological momentary assessment study with the mobile health app TrackYourStress (TYS) was conducted with 113 participants. Coping strategies were measured at baseline with the coping scales Positive Thinking, Active Stress Coping, Social Support, Support in Faith, and Alcohol and Cigarette Consumption of the Stress and Coping Inventory (SCI). Situational coping was assessed by the question “How well can you cope with your momentary stress-level” (slider 0-100) in daily life over four weeks. Multilevel models were conducted to test the effects of the coping strategies on situational coping. Additionally, gender differences were evaluated. RESULTS Positive Thinking (P=.03) and Active Stress Coping (P=.04) had significant positive impacts on situational coping in the total sample. For women, only Social Support had a significant positive effect on situational coping (P=.046). For men, only Active Stress Coping had a significant positive effect on situational coping (P=.001). Women had higher scores on the SCI scale Social Support than men (P=.007). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that different coping strategies could be more effective in daily life for women than for men, which should be considered in the development of interventions aimed at reducing stress consequences through coping. Interventions taking gender into consideration might lead to better coping-outcomes than generalized interventions.

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