Does the Use of Facebook Lead to Purchases?

The ability of social media to attract large numbers of people around the world also makes these websites a platform of interest for advertisers. While these sites were hesitant at first to ‘sell out’ to massive amounts of advertising, advertising has produced for them a major revenue stream. However, an issue is whether the use of social media leads people to purchase. This paper will analyse the results of a survey of 169 Facebook users to determine the predictors for a purchase based on information from Facebook. The findings indicate that Facebook engagement, seeking friends, seeking information and gender are the main predictors of purchase

A comparative case study of subglacial bedforms in northern Lithuania and south-eastern Iceland

This paper aims to compare the dynamics of the subglacial environment as determined by an analysis of the structure and sedimentology of both Pleistocene and modern glacial deposits. Investigations focused on subglacial sediments in areas of streamlined relief in northern Lithuania (Ruopiškiai megascale subglacial lineations - MSGL) and south-eastern Iceland (drumlinised terrain exposed by the recent retreat of Skeiðarárjökull glacier). Sedimentological analyses involved granulometry, till macrofabrics, and the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) of micro-clasts. Comparative investigations of subglacial bedforms exposed at Ruopiškiai and Skeiðarárjökull highlighted differences in their formation and post-genetic transformation. In both cases, their initiation was associated with ice advance and subglacial sediment deformation. However, subsequent dynamics were different

Care and the Neoliberal Individual

© 2017, Journal of Economic Issues / Association for Evolutionary Economics. Abstract: This article explores two conflicting ethical systems: neoliberalism and institutionalism. Neoliberalism’s foundations support an overarching ethic of individual autonomy and individual responsibility. Institutionalism contrasts this conception with a view of human beings as relational. The ethical foundation of such a view requires a meta-ethic of interpersonal responsibility that supports an ethic of care

Partnerships: survey respondents' perceptions of inter-professional collaboration to address alcohol-related harms in England

Tackling alcohol-related harms crosses agency and professional boundaries, requiring collaboration between health, criminal justice, education and social welfare institutions. It is a key component of most multicomponent programmes in the United States, Australia and Europe. Partnership working, already embedded in service delivery structures, is a core mechanism for delivery of the new UK Government Alcohol Strategy. This article reports findings from a study of alcohol partnerships across England. The findings are based on a mix of open discussion interviews with key informants and on semi-structured telephone interviews with 90 professionals with roles in local alcohol partnerships. Interviewees reported the challenges of working within a complex network of interlinked partnerships, often within hierarchies under an umbrella partnership, some of them having a formal duty of partnership. The new alcohol strategy has emerged at a time of extensive reorganisation within health, social care and criminal justice structures. Further development of a partnership model for policy implementation would benefit from consideration of the incompatibility arising from required collaboration and from tensions between institutional and professional cultures. A clearer analysis of which aspects of partnership working provide ‘added value’ is needed

The association between knowledge of HPV and feelings of stigma, shame and anxiety

Objectives: To test the hypotheses that ( 1) women who know that human papillomavirus ( HPV) is sexually transmitted will expect to experience higher levels of stigma, shame and anxiety if they test positive for the virus than women who are not aware of the mode of transmission and ( 2) women who are aware of the high prevalence of HPV infection will expect to experience lower levels of stigma, shame and anxiety than women who underestimate its prevalence.Methods: A web-based survey in which information about HPV was manipulated to generate a 262 design ( awareness that HPV is sexually transmitted v no awareness; awareness of the high prevalence of HPV v no awareness). Participants ( n = 811) were female students. They were asked to imagine that they had tested positive for HPV. Outcome measures were expected stigma, shame and anxiety.Results: Great differences were observed in emotional reactions to imagining testing HPV positive between the four groups based on knowledge of HPV. Knowledge of the prevalence was associated with lower levels of stigma, shame and anxiety. Knowledge that HPV is sexually transmitted was associated with higher levels of stigma and shame, but not anxiety. Women who knew that HPV is sexually transmitted but not that it is highly prevalent had the highest scores for stigma and shame.Conclusions: Raising public awareness of the sexually transmitted nature of HPV has the potential to increase women's feelings of stigma and shame if they test positive for the virus. However, our findings suggest that ensuring women's awareness of HPV being common may reduce these feelings and also reduce anxiety, perhaps by "normalising'' the infection

Multi-contrast imaging and digital refocusing on a mobile microscope with a domed LED array

We demonstrate the design and application of an add-on device for improving the diagnostic and research capabilities of CellScope--a low-cost, smartphone-based point-of-care microscope. We replace the single LED illumination of the original CellScope with a programmable domed LED array. By leveraging recent advances in computational illumination, this new device enables simultaneous multi-contrast imaging with brightfield, darkfield, and phase imaging modes. Further, we scan through illumination angles to capture lightfield datasets, which can be used to recover 3D intensity and phase images without any hardware changes. This digital refocusing procedure can be used for either 3D imaging or software-only focus correction, reducing the need for precise mechanical focusing during field experiments. All acquisition and processing is performed on the mobile phone and controlled through a smartphone application, making the computational microscope compact and portable. Using multiple samples and different objective magnifications, we demonstrate that the performance of our device is comparable to that of a commercial microscope. This unique device platform extends the field imaging capabilities of CellScope, opening up new clinical and research possibilities

EquiFACS: the Equine Facial Action Coding System

Although previous studies of horses have investigated their facial expressions in specific contexts, e.g. pain, until now there has been no methodology available that documents all the possible facial movements of the horse and provides a way to record all potential facial configurations. This is essential for an objective description of horse facial expressions across a range of contexts that reflect different emotional states. Facial Action Coding Systems (FACS) provide a systematic methodology of identifying and coding facial expressions on the basis of underlying facial musculature and muscle movement. FACS are anatomically based and document all possible facial movements rather than a configuration of movements associated with a particular situation. Consequently, FACS can be applied as a tool for a wide range of research questions. We developed FACS for the domestic horse (Equus caballus) through anatomical investigation of the underlying musculature and subsequent analysis of naturally occurring behaviour captured on high quality video. Discrete facial movements were identified and described in terms of the underlying muscle contractions, in correspondence with previous FACS systems. The reliability of others to be able to learn this system (EquiFACS) and consistently code behavioural sequences was high—and this included people with no previous experience of horses. A wide range of facial movements were identified, including many that are also seen in primates and other domestic animals (dogs and cats). EquiFACS provides a method that can now be used to document the facial movements associated with different social contexts and thus to address questions relevant to understanding social cognition and comparative psychology, as well as informing current veterinary and animal welfare practices