Authors:Paul A. Wagner, Kennard B. Woods Pages: 1 - 9 Abstract: Social institutions are commonly said to evolve. Yet there may be good reason why some institutions and some concepts are reified advantageously limiting any free-wheeling evolution over time. This is certainly true concepts like currency which stabilizes social ontology as much as concepts like rock stabilize natural kinds ontology. Important institutions such as the four historic professions moor civilization by being continually reified over generations aligning with sustainable public expectation. When a profession such as law is weaned from reified expectations of the public the effect is likely to be de-stabilizing of both the profession’s membership and the public the membership is meant to serve. The reified image of the bar, those entitled to the honor “esquire” following their name, assures society that a social ontology designates this group of professionals as leaders in forwarding society’s civilizing expectations. De-stabilizing this reification is not only self-destructive to the historic professions but to the societies they were intended to lead as well. PubDate: 2020-09-23 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.5024 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:Leyuan Ma Pages: 10 - 14 Abstract: Self-Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo reveals a multitude of insights. This paper assesses how the nuances embodied in the painting serve as critical clues to comprehend Frida Kahlo’s personal experiences, Mexican culture, and the approach of discovering the contextual background through the work of art. Beginning with a detailed formal analysis of the portrait, this paper further explores it by making connections with contextual evidence. Through timely reference to Frida Kahlo’s political stance, cultural identity, and health, the paper demonstrates how the painting proffers insight into both the artist’s life and Aztec culture. PubDate: 2020-09-24 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.5025 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:Takahiro Tamura Pages: 15 - 22 Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of perceptual factors in the relationship between a referent and objects around the referent on young children’s interpretation of word meanings. Participants were 60 children aged 5 years (35 girls, 25 boys; mean age: 5 years 7 months). They participated in a task of interpreting the meaning of nonsense words with high and low inclusiveness conditions. Participants were likely to perceive that objects around the target object included the target object in the high inclusiveness condition. On the other hand, they were not likely to do so in the low inclusiveness condition. As a result, in the high inclusiveness condition, they were likely to speculate that the nonsense label was the name for the target taken together with the object around the target, while in the low inclusiveness condition, they understood it as the name of the target item. The results showed that detailed perceptual factors, such as inclusiveness of the referent and objects around the referent, affected children’s language development process. PubDate: 2020-09-24 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.4812 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:William P. O’Hare Pages: 23 - 34 Abstract: Metrics related to the U.S. Census have been widely available for several decades but there has been a dearth of studies examining the relationship among key metrics in the Census. This paper provides empirical evidence about the link between self-participation rates and census accuracy using data from the 1990, 2000, and 2010 U.S Censuses. The preponderance of the evidence shows lower self-participation rates are highly correlated with higher net undercounts and omissions rates for key socio-demographic groups and states. Nine out of 11 correlations examined in this paper are statistically significant and in the predicted direction. One key reason self-participation rates are associated with census accuracy is the fact that the population not captured in the self-participation operation goes into the households for the Nonresponse Followup (NRFU) operation. Census Bureau data show data collected in NRFU is not as accurate as that collected in self-response. The larger the share of data collected for a population that is collected in NFRU, the lower the quality of data for that group. The connection between self-participation rates and census accuracy mean the differential self-participation rates seen in the 2020 Census suggest patterns of net Census undercounts seen in the past are likely to be seen in the 2020 Census. PubDate: 2020-09-24 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.4967 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:Toshiaki Ichinose, Danhe Tian, Yifeng Li Pages: 35 - 40 Abstract: To stop pandemic of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19), "an 80 percent reduction of person to person contact opportunities" was proposed by the Japanese government. This guideline was based on the result of macroscopic differential equation model akin to the SIR (Susceptible-Infected-Recovered) model. For the purpose of indicating person to person’s infection mechanism intuitively, we built a new model to calculate infections between two persons who are in contact each other. This model adopted a spatial random walk model to express random movement of people in a specific 2-D geographical space. This model was applied to verify the effect of the proposed infection control procedure, "80 percent reduction". The result of the numerical simulation supported a proposed infection control procedure of "an 80 percent reduction" derived by the SIR model. PubDate: 2020-09-29 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.4955 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:Jonathan Simbeya Mwamba Pages: 41 - 58 Abstract: Urban informality remains a consistent challenge and matter of debate by planners and policymakers in the urbanising cities of sub-Saharan Africa. A common manifestation of urban informality in African cities is the sprawling informal settlements that constitute the only available housing option for the majority of the urban poor. The analysis of informal urban settlement’s environmental composition, physical modelling and socio-economic and policy analysis have been areas of recent study. However there is limited literature on how the urban poor communities in Zambia manipulate their social, spatial and economic environments to meet their needs. This article seeks to broaden the knowledge base on the way informal urban settlement communities manipulate their urban space. The built environment provides the setting for human interaction and the explanatory theory of Environment-Behaviour Relations provides a suitable analytical framework for the identification of useful parameters for developing future settlement interventions. The study employs a case study method of research to analyse the informal urban settlement settings. Ng’ombe, a peri-urban informal settlement in Lusaka, Zambia is the case study location for this research. Analysis of social, spatial and economic environment at neighbourhood level provides vital information about the informal urban settlement conditions. The study in particular addresses the question of how the social-spatial circumstances of the informal urban population in the developing world influence and defines their built environment. The study shows that systems of settings and system of activities in Ng’ombe offer a suitable analytical framework for studying the settlement characteristics that can guide in formulating strategies for settlement regularisation. Residents devise means of adapting and manipulating their informal urban space to suit their immediate needs and they also devise livelihood coping strategies in the midst of their informal settings. The paper likewise contributes to the growing body of knowledge in urban informality. PubDate: 2020-10-09 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.4971 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:Deborah H. Griffin, William P. O'Hare Pages: 59 - 72 Abstract: The United States Census Bureau acknowledges the systematic undercount of young children in censuses and widely used surveys. Despite the growing body of research to understand the scope and characteristics of undercounted young children, little is known about likely causes. Missing from the research are efforts to talk with respondents about possible reasons for young child omissions. This study addresses that shortcoming using data from an online survey asking 800 respondents with young children several questions related to children and the census. The results indicate that many respondents have doubts about including young children in the census count for their household. Only 82 percent of low-income parents of young children responded that they would include their young child in the census count for their household. This percentage was lower if children had weaker ties to a household. These survey results provide evidence that misconceptions and confusion about including young children in the census exist and could easily result in young child omissions. These findings warrant replication and suggest that significant changes in instructions are needed to dispel these respondent misconceptions. PubDate: 2020-10-09 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.4994 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:Grigol Keshelava Pages: 73 - 75 Abstract: The object of this research is Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Madonna of the Yarnwinder”. The date of creation of the painting is unknown. By rotation and moving of the detail we get a figure depicting a snake trying to escape Jesus. Mary’ gaze is directed towards the snake and therefore expresses concern. In our opinion, Leonardo presented a scene where Mary is disturbed by a snake, which is a symbol of sin and evil and because of which Christ was crucified. PubDate: 2020-10-09 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.4997 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:Emily Plackowski, Debra Hull, John Hull Pages: 76 - 80 Abstract: Undergraduate students evaluated scenarios depicting violence in a long-term dating relationship—in either video or written form, and involving either a male or female aggressor in either a same- or other-gender relationship. Other than the genders of the victims and assailants, the details of the scenarios were identical. Results showed that participants rated written scenarios as more powerful than video scenarios and believed that sexual assault was more likely to have happened in the written than in the video scenarios. Compared to men, women were more emotionally impacted by the scenarios, thought sexual assault was more likely to have happened, were more likely to think the aggressor wanted to have sex with the victim, and were less likely to think the victim wanted to have sex with the aggressor. Participants who rated other-sex scenarios thought sexual assault was more likely to have occurred, that the aggressor more likely wanted to have sex with the victim, and that the victim less likely wanted to have sex with the aggressor than those rating same-sex scenarios. When women were portrayed as the victims, regardless of relationship type, the scenario was more emotionally evocative. On average, participants strongly agreed that sexual assault had occurred in each of the scenarios. PubDate: 2020-10-22 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.4936 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:Haoyang Xu Pages: 81 - 85 Abstract: Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae has long interested historians as one of the few primary accounts of Catiline’s conspiracy and for its complicated portrayal of its protagonist. Rather than depicting Catiline’s conspiracy as either a villainous rebellion or a courageous attempt at revolution, Sallust allows Catiline and his contemporaries to be complex, sometimes contradictory characters in complicated circumstances. In this paper, I begin by suggesting how Sallust nuances Catiline’s character by making him a symptom of widespread decline in the late Roman Republic. I then consider how Sallust’s inclusion of four speeches by Catiline, Caesar, and Cato helps him depict history as complicated by allowing his historical figures to represent their viewpoints in their own persuasive voices. I conclude that Sallust draws attention to the complexity of history in his analysis of Catiline, in order to help his contemporary readers realize the danger that the Republic was facing. PubDate: 2020-10-22 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.4952 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:Chenyun Shao Pages: 86 - 97 Abstract: The technology of egg freezing has become increasingly popular and has caused heated scholarly debates. However, most scholarships focus on egg freezing exclusively in the United States. This paper fills in the gap by investigating the social and cultural implications of the egg freezing policy in China. This paper first examines feminist rhetoric used by both sides in the global egg freezing debate. The paper then introduces the current Chinese egg freezing policy. This section addresses the question, “Why does the Chinese government implement the current egg freezing policy'” by analyzing how the Chinese culture views reproduction and single women. By analyzing egg freezing in context of the Chinese culture, I concluded that the older and younger generations have different views on egg freezing. Finally, I share the results from a survey that I designed and distributed to see how Chinese people perceive egg freezing. I found that most respondents support universal access to egg freezing in China but have questions on the risks and disadvantages of egg freezing. Many respondents also perceive egg freezing as a technology to “preserve/guarantee motherhood” for women, which ironically serves to pressure women into motherhood instead of giving them true reproductive freedom. PubDate: 2020-10-22 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.5014 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
Authors:Qing-qing Lin, Julie Jie Wen Pages: 98 - 102 Abstract: Volunteering experience is believed to provide the potential for the socialisation and interaction of the participants. By means of observations, focus group and interviews, the research attempts to analyse the volunteering process and attitude shifts in relation to volunteering. Findings of the research confirm that apart from helping the destinations, volunteers develop their personalities and attitudes towards life during their journey of helping children in rural China. A wide range of interactions and socialisation opportunities take place before, during, and after volunteering. Volunteers benefit in the confirmation of self-value, interaction, learning and socialisation. The research concludes that volunteering makes notable contribution to youth development and poverty alleviation. PubDate: 2020-10-22 DOI: 10.11114/ijsss.v8i6.5052 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 6 (2020)
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