Cross-sectional personal network analysis of adult smoking in rural areas.

Research on smoking behaviour has primarily focused on adolescents, with less attention given to middle-aged and older adults in rural settings. This study examines the influence of personal networks and sociodemographic factors on smoking behaviour in a rural Romanian community. We analysed data from 76 participants, collected through face-to-face interviews, including smoking status (non-smokers, current and former smokers), social ties and demographic details.

Online Media Use and COVID-19 Vaccination in Real-World Personal Networks: Quantitative Study.

Background: Most studies assessing the impact of online media and social media use on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy predominantly rely on survey data, which often fail to capture the clustering of health opinions and behaviors within real-world networks. In contrast, research using social network analysis aims to uncover the diverse communities and discourse themes related to vaccine support and hesitancy within social media platforms. Despite these advancements, there is a gap in the literature on how a person's social circle affects vaccine acceptance, wherein an important part of social influence stems from offline interactions.

Assortative mixing of opinions about COVID-19 vaccination in personal networks.

Many countries worldwide had difficulties reaching a sufficiently high vaccination uptake during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given this context, we collected data from a panel of 30,000 individuals, which were representative of the population of Romania (a country in Eastern Europe with a low 42.6% vaccination rate) to determine whether people are more likely to be connected to peers displaying similar opinions about COVID-19 vaccination.

Research Ethics in the Age of Digital Platforms.

Scientific research is growingly increasingly reliant on "microwork" or "crowdsourcing" provided by digital platforms to collect new data. Digital platforms connect clients and workers, charging a fee for an algorithmically managed workflow based on Terms of Service agreements. Although these platforms offer a way to make a living or complement other sources of income, microworkers lack fundamental labor rights and basic safe working conditions, especially in the Global South.

Structural measures of personal networks predict migrants' cultural backgrounds: an explanation from Grid/Group theory.

Culture and social structure are not separated analytical domains but intertwined phenomena observable in personal networks. Drawing on a personal networks dataset of migrants in the United States and Spain, we show that the country of origin, a proxy for diverse languages and cultural institutions, and religion may be predicted by specific combinations of personal network structural measures (closeness, clustering, betweenness, average degree, etc). We obtain similar results applying three different methods (a multinomial logistic regression, a Random Forest algorithm, and an artificial neural network).

Water table prediction through causal reasoning modelling.

This research is mainly aimed to analyze and model the relationship of the binomial Rainfall-Piezometry. In this sense, the inherent causality contained in temporal hourly Rainfall and Groundwater levels (piezometry) data records has been taken. This has been done through Bayesian Causal Reasoning (BCR) which is technique belonging to Artificial Intelligence (AI) based on Bayesian Theorem.

The Relational Vulnerability of People Experiencing Multiple Exclusion Homelessness (MEH) in Spain.

This paper draws on research analyzing the emotional and relational impacts of poverty and exclusion on charities' clients in Spain since the 2008-2009 economic crisis, including people experiencing multiple exclusion homelessness (MEH). The study adopts a mixed-methods approach in which twenty in-depth cases were collected in different geographical locations, including twelve cases experiencing MEH. Unlike other disadvantaged groups, those affected by MEH suffer material shortages, traumatic experiences, psychological disorders, physical illnesses, and a high degree of relational vulnerability, as reflected in the structure and composition of their personal networks, which tend to be smaller in size, with just a few weak and temporary contacts, and with care professionals playing an important role.

Measuring transnational social fields through binational link-tracing sampling.

We advance bi-national link-tracing sampling design, an innovative data collection methodology for sampling from so-called "transnational social fields", i.e. transnational networks embedding migrants, returned migrants and non-migrants.

First record of hybridization in Caranx Lacepède, 1801 (Carangidae: Perciformes) in the Tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean.

During a recreational fishing trip on May 2017 to Isla Montuosa, Pacific coast of Panama (7.467472, -82.266556; 30 m depth), a specimen belonging to the genus Caranx was captured.

Satisfaction with Social Support Received from Social Relationships in Cases of Chronic Pain: The Influence of Personal Network Characteristics in Terms of Structure, Composition and Functional Content.

The worldwide burden of chronic illnesses, constitutes a major public health concern and a serious challenge for health systems. In addition to the strategies of self-management support developed by nursing and health organizations, an individual's personal network represents a major resource of social support in the long-term. Adopting a cross-sectional design based on personal network analysis methods, the main aim of this study is to explore the relationship between satisfaction with the social support received by individuals suffering chronic pain and the structure, composition, and functional content in social support of their personal networks.

Personal Network Analysis in the Study of Social Support: The Case of Chronic Pain.

In the context of chronic illness, the individual's social and relational environment plays a critical role as it can provide the informal support and care over time, beyond healthcare and social welfare institutions. Social Network Analysis represents an appropriate theoretical and methodological approach to study and understand social support since it provides measures of personal network structure, composition and functional content. The aim of this mixed method study is to present the usefulness of Personal Network Analysis to explore social support in the context of chronic pain.

A mixed methods study of the social support networks of female sex workers and their primary noncommercial male partners in Tijuana, Mexico.

Female sex workers (FSWs) are at risk for multiple health harms, including HIV. This article describes a mixed methods study of the social support networks of 19 FSWs and their primary male sex partners in Tijuana, Mexico. We collected quantitative and qualitative social network data, including quantitative network measures, qualitative narratives, and network visualizations.

Reviewing Bayesian Networks potentials for climate change impacts assessment and management: A multi-risk perspective.

The evaluation and management of climate change impacts on natural and human systems required the adoption of a multi-risk perspective in which the effect of multiple stressors, processes and interconnections are simultaneously modelled. Despite Bayesian Networks (BNs) are popular integrated modelling tools to deal with uncertain and complex domains, their application in the context of climate change still represent a limited explored field. The paper, drawing on the review of existing applications in the field of environmental management, discusses the potential and limitation of applying BNs to improve current climate change risk assessment procedures.

Streptozotocin diabetogenic action in an experimental neonatal induction model.

Introduction: The use of experimental models is essential to study the pathophysiological mechanisms of diabetes. 

Objectives: To compare in adult Wistar rats the diabetogenic action of streptozotocin according to the moment and route of administration during the neonatal period by evaluating biochemical, metabolic and histological variables. 

Materials And Methods: Eight groups of neonatal female Wistar rats (n=10) were formed.

"Tertius gaudens": germplasm exchange networks and agroecological knowledge among home gardeners in the Iberian Peninsula.

Background: The idea that knowledge flows through social networks is implicit in research on traditional knowledge, but researchers have paid scant attention to the role of social networks in shaping its distribution. We bridge those two bodies of research and investigate a) the structure of network of exchange of plant propagation material (germplasm) and b) the relation between a person's centrality in such network and his/her agroecological knowledge.

Methods: We study 10 networks of germplasm exchange (n = 363) in mountain regions of the Iberian Peninsula.

Stochastic hydro-economic model for groundwater quality management using Bayesian networks.

A strong normative development in Europe, including the Nitrate Directive (1991) and the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000), has been promulgated. The WFD states that all water bodies have to reach a good quantitative and chemical status by 2015. It is necessary to consider different objectives, often in conflict, for tackling a suitable assessment of the impacts generated by water policies aimed to reduce nitrate pollution in groundwater.

Inequality in social rank and adult nutritional status: evidence from a small-scale society in the Bolivian Amazon.

Research on the social determinants of health has highlighted (a) the adverse effects of social inequality on individual health and (b) the association between individual social rank and health. In this paper, we contribute to the growing literature on the health consequences of social inequalities by assessing the association between village level inequality in social rank, a form of non-material inequality, and indicators of nutritional status. We use quantitative survey information from 289 men (18+ years of age) from a society of forager-farmers in the Bolivian Amazon (Tsimane').

Social rank and adult male nutritional status: evidence of the social gradient in health from a foraging-farming society.

Research with humans and non-human primate species has found an association between social rank and individual health. Among humans, a robust literature in industrial societies has shown that each step down the rank hierarchy is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Here, we present supportive evidence for the social gradient in health drawing on data from 289 men (18+ years of age) from a society of foragers-farmers in the Bolivian Amazon (Tsimane').