Search Results (30)

In a recent Barna poll, 60% of practicing Christians indicated rarely or never doubting religious beliefs. This puzzling statistic evokes questions. How did this approach to uncertainty benefit the respondents? Were suppression and concealment in their coping strategy? Would an alternative management approach, one derived from a compendium of personality traits in a four-stage doubting process, be of assistance? In a review of religion-personality literature, several gaps were uncovered. Gender effects with these constructs were often unattended; authors utilizing the Five-Factor Model (FFM) frequently didn’t include facet traits; positive and negative sides of religious doubt were usually not discussed together; multiple stages in the doubting process were seldom considered; and researchers rarely employed a multidimensional model of quest religious orientation (QRO) as a measure of doubt phenomena. Consequently, a sample of Protestant Christian undergraduates (n = 335) was recruited and administered the FFM using facet and domain traits along with unidimensional and multidimensional instruments of QRO. Findings from hierarchical regression analyses of constructs representing four stages in the doubting process revealed 11 facet and the five domain traits emerging as predictors. Implications and applications from the predictive associations forming a doubt management strategy were discussed. Full article

Toxoplasmosis is a major veterinary and public health issue affecting humans and animals, where felids represent the definitive hosts of the causative agent Toxoplasma gondii. While the infections are mostly asymptomatic, the disease could be severe in immune-compromised patients and pregnant women. This study was conducted to evaluate the level of knowledge, practice, and attitude toward this disease among a sample of Algerian women. A cross-sectional poll was conducted between 25 March and 28 August 2024, using a self-administered questionnaire. Results showed that only 53% of the 545 respondents heard of the disease before this survey, and being married increased the odds of awareness (AOR: 3.597 95% CI: 1.598–8.099). Among those who heard of the disease (288 women), 52.7% correct responses were obtained with varied frequencies regarding the mode of transmission and symptoms. The participants were aware of the role of cats as a source of contamination for humans (83.3%) and the common routes of transmission, including contact with cat feces (83.7%) and the consumption of undercooked meat (75%), but the role of unpasteurized milk from infected animals (40.3%), untreated water (35.8%), and blood transfusions (26.4%) was not well understood. The majority of participants ignored symptoms such as skin rashes (29.2%) and swollen lymph nodes (36.5%), as well as sequelae including mental impairment (32.3%) and eyesight issues (35.1%). Results showed also a high rate of appropriate practices and positive attitudes, where 90.3% of the participants said they were in favor of any action that intended to control toxoplasmosis. These results suggest the need to increase the level of awareness of Algerian women regarding this disease. Full article

Introduction: Bovine neosporosis represents a significant threat to reproduction and production in livestock systems worldwide. This disease is caused by the protozoan Neospora caninum, resulting in abortions of cows and neurological signs in newborn calves. This leads to significant economic losses, decreasing meat and milk production, especially in tropical regions. The infection has an endogenous and exogenous cycle of transmission involving dogs that shed the oocysts, with the highest transmission successes in humid areas. Similarly, there is a lack of knowledge about the epidemiological risk factors and management practices involved in the transmission success in tropical humid regions. Methods: In this sense, a cross-sectional epidemiological survey was conducted on 150 farms from 24 municipalities of the Huila area. A total of 360 cattle were sampled, and information about the production system was collected using a structured poll with 128 questions. Results: In these cattle, 53% (191/360) were positive for antibodies against Neospora caninum using ELISA. The logistic regression analysis using the information collected from the poll identified the presence of flooring type, water access, production systems, and feed management as risk factors. Among the protective factors were identified the geographical area, molasses supplementation, and biosecurity practices such as animal separation and access control. Discussion: This study identified for the first time the epidemiological risk factors associated mainly with the exogenous cycle of neosporosis. The present study contributes to the design of intervention strategies oriented to minimize the impact of parasitism in Colombian herds. Full article

In recent years, deep learning-based multi-source data fusion, e.g., hyperspectral image (HSI) and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data fusion, has gained significant attention in the field of remote sensing. However, the traditional convolutional neural network fusion techniques always provide poor extraction of discriminative spatial–spectral features from diversified land covers and overlook the correlation and complementarity between different data sources. Furthermore, the mere act of stacking multi-source feature embeddings fails to represent the deep semantic relationships among them. In this paper, we propose a cross attention-based multi-scale convolutional fusion network for HSI-LiDAR joint classification. It contains three major modules: spatial–elevation–spectral convolutional feature extraction module (SESM), cross attention fusion module (CAFM), and classification module. In the SESM, improved multi-scale convolutional blocks are utilized to extract features from HSI and LiDAR to ensure discriminability and comprehensiveness in diversified land cover conditions. Spatial and spectral pseudo-3D convolutions, pointwise convolutions, residual aggregation, one-shot aggregation, and parameter-sharing techniques are implemented in the module. In the CAFM, a self-designed local-global cross attention block is utilized to collect and integrate relationships of the feature embeddings and generate joint semantic representations. In the classification module, average polling, dropout, and linear layers are used to map the fused semantic representations to the final classification results. The experimental evaluations on three public HSI-LiDAR datasets demonstrate the competitiveness of the proposed network in comparison with state-of-the-art methods. Full article

The purpose of the paper is to characterize the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic for farms and resilience activities performed by farmers in response to the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of building rural area resilience. Research was carried out in all 87 urban–rural communes in Poland and focused on special determinants of rural resilience such as connections between small cities and rural areas, as well as the location of the territorial unit (peripheral versus non-peripheral). The purpose of the survey was to poll local government representatives on the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic for farms and identify resilience activities performed by farmers in response to the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Empirical research was performed from September to October 2021. The results emphasize the significance of the diversification of farms and networks for strategies for coping with the COVID-19 crisis. The research revealed processes wherein farms adapted, even if to a small extent, to crisis conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges, at the same time stimulating innovative responses in communities and businesses in rural areas. This study also confirms the role of ITC solutions in the process of adaptation to the crisis and implies a need to strengthen local links between the rural area and the city, especially those relevant to peripheral areas. Local government authorities play a crucial role in this process. Full article

This article explores whether or to what extent Northen Ireland—long-noted for its unusually high levels of religiosity—remains, as the late preacher-politician Rev Ian Paisley (d. 2014) described it: the last bastion of evangelicalism in Europe. It presents the results of two major polls conducted in 2023, which together provide the most comprehensive picture of religion in Northern Ireland in two decades. The polls were a representative survey of Northern Ireland, carried out by a professional research company, and a self-selecting online questionnaire distributed by the Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland. The data confirm continued high levels of religiosity, with 50 percent of the general population reporting that they are practising Christians. Surprisingly, 38 percent of practising Catholics self-identify as evangelical—up from six percent in a 2004 survey. Men are more likely to identify as evangelical than women, and young practising Christians (18–34) are more likely to identify as evangelical than other age groups. As expected, evangelicals hold more morally/socially conservative views on a range of issues. We also develop a new four-fold typology to describe evangelicals in Northern Ireland: broad-church evangelicals, classic evangelicals, Catholic evangelicals, and ex-vangelicals (those who were once evangelical but no longer identify as such). Full article

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that predict life satisfaction in a large representative sample of Koreans by analyzing data from the Gallup World Poll. The primary objective was to identify important predictors and suggest strategies to improve quality of life in Korea. The study used available Korean data from 2006 to 2017, which included 14,101 participants (mean age = 46.42). Predictors included demographic and psychological variables, with the Cantril Ladder of Life Scale serving as the outcome variable. The results show a decline in life satisfaction with advancing age, and that the relationship between life satisfaction and age varied by gender. Among the predictors examined, satisfaction with the standard of living and household income emerged as the most influential factors in determining life evaluation; other strong predictors included positive affect and negative affect, social support, gender, and education level. These results imply that, to increase life satisfaction, it is imperative to provide job opportunities and social services specifically targeted to individuals in low-income groups. In addition, it is crucial to implement tailored psychosocial interventions that address the unique developmental tasks and psychological challenges experienced by individuals according to their gender and life cycle stage. Full article

Nonprobability samples have been used frequently in practice including public health study, economics, education, and political polls. Naïve estimates based on nonprobability samples without any further adjustments may suffer from serious selection bias. Mass imputation has been shown to be effective in practice to improve the representativeness of nonprobability samples. It builds an imputation model based on nonprobability samples and generates imputed values for all units in the probability samples. In this paper, we compare two mass imputation approaches including latent joint multivariate normal model mass imputation (e.g., Generalized Efficient Regression-Based Imputation with Latent Processes (GERBIL)) and fully conditional specification (FCS) procedures for integrating multiple outcome variables simultaneously. The Monte Carlo simulation study shows the benefits of GERBIL and FCS with predictive mean matching in terms of balancing the Monte Carlo bias and variance. We further evaluate our proposed method by combining the information from Tribal Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data files. Full article

The adoption of a standardized technique of measuring in civil construction projects is influenced both by the drivers and the strategies used, particularly in emerging nations such as Malaysia. So, the authors of this study used structural equation modeling and the PLS-SEM technique to inquire into the connection between the driver and strategy elements of the adoption. Quantity surveyors at quantity surveying consultancy companies using the standard measurement technique were polled using a questionnaire. Using the PLS-SEM technique provided by the SmartPLS 3 software, a hierarchical model was created to determine the components and their impacts on the adoption of the measuring method. The results indicated that all classes considerably influence the adoption of the standard technique of assessment, but the barrier factors had the most impact. The adoption of a standardized technique of measuring was significantly impacted by the driver and strategy elements. The coefficient of determination (R-squared value) of 0.400 indicates that the dependent variable(s) can be explained by the predictor variable(s) in the model. Moreover, Q² is significantly different from zero, suggesting that endogenous latent components may be predicted by the conceptual model. Because of its high explanatory power, the created model has given a goodness-of-fit (GoF) index of 0.214. This means that the model adequately represents the link between the variables that affect measuring technique adoption and the effects of these factors. The first stage in determining what motivates people to utilize the most up-to-date standardized measurement approach in civil engineering construction projects is to develop a research model of the variables and to explain the connection between the driver and strategy factors on standard adoption. Full article

Notwithstanding the impact that the Coronavirus pandemic has had on the physical and psychological wellness of people, it has also caused a change in the psychological conditions of many employees, particularly among organizations and privately owned businesses, which confronted numerous limitations because of the unique states of the pandemic. Accordingly, the current review expected to implement an RBF neural network to dissect the connection between demographic variables, resilience, Coronavirus, and burnout in start-ups. The examination technique was quantitative. The statistical populace of the review is directors and representatives of start-ups. In view of the statistical sample size of the limitless community, 384 of them were investigated. For information gathering, standard polls incorporating MBI-GS and BRCS and specialist-made surveys of pressure brought about by Coronavirus were utilized. The validity of the polls was affirmed by a board of specialists and their reliability was affirmed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The designed network structure had ten neurons in the input layer, forty neurons in the hidden layer, and one neuron in the output layer. The amount of training and test data were 70% and 30%, respectively. The output of the neural network and the collected results were compared with each other, and the designed network was able to classify all the data correctly. Using the method presented in this research can greatly help the sustainability of companies. Full article

Studies have shown that the protection afforded by COVID-19 vaccines against hospitalization and death decreases slowly over time due to the emergence of new variants and waning immunity. Accordingly, booster doses remain critical to minimizing the health impacts of the pandemic. This study examined the prevalence rate, sociodemographic determinants, and motivators of getting a COVID-19 booster vaccine within the Canadian population. We recruited a representative sample of 3001 Canadians aged 18+ years as part of the iCARE study using an online polling form between 20 January and 2 February 2022. Participants self-reported their booster status and were dichotomized into two groups: those who did vs. did not receive at least one booster dose. A total of 67% of participants received a booster dose. Chi-square analyses revealed that older age (p < 0.001) and having a chronic disease diagnosis (p < 0.001) were associated with being more likely to get a booster. Boosted individuals reported motivators tied to efficacy and altruism, whereas non-boosted individuals reported motivators tied to efficacy and safety. Results suggest that messaging will require careful tailoring to address the identified behavioral motivators among non-boosted individuals who emphasize safety and efficacy of additional vaccine doses. Full article

AIMS: The study aims to investigate how trust in science, conspiratorial thinking, and religiosity affected people’s declared willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 at the onset of the vaccination program in Poland, their actual vaccination, and the consistency between intention and vaccination. METHODS: In a longitudinal design, a representative sample of 918 members of the Polish general population was polled at the beginning of the vaccination program (February 2021) and polled again after 6 months of mass vaccination (August 2021). We measured the willingness to vaccinate, actual vaccination after 6 months, and individual variables—trust in science, conspiratorial thinking and religiosity. RESULTS: The actual vaccination rate was higher than the declared intent, especially in the initially undecided and unwilling groups. Higher Trust in science and lower Conspiratorial Thinking were associated with declared intent to vaccinate and actual vaccination, while Religiosity was not clearly associated with vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: Declared willingness to vaccinate is not an effective indicator of actual vaccination. Trust in science and Conspiratorial thinking are important factors associated with vaccine hesitancy. There may be a possibility to influence those unwilling to vaccinate and that are undecided to eventually get vaccinated. Full article

In today’s society, voting is crucial to choosing the representatives of the people. The current voting process is filled with a vast array of disputes and manipulations. The leader must be selected in a precise manner without any malpractices. In addition, the people and authorities are not happy with the election results and label them unpredictable. We offer a better solution to the current problems, such as tampering, non-residents voting outside of the polling place, quick results analysis, quick counting, and reduced use of staff and funds during the electoral franchise process. In this offer, blockchain technology is used to create the distributed application (dApp) framework that will be used for the proposed e-voting system. Additionally, it offers unique characteristics such as immutability, transparency, privacy, and reception freedom that reduce crimes involving the processing of sensitive data in the electoral process. Ganache, MetaMask, and specified dagger hashing algorithm are used to develop the dApp. A key strength of this paper is the statistical analysis of transactions on the blockchain. Moreover, it also provides security to voters’ identity and leads to immediate acceptable counting results with more accuracy. Full article

By adopting niche theory, this study compared social media with news media and interpersonal communication regarding their capabilities in satisfying people’s information needs of daily use, surveillance, convenience, and information quality during the outbreak of COVID-19. Two methods were adopted to collect data for this study: the first was to conduct 20 intensive interviews, and the second was to administer an online survey by contracting a professional polling company with a panel of 8.8 million members. The stratified random sampling method was used to acquire a representative sample, from which 1100 valid questionnaires were obtained. The results showed that: (1) Social media were superior to traditional news media in terms of its convenience. However, several new types of online news, such as Yahoo news, were able to compete with social media for convenience. (2) Interpersonal communication did not outperform in satisfying individuals’ needs for the four gratifications. Nevertheless, interpersonal communication plays the role of social support for individuals. Full article

Food insecurity (FI) remains a challenge not only in less-developed countries but also worldwide. The literature indicates higher rates of FI for women than men in some regions of the world. Thus, the main objective of this cross-sectional study was to assess differences in experiencing FI according to gender in Central-Eastern Europe—a region that has been little researched in terms of FI. The study analyzes individual-level data on FI from the Gallup World Poll (GWP) for the years 2018–2019, obtained under a license from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Dataset encompasses representative samples of individuals aged 15 and above for each studied country. Apart from bivariate analysis, the ordered logistic regression, the generalized ordered logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression models were used. It was found that women experienced mild FI more often than men. However, gender differences with respect to moderate or severe FI were not confirmed. Moreover, the significant associations of all severity levels of FI with education, employment status, social capital, social network, age, marital status, household composition and income were observed. The research findings can be used to inform policy and to design targeted assistance programs for those in need. Full article