Alcohol consumption among undergraduate social work students at a South African university

ABSTRACT

Alcohol consumption among tertiary level students is a public health problem that can adversely affect students’ performance at university. This study therefore investigated the drinking patterns; reasons for drinking; and the perceived impact of drinking on academic performance of undergraduate social work students at a South African university. Of the 145 students who completed a group administered survey questionnaire, 88% reported using alcohol mainly for social purposes and enjoyment, with two-fifths admitting to participating in binge drinking. Despite these findings, a high proportion (78%) reported not performing poorly on a test or exam due to alcohol consumption in the preceding 12 months. Recommendations are provided for the education and support of social work students as future healthcare professionals.     

体验型产品消费行为的羊群效应及机理研究——基于电影行业消费行为的实证解释

互联网环境下消费者购买体验型产品时对网络信息的依赖性很大。因此，研究社交媒体影响下体验型产品的消费者决策选择行为具有现实意义。本文以电影行业的票房偏离及消费跟风现象为切入点，探究体验型产品的羊群效应并对其产生的内在机理进行解释。采集艺恩资讯的票房数据以及豆瓣的电影基本信息及影评等数据作为研究样本，从消费者"羊群行为"视角分析其对电影票房的影响。研究发现：在控制了质量等内生性影响之后，消费者羊群效应依然存在；产品特征信息对羊群效应起到了调节作用，从而形成理性跟随；采用预期差异模型可以解释消费者实现理性跟随的过程。研究结论对于电影行业宏观政策制定及对体验型产品合理进行营销推广提供了理论基础与实证依据。     

鲍德里亚的消费经济批判及其艺术性变革

在鲍德里亚看来，当代社会在经济现象形态方面表现为消费经济的活跃，需要进行符号经济学批判。当代消费经济具有独特的运行机制，是将各种商品都转化为符号体系的过程，这既是资本的进一步扩展、资本增值的实然逻辑，又是技术理性的渗透、媒介信息的传播，还是物体系的形成、拜物教的深化。消费经济及其奢侈文化从大都市扩散到世界各地，推动了当代商业的发展。当代消费经济令人与人之间关系冷漠，围绕人的不再是实际物品，而是众多意义，需要用结构主义符号学分析其运行机制，采用艺术性变革的方式消除消费异化。艺术能够建构具有救赎作用的乌托邦，不应只为了满足感官刺激，而要通向真理之路，唤醒人的创造潜能，改造消费社会的不合理机制。     

Consumption and poverty in the homes of the English poor,c. 1670–1834

The consumer behaviour of the poor in the long eighteenth century has attracted more historical attention in recent years. Yet, we have little understanding of whether regional factors affected consumption or how the poor’s ownership of household goods was influenced by level of poverty and the life-cycle. By focusing on Kent and drawing comparisons to other counties, this article argues that the material lives of the poor were improving by the late eighteenth century, but finds that there were distinct regional differences as the poor acquired more and better goods in London and the Home Counties than in relatively remote areas. Moreover, by using pauper inventories and labourers’ probate inventories, the research finds that the poor were not a homogeneous group with similar levels of material wealth, but should be considered in terms of different subgroups which often led very different material lives to one another due to life-cycle-related problems including sickness and old age. Labourers’ probate inventories are found to represent a minority of the poor who were materially richer than most, whilst pauper inventories appear to represent a more typical subgroup of the poor that struggled to make do and owned most types of goods in smaller numbers.     

建构区域文化认同的“影视叙事综合体”——以“京津冀协同发展”为视角

“京津冀区域协同发展”的历史机遇已然到来，而长期以来各成气象的文化形象影响了三地之间的融通和发展。打通文化根脉，营造共通的文化空间，建构区域文化认同，消解隔膜与屏障，是推动区域协同发展的当务之急。在大众传播时代，影视艺术是蕴藉文化，构建形象，传播共识的主要媒介类型。“影视叙事综合体”以影视艺术为传播载体，通过叙事行为、叙事故事、叙事话语、叙事反应等影视叙事功能建构区域文化认同的影像文化空间，提升区域文化形象，促进区域文化的融通和协同发展。     

京津冀文化消费的影响因素与结构特征

在京津冀协同发展战略中,文化创意产业在取得初步发展成果的同时,还依旧面临着不少亟待解决的问题。采用问卷调查法实地走访采集区域居民文化消费数据,并进一步通过决策树算法进行数据挖掘,发现京津冀文化消费的影响因素及结构特征,据此提出打造区域共同文化品牌、保障居民收入持续平稳增长、针对青少年文化消费市场创新营销模式、培养其正确的文化价值观及文化创新能力等改进措施,从而优化推动京津冀文化消费市场协同发展的路径,打造互联互通、开放统一的区域文化消费市场,使区域居民文化消费需求成为促进文化产品供给的市场新动力。     

The 2015 welfare reform of the National Basic Livelihood Security System in South Korea: Effects on economic outcomes

In July 2015, South Korea’s National Basic Livelihood Security System (NBLSS) was reformed for the purposes of eliminating welfare blind spots and reducing poverty. The reform is expected to affect the recipients’ economic behaviours and choices. In this study, we used changes in benefits and eligibility for the NBLSS under the customised benefit system to identify the effects of the change in the NBLSS on a proposed set of economic outcomes – income, labour supply, consumption, savings, poverty reduction. To estimate the effects, we used data from the 10th–12th waves of the Korea Welfare Panel Study and employed a difference‐in‐differences framework integrated with the propensity scores. We found that the NBLSS helps the poor to reduce financial and material hardships through income and consumption increments, but that it does not provide disincentives to the recipients from participating in the labour market or from saving.     

Do information,price, or morals influence ethical consumption? A natural field experiment and customer survey on the purchase of Fair Trade coffee

We address ethical consumption using a natural field experiment on the actual purchase of Fair Trade (FT) coffee in three supermarkets in Germany. Based on a quasi-experimental before-and-after design the effects of three different treatments – information, 20% price reduction, and a moral appeal – are analyzed. Sales data cover actual ethical purchase behavior and avoid problems of social desirability. But they offer only limited insights into the motivations of individual consumers. We therefore complemented the field experiment with a customer survey that allows us to contrast observed (ethical) buying behavior with self-reported FT consumption. Results from the experiment suggest that only the price reduction had the expected positive and statistically significant effect on FT consumption.     

中国新时期电影与文学的互证——兼评刘再复《驳顾彬》

对当代文学尤其是新时期文学的评价，已成为中国新文学评价中的热点与焦点问题。仅从传播方式而言，对中国新时期文学的海外传播做出最大贡献的是以第五代导演为代表的新时期电影。张艺谋认为第五代导演的成功与新时期的文学繁荣分不开，正是中国新时期文学成就了新时期电影。实质上，中国新时期文学经历文学现代化洗礼后已逐渐进入成熟期，取得了较高的文学成就。然而，从传统向现代转型的中国社会，长期处于价值取向的茫然与混乱中，导致无法建立起公正的文学与电影评价系统和体系。只有冷静分析中国新时期电影和文学，才能真正发现新时期电影和文学的价值所在。     

中国农村居民生活用能现状、问题与应对

农村能源转型是农村现代化的重要内容，也是当前中国能源系统转型的一个短板。回顾近四十年来中国农村能源发展取得的巨大成就，能源供应呈现多元化，清洁能源普及率稳步上升；电力基础设施质量显著提升，电价大幅下降后稳定在较低水平。揭示了农村居民生活用能存在的一些问题及原因:传统能源与现代能源并存，清洁商品能用量少；清洁能源基础设施建设难度大、运行维护资金投入少；低收入水平家庭比重高，用能能力偏弱；农户对传统能源的健康风险认知落后，对不同炉具设施的质量缺乏判断能力。进一步分析了固体燃料利用造成的健康和社会经济影响，结合中国的实际情况指出了今后的重点工作领域。