The Social, Civic, and Political Uses of Instagram in Four Countries

Instagram has more than 1 billion monthly users. Yet, little is known about how citizens engage with this platform. In this paper, we use representative survey data to examine social, civic, and political uses of Instagram by citizens in four countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France (n=6,291). The survey was administered to an online panel matched to the age and gender profile of each country (September to November 2019). About 40% of respondents used Instagram. This platform is especially popular among young adults (73%). Users’ network sizes are typically small, as a third of users have less than 15 followers and follow less than 15 other accounts. About 15% of users followed news organizations, a nonprofit organization or charity, or a political candidate or party. While users rarely cultivate networks with ties to these formal organizations and groups, civic and political information flows on this platform. Approximately 57% of users report seeing political information on Instagram during the previous 12 months. These findings suggest political information on Instagram flows through informal rather than formal networks. This paper establishes the importance of social, civic, and political uses of Instagram among citizens in four Western countries. Furthermore, we offer insights into the segments of the population that are intense users of Instagram, which helps to understand the role of this platform in civic and political life.

TVET engineering students’ perceptions of the value of their qualification and the prospects of employment

The study described in this article explored the ways in which selected technical and vocational education and training (TVET) engineering students perceived their qualifications and employment prospects, given the youth unemployment rate in general and, in particular, that among TVET graduates. While the unemployment rate among South Africans with a tertiary qualification stood at 7%, it appeared to be a staggering 33% among TVET graduates in 2017. In order to gather data from a sample of TVET engineering students, a self-administered qualitative questionnaire was used to collect data from two colleges. A total of 113 TVET engineering students at the two colleges completed the questionnaire. The gender profile of the participants was 64 females and 49 males, who were all between the ages of 18 and 29 years. The findings showed that the TVET engineering qualification does not guarantee employment because of the lack of jobs in the South African economy. Moreover, the participants perceived unemployment as a function of job scarcity rather than of a lack of skills. However, some participants perceived a TVET engineering qualification to be in demand, and this demand is attributed to the electricity crisis/load-shedding in South Africa. The majority of the 79 participants, who perceived unemployment to be an economic crisis, recommended that a solution to unemployment should be to make voluntary service compulsory in both the public and the private sector. To this end, the government should make available funding for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and also encourage and fund students to study beyond their undergraduate qualification. As an entry-level requirement for employment, experience is seen as an unfair practice and a barrier to entry for graduates.

Gender disparity in German neurosurgery

OBJECTIVE Despite the rising number of women in higher education and leadership positions, the proportional rise of female neurosurgeons still lags behind these fields. This study evaluates the gender distribution in German neurosurgical departments across all career levels, and is aimed at heightening the awareness of gender disparity and the need for improving gender equality and its related opportunities. METHODS Data on gender distribution across all professional levels in German neurosurgical departments were obtained from departmental websites as well as by email and telephone request. Results were additionally analyzed in reference to hospital ownership type of the neurosurgical departments. RESULTS A total of 140 German neurosurgical departments employing 2324 neurosurgeons were evaluated. The analysis revealed a clear preponderance of men in leadership positions. Only 9 (6.3%) of 143 department heads were women, and there were only 1 (2.4%), 17 (14.5%), and 4 (12.5%) women among 42 vice-directors, 117 chief senior physicians, and 32 managing senior physicians, respectively. Senior physicians not holding a leadership position were female in 23.1%, whereas board-certified neurosurgeons not holding a senior physician position and residents were female in 33.6% and 35.0%, respectively. Of note, the highest proportion of female department heads (15.6%) was found in private hospitals. CONCLUSIONS The number of women in leadership positions in German neurosurgical departments is dramatically low, and with increasing leadership status gender disparity increases. Mentorship, recruitment, the perception of benefits offered by diversity and programs facilitating gender equality, job sharing, parental leave policies, and onsite childcare programs are needed to turn German neurosurgical departments into modern medical departments reflecting the gender profile of the general patient population.

Nosological and Age and Gender Profile of the Vologda Oblast Population Mortality and the Associated Demographic Losses

The continuation and deepening of regional studies of the nosological and age and gender structure of mortality and its temporal dynamics is due both to the need for scientific monitoring of the implementation of regional programs and projects of the Vologda Oblast dedicated to the protection and promotion of public health, and the need to update the trends in mortality of the region residents in the context of modern socio-demographic challenges (population aging, depopulation, a complex epidemiological situation against the background of the spread of coronavirus infection).The purpose of the study was the analysis of the nosological and age and gender profile of mortality in the Vologda Oblast and the resulting demographic losses, including their transformation over the period from 2015 to 2019. The choice of the analyzed period is not accidental: if in 2015 the region was characterized by the most positive indicators of natural population movement (the total coefficient of natural loss since the beginning of the 2000s reached a minimum of -1.1 per mille), then by 2019 the situation changed dramatically — the indicator of natural loss increased and amounted to - 4.5 per mille.Materials and methods. The study was based on both general scientific and special statistical and demographic methods of research — structural and dynamic analysis of mortality indicators of the Vologda oblast population; assessment of demographic losses due to premature mortality by calculating lost years of potential life; calculation of mortality rates. The information base was the data of the territorial body of the Federal state statistics service for the Vologda Oblast, in particular, the annual data on the distribution of the deceased by sex, age groups and causes of death for 2015-2019.Results. The conducted study allowed us to establish that, in general, the structure of mortality in the region shows signs of its gradual modernization: the level of mortality from diseases of the circulatory system, external causes of death and their share in the total number of deaths are reduced, while increasing the proportion of neoplasms, symptoms, signs, deviations from the norm detected in clinical and laboratory tests, which is quite natural due to the shift in mortality to older age groups. At the same time, its features “slow down” the evolution of the mortality structure, such as a high proportion of young age groups (under 45 years old), especially categories 30-44 years old, in mortality from external causes, infectious and parasitic diseases, endocrine diseases, nutritional disorders, metabolic disorders and, as a result, the large scale of premature mortality of the region's population; male premature super-mortality, as well as the high contribution of the child population (0-14 years old) to premature mortality from diseases of the nervous system and sensory organs.Conclusion. Against the background of the coronavirus pandemic, the fact of a high contribution of young age groups (up to 45 years) to mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases is of great concern due to the likelihood of a sharp increase in the scale of human losses as a result of the layering of new premature deaths due to the consequences of COVID-19. It is considered necessary to include additional indicators of mortality reflecting its gender, age and nosological profile in the regional comprehensive program “Public health — in the center of attention”.

Gender and demographic features of the labor market of the Republic of Tuva: trends and prospects

The article analyzes the gender and demographic features of the labor market of the Republic of Tuva: the structure and rate of employment and unemployment in gender dimension and historic retrospect covering the period of Tuva People's Republic (1921-1944), the Soviet and post-Soviet stages of history. On the basis of statistical data it is shown that from 1945 began predominance of female population in the demographic structure of the republic that is characteristic of modern Tuva. The author makes an attempt to give a historic explanation of this turn. The article shows changes in the ratio of male to female population of Tuva from 1931 to 2020 using various statistic sources and data. In the features of the gender profile of the regional labor market, the author identifies demographic, socio-cultural and economic factors determining it, in particular, the reasons for withdrawal of men from the economically active population in certain age groups. The article substantiates the thesis that, despite the steady trend of reducing unemployment in the republic in 2017, 2018, 2019, the issue of male employment remains acute. It also shows the level of demographic burden on the working-age population of the Republic of Tuva connected with the specifics of reproductive behavior of the population of the republic, namely, high birth rates, as well as the emerging trend of increasing the proportion of people over the working age due to the positive dynamics of increasing life expectancy in the republic.