The Moderation of Human Characteristics in the Control Mechanisms of Rumours in Social Media: The Case of Food Rumours in China

Social networks are widely used as a fast and ubiquitous information-sharing medium. The mass spread of food rumours has seriously invaded public’s healthy life and impacted food production. It can be argued that the government, companies, and the media have the responsibility to send true anti-rumour messages to reduce panic, and the risks involved in different forms of communication to the public have not been properly assessed. The manuscript develops an empirical analysis model from 683 food anti-rumour cases and 7,967 data of the users with top comments to test the influence of the strength of rumour/anti-rumour on rumour control. Furthermore, dividing the users into three categories, Leaders, Chatters, and General Public, and study the influence of human characteristics on the relationship between the strength of rumour/anti-rumour and rumour control by considering the different human characteristics as moderator variables. The results showed that anti-rumours have a significant positive impact on the control of rumours; the ambiguity of rumours has a significant negative impact on the Positive Comment Index (PCI) in rumour control. Further, the Leaders increased the overall level of PCI, but negatively adjusted the relationship between evidence and PCI; the Chatters and the General Public reduced the overall level of PCI, and Chatters weakened the relationship between the specific type of anti-rumour form and PCI while the General Public enhanced the relationship between the specific type of anti-rumour form and PCI. In the long run, the role of Leaders needs to be further improved, and the importance of the General Public is growing in the food rumour control process.

A qualitative twitter analysis of the patient experience with invisible orthodontics; lingual braces versus invisalign

Objectives: The aim of this qualitative study was to examine orthodontic patients’ thoughts and experiences about the invisible orthodontic treatment options – lingual braces and Invisalign – through the analysis of Twitter posts’ content. Materials and Methods: A software program was written for the data collection. The program consecutively collected the tweets posted over an 8-month period from Twitter’s publicly accessible database. Tweets that were written in the English language and contained any of the four keywords “Invisalign,” “lingualorthodontics,” “lingualbraces,” and “invisiblebraces” were collected. The tweets that included irrelevant or incoherent posts, professional advertisements, unclear/not applicable content, and reposts were excluded from the study. Two authors, with different experiences, independently read, and analyzed the tweets. Each applicable tweet was classified into one of the three categories: Positive, negative, and neutral for two study groups (Invisalign and lingual braces). Pearson Chi-square test was used to analyze the negative and positive tweet rates of the groups. Results: 1176 of 2407 tweets were selected as applicable and analyzed by the authors. There was a statistically significant very good agreement between the two observers (Kappa = 0.933, P < 0.001). The negative comment rate (39%) and neutral comment rate (31.1%) in the lingual group were statistically higher than the Invisalign group (27.2% and 21.7%, respectively; P < 0.001). The positive comment rate in the Invisalign group was significantly higher (51.1%) compared to the lingual group (29.9%, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Orthodontic patients use social media to share their experiences and feelings about their treatment process. The applicable Tweet number and the positive Tweet rate in the Invisalign group were higher than the lingual braces group.

The Power of Words: Appearance Comments from One’s Partner Can Affect Men’s Body Image and Women’s Couple Relationship

Background: The purpose of the present study was to examine, through an experimental vignette design, the effects of appearance-related comments from one’s partner on body image and the perceived quality of one’s relationship. Body image was considered both in negative (body dissatisfaction) and positive (body compassion) terms. Methods: Appearance-related commentary from one’s partner was manipulated through a vignette describing the purchase of a swimsuit. The participants (n = 211) were women and men who were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions (positive comment, negative comment, no comment). Results: A series of ANOVAs showed different findings for women and men. Being criticized for body weight and shape caused an increase in body dissatisfaction and a decrease in body compassion in men but not in women. Regarding couple satisfaction, women who imagined receiving a compliment about their body perceived being more accepted by their partner and were less afraid of being abandoned or rejected. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of appearance-based comments from one’s partner on men’s body image and on women’s perception of their couple relationship. Therefore, appearance comments might be addressed by interventions aimed at enhancing positive body image, reducing body dissatisfaction, and fostering couple relationships, carefully considering sex differences.

The dark and light sides of engagement: an analysis of user-generated content in wildlife trade online communities.

Recent research has focused on the role of user-generated content (UGC) in the dark side of engagement on social media. In this study, we apply this to the unique context of the online exotic wildlife trade, a critical area of research due its involvement in devastating global species loss as well as harms to human health and livelihoods. We first conduct qualitative analysis on a large data set of UGC with the automatic machine-learning lexical software Leximancer 4.5.1 to explore the discourse that occurs in comments of posts that promote behaviour change and demand reduction. Then, we complement this by testing an extended elaboration likelihood model to determine the nature of information processing that leads to positive comment valences. Our results show that motivation, opportunity and ability factors moderate the relationship between dual-processing routes and comment valence as well as influencing the likelihood of positive comment valences that indicate attitude change. This work extends the use of theory from Information Systems and Marketing to conservation and provides both conceptual and practical recommendations to encourage behaviour change and reduce the harmful effects of engagement.

Smoking behaviour and its influencing factors among adult population in selected communities of rural Bangladesh

Background: Tobacco is a leading cause of preventable mortality and morbidity in the majority of high-income countries, and it is becoming increasingly prevalent in low-income countries. This study aims to assess the smoking behavior among adult population in a selected community of Mymensing district.Methods: This descriptive type of cross sectional study was conducted to assess the smoking behavior among the adult population in a selected community of Mymensing district. The study period was four months starting from June 2018 to September 2018. One hundred and eighty two (182) people were selected considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study taken informed written consent from all the participants. All the data were entered and analyzed by using statistical packages for social science (SPSS) software version 16.0 (Chicago).Results: This study revealed that the highest 53.3% of the respondents were smoking daily 11-15 cigarette/day. The highest 45.6% of the respondents were smoking for 6-10 years. 52.2% of the respondents were thinking depression influence on smoking. 66.5% of the respondents were thinking personal life problem influence on smoking. 42% start and continue smoking due to friends followed by 27% were due to stress and anxiety, 12% were for relaxation, 10% were personal life problem and 4% were start and continue smoke for pleasure and fun.Conclusions: It was observed that all of the respondents have given positive comment about the influence of television (TV)/media on cessation of tobacco use.

Academic Rhinologists’ Online Rating and Perception, Scholarly Productivity, and Industry Payments

Introduction The emergence of popular online rating websites, social media platforms, and public databases for industry payments and scholarly outputs provide a complete physician online presence which may guide choice and satisfaction. Methods Websites of all U.S. otolaryngology academic institutions were queried for fellowship-trained rhinologists. Additional well-known and academically active rhinologists were identified by the senior author. Online ratings and comments were collected from Google, Healthgrades, Vitals, and RateMD websites, and weighted rating scores (RS) were calculated on a 1–5 scale. Results A total of 210 rhinologists with 16 ± 9 years of practice were included, where 6901 online ratings (33 ± 47 per rhinologist) provided an average RS of 4.3 ± 0.6. RS was not different according to gender ( p = 0.58), geographic quartile ( p = 0.48), social media presence ( p = 0.41), or attending top-ranked medical school ( p = 0.86) or residency programs ( p = 0.89). Years of practice negatively correlated with RS (R = –0.22, p<0.01), and academic ranking significantly influenced RS, with professors, associate professors, and assistant professors scoring 4.1 ± 0.6, 4.3 ± 0.4, and 4.4 ± 0.6, respectively ( p = 0.03). Of the 3,304 narrative comments analyzed (3.1 ± 11.6 per rhinologist), 76% (positive) and 7% (negative) had elements of clinical knowledge/outcomes, 56% (positive) and 7% (negative) of communication/bedside manner, and 9% (positive) and 7% (negative) of office staff, cost, and wait-time. All negative comment categories had moderate negative correlation with RS, while positive comment categories regarding knowledge/competence and bedside manner weakly correlated with higher RS. Number of publications (48 ± 54) positively correlated with 2018 industry payments ($11,384 ± $19,025) among those receiving industry compensation >$300 (n = 113). Attending a top-ranked medical school was associated with higher industry payments ( p<0.01) and H-index ( p = 0.02). Conclusion Academic rhinologists’ online RS was not associated with gender, geographic location, or attending a top-ranked training program, and their scholarly productivity was significantly correlated with total industry payments.

The comments of voices on the appearance of patients with psychosis: ‘the voices tell me that I am ugly’

Background There are high rates of obesity and low self-esteem in patients with psychosis. The occurrence of negative voice content directly about appearance is therefore plausible. Derogatory comments about appearance are likely to be distressing, increase depression and contribute to social withdrawal. Aims To systematically assess the occurrence of voice content regarding appearance and identify correlates. Method Sixty patients experiencing verbal auditory hallucinations at least once a week in the context of non-affective psychosis completed a measure assessing positive and negative voice content about appearance. They also completed assessments about body image, self-esteem, psychiatric symptoms and well-being. Results Fifty-five (91.7%) participants reported hearing voices comment on their appearance. A total of 54 (90%) patients reported negative voice content about their appearance with 30 (50%) patients experienced negative appearance comments on a daily basis. The most common negative comment was ‘the voices tell me that I am ugly’ (n = 48, 80%). There were 39 (65%) patients who reported positive voice content on appearance. The most frequent positive comment was ‘I look as nice as other people’ (n = 26, 43.3%). Negative voice content about appearance was associated with body image concerns, paranoia, voice hearing severity, depression, worry, negative self-beliefs and safety-seeking behaviours. Positive appearance voice content was associated with greater body esteem and well-being and lower levels of depression and insomnia. Conclusions Voice content about appearance is very common for patients seen in clinical services. Negative voice content may reflect – and subsequently reinforce – negative beliefs about one's appearance, low self-esteem, worry and paranoia. Declaration of interest None.

The Closing Conversation Strategies In Indonesian Television Program

This paper aims at exploring the use of closing utterances in conversation in one of Indonesian television program. The results show that there are three types of strategies implemented close conversation and all of it is the part of positive face-saving strategies. These three strategies are: positive comment, excuse (reason), and the imperative to end strategy (imperative to end the conversation). Positive comments applied if the speakers actually enjoy the conversation, but he or she had to end it for some reasons. Excuse strategy is used to close the conversation by providing an alternative motivation or alternative explanations for the hearer which potentially exposed to the threat of the face. Lastly, imperative to end the conversation strategy applied by the use of imperative words/sentences to close the conversation, but the speaker still trying to save his/her partner’s face. In general, the positive face-saving strategies used by speakers to close the conversation also consider the feelings of the hearer, giving positive comments or express a reason why a conversation should end. Key words: Closing Conversation Strategies, Indonesian Television Program

Diversity of Research Participants Benefits ESL/EFL Learners: Examining Student-Lecturer Disagreements in Classrooms

<p>Reviews of literature made manifest that native English speakers who were research participants in many studies on disagreements were Americans (e.g., Beebe &amp; Takahashi, 1989; Takahashi &amp; Beebe, 1993; Dogacay-Aktuna &amp; Kamisli 1996; Rees-Miller, 2000; Guodong &amp; Jing, 2005; Chen, 2006). The utmost use of Americans as research participants presented a rather restricted view on how the disagreements could be expressed by native English speakers. These studies exhibited that Americans in a classroom context normally began their student-lecturer disagreements with a positive comment (e.g., <em>‘The idea is interesting but…’</em>). Based on these results, the ESL/EFL learners might over-generalize from Americans to other groups of native English speakers and consequently postulate that all native English speakers initiate their student-lecturer disagreements with an optimistic remark. This current study chose a group of 13 Canadians and investigated their disagreement strategies in the identical context. The data were collected by videotaping the participants’ classroom for three hours every week for five consecutive weeks. Results showed that the participants normally disagreed with their lecturer explicitly but mitigated their explicit disagreements with some justification (e.g., <em>‘No because…’</em>). The findings underscored that Americans and Canadians did not normally use the same disagreement strategies in the classroom context. If future studies increasingly use British English, Australians, New Zealanders or South Africans as research participants and investigate their expressions of student-lecturer disagreement, the ESL/EFL learners will be more highly aware of differences across all native English speakers. In other words, they will be able to avoid over-generalizing from Americans to other native English speakers.</p>