Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, March, 2010. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Sociology, 2009. / "May, 2009." Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed 11/18/2009) Advisor, Rebecca J. Erickson; Faculty Reader, Clare L. Stacey; Department Chair, John F. Zipp; Dean of the College, Chand Midha; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

CARNEIRO, Jéssica de Souza. Fotografia e memória autobiográfica no Facebook: narrativas de si mediadas pela imagem. 2016. 145f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicologia, Fortaleza (CE), 2016. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-06-15T12:31:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_dis_jscarneiro.pdf: 4095784 bytes, checksum: 037e9fe65c176481d5f3a10d0008e249 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-06-15T13:14:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_dis_jscarneiro.pdf: 4095784 bytes, checksum: 037e9fe65c176481d5f3a10d0008e249 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-15T13:14:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_dis_jscarneiro.pdf: 4095784 bytes, checksum: 037e9fe65c176481d5f3a10d0008e249 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 / The study of memory and narrative and its relation with the production and consumption of images has shown a challenging course, especially nowadays, when we try to understand these processes in digital environments. The photo operates in the processes of meaning attribution, that is, the meanings that subjects give to a certain event, in how people and events are remembered, narrated and understood. In particular, the digital photograph produced in order to be shared online introduces an interesting field of research of both and autobiographical memory and narration. This study proposes to analyze the photos shared on Facebook that play on the autobiographical memories, with effect therefore on current forms of self-narration. In other words, we try to understand how the new digital ways of producing images (especially those produced to be shared) operate in the way users build their memories of a lived moment, articulating the past, present and future from the mediatized images. In addition, we investigate how these new ways of "saving" memory influence the creation of current autobiographical narratives, that is, the stories that people tell about themselves. The qualitative study consisted in two stages: 1) application of semi-structured questionnaire with topics about photography and memory; 2) coding and analysis of the photographs available for research, selected by respondents. The invitation to participate was given on Facebook. We identified the factors that contributed to the process of choosing the shared images, as well as the individual and social processes that circumscribe the practices of production of digital photography sharing, with the intention of establishing a relationship between the production of memory and self-narratives. / O estudo da memória e da narrativa e de sua relação com a produção e o consumo de imagens mostra-se um caminho desafiador, sobretudo na contemporaneidade, quando tentamos compreender esses processos nos ambientes digitais. A fotografia opera nos processos de significação, isto é, nos significados que os sujeitos conferem a um dado acontecimento, no modo como eventos e pessoas são lembrados, contados e compreendidos. Em especial, a fotografia digital produzida para ser compartilhada online introduz um campo de problemas interessantes para investigação dos processos de memória e narração autobiográficas. Este estudo propõe analisar como as fotografias compartilhadas no Facebook atuam sobre a produção de memórias autobiográficas, com efeitos, portanto, sobre atuais formas de narração de si. Em outras palavras, procuramos entender como as novas formas digitais de produzir imagens (principalmente aquelas produzidas para serem compartilhadas) operam na forma como os usuários constroem suas lembranças do vivido, articulando as relações entre passado, presente e futuro a partir das imagens midiatizadas. Além disso, investigamos como essas novas maneiras de “guardar” a memória atuam sobre a criação das atuais narrativas autobiográficas, isto é, as histórias que as pessoas contam sobre si mesmas. Esta pesquisa apoia-se nos estudos de memória, narrativa e novas mídias de Van Dijck , Brockmeier e Sibilia, e em Dubois e Samain no que se refere à natureza, ao funcionamento e à análise da fotografia. O estudo qualitativo consistiu em duas etapas: 1) aplicação do questionário semi-estruturado com temas sobre fotografia e memória; 2) codificação e análise das fotografias disponibilizadas para a pesquisa, selecionadas pelos respondentes. O convite à participação se deu no próprio Facebook. Identificamos os fatores que contribuem para o processo de escolha da imagem compartilhada e os processos individuais e sociais que circunscrevem as práticas de produção e compartilhamento da fotografia digital, procurando estabelecer uma relação entre a produção de memória e as autonarrativas.

Online social and information networks, like Facebook and Twitter, exploit the influence of neighbors to achieve effective information sharing and spreading. The process that information is spread via the connected nodes in social and information networks is referred to as diffusion. In the literature, a number of diffusion models have been proposed for different applications like influential user identification and personalized recommendation. However, comprehensive studies to discover the hidden diffusion mechanisms governing the information diffusion using the data-driven paradigm are still lacking. This thesis research aims to design novel diffusion models with the structural and behaviorable dependency of neighboring nodes for representing social networks, and to develop computational algorithms to infer the diffusion models as well as the underlying diffusion mechanisms based on information cascades observed in real social networks. By incorporating structural dependency and diversity of node neighborhood into a widely used diffusion model called Independent Cascade (IC) Model, we first propose a component-based diffusion model where the influence of parent nodes is exerted via connected components. Instead of estimating the node-based diffusion probabilities as in the IC Model, component-based diffusion probabilities are estimated using an expectation maximization (EM) algorithm derived under a Bayesian framework. Also, a newly derived structural diversity measure namely dynamic effective size is proposed for quantifying the dynamic information redundancy within each parent component. The component-based diffusion model suggests that node connectivity is a good proxy to quantify how a node's activation behavior is affected by its node neighborhood. To model directly the behavioral dependency of node neighborhood, we then propose a co-activation pattern based diffusion model by integrating the latent class model into the IC Model where the co-activation patterns of parent nodes form the latent classes for each node. Both the co-activation patterns and the corresponding pattern-based diffusion probabilities are inferred using a two-level EM algorithm. As compared to the component-based diffusion model, the inferred co-activation patterns can be interpreted as the soft parent components, providing insights on how each node is influenced by its neighbors as reflected by the observed cascade data. With the motivation to discover a common set of the over-represented temporal activation patterns (motifs) characterizing the overall diffusion in a social network, we further propose a motif-based diffusion model. By considering the temporal ordering of the parent activations and the social roles estimated for each node, each temporal activation motif is represented using a Markov chain with the social roles being its states. Again, a two-level EM algorithm is proposed to infer both the temporal activation motifs and the corresponding diffusion network simultaneously. The inferred activation motifs can be interpreted as the underlying diffusion mechanisms characterizing the diffusion happening in the social network. Extensive experiments have been carried out to evaluate the performance of all the proposed diffusion models using both synthetic and real data. The results obtained and presented in the thesis demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed models. In addition, we discuss in detail how to interpret the inferred co-activation patterns and interaction motifs as the diffusion mechanisms under the context of different real social network data sets.

Online social networks (OSNs) have become the most popular Internet application that attracts billions of users to share information, disseminate opinions and interact with others in the online society. The unprecedented growing popularity of OSNs naturally makes using social network services as a pervasive phenomenon in our daily life. The majority of OSNs service providers adopts a centralised architecture because of its management simplicity and content controllability. However, the centralised architecture for large-scale OSNs applications incurs costly deployment of computing infrastructures and suffers performance bottleneck. Moreover, the centralised architecture has two major shortcomings: the single point failure problem and the lack of privacy, which challenges the uninterrupted service provision and raises serious privacy concerns. This thesis proposes a decentralised approach based on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks as an alternative to the traditional centralised architecture. Firstly, a self-organised architecture with self-sustaining social network adaptation has been designed to support decentralised topology maintenance. This self-organised architecture exhibits small-world characteristics with short average path length and large average clustering coefficient to support efficient information exchange. Based on this self-organised architecture, a novel decentralised service discovery model has been developed to achieve a semantic-aware and interest-aware query routing in the P2P social network. The proposed model encompasses a service matchmaking module to capture the hidden semantic information for query-service matching and a homophily-based query processing module to characterise user’s common social status and interests for personalised query routing. Furthermore, in order to optimise the efficiency of service discovery, a swarm intelligence inspired algorithm has been designed to reduce the query routing overhead. This algorithm employs an adaptive forwarding strategy that can adapt to various social network structures and achieves promising search performance with low redundant query overhead in dynamic environments. Finally, a configurable software simulator is implemented to simulate complex networks and to evaluate the proposed service discovery model. Extensive experiments have been conducted through simulations, and the obtained results have demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed model.

abstract: This dissertation treats a number of related problems in control and data analysis of complex networks. First, in existing linear controllability frameworks, the ability to steer a network from any initiate state toward any desired state is measured by the minimum number of driver nodes. However, the associated optimal control energy can become unbearably large, preventing actual control from being realized. Here I develop a physical controllability framework and propose strategies to turn physically uncontrollable networks into physically controllable ones. I also discover that although full control can be guaranteed by the prevailing structural controllability theory, it is necessary to balance the number of driver nodes and control energy to achieve actual control, and my work provides a framework to address this issue. Second, in spite of recent progresses in linear controllability, controlling nonlinear dynamical networks remains an outstanding problem. Here I develop an experimentally feasible control framework for nonlinear dynamical networks that exhibit multistability. The control objective is to apply parameter perturbation to drive the system from one attractor to another. I introduce the concept of attractor network and formulate a quantifiable framework: a network is more controllable if the attractor network is more strongly connected. I test the control framework using examples from various models and demonstrate the beneficial role of noise in facilitating control. Third, I analyze large data sets from a diverse online social networking (OSN) systems and find that the growth dynamics of meme popularity exhibit characteristically different behaviors: linear, “S”-shape and exponential growths. Inspired by cell population growth model in microbial ecology, I construct a base growth model for meme popularity in OSNs. Then I incorporate human interest dynamics into the base model and propose a hybrid model which contains a small number of free parameters. The model successfully predicts the various distinct meme growth dynamics. At last, I propose a nonlinear dynamics model to characterize the controlling of WNT signaling pathway in the differentiation of neural progenitor cells. The model is able to predict experiment results and shed light on the understanding of WNT regulation mechanisms. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2017

Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Tourism and hospitality management in the Faculty of Business at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / This research investigated opinions on two aspects of the World Wide Web as a marketing tool for Rwandan hotels: “Web benefits” as seen by hotels with a Web presence ("adopters"), and “barriers to Web adoption” as seen by hotels without ("non-adopters"). Evidence was collected from a sample of 86 hotels, of which 45 had adopted the Web and 41 had not. Firstly, 86 survey questionnaires were collected and secondly, seven telephone interviews were conducted. They consisted of three Web adopters and four non-adopters. For the survey, open-ended questions were used and a statistical analysis of adopters' opinions depicts the main benefits as being “advertising and promoting”, “providing hotel information”, “communicating better”, “providing online reservation”, “saving cost and time” and “being free from borders”. Importantly, respondents' data also indicates that they considered “increasing business” and “providing competitive advantage” as benefits. In the research results, the latter are considered as the high-end benefits of any marketing effort with “increase in business” depending on “competitive advantage”. The same was done with barriers to Web adoption and a statistical analysis depicts the main barriers as being “high cost of Web implementation”, “lack of external Internet infrastructure”, “lack of IT skills and knowledge”, “perceived costs and benefits”, “lack of top management support” and “lack of awareness about business opportunities and benefits of Web marketing”. The analysis of the interviews reveals that “Web benefits” came through strongly in the qualitative content analysis. The most mentioned benefit was “increasing business”. “Providing hotel information”, “saving cost and time”, “providing online reservation”, “transactions at global level”, “advertising and promoting” and “providing online payment” were also mentioned. Details will be found in the chapter dealing with research results. Further, the interviews reveal that Web adopters were satisfied and generally achieved the benefits they expected from Web adoption; no disbenefits were expressed. On the side of the non-adopters, the interviews reveal that even though they had no website, they believed that Web marketing would be beneficial in terms of marketing, especially for advertising. For a more effective implementation of Web marketing among Rwandan hotels, the researcher provides recommendations to the identified key stakeholders. Also, the researcher recommends further studies, on the use of Internet and Web marketing among Rwandan hotels.

Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011. / This research focuses on whether social media is an effective means of communication to external stakeholders and investigates communication between Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) to its student-stakeholder group on four levels of interaction; namely institution, faculty, department and subjects. It provides answers to the questions, "How does CPUT communicate to students?" "What is the CPUT student-stakeholder's preferred method of communication?" and "What content does the CPUT student-stakeholder want to hear about?" to answer the bigger question, "Is social media an effective means of communication to CPUT students?" Using a conceptual framework based on Edward Freeman's work on stakeholder communication and Grunig's communication theory, the research considers the role that social media could play in the communication mix; whether CPUT should communicate to students using a medium on which they are already active; as well as what is/are an appropriate method/s of communication to reach student-stakeholders. Findings include the students' perception of social media as well as the state of communication from CPUT to the students and the platform/s the student-stakeholder would prefer. Further research is recommended to consider the use of a mobile platform for communication to students.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / With the increasing development of technology and the cyber world, a culture of social networking has been established. Social networking sites, such as Facebook™, became useful and popular tools, specifically for young adolescents, as it offers engaging opportunities to connect, communicate and interact with peers while enabling and sustaining interpersonal relationships. Given the stage of development in which they reside according to Erikson, adolescents place immense value on their social activity and connectedness, and therefore a positive self-identity and self-esteem becomes dependent on their social success. This study attempted to explore the possible psychosocial effects, specifically on the self-esteem of adolescents, who regularly interact on Facebook™. The research was conducted at an urban public school in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. Participants for the individual interviews were selected based on how thoroughly they completed their questionnaires which I requested of this grade 10 group. From the analysis of the data, four main categories emerged namely; positive and negative influences on self-esteem, deception on Facebook™, crystallisation of identity and dangers associated with Facebook™. Consistent with recent literature regarding social networking and its effects, the results suggested that there is a definite link between Facebook™ interaction and self-esteem and that the social interactions on Facebook™ can have both positive and negative effects on the self-esteem of the individual. It is however crucial to consider the dangers and detrimental effects on both the self-esteem and the safety of individuals. Furthermore interesting features that were illuminated by the research is the concept of deception on social networking sites and individuals’ tendency to deceive and mislead based on a desire to be accepted and to avoid criticism. Lastly the idea of individuals’ identity being crystallised through their social interaction on Facebook™ came through strongly. Recommendations made based on the findings include adapting the Life-Orientation curriculum to address social etiquette and moral guidelines pertaining to online behaviour and interactions. Recommendations for future research include, amongst others, broadening the context and exploring this issue throughout the whole of South Africa and to observe differences between urban and rural areas.

It is commonly held in the literature that users find security and privacy difficult to comprehend. It is also acknowledged that most end-user applications and websites have built-in security and privacy features. Users are expected to interact with these in order to protect their personal information. However, security is generally a secondary goal for users. Considering the complexity associated with security in combination with the notion that it is not users’ primary task, it makes sense that users tend to ignore their security responsibilities. As a result, they make poor security-related decisions and, consequently, their personal information is at risk. Usable Security is the field that investigates these types of issue, focusing on the design of security and privacy features that are usable. In order to understand and appreciate the complexities that exist in the field of Usable Security, the research fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Information Security should be examined. Accordingly, the Information Security field is concerned with all aspects pertaining to the security and privacy of information, while the field of Human-Computer Interaction is concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use. This research delivers a framework to evaluate Usable Security in online social networks. In this study, online social networks that are particular to the health domain were used as a case study and contributed to the development of a framework consisting of three components: a process, a validation tool and a Usable Security heuristic evaluation. There is no existing qualitative process that describes how one would develop and validate a heuristic evaluation. In this regard a heuristic evaluation is a usability inspection method that is used to evaluate the design of an interface for any usability violations in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. Therefore, firstly, a new process and a validation tool were required to be developed. Once this had been achieved, the process could then be followed to develop a new heuristic evaluation that is specific to Usable Security. In order to assess the validity of a new heuristic evaluation a validation tool is used. The development of tools that can improve the design of security and privacy features on end-user applications and websites in terms of their usability is critical, as this will ensure that the intended users experience them as usable and can utilise them effectively. The framework for evaluating Usable Security contributes to this objective in the context of online social networks.