No description available.

No description available.

A controversial bill aimed to stimulate investment and boost the economy in Indonesia, called the Omnibus Law Bill, is followed by both protest and support expressed in social media prior to its signatories in October 2020. During that time, the Twittersphere is packed with both the Opposition and Support movement of the bill, who both benefit from the use of hashtags. To distinguish an organic grass-roots movement from a propaganda that fits the agenda of the government and elite, a comparison study is conducted with a framework of top-down and bottom-up- mechanism of information virality (Nahon & Hemsley, 2013). The top-down mechanism combined with participatory propaganda theory is designated to explain the Support movement. Vice versa the bottom-up mechanism is combined with connective action theory designed to explain the Opposition movement as its character in line with a contemporary and digital protest movement (Bennett & Segerberg, 2012). As existing research only often studies both networks alone, this unique case provides an opportunity to compare both networks. A mixed-method of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Topic Modelling used to differentiate the characteristics of both groups, based on both network structure and topics discussed. The finding in regards to the SNA is corresponding to the theoretical framework and previous studies. The loosely organized nature of connective action is reflected in several characteristics of the Opposition Network, in contrast to the element of coordination found in the Support Network. Findings from bi-term topic modeling, however, both contradict and support the hypothesis that suggests more variations in the topics within the Opposition Network as a result of the self-motivated participant and personalized messages (Leong et al., 2019).

<p>Indiana has one of the worst health rankings in the nation at 41. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, among others have recognized that comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approaches are necessary to improve health in communities. No single organization, large or small, has the capacity to solve chronic disease, and thus coalitions have been touted as a solution to engage communities to better health. Evaluation of coalitions are critical to provide evidence of efficacy and identify factors required to build successful and sustainable health coalitions. A novel partnership between the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) called Connections IN Health (CINH), integrates three Indiana chronic disease coalitions to improve the health of Indiana residents. A unique mission of this partnership is to integrate work from the three different disease areas of the coalitions (obesity, cardiovascular disease, and asthma) to enhance community engagement in Indiana counties. Coalition leads for each disease area were hired, as well as a manager to oversee integration of the coalitions. The coalitions are being re-built by increasing and diversifying membership, working together with funders to engage Indiana communities, and providing strong and formalized leadership to coalition members. Assessment of CINH is crucial to provide evidence that this approach of integrated coalition leadership is an archetype for successful health department/clinical translational science award (CTSA) collaboration for other CTSAs, and could be a reproducible approach to improve the translation of research from bench-to-bedside. Traditional evaluations of coalitions focus on singular process and formative assessments, which fail to capture the dynamic and inherently relational aspects of coalition functioning. Thus, I evaluated CINH coalitions using a mixed-methods, multi-level evaluation framework that includes coalition functioning and effectiveness surveys and social network analysis. Using linear and logistic regression models, I found that after CINH was implemented, perceptions of coalition functioning and effectiveness significantly increased among coalition members one- and two-years after the partnership was implemented. I found from a comprehensive social network analysis that CINH was successful in growing and diversifying its coalition networks, that partnership networks became more centralized, and that the networks demonstrated traits of effectiveness based on other coalition network effectiveness studies. We suggest that coalition evaluation researchers move towards a unified evaluation approach that includes perception surveys, social network analysis, external community development, and health outcomes. In addition, an integral part of my work was to share findings back to the coalitions to enhance evaluation and help coalitions achieve their goals. In this thesis, I discuss: evidence that community coalitions can improve health, current evaluation methods for health coalitions, the Connections IN Health partnership, and implementation of a mixed-methods, multi-level evaluation framework. Finally, I present findings from my longitudinal network analysis of the CINH statewide chronic disease coalitions. </p>

The aim of this study is to get an enhanced understanding of why and how young Syrian refugee males in Jordan prepare for irregular travel to Europe. Through eight semi-structured interviews with Syrians in their 20s and 30s residing in Amman, and a conceptual framework of life plan, existential mobility and social network theory, this research hopefully enhances our understanding of the dynamic and uncertain process of onwards irregular refugee travel. I conclude that discrepancies between the narrative of self and the actual situation may trigger secondary migration, while the social capital inherent in the social network of an individual is essential in the preparation phase of onwards movement. Moreover, the results indicate that latent ties are use actively to assess the reliability of the large pool of information accessed through membership in social media networks.

The rapid developments Social Network Service (SNS) have offered opportunities to re-visit many seminal theoretical assumptions of technology usage within socio-technical environment. Online social network is a rapidly growing field that imposes new questions to the existing IS research paradigm. It is argued that information systems research must necessarily evolve in response to the emerging trends (Lyytinen and King, 2004). Specifically, one stream of research has been heavily lacking is SNS usage prediction (Hargittai, 2007). In SNS, the form of social network is realized by computing networks where the individual assumes an identity of an “avatar”. People are merging their activities of work and living thus blurring the borders among their social contexts (Beck and Wade, 2006). Such new trends have become more sophisticated due to the increasingly robust data network capacity and pervasive availability of communication technology. At present, research in SNS is still in its early stage; hence the need to develop knowledge of virtual world dynamics has become impending. SNS essentially provides various service channels to facilitate social network interactions. These channels are highly correlated with their respective service contexts, among which differences are obvious and important. Cultural factors have been crucial for context oriented studies in both IS and sociology fields. For instance, the global nature of the Internet “raises questions about the robustness of trust effects across cultures” (Jarvenpaa et al., 1999). In SNS, not only trust but also privacy has become a tremendous caveat for service providers. Investigating the combination effects of privacy and trust in a cross-cultural study may lead to important theoretical discoveries and meaningful managerial implications. This study contributes to knowledge by empirically testing established theoretical models of IS acceptance, trust, social and cultural research. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used in order to present a comprehensive analysis of SNS perception and use in different cultural settings. Particularly, the study finds critical differences exist within the process of trust formulation between American and Chinese SNS users.

Diabetes is a rapidly growing health issue in the United States and across the globe, and is currently the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to other health complications, including coronary heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, vision loss, and Alzheimer’s disease. Diabetes also attributes to a large financial burden in the United States, costing an estimated $245 billion among individuals diagnosed with diabetes in 2012 and a 41 percent increase from 2007. Blood glucose control is essential to reducing diabetes complications and related health care costs. Social resources are central to adherence of these self-management practices, particularly in middle-aged and older adults. Past research has examined the effect of social resources on health behaviors and health outcomes, but little has been done to examine the role of chronic stress on this relationship. Chronic stress is important to diabetes control because stress can impair an individual’s ability to perform diabetes self-management behaviors. The purpose of this research was to fully identify: 1.) predictors of four diabetes control typologies, 2.) if chronic stress mediates the relationship between social embeddedness and diabetes control, and 3.) whether perceived social support moderates the relationship between chronic stress and diabetes control. Data from the 2006-2012 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally-representative study of adults in the United States, was utilized for these analyses. Study 1 found that perceived diabetes control predicted objective diabetes control. Multinomial logistic regression was employed to determine that age, race, income, self-rated health, perceived control over health, presence of ADLs and IADLs, duration of diabetes, restless sleep, smoking status, and taking oral medication and insulin to treat diabetes were significant predictors of at least one of the four diabetes control typologies, 1.) truly controlled, 2.) falsely controlled, 3.) falsely uncontrolled, and 4.) truly uncontrolled. The results of Study 1 suggest that other factors are associated with the disconnect between perceived and objective diabetes control. Study 2 found limited evidence of a relationship between social embeddedness and 1.) perceived and 2.) objective diabetes control. Generalized structural equation modeling was used to examine the mediating effect of 1.) number of chronic stressors and 2.) perceived stress on the relationship between social embeddedness and both types of diabetes control. One social embeddedness factor, contact with children through meeting in person and speaking on the phone, was fully mediated by perceived stress in its relationship with perceived diabetes control. However, perceived stress did not mediate the association between this social embeddedness factor and objective diabetes control. The results of Study 2 suggest that social embeddedness does not impact diabetes control in the presence of chronic stress, but that support from a social network may. Study 3 examined the relationship between perceived stress and five diabetes control outcomes, 1.) perceived diabetes control, 2.) objective diabetes control, 3.) use of oral medication to treat diabetes, 4.) use of insulin to treat diabetes, and 5.) insulin compliance based on doctor’s recommendation. This study also explored the moderating effect of perceived social support on the relationship between perceived stress and the five diabetes control outcomes. Overall, the findings from Study 3 suggest that perceived negative social support in the presence of high stress may hinder diabetes control and control-related behaviors, and that total social support from a spouse in the presence of high stress was predictive of insulin compliance. The project ultimately illustrated how perceptions of stress and support may impact perceptions of diabetes control and control-related behaviors, but not objective control. However, results of this study should be interpreted with caution because many of the psychosocial measures analyzed were not from validated survey instruments. Overall, future research must focus on how perceptions, whether of control, stress, or support, impact diabetes-related behaviors, and ultimately objective diabetes control. Public health programming can help to improve accurate perceptions of diabetes control by strengthening access to social resources and mitigating the impact of chronic stressors. / Public Health

The successful elimination of vaccine-preventable diseases is contingent on high-vaccine coverage rates in targeted populations. The proliferation of vaccine misinformation on social media has led to vaccine hesitancy in the past two decades. A highly contextual phenomenon, areas with an increased prevalence of vaccine hesitancy and vaccine exemption have been shown to correlate with decreased immunization coverage and intermittent vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks worldwide. Although the Canadian government has recommended the use of social media to increase public confidence in vaccines, little documentation exists regarding the perceptions of advisors and decision-makers in policy and communications for immunization towards vaccine hesitancy on social media, and the use of social media to increase public confidence in vaccines in the context of Ontario, Canada’s largest province. This thesis employed 3 unique mixed-methods studies to explore the role of social media in addressing the problem of vaccine hesitancy facilitated through misinformation about childhood vaccines in Ontario. The first study is a social network analysis that incorporates sentiment analysis to demonstrate that pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine communities operate in siloes with little interaction with one another. Those interactions that do occur are most commonly facilitated by sentiment and geographic location, rather than profession or affiliation of the social media user. The second study is a mixed methods content analysis illustrating significant differences in user attributes (emotion, medium shared in tweets, direction of information-sharing, and use of Twitter functions) among pro-, neutral, and anti-vaccine Twitter users, suggesting different motivations underlying Twitter use. Qualitative inquiry of links and reasons for negative vaccine sentiment illustrate the proliferation of pseudo-experts occupying social media, as well as concerns about vaccine safety and mistrust towards the government. The third study complements the first two studies, and uses documents and in-depth interviews with 23 advisers and decisionmakers in policy and communications to illustrate that although vaccine hesitancy is of concern, the use of social media to increase public confidence in vaccines is met with resistance due to a myriad of barriers at all levels of immunization policy and program delivery in the Province of Ontario. Implications for policy and practice of this study include the recognition that a multi-pronged approach is needed to increase the public’s confidence in vaccines. Elements of this multi-pronged approach could include: i) commitments to investing in understanding social media’s use in informing immunization at all levels of governance and decision-making; ii) the active surveillance of public sentiment and the public’s concerns about vaccines on social media using network analysis and content analysis; and iii) the fostering of interdisciplinary collaboration to design interventions that facilitate connectivity between siloes. The implications for future research include the need for continued commitment to the design, implementation, and evaluation of public health interventions on social media in the Ontario context. This study points to the need to pay attention to the behavioral attributes and affordances of social media in order to develop policies, communicative strategies, and programmatic designs that comprehensively address public concerns towards vaccines and, in turn, promote increased confidence in them. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Immunization efforts are integral to maintaining herd immunity. Over the past two decades, it has been observed that vaccine hesitancy brought forth by vaccine misinformation has led to reduced confidence in vaccines, contributing to declining vaccination rates that have subsequently led to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccine misinformation on social media has played a crucial role in exacerbating vaccine hesitancy. Limited research has explored the use of social media in the Canadian context in relation to how vaccine information is communicated, what is being discussed and with whom. The extent to which decision-makers working in the immunization policy arena in Canada consider the role of social media as a tool for addressing vaccine hesitancy in order to increase vaccine uptake is also unclear. Using a mixed methods approach, this study, carried out in Ontario, Canada, illustrates that communities supporting and opposing vaccines operate in silos that do not necessarily communicate with each other through social media. Although decision-makers acknowledge the role of social media in the salience of vaccine hesitancy, they consider social media to be a less feasible method to increase vaccine confidence. By exploring the networks and conversations about vaccination on social media, and by understanding decision-makers’ perceptions towards vaccine hesitancy and social media, this study identified gaps between the recommendations for addressing vaccine hesitancy, provincial decision-makers’ preference for addressing immunization, and concerns of the vaccine hesitant on social media. These findings can inform the design of public health messaging to increase the public’s confidence in vaccines in Ontario.

No description available.

no / While criminals may start their activities at individual level, the same is in general not true for terrorists who are mostly organized in well established networks. The effectiveness of a terror network could be realized by watching many factors, including the volume of activities accomplished by its members, the capabilities of its members to hide, and the ability of the network to grow and to maintain its influence even after the loss of some members, even leaders. Social network analysis, data mining and machine learning techniques could play important role in measuring the effectiveness of a network in general and in particular a terror network in support of the work presented in this chapter. We present a framework that employs clustering, frequent pattern mining and some social network analysis measures to determine the effectiveness of a network. The clustering and frequent pattern mining techniques start with the adjacency matrix of the network. For clustering, we utilize entries in the table by considering each row as an object and each column as a feature. Thus features of a network member are his/her direct neighbors. We maintain the weight of links in case of weighted network links. For frequent pattern mining, we consider each row of the adjacency matrix as a transaction and each column as an item. Further, we map entries into a 0/1 scale such that every entry whose value is greater than zero is assigned the value one; entries keep the value zero otherwise. This way we can apply frequent pattern mining algorithms to determine the most influential members in a network as well as the effect of removing some members or even links between members of a network. We also investigate the effect of adding some links between members. The target is to study how the various members in the network change role as the network evolves. This is measured by applying some social network analysis measures on the network at each stage during the development. We report some interesting results related to two benchmark networks: the first is 9/11 and the second is Madrid bombing.