Mo, Mingzhen. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-123). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.v / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Thesis Contributions --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Problem Description --- p.6 / Chapter 1.4 --- Thesis Organization --- p.8 / Chapter 2 --- Background Study --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Overview --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Problem Definitions --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3 --- Privacy in Online Social Networks --- p.14 / Chapter 2.4 --- Attack --- p.17 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Statistical Learning --- p.18 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Graph Theory --- p.22 / Chapter 2.5 --- Protection --- p.23 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- Clustering-Based Approach --- p.24 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Modification-Based Approach --- p.27 / Chapter 3 --- Exploit Social Networks with SSL --- p.30 / Chapter 3.1 --- Overview --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2 --- Semi-Supervised Learning Framework --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Co-Training SSL --- p.36 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Graph-Based SSL --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Local and Global Consistency Graph-Based SSL --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3 --- Experiment --- p.40 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Dataset Description --- p.41 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Data Preprocessing --- p.43 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Experiment Process --- p.45 / Chapter 3.3.4 --- Experiment Results --- p.47 / Chapter 3.4 --- Conclusion --- p.49 / Chapter 4 --- Exploiting Social Networks with CG SSL --- p.50 / Chapter 4.1 --- Overview --- p.51 / Chapter 4.2 --- Exploit Learning Model and Algorithms --- p.56 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Exploit Learning Model --- p.57 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Algorithms --- p.60 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Community Generation --- p.65 / Chapter 4.3 --- Experiment --- p.66 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Dataset Description --- p.67 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Data Preprocessing --- p.70 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Experiment Process --- p.72 / Chapter 4.3.4 --- Experiment Results --- p.77 / Chapter 4.4 --- Conclusion --- p.82 / Chapter 5 --- APA Comparison Scheme --- p.83 / Chapter 5.1 --- Overview --- p.84 / Chapter 5.2 --- Attack-Protect-Attack (APA) Comparisons Scheme --- p.87 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Algorithm --- p.87 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Attack & Protection Approaches --- p.88 / Chapter 5.3 --- Experiment --- p.91 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Dataset Description --- p.92 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Data Preprocessing --- p.92 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Experiment Process --- p.94 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- Experiment Result --- p.95 / Chapter 5.4 --- Conclusion --- p.103 / Chapter 6 --- Conclusion and Future Work --- p.105 / Chapter 6.1 --- Conclusion --- p.105 / Chapter 6.2 --- Future Work --- p.107 / Bibliography --- p.111

Magister Philosophiae (Land and Agrarian Studies) - MPhil(LAS) / This thesis presents findings from ethnographic research conducted over a period of 17 months in the Blouberg and Molemole local municipalities of Capricorn District in Limpopo province with the aim of exploring mobility patterns of Zimbabwean migrants into, within and out of the South African farm labour market, and understanding how these movements are linked to access to food and other livelihood opportunities. Limpopo serves both as a transit province for Zimbabweans who wish to proceed further south to other provinces of South Africa and a destination for irregular migrants who live and work on white-owned commercial farms. Although constrained mobility, which results from their illegality and remoteness of farms from public services, limit their access to sources of food, irregular Zimbabwean migrants in Blouberg-Molemole area perceive that moving into South African farm labour has improved their food security and livelihood statuses. The South Africa farm labour market provides opportunities to earn income, and enables them to make long term investments in their families back home above immediate individual food security needs. Horizontal and vertical social networks established among Zimbabwean migrants in the Blouberg-Molemole area do not only serve the purpose of facilitating information sharing, but are also forms of social capital on which individual members depend on for their food security and livelihood needs.

Background: A social network is made up of the people with whom individuals make communicative contact throughout their lives. The socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that older adults selectively prune their social networks to make them more intimate and satisfying (Carstensen, 1992). Aphasia, a disorder that affects mostly older adults, has been found to reduce social network size. Prior research does not adequately address satisfaction with that change. Aims: The current qualitative study investigates the hypothesis that aphasia reduces social participation and satisfaction with social participation. Methods: Four people with aphasia and five people without aphasia were interviewed about their social network size, frequency of communication, satisfaction of communication, frequency of activity participation, and satisfaction of activity participation. We investigated the impact of factors hypothesized to affect these indices of social participation: aphasia severity, hearing loss, mobility status, and communication modalities. Results: The aphasia group reported smaller social networks, and less frequent social communication and individual and social activity participation. Social isolation was also reported by the aphasia group. Satisfaction of communication was roughly the same between groups. The aphasia group was more dissatisfied with activity participation than the control group. Conclusions: Individuals with aphasia had smaller social networks and less frequent activity participation than controls. This contributed to a perception of social isolation. Socioemotional selectivity theory may apply to the social communication changes in people with aphasia because results indicated equal dissatisfaction when compared to the control group. However, alternative hypotheses cannot be discounted. The aphasia group’s increased dissatisfaction with activity participation indicates an undesired change.

In daily life, individuals participate in multiple social roles. According to sociological theories of the self, the social roles individuals participate in are fundamental to individuals' self-concepts. For example, one's role as a mother, lawyer, volunteer, and student are important aspects of one's overall self-view. Additionally, these role-based identities provide behavioral guidance and have important implications emotions and psychological well-being. However, little is known about how the relationship between the meanings of the various identities an individual participates in impacts identity processes and mental health. Additionally, although identities are thought to be embedded in different social groups (e.g., work, family, and church), and these role-based groups are viewed as essential in identity development and role-performance, little is known about how the structure of social networks impacts identity processes. The purpose of this dissertation is to lay the theoretical scaffolding for a more holistic view of the multiple-identity-self. I highlight four key weaknesses in current treatments of multiple identities. First, the potential impact of the relationship between identity meanings on emotions and interaction is often glossed over or ignored by current research in identity theory. Second, current theoretical treatments of the self-structure do not incorporate the fact that individuals are able to reflect on themselves as a general social object. Third, in the absence of a theory of self-structure that ties identity meanings together, identity theory's ability to make long-term predictions about mental health outcomes is severely limited. Fourth, although one's identities are embedded in multiple social groups, the structure of social relations within and between an individual's social groups is given very little attention in current theory and research. Overall, my findings suggest that 1) participating in social roles that align with an individual's view of themselves "as they truly are" (i.e., core self meanings) is associated with reductions in depression, 2) working parents who participate in occupations that are viewed as incompatible with their parental identity report lower levels of psychological well-being, and 3) the impact of network density is depends on whether or not one belongs to a self-affirming social environment.

Abel Tasman, a Dutchman, was the first person to put New Zealand on European maps over three hundred years ago (in 1642) and today there are over twenty-eight thousand people living in New Zealand who identify themselves as Dutch and twenty-seven thousand people speaking the Dutch language. Previous research has explored various aspects of Dutch migration, including migrant experiences, culture and language yet only de Bres (2004) compares the experiences of Dutch immigrants across time periods of their arrival. Cultural retention and maintenance has mainly been assessed via the use of the Dutch language rather than through other methods, such as Dutch customs and social networks. The main reason for this research is to compare the experiences and cultural identity of the three 'waves' of Dutch migrants, which has not been undertaken before. This study interviewed six Dutch settler families living in the Bay of Plenty, from three time-periods (1950s; 1960s to 1980s; and 1990s to today) and across generations in order to compare their experiences and assess if and how they maintain their Dutch identity through their use of customs and social networks. Open-ended questionnaires and interview schedules were used to interview the sixteen participants. Content analysis was undertaken for the majority of the questionnaire and interview schedules. For the remaining questions that focused on social networks, the structural aspects of the social support for participants were measured in terms of the social network characteristics, size, density and multiplexity. The study found an overall retention of Dutch identity across all time-periods for generation one (generation one refers to the migrating parents) with all families using the Dutch language within their own homes, yet only one family maintaining their Dutch identity through social networks and only one family maintaining their Dutch identity through the use of customs. The second and third generation participants have little to no interest or involvement in the Dutch culture or community. One second generation participant considered herself Dutch-Kiwi, with the remaining second generation participants considering themselves New Zealanders. Only one person from the third generation participated and she identified herself as a Dutch-Kiwi. Overall, this study supports the perception of the 'invisible Dutch' however due to the small sample size it is impossible to make conclusive statements concerning the Bay of Plenty Dutch community. There is a limited amount of research comparing the experiences of Dutch migrants and how their cultural identity is maintained through their social networks; therefore further research is required to fill this gap.

Social capital is a relatively new concept compared to welfare, though debates on the advantages of different welfare regimes and the links between state provision and social participation are tentatively connecting the two areas. Esping-Andersen classifies welfare regimes into three types - market-focused liberal, status-focused corporatist, and equality-focused social democratic regimes. Each has been well studied with regards to the effects of commodification (market dependency), stratification (inequality and stigma), and familialisation (paternalistic family dependency). However, such focus largely upon economic rather than social concerns. This thesis examines the proposition that welfare can ???build society??? by promoting these social aspects otherwise known as social capital. The social capital concept has definition and measurement problems with causality and the capture of social activities rather than just norms. Acknowledging, this, social capital is preferably defined from the literature as norms of trust, networks of association membership, and practices of volunteering and socialising. A critical reading highlights the importance of separating bonding social capital, as captured in Bourdieu and Coleman???s exclusive networks, from bridging social capital, more akin to Putnam???s civil society and thus closer to social welfare. This thesis examines numerous empirical measures of bridging social capital, by looking at norms and networks through the World Values Survey, and practices through the Multinational Time Use Study across nine OECD countries. Results show that social democratic welfare regimes do promote social capital, with high levels of trust, membership and social activity. Corporatist welfare regimes show low but constant levels of social capital, whilst liberal welfare regimes have experienced declines in trust. Increasingly means-tested liberal regimes register high levels of commodification, with poor work-leisure balances, and are also more stratified with higher levels of inequality, whilst attitudes stigmatising immigrants and the poor are apparent amongst all less trusting countries. Familialisation is explicit in corporatist values and male/female work imbalances, and implicit in liberal values and poor family payments, with reduced social capital contributions from women as a result. Overall empirical testing of relations between welfare regimes and social capital show that both are linked most positively under universal rather than meanstested conditions.

Background Over the past three decades, social relationships have been shown to have important effects upon health. However, many different definitions and aspects of social relationships have been considered in the various studies, making comparison of findings difficult. Furthermore, the effects of social relationships upon different health outcomes have rarely been investigated within the same cohort of older people. In addition, there is a paucity of information concerning the effects of social relationships upon health of older Australians. Aim This thesis aims to investigate the effects of the structural aspects of social relationships – that is, social networks – on health among older Australians. The three specific health outcomes considered in this thesis were disability, residential care use and death. The specific aims of the thesis were to: 1. Develop a measurement model of social networks. 2. Examine the effects of total and specific social networks upon disability. 3. Determine the effects of total and specific social networks upon use of residential care. 4. Investigate the effects of total and specific social networks upon survival. An additional aim was to determine if there were threshold effects of social networks on the three specific health outcomes. Methods The study drew on six waves of data from 1477 participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing. A range of statistical techniques, including binary and multinomial logistic regression and survival analysis, were used in the analysis of the data. Propensity score adjustment was used to control for the effects of a broad range of covariates that encompassed sociodemographic, health, psychological and lifestyle characteristics of participants. Results A measurement model with social networks for children, relatives, friends and confidants was validated using confirmatory factor analysis. A variable that measured total social networks was also derived. Better social networks with relatives were protective against developing mobility disability over the nine year follow-up period (odds ratio (OR) 0.77; 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 0.62 – 0.96). A similar result was found for Nagi disability (OR 0.76; 95%CI 0.62 – 0.93). Other specific social networks did not have significant effects on either measure of disability. There were no significant effects of social networks on use of low-level residential care overall. There was a significant effect of social networks with confidants and total social networks, such that participants in the upper category of social networks with confidants appeared to be protected against use of high-level residential care (OR 0.53; 95%CI 0.35 – 0.81) compared to participants in the lower category of confidants social networks. Similarly, participants in the upper category for total social networks appeared to be protected against use of high-level residential care (OR 0.68; 95%CI 0.46 – 0.99). In terms of mortality, better social networks with confidants and with friends appeared to be protective against death during the decade following the Wave 1 interview. The hazard ratio (HR) for participants in the upper category for confidants was 0.74 (95%CI 0.63-0.88) compared to participants in the lower category. For friends networks, the analogous HR was 0.75 (95%CI 0.63-0.89). Better total social networks also appeared to be protective against death over the 10 years of follow-up (HR 0.83; 95%CI 0.70- 0.99). There were few significant effects of social networks with children on the three health outcomes considered. There was little evidence of threshold effects of the specific social networks on the health outcomes. Discussion There are important and differing effects of specific social networks on the three health outcomes of disability, residential care and mortality that were considered in this thesis. Policymakers may need to reconsider whether specific kinds of social relationships, beyond spouses and children, have been given adequate weight in current policy frameworks that address the health of older people. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1321011 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Mathematical Sciences, 2008

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri--Rolla, 2007. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed December 4, 2007) Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-80).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

<p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p>Title:</p><p>The Effect of Social Relationships on Company Internationalization</p><p>Course:</p><p>Master’s level Thesis (EFO705) in International Business and Entrepreneurship 10 Swedish credit points  (15 ECTS)</p><p>Authors:</p><p>Hanney Al-Qaisi & Bhupesh Reddy Kurre</p><p>Tutor:</p><p>Leif Linnskog</p><p>Problem:</p><p>How did social relationships affect the internationalization of a German IVF centre to the UAE? Using this case example, the thesis will be focused on studying the different social factors that could have affected the internationalization process.</p><p>Purpose:</p><p>The aim of this thesis was to describe the way that a local company in Germany went through internationalization to become a successfulmultinational company. We wanted to find out if there were any social factors that influenced the company. In particular, we wanted to investigate whether there were any entrepreneurial activities or barriers that influenced the company’s internationalisation and why it chose to open its subsidiary in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is far from Germany.</p><p>Methods:</p><p>This thesis is based on a qualitative methodology for gathering and analysis of the data around the internationalization of the German company.Qualitative methods are the best techniques for looking into social relationships and whether they have an effect on the internationalization process.</p><p>Theories:</p><p>Uppsala-Model; Network Theory; Social, Business & Professional Relationships and International Entrepreneurship</p><p>Target Group:</p><p>This research provides knowledge and information to entrepreneurs businessowners, managers, general readers, and academics who would like to understand the influence of social relationships on internationalization. </p><p><p>Conclusion:</p><p>Having searched through the published literature for relevant articles on the internationalization process, social relationships and entrepreneurial activities, we were able to inform our thesis with a theoretical framework for analyzing social relationships and internationalization. Social relationships do indeed have an influence on the internationalization process, and using our case example, it was possible to outline the patterns and nature of the influence. The theories (and patterns) are interlinked, and could be related in practical terms to the establishment of a satellite fertility centre in the UAE by a German head company.</p></p>