The purpose of the following is to study whether there are gender differences in the sense of personal responsibility during the coronavirus pandemic. By using quantitative data from Ipsos,various quantitative methods were used to study whether these potential differences can be explained by factors such as level of concern, risk perception, social trust, institutional trust, and political ideology. All analyses have been conducted while considering control variables such as age, education, and income to ensure transparent results. The findings from the survey have been analyzed using Yvonne Hirdman's theories, focusing on the "gender contract." The theoretical framework assumes that there are differences between men and women in their behavior during crises, since previous research has indicated such assumptions. The results of this study indicate that there in fact are gender differences in personal responsibility during the Covid-19 pandemic,which shows that worry, risk perception and ideology could be a part of the explanation of these differences.

People in society with high levels of generalized social trust and political trust are more likely to engage in civic activism and participation. Therefore, people involved in social and political groups will likely have higher levels of generalized social and political trust than the general public. What lacks in this realm of scholarship is a solid comparison of trust among people involved in social and political groups. This case-study analysis of generalized social trust and political trust among social and political groups shows the trust that is not only generated within each group, but also which types of groups are more effective at developing citizens that participate in society. Using a researcher-designed survey instrument, two social groups and two political groups have been evaluated and compared to demonstrate members' propensity to trust others in society and those in political office at all levels of government. Sample size is 115 respondents. Among other demographic data analyzed and compared to a larger population data set in the World Values Survey, six hypotheses have been tested. Typical analysis shows demographic data or group membership as the independent variable with trust values acting as the dependent variable. Graphic and cross-tabular data show that social groups recorded higher levels of political trust than political groups. This is probably due to the ideological leanings of the political groups. Political groups showed higher levels of generalized social trust than social groups. Political group members probably feel that their actions are benefiting the greater good. Additionally, participation variables showed that not only are political group members more interested in politics than social group members, but they also have higher levels of registering to vote and to participate in the voting process. They are probably seeking to make significant change in the political system through their actions. The research conducted does not seek to provide a comprehensive analysis of trust among members of social and political groups. However, it is intended to promote the analysis of trust among people in society that have a predisposition to trust as they have shown through the act of participating in a social or political group. As foci for the development of trust, analysis of social and political groups provides a shortcut for scholars interested in the development and proliferation of trust in society. This research provides analysis of four case-study groups at one point in time. Further research using larger sample sizes and time-series analysis could advance trust analysis among social and political groups.

Distributed systems like e-commerce and e-market places, peer-to-peer networks, social networks, and mobile ad hoc networks require cooperation among the participating entities to guarantee the formation and sustained existence of network services. The reliability of interactions among anonymous entities is a significant issue in such environments. The distributed entities establish connections to interact with others, which may include selfish and misbehaving entities and result in bad experiences. Therefore, trustworthiness evaluation using trust management techniques has become a significant issue in securing these environments to allow entities decide on the reliability and trustworthiness of other entities, besides it helps coping with defection problems and stimulating entities to cooperate. Recent models on evaluating trustworthiness in distributed systems have heavily focused on assessing trustworthiness of entities and isolate misbehaviours based on single trust metrics. Less effort has been put on the investigation of the subjective nature and differences in the way trustworthiness is perceived to produce a composite multidimensional trust metrics to overcome the limitation of considering single trust metric. In the light of this context, this thesis concerns the evaluation of entities’ trustworthiness by the design and investigation of trust metrics that are computed using multiple properties of trust and considering environment. Based on the concept of probabilistic theory of trust management technique, this thesis models trust systems and designs cooperation techniques to evaluate trustworthiness in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). A recommendation based trust model with multi-parameters filtering algorithm, and multidimensional metric based on social and QoS trust model are proposed to secure MANETs. Effectiveness of each of these models in evaluating trustworthiness and discovering misbehaving nodes prior to interactions, as well as their influence on the network performance has been investigated. The results of investigating both the trustworthiness evaluation and the network performance are promising. / Ministry of Higher Education in Libya and the Libyan Cultural Attaché bureau in London

Natural disasters are social and political phenomena. Social structures create vulnerability to natural hazards and governments are often seen as responsible for the effects of disasters. Do social trust, political trust, and government satisfaction therefore generally change following natural disasters? How can media coverage explain change in political attitudes? Prior research suggests that these variables are prone to change, but previous studies often focus on single cases, whereas this dissertation adopts a broader approach, examining multiple disasters. It investigates the social and political impact of natural disasters by examining their effect on social and political attitudes and by exploring media coverage as a mechanism underlying political consequences. The results reveal that natural disasters may have a comparatively frequent, although small and temporary, effect on social trust. Substantial effects are less likely. Social trust was found to decrease significantly when disasters cause nine or more fatalities (Paper I). Political attitudes were expected to be prone to change after natural disasters, but Paper II illustrates that political trust and government satisfaction among citizens are generally hardly affected by these events. Finally, media framing and the political claims of actors explained the variation in political consequences after disasters of similar severity. Paper III also illustrates the importance of the political context of natural disasters, as their occurrence can be strategically exploited by actors to further criticism towards the government in politically tense situations. This dissertation contributes to existing disaster research by investigating more cases than disaster studies typically do. It also uses a systematic case selection process, and a quantitative approach with a, for disaster research, unique research design. Hence, it offers methodological nuance to existing studies. A broader analysis, factoring in the variation of disaster severity and the increased number of cases offers new answers and tests assumptions about underlying patterns. The main contribution of this thesis is that it examines how common political and social effects of disasters are. Furthermore, this dissertation contributes to existing disasters research by emphasizing contextual and explanatory factors, e.g., properties of disasters and the political context that affects the media coverage of natural disasters.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans une démarche de recherche des principes et mesures permettant de mettre en œuvre efficacement le principe d’égalité en milieu de travail syndiqué au Québec. Adoptant comme guide la sociologie des ordres juridiques complétée et accompagnée par le systémisme luhmannien, nous avons accompli une étude des ordres juridiques qui agissent en ce qui a trait aux aspects juridiques des relations du travail avant de procéder à l’évaluation de la politique publique relative à l’égalité. L’étude est divisée en trois parties. La première est consacrée à une exploration du pluralisme juridique, à la sociologie des ordres juridiques et à la présentation des ordres juridiques du travail. La seconde adopte une perspective historique de l’action syndicale, du droit du travail et de la politique publique relative à l’égalité. La troisième comprend une démarche d’évaluation de cette politique publique et une démarche de construction normative relative aux principes et mesures permettant la mise en œuvre efficace du principe d’égalité. Sur le plan de l’évaluation, nous recourons d’abord à une étude empirique et juridique d’un important dossier de plaintes à la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse : le dossier du gel d’échelon salarial dans la convention collective du personnel enseignant des commissions scolaires; nous accomplissons ensuite une revue de la littérature en ce qui a trait à la politique publique relative à l’égalité; nous accomplissons enfin une analyse de ce qu’offrent aux milieux syndiqués les deux principales voies de mise en œuvre de l’égalité, d’une part, le grief et l’arbitrage et d’autre part, la plainte à la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse et, le cas échéant, le recours devant le Tribunal des droits de la personne. Sur le plan de la construction normative, nous nous basons sur l’analyse sociologique, historique et évaluative accomplie pour concevoir les éléments de politique nécessaires pour atteindre l’objectif recherché. / This thesis follows on from research into the principles and measures that can be used to apply the principle of equality effectively in unionized workplaces in Québec. Guided by the sociology of legal orders, completed and supported by Luhmann’s systems theory, we carried out a study of the legal orders governing the legal aspects of labour relations, and then assessed public policies concerning equality. The study is divided into three sections. The first section explores legal pluralism and the sociology of legal orders, and presents the legal orders applicable to workplace issues. The second section considers the history of union action, labour law and public policies relating to equality, while the third assesses those public policies and takes a normative construction approach to the principles and measures that can be used to implement the principle of equality effectively. With respect to assessment, we began with an empirical legal study of a major complaint submitted to Québec’s Human Rights Commission, namely the freeze on pay scales in the collective agreement of school board teachers. We then reviewed the literature dealing with public policies relating to equality, and analyzed the benefits for unionized workplaces offered by the two main methods of implementing equality, namely grievances and arbitration on the one hand, and complaints to the Human Rights Commission on the other (with, in the latter case, recourse to the Human Rights Tribunal where necessary). With respect to normative construction, we used a sociological, historical and evaluative analysis as a basis for designing the policy elements required to achieve the goals.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans une démarche de recherche des principes et mesures permettant de mettre en œuvre efficacement le principe d’égalité en milieu de travail syndiqué au Québec. Adoptant comme guide la sociologie des ordres juridiques complétée et accompagnée par le systémisme luhmannien, nous avons accompli une étude des ordres juridiques qui agissent en ce qui a trait aux aspects juridiques des relations du travail avant de procéder à l’évaluation de la politique publique relative à l’égalité. L’étude est divisée en trois parties. La première est consacrée à une exploration du pluralisme juridique, à la sociologie des ordres juridiques et à la présentation des ordres juridiques du travail. La seconde adopte une perspective historique de l’action syndicale, du droit du travail et de la politique publique relative à l’égalité. La troisième comprend une démarche d’évaluation de cette politique publique et une démarche de construction normative relative aux principes et mesures permettant la mise en œuvre efficace du principe d’égalité. Sur le plan de l’évaluation, nous recourons d’abord à une étude empirique et juridique d’un important dossier de plaintes à la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse : le dossier du gel d’échelon salarial dans la convention collective du personnel enseignant des commissions scolaires; nous accomplissons ensuite une revue de la littérature en ce qui a trait à la politique publique relative à l’égalité; nous accomplissons enfin une analyse de ce qu’offrent aux milieux syndiqués les deux principales voies de mise en œuvre de l’égalité, d’une part, le grief et l’arbitrage et d’autre part, la plainte à la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse et, le cas échéant, le recours devant le Tribunal des droits de la personne. Sur le plan de la construction normative, nous nous basons sur l’analyse sociologique, historique et évaluative accomplie pour concevoir les éléments de politique nécessaires pour atteindre l’objectif recherché. / This thesis follows on from research into the principles and measures that can be used to apply the principle of equality effectively in unionized workplaces in Québec. Guided by the sociology of legal orders, completed and supported by Luhmann’s systems theory, we carried out a study of the legal orders governing the legal aspects of labour relations, and then assessed public policies concerning equality. The study is divided into three sections. The first section explores legal pluralism and the sociology of legal orders, and presents the legal orders applicable to workplace issues. The second section considers the history of union action, labour law and public policies relating to equality, while the third assesses those public policies and takes a normative construction approach to the principles and measures that can be used to implement the principle of equality effectively. With respect to assessment, we began with an empirical legal study of a major complaint submitted to Québec’s Human Rights Commission, namely the freeze on pay scales in the collective agreement of school board teachers. We then reviewed the literature dealing with public policies relating to equality, and analyzed the benefits for unionized workplaces offered by the two main methods of implementing equality, namely grievances and arbitration on the one hand, and complaints to the Human Rights Commission on the other (with, in the latter case, recourse to the Human Rights Tribunal where necessary). With respect to normative construction, we used a sociological, historical and evaluative analysis as a basis for designing the policy elements required to achieve the goals.

平台的興起改變了傳統消費模式，因此無論是在學術界或是實務界，強調互動的社群商務在近年來都漸漸受到重視。然而，從社群中內容經營者的角度出發探討社群商務經營狀況的相關研究不多；此外，社群商務與網路外部性的連結也相對缺乏，故本研究欲以台灣影響力最大之社群平台Facebook的粉絲專頁為例，探討社群商務「使粉絲變成消費者」的流量變現過程，供未來社群商務經營者參考。 本研究以學者Hagel & Armstrong（1998）提出的會員發展四階段作為研究架構，採個案研究法，選擇「傑利帶路 玩世界」與「I’m 布布媽咪／Chic KimBlake」為個案，透過深度訪談探討選擇個案從內容社群至社群商務的經營過程中，每一階段形成正向網路外部性的關鍵成功因素以及做法，並同時分析不同的訴求類型於粉絲專頁上的影響與效果。 研究結果顯示，在社群商務的整體經營中，人格力、社群力以及產品力為三大關鍵成功因素，並且依序在吸引會員（製造流量）、增加參與（集中流量）、建立忠貞（鎖住流量）三階段扮演關鍵角色，最終實現價值獲取（流量變現）的目的；除此之外，感性的訴求在社群商務前期扮演相對重要的角色，而訴求的有效性與社群商務提供的產品與服務類型並無直接相關。 / The new economics of platform changes traditional purchase process and reconstructs value chain, giving the market new business rules. Thus, social commerce which emphasize interaction between customers and operators has been widely discussed in recent years. Numerous studies focused on customer behavior in social commerce but barely discussed business operation of social commerce from platform operators’ perspectives. As a result, this study is aim at exploring the traffic monetizing process in social commerce operating. This study applies case study method, analytic frame is adopted from the Four Phases to Developing Sustainable Virtual Community of Prof. Hagel and Armstrong published in 1998. “JerryWalker” and “Chic KimBlake” on Facebook fanpage are chosen as the research targets. Start by in-person interview with each targeted cases and supplemented by second-hand sources, inspecting the process from solely content operating to social commerce operating, also analyze key successful factors in each phase; moreover, this study will also discuss different types of appeals’ influence in social commerce. The results of this study shows that “personality”, “community operation” and “product and service” are the three main key factors while building up a successful social commerce. Besides, these three factor correspond to Phase I-generate traffic, Phase- II concentrate traffic, and Phase-III lock in the traffic in order, through this process can monetize community traffic and reach positive network effect. Furthermore, emotional appeals show better effect in social commerce regardless of different kinds of provided product and service.

The present thesis concerns people with Usher syndrome (USH) and their health. People with USH have a congenital hearing loss of various degrees and an eye disease with a progressive course; for some, the balance is also affected. Three clinical groups have been identified 1, 2 and 3, and 13 genes have currently been identified. USH is the most common cause of deafblindness. Clinical knowledge and the limited research that exists have shown that people with deafblindness can experience difficulties in everyday life. Depression, anxiety and social withdrawal have been described. The general aim of the present thesis was to describe the health of people with USH. The empirical material employed was based on an extensive survey in which people with USH answered two questionnaires concerning health, anxiety, depression, social trust, work, health-care, financial situation, and alcohol and drug use. The focus of the present thesis is on general health, physical health and psychological health, social trust and finance. Three studies in the present theses focus on USH1, 2 and 3, respectively; finally, the fourth study provides an in-group comparison of people with USH. The results of studies I and III are compared with a crosssection of the Swedish population. The results revealed poor physical and psychological health, a lack of social trust and a strained financial situation regardless of clinical diagnosis. The discussion stresses the importance of taking a biopsychosocial approach when describing the health of people with USH, in which previous research is lacking. Additional research should focus on the mechanisms at different levels that affect people with USH and their health from a life- course perspective. Furthermore, research should include a salutogenic perspective to explore the resources and strengths of people with USH.

The main argument of this thesis is that research has to take the institutional character of education seriously. Educational institutions carry considerable weight for outcomes of education and their design is a matter of intense political debate. This work focuses in particular on the institution of tracking that has wide-reaching consequences for the structure of education. The thesis consists of an introductory essay, together with three empirical essays. The empirical essays all acknowledge the main argument but study different outcomes and relationships connected to education. Essay I studies how the institutions of political economy and education together affect equality of income and equality of educational opportunity. This essay contributes to the literature by distinguishing the effects of the different institutions of political economy and education, as well as how they interact to affect the two contrasting conceptions of equality. The results reveal that tracking hinders equality of educational opportunity but is also related to better incomes for vocational education graduates in certain institutional settings. Wage bargaining coordination reinforces the more equal educational opportunities of weakly tracked contexts and improves the relative income of vocational graduates in these contexts. Essay II explores how education and tracking affect social trust. It makes two contributions. First, the empirical approach provides strong support for causal inference. Second, it is the first study to consider how tracking affects social trust. The empirical evidence finds no general effect of educational attainment on social trust, but decreasing tracking has a positive effect on social trust for individuals who come from weakly educated backgrounds. Essay III aims to explain cross-country differences in tracking by focusing on the impact of government partisanship. The study contributes to the literature by being the first comparative study to explore how partisan politics may explain differences in tracking and being one of few comparative studies there are on the topic at all. The results show that tracking is strongly related to a dominance of Christian democratic governments, whereas detracking reforms have mainly been carried out by social democratic governments.

Les études françaises sur la citoyenneté en Suède sont généralement centrées sur le niveau national. Or le niveau local des communes, landsting et régions a acquis au cours des dernières décennies une forte légitimité pour la citoyenneté. La citoyenneté sociale est assurée en grande partie par les collectivités locales qui mettent en oeuvre le système redistributif de l’État-providence ; grâce à des institutions relativement vertueuses, en dépit des restrictions financières et de la privatisation de services publics le niveau local fournit des services de qualité qui servent de point d’appui essentiel au sentiment d’appartenance des citoyens et à leur degré de confiance dans la société.Mais la citoyenneté locale est en mutation. Le mythe égalitaire qui avait servi de base au Folkhem est remis en cause par des évolutions politiques, économiques et sociétales créatrices d’inégalités. La « communauté imaginée » qui façonnait le lien entre les citoyens est fragilisée par la montée des inégalités, l'apparition de l'extrême-droite dans le paysage politique ainsi que par les conditions créées par l’immigration et le multiculturalisme.Le citoyen exerce moins sa citoyenneté locale dans le cadre du cercle vertueux traditionnel de la civic literacy que dans celui du political trust ; il adopte des comportements civiques pragmatiques, axés par exemple sur ses choix économiques et sur sa responsabilisation dans le domaine environnemental. Dans cette phase de recomposition de la citoyenneté locale, le débat porte essentiellement sur les défis posés par les inégalités sociales et les inégalités socio-ethniques. Cette étude montre que le niveau local fait sens pour la pratique, l’exercice et la représentation de la citoyenneté suédoise / Studies on citizenship in Sweden carried out in France have mostly focused on the national level. However local government in cities, counties or regions has become highly legitimate to address citizenship over the last decades. Local authorities implement at their level the most part of the redistributive social welfare, hence social citizenship is largely granted by them.However local citizenship is changing. The egalitarian myth that once grounded the "Folkhem" is put under question due to social, economic and political changes that produce inequalities. The "imagined Community" that used to bind citizens is weakened by those rising inequalities but also by the increase of far-right political parties. This community struggles to adapt to this new context.Citizens are less prone to act in the traditional virtuous circle of civic literacy but rather in the context of political Trust. New pragmatic, civic behaviours, based on responsibility for the environment and on economic choices can be observed. In this context, debates tackle essentially challenges sparked by social and ethnical inequalities. This study shows that the local level matters when it comes to the practice and the implementation of citizenship in Sweden