Data warehouse technology has been successfully integrated into the information infrastructure of major organizations as potential solution for eliminating redundancy and providing for comprehensive data integration. Realizing the importance of a data warehouse as the main data repository within an organization, this dissertation addresses different aspects related to the data warehouse architecture and performance issues. Many data warehouse architectures have been presented by industry analysts and research organizations. These architectures vary from the independent and physical business unit centric data marts to the centralised two-tier hub-and-spoke data warehouse. The operational data store is a third tier which was offered later to address the business requirements for inter-day data loading. While the industry-available architectures are all valid, I found them to be suboptimal in efficiency (cost) and effectiveness (productivity). In this dissertation, I am advocating a new architecture (The Hybrid Architecture) which encompasses the industry advocated architecture. The hybrid architecture demands the acquisition, loading and consolidation of enterprise atomic and detailed data into a single integrated enterprise data store (The Enterprise Data Warehouse) where businessunit centric Data Marts and Operational Data Stores (ODS) are built in the same instance of the Enterprise Data Warehouse. For the purpose of highlighting the role of data warehouses for different applications, we describe an effort to develop a data warehouse for a geographical information system (GIS). We further study the importance of data practices, quality and governance for financial institutions by commenting on the RBC Financial Group case. v The development and deployment of the Enterprise Data Warehouse based on the Hybrid Architecture spawned its own issues and challenges. Organic data growth and business requirements to load additional new data significantly will increase the amount of stored data. Consequently, the number of users will increase significantly. Enterprise data warehouse obesity, performance degradation and navigation difficulties are chief amongst the issues and challenges. Association rules mining and social networks have been adopted in this thesis to address the above mentioned issues and challenges. We describe an approach that uses frequent pattern mining and social network techniques to discover different communities within the data warehouse. These communities include sets of tables frequently accessed together, sets of tables retrieved together most of the time and sets of attributes that mostly appear together in the queries. We concentrate on tables in the discussion; however, the model is general enough to discover other communities. We first build a frequent pattern mining model by considering each query as a transaction and the tables as items. Then, we mine closed frequent itemsets of tables; these itemsets include tables that are mostly accessed together and hence should be treated as one unit in storage and retrieval for better overall performance. We utilize social network construction and analysis to find maximum-sized sets of related tables; this is a more robust approach as opposed to a union of overlapping itemsets. We derive the Jaccard distance between the closed itemsets and construct the social network of tables by adding links that represent distance above a given threshold. The constructed network is analyzed to discover communities of tables that are mostly accessed together. The reported test results are promising and demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the developed approach.

Online services such as e-marketplaces, social networking sites, online gaming environments etc have grown in popularity in the recent years. These services represent situation where participants do not get to negotiate face to face before interaction and most of the time parties to transaction remain anonymous. It is thus necessary to have a system that rightly assesses trustworthiness of the other party in order to maintain quality assurance in such systems. Recent works on Trust and Reputation in online communities have focused on identifying probable defaulters, but less effort has been put to come up with system that make cooperation attractive over defection in order to achieve cooperation without enforcement. Our work in this regard concerns design and investigation of trust assessment systems that not only filter defaulters but also promote evolution of cooperativeness in player society. Based on the concept of game theory and prisoner's dilemma, we model business games and design incentive method, compensation method, acquaintance based assessment method and decision theoretic assessment method as mechanisms to assure trustworthiness in online business environments. Effectiveness of each of these methods in promoting the evolution of cooperation in player society has been investigated. Our results show that these methods contribute positively in promoting cooperative evolution. We have further extended our trust assessment model to suit the needs of a mobile ad-hoc network setting. The effectiveness of this model has been tested against its capability to reduce packet drop rate and energy conservation. In both of these the results show promise.

In the last few decades, Internet mediated intercultural competence has received a great attention in the field of applied linguistics and foreign language (FL) education especially with the evolution of web 2.0 technologies and social networking sites that facilitate interaction and communication between different cultural communities and individuals. Research in the field of Online Intercultural Exchange (OIE) is extremely varied and researchers have focused their attention on various aspects of OIE such as promoting intercultural communicative competence (Belz, 2002; O'Dowd, 2003; Schenker, 2011; Muller Hartman, 2000), facilitating online relationship building (Ware, 2005; Thorne, 2003, Jin & Erben, 2007) and improving writing skills (Ware, 2005; O'Dowd, 2003), developing pragmatic competence (Kinginger & Belz, 2005). Despite the plethora of research in this area, gaps in the literature still exist. First, literature lacks studies on language learners of less commonly taught languages (e.g. Arabic), (Thorne, 2006) and more importantly most of the studies are based on western contexts mainly in Europe and the USA. Second, few studies have explored the potentials of social networking sites on OIE projects in promoting intercultural learning (Aoki, 2009; Jin, 2015). In an effort to fill the gaps in the research, this study links English language learners (Saudis) with Arabic language learners (Americans) to investigate to what extent OIE on Facebook between these two groups of learners contributes to their intercultural communicative competence (ICC), specifically, exploring how and what are the components of Byram's model (ICC) manifested in the OIE project. Furthermore, it examined the affordances of Facebook in the OIE project according to students' use, practice and perception. Informed by a sociocultural framework, this study took a constructivist mixed methods approach to analysis of data from learners' online discourse on Facebook, the researcher's journal and observations, pre-survey, semi-structured interviews, and a questionnaire. Data analysis and interpretation revealed that when students' participation were mutually compatible, the students were able to build meaningful relationships, used a range of various questioning techniques, and engaged in genuine dialogue, OIE has a great potential for developing students' intercultural competence, as many objectives of Byram's ICC model were manifested. Findings also revealed that the project has strengthened Saudi students' cultural identity as they found the space to present their culture and country beyond the stereotypical image that dominates the media. As with regard to Facebook affordances, findings showed that the semiotic design and various semiotic resources of Facebook (e.g. multimodal posts, sharing, notification, friending, semi-automated features, etc.) afford students' engagement in intercultural discussion, students' collaboration, and students' interpersonal relationship building. The study also identified some of Facebook's constraints that limited students' participation due to technological, cultural and social factors. In sum this study illuminates the nature of online intercultural communication between Arabic and English language learners, contributing to the scarce research on this population. It also uncovers the unique affordances as well as constraints of Facebook on an OIE project. Based on this study, several pedagogical implications and suggestions are made for future research in the field of online intercultural exchanges.

This essay examines Mönsterås municipality as a rural society where the importans in communication and relationship-building is crutual. The study focuses on and how the municipality can reach out through social media to the young residents in the municipality. This essay creates an understanding of how young people see the municipality’s communication and also young residents attitudes of how they think the communication and relationship is between the municipality and them. This study creates a relationship-building understanding that will be useful for the municipality. By examining theories along with semi-structed interviews with six teenagers and semi- structed interviews with two of the municipality’s workers it resulted in a successful study where there could be a comparison between them to get a better understanding of where the communication is standing and how it can be improved. The results showed that the municipality needs to work on their intern communication as well as the extern communication. Furthermore the results shows that the municipality needs a strategy in their communication in order to successfully communicate in a good way that will reach out to the young residents. Since social media is one of the most popular communication tools being used today the results show that their need to be a better understanding in the municipality of the impact that social media has on the communication of an organization.

Master of Science / Family Studies and Human Services / Joyce Baptist / The present study examined whether married individuals hold boundaries for online social networking and the relationship between these boundaries and relational trust and satisfaction. Participants included 205 married individuals who had been married for an average of 27 years. Five specific boundaries were identified and tested using group comparison (by sex) structural equation modeling. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed two latent constructs for internet boundaries: Openness (3 items: Know Friends, Share Passwords and Account Access) and Fidelity (2 items: No Flirting and No Former Partners). Findings suggest that couples in long-term committed relationships have boundaries or rules for social networking. Furthermore, trusting one’s partner, but not relationship satisfaction, contributes to behaviors that reflect sharing online social networking information, and curb online flirting and relationships with former romantic partners. Trust was more strongly associated with men’s than women’s motivation to avoid flirtatious online interaction and communicating with former romantic partners online. These findings that indicate that the use of internet boundaries is highly related to marital trust support the development theory of trust.

This master's thesis deals with marketing and building communities on social networks with an emphasis on Facebook. Its purpose is to present the possibilities utilization of social networks in marketing with a focus on building communities. The thesis analyze the possibilities of using social network Facebook for the specific case of an internet portal then formulate proposals and recommendations for work and then evaluate the implemented activities. At first, the author defines the social network, attends to their historical evolution, defines the types and describes the most widely known world and Czech services. Further, the master's thesis discusses a marketing potential of social networks and especially of Facebook, on which is the practical part applied. At that is described and evaluated the specific case of building a community of web site Marketing Journal.

This thesis deals with online social networking. The goal is aimed at a specific web project to demonstrate and comment on the possibility of using the elements of social networks to increase competitiveness. The text is divided into six chapters. In first is introduced the concept of project, including the objectives and reasons for choosing the theme. The next theoretical chapter describes the history and theory, followed by presentation of successful social sites. There are written the best practices for success in social networking too. The theory is followed by analytical and practical sections -- there is the real web project (hobby site aimed at sharing of user manuals and procedures) described. These chapters are a crucial part of the whole work, there are described all parts of project making, from the analysis of the environment through the required "social" functionality to examples of implementation and discussion of future forms of product promotion. The fifth chapter then presents an assessment of previous sections; achieved outputs are compared (commented) with performance targets and expectations. This part contains also the expected outlook for the future. The conclusion sums up the whole project.

This diploma thesis deals with the context of two current topics - cyberbullying and behaviour on social networks, in the population of the second grade of primary school, thus in adolescents. In the literary-review part the developmental connections of cyberbullying in adolescence, signs and forms of cyberbullying, its occurrence, cyberbullying actors and risk factors associated with it are presented. The thesis also deals with communication on the Internet and description of social networks. Present researches of cyberbullying and social networks are presented. The empirical part deals with the combined research carried out in 43 pupils at the secondary school. Cyberbullying was measured using a questionnaire and then profiles were analysed on Facebook and Instagram. Key words: Cyberbullying, Social networking sites, Facebook, Instagram, Internet communication, Adolescence

O estudo aborda a utilização das redes sociais como plataforma de comunicação das micro e pequenas empresas de confecção. A pesquisa se torna relevante por discutir temas importantes na atualidade: comunicação de marketing por meio de redes sociais e micro e pequenas empresas de confecção, justificando-se ainda, pela dificuldade que as micro e pequenas empresas apresentam de realizar ações de comunicação de marketing devido ao elevado investimento que as mídias tradicionais exigem. A proposta do estudo é identificar como as micro e pequenas empresas de moda estão utilizando as redes sociais para a comunicação com seu público consumidor. Para atender a esse objetivo foram definidos os seguintes passos: (a) Identificar um panorama geral da utilização das redes sociais pelas micro e pequenas empresas de moda; (b) Mapear as ações desenvolvidas no Facebook por essas empresas; (c) Verificar a resposta dos usuários em relação às publicações das empresas;(d) Levantar as postagens dos usuários nas fan pages das empresas; (e) Identificar o potencial de propagação das mensagens. A pesquisa realizada foi de caráter exploratório, qualitativo e descritivo. Os dados foram coletados em dois momentos, uma observação não participante das páginas das empresas selecionadas e a aplicação de questionário nos gestores destas. A análise dos dados permitiu observar que embora a literatura apresente como vantagem da utilização das redes sociais o contato mais próximo com o consumidor facilitando assim o diálogo com baixo investimento, na realidade o que se observa são publicações com linguagem informal concentradas na divulgação dos produtos, tornando a fan page uma plataforma que se assemelha a um catálogo virtual, possibilitando inclusive a comercialização. A interação do usuário com a página concentra-se nas curtidas. Quando estes comentam ou publicam espontaneamente costumam abordar assuntos como: interesse em compra, elogio a marca e reclamações. / The research discusses the use of social networks as a communication platform for micro and small enterprises of the textile industry. The search is relevant to discuss todays important subjects: marketing communication through social networks in micro and small enterprises of the textile industry, justifying for the difficulty of micro and small enterprises to do actions of marketing because of the high investments that traditional medias require. The researchs proposal is identify how fashion micro and small enterprises are using social networks to communication with its customers. To achieve this target were defined the following steps: a) Identify an overview of the use of social networks by fashion micro and small enterprises; b) Map the developed actions taken by these companies on Facebook; c) Check the response from users regarding companies publication; d) Collect the posting by users on companies wall on Facebook; e) Identify the potential for programing the messages. This research had an exploratory, qualitative and descriptive character. The data base was collect in two moments, a non-participant observation of the social networks on companies pages and the application of a questionnaire with the companies managers. The data analyses allowed observing that although the literature presents as an advantage using social networks as close contact with the consumer, facilitating dialogue with low investment, actually what its observed is informal publications with informal language concentrated in disclosure of the products, making the fan page similar to a virtual catalog, sometimes even enabling the commercialization. The user interaction focuses on likes. When the user freely writes a comment ou something on the companies wall often approaches issues of interest, such as: buying, praise the brand and complaints.

Atualmente, as plataformas de redes sociais despontam como uma das principais tecnologias emergentes no universo organizacional, com diversas empresas aderindo a estas plataformas, numa ampliação do uso originalmente concebido para as pessoas físicas. Por conta disso, torna-se relevante compreender se as mudanças que estão ocorrendo nas organizações - especificamente na área de marketing - são apenas um movimento de adaptação à determinada plataforma, ou se se vislumbra uma maior perenidade dessas mudanças, com vistas à consolidação de um novo paradigma tecnológico. Assim, esta pesquisa tem como principal objetivo compreender as implicações do uso de plataformas de redes sociais nas funções da área de marketing das organizações brasileiras do setor de comércio e serviços. Para tanto, esta pesquisa utiliza a técnica do estudo de casos múltiplos, numa perspectiva qualitativa, exploratória e descritiva, contemplando quatro organizações líderes em seus segmentos de mercado, sendo elas: Bradesco (serviços financeiros), Metrô de São Paulo (serviços de transporte público), TECNISA (construção civil) e Telefônica Vivo (telecomunicações). Utilizou-se, como técnicas de coleta de dados, entrevistas orientadas por roteiro semiestruturado, observação não participante e pesquisa documental. A análise dos dados foi realizada com o auxílio do software NVivo, versão 9.0, em função do rigor metodológico destacado por Dubé e Paré (2003) e da orientação metodológica estabelecida por Miles e Huberman (1994), de promover a análise dos dados coletados por meio da codificação dos constructos identificados no Referencial Teórico. Também se realizou um teste de teorias, a fim de se verificar qual das duas teorias analisadas - Teoria da Estruturação Adaptativa, desenvolvida por DeSanctis e Poole (1994), e Teoria Institucional, desenvolvida por Meyer e Rowan (1977) - seria a que mais fidedignamente explicaria os fenômenos observados nesta pesquisa. Como resultados obtidos, pode-se afirmar que o uso de plataformas de redes sociais gerou mudanças incrementais, essencialmente no contexto dos processos da área de Marketing, com destaque para as atividades de comunicação de marketing, seja com a reestruturação de fundamentos como mídia, conteúdo e dinâmica de resposta, seja com o efetivo compartilhamento de parte destas atividades com a nova área de redes sociais que foi introduzida nas organizações. Mudanças no tocante à própria estrutura organizacional não foram observadas, enquanto que em relação aos sistemas existe um movimento de integração ainda em desenvolvimento. Em relação ao teste de teorias realizado, constatou-se que a Teoria Institucional é a que mais predominantemente explica o fenômeno como um todo, e os casos especificamente. Porém, o constructo relativo aos usos corporativos de redes sociais é predominantemente explicado pela Teoria da Estruturação Adaptativa, o que implica em reflexões acerca da efetividade do uso das teorias de sistemas de informação em fenômenos complexos. / Social Networking Sites (SNS) are rising as one of the leading emerging technologies into the organisational environment, with several organisations joining to these sites, in an extension to the original usage, firstly oriented to natural persons. As a result, it becomes relevant to comprehend whether changes that are occurring into the organisations - especially on marketing departments - are just a movement of adaptation to a given SNS, or if one can expect a continuity of these changes in order to consolidate a new technological paradigm. Therefore, this research aims to comprehend implications, to the functions of marketing departments, of the usage of SNS into the Brazilian organisations of retail and services sectors. For that, this research makes use of multiple cases strategy, in a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive perspective, analysing four organisations leaders in their market sector, which are: Bradesco (financial services), São Paulo Metro (public transportation services), TECNISA (real estate) and Telefonica Vivo (telecommunications). This research have used, as data collection techniques, semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations and documental research. Data analysis process has made with support of software NVivo, version 9.0, based on the perspective of methodological rigor highlighted in Dubé and Paré (2003). In order to follow the methodological orientation observed in Miles and Huberman (1994), data analysis has made through the codification of constructs identified on Literature Review. Also, it has been realised a theory testing, in order to verify which of two theories analysed - Adaptive Structuration Theory, developed by DeSanctis and Poole (1994), and Institutional Theory, developed by Meyer and Rowan (1977) - could trustworthily explain the phenomena observed in this research. As a main result, it can affirm that the usage of SNS has implied in incremental changes, essentially in the context of marketing department processes. These changes have affected the process of marketing communication with the restructuration of fundaments like media, content and dynamics of response, as well as the effective sharing of some activities with new SNS departments once created into the organisational environments. It has not observed changes related to the organisational structure, while changes related to the information systems are in an integration movement already under construction. Related to the theory testing, it has been verified that Institutional Theory is the most reliable to explain the main phenomenon, as well as cases separately. Notwithstanding the Adaptive Structuration Theory is the most trustworthily that explains the construct related to the corporate use of SNS, implying in reflections about the effectiveness of using Information Systems theories to explain complex phenomena.