Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:21:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Amaury de Souza Amaral.pdf: 6080140 bytes, checksum: 0cb16a7bf0b53c8f66a4c49527ebc928 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-08 / The effects of globalization are felt in all countries. Many have socioeconomic scenarios marked by inequality and by indebtedness. In order to liquidate its debts, they capture resources abroad with the issue of the so-called sovereign bonds. The rating agencies are companies that assess risks before the eventual entitling of these titles and issue opinions. Even that they disclose their methodology of evaluation, in fact there is a huge subjective field, which ultimately influence and, often, increasing the domestic interest rate. Although not everyone realizes the size of the social impact of this component, they effectively change the daily reality experienced by citizens. Because of it, we became interested in studying the effects of the impacts caused by risk factors that enter in the economy. For this reason, it was used as a basis a simplified model that simulates an artificial economy, designed to study a network of credit and the effects of fluctuations in interest rates. This model was chosen also for allowing us to capture amplitudes of economic fluctuations in responses to shocks promoted by the insertion of the interest in an evolutionary process. But it was necessary to go beyond. In this study, we propose an extended version of the simplified economic model by inserting a network of consumers with all its amplitude; this is because the previous model was based on the Say law, that starts from the assumptions that all offer generates its own demand. Thus, it does not permit us to investigate the impacts of the interest on the choices made by consumers in their buying process. The Complex System Theory, and all the development that is currently available for computing, among them the modern algorithms with their accuracy and speed, were fundamental to the achievement of the work. We have, also, progressed in the rupture of the traditional economic analyzes characterized by a top-down approach and, through agents models based, we could adopt a bottom-up approach. This was possible with the integration of macro-parameters associated with a micro level of processing. The main conclusion of this work is that the formation of agglomerates (clusters) between businesses, banks and families encourage economic agents. The agents connected by strong ties are benefited to the extent that the asymmetry in the distribution of wealth between firms and households is reduced. On the other hand, the increase in the interest rate leads to a fall in the connections between the agents, causing a dilution of the network and an increase in the asymmetry of the sharing of wealth / cenários socioeconômicos marcados pela desigualdade e pelo endividamento. Para saldarem suas dívidas captam recursos no exterior com a emissão dos chamados títulos soberanos. As agências de rating são empresas que avaliam riscos diante do eventual inadimplemento destes títulos e emitem opiniões. Ainda que divulguem sua metodologia de avaliação, a bem da verdade, existe nela um enorme campo subjetivo, que acaba por influenciar e, não raras vezes, majorar as taxas de juros domésticos. Muito embora nem todos percebam o tamanho do impacto social deste componente, eles efetivamente alteram a realidade vivenciada pelo cidadão em seu dia-a-dia. Assim, interessou-nos estudar os efeitos dos impactos causados pelos fatores de risco que adentram à economia. Para isso, foi utilizado como base um modelo simplificado que simula uma economia artificial, concebido para se estudar uma rede de crédito e os efeitos das flutuações dos juros. Esse modelo foi o escolhido também por permitir capturar as amplitudes das flutuações econômicas em respostas a choques promovidos através da inserção dos juros em um processo evolutivo. Mas foi necessário ir além. Neste trabalho propomos uma versão estendida do modelo econômico simplificado por meio da inserção de uma rede de consumidores com toda a sua amplitude; isto porque o modelo anterior estava baseado na lei de Say, que parte da premissa que toda oferta gera sua demanda. Assim, ele não permite investigar os impactos dos juros sobre as escolhas dos consumidores em seu processo de compra. A teoria dos sistemas complexos e todo o ferramental que atualmente é disponível pela computação, dentre eles os modernos algoritmos com sua precisão e rapidez, foram fundamentais para a consecução do trabalho. Conseguimos, igualmente, avançar na ruptura das análises econômicas tradicionais caracterizadas pela abordagem top down e, por meio de modelos baseados em agentes, pode-se adotar uma abordagem bottom-up. Isto foi possível com as inserções dos macro-parâmetros associados ao processamento a nível micro. A conclusão principal do trabalho é que a formação de aglomerados (clusters) entre empresas, bancos e famílias favorecem os agentes econômicos. Os agentes conectados por laços fortes são beneficiados na medida em que diminui a assimetria na distribuição de riquezas entre firmas e famílias. Por outro lado, o aumento da taxa de juros leva a uma quebra nas conexões entre os agentes, causando a diluição da rede e aumento na assimetria da partilha da riqueza

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:55:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Amaury de Souza Amaral.pdf: 6080140 bytes, checksum: 0cb16a7bf0b53c8f66a4c49527ebc928 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-08 / The effects of globalization are felt in all countries. Many have socioeconomic scenarios marked by inequality and by indebtedness. In order to liquidate its debts, they capture resources abroad with the issue of the so-called sovereign bonds. The rating agencies are companies that assess risks before the eventual entitling of these titles and issue opinions. Even that they disclose their methodology of evaluation, in fact there is a huge subjective field, which ultimately influence and, often, increasing the domestic interest rate. Although not everyone realizes the size of the social impact of this component, they effectively change the daily reality experienced by citizens. Because of it, we became interested in studying the effects of the impacts caused by risk factors that enter in the economy. For this reason, it was used as a basis a simplified model that simulates an artificial economy, designed to study a network of credit and the effects of fluctuations in interest rates. This model was chosen also for allowing us to capture amplitudes of economic fluctuations in responses to shocks promoted by the insertion of the interest in an evolutionary process. But it was necessary to go beyond. In this study, we propose an extended version of the simplified economic model by inserting a network of consumers with all its amplitude; this is because the previous model was based on the Say law, that starts from the assumptions that all offer generates its own demand. Thus, it does not permit us to investigate the impacts of the interest on the choices made by consumers in their buying process. The Complex System Theory, and all the development that is currently available for computing, among them the modern algorithms with their accuracy and speed, were fundamental to the achievement of the work. We have, also, progressed in the rupture of the traditional economic analyzes characterized by a top-down approach and, through agents models based, we could adopt a bottom-up approach. This was possible with the integration of macro-parameters associated with a micro level of processing. The main conclusion of this work is that the formation of agglomerates (clusters) between businesses, banks and families encourage economic agents. The agents connected by strong ties are benefited to the extent that the asymmetry in the distribution of wealth between firms and households is reduced. On the other hand, the increase in the interest rate leads to a fall in the connections between the agents, causing a dilution of the network and an increase in the asymmetry of the sharing of wealth / cenários socioeconômicos marcados pela desigualdade e pelo endividamento. Para saldarem suas dívidas captam recursos no exterior com a emissão dos chamados títulos soberanos. As agências de rating são empresas que avaliam riscos diante do eventual inadimplemento destes títulos e emitem opiniões. Ainda que divulguem sua metodologia de avaliação, a bem da verdade, existe nela um enorme campo subjetivo, que acaba por influenciar e, não raras vezes, majorar as taxas de juros domésticos. Muito embora nem todos percebam o tamanho do impacto social deste componente, eles efetivamente alteram a realidade vivenciada pelo cidadão em seu dia-a-dia. Assim, interessou-nos estudar os efeitos dos impactos causados pelos fatores de risco que adentram à economia. Para isso, foi utilizado como base um modelo simplificado que simula uma economia artificial, concebido para se estudar uma rede de crédito e os efeitos das flutuações dos juros. Esse modelo foi o escolhido também por permitir capturar as amplitudes das flutuações econômicas em respostas a choques promovidos através da inserção dos juros em um processo evolutivo. Mas foi necessário ir além. Neste trabalho propomos uma versão estendida do modelo econômico simplificado por meio da inserção de uma rede de consumidores com toda a sua amplitude; isto porque o modelo anterior estava baseado na lei de Say, que parte da premissa que toda oferta gera sua demanda. Assim, ele não permite investigar os impactos dos juros sobre as escolhas dos consumidores em seu processo de compra. A teoria dos sistemas complexos e todo o ferramental que atualmente é disponível pela computação, dentre eles os modernos algoritmos com sua precisão e rapidez, foram fundamentais para a consecução do trabalho. Conseguimos, igualmente, avançar na ruptura das análises econômicas tradicionais caracterizadas pela abordagem top down e, por meio de modelos baseados em agentes, pode-se adotar uma abordagem bottom-up. Isto foi possível com as inserções dos macro-parâmetros associados ao processamento a nível micro. A conclusão principal do trabalho é que a formação de aglomerados (clusters) entre empresas, bancos e famílias favorecem os agentes econômicos. Os agentes conectados por laços fortes são beneficiados na medida em que diminui a assimetria na distribuição de riquezas entre firmas e famílias. Por outro lado, o aumento da taxa de juros leva a uma quebra nas conexões entre os agentes, causando a diluição da rede e aumento na assimetria da partilha da riqueza

<p>On the annexation of Jämtland by Sweden in 1645, Danish clergymen were allowed to remain on condition that they officiated in the Swedish language.</p><p>This dissertation investigates the changes in the written language of one of these Danish clergymen and is based on the parish register kept by the Rev. Olof Bertilsson between 1636 and 1668. The premise for this study is that individual variations and alterations in written language do not occur arbitrarily, but display systematisation and express social consensus. The analytical basis for this approach is derived from Alexander Zheltukhin’s work on orthographic code theory and employs concepts used in sociolinguistics, but also borrows ideas from theories of mixed languages and second-language learning.</p><p>Between 1636 and 1646 Olof Bertilsson displays a highly stable orthographic code with few variations. Following his attendance at the Riksdag (the Swedish Parlament) in Stockholm in 1647, a distinct change is evident in his orthography. Changes occur quite early in the spelling of some place-names, personal names and important and frequent ecclesiastical terms.</p><p>A decisive factor in determining when and how change occurs is his access to examples of Swedish texts. In the last decade of his life, an influx of Swedish clergy, increased contacts with Swedish officials and help from young clergymen with a Swedish education, contribute to a predominance of Swedish forms in Olof Bertilsson’s individual orthographic code.</p>

The presence of both narcissism and social capital in the digital social networking site Facebook is altering the dynamic of relationship development. Therefore, the central research question directing this study is as follows: What role do narcissistic personality traits play in bridging social capital on Facebook? From this, two sub-questions are raised: 1) What are the motives for users to express narcissistic traits through Facebook? 2) How is narcissistic-motivated activity influencing social capital development through Facebook? Guiding this thesis are concepts of social tie relationships (as they apply to narcissism), and digital social networks. An exploratory study of in-depth interviews was utilized to conduct such research. A key objective in this thesis is understanding motive and purpose for generating social capital in an online environment. The findings from this study suggest Facebook is a facilitator for the expression of narcissistic traits. As a result, this is influencing the disconnected and questionable value of digital social capital.

On the annexation of Jämtland by Sweden in 1645, Danish clergymen were allowed to remain on condition that they officiated in the Swedish language. This dissertation investigates the changes in the written language of one of these Danish clergymen and is based on the parish register kept by the Rev. Olof Bertilsson between 1636 and 1668. The premise for this study is that individual variations and alterations in written language do not occur arbitrarily, but display systematisation and express social consensus. The analytical basis for this approach is derived from Alexander Zheltukhin’s work on orthographic code theory and employs concepts used in sociolinguistics, but also borrows ideas from theories of mixed languages and second-language learning. Between 1636 and 1646 Olof Bertilsson displays a highly stable orthographic code with few variations. Following his attendance at the Riksdag (the Swedish Parlament) in Stockholm in 1647, a distinct change is evident in his orthography. Changes occur quite early in the spelling of some place-names, personal names and important and frequent ecclesiastical terms. A decisive factor in determining when and how change occurs is his access to examples of Swedish texts. In the last decade of his life, an influx of Swedish clergy, increased contacts with Swedish officials and help from young clergymen with a Swedish education, contribute to a predominance of Swedish forms in Olof Bertilsson’s individual orthographic code.

Bakgrund: 2010 presenterade SCB en undersökning om hur 403 000 jobb tillsattes (GP 2010). 79 000 av dessa tjänster tillsattes via personliga kontakter och ytterligare 100 000 där arbetsgivaren själv kontaktade den arbetssökande. Denna trend i användandet av det sociala kontaktnätet får stöd av Lena Hensvik, doktorand i nationalekonomi, i tidskriften Framtider (2012). Hon skriver att den sociala omgivningen såsom grannar, skolkamrater, tidigare kollegor och föräldrar har stor betydelse för hur vi får anställning eller inte. Hon menar att kontaktnätet är en viktig självinvestering då vårdandet av ens nätverk uppenbarligen kan underlätta jobbsökandet. Hensvik (2012) fortsätter skriva att det i dagens samhälle inte bara handlar om vem du är utan även vem du känner. Syfte: Tidigare forskning berättar att personliga kontakter är en av de faktorer som ökar anställningsbarheten. Vi vill därför ta vid där tidigare forskning slutar och göra en mer inriktad studie där vi fokuserar på personliga kontakter och kartlägger dess effekt i praktiken. Vi ämnar därför förklara personliga kontakters betydelse i samband med nyanställning av civilekonomer med examen från 2007-2012. Metod: Vi har valt att genomföra vår studie med en kvantitativ undersökningsdesign och ett deduktivt synsätt på relationen teori och forskning. Empiriska data har insamlats genom enkätundersökning. Slutsats: Vår slutsats är att personliga kontakter är användbara för civilekonomer i anställningsprocessen, att kontakterna till 90,4% leder dem till minst intervju och att kontakterna inte nödvändigtvis är de som är definierade som svaga, se Granovetters (1973, 1975) teorier om The Strength of Weak Ties. / Background: In 2010 SCB presented a survey of how 403 000 jobs were added (GP 2010). 79 000 of these were added through social contacts and another 100 000 by the employer himself who contacted the unemployed. This trend of using social contacts in the job-seeking process gets support by Hensvik, doctor in economics. In the magazine Framtider (2012) she writes that the social environment such as neighbours, class mates, former colleagues and parents have a big impact if we get an employment or not. Hensvik (2012) says that the caring of ones contacts is an important self-investment that improves your probabilities of getting an employment. She continues writing that in today’s society it’s not only important who you are but also who you know. Purpose: Previous research tells that social contacts are one of the factors that will improve your probabilities of getting employed. We will continue where previous research tends to end and aim for a more focused study where we measure the effects of using contacts in reality. The purpose of this thesis is to explain the contacts’ importance when employing former students with a Degree of Master of Science in Business and Economics. Method: We have conducted a questionnaire survey that was sent out to eight Swedish universities resulting in 100 responses. Conclusion: We have come to the conclusion that social contacts contribute in the recruitment process of former business students, that the use of contacts in 90,4% will get you far in the job-seeking process and that the helpful contacts are not necessarily the ones defined as weak ties, of which Granovetter (1973, 1975) would have argued.

This report chronicles the process of investigating social theories and their relation to music experience in order to create a specific online community. The purpose of this community focuses on an historical perspective of music while facilitating the formation of varied knowledge-networks and relationship levels. Social theories are correlated with web applications and tools to support design choices that will appeal to users by providing opportunities for specific social functions. This research allows for an organized, detailed, and theoretical approach to the design of the online music community, Vinylsqueegee.com. / text

Magister Artium - MA / Social networking sites are used on a daily basis, to communicate with friends we have known for quite some time as well as make new friends from all over the globe - a global phenomenon. According to Aparicio (2011) the use of social networking sites have given way to a new “social dynamic” where friendships are formed with individuals from diverse backgrounds and geographical locations. Larsen (2007) continues to state that social network sites make for the creation of new friendships and the maintenance of new relationships. Using social networking sites to develop relationships provides us with new social skills, but through constant use of these sites we lose valuable interpersonal skills learnt through the use of face to face interaction (Aparicio, 2011). This thesis investigated the notion of social networking sites, specifically focusing on interpersonal relationships and language use within the networking context. The social networking site in question is that of Twitter, as majority of existing studies in this area focuses on the more popular Facebook. The main objective was to determine whether social networking sites, specifically Twitter, influence the development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships and language use. Participants included a group of 11 males and 11 females (22 in total), ranging from the ages of 17 to 33 and from different geographical locations (e.g. United Kingdom, South Africa, Tokyo, and so on). These participants frequently keep in contact with each other. Four ways in which Twitter has been adapted to emulate face to face communication have been found, namely: (1) the use of Paralinguistic and Prosodic Features to imitate speech, (2) Ustream, although not prominent within the data collected, is used to make up for the lack of face to face communication.This, however, is one-way; only one user provides a video link while those communicating with him or her (as there can be more than one) would type messages, (3) as expected a variety of shortenings can be found within the data collected. Shortenings imitate speech among the younger generation, and (4) participants make use of an informal register, as the most common type of relationship found on Twitter is that of friendships. Both strong and weak ties exist in the collected data; with weak ties being the majority. It is possible for weak ties to become strong ties. All online relationships start off as weak and gradually, over time, become strong ties. This is done through establishing trust between participants and communicating on a regular basis. Paolillo (1999) found that online relationships manifests as both weak and strong. However, “online ties are not ‘branded’ as weak ties” and these ties differ in quality; “those who have regular contact have strong ties and those with less frequent contact have weaker ties weak”. Social support is evident in the collected data and possible in online, textbased communication. In is manifested in four types of support, namely: instrumental, emotional, informational, and appraisal. The most common type of support found in the collected data is that of informational support. With regards to support activation strategies, most tweet fall under the ‘ask’ and ‘cry’ types of strategies. Also, considering the amount of emoticons found in the data, little or no emoticons were found in the activation strategies. There are also more indirect support activation strategies as opposed to direct. This could possibly be due to the fact that majority of the ties are ‘in the weak stage’. Textese has not been adapted in anyway; the same elements used by texters and IMers are used by tweeters, such as initialisms, phonetic spellings and contractions. Although present in the Twitter data, elements of textese did not occur as frequently as that found in e.g. Bieswanger’s (2007) and Thurlow’s (2003) studies; however more elements of Twitter language was found. If anything, the characteristics of textese are well-suited for Twitter; as shortened forms of words would make it easier for users to maintain a character count below the imposed limitation and it promotes the idea of writing quick and concise messages instead of filling message space with irrelevant content. With regards to the difference in the way male and female participants use language in terms of the linguistic characteristics of textese and the language unique to Twitter and the use of paralinguistic and prosodic features, it can be said that females tend to use these characteristics more than males do.

The presence of both narcissism and social capital in the digital social networking site Facebook is altering the dynamic of relationship development. Therefore, the central research question directing this study is as follows: What role do narcissistic personality traits play in bridging social capital on Facebook? From this, two sub-questions are raised: 1) What are the motives for users to express narcissistic traits through Facebook? 2) How is narcissistic-motivated activity influencing social capital development through Facebook? Guiding this thesis are concepts of social tie relationships (as they apply to narcissism), and digital social networks. An exploratory study of in-depth interviews was utilized to conduct such research. A key objective in this thesis is understanding motive and purpose for generating social capital in an online environment. The findings from this study suggest Facebook is a facilitator for the expression of narcissistic traits. As a result, this is influencing the disconnected and questionable value of digital social capital.

This thesis focuses on students’ encounters with working life. The thesis aims to contribute to an increased understanding of the potential value of digital job portals in interplay with traditional social networks by capturing students’ perceptions of their paths to working life. A qualitative research method has been applied where respondents from University West have been interviewed both individually and in groups. Both current and previous students were included in the study. Eleven semi-structured individual interviews and two group interviews were conducted and recorded with the support of field notes. Based on this combined approach, which also permitted interaction among the respondents, the study could capture a greater variety of both current and previous students’ experiences. The study contributes with knowledge based on a number of students’ experiences of their encounters with working life, both before and after completing their studies at the university. The results of the study suggest that the interplay between digital job portals and traditional contact networks is of great importance. Digital job portals seem to provide a broad picture of the job opportunities in relation to the education, while the contact networks provide more in-depth understanding as well as relationships that might contribute to actual job offers. Hence, values are created as a result of their interplay. In addition, the study shows that the practice part of the work integrated learning approach at University West is instrumental for students in enriching their contact networks and that this, in turn, often result in their first jobs. On the basis of the results, recommendations are suggested for further studies as well as for actions that might improve the students’ paths to working life.The recommendations concern capturing of previous students’ experiences, analysis of the effects of Work Integrated Learning and in particular different forms of practice, exploringmore aspects of comp / Denna studie handlar om studenters möte med arbetslivet. Syftet har varit att bidra till en ökad förståelse för digitala jobbportalers potentiella värde för studenter i samspel med traditionella kontaktnätverk i studenternas möte med arbetslivet. En kvalitativ forskningsmetod har tillämpats där respondenter i form av alumner och sistaårsstudenter från Högskolan Väst har fått svara på frågor både enskilt och i grupp. Elva semistrukturerade enskilda intervjuer samt två gruppintervjuer har genomförts och spelats inmed stöd av fältanteckningar. Detta för att få en djupare förståelse för respondenternas upplevelser och erfarenheter av vägen till arbetslivet.Studien bidrar med kunskap om ett antal studenters upplevelser och erfarenhet av mötet med arbetslivet, både innan och efter avslutade studier på Högskolan Väst. Studiens resultat tyder på att samspelet mellan digitala jobbportaler och traditionella kontaktnätverk har en stor betydelse. Ett sätt att beskriva samspelet skulle kunna vara att digitala jobbportaler bidrar till en bred bild av arbetsmarknaden kopplat till utbildningen medan kontaktnäten bidrar till djupare förståelse och relationer som kan leda vidare till jobb. Värde skapas i hur dessa kompletterar och samspelar med varandra. I tillägg visar studien på att arbetsintegrerat lärande inte endast är viktigt för att koppla samman teori och praktik utan praktikperioder bidrar även till att berika studenternas kontaktnät, som i sin tur kan skapa förutsättningar för studenterna att få ett första arbete efter studierna. Med utgångspunkt i resultatet utformades rekommendationer för fortsatt arbete. Dessa rör att ta tillvara på tidigare studenters erfarenheter av vägen till arbete, analysera effekterna av AIL och särskilt olika former av praktik, utforska fler aspekter av kompetensförsörjning och -förmedling, samt digitala jobbportalers utformning och funktion.