The structure of social networks, and people's position within these networks, are important predictors of many individual and group-level outcomes. One type of social networks that is regularly studied are the mutually interdependent relations of friends. This thesis focusses on friendship networks between adolescents in the context of schools. Arguably the most important and consistently found regularities in adolescent friendship networks are i) the tendency of friendships to be mutual, called reciprocity; ii) their tendency to cluster in groups, known as transitivity; and iii) the tendency of friendships to be present between those that are similar to one another, called homophily. Various social theories originating in different disciplines have theoretically proposed and empirically found micro-mechanisms that explain the regular occurrence of these substructures in friendship networks. This thesis introduces a framework of how the relation between these different networks tendencies can be understood. I propose that each of the three network evolution mechanisms can be connected to a type of social situation in which friends interact to form and maintain their friendships. Social situations that are dyadic and only involve two persons are connected to reciprocal friendships. Group-based social situations, on the other hand, are related to transitivity and homophily, where the groups are either defined socially or through common characteristics. Starting from this proposition, I suggest that when two adolescents share one forum for interaction with one another, i.e. they regularly meet within one of the social situations, meeting in additional other situations does not increase the likelihood of a friendship tie existing as much as could be expected from the sum of the effect of meeting in either situation. Consequently, I expect a negative interaction between the different network mechanisms. After a series of empirical analyses that support the outlined reasoning, I use the developed perspective to investigate how the micro-mechanisms contribute differentially to the creation of newly formed friendships and to the maintenance of already existing friendships. Finally, I show how a situational understanding of friendship can be used to differentiate which friendships are most important for social influence and for peer pressure.

The study of complex brain networks, where the brain can be viewed as a system with various interacting regions that produce complex behaviors, has grown tremendously over the past decade. With both an increase in longitudinal study designs, as well as an increased interest in the neurological network changes that occur during the progression of a disease, sophisticated methods for dynamic brain network analysis are needed. We first propose a paradigm for longitudinal brain network analysis over patient cohorts where we adapt the Stochastic Actor Oriented Model (SAOM) framework and model a subject's network over time as observations of a continuous time Markov chain. Network dynamics are represented as being driven by various factors, both endogenous (i.e., network effects) and exogenous, where the latter include mechanisms and relationships conjectured in the literature. We outline an application to the resting-state fMRI network setting, where we draw conclusions at the subject level and then perform a meta-analysis on the model output. As an extension of the models, we next propose an approach based on Hidden Markov Models to incorporate and estimate type I and type II error (i.e., of edge status) in our observed networks. Our model consists of two components: 1) the latent model, which assumes that the true networks evolve according to a Markov process as they did in the original SAOM framework; and 2) the measurement model, which describes the conditional distribution of the observed networks given the true networks. An expectation-maximization algorithm is developed for estimation. Lastly, we focus on the study of percolation - the sudden emergence of a giant connected component in a network. This has become an active area of research, with relevance in clinical neuroscience, and it is of interest to distinguish between different percolation regimes in practice. We propose a method for estimating a percolation model from a given sequence of observed networks with single edge transitions. We outline a Hidden Markov Model approach and EM algorithm for the estimation of the birth and death rates for the edges, as well as the type I and type II error rates. / 2018-07-25T00:00:00Z

Students learn many different concepts throughout their mathematical careers. In order to be successful in mathematics, students should be able to transfer these mathematical concepts learned in one situation and apply them to a new situation. There are many factors that might affect how students transfer knowledge; however research has focused mostly upon cognitive factors, even though affective factors might also exhibit a strong influence. This study examined how students' mathematical beliefs, specifically beliefs about mathematics education and self-efficacy, affect the transfer process. Data were collected from three middle school students. These data were collected through in-class observations, students' written work, and student interviews. The analysis of this data has shown that students' beliefs about mathematics education can affect specific steps in the transfer process as well as the transfer process in general. The data also showed that self-efficacy can influence the transfer process, but that this influence is mediated by the students' other mathematical beliefs.

Submitted by Gabriela Lopes (gmachadolopesufpel@gmail.com) on 2017-07-05T16:16:26Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Tese Kátia Gislaine Baptista Gomes.PDF: 4338892 bytes, checksum: e446007ca9bfbddac821a1ff97cc29aa (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2017-07-13T20:09:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese Kátia Gislaine Baptista Gomes.PDF: 4338892 bytes, checksum: e446007ca9bfbddac821a1ff97cc29aa (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-13T20:09:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese Kátia Gislaine Baptista Gomes.PDF: 4338892 bytes, checksum: e446007ca9bfbddac821a1ff97cc29aa (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-29 / A construção desta tese partiu das reflexões em torno das dificuldades que o agricultor familiar enfrenta ao desenvolver a atividade de processamento de alimentos – agroindustrialização – para fins comerciais. Este se insere em um ambiente forjado por normas, regras e padrões nem sempre favoráveis aos pequenos empreendimentos. Enfrentar um mercado globalizado com poucos recursos financeiros, tecnológicos e com uma produção em pequena escala limita a inserção dessas agroindústrias em ambientes mais competitivos, levando, assim, muitos empreendedores a se manterem na informalidade, a adotar sistema de produção integrado a grandes agroindústrias ou entregar os produtos a atravessadores, tornando-se, dessa forma, um elo fraco da cadeia produtiva. Nesse sentido, o escopo deste trabalho é analisar como os agricultores consolidam agroindústrias e canais de comercialização autônomos para os seus produtos, (re)construindo espaços e desenvolvendo interações com outros atores sociais, governamentais e não governamentais no ambiente em que estão inseridos. Para atingir tal objetivo, buscou-se: (a) compreender o perfil do agricultor familiar que consolida sua agroindústria em um ambiente adverso e as interações na (re)construção de novos espaços e papéis sociais, políticos e econômicos; (b) analisar o papel dos atores e os fatores motivacionais no processo de consolidação e desenvolvimento das agroindústrias; (c) analisar como os agricultores forjam relações específicas e diferenciadas na construção de canais de comercialização autônomos. Para melhor compreender esse fenômeno, utilizou-se o aporte teórico da Perspectiva Orientada ao Ator (POA) e a Teoria de Redes, complementando-se com a Nova Sociologia Econômica para melhor compreender a construção social dos mercados. O estudo foi realizado no município de São Lourenço do Sul/RSBrasil, em um total de 10 agroindústrias. A pesquisa apresenta como características: o estudo de casos múltiplos, ser exploratório-descritiva e qualitativa. A coleta dos dados empíricos realizou-se mediante entrevista com roteiro semiestruturado e, posteriormente, efetuou-se a análise do conteúdo. Os resultados demonstraram que são nas interações com diferentes atores – sociais/governamentais/não governamentais locais e/ou distantes geograficamente – que estes trocam diferentes recursos – materiais e imateriais –, consolidando estratégias que lhes garantam maior autonomia no desenvolvimento da atividade e na construção de canais de comercialização mais autônomos, o que vem se apresentando positivamente no processo de consolidação e desenvolvimento das agroindústrias pesquisadas. / The construction of this thesis started from the reflections on the difficulties that family farmers face when developing food processing activity – agroindustrialization – for commercial purposes. They put themselves into an environment wrought by norms, rules and standards that are not always favorable to small businesses. To face a global market with few financial and technological resources, and with a smallscale production limits the insertion of these agribusinesses in more competitive environments, thus leading many entrepreneurs to remain informal, to adopt integrated production system to large agribusinesses or deliver products to middlemen, becoming thus a weak link in the production chain. In this sense, the scope of this paper is to analyze how farmers and agribusinesses consolidate autonomous marketing channels for their products, (re)building spaces and developing interactions with other social, governmental and non-governmental actors in the environment in which they live. To achieve this goal, we sought to: (a) understand the family farmer profile that consolidates its agribusiness in an adverse environment and interactions in the (re)construction of new spaces and social, political and economical roles; (B) analyze the role of actors and motivational factors in the process of consolidation and development of agro-industries; (C) analyze how farmers forge specific and differentiated relationships in the construction of autonomous marketing channels. To better understand this phenomenon, we used the theoretical framework Oriented Perspective to Actor (POA) and Network Theory, complementing with the New Economic Sociology to better understand the social construction of markets. The study was conducted in São Lourenço do Sul / RSBrazil, in a total of 10 agribusinesses. This research presents the following characteristics: the study of multiple cases, be exploratory, descriptive and qualitative. The collection of empirical data was conducted through interviews with a semi-structured instrument witch was then analyzed with content analysis. The results showed that in interactions with different actors – social / governmental / nongovernmental, local and / or geographically distant – that they exchange different resources – material and immaterial – consolidating strategies to guarantee for themselves greater autonomy in the development of their activity and in the construction of more independent marketing channels, which has been performing positively in the survey agro industries consolidation and development process.

The international community routinely implements embargoes in an effort to restrict the flow of small arms and light weapons into politically unstable regions. The effectiveness of sanctions fall into question when reports indicate that weapons continue to pour into embargoed territories. Using stochastic actor-based modeling, the current study investigates how shipment patterns change over time, and how trade patterns evolve in the presence of endogenous influences, such as embargoes, while controlling for corruption levels and national wealth (e.g., gross domestic product). The analysis here indicated that embargoes did have an effect in diverting illicit weapons trade through indirect ties. This was seen highest during the embargo implementation period and post embargo implementation period. The results stand to improve our understanding of this complex illegal global market and the role national control of corruption and gross domestic product play in the enforceability of these sanctions. In the final analysis what was discovered was that embargoes do effect change in the illegal arms trade network. This effect is seen in the form of indirect ties to end user countries. This suggests that improvements to policies and regulation on transshipment points need to be highly scrutinized.

A agricultura alternativa, nas suas diversas correntes, está conquistando, cada vez mais, a confiança dos agricultores e, por conseguinte, um importante espaço nos debates acadêmicos. A cada ano é crescente o número de famílias que vêm transformando seu sistema de produção agrícola convencional em outro alternativo. Está também, no centro dessa discussão, o fato de que as relações estabelecidas entre o homem e o ambiente, nos últimos anos, têm sido completamente fragmentadas, sendo a natureza tratada como algo à parte do mundo social, construído, humano. Nesse sentido, algumas correntes da agricultura alternativa têm, dentre seus pressupostos, o objetivo de reduzir os impactos socioambientais gerados pelo modelo produtivista dominante, bem como fortalecer o reconhecimento dos seres humanos enquanto pertencentes ao ambiente. Contudo, as motivações que levam os agricultores a optar pela transição são as mais variadas, podendo ser tanto a intenção de promover uma mudança socioambiental partindo de uma concepção mais sistêmica do ambiente, como ver na agricultura alternativa um novo nicho de mercado, pensando, unicamente, no produto. Utilizando-se, portanto, o que é proposto no arcabouço teórico-metodológico da Perspectiva Orientada pelo Ator, tem-se visto que essas manifestações, tais como as que se mostram através da agricultura alternativa, são extremamente heterogêneas e passam por diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais. Essas estratégias, por sua vez, são construídas a partir de diversos elementos, como interesses, critérios, experiências, perspectivas e percepções. Esta última é considerada um primeiro acesso às atitudes, aos valores e às visões de mundo dos sujeitos perceptivos, estando, portanto, fortemente vinculadas à conduta. Com o objetivo de apreender qual a percepção ambiental dos agricultores que realizaram a transição da agricultura convencional para alternativa, e aqui especificamente, para uma agricultura de base ecológica, e verificar de que maneira essas percepções se manifestam no cotidiano e nas práticas dessas famílias, iniciou-se uma pesquisa de campo com os agricultores vinculados à Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS). Para isso, utilizou-se, como ferramenta analítica, o estudo das percepções ambientais. Como técnicas de coletas de dados fez-se uso das entrevistas semiestruturadas, da associação livre de palavras, da observação não-participante e do diário de campo, sendo as três últimas tratadas como técnicas complementares. A partir da análise dos dados coletados pôde-se concluir que são diversas as percepções ambientais dos agricultores ecológicos da ECOCITRUS, as quais vão desde aquelas mais sistêmicas às mais antropocêntricas. Não obstante, essas percepções organizam-se em tendências, uma vez que compartilham algumas características. Conclui-se também que essas percepções se traduzem nas diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais, mesmo diante de condições estruturais semelhantes. Essas estratégias manifestam-se, contudo, nas práticas que não estão vinculadas à produção ecológica de citros, chegando a ser, em alguns casos, completamente antagônicas às propostas da agricultura de base ecológica. / The alternative agriculture, in its various currents, is acquiring more and more the confidence of farmers and, therefore, an important space in academic debates. Each year there are an increasing number of families which are transforming their conventional system of agricultural production in alternative ones. It is also at the heart of this discussion the fact that the relationship between man and the environment, in recent years, have been quite fragmented. The nature has being treated as something aside of the social, built and human world. Accordingly, some current of the alternative agriculture have, among its assumptions, the objective of reducing the social impacts generated by the dominant model of production, and strengthen the recognition of human beings as belonging to the environment. However, the motivations that lead farmers to choose the transition are varied, being or the intention to promote a social change from a more systemic perception of environmental or the search of a new niche market, from the alternative agriculture, thinking only in the product. Therefore, by using what by proposed in the theoretical and methodological actor-oriented approach, it has been seen that such manifestations, such as those shown by the alternative agriculture, are extremely heterogeneous and go through different strategies adopted by social actors. These strategies, in turn, are constructed from various elements, such as interests, criteria, experiences, perspectives and perceptions. The latter is considered a first access to the attitudes, the values and visions of the world being strongly linked to behavior. With the aim of understanding which is the environmental perception of farmers that made the transition from conventional agriculture to alternative one, and here specifically to an ecological based agriculture; and to verify in what way these perceptions are manifested in daily life and practices of these families. A field research with farmers committed to the Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS) was done. For that, the study of environmental perceptions was used as analytical tool. As data collection techniques, semistructured interviews, free association techniques, non-participant observation and field journal were used, where the last three have been treated as complementary techniques. From the analysis of the collected data it was possible concluded that the ecological farmers have different environmental perceptions, which range from those more systemic to the most anthropocentric. However, these perceptions are organized into trends, since they share some characteristics. It is concluded that these perceptions are manifested in the different strategies adopted by social actors, even before similar structural conditions. However, these strategies are manifested on practices that are not linked to the ecological production of citrus, being in some cases completely antagonistic to the proposals of the ecological based agriculture.

A agricultura alternativa, nas suas diversas correntes, está conquistando, cada vez mais, a confiança dos agricultores e, por conseguinte, um importante espaço nos debates acadêmicos. A cada ano é crescente o número de famílias que vêm transformando seu sistema de produção agrícola convencional em outro alternativo. Está também, no centro dessa discussão, o fato de que as relações estabelecidas entre o homem e o ambiente, nos últimos anos, têm sido completamente fragmentadas, sendo a natureza tratada como algo à parte do mundo social, construído, humano. Nesse sentido, algumas correntes da agricultura alternativa têm, dentre seus pressupostos, o objetivo de reduzir os impactos socioambientais gerados pelo modelo produtivista dominante, bem como fortalecer o reconhecimento dos seres humanos enquanto pertencentes ao ambiente. Contudo, as motivações que levam os agricultores a optar pela transição são as mais variadas, podendo ser tanto a intenção de promover uma mudança socioambiental partindo de uma concepção mais sistêmica do ambiente, como ver na agricultura alternativa um novo nicho de mercado, pensando, unicamente, no produto. Utilizando-se, portanto, o que é proposto no arcabouço teórico-metodológico da Perspectiva Orientada pelo Ator, tem-se visto que essas manifestações, tais como as que se mostram através da agricultura alternativa, são extremamente heterogêneas e passam por diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais. Essas estratégias, por sua vez, são construídas a partir de diversos elementos, como interesses, critérios, experiências, perspectivas e percepções. Esta última é considerada um primeiro acesso às atitudes, aos valores e às visões de mundo dos sujeitos perceptivos, estando, portanto, fortemente vinculadas à conduta. Com o objetivo de apreender qual a percepção ambiental dos agricultores que realizaram a transição da agricultura convencional para alternativa, e aqui especificamente, para uma agricultura de base ecológica, e verificar de que maneira essas percepções se manifestam no cotidiano e nas práticas dessas famílias, iniciou-se uma pesquisa de campo com os agricultores vinculados à Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS). Para isso, utilizou-se, como ferramenta analítica, o estudo das percepções ambientais. Como técnicas de coletas de dados fez-se uso das entrevistas semiestruturadas, da associação livre de palavras, da observação não-participante e do diário de campo, sendo as três últimas tratadas como técnicas complementares. A partir da análise dos dados coletados pôde-se concluir que são diversas as percepções ambientais dos agricultores ecológicos da ECOCITRUS, as quais vão desde aquelas mais sistêmicas às mais antropocêntricas. Não obstante, essas percepções organizam-se em tendências, uma vez que compartilham algumas características. Conclui-se também que essas percepções se traduzem nas diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais, mesmo diante de condições estruturais semelhantes. Essas estratégias manifestam-se, contudo, nas práticas que não estão vinculadas à produção ecológica de citros, chegando a ser, em alguns casos, completamente antagônicas às propostas da agricultura de base ecológica. / The alternative agriculture, in its various currents, is acquiring more and more the confidence of farmers and, therefore, an important space in academic debates. Each year there are an increasing number of families which are transforming their conventional system of agricultural production in alternative ones. It is also at the heart of this discussion the fact that the relationship between man and the environment, in recent years, have been quite fragmented. The nature has being treated as something aside of the social, built and human world. Accordingly, some current of the alternative agriculture have, among its assumptions, the objective of reducing the social impacts generated by the dominant model of production, and strengthen the recognition of human beings as belonging to the environment. However, the motivations that lead farmers to choose the transition are varied, being or the intention to promote a social change from a more systemic perception of environmental or the search of a new niche market, from the alternative agriculture, thinking only in the product. Therefore, by using what by proposed in the theoretical and methodological actor-oriented approach, it has been seen that such manifestations, such as those shown by the alternative agriculture, are extremely heterogeneous and go through different strategies adopted by social actors. These strategies, in turn, are constructed from various elements, such as interests, criteria, experiences, perspectives and perceptions. The latter is considered a first access to the attitudes, the values and visions of the world being strongly linked to behavior. With the aim of understanding which is the environmental perception of farmers that made the transition from conventional agriculture to alternative one, and here specifically to an ecological based agriculture; and to verify in what way these perceptions are manifested in daily life and practices of these families. A field research with farmers committed to the Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS) was done. For that, the study of environmental perceptions was used as analytical tool. As data collection techniques, semistructured interviews, free association techniques, non-participant observation and field journal were used, where the last three have been treated as complementary techniques. From the analysis of the collected data it was possible concluded that the ecological farmers have different environmental perceptions, which range from those more systemic to the most anthropocentric. However, these perceptions are organized into trends, since they share some characteristics. It is concluded that these perceptions are manifested in the different strategies adopted by social actors, even before similar structural conditions. However, these strategies are manifested on practices that are not linked to the ecological production of citrus, being in some cases completely antagonistic to the proposals of the ecological based agriculture.

A agricultura alternativa, nas suas diversas correntes, está conquistando, cada vez mais, a confiança dos agricultores e, por conseguinte, um importante espaço nos debates acadêmicos. A cada ano é crescente o número de famílias que vêm transformando seu sistema de produção agrícola convencional em outro alternativo. Está também, no centro dessa discussão, o fato de que as relações estabelecidas entre o homem e o ambiente, nos últimos anos, têm sido completamente fragmentadas, sendo a natureza tratada como algo à parte do mundo social, construído, humano. Nesse sentido, algumas correntes da agricultura alternativa têm, dentre seus pressupostos, o objetivo de reduzir os impactos socioambientais gerados pelo modelo produtivista dominante, bem como fortalecer o reconhecimento dos seres humanos enquanto pertencentes ao ambiente. Contudo, as motivações que levam os agricultores a optar pela transição são as mais variadas, podendo ser tanto a intenção de promover uma mudança socioambiental partindo de uma concepção mais sistêmica do ambiente, como ver na agricultura alternativa um novo nicho de mercado, pensando, unicamente, no produto. Utilizando-se, portanto, o que é proposto no arcabouço teórico-metodológico da Perspectiva Orientada pelo Ator, tem-se visto que essas manifestações, tais como as que se mostram através da agricultura alternativa, são extremamente heterogêneas e passam por diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais. Essas estratégias, por sua vez, são construídas a partir de diversos elementos, como interesses, critérios, experiências, perspectivas e percepções. Esta última é considerada um primeiro acesso às atitudes, aos valores e às visões de mundo dos sujeitos perceptivos, estando, portanto, fortemente vinculadas à conduta. Com o objetivo de apreender qual a percepção ambiental dos agricultores que realizaram a transição da agricultura convencional para alternativa, e aqui especificamente, para uma agricultura de base ecológica, e verificar de que maneira essas percepções se manifestam no cotidiano e nas práticas dessas famílias, iniciou-se uma pesquisa de campo com os agricultores vinculados à Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS). Para isso, utilizou-se, como ferramenta analítica, o estudo das percepções ambientais. Como técnicas de coletas de dados fez-se uso das entrevistas semiestruturadas, da associação livre de palavras, da observação não-participante e do diário de campo, sendo as três últimas tratadas como técnicas complementares. A partir da análise dos dados coletados pôde-se concluir que são diversas as percepções ambientais dos agricultores ecológicos da ECOCITRUS, as quais vão desde aquelas mais sistêmicas às mais antropocêntricas. Não obstante, essas percepções organizam-se em tendências, uma vez que compartilham algumas características. Conclui-se também que essas percepções se traduzem nas diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais, mesmo diante de condições estruturais semelhantes. Essas estratégias manifestam-se, contudo, nas práticas que não estão vinculadas à produção ecológica de citros, chegando a ser, em alguns casos, completamente antagônicas às propostas da agricultura de base ecológica. / The alternative agriculture, in its various currents, is acquiring more and more the confidence of farmers and, therefore, an important space in academic debates. Each year there are an increasing number of families which are transforming their conventional system of agricultural production in alternative ones. It is also at the heart of this discussion the fact that the relationship between man and the environment, in recent years, have been quite fragmented. The nature has being treated as something aside of the social, built and human world. Accordingly, some current of the alternative agriculture have, among its assumptions, the objective of reducing the social impacts generated by the dominant model of production, and strengthen the recognition of human beings as belonging to the environment. However, the motivations that lead farmers to choose the transition are varied, being or the intention to promote a social change from a more systemic perception of environmental or the search of a new niche market, from the alternative agriculture, thinking only in the product. Therefore, by using what by proposed in the theoretical and methodological actor-oriented approach, it has been seen that such manifestations, such as those shown by the alternative agriculture, are extremely heterogeneous and go through different strategies adopted by social actors. These strategies, in turn, are constructed from various elements, such as interests, criteria, experiences, perspectives and perceptions. The latter is considered a first access to the attitudes, the values and visions of the world being strongly linked to behavior. With the aim of understanding which is the environmental perception of farmers that made the transition from conventional agriculture to alternative one, and here specifically to an ecological based agriculture; and to verify in what way these perceptions are manifested in daily life and practices of these families. A field research with farmers committed to the Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS) was done. For that, the study of environmental perceptions was used as analytical tool. As data collection techniques, semistructured interviews, free association techniques, non-participant observation and field journal were used, where the last three have been treated as complementary techniques. From the analysis of the collected data it was possible concluded that the ecological farmers have different environmental perceptions, which range from those more systemic to the most anthropocentric. However, these perceptions are organized into trends, since they share some characteristics. It is concluded that these perceptions are manifested in the different strategies adopted by social actors, even before similar structural conditions. However, these strategies are manifested on practices that are not linked to the ecological production of citrus, being in some cases completely antagonistic to the proposals of the ecological based agriculture.

This thesis addresses the relationship between institutions and foreign direct investments (FDI). While the issue of how institutions attract FDI (selection) is quite well-researched, the empirical evidence for institutions spreading through FDI (influence) is more ambiguous. We argue that past studies have neglected issues of endogeneity and interdependence in their modelling. We amend these issues by using a Stochastic Actor-Oriented network model which allows for interdependent and endogenous processes. The thesis also addresses the mechanisms governing the general relation between FDI and institutions and what these can tell us about institutional change and the process of globalisation. The model provides no evidence that FDI helps to spread institutions from home to host countries, but it does provide evidence that the selection effect can be an important dynamic between FDI and a certain set of institutions. Finally, we argue that FDI does not seem to be a contributory factor to institutional convergence.

<p>Globalization and international competition put pressure on local communities to adjust to international standards of price and quality in production. Tirupur in India produces clothes for exports to the first world market. Because of the process of dyeing and bleaching of fabrics the river Noyyal that flows through the town and the surrounding ground water have become polluted. At the local level actors, like the state, business, NGOs and grassroots take action in different ways depending on their interests. The aim with this thesis is both to analyze the situation at the local level from the views and actions of different actors and how the local situation is influenced by globalization. Qualitative interviews have been made with representatives from these actors in Tirupur and its surroundings. This material has then been analyzed from the theory of Third World political ecology and globalization. The conclusions drawn from this study are that the situation in Tirupur cannot exclusively be explained at just one level. Local, national and global politics affect Tirupur. A politicized environment characterizes the local situation where actions against the pollution are not taken for the benefit of the powerful. People also lack empowerment to take action because of dependency on the industry. At the national level centralization is a problem in India because it results in difficulties for the civil society and people to reach elected representatives and influence from the local community. Another problem is the policy maker’s lack of understanding of the local situation. At last globalization limits the way to handle the pollution because of the global competition and the retreat of the state. But it also gives possibilities for the civil society to grow stronger internationally, perhaps with the possibility to create a change.</p>