abstract: This study examined the enactment of a high school district's college-going mission. Treating mission enactment as a case of policy implementation, this study used the lens of complexity theory to understand how system actors and contexts influenced variation and adaptation. Data collection methods included observations, interviews, focus groups, and surveys of various system actors including district staff, principals, counselors, teachers, and students. This study used a mixed methods analytic inductive technique and Social Network Analysis to describe the mission's implementation. Findings reflect that the mission was a vaguely defined value statement; school staff reacted to the mission with limited buy-in and confusion about what it really meant in practice. The mission lacked clear boundaries of what constituted related programs or policies. Consequently, in this site-based district, schools unevenly implemented related programs and policies. School staff wanted more guidance from district staff and clear expectations for mission-related actions. To help meet this need, the district was moving to a more centralized, hierarchical approach. Though they were providing information about the mission, district staff were not providing specific, responsive support to organize school staff's efforts around implementation. District staff were trying to find an approach that both supported schools towards a common vision and provided flexibility for school-level adaptations. Yet, the district had not yet fully formed its position as a facilitator of implementation. Further, as the district lacked a cohesive measurement system, the effectiveness of this initiative was unknown. This study sought to present policy implementation as varied phenomenon, influenced by system actors and conditions. Findings suggest that while policy cannot determine actions, district staff could help create conditions that would support implementation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

This thesis seeks to extend the application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to temporal graphs, in particular providing new insights for the understanding of covert networks. The analyses undertaken reveal informative features and properties of individuals' affiliations under covertness that also illustrate how both individuals and events influence the network structure. The review of the literature on covert networks provided in the initial two chapters suggests the presence of some ambiguities concerning how authors define structural properties and dynamics of covert networks. Authors sometimes disagree and use their findings to explain opposite views about covert networks. The controversy in the field is used as a starting point in order to justify the methodological application of SNA to understand how individuals involved in criminal and illegal activities interact with each other. I attempt to use a deductive approach, without preconceived notions about covert network characteristics. In particular, I avoid considering covert networks as organisations in themselves or as cohesive groups. I focus on individuals and their linkages constructed from their common participation in illicit events such as secret meetings, bombing attacks and criminal operations. In order to tackle these processes I developed innovative methods for investigating criminals' behaviours over time and their willingness to exchange tacit information. The strategy implies the formulation of a network model in order to represent and incorporate in a graph three types of information: individuals, events, and the temporal dimension of events. The inclusion of the temporal dimension offers the possibility of adopting a more comprehensive theoretical framework for considering individuals and event affiliations. This thesis expands the analysis of bipartite covert networks by adopting several avenues to explore in this perspective. Chapter 3 proposes a different way to represent two-mode networks starting from the use of line-graphs, namely the bi-dynamic line-graph data representation (BDLG), through which it is possible to represent the temporal evolution of individual's trajectories. The following chapter 4 presents some reflections about the idea of cohesion and cohesive subgroups specific to the case of two-mode networks. Based on the affiliation matrices, the analysis of local clustering through bi-cliques offers an attempt to analyse the mechanism of selecting accomplices while taking into account time. Chapter 5 is concerned with the concept of centrality of individuals involved in flows of knowledge exchanges. The theoretical and analytical framework helps in elaborating how individuals share their acquired hands-on experiences with others by attending joint task activities over time. Chapter 6 provides an application of the approaches introduced in the preceding chapters to the specific case of the Noordin Top terrorist network. Here, the knowledge of experience flow centrality measure opens up a new way to quantify the transmission of information and investigate the formation of the criminal capital. Finally, the last Chapter 7 presents some future research extensions by illustrating the versatility of the proposed approaches in order to provide new insights for the understanding of criminals' behaviours.

Personality, that is intra-individual consistency and inter-individual variation in behaviour, is widespread throughout the animal kingdom. This challenges traditional evolutionary assumptions that selection should favour behavioural flexibility, and that variation in behavioural strategies reflects stochastic variation around a single optimal behavioural strategy. Adaptive models to explain personality within the framework of evolutionary and behavioural ecology exist, and are typically empirically explored by identifying proximate associations to, and the functional consequences of, personality expression. To date, such studies have typically quantified a narrow range of personality traits within a species, and focused on captive populations or species with relatively limited behavioural or social repertoires. In this thesis, personality is studied in wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). Quantification of personality structure in the species was conducted using a multi-method approach, and subsequently, it was examined whether physiological stress response (a proximate association) was related to personality expression, and whether personality expression affected social (functional) outcomes for individuals. Seven personality constructs were identified in Barbary macaques. Three personality constructs were related to physiological stress responses (Excitability, Tactility and Exploration), with the relationship between stress and personality expression dependent on sex, and in some cases rank or age. Two personality constructs (Excitability and Exploration) were associated with measures of social integration. Subjects generally socially assorted themselves according to personality, tending to be in proximity to individuals with a similar personality to themselves. This study contributes methodologically by demonstrating the plausibility of multi-method approaches to measuring personality in wild primates, and empirically, by generating evidence supporting adaptive models for the evolution of personality, namely that intra-individual consistency in behaviour may be mediated by physiology and that inter-individual variation in behaviour has functional benefits in the formation of social relationships and social structures.

Research in the relationship between second language (L2) production and study abroad has largely focused on establishing a connection between exchange studies and the success rate of second language acquisition. This Bachelor's thesis investigates L2 production by studying L2 English speakers' attitudes regarding the target language culture in relation to their production of a regionally typical phoneme by formulating the research question “How does cultural identification with the target language environment influence L2 phonetic production in the L1 language community?” in hopes of contributing to sociophonetic studies. This is done by conducting a qualitative study based on the phonetic production of rhoticity and the experiences of nine Swedish former exchange students to the United States. The study draws on existing research that highlights the saliency of rhoticity, as well as provides insight into the importance of identity in language use and into the relevance of motivation and the establishing of social networks for L2 gains during study abroad. To provide a framework for understanding these issues, the Social Network Strength Scale is applied. The results and data analysis suggest that, opposite to expectation, there is no clear relationship between cultural identification and L2 phonetic production for speakers who are no longer immersed into the L2 environment. However, the results establish a possible connection between maintaining a dense social network with native speaker members of the L2 community, as well as of having an awareness and capacity to understand the L2 culture, and a higher percentage of phonetic production of sounds typical for the L2 environment.

Com o aumento dos usuários acessando a internet no Brasil, cresce a quantidade de conteúdo produzido por brasileiros. Assim se torna importante classificar os melhores autores para que se tenha mais confiança nos textos lidos. Nesse sentido, esta dissertação faz um estudo sobre a descoberta de autoridades em tópicos na blogosfera brasileira. O escopo de estudo e análise é a plataforma de publicação de blogs, Blogspot, sobre os blogueiros que se identificam como brasileiros. Para tanto, foram coletados nove milhões de postagens do ano de 2012 e considerados os comentários como fonte de relacionamento entre os blogueiros para gerar uma rede social. Essa rede foi usada para experimentos do algoritmo de identificação de autoridades em tópicos. O algoritmo utilizado como base é o Topic PageRank, separando os diversos tópicos da blogosfera pelas tags que os usuários definem em suas postagens e posteriormente construindo a lista das autoridades em tais tópicos. Experimentos realizados demonstram que o método proposto resulta em melhor ranqueamento que o algoritmo original do PageRank. Cabe salientar que foi feita uma caracterização dos dados coletados por um questionário aplicado a quatro mil autores. / With the intesification of users accessing the Internet in Brazil, the amount of content produced by Brazilians increases. Thus, it becomes important to classify the best authors to have more confidence in the texts read. In this sense, this work presents a study on subject of topic authorities discovery in the Brazilian blogosphere. The scope of the study is the Blogspot platform, focusing on bloggers who identify themselves as Brazilians. To this end, we collected nine millions posts in the year of 2012 and considered the comments as a source of relationship between bloggers to generate a social network. This network was used for performing experiments considering the proposed approach to identify topic authorities. The algorithm used is based on the Topic PageRank, which can separate the different blogosphere’s topics by tags that users use on their posts, and then building the list of authorities on such topics. The experiments conducted show that the proposed approach results in better ranking than the original PageRank algorithm. We also characterize the collected database with a survey of over four thousand authors.

218f. / Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-04-30T16:34:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_ Alessandra de Assis.pdf: 1034096 bytes, checksum: a9887a8bda2b5eb53877b7a5a760e8aa (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Valdinéia Ferreira(neiabf@ufba.br) on 2013-05-02T15:59:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_ Alessandra de Assis.pdf: 1034096 bytes, checksum: a9887a8bda2b5eb53877b7a5a760e8aa (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-02T15:59:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_ Alessandra de Assis.pdf: 1034096 bytes, checksum: a9887a8bda2b5eb53877b7a5a760e8aa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / A educação brasileira tem passado por transformações, em especial a partir da exigência de formação em nível superior de professores da Educação Básica, estabelecida pela Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional, LDB n. 9.394, aprovada em 1996. Neste texto são apresentados resultados da investigação sobre as condições de interação e produção de informação e conhecimento, proporcionadas pela utilização de diferentes Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação (TIC) em cursos de formação em nível superior de professores da Educação Básica, ofertados por universidades públicas brasileiras, focalizando o que tais condições potencializam ou limitam em termos de organização dos professores em redes de colaboração. Considerando os princípios da pesquisa qualitativa em educação, foram analisados documentos produzidos por instâncias nacionais e estaduais, bem como as ações desenvolvidas na Universidade Federal da Bahia, através da parceria entre o Município de Irecê e a Faculdade de Educação que concebeu e executou o Programa de Formação Continuada de Professores. O uso das tecnologias está articulado à formulação de um projeto político para a formação de professores da Educação Básica, considerando o conjunto de mudanças que podem ser observadas nos processos sociais na contemporaneidade, nos quais novos modos de agir, ser e pensar estão em construção. O estudo aponta que enfrentar o desafio de expansão do ensino superior sem descaracterizar os pilares da formação universitária do professor é uma ação que pode ser fortalecida quando a Universidade desencadeia um processo de intervenção social ampliada, alterando as condições de acesso e produção de informação entre esses sujeitos, ao mesmo tempo em que são reunidas sinergias para uma prática educativa integrada às ações culturais, sociais, políticas e econômicas, segundo uma dinâmica de relações sociais horizontais e descentralizadas, garantindo a construção de percursos singulares de formação, fortalecendo a dinâmica de ensinar e aprender e o trabalho docente em rede. / Salvador

Submitted by Maria Creuza Silva (mariakreuza@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-05-31T13:20:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Sandra Brignol. 2013.pdf: 4356092 bytes, checksum: 8471a9d9b8dbdafaeb02e20e0c99bfa4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Creuza Silva(mariakreuza@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-05-31T13:20:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Sandra Brignol. 2013.pdf: 4356092 bytes, checksum: 8471a9d9b8dbdafaeb02e20e0c99bfa4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-31T13:20:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Sandra Brignol. 2013.pdf: 4356092 bytes, checksum: 8471a9d9b8dbdafaeb02e20e0c99bfa4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / A epidemia da infecção por HIV na população dos homens que fazem sexo com homens (HSH) continua a crescer em várias regiões do mundo, em parte devido à existência de homofobia e desrespeito aos direitos Humanos. Diante destas evidências e ausência de dados sobre a epidemia do HIV em Salvador, nós estimamos a prevalência do HIV, descrevemos e identificamos os fatores de vulnerabilidade associados a esta infecção. Analisamos e classificamos as redes sociais dos participantes, redes de parceiros sexuais e potenciais contatos sexuais via rede de afiliação formada indiretamente via frequência a locais para busca de parceiros sexuais. Este estudo de corte transversal faz parte da pesquisa multicêntrica “Comportamento, atitudes, práticas e prevalência de HIV e sífilis entre homens que fazem sexo com homens (HSH) em 10 cidades brasileiras”, em que analisamos os dados dos 383 HSH que participaram da pesquisa em Salvador. Utilizou-se a metodologia de recrutamento indicada para populações de difícil acesso ou escondidas, a Respondet Driven Sampling (RDS), para a seleção dos participantes. Utilizou-se a Regressão Logística Exata devido à baixa frequência da infecção por HIV e pequeno tamanho da amostra para estimar a associação do HIV e fatores de vulnerabilidade. E sob a perspectiva da Teoria das Redes Sociais Complexas, analisou-se as redes sociais de interesse dos HSH. A prevalência do HIV foi de 6,3%(IC95%=4%-9%), e a análise descritiva mostrou que os HSH estão em situação de vulnerabilidade com proporções expressivas de indivíduos com baixa escolaridade(33%), de classe social mais baixas(75%), desempregados(37%) e com experiências com algum tipo de discriminação (57%). A sífilis na vida teve uma prevalência de 9,7% (IC95%= 7%-13%). 20% dos HSH tiveram mais de oito parceiros sexuais, sexo anal desprotegido com ultimo parceiro casual e fixo foi similar (41%). Não fizeram o teste para sífilis na vida 79%, não tiveram acesso ao gel lubrificante 88% dos HSH. Os fatores que se associaram à infecção pelo HIV foram: não realizar teste de sífilis alguma vez na vida (OR=3,07; IC95%=1,29-7,31), ter mais de oito parceiros sexuais (OR=3,34;IC95%=1,38-8,07), início da vida sexual antes do 15 anos de idade (OR=2,36; IC95%=0,95-5,85) e não contou para alguém que sente atração por homens (OR=2,69; IC95%=0,95-7,58). A rede de relações pessoais dos HSH apresenta características de uma rede livre escala e mundo pequeno, onde os HSH estão muito próximos, alguns deles com alto grau de conexão ocupando áreas centrais e estratégicas na rede. Concluímos que há uma situação de vulnerabilidade social, individual e programática dos HSH que participaram da pesquisa em Salvador e alta prevalência do HIV. Confirmamos a importância da realização do teste de sífilis na vida. Há uma perda de oportunidade para testagem para HIV, pois verificamos uma alta proporção de testes da sífilis que contrastou com uma baixa testagem para HIV. Não contar para alguém que sente atração por homem poder ser reflexo de um alto grau de estigma social. Além disso, encontramos uma alta porcentagem de HSH com experiência com discriminação. As ações de prevenção devem focar os HSH mais conectados nas redes pessoais de relacionamento. / Salvador

110f. / Submitted by Oliveira Santos Dilzaná (dilznana@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-06-27T13:22:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação de Mestrado -Fernanda de Souza Brito.pdf: 1010273 bytes, checksum: c78b30b1c17fdb6595779693572982b1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Portela(anapoli@ufba.br) on 2013-06-27T15:09:22Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação de Mestrado -Fernanda de Souza Brito.pdf: 1010273 bytes, checksum: c78b30b1c17fdb6595779693572982b1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-06-27T15:09:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação de Mestrado -Fernanda de Souza Brito.pdf: 1010273 bytes, checksum: c78b30b1c17fdb6595779693572982b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / CAPES / Este estudo examinou a relação entre estilos interpessoais e a participação do indivíduo nas redes sociais em diferentes ambientes de trabalho. Redes sociais se formam pelos vínculos afetivos, cognitivos e de compartilhamento de recursos estabelecidos entre atores sociais. Diferenças de desempenho no trabalho podem estar relacionadas ao posicionamento das pessoas em suas redes sociais. Ocupar uma posição de centralidade em uma rede social possibilita a aquisição de informações importantes e várias formas de influência interpessoal. A conquista dessas posições privilegiadas está associada a benefícios como sucesso na carreira, desempenho e satisfação no trabalho. Estudos sobre personalidade têm experienciado um renascimento no âmbito organizacional, e muitos têm evidenciado a importância de características da personalidade para prever resultados ocupacionais. Sabe-se que a predominância de determinadas características de personalidade no ambiente de trabalho formam modos peculiares de convivência do grupo, assim, é importante lembrar que ambientes variam em termos de quais estilos de personalidade valorizam e conferem aceitação ao seu portador. Os estilos interpessoais são estratégias comportamentais que descrevem a maneira habitual de uma pessoa interagir socialmente e buscar aceitação e status nas coletividades em que participa. Nesse sentido, os estilos interpessoais são importantes para compreender o sucesso interpessoal do indivíduo na sua busca por ser aceito, reconhecido e ter um lugar de destaque no seu ambiente de trabalho. Deste modo, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar e comparar a relação entre estilos interpessoais e centralidade nas redes sociais em diferentes equipes de trabalho. Participaram desta pesquisa 80 trabalhadores distribuídos em 03 equipes de diferentes empresas: marketing de um jornal (MKT, n=24); serviços de registro documentos (SRD, n=20); fábrica de aparelhos mecânicos (FAB, n=36). O instrumento foi composto por variáveis sócio-demográficas, pelo Inventário ESEI (Escalas de Estilos Interpessoais), e pelo questionário sociométrico que possibilitou o cálculo dos índices de centralidade das redes de confiança. As equipes foram caracterizadas em relação às variáveis sócio-demográficas, ao tipo de ambiente ocupacional e ao perfil médio de estilos interpessoais. Em seguida, os estilos interpessoais dos atores foram correlacionados aos seus índices de centralidade na rede de confiança, e alguns casos foram analisados. Foram encontradas diferenças significativas nas dimensões de estilos interpessoais entre as equipes, e a análise correlacional e qualitativa dos estilos interpessoais dos atores centrais, indicaram que cada equipe valoriza atores com diferentes perfis interpessoais, conferindo-lhes aceitação e prestígio. Os resultados revelam a importância do tipo de ambiente ocupacional para compreender os estilos interpessoais predominantes na equipe e suas relações com a centralidade dos atores na rede de confiança. As implicações das relações entre os estilos interpessoais, a centralidade dos atores nas redes de confiança e os tipos de ambiente ocupacional são discutidas. Por fim, considera-se a importância de alinhar dimensões da personalidade ao ambiente ocupacional na busca por uma compreensão cada vez mais acurada sobre os comportamentos humanos no trabalho. This study examined the relationship between interpersonal styles and the individual's participation in social networks in different workplaces. Social networks are formed by emotional ties, cognitive, and resource sharing established between social actors. Differences in job performance may be related to the positioning of people in their social networks. Occupy a position of centrality in a social network enables the acquisition of important information and various forms of interpersonal influence. The achievement of these privileged positions is associated with benefits such as career success, performance and job satisfaction. Studies on personality have experienced a renaissance in the organizational, and many have shown the importance of personality traits to predict occupational outcomes. It is known that the prevalence of certain personality traits in the workplace form particular ways of living of the group, so it is important to remember that environments vary in terms of personality styles which value and give acceptance to the wearer. The interpersonal styles are behavioral strategies that describe the usual way a person interacts socially and seek acceptance and status in the communities in which it participates. In this sense, interpersonal styles are important to understand the individual's interpersonal success in their search to be accepted, recognized and have a prominent place on your workplace. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze and compare the relationship between interpersonal styles and centrality in social networks in different teams. In this study, participated 80 workers, divided into 03 teams from different companies: marketing department of a newspaper (MKT, n= 24); services registration documents (SRD, n= 20); factory mechanical (FAB, n= 36). The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic variables, the Inventory ESEI (Interpersonal Styles Scale), and the sociometric questionnaire that enabled the calculation of the indices of centrality of trust networks. The teams were characterized in relation to socio-demographic variables, the type of workplace and the average profile of interpersonal styles. Then the interpersonal styles of the actors were correlated to their levels of centrality in the trust network, and some cases were analyzed. There were significant differences in the dimensions of interpersonal styles between teams, and correlational analysis of qualitative and interpersonal styles of key players, each team indicated that values interpersonal actors with different profiles, giving them acceptance and prestige. The results reveal the importance of the kind of workplace to understand the interpersonal styles prevalent in the team and its relations with the centrality of actors in the network of trust. The implications of the relationship between interpersonal styles, the centrality of the actors in the networks of trust and the kinds of workplace are discussed. Finally, we consider the importance of aligning the personality dimensions of occupational environment in the quest for a more accurate understanding of human behavior at work. / Salvador

Legal Protection of Works of Copyright on Social Networks This thesis is focused on the legal aspects of the works of copyright protection on social networks. The thesis in its introduction defines the term of social network, in particular as the service of the internet service provider, and furthermore it deals with the nature of the contractual relation between the social network service provider and its user. The thesis deals with the definition of 'work of copyright' in relation to social networks, while the rights of the author to his or her work of copyright published on the social network are defined. Furthermore, the thesis deals with the possibility of rightful use of the works of copyright published on the social networks by other entities than authors of such works. The thesis defines the scope of the licences provided to the social network service provider, another users of the social network and the to another non-user entities. In relation to this the thesis is based on the terms and conditions of the currently largest social networks (in the first place it is Facebook, followed by Instagram and YouTube) that are establishing content of the contractual relationship between the social network and its user. In its final part the thesis deals with the legal aspects of an unauthorised use...

Online social networks (OSNs) have become a powerful medium of communicating, sharing and disseminating information. Because of popularity and availability of OSNs throughout the world, the connected users can spread information faster and thus propagate influence over each other constantly. Due to such impact, a lot of applications on OSNs focused on picking an initial set of users (seeds) to infuse their message in the OSN. Due to huge size of the network, the main challenge in picking the initial set is to maximize the resultant influence over the users in the network. The optimization problem of finding out the most influential set of members in an OSN for maximization of influence is an NP-hard problem. In this paper, we propose using the Positive Influential Dominating Set (PIDS) algorithm for the initial seed. PIDS is a well-known algorithm which determines the influential backbone nodes in the networks. We implemented PIDS-based influence maximization by using different propagation models. We compared PIDS performance to that of the existing approaches based on greedy and random heuristics. The experimental results from extensive simulation on real-world network data sets show that PIDS gives better influence spread than greedy and random for both Independent Cascade Model and Linear Threshold Model of influence propagation. PIDS is also scalable to large networks and in all size ranges, it performs well in influence maximization.