abstract: Malicious hackers utilize the World Wide Web to share knowledge. Previous work has demonstrated that information mined from online hacking communities can be used as precursors to cyber-attacks. In a threatening scenario, where security alert systems are facing high false positive rates, understanding the people behind cyber incidents can help reduce the risk of attacks. However, the rapidly evolving nature of those communities leads to limitations still largely unexplored, such as: who are the skilled and influential individuals forming those groups, how they self-organize along the lines of technical expertise, how ideas propagate within them, and which internal patterns can signal imminent cyber offensives? In this dissertation, I have studied four key parts of this complex problem set. Initially, I leverage content, social network, and seniority analysis to mine key-hackers on darkweb forums, identifying skilled and influential individuals who are likely to succeed in their cybercriminal goals. Next, as hackers often use Web platforms to advertise and recruit collaborators, I analyze how social influence contributes to user engagement online. On social media, two time constraints are proposed to extend standard influence measures, which increases their correlation with adoption probability and consequently improves hashtag adoption prediction. On darkweb forums, the prediction of where and when hackers will post a message in the near future is accomplished by analyzing their recurrent interactions with other hackers. After that, I demonstrate how vendors of malware and malicious exploits organically form hidden organizations on darkweb marketplaces, obtaining significant consistency across the vendors’ communities extracted using the similarity of their products in different networks. Finally, I predict imminent cyber-attacks correlating malicious hacking activity on darkweb forums with real-world cyber incidents, evidencing how social indicators are crucial for the performance of the proposed model. This research is a hybrid of social network analysis (SNA), machine learning (ML), evolutionary computation (EC), and temporal logic (TL), presenting expressive contributions to empower cyber defense. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Computer Science 2020

abstract: People come together and form communities in cities across the world but the processes behind community formation are not well understood. Some researchers theorize that having populations with similar characteristics is important; others argue that the existence of public spaces for interaction is key. I use archaeological data collected over six seasons of field work and archival data from The Granada Relocation Center (Amache) National Historic Landmark, a World War II (WWII) Japanese American incarceration center in Southeastern Colorado, to demonstrate the role that participation in previous social communities has on the formation of new social networks. The concept of social cohesion acts as a framework for understanding how access to public spaces and participation in different types of social activities creates a sense of neighborhood community among a dislocated population. During WWII Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes on the West Coast to ten incarceration centers, disrupting existing communities and forcing the formation of new ones. Amache is one of ten incarceration centers which housed families and individuals. The site resembled an urban center with public facilities and residential areas that functioned as neighborhoods. Archival and archaeological data indicate that residents developed socially defined neighborhoods. Internees modified each neighborhood through the creation of landscape features and development of social activity which provided a venue for residents to interact and form a sense of community identity. Neighborhood residents clustered based on their affiliation to previous communities both in California and in the temporary detention centers. Clustering in demographically similar neighborhoods facilitated the development of new social interactions and led to the proliferation of landscape features and social events seen in the archaeological and archival record. I identify patterns of neighborhood interaction through an examination of the archaeological record and social network analysis using archival newspapers. Applying archaeological data in partnership with social network data illustrates the range of strategies used by incarcerees to create new communities and problematizes working with a single data source when attempting to identify socially defined neighborhoods. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2020

Animal behavior has become a frequently used tool in modern ecology and ecotoxicology, where laboratory behavioral traits are recognized as sensitive endpoints for assessing natural behavior or non-lethal effects of pollutants on animals. Within these research fields, behavioral traits measured in laboratory environments have been used to formulate predictions of ecological consequences that accompany specific behavior. However, the predictive power of behavioral traits measured in simplified laboratory environments for complex natural aquatic ecosystems has been questioned. In this study, I have examined to what extent behavioral changes, noted in laboratory settings in response to chemical stressors (an anxiolytic drug) or visual cues of black and white bottom substrates, are also expressed in the wild. In my first experiment, I scrutinized whether reduced social behavior previously shown to occur in the lab for European perch (Perca fluvatilis) in response to oxazepam also occurs within a natural lake subjected to oxazepam. The in situ behavior was measured using high temporal resolution (3 sec) acoustic telemetry. In my second experiment, I assessed if the Atlantic salmon’s (Salmo salar) preference for black bottom substrates (scototaxis) in laboratory assays could be utilized for guiding migrating Atlantic salmon in situ. I show that: i) Oxazepam does not affect the social (association) behavior or the social network structure of perch in natural settings, in contrast to laboratory-based predictions; ii) Atlantic salmon show a preference for black bottom substrates both in laboratory- and natural environments. My study with oxazepam underlines that abiotic environmental factors and collective decision making in-situ, can override the anti-social behavioral effects of oxazepam on perch in a natural Lake. However, there seems to be potential in using laboratory behavioral assays to predict behavior in the wild, given that there is a tendency for migrating salmon to follow black bottom substrates both in laboratory environments and in streams.

The challenges faced by early-stage entrepreneurs are well researched, however, the role played by an entrepreneur’s social capital, social network and incubation in moving the business along the entrepreneurial process, still needs to be better understood. The objective of this study was to show that with successful networking and the use of social capital, the total early-stage entrepreneurial activity rate of South Africa could be increased.A qualitative research design was employed whereby 12 in-depth interviews were conducted. Three themes emerged from the data analyses that are the utilisation of social capital, social networks and incubators in firstly launching and growing ventures.The key findings were, firstly, that incubation should form part of an early stage entrepreneur’s social capital. Secondly, those entrepreneurs benefited from their social capital and incubator in terms of tangible and intangible resources. Finally, the entrepreneurs persevered as a result of the advice, encouragement and validation that they got from their networks. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Previous literature on the social dynamics of network creation in enterprises has drawn a sharp division between the utility of personal and professional networks. This has been particularly marked in social network analysis of born-global SMEs operating in emerging markets and seeking to internationalise. Using the case study of International Housing Solutions (Pty) Ltd (IHS) – a born global SME with both a global and a regional network – this research creates a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what such networks look like, what human factors are key to their operation, and what the relative importance is of the personal and professional drivers of networking.The study employs a mixed-method research design including network mapping and both qualitative and quantitative analysis of questionnaire responses from 35 participants in the IHS network, providing both hard data and rich qualitative insights into the ingredients and processes required for effective networking in such an enterprise.The results provide robust evidence for crossover between professional and personal networking activities; both are equally relevant in enabling the born-global SME to grow networks, increase innovation and enter otherwise impenetrable markets. Though the weighting of networking attributes is marginally different – for personal networks, the key attributes are advice, trust, friendship and communication; for professional networks, knowledge and referrals – in practice, both the personal and the professional are assimilated into a single complex of network activity and cannot be viewed in isolation.The research thus contributes innovative findings to a hitherto under-researched aspect of networking in the born-global SME. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Cette thèse contient trois chapitres principaux qui traitent des questions sur les inégalités horizontales et la pauvreté au Vietnam. Dans le premier chapitre, j'évalue l'efficacité d'un des programmes de réduction de la pauvreté les plus importants au Vietnam dans le cadre de la participation communautaire. Le deuxième chapitre examine si les écarts de revenu par genre et ethnicité existent sur le marché du travail du Vietnam et (le cas échéant) quelle partie des écarts peut s'expliquer par les différences dans les dotations et les rendements sur les dotations. Enfin, j'explore les disparités dans le capital social et le réseau social et le rôle des réseaux sociaux dans la lutte contre les chocs parmi les minorités et la majorité ethniques. / My thesis contains three main chapters which handle the questions about horizontal inequalities and poverty in Vietnam. In the first chapter, I assess the effectiveness of one of the most important poverty reduction program in Vietnam under the community participation perspective. The second chapter examine whether gender and ethnic earning gaps exist in the Vietnam’s labour market and how much of these gaps (if any) could be explained by the differences in endowments and returns to endowments. Lastly, I explore the disparities in social capital and social network and the role of social networks in coping with shocks between ethnic minority and majority.

Spatial and temporal patterns of urban vegetation have been widely studied since the mid-twentieth century, but these studies have focused mainly on northern hemisphere countries, and little research has been conducted in developing countries. Urban vegetation is characterized by the presence of species that are adapted to the particular environmental conditions of cities, and a high diversity of exotic species. This occurs due to a combination of factors: on one hand, it is possible to find wild vegetation (weeds) on abandoned lands or those with little intervention, as well as on walls and buildings. On the other hand, there is also an enormous variety of ornamental and mainly exotic species, which have been cultivated by humans. The processes of species selection performed individually or collectively are a major determinant of the diversity of urban vegetation and flora. Individual decisions relate to private spaces such as residential gardens whose owners manage the vegetation according to their preferences and interests. Collective decisions relate to public spaces, which, by their nature, are subject to the action of multiple stakeholders. At the collective level, decision-making occurs in the context of processes involving local governments, other state agencies, NGOs and various interest groups present in the city. Each of these actors has its own vision on the role of urban vegetation, their preferences and criteria for the selection and management. This study aims to investigate the processes of decision-making responsible for the current composition of the vegetation in public spaces of the Metropolitan Area of Santiago (MAS). Through this research is expected to identify the criteria for the selection of species to be planted in public spaces, the reasons that explain the predominance of certain species, and the difference between parks managed by different public agencies in MAS. The research assumes that the various public and private actors involved in the planting and management of vegetation in public spaces, act guided by criteria and preferences that are finally expressed in the observed patterns of urban vegetation. For this purpose, the conceptual framework of governance is used, understood as the process of decision-making concerning public affairs, which involves multiple agents or interests including government agencies, non-governmental organizations and civil society groups. The overarching objectives of this Thesis are: a) To contribute to the knowledge of interactions between governance system and urban vegetation patterns in metropolitan areas of developing countries, recognizing both social and environmental processes interacting. b) Contribute to urban planning and policies by generating knowledge relevant to decision- making regarding urban vegetation. A robust knowledge of the factors defining the composition and structure of urban vegetation is essential to design effective policies for increasing vegetation cover, with consequent environmental and social benefits.

The master thesis focuses on the virtual social network sites which are concern to be exceptionally actual issue. Moreover the thesis deals with social networks in tourism. The number of various social networks about travelling is high. However, only the community of CouchSurfing (hospitality exchange network) was chosen for the research purposes of the thesis. The research included in the thesis focuses on CouchSurfing because is the greatest hospitality exchange site in these days. It includes user from all over the world and community of Czech users as well. The focal point of the research was also on Czech community only. With the aim of approaching the theme gradually the thesis begins with the theoretical framework. The framework is structured into several chapters which include insight to the social networks and alternative tourism from different perspectives. The social theory, the sociological paradigms, the changes in value-system in the society and the technological development of web 2.0 are discussed in the theoretical part. The aim of the thesis research was to compare two different groups of participants of tourism (mainly young people) - the tourists who are not joining the CouchSurfing community and the tourists who are registered. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were...

The rise of 'information disorder' that undermine Western political principles has become one of the key political concerns in current Europe and United States and led to searching for new solutions how to fight the spread of mis- and dis-information. While the nature of this danger is still subject to much debate, we can already observe a rise of new experts explaining the threat of information war and how to deal with it. This research looks at how this novel problematization of security affects the politics of security expertise. Or, who gains power in this 'battle for truth'? Building on sociological approaches in security studies, this thesis focuses on the Czech Republic as a country that has become very active in the fight against disinformation and analyses the network of actors recognized as providing security expertise on information warfare. Based on social network analysis, the research maps the structure of social relations among actors recognized as experts and points out the empowerment of think-tanks and journalists, who build their expertise by bringing together their social capital, bridging knowledge of Russian politics and the new media environment, and introducing new practices to make the society resilient towards information warfare.

The aim of this study is to describe and compare the personal journeys of minors and adults immigrants into the Swedish society as well as their way into their first jobs. A qualitative approach was used in this study along with six semi-structed interviews, three of the interviewees immigrated to Sweden as minors and the other three as adults. The study’s theoretical framework covers Diaz (1993) seven dimensions of the integration process, which symbolizes a basic and mediated integration. Previous research were used in conjunction with the study's theoretical frame of reference in the section of analysis. The results indicate that the integration among individuals who came to Sweden as minors was easier, for example when it came to getting to their first jobs. However, the introduction of a new culture and society has been a challenge for all the interviewees, each individual learned to deal with it indifferent ways.