<p>In this thesis four empirical studies dealt with children with profound multiple disabilities and their parents with regard to: (a) how parents perceived interaction with their children (b) how observed child/parent interaction was linked to behavior style of the children as perceived by the parents (c) how parents of children with profound multiple disabilities perceived child/parent interaction and behavior style of their children in comparison to parents to children without disabilities matched for communicative ability and age respectively, and, (d) how social networks and family accommodations were linked to child/parent interaction and child behavior style over time for these families according to parental appraisals. The results in study I showed that child/parent interaction occurred through out the day and constituted of mutual experience and joy. There were two processes in interaction: monitoring interaction and successful interaction. Study II found hypo- and hyper dominated behaviour style of the children to influence interaction differently. The parents were found to be experts on their children in monitoring interaction to achieve more frequent periods of successful interaction. Study III found few differences in wishes about ideal interaction between parents of children with profound multiple disabilities and parents of typically developing children. Study IV showed that the children were communicative dependent on their parents; there were few complete overlaps between the children’s and the family’s social networks; and although family accommodations were child-driven, sustainability of family life evolved around other factors. There was a “contradiction” in results for the whole thesis: child/parent interaction occurred through out ordinary everyday life and constituted of mutual experience and joy versus the children’s communicative dependency and the distance found between social networks of families and children and child/parent interaction.</p>

<p>This paper’s chief focus lays in essence, in the examination of what the eventual relevance of the internet has for refugee youth in Sweden, regarding the realisation of a sense of community and participation therein. Rather than acquiring grounds with which to make generalisations feasible, it is an approach towards attaining a better comprehension in understanding the significance of a youth’s views and perceptions, through which ultimately also their internalisation, of the internet as a medium towards eventual capitalisation of the cybersocial potential. However, by ‘sense of community’, this primarily refers to interactional and relational aspects, rather than on premises of eventual membership within forums that may in turn prove to be ’dormant’.</p>

<p>In the past decades technology has changed the way people interact. With the introduction of theInternet, new forms of communication have been developing and changing the ways peoplerelate and create relationships. These new forms of communication provide the users thepossibility to elude time and geographical constraints, therefore allowing them to always beconnected. In recent years new Internet applications known as Social Networking Sites havegained popularity and gained users from all around the globe. They have become an importantplatform to maintain existing relationships, but also to create new ones.This growing interest of people in social networking sites has developed a need, from differenttypes of companies, to create strategies to be noticed in these networks. However, most of, thefew, literature that can be found, is related to how globally known companies’ use these tools,and which benefits and constraints they have found on using them for the organization (van Zyl,2009); and little or no literature can be found on how an entrepreneur uses SNSs for companydevelopment and resource acquisition. In other words, there is a research gap in the literature forunderstanding how entrepreneurs shape their networks in order to gather important resources thatcan help them create, improve and develop their venture. The purpose of this study is to analyzehow entrepreneurs use electronic social networks, as a tool to find acquaintances, create businessrelationships and manage these relationships over time to gain social capital and shape aneffective business-network that can complement or expand their ‘real world’ networks. Based onprevious research and literature three main areas of study, that could be related to traditionalnetworks, were determined: network structure, strength of ties, and development of rapport. Fromthese elements a conceptual framework was developed, on which a comparison of the conceptsfrom traditional networks to electronic was made.Through the use of a qualitative research design and a processual analysis approach, ten semistructuredinterviews were conducted with entrepreneurs who use social networking sites fortheir business, and who could present and identify advantages and disadvantages of using thesesites as a business tool. The data was analyzed through a grounded theory method, where axialcodes were further collapsed or expanded to generate sub- categories and categories that wouldhelp explain the processes being studied. These data, as a result of the analysis, rendered twomodels of understanding; the first one presenting how both networking processes (Face to Faceand Electronic) interrelate with one another to enhance the overall network management, and thesecond suggesting an on-line networking process which can help enable rapport and enhanceinformation flows within an on-line network.</p>

<p>The cereal couture company, <em>[me] & goji, </em>is the dream of three young entrepreneurs. They were the first online company ever to provide the U.S market with customized cereal mix. This case study finds that online companies with an innovative product such as <em>[me] & goji</em> may benefit from using Social Networks as a marketing channel to communicate their Value Proposition. Supported by Roger's Adoption theory, selected theories on, Value Proposition, Social Networks, and qualitative data gathered from, interviews and surveys several findings were made. The conclusion is that despite offering a relatively non complex product, with a high relative advantage the market may have difficulties with recognizing the value of the product. This is mainly due to the fact that products sold online cannot be tried by the customer until after purchase. This may be perceived as an uncertainty factor for some customers. The main benefit with viral marketing tools such as Social Networks is that they may increase the rate of the market adopting new products.</p>

A theoretical argument is presented to suggest that engineering curriculum be designed to develop social capital. Additionally, the value of social capital in the retention of students in the College of Engineering, and the development, role, and value of social capital in an electrical engineering laboratory is evaluated. Data collected includes participant observations, informal and formal student interviews, and a researcher-designed survey. Social capital consists of interaction among individuals (networks), social rules that encourage interactions such as trust and reciprocity (norms), and the value of these networks and norms to the individual and the group. A large body of evidence suggests that social capital is valuable in terms of retention and multiple measures of academic achievement. The importance of social capital in retention was verified by students that have left engineering and those that remain, in terms of interactions with peers, teaching assistants, and engineering faculty; and a lack of sense of community in freshman engineering courses. Students that have left engineering differed in their perceptions of social capital from those that remain in their frustrations with teaching methods that encourage little discussion or opportunities to ask questions about assumptions or approaches. The open-ended nature of laboratory assignments, extensive required troubleshooting, and lack of specific directions from the teaching assistants were found to encourage the development of social capital in the laboratory setting. Degree centrality, a network measure of social capital as the number of ties an individual has within a social network, was found to be positively correlated with laboratory grade. Student perceptions of the importance of interactions with other students on success in the laboratory setting has a negative model effect on academic achievement in the laboratory. In contrast, student perceptions of the quality of interactions with teaching assistants has a positive effect on measures of academic achievement. The results suggest that social capital is more important to some students than others in terms of retention and academic achievement. Recommendations are made to identify students requiring social capital to be successful, and to provide opportunities for these students to develop social capital. / Graduation date: 2005

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Eichstätt. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-233).

This research addresses the question of what factors lead Mexican-origin individuals living in the U.S. to seek a new residence outside their Southwestern state of residence. The analysis examines three hypotheses: (1) the human capital hypothesis that college graduates have higher odds of migrating out of the core region than those with less than a high school education; (2) the household social capital hypothesis that posits that the presence of a household member born outside the core increases the odds of migration; and (3) the community social capital hypothesis which states that householders residing in an area with community social capital will have higher odds of leaving the core than those living in areas with no community social capital. These hypotheses are investigated using three models: (1) a full model that includes both native- and foreign-born Mexican-origin householders; (2) a native-born model which includes only native-born Southwest householders; and (3) a foreign-born models that includes only foreign-born Mexican-origin householders. By using the Saenzian region-concepts of core, periphery, and frontier, I find: (1) limited support for the human capital hypothesis; (2) consistent support for the household social capital; and (3) no support for the community social capital. The analysis is important to sociological theory and demography because it specifically endeavors to explain how the connections between three kinds of capital?human, household, and community?shape the decision to leave the Southwest for other regions of the country. By computing statistical and theoretical particulars, the thesis ascertains that migration-selectivity theories regarding the general population are useful in theorizing Mexican-origin interregional migration. Findings expand existing sociological literature by theorizing how human, household, and community capital operate under the Saenzian regions to shape the interregional migration of the growing Mexican-origin population of the U.S.

Seit dem Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion kamen in diesem Raum neue Migrationsprozesse wie die Arbeitsmigration zwischen den südlichen GUS-Republiken und Russland, aber auch grenzüberschreitende Bevölkerungsbewegungen ethnischer Gruppen in ihre „historischen Herkunftsgebiete“ auf. Die in der vorliegenden Arbeit untersuchten, dynamischen Wanderungsprozesse von Kasachen zwischen der Mongolei und Kasachstan weisen Kennzeichen dieses Migrationstypus, aber auch einige Besonderheiten auf. Die vorliegende Arbeit hat längere Forschungsaufenthalte in Kasachstan und der Mongolei von 2006 bis 2009 zur Grundlage. Aus der Mongolei stammende kasachische Migranten im Umland von Almaty und Kasachen im westlichsten aymag der Mongolei, Bayan-Ölgiy, wurden mittels quantitativer und qualitativer Methoden empirischer Sozialforschung befragt. Ergänzend wurden in beiden Staaten Befragungen von Experten aus gesellschaftlichen, wissenschaftlichen und politischen Institutionen durchgeführt, um eine möglichst ausgeglichene Sicht auf die postsowjetischen Migrations- und Inkorporationsprozesse zwischen beiden Staaten sicherzustellen. Zwischen den Migranten in Kasachstan und ihren – noch bzw. wieder – in der Mongolei lebenden Verwandten haben sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten enge soziale Netzwerke entwickelt. Die Aufrechterhaltung der Bindungen wird durch eine Verbesserung der Transport- und Kommunikationsmöglichkeiten zwischen beiden Staaten gefördert. Zirkuläre Migrationsmuster, regelmäßige Besuche und Telefongespräche sowie grenzüberschreitende sozioökonomische Unterstützungsmechanismen haben sich insbesondere in den vergangenen Jahren intensiviert. Diese Interaktionen sind im Kontext der rechtlichen, politischen und wirtschaftlichen Bedingungen im Migrationssystem Mongolei-Kasachstan – und insbesondere in Wechselwirkung mit der staat¬lichen Migrations- und Inkorpora-tionspolitik – einzuordnen. Die Erkenntnisse der vorliegenden Untersuchung lassen sich in aller Kürze so zusammenfassen: (I) Die in sozialen Netzwerken organisierten Interaktionen der Kasachen aus der Mongolei weisen Merkmale von, aber auch Unterschiede zu Konzepten des Transnationalismus-Ansatzes auf. (II) Die sozialen Bindungen zwischen Verwandten generieren Sozialkapital und tragen zur alltäglichen Unterstützung bei. (III) Die lokalen und grenzüberschreitenden Aktivitäten der Migranten sind als Strategien der sozioökonomischen Eingliederung zu deuten. (IV) Ein wesentlicher Teil der aus der Mongolei stammenden Kasachen artikuliert von der Mehrheitsbevölkerung abweichende, hybride Identifikationsmuster, die die politischen Eliten in Kasachstan bisher zu wenig wahrnehmen. / Since the collapse of the USSR new migration processes such as labour migration between the southern republics of CIS and Russia, and transborder mobility of ethnic groups to their „regions of historical provenance“ emerged on its territory. The dynamic migration processes of ethnic Kazakhs between Mongolia and Kazakhstan analyzed here shows features of the latter type of migration, but also some specific characters. The present dissertation is based on sustained fieldwork carried out in Kazakhstan and Mongolia from 2006 to 2009. Surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted among Mongolian-Kazakh migrants in the environs of Almaty and Kazakhs in Mongolia’s westernmost aymag Bayan-Ölgiy. Additional interviews were held among experts from public, scientific and political institutions to ensure a balanced view on the post-soviet migration and incorporation processes. In the last two decades dense social networks developed between Mongolian-Kazakh migrants in Kazakhstan and their relatives – still or again – living in Mongolia. These networks were perpetuated by the improvement of transportation and communication links connecting both states. Circular migration patterns, regular visits and phone calls as mechanisms of transborder socioeconomic support have intensified during the last years. This interaction has to be classified in the context of legal, political and economical conditions, and, especially, in interdependency with the migration and incorporation policies of the state. The insight of the present analysis can be summarized in short in the following way: (I) The transborder interaction of the Mongolian Kazakhs, which is organized in social networks, is characterized by features of, but in the same way differs from concepts of transnationalism theory. (II) The social relations among Mongolian-Kazakh relatives generate social capital and contribute to everyday support. (III) The local and transborder activities of the Mongolian Kazakhs are to be explained as strategies of socioeconomic incorporation. (IV) A significant part of Mongolian Kazakhs articulate hybrid identification patterns that differ from the majority population and that are yet insufficiently perceived by the political elites in Kazakhstan.

Alma mater matters: The value of school ties in the venture capital industry. This paper examines the role and estimates the economic value of social networks tied to academic institutions in the venture capital industry. I show that having a shared academic background increases the likelihood of matching between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists by 57%. Similarly, a shared academic background increases the likelihood of matching between different venture capitalists by 42% when they syndicate portfolio company investments. Finally, a shared academic background improves portfolio company performance. For example, when an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist attended the same Top 3 academic institution, the likelihood that the investment will result in an initial public offering or acquisition increases by 42%. This is the incremental effect of having attended the same Top 3 academic institution. Taken together, these results provide strong evidence that shared academic backgrounds help reduce information gaps in the venture capital industry. Unveiling the secrets of the academy: Alumni networks and university endowment success. This paper shows that when university endowments become limited partners with venture capital firms, the performance of their connected portfolio companies improve relative to non-connected ones. Portfolio companies are connected when any of their entrepreneurs attended the corresponding universities for undergraduateor graduate studies. In a differences-in-differences design I compare initial public offering rates between connected- and non-connected venture capital investments in a treated- and an untreated cohort and estimate this effect to be 6%. Since the unconditional sample mean of initial public offerings is 10%, this is commensurate to a 60% increase in the unconditional initial public offering probability. This effect consists of two separate and potentially different effects, however. First, the effect of obtain a new university endowment as a limited partner, second, the effect of losing an already existing university endowment as a limited partner. Further analysis shows that the main effect is mostly driven by the latter. These results continue to hold in a rich set of robustness checks. Goldrush Dynamics of Private Equity. We present a simple dynamic model of entry and exit in a private equity market with heterogeneous fund managers, a depletable stock of target companies, and learning about investment profitability. Its predictions match a number of stylized facts: Aggregate fund activity follows waves with endogenous transitions from booms to busts. Supply and demand in the private equity market are inelastic, and the supply comoves with investment valuations. High industry performance precedes high entry, which in turn precedes low industry performance. Differences in fund performance are persistent, firsttime funds underperform the industry, and the first-time funds that are raised in boom periods are unlikely to be succeeded by follow-on funds. Fund performance and fund size are positively correlated across private equity firms, but negatively correlated across consecutive funds by the same firm. Finally, boom periods can make ”too much capital chase too few deals”. Ownership Matters: A Clinical Study of Investor Activism. This paper studies the involvement and engagement objectives of an activist investor in an institutional environment characterized by concentrated ownership. It highlights the heterogeneity of the investor’s activism and its focus on operational improvements. It emphasizes the ownership structure of the portfolio companies as important determinants of investor activism. Using a carefully selected set of peer companies, it is possible to show that the investor targets undervalued companies with operational slack that maintain open ownership structures. In particular, by avoiding to invest in companies with other active owners, e.g. families and industrial owners, and seeking to invest in companies with more institutional holdings, the investor ensures that there is not only scope for improvements. There is also a reasonable chance of exercising control. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2010. Sammanfattning jämte 4 uppsatser.</p>

<p>In the thesis, I endeavour to create a platform on which to construct an understanding of &lsquo / integration&rsquo / in a multilingual and multicultural setting, post-apartheid. I have selected UWC as the research site as it is an institution of higher education and an inherently South African one which houses a large number of diverse ethnicities, cultures and languages. I appeal to the poststructuralist approach as it is one that explores the possible sociopolitical, economic and historical influences on which I argue and which forms the backdrop to understanding integration amongst the various groups. I am especially drawn to the topic of integration as there is to date no well-defined definition of what that means in the &lsquo / new&rsquo / South Africa. Different identities are explored in relation to how students identify themselves within their social networks, across various cultures and through language choices. In particular, I look at the three dominant &lsquo / South African&rsquo / groups, namely: Indians, Blacks and Coloureds and also two international student groups, the Batswanas and Chinese. use a qualitative approach and undertake focus groups and one-to-one interviews as well as participant observations and analyzing documentation. Data analysis is achieved through Discourse Analysis of transcribed interviews. One of the conclusions is that integration will not occur overnight. However, the broadening and exercising of linguistic options could be seen as a step in right direction to integration across the various ethnic groups. The study ends with recommendations and gives an overall view of integration at UWC. One of the recommendations is that UWC needs to give students more opportunities to practice their multilinguality and thereby broaden their linguistic repertoire which could in turn facilitate integration.</p>