Student Number : 0517437P - MA dissertation - Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences - Faculty of Humanities / A significant number of refugees and asylum seekers are living in urban areas in developing countries. In addition to the fact that they receive little assistance from international organizations, host government policies represent obstacles to their livelihoods. Generally, the economic behaviour, reasons for migrating and experiences of female migrants often differ from those of male. This research report examines the impact of gender on social networks and how gender might influence access to income. In contrast to other studies on social networks that focus on the social relationships between individuals and communities located in sending and receiving societies, this study produces greater understanding of urban migrants’ livelihoods by exploring how women use social networks to generate income and contrasting these with those of men. This is rooted in the assumption that women refugees are facing additional challenges to livelihood including their social responsibilities and job stereotyping. To document how gender might influence social networks and access to income, qualitative data collected through semi structured, face-to-face, in-depth interviews among Congolese refugees in Johannesburg was used. Findings reveal that gender does not have impact on the nature of social networks used by Congolese men and women to facilitate their access to income generating activities. However, friendships and social relations among Congolese refugees are based on gender and as a result Congolese refugees may be channelled in gender-dominated occupations. Congolese women are facing specific challenges such as domestic labour and child care that may limit their access to jobs and businesses.

A violência é um fenômeno sócio-histórico que acompanha a trajetória da humanidade, possui diferentes tipos e geralmente é identificada com dificuldade. Suas manifestações são inúmeras e atingem todos os domínios da vida social. Nesse aspecto, observamos a crescente preocupação com a violência escolar. A interação entre escola, família e comunidade, assim como a possibilidade de se estabelecer uma rede social, constitui-se em um fator relevante para a proteção e o desenvolvimento das habilidades sociais na infância e adolescência bem como para a efetiva atenção à violência no contexto escolar. Este estudo teve como objetivo identificar e analisar as redes sociais em torno das escolas de ensino médio pertencentes à rede estadual de Alfenas-MG para o enfrentamento dos casos de violência escolar. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva, exploratória, de abordagem qualitativa. O campo de estudo foi composto por seis escolas urbanas públicas de ensino médio do município de Alfenas-MG e os sujeitos, nove supervisores pedagógicos das referidas escolas. Os instrumentos de coleta de dados foram o Mapa Mínimo da Rede Social Institucional e a entrevista semiestruturada. A análise dos dados ocorreu apoiada no referencial de Análise de Conteúdo, modalidade Temática, identificando os seguintes Núcleos Temáticos: A Escola e a Violência; Enfrentamento da Violência Escolar. O segundo Núcleo Temático teve como subtemas: Ações Internas e A Atuação em Rede. O fenômeno violência é compreendido com dificuldade e vários atos não são percebidos como violentos. As escolas aplicam advertência verbal ou escrita, comunicam pais ou responsáveis e entram em contato com Conselho Tutelar, Guarda Municipal e Promotoria Pública. No que se refere à atuação em rede, Conselho Tutelar, Promotoria Pública, Guarda Municipal, Prefeitura Municipal e universidades surgiram como apoio para o enfrentamento da violência escolar. Constatamos um número reduzido de vínculos e a fragilidade significativa entre aqueles existentes. Observamos a necessidade de estratégias voltadas à orientação de alunos, funcionários, famílias e comunidade para o enfrentamento das violências que ocorrem no âmbito escolar, sendo preciso o fortalecimento das redes sociais. / Violence is a social-historical phenomenon that accompanies the history of mankind, has different types and is generally difficulty to be identified. Its manifestations are numerous and affect all areas of life. In this regard, can be noted the growing concern on school violence. The interaction among school, family and community as well as the possibility of establishing a social network, constitutes a relevant factor in the protection and development of social skills in childhood and adolescence as well as for effective attention to violence in the school context. This study was aimed to identify and analyze social networks around the state high schools in Alfenas-MG in the dealing against cases of school violence. It is a descriptive research, exploratory, with qualitative approach. The field study consisted of six urban public schools in Alfenas-MG and the subjects were nine educational supervisors of those schools. The instruments for data collection were the Minimun Map of the Institutional Social Network and the semi-structured interview. The data analysis was supported in the frame of Content Analysis, Thematic modality, identifying the following Core Themes: The School and The Violence; Fight Against School Violence. The second Core Theme was divided in sub-themes: Internal Actions and Acting in Network. The phenomenon of violence is understood with difficulty and some actions are not perceived as violent. The schools conduct verbal or written warning, communicate the parents or guardians, come in contact with Child Protection Council, the Municipal Guard and the Public Prosecutor. Regarding the action in network, Child Protection Council, Public Prosecutor, Municipal Guard, City Hall and universities have emerged as support for the fight against school violence. Were found a small number of links and the significant weaknesses between those existing. It could be seen the need of strategies for orientation of students, staff, families and communities to confront the violence occurring in schools, requiring the strengthening of social networks.

Introdução - A rede social digital Instagram possui características de plataforma de criação de conteúdo e de meio de comunicação que possibilitaram o surgimento de uma nova classe de usuários chamados de influenciadores digitais. Objetivo - Compreender os efeitos das funcionalidades do Instagram na jornada trilhada por seus participantes desde a criação de perfis até a ascensão à categoria de influenciadores. Métodos - Os canais oficiais de relacionamento do Instagram com seus usuários foram usados para mapear as funcionalidades que formam seu ambiente interativo. A análise das funcionalidades considerou as características de meios de massa cuja tecnologia interativa age como extensão do corpo do usuário na construção de uma máquina midiática, com prática discursiva própria e incentivadora da formação de influenciadores. Resultados - O mapeamento cronológico das construção do ambiente do Instagram permitiu observar a influência dos componentes sociais e de produção de conteúdo na jornada dos usuários. Conclusões - Os primeiros anos do Instagram foram de experimentação e formação da comunidade com os componentes de criação de conteúdo e com a acessibilidade da plataforma, seja por conectar-se a outras redes sociais ou multiplicar os tipos de dispositivos compatíveis. A partir da compra pelo Facebook é possível observar uma tendência em favor de reconhecer o indivíduo antes do coletivo, como o primeiro passo para migrar de uma cultura participativa - que justifica a ideia de comunidade - para uma cultura da conectividade com incentivos para formação de influenciadores digitais. / Since its arrival, Instagram has been providing to mobile users an environment that combines features of content creation, self-expression and social interaction. These technical advances in digital communication enabled the emergence of a new class of users called digital influencers, recognised by their popularity when compared to other users. This research explores the effects introduced by Instagram functionalities on its users journey, from profile creation to digital influencer. Instagram\'s official blogs were used to create a chronological map of its functionalities according their characteristics of interactive mass media in an evolving digital environment.

Orientador: Sandro Caramaschi / Banca: Marco Antonio Corrêa Varella / Banca: Erico Bruno Viana Campos / Resumo: Os aplicativos de relacionamento se tornaram populares e pertencentes ao cotidiano dos indivíduos. Dentre eles, existem aqueles destinados exclusivamente aos desdobramentos amorosos. Apesar de serem utilizados amplamente, pouco se sabe cientificamente sobre seu uso e com isso, pretendeu-se a partir desse trabalho levantar dados a respeito de sua utilização para a seleção de parceiros. Diante disso, o objetivo dessa pesquisa foi verificar a dinâmica amorosa que ocorre por meio de tais aplicativos, as características sociais atribuídas aos seus usuários, quais são as vantagens e desvantagens apontadas pelos participantes em relação ao seu uso, se os usuários estão satisfeito com os desdobramentos, se possuem baixo ou alto conservadorismo sexual e autoestima e quais são as características que procuram em um parceiro considerado ideal para ficar e para casar. Para isso, realizou-se a comparação entre os participantes de ambos os sexos, a fim de verificar se existem diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre homens e mulheres. Para tanto, 210 universitários matriculados em diferentes cursos de uma mesma instituição de ensino participaram da pesquisa respondendo presencialmente a um questionário. Constataram-se diferenças significativas entre os sexos no que diz respeito ao número de pessoas por quem se sentem atraídos em seu círculo social e o número de encontros que concretizaram com os pretendentes virtuais, de modo que a amostra masculina superou numericamente a feminina.... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Relationship applications have become popular and pertaining to individuals' daily lives. Among them, there are those destined exclusively for the unfolding of love. Although widely used, little is known scientifically about its use and with that, it was intended from this work to collect data regarding its use for the selection of partners. Therefore, the objective of this research was to verify the amorous dynamic that occurs through such applications, the social characteristics attributed to its users, what are the advantages and disadvantages pointed out by the participants in relation to their use, if the users are satisfied with the unfolding, whether they have low or high sexual conservatism and self-esteem, and what are the characteristics they are looking for in a partner considered ideal for staying and getting married. For this, the comparison between the participants of both sexes was carried out in order to verify if there are statistically significant differences between men and women. For that, 210 university students enrolled in different courses of the same teaching institution participated in the research, responding face to face to a questionnaire. Significant differences were found between the sexes in terms of the number of people they are attracted to in their social circle and the number of encounters they made with virtual pretenders, so that the male sample surpassed the female numerically. The characteristics that the participants attributed to users... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

During the period 2007-2015 the United Kingdom experienced economic crisis, troubles and insecurity in the labour market, radical welfare reforms, service cuts, declining real income levels and a diminished standard of living for many. Research has consistently shown that the most vulnerable groups in society, such as lone mothers, have been disproportionately adversely affected by these changes. Given that someday there will be another recession, or some other serious socio-economic transformations, there is the need to think seriously about how policy makers might offer meaningful protection and resilience to those who will be affected. One policy maker, for example, has recently commented that: “in this period of austerity, we need to support families, and use the power of their relationships and the networks they create to help strengthen people’s capacity for resilience” (Jon Cruddas, March 2014). However, until now, this rhetoric seems to be operating only at the level of political ideals. There is a distinct lack of both theoretical and empirical substance. This thesis offers a redress. It offers a theoretical framework, grounded in an analysis of social networks, for understanding people’s resilience in face of adverse circumstances. It then applies this framework in an empirical investigation into the social support networks of lone mothers, and examines the role that these networks play in times of recession and austerity. The evidence shows that lone mothers vary in their capacity to cope with and adapt to wider socio-economic change. The findings suggest that this variability is linked to the capacity of the lone mother to create, sustain and mobilise a social support network. Those individuals with strong support networks of family and friends are more likely to be able to obtain resources necessary for daily family life and are more resilient in face of the uncertainties associated with new social environments. Given this, the thesis suggests that one way in which social policy might strengthen the resilience of people and families vulnerable to economic crises is through facilitating their support networks, and proposes ways in which this might be done.

O aumento na disponibilidade de dados referentes a interação entre pessoas online tornou possível o estudo o processo de propagação de informações em redes sociais com volumes de dado antes jamais pensados. Neste trabalho, utilizamos dados do site de micro-blogging Twitter juntamente com conceitos de redes complexas para entender, caracterizar e classificar processos de difusão de informação observados nessa plataforma e em redes sociais em geral. Apresentamos importantes medidas para caracterização de cascatas de informação, bem como algoritmos eficientes para o seu cálculo. Com o auxilio dessas, mostramos que é possível quantificar a influência da rede social no processo de propagação de informação. Em seguida, constatamos que a informação tende a propagar por caminhos mínimos nessa rede. Por fim, mostramos que é possível utilizar apenas a topologia da rede social, sem nenhuma informação semântica, para agrupar tópicos, e que a topologia da rede social é fortemente influenciada pelos assuntos falados nela. Apesar de nosso trabalho possuir como base um único dataset, os métodos e medidas desenvolvidos são gerais e podem ser aplicados a qualquer processo de difusão de informação e a qualquer rede complexa. / The raise in the availability of data regarding interactions between people online has opened new doors to study the process of information diffusion in social networks. In this present work, we make use of the data from the micro-blogging website Twitteralong with complex networks concepts to understand, characterize and classify information diffusion processes observed in this platform and in social networks in general. We present important measures to characterize information cascades and efficient algorithms to calculate them. With the help of these measures, we show that it is possible to quantify the influence of the social network in the process of information diffusion. After that, we show that information does tend to travel along shortest paths on Twitter. Finally, we show that the topology of the social network, without any extra semantic information, can be used to aggregate topics, and that such topology is highly influenced by the topics being discussed on it. Altough we work with only a single dataset, our methods and measures developed are general and can be applied to any process of information diffusion and any complex network.

社會意見在塑造我們購買決策和購買經歷發揮了至關重要的作用。除了正面（或負面）的意見會鼓勵（或打消）我們購買某個產品，我們的意見更傾向於遵循我們的社交圈。社會意見的這些方面對於做出精確產品推薦、準確預測信息流向、及有效營銷活動發布極為重要。 / 在這篇論文中，我們首先研究極性意見對我們的購買決策的影響。同時，我們分析了兩個現實世界中的社會網絡，Flixster 和Epinions 中的消極和積極的意見的信息傳播模式。我們觀察到，否定意見的存在大大降低了表達意見的數量。考慮到這兩種意見的不對稱性，我們提出並擴展了目前最流行的兩個信息傳播模式，獨立分級和線性閾值模型。我們提出的拓展模型提供了一個可處理的影響問題和並能夠提高將來意見的預測精度，超過3%。 / 更進一步，我們研究了社會意見對我們表達產品意見的影響。該問題的假設是多次顯示我們表達的意見並不完全獨立於我們的社交圈，而是通過校準，使之跟社會意見相似。為了理解這一現象，我們為用戶的評分提出了一個新型的模型。該模型中，用戶對項目的評分是由社會輿論、用戶的偏好和項目特點的一個函數。該模型可以提高用戶評分的預測準確率達2%。此外，模型中學習到的參數可展示用戶對社會意見的遵循程度。用戶對社會意見的遵循分析表明，超過76%的用戶傾向於在一定程度上遵循他們好友的意見。平均而言，當社會影響存在的時候，用戶評分更趨於正面。我們還發現，社會的遵循者通常不是信息傳播的第一次參與者。 / Social opinions play a crucial role in shaping both our purchase decisions and our experience. While on one hand, we are encouraged (discouraged) to adopt a product upon hearing the positive (negative) opinions; on the other hand, our opinions tend to conform to our social circle. Both of these aspects of social opinions are important in order to make precise product recommendations, to accurately predict the information flow pathways and to launch efficient viral marketing campaigns. / In this thesis, we first study the impact of polarity of opinions on our purchase decisions. For the same, we analyze the information propagation patterns of the negative and positive opinions on two real world social networks, Flixster and Epinions, and observe that the presence of negative opinions significantly reduces the number of expressed opinions. To account for the asymmetry between the two kinds of opinions, we propose extensions of the two most popular information propagation models, Independent Cascade and Linear Threshold models. The proposed extensions give a tractable influence problem and improve the prediction accuracy of future opinions, by more than 3%. / Next, we study the impact of social opinions on our expressed opinions about the products. The hypothesis is that many times our expressed opinions are not completely independent of our social circle and gets calibrated such that they are similar to the social opinions. In order to understand this phenomenon, we propose a novel formulation for the users ratings where every expressed rating is considered as a function of the social opinion along with the user preference and item characteristics. The proposed method helps in improving the prediction accuracy of users’ rating by more than 2% in presence of social influence. Additionally, the learned model parameters reveal the degree of conformity of users. Detailed analysis of user social conformity show that more than 76% of users tend to conform to their friends to some extent. On an average, user ratings become more positive in presence of the social influence. We also nd that the social conformers are usually not the rst one to participate in an information cascade. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Garg, Priyanka. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-110). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.v / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Contributions --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Organization --- p.4 / Chapter 2 --- Background & Survey --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Network Structure --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Basic Definitions --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Structural Properties of Social Networks --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Network Generators --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2 --- Information Diffusion in Social Networks --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Basic Terminologies --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Principles governing the Decision-Making process --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Information Cascade Models --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Influence Estimation --- p.34 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- Viral Marketing --- p.39 / Chapter 2.2.6 --- Influence vs. Homophily --- p.44 / Chapter 2.2.7 --- Results from Large Scale Empirical Studies --- p.45 / Chapter 3 --- Impact on Product Purchase Decision --- p.47 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.47 / Chapter 3.2 --- Related Work --- p.49 / Chapter 3.3 --- Problem Definition --- p.50 / Chapter 3.4 --- Data and Observations --- p.51 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Data Collection --- p.51 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Observations --- p.52 / Chapter 3.5 --- Polarity-Sensitive Information Flow Model --- p.54 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Social Influence Function --- p.55 / Chapter 3.5.1.1 --- Polarity-Sensitive IC Model --- p.55 / Chapter 3.5.1.2 --- Polarity-Sensitive LT Model (LTPS) --- p.58 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Activation State of Influenced Node --- p.59 / Chapter 3.6 --- Influence Estimation --- p.61 / Chapter 3.7 --- Experiments on Synthetic Data --- p.63 / Chapter 3.7.1 --- IA and WP as Approximation of IC-N --- p.64 / Chapter 3.7.2 --- Quality of the Estimated Parameters --- p.65 / Chapter 3.7.3 --- Prediction Accuracy --- p.66 / Chapter 3.8 --- Experiments on Real Data --- p.69 / Chapter 3.8.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.69 / Chapter 3.8.2 --- Observations --- p.70 / Chapter 3.9 --- Summary --- p.72 / Chapter 4 --- Impact on Posterior Evaluation --- p.73 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.73 / Chapter 4.2 --- Related Work --- p.75 / Chapter 4.3 --- Ratings under social conformity --- p.77 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Problem Definition & Notations --- p.79 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Conformer's Ratings --- p.80 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Parameter Estimation --- p.82 / Chapter 4.4 --- Evaluation --- p.84 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Goodreads Dataset --- p.85 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Prediction Accuracy --- p.87 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Influencers Quality --- p.89 / Chapter 4.5 --- Social Conformity Analysis --- p.91 / Chapter 4.6 --- Summary --- p.96 / Chapter 5 --- Summary & Future Work --- p.97 / Chapter 5.1 --- Summary --- p.97 / Chapter 5.2 --- Future Work --- p.98 / Bibliography --- p.100

Shea Ling Yu, Kitty. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-70). / Abstracts in English and Chinese; questionnaire in Chinese.

by Pui-hing Wong. / Thesis (M.S.W.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-122). / Questionnaire also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.ii-iii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.v -vii / CHAPTER / Chapter 1 --- INTRODUCTION / The Research Problem --- p.1 / Research Objectives --- p.4 / Research Methodology --- p.4 / Significance Of The Research --- p.4 / Organisation Of The Thesis --- p.5 / Chapter 2 --- LITERATURE REVIEW / Introduction --- p.6 / Migration And Its Impacts --- p.6 / A Simple Concept Of Migration --- p.6 / A Concept Based On Uprooting --- p.7 / Female Immigrants --- p.9 / Their Adjustment Problems --- p.9 / Their Health Conditions --- p.11 / The Importance Of Social Support --- p.11 / The Chinese Female Immigrants In Hong Kong --- p.13 / Concept Of Social Support --- p.16 / Definition --- p.17 / Measurement --- p.19 / Its Relationship With Health --- p.23 / Concept Of Health --- p.26 / Summary --- p.28 / Chapter 3 --- CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK / Introduction --- p.29 / Delineation Of The Role of Social Support --- p.30 / Social Network --- p.31 / Support System --- p.32 / Research Questions --- p.34 / Operational Definitions --- p.35 / Summary --- p.37 / Chapter 4 --- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY / Introduction --- p.38 / Design --- p.38 / Sampling --- p.38 / Procedure --- p.40 / Instrument Used --- p.40 / Scale Measuring The Social Network --- p.40 / Scale Measuring Health --- p.42 / Analysis --- p.43 / Summary --- p.44 / Chapter 5 --- RESULTS / Analysis --- p.45 / Discussion --- p.59 / Chapter 6 --- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS / Summary --- p.83 / Implications Of The Study --- p.84 / Directions For Further Research --- p.86 / APPENDICES --- p.88 / Appendix I: The Questionnaire --- p.88 / Appendix II: The English Version of The Questionnaire --- p.101 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.117

Banca: Caroline Kraus Luvizotto / Banca: Wilton Garcia Sobrinho / Resumo: As imagens fotográficas presentes nos meios de comunicação e, em especial, nas redes sociais, como o aplicativo Instagram, estão presentes nas relações sociais dos indivíduos de forma cada vez mais intensa e extensa. Isso se deve às transformações decorrentes do desenvolvimento tecnológico que têm facilitado o acesso e proporcionado mudanças nas interações entre indivíduo e sociedade. Nessa perspectiva, a proposta deste trabalho foi uma analise do Instagram para dar visibilidade a pessoas transexuais por meio da fotografia no aplicativo. Assim, através da observação analítica de três perfis, estudamos as dinâmicas de percepção, identificação e interpretação das imagens fotográficas veiculadas na internet por parte de enunciadores trans, que se manifestam e afirmam sua identidade como homens e mulheres transexuais, ou mesmo como pessoas que não se identificam com nenhum dos gêneros. Analisamos como a fotografia é representada e qual sua importância para dar visibilidade para esses indivíduos no contexto que estão inseridos, quais expressões e significado que passaram ao registrar momentos de sua vida pessoal. Na sociedade hodierna, as redes sociais tornaram-se mecanismo de influência para os indivíduos consumirem e interagirem no espaço virtual / Abstract: The photographic images found in the media, especially in social networks, such as Instagram, are increasingly taking a more significant part in people's social relations. One can attribute this phenomenon to the transformation resulted from technological developments that have facilitated access and led to changes in the interactions between individuals and society. In this perspective, the purpose of this work is to analyze the importance of Instagram in giving visibility to transgender people. Through analytical observation of three Instagram profiles, the perception dynamics, identification and interpretation of pictures presented within this social media will be discussed. The focus will be placed in images posted by individuals who manifest themselves as transgender man or women, as well as those who do not identify themselves with either gender. This work will analyze how these pictures are represented, the role they play in making these individuals visible and what expressions and meaning they portray when recording moments of their personal life. In today's society social networks have become a mechanism of influence for individuals to consume and interact within a virtual space / Mestre