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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
21

The role of social networks in the building of physical activity trails in the state of Kansas

Lightner, Joseph S. January 1900 (has links)
Master of Public Health / Department of Kinesiology / Katie M. Heinrich / Background and Purpose: Trails can help increase community physical activity levels but little is known about the role that collaborations play in building a trail. Social network analysis may be a useful tool to examine collaborations among various stakeholders, such as municipal public works, parks and recreation, community organizations, hospitals, local businesses, universities, and schools. The purpose of this project is threefold: a) to identify the number and type of organizations involved in trail building, b) to examine the centrality and density of social networks in the trail building process and c) to determine whether collaborations differ between the three phases of trail building (generation, grant funding and construction). Methods: Thirty-four successful trail project builders funded by the Sunflower Foundation of Kansas participated in an online survey designed to explore collaborations throughout the trail building process. Social network analysis adapted from procedures developed by Wickizer and colleagues (1993) was used to identify key organizations in building trails, to estimate the overall density and centrality of connections between the organizations, and to determine differences in collaborations by project phase. Results: Fifteen different groups (e.g. non-profit community organizations, city parks and recreation department, city public works, schools) were identified as part of the trail building process. Non-profit community organizations were most central to trail building during all three phases (generation (.36) grant writing (.38), and construction (.41)). All three phases of trail building were only weakly connected as indicated by density of social network scores measured during the generation (5.7%), grant writing (6.2%) and construction phases (7.5%). Centrality of social networks was high for all three phases of the trail building process, the generation phase (0.32) the grant writing phase (0.27) and the construction phase (0.36). Conclusions: This exploratory analysis suggests Social Network Analysis may be a useful tool to study organizations that collaborate to build trails for physical activity. During the distinct phases of trail-building, the role of collaborations changed. Some organizations were more important in the planning phase, grant writing or construction, while others (e.g. non-profit community organizations) were important throughout the entire process. Additionally, the density of social network increased as the trail projects progressed. The relationships between organizations were often weak but provided a flow of necessary information and skills to successfully build a trail. Future research should attempt to understand these time-dependent collaborations and encourage them in future trail and other built environment projects that support physical activity.
22

The importance of social network relationships during the socialisation process of new employees

Paul, Divya Rebecca 17 May 2011 (has links)
Organisation socialisation is the process by which an individual acquires the attitudes, behaviour, and knowledge she or he needs to participate as an organisation member (Van Maanen & Schein, 1979). During socialisation, organisations seek to mould new employees to fit its needs and employees attempt to define acceptable work roles for themselves within the organisation (Fisher, 1986). Several scholars believe that an important way in which socialisation occurs is through social interactions between newcomers and „insiders‟ or more experienced members of their organisation (Feldman, 1981; Louis, 1990; Reichers, 1987). Relationships might be important, but little is known about the types of relationship patterns that are most conducive to effective socialisation (Morrison, 2002). This research will view the socialisation process from the perspective of social network structure and examine the effect of the relationships on socialisation outcomes.
23

The integration of immigrant youth in friendship networks and school communities

Reynolds, Andrew January 2016 (has links)
Thesis advisor: Thomas M. Crea / The ability of school communities to develop successful integration strategies for youth from immigrant communities is of pressing concern. The goal of this dissertation is to explore how immigrant youth interact with their peers in friendship networks and school communities in order to inform efforts to promote the successful integration of immigrant youth in US schools. Data from the 1994-1995 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) are used in three separate studies to examine processes of integration. First, the integration of immigrant youth is analyzed at dyadic, network, and school institution levels. Second, exponential random graph modeling (ERGM) is used to examine how immigrant generation plays a role in friendship formation in 63 US schools. Third, cross-sectional ERGM and longitudinal stochastic actor-based models (SABM) are developed to examine how race, immigrant generation, spoken language, and social network processes give rise to youth friendship networks in one US school. Key findings are as follows: first, youth from immigrant families overall are successfully integrating into school friendship networks and communities. First-generation youth are located only slightly on the margins while second-generation youth are located in positions of social advantage. Second, school contexts change the nature of friendship decision-making. Immigrant youth in more diverse schools are more likely to integrate through cross-group friendships, providing evidence for contact theory of intergroup relations. Third, while immigrant generation and spoken language emerge as salient predictors of friendship formation, other factors such as grade level, race and ethnicity, as well as social network processes remain the primary drivers of friendship formation. In the final chapter, an applied theory of immigrant integration in school settings grounded in theories of social structure is proposed. Together, the findings of this research will inform efforts to better serve culturally and linguistically diverse youth in American schools and aim to help promote the integration of youth from immigrant communities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.
24

Effects of Social Identity, Network Connectivity, and Prior Performance on Career Progression and Resilience: A Study of NCAA Basketball Coaches

Halgin, Daniel January 2009 (has links)
Thesis advisor: Stephen P. Borgatti / This study was an investigation of the effects of social identity on career progression and career resilience. Particular attention was given to the predictive impact of social identity of membership in an identifiable professional sub-grouping. Using NCAA basketball coaches as an empirical setting, quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to predict the status of next employer for job seekers who voluntarily changed jobs (n = 282), and the employability resilience of job seekers who were fired (n = 151). Job seekers with the social identity of membership in an identifiable professional sub-grouping (in this empirical setting, defined as membership in a coaching family or coaching tree) were hired for positions with employers of higher status, and exhibited greater employability resilience than was the case for job seekers without such a social identity. Because membership in an identifiable professional sub-grouping signals concise information about the social identity of an individual above and beyond prior performance, network connectivity and status affiliations, it is theorized that individuals with such a social identity are more easily understood, more predictable, and are therefore more valuable in the labor market. Additional career benefits are accrued by individuals who claim their ascribed identity, and by individuals who have social identities characterized as relational actors. Recommendations for future research on social identity of membership in an identifiable professional sub-grouping are offered. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Organization Studies.
25

Parsing the Palate: A Mixed Methods Analysis of the U.S. Food Advocacy Network

Friesen, Matthew 14 January 2015 (has links)
The U.S. food system is afflicted by a variety of social, ecological, and economic predicaments including hunger, food access inequalities, soil and water degradation, and lack of community control over food. Scholars and activists agree that in order for U.S. food movement actors to affect significant system-wide change, players must bridge a multitude of issue areas and ideological differences. Despite thorough analyses of local and regional food systems, little research has been conducted on either national level advocacy perspectives or the ties that bind and divide food advocacy coalitions. This dissertation's central research question examines how the U.S food advocacy movement works to resist the hegemonic domination of the national food system by state and corporate actors. To answer this question, this project develops a social network analysis of 71 national-level food advocacy actors, compiles web-based issue and tax data, and conducts 36 semi-structured interviews with senior food activist staff. Social movement literature and Antonio Gramsci's concepts of counter-hegemonic movements and wars of position inform the findings and reveal the national food movement's nascent propensity to unite cultural and class struggles to create significant pressure for systematic change in the U.S. food system. Additionally, this research tests existing theoretical work related to the food advocacy network and distinctions between interest group and social movement type organizations. This dissertation reveals that despite most activists' conviction that a constellation of agri-business and state policies dominate the U.S. food system, significant network rifts, framing dilemmas, strategic conflicts, and resource complexities prevent national food activists from generating a robust challenge to hegemonic food system actors.
26

Automating group-based privacy control in social networks

Jones, Simon January 2012 (has links)
Users of social networking services such as Facebook often want to manage the sharing of information and content with different groups of people based on their differing relationships. The growing popularity of such services has meant that users are increasingly faced with the copresence of different groups associated with different aspects of their lives, within their network of contacts. However, few users are utilising the group-based privacy controls provided to them by the SNS provider. In this thesis we examine the reasons behind the lack of use of group-based privacy controls, finding that it can be largely attributed to the significant burden associated with group configuration. We aim to overcome this burden by developing automated mechanisms to assist users with many aspects of group-based privacy control, including initial group configuration, labeling, adjustment and selection of groups for sharing privacy sensitive content. We use a mixed methods approach in order to understand: how automated mechanisms should be designed in order to support users with their privacy control, how well these mechanisms can be expected to work, what the limitations are, and how such mechanisms affect users’ experiences with social networking services and content sharing. Our results reveal the criteria that SNS users employ in order to configure their groups for privacy control and illustrate that off-the-shelf algorithms and techniques which are analogous to these criteria can be used to support users. We show that structural network clustering algorithms provide benefits for initial group configuration and that clustering threshold adjustments and detection of hubs and outliers with the network are necessary for group adjustment. We demonstrate that public profile data can be extracted from the network in order to help users to comprehend their groups, and that contextual information relating to context, contacts, and content can be used to make recommendations about which groups might be useful for disclosure in a given situation. We also show that all of these mechanisms can be used to significantly reduce the burden of privacy control and that users react positively to such features.
27

FUEL OR FIZZLE: THE ROLE OF COLLABORATION NETWORK CENTRALITY ON TEACHER BURNOUT

Brewer, Meredith Jane 01 January 2018 (has links)
Professional burnout refers to the development of negative emotions, cynical thoughts, and physical and mental exhaustion as a response to stressors associated with one’s career. Within the teaching profession, professional burnout has been associated with an increase in teacher attrition. In an effort to promote a positive school environment where teachers feel supported and committed to the profession, many administrators have implemented structured collaborative opportunities within their buildings. While personal relationships within the school network can provide a mitigating effect against professional burnout, the possibility exists that teacher leaders can be overcentralized and negatively impacted by the maintained relationships. By potentially forcing centralization on critical team members and emphasizing them as the “go-to” person for collaboration, schools may be inadvertently putting their best at risk for burnout. Using a mixed-methods design, the following study investigates the perceived benefits and constraints of centrality within the school network on reported burnout. The social networks at four elementary schools were analyzed to determine the level of connectivity for each certified staff member. Participants were asked to identify the colleagues with whom they collaborate. Using Social Network Analysis, the level of centrality (as measured by number of network connections both received and directed) was calculated for each participant based on number of network ties both received and directed. Centrality scores were included with previously identified variables associated with teacher burnout including level of perceived stress, perception of school environment, principal support, and other demographic data in a series of hypothesis tests to assess the relationship between network connectivity and reported burnout. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with a selection of participants to further explore the impact of network connections on participant burnout. The results of this exploratory study found that not all collegial relationships are beneficial. A significant positive relationship between number of collaborative ties directed toward a teacher and their depersonalization score on the Maslach Burnout Inventory was identified, indicating that individuals who are frequently identified as a collaborator report higher burnout. The findings from this study produce a unique perspective on collaboration within the school network. As has been reported previously, level of connectivity within the school network as measured by the number of teachers one can identify as collaborators appears to mitigate (or not significantly increase) a teacher’s risk of professional burnout. However, being identified as a collaborator by a large number of teachers (in-degree) significantly increases one’s risk for depersonalization behaviors.
28

Distribution and Evolution of Actors’ Roles in Knowledge Transfer in Innovation Networks

He, Yuqing 13 November 2019 (has links)
Collaborative innovation is an important mechanism for firms to exchange and acquire external knowledge. Through collaboration, innovators convene and form networks that, in return, help overcome the boundaries of knowledge transfer. To have a better understanding of actors’ collaborating behaviours in innovation networks, we identify three pairs of roles: 1) do actors make connections or bonds with their partners? 2) do actors exchange their knowledge with internal or external partners? 3) do actors absorb or distribute knowledge? We examine the distribution and evolution of actors’ roles from these three perspectives by using social network analysis. In this thesis, we use thousands of patent data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, to investigate the actors’ behaviours in the chemical industries of two Canadian regions, i.e. Montreal and Windsor-Sarnia. Based on the results of our analysis, Montreal, acting as a public-dominated region, shows a more complex distribution of roles, while Windsor-Sarnia with a private orientation indicates a simplex pattern. From the evolution perspective, the network of Montreal is more stable and diversified, with key actors being active in the local network for more extended periods. Unlike Montreal, Windsor-Sarnia faces a higher level of mobility and globalization.
29

Discovering Teachers' Knowledge Map from the Web

Chen, Chun-Chang 06 August 2001 (has links)
Abstract It likes a knowledge ¡§Yellow Pages ¡¨, knowledge map, indicates where is knowledge and how to get it, but doesn¡¦t contain knowledge. The principal purpose of a knowledge map is showing domain expert when someone need expertise. The resources of teachers¡¦ knowledge map, teachers¡¦ professional information, are fragmented by geographic condition. The map is piece not complete one. As rapid development of Internet, the rich webs contents provide a new way to build global teachers¡¦ knowledge map. The goal of this research is constructing¡yTeachers¡¦ Knowledge Map¡zfor sufficient knowledge sharing environment by collecting teachers¡¦ relative information from the web pages automatically and integrating plentiful Internet resource. There are four main purposes of this research, include (1) getting teachers¡¦ vita from web gages. (2) using teachers¡¦ personal vita and others webs¡¦ resources to construct teacher¡¦s professional specialty, and indicate research issues of teachers. (3) reflecting teachers¡¦ social network by web pages to show social information of individual teacher or group. Teachers¡¦ social network can provide information of how to get the expertise. (4) integrating prior purposes to create useful teachers¡¦ knowledge map for sufficient knowledge sharing environment.
30

Developing Social Network Analysis System for Virtual Teams in a Professional Virtual Community

Chen, Chun-Hung 04 July 2002 (has links)
Social network analysis is used to find all relationships from the group, dig out the prominent patterns, and observe how information flows between dyads. By social network analysis approaches, users can know how information flows through network ties, how people acquire information and resources, and how cleavages and coalitions operate. In this research, we develop a useful social network analysis system to facilitate teams¡¦ collaboration. The system can draw a social network in ego-centered or whole network layout, and provide information of social network attributes of all users. Both team leaders and general members can make use of it to understand relations and interaction patterns of their team. We also generalize social network attributes to analyze task-based teams at different team development stages for discovering the interaction patterns of different groups in groups¡¦ life cycles. Interaction patterns of members in the team and roles that users play have high influence on a virtual team¡¦s development. With these discoveries, team leaders can obtain concise information about their teams¡¦ performance, and community managers can capture stereotypes of virtual teams in the community. From these evaluation results, we confirm that social network analysis is a useful means to analyze the knowledge activities conducted by virtual teams.

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