Purpose: A central ambition and purpose of the the thesis is to shed light on the social capital within the cluster and how it contributes to the creation of networks, in what turned out to be intertwined relationships between micro-foundations and social structures. Methodology/approach: This research paper used qualitative research methods, more specifically 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted and one mini focus group. The thesis had an abductive approach. Findings: Consistent throughout the process of the thesis, there has been a clear connection between social capital and how this affects and contributes to the creation of networks. The micro-foundations such as trust, network, communication, collaboration, and cooperation are thus intertwined with the social structures of the cluster and its development. Thus, the findings of this paper can be of interest for creating a common understanding and providing key insights to several other clusters. Research Delimitations / limitations: Regarding Delimitations, the researchers did choose to limit the study to ICS. The Narrative review was however not been delimited, as the authors studied other cases in clustering. Regarding limitations, there was a certain level of limited access to the respondents, as the researchers tried to reach out to plenty of members, however, there was a low level of response at first. This did however not affect the outcome. Practical implications: Reviewing the literature has led to the conclusion that there is room for improvement regarding social capital in clusters and its effect on networking. Thus, this paper provides implications for clusters all over the world that struggle with the social capital. Originality: The originality of this paper is that it researched an aspect of clustering that is well under-researched in order to shed light on and provide a comprehensive understanding of the social capital and its effect on networking. Thus, the outcome of this paper provides cluster guidance as to the unique value proposition. / Syfte: Mikrofundamenten och sociala strukturer är sammanflätade, är syftet med avhandlingen att belysa det sociala kapitalet inom klustret och hur det bidrar till att skapa nätverk. Metod/tillvägagångssätt: Denna forskningsartikel använde kvalitativa forskningsmetoder, närmare bestämt genomfördes 10 semistrukturerade intervjuer och en minifokusgrupp. Avhandlingen hade ett abduktivt förhållningssätt. Resultat: Genomgående under examensarbetets gång har det funnits ett tydligt samband mellan socialt kapital och hur detta påverkar och bidrar till att skapa nätverk. Mikrogrunderna som tillit, nätverk, kommunikation, samarbete och samarbete är alltså sammanflätade med klustrets sociala strukturer och dess utveckling. Resultaten av denna artikel kan därför vara av intresse för att skapa en gemensam förståelse och ge viktiga insikter till flera andra kluster. Forskningsavgränsningar/begränsningar: När det gäller avgränsningar valde forskarna att begränsa studien till ICS. Den narrativa recensionen var dock inte avgränsad, eftersom författarna studerade andra fall i klustring. När det gäller begränsningar fanns det en viss nivå av begränsad tillgång till respondenterna, eftersom forskarna försökte nå ut till många medlemmar, dock var det låg respons till en början. Detta påverkade dock inte resultatet. Praktiska implikationer: Genomgång av litteraturen har lett till slutsatsen att det finns utrymme för förbättringar när det gäller socialt kapital i kluster och dess effekt på nätverkande. Sålunda ger detta dokument konsekvenser för kluster över hela världen som kämpar med det sociala kapitalet. Originalitet: Denna artikel syftade till att belysa en mindre forskad aspekt av klustring som ämnade delge en heltäckande förståelse för socialt kapitalet och dess effekt på nätverkande. Resultatet av detta dokument också kan funka som vägledning i linje med frågan och de de valda vinklarna.

Knowledge access is crucial for firms, especially those with resource constraints facing the rapid change in technology. This systematic review attempts to provide an understanding on how technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) source external knowledge. With the extant literature pointing to the spatial characteristics as the central theme, I identify four generic conditional dimensions that shape the overall geographical pattern of knowledge sourcing. The industrial knowledge base, the market, the local conditions, and the institutional environment influence from whom and where firms source knowledge. The empirical evidence leads to my contention that the conditional dimensions presented are far from being straightforward. Points of caution that should be incorporated when interpreting general patterns are discussed. The main argument is that further understanding of the geography of knowledge sourcing may start from generic external factors but contextual sensitivity and analytical interpretations are invariably essential. Further research opportunities call for more understanding on a) the relationship between private firms and the institutional environment, b) how an individual firm builds and develops own network, and c) how relational asset and different types of knowledge interact.

This thesis is an attempt to search the relationship between development, innovativeness and networking. In recent regional development debates, regional networks of SMEs and regional knowledge potential have been emphasized as important components of development. In the context of the thesis, inter-regional networks of SMEs are analyzed as an alternative approach to the regionally bounded perspective. It is hypothesized that regional and inter-regional networks complement each other, and both of them play an important role in regional development and innovation processes. The thesis acquires the indicators for the increasing importance of external networks and innovation capacity in the globalisation era. Hence, the study explains the relative importance of spatial proximity in different types of networks, the positive and negative contributions of external networks to regional networks, and the contributions of regional, national and global networks to innovation activities of SMEs. The theoretical framework discussed in this thesis is based on the recent regional development models and contemporary networking and innovation studies. The main findings of this study contribute to this debate by modifying some of assumptions related to networking and innovation activities of SMEs. In the thesis, the method used for research is field survey, realized in three industrial regions. 131 SMEs have been involved in this survey in order to obtain a qualitative data about network and innovation behavior of SMEs in the sample regions.

The concept of proximity is an important aspect of human reasoning. Despite the diversity of applications that require proximity measures, the most intuitive notion is that of spatial nearness. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the underpinnings of the notion of nearness, propose suitable formalisations and apply them to the processing of GIS data. More particularly, this work offers a framework for spatial proximity that supports the development of more intuitive tools for users of geographic data processing applications. Many of the existing spatial reasoning formalisms do not account for proximity at all while others stipulate it by using natural language expressions as symbolic values. Some approaches suggest the association of spatial relations with fuzzy membership grades to be calculated for locations in a map using Euclidean distance. However, distance is not the only factor that influences nearness perception. Hence, previous work suggests that nearness should be defined from a more basic notion of influence area. I argue that this approach is flawed, and that nearness should rather be defined from a new, richer notion of impact area that takes both the nature of an object and the surrounding environment into account. A suitable notion of nearness considers the impact areas of both objects whose degree of nearness is assessed. This is opposed to the common approach of only taking one of both objects, seen as a reference to assess the nearness of the other to it, into consideration. Cognitive findings are incorporated to make the framework more relevant to the users of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with respect to their own spatial cognition. GIS users bring a wealth of knowledge about physical space, particularly geographic space, into the processing of GIS data. This is taken into account by introducing the notion of context. Context represents either an expert in the context field or information from the context field as collated by an expert. In order to evaluate and to show the practical implications of the framework, experiments are conducted on a GIS dataset incorporating expert knowledge from the Touristic Road Travel domain.

The concept of proximity is an important aspect of human reasoning. Despite the diversity of applications that require proximity measures, the most intuitive notion is that of spatial nearness. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the underpinnings of the notion of nearness, propose suitable formalisations and apply them to the processing of GIS data. More particularly, this work offers a framework for spatial proximity that supports the development of more intuitive tools for users of geographic data processing applications. Many of the existing spatial reasoning formalisms do not account for proximity at all while others stipulate it by using natural language expressions as symbolic values. Some approaches suggest the association of spatial relations with fuzzy membership grades to be calculated for locations in a map using Euclidean distance. However, distance is not the only factor that influences nearness perception. Hence, previous work suggests that nearness should be defined from a more basic notion of influence area. I argue that this approach is flawed, and that nearness should rather be defined from a new, richer notion of impact area that takes both the nature of an object and the surrounding environment into account. A suitable notion of nearness considers the impact areas of both objects whose degree of nearness is assessed. This is opposed to the common approach of only taking one of both objects, seen as a reference to assess the nearness of the other to it, into consideration. Cognitive findings are incorporated to make the framework more relevant to the users of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with respect to their own spatial cognition. GIS users bring a wealth of knowledge about physical space, particularly geographic space, into the processing of GIS data. This is taken into account by introducing the notion of context. Context represents either an expert in the context field or information from the context field as collated by an expert. In order to evaluate and to show the practical implications of the framework, experiments are conducted on a GIS dataset incorporating expert knowledge from the Touristic Road Travel domain.

No description available.

No description available.

Cette recherche porte sur le Nevado de Toluca (Mexique), espace protégé où l’objectif de conservation des ressources forestières, tout en étant difficilement atteint, met en question les conditions d’existence des populations rurales. On étudie les dynamiques territoriales qui découlent de ces tensions. La question porte donc essentiellement sur la confrontation entre la conservation forestière telle qu’elle est portée par les autorités publiques d’une part, et d’autre part, les besoins vitaux des populations agricoles affectées par les politiques suivies. L’hypothèse principale est que les politiques de conservation forestière n’atteignent pas les objectifs de gestion fixés parce qu’il n’y a pas une vision globale dépassant les approches sectorielles des institutions en présence, et surtout parce que l’avis des paysans n’est pas assez pris en compte faute d’une connaissance approfondie des sociétés rurales. Pour rétablir cette connaissance, la méthode de recherche a consisté principalement, outre la documentation mobilisée, en de nombreux entretiens avec les habitants de plusieurs localités du Nevado, avec différents acteurs institutionnels et avec des experts forestiers qui participent à la conservation de cet espace protégé. À l’aide du logiciel TXM, ces entretiens ont fait l’objet d’une analyse quali-quantitative de type « textométrique ». Parmi les principaux résultats obtenus, on retiendra notamment le fait que les populations locales ont des représentations sociales très contrastées de leur milieu tout en ayant une pleine conscience des enjeux écologiques. Elles ressentent les restrictions d’usage, en particulier du bois de feu, comme une injustice sociale. Cependant, des configurations socio-spatiales et des dynamiques territoriales originales existent, et dépendent du contexte géographique, en particulier des phénomènes de proximité spatiale et sociale. La cohésion sociale des groupes importe et sera d’autant plus forte que ses membres partagent les mêmes valeurs culturelles, y compris religieuses. On constate également que l’éloignement de la ville produit paradoxalement des dynamiques endogènes d’organisation qui peuvent aussi constituer une base pour une politique de protection intégrée en dépit des contraintes de vie au quotidien. Au total, cette thèse propose une réflexion sur l’arbitrage à faire entre la conservation forestière et les impacts socio-économiques que cela provoque sur les populations rurales les plus démunies et esquisse des pistes de conciliation. Elle invite à penser la justice environnementale comme le fruit de l’innovation sociale. / This research concerns the Nevado de Toluca (Mexico), a protected area where the goal of forest conservation, while being hardly reached, calls into questions the livelihoods of rural populations. Territorial dynamics which ensue from these tensions are examined. The question concerns essentially the confrontation between the forest preservation such as it is carried by the public authorities on one hand, and on the other hand, the vital needs for the agricultural populations affected by the followed policies. The main hypothesis is that policies of forest preservation do not reach the expected results because there is no global vision exceeding the sectorial approaches of institutions in presence, and especially because the opinion of the farmers is not enough taken into account, due to lack of a thorough knowledge of the rural societies. To restore this knowledge, the research method consisted mainly, besides the mobilized documentation, of numerous interviews with the inhabitants of several localities of Nevado, with the various institutional actors and with the forest experts who participate in the preservation of this protected space. Using the TXM software, these interviews were analysed employing a quali-quantitative analysis on the “textometric” type. Among the main obtained results, we shall hold in particular the fact that the local populations have very contrasted social representations of their environment while having a full consciousness of the ecological challenges. They feel the limitations of use, in particular some wood of fire, as a social injustice. However, socio-spatial configurations and original territorial dynamics exist, and depend on the geographical context, in particular the phenomena of spatial and social proximity. The social cohesion of the groups is important and will be all the stronger as his members share the same cultural values, including religious ones. We also notice that the distance of the city produces paradoxically endogenous dynamics of organization which may also be a basis for an integrated protection policy in spite of the constraints of everyday life. All in all, this thesis suggests a reflection around arbitration between the forest preservation and the socioeconomic impacts on the rural poorest population groups. She invites to think of the justice environmental as of the fruit of the social innovation.

Since the seminal work of Fritz Heider and Marienne Simmel (1944) the study of animacy perception, or the perception and attribution of life from the motion of simple geometrical shapes has intrigued researchers. The intrigue for psychologists and vision scientists then and today centered on the stark disconnect between the simplicity of the visual input and the universal richness of the resulting percept. Infant research in this domain has become critical in examining the ontological processes behind the formation of animated percepts. To date, little is known about how infants process these kinds of stimuli. While numerous habituation studies have shown sensitivity to animate motion in general, none to date has examined whether infants actually perceive animate displays as social interactions. The overarching goal of the present thesis is to answer this question and further augment knowledge about the mechanisms behind the formation of animated percepts in infancy. I, along with my collaborators, do so in three ways, in three separate studies. First, we examined visual attention during online observation of randomly moving geometrical shapes in adults and infants (Study I, using eye tracking). Second, we examine distribution of visual attention in infancy during online observation of non-contact causal interactions, focusing on the most ubiquitous, fitness relevant of interactions – chasing (Study II, using eye tracking). Third, we answer the question whether infants perceive social content in chasing displays by measuring the neural correlates in response to chasing (Study III, using EEG). The collective contribution of the present work is also three fold. First, it demonstrates that starting at the end of the first year of life, human visual system is sensitive to cues that efficiently predict an interaction. Second, at 5-months infants begins allocating attention differently across agents within interactions. Finally, attention to specific objects is not due to low-level saliency but the social nature of the interaction. Subsequently, I present the case that perception of social agents is fast, direct, and reflects the workings of a specialized learning mechanisms whose function is the detection of heat-seeking animates in motion.