WorldWideScience

Sample records for network-based social platform

  1. Tensions between Individual Use and Network Adoption of Social Media Platforms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Srinivasan, Nikhil; Damsgaard, Jan

    2013-01-01

    Social media have diffused into the everyday lives of many but still pose challenges to individuals regarding use of these platforms. This paper explores the multiple manners in which social media platforms gets employed by individuals based on an examination of 4 vignettes generated...... by interviewing individuals within a university context. An analysis of the vignettes and individual use behaviors highlights the tension between network-based adoption of social media platforms and the constraints that the network places on individual use of the platform....

  2. Exploring the Peer Interaction Effects on Learning Achievement in a Social Learning Platform Based on Social Network Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Yu-Tzu; Chen, Ming-Puu; Chang, Chia-Hu; Chang, Pu-Chen

    2017-01-01

    The benefits of social learning have been recognized by existing research. To explore knowledge distribution in social learning and its effects on learning achievement, we developed a social learning platform and explored students' behaviors of peer interactions by the proposed algorithms based on social network analysis. An empirical study was…

  3. Technical requirements of a social networking platform for senior citizens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demski, Hans; Hildebrand, Claudia; López Bolós, José; Tiedge, Winfried; Wengel, Stefanie; O Broin, Daire; Palmer, Ross

    2012-01-01

    Feeling an integrative part of a social community adds to the quality of life. Elderly people who find it more difficult to actively join activities are often threatened by isolation. Social networking can enable communication and sharing activities makes it easier to set up and maintain contacts. This paper describes the development of a social networking platform and activities like gaming and exergaming all of which aim to facilitate social interaction. It reports on the particular challenges that need to be addressed when creating a social networking platform specially designed to meet the needs of the elderly.

  4. Knowledge Sharing via Social Networking Platforms in Organizations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kettles, Degan

    2012-01-01

    Knowledge Management Systems have been actively promoted for decades within organizations but have frequently failed to be used. Recently, deployments of enterprise social networking platforms used for knowledge management have become commonplace. These platforms help harness the knowledge of workers by serving as repositories of knowledge as well…

  5. English Writing via a Social Networking Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Wei-Chieh Wayne

    2018-01-01

    This study examined students' perceptions of completing an English writing class via a social networking platform. Participants were 162 aboriginal students between 18 and 23 years of age at a nursing college in southern Taiwan. Different ethnicities were defined and represented by different memberships of indigenous groups or tribes, also known…

  6. Utility-Based Link Recommendation in Social Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhepeng

    2013-01-01

    Link recommendation, which suggests links to connect currently unlinked users, is a key functionality offered by major online social networking platforms. Salient examples of link recommendation include "people you may know"' on Facebook and "who to follow" on Twitter. A social networking platform has two types of stakeholder:…

  7. Leveraging socially networked mobile ICT platforms for the last-mile delivery problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suh, Kyo; Smith, Timothy; Linhoff, Michelle

    2012-09-04

    Increasing numbers of people are managing their social networks on mobile information and communication technology (ICT) platforms. This study materializes these social relationships by leveraging spatial and networked information for sharing excess capacity to reduce the environmental impacts associated with "last-mile" package delivery systems from online purchases, particularly in low population density settings. Alternative package pickup location systems (PLS), such as a kiosk on a public transit platform or in a grocery store, have been suggested as effective strategies for reducing package travel miles and greenhouse gas emissions, compared to current door-to-door delivery models (CDS). However, our results suggest that a pickup location delivery system operating in a suburban setting may actually increase travel miles and emissions. Only once a social network is employed to assist in package pickup (SPLS) are significant reductions in the last-mile delivery distance and carbon emissions observed across both urban and suburban settings. Implications for logistics management's decades-long focus on improving efficiencies of dedicated distribution systems through specialization, as well as for public policy targeting carbon emissions of the transport sector are discussed.

  8. AxeCorp's "Team Challenge": Teaching Teamwork via 3D Social Networking Platforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carmichael, Kendra

    2011-01-01

    To prepare business communication undergraduates for a changing work world and to engage today's tech-savvy students, many instructors have embraced social media by incorporating its use in the classroom. This article describes AxeCorp, a fictional company headquartered on the immersive social networking platform, Second Life, and one particular…

  9. Facebook faith - social networking in a faith based community

    OpenAIRE

    Lundqvist, K O; Lundqvist, Karsten Oster

    2009-01-01

    This paper views the increasing social networking as an efficient emerging ministry to the moveable generation. Through social network such as Facebook, ministry from a pastoral perspective can \\ud become more authentic and meaningful. Ministry is relational. Social Networking sites provide a strong platform to being part in other people’s life. Social networking and living online builds \\ud community beyond geographical boarders. Young adults and youths digital identity often reflects their ...

  10. Professional social networking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowley, Robert D

    2014-12-01

    We review the current state of social communication between healthcare professionals, the role of consumer social networking, and some emerging technologies to address the gaps. In particular, the review covers (1) the current state of loose social networking for continuing medical education (CME) and other broadcast information dissemination; (2) social networking for business promotion; (3) social networking for peer collaboration, including simple communication as well as more robust data-centered collaboration around patient care; and (4) engaging patients on social platforms, including integrating consumer-originated data into the mix of healthcare data. We will see how, as the nature of healthcare delivery moves from the institution-centric way of tradition to a more social and networked ambulatory pattern that we see emerging today, the nature of health IT has also moved from enterprise-centric systems to more socially networked, cloud-based options.

  11. Raging Against the Machine: Network Gatekeeping and Collective Action on Social Media Platforms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah Myers West

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Social media platforms act as networked gatekeepers—by ranking, channeling, promoting, censoring, and deleting content they hold power to facilitate or hinder information flows. One of the mechanisms they use is content moderation, or the enforcement of which content is allowed or disallowed on the platform. Though content moderation relies on users’ labor to identify content to delete, users have little capacity to influence content policies or enforcement. Despite this, some social media users are turning to collective action campaigns, redirecting information flows by subverting the activities of moderators, raising the visibility of otherwise hidden moderation practices, and organizing constituencies in opposition to content policies. Drawing on the example of the campaign to change Facebook’s nudity policy, this paper examines the strategies and tactics of users turning to collective action, considering which factors are most influential in determining the success or failure of a campaign. It finds that network gatekeeping salience is a good model for assessing which collective action efforts are most likely to be effective in achieving individual user goals. This indicates that the users who are already most able to harness the attention economy of social media platforms are more likely to successfully navigate the content moderation process. The analysis concludes by attending to what users might learn from the dynamics of network gatekeeping as they seek to resist the asymmetrical power relations of platforms.

  12. The Social Network Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bunus, Peter

    Online social networking is an important part in the everyday life of college students. Despite the increasing popularity of online social networking among students and faculty members, its educational benefits are largely untested. This paper presents our experience in using social networking applications and video content distribution websites as a complement of traditional classroom education. In particular, the solution has been based on effective adaptation, extension and integration of Facebook, Twitter, Blogger YouTube and iTunes services for delivering educational material to students on mobile platforms like iPods and 3 rd generation mobile phones. The goals of the proposed educational platform, described in this paper, are to make the learning experience more engaging, to encourage collaborative work and knowledge sharing among students, and to provide an interactive platform for the educators to reach students and deliver lecture material in a totally new way.

  13. An information spreading model based on online social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Tao; He, Juanjuan; Wang, Xiaoxia

    2018-01-01

    Online social platforms are very popular in recent years. In addition to spreading information, users could review or collect information on online social platforms. According to the information spreading rules of online social network, a new information spreading model, namely IRCSS model, is proposed in this paper. It includes sharing mechanism, reviewing mechanism, collecting mechanism and stifling mechanism. Mean-field equations are derived to describe the dynamics of the IRCSS model. Moreover, the steady states of reviewers, collectors and stiflers and the effects of parameters on the peak values of reviewers, collectors and sharers are analyzed. Finally, numerical simulations are performed on different networks. Results show that collecting mechanism and reviewing mechanism, as well as the connectivity of the network, make information travel wider and faster, and compared to WS network and ER network, the speed of reviewing, sharing and collecting information is fastest on BA network.

  14. Java-based mobile agent platforms for wireless sensor networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aiello, F.; Carbone, A.; Fortino, G.; Galzarano, S.; Ganzha, M.; Paprzycki, M.

    2010-01-01

    This paper proposes an overview and comparison of mobile agent platforms for the development of wireless sensor network applications. In particular, the architecture, programming model and basic performance of two Java-based agent platforms, Mobile Agent Platform for Sun SPOT (MAPS) and Agent

  15. Teacher Training through Social Networking Platforms: A Case Study on Facebook

    Science.gov (United States)

    Çevik, Yasemin Demiraslan; Çelik, Serkan; Haslaman, Tülin

    2014-01-01

    Numerous studies have attempted to explain the role of social networking platforms within educational environments, though none of them has reported on their potential for enhancing professional development in education. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the reflections of prospective teachers who were assigned to design and…

  16. Link prediction in multiplex online social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jalili, Mahdi; Orouskhani, Yasin; Asgari, Milad; Alipourfard, Nazanin; Perc, Matjaž

    2017-02-01

    Online social networks play a major role in modern societies, and they have shaped the way social relationships evolve. Link prediction in social networks has many potential applications such as recommending new items to users, friendship suggestion and discovering spurious connections. Many real social networks evolve the connections in multiple layers (e.g. multiple social networking platforms). In this article, we study the link prediction problem in multiplex networks. As an example, we consider a multiplex network of Twitter (as a microblogging service) and Foursquare (as a location-based social network). We consider social networks of the same users in these two platforms and develop a meta-path-based algorithm for predicting the links. The connectivity information of the two layers is used to predict the links in Foursquare network. Three classical classifiers (naive Bayes, support vector machines (SVM) and K-nearest neighbour) are used for the classification task. Although the networks are not highly correlated in the layers, our experiments show that including the cross-layer information significantly improves the prediction performance. The SVM classifier results in the best performance with an average accuracy of 89%.

  17. Cities as Platforms for Co-creating Experience-based Business and Social Innovations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pogner, Karl-Heinz; Tsakarestou, Betty

    to address societies’ challenges remains a concern for governments, cities, businesses and social innovators. These solutions emerge out of changes in technologies, advancement of knowledge as well as of the emerging model of the collaborative and sharing economy and networked peer local and global...... co-creation and experience-based learning and innovation in Living Labs, across diverse sectors, organizations, institutions, companies and startups, help cities becoming platforms that facilitate networking, collaboration and innovation? Our main challenge is to explore such an opportunity regarding...... the city of Athens. Creating a human ecosystem reflecting all powers and involved stakeholders in such an endeavor, the workshop organizers and participants, following a co-creation and design thinking methodology, formed “ad-hoc” networks of reflective practitioners and researchers, experimenting...

  18. The Effect of Social Interaction on Learning Engagement in a Social Networking Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Jie; Churchill, Daniel

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the impact of social interactions among a class of undergraduate students on their learning engagement in a social networking environment. Thirteen undergraduate students enrolled in a course in a university in Hong Kong used an Elgg-based social networking platform throughout a semester to develop their digital portfolios…

  19. myCourse: An Educational Content Management Platform with Social Networking Characteristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioannis Ignatiadis

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available We adopt the direction towards new educational and pedagogic paradigms, where learning is a process of emergence and co-evolution of the individual, the social group and the wider society. In this direction, Service-Oriented Architectures are becoming a popular system paradigm for e-learning. In this article, we present our research and development efforts to provide a social networking learning platform for developing services which address the personal learning needs of the users and enable them to create value. We also present the specific characteristics of our community driven service framework and discuss our approach in comparison to other similar approaches and frameworks.

  20. E-Center: A Collaborative Platform for Wide Area Network Users

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grigoriev, M.; DeMar, P.; Tierney, B.; Lake, A.; Metzger, J.; Frey, M.; Calyam, P.

    2012-12-01

    The E-Center is a social collaborative web-based platform for assisting network users in understanding network conditions across network paths of interest to them. It is designed to give a user the necessary tools to isolate, identify, and resolve network performance-related problems. E-Center provides network path information on a link-by-link level, as well as from an end-to-end perspective. In addition to providing current and recent network path data, E-Center is intended to provide a social media environment for them to share issues, ideas, concerns, and problems. The product has a modular design that accommodates integration of other network services that make use of the same network path and performance data.

  1. E-center: A collaborative platform for wide area network users

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grigoriev, M. [Fermilab; DeMar, P. [Fermilab; Tierney, B. [LBL, Berkeley; Lake, A. [LBL, Berkeley; Metzger, J. [LBL, Berkeley; Frey, M. [Bucknell U.; Calyam, P. [Ohio State U.

    2012-01-01

    The E-Center is a social collaborative web-based platform for assisting network users in understanding network conditions across network paths of interest to them. It is designed to give a user the necessary tools to isolate, identify, and resolve network performance-related problems. E-Center provides network path information on a link-by-link level, as well as from an end-to-end perspective. In addition to providing current and recent network path data, E-Center is intended to provide a social media environment for them to share issues, ideas, concerns, and problems. The product has a modular design that accommodates integration of other network services that make use of the same network path and performance data.

  2. E-Center: A Collaborative Platform for Wide Area Network Users

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grigoriev, M; DeMar, P; Tierney, B; Lake, A; Metzger, J; Frey, M; Calyam, P

    2012-01-01

    The E-Center is a social collaborative web-based platform for assisting network users in understanding network conditions across network paths of interest to them. It is designed to give a user the necessary tools to isolate, identify, and resolve network performance-related problems. E-Center provides network path information on a link-by-link level, as well as from an end-to-end perspective. In addition to providing current and recent network path data, E-Center is intended to provide a social media environment for them to share issues, ideas, concerns, and problems. The product has a modular design that accommodates integration of other network services that make use of the same network path and performance data.

  3. Effects of Social Network Exposure on Nutritional Learning: Development of an Online Educational Platform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dagan, Noa; Beskin, Daniel; Brezis, Mayer; Reis, Ben Y

    2015-10-05

    Social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook have the potential to enhance online public health interventions, in part, as they provide social exposure and reinforcement. The objective of the study was to evaluate whether social exposure provided by SNSs enhances the effects of online public health interventions. As a sample intervention, we developed Food Hero, an online platform for nutritional education in which players feed a virtual character according to their own nutritional needs and complete a set of virtual sport challenges. The platform was developed in 2 versions: a "private version" in which a user can see only his or her own score, and a "social version" in which a user can see other players' scores, including preexisting Facebook friends. We assessed changes in participants' nutritional knowledge using 4 quiz scores and 3 menu-assembly scores. Monitoring feeding and exercising attempts assessed engagement with the platform. The 2 versions of the platform were randomly assigned between a study group (30 members receiving the social version) and a control group (33 members, private version). The study group's performance on the quizzes gradually increased over time, relative to that of the control group, becoming significantly higher by the fourth quiz (P=.02). Furthermore, the study group's menu-assembly scores improved over time compared to the first score, whereas the control group's performance deteriorated. Study group members spent an average of 3:40 minutes assembling each menu compared to 2:50 minutes in the control group, and performed an average of 1.58 daily sport challenges, compared to 1.21 in the control group (P=.03). This work focused on isolating the SNSs' social effects in order to help guide future online interventions. Our results indicate that the social exposure provided by SNSs is associated with increased engagement and learning in an online nutritional educational platform.

  4. Online social support networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehta, Neil; Atreja, Ashish

    2015-04-01

    Peer support groups have a long history and have been shown to improve health outcomes. With the increasing familiarity with online social networks like Facebook and ubiquitous access to the Internet, online social support networks are becoming popular. While studies have shown the benefit of these networks in providing emotional support or meeting informational needs, robust data on improving outcomes such as a decrease in health services utilization or reduction in adverse outcomes is lacking. These networks also pose unique challenges in the areas of patient privacy, funding models, quality of content, and research agendas. Addressing these concerns while creating patient-centred, patient-powered online support networks will help leverage these platforms to complement traditional healthcare delivery models in the current environment of value-based care.

  5. The web as platform: Data flows in social media

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Helmond, A.

    2015-01-01

    This dissertation looks into the history of Web 2.0 as "the web as platform" (O’Reilly 2004) and traces the transition of social network sites into social media platforms to examine how social media has transformed the web. In order to understand this process from an infrastructural perspective, I

  6. A Web GIS-Based Platform to Harvest Georeferenced Data from Social Networks: Examples of Data Collection Regarding Disaster Events

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cidália Costa Fonte

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Whenever disaster situations occur the civil protection authorities need to have fast access to data that may help to plan emergency response. To contribute to the collection and integration of all available data a platform that aims to harvest Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI from social networks and collaborative projects was created. This enables the integration of VGI with data coming from other sources, such as data collected by physical sensors in real time and made available through Applications Programming Interface (APIs, as well as, for example, official maps. The architecture of the created platform is described and its first prototype presented. Some example queries are performed and the results are analyzed.

  7. Which Recommender System Can Best Fit Social Learning Platforms?

    OpenAIRE

    Fazeli, Soude; Loni, Babak; Drachsler, Hendrik; Sloep, Peter

    2014-01-01

    In this presentation, we present a study that aims to develop a recommender system for social learning platforms that combine traditional learning management systems with commercial social networks like Facebook. We therefore take into account social interactions of users to make recommendations on learning resources. We propose to make use of graph-walking methods for improving performance of the well-known baseline algorithms. We evaluate the proposed graph-based approach in terms of their ...

  8. Social networks

    CERN Document Server

    Etaner-Uyar, A Sima

    2014-01-01

    The present volume provides a comprehensive resource for practitioners and researchers alike-both those new to the field as well as those who already have some experience. The work covers Social Network Analysis theory and methods with a focus on current applications and case studies applied in various domains such as mobile networks, security, machine learning and health. With the increasing popularity of Web 2.0, social media has become a widely used communication platform. Parallel to this development, Social Network Analysis gained in importance as a research field, while opening up many

  9. Network interventions - How citizens’ social media networks influence their political participation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ohme, Jakob; de Vreese, Claes Holger; Albæk, Erik

    Social media platforms are special places of information exposure because they are structured around a user’s social network and not around content, like other news media. Studies could show that news exposure on social media can affect citizens’ political participation due to the personalized......, targeted, & inadvertent exposure. However, previous research did not strongly focus on how the characteristics of a citizens’ social media network might alter this relationship. We tests how political information exposure via three different media channels affects political participation among Danish...... citizens and examine possible moderation effects of users network size, network diversity and the newly introduced parameter of perceived network activity. To this end, a two-wave online survey (n=858) among the Danish population was conducted, applying a smartphone-based media diary study. We find strong...

  10. Crowdfunding And Social Networks In The Music Industry: Implications For Entrepreneurship

    OpenAIRE

    Ricardo Martinez-Canas; Pablo Ruiz-Palomino; Raul del Pozo-Rubio

    2012-01-01

    With the development of new communication technologies and the unstoppable increase of social networks some microfinance platforms are becoming essential tools for entrepreneurs. This phenomenon is known as crowdfunding, crowdfinancing or crowd sourced capital, what mainly implies that entrepreneurs obtain the funds or capital through a collective cooperation usually via a web platform. For social networks this process is based on the trust of many promoters and communities of interest that p...

  11. Social Media for Networking, Professional Development, and Patient Engagement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markham, Merry Jennifer; Gentile, Danielle; Graham, David L

    2017-01-01

    Social media has become an established method of communication, and many physicians are finding these interactive tools and platforms to be useful for both personal and professional use. Risks of social media, or barriers to its use, include perceived lack of time, privacy concerns, and the risk of damage to one's reputation by unprofessional behavior. Of the social media platforms, Twitter has become favored by physicians and other health care professionals. Although one of the most obvious uses of social media is for rapid dissemination and receipt of information, oncologists are finding that social media is important for networking through blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. These platforms also have potential for providing opportunities for professional development, such as finding collaborators through networking, participation in Twitter journal clubs, and participating in online case-based tumor boards. Social media can also be used for patient engagement, such as through participation in tweet chats. There is emerging data that patient engagement through these platforms may lead to improvement in some health-related outcomes; however, data are sparse for oncology-specific outcomes. Efforts are underway to determine how to assess how social media engagement impacts health outcomes in oncology patients.

  12. Impact of Social Networking Sites in Bangladesh: Few Possible Solutions

    OpenAIRE

    Md. Omar Faruq; Alim-Al-Reza; Md. Mahbubur Rahman; Mohammad Raisul Alam

    2017-01-01

    Bangladesh is a developing country. But in few recent years this country is going to be turned as digitalized. The first condition of being digitalization is the whole communication system of the country have to be developed tremendously. If we notice about the communication system, then Social Networking Sites can be a platform of revolution. This study is based on the perspective of Bangladesh on Social Networking Sites(SNS). In Bangladesh, Social Networking Sites ar...

  13. Jana: Confidential Communications on Social Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-08-09

    consuming phone resources and privacy leakage ?” We address this challenge via an extensive user study. Next, we ask “How can we detect background apps...not support secret group communications. Furthermore, access to such social networks via mobile platforms raises a series of concerns like leakage of...not support secret group communications. Furthermore, access to such social networks via mobile platforms raises a series of concerns like leakage of

  14. Using Social Media, Online Social Networks, and Internet Search as Platforms for Public Health Interventions: A Pilot Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huesch, Marco D; Galstyan, Aram; Ong, Michael K; Doctor, Jason N

    2016-06-01

    To pilot public health interventions at women potentially interested in maternity care via campaigns on social media (Twitter), social networks (Facebook), and online search engines (Google Search). Primary data from Twitter, Facebook, and Google Search on users of these platforms in Los Angeles between March and July 2014. Observational study measuring the responses of targeted users of Twitter, Facebook, and Google Search exposed to our sponsored messages soliciting them to start an engagement process by clicking through to a study website containing information on maternity care quality information for the Los Angeles market. Campaigns reached a little more than 140,000 consumers each day across the three platforms, with a little more than 400 engagements each day. Facebook and Google search had broader reach, better engagement rates, and lower costs than Twitter. Costs to reach 1,000 targeted users were approximately in the same range as less well-targeted radio and TV advertisements, while initial engagements-a user clicking through an advertisement-cost less than $1 each. Our results suggest that commercially available online advertising platforms in wide use by other industries could play a role in targeted public health interventions. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  15. The Role of Social Network Platform in Egyptian's Political Upheaval in January 2011

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Farhad Hassan Abdullah

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Social network platforms are tools, which are not just utilized for entertainment, but also serve as a multiple purposed tool in other areas, including politics. Egyptians have utilized these tools to communicate, coordinate, and bring about mass protests, since 2010. Drawing on the theoretical concepts of the public sphere and communicative action of Habermas, with the new public sphere and network society this paper examines the role of SNSs during the Arab Spring in Egypt. The lit review assumes that SNSs are causes of political upheavals. The article, however, argues that the SNSs are simply an instrument for communication and mobilization of people in the Egyptian 25th January political uprising.

  16. Myths on Bi-direction Communication of Web 2.0 Based Social Networks: Is Social Network Truly Interactive?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-10

    more and more social interactions are happening on the on-line. Especially recent uptake of the social network sites (SNSs), such as Facebook (http...Smart phones • Live updates within social networks • Facebook & Twitters Solution: WebMon for Risk Management Need for New WebMon for Social Networks ...Title: Myths on bi-direction communication of Web 2.0 based social networks : Is social network truly interactive

  17. Equity venture capital platform model based on complex network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Dongwei; Zhang, Lanshu; Liu, Miao

    2018-05-01

    This paper uses the small-world network and the random-network to simulate the relationship among the investors, construct the network model of the equity venture capital platform to explore the impact of the fraud rate and the bankruptcy rate on the robustness of the network model while observing the impact of the average path length and the average agglomeration coefficient of the investor relationship network on the income of the network model. The study found that the fraud rate and bankruptcy rate exceeded a certain threshold will lead to network collapse; The bankruptcy rate has a great influence on the income of the platform; The risk premium exists, and the average return is better under a certain range of bankruptcy risk; The structure of the investor relationship network has no effect on the income of the investment model.

  18. Which recommender system can best fit social learning platforms?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fazeli, Soude; Loni, Babak; Drachsler, Hendrik; Sloep, Peter

    2014-01-01

    In this presentation, we present a study that aims to develop a recommender system for social learning platforms that combine traditional learning management systems with commercial social networks like Facebook. We therefore take into account social interactions of users to make recommendations on

  19. Which Recommender System Can Best Fit Social Learning Platforms?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fazeli, Soude; Loni, Babak; Drachsler, Hendrik; Sloep, Peter

    2014-01-01

    This study aims to develop a recommender system for social learning platforms that combine traditional learning management systems with commercial social networks like Facebook. We therefore take into account social interactions of users to make recommendations on learning resources. We propose to

  20. Dynamic social networks based on movement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scharf, Henry; Hooten, Mevin B.; Fosdick, Bailey K.; Johnson, Devin S.; London, Joshua M.; Durban, John W.

    2016-01-01

    Network modeling techniques provide a means for quantifying social structure in populations of individuals. Data used to define social connectivity are often expensive to collect and based on case-specific, ad hoc criteria. Moreover, in applications involving animal social networks, collection of these data is often opportunistic and can be invasive. Frequently, the social network of interest for a given population is closely related to the way individuals move. Thus, telemetry data, which are minimally invasive and relatively inexpensive to collect, present an alternative source of information. We develop a framework for using telemetry data to infer social relationships among animals. To achieve this, we propose a Bayesian hierarchical model with an underlying dynamic social network controlling movement of individuals via two mechanisms: an attractive effect and an aligning effect. We demonstrate the model and its ability to accurately identify complex social behavior in simulation, and apply our model to telemetry data arising from killer whales. Using auxiliary information about the study population, we investigate model validity and find the inferred dynamic social network is consistent with killer whale ecology and expert knowledge.

  1. Study on key technologies of vehicle networking system platform for electric automobiles based on micro-service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Fei

    2018-04-01

    With the rapid increase of electric automobiles and charging piles, the elastic expansion and online rapid upgrade were required for the vehicle networking system platform (system platform for short). At present, it is difficult to meet the operation needs due to the traditional huge rock architecture used by the system platform. This paper studied the system platform technology architecture based on "cloud platform +micro-service" to obtain a new generation of vehicle networking system platform with the combination of elastic expansion and application, thus significantly improving the service operation ability of system.

  2. A Semantics-Based Approach for Business Categorization on Social Networking Sites

    OpenAIRE

    Memon , Atia ,; Zinke , Christian; Meyer , Kyrill

    2017-01-01

    Part 18: Design Science Research in CNs; International audience; As the number and adoption of social networking sites (SNSs) supporting business representation in the form of business pages continues to escalate, more scalable and robust mechanisms for integrating data from different networks in order to serve the special purposes need to be envisaged. An important concern of such SNS data integration is the platform dependencies that different networks impose in collecting, organizing, and ...

  3. Recommender systems for location-based social networks

    CERN Document Server

    Symeonidis, Panagiotis; Manolopoulos, Yannis

    2014-01-01

    Online social networks collect information from users' social contacts and their daily interactions (co-tagging of photos, co-rating of products etc.) to provide them with recommendations of new products or friends. Lately, technological progressions in mobile devices (i.e. smart phones) enabled the incorporation of geo-location data in the traditional web-based online social networks, bringing the new era of Social and Mobile Web. The goal of this book is to bring together important research in a new family of recommender systems aimed at serving Location-based Social Networks (LBSNs). The chapters introduce a wide variety of recent approaches, from the most basic to the state-of-the-art, for providing recommendations in LBSNs. The book is organized into three parts. Part 1 provides introductory material on recommender systems, online social networks and LBSNs. Part 2 presents a wide variety of recommendation algorithms, ranging from basic to cutting edge, as well as a comparison of the characteristics of t...

  4. AGENT-BASED NEGOTIATION PLATFORM IN COLLABORATIVE NETWORKED ENVIRONMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adina-Georgeta CREȚAN

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes an agent-based platform to model and support parallel and concurrent negotiations among organizations acting in the same industrial market. The underlying complexity is to model the dynamic environment where multi-attribute and multi-participant negotiations are racing over a set of heterogeneous resources. The metaphor Interaction Abstract Machines (IAMs is used to model the parallelism and the non-deterministic aspects of the negotiation processes that occur in Collaborative Networked Environment.

  5. Inferring Trust Relationships in Web-Based Social Networks

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Golbeck, Jennifer; Hendler, James

    2006-01-01

    The growth of web-based social networking and the properties of those networks have created great potential for producing intelligent software that integrates a user's social network and preferences...

  6. In-Space Internet-Based Communications for Space Science Platforms Using Commercial Satellite Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerczewski, Robert J.; Bhasin, Kul B.; Fabian, Theodore P.; Griner, James H.; Kachmar, Brian A.; Richard, Alan M.

    1999-01-01

    The continuing technological advances in satellite communications and global networking have resulted in commercial systems that now can potentially provide capabilities for communications with space-based science platforms. This reduces the need for expensive government owned communications infrastructures to support space science missions while simultaneously making available better service to the end users. An interactive, high data rate Internet type connection through commercial space communications networks would enable authorized researchers anywhere to control space-based experiments in near real time and obtain experimental results immediately. A space based communications network architecture consisting of satellite constellations connecting orbiting space science platforms to ground users can be developed to provide this service. The unresolved technical issues presented by this scenario are the subject of research at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Assessment of network architectures, identification of required new or improved technologies, and investigation of data communications protocols are being performed through testbed and satellite experiments and laboratory simulations.

  7. Benefits of Enterprise Social Networking Systems for High Energy Physics community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva de Sousa, B.; Wagner, A.; Ormancey, E.; Grzywaczewski, P.

    2015-12-01

    The emergence of social media platforms in the consumer space unlocked new ways of interaction between individuals on the Web. People develop now their social networks and relations based on common interests and activities with the choice to opt-in or opt-out on content of their interest. This kind of platforms have also an important place to fill inside large organizations and enterprises where communication and collaborators interaction are keys for development. Enterprise Social Networking Systems (ESN) add value to an organization by encouraging information sharing, capturing knowledge, enabling action and empowering people. CERN is currently rolling out an ESN which aims to unify and provide a single point of access to the multitude of information sources in the organization. It also implements social features that can be added on top of existing communication channels. While the deployment of this kind of platforms is not without risks we firmly believe that they are of the best interest for our community, opening the opportunity to evaluate a global social network for High Energy Physics (HEP).

  8. Mining human mobility in location-based social networks

    CERN Document Server

    Gao, Huiji

    2015-01-01

    In recent years, there has been a rapid growth of location-based social networking services, such as Foursquare and Facebook Places, which have attracted an increasing number of users and greatly enriched their urban experience. Typical location-based social networking sites allow a user to ""check in"" at a real-world POI (point of interest, e.g., a hotel, restaurant, theater, etc.), leave tips toward the POI, and share the check-in with their online friends. The check-in action bridges the gap between real world and online social networks, resulting in a new type of social networks, namely l

  9. Work-based social networks and health status among Japanese employees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, E; Takao, S; Subramanian, S V; Doi, H; Kawachi, I

    2009-09-01

    Despite the worldwide trend towards more time being spent at work by employed people, few studies have examined the independent influences of work-based versus home-based social networks on employees' health. We examined the association between work-based social networks and health status by controlling for home-based social networks in a cross-sectional study. By employing a two-stage stratified random sampling procedure, 1105 employees were identified from 46 companies in Okayama, Japan, in 2007. Work-based social networks were assessed by asking the number of co-workers whom they consult with ease on personal issues. The outcome was self-rated health; the adjusted OR for poor health compared employees with no network with those who have larger networks. Although a clear (and inverse) dose-response relationship was found between the size of work-based social networks and poor health (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.27, comparing those with the lowest versus highest level of social network), the association was attenuated to statistical non-significance after we controlled for the size of home-based social networks. In further analyses stratified on age groups, in older workers (> or =50 years) work-based social networks were apparently associated with better health status, whereas home-based networks were not. The reverse was true among middle-aged workers (30-49 years). No associations were found among younger workers (social support on health according to age groups. We hypothesise that these patterns reflect generational differences in workers' commitment to their workplace.

  10. Social Networks and Students' Orthography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. Azizovic

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper studied spelling and technical errors of students on social networks (facebook, twitter, e-mail. Social networks have over the last decade become the primary means of communication, which have more than ever made real the idea of "one world - one village". Their usage is in the most part based on language, i.e. on the writing itself and reading of the same as its most complex parts. New aspects of the use of writing, which exclude handwriting, are already using some new writing platform, such as keyboards, smart - touch surfaces, etc., provide new opportunities for redefining, as well as challenges for the writings. This paper aims to give a modest contribution in this direction.

  11. Analysing the Correlation between Social Network Analysis Measures and Performance of Students in Social Network-Based Engineering Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Putnik, Goran; Costa, Eric; Alves, Cátia; Castro, Hélio; Varela, Leonilde; Shah, Vaibhav

    2016-01-01

    Social network-based engineering education (SNEE) is designed and implemented as a model of Education 3.0 paradigm. SNEE represents a new learning methodology, which is based on the concept of social networks and represents an extended model of project-led education. The concept of social networks was applied in the real-life experiment,…

  12. Social Networks and the Building of Learning Communities: An Experimental Study of a Social MOOC

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Lima, Mariana; Zorrilla, Marta

    2017-01-01

    This study aimed to analyze the student's behaviour in relation to their degree of commitment, participation, and contribution in a MOOC based on a social learning approach. Interaction data was collected on the learning platform and in social networks, both of which were used in the third edition of a social MOOC course. This data was then…

  13. A Concept of Location-Based Social Network Marketing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tussyadiah, Iis

    2012-01-01

    A stimulus-response model of location-based social network marketing is conceptualized based on an exploratory investigation. Location-based social network applications are capable of generating marketing stimuli from merchant, competition-based, and connection-based rewards resulted from relevance...... and connectivity. Depending on consumption situations, consumer characteristics, and social network structure, these rewards lead to actual behavior that manifests in variety behavior (i.e., patronage to new places) and loyalty behavior (i.e., increased frequency of patronage to familiar places). This behavior...... implies changes in patterns of mobility, making this marketing approach particularly relevant for tourism and hospitality businesses. Managerial implications and recommendations for further studies are provided....

  14. Use of Social Networks as an Educational Tool

    OpenAIRE

    Tiryakioglu, Filiz; Erzurum, Funda

    2011-01-01

    Social network, particularly Facebook, can be defined as a unique online service, platform, or area where social communication and/or social relations can be established and individuals intensely share information. This definition implies that communication specialists should have more expertise and interest in social media than any other group of experts. Based on this assumption, the present study investigated the views and attitudes of instructors in the Faculty of Communication Sciences a...

  15. Transactional Network Platform: Applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Katipamula, Srinivas; Lutes, Robert G.; Ngo, Hung; Underhill, Ronald M.

    2013-10-31

    In FY13, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with funding from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Technologies Office (BTO) designed, prototyped and tested a transactional network platform to support energy, operational and financial transactions between any networked entities (equipment, organizations, buildings, grid, etc.). Initially, in FY13, the concept demonstrated transactions between packaged rooftop air conditioners and heat pump units (RTUs) and the electric grid using applications or "agents" that reside on the platform, on the equipment, on a local building controller or in the Cloud. The transactional network project is a multi-lab effort with Oakridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) also contributing to the effort. PNNL coordinated the project and also was responsible for the development of the transactional network (TN) platform and three different applications associated with RTUs. This document describes two applications or "agents" in details, and also summarizes the platform. The TN platform details are described in another companion document.

  16. Understanding Members’ Attachment to Social Networking Sites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lim, Eric T. K.; Cyr, Dianne; Tan, Chee-Wee

    2014-01-01

    Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are pervasive phenomena in today’s society. With greater connectivity and interactivity enabled through emerging technologies, SNSs provide communication platforms for individuals to bridge spatial and temporal differences when making friends, sharing experiences......, socializing with others and much more. This study therefore endeavors to shed light on this growing trend by decomposing members’ motives for participating within SNSs into identity-based, bondbased and comparison-based attachments. Each of these forms of attachment in turn affects members’ cooperative...

  17. Friend suggestion in social network based on user log

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaviya, R.; Vanitha, M.; Sumaiya Thaseen, I.; Mangaiyarkarasi, R.

    2017-11-01

    Simple friend recommendation algorithms such as similarity, popularity and social aspects is the basic requirement to be explored to methodically form high-performance social friend recommendation. Suggestion of friends is followed. No tags of character were followed. In the proposed system, we use an algorithm for network correlation-based social friend recommendation (NC-based SFR).It includes user activities like where one lives and works. A new friend recommendation method, based on network correlation, by considering the effect of different social roles. To model the correlation between different networks, we develop a method that aligns these networks through important feature selection. We consider by preserving the network structure for a more better recommendations so that it significantly improves the accuracy for better friend-recommendation.

  18. Rumor Diffusion in an Interests-Based Dynamic Social Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingsheng Tang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available To research rumor diffusion in social friend network, based on interests, a dynamic friend network is proposed, which has the characteristics of clustering and community, and a diffusion model is also proposed. With this friend network and rumor diffusion model, based on the zombie-city model, some simulation experiments to analyze the characteristics of rumor diffusion in social friend networks have been conducted. The results show some interesting observations: (1 positive information may evolve to become a rumor through the diffusion process that people may modify the information by word of mouth; (2 with the same average degree, a random social network has a smaller clustering coefficient and is more beneficial for rumor diffusion than the dynamic friend network; (3 a rumor is spread more widely in a social network with a smaller global clustering coefficient than in a social network with a larger global clustering coefficient; and (4 a network with a smaller clustering coefficient has a larger efficiency.

  19. SONEP: A Software-Defined Optical Network Emulation Platform

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Azodolmolky, Siamak; Petersen, Martin Nordal; Fagertun, Anna Manolova

    2014-01-01

    Network emulation has been one of the tools of choice for conducting experiments on commodity hardware. In the absence of an easy to use optical network test-bed, researchers can significantly benefit from the availability of a flexible/programmable optical network emulation platform. Exploiting...... the lightweight system virtualization, which is recently supported in modern operating systems, in this work we present the architecture of a Software-Defined Network (SDN) emulation platform for transport optical networks and investigate its usage in a use-case scenario. To the best of our knowledge......, this is for the first time that an SDN-based emulation platform is proposed for modeling and performance evaluation of optical networks. Coupled with recent trend of extension of SDN towards transport (optical) networks, the presented tool can facilitate the evaluation of innovative idea before actual implementations...

  20. From Offline Social Networks to Online Social Networks: Changes in Entrepreneurship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang SONG

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper reviewed studies of entrepreneurship based on the emergency of online social networks. Similar to offline social networks, entrepreneurs’ online social networks have their own unique characteristics. We first reviewed the offline network based research on entrepreneurship. Then we reviewed the studies of entrepreneurship in the context of online social networks including those focusing on topics of network structures and network ties. We highlighted online network communities based on the data collected from LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Our research implies that both researcher and entrepreneurs are facing new opportunities due to the emergence of online social networks.

  1. Architecture Design and Experimental Platform Demonstration of Optical Network based on OpenFlow Protocol

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xing, Fangyuan; Wang, Honghuan; Yin, Hongxi; Li, Ming; Luo, Shenzi; Wu, Chenguang

    2016-02-01

    With the extensive application of cloud computing and data centres, as well as the constantly emerging services, the big data with the burst characteristic has brought huge challenges to optical networks. Consequently, the software defined optical network (SDON) that combines optical networks with software defined network (SDN), has attracted much attention. In this paper, an OpenFlow-enabled optical node employed in optical cross-connect (OXC) and reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM), is proposed. An open source OpenFlow controller is extended on routing strategies. In addition, the experiment platform based on OpenFlow protocol for software defined optical network, is designed. The feasibility and availability of the OpenFlow-enabled optical nodes and the extended OpenFlow controller are validated by the connectivity test, protection switching and load balancing experiments in this test platform.

  2. Wireless Sensor Network-Based Service Provisioning by a Brokering Platform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guijarro, Luis; Pla, Vicent; Vidal, Jose R; Naldi, Maurizio; Mahmoodi, Toktam

    2017-05-12

    This paper proposes a business model for providing services based on the Internet of Things through a platform that intermediates between human users and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). The platform seeks to maximize its profit through posting both the price charged to each user and the price paid to each WSN. A complete analysis of the profit maximization problem is performed in this paper. We show that the service provider maximizes its profit by incentivizing all users and all Wireless Sensor Infrastructure Providers (WSIPs) to join the platform. This is true not only when the number of users is high, but also when it is moderate, provided that the costs that the users bear do not trespass a cost ceiling. This cost ceiling depends on the number of WSIPs, on the value of the intrinsic value of the service and on the externality that the WSIP has on the user utility.

  3. Polymer-based platform for microfluidic systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benett, William [Livermore, CA; Krulevitch, Peter [Pleasanton, CA; Maghribi, Mariam [Livermore, CA; Hamilton, Julie [Tracy, CA; Rose, Klint [Boston, MA; Wang, Amy W [Oakland, CA

    2009-10-13

    A method of forming a polymer-based microfluidic system platform using network building blocks selected from a set of interconnectable network building blocks, such as wire, pins, blocks, and interconnects. The selected building blocks are interconnectably assembled and fixedly positioned in precise positions in a mold cavity of a mold frame to construct a three-dimensional model construction of a microfluidic flow path network preferably having meso-scale dimensions. A hardenable liquid, such as poly (dimethylsiloxane) is then introduced into the mold cavity and hardened to form a platform structure as well as to mold the microfluidic flow path network having channels, reservoirs and ports. Pre-fabricated elbows, T's and other joints are used to interconnect various building block elements together. After hardening the liquid the building blocks are removed from the platform structure to make available the channels, cavities and ports within the platform structure. Microdevices may be embedded within the cast polymer-based platform, or bonded to the platform structure subsequent to molding, to create an integrated microfluidic system. In this manner, the new microfluidic platform is versatile and capable of quickly generating prototype systems, and could easily be adapted to a manufacturing setting.

  4. Narcissism and Social Networking Behavior: A Meta-Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gnambs, Timo; Appel, Markus

    2018-04-01

    The increasing popularity of social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook and Twitter has given rise to speculations that the intensity of using these platforms is associated with narcissistic tendencies. However, recent research on this issue has been all but conclusive. We present a three-level, random effects meta-analysis including 289 effect sizes from 57 studies (total N = 25,631) on the association between trait narcissism and social networking behavior. The meta-analysis identified a small to moderate effect of ρ = .17 (τ = .11), 95% CI [.13, .21], for grandiose narcissism that replicated across different social networking platforms, respondent characteristics, and time. Moderator analyses revealed pronounced cultural differences, with stronger associations in power-distant cultures. Moreover, social networking behaviors geared toward self-presentation and the number of SNS friends exhibited stronger effects than usage durations. Overall, the study not only supported but also refined the notion of a relationship between engaging in social networking sites and narcissistic personality traits. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  5. Modeling online social networks based on preferential linking

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu Hai-Bo; Chen Jun; Guo Jin-Li

    2012-01-01

    We study the phenomena of preferential linking in a large-scale evolving online social network and find that the linear preference holds for preferential creation, preferential acceptance, and preferential attachment. Based on the linear preference, we propose an analyzable model, which illustrates the mechanism of network growth and reproduces the process of network evolution. Our simulations demonstrate that the degree distribution of the network produced by the model is in good agreement with that of the real network. This work provides a possible bridge between the micro-mechanisms of network growth and the macrostructures of online social networks

  6. Content-Based Covert Group Detection in Social Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-09-06

    The students took courses in natural language processing, data mining in various multi-media data sets, text retrieval, text summarization and... mining in social media including: we performed work, on (a) diffusion in social networks, (b) influence maximization in signed social networks, (c...Learning, Information Retrieval, Data Mining and Database. There are 8,293 messages. Our method outperformed state of the art methods based on content

  7. USER PERCEPTION TOWARDS SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES - AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH

    OpenAIRE

    Dr. S. Shanmugapriya; A. Kokila

    2017-01-01

    A social networking site (SNS) or social media is an online platform that people use to build social networks or social relations with other people who share similar personal or career interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections. The advent of Social Networking sites and its resources have revolutionized the communication and social relation world. This paper aims to assess the user perception towards SNS like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. In the study data was obtained thro...

  8. A Sentiment Delivering Estimate Scheme Based on Trust Chain in Mobile Social Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meizi Li

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available User sentiment analysis has become a flourishing frontier in data mining mobile social network platform since the mobile social network plays a significant role in users’ daily communication and sentiment interaction. This study studies the scheme of sentiment estimate by using the users’ trustworthy relationships for evaluating sentiment delivering. First, we address an overview of sentiment delivering estimate scheme and propose its related definitions, that is, trust chain among users, sentiment semantics, and sentiment ontology. Second, this study proposes the trust chain model and its evaluation method, which is composed of evaluation of atomic, serial, parallel, and combined trust chains. Then, we propose sentiment modeling method by presenting its modeling rules. Further, we propose the sentiment delivering estimate scheme from two aspects: explicit and implicit sentiment delivering estimate schemes, based on trust chain and sentiment modeling method. Finally, examinations and results are given to further explain effectiveness and feasibility of our scheme.

  9. Army Social Media: Harnessing the Power of Networked Communications

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-01

    Social Networking : – Facebook – MySpace – Friendster 9/1/2011 Content sharing: -You Tube -Flickr -Vimeo -Photobucket Collaborating/ knowledge...Americans use social media tools and Web sites monthly Social networking is now the #1 activity on the web • Twitter: 54 Million users • Facebook ...anyone you don’t know on Facebook or social networking platforms -Don’t post deployment information, when you’re going on vacation or when

  10. Conversation Analysis on Social Networking Sites

    OpenAIRE

    Belkaroui , Rami; Faiz , Rim; Elkhlifi , Aymen

    2014-01-01

    International audience; With the explosion of Web 2.0, people are becoming more communicative through expansion of services and multi-platform applications such as microblogs, forums and social networks which establishes social and collabora-tive backgrounds. These services can be seen as very large information repository containing millions of text messages usually organized into complex networks involving users interacting with each other at specific times. Several works focused only to ret...

  11. Combating QR-Code-Based Compromised Accounts in Mobile Social Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Dong; Cao, Jian; Wang, Xiaoqi; Fu, Qiang; Li, Qiang

    2016-09-20

    Cyber Physical Social Sensing makes mobile social networks (MSNs) popular with users. However, such attacks are rampant as malicious URLs are spread covertly through quick response (QR) codes to control compromised accounts in MSNs to propagate malicious messages. Currently, there are generally two types of methods to identify compromised accounts in MSNs: one type is to analyze the potential threats on wireless access points and the potential threats on handheld devices' operation systems so as to stop compromised accounts from spreading malicious messages; the other type is to apply the method of detecting compromised accounts in online social networks to MSNs. The above types of methods above focus neither on the problems of MSNs themselves nor on the interaction of sensors' messages, which leads to the restrictiveness of platforms and the simplification of methods. In order to stop the spreading of compromised accounts in MSNs effectively, the attacks have to be traced to their sources first. Through sensors, users exchange information in MSNs and acquire information by scanning QR codes. Therefore, analyzing the traces of sensor-related information helps to identify the compromised accounts in MSNs. This paper analyzes the diversity of information sending modes of compromised accounts and normal accounts, analyzes the regularity of GPS (Global Positioning System)-based location information, and introduces the concepts of entropy and conditional entropy so as to construct an entropy-based model based on machine learning strategies. To achieve the goal, about 500,000 accounts of Sina Weibo and about 100 million corresponding messages are collected. Through the validation, the accuracy rate of the model is proved to be as high as 87.6%, and the false positive rate is only 3.7%. Meanwhile, the comparative experiments of the feature sets prove that sensor-based location information can be applied to detect the compromised accounts in MSNs.

  12. Combating QR-Code-Based Compromised Accounts in Mobile Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dong Guo

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Cyber Physical Social Sensing makes mobile social networks (MSNs popular with users. However, such attacks are rampant as malicious URLs are spread covertly through quick response (QR codes to control compromised accounts in MSNs to propagate malicious messages. Currently, there are generally two types of methods to identify compromised accounts in MSNs: one type is to analyze the potential threats on wireless access points and the potential threats on handheld devices’ operation systems so as to stop compromised accounts from spreading malicious messages; the other type is to apply the method of detecting compromised accounts in online social networks to MSNs. The above types of methods above focus neither on the problems of MSNs themselves nor on the interaction of sensors’ messages, which leads to the restrictiveness of platforms and the simplification of methods. In order to stop the spreading of compromised accounts in MSNs effectively, the attacks have to be traced to their sources first. Through sensors, users exchange information in MSNs and acquire information by scanning QR codes. Therefore, analyzing the traces of sensor-related information helps to identify the compromised accounts in MSNs. This paper analyzes the diversity of information sending modes of compromised accounts and normal accounts, analyzes the regularity of GPS (Global Positioning System-based location information, and introduces the concepts of entropy and conditional entropy so as to construct an entropy-based model based on machine learning strategies. To achieve the goal, about 500,000 accounts of Sina Weibo and about 100 million corresponding messages are collected. Through the validation, the accuracy rate of the model is proved to be as high as 87.6%, and the false positive rate is only 3.7%. Meanwhile, the comparative experiments of the feature sets prove that sensor-based location information can be applied to detect the compromised accounts in MSNs.

  13. Habit as a moderator and exogenous predictor of social networks: The case of online social networking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akwesi Assensoh-Kodua

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper tests the factors likely to impact continuance intentions through the medium of online social networks (OSN for business transactions. The expectation-confirmation theory (ECT from the consumer behaviour literature is made use of; to forward a set of theories that validate a prior model from IS usage research. Eight research hypotheses, after a field survey of OSNs participants for business transactions were conducted are empirically validated. 300 useable responses from LinkedIn and Twitter social networking platforms users for business transactions were analysed with the WarpPLS 4.0 bootstrapping technique. The study results provide significant evidence in support of perceived trust and user satisfaction, as determinants of the continuance intention of people using OSN platforms for business transactions. Above all, the research model was tested for the moderating effects of usage habit, which was found to impact relationships between continuance intention and perceived trust, resulting in an improved predictive capability of (R2=0.55 as compared to base model of (R2=0.52. The moderating result indicates that a higher level of habit increases the effect of perceived trust on continuance intention

  14. Location-based social networking media for restaurant promotion and food review using mobile application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luhur, H. S.; Widjaja, N. D.

    2014-03-01

    This paper is focusing on the development of a mobile application for searching restaurants and promotions with location based and social networking features. The main function of the application is to search restaurant information. Other functions are also available in this application such as add restaurant, add promotion, add photo, add food review, and other features including social networking features. The restaurant and promotion searching application will be developed under Android platform. Upon completion of this paper, heuristic evaluation and usability testing have been conducted. The result of both testing shows that the application is highly usable. Even though there are some usability problems discovered, the problems can be eliminated immediately by implementing the recommendations from the expert evaluators and the users as the testers of the application. Further improvement made to the application will ensure that the application can really be beneficial for the users of the application.

  15. A game theory-based trust measurement model for social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yingjie; Cai, Zhipeng; Yin, Guisheng; Gao, Yang; Tong, Xiangrong; Han, Qilong

    2016-01-01

    In social networks, trust is a complex social network. Participants in online social networks want to share information and experiences with as many reliable users as possible. However, the modeling of trust is complicated and application dependent. Modeling trust needs to consider interaction history, recommendation, user behaviors and so on. Therefore, modeling trust is an important focus for online social networks. We propose a game theory-based trust measurement model for social networks. The trust degree is calculated from three aspects, service reliability, feedback effectiveness, recommendation credibility, to get more accurate result. In addition, to alleviate the free-riding problem, we propose a game theory-based punishment mechanism for specific trust and global trust, respectively. We prove that the proposed trust measurement model is effective. The free-riding problem can be resolved effectively through adding the proposed punishment mechanism.

  16. Disentangling the Effects of Collaborative Social Platforms on Organizational Knowledge Practices and Innovation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Razmerita, Liana; Tan, Chee-Wee

    Social media has given birth to a novel paradigm of knowledge management that entails both formal and informal communication to bring about collaboration via diverse applications. Through online conversations and virtual interactions, the advent of social media is accompanied by unprecedented means...... of sharing, externalizing and retaining knowledge. In doing so, social media allows the articulation of personal and collective knowledge for innovation and value co-creation (Razmerita et al. 2014). Emerging social-collaborative platforms in the likes of Podio, Jive, Trello, Yammer, and Slack promote...... communication, collaboration, and project work. These platforms incorporate social media and networking functionalities for realizing both synchronous and asynchronous cooperative efforts. This study hence takes a critical view of the adoption and deployment of collaborative social platforms in a knowledge...

  17. Corporate Social Networking Platforms As Cognitive Factories

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pereira, Lídia; Rasch, Miriam

    The day comes to an end. Tired of abiding to the rules of productivity you sit back, relax and prepare yourself for some hours of dolce fare niente on your social network of choice – you log into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and are now ready to catch up with your friends, acquaintances, family et

  18. Direct2Experts: a pilot national network to demonstrate interoperability among research-networking platforms

    OpenAIRE

    Weber, Griffin M; Barnett, William; Conlon, Mike; Eichmann, David; Kibbe, Warren; Falk-Krzesinski, Holly; Halaas, Michael; Johnson, Layne; Meeks, Eric; Mitchell, Donald; Schleyer, Titus; Stallings, Sarah; Warden, Michael; Kahlon, Maninder

    2011-01-01

    Research-networking tools use data-mining and social networking to enable expertise discovery, matchmaking and collaboration, which are important facets of team science and translational research. Several commercial and academic platforms have been built, and many institutions have deployed these products to help their investigators find local collaborators. Recent studies, though, have shown the growing importance of multiuniversity teams in science. Unfortunately, the lack of a standard dat...

  19. Apprehension of Youth towards Social Networking Sites: Two Sides of a Coin

    OpenAIRE

    Yukti Gulati; Shilpi Sharma

    2014-01-01

    Social networking sites are wide area of research. Rapid growth in Technology and Human Resources provides us new platform to build social networks. Today it has become highest point of concern to be aware of social networking sites and built networks. Since few years Social networking site has become very popular. There are different social networking sites for different purpose fulfillment. Orkut fails in the race of Social Networking Sites as compare to facebook. Although Fa...

  20. A DESIGN OF SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS SYSTEM BASED ON MOBILE PLATFORMS

    OpenAIRE

    Alaybeyoglu, Aysegul; Yavuz, Levent

    2017-01-01

    Alongwith the developing technology, social media technologies have becomewidespread and the number of internet users has increased rapidly. In addition,social media platforms have become very popular and the number of active socialmedia users has increased considerably. As a result of the increased use ofsocial media, there has been a trend towards mobile platforms. In this paper, adesign of a social media analysis system is developed using mobile platformsbased on Android. By this way, impo...

  1. Moodle vs. Social Media Platforms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gulieva, Valeria

    Given the competition coming from various social media platforms, it is explored in this paper how students could be encouraged to use Moodle more proactively during their studies. Moodle is a course management system for online learning. It is designed to be a flexible template-based system, which......, known and widely used social platforms. It might be also due to the fact that students do not see the benefits in investing time and efforts in learning the new system. Another reason might be the mandatory nature of Moodle, i.e., it is imposed on students, rather than a free choice – and this might...

  2. MSD-MAP: A Network-Based Systems Biology Platform for Predicting Disease-Metabolite Links.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wathieu, Henri; Issa, Naiem T; Mohandoss, Manisha; Byers, Stephen W; Dakshanamurthy, Sivanesan

    2017-01-01

    Cancer-associated metabolites result from cell-wide mechanisms of dysregulation. The field of metabolomics has sought to identify these aberrant metabolites as disease biomarkers, clues to understanding disease mechanisms, or even as therapeutic agents. This study was undertaken to reliably predict metabolites associated with colorectal, esophageal, and prostate cancers. Metabolite and disease biological action networks were compared in a computational platform called MSD-MAP (Multi Scale Disease-Metabolite Association Platform). Using differential gene expression analysis with patient-based RNAseq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, genes up- or down-regulated in cancer compared to normal tissue were identified. Relational databases were used to map biological entities including pathways, functions, and interacting proteins, to those differential disease genes. Similar relational maps were built for metabolites, stemming from known and in silico predicted metabolite-protein associations. The hypergeometric test was used to find statistically significant relationships between disease and metabolite biological signatures at each tier, and metabolites were assessed for multi-scale association with each cancer. Metabolite networks were also directly associated with various other diseases using a disease functional perturbation database. Our platform recapitulated metabolite-disease links that have been empirically verified in the scientific literature, with network-based mapping of jointly-associated biological activity also matching known disease mechanisms. This was true for colorectal, esophageal, and prostate cancers, using metabolite action networks stemming from both predicted and known functional protein associations. By employing systems biology concepts, MSD-MAP reliably predicted known cancermetabolite links, and may serve as a predictive tool to streamline conventional metabolomic profiling methodologies. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any

  3. k-Degree Anonymity Model for Social Network Data Publishing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MACWAN, K. R.

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Publicly accessible platform for social networking has gained special attraction because of its easy data sharing. Data generated on such social network is analyzed for various activities like marketing, social psychology, etc. This requires preservation of sensitive attributes before it becomes easily accessible. Simply removing the personal identities of the users before publishing data is not enough to maintain the privacy of the individuals. The structure of the social network data itself reveals much information regarding its users and their connections. To resolve this problem, k-degree anonymous method is adopted. It emphasizes on the modification of the graph to provide at least k number of nodes that contain the same degree. However, this approach is not efficient on a huge amount of social data and the modification of the original data fails to maintain data usefulness. In addition to this, the current anonymization approaches focus on a degree sequence-based graph model which leads to major modification of the graph topological properties. In this paper, we have proposed an improved k-degree anonymity model that retain the social network structural properties and also to provide privacy to the individuals. Utility measurement approach for community based graph model is used to verify the performance of the proposed technique.

  4. Social and place-focused communities in location-based online social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Chloë; Nicosia, Vincenzo; Scellato, Salvatore; Noulas, Anastasios; Mascolo, Cecilia

    2013-06-01

    Thanks to widely available, cheap Internet access and the ubiquity of smartphones, millions of people around the world now use online location-based social networking services. Understanding the structural properties of these systems and their dependence upon users' habits and mobility has many potential applications, including resource recommendation and link prediction. Here, we construct and characterise social and place-focused graphs by using longitudinal information about declared social relationships and about users' visits to physical places collected from a popular online location-based social service. We show that although the social and place-focused graphs are constructed from the same data set, they have quite different structural properties. We find that the social and location-focused graphs have different global and meso-scale structure, and in particular that social and place-focused communities have negligible overlap. Consequently, group inference based on community detection performed on the social graph alone fails to isolate place-focused groups, even though these do exist in the network. By studying the evolution of tie structure within communities, we show that the time period over which location data are aggregated has a substantial impact on the stability of place-focused communities, and that information about place-based groups may be more useful for user-centric applications than that obtained from the analysis of social communities alone.

  5. Wearable Device Control Platform Technology for Network Application Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heejung Kim

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Application development platform is the most important environment in IT industry. There are a variety of platforms. Although the native development enables application to optimize, various languages and software development kits need to be acquired according to the device. The coexistence of smart devices and platforms has rendered the native development approach time and cost consuming. Cross-platform development emerged as a response to these issues. These platforms generate applications for multiple devices based on web languages. Nevertheless, development requires additional implementation based on a native language because of the coverage and functions of supported application programming interfaces (APIs. Wearable devices have recently attracted considerable attention. These devices only support Bluetooth-based interdevice communication, thereby making communication and device control impossible beyond a certain range. We propose Network Application Agent (NetApp-Agent in order to overcome issues. NetApp-Agent based on the Cordova is a wearable device control platform for the development of network applications, controls input/output functions of smartphones and wearable/IoT through the Cordova and Native API, and enables device control and information exchange by external users by offering a self-defined API. We confirmed the efficiency of the proposed platform through experiments and a qualitative assessment of its implementation.

  6. Stylized facts in social networks: Community-based static modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jo, Hang-Hyun; Murase, Yohsuke; Török, János; Kertész, János; Kaski, Kimmo

    2018-06-01

    The past analyses of datasets of social networks have enabled us to make empirical findings of a number of aspects of human society, which are commonly featured as stylized facts of social networks, such as broad distributions of network quantities, existence of communities, assortative mixing, and intensity-topology correlations. Since the understanding of the structure of these complex social networks is far from complete, for deeper insight into human society more comprehensive datasets and modeling of the stylized facts are needed. Although the existing dynamical and static models can generate some stylized facts, here we take an alternative approach by devising a community-based static model with heterogeneous community sizes and larger communities having smaller link density and weight. With these few assumptions we are able to generate realistic social networks that show most stylized facts for a wide range of parameters, as demonstrated numerically and analytically. Since our community-based static model is simple to implement and easily scalable, it can be used as a reference system, benchmark, or testbed for further applications.

  7. Contemporary social network sites: Relevance in anesthesiology teaching, training, and research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haldar, Rudrashish; Kaushal, Ashutosh; Samanta, Sukhen; Ambesh, Paurush; Srivastava, Shashi; Singh, Prabhat K

    2016-01-01

    The phenomenal popularity of social networking sites has been used globally by medical professionals to boost professional associations and scientific developments. They have tremendous potential to forge professional liaisons, generate employment,upgrading skills and publicizing scientific achievements. We highlight the role of social networking mediums in influencing teaching, training and research in anaesthesiology. The growth of social networking sites have been prompted by the limitations of previous facilities in terms of ease of data and interface sharing and the amalgamation of audio visual aids on common platforms in the newer facilities. Contemporary social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr,Linkedn etc and their respective features based on anaesthesiology training or practice have been discussed. A host of advantages which these sites confer are also discussed. Likewise the potential pitfalls and drawbacks of these facilities have also been addressed. Social networking sites have immense potential for development of training and research in Anaesthesiology. However responsible and cautious utilization is advocated.

  8. Location-based social networking media for restaurant promotion and food review using mobile application

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luhur H.S.

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper is focusing on the development of a mobile application for searching restaurants and promotions with location based and social networking features. The main function of the application is to search restaurant information. Other functions are also available in this application such as add restaurant, add promotion, add photo, add food review, and other features including social networking features. The restaurant and promotion searching application will be developed under Android platform. Upon completion of this paper, heuristic evaluation and usability testing have been conducted. The result of both testing shows that the application is highly usable. Even though there are some usability problems discovered, the problems can be eliminated immediately by implementing the recommendations from the expert evaluators and the users as the testers of the application. Further improvement made to the application will ensure that the application can really be beneficial for the users of the application.

  9. Designing and Implementing a Distributed Social Network Service for Mobile Devices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandru RADOVICI

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents a new paradigm for building social network services. The proposed platform is called eXtensible Social Network. As it uses the XMPP protocol for authentication and communication, it allows users from different service providers interact with each other, without having to change their accounts. Moreover, the platform provides means for users to authenticate and interact with each other while temporary disconnected from the Internet. Moreover, the platform is specially designed for mobile devices, running on their restrictive operating systems and taking advantage of the systems optimizations.

  10. General Data Acquisition Platform for Wireless Sensor Network Based on CC2538

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Zhi-Jun

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Wireless sensor networks are the hotspots of current research and have very wide application prospects. Its front end is a sensor that can sense and check the external world. This paper takes temperature and humidity as the research object, and builds a wireless sensor network data acquisition platform by combining the Internet of things and the WeChat public platform. The platform uses DHT11 temperature and humidity sensors and CC2538 sensor nodes to obtain the relevant data, through the server and database for data access. The combination with WeChat public platform not only allows us to view the temperature and humidity in the WeChat public, but also allows us to understand the environmental changes of the relevant detection area more conveniently and quickly. The effectiveness of the platform is also demonstrated by the collection of temperature and humidity data.

  11. "A Lifelong Classroom": Social Studies Educators' Engagement with Professional Learning Networks on Twitter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noble, Anna; McQuillan, Patrick; Littenberg-Tobias, Josh

    2016-01-01

    Growing numbers of educators are using social media platforms to connect with other educators to form professional learning networks. These networks serve as alternative sources of professional development for teachers who seek to enrich their professional growth beyond school-based programs. This study aims to add to the small but growing body of…

  12. The Platformization of the Web: Making Web Data Platform Ready

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Helmond, A.

    2015-01-01

    In this article, I inquire into Facebook’s development as a platform by situating it within the transformation of social network sites into social media platforms. I explore this shift with a historical perspective on, what I refer to as, platformization, or the rise of the platform as the dominant

  13. Social connections and the persuasiveness of viral campaigns in social network sites: persuasive intent as the underlying mechanism

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Noort, G.; Antheunis, M.L.; van Reijmersdal, E.A.

    2012-01-01

    Social media are increasingly popular. Consequently, marketers more and more recognize social network sites as a platform for commercial campaigns. Social network users forward these campaigns to their online connections. However, our understanding of the persuasiveness of these campaigns is scarce.

  14. Research on University Network Teaching Platform (Blackboard in Teaching Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gou Zhao Xia

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available With rapid development of online education; teaching platform based on the network, as a new instructional mode has become a hot topic in online teaching. In this paper, the he teaching situation and existing problems on online was analyzed by comparing the difference between network teaching platform and traditional classroom teaching. Then the strategies of network teaching management and the case, which is focusing on the characteristics of Blackboard with the application of network teaching management was presents.

  15. Challenges of Health Games in the Social Network Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paredes, Hugo; Pinho, Anabela; Zagalo, Nelson

    2012-04-01

    Virtual communities and their benefits have been widely exploited to support patients, caregivers, families, and healthcare providers. The complexity of the social organization evolved the concept of virtual community to social networks, exploring the establishment of ties and relations between people. These technological platforms provide a way to keep up with one's connections network, through a set of communication and interaction tools. Games, as social interactive technologies, have great potential, ensuring a supportive community and thereby reducing social isolation. Serious social health games bring forward several research challenges. This article examines the potential benefits of the triad "health-serious games-social networks" and discusses some research challenges and opportunities of the liaison of serious health games and social networks.

  16. Information Dissemination of Public Health Emergency on Social Networks and Intelligent Computation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Hongzhi; Mao, Huajuan; Hu, Xiaohua; Hu, Feng; Sun, Xuemin; Jing, Zaiping; Duan, Yunsuo

    2015-01-01

    Due to the extensive social influence, public health emergency has attracted great attention in today's society. The booming social network is becoming a main information dissemination platform of those events and caused high concerns in emergency management, among which a good prediction of information dissemination in social networks is necessary for estimating the event's social impacts and making a proper strategy. However, information dissemination is largely affected by complex interactive activities and group behaviors in social network; the existing methods and models are limited to achieve a satisfactory prediction result due to the open changeable social connections and uncertain information processing behaviors. ACP (artificial societies, computational experiments, and parallel execution) provides an effective way to simulate the real situation. In order to obtain better information dissemination prediction in social networks, this paper proposes an intelligent computation method under the framework of TDF (Theory-Data-Feedback) based on ACP simulation system which was successfully applied to the analysis of A (H1N1) Flu emergency.

  17. EmuStack: An OpenStack-Based DTN Network Emulation Platform (Extended Version

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haifeng Li

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available With the advancement of computing and network virtualization technology, the networking research community shows great interest in network emulation. Compared with network simulation, network emulation can provide more relevant and comprehensive details. In this paper, EmuStack, a large-scale real-time emulation platform for Delay Tolerant Network (DTN, is proposed. EmuStack aims at empowering network emulation to become as simple as network simulation. Based on OpenStack, distributed synchronous emulation modules are developed to enable EmuStack to implement synchronous and dynamic, precise, and real-time network emulation. Meanwhile, the lightweight approach of using Docker container technology and network namespaces allows EmuStack to support a (up to hundreds of nodes large-scale topology with only several physical nodes. In addition, EmuStack integrates the Linux Traffic Control (TC tools with OpenStack for managing and emulating the virtual link characteristics which include variable bandwidth, delay, loss, jitter, reordering, and duplication. Finally, experiences with our initial implementation suggest the ability to run and debug experimental network protocol in real time. EmuStack environment would bring qualitative change in network research works.

  18. A next-generation social media-based relapse prevention intervention for youth depression: Qualitative data on user experience outcomes for social networking, safety, and clinical benefit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga Santesteban-Echarri

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Major depressive disorder (MDD has a high prevalence and relapse rate among young people. For many individuals depression exhibits a severe course, and it is therefore critical to invest in innovative online interventions for depression that are cost-effective, acceptable and feasible. At present, there is a scarcity of research reporting on qualitative data regarding the subjective user experience of young people using social networking-based interventions for depression. This study provides in-depth qualitative insights generated from 38 semi-structured interviews, and a follow-up focus group, with young people (15–25 years after the implementation of a moderated online social therapy intervention for depression relapse prevention (“Rebound”. Exploratory analysis identified patterns of content from interview data related to three main themes: 1 preferred content compared to perceived helpfulness of the online platform, 2 interest in social networking, and 3 protective environment. Two clear groups emerged; those who perceived the social networking component of the intervention as the most helpful component; and those who preferred to engage in therapy content, receiving individualized content suggested by moderators. The Rebound intervention was shown to be acceptable for young people with major depression. Integration of social networking features appears to enhance intervention engagement for some young people recovering from depression.

  19. Product Platform Development in Industrial Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Karlsson, Christer; Skold, Martin

    2011-01-01

    The article examines the strategic issues involved in the deployment of product platform development in an industrial network. The move entails identifying the types and characteristics of generically different product platform strategies and clarifying strategic motives and differences. Number o...... of platforms and product brands serve as the key dimensions when distinguishing the different strategies. Each strategy has its own challenges and raises various issues to deal with.......The article examines the strategic issues involved in the deployment of product platform development in an industrial network. The move entails identifying the types and characteristics of generically different product platform strategies and clarifying strategic motives and differences. Number...

  20. A Cloud Theory-Based Trust Computing Model in Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fengming Liu

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available How to develop a trust management model and then to efficiently control and manage nodes is an important issue in the scope of social network security. In this paper, a trust management model based on a cloud model is proposed. The cloud model uses a specific computation operator to achieve the transformation from qualitative concepts to quantitative computation. Additionally, this can also be used to effectively express the fuzziness, randomness and the relationship between them of the subjective trust. The node trust is divided into reputation trust and transaction trust. In addition, evaluation methods are designed, respectively. Firstly, the two-dimension trust cloud evaluation model is designed based on node’s comprehensive and trading experience to determine the reputation trust. The expected value reflects the average trust status of nodes. Then, entropy and hyper-entropy are used to describe the uncertainty of trust. Secondly, the calculation methods of the proposed direct transaction trust and the recommendation transaction trust involve comprehensively computation of the transaction trust of each node. Then, the choosing strategies were designed for node to trade based on trust cloud. Finally, the results of a simulation experiment in P2P network file sharing on an experimental platform directly reflect the objectivity, accuracy and robustness of the proposed model, and could also effectively identify the malicious or unreliable service nodes in the system. In addition, this can be used to promote the service reliability of the nodes with high credibility, by which the stability of the whole network is improved.

  1. Selection application for platforms and security protocols suitable for wireless sensor networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moeller, S; Newe, T; Lochmann, S

    2009-01-01

    There is a great number of platforms and security protocols which can be used for wireless sensor networks (WSN). All these platforms and protocols have different properties with certain advantages and disadvantages. For a good choice of platform and an associated protocol, these advantages and disadvantages should be compared and the best for the appropriate WSN chosen. To select a Security protocol and a wireless platform suitable for a specific application a software tool will be developed. That tool will enable wireless network deployment engineers to easily select a suitable wireless platform for their application based on their network needs and application security requirements.

  2. Performance of social network sensors during Hurricane Sandy.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yury Kryvasheyeu

    Full Text Available Information flow during catastrophic events is a critical aspect of disaster management. Modern communication platforms, in particular online social networks, provide an opportunity to study such flow and derive early-warning sensors, thus improving emergency preparedness and response. Performance of the social networks sensor method, based on topological and behavioral properties derived from the "friendship paradox", is studied here for over 50 million Twitter messages posted before, during, and after Hurricane Sandy. We find that differences in users' network centrality effectively translate into moderate awareness advantage (up to 26 hours; and that geo-location of users within or outside of the hurricane-affected area plays a significant role in determining the scale of such an advantage. Emotional response appears to be universal regardless of the position in the network topology, and displays characteristic, easily detectable patterns, opening a possibility to implement a simple "sentiment sensing" technique that can detect and locate disasters.

  3. Performance of Social Network Sensors during Hurricane Sandy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kryvasheyeu, Yury; Chen, Haohui; Moro, Esteban; Van Hentenryck, Pascal; Cebrian, Manuel

    2015-01-01

    Information flow during catastrophic events is a critical aspect of disaster management. Modern communication platforms, in particular online social networks, provide an opportunity to study such flow and derive early-warning sensors, thus improving emergency preparedness and response. Performance of the social networks sensor method, based on topological and behavioral properties derived from the “friendship paradox”, is studied here for over 50 million Twitter messages posted before, during, and after Hurricane Sandy. We find that differences in users’ network centrality effectively translate into moderate awareness advantage (up to 26 hours); and that geo-location of users within or outside of the hurricane-affected area plays a significant role in determining the scale of such an advantage. Emotional response appears to be universal regardless of the position in the network topology, and displays characteristic, easily detectable patterns, opening a possibility to implement a simple “sentiment sensing” technique that can detect and locate disasters. PMID:25692690

  4. A Markov chain model for image ranking system in social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zin, Thi Thi; Tin, Pyke; Toriu, Takashi; Hama, Hiromitsu

    2014-03-01

    In today world, different kinds of networks such as social, technological, business and etc. exist. All of the networks are similar in terms of distributions, continuously growing and expanding in large scale. Among them, many social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and many others provides a powerful abstraction of the structure and dynamics of diverse kinds of inter personal connection and interaction. Generally, the social network contents are created and consumed by the influences of all different social navigation paths that lead to the contents. Therefore, identifying important and user relevant refined structures such as visual information or communities become major factors in modern decision making world. Moreover, the traditional method of information ranking systems cannot be successful due to their lack of taking into account the properties of navigation paths driven by social connections. In this paper, we propose a novel image ranking system in social networks by using the social data relational graphs from social media platform jointly with visual data to improve the relevance between returned images and user intentions (i.e., social relevance). Specifically, we propose a Markov chain based Social-Visual Ranking algorithm by taking social relevance into account. By using some extensive experiments, we demonstrated the significant and effectiveness of the proposed social-visual ranking method.

  5. Group Recommendation Systems Based on External Social-Trust Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guang Fang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available With the development of social networks and online mobile communities, group recommendation systems support users’ interaction with similar interests or purposes with others. We often provide some advices to the close friends, such as listening to favorite music and sharing favorite dishes. However, users’ personalities have been ignored by the traditional group recommendation systems while the majority is satisfied. In this paper, a method of group recommendation based on external social-trust networks is proposed, which builds a group profile by analyzing not only users’ preferences, but also the social relationships between members inside and outside of the group. We employ the users’ degree of disagreement to adjust group preference rating by external information of social-trust network. Moreover, having a discussion about different social network utilization ratio, we proposed a method to work for smaller group size. The experimental results show that the proposed method has consistently higher precision and leads to satisfactory recommendations for groups.

  6. Researching intimacy through social media: A cross-platform approach

    OpenAIRE

    Miguel, C

    2016-01-01

    This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of how to study the way people build intimacy and manage privacy through social media interaction. It explores the research design and methodology of a research project based on a multi-sited case study composed of three different social media platforms: Badoo, CouchSurfing, and Facebook. This cross-platform approach is useful to observe how intimacy is often negotiated across different platforms. The research project focuses on the cities of...

  7. Online Social Networking, Sexual Risk and Protective Behaviors: Considerations for Clinicians and Researchers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holloway, Ian W; Dunlap, Shannon; Del Pino, Homero E; Hermanstyne, Keith; Pulsipher, Craig; Landovitz, Raphael J

    2014-09-01

    Online social networking refers to the use of internet-based technologies that facilitate connection and communication between users. These platforms may be accessed via computer or mobile device (e.g., tablet, smartphone); communication between users may include linking of profiles, posting of text, photo and video content, instant messaging and email. This review provides an overview of recent research on the relationship between online social networking and sexual risk and protective behaviors with a focus on use of social networking sites (SNS) among young people and populations at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). While findings are mixed, the widespread use of SNS for sexual communication and partner seeking presents opportunities for the delivery and evaluation of public health interventions. Results of SNS-based interventions to reduce sexual risk are synthesized in order to offer hands-on advice for clinicians and researchers interested in engaging patients and study participants via online social networking.

  8. An Investigation of Referral- and Comparison-based Social Influence on Social Networking Sites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tussyadiah, Iis; Kausar, Devi; Soesilo, Primidya K. M.

    between SNS engagement and both referral-based and comparison-based social influence for restaurant selection. Further, it was also identified that the relationships between SNS engagement and social influence are moderated by the different dimensions of consumers’ susceptibility to global influence......This study explored social influence resulting from two distinct social reference processes on social networking sites (SNS). A web-based survey was conducted among consumers in the USA and Indonesia using restaurant consumption as a research context. The study identified the positive relationships...

  9. Dynamic Evolution Model Based on Social Network Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiong, Xi; Gou, Zhi-Jian; Zhang, Shi-Bin; Zhao, Wen

    2013-11-01

    Based on the analysis of evolutionary characteristics of public opinion in social networking services (SNS), in the paper we propose a dynamic evolution model, in which opinions are coupled with topology. This model shows the clustering phenomenon of opinions in dynamic network evolution. The simulation results show that the model can fit the data from a social network site. The dynamic evolution of networks accelerates the opinion, separation and aggregation. The scale and the number of clusters are influenced by confidence limit and rewiring probability. Dynamic changes of the topology reduce the number of isolated nodes, while the increased confidence limit allows nodes to communicate more sufficiently. The two effects make the distribution of opinion more neutral. The dynamic evolution of networks generates central clusters with high connectivity and high betweenness, which make it difficult to control public opinions in SNS.

  10. Oral health related quality of life in pregnant and post partum women in two social network domains; predominantly home-based and work-based networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamarca, Gabriela A; Leal, Maria do C; Leao, Anna T T; Sheiham, Aubrey; Vettore, Mario V

    2012-01-13

    Individuals connected to supportive social networks have better general and oral health quality of life. The objective of this study was to assess whether there were differences in oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) between women connected to either predominantly home-based and work-based social networks. A follow-up prevalence study was conducted on 1403 pregnant and post-partum women (mean age of 25.2 ± 6.3 years) living in two cities in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Women were participants in an established cohort followed from pregnancy (baseline) to post-partum period (follow-up). All participants were allocated to two groups; 1. work-based social network group--employed women with paid work, and, 2. home-based social network group--women with no paid work, housewives or unemployed women. Measures of social support and social network were used as well as questions on sociodemographic characteristics and OHRQoL and health related behaviors. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to obtain OR of relationships between occupational contexts, affectionate support and positive social interaction on the one hand, and oral health quality of life, using the Oral Health Impacts Profile (OHIP) measure, adjusted for age, ethnicity, family income, schooling, marital status and social class. There was a modifying effect of positive social interaction on the odds of occupational context on OHRQoL. The odds of having a poorer OHIP score, ≥ 4, was significantly higher for women with home-based social networks and moderate levels of positive social interactions [OR 1.64 (95% CI: 1.08-2.48)], and for women with home-based social networks and low levels of positive social interactions [OR 2.15 (95% CI: 1.40-3.30)] compared with women with work-based social networks and high levels of positive social interactions. Black ethnicity was associated with OHIP scores ≥ 4 [OR 1.73 (95% CI: 1.23-2.42)]. Pregnant and post-partum Brazilian women in paid

  11. Oral health related quality of life in pregnant and post partum women in two social network domains; predominantly home-based and work-based networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Individuals connected to supportive social networks have better general and oral health quality of life. The objective of this study was to assess whether there were differences in oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) between women connected to either predominantly home-based and work-based social networks. Methods A follow-up prevalence study was conducted on 1403 pregnant and post-partum women (mean age of 25.2 ± 6.3 years) living in two cities in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Women were participants in an established cohort followed from pregnancy (baseline) to post-partum period (follow-up). All participants were allocated to two groups; 1. work-based social network group - employed women with paid work, and, 2. home-based social network group - women with no paid work, housewives or unemployed women. Measures of social support and social network were used as well as questions on sociodemographic characteristics and OHRQoL and health related behaviors. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to obtain OR of relationships between occupational contexts, affectionate support and positive social interaction on the one hand, and oral health quality of life, using the Oral Health Impacts Profile (OHIP) measure, adjusted for age, ethnicity, family income, schooling, marital status and social class. Results There was a modifying effect of positive social interaction on the odds of occupational context on OHRQoL. The odds of having a poorer OHIP score, ≥4, was significantly higher for women with home-based social networks and moderate levels of positive social interactions [OR 1.64 (95% CI: 1.08-2.48)], and for women with home-based social networks and low levels of positive social interactions [OR 2.15 (95% CI: 1.40-3.30)] compared with women with work-based social networks and high levels of positive social interactions. Black ethnicity was associated with OHIP scores ≥4 [OR 1.73 (95% CI: 1.23-2.42)]. Conclusions Pregnant and post

  12. An Efficient Neural-Network-Based Microseismic Monitoring Platform for Hydraulic Fracture on an Edge Computing Architecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaopu Zhang

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Microseismic monitoring is one of the most critical technologies for hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas production. To detect events in an accurate and efficient way, there are two major challenges. One challenge is how to achieve high accuracy due to a poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR. The other one is concerned with real-time data transmission. Taking these challenges into consideration, an edge-computing-based platform, namely Edge-to-Center LearnReduce, is presented in this work. The platform consists of a data center with many edge components. At the data center, a neural network model combined with convolutional neural network (CNN and long short-term memory (LSTM is designed and this model is trained by using previously obtained data. Once the model is fully trained, it is sent to edge components for events detection and data reduction. At each edge component, a probabilistic inference is added to the neural network model to improve its accuracy. Finally, the reduced data is delivered to the data center. Based on experiment results, a high detection accuracy (over 96% with less transmitted data (about 90% was achieved by using the proposed approach on a microseismic monitoring system. These results show that the platform can simultaneously improve the accuracy and efficiency of microseismic monitoring.

  13. An Efficient Neural-Network-Based Microseismic Monitoring Platform for Hydraulic Fracture on an Edge Computing Architecture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiaopu; Lin, Jun; Chen, Zubin; Sun, Feng; Zhu, Xi; Fang, Gengfa

    2018-06-05

    Microseismic monitoring is one of the most critical technologies for hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas production. To detect events in an accurate and efficient way, there are two major challenges. One challenge is how to achieve high accuracy due to a poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The other one is concerned with real-time data transmission. Taking these challenges into consideration, an edge-computing-based platform, namely Edge-to-Center LearnReduce, is presented in this work. The platform consists of a data center with many edge components. At the data center, a neural network model combined with convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) is designed and this model is trained by using previously obtained data. Once the model is fully trained, it is sent to edge components for events detection and data reduction. At each edge component, a probabilistic inference is added to the neural network model to improve its accuracy. Finally, the reduced data is delivered to the data center. Based on experiment results, a high detection accuracy (over 96%) with less transmitted data (about 90%) was achieved by using the proposed approach on a microseismic monitoring system. These results show that the platform can simultaneously improve the accuracy and efficiency of microseismic monitoring.

  14. Invited Commentary: Evolution of Social Networks, Health, and the Role of Epidemiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aiello, Allison E

    2017-06-01

    Almost 40 years ago, Berkman and Syme demonstrated that social networks were related to the risk of early mortality (Am J Epidemiol. 1979;109(2):186-204). Their study was highly innovative because they directly measured and quantified social networks in a large prospective population-based survey with mortality follow-up. The results of the study showed robust network gradients, whereby those with fewer networks and weaker social ties had significantly higher mortality rates. The important influence of social networks that Berkman and Syme noted many years ago is likely to heighten in the future, as demographic characteristics shift and individuals become more inclined to socialize through online platforms instead of real-world interactions. Berkman and Syme's research in 1979 continues to play a key role in shaping recent efforts to uncover the influence of social networks on health. Looking back on their findings may help epidemiologists better understand the importance of both online and offline networks for population health today. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  15. Exploring Social Networking Technologies as Tools for HIV Prevention for Men Who Have Sex With Men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramallo, Jorge; Kidder, Thomas; Albritton, Tashuna; Blick, Gary; Pachankis, John; Grandelski, Valen; Grandeleski, Valen; Kershaw, Trace

    2015-08-01

    Social networking technologies are influential among men who have sex with men (MSM) and may be an important strategy for HIV prevention. We conducted focus groups with HIV positive and negative participants. Almost all participants used social networking sites to meet new friends and sexual partners. The main obstacle to effective HIV prevention campaigns in social networking platforms was stigmatization based on homosexuality as well as HIV status. Persistent stigma associated with HIV status and disclosure was cited as a top reason for avoiding HIV-related conversations while meeting new partners using social technologies. Further, social networking sites have different social etiquettes and rules that may increase HIV risk by discouraging HIV status disclosure. Overall, successful interventions for MSM using social networking technologies must consider aspects of privacy, stigma, and social norms in order to enact HIV reduction among MSM.

  16. Online Social Networks - Opportunities for Empowering Cancer Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammadzadeh, Zeinab; Davoodi, Somayeh; Ghazisaeidi, Marjan

    2016-01-01

    Online social network technologies have become important to health and apply in most health care areas. Particularly in cancer care, because it is a disease which involves many social aspects, online social networks can be very useful. Use of online social networks provides a suitable platform for cancer patients and families to present and share information about their medical conditions, address their educational needs, support decision making, and help to coping with their disease and improve their own outcomes. Like any other new technologies, online social networks, along with many benefits, have some negative effects such as violation of privacy and publication of incorrect information. However, if these effects are managed properly, they can empower patients to manage cancer through changing behavioral patterns and enhancing the quality of cancer patients lives This paper explains some application of online social networks in the cancer patient care process. It also covers advantages and disadvantages of related technologies.

  17. Research on social communication network evolution based on topology potential distribution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Dongjie; Jiang, Jian; Li, Deyi; Zhang, Haisu; Chen, Guisheng

    2011-12-01

    Aiming at the problem of social communication network evolution, first, topology potential is introduced to measure the local influence among nodes in networks. Second, from the perspective of topology potential distribution the method of network evolution description based on topology potential distribution is presented, which takes the artificial intelligence with uncertainty as basic theory and local influence among nodes as essentiality. Then, a social communication network is constructed by enron email dataset, the method presented is used to analyze the characteristic of the social communication network evolution and some useful conclusions are got, implying that the method is effective, which shows that topology potential distribution can effectively describe the characteristic of sociology and detect the local changes in social communication network.

  18. Dimensionality and effects of information motivation on users’ online social network advertising acceptance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    IMRAN ANWAR MIR

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Social media has produced substantial changes in the communication landscape. Online social network sites (SNS grew as a common platform for online social interaction. SNS firms generate revenue from the advertising appearing on SNS. Their survival depends on users’ approval of such social network advertising (SNA. Marketing literature indicates that users accept advertising if it is consistent with their motivations for using social media. Information seeking is the most recognized SNS motivation. Yet, research on evaluating the influence of SNS information motivation on users’ approval of SNA is scarce. Based on SNS uses and gratifications theory, this study proposes a multidimensional model that shows the influence of SNS information motivation on users’ approval of SNA.

  19. Information Dissemination of Public Health Emergency on Social Networks and Intelligent Computation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongzhi Hu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to the extensive social influence, public health emergency has attracted great attention in today’s society. The booming social network is becoming a main information dissemination platform of those events and caused high concerns in emergency management, among which a good prediction of information dissemination in social networks is necessary for estimating the event’s social impacts and making a proper strategy. However, information dissemination is largely affected by complex interactive activities and group behaviors in social network; the existing methods and models are limited to achieve a satisfactory prediction result due to the open changeable social connections and uncertain information processing behaviors. ACP (artificial societies, computational experiments, and parallel execution provides an effective way to simulate the real situation. In order to obtain better information dissemination prediction in social networks, this paper proposes an intelligent computation method under the framework of TDF (Theory-Data-Feedback based on ACP simulation system which was successfully applied to the analysis of A (H1N1 Flu emergency.

  20. Hybrid attacks on model-based social recommender systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Junliang; Gao, Min; Rong, Wenge; Li, Wentao; Xiong, Qingyu; Wen, Junhao

    2017-10-01

    With the growing popularity of the online social platform, the social network based approaches to recommendation emerged. However, because of the open nature of rating systems and social networks, the social recommender systems are susceptible to malicious attacks. In this paper, we present a certain novel attack, which inherits characteristics of the rating attack and the relation attack, and term it hybrid attack. Furtherly, we explore the impact of the hybrid attack on model-based social recommender systems in multiple aspects. The experimental results show that, the hybrid attack is more destructive than the rating attack in most cases. In addition, users and items with fewer ratings will be influenced more when attacked. Last but not the least, the findings suggest that spammers do not depend on the feedback links from normal users to become more powerful, the unilateral links can make the hybrid attack effective enough. Since unilateral links are much cheaper, the hybrid attack will be a great threat to model-based social recommender systems.

  1. Professional Social Networking in Radiology: Who Is There and What Are They Doing?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Sumir S; Hawkins, C Matthew; Rawson, James V; Hoang, Jenny K

    2017-05-01

    Although it is perceived that the use of social media professionally is increasing among radiologists, little is known about the habits and demographics of this subspecialty. This study aims to compare radiologists who use social networking for professional purposes to those who do not with regard to their characteristics, habits, and attitudes. Radiologists were invited by e-mail and through posts on social networks to participate in a survey on the use of social media platforms. Questions included type of user, pattern of use, and benefits and barriers. Professional users and professional nonusers were compared. One hundred eighty-six radiologists responded. One hundred ten (59.1%) used social networking for professional purposes, 34 (18.2%) for personal-use only, and 42 (22.6%) denied using social media. LinkedIn was the most common platform among all professional users, and Twitter was the most commonly used platform among highly active professional users. Trainees comprised 52 out of 110 (47.3%) professional social networking users compared to 18 out of 76 (23.7%) nonusers (P < 0.01). A subgroup analysis on Twitter use for professional purposes revealed a significant gender difference: 15 out of 66 (22.7%) professional Twitter users were female compared to 48 out of 120 (40.0%) non-Twitter users (P < 0.05). The greatest barrier to professional social media use for nonusers was confidentiality. Nearly 60% of radiologist respondents use social networking for professional purposes. Radiology is likely to see growth in the role of social networking in the coming years as nearly half of professional users are radiology trainees. Twitter use for professional purposes among radiologists was disproportionately male. It is important to be cognizant of gender imbalance and to improve visibility of female leaders on social networking. Copyright © 2017 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Mobile human network management and recommendation by probabilistic social mining.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Min, Jun-Ki; Cho, Sung-Bae

    2011-06-01

    Recently, inferring or sharing of mobile contexts has been actively investigated as cell phones have become more than a communication device. However, most of them focused on utilizing the contexts on social network services, while the means in mining or managing the human network itself were barely considered. In this paper, the SmartPhonebook, which mines users' social connections to manage their relationships by reasoning social and personal contexts, is presented. It works like an artificial assistant which recommends the candidate callees whom the users probably would like to contact in a certain situation. Moreover, it visualizes their social contexts like closeness and relationship with others in order to let the users know their social situations. The proposed method infers the social contexts based on the contact patterns, while it extracts the personal contexts such as the users' emotional states and behaviors from the mobile logs. Here, Bayesian networks are exploited to handle the uncertainties in the mobile environment. The proposed system has been implemented with the MS Windows Mobile 2003 SE Platform on Samsung SPH-M4650 smartphone and has been tested on real-world data. The experimental results showed that the system provides an efficient and informative way for mobile social networking.

  3. Health 2.0-Lessons Learned: Social Networking With Patients for Health Promotion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Suparna; Kilian, Reena; Leung, Fok-Han

    2014-07-01

    The advent of social networking as a major platform for human interaction has introduced a new dimension into the physician-patient relationship, known as Health 2.0. The concept of Health 2.0 is young and evolving; so far, it has meant the use of social media by health professionals and patients to personalize health care and promote health education. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter offer promising platforms for health care providers to engage patients. Despite the vast potential of Health 2.0, usage by health providers remains relatively low. Using a pilot study as an example, this commentary reviews the ways in which physicians can effectively harness the power of social networking to meaningfully engage their patients in primary prevention. © The Author(s) 2014.

  4. Researching intimacy through social media: A cross-platform approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Miguel

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of how to study the way people build intimacy and manage privacy through social media interaction. It explores the research design and methodology of a research project based on a multi-sited case study composed of three different social media platforms: Badoo, CouchSurfing, and Facebook. This cross-platform approach is useful to observe how intimacy is often negotiated across different platforms. The research project focuses on the cities of Leeds (UK and Barcelona (Spain. In particular, this article discusses the methods used to recruit participants and collect data for that study - namely, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and user profiles analysis. This cross-platform approach and multi-method research design is helpful to investigate the nature of intimacy practices facilitated by social media at several levels: online/offline, across different platforms, among different types of relationships, within both new and existing relationships, and in different locations

  5. Understanding Online Health Groups for Depression: Social Network and Linguistic Perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Ronghua; Zhang, Qingpeng

    2016-03-10

    Mental health problems have become increasingly prevalent in the past decade. With the advance of Web 2.0 technologies, social media present a novel platform for Web users to form online health groups. Members of online health groups discuss health-related issues and mutually help one another by anonymously revealing their mental conditions, sharing personal experiences, exchanging health information, and providing suggestions and support. The conversations in online health groups contain valuable information to facilitate the understanding of their mutual help behaviors and their mental health problems. We aimed to characterize the conversations in a major online health group for major depressive disorder (MDD) patients in a popular Chinese social media platform. In particular, we intended to explain how Web users discuss depression-related issues from the perspective of the social networks and linguistic patterns revealed by the members' conversations. Social network analysis and linguistic analysis were employed to characterize the social structure and linguistic patterns, respectively. Furthermore, we integrated both perspectives to exploit the hidden relations between them. We found an intensive use of self-focus words and negative affect words. In general, group members used a higher proportion of negative affect words than positive affect words. The social network of the MDD group for depression possessed small-world and scale-free properties, with a much higher reciprocity ratio and clustering coefficient value as compared to the networks of other social media platforms and classic network models. We observed a number of interesting relationships, either strong correlations or convergent trends, between the topological properties and linguistic properties of the MDD group members. (1) The MDD group members have the characteristics of self-preoccupation and negative thought content, according to Beck's cognitive theory of depression; (2) the social structure

  6. Social networks uncovered: 10 tips every plastic surgeon should know.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dauwe, Phillip; Heller, Justin B; Unger, Jacob G; Graham, Darrell; Rohrich, Rod J

    2012-11-01

    Understanding online social networks is of critical importance to the plastic surgeon. With knowledge, it becomes apparent that the numerous networks available are similar in their structure, usage, and function. The key is communication between Internet media such that one maximizes exposure to patients. This article focuses on 2 social networking platforms that we feel provide the most utility to plastic surgeons. Ten tips are provided for incorporation of Facebook and Twitter into your practice.

  7. VOLTTRON Lite: Integration Platform for the Transactional Network

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haack, Jereme N.; Katipamula, Srinivas; Akyol, Bora A.; Lutes, Robert G.

    2013-10-31

    In FY13, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with funding from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Technologies Office (BTO) designed, prototyped and tested a transactional network platform. The platform is intended to support energy, operational and financial transactions between any networked entities (equipment, organizations, buildings, grid, etc.). Initially, in FY13, the concept demonstrated transactions between packaged rooftop units (RTUs) and the electric grid using applications or “agents” that reside on the platform, on the equipment, on local building controller or in the Cloud. This document describes the core of the transactional network platform, the Volttron Lite™ software and associated services hosted on the platform. Future enhancements are also discussed. The appendix of the document provides examples of how to use the various services hosted on the platform.

  8. Forum: social network for the surveillance and prevention of workplace accidents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vilela, R A G; Almeida, I M; Nunes da Silva, A; Gomes, M H P; Prado, H; Buoso, E; Dias, M D; Cavalcante, S; Lacorte, L E

    2012-01-01

    In 2008, academic researchers and public service officials created a university extension studies platform based on online and on-site meetings denominated "Work-Related Accidents Forum: Analysis, Prevention, and Other Relevant Aspects. Its aim was to help public agents and social partners to propagate a systemic approach that would be helpful in the surveillance and prevention of work-related accidents. This article describes and analyses such a platform. Online access is free and structured to: support dissemination of updated concepts; support on-site meetings and capacity to build educational activities; and keep a permanent space for debate among the registered participants. The desired result is the propagation of a social-technical-systemic view of work-related accidents that replaces the current traditional view that emphasizes human error and results in blaming the victims. The Forum uses an educational approach known as permanent health education, which is based on the experience and needs of workers and encourages debate among participants. The forum adopts a problematizing pedagogy that starts from the requirements and experiences of the social actors and stimulates support and discussions among them in line with an ongoing health educational approach. The current challenge is to turn the platform into a social networking website in order to broaden its links with society.

  9. Organisational adaptation in an activist network: social networks, leadership, and change in al-Muhajiroun.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kenney, Michael; Horgan, John; Horne, Cale; Vining, Peter; Carley, Kathleen M; Bigrigg, Michael W; Bloom, Mia; Braddock, Kurt

    2013-09-01

    Social networks are said to facilitate learning and adaptation by providing the connections through which network nodes (or agents) share information and experience. Yet, our understanding of how this process unfolds in real-world networks remains underdeveloped. This paper explores this gap through a case study of al-Muhajiroun, an activist network that continues to call for the establishment of an Islamic state in Britain despite being formally outlawed by British authorities. Drawing on organisation theory and social network analysis, we formulate three hypotheses regarding the learning capacity and social network properties of al-Muhajiroun (AM) and its successor groups. We then test these hypotheses using mixed methods. Our methods combine quantitative analysis of three agent-based networks in AM measured for structural properties that facilitate learning, including connectedness, betweenness centrality and eigenvector centrality, with qualitative analysis of interviews with AM activists focusing organisational adaptation and learning. The results of these analyses confirm that al-Muhajiroun activists respond to government pressure by changing their operations, including creating new platforms under different names and adjusting leadership roles among movement veterans to accommodate their spiritual leader's unwelcome exodus to Lebanon. Simple as they are effective, these adaptations have allowed al-Muhajiroun and its successor groups to continue their activism in an increasingly hostile environment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  10. Social networks: communication and change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gustavo Cardoso

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Virtual social networks have brought about the possibility for open and plural debate, where all those with the necessary literacy skills and means are able to participate in the creation and dissemination of information. By pressing political agents and determining the “agenda” of a lot of the media, users demonstrate that we stand at an ideal platform for creating both real social movements and more or less fleeting events, as manifestos or virtual campaigns. Nonetheless, in order to understand the role of virtual social networks in today’s world, we need to answer some prior questions. Are we facing a new communication model, whereby the product of “disinterested” interactivity creates an aura of confidence in disseminated information, often quite higher that that seen in the “old media”? Will that interactivity be a chance to fight-off citizens’ growing detachment with regard to the “res publica”? Will we find in citizen-made journalism, transmitted through virtual social networks, the consecration of a true fourth power? On the other hand, can we call the distinct collective movements we have seen emerging true “social movements”?The present article aims to examine this and other issues that come to the fore in the intricate social world of cyberspace.

  11. Conformity-based cooperation in online social networks: The effect of heterogeneous social influence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Bo; Wang, Jianwei; Zhang, Xuejun

    2015-01-01

    This paper extends the conformity model by introducing heterogeneous social influence into the analysis. We associate the influence of a player in the network with its degree centrality assuming that players of higher degree exhibit more social influence on its neighbors. The results show that the equilibrium level of cooperators can be dramatically enhanced if the conformity-driven players are preferentially influenced by neighbors of higher degree. We attribute this finding to two elementary mechanisms in the evolutionary process: (1) degree-based social influence facilitates the formation of strategic clusters around hubs; and (2) payoff-heterogeneity between cooperative clusters and defective clusters contributes to the promotion of cooperation. This research reveals the important role of heterogeneous social influence on the emergence of cooperation in social networks.

  12. Social Networking of Instrumentation - a Case Study in Telematics

    OpenAIRE

    ROBU, D.; SANDU, F.; PETREUS, D.; NEDELCU, A.; BALICA, A.

    2014-01-01

    The research work contributes to the design and implementation of the communication part for integrating remote instruments and drives via social networks (SN) into instrumentation communities. It is used the virtual instrumentation (VI) to manage objects that tweet on popular SN platforms applying the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT). Local and remote resource aggregation is based on National Instruments (NI) data acquisition and distribution hardware in a NI software ...

  13. The Significance of Kinship for Medical Education: Reflections on the Use of a Bespoke Social Network to Support Learners' Professional Identities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatzipanagos, Stylianos; John, Bernadette; Chiu, Yuan-Li Tiffany

    2016-03-03

    Social media can support and sustain communities much better than previous generations of learning technologies, where institutional barriers undermined any initiatives for embedding formal and informal learning. Some of the many types of social media have already had an impact on student learning, based on empirical evidence. One of these, social networking, has the potential to support communication in formal and informal spaces. In this paper we report on the evaluation of an institutional social network-King's Social Harmonisation Project (KINSHIP)-established to foster an improved sense of community, enhance communication, and serve as a space to model digital professionalism for students at King's College London, United Kingdom. Our evaluation focused on a study that examined students' needs and perceptions with regard to the provision of a cross-university platform. Data were collected from students, including those in the field of health and social care, in order to recommend a practical way forward to address current needs in this area. The findings indicate that the majority of the respondents were positive about using a social networking platform to develop their professional voice and profiles. Results suggest that timely promotion of the platform, emphasis on interface and learning design, and a clear identity are required in order to gain acceptance as the institutional social networking site. Empirical findings in this study project an advantage of an institutional social network such a KINSHIP over other social networks (eg, Facebook) because access is limited to staff and students and the site is mainly being used for academic purposes.

  14. A comparative study of information diffusion in weblogs and microblogs based on social network analysis

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yang ZHANG; Wanyang LING

    2012-01-01

    Purpose:This paper intends to explore a quantitative method for investigating the characteristics of information diffusion through social media like weblogs and microblogs.By using the social network analysis methods,we attempt to analyze the different characteristics of information diffusion in weblogs and microblogs as well as the possible reasons of these differences.Design/methodology/approach:Using the social network analysis methods,this paper carries out an empirical study by taking the Chinese weblogs and microblogs in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS) as the research sample and employing measures such as network density,core/peripheral structure and centrality.Findings:Firstly,both bloggers and microbloggers maintain weak ties,and both of their social networks display a small-world effect.Secondly,compared with weblog users,microblog users are more interconnected,more equal and more capable of developing relationships with people outside their own social networks.Thirdly,the microblogging social network is more conducive to information diffusion than the blogging network,because of their differences in functions and the information flow mechanism.Finally,the communication mode emerged with microblogging,with the characteristics of micro-content,multi-channel information dissemination,dense and decentralized social network and content aggregation,will be one of the trends in the development of the information exchange platform in the future.Research limitations:The sample size needs to be increased so that samples are more representative.Errors may exist during the data collection.Moreover,the individual-level characteristics of the samples as well as the types of information exchanged need to be further studied.Practical implications:This preliminary study explores the characteristics of information diffusion in the network environment and verifies the feasibility of conducting a quantitative analysis of information diffusion through

  15. A comparative study of information diffusion in weblogs and microblogs based on social network analysis

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yang; ZHANG; Wanyang; LING

    2012-01-01

    Purpose:This paper intends to explore a quantitative method for investigating the characteristics of information diffusion through social media like weblogs and microblogs.By using the social network analysis methods,we attempt to analyze the different characteristics of information diffusion in weblogs and microblogs as well as the possible reasons of these differences.Design/methodology/approach:Using the social network analysis methods,this paper carries out an empirical study by taking the Chinese weblogs and microblogs in the field of Library and Information Science(LIS)as the research sample and employing measures such as network density,core/peripheral structure and centrality.Findings:Firstly,both bloggers and microbloggers maintain weak ties,and both of their social networks display a small-world effect.Secondly,compared with weblog users,microblog users are more interconnected,more equal and more capable of developing relationships with people outside their own social networks.Thirdly,the microblogging social network is more conducive to information diffusion than the blogging network,because of their differences in functions and the information flow mechanism.Finally,the communication mode emerged with microblogging,with the characteristics of micro-content,multi-channel information dissemination,dense and decentralized social network and content aggregation,will be one of the trends in the development of the information exchange platform in the future.Research limitations:The sample size needs to be increased so that samples are more representative.Errors may exist during the data collection.Moreover,the individual-level characteristics of the samples as well as the types of information exchanged need to be further studied.Practical implications:This preliminary study explores the characteristics of information diffusion in the network environment and verifies the feasibility of conducting a quantitative analysis of information diffusion through social

  16. Novel Opportunistic Network Routing Based on Social Rank for Device-to-Device Communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tong Wang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, there has been dramatic proliferation of research concerned with fifth-generation (5G mobile communication networks, among which device-to-device (D2D communication is one of the key technologies. Due to the intermittent connection of nodes, the D2D network topology may be disconnected frequently, which will lead to failure in transmission of large data files. In opportunistic networks, in case of encountering nodes which never meet before a flood message blindly to cause tremendous network overhead, a novel opportunistic network routing protocol based on social rank and intermeeting time (SRIT is proposed in this paper. An improved utility approach applied in utility replication based on encounter durations and intermeeting time is put forward to enhance the routing efficiency. Meanwhile, in order to select better candidate nodes in the network, a social graph among people is established when they socially relate to each other in social rank replication. The results under the scenario show an advantage of the proposed opportunistic network routing based on social rank and intermeeting time (SRIT over the compared algorithms in terms of delivery ratio, average delivery latency, and overhead ratio.

  17. Social network analysis of multi-stakeholder platforms in agricultural research for development: Opportunities and constraints for innovation and scaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hermans, Frans; Sartas, Murat; van Schagen, Boudy; van Asten, Piet; Schut, Marc

    2017-01-01

    Multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) are seen as a promising vehicle to achieve agricultural development impacts. By increasing collaboration, exchange of knowledge and influence mediation among farmers, researchers and other stakeholders, MSPs supposedly enhance their 'capacity to innovate' and contribute to the 'scaling of innovations'. The objective of this paper is to explore the capacity to innovate and scaling potential of three MSPs in Burundi, Rwanda and the South Kivu province located in the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In order to do this, we apply Social Network Analysis and Exponential Random Graph Modelling (ERGM) to investigate the structural properties of the collaborative, knowledge exchange and influence networks of these MSPs and compared them against value propositions derived from the innovation network literature. Results demonstrate a number of mismatches between collaboration, knowledge exchange and influence networks for effective innovation and scaling processes in all three countries: NGOs and private sector are respectively over- and under-represented in the MSP networks. Linkages between local and higher levels are weak, and influential organisations (e.g., high-level government actors) are often not part of the MSP or are not actively linked to by other organisations. Organisations with a central position in the knowledge network are more sought out for collaboration. The scaling of innovations is primarily between the same type of organisations across different administrative levels, but not between different types of organisations. The results illustrate the potential of Social Network Analysis and ERGMs to identify the strengths and limitations of MSPs in terms of achieving development impacts.

  18. Social network analysis of multi-stakeholder platforms in agricultural research for development: Opportunities and constraints for innovation and scaling.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frans Hermans

    Full Text Available Multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs are seen as a promising vehicle to achieve agricultural development impacts. By increasing collaboration, exchange of knowledge and influence mediation among farmers, researchers and other stakeholders, MSPs supposedly enhance their 'capacity to innovate' and contribute to the 'scaling of innovations'. The objective of this paper is to explore the capacity to innovate and scaling potential of three MSPs in Burundi, Rwanda and the South Kivu province located in the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC. In order to do this, we apply Social Network Analysis and Exponential Random Graph Modelling (ERGM to investigate the structural properties of the collaborative, knowledge exchange and influence networks of these MSPs and compared them against value propositions derived from the innovation network literature. Results demonstrate a number of mismatches between collaboration, knowledge exchange and influence networks for effective innovation and scaling processes in all three countries: NGOs and private sector are respectively over- and under-represented in the MSP networks. Linkages between local and higher levels are weak, and influential organisations (e.g., high-level government actors are often not part of the MSP or are not actively linked to by other organisations. Organisations with a central position in the knowledge network are more sought out for collaboration. The scaling of innovations is primarily between the same type of organisations across different administrative levels, but not between different types of organisations. The results illustrate the potential of Social Network Analysis and ERGMs to identify the strengths and limitations of MSPs in terms of achieving development impacts.

  19. Private Sharing of User Location over Online Social Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Freudiger, Julien; Neu, Raoul; Hubaux, Jean-Pierre

    2010-01-01

    Online social networks increasingly allow mobile users to share their location with their friends. Much to the detriment of users’ privacy, this also means that social network operators collect users’ lo- cation. Similarly, third parties can learn users’ location from localization and location visualization services. Ideally, third-parties should not be given complete access to users’ location. To protect location privacy, we design and implement a platform-independent solution for users to s...

  20. The Role of the Underground Economy in Social Network Spam and Abuse

    OpenAIRE

    Thomas, Kurt

    2013-01-01

    Online social networks have emerged as real-time communication platforms connecting billions of users around the globe. Implicit to the interactions within an online social network is the notion of trust; users create relationships with their friends and valued media outlets, in turn receiving access to content generated by each relationship. This trust however comes with a price. On the heels of the widespread adoption of online social networks, scams, phishing, and malware attacks conducted...

  1. Social cognitive radio networks

    CERN Document Server

    Chen, Xu

    2015-01-01

    This brief presents research results on social cognitive radio networks, a transformational and innovative networking paradigm that promotes the nexus between social interactions and cognitive radio networks. Along with a review of the research literature, the text examines the key motivation and challenges of social cognitive radio network design. Three socially inspired distributed spectrum sharing mechanisms are introduced: adaptive channel recommendation mechanism, imitation-based social spectrum sharing mechanism, and evolutionarily stable spectrum access mechanism. The brief concludes with a discussion of future research directions which ascertains that exploiting social interactions for distributed spectrum sharing will advance the state-of-the-art of cognitive radio network design, spur a new line of thinking for future wireless networks, and enable novel wireless service and applications.

  2. Design and research on the platform of network manufacture product electronic trading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zude; Liu, Quan; Jiang, Xuemei

    2003-09-01

    With the rapid globalization of market and business, E-trading affects every manufacture enterprise. However, the security of network manufacturing products of transmission on Internet is very important. In this paper we discussed the protocol of fair exchange and platform for network manufacture products E-trading based on fair exchange protocol and digital watermarking techniques. The platform realized reliable and copyright protection.

  3. Scaling-Up Youth-Led Social Justice Efforts through an Online School-Based Social Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kornbluh, Mariah; Neal, Jennifer Watling; Ozer, Emily J

    2016-06-01

    The exploration of social networking sites (SNS) in promoting social change efforts offers great potential within the field of community psychology. Online communities on SNS provide opportunities for bridging across groups, thus fostering the exchange of novel ideas and practices. Currently, there have only been limited efforts to examine SNS within the context of youth-led efforts. To explore the potential of SNS to facilitate the diffusion of social justice efforts between distinct youth groups, we linked three school-based youth-led participatory action research projects involving 54 high school students through a SNS. This study offers an innovative methodological approach and framework, utilizing social network analysis and strategic sampling of key student informants to investigate what individual behaviors and online network features predict student adoption of social change efforts. Findings highlight prospective facilitators and barriers to diffusion processes within a youth-led online network, as well as key constructs that may inform future research. We conclude by providing suggestions for scholars and practitioners interested in examining how SNS can be used to enhance the diffusion of social justice strategies, youth-led engagement efforts, and large-scale civic organizing. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

  4. EpSoc: Social-Based Epidemic-Based Routing Protocol in Opportunistic Mobile Social Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Halikul Lenando

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In opportunistic networks, the nature of intermittent and disruptive connections degrades the efficiency of routing. Epidemic routing protocol is used as a benchmark for most of routing protocols in opportunistic mobile social networks (OMSNs due to its high message delivery and latency. However, Epidemic incurs high cost in terms of overhead and hop count. In this paper, we propose a hybrid routing protocol called EpSoc which utilizes the Epidemic routing forwarding strategy and exploits an important social feature, that is, degree centrality. Two techniques are used in EpSoc. Messages’ TTL is adjusted based on the degree centrality of nodes, and the message blocking mechanism is used to control replication. Simulation results show that EpSoc increases the delivery ratio and decreases the overhead ratio, the average latency, and the hop counts as compared to Epidemic and Bubble Rap.

  5. Exploratory community sensing in social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khrabrov, Alexy; Stocco, Gabriel; Cybenko, George

    2010-04-01

    Social networks generally provide an implementation of some kind of groups or communities which users can voluntarily join. Twitter does not have this functionality, and there is no notion of a formal group or community. We propose a method for identification of communities and assignment of semantic meaning to the discussion topics of the resulting communities. Using this analysis method and a sample of roughly a month's worth of Tweets from Twitter's "gardenhose" feed, we demonstrate the discovery of meaningful user communities on Twitter. We examine Twitter data streaming in real time and treat it as a sensor. Twitter is a social network which pioneered microblogging with the messages fitting an SMS, and a variety of clients, browsers, smart phones and PDAs are used for status updates by individuals, businesses, media outlets and even devices all over the world. Often an aggregate trend of such statuses may represent an important development in the world, which has been demonstrated with the Iran and Moldova elections and the anniversary of the Tiananmen in China. We propose using Twitter as a sensor, tracking individuals and communities of interest, and characterizing individual roles and dynamics of their communications. We developed a novel algorithm of community identification in social networks based on direct communication, as opposed to linking. We show ways to find communities of interest and then browse their neighborhoods by either similarity or diversity of individuals and groups adjacent to the one of interest. We use frequent collocations and statistically improbable phrases to summarize the focus of the community, giving a quick overview of its main topics. Our methods provide insight into the largest social sensor network in the world and constitute a platform for social sensing.

  6. An agent-based model of centralized institutions, social network technology, and revolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makowsky, Michael D; Rubin, Jared

    2013-01-01

    This paper sheds light on the general mechanisms underlying large-scale social and institutional change. We employ an agent-based model to test the impact of authority centralization and social network technology on preference falsification and institutional change. We find that preference falsification is increasing with centralization and decreasing with social network range. This leads to greater cascades of preference revelation and thus more institutional change in highly centralized societies and this effect is exacerbated at greater social network ranges. An empirical analysis confirms the connections that we find between institutional centralization, social radius, preference falsification, and institutional change.

  7. A systematic review of social networking sites: innovative platforms for health research targeting adolescents and young adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Bu Kyung; Calamaro, Christina

    2013-09-01

    To review the evidence to determine if social networking sites (SNS) are effective tools for health research in the adolescent and young adult populations. Systematic review of published research articles focused on use of SNS for youth health research. Seventeen articles were selected that met the following criteria: used SNS at any stage of study, participants between 13 and 25 years of age, English language, and both international and national studies. Reviewers categorized selected studies based on the way SNS were used. Utilization of SNS for effectively implementing research with adolescents and young adults include (a) recruitment, (b) intervention, and (c) measurement. Four findings about advantages of using SNS apparent in this review are (a) ease of access to youth, (b) cost effectiveness in recruitment, (c) ease of intervention, and (d) reliable screening venue of mental status and high-risk behaviors. Although this literature review showed relatively minimal research to date on the use of SNS for research targeting adolescents and young adults, the impact of using SNS for health research is of considerable importance for researchers as well as participants. With careful focus, SNS can become a valuable platform to access, recruit, and deliver health interventions in a cost-effective manner to youth populations as well as hard-to-reach minority or underserved populations. The evidence demonstrates the usefulness of SNS as innovative platforms for health promotion among adolescents and young adults. © 2013 Sigma Theta Tau International.

  8. Trust-Based Cooperative Social System Applied to a Carpooling Platform for Smartphones

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cándido Caballero-Gil

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the worst traffic problems today is the existence of huge traffic jams in almost any big city, produced by the large number of commuters using private cars. This problem has led to an increase in research on the optimization of vehicle occupancy in urban areas as this would help to solve the problem that most cars are occupied by single passengers. The solution of sharing the available seats in cars, known as carpooling, is already available in major cities around the world. However, carpooling is still not considered a safe and reliable solution for many users. With the widespread use of mobile technology and social networks, it is possible to create a trust-based platform to promote carpooling through a convenient, fast and secure system. The main objective of this work is the design and implementation of a carpool system that improves some important aspects of previous systems, focusing on trust between users, and on the security of the system. The proposed system guarantees user privacy and measures trust levels through a new reputation algorithm. In addition to this, the proposal has been developed as a mobile application for devices using the Android Open Source Project.

  9. Trust-Based Cooperative Social System Applied to a Carpooling Platform for Smartphones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caballero-Gil, Cándido; Caballero-Gil, Pino; Molina-Gil, Jezabel; Martín-Fernández, Francisco; Loia, Vincenzo

    2017-01-27

    One of the worst traffic problems today is the existence of huge traffic jams in almost any big city, produced by the large number of commuters using private cars. This problem has led to an increase in research on the optimization of vehicle occupancy in urban areas as this would help to solve the problem that most cars are occupied by single passengers. The solution of sharing the available seats in cars, known as carpooling, is already available in major cities around the world. However, carpooling is still not considered a safe and reliable solution for many users. With the widespread use of mobile technology and social networks, it is possible to create a trust-based platform to promote carpooling through a convenient, fast and secure system. The main objective of this work is the design and implementation of a carpool system that improves some important aspects of previous systems, focusing on trust between users, and on the security of the system. The proposed system guarantees user privacy and measures trust levels through a new reputation algorithm. In addition to this, the proposal has been developed as a mobile application for devices using the Android Open Source Project.

  10. SOCIAL NETWORKS AS THE ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wojsław Czupryński

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The emergence of the global Internet has changed the way the entire human population communicates. The internet has become a platform, where human societies build their lives, and traditional communication over the last few years has been replaced by social networks. Today, social networks are the subject of many debates concerning their advantages, disadvantages and the ideas of what they bring to the future. Portals are not only the way of communication, fun, an idea to spend free time, but also source of social and humanistic knowledge too. Against that, social media could be a huge risk for those who use them. The assigned job above discusses about the topic the detrimental effect what the social networks bring. A series of deviant behaviors caused by use of the portal is also presented in this report. Often they become a dysfunctional generator of actions that manifest themselves among the youth. Consequently, there was a need to take action to stop the growth of this phenomenon among young people. First of all the primary activities at this level are prevention and education in the family.

  11. Designing an Online Social Support Platform Through Co-Creation with Seniors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rochat, Jessica; Nap, Henk Herman; Ricci, Arnaud; Cornelisse, Lotte; Lukkien, Dirk; Lovis, Christian; Ehrler, Frédéric

    2018-01-01

    The high number of seniors that feels excluded of society highlights the necessity to promote active ageing. This intention can be supported through online platforms that encourage participation in social activities. The goal of the present study was to identify design principles of online support platforms for seniors through focus groups and to ideate the platform through co-creation sessions. The results show that a social platform for seniors must, among other, help to foster contact between users, and must provide services and meaningful activities. A first mock-up of the platform's design has been created based on the co-creation sessions and will be iteratively evaluated and enhanced in future studies in four countries across Europe. Our findings are in line with those of other studies demonstrating that seniors attach importance to trustworthiness and need to maintain social ties.

  12. The use of social networking to improve the quality of interprofessional education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pittenger, Amy L

    2013-10-14

    To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of using an online social networking platform for interprofessional education. Three groups of 6 students were formed with 1 student in each group from medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, and public health. Each group followed a different collaborative educational model with a unique pedagogical structure. Students in all groups interacted via an online social networking platform for a minimum of 15 weeks and met in person once at the end of the 15-week experience for a focus group session. The students were tasked with developing a collaborative recommendation for using social networking in interprofessional education programs. Most of the students who reported in a post-experience survey that their expectations were not met were in the minimally structured group. Almost all students in the facilitated and highly structured groups indicated that this experience positively impacted their knowledge of other health professions. Most students stated that interacting within a social networking space for 15 weeks with other members of the university's health professions programs was a positive and effective interprofessional education experience. Social networking is feasible and can be used effectively within an overall strategy for interprofessional education, but design and placement within a core content course is critical to success.

  13. The Impact of Online Social Networks on Health and Health Systems: A Scoping Review and Case Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, Frances; Dobermann, Tim; Cave, Jonathan A K; Thorogood, Margaret; Johnson, Samantha; Salamatian, Kavé; Gomez Olive, Francis X; Goudge, Jane

    2015-12-01

    Interaction through online social networks potentially results in the contestation of prevailing ideas about health and health care, and to mass protest where health is put at risk or health care provision is wanting. Through a review of the academic literature and case studies of four social networking health sites (PatientsLikeMe, Mumsnet, Treatment Action Campaign, and My Pro Ana), we establish the extent to which this phenomenon is documented, seek evidence of the prevalence and character of health-related networks, and explore their structure, function, participants, and impact, seeking to understand how they came into being and how they sustain themselves. Results indicate mass protest is not arising from these established health-related networking platforms. There is evidence of changes in policy following campaigning activity prompted by experiences shared through social networking such as improved National Health Service care for miscarriage (a Mumsnet campaign). Platform owners and managers have considerable power to shape these campaigns. Social networking is also influencing health policy indirectly through increasing awareness and so demand for health care. Transient social networking about health on platforms such as Twitter were not included as case studies but may be where the most radical or destabilizing influence on health care policy might arise.

  14. Intra-Urban Movement Flow Estimation Using Location Based Social Networking Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kheiri, A.; Karimipour, F.; Forghani, M.

    2015-12-01

    In recent years, there has been a rapid growth of location-based social networking services, such as Foursquare and Facebook, which have attracted an increasing number of users and greatly enriched their urban experience. Location-based social network data, as a new travel demand data source, seems to be an alternative or complement to survey data in the study of mobility behavior and activity analysis because of its relatively high access and low cost. In this paper, three OD estimation models have been utilized in order to investigate their relative performance when using Location-Based Social Networking (LBSN) data. For this, the Foursquare LBSN data was used to analyze the intra-urban movement behavioral patterns for the study area, Manhattan, the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York city. The outputs of models are evaluated using real observations based on different criterions including distance distribution, destination travel constraints. The results demonstrate the promising potential of using LBSN data for urban travel demand analysis and monitoring.

  15. INTRA-URBAN MOVEMENT FLOW ESTIMATION USING LOCATION BASED SOCIAL NETWORKING DATA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Kheiri

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, there has been a rapid growth of location-based social networking services, such as Foursquare and Facebook, which have attracted an increasing number of users and greatly enriched their urban experience. Location-based social network data, as a new travel demand data source, seems to be an alternative or complement to survey data in the study of mobility behavior and activity analysis because of its relatively high access and low cost. In this paper, three OD estimation models have been utilized in order to investigate their relative performance when using Location-Based Social Networking (LBSN data. For this, the Foursquare LBSN data was used to analyze the intra-urban movement behavioral patterns for the study area, Manhattan, the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York city. The outputs of models are evaluated using real observations based on different criterions including distance distribution, destination travel constraints. The results demonstrate the promising potential of using LBSN data for urban travel demand analysis and monitoring.

  16. A Novel Optical Sensor Platform Designed for Wireless Sensor Networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Shuo; Zhou, Bochao; Sun, Tong; Grattan, Kenneth T V

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a novel design of an optical sensor platform, enabling effective integration of a number of optical fibre ('wired') sensors with wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In this work, a fibre Bragg grating-based temperature sensor with low power consumption is specially designed as a sensing module and integrated successfully into a WSN, making full use of the advantages arising from both the advanced optical sensor designs and the powerful network functionalities resident in WSNs. The platform is expected to make an important impact on many applications, where either the conventional optical sensor designs or WSNs alone cannot meet the requirements.

  17. Big Social Network Data and Sustainable Economic Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Umit Can

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available New information technologies have led to the rapid and effective growth of social networks. The amount of data produced by social networks has increased the value of the big data concept, which is one of the popular current phenomena. The immediate or unpredictable effects of a wide array of economic activities on large masses and the reactions to them can be measured by using social media platforms and big data methods. Thus, it would be extremely beneficial to analyze the harmful environmental and social impacts that are caused by unsustainable business applications. As social networks and big data are popular realms currently, their efficient use would be an important factor in sustainable economic development. Accurate analysis of people’s consumption habits and economic tendencies would provide significant advantages to companies. Moreover, unknown consumption factors that affect the economic preferences of individuals can be discovered and economic efficiency can be increased. This study shows that the numerous solution opportunities that are provided by social networks and big data have become significant tools in dynamic policy creation by companies and states, in solving problems related to women’s rights, the environment, and health.

  18. Circles of Health: towards an advanced social network about disabilities of neurological origin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Subirats, Laia; Ceccaroni, Luigi; Lopez-Blazquez, Raquel; Miralles, Felip; García-Rudolph, Alejandro; Tormos, Jose M

    2013-12-01

    This research is concerned with the study of a new social-network platform, which (1) provides people with disabilities of neurological origin, their relatives, health professionals, therapists, carers and institutions with an interoperable platform that supports standard indicators, (2) promotes knowledge democratization and user empowerment, and (3) allows making decisions with a more informed opinion. A new social network, Circles of Health, has been designed, developed and tested by end-users. To allow monitoring the evolution of people's health status and comparing it with other users and with their cohort, anonymized data of 2675 people from comprehensive and multidimensional medical evaluations, carried out yearly from 2006 to 2010, have been standardized to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, integrated into the corresponding medical health records and then used to automatically generate and graphically represent multidimensional indicators. These indicators have been integrated into Circles of Health's social environment, which has been then evaluated via expert and user-experience analyses. Patients used Circles of Health to exchange bio-psycho-social information (medical and otherwise) about their everyday lives. Health professionals remarked that the use of color-coding in graphical representations is useful to quickly diagnose deficiencies, difficulties or barriers in rehabilitation. Most people with disabilities complained about the excessive amount of information and the difficulty in interpreting graphical representations. Health professionals found Circles of Health useful to generate a more integrative understanding of health based on a comprehensive profile of individuals instead of being focused on patient's diseases and injuries. People with disabilities found enriching personal knowledge with the experiences of other users helpful. The number of descriptors used at the same time in the graphical interface

  19. A Study on Recommendation Systems in Location Based Social Networking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ranganath Ashok Kumar

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Smart devices in the hands of people are revolutionizing the social lifestyle of one's self. Everyone across the world are using smart devices linked to their social networking activities one such activity is to share location data by uploading the tagged media content like photos, videos. The data is of surroundings, events attended/attending and travel experiences. Users share their experiences at a given location through localization techniques. Using such data from social networks an attempt is made to analyse tagged media content to acquire information on user context, individual’s interests, tastes, behaviours and derive meaningful relationships amongst them are referred to as Location Based Social Networks (LBSNs. The resulting information can be used to market a product and to improve business, as well recommend a travel and plan an itinerary. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of recommended systems for LBSNs covering the concepts of LBSNs, terminologies of LBSN and various recommendation systems.

  20. Enhancing Lifelong Competence Development and Management Systems with Social Network-based Concepts and Tools

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cheak, Alicia; Angehrn, Albert; Sloep, Peter

    2006-01-01

    This paper addresses the challenge of enhancing the social dimension of lifelong Competence Development and Management Systems with social network-based concepts and tools. Our premise is that through a combination of social network visualization tools, simulations, stimulus agents and management

  1. Social networks, web-based tools and diseases: implications for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Fabricio F

    2013-03-01

    Advances in information technology have improved our ability to gather, collect and analyze information from individuals online. Social networks can be seen as a nonlinear superposition of a multitude of complex connections between people where the nodes represent individuals and the links between them capture a variety of different social interactions. The emergence of different types of social networks has fostered connections between individuals, thus facilitating data exchange in a variety of fields. Therefore, the question posed now is "can these same tools be applied to life sciences in order to improve scientific and medical research?" In this article, I will review how social networks and other web-based tools are changing the way we approach and track diseases in biomedical research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. D3.5 Report on ECO social network integration features

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Viñuales, Javier; Driesner, Jorge; Tejera, Sara; Tomasini, Alessandra; Loozen, Kjeld; Rocio, Vítor; Bohuschke, Felix; Ternier, Stefaan

    2016-01-01

    This document describes how integrations with social networks are being developed in ECO platforms. With these new features, participants will be able to share results and other contents through Facebook, Twitter, Google plus.

  3. A Study of Malware Propagation via Online Social Networking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faghani, Mohammad Reza; Nguyen, Uyen Trang

    The popularity of online social networks (OSNs) have attracted malware creators who would use OSNs as a platform to propagate automated worms from one user's computer to another's. On the other hand, the topic of malware propagation in OSNs has only been investigated recently. In this chapter, we discuss recent advances on the topic of malware propagation by way of online social networking. In particular, we present three malware propagation techniques in OSNs, namely cross site scripting (XSS), Trojan and clickjacking types, and their characteristics via analytical models and simulations.

  4. The YouTube Jihadists: A Social Network Analysis of Al-Muhajiroun’s Propaganda Campaign

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jytte Klausen

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Producers of Al-Qaeda inspired propaganda have shifted their operations in recent years from closed membership online forums to mainstream social networking platforms. Using social network analysis, we show that behind the apparent proliferation of such sources, YouTube account holders associated with incarnations of the British al-Muhajiroun collude to post propaganda and violent content. European groups commonly use American platforms and domain names registered with American companies. Seeking shelter under speech rights granted by the First Amendment, they evade European laws against incitement and hate speech.

  5. Digital Media Platforms and Education: The Uses of Social Networking in the UAE and China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Badreya Aljenaibi

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Young people today are growing up in a digitalized environment.  What challenges do they face in navigating this content-rich, symbolic environment? In this article, the researcher reviews university students' perceptions of media literacy by examining the use of social networking platforms (SN in academic settings. The researcher distributed 1200 surveys evenly split between Chinese and UAE students and 998 were returned and analyzed. The findings reveal that while many students believe that media literacy should become a priority in modern curricula, this urgency is not felt by the majority of students.  The researcher reviews current views and methodologies in the literature related to media literacy and its status in current pedagogy.  The study draws from gravitation theory to place the use of SN tools within a broader background of communication.  The Uses and Gratification Theory is also invoked to explain how SN was made attractive to campus activists and protesters in the two countries.

  6. Information filtering on coupled social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nie, Da-Cheng; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Zhou, Jun-Lin; Fu, Yan; Zhang, Kui

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, based on the coupled social networks (CSN), we propose a hybrid algorithm to nonlinearly integrate both social and behavior information of online users. Filtering algorithm, based on the coupled social networks, considers the effects of both social similarity and personalized preference. Experimental results based on two real datasets, Epinions and Friendfeed, show that the hybrid pattern can not only provide more accurate recommendations, but also enlarge the recommendation coverage while adopting global metric. Further empirical analyses demonstrate that the mutual reinforcement and rich-club phenomenon can also be found in coupled social networks where the identical individuals occupy the core position of the online system. This work may shed some light on the in-depth understanding of the structure and function of coupled social networks.

  7. Developing a New Wireless Sensor Network Platform and Its Application in Precision Agriculture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aquino-Santos, Raúl; González-Potes, Apolinar; Edwards-Block, Arthur; Virgen-Ortiz, Raúl Alejandro

    2011-01-01

    Wireless sensor networks are gaining greater attention from the research community and industrial professionals because these small pieces of “smart dust” offer great advantages due to their small size, low power consumption, easy integration and support for “green” applications. Green applications are considered a hot topic in intelligent environments, ubiquitous and pervasive computing. This work evaluates a new wireless sensor network platform and its application in precision agriculture, including its embedded operating system and its routing algorithm. To validate the technological platform and the embedded operating system, two different routing strategies were compared: hierarchical and flat. Both of these routing algorithms were tested in a small-scale network applied to a watermelon field. However, we strongly believe that this technological platform can be also applied to precision agriculture because it incorporates a modified version of LORA-CBF, a wireless location-based routing algorithm that uses cluster-based flooding. Cluster-based flooding addresses the scalability concerns of wireless sensor networks, while the modified LORA-CBF routing algorithm includes a metric to monitor residual battery energy. Furthermore, results show that the modified version of LORA-CBF functions well with both the flat and hierarchical algorithms, although it functions better with the flat algorithm in a small-scale agricultural network. PMID:22346622

  8. Developing a new wireless sensor network platform and its application in precision agriculture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aquino-Santos, Raúl; González-Potes, Apolinar; Edwards-Block, Arthur; Virgen-Ortiz, Raúl Alejandro

    2011-01-01

    Wireless sensor networks are gaining greater attention from the research community and industrial professionals because these small pieces of "smart dust" offer great advantages due to their small size, low power consumption, easy integration and support for "green" applications. Green applications are considered a hot topic in intelligent environments, ubiquitous and pervasive computing. This work evaluates a new wireless sensor network platform and its application in precision agriculture, including its embedded operating system and its routing algorithm. To validate the technological platform and the embedded operating system, two different routing strategies were compared: hierarchical and flat. Both of these routing algorithms were tested in a small-scale network applied to a watermelon field. However, we strongly believe that this technological platform can be also applied to precision agriculture because it incorporates a modified version of LORA-CBF, a wireless location-based routing algorithm that uses cluster-based flooding. Cluster-based flooding addresses the scalability concerns of wireless sensor networks, while the modified LORA-CBF routing algorithm includes a metric to monitor residual battery energy. Furthermore, results show that the modified version of LORA-CBF functions well with both the flat and hierarchical algorithms, although it functions better with the flat algorithm in a small-scale agricultural network.

  9. Social networks and employment in India

    OpenAIRE

    Tushar K. Nandi

    2010-01-01

    We investigate the influence of social networks on employment. Using data from India, we estimate the effect of caste based social networks on employment. We use a methodology that allows us to control for several omitted variable biases that often confound network effect. Our results indicate that caste based social networks are important determinant of employment in India. The implication of our findings is that a policy of positive discrimination in labour market for disadvantaged caste is...

  10. Smoking-based selection and influence in gender-segregated friendship networks : a social network analysis of adolescent smoking

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mercken, Liesbeth; Snijders, Tom A. B.; Steglich, Christian; Vertiainen, Erkki; Vartiainen, E.; De Vries, H.

    Aims The main goal of this study was to examine differences between adolescent male and female friendship networks regarding smoking-based selection and influence processes using newly developed social network analysis methods that allow the current state of continuously changing friendship networks

  11. OPEN INNOVATION PROCESSES IN SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

    OpenAIRE

    Yang, Yang

    2013-01-01

    Innovation power has becomes to the priority concern for many enterprises. Open innovation, which acts as a new innovation method, is now applied in many companies due to its unique advantages. On the other hand, social media platforms have been widely accepted by public and it shares an immeasurable business resources. Based on those facts, there must be space to link social media and open innovation together to achieve win-win. The objective was to research the important factors for op...

  12. Snaps, Selfies, and Shares: How Three Popular Social Media Platforms Contribute to the Sociocultural Model of Disordered Eating Among Young Women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saunders, Jessica F; Eaton, Asia A

    2018-06-01

    The current study aimed to integrate and test the sociocultural model of disordered eating with theories explaining the impact of mass media on the development of disordered eating for users of three popular social networking platforms. Young women social networking site (SNS) users (age 18-24) who had never received an eating disorder diagnosis (N = 637) completed questions capturing their SNS gratifications and usage, body surveillance, social comparisons, body dissatisfaction, and eating pathology. Measures were administered in one online session. Model relationships were similar across users of all three SNS platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Users of all platforms demonstrated a significant positive relationship between upward comparisons and disordered eating outcomes, and between body surveillance and disordered eating outcomes, although differences between models did emerge. Empirical findings support extending the sociocultural model of disordered eating to include SNS uses and gratifications.

  13. Local Social Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sapuppo, Antonio; Sørensen, Lene Tolstrup

    2011-01-01

    Online social networks have become essential for many users in their daily communication. Through a combination of the online social networks with opportunistic networks, a new concept arises: Local Social Networks. The target of local social networks is to promote social networking benefits...... in physical environment in order to leverage personal affinities in the users' surroundings. The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the concept of local social networks as a new social communication system. Particularly, the preliminary architecture and the prototype of local social networks...

  14. Social Networking Sites in Education

    OpenAIRE

    Suková, Lenka

    2010-01-01

    Diploma thesis deals with social networking sites and their use in education. Thesis is divided into two general parts. The first part deals with theory of learning; Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives and new educational theory based on learning in networks -- Connectivism. After that thesis focuses on the definition of social networking sites, introduction of some of the best known social networking sites and examples of their use in foreign and domestic educational practice. The sec...

  15. Support to women who denounce experiences of violence based on her social network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Letícia Becker Vieira

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Objective: to analyze the possibilities of help/support through the mapping and acknowledgement of the social network of women who denounce experiences of violence at a Police Precinct for Women.Method: qualitative study based on the theoretical-methodological framework of Lia Sanicola's Social Network, through interviews with 19 women.Results: the analysis of the network maps evidenced that the primary social network was more present than the secondary on and, despite consisting of significant relations, it demonstrates limitations. The women access the secondary network occasionally in the violence problem and/or its repercussions in their life and health. The discrete presence of the health network in the composition of the social network was revealed and, when mentioned, the relation between the health professional and the woman was characterized as fragile.Conclusion: the importance of the social network relates to the creation of spaces of help/support for the women beyond the moment of the aggression, which accompany them throughout their process of emancipation from an experience annulled by violence, considering that each woman acts and makes decisions in the relational context when she is ready for it.

  16. An adaptive cryptographic accelerator for network storage security on dynamically reconfigurable platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Li; Liu, Jing-Ning; Feng, Dan; Tong, Wei

    2008-12-01

    Existing security solutions in network storage environment perform poorly because cryptographic operations (encryption and decryption) implemented in software can dramatically reduce system performance. In this paper we propose a cryptographic hardware accelerator on dynamically reconfigurable platform for the security of high performance network storage system. We employ a dynamic reconfigurable platform based on a FPGA to implement a PowerPCbased embedded system, which executes cryptographic algorithms. To reduce the reconfiguration latency, we apply prefetch scheduling. Moreover, the processing elements could be dynamically configured to support different cryptographic algorithms according to the request received by the accelerator. In the experiment, we have implemented AES (Rijndael) and 3DES cryptographic algorithms in the reconfigurable accelerator. Our proposed reconfigurable cryptographic accelerator could dramatically increase the performance comparing with the traditional software-based network storage systems.

  17. A security approach based on honeypots: Protecting Online Social network from malicious profiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatna Elmendili, Nisrine Maqran

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available In the recent years, the fast development and the exponential utilization of social networks have prompted an expansion of social Computing. In social networks users are interconnected by edges or links, where Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn are most popular social networks websites. Due to the growing popularity of these sites they serve as a target for cyber criminality and attacks. It is mostly based on how users are using these sites like Twitter and others. Attackers can easily access and gather personal and sensitive user’s information. Users are less aware and least concerned about the security setting. And they easily become victim of identity breach. To detect malicious users or fake profiles different techniques have been proposed like our approach which is based on the use of social honeypots to discover malicious profiles in it. Inspired by security researchers who used honeypots to observe and analyze malicious activity in the networks, this method uses social honeypots to trap malicious users. The two key elements of the approach are: (1 The deployment of social honeypots for harvesting information of malicious profiles. (2 Analysis of the characteristics of these malicious profiles and those of deployed honeypots for creating classifiers that allow to filter the existing profiles and monitor the new profiles.

  18. Social networking services: technologies and applications

    OpenAIRE

    Puzyrnyy, Oleksandr

    2011-01-01

    Puzyrnyy, Oleksandr. 2011. Social networking services: technologies and applications. Bachelor's Thesis. Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences. Business and Culture. Pages 52. The aim of this thesis is to describe the concept of social networking, its technological base, business opportunities and future perspectives. The study discovers how social networks are made and which different purposes they might have. In addition, social networking is viewed as a part of business strategy o...

  19. Multimedia distribution using network coding on the iphone platform

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vingelmann, Peter; Pedersen, Morten Videbæk; Fitzek, Frank

    2010-01-01

    This paper looks into the implementation details of random linear network coding on the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch mobile platforms for multimedia distribution. Previous implementations of network coding on this platform failed to achieve a throughput which is sufficient to saturate the WLAN...

  20. Community Detection for Multiplex Social Networks Based on Relational Bayesian Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jiang, Jiuchuan; Jaeger, Manfred

    2014-01-01

    Many techniques have been proposed for community detection in social networks. Most of these techniques are only designed for networks defined by a single relation. However, many real networks are multiplex networks that contain multiple types of relations and different attributes on the nodes...

  1. Computational Social Network Analysis

    CERN Document Server

    Hassanien, Aboul-Ella

    2010-01-01

    Presents insight into the social behaviour of animals (including the study of animal tracks and learning by members of the same species). This book provides web-based evidence of social interaction, perceptual learning, information granulation and the behaviour of humans and affinities between web-based social networks

  2. Activity-Driven Influence Maximization in Social Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kumar, Rohit; Saleem, Muhammad Aamir; Calders, Toon

    2017-01-01

    -driven approach based on the identification of influence propagation patterns. In the first work, we identify so-called information-channels to model potential pathways for information spread, while the second work exploits how users in a location-based social network check in to locations in order to identify...... influential locations. To make our algorithms scalable, approximate versions based on sketching techniques from the data streams domain have been developed. Experiments show that in this way it is possible to efficiently find good seed sets for influence propagation in social networks.......Interaction networks consist of a static graph with a timestamped list of edges over which interaction took place. Examples of interaction networks are social networks whose users interact with each other through messages or location-based social networks where people interact by checking...

  3. Social network sites: Indispensable or optional social tools?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shklovski, Irina

    2012-01-01

    Much research has enumerated potential benefits of online social network sites. Given the pervasiveness of these sites and the numbers of people that use them daily, both re-search and media tend to make the assumption that social network sites have become indispensible to their users. Based...... on the analysis of qualitative data from users of social network sites in Russia and Kazakhstan, this paper consid-ers under what conditions social network sites can become indispensable to their users and when these technologies remain on the periphery of life despite fulfilling useful func-tions. For some...... respondents, these sites had become indis-pensable tools as they were integrated into everyday rou-tines of communicating with emotionally important and proximal contacts and were often used for coordination of offline activities. For others social network sites remained spaces where they occasionally visited...

  4. Modern Social Support Structures: Online Social Networks and their Implications for Social Workers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kala Chakradhar

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Mapping and assessing social networks and the quality of their social support is a valuable intervention strategy for social workers. These networks have now spread onto the digital realm in the form of Online Social Networks (OSNs. This study investigated the nature of social support provided by such networks to their users in a rural mid-South University (USA and explored parallels with the current understanding of social support in conventional social networks. A web-based survey administered to college students revealed that users of these online networks were predominantly undergraduate first year students, female, single, unemployed and from a variety of academic disciplines. The examination of the components of OSNs appears to mirror those of offline networks. They also seem to complement the effects of each other while contributing to an individual's support system. The paper concludes with critical implications of such online social networking for University students and social workers in practice and education.

  5. Emulation Platform for Cyber Analysis of Wireless Communication Network Protocols

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Van Leeuwen, Brian P. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Eldridge, John M. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2017-11-01

    Wireless networking and mobile communications is increasing around the world and in all sectors of our lives. With increasing use, the density and complexity of the systems increase with more base stations and advanced protocols to enable higher data throughputs. The security of data transported over wireless networks must also evolve with the advances in technologies enabling more capable wireless networks. However, means for analysis of the effectiveness of security approaches and implementations used on wireless networks are lacking. More specifically a capability to analyze the lower-layer protocols (i.e., Link and Physical layers) is a major challenge. An analysis approach that incorporates protocol implementations without the need for RF emissions is necessary. In this research paper several emulation tools and custom extensions that enable an analysis platform to perform cyber security analysis of lower layer wireless networks is presented. A use case of a published exploit in the 802.11 (i.e., WiFi) protocol family is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the described emulation platform.

  6. Medical Concept Normalization in Social Media Posts with Recurrent Neural Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tutubalina, Elena; Miftahutdinov, Zulfat; Nikolenko, Sergey; Malykh, Valentin

    2018-06-12

    Text mining of scientific libraries and social media has already proven itself as a reliable tool for drug repurposing and hypothesis generation. The task of mapping a disease mention to a concept in a controlled vocabulary, typically to the standard thesaurus in the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), is known as medical concept normalization. This task is challenging due to the differences in the use of medical terminology between health care professionals and social media texts coming from the lay public. To bridge this gap, we use sequence learning with recurrent neural networks and semantic representation of one- or multi-word expressions: we develop end-to-end architectures directly tailored to the task, including bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory, Gated Recurrent Units with an attention mechanism, and additional semantic similarity features based on UMLS. Our evaluation against a standard benchmark shows that recurrent neural networks improve results over an effective baseline for classification based on convolutional neural networks. A qualitative examination of mentions discovered in a dataset of user reviews collected from popular online health information platforms as well as a quantitative evaluation both show improvements in the semantic representation of health-related expressions in social media. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  7. Medicine 2.0: social networking, collaboration, participation, apomediation, and openness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eysenbach, Gunther

    2008-08-25

    In a very significant development for eHealth, broad adoption of Web 2.0 technologies and approaches coincides with the more recent emergence of Personal Health Application Platforms and Personally Controlled Health Records such as Google Health, Microsoft HealthVault, and Dossia. "Medicine 2.0" applications, services and tools are defined as Web-based services for health care consumers, caregivers, patients, health professionals, and biomedical researchers, that use Web 2.0 technologies and/or semantic web and virtual reality approaches to enable and facilitate specifically 1) social networking, 2) participation, 3) apomediation, 4) openness and 5) collaboration, within and between these user groups. The Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) publishes a Medicine 2.0 theme issue and sponsors a conference on "How Social Networking and Web 2.0 changes Health, Health Care, Medicine and Biomedical Research", to stimulate and encourage research in these five areas.

  8. Controlling nosocomial infection based on structure of hospital social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ueno, Taro; Masuda, Naoki

    2008-10-07

    Nosocomial infection (i.e. infection in healthcare facilities) raises a serious public health problem, as implied by the existence of pathogens characteristic to healthcare facilities such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and hospital-mediated outbreaks of influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome. For general communities, epidemic modeling based on social networks is being recognized as a useful tool. However, disease propagation may occur in a healthcare facility in a manner different from that in a urban community setting due to different network architecture. We simulate stochastic susceptible-infected-recovered dynamics on social networks, which are based on observations in a hospital in Tokyo, to explore effective containment strategies against nosocomial infection. The observed social networks in the hospital have hierarchical and modular structure in which dense substructure such as departments, wards, and rooms, are globally but only loosely connected, and do not reveal extremely right-skewed distributions of the number of contacts per individual. We show that healthcare workers, particularly medical doctors, are main vectors (i.e. transmitters) of diseases on these networks. Intervention methods that restrict interaction between medical doctors and their visits to different wards shrink the final epidemic size more than intervention methods that directly protect patients, such as isolating patients in single rooms. By the same token, vaccinating doctors with priority rather than patients or nurses is more effective. Finally, vaccinating individuals with large betweenness centrality (frequency of mediating connection between pairs of individuals along the shortest paths) is superior to vaccinating ones with large connectedness to others or randomly chosen individuals, which was suggested by previous model studies.

  9. Discovering the influential users oriented to viral marketing based on online social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Zhiguo

    2013-08-01

    The target of viral marketing on the platform of popular online social networks is to rapidly propagate marketing information at lower cost and increase sales, in which a key problem is how to precisely discover the most influential users in the process of information diffusion. A novel method is proposed in this paper for helping companies to identify such users as seeds to maximize information diffusion in the viral marketing. Firstly, the user trust network oriented to viral marketing and users’ combined interest degree in the network including isolated users are extensively defined. Next, we construct a model considering the time factor to simulate the process of information diffusion in viral marketing and propose a dynamic algorithm description. Finally, experiments are conducted with a real dataset extracted from the famous SNS website Epinions. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm has better scalability and is less time-consuming. Compared with the classical model, the proposed algorithm achieved a better performance than does the classical method on the two aspects of network coverage rate and time-consumption in our four sub-datasets.

  10. Comparing Social Network Analysis of Posts with Counting of Posts as a Measurement of Learners' Participation in Facebook Discussions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hye Yeon; Lee, Hyeon Woo

    2016-01-01

    With the currently growing interest in social network services, many college courses use social network services as platforms for discussions, and a number of studies have been conducted on the use of social network analysis to measure students' participation in online discussions. This study aims to demonstrate the difference between counting…

  11. Global Social Media Directory. A Resource Guide

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Noonan, Christine F. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Piatt, Andrew W. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2015-10-01

    Social media platforms are internet-based applications focused on broadcasting user-generated content. While primarily web-based, these services are increasingly available on mobile platforms. Communities and individuals share information, photos, music, videos, provide commentary and ratings/reviews, and more. In essence, social media is about sharing information, consuming information, and repurposing content. Social media technologies identified in this report are centered on social networking services, media sharing, blogging and microblogging. The purpose of this Resource Guide is to provide baseline information about use and application of social media platforms around the globe. It is not intended to be comprehensive as social media evolves on an almost daily basis. The long-term goal of this work is to identify social media information about all geographic regions and nations. The primary objective is that of understanding the evolution and spread of social networking and user-generated content technologies internationally.

  12. Systematic review of surveillance by social media platforms for illicit drug use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazemi, Donna M; Borsari, Brian; Levine, Maureen J; Dooley, Beau

    2017-12-01

    The use of social media (SM) as a surveillance tool of global illicit drug use is limited. To address this limitation, a systematic review of literature focused on the ability of SM to better recognize illicit drug use trends was addressed. A search was conducted in databases: PubMed, CINAHL via Ebsco, PsychINFO via Ebsco, Medline via Ebsco, ERIC, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, ABI/INFORM Complete and Communication and Mass Media Complete. Included studies were original research published in peer-reviewed journals between January 2005 and June 2015 that primarily focused on collecting data from SM platforms to track trends in illicit drug use. Excluded were studies focused on purchasing prescription drugs from illicit online pharmacies. Selected studies used a range of SM tools/applications, including message boards, Twitter and blog/forums/platform discussions. Limitations included relevance, a lack of standardized surveillance systems and a lack of efficient algorithms to isolate relevant items. Illicit drug use is a worldwide problem, and the rise of global social networking sites has led to the evolution of a readily accessible surveillance tool. Systematic approaches need to be developed to efficiently extract and analyze illicit drug content from social networks to supplement effective prevention programs. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  13. Connecting Mobile Users Through Mobile Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Faisal Alkhateeb

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, social networks become popular with the emerging of web-based social networking services. Recently, several mobile services are developed to connect users to their favourite social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. However, these services depends upon the existing web-based social networks. In this paper, we present a mobile service for joining groups across communities. The originality of the work is that the framework of the service allows creating and joining social networks that are self-contained for mobile company servers. The service consists of several sub-services such as users invitation, group finding and others. Users, regardless of their disability, can use the service and its sub-services without the need to create their own accounts on social web sites and thus their own groups. We also propose a privacy control policy for mobile social networks.

  14. Agent-Based Modeling of China's Rural-Urban Migration and Social Network Structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Zhaohao; Hao, Lingxin

    2018-01-15

    We analyze China's rural-urban migration and endogenous social network structures using agent-based modeling. The agents from census micro data are located in their rural origin with an empirical-estimated prior propensity to move. The population-scale social network is a hybrid one, combining observed family ties and locations of the origin with a parameter space calibrated from census, survey and aggregate data and sampled using a stepwise Latin Hypercube Sampling method. At monthly intervals, some agents migrate and these migratory acts change the social network by turning within-nonmigrant connections to between-migrant-nonmigrant connections, turning local connections to nonlocal connections, and adding among-migrant connections. In turn, the changing social network structure updates migratory propensities of those well-connected nonmigrants who become more likely to move. These two processes iterate over time. Using a core-periphery method developed from the k -core decomposition method, we identify and quantify the network structural changes and map these changes with the migration acceleration patterns. We conclude that network structural changes are essential for explaining migration acceleration observed in China during the 1995-2000 period.

  15. Agent-based modeling of China's rural-urban migration and social network structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Zhaohao; Hao, Lingxin

    2018-01-01

    We analyze China's rural-urban migration and endogenous social network structures using agent-based modeling. The agents from census micro data are located in their rural origin with an empirical-estimated prior propensity to move. The population-scale social network is a hybrid one, combining observed family ties and locations of the origin with a parameter space calibrated from census, survey and aggregate data and sampled using a stepwise Latin Hypercube Sampling method. At monthly intervals, some agents migrate and these migratory acts change the social network by turning within-nonmigrant connections to between-migrant-nonmigrant connections, turning local connections to nonlocal connections, and adding among-migrant connections. In turn, the changing social network structure updates migratory propensities of those well-connected nonmigrants who become more likely to move. These two processes iterate over time. Using a core-periphery method developed from the k-core decomposition method, we identify and quantify the network structural changes and map these changes with the migration acceleration patterns. We conclude that network structural changes are essential for explaining migration acceleration observed in China during the 1995-2000 period.

  16. A Topic Space Oriented User Group Discovering Scheme in Social Network: A Trust Chain Based Interest Measuring Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Dong

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Currently, user group has become an effective platform for information sharing and communicating among users in social network sites. In present work, we propose a single topic user group discovering scheme, which includes three phases: topic impact evaluation, interest degree measurement, and trust chain based discovering, to enable selecting influential topic and discovering users into a topic oriented group. Our main works include (1 an overview of proposed scheme and its related definitions; (2 topic space construction method based on topic relatedness clustering and its impact (influence degree and popularity degree evaluation; (3 a trust chain model to take user relation network topological information into account with a strength classification perspective; (4 an interest degree (user explicit and implicit interest degree evaluation method based on trust chain among users; and (5 a topic space oriented user group discovering method to group core users according to their explicit interest degrees and to predict ordinary users under implicit interest and user trust chain. Finally, experimental results are given to explain effectiveness and feasibility of our scheme.

  17. Dissemination Patterns and Associated Network Effects of Sentiments in Social Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hillmann, Robert; Trier, Matthias

    2012-01-01

    . The dissemination patterns analyzed in this study consist of network motifs based on triples of actors and the ties among them. These motifs are associated with common social network effects to derive meaningful insights about dissemination activities. The data basis includes several thousand social networks...... with textual messages classified according to embedded positive and negative sentiments. Based on this data, sub-networks are extracted and analyzed with a dynamic network motif analysis to determine dissemination patterns and associated network effects. Results indicate that the emergence of digital social...... networks exhibits a strong tendency towards reciprocity, followed by the dominance of hierarchy as an intermediate step leading to social clustering with hubs and transitivity effects for both positive and negative sentiments to the same extend. Sentiments embedded in exchanged textual messages do only...

  18. Open-WiSe: A Solar Powered Wireless Sensor Network Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    González, Apolinar; Aquino, Raúl; Mata, Walter; Ochoa, Alberto; Saldaña, Pedro; Edwards, Arthur

    2012-01-01

    Because battery-powered nodes are required in wireless sensor networks and energy consumption represents an important design consideration, alternate energy sources are needed to provide more effective and optimal function. The main goal of this work is to present an energy harvesting wireless sensor network platform, the Open Wireless Sensor node (WiSe). The design and implementation of the solar powered wireless platform is described including the hardware architecture, firmware, and a POSIX Real-Time Kernel. A sleep and wake up strategy was implemented to prolong the lifetime of the wireless sensor network. This platform was developed as a tool for researchers investigating Wireless sensor network or system integrators. PMID:22969396

  19. Open-WiSe: a solar powered wireless sensor network platform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González, Apolinar; Aquino, Raúl; Mata, Walter; Ochoa, Alberto; Saldaña, Pedro; Edwards, Arthur

    2012-01-01

    Because battery-powered nodes are required in wireless sensor networks and energy consumption represents an important design consideration, alternate energy sources are needed to provide more effective and optimal function. The main goal of this work is to present an energy harvesting wireless sensor network platform, the Open Wireless Sensor node (WiSe). The design and implementation of the solar powered wireless platform is described including the hardware architecture, firmware, and a POSIX Real-Time Kernel. A sleep and wake up strategy was implemented to prolong the lifetime of the wireless sensor network. This platform was developed as a tool for researchers investigating Wireless sensor network or system integrators.

  20. An exploratory study on the potential value add of social networking to the Entrepreneurial process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex Antonites

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available It is widely established in scientific literature that entrepreneurship directly contributes to both employment generation and economic growth. Entrepreneurship is said to be subject to a very specific process which includes opportunity recognition, resource allocation, innovation and networking. Networking specifically, is an essential part of the entrepreneurial process as it is employed to assist entrepreneurs to capitalise on opportunities, allocate resources, find ways to innovate and contest ambiguity. With the advent of Web 2.0 and online social networking platforms the way in which people exchange information and network has changed significantly and has spawned a new social culture on a global level. The purpose of this study is to examine the value that online social networking adds to the entrepreneurial process, specifically focussing on the South African landscape. Keywords and phrases: Entrepreneurship; Networking; Social capital; Social networking; Social media

  1. Abnormal network flow detection based on application execution patterns from Web of Things (WoT) platforms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, Young; Jung, Hyunwoo; Lee, Hana

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we present a research work on a novel methodology of identifying abnormal behaviors at the underlying network monitor layer during runtime based on the execution patterns of Web of Things (WoT) applications. An execution pattern of a WoT application is a sequence of profiled time delays between the invocations of involved Web services, and it can be obtained from WoT platforms. We convert the execution pattern to a time sequence of network flows that are generated when the WoT applications are executed. We consider such time sequences as a whitelist. This whitelist reflects the valid application execution patterns. At the network monitor layer, our applied RETE algorithm examines whether any given runtime sequence of network flow instances does not conform to the whitelist. Through this approach, it is possible to interpret a sequence of network flows with regard to application logic. Given such contextual information, we believe that the administrators can detect and reason about any abnormal behaviors more effectively. Our empirical evaluation shows that our RETE-based algorithm outperforms the baseline algorithm in terms of memory usage.

  2. Privacy-Preserving Discovery of Topic-Based Events from Social Sensor Signals: An Experimental Study on Twitter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duc T. Nguyen

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Social network services (e.g., Twitter and Facebook can be regarded as social sensors which can capture a number of events in the society. Particularly, in terms of time and space, various smart devices have improved the accessibility to the social network services. In this paper, we present a social software platform to detect a number of meaningful events from information diffusion patterns on such social network services. The most important feature is to process the social sensor signal for understanding social events and to support users to share relevant information along the social links. The platform has been applied to fetch and cluster tweets from Twitter into relevant categories to reveal hot topics.

  3. Privacy-preserving discovery of topic-based events from social sensor signals: an experimental study on Twitter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Duc T; Jung, Jai E

    2014-01-01

    Social network services (e.g., Twitter and Facebook) can be regarded as social sensors which can capture a number of events in the society. Particularly, in terms of time and space, various smart devices have improved the accessibility to the social network services. In this paper, we present a social software platform to detect a number of meaningful events from information diffusion patterns on such social network services. The most important feature is to process the social sensor signal for understanding social events and to support users to share relevant information along the social links. The platform has been applied to fetch and cluster tweets from Twitter into relevant categories to reveal hot topics.

  4. Assistive/Socially Assistive Robotic Platform for Therapy and Recovery: Patient Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew White

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Improving adherence to therapy is a critical component of advancing outcomes and reducing the cost of rehabilitation. A robotic platform was previously developed to explore how robotics could be applied to the social dimension of rehabilitation to improve adherence. This paper aims to report on feedback given by end users of the robotic platform as well as the practical applications that socially assistive robotics could have in the daily life activities of a patient. A group of 10 former and current patients interacted with the developed robotic platform during a simulated exercise session before taking an experience-based survey. A portion of these participants later provided verbal feedback as part of a focus group on the potential utility of such a platform. Identified applications included assistance with reaching exercise goals, managing to-do lists, and supporting participation in social and recreational activities. The study participants expressed that the personality characteristics of the robotic system should be adapted to individual preferences and that the assistance provided over time should align with the progress of their recovery. The results from this study are encouraging and will be useful for further development of socially assistive robotics.

  5. Using location based services and social networks for crowdsoursing

    OpenAIRE

    Alebrahim, Mehrnoosh; Moshiri, Behzad

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, location based services with hard sensors like GPS and accelerometer in cell phones and also soft sensors like social networks (LinkedIn) in which people share personal information, skills, industry, location and interests are used. The information obtained from these sensors can be integrated to improve crowdsoursing approach.

  6. Privacy policies for health social networking sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jingquan

    2013-01-01

    Health social networking sites (HSNS), virtual communities where users connect with each other around common problems and share relevant health data, have been increasingly adopted by medical professionals and patients. The growing use of HSNS like Sermo and PatientsLikeMe has prompted public concerns about the risks that such online data-sharing platforms pose to the privacy and security of personal health data. This paper articulates a set of privacy risks introduced by social networking in health care and presents a practical example that demonstrates how the risks might be intrinsic to some HSNS. The aim of this study is to identify and sketch the policy implications of using HSNS and how policy makers and stakeholders should elaborate upon them to protect the privacy of online health data. PMID:23599228

  7. Privacy policies for health social networking sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jingquan

    2013-01-01

    Health social networking sites (HSNS), virtual communities where users connect with each other around common problems and share relevant health data, have been increasingly adopted by medical professionals and patients. The growing use of HSNS like Sermo and PatientsLikeMe has prompted public concerns about the risks that such online data-sharing platforms pose to the privacy and security of personal health data. This paper articulates a set of privacy risks introduced by social networking in health care and presents a practical example that demonstrates how the risks might be intrinsic to some HSNS. The aim of this study is to identify and sketch the policy implications of using HSNS and how policy makers and stakeholders should elaborate upon them to protect the privacy of online health data.

  8. Instructor Experiences with a Social Networking Site in a Higher Education Setting: Expectations, Frustrations, Appropriation, and Compartmentalization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veletsianos, George; Kimmons, Royce; French, Karen D.

    2013-01-01

    Researchers and practitioners have suggested that the use of social networking sites in formal education may be a worthwhile endeavor. Toward this goal, emerging learning platforms have included social networking features. Nevertheless, empirical literature examining user experiences, and more specifically instructor experiences, with these tools…

  9. Diffusion of influence in energy awareness campaigns on the online social networking site of facebook

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Samaha, Kimberly

    2010-09-15

    The era of government jurisdiction based on separate and autonomous entities has been replaced with an intergovernmental and intersectoral network of industry, regulators, special interest groups and individual citizens. New forms of regulatory feedback will be inspired more by the concepts of networks- they will be flatter, leaner, and more flexible. An evaluation of new methods for the diffusion of public awareness regarding energy technologies, policies and projects, was conducted using the technology platform of Facebook. This paper reports on the results of an eighteen month formal study of the Diffusion of Influence in Online Social Networks.

  10. LEDWIRE: A Versatile Networking Platform for Smart LED Lighting Applications Using LIN-Bus and WSNs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dimitrios D. Piromalis

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the architecture of a versatile networking and control platform for Light-Emitting Diode (LED lighting applications is presented, based on embedded wireless and wired networking technologies. All the possible power and control signals distribution topologies of the lighting fixtures are examined with particular focus on dynamic lighting applications with design metrics as the cost, the required wiring installation expenses and maintenance complexity. The proposed platform is optimized for applications where the grouping of LED-based lighting fictures clusters is essential, as well as their synchronization. With such an approach, the distributed control and synchronization of LED lighting fixtures' clusters is performed through a versatile network that uses the single wire Local Interconnect Network (LIN bus. The proposed networking platform is presented in terms of its physical layer architecture, its data protocol configuration, and its functionality for smart control. As a proof of concept, the design of a LED lighting fixture together with a LIN-to-IEEE802.15.4/ZigBee data gateway is presented.

  11. Open-WiSe: A Solar Powered Wireless Sensor Network Platform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arthur Edwards

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Because battery-powered nodes are required in wireless sensor networks and energy consumption represents an important design consideration, alternate energy sources are needed to provide more effective and optimal function. The main goal of this work is to present an energy harvesting wireless sensor network platform, the Open Wireless Sensor node (WiSe. The design and implementation of the solar powered wireless platform is described including the hardware architecture, firmware, and a POSIX Real-Time Kernel. A sleep and wake up strategy was implemented to prolong the lifetime of the wireless sensor network. This platform was developed as a tool for researchers investigating Wireless sensor network or system integrators.

  12. A Social Networking-based Advertising to Enhance Customer Reach Target

    OpenAIRE

    Ahmad Najmi Amer Haider Nuar; Hairulnizam Mahdin; Noryusliza Abdullah; Rozanawati Darman; Masitah Ahmad

    2017-01-01

    A traditional advertising is a method to deliver commercial messages to mass audiences through newspaper, outdoors billboards, radio and television. This method is quite expensive for small and medium company. The new concept of advertising such as social media, website and application provide an inexpensive way to promote businesses. The proposed idea is to create a new platform of advertising and promotional tools which is called Tagme. This system is developed based on web environment on W...

  13. A Comparison of Online Social Networks and Real-Life Social Networks: A Study of Sina Microblogging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dayong Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Online social networks appear to enrich our social life, which raises the question whether they remove cognitive constraints on human communication and improve human social capabilities. In this paper, we analyze the users' following and followed relationships based on the data of Sina Microblogging and reveal several structural properties of Sina Microblogging. Compared with real-life social networks, our results confirm some similar features. However, Sina Microblogging also shows its own specialties, such as hierarchical structure and degree disassortativity, which all mark a deviation from real-life social networks. The low cost of the online network forms a broader perspective, and the one-way link relationships make it easy to spread information, but the online social network does not make too much difference in the creation of strong interpersonal relationships. Finally, we describe the mechanisms for the formation of these characteristics and discuss the implications of these structural properties for the real-life social networks.

  14. The model of social crypto-network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Марк Миколайович Орел

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the theoretical model of social network with the enhanced mechanism of privacy policy. It covers the problems arising in the process of implementing the mentioned type of network. There are presented the methods of solving problems arising in the process of building the social network with privacy policy. It was built a theoretical model of social networks with enhanced information protection methods based on information and communication blocks

  15. Using Social Networking Sites as a Platform for Second Language Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prichard, Caleb

    2013-01-01

    Social networking sites (SNSs) are increasingly used to communicate and to maintain relationships with people around the globe, and their usage has certainly led to incidental language gains for second language (L2) users. Language instructors are just beginning to utilize SNS sites to manage their courses or to have students practice language…

  16. Opinion evolution in different social acquaintance networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xi; Zhang, Xiao; Wu, Zhan; Wang, Hongwei; Wang, Guohua; Li, Wei

    2017-11-01

    Social acquaintance networks influenced by social culture and social policy have a great impact on public opinion evolution in daily life. Based on the differences between socio-culture and social policy, three different social acquaintance networks (kinship-priority acquaintance network, independence-priority acquaintance network, and hybrid acquaintance network) incorporating heredity proportion ph and variation proportion pv are proposed in this paper. Numerical experiments are conducted to investigate network topology and different phenomena during opinion evolution, using the Deffuant model. We found that in kinship-priority acquaintance networks, similar to the Chinese traditional acquaintance networks, opinions always achieve fragmentation, resulting in the formation of multiple large clusters and many small clusters due to the fact that individuals believe more in their relatives and live in a relatively closed environment. In independence-priority acquaintance networks, similar to Western acquaintance networks, the results are similar to those in the kinship-priority acquaintance network. In hybrid acquaintance networks, similar to the Chinese modern acquaintance networks, only a few clusters are formed indicating that in modern China, opinions are more likely to reach consensus on a large scale. These results are similar to the opinion evolution phenomena in modern society, proving the rationality and applicability of network models combined with social culture and policy. We also found a threshold curve pv+2 ph=2.05 in the results for the final opinion clusters and evolution time. Above the threshold curve, opinions could easily reach consensus. Based on the above experimental results, a culture-policy-driven mechanism for the opinion dynamic is worth promoting in this paper, that is, opinion dynamics can be driven by different social cultures and policies through the influence of heredity and variation in interpersonal relationship networks. This

  17. Social network extraction based on Web: 3. the integrated superficial method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nasution, M. K. M.; Sitompul, O. S.; Noah, S. A.

    2018-03-01

    The Web as a source of information has become part of the social behavior information. Although, by involving only the limitation of information disclosed by search engines in the form of: hit counts, snippets, and URL addresses of web pages, the integrated extraction method produces a social network not only trusted but enriched. Unintegrated extraction methods may produce social networks without explanation, resulting in poor supplemental information, or resulting in a social network of durmise laden, consequently unrepresentative social structures. The integrated superficial method in addition to generating the core social network, also generates an expanded network so as to reach the scope of relation clues, or number of edges computationally almost similar to n(n - 1)/2 for n social actors.

  18. MyGeneFriends: A Social Network Linking Genes, Genetic Diseases, and Researchers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allot, Alexis; Chennen, Kirsley; Nevers, Yannis; Poidevin, Laetitia; Kress, Arnaud; Ripp, Raymond; Thompson, Julie Dawn; Poch, Olivier; Lecompte, Odile

    2017-06-16

    The constant and massive increase of biological data offers unprecedented opportunities to decipher the function and evolution of genes and their roles in human diseases. However, the multiplicity of sources and flow of data mean that efficient access to useful information and knowledge production has become a major challenge. This challenge can be addressed by taking inspiration from Web 2.0 and particularly social networks, which are at the forefront of big data exploration and human-data interaction. MyGeneFriends is a Web platform inspired by social networks, devoted to genetic disease analysis, and organized around three types of proactive agents: genes, humans, and genetic diseases. The aim of this study was to improve exploration and exploitation of biological, postgenomic era big data. MyGeneFriends leverages conventions popularized by top social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc), such as networks of friends, profile pages, friendship recommendations, affinity scores, news feeds, content recommendation, and data visualization. MyGeneFriends provides simple and intuitive interactions with data through evaluation and visualization of connections (friendships) between genes, humans, and diseases. The platform suggests new friends and publications and allows agents to follow the activity of their friends. It dynamically personalizes information depending on the user's specific interests and provides an efficient way to share information with collaborators. Furthermore, the user's behavior itself generates new information that constitutes an added value integrated in the network, which can be used to discover new connections between biological agents. We have developed MyGeneFriends, a Web platform leveraging conventions from popular social networks to redefine the relationship between humans and biological big data and improve human processing of biomedical data. MyGeneFriends is available at lbgi.fr/mygenefriends. ©Alexis Allot, Kirsley Chennen, Yannis

  19. Social Media for Enhancing Stakeholders' Innovation Networks in Ontario, Canada

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kaushik, Pawandeep; Chowdhuy, Ataharul; Hambly Odame, Helen; Passen, van Annemarie

    2018-01-01

    This case study assessed local food stakeholders' use of Facebook and Twitter to support interaction and build their networks of innovation in Ontario. Data were collected using Netlytic − an online data mining tool from the social media platforms − and key informant interviews. Findings revealed

  20. Quantified academic selves : The gamification of science through social networking services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hammarfelt, B.M.S.; Rijcke, de S.; Rushforth, A.D.

    2016-01-01

    Introduction. Our study critically engages with techniques of self-quantification in contemporary academia, by demonstrating how social networking services enact research and scholarly communication as a 'game'. Method. The empirical part of the study involves an analysis of two leading platforms:

  1. A Social Environmental Sensor Network Integrated within a Web GIS Platform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yorghos Voutos

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available We live in an era where typical measures towards the mitigation of environmental degradation follow the identification and recording of natural parameters closely associated with it. In addition, current scientific knowledge on the one hand may be applied to minimize the environmental impact of anthropogenic activities, whereas informatics on the other, playing a key role in this ecosystem, do offer new ways of implementing complex scientific processes regarding the collection, aggregation and analysis of data concerning environmental parameters. Furthermore, another related aspect to consider is the fact that almost all relevant data recordings are influenced by their given spatial characteristics. Taking all aforementioned inputs into account, managing such a great amount of complex and remote data requires specific digital structures; these structures are typically deployed over the Web on an attempt to capitalize existing open software platforms and modern developments of hardware technology. In this paper we present an effort to provide a technical solution based on sensing devices that are based on the well-known Arduino platform and operate continuously for gathering and transmitting of environmental state information. Controls, user interface and extensions of the proposed project rely on the Android mobile device platform (both from the software and hardware side. Finally, a crucial novel aspect of our work is the fact that all herein gathered data carry spatial information, which is rather fundamental for the successful correlation between pollutants and their place of origin. The latter is implemented by an interactive Web GIS platform operating oversight in situ and on a timeline basis.

  2. Effective Social Relationship Measurement and Cluster Based Routing in Mobile Opportunistic Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Feng; Zhao, Nan; Li, Wenjia

    2017-05-12

    In mobile opportunistic networks, the social relationship among nodes has an important impact on data transmission efficiency. Motivated by the strong share ability of "circles of friends" in communication networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Wechat and so on, we take a real-life example to show that social relationships among nodes consist of explicit and implicit parts. The explicit part comes from direct contact among nodes, and the implicit part can be measured through the "circles of friends". We present the definitions of explicit and implicit social relationships between two nodes, adaptive weights of explicit and implicit parts are given according to the contact feature of nodes, and the distributed mechanism is designed to construct the "circles of friends" of nodes, which is used for the calculation of the implicit part of social relationship between nodes. Based on effective measurement of social relationships, we propose a social-based clustering and routing scheme, in which each node selects the nodes with close social relationships to form a local cluster, and the self-control method is used to keep all cluster members always having close relationships with each other. A cluster-based message forwarding mechanism is designed for opportunistic routing, in which each node only forwards the copy of the message to nodes with the destination node as a member of the local cluster. Simulation results show that the proposed social-based clustering and routing outperforms the other classic routing algorithms.

  3. Promoting Social Network Awareness: A Social Network Monitoring System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cadima, Rita; Ferreira, Carlos; Monguet, Josep; Ojeda, Jordi; Fernandez, Joaquin

    2010-01-01

    To increase communication and collaboration opportunities, members of a community must be aware of the social networks that exist within that community. This paper describes a social network monitoring system--the KIWI system--that enables users to register their interactions and visualize their social networks. The system was implemented in a…

  4. Fostering koinonia : a critical evaluation of the value of digital social networks in urban congregations / Heinz Eugene Oldewage

    OpenAIRE

    Oldewage, Heinz Eugene

    2015-01-01

    The opening decade of the 21st century has seen a marked expansion in the influence of digital technology on virtually all fields of human endeavour. Nowhere else is the vitality of this new digital world more apparent than in its influence on human communication and social interaction – a reality lucidly reflected in the rise of so-called digital social networks over the last decade. Known to many in the form of popular Internet based services like the social media platforms F...

  5. Analyzing negative ties in social networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mankirat Kaur

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Online social networks are a source of sharing information and maintaining personal contacts with other people through social interactions and thus forming virtual communities online. Social networks are crowded with positive and negative relations. Positive relations are formed by support, endorsement and friendship and thus, create a network of well-connected users whereas negative relations are a result of opposition, distrust and avoidance creating disconnected networks. Due to increase in illegal activities such as masquerading, conspiring and creating fake profiles on online social networks, exploring and analyzing these negative activities becomes the need of hour. Usually negative ties are treated in same way as positive ties in many theories such as balance theory and blockmodeling analysis. But the standard concepts of social network analysis do not yield same results in respect of each tie. This paper presents a survey on analyzing negative ties in social networks through various types of network analysis techniques that are used for examining ties such as status, centrality and power measures. Due to the difference in characteristics of flow in positive and negative tie networks some of these measures are not applicable on negative ties. This paper also discusses new methods that have been developed specifically for analyzing negative ties such as negative degree, and h∗ measure along with the measures based on mixture of positive and negative ties. The different types of social network analysis approaches have been reviewed and compared to determine the best approach that can appropriately identify the negative ties in online networks. It has been analyzed that only few measures such as Degree and PN centrality are applicable for identifying outsiders in network. For applicability in online networks, the performance of PN measure needs to be verified and further, new measures should be developed based upon negative clique concept.

  6. Credit networks and systemic risk of Chinese local financing platforms: Too central or too big to fail?. -based on different credit correlations using hierarchical methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Fang; Chen, Xi

    2016-11-01

    The accelerating accumulation and risk concentration of Chinese local financing platforms debts have attracted wide attention throughout the world. Due to the network of financial exposures among institutions, the failure of several platforms or regions of systemic importance will probably trigger systemic risk and destabilize the financial system. However, the complex network of credit relationships in Chinese local financing platforms at the state level remains unknown. To fill this gap, we presented the first complex networks and hierarchical cluster analysis of the credit market of Chinese local financing platforms using the ;bottom up; method from firm-level data. Based on balance-sheet channel, we analyzed the topology and taxonomy by applying the analysis paradigm of subdominant ultra-metric space to an empirical data in 2013. It is remarked that we chose to extract the network of co-financed financing platforms in order to evaluate the effect of risk contagion from platforms to bank system. We used the new credit similarity measure by combining the factor of connectivity and size, to extract minimal spanning trees (MSTs) and hierarchical trees (HTs). We found that: (1) the degree distributions of credit correlation backbone structure of Chinese local financing platforms are fat tailed, and the structure is unstable with respect to targeted failures; (2) the backbone is highly hierarchical, and largely explained by the geographic region; (3) the credit correlation backbone structure based on connectivity and size is significantly heterogeneous; (4) key platforms and regions of systemic importance, and contagion path of systemic risk are obtained, which are contributed to preventing systemic risk and regional risk of Chinese local financing platforms and preserving financial stability under the framework of macro prudential supervision. Our approach of credit similarity measure provides a means of recognizing ;systemically important; institutions and regions

  7. Spreading paths in partially observed social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Onnela, Jukka-Pekka; Christakis, Nicholas A.

    2012-03-01

    Understanding how and how far information, behaviors, or pathogens spread in social networks is an important problem, having implications for both predicting the size of epidemics, as well as for planning effective interventions. There are, however, two main challenges for inferring spreading paths in real-world networks. One is the practical difficulty of observing a dynamic process on a network, and the other is the typical constraint of only partially observing a network. Using static, structurally realistic social networks as platforms for simulations, we juxtapose three distinct paths: (1) the stochastic path taken by a simulated spreading process from source to target; (2) the topologically shortest path in the fully observed network, and hence the single most likely stochastic path, between the two nodes; and (3) the topologically shortest path in a partially observed network. In a sampled network, how closely does the partially observed shortest path (3) emulate the unobserved spreading path (1)? Although partial observation inflates the length of the shortest path, the stochastic nature of the spreading process also frequently derails the dynamic path from the shortest path. We find that the partially observed shortest path does not necessarily give an inflated estimate of the length of the process path; in fact, partial observation may, counterintuitively, make the path seem shorter than it actually is.

  8. Spreading paths in partially observed social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Onnela, Jukka-Pekka; Christakis, Nicholas A

    2012-03-01

    Understanding how and how far information, behaviors, or pathogens spread in social networks is an important problem, having implications for both predicting the size of epidemics, as well as for planning effective interventions. There are, however, two main challenges for inferring spreading paths in real-world networks. One is the practical difficulty of observing a dynamic process on a network, and the other is the typical constraint of only partially observing a network. Using static, structurally realistic social networks as platforms for simulations, we juxtapose three distinct paths: (1) the stochastic path taken by a simulated spreading process from source to target; (2) the topologically shortest path in the fully observed network, and hence the single most likely stochastic path, between the two nodes; and (3) the topologically shortest path in a partially observed network. In a sampled network, how closely does the partially observed shortest path (3) emulate the unobserved spreading path (1)? Although partial observation inflates the length of the shortest path, the stochastic nature of the spreading process also frequently derails the dynamic path from the shortest path. We find that the partially observed shortest path does not necessarily give an inflated estimate of the length of the process path; in fact, partial observation may, counterintuitively, make the path seem shorter than it actually is.

  9. StOCNET : Software for the statistical analysis of social networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Huisman, M.; van Duijn, M.A.J.

    2003-01-01

    StOCNET3 is an open software system in a Windows environment for the advanced statistical analysis of social networks. It provides a platform to make a number of recently developed and therefore not (yet) standard statistical methods available to a wider audience. A flexible user interface utilizing

  10. Social power and opinion formation in complex networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jalili, Mahdi

    2013-02-01

    In this paper we investigate the effects of social power on the evolution of opinions in model networks as well as in a number of real social networks. A continuous opinion formation model is considered and the analysis is performed through numerical simulation. Social power is given to a proportion of agents selected either randomly or based on their degrees. As artificial network structures, we consider scale-free networks constructed through preferential attachment and Watts-Strogatz networks. Numerical simulations show that scale-free networks with degree-based social power on the hub nodes have an optimal case where the largest number of the nodes reaches a consensus. However, given power to a random selection of nodes could not improve consensus properties. Introducing social power in Watts-Strogatz networks could not significantly change the consensus profile.

  11. Handbook of social network technologies and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Furht, Borko

    2010-01-01

    Social networking is a concept that has existed for a long time; however, with the explosion of the Internet, social networking has become a tool for people to connect and communicate in ways that were impossible in the past. The recent development of Web 2.0 has provided many new applications, such as Myspace, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The purpose of ""Handbook of Social Networks: Technologies and Applications"" is to provide comprehensive guidelines on the current and future trends in social network technologies and applications in the field of Web-based Social Networks. This handbook includes

  12. Social entrepreneurship and social networks

    OpenAIRE

    Dufays, Frédéric

    2013-01-01

    In this presentation, we argue that the sociology of social networks may provide interesting insights with regard to the emergence of social entrepreneurship both at micro and macro levels. There have already been several calls for research on social networks in the context of social entrepreneurship (Certo & Miller 2008; Gedajlovic, et al. 2013; Haugh 2007; Mair & Marti 2006; Short, et al. 2009). These calls often address the differences in structure and effects of social networks in a socia...

  13. Social networks as a new tool of information warfare in the modern world

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. W. Kovalevych

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available With the rapid development of information technologies, especially the Internet, people are becoming increasingly dependent on information that surrounds them. And social networks, where a person spends most of their time, become the ideal instruments of influence on the people consciousness and information warfare. Due to psychological factors ( such as ‘spiral of silence’, the herd instinct, the entire credibility of published information, opinion leaders, the desire for self­realization or replacement of reality that influence the human behavior in the network and the use of models of influence (model of network attack, model of involving users as volunteers, total block model, social networks become a platform for the dissemination of political ideas, ideologies and implementation of the ‘color revolutions’. However, social media play a positive role, especially in the establishment of civil society and the free flow of information. Positive or negative impact of networks primary depends on the purpose of use of social networking tools.

  14. Stargate-based Acoustic Sensor Platform

    OpenAIRE

    Hanbiao Wang; Kung Yao; Deborah Estrin

    2004-01-01

    To facilitate the study of the wireless sensor network for demanding acoustic monitoring of long distance sources, we recently have also started working on the development of a new generation of wireless acoustic sensor network platform using the Stargate nodes. The 400 MHz PXA-255 XScale processor and the 64 MB SDRAM provide the Stargate platform a decent processing capability. The VX Pocket 440 sound card with four external microphones are attached to each Stargate node through the PCMCIA s...

  15. A gossip-based distributed social networking system

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Abbas, S.M.A.; Pouwelse, J.A.; Epema, D.H.J.; Sips, H.J.

    2009-01-01

    Social networking Web sites, which allow users to create identities and link them to friends who have also created identities, are highly popular. Systems such as Facebook and MySpace utilize a traditional client-server approach to achieve this, which means that all identities and their social links

  16. Privacy Breach Analysis in Social Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagle, Frank

    This chapter addresses various aspects of analyzing privacy breaches in social networks. We first review literature that defines three types of privacy breaches in social networks: interactive, active, and passive. We then survey the various network anonymization schemes that have been constructed to address these privacy breaches. After exploring these breaches and anonymization schemes, we evaluate a measure for determining the level of anonymity inherent in a network graph based on its topological structure. Finally, we close by emphasizing the difficulty of anonymizing social network data while maintaining usability for research purposes and offering areas for future work.

  17. Evolution of a large online social network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu Haibo; Wang Xiaofan

    2009-01-01

    Although recently there are extensive research on the collaborative networks and online communities, there is very limited knowledge about the actual evolution of the online social networks (OSN). In the Letter, we study the structural evolution of a large online virtual community. We find that the scale growth of the OSN shows non-trivial S shape which may provide a proper exemplification for Bass diffusion model. We reveal that the evolutions of many network properties, such as density, clustering, heterogeneity and modularity, show non-monotone feature, and shrink phenomenon occurs for the path length and diameter of the network. Furthermore, the OSN underwent a transition from degree assortativity characteristic of collaborative networks to degree disassortativity characteristic of many OSNs. Our study has revealed the evolutionary pattern of interpersonal interactions in a specific population and provided a valuable platform for theoretical modeling and further analysis

  18. Mobile Technology: Binding Social and Cloud into a New Enterprise Applications Platform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luminita HURBEAN

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, the IT industry is revolving around the build-out and adoption of a new platform, characterized by mobility, cloud-based application and service delivery, and value-generating overlays of social business and pervasive analytics. The paper explores the convergence of mobile, cloud, and social, as well as the effects for the enterprise and the emergence of the new enterprise application platforms. In the beginning we set the stage, while showing the ex-pansion of the mobile, cloud, and social in the business information system, as they were found in the literature. We then look over the IT trends, especially the consumerization of IT, as reasons and basis for the information systems embracing of mobile. Afterwards, we present a mobility roadmap for the enterprise and illustrate the reconfiguration of the enterprise ap-plication platform.

  19. SPRINT-SELF: Social-Based Routing and Selfish Node Detection in Opportunistic Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radu Ioan Ciobanu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Since mobile devices nowadays have become ubiquitous, several types of networks formed over such devices have been proposed. One such approach is represented by opportunistic networking, which is based on a store-carry-and-forward paradigm, where nodes store data and carry it until they reach a suitable node for forwarding. The problem in such networks is how to decide what the next hop will be, since nodes do not have a global view of the network. We propose using the social network information of a node when performing routing, since a node is more likely to encounter members of its own social community than other nodes. In addition, we approximate a node’s contact as a Poisson distribution and show that we can predict its future behavior based on the contact history. Furthermore, since opportunistic network nodes may be selfish, we improve our solution by adding a selfish node detection and avoidance mechanism, which can help reduce the number of unnecessary messages sent in the network, and thus avoid congestion and decrease battery consumption. We show that our algorithm outperforms existing solutions such as BUBBLE Rap and Epidemic in terms of delivery cost and hit rate, as well as the rate of congestion introduced in the network, by testing in various realistic scenarios.

  20. Opinion evolution in different social acquaintance networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xi; Zhang, Xiao; Wu, Zhan; Wang, Hongwei; Wang, Guohua; Li, Wei

    2017-11-01

    Social acquaintance networks influenced by social culture and social policy have a great impact on public opinion evolution in daily life. Based on the differences between socio-culture and social policy, three different social acquaintance networks (kinship-priority acquaintance network, independence-priority acquaintance network, and hybrid acquaintance network) incorporating heredity proportion p h and variation proportion p v are proposed in this paper. Numerical experiments are conducted to investigate network topology and different phenomena during opinion evolution, using the Deffuant model. We found that in kinship-priority acquaintance networks, similar to the Chinese traditional acquaintance networks, opinions always achieve fragmentation, resulting in the formation of multiple large clusters and many small clusters due to the fact that individuals believe more in their relatives and live in a relatively closed environment. In independence-priority acquaintance networks, similar to Western acquaintance networks, the results are similar to those in the kinship-priority acquaintance network. In hybrid acquaintance networks, similar to the Chinese modern acquaintance networks, only a few clusters are formed indicating that in modern China, opinions are more likely to reach consensus on a large scale. These results are similar to the opinion evolution phenomena in modern society, proving the rationality and applicability of network models combined with social culture and policy. We also found a threshold curve p v +2p h =2.05 in the results for the final opinion clusters and evolution time. Above the threshold curve, opinions could easily reach consensus. Based on the above experimental results, a culture-policy-driven mechanism for the opinion dynamic is worth promoting in this paper, that is, opinion dynamics can be driven by different social cultures and policies through the influence of heredity and variation in interpersonal relationship networks. This

  1. Discrete opinion dynamics on networks based on social influence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu Haibo; Wang Xiaofan

    2009-01-01

    A model of opinion dynamics based on social influence on networks was studied. The opinion of each agent can have integer values i = 1, 2, ..., I and opinion exchanges are restricted to connected agents. It was found that for any I ≥ 2 and self-confidence parameter 0 ≤ u i ) of the population that hold a given opinion i is a martingale, and the fraction q i of opinion i will gradually converge to (q i ). The tendency can slow down with the increase of degree assortativity of networks. When u is degree dependent, (q i ) does not possess the martingale property, however q i still converges to it. In both cases for a finite network the states of all agents will finally reach consensus. Further if there exist stubborn persons in the population whose opinions do not change over time, it was found that for degree-independent constant u, both q i and (q i ) will converge to fixed proportions which only depend on the distribution of initial obstinate persons, and naturally the final equilibrium state will be the coexistence of diverse opinions held by the stubborn people. The analytical results were verified by numerical simulations on Barabasi-Albert (BA) networks. The model highlights the influence of high-degree agents on the final consensus or coexistence state and captures some realistic features of the diffusion of opinions in social networks

  2. Consumer Activities and Reactions to Social Network Marketing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bistra Vassileva

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to understand consumer behavioural models with respect to their reactions to social network marketing. Theoretical background is focused on online and social network usage, motivations and behaviour. The research goal is to explore consumer reactions to the exposure of social network marketing based on the following criteria: level of brand engagement, word-of-mouth (WOM referral behaviour, and purchase intentions. Consumers are investigated based on their attitudes toward social network marketing and basic socio-demographic covariates using data from a sample size of 700 Bulgarian respondents (age group 21–54 years, Internet users, urban inhabitants. Factor and cluster analyses are applied. It is found that consumers are willing to receive information about brands and companies through social networks. They like to talk in social networks about these brands and companies and to share information as well (factor 2, brand engagement. Internet users are willing to share information received through social network advertising (factor 1, wom referral behaviour but they would not buy a certain brand as a result of brand communication activities in social networks (factor 3, purchase intention. Several practical implications regarding marketing activities through social networks are drawn.

  3. Associations Between Internet-Based Professional Social Networking and Emotional Distress

    OpenAIRE

    Jones, Jacquelynn R.; Colditz, Jason B.; Shensa, Ariel; Sidani, Jaime E.; Lin, Liu Yi; Terry, Martha Ann; Primack, Brian A.

    2016-01-01

    Professional social networking websites are commonly used among young professionals. In light of emerging concerns regarding social networking use and emotional distress, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association between frequency of use of LinkedIn, the most commonly used professional social networking website, and depression and anxiety among young adults. In October 2014, we assessed a nationally representative sample of 1,780 U.S. young adults between the ages of 19–32 ...

  4. Social Network Analysis Reveals the Negative Effects of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD Symptoms on Friend-Based Student Networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Won Kim

    Full Text Available Social network analysis has emerged as a promising tool in modern social psychology. This method can be used to examine friend-based social relationships in terms of network theory, with nodes representing individual students and ties representing relationships between students (e.g., friendships and kinships. Using social network analysis, we investigated whether greater severity of ADHD symptoms is correlated with weaker peer relationships among elementary school students.A total of 562 sixth-graders from two elementary schools (300 males provided the names of their best friends (maximum 10 names. Their teachers rated each student's ADHD symptoms using an ADHD rating scale.The results showed that 10.2% of the students were at high risk for ADHD. Significant group differences were observed between the high-risk students and other students in two of the three network parameters (degree, centrality and closeness used to assess friendship quality, with the high-risk group showing significantly lower values of degree and closeness compared to the other students. Moreover, negative correlations were found between the ADHD rating and two social network analysis parameters.Our findings suggest that the severity of ADHD symptoms is strongly correlated with the quality of social and interpersonal relationships in students with ADHD symptoms.

  5. Social Network Analysis Reveals the Negative Effects of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Symptoms on Friend-Based Student Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Jun Won; Kim, Bung-Nyun; Kim, Johanna Inhyang; Lee, Young Sik; Min, Kyung Joon; Kim, Hyun-Jin; Lee, Jaewon

    2015-01-01

    Social network analysis has emerged as a promising tool in modern social psychology. This method can be used to examine friend-based social relationships in terms of network theory, with nodes representing individual students and ties representing relationships between students (e.g., friendships and kinships). Using social network analysis, we investigated whether greater severity of ADHD symptoms is correlated with weaker peer relationships among elementary school students. A total of 562 sixth-graders from two elementary schools (300 males) provided the names of their best friends (maximum 10 names). Their teachers rated each student's ADHD symptoms using an ADHD rating scale. The results showed that 10.2% of the students were at high risk for ADHD. Significant group differences were observed between the high-risk students and other students in two of the three network parameters (degree, centrality and closeness) used to assess friendship quality, with the high-risk group showing significantly lower values of degree and closeness compared to the other students. Moreover, negative correlations were found between the ADHD rating and two social network analysis parameters. Our findings suggest that the severity of ADHD symptoms is strongly correlated with the quality of social and interpersonal relationships in students with ADHD symptoms.

  6. [Exploration and practice of genetics teaching assisted by network technology platform].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ya-Xuan; Zhang, Fei-Xiong; Zhao, Xin; Cai, Min-Hua; Yan, Yue-Ming; Hu, Ying-Kao

    2010-04-01

    More teaching techniques have been brought out gradually along with the development of new technologies. On the basis of those traditional teaching methods, a new platform has been set up by the network technology for teaching process. In genetics teaching, it is possible to use the network platform to guide student studying, promote student's learning interest and study independently by themselves. It has been proved, after exploring and applying for many years, that network teaching is one of the most useful methods and has inimitable advantage comparing to the traditional ones in genetics teaching. The establishment of network teaching platform, the advantage and deficiency and relevant strategies were intro-duced in this paper.

  7. Modeling the Propagation of Trojan Malware in Online Social Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Faghani, Mohammad Reza; Nugyen, Uyen Trang

    2017-01-01

    The popularity and widespread usage of online social networks (OSN) have attracted cyber criminals who have used OSNs as a platform to spread malware. Among different types of malware in OSNs, Trojan is the most popular type with hundreds of attacks on OSN users in the past few years. Trojans infecting a user's computer have the ability to steal confidential information, install ransomware and infect other computers in the network. Therefore, it is important to understand propagation dynamics...

  8. Tolerance-based interaction: a new model targeting opinion formation and diffusion in social networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandru Topirceanu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the main motivations behind social network analysis is the quest for understanding opinion formation and diffusion. Previous models have limitations, as they typically assume opinion interaction mechanisms based on thresholds which are either fixed or evolve according to a random process that is external to the social agent. Indeed, our empirical analysis on large real-world datasets such as Twitter, Meme Tracker, and Yelp, uncovers previously unaccounted for dynamic phenomena at population-level, namely the existence of distinct opinion formation phases and social balancing. We also reveal that a phase transition from an erratic behavior to social balancing can be triggered by network topology and by the ratio of opinion sources. Consequently, in order to build a model that properly accounts for these phenomena, we propose a new (individual-level opinion interaction model based on tolerance. As opposed to the existing opinion interaction models, the new tolerance model assumes that individual’s inner willingness to accept new opinions evolves over time according to basic human traits. Finally, by employing discrete event simulation on diverse social network topologies, we validate our opinion interaction model and show that, although the network size and opinion source ratio are important, the phase transition to social balancing is mainly fostered by the democratic structure of the small-world topology.

  9. Social disadvantage and borderline personality disorder: A study of social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beeney, Joseph E; Hallquist, Michael N; Clifton, Allan D; Lazarus, Sophie A; Pilkonis, Paul A

    2018-01-01

    Examining differences in social integration, social support, and relationship characteristics in social networks may be critical for understanding the character and costs of the social difficulties experienced of borderline personality disorder (BPD). We conducted an ego-based (self-reported, individual) social network analysis of 142 participants recruited from clinical and community sources. Each participant listed the 30 most significant people (called alters) in their social network, then rated each alter in terms of amount of contact, social support, attachment strength and negative interactions. In addition, measures of social integration were determined using participant's report of the connection between people in their networks. BPD was associated with poorer social support, more frequent negative interactions, and less social integration. Examination of alter-by-BPD interactions indicated that whereas participants with low BPD symptoms had close relationships with people with high centrality within their networks, participants with high BPD symptoms had their closest relationships with people less central to their networks. The results suggest that individuals with BPD are at a social disadvantage: Those with whom they are most closely linked (including romantic partners) are less socially connected (i.e., less central) within their social network. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. Future Wireless Network: MyNET Platform and End-to-End Network Slicing

    OpenAIRE

    Zhang, Hang

    2016-01-01

    Future wireless networks are facing new challenges. These new challenges require new solutions and strategies of the network deployment, management, and operation. Many driving factors are decisive in the re-definition and re-design of the future wireless network architecture. In the previously published paper "5G Wireless Network - MyNET and SONAC", MyNET and SONAC, a future network architecture, are described. This paper elaborates MyNET platform with more details. The design principles of ...

  11. Regional Use of Social Networking Tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-12-01

    4 2.1.7 Tumblr 4 2.1.8 Instagram 4 2.2 Local Social Networking Services 5 3 Regional Preferences for Social Networking Tools 6 4 African Region...YouTube 280 million Twitter 255 million LinkedIn n/a Pinterest n/a Tumblr 300 million Instagram 200 million The active-user base numbers...so this percentage may decline in the future. 2.1.8 Instagram Instagram , acquired by Facebook in 2012, is a mobile social networking service that

  12. Animal welfare: a social networks perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kleinhappel, Tanja K; John, Elizabeth A; Pike, Thomas W; Wilkinson, Anna; Burman, Oliver H P

    2016-01-01

    Social network theory provides a useful tool to study complex social relationships in animals. The possibility to look beyond dyadic interactions by considering whole networks of social relationships allows researchers the opportunity to study social groups in more natural ways. As such, network-based analyses provide an informative way to investigate the factors influencing the social environment of group-living animals, and so has direct application to animal welfare. For example, animal groups in captivity are frequently disrupted by separations, reintroductions and/or mixing with unfamiliar individuals and this can lead to social stress and associated aggression. Social network analysis ofanimal groups can help identify the underlying causes of these socially-derived animal welfare concerns. In this review we discuss how this approach can be applied, and how it could be used to identify potential interventions and solutions in the area of animal welfare.

  13. Design of a Physiology-Sensitive VR-Based Social Communication Platform for Children With Autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuriakose, Selvia; Lahiri, Uttama

    2017-08-01

    Individuals with autism are often characterized by impairments in communication, reciprocal social interaction and explicit expression of their affective states. In conventional techniques, a therapist adjusts the intervention paradigm by monitoring the affective state e.g., anxiety of these individuals for effective floor-time-therapy. Conventional techniques, though powerful, are observation-based and face resource limitations. Technology-assisted systems can provide a quantitative, individualized rehabilitation platform. Presently-available systems are designed primarily to chain learning via aspects of one's performance alone restricting individualization. Specifically, these systems are not sensitive to one's anxiety. Our presented work seeks to bridge this gap by developing a novel VR-based interactive system with Anxiety-Sensitive adaptive technology. Specifically, such a system is capable of objectively identifying and quantifying one's anxiety level from real-time biomarkers, along with performance metrics. In turn it can adaptively respond in an individualized manner to foster improved social communication skills. In our present research, we have used Virtual Reality (VR) to design a proof-of-concept application that exposes participants to social tasks of varying challenges. Results of a preliminary usability study indicate the potential of our VR-based Anxiety-Sensitive system to foster improved task performance, thereby serving as a potent complementary tool in the hands of therapist.

  14. Quantified Academic Selves: The Gamification of Research through Social Networking Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammarfelt, Björn; de Rijcke, Sarah; Rushforth, Alexander D.

    2016-01-01

    Introduction: Our study critically engages with techniques of self-quantification in contemporary academia, by demonstrating how social networking services enact research and scholarly communication as a "game". Method: The empirical part of the study involves an analysis of two leading platforms: Impactstory and ResearchGate. Observed…

  15. Social networking for web-based communities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Issa, T.; Kommers, Petrus A.M.

    2013-01-01

    In the 21st century, a new technology was introduced to facilitate communication, collaboration, and interaction between individuals and businesses. This technology is called social networking; this technology is now part of Internet commodities like email, browsing and blogging. From the 20th

  16. A remote care platform for the social support program CASSAUDEC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrés Felipe Ardila Rodríguez

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The training strategies developed for the social support program bring deficits in accessibility to the chronic ill patients (EC and the CASSA-UDEC’s caretaker (CASSA-UDEC: Centre for Social Health Care at Universidad de Cundinamarca they do not have time to commute, hindering their legal relationship established by the contract. For this reason, a remote care platform (PTD was developed to support users at CASSA-UDEC improving aspects related to coverage, cost, quality, access and appropriation of information from caregivers and chronic ill patients. The design was based on gerontological constructs identifying features such as modularity, object size, usability, ergonomics, and some others, providing a friendly platform for the user with dynamic, modular and high usability content. The Platform provides a space for interaction and aid, which works as a dynamic entity in the job done by CASSA-UDEC giving support in the development of activities, expanding its coverage, access; all thanks to the benefits offered in a virtual mode.

  17. Prediction of Narcissism, Perception of Social Interactions and Marital Conflicts Based on the Use of Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    رویا رضاپور

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The prevalence of social networks and the excessive use of them by couples have had a significant impact on various aspects of their lives. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of social networks in the formation of narcissism, perception of social interaction and marital conflicts in couples who use these social networks. The study design was correlational and the statistical population included couples of Zanjan city who use social networks. 120 couples which widely used social networks were selected by random sampling. The questionnaires of Internet Addiction (Young, 1998, Narcissistic Personality (Ames and et al, 2006, Perception of Social Interaction (Glass, 1994 and Marital Conflict (Sanaei, 2000 were used. Pearson correlation coefficient and Regression were used for data analysis. This study showed that there is a significant negative relationship between the use of social networks with perception of social interaction, and a significant positive relationship between the use of social networks with narcissism and marital conflicts (P<0/01. Also narcissism has a significant positive relationship with marital conflicts, and a significant negative relationship with perception of social interaction (P<0/01. Social networks have a negative effect on couple's relationship and their feelings towards each other, as well as strengthening narcissism, which can cause communication problems, decreased positive feelings of couples towards each other and marital conflicts.

  18. Social networking in Bangladesh: Boon or curse for academic engagement?

    OpenAIRE

    Mouri Dey; Ali Arshad Chowdhury

    2016-01-01

    The number of social networking services (SNSs) users in Bangladesh is increasing at an accelerating rate. There are many who argue that SNS usage is destroying the students’ future by diminishing their academic engagement. The authors aim to investigate whether there is any relationship between students’ academic performance and their SNS usage. The study chose Facebook as a representative of SNSs because this is the most popular platform for online social connectivity and conducted a survey...

  19. Prediction of Narcissism, Perception of Social Interactions and Marital Conflicts Based on the Use of Social Networks

    OpenAIRE

    رویا رضاپور; محمد مهدی ذاکری; لقمان ابراهیمی

    2017-01-01

    The prevalence of social networks and the excessive use of them by couples have had a significant impact on various aspects of their lives. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of social networks in the formation of narcissism, perception of social interaction and marital conflicts in couples who use these social networks. The study design was correlational and the statistical population included couples of Zanjan city who use social networks. 120 couples which widely used social...

  20. Toward Predicting Social Support Needs in Online Health Social Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Min-Je; Kim, Sung-Hee; Lee, Sukwon; Kwon, Bum Chul; Yi, Ji Soo; Choo, Jaegul; Huh, Jina

    2017-08-02

    While online health social networks (OHSNs) serve as an effective platform for patients to fulfill their various social support needs, predicting the needs of users and providing tailored information remains a challenge. The objective of this study was to discriminate important features for identifying users' social support needs based on knowledge gathered from survey data. This study also provides guidelines for a technical framework, which can be used to predict users' social support needs based on raw data collected from OHSNs. We initially conducted a Web-based survey with 184 OHSN users. From this survey data, we extracted 34 features based on 5 categories: (1) demographics, (2) reading behavior, (3) posting behavior, (4) perceived roles in OHSNs, and (5) values sought in OHSNs. Features from the first 4 categories were used as variables for binary classification. For the prediction outcomes, we used features from the last category: the needs for emotional support, experience-based information, unconventional information, and medical facts. We compared 5 binary classifier algorithms: gradient boosting tree, random forest, decision tree, support vector machines, and logistic regression. We then calculated the scores of the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) to understand the comparative effectiveness of the used features. The best performance was AUC scores of 0.89 for predicting users seeking emotional support, 0.86 for experience-based information, 0.80 for unconventional information, and 0.83 for medical facts. With the gradient boosting tree as our best performing model, we analyzed the strength of individual features in predicting one's social support need. Among other discoveries, we found that users seeking emotional support tend to post more in OHSNs compared with others. We developed an initial framework for automatically predicting social support needs in OHSNs using survey data. Future work should involve nonsurvey

  1. Low power radio communication platform for wireless sensor network

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dutta, R.; Bentum, Marinus Jan; van der Zee, Ronan A.R.; Kokkeler, Andre B.J.

    2009-01-01

    Wireless sensor networks are predicted to be the most versatile, popular and useful technology in the near future. A large number of applications are targeted which will hugely benefit from a network of tiny computers with few sensors, radio communication platform, intelligent networking and

  2. The design and implementation of a network simulation platform

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Von Solms, S

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available these events and their effects can enable researchers to identify these threats and find ways to counter them. In this paper we present the design of a network simulation platform which can enable researchers to study dynamic behaviour of networks, network...

  3. A Collaborative Training Platform for Peer-Based Co-Construction of Knowledge and Co-Tutoring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laurent Moccozet

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available We propose a collaborative training platform where students collectively contribute to the co-construction of the required knowledge to produce their individual semester project. Peers feedback is implemented in order to complete trainers’ supervision with peer-training. This collaborative platform is implemented as a social network, where collaborative interactions are organized 1 to engage and stimulate students to share their resources and contributions; 2 to monitor and comment peers’ contributions.

  4. Effective Social Relationship Measurement and Cluster Based Routing in Mobile Opportunistic Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Feng; Zhao, Nan; Li, Wenjia

    2017-01-01

    In mobile opportunistic networks, the social relationship among nodes has an important impact on data transmission efficiency. Motivated by the strong share ability of “circles of friends” in communication networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Wechat and so on, we take a real-life example to show that social relationships among nodes consist of explicit and implicit parts. The explicit part comes from direct contact among nodes, and the implicit part can be measured through the “circles of friends”. We present the definitions of explicit and implicit social relationships between two nodes, adaptive weights of explicit and implicit parts are given according to the contact feature of nodes, and the distributed mechanism is designed to construct the “circles of friends” of nodes, which is used for the calculation of the implicit part of social relationship between nodes. Based on effective measurement of social relationships, we propose a social-based clustering and routing scheme, in which each node selects the nodes with close social relationships to form a local cluster, and the self-control method is used to keep all cluster members always having close relationships with each other. A cluster-based message forwarding mechanism is designed for opportunistic routing, in which each node only forwards the copy of the message to nodes with the destination node as a member of the local cluster. Simulation results show that the proposed social-based clustering and routing outperforms the other classic routing algorithms. PMID:28498309

  5. Investigation on Requirements of Robotic Platforms to Teach Social Skills to Individuals with Autism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikolopoulos, Chris; Kuester, Deitra; Sheehan, Mark; Dhanya, Sneha

    This paper reports on some of the robotic platforms used in the project AUROSO which investigates the use of robots as educationally useful interventions to improve social interactions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Our approach to treatment uses an educational intervention based on Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR), the DIR/Floortime intervention model and social script/stories. Requirements are established and a variety of robotic models/platforms were investigated as to the feasibility of an economical, practical and efficient means of helping teach social skills to individuals with ASD for use by teachers, families, service providers and other community organizations.

  6. Social Networking as a Facilitator for Lifelong Learning in Multinational Employee’s Career

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreea Nicoleta VISAN

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses how multinational employees who are leaving in Bucharest, Romania use social networks as a tool for their everyday tasks and work, and how they want to satisfy their personal development needs by having access to information from these digital platforms. The case study described was conducted in Bucharest in 2017 and followed a results analysis with structured tables and graphs. In the study took part 24 participants who were selected among multinational IT employees in Bucharest. Social networks contribute to employee’s lifelong educational process: besides providing them positive gratification, they also contribute to their personal development and careers growth. Even though all individuals who participated in this study use social networks, more efforts should be done in order for companies in Bucharest to know the benefits of social networks and employee’s opinion about their contribution to lifelong learning.

  7. Social network data analytics

    CERN Document Server

    Aggarwal, Charu C

    2011-01-01

    Social network analysis applications have experienced tremendous advances within the last few years due in part to increasing trends towards users interacting with each other on the internet. Social networks are organized as graphs, and the data on social networks takes on the form of massive streams, which are mined for a variety of purposes. Social Network Data Analytics covers an important niche in the social network analytics field. This edited volume, contributed by prominent researchers in this field, presents a wide selection of topics on social network data mining such as Structural Pr

  8. Low Emission Development Strategies: The Role of Networks and Knowledge Platforms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Benioff, Ron [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Bazilian, Morgan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Cox, Sadie [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Uriarte, Caroline [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kecman, Ana [United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Vienna (Austria); De Simone, Giuseppe [United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Vienna (Austria); Kitaoka, Kazuki [United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Vienna (Austria); Ploutakhina, Marina [United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Vienna (Austria); Radka, M. [United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi (Kenya)

    2013-09-01

    Considerable effort has been made to address the transition to low-carbon economy. A key focus of these efforts has been on the development of national low-emissions developments strategies (LEDS). One enabler of these plans is the existence of well-functioning national, regional and international low-emission development networks and knowledge platforms. To better understand the role of LEDS, weexamine this area in relation to network theory. We present a review of strengths and weaknesses of existing LEDS networks that builds on the findings of a study conducted by the Coordinated Low Emission Assistance Network (CLEAN). Based on the insights from theory and a mapping of the climate-related network space, we identify opportunities for further refinement of LEDS networks.

  9. Design and implementation of pan-tilt FSO transceiver gimbals for real-time compensation of platform disturbances using a secondary control network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rzasa, John; Milner, Stuart D.; Davis, Christopher C.

    2011-09-01

    Free-space optical (FSO) systems are known for providing data rates much higher than RF based systems, however their narrow beams require a method to keep the transceivers precisely aligned. To date, most systems have used a combination of coarse pointing platforms and fast steering mirrors tied to a feedback loop based on received optical power to accomplish this. This method can encounter problems if the alignment of one of the transceivers is disrupted or obstructed. In this paper, we present an approach to mitigating this problem using a low data-rate, omni-directional RF network that disseminates pointing commands to all platforms in the network, thereby if the main FSO channels are disrupted, the network can recover faster than a purely received signal strength (RSS) based approach. Utilizing custommade high precision direct drive servo pan-tilt platforms coupled with position and orientation sensors, we can calculate the appropriate pointing angles for all the transceiver platforms, which are then relayed over the control network. We present theoretical calculations regarding the required performance specifications of the control network and pan-tiltplatforms. Experimental results are then presented for a link where one transceiver is mounted on a coarse vibration platform to simulate disturbances in a real network.

  10. Discrete opinion dynamics on networks based on social influence

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hu Haibo; Wang Xiaofan [Complex Networks and Control Lab, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China)

    2009-06-05

    A model of opinion dynamics based on social influence on networks was studied. The opinion of each agent can have integer values i = 1, 2, ..., I and opinion exchanges are restricted to connected agents. It was found that for any I {>=} 2 and self-confidence parameter 0 {<=} u < 1, when u is a degree-independent constant, the weighted proportion (q{sub i}) of the population that hold a given opinion i is a martingale, and the fraction q{sub i} of opinion i will gradually converge to (q{sub i}). The tendency can slow down with the increase of degree assortativity of networks. When u is degree dependent, (q{sub i}) does not possess the martingale property, however q{sub i} still converges to it. In both cases for a finite network the states of all agents will finally reach consensus. Further if there exist stubborn persons in the population whose opinions do not change over time, it was found that for degree-independent constant u, both q{sub i} and (q{sub i}) will converge to fixed proportions which only depend on the distribution of initial obstinate persons, and naturally the final equilibrium state will be the coexistence of diverse opinions held by the stubborn people. The analytical results were verified by numerical simulations on Barabasi-Albert (BA) networks. The model highlights the influence of high-degree agents on the final consensus or coexistence state and captures some realistic features of the diffusion of opinions in social networks.

  11. Mining social networks and security informatics

    CERN Document Server

    Özyer, Tansel; Rokne, Jon; Khoury, Suheil

    2013-01-01

    Crime, terrorism and security are in the forefront of current societal concerns. This edited volume presents research based on social network techniques showing how data from crime and terror networks can be analyzed and how information can be extracted. The topics covered include crime data mining and visualization; organized crime detection; crime network visualization; computational criminology; aspects of terror network analyses and threat prediction including cyberterrorism and the related area of dark web; privacy issues in social networks; security informatics; graph algorithms for soci

  12. Build your own social network laboratory with Social Lab: a tool for research in social media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garaizar, Pablo; Reips, Ulf-Dietrich

    2014-06-01

    Social networking has surpassed e-mail and instant messaging as the dominant form of online communication (Meeker, Devitt, & Wu, 2010). Currently, all large social networks are proprietary, making it difficult to impossible for researchers to make changes to such networks for the purpose of study design and access to user-generated data from the networks. To address this issue, the authors have developed and present Social Lab, an Internet-based free and open-source social network software system available from http://www.sociallab.es . Having full availability of navigation and communication data in Social Lab allows researchers to investigate behavior in social media on an individual and group level. Automated artificial users ("bots") are available to the researcher to simulate and stimulate social networking situations. These bots respond dynamically to situations as they unfold. The bots can easily be configured with scripts and can be used to experimentally manipulate social networking situations in Social Lab. Examples for setting up, configuring, and using Social Lab as a tool for research in social media are provided.

  13. Mapping dynamic social networks in real life using participants' own smartphones

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tjeerd W. Boonstra

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Interpersonal relationships are vital for our daily functioning and wellbeing. Social networks may form the primary means by which environmental influences determine individual traits. Several studies have shown the influence of social networks on decision-making, behaviors and wellbeing. Smartphones have great potential for measuring social networks in a real world setting. Here we tested the feasibility of using people's own smartphones as a data collection platform for face-to-face interactions. We developed an application for iOS and Android to collect Bluetooth data and acquired one week of data from 14 participants in our organization. The Bluetooth scanning statistics were used to quantify the time-resolved connection strength between participants and define the weights of a dynamic social network. We used network metrics to quantify changes in network topology over time and non-negative matrix factorization to identify cliques or subgroups that reoccurred during the week. The scanning rate varied considerably between smartphones running Android and iOS and egocentric networks metrics were correlated with the scanning rate. The time courses of two identified subgroups matched with two meetings that took place that week. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using participants' own smartphones to map social network, whilst identifying current limitations of using generic smartphones. The bias introduced by variations in scanning rate and missing data is an important limitation that needs to be addressed in future studies.

  14. Review of Recommender Systems Algorithms Utilized in Social Networks based e-Learning Systems & Neutrosophic System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. A. Salama

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we present a review of different recommender system algorithms that are utilized in social networks based e-Learning systems. Future research will include our proposed our e-Learning system that utilizes Recommender System and Social Network. Since the world is full of indeterminacy, the neutrosophics found their place into contemporary research. The fundamental concepts of neutrosophic set, introduced by Smarandache in [21, 22, 23] and Salama et al. in [24-66].The purpose of this paper is to utilize a neutrosophic set to analyze social networks data conducted through learning activities.

  15. Spectral Analysis Methods of Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. G. Klyucharev

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Online social networks (such as Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte, etc. being an important channel for disseminating information are often used to arrange an impact on the social consciousness for various purposes - from advertising products or services to the full-scale information war thereby making them to be a very relevant object of research. The paper reviewed the analysis methods of social networks (primarily, online, based on the spectral theory of graphs. Such methods use the spectrum of the social graph, i.e. a set of eigenvalues of its adjacency matrix, and also the eigenvectors of the adjacency matrix.Described measures of centrality (in particular, centrality based on the eigenvector and PageRank, which reflect a degree of impact one or another user of the social network has. A very popular PageRank measure uses, as a measure of centrality, the graph vertices, the final probabilities of the Markov chain, whose matrix of transition probabilities is calculated on the basis of the adjacency matrix of the social graph. The vector of final probabilities is an eigenvector of the matrix of transition probabilities.Presented a method of dividing the graph vertices into two groups. It is based on maximizing the network modularity by computing the eigenvector of the modularity matrix.Considered a method for detecting bots based on the non-randomness measure of a graph to be computed using the spectral coordinates of vertices - sets of eigenvector components of the adjacency matrix of a social graph.In general, there are a number of algorithms to analyse social networks based on the spectral theory of graphs. These algorithms show very good results, but their disadvantage is the relatively high (albeit polynomial computational complexity for large graphs.At the same time it is obvious that the practical application capacity of the spectral graph theory methods is still underestimated, and it may be used as a basis to develop new methods.The work

  16. Topic-oriented community detection of rating-based social networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Reihanian

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, real world social networks contain a vast range of information including shared objects, comments, following information, etc. Finding meaningful communities in this kind of networks is an interesting research area and has attracted the attention of many researchers. The community structure of complex networks reveals both their organization and hidden relations among their constituents. Most of the researches in the field of community detection mainly focus on the topological structure of the network without performing any content analysis. In recent years, a number of researches have proposed approaches which consider both the contents that are interchanged in networks, and the topological structures of the networks in order to find more meaningful communities. In this research, the effect of topic analysis in finding more meaningful communities in social networking sites in which the users express their feelings toward different objects (like movies by means of rating is demonstrated by performing extensive experiments.

  17. Exploring Co-studied Massive Open Online Course Subjects via Social Network Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katy Jordan

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs allow students to study online courses without requiring previous experience or qualifications. This offers students the freedom to study a wide variety of topics, freed from the curriculum of a degree programme for example; however, it also poses a challenge for students in terms of making connections between individual courses. This paper examines the subjects which students at one MOOC platform (Coursera choose to study. It uses a social network analysis based approach to create a network graph of co-studied subjects. The resulting network demonstrates a good deal of overlap between different disciplinary areas. Communities are identified within the graph and characterised. The results suggests that MOOC students may not be seeking to replicate degree-style courses in one specialist area, which may have implications for the future moves toward ‘MOOCs for credit’.

  18. An Improved Routing Optimization Algorithm Based on Travelling Salesman Problem for Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naixue Xiong

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available A social network is a social structure, which is organized by the relationships or interactions between individuals or groups. Humans link the physical network with social network, and the services in the social world are based on data and analysis, which directly influence decision making in the physical network. In this paper, we focus on a routing optimization algorithm, which solves a well-known and popular problem. Ant colony algorithm is proposed to solve this problem effectively, but random selection strategy of the traditional algorithm causes evolution speed to be slow. Meanwhile, positive feedback and distributed computing model make the algorithm quickly converge. Therefore, how to improve convergence speed and search ability of algorithm is the focus of the current research. The paper proposes the improved scheme. Considering the difficulty about searching for next better city, new parameters are introduced to improve probability of selection, and delay convergence speed of algorithm. To avoid the shortest path being submerged, and improve sensitive speed of finding the shortest path, it updates pheromone regulation formula. The results show that the improved algorithm can effectively improve convergence speed and search ability for achieving higher accuracy and optimal results.

  19. Location-based social networking media for restaurant promotion and food review using mobile application

    OpenAIRE

    Luhur H.S.; Widjaja N.D.

    2014-01-01

    This paper is focusing on the development of a mobile application for searching restaurants and promotions with location based and social networking features. The main function of the application is to search restaurant information. Other functions are also available in this application such as add restaurant, add promotion, add photo, add food review, and other features including social networking features. The restaurant and promotion searching application will be developed under Android pl...

  20. Using social media in music education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Đorđević Marija

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Social networks have become the most popular medium of communication and social interaction. In this paper, an emphasis is placed on the use of social networks in the process of teaching music. The aim of this study was to determine which social networks students used in teaching music together with their teachers, which activities are realized in visiting these internet platforms and to what extent they are motivated to use them when teaching musical subjects. Based on these results it can be concluded that students use social networks Facebook and YouTube in realizing educational content within subjects related to art and music and are sufficiently motivated to work within social networks.

  1. Utilizing social networking sites to promote adolescents' health: a pragmatic review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francomano, Jesse A; Harpin, Scott B

    2015-01-01

    Social networking site use has exploded among youth in the last few years and is being adapted as an important tool for healthcare interventions and serving as a platform for adolescents to gain access to health information. The aim of this study was to examine the strengths, weaknesses, and best practices of utilizing Facebook in adolescent health promotion and research via pragmatic literature review. We also examine how sites can facilitate ethically sound healthcare for adolescents, particularly at-risk youth. We conducted a literature review of health and social sciences literature from the past 5 years related to adolescent health and social network site use. Publications were grouped by shared content then categorized by themes. Five themes emerged: access to healthcare information, peer support and networking, risk and benefits of social network site use in care delivery, overcoming technological barriers, and social network site interventions. More research is needed to better understand how such Web sites can be better utilized to provide access to adolescents seeking healthcare. Given the broad reach of social network sites, all health information must be closely monitored for accurate, safe distribution. Finally, consent and privacy issues are omnipresent in social network sites, which calls for standards of ethical use.

  2. SuperWiseNet - a unique network platform to leverage student entrepreneurship projects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gertsen, Frank; Høgsaa, Asger; Tollestrup, Christian H. T.

    2016-01-01

    The area of interests is the development of a potentially new complementary industry-university component, which has been labelled ‘SuperWiseNet’ for the context of academic entrepreneurial programs. The SuperWiseNet is a network-based platform for interaction between students of entrepreneurship...

  3. Verkenning locatiegegevens en sociale platforms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Loenen, B.; Kilic, Deniz; Van de Velde, Rob

    2017-01-01

    In deze rapportage hebben we ons verdiept in de wereld van de commerciële toepassingen van sensordata, waarin locatiegegevens van smartphones op grote schaal worden vastgelegd. Een beter inzicht in de wereld van de sociale en commerciële platforms zou ervoor moeten zorgen dat deze beter begrepen

  4. Design and Promotion Strategy of Marketing Platform of Aquatic Auction based on Internet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Jianliang

    For the online trade and promotion of aquatic products and related materials through the network between supply and demand, the design content and effective promotional strategies of aquatic auctions online marketing platform is proposed in this paper. Design elements involve the location of customer service, the basic function of the platform including the purchase of general orders, online auctions, information dissemination, and recommendation of fine products, human services, and payment preferences. Based on network and mobile e-commerce transaction support, the auction platform makes the transaction of aquatic products well in advance. The results are important practical value for the design and application of online marketing platform of aquatic auction.

  5. A New Challenge to Research Ethics: Patients-Led Research (PLR) and the Role of Internet Based Social Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamas, Eugenia; Salinas, Rodrigo; Vuillaume, Dominique

    2016-01-01

    A characteristic feature of the development of health-related social networks is the emergence of internet-based virtual communities, composed of patients. These communities go beyond the mere interchange of information concerning their conditions, intervening in the planning and execution of clinical research, including randomised controlled trials, in collaboration with health professionals. That was the case, in 2009, when patients suffering amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a rare and severe disease, conducted a clinical trial in USA, organising themselves through an online platform. This initiative launched a new model for the planning and conduction of clinical research: "Participants-Led Research" (PLR). The distinctive particularities of this new research paradigm represent a challenge to the traditional standards used for judging the ethical soundness of clinical investigation. That is the case, for example, of informed consent. This article aims at identifying the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) posed by PLR and the relevant concepts that may help in solving them. The following issues, in particular, are analysed, that may give place to a new social contract for the ethical assessment of clinical research: consent for participating in research and personal integrity; data protection and confidentiality; benefits sharing and intellectual property.

  6. Agent-based modeling and network dynamics

    CERN Document Server

    Namatame, Akira

    2016-01-01

    The book integrates agent-based modeling and network science. It is divided into three parts, namely, foundations, primary dynamics on and of social networks, and applications. The book begins with the network origin of agent-based models, known as cellular automata, and introduce a number of classic models, such as Schelling’s segregation model and Axelrod’s spatial game. The essence of the foundation part is the network-based agent-based models in which agents follow network-based decision rules. Under the influence of the substantial progress in network science in late 1990s, these models have been extended from using lattices into using small-world networks, scale-free networks, etc. The book also shows that the modern network science mainly driven by game-theorists and sociophysicists has inspired agent-based social scientists to develop alternative formation algorithms, known as agent-based social networks. The book reviews a number of pioneering and representative models in this family. Upon the gi...

  7. Customer social network affects marketing strategy: A simulation analysis based on competitive diffusion model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Rui; Wu, Jiawen; Du, Helen S.

    2017-03-01

    To explain the competition phenomenon and results between QQ and MSN (China) in the Chinese instant messaging software market, this paper developed a new population competition model based on customer social network. The simulation results show that the firm whose product with greater network externality effect will gain more market share than its rival when the same marketing strategy is used. The firm with the advantage of time, derived from the initial scale effect will become more competitive than its rival when facing a group of common penguin customers within a social network, verifying the winner-take-all phenomenon in this case.

  8. Social Content Recommendation Based on Spatial-Temporal Aware Diffusion Modeling in Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Farman Ullah

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available User interactions in online social networks (OSNs enable the spread of information and enhance the information dissemination process, but at the same time they exacerbate the information overload problem. In this paper, we propose a social content recommendation method based on spatial-temporal aware controlled information diffusion modeling in OSNs. Users interact more frequently when they are close to each other geographically, have similar behaviors, and fall into similar demographic categories. Considering these facts, we propose multicriteria-based social ties relationship and temporal-aware probabilistic information diffusion modeling for controlled information spread maximization in OSNs. The proposed social ties relationship modeling takes into account user spatial information, content trust, opinion similarity, and demographics. We suggest a ranking algorithm that considers the user ties strength with friends and friends-of-friends to rank users in OSNs and select highly influential injection nodes. These nodes are able to improve social content recommendations, minimize information diffusion time, and maximize information spread. Furthermore, the proposed temporal-aware probabilistic diffusion process categorizes the nodes and diffuses the recommended content to only those users who are highly influential and can enhance information dissemination. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

  9. Development of the Social Network-Based Intervention "Powerful Together with Diabetes" Using Intervention Mapping

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vissenberg, Charlotte; Nierkens, Vera; Uitewaal, Paul J. M.; Middelkoop, Barend J. C.; Nijpels, Giel; Stronks, Karien

    2017-01-01

    This article describes the development of the social network-based intervention Powerful Together with Diabetes which aims to improve diabetes self-management (DSM) among patients with type 2 diabetes living in socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods by stimulating social support for DSM and

  10. In-House Communication Support System Based on the Information Propagation Model Utilizes Social Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeuchi, Susumu; Teranishi, Yuuichi; Harumoto, Kaname; Shimojo, Shinji

    Almost all companies are now utilizing computer networks to support speedier and more effective in-house information-sharing and communication. However, existing systems are designed to support communications only within the same department. Therefore, in our research, we propose an in-house communication support system which is based on the “Information Propagation Model (IPM).” The IPM is proposed to realize word-of-mouth communication in a social network, and to support information-sharing on the network. By applying the system in a real company, we found that information could be exchanged between different and unrelated departments, and such exchanges of information could help to build new relationships between the users who are apart on the social network.

  11. THE IMPACTS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES IN HIGHER LEARNING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohd Ishak Bin Ismail

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Social networking sites, a web-based application have permeated the boundary between personal lives and student lives. Nowadays, students in higher learning used social networking site such as Facebook to facilitate their learning through the academic collaboration which it further enhances students’ social capital. Social networking site has many advantages to improve students’ learning. To date, Facebook is the leading social networking sites at this time which it being widely used by students in higher learning to communicate to each other, to carry out academic collaboration and sharing resources. Learning through social networking sites is based on the social interaction which learning are emphasizing on students, real world resources, active students` participation, diversity of learning resources and the use of digital tools to deliver meaningful learning. Many studies found the positive, neutral and negative impact of social networking sites on academic performance. Thus, this study will determine the relationship between Facebook usage and academic achievement. Also, it will investigate the association of social capital and academic collaboration to Facebook usage.

  12. NeuroFlow: A General Purpose Spiking Neural Network Simulation Platform using Customizable Processors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheung, Kit; Schultz, Simon R; Luk, Wayne

    2015-01-01

    NeuroFlow is a scalable spiking neural network simulation platform for off-the-shelf high performance computing systems using customizable hardware processors such as Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Unlike multi-core processors and application-specific integrated circuits, the processor architecture of NeuroFlow can be redesigned and reconfigured to suit a particular simulation to deliver optimized performance, such as the degree of parallelism to employ. The compilation process supports using PyNN, a simulator-independent neural network description language, to configure the processor. NeuroFlow supports a number of commonly used current or conductance based neuronal models such as integrate-and-fire and Izhikevich models, and the spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) rule for learning. A 6-FPGA system can simulate a network of up to ~600,000 neurons and can achieve a real-time performance of 400,000 neurons. Using one FPGA, NeuroFlow delivers a speedup of up to 33.6 times the speed of an 8-core processor, or 2.83 times the speed of GPU-based platforms. With high flexibility and throughput, NeuroFlow provides a viable environment for large-scale neural network simulation.

  13. A Social Network Approach to Provisioning and Management of Cloud Computing Services for Enterprises

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kuada, Eric

    been extremely difficult in the past; but with the advent of cloud computing, this problem should be less difficult to solve. Opportunistic Cloud Services (OCS) is about enterprises leveraging cloud computing technologies to contribute spare IT resources to a platform so that others on the platform can...... utilize them as and when needed. The OCS network is modelled as a social network of enterprises collaborating strategically in contributing and utilizing cloud services without entering into any business agreements. Such a platform faces several problems. One of such problems is the free riding problem...... challenges that were discovered during this study, the obtained results demonstrate both the technical feasibility and the existence of enabling conditions for the implementation of opportunistic cloud services for enterprises....

  14. Collective Learning in Games through Social Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kosterman, S.; Gierasimczuk, N.; Armentano, M.G.; Monteserin, A.; Tang, J.; Yannibelli, V.

    2015-01-01

    This paper argues that combining social networks communication and games can positively influence the learning behavior of players. We propose a computational model that combines features of social network learning (communication) and game-based learning (strategy reinforcement). The focus is on

  15. Social networking mining, visualization, and security

    CERN Document Server

    Dehuri, Satchidananda; Wang, Gi-Nam

    2014-01-01

    With the proliferation of social media and on-line communities in networked world a large gamut of data has been collected and stored in databases. The rate at which such data is stored is growing at a phenomenal rate and pushing the classical methods of data analysis to their limits. This book presents an integrated framework of recent empirical and theoretical research on social network analysis based on a wide range of techniques from various disciplines like data mining, social sciences, mathematics, statistics, physics, network science, machine learning with visualization techniques, and security. The book illustrates the potential of multi-disciplinary techniques in various real life problems and intends to motivate researchers in social network analysis to design more effective tools by integrating swarm intelligence and data mining.  

  16. THE IMPACTS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES IN HIGHER LEARNING

    OpenAIRE

    Mohd Ishak Bin Ismail; Ruzaini Bin Abdullah Arshah

    2016-01-01

    Social networking sites, a web-based application have permeated the boundary between personal lives and student lives. Nowadays, students in higher learning used social networking site such as Facebook to facilitate their learning through the academic collaboration which it further enhances students’ social capital. Social networking site has many advantages to improve students’ learning. To date, Facebook is the leading social networking sites at this time which it being widely used by stude...

  17. Popularity Evaluation Model for Microbloggers Online Social Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xia Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Recently, microblogging is widely studied by the researchers in the domain of the online social network (OSN. How to evaluate the popularities of microblogging users is an important research field, which can be applied to commercial advertising, user behavior analysis and information dissemination, and so forth. Previous studies on the evaluation methods cannot effectively solve and accurately evaluate the popularities of the microbloggers. In this paper, we proposed an electromagnetic field theory based model to analyze the popularities of microbloggers. The concept of the source in microblogging field is first put forward, which is based on the concept of source in the electromagnetic field; then, one’s microblogging flux is calculated according to his/her behaviors (send or receive feedbacks on the microblogging platform; finally, we used three methods to calculate one’s microblogging flux density, which can represent one’s popularity on the microblogging platform. In the experimental work, we evaluated our model using real microblogging data and selected the best one from the three popularity measure methods. We also compared our model with the classic PageRank algorithm; and the results show that our model is more effective and accurate to evaluate the popularities of the microbloggers.

  18. Networked Memory Project: A Policy Thought Experiment for the Archiving of Social Networks by the Library of Congress of the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chloé S. Georas

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This article explores the challenges posed by an archival interest in the broad palimpsest of daily life left on social networks that are controlled by private corporations. It addresses whether social networks should be archived for the benefit of future generations and proposes a policy thought experiment to help grapple with these questions, namely, the proposal for the formation of the public interest-oriented Networked Memory Project by the Library of Congress for the archiving of social networks. My discussion of the challenges posed by this thought experiment will focus on the U.S. legal framework within which the Library of Congress operates and take Facebook. To the extent that social networks have user-generated contents that range from the highly “private” to “public” as opposed to other networked platforms that contain materials that are considered “public”, the bar for the historical archival of social networks is much higher. Almost every archival effort must contend with the legal hurdle of copyright, but the archiving of social networks must also address how to handle the potentially sensitive nature of materials that are considered “private” from the perspective of the social and legal constructions of privacy. My theoretical exercise of proposing the formation of the Networked Memory Project by the Library of Congress responds to the need to consider the benefits of a public interest-oriented archive of social networks that can counter the drawbacks of the incidental corporate archiving taking place on social networks.

  19. Exploring Young People's Experiences on Social Networking Sites

    OpenAIRE

    Rehim, Shrehan

    2017-01-01

    Abstract\\ud Online Social Networking Sites (SNS) are a ubiquitous platform for communication and have been considered as one of the most significant changes to how young people interact today. Whilst SNS bring many opportunities, they have also been used as a tool for harassment and abuse online. The term ‘cyberbullying’, is most widely used to describe this phenomenon. A growing body of research demonstrates that cyberbullying has the potential to detrimentally impact young people’s wellbein...

  20. Clicking for friendship: social network sites and the medium of personhood

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebecca Shryock

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook depend on familiar social resources, including language, reading/writing and established semantic constructs such as personhood, privacy and friends. However, the use of computers, the Web 2.0 platform, and the latest networking software are revolutionising how “personhood” and “friendship” are produced by communication. We refer to the media theory of Niklas Luhmann to identify specific differences in how communication is organised and reproduced on networking sites. The electronic medium appears to be changing the way participants selectively construct and bind expectations of personhood and communicative ties to themselves and others. Using software available on the Web, users confront each other as digital bodies, as participants in communication, available for friendship within a new “ether of interactivity”.

  1. THE EDUCATIONAL USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES: FROM PROMISE TO REALITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Costin Pribeanu

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The platforms supporting social networking activities on the Internet are applications for the creation, sharing and exchange of user-generated content that manifests in various forms. Users can freely express their ideas and opinions, and have opportunities to launch and participate in collaborative projects and virtual communities. Facebook (FB is a social networking website featuring an explosive growth in the last years and an increased popularity among university students. For example, the number of Facebook users in Romania was 8.5 million in June 2016 (Facebrands.Ro, 2015 out of which 33% are young people of 15-24 years old. Recent research on the Facebook use shows that Romanian university students have large Facebook networks and spend a lot of minutes per day (Pribeanu & Lamanauskas, 2016.

  2. Psychodynamic Factors Behind Online Social Networking and its Excessive Use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Thomas Cheuk Wing

    2016-03-01

    This article discusses the psychodynamic factors behind the popularity of one form of Internet activity, online social networking (SN). It views online SN as an extension of the social self, organized in a way that is more controllable than real life relating. The SN platforms reward its users with reassuring surfaces and novel self-object experiences while at the same time induces much anxiety. The addictive quality of online SN is understood in the context of collapse of dialectical space and the defensive use of this technology.

  3. Applications of social network analysis to obesity: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, S; de la Haye, K; Ji, M; An, R

    2018-04-20

    People's health behaviours and outcomes can be profoundly shaped by the social networks they are embedded in. Based on graph theory, social network analysis is a research framework for the study of social interactions and the structure of these interactions among social actors. A literature search was conducted in PubMed and Web of Science for articles published until August 2017 that applied social network analysis to examine obesity and social networks. Eight studies (three cross-sectional and five longitudinal) conducted in the US (n = 6) and Australia (n = 2) were identified. Seven focused on adolescents' and one on adults' friendship networks. They examined structural features of these networks that were associated with obesity, including degree distribution, popularity, modularity maximization and K-clique percolation. All three cross-sectional studies that used exponential random graph models found individuals with similar body weight status and/or weight-related behaviour were more likely to share a network tie than individuals with dissimilar traits. Three longitudinal studies using stochastic actor-based models found friendship network characteristics influenced change in individuals' body weight status and/or weight-related behaviour over time. Future research should focus on diverse populations and types of social networks and identifying the mechanisms by which social networks influence obesity to inform network-based interventions. © 2018 World Obesity Federation.

  4. Binary Classification Method of Social Network Users

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. A. Poryadin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The subject of research is a binary classification method of social network users based on the data analysis they have placed. Relevance of the task to gain information about a person by examining the content of his/her pages in social networks is exemplified. The most common approach to its solution is a visual browsing. The order of the regional authority in our country illustrates that its using in school education is needed. The article shows restrictions on the visual browsing of pupil’s pages in social networks as a tool for the teacher and the school psychologist and justifies that a process of social network users’ data analysis should be automated. Explores publications, which describe such data acquisition, processing, and analysis methods and considers their advantages and disadvantages. The article also gives arguments to support a proposal to study the classification method of social network users. One such method is credit scoring, which is used in banks and credit institutions to assess the solvency of clients. Based on the high efficiency of the method there is a proposal for significant expansion of its using in other areas of society. The possibility to use logistic regression as the mathematical apparatus of the proposed method of binary classification has been justified. Such an approach enables taking into account the different types of data extracted from social networks. Among them: the personal user data, information about hobbies, friends, graphic and text information, behaviour characteristics. The article describes a number of existing methods of data transformation that can be applied to solve the problem. An experiment of binary gender-based classification of social network users is described. A logistic model obtained for this example includes multiple logical variables obtained by transforming the user surnames. This experiment confirms the feasibility of the proposed method. Further work is to define a system

  5. Egocentric Social Network Analysis of Pathological Gambling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meisel, Matthew K.; Clifton, Allan D.; MacKillop, James; Miller, Joshua D.; Campbell, W. Keith; Goodie, Adam S.

    2012-01-01

    Aims To apply social network analysis (SNA) to investigate whether frequency and severity of gambling problems were associated with different network characteristics among friends, family, and co-workers. is an innovative way to look at relationships among individuals; the current study was the first to our knowledge to apply SNA to gambling behaviors. Design Egocentric social network analysis was used to formally characterize the relationships between social network characteristics and gambling pathology. Setting Laboratory-based questionnaire and interview administration. Participants Forty frequent gamblers (22 non-pathological gamblers, 18 pathological gamblers) were recruited from the community. Findings The SNA revealed significant social network compositional differences between the two groups: pathological gamblers (PGs) had more gamblers, smokers, and drinkers in their social networks than did nonpathological gamblers (NPGs). PGs had more individuals in their network with whom they personally gambled, smoked, and drank with than those with who were NPG. Network ties were closer to individuals in their networks who gambled, smoked, and drank more frequently. Associations between gambling severity and structural network characteristics were not significant. Conclusions Pathological gambling is associated with compositional but not structural differences in social networks. Pathological gamblers differ from non-pathological gamblers in the number of gamblers, smokers, and drinkers in their social networks. Homophily within the networks also indicates that gamblers tend to be closer with other gamblers. This homophily may serve to reinforce addictive behaviors, and may suggest avenues for future study or intervention. PMID:23072641

  6. Egocentric social network analysis of pathological gambling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meisel, Matthew K; Clifton, Allan D; Mackillop, James; Miller, Joshua D; Campbell, W Keith; Goodie, Adam S

    2013-03-01

    To apply social network analysis (SNA) to investigate whether frequency and severity of gambling problems were associated with different network characteristics among friends, family and co-workers is an innovative way to look at relationships among individuals; the current study was the first, to our knowledge, to apply SNA to gambling behaviors. Egocentric social network analysis was used to characterize formally the relationships between social network characteristics and gambling pathology. Laboratory-based questionnaire and interview administration. Forty frequent gamblers (22 non-pathological gamblers, 18 pathological gamblers) were recruited from the community. The SNA revealed significant social network compositional differences between the two groups: pathological gamblers (PGs) had more gamblers, smokers and drinkers in their social networks than did non-pathological gamblers (NPGs). PGs had more individuals in their network with whom they personally gambled, smoked and drank than those with who were NPG. Network ties were closer to individuals in their networks who gambled, smoked and drank more frequently. Associations between gambling severity and structural network characteristics were not significant. Pathological gambling is associated with compositional but not structural differences in social networks. Pathological gamblers differ from non-pathological gamblers in the number of gamblers, smokers and drinkers in their social networks. Homophily within the networks also indicates that gamblers tend to be closer with other gamblers. This homophily may serve to reinforce addictive behaviors, and may suggest avenues for future study or intervention. © 2012 The Authors, Addiction © 2012 Society for the Study of Addiction.

  7. Managing Trust in Online Social Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhuiyan, Touhid; Josang, Audun; Xu, Yue

    In recent years, there is a dramatic growth in number and popularity of online social networks. There are many networks available with more than 100 million registered users such as Facebook, MySpace, QZone, Windows Live Spaces etc. People may connect, discover and share by using these online social networks. The exponential growth of online communities in the area of social networks attracts the attention of the researchers about the importance of managing trust in online environment. Users of the online social networks may share their experiences and opinions within the networks about an item which may be a product or service. The user faces the problem of evaluating trust in a service or service provider before making a choice. Recommendations may be received through a chain of friends network, so the problem for the user is to be able to evaluate various types of trust opinions and recommendations. This opinion or recommendation has a great influence to choose to use or enjoy the item by the other user of the community. Collaborative filtering system is the most popular method in recommender system. The task in collaborative filtering is to predict the utility of items to a particular user based on a database of user rates from a sample or population of other users. Because of the different taste of different people, they rate differently according to their subjective taste. If two people rate a set of items similarly, they share similar tastes. In the recommender system, this information is used to recommend items that one participant likes, to other persons in the same cluster. But the collaborative filtering system performs poor when there is insufficient previous common rating available between users; commonly known as cost start problem. To overcome the cold start problem and with the dramatic growth of online social networks, trust based approach to recommendation has emerged. This approach assumes a trust network among users and makes recommendations

  8. Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse and Social Network Patterns on Social Media: Associations With Alcohol Use and Problems Among Young Adult Women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oshri, Assaf; Himelboim, Itai; Kwon, Josephine A; Sutton, Tara E; Mackillop, James

    2015-11-01

    The aim of the present study was to examine the links between severities of child abuse (physical vs. sexual), and alcohol use versus problems via social media (Facebook) peer connection structures. A total of 318 undergraduate female students at a public university in the United States reported severity of child abuse experiences and current alcohol use and problems. Social network data were obtained directly from the individuals' Facebook network. Severity of childhood physical abuse was positively linked to alcohol use and problems via eigenvector centrality, whereas severity of childhood sexual abuse was negatively linked to alcohol use and problems via clustering coefficient. Childhood physical and sexual abuse were linked positively and negatively, respectively, to online social network patterns associated with alcohol use and problems. The study suggests the potential utility of these online network patterns as risk indices and ultimately using social media as a platform for targeted preventive interventions.

  9. CP-ABE Based Privacy-Preserving User Profile Matching in Mobile Social Networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weirong Cui

    Full Text Available Privacy-preserving profile matching, a challenging task in mobile social networks, is getting more attention in recent years. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme that is based on ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption to tackle this problem. In our scheme, a user can submit a preference-profile and search for users with matching-profile in decentralized mobile social networks. In this process, no participant's profile and the submitted preference-profile is exposed. Meanwhile, a secure communication channel can be established between the pair of successfully matched users. In contrast to existing related schemes which are mainly based on the secure multi-party computation, our scheme can provide verifiability (both the initiator and any unmatched user cannot cheat each other to pretend to be matched, and requires few interactions among users. We provide thorough security analysis and performance evaluation on our scheme, and show its advantages in terms of security, efficiency and usability over state-of-the-art schemes.

  10. CP-ABE Based Privacy-Preserving User Profile Matching in Mobile Social Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Weirong; Du, Chenglie; Chen, Jinchao

    2016-01-01

    Privacy-preserving profile matching, a challenging task in mobile social networks, is getting more attention in recent years. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme that is based on ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption to tackle this problem. In our scheme, a user can submit a preference-profile and search for users with matching-profile in decentralized mobile social networks. In this process, no participant's profile and the submitted preference-profile is exposed. Meanwhile, a secure communication channel can be established between the pair of successfully matched users. In contrast to existing related schemes which are mainly based on the secure multi-party computation, our scheme can provide verifiability (both the initiator and any unmatched user cannot cheat each other to pretend to be matched), and requires few interactions among users. We provide thorough security analysis and performance evaluation on our scheme, and show its advantages in terms of security, efficiency and usability over state-of-the-art schemes.

  11. Footprints of Fascination: Digital Traces of Public Engagement with Particle Physics on CERN's Social Media Platforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet

    2016-01-01

    Although the scientific community increasingly recognizes that its communication with the public may shape civic engagement with science, few studies have characterized how this communication occurs online. Social media plays a growing role in this engagement, yet it is not known if or how different platforms support different types of engagement. This study sets out to explore how users engage with science communication items on different platforms of social media, and what are the characteristics of the items that tend to attract large numbers of user interactions. Here, user interactions with almost identical items on five of CERN's social media platforms were quantitatively compared over an eight-week period, including likes, comments, shares, click-throughs, and time spent on CERN's site. The most popular items were qualitatively analyzed for content features. Findings indicate that as audience size of a social media platform grows, the total rate of engagement with content tends to grow as well. However, per user, engagement tends to decline with audience size. Across all platforms, similar topics tend to consistently receive high engagement. In particular, awe-inspiring imagery tends to frequently attract high engagement across platforms, independent of newsworthiness. To our knowledge, this study provides the first cross-platform characterization of public engagement with science on social media. Findings, although focused on particle physics, have a multidisciplinary nature; they may serve to benchmark social media analytics for assessing science communication activities in various domains. Evidence-based suggestions for practitioners are also offered. PMID:27232498

  12. Footprints of Fascination: Digital Traces of Public Engagement with Particle Physics on CERN's Social Media Platforms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahle, Kate; Sharon, Aviv J; Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet

    2016-01-01

    Although the scientific community increasingly recognizes that its communication with the public may shape civic engagement with science, few studies have characterized how this communication occurs online. Social media plays a growing role in this engagement, yet it is not known if or how different platforms support different types of engagement. This study sets out to explore how users engage with science communication items on different platforms of social media, and what are the characteristics of the items that tend to attract large numbers of user interactions. Here, user interactions with almost identical items on five of CERN's social media platforms were quantitatively compared over an eight-week period, including likes, comments, shares, click-throughs, and time spent on CERN's site. The most popular items were qualitatively analyzed for content features. Findings indicate that as audience size of a social media platform grows, the total rate of engagement with content tends to grow as well. However, per user, engagement tends to decline with audience size. Across all platforms, similar topics tend to consistently receive high engagement. In particular, awe-inspiring imagery tends to frequently attract high engagement across platforms, independent of newsworthiness. To our knowledge, this study provides the first cross-platform characterization of public engagement with science on social media. Findings, although focused on particle physics, have a multidisciplinary nature; they may serve to benchmark social media analytics for assessing science communication activities in various domains. Evidence-based suggestions for practitioners are also offered.

  13. The interplay of friendship networks and social networking sites: longitudinal analysis of selection and influence effects on adolescent smoking and alcohol use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Grace C; Soto, Daniel; Fujimoto, Kayo; Valente, Thomas W

    2014-08-01

    We examined the coevolution of adolescent friendships and peer influences with respect to their risk behaviors and social networking site use. Investigators of the Social Network Study collected longitudinal data during fall 2010 and spring 2011 from 10th-grade students in 5 Southern California high schools (n = 1434). We used meta-analyses of stochastic actor-based models to estimate changes in friendship ties and risk behaviors and the effects of Facebook and MySpace use. Significant shifts in adolescent smoking and drinking occurred despite little change in overall prevalence rates. Students with higher levels of alcohol use were more likely to send and receive friendship nominations and become friends with other drinkers. They were also more likely to increase alcohol use if their friends drank more. Adolescents selected friends with similar Facebook and MySpace use habits. Exposure to friends' risky online pictures increased smoking behaviors but had no significant effects on alcohol use. Our findings support a greater focus on friendship selection mechanisms in school-based alcohol use interventions. Social media platforms may help identify at-risk adolescent groups and foster positive norms about risk behaviors.

  14. Social networks and cooperation in hunter-gatherers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apicella, Coren L; Marlowe, Frank W; Fowler, James H; Christakis, Nicholas A

    2012-01-25

    Social networks show striking structural regularities, and both theory and evidence suggest that networks may have facilitated the development of large-scale cooperation in humans. Here, we characterize the social networks of the Hadza, a population of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania. We show that Hadza networks have important properties also seen in modernized social networks, including a skewed degree distribution, degree assortativity, transitivity, reciprocity, geographic decay and homophily. We demonstrate that Hadza camps exhibit high between-group and low within-group variation in public goods game donations. Network ties are also more likely between people who give the same amount, and the similarity in cooperative behaviour extends up to two degrees of separation. Social distance appears to be as important as genetic relatedness and physical proximity in explaining assortativity in cooperation. Our results suggest that certain elements of social network structure may have been present at an early point in human history. Also, early humans may have formed ties with both kin and non-kin, based in part on their tendency to cooperate. Social networks may thus have contributed to the emergence of cooperation.

  15. Network-based modeling and intelligent data mining of social media for improving care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akay, Altug; Dragomir, Andrei; Erlandsson, Bjorn-Erik

    2015-01-01

    Intelligently extracting knowledge from social media has recently attracted great interest from the Biomedical and Health Informatics community to simultaneously improve healthcare outcomes and reduce costs using consumer-generated opinion. We propose a two-step analysis framework that focuses on positive and negative sentiment, as well as the side effects of treatment, in users' forum posts, and identifies user communities (modules) and influential users for the purpose of ascertaining user opinion of cancer treatment. We used a self-organizing map to analyze word frequency data derived from users' forum posts. We then introduced a novel network-based approach for modeling users' forum interactions and employed a network partitioning method based on optimizing a stability quality measure. This allowed us to determine consumer opinion and identify influential users within the retrieved modules using information derived from both word-frequency data and network-based properties. Our approach can expand research into intelligently mining social media data for consumer opinion of various treatments to provide rapid, up-to-date information for the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, and medical staff, on the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of future treatments.

  16. Social networks as a tool for science communication and public engagement: focus on Twitter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López-Goñi, Ignacio; Sánchez-Angulo, Manuel

    2018-02-01

    Social networks have been used to teach and engage people about the importance of science. The integration of social networks in the daily routines of faculties and scientists is strongly recommended to increase their personal brand, improve their skills, enhance their visibility, share and communicate science to society, promote scientific culture, and even as a tool for teaching and learning. Here we review the use of Twitter in science and comment on our previous experience of using this social network as a platform for a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) in Spain and Latin America. We propose to extend this strategy to a pan-European Microbiology MOOC in the near future. © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Online social networking: a primer for radiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prasanna, Prasanth M; Seagull, F Jacob; Nagy, Paul

    2011-10-01

    Online social networking is an immature, but rapidly evolving industry of web-based technologies that allow individuals to develop online relationships. News stories populate the headlines about various websites which can facilitate patient and doctor interaction. There remain questions about protecting patient confidentiality and defining etiquette in order to preserve the doctor/patient relationship and protect physicians. How much social networking-based communication or other forms of E-communication is effective? What are the potential benefits and pitfalls of this form of communication? Physicians are exploring how social networking might provide a forum for interacting with their patients, and advance collaborative patient care. Several organizations and institutions have set forth policies to address these questions and more. Though still in its infancy, this form of media has the power to revolutionize the way physicians interact with their patients and fellow health care workers. In the end, physicians must ask what value is added by engaging patients or other health care providers in a social networking format. Social networks may flourish in health care as a means of distributing information to patients or serve mainly as support groups among patients. Physicians must tread a narrow path to bring value to interactions in these networks while limiting their exposure to unwanted liability.

  18. Social influence and bullying behavior: intervention-based network dynamics of the fairplayer.manual bullying prevention program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wölfer, Ralf; Scheithauer, Herbert

    2014-01-01

    Bullying is a social phenomenon and although preventive interventions consequently address social mechanisms, evaluations hardly consider the complexity of peer processes. Therefore, the present study analyzes the efficacy of the fairplayer.manual bullying prevention program from a social network perspective. Within a pretest-posttest control group design, longitudinal data were available from 328 middle-school students (MAge  = 13.7 years; 51% girls), who provided information on bullying behavior and interaction patterns. The revealed network parameters were utilized to examine the network change (MANCOVA) and the network dynamics (SIENA). Across both forms of analyses, findings revealed the hypothesized intervention-based decrease of bullies' social influence. Hence the present bullying prevention program, as one example of programs that successfully addresses both individual skills and social mechanisms, demonstrates the desired effect of reducing contextual opportunities for the exhibition of bullying behavior. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. Social Networks and Welfare in Future Animal Management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koene, Paul; Ipema, Bert

    2014-03-17

    It may become advantageous to keep human-managed animals in the social network groups to which they have adapted. Data concerning the social networks of farm animal species and their ancestors are scarce but essential to establishing the importance of a natural social network for farmed animal species. Social Network Analysis (SNA) facilitates the characterization of social networking at group, subgroup and individual levels. SNA is currently used for modeling the social behavior and management of wild animals and social welfare of zoo animals. It has been recognized for use with farm animals but has yet to be applied for management purposes. Currently, the main focus is on cattle, because in large groups (poultry), recording of individuals is expensive and the existence of social networks is uncertain due to on-farm restrictions. However, in many cases, a stable social network might be important to individual animal fitness, survival and welfare. For instance, when laying hens are not too densely housed, simple networks may be established. We describe here small social networks in horses, brown bears, laying hens and veal calves to illustrate the importance of measuring social networks among animals managed by humans. Emphasis is placed on the automatic measurement of identity, location, nearest neighbors and nearest neighbor distance for management purposes. It is concluded that social networks are important to the welfare of human-managed animal species and that welfare management based on automatic recordings will become available in the near future.

  20. Social network based dynamic transit service through the OMITS system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-02-01

    The Open Mode Integrated Transportation System (OMITS) forms a sustainable information infrastructure for communication within and between the mobile/Internet network, the roadway : network, and the users social network. It manipulates the speed g...

  1. Social network extraction based on Web: 1. Related superficial methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khairuddin Matyuso Nasution, Mahyuddin

    2018-01-01

    Often the nature of something affects methods to resolve the related issues about it. Likewise, methods to extract social networks from the Web, but involve the structured data types differently. This paper reveals several methods of social network extraction from the same sources that is Web: the basic superficial method, the underlying superficial method, the description superficial method, and the related superficial methods. In complexity we derive the inequalities between methods and so are their computations. In this case, we find that different results from the same tools make the difference from the more complex to the simpler: Extraction of social network by involving co-occurrence is more complex than using occurrences.

  2. Engaging Students in a Large-Enrollment Physics Class Using an Academically Focused Social Media Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gavrin, Andy; Lindell, Rebecca

    2017-03-01

    There are many reasons for an instructor to consider using social media, particularly in a large introductory course. Improved communications can lessen the sense of isolation some students feel in large classes, and students may be more likely to respond to faculty announce-ments in a form that is familiar and comfortable. Furthermore, many students currently establish social media sites for their classes, without the knowledge or participation of their instructors. Such "shadow" sites can be useful, but they can also become distributors of misinformation, or venues for inappropriate or disruptive discussions. CourseNetworking (CN) is a social media platform designed for the academic environment. It combines many features common among learning management systems (LMS's) with an interface that looks and feels more like Facebook than a typical academic system. We have recently begun using CN as a means to engage students in an introductory calculus-based mechanics class, with enrollments of 150-200 students per semester. This article presents basic features of CN, and details our initial experiences and observations.

  3. Social Networks and Political Parties in Chile

    OpenAIRE

    Adler Lomnitz, Larissa

    2002-01-01

    This paper describes the origin and evolution of two Chilean political parties (the Radical Party and the Christian Democrat Party) through the analysis of the social networks that originated and composed them. The aim of this study is to propose a model of national political cultures on the basis of the structure of social networks related to power and of the symbol system, which legitimizes it. The structure of social networks, horizontal and vertical, are based on reciprocal or redistribut...

  4. A Web Service-Based Framework Model for People-Centric Sensing Applications Applied to Social Networking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Sá Silva

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available As the Internet evolved, social networks (such as Facebook have bloomed and brought together an astonishing number of users. Mashing up mobile phones and sensors with these social environments enables the creation of people-centric sensing systems which have great potential for expanding our current social networking usage. However, such systems also have many associated technical challenges, such as privacy concerns, activity detection mechanisms or intermittent connectivity, as well as limitations due to the heterogeneity of sensor nodes and networks. Considering the openness of the Web 2.0, good technical solutions for these cases consist of frameworks that expose sensing data and functionalities as common Web-Services. This paper presents our RESTful Web Service-based model for people-centric sensing frameworks, which uses sensors and mobile phones to detect users’ activities and locations, sharing this information amongst the user’s friends within a social networking site. We also present some screenshot results of our experimental prototype.

  5. A Web Service-based framework model for people-centric sensing applications applied to social networking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nunes, David; Tran, Thanh-Dien; Raposo, Duarte; Pinto, André; Gomes, André; Silva, Jorge Sá

    2012-01-01

    As the Internet evolved, social networks (such as Facebook) have bloomed and brought together an astonishing number of users. Mashing up mobile phones and sensors with these social environments enables the creation of people-centric sensing systems which have great potential for expanding our current social networking usage. However, such systems also have many associated technical challenges, such as privacy concerns, activity detection mechanisms or intermittent connectivity, as well as limitations due to the heterogeneity of sensor nodes and networks. Considering the openness of the Web 2.0, good technical solutions for these cases consist of frameworks that expose sensing data and functionalities as common Web-Services. This paper presents our RESTful Web Service-based model for people-centric sensing frameworks, which uses sensors and mobile phones to detect users' activities and locations, sharing this information amongst the user's friends within a social networking site. We also present some screenshot results of our experimental prototype.

  6. Multi-Equilibria Regulation Agent-Based Model of Opinion Dynamics in Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Koulouris

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This article investigates the Multiple Equilibria Regulation (MER model, i.e., an agent-based simulation model, to represent opinion dynamics in social networks. It relies on a small set of micro-prerequisites (intra-individual balance and confidence bound, leading to emergence of (nonstationary macro-outcomes. These outcomes may refer to consensus, polarization or fragmentation of opinions about taxation (e.g., congestion pricing or other policy measures, according to the way communication is structured. In contrast with other models of opinion dynamics, it allows for the impact of both the regulation of intra-personal discrepancy and the interpersonal variability of opinions on social learning and network dynamics. Several simulation experiments are presented to demonstrate, through the MER model, the role of different network structures (complete, star, cellular automata, small-world and random graphs on opinion formation dynamics and the overall evolution of the system. The findings can help to identify specific topological characteristics, such as density, number of neighbourhoods and critical nodes-agents, that affect the stability and system dynamics. This knowledge can be used to better organize the information diffusion and learning in the community, enhance the predictability of outcomes and manage possible conflicts. It is shown that a small-world organization, which depicts more realistic aspects of real-life and virtual social systems, provides increased predictability and stability towards a less fragmented and more manageable grouping of opinions, compared to random networks. Such macro-level organizations may be enhanced with use of web-based technologies to increase the density of communication and public acceptability of policy measures.

  7. The dynamic evolution of social ties and user-generated content: a case study on a Douban group

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shan, Siqing; Ren, Jie; Li, Cangyan

    2017-11-01

    As platforms based on user-generated content (UGC), social media platforms emphasise the social ties between users and user participation, which promote the communication and propagation of ideas and help to build and maintain relationships. However, many researchers have studied only predefined social networks, such as academic social networks. We believe that there are certain characteristics associated with the network's UGC worth evaluating. We conducted research in communities in which content attracts discussion and new members and examined the evolution patterns of social and content networks in a topic-oriented Douban group. Datasets of user and content information in communities of interest were collected through web crawler software. Networks based on social and content ties were constructed and analysed. We chose scale, density, centrality, average path length and cluster coefficient as measures for exploring the evolution and correlation of both types of networks. These findings are valuable for social media marketing and helpful in directing and controlling public opinion.

  8. Urbanism, Neighborhood Context, and Social Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cornwell, Erin York; Behler, Rachel L

    2015-09-01

    Theories of urbanism suggest that the urban context erodes individuals' strong social ties with friends and family. Recent research has narrowed focus to the neighborhood context, emphasizing how localized structural disadvantage affects community-level cohesion and social capital. In this paper, we argue that neighborhood context also shapes social ties with friends and family- particularly for community-dwelling seniors. We hypothesize that neighborhood disadvantage, residential instability, and disorder restrict residents' abilities to cultivate close relationships with neighbors and non-neighbor friends and family. Using data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), we find that older adults who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods have smaller social networks. Neighborhood disadvantage is also associated with less close network ties and less frequent interaction - but only among men. Furthermore, residents of disordered neighborhoods have smaller networks and weaker ties. We urge scholars to pay greater attention to how neighborhood context contributes to disparities in network-based access to resources.

  9. Social Networks and the Environment

    OpenAIRE

    Julio Videras

    2013-01-01

    This review discusses empirical research on social networks and the environment; it summarizes findings from representative studies and the conceptual frameworks social scientists use to examine the role of social networks. The article presents basic concepts in social network analysis, summarizes common challenges of empirical research on social networks, and outlines areas for future research. Finally, the article discusses the normative and positive meanings of social networks.

  10. Youth's social network structures and peer influences: study protocol MyMovez project - Phase I.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bevelander, Kirsten E; Smit, Crystal R; van Woudenberg, Thabo J; Buijs, Laura; Burk, William J; Buijzen, Moniek

    2018-04-16

    Youth are an important target group for social network interventions, because they are particularly susceptible to the adaptation of healthy and unhealthy habits and behaviors of others. They are surrounded by 'social influence agents' (i.e., role models such as family, friends and peers) that co-determine their dietary intake and physical activity. However, there is a lack of systematic and comprehensive research on the implementation of a social network approach in health campaigns. The MyMovez research project aims to fill this gap by developing a method for effective social network campaign implementation. This protocol paper describes the design and methods of Phase I of the MyMovez project, aiming to unravel youth's social network structures in combination with individual, psychosocial, and environmental factors related to energy intake and expenditure. In addition, the Wearable Lab is developed to enable an attractive and state-of-the-art way of collecting data and online campaign implementation via social networks. Phase I of the MyMovez project consists of a large-scale cross-sequential cohort study (N = 953; 8-12 and 12-15 y/o). In five waves during a 3-year period (2016-2018), data are collected about youth's social network exposure, media consumption, socialization experiences, psychological determinants of behavior, physical environment, dietary intake (snacking and drinking behavior) and physical activity using the Wearable Lab. The Wearable Lab exists of a smartphone-based research application (app) connected to an activity tracking bracelet, that is developed throughout the duration of the project. It generates peer- and self-reported (e.g., sociometric data and surveys) and experience sampling data, social network beacon data, real-time physical activity data (i.e., steps and cycling), location information, photos and chat conversation data from the app's social media platform Social Buzz. The MyMovez project - Phase I is an innovative cross

  11. Information diffusion in structured online social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Pei; Zhang, Yini; Qiao, Fengcai; Wang, Hui

    2015-05-01

    Nowadays, due to the word-of-mouth effect, online social networks have been considered to be efficient approaches to conduct viral marketing, which makes it of great importance to understand the diffusion dynamics in online social networks. However, most research on diffusion dynamics in epidemiology and existing social networks cannot be applied directly to characterize online social networks. In this paper, we propose models to characterize the information diffusion in structured online social networks with push-based forwarding mechanism. We introduce the term user influence to characterize the average number of times that messages are browsed which is incurred by a given type user generating a message, and study the diffusion threshold, above which the user influence of generating a message will approach infinity. We conduct simulations and provide the simulation results, which are consistent with the theoretical analysis results perfectly. These results are of use in understanding the diffusion dynamics in online social networks and also critical for advertisers in viral marketing who want to estimate the user influence before posting an advertisement.

  12. Nuevos modelos de comunicación, perfiles y tendencias en las redes sociales New Models of Communication, Profiles and Trends in Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesús Miguel Flores Vivar

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Las redes sociales en línea se han convertido en el estandarte de la Web 2.0, entorno que también aglutina a los blogs, wikis y chats. Existe una fina división entre una red social, un blog y un wiki. Hablar de redes sociales es referirnos al siguiente estadio de Internet, como en su momento fueron los blogs. Se han constituido en un fenómeno de masas cada vez más importante tanto así que ya algunas están integrando plataformas de blogs y wikis en una sola interfaz. Pero, ¿qué nuevas formas de comunicación y de negocio subyacen en las redes?, ¿qué perfiles profesionales se necesitan para esta nueva audiencia?, ¿deben los medios crear redes o adaptarse a los nuevos entornos de donde emerge un nuevo periodismo basado en la participación? El presente artículo intenta responder a estas y otras variables. Social networks have become the banner of Web 2.0, which also hosts blogs, wikis and chats. There is a slight dividing line between a social network, a blog and a wiki. Talking about social networks means referring to the next stage of the Internet, as talking about blogs once did. Internet social networks have become an increasingly important phenomenon because some platforms are integrating blogs and wikis on a single interface. But we could ask what new types of communication and business lie beneath these networks; what professional profiles are needed for this new audience. Should media create the networks, or just adapt to the new environments, whence a new journalism based on participation emerges? This paper tries to answer these and other questions.

  13. The role of learning analytics in networking for business and leisure: A study of culture and gender differences in social platform users

    OpenAIRE

    Benson, Vladlena; Filippaios, Fragkiskos

    2018-01-01

    Engagement with social networking sites is influenced by the cognitive and learning processes which in turn is influenced by culture. This paper aims at unbundling the effect of culture on the use of social network sites and thus contributes to our understanding on the way cognitive and learning processes influence the engagement with social networks. The study of over 600 social networking users addresses how professional and leisure use of social networks differs across cultures, gender and...

  14. A Contextualised Multi-Platform Framework to Support Blended Learning Scenarios in Learning Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    De Jong, Tim; Fuertes, Alba; Schmeits, Tally; Specht, Marcus; Koper, Rob

    2008-01-01

    De Jong, T., Fuertes, A., Schmeits, T., Specht, M., & Koper, R. (2009). A Contextualised Multi-Platform Framework to Support Blended Learning Scenarios in Learning Networks. In D. Goh (Ed.), Multiplatform E-Learning Systems and Technologies: Mobile Devices for Ubiquitous ICT-Based Education (pp.

  15. Homeless but Connected: The Role of Heterogeneous Social Network Ties and Social Networking Technology in the Mental Health Outcomes of Street-Living Youth

    OpenAIRE

    Rice, Eric; Ray, Diana; Kurzban, Seth

    2011-01-01

    Although social integration tends to have positive effects on the mental health of housed adolescents, the role of homeless adolescents’ social networks is more ambiguous. Social network data were collected from 136 homeless adolescents in Hollywood, California to examine how network ties are associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Face-to-face relationships with street-based peers were a risk factor for both anxiety and depression, while contacting home-based friends through soci...

  16. THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: A QUALITATIVE STUDY INTO THE ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTION OF YOUNG ADULTS TOWARDS PREVALENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

    OpenAIRE

    Agarwal, Shruti

    2012-01-01

    Technological advances in the past decade have lead to the emergence of online platforms like social-networking sites, blogging sites, discussion forums which are extensively used by consumers to articulate their opinions and share their experiences. These developments have equipped consumers with vast knowledge and tools and hence, consumers actively participate in all stages of the marketing exchange process. Thus, the traditional channels of marketing communications are not sufficient to k...

  17. Towards a deep understanding of malware propagation in online social networks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yan, Guanhua [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Eidenbenz, Stephan [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Chen, Guanling [U OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL; Li, Nan [U OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL

    2009-01-01

    Online social networks, which have been expanding at a blistering speed in the recent years, have emerged as a popular communication infrastructure for Internet users. Meanwhile, malware that specifically targets these online social networks are also on the rise. In this work, we aim to investigate the characteristics of malware propagation in online social networks. Our study is based on a dataset collected from a real-world location-based online social network. We analyze the social structure and user activity patterns of this network. We further use extensive trace-driven simulation to study the impact of initial infection, user click probability, social structure, and activity patterns on malware propagation in online social networks. The results from this work has greatly deepened our understanding of the nature of online social network malware and also shed light on how to defend against them effectively.

  18. Consumer Activities and Reactions to Social Network Marketing

    OpenAIRE

    Bistra Vassileva

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to understand consumer behavioural models with respect to their reactions to social network marketing. Theoretical background is focused on online and social network usage, motivations and behaviour. The research goal is to explore consumer reactions to the exposure of social network marketing based on the following criteria: level of brand engagement, word-of-mouth (WOM) referral behaviour, and purchase intentions. Consumers are investigated ...

  19. Spatial Epidemic Modelling in Social Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simoes, Joana Margarida

    2005-06-01

    The spread of infectious diseases is highly influenced by the structure of the underlying social network. The target of this study is not the network of acquaintances, but the social mobility network: the daily movement of people between locations, in regions. It was already shown that this kind of network exhibits small world characteristics. The model developed is agent based (ABM) and comprehends a movement model and a infection model. In the movement model, some assumptions are made about its structure and the daily movement is decomposed into four types: neighborhood, intra region, inter region and random. The model is Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based, and uses real data to define its geometry. Because it is a vector model, some optimization techniques were used to increase its efficiency.

  20. Online Social Networking: A Primer for Radiology

    OpenAIRE

    Prasanna, Prasanth M.; Seagull, F. Jacob; Nagy, Paul

    2011-01-01

    Online social networking is an immature, but rapidly evolving industry of web-based technologies that allow individuals to develop online relationships. News stories populate the headlines about various websites which can facilitate patient and doctor interaction. There remain questions about protecting patient confidentiality and defining etiquette in order to preserve the doctor/patient relationship and protect physicians. How much social networking-based communication or other forms of E-c...

  1. Employer branding through social media platforms in financial consulting companies

    OpenAIRE

    O' Brien, Krista

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the use of social media and its effects on enhancing Employer Branding, as done by 5 case companies in the financial consulting industry. The five case companies have been chosen based on employee size and industry: J.P. Morgan, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC. Each case company has been matched with a focus country in Northern Europe to better understand the efforts put into local Employer Branding. The social media platforms used for data collection ...

  2. Towards a dynamic social-network-based approach for service composition in the Internet of Things

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Wen; Hu, Zheng; Gong, Tao; Zhao, Zhengzheng

    2011-12-01

    The User-Generated Service (UGS) concept allows end-users to create their own services as well as to share and manage the lifecycles of these services. The current development of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) has brought new challenges to the UGS area. Creating smart services in the IoT environment requires a dynamic social network that considers the relationship between people and things. In this paper, we consider the know-how required to best organize exchanges between users and things to enhance service composition. By surveying relevant aspects including service composition technology, social networks and a recommendation system, we present the first concept of our framework to provide recommendations for a dynamic social network-based means to organize UGSs in the IoT.

  3. Geo-spatial Service and Application based on National E-government Network Platform and Cloud

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, X.; Deng, Y.; Li, H.; Yao, L.; Shi, J.

    2014-04-01

    With the acceleration of China's informatization process, our party and government take a substantive stride in advancing development and application of digital technology, which promotes the evolution of e-government and its informatization. Meanwhile, as a service mode based on innovative resources, cloud computing may connect huge pools together to provide a variety of IT services, and has become one relatively mature technical pattern with further studies and massive practical applications. Based on cloud computing technology and national e-government network platform, "National Natural Resources and Geospatial Database (NRGD)" project integrated and transformed natural resources and geospatial information dispersed in various sectors and regions, established logically unified and physically dispersed fundamental database and developed national integrated information database system supporting main e-government applications. Cross-sector e-government applications and services are realized to provide long-term, stable and standardized natural resources and geospatial fundamental information products and services for national egovernment and public users.

  4. Social network analysis of study environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blaženka Divjak

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Student working environment influences student learning and achievement level. In this respect social aspects of students’ formal and non-formal learning play special role in learning environment. The main research problem of this paper is to find out if students' academic performance influences their position in different students' social networks. Further, there is a need to identify other predictors of this position. In the process of problem solving we use the Social Network Analysis (SNA that is based on the data we collected from the students at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb. There are two data samples: in the basic sample N=27 and in the extended sample N=52. We collected data on social-demographic position, academic performance, learning and motivation styles, student status (full-time/part-time, attitudes towards individual and teamwork as well as informal cooperation. Afterwards five different networks (exchange of learning materials, teamwork, informal communication, basic and aggregated social network were constructed. These networks were analyzed with different metrics and the most important were betweenness, closeness and degree centrality. The main result is, firstly, that the position in a social network cannot be forecast only by academic success and, secondly, that part-time students tend to form separate groups that are poorly connected with full-time students. In general, position of a student in social networks in study environment can influence student learning as well as her/his future employability and therefore it is worthwhile to be investigated.

  5. Social Networking as a Strategic Tool in the Management of School-Based Violence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eke, Chidi Idi; Singh, Shakila

    2018-01-01

    School-based violence is serious, and on the rise in South African schools. The violence affects learners, teachers, communities and the management of schools. Towards finding possible ways to manage school violence, this article presents social networking as a strategic tool in the management of school-based violence in high schools, based on the…

  6. Identifying influential user communities on the social network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Weishu; Gong, Zhiguo; Hou U, Leong; Guo, Jingzhi

    2015-10-01

    Nowadays social network services have been popularly used in electronic commerce systems. Users on the social network can develop different relationships based on their common interests and activities. In order to promote the business, it is interesting to explore hidden relationships among users developed on the social network. Such knowledge can be used to locate target users for different advertisements and to provide effective product recommendations. In this paper, we define and study a novel community detection problem that is to discover the hidden community structure in large social networks based on their common interests. We observe that the users typically pay more attention to those users who share similar interests, which enable a way to partition the users into different communities according to their common interests. We propose two algorithms to detect influential communities using common interests in large social networks efficiently and effectively. We conduct our experimental evaluation using a data set from Epinions, which demonstrates that our method achieves 4-11.8% accuracy improvement over the state-of-the-art method.

  7. Relationship between Social Networks Adoption and Social Intelligence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunduz, Semseddin

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to set forth the relationship between the individuals' states to adopt social networks and social intelligence and analyze both concepts according to various variables. Research data were collected from 1145 social network users in the online media by using the Adoption of Social Network Scale and Social Intelligence…

  8. A Ubiquitous Sensor Network Platform for Integrating Smart Devices into the Semantic Sensor Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Vera, David Díaz Pardo; Izquierdo, Álvaro Sigüenza; Vercher, Jesús Bernat; Gómez, Luis Alfonso Hernández

    2014-01-01

    Ongoing Sensor Web developments make a growing amount of heterogeneous sensor data available to smart devices. This is generating an increasing demand for homogeneous mechanisms to access, publish and share real-world information. This paper discusses, first, an architectural solution based on Next Generation Networks: a pilot Telco Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN) Platform that embeds several OGC® Sensor Web services. This platform has already been deployed in large scale projects. Second, the USN-Platform is extended to explore a first approach to Semantic Sensor Web principles and technologies, so that smart devices can access Sensor Web data, allowing them also to share richer (semantically interpreted) information. An experimental scenario is presented: a smart car that consumes and produces real-world information which is integrated into the Semantic Sensor Web through a Telco USN-Platform. Performance tests revealed that observation publishing times with our experimental system were well within limits compatible with the adequate operation of smart safety assistance systems in vehicles. On the other hand, response times for complex queries on large repositories may be inappropriate for rapid reaction needs. PMID:24945678

  9. Leveraging social networks for toxicovigilance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chary, Michael; Genes, Nicholas; McKenzie, Andrew; Manini, Alex F

    2013-06-01

    The landscape of drug abuse is shifting. Traditional means of characterizing these changes, such as national surveys or voluntary reporting by frontline clinicians, can miss changes in usage the emergence of novel drugs. Delays in detecting novel drug usage patterns make it difficult to evaluate public policy aimed at altering drug abuse. Increasingly, newer methods to inform frontline providers to recognize symptoms associated with novel drugs or methods of administration are needed. The growth of social networks may address this need. The objective of this manuscript is to introduce tools for using data from social networks to characterize drug abuse. We outline a structured approach to analyze social media in order to capture emerging trends in drug abuse by applying powerful methods from artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, graph theory, and agent-based modeling. First, we describe how to obtain data from social networks such as Twitter using publicly available automated programmatic interfaces. Then, we discuss how to use artificial intelligence techniques to extract content useful for purposes of toxicovigilance. This filtered content can be employed to generate real-time maps of drug usage across geographical regions. Beyond describing the real-time epidemiology of drug abuse, techniques from computational linguistics can uncover ways that drug discussions differ from other online conversations. Next, graph theory can elucidate the structure of networks discussing drug abuse, helping us learn what online interactions promote drug abuse and whether these interactions differ among drugs. Finally, agent-based modeling relates online interactions to psychological archetypes, providing a link between epidemiology and behavior. An analysis of social media discussions about drug abuse patterns with computational linguistics, graph theory, and agent-based modeling permits the real-time monitoring and characterization of trends of drugs of abuse. These

  10. SOCIAL NETWORK EFFECTS ON ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatma CAN

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of the study was to obtain information about social network variables in order to predict the relational commitment of married individuals and people having dating relationships. For this purpose, social network analysis has been carried out on 134 people having dating relationship and 154 married individuals and then Relationship Stability Scale, Subjective Norm Scale and Social Network Feature Survey prepared by the researcher were used. The results indicated that the approval of the closest social network member and the level of enjoyment of each other’s social network members had the best predictive value for relationship satisfaction and the investment to the relationship. The results also demonstrated that, approval of the social network had a negative impact on the level of the quality of alternatives and it showed that social networks were seen as a barrier function to have alternative relationships. Furthermore, by dividing social network members into two groups, for the dating group, the approval of the social network was the most significant variable for commitment but in the married group, the need for social network approval was not an important criteria because of having their relatioship already confirmed legally. When social network members were categorised and examined, the closest social network members did not differ by sex, but were varied in terms of relationship types. In the flirt group, one of their friends among his/her social network and their partners’ social network was specified as the closest social network member whereas in the married group, the closest social network member among his/her social network was their mother while it was their sibling among partner’s social network.

  11. Social Networking Sites and Addiction: Ten Lessons Learned.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuss, Daria J; Griffiths, Mark D

    2017-03-17

    Online social networking sites (SNSs) have gained increasing popularity in the last decade, with individuals engaging in SNSs to connect with others who share similar interests. The perceived need to be online may result in compulsive use of SNSs, which in extreme cases may result in symptoms and consequences traditionally associated with substance-related addictions. In order to present new insights into online social networking and addiction, in this paper, 10 lessons learned concerning online social networking sites and addiction based on the insights derived from recent empirical research will be presented. These are: (i) social networking and social media use are not the same; (ii) social networking is eclectic; (iii) social networking is a way of being; (iv) individuals can become addicted to using social networking sites; (v) Facebook addiction is only one example of SNS addiction; (vi) fear of missing out (FOMO) may be part of SNS addiction; (vii) smartphone addiction may be part of SNS addiction; (viii) nomophobia may be part of SNS addiction; (ix) there are sociodemographic differences in SNS addiction; and (x) there are methodological problems with research to date. These are discussed in turn. Recommendations for research and clinical applications are provided.

  12. Social Networking as a Tool for Lifelong Learning with Orthopedically Impaired Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ersoy, Metin; Güneyli, Ahmet

    2016-01-01

    This paper discusses how Turkish Cypriot orthopedically impaired learners who are living in North Cyprus use social networking as a tool for leisure and education, and to what extent they satisfy their personal development needs by means of these digital platforms. The case study described, conducted in North Cyprus in 2015 followed a qualitative…

  13. Learners' Views Regarding the Use of Social Networking Sites in Distance Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Özmen, Büsra; Atici, Bünyamin

    2014-01-01

    In this study, it was aimed to examine the use of learning management systems supported by social networking sites in distance education and to determine the views of learners regarding these platforms. The study group of this study, which uses a qualitative research approach, consists of 15 undergraduate students who resumed their education in…

  14. Internet gaming disorder, social network disorder and laterality: handedness relates to pathological use of social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouna-Pyrrou, Polyxeni; Mühle, Christiane; Kornhuber, Johannes; Lenz, Bernd

    2015-08-01

    The internet age bears new challenges that include health risks. It is agreed that excessive internet use may reach pathological levels. However, the concept of internet addiction lacks specificity and, therefore, warrants studies on its diagnostic and etiologic classification. This study was conducted to characterize the novel DSM-5 criteria for internet gaming disorder and the adapted criteria for the "social network disorder". Based on the established association of handedness and substance use disorders, we also explored whether internet use related to laterality. For this study, 3,287 volunteers participated in the online survey and gave particulars concerning their internet use in general, internet gaming and use of social networks, laterality markers (hand, foot, eye, ear, rotational preference in gymnastics, and head turning asymmetry) and health status. Of the participants, 1.1 % fulfilled the criteria for internet gaming disorder, and 1.8 % fulfilled the criteria for social network disorder. The applied criteria were highly correlated with the time spent on the respective internet activities (p social networks (p ≤ 4 × 10(-2)). The provided criteria proved to be user-friendly, comprehensible and well accepted. The results contribute to a better understanding of pathological internet gaming and social network use and provide evidence that biological markers of substance use disorders are involved in internet addiction.

  15. Social Networks: Gated Communities or Free Cantons?

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2017-01-01

    Online social networks and other cloud-based services have concentrated the control of the web in the hands of a few corporations. Our personal data has been commodified, often without our knowledge or consent. Is there a way to retain all the benefits of social networking without giving up control of our data?

  16. A Typology to Explain Changing Social Networks Post Stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Northcott, Sarah; Hirani, Shashivadan P; Hilari, Katerina

    2018-05-08

    Social network typologies have been used to classify the general population but have not previously been applied to the stroke population. This study investigated whether social network types remain stable following a stroke, and if not, why some people shift network type. We used a mixed methods design. Participants were recruited from two acute stroke units. They completed the Stroke Social Network Scale (SSNS) two weeks and six months post stroke and in-depth interviews 8-15 months following the stroke. Qualitative data was analysed using Framework Analysis; k-means cluster analysis was applied to the six-month data set. Eighty-seven participants were recruited, 71 were followed up at six months, and 29 completed in-depth interviews. It was possible to classify all 29 participants into one of the following network types both prestroke and post stroke: diverse; friends-based; family-based; restricted-supported; restricted-unsupported. The main shift that took place post stroke was participants moving out of a diverse network into a family-based one. The friends-based network type was relatively stable. Two network types became more populated post stroke: restricted-unsupported and family-based. Triangulatory evidence was provided by k-means cluster analysis, which produced a cluster solution (for n = 71) with comparable characteristics to the network types derived from qualitative analysis. Following a stroke, a person's social network is vulnerable to change. Explanatory factors for shifting network type included the physical and also psychological impact of having a stroke, as well as the tendency to lose contact with friends rather than family.

  17. Development of the Social Network-Based Intervention "Powerful Together with Diabetes" Using Intervention Mapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vissenberg, Charlotte; Nierkens, Vera; Uitewaal, Paul J M; Middelkoop, Barend J C; Nijpels, Giel; Stronks, Karien

    2017-01-01

    This article describes the development of the social network-based intervention Powerful Together with Diabetes which aims to improve diabetes self-management (DSM) among patients with type 2 diabetes living in socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods by stimulating social support for DSM and diminishing social influences hindering DSM (e.g., peer pressure and social norms). The intervention was specifically developed for patients with Dutch, Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese backgrounds. The intervention was developed according to Intervention Mapping. This article describes the first four steps of Intervention Mapping: (1) the needs assessment; (2) development of performance and change objectives; (3) selection of theory-based methods and strategies; and (4) the translation of these into an organized program. These four steps resulted in Powerful Together with Diabetes , a 10-month group-based intervention consisting of 24 meetings, 6 meetings for significant others, and 2 meetings for participants and their spouses. The IM method resulted in a tailored approach with a specific focus on the social networks of its participants. This article concludes that the IM method helped our planning team to tailor the intervention to the needs of our target population and facilitated our evaluation design. However, in hindsight, the intervention could have been improved by investing more in participatory planning and community involvement.

  18. Social Networks and Political Parties in Chile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adler Lomnitz, Larissa

    2002-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the origin and evolution of two Chilean political parties (the Radical Party and the Christian Democrat Party through the analysis of the social networks that originated and composed them. The aim of this study is to propose a model of national political cultures on the basis of the structure of social networks related to power and of the symbol system, which legitimizes it. The structure of social networks, horizontal and vertical, are based on reciprocal or redistributive forms of exchange, on what is being exchanged and on the articulation between networks. In every society there are symmetrical and asymmetrical exchanges, which produce horizontal and vertical networks. These networks interact among themselves to form the social fabric. The dominance of some over others and how they combine, delineate the character of the political culture (authoritarian vs. egalitarian. Chile is a multiparty country within which there are cohorts of horizontal groups of friends, who informally exercise a central control over their members and create invisible boundaries setting them apart from others, in which leadership is under constrains. The result is both a strong presidential system based on an almost fanatic legitimacy, combined with factionalism and a strong parliamentary system.

  19. Visualizing Public Opinion in Croatia Based on Available Social Network Content

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ševa, Jurica

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In the last decade advances of computer technologies have lead towards a technological reality where the line between information consumers and information producers is blurred. This technological omnipresence allows for unprecedented data creation capabilities. Based on various data sources, it seems humans have fully embraced data-generating activities. One such activity is using online social network applications, like Facebook or Twitter in almost all aspects of their lives. One of the main features of online social network applications is perceived freedom of speech, individuality and privacy, even though every application has some special features. Therefore, content generated using these services presents the public with interesting insights in private life of people and their attitudes towards public affairs. Social network applications are active the most during specific public events aimed at the massive public. Due to its brevity, ease of use and frequency, Twitter is an interesting social network application for research and analysis. Other than allowing almost exclusively short messages (up to 140 characters, a tweet (a Twitter post can contain location of the message sender as well as a graphic to accompany the textual message. The textual part of the message may contain so called hashtags – keywords used for indexing and easy identification of a subject the message is related to. These hashtags allow us to group messages related to a specific event. Recent governmental elections held in Croatia were very popular amongst the Croatian Twitter community. Usage of hashtags allowed us to identify the right messages and thus most-used words to describe this event and potentially identify how people felt when talking, i.e. writing, about politics and the held elections. Furthermore, geolocation information, optionally embedded in a tweet, makes it possible to analyze which keywords were used in which parts of Croatia, all pertaining to

  20. Social network indices in the Generations and Gender Survey: An appraisal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pearl A. Dykstra

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: In this contribution we critically appraise the social network indices in the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS. Objective: After discussing the rationale for including social network indices in the GGS, we provide descriptive information on social network characteristics and an overview of substantive questions that have been addressed using GGS social network data: antecedents and consequences of demographic behaviour, care, and differences in well-being. We identify topics that have received relatively little attention in GGS research so far, despite the availability of novel and appropriate social network data. We end with a discussion of what is unique about the social network indices in the GGS. Methods: The descriptive information on social network characteristics is based on empirical analyses of GGS data, and an experimental pilot study. The overview of GGS research using social network indices is based on a library search. The identification of what is unique about the social network indices in the GGS is based on a comparison with the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE, and the International Social Survey Program (ISSP. Results: Results show a high representation of family members in the social networks, and confirm the adequacy of using a cap of five names for network-generating questions. GGS research using the social network indices has largely focused on determinants of fertility behaviour, intergenerational linkages in families, and downward care transfers. Conclusions: Topics that have received relatively little attention are demographic behaviours other than those related to parenthood, upward transfers of practical support, ties with siblings, and stepfamily ties. Social network indices in the GGS show a high degree of overlap with those in other international surveys. The unique features are the inventory of family ties ever born and still living, and the

  1. Experimental platforms for behavioral experiments on social-ecological systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco A. Janssen

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Recently, there has been an increased interest in using behavioral experiments to study hypotheses on the governance of social-ecological systems. A diversity of software tools are used to implement such experiments. We evaluated various publicly available platforms that could be used in research and education on the governance of social-ecological systems. The aims of the various platforms are distinct, and this is noticeable in the differences in their user-friendliness and their adaptability to novel research questions. The more easily accessible platforms are useful for prototyping experiments and for educational purposes to illustrate theoretical concepts. To advance novel research aims, more elaborate programming experience is required to either implement an experiment from scratch or adjust existing experimental software. There is no ideal platform best suited for all possible use cases, but we have provided a menu of options and their associated trade-offs.

  2. Trust and compactness in social network groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Meo, Pasquale; Ferrara, Emilio; Rosaci, Domenico; Sarné, Giuseppe M L

    2015-02-01

    Understanding the dynamics behind group formation and evolution in social networks is considered an instrumental milestone to better describe how individuals gather and form communities, how they enjoy and share the platform contents, how they are driven by their preferences/tastes, and how their behaviors are influenced by peers. In this context, the notion of compactness of a social group is particularly relevant. While the literature usually refers to compactness as a measure to merely determine how much members of a group are similar among each other, we argue that the mutual trustworthiness between the members should be considered as an important factor in defining such a term. In fact, trust has profound effects on the dynamics of group formation and their evolution: individuals are more likely to join with and stay in a group if they can trust other group members. In this paper, we propose a quantitative measure of group compactness that takes into account both the similarity and the trustworthiness among users, and we present an algorithm to optimize such a measure. We provide empirical results, obtained from the real social networks EPINIONS and CIAO, that compare our notion of compactness versus the traditional notion of user similarity, clearly proving the advantages of our approach.

  3. Psychology and social networks: a dynamic network theory perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westaby, James D; Pfaff, Danielle L; Redding, Nicholas

    2014-04-01

    Research on social networks has grown exponentially in recent years. However, despite its relevance, the field of psychology has been relatively slow to explain the underlying goal pursuit and resistance processes influencing social networks in the first place. In this vein, this article aims to demonstrate how a dynamic network theory perspective explains the way in which social networks influence these processes and related outcomes, such as goal achievement, performance, learning, and emotional contagion at the interpersonal level of analysis. The theory integrates goal pursuit, motivation, and conflict conceptualizations from psychology with social network concepts from sociology and organizational science to provide a taxonomy of social network role behaviors, such as goal striving, system supporting, goal preventing, system negating, and observing. This theoretical perspective provides psychologists with new tools to map social networks (e.g., dynamic network charts), which can help inform the development of change interventions. Implications for social, industrial-organizational, and counseling psychology as well as conflict resolution are discussed, and new opportunities for research are highlighted, such as those related to dynamic network intelligence (also known as cognitive accuracy), levels of analysis, methodological/ethical issues, and the need to theoretically broaden the study of social networking and social media behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. Privacy in social networking sites

    OpenAIRE

    Λεονάρδος, Γεώργιος; Leonardos, Giorgos

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to explore the aspects of privacy over the use of social networks web sites. More specific, we will show the types of social networks, their privacy mechanisms that are different in each social network site, their privacy options that are offered to users. We will report some serious privacy violations incidents of the most popular social networks sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Also, we will report some important surveys about social networks and pr...

  5. Social traits, social networks and evolutionary biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, D N; McAdam, A G

    2017-12-01

    The social environment is both an important agent of selection for most organisms, and an emergent property of their interactions. As an aggregation of interactions among members of a population, the social environment is a product of many sets of relationships and so can be represented as a network or matrix. Social network analysis in animals has focused on why these networks possess the structure they do, and whether individuals' network traits, representing some aspect of their social phenotype, relate to their fitness. Meanwhile, quantitative geneticists have demonstrated that traits expressed in a social context can depend on the phenotypes and genotypes of interacting partners, leading to influences of the social environment on the traits and fitness of individuals and the evolutionary trajectories of populations. Therefore, both fields are investigating similar topics, yet have arrived at these points relatively independently. We review how these approaches are diverged, and yet how they retain clear parallelism and so strong potential for complementarity. This demonstrates that, despite separate bodies of theory, advances in one might inform the other. Techniques in network analysis for quantifying social phenotypes, and for identifying community structure, should be useful for those studying the relationship between individual behaviour and group-level phenotypes. Entering social association matrices into quantitative genetic models may also reduce bias in heritability estimates, and allow the estimation of the influence of social connectedness on trait expression. Current methods for measuring natural selection in a social context explicitly account for the fact that a trait is not necessarily the property of a single individual, something the network approaches have not yet considered when relating network metrics to individual fitness. Harnessing evolutionary models that consider traits affected by genes in other individuals (i.e. indirect genetic

  6. Political Participation and Power Relations in Egypt: The Scope of Newspapers and Social Network Sites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mostafa Shehata

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The political use of media in Egypt post-2011 revolution brought about drastic transformations in political activism and power structures. In the context of communication power theory, this article investigates the effects of newspapers and social network sites on political participation and political power relations. The research employed a mixed methodology, comprised of a survey of 527 Egyptian youth and semi-structured interviews of 12 political activists and journalists. The results showed a significant relationship between reading newspapers and youth’s political participation, but not between using social network sites and political participation. In addition, newspapers and social network sites were platforms for a series of conflicts and coalitions that emerged between pro- and anti-revolution actors. Despite the importance of social network sites as key tools for informing and mobilizing the public, they eventually failed to empower new political actors, and this was because old actors, supported by newspapers and other mainstream media, managed to obstruct the new actors’ progress.

  7. PERSON IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Андрей Борисович Шалимов

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Our scientific purpose is creation of practical model of person’s representation in social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Classmates. As user of social networks, person is made conditional not only upon its own identity, but also upon the information about himself, which he is ready to share with his friends in contact list. Goal-setting and practical activities for their achievement mean that you should apply force, it can completely eliminates systemic factors, the system of power relations, which overwhelms human being in social networks.Methodology: The reconstruction of the model of human in the popularity of social networksResults: There is descripton of practical model of person's representation in social networks, it includes the management of own identity and the audience (the list of contacts. When person manages own identity, he answers the question, «Whom I can dare to be?». Person perceives himself in social networks' being, he understands himself and his place in the world, he identifies.Managing the way in social media means that you answer the question «What I want to tell?». Person in social media looks at events in the field of culture, economy, politics, social relations through the prism of his own attitudes, he forms and formulates his own agenda and he is going to tell about himself through them.Practical implications: Everyday people’s life, practical activities, including marketing in social networks.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-9-51

  8. Visual social network analysis: effective approach to model complex human social, behaviour & culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahram, Tareq Z; Karwowski, Waldemar

    2012-01-01

    The advent and adoption of internet-based social networking has significantly altered our daily lives. The educational community has taken notice of the positive aspects of social networking such as creation of blogs and to support groups of system designers going through the same challenges and difficulties. This paper introduces a social networking framework for collaborative education, design and modeling of the next generation of smarter products and services. Human behaviour modeling in social networking application aims to ensure that human considerations for learners and designers have a prominent place in the integrated design and development of sustainable, smarter products throughout the total system lifecycle. Social networks blend self-directed learning and prescribed, existing information. The self-directed element creates interest within a learner and the ability to access existing information facilitates its transfer, and eventual retention of knowledge acquired.

  9. Social media as a platform for service innovation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Lene Tolstrup; Falch, Morten

    2012-01-01

    relation is based on social network technologies. Data for the two cases are collected through interviews and monitoring of Facebook activities. The cases show innovations take place but that the enterprises need a strategy and an organization behind for taking customer introduced ideas to a higher level....

  10. Network-based social capital and capacity-building programs: an example from Ethiopia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mantopoulos Jeannie

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Capacity-building programs are vital for healthcare workforce development in low- and middle-income countries. In addition to increasing human capital, participation in such programs may lead to new professional networks and access to social capital. Although network development and social capital generation were not explicit program goals, we took advantage of a natural experiment and studied the social networks that developed in the first year of an executive-education Master of Hospital and Healthcare Administration (MHA program in Jimma, Ethiopia. Case description We conducted a sociometric network analysis, which included all program participants and supporters (formally affiliated educators and mentors. We studied two networks: the Trainee Network (all 25 trainees and the Trainee-Supporter Network (25 trainees and 38 supporters. The independent variable of interest was out-degree, the number of program-related connections reported by each respondent. We assessed social capital exchange in terms of resource exchange, both informational and functional. Contingency table analysis for relational data was used to evaluate the relationship between out-degree and informational and functional exchange. Discussion and evaluation Both networks demonstrated growth and inclusion of most or all network members. In the Trainee Network, those with the highest level of out-degree had the highest reports of informational exchange, χ2 (1, N = 23 = 123.61, p 2(1, N = 23 = 26.11, p > 0.05. In the Trainee-Supporter Network, trainees with the highest level of out-degree had the highest reports of informational exchange, χ2 (1, N = 23 = 74.93, p 2 (1, N = 23 = 81.31, p Conclusions We found substantial and productive development of social networks in the first year of a healthcare management capacity-building program. Environmental constraints, such as limited access to information and communication technologies, or challenges with

  11. PersonA: Persuasive social network for physical Activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayubi, Soleh U; Parmanto, Bambang

    2012-01-01

    Advances in physical activity (PA) monitoring devices provide ample opportunities for innovations in the way the information produced by these devices is used to encourage people to have more active lifestyles. One such innovation is expanding the current use of the information from self-management to social support. We developed a Persuasive social network for physical Activity (PersonA) that combines automatic input of physical activity data, a smartphone, and a social networking system (SNS). This paper describes the motivation for and overarching design of the PersonA and its functional and non-functional features. PersonA is designed to intelligently and automatically receive raw PA data from the sensors in the smartphone, calculate the data into meaningful PA information, store the information on a secure server, and show the information to the users as persuasive and real-time feedbacks or publish the information to the SNS to generate social support. The implementation of self-monitoring, social support, and persuasive concepts using currently available technologies has the potential for promoting healthy lifestyle, greater community participation, and higher quality of life. We also expect that PersonA will enable health professionals to collect in situ data related to physical activity. The platform is currently being used and tested to improve PA level of three groups of users in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

  12. Mathematical model for spreading dynamics of social network worms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun, Xin; Liu, Yan-Heng; Han, Jia-Wei; Liu, Xue-Jie; Li, Bin; Li, Jin

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, a mathematical model for social network worm spreading is presented from the viewpoint of social engineering. This model consists of two submodels. Firstly, a human behavior model based on game theory is suggested for modeling and predicting the expected behaviors of a network user encountering malicious messages. The game situation models the actions of a user under the condition that the system may be infected at the time of opening a malicious message. Secondly, a social network accessing model is proposed to characterize the dynamics of network users, by which the number of online susceptible users can be determined at each time step. Several simulation experiments are carried out on artificial social networks. The results show that (1) the proposed mathematical model can well describe the spreading dynamics of social network worms; (2) weighted network topology greatly affects the spread of worms; (3) worms spread even faster on hybrid social networks

  13. Segmentation of users of social networking websites

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lorenzo-Romero, C.; Alarcon-del-Amo, M.d.C.; Constantinides, Efthymios

    2012-01-01

    The typology of networked consumers in The Netherlands presented in this study, was based on an online survey and obtained using latent segmentation analysis. This approach is based on the frequency with which users perform different activities, their sociodemographic variables, social networking

  14. Mobile social network services for families with children with developmental disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chou, Li-Der; Lai, Nien-Hwa; Chen, Yen-Wen; Chang, Yao-Jen; Yang, Jyun-Yan; Huang, Lien-Fu; Chiang, Wen-Ling; Chiu, Hung-Yi; Shin, Haw-Yun

    2011-07-01

    As Internet technologies evolve, their applications have changed various aspects of human life. Here, we attempt to examine their potential impact on services for families with developmentally delayed children. Our research is thus designed to utilize wireless mobile communication technologies, location services, and search technology in an effort to match families of specific needs with potential care providers. Based on the investigation conducted by our counselors, this paper describes a platform for smooth communication between professional communities and families with children with developmental disabilities (CDD). This research also looks into the impact of management of mobile social network services and training on the operation of these services. Interaction opportunities, care, and support to families with CDD are introduced.

  15. Social networks and mortality based on the Komo-Ise cohort study in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iwasaki, Motoki; Otani, Tetsuya; Sunaga, Rumiko; Miyazaki, Hiroko; Xiao, Liu; Wang, Naren; Yosiaki, Sasazawa; Suzuki, Shosuke

    2002-12-01

    No prospective studies have examined the association between social networks and all-cause and cause-specific mortality among middle-aged Japanese. The study of varied populations may contribute to clarifying the robustness of the observed effects of social networks and extend their generalizability. To clarify the association between social networks and mortality among middle-aged and elderly Japanese, a community-based prospective study, the Komo-Ise Study, was conducted in two areas of Gunma Prefecture, Japan. A total of 11 565 subjects aged 40-69 years at baseline in 1993 completed a self-administered questionnaire. During the 7-year follow-up period, 335 men and 155 women died and the relative risk (RR) of each social network item was estimated by the Cox proportional hazard model. Single women had significantly increased risks of all-cause (multivariate RR = 2.2), and all circulatory system disease (age-area adjusted RR = 2.6) mortality. Men who did not participate in hobbies, club activities, or community groups had significantly higher multivariate RR for all-cause (RR = 1.5), all circulatory system disease (RR = 1.6) and non-cancer and non-circulatory system disease (RR = 2.3) mortality. Urban women who rarely or never met close relatives had significantly elevated risks of all-cause (RR = 2.4), all cancer (RR = 2.6), and non-cancer and non-circulatory system disease (RR = 2.7) mortality after adjustment for established risk factors. This study provides evidence that social networks are an important predictor of mortality risk for middle-aged and elderly Japanese men and women. Lack of participation, for men, and being single and lack of meeting close relatives, for women, were independent risk factors for mortality.

  16. The structural and functional brain networks that support human social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noonan, M P; Mars, R B; Sallet, J; Dunbar, R I M; Fellows, L K

    2018-02-20

    Social skills rely on a specific set of cognitive processes, raising the possibility that individual differences in social networks are related to differences in specific brain structural and functional networks. Here, we tested this hypothesis with multimodality neuroimaging. With diffusion MRI (DMRI), we showed that differences in structural integrity of particular white matter (WM) tracts, including cingulum bundle, extreme capsule and arcuate fasciculus were associated with an individual's social network size (SNS). A voxel-based morphology analysis demonstrated correlations between gray matter (GM) volume and SNS in limbic and temporal lobe regions. These structural changes co-occured with functional network differences. As a function of SNS, dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex showed altered resting-state functional connectivity with the default mode network (DMN). Finally, we integrated these three complementary methods, interrogating the relationship between social GM clusters and specific WM and resting-state networks (RSNs). Probabilistic tractography seeded in these GM nodes utilized the SNS-related WM pathways. Further, the spatial and functional overlap between the social GM clusters and the DMN was significantly closer than other control RSNs. These integrative analyses provide convergent evidence of the role of specific circuits in SNS, likely supporting the adaptive behavior necessary for success in extensive social environments. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Why are social network transactions important? Evidence based on the concentration of key suppliers and customers in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang Kong

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Based on a new institutional economy framework, this study examines the formation and economic consequences of social networks (guanxi from the perspective of key suppliers and customers in China. Results show that commercial activities which depend on networks are determined by the institutional environment. For example, companies that have lower accumulated social capital (less trust among people and are subject to more government invention depend more on social network transactions than on the market. In addition, this study shows that network transactions can provide benefits to firms, especially in weak institutional environments. Networks can reduce transaction costs by reducing information asymmetry, i.e., increased network dependence is associated with lower credit costs and lower advertising and sales costs. Networks can also reduce the effect of industry shocks, especially negative shocks, by creating a bonding mechanism. This study contributes to our understanding of social networks in emerging markets by providing evidence on network transactions with key suppliers and customers and their influence on firms’ accounting behavior.

  18. Curation-Based Network Marketing: Strategies for Network Growth and Electronic Word-of-Mouth Diffusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Church, Earnie Mitchell, Jr.

    2013-01-01

    In the last couple of years, a new aspect of online social networking has emerged, in which the strength of social network connections is based not on social ties but mutually shared interests. This dissertation studies these "curation-based" online social networks (CBN) and their suitability for the diffusion of electronic word-of-mouth…

  19. Trust Transitivity in Social Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Richters, Oliver; Peixoto, Tiago P.

    2011-01-01

    Non-centralized recommendation-based decision making is a central feature of several social and technological processes, such as market dynamics, peer-to-peer file-sharing and the web of trust of digital certification. We investigate the properties of trust propagation on networks, based on a simple metric of trust transitivity. We investigate analytically the percolation properties of trust transitivity in random networks with arbitrary in/out-degree distributions, and compare with numerical...

  20. Communication in Animal Social Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Snijders, Lysanne; Naguib, Marc

    2017-01-01

    Animal social networks and animal communication networks are key disciplines for understanding animal social behavior, yet these disciplines remain poorly integrated. In this review, we show how communication and social networks are inherently linked, with social signals reflecting and affecting

  1. Human cell-based micro electrode array platform for studying neurotoxicity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura eYlä-Outinen

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available At present, most of the neurotoxicological analyses are based on in vitro and in vivo models utilizing animal cells or animal models. In addition, the used in vitro models are mostly based on molecular biological end-point analyses. Thus, for neurotoxicological screening, human cell-based analysis platforms in which the functional neuronal networks responses for various neurotoxicants can be also detected real-time are highly needed. Microelectrode array (MEA is a method which enables the measurement of functional activity of neuronal cell networks in vitro for long periods of time. Here, we utilize MEA to study the neurotoxicity of methyl mercury chloride (MeHgCl, concentrations 0.5-500 nM to human embryonic stem cell (hESC-derived neuronal cell networks exhibiting spontaneous electrical activity. The neuronal cell cultures were matured on MEAs into networks expressing spontaneous spike train-like activity before exposing the cells to MeHgCl for 72 hours. MEA measurements were performed acutely and 24, 48, and 72 hours after the onset of the exposure. Finally, exposed cells were analyzed with traditional molecular biological methods for cell proliferation, cell survival, and gene and protein expression. Our results show that 500 nM MeHgCl decreases the electrical signaling and alters the pharmacologic response of hESC-derived neuronal networks in delayed manner whereas effects can not be detected with qRT-PCR, immunostainings, or proliferation measurements. Thus, we conclude that human cell-based MEA-platform is a sensitive online method for neurotoxicological screening.

  2. Navigating the massive world of reddit: using backbone networks to map user interests in social media

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Randal S. Olson

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available In the massive online worlds of social media, users frequently rely on organizing themselves around specific topics of interest to find and engage with like-minded people. However, navigating these massive worlds and finding topics of specific interest often proves difficult because the worlds are mostly organized haphazardly, leaving users to find relevant interests by word of mouth or using a basic search feature. Here, we report on a method using the backbone of a network to create a map of the primary topics of interest in any social network. To demonstrate the method, we build an interest map for the social news web site reddit and show how such a map could be used to navigate a social media world. Moreover, we analyze the network properties of the reddit social network and find that it has a scale-free, small-world, and modular community structure, much like other online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. We suggest that the integration of interest maps into popular social media platforms will assist users in organizing themselves into more specific interest groups, which will help alleviate the overcrowding effect often observed in large online communities.

  3. Social Networking Sites and Addiction: Ten Lessons Learned

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuss, Daria J.; Griffiths, Mark D.

    2017-01-01

    Online social networking sites (SNSs) have gained increasing popularity in the last decade, with individuals engaging in SNSs to connect with others who share similar interests. The perceived need to be online may result in compulsive use of SNSs, which in extreme cases may result in symptoms and consequences traditionally associated with substance-related addictions. In order to present new insights into online social networking and addiction, in this paper, 10 lessons learned concerning online social networking sites and addiction based on the insights derived from recent empirical research will be presented. These are: (i) social networking and social media use are not the same; (ii) social networking is eclectic; (iii) social networking is a way of being; (iv) individuals can become addicted to using social networking sites; (v) Facebook addiction is only one example of SNS addiction; (vi) fear of missing out (FOMO) may be part of SNS addiction; (vii) smartphone addiction may be part of SNS addiction; (viii) nomophobia may be part of SNS addiction; (ix) there are sociodemographic differences in SNS addiction; and (x) there are methodological problems with research to date. These are discussed in turn. Recommendations for research and clinical applications are provided. PMID:28304359

  4. Social Networking Sites and Addiction: Ten Lessons Learned

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daria J. Kuss

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Online social networking sites (SNSs have gained increasing popularity in the last decade, with individuals engaging in SNSs to connect with others who share similar interests. The perceived need to be online may result in compulsive use of SNSs, which in extreme cases may result in symptoms and consequences traditionally associated with substance-related addictions. In order to present new insights into online social networking and addiction, in this paper, 10 lessons learned concerning online social networking sites and addiction based on the insights derived from recent empirical research will be presented. These are: (i social networking and social media use are not the same; (ii social networking is eclectic; (iii social networking is a way of being; (iv individuals can become addicted to using social networking sites; (v Facebook addiction is only one example of SNS addiction; (vi fear of missing out (FOMO may be part of SNS addiction; (vii smartphone addiction may be part of SNS addiction; (viii nomophobia may be part of SNS addiction; (ix there are sociodemographic differences in SNS addiction; and (x there are methodological problems with research to date. These are discussed in turn. Recommendations for research and clinical applications are provided.

  5. A Monitoring and Control System for Aquaculture via Wireless Network and Android Platform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Huan

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Web applications, databases and advanced mobile platform can facilitate real-time data acquisition for effective monitoring on intelligent agriculture. To improve facilities for aquaculture production automation and efficient, this paper presents an application for wireless network and Android platform that interacts with an advanced control system based on Apache, SQL Server, Java, to collect and monitor variables applied in aquaculture. The test and application shows that is stable, high price-performance ratio, good mobility and easy to operate, It has a strong practicality and application prospects.

  6. Social networks predict selective observation and information spread in ravens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubenstein, Daniel I.; Bugnyar, Thomas; Hoppitt, William; Mikus, Nace; Schwab, Christine

    2016-01-01

    Animals are predicted to selectively observe and learn from the conspecifics with whom they share social connections. Yet, hardly anything is known about the role of different connections in observation and learning. To address the relationships between social connections, observation and learning, we investigated transmission of information in two raven (Corvus corax) groups. First, we quantified social connections in each group by constructing networks on affiliative interactions, aggressive interactions and proximity. We then seeded novel information by training one group member on a novel task and allowing others to observe. In each group, an observation network based on who observed whose task-solving behaviour was strongly correlated with networks based on affiliative interactions and proximity. Ravens with high social centrality (strength, eigenvector, information centrality) in the affiliative interaction network were also central in the observation network, possibly as a result of solving the task sooner. Network-based diffusion analysis revealed that the order that ravens first solved the task was best predicted by connections in the affiliative interaction network in a group of subadult ravens, and by social rank and kinship (which influenced affiliative interactions) in a group of juvenile ravens. Our results demonstrate that not all social connections are equally effective at predicting the patterns of selective observation and information transmission. PMID:27493780

  7. Social network in patient safety: Social media visibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Azucena Santillán García

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Internet social network (social media is a powerful communication tool, and its use is expanding significantly. This paper seeks to know the current state of visibility in online social networks of active citizen talking about patient safety. This is an observational cross-sectional study whose target population is the websites Facebook, Twitter and Tuenti in Spain. By three consecutive cuts social profiles were found using the searching terms “seguridad+paciente” and “safety+patient”. There were found 5 profiles on Facebook that met the search criteria, 6 on Twitter and none were found on Tuenti. It is concluded that although there is evidence of the rise of social networking, citizen network involved in patient safety appears not to be significantly represented within the social networks examined.

  8. Visualization of Social Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boertjes, E.M.; Kotterink, B.; Jager, E.J.

    2011-01-01

    Current visualizations of social networks are mostly some form of node-link diagram. Depending on the type of social network, this can be some treevisualization with a strict hierarchical structure or a more generic network visualization.

  9. Social Networks and Collective Intelligence: A Return to the Agora

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mazzara, Manuel; Biselli, Luca; Greco, Pier Paolo

    2013-01-01

    backgrounds and institutes with significantly different agendas. Polidoxa aims at offering: 1) a trust-based search engine algorithm, which exploits stigmergic behaviours of users? network, 2) a trust-based social network, where the notion of trust derives from network activity and 3) a holonic system...... for bottom-up self-protection and social privacy. By presenting the Polidoxa solution, this work also describes the current state of traditional media as well as newer ones, providing an accurate analysis of major search engines such as Google and social network (e.g., Facebook). The advantages that Polidoxa...

  10. The Potential Role of Social Media Platforms in Community Awareness of Antibiotic Use in the Gulf Cooperation Council States: Luxury or Necessity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zowawi, Hosam Mamoon; Abedalthagafi, Malak; Mar, Florie A; Almalki, Turki; Kutbi, Abdullah H; Harris-Brown, Tiffany; Harbarth, Stephan; Balkhy, Hanan H; Paterson, David L; Hasanain, Rihab Abdalazez

    2015-10-15

    The increasing emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health issue. Increasing the awareness of the general public about appropriate antibiotic use is a key factor for combating this issue. Several public media campaigns worldwide have been launched; however, such campaigns can be costly and the outcomes are variable and difficult to assess. Social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, are now frequently utilized to address health-related issues. In many geographical locations, such as the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain), these platforms are becoming increasingly popular. The socioeconomic status of the GCC states and their reliable communication and networking infrastructure has allowed the penetration and scalability of these platforms in the region. This might explain why the Saudi Ministry of Health is using social media platforms alongside various other media platforms in a large-scale public awareness campaign to educate at-risk communities about the recently emerged Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). This paper discusses the potential for using social media tools as cost-efficient and mass education platforms to raise awareness of appropriate antibiotic use in the general public and in the medical communities of the Arabian Peninsula.

  11. Riding the Wave of Social Networking in the Context of Preservice Teacher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Highfield, Kate; Papic, Marina

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the use of one online social networking tool, NING™, in teacher education, highlighting preservice teachers' engagement and perceptions of the tool. Data obtained from 91 preservice teachers suggest that they found the multimodal platform useful as a tool to build pedagogic and content knowledge. Responses to surveys and online…

  12. Changes in Social Capital and Networks: A Study of Community-Based Environmental Management through a School-Centered Research Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thornton, Teresa; Leahy, Jessica

    2012-01-01

    Social network analysis (SNA) is a social science research tool that has not been applied to educational programs. This analysis is critical to documenting the changes in social capital and networks that result from community based K-12 educational collaborations. We review SNA and show an application of this technique in a school-centered,…

  13. Predicting Positive and Negative Relationships in Large Social Networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guan-Nan Wang

    Full Text Available In a social network, users hold and express positive and negative attitudes (e.g. support/opposition towards other users. Those attitudes exhibit some kind of binary relationships among the users, which play an important role in social network analysis. However, some of those binary relationships are likely to be latent as the scale of social network increases. The essence of predicting latent binary relationships have recently began to draw researchers' attention. In this paper, we propose a machine learning algorithm for predicting positive and negative relationships in social networks inspired by structural balance theory and social status theory. More specifically, we show that when two users in the network have fewer common neighbors, the prediction accuracy of the relationship between them deteriorates. Accordingly, in the training phase, we propose a segment-based training framework to divide the training data into two subsets according to the number of common neighbors between users, and build a prediction model for each subset based on support vector machine (SVM. Moreover, to deal with large-scale social network data, we employ a sampling strategy that selects small amount of training data while maintaining high accuracy of prediction. We compare our algorithm with traditional algorithms and adaptive boosting of them. Experimental results of typical data sets show that our algorithm can deal with large social networks and consistently outperforms other methods.

  14. Predicting Positive and Negative Relationships in Large Social Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Guan-Nan; Gao, Hui; Chen, Lian; Mensah, Dennis N A; Fu, Yan

    2015-01-01

    In a social network, users hold and express positive and negative attitudes (e.g. support/opposition) towards other users. Those attitudes exhibit some kind of binary relationships among the users, which play an important role in social network analysis. However, some of those binary relationships are likely to be latent as the scale of social network increases. The essence of predicting latent binary relationships have recently began to draw researchers' attention. In this paper, we propose a machine learning algorithm for predicting positive and negative relationships in social networks inspired by structural balance theory and social status theory. More specifically, we show that when two users in the network have fewer common neighbors, the prediction accuracy of the relationship between them deteriorates. Accordingly, in the training phase, we propose a segment-based training framework to divide the training data into two subsets according to the number of common neighbors between users, and build a prediction model for each subset based on support vector machine (SVM). Moreover, to deal with large-scale social network data, we employ a sampling strategy that selects small amount of training data while maintaining high accuracy of prediction. We compare our algorithm with traditional algorithms and adaptive boosting of them. Experimental results of typical data sets show that our algorithm can deal with large social networks and consistently outperforms other methods.

  15. Multilayer Social Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dickison, Mark; Magnani, Matteo; Rossi, Luca

    social network systems, the evolution of interconnected social networks, and dynamic processes such as information spreading. A single real dataset is used to illustrate the concepts presented throughout the book, demonstrating both the practical utility and the potential shortcomings of the various...

  16. Social Network Analysis of the Caste-Based Reservation System in India

    OpenAIRE

    Iyengar, S. R. S.; Parasuram, Aishwarya; Saini, Jaspal Singh

    2015-01-01

    It has been argued that the reservation system in India, which has existed since the time of Indian Independence (1947), has caused more havoc and degradation than progress. This being a popular public opinion, these notions have not been based on any rigorous scientific study or research. In this paper, we revisit the cultural divide among the Indian population from a purely social networks based approach. We study the reservation system in detail, starting from its past and observing its ef...

  17. How Social-Media Enhanced Learning Platforms Support Students in Taking Responsibility for Their Own Learning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pals Svendsen, Lisbet; Mondahl, Margrethe

    2013-01-01

    Purpose – The paper is based on the chapter “How Social Media Enhanced Learning Platforms Challenge and Motivate Students to Take Charge of Their Own Learning Processes – A Few Examples” from the publication Increasing Student Engagement and Retention using Social Technologies: Facebook, e...

  18. Social networking-based simulations for nuclear security: Strategy assessment following nuclear cyber terror on South Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woo, Tae Ho; Kwak, Sang Man

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • The cyber terror modeling is made by the social networking algorithm. • This is applicable by the social networking service (SNS). • Security of nuclear industry could be controlled by the network theory. • Newly developed complex algorithm can be introduced. • Simplified graphics show the operator easily. - Abstract: Nuclear energy has been studied for the secure power productions, which is based on the simulation study following the incident of nuclear cyber terror attack on South Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs). The social networking is used for the terror incident modeling and its prevention strategies. The nuclear industry could be investigated in the aspect of minimizing the dangerous situations caused by possible terror attacks which are considered by the society oriented connectivity among the related people or groups. The social networking circle by system dynamics diagram (SNCSD) is constructed, where the configuration of a model social networking example by system dynamics (SD) is applied. From A to H regions, the values are obtained by the random numbers incorporated with the designed algorithms. The results show the comparative values of terror possibilities which are based on the proposed social networking algorithm. It is possible to prepare for potential terrorism in the nuclear industry

  19. Community-Based Social Networks: Generation of Power Law Degree Distribution and IP Solutions to the KPP

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Wentao

    2012-01-01

    The objective of this thesis is two-fold: (1) to investigate the degree distribution property of community-based social networks (CSNs) and (2) to provide solutions to a pertinent problem, the Key Player Problem. In the first part of this thesis, we consider a growing community-based network in which the ability of nodes competing for links to new…

  20. Knowledge Strategies in Using Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Contantin BRĂTIANU

    2013-05-01

    practice. the study focused on students, as they hold very important percentage of the total users of social networks. A total of 700 questionnaires were distributed to 18-25 years old students and the rate of response was 42%. Based on the theory of eigenvalues, the AHP mathematical model provides the priority vectors for both the strategies and the activities levels, thus, underlining the main knowledge strategies  employed in using social networks.

  1. Maintenance of cultural diversity: social roles, social networks, and cognitive networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abrams, Marshall

    2014-06-01

    Smaldino suggests that patterns that give rise to group-level cultural traits can also increase individual-level cultural diversity. I distinguish social roles and related social network structures and discuss ways in which each might maintain diversity. I suggest that cognitive analogs of "cohesion," a property of networks that helps maintenance of diversity, might mediate the effects of social roles on diversity.

  2. GeoChronos: An On-line Collaborative Platform for Earth Observation Scientists

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gamon, J. A.; Kiddle, C.; Curry, R.; Markatchev, N.; Zonta-Pastorello, G., Jr.; Rivard, B.; Sanchez-Azofeifa, G. A.; Simmonds, R.; Tan, T.

    2009-12-01

    Recent advances in cyberinfrastructure are offering new solutions to the growing challenges of managing and sharing large data volumes. Web 2.0 and social networking technologies, provide the means for scientists to collaborate and share information more effectively. Cloud computing technologies can provide scientists with transparent and on-demand access to applications served over the Internet in a dynamic and scalable manner. Semantic Web technologies allow for data to be linked together in a manner understandable by machines, enabling greater automation. Combining all of these technologies together can enable the creation of very powerful platforms. GeoChronos (http://geochronos.org/), part of a CANARIE Network Enabled Platforms project, is an online collaborative platform that incorporates these technologies to enable members of the earth observation science community to share data and scientific applications and to collaborate more effectively. The GeoChronos portal is built on an open source social networking platform called Elgg. Elgg provides a full set of social networking functionalities similar to Facebook including blogs, tags, media/document sharing, wikis, friends/contacts, groups, discussions, message boards, calendars, status, activity feeds and more. An underlying cloud computing infrastructure enables scientists to access dynamically provisioned applications via the portal for visualizing and analyzing data. Users are able to access and run the applications from any computer that has a Web browser and Internet connectivity and do not need to manage and maintain the applications themselves. Semantic Web Technologies, such as the Resource Description Framework (RDF) are being employed for relating and linking together spectral, satellite, meteorological and other data. Social networking functionality plays an integral part in facilitating the sharing of data and applications. Examples of recent GeoChronos users during the early testing phase have

  3. Defining a convergence network platform framework for smart grid and intelligent transport systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coronado Mondragon, Adrian E.; Coronado, Etienne S.; Coronado Mondragon, Christian E.

    2015-01-01

    The challenges faced by electricity grids suggest smart grids will have to coordinate its operation with other important initiatives in areas such as transportation. The smart grid relies on the use of network platforms where meter readings and data can be transmitted. On the other hand, concerning transportation systems the need to achieve a reduction of road congestion and traffic accidents among the increasing use of electric vehicles has consolidated the importance of ITS (intelligent transport systems). Given the magnitude of the challenges faced by both the smart grid and ITS, the aim of this work is to identify the elements comprising a convergence platform capable of supporting future services for data traffic associated to smart grid operations as well as ITS-related commercial service applications and road traffic safety messaging. A seaport terminal scenario is used to present a convergence network platform incorporating WSN (wireless sensor network) theory. The results of the simulation of the proposed network confirms the suitability of WSN to be used in the transmission of data traffic associated to meter readings which is required for effective energy consumption and management policies in industrial environments comprising equipment with high energy demands. - Highlights: • Common needs/challenges of smart grid/ITS can be addressed by a convergence network platform. • VANETs are identified as key components of the smart grid/ITS convergence network platform. • WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) theory is suitable for the transmission of data traffic associated to meter readings. • The amount of energy supplied to the network is low but enough to support data traffic required in industrial environments. • WSN supports the steady exchange of packets as characterized in industrial environments like seaports

  4. Social exchange : Relations and networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dijkstra, Jacob

    2015-01-01

    In this short paper, I review the literature on social exchange networks, with specific attention to theoretical and experimental research. I indicate how social exchange theory is rooted in general social theory and mention a few of its main links to social network analysis and empirical network

  5. Middle school sexual harassment, violence and social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mumford, Elizabeth A; Okamoto, Janet; Taylor, Bruce G; Stein, Nan

    2013-11-01

    To pilot a study of social networks informing contextual analyses of sexual harassment and peer violence (SH/PV). Seventh and 8th grade students (N = 113) in an urban middle school were surveyed via a Web-based instrument. Boys and girls reported SH/PV victimization and perpetration at comparable rates. The proportion of nominated friends who reported SH/ PV outcomes was greater in boys' than in girls' social networks. Structural descriptors of social networks were not significant predictors of SH/PV outcomes. Collection of sensitive relationship data via a school-based Web survey is feasible. Full-scale studies and greater flexibility regarding the number of friendship nominations are recommended for subsequent investigations of potential sex differences.

  6. The Algorithm of Link Prediction on Social Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liyan Dong

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available At present, most link prediction algorithms are based on the similarity between two entities. Social network topology information is one of the main sources to design the similarity function between entities. But the existing link prediction algorithms do not apply the network topology information sufficiently. For lack of traditional link prediction algorithms, we propose two improved algorithms: CNGF algorithm based on local information and KatzGF algorithm based on global information network. For the defect of the stationary of social network, we also provide the link prediction algorithm based on nodes multiple attributes information. Finally, we verified these algorithms on DBLP data set, and the experimental results show that the performance of the improved algorithm is superior to that of the traditional link prediction algorithm.

  7. Social network types among older Korean adults: Associations with subjective health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sohn, Sung Yun; Joo, Won-Tak; Kim, Woo Jung; Kim, Se Joo; Youm, Yoosik; Kim, Hyeon Chang; Park, Yeong-Ran; Lee, Eun

    2017-01-01

    With population aging now a global phenomenon, the health of older adults is becoming an increasingly important issue. Because the Korean population is aging at an unprecedented rate, preparing for public health problems associated with old age is particularly salient in this country. As the physical and mental health of older adults is related to their social relationships, investigating the social networks of older adults and their relationship to health status is important for establishing public health policies. The aims of this study were to identify social network types among older adults in South Korea and to examine the relationship of these social network types with self-rated health and depression. Data from the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project were analyzed. Model-based clustering using finite normal mixture modeling was conducted to identify the social network types based on ten criterion variables of social relationships and activities: marital status, number of children, number of close relatives, number of friends, frequency of attendance at religious services, attendance at organized group meetings, in-degree centrality, out-degree centrality, closeness centrality, and betweenness centrality. Multivariate regression analysis was conducted to examine associations between the identified social network types and self-rated health and depression. The model-based clustering analysis revealed that social networks clustered into five types: diverse, family, congregant, congregant-restricted, and restricted. Diverse or family social network types were significantly associated with more favorable subjective mental health, whereas the restricted network type was significantly associated with poorer ratings of mental and physical health. In addition, our analysis identified unique social network types related to religious activities. In summary, we developed a comprehensive social network typology for older Korean adults. Copyright © 2016

  8. Kinship--king's social harmonisation project. Pilot phase of a social network for use in higher education (HE).

    Science.gov (United States)

    John, B A

    2013-05-08

    Students entering Higher Education are increasingly information and communications technology literate. Many students (graduates and undergraduates) arrive as "digital residents", who are adept with social media and technologically fluent. The informal use of social media for learning is becoming increasingly evident, along with the potentially detrimental effects of a poor digital profile on employment prospects. This paper describes the creation of Kinship (King's Social Harmonisation Project), a university hosted, members only social network, which is currently being piloted in the Medical School at King's College London. Along with a number of other teaching and learning resources, it is intended to use Kinship to establish an informal code of conduct by modelling and moderating appropriate professional online behaviour. Kinship was developed using an open source Elgg platform, thanks to funding of £20,000 from the College Teaching Fund under the mentorship of Brighton University (1). This educational research project, led by Medicine, was proposed to select, customise and evaluate a social networking platform in order to provide functionality that would enhance new and existing e-learning resources, support group interaction, participation and sharing and meet the diverse needs of three academic schools: Medicine, the Dental Institute and two separate Departments, the Modern Languages Centre and the Department of English from Arts & Humanities, as a pilot for wider College deployment. Student involvement is central to the project, from conducting the evaluation to moulding and customising the functionality and look of Kinship, in order to ensure that the site is authentic and evolves in response to their wishes and requirements. Formal evaluation of Kinship commences summer 2012.

  9. Online social networks—Paradise of computer viruses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, W.; Yeung, K. H.

    2011-01-01

    Online social network services have attracted more and more users in recent years. So the security of social networks becomes a critical problem. In this paper, we propose a virus propagation model based on the application network of Facebook, which is the most popular among these social network service providers. We also study the virus propagation with an email virus model and compare the behaviors of a virus spreading on Facebook with the original email network. It is found that Facebook provides the same chance for a virus spreading while it gives a platform for application developers. And a virus will spread faster in the Facebook network if users of Facebook spend more time on it.

  10. Social Networking Sites: Guidelines For Creating New Business Opportunities Through Facebook, Twitter And LinkedIn

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodica Maria Savulescu

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available The world is swiftly evolving. We now face the challenge of adapting the business sector to the increasingly dynamic transformation brought about by Web 2.0 technologies and social networks in particular. The extensive use of social networking sites (SNSs such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn has spawned questions regarding the possibility of using such new platforms in order to generate more business revenue.While it is demonstrated that social networking can be profitable for companies and their brands in terms of exposure, brand awareness and actual sales, it can also prove detrimental if not managed correctly. At the same time, SNSs can affect every aspects of the business environment, like product development, marketing communication or the process of recruiting. This article explores the characteristics of social media and their impact on business and proposes several guidelines for companies that decide to employ SNSs in their activity.

  11. Scientific cooperation of the "Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas" between the years 2011 and 2015, a Network Social Analisys (NSA) approach

    OpenAIRE

    Jesus David Romero Betancur

    2016-01-01

    Analysis of cooperation networks formed as a result of the co-authorship of scientific texts allows a different view of space in which research activity and relationships, formal and informal, made up of researchers and constitute social capital for them develops and the institution. Based on those recorded in the SciVal platform scientific texts, which include the participation of at least one author or co-author with affiliation with the University Francisco José de Caldas, the networks mad...

  12. Platform-based production development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bossen, Jacob; Brunoe, Thomas Ditlev; Nielsen, Kjeld

    2015-01-01

    Platforms as a means for applying modular thinking in product development is relatively well studied, but platforms in the production system has until now not been given much attention. With the emerging concept of platform-based co-development the importance of production platforms is though...

  13. Social exchange: Relations and networks

    OpenAIRE

    Dijkstra, Jacob

    2015-01-01

    In this short paper, I review the literature on social exchange networks, with specific attention to theoretical and experimental research. I indicate how social exchange theory is rooted in general social theory and mention a few of its main links to social network analysis and empirical network research. The paper provides an accessible entry into the literature on social exchange.

  14. Modeling Epidemics Spreading on Social Contact Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhaoyang; Wang, Honggang; Wang, Chonggang; Fang, Hua

    2015-09-01

    Social contact networks and the way people interact with each other are the key factors that impact on epidemics spreading. However, it is challenging to model the behavior of epidemics based on social contact networks due to their high dynamics. Traditional models such as susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model ignore the crowding or protection effect and thus has some unrealistic assumption. In this paper, we consider the crowding or protection effect and develop a novel model called improved SIR model. Then, we use both deterministic and stochastic models to characterize the dynamics of epidemics on social contact networks. The results from both simulations and real data set conclude that the epidemics are more likely to outbreak on social contact networks with higher average degree. We also present some potential immunization strategies, such as random set immunization, dominating set immunization, and high degree set immunization to further prove the conclusion.

  15. Entropy of dynamical social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Kun; Karsai, Marton; Bianconi, Ginestra

    2012-02-01

    Dynamical social networks are evolving rapidly and are highly adaptive. Characterizing the information encoded in social networks is essential to gain insight into the structure, evolution, adaptability and dynamics. Recently entropy measures have been used to quantify the information in email correspondence, static networks and mobility patterns. Nevertheless, we still lack methods to quantify the information encoded in time-varying dynamical social networks. In this talk we present a model to quantify the entropy of dynamical social networks and use this model to analyze the data of phone-call communication. We show evidence that the entropy of the phone-call interaction network changes according to circadian rhythms. Moreover we show that social networks are extremely adaptive and are modified by the use of technologies such as mobile phone communication. Indeed the statistics of duration of phone-call is described by a Weibull distribution and is significantly different from the distribution of duration of face-to-face interactions in a conference. Finally we investigate how much the entropy of dynamical social networks changes in realistic models of phone-call or face-to face interactions characterizing in this way different type human social behavior.

  16. Social media users have different experiences, motivations, and quality of life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campisi, Jay; Folan, Denis; Diehl, Grace; Kable, Timothy; Rademeyer, Candice

    2015-08-30

    While the number of individuals participating in internet-based social networks has continued to rise, it is unclear how participating in social networks might influence quality of life (QOL). Individuals differ in their experiences, motivations for, and amount of time using internet-based social networks, therefore, we examined if individuals differing in social network user experiences, motivations and frequency of social network also differed in self-reported QOL. Two-hundred and thirty-seven individuals (aged 18-65) were recruited online using the online platform Mechanical Turk (MTurk). All participants completed a web-based survey examining social network use and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Abbreviated Version (WHOQOL-Bref) to assess QOL. Individuals who reported positive associations with the use of social networks demonstrated higher QOL while those reporting negative associates demonstrated lower QOL. Moreover, individuals using social networks to stay connected to friends demonstrated higher QOL while those using social networking for dating purposes reported lower QOL. Frequency of social network use did not relate to QOL. These results suggest that QOL differs among social network users. Thus, participating in social networking may be a way to either promote or detract from QOL. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Attachment and social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillath, Omri; C Karantzas, Gery; Lee, Juwon

    2018-02-21

    The current review covers two lines of research linking attachment and social networks. One focuses on attachment networks (the people who fulfill one's attachment needs), examining composition and age-related differences pertaining to these networks. The other line integrates attachment with social network analysis to investigate how individual differences in adult attachment are associated with the management and characteristics (e.g., density, multiplexity, and centrality) of people's social networks. We show that most people's attachment networks are small and hierarchical, with one figure being the primary attachment figure (often a mother or romantic partner, depending on age). Furthermore, attachment style predicts network characteristics and management, such that insecurity is associated with less closeness, multiplexity, centrality, and poorer management (less maintenance, more dissolution). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Social inheritance can explain the structure of animal social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ilany, Amiyaal; Akçay, Erol

    2016-01-01

    The social network structure of animal populations has major implications for survival, reproductive success, sexual selection and pathogen transmission of individuals. But as of yet, no general theory of social network structure exists that can explain the diversity of social networks observed in nature, and serve as a null model for detecting species and population-specific factors. Here we propose a simple and generally applicable model of social network structure. We consider the emergence of network structure as a result of social inheritance, in which newborns are likely to bond with maternal contacts, and via forming bonds randomly. We compare model output with data from several species, showing that it can generate networks with properties such as those observed in real social systems. Our model demonstrates that important observed properties of social networks, including heritability of network position or assortative associations, can be understood as consequences of social inheritance. PMID:27352101

  19. Jupiter: Peer-to-Peer Networking Platform over Heterogeneous Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Norihiro Ishikawa

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available Peer-to-peer has entered the public limelight over the last few years. Several research projects are underway on peer-to-peer technologies, but no definitive conclusion is currently available. Compared with traditional Internet technologies, peer-to-peer has the potential to realize highly scalable, extensible, and efficient distributed applications. This is because its basic functions realize resource discovery, resource sharing, and load balancing in a highly distributed manner. An easy prediction is the emergence of an environment in which many sensors, people, and many different kinds of objects exist, move, and communicate with one another. Peer-to-peer is one of the most important and suitable technologies for such networking since it supports discovery mechanisms, simple one-to-one communication between devices, free and extensible distribution of resources, and distributed search to handle the enormous number of resources. The purpose of this study is to explore a universal peer-to-peer network architecture that will allow various devices to communicate with one another across various networks. We have been designing architecture and protocols for realizing peer-to-peer networking among various devices. We are currently designing APIs that are available for various peer-to-peer applications and are implementing a prototype called "Jupiter" as a peer-to-peer networking platform over heterogeneous networks.

  20. Seven Deadliest Social Network Attacks

    CERN Document Server

    Timm, Carl

    2010-01-01

    Do you need to keep up with the latest hacks, attacks, and exploits effecting social networks? Then you need Seven Deadliest Social Network Attacks. This book pinpoints the most dangerous hacks and exploits specific to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, laying out the anatomy of these attacks including how to make your system more secure. You will discover the best ways to defend against these vicious hacks with step-by-step instruction and learn techniques to make your computer and network impenetrable. Attacks detailed in this book include: Social Networking Infrastruct

  1. Understanding the process of social network evolution: Online-offline integrated analysis of social tie formation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwak, Doyeon; Kim, Wonjoon

    2017-01-01

    It is important to consider the interweaving nature of online and offline social networks when we examine social network evolution. However, it is difficult to find any research that examines the process of social tie formation from an integrated perspective. In our study, we quantitatively measure offline interactions and examine the corresponding evolution of online social network in order to understand the significance of interrelationship between online and offline social factors in generating social ties. We analyze the radio signal strength indicator sensor data from a series of social events to understand offline interactions among the participants and measure the structural attributes of their existing online Facebook social networks. By monitoring the changes in their online social networks before and after offline interactions in a series of social events, we verify that the ability to develop an offline interaction into an online friendship is tied to the number of social connections that participants previously had, while the presence of shared mutual friends between a pair of participants disrupts potential new connections within the pre-designed offline social events. Thus, while our integrative approach enables us to confirm the theory of preferential attachment in the process of network formation, the common neighbor theory is not supported. Our dual-dimensional network analysis allows us to observe the actual process of social network evolution rather than to make predictions based on the assumption of self-organizing networks.

  2. Understanding the process of social network evolution: Online-offline integrated analysis of social tie formation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doyeon Kwak

    Full Text Available It is important to consider the interweaving nature of online and offline social networks when we examine social network evolution. However, it is difficult to find any research that examines the process of social tie formation from an integrated perspective. In our study, we quantitatively measure offline interactions and examine the corresponding evolution of online social network in order to understand the significance of interrelationship between online and offline social factors in generating social ties. We analyze the radio signal strength indicator sensor data from a series of social events to understand offline interactions among the participants and measure the structural attributes of their existing online Facebook social networks. By monitoring the changes in their online social networks before and after offline interactions in a series of social events, we verify that the ability to develop an offline interaction into an online friendship is tied to the number of social connections that participants previously had, while the presence of shared mutual friends between a pair of participants disrupts potential new connections within the pre-designed offline social events. Thus, while our integrative approach enables us to confirm the theory of preferential attachment in the process of network formation, the common neighbor theory is not supported. Our dual-dimensional network analysis allows us to observe the actual process of social network evolution rather than to make predictions based on the assumption of self-organizing networks.

  3. Development of the Social Network-Based Intervention “Powerful Together with Diabetes” Using Intervention Mapping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charlotte Vissenberg

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article describes the development of the social network-based intervention Powerful Together with Diabetes which aims to improve diabetes self-management (DSM among patients with type 2 diabetes living in socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods by stimulating social support for DSM and diminishing social influences hindering DSM (e.g., peer pressure and social norms. The intervention was specifically developed for patients with Dutch, Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese backgrounds. The intervention was developed according to Intervention Mapping. This article describes the first four steps of Intervention Mapping: (1 the needs assessment; (2 development of performance and change objectives; (3 selection of theory-based methods and strategies; and (4 the translation of these into an organized program. These four steps resulted in Powerful Together with Diabetes, a 10-month group-based intervention consisting of 24 meetings, 6 meetings for significant others, and 2 meetings for participants and their spouses. The IM method resulted in a tailored approach with a specific focus on the social networks of its participants. This article concludes that the IM method helped our planning team to tailor the intervention to the needs of our target population and facilitated our evaluation design. However, in hindsight, the intervention could have been improved by investing more in participatory planning and community involvement.

  4. Development of the Social Network-Based Intervention “Powerful Together with Diabetes” Using Intervention Mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vissenberg, Charlotte; Nierkens, Vera; Uitewaal, Paul J. M.; Middelkoop, Barend J. C.; Nijpels, Giel; Stronks, Karien

    2017-01-01

    This article describes the development of the social network-based intervention Powerful Together with Diabetes which aims to improve diabetes self-management (DSM) among patients with type 2 diabetes living in socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods by stimulating social support for DSM and diminishing social influences hindering DSM (e.g., peer pressure and social norms). The intervention was specifically developed for patients with Dutch, Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese backgrounds. The intervention was developed according to Intervention Mapping. This article describes the first four steps of Intervention Mapping: (1) the needs assessment; (2) development of performance and change objectives; (3) selection of theory-based methods and strategies; and (4) the translation of these into an organized program. These four steps resulted in Powerful Together with Diabetes, a 10-month group-based intervention consisting of 24 meetings, 6 meetings for significant others, and 2 meetings for participants and their spouses. The IM method resulted in a tailored approach with a specific focus on the social networks of its participants. This article concludes that the IM method helped our planning team to tailor the intervention to the needs of our target population and facilitated our evaluation design. However, in hindsight, the intervention could have been improved by investing more in participatory planning and community involvement. PMID:29326916

  5. Social network analysis: Presenting an underused method for nursing research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parnell, James Michael; Robinson, Jennifer C

    2018-06-01

    This paper introduces social network analysis as a versatile method with many applications in nursing research. Social networks have been studied for years in many social science fields. The methods continue to advance but remain unknown to most nursing scholars. Discussion paper. English language and interpreted literature was searched from Ovid Healthstar, CINAHL, PubMed Central, Scopus and hard copy texts from 1965 - 2017. Social network analysis first emerged in nursing literature in 1995 and appears minimally through present day. To convey the versatility and applicability of social network analysis in nursing, hypothetical scenarios are presented. The scenarios are illustrative of three approaches to social network analysis and include key elements of social network research design. The methods of social network analysis are underused in nursing research, primarily because they are unknown to most scholars. However, there is methodological flexibility and epistemological versatility capable of supporting quantitative and qualitative research. The analytic techniques of social network analysis can add new insight into many areas of nursing inquiry, especially those influenced by cultural norms. Furthermore, visualization techniques associated with social network analysis can be used to generate new hypotheses. Social network analysis can potentially uncover findings not accessible through methods commonly used in nursing research. Social networks can be analysed based on individual-level attributes, whole networks and subgroups within networks. Computations derived from social network analysis may stand alone to answer a research question or incorporated as variables into robust statistical models. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. LA COMUNICAZIONE POLITICA SUI SOCIAL NETWORK: UN’ANALISI LINGUISTICA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniele Spoladore

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Questo lavoro si propone di analizzare le scelte linguistiche dei soggetti politici che utilizzano Facebook e Twitter per rivolgersi al sempre più frammentato panorama dei potenziali elettori. In particolare, analizza le tendenze linguistiche comuni che questi social network hanno fatto emergere nel rapporto tra politica, web e lettori. Cominciando dall’analisi della presenza di parlamentari e senatori su Facebook e Twitter, si cerca di riassumere le principali caratteristiche delle due piattaforme, per giungere ad una classificazione dei testi prodotti attraverso di esse; si analizza la scrittura di post e tweet, sottolineando la presenza di espedienti tipici del mezzo e valutando il loro effetto sui lettori, e si studiano le scelte sintattiche e morfosintattiche in relazione alla struttura e alle possibilità dei due social network. In ultima analisi si osservano le scelte lessicali dei soggetti politici, studiandone i campi semantici e la quantità di tecnicismi. Infine, si cerca di compiere una valutazione delle due differenti tipologie di trasmesso scritto rinvenute nei campioni, osservando come ognuna di esse abbia uno scopo ben preciso nell’economia della comunicazione politica sui social network. Political communication policy in social networks: a language analysis  Daniele Spoladore This paper aims to analyze the linguistic choices of politicians who use Facebook and Twitter to address the increasingly fragmented landscape of potential voters. In particular, it analyzes the common language trends that these social networks have revealed in the relationship between politics, the web and readers. Starting from the analysis of the presence of MPs and senators on Facebook and Twitter, we try to summarize the key features of the two platforms, in order to arrive at a classification of the texts produced using them.  We analyzed posts and tweets, emphasizing the  typical characteristics of these means and evaluating their effect on

  7. Next Generation Social Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Lene Tolstrup; Skouby, Knud Erik

    2008-01-01

    different online networks for communities of people who share interests or individuals who presents themselves through user produced content is what makes up the social networking of today. The purpose of this paper is to discuss perceived user requirements to the next generation social networks. The paper...

  8. Socially Aware Heterogeneous Wireless Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosmides, Pavlos; Adamopoulou, Evgenia; Demestichas, Konstantinos; Theologou, Michael; Anagnostou, Miltiades; Rouskas, Angelos

    2015-06-11

    The development of smart cities has been the epicentre of many researchers' efforts during the past decade. One of the key requirements for smart city networks is mobility and this is the reason stable, reliable and high-quality wireless communications are needed in order to connect people and devices. Most research efforts so far, have used different kinds of wireless and sensor networks, making interoperability rather difficult to accomplish in smart cities. One common solution proposed in the recent literature is the use of software defined networks (SDNs), in order to enhance interoperability among the various heterogeneous wireless networks. In addition, SDNs can take advantage of the data retrieved from available sensors and use them as part of the intelligent decision making process contacted during the resource allocation procedure. In this paper, we propose an architecture combining heterogeneous wireless networks with social networks using SDNs. Specifically, we exploit the information retrieved from location based social networks regarding users' locations and we attempt to predict areas that will be crowded by using specially-designed machine learning techniques. By recognizing possible crowded areas, we can provide mobile operators with recommendations about areas requiring datacell activation or deactivation.

  9. AIRBNB AND UBER: LEGAL PLATFORM BUT ILLEGAL NETWORKED BUSINESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saša Zupan Korže

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Airbnb’s and Uber's popularity and scope of their networked business has significantly grown in the last few years. Both companies are engaged in sectors, which are regulated. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the legal issues related to Airbnb networked hospitality business and to Uber's networked transport business, with focus on EU member states solutions and Slovenian approach. The research was carried out from July 2017 to March 2018. We used the method of content analysis of secondary sources, methods of compilation and comparisons, analyses of qualitative data, collected in semi-structures interviews and explanatory case studies. The results show that Airbnb and Uber have become victims of their own success. The hospitality and transport business that participants perform using Airbnb or Uber platform do not comply with sectorial regulation of majority of EU member states. European Commission suggested some guidelines to solve the issues related with networked businesses. Moreover, European Court of Justice pointed out the exact solution on Uber's case. The research opens a debate on legal issues related to new technology-based business models and questions the rationale that stand behind legal solutions.

  10. Segmenting Costumers Based on Their Reactions to Social Networks Marketing on Instagram

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    rashin ghahreman

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Since customers react differently to business and marketing on social networks, the researcher is looking for segmenting customers into different categories according to their reaction to marketing in social networks. The present study is a descriptive-exploratory research and the data were collected through a questionnaire. The population of 14,000 follower of the researcher’s personal page on Instagram were analyzed and a sample 224 members were randomly selected. To analyze the data, a two-step clustering method was applied. As a result, five distinct clusters (the active, the talker, the hesitant, the passive and the averse were identified. Two segments were reported to be highly influenced by social networks marketing in terms of brand engagement, purchase intention and word of mouth advertisement (WOM. The "Active" are the most influenced group including 18.3% of the population most of whom are single girls or women. The next group that are influenced the most by social networks marketing is the "Talker". This group represents 24.1% of the population, the most populated group. The "Talker" are different from the "Active" in term of their intention to purchase. Totally, 42.2% of the population are reported to be influenced by social networks marketing.

  11. A last updating evolution model for online social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bu, Zhan; Xia, Zhengyou; Wang, Jiandong; Zhang, Chengcui

    2013-05-01

    As information technology has advanced, people are turning to electronic media more frequently for communication, and social relationships are increasingly found on online channels. However, there is very limited knowledge about the actual evolution of the online social networks. In this paper, we propose and study a novel evolution network model with the new concept of “last updating time”, which exists in many real-life online social networks. The last updating evolution network model can maintain the robustness of scale-free networks and can improve the network reliance against intentional attacks. What is more, we also found that it has the “small-world effect”, which is the inherent property of most social networks. Simulation experiment based on this model show that the results and the real-life data are consistent, which means that our model is valid.

  12. The socializing role of expatriate online platforms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Emontspool, Julie

    2015-01-01

    between market orientation and socialization practices online. It shows how processes of market simplification, market guidance and market manipulation co-exist both in expatriates’ orientation and socialization in the new consumption context. The findings of this study firstly provide insights...... into the consequences of those online interactions for nationalism, where digital tools may in fact reduce expatriates’ cosmopolitanism. Secondly, the study shows collaborative knowledge construction on those platforms creates new forms of market adaptation....

  13. Virtual Networking Performance in OpenStack Platform for Network Function Virtualization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franco Callegati

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The emerging Network Function Virtualization (NFV paradigm, coupled with the highly flexible and programmatic control of network devices offered by Software Defined Networking solutions, enables unprecedented levels of network virtualization that will definitely change the shape of future network architectures, where legacy telco central offices will be replaced by cloud data centers located at the edge. On the one hand, this software-centric evolution of telecommunications will allow network operators to take advantage of the increased flexibility and reduced deployment costs typical of cloud computing. On the other hand, it will pose a number of challenges in terms of virtual network performance and customer isolation. This paper intends to provide some insights on how an open-source cloud computing platform such as OpenStack implements multitenant network virtualization and how it can be used to deploy NFV, focusing in particular on packet forwarding performance issues. To this purpose, a set of experiments is presented that refer to a number of scenarios inspired by the cloud computing and NFV paradigms, considering both single tenant and multitenant scenarios. From the results of the evaluation it is possible to highlight potentials and limitations of running NFV on OpenStack.

  14. Students' Participation in Social Networking Sites: Implications for Social Work Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukherjee, Dhrubodhi; Clark, Janet

    2012-01-01

    Social work students have few guidelines to help them evaluate the implication of their posted information on Internet-based social networking sites (SNSs). There is a national trend among employers of human services to cross-check publicly available online information on applicants. Based on data from a survey of 105 baccalaureate and master's…

  15. Social network supported process recommender system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Yanming; Yin, Jianwei; Xu, Yueshen

    2014-01-01

    Process recommendation technologies have gained more and more attention in the field of intelligent business process modeling to assist the process modeling. However, most of the existing technologies only use the process structure analysis and do not take the social features of processes into account, while the process modeling is complex and comprehensive in most situations. This paper studies the feasibility of social network research technologies on process recommendation and builds a social network system of processes based on the features similarities. Then, three process matching degree measurements are presented and the system implementation is discussed subsequently. Finally, experimental evaluations and future works are introduced.

  16. Social Network Supported Process Recommender System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanming Ye

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Process recommendation technologies have gained more and more attention in the field of intelligent business process modeling to assist the process modeling. However, most of the existing technologies only use the process structure analysis and do not take the social features of processes into account, while the process modeling is complex and comprehensive in most situations. This paper studies the feasibility of social network research technologies on process recommendation and builds a social network system of processes based on the features similarities. Then, three process matching degree measurements are presented and the system implementation is discussed subsequently. Finally, experimental evaluations and future works are introduced.

  17. Group colocation behavior in technological social networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chloë Brown

    Full Text Available We analyze two large datasets from technological networks with location and social data: user location records from an online location-based social networking service, and anonymized telecommunications data from a European cellphone operator, in order to investigate the differences between individual and group behavior with respect to physical location. We discover agreements between the two datasets: firstly, that individuals are more likely to meet with one friend at a place they have not visited before, but tend to meet at familiar locations when with a larger group. We also find that groups of individuals are more likely to meet at places that their other friends have visited, and that the type of a place strongly affects the propensity for groups to meet there. These differences between group and solo mobility has potential technological applications, for example, in venue recommendation in location-based social networks.

  18. Remotely Delivered Exercise-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation: Design and Content Development of a Novel mHealth Platform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rawstorn, Jonathan C; Gant, Nicholas; Meads, Andrew; Warren, Ian; Maddison, Ralph

    2016-06-24

    Participation in traditional center-based cardiac rehabilitation exercise programs (exCR) is limited by accessibility barriers. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies can overcome these barriers while preserving critical attributes of center-based exCR monitoring and coaching, but these opportunities have not yet been capitalized on. We aimed to design and develop an evidence- and theory-based mHealth platform for remote delivery of exCR to any geographical location. An iterative process was used to design and develop an evidence- and theory-based mHealth platform (REMOTE-CR) that provides real-time remote exercise monitoring and coaching, behavior change education, and social support. The REMOTE-CR platform comprises a commercially available smartphone and wearable sensor, custom smartphone and Web-based applications (apps), and a custom middleware. The platform allows exCR specialists to monitor patients' exercise and provide individualized coaching in real-time, from almost any location, and provide behavior change education and social support. Intervention content incorporates Social Cognitive Theory, Self-determination Theory, and a taxonomy of behavior change techniques. Exercise components are based on guidelines for clinical exercise prescription. The REMOTE-CR platform extends the capabilities of previous telehealth exCR platforms and narrows the gap between existing center- and home-based exCR services. REMOTE-CR can complement center-based exCR by providing an alternative option for patients whose needs are not being met. Remotely monitored exCR may be more cost-effective than establishing additional center-based programs. The effectiveness and acceptability of REMOTE-CR are now being evaluated in a noninferiority randomized controlled trial.

  19. Smoking-based selection and influence in gender-segregated friendship networks: a social network analysis of adolescent smoking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mercken, Liesbeth; Snijders, Tom A B; Steglich, Christian; Vertiainen, Erkki; de Vries, Hein

    2010-07-01

    The main goal of this study was to examine differences between adolescent male and female friendship networks regarding smoking-based selection and influence processes using newly developed social network analysis methods that allow the current state of continuously changing friendship networks to act as a dynamic constraint for changes in smoking behaviour, while allowing current smoking behaviour to be simultaneously a dynamic constraint for changes in friendship networks. Longitudinal design with four measurements. Nine junior high schools in Finland. A total of 1163 adolescents (mean age = 13.6 years) who participated in the control group of the ESFA (European Smoking prevention Framework Approach) study, including 605 males and 558 females. Smoking behaviour of adolescents, parents, siblings and friendship ties. Smoking-based selection of friends was found in male as well as female networks. However, support for influence among friends was found only in female networks. Furthermore, females and males were both influenced by parental smoking behaviour. In Finnish adolescents, both male and female smokers tend to select other smokers as friends but it appears that only females are influenced to smoke by their peer group. This suggests that prevention campaigns targeting resisting peer pressure may be more effective in adolescent girls than boys.

  20. An actor-based model of social network influence on adolescent body size, screen time, and playing sports.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David A Shoham

    Full Text Available Recent studies suggest that obesity may be "contagious" between individuals in social networks. Social contagion (influence, however, may not be identifiable using traditional statistical approaches because they cannot distinguish contagion from homophily (the propensity for individuals to select friends who are similar to themselves or from shared environmental influences. In this paper, we apply the stochastic actor-based model (SABM framework developed by Snijders and colleagues to data on adolescent body mass index (BMI, screen time, and playing active sports. Our primary hypothesis was that social influences on adolescent body size and related behaviors are independent of friend selection. Employing the SABM, we simultaneously modeled network dynamics (friendship selection based on homophily and structural characteristics of the network and social influence. We focused on the 2 largest schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health and held the school environment constant by examining the 2 school networks separately (N = 624 and 1151. Results show support in both schools for homophily on BMI, but also for social influence on BMI. There was no evidence of homophily on screen time in either school, while only one of the schools showed homophily on playing active sports. There was, however, evidence of social influence on screen time in one of the schools, and playing active sports in both schools. These results suggest that both homophily and social influence are important in understanding patterns of adolescent obesity. Intervention efforts should take into consideration peers' influence on one another, rather than treating "high risk" adolescents in isolation.

  1. Link Prediction Methods and Their Accuracy for Different Social Networks and Network Metrics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fei Gao

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Currently, we are experiencing a rapid growth of the number of social-based online systems. The availability of the vast amounts of data gathered in those systems brings new challenges that we face when trying to analyse it. One of the intensively researched topics is the prediction of social connections between users. Although a lot of effort has been made to develop new prediction approaches, the existing methods are not comprehensively analysed. In this paper we investigate the correlation between network metrics and accuracy of different prediction methods. We selected six time-stamped real-world social networks and ten most widely used link prediction methods. The results of the experiments show that the performance of some methods has a strong correlation with certain network metrics. We managed to distinguish “prediction friendly” networks, for which most of the prediction methods give good performance, as well as “prediction unfriendly” networks, for which most of the methods result in high prediction error. Correlation analysis between network metrics and prediction accuracy of prediction methods may form the basis of a metalearning system where based on network characteristics it will be able to recommend the right prediction method for a given network.

  2. Procedural Formalism and Social Networks in the Housing Market

    OpenAIRE

    Bonleu, Antoine

    2014-01-01

    Why do some OECD countries have high levels of procedural formalism (PF) in the housing market? We provide an explanation based upon complementarities between the strength of social networks and the stringency of procedural formalism. The interest of social networks is that conflict resolution is independent of the law. When local people belong to social networks whereas foreigners do not, PF may facilitate housing search for locals at the expense of foreigners. To illustrate this mechanism w...

  3. A Comparative Analysis of Social Media Marketing by Transportation Network Companies in the Sharing Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Heymans, Alice

    2017-01-01

    The sharing economy is a new business model rapidly expanding. In transportation, many people use innovative services proposed by ride-hailing mobile applications. These technological platforms, operated by networking companies, rely extensively on social media to promote their services, and reach new customers (riders) and providers (drivers). This dissertation focuses on e-marketing communication. It makes a comparative analysis of the information published on several social media (Facebook...

  4. Based on task-driven model of teaching platform based on network%基于任务驱动模式的网络教学平台的研究

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    赵香莲

    2012-01-01

    针对目前网络资源利用率不高,研究分析了网络教学环境的特点,结合分析学生的学习特点,任务驱动教学理念,构建基于计算机基础的任务驱动模式下提出多用户角色的网络教学平台,平台为学生提供学习支持服务,激发学生的学习兴趣,培养学生通过网络进行自主和协作学习的能力,取得了较好的教学效果。%In view of the current cyber source utilization rate is not high,based on the analysis of the characteristics of network teaching environment,combined with the analysis of students' learning characteristics,task driven teaching concept,based on basic computer task driven mode of multilevel user roles of network teaching platform,the platform provides students with learning support services,to stimulate students interest in learning,training students through the network of autonomous and cooperative learning ability,has obtained the good teaching effect.

  5. Business communication in social networks: Content management and experiences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miguel Ángel Nicolás

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Currently, management of communication in social networks has become an indispensable strategic activity and contributes directly to change the mode of relationship between business and its stakeholders. The first section of this paper presents a brief analysis of the results reported in different specialized national studies in social networks. We analyse the general activities that users prefer to do and activities that users value most brands on networks. If an organization wants to successfully manage their communication in social networks is very important to know the behaviour of the users and design strategies based on their status and economic activity. This paper presents a brief analysis of social branding through the classification of different corporate content posted on their networks.

  6. Social Networks of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Older Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erosheva, Elena A; Kim, Hyun-Jun; Emlet, Charles; Fredriksen-Goldsen, Karen I

    2016-01-01

    This study examines global social networks-including friendship, support, and acquaintance networks-of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults. Utilizing data from a large community-based study, we employ multiple regression analyses to examine correlates of social network size and diversity. Controlling for background characteristics, network size was positively associated with being female, transgender identity, employment, higher income, having a partner or a child, identity disclosure to a neighbor, engagement in religious activities, and service use. Controlling in addition for network size, network diversity was positively associated with younger age, being female, transgender identity, identity disclosure to a friend, religious activity, and service use. According to social capital theory, social networks provide a vehicle for social resources that can be beneficial for successful aging and well-being. This study is a first step at understanding the correlates of social network size and diversity among LGBT older adults. © The Author(s) 2015.

  7. PSN: Portfolio Social Network

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cortes, Jordi Magrina; Nizamani, Sarwat; Memon, Nasrullah

    2014-01-01

    In this paper we present a web-based information system which is a portfolio social network (PSN) that provides solutions to the recruiters and job seekers. The proposed system enables users to create portfolio so that he/she can add his specializations with piece of code if any specifically...

  8. Social network and addiction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    La Barbera, Daniele; La Paglia, Filippo; Valsavoia, Rosaria

    2009-01-01

    In recent decades, the rapid development of innovative Internet-based communication technologies created a new field of academic study among scholars. Particularly, the attention of researchers is focusing on new ways to form relationship-thought social web. Social Network sites constitute a new form of web communities, where people meet and share interests and activities. Due to exponential growth of these sites, an increasing number of scholars are beginning to study the emergent phenomena in order to identify any psychopathological risk related to use of social web, such as addiction. This article examines the recent literature about this issue.

  9. Customer Intelligence Analytics on Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brano MARKIĆ

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Discovering needs, habits and consumer behavior is the primary task of marketing analytics. It is necessary to integrate marketing and analytical skills with IT skills. Such knowledge integration allows access to data (structured and unstructured, their analysis and finding out information about the opinions, attitudes, needs and behavior of customers. In the paper is set the hypothesis that software tools can collect data (messages from social networks, analyze the content of messages and get to know the attitudes of customers about a product, service, tourist destination with the ultimate goal of improving customer relations. Experimental results are based on the analysis of the content of social network Facebook by using the package and function R language. This language showed a satisfactory application and development power in analysis of textual data on social networks for marketing analytics.

  10. Using smart mobile devices in social-network-based health education practice: a learning behavior analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Ting-Ting

    2014-06-01

    Virtual communities provide numerous resources, immediate feedback, and information sharing, enabling people to rapidly acquire information and knowledge and supporting diverse applications that facilitate interpersonal interactions, communication, and sharing. Moreover, incorporating highly mobile and convenient devices into practice-based courses can be advantageous in learning situations. Therefore, in this study, a tablet PC and Google+ were introduced to a health education practice course to elucidate satisfaction of learning module and conditions and analyze the sequence and frequency of learning behaviors during the social-network-based learning process. According to the analytical results, social networks can improve interaction among peers and between educators and students, particularly when these networks are used to search for data, post articles, engage in discussions, and communicate. In addition, most nursing students and nursing educators expressed a positive attitude and satisfaction toward these innovative teaching methods, and looked forward to continuing the use of this learning approach. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Individual Search and Social Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Sanjeev Goyal; Stephanie Rosenkranz; Utz Weitzel; Vincent Buskens

    2014-01-01

    The explosion in online social networks motivates an enquiry into their structure and their welfare effects. A central feature of these networks is information sharing: online social networks lower the cost of getting information from others. These lower costs affect the attractiveness of individual search vis-a-vis a reliance on social networks. The paper reports the findings of an experiment on these effects. Our experiment shows that online networks can have large effects. Information acqu...

  12. Social Network Behavior and Engagement Within a Smoking Cessation Facebook Page.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole-Lewis, Heather; Perotte, Adler; Galica, Kasia; Dreyer, Lindy; Griffith, Christopher; Schwarz, Mary; Yun, Christopher; Patrick, Heather; Coa, Kisha; Augustson, Erik

    2016-08-02

    Social media platforms are increasingly being used to support individuals in behavior change attempts, including smoking cessation. Examining the interactions of participants in health-related social media groups can help inform our understanding of how these groups can best be leveraged to facilitate behavior change. The aim of this study was to analyze patterns of participation, self-reported smoking cessation length, and interactions within the National Cancer Institutes' Facebook community for smoking cessation support. Our sample consisted of approximately 4243 individuals who interacted (eg, posted, commented) on the public Smokefree Women Facebook page during the time of data collection. In Phase 1, social network visualizations and centrality measures were used to evaluate network structure and engagement. In Phase 2, an inductive, thematic qualitative content analysis was conducted with a subsample of 500 individuals, and correlational analysis was used to determine how participant engagement was associated with self-reported session length. Between February 2013 and March 2014, there were 875 posts and 4088 comments from approximately 4243 participants. Social network visualizations revealed the moderator's role in keeping the community together and distributing the most active participants. Correlation analyses suggest that engagement in the network was significantly inversely associated with cessation status (Spearman correlation coefficient = -0.14, P=.03, N=243). The content analysis of 1698 posts from 500 randomly selected participants identified the most frequent interactions in the community as providing support (43%, n=721) and announcing number of days smoke free (41%, n=689). These findings highlight the importance of the moderator for network engagement and provide helpful insights into the patterns and types of interactions participants are engaging in. This study adds knowledge of how the social network of a smoking cessation community

  13. Multi-donor Research Platform on Social Protection, Financial ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Multi-donor Research Platform on Social Protection, Financial Inclusion and ... There have been some experiments linking a financial inclusion component to CCT programs, ... Universidad de Chile. Institution Country. Chile. Institution Website.

  14. On Deep Learning for Trust-Aware Recommendations in Social Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Shuiguang; Huang, Longtao; Xu, Guandong; Wu, Xindong; Wu, Zhaohui

    2017-05-01

    With the emergence of online social networks, the social network-based recommendation approach is popularly used. The major benefit of this approach is the ability of dealing with the problems with cold-start users. In addition to social networks, user trust information also plays an important role to obtain reliable recommendations. Although matrix factorization (MF) becomes dominant in recommender systems, the recommendation largely relies on the initialization of the user and item latent feature vectors. Aiming at addressing these challenges, we develop a novel trust-based approach for recommendation in social networks. In particular, we attempt to leverage deep learning to determinate the initialization in MF for trust-aware social recommendations and to differentiate the community effect in user's trusted friendships. A two-phase recommendation process is proposed to utilize deep learning in initialization and to synthesize the users' interests and their trusted friends' interests together with the impact of community effect for recommendations. We perform extensive experiments on real-world social network data to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of our proposed approach in comparison with other state-of-the-art methods.

  15. Enterprise Social Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Winkler, Till J.; Trier, Matthias

    2017-01-01

    Enterprise Social Networks (ESNs), d. h. Informationssysteme, die die Vernetzung von Mitarbeitern in Unternehmen fördern sollen, sind in verschiedenen Varianten und unter verschiedenen Bezeichnungen (etwa Enterprise Social Media, Corporate Social Software, Social Business oder Enterprise 2...

  16. Disclosure of Personal Data in Ubiquitous Social Networking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sapuppo, Antonio

    users' privacy. Firstly, it updates the current privacy guidelines of ubiquitous computing by proposing four drawbacks to be avoided when designing for privacy in ubiquitous social networking environments. Secondly, this dissertation identifies and investigates the determinants that might influence......Ubiquitous social networking focuses on developing possible advantageous relationships such as friendships, partnerships and business relations in the physical world, by uncovering hidden connections that people share with others nearby. The foundation of these services is based on disclosure...... of personal information, which can provoke numerous accidental invasions of privacy. This dissertation contributes by addressing two problems, related to support of privacy-aware social networking in ubiquitous computing environments that focus on maximizing potential networking benefits while preserving...

  17. Social-Driven Information Dissemination for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Basim MAHMOOD

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available As we move into the so-called Internet of Things (IoT, the boundary between sensor networks and social networks is likely to disappear. Moreover, previous works argue that mobility in sensor networks may become a consequence of human movement making the understanding of human mobility crucial to the design of sensor networks. When people carry sensors, they become able to use concepts from social networks in the design of sensor network infrastructures. However, to this date, the utilization of social networks in designing protocols for wireless sensor networks has not received much attention. In this paper, we focus on the concept of information dissemination in a framework where sensors are carried by people who, like most of us, are part of a social network. We propose two social-based forwarding approaches for what has been called Social Network of Sensors (SNoS. To this end, we exploit two important characteristics of ties in social networks, namely strong ties and weak ties. The former is used to achieve rapid dissemination to nearby sensors while the latter aims at dissemination to faraway sensors. We compared our results against two well-known approaches in the literature: Epidemic and PRoPHET protocols. We evaluate our approaches according to four criteria: information-dissemination distance, information-dissemination coverage area, the number of messages exchanged, and information delivery time. We believe this is the first work that investigates the issues of information-dissemination distance and information-dissemination coverage area using an approach inspired on social network concepts.

  18. A New Addiction for Teacher Candidates: Social Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cam, Emre; Isbulan, Onur

    2012-01-01

    With the transition to being a knowledge-based society, the internet usage has become an irreplaceable part of life. As socials networks have come into our lives, the internet usage has taken a different dimension. People can affiliate to social networks in order to make friends, exchange information, find partners, and to play games. The process…

  19. Network-Based Community Brings forth Sustainable Society

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kikuchi, Toshiko

    It has already been shown that an artificial society based on the three relations of social configuration (market, communal, and obligatory relations) functioning in balance with each other formed a sustainable society which the social reproduction is possible. In this artificial society model, communal relations exist in a network-based community with alternating members rather than a conventional community with cooperative mutual assistance practiced in some agricultural communities. In this paper, using the comparison between network-based communities with alternating members and conventional communities with fixed members, the significance of a network-based community is considered. In concrete terms, the difference in appearance rate for sustainable society, economic activity and asset inequality between network-based communities and conventional communities is analyzed. The appearance rate for a sustainable society of network-based community is higher than that of conventional community. Moreover, most of network-based communities had a larger total number of trade volume than conventional communities. But, the value of Gini coefficient in conventional community is smaller than that of network-based community. These results show that communal relations based on a network-based community is significant for the social reproduction and economic efficiency. However, in such an artificial society, the inequality is sacrificed.

  20. Social Trust Prediction Using Heterogeneous Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    HUANG, JIN; NIE, FEIPING; HUANG, HENG; TU, YI-CHENG; LEI, YU

    2014-01-01

    Along with increasing popularity of social websites, online users rely more on the trustworthiness information to make decisions, extract and filter information, and tag and build connections with other users. However, such social network data often suffer from severe data sparsity and are not able to provide users with enough information. Therefore, trust prediction has emerged as an important topic in social network research. Traditional approaches are primarily based on exploring trust graph topology itself. However, research in sociology and our life experience suggest that people who are in the same social circle often exhibit similar behaviors and tastes. To take advantage of the ancillary information for trust prediction, the challenge then becomes what to transfer and how to transfer. In this article, we address this problem by aggregating heterogeneous social networks and propose a novel joint social networks mining (JSNM) method. Our new joint learning model explores the user-group-level similarity between correlated graphs and simultaneously learns the individual graph structure; therefore, the shared structures and patterns from multiple social networks can be utilized to enhance the prediction tasks. As a result, we not only improve the trust prediction in the target graph but also facilitate other information retrieval tasks in the auxiliary graphs. To optimize the proposed objective function, we use the alternative technique to break down the objective function into several manageable subproblems. We further introduce the auxiliary function to solve the optimization problems with rigorously proved convergence. The extensive experiments have been conducted on both synthetic and real- world data. All empirical results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. PMID:24729776

  1. A framework for online social networking features

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen Shafiei Nikabadi

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Social networks form a basis for maintaining social contacts, finding users with common interests, creating local content and sharing information. Recently networks have created a fundamental framework for analyzing and modeling the complex systems. Users' behavior studies and evaluates the system performance and leads to better planning and implementation of advertising policies on the web sites. Therefore, this study offers a framework for online social networks' characteristics. In terms of objective, this survey is practical descriptive. Sampling has been done among 384 of graduate students who have good experiences of membership in online social network. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to evaluate the validity of variables in research model. Characteristics of online social networks are defined based on six components and framework's indexes are analyzed through factor analysis. The reliability is calculated separately for each dimension and since they are all above 0.7, the reliability of the study can be confirmed. According to our research results, in terms of size, the number of people who apply for membership in various online social networking is an important index. In terms of individual preference to connect with, people who are relative play essential role in social network development. In terms of homogeneity variable, the number of people who visit their friends’ pages is important for measuring frequency variable. In terms of frequency, the use of entertainment and recreation services is more important index. In terms of proximity, being in the same city is a more important index and index of creating a sense of belonging and confidence is more important for measuring reciprocity variable.

  2. POKEHEAD: An Open Source Interactive Headphone Based HCI Platform

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Højlund, Marie; Trento, Stefano; Goudarzi, Visda

    2012-01-01

    This paper introduces a novel interactive, human-computer interface and remote social communication system based on an augmented, hi-fidelity audio headphone platform. Specifically, this system- named Pokehead, currently utilizes the DUL embedded open-source accelerometer platform to gather 3-axis......, open source implementation. Our rapid prototype proved to be robust enough to work in performance for demonstration purposes and serves as a working proof of concept. In this paper we provide a technical description of our prototype, illustrate the context and motivation behind the project, and offer...

  3. Multi-donor Research Platform on Social Protection, Financial ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Multi-donor Research Platform on Social Protection, Financial Inclusion and ICTs ... been some experiments linking a financial inclusion component to CCT programs, ... Institution. Universidad de Chile. Pays d' institution. Chile. Site internet.

  4. Security risks:threats & rewards in social media

    OpenAIRE

    Punjabi, V. (Vikesh)

    2015-01-01

    Abstract In the last decade, without any doubt, social media i.e. social network platforms that are mainly created in order to interact with each other such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr, Myspace, Blogs, YouTube, or any user generated content websites gained huge access in public daily life including individuals and organizations. These social network platforms, especially Facebook, Twi...

  5. Place, networks, space: theorising the geographies of social movements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nicholls, W.J.

    2009-01-01

    This essay examines how geography affects the different types of networks underlying social movements. The principal argument of the paper is that networks forged in particular places and at great distances play distinctive yet complementary functions in broad-based social movements. Not only does

  6. Social Networking Sites in The Netherlands; an Explorative Study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Constantinides, Efthymios; Lorenzo-Romero, C.; Alarcon-del-Amo, Maria-del-Carmen

    2011-01-01

    The rampant growth of social networking has become an issue of attention and interest by commercial organizations. Based on a national sample this paper investigates the demographics, profiles and behavior of participants of Social Networking sites in The Netherlands. The paper provides a typology

  7. Impact of the social networking applications for health information management for patients and physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahama, Tony; Liang, Jian; Iannella, Renato

    2012-01-01

    Most social network users hold more than one social network account and utilize them in different ways depending on the digital context. For example, friendly chat on Facebook, professional discussion on LinkedIn, and health information exchange on PatientsLikeMe. Thus many web users need to manage many disparate profiles across many distributed online sources. Maintaining these profiles is cumbersome, time consuming, inefficient, and leads to lost opportunity. In this paper we propose a framework for multiple profile management of online social networks and showcase a demonstrator utilising an open source platform. The result of the research enables a user to create and manage an integrated profile and share/synchronise their profiles with their social networks. A number of use cases were created to capture the functional requirements and describe the interactions between users and the online services. An innovative application of this project is in public health informatics. We utilize the prototype to examine how the framework can benefit patients and physicians. The framework can greatly enhance health information management for patients and more importantly offer a more comprehensive personal health overview of patients to physicians.

  8. Social Network Types and Mental Health Among LGBT Older Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hyun-Jun; Fredriksen-Goldsen, Karen I.; Bryan, Amanda E. B.; Muraco, Anna

    2017-01-01

    Purpose of the Study: This study was designed to identify social network types among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults and examine the relationship between social network type and mental health. Design and Methods: We analyzed the 2014 survey data of LGBT adults aged 50 and older (N = 2,450) from Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study. Latent profile analyses were conducted to identify clusters of social network ties based on 11 indicators. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the association between social network types and mental health. Results: We found five social network types. Ordered from greatest to least access to family, friend, and other non-family network ties, they were diverse, diverse/no children, immediate family-focused, friend-centered/restricted, and fully restricted. The friend-centered/restricted (33%) and diverse/no children network types (31%) were the most prevalent. Among individuals with the friend-centered/restricted type, access to social networks was limited to friends, and across both types children were not present. The least prevalent type was the fully restricted network type (6%). Social network type was significantly associated with mental health, after controlling for background characteristics and total social network size; those with the fully restricted type showed the poorest mental health. Implications: Unique social network types (diverse/no children and friend-centered/restricted) emerge among LGBT older adults. Moreover, individuals with fully restricted social networks are at particular risk due to heightened health needs and limited social resources. This study highlights the importance of understanding heterogeneous social relations and developing tailored interventions to promote social connectedness and mental health in LGBT older adults. PMID:28087798

  9. A wireless computational platform for distributed computing based traffic monitoring involving mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian sensing

    KAUST Repository

    Jiang, Jiming

    2013-06-01

    This paper presents a new wireless platform designed for an integrated traffic monitoring system based on combined Lagrangian (mobile) and Eulerian (fixed) sensing. The sensor platform is built around a 32-bit ARM Cortex M4 micro-controller and a 2.4GHz 802.15.4 ISM compliant radio module, and can be interfaced with fixed traffic sensors, or receive data from vehicle transponders. The platform is specially designed and optimized to be integrated in a solar-powered wireless sensor network in which traffic flow maps are computed by the nodes directly using distributed computing. A MPPT circuitry is proposed to increase the power output of the attached solar panel. A self-recovering unit is designed to increase reliability and allow periodic hard resets, an essential requirement for sensor networks. A radio monitoring circuitry is proposed to monitor incoming and outgoing transmissions, simplifying software debug. An ongoing implementation is briefly discussed, and compared with existing platforms used in wireless sensor networks. © 2013 IEEE.

  10. Public service in the age of social network media

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjarvard, Stig

    2018-01-01

    This chapter addresses how, and to what extent, public service obligations and institutions may be redefined and extended to facilitate information flows and public deliberation using social network media as a remedy for democratic deficiencies of both older mass media and newer forms of network...... media. I make a case for three public service functions that have particular importance in social network media: curation, moderation, and monitoring. Building on a critique of the individualistic perspective underlying both cyber-optimist and -pessimist accounts of the potentials of social network...... media, an alternative and institutional perspective based on mediatization theory is introduced. I focus on the ongoing restructuring of societal spheres through which strategic and sociable forms of communication are challenging deliberative forms of communication. Based on recent studies on public...

  11. Tourist destination branding on social networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radenković-Šošić Bojana

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Social networks have become the modern means of communication. Intensive electronic word of mouth to mouth (eWOM leads to faster sharing of experiences, and the creation of positive and negative attitudes. On the other hand, branding of tourist destinations has become one of the most powerful resources in the implementation of marketing strategies in tourism. The aim of this study, which is based on primary research, is to examine the concept of electronic word of mouth, as well as the role of social networks in the process of branding tourist destinations.

  12. Online social networking for radiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Auffermann, William F; Chetlen, Alison L; Colucci, Andrew T; DeQuesada, Ivan M; Grajo, Joseph R; Heller, Matthew T; Nowitzki, Kristina M; Sherry, Steven J; Tillack, Allison A

    2015-01-01

    Online social networking services have changed the way we interact as a society and offer many opportunities to improve the way we practice radiology and medicine in general. This article begins with an introduction to social networking. Next, the latest advances in online social networking are reviewed, and areas where radiologists and clinicians may benefit from these new tools are discussed. This article concludes with several steps that the interested reader can take to become more involved in online social networking. Copyright © 2015 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. PREDOSE: a semantic web platform for drug abuse epidemiology using social media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cameron, Delroy; Smith, Gary A; Daniulaityte, Raminta; Sheth, Amit P; Dave, Drashti; Chen, Lu; Anand, Gaurish; Carlson, Robert; Watkins, Kera Z; Falck, Russel

    2013-12-01

    The role of social media in biomedical knowledge mining, including clinical, medical and healthcare informatics, prescription drug abuse epidemiology and drug pharmacology, has become increasingly significant in recent years. Social media offers opportunities for people to share opinions and experiences freely in online communities, which may contribute information beyond the knowledge of domain professionals. This paper describes the development of a novel semantic web platform called PREDOSE (PREscription Drug abuse Online Surveillance and Epidemiology), which is designed to facilitate the epidemiologic study of prescription (and related) drug abuse practices using social media. PREDOSE uses web forum posts and domain knowledge, modeled in a manually created Drug Abuse Ontology (DAO--pronounced dow), to facilitate the extraction of semantic information from User Generated Content (UGC), through combination of lexical, pattern-based and semantics-based techniques. In a previous study, PREDOSE was used to obtain the datasets from which new knowledge in drug abuse research was derived. Here, we report on various platform enhancements, including an updated DAO, new components for relationship and triple extraction, and tools for content analysis, trend detection and emerging patterns exploration, which enhance the capabilities of the PREDOSE platform. Given these enhancements, PREDOSE is now more equipped to impact drug abuse research by alleviating traditional labor-intensive content analysis tasks. Using custom web crawlers that scrape UGC from publicly available web forums, PREDOSE first automates the collection of web-based social media content for subsequent semantic annotation. The annotation scheme is modeled in the DAO, and includes domain specific knowledge such as prescription (and related) drugs, methods of preparation, side effects, and routes of administration. The DAO is also used to help recognize three types of data, namely: (1) entities, (2

  14. EURESCOM Services Platform

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nieuwenhuis, Lambertus Johannes Maria; van Halteren, Aart

    1999-01-01

    This paper presents the results of the EURESCOM Project 715. In February 1999, a large team of researchers from six European public network operators completed a two year period of cooperative experiments on a TINA-based environment, called the EURESCOM Services Platform (ESP). This platform

  15. Mining Trust Relationships from Online Social Networks

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yu Zhang; Tong Yu

    2012-01-01

    With the growing popularity of online social network,trust plays a more and more important role in connecting people to each other.We rely on our personal trust to accept recommendations,to make purchase decisions and to select transaction partners in the online community.Therefore,how to obtain trust relationships through mining online social networks becomes an important research topic.There are several shortcomings of existing trust mining methods.First,trust is category-dependent.However,most of the methods overlook the category attribute of trust relationships,which leads to low accuracy in trust calculation.Second,since the data in online social networks cannot be understood and processed by machines directly,traditional mining methods require much human effort and are not easily applied to other applications.To solve the above problems,we propose a semantic-based trust reasoning mechanism to mine trust relationships from online social networks automatically.We emphasize the category attribute of pairwise relationships and utilize Semantic Web technologies to build a domain ontology for data communication and knowledge sharing.We exploit role-based and behavior-based reasoning functions to infer implicit trust relationships and category-specific trust relationships.We make use of path expressions to extend reasoning rules so that the mining process can be done directly without much human effort.We perform experiments on real-life data extracted from Epinions.The experimental results verify the effectiveness and wide application use of our proposed method.

  16. Social Networks and Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perdiaris, Christos; Chardalias, Konstantinos; Magita, Andrianna; Mechili, Aggelos E; Diomidous, Marianna

    2015-01-01

    Nowadays the social networks have been developed into an advanced communications tool, which is important for all people to contact each other. These specific networks do offer lots of options as well as plenty of advantages and disadvantages. The social websites are many in number and titles, such as the facebook, the twitter, the bandoo etc. One of the most important function-mechanisms for the social network websites, are the marketing tools. The future goal is suggested to be the evolution of these programs. The development of these applications, which is going to lead into a new era for the social digital communication between the internet users, all around the globe.

  17. Deep Classifiers-Based License Plate Detection, Localization and Recognition on GPU-Powered Mobile Platform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Syed Tahir Hussain Rizvi

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The realization of a deep neural architecture on a mobile platform is challenging, but can open up a number of possibilities for visual analysis applications. A neural network can be realized on a mobile platform by exploiting the computational power of the embedded GPU and simplifying the flow of a neural architecture trained on the desktop workstation or a GPU server. This paper presents an embedded platform-based Italian license plate detection and recognition system using deep neural classifiers. In this work, trained parameters of a highly precise automatic license plate recognition (ALPR system are imported and used to replicate the same neural classifiers on a Nvidia Shield K1 tablet. A CUDA-based framework is used to realize these neural networks. The flow of the trained architecture is simplified to perform the license plate recognition in real-time. Results show that the tasks of plate and character detection and localization can be performed in real-time on a mobile platform by simplifying the flow of the trained architecture. However, the accuracy of the simplified architecture would be decreased accordingly.

  18. Adolescents' social environment and depression: social networks, extracurricular activity, and family relationship influences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Michael J; Schmidt, Christopher; Abraham, Anisha; Walker, Leslie; Tercyak, Kenneth

    2009-12-01

    The present study examined components of adolescents' social environment (social network, extracurricular activities, and family relationships) in association with depression. A total of 332 adolescents presenting for a routine medical check-up were self-assessed for social network risk (i.e., smoking habits of best male and female friends), extracurricular activity level (i.e., participation in organized sports teams, clubs, etc.), family relationship quality (i.e., cohesion and conflict), and symptoms of depression (i.e., minimal, mild, moderate/severe). Results of a forward linear regression modeling indicate that social environment components were associated with a significant proportion of the variance in adolescent depression (Adjusted R (2) = .177, p social network (beta = .107, p depression symptoms. Conversely, adolescents who engaged in more extracurricular activities (beta = -.118, p depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the important role that the social environment plays in adolescent depression, as well as yields new insights into socially-based intervention targets that may ameliorate adolescent depression. These intervention targets may be gender-specific, include positive social network skills training, increase adolescents' engagement in organized activities, and attend to the quality of their family relationships.

  19. Estimation method of the cohesion degree for the users’ profiles of social network based on open data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina A. Kataeva

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of research was to study the existing methods of determining the degree of cohesion of two users of social network, identifying their shortcomings and developing a new method. The research identified shortcomings of existing methods and proposed a new method for assessing the degree of cohesion of social network profiles based on open data from a social network. Under the degree of cohesion of users’ profiles is understood the probability of communication (interaction of profile owners in real life, it is calculated for two users of the social network and expressed in percent. The work of the method is demonstrated on the example of the social network “In contact”. This method includes the sequence of the following stages: the first stage is data collection about users of the social network with API and the formation of tuples of users’ profile characteristics. A tuple of characteristics of social network profiles is the data, collected for each user, stored in a structured form.The next step is the analysis of the collected information. For each characteristic of the tuple of profiles, i.e. the possible element of interaction of users in the social network, the coefficient of cohesion by the characteristic is calculated. In addition, for each feature, its informativeness is calculated, i.e. how important is this or that feature in this social network. At the final stage, the results are generated, using the formula for the probability of communication between two users, derived during the investigation. Obtained as a result of the application of the method, the probability of communication between two users can be used to optimize the activities of the operative-search services and special bodies.In addition, the received degree of cohesion of two users can be interpreted as the probability of a channel of information leakage between them. The role of the user of the method can be any private or state organization that cares

  20. Customer brand engagement on online social media platforms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chrysochou, Polymeros; Malciute, Justina

    delivers a thorough investigation of the concept and proposes a conceptual model of customer brand engagement on online social media platforms. The study suggests that customer brand relationship related factors will influence the level of customer engagement, which in turn will affect the levels......The aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of a newly emerged concept of customer engagement with brands in the context of online social media platforms. Drawing on the overview of currently available academic literature and the results of a quantitative consumer study, the paper...... of behavioral loyalty and intention to recommend the brand. Hence, this paper is an important contribution to the academic marketing literature in the field of customer engagement, which also provides useful managerial insights for marketing practitioners....

  1. Subjective social status, social network and health disparities: empirical evidence from Greece.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charonis, Antonios; Kyriopoulos, Ilias-Ioannis; Spanakis, Manos; Zavras, Dimitris; Athanasakis, Kostas; Pavi, Elpida; Kyriopoulos, John

    2017-02-27

    Several studies suggest that socioeconomic status affects (SES) affects self-rated health (SRH), both in Greece and internationally. However, prior research mainly uses objective measures of SES, instead of subjective evaluations of individuals' social status. Based on this, this paper aims to examine (a) the impact of the economic dowturn on SRH in Greece and (b) the relationship between subjective social status (SSS), social network and SRH. The descriptive analysis is based on four cross-sectional surveys conducted by the National School of Public Health, Athens, Greece (2002, 2006, 2011, 2015), while the data for the empirical investigation were derived from the 2015 survey (Health + Welfare Survey GR). The empirical strategy is based on an ordinal logistic regression model, aiming to examine how several variables affect SRH. Size of social network and SSS are among the independent variables employed for the empirical analysis RESULTS: According to our findings, average SRH has deteriorated, and the percentage of the population that reports very good/good SRH has also decreased. Moreover, our empirical analysis suggests that age, existence of a chronic disease, size of social network and SSS affect SRH in Greece. Our findings are consistent with the existing literature and confirm a social gradient in health. According to our analysis, health disparities can be largely attributed to socioeconomic inequalities. The adverse economic climate has impact on socioeconomic differences which in turn affect health disparities. Based on these, policy initiatives are necessasy in order to mitigate the negative impact on health and the disparities caused by economic dowturn and the occuring socioeconomic inequalities.

  2. Feasibility of using social networking technologies for health research among men who have sex with men: a mixed methods study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Sean D; Jaganath, Devan

    2014-01-01

    This study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using social networking as a health research platform among men who have sex with men (MSM). Fifty-five MSM (primarily African American and Latino) were invited to join a "secret" group on the social networking website, Facebook. Peer leaders, trained in health education, posted health-related content to groups. The study and analysis used mixed (qualitative and quantitative) methods. Facebook conversations were thematically analyzed. Latino and African American participants voluntarily used social networking to discuss health-related knowledge and personal topics (exercise, nutrition, mental health, disease prevention, and substance abuse) with other group participants (N=564 excerpts). Although Latinos comprised 60% of the sample and African Americans 25.5%, Latinos contributed 82% of conversations and African Americans contributed only 15% of all conversations. Twenty-four percent of posts from Latinos and 7% of posts from African Americans were related to health topics. Results suggest that Facebook is an acceptable and engaging platform for facilitating and documenting health discussions for mixed methods research among MSM. An understanding of population differences is needed for crafting effective online social health interventions.

  3. Visual analytics for multimodal social network analysis: a design study with social scientists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghani, Sohaib; Kwon, Bum Chul; Lee, Seungyoon; Yi, Ji Soo; Elmqvist, Niklas

    2013-12-01

    Social network analysis (SNA) is becoming increasingly concerned not only with actors and their relations, but also with distinguishing between different types of such entities. For example, social scientists may want to investigate asymmetric relations in organizations with strict chains of command, or incorporate non-actors such as conferences and projects when analyzing coauthorship patterns. Multimodal social networks are those where actors and relations belong to different types, or modes, and multimodal social network analysis (mSNA) is accordingly SNA for such networks. In this paper, we present a design study that we conducted with several social scientist collaborators on how to support mSNA using visual analytics tools. Based on an openended, formative design process, we devised a visual representation called parallel node-link bands (PNLBs) that splits modes into separate bands and renders connections between adjacent ones, similar to the list view in Jigsaw. We then used the tool in a qualitative evaluation involving five social scientists whose feedback informed a second design phase that incorporated additional network metrics. Finally, we conducted a second qualitative evaluation with our social scientist collaborators that provided further insights on the utility of the PNLBs representation and the potential of visual analytics for mSNA.

  4. Social Network Types and Mental Health Among LGBT Older Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hyun-Jun; Fredriksen-Goldsen, Karen I; Bryan, Amanda E B; Muraco, Anna

    2017-02-01

    This study was designed to identify social network types among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults and examine the relationship between social network type and mental health. We analyzed the 2014 survey data of LGBT adults aged 50 and older (N = 2,450) from Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study. Latent profile analyses were conducted to identify clusters of social network ties based on 11 indicators. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the association between social network types and mental health. We found five social network types. Ordered from greatest to least access to family, friend, and other non-family network ties, they were diverse, diverse/no children, immediate family-focused, friend-centered/restricted, and fully restricted. The friend-centered/restricted (33%) and diverse/no children network types (31%) were the most prevalent. Among individuals with the friend-centered/restricted type, access to social networks was limited to friends, and across both types children were not present. The least prevalent type was the fully restricted network type (6%). Social network type was significantly associated with mental health, after controlling for background characteristics and total social network size; those with the fully restricted type showed the poorest mental health. Unique social network types (diverse/no children and friend-centered/restricted) emerge among LGBT older adults. Moreover, individuals with fully restricted social networks are at particular risk due to heightened health needs and limited social resources. This study highlights the importance of understanding heterogeneous social relations and developing tailored interventions to promote social connectedness and mental health in LGBT older adults. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  5. Online social networks for crowdsourced multimedia-involved behavioral testing: An empirical study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun-Ho eChoi

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Online social networks have emerged as effective crowdsourcing media to recruit participants in recent days. However, issues regarding how to effectively exploit them have not been adequately addressed yet. In this paper, we investigate the reliability and effectiveness of multimedia-involved behavioral testing via social network-based crowdsourcing, especially focused on Facebook as a medium to recruit participants. We conduct a crowdsourcing-based experiment for a music recommendation problem. It is shown that different advertisement methods yield different degrees of efficiency and there exist significant differences in behavioral patterns across different genders and different age groups. In addition, we perform a comparison of our experiment with other multimedia-involved crowdsourcing experiments built on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk, which suggests that crowdsourcing-based experiments using social networks for recruitment can achieve comparable efficiency. Based on the analysis results, advantages and disadvantages of social network-based crowdsourcing and suggestions for successful experiments are also discussed. We conclude that social networks have the potential to support multimedia-involved behavioral tests to gather in-depth data even for long-term periods.

  6. Online Social Networks for Crowdsourced Multimedia-Involved Behavioral Testing: An Empirical Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Jun-Ho; Lee, Jong-Seok

    2016-01-01

    Online social networks have emerged as effective crowdsourcing media to recruit participants in recent days. However, issues regarding how to effectively exploit them have not been adequately addressed yet. In this paper, we investigate the reliability and effectiveness of multimedia-involved behavioral testing via social network-based crowdsourcing, especially focused on Facebook as a medium to recruit participants. We conduct a crowdsourcing-based experiment for a music recommendation problem. It is shown that different advertisement methods yield different degrees of efficiency and there exist significant differences in behavioral patterns across different genders and different age groups. In addition, we perform a comparison of our experiment with other multimedia-involved crowdsourcing experiments built on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), which suggests that crowdsourcing-based experiments using social networks for recruitment can achieve comparable efficiency. Based on the analysis results, advantages and disadvantages of social network-based crowdsourcing and suggestions for successful experiments are also discussed. We conclude that social networks have the potential to support multimedia-involved behavioral tests to gather in-depth data even for long-term periods. PMID:26793137

  7. Online Social Networks for Crowdsourced Multimedia-Involved Behavioral Testing: An Empirical Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Jun-Ho; Lee, Jong-Seok

    2015-01-01

    Online social networks have emerged as effective crowdsourcing media to recruit participants in recent days. However, issues regarding how to effectively exploit them have not been adequately addressed yet. In this paper, we investigate the reliability and effectiveness of multimedia-involved behavioral testing via social network-based crowdsourcing, especially focused on Facebook as a medium to recruit participants. We conduct a crowdsourcing-based experiment for a music recommendation problem. It is shown that different advertisement methods yield different degrees of efficiency and there exist significant differences in behavioral patterns across different genders and different age groups. In addition, we perform a comparison of our experiment with other multimedia-involved crowdsourcing experiments built on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), which suggests that crowdsourcing-based experiments using social networks for recruitment can achieve comparable efficiency. Based on the analysis results, advantages and disadvantages of social network-based crowdsourcing and suggestions for successful experiments are also discussed. We conclude that social networks have the potential to support multimedia-involved behavioral tests to gather in-depth data even for long-term periods.

  8. Signed Networks in Social Media

    OpenAIRE

    Leskovec, Jure; Huttenlocher, Daniel; Kleinberg, Jon

    2010-01-01

    Relations between users on social media sites often reflect a mixture of positive (friendly) and negative (antagonistic) interactions. In contrast to the bulk of research on social networks that has focused almost exclusively on positive interpretations of links between people, we study how the interplay between positive and negative relationships affects the structure of on-line social networks. We connect our analyses to theories of signed networks from social psychology. We find that the c...

  9. A cyber-anima-based model of material conscious information network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianping Shen

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – This paper aims to study the node modeling, multi-agent architecture and addressing method for the material conscious information network (MCIN, which is a large-scaled, open-styled, self-organized and ecological intelligent network of supply–demand relationships. Design/methodology/approach – This study models the MCIN by node model definition, multi-agent architecture design and addressing method presentation. Findings – The prototype of novel E-commerce platform based on the MCIN shows the effectiveness and soundness of the MCIN modeling. By comparing to current internet, the authors also find that the MCIN has the advantages of socialization, information integration, collective intelligence, traceability, high robustness, unification of producing and consuming, high scalability and decentralization. Research limitations/implications – Leveraging the dimensions of structure, character, knowledge and experience, a modeling approach of the basic information can fit all kinds of the MCIN nodes. With the double chain structure for both basic and supply–demand information, the MCIN nodes can be modeled comprehensively. The anima-desire-intention-based multi-agent architecture makes the federated agents of the MCIN nodes self-organized and intelligent. The MCIN nodes can be efficiently addressed by the supply–demand-oriented method. However, the implementation of the MCIN is still in process. Practical implications – This paper lays the theoretical foundation for the future networked system of supply–demand relationship and the novel E-commerce platform. Originality/value – The authors believe that the MCIN, first proposed in this paper, is a transformational innovation which facilitates the infrastructure of the future networked system of supply–demand relationship.

  10. Social networks in cardiovascular disease management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaya, Fadia T; Yan, Xia; Farshid, Maryam; Barakat, Samer; Jung, Miah; Low, Sara; Fedder, Donald

    2010-12-01

    Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the USA. Social networks have a positive association with obesity, smoking cessation and weight loss. This article summarizes studies evaluating the impact of social networks on the management of cardiovascular disease. The 35 studies included in the article describe the impact of social networks on a decreased incidence of cardiovascular disease, depression and mortality. In addition, having a large-sized social network is also associated with better outcomes and improved health. The role of pharmacists is beginning to play an important role in the patient-centered medical home, which needs to be incorporated into social networks. The patient-centered medical home can serve as an adaptive source for social network evolvement.

  11. A Team Formation and Project-based Learning Support Service for Social Learning Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Spoelstra, Howard; Van Rosmalen, Peter; Van de Vrie, Evert; Obreza, Matija; Sloep, Peter

    2014-01-01

    The Internet affords new approaches to learning. Geographically dispersed self-directed learners can learn in computer-supported communities, forming social learning networks. However, self-directed learners can suffer from a lack of continuous motivation. And surprisingly, social learning networks

  12. DEPENDENCE ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES IN ADOLESCENTS

    OpenAIRE

    Ranjith; Santosh; Amita Rao; Ramgopal; Ashvij

    2016-01-01

    BACKGROUND Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are “web-based services” that allow individuals to: (1) Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) Articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) View and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.” Social networking sites like Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. are virtual communities where users can create individual public profiles,...

  13. Online Advertising in Social Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagherjeiran, Abraham; Bhatt, Rushi P.; Parekh, Rajesh; Chaoji, Vineet

    Online social networks offer opportunities to analyze user behavior and social connectivity and leverage resulting insights for effective online advertising. This chapter focuses on the role of social network information in online display advertising.

  14. Online social network sites and social capital: a case of facebook

    OpenAIRE

    Naseri, Samaneh

    2017-01-01

    The present study is a theoretical and literary review of online social network sites and their impact on social capital. In this review, the Facebook is selected as one popular and important online social networking site in the world today. To This end, first two main concepts of social capital, bridging and bonding social capital has been provided. Next, the concept of online social networks and the impact of FB on social networks are discussed.

  15. Settings in Social Networks : a Measurement Model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schweinberger, Michael; Snijders, Tom A.B.

    2003-01-01

    A class of statistical models is proposed that aims to recover latent settings structures in social networks. Settings may be regarded as clusters of vertices. The measurement model is based on two assumptions. (1) The observed network is generated by hierarchically nested latent transitive

  16. A Social Learning Management System Supporting Feedback for Incorrect Answers Based on Social Network Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Son, Jiseong; Kim, Jeong-Dong; Na, Hong-Seok; Baik, Doo-Kwon

    2016-01-01

    In this research, we propose a Social Learning Management System (SLMS) enabling real-time and reliable feedback for incorrect answers by learners using a social network service (SNS). The proposed system increases the accuracy of learners' assessment results by using a confidence scale and a variety of social feedback that is created and shared…

  17. Food: Transformation in Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daria N. Karpova

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The modem network and digitalized society is full of social changes in various accustomed spheres of our lives including transformation in food practices. The author gives an example of the easiest way how to book food virtually and get it home this day according to tastes of a customer. Moreover the article represents new forms of specific societies existed in the Internet called food-blogs. This, on the author's mind, changes the traditional mechanism of people's choice. Food-blogs are analyzed through the prism of multifunctionalism and dynamics of food and trust. When the process of food preparing and eating attains new communicative functions. Moreover the author notes some social reasons why one user choses this or that food-blog. For instance, the popularity of blogger and network users trust, mostly «blinded». Beside the point, the conception of «trust» used in the text is based on science works of contemporary sociologist P. Sztompka. Both socialized and communicative functions of food are described through theories of R. Bart and G. Simmel. It is underlined in the text that food transforms and gains new qualities notin traditional ways we used to think but in social and cultural construction in virtual space and through network communication.

  18. Promoting Oral Health Using Social Media Platforms: Seeking Arabic Online Oral Health Related Information (OHRI).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almaiman, Sarah; Bahkali, Salwa; Alabdulatif, Norah; Bahkaly, Ahlam; Al-Surimi, Khaled; Househ, Mowafa

    2016-01-01

    Access to oral health care services around the world is limited by a lack of universal coverage. The internet and social media can be an important source for patients to access supplementary oral health related information (OHRI). Online OHRI presents an opportunity to enhance dental public health education about innumerable oral health issues and promote dental self-care. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of social media users among the Saudi population and identify the preferred social media platform for seeking Arabic OHRI and its impact on seekers' knowledge, attitude, and behavior. A total of 2652 Twitter followers were surveyed, using a web-based self-administered questionnaire to collect data on demographic characteristics and online OHRI seeking behavior More than two thirds, 67.7% (n= 1796), of the participants reported they were seeking Arabic online OHRI, while 41.1% of the participants reported they had no preference for using a specific social media platform. These results emphasize the need and importance of supporting the content of social media with trusted and high quality online OHRI resources to promote a high level of public awareness about oral health and dental health services. Further studies in this regard are highly recommended on a larger scale of nationalities to explore the role of social media platform preference in promoting health promotion and dental public health awareness.

  19. Supporting More Inclusive Learning with Social Networking: A Case Study of Blended Socialised Design Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodrigo, Russell; Nguyen, Tam

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a qualitative case study of socialised blended learning, using a social network platform to investigate the level of literacies and interactions of students in a blended learning environment of traditional face-to-face design studio and online participatory teaching. Using student and staff feedback, the paper examines the use…

  20. "The Social Network" and the Legal Environment of Business: An Opportunity for Student-Centered Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGill, Shelley

    2013-01-01

    Aaron Sorkin has a passion for words--his signature movie and television scripts are fast talking, jargon laced, word pictures that are instantly recognizable. "The Social Network," Sorkin's 2011 Academy Award Winning movie about the founding of Facebook, Inc., offers more than just witty banter; it provides an ideal teaching platform for…