Social Network Framework Research Articles

Marginal models with individual-specific effects for the analysis of longitudinal bipartite networks

AbstractA new modeling framework for bipartite social networks arising from a sequence of partially time-ordered relational events is proposed. We directly model the joint distribution of the binary variables indicating if each single actor is involved or not in an event. The adopted parametrization is based on first- and second-order effects, formulated as in marginal models for categorical data and free higher order effects. In particular, second-order effects are log-odds ratios with meaningful interpretation from the social perspective in terms of tendency to cooperate, in contrast to first-order effects interpreted in terms of tendency of each single actor to participate in an event. These effects are parametrized on the basis of the event times, so that suitable latent trajectories of individual behaviors may be represented. Inference is based on a composite likelihood function, maximized by an algorithm with numerical complexity proportional to the square of the number of units in the network. A classification composite likelihood is used to cluster the actors, simplifying the interpretation of the data structure. The proposed approach is illustrated on simulated data and on a dataset of scientific articles published in four top statistical journals from 2003 to 2012.

Sexual conflict and sexual networks in bed bugs: the fitness cost of traumatic insemination, female avoidance and male mate choice.

Sexual conflict is prevalent among animals and is primarily caused by the fact that the optimal mating rates are often higher in males than in females. While there is a growing appreciation that females can also gain from multiple matings, we still know relatively little about which sex controls the observed mating rates and how close it is to the optimal female mating rates. To address this issue, we tracked female bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) inseminated daily versus weekly and found that weekly inseminated females lived longer and produced over 50% more offspring. In a follow-up experiment employing a social network framework, we placed 24 bed bugs into a semi-naturalistic arena and recorded all sexual interactions. While recently inseminated females did not avoid males more often, they were more frequently rejected by males. Finally, we tracked avoidance behaviour in a single cohort of female bed bugs as they received six successive daily inseminations. Avoidance rates increased and insemination durations decreased with increasing number of prior inseminations. Overall, our results indicate high costs of polyandry. Although females possess some plastic avoidance strategies, the observed rates of insemination fall closer to the male rather than female optimum.

Sexual conflict and social networks in bed bugs: effects of social experience.

Living in groups can provide essential experience that improves sexual performance and reproductive success. While the effects of social experience have drawn considerable scientific interest, commonly used behavioral assays often do not capture the dynamic nature of interactions within a social group. Here, we conducted 3 experiments using a social network framework to test whether social experience during early adulthood improves the sexual competence of bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) when placed in a complex and competitive group environment. In each experiment, we observed replicate groups of bed bugs comprising previously socialized and previously isolated individuals of the same sex, along with an equal number of standardized individuals of the opposite sex. Regardless of whether we controlled for their insemination history, previously isolated males mounted and inseminated females at significantly higher rates than previously socialized males. However, we found no evidence of social experience influencing our other measures of sexual competence: proportion of mounts directed at females, ability to overcome female resistance, and strength of opposite-sex social associations. We similarly did not detect effects of social experience on our female sexual competence metrics: propensity to avoid mounts, rate of successfully avoiding mounts, opposite-sex social association strength, and rate of receiving inseminations. Our findings indicate that early social experience does not improve sexual competence in male and female bed bugs.

Psychological and legal aspects of cyberbullying

Article is devoted to the psychological and legal aspects of cyberbullying. To achieve this goal, research methods were used. The following methods were used to study the problem of cyberbullying: theoretical method (analysis and systematization of scientific literature, scientific papers, professional publications), empirical method (content analysis, observation, survey), statistical method (using methods of mathematical statistics), content analysis (used in the normative analysis of the legal framework and analysis of social networks).
 The research has shown that cyberbullying is an urgent problem not only in Ukraine but also in other countries. In our opinion, public policy should be aimed at combating various types of violence against children, and a protection system should be developed and implemented at different levels.
 The article proposes measures aimed at counteracting and preventing cyberbullying (creating a healthy psychological environment, trainings and lectures on cyberbullying, fostering mutual respect, support, kindness and empathy; systematic sessions with a psychologist, etc.)
 Increasing the use of the Internet has led to a growing number of cases of online harassment. One of the ways to solve the problem is to develop measures to prevent and combat cyberbullying. The authors conclude that cyberbullying is becoming increasingly common and has a negative impact on a person's future. Cyberbullying is mostly about causing emotional harm, but it can escalate into open harassment, which usually includes physical intimidation and beatings.
 The article states that parents, teachers/educators should be an example of tolerant behavior, organize various activities to bring them closer to students, be sure to work with a psychologist, involve children in various clubs/sections, creative work, where respect and goodwill will be promoted. The parents and others should also respond to all forms of violence and harassment against children.

Social network of sexual and gender minorities: possibilities of support in health care

The study aimed to characterize the Social Network of sexual and gender minorities and to analyze the type of social support received for health care. This was a descriptive qualitative study. The methodological theoretical framework of Social Network proposed by Lia Sanicola was used. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed based on the Content Analysis technique proposed by Bardin. The study was carried out in 2019 at a family health unit in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Results showed that the social network of the interviewees was marked by a strong relationship with friends and colleagues, while in the relationship with family members there was a greater fragility in the bonds due to the lack of knowledge or non-acceptance of these members in relation to the sexuality of the interviewees. In addition to the fragility of the family relationship, there was a difficulty and discontinuity in access to health, due to the lack of bonds stimulated by prejudice and discrimination in health services. Social networks were characterized by the bond with friends and colleagues who offered emotional support. In the context of the family and the health care network, social relationships were permeated with weaknesses and lack of support. Knowledge of the network and the type of social support received by people who are part of sexual and gender minorities makes it possible to broaden the health professional’s view of comprehensive care for this population and consequently improve the quality of care provided.

The effect of two facets of physicians’ environmental stress on patients’ compliance with COVID-19 guidelines: moderating roles of two types of ego network

Drawing upon the Conservation of Resources Theory, this study seeks to examine the association between two dimensions of environmental stress experienced by physicians and patients’ adherence to COVID–19 guidelines, within the context of a social network framework. A third—wave longitudinal study was employed to gather 439 valid data points in China. Social network analysis and structural equation model were used to test the conceptual model. The results reveal the pivotal role of physicians’ environmental stress related to their work and family contexts in influencing patients’ adherence to COVID–19 guidelines through the mediation of physicians’ information sharing. The ego networks of physicians, encompassing both advice–seeking and friendship ties, were observed to negatively moderate the relationship between stress and resource depletion. Broadly, our study shows the importance of understanding physicians’ stress caused by the working and family environments, as these factorsnot only impact the psychological well–being of physicians but also significantly affect patients’ compliance with COVID–19 guidelines. In addition, the work offers a framework for understanding the impact of the ego advice–seeking network and the ego friend network.

A Hybrid Spam Detection Framework for Social Networks

The widespread use of social networks has caused these platforms to become the target of malicious people. Although social networks have their own spam detection systems, these systems sometimes may not prevent spams in their social networks. Spam contents and messages threaten the security and performance of users of these networks. A spam account detection framework based on three components is proposed in this study. Short link analysis, machine learning and text analysis are the components used together in the proposed framework. First, a dataset was created for this purpose and the attributes of spam accounts were determined. Later, the hyperlinks in the messages in this dataset were analyzed through link analysis component. The machine learning component was modelled through attributes. Moreover, the messages of the social network users were analyzed through text analysis method. A web-based application of the proposed model was put into practice. As a result of the experimental studies carried out thanks to the framework, it was determined that the proposed framework showed a performance of 95.69 %. The success of this article was calculated according to the F-measure and precision evaluation metrics under the influence of sensitive content rate. It is aimed to detect spam accounts on social network and the spam detection policy of these networks is intended to support.

Digital Diplomacy and Social Media Networks: Contemporary Practices of Innovation in Foreign Policy

Introduction. The article is devoted to contemporary digital diplomacy, which is implemented within the framework of social networks. Unlike traditional diplomacy digital one operates in a different communicative space where blogs, electronic media and global social networks are the key communication channels. Using these tools allows digital diplomacy actors to influence events and communities in other countries. Methods and materials. Method of mixing qualitative and quantitative data, hashtag-analysis, comparative analysis of the social networks’ messages and accounts were able to understand the dynamics and interactions in social networks, engagement and possibilities of institutional and private actors in digital diplomacy. Analysis. In the 2000s foreign policy and public diplomacy began forming based on data on the mood of users of social networks and their preferences in politics. Thanks to this, digital diplomacy may well become one of the innovative tools for resolving modern global problems. Digital diplomacy, as a new method and the tool for implementing foreign policy, contributes to the effective functioning of departments and ministries of foreign affairs, their response to the needs of citizens, to emerging challenges and threats to state security, like a global epidemic or natural disasters. Using digital tools, it is possible to shape the norms of communication, interaction and decision-making by which diplomats perform their work, modifying the diplomatic process. Besides this digital diplomacy increases the attractiveness of the state in the eyes of the world community. Results. Based on a comparative analysis study of the content of social networks, it could be concluded that over almost a decade, from the 2010s to the 2020s, digital diplomacy has developed from a “soft power” mechanism to a method of information warfare and propaganda which involves artificial intelligence tools and big data. But this is predominantly characteristic of technologically developed countries. It is possible to conclude about future co-existence of traditional and digital diplomacies in a new hybrid variety. Authors’ contribution. In this article Liudmila M. Reshetnikova has contributed Introduction, Research Methods, Analysis and Results sections: identified risks and threats to digital diplomacy, analyzed the development of the soft power methods, identified features and tools of digital diplomacy. Irina M. Samokhina has contributed Analysis and Results sections: analyzed social networks and digital infrastructure for digital diplomacy and diplomatic activity, contemporary computer tools for learning about social networks.

A Secure Data Sharing Scheme in Community Segmented Vehicular Social Networks for 6G

The use of aerial base stations, AI cloud, and satellite storage can help manage location, traffic, and specific application-based services for vehicular social networks. However, sharing of such data makes the vehicular network vulnerable to data and privacy leakage. In this regard, this article proposes an efficient and secure data sharing scheme using community segmentation and a blockchain-based framework for vehicular social networks. The proposed work considers similarity matrices that employ the dynamics of structural similarity, modularity matrix, and data compatibility. These similarity matrices are then passed through stacked autoencoders that are trained to extract encoded embedding. A density-based clustering approach is then employed to find the community segments from the information distances between the encoded embeddings. A blockchain network based on the Hyperledger Fabric platform is also adopted to ensure data sharing security. Extensive experiments have been carried out to evaluate the proposed data-sharing framework in terms of the sum of squared error, sharing degree, time cost, computational complexity, throughput, and CPU utilization for proving its efficacy and applicability. The results show that the CSB framework achieves a higher degree of SD, lower computational complexity, and higher throughput.

Desafios na tessitura da Rede Socioinstitucional de acolhimento e cuidado às mulheres vítimas de violência

Abstract This article analyzes how the socio-institutional network for assisting women victims of violence, provided for in the plans of the three levels of government, materializes in a municipality in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. This is qualitative research carried out along with services, actors, and actresses of this network using the ethnographic method. For the analysis, the theoretical framework of social networks was applied. From the identification of flows, exchanges, and values that circulate in this network, understanding how these aspects impact the quality and the way support assistance is provided to women was possible. Absences and disarticulations between services were identified, as well as the need to implement participatory management at various levels to meet the real expectations of women. In conclusion, the Social Networks framework contributes to the structuring, planning, and evaluation of Public Policies for gender equity.

UniSKGRep: A unified representation learning framework of social network and knowledge graph

The human-oriented applications aim to exploit behaviors of people, which impose challenges on user modeling of integrating social network (SN) with knowledge graph (KG), and jointly analyzing two types of graph data. However, existing graph representation learning methods merely represent one of two graphs alone, and hence are unable to comprehensively consider features of both SN and KG with profiling the correlation between them, resulting in unsatisfied performance in downstream tasks. Considering the diverse gap of features and the difficulty of associating of the two graph data, we introduce a Unified Social Knowledge Graph Representation learning framework (UniSKGRep), with the goal to leverage the multi-view information inherent in the SN and KG for improving the downstream tasks of user modeling. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to present a unified representation learning framework for SN and KG. Concretely, the SN and KG are organized as the Social Knowledge Graph (SKG), a unified representation of SN and KG. For the representation learning of SKG, first, two separate encoders in the Intra-graph model capture both the social-view and knowledge-view in two embedding spaces, respectively. Then the Inter-graph model is learned to associate the two separate spaces via bridging the semantics of overlapping node pairs. In addition, the overlapping node enhancement module is designed to effectively align two spaces with the consideration of a relatively small number of overlapping nodes. The two spaces are gradually unified by continuously iterating the joint training procedure. Extensive experiments on two real-world SKG datasets have proved the effectiveness of UniSKGRep in yielding general and substantial performance improvement compared with the strong baselines in various downstream tasks.

School staff wellbeing: A network-based assessment of burnout.

Burnout is commonly associated with professions that entail a high rate of close relationships with other individuals or groups. This paper explores the association between burnout and interpersonal relationships using a relational, social network framework. We collected data on advice-seeking relationships among 102 teachers and administrative staff from a secondary school in Melbourne, Australia. Burnout was measured using the Burnout Assessment Tool and we focused on four core subscales: (1) exhaustion; (2) mental distance; (3) emotional impairment; and (4) cognitive impairment. We applied a particular class of statistical model for social networks called Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) to shed new light on how level of burnout relates to formation of advice relations among school staff. Results indicated that high levels of overall burnout were linked to a higher number of advice-seeking ties among school staff. Additionally, teachers who scored high in cognitive impairment (i.e., difficulties in thinking clearly and learn new things at work) tended to seek and to provide advice to a greater number of others. Finally, school staff who scored high in exhaustion (i.e., a severe loss of energy that results in feelings of both physical and mental exhaustion) tended to be sought out less as advisors to others, while those high in mental distance (i.e., psychologically distancing oneself from others) were generally less likely to seek advice from other school staff. We discuss these findings drawing on Conservation of Resource theory. Notably, our results show that burnout is not only an individual-level problem, but that burnout is associated with reduced social connectivity in specific ways that may impact on how other school staff collaborate, culminating in a staff-wide overall impact that affects how schools function.

The hidden cost of global economic integration: How foreign investment drives military expenditures

The global economy is increasingly integrated, with more than 60,000 international firms now directing almost one million foreign affiliates worldwide. We examine one significant, and largely unexplored, aspect of this integration – the cost of protecting these global investments. More specifically, we assess the extent to which foreign direct investment (FDI) drives military expenditures. Drawing from recent studies, we adopt a social network framework. Using data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Bilateral FDI Statistics and the International Monetary Fund’s Coordinated Direct Investment Survey, we construct the global FDI network between 2001 and 2017 and derive out-degree centrality scores based on each country’s structural location in this network. Next, using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, we estimate two-way fixed effects models for a global sample of 1,880 observations across 129 countries over this time period to assess the relationship between FDI centrality and military expenditures. We find that degree centrality in the global FDI network has a positive impact on military expenditures, net of other relevant predictors.Military expenditures do not, however, appear to drive FDI. We estimate the aggregate impact of FDI centrality on military expenditures, and suggest that these increased costs amount to a hidden subsidy of global corporate activity.

Технологии и приемы ценностного воздействия на российских пользователей в региональных сетях социального недовольства

The article presents the results of an applied study of strategies for using manipulative methods of influence within the framework of social discontent networks. The manipulative strategies being implemented are based on the use of a cognitive template, which consists in forming a specific order of alternability of perception of events in users. The revealed manipulation technologies are aimed at a strong emotional response, which reduces the criticality of information perception, leads to a narrowing of the attention fixation zone, and significantly worsens the prognostic function of thinking.

Social network analysis and application for ecosystem service perceptions by stakeholders for coastal wetland conservation

Stakeholders play a dominant role in shaping ecosystems and driving current environmental management; thus, social networks of stakeholders should be cleared up for ecosystem governance to maintain the ecosystem services and sustainable development. Based on the field survey and questionnaires, we constructed a social network framework for coastal wetland conservation and took the Yellow River Delta (YRD) as an example. We further explored the stakeholder network structure and function and took ecosystem service perceptions as an application by stakeholders impacting coastal wetland conservation. In this case study, we identified a non-cohesive network with low density and high centrality. Among all these stakeholders, provincial government (PGov), municipal government (MGov), and educational institutions (Edu) have high module-to-module participation (MP) scores with other organizations, indicating that they connect others tightly in the network. The main relationships between different stakeholder groups were concentrated in information sharing (79%), production-consumption (14%), and administrative management (7%) relationships, of which the information sharing relationships have a stronger correlation with productivity in the Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) test. We also found that support and regulation services were of the most concern for the ecosystem services perception of stakeholders. Based on our findings, improving the closeness among relevant stakeholder groups, optimizing their overall relationships, and enhancing the protection of ecosystem services are greatly needed to benefit ecosystem conservation.

Estimating a model of herding behavior on social networks

In this paper, we estimate an agent-based model (ABM) to investigate herding behaviors in the formation of investor sentiment. We formalize a simple opinion dynamics model in a social network framework and rely on a numerical method to estimate its parameters. We derive a sentiment proxy from the weekly aggregation of online messages concerning 15 US stocks and 5 cryptocurrencies. Our empirical results suggest a strong impact of herding behavior on the formation of sentiment toward highly volatile assets. For such assets, we simultaneously find limited impacts of financial returns and investor attention on the opinion formation process, suggesting that investor sentiment is explained by social interactions. On the other hand, we find a limited influence of social interactions on sentiment regarding less volatile assets, whose formation process is instead explained by the strong influence of financial returns and investor attention. In particular, we find that herding behavior was significantly higher and played a major role in the sentiment formation process regarding cryptocurrencies when the bubble occurred.

A policy-aware epistemic framework for social networks

Abstract We provide a semantic framework to specify information propagation in social networks; our semantic framework features both the operational description of information propagation and the epistemic aspects in social networks. In our framework, based on annotated labelled transition systems, actions are decorated with function views to specify different types of announcements. Our function views enforce various common types of local privacy policies, i.e. those policies concerning a single action. Furthermore, we specify global privacy policies, those concerning multiple actions, using a combination of modal $\mu $-calculus and epistemic logic. To illustrate the applicability of our framework, we apply it to the specification of a real-world case study. As a fundamental property for the epistemic aspect of our semantic model, we prove that its indistinguishability relations are equivalence relations, namely they are reflexive, symmetric and transitive. We also study the complexity bounds for the model-checking problem concerning a subset of our logic and show that model checking is PSPACE-complete for the studied subset.

Social support networks for women in situation of intimate partner violence.

to analyze the possibilities of support that the social support network offers to women in situations of intimate partner violence. qualitative research anchored in Sanicola's social network framework. A total of 21 women attended at a specialized social assistance service in Porto Velho-Rondônia, Brazil, participated in a semi-structured interview. the analysis of network maps showed that the secondary social support network mobilized had a central character in the lives of women in situations of violence. These women sought the third sector's secondary network, the churches, from which they received emotional-affective and spiritual support. understanding the social network setting and the type of support offered can contribute to improving care for women and strengthening interpersonal and institutional ties that help in the search for breaking the situation of violence.

Structure of social networks of people living with HIV and AIDS

To analyze the structure of the social network of people living with HIV and AIDS. Exploratory and descriptive research with a qualitative approach, developed through interviews with twenty-two people living with HIV and AIDS, from November to December 2019. For analysis, the theoretical-methodological framework of social network was used. The primary networks were of medium size and low density, formed by family members, relatives, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. The secondary networks were characterized by public, private, third sector institutions, workplaces, and by the informal network, which provided support according to the need for care. The family was considered the center of the primary social network structure; however, weaknesses in these social relationships were evidenced. The family relational context of the person with HIV and AIDS was influenced by the secrecy of the diagnosis due to the fear of prejudice and discrimination for being HIV-positive. There was a predilection for the services of the secondary social network that took on the role of specific care for the disease.

Integral health care for transgender adolescents: subsidies for nursing practice.

to analyze the integral health care for transgender adolescents from the perspective of their guardians. qualitative research based on the Social Network framework proposed by Lia Sanicola, developed with 22 guardians of transgender adolescents in Brazil through semi-structured individual online interviews. The empirical material was analyzed using the content analysis technique, thematic modality. lack of ambience was observed, in addition to technical unpreparedness of health professionals in relation to the theme at all levels of care, transphobia, centralization of care in scarce qualified services for transgender children and youth, absence of family support, lack of health promotion actions within the community, especially in the school environment, and the common support from non-governmental initiatives. the centralization of actions in scarce specialized services in the country, and the structural transphobia can compromise the integral health care for transgender adolescents. There is an urgent need for a network of care capable of assisting the joint action by multi and interdisciplinary teams, with greater proactivity of the nurse with the transgender adolescent and their guardians in individual and collective actions; ambience; health promotion in schools for visibility and support in Primary Health Care since childhood. (1) Need for a network of care concerning integral health care for transgender adolescents.(2) Centralization and scarce qualified services for transgender children and youth.(3) Invisible families, lack of health promotion within the community.(4) Unpreparedness of health professionals and disarticulation of the health care network.(5) Need for qualification of nurses when caring for transgender people.