Friendship patterns, desire for change and satisfaction : thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at Massey University

The aim of the present study was to investigate friendship patterns and change within these over the past twelve years. A replication of an earlier friendship study conducted using a New Zealand sample was undertaken. Additional information was gathered relating to satisfaction with elements of friendship and desire for change in friendships. Few changes in variables relating to friendship patterns were expected. Being in a relationship was expected to reduce the numbers of friends possessed especially in cross-sex friendships. Both men and women were expected to value women more in areas of emotional support, discussing personal problems and therapeutic value in friendship. Men and women were expected to rate greater satisfaction with women in areas of assistance and emotional support. Men were expected to desire greater increases in friendship numbers and conversation intimacy than women. A sample of 64 male and 78 female Massey University Psychology students volunteered as participants. Comparisons were made between the present study's findings and those of earlier work, noting changes in males friendships. Most friendship patterns were found to be largely unchanged. predictions about valuing friendship were supported. Satisfaction data indicated that women rate themselves more satisfied in same-sex friendships than men. Men rated themselves as more satisfied in opposite-sex friendships than women. No significant sex-differences were noted for desire for change in friendship. However both sexes would like more friends of each type, and greater personal conversation in friendship. Results are discussed with reference to change in friendship patterns and traditional male sex-roles

Fumigation with phosphine under gas-proof sheets (ODNRI Bulletin No. 26)

Although fumigation with phosphine is a simple technique, results, in terms of insect mortality, are often unsatisfactory. This is because complete insect control can only be achieved if an insecticidal concentration of phosphine is maintained for a sufficient length of time. Where multiple fumigations with phosphine have failed to meet these criteria insect resistance to phosphine has become established. This bulletin describes the formulations, equipment, application techniques and safety considerations required to achieve satisfactory fumigation results

Choice of fumigation sheets for use in the tropics (ODNRI Bulletin No. 27)

A successful fumigation requires that an insecticidal concentration of the fumigant is maintained within the fumigation chamber during the exposure period. The demand for fumigation sheets is generally too low for manufacturers to formulate plastic sheets specifically for this purpose. Therefore it is necessary to select the most suitable material from whatever is available. This bulletin gives guidelines to assist in making the right choice

Impartiality, Close Friendships and the Confucian Tradition

This article explores the relationship between friendship and morality. Two ideas have been influential in the history of moral philosophy: the impartial standpoint and close friendship. These two perspectives on thought and action can conflict, however, and such a case is presented here. In an attempt to resolve these tensions, and understand the assumption that gives rise to it, I explore an alternative conception of moral conduct and friendship suggested by early Confucian thought. Within this account, moral conduct is that which aims at harmony, understood as the appropriate blending of different elements. This suggests a conception of friendship that realizes harmony through a focus on shared activities, and the quality of interaction achieved between people as they participate in shared social events. This account offers a novel way of conceptualizing friendship, which also avoids the tension between the impartial standpoint and close friendship

Leveraging Friendship Networks for Dynamic Link Prediction in Social Interaction Networks

On-line social networks (OSNs) often contain many different types of relationships between users. When studying the structure of OSNs such as Facebook, two of the most commonly studied networks are friendship and interaction networks. The link prediction problem in friendship networks has been heavily studied. There has also been prior work on link prediction in interaction networks, independent of friendship networks. In this paper, we study the predictive power of combining friendship and interaction networks. We hypothesize that, by leveraging friendship networks, we can improve the accuracy of link prediction in interaction networks. We augment several interaction link prediction algorithms to incorporate friendships and predicted friendships. From experiments on Facebook data, we find that incorporating friendships into interaction link prediction algorithms results in higher accuracy, but incorporating predicted friendships does not when compared to incorporating current friendships.Comment: To appear in ICWSM 2018. This version corrects some minor errors in Table 1. MATLAB code available at https://github.com/IdeasLabUT/Friendship-Interaction-Predictio

Squaring the Epicurean Circle: Friendship and Happiness in the Garden

Epicurean ethics has been subject to withering ancient and contemporary criticism for the supposed irreconcilability of Epicurus’s emphatic endorsement of friendship and his equally clear and striking ethical egoism. Recently, Matthew Evans (2004) has suggested that the key to a plausible Epicurean response to these criticisms must begin by understanding why friendship is valuable for Epicurus. In the first section of this paper I develop Evans’ suggestion further. I argue that a shared conception of the human telos and of what is required to attain it structures the confidence that characterizes friendship. In the second part of the paper I return to two contemporary criticisms of Epicurean friendship. The first criticism focuses on the problem of free riders. The second criticism points to a seeming inconsistency in Epicurean doctrine. I suggest that both criticisms can be adequately addressed once we understand Epicurean friendship in greater depth