Social networking and transnational capitalism

Social Networking Sites (SNS) have become a key component of users’ experience of the internet. Whilst much has been made of the social dynamics of online SNS, the influence of the structures and operations of these sites – and the business models behind them – on users is rarely accounted for. This paper argues that behind the social behaviours sup- ported by SNS, there is a growing shift towards viewing online communities as commodities, and SNS as an extension of mainstream capitalist ideologies fostered by existing patterns of commercialization and consumption. Using the works of Gramsci, Gill and Hardt & Negri to provide a critical grounding, this paper explores the popular SNS site ‘Facebook’ and suggests that SNS may feel to the users to be free, social, personal, but in fact SNS are business as usual

Anomalous Behavior near T_c and Synchronization of Andreev Reflection in Two-Dimensional Arrays of SNS Junctions

We have investigated low-temperature transport properties of two-dimensional arrays of superconductor--normal-metal--superconductor (SNS) junctions. It has been found that in two-dimensional arrays of SNS junctions (i) a change in the energy spectrum within an interval of the order of the Thouless energy is observed even when the thermal broadening far exceeds the Thouless energy for a single SNS junction; (ii) the manifestation of the subharmonic energy gap structure (SGS) with high harmonic numbers is possible even if the energy relaxation length is smaller than that required for the realization of a multiple Andreev reflection in a single SNS junction. These results point to the synchronization of a great number of SNS junctions. A mechanism of the SGS origin in two-dimensional arrays of SNS junctions, involving the processes of conventional and crossed Andreev reflection, is proposed.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

An empirical analysis of SNS users and their privacy and security awareness of risks associated with sharing SNS profiles (online identities)

Social networking sites (SNS) like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn now have hundreds of millions of users. In this paper a quantitative approach was used to analyse primary data collected about SNS users. Our findings show that SNS users are dominated by younger adults, higher education levels and higher income levels. SNSs are more likely to be used for maintaining existing friendships as opposed to establishing new friendships and for building business networks. SNS users either have poor levels of privacy and security awareness or high levels of complacency in relation to SNS profile sharing and sharing their identity online

The best of both worlds? Online ties and the alternating use of social network sites in the context of migration

While an ever-growing body of research is concerned with user behavior on individual social network sites (SNSs)—mostly Facebook—studies addressing an alternating use of two or more SNS are rare. Here, we investigate the relationship between alternating SNS use and social capital in the context of migration. Alternating SNS use avoids some of the problems associated with large networks located on one site; in particular the management of different social or cultural spheres. Not only does this strategy hold potential for increased social capital, it also provides a particular incentive for migrants faced with the challenge of staying in touch with back home and managing a new social environment. Two survey studies are presented that focus on the relationship between alternating SNS use and online ties in a migrant context involving Indian nationals. Study 1 looked at migration within India, whereas Study 2 compared international with domestic SNS users. In both studies, alternating SNS use added to the prediction of online network size and accounted for differences in network size found for migrant and non-migrant users. Differences were due to the number of peripheral ties, rather than core ties. Findings suggest that alternating SNS use may constitute a compensatory strategy that helps to overcome lower levels of socializing represented through a single SNS

Playing in a virtual bedroom: youth leisure in the Facebook generation

The rapidly changing uses of online social networking sites (SNS) have led to moral panics, most notably framed in terms of 'stranger danger'. However, the risks to young people from access to un-mediated content available via SNS, and most particularly to user-generated content is not generally seen as being dangerous. However, adults would not generally consider many of the activities engaged in via SNS as safe were they conducted in the real world. This paper explores the ways in which young people use SNS to mediate complex issues of social identity in a virtual environment

Decompressive craniectomy in post-IV rt-PA patients: a retrospective study

Theme: Brain Attack: A New EraOral-Poster Presentation I: Paper no. FP1-01BACKGROUND: Decompressive craniectomy increases survival in patients with ischaemic stroke. There has been little data regarding decompressive craniectomy in patients who have failed intravenous thrombolysis. Outcomes were evaluated at a ...postprin

A new concept of invariance for saturated systems

In this paper, a new concept of invariance for saturated linear systems is presented. This new notion of invariance, denoted SNS-invariance, has a number of geometrical properties that makes its use suitable for the estimation of the domain of attraction of saturated systems. The notion of SNS-domain of attraction, that serves as an estimation of the domain of attraction of a saturated system, is introduced. It is shown that, in case of single input saturated systems, any contractive set is contained in the SNS-domain of attraction. A simple algorithm that converges to the SNS-domain of attraction is presented. Some illustrative examples are given