Social network analysis and narrative structures: measuring communication and influence in a Medieval source for the Kingdom of Sicily

This article presents a methodological reflection and the results of a research focus that I have applied to understand the social and political processes present in a textual source. The central issue under study was the interaction among social actors as narrated in a historical text. I anticipated that a relational approach could contribute to understanding narratives and their historical utility. The two main questions that oriented my research were: 1) how can one extract relational data and construct networks that represent the information contained in a narrative source?; and, 2) what do the networks so constructed tell us about the meaning and implications of the social space present in the message? In order to focus on the information on social and political processes embedded in the text, I “translated” a rhetorical report into a relational dataset. The first step in this process required “translating” a textual structure into a sociological construct that I call the socio-relational dataset. The narrative datasets provided a series of narrative socio-matrixes that could be explored using the tools of network analysis. Of these tools, the application and interpretation of centrality measures turned out to be one of the most fruitful approaches for understanding the social dimensions of the text, while measures of centrality and prestige proved useful when exploring the narrative interactions of communication and social influence. This study attempts to prove that a relational approach makes it possible to bridge the gap between cognitive and structural perspectives, and so advance towards an understanding of the social images found ‘between the lines’ of a textual source

One-parameter Darboux-transformed quantum actions in Thermodynamics

We use nonrelativistic supersymmetry, mainly Darboux transformations of the general (one-parameter) type, for the quantum oscillator thermodynamic actions. Interesting Darboux generalizations of the fundamental Planck and pure vacuum cases are discussed in some detail with relevant plots. It is shown that the one-parameter Darboux-transformed Thermodynamics refers to superpositions of boson and fermion excitations of positive and negative absolute temperature, respectively. Recent results of Arnaud, Chusseau, and Philippe physics/0105048 regarding a single mode oscillator Carnot cycle are extended in the same Darboux perspective. We also conjecture a Darboux generalization of the fluctuation-dissipation theoremComment: 14 pages, 13 figures, correction of the formula in the text after Eq. 7, accepted at Physica Script

‘I didn't feel like I was alone anymore’: evaluating self-organised employee coping practices conducted via Facebook

The long-term fracturing of the labour movement has led to increased attention to employee coping practices under new management practices and labour processes. However, the literature caters little for the recent rise of employees taking to social networking sites (SNSs), such as Facebook, to find ways to cope with the pressures of contemporary employment. To explore the self-organised coping qualities of SNSs, interviews were conducted with front line workers, employed by a large anti-trade union US retailer, who contribute to a self-organised Facebook group set up as a place for fellow employees to deal with collective employment-related problems. The main findings suggest employee self-organised Facebook groups represent an important development and extension to the coping practices available to individual and groups of employees. The main implication of the findings is that Facebook groups appear to strengthen and widen the options for employee resilience in an age of continuing trade union retreat