Verbal Aggressiveness Exploration through Complete Social Network Analysis: Using Physical Education Students’ Class as an Illustration

Aim of this study: is a) to detect informal structures (power and position in structures of targeting of verbal aggression) among higher education students, b) to analyze determinants of these structural properties, and c) to propose a typology of verbal aggression targets. Complete network analysis was applied on a sample of a 53 students in Physical Education Faculty, Thessaly University, Greece. Four network analysis algorithms were used: in-degree, Katz status, pagerank, authority. Non-network and network determinants of being target of verbal aggressiveness were analyzed. Gender (particularly femaleness), high grade of school graduation and parents education level protect from verbal aggressiveness while interest in post-graduate study seems to provoke criticism. Ignoring public opinion and intimacy with many “close friends” are positively correlated with verbal aggressiveness. Young (and not old-fashioned) appearance, imposing and eccentric appearance characteristics seem to protect against verbal aggressiveness. Big corporal size, dark skin colors seem to provoke insults in case of female students. Eminent economic state is also provocative as it implies pretentiousness. Phone verbal aggressiveness appears mainly among male students. Eminent qualities such as “good friend”, “desirable partner” etc make someone an eminent target for verbal aggressiveness. Verbal aggressiveness presents a catholic character and thus seems to be destructive and not constructive. Intellectual abilities (weaknesses) constitute a verbal aggressiveness target core. The following types of verbal aggressiveness targets are proposed: a) the “general ‘black sheep’”, b) the “contemptible type”, c) the “bagger” type, d) the “victim of mockers” and e) the “victim of serial criticizers”

Digital Perception Functionality for Institutional Design: The Forest Policy Issue of "Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park" of Scotland as a Case Study

Motivation for this research was the need to perceive the relations among actors involved in the rural-forest policy networks. The problem of an objective analysis of formal and informal power and information flow structure measurement and visualization in policy-making is tried to be solved. The policy network of "Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park" is used as a case study as it includes a great variety of actors. An answer to the much-discussed problem of digital perception of politico-administrative power are in part the results about: (1) how complexity of policy making can be measured and what this practically means, (2) who controls the communication, (3) where the most important information resources are located, and (4) who is most trustworthy in this network. It is concluded that: "Important" information is not a source of trust, but rather inversely, through trust one can impose information as being important. Between actors of relatively high trust status, the most trusted one does not need to control information in order to strengthen its position. A less trusted actor may supplement the lack of power status with information control. The leading role that forestry sector may play even in cross-sectoral issues is pointed out in this case study

Network Analysis Functionality in Environmental Policy: Combining Abstract Software Engineering with Field Empiricism

An empirical application of abstract network analysis software is presented in this paper. Environmental policy networks are used as a case study. The visualization of the real network hierarchy and activity (formal and informal) is feasible only by using special software. A system of "actors"(e.g. public institutions, interest groups, enterprises) interacting with each other and dealing with a particular environmental issue constitutes a policy network, which influences the environmental policy functionality. The impacts of policy content ambiguity on network characteristics have been analyzed by using network analysis software as an example of combining algorithms with empiricism. Recommendations are made to software engineers about possible combination of algorithms with statistics and enrichment of the network analysis software with more visual analytic functions. Stronger familiarization of software engineers with policy analysis discourse and of policy analysts with positivism becomes more imperative for this purpose. On the basis of the quantitative results, environmental policy-makers are advised to invest more in trust development than in pressure and to instrumentalize more scientific information under conditions of ambiguity

Water Buffaloes grazing behaviour at the Lake Kerkini National Park, Northern Greece

The monthly variation of Greek water buffaloes’ grazing behaviour was investigated at the Lake Kerkini National Park in Greece. Direct observations were carried out on six female buffaloes for two consecutive days every month for a one-year period, and the time spent (in minutes) on their grazing-related activities (feeding, moving, wallowing, standing, ruminating, drinking, and lying) was recorded. Moreover, social and aggressive interactions and selfgrooming were recorded as number of events. Also, the daily distance travelled by buffaloes was recorded with a handheld GPS. Buffaloes travelled on average 6.9 km/day, and they walked their longest distance in June (10.7 km/day) and their shortest in September (2.9 km/day). They spent more time (P<0.05) on feeding (309.2 min/day) compared to moving (121.7 min/day), wallowing (27.9 min/day), standing (20.2 min/day), ruminating (15.4 min/day), drinking (4.7 min/day) and lying (4.2 min/day). Greek water buffaloes seem to be sociable rather than aggressive animals as they devote to these activities on average 18.2 vs 0.5 events/day. We can conclude that the animals adjust their grazing behaviour to climatic conditions and the availability of forage resources

Environmental Policy and Science Management: Using a Scientometric-specific GIS for E-learning Purposes

Who is the "good scientist" in rural-environmental policy? This is not so self-evident as in the case of private high-tech industry. Developing e-learning system in environmental science management is a challenging task in the area of forest and general rural development policy. Who determines the most "important" scientific information and who controls it? There are algorithms for measuring centrality in information networks. The concepts of closeness and betweenness centrality are used as basic metadata for categorizing the communication type in the rural-environmental policy networks. This paper discusses the development of a GIS-based model which includes region-based scientometrics, regarding policy field communication

E-Learning & Environmental Policy: The case of a politico-administrative GIS

Is an effective knowledge exchange and cooperation between academic community and practitioners possible? Implementation of e-learning in specialized policy fields pertains to the most challenging priorities of ICTs and software engineering. In multidisciplinary academic areas which combine environmental policy studies with positivist subjects (like environmental issues, forest policy, rural development, Landscape Architecture etc), the using of e-learning system in analyzing policy issues steadily gains in importance and is a method which connects the academic community and the researchers with the practitioners and field experts. Such initiatives incorporate a number of politometrics- relevant algorithms embedded in a context of political geography (i.e. visualized hierarchies in different regionrelated policy issues). This is the case addressed in this paper. The GIS learning management system introduced in this paper is based on certain criteria concerning organizational models and region-specific politico-administrative hierarchies. Scenarios of politico-administrative metadata achieving optimal power synergy are extracted through a sequencing technique, combining vector-algebra software and statistics and can be used for both teaching and research purposes

Machtfaktorentypologie über Organisations- und Netzwerkanalyse am Beispiel Umweltpolitiknetze

Hauptfrage: wer besitzt die Macht und wann. Die Hypothese geht davon aus, dass die Macht von Netzwerk- und Organisationscharakteristika (akteursbezogenen Charakteristika) abhängt. Aus diesem Grund kann nicht jeder Akteur (Organisation) mächtig in jedem Netzwerk sein. Macht- und Institutionstheorien werden durch die Ergebnisse operationalisiert, ergänzt und spezifiziert. Fünf Typen von Machtfaktoren werden vorgeschlagen. Diese sind Kombinationen von Organisations- und Netzwerkcharakteristika, die möglichst hohe Machtsynergie und niedrige Inkompatibilität in diesen Kombinationen hervorbringen. Die erste Machtdimension ist das Vertrauen; Der Vertraute führt den Vertrauenden. Die zweite Machtdimension ist die Finanzierung: Der Finanzierer beeinflusst den Finanzierten. Die dritte Machtdimension ist die Unersetzlichkeit. Diese ist eine Operationalisierung der allgemeinen Systemtheorie, die das Austauschmodel der Macht anwendbar macht. Obwohl die abhängige Variable (Macht) anhand der Systemtheorie berechnet wird, ergeben sich die unabhängigen Variablen vom Neuinstitutionalismus. Zu diesem Zweck ist eine Kombination von Verbändeforschung und Netzwerktheorie erforderlich. Diese Theorien werden durch die Ergebnisse spezifiziert.Die Typologie der Machtfaktoren (Organisations- und Netzwerkcharakteristika) entstand sowohl aus induktiven als auch aus deduktiven Prozessen. Die Organisationsfaktoren wurden von bestimmten Theorien deduziert: Der "ordnungsfreundliche" Typ von der Kontngenz-Theorie und "mobilization of bias", der "Vertrauenswürdige" Typ von dem "resource-dependence"- Modell, der "Alleswisser" Typ von der Entscheidungstheorie, und der "Umverteiler" von der Entscheidungstheorie und Thesen zu der Rolle der "monitoring"-Information. Im folgenden fungieren die deduzierten Faktoren jedes Typs als Basis für die Induktion von Netzwerkfaktoren, die sich über schrittweise Regression mit den Organisationscharakteristika zu Kombinationen optimaler Machtsynergie kombinieren lassen.Die Methodologie ist eine statistikbasierte Vektoralgebra. Es wurden 108 Indikatoren bei 234 Fällen aus 12 Umweltpolitiknetzwerken in 8 europäischen Ländern gemessen (Dänemark, Deutschland, Finnland, Griechenland, Irland, Schweden, Spanien, UK). Im allgemeinen besteht die Macht zu 82% aus Vertrauen, zu 8% aus Finanzierung und zu 10% aus Unersetzlichkeit. Nicht alle Netzwerkcharakteristika und Verbändeforschungsmodelle, die bisher vorgeschlagen sind, haben sich hier als machtrelevant erwiesen, sondern nur einige in bestimmten Kombinationen. Wir klassifizieren diese Kombinationen in fünf Typen: Der "ordnungsfreundliche" Typ: Ein Akteur mit multidisziplinärem Team, der systemkonform aber doch nicht staatskontrolliert ist, hat eine optimale Chance in einem monosektoralen Netz mit wenig Partizipanten und intensiven Kontakten vom privaten zum Staatssektor, in dem der Staat keine wichtige Rolle spielt. Der "Kleinbrüder": Ein Akteur mit starken Bündnispartnern und alternativen Finanzierungsressourcen hat einen optimale Chance in einem monosektoralen Netz mit niedriger Oligarchie, in dem möglichst viele potentielle Kontakte noch nicht erschlossen sind. Der "Alleskenner": Ein mächtiger Akteur kann seine Macht am effektivsten einsetzen, in dem er allgemeine oder Bedeutung ist, durchsetzt. Der "Umverteiler": Ein mächtiger Akteur kann seine Macht am effektivsten einsetzen, indem er aktuelle allgemeine Information von anderen des Netzes empfängt und rekonstruiert, um "wichtige" allgemeine und wissenschaftliche Information zu verbreiten. Dies setzt allerdings ein Netz mit kaum wissenschaftlicher Information voraus.Die Koexistenz von methodischen Vor- und Nachteilen bei der kompletten Netzwerkanalyse deutet auf künftige Forschungsinteressen bezüglich der Qualität der Regression und der Anwendbarkeit der Methode Heckman"s über die Selbstselektion. Eine Kombinationsstrategie qualitativer und quantitativer Forschung ist erforderlich, um die Politikberatung operationeller und die Theoretisierung präziser zu machen

Conceptualising ‘macro-regions’: Viewpoints and tools beyond NUTS classification

Definitions are imposed but properties not. The basic question addressed by this paper is how to ‘detect’ objective socio-economic spatial structures instead of ‘defining’ them arbitrarily. The NUTS classification model is rather arbitrary. Not only have the administrative units been structured through ‘accidental’ historical conditions but the reliability of the measurement of the population in an area is disputable as long as the mobility is strengthened and the ‘usual residence’ becomes more and more vague. Concerning the auxiliary criteria, they are also heterogeneous and are rather perceptions imposed by decision makers than physical entities. The quantitative network analysis (QNA) approach is suggested as a tool to detect macro-structures regarded as socio-economic and natural infrastructure of a ‘macro-region’. This is based on algebraic analysis of a number of variables such as flows of people migration, financial means, information, commodities, bio-diversity elements and parameters of the new relationship between urban and rural areas. In this paper, by using algorithms of QNA, such as Density of flows or Betweenness centrality of places, ‘denser” or more “central’ places can be differentiated from others, and thus can be used for a more substantial demarcation of ‘macro-regions’

Conceptualising ‘macro-regions’: Viewpoints and tools beyond NUTS classification

Definitions are imposed but properties not. The basic question addressed by this paper is how to ‘detect’ objective socio-economic spatial structures instead of ‘defining’ them arbitrarily. The NUTS classification model is rather arbitrary. Not only have the administrative units been structured through ‘accidental’ historical conditions but the reliability of the measurement of the population in an area is disputable as long as the mobility is strengthened and the ‘usual residence’ becomes more and more vague. Concerning the auxiliary criteria, they are also heterogeneous and are rather perceptions imposed by decision makers than physical entities. The quantitative network analysis (QNA) approach is suggested as a tool to detect macro-structures regarded as socio-economic and natural infrastructure of a ‘macro-region’. This is based on algebraic analysis of a number of variables such as flows of people migration, financial means, information, commodities, bio-diversity elements and parameters of the new relationship between urban and rural areas. In this paper, by using algorithms of QNA, such as Density of flows or Betweenness centrality of places, ‘denser†or more “central’ places can be differentiated from others, and thus can be used for a more substantial demarcation of ‘macro-regions’.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital, macro-region, NUTS, flows, quantitative network analysis, migration, rural-urban relationship, place,

Revista de educación

Título, resumen y palabras clave también en inglésResumen basado en el de la publicaciónDisponible versión en inglésAnálisis dinámico de conductas destructivas de agresividad verbal, bullying y maquiavelismo entre estudiantes universitarios en cuanto a su evolución diacrónica y la estabilidad de agresores y víctimas durante un semestre. Se utilizaron cuestionarios de red estandarizados. Se recogieron doce muestras de redes (clases semestrales de estudiantes) de cuatro departamentos griegos de Educación Física (en total 538). Las variables de las redes (in/out-degree, Κatz status, pagerank, authority) se calcularon mediante el software Visone, mientras que para el análisis diacrónico de las redes se aplicó la prueba de Spearman. Los resultados muestran que el fortalecimiento de la práctica de estos comportamientos puede atribuirse al hecho de que los estudiantes se familiarizan más entre sí durante el semestre. La amenaza parece ser estable e inalterable en contraste con la ironía. La conducta más habitual cuando se produce una situación de acoso es la de "rechazar ayuda". Se observó la evolución de la "exclusión" al "rechazo de ayuda". El "engaño" indica una predisposición a la "puñalada por la espalda". Se observó una estabilidad notablemente débil de la victimización en la agresividad verbal con "exclusión" como presagio de la continuación del abuso.ES