Social networks versus technical networks： How different social interaction patterns effect information system utilization in the organizations？

Improvements in information and communication technologies have reshaped production and consumption relations during the post-modern era. Societies have tried to adapt themselves to the requirements of new knowledge-based economy. It has also become vital for the organizations to meet the needs of knowledge society. Whether they are public or private, organizations play key roles in the transformation processes of the societies and economies. It is important for the organizations not only to use the latest information technologies, but also create social structures, which can ease information flow throughout the organization. Social network studies that are quite different from traditional approaches in sociology can be very useful tools to understand arid manipulate organizational networks. The results of several research activities have shown that actors use their social connections to reach information, resources and possible opportunities （Garguilo ＆ Benassi, 2000）. It is not enough to use advanced information technologies in an organization to build an effective knowledge distribution system regarding the social network perspective, it is required to understand the patterns of social interactions between actors and to find a fit between technical structure and social structure for effective knowledge-based organizational design. Structural holes theory （Butt, 1992） emphasized the importance of brokerage roles of the actors in a social network. Structural holes are unconnected actors （individuals, groups or organizations） in a social network （Burt, 1992）. If there are numerous structural holes in an organization, there will also be quite a number of brokerage opportunities for some actors in the organizational networks. Brokers are the bridges and gatekeepers who are controlling information flow in the organizations. It is vitally important to explore brokerage patterns in an organizational network for an effective knowledge based design. This study is a conceptual framework aiming at bringing an explanation to socially created information flow structures in the organizations by using structural holes theory.     

Immigration effects on crime in a midwestern,nontraditional destination: a neighborhood-level analysis of Cincinnati,Ohio

Abstract

A wide-ranging body of research on the immigration-crime relationship has shown that immigration does not increase community crime levels. However, most prior studies have focused on traditional immigrant destinations or border cities. This study addresses several gaps in this line of research by exploring immigration effects on neighborhood levels of Violent and Property Index crimes for the 2008 to 2014 period in Cincinnati, Ohio – a Midwestern, mid-sized, nontraditional immigrant destination. Overall, our findings are consistent with previous research and indicate that controlling for other factors, the percent foreign-born has largely neutral effects on census tract-level crime rates in Cincinnati. Moreover, our findings show no signs of indirect effects of immigration on crime through neighborhood disadvantage.     

Prepared Disappearing Ink and Deciphering of Documents

Disappearing inks can be used for forgeries in many fields. In this study, thymolphthalein indicator solution was prepared as a disappearing ink. A total of 54 different solutions containing thymolphthalein were prepared at six different concentrations and nine different pH values. Among the prepared solutions, 0.16 g/50 mL and 0.32 g/65 mL thymolphthalein at pH 14 were the optimum solutions that were not distinguishable from regular ink when applied to promissory note. Fountain pens were filled with the abovementioned ink solutions and applied to promissory notes for experimental purposes. After 40 h, ink residues were not visible on promissory notes written with the ink with the optimum pH (pH = 14) value. To decipher the entries that disappeared, an instrumental method (Video Spectral Comparator‐8000) and a chemical method (using NH₃ vapor) were used, succeeded at 0.32 g/65 mL, but failed at 0.16 g/50 mL thymolphthalein. Therefore, NH₃ had to be sprayed for 0.16 g/50 mL with negligible harm.     

Fighting for survival: responding to state capacity and terror group end

ABSTRACT

The well-established argument in the literature suggests that the higher state capacity is associatedwith the lower chance of experiencing civil conflict or higherchance of defeating the violent non-state groups. However, theliterature does not sufficiently address how these groups respondto increasing state capacity, and how their responses to that shapethe dynamic of political violence. I investigate the impact of statecapacity on terrorist group termination by exploring the waysterrorist groups respond to increasing state capacity. I argue thatincreasing state capacity might lead to a set of responses fromthe terror group in a way that it might induce the group to producemore terrorist violence to show that the group can still persist. Itmay also encourage the group to provide positive and negativeincentives to its constituents in order to rehabilitate its physicalcapacity to operate, and to prevent a shift of popular support a wayfrom the group towards to the government. Thus, such responsesof the group will decrease the likelihood of its terror campaign. Ialso expect that these arguments are especially relevant for ethnicor religious terror groups. The results of the empirical analysessupport these theoretical expectations.     

Social Science and the Public Interest

Social Science and the Public Interest

Social Science and the Public Interest May/June 2010     

The Fatal Poisoning Pattern of Ankara (Turkey) and Nearby Cities from 2007 to June 2011: A Retrospective Study in Forensic Autopsies

We aimed to obtain an outline of the nature and number of fatal poisonings which still appear to affect widely the population in Turkey. A total of 5921 forensic autopsies were performed between 2007 and 2011 in Ankara and nearby cities and 366 of them were fatal poisonings (219 male, 147 female). Most of the cases were between 41 and 60 years old (n = 84). Most of the fatalities were reported during winter months (48.1%). Carbon monoxide exposure was the most common reason (66.7%) within all the causes followed by medicine and narcotics (13.9%). Postmortem blood alcohol concentrations in ethyl and methyl alcohol poisonings were 385.1 ± 61.9 and 206.8 ± 138.9 mg/dL, respectively. The most common location of deaths was home (71.3%). Fatal poisonings have been a growing global problem because of some shortcomings about the socioeconomic conditions and increasing illicit drug abuse. The level of education, socioeconomic conditions, and legal approaches are very important for the prevention fatal poisonings.     

Not 'by those old books of international law, but only by war': Ottoman Intellectuals on the Eve of the Great War

Prevailing understanding of the Ottoman entry into Word War I has focused on the role of Enver Pasha and the so-called pro-German faction in the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). This article examines Ottoman views on international relations and the future of the Ottoman Empire in contemporary Ottoman publications. The article concludes that substantial parts of Ottoman society viewed war in 1914 not only as an acceptable course of action, but as a morally justified, potentially liberating, and unifying experience for many Ottomans. Ottoman views, therefore, form part of a much wider non-Western response to Western expansion, and Ottoman entry into World War I is best understood as a reaction against the international system which the Ottoman leaders thought had betrayed them.