Towards an SMS-based Social Network for Health Workers in Rural Areas in Myanmar

Seventy percent of the population in Myanmar lives in rural areas. Although health workers are adequately trained, they are overburdened due to understaffing and insufficient supplies. Literature confirms that information and communication technologies can extend the reach of healthcare. In this paper, we present an SMS-based social network that aims to help health workers to interact with other medical professionals through topic-based message delivery. Topics describe interests of users and the content of message. A message is delivered by matching message content with user interests. Users describe topics as ICD- 10 codes, a comprehensive medical taxonomy. In this ICD-10 coded SMS, a set of prearranged codes provides a common language for users to send structured information that fits inside an SMS.

Network Analysis Reveals Sex- and Antibiotic Resistance-Associated Antivirulence Targets in Clinical Uropathogens.

Increasing antibiotic resistance among uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is driving interest in therapeutic targeting of nonconserved virulence factor (VF) genes. The ability to formulate efficacious combinations of antivirulence agents requires an improved understanding of how UPEC deploy these genes. To identify clinically relevant VF combinations, we applied contemporary network analysis and biclustering algorithms to VF profiles from a large, previously characterized inpatient clinical cohort. These mathematical approaches identified four stereotypical VF combinations with distinctive relationships to antibiotic resistance and patient sex that are independent of traditional phylogenetic grouping. Targeting resistance- or sex-associated VFs based upon these contemporary mathematical approaches may facilitate individualized anti-infective therapies and identify synergistic VF combinations in bacterial pathogens.

Científicos y políticas públicas : la incidencia de una red en el tratamiento de una Ley de Ordenamiento Territorial

Nuestro trabajo tiene como objetivo aplicar conceptos de la teoría de los sistemas complejos y herramientas del análisis de redes sociales para describir y analizar el surgimiento y la evolución de una red social conformada por científicos, docentes, graduados y funcionarios públicos de diferentes organismos científicos y académicos, que crearon y participaron de un equipo multidisciplinario que elaboró un informe sobre un proyecto de ley de Ordenamiento Territorial y Usos del Suelo de la provincia de Mendoza en el año 2006. Para la compresión de la evolución del proceso de elaboración del proyecto de ley de ordenamiento territorial y de usos del suelo, organizaremos la estructura del trabajo de la siguiente manera: - Primero aplicaremos aspectos teóricos y metodológicos, basados en la sistematización realizada por Rolando García en su libro “Sistemas Complejos. Conceptos, método y fundamentación epistemológica de la investigación interdisciplinaria", para realizar el recorte del sistema objeto de estudio. - En segundo lugar utilizaremos la Teoría de Análisis de Redes Sociales para describir la composición y estructura del sistema (nodos y vínculos) en cada momento. La estructura del sistema en cada momento significativo será graficada por medio el Software Ucinet 6 y NetDraw. - Por último, haremos referencia a las dificultades que tuvo el proceso desde el punto de vista de las condicionalidades que generaban los modelos mentales que portaban los participantes.

Analysis and visualization of the dynamics of research groups in terms of projects and co-authored publications : A case study of library and information science in Argentina

Objective: The present study offers a novel methodological contribution to the study of the configuration and dynamics of research groups, through a comparative perspective of the projects funded (inputs) and publication co-authorships (output). Method: A combination of bibliometric techniques and social network analysis was applied to a case study: the Departmento de Bibliotecología (DHUBI), Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, for the period 2000-2009. The results were interpreted statistically and staff members of the department, were interviewed. Results: The method makes it possible to distinguish groups, identify their members and reflect group make-up through an analytical strategy that involves the categorization of actors and the interdisciplinary and national or international projection of the networks that they configure. The integration of these two aspects (input and output) at different points in time over the analyzed period leads to inferences about group profiles and the roles of actors. Conclusions: The methodology presented is conducive to micro-level interpretations in a given area of study, regarding individual researchers or research groups. Because the comparative input-output analysis broadens the base of information and makes it possible to follow up, over time, individual and group trends, it may prove very useful for the management, promotion and evaluation of science

Secret and power in social life

Secret and power constitute two fundamental instances of the social world. Secret takes care of the concealment of things and of social processes. Secret is also a power device. Power is the social capacity to do, create, not doing and stop from doing. Secret and power get mutual feedback. Power uses the secret to protect his potential, be it what may, to increment its operative strength. Secret uses the power to achieve its aims and proposals. Social sciences seem to ignore the huge explanatory capacity of these two interrelated concepts, and even more, their powerful intervention in societies.

Analysis and visualization of the dynamics of research groups in terms of projects and co-authored publications : A case study of library and information science in Argentina

Objective: The present study offers a novel methodological contribution to the study of the configuration and dynamics of research groups, through a comparative perspective of the projects funded (inputs) and publication co-authorships (output). Method: A combination of bibliometric techniques and social network analysis was applied to a case study: the Departmento de Bibliotecología (DHUBI), Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, for the period 2000-2009. The results were interpreted statistically and staff members of the department, were interviewed. Results: The method makes it possible to distinguish groups, identify their members and reflect group make-up through an analytical strategy that involves the categorization of actors and the interdisciplinary and national or international projection of the networks that they configure. The integration of these two aspects (input and output) at different points in time over the analyzed period leads to inferences about group profiles and the roles of actors. Conclusions: The methodology presented is conducive to micro-level interpretations in a given area of study, regarding individual researchers or research groups. Because the comparative input-output analysis broadens the base of information and makes it possible to follow up, over time, individual and group trends, it may prove very useful for the management, promotion and evaluation of science

Secret and power in social life

Secret and power constitute two fundamental instances of the social world. Secret takes care of the concealment of things and of social processes. Secret is also a power device. Power is the social capacity to do, create, not doing and stop from doing. Secret and power get mutual feedback. Power uses the secret to protect his potential, be it what may, to increment its operative strength. Secret uses the power to achieve its aims and proposals. Social sciences seem to ignore the huge explanatory capacity of these two interrelated concepts, and even more, their powerful intervention in societies.

Analysis and visualization of the dynamics of research groups in terms of projects and co-authored publications : A case study of library and information science in Argentina

Objective: The present study offers a novel methodological contribution to the study of the configuration and dynamics of research groups, through a comparative perspective of the projects funded (inputs) and publication co-authorships (output). Method: A combination of bibliometric techniques and social network analysis was applied to a case study: the Departmento de Bibliotecología (DHUBI), Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, for the period 2000-2009. The results were interpreted statistically and staff members of the department, were interviewed. Results: The method makes it possible to distinguish groups, identify their members and reflect group make-up through an analytical strategy that involves the categorization of actors and the interdisciplinary and national or international projection of the networks that they configure. The integration of these two aspects (input and output) at different points in time over the analyzed period leads to inferences about group profiles and the roles of actors. Conclusions: The methodology presented is conducive to micro-level interpretations in a given area of study, regarding individual researchers or research groups. Because the comparative input-output analysis broadens the base of information and makes it possible to follow up, over time, individual and group trends, it may prove very useful for the management, promotion and evaluation of science

Secret and power in social life

Secret and power constitute two fundamental instances of the social world. Secret takes care of the concealment of things and of social processes. Secret is also a power device. Power is the social capacity to do, create, not doing and stop from doing. Secret and power get mutual feedback. Power uses the secret to protect his potential, be it what may, to increment its operative strength. Secret uses the power to achieve its aims and proposals. Social sciences seem to ignore the huge explanatory capacity of these two interrelated concepts, and even more, their powerful intervention in societies.

Ejercicio de Análisis de Redes con Network Analysis de ArcGIS 10.

Ejercicio de Análisis de Redes con Network Analysis de ArcGIS 10

AFRICA BUILD Portal: developing a social network of African health researchers and educators

One of the main outputs of the project is a collaborative platform which integrates a myriad of research and learning resources. This article presents the first prototype of this platform: the AFRICA BUILD Portal (ABP 1.0). The ABP is a Web 2.0 platform which facilitates the access, in a collaborative manner, to these resources. Through a usable web interface, the ABP has been designed to avoid, as much as possible, the connectivity problems of African institutions. In this paper, we suggest that the access to complex systems does not imply slow response rates, and that their development model guides the project to a natural technological transfer, adaptation and user acceptance. Finally, this platform aims to motivate research attitudes during the learning process and stimulate user?s collaborations.

Analytical bearing capacity of strip footing in weightless materials with power-law failure criteria

Sokolovskii’s method of characteristics is extended to provide analytical solutions for the ultimate load at the moment of plastic failure under plane-strain conditions of shallow strip foundations on weightless rigid-plastic media with a noncohesive power-law failure envelope. The formulation is made parametrically in terms of the instantaneous friction angle, and the key idea to obtain the bearing capacity is that information can be transmitted from the free surface (where external loads are known) to the contact plane of the foundation. The methodology can consider foundations adjacent to a slope, external surcharges at the free surface, and inclined loads (both on the slope and on the foundation). Sensitivity analyses illustrate the influence on bearing capacity of changes in the different geometrical parameters involved. An application example is presented and design plots are provided, and model predictions are compared with results of bearing capacity tests under low gravity.

POSDATA: Personal and Social Data Analysis

Contents: - Center for Open Middleware - POSDATA project - User modeling - Some early results - @posdata service