Labeling large scale social media data using budget-driven One-class SVM classification

The social media classification problems draw more and more attention in the past few years. With the rapid development of Internet and the popularity of computers, there is astronomical amount of information in the social network (social media platforms). The datasets are generally large scale and are often corrupted by noise. The presence of noise in training set has strong impact on the performance of supervised learning (classification) techniques. A budget-driven One-class SVM approach is presented in this thesis that is suitable for large scale social media data classification. Our approach is based on an existing online One-class SVM learning algorithm, referred as STOCS (Self-Tuning One-Class SVM) algorithm. To justify our choice, we first analyze the noise-resilient ability of STOCS using synthetic data. The experiments suggest that STOCS is more robust against label noise than several other existing approaches. Next, to handle big data classification problem for social media data, we introduce several budget driven features, which allow the algorithm to be trained within limited time and under limited memory requirement. Besides, the resulting algorithm can be easily adapted to changes in dynamic data with minimal computational cost. Compared with two state-of-the-art approaches, Lib-Linear and kNN, our approach is shown to be competitive with lower requirements of memory and time.

Transforming Youth Identities: Interactions Across ""Races/Colors/Ethnicities,"" Gender, Class, and Sexualities in Johannesburg, South Africa

In South Africa, and especially in Johannesburg, apartheid's ""racial"" paradigms are being transformed. Fifteen years after the end of apartheid and the elimination of all forms of inequity based on notion of ""race,"" including the abolition of the Immorality Act of 1949 that prohibited mixed marriages, the discourses of youth challenge preestablished boundaries. Today, the South African Constitution gives people the right to proclaim their sexual orientation and to shape their own identities. Through ethnographic observations carried out in Johannesburg and in-depth interviews with young people, this paper explores transforming notions of identity based on ""race/color/ethnicity,"" gender, class, and sexuality. The dynamics and challenges faced by young people with regards to mixed interactions in post-apartheid Johannesburg are analyzed and the paper looks at how "" race,"" gender, and sexuality interact in the various spaces in Johannesburg and how they affect young people's lives, particularly their perceptions of risk, violence, and HIV/AIDS vulnerability.

Beauty, Class and Discourse: Issues in Debate

In this text we proceed through a brief review of Naomi Lee`s (2009) article, highlighting her significant contributions to social and cultural psychology. In our dialogue with her text we inquire about some arguments and methodological procedures she presents. We raise some specific questions related to how the issue of beauty is framed, and we ponder on how a broadening of the scope to include history-of ideas, of relations-would bring some important elements to her approach. As Lee relates beauty and class, we examine the nuanced meanings of lack and deficiency in her analytical work. We also discuss her assumptions and position concerning discourse and dialogue which mark her ways of proceeding through the analysis of the interviews. We speculate that the depersonalized answer appointed in the interviewees` discourse can be related to a way of considering beauty as disembodied.

Teacher strikes in Brazil and its representations: ""orderly disciplined class"" and ""education workers"" (Sao Paulo, 1963-1979)

This article analyses the teacher strikes that took place in the state of Sao Paulo ( Brazil). These strikes produced new representations of the profession and gave a particular visibility to its interest aggregation processes. These same strikes appeared as major incentives for the organisation of teachers in Brazil. The October 1963 strike - about six months before the military coup of 1964 - was the first to mobilise the whole of the teaching profession of the Sao Paulo state: primary and secondary education, public and private schools were all involved. The two other strikes, organised by teachers in the public schools in 1978 and 1979, took place under the dictatorship. As such, they had a particular significance in the process of recovering civil liberties in the final stages of the military regime in the 1980s. This article is based on an analysis of the front-page covering of these teacher strikes by the two major journals of the state, O Estado de S. Paulo and Folha de S. Paulo. With Chartier`s concept collective representations in mind, this approach allows us to grasp how large-circulation journals diffuse images of the profession and its organisational configurations. These press pictures are analysed by dint of the analytical frame Roland Barthes advanced in the 1960s, i.e. by reading their denoted, connoted and symbolic messages.

The People's Stage in Imperial Germany: Social Democracy and Culture 1890-1914

The clash between German Social Democracy--the party, intellectuals and workers--and the German Imperial State was played out in the Freie Volksbahne (Free People's Theatre) founded by intellectuals to energise working class political awareness of drama with a political and social cutting edge. It fell foul of state censorship, lost its bite, yet prospered.

Class attainment among British men - A multivariate extension of the CASMIN model of intergenerational class mobility

The CASMIN Project is arguably the most influential contemporary study of class mobility in the world. However, CASMIN results with respect to weak vertical status effects on class mobility have been extensively criticized. Drawing on arguments about how to model vertical mobility, Hout and Hauser (1992) show that class mobility is strongly determined by vertical socioeconomic differences. This paper extends these arguments by estimating the CASMIN model while explicitly controlling for individual determinants of socioeconomic attainment. Using the 1972 Oxford Mobility Data and the 1979 and 1983 British Election Studies, the paper employs mixed legit models to show how individual socioeconomic factors and categorical differences between classes shape intergenerational mobility. The findings highlight the multidimensionality of class mobility and its irreducibility to vertical movement up and down a stratification hierarchy.

Who thinks what about capitalism? Class consciousness and attitudes to economic institutions

Attitudes to the fundamental economic institutions of capitalism, private ownership of productive property, markets as arenas for securing economic outcomes, and working class rights to associate and to strike, are key dimensions of class consciousness. This paper investigates how class location shapes these attitudes in combination with other factors like employment sector and trade union membership. Using data from the 1995 National Social Science Survey, the paper finds systematic class variation on attitudes to economic institutions that is consistent with respondents endorsing or rejecting class-specific strategies of interest realisation according to their own class circumstances. On some attitudes, class structural effects are additionally moderated by organisational norms associated with public sector employment and mediated by the impact of trade union membership.

Investigating the influence of achievement on self-concept using an intra-class design and a comparison of the PASS and SDQ-1 self-concept tests

Background. The formation and measurement of self-concept were the foci of this research. Aims. The study aimed to investigate the influence of achievement on academic self-concept and to compare the Perception of Ability Scale for Students (PASS, Boersma & Chapman, 1992) with the Self-Description Questionnaire-1 (SDQ-1, Marsh, 1988). Sample. The participants were 479 grade 5 (mean age 126.6 months) coeducational Australian students, located in 18 schools. Method. An intra-class research design was used to investigate the influence of frame-of-reference on self-concept development. Results. As students' academic scores rose above their class mean their self-concepts increased and as students' academic scores fell below their class mean their self-concepts decreased. Students' difference from class mean predicted their self-concept scores. This finding was consistently shown across the reading, spelling, and mathematics domains using test and teaching rating data. A comparison between the PASS and the SDQ-1 demonstrated concurrent validity across self-concept domains. Conclusion. The findings support the notions that the social environment is a significant agent that influences self-concept, and that teacher ratings and standardised tests of achievement and the PASS and the SDQ-1 are valid measures for self-concept research.

Use of the web to provide learning support for a large metabolism and nutrition class

To support student learning in a large Metabolism and Nutrition class, we have introduced a web-based package, using a commercially available program, WebCT. The package was developed at a minimal cost and with limited resources. In addition to downloadable (PDF) versions of lecture Powerpoint presentations, tutorial outlines and a practical class exercise, web-based self-directed learning exercises were included to reinforce and extend lecture material in an active learning environment. The web-site also contained a variety of formative and summative assessment tasks that examined both factual recall and higher order thinking Detailed course information, timetables and a bulletin board were also readily accessible. Student usage of the site was generally high, but varied widely between individual students. Students who achieved a high overall score for the course completed on average three times as many formative assessment items and achieved a higher score for all tests than students who did poorly. Student feedback about the site was very positive with the majority of students reporting that the course material and assessment items that were available were useful to their learning. Administration of the course was also facilitated. (C) 2001 IUBMB. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social rules for managing attempted interpersonal domination in the workplace: Influence of status and gender.

The present study utilized a social rules approach to investigate the relative influence of gender and status on managers' self-evaluations of their effectiveness in handling a dominating subordinate. In the first study 84 White middle-class participants identified the prescriptive and proscriptive rules for socially appropriate responding to a stimulus situation involving a pushy subordinate. Four rule sets were identified for female and male managers and subordinates, respectively. Rule-sets shared a number of common rules and showed some variation according to gender roles. In the second study, 91 White middle-class participants rated the individual rules for importance and also rated their personal and managerial effectiveness when responding to the stimulus situation using gender- and status-consistent and gender-and status-inconsistent response strategies. Both men and women rated the female gender and status- consistent strategy as most effective, and rated the status-inconsistent strategy as less effective than a gender-inconsistent response. Results were interpreted as providing more support for a situational gender-related theory of workplace behavior, rather than a traditional gender role perspective.

Tendências contemporâneas da política de assistência social : uma análise das transformações ocorridas na concepção de assistência social no Brasil

O presente trabalho reúne os elementos que compõem a atual concepção de assistência social no Brasil, a partir da promulgação da constituição de 1988, quando a assistência social foi reconhecida pela primeira vez como direito de cidadania e dever legal do Estado, garantido pela Lei Suprema. Nesta lei, a assistência social pressupunha uma lógica de pleno emprego, destinada, portanto, prioritariamente aos incapazes para o trabalho. No entanto, em um contexto de desemprego estrutural esta passa a ser compreendida em termos de garantias de seguranças, buscando assumir a proteção social daqueles capazes para o trabalho, tendo em vista a deterioração do mercado de trabalho, restrição de oportunidades e de renda e o crescimento progressivo do desemprego e da informalidade. A ideia central é a de que se trata de uma descrição crítica da concepção de assistência social no Brasil, problematizando cada um de seus argumentos mais explícitos com o intuito de revelar uma intencionalidade vinculada à uma perspectiva de Estado. Utilizamos o termo concepção no sentido de conceber, pensar, sentir, entender ou interpretar algo. A assistência social, na atualidade, responde a um único processo que reúne aspectos históricos, econômicos, políticos, sociais e ideológicos e neste sentido, representa uma concepção de mundo e um projeto de sociedade, defendido pela classe dominante, pautado pela exploração do trabalho. A atual concepção de assistência social segue, portanto, uma nova forma de política social a partir da perspectiva de desenvolvimento humano e combate à pobreza em que a grande ênfase tem sido a de retirar as discussões e a intervenção na pobreza do âmbito da questão social, alocando-a nos indivíduos e em suas “incapacidades”. A assistência social ao assumir a responsabilidade ou coresponsabilidade no desenvolvimento de capacidades dos indivíduos sinaliza a tendência de uma nova concepção de bem-estar social.

Pediculus capitis infestation according to sex and social factors in Argentina

OBJECTIVE: To determine the intensity of Pediculus capitis infestation (abundance) among Argentinean schoolchildren. Children's sex and social stratum were analyzed as modifiers of the general prevalence and degree of parasitism. METHODS: The study included 1,370 schoolchildren (692 girls, 678 boys) from 26 schools of the province of La Rioja (21 public schools, five private schools). Classic prevalence was obtained as the percentage of children with nits and/or lice. Moreover, five degrees of parasitism were classified: 0) children with no signs of pediculosis; 0+) children with evidence of past infestation; 1) children with a recent infestation and low probability of active parasitism; 2) children with a recent infestation and high probability of active parasitism; 3) children with mobile lice (active pediculosis). RESULTS: The general prevalence was 61.4% (girls: 79%; boys: 44%, p<0.001). Private schools showed lower prevalence than public schools (p=0.02), especially due to the low prevalence in boys. Fifty percent of children were classified in classes 0 and 0+, 22% in class 1; and 28% in grades 2 and 3. The proportion of children in grade 3 was higher in public schools than in private schools. There were significant sexual differences in the intensity of parasitism for grades 2 and 3, where girls' rates exceeded twice those of boys'. CONCLUSIONS: Sex and social stratum are important modifiers of P. capitis general prevalence and degree of infestation. The classification of children by intensity of infestation allowed a more precise delimitation of this condition, which is especially important for disease surveillance and application of control measures.