Stress relaxation in network materials: the contribution of the network

Network heterogeneity causes relaxation slow down. A stretched relaxation function describes the variation of stress in time. The stretch exponent has a minimum at the affine-non-affine network transition.

The company you keep: Social network characteristics and political participation disparity among adolescents and young adults

The role of social network characteristics in further dissipating political participation among adolescents and young adults or mobilizing them into participatory action is debatable. This study analyzes survey data from 10 Southeast European democracies to examine the influence of informational use of online media (Internet and social media) and social network characteristics on political interest–based participatory gaps among adolescents and young adults. The findings support the reinforcement thesis that politically interested individuals exploit the benefits of online media use, thereby exacerbating participation gaps between low- and high-interest groups. These gaps are further amplified in more heterogeneous networks for both adolescents and young adults. In contrast, politically interested adolescents are more likely to politically disengage within more extensive social networks and, hence, resemble politically detached young adults. Overall, the findings support the reinforcement thesis across age groups where greater network heterogeneity amplifies participatory gaps for both adolescents and young adults, but network size plays a conditional role for adolescents.

A Social Network Analysis of Collaborative Rangelands Governance: the case of Borana rangelands, Southern Ethiopia

Effective natural resources governance plays crucial roles in enhancing the resilience of the Socio-ecological systems (SES) in the face of prevailing environmental changes. It is recognized that the ability to adaptively respond to complex environmental change and manage SES resilience resides in the actors' networks. Network forms of governance facilitate both horizontal and vertical interconnection of actors, bring different perspectives and sources of knowledge, develop shared values and develop innovative solutions to the wicked rangeland problems. However, the structural pattern of the actors’ collaborative linkages highly influences how actors actually behave and, hence, impact the deliverance of effective governance. In view of this, by analyzing social networks (SNA), this study aims to identify the structural gaps that result in misfit in the Borana rangelands. As evident from the low level of network density obtained from quantitative SNA, there are very few horizontal and vertical interactions and linkages among actors in the Borana rangelands governance system which considerably blocks flows of knowledge, experiences and other resources indicating inability of the governance system in facilitating the solidification of shared values and joint action. The study further reveals that rangelands governance system in Borana is hampered by absence of adequate network heterogeneity and closure which in turn blocks the building of collaborative visioning and an efficient use of available resources to address complex problem. Thus, this study suggests that policy environment that can create conditions for more collaboration, strength of actors ties, development of trust and social capital and enabling the design of effective collective efforts should be put in place.

A Novel Description on Vague Graph with Application in Transportation Systems

Fuzzy graph (FG) models embrace the ubiquity of existing in natural and man-made structures, specifically dynamic processes in physical, biological, and social systems. It is exceedingly difficult for an expert to model those problems based on a FG because of the inconsistent and indeterminate information inherent in real-life problems being often uncertain. Vague graph (VG) can deal with the uncertainty associated with the inconsistent and determinate information of any real-world problem, where FGs many fail to reveal satisfactory results. Regularity definitions have been of high significance in the network heterogeneity study, which have implications in networks found across biology, ecology, and economy; so, adjacency sequence (AS) and fundamental sequences (FS) of regular vague graphs (RVGs) are defined with examples. One essential and adequate prerequisite has been ascribed to a VG with maximum four vertices is that it should be regular based on the adjacency sequences concept. Likewise, it is described that if ζ and its principal crisp graph (CG) are regular, then all the nodes do not have to have the similar AS. In the following, we obtain a characterization of vague detour (VD) g-eccentric node, and the concepts of vague detour g-boundary nodes and vague detour g-interior nodes in a VG are examined. Finally, an application of vague detour g-distance in transportation systems is given.

ROA-CONS: Raccoon Optimization for Job Scheduling

High-performance computing comprises thousands of processing powers in order to deliver higher performance computation than a typical desktop computer or workstation in order to solve large problems in science, engineering, or business. The scheduling of these machines has an important impact on their performance. HPC’s job scheduling is intended to develop an operational strategy which utilises resources efficiently and avoids delays. An optimised schedule results in greater efficiency of the parallel machine. In addition, processes and network heterogeneity is another difficulty for the scheduling algorithm. Another problem for parallel job scheduling is user fairness. One of the issues in this field of study is providing a balanced schedule that enhances efficiency and user fairness. ROA-CONS is a new job scheduling method proposed in this paper. It describes a new scheduling approach, which is a combination of an updated conservative backfilling approach further optimised by the raccoon optimisation algorithm. This algorithm also proposes a technique of selection that combines job waiting and response time optimisation with user fairness. It contributes to the development of a symmetrical schedule that increases user satisfaction and performance. In comparison with other well-known job scheduling algorithms, the simulation assesses the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results demonstrate that the proposed strategy offers improved schedules that reduce the overall system’s job waiting and response times.

Novel Ca2+-modulated Photoactivatable Imaging Reveals Neuron-Astrocyte Glutamatergic Circuitries within the Nucleus Accumbens

Astrocytes are key elements of brain circuits that are involved in different aspects of the neuronal physiology relevant to brain functions. Although much effort is being made to understand how the biology of astrocytes affects brain circuits, astrocytic network heterogeneity and plasticity is still poorly defined. Here, we have combined structural and functional imaging of astrocyte activity using the Ca2+-modulated photoactivatable ratiometric integrator and specific optostimulation of glutamatergic pathways to map the functional neuron-astrocyte circuitries in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). We showed pathway-specific astrocytic responses induced by selective optostimulation of main inputs from the prefrontal cortex, basolateral amygdala, and ventral hippocampus. Furthermore, the differences in basal Ca2+ dynamics between the NAc shell and core astrocytes were associated with differences in mitochondrial DNA copy number, exhibiting molecular heterogeneity in the regulation of their mitochondrial genomes. Finally, co-stimulation of glutamatergic pathways induced non-linear Ca2+-signaling integration, revealing integrative properties of NAc astrocytes. All these results demonstrate the existence of specific neuron-astrocyte circuits in the NAc, a critical insight to the understanding of how the NAc integrates information.

Effects of young adults' smartphone use for social media on communication network heterogeneity, social capital and civic engagement

PurposeThis study examines the direct and indirect effect mechanisms of how using smartphones for social media is associated with college students' civic engagement via levels of communication network heterogeneity and social capital. In addition, this study tests whether such indirect effects mechanisms are moderated by the need to belong.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzes data from an online survey (N = 580) conducted at a public university. The PROCESS macro is used to examine the mediation association between mobile social media use, communication network heterogeneity, social capital, and civic engagement and the moderated mediation conditional upon need to belong.FindingsCollege students who often use smartphones for social media were more likely to communicate with people who have different socio-demographic characteristics and different opinions. There was also a positive mediation mechanism between smartphone use for social media, network heterogeneity, social capital and civic engagement, which means that college students who often use mobile social media are more likely to communicate with heterogeneous others and develop a sense of social capital, which in turn led to greater levels of civic engagement. Importantly, these indirect effects of smartphone use for social media on civic engagement were stronger for those with greater levels of need to belong.Originality/valueThe findings of the current study are significant given that little is known about how young adults' mobile social media use is associated with communication network heterogeneity and civic engagement in their everyday life. The research expands the research agenda by investigating the most popular interactive communication media platforms.

How Does Social Currency Influence Prosocial Behavior? The Role of Collective Self-Esteem and Communication Network Heterogeneity

The social currency, the existing potential resource in the social networks and communities of an individual, has become more significant in the era of information technology. Meanwhile, the rapid development of Internet service, especially its application on mobile devices, brings many new contents of prosocial behaviors (PBs), which benefits both individuals and communities. Specifically, social currency plays a positive role in promoting PB, forming positive personalities, promoting positive social adaptation, and contributing to human survival and social development. However, the theoretical research in this field still lags far behind the development of practice, and the research on the impact of social currency on PB remains exceedingly scarce. Grounded in the social exchange theory (SET), the present study collects a total of 497 WeChat user questionnaires, constructs a model for the influence mechanism of social currency on PB, and tests the hypothesis through hierarchical regression. According to the results obtained, it was found that the social currency is positively associated with PB, and users with a more social currency are more likely to act prosocially on their own. The PB of an individual is then influenced by the social currency generated through collective self-esteem (CS) so that the perception of CS can be considered as a mediating variable. Moreover, the communication network heterogeneity (CNH) moderates the above relationship, and the degree of heterogeneity will have different effects on the relationship of CS. The obtained conclusions enrich the previous theoretical results of PB and provided new insights for social managers to enhance the prosocial-related behaviors for the group, organization, and society.