Telecommunications infrastructure in Australia

This paper considers Australia’s approach to telecommunications infrastructure from the perspectives of the policy official and the public administration scholar. From the official’s perspective, the approach has been successful in stimulating private sector investment in many markets. This has been achieved by promoting open competition and where necessary establishing a government business enterprise as a transitional measure to build and operate a next-generation National Broadband Network (NBN) to provide high-speed fixed-line broadband to all Australian premises by 2020. From the academic perspective, however, the approach reveals the shifting balances between political objectives and market challenges. This paper consists of three main parts. The first is an introduction by a former senior public servant turned public administration scholar. The second is from a policy official and provides an overview of the Australian telecommunications market, starting with some historical context, the deregulation in the 1990s and the privatisation of the former government-owned telecommunications incumbent, Telstra. The third is from a public administration scholar and provides a short complementary critique of Australia’s communications policy. The paper discusses, from different perspectives, the policy settings that have been adopted to support infrastructure competition and investment in the Australian telecommunications market, including the development of the NBN.     

Disliking friends of friends in schools: How positive and negative ties can co-occur in large numbers

Current network scholarship does not explain why negative and positive ties both frequently occur in large numbers in some settings, such as schools. In the present paper, I argue that this can happen when people disproportionately send negative ties to socially close individuals (‘friends of friends’). I propose a new theory—‘intensity theory’—which argues that disliking ties disproportionately occur between friends of friends in ‘intense foci’. Intense foci are settings that concentrate social relations, and in which other people are difficult to avoid. I draw on a mixed-methods case study of a boarding school and several strands of literature to substantiate the theory. In so doing, I offer a new mechanism for the initial appearance of disliking ties, propose a contextual approach to balance theory and networks in general, and suggest a more complex view of the link between positive and negative ties.     

Configuration to conviction: Network structures of political judiciary in the Austrian Corporate State

In this paper, we analyze the extent of political judiciary in the transformed system of the Corporate State of Austria using the computational methods of a network approach. We investigate the differences in the legal prosecution of the political opposition, namely of members of the Communist, Social Democratic and National Socialist parties based on Vienna as a case study. Based on over 1,800 court records from 1935 processed at the Viennese provincial courts, we evaluate the courts’ practice in contrast to the official legislature during the consolidated phase of the regime. In this study, we examine whether the law was strategically utilized against specific groups (following the concept of Kirchheimer (1965)’s political lawsuit), and as in the more lenient version of Fraenkel (1927/1968)’s tendency justice, we analyze whether the law was disadvantageously interpreted for political partisanship up to a blatant breach of conduct. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods with network science approaches, we identify patterns of political prosecution and structural predispositions for the sentencing of left- and right-wing groups of the political opposition. We can prove different practices of political judiciary and differentiate between the different treatment of Social Democrats, Communists and National Socialists in 1935 in Vienna. We identify specialized strategies to prosecute the political opposition, resulting in a clear bias against left-wing groups and a relative leniency in the conviction of National Socialists based on the evolution of charges in the courts’ actions. Using a multimodal network approach, we reveal key players and cooperation of judges and prosecutors which accounted for harsher sentences. We provide evidence that the system of control over the judiciary and over the political opposition was already crumbling in the Austrian capital in 1935, even before the “Anschluss” to NS-Germany in 1938.     

Evaluation of technological competence and operations efficiency in the defense industry: The strategic planning of South Korea

This research aims to contribute to efficiency improvement by providing the implications for decision-making on continuous defense R&D investment strategies and acquisition methods via analyzing the current position and measuring the efficiency of overall weapon systems on technological competence and operations. This research is distinctive in comparison to previous studies because it is structured in a two-stage DEA analysis for efficiency by distinguishing between the technology and operations of the current eight fields of weapon systems and by adding the external index for government competence and market competence. In 2016, in comparison to the year 2013, the eight major weapon systems’ efficiency fields of the overall system of Korea, efficiency of technological competence, and efficiency of operations all increased. This research introduced the input and output variable that fits in with the defense industry by connecting the weapon systems efficiency with the national innovation system and the sectoral innovation system that are both projected in this industry. It also formed the concepts of technological competence efficiency and operations efficiency using the two-stage Network DEA method.     

商业网络、人际交往与信用体系的构建——以中大布匹市场为个案

传统的亲缘、地缘及熟人网络在现代信用体系的建立过程中发挥着较为关键的作用,而以信用为基础,又涵盖了不同的关系类型构成的较为广泛的社会网络,进而搭建起广泛的商业网络。从某种意义上说,对于传统的人际网络的利用,也能够支撑起信用网络的发展。虽然随着正规法律体系的完善,批发商会选择在特定场合使用如书面合同等正规契约,然而正规契约的使用在很大程度上仍然以私人关系为保证,因此,熟人信用体系与正式的法律规约并不矛盾,二者能够实现整合,以此构成现代信用体系构建的合理化基础。     

VisIOT:经济产业结构关联可视分析

随着经济统计范畴的精细化以及统计过程的规范化，能够表现产业部门关联关系的投入产出表（Input-Output Table，IOT）数据日益呈现复杂的结构特性。传统的统计分析软件和方法形式单一且传达信息有限，面对结构关系复杂且动态演化的IOT数据，难以有效分析和探索其中复杂的关联模式和时序变化特征。为此，本文设计面对IOT数据分析的经济产业结构关联特征可视化工具——VisIOT。首先设计双向力导向图描述国民经济结构关联网络，并对网络中的顶点和边进行属性映射；然后构建时序矩阵图，直观地展示IOT数据差异，并按照时间顺序依次嵌入时序IOT数据；其次利用部门间的经济技术联系优化模块度算法，发掘经济产业结构关联网络中隐含的社区特征，有效支持关联紧密的社区结构的交互式分析和提取；再次设计社区时序演变图展示社区结构特征的时序演化规律，借助交叉优化算法和前后向的扫描算法，优化部门排列顺序，减少部门交叉，帮助用户有效捕捉社区结构的稳定性；最后有效设计交互方案关联可视化界面，实现经济产业结构关联可视分析系统。本文利用真实的IOT数据进行实例分析与验证，结果表明本文设计的VisIOT系统能够帮助用户快速识别和感知IOT数据中隐含的关联特征及其时序变化规律。     

Curators and sojourners in learning networks: Practices for transformation

Networks are a promising mechanism for creating systemic change. Studies abound, but do not examine roles and practices to reveal the processes through which networks create transformative capacity. This participatory single case study provides a framework to examine structures, roles and practices. The framework details common network substructures, across which critical practices occur, and provides a typology of specific network practices of curators and sojourners. The primary claim is that a variety of structures and interdependent roles and practices work in concert to support transformation across sites and scales. Results have implications for network design, leadership, practice, and evaluation.     

基于云计算的移动多媒体教学系统设计与应用——以《计算机网络技术》课程为例

随着信息技术的快速发展,移动互联网的用户越来越多。在高校教学系统中,教学设备具有多样化、复杂化、异构化等特点,传统的教学系统已无法满足移动互联网用户的需求。因此,高校的教学系统应进行改进和升级,提高教学服务能力。论文设计了一个基于云计算的移动多媒体教学系统,介绍了系统的设计思想、系统架构和应用。通过《计算机网络技术》课程的教学实验证明,该系统有效提高了学生的学习能力和综合素质,具有一定的可操作性和可行性。     

The persistence of platforms: The role of network,platform, and complementor attributes

Existing research on digital platforms emphasizes the contexts that enable such platforms – and their sponsoring firms - to emerge and achieve market dominance. However, this body of research has not sufficiently addressed the ability of certain platform sponsors to persist over time, despite the existence of competing platforms or new entrants. Drawing upon research on network effects, competitive dynamics, and complementor interaction, we develop propositions highlighting the role of network, platform, and complementor attributes that facilitate or hinder the persistence of a technology-based platform in the market. In doing so, we conceptualize platform dominance as part of a dynamic process, rather than a static outcome as often characterized by previous literature. Our propositions advance research on digital platform strategy and user networks by examining the factors that enhance the continued viability of a platform, and generates a number of important directions for future research on technology management, innovation, and strategy, as well as for managerial practice in platform-mediated markets.     

NETWORK IMPACT OF SOCIAL INNOVATION INITIATIVES IN MARGINALISED RURAL COMMUNITIES

The marginalised rural communities are characterised by societal challenges, such as isolation, lack of job opportunities, land abandonment, low quality of life and generally low education. Social Innovation (SI) initiatives may represent an opportunity to strengthen relationships among the members of rural community, by means of the alteration of the existing social networks. In this way, more exchange of information is expected, paving the way for the creation of professional collaborations among firms and other actors. This paper aims at proposing a short-term evaluation framework of effectiveness of a SI initiative in terms of reconfiguration of the social network structure. The described empirical case study is VàZapp’, a rural hub located in Southern Italy, which provides innovative solutions to activate social relations amongst farmers, altering hence their network. A well-referenced SI theoretical model, developed within the H2020 project SIMRA (Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas), and the methodology of Social Network Analysis (SNA) were used to verify and measure quantitative and qualitative indicators affected by network intervention activated by VàZapp’ initiative. Results show that this SI initiative worked effectively, leading to a +308% in the number of relations and +250% in social network density. In addition, an evident improvement in the quality of the social relations was found, especially in cases where there are direct engagements within VàZapp’. Outcomes suggest that supporting and promoting SI initiatives could become a central discussion point for the rethinking of rural development policies focused on regeneration of social relations’ structure.