Let us start with an example of health policy analysis in action. Within that category of countries loosely known as ‘the West’, quite basic differences exist in attitudes to health policy and also actual health policy. Comparing the US with mainland Europe and indeed Canada, for example, one perceives a difference in attitude on the part of the majority towards collectivism and individualism i...

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Knowledge sharing within an organization allows it to develop a competitive advantage over its rivals. However, sustaining and motivating members of knowledge sharing groups to contribute knowledge is a challenge for many organizations. To address this problem, organizations have implemented new knowledge sharing tools such as Wikis to facilitate knowledge contribution, although these have had ...

We study the statistical properties of community dynamics in large social networks, where the evolving communities are obtained from subsequent snapshots of the modular structure. Such cohesive groups of people can grow by recruiting new members, or contract by loosing members; two (or more) groups may merge into a single community, while a large enough social group can split into several small...

Using a longitudinal, systematic random sample of 490 postings, this study analyzed the type of social support provided, the strategies used to solicit social support, and the themes on the top 5 Yahoo! eating disorder discussion boards. Optimal match theory was used as the theoretical framework for the study. Results suggest that messages providing informational support were more prevalent tha...

A recent poll showed that most people think of science as technology and engineering--life-saving drugs, computers, space exploration, and so on. This was, in fact, the promise of the founders of modern science in the 17th century. It is less commonly understood that social and behavioral sciences have also produced technologies and engineering that dominate our everyday lives. These include po...