Sample of Auditor Report

NALGA National Association of Local Government Auditors NALGA Peer Review Committee 1220 SW Fifth Ave. , Room 120 Portland, OR 97204 (503) 823-3542 October 27, 2000 Mr. Ronald A. Coen, Director Fairfax County Internal Audit Office Fairfax, Virginia 22035 Mr. Coen: We have completed an external quality control review of the Fairfax County Internal Audit Office for audits initiated during the period July 1, 1999 through June 30, 2000. In conducting our review, we followed the standards and guidelines contained in the NALGA Quality Control Review Guide published in May 1995, by the National Association of Local Government Auditors. As prescribed by the NALGA Guide, we reviewed the internal quality control system of your audit organization and evaluated a sample of audits conducted by your office for compliance with government auditing standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. Due to variance in individual performance and judgment, compliance does not imply adherence to standards in every case, but does imply adherence in most situations. We have concluded from our review that your system of internal quality control is suitably designed and provides reasonable assurance that applicable government auditing standards are followed in your audit work. We have also concluded from the sample of audits evaluated that your quality controls worked effectively and that audits were conducted in conformance with applicable standards during the period reviewed. It is our opinion that the Internal Audit Office of the County of Fairfax Virginia was in compliance with government auditing standards during the period reviewed. We have prepared a separate management letter which provides additional details on the work performed and suggestions for further strengthening of your system of internal quality control. ___________________ Drew Harmon Assistant Municipal Auditor City of Roanoke __________________ James Pell Senior Auditor City of Richmond __________________ Ned Smith Senior Auditor Chesterfield County

“A Celebration of Grandfathers”

1. In â€Å"A Celebration of Grandfathers,† the author writes that respect for elders is â€Å"a cultural value to be passed on from generation to generation.† What does he say the elders could teach young people? Use evidence from the text to explain your answer.Anaya states that elders can teach young people to live â€Å"authentic lives.† By this he means lives that have meaning and purpose achieved through hard work, faith, and a sense of community. Anaya states, â€Å"They learned that to survive one had to share in the process of life,† and that means sharing in the good and the bad. Anaya compares the eyes of the older generation to windows that â€Å"peer into a distant past,† and have a knowledge and spirit that comes from an understanding of the earth with which younger generations have lost touch.2. Anaya recalls an incident where his grandfather tells him, â€Å"Know where you stand.† What did his grandfather mean literally? What did he mean figuratively?Anaya’s grandfather says this to Anaya when he comes home as a young boy having been badly bitten by ants while working out in the fields. Literally, Grandfather means â€Å"watch where you are going/standing,† or â€Å"pay better attention.† Figuratively, Grandfather means this in a more philosophical sense; he is telling young Anaya to learn to pay attention to the world around him so that he can avoid danger. Specifically, he means to pay attention to the Earth (nature) because, unless you show it respect, it can become unfriendly. Even nature’s tiny ants can become hostile and, when working as a community, can become threatening.3. The title of this memoir is â€Å"A Celebration of Grandfathers,† not â€Å"A Celebration of My Grandfather.† Why do you think Anaya made this distinction?In this memoir, Anaya is celebrating the â€Å"elders,† which include all older generations and all future generations that will one day be old. Anaya uses his own grandfather as an example. By relaying his personal experiences with his grandfather, Anaya shows examples of what the elders can pass on to younger generations. This piece is intended as a celebration of all older generations (grandfathers and grandmothers) and the cultural values they passed on.4. How does  Anaya's grandfather help him cope with the death of his young friend?When a young boy is dragged to his death by a horse, young Anaya is upset that death came to someone so young. To help him understand the process of death as a function of life, Anaya's grandfather explains death through images of nature and the changing of seasons. These are common and comforting images that a young Anaya can relate to. Grandfather explains death as a resting period before blooming again, a â€Å"small transformation in life† rather than a permanent unknown.5. The author states that â€Å"They [ancianos] learned that to survive one had to shar e in the process of life.† What does he mean by this? What is the â€Å"process of life†?Anaya means that the elders worked together as family, friends, and neighbors to support each other when times were bad and to share in the bounty when times were good. It was a life that was community-oriented. The process of life is the daily process of living and surviving. They shared good times and hard times. They helped each other through the â€Å"epidemics and personal tragedies† and they â€Å"shared what little they had when the hot winds burned the land and no rain came.† Rappers, if only they knew what they looked like†¦maybe they would stop.

Machines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Machines - Essay Example There are other factors beside the physical limitations of human body; these factors include emotions and moods of human beings. Such factors are not in the control of human beings nor can the machines be developed to suit the mood and emotions of the individual who operate them. We can easily observe that in scenarios where machines are manually operated by the humans the maximum efficiencies achieved are not more than 75 to 80 percent however in case of automated machines where machines are operated by humans with the help of other machines the efficiencies achieved can be as high as 99 percent in some of the cases (Kroemer, Kroemer & Kroemer-Elbert, 2001). So when we analyze the prospects of creating machines according to the limitations of human beings, in addition to the physical limitations, emotional limitations should also be considered however incorporating the emotional limitations is very difficult and requires concepts like artificial intelligence to be integrated into th e machines.

AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care - Assignment Example st of characteristics is equally conclusive since it covers the most intricate features of patients that enhance the quality of the services they obtain from health facilities. The portrayal of the traits provides nurses with a way of caring for the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of the patients. The three are essential in the wellbeing of an individual. As such, the method ensures effectiveness of the nursing services. While the synergy model is effective in providing care to critical patients, the model is vital in other areas of the specialty such as cleaning patients. Cleanliness of both the patient and their environment enhances their recovery. The model requires nurses to participate in caring for the patient. This includes enhancing the cleanliness of the patients. Participation in both care and decision making further requires nurses to offer counselling to the patients. Counselling enhances the psychological and religious recovery of the patients. This implies that the two character traits enhance the complexity and predictability of the nurses (Kaplow, 2008). In retrospect, the eight patient traits had to connect with the eight traits the nurses present thereby enhancing the recovery of the

Chinese contract law and the economic reform Essay

Chinese contract law and the economic reform - Essay Example The paper delves into how China’s previous contract laws had many contradictions and failed to meet the needs of China’s developing market economy. It then looks at why China needs a good legal system for economic reform, why a legal system is important for economic reform and what the relationship between them is. Lastly, the paper looks at why Chinese people still do not have confidence for china's law system and how the government has attempted to address the problem. Influence of Confucianism in Ancient and Present China Confucianism which means ‘The School of the Scholars,’ is the cornerstone of traditional Chinese based on the traditional culture of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. It is attributed to K’ung Fu Tzu (Confucius in English) was born in 551 BCE in the state of Lu (modern day Shantung Province). He became the most influential and respected philosopher in Chinese history and his discourses were written by his disciples in the Analects. Confucianism combines a political theory and a theory of human nature, resulting in a prescriptive doctrine or way (dao). The political theory is based on the idea that the legitimate ruler derives authority from heaven's command, or the mandate of heaven, and is responsible for the peoples' well-being and for peace and order in the empire. In terms of human nature, humans are essentially social animals whose ways of interaction are shaped by convention or ritual (li), which prescribe proper behavior for a given situation. Good government is one that values hierarchy, group orientation, and respect for age and tradition. He also argued that societal order and harmony can be achieved if everyone understood their rank in society and were taught the proper behaviors of their rank.2 His teachings spread and was accepted across China and by around 100BC, the Han Dynasty declared Confucianism to be China’s official state philosophy. During the Tang Dynasty, however, it lost its offi cial sanction but over the last two millennia, Confucianism has remained the dominant orthodoxy in Chinese society. It thus affected everything in China; education, government, public and private attitudes and, etiquette.3 His writings deal primarily with individual morality and ethics, and the proper exercise of political power by the rulers. Confucian ethical teachings include such values as: Li (includes ritual, propriety, etiquette); Hsiao (love within the family: love of parents for their children and of children for their parents); Yi (righteousness); Xin (honesty and trustworthiness); Jen (benevolence, humaneness towards others; the highest Confucian virtue); and Chung (loyalty to the state). His vision centered on respect children show to their parents; the high regard given elders and lawful authority figures; and an appreciation for learning, protocol and ceremony.4 Confucianism has influenced the Chinese attitude toward life, set the patterns of living and standards of so cial value, and provided the background for Chinese political theories and institutions. Confucianism promotes collective interests and community welfare through emphasis of the educational or remolding process in serving the common good of the society. This concept is still upheld in China to date as seen in the government’s attempts to serve the people and reduce the big gap between first tier cities and lower tier cities.5 Confucianism also projects the concept of harmony which states that oneself must live in harmony with everything around him and stay free of guilt or sin. In order to create harmony people should use what create order and harmony amongst all things by using all the knowledge the world could

The uniform Commercial Code Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The uniform Commercial Code - Essay Example The UCC is used by every jurisdiction in the United States except for Louisiana. Article 2 of the statute only governs a contract for the sale of goods (movable property only)2, and is most often used to resolve contract disputes of that nature. Other types of transactions are governed by the different Article in the UCC. The statute is governed by TARR, which refers to tender, acceptance, rejection and revocation. When a buyer intends to purchase goods, he is entitled to reject such goods, if the goods do not meet the conditions set out in the contract (tender stage). A buyer may accept the goods in such belief, that the manufacture will repair the problems, which are under warranty (acceptance stage). However, if a buyer finds a problem with the goods, he may reject the goods within the reasonable time (rejection stage), or during the revocation stage. The provisions of UCC are applicable to the sale of goods in the United States; however, it is subject to United Nations convention for the international sale of goods if parties to a contract choose not to be governed by the statute. Applicability of the UCC Sections Relative to Zabriskie Case In this case, Mr. Zabriskie purchased a new car 1966 Chevrolet Biscayne and gave a check for payment. Later on he went for a drive with the said car on the same day, it got spoilt within 2.5 miles away, and he immediately gave instructions for the said check not to be paid. The dealer argued that he (buyer) could not reject the car as he had taken a test drive and was satisfied vehicle. He also argued that it was a reasonable opportunity for him to inspect the product. The court held that: Driving for a few miles was significant to the buyer, since it was his reasonable opportunity to enjoy his new vehicle and to see if it conforms to the agreement. How long the buyer may have driven the new car under the guise of inspection is not an issue as it is within the ambit of a reasonable opportunity to inspect. If the consumer has used the new car for a long period of time, article 2 of the UCC3 provides that a buyer may refuse to accept the goods if the defects impair the goods too much. The article also provides this when the buyer has accepted the goods without discovery of non-conformity because it was difficult to discover, or if he was assured that non-conformity would be repaired. In explaining the reasoning, the court defined non-conformity substantially impairing the value of the vehicle as: 1) Having many small defects whose cumulative value added up to a big impairment- This is the â€Å"shake faith† doctrine first stated in the Zabriskie case. 2) One that includes a failure or refusal to repair the goods under the warranty- Substantial non-conformity and lemon laws often defines what may be considered a substantial impairment. Public Policy Consideration That Support the Decision in the Zabriskie Case and Other Cases like It Courts’ main function is the administration of justice to all who come seeking justice. In doing so, they are guided by the principles of fairness and reasonableness in delivering judgments. When it comes to contracts, courts may refuse to enforce contracts containing unconscionable clauses at the time of formation or only enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable clause to prevent oppression and unfair surprises to buyers; this principle was considered in the Zabriski

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 10

Strategic Management - Essay Example Positioning of the organisation through strategy, responding to real time issues through strategic management and managing the resistance offered by the competitors through systematic planning are some of the broader aims of strategic management (Ayanda, M., n.d.). There are a few key attributes that strategic management addresses. It helps the organisation to move towards its goal and achieve its objectives. It helps the stake holders to be a part of the decision making body. The need of incorporating short term and long term goals can be identified. It also helps in understanding the trade off between efficiency and effectiveness in order to achieve the goals of the organisation. Some theorist do believe that the traditional approach is the standard approach to strategic management however it can no longer cope up with the complexities of the new demands (Dess, et.al., n.d). Brinkerhoff had a very simple way of defining strategic management. He defined strategic management as ‘looking out’, ‘looking in’ and ‘looking ahead’. According to Brinkerhoff looking out means, evaluating the environment in order to set organisational goals and also recognise the potential stakeholders. By looking in he means to identify the strengths that the firm possesses meaning the resources like finance and the man power. Looking ahead points out at formulating strategies and allocating resources to set targets and evaluate performance. Strategic management mainly consists of the following five factors. They are setting goals, analysing, strategy formation, strategy implementation and evaluating the strategy. These factors need continuous interaction and feedback between them (Susan. n.d.). The Balance Scorecard is an effective tool by which organisations can evaluate its performance which in turn helps to accomplish the vision.

The Baptism Debate Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Baptism Debate - Research Paper Example One such area of difference is the meaning and importance of baptism. That is, various denominations approach ideas related to baptism differently. Some individuals, for example, do not recognize any significance of baptism. This paper explores certain debatable issues surrounding baptism. Specifically, the paper addresses merits of baptism, eligibility of an individual for baptism, and correct biblical mode of baptism. Outline of the Paper While exploring the concept of baptism among believers, the paper identifies some debatable aspects of baptism. The areas include significance of baptism, children baptism, and correct biblical mode of baptism. Since the paper is an argumentative paper, both proposing and opposing sides of the areas are discussed in the paper. This paper begins by exploring the meaning and understanding of baptism. This section outlines how baptism is important to believers. The paper further identifies merits of baptism to Baptists, individuals who believe in exi stence and usefulness of baptism. While discussing baptism of children, the paper begins by highlighting reasons used by individuals who oppose infant baptism. Those who are in favor of the issue are later discussed in the paper. ... In addition, it emerged that the Bible does not clearly support children baptism. Moreover, the Bible supports baptism by immersion. Meaning of Baptism Baptism is an outward symbol of an individual’s inner transformation.4 The entire process of baptism is achieved through the power and strength of Jesus. It is important to note that baptism is not about overcoming sin, but is about repenting past sins. In other words, baptism involves making up your mind that you want to overcome sin by allowing God to give strength and victory. Through baptism, Apostle Paul argues that Christians embrace importance of Jesus’ death and resurrection.5 That is, Christians symbolically undergo similar experiences that Jesus went through in His death, burial, and resurrection. Apostle Paul further clarifies that while Jesus physically died and resurrected, Christians die to their sins, self, and old ways. Resurrection to Christians, therefore, implies that an individual, after baptism, rise s again to a holy life through Jesus Christ. As Romans 6:8-12 say, â€Å"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we also live with Him. For we know that since Jesus was raised from the dead, he cannot die again.†¦.In the same way, count yourself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.† Apart from the message to Romans, Apostle Paul also informs Corinthians about importance of baptism to Christians. In II Corinthians 5:17 Paul says, â€Å"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new creation has come.† Therefore, after baptism, an individual is holy and sin no longer reigns over him. The verse implies that sin has to â€Å"die† and be â€Å"passed away† from an individual so that Jesus completely occupy an individual’s life. The verse does not,

Market Entrance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Market Entrance - Assignment Example There is no tax and this generates a lot of revenue for the business houses. While this is a positive move by the governments, there is plenty of stakes for the natives. In order to generate income for their own people, the government of Qatar has remained realistic to the happenings. Like most Arab nations, the Government of Qatar too encourages foreign investment, particularly in joint ventures with Qatari partners. Wholly foreign-owned firms are permitted to operate in Qatar, provided they have a local agent or a sponsor. Foreign-owned firms and the foreign-owned portions of joint ventures are subject to corporate income tax, ranging from 5 percent to 35 percent of net profits. Qatari and GCC nationals and business concerns are exempted from the income tax provisions. Qatar is part of OPEC nations in the Middle East. The nation is home to millions of expatriates who come from as far as Indonesia in search of work. The Asian community presence is conspicuous with Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Pilipino, and Sri Lankans making up the majority. The 80s and 90s saw an influx of migrants because of the growth of industries here. Many multinationals, especially British and American oil companies set up huge infrastructures which required both skilled and unskilled labour to run them. With the influx of people, other industries began to move in. Today, Qatar is a thriving economy and must thank the millions of migrant workers here for this. Multinational companies that seek to establish business here can do so with the participation of local Qatari partners. This ensures that a part of the gains from business remain within the country, and both the government and the local partners benefit. In such a scenario, would the entry of IKEA, result in a success for the company, and if so, how would the marketing planners define their strategy 3.0 IKEA IKEA, the leaders in economical and fashionable furnishing company that styles on European flavour, began its long journey since its inception. IKEA works with the concept of offering a wide range of well designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low, that even the most lower strata of society would be able to take home a product of international quality. IKEA believes in quality and affordability, a hall mark of true marketing genius. Rather than selling expensive home furnishings focused on the elite of society, the company makes it possible to serve the many by providing low-priced products that contribute to helping more people live a better life. Franchise opportunities are available in unrepresented areas and IKEA believes in equal opportunity for all its associates. IKEA works with the idea of understanding and servicing areas with the help of their local associates. This is a key to their success as well. Once the local taste and demand is identified, it becomes easy to attract business. This way, the company manages to save on R&D and spend more time in innovation. Franchisee is an

Criminal Organization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criminal Organization - Research Paper Example MS-13 was formed in 1980s on the streets of Los Angeles’ Rampart and Pico-Union barrios by immigrants running away from civil war in El Salvador. Initially, MS-13 referred to itself as the Mara Salvatrucha Stoners2. It stressed partying and friendship, and the members defended each other from Hispanic bunch of criminals that intimidated them. MS-13 has evolved into a latent, atrocious, transnational criminal organization right from its foundation as a turf-oriented street gang. MS-13 had its origin in the barrios of 1980s Los Angeles (LA). It was started with an objective of providing its members with a means of negotiating economic adversity, victimization and social isolation by other gangs just like any other LA gangs. Gangs advance an alternative, yet powerful individuality for individual associates in doing so, and usual provide entry into wider criminal activities3. MS-13, translated slackly as street-smart Salvadoran group, appeared as a means for Salvadoran immigrants to unite together against exploitation by the then dominant 18th Street gang. The Mara Salvatrucha Stoners evolved into Mara Salvatrucha 13 when it became a section of the constellation of Sureà ±os- gangs in the red fealty to the Mexican mafia prison gang referred to as La Eme. The 13 refers to the letter M (Eme) the 13th letter of the alphabet, not 13th street as is usually incorrectly stipulated. Since it was formed, the gang known as ms-13 has been evolving from a territorial gang to a more sophisticated gang that is working in the disguise of development activities, like influencing on good grounds and creating opportunities. Instead, the gang that was formed with positive intension has turned out to be a gang of thugs. They have been divided in order of ranks. Members of this gang assume that the gang is brought together by peaceful links and co-existence amongst themselves4. Hence, it is assumed that members from Los Angeles and San

Chronicle of a Summer Essay Example for Free

Chronicle of a Summer Essay Ethnofiction is a term that is used to provide a new contemporary sound to an older terminology (neologism) particularly dealing with docufiction (a term coined from the combination of the words documentary and fiction film). In visual anthropology, ethnofiction refers to ethnography or the genre of writings which gives an elucidating study or point of view regarding human societies. Predominantly, the results of the holistic research method are presented by ethnography and can be used in ethnofiction. In addition to this, ethnofiction also consists of both formal and historical connections. A lot of cultural anthropologists and ethnologists are using ethnofiction in their works and consider it as the essence of discipline. Jean Rouch, the most renowned ethnologists, specifically considered as the â€Å"father of ethnofiction† was able to understand and discover that in making events which are registered by the camera. Consequently, the camera in this scenario or scene becomes a participant. Due to practice, research and documentaries are lavished with the idea of using cameras. This is in accordance to Rouch’s aim of furthering his goals, objectives and introduction of the actor as a tool in the film or in Rouch’s research. According to Brian Quist, through Jean Rouch â€Å"a new genre (of filmmaking) was born†. Jean Rouch is an innovative French director who definitely fathered the movement called cinema-verite. Jean Rouch’s style of filmmaking is a spontaneous one that blurred between or consists of educational, ethnographic and fiction film. Rouch filmed in many West African countries where he was able to train and support actors, cameramen, technicians and directors. One of his apprentices was Safi Faye. The African filmmakers that Jean Rouch promoted did not in the end become avant-garde cinema-verite directors, largely because they could not afford to take ten or twenty hours of rushes to produce a 45-minute feature, but he may have had an effect in other ways. When he set out to produce history he adopted a version of ethnographic realism. In 1975 he filmed a story situated in the late 19th century, â€Å"Babatou† , â€Å"les trios conseils†, with a crew of technicians from Niger and on the basis of a script written by the historian Boubou Hama. Following his work habits, he developed only minimally the dialogue, which the actors fleshed out by improvisation on location. The team travelled around to find a suitable location. The problem was to find places that had not changed in a hundred years, without corrugated metal roofs or plastic containers. Without further safeguards this solution is illusory, because the sun-baked clay houses of the savannah rarely survive one hundred years and what appears old now may be an environment radically transformed during the colonial period. Jean Rouch’s search still reveals more concern for historical authenticity, compared to the shortcuts that Kabore takes, but is inspired by the same supposition that in Africa the actual looks like the historical once you remove from it what is ostensibly European origin (Bickford-Smith and Mendelsohn 20). Jean Rouch’s aesthetic is guided by the effort to produce ethnographic estrangement. Rouch celebrated film â€Å"Les Maitres fous† (1955), filmed in Ghana among migrant workers from Niger who undergo a possession ritual, is very much a display of radical difference, even if recorded with humor and respect. As such, it goes very much against the grain of how most West African intellectuals would like to see their cultural heritage presented to outsiders, the main reason, I think, why many of them do not like Rouch’s films. West African films look different and show the culture in a different way. There are statelier in rhythm and style and less adventurous in form. They also present their characters as likeable and not wild. â€Å"Cinema-verite† is translated as â€Å"Film truth† in French. Cinema-verite is as style of filmmaking that uses the camera as a protagonist, as a catalyst for action (Kahn 185). In addition to this, it is derived from Dziga Vertov’s â€Å"Kino-pravda† a documentary film series in the Soviet Union of the 1920s, wherein it was important that the film audience realized it was watching a film, not reality. The term was coined by Jean Rouch together with the help of Edgar Morin while making â€Å"Chronique d’un ete† (1961) with newly developed, portable cameras and Nagra sound recorders. In this film interview, subjects of Rouch and Morin get to watch and comment on footage of themselves. The term â€Å"cinema-verite† also implies that the filmmakers try to avoid manipulating documentary truth, but it has often been confused with â€Å"Direct Cinema† which is a movement which emphasized â€Å"objectivity† over â€Å"reflexivity of cinema-verite†. The term â€Å"verite† is used in Hollywood to denote a style of shooting to achieve the effects of veracity and immediacy or the jerky, hand-held camera and grainy out-of-focus texture (Barnard et al. 377). In the early 1960s, technical advances made it possible for small crews to produce synchronous-sound location films. The equipment encouraged some filmmakers to record actions and events as detached observers, naively assuming that they were not significantly influencing the actions being followed. The so-called American direct cinema of Richard Leacock, Robert Drew, the Maysles brothers (Albert and David), and the others helped to define this kind of documentary. Eventually, it led to what is known today as observational-style film, which became so attractive for some ethnographic filmmakers (Ruby 12). Jean Rouch on the other hand, having founded the cinema-verite, obviously adopts the opposite approach unlike the previously mentioned ethnographers of filmmakers. Jean Rouch aim in cinema-verite is to have the subjects reveal their culture. The use of the camera as a character in the films he made was due to the fact that he felt that the presence of the camera could provoke a cine trance for his subjects. In â€Å"Chronicle of a Summer† (1961), the filmmakers combined the ideas they have borrowed from Flaherty with those of Soviet film theorist and practitioner Dziga Vertov. Rouch brought the cameras and his filmmaking style into Paris streets for impromptu encounters in which the filmmaking process was often a part of the film, with filmmakers and equipment in frame. Consequently, the actions of Jean Rouch and his works lead to an immediate notice or significant influence to the films of French New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Chris marker, whose film â€Å"Le Foli Mai† is a direct response to â€Å"Chronicle of a Summer†. Rouch’s influence in the United States was not immediate unlike that of the France because so few of his films were accessible (Ruby 12). Rouch has persistently continued with his style and to develop his collaborative approach over a forty-year period in a number of films made with West Africans. Some criticized certain early efforts, Such as â€Å"Les Maitres Fous† (1955), as ethnocentric because of an assumed overemphasis on the bizarre, but others celebrated it as definitive surrealist film (Ruby 5). However, his intentions was to produce a â€Å"shared anthropology† in which those in front of the camera shared the power with the director. This idea reached an apex with his so-called ethnographic science fiction films, such as â€Å"Petit a Petit† (1968), â€Å"Cocorico†, â€Å"Monsieur Poulet† (1983) and â€Å"Madame l’Eau† (1992). Rouch is not alone in France in his adventurous experiments in collaboration. In 1964, George Rouqier produced a film about a year in life on a farm as lived by his relatives. In his film, the subjects were asked to enact their lives which is kind of ethnodocudrama. Although it was screened at the 1947 Venice Film Festival as a French form of neorealism, it has been virtually ignored by the United States anthropologists. Jean Rouch is also not alone when it comes to his interests in pushing the limits of documentary realism. For example, the United States anthropologist Robert Ascher experimented with drawing directly on film to produce a â€Å"cameraless† interpretation of a myth which is considered to be a technique found in experimental art films. As with Rouch, his efforts have been ignored. Stoller contends that Jean Rouch is a premature postmodernist. However, it should be considered that Rouch’s work in multivocality and reflexivity has been ignored by the so-called crisis of representation and writing culture folks. Their lack of understanding of Rouch’s many contributions to the postmodern debates that have obsessed anthropology in recent years perhaps the best example of how marginalized ethnographic film is to the mainstream of cultural anthropology. Other anthropologists who disagree with Rouch’s filmmaking style and contributions simply do not see his work as contributing to their interests (Ruby 13). From his works and style in enthnofiction, as observed in his â€Å"Chronicle of a Summer†, a certain concept of ethnofiction can be identified. However, before reaching that fruitful conclusion or concept, Jean Rouch had to perform several tests or experiments in filmmaking, particularly exploring the subject matter or aspects of ethnofiction. Based from his works and experiments, five characteristics can be deduced. First, is the â€Å"thorough ethnographical research† (Quist 9) which can be observed in his films such as â€Å"Les maitres fous† and Batille Sur Le Grand Fleuve†. Second, ethnofiction consists of â€Å"truthful circumstances and accurate documentation† (Quiest 9). Third, ethnofiction â€Å"utilizes the cinema’s need for story as well as dramatic curve† (Quiest 9) which can be observed in Jean Rouch films such as â€Å"The Lion Hunters†. Fourth is the characteristic, on Rouch’s term, â€Å"cine-trance† which have been previously mentioned or discussed. Commonly, â€Å"cine-trance† is referred to as â€Å"improvisation†. The fifth characteristic of ethnofiction, and probably the most important part of the films and considerations of Jean Rouch is â€Å"participant reaction† which can be observed in â€Å"Chronicle of a Summer† (Quist 9). After the establishment of the five characteristics of ethnofiction, there was a need for Jean Rouch to develop a single film that would encompass all these five characteristics of ethnofiction. Jean Rouch pursued an ethnofiction film that would incorporate all these characteristics. The film noted in Quist analysis is â€Å"Jaguar† which was completed and released in 1967. This film became the classic example for ethnofiction film because it encompassed or included all the five characteristics of ethnofiction perfectly. This comprehensive ethnofiction film instantly gained fame and became renowned not only in Africa but also to film festivals worldwide (Quist 10). Jean Rouch’s perseverance however does not stop at the success of â€Å"Jaguar†. He continued honing his skills until the five characteristics of ethnofiction became very familiar with him and his films. He continuously endeavoured in order to improve the cinema-verite which he and Morison founded. He also continued making films to influence other filmmakers and to introduce different or varieties of culture from the point of view of its subjects. Jean Rouch’s perseverance, efforts and success are really remarkable that he definitely lives to the expectations of those who look up to him. His influences and his contributions to the filmmaking industry really justifies Jean Rouch as â€Å"father of ethnofiction†. Works Cited Barnard, Tim, Timothy Barnard, and Peter Rist. South American Cinema: A Critical Filmography, 1915-1994. USA: First University of Texas Press Printing, 1996. Bickford-Smith, Vivian, and Richard Mendelsohn. Black and White in Colour: African History on Screen. UK: James Currey Ltd, 2007. Kahn, Hillary E. Seeing and Being Seen: The Qeqchi Maya of Livingston, Guatemala, and Beyond. USA: The University of Texas Press, 2006. Quist, Brian. Jean Rouch and the Genesis of Ethnofiction. Long Island University. Ruby, Jay. Picturing Culture: Explorations of Film and Anthropology. USA: The University of Chicago, 2000.

Digital Radio Rebanding Essay Example for Free

Digital Radio Rebanding Essay In this paper we have talked about the urgent need of introducing more Emergency communication RF frequencies. The reason for needing more frequencies are twofold firstly the frequencies already allocated are much less than needed and secondly all these frequencies needed upgrade the . We have also included frequencies currently used for emergency networks. We have talked about a scenario where the equipment upgrade became necessary when the emergency support system was changed to a different frequency. Later in the paper we have recommended using new digital technologies such as software defined radio, cognitive radio and 802. 11 Adhoc networks for stronger , secure, high data rate and reliable communication. Introduction As the world is moving ahead the need for radio and wireless communication cannot be denied. This importance becomes more evident in emergency conditions and times . Several frequencies from the electromagnetic spectrum are allocated for emergency time communication by the governments and agencies around the world. One such agency is FCC who is responsible for assigning different frequency bands/ There are some specific frequencies that are the designated for the communication in emergency, a table of such allocated frequencies are presented here. The problem is this that these frequencies are being used for other purposes by the hobbyist etc for communication or other type of data transfer at other times and accessing these in the time of emergencies becomes difficult. The aircraft emergency frequency is a set of frequencies used on the aircraft radio band reserved for emergency communications for aircraft in distress. The frequencies are 121. 5 MHz for civilian, also known as International Air Distress (IAD) and 243. 0 MHz for military use, also known as Military Air Distress (MAD). Both of these frequenices are used on the international level. Digital Radio Rebanding It is a well know fact that Electromagnetic spectrum is a limited source hence the whole electromagnetic spectra has been dived to be used for specific purposes, one of such specific purpose is to use Radio frequency based communication in time of emergency. Several specific bands are allocate for this purpose but it has recently been felt that these bands do not provide the required frequencies and modern digital radio will also not be able to perform well in these bands. (Silva, 2001). Since these frequencies are limited these also become crowded at those times of emergency when a lot of people are communicating for rescue and providing help. i. e in the case of a major disaster several aid agencies and organizations approach that place, they use similar equipment and find themselves unable to communicate. Therefore it is a dire need to increase the number of these allocated frequencies only designated to be used for emergency purposes. At several times in the past the required emergency band were found to be occupied and the users were asked to quit using those frequencies o n that period. One of the outstanding examples is of NOAA satellites which has got its frequencies changed in February 2009 and now it can only receive signals from the 406 MHz frequency beacons. It should be noted that NOAA satellite was crucial in saving at least 283 people worldwide. The older emergency beacons, operating on the 121. 5 and 243 MHz frequencies, will no longer be detected. This is one of the main ressons why all the equipment on the ground that they use needs to be upgraded. Events where the emergency systems failed In the recent history during several disaster the need for ditial radio rebranding has been felt. The three major events have high importance in this regard. During Hurricane Katrina, the emergency frequencies were found to be inadequate and were not able to cope up with the requirements. The emergency spectrum was very crowded and more people were found trying to access the channel than the spectrum could possibly accommodate. Emergency communication systems failed on the disastrous event of 9/11 and caused the people working in those agencies to evaluate their system performance. The Indian Ocean Tsunami that occurred in 2004 and caused approximately 350,000 deaths and many more injuries. There could be much less deaths if the emergency communication could be on digital equipment and more spectrums dedicated. Digital Radio Analog systems, which are predominantly existent in today’s emergency communication, are cheaper but digital systems present much more efficient, better performance, and greater flexibility. For the public security radio communication has been used as a primary means of communication for several organizations including police but there are slight improvement in the methods used to transfer information. This lack of innovation over time has lead to the overcrowding of current systems and the need to find new and better methods to communicate in that medium. Recent tragic disaster raised concerns about the existing public safety emergency communications and their inability to accommodate a large number of users for a short time is serious problematic. These currently systems failed to offer the kind of rescue help as it was thought earlier. With the implementation of digital technology the allocated frequency band would allow for the increased use of the spectrum. Current frequencies and added new frequencies that would better allow many agencies to communicate with limited problems when compared to current operational models. Unfortunately more focus is there on improving day to day communication because they yield more business but serious concerns are there and which need to be addressed as several analog based systems failed to be effective in emergency communication. Recommendations By analyzing the situation we can easily say that the reserved frequencies used for emergency communication are much less than what are needed. Hence more frequencies are needed for emergency communication bands, FCC and other frequency allocated organizations need to ponder greatly on this aspect. Also it should also be made sure that nobody except the authorized users use those frequencies hence in the case of any emergency, the communication could be established in no time. We have also found that the analog radio communication is inefficient therefore radio digital broadcasting is necessary in the times of emergency and agencies already working such It is also imperative for the agencies involved in emergency operation to have all their equipment based on digital radio. It is one in which all the communications is done using digital modulation techniques: here we would talk about some of the recent advancement in digital radio technology which has increased the reuse of frequcnices with better transfer of data, voice and video both. Software defined Radio is one of the very promising technologies and will prove to be one of the major developments in the field of RF communication. If SDR , as it is called , is introduced in emergency communication equipment data communications, voice communications, video communications, would all be made possible in much better ways for the emergency response communications. ( Kenington, 2005) SDR is usually a collection of hardware and software technologies in which a few of the radio’s operating functions such as physical layer processing are implemented through reconfigurable software which is burned into the different programmable processors. The SDR has now been seen to be implemented using field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), digital signal processors (DSP), general purpose processors (GPP), embedded systems or other specific programmable processors. With software defined radio new technologies can easily be built to existing radio systems without requiring new hardware. (Reed, 2002) In reality the Software defined radio (SDR) technology brings flexibility and cost efficiency and will be very helpful in the long run for the emergency radio rebranding takes place as no matter what frequencies are assigned; only tweaking the software would enable the communications. Cognitive radio technology Cognitive radio can be implemented specially for the emergency needed communication because this promising technology would accommodate many more users than the usual analog or digital communication methods. (Arslan, 2007) Recent studies demonstrated that dynamic spectrum access can improve spectrum utilization significantly by allowing secondary unlicensed users to dynamically share the spectrum that is not used by the primary licensed user. Cognitive radio was proposed to promote the spectrum utilization by opportunistic exploiting the existences of spectrum holes. ( Fette, 2009) Other Technologies Few recent technologies such as WiMAX (802. 16) might be deployed in conjunction with traditional communication modes to enhance the data rate so that images from the disastrous area might be transferred to remote areas. One other technology that is taking shape these days is 802. 11 adhoc sensor networks which might also be deployed in remote areas so that if any one needs rescue they could be helped. The adhoc networks are recently introduced technology and might prove to be very useful. Today the rescue teams are capable to do much more for the people in need and in emergency conditions based on the information they have but for this they need detailed information in the form of pictures videos and detailed maps, The legacy analog radio systems are unable to support high data rates nor are cable of handling simultaneously. Conclusion: We conclude from this study that not only the frequencies assigned are less than the required, considering the events where these frequencies were exhausted and also the equipment in use is also needs to be based on Digital Radio. If the new frequencies are acquired it has also been found out that the equipment becomes useless so both of these needs to be achieved for a better RF emergency communications. References Silva, E. D. (2001), High Frequency and Microwave Engineering . Newnes Kenington, P. (2005) Rf And Baseband Techniques for Software Defined Radio. Artech House Publishers Arslan,H. (2007) Cognitive Radio, Software Defined Radio, and Adaptive Wireless Systems . Springer Fette,B. A. (2009)Cognitive Radio Technology, Second Edition. Academic Press Reed, J. H. (2002) Software Radio: A Modern Approach to Radio Engineering. Prentice Hall PTR

Effect of Social Networks on Teaching Methods

Effect of Social Networks on Teaching Methods ABSTRACT Background. Research on social networks in schools is increasing rapidly. Network studies outside education have indicated that the structure of social networks is partly affected by demographic characteristics of network members. Yet, knowledge on how teacher social networks are shaped by teacher and school demographics is scarce. Purpose. The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which teachers work related social networks are affected by teacher and school demographic characteristics. Method. Survey data were collected among 316 educators from 13 elementary schools in a large educational system in the Netherlands. Using social network analysis, in particular multilevel p2 modeling, we analyzed the effect of teacher and school demographics on individual teachers probability of having relationships in a work discussion network. Conclusions. Findings indicate that differences in having relationships were associated with differences in gender, grade level, working hours, formal position, and experience. We also found that educators tend to prefer relationships with educators with the same gender and from the same grade level. Moreover, years of shared experience as a school team appeared to affect the likelihood of teacher relationships around work related discussion. INTRODUCTION Relationships among educators are more and more regarded as an important element to schools functioning, and a potential source of school improvement. Educational practitioners and scholars around the world are targeting teacher interaction as a way to facilitate knowledge exchange and shared teacher practice through a variety of collaborative initiatives, such as communities of practice, professional learning communities, and social networks (Daly Finnigan, 2009; Hord, 1997; Lieberman McLaughlin, 1992; Wenger, 1998). The growing literature base around these concepts suggests that relationships matter for fostering a climate of trust and a safe and open environment to implement reform and engage in innovative teacher practices (Bryk Schneider, 2002; Louis, Marks, Kruse, 1996; Coburn Russell, 2008; Penuel, Fishman, Yamaguchi, Galagher, 2007). Social network literature asserts that relationships matter because the configuration of social relationships offers opportunities and constraints for collective action (Burt, 1983, Coleman, 1990; Granovetter, 1973; Lochner, Kawachi, Kennedy, 1999). For instance, the extent to which an organizational network supports the rate and ease with which knowledge and information flows through the organization may provide it with an advantage over its competitors (Nahapiet Ghoshal, 1998; Tsai, 2001). While social network studies have mainly concentrated on the consequences of social networks for individuals and groups, less attention has been paid to how social networks are conditioned upon individual characteristics and behavior (Borgatti Foster, 2003). A developing set of studies in organizational literature is focusing on how attributes of individuals such as personality traits affect their social network (e.g., Burt, Janotta Mahoney, 1998; Mehra, Kilduff, Brass, 2001; Madhavan, Caner , Prescott, Koka, 2008), how individuals select others to engage in relationships (Kossinets Watts, 2006; McPherson, Smith-Lovin, Cook, 2001), and how organizations enter into alliances with other organizations (Gulati Gargiulo, 1999). These studies offer valuable insights in potential individual and organizational attributes that may affect the pattern of social relationships in school teams. Attributes that are especially worth investigating for their potential to shape the social structure of school teams are demographic characteristics (cf. Ely, 1995; Tsui, Egan, OReilly, 1992). Demographic characteristics are more or less constant elements that typify teachers, their relationships, and schools based on socio-economic factors such as age, gender, teaching experience, and school team composition. Several network studies have suggested that networks are at least in part shaped by demographic characteristics of individuals, their dyadic relationships, and the network (Brass, 1984; Heyl, 1996; Ibarra 1992, 1995; Lazega Van Duijn, 1997; Veenstra et al., 2007; Zijlstra, Veenstra, Van Duijn, 2008). For instance, several studies reported that relationships among individuals with the same gender are more likely than relationships among individuals with opposite gender (a so-called homophily effect) (Baerveldt, Van Duijn, Vermeij, Van Hemert, 2004; McPherson, Smith-Lovin Co ok, 2001). These studies, however, seldom purposely aim to examine the impact of demographic characteristics on social networks and consequently only include few demographic variables of network members. Insights in the extent to which social relationships are formed in the light of multiple individual and organizational demographic characteristics are limited, and even more so in the context of education. We argue that such groundwork knowledge is crucial for all those who aim to optimize social networks in support of school improvement and, ultimately, student achievement. This chapter aims to examine the extent to which social networks in school teams are shaped by individual, dyadic, and school level demographic variables, such as teachers gender and age, school team composition and team experience, and students socio-economic status. We conducted a study among 316 educators in 13 Dutch elementary schools. Results of this study were expected to increase insights in the constant social forces that may partly define teachers relationships in their school teams, and discover potential tendencies around, for example, homophily and structural balance. Based on a literature review of social network studies that include demographic variables in a wide range of settings, we pose several hypotheses on the extent to which demographical variables at the individual, dyadic, and school level may affect teachers social networks. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Individual level demographics that may shape teachers social networks Social network literature has suggested various individual demographic characteristics to affect their pattern of relationships, and as such social networks as a whole (Heyl, 1996; Lazega Van Duijn, 1997; Veenstra et al., 2007; Zijlstra, Veenstra, Van Duijn, 2008). Following these suggestions, we will first review how individual level demographic characteristics may affect teachers social networks. We focus on the individual demographics gender, formal position, working hours, experience at school, age, and grade level for their potential influence on teachers patterns of social relationships and school teams social network structure. Gender. The likelihood of having relationships in a network may be associated with gender (Metz Tharenou, 2001; Moore, 1990; Stoloff et al., 1999; Veenstra et al., 2007; Zijlstra, Veenstra, Van Duijn, 2008). Previous research has indicated that gender affects network formation (Burt et al., 1998; Hughes, 1946; Ibarra, 1993, 1995, Moore, 1990; Pugliesi, 1998; Van Emmerik, 2006) and that, in general, women tend to have more relationships than men (Mehra, Kilduff, Brass, 1998). These differences are already found in childhood (Frydenberg Lewis, 1993) and continue to exist through life (Parker de Vries, 1993; Van der Pompe De Heus, 1993). In various settings and cultures, both men and women were found to use men as network routes to achieve their goals and acquire information from more distant domains (Aldrich et al., 1989; Bernard et al., 1988). Following these findings, we hypothesize that male teachers will have a higher likelihood of receiving more relationships than female tea chers, and women will send more relationships than men (Hypothesis 1a). Formal position. Previous research in organizations (Lazega Van Duijn, 1997; Moore, 1990) and education (Coburn, 2005; Coburn Russell, 2008; Daly Finnigan, 2009; Heyl, 1996) suggests that the formal position of individuals may be related to their relational activity and popularity. For instance, Lazega Van Duijn (1997) found that lawyers were more often sought out for advice when they held a higher hierarchical position. Research has indicated that the network position of an organizational leader is important in terms of access and leveraging social resources through social relationships as well as brokering between teachers that are themselves unconnected (Balkundi Harrison, 2006; Balkundi Kilduff, 2005). In line with these studies, we expect that principals will be more sought out for work related discussions than teachers. We also expect that principals will report to be involved in more relationships than teachers, since they depend on these relationships to gather informat ion and convey knowledge, plans, and expertise to support student learning and monitor the functioning of teachers and the school. Moreover, principals are reported to occupy a strategic position in the flow of information between the district office and teachers and relay important policy and organizational information from the district office to the teachers (Coburn, 2005; Coburn Russell, 2008). Therefore, we hypothesize that principals have a higher likelihood of sending and receiving relationships (Hypothesis 1b). Working hours. In addition, the number of working hours that an educator spends at the school may also affect his/her opportunity to initiate and maintain social relationships. Recent research suggests that the relationship between network embeddedness and job performance is related to working hours (Van Emmerik Sanders, 2004). In line with this finding, it is hypothesized that educators who work full time will have a higher probability of sending and receiving relationships than educators with part time working hours (Hypothesis 1c). Experience at the school. Another demographic characteristic that may affect an individuals pattern of relationships is seniority, or experience at the school. The previously mentioned law study (Lazega Van Duijn, 1997) indicated that senior lawyers had a higher probability of being sought out for advice than junior lawyers. Besides having more work experience, a perceived network advantage of senior lawyers may be that they have built more strong, durable, and reliable relationships over time, and therefore have access to resources that are unattainable for more junior lawyers. Accordingly, we hypothesize that educators who have more experience in their school team have a higher likelihood of sending and receiving work discussion relationships than educators who have less experience in the school team (Hypothesis 1d). Age. Network research in other contexts found age differences in relation to the amount of relationships that individuals maintain (Cairns, Leung, Buchanan, Cairns, 1995; Gottlieb Green, 1984). In general, these studies suggest that the amount of relationships that people maintain tend to decrease with age. However, with increased age, experience at the school also increases together with the amount of relationships based on seniority (Lazega Van Duijn, 1997). In concordance with the latter, we hypothesize that age will positively affect the probability of work related ties, meaning that older teachers are more likely to send and receive work related relationships than younger teachers (Hypothesis 1e) Grade Level. Within schools, formal clustering around grade level may affect the pattern of relationships among educators. The grade level may to a certain extent affect the amount of interaction among educators since grade level teams may have additional grade level meetings and professional development initiatives are often targeted at the grade level (Daly et al., in press; McLaughlin Talbert, 1993; Newmann, Kings, Youngs, 2000; Newmann Wehlage, 1995; Wood, 2007; Stoll Louis, 2007). Dutch elementary schools are relatively small compared to U.S. elementary schools, and are often divided into a grade level team for the lower grades (K 2) and a grade level team for the upper grades (3 6). The amount of relationships that teachers have, may partly be defined by the requirements of and opportunities provided by their grade level team. We may expect that teachers that teach upper grade levels send and receive more relationships than teachers that teach lower grade levels because o f the increasingly diverse and demanding curriculum in the upper grades combined with intensified student testing and preparation for education after elementary school. These conditions may require more work related discussion of upper grade level teachers than of lower grade level teachers. As such, we expect that teachers that teach upper grade levels have a higher likelihood of sending and receiving relationships than teachers that teach lower grade levels (Hypothesis 1f). Dyadic level demographics that may shape teachers social networks Dyadic level demographics are demographics that typify the relationship between two individuals. Dyadic level effects give insights in network homophily. Network homophily is arguably the most well-known social network concept that often explicitly focuses on demographic characteristics of network members. The concept of homophily, also known by the adage birds of a feather flock together, addresses similarity between two individuals in a dyadic (paired) relationship. Homophily literature builds on the notion that individuals are more likely to develop and maintain social relationships with others that are similar to them on specific attributes, such as gender, organizational unit, or educational level (Marsden, 1988; McPherson Smith-Lovin, 1987; McPherson, Smith-Lovin, Cook, 2001). Similarly, individuals who differ from each other on a specific attribute are less likely to initiate relationships, and when they do, heterophilous relationships also tend to dissolve at a faster pace than homophilous relationships (McPherson et al., 2001). Homophily effects result from processes of social selection and social influence. Social selection refers to the idea that individuals tend to choose to interact with individuals that are similar to them in characteristics such as behavior and attitudes. At the same time, individuals that interact with each other influence each others behavior and attitudes, which may increase their similarity (McPherson et al., 2001). This is a process of social influence. In addition, individuals who share a relationship also tend to share similar experiences through their relationship (Feld, 1981). Homophily is related to the concept of structural balance. In the footsteps of cognitive balance theory, structural balance theory poses that individuals will undertake action to avoid or decrease an unbalanced network (Heider, 1958). Over time, people tend to seek balance in their network by initiating new strong relationships with friends of friends and terminate relationships with friends of enemies or enemies of friends (Wasserman Faust, 1997). As a result from this tendency towards structural balance, relatively homogenous and strong cliques may be formed that give the network some stability over time (Kossinets Watts, 2006). Structural balance and network homophily may have also have a negative influence on individuals social networks as the resulting network homogeneity and pattern of redundant relationships may limit their access to valuable information and expertise (Little, 1990; Burt, 1997, 2000). In this study we focus on two types of similarity that may define teachers relationships, namely gender similarity and grade level similarity. Gender similarity. A dyadic attribute that may affect teachers patterns of social relationships is the gender similarity between two teachers. Several studies have shown that work and voluntary organizations are often highly gender segregated (Bielby Baron, 1986, McGuire, 2000; McPherson Smith-Lovin, 1986, 1987; Popielarz, 1999; Van Emmerik, 2006). This gender homophily effect already starts at a young age (Hartup, 1993; Cairns Cairns, 1994; Furman Burmester, 1992). In the context of education, Heyl (1996) suggested an effect of gender homophily on interactional patterns among teachers, indicating that for men and women relationships with the opposite gender are less frequent or intense than relationships among men or relationship among women. In line with this suggestion, we hypothesize a homophily effect for gender, meaning that educators will prefer same-gender relationships over relationships with teachers of the opposite gender (Hypothesis 2a). Grade level similarity. Another dyadic attribute that may shape the pattern of teachers relationships is the grade level. In the Netherlands, schools are relatively small compared to the Unitesd States, with often only one full time or two part time teachers per grade level. Commonly, Dutch school teams are formally divided into two grade level levels representing the lower (onderbouw, often K-2 or K-3) and upper grades (bovenbouw, often grades 3-6 or 4-6), which are often located in close physical proximity. Recent research suggests that teachers who are located closely to each another are more likely to interact with each other than with teachers that are less physically proximate (Coburn Russell, 2008). Moreover, most schools have separate breaks for the lower and upper grades, and some schools hold additional formal meetings for the lower/upper grades to discuss issues related to these grades. Since shared experiences are argued to result in greater support among individuals (Fe ld, 1981; Suitor Pillemer, 2000; Suitor, Pillemer, Keeton, 1995), these organizational features will increase the opportunity for teachers from the same grade level to interact relative to teachers from a different grade level. Therefore, we hypothesize a homophily effect for grade level, meaning that teachers will more likely maintain relationships with teachers from their own grade level than with teachers that teach the other grade level (e.g., lower or upper level) (Hypothesis 2b). School level demographics that may shape teachers social networks Although teachers can often choose with whom they interact, the social structure of their schools network is partly outside their span of control (Burt, 1983; Brass Burkhardt, 1993; Gulati, 1995). Just as individual relationships may constrain or support a teachers access to and use of resources (Degenne Forse, 1999), the social structure surrounding the teacher may influence the extent to which teachers may shape their network so as to expect the greatest return on investment (Burt, 1992; Flap De Graaf, 1989; Ibarra, 1992, 1993, 1995; Lin Dumin, 1986; Little, 1990). Because of the embeddedness and interdependency of individuals in their social network, relationships and attributes at a higher level will affect lower-level relationships (Burt, 2000). As such, demographic characteristics at the school level may affect teachers patterns of relationships. We pose that the following school level demographic characteristics affect teachers pattern of social relationships: gender ratio , average age, school team experience, school size, school team size, and socio-economic status of the schools students. Gender ratio and average age. Above and beyond the influence of individual demographics on the tendency to form relationships, there may be aggregates of these individual demographics at the level of the school team that may affect teachers tendency to form and maintain relationships. Research in a law firm demonstrated that above the influence of individual level seniority, a lawyers position in the firms network was in part dependent on the ratio of juniors to seniors in the team (Lazega Van Duijn, 1997). For school teams, a compositional characteristic that may affect patterns of relationships is gender ratio, or the ratio of the number of female to male teachers. In a school team with a high ratio of female teachers (which is not unusual in Dutch elementary education) male teachers have fewer options for homophily friendships with same-sex peers than women. Therefore, male teachers in such a team may have a lower tendency to maintain relationships in general and a higher propens ity towards relationships with women than men in school teams with relatively more male teachers. Research confirms that the gender composition of a team may significantly affect gender homophily, with the minority gender often having much more heterophilous networks than the majority (McPherson, Smith-Lovin, Cook, 2001). Therefore, we expect that the gender ratio of the school team will shape teachers social networks. In line with previous empirical work suggesting that women tend to have more relationships than men (Mehra, Kilduff, Brass, 1998), we expect that teachers in school teams with a high female ratio will have a higher likelihood of sending and receiving ties than individuals in teams with relatively more male teachers (Hypothesis 3a). Along the same lines, if we expect that age will increase the likelihood of sending and receiving relationships, then increased average age of a school team may also enhance the probability of relationships. Therefore, we hypothesize that average age is positively related to the probability of ties (Hypothesis 3b). Team experience, school size, and team size. Prior research has indicated that individuals are more likely to reach out to others with whom they had previous relationships (Coburn Russell, 2008). Given the time and shared experiences that are necessary for building relationships, we may assume that the number of years that a school team has been functioning in its current configuration, without members leaving or joining the team, may affect teachers lilelihood of maintaining relationships. Therefore we include school team experience as a school level demographic that may positively affect teachers patterns of relationships (Hypothesis 3c). Other school demographics that may affect teachers inclinations to form relationships are school size (number of students) and team size (number of educators). Previous literature has suggested that the size of organizations and networks is directly related to the pattern of social relationships in organizations (Tsai, 2001). In general, the amou nt of individual relationships and the density of social networks decrease when network size increases. As such, we may expect a lower probability of relationships in schools that serve more students (Hypothesis 3d) and schools with larger school teams (Hypothesis 3e). Students socio-economic status. Social networks can be shaped by both endogenous and exogenous forces (Gulati, Nohria, Zaheer, 2000). An exogenous force to the school team that has been demonstrated to affect schools functioning is the socio-economic status (SES) of its students (Sirin, 2005; White, 1982). We argue that the socio-economic status of the children attending the school may influence the probability that teachers will form relationships. For instance, teachers perceptions of the urgency for communication and innovation may be dependent on the community surrounding the school. Typically, schools that serve more high-needs communities are associated with greater urgency in developing new approaches (Sunderman, Kim Orfield, 2005), which may relate to an increased probability of relationships among educators. Therefore, we hypothesize that teachers in low SES schools will have a higher probability of having relationships than teachers in high SES schools (Hypothesis 3f). METHOD Context The study took place at 13 elementary schools in south of The Netherlands. The schools were part of single district that provided IT, financial, and administrative support to 53 schools in the south of The Netherlands. At the time of the study, the district had just initiated a program for teacher development that involved a benchmark survey for the monitoring of school improvement. We selected a subsample of all the district schools based on a team size of 20 or more team members, since trial runs of the p2 estimation models encountered difficulties converging with smaller network sizes and more schools. The original sample consisted of 53 schools that, with the exception of school team and number of students, did not differ considerably from the 13 sample schools with regard to the described demographics. The context of Dutch elementary schools was beneficial to the study in three ways. First, the school teams were relatively small, which facilitated the collection of whole network data. Second, school teams are social networks with clear boundaries, meaning the distinction of who is part of the team is unambiguous for both researchers and respondents. Third, in contrast to many organizations, school organizations are characterized by relatively flat organizational structures, in which educators perform similar tasks and job diversification is relatively small. Often, educators have had similar training backgrounds, and are receiving school wide professional development as a team. Therefore, despite natural differences in individual characteristics, teachers in Dutch elementary school teams are arguably more comparable among each other than organizational employees in many other organizations, making demographic characteristics possibly less related to differences in tasks or task-rel ated status differences. Sample The sample schools served a student population ranging from 287 to 545 students in the age of 4 to 13. We collected social network data from 13 principals and 303 teachers, reflecting a response rate of 94.5 %. Of the sample, 69.9 % was female and 54.8 % worked full time (32 hours or more). Educators age ranged from 21 to 62 years (M = 46.5, sd = 9.9 years). Additional demographic information is depicted in Table 1 and 2. Instruments Social networks. We assessed the influence of demographic variables on a network that was aimed at capturing work related communication among educators. The network of discussing work related matters was selected because it is assumed to be an important network for the exchange of work related information, knowledge, and expertise that may affect individual and group performance (Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, Kraimer, 2001). Moreover, according to the previous analysis into network multiplexity (see Chapter 1), this network appeared to be an instrumental network with relatively small overlap with expressive networks. We asked respondents the following question: Whom do you turn to in order to discuss your work? A school-specific appendix was attached to the questionnaire comprising the names of the school team members, accompanied by a letter combination for each school team member (e.g., Ms. Yolanda Brown = AB). The question could be answered by indicating a letter combination for each colleague who the respondent considered part of his/her work discussion network. The number of colleagues a respondent could indicate as part of his/her network was unlimited. Individual, dyadic, and school level attributes. We collected demographic variables to assess how individual, dyadic, and school level attributes shape the pattern of social relationships among educators. At the individual level, we examined the following individual attributes: gender, formal position (teacher/principal), working hours (part time/full time), number of years experience at school, age, and whether a teacher was teaching in lower grade or upper grade. At the dyadic level, we included similarity of gender and similarity of grade level (lower/upper grade). At the school level, we investigated school size, team size, gender ratio, average age, years of team experience in current formation, and students socio-economic status (SES). Data analysis Testing the hypotheses Since our dependent variable consisted of social network data that are by nature interdependent (relationships among individuals), the assumption of data independence that underlies conventional regression models is violated. Therefore, we employed multilevel p2 models to investigate the effect of individual, dyadic, and school level demographics on having work-related relationships (Van Duijn et al., 2004; Baerveldt et al., 2004; Zijlstra, 2008). The p2 model is similar to a logistic regression model, but is developed to handle dichotomous dyadic outcomes. In contrast to a univariate logistic regression model, the p2 model controls for the interdependency that resides in social network data. The model focuses on the individual as the unit of analysis. The p2 model regards sender and receiver effects as latent (i.e., unobserved) random variables that can be explained by sender and receiver characteristics (Veenstra, et al., 2007). In the multilevel p2 analyses, the dependent variable is the aggregate of all the nominations a team member sent to or received from others. A positive effect thus indicates that the independent demographic variable has a positive effect on the probability of a relationship. We used the p2 program within the StOCNET software suite to run the p2 models (Lazega Van Duijn, 1997; Van Duijn, Snijders, Zijlstra, 2004). This software has been recently modified to fit multilevel data (Zijlstra, 2008; Zijlstra, Van Duijn, Snijders, 2006). We make use of this recent development by calculating multilevel p2 models for our data. The social network data in this study have a three-level structure. Network data were collected from 13 schools (Level 3) with 316 educators (Level 2) and 11.241 dyadic relationships (Level 1). To examine the influence of individual, dyadic, and school level demographics on the likelihood of having work related relationships we constructed two multilevel models. In the first multilevel model, the effects of individual and dyadic level demographics on the possibility of having relationships were examined. In the second multilevel model, school level demographic variables were added to the model in order to explain the additional effect of school level demographics on the possibility of having relationships, above and beyond the effects of individual and dyadic level demographics. For the multilevel p2 models, we used a subsample of the 13 schools with a team size of 20 educators or more. We selected this subsample of 13 schools from a larger sample of 53 schools to reduce computing ti me and to examine schools that were more comparable in network size. Still, each model estimation took about six hours of computing time. How to interpret p2 estimates In general, effects in p2 models can be interpreted in the following manner. Results on the variables of interest include both sender effects and receiver effects, meaning effects that signify the probability of sending or receiving a relationship nomination. A positively significant parameter estimate can be interpreted as the demographic variable having a positive effect on the probability of a relationship (Veenstra et al., 2007). For instance, a positive sender effect of formal position with dummy coding (teacher/principal) means that the position with the upper dummy code (principal) will have a higher probability of sending relationships than the position with the lower dummy code (teacher). To assess homophily effects, dyadic matrices were constructed based on the absolute difference between two respondents. For example, the dyadic relationship between male and female educators would be coded as a relationship between educators with a different gender because the absolute difference between male (dummy variable = 0) and female (dummy code = 1) is 1. Smaller numbers thus represent greater interpersonal similarity in gender. The same procedure was carried out for grade level differences. To facilitate the interpretation of the models, we labeled the dyadic parameters different gender and different grade level. A negative parameter estimate for different gender would thus indicate that a Effect of Social Networks on Teaching Methods Effect of Social Networks on Teaching Methods ABSTRACT Background. Research on social networks in schools is increasing rapidly. Network studies outside education have indicated that the structure of social networks is partly affected by demographic characteristics of network members. Yet, knowledge on how teacher social networks are shaped by teacher and school demographics is scarce. Purpose. The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which teachers work related social networks are affected by teacher and school demographic characteristics. Method. Survey data were collected among 316 educators from 13 elementary schools in a large educational system in the Netherlands. Using social network analysis, in particular multilevel p2 modeling, we analyzed the effect of teacher and school demographics on individual teachers probability of having relationships in a work discussion network. Conclusions. Findings indicate that differences in having relationships were associated with differences in gender, grade level, working hours, formal position, and experience. We also found that educators tend to prefer relationships with educators with the same gender and from the same grade level. Moreover, years of shared experience as a school team appeared to affect the likelihood of teacher relationships around work related discussion. INTRODUCTION Relationships among educators are more and more regarded as an important element to schools functioning, and a potential source of school improvement. Educational practitioners and scholars around the world are targeting teacher interaction as a way to facilitate knowledge exchange and shared teacher practice through a variety of collaborative initiatives, such as communities of practice, professional learning communities, and social networks (Daly Finnigan, 2009; Hord, 1997; Lieberman McLaughlin, 1992; Wenger, 1998). The growing literature base around these concepts suggests that relationships matter for fostering a climate of trust and a safe and open environment to implement reform and engage in innovative teacher practices (Bryk Schneider, 2002; Louis, Marks, Kruse, 1996; Coburn Russell, 2008; Penuel, Fishman, Yamaguchi, Galagher, 2007). Social network literature asserts that relationships matter because the configuration of social relationships offers opportunities and constraints for collective action (Burt, 1983, Coleman, 1990; Granovetter, 1973; Lochner, Kawachi, Kennedy, 1999). For instance, the extent to which an organizational network supports the rate and ease with which knowledge and information flows through the organization may provide it with an advantage over its competitors (Nahapiet Ghoshal, 1998; Tsai, 2001). While social network studies have mainly concentrated on the consequences of social networks for individuals and groups, less attention has been paid to how social networks are conditioned upon individual characteristics and behavior (Borgatti Foster, 2003). A developing set of studies in organizational literature is focusing on how attributes of individuals such as personality traits affect their social network (e.g., Burt, Janotta Mahoney, 1998; Mehra, Kilduff, Brass, 2001; Madhavan, Caner , Prescott, Koka, 2008), how individuals select others to engage in relationships (Kossinets Watts, 2006; McPherson, Smith-Lovin, Cook, 2001), and how organizations enter into alliances with other organizations (Gulati Gargiulo, 1999). These studies offer valuable insights in potential individual and organizational attributes that may affect the pattern of social relationships in school teams. Attributes that are especially worth investigating for their potential to shape the social structure of school teams are demographic characteristics (cf. Ely, 1995; Tsui, Egan, OReilly, 1992). Demographic characteristics are more or less constant elements that typify teachers, their relationships, and schools based on socio-economic factors such as age, gender, teaching experience, and school team composition. Several network studies have suggested that networks are at least in part shaped by demographic characteristics of individuals, their dyadic relationships, and the network (Brass, 1984; Heyl, 1996; Ibarra 1992, 1995; Lazega Van Duijn, 1997; Veenstra et al., 2007; Zijlstra, Veenstra, Van Duijn, 2008). For instance, several studies reported that relationships among individuals with the same gender are more likely than relationships among individuals with opposite gender (a so-called homophily effect) (Baerveldt, Van Duijn, Vermeij, Van Hemert, 2004; McPherson, Smith-Lovin Co ok, 2001). These studies, however, seldom purposely aim to examine the impact of demographic characteristics on social networks and consequently only include few demographic variables of network members. Insights in the extent to which social relationships are formed in the light of multiple individual and organizational demographic characteristics are limited, and even more so in the context of education. We argue that such groundwork knowledge is crucial for all those who aim to optimize social networks in support of school improvement and, ultimately, student achievement. This chapter aims to examine the extent to which social networks in school teams are shaped by individual, dyadic, and school level demographic variables, such as teachers gender and age, school team composition and team experience, and students socio-economic status. We conducted a study among 316 educators in 13 Dutch elementary schools. Results of this study were expected to increase insights in the constant social forces that may partly define teachers relationships in their school teams, and discover potential tendencies around, for example, homophily and structural balance. Based on a literature review of social network studies that include demographic variables in a wide range of settings, we pose several hypotheses on the extent to which demographical variables at the individual, dyadic, and school level may affect teachers social networks. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Individual level demographics that may shape teachers social networks Social network literature has suggested various individual demographic characteristics to affect their pattern of relationships, and as such social networks as a whole (Heyl, 1996; Lazega Van Duijn, 1997; Veenstra et al., 2007; Zijlstra, Veenstra, Van Duijn, 2008). Following these suggestions, we will first review how individual level demographic characteristics may affect teachers social networks. We focus on the individual demographics gender, formal position, working hours, experience at school, age, and grade level for their potential influence on teachers patterns of social relationships and school teams social network structure. Gender. The likelihood of having relationships in a network may be associated with gender (Metz Tharenou, 2001; Moore, 1990; Stoloff et al., 1999; Veenstra et al., 2007; Zijlstra, Veenstra, Van Duijn, 2008). Previous research has indicated that gender affects network formation (Burt et al., 1998; Hughes, 1946; Ibarra, 1993, 1995, Moore, 1990; Pugliesi, 1998; Van Emmerik, 2006) and that, in general, women tend to have more relationships than men (Mehra, Kilduff, Brass, 1998). These differences are already found in childhood (Frydenberg Lewis, 1993) and continue to exist through life (Parker de Vries, 1993; Van der Pompe De Heus, 1993). In various settings and cultures, both men and women were found to use men as network routes to achieve their goals and acquire information from more distant domains (Aldrich et al., 1989; Bernard et al., 1988). Following these findings, we hypothesize that male teachers will have a higher likelihood of receiving more relationships than female tea chers, and women will send more relationships than men (Hypothesis 1a). Formal position. Previous research in organizations (Lazega Van Duijn, 1997; Moore, 1990) and education (Coburn, 2005; Coburn Russell, 2008; Daly Finnigan, 2009; Heyl, 1996) suggests that the formal position of individuals may be related to their relational activity and popularity. For instance, Lazega Van Duijn (1997) found that lawyers were more often sought out for advice when they held a higher hierarchical position. Research has indicated that the network position of an organizational leader is important in terms of access and leveraging social resources through social relationships as well as brokering between teachers that are themselves unconnected (Balkundi Harrison, 2006; Balkundi Kilduff, 2005). In line with these studies, we expect that principals will be more sought out for work related discussions than teachers. We also expect that principals will report to be involved in more relationships than teachers, since they depend on these relationships to gather informat ion and convey knowledge, plans, and expertise to support student learning and monitor the functioning of teachers and the school. Moreover, principals are reported to occupy a strategic position in the flow of information between the district office and teachers and relay important policy and organizational information from the district office to the teachers (Coburn, 2005; Coburn Russell, 2008). Therefore, we hypothesize that principals have a higher likelihood of sending and receiving relationships (Hypothesis 1b). Working hours. In addition, the number of working hours that an educator spends at the school may also affect his/her opportunity to initiate and maintain social relationships. Recent research suggests that the relationship between network embeddedness and job performance is related to working hours (Van Emmerik Sanders, 2004). In line with this finding, it is hypothesized that educators who work full time will have a higher probability of sending and receiving relationships than educators with part time working hours (Hypothesis 1c). Experience at the school. Another demographic characteristic that may affect an individuals pattern of relationships is seniority, or experience at the school. The previously mentioned law study (Lazega Van Duijn, 1997) indicated that senior lawyers had a higher probability of being sought out for advice than junior lawyers. Besides having more work experience, a perceived network advantage of senior lawyers may be that they have built more strong, durable, and reliable relationships over time, and therefore have access to resources that are unattainable for more junior lawyers. Accordingly, we hypothesize that educators who have more experience in their school team have a higher likelihood of sending and receiving work discussion relationships than educators who have less experience in the school team (Hypothesis 1d). Age. Network research in other contexts found age differences in relation to the amount of relationships that individuals maintain (Cairns, Leung, Buchanan, Cairns, 1995; Gottlieb Green, 1984). In general, these studies suggest that the amount of relationships that people maintain tend to decrease with age. However, with increased age, experience at the school also increases together with the amount of relationships based on seniority (Lazega Van Duijn, 1997). In concordance with the latter, we hypothesize that age will positively affect the probability of work related ties, meaning that older teachers are more likely to send and receive work related relationships than younger teachers (Hypothesis 1e) Grade Level. Within schools, formal clustering around grade level may affect the pattern of relationships among educators. The grade level may to a certain extent affect the amount of interaction among educators since grade level teams may have additional grade level meetings and professional development initiatives are often targeted at the grade level (Daly et al., in press; McLaughlin Talbert, 1993; Newmann, Kings, Youngs, 2000; Newmann Wehlage, 1995; Wood, 2007; Stoll Louis, 2007). Dutch elementary schools are relatively small compared to U.S. elementary schools, and are often divided into a grade level team for the lower grades (K 2) and a grade level team for the upper grades (3 6). The amount of relationships that teachers have, may partly be defined by the requirements of and opportunities provided by their grade level team. We may expect that teachers that teach upper grade levels send and receive more relationships than teachers that teach lower grade levels because o f the increasingly diverse and demanding curriculum in the upper grades combined with intensified student testing and preparation for education after elementary school. These conditions may require more work related discussion of upper grade level teachers than of lower grade level teachers. As such, we expect that teachers that teach upper grade levels have a higher likelihood of sending and receiving relationships than teachers that teach lower grade levels (Hypothesis 1f). Dyadic level demographics that may shape teachers social networks Dyadic level demographics are demographics that typify the relationship between two individuals. Dyadic level effects give insights in network homophily. Network homophily is arguably the most well-known social network concept that often explicitly focuses on demographic characteristics of network members. The concept of homophily, also known by the adage birds of a feather flock together, addresses similarity between two individuals in a dyadic (paired) relationship. Homophily literature builds on the notion that individuals are more likely to develop and maintain social relationships with others that are similar to them on specific attributes, such as gender, organizational unit, or educational level (Marsden, 1988; McPherson Smith-Lovin, 1987; McPherson, Smith-Lovin, Cook, 2001). Similarly, individuals who differ from each other on a specific attribute are less likely to initiate relationships, and when they do, heterophilous relationships also tend to dissolve at a faster pace than homophilous relationships (McPherson et al., 2001). Homophily effects result from processes of social selection and social influence. Social selection refers to the idea that individuals tend to choose to interact with individuals that are similar to them in characteristics such as behavior and attitudes. At the same time, individuals that interact with each other influence each others behavior and attitudes, which may increase their similarity (McPherson et al., 2001). This is a process of social influence. In addition, individuals who share a relationship also tend to share similar experiences through their relationship (Feld, 1981). Homophily is related to the concept of structural balance. In the footsteps of cognitive balance theory, structural balance theory poses that individuals will undertake action to avoid or decrease an unbalanced network (Heider, 1958). Over time, people tend to seek balance in their network by initiating new strong relationships with friends of friends and terminate relationships with friends of enemies or enemies of friends (Wasserman Faust, 1997). As a result from this tendency towards structural balance, relatively homogenous and strong cliques may be formed that give the network some stability over time (Kossinets Watts, 2006). Structural balance and network homophily may have also have a negative influence on individuals social networks as the resulting network homogeneity and pattern of redundant relationships may limit their access to valuable information and expertise (Little, 1990; Burt, 1997, 2000). In this study we focus on two types of similarity that may define teachers relationships, namely gender similarity and grade level similarity. Gender similarity. A dyadic attribute that may affect teachers patterns of social relationships is the gender similarity between two teachers. Several studies have shown that work and voluntary organizations are often highly gender segregated (Bielby Baron, 1986, McGuire, 2000; McPherson Smith-Lovin, 1986, 1987; Popielarz, 1999; Van Emmerik, 2006). This gender homophily effect already starts at a young age (Hartup, 1993; Cairns Cairns, 1994; Furman Burmester, 1992). In the context of education, Heyl (1996) suggested an effect of gender homophily on interactional patterns among teachers, indicating that for men and women relationships with the opposite gender are less frequent or intense than relationships among men or relationship among women. In line with this suggestion, we hypothesize a homophily effect for gender, meaning that educators will prefer same-gender relationships over relationships with teachers of the opposite gender (Hypothesis 2a). Grade level similarity. Another dyadic attribute that may shape the pattern of teachers relationships is the grade level. In the Netherlands, schools are relatively small compared to the Unitesd States, with often only one full time or two part time teachers per grade level. Commonly, Dutch school teams are formally divided into two grade level levels representing the lower (onderbouw, often K-2 or K-3) and upper grades (bovenbouw, often grades 3-6 or 4-6), which are often located in close physical proximity. Recent research suggests that teachers who are located closely to each another are more likely to interact with each other than with teachers that are less physically proximate (Coburn Russell, 2008). Moreover, most schools have separate breaks for the lower and upper grades, and some schools hold additional formal meetings for the lower/upper grades to discuss issues related to these grades. Since shared experiences are argued to result in greater support among individuals (Fe ld, 1981; Suitor Pillemer, 2000; Suitor, Pillemer, Keeton, 1995), these organizational features will increase the opportunity for teachers from the same grade level to interact relative to teachers from a different grade level. Therefore, we hypothesize a homophily effect for grade level, meaning that teachers will more likely maintain relationships with teachers from their own grade level than with teachers that teach the other grade level (e.g., lower or upper level) (Hypothesis 2b). School level demographics that may shape teachers social networks Although teachers can often choose with whom they interact, the social structure of their schools network is partly outside their span of control (Burt, 1983; Brass Burkhardt, 1993; Gulati, 1995). Just as individual relationships may constrain or support a teachers access to and use of resources (Degenne Forse, 1999), the social structure surrounding the teacher may influence the extent to which teachers may shape their network so as to expect the greatest return on investment (Burt, 1992; Flap De Graaf, 1989; Ibarra, 1992, 1993, 1995; Lin Dumin, 1986; Little, 1990). Because of the embeddedness and interdependency of individuals in their social network, relationships and attributes at a higher level will affect lower-level relationships (Burt, 2000). As such, demographic characteristics at the school level may affect teachers patterns of relationships. We pose that the following school level demographic characteristics affect teachers pattern of social relationships: gender ratio , average age, school team experience, school size, school team size, and socio-economic status of the schools students. Gender ratio and average age. Above and beyond the influence of individual demographics on the tendency to form relationships, there may be aggregates of these individual demographics at the level of the school team that may affect teachers tendency to form and maintain relationships. Research in a law firm demonstrated that above the influence of individual level seniority, a lawyers position in the firms network was in part dependent on the ratio of juniors to seniors in the team (Lazega Van Duijn, 1997). For school teams, a compositional characteristic that may affect patterns of relationships is gender ratio, or the ratio of the number of female to male teachers. In a school team with a high ratio of female teachers (which is not unusual in Dutch elementary education) male teachers have fewer options for homophily friendships with same-sex peers than women. Therefore, male teachers in such a team may have a lower tendency to maintain relationships in general and a higher propens ity towards relationships with women than men in school teams with relatively more male teachers. Research confirms that the gender composition of a team may significantly affect gender homophily, with the minority gender often having much more heterophilous networks than the majority (McPherson, Smith-Lovin, Cook, 2001). Therefore, we expect that the gender ratio of the school team will shape teachers social networks. In line with previous empirical work suggesting that women tend to have more relationships than men (Mehra, Kilduff, Brass, 1998), we expect that teachers in school teams with a high female ratio will have a higher likelihood of sending and receiving ties than individuals in teams with relatively more male teachers (Hypothesis 3a). Along the same lines, if we expect that age will increase the likelihood of sending and receiving relationships, then increased average age of a school team may also enhance the probability of relationships. Therefore, we hypothesize that average age is positively related to the probability of ties (Hypothesis 3b). Team experience, school size, and team size. Prior research has indicated that individuals are more likely to reach out to others with whom they had previous relationships (Coburn Russell, 2008). Given the time and shared experiences that are necessary for building relationships, we may assume that the number of years that a school team has been functioning in its current configuration, without members leaving or joining the team, may affect teachers lilelihood of maintaining relationships. Therefore we include school team experience as a school level demographic that may positively affect teachers patterns of relationships (Hypothesis 3c). Other school demographics that may affect teachers inclinations to form relationships are school size (number of students) and team size (number of educators). Previous literature has suggested that the size of organizations and networks is directly related to the pattern of social relationships in organizations (Tsai, 2001). In general, the amou nt of individual relationships and the density of social networks decrease when network size increases. As such, we may expect a lower probability of relationships in schools that serve more students (Hypothesis 3d) and schools with larger school teams (Hypothesis 3e). Students socio-economic status. Social networks can be shaped by both endogenous and exogenous forces (Gulati, Nohria, Zaheer, 2000). An exogenous force to the school team that has been demonstrated to affect schools functioning is the socio-economic status (SES) of its students (Sirin, 2005; White, 1982). We argue that the socio-economic status of the children attending the school may influence the probability that teachers will form relationships. For instance, teachers perceptions of the urgency for communication and innovation may be dependent on the community surrounding the school. Typically, schools that serve more high-needs communities are associated with greater urgency in developing new approaches (Sunderman, Kim Orfield, 2005), which may relate to an increased probability of relationships among educators. Therefore, we hypothesize that teachers in low SES schools will have a higher probability of having relationships than teachers in high SES schools (Hypothesis 3f). METHOD Context The study took place at 13 elementary schools in south of The Netherlands. The schools were part of single district that provided IT, financial, and administrative support to 53 schools in the south of The Netherlands. At the time of the study, the district had just initiated a program for teacher development that involved a benchmark survey for the monitoring of school improvement. We selected a subsample of all the district schools based on a team size of 20 or more team members, since trial runs of the p2 estimation models encountered difficulties converging with smaller network sizes and more schools. The original sample consisted of 53 schools that, with the exception of school team and number of students, did not differ considerably from the 13 sample schools with regard to the described demographics. The context of Dutch elementary schools was beneficial to the study in three ways. First, the school teams were relatively small, which facilitated the collection of whole network data. Second, school teams are social networks with clear boundaries, meaning the distinction of who is part of the team is unambiguous for both researchers and respondents. Third, in contrast to many organizations, school organizations are characterized by relatively flat organizational structures, in which educators perform similar tasks and job diversification is relatively small. Often, educators have had similar training backgrounds, and are receiving school wide professional development as a team. Therefore, despite natural differences in individual characteristics, teachers in Dutch elementary school teams are arguably more comparable among each other than organizational employees in many other organizations, making demographic characteristics possibly less related to differences in tasks or task-rel ated status differences. Sample The sample schools served a student population ranging from 287 to 545 students in the age of 4 to 13. We collected social network data from 13 principals and 303 teachers, reflecting a response rate of 94.5 %. Of the sample, 69.9 % was female and 54.8 % worked full time (32 hours or more). Educators age ranged from 21 to 62 years (M = 46.5, sd = 9.9 years). Additional demographic information is depicted in Table 1 and 2. Instruments Social networks. We assessed the influence of demographic variables on a network that was aimed at capturing work related communication among educators. The network of discussing work related matters was selected because it is assumed to be an important network for the exchange of work related information, knowledge, and expertise that may affect individual and group performance (Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, Kraimer, 2001). Moreover, according to the previous analysis into network multiplexity (see Chapter 1), this network appeared to be an instrumental network with relatively small overlap with expressive networks. We asked respondents the following question: Whom do you turn to in order to discuss your work? A school-specific appendix was attached to the questionnaire comprising the names of the school team members, accompanied by a letter combination for each school team member (e.g., Ms. Yolanda Brown = AB). The question could be answered by indicating a letter combination for each colleague who the respondent considered part of his/her work discussion network. The number of colleagues a respondent could indicate as part of his/her network was unlimited. Individual, dyadic, and school level attributes. We collected demographic variables to assess how individual, dyadic, and school level attributes shape the pattern of social relationships among educators. At the individual level, we examined the following individual attributes: gender, formal position (teacher/principal), working hours (part time/full time), number of years experience at school, age, and whether a teacher was teaching in lower grade or upper grade. At the dyadic level, we included similarity of gender and similarity of grade level (lower/upper grade). At the school level, we investigated school size, team size, gender ratio, average age, years of team experience in current formation, and students socio-economic status (SES). Data analysis Testing the hypotheses Since our dependent variable consisted of social network data that are by nature interdependent (relationships among individuals), the assumption of data independence that underlies conventional regression models is violated. Therefore, we employed multilevel p2 models to investigate the effect of individual, dyadic, and school level demographics on having work-related relationships (Van Duijn et al., 2004; Baerveldt et al., 2004; Zijlstra, 2008). The p2 model is similar to a logistic regression model, but is developed to handle dichotomous dyadic outcomes. In contrast to a univariate logistic regression model, the p2 model controls for the interdependency that resides in social network data. The model focuses on the individual as the unit of analysis. The p2 model regards sender and receiver effects as latent (i.e., unobserved) random variables that can be explained by sender and receiver characteristics (Veenstra, et al., 2007). In the multilevel p2 analyses, the dependent variable is the aggregate of all the nominations a team member sent to or received from others. A positive effect thus indicates that the independent demographic variable has a positive effect on the probability of a relationship. We used the p2 program within the StOCNET software suite to run the p2 models (Lazega Van Duijn, 1997; Van Duijn, Snijders, Zijlstra, 2004). This software has been recently modified to fit multilevel data (Zijlstra, 2008; Zijlstra, Van Duijn, Snijders, 2006). We make use of this recent development by calculating multilevel p2 models for our data. The social network data in this study have a three-level structure. Network data were collected from 13 schools (Level 3) with 316 educators (Level 2) and 11.241 dyadic relationships (Level 1). To examine the influence of individual, dyadic, and school level demographics on the likelihood of having work related relationships we constructed two multilevel models. In the first multilevel model, the effects of individual and dyadic level demographics on the possibility of having relationships were examined. In the second multilevel model, school level demographic variables were added to the model in order to explain the additional effect of school level demographics on the possibility of having relationships, above and beyond the effects of individual and dyadic level demographics. For the multilevel p2 models, we used a subsample of the 13 schools with a team size of 20 educators or more. We selected this subsample of 13 schools from a larger sample of 53 schools to reduce computing ti me and to examine schools that were more comparable in network size. Still, each model estimation took about six hours of computing time. How to interpret p2 estimates In general, effects in p2 models can be interpreted in the following manner. Results on the variables of interest include both sender effects and receiver effects, meaning effects that signify the probability of sending or receiving a relationship nomination. A positively significant parameter estimate can be interpreted as the demographic variable having a positive effect on the probability of a relationship (Veenstra et al., 2007). For instance, a positive sender effect of formal position with dummy coding (teacher/principal) means that the position with the upper dummy code (principal) will have a higher probability of sending relationships than the position with the lower dummy code (teacher). To assess homophily effects, dyadic matrices were constructed based on the absolute difference between two respondents. For example, the dyadic relationship between male and female educators would be coded as a relationship between educators with a different gender because the absolute difference between male (dummy variable = 0) and female (dummy code = 1) is 1. Smaller numbers thus represent greater interpersonal similarity in gender. The same procedure was carried out for grade level differences. To facilitate the interpretation of the models, we labeled the dyadic parameters different gender and different grade level. A negative parameter estimate for different gender would thus indicate that a