An Analysis of the Influence of Students´ Technological Culture on Their Technology

decade has raised the interest among the research community on the acceptance and use of these systems by both teachers and students. At first, the implementation of LMS was based on their technical design and the adaptation of the learning processes to the virtual environment, neglecting students’ characteristics when the systems were deployed, which led to expensive and failing implementations. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) proposes a framework which allows the study of the acceptance and use of technology that takes into consideration the students’ characteristics and how they affect the acceptance and the degree of use of educational technology. This study questions the role of the user’s attitude towards use of LMS and uses the UTAUT to examine the moderating effect of technological culture in the adoption of LMS in Spain. The results from the comparison and analysis of three different models confirm the relevance of attitude towards use as an antecedent of intention to use the system, as well as the important moderating effect of gender and technological culture. The discussion of results suggests the need for a more in-depth analysis and interrelations of cultural dimensions in the adoption of educational technologies and learning management systems

COMUNICAÇÃO E INOVAÇÃO EM PORTAIS CORPORATIVOS Os casos da Embraer, Natura, Faber-Castell e Rigesa

O trabalho analisa a relação entre Comunicação e Inovação nos Portais Corporativos das empresas Embraer, Natura, Faber-Castell e Rigesa. Ou seja, como essas instituições inovam em suas comunicações no meio on-line e como divulgam o conteúdo sobre Inovação. Estas empresas foram selecionadas como corpus central da pesquisa por estarem entre as mais inovadoras do Brasil, de acordo com a primeira versão do Índice Brasil de Inovação de 2007. A metodologia central para o desenvolvimento do projeto é a de Estudos de Caso Múltiplos, a partir da qual foi feita a comparação da comunicação digital por meio dos portais corporativos. Também são utilizados os recursos da Análise de Conteúdo e da Análise do Discurso. A proposta inclui também o exame da utilização das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação para a veiculação de informações institucionais e sobre Inovação por meio das Salas de Imprensa. E ainda, são destacadas as características dos profissionais responsáveis pela gestão dos portais corporativos. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciam que há uma contradição entre as empresas serem inovadoras em produtos e processos, mas não no planejamento, gestão, arquitetura e divulgação da imagem institucional e de informações sobre inovação por meio dos portais corporativos. Revela ainda um nicho de mercado que precisa de profissionais especializados.(AU)

COMUNICAÇÃO E INOVAÇÃO EM PORTAIS CORPORATIVOS Os casos da Embraer, Natura, Faber-Castell e Rigesa

O trabalho analisa a relação entre Comunicação e Inovação nos Portais Corporativos das empresas Embraer, Natura, Faber-Castell e Rigesa. Ou seja, como essas instituições inovam em suas comunicações no meio on-line e como divulgam o conteúdo sobre Inovação. Estas empresas foram selecionadas como corpus central da pesquisa por estarem entre as mais inovadoras do Brasil, de acordo com a primeira versão do Índice Brasil de Inovação de 2007. A metodologia central para o desenvolvimento do projeto é a de Estudos de Caso Múltiplos, a partir da qual foi feita a comparação da comunicação digital por meio dos portais corporativos. Também são utilizados os recursos da Análise de Conteúdo e da Análise do Discurso. A proposta inclui também o exame da utilização das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação para a veiculação de informações institucionais e sobre Inovação por meio das Salas de Imprensa. E ainda, são destacadas as características dos profissionais responsáveis pela gestão dos portais corporativos. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciam que há uma contradição entre as empresas serem inovadoras em produtos e processos, mas não no planejamento, gestão, arquitetura e divulgação da imagem institucional e de informações sobre inovação por meio dos portais corporativos. Revela ainda um nicho de mercado que precisa de profissionais especializados.(AU)

Yeast microarrays for genome wide parallel genetic and gene expression analysis

We have developed high-density DNA microarrays of yeast ORFs. These microarrays can monitor hybridization to ORFs for applications such as quantitative differential gene expression analysis and screening for sequence polymorphisms. Automated scripts retrieved sequence information from public databases to locate predicted ORFs and select appropriate primers for amplification. The primers were used to amplify yeast ORFs in 96-well plates, and the resulting products were arrayed using an automated micro arraying device. Arrays containing up to 2,479 yeast ORFs were printed on a single slide. The hybridization of fluorescently labeled samples to the array were detected and quantitated with a laser confocal scanning microscope. Applications of the microarrays are shown for genetic and gene expression analysis at the whole genome level.

A Discursive Perspective on China's Global Politics of Climate Change, 1992-2013

This dissertation investigates China’s recent shift in its climate change policy with a refined discourse approach. Methodologically, by adopting a neo-Gramscian notion of hegemony, a generative definition of discourse and an ontological pluralist position, the study constructs a theoretical framework named “discursive hegemony” that identifies the “social forces” for enabling social change and focuses on the role of discursive mechanisms via which the forces operate and produce effects. The key empirical finding of this study was that it was a co-evolution of conditions that shaped the outcome as China’s climate policy shift. In examining the case, a before-after within-case comparison was designed to analyze the variations in the material, institutional, and ideational conditions, with methods including interviews, conventional narrative/text analysis and descriptive statistics. Specifically, changes in energy use, the structure of decision-making body, and the narratives about sustainable development reflected how the above three types of social force processed in China in the first few years of the 21st century, causing the economic development agenda to absorb the climate issue, and turning the policy frame for the latter from mainly a diplomatic matter to a potential opportunity for better-quality growth. With the discursive operation of the “Science-based development”, China’s energy policy has been a good example of the Chinese understanding of sustainability characterized by economic primacy, ecological viability and social green-engineering. This way of discursive evolution, however, is a double-edged sword that has pushed forward some fast, top-down mitigation measures on the one hand, but has also created and will likely continue creating social and ecological havoc on the other hand. The study makes two major contributions. First and on the empirical level, because China is an international actor that was not expected to cooperate on the climate issue according to major IR theories, this study would add one critical case to the studies on global (environmental) governance and the ideational approach in the IR discipline. Second and on the theory-building level, the model of discursive hegemony can be a causally deeper mode of explanation because it traces the process of co-evolution of social forces.

International conference paper presentations: A multimodal analysis to determine effectiveness

International conference presentations represent one of the biggest challenges for academics using English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). This paper aims to initiate exploration into the multimodal academic discourse of oral presentations, including the verbal, written, non-verbal material (NVM) and body language modes. It offers a Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) and multimodal framework of presentations to enhance mixed-disciplinary ELF academics' awareness of what needs to be taken into account to communicate effectively at conferences. The model is also used to establish evaluation criteria for the presenters' talks and to carry out a multimodal discourse analysis of four well-rated 20-min talks, two from the technical sciences and two from the social sciences in a workshop scenario. The findings from the analysis and interviews indicate that: (a) a greater awareness of the mode affordances and their combinations can lead to improved performances; (b) higher reliance on the visual modes can compensate for verbal deficiencies; and (c) effective speakers tend to use a variety of modes that often overlap but work together to convey specific meanings. However, firm conclusions cannot be drawn on the basis of workshop presentations, and further studies on the multimodal analysis of ‘real conferences’ within specific disciplines are encouraged.

Multimodal analysis of a sample of political posters in Ireland during and after the Celtic Tiger

The aim of this research paper is to analyse the key political posters made for the campaigns of Irish political party Fianna Fáil framed in the Celtic Tiger (1997-2008) and post-Celtic Tiger years (2009-2012). I will then focus on the four posters of the candidate in the elections that took place in 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2011 with the intention of observing first how the leader is represented, and later on pinpointing the similarities and possible differences between each. This is important in order to observe the main linguistic and visual strategies used to persuade the audience to vote that party and to highlight the power of the politician. Critical discourse analysis tools will be helpful to identify the main discursive strategies employed to persuade the Irish population to vote in a certain direction. Van Leeuwen’s (2008) social actor theory will facilitate the understanding of how participants are represented in the corpus under analysis. Finally, the main tools of Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual grammar (2006) will be applied for the analysis of the images. The study reveals that politicians are represented in a consistently positive way, with status and formal appearance so that people are persuaded to vote for the party they represent because they trust them as political leaders. The study, thus, points out that the poster is a powerful tool used in election campaigns to highlight the power of political parties.

Efficient algorithms for solving systems of ordinary differential equations for ecosystems modeling /

Mode of access: Internet.

Asymptotic estimation of errors and derivatives for the numerical solution of ordinary differential equations,

"Supported in part by contract US AEC AT(11-1)2383."

Plain speaking : a theory and grammar of spontaneous discourse /

Mode of access: Internet.

A Comparative Analysis of Two Slug Test Methods in Puget Lowland Glacio-Fluvial Sediments near Coupeville, WA

Two different slug test field methods are conducted in wells completed in a Puget Lowland aquifer and are examined for systematic error resulting from water column displacement techniques. Slug tests using the standard slug rod and the pneumatic method were repeated on the same wells and hydraulic conductivity estimates were calculated according to Bouwer & Rice and Hvorslev before using a non-parametric statistical test for analysis. Practical considerations of performing the tests in real life settings are also considered in the method comparison. Statistical analysis indicates that the slug rod method results in up to 90% larger hydraulic conductivity values than the pneumatic method, with at least a 95% certainty that the error is method related. This confirms the existence of a slug-rod bias in a real world scenario which has previously been demonstrated by others in synthetic aquifers. In addition to more accurate values, the pneumatic method requires less field labor, less decontamination, and provides the ability to control the magnitudes of the initial displacement, making it the superior slug test procedure.