Evaluating e-learning systems: an empirical investigation on students' perception in higher education area

In search of better, traditional learning universities have expanded their ways to deliver knowledge and integrate cost effective e-learning systems. Universities’ use of information and communication technologies has grown tremendously over the last decade. To ensure efficient use of the e-learning system, the Arab Open University (AOU) in Bahrain was the first to use e-learning system there, aimed to evaluate the good and bad practices, detect errors and determine areas for further improvements in usage. This study critically evaluated the students’ perception of the elearning system in Bahrain and recommended changes to improve students’ e-learning usage. Results of the study indicated that, in general, students have favourable perceptions toward using the e-learning system. This study has shown that technology acceptance is the most variable, factor that contributes to students’ perception and satisfaction of the e-learning system.

Emotion perception and talker discrimination in pediatric hearing aid users

The primary goal of this study is to examine the ability of pediatric hearing-aid listeners, with mild to moderately-severe hearing loss, to perceive emotion and to discriminate talkers. These listeners’ performance is compared to that of similarly-aged listeners with normal hearing and who use cochlear implants.

Speech perception and localization abilities in pediatric bilateral sequential cochlear implant recipients

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate speech perception and localization abilities in children who have received sequential cochlear implants, with the first implant received before age 4 and the second implant received before age 12. Results indicate performance in the bilateral cochlear implant condition is significantly better than listening with each implant alone for the outcome measures used in this study.

Perception of eating practices and stages of change among Brazilian adolescents

Objective. To evaluate the perception of eating practices and the stages of change among adolescents. Methods. Cross-sectional study involving a representative sample of 390 adolescents from 11 public schools in the city of Piracicaba, Brazil, in 2004. Food consumption was identified by a food frequency questionnaire and the perception of eating practices evaluation was conducted by comparing food consumption and individual classification of healthy aspects of the diet. The participants were classified within stages of change by means of a specific algorithm. A reclassification within new stages of change was proposed to identify adolescents with similar characteristics regarding food consumption and perception. Results. Low consumption of fruit and vegetables and high consumption of sweets and fats were identified. More than 44% of the adolescents had a mistaken perception of their diet. A significant relationship between the stages of change and food consumption was observed. The reclassification among stages of change, through including the pseudo-maintenance and non-reflective action stages was necessary, considering the high proportion of adolescents who erroneously classified their diets as healthy. Conclusion. Classification of the adolescents into stages of change, together with consumption and perception data, enabled identification of groups at risk, in accordance with their inadequate dietary habits and non-recognition of such habits. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Landscape perception by forest understory birds in the Atlantic Rainforest: black-and-white versus shades of grey

Even among forest specialists, species-specific responses to anthropogenic forest fragmentation may vary considerably. Some appear to be confined to forest interiors, and perceive a fragmented landscape as a mosaic of suitable fragments and hostile matrix. Others, however, are able to make use of matrix habitats and perceive the landscape in shades of grey rather than black-and-white. We analysed data of 42 Chiroxiphia caudata (Blue Manakin), 10 Pyriglena leucoptera (White-shouldered Fire-eye) and 19 Sclerurus scansor (Rufous-breasted Leaftosser) radio-tracked in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil between 2003 and 2005. We illustrate how habitat preferences may determine how species respond to or perceive the landscape structure. We compared available with used habitat to develop a species-specific preference index for each of six habitat classes. All three species preferred old forest, but relative use of other classes differed significantly. S. scansor perceived great contrast between old forest and matrix, whereas the other two species perceived greater habitat continuity. For conservation planning, our study offers three important messages: (1) some forest specialist species are able to persist in highly fragmented landscapes; (2) some forest species may be able to make use of different anthropogenic habitat types to various degrees; whereas (3) others are restricted to the remaining forest fragments. Our study suggests species most confined to forest interiors to be considered as potential umbrella species for landscape-scale conservation planning.

The perception of accessibility in Web development by academy, industry and government: a survey of the Brazilian scenario

Accessibility has become a serious issue to be considered by various sectors of the society. However, what are the differences between the perception of accessibility by academy, government and industry? In this paper, we present an analysis of this issue based on a large survey carried out with 613 participants involved with Web development, from all of the 27 Brazilian states. The paper presents results from the data analysis for each sector, along with statistical tests regarding the main different issues related to each of the sectors, such as: government and law, industry and techniques, academy and education. The concern about accessibility law is poor even amongst people from government sector. The analyses have also pointed out that the academy has not been addressing accessibility training accordingly. The knowledge about proper techniques to produce accessible contents is better than other sectors`, but still limited in industry. Stronger investments in training and in the promotion of consciousness about the law may be pointed as the most important tools to help a more effective policy on Web accessibility in Brazil.

Praxis och perception : En studie av gymnasieelevers tolkning av två lärares undervisningsmetoder i historia

Syftet med detta arbete är att ta reda på i vilken utsträckning och på vilket sätt lärarens undervisningspraxis styr gymnasieelevers syn på historieämnet. I samband med att vedertagna uppfattningar om kunskap och kunskapsöverföring har utmanats inom pedagogisk forskning, har historieämnet alltmer kommit att definieras som ett instrument för självinsikt och förståelse för omvärlden. Den förändrade historiesynen medför nya typer av undervisningspraxis bland enskilda lärare, där till exempel kronologi och kanon får stå tillbaka för bland annat tematisk fördjupning och flerperspektivism.Undersökningen består av intervjuer med två gymnasieklasser och deras gymnasielärare. I intervjuerna fick lärarna och eleverna var för sig definiera momentet utifrån vad det handlade om, vilka målsättningar man haft, hur undervisningen gått till och vad övningarna syftat till.Resultaten visar att lärarnas respektive historiesyn och undervisningspraxis i mycket stor utsträckning präglar elevers perception av historieämnet. Elevernas normer och målsättningar i relation till historieundervisningen följde respektive lärares undervisningspraxis, utan att andra faktorer, som läromedel, i nämnvärd utsträckning spelade in. Läraren framstår därmed som den klart viktigaste auktoriteten för elevernas förståelse av historieämnet.

Hur påverka tyngden i mixen? : Från mixning till perception

Uppsatsen handlar om den subjektivt upplevda tyngden i musik. Avsikten med arbetet har varit att härleda ljudets fysiska egenskaper ur upplevelsen av tyngd och rörelse, och på det viset klargöra samband, vilka kan underlätta för förståelse och omsättning av kunskaperna i en praktisk mixningssituation. Detta har undersökts genom en sammanställning av litteratur, genom vilken kunskap om perception, psykoakustik och teknik har ordnats. Intentionen var att knyta samman perceptionsteori och psykoakustik med ljudteknik, för att följa fenomenet från upplevelse till teknisk påverkan. Av resultaten framkommer att tonhöjd och tonstyrka är avgörande för tyngdupplevelsen, och att de i någon mån kan påverkas med samtliga processorer som behandlas i arbetet.

Visuell Perception : En studie av visuella faktorer kring ett musikaliskt framträdande

The essay investigates the visual element as seen by the audience and artist to be of greatest importance to a musicalperformance. The study was conducted in the form of a field work which included doing interviews with artists, surveys of the audience and interpretive observations of live performance. The fieldwork was conducted in three different environments in which I found myself on the spot and performed the various stages included in the field work. It was done to create a surface that could be used in an essay, and through that use this material to compare and analyze my results and in the end be able to answer my questions. I started from eight different factors which all could beexperienced visually on stage. The factors were light / colors, costumes, props, effects, stage presence, attitude / image, nervousness and dance / body language. Those factors would then be examined in the various musical performances and to be answered by the audience and performers which of those factors they considered to be of great importance or small importance when it comes to visual perception in a musical context. The result was a clear statement where two factors were considered to be most crucial for a musical performance, and a clear statement in which two factors were considered by the majority to be less important. The results demonstrate a common understanding what the artist and the audience thinks is important. A result that can act as a template for what an artist should think about regarding the visual elements before an performance. My theory is my assumption that the visual elements of musical performances can play an important or decisive role, an assumption that was strengthened by my empirical experiences at a concert visit. I wanted in this essay explore and give a clear picture of what it is that artists and audiences consider to be visually crucial for a musical context

Hope, risk perception and propensity to indebtedness

Hope is an important construct in marketing, once it is an antecedent of important marketing variables, such as trust, expectation and satisfaction (MacInnis & de Mello, 2005, Almeida, Mazzon & Botelho, 2007). Specifically, the literature suggests that hope can play an important influence on risk perception (Almeida, 2010, Almeida et al., 2007, Fleming, 2008, MacInnis & de Mello, 2005) and propensity to indebtedness (Fleming, 2008). Thus, this thesis aims to investigate the relations among hope, risk perception related to purchasing and consumption and propensity to indebtedness, by reviewing the existing literature and conducting two empirical researches. The first of them is a laboratory experiment, which accessed hope and risk perception of getting a mortgage loan. The second is a survey, investigating university students’ propensity to get indebted to pay for their university tuition, analyzed through the method of Structural Equations Modeling (SEM). These studies found that hope seems to play an important role on propensity to indebtedness, as higher levels of hope predicted an increase in the propensity to accept the mortgage loan, independent of actual risks, and an increase in the propensity of college students to get indebted to pay for their studies. In addition, the first study suggests that hope may lead to a decrease in risk perception, which, however, has not been confirmed by the second study. Finally, this research offers some methodological contributions, due to the fact that it is the first study using an experimental method to study hope in Brazil and, worldwide, it is the first study investigating the relation among hope, risk perception and propensity to indebtedness, which proved to be important influences in consumer behavior

Luxury brands and online consumer-generated content: dealing with the new lead of customers in brand perception

User-generated content – conteúdo gerado por usuários – cresceu consideravelmente na Internet nos cinco últimos anos, levando a grandes mudanças nas práticas de marketing. A força do e-word-of mouth, está aumentando e tem uma influência muito forte na percepção da marca pelos consumidores (Allsop, Basset & Hoskins, 2007). Todos os novos instrumentos fornecidos pela Internet permitiram a criação de comunidades de marca online, impactando o compromisso e a lealdade dos consumidores para com a marca (De Valk, Van Bruggen, Wierenga 2009). Todas essas interações criadas entre os consumidores e a marca são relativamente novas e incomuns para as empresas que devem adaptar suas práticas de marketing a essas mudanças. Dadas as especificidades que aplicam as marcas de luxo nas suas políticas de marketing (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009), a questão da adaptação das suas estratégias ao fenômeno de user-generated content é particularmente complicada. As marcas de luxo costumam ter habitualmente uma relação muito reservada com os seus consumidores, baseada em princípios de exclusividade e raridade (Kapferer, 1997). Esta dissertação busca proporcionar algumas pistas de entendimento sobre como as marcas de cosméticos de luxo podem adaptar suas estratégias de marketing em relação à expansão do conteúdo gerado por usuários na Internet. Esta pesquisa qualitativa sugere meios de controlar o conteúdo gerado por usuários, como o incentivar positivamente com certas práticas de marketing e como tirar proveito dele. A seguinte análise mostra que o conteúdo gerado por usuários tem duas facetas: pode atuar como um mídia digital para as empresas de luxo e como uma fonte de informação, inspiração e criação para o desenho dos novos produtos. Sendo um meio de comunicação, as empresas de cosméticos de luxo podem contar com a nova potência do “e-word-of-mouth” a fim de promover sua imagem de marca e seus produtos através do conteúdo gerado por usuários. Sendo uma fonte de inspiração, o conteúdo gerado por usuários pode conduzir a ótimos processos de co-criação e cooperação entre as marcas de cosméticos de luxo e seus consumidores com o objetivo de projetar produtos perfeitamente ajustados ao pedido dos consumidores.