The Political Communication of Independent Regulatory Agencies

Since independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) became key actors in European regulatory governance in the 1990s, a significant share of policy-making has been carried out by organizations that are neither democratically elected nor directly accountable to elected politicians. In this context, public communication plays an important role. On the one hand, regulatory agencies might try to use communication to raise their accountability and thereby to mitigate their democratic deficit. On the other hand, communication may be used with the intent to steer the behavior of the regulated industry when more coercive regulatory means are unfeasible or undesirable. However, empirical research focusing directly on how regulators communicate is virtually non-existent. To fill this gap, this paper examines the public communication of IRAs in four countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland) and three sectors (financial services, telecommunications, and broadcasting). The empirical analysis, based on qualitative interviews and a quantitative content analysis, indicates that the organization of the communication function follows a national pattern approach while a policy sector approach is helpful for understanding the use of communication as a soft tool of regulation.

Broadband prices in the European Union : competition and commercial strategies

This paper analyses the determinants of broadband Internet access prices in a group of 15 EU countries between 2008 and 2011. Using a rich panel dataset of broadband plans, we show the positive effect of downstream speed on prices, and report that cable and fibre-to-the-home technologies are available at lower prices per Mbps than x DSL technology. Operators’marketing strategies are also analysed as we show how much prices rise when the broadband service is offered in a bundle with voice telephony and/or television, and how much they fall when download volume caps are included. The most insightful results of this study are provided by a group of metrics that represent the situation of competition and entry patterns in the broadband market. We show that consumer segmentation positively affects prices. On the other hand, broadband prices are higher in countries where entrants make greater use of bitstream access and lower when they use more intensively direct access -local loop unbundling-. However, we do not find a significant effect of inter-platform competition on prices.

Web and education, a successful open entanglement

E-learning, understood as the intensive use of Information and Communication Technologies in mainly but not only) distance education, has radically changed the meaning of the latter. E-learning is an overused term which has been applied to any use of technology in education. Today, the most widely accepted meaning ofe-learning coincides with the fourth generation described by Taylor (1999), where there is an asynchronousprocess that allows students and teachers to interact in an educational process expressly designed in accordance with these principles. We prefer to speak of Internet-Based Learning or, better still, Web-Based Learning, for example, to explain the fact that distance education is carried out using the Internet, with the appearance of the virtual learning environment concept, a web space where the teaching and learning process is generated and supported (Sangrà, 2002). This entails overcoming the barriers of space and time of brickand mortar education (although we prefer the term face-to-face) or of classical distance education using broadcasting and adopting a completely asynchronous model that allows access to education by many more users, at any level (including secondary education, but primarily higher education and lifelong learning).

Eletrodos artesanais para voltametria

This paper describes the construction and performance of homemade electrodes for voltammetric purpose using cheap materials, like pipette tips and asbestos fiber. A good cost-to-benefit relation makes this devices specially designed for student use, expecting to improve the broadcasting of electroanalytical methods in Brazilian schools.

Minisarja : pohdintaa elokuvan ja minisarjan rakenne-eroista

Opinnäytetyö on monimuototyö, jonka teososa on synopsis minisarjaan Perhonen ja käsikirjoituksen ensimmäinen versio ensimmäisestä jaksosta. Tutkimus käsittelee televisiosarjan erityispiirteitä, mikä tekee minisarjasta televisiota eikä elokuvaa. Minisarja on jatkuvajuoninen, kohti sulkeumaa kulkeva televisiosarja, joka koostuu 3-6 jaksosta. Sen erottaa elokuvasta pidempi kesto. Pidemmän ajan ansiosta minisarjassa voi olla useampia henkilöitä ja juonia ja painotuksien vaihtelut voivat olla suurempia kuin elokuvassa. Muuten ne ovat rakenteeltaan hyvin samankaltaisia. Aluksi minisarjaa tarkastellaan omassa ympäristössään, televisiossa. Televisiosarjat voidaan jakaa järjestys- ja integraatiogenreihin sisällön mukaan ja series- tai serial-sarjoihin rakenteen mukaan. Minisarjassa pystytään yhdistämään elementtejä eri genreistä ja tyyleistä yhteen paremmin kuin muissa televisiosarjan lajeissa. Kolmannessa luvussa esitellään elokuvatutkija Syd Fieldin kolmen näytöksen rakenneteoria, jossa ensimmäinen näytös on esittelyjakso, toinen näytös on kehittelyjakso ja kolmannessa näytöksessä tapahtuu elokuvan ratkaisu. Näytöksien pituudet toteuttavat kaavaa 1:2:1. Tätä teoriaa käytetään hyväksi minisarjojen analyyseissä viimeisissä luvuissa. Analyysin kohteena ovat minisarjat Ilonen talo ja Fitz ratkaisee. Molemmat minisarjat toteuttavat Fieldin kaavaa sekä tarinan tasolla että jaksokohtaisesti. Erot rakenteessa ovat lähinnä viimeisten näytöksien sisällöissä. Minisarjan ja elokuvan samankaltaisuus näkyy myös siinä, että kumpikaan ei aseta suuria sisällöllisiä rajoja tarinassa. Minisarja tuntuu elokuvan tavoin kutsuvan muuta televisioviihdettä enemmän vielä tekijöitään ottamaan kantaa ja kokeileman uutta.

La Diferencia estriba en el descontrol

Sobre la diversitat de continguts gràcies a la tecnologia digital

Hoitotyön opettajan yhteiskunnallinen toiminta – osa opettajuutta

The social activity of nurse teacher – a part of teacherhood Every nurse teacher must know the current health policy in order to use it in teaching. The conception of the role of health policy in curriculum and the concrete teaching of social activity are quite unclear. The purpose of this study was to describe the social activity of nurse teachers. The data were collected by a structured questionnaire (Paltta 1998) via E-mail. The questionnaire included background factors and nine items for society activities. The respondents were nurse teachers, teachers for emergency nursing, public health nurse and midwifery teachers from all polytechnics in Finland. Response rate was 46 % (n = 342). The data were analysed by using descriptive statistics. The results of this study showed that 36 % of nurse teachers evaluated themselves quite active in society activities and 43 % of them evaluated themselves inactive. 32 % of nurse teachers was member and involved to working in general organisations. 28 % of nurse teachers worked or have been worked in local commission or trustees. Nurse teachers evaluated their knowledge about health policy quite good (mean 3.75, Std 0.99). Their knowledge about education policy was also quite good (mean 3.57, Std 1.04). Nurse teachers updated their knowledge about health policy and education policy by reading professional journals, newspapers, internet and following television and radio. According to results nurse teachers are quite active in society activities even tough almost half of them evaluated themselves quite inactive. Although nurse teachers’ knowledge about health policy was quite good by their opinion, they must update and improve the knowledge. In the future it is important to study how nurse teachers use health policy in their teaching and how nurse students’ participation in society activities can be improved.

Televisio

Television elokuvan musiikkia ja ääntä.

Notas sobre los énfasis de palabra en los titulares televisivos

Este artículo aporta unos primeros resultados acerca de los énfasis de palabra en titulares televisivos en catalán. De entrada, se subraya la poca sujeción de la palabra sobre la imagen y se sitúan los patrones melódicos más habituales en este contexto informativo. El núcleo del texto se centra en la descripción de los énfasis de palabra ascendente que tienen lugar en los numerales y en palabras con una sílaba acabada en lateral o nasal, y, colateralmente, aborda los énfasis de regularidad y de irregularidad, ya que se caracterizan por ser un conjunto de énfasis de palabra ascendente que se dan de forma regular o irregular en el cuerpo del enunciado.

Música y sonido en los trailers: estilos y géneros

Este trabajo recoge la presentación de la comunicación "Música y Sonido en los trailers: estilos y géneros" en el I Congreso de Música y Cultura Audiovisual (Murcia, 2014)

Música e intenciones comunicativas en los lipdub.

Este trabajo recoge la presentación realizada de la comunicación "Música e intenciones comunicativas en los lipdub" en el I Congreso de Música y Cultura Audiovisual

Énfasis en los eslóganes publicitarios de radio y televisión

El objetivo de este trabajo es determinar las características básicas de la entonación de los eslóganes publicitarios tanto de radio como de televisión. Con este propósito se analizan los valores de la Fº de las vocales que aparecen en el fragmento que corresponde al eslogan. Para evitar en la medida de lo posible las diferencias que pueden venir determinadas por el soporte físico en el que aparecen los eslóganes publicitarios, se escogió el mismo producto, diferentes marcas de vehículos, y se seleccionaron aquellos enunciados óptimos para un posterior análisis de la señal. Para la segmentación de los eslóganes dentro de los enunciados publicitarios y el análisis de las curvas melódicas se utilizó el programa PRAAT. Para cada enunciado se han ido anotando los valores de la F0 de cada vocal, teniendo en cuenta las tres partes de cada unidad melódica: el anacrusis, el cuerpo y la inflexión final. Para minimizar las variaciones debidas al tono de voz característico de cada locutor, se ha procedido a una estandarización de los valores frecuenciales. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que todos los eslóganes analizados presentan énfasis, que a veces afecta a una parte del contorno (anacrusis, cuerpo e inflexión final), a veces a más de una y otras, incluso a todo el contorno. Aunque en radio y televisión se suelen presentar características prosódicas similares, existen características propias del medio de comunicación que se utiliza.

La invasión en la ciencia ficción y la construcción de la identidad americana

This dissertation examines the issue of invasion as represented in American science fiction. American SF appears as a scenario in which to explore national identity-an identity that has been marked by the imaginary of invasion. The dissertation focuses in particular on the 1983 television series V, which articulates concerns typical of a nation that has established its hegemony on the basis of the separation between oneself and the other. V, as we argue, equals the expression of American identity with the fear of physical otherness, and the fear of the vulnerability of the national borders as the imaginary boundary that separates the American I from everything else