A pesquisa trata da relação entre dispositivos culturais (bibliotecas) e a constituição de saberes informacionais atitudinais, em especial (mas não exclusivamente), por crianças e jovens. A abordagem da questão decorre de indagações sobre diferentes tendências observadas em torno das chamadas literacias informacionais e da aprendizagem pela pesquisa. O objetivo é identificar o papel de dispositivos culturais nos processos de construção de atitudes face ao conhecimento. A metodologia foi desenvolvida sob dois eixos: pesquisa bibliográfica e pesquisa de campo na Estação do Conhecimento Einstein- Paraisópolis, que implicou a escolha de um objeto empírico de análise: o Programa Aprendendo a Pesquisar (PAP). Além disso, a pesquisa teve abordagem e participação no contexto internacional, em diálogo com pesquisadores francófonos e profissionais que atuam nas Bibliotecas Públicas da cidade de Rennes, França. Os resultados indicam a possibilidade de reinvenção da noção de pesquisa como relação significativa dos atos de conhecer e de criar conhecimento, considerando os aspectos cognitivos, afetivos e conativos dos sujeitos no contexto do dispositivo cultural dialógico. Concluímos que a redefinição do caráter e dos modos de relação com o saber podem atuar a favor da construção de convicções internas, a serem explicitadas por ações afirmativas dos sujeitos (protagonismo cultural), fazendo frente às dinâmicas utilitaristas, procedimentais e pragmáticas que marcam nossa época, sobretudo, pela noção de competitividade pelo conhecimento, que tem marcado práticas no contexto das bibliotecas. / The research adresses the relation between cultural devices (libraries) and the constitution of attitudinal information knowledges, in special (but not exclusively), by children and young people. The approach of the question stems from inquiries about different tendencies observed around the so called informational literacies and the learning from research. The objective is to identify the role of cultural devices in the processes of construction of attitudes face to the knowledge. The methodology was developed under two axes: bibliographic research and field research in the Estação do Conhecimento Einstein-Paraisópolis, which implied the selection of an empiric object of analysis: the \"Learning to Research Program\" (Programa Aprendendo a Pesquisar (PAP). Furthermore, the research has had approach and participation in the international context, in dialogue with francophone researchers and professionals who act in Public Libraries in the city of Rennes, France. The results indicate the possibility of reinvention of the notion of research as significant relation of the acts of knowing and creating knowledge, considering the cognitive, affective and conative aspects of the subjects in the context of the dialogical cultural device. We conclude that the redefinition of the character and of the means of relation with knowing can act in favor of the construction of internal convictions, to be explicit by affirmative actions of the subjects (cultural protagonism), facing the utilitarian, procedural and pragmatic dynamics that mark our time, above all, for the notion of competitiveness for knowledge, that has been marking practices in the context of the libraries.

O tema da pesquisa surgiu a partir da vivência na prática como docente de ensino profissional em enfermagem, na instituição de ensino onde o estudo foi realizado. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar como têm sido realizados o ensino e a avaliação dos conteúdos atitudinais na formação de profissionais de enfermagem de nível médio, em uma escola privada do interior de São Paulo. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa. Para a coleta dos dados, foram realizadas a análise documental, previamente e posteriormente, e duas sessões de grupos focais com os sete professores participantes. As reuniões foram gravadas, transcritas e analisadas através da Análise de Conteúdo com a modalidade de análise temática e obtiveram-se dois temas para a discussão e construção de um instrumento de avaliação atitudinal: Tema I: A avaliação no processo ensino e aprendizagem com o subtema: dificuldades no processo de ensino e avaliação da aprendizagem. Tema II: O ensino e a avaliação de conteúdos atitudinais com os seguintes subtemas: dificuldades de ensinar e avaliar conteúdos atitudinais; critérios e instrumento para avaliação atitudinal. O referencial teórico foi baseado no construtivismo e no processo avaliativo de conteúdos atitudinais, segundo Antoni Zabala. A realização desta pesquisa contribuiu para a sistematização inicial da avaliação atitudinal realizada pelos professores com a proposta de um instrumento construído conjuntamente, contendo critérios de avaliação atitudinal na formação de profissionais de enfermagem de nível médio / The research theme has emerged from the teaching experience as a teacher in technical nurse education in an organization where the study was conducted. The objective of this research was to analyze how the teaching and the evaluation of attitudinal contents in the education of technical nursing professionals have been held in a private school in São Paulo State. It is a qualitative research. To collect the data, there were documentary analysis beforehand and afterwards, two focus group sessions with the seven participant teachers. The meetings were recorded, transcribed and analyzed by content analysis with the modality of thematic analysis and two themes were obtained for discussion and for building an attitudinal assessment tool: Assessment in the teaching-learning process with the sub-theme: difficulties in the process of teaching and of assessing learning. Theme II: The teaching and the assessment of attitudinal contents with the following sub-themes: difficulties on teaching and on evaluating attitudinal contents; criteria and tools for attitudinal assessment. The theoretical framework was based on constructivism and on the process of assessing attitudinal contents according to Antoni Zabala. The completion of this research contributed to the initial systematization of attitudinal assessment conducted by teachers with the proposal of an instrument, built jointly, containing attitudinal evaluation criteria in the education of technical nursing professionals

This thesis investigates the relationship between social meaning and linguistic change. An important observation regarding spoken languages is that they are constantly changing: the way we speak differs from generation to generation. A second important observation is that spoken utterances convey social as well as denotational meaning: the way we speak communicates something about who we are. How, if at all, are these two characteristics of spoken languages related? Many sociolinguistic studies have argued that the social meaning of linguistic features is central to explaining the spread of linguistic innovations. A novel form might be heard as more prestigious than the older form, or it may become associated with specific social stereotypes relevant to the community in which the change occurs. It is argued that this association between a linguistic variant and social meaning leads speakers to adopt or reject the innovation, inhibiting or facilitating the spread of the change. In contrast, a number of scholars have argued that social meaning is epiphenomenal to many linguistic changes, which are instead driven by an automatic process of convergence in face-to-face interaction. The issue that such arguments raise is that many studies proposing a role of social meaning in the spread of linguistic innovations rely on production data as their primary source of evidence. Observing the variable adoption of innovations across different groups of speakers (e.g. by gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status), a researcher might draw on their knowledge of the social history of the community under study to infer the role of social meaning in that change. In many cases, the observed patterns of could equally be explained by the social structure of the community under study, which constrains who speaks to whom. Are linguistic changes facilitated and inhibited by social meaning? Or is it rather the case that social meaning arises as a consequence of linguistic change, without necessarily influencing the change itself? This thesis explores these questions through a study of vocalic change in York, Northern England, focusing on the fronting and diphthongization of the tense back vowels /u/ and /o/. It presents a systematic comparison of the social meanings listeners assign to innovations (captured using perceptual methods), their social attitudes with regard to those meanings (captured through sociolinguistic interviews), and their use of those forms in production (captured through acoustic analysis). It is argued that evidence of a consistent relationship between these factors would support the proposal that social meaning plays a role in linguistic change. The results of this combined analysis of sociolinguistic perception, social attitudes and speech production provide clear evidence of diachronic /u/ and /o/ fronting in this community, and show that variation in these two vowels is associated with a range of social meanings in perception. These meanings are underpinned by the notion of 'Broad Yorkshire' speech, a socially-recognized speech register linked to notions of authentic local identity and social class. Monophthongal /o/, diphthongal /u/, and back variants of both vowels are shown to be associated with this register, implying that a speaker who adopts an innovative form will likely be heard as less 'Broad'. However, there is no clear evidence that speakers' attitudes toward regional identity or social class have any influence on their adoption of innovations, nor that that their ability to recognise the social meaning of fronting in perception is related to their production behaviour. The fronting of /u/ is spreading in a socially-uniform manner in production, unaffected by any social factor tested except for age. The fronting of /o/ is conditioned by social network structure - speakers with more diverse social networks are more likely to adopt the innovative form, while speakers with closer social ties to York are more likely to retain a back variant. These findings demonstrate that York speakers hear back forms of /u/ and /o/ as more 'local' and 'working class' than fronter realizations, and express strong attitudes toward the values and practices associated with regional identity and social class. However, these factors do not appear to influence their adoption of linguistic innovations in any straightforward manner, contrasting the predictions of an account of linguistic change where social meaning plays a central role in facilitating or inhibiting the propagation of linguistic innovations. Based on these results, the thesis argues that many linguistic changes may spread through the production patterns of a speech community without the direct influence of social meaning, and advocates for the combined analysis of sociolinguistic perception, social attitudes and speech production in future work.

A Banca da Ciência é um projeto interdisciplinar da Universidade de São Paulo de intervenções não-formais de difusão dialógica crítica da Ciência para pessoas de todas as faixas etárias. Contudo, seus mediadores, estudantes de diferentes cursos de graduação, carecem de formação acadêmica na área de acessibilidade e inclusão para pessoas com deficiência. Nesse âmbito, surgem as seguintes questões: há barreiras atitudinais por parte dos/as mediadores/as da Banca da Ciência na difusão científica para os/as idosos/as com deficiência visual? Qual a percepção que esses/as mediadores/as têm sobre as pessoas com deficiência visual? Colocando-os frente à uma situação concreta envolvendo pessoas cegas, suas percepções mudam de alguma maneira? Para responder estas questões, esta pesquisa objetivou analisar as intervenções da Banca da Ciência quanto à acessibilidade atitudinal de seus/as mediadores/as para idosos/as com deficiência visual em espaço não-escolar, uma vez que o processo de envelhecimento da população brasileira vem sendo enfatizado e a igualdade de oportunidade não pode ser confundida com a igualdade de tratamento. Desse modo, temos como objetivos específicos: 1. Entender a percepção dos/as mediadores/as da Banca da Ciência sobre acessibilidade, inclusão e multissensorialidade para pessoas com deficiência visual; 2. Analisar como os/as mediadores/as formulam suas intervenções acessíveis para os/as idosos/as cegos/as ou com baixa visão; 3. Averiguar como os/as mediadores se portam perante aos/às idosos/as com deficiência visual; e, 4. Constatar se depois das intervenções, as percepções dos/as mediadores/as sobre as pessoas com deficiência visual se modificam. Temos três hipóteses acerca dos/os mediadores/as: i. mesmo demonstrando interesse na inclusão das pessoas com deficiência visual, permanecem com atitudes preconceituosas e estereotipadas; ii. eles/as reduzem a deficiência à questão do sentido; e, iii. a percepção deles/as muda depois do contato com as pessoas com deficiência visual. A reprodução desta pesquisa se caracterizou sob a linha pesquisa participante e a análise da linguagem dos/as mediadores/as ocorreu com referência no Construcionismo Social e na Análise do Discurso francesa. Constatamos que por mais que alguns/as mediadores/as apresentaram atitudes estereotipadas, discriminatórias e de medo, há tentativa de aproximação com os/as idosos/as cegos ou com baixa visão. Verificamos que todos/as mediadores/as definiram a deficiência visual pelo modelo médico, reduzindo a deficiência à questão do sentido e alguns/as possuem percepção fundamentada em modelo mítico sobre a deficiência visual, isto é, uma percepção histórica cultural muito sólida em deficiência como algo que limita e impossibilita as pessoas cegas de se locomoverem, de estudarem e/ou participarem ativamente de pesquisas acadêmicas. Alguns/as mediadores/as têm noção superficial sobre acessibilidade, inclusão e multissensorialidade para pessoas com deficiência visual. Depois das intervenções, foi possível constatar que os/as mediadores/as continuaram reduzindo a deficiência visual à questão do sentido, contudo, eles passaram a se perceberem como seres tateante, ouvinte, degustante e olfativo. Consideramos necessária uma qualificação de seus/as mediadores/as continuamente e uma multissensorialidade de seus produtos culturais em suas intervenções para quando se deparar com as pessoas com deficiência visual / The Stand of Science is an interdisciplinary project of the University of São Paulo of non-formal interventions of critical dialogical diffusion Science for people of all age groups. However, their mediators, students of different undergraduate courses, lack academic training in the area of accessibility and inclusion for people with disabilities. In this context, the following questions arise: are there attitudinal barriers on the part of the Stand of Science mediators in the scientific diffusion for the visually impaired elderly? What are the perceptions these mediators have about visually impaired people? Placing them in the face of a concrete situation involving blind people, do their perceptions change in any way? In order to answer these questions, this research aimed to analyze the interventions of the Stand of Science regarding the attitudinal accessibility of its mediators for the visually impaired elderly in non-school space, because the process of aging of the Brazilian population has been emphasized and equality of opportunity can not be confused with equal treatment. In this way, we have specific objectives: 1. Understand the perception of the mediators of the Stand of Science on accessibility, inclusion and multisensoriality for people with visual impairment; 2. Analyze how mediators formulate their interventions accessible to the blind and low vision elderly; 3. To find out how mediators behave towards the visually impaired elderly; and, 4. Find out if after the interventions, the perceptions of the mediators about people with visual impairment change. We have three hypotheses about mediators: i. even showing interest in the inclusion of people with visual impairment, remain with prejudiced and stereotyped attitudes; they reduce disability to the question of meaning; and, their perception changes after contact with people with visual impairment. This research was characterized under the line participant research and the analysis of the language of the mediators occurred with reference in Social Constructionism and Analysis of the French Discourse. We found that although some mediators presented stereotyped, discriminatory and fearful attitudes, there is an attempt to approximate with the elderly blind or with low vision. We verified that all mediators defined visual impairment by the medical model, reducing disability to the issue of meaning and some have a mythological model based on visual impairment, that is, a very solid cultural historical perception of disability as something that limits and makes impossible the blind people to get around, to study and / or actively participate in academic research. Some mediators have a superficial notion of accessibility, inclusion and multisensoriality for visually impaired people, inferring from the interpretation of the words in the question act. After the interventions, it was possible to verify that the mediators continued reducing the visual deficiency to the matter of the sense, nevertheless, they came to perceive themselves as beings touching, listener, tasting and olfactory. We consider it necessary to continually qualify your mediators and multisensoriality of your cultural products in your interventions for when you encounter visually impaired people

Environmental sustainability in buildings is an important part of preserving the environment and reducing climate change. The increasing amount of physical infrastructure systems in Malawi has not been accompanied by policy-makers clearly understanding perceptions and attitudinal behaviors of building designers to promote environmental sustainability. Some building designers in Malawi might not be practicing sustainability innovations adequately, requiring more research to understand their perceptions and behaviors. The purpose of this mixed methods sequential and explanatory study was to explore how building designers' behaviors relate to the implementation of sustainability innovations in Malawi. Ajzen's theory of planned behavior explaining how attitudinal behaviors relate to individual's actions, served as the conceptual framework. The central research question investigated perceptions and attitudinal behaviors building designers hold about sustainability, and how these behaviors connect with practicing sustainability innovations. Data collection used a Likert scale questionnaire to capture behavior items. A sample of 99 individuals working in building organizations completed the questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analysis showed attitude behavior influenced practicing sustainability more than the subjective and perceived control behaviors. Interviews with 24 participants supported the analytical finding. Government and policy-makers were the target audience. Knowledge about behaviors toward sustainability innovations enables government and policy-makers strategize and change stakeholders' mindset to increase sustainability practices thereby impacting societal change in the construction communities.

Background      Catering to customer needs and wants by, at the same time, reaping maximum profits has, since the beginning of trade, been a tricky task for companies. Customer-segment pricing, i.e. offering lower prices to different target group segments, and its retail manifestation, student discounts, cater to students’ budgetary constraints, serving not only their particular needs but in return offering the company the possibility to reap long term profits from loyal students. High levels of price sensitivity among students provide companies a welcome point of action to address students and make them both attitudinal and behavioural loyal customers by means of financial incentives. The Mecenat card grants students access to those discounts – but does it help to make them loyal? Purpose            The purpose of this thesis lies in the exploration and description of a potential relationship between customer-segment pricing, i.e. student discounts and the formation of student loyalty. This exploration shall further be accompanied by a thorough analysis of the Mecenat card as a loyalty program and its ability to evoke student loyalty within the student body of Jönköping International Business School. Method             The research interest was served best by conducting qualitative prior to quantitative research. The focus groups allowed for a first insight into the topic and students’ opinions. These findings were then described by means of content analysis and further processed in quantitative research. An electronic survey was used to collect data from a sample drawn out of the total population of JIBS students. The data then was processed by means of descriptives, correlations, T-tests and factor analysis. Conclusion        Students at JIBS are a highly profitable customer segment, willing to be both attitudinal and behavioural loyal to stores that cater to their budgetary constraints by offering student discounts. The Mecenat card, however, due to low awareness and usage levels within the student body does not facili-tate, but rather hinders, the development of student loyalty. Thus, the find-ings were also processed into managerial implications that could help im-prove the service, such as improvements in communication

The attitudinal model of judicial behavior dominates judicial politics scholarship, including studies of federal courts and agencies. Extant research finds limited support for legal constraints as determinants of judge behavior when agency decisions are under review. Attitudinal scholars suggest judges substitute their policy preferences in place of agency preferences. Contrarily, the legal model suggests judges defer to agencies because of procedures and doctrine rooted in the rule of law. This study tests hypotheses predicting whether federal agency review decisions in the U.S. Courts of Appeals during 1982-2002 are a function of judges‘ attitudes, namely ideology, or a function of legal constraints, including agency adherence to legally prescribed procedures and agency passing standard-of-review muster. Using logistic regression, I examine the impact of legal and ideological variables on the outcome of judges‘ reviews of agency decisions. Results support several hypotheses. Agency adherence to procedural standards, such as those outlined in the Administrative Procedures Act, increases the likelihood that a review panel will defer to the agency. If review panels and judges answer standard-of-review questions favorably toward agencies, review panels and judges are more likely to support agencies in final case outcomes. Individual judge votes to support agencies are influenced by the ideology of other judges on the review panel: if the ideology of the review panel is in agreement with the agency position, individual judges are more likely to support agencies in final case outcomes. Finally, a judge is more likely to dissent when he/she is in ideological (dis)agreement with the agency position. In sum, results suggest that judges‘ regard for law and regard for their judge colleagues informs decisionmaking. Judges often defer to federal administrative agencies, even when their personal policy preferences are not found to be significantly associated with decisions. Judges‘ ideological preferences appear to be less important in the U.S. Courts of Appeals than previous scholarship indicates, but ideology may influence judges‘ decisions through the ideological composition of the review panel and in dissent behavior. The implication is that the legal model of judicial behavior may be more prominent than the attitudinal model in the U.S. Courts of Appeals.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / MBA Professional Report / The purpose of this MBA Project is to assess the change readiness of Anniston Army Depot's (ANAD) organizational climate - especially now as the Depot prepares for large-scale Logistics Management Program (LMP) information technologies (IT) change. ANAD is a highly important division of the United States Army Materiel Command (AMC) and is the Army's designated Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence (CITE) for a variety of combat vehicles, artillery equipment, bridging systems and small-caliber weapons. It provides advanced maintenance support for all of these systems, in addition to fulfilling a host of other vitally importnat Army-wide logistical functions. ANAD presently uses the Standard Depot System (SDS) to manage its complex array of admministrativr and logistical functions. However, AMC has mandated that ANAD completely replace the SDS and employ the new Logistics Modernization Program (LMP) starting in March 2009. The researchers gathered a combination of historical information, personnel observations and responses to survey questionnaires on readiness for change in order to conduct a quality analysis on ANAD structure and climate and their implications, if any, for LMP omplementation. Ultimately, people are the heart of any IT systm, regardless of its size and degree of automation. The tremendous importance of organizational personnel in the change process is often under appreciated and under addressed in the civilian sector of the military - particularly when this sector embarks on significant IT transformation initiatives. Bold IT actions inevitably have a profound effect on any organization, regardless of its size, mission, and personnel composition. This project was conducted with the sponsorship and assistance of the Anniston Army Depot.

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe registered nurse's perceptions with regard to continuing formal education. A quantitative descriptive, explorative research design was used to study registered nurses views with regard to continuing formal education and to identify the barriers to continuing formal education as experienced by registered nurses. Convenience sampling was used to select the research sample of registered nurses working at four state health institutions in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Descriptive statistics, based on calculations using the Microsoft (MS) Excel (for Windows 2000) programme, were used to summarise and describe the research results obtained from the questions completed by the registered nurses. The research results indicated that most registered nurses perceive continuing formal education as beneficial to their personal and professional growth and to improve the quality of patient/client care, but barriers exist which prevent or deter them from undertaking continuing formal education programmes. The main barriers were identified as structural barriers, including lack of funding, job and family responsibilities and lack of coherent staff development planning. / Health Studies / M. A. (Health Studies)

Background: In today’s fast-moving society organizational changes have become absolutely essential for long-lasting success. A great challenge is to create the internal support for change projects among the employees in order to avoid failure. The underlying problem to this study focuses on the perception towards change under the aspect of a new generation which more and more represents today's workforce.  Research Question: Are there relations between distinct characteristics of Generation Y and their attitude towards change and does this result in new approaches for practical implementations? Purpose:         The purpose of this study is to scrutinize typical characteristics of Generation Y and find out if they influence their attitude (“Readiness for change”, “Commitment to change”, “Openness to change” and “Cynicism about change”) towards change projects. This enhances existing knowledge about the attitude towards change and how this interrelates with specific characteristics. The authors aim is to find out which characteristics can be identified as beneficial for change and how that can be useful for collocating successful change project teams.  Method:          A qualitative research method with an abductive approach was used in this study. The authors were conducting two phases of qualitative interviews. The first interview phase composed of eight respondents with distinct expertise in change projects and the second phase composed of nine (three respondents each from Generation Y, Generation X and Baby Boomers) interviews. The respondents had no specific knowledge in the field of change but experience in working with Generation Y which assisted to expose their specific characteristics. Theoretical Framework:   The underlying theories consist of employees’ general attitude towards organizational change as well as the distinct characteristics of Generation Y. For a more practice-oriented evaluation of the implementation of organizational change, the theory about change project teams is presented as well.   Findings:       The study revealed that members of Generation Y are well equipped with a set of distinct characteristics that positively influence their attitude towards organizational change. Characteristics like “Informationalization”, “High level of education”, “High level of flexibility”, “Critical Thinking” and “Globality” were evaluated as having positive effects on their “Openness to Change”, “Readiness for Change”, “Commitment to Change”, and “Cynicism about Change”. Furthermore, those findings enhance existing selection processes when it comes to the collocation of change projects teams.