O projeto analisa o impacto dos fluxos imateriais formados por infraestruturas de comunicação e conectividade na percepção dos lugares. A emergência de espaços informacionais nos centros urbanos vem mudando a noção do que é visível e não visível na sociedade e na arte. A abordagem considera o \"lugar\" como um campo afetado por questões socioeconômicas e tecnopolíticas, bem como por migrações semânticas, que ocorrem em função de deslocamentos culturais, operações linguísticas, licenças poéticas ou digressões teóricas. As especificidades de um espaço arquitetônico que inclui cada vez mais aspectos imateriais em sua constituição, como campos de radiofrequência (RF) e ondas eletromagnéticas (EMF) gerados por celulares, redes wi-fi, transmissões de TV, satélites e telefones sem fio são discutidas através de uma arte em constante atrito com elementos da comunicação, em relações que se intensificaram notavelmente desde o início dos anos 1990. Essas investigações buscam não apenas evidenciar o quanto o espaço pode ser de fato considerado pelo que não é visível, tendo em vista as progressivas novas apreensões do espaço diante de inovações tecnológicas, mas também discute recursos que permitem fazer ver componentes intrínsecos à sua constituição, apontando novas condições e formas da invisibilidade. Para tanto, o projeto parte inicialmente de considerações metafóricas e de conceitos que discutem o espaço informacional e os fluxos de comunicação imersos na sociedade (CASTELLS, SANTOS, VIRILIO, BEIGUELMAN, DI FELICE), com a intenção de investigar os três tópicos principais da pesquisa: a noção de lugar, carregado de informação e de aspectos imateriais (FOSTER, LIPPARD, DEUTSCHE, KWON, DIDI-HUBERMAN), incluindo a presença da infraestrutura de conectividade e sua ubiquidade (DUNNE, SAVIC, EASTERLING, GREENFIELD); as tecnologias, suas instabilidades e efeitos colaterais em formas ubíquas de modulação de subjetividade e de ideologias (AGAMBEN, FOUCAULT, ZUBOFF, BRUNO, CRARY, RANCIÈRE); as artes criadas sob novas especificidades de lugares e condições (CAUQUELAIN, FOSTER, ZANINI, MEDOSCH, Metodologicamente são abordados uma série de artistas que convergem esses conceitos em trabalhos que são tanto alusivos da ideia da suposição como um componente da arte como indutores de conscientização a respeito das invisibilidades, ideologias e políticas imersas no ambiente ao nosso redor. Em interlocução com obras próprias e de vários artistas, são discutidas formas de ativar uma percepção que considera o que não está explícito no espaço ao redor, em uma apreensão de fluxos de comunicação e campos eletromagnéticos cada vez mais ubíquos, intrusivos e determinantes de nossa participação e existência nas esferas culturais, sociais e políticas atuais. / The project analyses the impact of immaterial flows produced by the infrastructure of connectivity in the understanding of the concept of the site. The emergence of information spaces in urban centres changes the notion of what is visible and not visible in both society and in the arts. The approach taken considers the site as a field affected by socioeconomic and technopolitical issues, as well as by semantic migrations, which occur due to cultural displacements, linguistic operations, poetic licenses or theoretical digressions. The specificities of an architectural space that increasingly involves intangible aspects in its constitution, such as radiofrequency (RF) and electromagnetic fields (EMF) generated by cell phones, wi-fi networks, TV broadcasts, satellites and cordless phones are discussed through a series of art projects in constant friction with elements of communication, in relations that have intensified notably since the beginning of the 1990s. The investigations seek to inquire not only the extent to which the site can actually be constituted by nonvisible elements in view of the progressivelly new seizures of space in the face of technological innovations, but to point out political implications behind networking infrastructures. To do so, the project starts from metaphorical considerations and concepts discussing the notion of informational space and the communication flows immersed in society (CASTELLS, SANTOS, VIRILIO, BEIGUELMAN, DI FELICE), aiming to investigate three essential approaches in the research: the perception of the site, loaded with information and immaterial constituents (FOSTER, LIPPARD, DEUTSCHE, KWON, DIDI-HUBERMAN), including the presence of the infrastructure behind connectivity and its ubiquity (DUNNE, SAVIC, EASTERLING, GREENFIELD); the technologies, its instabilities and side effects on modulations of subjectivity and ideology (AGAMBEN, FOUCAULT, ZUBOFF, BRUNO, CRARY, RANCIÈRE); the arts created under new specific conditions and places (CAUQUELAIN, FOSTER, ZANINI, MEDOSCH). Concerning the methodology employed, the research comments on these theorethical concepts in relation to art projects that are both allusive to the idea of supposition as an art component as well as inductive of awareness about the invisibilities, ideologies and policies immersed in the environment. In a dialogue with artworks by several artists, including my own, the research seeks ways to activate perception in order to consider what is not explicit in the surrounding space, as an apprehension of communication flows and electromagnetic fields that are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, intrusive and determinant of our participation and existence in the current cultural, social and political spheres.

This study evaluated the effect of an explicit comprehension read-aloud routine of science content on first grade students’ listening comprehension.The read-aloud routine taught the structures common in the informational text (compare, contrast, and compare-contrast) and found in first grade science big books with the goal of improving understanding of the science content. Students who received the intervention showed improvements in their ability to understand the compare-contrast text structures compared to students who were taught the same content without the routine or students who were taught typical science read-aloud content without the routine. Observations revealed that teachers who were most consistent in implementing high quality comprehension strategies during the read aloud had students who made the best gains in listening comprehension of the content, regardless of whether the teachers used explicit text the compare-contrast text structure routine.The results demonstrated that even though the instruction of the compare-contrast text structures was not necessary to produce listening comprehension of science content, the compare-contrast instruction added value to the high quality comprehension instruction for students assigned to the intervention group. The results of the study are discussed in terms of the available research on instruction of informational text structures in the early grades. Recommendations for future research are provided.

Three dimensions can be distinguished in a cross-linguistic account of information structure. First, there is the definition of the focus constituent, the part of the linguistic expression which is subject to some focus meaning. Second and third, there are the focus meanings and the array of structural devices that encode them. In a given language, the expression of focus is facilitated as well as constrained by the grammar within which the focus devices operate. The prevalence of focus ambiguity, the structural inability to make focus distinctions, will thus vary across languages, and within a language, across focus meanings.

This study follows the theoretical les of Deutsch and Gerrard¡¦s dual-process theory to determine the informational and normative factors that influence credibility judgments of on-line consumer recommendation by readers. In addition, this study also discusses how impulse traits and disposition of Trust play as a moderator on the influence of Electronic Word-of-Mouth on sender¡¦s WOM on the receiver¡¦s purchase decision. This study¡¦s main purpose as follows: ¤@¡B How world informational and normative determinants affect a user¡¦s credibility evaluation of on- line consumer recommendations? ¤G¡B How would this perceived credibility of eWOM influence its sender¡¦s WOM on the receiver¡¦s purchase decision? ¤T¡B Receiver of consumer recommendations¡¦ impulse traits and disposition of trust whether influence the relationship between perceived credibility of eWOM and sender¡¦s WOM on the receiver¡¦s purchase decision. This study has some finding as following: ¤@¡B Informational determinant-argument strength, confirmation with receiver¡¦s prior belief, expertise - significantly influenced perceived eWOM credibility. ¤G¡B normative determinant- - significantly influenced perceived eWOM credibility ¤T¡B perceived eWOM credibility significantly influenced sender¡¦s WOM on the receiver¡¦s purchase decision. ¥|¡B impulse traits and disposition of Trust could strengthen the relationship between perceived credibility of eWOM and sender¡¦s WOM on the receiver¡¦s purchase decision.

Cyberwar challenges future endeavors of state security. As technological capability has improved, and access to information has become more widespread the importance of the issue in today's ever-globalizing world grows each day. A primary objective is to evaluate the place of cyber-warfare against nation-states and any repercussions under an international law paradigm. Utilizing an English School perspective, emphasis will be applied to the argument that disruptive circumstances could come to fruition if international conventions are not created to bring consensus and order among nation-states on this subject. This study hypothesizes that a future application could be an agreement under international law, beyond current regional cooperative initiatives. Since cyber-related attack is a relatively new development, the issue lacks adequate historical context. In addition, since state behavior is a major contributor to the interpretation of international law, the matter is in need of a clear delineation of the norms that define the phenomena and what acceptable responses might entail. Case study analysis will highlight recent examples of state behavior and cyber-related attacks and sabotages.

Although scholars have long advocated the use of informational texts in the primary grades, gaps and inconsistencies in research have produced conflicting reports on how teachers used these texts in the primary curriculum, and how primary students dealt with them during instruction and on their own (e.g., Saul & Dieckman, 2005). Thus, to add to research on informational texts in the primary grades, the purpose of this study was to examine: (a) a first-grade teacher's use of science informational trade books (SITBs) in her classroom, (b) the ways students responded to her instruction, and (c) how students interacted with these texts. My study was guided by a sociocultural perspective (e.g., Bakhtin, 1981; Vygotsky, 1978), providing me a lens to examine participants during naturally occurring social practices in the classroom, mediated by language and other symbolic tools. Data were collected by means of 28 observations, 6 semi-structured interviews, 21 unstructured interviews, and 26 documents over the course of 10 weeks. Three themes generated from the data to provide insight into the teacher's and students' practices and interactions with SITBs. First, the first-grade teacher used SITBs as teaching tools during guided conversations around the text to scaffold students' understanding of specialized vocabulary, science concepts, and text features. Her instruction with SITBs included shared reading lessons, interactive read-alouds and learning activities during two literacy/science units. However, there was limited use of SITBs during the rest of her reading program, in which she demonstrated a preference for narrative. Second, students responded to instruction by participating in guided conversations around the text, in which they used prior knowledge, shared ideas, and visual representations (e.g., illustrations, diagrams, labels, and captions) to actively make meaning of the text. Third, students interacted with SITBs on their own to make sense of science, in which they demonstrated their interest in reading the texts, formed connections to science, used reading strategies, and adjusted to the text type and variations of text complexity. The findings indicate the teacher's practices with SITBs were supportive of literacy and science learning for students at various levels of reading development. However, her inexperience with informational books and her preference for narrative demonstrates a need for training to assist her in providing guided and individualized reading instruction with SITBs, as well as provide students with full access to these texts in the classroom. Further, the teacher's overgeneralizations for science during instruction with SITBs indicates the need for training to strengthen her knowledge of science that would better prepare her to convey information and critically read information presented in these texts. Finally, the students' engagement with SITBs and their use of strategies to make sense of these texts on their own, indicates the first graders were motivated and capable readers of informational books.

In recent years, virtual communities have become increasingly popular among online users and businesses. Public press has shown a strong interest in virtual communities and announced their informational value. The explosive growth of virtual communities has aroused tremendous interest among academic researchers as well. Academic researchers have noticed that participation dynamics of virtual communities among online users create valuable information that influences subsequent economic outcome. However, relatively little research has explored the underlying motives of passive and active participation in virtual communities. In particular, research explicating how the information created by user participation influences users’ economic decisions has not been investigated. To investigate user participation dynamics and the resulting informational value of virtual communities, I explore three major issues in my dissertation. First, I investigate the determinants of passive and active users of virtual communities using survey data from 502 online investors. The results indicate that social, psychological, and community factors influence two different behavioral intentions – the intention to share and the intention to seek. For instance, social factors such as reputation seeking increase the intention to share in virtual communities, whereas psychological factors such as perceived knowledge deteriorate the intention to seek. Second, I explore how an online investor processes information posted on virtual communities and its subsequent economic outcomes by conducting a field experiment. I find that psychological bias (e.g., confirmation bias) influences investors’ information processing behaviors, which ultimately leads to a low return of investment as compared to economic rationales. Following this line of exploration, I empirically examine the relative informational impact of virtual communities on users’ decisions and market performance in the context of electronic markets. Using customer review data from a well-known online retailer and from three third-party customer review websites, I find that consumers obtain product information from external information sources during the information search stage for high involvement products and are thus less influenced by retailer-hosted information. All in all, my dissertation contributes to the understanding of user participation dynamics and informational value of virtual communities by investigating users’ information processing behavior and the subsequent economic outcomes and performance. / text

This thesis examines the informational efficiency of the European carbon market based on the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The issue is approached from three different perspectives. I explore whether the volatility embedded in carbon options is a rational forecast of subsequently realized volatility. Then, I investigate if, and to what extent, new information about the structural and institutional set-up of the market impacts the carbon price dynamics. Lastly, I examine whether the European carbon market is relevant for the firm valuations of covered companies. First, perhaps because the market is new and derivatives’ trading on emission allowances has only started recently, carbon options have not yet been extensively studied. By using data on options traded on the European Climate Exchange, this thesis examines an aspect of market efficiency which has been previously overlooked. Market efficiency suggests that, conditional upon the accuracy of the option pricing model, implied volatility should be an unbiased and efficient forecast of future realized volatility (Campbell et al., 1997). Black (1976) implied volatility and implied volatility estimates directly surveyed from market participants are used in this thesis to study the information content of carbon options. Implied volatility is found to be highly informative and directionally accurate in forecasting future volatility. There is no evidence, however, that volatility embedded in carbon options is an unbiased and efficient forecast of future realized volatility. Instead, historical volatility-based forecasts are shown to contain incremental information to implied volatility, particularly for short-term forecasts. In addition, this thesis finds no evidence that directly surveyed implied volatility estimates perform better as a forecast of future volatility relative to Black’s (1976) estimates. Second, the market sensitivity to announcements about the organizational and institutional set-up of the EU ETS is re-examined. Despite their importance for the carbon price formation, demand-side announcements and announcements about the post-2012 framework have not yet been researched. By examining a very comprehensive and updated dataset of announcements, this thesis adds to the earlier works of Miclaus et al. (2008), Mansanet-Bataller and Pardo (2009) and Lepone et al. (2011). Market participants are found to rationally incorporate new information about the institutional and regulatory framework of the emissions trading scheme into the carbon price dynamics. However, they seem to be unable to accurately assess the implications of inter-temporal banking and borrowing on pricing futures contracts with different maturities. The impact of macroeconomic conditions on the market responsiveness is investigated by splitting the dataset into subsamples according to two alternative methods: 1) a simple split into pre-crisis and full-crisis time periods, and 2) according to a Bai-Perron structural break test. Evidence is found that in the context of economic slowdown and known allowances oversupply, the relationship between the carbon price and its fundamentals (institutional announcements, energy prices and extreme weather) breaks down. These findings are consistent with the arguments in Hintermann (2010), Keppler and Mansanet-Bataller (2010) and Koop and Tole (2011) that carbon price drivers change in response to the differing context of the individual trading periods. Third, the role of carbon performance in firm valuation is understudied. Since companies were not obliged to disclose their carbon emissions prior to the launch of the EU ETS, there exists little empirical evidence of the effect of carbon performance on market value. Earlier studies of the European carbon market have only focused on the impact of ETS compliance on the profitability and competitiveness of covered companies (e.g. Anger and Oberndorfer, 2008). There is also little research on how the newly available emissions data has altered the carbon performance of companies. This thesis addresses these gaps in the literature by examining the stock price reactions of British and German firms on the day of verified emissions release under the EU ETS over the period 2006 – 2011. An event study is conducted using a Seemingly Unrelated Regressions model to deal with the event clustering present in the dataset. Limited evidence is found that investors use information about the carbon performance of companies in their valuations. The information contained in the carbon emissions reports is shown to be somewhat more important for companies with high carbon-intensive operations. This thesis finds no conclusive evidence that the cap-and-trade programme has been able to provide regulated companies with enough incentives to de-carbonize their operations. The market does not punish companies which continue to emit carbon at increasing rates or reward companies which improve their carbon performance. In brief, the results of the thesis suggest that the market is not fully efficient yet. Inefficiently priced carbon options may allow for arbitrage trades in the market. The inability of investors to incorporate rules on inter-temporal banking and borrowing of allowances across the different trading periods leads to significant price reactions when there should be none. A recessionary economic environment and a known oversupply of emission allowances have led to a disconnect between the carbon price and its fundamental drivers. And, lastly, the signal embedded in the carbon price is not strong enough to invoke investor action and turn carbon performance into a standard component of investment analysis.

Magistriniame darbe nagrin÷jama Informacinių komunikacinių technologijų naudojimas mokant geografijos Vilniaus Profesin÷se mokyklose. Darbe buvo iškelti tokie uždaviniai: 1). Surinkti duomenis apie Lietuvos ir Vilniaus profesinių mokyklų paplitimą, jų profesinį orientavimą bei paanalizuoti geografinę sklaidą; 2). Atskleisti profesinių mokyklų vietą Lietuvos švietimo sistemoje akcentuojant geografijos dalyko mokymą jose; 3). Pateikti šiandieninę informacinių komunikacinių technologijų sampratą, jų teikiamas galimybes ir IKT taikymo pranašumus ir trūkumus; 4). Atlikti tyrimą, nustatant informacinių komunikacinių technologijų panaudojimą Vilniaus profesin÷se mokyklose bei paanalizuoti gautus rezultatus; 5). Įvertinti šių technologijų panaudojimo perspektyvas ir pateikti pasiūlymus. Lietuvoje yra 78 profesin÷s mokyklos. Devynios iš jų - Vilniuje. Daugiausia profesinių mokyklų yra Vilniaus, Kauno ir Klaip÷dos apskrityse. Pagal specializaciją Lietuvoje vyrauja ��� žem÷s ūkio profesin÷s mokyklos (13), paslaugų ir verslo mokyklos (12), profesiniai rengimo centrai (6), statybininkų mokyklos (5) ir kitos. Geografijos dalykas profesin÷se mokyklose mokomas kaip ir vidurin÷se mokyklose pagal Lietuvos bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos bendrąsias programas ir bendrojo išsilavinimo standartus. Vilniaus profesin÷se mokyklose labiausiai naudojamos yra šios darbe apibr÷žtos IKT: personalinis kompiuteris, mokomosios kompiuterin÷s programos, kopijavimo aparatas. Mažiau naudojamą – Interaktyvi lenta... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The current Master’s study examines the application of informational technologies in the process of teaching geography at vocational schools in Vilnius. The following objectives were set in this study: 1) to collect data about distribution of vocational schools in Lithuania and in Vilnius, their vocation subject areas and to analyze the geographical spreading, 2) to disclose the role of vocational schools in the Lithuanian system of education, alongside stressing the teaching of geography in them, 3) to present the current concept of IT, possibilities provided by them, as well as advantages and disadvantages of their application, 4) to perform a study of the application of IT at vocational schools in Vilnius and to analyze the results, 5) to assess perspectives of application of these technologies and to make respective proposals. In Lithuania we have 78 vocational schools. Nine of them are situated in Vilnius. Majority of vocational schools are located in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaip÷da counties. According to subject areas in Lithuania prevail: agricultural schools (13), service and business schools (12), vocational training centers (6), schools of construction workers (5), etc. Geography in vocational schools is taught similar to the secondary schools – according to the Lithuanian Common Programs of Comprehensive Schools and the Standards of Comprehensive Education. Vocational schools in Vilnius most often use the following IT (as described in this study): PC, training... [to full text]

Šiame darbe išsamiai tyrinėjamos informacinio žanro – žinučių turinio ir raiškos ypatybės – nustatomos informacinių žinučių temos, informacijos pobūdis, pasiskirstymas pagal įvykio vietą, žinutę sudarančių sakinių ir žodžių kiekis. Didelis dėmesys skiriamas mokslinės literatūros, susijusios su žiniasklaidos žanrų tyrinėjimu ir informacinių žinučių savybėmis, apžvalgai. Renkantis tyrimo medžiagą buvo atsižvelgta į tai, kad šiandieninėje žiniasklaidoje pastebima žinučių gausa, kurių vienas pagrindinių šaltinių yra naujienų agentūra. Lietuvoje veikianti naujienų agentūra „Baltic news service“ kasdien pateikia daugiau kaip 1,000 naujienų, todėl informacinių žinučių turinio ir raiškos analizei atlikti buvo pasirinkta 1,000 žinučių, kurios atrinktos iš 2007 metų naujienų agentūros BNS tekstyno. Siekiant atskleisti informacinių žinučių turinio ir raiškos ypatybes, remtasi turinio analizės kiekybiniu metodu ir tekstynų lingvistikos metodika. Informacinės žinutės išsamiai suskirstytos į 20 temų, į užsienio ir vidines šalies naujienas, pastarosios skirstytos dar detaliau – į regionines ir nacionalines bei nespecifikuotas – kuriose įvykio vieta nenurodoma. Pagal informacijos pobūdį žinutės suskirstytos į įvykines, pranešančias apie konkrečius praeities ir ateities veiksmus, ir neįvykines – prognozes, planus ar šnekos aktus. Atlikta informacinių žinučių turinio analizė parodė, kad BNS naujienų agentūra informacinėmis žinutėmis daugiausiai pateikia verslo ir finansų, teisėsaugos ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The goal of this research is to analyze the content and expression of informational news items. The analysis is based on topic detection, information purpose, distribution depending on event place, estimation of sentences and words in the informational news items. The theoretical part of this research is focussed on the scientific literature, related to exploration of genres and features of informational news items. The research material was chosen because the mass media is spreading, it is noticed abundance of news, mainly in news agencies. „Baltic News Service“ agency releases over 1,000 news items per day, for this reason, 1,000 news items have been selected for this research from 2007 BNS corpora. The methodology is based on content analysis and quantitative methods of corpus linguistics techniques. Informational news items were divided into 20 topics, foreign and national news items, last mentioned were divided into regional and national. Those news items, which does not indicate the place, were named to nonspecific news items. The news items according to information purpose were divided into event describing – particular future and past events and non-events – about prognoses, plans or speech acts. Content analysis showed, that the main topics of informational news items are business and finance, law enforcement and politics, dominate national reports which inform the readers or listeners about future or past events. Foreign news items are mostly used to inform about... [to full text]