Esta pesquisa analisa os sentidos circulantes nos textos publicados (postagens) por professores e Moderadora no Fórum de discussão online do Programa Conexão Professor, desenvolvido pela Secretaria de Estado de Educação do Rio de Janeiro (SEEDUC). Parte de dois modos de objetivação das tecnologias da informação e da comunicação (TIC): uma, em que as TIC são apontadas como revolução tecnológica no contexto da sociedade da informação; e outra centrada na recontextualização educacional das TIC. Situa a distribuição de laptops para os professores da rede estadual de ensino no contexto do Programa citado, buscando apreender ambos nos termos do ciclo contínuo de políticas, de Richard Bowe e Stephen Ball. Trata o Fórum de discussão online como locus privilegiado e os textos nele produzidos, entre dezembro de 2008 e julho de 2010, como corpus. Assume como alternativa teórico-metodológica a Análise Crítica do Discurso (ACD), formulada por Norman Fairclough, elegendo como pontos de entrada: o controle interacional, as escolhas lexicais e a modalidade. Investiga, a partir das pistas discursivas detectadas nas postagens, as relações estabelecidas entre a proposta de incorporação das TIC e a totalidade do trabalho docente. Conclui que os sentidos postos em circulação contestam a centralidade atribuída às TIC, apontando a substituição tecnológica como tendência política atual, expressa pelo deslocamento da ênfase na discussão para o fornecimento de materiais prontos, denominados objetos de aprendizagem / This research analyzes the circulating senses in published texts (posts) by teachers and Forum Moderator online discussion from Teacher Connection Program, developed by the State Department of Education of Rio de Janeiro (SEEDUC). Part of two modes of objectification of information technology and communication (ICT): one in which ICT is identified as "technological revolution" in the context of the "information society" and another focused on educational recontextualization ICT. Situates the distribution of laptops for teachers of state schools in the context of the Program said, seeking to understand both under continuous cycle of policy, Richard Bowe and Stephen Ball. This is the online discussion forum as a privileged locus and texts it produced between December 2008 and July 2010, as a corpus. Assume as an alternative theoretical and methodological Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), formulated by Norman Fairclough, electing as entry points: the interactional control, the lexical choices and modality. Research from the discursive clues detected on posts, the relationships established between the proposed incorporation of ICT and the entire teaching. We conclude that the meanings put into circulation challenge the centrality given to ICT, pointing to technological substitution as current political trend, expressed by shifting the emphasis in the discussion for the supply of ready-made materials, called learning objects.

Urbanization of watersheds leads to the degradation of watershed health, as increased areas of imperviousness produce alterations in the flow regime of receiving water bodies. While centralized infrastructure improvements, such as detention ponds, are typically implemented to manage excess runoff, a more decentralized approach that utilizes Low Impact Development (LID) design principles may better preserve the predevelopment flow regime. Peak flow is traditionally used to design both of these types of infrastructure, but this does not capture the changes in the flow regime, nor does it convey the importance of stormwater sustainability to the general public. To further the general public's understanding about stormwater sustainability, an educational tool was used to take a complicated issue and make it easier to understand by a layperson. The first purpose of this work was to explore the effectiveness of educational tools that may be developed to increase public awareness about issues of watershed sustainability and encourage adoption of sustainable stormwater controls. To increase knowledge about stormwater sustainability and encourage more sustainable practices, a new stormwater sustainability metric, the hydrologic footprint residence (HFR), was recently introduced to measure more holistically the impacts of urbanization on the downstream residence. HFR measures changes to the flow regime as the area of land inundated for one unit of time in response to one rainfall event, which is a more relatable metric than peak flow for the general public. It was the second purpose of this work is to explore the effectiveness of HFR in communicating the impacts of urbanization on watershed health, as compared to traditional stormwater metrics, such as peak flow. To test these different objectives, collaboration with the Communication and the Computer Engineering Departments at Texas A&M University was needed to create a survey, which helped evaluate the effectiveness of the educational tool in educating the general public about stormwater sustainability, and encouraging more sustainable practices. The survey was also used to evaluate and compare the use of HFR and peak flow within the quiz for communicating to the general public about stormwater sustainability. Results indicated the quiz was useful for educating the public about stormwater sustainability, encouraging more sustainable practices. In addition, results indicated the HFR was more effective than peak flow in educating the public about LIDs.

Esta pesquisa analisa os sentidos circulantes nos textos publicados (postagens) por professores e Moderadora no Fórum de discussão online do Programa Conexão Professor, desenvolvido pela Secretaria de Estado de Educação do Rio de Janeiro (SEEDUC). Parte de dois modos de objetivação das tecnologias da informação e da comunicação (TIC): uma, em que as TIC são apontadas como revolução tecnológica no contexto da sociedade da informação; e outra centrada na recontextualização educacional das TIC. Situa a distribuição de laptops para os professores da rede estadual de ensino no contexto do Programa citado, buscando apreender ambos nos termos do ciclo contínuo de políticas, de Richard Bowe e Stephen Ball. Trata o Fórum de discussão online como locus privilegiado e os textos nele produzidos, entre dezembro de 2008 e julho de 2010, como corpus. Assume como alternativa teórico-metodológica a Análise Crítica do Discurso (ACD), formulada por Norman Fairclough, elegendo como pontos de entrada: o controle interacional, as escolhas lexicais e a modalidade. Investiga, a partir das pistas discursivas detectadas nas postagens, as relações estabelecidas entre a proposta de incorporação das TIC e a totalidade do trabalho docente. Conclui que os sentidos postos em circulação contestam a centralidade atribuída às TIC, apontando a substituição tecnológica como tendência política atual, expressa pelo deslocamento da ênfase na discussão para o fornecimento de materiais prontos, denominados objetos de aprendizagem / This research analyzes the circulating senses in published texts (posts) by teachers and Forum Moderator online discussion from Teacher Connection Program, developed by the State Department of Education of Rio de Janeiro (SEEDUC). Part of two modes of objectification of information technology and communication (ICT): one in which ICT is identified as "technological revolution" in the context of the "information society" and another focused on educational recontextualization ICT. Situates the distribution of laptops for teachers of state schools in the context of the Program said, seeking to understand both under continuous cycle of policy, Richard Bowe and Stephen Ball. This is the online discussion forum as a privileged locus and texts it produced between December 2008 and July 2010, as a corpus. Assume as an alternative theoretical and methodological Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), formulated by Norman Fairclough, electing as entry points: the interactional control, the lexical choices and modality. Research from the discursive clues detected on posts, the relationships established between the proposed incorporation of ICT and the entire teaching. We conclude that the meanings put into circulation challenge the centrality given to ICT, pointing to technological substitution as current political trend, expressed by shifting the emphasis in the discussion for the supply of ready-made materials, called learning objects.

Sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence rates are increasing in the United States and globally. Education has been found to be an important strategy for increasing STI testing and treatment rates among sexually active young adults. The goal of this project was to develop an interactive educational game suitable for young adults to decrease the social and economic burden of STIs. The health belief model informed the project. A moderated usability evaluation was conducted using the concurrent think-aloud technique. The participants (N = 5) were a purposive sample of professionals who played the interactive game and then completed Schnall, Cho, and Lie’s Health-Information Technology Usability Evaluation Scale instrument. The findings revealed the necessity of (a) an introduction screen, (b) a reward system for correct answers, and (c) avatars, while also highlighting that (d) the effect on indicator value bars is difficult to understand and (e) the timer led to a feeling of being rushed. The Cronbach’s alpha for the participant group was 0.798, the subscale “Perceived Ease of Use” achieved an alpha level of 0.815, and the subscale “Perceived Usefulness,” 0.762. Refinements to the game based on these data might help to ensure that use of the interactive game contributes to social change by increasing knowledge of STIs in the young adult population.

Sedentary lifestyles have bad health implications and are common amongst office workers. Therefore, exergames has risen to attention to assist with these issues and is a suitable alternative for those that find regular exercise boring or are seeking to complement regular exercise with short breaks to keep the blood flowing during office hours. Thus, the exergame Cart has been developed to assist in a less sedentary lifestyle with a 2-minute game to play during breaks. In this paper a discussion will be held about how an exergame can be created and will be evaluated by how the game encourages movement and what correlation the movement has compared to the score. As the score is the primary indicator of player performance and is the incentive for the player to keep better themselves. The findings show promising results indicating that the game does encourage movement and has a solid correlation to score, however not in a linear fashion.

This study contributes to practical discussions on the composition of dynamic music for video games from the composer’s perspective. Creating greater levels of immersion in players is used as a justification for the proposals of the thesis. It lays down foundational aesthetic elements in order to proceed with a logical methodology. The aim of this paper is to build upon, and further hybridise, two techniques used by composers and by video game designers to increase further the reactive agility and memorability of the music for the player. Each chapter of this paper explores a different technique for joining two (possibly disparate) types of gameplay, or gamestates, with appropriate continuous music. In each, I discuss a particular musical engine capable of implementing continuous music. Chapter One will discuss a branching-music engine, which uses a precomposed musical mosaic (or musical pixels) to create a linear score with the potential to diverge at appropriate moments accompanying onscreen action. I use the case study of the Final Fantasy battle system to show how the implementation of a branching-music engine could assist in maintaining the continuity of gameplay experience that current disjointed scores, which appear in many games, create. To aid this argument I have implemented a branching-music engine, using the graphical object oriented programming environment MaxMSP, in the style of the battle music composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of the early Final Fantasy series. The reader can find this in the accompanying demonstrations patch. In Chapter Two I consider how a generative-music engine can also implement a continuous music and also address some of the limitations of the branching-music engine. Further I describe a technique for an effective generative music for video games that creates musical ‘personalities’ that can mimic a particular style of music for a limited period of time. Crucially, this engine is able to transition between any two personalities to create musical coincidence with the game. GMGEn (<b>G</b>ame <b>M</b>usic <b>G</b>eneration <b>E</b>ngine) is a program I have created in MaxMSP to act as an example of this concept. GMGEn is available in the Demonstrations_Application. Chapter Three will discuss potential limitations of the branching music engine described in Chapter One and the generative music engine described in Chapter Two, and highlights how these issues can be solved by way of a third engine, which hybridises both. As this engine has an indeterminate musical state it is termed the intermittent-music engine. I go on to discuss the implementation of this engine in two different game scenarios and how emergent structures of this music will appear. The final outcome is to formulate a new compositional approach delivering dynamic music, which accompanies the onscreen action with greater agility than currently present in the field, increasing the memorability and therefore the immersive effect of the video-game music.