Evaluation is a vital--yet challenging--part of IS/IT management and governance. The benefits (or lack therefore) associated with IS/IT investments have been widely debated within academic and industrial communities alike. Investments in information technology may or may not result in desirable outcomes. Yet, organizations must rely on information systems to remain competitive. Effective evaluation serves as one pathway to ensuring success. However, despite a growing multitude of measures and methods, practitioners continue to struggle with this intractable problem. Responding to the limited success of existing methods, scholars have argued that academicians should first develop a better understanding of the process of IS/IT evaluation. In addition, scholars have also posited that IS/IT evaluation practice should be tailored to fit a given organization's particular context. Of course, one cannot simply tell practitioners to "be contextual" when conducting evaluations and then hope for improved outcomes. Instead, having developed an improved understanding of the IS/IT evaluation process, researchers should articulate unambiguous guidelines to practitioners. The researcher addressed this need using a multi-phase research methodology. To start, the researcher conducted a literature review to identify and describe the relevant contextual elements operating in the IS/IT evaluation process: the purpose of conducting the evaluation (why); the subject of the evaluation (what); the specific aspects to be evaluated (which); the particular evaluation methods and techniques used (how); the timing of the evaluation (when); the individuals involved in, or affected by, the evaluation (who); and the environmental conditions under which the organization operates (where). Based upon these findings, the researcher followed a modeling-as-theorizing approach to develop a conceptual model of IS/IT evaluation. Next, the conceptual model was validated by applying it to multiple case studies selected from the extant literature. Once validated, the researcher utilized the model to develop a series of methodological guidelines to aid organizations in conducting evaluations. The researcher summarized these guidelines in the form of a checklist for professional practitioners. The researcher believes this holistic, conceptual model of IS/IT evaluation serves as an important step in advancing theory. In addition, the researcher's guidelines for conducting IS/IT evaluation based on organizational goals and conditions represents a significant contribution to industrial practice. Thus, the implications of this study come full circle: an improved understanding of evaluation should result in improved evaluation practices.

Recognising water as a central relational location of the asymmetric Israel- Palestinian conflict, this study critically analyses the peacebuilding significance of Israeli, transboundary water and peace practitioner discourses. Anchored in a theoretically-constructed framework of hydropolitical peacebuilding, it discursively analyses the historical, officially-sanctioned, as well as academic and civil society water and peace relations of Israelis and Palestinians. It responds to the question: How are Israeli water and peace practitioners discursively practicing hydropolitical peacebuilding in the Middle East? In doing so, this study has drawn upon a methodology of interpretive practice, combining ethnography, foucauldian discourse analysis and narrative inquiry. This study discursively traces Israel's development into a hydrohegemonic state in the Jordan River Basin, from the late-19th century to 2011. Recognising conflict as a power-laden social system, it makes visible the construction, production and circulation of Israel's power in the basin. It examines key narrative elements invoked by Israel to justify its evolving asymmetric, hydrohegemonic relations. Leveraging the hydropolitical peacebuilding framework, itself constituted of equality, partnership, equity and shared ii sustainability, this study also examines the discursive practices of Israeli transboundary water and peace practitioners in relationship with Palestinians. In so doing, it makes visible their hydrohegemony, hydropolitical peacebuilding, and hydrohegemonic residues. This study's conclusions re-affirm earlier findings, notably that environmental and hydropolitical cooperation neither inherently nor necessarily constitute peacebuilding practice. This work also suggests that hydropolitical peacebuilding may discursively be recognised in water and peace practices that engage, critique, resist, desist from, and practice alternative relational formations to hydrohegemony in asymmetric conflicts.

Child and adolescent mood and anxiety symptoms are common and debilitating, with long-term effects on well-being. Research presented in this thesis examines interpersonal cognitive factors in the emergence of anxious and depressive symptoms in late childhood through to early adulthood. The thesis considers this issue using three main approaches. For the first, data are presented showing that biases in the appraisals of social situations are the aspects of interpersonal cognition most closely associated with emotional symptoms. For the second, longitudinal twin data are used to examine genetic and environmental origins of these interpersonal cognitive biases and their temporal prediction of symptoms across a 2-year period. Data show that interpersonal cognitive factors are strongly influenced by non-shared environmental factors, and moreover, predict symptoms across time. The final section of the thesis comprises four studies using Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretations (CBM-I) training methodology to show that both positive and negative interpretive biases for interpersonal information can be induced in adolescents. Positive biases are shown to persist for at least 24 hours after training, and induced positive and negative biases are shown to differentially predict anxious responses to an experimental stressor. Evidence is also provided to suggest that effects following training positive interpretive biases may transfer to other cognitive measures, namely appraisals of ambiguous emotional faces. Finally, data tentatively show that CBM-I training may be useful in reducing negative interpretations of interpersonal information made by 11-year-old children undergoing the transition to secondary school. In summary, studies in this thesis support the contribution of cognitive biases to mood and anxiety symptoms in childhood and adolescence. They further extend this knowledge by suggesting that these reflect individual-specific (non-shared) environmental risks to predict symptoms across time. These biases may also be amenable to change through training interventions, with some - albeit weak - effects on other cognitive outcomes.

Strategic information systems security initiatives have seldom been successful. The increasing complexity of the business environment in which organizational security must be operationalized presents challenges. There has also been a problem with understanding the patterns of interactions among stakeholders that lead to instituting such an initiative. The overall aim of this research is to enhance understanding of the issues and concerns in shaping strategic information systems security initiative. To be successful, a proper undertaking of the content, context and process of the formulation and institutionalization of a security initiative is essential. It is also important to align the interconnections between these three key components. In conducting the argument, this dissertation analyzes information systems security initiatives in two large government organizations – Information Technology Agency and Department of Transportation. The research methodology adopts an interpretive approach of inquiry. Findings from the case studies show that the strategic security initiative should be harmonious with the cultural continuity of an organization rather than significantly changing the existing opportunity and constraint structures. The development of security cultural resources like security policy may be used as a tool for propagating a secure view of the social world. For secure organizational transformation, one must consider the organizational security structure, knowledgeability of agents in perceiving secure organizational posture, and global security catalysts (such as establishing trust relations and security related institutional reflexivity). The inquiry indicates that strategic security change would be successful in an organization if developed and implemented in a brief yet quantum leap adopting an emergent security strategy in congruence with organizational security values.

This thesis examines the image of the journalist that is based on a particular text corpus - on articles collected in newspaper clipping archive of Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the period of "the first Czechoslovak republic." The method of this paper is inspired by Stanley Fish's concept of interpretive communities - in this case the interpretive community consists of the authors of the articles mentioned above. As they design the image of their own profession, it becomes a tool for understanding journalist's identity - it defines what is appropriate and what is not. The self-portrait of journalist does not only include a paragon of virtue that is to be followed but also a set of attributes, which journalists find typical for themselves: interestingly the main attributes do not seem to change much over time and in different newspapers. Therefore, the thesis focuses on common and shared traits of this self-portrait, illustrated by particular examples from the articles. The most important traits are for instance the consciousness of journalist's power and need for responsibility, but also journalist's attitude to truth, independence, time and society. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

A indagação central que norteou esta investigação, conduzida no município de São José do Rio Pardo (SP), refere-se à incorporação de abordagens participativas na construção de estratégias educativas contextualizadas e significativas para a comunidade envolvida, criando oportunidades para reflexão, ação e disseminação de idéias e práticas conservacionistas. Assim, esta pesquisa objetivou planejar um processo participativo de desenvolvimento de uma trilha interpretativa como instrumento de educação ambiental, e analisar como a aplicação de metodologias participativas contribui para um maior envolvimento dos participantes nas diversas etapas deste processo. Representantes das secretarias municipais de Educação, de Cultura, de Turismo e de Agricultura, assim como organizações não governamentais, empresas e estudantes participaram da pesquisa. Todos envolveram-se, em maior ou menor grau, nas várias etapas de construção da trilha interpretativa: no diagnóstico prévio e escolha do local e do público-alvo; na elaboração do roteiro interpretativo; na realização e avaliação das atividades de visita à trilha por estudantes de ensino fundamental; e na avaliação do processo como um todo. As técnicas utilizadas para coleta de dados no diagnóstico e na construção da trilha foram o diagnóstico rural participativo e os grupos focais, já que com ambas as técnicas é possível lidar com a dimensão interativa de um grupo. A trilha interpretativa tem sido considerada como uma estratégia educativa capaz de transcender os aspectos cognitivos da aprendizagem, proporcionando oportunidades de desenvolvimento dos aspectos afetivos e habilidades dos educandos, podendo, portanto, ser considerada um instrumento efetivo de educação ambiental. Contudo, ela deve ser planejada e considerada como parte de um processo mais amplo e, não, apenas como um evento educativo pontual. A construção da trilha constituiu-se em uma oportunidade de reflexão individual e coletiva a respeito de temas ambientais relevantes. A metodologia participativa possibilita lidar com diferentes níveis de convívio em grupo, como o respeito pelas diferenças, a capacidade de negociação e a tomada de decisões em conjunto. O interesse inicial pelo tema, as afinidades pessoais e a experiência prévia de trabalho em grupo por parte de alguns dos participantes facilitaram o envolvimento em todas as etapas do projeto. Algumas das dificuldades que podem ser encontradas na continuidade de projetos participativos vão desde a seqüência das atividades - quando a pesquisadora se afasta do grupo - até mudanças no cenário político nos quais estes projetos tenham sido iniciados, o que justifica a importância da participação de representantes também da iniciativa privada e de ONGs. A metodologia participativa, além de gerar uma autonomia dos integrantes do grupo, proporciona maiores possibilidades de continuidade do projeto e possibilita novas iniciativas de ações de conservação e educação ambiental por parte dos envolvidos / The central issue of this investigation, which was conducted in the city of São José do Rio Pardo (SP), is the incorporation of participatory approaches to developing contextualized and significant educational strategies for the community involved, thus creating opportunities for reflection, action and spread of conservationist ideas and practices. This research, therefore, aimed to plan a participatory process of developing an interpretive trail as a tool for environmental education and assess the application of such methodologies in the engagement of the local participants in the different steps of this process. Representatives from the municipal departments for Education, Culture, Tourism and Agriculture as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations, companies and students participated in the research. All of them, to a greater or lesser extent, took part in the different steps in the process of creating the interpretive trail: the early diagnosis of the place; the choice of the place and target public; the creation of the interpretive itinerary; the accomplishment and assessment of the activities involved in the visit to the trail made by secondary school students; and the assessment of the process as a whole. Since techniques of participatory rural appraisal and focus groups can provide an interactive dimension of a group, they were used for collecting data from the diagnosis and the development of the trail. Interpretive trail has been shown to be an educational strategy capable of transcending the cognitive aspects of the learning and providing students with opportunities to develop their affective aspects and skills. Thus, it can be considered as an effective tool for environmental education. Nevertheless, it should be first considered as a part of a wider process rather than a prompt educational event. The process consisted of opportunities for individual and collective reflection on the relevant environmental themes. The group life, the respect for differences, and the ability to compromise and make collective decisions were evolved. The initial interest in the theme, the personal affinities, and the previous experience some of the participants had in working group facilitated the engagement, participation and articulation. Some of the difficulties in continuing participatory projects range from the sequence of activities – when the researcher leaves the group – to changes in the political context in which they were initiated. It can explain the importance of the participation of representatives from the private and service sectors. The participatory methodology generates the autonomy of the participants, thus promoting further possibilities for continuing the project and allowing new initiatives for conservationist actions and environmental education from the participants

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-10-19T11:51:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Priscila Barbosa Arantes.pdf: 3188753 bytes, checksum: cac55a7179739d3354eaacfde1969287 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-19T11:51:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Priscila Barbosa Arantes.pdf: 3188753 bytes, checksum: cac55a7179739d3354eaacfde1969287 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-10 / This research brings a possibility of formation to Pedagogical Coordinators, among active and direct participation of children, bring them like subjects and social actors in the research process by itself. It´s an investigation that purposes new perspectives of listening and looking in relation to children, once brings two central concepts of a new Childhood Sociology: children like social agent, active and creative and childhood like a structural way, like a part of society since birth. This observation purposed is by the owner figure of Coordinator, which put himself like a researcher adult who comes to children field and will participate just if been accepted by this group. There are no artificial purposes by the researcher, but an observation about routines and records. Thus, there is no structural questions beforehand, because relation will be done by enter, acception and participation of researcher, that will show us a view of production and reproduction culture process. Converges on current requests of Chilhood Sociology, for bring a cooperation view, that puts children as subject as the researcher, forming studies with and not about childhood. Children interact in the world because product their own cultures: enter by their families, but product and participate of a lot of peer cultures. Researches that defend listening and focus childhood and children culture consider children point of view in researches. It´s a kind of repair for long time that children were marginalized, in Sociology and other areas, and occupied a subordinated position in society. Besides to suggest a formation with active participation of children this project purposes to enlarge peer culture concept, looking for production of culture actions and analyze interpretative reproduction between children. This purpose converges on listening defense and childhood and children culture focus, under a newer technology and challenger, which involves a detachable view from adult’s point of view / O presente trabalho traz uma possibilidade de formação aos Coordenadores Pedagógicos, através da participação ativa e direta das crianças, colocando-as como sujeitos e atores sociais no próprio processo de pesquisa. É uma investigação que visa novas perspectivas de escuta e olhar em relação às crianças, uma vez que traz dois conceitos centrais de uma nova sociologia da infância: a criança como agente social, ativo e criativo e a infância concebida como uma forma estrutural, como uma parte integrante da sociedade desde o nascimento. A proposta de observação se dá pela própria figura do Coordenador Pedagógico, que deve se colocar na posição de um adulto pesquisador que entrará no campo das crianças e só poderá participar plenamente se for aceito por esse grupo. Não haverá uma relação proposta artificialmente pelo próprio pesquisador, mas uma observação das práticas rotineiras e seus registros. Desse modo, não há perguntas estruturadas de antemão, pois a relação que irá se estabelecer pela entrada, aceitação e participação do adulto pesquisador é o que vai permitir a visualização dos processos de produção e reprodução de cultura. Converge com as atuais demandas da Sociologia da Infância também, para que apareça na pesquisa uma visão de parceria, que coloque a criança como sujeito tanto quanto o pesquisador, constituindo estudos com e não sobre a infância. As crianças interagem no mundo porque produzem suas culturas: ingressam na cultura por meio da família, mas passam a produzir e participar de inúmeras culturas de pares. As pesquisas que defendem a escuta e enfocam as infâncias e culturas infantis consideram o ponto de vista infantil nas pesquisas. É uma reparação por tanto tempo em que as crianças foram marginalizadas na Sociologia e em outras áreas, por ocuparem sempre uma posição subordinada na sociedade, e vistas como incapacitadas a contribuir. Além de sugerir a formação com a participação ativa das crianças, a finalidade deste trabalho é também ampliar o conceito de cultura de pares, levantar ações de produção de cultura e analisar situações de reprodução interpretativa entre as crianças. A proposta converge com a defesa da escuta e o enfoque das infâncias e culturas infantis sob uma metodologia inovadora e desafiadora, que implica um desprendimento do olhar sob o ponto de vista do adulto

Background: Adolescents are more likely to be dissatisfied with perinatal care than adults. Adolescents’ perspectives of their perinatal care experiences have been explored; however, there are few studies exploring adolescent-friendly inpatient care from nurses’ perspectives. Purpose: To explore adolescent-friendly care from the perspective of hospital-based adolescent-friendly perinatal nurses. Research Questions: (1) How and why do perinatal nurses in inpatient settings adapt their practice when caring for adolescents? (2) What are the individual nursing behaviours and organizational characteristics of adolescent-friendly care in inpatient perinatal settings, from the perspective of perinatal nurses? Methods: I report the qualitative component of a mixed methods study. Open-ended interviews were conducted with twenty-seven purposively-sampled expert nurses. Data were analyzed using Interpretive Description. Findings: Nurses described being mother-friendly to adolescents by being nonjudgmental, forming connections, individualizing care, and employing behavioural strategies that facilitate relationship-building. Implications: These findings will inform the development of interventions to facilitate connections between nurses and adolescent mothers.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-03-31T11:47:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Adélia da Silva Saraiva.pdf: 41916525 bytes, checksum: f5c3cfd7e299f058a12e457b4c8a21a0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-31T11:47:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adélia da Silva Saraiva.pdf: 41916525 bytes, checksum: f5c3cfd7e299f058a12e457b4c8a21a0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-23 / This thesis is based on the theoretical principles of Critical Discourse Analysis and its aspects (Social, Socio-Cognitive and Social Semiotics) and principles of Discursive Textual Linguistics, in a multidisciplinary course, complemented by studies on Multimodality and Journalism. This thesis also contributes with the studies of discursive textual genres of the journalistic discourse as to of the textual genre discursive report in printed magazines confronted to the characterization of news in newspapers to the characterization of the news genre. The specific objectives were: a) to confront the participants in the discursive practices of printed magazines and print newspapers in São Paulo; b) to identify how these genres modify social cognitions, by constructing opinions for their readership; b) to confront the semantic categories Unused and Current news of the news with those of the report; d) to confront the textual categories that organize the genre reporting with those of the news genre. This thesis hypothesizes that the journalistic genre reporting has undergone changes due to the social changes resulting from high technologies due to the speed of transmission of information since access to information was facilitated. The methodological procedure is theoretical-analytical, documentary, comparative and qualitative. The analyzed material was collected in the Veja magazine, IstoÉ magazine and in the newspapers Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo. The results indicate that the report is a textual genre interpretative-optative of the journalistic area, classified as “from news” and “thematic”. Although some categories are the same in the two genres, the report differs from the news in the structural organization of the reduced and expanded text / Esta tese está fundamentada em bases teóricas da Análise Crítica do Discurso e suas vertentes (Social, Sócio-Cognitiva e Semiótica Social) e princípios da Linguística Textual Discursiva, em um percurso multidisciplinar, complementada por estudos sobre Multimodalidade e sobre Jornalismo. Tem-se por objetivo geral contribuir com os estudos de gêneros textuais discursivos do discurso jornalístico quanto à caracterização do gênero textual discursivo reportagem de magazine em revistas impressas confrontada com a caracterização do gênero notícia. Os objetivos específicos desenvolvidos foram: a) confrontar os participantes das práticas discursivas de revistas impressas e de jornais impressos paulistanos; b) identificar de que maneira esses gêneros modificam as cognições sociais, ao construírem opiniões para seu público leitor; c) confrontar as categorias semânticas Inusitado e Atualidade da notícia com as da reportagem; d) confrontar as categorias textuais que organizam o gênero reportagem com as do gênero notícia. Esta tese tem por hipótese que o gênero jornalístico reportagem sofreu modificações devido às mudanças sociais decorrentes das altas tecnologias pela velocidade de transmissão das informações já que o acesso à informação foi facilitado. O procedimento metodológico é teórico-analítico, documental, comparativo e qualitativo. O material analisado foi coletado nas Revistas Veja e IstoÉ e nos jornais Folha de S. Paulo e O Estado de S. Paulo. Os resultados obtidos indicam que a reportagem configura-se como gênero textual discursivo interpretativo-opinativo da área jornalística, classificada como de notícia e temática. Apesar de algumas categorias serem as mesmas nos dois gêneros, a reportagem difere da notícia na organização estrutural do texto reduzido e do expandido

This study was concerned with exploring the meaning birth relatives gave their experiences of counselling following the removal of their children from their care. An exploratory research question was formulated and addressed using a qualitative approach. The involvement of a service user as expert supervisor added an important element and certain validity to the design, analysis and findings. Interviews took place with five birth mothers who had received counselling from one birth relatives counselling service. Three master themes were constructed from the data: From feeling alone, judged and let down to feeling part of a special relationship; "The healing process"; and "My children are my world".