For laptop computers, the conventional internal antennas are usually used to operate in the WLAN system only, which can not provide sufficient and seamless services for wireless users. In order to overcome this problem, we propose some internal antennas having dual-/multi-network operation capability in this dissertation. Firstly, we present a combo antenna, which combines two shorted monopole antennas for operating in the WWAN/WLAN dual-network system. Secondly, we introduce a shorted monopole antenna through adding a parasitic element to enhance the impedance bandwidth for operating in the WLAN/WiMAX dual-network system. Thirdly, for achieving the compact-size antenna, we present a composite antenna which is composed of a ceramic chip and a printed radiating portion. Fourthly, we introduce a wideband shorted monopole antenna which can provide a wide bandwidth to cover the WPAN, WLAN, and WiMAX operations, and apply it to the MIMO system. Finally, we propose a coupling-type monopole antenna having multi-network operation capability and a compact size, which is about the smallest antenna for wideband operation in the laptop computer so far.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T15:23:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1050688 bytes, checksum: 4095ba7c175198ee65b5df9d0f562866 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / It presents the results of a research about the One Laptop Per Child Program at Ceará, in the perspective of Information Science and its studies on digital inclusion, information literacy, intellectual technologies, information policies and information system. The methodological approach proposed includes quantitative and qualitative research, desk research, participatory research and applied research. The results show that the information system of the One Laptop per Child Program (actors, devices, artifacts and information actions), analyzes the information literacy of the participants of the One Laptop Per Child Program at Ceará and ends with a proposal for Information Action (Workshop on Information Literacy) / Apresenta os resultados da pesquisa sobre o Programa Um Computador por Aluno do Ceará (PROUCA), na perspectiva da Ciência da Informação e seus estudos sobre inclusão digital, competência em informação, tecnologias intelectuais, políticas de informação e regime de informação. Analisa o PROUCA e traça seu regime de informação. O percurso metodológico proposto inclui pesquisa quanti-qualitativa, pesquisa documental, pesquisa participante e pesquisa aplicada. Os resultados apresentam o regime de informação do PROUCA, identificando os atores, os dispositivos, os artefatos e as ações de informação do Programa. Apresenta a competência em informação dos participantes do PROUCA e finaliza com uma proposta de Ação de Informação (Oficina de Competência em Informação)

Este estudo, inserido no contexto das transformações e novas alfabetizações possibilitadas pela cultura digital, busca contribuir para a compreensão de processos de aprendizagem envolvidos na atividade de programação de jogos em Etoys (software de autoria multimídia desenvolvido em linguagem orientada a objetos). Foram realizadas quatorze Oficinas de construção de jogos em uma escola estadual de Porto Alegre com seis sujeitos de 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental cuja turma se inseria na modalidade um computador por aluno (1:1). As intervenções que sustentam o trabalho são guiadas pelo Método Clínico de Piaget. A análise dos processos de construção de jogos digitais pelos sujeitos é fundamentada em conceitos do campo do estudo da cognição, videogames (Game Studies) e da programação. O Etoys se mostrou um dispositivo interessante para a pesquisa desses processos. Através da observação e análise das produções desenvolvidas, pôde-se observar a dinâmica de estratégias, noções de programação e de jogos envolvidas na atividade de programar. / These study, placed in context of the digital age's transformations and possibilities, aims to contribute to the compreehsion of learning processes involved in programming games with Etoys (multimidia authoring software developed in object oriented language). Fourteen weekly workshops were given for a group of six students (which the class had one laptop per child) from a state public school in Porto Alegre. The interventions were carried out guided by Piaget Clinical Method. The processes of creating a game are grounded on the fields of Cognition, Game Studies and programming. The Etoys has proved to be an interesting tool for researching these processes. Through the analysis of the games produced, the dinamic of strategies, programming and game concepts could be observed.

Essa dissertação possui um caráter exploratório, em que o delineamento metodológico é dado pelo estudo de caso que investiga os mecanismos sociocognitivos dos estudantes em interação com o laptop educacional. Os estudantes, com idade de 13 anos, frequentavam o sétimo ano do ensino fundamental, de uma escola pública municipal, que participa da etapa dois do projeto Um computador por aluno (UCA) do Governo Federal. Esse estudo buscou compreender os mecanismos sociocognitivos presentes nas trocas interindividuais dos estudantes nos diferentes contextos de aprendizagem em que faziam uso do laptop educacional na disciplina de história. Para a análise dos mecanismos sociocognitivos dos estudantes, nesse contexto, foi utilizado o referencial piagetiano. Com base na organização dos dados, as categorias de análise foram os contextos de aprendizagem e os mecanismos sociocognitivos. Concluímos que as possibilidades da interface física e digital nos contextos de aprendizagem, considerando a mobilidade do laptop na modalidade 1:1, podem configurar novas relações e desafios no processo de ensino e aprendizagem. Com relação aos mecanismos sociocognitivos, evidenciamos uma tendência de relações de conformismo e de coação nas trocas interindividuais e um falso equilíbrio de cooperação. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-06-06T15:44:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Dirce Rigoni.pdf: 1213768 bytes, checksum: 80653838764b7f30f53e7182e920c963 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-06T15:44:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Dirce Rigoni.pdf: 1213768 bytes, checksum: 80653838764b7f30f53e7182e920c963 (MD5) / This paper has an exploratory character, which the research design is a study that investigates the socio-cognitive mechanisms of students interaction with educational laptop. Students in the age of 13 years old, in seventh grade of an elementary public school, that participates in second level of the Federal Government project Um computador por aluno (UCA). This study attempted to understand the present sociocognitive mechanisms in the interindividual exchanges of students in different learning contexts that made use of education laptop in the history subject. For the analysis of students' socio-cognitive mechanisms in this context, we used the Piaget theory. Based on data organization, the categories of analysis were the contexts of learning and social cognitive mechanisms. We conclude that the possibilities of physical and digital interface in Learning Contexts, considering the mobility of the laptop in mode 1:1, can set up new relationships and challenges in the teaching and learning. Regarding the socio-cognitive mechanisms, we noted a trend of conformity relations and coercion in exchanges interindividual and a false balance of cooperation.

Este estudo, inserido no contexto das transformações e novas alfabetizações possibilitadas pela cultura digital, busca contribuir para a compreensão de processos de aprendizagem envolvidos na atividade de programação de jogos em Etoys (software de autoria multimídia desenvolvido em linguagem orientada a objetos). Foram realizadas quatorze Oficinas de construção de jogos em uma escola estadual de Porto Alegre com seis sujeitos de 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental cuja turma se inseria na modalidade um computador por aluno (1:1). As intervenções que sustentam o trabalho são guiadas pelo Método Clínico de Piaget. A análise dos processos de construção de jogos digitais pelos sujeitos é fundamentada em conceitos do campo do estudo da cognição, videogames (Game Studies) e da programação. O Etoys se mostrou um dispositivo interessante para a pesquisa desses processos. Através da observação e análise das produções desenvolvidas, pôde-se observar a dinâmica de estratégias, noções de programação e de jogos envolvidas na atividade de programar. / These study, placed in context of the digital age's transformations and possibilities, aims to contribute to the compreehsion of learning processes involved in programming games with Etoys (multimidia authoring software developed in object oriented language). Fourteen weekly workshops were given for a group of six students (which the class had one laptop per child) from a state public school in Porto Alegre. The interventions were carried out guided by Piaget Clinical Method. The processes of creating a game are grounded on the fields of Cognition, Game Studies and programming. The Etoys has proved to be an interesting tool for researching these processes. Through the analysis of the games produced, the dinamic of strategies, programming and game concepts could be observed.

Essa dissertação possui um caráter exploratório, em que o delineamento metodológico é dado pelo estudo de caso que investiga os mecanismos sociocognitivos dos estudantes em interação com o laptop educacional. Os estudantes, com idade de 13 anos, frequentavam o sétimo ano do ensino fundamental, de uma escola pública municipal, que participa da etapa dois do projeto Um computador por aluno (UCA) do Governo Federal. Esse estudo buscou compreender os mecanismos sociocognitivos presentes nas trocas interindividuais dos estudantes nos diferentes contextos de aprendizagem em que faziam uso do laptop educacional na disciplina de história. Para a análise dos mecanismos sociocognitivos dos estudantes, nesse contexto, foi utilizado o referencial piagetiano. Com base na organização dos dados, as categorias de análise foram os contextos de aprendizagem e os mecanismos sociocognitivos. Concluímos que as possibilidades da interface física e digital nos contextos de aprendizagem, considerando a mobilidade do laptop na modalidade 1:1, podem configurar novas relações e desafios no processo de ensino e aprendizagem. Com relação aos mecanismos sociocognitivos, evidenciamos uma tendência de relações de conformismo e de coação nas trocas interindividuais e um falso equilíbrio de cooperação. / This paper has an exploratory character, which the research design is a study that investigates the socio-cognitive mechanisms of students interaction with educational laptop. Students in the age of 13 years old, in seventh grade of an elementary public school, that participates in second level of the Federal Government project Um computador por aluno (UCA). This study attempted to understand the present sociocognitive mechanisms in the interindividual exchanges of students in different learning contexts that made use of education laptop in the history subject. For the analysis of students' socio-cognitive mechanisms in this context, we used the Piaget theory. Based on data organization, the categories of analysis were the contexts of learning and social cognitive mechanisms. We conclude that the possibilities of physical and digital interface in Learning Contexts, considering the mobility of the laptop in mode 1:1, can set up new relationships and challenges in the teaching and learning. Regarding the socio-cognitive mechanisms, we noted a trend of conformity relations and coercion in exchanges interindividual and a false balance of cooperation.

The purpose of this project was to address the need for integrated technology in schools by presenting LaunchPad as a means of implementing student-owned laptops in the classroom.

Schools all over the world are embracing technology because they view technology as a catalyst to improve teaching and learning, leading to further investment in technology initiatives for school improvement. The 1:1 teacher laptop program is one such initiative that continues to gain interest and momentum. Despite widespread adoption, teachers continue to face challenges with the use of technology. Furthermore, while research has indicated that teacher technology efficacy is a significant enabling factor for technology use, there is limited evidence for how the 1:1 teacher laptop program has influenced teacher technology efficacy. The purpose of this qualitative pragmatic study was to describe the perceptions and experiences of teachers who participated in a 1:1 teacher laptop program at an international school in relation to teachers' technology efficacy. The study was framed through the model of adult learning proposed by Knowles and the construct of self-efficacy posited by Bandura. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data. Findings from this study identified 7 overarching themes: access to the teacher laptop, change in practice, support structures, concerns and barriers, attitude towards technology, self-directed learning, and perceived value. Interpretations revealed that while participants were positive about the program and acknowledged that the program helped raise their technology efficacy, participants also shared concerns. This study adds to the body of knowledge for an understudied topic and provides teachers a voice to influence implementation fidelity. This study also contributes to social change by adding a global perspective through experiences at an international school to inform school leaders to prepare teachers to use technology effectively to improve student learning.

While Machine Learning is one of the most popular research areas in Computer Science, there are still only a few deployed applications intended for use by the general public. We have developed an exemplary application that can be directly applied to eBay trading. Our system predicts how much an item would sell for on eBay based on that item's attributes. We ran our experiments on the eBay laptop category, with prior trades used as training data. The system implements a feature-weighted k-Nearest Neighbor algorithm, using genetic algorithms to determine feature weights. Our results demonstrate an average prediction error of 16%; we have also shown that this application greatly reduces the time a reseller would need to spend on trading activities, since the bulk of market research is now done automatically with the help of the learned model.