The mental sequence line is a cognitive construct by which sequences are perceived as beginning on the left and extending rightwards. Its developmental origins are unknown. In the first experiment, 4- and 5-year-old children placed items in order from four ordinal sequences, two of which they may have seen in print (i.e., letters and numbers) and two they would not have (i.e., times of day and meals). Four-year-olds systematically ordered letters from left to right; by age 5, numbers and times of day, but not meals, were ordered this way as well. These data suggest experience that cultural text direction, rather than inherent cortical organization, is responsible for development of the mental sequence line. The second experiment measured the mental sequence line in 6-, 7-, and 8-year-old children, and assessed its relation to visuospatial skills and mathematics ability. Mental sequence lines were measured by Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) and distance effects. Children’s mental rotation ability was moderately correlated (r=.303) with the distance effect but neither it nor the SNARC effect correlated with mathematic ability. These data suggest the mental sequence line is not at the core of children’s number sense, as previously hypothesized. The final experiment assessed consistency across time of SNARC and distance effects in adults for numbers, weekdays, and months. Despite often being described as trait variables, SNARC and distance effects were only moderately consistent for numbers, with even more variable results for months and weekdays, results suggesting mental sequence lines are not byproducts of stable, inflexible neural architectures. Combined, my data show sequence-space associations first emerge for letters, and subsequent development supports an enculturation hypothesis. By middle childhood, individual differences are evident in these effects that, as in adults, correlate with measures of spatial cognition. By adulthood, those individual differences have become modestly stable. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The squall line is generally accepted to be the most commonly observed mesoscale convective system (MCS). Squall lines in the Southeastern United States account for a considerable amount of the total severe weather observed in this region (48%), including the production of localized severe wind events (known as Bow Echoes and Downbursts), long-lived severe wind events (known as Derechoes), as well as tornadoes. This study is the beginning of a baseline severe squall line climatology for the county warning areas (CWAs) of the National Weather Service Forecast Offices (NWSFO) located in Jackson, MS and Memphis, TN. This climatology will focus on the seasonal distribution of severe weather events associated with squall lines, as well as the thermodynamic forcing associated with the initiation and life spans of severe squall lines in Mississippi and West Tennessee.

Orientador: Gérson Tontini. / Dissertação (Mestrado em Administração) - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração, Centro de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Universidade Regional de Blumenau, Blumenau,

The main objective of this thesis is to propose an on-line marketing strategy of start-up project e2shop.cz. The thesis itself consist of three parts. The first part presents theoretical framework of commercial communication with focus on on-line communication. The second part describes the basic principles of e2shop.cz project and its functionality. The last parts consists of the strategy itself that is based on thorough analysis of external factors, market and competition using PESTEL, SWOT and TOWS schemes. The strategy contains of target group, objectives and tools definistion. Implementation plan and budget are included as well.

A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF THE QUALITY OF LEARNING EXPERIENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL CAMPUS AND ON-LINE DISTANCE LEARNING AT A MASTERS LEVEL. This study compares the quality of learning experiences of traditional campus students to those of distance on-line students studying at a Masters level. Using an adapted version of “The theory of on-line learning quality” five dimensions of interaction were compared to determine if there was a significant statistical difference between both learning methods. The study took place within a Masters level program, in Linnaeus University, Sweden. The five dimensions of interaction included in the study are Instructor-Learner, Learner-Learner, Learner-Content, Learner-Interface, and Social Interaction. Using these dimensions of interaction to determine the quality of learning experience a questionnaire survey was designed for the students enrolled in the program. Answers to the survey questions used a Likert-scale schema for responses. A Mann-Whitney U-Test was performed on the response results. The results of the study found that there was little statistical difference between the quality of learning experience of traditional campus students to that of on-line distance students. The two survey questions which did show a statistical difference were related to the Instructor-Learner and Social dimensions of interaction. In a dual learning program of this type, recommendations are made to include a teaching assistant with responsibilities for monitoring on-line participation during live lectures.

&Ouml / YP processes are complex due to four different types of actors and many interdependent stages it involves. All the registration, application and placement stages are performed using a paper-based information system and the number of actors involved increases each year. As a consequence of this, collecting, storing and processing the required information becomes more difficult, error prone and insufficient. In this study, to enhance &Ouml / YP processes and to eliminate the errors and difficulties of the paper-based information system in use, a computer-based information system consisting of a web-based tool was developed, implemented and evaluated.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Jornalismo, Florianópolis, 2013. / Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-06T17:22:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 323516.pdf: 7162276 bytes, checksum: 7d3ff35a2883cbcf2943d3fda733a763 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Esta pesquisa tem como objeto de estudo a dinâmica da notícia nas redes sociais na internet, com foco no Twitter e no Facebook. O objetivo é analisar como se dá tal dinâmica a partir das particularidades e especificidades desses espaços, os quais podem condicionar a forma de apresentação e o conteúdo das postagens e as ações participativas dos usuários. A fim de alcançar o objetivo proposto, foram definidas categorias de análise de três naturezas: a) Forma de apresentação (texto, hipertexto e hipermídia); b) Conteúdo (alerta, atualização, contextualização, impacto, convergência, colaboração e composto); c) Ações participativas (filtro social e reverberação). O objeto empírico é formado por postagens publicadas em janeiro de 2013 nas contas do Twitter e do Facebook do portal jornalístico Estadão sobre o incêndio na Boate Kiss, na cidade de Santa Maria no Rio Grande do Sul, que vitimou 242 jovens, ficando conhecida como a Tragédia em Santa Maria. Como corpus tem-se 121 postagens do Twitter.com/estadao e 69 do Facebook.com/estadao, publicadas entre os dias 27 e 31 de janeiro de 2013, a respeito do acontecimento. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de caráter descritivo-analítico que combina técnicas qualitativas e quantitativas. Os resultados obtidos demonstram que a notícia não só ganha uma outra dinâmica nas redes sociais na internet, como ocorre de maneira diferenciada em cada um dos espaços estudados. A partir das categorias de análise estabelecidas, verificou-se que a forma padrão das postagens no Twitter é o hipertexto e no Facebook é a hipermídia. Quanto ao conteúdo das publicações, prevalecem as categorias atualização, impacto e composto, porém, em ordens diferentes, uma vez que nem tudo é publicado nos dois perfis. No que diz respeito às ações participativas, houve um predomínio do filtro social nos dois espaços. Diante desse contexto, conclui-se que nas redes sociais na internet a notícia ganha uma dinâmica social, sendo mais participativa e construída continuamente, e tendo sua essência potencializada, que é a socialização de informações.<br> / Abstract: This research aims to study the news dynamics on social networking sites, focused on Twitter and Facebook. The objective is to analyze how the news dynamics is developed on social networking sites, from the particularities and specificities of these spaces, which may influence the form of presentation and the content of posts, as well as the participatory actions of users. To achieve the proposed objectives, three kinds of categories of analysis were defined: a) Form of presentation (text, hypertext and hypermedia); b) Content (alert, update, context, impact, convergence, collaboration and compound); c) Participatory actions (social filter and reverb). The empirical object consists of posts published in January, 2013, on Twitter and Facebook accounts of the journalistic portal Estadão, about the fire in Kiss Nightclub in the city of Santa Maria in Rio Grande do Sul, that victimized 242 young people, becoming known as the Tragedy in Santa Maria. The corpus of this research has 121 tweets involving the event on twitter.com/estadao, and 69 posts on facebook.com/estadao, published between 27 to 31 of January 2013. This is a descriptive-analytical research which combines qualitative and quantitative techniques. The results obtained show that news does not only gain another dynamic in social networks, as it differently occurs in each of the studied spaces. From the analysis categories established, it was found that the standard posts forms on Twitter is hypertext and on Facebook is hypermedia. About the content of the publications, it is prevailed categories such as update, impact and compound, but in different orders, as not everything is published on both of the social profiles. In participatory actions, there was a predominance of social filter in both spaces. In this context, it is concluded that in social networks, the news get a social dynamic, becoming more participatory and continually built, and empowering its essence, which is the socialization of information.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-gGraduação em Jornalismo, Florianópolis, 2016. / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-20T03:14:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 343049.pdf: 2938028 bytes, checksum: 725bf366a2af966f34b67e0af9e17291 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 / Esta pesquisa analisa os modos como os sites de redes sociais são utilizados nos processos produtivos do radiojornalismo esportivo brasileiro. Realiza-se uma pesquisa empírica e exploratória com estudo de caso. O objetivo foi identificar e problematizar os usos das redes sociais na equipe esportiva das rádios Globo e CBN São Paulo. O rádio está em constante adaptação às transformações das comunicações, em especial às decorrentes de inovações tecnológicas. No atual cenário de convergência midiática, com mais e novas ferramentas ao seu dispor, o radiojornalismo viu suas rotinas produtivas mudarem, com a digitalização das redações e modificações nas formas de recepção do conteúdo radiofônico. Inserida nesse contexto, esta investigação fundamenta-se no aporte teórico-metodológico da Teoria do Newsmaking, com foco nos processos de produção da equipe esportiva. Para o estudo de caso recorreu-se às técnicas de análise de conteúdo, trabalho de campo nas redações e entrevistas em profundidade com profissionais da equipe.<br> / Abstract : This research analyzes the ways how social networking sites are used in the production processes of the Brazilian sports radio journalism. Carried out an empirical and exploratory research with case study. The goal was to identify and discuss the use of social networks in the sports team of the radio stations Globo and CBN São Paulo. The radio is constantly adapting to the changes of communications, particularly those resulting from technological innovations. In the current scenario of media convergence, with more and new tools at their disposal, the radio journalism has seen its production routines change, with the digitization of newsrooms and changes in the forms of reception of radio content. Inserted in this context, this research is based on theoretical and methodological support of Newsmaking theory, focusing on the sports team production processes. For the case study resorted to the content analysis techniques, field work in newsrooms and in-depth interviews with radio professionals.

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The research presented in this doctoral dissertation introduces a developmental path to realize micro coaxial transmission lines for wafer-level microwave and millimeter wave circuits. The micro coax lines conceptualized in this research are three-dimensional, with a uniquely low vertical profile of 20 mu m. They are distinguishable from other transmission line topologies due to frequency limitless, cross-talk free performance in high density circuits resulting from the totally shielded construction. Design and optimization was done using equations and electromagnetic simulations. Extensive process development has been carried out to fabricate these devices on CMOS grade silicon wafers using processes amenable to the IC manufacturing industry. Micro coax lines of three different core types including air, semi-dielectric and all-dielectric cores were designed, fabricated and analyzed from 1 - 40 GHz with respect to line impedance and the volume of polyimide (dielectric) in the micro coax cavity. The insertion loss of the lines was found to vary from 2 to 9 dB/cm depending on the width the center conductor, total cross-sectional area and core type. The versatility of the micro coax technology developed in the earlier part of this research has been successfully integrated with RF MEMS to embed a MEM varactor inside the micro coax cavity capable of achieving a capacitance ratio around 7 with an actuation voltage of 40 - 60V. The vertical integration capability of the micro coax was demonstrated by locating a millimeter wave slot antenna on the top side shield of a rectangular micro coax line, also acting as the electromagnetically coupled feed for the antenna. The antenna was designed to operate in the full range of the unlicensed 57 - 64 GHz spectrum capable of Gbps data rates. A 15 dB bandwidth of 17% and a hemispherical radiation pattern was achieved. Lastly, a diversified application involving the application of an integrated micro coax probe-microfluidic chamber approach to detect bacteria through impedance measurements has been introduced. In summary, the development and implementation of micro coax technology on a large scale is bound to create a paradigm shift in the development of high density microwave and millimeter wave circuits for RF MEMS and integrated antennas.