Our study has explored how university students at the Technical University of Mombasa, TUM, in Kenya consume news. The aim of the research has been to get a snapshot picture of what the consumption look like in a time and context when the development of Internet Communication Technology, ICT, has increased rapidly in a short period of time. Our empiric data has been collected through three different methods. First we approached the area of the Technical University of Mombasa with an ethnographic method. Then we went on with an in-depth interview with one of our key informants before handing out a survey to collect quantitative data to analyse. Through theoretical framework rooted in the theories of Digital divide and New media we interpreted our data to be able to answer our research questions. The results show that the use of the smartphone is widely spread in order to consume news among students of TUM. Money is still a big obstacle for the majority of the students in our population in how they can access news through technical devices. The gap between those who can afford and those who fight with financial issues is still large. Our study confirms that the gap in the digital divide is still big but we could read signs telling us that the gap maybe is about to shrink.

Vi valde att utforma skisser på en applikation som har till uppgift att förenkla informationsutbytet mellan vårdnadshavare och personal vid inskolning i förskolan. Med denna produkt vill vi även öka medvetenheten om tekniska verktyg som hjälpmedel i förskolans verksamhet. Vi har undersökt om det finns något behov av en applikation i denna bemärkelse genom att utföra intervjuer. Vi har i detta arbete utgått från ett sociokulturellt perspektiv där vår produkt kan ses som ett medierade redskap i kommunikationen mellan människor. Utvärderingen på applikationsskisserna påvisade ett stort och genuint intresse och den feedback som vi mottog fungerade som inspiration till hur vi senare kan vidareutveckla applikationen med nya förbättrade funktioner för att göra produkten så eftertraktad som möjligt.

The synergy of smartphone, mobile applications (apps) and Augmented Reality (AR) technology has the potential to mediate tourism experiences to great extents. The advent of AR apps on smartphones provides a dynamic solution for tourists by helping convey destinations’ meanings and creates positive experiences via interactive tourist information and services almost anywhere, anytime. As a result, tourists are increasingly using AR travel apps at destinations to create more memorable travel experiences. Despite vast literature on tourists’ experiences, there is limited research focusing on understanding the use of smartphones and AR apps for tourism. A critical review of the literature indicates that there is a need to develop a richer theoretical framework that describes the use of smartphones and AR apps for travel. In addition, there is a need to understand tourists’ experiences with smartphone-mediated technology. In particular, literature on understanding of the use of smartphones and apps for travel is largely established from a quantitative perspective, and it is argued that this perspective cannot provide an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms that affect the use of smartphones and travel apps, which in turn shapes the travel experience. The present qualitative study was designed to understand the current use and possible benefits of smartphone-mediated tourism experiences with AR apps. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of AR apps on tourists’ experiences. The study sought to understand how tourists used AR apps, which specific interactions with the mobile devices were afforded, what emotions were evoked through interaction with the AR technology, and how the technology mediated tourist’s experiences. Based on this notion, the study attempted to generate an inductive middle-range theory on smartphone-mediated tourism experiences using grounded theory method. An iPhone AR app was developed for the Texas A&M University campus to better understand how tourists used the AR app and how this use influenced their travel experiences. Forty-four participants inclusive of students, prospective students and visitors of Texas A&M University were recruited for the study. To aid theory building and enhance the solidity of the smartphone-mediated travel experience theory, the study included a control group, which involve individual, group and guided tours that only use a brochure/campus booklet or listen to a human tour guide. The AR app was tested on 10 individuals and 10 groups. For the control group, 6 individuals and 6 groups used brochure/campus booklet while touring the sites and 6 individuals and 6 groups listen to the tour-guide. This comparison provided detailed understanding of what happens in the absence of technology in travel experience, and a focus on apprehending what AR technology adds. Data were collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews with the participants and then transcribed and imported into ATLAS.TI 7.0 software for analysis. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze the data. The interview data were coded and presented in five major sections representing the research questions. The results of the study provided theoretical contributions in understanding the smartphone-mediated tourism experiences and offered practical implications for app design and interpretative services for tourist sites.

With advances in microelectronic and wireless communication technologies, smartphones have computer-like capabilities in terms of computing power and communication bandwidth. They allow users to use advanced applications that used to be run on computers only. Web browsing, email fetching, gaming, social networking, and multimedia streaming are examples of wide-spread smartphone applications. Unsurprisingly, network-related applications are dominant in the realm of smartphones. Users love to be connected while they are mobile. Streaming applications, as a part of network-related applications, are getting increasingly popular. Mobile TV, video on demand, and video sharing are some popular streaming services in the mobile world. Thus, the expected operational time of smartphones is rising rapidly. On the other hand, the enormous growth of smartphone applications and services adds up to a significant increase in complexity in the context of computation and communication needs, and thus there is a growing demand for energy in smartphones. Unlike the exponential growth in computing and communication technologies, the growth in battery technologies is not keeping up with the rapidly growing energy demand of these devices. Therefore, the smartphone's utility has been severely constrained by its limited battery lifetime. It is very important to conserve the smartphone's battery power. Even though hardware components are the actual energy consumers, software applications utilize the hardware components through the operating system. Thus, by making smartphone applications energy-efficient, the battery lifetime can be extended. With this view, this work focuses on two main problems: i) developing an energy testing methodology for smartphone applications, and ii) evaluating the energy cost and designing an energy-friendly downloader for smartphone streaming applications. The detailed contributions of this thesis are as follows: (i) it gives a generalized framework for energy performance testing and shows a detailed flowchart that application developers can easily follow to test their applications; (ii) it evaluates the energy cost of some popular streaming applications showing how the download strategy that an application developer adopts may adversely affect the energy savings; (iii) it develops a model of an energy-friendly downloader for streaming applications and studies the effects of the downloader's parameters regarding energy consumption; and finally, (iv) it gives a mathematical model for the proposed downloader and validates it by means of experiments.

Den fysiska inaktiviteten är något som ständigt ökar bland människor världen över. Därför har många nya innovationer tagits fram, bland annat mobila applikationer i syfte att främja hälsa och fysisk aktivitet genom att uppmuntra människor till rörelse. Syftet med studien var att öka förståelsen för varför personer från 18 år och uppåt väljer att använda sig av sociala träningsapplikationer i samband med konditionsträning, samt hur de upplever att användandet påverkar deras motivation till träning. Studien genomfördes med en kvantitativ metod, där datainsamlingen skedde genom en webbaserad enkät för att finna ytlig kunskap från en större population. Enkäten besvarades av 103 respondenter som uppfyllde inklusionskriterierna och nåddes av den genom delning via författarnas privata Facebook-profiler eller i en forumtråd på hemsidan Jogg.se. Sammanställningen av resultatet visade att användandet av sociala träningsapplikationer huvudsakligen grundade sig i att användarna loggar och för statistik över sin träning samt håller bättre koll på hur mycket de rör sig. Att logga sin träning var också den fördel som flest respondenter upplevde följt av att kunna tävla mot sig själv. Förekomsten av upplevda nackdelar var få, men bland de som upplevde nackdelar handlade det om att respondenterna kände sig stressade eller dåliga när de presterade sämre än tidigare eller när andra presterade bättre. Avslutningsvis visade resultatet att majoriteten upplever att deras motivation till träning har påverkats av användandet av sociala träningsapplikationer, där merparten av dessa har svarat att motivationen mer eller mindre har ökat. Av detta har slutsatsen dragits att de sociala aspekterna av applikationsanvändandet är mindre viktigt. Det skulle också kunna dras paralleller mellan att logga sin träning och att behålla eller öka sin motivation till träning. Vilket på sikt skulle kunna hjälpa personer att motivera sig till rörelse, hålla igång med sin träning eller att sätta upp utmanande målsättningar.

abstract: Dietary self-monitoring has been shown to be a predictor of weight loss success and is a prevalent part of behavioral weight control programs. As more weight loss applications have become available on smartphones, this feasibility study investigated whether the use of a smartphone application, or a smartphone memo feature would improve dietary self-monitoring over the traditional paper-and-pencil method. The study also looked at whether the difference in methods would affect weight loss. Forty-seven adults (BMI 25 to 40 kg/m2) completed an 8-week study focused on tracking the difference in adherence to a self-monitoring protocol and subsequent weight loss. Participants owning iPhones (n=17) used the 'Lose It' application (AP) for diet and exercise tracking and were compared to smartphone participants who recorded dietary intake using a memo (ME) feature (n=15) on their phone and participants using the traditional paper-and-pencil (PA) method (n=15). There was no significant difference in completion rates between groups with an overall completion rate of 85.5%. The overall mean adherence to self-monitoring for the 8-week period was better in the AP group than the PA group (p = .024). No significant difference was found between the AP group and ME group (p = .148), or the ME group and the PA group (p = .457). Weight loss for the 8 week study was significant for all groups (p = .028). There was no significant difference in weight loss between groups. Number of days recorded regardless of group assignment showed a weak correlation to weight loss success (p = .068). Smartphone owners seeking to lose weight should be encouraged by the potential success associated with dietary tracking using a smartphone app as opposed to the traditional paper-and-pencil method. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Nutrition 2012

Submitted by Ana Elisa Messetti Christofoletti (anaelisamchr@hotmail.com) on 2018-10-08T00:10:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇAO VERSAO FINAL ANA ELISA.pdf: 4111346 bytes, checksum: 21bfa518a05d08ef1568406749e30116 (MD5) / Rejected by Ana Paula Santulo Custódio de Medeiros null (asantulo@rc.unesp.br), reason: Solicitamos que realize uma nova submissão seguindo as orientações abaixo: - Agradecimento à CAPES: citar conforme a portaria abaixo: "O presente trabalho foi realizado com apoio da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Código de Financiamento 001" PORTARIA Nº 206, DE 4 DE SETEMBRO DE 2018 Dispõe sobre obrigatoriedade de citação da CAPES O PRESIDENTE DA COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR, no uso das atribuições que lhe foram conferidas pelo art. 26 do (a) Estatuto, aprovado (a) pelo Decreto nº 8977, de 30/01/2017, e CONSIDERANDO o indicado nos Editais da CAPES, nos Termos de Compromisso de Bolsista, nos regulamentos de bolsas no exterior e de bolsas no país, no Manual de AUXPE, e no termo de adesão ao Portal de Periódicos; CONSIDERANDO o constante dos autos do processo nº 23038.013648/2018-51, resolve: Art. 1º Os trabalhos produzidos ou publicados, em qualquer mídia, que decorram de atividades financiadas, integral ou parcialmente, pela CAPES, deverão, obrigatoriamente, fazer referência ao apoio recebido. Art. 2º Para fins de identificação da fonte de financiamento fica autorizada a utilização do código 001 para todos os financiamentos recebidos. Art. 3º Deverão ser usadas as seguintes expressões, no idioma do trabalho: "O presente trabalho foi realizado com apoio da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Código de Financiamento 001 "This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001" Art. 4º Fica o pró-reitor de pós-graduação ou congênere, responsável pela divulgação e aplicação da regra dentro das Instituições de Ensino Superior que recebem apoio da CAPES. Art. 5º A falha em obedecer esta norma implicará em mudanças eventuais nos apoios da CAPES para as instituições e pesquisadores envolvidos, a partir de 2020. Art. 6º Esta Portaria entra em vigor na data de sua publicação. Agradecemos a compreensão. on 2018-10-08T12:02:18Z (GMT) / Submitted by Ana Elisa Messetti Christofoletti (anaelisamchr@hotmail.com) on 2018-10-08T14:36:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇAO VERSAO FINAL ANA ELISA.pdf: 4110139 bytes, checksum: ae311cf67ad448294621f1e94868e43d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Santulo Custódio de Medeiros null (asantulo@rc.unesp.br) on 2018-10-08T17:01:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 christofoletti_aem_me_rcla.pdf: 4110178 bytes, checksum: f82dffd1c9c6becbbc7214f58a787060 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-08T17:01:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 christofoletti_aem_me_rcla.pdf: 4110178 bytes, checksum: f82dffd1c9c6becbbc7214f58a787060 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A prevalência de adolescentes brasileiros expostos ao tempo sentado, como utilizar smartphones mais de 5 horas e 51 minutos por dia, é de 65%. Assim, as intervenções para reduzir o comportamento sedentário (CS) em jovens são importantes, mas pouco se sabe sobre como reduzir o CS dos adolescentes por meio do uso de aplicativos de smartphones, o que é interessante, uma vez que essa ferramenta é usada por 87,4% dos jovens brasileiros. Mas antes de criar um aplicativo com esse propósito, é necessário verificar as variáveis associadas ao CS de determinada região e explorar as características que o aplicativo deverá possuir para futuramente ser criado. Com base nisso, o objetivo do estudo foi verificar os fatores sociodemográficos associados ao CS e explorar as características que aplicativos para smartphones devem conter para redução do CS no tempo livre a partir da visão dos adolescentes. Participaram do estudo 482 adolescentes (14,43±2,08 anos) de 3 escolas públicas e 2 particulares do ensino fundamental (anos finais) e ensino médio da cidade de Rio Claro - SP. Para a coleta de dados, os participantes responderam a um questionário de identificação, anamnese clínica e questionário para caracterizar o nível socioeconômico; o Questionário de Comportamento Sedentário, com questões adicionais relacionadas ao CS e o uso de smartphones e videogames; o Questionário de Atividade Física Habitual para Adolescentes e mensuração do peso e estatura para o cálculo de Índice de Massa Corporal (IMC) (kg/m²). A análise de dados dos questionários e medidas antropométricas foram realizadas no programa SPSS versão 22.0 e foi feita a análise descritiva dos dados, teste T de Student para comparar meninos e meninas e o teste de regressão logística para verificar associação das variáveis do estudo com o CS (p<0,05). Após à aplicação dos questionários, realizaram-se entrevistas individuais semiestruturadas com 8 participantes, com o intuito de descobrir o que deve conter em um aplicativo de smartphone para diminuir o CS de adolescentes. Para a análise da entrevista semiestruturada, foi utilizado o método de codificação simples. O CS total foi de 13,7±3,4 horas/dia e 47,5% da população apresentou mais de 14,1 horas/dia de CS. As variáveis associadas ao CS foram: smartphone; computador/tablet e videogame; CS nas obrigações e televisão. O uso exacerbado do smartphone está relacionado ao sexo feminino e ao elevado tempo de CS. As principais características que um aplicativo de smartphone para diminuir e gerar pausas no CS são: envolvimento social, metas, recompensa, mensagens de incentivo, layout atrativo, envolvimento com as redes sociais, atualizações periódicas, podendo ser em formato de jogo. Os domínios do CS devem ser investigados de forma distintas, pois o presente estudo demonstrou que eles influenciam de forma distinta o CS total dos adolescentes. Assim, deve-se considerar variáveis técnicas do aplicativo e variáveis sociais dos adolescentes para a criação de aplicativos para smartphones para redução do CS no tempo livre. / The prevalence of Brazilian adolescents exposed to sitting time, such as using smartphones for more than 5 hours and 51 minutes per day, is 65%. Thus, interventions to reduce sedentary behavior (SB) in adolescents are important, but little is known about how to reduce adolescents' SB using smartphone applications, which is interesting, since this tool is used by 87.4% of the Brazilian adolescents. However, before creating an application for this purpose, it is necessary to check the variables associated with the SB of a given region and to explore the characteristics that the application must have to be created in the future. Based on this, the aim of this study was to verify the sociodemographic factors associated with SB and explore the characteristics that applications for smartphones should contain to reduce SB in leisure time from the adolescents' view. A total of 482 adolescents (14.43 ± 2.08 years) from 3 public schools and 2 private elementary schools (final years) and high school in the city of Rio Claro - SP participated to the study. For the data collection, the participants answered an identification questionnaire, clinical anamnesis and a questionnaire to characterize the socioeconomic level; the Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire, with additional questions related to SB and the use of smartphones and video games; the Normal Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents and weight and height measurement for the calculation of Body Mass Index (BMI) (kg / m²). The data analysis of the questionnaires and anthropometric measurements were performed in the SPSS version 22.0 program and the descriptive analysis of the data was done. Further, it was performed Student's T test to compare boys and girls and also the logistic regression test to verify the association of the study variables with SB (p <0.05). Subsequent to the application of the questionnaires, semi-structured individual interviews with 8 participants were conducted, in order to find out what should be contained in a smartphone application to decrease adolescents’ SB. For the analysis of the semi-structured interview, the simple coding method was used. Total SB was 13.7±3.4 hours/day and 47.5% of the population presented more than 14.1 hours/day of SB. The variables associated to SB were: smartphone; computer / tablet and video game; SB in chores and television. The exacerbated use of the smartphone is related to female and to the high time of SB. It was also elucidated that the main characteristics that a smartphone application should have to decrease and generate breaks in SB are: social involvement, goals, reward, incentive messages, attractive layout, involvement with social networks, periodic updates, and it can come in a game format. SB domains should be investigated differently, as the present study has demonstrated that they have a distinct influence 10 on adolescents’ total SB. Thus, it is necessary to consider technical variables of the application and adolescents’ social variables for the creation of applications for smartphones to reduce the SB in free time. / CAPES: 001

This thesis deals with the development of a gaming application for smartphones with Android operating system. This project also describes the situation on the mobile applications market and explains the basic principles of object-oriented programming, Java and Android development. The thesis includes a description of the publishment of the final application on the market and the important features of the Eclipse developing environment and of Android studio. As the next part follows methodology and detailed analysis of the application development, on which are demonstrated the possibilities of working with the mentioned instruments. Both, the theoretical and practical parts, are designed to describe the situations in which the developer of Android applications can get and what mistakes should he avoid. The game theme has been chosen to be original, easy to use and not too much graphically complicated. It is an expanded version of classical chess with special rules. Particular examples of the program development are chosen so that the reader gets enough information about how it works, and what steps were made during its creation.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Física, Programa de Pós-Graduação de Mestrado Profissional em Ensino de Física, Mestrado Nacional Profissional em Ensino de Física, 2015. / Submitted by Camila Duarte (camiladias@bce.unb.br) on 2016-07-18T14:32:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_AndreAlexdeJesusSilva.pdf: 3467896 bytes, checksum: 11f597ce80e3416645becce3b89c7f6d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Raquel Viana(raquelviana@bce.unb.br) on 2017-02-21T15:05:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_AndreAlexdeJesusSilva.pdf: 3467896 bytes, checksum: 11f597ce80e3416645becce3b89c7f6d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-21T15:05:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_AndreAlexdeJesusSilva.pdf: 3467896 bytes, checksum: 11f597ce80e3416645becce3b89c7f6d (MD5) / A pesquisa descrita nesta dissertação apresenta estudos relacionados ao uso de Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TICs), em especial o celular da categoria smartfones. Com o desenvolvimento e o avanço da tecnologia de hardware e software na indústria telefônica, a comunicação entre as pessoas ficou mais rápida e eficiente, o que facilita cada vez mais a compreensão de alunos e de professores. A geração atual de educandos está inserida na evolução tecnológica dos smartfones, aparelhos que ganharam projeção mundial. Tendo isso em vista, este projeto tem como objetivo relacionar o uso dos aplicativos para smartfones e tabletes ao processo de ensino e aprendizagem, como o Método Keller, que trata de uma adaptação do ensino aos ritmos individuais de aprendizagem de cada aluno com o objetivo de alcançar o máximo em seus resultados. Neste caso, será necessária uma pequena adaptação para a Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA). Observamos que o uso de celular é desencorajado e, muitas vezes, contraindicado em sala de aula pelo educador. Existem leis específicas proibindo a utilização de celulares em sala de aula em alguns/vários Estados brasileiros. No intuito de desenvolver um estudo sobre a utilização de novos aplicativos na área de Ensino de Física, desenvolvemos um aplicativo específico, contendo um resumo teórico, fórmulas básicas sobre magnetismo e propostas de aplicação destas fórmulas. O aplicativo foi especialmente desenvolvido para alunos das turmas de 3º ano da EJA (Educação de Jovens e Adultos), objetivando verificar as vantagens e as desvantagens do uso dessa metodologia no ambiente ensino-aprendizagem. Importante ressaltar que não existem aplicativos com essa finalidade no mercado nacional, desde a última pesquisa feita em janeiro de 2015. / The project described in this dissertation presents studies related to the usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), specially the smartphones. With the development and improvement of the hardware technologies in the telephone industry, the communication between people became faster and more efficient, which also makes the communication between students and teachers easier. The current generation of students is inserted in the technological evolution of these smartphones devices that won the world. The project aims to connect the use of smartphones and tablets applications to aid the teaching and learning process as the Keller’s Method that makes an analysis of the solutions of problems of the physics education for the youth and adult education (EJA). It is important to notice that the usage of cellphones is greatly feared and restrained by the educator into the classroom, even existing specific laws forbidding their use in some Brazilian states. In order to develop a study about the use of new applications in the Physics Education area, an specific application was developed with theory summary, use of basic formulas on magnetism theory for third year students of, aiming to verify the advantages/ and the disadvantages of this method. It is important to point out that there are no applications like this in the national market.

abstract: This study investigated the effects of distributed presentation microlearning and the testing effect on mobile devices and student attitudes about the use of mobile devices for learning in higher education. For this study, a mobile device is considered a smartphone. All communication, content, and testing were completed remotely through participants’ mobile devices. The study consisted of four conditions: (a) an attitudinal and demographic pre-survey, (b) five mobile instructional modules, (c) mobile quizzes, and (d) an attitudinal post-survey. A total of 311 participants in higher education were enrolled in the study. One hundred thirty-seven participants completed all four conditions of the study. Participants were randomly assigned to experimental conditions in a 2 x 2 factorial design. The levels of the first factor, distribution of instructional content, were: once-per-day and once-per-week. The levels of the second factor, testing, were: a quiz after each module plus a comprehensive quiz and a single comprehensive quiz after all instruction. The dependent variable was learning outcomes in the form of quiz-score results. Attitudinal survey results were analyzed using Principal Axis Factoring to reveal three components, (a) student perceptions about the use of mobile devices in education, (b) student perceptions about instructors’ beliefs for mobile devices for learning, and (c) student perceptions about the use of mobile devices post-instruction. The results revealed several findings. There was no significant effect for type of delivery of instruction in a one-way ANOVA. There was a significant effect for testing in a one-way ANOVA There were no main effects of delivery and testing in a 2 x 2 factorial design and there was no main interaction effect, and there was a significant effect of testing on final quiz scores controlling for technical beliefs in a 2 x 2 ANCOVA. The significant difference in testing was contradictory to some literature. Ownership of personal mobile devices in persons aged 18–29 is practically all-inclusive. Thus, future research on student attitudes and the implementation of personal smartphones for microlearning and testing is still needed to develop and integrate mobile-ready content for higher education. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Technology 2017