Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Physical activity monitoring using wearable sensors give valuable information about patient's neuro activities. Fall among ages of 60 and older in US is a leading cause for injury-related health issues and present serious concern in the public health care sector. If the emergency treatments are not on time, these injuries may result in disability, paralysis, or even death. In this work, we present an approach that early detect fall occurrences. Low power capacitive accelerometers incorporated with microcontroller processing units were utilized to early detect accurate information about fall events. Decision tree algorithms were implemented to set thresholds for data acquired from accelerometers. Data is then verified against their thresholds and the data acquisition decision unit makes the decision to save patients from fall occurrences. Daily activities are logged on an onboard memory chip with Bluetooth option to transfer the data wirelessly to mobile devices. In this work, a system prototype based on neurosignal activities was built and tested against seven different daily human activities for the sake of differentiating between fall and non-fall detection. The developed system features low power, high speed, and high reliability. Eventually, this study will lead to wearable fall detection system that serves important need within the health care sector. In this work Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) protocol is used to communicate between the accelerometers and the embedded control system. The data transfer from the Microcontroller unit to the mobile device or laptop is done using Bluetooth technology.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Emotional communication is fundamental to everyday interaction. How well emotions are communicated is crucial to interpersonal relationships and individual well-being. Emotional communication in instant messaging (IM), however, can be challenging because of the absence of visual and aural nonverbal behaviors. Despite the growing number of technologically-focused solutions for supporting emotional communication in IM, limited design research has been done to study the actual users’ behaviors in communicating their emotion in IM and strategies they use to adapt emotional communication in this medium, with the purpose of establishing design solutions to support users' emotional communication. Connecting several bodies of HCI, design, and communication literature in the context of IM, this dissertation critically examines how users communicate emotion in IM and accordingly establishes user-centered multi-touch gesture based design solutions to support emotional communication in this medium. Understanding how users communicate their emotion in IM, the design issues, and corresponding design solutions help researchers and designers to support the user's emotional needs, resulting in the improvement of emotional communication strategies in IM.

D. Tech. (Department of Information and Communication Technology, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / The agriculture sector is the lifeblood of the economies of the world's least developed countries (LDCs). In Zimbabwe, this sector is considered to be the backbone of Zimbabwe's economy, and as a result, it is the sector that supports the economic growth of the country, food security, and poverty eradication efforts. Furthermore, the use of mobile technology has continued to rise in Zimbabwe, and farmers now can obtain agricultural information through the use of mobile technology. Mobile phones are increasingly being integrated into current agricultural trade businesses, owing to the critical role they serve in facilitating information transmission between farmers and buyers. The potential of mobile phones in agriculture spawned mAgriculture, which is the use of mobile phones to provide agricultural information and services. Variousitechnology companies in iZimbabwe have come up with various mobile farming platforms as innovation, with the aim of improving overall performance among smallholder farmers. In order to find the usefullness of these mobile farming platforms, it imperative to measure the adoption and acceptance of this technology in the farming environment. The study sought to investigate the adoption and acceptance of mobile farming platforms in Zimbabwe through a more comprehensive model based on UTAUT 2 that encapsulates the key factors that influence user adoption and acceptance of mobile farming platforms. The main aim of the study was to inform technology start-up companies and other mobile application developers in the development of mobile farming platforms or applications that can be fully adopted and accepted by users, taking into cognisance all salient factors affecting their adoption and acceptance. The model has been used to investigate smallholder farmers in a developing country such as Zimbabwe. The model explores the effect of attitude as one of the key determinants that affect the behavioral intention to use mobile farming platforms. In addition, the model looked at the moderating effect of Hofstede's five cultural dimensions on the key determinants that influence behavioral intention as well as actual use of mobile farming platforms at individual level. A total of 411 questionnaires were received from smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe's three major provinces who were using mobile farming platforms. Structural Equation Modelling was utilized to test the hypothesized conceptual model. Reliability and validity checks were done to the model instrument. As hypothesized, the findings of this study revealed that performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE) and facilitating conditions (FC) are significant determinants of the newly added variable Attitude (AT). Attitude (AT), together with social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), hedonic motivation (HM), price value (PV), and habit (HB) were found to be significant determinants of behavioral intention and usage of mobile farming platforms for smallholder farmers. The results also showed that cultural dimensions have a moderating effect on user acceptance of mobile farming platforms. According to the findings, attitude and culture are significant factors to consider when analyzing farmers' behavioral intentions and use of mobile farming platforms. The findings of the study contribute to the literature by validating and supporting the applicability of the extended UTAUT 2 for the adoption and acceptance of mobile farming platforms by smallholder farmers in developing countries. The theoretical contribution of the study was through the extension of UTAUT 2 where attitude was added as one of the new key determinants of behavioral intention and cultural dimensions were added as mediators. The other contribution is to the Zimbabwean farming community where the study was conducted.

This dissertation acknowledges that despite the global initiatives towards an inclusive information society, there are still some disparities in how communities access and use the information and communication technologies (ICTs) that are available. These disparities, or digital divide, have been interpreted and addressed from different interrelated theoretical view points. The provision of ICTs through public access centres has been widely applauded as one of the strategies to enable especially disadvantaged communities to participate in today‟s information led economy. Botswana has adopted the just noted approach. The country has also developed policies and supportive infrastructure to enable especially the rural communities to be part of the global information society. It is however regrettable that access and usage of ICT‟s is still notably low in rural communities. The concern over this worrisome situation motivated this study to explore the factors that enabled or inhibited access and use of ICTs that were available to the Letlhakeng community through public access centres. This descriptive case study was conducted in four sequential stages: designing, conducting the research, data analysis and development of conclusions. The study was characterized by a continued comparative analysis of data which was collected through interviews; observation and review of related documents from the service providers; the users and non users of the services. The Letlhakeng community had access to ICTs through individually owned stand alone centres and from government supported centres. These centres were used by both residents of Letlhakeng and people from nearby villages. The factors that promoted or inhibited access and use of the available ICTs differed within and between these communities. Despite the observed digital divide, the Letlhakeng community used the ICT public centres to access social services. There is a need to develop strategies to increase access to more technologies in the village and to equip the community / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

Thesis by publication. / Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Macquarie Graduate School of Management, 2008. / Bibliography: leaves 124-133. / Introduction - Literature review -- Online word-of-mouth: a comparison of American and Chinese discussion boards -- Electronic word-of-mouth: a comparison of stated and revealed behaviour on electronic discussion boards -- A cross-cultural comparison of electronic word-of-mouth and country-of-origin effects -- Conclusion. / The growth of electronic discussion boards has enabled consumers from different cultures to communicate with people of similar interests. Through this online channel, marketing concepts such as word-of-mouth (WOM) and country-of-origin (CoO) effects have the potential to become more important because of the potentially large number of participants involved. The US and China, being the largest and second-largest online population in the world respectively, are ideal countries to investigate the frequency and extent of these marketing concepts. --The thesis consists of three separate but inter-related papers which have been published in journals or have been accepted for publication. Each paper builds on the one before and analyses different aspects of online consumer behaviour such as information-giving, information-seeking and the CoO statements made by participants of discussion boards. By examining and comparing the frequency and content of discussion postings on discussion boards within US and China based websites, the thesis makes a comparison of the information-giving and information-seeking behaviour of the discussants and also looks at the extent and the content of CoO statements made. Online observation of discussion postings from six different discussion boards (three each from the US and China) was conducted over two 90-day period in 2004 and 2005 and a total of 5,993 discussion postings were downloaded for analysis. In addition, an online survey of 214 participants was conducted to compare the stated and actual (or "revealed") behaviour of discussants on the US and China based discussion boards. -- Overall, the findings indicate consistent differences over a 12-month period in the bahaviour of the US and Chinese discussants. The US discussants were found to provide more information than their Chinese counterparts while the Chinese discussants exhibited more information-seeking bahaviour on the discussion boards. The findings also indicate that the Chinese discussants demonstrated more negative CoO statements and these statements were observed to be related to Japan and/or brands that originated from Japan. The findings suggest that such negative CoO statements can increase rapidly online and it appears that the negative sentiments by the Chinese were apparently unrelated to product quality; instead they appear to have been predominantly associated with war related animosity. -- These findings have important implications for marketers selling to the Chinese as discussion boards appear to be more important as a source of information for the Chinese than the Americans. Also, given that the Chinese discussants demonstrated a high level of negative CoO statements relating to products from Japan, marketers selling Japanese products to the Chinese must understand the underlying issues related to these negativeCoO statements and take steps to prevent non-purchase of Japanese products. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / vii, 133 leaves ill

In South Africa, the linguistic hegemony of English over the African languages in the academic field reproduces unequal power relationships between their speakers. The present study shows that an intervention shaped by a counterhegemonic ideology can change the attitudes of Black university students, key players in spearheading social change. Usign statistical analysis and survey methodologies, this research explored the hegemonic role of English as the only language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in the discipline of Computer Science (CS) at Rhodes University. The study found that those speakers of an African language who are the most disadvantaged by the use of English as LoLT are also the most likely to resist a more extensive use of their mother tongue as an alternative. A group of such students were involved in the development and use of an online glossary of CS terms translated, explained and exemplified in an African language (isiXhosa). This experience increased the support for the use of African languages as additional LoLT, even in the Englishdominated field of study of Computer Science. This is an initial step towards promoting linguistic equality between English and African languages and social equality between their speakers.

There is a great difference that exists between people who have access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and those who do not. As a developing nation, South Africa is badly affected by the so-called Digital Divide. Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) interventions are rapidly increasing in marginalized and rural communities in striving to bridge this digital divide. This research project is undertaken within the context of the Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL) which is an ICTD intervention at Dwesa rural community. This research investigates how audio-based services can be applied locally for communication and information sharing. This research aims to develop a user-driven telephony framework which will enable users to construct customized audio-based services. This aims to empower the Dwesa community for skill development and supports the user-driven innovation. The Internet and Telephones are the most popular technologies that are widely used in our daily life for purposes of communication and information access. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) integrates these two separate technologies (Internet and Telephones) to produce real-time multimedia communication services such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems. In addition, the ability of VoIP presenting information through voice plays a crucial role, more especially to those who do not have web visual access or those who are computer illiterate.

Esse estudo busca realizar reflexões sobre os significados, sentidos, tensões e contradições relacionados ao termo “independente” e sua contraparte, o termo “mainstream”, ligados ao processo de desenvolvimento das histórias em quadrinhos enquanto formação cultural. Essas reflexões são orientadas pelo conjunto de ideias de Raymond Williams, especialmente os conceitos de tecnologia, hegemonia e culturas alternativas, opositoras, residuais e emergentes. O trabalho está estruturado em cinco momentos. Primeiro as histórias em quadrinhos são abordadas como forma cultural e observamos as relações entre cultura e tecnologia no seu processo de formação. A seguir observamos particularidades desse processo dentro do contexto brasileiro. O terceiro momento apresenta os conceitos de Williams sobre culturas alternativas e antecipa a parte voltada para as intensas manifestações culturais da década de 1960 e seus desdobramentos. Finalmente, busca-se traçar uma visão geral do cenário de mudanças que se desenvolve a partir da década de 1980, enfatizando as histórias em quadrinhos publicadas no Brasil. A partir da observação do surgimento e consolidação de eventos como o Troféu HQ Mix e as feiras e bienais de quadrinhos, relacionados a novos processos de publicação e distribuição, buscamos analisar as obras e perfis de quatro autores contemporâneos de quadrinhos e compreender melhor os significados de termos como “independente”, “autoral”, “comercial”, “mainstream”, “alternativo” e outros, de uso comum nas diversas práticas das histórias em quadrinhos. Entre os resultados obtidos, notamos que: muitas das produções “independentes” contemporâneas apresentam características temáticas, estilísticas e materiais praticamente indistinguíveis das produções “mainstream”; algumas produções “mainstream” incorporam temas e propostas de culturas alternativas à hegemonia; o uso termo “independente” muitas vezes encobre as condições desfavoráveis de produção e sustento de diversos profissionais; considerando rigorosamente as culturas opositoras como um conjunto de ações de dimensão revolucionária, é difícil encontrar obras que efetivamente atendam a essa condição. / This study seeks to reflect on the meanings, senses, tensions and contradictions related to the term “independent” and its counterpart, the term “mainstream”, connected to the process of development of comics as a cultural formation. These reflections are guided by Raymond William’s set of ideas, especially the concepts of technology, hegemony and alternative, oppositional, residual, and emerging cultures. We structured the work in five moments. First, we approach comics as a cultural form and observe the relations between culture and technology in its process of formation. Next, we observe particularities of this process within the Brazilian context. In a third moment, we present Williams’ concepts on alternative cultures and anticipate the part devoted to the intense cultural manifestations of the 1960s and their unfolding. Finally, we attempt to give an overview of the scenario of changes that develops from the 1980s, emphasizing the comics published in Brazil. From the observation of the emergence and consolidation of events such as the HQ Mix Trophy and the comics fairs and biennials related to new publication and distribution processes, we sought to analyze the works and profiles of four contemporary comic authors and to better understand the meanings of terms such as "independent", "authorial", "commercial", "mainstream", "alternative" and others, commonly used in various comic book practices. Among the results obtained, we noticed that: many contemporary "independent" productions present thematic, stylistic and material characteristics practically indistinguishable from "mainstream" productions; some "mainstream" productions incorporate themes and proposals of cultures that are alternatives to hegemony; the use of the term “independent” often covers the unfavorable conditions of production and livelihood of several professionals; rigorously considering the opposing cultures as a set of actions of a revolutionary dimension, it is difficult to find works that effectively meet this condition.

Através deste trabalho de pesquisa, pretende-se apresentar uma análise sobre a representação do desenvolvimento tecnológico na dramaturgia de Bertolt Brecht na peça teatral “A Vida de Galileu Galilei”. Na primeira parte, apresenta-se o panorama histórico do século XX, tema que serve como base ao assunto tratado. Na segunda parte do trabalho, apresentam-se as referências que articulam a tecnologia como tema político, no âmbito do período analisado. Por último, a análise refletirá sobre a relação social da tecnologia com a sociedade no decorrer do século XX, investigando a hipótese de que a tecnologia faz parte da ideologia social hegemônica mas pode ser usada também pela militância cultural e democrática. A peça analisada retrata o início da Ciência moderna, e evidencia como desde o seu início a ciência nunca foi imparcial frente aos conflitos ideológicos e sociais. Portanto, analisar a peça e colocá-la no contexto da história contemporânea permite entender a relação da tecnologia com a linguagem e com a estética no escopo de cada período. / In this research work we intend to present an analysis on the representation of technological development in the dramaturgy of Bertolt Brecht. In the first part of this work the 20th century will be presented as the historic base for this study. The second part will reflect on the social relation between technology and society throughout the 20th century, an era in which technological rationality cursed the paths of History. At last, the analysis will be made taking for model the play “Life of Galileo”. The play takes as a scenario the initial phase of the Modern Age, making it clear that Science has never been neutral to ideological and social conflicts. Therefore, making an analysis of this play and putting it in comparison with the events of Contemporary History allows us to understand the relation between technology, language and aesthetics in the scope of each historic period that is analyzed in this work.

CAPES: Fundação Araucária / A tese tem como objetivo principal analisar como as populações atingidas pela implantação de hidrelétricas no Brasil têm se articulado e organizado nas trajetórias sociotécnicas que conduzem à concretização desses projetos. Para tanto, se estudarão as trajetórias de implantação de três casos, que conformam o período de 1974 a 2016: Itaipu, construída no rio Paraná, na fronteira entre Brasil e Paraguai; Baixo Iguaçu, no rio Iguaçu, no estado do Paraná; e o complexo de Garabi e Panambi, projetado para o rio Uruguai, em trecho de fronteira entre Brasil e Argentina. A análise dos casos selecionados ocorreu a partir de ferramentas teórico-conceituais do campo de estudos em Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade (CTS) – em especial da Sociologia da Tecnologia. A metodologia de trabalho é qualitativa e contou com pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, além de documentação produzida através de observações em pesquisa de campo e entrevistas orientadas pela metodologia da história oral de vida. Parte-se, portanto, de uma abordagem sociotécnica para a observação das dinâmicas de interação entre movimentos sociais, instituições políticas, empresas estatais e privadas e tecnologias. Por meio de uma análise descritiva e também voltada a compreender causalidades e explorar relações explicativas, buscou-se a identificação de padrões de interação entre as trajetórias sociotécnicas que constituem os casos analisados. Observou-se que na implantação da usina de Itaipu, caso que apresenta a primeira experiência de resistência organizada a esse tipo de projeto, os agricultores se organizaram a partir de espaços de troca de informação; incluíram solidariamente em suas reivindicações as demandas de todos os tipos de ocupações de terra, combatendo a estratégia patrimonialista e desagregadora da empresa e; colocaram suas demandas em pauta a partir de práticas como ocupações e acampamentos. Nos processos constituídos nas primeiras fases das trajetórias de Baixo Iguaçu, Garabi e Panambi, os movimentos de resistência conquistaram a suspensão dos projetos articulando experiências anteriores de organização política; o estabelecimento de alianças com setores da comunidade regional; a realização de práticas de resistência antes da fase de projeto básico; o desenvolvimento de práticas de resistência que impediam os trabalhos dos técnicos; e a pressão sobre o ator responsável pelos projetos, à época, a Eletrosul. Nas fases recentes das trajetórias, as conquistas se relacionam a práticas de resistência anteriores à fase de projeto básico, bem como à articulação dos componentes ambientais dos projetos. Concluiu-se, portanto, que ao longo das trajetórias houve o fortalecimento dos movimentos sociais, com acúmulo e transmissão de experiências, mas que dadas às características de estruturação do processo de implantação de hidrelétricas atuais, que não reservam momentos de participação para a sociedade nem garantias institucionais aos atingidos, a experiência de luta precisa ser retomada e atualizada a cada processo de implantação de hidrelétrica. / The main objective of this thesis is to analyze how populations affected by implantation of hydroelectrics in Brazil have articulated and organized throughout the socio-technical trajectories which led to the implementation of such projects. To that end, the implantation trajectories of three cases will be studied, which correspond to the period from 1974 to 2016: Itaipu, built into the Paraná river, on the Brazil – Paraguay borders; Baixo Iguaçu, on the Iguaçu river at Paraná state; and the Garabi and Panambi complex, projected for the Uruguai river, on a section of the border between Brazil and Argentina. The analysis of the selected cases occurred by using theoretical-conceptual tools from the field studies of Science, Technology and Society (STS) - particularly of Sociology of Technology. The methodology is qualitative and used bibliographical and documental research, as well as documents produced by observation on field research and interviews oriented by oral history methodology. Therefore, it results from a socio-technical approach to the observation of interaction dynamics between social movements, political institutions, state and private companies and technologies. The identification of patterns of interaction in socio-technical trajectories which constitute the analyzed cases are searched through a descriptive and also targeted analysis focused on understanding causalities and exploring explanatory relations. It was observed that on the implantation of Itaipu, a case which represents the first experience of organized resistance to this kind of project, farmers organized themselves through information exchange spaces; in solidarity, they included in their claims the demands of all kind of land occupation movements, fighting the patrimonial and disaggregating strategy of the company; they put their demands on the agenda by using practices such as occupations and encampments. In the processes constituted in the early stages of Baixo Iguaçu, Garabi and Panambi trajectories, the resistance movements conquered the suspension of projects by articulating previous experiences of political organization; the establishment of alliances with regional community; the conduction of resistance practices before the basic design phase; the development of resistance practices which prevented the technicians work; and the pressure over the actor responsible for the projects, Eletrosul at the time. On the recent trajectories phases, achievements are related to resistance practices previous to the basic project phase, as well as articulation on environmental components of projects. It was concluded, therefore, that the strengthening of social movements happened along the trajectories, with experience accumulation and transmission, but given the structuring characteristics of the current hydroelectric deployment process, which do not reserve moments to the participation of the society, nor provides institutional guarantees to those affected, the struggle experience must be resumed at each hydroelectric deployment process.