abstract: Historically, African American students have been underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). If African American students continue to be underrepresented in STEM fields, they will not have access to valuable and high-paying sectors of the economy. Despite the number of African Americans in these fields being disproportionately low, there are still individuals that persist and complete science degrees. The aim of this study was to investigate African American students who excel in science at Arizona State University and examine the barriers and affordances that they encounter on their journey toward graduation. Qualitative research methods were used to address the research question of the study. My methodology included creating a case study to investigate the experiences of eight African American undergraduate college students at Arizona State University. These four male and four female students were excelling sophomores, juniors, or seniors who were majoring in a science field. Two of the males came from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, while two of the males were from higher SES backgrounds. The same applied to the four female participants. My research utilized surveys, semistructured interviews, and student observations to collect data that was analyzed and coded to determine common themes and elements that exist between the students. As a result of the data collection opportunities, peer support and financial support were identified as barriers, while, parental support, financial support, peer support, and teacher support were identified as affordances. In analyzing the data, the results indicated that for the student subjects in this study, sex and SES did not have any relationship with the barriers and affordances experienced. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2012

At the intersection of digital identities and new language and social practice online is the concept of searchable talk (ST). ST describes the process of tagging discourse in a social networking service (SNS) with a hashtag (#), allowing it to be searchable by others. Although originating in Twitter, ST has expanded into other SNS, and is used therein not only to mark language-based posts, but also multimodal posts and images. While scholars have elucidated the structure and function of ST, their studies have primarily examined ST within language-based posts; few have researched ST with respect to images and other types of multimodal environments. In addition, ST has primarily been explored in its SNS of origin, Twitter. This project directly addresses these gaps by adopting a social semiotic approach to ST in three SNS with very different technological affordances, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Through a multimodal discourse analysis (Kress, 2009) combining both linguistic and other visual methods, I ask how visual and linguistic choices operate semiotically across SNS environments with different affordances and constraints. Specifically, I uncover the multiple meanings of Beyoncé across a data set of 300 tweets, posts, and pins composed from entering #Beyoncé in the search engine of each SNS. I argue that 13 meaning-based identity categories emerge for Beyoncé, and link these meanings to their visual and linguistic expressions. I then compare these findings across modes and across platforms. Ultimately, I assert that this cross-platform approach elucidates Beyoncé as a cultural object subject to reinterpretation where #Beyoncé means much more than just “Beyoncé.” That is, when considering its multiple roles and meanings, #Beyoncé becomes a site of visual and linguistic indexicality in a process of entextualization. In this process, it is SNS users’ reinterpretations – linguistically and visually – that realize racist, sexist, and hegemonic Discourses, as well as those of emancipation and resistance.

Submitted by Pós-Com Pós-Com (pos-com@ufba.br) on 2017-01-10T12:08:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 adalton_ufba_dissertacao_poscom.pdf: 6795333 bytes, checksum: 19b0cc05df2634d6d6b5124089c65e48 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Uillis de Assis Santos (uillis.assis@ufba.br) on 2017-07-12T18:01:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 adalton_ufba_dissertacao_poscom.pdf: 6795333 bytes, checksum: 19b0cc05df2634d6d6b5124089c65e48 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-12T18:01:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 adalton_ufba_dissertacao_poscom.pdf: 6795333 bytes, checksum: 19b0cc05df2634d6d6b5124089c65e48 (MD5) / Capes / Esta pesquisa aborda a inovação no jornalismo através da análise de revistas produzidas para tablets. A escolha por este tipo de produto para observação de mudanças no campo jornalístico se justifica pelas possibilidades oferecidas por meio das funcionalidades e recursos do dispositivo móvel e pela maior flexibilidade em formatos narrativos do jornalismo de revista. A dissertação tem o objetivo de identificar e categorizar os diferentes elementos que promoveram algum tipo de modificação no produto revista. A investigação foi realizada com o apoio de dois conceitos-chave: as affordances e a convergência de conteúdos jornalísticos. Partiu-se da hipótese que quanto mais alinhados com a convergência maior o nível de inovação nos produtos. Para enriquecer o levantamento dos itens indutores de inovação nas publicações, quinze títulos, provenientes de cinco países diferentes – Brasil, Espanha, Estados Unidos, França e Reino Unido – foram incluídos como corpus de pesquisa. A escolha de dez revistas foi baseada em premiações dedicadas ao reconhecimento de publicações jornalísticas para tablets inovadoras e, cinco delas, pelo critério de maior tiragem nos respectivos países. Foram pontuadas algumas variáveis externas que influenciam a inovação, assim como os fatores econômicos. Uma ficha de análise foi construída para conduzir a observação dos elementos novos ou renovados encontrados nos produtos, como as modificações nas formas de operação. As mudanças descobertas foram hierarquizadas com o suporte da convergência jornalística, compreendida como uma coalização de unidades midiáticas em uma narrativa, para encontrar os níveis de inovação nestes títulos. As categorias encontradas foram: inovação elementar, inovação intermediária e inovação convergente. Com base nos resultados da pesquisa, confirmou-se a hipótese de que as publicações mais alinhadas com a convergência apresentaram os maiores níveis de inovação e foi apontada a exploração de estratégias de imersão em diversos formatos narrativos como potencialidades para o futuro das revistas para tablets. A pesquisa leva à conclusão que a maioria das publicações está localizada em níveis ligados à aprimoramentos e distantes de um processo de estabilização de um formato. Isto indica que as ferramentas disponíveis no cenário contemporâneo ao qual este dispositivo móvel está inserido ainda são capazes de permitir a emergência de revistas com maiores graus de inovação. / This research approaches the innovation in journalism through the analysis of magazines produced for tablets. The choise for this kind of product to the observation of the changes in the journalism field is justified due to the possibilities offered by the mobile device and because of the major flexibility of magazine narratives formats. The aim of this master dissertation is to identify and categorize the various items which has promoted any kind of change in the magazine. The investigation was based on two key-concepts: affordances and convergence of journalistic contents. We started from a hypothesis that that the more the products are aligned with the convergence, higher will be the level of innovation in the products. To enrich the survey of the inductors innovation items in publications, fifteen magazines, from five countries – Brazil, France, Spain, United Kingdom and USA – were included as the corpus of this research. The choice of those ten magazines was based on the awards dedicated to recognizing innovative journalistic publications in tablets, and five of them have been chosen due to their large volume of prints in their respective countries. We highlighted some external variables that influence the innovation, as the economics factors. A protocol of analysis was built to conduct the observation of the new and renew items found in the magazines, as well as the changes in the ways of operations. The changes that was found were ranked through the support of journalistic convergence, understood as a coalition of media units in a narrative, to find the levels of innovation in these products. The categories that have been found were: elementary innovation, intermediary innovation and convergent innovation. Based on this result, we confirmed the hypothesis that magazines more aligned with the convergence present higher levels of innovations. With respect of this evidence, we assume that the exploration of some strategies of immersion in different narratives formats are potentialities for the future of magazines for tablets. This research concludes that the most part of the publications is located in levels related to improvements, which means they are far from the process of stabilizing format. It means that the available tools in the actual scenario are capables of supporting the emergence of magazines with higher levels of innovation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:19:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6589.pdf: 1250835 bytes, checksum: 65e3a22977fe5be29678517864973d0c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-24 / Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos / One of the major clinical problems of post-stroke people is regarding the loss of upper limb function, which impairs daily activities performance, especially those involving reaching. Increased muscle tone, sensory deficits and weakness are alterations that affect both muscle activation pattern and movement strategies of upper limb during reaching. The performance of specific functional tasks during the rehabilitation process must occur within enriched contexts. The implementation of useful objects has been recommended for reach facilitation. Objective: To describe movement strategies and bilateral muscle activation during reaching an object with functional utility in chronic hemiparetic subjects. Methods: Fifteen ischemic post-stroke subjects and 15 healthy subjects matched for age and gender were included in the study. During a task of touching a glass of water and/or a black cylinder were obtained the following variables in a synchronized way: a) electromyographic: magnitude of muscular activity of superior trapezius, pectoral major, biceps brachii, triceps brachii, serratus anterior, anterior deltoid and middle deltoid of both sides; and b) kinematics: peak velocity, percentage of time to reach peak velocity, trajectory, reach path ratio, movement time, and trunk displacement during a reaching task. Results: There was effect of the functional utility of objects neither in movement strategies, nor in muscle activation of both upper limbs in hemiparetic and control subjects. A reduction in the magnitude of electromyographic signal was observed in both upper limbs of hemiparetic subjects in the anterior deltoid and upper trapezius muscles, while the brachial biceps and pectoral major were increased compared to healthy subjects. The triceps braquii muscle showed an increase magnitude in the non-paretic limb when compared to the paretic limb and upper limb of healthy subjects. Changes in upper limb muscle activation which did not perform the movement were also identified. Both paretic and non-paretic limbs showed higher movement time, and trunk anterior displacement, as weel as, and lower peak velocity and reach path ratio during the transport phase, compared to the upper limb of healthy subjects. Conclusion: Subjects with chronic hemiparesis presented bilateral changes in muscle activation and in movement strategies during reaching. The compensatory strategies generated by these subjects did not seem to be affected by the functional utility of the objects in controlled environments. / Uma das principais queixas dos indivíduos pós-AVC refere-se à perda da funcionalidade do membro superior (MS), a qual limita a realização das atividades de vida diária, especialmente aquelas que envolvem o alcance. Dentre as alterações que prejudicam o desempenho da tarefa de alcance estão o aumento do tônus muscular, déficits sensoriais e fraqueza muscular, as quais podem interferir no padrão de ativação muscular do MS destes indivíduos e nas estratégias de movimento durante o alcance. A realização de tarefas funcionais específicas durante o processo de reabilitação deve ocorrer dentro de contextos enriquecido. A implementação de objetos úteis vem sendo recomendada para a facilitação do movimento de alcance. Objetivo: Descrever as estratégias de movimento e de ativação muscular bilateral dos membros superiores durante o alcance de um objeto com utilidade funcional em indivíduos hemiparéticos crônicos. Metodologia: Quinze indivíduos pós- AVC isquêmico e 15 sujeitos saudáveis pareados pela idade e gênero foram incluídos no estudo. Durante uma tarefa de tocar um copo com água e/ou um cilindro preto foram obtidas, de forma sincronizada, as seguintes variáveis: a) eletromiográficas: amplitude da atividade muscular dos músculos trapézio superior, peitoral maior, bíceps e tríceps braquiais, serrátil anterior, deltóide anterior e médio de ambos os hemicorpos; e b) cinemáticas: pico de velocidade, porcentagem para o tempo de pico, distância percorrida, índice de retidão, tempo de movimento e deslocamento de tronco. Resultados: Não foi observado efeito da utilidade funcional dos objetos nas estratégias de movimento, nem na ativação muscular de ambos membros superiores nos sujeitos hemiparéticos e controle. Foi observada uma redução na amplitude do sinal eletromiográfico, em ambos os membros superiores dos sujeitos hemiparéticos, nos músculos deltóide anterior e trapézio superior, enquanto que os músculos bíceps braquial e peitoral maior demostraram aumento, comparado a indivíduos saudáveis. O músculo tríceps braquial apresentou aumento da amplitude no membro não parético quando comparado a o membro parético e ao MS de sujeitos saudáveis. Modificações na ativação muscular no MS que não executa o movimento também foram identificadas. Tanto o membro parético como o não parético apresentaram maior tempo de movimento, e deslocamento de tronco, bem como menor índice de retidão, pico de velocidade durante a fase de transporte, em relação ao membro superior de sujeitos saudáveis. Conclusão: Indivíduos hemiparéticos crônicos possuem alterações bilaterais na ativação muscular e nas estratégias do movimento durante o alcance. As estratégias compensatórias geradas por estes sujeitos parecem não ser afetadas pela utilidade funcional dos objetos, em ambientes controlados.

Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2017-10-02T21:52:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 EmersonGadelhaLacerda_DISSERT.pdf: 6022594 bytes, checksum: 9c1f47a42d7ae4f91113dffc1a51cec7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Arlan Eloi Leite Silva (eloihistoriador@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-10-05T20:56:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 EmersonGadelhaLacerda_DISSERT.pdf: 6022594 bytes, checksum: 9c1f47a42d7ae4f91113dffc1a51cec7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-05T20:56:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EmersonGadelhaLacerda_DISSERT.pdf: 6022594 bytes, checksum: 9c1f47a42d7ae4f91113dffc1a51cec7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-18 / Os efeitos terap?uticos das paisagens naturais s?o reconhecidos h? mil?nios por diferentes culturas, e diversas pesquisas destacaram os benef?cios do contato com a natureza ? sa?de humana. Os elementos naturais reduzem estresse e fadiga mental, distraem, favorecem pensamentos e sentimentos positivos, ? medida que mitigam os efeitos delet?rios da vida moderna e as emo??es negativas por eles disparadas. Estudos demonstraram que ?reas verdes em unidades hospitalares contribu?ram para a recupera??o de pacientes, reduzindo estresse, ansiedade e depress?o, al?m de diminuir a quantidade de analg?sicos. Na contram?o dos achados cient?ficos, os hospitais, focados em tecnologia e efici?ncia, oferecem escassos espa?os naturais aos seus usu?rios. Tais institui??es tornaram-se ambientes frios, pouco hospitaleiros, aos pacientes e ? equipe. Diante desse cen?rio contradit?rio, o objetivo desta disserta??o ? investigar como os espa?os naturais de um hospital de Natal s?o percebidos pelos seus usu?rios. Adotei uma abordagem multimetodol?gica, combinando mapeamento comportamental centrado no ambiente e entrevistas semi-estruturadas. Com base no mapeamento, elaborei o roteiro de entrevistas e escolhi os potenciais candidatos. Entrevistei 11 usu?rios, maiores de 18 anos, incluindo funcion?rios, pacientes e acompanhantes, no Centro Avan?ado de Oncologia da Liga Norte-Riograndense Contra o C?ncer. Os achados ratificaram a literatura: os espa?os naturais da unidade hospitalar s?o ambientes restauradores ?s pessoas que os utilizam. O conhecimento alcan?ado com este estudo pode ser uma contribui??o valiosa ? gest?o e ao projeto de amplia??o da institui??o. / The therapeutic effects of natural landscapes have been recognized by different cultures for millennia, and many studies have highlighted the health benefits of being in touch with nature. It reduces stress and mental fatigue, distracts, promotes positive thoughts and feelings, as it mitigates deleterious effects of modern life and, consequently, associated negative emotions. Other studies have shown that green areas in healthcare facilities promoted patient recovery as such spaces reduced stress, anxiety and depression, moreover decreased the need for pain killers. Contradicting scientific findings, hospitals, while focusing on technology and efficiency, offer scarce green areas to their users. These institutions have become cold environments, not hospitable to either its patients or its staff. Facing this contradiction, the present master?s thesis aims to investigate how green spaces are perceived by users of a hospital in Natal. I adopted a multi-method approach for this study, combining place-centered behavioral mapping and semi-structured interviews. Based on the mapping, I composed the interview script and chose potential candidates. I interviewed 11 users, aging 18 or more, among employees, patients and caregivers, at the Advanced Oncology Center, a facility of the League against cancer of Rio Grande do Norte state. The findings confirmed the literature ones: the green spaces of such facility are restorative environments to the individuals using them. This knowledge can be an invaluable contribution to both the management and the expansion project of the institution.

Visuomotor behaviour – from handling simple objects to operating complex devices – is of fundamental importance in our everyday lives, yet there is relatively little evidence as to how healthy ageing affects these processes. A central role is played by the human capacity for reaching and grasping. Grasping an object requires complex visuomotor transformations, including processing of the object’s extrinsic features (it’s spatial location) and intrinsic features (such as size and shape). It has been documented that action relevant intrinsic object properties automatically facilitate specific motor actions despite being task-irrelevant, the so-called object affordance effect. These effects have been demonstrated for (1) grasp type (precision and power grips being facilitated by small and large objects) and (2) object-orientation (whereby right and left handed grasps are facilitated by object-orientation), and might underlie the effortlessness with which humans can interact with objects. Yet, these paradigms have not previously been employed in the study of healthy ageing, and little is known concerning how these processes change over the life span. Elucidating these changes is of particular importance as age-related degeneration of white matter integrity is well documented. Consequently, if successful visuomotor behaviour relies on white matter integrity, age-related reductions in affordance effects should be observed. This prediction was tested in a series of experiments. Experiment 1 investigated age-differences in object-size compatibility effects, and results corroborated our prediction of age-related reductions in object-size effects. Experiment 2 investigated age-differences in (1) spatial compatibility effects versus object-orientation effects, and (2) the locus of the effects (facilitation versus interference effects). Results revealed (1) some evidence of larger affordance than spatial effects in both age-groups, and (2) interference effects in the younger group and both facilitation and interference effects in the older group, showing a potential change in processing modes or strategies. Experiments 3 and 4 addressed the main competing account, the attention-directing hypothesis (according to which attentional shifts are responsible for the generation of automatic response codes, rather than the affects arising from afforded actions), by using a novel stimulus set in which such attentional differences can be ruled out. Results provided strong evidence in favour of the object-size affordance hypothesis. A final neuroimaging experiment investigated age-differences in the object-size effect and its neural correlates by combining behavioural, functional MRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data. Results revealed evidence of age-differences, both on the behavioural and functional level. For the DTI data, we investigated all four diffusion metrics (something which is not frequently reported in the healthy ageing literature), and found widespread age-related differences in white matter integrity. The empirical findings presented in this thesis offer a significant contribution to ageing research, by further elucidating the relationship between age-related neurophysiological changes and visuomotor behaviour. The overall picture which emerged from this series of experiments was consistent with our prediction of age-related reductions in affordance effects. Furthermore, it is likely that these age-differences may have, at least in part, a neurophysiological basis.

As an effort to guide patients toward being more informed and more involved as healthcare decision makers in the clinical processes, health care organizations have adopted a new technology referred to as an integrative social media platform (ISMP). This ISMP combines features of mobile technology and those of social media technology, integrating healthcare systems in order to support a more patient-centered healthcare process. However, users, both physicians and patients, have showed varied usages of ISMP, as a results, have shown mixed results of ISMP. To provide a better understanding of the use of ISMP, especially the interaction between patients and physicians, I turned to the concept of affordances. Affordances describe the possibilities for goal-oriented actions that a technical object offers to a user. Using a mixed-method approach with real archival event log data, conversation texts, documents, interview, and focus-group data from a large hospital which had adopted an ISMP, I confirmed three types of affordance: perceived affordance, behavioral affordance, and interactive affordance. I identified two key affordances of ISMP that lead to patient-centered care, namely ubiquitous access and virtual healthcare consultation, which represent a behavioral affordance and an interactive affordance, respectively. I also explored how different types of affordances are actualized and how they interact with each other to contribute to patient-centered care.

Efter att vid två olika tillfällen spelat på masterclasses för violinprofessor Ulf Wallin, rekommenderades jag ett huvudinstrumentbyte från violin till viola. Detta med tanke på de rygg- och nackproblem som jag brottats med under en längre period och som hindrat mig från att komma vidare i mitt violinspel. I detta arbete utforskar jag speltekniska skillnader mellan violin och viola. Jag har under åtta veckor systematiskt övat på skalor, etyder och repertoar. Jag har valt att dela upp processen i fyra olika moment: instrumentfattning, stråkteknik, intonation och altklav. Under processen redogör jag för hur jag arbetat med de olika momenten och med hjälp av mina lärare tagit mig an de utmaningar jag stött på. Jag har regelbundet fört loggbok och antecknat intressanta saker jag upptäckt under övningspassen. Jag har också spelat in videoklipp för att kunna följa min utveckling. Jag har analyserat denna process utifrån Gibsons affordance-begrepp, vilket har fått mig att inse varför jag har olika förutsättningar beroende på om jag spelar violin eller viola. Arbetet har resulterat i att jag uppnått en förbättrad teknik och musikaliskt uttryck. Jag redovisar det genom en inspelning jag gjort av ett solostycke med ljud och bild i en gotländsk kyrka.

Through qualitative and exploratory research, this thesis project investigates how body stimulation from haptic feedback affects user’s feeling of presence in VR environments. It identifies that in current time,the development of haptic feedback in VR lags severely behind the advancements made in visual and auditory feedback, and that somecompanies disregard its importance. Simultaneously, new companies are emerging which focus entirely on haptics in VR. Since development is still an early stage, this thesis highlights now as a unique opportunity to explore the thoughts professionals have on the topic, as well as try to find out which exact haptics are important for feeling presence to serve as a guide to those developing such systems.Finally, to tackle this issue, it is imperative to understand certain theoretical concepts such as affordances and embodiment, and how they change in the world of VR. This understanding can contribute to Interaction Design knowledge.

Over the last years, the music industry has been disrupted by music streaming services which shifted the focus from owning music to accessing it. While the previous research focuses on the economic aspects, the social and cultural consequences remain largely unexplored. Existing research from an audience perspective is often focusing on one particular practice around music streaming and is mainly coming from and focusing on northern EU-countries. However, a broader contemplation of the sociocultural practices around music streaming is still missing. This thesis examines which sociocultural practices have emerged among urban and middle class Millennials in Germany when using the market-leading streaming provider Spotify and which affordances and gratifications these are based upon. The study is based on ten semi-structured interviews with German Millennials aged between 20 to 30 years. Three of these study participants are using a free Spotify account and seven the premium version. By conducting a thematic analysis against the theoretical background that interlinks practice theory, affordance theory and uses and gratifications theory, the practices are described and examined based on the underlying affordances and gratifications.The study found sociocultural practices around the themes social setting, listening mode, Spotify networks and music collection and outlines the underlying affordances and gratifications. During individual listening situations, users engage in the practices of mobile listening and mood management, while listening in social settings focused around navigating the group dynamics and the creation of context-sensitive playlists. The users also aim to create an unstructured and undisrupted music flow but are mainly listening in a passive manner while carrying out other activities. Due to social norms and privacy issues, the participants either reject the network function or build only small networks through which they were sharing and discovering music as well as creating playlists with friends. Lastly, users were building, organizing and maintaining individual music collections.