Background: This study examines online shopping in different cultures and technologies in relation to customer satisfaction in Stockholm and Accra; a developed city with a developing city respectively. In recent times, the use of the internet has rapidly increased around the globe and with it emerged online shopping as a means employed by which business organizations and individual sellers and service providers to maximize growth. Customer satisfaction is an essential element for attaining stability and growth in the business world and online shopping is no exception. Even though customer satisfaction is a universal phenomenon, it can be controlled by culture and technology.  Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to compare a developed city with a developing one and the interplay of culture and technology in achieving customer satisfaction in online shopping. This thesis therefore seeks to investigate the different cultures and technologies on satisfaction by ascertaining the degree to which factors relating to culture and technology affect customer satisfaction in online shopping. Methodology: Quantitative research method is employed to conduct this thesis. By the use of the snowball sampling method, residents of both Stockholm and Accra were sampled and data collection was done by administering survey questionnaire. SPSS software package was used to analyse research data. The Spearman rank correlation and Mann-Whitney U test were performed using the SPSS software package to arrive at the research results and draw conclusions. Results & Conclusions: This research demonstrates the existence of differences in the culture and technology of Stockholm and Accra. It also demonstrates the impact of selected factors for independent variables (culture and technology) on customer satisfaction in online by showing their inter-relationship. It also reveals the factors which most affected customer satisfaction in online shopping in this thesis. In general, the correlations demonstrated that culture had more impacts on customer satisfaction in online shopping as compared to technology. A good relationship was found between customer satisfaction and culture, and technology provided by the participants from Accra. For Stockholm participants, customer satisfaction in online shopping had a relationship with cultural factors. It was shown in the findings that all four factors measuring culture such as trust, moral, law, and knowledge, and only two factors measuring technology such as internet speed and tools affected customer satisfaction in online shopping in Accra with the most affected factors being trust and moral. In the case of Stockholm, only two factors measuring culture, such as moral and trust affected customer satisfaction in online shopping and moral most affected customer satisfaction. None of the four factors measuring technology affected customer satisfaction. All in all, considering both independent variables, we argued that culture (factors) affected most customer satisfaction in online shopping. Recommendations for future research: Further research can be done by employing both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques to know how these factors affect customer satisfaction in online shopping. In addition, to better generalize the results, further research could be done with the same concepts but with more factors used to measure the independent and dependent variables. Moreover, similar research could also be done by considering only one group of products or items bought online. Furthermore, the same or similar research can be done using more than one question to describe the factors or sub-variables. Last but not least, further research can deploy a larger sample size to facilitate generalization.

CAPES / A investigação das relações entre tecnologia e cultura viabiliza discussões e reflexões profundas sobre a sociedade e os modos de vida. Esta dissertação busca, por meio da literatura infanto-juvenil, avançar no debate de tecnologia e cultura, bem como questionar o papel historicamente assumido pelo gênero. Por meio de obras da literatura infantojuvenil brasileira produzidas entre os anos de 1999 e 2010, busca-se levantar possíveis formas de representação da tecnologia na produção contemporânea e defender sua importância como produção literária. Apresentar a literatura infantojuvenil como plano de fundo para discussões acadêmicas, independentemente do recorte proposto, pode ser um trabalho bastante árduo, especialmente pela pouca valorização que o gênero encontra frente à crítica literária. O diálogo entre tecnologia e cultura, por sua vez, também ainda é pouco divulgado inclusive no campo interdisciplinar de Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade. A linha principal linha teórica que permeia o trabalho é o Materialismo Cultural, proposto por Raymond Williams. / The research about technology and culture makes possible discussions and reflections about society and ways of life. This dissertation intents, through children's literature, to advance the discussion of technology and culture as well as to question the role historically assumed by gender. Through works of Brazilian teenager literature produced between the years 1999 and 2010, we intend to raise possible ways of manifestation of technology in contemporary production and to defend its value as a literary production. Propose the teenager literature as background for academic discussions can be rather arduous, especially because the low value granted to the gender by literary criticism. The dialogue between technology and culture, in turn, is still too little known even in the interdisciplinary field of Science, Technology and Society. As our theoretical basis we resorted to the Cultural Materialism, presented by Raymond Williams.

CAPES / A investigação das relações entre tecnologia e cultura viabiliza discussões e reflexões profundas sobre a sociedade e os modos de vida. Esta dissertação busca, por meio da literatura infanto-juvenil, avançar no debate de tecnologia e cultura, bem como questionar o papel historicamente assumido pelo gênero. Por meio de obras da literatura infantojuvenil brasileira produzidas entre os anos de 1999 e 2010, busca-se levantar possíveis formas de representação da tecnologia na produção contemporânea e defender sua importância como produção literária. Apresentar a literatura infantojuvenil como plano de fundo para discussões acadêmicas, independentemente do recorte proposto, pode ser um trabalho bastante árduo, especialmente pela pouca valorização que o gênero encontra frente à crítica literária. O diálogo entre tecnologia e cultura, por sua vez, também ainda é pouco divulgado inclusive no campo interdisciplinar de Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade. A linha principal linha teórica que permeia o trabalho é o Materialismo Cultural, proposto por Raymond Williams. / The research about technology and culture makes possible discussions and reflections about society and ways of life. This dissertation intents, through children's literature, to advance the discussion of technology and culture as well as to question the role historically assumed by gender. Through works of Brazilian teenager literature produced between the years 1999 and 2010, we intend to raise possible ways of manifestation of technology in contemporary production and to defend its value as a literary production. Propose the teenager literature as background for academic discussions can be rather arduous, especially because the low value granted to the gender by literary criticism. The dialogue between technology and culture, in turn, is still too little known even in the interdisciplinary field of Science, Technology and Society. As our theoretical basis we resorted to the Cultural Materialism, presented by Raymond Williams.

This thesis analyses individual and societal relations to human excrement by looking at historical and contemporary examples of symbolics and management systems of human shit and piss. It furthermore connects urban culture to a particular type of perception of the meaning of human waste. End-of-pipe, large scale sewerage solutions for densely populated areas and cities are analysed for their historical origins and contemporary ramifications, and contrasted with examples of classical, mediaeval, early modern and contemporary times in different regions of Europe and India. The cases were presented in a non-chronological order to avoid simple narratives of progress. The focus is on questions of agricultural recycling of excrement and the relevance of human waste for public health issues. Analytical tools during the cross-temporal and cross-cultural case comparison are the categorisations of human excrement as e.g. waste, threat or resource, the technique of dualism-deterritorialisation and occasionally the Entanglement approach. Main results are that the large-scale introduction of sewerage systems in European cities around the world coincides with urbanisation and industrialisation, that pre-industrial dense settlement faced essentially the same excrement management challenges as modern cities do and that the stability of certain management systems has been severely influenced by factors such as power structures, paradigms of purity and piety as well as economic developments. The future relevance of this topic is seen in the predicted rise of urban regions worldwide, but especially in the developing world, a development which is expected to complicate human excrement management issues considerably.

Educators who teach international students English as a second language (ESL) or English speakers teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in universities in non- English speaking countries in the Asia-Pacific region are often challenged to develop culturally appropriate curriculum for a diverse group of learners. Prompted by educational policy over the past two decades, the technological infrastructure in most universities throughout the world has advanced. Innovative tools for language learning have been developed for computer-assisted instruction. The purpose of the present study was to assess to what extent teachers use multimedia in EFL/ESL university classrooms in relation to the theoretical underpinnings of constructivism as well as Rogers' (1995) theory of diffusion of innovations and adopter categories. Further, the study aimed to ascertain what factors contribute to or discourage teachers' use of multimedia in tertiary level English language teaching classrooms. A mixed- method research design was used and both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. One hundred and seventy-nine English-language teachers from five universities in the Asia-Pacific region were interviewed and data were collected on their use of multimedia. Complex relationships were found among teacher-held educational and cultural values, teaching experience, formal computer professional learning, nationality, institution, region, age, gender, and collaboration with colleagues. Results showed that even with adequate access to hardware, software, technical support and computer professional learning, most teachers in the study made limited use of multimedia in the EFL/ESL classroom. As well, the results indicated that teachers in all three universities in Taiwan used multimedia in the EFL/ESL classroom less than teachers in Australia and in Thailand. Teachers who endorsed constructivist teaching methodologies tended to use multimedia more. Also, teachers with fewer than ten years teaching experience tended to use technology in teaching more. Data showed the use of integrated technology by teachers usually diminished as teachers got older. However, results showed that teachers who engaged in professional learning tended to use multimedia more regardless of age. Future directions in technology integration and recommendations for creating and sustaining a culture of technology at educational institutions are offered. Suggestions for professional development to encourage the integrated use of technology in English language teaching programs are outlined.

CAPES / O estudo busca analisar tiras cômicas na internet, a partir de três autores diferentes: Carlos Ruas, criador do "Um Sábado Qualquer", André Farias, do "Vida de Suporte", e William Leite, autor do "Willtirando". O debate engloba a relação entre quadrinhos e tecnologia, esmiuçando o sentido das tiras. Essa discussão qualitativa é agregada por dados quantitativos, através dos quais o trabalho evidencia possíveis desdobramentos para a linguagem das tiras cômicas online, tais como a tendência de expansão no formato; a crescente hibridação com imagens de variados tipos; e o fenômeno de aproximação entre as esferas autor/leitor no suporte digital. Também foram discutidas produções de um tipo mais incomum: as tiras digitais, que incorporam animação em sua narrativa. Ao fim do estudo, discutimos um protótipo de tira cômica online a partir dos formatos mais utilizados pelos autores, a fim de reiterar a natureza deste gênero discursivo: uma narrativa breve, cujo desfecho é inesperado e resulta no humor. / The study aims to analyze comic strips on the internet, from three different artists: Carlos Ruas, creator of "Um Sábado Qualquer", André Farias, of "Vida de Suporte," and William Leite, author of "Willtirando". The discussion covers the relationship between comics and technology by analyzing the comic strip and the construction of its meaning. The qualitative reflection is aggregated by quantitative data, through which the work shows possible outcomes for the language of the online comic strips, such as the expansion in the format; increased hybridization with various types of images; and the approach phenomenon between the spheres author/reader in digital format. Productions of a most unusual kind also were discussed: the digital comic strips, that incorporate animated effects on its narrative. At the end of the study, we present an online comic strip prototype from the most popular formats used by the authors, in order to reiterate the nature of the comic strips: a brief narrative whose outcome is unexpected and results in humor.

Since the advent of the environmental crisis, some writers have raised concerns with the moral influence of Christian scripture and interpretive traditions, such as the medieval book of nature, a hermeneutic in which nature and scripture are "read" in reference to one another. Scripture, they argue, has tended to stifle sacred relationships with nature as a non-human other. This thesis argues that such perspectives are reductive of the sacred quality of scripture. Environmental perspectives should be concerned with the desacralization of religious texts in addition to nature. Chapter one suggests that two questions surrounding the medieval book of nature's history can help us address ways that such perspectives reduce religious interpretation of sacred texts. The first question is the tension between manifestation and proclamation, or the question of how scripture and nature reveal sacred meanings. The second is the problem of evil, or the question of where evil and suffering come from. It also proposes that Shakespeare's As You Like It and religious philosophy, particularly Paul Ricoeur's writings, can help us address these problems and provide a contemporary religious perspective of the "book of nature." Drawing on scenes in the play in which nature is "read" as a book and Ricoeur's essay on "Manifestation and Proclamation," chapter two argues how manifestation often works interdependently with proclamation. Chapter three discusses how anthropocentric worldviews in which natural entities are exploited also distort interpretive relationships with scripture. Overcoming desacralization requires giving up desires to suppress contingencies, particularly suffering, in nature and in interpreting religious texts. Only as the characters in As You Like It accept contingencies are they able to engage hidden sources of hope, which is comparable to the need to let go of mastery in interpretation Ricoeur describes. Chapter four discusses problems with attempts to uncover the origins of the environmental crisis by discussing what Ricoeur writes about the problems with theodicy and Jean-Luc Marion's phenomenology of evil. Assumptions that specific human origins for evil can be blamed confirm deceptively human-centered worldviews and can mask valuable messages about how to morally respond to suffering that are taught in Judeo-Christian narratives.

This thesis questions a series of assumptions concerning the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century modernization of European spaces. Current scholarship tends to concur with essayistic texts and images by contemporary intellectuals that technological and organizational developments increased the freedom of movement of those living in western-European societies, while at the same time alienating them from each other and from their environment. I assess this claim with the help of Dutch travel egodocuments such as travel diaries and letters. After a prosopographical investigation of all available northern-Netherlandish travel egodocuments created between 1500 and 1915, a selection of these documents is examined in greater detail. In these documents, travellers regarded the possession of identity documents, a correct appearance, and a fitting social identity along with their personal contacts, physical capabilities, and the weather as the most important factors influencing whether they managed to gain access to places. A discussion of these factors demonstrates that no linear increase, nor a decrease, occurred in the spatial power felt by travellers. The exclusion many travellers continued to experience was often overdetermined. The largest groups affected by this were women and less educated families. Yet travellers could also play out different access factors against each other. By paying attention to how practices matched hopes and expectations, it is possible to discover how gravely social inequities were really felt by travellers. Perhaps surprisingly, all social groups desired to visit the same types of places. Their main difference concerned the atmosphere of the places where the different groups felt at home. To a large degree this matched travellers' unequal opportunities. Therefore, although opportunities remained strongly unequal throughout the period, this was not always experienced as a problem. Also, in cases where it was, many travellers knew strategies to work around the obstacles created for them.