Comparative studies of democratization point to a multitude of explanatory factors, while often lacking empirical evidence and theoretical foundation. This study introduces the revolution in information technology as a significant contributor to democratization in the 1980s and beyond. Utilizing a cybernetic version of an evolutionary interpretation of democratization an amended model for 147 countries is tested by bivariate and multiple regression analysis. The focus of the analysis is on how the first-ever use of an indicator of information technology explains democratization. The overall findings show that information technology is a meaningful element in the study of democratization today.

This study aims to explain the Stuxnet-attack against Iran in 2009-2010 by using the IR-theory of structural realism. By doing so the theory also faces the challenge of the impact of the information revolution on security and international relations. The structural realism that is at hand is that of Kenneth Waltz and his Theory of International Politics from 1979.The study reaches the conclusion that Waltzs focus on the structure of the international system and the distribution of capabilities applies well to the case of Stuxnet as a cyber attack. The creators of the sophisticated Stuxnet, USA and Israel, also indicates that when it comes to this certain aspect of the information revolution and IR, states seem to still be the main actor. Finally the character of one of the major features of the Stuxnet-attack; the internet, is shown to have an anarchic structure that fits well as an extension of the realist view of the international system.

Objective: To enable primarily public libraries and secondarily public health workers and rural hospital staff to be consumer health information providers with the goal of creating a program that could be copied nationally, enabling public library workers to become an important resource in reversing our national health information illiteracy. Setting: Three regions of the state regional public library system covering seventeen counties and two regions of the state public health department system. Participants: Public library staff, public health department staff, and rural hospital staff. Program: East Tennessee State University (ETSU) College of Medicine Library partnered with public libraries to improve the delivery of health information. Four free classes were taught multiple times: “Prescription for Success,” “An Apple a Day,” “PubMed for Public Librarians,” and “From Snake Oil to Penicillin.” Regional public library directors were used to convince their staff of its value and obtain the concurrence of their boards for release time for class attendance. Classes were also developed for the public health workforce and rural hospital staff. Existing classes (with all teaching materials on the National Network of Libraries of Medicine [NN/ LM] Website) were used with the existing public library system. Results: Five-hundred thirty-three students attended the classes. Fifty-two public library workers received MLA’s Consumer Health Information Specialist certification. Thirty-one public libraries have joined NN/LM. All ordered MedlinePlus marketing materials for their libraries from InformationRx.org. Conclusion: This project helped address the public health problem of health information illiteracy by filling the gap the average person has in finding quality health information. A strength of this project is its easy replication. The project used materials that were readily available and put them to use. Any library could replicate this project in its own service area saving time and cost to the library.

Program Objective: to train rural physicians how to use PDAs and the ePocrates database Setting: Tennessee rural critical access hospitals Participants: physicians Program: This patient safety initiative was a collaboration between the Tennessee Hospital Association (THA) and the Universities of Southern Maine, Minnesota, and North Dakota, and the Maine Rural Health Research Center, Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center, QSource (Tennessee QIO), eight small rural Tennessee hospitals and BlueCross/BlueShield of Tennessee (funder). Because of THA’s knowledge of the East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine Library (QCOML) through state conferences, QCOML was asked to conduct the training for the PDA segment of the project. Main Results: The goal was to provide a PDA for every hospital prescriber in eight small rural Tennessee hospitals. The project provided a Palm TX device, a two year subscription to the full suite of ePocrates software and training. One hundred-thirty clinicians were trained in PDA/ePocrates. Retraining was provided at each site as needed. Evaluation: evaluation was conducted by a 4–6 month user’s survey, usage data from ePocrates (sync, look-ups) and evaluation based on the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Survey. Conclusion: Physicians were pleased with the PDAs and indicated that the devices positively influenced their patient care. This type of cooperative venture exposes the talents of medical librarians to new populations and opens up opportunities for further collaboration.

[pt] As revoluções tecnológicas resultaram em grandes transformações no mundo e influenciaram na subjetividade de todos. Esta dissertação busca ouvir profissionais do mercado de trabalho, para entender como estão, no início do século XXI, a vida e o trabalho após a chegada dos celulares. Para tanto, foram entrevistados profissionais com filhos, que possuem telefones celulares concedidos e com contas pagas por suas empresas situadas no Rio de Janeiro. A análise das respostas indica a queda de fronteiras entre o mundo pessoal e profissional. O trabalho entra no cotidiano da família, através do celular, assim como a família consegue penetrar no ambiente de trabalho a qualquer hora. A vida dos participantes da pesquisa passou a ter um ritmo mais acelerado, com agilidade e flexibilidade, já que podem trabalhar ou fazer contato com suas casas e familiares a qualquer hora e em qualquer lugar. Entretanto, esse trabalhador contemporâneo que é contatado facilmente pelo celular, percebe a necessidade de que estejam disponíveis em tempo integral e com respostas rápidas para as demandas constantes do seu dia-a-dia. O celular tornou- se uma ferramenta de trabalho, assim como o computador e o e-mail, e os entrevistados desta pesquisa não conseguem se perceber executando suas atividades sem eles. Na análise das entrevistas pode-se verificar ainda o surgimento de novos hábitos, a partir da utilização constante do celular, tais como a administração da casa e da família à distância e a possibilidade de trabalhar remotamente. / [en] Technological revolutions have brought about dramatic changes in the world and in the ways people live, think, behave and feel. The purpose of the present study is to understand how the arrival of cell phones has affected the ways employees in the contemporary labor market live their private and professional lives. For this purpose, professionals who have children and whose cell phone accounts are paid for by their companies were interviewed. All of them lived and worked in Rio de Janeiro. Their answers showed that there is no frontier between their professional and private lives; cell phone use makes their working and professional lives mingle. In addition, the results revealed that the lives of those who took part in the present study have become more agile due to the fact they can both work and contact their homes and family at any time, no matter where they are. However, these professionals, who can also be easily reached by means of their cell phones, feel that they have to be available to their employers all the time in order to quickly solve their daily demands by phone. The cell phone, in the same way as the computer and the e-mail, has become a working tool. The interviewees admitted they could not imagine their daily lives without those tools. The interviews also showed that new habits have been created as a result of the constant use of those tools. Among these new habits are the administration of home and family from any distance and the possibility of work remotely.

The rapid inclusion of new technologies into educational curriculum has left some educators feeling ill prepared and anxious towards changes in teaching styles and curriculum necessary to put these innovations to use in their classrooms. It is imperative that we address this reluctance in order to provide inclusion of both faculty and students in the information revolution that began with the Internet and that continues to sweep the globe. Existing research takes primarily an external perspective to lack of technology usage in education; few studies have considered the psychological barriers that may contribute to technological and digital inequality within a University community. Real progress can be made in motivating technology resistant faculty by teaching them to differentiate between the characteristics of experts and novices, by providing them with the tools necessary to improve their self-efficacy to utilize new teaching technologies, and by providing the infrastructural support necessary to succeed. / text

The library has existed as a repository for knowledge for centuries. However, in spite of the information revolution and its watershed component, the internet, this institution has found itself fundamentally unchanged. Great strides have been taken to adapt the library to this changing world, but these incremental changes are timid and reactionary. Through the internet the floodgates have opened; individuals are creating and sharing information both personal and academic, in the form of not-so-private journals, works of creative fiction, works of journalism, works of scholarship, and every other form of intellectual (and not so intellectual) propagation imaginable. Additionally, advances in computer display and input technology are breaking down the conceptions of what a computer is and how we interact with them. The trend is pointing to a future where computers are no longer objects, but an integrated component of our built environment, capable of responding to practically limitless simultaneous individual users. This thesis will take the lead on these growing trends and create a new type of information age institution to evolve alongside, rather than supplant, the library: Icomde. This new institution will explore the possibilities of these new technologies while embracing the spirit of the information revolution. It will create a unique place where people can experience state of the art means of information creation, interaction, and collaboration. Finally, when the technology present has been fundamentally surpassed, the Icomde will be dismantled and the pieces distributed to dozens of locations throughout the world to found new Icomdes, with the original site becoming host to the next iteration of whatever advanced technologies will follow. This thesis will seek to examine the cultural, social role of the library as it has evolved and has been propagated through the course of human events, using design and history research, so as to employ the 'spirit' of this place as completely as possible in spite of the proposed radical paradigm shift. It will also use logical argumentation to organize trends in web content generation and publication into patterns that can be interpreted and acted upon in a forward-thinking fashion rather than a reactionary one.

Submitted by Franciele Moreira (francielemoreyra@gmail.com) on 2018-04-25T12:50:36Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Juscelino Martins Polonial - 2017.pdf: 2323255 bytes, checksum: 91fae67ec3a825c14fb32637f13ff171 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Rejected by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com), reason: NÃO SEI O QUE ESTÁ ERRADO on 2018-04-25T12:59:52Z (GMT) / Submitted by Franciele Moreira (francielemoreyra@gmail.com) on 2018-04-25T13:01:04Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Juscelino Martins Polonial - 2017.pdf: 2323255 bytes, checksum: 91fae67ec3a825c14fb32637f13ff171 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2018-04-26T10:54:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Juscelino Martins Polonial - 2017.pdf: 2323255 bytes, checksum: 91fae67ec3a825c14fb32637f13ff171 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-26T10:54:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Juscelino Martins Polonial - 2017.pdf: 2323255 bytes, checksum: 91fae67ec3a825c14fb32637f13ff171 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-14 / His thesis entitled The intensification of teaching work in federal public higher education: the case of the Federal University of Goiás (1996 - 2012), is linked to the line of research Labor, Employment and Unions of the Program Postgraduate by Faculty of Social Sciences, Federal University of Goiás. The research aims to analyze the intensification of teaching work in federal public higher education, with a cut in the Federal University of Goiás, between 1996 and 2012, from two aspects: first after the publication of Law no 9394 of 1996 defining the Guidelines and Bases of National Education, which increased the school days from 180 to 200, extended the school calendar in a month, and how this contributed to overwhelm the work of the teacher, especially in relation to the time to develop their professional activity; according to its activity in the postgraduate course, that grew a lot in the period delimited by this research project, favoring the intensification of the teaching work. The research took an approach from the category of totality, so it had as its starting point the analysis of the structural crisis of the capital system and its implications for federal public higher education. We then investigate the changes in national education from the legal reformulation with the Constitution of 1988 and the LDB of 1996 and the governmental policies resulting from this legal change. Then we investigate the reforms at the Federal University of Goiás to adapt to this concrete social condition, notably with the expansion of the institution, both undergraduate and postgraduate. Finally, we talk about the teacher's work in this context and how it has been intensified. In this last part we did an analysis of the work of the UFG teacher based on SICAD and, with the analysis of the data, we verified that the teacher is working more and that, in general, an important part of his work does not appear in the official records of the university. Thus, we conclude that the work of the higher education teacher of the federal public network has been intensified, and this process is related to recent transformations in capitalism, the information revolution, neoliberal politics and legal reforms in education after the 1988 Constitution, as well as with government policies between 1996 and 2012. Among the various aspects of this intensification of teaching work is the need to have an increasingly voluminous and rapid academic production, a fact known as academic productivism. In this way, pressed, the federal public higher education teacher has to produce more and more in the shortest possible time. This is directly related to the expansion of the UFG and to the increase in the workload of teachers in teaching and in the orientations and coorientations of TCCs, scientific initiations, dissertations and theses. It also relates to an increase in workload for academic production, participation in academic newsstands, and research and extension activities. Finally, the teacher started to spend more working hours for administration, coordination and representation activities. All this has contributed and still contributes to the intensification of the teaching work. / Esta tese intitulada A intensificação do trabalho docente no ensino superior público federal: o caso da Universidade Federal de Goiás (1996 - 2012), se vincula a linha de pesquisa Trabalho, Emprego e Sindicatos do Programa de Pós-graduação da Faculdade de Ciências Sociais da Universidade Federal de Goiás. A pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar a intensificação do trabalho docente no ensino superior público federal, com recorte na Universidade Federal de Goiás, entre 1996 e 2012, a partir de duas vertentes: primeiro após a publicação da Lei de no 9394 de 1996 definindo as Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional, que, aumentando os dias letivos de 180 para 200, estendeu o calendário escolar em um mês, e como isso contribuiu para sobrecarregar o trabalho do professor, principalmente em relação ao tempo para desenvolver a sua atividade profissional; segundo a sua atividade na pós-graduação, que cresceu muito no período delimitado por este projeto de pesquisa, favorecendo a intensificação do trabalho docente. A pesquisa fez uma abordagem a partir da categoria da totalidade, por isso teve como ponto de partida a análise da crise estrutural do sistema do capital e suas implicações para a educação superior pública federal. Depois investigamos as mudanças na educação nacional a partir da reformulação jurídica com a Constituição de 1988 e com a LDB de 1996 e as políticas governamentais decorrentes dessa mudança legal. Depois investigamos as reformas na Universidade Federal de Goiás para se adequar a essa condição social concreta, notadamente com a expansão da instituição, tanto na graduação quanto na pós-graduação. Por fim, falamos do trabalho do professor nesse contexto e como ele foi intensificado. Nessa última parte fizemos uma análise do trabalho do docente da UFG com base no SICAD e, com a análise dos dados comprovamos que o professor está trabalhando mais e em que, geral, uma parte importante do seu trabalho não aparece nos registros oficiais da universidade. Assim, concluímos que o trabalho do professor do ensino superior da rede pública federal foi intensificado, estando esse processo relacionado com as transformações recentes no capitalismo, com a revolução informacional, com a política neoliberal e com as reformas jurídicas na educação após a Constituição de 1988, bem como com as políticas governamentais entre 1996 e 2012. Dentre os vários aspectos dessa intensificação do trabalho docente, está a necessidade de se ter uma produção acadêmica cada vez mais volumosa e rápida, fato conhecido como produtivismo acadêmico. Dessa maneira, pressionado, o professor do ensino superior público federal tem que produzir cada vez mais e em menor espaço de tempo possível. Isso tem relação direta com a expansão da UFG e com o aumento da carga horária de trabalho do docente no ensino e nas orientações e coorientações dos TCCs, das iniciações científicas, das dissertações e das teses. Também tem relação com aumento em carga horária para a produção acadêmica, para a participação em bancas acadêmicas e para as atividades de pesquisa e de extensão. Por fim, o professor passou a dispender mais horas de trabalho para as atividades de administração, coordenação e representação. Tudo isso contribuiu e ainda contribui para intensificação do trabalho docente.

Cette thèse est une enquête épistémologique qui s’interroge sur la persistance de « l’éther » dans le champ de la technologie. De façon générale, le mot « éther » évoque un modèle conceptuel de la physique pré-einsteinienne, celui d’un milieu invisible permettant la propagation de la lumière et des ondes électromagnétiques. Or, ce n’est là qu’une des figures de l’éther. Dans plusieurs mythologies et cosmogonies anciennes, le nom « éther » désignait le feu originel contenu dans les plus hautes régions célestes. Aristote nommait « éther », par exemple, le « cinquième être », ou « cinquième élément ». La chimie a aussi sa propre figure de l’éther où il donne son nom à un composé chimique, le C4H10O, qui a été utilisé comme premier anesthésiant général à la fin du XIXe siècle. L’apparition soutenue dans l’histoire de ces figures disparates de l’éther, qui a priori ne semblent pas entretenir de relation entre elles, est pour nous la marque de la persistance de l’éther. Nous défendons ici l’argument selon lequel cette persistance ne se résume pas à la constance de l’attribution d’un mot ou d’un nom à différents phénomènes dans l’histoire, mais à l’actualisation d’une même signature, éthérogène. À l’invitation d’Agamben et en nous inspirant des travaux de Nietzsche et Foucault sur l’histoire-généalogie et ceux de Derrida sur la déconstruction, notre thèse amorce une enquête historique motivée par un approfondissement d’une telle théorisation de la signature. Pour y parvenir, nous proposons de placer l’éther, ou plutôt la signature-éther, au cœur de différentes enquêtes historiques préoccupées par le problème de la technologie. En abordant sous cet angle des enjeux disparates – la légitimation des savoirs narratifs, la suspension des sens, la pseudoscience et la magie, les révolutions de l’information, l’obsession pour le sans-fil, l’économie du corps, la virtualisation de la communication, etc. –, nous proposons dans cette thèse autant d’amorces pour une histoire autre, une contre-histoire. / This dissertation stands as an epistemological inquiry into the persistence of the notion of ether within technology’s discursive field. Most often, the word “ether” is understood as a conceptual model in pre-einsteinian physics which designates the medium responsible for the propagation of electromagnetic waves and light. However, this proves to be only one of the many figures of ether. In multiple mythologies and cosmogonies, ether was also the name employed to refer to a sublime and pure fire filling the highest spaces of the universe. Aristotle, for example, named “ether” what he considered to be the “fifth being,” or the “fifth element.” Chemistry also makes use of ether, where the name denominates the compound C4H10O, used as the first general anaesthetic agent at the end of the nineteenth century. From our point of view, the sustained occurrences of ether in these different figures, so disparate indeed that they appear unrelated, marks the manifestation of its persistence. We argue that this persistence should not be narrowed down to a constant attribution of a “word” or a “name” to several historical phenomenons, but rather should be viewed as the actualization of a same etherogeneous “signature.” Responding to an invitation by Italian philosopher Agamben, and building on Nietzsche’s and Foucault’s history-genealogy as well as on Derrida’s deconstruction, our dissertation proposes an historical program oriented towards a theorization of the signature. To do so, we suggest locating the ether, or rather the ether-signature, at the heart of several historical inquiries concerned with the contemporary problem with technology. Approaching some of theses issues –the legitimating of narrative knowledge, the suspension of the senses, pseudoscience and mysticism, information and industrial revolutions, wireless obsessions, body and corporeality, virtualization of communication, etc. –, our dissertation aims at locating and articulating as many baits towards an-other history, a counter-history.

Cette thèse est une enquête épistémologique qui s’interroge sur la persistance de « l’éther » dans le champ de la technologie. De façon générale, le mot « éther » évoque un modèle conceptuel de la physique pré-einsteinienne, celui d’un milieu invisible permettant la propagation de la lumière et des ondes électromagnétiques. Or, ce n’est là qu’une des figures de l’éther. Dans plusieurs mythologies et cosmogonies anciennes, le nom « éther » désignait le feu originel contenu dans les plus hautes régions célestes. Aristote nommait « éther », par exemple, le « cinquième être », ou « cinquième élément ». La chimie a aussi sa propre figure de l’éther où il donne son nom à un composé chimique, le C4H10O, qui a été utilisé comme premier anesthésiant général à la fin du XIXe siècle. L’apparition soutenue dans l’histoire de ces figures disparates de l’éther, qui a priori ne semblent pas entretenir de relation entre elles, est pour nous la marque de la persistance de l’éther. Nous défendons ici l’argument selon lequel cette persistance ne se résume pas à la constance de l’attribution d’un mot ou d’un nom à différents phénomènes dans l’histoire, mais à l’actualisation d’une même signature, éthérogène. À l’invitation d’Agamben et en nous inspirant des travaux de Nietzsche et Foucault sur l’histoire-généalogie et ceux de Derrida sur la déconstruction, notre thèse amorce une enquête historique motivée par un approfondissement d’une telle théorisation de la signature. Pour y parvenir, nous proposons de placer l’éther, ou plutôt la signature-éther, au cœur de différentes enquêtes historiques préoccupées par le problème de la technologie. En abordant sous cet angle des enjeux disparates – la légitimation des savoirs narratifs, la suspension des sens, la pseudoscience et la magie, les révolutions de l’information, l’obsession pour le sans-fil, l’économie du corps, la virtualisation de la communication, etc. –, nous proposons dans cette thèse autant d’amorces pour une histoire autre, une contre-histoire. / This dissertation stands as an epistemological inquiry into the persistence of the notion of ether within technology’s discursive field. Most often, the word “ether” is understood as a conceptual model in pre-einsteinian physics which designates the medium responsible for the propagation of electromagnetic waves and light. However, this proves to be only one of the many figures of ether. In multiple mythologies and cosmogonies, ether was also the name employed to refer to a sublime and pure fire filling the highest spaces of the universe. Aristotle, for example, named “ether” what he considered to be the “fifth being,” or the “fifth element.” Chemistry also makes use of ether, where the name denominates the compound C4H10O, used as the first general anaesthetic agent at the end of the nineteenth century. From our point of view, the sustained occurrences of ether in these different figures, so disparate indeed that they appear unrelated, marks the manifestation of its persistence. We argue that this persistence should not be narrowed down to a constant attribution of a “word” or a “name” to several historical phenomenons, but rather should be viewed as the actualization of a same etherogeneous “signature.” Responding to an invitation by Italian philosopher Agamben, and building on Nietzsche’s and Foucault’s history-genealogy as well as on Derrida’s deconstruction, our dissertation proposes an historical program oriented towards a theorization of the signature. To do so, we suggest locating the ether, or rather the ether-signature, at the heart of several historical inquiries concerned with the contemporary problem with technology. Approaching some of theses issues –the legitimating of narrative knowledge, the suspension of the senses, pseudoscience and mysticism, information and industrial revolutions, wireless obsessions, body and corporeality, virtualization of communication, etc. –, our dissertation aims at locating and articulating as many baits towards an-other history, a counter-history.