To illustrate the intersection of ethical language and ethical frameworks within technical communication, this dissertation analyzes the history and documentation of the human radiation experiments of the 1940s through the 1970s. Research propositions included clarifying the link between medical documentation and technical communication by reviewing the literature that links the two disciplines from the ancient period to the present; establishing an appropriate historiography for the human radiation experiments by providing a context of the military, political, medical, and rhetorical milieu of the 1940s to the 1970s; closely examining and analyzing actual human radiation experiment documentation, including proposals, letters, memos, and consent forms, looking for established rhetorical constructions that indicate a document adheres to or diverts from specific ethical frameworks; and suggesting the importance of the human radiation documents for studying ethics in technical communication. Close rhetorical analysis of the documents included with this project reveals consistent patterns of metadiscourse, passive and nominal writing styles, and other rhetorical constructions, including negative language, redundancies, hedges, and intensifiers, that could lead a reader to misunderstand the writer's original ethical purpose. Ultimately this project finds that technical communicators cannot classify language itself as ethical or unethical; the language is simply the framework with which the experimenters construct their arguments and communicate their work. Technical communicators can, however, consider the ethical nature of behavior according to specific ethical frameworks and determine whether language contributes to the behavior.

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This project offers a strategy-based curriculum designed to increase academic competence in technical reading for Taiwanese students of English as a foreign language. Strategies include acquiring specialized vocabulary words, enhancing background knowledge, and increasing metacognitive awareness.

Cette thèse s’intéresse aux données de la recherche, dans un contexte d’incitation croissante à leur ouverture. Les données de la recherche sont des informations collectées par les scientifiques dans la perspective d’être utilisées comme preuves d’une théorie scientifique. Il s’agit d’une notion complexe à définir, car contextuelle. Depuis les années 2000, le libre accès aux données occupe une place de plus en plus stratégique dans les politiques de recherche. Ces enjeux ont été relayés par des professions intermédiaires, qui ont développé des services dédiés, destinés à accompagner les chercheurs dans l’application des recommandations de gestion et d’ouverture. La thèse interroge le lien entre idéologie de l’ouverture et pratiques de recherche. Quelles formes de gestion et de partage des données existent dans les communautés de recherche et par quoi sont-elles motivées ? Quelle place les chercheurs accordent-ils à l’offre de services issue des politiques de gestion et d’ouverture des données ? Pour tenter d’y répondre, 57 entretiens ont été réalisés avec des chercheurs de l’Université de Strasbourg dans différentes disciplines. L’enquête révèle une très grande variété de pratiques de gestion et de partage de données. Un des points mis en évidence est que, dans la logique scientifique, le partage des données répond un besoin. Il fait partie intégrante de la stratégie du chercheur, dont l’objectif est avant tout de préserver ses intérêts professionnels. Les données s’inscrivent donc dans un cycle de crédibilité, qui leur confère à la fois une valeur d’usage (pour la production de nouvelles publications) et une valeur d’échange (en tant que monnaie d’échange dans le cadre de collaborations avec des partenaires). L’enquête montre également que les services développés dans un contexte d’ouverture des données correspondent pour une faible partie à ceux qu’utilisent les chercheurs. L’une des hypothèses émises est que l’offre de services arrive trop tôt pour rencontrer les besoins des chercheurs. L’évaluation et la reconnaissance des activités scientifiques étant principalement fondées sur la publication d’articles et d’ouvrages, la gestion et l’ouverture des données ne sont pas considérées comme prioritaires par les chercheurs. La seconde hypothèse avancée est que les services d’ouverture des données sont proposés par des acteurs relativement éloignés des communautés de recherche. Les chercheurs sont davantage influencés par des réseaux spécifiques à leurs champs de recherche (revues, infrastructures…). Ces résultats invitent finalement à reconsidérer la question de la médiation dans l’ouverture des données scientifiques. / The thesis investigates research data, as there is a growing demand for opening them. Research data are information that is collected by scientists in order to be used as evidence for theories. It is a complex, contextual notion. Since the 2000s, open access to scientific data has become a strategic axis of research policies. These policies has been relayed by third actors, who developed services dedicated to support researchers with data management and sharing.The thesis questions the relationship between the ideology of openness and the research practices. Which kinds of data management and sharing practices already exist in research communities? What drives them? Do scientists rely on research data services? Fifty-seven interviews were conducted with researchers from the University of Strasbourg in many disciplines. The survey identifies a myriad of different data management and sharing practices. It appears that data sharing is embedded in the researcher’s strategy: his main goal is to protect his professional interests. Thus, research data are part of a credibility cycle, in which they get both use value (for new publications) and exchange value (as they are traded for other valuable resources). The survey also shows that researchers rarely use the services developed in a context of openness. Two explanations can be put forward. (1) The service offer comes too early to reach researchers’ needs. Currently, data management and sharing are not within researchers’ priorities. The priority is publishing, which is defined as source of reward and recognition of the scientific activities. (2) Data management services are offered by actors outside the research communities. But scientists seem to be more influenced by internal networks, close to their research topics (like journals, infrastructures…). These results prompt us to reconsider the mediation between scientific communities and open research data policies.

No description available.

The study aims to assess performance of Technical Reports as a channel of information for development in the Lesotho context. It concurrently evaluates how a specialized information unit of the Institute of Southern African Studies (lSAS) has performed in its obligation to devise adequate mechanisms for managing the report literature and meeting the development-related needs of users. In order to achieve that aim, the study contextualized development as a process, state, and condition and highlighted some development indicators for Lesotho. Agriculture and gender were selected as sectors of development. Global conferences, as one of the many development strategies that generate technical reports heavily, were used as a benchmark. In the performance and impact assessment methodologies, case study techniques were applied with ISAS as a site and one unit ofanalysis. Technical Reports (TRs) on Lesotho were studied. Triangulation approaches were applied in sourcing data. The academics, information workers, government officials, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and aid agencies based in Lesotho were surveyed. Research questions that guided the study centred on the productivity, distribution of technical reports, their management by intermediaries, use, non-use and the effects thereon. Seven types ofTechnical Reports feature in the development process, namely Academic, Project, Conference, Survey, Enquiry, Official and Special Committee Reports. Technical Reports are produced at varying levels depending on needs and approaches to development by producers or commissioning bodies. Academic Reports are authored mostly by the academics. The Government, Aid agencies and NGOs produce widely through external consultants/experts, who utilize centres such as ISAS where commissioning bodies do not have information services. TRs productivity is high and diverse in Lesotho, but capacity to manage the output is seemingly low, and hence under-utilization results; ISAS's out-dated mission, lack of, or limited resources and dejure national support in the form of acts and statutes affect the Institute's Technical Reports' services. Production is gender biased, thus making for imbalance in reporting on development. Agriculture as a sector is heavily researched and reported about, but the benefits to the populace are either few or non-existent. Restricted materials are estimated at 30%, but most ofthe TRs are unaccounted for. Hoarding and poor records or information management leave a vacuum that leads to a duplication of previous studies and production. The study confirmed that technical reports are required by all the surveyed groups. Technical Reports are not ofa transient nature even though they reach a peak oftopicality and use at certain periods. Where the channel conveys factual data timeously, there are developmental benefits. Low or non-use is common where there are no specialized information services especially within the civil service. Such negative factors cause delays and infrequent currency, inadequate reporting and erroneous budgetary allocations, for example. Seeminglythere is no clarity on what restricted, secret and limited materials mean. Major recommendations were made. One concerned an integrated approach to managing the channel. This would involve preparing a Manual for the production of Technical Reports which would clarify how to prepare them; for instance, the caliber of personneVexperts who should author reports, the conditions to be observed, the timeliness production, reliability of data used, and centres that would be acknowledged to then qualify for commensurate financial and other support. The other proposes that the envisaged National Research Council be given the powers to enforce the guidelines ofthe manual and related functions. The last recommends assigning to the documentalistsfor classified Technical Reports, the role of managing classified items. Consideration should also be given to important issues raised in the study, being the role of Information, Communication and Technologies (lCTs), sectors of development to be attended to, training and networking in technical report\s. Further studies are also recommended mainly for the causes and effects of the closures of information services that managed technical reports' in southern Africa; longitudinal studies on the impact of non-use oftechnical reports in major sectors ofdevelopment like Agriculture; comparative studies on the impact of specialized centres in the developed and developing countries. Further action is urged under the aegis ofbodies like the Standing Conference ofEastem, Central and Southern African Librarians (SCECSAL), Standing Conference of National and University Librarians. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Le décloisonnement des économies et l’accélération mondiale des échanges commerciaux ont, en une décennie à peine, transformés l’environnement concurrentiel des entreprises. La zone d’activités s’est élargie en ouvrant des nouveaux marchés à potentiels très attrayants. Ainsi en est-il des BRIC (Brésil, Russie, Inde et Chine). De ces quatre pays, impressionnants par la superficie, la population et le potentiel économique qu’ils représentent, la Chine est le moins accessible et le plus hermétique à notre compréhension de par un système linguistique distinct des langues indo-européennes d’une part et du fait d’une culture et d’un système de pensée aux antipodes de ceux de l’occident d’autre part. Pourtant, pour une entreprise de taille internationale, qui souhaite étendre son influence ou simplement conserver sa position sur son propre marché, il est aujourd’hui absolument indispensable d’être présent sur le marché chinois. Comment une entreprise occidentale aborde-t-elle un marché qui de par son altérité, apparaît tout d’abord comme complexe et foncièrement énigmatique ? Six années d’observation en Chine, nous ont permis de constater les écueils dans l’accès à l’information concernant le marché chinois. Comme sur de nombreux marchés extérieurs, nos entreprises sont soumises à des déstabilisations parfois inimaginables. L’incapacité à « lire » la Chine et à comprendre les enjeux qui s’y déroulent malgré des effets soutenus, les erreurs tactiques qui découlent d’une mauvaise appréciation du marché ou d’une compréhension biaisée des jeux d’acteurs nous ont incités à réfléchir à une méthodologie de décryptage plus fine de l’environnement d’affaire qui puisse offrir aux entreprises françaises une approche de la Chine en tant que marché. Les méthodes de l’Intelligence Economique (IE) se sont alors imposées comme étant les plus propices pour plusieurs raisons : le but de l’IE est de trouver l’action juste à mener, la spécificité du contexte dans lequel évolue l’organisation est prise en compte et l’analyse se fait en temps réel. Si une approche culturelle est faite d’interactions humaines et de subtilités, une approche « marché » est dorénavant possible par le traitement automatique de l’information et de la modélisation qui s’en suit. En effet, dans toute démarche d’Intelligence Economique accompagnant l’implantation d’une activité à l’étranger, une grande part de l’information à portée stratégique vient de l’analyse du jeu des acteurs opérants dans le même secteur d’activité. Une telle automatisation de la création de connaissance constitue, en sus de l’approche humaine « sur le terrain », une réelle valeur ajoutée pour la compréhension des interactions entre les acteurs car elle apporte un ensemble de connaissances qui, prenant en compte des entités plus larges, revêtent un caractère global, insaisissable par ailleurs. La Chine ayant fortement développé les technologies liées à l’économie de la connaissance, il est dorénavant possible d’explorer les sources d’information scientifiques et techniques chinoises. Nous sommes en outre convaincus que l’information chinoise prendra au fil du temps une importance de plus en plus cruciale. Il devient donc urgent pour les organisations de se doter de dispositifs permettant non seulement d’accéder à cette information mais également d’être en mesure de traiter les masses d’informations issues de ces sources. Notre travail consiste principalement à adapter les outils et méthodes issues de la recherche française à l’analyse de l’information chinoise en vue de la création de connaissances élaborées. L’outil MATHEO, apportera par des traitements bibliométriques une vision mondiale de la stratégie chinoise. TETRALOGIE, outil dédié au data-mining, sera adapté à l’environnement linguistique et structurel des bases de données scientifiques chinoises. En outre, nous participons au développement d’un outil d’information retreival (MEVA) qui intègre les données récentes des sciences cognitives et oeuvrons à son application dans la recherche de l’information chinoise, pertinente et adéquate. Cette thèse étant réalisée dans le cadre d’un contrat CIFRE avec le Groupe Limagrain, une application contextualisée de notre démarche sera mise en œuvre dans le domaine des biotechnologies agricoles et plus particulièrement autour des enjeux actuels de la recherche sur les techniques d’hybridation du blé. L’analyse de ce secteur de pointe, qui est à la fois une domaine de recherche fondamentale, expérimentale et appliquée donne actuellement lieu à des prises de brevets et à la mise sur le marché de produits commerciaux et représente donc une thématique très actuelle. La Chine est-elle réellement, comme nous le supposons, un nouveau territoire mondial de la recherche scientifique du 21e siècle ? Les méthodes de l’IE peuvent-elles s’adapter au marché chinois ? Après avoir fourni les éléments de réponses à ces questions dans es deux premières parties de notre étude, nous poserons en troisième partie, le contexte des biotechnologies agricoles et les enjeux mondiaux en terme de puissance économico-financière mais également géopolitique de la recherche sur l’hybridation du blé. Puis nous verrons en dernière partie comment mettre en œuvre une recherche d’information sur le marché chinois ainsi que l’intérêt majeur en terme de valeur ajoutée que représente l’analyse de l’information chinoise / The rise of globalization, including technological innovations and the dismantling of trade barriers, has spurred the steady acceleration of global trade and, in barely a decade, has transformed the competitive environment of enterprises. The area of activity has been expanded by the emergence of new markets with very attractive potential. So are the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Among the four of them, all impressive by their size, population and economic potential they represent, China is the least accessible and the more closed to our understanding because of a linguistic system radically different from the Indo-European languages on the one hand and of the fact of a culture and a thought system at odds with those of Western countries. Yet for a company of international size, which wants to extend its influence or simply to maintain its market position, including its own market, it is now essential to be present on the Chinese market. How does a western company operate on a market that appears at first as inherently complex and enigmatic because of its otherness? During six years of observation in China, we have found out the pitfalls in access to information about the Chinese market. As on many markets, our companies are subject to some unimaginable destabilization. The inability to “read” China and understand the issues that take place in spite of sustained efforts, the tactical errors that arise from a misjudgement of the market or a biased understanding of the game players led us to consider a methodology that could provide French companies an approach to China as a market. The methodologies of Business Intelligence (BI) came out to be the most suitable for several reasons: the goal of BI is to find out the right action to realise, the specificity of the context in which the organization is evolving is taken into consideration and the analysis is done just in time. If a cultural approach is made of human interactions and subtleties, a market approach is now possible by the automatic processing of information and its modelling. In any process of economic intelligence accompanying the establishment of a foreign operation, a large part of the strategic information comes from analysis of the game players operating in the same sector of activity. Such an automation of knowledge creation is, in addition to the human approach on the field, a real high value added to help the understanding of the interactions between the players. It provides a set of knowledge, which taking into account more large entities, are more comprehensive. They are more elusive anywhere else. Because has highly developed technologies linked to the knowledge economy, it is now possible to explore the scientific and technological sources of information science in China. We are also convinced that Chinese sources of information will take a more and more crucial importance in any global watch. It is therefore an urgent need for organizations to get solutions that not only allow the access to this information but also are able to handle the masses of information from these sources. The aim of this thesis is mainly to adapt the tools and the methods invented by French university research to the analysis of Chinese information in order to create useful knowledge. Matheo software will provide some bibliometrical treatments that will give a global vision of the Chinese strategy. Tetralogy software, a tool dedicated to data-mining, will be tailored to the linguistic environment and to the structure of the Chinese scientific databases. In addition, we participate in the development of a method for the information retrieval (MEVA) which integrates the data of recent discoveries in cognitive science. We develop this method to the research of the relevant and appropriate information among the Chinese datas. As this thesis is conduced under a contract university /enterprise with Limagrain, an application of our approach will be implemented in the field of agricultural biotechnology and in particular around issues of research on techniques for hybridization of wheat. The analysis of this sector, which is an area of fundamental research, experimental and applied is a very current topic as it gives rise to the acquisition of patents and to the marketing of commercial products. Is China really, as we suppose to, a new territory Global Scientific Research of the 21st century? Can the methods of BI be adapted to the Chinese market? After providing some answers to these questions in the first two parts of our study, the third part will describe the global context of agricultural biotechnologies and its issues in terms of economic and financial power but also geopolitical. Then we will focus on the problematic of research on hybridization wheat. Then we will see in the fourth and last part how to implement a search for information on the Chinese market and the major interest in terms of added value of information analysis in China

This work disserts upon information policy in Czechoslovakia in the 70`s and 80`s the 20th century. It concerns with program of national information policy for scientific and technical development P18 and P13 and its partial aims and tasks. It enters into details of activities of Central technical base, its services and functions in four five-year plans of national economy. It analyses System of Central technical base and its individual modules. It follows development of computer technique and information transfer technology. It concerns with International system of scientific and technical information and cooperation between countries of Council for Mutual Economic Assistance in connection with Central technical base (for example: information line Moscow-Prague-Vienna). This work is devoted to Center of computerized information exchange which negotiates a connection to countries in soviet area and also connection to capitalistic vendors. At the end there is a short part about development after 1990.