What is the driving strategy? creative business management, state of the art technology or smart textiles, focussing on the T&C industry of Pakistanthesis is about finding out the strategy which is driving the Pakistani textile industry and the problems this industry is facing and the problems in terms of creative business management, state of the art technology or the smart textiles that are keeping the industry for making further progress / Program: Master programme in Applied Textile Management

This thesis examines the Swedish Government Cyber Security Strategy laid out for the years 2016-2022 using Carol Bacchi’s discourse method and theory concept “What’s the problem represented to be” (WPR). The theoretical framework of the thesis also builds on critical theories on security- and threat perception following the concept of “exceptionalist securitising” and “diffusing insecurities”. The study suggests that the government has a national security focus that stresses “high politics” cyber threats rather than risks related to individuals and the Swedish society. Potential enemies are presented as located outside of the national boarders indicating a more traditional security perspective and enemy construction coming from other states. The study also disclosed that the strategy strives to stress the necessity of raising the awareness on cyber security as well as uniting the authorities working on cyber security while neglecting the democratic limits that political actions such as state-monitoring and data surveillance implicates.

Submitted by William Justo Figueiro (williamjf) on 2015-07-27T21:45:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 13d.pdf: 1162077 bytes, checksum: 608d6cf61021e693ab5f04d08af841a6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-27T21:45:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 13d.pdf: 1162077 bytes, checksum: 608d6cf61021e693ab5f04d08af841a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-04-18 / Nenhuma / Esta dissertação busca relacionar o conceito de multidão de Antonio Negri e Michael Hardt e o indymedia center – rede global de coletivos de mídia independente – para a criação de conceito, o de jornalismo de multidão. O conceito proposto se refere à resistência principalmente às mídias hegemônicas. O indymedia é feito pela multidão, os grupos de resistência dos pobres e os movimentos por outra globalização, e ele faz multidão, por tentar criar território a-centrado. Pensado assim, o indymedia é mapa aberto a inúmeras singularidades, o que nos remete ao nosso problema: quais são os elementos do mapa da resistência permitido pelo indymedia? A dissertação faz duplo movimento: pesquisa teórica de autores da crítica, como Antonio Negri, Michael Hardt, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari e Giuseppe Cocco; e pesquisa de documentos da rede indymedia. As relações entre esses dois movimentos permitem com que o jornalismo de multidão seja continuidade dessas teorias no campo das mídias. / The purpose of this dissertation is to link Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt's concept of crowd to indymedia center - a global network of independent media - to create a new concept: the concept of “crowd journalism”. The suggested concept refers especially to the resistance to the hegemonic media. Indymedia is made by the crowd, by resistance groups of the poor and by movements for a different globalization and it makes crowd, by trying to create a non-centered territory. Thus, Indymedia is an open map of countless uniquenesses, what directs us to our problem: what elements of the resistence map are enabled by Indymedia? The dissertation passes by two topics - theoretical research in authors of the criticism, like Antonio Negri, Michael Hardt, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Giuseppe Cocco; and research of documents of Indymedia network. The links between theses topics allow “crowd journalism” to be the continuity of these theories in media fields.

Objective: This study investigates the application of aesthetic principles to designed objects with which we interact, specifically looking at the impact of perceived function of the objects on perceptions of visual appeal. Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that a product’s judged beauty or visual appeal is related to perceptions of its usability. Arguments have been put forward for both directions of causality leading to “what is beautiful is usable” and “what is usable is beautiful” hypotheses. Explanations for the relationship between usability and beauty judgments include stereotype effects, ecological explanations, and cognitive processing viewpoints. The current studies contribute to this debate by manipulating usability and aesthetic principles independently to determine whether well-established aesthetic principles are contingent on perceived function. Method: 248 participants were recruited for two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants viewed sixteen illustrations that varied in ways that frequently increase the beauty of objects (i.e., basic principles such as symmetry, balanced massing, curvature, and prototypicality) and rated their degree of visual appeal. In Experiment 2, participants rated the appeal of the same stimuli as in Experiment 1 but were primed by instructions describing the illustrations as either alternative designs for microwave control panels or designs of building façades. Results: Strong support for the aesthetic principles of symmetry and spatial massing, but not curvature, were found in both experiments. Participants generally preferred stimuli that were symmetrical and evenly massed (i.e., "balanced"). Additionally, the manipulation of a functional prime significantly interacted with several aesthetic principles that relate to the match between the supplied prime and the prototypicality of the stimulus for the primed class of objects. Conclusions: Aesthetic principles of symmetry and spatial massing can be considered very potent ways to influence a user’s degree of perceived visual appeal that are resistant to specific use cases or situations. Other principles, such as curvature preferences, seem to be limited by the prototypicality of curvature for a primed class of objects. So when considering whether “what is beautiful is usable” or “what is usable is beautiful," the results from the current study demonstrate that it may be more appropriate to say "what is familiar is beautiful."

This study involved using a classroom environment questionnaire in North Carolina to assess and improve biology classroom environments and to relate classroom environment to the student outcomes of achievement and attitudes. Part 1 of the study involved 364 Grade 9 and 10 students in Biology 1 at a large comprehensive urban high school in Charlotte, North Carolina. These students completed preferred and actual forms of a modified version of the What Is Happening In this Class? learning environment questionnaire assessing student cohesiveness, teacher support, involvement, investigation, task orientation, cooperation, and equity. Also an eight-item scale from the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA) was included to measure students' attitudes towards science. Finally, student achievement in biology was assessed using the results of a districtwide achievement test. Analyses of data collected in Part 1 of the study supported the WIHIC's a priori factor structure, internal consistency reliability, discriminant validity and ability to differentiate between the perceptions of students in different classrooms. Investigation of gender and ethnic (black vs non-black) differences in classroom environment revealed no ethnic differences, but there were gender differences for several scales (with boys perceiving more involvement and investigation and less cooperation than girls). / Various analyses of outcome-environment relationships suggested that student achievement is higher in more cohesive classes, whereas student attitudes to science are particularly favourable in investigative, task-oriented and equitable classes. Part 2 involved one class in intervention aimed at improving both classroom environment and student achievement by giving greater emphasis to those features of the learning environment found to be empirically linked to achievement in Part 1. The students involved in the intervention were chosen because they were `at risk' of failing at school. It was found that this intervention involving a cooperative action research plan led to improvement in both classroom environment and achievement for these `at risk' students. Because the methods used in the intervention are lowcost and available to most teachers, they are of wide potential interest to others.

This study investigated the educational practices and learning outcomes in rural and urban lower secondary school science classrooms of Kalimantan Selatan, Indonesia. Guided by six research questions, this study focused on curriculum implementation and its association with the existing working and learning environment, learning process and learning outcomes. The investigations were conducted in two stages and used two research methods. The classroom learning environment and school level environment were investigated at the first stage using the questionnaire survey as a research method. The questionnaires were developed and validated with a sample of 1188 Year 9 students and their teachers in 16 schools. Validation of the questionnaire confirmed that the Indonesian version of the modified WMIC is a valid and reliable instrument to measure the classroom learning environment in the Indonesian educational context. The results regarding the status of the classroom learning environment are summarised in four assertions. First, students tended to prefer a more favourable classroom learning environment than the one they actually experienced. Second, female students generally held slightly more positive perceptions of both actual and preferred learning environments. Third, students in rural schools experienced a less positive learning environment than did their counterparts in urban areas. Fourth, teachers’ perceptions were more favourable than their students on both the actual and preferred learning environment for all seven scales, except on Task Orientation in which their perceptions were matched. This study also confirmed that the Indonesian version of SLEQ, administered to relatively small number of respondents, has gained in merit as a good instrument. / Each scale of the Indonesian SLEQ has acceptable internal consistency reliability and was able to differentiate between the perceptions of teachers in different schools. Further analysis indicated differences between perceptions of school environments of biology and physics teachers and of rural and urban school teachers, particularly on Resources Adequacy. This study also indicated the differences between teachers’ views of the actual and preferred school environments in which the differences are not only statistically but also practically significant. It is suggested that research for improving school environments, by matching teachers’ actual and preferred perceptions, is noteworthy and more research needs to be conducted. The second stage of this study explored the existing science curriculum documents, teachers’ perceptions of the science curriculum, the implementation of science curriculum in the classrooms, and the students’ outcomes in school science. In lower secondary school, science is compulsory for all students of all Year levels, and is aimed to introduce the students to the basic concepts of scientific knowledge and to emphasize the use of tools and equipment during laboratory observations. Science in the lower secondary school consists of physics and biology subjects that were taught separately, but were given the same amount of classroom periods per week. The content was organized into themes or topics. Despite the content to be taught, the development of students’ process skills and students’ attitudes towards science and the environment were also emphasized. / The suggested teaching approaches included the conceptual approach, the problem-solving approach, the inductive-deductive approach and the environmental approach, whereas the suggested teaching methods in science classroom are the experimental method, the demonstration method, the discussion method, the excursion method and the lecturing method. The evaluation and assessment sections of the curriculum documents expected science teachers to systematically and continuously assess the students. Three techniques were suggested to conduct evaluation in the science classroom, which included paper and pencil tests, verbal evaluations, and practical tests. Science teachers and superintendents possessed different perceptions of the science curriculum as expressed in their preferences towards curriculum metaphors. The metaphor ‘Curriculum as Content or as Subject Matter’ was a view perceived by three teachers. ‘Curriculum as intended learning outcome’ was the second metaphor preferred by two teachers, who hold this view for different reasons. In contrast, two superintendents expressed their most preference on the metaphors ‘Curriculum as discrete task and concepts’ and ‘Curriculum as programme planned activity’, respectively. Investigation of the implementation of the science curriculum in the classrooms confirmed that science-teaching practices in urban lower secondary schools was in agreement with those suggested in the curriculum documents. / Science teachers in urban schools tended to use a variety of teaching methods, employed good questioning techniques, provided clear explanations and had high outcomes expectation, and maintained effective classroom management. On the other hand, to some extend science teaching practice in the rural lower secondary schools was not as expected in the curriculum document. Mostly, teachers in rural schools tended to use traditional chalk-and-talk teaching methods, employed a limited questioning techniques, had relatively unclear outcomes expectation, and performed less effective classroom management skills. With regard to students’ outcomes, this study showed less favourable results. Students’ attitudinal outcomes, which were measured by the Indonesian version of adapted TOSRA, were not maximised, and students’ cognitive outcomes are disappointing. The mean scores on the national wide examination, which is 5.46 out of possible maximum score of 10.00, indicated the poor performance of students in learning School Science. No statistically significantly differences were found on attitudinal outcomes between rural and urban and between male and female students’ perceptions. However, the study identified that students’ cognitive scores were statistically significantly different between rural and urban schools. Students in urban schools scored higher in the examination than did their counterparts in rural schools. The study found association between students’ outcomes and the status of classroom learning environments. Both simple analysis and multiple regression analysis procedures showed that all scales of the Indonesian WMIC were statistically significantly associated with two scales of the Indonesian adapted TOSRA and students’ cognitive scores.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the differences between upper-stream, lower-stream and mixed-ability mathematics classes in terms of student perceptions of their classroom learning environment. Both quantitative and qualitative data has been collected from students while qualitative data only was collected from pre-service teachers, practising teachers and parents. The sample for the quantitative data collection was comprised of 581 Year 9 and 10 students in 36 different classes taught by 28 different teachers in 7 schools covering 4 states of Australia. All of the schools are private schools and part of the Seventh-day Adventist school system. The questionnaire used an actual and preferred form of the 56 item version of the What is Happening in the Classroom? (WIHIC) survey along with 10 questions from the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA) modified for mathematics classrooms. For the qualitative data collection 40 interviews and 8 focus groups were conducted. Apart from comparing upper and lower-streams, other variables examined were: actual and preferred perceptions of the classroom learning environment, Year 9 with Year 10, males with females, English speakers with second language students, and attitudes with perceptions of learning environments. The most significant finding of the study was not only that lower-stream students have a more negative perception of their classroom learning environment, but that they seek less change. This negative perception is seen to be worse in Year 10 than Year 9, particularly in the areas of teacher support and task orientation. This study found a positive correlation between attitude and perceptions of classroom learning environment. This study also found a tacit acceptance of streaming as a practice by most participants in the study.

Today’s computing vision makes users to access services, applications via lightweight portable devices instead of powerful personal computers (PC). Since today’s applications and services need strong computing power and data storage, raising question will be “Who will provide these 2 attributes if users do not?” Cloud computing trend moves computing power and data storage from users’ side to application infrastructure side. The services that traditionally stored in users’ own computers will move into cloud computing platform and delivered by the Internet to its users. This new platform comes with its own benefits and design characteristics. Since all information data will move into another platform than individual computers, information visualization will be an opportunity field to analyze and maintain the cloud system structure as well as delivering abstract data into meaningful way to end users.

Always, researchers are trying to use different ways to describe the concept ¡§Motivation¡¨. Different definition of motivation will develop different theory. However, there are two points under below at least: First is the fitness of the culture, the concept of the Western would have the specific background, will not fit in the individual person with other culture. Second, to ease the verifying of the science, most of the researches only discuss the relationship of immediate variables but neglect the influence of individual personality in different points of time. This study will combine the concepts of motivation and creativity through integrating work motivation theories and following up Teresa M. Amabile¡¦s research to build up the ¡§Personal Creative Process Model¡¨. The research model includes: the environment of organization, the process of perception, motivation, behavior and outcome. Especially, process of perception includes personality, criterion and response. ¡§Criterion¡¨ refers to personal need and value which are influenced by social environment and culture in country. Addition, ¡§Response¡¨ refers to attitude and emotion which are influenced by time. In this study, I use the concepts, ¡§Criterion¡¨ and ¡§Response¡¨, to compensate the loss of old motivation theories. Supposing the variable, ¡§Criterion¡¨, is determined, this study¡¦s purpose will find out the relationship of other variables and how these variables influence creativity. Next, using questionnaire to capture responses of college student and work adult will help us to understand the relationship of these responses. The questionnaire, this study uses, includes: ¡§Cognitive Style Instrument¡¨, ¡§What Is Happening in This Class? Questionnaire¡¨, ¡§KEYS¡¨ and ¡§The Work Preference Inventory¡¨. In addition, this study uses the grade of students to represent personal creativity and analyze the relationship between creativity and other constructs. The conclusion shows cognitive style indeed affects creativity, but the relations are different from theory. Furthermore, cognitive style and response/motivation are almost independent. To infer, the response and motivation are intervening variables between personality and creativity. Finally, regression analysis by students, this study got the result: ¡§Close by the factor is the key element of the creativity performance¡¨.

I investigate the relationship among the notions of meaning, content, and what is said. It is widely held that indexicals – words like 'this', 'I', or 'today' – contribute their reference, and nothing but their reference, to the semantic content, and thereby undermine any tentative identification of semantic content with lexical meaning. Against the mainstream view, I argue that semantic content is lexical meaning, for indexical and non-indexical expressions alike. In Chapter 1, I lay down this proposal in all due detail, explaining how to think of the semantic content of sentences containing indexicals, and articulating the relationship between content, truth, and reference. In Chapter 2, I present a number of problems for the existing accounts of what is said, and then show that if we think of semantic content along the lines of my proposal, we may account for the problematic cases while identifying the asserted content (or what is said) with semantic content. In Chapter 3, I show how my account extends, on the one hand, to definite descriptions and proper names, and, on the other, to epistemic modals and predicates of taste.