Animal-Assisted Green Care Farming for Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury Purpose To examine the effects of Animal Assisted Therapies with Farm Animals (AATF) with domesticated ducks on depression and anxiety. Aim The proposed study will use single-group time series design and collect survey data to explore the changes in anxiety and depression in patients exposed to AATF. The study will be guided by the Self-Efficacy Theory. The study will involve 30 patients with TBI living in The Crumley House Rehabilitation Center in Limestone, TN. Hypothesis. Engaging in AATF with domesticated ducks will be associated with decrease in anxiety and depression. Approach - Theoretical Framework. Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory will be used to guide this study examining AATF effects on anxiety and depression in patients with TBI. Salutogenesis, Social Support, and Self-Efficacy theories were compared in order to select the best theoretical framework for this study. Methods Time series Quasi-experimental design. The study will examine the effects of AATF on anxiety and depression among patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Because of the unique characteristics of the patient population (all patients have history of TBI) in this facility no other rehabilitation center can be utilized for comparison. Time series design will ensure that all of the participants will be exposed to the therapeutic intervention, it will not be affected by the conventional treatments the participants are receiving. Projected Results and Anticipated Limitations It is expected that AATF will be effective in reduction of Anxiety and Depression symptoms in the patient with TBI Limitations • Possibility of dropouts may compromise sample size and lead to lower statistical power. • AATF based intervention is impossible to conduct in blinded environment. That in turn may contribute to participant’s expectation of positive outcomes of the interventions in this study. This may be considered an example of subject bias. • AATF treatment cannot be completely standardized. Because the treatment is based on interaction with live animals, animal behavior may be different during each visit to the duck pen. Because of that there is a possibility that the study cannot be exactly replicated. • The participants may have different duration or complexity of treatments for anxiety and depression. This may present a confounding factor that we are not able to control in this study. Conclusion This is a pilot study to examine the effects of AATF with domesticated ducks. This study may serve as a basis in developing more research on this topic with expanding the methodology and sampling in the future.

I Sociologiskt perspektiv på Hästunderstödd terapi studeras hur deltagares upplevelser och effekter av Hästunderstödd terapi med någon form av psykosocial inriktning kan förstås ur ett sociologiskt perspektiv. Fyra artiklar som behandlar Hästundersstödd terapi analyseras med ett konstruktivistiskt förhållningssätt och en induktiv ansats har antagits. Resultatet av analysen ställs i relation till tidigare sociologisk forskning och sociologiska teorier som behandlar interaktion, kommunikation och relation mellan människa och djur. Resultatet mynnade i tre kategorier som står i relation till varandra. Kategorierna är: Sociala relationer, emotionell utveckling och identitetsskapande. Analysen visar att både det terapeutiska innehållet och målet med den Hästunderstödda terapin i de fyra analyserade artiklarna till största del innefattar sociala relationer. Utifrån detta dras slutsatsen att deltagares upplevelser och effekter av Hästunderstödd terapi låter sig förstås ur ett sociologiskt perspektiv, då sociala relationer är essentiellt inom sociologin.

The thesis deals with a issue of significance of canistherapy for clients with hearing aid and cochlear implants. Canistherapy, as one of the forms of the zoo-therapy, represents a supporting rehabilitation method based on the contact of the man with the dog and their positive interaction. The theoretical part of the thesis contains the topical terminology of the zoo-rehabilitation and canistherapy, where the author makes the analysis of this topic and deals with influence of the canistherapy on the client with specific defects. Within the theoretical part also the issue of a hearing handicap is defined. The target of the thesis is describing canistherapy as supporting therapeutic method for children with hearing defects. The research is focused on applying the Animal Assisted Therapy method. Based on the qualitative research, four casuistic reports were created describing the importance of the canistherapy for children the hearing defects and their family. For the research, the method of participating observation was applied, method of the analysis of documents (method of the secondary data analysis) and a half-standardized talk. As supplementing method I selected questioning (technology of an questionnaire) with open questions and photo-documentation. The research was made on children of pre-school age after the cochlear implantation coming into the Special Pedagogical Centre for Hearing Handicapped in České Budějovice. The results of the research confirmed that canistherapy influences very positively the total development of the child personality, it contributes to the development of speech as well as communication abilities and psycho-social child development. The thesis may serve as information and study material for beginning and professional canistherapeutical teams, pedagogical, special pedagogical and further professional employees and also the lay public. The information may be disseminated in the form of lectures, by creating publications, leaflets etc..

Introduction This study aims to investigate the possibility of driving multiple NFC antennas with a single NFC-controller by using a multiplexer. An artifact was developed and experiments were conducted in order to evaluate the design choice and in addition, to observe the impact of a multiplexer in an NFC system with respect to the number of successful tag detections, bit error rate (BER), the utilization of automatic antenna tuning (AAT) and the physical distance to the NFC tag. Data collected from the experiments was analyzed, and the results were discussed. The purpose of the thesis was concretized by formulating three research questions: [RQ1] How can the design proposed in the problem statement be implemented? [RQ2] How does the multiplexer impact the system’s ability to detect an NFC tag and read its contents at different distances? [RQ3] To which degree does the AAT-technology compensate for the issues caused by the multiplexer? Method This research has been conducted according to the design science research (DSR) methodology. DSR is a well-established methodology and suits the nature of this research, therefore it is used to answer the research questions. Findings The thesis demonstrates a viable solution using a multiplexer in NFC systems, with reduced detection distance as a factor to consider. The impact of AAT remains inconclusive, requiring further research. Implications This study shows that using a multiplexer in NFC systems can save costs and space, leading to more affordable and compact devices. It enables scalable, advanced NFC devices for diverse applications, encouraging wider adoption. However, developers must consider the impact of a multiplexer on detection distance when designing NFC-based applications Limitations This study has certain limitations. It focuses on a particular multiplexer and NFC antenna type, and specific testing conditions. It does not delve into the potential profitability, diverse applications, security or encryption concerns, compatibility with other devices, compliance with regulations, or hands-on verification of part connectivity.

Purpose To examine the effects of Animal Assisted Therapies with Farm Animals (AATF) with domesticated ducks on depression and anxiety. Aim The proposed study will use single-group time series design and collect survey data to explore the changes in anxiety and depression in patients exposed to AATF. The study will be guided by the Self-Efficacy Theory. The study will involve 30 patients with TBI living in The Crumley House Rehabilitation Center in Limestone, TN. Hypothesis. Engaging in AATF with domesticated ducks will be associated with decrease in anxiety and depression. Approach - Theoretical Framework. Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory will be used to guide this study examining AATF effects on anxiety and depression in patients with TBI. Salutogenesis, Social Support, and Self-Efficacy theories were compared in order to select the best theoretical framework for this study. Methods Time series Quasi-experimental design. The study will examine the effects of AATF on anxiety and depression among patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Because of the unique characteristics of the patient population (all patients have history of TBI) in this facility no other rehabilitation center can be utilized for comparison. Time series design will ensure that all of the participants will be exposed to the therapeutic intervention, it will not be affected by the conventional treatments the participants are receiving. Projected Results and Anticipated Limitations It is expected that AATF will be effective in reduction of Anxiety and Depression symptoms in the patient with TBI Limitations • Possibility of dropouts may compromise sample size and lead to lower statistical power. • AATF based intervention is impossible to conduct in blinded environment. That in turn may contribute to participant’s expectation of positive outcomes of the interventions in this study. This may be considered an example of subject bias. • AATF treatment cannot be completely standardized. Because the treatment is based on interaction with live animals, animal behavior may be different during each visit to the duck pen. Because of that there is a possibility that the study cannot be exactly replicated. • The participants may have different duration or complexity of treatments for anxiety and depression. This may present a confounding factor that we are not able to control in this study. Conclusion This is a pilot study to examine the effects of AATF with domesticated ducks. This study may serve as a basis in developing more research on this topic with expanding the methodology and sampling in the future.

A robot is proficient if its performance for its task(s) satisfies a specific standard. While the design of autonomous robots often emphasizes such proficiency, another important attribute of autonomous robot systems is their ability to evaluate their own proficiency. A robot should be able to conduct proficiency self-assessment (PSA), i.e. assess how well it can perform a task before, during, and after it has attempted the task. We propose the assumption-alignment tracking (AAT) method, which provides time-indexed assessments of the veracity of robot generators' assumptions, for designing autonomous robots that can effectively evaluate their own performance. AAT can be considered as a general framework for using robot sensory data to extract useful features, which are then used to build data-driven PSA models. We develop various AAT-based data-driven approaches to PSA from different perspectives. First, we use AAT for estimating robot performance. AAT features encode how the robot's current running condition varies from the normal condition, which correlates with the deviation level between the robot's current performance and normal performance. We use the k-nearest neighbor algorithm to model that correlation. Second, AAT features are used for anomaly detection. We treat anomaly detection as a one-class classification problem where only data from the robot operating in normal conditions are used in training, decreasing the burden on acquiring data in various abnormal conditions. The cluster boundary of data points from normal conditions, which serves as the decision boundary between normal and abnormal conditions, can be identified by mainstream one-class classification algorithms. Third, we improve PSA models that predict robot success/failure by introducing meta-PSA models that assess the correctness of PSA models. The probability that a PSA model's prediction is correct is conditioned on four features: 1) the mean distance from a test sample to its nearest neighbors in the training set; 2) the predicted probability of success made by the PSA model; 3) the ratio between the robot's current performance and its performance standard; and 4) the percentage of the task the robot has already completed. Meta-PSA models trained on the four features using a Random Forest algorithm improve PSA models with respect to both discriminability and calibration. Finally, we explore how AAT can be used to generate a new type of explanation of robot behavior/policy from the perspective of a robot's proficiency. AAT provides three pieces of information for explanation generation: (1) veracity assessment of the assumptions on which the robot's generators rely; (2) proficiency assessment measured by the probability that the robot will successfully accomplish its task; and (3) counterfactual proficiency assessment computed with the veracity of some assumptions varied hypothetically. The information provided by AAT fits the situation awareness-based framework for explainable artificial intelligence. The efficacy of AAT is comprehensively evaluated using robot systems with a variety of robot types, generators, hardware, and tasks, including a simulated robot navigating in a maze-based (discrete time) Markov chain environment, a simulated robot navigating in a continuous environment, and both a simulated and a real-world robot arranging blocks of different shapes and colors in a specific order on a table.

The approach-avoidance task (AAT) is an implicit task that measures people’s behavioral tendencies to approach or avoid stimuli in the environment. In recent years, it has been used successfully to help explain a variety of health problems (e.g., addictions and phobias). Unfortunately, more recent AAT studies have failed to replicate earlier promising findings. One explanation for these replication failures could be that the AAT does not reliably measure approach-avoidance tendencies. Here, we first review existing literature on the reliability of various versions of the AAT. Next, we examine the AAT’s reliability in a large and diverse sample (N = 1077; 248 of whom completed all sessions). Using a smartphone-based, mobile AAT, we measured participants’ approach-avoidance tendencies eight times over a period of seven months (one measurement per month) in two distinct stimulus sets (happy/sad expressions and disgusting/neutral stimuli). The mobile AAT’s split-half reliability was adequate for face stimuli (r = .85), but low for disgust stimuli (r = .72). Its test–retest reliability based on a single measurement was poor for either stimulus set (all ICC1s < .3). Its test–retest reliability based on the average of all eight measurements was moderately good for face stimuli (ICCk = .73), but low for disgust stimuli (ICCk = .5). Results suggest that single-measurement AATs could be influenced by unexplained temporal fluctuations of approach-avoidance tendencies. These fluctuations could be examined in future studies. Until then, this work suggests that future research using the AAT should rely on multiple rather than single measurements.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silverio Domingos Ribeiro.pdf: 715642 bytes, checksum: f552fbb19004ba25b8a521049da119ef (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-10-28 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo / This study was aimed at collecting all the academic and scientific researches from the Capes Thesis bank, Such data referred to the studies related to the problems concerning the Statistics and Probability teaching; by taking into account the Masters and Phd s degrees which took place from 2000 to 2008. We have compiled fiftyeight researches from twenty-two universities located in the South, Southeast and Midwest of Brazil. Based on the summaries of such researches, we analyzed them and came up with five themes. Our aim is to present this academic and scientific study in a systematic way, in order to provide references for future researchers, concerning the Statistics and Probability teaching. Regarding each theme, we made a meta-analysis of the researches and we can point out that in the theme concerning the process of teaching and learning of Statistics and Probability there was the occurrence of a significant number of studies that used computers as a resource for the teaching of Statistics and Probability. In this thematic line we could also find studies that investigated what the implications of an approach by using the thematic modeling to promote a critical Mathematics were. According to the main theme on the initial and continuing training of teachers of mathematics, most studies were concerned about the attitudes, satisfaction and belief of the teachers in relation to the understanding of this issue. In the theme identified as the teaching practice, beliefs, conceptions and practical knowledge, a great number of researches focused their investigation on the issue of teaching Statistics and Probality at both elementary and high school. In this axis we feel that there is a lack of studies which investigate the use of computers in teaching practice and the effect of this approach in the belief of the teachers in relation to the study of Statistics and Probability. The main theme, about the usage of ICTs in Statistics teaching, investigated how the computer could become a facilitator for the teaching of such subject. Besides, the theme line distance learning (ODL) was investigated by two surveys. In the Theme about curriculum changes, most researches dealt with the issue of conceptual errors in textbooks and their influence in the classroom practice / Este trabalho teve como objetivo fazer um levantamento da produção acadêmica que consta no Banco de Teses da Capes, referente aos trabalhos relacionados com a problemática do ensino da Estatística e da Probabilidade, considerando-se os níveis de mestrado e doutorado, no período de 2000 a 2008. Para levantar essa produção utilizamos como palavras-chave: Ensino da Estatística e Ensino da Probabilidade. A partir dessa pesquisa compilamos cinquenta e oito trabalhos, sendo quarenta e três dissertações e treze teses. Estes trabalhos foram produzidos por vinte e duas universidades localizadas em três regiões brasileiras: Sul, Sudeste e Centro-Oeste. Tomando como base os resumos dessas obras, os trabalhos foram analisados e categorizados em cinco eixos temáticos com intuito de apresentar essa produção de modo sistematizado, oferecendo uma referência para o estudo às futuras pesquisas relacionadas com essa temática. Considerando cada eixo temático, realizamos uma metanálise das pesquisas em que podemos apontar os seguintes resultados. No eixo temático referente ao processo de ensino e aprendizagem da estatística e da probabilidade observamos a ocorrência de um número significativo de pesquisas que utilizaram os computadores como recurso para o ensino da estatística e da probabilidade. Nesse eixo temático também encontramos trabalhos que investigaram quais eram as implicações de uma abordagem utilizando a Modelagem Matemática para promover uma Matemática Crítica. No eixo temático sobre a formação inicial e continuada dos professores de matemática, os trabalhos, na sua maioria, abordaram a questão das atitudes, satisfação e concepção dos professores com relação à compreensão deste assunto. No eixo temático identificado com a prática docente, crenças/ concepções e saberes práticos, um número maior de pesquisas focou suas investigações na problemática do ensino da estatística e da probabilidade no ensino fundamental e médio. Neste eixo sentimos a ausência de trabalhos que investigassem a utilização dos computadores na prática de ensino e qual a influência dessa abordagem para a concepção dos professores com relação ao estudo da estatística e da probabilidade. No eixo temático sobre a utilização das TICs no ensino da estatística, as pesquisas investigaram como o computador pode ser um facilitador para o ensino desta disciplina. Ainda neste eixo temático o ensino à distância (EAD) foi investigado 6 através de duas pesquisas. No eixo temático sobre as mudanças curriculares, grande parte das pesquisas se ocupou da questão dos erros conceituais nos livros didáticos e a influência destes para a prática de sala de aula

<p>This study examined constructions of horses and means staff working with horses parallel to therapy in institutional care ascribes to horses. A narrative method was used and the theoretical framework was social constructionism. A question was asked to the narratives: How can practice in institutional care be understood through these stories? The result showed different pictures of institutional care. Horses seem to provide a multi-faceted therapeutic tool. Through the horses staff could establish relations built on trust with their clients. The stable-environment and the horses provided healthy recreation and a social competence usable for clients in life. The constructions of horses also seemed related to the means ascribed to them in the daily life of the institution. So far there has been little research about animals in Swedish institutional care. If there are animals in institutions they probably fill some kind of function for social work and therefore the phenomena needs to be further examined. Especially as research claim economical and social benefits in using animals in human health care. Animals have been looked upon as trivial but the academic discipline dealing with relations between animals and humans, anthrozoology, has gained respect and is now considered serious.</p>

This study examined constructions of horses and means staff working with horses parallel to therapy in institutional care ascribes to horses. A narrative method was used and the theoretical framework was social constructionism. A question was asked to the narratives: How can practice in institutional care be understood through these stories? The result showed different pictures of institutional care. Horses seem to provide a multi-faceted therapeutic tool. Through the horses staff could establish relations built on trust with their clients. The stable-environment and the horses provided healthy recreation and a social competence usable for clients in life. The constructions of horses also seemed related to the means ascribed to them in the daily life of the institution. So far there has been little research about animals in Swedish institutional care. If there are animals in institutions they probably fill some kind of function for social work and therefore the phenomena needs to be further examined. Especially as research claim economical and social benefits in using animals in human health care. Animals have been looked upon as trivial but the academic discipline dealing with relations between animals and humans, anthrozoology, has gained respect and is now considered serious.