Different tracing techniques of the subperiosteal and endosteal contours (manual, automatic, semi-automatic) or their combinations taken along femoral length in adult individuals can produce different values of cross-sectional geometric (CSG) parameters. Various tracing techniques are widely used in CSG studies of non-adult individuals as well, however, the accuracy of CSG parameters estimated along femoral diaphysis is not yet known for non-adult individuals. In this study, we investigate whether the manual tracing of the subperiosteal and endosteal contours taken at 80% of the femoral diaphyseal length in non-adult individuals can be replaced by another type of tracing in relation to CSG parameters estimation. We examine the effect of anatomical localization on accuracy of the CSG parameters estimated in non-adult individuals femora. We digitized the subperiosteal and endosteal contours in the micro-CT scans from femoral diaphyseal cross-sections in Early Medieval sample of non-adult individuals (N = 46). The digitization and computation of CSG parameters were made in Fiji software with EPJMacro implementation. The assessment of estimates' accuracy was expressed by percentage prediction error (%PE) and limits of agreement. Five percent of CSG parameter obtained from manually traced contours was...

hälsotillstånd. Individer med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning, autism, eller båda nedsättningar, har ofta högre risk att hamna i social isolering än individer utan dessa funktionsnedsättningar. Forskning saknas kring hur Augmented Reality-spel kan tillämpas för att underlätta sociala interaktioner för vuxna individer med autism, intellektuell funktionsnedsättning, eller båda funktionsnedsättningar. Tidigare forskning undersöker ämnet mer generellt och fokuserar mer frekvent på barn och unga individer som målgrupp, denna forskning har dock visat positiva resultat gällande Augmented Reality som stöd för utlärandet av viktiga vardagskunskaper. Det problem denna studie ämnar att undersöka är hur vuxna individer med dessa typer av funktionsnedsättningar har en högre risk att hamna i social isolering, samt att det idag finns en brist på forskning kring riktlinjer om hur spel kan utformas för denna målgrupp. Social isolering är när en individ upplever social ensamhet, bristfällig kontakt med familj, social oro och depression Genom att utveckla en Augmented Reality-app-prototyp ämnar författarna att undersöka dess potential för att öka sociala interaktioner mellan vuxna individer med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning, autism eller båda funktionsnedsättningar. Genom att individerna använder funktionen i appen “ring en vän” så uppstår det en chans för att de träffas. På det sättet hoppas författarna av denna studie att slutprodukten skulle kunna skapa fler sociala interaktioner. Datainsamlingen utförs genom observationer och intervjuer med personal från en daglig verksamhet som dagligen interagerar med individer från målgruppen, med syfte att ge kunskap om Augmented Reality som undervisningshjälpmedel för individer med förutnämnda funktionsnedsättningar. Författarna av denna studie kodar och kategoriserade sedan datan i teman för att undersöka resultatet. I denna studie uppkommer det att det är svårt för personalen på den dagliga verksamheten att motverka social isolering för individerna med de förutnämnda funktionsnedsättningarna. Resultatet visar att det finns intresse och potential för Augmented Reality som ett hjälpmedel för att motverka social isolering. Författarna uppfattar det som att studien har brister då den data som samlats in inte hämtats från den aktuella målgruppen. Framtida forskning skulle kunna vidareutveckla artefakten som har skapats för denna studie. Framtida forskning skulle också kunna utforska möjligheten att utveckla “ring en vän” funktionen till ett verktyg som skulle kunna appliceras på olika applikationer / Social isolation, which is when an individual is distanced from their desired or necessary social networks, can lead to deteriorated mental health. Individuals with intellectual disabilities, autism, or both disabilities often have a higher risk of experiencing social isolation compared to individuals without these disabilities. There is a lack of research on how Augmented Reality games can be applied to facilitate social interactions for adults with autism, intellectual disabilities, or both disabilities. Previous research has explored the topic more generally and has focused more frequently on children and young individuals as the target audience. However, this research has shown positive results regarding the use of Augmented Reality as a support for learning essential life skills. The problem this study aims to investigate is how adults with these types of disabilities are at a higher risk of experiencing social isolation, and there is currently a lack of research on guidelines for designing games for this target group. Social isolation occurs when an individual experiences social loneliness, lack of contact with family, social anxiety, and depression. By developing an Augmented Reality app prototype, the authors intend to examine its potential to increase social interactions among adults with intellectual disabilities, autism, or both disabilities. By using the "call a friend" feature in the app, there is an opportunity for individuals to meet face to face. In this way, we hope that the end product could create more social interactions. Data collection is performed through observations and interviews with staff from a daily activity center who interact with individuals from the target group on a daily basis. The purpose is to provide knowledge about the use of Augmented Reality as an educational tool for individuals with the aforementioned disabilities. The authors of this study then code and categorize the data into themes to investigate the results. This study reveals that it is challenging for the staff at the daily activity center to counteract social isolation for individuals with the aforementioned disabilities. The results demonstrate that there is interest and potential for Augmented Reality as a tool to counteract social isolation. The authors perceive the study to have limitations as the data collected was not obtained directly from the actual target group. Future research could further develop the artifact that has been created,and could also explore the possibility of expanding the "call a friend" function into a tool that could be applied to different applications.

Submitted by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2017-05-05T23:23:43Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação - SILVA-PINTO (2016).pdf: 21201769 bytes, checksum: 9aa83582fd61c6b36c3b56e9436a66ca (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2017-05-05T23:24:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação - SILVA-PINTO (2016).pdf: 21201769 bytes, checksum: 9aa83582fd61c6b36c3b56e9436a66ca (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-05T23:24:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação - SILVA-PINTO (2016).pdf: 21201769 bytes, checksum: 9aa83582fd61c6b36c3b56e9436a66ca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-16 / Sem bolsa / Este estudo investiga a aquisição das vogais anteriores arredondadas [y], [q] e [E] do francês por locutoras brasileiras adultas, proficientes em francês (L2). De acordo com a literatura (ALCÂNTARA, 1998; RESTREPO, 2011), a aquisição das vogais anteriores arredondadas do francês por aprendizes adultos brasileiros mostra-se uma tarefa complexa, tanto em termos de percepção quanto de produção. Diante disso, neste trabalho, procuramos contribuir ao entendimento dessa complexidade e fomentar os poucos estudos brasileiros envolvendo sujeitos proficientes em francês (L2) e a aquisição dos referidos sons. Desse modo, buscamos responder de que maneira os locutores brasileiros adultos, proficientes em francês (L2), lidam com sons alheios à fonologia da sua LM, no que concerne à sua percepção e produção. Para tanto, objetivamos, especificamente, detectar o grau de acuidade com o qual as vogais-alvo são identificadas e discriminadas pelas participantes avaliadas, bem como definir o comportamento acústico desses sons em sua fala, de modo que seja possível explicar uma provável produção autêntica dos segmentos franceses investigados em função de as informantes os identificarem, discriminarem e articularem. Diante disso, dois grupos de informantes participam desta pesquisa: o composto pelas brasileiras, três professoras-pesquisadoras de FLE no ensino superior público brasileiro, residentes em Pelotas/RS, e o formado por uma locutora francesa nativa, da região parisiense, a qual constitui o grupo controle e cujos dados se somam aos disponíveis na literatura. Para a coleta dos dados de produção em ambos os grupos, foram elaborados quatro experimentos, três envolvendo vogais orais francesas e o outro vogais orais do PB, as quais se encontravam em palavras e logatomas do francês e do PB, produzidos dentro de frases-veículo. Para a coleta dos dados de percepção relativos às vogais do francês, foram construídos quatro experimentos, dois testes de identificação e dois testes de discriminação. A metodologia utilizada na construção desses experimentos foi baseada, em parte, naquela elaborada por Restrepo (2011), com adaptações para atender aos objetivos específicos deste trabalho. As coletas ocorreram em ambiente acústico controlado (cabine acústica), com a utilização de um gravador digital Zoom H4N e de um par de fones de ouvido modelo AKG K 44. Os dados coletados foram analisados acústica e estatisticamente, por meio dos softwares Praat (versões 6.0.08 e 6.0.19) e SPSS Statistics (versão 17.0), respectivamente. Os resultados obtidos, interpretados à luz do modelo HipCort (MCCLELLAND et al.,1995), um modelo dinâmico de formação da memória e do aprendizado, confirmam nossa tese do potencial êxito de nossas informantes na aquisição dos sons investigados, pois identificam, discriminam e produzem acuradamente as vogais anteriores arredondadas do francês, demonstrando terem se distanciado de uma possível influência de sua LM. Os resultados alcançados contribuem, portanto, para se refutar a existência da atuação de restrições biológicas ligadas a uma concepção de aquisição da linguagem calcada nos pressupostos do paradigma simbólico, indo ao encontro de estudos que evidenciam a possibilidade de aprendizes tardios apresentarem um nível de competência fonético-fonológica em L2 comparável àquele do falante nativo. / This study investigates the acquisition of front rounded vowels [y], [q], and [E] of French by adult female speakers who are proficient in French (L2). According to the literature (ALCÂNTARA, 1998; RESTREPO, 2011), the acquisition of front rounded vowels of French by Brazilian adult learners is a complex challenge, either in terms of perception or in terms of production. From this point, in this study we sought to contribute to the understanding of this complexity and develop the not many Brazilian studies involving individuals with proficiency in French language (L2) and the acquisition of its sounds. Thus, our challenge was to answer in what way adult Brazilian speakers, with proficiency in French (L2), deal with foreign sounds, different from the ones of their ML phonology, when it comes to their perception and production. Therefore, we aimed to detect, specifically, the level of perceptiveness with which the target vowels are identified and distinguished by the considered participants, as well as defining the acoustic behaviour of these sounds in their speaking, in a possible way to explain a probable authentic production of the investigated French segments according to the identification, distinction, and articulation of the participants. Then, two groups of volunteers participated in this research: one counts with the presence of three Brazilian women, professors and researchers of FFL in superior public education, residents in Pelotas/RS; the second group is formed by a native French speaker from Parisian region, who participates of the control group, which data is added to the one available in literature. For the collecting of data of production in both groups, four experiments were elaborated, three involving French oral vowels, and the last one involving oral vowels of BP, which were found in words and non-words from French and BP, produced inside of carrier sentences. For the collecting of information of perception related to the French vowels, four experiments were formed, two tests of identification, and two tests of distinction. The methodology used in the construction of these experiments was based on the one elaborated by Restrepo (2011), with adaptions to attend to the specific objectives of this study. The collection of the material occurred in a controlled acoustic environment (acoustic compartment), with the use of a digital recorder Zoom H4N and a pair of earphones model AKG K 44. The collected data was analysed acoustically and statistically with the softwares Praat (6.0.08 and 6.0.10 versions) and SPSS Statistics (17.0 version), respectively. The results achieved were interpreted with the HipCort model (MCCLELLAND et al, 1995), a dynamic model of formation of memory and learning. They confirmed our thesis of the potential outcome of our participants in the acquisition of the investigated sounds, because they could identify, distinguish, and produce accurately the front rounded vowels of French, demonstrating the distance of a possible influence from their ML. The results contribute, so, to refute the existence of an operation of biological restrictions connected to a conception of acquisition of language based on the presupposition of the symbolic paradigm, which meets the studies that evince the possibility of late learners to present a level of phonetic and phonologic competences in L2 comparable to the native speaker.