Este relatório apresenta o desenvolvimento e os resultados de uma pesquisa sobre a usabilidade do Dosvox, sistema gratuito desenvolvido na UFRJ e utilizado por cegos no desempenho de suas tarefas com o uso de computadores, inclusive para interação com a Web. Por meio de pesquisa exploratória baseada na observação da interação de estudantes cegos com a Web, foram identificados problemas de usabilidade na interface do Dosvox e do Webvox, programa que faz parte do sistema e é utilizado no acesso a sítios eletrônicos na Web. Embora tenha havido uma grande preocupação em se desenvolver o Dosvox com foco no usuário iniciante, em entrevistas estruturadas com os desenvolvedores descobriu-se que os problemas estavam relacionados com o fato de a interface ser projetada de acordo com o modelo mental desses profissionais de Informática. Isso dificulta o seu uso por pessoas menos habituadas com estes conceitos. Somou-se a esses resultados informações encontradas na observação de cegos especialistas em acessibilidade usando o Dosvox na interação com a Web. Após a observação, foram realizadas entrevistas estruturadas, permitindo que fossem apontados outros problemas do sistema, além de caminhos de melhoria para a usabilidade do Dosvox. / This report presents development and results of a research about usability of Dosvox, free system developed in the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and used by blind people in the performance of their tasks with the use of computers, including the interaction with the Web. Through exploratory research based on the observation of the interaction of blind students with the Web, usability problems were identified in the Dosvox interface and in the Webvox, that is a program which is part of the system and is used to access the electronic sites on the Web. While there has been a major concern to develop the Dosvox with focus on novice users, structured interviews with the system developers discovered that the problems were related to the fact that the interface is designed in accordance with the mental model of these Information Technology professionals. This fact hampers its use by people less accustomed to these concepts. In addition to these results, information found on observation of blind specialists in accessibility using Dosvox in the interaction with the Web was realized. After this observation, structured interviews were conducted, an other problems in the system were highlighted, added to proposals of usability improving to Dosvox.

In this diploma work the influence of temperature of water and light conditions on reproduction of aquarium fish Anoptichthys jordani was investigated. Experiments were carried out in different light conditions and different temperatures of water. Fish were spawned by a method of pair and group spawning. In the end of the work optimum combination of temperature of water and light conditions on reproduction of the species is mentioned. The results of this work can be used in reproduction of investigated species.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Embora o cego tenha limitaÃÃes, isso nÃo pode impedir sua comunicaÃÃo e seu relacionamento com outras pessoas. PorÃm na formaÃÃo acadÃmica os profissionais da saÃde, a exemplo dos enfermeiros, nÃo sÃo preparados para cuidar de cegos. Assim, objetivou-se validar um Modelo de ComunicaÃÃo Verbal com o Cego e o Enfermeiro à luz da Teoria de Roman Jakobson. Estudo quantitativo, com abordagem metodolÃgica realizado por meio de filmagens no LabCom_SaÃde no Departamento de Enfermagem da UFC, de dezembro/2007 a dezembro/2008. O ambiente foi organizado com vistas a se aproximar das condiÃÃes ideais de uma sala de consulta de enfermagem para triagem de pessoas cegas e com diabetes. Participaram 30 enfermeiros recÃm-formados e concludentes do curso de graduaÃÃo em Enfermagem e 30 cegos de ambos os olhos e seus acompanhantes. AlÃm desses, colaboraram na pesquisa os especialistas que avaliaram o modelo e os juÃzes que analisaram as filmagens, observada a titulaÃÃo, produÃÃo cientÃfica e atuaÃÃo na temÃtica. ApÃs a construÃÃo, o modelo foi avaliado por trÃs especialistas para validaÃÃo aparente e de conteÃdo. Feito o julgamento, incorporaram-se as modificaÃÃes. Para o teste do modelo realizaram-se 30 consultas de enfermagem registradas e filmadas. Destas, 15 foram de responsabilidade de enfermeiros nÃo-treinados e 15 de treinados. As filmagens foram analisadas por trÃs juÃzes, enfermeiras treinadas no Modelo de ComunicaÃÃo. Atentou-se para todos os princÃpios da ResoluÃÃo 196/96. Os dados foram processados no programa Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) versÃo 14.0 e analisados por meio de tabelas univariadas com freqÃÃncia relativa e porcentagens. Dos enfermeiros, 17 (56,7%) tinham idade entre 22 e 25 anos, a maioria, 26 (86,7%), era do sexo feminino. Dos cegos, 8 (26,7%) estavam na faixa etÃria entre 39 e 49 anos e a maioria, 16 (53,4%), era do sexo feminino; 20 (66,7%) ficaram cegos entre 21 e 35 anos. A construÃÃo do modelo desenvolveu-se em quatro momentos: diretrizes gerais; acolhimento; processo de enfermagem; encerramento. Nas diretrizes gerais, o grupo treinado apresentou excelÃncia em todos os itens, variÃvel de 60% a 91,1%. O grupo nÃo-treinado mostrou comunicaÃÃo pÃssima/ruim, em maior freqÃÃncia, em quatro itens ao empregar palavras que indicam a direÃÃo (97,8%); tocar ligeiramente braÃo ou ombro (95,6%); evitar gesticular (68,9%); falar olhando para o cego (22,2%). Na etapa de acolhimento, todos os enfermeiros treinados a desempenharam com Ãxito, diferentemente do ocorrido com os nÃo-treinados, cujo resultado foi pÃssimo ou ruim em 100% de algumas aÃÃes. Na etapa da coleta de dados, o grupo treinado teve excelente atuaÃÃo em cinco das aÃÃes e nas etapas de diagnÃsticos e planejamentos de enfermagem, apresentou aÃÃes boas e excelentes nos seguintes itens: seguir protocolo (95,6%); fazer anotaÃÃes informando o motivo do silÃncio (93,4%); e evitar silÃncio prolongado (100%). O desempenho do grupo nÃo- treinado foi considerado pÃssimo nos itens: anotaÃÃes por nÃo informar o motivo do silÃncio (100%); evitar o silÃncio prolongado (91%). Na etapa de intervenÃÃes de enfermagem o grupo treinado denotou excelÃncia em todos os itens, enquanto na etapa de avaliaÃÃo nÃo ocorreram aÃÃes consideradas pÃssimas/ruins em nenhum dos itens do mencionado grupo. Jà na etapa de encerramento da consulta, identificou-se excelÃncia dos treinados nos seguintes itens: comunica-se acompanhando o cego atà a porta (82,2%); despede-se falando e apertando a mÃo (62,2%); e reforÃa as informaÃÃes (42,2%). Na anÃlise da comunicaÃÃo verbal entre o enfermeiro e o cego, na funÃÃo vocativa, este grupo apresentou 65,7% das aÃÃes e na funÃÃo imperativa 19,5%. O silÃncio manifestou-se em quase metade (45%) das interaÃÃes dos participantes nÃo-treinados e em 12,4% das dos treinados. No grupo treinado tambÃm estiveram presentes a empatia (69,2%), a tranqÃilidade (49,6%), a satisfaÃÃo (44,2%) e, a solidariedade (29,4%). Dos canais, o mais evidenciado nos treinados foi a fala (86,8%), enquanto a linguagem comum ocorreu nas interaÃÃes dos treinados (85,6%) e nas dos nÃo-treinados (50,1%). Conforme se conclui, o modelo foi validado pela amostra e pode-se afirmar que o Modelo de ComunicaÃÃo Verbal com Cegos à eficaz. Recomenda-se, pois, sua utilizaÃÃo na consulta de enfermagem a pessoas cegas. / Although blind people have limitations, this cannot impede their communication and relationship with other people. In academic education, however, health professionals, such as nurses, are not prepared to take care of blind people. This study aimed to validate a Verbal Communication Model with the Blind and the nurse in the light of Roman Jakobsonâs Theory. A quantitative study was a methodological approach was carried out at the LabCom_SaÃde of the Nursing Department at the Federal University of CearÃ, Brazil, between December 2007 and December 2008, using filming. The environment was organized for the sake of maximum similarity with a nursing consultation room for the screening of blind diabetes patients. Participants were 30 newly-graduated nurses and graduates of the Nursing course and 30 patients blind in both eyes and their possible companions. The specialists who assessed the model and the judges who analyzed the filming collaborated in the research, in view of their degree, scientific production and work on the theme. After the construction, the model was assessed by three specialists for face and content validation. After the assessment, modifications were incorporated. To test the model, 30 nursing consultations were registered and filmed. Fifteen of these were under the responsibility of untrained and 15 under the responsibility of trained nurses. The films were analyzed by three judges, who were nurses with training on the Communication Model. All principles of Resolution 196/96 were complied with. Data were processed in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and analyzed through univariate tables with relative frequency and percentage. Seventeen (56.7%) of the nurses were between 22 and 25 years of age, and a majority, 26 (86.7%), were women. Eight (26.7%) blind patients were between 39 and 49 years old and most of them, 16 (53.4%), were women; 20 (66.7%) became blind when they were between 21 and 35 years of age. The model was constructed in four phases: general guidelines; welcoming; data collection; nursing interventions. In the general guidelines, the trained group obtained excellent results on all times, ranging from 60% to 91.1%. The non-trained group showed very bad/bad communication, with higher frequencies on four items, using words that indicate direction (97.8%); lightly touching the arm or shoulder (95.6%); avoiding gestures (68.9%); talk while looking at the blind (22.2%). In the welcoming phase, all trained nurses displayed a successful performance, as opposed to the non-trained nurses: 100% very bad or bad in some actions. In the data collection phase, the trained group obtained an excellent performance on five of the actions and, in the nursing diagnosis and planning phases, trained nurses presented good and excellent actions for the following items: following the protocol (95.6%); informing on the reason for the silence when making notes (93.4%); and avoiding long periods of silence (100%). The performance of the non-trained group was considered very bad in terms of notes because they did not inform on the reason for the silence (100%); avoiding long periods of silence (91%). In the nursing intervention phase, the trained group achieved excellent performance on all items, without any very bad/bad actions on any of the items in the assessment phase. In the final phase of the consultation, excellent performance of the trained nurses was identified on the following items: communicates while accompanying the blind to the door (82.2%); says goodbye while talking and shaking hands (62.2%); and strengthens the information (42.2%). In the analysis of verbal communication between the nurse and the blind, the vocative function presented 65.7% of actions, against 19.5% for the imperative function. Silence was manifested in almost half (45%) of interactions with non-trained nurses against 12.4% for trained nurses. In the trained group, empathy (69.2%), tranquility (49.6%), satisfaction (44.2%) and solidarity (29.4%) were also present. The most evidenced channel in the trained group was speech (86.8%). And common language occurred in the trained groupâs (85.6%) and the non-trained groupâs (50.1%) interactions. In conclusion, the model was validated by the sample and it can be affirmed that the Verbal Communication Model is effective. Thus, its use in nursing consultations with blind people is recommended.

Abstract Advanced receiver structures capable of suppressing multiple-access interference in code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems operating in frequency-selective fading channels are considered in this thesis. The aim of the thesis is to develop and validate novel receiver concepts suitable for future wideband cellular CDMA systems. Data detection and synchronization both for downlink and uplink receivers are studied. The linear minimum mean squared error (LMMSE) receivers are derived and analyzed in frequency-selective fading channels. Different versions of the LMMSE receivers are shown to be suitable for different data rates. The precombining LMMSE receiver, whichis also suitable for relatively fast fading channels, is shown to improve the performance of the conventional RAKE receivers signicantly in the FRAMES wideband CDMA concept. It is observed that the performance of the conventional RAKE receivers is degraded signicantly with highest data rates due to multiple-access interference (MAI) as well as due to inter-path interference. Based on a general convergence analysis, it is observed that the postcombining LMMSE receivers are mainly suited to the high data rate indoor systems. The blind adaptive LMMSE-RAKE receiverdeveloped for relatively fast fading frequency-selective channels gives superior rate of convergence and bit error rate (BER) performance in comparison to other blind adaptive receivers based on least mean squares algorithms. The minimum variance method based delay estimation in blind adaptive receivers is shown to result in improved delay acquisition performance in comparison to the conventional matched filter and subspace based acquisition schemes. A novel delay tracking algorithm suitable to blind least squares receivers is also proposed. The analysis shows improved tracking performance in comparison to the standard delay-locked loops. Parallel interference cancellation (PIC) receivers are developed for the uplink. Data detection, channel estimation, delay acquisition, delay tracking, inter-cell interference suppression, and array processing in PIC receivers are considered. A multistage data detector with the tentative data decision and the channel estimate feedback from the last stage is developed. Adaptive channel estimation filters are used to improve the channel estimation accuracy. The PIC method is also applied to the timing synchronization of the receiver. It is shown that the PIC based delay acquisition and tracking methods can be used to improve the performance of the conventional synchronization schemes. Although the overall performance of the PIC receiver is relatively good in the single-cell case, its performance is signicantly degraded in a multi-cell environment due to unknown signal components which degrade the MAI estimates and subsequently the cancellation efficiency. The blind receiver concepts developed for the downlink are integrated into the PIC receivers for inter-cell interference suppression. The resulting LMMSE-PIC receiver is capable of suppressing residual interference and results in good BER performance in the presence of unknown signal components.

When educated professionals with a disability immigrate to Canada with their families, they are full of hope. Because they were told that Canada is a land of opportunity, they expect to build on their past careers and become fully employed. Nevertheless, the experience of many immigrant families with an educated adult member with a disability has been long years of poverty and unemployment in Canada. My phenomenological and heuristic study was designed to explore the central research question, "What is the lived experience of Ethiopian immigrant families in Canada in which one adult member is blind?" My study also examined several sub-questions: I-low does the fact that one family member has a disability affect the family as a whole, in their experience as immigrants in Canada? What are the social barriers that the blind immigrant and his or her family have encountered during the experience adapting to Canadian society? What are the strengths and coping mechanisms of the family members? What changes do immigrants suggest to improve the lives of immigrant families with a blind adult family member? Using interviews, I gathered the family experiences of six blind participants, as well as two sighted participants whose partners were blind. All were adult immigrants from Ethiopia. I chose to use methodology that would give participants a "voice" and would allow their own words to be used when describing the findings. Transcripts went through a process of narrative analysis. Data was divided into categories and then separated into themes. Twelve metathemes emerged from data analysis of 323 themes: Comparison of Ethiopia and Canada's treatment of blind people, High Achievement, Persistence and perseverance, Ethiopian expectations about a blind child or student, Social construction of disability, Importance of Advocacy, Unemployment in Canada, Desire to be independent and self-supporting, Personal and family strengths, Importance of social support network, Participants' experiences accessing help from CNIB and employment agencies, and Recommended Government Policy Improvement. The emerging metathemes supported the view of scholars who hold that "disability" is a social construction and is merely a characteristic. Despite "disability", my six blind participants achieved academic education and entered fulfilling careers in one country. Afterward, they endured long years of poverty and unemployment in a second country. The sighted partners of educated blind professionals verified their partners' experiences of poverty and ableism since immigrating to their new country. The two contrasting experiences demonstrated that "disability" was framed either positively or negatively by the social environment in which the educated blind professionals lived and worked. Participants' experiences revealed that Canadian employment agencies lack accountability. As well, employment agencies and organizations for the blind are providing ineffective help for blind people seeking employment. Several participants noted the need for "organizations of the blind, not, for the blind" in order to improve the services of such organizations. In contrast to the stereotype that successful blind people must he special or talented, the study revealed that blind people can become educated and employed in their careers when there is motivation, opportunity, and some small amount of social support. The participants all believe that employment is part of full citizenship. The study revealed that certain personal and family strengths of sighted and blind participants have supported them to stay together as a family and to persist in seeking employment without losing hope. Despite hardships related to long term unemployment, participants continue to live fairly peaceably within their families. Their support for each other within the family, and their persistence and refusal to give up hope was striking. All participants called out for increased activism and advocacy for both Canadian-born and immigrant blind people, on the part of the Canadian government.

Passive source localization in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is an important field of research with numerous applications in signal processing and wireless communications. One purpose of a WSN is to determine the position of a signal emitted from a source. This position is estimated based on received noisy measurements from sensors (anchor nodes) that are distributed over a geographical area. In most cases, the sensor positions are assumed to be known exactly, which is not always reasonable. Even if the sensor positions are measured initially, they can change over time. Due to the sensitivity of source location estimation accuracy with respect to the a priori sensor position information, the source location estimates obtained can vary significantly regardless of the localization method used. Therefore, the sensor position uncertainty should be considered to obtain accurate estimates. Among the many localization approaches, signal strength based methods have the advantages of low cost and simple implementation. The received signal energy mainly depends on the transmitted power and path loss exponent which are often unknown in practical scenarios. In this dissertation, three received signal strength difference (RSSD) based methods are presented to localize a source with unknown transmit power. A nonlinear RSSD-based model is formulated for systems perturbed by noise. First, an effective low complexity constrained weighted least squares (CWLS) technique in the presence of sensor uncertainty is derived to obtain a least squares initial estimate (LSIE) of the source location. Then, this estimate is improved using a computationally efficient Newton method. The Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) is derived to determine the effect of sensor location uncertainties on the source location estimate. Results are presented which show that the proposed method achieves the CRLB when the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is sufficiently high. Least squares (LS) based methods are typically used to obtain the location estimate that minimizes the data vector error instead of directly minimizing the unknown parameter estimation error. This can result in poor performance, particularly in noisy environments, due to bias and variance in the location estimate. Thus, an efficient two stage estimator is proposed here. First, a minimax optimization problem is developed to minimize the mean square error (MSE) of the proposed RSSD-based model. Then semidefinite relaxation is employed to transform this nonconvex and nonlinear problem into a convex optimization problem. This can be solved e ciently to obtain the optimal solution of the corresponding semidefinite programming (SDP) problem. Performance results are presented which con rm the e ciency of the proposed method which achieves the CRLB. Finally, an extended total least squares (ETLS) method is developed for blind localization which considers perturbations in the system parameters as well as the constraints imposed by the relation between the observation matrix and data vector. The corresponding nonlinear and nonconvex RSSD-based localization problem is then transformed to an ETLS problem with fewer constraints. This is transformed to a convex semidefinite programming (SDP) problem using relaxation. The proposed ETLS-SDP method is extended to the case with an unknown path loss exponent. The mean squared error (MSE) and corresponding CRLB are derived as performance benchmarks. Performance results are presented which show that the RSSD-based ETLS-SDP method attains the CRLB for a sufficiently large SNR. / Graduate / 0544 / lohrasbi@uvic.ca

This study investigated lexical extension and overextension by three blind children, ages 1;8, 2;1 and 2;5, who had vocabularies of at least 50 words but did not yet produce two-word utterances. Theories of semantic development take it for granted that vision provides the child with access to a great deal of the information necessary for the development of meaning, including much of the knowledge about size, shape, and movement of referents. Through vision, the child is able to form concepts on which word meaning is based, and extend the domain of application of words from original referents by recognizing other instances of that word. Despite this, surprisingly little research has focused on semantic development by blind children. Results of the few relevant studies indicate that blind children rarely extend or overextend their words, and attribute this inability to either (1) a lack of experience with other similar referents, or (2) an inability to form categories that underlie lexical extension and overextension. The blind children were given objects to name during a play session. These objects were (1) new examples of an item the child already named, providing opportunity for the child to extend known words to proper, novel referents, or (2) members of a different nominal category, but differing from an item the child already named in one or two criterial features, thus providing opportunity for the child to overextend. Data on spontaneous extension and overextension was also collected through analysis of utterances produced during experimental sessions and reported in parental diaries. Results indicated that all children extended and overextended their words, both spontaneously and in experiments; visual impairment did not prevent the children from recognizing other exemplars of a referent, or from applying words they knew to objects similar to original referents but, on the basis of criterial features, members of other nominal categories. Performance during two sorting tasks indicated that the children did not have impaired ability to form categories—all three children displayed classificatory behaviour during the sorting activities. / Medicine, Faculty of / Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of / Graduate

This study investigates the acquisition of English in a nine year old totally blind student (Amanda) who has English-as-a Second Language (ESL). The study demonstrates the intricate relationship between language and interactive experiences. This case study will show the contrast in expressive language before and after a transition into a grade four class. In this classroom, Amanda was expected to participate and interact with her teacher and classmates. Data was collected on videotapes from I960-1967 and language samples were recorded from 1966-1990. Additional testing was also used to determine post transitional development. Language samples were analyzed and results of pre and post means of Mean Length of Utterance, Complete Sentence Usage, Function Word Usage, Braille Letter Recognition, and Braille Writing were determined. Results indicated that significant improvement occurred in Amanda's expressive language following transition into the grade four classroom. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

abstract: This study examined relations between White parents’ color-blind and implicit racial attitudes and their children’s racial bias as well as moderation by diversity in children’s friends and caregivers, parental warmth, child age, and child sex. The sample included 190 White/Non-Hispanic children (46% female) between the ages of 5 and 9 years (M = 7.11 years, SD = .94) and their mothers (N = 184) and fathers (N = 154). Data used were parents’ reports of color-blind racial attitudes (Color-blind Racial Attitudes Scale; CoBRAS), parental warmth, and racial/ethnic diversity of children’s friendships and caregivers, direct assessment of primary parent implicit racial attitudes (Implicit Association Test; IAT), and direct assessment of children’s racial attitudes. Results supported hypothesized relations between parent racial attitudes and some child racial bias variables, especially under certain conditions. Specifically, both mothers’ and fathers’ color-blind racial attitudes were positively related to children’s social inclusion preference for White children over Black children and parents’ implicit White preference positively predicted child social inclusion racial bias, but only for younger children. Fathers’ color-blind racial attitudes positively predicted children’s social inclusion racial bias only when children’s pre-K caregivers were mostly White and were inversely related to children’s implicit White preference when children’s caregivers were more racially heterogeneous. Finally, parental warmth moderated relations such that, when mothers’ warmth was low, mother color-blind attitudes were negatively related to children’s racial bias in social distance preference and fathers’ color-blind attitudes positively predicted children’s social inclusion bias only when father warmth was low or average. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Family and Human Development 2020