Introdução: A síndrome de Down (SD) é uma alteração genética caracterizada pela presença de um cromossomo extra, suas principais dificuldades são causadas pelas alterações motoras e cognitivas que interferem na capacidade de realizar atividades diárias. Para propiciar funcionalidade às pessoas com SD, uma opção é utilizar tarefas em ambiente de realidade virtual para possibilitar o ganho de habilidades motoras. Objetivo: Avaliar o desempenho de pessoas com SD em tarefa virtual em telefone móvel. Método: Foi utilizado o jogo Marble Maze Classic®, onde os participantes moviam o telefone móvel para conduzir uma bola virtual por um desenho de labirinto. Foram avaliadas 100 pessoas separadas em dois grupos, sendo o grupo 1 (controle) formado por 25 participantes com Desenvolvimento Típico e grupo 2 (experimental) formado por 25 pessoas com SD, sendo o desenho do labirinto do grupo 2 totalmente oposto ao do grupo 1. Como variável dependente utilizou-se o tempo em segundos e foram submetidas a ANOVA. As comparações post-hoc foram realizadas por meio do teste Tukey-HSD (p < 0,05). Resultados: O grupo controle manteve o desempenho na fase de retenção e conseguiram transferir tanto no labirinto 1 como no 2. Já o grupo SD conseguiu transferir a tarefa apenas no labirinto 2. No labirinto 1 não conseguiu transferir quando invertemos o início e o fim do trajeto. Conclusão: Pessoas com SD conseguiram se adaptar a tarefa proposta, porém com desempenho sempre inferior às pessoas com DT. Assim como, demonstraram dificuldade em manter o desempenho com o aumento do grau de dificuldade da tarefa, o que sugere que novas tecnologias devem ser adaptáveis às dificuldades de pessoas com SD, permitindo assim maior funcionalidade / Introduction: Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic disorder characterized by the presence of an extra chromosome, which is typically associated with motor and cognitive changes that interfere with the ability to perform daily activities. To provide functionality to individuals with DS, one option is to use tasks in a virtual reality environment to enable gains in motor skills. Objective: To evaluate the performance of individuals with DS in a virtual task on a mobile phone. Method: The game Marble Maze Classic® was used, in which the participants moved the mobile phone to conduct a virtual marble through a maze design. We evaluated 100 individuals divided into group 1 and 2, where each group consisted of 25 participants in the control group (typical development) and 25 in the experimental group (DS), with group 2 using a maze design totally opposite to group 1. The dependent variable used was time in seconds and was subjected to ANOVA. Post-hoc comparisons were performed using Tukey\'s Honest Significant Difference test (p <0.05). Results: The control group maintained performance in the retention phase and was able to transfer both in maze 1 and 2. The DS group managed transfer to the task only in maze 2. In maze1, the DS group failed to transfer when we inverted the start and end of the path. Conclusion: People with DS have managed to adapt the proposed task, but with always underperform people with DT. As demonstrated difficulty in maintaining performance with increased task difficulty, suggesting that new technologies must be adaptable to the difficulties people with DS, thereby enabling increased functionality

Objetivo: Avaliar o uso de dispositivos eletrônicos e televisão (TV) em adolescentes saudáveis de uma escola particular da cidade de São Paulo; avaliar possíveis associações entre a presença de dor e síndromes musculoesqueléticas e o uso de dispositivos eletrônicos e TV. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo transversal com adolescentes de uma escola particular da cidade de São Paulo. 299 adolescentes (10 a 19 anos) responderam a um questionário individual, confidencial e autoaplicável, com perguntas sobre o uso isolado e simultâneo de dispositivos eletrônicos (computadores, videogames, celular) e TV; dados demográficos; prática de atividade física e esportiva; disponibilidade, padrão de consumo, tipos de mídia utilizados e sintomas dolorosos do sistema musculoesquelético. Além da aplicação do questionário, foi realizado exame físico específico do aparelho musculoesquelético nos adolescentes que apresentavam queixas álgicas nos últimos três meses, visando à avaliação das seguintes síndromes musculoesqueléticas idiopáticas crônicas e não inflamatórias: fibromialgia juvenil, síndrome de hipermobilidade articular benigna, síndrome miofascial, tendinite, bursite, epicondilite e síndrome de dor regional complexa. Resultados: O índice de Kappa entre o pré-teste e reteste foi de 0,83. Dor musculoesquelética e síndromes musculoesqueléticas foram encontradas em 183/299 (61%) e 60/183 (33%), respectivamente. As medianas de idade [15 (10-18) versus 14 (10-18) anos, p=0,032] e os anos de escolaridade [10 (5-12) vs. 9 (5-12) anos, p=0,010] foram significantemente maiores em adolescentes com dor musculoesquelética em comparação com aqueles sem essa condição. A frequência do gênero feminino foi maior no grupo de adolescentes com dor musculoesquelética comparado ao grupo sem essa condição (59% versus 47% p=0,019), assim como as frequências do uso do telefone celular (93% contra 81%, p=0,003) e do uso simultâneo de pelo menos dois dispositivos eletrônicos (80% vs. 67%, p=0,011) foram significantemente maiores no grupo de adolescentes com dor musculoesquelética. Em relação às comparações entre os grupos com e sem síndromes musculoesqueléticas: a frequência de gênero feminino foi significantemente maior no grupo de estudantes com síndromes musculoesqueléticas (75% versus 25%, p=0,002), e os adolescentes com síndromes musculoesqueléticas apresentaram uma mediana significantemente reduzida de horas de jogos eletrônicos aos finais de semana e feriados [1,5 (0-10) vs. 3 (0-17) horas/dia, p=0,006]. Conclusões: Uma alta prevalência de dor musculoesquelética e síndromes musculoesqueléticas foi observada em estudantes adolescentes de uma escola particular. A dor musculoesquelética foi relatada em idade mais avançada, sobretudo entre as meninas e os alunos que usavam telefone celular e dispositivos eletrônicos simultaneamente. O sexo feminino e o uso reduzido de jogos eletrônicos foram associados à presença de síndromes musculoesqueléticas / Objective: To evaluate television and simultaneous electronic devices use in adolescents with musculoskeletal pain and musculoskeletal pain syndromes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 299 adolescents of a private school. All students completed a self-administered questionnaire, including: demographic data, physical activities, musculoskeletal pain symptoms, and use of simultaneous television/electronic devices (computer, internet, electronic games and cell phone). Seven musculoskeletal pain syndromes were also evaluated: juvenile fibromyalgia, benign joint hypermobility syndrome, myofascial syndrome, tendinitis, bursitis, epicondylitis and complex regional pain syndrome. Results: Inter-rater agreement between pretest and retest was 0.83. Musculoskeletal pain and musculoskeletal pain syndrome were found in 183/299 (61%) and 60/183 (33%), respectively. The median of age [15 (10-18) vs. 14 (10-18) years, p=0.032] and years of education [10 (5-12) vs. 9 (5-12) years, p=0.010] were significantly higher in adolescents with musculoskeletal pain compared to those without this condition. The frequencies of female gender (59% vs. 47%, p=0.019), cell phone use (93% vs. 81%,p=0.003) and simultaneous use of at least two electronic devices (80% vs. 67%,p=0.011) were significantly higher in the former group. Further comparisons between adolescents with and without musculoskeletal pain syndromes revealed that the frequency of female gender was significantly higher in the former group (75% vs. 25%,p=0.002), and with significantly reduced median of weekends/holidays electronic games use [1.5 (0-10) vs. 3 (0-17) hours/day, p=0.006]. Conclusions: A high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain/syndromes were observed in female adolescents. Musculoskeletal pain was mostly reported at median age of 15 years and students were using cell phone and at least two electronic devices simultaneously. Reduced electronic games use was associated with musculoskeletal pain syndromes

Communication between deaf individuals and hearing individuals can be very difficult. For people who are born deaf, English is often a second language with the first language being American Sign Language (ASL). Very few hearing people in the United States sign or are aware of Deafness, Deaf culture, or how to appropriately communicate with people with hearing loss. In this thesis, I concentrate on the role that mobile technologies can play in ameliorating some of these issues. In formative work with Deaf teenagers in the metro-Atlanta area, I investigate the role that communication technologies play in the lives of many Deaf individuals and examine how these devices have effected their communication patterns and social circles. Specifically, the teens identified problems communicating with hearing individuals such as close friends and family in face-to-face situations. Having identified sign language use at home as one of the earliest interventions for Deaf children, I investigated the use of mobile phones for learning survival-level ASL. I created a prototype software application which presented short ASL lessons via either a mobile phone or desktop web-browser. The software presented the lessons via one of two different scheduling methods designed to take advantage of the spacing effect during learning. I designed and conducted a study of forty individuals with no prior ASL knowledge which compared the effects of both scheduling algorithm and platform. My results show that individuals who used a mobile phone platform and received a group of lessons at one time performed better on post-test receptive and generative ASL metrics than did participants in the three other conditions.

<p>In this study I have looked at social impacts of mobile telephone usage in Sweden in the Spring of 2001. Through observations and interviews have I tried to outline how social relations and concepts of time have changed and are still in a process of change alongside with the high percentage of mobile phone users today.</p><p>The conclusions I have made from my research is that mobile phone usage affects society and how people interact and that people want to reach others, but want to control their own reachability. Communication via mobile phone differs from face-to-face communication and communication on stationary phones, but mobile phones seem to be used as means to facilitate face-to-face interaction. There seem to be some commonly shared notions among my informants of what appropriate mobile phone behavior is, but people seem to not always abide to this. People tend to create their own private zones in public places when using their mobile phones and through their usage send social messages to others. I have also found that the use of time is an important aspect connected to mobile phones. People seem not to make as many plans ahead any longer, but instead make up plans as they go. Many seem to have forgotten how life was before there where mobile phones!</p>

This report discusses how non-profit organizations can utilize mobile phone technology to reach supporters and inspire them to both act and give. The significance of this report and topic lies in the opportunity for non-profit organizations to understand how people are interacting with messages on their mobile devices. The research found within, serves as a reference for non-profits to utilize when planning and implementing mobile phone marketing campaigns. / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Asian Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In this study I have looked at social impacts of mobile telephone usage in Sweden in the Spring of 2001. Through observations and interviews have I tried to outline how social relations and concepts of time have changed and are still in a process of change alongside with the high percentage of mobile phone users today. The conclusions I have made from my research is that mobile phone usage affects society and how people interact and that people want to reach others, but want to control their own reachability. Communication via mobile phone differs from face-to-face communication and communication on stationary phones, but mobile phones seem to be used as means to facilitate face-to-face interaction. There seem to be some commonly shared notions among my informants of what appropriate mobile phone behavior is, but people seem to not always abide to this. People tend to create their own private zones in public places when using their mobile phones and through their usage send social messages to others. I have also found that the use of time is an important aspect connected to mobile phones. People seem not to make as many plans ahead any longer, but instead make up plans as they go. Many seem to have forgotten how life was before there where mobile phones!

Smartphones form an emerging mobile computing platform that has hybrid characteristics borrowed from PC and feature phone environments. While maintaining great mobility and portability as feature phones, smartphones offers advanced computation capabilities and network connectivity. Although the smartphone platform can support PC-grade applications, the platform exhibits fundamentally different characteristics from the PC platform. Two important problems arise in the smartphone platform: how to mobilize applications and how to deliver them effectively. Traditional application mobilization involves significant cost in development and typically provides limited functionality of the PC version. Since the mobile applications rely on the embedded wireless interfaces of smartphones for network access, the application performance is impacted by the inferior characteristics of the wireless networks. Our first contribution is super-aggregation, a rapid application delivery protocol that in tandem uses the multiple interfaces intelligently to achieve a performance that is ``better than the sum of throughputs' achievable through each of the interfaces individually. The second contribution is MORPH, a remote computing protocol for heterogeneous devices that transforms the application views on the PC platform into smartphone-friendly views. MORPH virtualizes application views independent of the UI framework used into an abstract representation called virtual view. It allows transformation services to be easily programmed to realize a smartphone friendly view by manipulating the virtual view. The third contribution is the system design of super-aggregation and MORPH that achieve rapid application delivery and mobilization. Both solutions require only software modifications that can be easily deployed to smartphones.

This research aims at a music piece for audience participation using mobile phones as musical instruments in a music concert setting. Inspired by the ubiquity of smart phones, I attempted to accomplish audience engagement in a music performance by crafting an accessible musical instrument with which audience can be a part of the performance. The research begins by reviewing the related works in two areas, mobile music and audience participation at music performances, builds a charted map of the areas and its intersection to seek an innovation, and defines requisites for a successful audience participation where audience can participate in music making as musicians with their mobile phones. To make accessible audience participation, the concept of a networked multi-user instrument is applied for the system. With the lessons learnt, I developed echobo, a mobile musical instrument application for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch). With this system, audience can download the app at the concert, play the instrument instantly, interact with other audience members, and contribute to the music by sound generated from their mobile phones. A music piece for echobo and a clarinet was presented in a series of performances and the application was found to work reliably and accomplish audience engagement. The post-survey results indicate that the system was accessible, and helped the audience to connect to the music and other musicians.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2005. / Includes bibliography.