Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate some uses of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a pedagogical aid for supporting students with difficulties in reaching the curricular goals in the school subject English. Special focus is on students with reading and writing difficulties and on students with a foreign background in the ninth grade of the compulsory school and in upper secondary school. The method of investigation consisted of two parts: (a) interviews with eleven regular English teachers and with four remedial teachers about their experiences of using ICT as a pedagogical aid, and (b) an action study in which ICT-based activities were tested in a group of six students with difficulties in English. The results of the interviews showed that in the remedial classes ICT-based support was rather limited. The exceptions were students with severe reading and writing difficulties and other grave learning disabilities. These students were offered greater access to various technical aids and systematic support. For dyslexic students various ICT tools often proved to be an effective and indispensable support in their learning. In non-remedial English lessons, the use of ICT was somewhat greater. Here teachers used ICT as a pedagogical aid for the benefit of all students. The computer was considered to be a good support for project writing as it provided the students with a huge database, with online dictionaries and with a spell checker. The results of the action research showed that students were positive about communicating in English via ICT and they showed great interest in other activities facilitated by technology, such as training grammar, vocabulary, and reading. In conclusion, these surveys generated results similar to those of other studies, showing that although ICT can be an effective pedagogical aid in supporting students with difficulties learning English, it is not presently being used to its full potential.

<p><strong>Abstract </strong></p><p>The aim of this study is to investigate some uses of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a pedagogical aid for supporting students with difficulties in reaching the curricular goals in the school subject English. Special focus is on students with reading and writing difficulties and on students with a foreign background in the ninth grade of the compulsory school and in upper secondary school. The method of investigation consisted of two parts: (a) interviews with eleven regular English teachers and with four remedial teachers about their experiences of using ICT as a pedagogical aid, and (b) an action study in which ICT-based activities were tested in a group of six students with difficulties in English. The results of the interviews showed that in the remedial classes ICT-based support was rather limited. The exceptions were students with severe reading and writing difficulties and other grave learning disabilities. These students were offered greater access to various technical aids and systematic support. For dyslexic students various ICT tools often proved to be an effective and indispensable support in their learning. In non-remedial English lessons, the use of ICT was somewhat greater. Here teachers used ICT as a pedagogical aid for the benefit of all students. The computer was considered to be a good support for project writing as it provided the students with a huge database, with online dictionaries and with a spell checker. The results of the action research showed that students were positive about communicating in English via ICT and they showed great interest in other activities facilitated by technology, such as training grammar, vocabulary, and reading. In conclusion, these surveys generated results similar to those of other studies, showing that although ICT can be an effective pedagogical aid in supporting students with difficulties learning English, it is not presently being used to its full potential.</p>

Written and oral material produced by a group of low-achieving learners of English from the 2-year lines of the Swedish upper secondary school was analysed from the perspective of grammatical correctness and communicative ability. The grammatical analysis focussed on the verb phrase and tests included both free production in speech and writing and elicitation tests. Communicative ability was assessed ‘ ‘objectively* ’ by identifying such parameters as fluency, copiousness and span, and “holistically” by using non-expert evaluators.The scores thus obtained were correlated. Grammatical correctness was correlated with communicative ability both in speech and in writing and writing proficiency was correlated with speech proficiency with respect to both grammatical correctness and communicative ability.Our findings are that there is a positive correlation between grammatical correctness and communicative ability. A remarkable finding is that the percentage of correct verb phrases correlates very weakly with communicative ability in written data. In oral data, the correlation is in fact slightly negative. The learner’s competence in grammar is reflected in both his written and oral performance. On the other hand, there is no correlation between communicative ability in writing and communicative ability in speech.The study shows that a working command of a set of syntactic rules is essential for communication. Errors are, however, an integral part of the learning process. The major part of errors are accounted for by the learner’s use of compensatory strategies. Among these low-achievers, communicative ability in conversation is distinct from writing ability. / digitalisering@umu

This study investigates the characteristics of and the interrelationships between disease, disability, service use and social support in a random sample of 647 community dwellers aged 75 years and over. The two broad objectives of the study are: to examine the physical aspects and manifestations of health by investigating disease and disability and the interrelationships between these two factors, and; to examine the social aspects of health by investigating service use and social support and the interrelationships between these two factors. Given the dramatic population ageing in Australia, particularly in the very old age groups, the health, well-being and quality of life of older Australians are of paramount importance and will be well into the future. The proportion of the population with diseases and disabilities increases significantly with age. As the physical aspects of health are manifested with increasing age the social aspects of health also become increasingly important. Older adults, particularly those in advanced old age, are disproportionately high users of health and community services. Despite the high use of services in this age group, far more older adults living in the community rely on their families, friends and neighbours for social support and many older adults use a combination of formal services and informal social support. Little is known about people aged 75 years and over living in the community in Australia. In particular, significant knowledge gaps exist with regard to the relationship between disease and disability and that between service use and social support. The characteristics of social support in this group of older adults are also largely unknown. The papers presented in this thesis are based on data collected in The Sydney Older Persons Study (SOPS). This is a large longitudinal multidisciplinary project which began in 1991 in order to investigate the health and service use patterns of people aged 75 years and over living in the community in the Central Sydney Health Area. The initial sample consisted of two groups: first, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) selected census districts with probability proportional to size and 9271 households were door-knocked to obtain a random sub-sample of the general community (n=320, response rate 73%); second, community-living veterans and war widows residing in the Central Sydney Health Area were selected at random from a list provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain a veteran/war widow sub-sample (n=327, response rate 82%). Respondents participated in both an interview conducted by a social scientist and a medical assessment performed by a medical practitioner with experience in geriatric medicine. An informant was sought for each respondent and this informant participated in a phone interview conducted by a social scientist. The first paper in this thesis investigates the characteristics of diseases (neurodegenerative, systemic and psychiatric) including their prevalence and association with age. The second paper extends the first by examining the nature of the relationship between disease and disability and in particular which individual diseases and groups of diseases have the greatest impact on disability. The third paper expands the analysis in the second paper by focusing in greater detail on the relationship between disease and disability. The contribution of clinically-diagnosed individual diseases and groups of diseases to three different measures of disability (clinician-rated, informant-rated or proxy and self-report) is investigated here. The fourth paper examines the possibility of disease and disability being the major predictors of service use and social support. It focuses on the determinants of service use and social support using Andersen's behavioral model. The fifth paper investigates the characteristics of social support, in particular gender differences and the socio-demographic variables associated with social support. This is an important research area because lower levels of social support have been found to predict mortality, disease and lower levels of well-being. Finally, the sixth paper links the major themes of the fourth and fifth papers by investigating the relationship between service use and social support. This paper tests Cantor's 'hierarchical-compensatory' mechanism, which predicts a negative association between service use and social support, and the 'bridging' mechanism which predicts a positive association between these two factors. Thus it assesses the extent to which demands for service use and for social support are made together or in a compensatory fashion for respondents of equal disease and disability. The presented work demonstrates that neurodegenerative diseases [dementia, cognitive impairment, parkinsonism, instability (gait ataxia), immobility (gait slowing) and motivation loss/behaviour change] have the largest and most significant increases with age of all disease groups. Therefore the hypothesis made in paper one that neurodegenerative diseases will come to dominate the health care needs of older adults, particularly when combined with population ageing, is supported. Further, results of papers two and three indicate that neurodegenerative diseases result in greater levels of disability, lending credence to the finding that it is these neurodegenerative diseases that are of central importance to the future of the health care needs of older adults of advanced age. While systemic diseases play an important role in disability, the neurodegenerative diseases are under-recognised by self-report and yet are most strongly associated with severe disability. A major recommendation of this study is that assessments and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases be included in disability assessments. With regard to the social aspects of health, the fourth paper finds that disease and disability are the main predictors of service use and social support. The fifth paper highlights important gender differences in social support and also finds that lower levels of social support are associated with increased age, male gender, single marital status and lower socioeconomic status. Because it is widely accepted that social support is protective against adverse health outcomes and low levels of wellbeing, these groups of older adults are at risk of poorer health and wellbeing. Finally the sixth paper fills some knowledge gaps with regard to the relationship between service use and social support. It shows that with regard to IADL (instrumental activities of daily living) services and IADL social support, Cantor's 'hierarchical-compensatory' mechanism (negative correlation) applies but with regard to medical services and both ADL (activities of daily living) and IADL social support the 'bridging' mechanism (positive correlation) is supported. These complex interrelationships between disease, disability, service use and social support are summarised schematically in a model. In light of significant population ageing, substantial resources in the form of medical and community services and social support from carers, family, friends and neighbours will need to be devoted to older adults with diseases, in particular neurodegenerative diseases, and to those with disabilities. Given the increasing importance of disease, disability, service use and social support in very old age, it is crucial that knowledge and understanding of these factors and their interrelationships be advanced in order to better allocate and sustain resources and to ultimately improve the health, well-being and quality of life of very old adults.

Despite the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, the HIV/HIV epidemic remains an unsolved global health problem. Amongst all the host defence mechanisms, HLA class I molecules have shown the strongest genetic association with delayed disease progression, in particular HLA-B alleles. Numerous studies have shown that the HLAmediated CD8+ T cell responses play a central role in the immune control of HIV. Yet our understanding of HLA-mediated immune control of HIV remains incomplete, even when considering the best-defined epitopes restricted by the protective HLA alleles at a population level. The studies I have conducted and describe herein focus on two well-charaterised protective HLA-B molecules, HLA-B*81:01 and HLA-B*27:05; a third protective molecule, HLA-B*52:01, that has not been well-studied hitherto; and finally the most prevalent HLAB allele in many Asian populations such as Taiwan, HLA-B*40:01, which has an apparently neutral effect on viral replication. This thesis is centred on the Gag-specific immune response, since previous studies have shown the benefits of CD8+ T-cell responses targeting this conserved and immunogenic region of the HIV proteome, in particular the p24 capsid protein. I have investigated here HLA footprints driven by CD8+ T-cell pressure on HIV that are evident in the viral sequences of individuals expressing these HLA molecules. These footprints include novel escape and putative compensatory mutations. The impact of these variants on viral replicative capacity (VRC) and on HIV disease outcome clinical outcomes was examined via fitness assays. These studies identified several escape mutations that effectively cripple HIV. The distinct compensatory pathways available to the virus to mitigate the fitness cost of particular escape mutations were evaluated. In the course of these analyses I have demonstrated the critical influence of the viral backbone, including HIV clade, in combination with particular viral variants, on VRC. Computational modelling analysis has been applied to facilitate understanding of the mechanism by which certain mutants affect the stability of interactions between HLA and viral capsid protein. This thesis offers novel insights into immune control of the key HIV subtypes – B- and C-clade – and of the most severely affected populations – in Africa (South Africa) and Asia (India and Taiwan) – within the global epidemic. This work helps to better define the viral mutation landscape that is essential both for future vaccines designed to corner the virus, and for successful HIV cure strategies.

The thesis called Virgin Mary Klasová - the compensatory haptic aid is divided into two parts. The theoretical part is devoted to the history of Gothic painting in the Czech territory. The work focuses on the history of the city České Budějovice and maps the development of the monastery Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She discusses the Gothic painting of Virgin Mary Klasová, taking into account its iconographic and historical significance. The theoretical part further describes the characteristics of visual impairments and gives information about its problems. The practical part aims to transform the image of the Virgin Mary on a compensatory tactile aid in the form of a relief.

Weserdomen 2015 resulterade i en strängare tolkning av EU:s ramdirektiv för vatten vilket bland annat innefattade att inga exploateringar får tillåtas om dessa medför att minst en kvalitetsfaktor i vattnet får en sämre statusklass, oavsett hur övriga kvalitetsfaktorer påverkas. Den strängare tolkningen, i kombination med en ökad urbaniseringsgrad, ställer högre krav på samhällets hantering av spill- och dagvatten. Ett vanligt sätt att säkerställa ovanstående krav är att tillämpa olika lösningar för lokalt omhändertagande av dagvatten (LOD). Syftet med dessa lösningar är att hantera dagvattnet så nära uppkomstkällan som möjligt. I vissa fall kan det dock tänkas att det finns mer effektiva åtgärder för att säkerställa god vattenstatus.   En åtgärd som syftar till att kompensera för frånvarandet av en annan åtgärd kallas för kompensationsåtgärd. I det här examensarbetet har fallet med att spåra och åtgärda felkopplingar i ledningsnätet (spillvatten kopplat på dagvattennätet) undersökts som kompensationsåtgärd för LOD. Den specifika LOD-lösning som använts i arbetet har varit dagvattendammar. Examensarbetet har utrett rådande lagstiftning vad gäller kompensationsåtgärder samt gjort en fallstudie för Bällstaån med en kostnads-nyttoanalys där åtgärdandet av felkopplingar jämförts med anläggandet av dagvattendammar.   Resultatet av undersökningarna visade att kompensationsåtgärder idag är ett begrepp som kan tolkas olika, där det även i domstolen genom åren har tolkats olika. Nuvarande praxis är dock att en kompensationsåtgärd inte kan åberopas för att tillåta en exploatering som annars hade funnit avslag. Att kunna nyttja åtgärdandet av felkopplingar som kompensationsåtgärd för LOD är således, med dagens regelverk, väldigt osannolikt.   Fallstudien visade att åtgärdandet av felkopplingar, med avseende på vattenkvalitet är en betydligt mer kostnads-nyttoeffektiv åtgärd i jämförelse med anläggandet av dagvattendammar. Bristen på studier och utredningar på felkopplingar av denna typ är, mot bakgrund av fallstudien, förmodligen en indikator på att mer resurser bör läggas inom detta område. / In 2015 the Weser Case resulted in a more stringent interpretation of the EU Water Framework Directive. For instance, the ruling stated that no projects should be given permission if even as little as one quality factor ends up with a lower status, regardless of how the other quality factors are affected. The stricter interpretation, combined with an increasing grade of urbanization, places higher demands on society’s management of wastewater and stormwater. One common way of ensuring the above requirements is to apply different solutions of best management practices for stormwater (BMP). The purpose of these solutions is to process the water as close to the source of origin as possible. However, in some cases it may be that there are more effective measures to ensure good water quality.   A measure taken with the purpose of compensating for the absence of a different action is called a compensatory measure. In this thesis, the case of fixing incorrect connection of sewage pipes (where wastewater pipes have been incorrectly connected to stormwater pipes) was investigated as a compensatory measure for stormwater ponds (a common BMP). The prevailing legislation regarding compensatory measures was analysed and a case study has been conducted for Bällstaån. The case study included a cost-benefit analysis where the fixing of incorrectly-connected sewage pipes was compared with the implementation of stormwater ponds.   The investigation regarding the legislative aspect showed that compensatory measures are a concept that can be interpreted somewhat differently. This has also been the case in the court over the years. However, current practice shows that a compensatory measure cannot be invoked to allow a project that otherwise would have been refused. Being able to use the fixing of incorrect connections as a compensation for BMP is thus, with today’s regulation, very unlikely.   The case study showed that fixing incorrect connections in sewage pipes is, with regard to water quality, a far more cost-beneficial measure compared to the construction of stormwater ponds. Furthermore, the lack of studies regarding this kind of incorrect connections is, in the light of the results from the case study, probably an indication that this is a problem that fairly few people work with and where more resources could be a good investment for future water quality.

Linguistic fossilization is a prevalent phenomenon in adult ESLA and presents a perpetual pedagogical challenge to teachers. Despite controversy about the theoretical concept, research is increasingly showing that persistent erroneousness cannot be attributed to single causal factors. This single case study examines controversial aspects surrounding the concept and formulates criteria for identifying fossilization. The study investigates the conversational output of an independent adult learner over a period of nine months and presents a holistic exploration of causal influences. The findings substantiate that fossilization arises from changing combinations of factors, and that such combinations are unique to the situation of each adult learner. The key to the successful treatment of fossilized errors may lie in identifying their roots, which can be achieved by analyzing output and through discussion with learners in order to gain insight into their experience of the learning process. Results also suggest that a critical perspective on the theoretical construct is needed in order to investigate the phenomenon in adult second language acquisition. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL))

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:00:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5728.pdf: 4886967 bytes, checksum: 9a66021bc6eec94037ca58204cb8fb84 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-23 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Stormwater flooding in urban centers today is the direct result of ground impermeabilization and the ineffective dimensioning of stormwater drainage systems. In order to control these events, innovative low impact stormwater drainage facilities are used in Brazil, which are efficient in controlling sharp peak flows in urban watersheds without, however, affecting the aesthetic appearance of the landscape in these environments. The purpose of this study is to model and estimate the volume of water infiltrated into the soil where a compensatory stormwater drainage system is inserted, which can contribute to groundwater recharge. Modeling was performed by means of a physical storage method and storage variation in soil using a tensiometer, and in digital form using the Hydrus 2D/3D software package. The monitored drainage system and the digitally designed system consist of a water retention basin, a ditch or filter, and an infiltration trench. Groundwater recharge was estimated based on soil analyses, geophysical investigations, flow measurements, and rainfall data, in addition to data collected during 454 days of continuous monitoring of the system by means of tensiometers installed on-site, rain gauges, and the construction of bimodal soil water retention curves using the filter paper method. The moisture content at different depths, the zero water flow plane, and the volumes moving in the soil matrix were calculated based on the identification of the soil water content and matric potential, the hydraulic conductivity in saturated conditions at the monitored depths, and the soil s characteristic curves. The results of the Soil Water Retention Curves (SWRC) and soil moisture content were negligible starting from a depth of 80cm. However, the groundwater recharge rate estimated by the tensiometer method and by the Hydrus digital model was about 45% of the total volume of rainfall. / Atualmente, eventuais problemas de enchentes e inundações, são causas diretas da impermeabilização de áreas nos centros urbanos e do ineficaz dimensionamento da drenagem pluvial nas cidades. No intuito de se controlar estes eventos, equipamentos de drenagem de baixo impacto são inovadoras no Brasil e eficientes no controle de vazões de pico acentuadas em bacias urbanas, sem sobretudo, renunciar à estética e à paisagem nestes ambientes. Neste trabalho objetivou-se modelar e estimar o volume de água infiltrado no solo, onde um sistema de drenagem pluvial compensatória está inserido, que é capaz de contribuir com a recarga freática. A modelagem foi realizada por meio do método de armazenamento e variação da armazenagem no solo com utilização de tensiômetro e de forma digital utilizando-se do software Hydrus 2D/3D. O sistema de drenagem monitorado e o diagramado digitalmente são constituídos de uma bacia de retenção de água, uma vala ou filtro gramado e uma trincheira de infiltração. Na tentativa de estimar a recarga freática realizaram-se, conjuntamente, análises de solo, investigações geofísicas, medidas de vazão, coleta de dados de chuva, além do monitoramento contínuo em 454 dias do sistema através da instalação de tensiômetros no local, pluviógrafos, além da construção de curvas bimodais de retenção de água nos solos por meio do método do papel filtro. A partir da identificação dos potenciais mátricos do solo, da condutividade hidráulica em condições saturadas para as profundidades monitoradas e da obtenção das curvas características do solo, foi possível calcular o teor de umidade em diferentes profundidades, identificar o plano de fluxo zero e calcular os volumes em movimento na matriz do solo. Os resultados obtidos pela verificação das Curvas de Retenção de Água no Solo (CRAs) e umidades de campo foram pouco expressivos a partir de 80cm de profundidade, entretanto, a recarga estimada obtida pelo método dos tensiômetros e pelo modelo digital Hydrus ficou em torno de um valor médio de 45% do volume total precipitado.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-06T17:06:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jaqueline Lourdes Rios.pdf: 2197397 bytes, checksum: 8b4d25d7991d87105a6adde5cf0b9f2a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-05-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Individuals with functional ankle instability (FAI) experience deficits in postural control. Such a postural instability have been demonstrated through increased Center of Pressure displacement or movement velocity when standing in single limb stance. It is unknown, however, the the anticipatory (APA) and compensatory (CPA) postural adjustments in these individuals during postural perturbations that are common during daily living, athletic and therapeutic activities. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the strategies of postural adjustment in individuals with FAI. The electromyographic (EMG) activity of postural muscles from a group of individuals with FAI and a matching control group were recorded and analyzed during the task of kicking a ball in single limb stance under different conditions of postural instability (even floor, foam and trampoline). The individuals with FAI showed a delay in the latency of the peroneus longus muscle (PL) when compared with the control group. The magnitude of APAs and CPAs were similar between groups, as well as within experimental conditions. However, the background muscle activity of the leg and thigh muscles was different between conditions, especially between even floor and trampoline conditions for both groups. These results suggest that therapeutic activities, functional exercises and balance training should aim in improving the reaction time of the PL muscle. / Indivíduos com instabilidade funcional de tornozelo (IFT) apresentam déficits de equilíbrio. Esses déficits são demonstrados, na maioria dos estudos, através do aumento do deslocamento ou velocidade de movimento do centro de pressão corporal durante apoio unipodal. Entretanto, pouco se conhece sobre os ajustes posturais antecipatórios (APA) e compensatórios (APC) desses indivíduos durante perturbações posturais, que são comuns durante atividades do cotidiano, esportivas ou terapêuticas. O principal objetivo deste estudo foi investigar as estratégias de ajuste postural de indivíduos com IFT. Para tanto, a atividade eletromiográfica (EMG) dos músculos posturais em indivíduos com e sem IFT foram registradas e analisadas durante a tarefa de chutar uma bola em apoio unipodal em diferentes condições de instabilidade postural (superfície plana, espuma e mini trampolim). Os indivíduos com IFT mostraram um atraso na latência do músculo fibular longo (FL) quando comparados ao grupo controle. As magnitudes dos APAs e APCs foram similares entre os grupos, bem como dentre as condições experimentais. No entanto, a atividade EMG basal para os músculos da perna e da coxa diferiram entre as condições, principalmente entre a superfície plana e o mini trampolim, para ambos os grupos. Sendo assim, atividades terapêuticas, exercícios ou treinamentos funcionais e de equilíbrio devem objetivar melhorar o tempo de reação do músculo FL.