This thesis comprises four separate studies of the same material: a ten-minute Swedish Sign Language monologue. Study I describes the form, meaning, and use of the sign INDEX-c, a pointing toward the chest traditionally described as a first person pronoun. It is argued that INDEX-c is used not only with specific reference to the signer or a quoted signer, but also with non-specific reference. Contrary to what has been reported, INDEX-c is used not only for constructed dialogue, but also in constructed action. The analysis reveals two separate forms, as well, labeled as reduced INDEX-c and distinct INDEX-c, respectively. Study II describes the activities of the non-dominant hand when it is not part of a two-handed sign. A continuum is suggested, moving from different rest positions that do not contribute to the discourse content, via mirroring of the dominant hand, for example, to instances where the non-dominant hand produces signs of its own while the dominant hand remains inactive, i.e. dominance reversal. Several of the activities of the non-dominant hand, including the four types of buoys that are described, help structure the discourse by indicating the current topic. Study III uses Mental Space Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory to describe the use of signing space for reference. A correlation is shown between discourse content and the area in the signing space toward which signs are meaningfully directed, and also between these directions and which types of Real Space blends the signer mainly uses: token blends or surrogate blends. Finally Study IV looks in more detail at three segments of the discourse and their Real Space blend structure. An initial analysis of eight interpretations into spoken Swedish is also conducted, focusing on whether preselected content units (discourse entities and relations) are identified. A large number of Real Space blends and blended entities are argued to result in less successful renditions measured in terms of preselected content units. / För att köpa boken skicka en beställning till exp@ling.su.se/ To order the book send an e-mail to exp@ling.su.se

Les protocoles d'échange d'informations représentent un des grands domaines actuels de recherche en sécurité informatique, et sont entre autres à la base des mécanismes de commerce électronique. Ils sont par exemple nécessaires à la réalisation d'un achat en ligne, à la signature d'un contrat électronique et au courrier électronique recommandé. Dans ces exemples, les échanges d'informations consistent à échanger respectivement un objet électronique contre un paiement, des signatures digitales sur un même contrat, et un courrier électronique contre un accusé de réception.<p><p>Informellement, un protocole mettant en oeuvre de tels types d'échanges est dit équitable si et seulement si à la fin du protocole soit l'échange d'information a eu lieu, soit aucune information (même en partie) n'a été échangée. Afin d'assurer cette propriété d'équité de manière efficace, et d'éviter ainsi des éventuels comportements malhonnêtes de la part des participants à l'échange d'informations qui chercheraient à nuire au bon déroulement du protocole, une tierce partie de confiance est utilisée.<p><p>Un des buts de cette thèse est de discerner les tâches devant être assurées par une telle tierce partie de confiance et développer des méthodes permettant d'en minimiser le nombre et l'importance, afin de limiter la confiance que les entités effectuant l'échange doivent porter à cette tierce partie. Pour cela, nous identifions tout d'abord de manière générique quels sont ces types de tâches, puis nous analysons sous ce point de vue les principaux protocoles ayant été proposés dans la littérature.<p><p>Cette démarche nous conduit ensuite naturellement à nous pencher sur les relations de confiance entre les participants à un protocole d'échange. Ce type de relations est particulièrement significatif pour des protocoles à plus de deux participants.<p><p>Enfin, dans ce travail, nous observons à la lumière des aspects de confiance, les différentes propriétés propres aux protocoles d'échange, et nous proposons plusieurs nouveaux protocoles ayant des besoins en confiance limités.<p> / Doctorat en sciences, Spécialisation Informatique / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Hearing parents of deaf children who are reliant on Sign Language need to learn to sign to ensure communication mode-match with their children. Signing is vital for parent-child interaction, and has implications for the socio-emotional well-being and educational outcomes of the child. However, poor signing skills of parents is repeatedly reported in the literature, with the majority of children in signing educational programmes reported not to be exposed to signing in the home. Teaching parents to sign therefore appears a priority, with sign teaching strategies being debated in the literature. The learning of Sign Language as a second language by hearing parents of deaf children within the bilingual educational approach, which regards Sign Language as the first language of deaf children, raises the challenges of cross-modality language learning for hearing parents. Reports on teaching methods are mainly anecdotal with only a few studies addressing sign learning by hearing individuals. While the use of graphic representations of signs is a common practice in teaching signs, there is no empirical data on their influence on the learning of signs. This study explored the contribution of graphic representations of signs in sign teaching. The main aim of the study was to describe the impact of sign illustrations on the teaching of signs to hearing mothers. Two sub-aims were formulated to compare the conditions of sign learning with and without the use of sign illustrations in graphic displays in terms of (a) sign reception and sign production, and (b) the amount and nature of assistance required in learning signs. An Adapted Alternating Treatments Design (AATD), with four theme-based sign sets, and probes balanced for equivalence, was developed and used. Four biological mothers of three boys and a girl in a Grade Three class at a day school for the deaf in an urban area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa took part in the study. The results revealed no significant differences between the two training strategies for sign acquisition, in terms of sign reception and sign production post-training. There were however, significant differences between the two training strategies with regard to assistance required while learning signs. The graphics strategy required significantly less trainer assistance (p<0.05). In addition, there were significant differences in the nature of assistance provided with the use of graphic representations. Significantly fewer repeated demonstrations of signs were required by the participants during self practice (p<0.01). There was a significantly higher number of corrections with the graphics strategy (p<0.01) initially, and this decreased over time, unlike with the signing-only strategy. It would appear that the sign illustrations were redundant during the initial stages of sign learning using a multimodal approach, but that they were relied on to trigger recall of signs during the self practice phase. Thus, the study confirmed the supportive role of sign illustrations in sign learning. The use of theme-based graphic displays of sign illustrations emerged as a viable method in teaching signs. The implications of these results and recommendations for future research are discussed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / unrestricted

La obra El beso de la mujer araña (1976) del escritor argentino Manuel Puig se basa en la convivencia de dos personajes principales en el calabozo de una cárcel en Buenos Aires durante la dictadura argentina. Es destacable la manera en que estos personajes desarrollan una relación basada en la intimidad. Debido al desarrollo del concepto de género, ahora visto más allá del biologicismo, se abren nuevas posibilidades de interpretación sobre esta relación. El objetivo de nuestro trabajo ha consistido en realizar una nueva lectura sobre la identidad del personaje Molina y la relación con su compañero de celda Valentín desde la perspectiva transgénero. Para ello nos hemos basado en terminología de las nuevas categorizaciones de identidadde género, así como también la teoría de la performatividad del género y la teoríade la autoasignación de la identidad sexual de Judith Butler. Ha sido interesante descubrir cómo estos nuevos conceptos que tenemos hoy en día en la comunidad Queer nos revelan nuevas definiciones sobre la identidad del protagonista Molina y sobre su relación con el activista izquierdista Valentín. / Kiss of the Spider Woman (1976) by the Argentine writer Manuel Puig is based on the connivance of two main characters in the Buenos Aires prison during the Argentine dictatorship. These characters develop a relationship based on emotional and sexual intimacy. Nowadays, the debate about the concept of gender has developed, since we can now see beyond the limits of biology, which opens new interpretation of this argument. The objective of our investigative work is to carry out a new analysis of Molina’s identity and his relationship with his prison partner Valentine, from a transgender perspective. We used terminology from the new categories of gender identity, as well as the theory of the gender performance and the theory of sexual assignment by Judith Butler. It is intriguing to learn how the concepts prevalent in the Queer community today reveal new definitions about the identity of the protagonist Molina and about his relationship with Valentine.

Consumers of digital contents are empowered with numerous technologies allowing them to produce perfect copies of these contents and distribute them around the world with little or no cost. To prevent illegal copying and distribution, a technology called Digital Rights Management (DRM) is developed. With this technology, consumers are allowed to access digital contents only if they have purchased the corresponding licenses from license issuers. The problem, however, is that those consumers are not allowed to resell their own licenses- a restriction that goes against the first-sale doctrine. Enabling a consumer to buy a digital license directly from another consumer and allowing the two consumers to fairly exchange the license for a payment are still an open issue in DRM research area. This thesis investigates existing security solutions for achieving digital license reselling and analyses their strengths and weaknesses. The thesis then proposes a novel Reselling Deal Signing (RDS) protocol to achieve fairness in a license reselling. The idea of the protocol is to integrate the features of the concurrent signature scheme with functionalities of a License Issuer (LI). The security properties of this protocol is informally analysed and then formally verified using ATL logic and the model checker MOCHA. To assess its performance, a prototype of the RDS protocol has been developed and a comparison with related protocols has been conducted. The thesis also introduces two novel digital tokens a Reselling Permission (RP) token and a Multiple Reselling Permission (MRP) token. The RP and MRP tokens are used to show whether a given license is single and multiple resalable, respectively. Moreover, the thesis proposes two novel methods supporting fair and secure digital license reselling. The first method is the Reselling Deal (RD) method which allows a license to be resold once. This method makes use of the existing distribution infrastructure, RP, License Revocation List (LRL), and three protocols: RDS protocol RD Activation (RDA) protocol, and RD Completion (RDC) protocol. The second method is a Multiple License Reselling (MLR) method enabling one license to be resold N times by N consumers. The thesis presents two variants of the MLR method: RRP-MR (Repeated RP-based Multi-Reselling) and HC-MR (Hash Chain-based Multi-Reselling). The RRP-MR method is designed such that a buyer can choose to either continue or stop a multi-reselling of a license. Like the RD method, the RRP-MR method makes use of RP, LI, LRL, and the RDS, RDA, and RDC protocols to achieve fair and secure reselling. The HC-MR method allows multiple resellings while keeping the overhead on LI at a minimum level and enable a buyer to check how many times a license can be further resold. To do so, the HC-MR utilises MRP and the hash chain cryptographic primitive along with LRL, LI and the RDS, RDA and RDC protocols. The analysis and the evaluation of these three methods have been conducted. While supporting the license reselling, the two methods are designed to prevent a reseller from (1) continuing using a resold license, (2) reselling a non-resalable license, and (3) reselling one license a unauthorised number of times. In addition, they enable content owners of resold contents to trace a buyer who has violated any of the usage rights of a license bought from a reseller. Moreover, the methods enable a buyer to verify whether a license he is about to buy is legitimate for re-sale. Furthermore, the two methods support market power where a reseller can maximise his profit and a buyer can minimise his cost in a reselling process. In comparison with related works, our solution does not make use of any trusted hardware device, thus it is more cost-effective, while satisfying the interests of both resellers and buyers, and protecting the content owner's rights.

邁入數位電視紀元乃是全球之趨，而其對於增進身障者獲取各類資訊的「媒介近用權」具有莫大助益，其中針對聽障社群接取內容最重要的近用需求──「字幕」和「手語」服務，在數位科技匯流發展下，皆可以「隱藏式」之方式供應，同時造福聽障和非聽障之傳播權益，以及減輕廣電業者相關技術的支付成本。因此，近用服務的提供從過去的消極被動轉向現今的積極樂觀。而外國先進國家大多皆以公共廣電媒體之設立價值與目標，作為該國近用服務推動的核心主體，希望藉由數位電視的技術研發，達成更多聽障輔助應用之需求和供應滿足，協助其順利進入數位包容社會。故本研究以探詢國外落實近用服務情形，以做為我國公共廣電服務借力使力之參考，期許對我國聽障社群在傳播權益上產生影響。 　　 　　研究發現，英國、歐盟針對聽障社群的媒體近用落實，無論在法規的制定、實務的推行以及技術的研發等各層面皆有所重視，認為數位電視平台的時代，應協助聽障融入數位包容社會，並設法增進其傳播權益，以彰顯聽障與一般大眾之平權的公民地位；而在我國公視部份，其營運目標始終視英國BBC為效法對象，希冀在內、外資源充份下能達至同BBC供應近用服務之標準水平。然而在多種因素交織下，現階段公視對於聽障媒體近用服務的提供，則依舊保持類比電視時代之作為，不過，經本研究與其互動後了解，公視未來可能朝向增加其他近用服務項目發展，期望數位電視真正來臨時，其能化過往被動態度轉向積極進取：公視目前在電視平台持續兩個「手語專門」節目的製播，並預計規劃將手語服務擴大至「運動」類型節目，以符合聽障收視的期待；至於字幕服務，在已完備的基礎上，試圖朝向「表情字幕」與「即時字幕」發展；另外，於2011年HiHD數位頻道將推出「隱藏式字幕」功能。在網路平台方面，公視服務仍然延伸至電視頻道的節目宣傳與相關資訊供給為主，對於加強聽障的網路近用權益，例如「無障礙網頁空間」以及「近用小組」，認為必然有公共義務介入加以落實，但礙於目前並無相關資源規劃與投入，因此要實際推行仍有很大的進步空間。 / The main purpose of this study is to discover the practice of the right of media access in foreign countries, in order to provide reference to Taiwan’s Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) and to make progress on communication interests for hearing impaired community. “Caption” and “Sign Language” are the most important tools for hearing impaired people to gather all kinds of information and fulfill the necessity of access service. Under the digital convergence, these tools can be provided in special ways, which makes the hearing impaired people and the hearing people share the benefits simultaneously and the cost-down effect of broadcasting industry. We know that most developed countries positioned their access service project by referring to nation’s PSB. They believed the new era of digital TV is a solution to attend the balance between demand and supply of hearing impaired aid applications. While the provision of access services is getting more active and optimistic, the digital inclusion is much close to us. The study shows, British and Europe Union think they should assist hearing impaired people to be involved in e-Inclusion society and highlight equally citizen status by enhancing the rights of hearing impaired people. All the aspects such as regulation enactments, practical implementations and technique developments has been considering all the time on the stage of digital TV platform. Just like the BBC in British area, Public Television Service (PTS) in Taiwan is taking BBC as a benchmark to achieve the access services standard in condition of sufficient resources. However, changing the status quo is not so easy for inextricably interwoven reasons. PTS still works in an analog status. In spite of the circumstances haven't changed much till now, there are much more possibilities in the future. The study discovered some new progressive plans are possible for PTS’s access services in digital journey: PTS will continue to provide two programs which are sign-presented, and moreover, sign language service is going to show up in sports genre; As to caption services, PTS is working on facial expression caption and real-time caption provision; HiHD would have closed caption function in 2011. In the case of Internet platform, PTS is focused on propaganda and related information of TV programs. Barrier-free web space and access group are considered necessary for strengthening hearing impaired people’s Internet access rights and interests, but with insufficient resources planning and investment to put into realization. We can see there is still so much to do if we believe we have the affirmative obligations.

Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva lärare och klassassistenters erfarenheter av TAKK som kommunikativt stöd för elever i grundsärskolan. Data har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med tre lärare och två klassassistenter, som i sin profession praktiserade TAKK i interaktion med eleverna. Som teoretisk utgångspunkt för metodval och analysbearbetning har inspiration och begrepp från det sociokulturella, samt det kommunikativa relationsinriktade perspektivet (KoRP) inhämtats. Det sammantagna resultatet visar att lärarna och klassassistenterna beskrev TAKK som en kommunikativ, medierande resurs som gynnade elevernas kommunikation och interaktion med omgivningen, vilket av deltagarna ansågs vara grunden för kommunikativ och social delaktighet, samt grunden för elevernas lärande. Som artefakt ansågs TAKK övervägande innebära fördelar och möjligheter för elevernas kommunikation, delaktighet och lärande. TAKK praktiserades från och till under skoldagen, mestadels i formella kontexter i relation till lärare och klassassistenter. Spontant tecknande bland eleverna var inte vanligt förekommande. Lärare och klassassistenter hade tilltro till sin förmåga att kunna tillgodose elevernas kommunikativa behov och ansåg sig anpassa sitt tecknande utefter dessa. TAKK användes i verksamheterna tillsammans med andra alternativa AKK- redskap, vilka var under utvecklande i verksamheterna. Min förhoppning är att studien kommer bidra med större kunskap och ökad medvetenhet gällande TAKK i grundsärskolan. / The aim of this study is to describe teacher and class-assistents experiences of Keyword Signing (KWS) as communicative support for pupils in compulsory school for learning disabilities. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with three teachers and two class-assistents, who in their profession used KWS in interaction with the pupils. The theoretical framework is founded on inspiration and theoretical concepts from both the sociocultural perspective as well from the communicative relationshiporiented perspective. The total result from this study shows that teachers and class-assistents described KWS as a communicative mediated resource that favored the pupil’s communication and interaction with the surroundings, as from the participant´s point of view is elementary for communicative and social participation, and learning. Over all the interviewed considered that KWS as an artefact was contributing advantages and possibilities concerning the pupils communication, participation and learning. KWS was practiced on daily basis during the schooldays, mostly in formal contexts in relation to teachers and class-assistents. Spontaneous KWS was rarely used by the pupils. Teachers and class-assistents had confidence in their own ability to support the communicative needs of the pupils. KWS was practiced in the classrooms among other alternative of AAC-tools, which were developing in the classrooms. My hope is that this study will contribute cumulative knowledge and awareness about KWS in compulsory school for learning disabilities.

Tato práce popisuje přehled standardních a pokročilých metod používaných k diagnose glaukomu v ranném stádiu. Na základě teoretických poznatků je implementován internetově orientovaný informační systém pro oční lékaře, který má tři hlavní cíle. Prvním cílem je možnost sdílení osobních dat konkrétního pacienta bez nutnosti posílat tato data internetem. Druhým cílem je vytvořit účet pacienta založený na kompletním očním vyšetření. Posledním cílem je aplikovat algoritmus pro registraci intenzitního a barevného fundus obrazu a na jeho základě vytvořit internetově orientovanou tři-dimenzionální vizualizaci optického disku. Tato práce je součásti DAAD spolupráce mezi Ústavem Biomedicínského Inženýrství, Vysokého Učení Technického v Brně, Oční klinikou v Erlangenu a Ústavem Informačních Technologií, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nurnberg.

Syftet med projektet var att ta fram en ny cykelbelysning för att höja cyklisters säkerhet och förenkla trafikregler samt utförandet av signalering. Genom en nulägesanalys av befintliga produkter, elektronikkomponenter och slutanvändarnas uttalanden kunde kundbehov tas fram. Därefter rangordnades kundbehoven och en funktionslista tillsammans med en produktspecifikation kunde verkställas. Med dem som grund utfördes en idégenerering med flera olika lösningskoncept där ett val gjordes baserat på en Kesselringmatris. Det vinnande konceptet var ett par pedaler med integrerad belysning. Genom en accelerometer fungerar pedalen som en bromslykta och med hjälp av en extern kontroll kan körriktningsvisare sättas igång som projiceras på marken. Elektriciteten som behövs till pedalernas belysning genereras när cyklisten roterar pedalaxeln via en generator. Som slutsats uppfylldes projektets mål men mer arbete behöver göras kring projektets avgränsningar för en färdig produkt. / The purpose of the project was to develop a new bicycle light in order to improve cyclists’ safety and to make it easier for them to follow traffic regulations. Using a status analysis of existing products, electronics and the end users statements the customer needs could be documented. Then the needs were ranked and a function list together with a product specification was produced. With them as a base the brainstorming could begin where multiple concept solutions were made and one of them chosen as a winner through a Kesselring matrix. The winning concept was a pair of pedals with integrated lighting. With the help of an accelerometer the pedal worked as a brake light and with an external control system turn signals could be turned on and were projected on the ground. The electricity needed for the pedals light system is generated when the user rotates the pedal axis with the help of a generator. As a conclusion all the project goals were fulfilled but more work needs to be done regarding the projects limitations for a complete production ready product.

This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center.