Submitted by Juliana Ferreira Blandino null (juliana.ferreiraae@gmail.com) on 2016-07-09T15:00:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Juliana Blandino 2016.pdf: 2008055 bytes, checksum: 4c46413394a65884ce7d41bafce68822 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-07-12T14:09:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 blandino_jf_me_arafcl.pdf: 2008055 bytes, checksum: 4c46413394a65884ce7d41bafce68822 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-12T14:09:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 blandino_jf_me_arafcl.pdf: 2008055 bytes, checksum: 4c46413394a65884ce7d41bafce68822 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-30 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / As novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação vêm sendo consideradas ferramentas importantes para melhorar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem e a inovação das práticas pedagógicas. Os Objetos de Aprendizagem podem contribuir para tornar o processo educativo mais contextualizado, lúdico e interativo, características que podem ajudar na compreensão dos conteúdos estudados, contribuindo com o ensino-aprendizagem. Assim, esta pesquisa teve por objetivo investigar o uso de Objetos de Aprendizagem como mecanismo de apoio a alunos com dificuldade no processo de alfabetização no primeiro ano do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola pública estadual. A investigação buscou verificar como o uso do referido recurso tecnológico, acompanhado de uma proposta pedagógica, pode auxiliar os alunos a superarem as dificuldades de aprendizagem identificadas no processo de alfabetização. Assim, nesta pesquisa-ação, utilizamos os Objetos de Aprendizagem durante as aulas de informática de forma individual e diferenciada com um grupo de 7 alunos com dificuldades de aprendizagem, durante três meses. Os Objetos de Aprendizagem foram instalados em 4 Tablets, e utilizados coletivamente pelo grupo de alunos com a coordenação e supervisão da pesquisadora. A análise dos dados coletados durante o processo revelou que, embora o período de aplicação da proposta tenha sido de apenas três meses, todos os alunos apresentaram ganhos qualitativos no processo de alfabetização. Podemos destacar entre os resultados positivos, o aumento da motivação dos alunos na realização das atividades complementares; o desenvolvimento da consciência fonológica; o aumento da confiança dos alunos que gerou uma atitude positiva perante os desafios da aprendizagem; e, finalmente, o progresso dos alunos nas avaliações do nível de alfabetização realizado pela escola. A atenção individualizada da pesquisadora para com os alunos também foi outro fator significativo que contribuiu para os progressos observados. / The new information technology and communication have been considered important tools to improve the teaching-learning process and the innovation of educational practices. The learning objects may contribute to make the educational process more contextualized, playful and interactive, what can help to understand the content covered by these studies, and contribute as well for learning. Thus, this research aimed investigating the use of learning objects as a support system to students with disabilities in the literacy process in the first year of primary education at a public school. The investigation sought to verify how the use of the proposed technological resource, with an appropriate educational proposal, may assist the students to overcome the learning difficulties identified in the process of literacy. This way, through this research-action, the learning objects were used, during the computing classes, individually and in a differentiated way, with a seven-years-old group of children with educational disabilities, for three months. The learning objects were installed in 4 tablets and they were used collectively by the students monitored and coordinated by the researcher. The analysis of data collected during the process showed that, although the implementation period of the proposal had been only for three months, all the students achieved qualitative gains in the literacy process. Between the positive results, specific mention can be made on the students increasing motivation when doing complementary activities; phonological awareness development; the increasing confidence, what reflected positively on facing learning challenges; and finally, the progress of the students in the literacy level assessments provided by the school. The personal attention of the researcher to the students was also a significant element, which contributed to the progress noted. / FAPESP: 2014/13167-3

No description available.

Class of 2014 Abstract / Specific Aims: To compare two groups of automated dispensing technology and their impact on medication safety and costs at an inpatient pharmacy. Methods: A total of 784 medications were audited for Pyxis refill errors, 352 prior to and 432 post implementation of Boxpicker and the ATP High Speed Tablet Packager. Data were collected by obtaining refill reports for automated dispensing. Every other medication on the refill report was audited for errors in the corresponding location of the automated dispensing cabinet. The rate of reported errors was obtained from a self-reported error program, Patient Safety Net (PSN). Analysis related to costs included automated dispensing cabinet related inventory and costs associated with bulk repackaging. All data associated with costs were obtained from pharmacy financial records. Main Results: There was no significant difference in the Pyxis refill error rate between Pyxis PARx and Boxpicker (0.00284% versus 0.00231%, respectively, p =0.88). The total number of automated dispensing cabinet problems reported through Patient Safety Net transiently increased during and after implementation of new automated technology. Value of pharmacy inventory costs associated with automation was $674,460 prior to and $594,789 post implementation of technology. Bulk repackaging with the ATP High Speed Automatic Tablet Packager resulted in an estimated cost savings of $203,400 annually. Conclusion: Implementation of Boxpicker and ATP High Speed Tablet Packager resulted in no significant change in Pyxis refill error rates, a transient increase in reported automated dispensing cabinet problems, a decrease in inventory costs, and savings associated with bulk repackaging.

Syftet med studien är att fånga förskollärares uppfattningar om lärplattan i förskolans verksamhet. Förskollärares inställning till lärplattan kan bidra till hur den används i arbetslaget och hur den erbjuds i barngruppen. Studien vill bidra till att skapa reflektioner om lärplattan i förskolans verksamhet. Det undersöktes hur förskollärare ser lärplattan som en del av det pedagogiska arbetet som bedrivs i verksamheten. För att kunna svara på syftet med studien formulerades tre forskningsfrågor. I studien används kvalitativ metod i form av en semistrukturerad intervju och utgår från ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv. Intervjuerna transkriberades och kategoriseras sedan för att få fram de mest framträdande svaren i intervjuerna. Resultatet visade att majoriteten av respondenterna hade en positiv inställning till lärplattan i verksamheten, det framkom även att de ansåg att det går att vara en närvarande vuxen på olika sätt. Vidare visade det sig att lärplattan framförallt användes för att dokumentera verksamheten.

The need to improve early mathematics education in the United States is very clear, given the importance of early mathematics learning and the consistently poor math performance of children from low-SES backgrounds. It is crucial to engage these disadvantaged children in meaningful math learning as early as possible. With the continuous infiltration of technology into our lives, the powerful affordances of tablet computers may enable the development of powerful math applications. Given the limited evidence of using well-designed math applications to enhance young children’s math learning, the primary goal of this dissertation was to examine the efficacy of a research-based math software application on low-income preschoolers’ number sense performance. Twenty-eight 4- to 5-year-old intervention participants completed MathemAntics (MA) training 15 minutes a day, 3 days a week for 4 weeks. The other 28 control participants stayed in their classroom and received general class instruction. All participants were given a pretest and a posttest to evaluate their number sense performance. Results indicated that the intervention group outperformed the control group on number sense assessment, and the intervention participants’ mean standardized Addition & Subtraction gain was the highest among the seven subtests, with the mean Standardized Compare Quantities gain being the lowest. Results also indicated that prior knowledge of identifying numerals predicted the overall post-assessment performance and the lack of knowledge on Addition & Subtraction predicted the standardized overall gain. The MA training analyses showed that the participants improved adequately on most of the MA activities during intervention. The use of MA tools was also discussed. The results provided direct evidence for demonstrating the efficacy of MA and added valuable information to the field of math software design. The results of this study also suggested that future studies can examine how the MA activities can be effectively integrated into the math curriculum and whether the MA activities are appropriate for home numeracy development.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017. / Numerous pharmaceutical solid dosage form manufacturing techniques have emerged over the years and among them, 3D-Printing (3DP) has emerged as a highly attractive and versatile approach. 3DP is a cutting edge technology set to expand and revolutionize tablet manufacturing among various other applications in industry. The study reported in this thesis focuses on developing a humic acid-polyquaternium-10 (HA-PQ10) 3D-Printable ink for the delivery of three anti-HIV bioactives, efavirenz (EFV), tenofovir (TDF) and emtricitabine (FTC). HA was strategically employed based on its capability of entrapping both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. PQ10 contributed towards the system’s swellability in aqueous media. The HA-PQ10 PEC was responsible for retarding drug release therefore it behaved as a drug reservoir. Validation of HA-PQ10 complexation was carried out by synthesizing the HA-PQ10 polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) in aqueous media at pH 6, 7 and 8. The complexation yielded fibrilla and porous PECs. The PEC formation was attributed to ionic interactions between the quaternary ammonium centres (PQ10) and carboxylic groups (HA). The PECs were determined to be amorphous in nature and exhibited good biocompatibility when tested for cytotoxicity in human adenocarcinoma cell line (Caco2). The model drug, efavirenz (EFV) was loaded into HA-PQ10 using the complexation-precipitation (C-P) technique. The resultant EFV-loaded HA-PQ10 was compared to benchtop extrudates manufactured using the extrusion-spheronization (E-S) process. Assessment of the EFV saturation solubility and intestinal permeability showed EFV solubility and permeability enhancement of 14.14±2.81% and 61.24±6.92% respectively. The properties were compared to those of a marketed comparator product. Loading RTV into the optimized HA-PQ10 further validated the solubility and permeability enhancing properties in the BCS class IV drug as well. The extrudates performed superiorly compared to the formulation synthesized by C-P. The E-S technique was utilized to optimize HA-PQ10 based on drug release and intestinal permeation enhancement. The optimal HA-PQ10 was employed for 3DP of EFV-loaded HA-PQ10 into an oral tablet formulation. It was imperative to add cellulose acetate phthalate (CAP) to enhance the 3D-Printability of the HA-PQ10. CAP made the synthesized delivery system pH responsive and drug release results showed that most of the release occurred under intestinal conditions. The EFV-loaded 3DP tablet was compared to a tablet synthesized by direct compression. 3DP was more porous, less dense and more swellable than the direct compression tablet. These remarkable differences were attributed to the tableting method. 3DP leads to the formation of solid bridges between particles as the sludge (ink) undergoes extrusion and drying process. The direct compression technique involves axial powder compaction at high pressures which force particles to interact through Van der Waals forces or hydrogen bond formation. High drug loading of EFV was achieved and the tablet was further optimized to manufacture the ‘controlled release tritherapeutic tablet’, CRTT, a fixed dose combination (FDC) consisting of EFV, TDF and FTC. In vivo studies were conducted in large white pigs and CRTT absorption was compared to a marketed FDC, Atripla®. There was sustained release of EFV, TDF and FTC from CRTT and this was validated by the long residence times determined from pharmacokinetic analysis. EFV was maintained within the therapeutic index of the drug during the 24 hour study. Through this study, 3DP proved to be a technology with potential for manufacturing novel formulations. As more research is underway in the 3DP field, it can only be appreciated that its scope of use will continue to grow and restructure pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. / LG2018

This study investigates the potential of using a newly developed sub-game in the Magical Garden research platform as a method of teaching preschool children subitizing. Thirty preschool children played the game, identifying formation with four, five and six objects. Some formations with five objects were scaffolded by changing the sprites of some of the objects. Results showed that children were significantly faster and accurate at formations with four objects than five and six. No significant difference was found between five and six objects, which were also considerably similar in both time and accuracy. Analysis suggests that perceptual subitizing was used to a greater degree when presented with four objects and that counting was used for higher numerosities. The study showed that there were some problems with the study design, with formations being more difficult at formations with five objects. Suggestions are made for how the game should be altered, including a dynamic difficulty changing component to account for the large individual differences. Additionally, it is suggested to lower the amount of time the formations are shown in order to elicit the use of conceptual subitizing and focus on lowering the difficulty in terms of the number of items and formation pattern rather than altering time. There was no significant difference for performance when comparing scaffolded formations with non-scaffolded formations. The reason could be that the formations were not subitized. Future studies should include the suggested changes and conduct longitudinal studies looking at improvements over time and whether children are improving.

This paper seeks to answer the following questions in respect to the pedagogy of an experimental digital media university course: What are digital magazines? How do they involve a new design workflow? Are there certain industry trends in digital magazine production? How can this new technology be integrated into a class project?

User input has taken many forms since the conception of computers. In the past ten years, Tablet PCs have provided a natural writing experience for users with the advent of active pen input. Unfortunately, pen based input has yet to be adopted as an input method by any modern mobile operating system. This thesis investigates the addition of active pen based input to the Android mobile operating system. The Android input framework was evaluated and modified to allow for active pen input events. Since active pens allow for their position to be detected without making contact with the screen, an on-screen pointer was implemented to provide a digital representation of the pen's position. Extensions to the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) were made to expose the additional functionality provided by active pen input to developers. Pen capable hardware was used to test the Android framework and SDK additions and show that active pen input is a viable input method for Android powered devices. Android was chosen because it is open source and therefore available to modify and test on physical hardware. Gingerbread (Android 2.3) was used as the code base for this thesis. All modifications to the Android framework that are detailed in this thesis will be made available online. The goal of this thesis is to explore methods of integrating and exposing active pen input in Android and encourage the implementation and adoption of active pen input by Google as a standard input method in Android.

Wearing a virtual reality head-mounted display (VR-HMD) disconnects users from the real- world context that they are physically in. While one solution is to have everyone in the room wear VR-HMDs, this is not inclusive for all users. For example, children are not recommended to wear VR-HMDs due to eyesight concerns, and individuals with cybersickness, make-up, or thick hair texture may not want to wear them. In this thesis, we investigated the effects of using motion-tracked tablets as a window through which people can see the virtual world and understand how we can offer a more inclusive and social VR experience. Finally, we explore our in-lab user study to evaluate the usability of such a system, and we compare it against watching the VR-HMD user's egocentric view on a computer screen. Our results show that the tablet-based VR system is highly usable. Because of its agency, the participants felt more present and preferred the tablet-based system over the baseline method. / Master of Science / Wearing a VR-HMD (Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display) to enter VR (Virtual reality) usually cuts the user off from the real-world context around them. One possible solution to this problem is to let everyone wear VR-HMDs. But it is not feasible for everyone. Some individuals experience cybersickness or physical constraints such as glasses, thick hair, or makeup. Additionally, children are not allowed to wear VR-HMD as it may affect their eyesight. We propose a solution to this problem by enabling users to use motion-tracked tablets. Motion-tracked tablets refer to tablets such as iPad, Galaxy Tab, etc., that are tracked inside a Virtual Environment (VE) using trackers such as Vive Tracker. The trackers track the relative location of the tablet inside the VE. We believe motion-tracked tablets will give the users a window to the VE. In this thesis, we investigated the effects of using motion-tracked tablets in VR to understand how we can offer a more inclusive and social VR experience. We explored how useful the users found the system, how situationally aware they were about the VE, and how present they felt in the VE. Our results show a preference for motion-tracked tablets over the egocentric view of the VR-HMD user through a computer screen.