A elevação da expectativa de vida, e conseqüente aumento da população de terceira idade nos grandes centros urbanos, têm levado ao agravamento de questões relacionadas ao déficit de habitações destinadas a esta faixa - em particular, idosos de baixa renda - bem como à inadaptabilidade das construções ao seu atendimento eficiente e confortável. Em paralelo, tem-se constatado o declínio da oferta de habitações nas regiões centrais e a degradação urbana motivada pela ausência de ambientação social nestas áreas. Este estudo propõe-se a examinar estas questões e encontrar um denominador comum utilizando as ferramentas da arquitetura e do urbanismo. O projeto arquitetônico e o planejamento urbano podem oferecer respostas, mas também podem suscitar novos problemas quando promovem a expulsão da população local através da elitização da área. Um programa arquitetônico foi desenvolvido de forma a apresentar subsídios para projetos de variadas dimensões, considerando os perigos apresentados pela gentrificação. A partir do conceito de um Núcleo-Base, podem-se gerar diversas gamas de espaços e grupos sociais, de acordo com a população e a área em que será inserido. Por fim, dois projetos foram elaborados para ilustrar o conceito desenvolvido neste estudo. / The increasing life expectancy and the resulting growth of the elderly population in big cities have caused problems such as the deficit in residences specially designed for older people, in particular the ones with low income, as well as lack of available infrastructure to provide comfortable and efficient care. Meanwhile, a decreasing supply of housing has been observed in inner city are due to the lack of social welfare and urban degradation. The present study aims at examining these problems and proposing solutions by means of tools provided by the architecture and the urbanism. Drawbacks such as the expulsion of the local population by the mechanism of gentrification are discussed. In this work, an architectonic program based on the concept of kernel-blocks has been developed. According to this concept a large spectrum of projects can be conceived which respect the population characteristics, social class, limitation of space and considers the gentrification phenomenon. Two projects have been elaborated as an illustration of the concept of kernelblocks.

Os bens culturais imóveis são motivo de interesse da população em geral, inclusive das pessoas com deficiência e mobilidade reduzida. O diálogo entre preservação e acessibilidade precisa avançar para dar boas soluções de acesso e circulação e, assim, não inibir a participação de ninguém, quaisquer sejam suas características sensoriais, cognitivas e motoras. Legislações de preservação e de acessibilidade no Brasil pouco falam sobre essa interação e a consequência é a grande dificuldade conceitual e prática para resolver a questão. A finalidade do presente trabalho é demonstrar que as diretrizes de preservação e restauro permitem a convergência para a acessibilidade e que a adequação à acessibilidade pode ser implementada mesmo com as limitações necessárias à preservação do bem. Três etapas foram estabelecidas para averiguar o objetivo proposto. Primeiramente, a análise crítica dos parâmetros existentes, como leis, normas e instruções, que dão suporte para o possível contato entre os campos de preservação e acessibilidade. Posteriormente, a avaliação técnica, relativa à acessibilidade e à preservação, das adaptações feitas em três objetos de estudo (utilizados como museu ou centro cultural) ? Casa das Rosas, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil e Pinacoteca do Estado ?, destacando suas qualidades e limitações. Finalmente, a averiguação da percepção do usuário com deficiência, para assim, examinar a eficácia das soluções realizadas. / Historic buildings are of interest to the wide population, including persons with disabilities or reduced mobility. The dialogue between preservation and accessibility needs to advance to provide good access and circulation solutions, thus allowing anyone to participate, no matter what their sensory, cognitive or motor characteristics may be. Legislation for preservation and accessibility in Brazil hardly mentions an interaction between these fields, creating huge conceptual and practical issues in resolving the matter. The goal of this work is to demonstrate that guidelines for preservation and restoration of these buildings allow for a path towards accessibility, and that accessibility can be implemented respecting the limitations necessary to preserve such an asset. Three steps have been established to analyze the proposed goal. First, the critical analysis of the existing parameters, such as laws, norms and instructions, which support the connection between preservation and accessibility. Then, a technical evaluation regarding accessibility and preservation of three study objects (used as museums or cultural centers) - Casa das Rosas, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil and Pinacoteca do Estado -, showcasing their features and limitations. Finally, a look at the perception of disabled users, in order to examine the efficacy of the solutions used.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has been identified as a contemporary instructional model for promoting inclusion and equitable opportunities for diverse and struggling learners. However, research regarding teachers' perceptions of UDL and its effective implementation is limited, making planning, implementing, and providing professional development difficult for administrators. Guided by the constructivist views of Vygotsky and Piaget, this qualitative case study was designed to understand teachers' knowledge and perceptions of how UDL can be used to promote equitable inclusive instruction, implementation barriers, educational applications for UDL, and perceived needs to implement UDL. Participants were teachers who had implemented UDL from a public charter school serving only students in Grades 3-11 with low incidence disabilities; 20 participated in an online survey, 7 participated in an individual interview, and 3 participated in a group interview. Data were coded and analyzed for common themes. Participants expressed resistance to change, negative impressions of UDL, and disability bias. Recommendations for administrators included strategies for implementation of UDL, periodic collection of teachers' perceptions of UDL for formative purposes, modeling UDL for teachers, monitoring teachers' lesson plans, and classroom observations. This study contributes to social change by identifying teachers' perceptions of their own knowledge, needs, and barriers to implementation of UDL in order assist administrators in effectively preparing them for delivery of instructional services to enhance learning for all diverse and struggling students.

Multiple approaches have been used in U.S. community colleges to address the learning needs of postsecondary students who are underprepared in basic skills math. The purpose of this exploratory interview study was to gain a deeper understanding of community college basic skills math learning through instructors' lived experiences using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach and its technology tool, a computerized pen. The conceptual framework for this study used Knowles's adult learning and Kolb's experiential learning theories with UDL principles. The central research questions investigated the professional development and teaching experiences of community college basic skills math instructors in their basic skills math curriculum in the California Community College system using a Smartpen. Interviews were conducted with 4 instructors, 2 of whom also participated in the 2011-2012 community college pilot project of the approach. The analysis consisted of coding and theme development in relation to the experiential learning process and the instructors' andragogy practices. This study identified 4 themes for use in understanding the instructors' experiences teaching with a Smartpen: instructor preparation, technology use and savvy, student needs, and instructor flexibility/adaptability. The study findings are of interest to community college basic math skills instructors, who can use these findings to inform their teaching preparation and teaching approaches, improving pedagogy and helping their students successfully complete their math courses.

A lot of people like gambling. Even though it brings excitement, it has its dark sides as well. Problem gambling is a disease that destroys lives every day. As gambling are entering the digital domain, phenomenon such as E-sport has made it easier than ever to gamble. Therefore it is important to minimize the risk of gambling addiction among the users. At present time, as an attempt to make this possible, legislators have started to implement different rules on how companies need to deal with responsible gambling. A trend, that has become a problem, is that gamblers tend to not read warning messages that they get when they have been playing for a long period of time. This thesis is about producing recommendations for how to design these modal windows so that users actually take the time to read the information they receive. The methods used in this thesis are connected to the 6 phases of the design thinking process produced by Nielsen Norman Group and they were literature studies, interviews, prototyping and user testing. It was found that people with a previous gambling addiction wanted to see information about how much money they had spent in total on their account. That could also show more clearly how serious one's playing habits are. One cannot stop everyone from developing a gambling addiction, but one can give everyone a chance to become healthy.

This study looks at human movement in order to formulate a principle that can potentially enrich the understanding of interior design and spatial awareness within it. It considers the spatial identity of the dis/abled body by looking at the importance of the embodied experience in relation to environment. The body has dynamic abilities; therefore it is an instrument for creating form. This tangible form in context with interior design can inform our understanding of spatial needs and be used as a design-informing tool. Specifically this project uses spatial identity as a theory to guide the conceptual ideas and as a practical tool to design a work environment and showroom for a client with Thrombocytopenia Absent Radius (TAR) syndrome. / October 2007

Personas, fictional user profiles based on research data, have gained popularity in the design field over recent years. These profiles include names, personalities, behaviors, and goals that are representative of a unique group of individuals. This paper examines the creation and utilization of personas as a tool for understanding others, specifically within the context of product design. A review of current literature revealed published methods for creating and using personas, along with the challenges and benefits associated with this tool. Current design industry practices were investigated through 15 semi-structured interviews with design professionals. Topics included persona creation and implementation, the tools use, and perceived outcomes from the inclusion of personas in the design process. Participatory research examined persona creation methods including user data collection and the selection of topics to be included in these profiles. Additionally, persona utilization was investigated through the tools integration into a 12-week Industrial Design student project. Observations and interviews with 8 student groups and instructors revealed the tools impact on the design process and potential within the educational environment, with specific attention being paid to universal design applications.

EVALUATING TWO SHOPPING CENTERS IN THE LIGHT OF PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN Sev&uuml / k, Muhammet Sancar M. of Arch., Department of Architecture Supervisor of the thesis: Prof. Dr. Vacit Imamoglu April 2011, 156 Pages Starting from the second half of the 20th century, the number of aged people and people with aging-related disabilities has increased significantly in the world. Parallel to this increase, special projects have been developed for aged people in the developed countries, but with these projects aged people were often excluded from society. People with disabilities were already living isolated from society. With the effect of raising awareness in the public after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, in the course of the last sixty years studies have been realized and new standards and principles have been developed for elderly people and people with disabilities to benefit from the social life equally together with everyone and to raise their quality of life. Starting with the barrier-free design approach, a new period improving and changing the view point of design from general and private design to design for all, to inclusive and/or the universal design has begun. In the thesis, this period has been reviewed through the summarized definitions of these stages. The effects of these improvements have been related to the design and construction of the built environments and buildings. Therefore, people with disabilities started to participate in the society more than ever. The implementation of principles of the Universal Design in the public buildings, especially to hospitals, cultural centers and shopping centers has gained more importance in order to advance full social integration of people with disabilities to the society. Number of shopping centers in Turkey increased rapidly after 1995. In this thesis, two examples were examined and evaluated in the light of universal design principles. The problems faced in these buildings were examined in order to design more inclusive buildings and environments. A brief history of shopping centers was presented. Brief information about some examples of old bazaars from Anatolia and shopping centers from different countries were given.

Seating is an integral part of work environment. When people are at work, they often sit in chairs for long periods of time without changing postures. This results in reduced blood circulation in the body, especially in the buttock-thigh area causing muscle fatigue, pain and discomfort. Ergonomically designed task chairs adopt a passive approach to guiding people into better postures by providing adjustability inside the chair. However most people do not adjust their chairs because they fail to sense the need for changing posture. They are left to sensing the need to change posture through guesswork or extreme discomfort. This thesis proposes a new system to address this problem by sensing static posture in a seated person with the use of electronic sensors embedded in the seat, and by providing interactive feedback to static posture via sound, light and tactile channels. The new technology is an sensing-feedback mechanism embedded in a chair, that allows people to receive postural information and make body adjustments periodically to avoid pain and discomfort caused by prolonged seating.The feedback mechanism was tested with four subjects to determine its efficacy in generating posture change through pressure relief and user feedback was gathered in order to design the final prototype.

世界衛生組織(WHO)意識到世界人口高齡化將如排山倒海而來，越來越長壽的高齡世代將不再是一種特殊的族群而是普遍活得老的一種現象，遂致力提倡創立有益於高齡者的環境。而人口為國家基本要素之一，其變遷關係著國家之發展與社會之福祉，因而高齡化人口結構變遷已成為世界性、國家性、地區性、家庭性的問題。綜觀，法國從高齡化社會至高齡社會歷時超過一世紀，德國40年，而我國將於2018年邁入高齡社會，期間僅歷時25年，顯示我國老化速度超快是不容忽視的重要課題。 都市是人與空間交織的產物，高齡化社會與都市空間兩者息息相關相互影響，而都市空間因應高齡化人口結構變遷，是否已關照到不同年齡世代的使用需求，此乃台灣將面臨的挑戰與應該思索的未來課題。是以本研究主要目的，希望藉由新都市主義人性尺度的規劃透過通用設計為所有人設計的具體實施，同時借鏡世界衛生組織「全球老年友好城市建設指南」，以及日本推動通用設計打造城市的經驗，並彙整受訪者對都市公共空間現況共通性課題、需求與高齡友善通用化都市空間設計原則之問卷調查結果，進而運用民生社區作為實例地區進行檢視與評估。最後，提出研擬之建構高齡友善的通用化都市空間設計原則。 研究結果發現，受訪者認同現況都市公共空間設施與空間設計已不符合高齡者的使用需求，其落在生活空間上產生的課題面向，包含：人行道、人行道設施帶、騎樓、斑馬線、設施接入點、樓梯、連結介面與照明設備等，普遍缺乏友善的、可及的、安全的、便利的、連續的及通用化的設計。綜合前述課題，本研究將連結整個都市空間系統的流動性加以分類，形成移動系統與連結系統，而移動系統中則再區分為平行移動系統與垂直移動系統，並運用通用設計為所有人設計的原則，提出解決現況都市空間因應高齡化社會需求，其相對應之高齡友善通用化都市空間設計原則。 因此，經過分析、探討與實例地區檢視與檢討後，本研究提出以下的建議：一、台灣未來都市空間規劃應以人本思維為規劃主軸，透過「人性尺度關懷的規劃，為所有人設計的理念」作為改善高齡化社會都市問題的途徑，以步行系統作為都市公共空間的連結元素，並將公共空間的整體性予以再結構，使其再度成為一項重要的都市設施，以建立高齡化社會下「不分年齡人人都能共享共用的友善通用化都市空間」，重塑都市空間資源的價值。二、建議政府應該爭取時間，加速建立具有規範性與整體性的主要上位計畫，並將通用設計準則納入都市設計中，同時整併現有相關法規，使各個城市在執行上有統一的公共空間政策做為推動的目標與遵循的依據，把建構高齡友善的通用化都市空間理念變成全國各地具體的行動。 【關鍵詞】高齡化、都市空間、通用設計、新都市主義