The Mobile phone has contributed to massive changes in the way that human beings communicate with each other and is a technology that is a part of society’s globalization. Opinions differ in the area of user interface where some feel that mobile phones exclude users such as senior citizens or users with an intellectual or a physical disability. Universal Design –‘design for all’, is a vision that intends to bring about settings, products and services that suits as many people as possible irrespective of an individual’s needs and prospects. The criteria for ‘design for all’ are among other things flexibility, user friendliness, comprehensibility and a high tolerance for mistakes. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the mobile phones graphic user-interface from the theory of a universal design. From this general purpose the study look more closely at senior citizens perspective of mobile phones graphic user-interface. A qualitative study in the form of 4 interviews was used. All of the individuals that participated in the study felt that the mobile phone is a very good and beneficial invention. Mobile phones bring about a feeling of security and safety since it is felt that is always possible to reach family and friends in the event of a crisis. It is difficult to provide a interface that is Universal, because every individual is unique. Every individual has a different opinion on what is Universal Design and what is not. People have different needs of using the mobile phone and that’s one of the reasons why it’s difficult to provide a universal design of the graphical user interface of a mobile phone.

Inclusive design is a concept intended to promote the development of products and environments equally usable by all users, irrespective of their age or ability. This research focuses on developing a method to derive heuristics for inclusive design. The research applies the actionfunction diagram to model the interaction between a user and a product, design difference classification to compare a typical product with its inclusive counterpart, graph theory to mathematically represent the comparison relations, and graph data mining to extract the design heuristics. The goal of this research is to formalize and automate the inclusive-design heuristics generation process. The rule generation allows statistical mining of the design guidelines from existing inclusive products. Formalization results show that, the rate of rule generation decreases as more products are added to the dataset. The automated method is particularly helpful in the developmental stages of graph mining applications for product design. The graph mining technique has capability for graph grammar induction, which is extended here to automate the generation of engineering grammars. In general, graph mining can be applied to extract design heuristics from any discrete and relational design data that can be represented as graphs. Concept generation studies are conducted to validate the heuristics derived in this research for inclusive product design. In addition, an inclusivity rating is created and verified to evaluate the inclusiveness of the conceptual ideas. Finally, appreciation and awareness about inclusive design is important in an engineering design course, hence, a module is compiled to teach inclusive design methods in a capstone design course. The results of the exploratory study and validation show that there is problem dependency in the application of the representation scheme. It cannot be stated with certainty at this point if the representation scheme is helpful for designing consumer products, where only the activities related to the upper body are involved. However, self-reported feedback indicates that the teaching module is effective in increasing the awareness and confidence about inclusive design.

EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF MAT-BUILDING FOR THE CREATION OF UNIVERSALLY DESIGNED ENVIRONMENTS Eren, Yasemin M. Arch., Department of Architecture Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emel Ak&ouml / zer Co-Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Halime Demirkan June 2004, 152 Pages The goal of this study is to reread the strategies of formal organization in architecture, which are called &ldquo / mat-building&rdquo / and &ldquo / mat-urbanism&rdquo / , exploring their potential to contribute to the creation of universally designed built environments in the 21st century. The idea of mat-building was first delineated by Alison Smithson in 1974, in her article &ldquo / How to Recognize and Read Mat-Building,&rdquo / by means of its traditional and modern examples. The concept of universal design was first used in 1970&rsquo / s and reinterpreted by the American architect Ronald Mace in 1985. Since then, it has become a widely accepted design approach that is also known as &lsquo / inclusive design&rsquo / and &lsquo / design for all&rsquo / . Mat-building can be considered as a viable design approach that can respond to the crucial need for equally accessible, adjustable and adaptable built environments for all people all over the world. The study aims not only to evaluate the exemplary mat like configurations in light of the universal design principles. It also tries to point to the new ways for developing creative ideas and design theories, and emphasizes the significance of implementing the universal design approach in contemporary architecture and urbanism.

This project is part of CATEA's RERC workplace accommodations grant, and it d research, develop, test and evaluate a retail checkout workstation that maximizes independence and participation of employees and increases their employment possibilities. Preliminary research shows that current designs of retail checkout workstations do not accommodate the intended employees including the seated and standing users. According to the research, factors like task design and ease of use have contributed to job loss and reduced employment. Through participatory research techniques and ergonomic studies, this project identified accessibility and usability needs and outline design guidelines of a retail workstation that would address these needs. Based on these guidelines and examining possible future retail checkout scenarios influenced by new trends and emerging technologies, future grocery retail checkout concepts were developed. These concepts try to address the need for wider accessibility and better interactions, while adding value through design that aims to increase job opportunities for people with disabilities provide a better experience for the end users and maximize store investment efficiency of front-end equipment.

Current survey has showed that people with disability need equal work opportunity. Meanwhile, labor shortage is becoming more and more serious in existing manufacturing industry and there is less physical work involved in CNC machine operation. Thus it is a good opportunity for people with disability to work in manufacturing industry as CNC operators. In the preliminary research, observation, interview and domain research were conducted to understand activates of FVMC (Fadal Vertical Machining Center is a type of CNC machine) operators. Researchers found the existing FVMC are very inconvenient to use, because most of them were designed for the general public. Operator's performance was restricted by the poor design of the machines and the work area. As a result, many people, especially wheel chair users have found limited employment opportunities in the manufacturing industry. To address this problem, on one hand, we presented a study on the current FVMC. A Full size FVMC was mocked up and 9 wheelchair users and 6 able-body users participated in this study. They were asked to mimic to finish the tasks relate to FVMC operation. This study also aims at collecting data for universal FVMC design. On the other hand, based on the preliminary research two concept of FVMC design scenarios are also developed and evaluated by two groups of subjects. This study addressed limitations of wheelchair users with respect to CNC operation, especially reaching issues, and collected data about the preferred FVMC settings and design from wheelchair users and able-bodied people. At the end, design guidelines were developed for machine engineers or designers in two aspects: 1) improve currently available FVMC; 2) redesign FVMC that is safer and easier to use. These guidelines will increase the potential of employing wheelchair users alongside able-bodied people in the manufacturing industry.

A multiple baseline across participants design was used to examine the impact of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), implemented as a total framework, on the academic engagement of middle school students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD), and students who are at-risk for academic failure due to behavior problems, who are included in general education classes. Five teachers from two middle schools participated in professional development on UDL and UDL lesson plan design and then implemented UDL lessons in their classes. Data were collected on the fidelity of UDL implementation, student academic engagement during lesson plan implementation, and teacher acceptability of UDL. Results from implementation fidelity data indicated that after professional development on UDL, the teachers designed and implemented UDL lessons with limited fidelity. Results from student engagement data indicated that brief and limited exposure to UDL is insufficient to produce measureable improvements in student engagement, although increased interest and involvement was noted during specific types of UDL-related learning activities. Results from the teacher acceptability survey indicated that the teachers found UDL to be an acceptable treatment for improving engagement, but they were somewhat uncomfortable with a student-centered classroom and thought UDL was time consuming to implement.

xvi, 216 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The primary purpose of this study was to design and validate a measure of teacher knowledge of Universal Design for Assessment (TK-UDA). Guided by a validity framework, a number of inferences, assumptions, and evidences supported this investigation. By addressing a series of research questions, evidence was garnered for the use of the measure to describe what teachers know about assessment accessibility issues through their application of seven UDA principles. The investigation used research designs and sampling procedures specific to each research question. The TK-UDA was designed to capture depth of knowledge, from background to declarative to applied, through a variety of item types. Internal, external, and teacher reviews provided evidence to support the content validity of the measure, and, based on the feedback from these reviews, the measure was revised to improve content and clarity. The measure was then implemented online; a purposeful sample of experts and inservice and preservice teachers was invited to participate in the study. It was anticipated that these participants would represent a range of knowledge of UDA. Following measure implementation, analyses were conducted to evaluate whether performance on items accurately reflected a continuum of teacher knowledge. Evidence of discriminant/criterion-related validity was examined by evaluating group differences. Based on results from t -tests and MANOVAs, no significant differences between groups (based on level of expertise) were found. Item Response Theory (IRT) scaling of items along a continuum indicated that declarative knowledge items were generally less difficult than applied knowledge items. IRT scaling of person scores represented a rather narrow range of knowledge within the sample. Reliability estimates from the IRT scaling and test-retest indicated strong item reliability, relatively weak person reliability, and satisfactory test-retest reliability, respectively. To obtain evidence regarding the usefulness of the measure to determine professional development needs, a Kruskal-Wallis rank-order test was conducted to evaluate the differential difficulty of UDA elements within the applied knowledge section. This provided initial evidence for identifying professional development needs at the element level. These results provide information that will guide further instrument development and future research in this area. / Committee in charge: Paul Yovanoff, Chairperson, Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership; Elizabeth Ham, Member, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Leanne Ketterlin Geller, Member, Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership; Douglas Blandy, Outside Member, Arts and Administration

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-02-22Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:12:08Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 fregolente_r_me_bauru.pdf: 1828430 bytes, checksum: 3be325ac3bd09a602d00b04fc6065b70 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A falta de rebaixamento de calçadas para travessia de pedestres portadores de cadeira de rodas, o péssimo estado de conservação dos passeios públicos, a carência de rampas de acesso, os obstáculos existentes nas calçadas e o desconhecimento das normas técnicas que garantem o direito de mobilidade fazem com que as pessoas portadoras de deficiências físicas ou as que momentaneamente estão incapacitadas de se locomover, fiquem restritas a um ambiente único, sem garantia do direito de ir e vir de qualquer cidadão. As cidades devem oferecer formas adequadas para que cada cidadão, sem exclusão, tenha a possibilidade de executar suas tarefas com segurança e autonomia, favorecendo e não dificultando o acesso aos seus espaços. As calçadas devem exercer sua função de circulação com conforto e segurança, ao limitar ou excluir determinados usuários destes espaços, está se descumprindo parte da função social da cidade, o direito de locomoção. Existem no mundo 600 milhões de pessoas com algum tipo de limitação de mobilidade, das quais 25 milhões estão no Brasil. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar, em espaços públicos urbano, as condições de acessibilidade em seus espaços físicos, identificando as principais dificuldades referentes à situação das pessoas portadoras de deficiência física enquanto transeuntes e diagnosticar, caso tenha ocorrido alguma melhoria no ambiente, se a mesma acompanhou o que estabelece a NBR - Norma Regulamentadora Brasileira - 9050, de 31 de maio de 2004, Acessibilidade a edificações, mobiliário, espaços e equipamentos urbanos. Para tanto, o objeto deste trabalho foram as vias públicas para circulação de pedestres do Centro da Cidade de Bauru e Campus da UNESP, tendo como usuário um cadeirante. Os resultados obtidos comprovaram a existência de barreiras no trajeto percorrido que limitaram ou impediram o... / The lack of lower sidewalk ways for wheelchair users, as well as their bad conservation, the lack of access ramps, sidewalks that are not clear, and the unawareness of techical rules that guarantee the right of movement make it difficult for the handicapped and for those that are momentarily incapable of walking to move around, restricting them to very few places and taking away their right to come and go. Cities must offer appropriate ways so that any citizen, without exception, may have the possibility of performing their tasks with safety and autonomy, favoring the access to any place they go. The sidewalks must meet their function of facilitating people's movements with comfort and safety, if they limit or exclude any user, therefore they are not serving their social function in the city, that is, allowing for the right to come and go. There are 600 million people in the world with some kind of movement restriction, out of them, 25 million are in Brazil. The adequate accessibility and the preoccupation with universal design sidewalks must promote the social integration of the disabled. The objective of this research is to analyze, the condition of accessibility in urban public spaces by considering physical spaces, to identify the main difficulties to the situation of disabled people as pedestrians and to find any improvement already made in these spaces. In that case, verify if the NBR -Brazilian Standard Rules - 9050, of may 31, 2004 was followed, Acessibility to buildings, furnishings, spaces and urban equipment. For that, the object of this study was the sidewalk ways downtown the city of Bauru and the ones at UNESP University - Paulisty State University, by means of a wheel chair user. The results obtained proved the existence of barriers in the course distance that limited or obstruced the access, the liberty... (Complete abstract, click electronic access below)

Black youth are diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at a higher rate than their White peers. The process of diagnosing young students with ADHD relies heavily on teacher recommendations that are frequently based on perceptions of behavior, to which the assessment of may be influenced by racial bias. A child’s ethnicity has been shown to have an impact on teacher descriptions of ADHD-related behavior (Epstein, Willoughby, Valencia, Tonev, Abikoff, Arnold, Hinshaw, 2005) such that in this study African American students were perceived by their teachers as more likely to have ADHD than their Caucasian peers. Research has also shown that the typical fifth-grade classroom is a low verve setting that is restrictive to communal learning (Johnson, 1982), while high verve settings have been shown to improve the academic functioning for many Black students (Bailey & Boykin, 2001; Carter, Hawkins, & Natesan, 2008; Young, 2017). By measuring the difference in teachers’ likelihood to recommend a described student for ADHD in both a traditional and high-verve classrooms, this study aims to investigate the role of verve in how teachers perceive Black students in relation to ADHD characteristics. The primary aim is to examine how increased task variability and a high verve classroom can shift teacher ratings of Black students’ abilities and lessen the degree of racialized difference of behavior-dependent diagnoses of ADHD. It is predicted that in the high verve setting these recommendations for Black students will drop significantly so that they will be equal to that of White students, reflecting the accurate prevalence of this learning disability.

Orientador: Heloisa Vieira da Rocha / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T11:49:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tanaka_EduardoHideki_D.pdf: 5276780 bytes, checksum: 5d96841bbaebe2f4b4e18694a8a7c807 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Para ser mais inclusivo e menos exclusivo, o design de sistemas de informação deve considerar questões de acessibilidade. Atualmente, existem padrões para orientar o design acessível e, também, alguns métodos para avaliação de acessibilidade, voltados principalmente para conteúdo na Web. Dos métodos de avaliação de acessibilidade existentes, os mais adotados hoje em dia são aqueles baseados na verificação de conformidade com guias de design acessível e os testes com usuários com deficiências. Tanto um quanto o outro podem ser considerados métodos caros e que demandam um tempo considerável para aplicação e análise, sendo esta uma das razões para que muitos desenvolvedores simplesmente ignorem a avaliação da acessibilidade durante o ciclo de desenvolvimento de software. Sabendo disto, esta tese de doutorado propõe exatamente um método alternativo para avaliar a acessibilidade em sistemas de informação, baseado em heurísticas. Os resultados obtidos através de dois experimentos mostraram que as heurísticas de acessibilidade propostas são fáceis de aprender, rápidas de aplicar e de baixo custo, o que possibilita sua aplicação a qualquer momento do processo de desenvolvimento de um software / Abstract: To be more inclusive and less exclusive, the design of information systems must take into account accessibility issues. Nowadays, there are standards to guide the accessible design and, also, some accessibility evaluation methods, focused on the assessment of Web content, mainly. From all accessibility evaluation methods available, the most adopted nowadays are guidelines review and tests with users with disabilities. Both of them can be considered expensive methods and require a reasonable time to apply and to analyze so that several developers simply ignore accessibility evaluation during the software development cycle. Knowing these issues, this PhD thesis proposes an alternative method to evaluate accessibility, based on heuristics. The results of two experiments showed that the proposed accessibility heuristics are easy to learn, fast to apply and not expensive, therefore, it could be applied anytime during the software development cycle / Doutorado / Sistemas de Informação / Doutor em Ciência da Computação