This exploratory study investigated the techniques used by teachers of the visually impaired when administering math questions with graphics to students with blindness or low vision. The researcher observed and videotaped 10 pairs of students with visual impairments and their teachers while the students were taking a test that consisted of 12 graphic math items and found a wide variance existed between teachers in the administering of mathematical test items with graphics to their students. The most prevalent teacher behaviors observed were teacher initiation and graph detail description. For the majority of the teacher initiated responses, teachers gave information on a specific detail of the math graphic. Students predominantly asked for clarification regarding the math graphic itself or clarification of the math problem itself. Teachers used a variety of factors in determining if and when students required assistance during testing for large print or tactile graphics. No statistical significance was found between braille and large print groups with regard to teacher variation, student variation, and scores on test items, No relationship was found between correct answers on the test and teacher variation scores but a strong, positive correlation existed for total test time and teacher variation scores. In addition, there was no statistical significance, between the six math graph types used in this study. Hand movements of braille students were also observed, 90% of students using either both hands or mostly both hands when exploring the tactile graphic math problem. A horizontal movement was the primary direction students used when examining the tactile graphic. Recommendations were made regarding future research with large print and tactile graphics

The value of information often depends on how easy it can be found, retrieved, accessed, filtered and managed. This challenging situation demands a timely solution to the problem. MPEG-7 is the answer to this need. MPEG-7, formally named “Multimedia Content Description Interface”, is a standard for describing the multimedia content data that supports some degree of interpretation of the information’s meaning, which can be passed onto, or accessed by, a device or a computer code. The main objective of this project is to create low complicated, small size, more concrete system, which main features are finding, retrieval, access, filtration and management of broad range of pictures.

The purpose of this study was to explore the knowledge and attitudes of hospital postpartum and public health nurses towards postpartum depression (PPD) using interpretive description. Postpartum depression is the leading complication after childbirth and impacts negatively on the health of the mother and her child. The nurses in this study participated in focus groups and/or participant observation. The five patterns that describe participants experiences related to PPD were: “Nurses understand PPD in different ways”, “Nurses recognize that women need support”, “Nurses reported that teaching about PPD makes a difference”, “Strong relationships with a primary care provider is essential in the post partum period”, and “a key role of the nurse is to listen”. The nurses in this study revealed a rich understanding of PPD leading to recommendations for practice by hospital and public health nurses related to PPD contributing to better care for women experiencing PPD.

Stigma prevents individuals with serious mental illness from seeking assistance (Fung et al., 2007; Vogel et al., 2006). Self-Determination Theory (SDT) seeks to explain how individuals are motivated by environmental factors and how these elements affect their well-being (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Limited information is available about how young adults with mental illness experience stigma, and how this affects their self-determination and ability to recover. This study explores factors that facilitated recovery and thriving behaviors in nine young adults (ages 18-25) with psychosis, by using a combination of interviews and questionnaires. Findings suggest that having a variety of supports and a determination to recover facilitates high self-determination and thriving behavior in these individuals. By identifying factors that assist these individuals ability to thrive, it is anticipated that professionals will intervene with young adults experiencing psychosis more effectively.

This thesis argues for new theoretical and methodological approaches to the viewing and description of archival photographs. Many archivists continue to focus on photographic subject content, ignoring photographs’ contexts of creation, context of later use and the multiple ways photographs can be viewed. The thesis first charts the implications of postmodernist viewpoints on archival records generally. It then traces, in the context of the Canadian archival community, the gradual spread of a postmodernist regard for photographs specifically. The thesis then draws on the theories and methodologies of a range of other disciplines to suggest fresh approaches to the viewing and description of photographs. It applies these suggestions to a series of photograph albums held by the Archives of Manitoba. These applied suggestions reveal that photographs are richer archival sources when considered as evidence of both creator and viewer intent rather than as transparent windows onto the past.

This thesis considers the problem of the representation of individual institutional textual records in archival research tools. While document studies in academic journals point to the value of focussed consideration of various types of records, archives do not have the resources to apply such focus to every item in their holdings, even though these convey the information sought by many researchers. Over the last century, archivists have emphasized description of groups of records, because this provides insight into the context in which documents exist and immense quantities involved left little choice. Recent developments, however, suggest the individual document should be re-visited. This thesis focuses on how formal descriptive systems might be enhanced to allow closer consideration of individual institutional textual records. It reviews the history of description, explores benefits to researchers seeking information from particular documents (e.g. the will) and explores tools created in response, such as contextual authority files.

Matéq is an Austronesian language of the Land Dayak (Bidayuhic) subgroup spoken by around 10,000–20,000 people in West Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia. This thesis presents a sketch grammar of the language based on linguistic fieldwork conducted from September 2012 to January 2013. Topics discussed in the sketch grammar include the geographic and social context of the Matéq language, its phonology and elements of its morphosyntax. Major features of Matéq phonology include the presence of both plain and prenasalised plosives, geminate nasals, and nasal vowels that contrast with oral vowels in certain positions. In terms of morphosyntax, this study shows that Matéq has two sets of personal pronouns which encode information about the generational relationships between speech participants or referents. With respect to grammatical voice, findings suggest that Matéq has five distinct voice constructions which can be distinguished on the basis of their morphosyntactic and semantic properties. Each voice construction also tends to have different pragmatic and TAM associations. This study also shows that Matéq has optional subject marking with certain verbs, and has both continuous and discontinuous serial verb constructions.

This thesis examines records created through diplomatic activities and considers approaches to their archival description, using those created by the Canadian Department of External Affairs in the 1920s as a case study. The objective of the thesis is to explore the history of this record genre with a focus on how archivists can provide users with access to more authentic and meaningful diplomatic records. Chapter One will provide a broad overview history of the diplomatic genre as well as the place of such contextual knowledge about the creation and characteristics of these records. Chapter Two will introduce a key strategy that archives can implement to more effectively relay contextual knowledge to archival users through the function of description. Chapter Three will then introduce a case study, building upon the approach identified in Chapter Two, and based on Canada’s Department of External Affairs in the 1920s.

The goal of the thesis is to plan for tourism in a historic community in a manner that would enrich the experiences of its visitors and residents. In order to avoid tourism's undesirable impacts, a method is presented to document residents' and visitors' problems and the improvements they desire, and to describe and compare their images of Madison.Data collection begins with structured interviews followed by a questionnaire distributed to random samples of residents and visitors. The results of the questionnaire analysis establish the residents' and visitors' images. The two images are compared using statistical tests to identify the places with greatest, moderate, and least image differences. Out of the twenty-six places tested, eleven show significant image differences.The image findings are incorporated into the site analysis for tourism. Objectives for tourism are expressed in a concept diagram, and then refined in a conceptual plan. The accompanying recommendations outline policies for proposed facilities, visitor-resident relations, and environmental education. / Department of Landscape Architecture

Unified Modeling Language (UML) allows software engineers to use a standard way of expressing a design approach at a high level. The benefits of system modeling are well accepted in the software development community. Modeling of Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) designs, for synthesizing into hardware, is a common practice also. The research herein looks at system modeling of a design using UML, in which there are both software and hardware components. The idea is to explore modeling of the system with the ability to abstract whether the implementation of a particular function is realized in software or hardware. The designer can then model/evaluate a given system design approach and later allocate functions to software and hardware, as appropriate to meet constraints such as performance, cost, schedule. Since using UML for software is a standard approach, this research investigates the UML to hardware path via VHDL. / Department of Computer Science