Equipamentos utilizados em pesquisas em Análise Experimental do Comportamento com sujeitos não humanos tiveram uma trajetória intrincada ao próprio estudo do comportamento. Um tipo de equipamento importante nessas pesquisas é a câmara de condicionamento operante. Diversos incrementos foram feitos nessas câmaras, com estes focados no aumento do controle de variáveis independentes e no registro mais preciso de variáveis dependentes. Uma característica de equipamentos atualmente disponíveis no mercado é o seu alto custo de aquisição e a necessidade do uso de software fechado utilizado pelos mesmos. Diante disso, apresenta-se a construção e avaliação de equipamentos não comerciais de baixo custo para pesquisas operantes. Foram construídas duas câmaras de condicionamento, uma para pombos e outra para ratos. Com o objetivo de avaliar o equipamento construído, submeteram-se dois pombos e dois ratos a esquemas de reforço de razão fixa (FR) e razão variável (VR), e dois pombos e dois ratos a esquemas de reforço de intervalo fixo (FI) e intervalo variável (VI). Replicou-se a maior parte dos aspectos da literatura de esquemas de reforço simples com o equipamento apresentado, o que indica sua adequação ao uso em pesquisas de condicionamento operante como uma alternativa viável de baixo custo / Apparatuses used non-human research in experimental analysis of behavior have had a parallel trajectory to the study of behavior itself. A type of apparatus used in behavioral studies is the operant conditioning chamber. Several improvements have been done to these chambers, focusing in the control of independent variables and more precise registry of dependent variables. A feature of apparatuses available in the market is their high acquisition costs and the need of usage of closed software. In light of this, it is shown the construction and evaluation of alternative low cost apparatuses for behavioral research. Two operant conditioning chambers were built, one for usage with pigeons and the other for the usage with rats. In order to evaluate the apparatus, two pigeons and two rats were submitted to fixed ratio (FR) and variable ratio (VR) schedules of reinforcement, while another two pigeons and two rats were submitted to fixed interval (FI) and variable interval (VI) schedules of reinforcement. The majority of features related to the responding under simple schedules of reinforcement were replicated using the presented apparatus, which indicates its adequacy for the usage in behavioral research as a low cost alternative

Equipamentos utilizados em pesquisas em Análise Experimental do Comportamento com sujeitos não humanos tiveram uma trajetória intrincada ao próprio estudo do comportamento. Um tipo de equipamento importante nessas pesquisas é a câmara de condicionamento operante. Diversos incrementos foram feitos nessas câmaras, com estes focados no aumento do controle de variáveis independentes e no registro mais preciso de variáveis dependentes. Uma característica de equipamentos atualmente disponíveis no mercado é o seu alto custo de aquisição e a necessidade do uso de software fechado utilizado pelos mesmos. Diante disso, apresenta-se a construção e avaliação de equipamentos não comerciais de baixo custo para pesquisas operantes. Foram construídas duas câmaras de condicionamento, uma para pombos e outra para ratos. Com o objetivo de avaliar o equipamento construído, submeteram-se dois pombos e dois ratos a esquemas de reforço de razão fixa (FR) e razão variável (VR), e dois pombos e dois ratos a esquemas de reforço de intervalo fixo (FI) e intervalo variável (VI). Replicou-se a maior parte dos aspectos da literatura de esquemas de reforço simples com o equipamento apresentado, o que indica sua adequação ao uso em pesquisas de condicionamento operante como uma alternativa viável de baixo custo / Apparatuses used non-human research in experimental analysis of behavior have had a parallel trajectory to the study of behavior itself. A type of apparatus used in behavioral studies is the operant conditioning chamber. Several improvements have been done to these chambers, focusing in the control of independent variables and more precise registry of dependent variables. A feature of apparatuses available in the market is their high acquisition costs and the need of usage of closed software. In light of this, it is shown the construction and evaluation of alternative low cost apparatuses for behavioral research. Two operant conditioning chambers were built, one for usage with pigeons and the other for the usage with rats. In order to evaluate the apparatus, two pigeons and two rats were submitted to fixed ratio (FR) and variable ratio (VR) schedules of reinforcement, while another two pigeons and two rats were submitted to fixed interval (FI) and variable interval (VI) schedules of reinforcement. The majority of features related to the responding under simple schedules of reinforcement were replicated using the presented apparatus, which indicates its adequacy for the usage in behavioral research as a low cost alternative

Research on New Procedures Using a Method That Has Not Yet Been Used in Clinical Practice on a Living Human Abstract Uterus transplantation, use of hypothermia in acute myocardial infarction or gastric peroral endoscopic pyloromyotomy, these are the topics of three Czech on going researches of novel medical methods, to which this thesis is devoted. The aim of this thesis is to elaborate on the whole issue of new methods by presenting the Czech legislative framework and current clinical practice and to assess the overall situation in this area. In one of the chapters, attention is also paid to the potential legal ground for the possibility of compensating patients for injury, ie civil liability, most likely occurring as a liability for the non lege artis procedure or as a specific type of strict no-fault liability.

This dissertation documents the everyday lives and spaces of a population of youth typically constructed as out of place, and the broader urban context in which they are rendered as such. Thirty-three female and transgender street youth participated in the development of this youth-based participatory action research (YPAR) project utilizing geo-ethnographic methods, auto-photography, and archival research throughout a six-phase, eighteen-month research process in Bogotá, Colombia. This dissertation details the participatory writing process that enabled the YPAR research team to destabilize dominant representations of both street girls and urban space and the participatory mapping process that enabled the development of a youth vision of the city through cartographic images. The maps display individual and aggregate spatial data indicating trends within and making comparisons between three subgroups of the research population according to nine spatial variables. These spatial data, coupled with photographic and ethnographic data, substantiate that street girls’ mobilities and activity spaces intersect with and are altered by state-sponsored urban renewal projects and paramilitary-led social cleansing killings, both efforts to clean up Bogotá by purging the city center of deviant populations and places. Advancing an ethical approach to conducting research with excluded populations, this dissertation argues for the enactment of critical field praxis and care ethics within a YPAR framework to incorporate young people as principal research actors rather than merely voices represented in adultist academic discourse. Interjection of considerations of space, gender, and participation into the study of street youth produce new ways of envisioning the city and the role of young people in research. Instead of seeing the city from a panoptic view, Bogotá is revealed through the eyes of street youth who participated in the construction and feminist visualization of a new cartography and counter-map of the city grounded in embodied, situated praxis. This dissertation presents a socially responsible approach to conducting action-research with high-risk youth by documenting how street girls reclaim their right to the city on paper and in practice; through maps of their everyday exclusion in Bogotá followed by activism to fight against it.

No description available.

<div>Intelligent machines, and more broadly, intelligent systems, are becoming increasingly common in the everyday lives of humans. Nonetheless, despite significant advancements in automation, human supervision and intervention are still essential in almost all sectors, ranging from manufacturing and transportation to disaster-management and healthcare. These intelligent machines<i> interact and collaborate</i> with humans in a way that demands a greater level of trust between human and machine. While a lack of trust can lead to a human's disuse of automation, over-trust can result in a human trusting a faulty autonomous system which could have negative consequences for the human. Therefore, human trust should be <i>calibrated </i>to optimize these human-machine interactions. This calibration can be achieved by designing human-aware automation that can infer human behavior and respond accordingly in real-time.</div><div><br></div><div>In this dissertation, I present a probabilistic framework to model and calibrate a human's trust and workload dynamics during his/her interaction with an intelligent decision-aid system. More specifically, I develop multiple quantitative models of human trust, ranging from a classical state-space model to a classification model based on machine learning techniques. Both models are parameterized using data collected through human-subject experiments. Thereafter, I present a probabilistic dynamic model to capture the dynamics of human trust along with human workload. This model is used to synthesize optimal control policies aimed at improving context-specific performance objectives that vary automation transparency based on human state estimation. I also analyze the coupled interactions between human trust and workload to strengthen the model framework. Finally, I validate the optimal control policies using closed-loop human subject experiments. The proposed framework provides a foundation toward widespread design and implementation of real-time adaptive automation based on human states for use in human-machine interactions.</div>

L’augmentation croissante du nombre de nouvelles maladies et des possibilités de traitements existants ou en cours d’étude et ayant pour but la guérison des patients atteints, ont amené les chercheurs à pousser davantage leurs recherches biomédicales sur des sujets humains. La conduite de recherches biomédicales sur des sujets humains est une étape cruciale pour la compréhension de la maladie et, par conséquent, l’avancement des connaissances permettant d’éradiquer un jour certaines maladies répandues à l’échelle planétaire, tel le virus de l’immunodéficience humaine (VIH) causant le syndrome d’immunodéficience acquise (SIDA). Aujourd’hui, ces importantes recherches sont conduites partout à travers le monde mais plus particulièrement dans des pays en développement où les populations sont davantage vulnérables. C’est précisément à cause de cette pratique que différents acteurs de ce milieu ont reconsidéré certains aspects éthiques de ces recherches. Ce mémoire examine donc les différentes normes éthiques en vigueur qui gouvernent la recherche sur des sujets humains, afin de voir comment celles-ci tiennent compte des caractéristiques des populations des pays en développement. Cette comparaison nous guide ensuite vers un survol de trois approches philosophiques pour fins d’application à la recherche biomédicale sur des sujets humains et ce, par le biais d'une étude de cas. Suite à ces trois étapes et à la lumière d’une analyse critique des différents écrits recensés sur le sujet, une conclusion s’impose quant à l’importance de renforcer l’application des normes éthiques universelles entourant la recherche biomédicale sur des sujets humains et ce, justement parce celle-ci est surtout conduite sur des populations vulnérables de pays en développement. / With a growing number of new human diseases being discovered, along with existing or novel treatments being explored for their cure, researchers are more than ever seeking to extend their biomedical trials on human subjects. Research with human models is a crucial step for the proper understanding of diseases and therefore advancing the science and technology required to eventually eradicate global diseases such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causing acquired immune deficient syndrome (AIDS). At present, these important studies are conducted across the world, but more specifically, in developing countries with more vulnerable populations. This very practice has caused many stakeholders to reconsider certain ethical aspects of human studies. In this thesis, an examination of the various ethical norms for tests on human subjects will be presented in order to understand how they account for the characteristics of populations in developing countries. This will provide the framework for a case study analyzing three philosophical approaches to biomedical research on human subjects. Finally, a critical review of the field’s literature leads to the imperative conclusion of strengthening universal norms surrounding ethical biomedical research involving humans, specifically as vulnerable populations in developing countries are becoming more frequenctly the subjects.

No description available.

La prise de décision est une capacité générale de choisir entre deux ou plusieurs alternatives compte tenu de l’information courante et des objectifs en jeu. Il est généralement présumé qu’au niveau du système nerveux, le processus décisionnel consiste à accumuler des informations pertinentes, appelées « évidences », de plusieurs alternatives, les comparer entre elles, et finir par commettre à la meilleure alternative compte tenu du contexte de la décision (J. I. Gold & Shadlen, 2007). Ce projet de maîtrise porte sur un sous-type particulier de prise de décisions : les décisions dites perceptuelles. Dans ce projet de recherche, j'examinerai les patrons psychophysiques (temps de réponse et taux de succès) de sujets humains prenant des décisions dans des tâches visuelles contenant des damiers dynamiques composés des carrés de couleurs. Plus précisément, l’objectif de ce projet de mémoire est d’étudier le rôle du « bruit de couleur » sur les dynamiques décisionnelles. Deux nouvelles tâches de prise de décision ont été soigneusement construites à cette fin : la première avec un niveau de bruit binaire et la seconde avec des niveaux de bruit progressifs. Les résultats de la première tâche montrent qu'en l'absence de bruit de couleur, les patrons psychophysiques des sujets sont mieux expliqués comme étant modulés par la quantité d’évidences nettes normalisées. Dans cette même tâche, l'ajout de bruit modifie systématiquement ces patrons pour qu'ils ne semblent sensibles uniquement qu'à l'évidence nette des stimuli, comme si le processus de normalisation a été éliminé. Les résultats de la deuxième tâche favorisent l’explication selon laquelle l'évidence sensorielle est progressivement normalisée en fonction du niveau de bruit présent et que la normalisation n'est pas un phénomène de tout-ou-rien dans le contexte de la prise de décision perceptuelle. Finalement, une hypothèse unificatrice est proposée selon laquelle le cerveau estime l’évidence nette et adapte dynamiquement le contexte décisionnel d’essai en essai avec une quantité estimée d’évidence potentielle totale, apparaissant comme une normalisation. / Decision-making is a general ability to choose between two or more alternatives given current information and the objectives at stake. It is generally assumed that, at the level of the nervous system, the decision-making process consists of accumulating relevant information, called "evidence", from several alternatives, comparing them to each other, and finally committing to the best alternative given the context of the decision (J. I. Gold & Shadlen, 2007). This master's project focuses on a particular subtype of decision-making so-called perceptual decisions. In this research project, I will examine the psychophysical patterns (response times and success rates) of human subjects making decisions in visual tasks containing dynamic checkerboards composed of colored squares. Specifically, the goal of this project is to study the role of "color noise" on decision dynamics. Two new decision-making tasks were carefully constructed for this purpose: the first with a binary noise level and the second with progressive noise levels. Results from the first task show that in the absence of color noise, subjects' psychophysical patterns are best explained as being modulated by the amount of normalized net evidence. In this same task, the addition of noise systematically alters these patterns so that they appear to be sensitive only to the net evidence of the stimuli, as if the normalization process has been eliminated. The results of the second task support the explanation that sensory evidence is progressively normalized as a function of the level of noise present and that normalization is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon in the context of perceptual decision-making. Finally, a unifying hypothesis is proposed that the brain estimates net evidence and dynamically adapts the decisional context from trial to trial with an estimated amount of total potential evidence, appearing as normalization.

紐倫堡法典之後，生物醫學研究中人類受試者的處境開始受到關注。為避免受試者遭到濫用，進而保障其權益，國際間陸續頒佈與人體研究受試者保護相關之倫理規範，而各國亦逐步將倫理規範落實為國內法規，作為管制手段。涉及受試者之人體研究倫理規範與法規中，自紐倫堡法典以降，逐步確立以告知後同意以及倫理審查為核心，建立確保受試者自主權之管制機制，作為平衡受試者與研究者兩方在知識與處境上的不平等的關係。 本文以當代生物醫學上告知後同意法則發展，以及人體研究受試者保護之相關行政管制為取徑，首先，考察人體研究所涉及的法律、倫理的爭議，以及相關倫理規範發展。進而探討告知後同意在當代生命倫理與醫療法律之意義、內涵，以及如何實踐於生物醫學人體研究上作為確保受試者自主權之手段及所遭遇之限制。其次，分析並比較美國、荷蘭以及我國受試者保護之法規體系，並進一步討論其特色與優、劣。最後，探討我國人體研究受試者保護法規範之現況與不足，並提出法律修正上的建議。 / Since Nuremberg Code, the biomedical researches involving human subjects, based upon the informed consent and human autonomy, has drawn the increasing public attention. The related normative restrictions as well as legal regulations have been regarded as a significant way to abuse-avoidance and interest-protection on the part of human subjects involved. Thus, it becomes a confirmed tendency that the constitution of normative and legal foundation with a consideration of informed consent and ethico-medical review can ensure the human autonomy and strike a balance between the researchers and human subjects. In this thesis, we focus on the development of informed consent and the related normative/legal regulations. Several issues which we will deal with can list as follows: firstly, the trajectory and its legal/ethical controversies, with which the biomedical researches involving human subjects develop and revolve, will be clarified, so as to investigate the ethical/legal implications of informed consent and human autonomy. Secondly, by making a comparison of legal regulations among the United States, Holland and Taiwan, we will illustrate the advantages and drawbacks that different legal systems have on the biomedical researches involving human subjects. At the last part of this thesis, several possible suggestions will be provided to the future legislation on the biomedical researches involving human subjects.