People with some types of motor disabilities who wish to generate text using a computer can find the process both fatiguing and time-consuming. These problems can be alleviated by reducing the quantity of keystrokes they must make, and one approach is to allow the user to enter shortened, abbreviated input, which is then re-expanded for them, by a program ‘filling in the gaps’. Word Prediction is one approach, but comes with drawbacks, one of which is the requirement that generally the user must type the first letters of their intended word, regardless of how unrepresentative they may consider those letters to be. Abbreviation Expansion allows the user to type reduced forms of many words in a way they feel represents them more effectively. This can be done by the omission of one or more letters, or the replacement of letter sequences with other, usually shorter, sequences. For instance, the word ‘hyphenate might be shortened to ‘yfn8’, by leaving out some letters and replacing the ‘ph’ and ‘ate’ with the shorter but phonetically similar ‘f’ and ‘8’. ‘Fixed Abbreviation Expansion’ requires the user to memorise a set of correspondences between abbreviations and the full words which they represent. While this enables useful keystroke savings to be made, these come alongside an increased cognitive load and potential for error. Where a word is encountered for which there is no preset abbreviation, or for which the user cannot remember one, keystroke savings may be lost. ‘Flexible Abbreviation Expansion’ allows the user to leave out whichever letters they feel to be ‘less differentiating' and jump straight ahead to type those they feel are most ‘salient’ and most characterise the word, choosing abbreviations ‘on the fly’. The need to memorise sets of correspondences is removed, as the user can be offered all candidates for which the abbreviation might be a representation, usually in small sets on screen. For useful savings to be made, the intended word must regularly be in the first or second set for quick selection, or the system might attempt to place the intended word at the very top of its list as frequently as possible. Thus it is important to generate and rank the candidates effectively, so that high probability words can be offered in a shortlist. Lower-ranking candidates can be offered in secondary lists which are not immediately displayed. This can reduce both the cognitive load and keystrokes needed for selection. The thesis addresses the task of reducing the number of keystrokes needed for text creation with a large, expressive vocabulary, using a new approach to flexible abbreviation expansion. To inform the solution, two empirical studies were run to gather letter-level statistics on the abbreviation methods of twenty-nine people, under different degrees of constriction (that is, different restrictions on the numbers of characters by which to reduce). These studies showed that with a small amount of priming, people would abbreviate in regular ways, both shared between users, and repeated through the data from an individual. Analysis showed the most common strategies to be vowel deletion, phonetic replacement, loss of double letters, and word truncation. Participants reduced the number of letters in their texts by between 25% (judged to maintain a high degree of comprehensibility) up to 40% (judged to be a maximum degree of brevity whilst still retaining comprehensibility). Informed by these results, an individual-word-level algorithm was developed. For each input abbreviation, a set of candidates is produced, ranked in such a way as to potentially save substantial keystrokes when used across a whole text. A variety of statistical and linguistic techniques, often also used in spelling checking and correction, are used to rank them so that the most probable will be easiest to select, and with fewest keystrokes. The algorithm works at the level of the individual word, without looking at surrounding context. Evaluation of the algorithm demonstrated that it outperforms its nearest comparable alternative, of ranking word lists exclusively by word frequency. The evaluation was performed on the data from the second empirical study, using vocabulary sizes of 2-, 10-, 20- and 30-thousand words. The results show the algorithm to be of potential benefit for use as a component of a flexible abbreviation expansion system. Even with the overhead of selection of the intended word, useful keystroke savings could still be attained. It is envisaged that such a system could be implemented on many platforms, including as part of an AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) device, and an email system on a standard PC, thus making typed communication for the user group more comfortable and expansive.

The purpose of this research was to explore and describe the relationship among the child, family, home environment, and pretend play of children with motor disabilities. The environment is a powerful force in early child development. This research is based on Bronfennbrenner’s ecological theory of development and the ubiquitous role of play in all domains of development. Children with motor disabilities may lack exploration of the environment and as a consequence demonstrate deficits in play. Play was measured in 32 children with motor disabilities aged 24.8 to 61.3 months with a mean age of 33.7 (SD 9.3) months. Children demonstrated mild to moderate motor disabilities based on the Gross Motor Function Classification System. The prevalent motor disabilities were cerebral palsy, genetic disorders, delayed development, and myelomeningocele. The questions addressed were what combination of child and family variables will predict play ability in a child with motor disability and do the learning materials in the home or levels of maternal or paternal education affect play ability in children with motor disabilities. Two studies were conducted to establish reliability with the Test of Pretend Play (ToPP) and to determine if children with delayed development would exhibit a delay. One study was done to establish reliability for the Fluharty-2. The results of the main study demonstrated a significant positive correlation between ToPP scores and the learning material subscale (LMS) scores of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory and maternal education. The LMS scores were significantly correlated with family income, maternal and paternal education. The ToPP scores were not significantly correlated to income or paternal education. Age of the child was significantly positively correlated with ToPP scores and the LMS scores. Fifty-three percent of the children exhibited delays in play. The child’s age and the maternal level of education accounted for 60% of the variance in ToPP scores. Children with cerebral palsy and myelomeningocele appear to be at greater risk for pretend play delays than children with developmental delay and genetic disorders. More research is needed to further elucidate the role of play in children with motor disabilities.

Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att undersöka hur kognitiva och motoriska funktionsnedsättningar kan påverka den orala hälsan och den oral hälsorelaterade livskvalitén hos strokedrabbade individer. Metod: En litteraturstudie genomfördes baserad på 18 vetenskapliga originalartiklar. Sökning efter samtliga artiklar genomfördes i databaserna CINAHL, Medline och DOSS där särskilda inklusion och exklusions kriterier styrde valet av vilka artiklar som skulle användas. Därefter kvalitetsgranskades de utvalda artiklarna. Resultat: Strokerelaterad motoriska funktionsnedsättningar påverkar individens förmåga att sköta munhygienen och att tugga och svälja. Det har även påvisat att strokerelaterade motoriska funktionsnedsättningar hade statistisk signifikant påverkan på parodontal status (p <0,001). Kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar hos strokedrabbade individer visade en statistisk signifikant påverkan på hur ofta strokedrabbade individer borstade tänderna dagligen (p <0,001) samt en statistisk signifikant koppling till parodontit. Både motoriska och kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar uppvisade en påverkan på individens dagliga välbefinnande. Slutsats: Strokerelaterade motoriska och kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar har visats ha en påverkan på oral hälsa och oral hälsorelaterad livskvalité. Dock skulle mer forskning inom detta område vara gynnsam för både allmänheten och tandvårdspersonalen.

Damage to the brain can lead to different types of long-term motor impairments like hemiplegia. Children with hemiplegia have difficulties performing everyday activities that rely on the coordinated use of both hands, such as feeding or dressing. Therefore, arm-hand therapy is important to improve the child’s motor skills to gain more independence in their daily life activities.  Specialists usually recommend additional home therapy to maintain the skills and extend the therapeutic benefits. However in many cases, there is a lack of continuity of progress in the home environment. The problem with therapy is that it consists of repetitive exercises that a lot of kids may stop doing out of boredom. This project was approached with a user-centered design perspective to understand the field of rehabilitation in children with hemiplegia motor disabilities and explore how design can spark motivation and playfulness in this context. The solution was developed through extensive research including field research, observations, literature research and interviews with specialists from Sweden and Argentina as well as with parents.  Several different design directions took shape during the process, they were then evaluated and validated with specialists, parents and tested with kids.  The result of this project is a hybrid therapeutic toy composed of physical controllers and digital therapeutic games. By interacting with the controllers, children can improve their hand motor skills while playing different digital games designed to allow the repetition of hand movements with therapeutic effect. By turning repetitive training into playful therapy exercises, hemi makes long-term home therapy possible for children without thinking they are exercising.

There is a lot of research connecting musical expression with well-being, motivation and meaningfulness, especially when introduced in early years. Children should have the opportunity to express themselves through music regardless of motor disability. There is research targeting children with motor disabilities and musical expression but when the projects ends the children are left without the technology. There is a gap in research exploring technologies accessible in terms of availability to buy and use for the children. This thesis take advantage of the evolution of music production technologies where standard digital audio workstations are highly customizable and therefore an option to use as tools to democratize musical expression among children with motor disabilities. Democratize in this context means to make the children able to participate in a musical performance and express themselves in a similar way as fully abled children. To explore the use of music production technologies to promote musical expression among children with motor disabilities a proposed solution of digital audio workstation Ableton Live and beat matched functionalities coupled with various tangible controllers was explored during 3 sessions at a school in Malmö. Four children at the age of 10 with motor disabilities participated together with their music teacher. The result indicates that the proposed solution has great potential to democratize musical expression among the children using available music production technology. The key component in the proposed prototype was the use of beat matched loops and effects which were synchronized to the songs tempo and made it possible for the children to express themselves musically.  The result also show that an important aspect of gaining well-being, motivation and meaningfulness among the children was connected to the proposed prototype ability to generate a musical outcome matching the children's expectations and personal preferences.

The present study investigates the obstacles encountered by people with motor impairments in their pursuit of playing and enjoying video games. The design process involved gathering valuable insights from relevant to the topic literature and observations, due to the lack of access to individuals with motor disabilities. The resulting controller prioritized button layout customization and incorporated ergonomic considerations to ensure comfort and easier interaction. The feedback and user testing conducted provided valuable insights, allowing for iterative improvements and refinement of the controller design in the future.

Submitted by Haroudo Xavier Filho (haroudo.xavierfo@ufpe.br) on 2016-10-06T13:55:25Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação - DeCart_Geodesica_Elaine Osorio.pdf: 10456894 bytes, checksum: 7d4067be082c9f415e4b4322a30ec7bb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-06T13:55:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação - DeCart_Geodesica_Elaine Osorio.pdf: 10456894 bytes, checksum: 7d4067be082c9f415e4b4322a30ec7bb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-12 / As Tecnologias da Geoinformação como, a Cartografia e os Sistema de Informações Geográfica têm sido utilizados para análise da acessibilidade e mobilidade em espaços urbanos, permitem a criação de Banco de Dados Espaciais contendo informações sobre os elementos físicos para pessoas com deficiências e oferecem uma melhor percepção visual dos elementos através de mapas temáticos. Nas ações de planejamento ou ordenamento do espaço deve-se incluir estudos acerca da acessibilidade e mobilidade urbana analisando os diferentes componentes físicos do ambiente urbano (rampas, calçadas rebaixadas, obstáculos, entre outros) através da representação espacial. Nesse sentido, a pesquisa propõe uma Modelagem de Dados Espaciais capaz de integrar os elementos físicos para acessibilidade de pessoas em cadeiras de rodas considerando os padrões da NBR 9050/2004, que estabelece critérios e parâmetros técnicos para acessibilidade a edificações, mobiliário, espaços e equipamentos urbanos. A pesquisa utilizou a metodologia OMT-G - Object Modeling Technique para criação do modelo, a implementação física foi realizada no PostgreSQL/PostGIS e a espacialização das classes e atributos do Banco de Dados Espaciais foi realizada através da conexão do PostgreSQL/PostGIS com o programa livre Quantum GIS. Os elementos foram avaliados qualitativamente e averiguados o cumprimento da legislação e os resultados apresentados em mapas temáticos e análise de rotas. A área de estudo foi o polo de saúde que fica localizado no bairro Centro, no município de Teresina, estado do Piauí. Os resultados demostram a capacidade da Modelagem de Dados Espaciais de representar os objetos do espaço urbano para acessibilidade. As consultas espaciais com cruzamento de varáveis possibilitaram uma análise qualitativa mais consistente da área de estudo apresentadas nos mapas temáticos. Os resultados demostraram a falta de acessibilidade e mobilidade no polo de saúde pela presença de obstáculos, diferenças de inclinação ao longo das calçadas, material construtivo inadequado e más condições físicas das calçadas, que inviabilizam o acesso de pessoas em cadeiras de rodas aos equipamentos de saúde de forma autônoma e segura. / The Geoinformation Technologies as the Cartography and Geographical Information System has been used to analyze the accessibility and mobility in urban areas, enable the creation of spatial database containing information on the physical elements for people with disabilities and provide a better understanding visual elements through thematic maps. In action planning or spatial planning should include studies on accessibility and urban mobility analyzing the different physical components of the urban environment (ramps, lowered sidewalks, obstacles, etc.) through the spatial representation. In this sense, the research proposes a Spatial Data Modeling able to integrate the physical elements for accessibility for people in wheelchairs considering the NBR 9050/2004 standards establishing criteria and technical parameters for accessibility to buildings, furniture, spaces and equipment urban. The study used the OMT-G methodology - Object Modeling Technique for model creation, physical implementation was held in PostgreSQL / PostGIS and spatial distribution of the classes and attributes of the Bank of Spatial Data was performed by connecting the PostgreSQL / PostGIS with the program free Quantum GIS. The elements were qualitatively assessed and investigated compliance with legislation and the results presented in thematic maps and analysis of routes. The study area was the health pole that is located in the Centro neighborhood in the city of Teresina, state of Piaui. The results demonstrate the ability of Spatial Data Modeling represent objects of urban space for accessibility. The spatial queries with variable cross enabled a more consistent qualitative analysis of the study area presented in thematic maps. The results demonstrated the lack of accessibility and mobility in the health pole by the presence of obstacles, slope differences along the sidewalks, inadequate construction material and poor physical condition of the sidewalks, that prevent access for people in wheelchairs to health equipment autonomously and safely.

As technology evolves, new devices and interaction techniques are developed. These transformations create several challenges in terms of usability and user experience. Our research faces some challenges for data input or content exploration in scenarios with restrictions. It is not our intention to investigate all possible scenarios, but we deeply explore a broad range of devices and restrictions. We start with a discussion about the use of an interactive coffee table for exploration of personal photos and videos, also considering a TV set as an additional screen. In a second scenario, we present an architecture that offers to interactive digital TV (iDTV) applications the possibility of receiving multimodal data from multiple devices. Our third scenario concentrates on supporting text input for iDTV applications using a remote control, and presents an interface model based on multiple input modes as a solution. In the last two scenarios, we continued investigating better ways to provide text entry; however, our restriction becomes not using the hands, which is the kind of challenge faced by severely motor-disabled individuals. First, we present a text entry method based on two input symbols and an interaction technique based on detecting internal and external heel rotations using an accelerometer, for those who keep at least a partial movement of a leg and a foot. In the following scenario, only the eyes are required. We present an eye-typing technique that recognizes the intended word by weighting length and frequency of all possible words formed by filtering extra letters from the sequence of letters gazed by the user. The exploration of each scenario in depth was important to achieve the relevant results and contributions. On the other hand, the wide scope of this dissertation allowed the student to learn about several technologies and techniques. / Com a evolução da tecnologia, novos dispositivos e técnicas de interação são desenvolvidas. Essas transformações criam desafios em termos de usabilidade e experiência do usuário. Essa pesquisa enfrenta alguns desafios para a entrada de dados e exploração de conteúdo em cenários com restrições. Não foi intenção da pesquisa investigar todos os possíveis cenários, mas sim a exploração em profundidade de uma ampla gama de dispositivos e restrições. Ao todo cinco cenários são investigados. Primeiramente é apresentada uma discussão sobre o uso de uma mesa de centro interativa para a exploração de fotos e vídeos pessoais, a qual também considera um aparelho de TV como tela adicional. Com base no segundo cenário, uma arquitetura que oferece a aplicações de TV digital interativa (TVDI) a possibilidade de receber dados multimodais de múltiplos dispositivos é apresentada. O terceiro cenário se concentra no suporte a entrada de texto para aplicações de TVDI usando o controle remoto, resultando na apresentação de um modelo de interface baseado em múltiplos modos de entrada como solução. Os dois últimos cenários permitem continuar a investigação por melhores formas de entrada de texto, porém, a restrição se torna a impossibilidade de usar as mãos, um dos desafios enfrentados por indivíduos com deficiência motora severa. No primeiro deles, são apresentados um método de entrada de texto baseado em dois símbolos de entrada e uma técnica de interação baseada na detecção de rotações do pé apoiado sobre o calcanhar usando acelerômetro, para aqueles que mantêm pelo menos um movimento parcial de uma perna e um pé. No senário seguinte, apenas os movimentos dos olhos são exigidos. Foi apresentada uma técnica de escrita com o olho que reconhece a palavra desejada ponderando o comprimento de a frequência de ocorrência de todas as palavras que podem ser formadas filtrando letras excedentes da lista de letras olhadas pelo usuário. A exploração de cada cenário em profundidade foi importante para a obtenção de resultados e contribuições relevantes. Por outro lado, o amplo escopo da dissertação permitiu ao estudante o aprendizado de diversas técnicas e tecnologias.

As technology evolves, new devices and interaction techniques are developed. These transformations create several challenges in terms of usability and user experience. Our research faces some challenges for data input or content exploration in scenarios with restrictions. It is not our intention to investigate all possible scenarios, but we deeply explore a broad range of devices and restrictions. We start with a discussion about the use of an interactive coffee table for exploration of personal photos and videos, also considering a TV set as an additional screen. In a second scenario, we present an architecture that offers to interactive digital TV (iDTV) applications the possibility of receiving multimodal data from multiple devices. Our third scenario concentrates on supporting text input for iDTV applications using a remote control, and presents an interface model based on multiple input modes as a solution. In the last two scenarios, we continued investigating better ways to provide text entry; however, our restriction becomes not using the hands, which is the kind of challenge faced by severely motor-disabled individuals. First, we present a text entry method based on two input symbols and an interaction technique based on detecting internal and external heel rotations using an accelerometer, for those who keep at least a partial movement of a leg and a foot. In the following scenario, only the eyes are required. We present an eye-typing technique that recognizes the intended word by weighting length and frequency of all possible words formed by filtering extra letters from the sequence of letters gazed by the user. The exploration of each scenario in depth was important to achieve the relevant results and contributions. On the other hand, the wide scope of this dissertation allowed the student to learn about several technologies and techniques. / Com a evolução da tecnologia, novos dispositivos e técnicas de interação são desenvolvidas. Essas transformações criam desafios em termos de usabilidade e experiência do usuário. Essa pesquisa enfrenta alguns desafios para a entrada de dados e exploração de conteúdo em cenários com restrições. Não foi intenção da pesquisa investigar todos os possíveis cenários, mas sim a exploração em profundidade de uma ampla gama de dispositivos e restrições. Ao todo cinco cenários são investigados. Primeiramente é apresentada uma discussão sobre o uso de uma mesa de centro interativa para a exploração de fotos e vídeos pessoais, a qual também considera um aparelho de TV como tela adicional. Com base no segundo cenário, uma arquitetura que oferece a aplicações de TV digital interativa (TVDI) a possibilidade de receber dados multimodais de múltiplos dispositivos é apresentada. O terceiro cenário se concentra no suporte a entrada de texto para aplicações de TVDI usando o controle remoto, resultando na apresentação de um modelo de interface baseado em múltiplos modos de entrada como solução. Os dois últimos cenários permitem continuar a investigação por melhores formas de entrada de texto, porém, a restrição se torna a impossibilidade de usar as mãos, um dos desafios enfrentados por indivíduos com deficiência motora severa. No primeiro deles, são apresentados um método de entrada de texto baseado em dois símbolos de entrada e uma técnica de interação baseada na detecção de rotações do pé apoiado sobre o calcanhar usando acelerômetro, para aqueles que mantêm pelo menos um movimento parcial de uma perna e um pé. No senário seguinte, apenas os movimentos dos olhos são exigidos. Foi apresentada uma técnica de escrita com o olho que reconhece a palavra desejada ponderando o comprimento de a frequência de ocorrência de todas as palavras que podem ser formadas filtrando letras excedentes da lista de letras olhadas pelo usuário. A exploração de cada cenário em profundidade foi importante para a obtenção de resultados e contribuições relevantes. Por outro lado, o amplo escopo da dissertação permitiu ao estudante o aprendizado de diversas técnicas e tecnologias.