Thesis: M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 1981 / Includes bibliographical references. / by John Harvey Serocki. / M.S. / M.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Over the next decade the ‘Baby Boomer' cohort will increasingly contribute to the proportion of those aged 60 and over in Britain. The issue of how the mobility of older people has changed for different cohort groups has not been considered in a historical context. Ryder (1965) argued that cohort groups could be important in determining behaviour as have other social structural factors, such as socioeconomic status. This thesis merges the disciplines of transport geography and population studies using a novel approach of cohort analysis, which has not been used widely for studying mobility trends. Using National Travel Survey data from 1995-2008, the mobility trends of older people in Britain are explored by creating pseudo cohorts. Pseudo cohorts are artificially created datasets which are constructed from using repeated cross-sectional data (McIntosh, 2005, Uren, 2006). This technique can differentiate ‘age', ‘period' and ‘cohort' effects in mobility trends. Age effects are differences in behaviour between age groups i.e. changes in mobility associated with age itself. Period effects relate to changes in behaviour in all age groups over a period of time. Cohort effects are those associated with behaviour common to particular groups born around the same time (Glenn, 2005, Yang, 2007). The influence of the Scottish concessionary travel policy on the mobility of older people at the aggregate level is also considered using Scottish Household Survey data from 1999-2008. This policy is very blunt and based on assumptions about older age. As cohorts differ, these assumptions may no longer hold and therefore the policy may not be effective. This thesis argues, using a longitudinal demographic perspective, that structural effects shape mobility of cohorts differently over time. The findings reveal although mobility amongst older people is rising in general, there would actually be declining mobility were it not for the Boomer cohort. Amongst younger cohorts mobility is lower. The analysis also shows that women travel further than men, a fundamental break with the past, specific to this generation. This thesis illustrates the importance of cohort membership in explaining mobility change.

This thesis deals with orientation and mobility (O&M) of children with visual and multiple disabilities in early childhood years. It provides basic information about individuals with visual and multiple disabilities, about early childhood, about early intervention, about O&M, about importance of family and about possibilities of support in early learning. The main attention is focused on content areas of O&M in early childhood years and devices O&M for children. It also deals with the situation in the sphere of O&M for children in early childhood in the Czech Republic.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-08-08T11:29:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Maurício Maia.pdf: 1813295 bytes, checksum: 1624f36295d00e4b96f20bfc9b85b200 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T11:29:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maurício Maia.pdf: 1813295 bytes, checksum: 1624f36295d00e4b96f20bfc9b85b200 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-06-21 / The Brazilian Federal Constitution has in equality and human dignity two of its main vectors of interpretation and application. Combined with the fundamental objectives of the Republic, these two values give rise to a constitutional commandment of inclusion, imposing on the State and the society the duty to enable all people, without exception, to participate fully and effectively in social life, on an equal footing opportunities. Also, in order to achieve this, it is necessary to identify groups of people who need special legal treatment so that they can have the same opportunities of participation as other people. One of these groups of people is the group of people with disabilities. A fundamental part of this differentiated juridical treatment granted to persons with disabilities is the accessibility, a fundamental right which is instrumental to all other rights to be exercised by the members of this group of persons. Accessibility currently has a comprehensive concept, and is an important instrument for eliminating barriers to the inclusion of people with disabilities, interacting with other fundamental rights, such as the right to property. The guarantee of accessibility necessarily goes through the configuration that the legal system assigns to the property. We can understand that the accessibility is an integral part of the social function that the property must comply, by express constitutional determination. In this sense, there is a duty set by the constitutional order of observance of the norms of accessibility in the existing buildings or in the buildings that will be constructed. In the case of existing buildings, according to their nature, there is a duty of adaptation, which non-compliance may give rise to the consequences for non-compliance with the social function of property, as well as the responsibility of public or private agents. Public officials may even be held liable for acts of administrative misconduct, thus demonstrating the relevance of the accessibility in the Brazilian legal system / A Constituição Federal brasileira tem na igualdade e na dignidade humana dois de seus principais vetores de interpretação e aplicação. Conjugados com os objetivos fundamentais da República, esses dois valores fazem exsurgir um verdadeiro mandamento constitucional de inclusão, impondo ao Estado e à própria sociedade o dever de possibilitar a todas as pessoas, sem exceção, a participação plena e efetiva na vida social, em igualdade de oportunidades. Outrossim, para que seja possível o atingimento de tal mister, é necessária a identificação de grupos de pessoas que necessitam de um especial tratamento jurídico para que possam ter as mesmas oportunidades de participação que têm as demais pessoas. Um desses grupos de pessoas é o grupo das pessoas com deficiência. Parte fundamental desse tratamento jurídico diferenciado deferido às pessoas com deficiência é a acessibilidade, direito fundamental que é instrumental a todos os demais direitos a serem gozados pelos integrantes desse grupo de pessoas. A acessibilidade, atualmente, tem um conceito amplo, sendo importante instrumento de eliminação de barreiras à inclusão das pessoas com deficiência, interagindo com os demais direitos fundamentais, e, dentre eles, a propriedade. A garantia da acessibilidade necessariamente passa pela configuração que o ordenamento jurídico atribui à propriedade. Podemos entender que a acessibilidade é parte integrante da função social que a propriedade, por expressa determinação constitucional, deve cumprir. Nesse sentido, há um dever fixado pelo ordenamento constitucional de observância das normas de acessibilidade nas edificações existentes ou por serem construídas. No caso das edificações já existentes, conforme sua natureza, há um dever de adaptação, cujo descumprimento poderá ensejar as consequências previstas pelo descumprimento da função social da propriedade, bem como a responsabilização dos agentes, públicos ou privados. Aos agentes públicos é possível, inclusive, a imputação de ato de improbidade administrativa, demonstrando-se, assim, a relevância da acessibilidade no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro

Atualmente cerca de 15% da população mundial possui algum tipo de deficiência. Para estas pessoas o uso das tecnologias assistivas é essencial. A realidade aumentada surge como uma importante alternativa, para a criação de novas tecnologias assistivas, devido às suas inúmeras formas de rastreamento do participante, que, se combinadas, conseguem proporcionar novas possibilidades de interação. Entretanto, o uso da realidade aumentada, no contexto das tecnologias assistivas, não é uma panaceia, pois cada deficiência é única, assim como cada pessoa possui suas próprias particularidades. Portanto, é importante analisar a acessibilidade destas aplicações, para que o benefício do seu uso possa ser realmente assegurado. Esta dissertação propõe um modelo preditivo de avaliação, baseado no Design Universal e na norma ISO 9241-171. Este modelo é capaz de avaliar a acessibilidade de aplicações de realidade aumentada, quando usadas como tecnologias assistivas. O processo de avaliação consiste no preenchimento de questionários, compostos por questões claras e inteligíveis, para que possam atender à um público multidisciplinar, sem a exigência de qualquer conhecimento prévio em avaliação de acessibilidade. O produto da avaliação feita pelos questionários é um indicador de acessibilidade, que representa o grau de conformidade com os requisitos de acessibilidade. A aplicação dos questionários é sensível ao contexto, cada questionário inclui guias de utilização, que contém os requisitos mínimos do participante, para cada critério de avaliação, desta forma, é possível obter uma visão holística da avaliação, que pode ser customizada para cada participante ou generalizada para uma deficiência específica. O principal objetivo desta dissertação é propor um modelo preditivo, para a avaliação da acessibilidade, servindo aos educadores especiais, desenvolvedores e consumidores de tecnologias assistivas, como critério para a utilização ou não das aplicações de realidade aumentada. / Currently about 15% of the world population has some type of disability. For these people the use of assistive technologies is essential. Augmented reality emerges as an important alternative to the creation of new assistive technologies, due to its numerous forms of participant tracking, which, if combined, can provide new possibilities for interaction. However, the use of augmented reality in the context of assistive technology is not a panacea, as each disability is unique, as well as each person has its own peculiarities. Therefore, it is important to analyze the accessibility of these applications, to ensure the benefit of its use effectively. This work proposes a predictive evaluation model, based on universal design and ISO 9241-171 standard. This model is able to evaluate the accessibility of augmented reality applications, when used as assistive technologies. The evaluation process consists of completing questionnaires, composed of clear and intelligible issues, so that they can meet the multidisciplinary public, without requiring any prior knowledge in evaluating accessibility. The product of evaluation made by questionnaires is a numerical indicator of accessibility, which represents the degree of compliance with accessibility requirements. The questions are sensitives to context, each questionnaire includes guidelines, which contains the minimum requirements of the participant, for each criteria, it is thus possible to obtain a holistic view of the evaluation, which can be customized for each participant or generalized to a specific disability. The main objective of this work is to propose a predictive model for the evaluation of accessibility, serving special educators, developers and assistive technology consumers, as a criteria for the decision of use of augmented reality applications.

This study examined the influence of three predictor variables on perceptions of assisted living: psychological well-being, functional status, and coping strategies. A multiple regression analysis was used to examine the influence of these factors on perceptions of the transition to assisted living.