The complete solution of real/life problems starts with the specification of the problem, its expression using mathematical concepts, solving it using a mathematical apparatus and interpreting its results using the terminology of the original problem area. In this four-stage process, graphic calculators can be efficiently used for speeding up its third (“purely mathematical”) stage. The application of ICT will free the teachers’ hands and allow them to concentrate on the pre-solution and post-solution relationships between the problem and its mathematical classification, representation, and meaning. During our 60-minute hands-on workshop, this principle will be demonstrated on examples from financial mathematics and other real-life problems using CASIO ClassPad. The workshop participants can play the role of learners. They are also invited to discuss and express their opinions on even more effective exploitation of this flexible tool. No previous experience with CASIO ClassPad is needed.

Les thérapies ciblées ont permis d’augmenter la survie des patients souffrant de cancers et d’améliorer leur qualité de vie, avec un coût de traitement plus élevé que pour les chimiothérapies conventionnelles. L’Évaluation Médico-Économique (EME) repose le plus souvent sur des modèles mathématiques qui nécessitent l’utilisation de données cliniques, économiques et de qualité de vie. De manière générale, l’EME utilise des données collectées dans les essais cliniques, la littérature et à dires d’experts. Cependant, il est de plus en plus difficile de disposer d’un essai comparant le traitement A au traitement B (comparaison directe (CD)). De ce fait, les EME utilisent de plus en plus des données issues de comparaisons indirectes (CI). Par ailleurs, les différences entre la population des essais et celle traitée en vie réelle, peuvent rendre difficile l’extrapolation des résultats des essais à la population traitée en vie réelle. Les modèles médico-économiques sont sensibles aux paramètres utilisés ainsi qu’aux méthodes employées pour les estimer. Ainsi, l’efficience en vie réelle peut différer de l’efficience estimée à partir des données d’essais. De même, l’utilisation de données issues de CI vs celle issues de CD peut avoir un impact sur les résultats d’efficience. Cette thèse avait pour objectif d’évaluer l’impact des différentes sources de données (CD, CI et données collectées en vie réelle) sur les résultats d’efficience. Et ce, à travers une étude de cas qui est l’EME de pazopanib vs sunitinib dans le traitement de 1re ligne du Cancer du Rein Métastatique (CRM). Pour répondre aux objectifs de la thèse, nous avons utilisé un modèle partitionné de survie et avons analysé les résultats issus de trois scenarii différents, scénario : CD, CI, et vie réelle. Pour dériver les paramètres du modèle, nous avons réalisé trois analyses rétrospectives de bases de données. Pour les scenarii basés sur les données de CD et données de CI, les coûts étaient collectés à partir de sources de données multiples (PMSI, Oncology Analyzer et la litterature) et les données d’efficacité étaient collectées respectivement à partir d’un essai clinique et d’une CI comparant pazopanib à sunitinib. Pour le scénario vie réelle les coûts et les données de survie étaient collectées à partir du DCIR. Les données d’utilité utilisées étaient identiques pour les trois scenarii. Les résultats du scénario CD montrent que pazopanib est plus efficace et moins coûteux que sunitinib. En revanche, les résultats des scenarii CI et vie réelle montrent que pazopanib était plus efficace et plus coûteux que sunitinib. Bien que les résultats de ces deux derniers scenarii aboutissent à la même conclusion, il y a une grande variabilité sur le Ratio Différentiel Coût Résultat (RDCR) pouvant aboutir, selon la disposition à payer, à des décisions différentes. Les analyses de sensibilité montrent que les résultats étaient sensibles aux données d’utilité mais également aux données de coûts utilisées. La thèse met en évidence une grande disparité des résultats du fait des données disponibles pour mesurer l’efficience en vie réelle ou à partir des essais (CD, CI). Nous constatons qu’une faible variation de l’estimation des données de survie a un impact important sur les données d’efficience. Par ailleurs, afin de réduire l’incertitude autour des résultats d’efficience, des travaux préliminaires relatifs à l’harmonisation des méthodes pour estimer les données de coûts à partir du DCIR doivent être réalisés. Pour finir, quel que soit le scénario étudié, nous avons constaté une grande incertitude autour des paramètres utilisés et en conséquence autour des résultats d’efficience. Il serait donc important de modéliser la valeur de l’information afin de déterminer les études à mettre en place pour réduire l’incertitude autour des résultats d’efficience. / Targeted therapies have improved the survival of patients suffering from cancer. However, due to the introduction of new targeted therapies, treatment costs have rapidly increased. In this context, Economic Evaluation (EE) proposes a set of tools in healthcare decision making. EE is usually based on decision modeling that requires a set of clinical, economical and quality of life data. These data are often collected in randomized controlled clinical trials also called Direct Comparisons (DC), in the literature and on the basis of experts’ opinions. Yet, it is not always possible to conduct a clinical trial that directly compares treatment A to treatment B. Therefore, the use in EE of statistical techniques that uses results from separate clinical trials to compare the efficacy between treatment A and B is increasing. One of these techniques is called Indirect Comparisons (IC). Differences in patients’ characteristics between the population in the trial and the one treated in practice, makes it difficult to extrapolate the results of clinical trials to the population treated in real life. Moreover, analytic decision models are often sensitive to clinical, quality of life and costing parameters. Hence, real life cost-effectiveness may differ from the cost-effectiveness based on clinical trials data. In addition, the use of indirect comparisons in decision analytic modeling may yield different results from the use of data collected in head to head trials. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the impact of using different data sources (DC, IC and real life data) on the results of a decision analytic model. To attain our objectives, the effectiveness of pazopanib versus sunitinib in first line treatment of patients with metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma (mRCC) was used as a case study. To evaluate the impact of different data sources on the cost-effectiveness results, we used a partioned survival model and compared the results of three different scenarios: direct comparison, indirect comparison and real life. In order to derive the parameters used in the model, we conducted three retrospective database analyses. For DC and IC scenarios, cost data were collected using multiple data sources (PMSI, Oncology Analyzer and the literature) and clinical data were collected respectively in a clinical trial and from an indirect comparison comparing pazopanib to sunitinib. Costs and survival data used in the real life scenario were collected in the DCIR. Similar utility values were used for the three scenarios. In the DC scenario, pazopanib was found to be more effective and less costly than sunitinib. However, for both IC and real life scenarios, pazopanib was found to be more effective and costlier than sunitinib. Even though both scenarios found pazopanib more effective and costlier than sunitinib, there is an important variability on the Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) that may lead to different decisions according to the willingness to pay. Sensitivity analyses showed that the results were sensitive to utility and cost data. This thesis highlighted the disparity of the cost-effectiveness results based on clinical trial data (CD and IC) and those estimated using real life data. We observed that a small variation in survival data estimates has a significant impact on the cost-effectiveness results. In order to reduce uncertainty around real life cost-effectiveness, a preliminary work on harmonizing the methods used to estimate cost data from the DCIR must be performed. Furthermore, no matter the scenario studied, we observed a great uncertainty regarding the cost-effectiveness of pazopanib versus sunitinib in first line treatment of mRCC patients. Hence the importance of modeling the value of information to identify the studies that should be implemented in order to reduce the uncertainty around the cost-effectiveness results.

Mobile crowdsourcing solves complex problems by utilizing the untapped power of a crowd, connected through the fantastic mobile devices we use in our daily life. These gadgets are equipped with a versatile set of sensor that could be used for gathering data about a specific location in combination with questions to the human carrier. Common problems in crowdsourcing systems is how to ensure that the contributed data from the crowd is of a high quality and how to do task allocation fairly. A large population of users is often needed to ensure a high quality of data and coverage, every participant is important and the system have to do be designed with the population in mind.In this thesis we discuss the responsibilities of the server in a crowdsourcing system and presents a system model which tries to tackle the problems of quality and fairness. A prototype of the system model was developed (CrowdS) to determine its potential, for both Android and iOS devices.A long running test was performed to evaluate the performance of CrowdS with the main focus on determine how well the system performed in terms of coverage of the search area and fairness of earnings and prices. The test was executed on both platforms for a couple of weeks. The vast majority of all completed tasks were finished within 10 minutes of being created, with a median time of 3 minutes and 32 seconds seconds. Jain’s fairness index measured an overall high fairness for both the price of tasks at 0.944 and the earnings made by participants at 0.941. The radius of the search area had to be extended to maximum of 800 meters for roughly on third of the tasks to find the required number of participants. / Mobil crowdsourcing löser komplexa problem genom att utnyttja kapaciteten av en grupp, sammankopplad med de mobila enheter vi använder dagligen. Dessa maskiner är utrustade med en mångsidig uppsättning av sensorer som kan användas för att samla in data om en specifik plats i kombination med frågor till den mänskliga bäraren. Vanliga problem med gruppbaserad problemlösning är hur man försäkrar att den insamlade informationen är av en hög kvalite´ och hur man utför uppdragsallokering rättvist. En stor användargrupp behövs för att uppnå en hög kvalite´ av data och täckning, varenda deltagare är viktig och systemet måste utformas med denna användargrupp i åtanke.I denna avhandling diskuterar vi ansvaret som en server har i mobil gruppbaserad problemlösning och presenterar en systemmodel som försöker hantera problemen med kvalite´ och rättvisa. För att utvärdera systemmodellen utvecklades en prototyp (CrowdS), för både Android och iOS-enheter.Ett långvarande test utfördes för att utvärdera Crowds prestanda med huvudfokus på att bestämmahur bra systemet presterade inom täckning för sökområdet och rättvishet för vinster och priser. Testet utfördes på båda plattformarna under ett par veckor. Den stora majoriteten av alla utdelade uppgifter var avklarade inom 10 minuter efter att de hade skapas, med en median tid på 3 minuter och 32 sekunder. Jain’s rättvise index användes för att få en uppfattning om hur rättvist vinster och priser var för uppgifter, det räknades till 0,944 respektive 0,941. Radien för sökområdet behövde utsträckas till dess maximum av 800 meter för cirka en tredjedel av uppgifterna för att hitta det tillräckligt många deltagare.

The current study focused on examining the relationship between music media literacy and middle school students. The goal of the study was to bring awareness towards adding music media literacy in the middle school curriculum; in order to further educate middle school students on the potential negative effects of popular music on their attitudes and behaviors, help middle school students understand the processes involved in the creation of popular music, and help middle school students understand how popular music can reflect and impact society as a whole. Participants (n=20) were selected through social media ads, ads posted on listservs, and word of mouth. A series of analyses were conducted in SPSS to find any difference in how participants viewed music based on demographic factors. Results showed the students view the lyrics in music to be from real-life scenarios, such as sexualization, sexual activity, substance abuse, violence and aggression. As well, participants showed to view music as a portrayal of both men and women factually in the real-world. These findings support the need for music media literacy in middle school curriculum. Keywords : sexualization, high risk-behaviors, real-life scenarios

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of universal design kitchen features by people using wheelchairs. The study examined the features of the GE Real Life Design Kitchen in the Center for Real Life Design at Virginia Tech and determined which universal design features were beneficial to users in wheelchairs. The specific objectives were: 1. to evaluate the universal design features of the GE Real Life Design Kitchen by people in wheelchairs, and 2. to examine how the GE Real Life Design Kitchen is used by people in wheelchairs as they prepare a meal in the space. Nine participants, with various disabilities, who use a wheelchair on a daily basis were selected for the study. The sample consisted of 5 male and 4 female participants with ages ranging from 28-58 years old. Each participant had varying levels of grip, strength, and memory as a result of their disability. Data for this study were collected through a variety of observation and interviewing methods. The study was separated into four different sections/activities; the pre-cooking interview, the universal design evaluation, the cooking activity, and the post-cooking interview. Each participant was asked to test specific universal design features located in the GE Real Life Design Kitchen and was given a set menu and asked to prepare a meal. The results of this study determined that people who use a wheelchair while cooking are very efficient and do not require much counter space in order to prepare a meal. Appliances with easy to read and use controls are preferred and should be located within good visual range of a person in a wheelchair to be effective. In addition, it was determined that a pull-out cutting board and some type of roll-out tray feature in a base cabinet is useful to a person in a wheelchair. The results concurred with existing recommendations concerning clear floor and open knee spaces at the sink and cooktop areas, and also discovered that clear floor and open knee space is useful under a countertop microwave because it allows the wheelchair user to get their body closer to the task. Results from this study cannot be generalized to a national population of wheelchair users because of the limitations of the sample. Results, however, are significant in terms of providing consumers, cabinet and appliance manufacturers, policy makers, and designers with valuable insight and information concerning the inclusion of universal design features in kitchens and environments that accommodate the needs of all people, including the person in a wheelchair. In addition, the results of this study imply that not all universal design features recommended in kitchen design are beneficial to people in wheelchairs. Further investigation of some of the universal design features tested is needed. / Ph. D.

<p>One of the key ideas in the research on mathematics education is that the mathematical knowledge that learners acquire is strongly tied to the particular situation in which it is learnt. This study investigated the contexts that learners in grades eight, nine and ten prefer to deal with in the learning of mathematics based on their personal, social, societal, cultural and contextual concerns or affinities. The study is situated in the large-scale project called the Relevance of School Mathematics Education II (ROSMEII), which is concerned with the application and the use of mathematical knowledge and processes in real life situations. It is based on a survey of learners from ten (10) secondary schools in the Oshana and Khomas regions of Namibia. The ten schools that were sampled represent the spectrum of schools in Namibia in both urban and semi-urban areas. The Rasch model of data analysis is employed to provide some insight into the contextual situations learners would like to deal with in their mathematical learning. The data obtained for this study was analysed using the WINSTEPS Version 3.65.0 suite of computer programs. The current study arises from a concern about the absence of the voices of learners in the contextual situations in mathematics selected by adults such as mathematics teachers, inspectorates and curriculum and materials developers. The assumption is that the inclusion of learners&rsquo / insights into mathematics curricular might enhance mathematical learning. The study reveals that school children have an intrinsic desire to learn about mathematical issues embedded in real-life contexts. Several items which Namibian learners have shown interest in are issues they experience in life out of school which are not directly dealt with in school, such as managing personal and financial affairs, health matters, technology, construction, engineering and government financial matters. However, learners indicated to have a low preference in contexts like lotteries and gambling, national and international politics, cultural products, all kinds of pop music and dancing. This thesis contends that the inclusion of contexts in the mathematics curriculum which are of interest to learners will go a long way in facilitating good performance of learners in mathematics.</p>

The extent of devastation caused by a biological warfare attack is highly correlated to the time from release to detection. As a step towards lowering the detection time the international project TWOBIAS was launched. Here, the main goal is to develop an automated, specific and sensitive combined detection and identification instrument capable of identifying a biological threat within an hour. The identification unit is comprised of a sample preparation module, an amplification module and a detection module and utilizes a proximity ligation assay in combination with circle-to-circle amplification in order to detect a biological threat. This thesis describes the automation of the sample preparation steps of the assay and the integration with the downstream units. The functionality of the sample preparation module was verified by subjecting it to biological samples in a laboratory and at a real-life location. The results showed that the sample preparation module was capable of preparing a sample collected in a complex environment with the same results as a sample prepared in a laboratory.

<p>One of the key ideas in the research on mathematics education is that the mathematical knowledge that learners acquire is strongly tied to the particular situation in which it is learnt. This study investigated the contexts that learners in grades eight, nine and ten prefer to deal with in the learning of mathematics based on their personal, social, societal, cultural and contextual concerns or affinities. The study is situated in the large-scale project called the Relevance of School Mathematics Education II (ROSMEII), which is concerned with the application and the use of mathematical knowledge and processes in real life situations. It is based on a survey of learners from ten (10) secondary schools in the Oshana and Khomas regions of Namibia. The ten schools that were sampled represent the spectrum of schools in Namibia in both urban and semi-urban areas. The Rasch model of data analysis is employed to provide some insight into the contextual situations learners would like to deal with in their mathematical learning. The data obtained for this study was analysed using the WINSTEPS Version 3.65.0 suite of computer programs. The current study arises from a concern about the absence of the voices of learners in the contextual situations in mathematics selected by adults such as mathematics teachers, inspectorates and curriculum and materials developers. The assumption is that the inclusion of learners&rsquo / insights into mathematics curricular might enhance mathematical learning. The study reveals that school children have an intrinsic desire to learn about mathematical issues embedded in real-life contexts. Several items which Namibian learners have shown interest in are issues they experience in life out of school which are not directly dealt with in school, such as managing personal and financial affairs, health matters, technology, construction, engineering and government financial matters. However, learners indicated to have a low preference in contexts like lotteries and gambling, national and international politics, cultural products, all kinds of pop music and dancing. This thesis contends that the inclusion of contexts in the mathematics curriculum which are of interest to learners will go a long way in facilitating good performance of learners in mathematics.</p>

Introduction. Road traffic injuries are the eighth leading cause of death globally and the leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29. Of individuals killed or injured in road traffic injuries, a large group comprises occupants sustaining a thorax injury in frontal crashes. The elderly are particularly at risk, as they are more fragile. The evaluation of the frontal crash performance of new vehicles is normally based on barrier crash tests. Such tests are only representative of a small portion of real-life crashes, but it is not feasible to test vehicles in all real-life conditions. However, the rapid development of computers opens up possibilities for simulating whole populations of real-life crashes using so-called stochastic simulations. This opportunity leads to the aim of this thesis, which is to develop and validate a simplified, parameterized, stochastic vehicle simulation model for the evaluation of passive restraint systems in real-life frontal crashes with regard to rib fracture injuries. Methods. The work was divided into five phases. In phase one, the geometry and properties of a finite element (FE) generic vehicle buck model were developed based on data from 14 vehicles. In the second phase, a human FE model was validated for oblique frontal crashes. This human FE model was then used to represent the vehicle occupant. In the third phase, vehicle buck boundary conditions were derived based on real-life crash data from the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) and crash test data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In phase four, a validation reference was developed by creating risk curves for rib fracture in NASS real-life crashes. Next, these risk curves were compared to the risk of rib fractures computed using the generic vehicle buck model. In the final phase, injury mechanisms in nearside oblique frontal crashes were evaluated. Results. In addition to an averaged geometry, parametric distributions for 27 vehicle and boundary condition parameters were developed as guiding properties for the stochastic model. Particular aspects of the boundary conditions such as pulse shape, pulse angle and pulse severity were analyzed in detail. The human FE model validation showed that the kinematics and rib fracture pattern in frontal oblique crashes were acceptable for this study. The validation of the complete FE generic vehicle buck model showed that the model overestimates the risk of rib fractures. However, if the reported under-prediction of rib fractures (50-70%) in the NASS data is accounted for using statistical simulations, the generic vehicle buck model accurately predicts injury risk for senior (70-year-old) occupants. The chest injury mechanisms in nearside oblique frontal crashes were found to be a combination of (I) belt and airbag loading and (II) the chest impacting the side structure. The debut of the second mechanism was found for pulse angles of about 30 degrees. Conclusion. A parameterized FE generic passenger vehicle buck model has been created and validated on a population of real life crashes in terms of rib fracture risk. With the current validation status, this model provides the possibility of developing and evaluating new passive safety systems for fragile senior occupants. Further, an injury mechanism responsible for the increased number of outboard rib fractures seen in small overlap and near-side oblique frontal impacts has been proposed and analyzed. / Vinnova Project: Real Life Safety Innovations