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No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This degree project has enquired about the experiences of deaf and hearing-impaired people in Sweden, in the context of cultural awareness within public sector organizations. The aim of the study was to find out if professionals within the public sector are culturally sensitive towards d/Deaf people and if the cultural, as well as the minority rights are considered by professionals who have d/Deaf clients.Initially, the data was planned to be collected through semi-structured qualitative interviews, however this method had to be changed as there were various difficulties in recruiting sign language interpreters. Therefore, the method of data collection for this study had to be adapted to the circumstances and an online survey with 25 open questions was created instead. This shift allowed participants to express their experiences and perceptions in writing.The results of the study suggest that the degree of cultural sensitivity among professionals within public sector organizations is varied, according to the experiences shared by the study participants. These findings offer small, but meaningful insights into the realities experienced by d/Deaf people in Sweden and into the practices of public sector professionals which may require adjustments based on the negative experiences expressed by most of the participants. This study and its findings present areas which may benefit from further studies in regard to maintaining a culturally responsive environment for all people within the organizations of the Swedish public sector.

Rapid establishment of interpreting skill and knowledge standards for public school sign language interpreters has created a virtual mandate for their immediate, time-compressed, professionalization. A series of federal laws requiring accessibility to communication for deaf people have escalated demand for interpreters far beyond the supply. Thousands of people with varying levels of knowledge, skill, and experience, have been drawn into service in schools without professional preparation. Responding to specialized research, evaluation, technology, and education related to educational interpreting, states have quickly been establishing standards for interpreting skill and knowledge including phased in degree requirements. Educational interpreters have had to find ways of gaining necessary skill and knowledge rapidly, even though they typically work full-time, in isolation, and have little ready access to resources. Few occupations have experienced a juggernaut-like transition of this nature, leaving insufficient information to understand and address the phenomenon. This study was designed to investigate what we can learn from adults absorbing intense pressure of elevating their education and skills unfolding on a daily basis, most of whom are already experiencing "high-demand low-control" work environments. The findings give voice to members of a field of practice at a historic point in the professionalization of their field: sixty five experienced educational interpreters with diverse foundational preparation who completed a specialized, two-year, inservice program delivered at a distance. Online survey research, using a variety of response formats complemented by open-ended questions, generated data which were analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistics as well as coding schemes for themes and patterns that emerged from the qualitative data. The study illuminated a variety of challenges, successes, and, for some, the transformative nature of the experience, which warrants further study. Beyond acquiring knowledge and skills participants learned how to learn and achieved self-realization of their resilience points. They especially experienced themselves transforming into professionals with abilities to actively contribute to the school environment, reporting themselves to be informed, competent, and confident in all typically expected roles. Challenges typical of the adult distance learner abounded. It is recommended that adult learning principles be incorporated into any such program design, and that the wider interpreting community of practice be expanded as a learning resource. Equally important to recognize are the many people who have the same enthusiasms for the work, and the same professionalizing experiences as their more skilled peers, but who may never become sufficiently skilled to pass interpreting skill exams or their state standards. A follow up study is recommended to learn what emerges next. Is there a place for them in education that fully acknowledges and uses their experience and competencies? / Ph. D.

Driving through an un-signalized intersection creates multiple opportunities for missed or misunderstood information. Stop signs, in particular, can be stolen, covered by vegetation, or rotated out of place, leading to an absence of information, contributing to inappropriate decision-making and crashes. Stop controlled intersections have also been shown to be a source of unnecessary delay and emissions due to their frequent, often inappropriate use. Using connected vehicle technology, it is possible to place an electronic stop sign within the vehicle that tells the driver to stop when a conflict in the intersection is imminent, thus reducing the probability of missed information by the driver, and decreasing the amount of unnecessary delay, fuel consumption, and emissions. Before implementing any new technology, it is important to assess it from both a transportation engineering and human factors standpoint to assess the value of the system. The objective of this study was to assess several key benefits of an adaptive in-vehicle stop display as well as to determine if there are any negative safety implications with the use of this system. This assessment was accomplished through a test track experiment where participants experienced conditions where a standard R1-1 stop sign was displayed on the in-vehicle display, as well as an experimental sign, which informed them to proceed through the intersection with caution. Data collected from in-vehicle sensors was analyzed, and results indicate that the implementation of this technology reduces delay, decreases fuel consumption, and does not instigate any safety decrements. / Master of Science

I denna studie tittar jag på vilka filmiska särdrag som förekommer i konstnärlig teckenspråkstext, Visual Vernacular, ur en kognitiv beskrivningsmodell för teckenspråk (Liddell 2003) som utgångspunkt för att öka förståelsen om Visual Vernaculars unika uppbyggnad. Tre Visual Vernacular-texter, från Amerika, Italien och Polen tas med till denna studies analysarbete vilket skett via annotering och ett urval av Visual Vernacular-segment för att finna kopplingar till filmiska uttrycksmedel. Sedan delades arbetet upp i händelsebaserade Visual Vernacular-segment som grundar sig på att tecknarens händer antingen representeras av substitutor och/eller avbildas av manipulator, och beskrivningsbaserade Visual Vernacular-segment som representeras av deskriptor. Därefter presenteras resultatet av vilka real space blend de olika Visual Vernacular-segmenten innehåller samt hur kopplingarna med de filmiska uttrycksmedlen ser ut. Det framgår att Visual Vernacular utmärker sig genom användningen av förstapersonsperspektiv (Point of View) det vill säga, att tecknaren skapar en surrogatblend med eller utan avbildande tecken. Tecknaren kan skapa avbildande blend tillsammans med surrogatblend och använda uppdelade zoner samt onomatopoetiska eller adverbiella munrörelser för att uppge flera real space blend simultant i estetiskt syfte. De filmiska uttrycksmedel som förekommer i Visual Vernacular består av bildutsnitt såsom helbild, halvbild och närbild, fast de kan spelas upp som flera bildlager samtidigt för att skapa en händelse. Det innebär att tecknaren i en Visual Vernacular-text kan personifiera vilken karaktär som helst och framföra innehållet i olika skala med eller utan zoom men i samma händelse. Genom att försöka finna kopplingar till filmiska uttrycksmedel är resultatet från denna studie att det förekommer uttryckssätt som hör ihop med teckenspråk, exempelvis visuell komprimering som inte går att jämföra med film. Resultatet visar även att antalet real space blend i en Visual Vernacular-text kan uppgå till 40 blend per minut vilket är dubbelt så många jämfört med en narrativ teckenspråkstext. Avslutningsvis visar det att Visual Vernacular är en unik berättelsekonst på teckenspråk som har möjlighet att förstås av teckenspråkiga från hela världen. / In this study, I look at the cinematic features that appear in artistic sign language texts, Visual Vernacular from a cognitive description model for sign language (Liddell 2003) as a starting point to increase understanding of the unique structure of Visual Vernacular. Three Visual Vernacular texts, from America, Italy and Poland, are included in the analysis of this study, which is done through annotation and a selection of Visual Vernacular-segments to find a connection to cinematic features. The work is then divided into action-based Visual Vernacular which is based on the signer’s hand either being represented by substitutor and/or depicted by a manipulator, and description-based Visual Verrnacular represented by a descriptor. After that, the results are presented of which real space blend these Visual Vernacular segments contain and what connections with cinematic features look like. It appears that Visual Vernacular is distinguished by the use of a first-person perspective (Point of View), that is, that the signer creates a surrogat blend with or without depicting signs. The signer can create a depicting blend together with a surrogat blend and use partitioning zones as well as onomatopoeic or adverbial mouth movements to indicate several real space blends simultaneously for aesthetic purposes. The cinematic features that occur in Visual Vernacular consist of cinematography such as long shot, medium shot and close-up but they are played as several cinematography layers simultaneously to create an event. This means that the signer in a Visual Vernacular-text can personify himself in any character and present the content on different scales with or without zoom but in the same event. By trying to find connections to cinematic features, the results from this study lead to the assumption that there are features that are related to sign language, for example, visual compression that cannot be compared with film. The results show that the number of real space blends in a Visual Vernacular text can amount to 40 blends per minute, which is twice as much in relation to a narrative sign language text. In conclusion, it shows that Visual Vernacular is a unique storytelling art in sign language that has the opportunity to be understood by sign language users from all over the world.

This exploratory study aims to elucidate the mental processes of wayfinding in an outdoor area and the effects of map contour representations, map color, individual differences of users (gender, brain dominance, experience level, and cultural differences), and environmental cues using a field study in an established trail network in Jefferson National Forest. Six maps with three different contour representations (contour lines, shaded relief, and schematic) and two color codes (color and black-and-white) were tested for wayfinding performance. Thirty-six participants of different nationalities (Locals versus Internationals), experience in map usage (experienced versus novice), handedness, and gender took part in the study. Three out of ten junctions on the test route had directional signs while the rest had no sign. The participants performed wayfinding tasks in a national forest trail park, using the think aloud and retrospective protocols to obtain the information processes used by the participants during wayfinding. Subjective feedback was also obtained to find out users' map preferences and opinions on their experience during the experiment. Multiple regression analyses were used to predict the relationship of the predictor variables to wayfinding performance. It was found that cultural differences and signage presence were significant predictors of decision-making accuracy at trail junctions. The rest of the predictors were not significant in predicting total time of completion, time for decision-making at junction, accuracy of decision-making, and time deviated from route due to choosing a wrong path at junction. Cultural differences were also significant in the prediction of the time deviated from route. It was also found that the participants were using maps to derived route information for wayfinding. They utilized structural matching of the map with the terrain, by orientation principle, to continuously check the current position on the map. There was some evidence of participants gaining survey knowledge from the map during wayfinding but this could not be confirmed by the study. A set of design guidelines were given for map and trail design to improve the wayfinding performance of recreational users. / Master of Science