The EQ-VAS, a measure of self-reported health status, has been operationalized in ways that depart from the original format. The primary purpose of the study was to examine the equivalence of the original paper-based vertical format with a touch screenbased horizontal format. Non-probability sampling was used to recruit 314 subjects intended to reflect the primary socio-demographic characteristics of the general adult population. A two-part questionnaire completed roughly 10 minutes apart was administered in a randomized crossover design. One part was the original paper-based 20cm vertical EQ-VAS; the other part was touch screen computer-based (designed by Assist Technologies) and included, among other items/scales, a horizontal EQ-VAS, the SF-36, and socio-demographic items. A mean difference of ± eight points between the two versions was specified as the minimally important difference (MID). Almost a third (30.1%) of the respondents reported identical scores on both formats and 80.1% of the respondents had difference scores within ± 8 points. The 95% confidence intervals for both samples indicated that the difference in scores was relatively small and below our equivalence threshold. In addition, data collected via touch screen may be more reliable since 22% of subjects did not complete the EQ-VAS paper format as instructed. These results provided evidence for the measurement equivalence of the touch screen EQ-VAS with the original paper format. A secondary purpose was to examine the psychometric properties of an electronic version of the SF-36. Floor and ceiling effects were comparable to that observed in other studies using the paper SF-36 in the general population. All reliability coefficients exceeded 0.70; the range was from 0.75 to 0.93. There was support for the construct validity of the touch screen SF-36, as the direction and strength of the correlations between the SF-36 scales and the EQ-5D domains were as hypothesized. Overall, there was a high level of correspondence between the touch screen SF-36 scores and previously reported paper based SF-36 scores in the general population. The comparable psychometric properties and low level of missing data make touch screen questionnaires a very viable alternative to their paper-based formats.

Syftet: Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilken betydelse beröring har i vård och omsorgav personer med demenssjukdom. Ett annat syfte var att granska kvalitén av urval och bortfalli de inkluderade artiklarna. Metod: Metoden var en beskrivande litteraturstudie där resultatet baserades på 13vetenskapliga artiklar med kvalitativ och kvantitativ ansats. Litteratursökning genomfördes idatabaserna Pubmed, Medline, Cinahl och Psycinfo. Huvudresultat: Hos personer med demenssjukdom bidrar fysisk beröring till lugn och ro,under och efter behandling somnar många vilket är ett tecken på avslappning och bidrar i sintur till en bättre kvalitet på sömnen i helhet. Fysisk beröring bidrar även till förbättring avvardaglig smärta. Hos personer med beteenderelaterade symtom bör fysisk beröring gesförsiktigt. Under kommunikation och observation och allas individuella behov skall tas varapå. En fysisk handling ger välbefinnande i form av bekräftelse och skapar känslor av blandannat omtänksamhet och välbehag. Oxytocin som är viktiga kombinationer för välbefinnandefrigörs av mänsklig beröring. Slutsats: Majoriteten av de inkluderade artiklarna baseras på personer med demenssjukdomoch resultatet påvisar en positiv reaktion av beröring på flera faktorer. / Aim: To investigate the role of physical touch in the care of people with dementia. The aim was also to examine the quality of the selection method and non-response sample of the included articles. Method: A descriptive literature study based on 13 scientific articles with qualitative and quantitative approach. The literature research was made in the databases PubMed, Medline, Cinahl and Psycinfo. Main Results: In people with dementia, physical touch contributes to peace and quiet. During and after treatment many falls asleep, which is a sign of relaxation and that contributes to a better quality of full sleep. Physical contact also contributes to the improvement of everyday pain.People with behavioral symptoms should be given physical touch gently, during communication and observation and everyone's individual needs must be taken care of. A physical action gives comfort in the form of confirmation. It creates feelings of thoughtfulness and pleasure for example.Oxytocin, that is important for the wellbeing, gets released by human touch. Conclusion: The majorities of the included articles are based on people with dementia and the results appear to show a positive reaction of touch on several factors.

Mobile touch-screen devices have the capability to accept flexible touch input, and can provide a larger screen than mobile devices with physical buttons. However, many of the user interfaces found in mobile touch-screen devices require visual feedback. This raises a number of user interface challenges. For instance, visually-demanding user interfaces make it difficult for the user to interact with mobile touch-screen devices without looking at the screen---a task the user sometimes wishes to do particularly in a mobile setting. In addition, user interfaces on mobile touch-screen devices are not generally accessible to visually impaired users. Basic tactile feedback (e.g., feedback produced by a single vibration source) can be used to enhance the user experience on mobile touch-screen devices. Unfortunately, this basic tactile feedback often lacks the expressiveness for generating vibration patterns that can be used to convey specific information about the application to the user. However, the availability of richer information accessible through the tactile channel would minimize the visual demand of an application. For example, if the user can perceive which button she is touching on the screen through tactile feedback, she would not need to view the screen, and can instead focus her visual attention towards the primary task (e.g., walking). In this dissertation, I address high visual demand issues found in existing user interfaces on mobile touch-screen devices by using spatial tactile feedback. Spatial tactile feedback means tactile feedback patterns generated in different points of the user's body (the user's fingers and palm in this work). I developed tactile feedback hardware employing multiple vibration motors on the backside of a mobile touch-screen device. These multiple vibration motors can produce various spatial vibration patterns on the user's fingers and palm. I then validated the effects of spatial tactile feedback through three different applications: eyes-free interaction, a map application for visually impaired users, and collaboration support. Findings gained through the series of application-oriented investigations indicate that spatial tactile feedback is a beneficial output modality in mobile touch-screen devices, and can mitigate some visual demand issues.

Mobile touch-screen devices have the capability to accept flexible touch input, and can provide a larger screen than mobile devices with physical buttons. However, many of the user interfaces found in mobile touch-screen devices require visual feedback. This raises a number of user interface challenges. For instance, visually-demanding user interfaces make it difficult for the user to interact with mobile touch-screen devices without looking at the screen---a task the user sometimes wishes to do particularly in a mobile setting. In addition, user interfaces on mobile touch-screen devices are not generally accessible to visually impaired users. Basic tactile feedback (e.g., feedback produced by a single vibration source) can be used to enhance the user experience on mobile touch-screen devices. Unfortunately, this basic tactile feedback often lacks the expressiveness for generating vibration patterns that can be used to convey specific information about the application to the user. However, the availability of richer information accessible through the tactile channel would minimize the visual demand of an application. For example, if the user can perceive which button she is touching on the screen through tactile feedback, she would not need to view the screen, and can instead focus her visual attention towards the primary task (e.g., walking). In this dissertation, I address high visual demand issues found in existing user interfaces on mobile touch-screen devices by using spatial tactile feedback. Spatial tactile feedback means tactile feedback patterns generated in different points of the user's body (the user's fingers and palm in this work). I developed tactile feedback hardware employing multiple vibration motors on the backside of a mobile touch-screen device. These multiple vibration motors can produce various spatial vibration patterns on the user's fingers and palm. I then validated the effects of spatial tactile feedback through three different applications: eyes-free interaction, a map application for visually impaired users, and collaboration support. Findings gained through the series of application-oriented investigations indicate that spatial tactile feedback is a beneficial output modality in mobile touch-screen devices, and can mitigate some visual demand issues.

We discuss the design of an e-textile shirt with an interactive Lumalive display featuring a touch-controlled image browser. To determine where to place touch sensors, we investigated which areas of the Lumalive shirt users would be comfortable touching or being touched. We did so by measuring how often participants would opt out of touches. Results show significant differences in opt-outs between touch zones on the front of the shirt. For both touchers and touchees, opt-outs occurred mostly in the upper chest touch zone. We also found significant differences in comfort ratings between touch zones on the front as well as on the back of the shirt. On the front, the upper chest and lower abdominal zones were the least comfortable touch zones. We found no gender effects on overall comfort ratings, suggesting the upper chest area was equally uncomfortable to males as it was to females. Interestingly, touching some areas rated as most uncomfortable produced a significantly greater calming effect on heart rate. Findings suggest participants were less comfortable with touches on the upper chest, the lower abdomen, and the lower back. We conclude that the most appropriate areas for touch sensors on a shirt are on the arms and shoulders, as well as on the upper back. Based on these findings, we created an interactive shirt for a proximity-based game of tag using Lumalive e-textile displays. This custom shirt features touch sensors located on the shoulder and lower arm regions of the shirt. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2011-08-29 16:27:36.37

Ideas are formed in a process of idea generation that includes creation, development, and communication of new ideas. Drawing has been used as a support for ideation for centuries. Today, computerized tools are commonly used for drawing. Such tools form a user interface between the human and the resulting drawing presented on the screen. The interface may come between the user and the drawing in a disruptive way also affecting the ideation process. Using controlled laboratory studies, this thesis investigates the consequences of drawing with different user interfaces in two types of tasks: creative drawing tasks (based on a standardized test of creativity) and non-creative drawing tasks (i.e. shape-tracing tasks where no new idea is created). The goal was to identify and evaluate the consequences of the several issues originating from the use of different input devices, the functionality of the graphical user interfaces, the formulation of the drawing task, and the user’s previous experience. The results showed that drawing tasks are oriented toward quality of outcomes and that higher input accuracy led to higher quality of outcomes of both creative and non-creative drawing tasks. This came with a trade-off between the quantity and quality. In ideation, less accurate input devices facilitated significantly more ideas but these were of lower quality. In non-creative tracing, higher speeds caused lower quality of outcomes. The users subjectively preferred higher accuracy, also when an inaccurate user interface offered an eraser function. However, using the eraser allowed avoiding reinterpretations of ideas and led to ideation strategies characterized by laborious drawing that negatively affected the quality and quantity of the ideas produced. For non-creative drawing, the more difficult the shapes were, the lower the tracing accuracy. In the thesis a new framework for interaction analysis is introduced that improves the theoretical and practical understanding of computerized drawing tasks and the phenomena resulting from different aspects of the user interface design of computerized drawing tools. This thesis demonstrates that the inaccuracy of computerized tools cannot only make our drawings less aesthetically pleasing but also negatively affect ideas that are created in the process.

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) increasingly utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and technologies to support decision-making with stakeholders and policymakers. The study of the group use of GIS to support decision-making processes is called Collaborative GIS. Measuring the impact and influence the technology has on decision-making processes is an important aim of Collaborative GIS research. To date, Collaborative GIS research has relied on qualitative questionnaires to measure the impact of GIS on group decision-making and the GIS software and technology being used, lacking support of quantitative measures. A novel technology increasingly being used for group planning processes with maps is multi-user touch tables; this technology encourages equality of technology interactions and increases participant engagement by allowing all group members the opportunity to interact with the technology, transcending limitations of single-user mouse environments. This research identifies and evaluates measures of collaboration for Collaborative GIS on multi-user touch tables for MSP activities. Group measures of participation are explored using coding systems to determine fluctuations in the groups’ participation using technological interactions and verbal participation by Google Earth task performed and by decision phase. Results indicate variation in participation across role play simulations due largely to group dynamics and participant personality, evidenced by researcher observation. Coding systems require improvements in capturing participation levels. Individual measures of participation are also collected to determine the equality of technological interactions and verbal participation by seat location around a multi-user touch table. Results indicate technological interactions and verbal participation are not equally distributed around a multi-user touch table using Google Earth. Seat locations closest to the Google Earth menus tend to have higher participation rates, with seat locations farthest from the menus marginalized. Furthermore, technological interactions by interface-menus, dialogue boxes, and earth display –have variation in equality of interactions by seat location. Menus and dialogue boxes have higher rates of inequality of participation than the earth display has. To date, study and collection of group and individual participation has been limited in Collaborative GIS research. With reliance on qualitative questionnaires to collect data, this study represents quantitative measures to describe Collaborative GIS group decision-making processes on touch tables. Whereas, previous literature represents coarse scale measures of the group’s process and outcome constructs, this study focuses on fine scale measures of collaboration. / Graduate / 0366 / 0632 / 0984

Response characteristics and tactile coding capacities of single neurons of the dorsal column nuclei (DCN), and the dorsal horn, in particular, neurons of the spinocervical tract (SCT), were investigated in anaesthetized cats. Purely dynamically-sensitive tactile neurons of the DCN could be divided into two classes, one associated with hair follicle afferent (HFA) input, the other with Pacinian corpuscle (PC) input. The HFA-related class was most sensitive to low-frequency (&lt50 Hz) vibration, had phaselocked responses to vibration frequencies up to ~75 Hz and had a graded response output as a function of vibrotactile intensity changes. PC-related neurons had broader vibrotactile sensitivity, extending to ~300 Hz with tightest phaselocking between 50 and 200 Hz. The SCT neurons in the lumbar dorsal horn had tactile receptive fields on the hairy skin of the hindlimb and a very limited capacity to signal, in a graded way, the intensity parameter of the vibrotactile stimulus. Furthermore, because of their inability to respond on a cycle-by-cycle pattern at vibration frequencies above 5-10 Hz, these neurons were unable to provide any useful signal of vibration frequency beyond ~5-10 Hz, in contrast to DCN neurons. In the parallel human psychophysical study, the capacity for vibrotactile frequency detection and discrimination was examined in five subjects in glabrous and hairy skin. The vibrotactile detection threshold values obtained at four standard frequencies of 20, 50, 100 and 200 Hz were markedly higher on the hairy skin than on the glabrous skin. The discrimination task was examined by means of a two-alternative, forced-choice psychophysical procedure. Measures of the discriminable frequency increment (?????) and the Weber Fraction (????? / ??), revealed similar capacities for frequency discrimination at the two different skin sites at the standard frequencies of 20, 100 and 200 Hz, but an equivocal difference at 50 Hz. Cutaneous local anaesthesia in the dorsal forearm produced a marked impairment in vibrotactile detection and discrimination at the low frequencies of 20 and 50 Hz but little effect at higher frequencies, confirming that vibrotactile detection and discrimination in hairy skin depend upon superficial receptors at low vibrotactile frequencies, but depend on deep, probably Pacinian corpuscle receptors for high frequencies.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available online through Digital Dissertations.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2007. / "Graduate Program in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering." Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-206).