Le rôle des cellules de Merkel dans la sensibilité cutanée reste imprécis. Elles assurent la décharge continue du récepteur de Merkel lors d'une pression sur la peau, mais on ne connait ni les autres stimuli capables de les activer, ni les médiateurs régulant leur activité. Cette ignorance est en partie liée à la difficulté d'isoler ces cellules qui ne représentent que 3 à 5% des cellules de la peau.Dans ce travail nous avons développé une technique de culture des cellules de Merkel à partir de peau humaine, en utilisant un tri cellulaire basé sur l'expression du récepteur CD56. Nous avons alors montré que les cellules de Merkel sont thermosensibles. Leur sensibilité aux températures fraiches est associée au fonctionnement du canal TRPM8. Cette sensibilité thermique ne module pas le fonctionnement du récepteur à une stimulation tactile. En revanche, les contacts entre les fibres cutanées C et Aδ, qui sont connues pour véhiculer les sensations thermiques, et les cellules de Merkel suggèrent que ces récepteurs pourraient intervenir aussi dans la thermosensation. Nous proposons donc pour la première fois que les récepteurs de Merkel soient aussi des récepteurs thermosensibles assurant une détection concordante de la pression et de la température cutanée. / The role of Merkel cells in cutaneous sensitivity remains imprecise. They provide continuous discharge of the receptor to a pressure. Nevertheless, other stimuli able to activate this complex, mediators regulating their activity are unknown. This ignorance is partly related to the difficulty to isolate these cells that represent only 3 to 5 % of skin cells.In this work, we have developed a Merkel cells cultured technique from human skin, using cell sorting based on the expression of the CD56 receptor. In this work, we show that Merkel cells are temperature sensitive. Their cool sensitivity is associated to TRPM8 channel. This thermal sensitivity does not modulate the discharge of the receptors during tactile stimulation. However, contacts between cutaneous Aδ and C fibres, which are known to carry the thermal sensations, and Merkel cells suggest that these receptors may also be involved in thermosensation. We propose for the first time that Merkel receptors are also temperature sensitive receptors providing a concurring detection of cutaneous pressure and temperature.

Dans un contexte d’apprentissage de la masso-kinésithérapie en Institut de Formation Initiale, cette étude retrace et analyse les risques pris et encourus par les étudiants de première et deuxième année. Nombre d’entre eux n’ont soit pas conscience des dangers d’un toucher mal exécuté, soit pas envie de se limiter à des gestes plus sécuritaires. Face à cette situation inacceptable, faire appel à leurs capacités sensitives et réflexives n’est pas suffisant. L’hypothèse émise dans cette thèse pour rendre leurs actes moins risqués est qu’ils prennent le temps de suspendre leur toucher à leurs sensations, leur raison, mais également et surtout à leurs émotions. Ainsi, peurs, orgueil et joie, habilement intégrés à leurs désirs, pourraient peut être les mener à un apprentissage du toucher beaucoup plus éthique / First and second year students learning physiotherapy at trainingphysiotherapy-schools take and undergo quite a lot of risks. Some of them are either absolutely not aware of the dangers of the “touch” they perform or don’t feel like being careful. Such a situation is unacceptable, but calling on their sensitive and sensible abilities doesn’t help enough. This is why we suggest “a touch in suspense”, in order to be less dangerous. Sensations, understanding and emotions, especially fear, pride and joy could be linked skillfully to their desires and wishes and thus perhaps lead them to a much more ethical touch

The goal of this thesis is to analyze whole new market of touch devices. It describes main competitors of this market and tries to uncover reasons of their success. Main focus of this paper is to descibe new concepts of those touch devices, which through its disruptive inovations created whole new trend in the field of information technology. Another goal of this thesis is to describe ways of doing business with those devices. To do this, thesis focuses on applications for touch devices, mainly on Apple devices and operationg systém iOS. After that thesis defines few forms in which this business can be done (which are basically forms of application development). Because of that thesis is further focused mainly on applications themselves. App Store, as a revolutionary distribution method for applications, is described in detail. In the end of this paper there is a complete example of creating application.

This work deals with communicating issues in public space from citizens to municipalities. The main objective is the creation of a system for reporting those issues using smartphone. The first chapter contains the analysis of existing foreign and domestic projects focused on issues mapping. The second chapter focuses on analysis and design of a new system. The third chapter discuses variants of technologies available for each part of the system. The fourth chapter describes choice of technologies and development of individual parts of the system.

The concept of post-WIMP-based (post Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) digital services can best be described as interfaces which are moving away from the traditional workspace environment with computers (desktop or laptop) controlled by a mouse and a keyboard. Post-WIMP interfaces focus on intuitive and tactile usage, such as touch or gestures in the air (among others). Libraries have recently begun exploring technology based on post-WIMP maneuver mechanisms, but little research has investigated the outcome. This thesis focuses on the implementation and results of post-WIMP-based technologies within the academic library space. The thesis aims to understand the libraries’ purposes and hopes for the implementation, but also to pin down elements concerning context, space and social norms that seem to have an impact on the actual usage. The subject is approached by exploring ‘early adopters’ and their experiences with these kinds of technologies. This is done through an interview study with key figures within academic library organisations that have implemented the technologies, both employees and users such as teachers and doctoral students. The interview material is explored through a theoretical framework focusing on socio-technical premises and social factors within the human computer interaction research field. The study shows that the usage is affected by factors such as resources within the organization, the infrastructure of space and user expectations on an academic environment. Sponta-neous use of public services tends to be short and “less academic” while usage within closed spaces tends to be longer and linked to the academic field.

Contextualização: Os testes de sensibilidade tátil da mão existentes não permitem considerar diferentes receptores, detectar variações na faixa de normalidade ou caracterizar o processo de desenvolvimento e envelhecimento. Objetivo: Elaborar um conjunto de atividades-testes para avaliar sensibilidade tátil da mão que forneça escore e tempo de execução das tarefas, com rotina de aplicação e coleta de dados detalhada em manual. Método: Para elaboração do teste foi realizada revisão da literatura e reuniões de grupo para criação de atividades-testes, seleção de materiais e elaboração do manual. Teste e manual foram submetidos à avaliação de 30 pareceristas, em 3 fases, cada uma com 10 examinadores. Resultado: O Teste de sensibilidade tátil da mão, denominado THPH (do inglês, test of haptic perception of hand) desenvolvido tem por objetivo graduar a sensibilidade tátil manual, considerando diferentes domínios sensoriais: depressão, elevação, textura, densidade, barognosia e reconhecimento de formas planas, tridimensionais de pequena e grande elevação. Cada atividade-teste possui um material específico. O escore pode variar de 0 a 57, sendo 0 a pior nota. Na primeira etapa foram sugeridas 12 modificações e aceitas 9 delas. As estruturas de teste de depressão, elevação, barognosia e reconhecimento de formas foram consideradas adequadas. Na segunda etapa foram sugeridas 3 modificações e aceita uma. As estruturas do teste de depressão foram modificadas novamente. Na terceira etapa foram dadas sugestões de continuidade do estudo. Conclusão: O processo metodológico escolhido permitiu a elaboração de um manual descritivo de atividades-testes específicas para avaliar seis diferentes domínios da sensibilidade tátil a partir da organização de grupo de trabalho e direcionamento fornecido por 30 pareceristas / Background: The tests of tactile sensitivity of hand do not allow considering different receptors, to detect variations in the range of normality or characterize the process of development and aging. Objective: To develop a set of activities-tests to assess tactile sensitivity of the hand to provide score and runtime, routine of application and collection of data. Method: It was performed a literature review, group meetings for test creation and materials testing and preparation of the manual. Test and its manual were submitted to 30 reviewers in 3 stages, each one with 10 examiners. Result: The Test of Haptic Perception of Hand (THPH) developed aims to graduate tactile sensitivity of hand according to the different sensory domains: depression, elevation, texture, density, weight perception and shape recognition, each one with the respective material. The score may range from 0 to 57, with 0 being the worst rating. In the first stage with participation of 10 examiners it was suggested 12 changes, of which 9 were accepted. The structures of the test domain depression, elevation, and shape recognition barognosis were considered adequate. In the second stage the structures of the depression were changed again. In the third step suggestions were given to continuity of the study. Conclusion: The chosen methodological process allowed the preparation of a manual illustrative and specific material to evaluate six different domains of tactile manual with the group organization and direction provided by 30 examiners in three phases

The purpose of this study is to produce knowledge about when and in what way preschool teachers give children physical contact in the preschools’ daily routine and how the children react to physical contact. Physical touch in preschool is regarded as an important part of the children's human contact, sense of security and learning.  We chose to do a qualitative study which was based on observations and interviews as a method. The empirical study was guided by three research questions: How do preschool staff describe and use physical touch in teaching the children? In which ways do preschool staff affect children physically and do they pay attention to childrens integrity? In which situations do the preschool staff give children physical touch during a work day?  The pedagogues who were interviewed described in their answers about what physical touch means for them and how they use physical touch in the preschool activities. By looking at the observation materials we found a difference between how they gave the boys respectively the girls physical contact in some of the daily routines. The results that came out of the analysis showed that all pedagogues believe that physical contact is extremely important in preschool.

abstract: Many children who testify to alleged sexual abuse struggle to answer questions about touching, likely because attorneys and children may operate under different definitions of “touch.” However, little is known about how children define touch, and the most productive question type for eliciting reports of touching has yet to be determined. In the present investigation, Study 1 examined (N = 64, 5 - 12 years of age) children’s testimonies to identify the sources of misunderstanding when children report abusive touch in court. In light of the language difficulties observed in Study 1, specifically, that attorneys and children appeared to be operating under different definitions of touch, a laboratory study (Study 2) was conducted to examine (N = 95, 4 - 7 years of age) children’s definition of touch, and how children reported touching in response to open-ended wh- questions, compared to close-ended yes/no questions. Body contact (i.e., manual and non-manual touch, compared to touching with an object) was most closely representative of children’s definition of touch. Additionally, children reported touch more often, and provided more informative reports of touch, in response to wh- questions, compared to yes/no questions. These findings demonstrated that children’s definition of touch exists on a scale, and through asking specific, open-ended wh- questions attorneys can elicit reports of touching from children even when definitional discrepancies are present. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Criminology and Criminal Justice 2020

In this research we introduce a novel reading system that enables Individuals with Blindness<br />or Severe Visual Impairment (IBSVI) to have equivalent spatial reading experience to their<br />sighted counterparts, in terms of being able to engage in different reading strategies e.g.<br />scanning, skimming, and active reading. IBSVI are enabled to read in a self-paced manner<br />with spatial access to the original layout of any electronic text document. This system<br />renders text on iPad-type devices, and reads aloud each word touched by the user\'s finger.<br />The user could move her finger smoothly along the lines to read continuously with the<br />support of tactile landmarks. A tactile overlay on the iPad screen helps IBSVI to navigate<br />a page, furnishing a framework of tactile landmarks to give IBSVI a sense of place on the<br />page. As the user moves her finger along the tangible pattern of the overlay, the text on the<br />screen that is touched is rendered audibly to speech. The system supports IBSVI to develop<br />and maintain a cognitive map of the structure and the layout of the page. IBSVI are enabled<br />to fuse audio, tactile landmarks, and spatial information in order to read.<br />The system\'s initial design is founded on a theoretical hypothesis. A participatory design<br />approach with IBSVI consultants was then applied to refine the initial design. The re"fined<br />design was tested in a usability study, which revealed two major issues with the tested<br />design. These issues are related to the lack of instant feedback from the system (psycho-<br />motorical problem), and the lack of conveying the semantic level of the page structure.<br />We adapted the reader design to solve the usability problems. The improved design was<br />tested in an experience sampling study. The results showed a leap in the system usability.<br />IBSVI participants successfully self-paced read spatial text. Further reading support was<br />then added to the system to improve the user experience while reading and interacting with<br />the system. We tested the latest design of the reader system with respect to its featured<br />function of enabling self-paced reading and re-finding information. A decomposition study<br />was conducted to evaluate the main components of the system; the tactile overlay, and the<br />intelligent active reading support. The results showed that both components are required<br />to achieve the best performance in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and spatial perception.<br />We conducted an evaluation study to compare our reader system to the state-of-the-art<br />iBook with VoiceOver. The results show that our reader system is more effective than iBook<br />with VoiceOver in finding previously read information and in estimating the layout of the<br />page, implying that IBSVI were able to construct a cognitive map for the pages they read,<br />and perform advanced reading strategies. Our goal is to to enable IBSVI to access digital<br />reading materials effectively, so that they may have equal learning opportunities as their<br />sighted counterparts. / Ph. D.

This study was designed to determine the effect of touch on the interpersonal attraction between therapist and patient. Four instruments were used to measure the effect, those measurements included "Client's Personal Reaction Questionnaire," "Attitudes Toward Psychotherapy and Psychotherapists Scale," actual physical distance and actual timed verbal measure. The general nature of the research hypotheses stated that the touch technique would increase the interpersonal attraction of the patients toward the therapist as indicated by the four measures. The results of the study led to the conclusion that touch during a single interview session effects statistically significant change in interpersonal attraction when measured by actual physical distance. However change in interpersonal attraction was not found when measured by the "Client's Personal Reaction Questionnaire," "Attitudes Toward Psychotherapy and Psychotherapists Scale" and an actual timed verbal measure. Implications of the study, based on observations of the experimenter, were that touch is successful in helping hospitalized neuropsychiatric patients increase their interpersonal attraction and that this attraction cannot always be measured by global questionnaires and specific amounts of verbalization. A similar study should be replicated with subjects other than neuropsychiatric patients, such as hospitalized medical patients, college students and children.