Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Spontaneous Context'

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-88).
The thesis presents a novel situationally-aware multimodal spoken language system called Fuse that performs speech understanding for visual object selection. An experimental task was created in which people were asked to refer, using speech alone, to objects arranged on a table top. During training, Fuse acquires a grammar and vocabulary from a "show-and-tell" procedure in which visual scenes are paired with verbal descriptions of individual objects. Fuse determines a set of visually salient words and phrases and associates them to a set of visual features. Given a new scene, Fuse uses the acquired knowledge to generate class-based language models conditioned on the objects present in the scene as well as a spatial language model that predicts the occurrences of spatial terms conditioned on target and landmark objects. The speech recognizer in Fuse uses a weighted mixture of these language models to search for more likely interpretations of user speech in context of the current scene. During decoding, the weights are updated using a visual attention model which redistributes attention over objects based on partially decoded utterances. The dynamic situationally-aware language models enable Fuse to jointly infer spoken language utterances underlying speech signals as well as the identities of target objects they refer to. In an evaluation of the system, visual situationally-aware language modeling shows significant , more than 30 %, decrease in speech recognition and understanding error rates. The underlying ideas of situation-aware speech understanding that have been developed in Fuse may may be applied in numerous areas including assistive and mobile human-machine interfaces.
by Niloy Mukherjee.
S.M.

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Santander Universidades
Com a emergência de redes sociais junto à difusão mundial de smartphones, ciência de contexto tornou-se um conceito essencial na área da computação móvel. Esforços recentes e pesquisas relevantes sobre redes sociais móveis visam conectar pessoas em ambientes inteligentes, considerando não apenas seu comportamento social, mas também seu contexto. Neste âmbito, este trabalho apresenta um novo modelo de rede social móvel, chamado rede social espontânea. A principal contribuição do modelo de rede social espontânea é possibilitar a criação de comunidades sociais baseadas na combinação de múltiplos contextos, incluindo localização, perfil e dados obtidos de outras redes sociais. Na literatura, encontramos alguns trabalhos que carecem na abordagem de formação de comunidades, no aspecto da limitação a localizações específicas ou em não suportar completamente interações sociais virtuais. Nós desenvolvemos um aplicativo móvel chamado Dino, para proporcionar uma visão do que seria uma aplicação baseada no modelo de rede social espontânea. Para avaliar nosso modelo, realizamos dois experimentos. Primeiro, apresentamos cenários hipotéticos baseados em possíveis aplicações para mensurar a percepção dos usuários quanto ao senso de comunidade. Os cenários descritos foram (1) evento musical (2) evento esportivo (3) shopping center (4) conferência ou workshop (5) escola ou universidade. Em sequência, pedimos que os usuários avaliassem as sugestões de grupos formados pela aplicação, considerando sua relevância em meio aos seus interesses. Então, medimos precisão e recuperação dos grupos sugeridos para cada usuário. Obtemos valores médios de 0.72 e 0.83 para precisão e recuperação, respectivamente. Como resultado dos experimentos para avaliar os cenários propostos, obtemos valores médios de concordância de 84% para senso de comunidade, 80% para senso de pertencimento, 90% para utilidade social, 92% para fidelidade de participação, e 81% para efemeridade das comunidades. Com isso, nossa avaliação retrata que comunidades dinâmicas formadas por uma aplicação baseada no modelo de redes sociais espontâneas poderiam aumentar beneficamente a utilidade de um ambiente virtual social.
With the emerging of online social networks along with the worldwide diffusion of smartphones, context awareness has become an essential concept in the field of mobile computing. Recent efforts and relevant research regarding mobile social networks aim at connecting people in smart environments considering not only their social behavior but also their context. In this perspective, this work presents a novel Mobile Social Network (MSN) model called Spontaneous Social Network (SSN). The main scientific contribution of the SSN model is the possibility of creating social communities based on a combination of multiple contexts, including location, profile and data obtained from external online social networks. In the literature, we found several works that lack on the community grouping approach, on the aspect that they are either limited to a specific location, or do not fully support virtual social interactions. We develop a mobile application called Dino, to provide a glimpse of what an SSN based application would be. To evaluate our model we perform two experiments using the developed mobile client. First, we present hypothetical scenarios based on possible real-world SSN applications to measure users’ perceived sense of community. The scenarios described are (1) music concert (2) sport event (3) shopping mall (4) conference or workshop (5) school or university. Second, we ask users to consider their real interests to assess our formed groups regarding their relevance and measure precision and recall of the groups’ suggestions. We compute average values of 0.72 and 0.83 for precision and recall, respectively. The experiments’ results to assess the proposed scenarios ascertain average values of agreement of 84% for sense of community, 80% for sense of belonging, 90% for social usefulness, 92% for member loyalty, and 81% for communities’ ephemerality. Therefore, our evaluation depict that dynamic virtual communities formed by a SSN model based application would beneficially improve a social-aware virtual environment.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Desenvolvimento e Perturbações da Linguagem na Criança Área de Especialização em Terapia da Fala e Perturbações da Linguagem
A Diversidade Vocabular (DV) relaciona a variedade de palavras que são utilizadas por um indivíduo num texto, seja ele oral ou escrito, refletindo assim a complexidade do seu conhecimento vocabular. Apesar de a importância da DV ser reconhecida, não existe ainda uma unanimidade quanto à medida que permite a obtenção de resultados mais válidos. O Rácio Type-Token (RTT) e o D são os índices mais conhecidos e os mais aplicados em diversas áreas da investigação linguística, nomeadamente na aquisição e desenvolvimento da linguagem oral, aprendizagem de segunda língua, perturbações específicas da linguagem, afasias, demências e alterações comportamentais. Não são, contudo, conhecidos estudos desenvolvidos para o português europeu, pelo que se desenvolveu este trabalho que teve como principais objetivos descrever a DV, medida pelo RTT e D, em crianças com idades compreendidas entre os 3 e os 7 anos de idade, bem como verificar a relação destes índices com o desenvolvimento linguístico. Neste estudo foram gravadas amostras de discurso espontâneo e narrativo de 50 crianças com desenvolvimento típico de linguagem, monolingues, falantes nativas do português europeu e a frequentar o ensino pré-escolar ou primeiro ciclo, recolhidas em dois períodos de 30 minutos que contiveram, cada um, momentos de conversação, jogo simbólico, descrição de imagens e livros de histórias. Todas as amostras de discurso foram transcritas no programa Computerized Language Analysis (CLAN), em formato CHAT, e a DV, medida pelos índices RTT e D, foi calculada no mesmo programa através dos comandos freq e vocd, para cada faixa etária e contexto de discurso, tendo sido depois realizada a análise estatística dos dados. Concluiu-se que i) o RTT não é capaz de refletir a evolução da DV, entre os 3 e 7 anos de idade e o D apenas reflete diferenças entre os 3 e os 6 anos e entre os 3 e 7 anos; ii) as crianças que frequentam o ensino escolar apresentam uma DV superior à das crianças que frequentam o pré-escolar; iii) apenas o índice D é indicador de desenvolvimento linguístico.
The variety of words used by a person in both oral and written text represents the Vocabulary Diversity (VD). Therefore, the complexity of person’s vocabulary knowledge is reflected by VD. Although the importance of VD has been recognized, there is still no unanimity regarding the most suitable parameter to obtain more valid results. Nowadays, indexes such as Type-Token Ratio (RTT) and D are the best-known and the most widely used in several areas of linguistic research, namely in acquisition and development of oral language, second language learning, specific language disorders, aphasia, dementia and behavioural disorders. However, for european portuguese, there were no studies available. Thus, the purpose of this work was to describe the VD measured by RTT and D indexes in children aged between 3 to 7 years old and to relate the obtained indexes with language development measures. For this study, we used spontaneous and narrative discourse of 50 monolingual children, native speakers of European Portuguese, with typical language development, attending pre-school or first cycle. Firstly, the speech samples were recorded in two 30- minute periods, both containing moments of conversation, symbolic play, image description and book storytelling. Then, we transcribed the speech samples following Computerized Language Analysis program (CLAN), in CHAT format. For each age group and speech context, we calculated VD (measured by RTT and D indexes) using freq and vocd commands of CLAN. In a final stage, we conducted the statistical analysis of the obtained data. Finally, it was concluded that i) RTT is unable to describe the VD evolution in children aged between 3 to 7 years old and D index only describes the differences between 3 and 6 to 7 years; ii) children attending school education have a higher VD when compared with children attending pre-school; and iii) only D index is an indicator of language development.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Adult Interactive Style Intervention (AISI) for facilitating spontaneous communication by five children aged 5 to 7 with an autism spectrum diagnosis, in an autism-specialist school in Saudi Arabia. The study drew upon the transactional model of child development (Wetherby and Prizant, 2000) and the social model of disability (Rieser and Mason, 1990; Tregaskis, 2002), as well as the concept of intersubjectivity theory. During a six-month action research process, the researcher and staff designed, implemented and measured the results of the AISI intervention on the children’s frequency of initiating spontaneous communication and the functions and methods of their spontaneous communication bids. The staff’s ability to change their interactive communication style was also investigated. Discussions between participants (staff) and the researcher began the study, and existing educational practice was videotaped and coded for pre-intervention use of AISI principles and children’s attempts at spontaneous communication. This was followed by an intervention during which staff were trained to use AISI principles. Post-training educational practice was videotaped and coded for use of AISI principles and children’s attempts at spontaneous communication during three school activities (1:1 work, breakfast and unstructured free play). Post-intervention, staff were again interviewed about their experiences. The research produced both qualitative and quantitative data, and resulted in a case study. Interview results were thematically analysed; quantitative data was analysed for significant change as indicated by Cohen’s d effect size. Staff increased their use of AISI principles after the training intervention, and these changes significantly impacted children’s spontaneous communication. This research indicates that AISI can be effective with older children from a non-English-speaking background.

The goal of the current study was to investigate the retrieval of phonological word forms during the speech production of persons with aphasia, in order to inform models of the structure and function of the phonological lexicon. Using a naturalistic, connected speech task (picture description) and a more structured, single-word production task (picture naming) several characteristics of the target and its phonological 'neighbourhood' were examined, specifically: the target word's frequency of occurrence; the number of words which are phonologically similar to the target (neighbourhood density); and the average frequency of those 'neighbours' (neighbourhood frequency).
To assess the influence of these factors on a target's susceptibility to error, the neighbourhood values of the words produced incorrectly in the picture description task were compared to those of a comparable corpus of correctly produced words from the same speech samples. In the naming task, target susceptibility was assessed by analyzing the error rates on individual stimulus items. The results of both tasks indicated that the lower a target's frequency of occurrence was, and the fewer neighbours it had, the more susceptible it was to error. To assess the impact of the neighbourhood on the outcome of the error, neighbourhood values of the errors produced were compared to those of their targets. In neither task were errors found to differ significantly from their targets in frequency or neighbourhood density.
These results contribute to the literature on lexical access primarily by extending findings of neighbourhood effects in normal speech production to the aphasic population. In doing so, the present study lends support to the basic tenets of the Neighborhood Activation Model (Luce & Pisoni, 1998), and to the notion of the continuity thesis, in which aphasic deficits are hypothesized to reflect quantitative, rather than qualitative, differences from normal processing. Results are also in agreement with previous studies illustrating that aphasic error outcomes are strongly constrained by a number of linguistic factors which also constrain normal error production. Results are interpreted as consistent with an interactive connectionist framework of speech production.

L’acquisition du lexique précoce est très importante dans le développement du langage dans la mesure où les mots sont constitutifs des énoncés signifiants de l’enfant mais également car leur développement préfigure dans une certaine mesure les habiletés langagières ultérieures. Il est aujourd’hui admis que l’acquisition du lexique se fait sur la base d’étapes communes mais au sein desquelles il existe de fortes variations inter-individuelles, qui selon les chercheurs seraient d’ordre linguistiques, sociales ou idiosyncrasiques. Cependant, il reste encore des zones d’ombre, notamment sur l’influence possible des méthodes d’évaluation sur les résultats ; et malgré le fait que certains chercheurs conseillent l’utilisation conjointe de plusieurs méthodes de collecte pour éviter cette influence liée à la méthodologie, cette préconisation est peu suivie.Cette thèse vise à étudier les trajectoires développementales du lexique en production et leurs variations selon les enfants ; plus spécifiquement, il s’agit de montrer l’apport de méthodes complémentaires et l’importance de l’exploration du contexte de production des mots lors des observations spontanées en milieu naturel pour mieux interpréter les différences inter-individuelles.Des questionnaires parentaux ont été remplis pour 10 enfants français monolingues de 8;16 à 32;27 mois, que nous avons régulièrement filmé en milieu naturel (corpus TOTAL). Globalement, le développement et la composition du vocabulaire des 10 enfants évalués par l’IFDC suivent les tendances observées dans la littérature. Nous nous sommes ensuite focalisés sur 4 de ces enfants pour les stades linguistiques 15-25 ; 50 ; 70-120 mots (corpus CIBLÉ). L’utilisation des deux méthodes – questionnaires parentaux et données spontanées – a permis d’évaluer le développement lexical de manière plus fiable et complète, les avantages d’une méthode permettant de combler les limites de l’autre. Afin de mieux comprendre les divergences de certains résultats entre ces deux méthodes, nous avons poursuivi nos investigations sur les données spontanées des 4 enfants en examinant les contextes situationnels et interactionnels. Nous avons défini et catégorisé les situations présentes dans les enregistrements du corpus TOTAL. Une variation dans les durées de ces diverses situations a été trouvée entre stades linguistiques et entre enfants du corpus CIBLÉ. Des analyses croisées sur la production du vocabulaire en fonction des situations ont permis de réinterpréter les différences inter-individuelles des 4 enfants du corpus CIBLÉ. Par exemple, il est apparu que les deux enfants dont les effectifs de mots sont les moins élevés au niveau des données spontanées ont été davantage filmés en situation ludique solitaire ; situation où les analyses révèlent que le nombre d’unités lexicales produites est le plus faible. Ensuite, un autre travail a consisté à décrire le contexte interactionnel et plus précisément à comprendre les implications des enfants dans les échanges interactionnels. Beaucoup de différences inter-individuelles sont apparues, dont certaines nous permettent de clarifier les données des enfants. Ainsi, chaque analyse apporte des informations complémentaires – du vocabulaire estimé des questionnaires parentaux, au vocabulaire en usage enregistré en milieu naturel. En dépit du nombre restreint d’enfants qui composent cet échantillon, ces résultats encouragent l’utilisation de méthodes complémentaires. L’analyse des contextes situationnels et interactionnels nous semble aussi cruciale pour comprendre les mesures lexicales des enfants et mieux interpréter les différences intra et inter-individuelles
The acquisition of early lexicon is very important for the development of language considering that it is the early lexicon that builds infants’ first significant utterances and that it prefigures to a certain extent infants’ future language skills. It is well established that lexical acquisition presents common developmental trends and milestones, nevertheless a great amount of individual variation exists. This variation comes from linguistic, social and/or idiosyncratic factors. Further research should be done to investigate the possible influence of evaluation procedures on the results. Although the use of a complementary approach could limit this bias, it has rarely been used in lexical acquisition research. This work aims at describing not only the common developmental trajectories of early lexicon in French monolingual children, but also the inter-individual differences. More specifically, we want to show the importance of applying a complementary approach and of exploring word production during spontaneous interactions in real-life settings to better interpret inter-individual differences. The parents of 10 French monolingual children aged from 8;16 to 32;27 months filled out a questionnaire (IFDC) regarding their child’s vocabulary. The same children were video-recorded at home (corpus TOTAL). Overall, the development and the composition of individual lexicon, evaluated through the IFDC, follow the trends already reported in the literature. As for the spontaneous vocabulary, we focused our study on 4 children at the 15-52; 50; 70-120 word linguistic stages (corpus CIBLÉ). The integration of two complementary approaches, i.e. parental questionnaires and spontaneous observations, proved to be efficient and allowed us to reliably evaluate the lexical development and to avoid the bias linked to the use of a single method. To better understand the results variations between the two methods, we explored the situational and interactional context on the corpus CIBLÉ. We defined and categorized the different situations in the corpus TOTAL, then we focused on the corpus CIBLÉ to calculate their duration and we found variations between situations. A Cross-analysis on word production as a function of the situation helped to understand the lexical measure on linguistic stages and enabled the reinterpretation of individual variations. For example, the two children with the smallest lexicon had the longest duration of solitary play. During this activity, the number of produced words was generally very low. Next, we describe the interactional context, and more particularly, the rate and the nature of the children exchanges. The analyses revealed an important variation between measures and differences in the exchange rate among children. To a certain degree, for some children the interactional measures provide a richer interpretation of lexical measures.Our work clearly shows the advantages of combining several types of data to evaluate the early lexical development and the differences between individuals and encourages this approach. The analysis of situational and interactional contexts shows that these are crucial for understanding children lexical measures and better interpreting intra- and inter-individual differences

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior
A TermodinÃmica como um ramo experimental e aplicado da CiÃncia pode se tornar uma importante ferramenta no processo de ensino e aprendizagem, visto que, atravÃs deste carÃter aplicado pode facilitar para o aluno a visualizaÃÃo dos conceitos estudados em sala de aula. Este trabalho se propÃs a analisar e avaliar a abordagem do conteÃdo âProcessos EspontÃneosâ nos livros didÃticos de QuÃmica, atualmente recomendados pelo MinistÃrio da EducaÃÃo atravÃs do Guia de Livros DidÃticos. Foi realizada uma anÃlise dos livros didÃticos atualmente recomendados pelo MinistÃrio da EducaÃÃo com o objetivo de compreender como o conteÃdo âProcessos EspontÃneosâ era abordado e se estava em adequaÃÃo com as orientaÃÃes contidas em documentos legais do MEC. AtravÃs de questionÃrios aplicados com questÃes objetivas e subjetivas apresentando fenÃmenos cotidianos foram analisadas as concepÃÃes de alunos do Ensino MÃdio regular e profissional sobre fenÃmenos espontÃneos, bem como de alunos recÃm-admitidos no curso de Licenciatura em QuÃmica das cidades de Fortaleza e Itapipoca. Seguindo as normas do Programa Nacional do Livro DidÃtico dos cinco livros atualmente recomendados, apenas um foi considerado adequado para os processos espontÃneos, pois este aborda entropia fazendo sua ligaÃÃo com a Segunda Lei da TermodinÃmica e atravÃs de exemplos cotidianos. Um diferencial em relaÃÃo aos outros livros analisados foi que este material, tambÃm aborda outra funÃÃo termodinÃmica que descreve os processos espontÃneos em condiÃÃes mais corriqueiramente encontradas em laboratÃrios, ou seja, em temperatura e pressÃo constante, que à a energia de Gibbs. Ficou evidenciado que os alunos, atravÃs do senso comum, conseguem com certa facilidade descrever um processo como espontÃneo ou nÃo. Entretanto, quando questionados sobre qual o fator que determinaria se um dado fenÃmeno ocorre espontaneamente (energia de Gibbs), sÃo evidenciados equÃvocos e confusÃes. Este fato pode estar associado à lacuna deixada atualmente pelos livros indicados e utilizados nas escolas investigadas neste trabalho. PropÃe-se ainda, atravÃs destes resultados, sugerir esse conteÃdo nos livros didÃticos e uma abordagem atravÃs da visualizaÃÃo e compreensÃo dos fenÃmenos cotidianos conforme orientaÃÃes do MEC.
Thermodynamics as an experimental branch of applied science and may become an important tool in the teaching and learning process, since, through this character can apply for the student to facilitate visualization of the concepts studied in class. This study aimed to analyze and evaluate the approach of content "Spontaneous Processes" in textbooks of Chemistry, currently recommended by the Ministry of Education through Textbooks Guide. An analysis of the textbooks currently recommended by the Ministry of Education with the goal of understanding how content "Spontaneous Processes" was held was approached and was in compliance with the guidelines contained in legal documents MEC. Through questionnaires with objective and subjective questions were presenting everyday phenomena analyzed the conceptions of students in regular and vocational high school on spontaneous phenomena, as well as newly admitted to the Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry from the cities of Fortaleza and Itapipoca students. Following the standards of the National Textbook Program of the five books currently recommended only one was deemed appropriate for the spontaneous processes, as this addresses entropy making their connection with the Second Law of Thermodynamics and through everyday examples. A differential with other books has been analyzed that this material also addresses another thermodynamic function that describes the spontaneous processes under conditions routinely found in most laboratories, i.e. constant temperature and pressure, which is the Gibbs energy. It was evident that students, through common sense, can quite easily describe a process as spontaneous or not. However, when asked which factor would determine whether a given phenomenon occurs spontaneously (Gibbs energy), misunderstandings and confusion are evident. This fact can be associated with the gap now left by the books indicated and used in schools investigated in this work. It is further proposed, using these results suggest that content in textbooks and an approach through the visualization and understanding of everyday phenomena as the MEC guidelines.

L’activité psychologique spontanée contribue de façons importantes à notre expérience du monde qui nous entoure. Cette thèse s’intéresse à l’atténuation spontanée des mécanismes sensoriels cérébraux, qui constitue un important déterminant du découplage attentionnel, menant à une expérience de « mind-wandering » (vagabondage/errance de la pensée). Cet état de mind-wandering se caractérise par une augmentation spontanée de pensées sans lien avec la tâche en cours de réalisation, qui vont varier au cours du temps et interférer avec les processus cognitives. Certain processus de découplage sensoriel apparaissent très précocement après une stimulation, alors que d’autres, comme l’attention sélective, apparaissent plus tardivement. La recherche s’est principalement intéressée aux effets du mind-wandering sur les processus cognitifs, mais nous ne savons que peu de chose sur les processus sensoriels précoces au cours du mind-wandering et sur leur dynamique temporelle. Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéresserons principalement au développement temporel précoce de l’atténuation sensorielle qui précède un état de mind-wandering. Nous chercherons, plus particulièrement, à déterminer si cette atténuation sensorielle est un processus qui se développe progressivement ou s’il s’agit d’un évènement de découplage soudain, qui déclenche alors à un changement cognitif global amenant à un état de mind-wandering. Nous avons développé une nouvelle approche expérimentale, inspiré de la tâche classique de SART (Sustained Attention to Response Task), et basée sur la mesure de l’évaluation en continue de performance psychophysique individuelle. Ceci était réalisé en sondant les participants par une question, lorsque leurs temps de réponse (RT) dépassaient de plus ou moins deux fois la déviation standard (SD) de leur temps de réponse moyen. Les résultats montrent que l’état de mind-wandering est généralement précédé par des temps de réponses plus court, en comparaison aux essais dans lesquels le sujet est focalisé sur la tâche. Plus particulièrement, il est possible de prédire de façons fiables les épisodes de mind-wandering à partir de la différence de temps de réponse entre les deux derniers essaies précédent la question. Ainsi, l’état de mind-wandering suit une augmentation de courte durée de la variabilité comportementale avec une durée comprise entre 2,5 et 10 secondes. Dans une seconde étude, nous avons exploré les corrélats electrophysiologiques de la dynamique de l’atténuation sensorielle précédent les phases de mind-wandering au cours d’une version modifiée de la tâche de SART. Nous avons décrit les modulations de l’activité cérébrale dans plusieurs régions du cortex visuel pendant les épisodes de mind-wandering. Les résultats montrent une modulation de composantes associées au traitement sensoriel précoce (augmentation de P1 et diminution de N1) juste avant le report par les participants d’épisodes de mind-wandering. Ce résultat suggère une diminution des ressources neuronales associées aux traitements visuels précoces du stimulus visuel. Le mind-wandering augmente également l’amplitude d’une composante plus tardive, entre 300 et 500ms, suggérant une augmentation de la préparation à la réponse. Cette thèse apporte ainsi, pour la première fois, une description de l’organisation temporelle précoce du découplage sensoriel précédent l’experience de mind-wandering. En effet, le mind-wandering apparait comme étant fortement associé à une atténuation précoce et abrupte des processus sensoriels. Ainsi, le cours découplage sensoriel (quelques centaines de ms) peut alors entrainer un long et dramatique état de conscience tel que le mind-wandering
Spontaneous psychological activity substantially contributes to our everyday experience of the external world. This thesis focuses on spontaneous attenuation of sensory processing in the human brain, an important determinant of attentional decoupling, which results in mind-wandering experience. Mind wandering is characterized by the spontaneous rise of thoughts unrelated with the ongoing task, which varies over time and interferes with the current cognitive processes. Some sensory decoupling processes arise very early after an event, whereas others, such as selective attention processes, take place later on. Previous research mainly focused on the general effects of mind-wandering on cognitive processing, but little is known about the early sensory processes during mind wandering and about their temporal dynamics. This thesis focuses on the study of the temporal development of early sensory attenuation previous to mind-wandering experiences. Specifically, we addressed whether this sensory attenuation is a process that develops gradually or whether it is an abrupt decoupling event that consequently triggers a global cognitive change towards a mind-wandering experience. We developed a new experimental approach, inspired by the classic sustained attention to response task (SART), based on the continuous, online assessment of individual psychophysical performance. Probe questions were asked whenever response times (RTs) exceeded 2 SD from the participant’s average RT. Results showed that mind-wandering reports were generally preceded by slower RTs, as compared to trials preceding on-task reports. Specifically, we could reliably predict mind-wandering episodes based on the response time difference between the last and the second-to-last trials. Thus, mind-wandering follow an abrupt increase in behavioral variability, lasting between 2.5 and 10 seconds. In a second study, we addressed the electrophysiological correlates of the dynamics of the sensory attenuation prior to mind-wandering experiences during the performance of a modified version of the RT task. We described the modulation of the brain activity in different regions of the visual cortex during mind-wandering episodes. We found modulations of components related to early sensory processing (increase of P1 and decrease of N1), shortly before participants reported mind-wandering episodes. This suggests a decrease of neural resources related with the early visual processing of the sensory input. Mind wandering also increased the amplitude of a late component peaking around 300-500 ms, perhaps because of increased preparation of response. Overall, this thesis provides for the first time a clear description of the early temporal organization of the sensory decoupling prior to mind-wandering experiences. In particular, mind wandering appears to be strongly linked to early, abrupt sensory attenuation. Thus, short-lasting sensory decoupling (a few hundreds ms) can thus determine a prolonged and dramatic consciousness state such as mind wandering

SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund:   Läkemedelsbiverkningar utgör ett stort problem för den enskilde som drabbas och för samhället. Distriktssköterskor med förskrivningsrätt har ett ansvar att rapportera misstänkta läkemedelsbiverkningar och spontanrapportering är grunden för läkemedelssäkerhet. Studier visar att det finns en hög grad av underrapportering. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka distriktssköterskors kunskap och förståelse om läkemedelsbiverkningar samt deras handlingsberedskap för, och syn på att rapportera dessa. Metod: Semistrukturerade intervjuer med kvalitativ ansats användes, sju distriktssköterskor i Jämtlands län deltog. Innehållet bearbetades med hjälp av manifest innehållsanalys och resulterade i tre områden; Kunskap och förståelse, Syn på ansvarfördelning samt Handlingsberedskap. Sju kategorier identifierades. Resultat: Distriktssköterskorna hade kunskap och förståelse om läkemedelsbiverkningar men inhämtande av ny kunskap hade låg prioritet. Ansvaret för rapportering diskuterades inte på arbetsplatserna. Distriktssköterskorna ansåg att de hade rapporterat då de meddelat läkaren om en misstänkt läkemedelsbiverkning. Rapportering av läkemedelsbiverkningar ansågs vara hanterbara men kunde ibland leda till stora bekymmer. Rapporteringen beskrevs som undermålig och skulle kunna göras i större utsträckning. Slutsats: Problemområdet måste synliggöras. Fortbildning inom området kan förhoppningsvis leda till ökad rapportering och förbättrad läkemedelsäkerhet. På sikt ger det ett minskat lidande för den enskilde patienten och en ekonomisk vinst för samhället.
ABSTRACT Background:   Adverse drug reactions are a major problem for the individual affected and to society. District nurses with prescribing rights have a responsibility to report suspected adverse drug reactions and spontaneous reporting is the basis for drug safety. Studies show that there is a high degree of underreporting. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore district nurses' knowledge and understanding of adverse drug reactions and their preparedness for, and approach to reporting them. Method: Semi-structured interviews with a qualitative approach was used, seven district nurses in Jämtland county attended. The contents were processed using manifest content analysis and resulted in three domains: Knowledge and understanding, vision for sharing responsibility and readiness to act. Seven categories was identified. Results: District nurses had knowledge and understanding of drug side effects, but acquire new knowledge had low priority. Responsibility for reporting were not discussed in the workplace. District nurses felt that they had reported when they informed the doctor about a suspected adverse drug reaction. Reporting of adverse drug reactions were considered to be manageable but could sometimes lead to big trouble. The reporting was described as poor and could be made more widely. Conclusion: The problem area must be made visible. Training in the field will hopefully lead to increased reporting and improved drug safety. Eventually, it gives a less suffering for the individual patient and an economic benefit for society.

Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina Veterinária
Objetivo: Realizar um estudo retrospetivo sobre defeitos epiteliais corneais espontâneos crónicos (SCCEDs) em cães. Métodos: Foram incluídos no estudo pacientes com SCCED e sem história de doença corneal diagnosticados no HVR (2014-2017). Foi analisada a raça, sexo, olho afetado, duração dos sinais clínicos, tratamento com recurso a ponta de diamante (DBD), com ou sem colocação adicional de lente de contacto e a existência de doença endócrina ou cutânea concomitante e o uso prévio de corticosteróides ou imunomoduladores. Resultados: Um total de 42 olhos preenchia os critérios de inclusão. Correspondiam a 23 fêmeas e 19 machos de 16 raças de cães diferentes, sendo a mais comum Bulldog Francês (23,8%), seguido de cães sem raça definida (19,0%) e Boxer (16,8%). A idade média foi de 9,0 ± 3,36 anos, variando entre 2-17 anos. Dos 42 casos, 4 eram bilaterais e 38 unilaterais. A duração média dos sinais clínicos foi de 4,0 ± 7,6 semanas, variando entre 1-44 semanas. Dos 42 casos, 32 foram tratados apenas com DBD e 10 com a colocação adicional de uma lente de contacto. Em 10 casos os animais tinham dermatite atópica, em 3 hipotiroidismo e em 2 diabetes mellitus. Dos 10 casos em que o animal tinha dermatite atópica, 3 tinham sido previamente tratados com corticosteróides ou imunomoduladores. Não se verificou uma diferença significativa nos tempos de resolução dos SCCED com e sem lente de contacto adicional (Kaplan-Meier; p=0,581). Conclusões: A raça mais representada foi o Bulldog Francês, e não o Boxer, o que se pode dever à sua popularidade crescente no nosso país. A técnica de DBD foi eficaz para solucionar o problema. Neste estudo não foi encontrado um menor tempo de resolução da úlcera de córnea nos animais em que se recorreu ao uso adicional de uma lente de contacto.
ABSTRACT - SPONTANEOUS CHRONIC CORNEAL EPITHELIAL DEFECTS IN DOGS: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF 42 CASES - Purpose: A retrospective study of dogs with spontaneous chronic corneal epithelial defects (SCCEDs) was performed. Methods: Patients with a diagnosis of SCCED with no history of concurrent corneal disease from HVR (2014-2017) were eligible for inclusion. Animal breed, age, sex, affected eye, duration of clinical signs, treatment with diamond burr debridement (DBD) alone or plus contact lens and concomitant endocrine or skin diseases and the previous use of corticosteroids or immunomodulators were analysed. Results: A total of 42 eyes met the inclusion criteria. They corresponded to 23 females and 19 males of 16 different dog breeds, the most common being French Bulldog (23,8%), followed by Mongrel (19,0%) and Boxer (16,8%). The mean age was 9,0 ± 3,36 years old, ranging between 2-17 years old. Of the 42 cases, 4 were bilateral and 38 unilateral. The mean duration of clinical signs was 4,0 ± 7,6 weeks, ranging from 1-44 weeks. Of the 42 cases, 32 were treated with DBD alone and 10 plus a contact lens. In 10 cases the dog had atopic dermatitis, in 3 hypothyroidism and in 2 diabetes mellitus. Of the 10 cases of animals with atopic dermatitis, 3 previously used corticosteroids or immunomodulators. There was not a statistical significant difference between healing times of SCCEDs with or without contact lens (Kaplan-Meier; p=0,581). Conclusions: French Bulldog was the most represented breed instead of Boxer, which might be due to its increased popularity in Portugal. DBD demonstrated to be a good technique for the resolution of this disease. This study found no improvement on healing time with the additional use of a contact lens.
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O presente relatório foi desenvolvido no Ramo de Aprofundamento de Competências Profissionais do mestrado em Reabilitação Psicomotora no Serviço de Psiquiatria e Saúde Mental da Infância e Adolescência do Hospital de Santa Maria. Ao desenvolver uma intervenção com crianças e adolescentes enlutados, o enquadramento da prática profissional integra a terapia psicomotora em saúde mental, nomeadamente os modelos de intervenção e de relação utilizados, bem como o conceito de luto, os seus principais modelos de compreensão e a terapia psicomotora associada. Decorrente da prática profissional, é caracterizado o programa de intervenção realizado numa equipa onde se integrou a terapia psicomotora e desenvolvido em dois grupos, os quais se distinguem pelas idades da população atendida e, por associação, pelas metodologias de intervenção apropriadas: o grupo I, constituído por três adolescentes de 13 e 14 anos, cuja intervenção foi centrada em técnicas de relaxação e consciencialização corporal; e o grupo II, por quatro crianças entre os 7 e os 10 anos, com enfoque no jogo espontâneo. De uma forma geral, é sintetizada a evolução da população atendida e, de modo particular, é explorado um caso de cada grupo. Das evoluções observadas conclui-se a pertinência da intervenção psicomotora na população acompanhada.
The present report was developed in Branch of Advancement of Professional Competencies Curricular Unit of the Master Degree in Psychomotor Rehabilitation in Serviço de Psiquiatria e Saúde Mental da Infância e Adolescência of Hospital de Santa Maria. By developing an intervention with bereavement children and teenagers, the contextualization of professional practice integrates the psychomotor therapy in mental health, especially the utilised models of intervention and relationship, along with the grief concept and its comprehension main models and associated psychomotor therapy. In the professional practice, it is described the intervention program made on a team where psychomotor therapy was integrated and developed in two groups, which are distinguished by the target population ages and by the appropriate intervention methodology: group I, formed by three teenagers with 13 and 14 years old, which intervention was focused on relaxation techniques and body awareness; and group II with four children aged from 7 to 10 years old, with focus on spontaneous play. Generally, the evolution of target population is synthesized and, particularly, is explored a case from each group. From the observed evolutions, it's concluded the relevance of the psychomotor intervention in the target population.

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia Informática
Today there is a vast number of mobile devices. These devices allow people to access services everywhere. Typically a network infrastructure is required to support these services, like a wireless access point or a 3G connection. Sometimes such infrastructure may not exist or may not be available, making services impossible to operate. Ad-hoc networks allow infrastructure-less communication where each device can communicate with other devices from the network without depending on some infrastructure. These networks can be explored in order to provide services. For example, content delivery in case there is no infrastructure available to support the communication. The main objective of this work is to take advantage of the potential of ad-hoc networks to provide some services related with content access. The goal is to achieve a framework that is able to explore ad-hoc networks to successfully deliver content to every interested user. Besides, it should be able to work in different devices and operating systems. In this work, a fully functional framework prototype was implemented, requiring minimal configuration. The result is an off-the-shelf application that needs only a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to operate. In order to successfully forward content between nodes from the server to the destination, a new routing model was developed that is exclusively based on content IDs instead of addresses. We used HTTP as presentation layer of the framework. This way we enable the customization of the interface by the server. Each user that is already familiarized with HTML pages can easily interact with our system.
Hoje em dia existe um grande número de dispositivos móveis que permitem o acesso a serviços em qualquer lado. Para suportar esses serviços é necessária uma infra-estrutura de rede, como por exemplo, um ponto de acesso sem fios ou uma ligação 3G. Quando essa infra-estrutura é inexistente ou não está disponível, os serviços tornam-se inacessíveis. As redes ad-hoc possibilitam a comunicação independente de qualquer infra-estrutura. Estas redes podem ser exploradas por forma a fornecer serviços, tais como o acesso a conteúdo, no caso de não existir uma infra-estrutura de comunicação. O objectivo principal é tirar partido das redes ad-hoc para fornecer serviços de acesso a conteúdo. Queremos obter uma plataforma capaz de fornecer conteúdos aos utilizadores interessados, explorando as redes ad-hoc. Para além disso, deve também ser capaz de operar em diferentes dispositivos e sistemas operativos. Neste trabalho foi implementado um protótipo da plataforma completamente funcional. O resultado final é uma aplicação pronta a ser utilizada, que necessita apenas de uma Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Foi desenhado um novo modelo de encaminhamento baseado, exclusivamente, em IDs de conteúdo, por forma a encaminhar o tráfego entre servidor e cliente. Utilizamos o HTTP como camada de apresentação, dessa forma, o servidor pode ‘desenhar’ o interface. A interacção com o sistema é bastante simples no caso do utilizador estar familiarizado com as páginas HTML.

碩士
臺北市立大學
視覺藝術學系碩士在職專班
107
Preschooler use pictorial language to describe or express their lurking emotions. The researchers found the children's interest in the creation of drawing books at the school teachers’ perspective, which in turn led to the motivation of inquiry. Observing preschooler’s words and demeanor in the school, they found their impression of gender roles. According to the implementation guidelines of kindergarten education and protection services, the kindergartens should implement gender equality education in course , so started research. This study proposes "the four major realities of art" by the art psychologist Kreitler and Kreitler, and Wilson and Wilson mentions the "eight major creative themes" in their books, and uses qualitative content analysis. The law understands the creative psychology of preschooler, and analyzes the visual culture and gender role cognition in the field of spontaneous research. Research Conclusions and findings: (1) The theme of children's creation mainly refers to the experience of self-life, but boys and girls do have differences in their creative motives. Male children tend to "draw their own hiddenness". As for female children, they often "paint their present". (2) Spontaneous creation gives free imagination space and symbolically satisfies the thoughts and expectations of children's minds. The spontaneous drawing books of preschooler has artistic reference value. (3) The gender perception of male and female children is mostly influenced by the "visual culture", such as video games and mobile games. Therefore, if adults can "lead by example" and provide "balanced information" and "friendly environment", they have the opportunity to reduce. The situation of gender stereotypes. Research recommendations: (1) Gender equality education is conducted in the form of a thematic curriculum, and the use of action research methods can have more substantial and significant benefits. (2) In the future, if the third field is the main teacher-student dialogue, it is expected that the children's creation will be more diverse and increase the feasibility of other research.

碩士
臺北市立教育大學
視覺藝術學系視覺藝術教學碩士學位班
101
This paper discusses three research topics on elementary students who have passion for doing spontaneous drawing, their cognition behind expressing the drawing styles and techniques, and “The Four Realities of Art” studies by Kreitler &; Kreitler (1972) discussing the meanings behind spontaneous drawing for children. The findings of this study can promote fine arts education curriculum and additional resources that can be used in the fine arts career fields. The multiple case study was conducted to five first to second grade students who enjoy doing spontaneous drawing at a Taoyuan elementary school. The research methods included observing students doing spontaneous drawing during class, interviewing the students to understand the meaning behind their drawings, making an inference on the gradual stages of art development and the four realities of spontaneous drawing analysis. These are the methods used to answer the key points listed on this research paper. The research paper generalizes the findings as stated below: 1.The motivation behind spontaneous drawing. Children will use spontaneous drawing techniques and others approve of their artworks to increase their self- confidence and motivational power. Children not only draw for a hobby or enjoyment but through drawings we can see how children express their emotions.Winning art drawing competitions can encourage children to increase their self esteem and self worth. 2.Displaying spontaneous drawing styles and techniques. Children's spontaneous drawings display fruitful performance on the stages of art development and diversity of painting styles.Children will through model their drawings based on popular art images,adult guidances and self learning to further increase their drawing skills to show maturity. In the past, children’s stages of spontaneous drawing development and techniques have been underestimated. 3.The reasons behind children’s spontaneous drawings. The children’s spontaneous drawing reveals the “ Four Realities of Art” principles, self-motivating and creating through daily life situations, past experiences, future hopes, and value judgement.

碩士
國立中正大學
物理學系暨研究所
101
In this work, we study the droplets contact behaviors of micro/nano-structured surfaces. Three micro/nano surface structures, including (full name) (PDMS) microlens arrays, PDMS inverse microlens (MLs) arrays and PDMS inverse MLs with 20 nm aluminum, were investigated. The breath figures technique was first employed to fabricate a large area template of microlens array, and then the replica method was used to produce PDMS MLs array and inverse PDMS MLs array. Their contact angles were theoretical and experimental study. The results show that inverse MLs possesses over 150o contact angle after deposited aluminum of 20 nm thickness. In the adhesive force measurements, PDMS inverse microlens (MLs) arrays have high adhesive force (>80uN). Although the adhesive force of inverse MLs becomes smaller after deposited aluminum, PDMS inverse microlens (MLs) arrays with 20 nm aluminum still have high adhesive force (>60uN). The results reveal that PDMS inverse microlens (MLs) arrays with 20 nm possess high contact angle and high adhesive force. The reason should be caused from spontaneously formed nano buckles on the surface of inverse MLs during aluminum deposition process.