Articulación vocálica en el niño deficiente auditivo

Esta investigación pretende examinar mediante variables acústicas las diferencias en el espectro de las cinco vocales españolas producidas por niños deficientes auditivos y sin sordera, y determinar otros factores relacionados con las características personales y familiares del niño sordo que pueden influir en su espectro vocálico.. Se recurre a una muestra con 112 niños divididos en dos grupos uno de 57 niños sordos y otro integrado por 55 niños sin sordera. Como material para el análisis acústico de la voz se utiliza un analizador de sonido en tiempo real para obtener el espectro vocálico del que extraer las variables acústicas empleando dos métodos. En el primero se localizan el componente pico fundamental y tres primeros componentes pico con sus correspondientes amplitudes. En el segundo figuran los parámetros de intensidad correspondientes al rango de frecuencias de los dos primeros formantes de las vocales españolas. Los parámetros acústicos obtenidos más diferenciados en la producción de vocales entre niños sordos y sin sordera son la frecuencia fundamental y su amplitud. En este trabajo no se obtiene ninguna correlación entre el resto de parámetros no acústicos y el espectro defectuoso de los niños deficientes auditivos.. Con los resultados obtenidos, se propone una orientación rehabilitadora dirigida a reforzar la retroacción visual y táctil sobre la laringe que debe realizarse durante toda la vida..

Los estudios visuales en la encrucijada : justificaciones académicas de la deficiente formación estética imperante en las sociedades tecnológicamente desarrolladas.

Resumen tomado del autor

Posibles beneficios del aprendizaje musical significativo en el desarrollo global del niño de entre 4 y 6 años con deficiencia visual o ceguera.

Resumen tomado de la publicación. Resumen en castellano e inglés

Una experiencia de grupo : mejora del comportamiento visual en niños y niñas de visión reducida y otros trastornos asociados.

El artículo forma parte de una sección de la revista dedicada a intercambio de experiencias

Gender-based violence against women with visual and physical disabilities

Resumen tomado de la publicación

Mejora de la comunicaci??n y del lenguaje oral con la ayuda visual de los signos manuales en alumnos con discapacidad intelectual. Estudio de casos

Resumen en ingl??s

Aspectos linguístico-ergonômicos em rótulos: avaliação da linguagem verbo-visual de rótulos de embalagens para alimentos achocolatados

We have been living in a world of packed products. The package and the labels support the companies to communicate with the customers in addition to give protection, storage and convenience in proportion to the products that move in the price list. The labels mainly add up a value which helps the companies differ their products and increase the value of the brands among the final customers. However, the information given in the label are not clear sometimes. It displays a verbal-visual defective language resulted from a poor visibility, legibleness and comprehensibleness of the verbal and visual marks. The aim of this research is to verify, according to the costumers‟ view, the level of the clarity in the informative texts, harmony and ergonomic conformity of the package labels in the chocolate powder of the Claralate brand, considering the linguistic aspects presented on the labels. The criteria to evaluate the chocolate package selected were based on the linguistic field: the organization and the structure of the text derided from the classification of the textual genre; the clarity and the comprehension of the language utilized on those labels. From the ergonomic view, the informative and ergonomic conformity, based on the following requirements: legibility, symbols, characters, reading fields and intermission of the written lines. Therefore, the research done july 2007 and added july 2011 had a structured questionnaire in the interview put to the 118 customers of the chocolate package that go shopping in one of the two supermarkets in Floriano, Piauí São Jorge and/or Super Quaresma. The main results of the investigation show that the linguistic aspects in the informative texts of the labels provide the customers‟ expectancy partially, while the consideration of the informative ergonomic analyzed can contribute to the improvement of the information and consequent visual progress of those, on the labels of chocolate package investigated. As recommendation towards the maker of the product, the outcome of the research indicates: harmonize the proportion of the letters and numbers; enlarge the letters size; make the visual information more comprehensive determined by the reading field; put the expiry date in a better visual place

Identificação Visual de Caixas de Medicamentos Usando Features Correspondentes

This work uses computer vision algorithms related to features in the identification of medicine boxes for the visually impaired. The system is for people who have a disease that compromises his vision, hindering the identification of the correct medicine to be ingested. We use the camera, available in several popular devices such as computers, televisions and phones, to identify the box of the correct medicine and audio through the image, showing the poor information about the medication, such: as the dosage, indication and contraindications of the medication. We utilize a model of object detection using algorithms to identify the features in the boxes of drugs and playing the audio at the time of detection of feauteres in those boxes. Experiments carried out with 15 people show that where 93 % think that the system is useful and very helpful in identifying drugs for boxes. So, it is necessary to make use of this technology to help several people with visual impairments to take the right medicine, at the time indicated in advance by the physician

Desenvolvimento de critério objetivo para a sinalização da ingestão alimentar deficiente de paciente hospitalizado

Pós-graduação em Alimentos e Nutrição - FCFAR

Desenvolvimento e aplicação de uma maquete sobre as leis de Kepler para inclusão de alunos com deficiência visual no ensino de física

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Advancing Bag-of-visual-words Representations For Lesion Classification In Retinal Images.

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes that can lead to blindness if not readily discovered. Automated screening algorithms have the potential to improve identification of patients who need further medical attention. However, the identification of lesions must be accurate to be useful for clinical application. The bag-of-visual-words (BoVW) algorithm employs a maximum-margin classifier in a flexible framework that is able to detect the most common DR-related lesions such as microaneurysms, cotton-wool spots and hard exudates. BoVW allows to bypass the need for pre- and post-processing of the retinographic images, as well as the need of specific ad hoc techniques for identification of each type of lesion. An extensive evaluation of the BoVW model, using three large retinograph datasets (DR1, DR2 and Messidor) with different resolution and collected by different healthcare personnel, was performed. The results demonstrate that the BoVW classification approach can identify different lesions within an image without having to utilize different algorithms for each lesion reducing processing time and providing a more flexible diagnostic system. Our BoVW scheme is based on sparse low-level feature detection with a Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) local descriptor, and mid-level features based on semi-soft coding with max pooling. The best BoVW representation for retinal image classification was an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) of 97.8% (exudates) and 93.5% (red lesions), applying a cross-dataset validation protocol. To assess the accuracy for detecting cases that require referral within one year, the sparse extraction technique associated with semi-soft coding and max pooling obtained an AUC of 94.2 ± 2.0%, outperforming current methods. Those results indicate that, for retinal image classification tasks in clinical practice, BoVW is equal and, in some instances, surpasses results obtained using dense detection (widely believed to be the best choice in many vision problems) for the low-level descriptors.

Visual Navigation In The Neotropical Ant Odontomachus Hastatus (formicidae, Ponerinae), A Predominantly Nocturnal, Canopy-dwelling Predator Of The Atlantic Rainforest.

The arboreal ant Odontomachus hastatus nests among roots of epiphytic bromeliads in the sandy forest at Cardoso Island (Brazil). Crepuscular and nocturnal foragers travel up to 8m to search for arthropod prey in the canopy, where silhouettes of leaves and branches potentially provide directional information. We investigated the relevance of visual cues (canopy, horizon patterns) during navigation in O. hastatus. Laboratory experiments using a captive ant colony and a round foraging arena revealed that an artificial canopy pattern above the ants and horizon visual marks are effective orientation cues for homing O. hastatus. On the other hand, foragers that were only given a tridimensional landmark (cylinder) or chemical marks were unable to home correctly. Navigation by visual cues in O. hastatus is in accordance with other diurnal arboreal ants. Nocturnal luminosity (moon, stars) is apparently sufficient to produce contrasting silhouettes from the canopy and surrounding vegetation, thus providing orientation cues. Contrary to the plain floor of the round arena, chemical cues may be important for marking bifurcated arboreal routes. This experimental demonstration of the use of visual cues by a predominantly nocturnal arboreal ant provides important information for comparative studies on the evolution of spatial orientation behavior in ants. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Neotropical Behaviour.

Applications Of Visual Evoked Potentials And Fourier-domain Optical Coherence Tomography In Parkinson's Disease: A Controlled Study.

The goal of this cross-sectional observational study was to quantify the pattern-shift visual evoked potentials (VEP) and the thickness as well as the volume of retinal layers using optical coherence tomography (OCT) across a cohort of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and age-matched controls. Forty-three PD patients and 38 controls were enrolled. All participants underwent a detailed neurological and ophthalmologic evaluation. Idiopathic PD cases were included. Cases with glaucoma or increased intra-ocular pressure were excluded. Patients were assessed by VEP and high-resolution Fourier-domain OCT, which quantified the inner and outer thicknesses of the retinal layers. VEP latencies and the thicknesses of the retinal layers were the main outcome measures. The mean age, with standard deviation (SD), of the PD patients and controls were 63.1 (7.5) and 62.4 (7.2) years, respectively. The patients were predominantly in the initial Hoehn-Yahr (HY) disease stages (34.8% in stage 1 or 1.5, and 55.8 % in stage 2). The VEP latencies and the thicknesses as well as the volumes of the retinal inner and outer layers of the groups were similar. A negative correlation between the retinal thickness and the age was noted in both groups. The thickness of the retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) was 102.7 μm in PD patients vs. 104.2 μm in controls. The thicknesses of retinal layers, VEP, and RNFL of PD patients were similar to those of the controls. Despite the use of a representative cohort of PD patients and high-resolution OCT in this study, further studies are required to establish the validity of using OCT and VEP measurements as the anatomic and functional biomarkers for the evaluation of retinal and visual pathways in PD patients.

Physical Activity Interventions For Children And Youth With Visual Impairments.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review on physical activity interventions for children and youth with visual impairment (VI). Five databases were searched to identify studies involving the population of interest and physical activity practices. After evaluating 2,495 records, the authors found 18 original full-text studies published in English they considered eligible. They identified 8 structured exercise-training studies that yielded overall positive effect on physical-fitness and motor-skill outcomes. Five leisure-time-physical-activity and 5 instructional-strategy interventions were also found with promising proposals to engage and instruct children and youth with VI to lead an active lifestyle. However, the current research on physical activity interventions for children and youth with VI is still limited by an absence of high-quality research designs, low sample sizes, use of nonvalidated outcome measures, and lack of generalizability, which need to be addressed in future studies.

Método para avaliação da conduta visual de lactentes

The purpose of this study is to introduce a method to evaluate visual functions in infants in the first three months of life. An adaptation of the Guide for the Assessment of Visual Ability in Infants (Gagliardo, 1997) was used. The instrument was a ring with string. It was implemented a pilot study with 33 infants, selected according to the following criteria: neonates well enough to go home within two days of birth; 1 to 3 months of chronological age; monthly evaluation with no absence; subjects living in Campinas/SP metropolitan area. In the first month we observed: visual fixation (93,9%); eye contact (90,9%); horizontal tracking (72,7%); inspects surroundings (97,0%). In the third month, we observed: inspects own hands (42,4%) and increased movements of arms (36,4%). This method allowed the evaluation of visual functions in infants, according to the chronological age. Alterations in this function will facilitate immediate referral to medical services for diagnoses.