Reading together: an ethnographic study of a reading group for visually-impaired people

Because reading groups historically have been under-researched (Long, 2003), the literature in this field is limited, presenting this as an interesting area for researchers. A need for further research is also explained by the fact that the traditional model of a reading group has been expanded through recent library policies leading to the development of specific group types such as groups for visually-impaired people (VIPs). To date, there have been no long-term empirical studies of these groups. This thesis, therefore, makes a significant contribution to the literature in this field by providing an in-depth exploration of a VIP reading group. The thesis is an ethnographic study which follows a library-run reading group for visually-impaired people from its formation in September 2007 and concentrates on five of the group members. The methodology for the study is influenced by participatory approaches to research involving disabled people by inviting the participants to participate in the co-creation of knowledge about themselves (French & Swain, 2000, p. 1). It is also influenced by new ethnography’s preference for multi-layered texts by exploring both the individual and collective experiences of the participants. While the participants are defined throughout as readers, visual-impairment plays a role in their experiences. I show that visually-impaired readers and reading groups sit within a complex web of factors which impact on their experiences both as individual readers and as a group. The study also shows that VIP reading groups challenge traditional definitions of reading as a visual activity. The study explores issues of power and concludes that, because ownership of the group lies with the library, this challenges the idea of reading groups empowering their members. Furthermore, offering discrete groups for visually-impaired readers means that the role these groups play in contributing to agendas for social inclusion is problematic. The study concludes by making suggestions as to how these groups might develop to be more inclusive and empowering.

Implementation and role of device management Solutions to the end users

This research is based on consumer complaints with respect to recently purchased consumer electronics. This research document will investigate the instances of development and device management as a tool used to aid consumer and manage consumer’s mobile products in order to resolve issues in or before the consumers is aware one exists. The problem at the present time is that mobile devices are becoming very advanced pieces of technology, and not all manufacturers and network providers have kept up the support element of End users. As such, the subject of the research is to investigate how device management could possibly be used as a method to promote research and development of mobile devices, and provide a better experience for the consumer. The wireless world is becoming increasingly complex as revenue opportunities are driven by new and innovative data services. We can no longer expect the customer to have the knowledge or ability to configure their own device. Device Management platforms can address the challenges of device configuration and support through new enabling technologies. Leveraging these technologies will allow a network operator to reduce the cost of subscriber ownership, drive increased ARPU (Average Revenue per User) by removing barriers to adoption, reduce churn by improving the customer experience and increase customer loyalty. DM technologies provide a flexible and powerful management method but are managing the same device features that have historically been configured manually through call centers or by the end user making changes directly on the device. For this reason DM technologies must be treated as part of a wider support solution. The traditional requirement for discovery, fault finding, troubleshooting and diagnosis are still as relevant with DM as they are in the current human support environment yet the current generation of solutions do little to address this problem. In the deployment of an effective Device Management solution the network operator must consider the integration of the DM platform, interfacing with many areas of the business, supported by knowledge of the relationship between devices, applications, solutions and services maintained on an ongoing basis. Complementing the DM solution with published device information, setup guides, training material and web based tools will ensure the quality of the customer experience, ensuring that problems are completely resolved, driving data usage by focusing customer education on the use of the wireless service In this way device management becomes a tool used both internally within the network or device vendor and by the customer themselves, with each user empowered to effectively manage the device without any prior knowledge or experience, confident that changes they apply will be relevant, accurate, stable and compatible. The value offered by an effective DM solution with an expert knowledge service will become a significant differentiator for the network operator in an ever competitive wireless market. This research document is intended to highlight some of the issues the industry faces as device management technologies become more prevalent, and offers some potential solutions to simplify the increasingly complex task of managing devices on the network, where device management can be used as a tool to aid customer relations and manage customer’s mobile products in order to resolve issues before the user is aware one exists. The research is broken down into the following, Customer Relationship Management, Device management, the role of knowledge with the DM, Companies that have successfully implemented device management, and the future of device management and CRM. And it also consists of questionnaires aimed at technical support agents and mobile device users. Interview was carried out with CRM managers within support centre to further the evidence gathered. To conclude, the document is to consider the advantages and disadvantages of device management and attempt to determine the influence it will have over customer support centre, and what methods could be used to implement it.

ANFIS BASED MODELS FOR ACCESSING QUALITY OF WIKIPEDIA ARTICLES

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Due to the free nature of Wikipedia and allowing open access to everyone to edit articles the quality of articles may be affected. As all people don’t have equal level of knowledge and also different people have different opinions about a topic so there may be difference between the contributions made by different authors. To overcome this situation it is very important to classify the articles so that the articles of good quality can be separated from the poor quality articles and should be removed from the database. The aim of this study is to classify the articles of Wikipedia into two classes class 0 (poor quality) and class 1(good quality) using the Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) and data mining techniques. Two ANFIS are built using the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox [1] available in Matlab. The first ANFIS is based on the rules obtained from J48 classifier in WEKA while the other one was built by using the expert’s knowledge. The data used for this research work contains 226 article’s records taken from the German version of Wikipedia. The dataset consists of 19 inputs and one output. The data was preprocessed to remove any similar attributes. The input variables are related to the editors, contributors, length of articles and the lifecycle of articles. In the end analysis of different methods implemented in this research is made to analyze the performance of each classification method used.

A framework for ICT-based knowledge sharing in sustainable rural development : the case of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Some 50% of the people in the world live in rural areas, often under harsh conditions and in poverty. The need for knowledge of how to improve living conditions is well documented. In response to this need, new knowledge of how to improve living conditions in rural areas and elsewhere is continuously being developed by researchers and practitioners around the world. People in rural areas, in particular, would certainly benefit from being able to share relevant knowledge with each other, as well as with stakeholders (e.g. researchers) and other organizations (e.g. NGOs). Central to knowledge management is the idea of knowledge sharing. This study is based on the assumption that knowledge management can support sustainable development in rural and remote regions. It aims to present a framework for knowledge management in sustainable rural development, and an inventory of existing frameworks for that. The study is interpretive, with interviews as the primary source for the inventory of stakeholders, knowledge categories and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure. For the inventory of frameworks, a literature study was carried out. The result is a categorization of the stakeholders who act as producers and beneficiaries of explicit and indigenous development knowledge. Stakeholders are local government, local population, academia, NGOs, civil society and donor agencies. Furthermore, the study presents a categorization of the development knowledge produced by the stakeholders together with specifications for the existing ICT infrastructure. Rural development categories found are research, funding, agriculture, ICT, gender, institutional development, local infrastructure development, and marketing & enterprise. Finally, a compiled framework is presented, and it is based on ten existing frameworks for rural development that were found in the literature study, and the empirical findings of the Gilgit-Baltistan case. Our proposed framework is divided in four levels where level one consists of the identified stakeholders, level two consists of rural development categories, level three of the knowledge management system and level four of sustainable rural development based on the levels below. In the proposed framework we claim that the sustainability of rural development can be achieved through a knowledge society in which knowledge of the rural development process is shared among all relevant stakeholders.

Health system context and implementation of evidence-based practices-development and validation of the Context Assessment for Community Health (COACH) tool for low- and middle-income settings

Background: The gap between what is known and what is practiced results in health service users not benefitting from advances in healthcare, and in unnecessary costs. A supportive context is considered a key element for successful implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP). There were no tools available for the systematic mapping of aspects of organizational context influencing the implementation of EBPs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Thus, this project aimed to develop and psychometrically validate a tool for this purpose. Methods: The development of the Context Assessment for Community Health (COACH) tool was premised on the context dimension in the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework, and is a derivative product of the Alberta Context Tool. Its development was undertaken in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Uganda, South Africa and Nicaragua in six phases: (1) defining dimensions and draft tool development, (2) content validity amongst in-country expert panels, (3) content validity amongst international experts, (4) response process validity, (5) translation and (6) evaluation of psychometric properties amongst 690 health workers in the five countries. Results: The tool was validated for use amongst physicians, nurse/midwives and community health workers. The six phases of development resulted in a good fit between the theoretical dimensions of the COACH tool and its psychometric properties. The tool has 49 items measuring eight aspects of context: Resources, Community engagement, Commitment to work, Informal payment, Leadership, Work culture, Monitoring services for action and Sources of knowledge. Conclusions: Aspects of organizational context that were identified as influencing the implementation of EBPs in high-income settings were also found to be relevant in LMICs. However, there were additional aspects of context of relevance in LMICs specifically Resources, Community engagement, Commitment to work and Informal payment. Use of the COACH tool will allow for systematic description of the local healthcare context prior implementing healthcare interventions to allow for tailoring implementation strategies or as part of the evaluation of implementing healthcare interventions and thus allow for deeper insights into the process of implementing EBPs in LMICs.

Parenthood in transition : Somali-born parents' experiences of and needs for parenting support programmes

BACKGROUND: Pre- and post-migration trauma due to forced migration may impact negatively on parents' ability to care for their children. Little qualitative work has examined Somali-born refugees' experiences. The aim of this study is to explore Somali-born refugees' experiences and challenges of being parents in Sweden, and the support they need in their parenting. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive study was undertaken. Data were collected from four focus group discussions (FGDs) among 23 Somali-born mothers and fathers living in a county in central Sweden. Qualitative content analysis has been applied. RESULTS: A main category, Parenthood in Transition, emerged as a description of a process of parenthood in transition. Two generic categories were identified: Challenges, and Improved parenting. Challenges emerged from leaving the home country and being new and feeling alienated in the new country. In Improved parenting, an awareness of opportunities in the new country and ways to improve their parenting was described, which includes how to improve their communication and relationship with their children. The parents described a need for information on how to culturally adapt their parenting and obtain support from the authorities. CONCLUSIONS: Parents experienced a process of parenthood in transition. They were looking to the future and for ways to improve their parenting. Schools and social services can overcome barriers that prevent lack of knowledge about the new country's systems related to parenthood. Leaving the home country often means separation from the family and losing the social network. We suggest that staff in schools and social services offer parent training classes for these parents throughout their children's childhood, with benefits for the child and family.

Evaluation of sixth grade primary schoolchildren's knowledge about avulsion and dental reimplantation

Dental trauma, particularly tooth avulsion, is a frequent cause of tooth loss in children, adolescents, and young adults. The avulsed tooth should be immediately reimplanted in its alveolus. This procedure can be performed by anyone at the accident site and not only by dental surgeons. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the knowledge of sixth graders of the city of Aracatuba, SP, about dental avulsion and tooth reimplantation through a structured and standardized survey. Our sample consisted of 778 students. The data collected was processed using the program epiinfo 2000. Most students were around 12 years of age and 94.5% related to practice some kind of sports. Results demonstrated that the possibility of tooth reimplantation after dental avulsion is not acknowledged among these students and dental traumatism was associated to caries, toothache, and use of orthodontic appliances. Only 18.9% of the students associated dental traumatism to an impact trauma; 3.6% would store the tooth in milk, and 3.1% believed the tooth could be reimplanted by anyone present at the accident site. In summary, the results show an overall the lack of knowledge about dental traumatism and highlight the need of special programs designed to educate school-aged students about emergency procedures to handle cases of dental traumatisms.

Evaluating the knowledge of sports participants regarding dental emergency procedures

Dental trauma is a common consequence of sports practice to which emergency treatment is critical. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of sports participants about dental trauma procedures, particularly tooth avulsion. A specific questionnaire concerning concepts, experiences and behaviors after dental trauma and the use of mouthguard was standardized and validated with 80 people. The validated questionnaire was then distributed to 310 sports participants. The results showed that 28.4% had experienced a kind of dental trauma; 42.6% would look for a dentist for treatment; 51.7% reimplanted or would reimplant the avulsed tooth; 6.5% would maintain the avulsed tooth in milk. Although 47.4% of the participants were aware of the possibility of accidents during sports practice, only 13.9% reported to use a mouthguard. This study showed an overall lack of knowledge of sportsmen and sportswomen with regards to tooth avulsion, thus reinforcing the need for educational campaigns to improve the immediate emergency treatment of tooth avulsion.

Dental students' knowledge of ergonomic postural requirements and their application during clinical care

Aim:To examine how much final-year undergraduate dental students know about postural dental ergonomic requirements, and how well they apply these requirements clinically.Background:Dentists are vulnerable to diverse mechanical (e.g. postural) and non-mechanical occupational risks.Materials and Methods:Eight postural requirements found in normalising documents were identified, reproduced, photographed, and analysed to develop a test of visual perception (TVP). Photographs of the 69 participating students were taken during their clinical care to ascertain ergonomics compliance, after which the students were administered the TVP. Pearson's test was used to correlate the level of knowledge (TVP) and its clinical application (photographic analysis) among the 552 observations made for each test (total of 1104 observations).Results:65.7% of the TVP questions were answered correctly and 35% of the photographic cases were in compliance with ergonomic requirements (+ 0.67, P < 0.0001).Conclusion:The knowledge of ergonomics postural requirements and their clinical application among the dental students surveyed were not satisfactory. The reasons for the learning difficulties encountered by the students should be identified to improve the learning process. The didactic use of digital images in this study may help in this endeavour.

The venomous secrets of the web droplets from the viscid spiral of the orb-weaver spider Nephila clavipes (Araneae, Tetragnatidae)

The capture web of N. clavipes presents viscous droplets, which play important roles in web mechanics and prey capture. By using scanning and transmission electron microscopy, it was demonstrated that the web droplets are constituted of different chemical environments, provided by the existence both of an aqueous and a lipid layer, which, in turn, present a suspension of tenths of vesicles containing polypeptides and/or tipids. GC/EI-MS Analysis of the contents of these vesicles led to the identification of some saturated fatty acids, such as decanoic acid, undecanoic acid, dodecanoic acid, tetradecanoic acid, octadecanoic acid, and icosanoic acid, while other components were unsaturated fatty acids, such as (Z)-tetradec-9-enoic acid, (Z)-octadec-9-enoic acid, and (Z)-icosa-11-enoic acid; and polyunsaturated fatty acids like (9Z,12Z)-octadeca-9,12-dienoic acid, (9Z,12Z,15Z)-octadeca-9,12,15-trienoic acid, and (11Z,14Z)-icosa-11,14-dienoic acid. Toxic proteins such as calcium-activated proteinase and metalloproteinase jararhagin-like precursor were also identified by using a proteomic approach, indicating the possible involvement of these enzymes in the pre-digestion of spiders' preys web-captured. Apparently, the mixture of fatty acids are relatively toxic to insects by topical application (LD50 64.3 +/- 7.6 ng mg(-1) honeybee), while the proteins alone present no topical effect; however, when injected into the prey-insects, these proteins presented a moderate toxicity (LD50 40.3 +/- 4.8 ng mg(-1) honeybee); the mixture of fatty acids and proteins is very toxic to the preys captured by the web droplets of the viscid spiral of Nephila clavipes when topically applied on them (LD50 14.3 +/- 1.8ng mg(-1) honeybee).

Software architecture for web-based project management system

This article presents software architecture for a web-based system to aid project managing, conceptually founded on guidelines of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) and on ISO/IEC 9126, as well as on the result of an empiric study done in Brazil. Based on these guidelines, this study focused on two different points of view about project management: the view of those who develop software systems to aid management and the view of those who use these systems. The designed software architecture is capable of guiding an incremental development of a quality system that will satisfy today's marketing necessities, principally those of small and medium size enterprises.

Web system to aid project management

This work describes a new web system to aid project management that was created to correct the principal deficiencies identified in systems having a common purpose which are at present available, as well as to follow the guidelines that are proposed in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) and the quality characteristics described in the ISO/IEC 9126 norm. As from the adopted methodology, the system was structured to attend the real necessities of project managers and also to contribute towards obtaining quality results from the projects. The validation of the proposed solution was done with the collaboration of professionals that used the functions available in it for a period of 15 days. Results attested to the quality and adequacy of the developed system.

Mild cognitive impairment (part 1): Clinical characteristics and predictors of dementia

Objective: To critically review and evaluate existing knowledge on the conceptual limits and clinical usefulness of the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and the neuropsychological assessment and short- and long-term prognosis thereof. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of the PubMed and Web of Science electronic databases, limited to articles published in English between 1999 and 2012. Based on the search terms mild cognitive impairment or MCI and epidemiology or diagnosis, we retrieved 1,698 articles, of which 248 were critically eligible (cross-sectional and longitudinal studies); the abstracts of the remaining 1,450 articles were also reviewed. Results: A critical review on the MCI construct is provided, including conceptual and diagnostic aspects; epidemiological relevance; clinical assessment; prognosis; and outcome. The distinct definitions of cognitive impairment, MCI included, yield clinically heterogeneous groups of individuals. Those who will eventually progress to dementia may present with symptoms consistent with the definition of MCI; conversely, individuals with MCI may remain stable or return to normal cognitive function. Conclusion: On clinical grounds, the cross-sectional diagnosis of MCI has limited prognostic relevance. The characterization of persistent and/or progressive cognitive deficits over time is a better approach for identification of cases at the pre-dementia stages, particularly if these cognitive abnormalities are consistent with the natural history of incipient Alzheimer's disease. © 2013 Associação Brasileira de Psiquiatria.

An analysis of the Hygiea asteroid family orbital region

(10) Hygiea is the fourth largest asteroid of the main belt, by volume and mass, and it is the largest member of its family, that is made mostly by low-albedo, C-type asteroids, typical of the outer main belt. Like many other large families, it is associated with a 'halo' of objects, that extends far beyond the boundary of the core family, as detected by traditional hierarchical clustering methods (HCM) in proper element domains. Numerical simulations of the orbital evolution of family members may help in estimating the family and halo family age, and the original ejection velocity field. But, in order to minimize the errors associated with including too many interlopers, it is important to have good estimates of family membership that include available data on local asteroid taxonomy, geometrical albedo and local dynamics. For this purpose, we obtained synthetic proper elements and frequencies of asteroids in the Hygiea orbital region, with their errors. We revised the current knowledge on asteroid taxonomy, including Sloan Digital Sky Survey-Moving Object Catalog 4th release (SDSS-MOC 4) data, and geometric albedo data from Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Near-Earth Object WISE (NEOWISE). We identified asteroid family members using HCM in the domain of proper elements (a, e, sin (i)) and in the domains of proper frequencies most appropriate to study diffusion in the local web of secular resonances, and eliminated possible interlopers based on taxonomic and geometrical albedo considerations. To identify the family halo, we devised a new hierarchical clustering method in an extended domain that includes proper elements, principal components PC1, PC2 obtained based on SDSS photometric data and, for the first time, WISE and NEOWISE geometric albedo. Data on asteroid size distribution, light curves and rotations were also revised for the Hygiea family. The Hygiea family is the largest group in its region, with two smaller families in proper element domain and 18 families in various frequencies domains identified in this work for the first time. Frequency groups tend to extend vertically in the (a, sin (i)) plane and cross not only the Hygiea family but also the near C-type families of Themis and Veritas, causing a mixture of objects all of relatively low albedo in the Hygiea family area. A few high-albedo asteroids, most likely associated with the Eos family, are also present in the region. Finally, the new multidomains hierarchical clustering method allowed us to obtain a good and robust estimate of the membership of the Hygiea family halo, quite separated from other asteroids families halo in the region, and with a very limited (about 3 per cent) presence of likely interlopers. © 2013 The Author Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Supernatural na web: produção e reprodução audiovisual em suporte convergente

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)