1,619 research outputs found

    Accessibility and dimensionality: enhanced real time creative independence for digital musicians with quadriplegic cerebral palsy

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    Inclusive music activities for people with physical disabilities commonly emphasise facilitated processes, based both on constrained gestural capabilities, and on the simplicity of the available interfaces. Inclusive music processes employ consumer controllers, computer access tools and/or specialized digital musical instruments (DMIs). The first category reveals a design ethos identified by the authors as artefact multiplication -- many sliders, buttons, dials and menu layers; the latter types offer ergonomic accessibility through artefact magnification. We present a prototype DMI that eschews artefact multiplication in pursuit of enhanced real time creative independence. We reconceptualise the universal click-drag interaction model via a single sensor type, which affords both binary and continuous performance control. Accessibility is optimized via a familiar interaction model and through customized ergonomics, but it is the mapping strategy that emphasizes transparency and sophistication in the hierarchical correspondences between the available gesture dimensions and expressive musical cues. Through a participatory and progressive methodology we identify an ostensibly simple targeting gesture rich in dynamic and reliable features: (1) contact location; (2) contact duration; (3) momentary force; (4) continuous force, and; (5) dyad orientation. These features are mapped onto dynamic musical cues, most notably via new mappings for vibrato and arpeggio execution

    Planetary science

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    The following types of experiments for a proposed Space Station Microgravity Particle Research Facility are described: (1) low velocity collisions between fragile particles; (2) low velocity collisions of ice particles; (3) plasma-dust interaction; and (4) aggregation of finely-comminuted geological materials. The required capabilities and desired hardware for the facility are detailed

    At the Corner of Main and Wall Street: Family Pension Responses to Liquidity Change and Perceived Returns

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    Working Paper: WP 2012-282The U. S. economy experienced a shift away from employment with coverage under a defined benefit (DB) pension plan during 1991-2009. Defined contribution (DC) plan coverage seems not to have risen much, if at all, for married men in the recent decade. Overall, the percent of the labor force covered by any pension type fell over the period 2001-2009, with most of the shift occurring in 2001-2003, as indicated by data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We seek to determine the factors that lead families to lose or gain DC coverage and to put money into their private pensions or to draw money out of private pensions and annuities prior to age 65. The importance of such discretionary participation and savings responses is accentuated by both the presence of DC pensions, and, presumably, learning that such pensions can be used to stabilize finances prior to retirement. Besides the impact of the overall economic climate, individual, family level events and cash flow changes are expected to play a role in the decision to add to or withdraw from a DC pension plan. Preliminary studies suggest that the savings response by households to recent economic uncertainties during 2009-2011, was greater overall savings and an increase in liquid asset holding, a result consistent with classic predictions of a response to economic turmoil. Overall, pension fund inflows have not been a part of the increase in private saving in the Great Recession.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95914/1/wp282.pd

    Miopatia Pós-Anestésica em Equino - Relato de Caso

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    TCC(graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Campus Curitibanos. Medicina Veterinária.O presente trabalho tem como objetivo descrever um caso de miopatia pós-anestésica em um equino atendido no Hospital Veterinário da Universidade Federal do Paraná - UFPR Curitiba, permanecendo internado por um período de cinco dias, sendo eutanasiado no quinto dia. A miopatia é uma das principais complicações pós-anestésicas em equinos, que ocorre devido ao procedimento de longa duração, decúbito e mal acolchoamento da mesa cirúrgica. Os animais acometidos têm dificuldade em se manter em pé, músculos firmes palpáveis e sinais de dor intensa. Os fármacos utilizados também interferem na ocorrência da miopatia, devido a hipotensão. O tratamento de miopatia é de suporte fluido venoso e vasodilatadores para promover o fluxo sanguíneo periférico e anti-inflamatórios para auxiliar na restauração da função muscular.The present study aims to describe a case of postanesthetic myopathy in an equine treated at the Veterinary Hospital of UFPR Curitiba, staying interned for a period of five days, being euthanized on the fifth day. Myopathy is one the main postanesthetic complications in horses, due to long-term procedure, decubitus and poor cushioning of the surgical table. The affected animals have difficulty in standing, firm palpable muscles and signs of intense pain. The drugs used also interfere with the occurrence of myopathy due to hypotension. The treatment of myopathy is supportive, venous fluid and vasodilators to promote peripheral blood flow and anti-inflammatory to assist in restoring muscle function
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