Effort reduction and collision avoidance for powered wheelchairs : SCAD assistive mobility system

The new research described in this dissertation created systems and methods to assist wheelchair users and provide them with new realistic and interesting driving opportunities. The work also created and applied novel effort reduction and collision avoidance systems and some new electronic interactive devices. A Scanning Collision Avoidance Device (SCAD) was created that attached to standard powered wheelchairs to help prevent children from driving into things. Initially, mechanical bumpers were used but they made many wheelchairs unwieldy, so a novel system that rotated a single ultra-sonic transducer was created. The SCAD provided wheelchair guidance and assisted with steering. Optical side object detectors were included to cover blind spots and also assist with doorway navigation. A steering lockout mode was also included for training, which stopped the wheelchair from driving towards a detected object. Some drivers did not have sufficient manual dexterity to operate a reverse control. A reverse turn manoeuvring mode was added that applied a sequential reverse and turn function, enabling a driver to escape from a confined situation by operating a single turn control. A new generation of Proportional SCAD was created that operated with proportional control inputs rather than switches and new systems were created to reduce veer, including effort reduction systems. New variable switches were created that provided variable speed control in place of standard digital switches and all that research reduced the number of control actions required by a driver. Finally, some new systems were created to motivate individuals to try new activities. These included a track guided train and an adventure playground that including new interactive systems. The research was initially inspired by the needs of young people at Chailey Heritage, the novel systems provided new and more autonomous driving opportunities for many powered wheelchair users in less structured environments.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Motor skill acquisition in children with poor motor coordination

Physical Activity is essential for growth, development and wellbeing. Children with poor motor coordination are known to have lower levels of participation in physical activity and exercise in comparison to their typically developing peers, at least partly due to the difficulty in acquiring the motor skills they need for participation. Reduced participation in physical activity in childhood increases the risk of developing obesity, cardiovascular disease and psychosocial problems which persist throughout adolescence and adulthood. Poor motor coordination in these children has been largely attributed to their difficulty in acquiring and performing motor skills. However, motor skill acquisition is not yet well understood in this group, in particular whether these children are able to improve the quality of their movement and the pattern of motor skill acquisition. The following thesis aims to investigate the motor skill acquisition in a group of children with motor coordination difficulties and is comprised of two main studies. The first one aims at creating a simple and easy tool for screening coordination in large cohorts of children in mainstream schools in order to identify children with poor motor coordination. The second study is a pilot/feasibility study aimed at informing the implementation of a fully powered follow-up motor learning intervention trial. It involved detection of a sample of children with poor motor coordination using the designed screening tool in 3 mainstream schools and recruiting them into a physical training intervention with an embedded practice of a novel rhythmic stepping task. The characteristics of their performance throughout the training program were investigated by instrumenting the stepping ask and comparing the performance with a group of children with normal motor coordination. Applying a reduction analysis on a large set of motor screening data (which included test items from The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Short Form (BOT-SF) as well as Fundamental Movement Skill), we successfully designed a test which has face validity for detection of children with poor coordination. Using this test, we screened a total of 571 students (273 females and 298 males) from 3 main stream schools in Oxfordshire and invited students who scored below the 25th percentile on our screening test (117; 53 girls and 64 boys) to an 11 week training intervention. Thirty-three students attended the intervention (21 girls and 12 boys) with a great difference in recruitment and retention rates between the schools. The learning of the novel motor skill was measured by analysis of the participants’ performance on a novel stepping task, in which they stepped rhythmically in accordance to a sequence of visual stimuli presented on a computer screen. The performance (movement time), measured using accelerometry, was significantly worse in children with coordination problems (p<.001) mean±SD= 1.193±.036. Importantly, children with poor motor coordination were able to improve their performance on the task with no significant differences between the groups. However, we observed a tendency for difference in the pattern of improvement over time (p=.06). Given the nature of the conducted studies, i.e. as feasibility studies, our findings don’t allow of a straightforward generalisation. Still, they entail important implications in clinical and school-based training interventions, directed towards children with poor motor coordination, and it is recommended that a follow-up trial take place which takes into account the suggestions mentioned in this thesis with regards to the involvement of schools, importance of applying successful recruitment strategy and the requirements of successful intervention

Investigation Into the Physical Environmental Correlates of Aggressive Behaviour in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs)

Background: Physical environmental influences on childhood aggression in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities is a severely under-researched research locus. The aim of this doctorate was to elucidate specific associations between children’s developmental environment and aggressive behaviours, using this evidence to reciprocally inform an experimental psychology project to investigate underlying mechanisms. To explore these effects, the programme of study was broadly divided into three reflexive workstreams using diverse research methodologies. Methods: In the first workstream, I conducted a systematic review of the current literature examining physical environmental influences on childhood aggressive behaviours in both typically developing children (aged 0 – 18) and those diagnosed with NDDs. The literature on children with NDDs was substantially limited in comparison to peers without NDDs. The second workstream was comprised of a large-scale secondary data analysis (multiply imputed growth curve modelling) to investigate environmental influences on conduct problems across early development. I used data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to assess how physical environmental metrics, such as neighbourhood greenspace, air pollution, household crowding, and presence of home damp influenced the development and severity of conduct problems in children with (n=8013) and without NDDs (n=155) between the ages of 3 – 11 years. Finally, building upon evidence from the previous two workstreams, I designed a proof-of-principle psychological experiment to examine the influence of urban nature exposure on children with NDDs. Specifically, simulating a real-world urban greenspace using a Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory (PEARL). This facilitated the ability to manipulate and isolate individual environmental aspects of urban nature exposure (light, sound, and projection). Following ethical review and approval, I recruited 3 children (100% male) with mild and moderate intellectual disability aged between 12 – 15 years (Mean age = 14) attending a local school for children with special educational needs. We examined their physiological reactions to four simulated urban green space aspects (light, sound, landscape projections, and vegetation) against a baseline control condition. I also collected demographic information on parent reported aggressive behaviours, exposure to local greenspace(s), physical and mental health history, medication, and adaptive behaviours (ABAS-3). This research lays the foundation for future large scale experimental paradigms that can disentangle the effects of nature exposure in these children, with the aim of translating these findings into real world therapeutic design interventions and relevant policy changes to improve the quality of the built environment for these children. Findings: From articles retrieved from my systematic review I found evidence for the beneficial influences of nature in both populations, and simultaneously negative effects of both noise and air pollution in typically developing children only. Evidence for other environmental aspects such as crowding, music, urbanicity, meteorology, and interior design had either insufficient or inconsistent evidence to extrapolate concreate conclusions. More evidence on the effect of these exposures on child aggression outcomes is recommended. From the analysis of the MCS cohort I found various sociodemographic factors (ethnicity, sex, poverty, family structure, maternal distress) and internal residential conditions were associated with increased childhood conduct problem trajectories in both groups of children. I also discovered potential evidence of a moderating influence effect of intellectual disability on the relationship between spatial density and conduct problems. From the final experimental project, I report preliminary evidence for the influence of urban greenspaces to reduce physiological arousal in children with complex neurodisability profiles. Initial evidence for the hierarchical nature of urban greenspace sensorial aspects was reported, for example: that urban nature soundscapes maybe a more influential environmental stimuli than lighting or landscape projections. Conclusion: Drawing together multi-disciplinary research methodologies facilitated the ability to identify disparities in research examining physical environmental determinants of aggression in neurodiverse child populations. Reciprocally, the systematic review and secondary data analysis contributed incrementally to filling this lacuna of research. Using findings from these two work streams, I identified that exploring the potentially therapeutic influences of urban nature exposure on children with neurodevelopmental disorders may provide novel indicators of its aetiological mechanisms. I reported original findings supporting these research aims, elucidating the potential hierarchical nature of urban greenspace elements. This was also the first study of its kind reporting the potential for simulated urban park spaces to reduce physiological arousal in neurodivergent children with aggressive behavioural difficulties

Assessing options for the measurement of movement behaviours of pre-school children at scale

A recent paradigm shift suggests that the components of movement behaviour (physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep) of pre-school children, which are important for child health, should be examined collectively rather than in isolation. Furthermore, there is evidence of inequalities of these behaviours, which in turn impacts on inequalities in child health. The validity, reliability, and feasibility of existing measurement tools for assessing movement behaviour in pre-school children is unclear. The aim of this doctoral research was to develop a measurement tool for public health purposes (thus a proxy reported tool) which assesses the movement behaviours of pre-school aged children. Critical reviews of the existing literature found that there are currently no valid, reliable, and feasible measurement tools to assess movement behaviours in pre-school children. These reviews highlighted the need to address this gap in knowledge by developing a novel proxy reported measurement tool that is feasible and acceptable, as well as valid and reliable, for assessing movement behaviours of pre-school aged children. Focus groups with parents and carers of pre-school children from deprived areas in the UK provided qualitative insights on the acceptability and feasibility of existing measurement tools, including their views on the presentation of proxy reported tools (e.g. age appropriate activities, preference for real-time recording over recall). These parents and carers also co-developed a novel measurement tool ‘Movement Measurement in the Early Years’ (MoveMEY), alongside input from topic expert researchers. Working with a different group of pre-school children and their parents and carers, MoveMEY was pilot tested to determine the content validity of the tool. The tool was found to comprise of relevant items, be comprehensive of children’s movement behaviours, and understandable to parents. MoveMEY is a promising tool for the measurement of all components of movement behaviours in pre-school children and is ready for further validation

Inclusive education for learners with Down syndrome : the role of the educational psychologist

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002.Page ii of digitised copy missing due to the condition of the original hard copy.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: no abstract availableAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie bestudeer die rol wat die opvoedkundige sielkundige kan speel in die ondersteuning van leerders met Downsindroom tydens die insluiting tot hoofstroomonderwys. Die studie vind plaas in 'n tydperk waar postmoderne denke en demokratisering van onderwys in Suid-Afrika te voorskyn kom. Hierdie tipe studie is relevant. aangesien huidige beleidsdokumente klem Ie op die demokratisering van onderwys en die transformasie na inklusiewe onderwys. Die Universiteit van Pretoria het in samewerking met die Universiteit van Stellenbosch 'n lootsprojek geinisieer waarin inklusiewe onderwys bestudeer is. Die projek het bestaan uit 'n gevallestudie van tien leerders met Downsindroom wat gedurende 1996 in verskillende hoofstroom kleuterskole geplaas is, waartydens hulle 'n leergereedheidsprogram gevolg het. Gedurende 1997 is die leerders in graad eenklasse in die hoofstroom geplaas. Die leerders se agtergrond was divers ten aansien van hul onderrig, maar die meeste van hulle was eers in spesiale skole. Die doel van die studie was om die leerders, ouers en onderwysers te ondersteun en verdere ondersteuning in a trans-disslplinere span te koordineer. Die waarneming en temas wat in hierdie studie na yore gekom het, beklemtoon dat diagnose, evaluasie en terapeutiese ondersteuning binne 'n ekosistemiese raamwerk belangrik is vir leerders met Downsindroom wat in die hoofstroom geplaas word. Die konsep van holistiese gesondheidsontwikkeling word beklemtoon in die transformasie van onderwys in Suid-Afrika. Opvoedkundige sielkundiges moet hulself dus ook strategies posisioneer. Gedurende die studie is die volgende rolle vir die opvoedkundige sielkundige ge"identifiseer: psigoterapeut, assessor/evalueerder, fasiliteerder, navorser/reflektiewe praktisyn, vakspesialis, konsultant, bestuurder en administratiewe rol en laastens die rol van ontwikkelingsfasiliteerder. Dit is ook belangrik dat die opvoedkundige sielkundige die rol as fasiliteerder van geestesgesondheid vertolk

SPATIAL TRANSFORMATION PATTERN DUE TO COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY IN KAMPONG HOUSE

ABSTRACT Kampung houses are houses in kampung area of the city. Kampung House oftenly transformed into others use as urban dynamics. One of the transfomation is related to the commercial activities addition by the house owner. It make house with full private space become into mixused house with more public spaces or completely changed into full public commercial building. This study investigate the spatial transformation pattern of the kampung houses due to their commercial activities addition. Site observations, interviews and questionnaires were performed to study the spatial transformation. This study found that in kampung houses, the spatial transformation pattern was depend on type of commercial activities and owner perceptions, and there are several steps of the spatial transformation related the commercial activity addition. Keywords: spatial transformation pattern; commercial activity; owner perception, kampung house; adaptabilit

Vision 21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace

The symposium Vision-21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace was held at the NASA Lewis Research Center on March 30-31, 1993. The purpose of the symposium was to simulate interdisciplinary thinking in the sciences and technologies which will be required for exploration and development of space over the next thousand years. The keynote speakers were Hans Moravec, Vernor Vinge, Carol Stoker, and Myron Krueger. The proceedings consist of transcripts of the invited talks and the panel discussion by the invited speakers, summaries of workshop sessions, and contributed papers by the attendees