Can virtual reality improve dyslexic English students’ reading fluency and their emotional valence towards reading?

Abstract. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to compare whether a text read in a virtual environment improves the reading of English students with dyslexia in terms of fluency compared with a text laid and read on a piece of paper. Furthermore, another interest of this study is to identify how the participants’ emotional valence was aroused while reading. This master’s thesis is done with the help of Lyfta Oy, an EdTech learning company focused on 360º photos and VR learning environment. Moreover, the thesis design is based on a Lyfta’s workshops, were one the participants read an entire passage in VR without difficulties being dyslexic. Two research questions are aimed to be answered during this research: (1) Is there a difference in fluency between reading in virtual reality (VR) and on a piece of paper? And (2) How positive and negative emotions were empathized while reading? The study was carried out in the UK, were 23 Year 7, 8 and 9 students took part of the data collection. During this face, the participants were asked to read two short passages, one in VR and the other on a piece of paper, being video recorded and, they were asked to fill in two questionnaires about their emotions while reading both texts. Afterwards, the number of errors, words read per minute and prosody were quantified based on the videos, to analyze the participants’ fluency (which comprises three elements: (1) accuracy, (2) rate and (3) prosody) and to answer the first research question. The results suggested that there is not enough data to draw statistical difference between VR and paper. To answer the second research question, the questionnaires’ answers were analyzed. The results suggested that there is a statistical difference in terms of prosody and emotional valence between VR and paper. This study could have some implications in school children having dyslexia, since it might boost positive emotional valence and hence boost their motivation to practice their reading skills. Moreover, educational companies might find a motivation to research more in depth in some aspects of this research and create educational products that can beneficiate dyslexic students’ academic achievement. Also, this research could not only have an impact in dyslexic students, but in general education and other students, since the current master’s thesis continues investigating and analyzing issues that are important in the school days and everyday life of students, such as the role of emotions in the classroom and how VR can affect their emotional valence

Towards a Handwritten Text Interpretation Framework for Ancient Spanish Manuscripts

Handwritten Text Recognition is an extensively studied research topic.We implement a widely known binarization method in order to preprocess handwritten text images efficiently and accurately, acquiring adequate binary black-white images for later recognition processes. Afterwards, the characters present in the documents are used to train and evaluate deep-learning mechanisms for the recognition task. Our framework provides good source images for the recognition phase in terms of noise removal and processing of low contrast images. Besides, the process of character recognition is also improved by means of deep-learning techniques.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Towards a Handwritten Text Interpretation Framework for Ancient Spanish Manuscripts

Handwritten Text Recognition is an extensively studied research topic.We implement a widely known binarization method in order to preprocess handwritten text images efficiently and accurately, acquiring adequate binary black-white images for later recognition processes. Afterwards, the characters present in the documents are used to train and evaluate deep-learning mechanisms for the recognition task. Our framework provides good source images for the recognition phase in terms of noise removal and processing of low contrast images. Besides, the process of character recognition is also improved by means of deep-learning techniques.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Towards a Handwritten Text Interpretation Framework for Ancient Spanish Manuscripts

Handwritten Text Recognition is an extensively studied research topic.We implement a widely known binarization method in order to preprocess handwritten text images efficiently and accurately, acquiring adequate binary black-white images for later recognition processes. Afterwards, the characters present in the documents are used to train and evaluate deep-learning mechanisms for the recognition task. Our framework provides good source images for the recognition phase in terms of noise removal and processing of low contrast images. Besides, the process of character recognition is also improved by means of deep-learning techniques.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Correlación entre Estilos de Enseñanza y el Involucramiento en el Trabajo en los Docentes de la Universidad Católica San Pablo, Arequipa – 2018

El enunciado de la presente investigación se titula : “CORRELACIÓN ENTRE ESTILOS DE ENSEÑANZA Y EL INVOLUCRAMIENTO EN EL TRABAJO EN LOS DOCENTES DE UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA SAN PABLO, AREQUIPA - 2018. Para orientar el desarrollo de la investigación se planteo el siguiente objetivo general que consiste en determinar cuáles son los estilos de enseñanza más predominantes entre los docentes de la Universidad Católica San Pablo y asi mismo el involucramiento como factor importante. Para ello, se evaluó a 120 profesores universitarios mediante el Cuestionario de Estilos de Enseñanza de Grasha y la Escala de Involucramiento en el Trabajo de Lodahl y Kejner. Los datos fueron comparados en función del sexo, el grado de instrucción y la profesión de los docentes, se realizaron correlaciones y análisis de regresión para valorar la relación entre las variables de estudio. Se aplicarán dos instrumentos: el Cuestionario de Estilos de Enseñanza de Anthony Grasha y la Escala de Involucramiento en el Trabajo de Lodahl y Kejner Los resultados indican que los estilos de enseñanza más predominantes entre los profesores de la muestra fueron el Experto, el Facilitador y de Modelo personal. Asimismo, las dimensiones más altas del involucramiento laboral fueron el Compromiso con el trabajo y el Fluir en el trabajo. El involucramiento en el trabajo se relacionó de manera moderada con los estilos Experto y Modelo personal, pero solo el estilo de enseñanza Experto tuvo impacto positivo y significativo en el involucramiento en el trabajo. Palabras clave: Estilos de enseñanza, involucramiento en el trabajo, docente universitario.Tesi

Xerostomia in patients with sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome : a prospective case-control study

To describe the characteristics of xerostomia (dry mouth) in the population with sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) and contrast its prevalence versus that found in healthy subjects, and to compare the frequency of xerostomia in SAHS patients with and without continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment. A prospective comparative study was made between adults recently diagnosed with SAHS in a public hospital (n=60) and healthy individuals (n=54). The presence of xerostomia was assessed on waking up and during the day, using a frequency scale from 0 (?never?) to 3 (?always?). The prevalence of xerostomia on waking up in the SAHS group was 45%, versus 20.4% among the controls. During the rest of the day the prevalence of the symptom decreased in both the SAHS group (21.7%) and among the controls (9.3%). Multiple binary logistic regression analysis found body mass index (BMI) to be correlated to the association SAHS-xerostomia on waking up (p=0.007). Patients with moderate SAHS had a greater frequency of xerostomia than those with mild SAHS (p=0.022). The frequency of xerostomia on waking up was significantly greater in patients using CPAP than in those without such treatment (57.1% versus 16.7%, respectively) (p=0.008). The frequency of xerostomia was greater in patients with SAHS, particularly on waking up and in those receiving CPAP. The symptom was more prevalent in individuals with moderate to severe SAHS than in those with mild SAHS, and was significantly influenced by BMI

Dental caries status in adults with sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome

A study is made of dental caries in a group of adults with sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS), establishing comparisons with healthy individuals corresponding to the same population. A case-control series was analyzed, including patients with recentl

Análisis de la transición al mercado laboral de los jóvenes universitarios recién egresados.

Por medio de este TFG se analiza y desarrolla como es la transición de los jóvenes al mercado laboral una vez finalizado sus estudios de grado, como es su proceso dependiendo de las ramas de enseñanza, tipo de universidad, sexo y Comunidad Autónoma y a su vez en que condiciones se consiguen estos puestos: tipo de contrato y jornada. De esta forma se puede comparar y analizar posibles factores influyentes, teniendo como margen de exploración jóvenes desde los 20 hasta los 30 años y teniendo en cuenta el primer año después de finalizar los estudios y los cuatro años siguientes. Este informe permite afirmar que desde la crisis del 2008 la transición de los jóvenes al mercado laboral se ha hecho mucho mas tardía y que en la gran mayoría de casos las titulaciones profesionales no coinciden con los puestos de trabajo ofertados y junto a ello se suma la precariedad laboral a la que se ven sometidos al aceptar el puesto de trabajo.<br /

Estilos de enseñanza e involucramiento en el trabajo en docentes de una universidad privada de Arequipa (Perú)

In this article, the relationships between teaching styles and job involvement in lecturers, from a private university of Arequipa City, are valued. For that purpose, 120 university lecturers were tested with Grasha’s Teaching Styles Questionnaire and Lodahl and Kejner’s Job Involvement Scale. The data was compared according to sex, educational level and the profession of the lecturers, correlations and a regression analysis were made in order to value the relationship between the variables of the study. The results indicate that the most predominant teaching styles between the lecturers of the sample were: Expert, Facilitator and Personal model. Moreover, the highest job involvement dimensions were job commitment and job flow. The job involvement was moderately related to the Expert and Personal model teaching styles, but only the Expert style had a positive and significant impact in job involvement.En este artículo se valoran las relaciones entre los estilos de enseñanza y el involucramiento laboral de profesores de una universidad privada de la ciudad de Arequipa. Para ello, se evaluó a 120 profesores universitarios mediante el Cuestionario de Estilos de Enseñanza de Grasha y la Escala de Involucramiento en el Trabajo de Lodahl y Kejner. Los datos fueron comparados en función del sexo, el grado de instrucción y la profesión de los docentes, se realizaron correlaciones y análisis de regresión para valorar la relación entre las variables de estudio. Los resultados indican que los estilos de enseñanza más predominantes entre los profesores de la muestra fueron el Experto, el Facilitador y de Modelo personal. Asimismo, las dimensiones más altas del involucramiento laboral fueron el Compromiso con el trabajo y el Fluir en el trabajo. El involucramiento en el trabajo se relacionó de manera moderada con los estilos Experto y Modelo personal, pero solo el estilo de enseñanza Experto tuvo impacto positivo y significativo en el involucramiento en el trabajo