Realidad Virtual para personas que tienen discapacidad motora

A día de hoy las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) avanzan de manera exponencial. Cada día surge un invento nuevo que nos permite alcanzar nuevas metas hasta antes inalcanzables. Este avance tan asombroso debe estar disponible para todos los sectores de la sociedad y es deber de la sociedad luchar por que esto se cumpla. Personas en situación de discapacidad (PSD) se ven en graves dificultades para poder disfrutar de estas tecnologías: algo tan simple como ver un vídeo en Internet o escribir un correo electrónico puede ser una tarea casi imposible. Afortunadamente, existen herramientas, como los sistemas de comandos por voz o sistemas de eye tracking, que permiten realizar estas tareas. Actualmente, la Realidad Virtual(VR) es una de las TIC en auge y nos está permitiendo dar rienda suelta a nuestra imaginación. En concreto, un sistema de gafas de realidad virtual como las Oculus Rift o las Google Cardboard nos brinda la oportunidad de descubrir nuevas sensaciones y nueva maneras de interaccionar con un PC con ciertas adaptaciones simples. A razón de esto, y analizando los patrones de movimiento descritos en personas en situación de discapacidad, se puede desarrollar un sistema que permita el uso de las TIC de una manera básica(navegar por Internet, ver un vídeo, escribir un email, etc) como una nueva idea de interacción con el sistema. En este trabajo de fin de grado se presenta un sistema capaz de dar los primeros pasos hacia la realización de dicha idea. Con este sistema se puede navegar por Internet (ver videos, consultar páginas, escribir un email,etc) a través de unas gafas de realidad virtual denominadas Oculus Rift y de un sistema de interacción basados en eventos generados por el tiempo que mantiene el usuario la mirada en los elementos gráficos del sistema. También se implementa el uso de un teclado virtual para dar respuesta al problema de la escritura que se presenta al tratar de escribir con el sistema de interacción por mirada. Con esto se consigue que el usuario final pueda interaccionar con la web para escribir emails o similar en una primera aproximación y de manera básica. Por último, se presentan dos breves experimentos. En el primero se pretende observar los efectos secundarios que ocurren en el ser humano tras el uso de un sistema de gafas de VR. Como resultados se pudo observar que los sujetos podían llegar a sufrir mareos y distorsión de la realidad como ya se sabía de antemano. En el segundo experimento se hizo un test de usabilidad evaluando los tiempos del sistema respecto al uso del teclado y ratón. Se observó que, como cabía esperar, el sistema era más lento que con el uso de ratón y teclado. Sin entrenamiento previo se registró siete veces más lento en valor promedio frente al ratón y al teclado. Con un entrenamiento breve, este dato bajó a cinco veces mas lento en promedio. Aun así los tiempos marcados con el uso del sistema entran en un rango razonable.Today, Information and Communication Technologies (TIC) advance exponentially. Everyday new inventions appear allowing us to achieve new goals previously unattainable. These amazing breakthroughs should be available for all society sectors and it is its duty to fight for this to become real. People with disabilities have serious difficulties to enjoy these technologies: something as simple as watching a video on the Internet or write an email can be an almost impossible task. Fortunately, there are tools such as voice command systems or eye tracking systems which help them to accomplish them. At present, Virtual Reality (VR) is an increasingly popular ICT and it is allowing us expand the creative limits of the field. In particular, systems of virtual reality glasses as Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard give the opportunity to discover new sensations and new ways of interacting with a PC just by adding a few simple adjustments. Because of this, and analyzing movement patterns described in people with disabilities, a system that grants the use of ICT in a basic way (browsing, watching a video, writing an email, etc) can be developed for them as a new way to interact with the system. In this paper, a system capable of taking the first steps towards the realization of this idea is presented. With this system it is possible browse (watch videos, consult information, write an email, etc.) through a virtual reality glasses known as Oculus Rift and a system of interaction based on events generated by the time the user maintains its look on the graphic elements of the system. It also implements a virtual keyboard to address the problem of writing that occurs when trying to write through the system of interaction look. This enables the final user to interact with the web to write emails or similar in a first approximation and basic way. Finally, two brief experiments are presented. The first one intended to monitor the side effects manifested by the human being after using VR glasses system. As a result, it was shown that the users were likely to suffer of dizziness or distortion of reality, as previously known. The second experiment consisted in an usability test, monitoring the system times regarding the mouse and keyboard use. Without previous training, seven times slower average value was recorded facing the use of mouse and keyboard. With a brief training, this was reduced to five times slower on average. Yet, the time datum registered remained in a reasonable range

Identificaçao de estirpes de Escherichia coli Diarreiogenicas por PCR-Multiplex

Orientadora: Cyntia Maria Telles Fadel PichethCo-orientador: Emanuel Maltempi de SouzaDissertaçao (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciencias da Saúde, Programa de Pós-Graduaçao em Ciencias Farmaceuticas. Defesa: Curitiba, 31/03/2008Inclui bibliografia e anexoÁrea de concentraçao: Análises clínica

Perchlorate and Thiocyanate Exposure and Thyroid Function in First-Trimester Pregnant Women

Context: Thyroid hormone, requiring adequate maternal iodine intake, is critical for fetal neurodevelopment. Perchlorate decreases thyroidal iodine uptake by competitively inhibiting the sodium/iodide symporter. It is unclear whether environmental perchlorate exposure adversely affects thyroid function in pregnant women. Thiocyanate, derived from foods and cigarette smoke, is a less potent competitive sodium/iodide symporter inhibitor than perchlorate. Objective: Our objective was to determine whether environmental perchlorate and/or thiocyanate exposure is associated with alterations in thyroid function in pregnancy. Design and Setting: We conducted a cross-sectional study at health centers in Cardiff, Wales, and Turin, Italy. Patients: During 2002During -2006,000 women at less than 16 wk gestation were enrolled in the Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Screening Study. Subsets of 261 hypothyroid/hypothyroxinemic and 526 euthyroid women from Turin and 374 hypothyroid/hypothyroxinemic and 480 euthyroid women from Cardiff were selected based on availability of stored urine samples and thyroid function data. Main Outcome Measures: Urinary iodine, thiocyanate, and perchlorate and serum TSH, free T 4 (FT 4 ), and thyroperoxidase antibody were measured. Results: Urinary iodine was low: median 98 g/liter in Cardiff and 52 g/liter in Turin. Urine perchlorate was detectable in all women. The median (range) urinary perchlorate concentration was 5 g/liter (0.04 -168 g/liter) in Turin and 2 g/liter (0.02-368 g/liter) in Cardiff. There were no associations between urine perchlorate concentrations and serum TSH or FT 4 in the individual euthyroid or hypothyroid/hypothyroxinemic cohorts. In multivariable linear analyses, log perchlorate was not a predictor of serum FT 4 or TSH. Conclusions: Low-level perchlorate exposure is ubiquitous but did not affect thyroid function in this cohort of iodine-deficient pregnant women. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 95: 3207-3215, 2010