Playful haptic environment for engaging visually impaired learners with geometric shapes

This thesis asserts that modern developments in technology have not been used as extensively as they could to aid blind people in their learning objectives. The same could also be said of many aspects of other areas of their lives. In particular in many countries blind students are discouraged from learning mathematics because of the intrinsically visual nature of many of the topics and particularly geometry. For many young people mathematics is also not a subject that is easily or willingly tackled. The research presented here has thus sort to answer whether a playful haptic environment could be developed which would be attractive to blind users to learn and interact with geometric concepts. In the study a software tool using a haptic interface was developed with certain playful characteristics. The environment developed sought to give the blind users practice in interacting with three dimensional geometric shapes and the investigation of the size of these shapes and their cross-section. The playful elements were enhanced by adding elements of competition such as scores and time limits which promote competition between the users. The tests have shown that blind users can easily use the system to learn about three dimensional shapes and that practice increases their confidence in recognising shape and size of these objects

Relationships among meaning in life, religiosity and life satisfaction in families of people with disabilities

Το νόημα στη ζωή και η θρησκευτικότητα έχει βρεθεί ότι σχετίζονται θετικά με την ικανοποίηση από τη ζωή σε άτομα με αναπηρία (ΑμεΑ) ή σε μέλη των οικογενειών τους. Στην παρούσα έρευνα εξετάζεται αν η παρουσία ή/και η αναζήτηση νοήματος διαμεσολαβούν στη σχέση της θρησκευτικότητας (που εξετάζεται ως "πίστη στον Θεό/σε μια ανώτερη δύναμη" και "συμμετοχή σε θρησκευτικές πρακτικές") με την ικανοποίηση από τη ζωή που βιώνουν μέλη οικογενειών με ΑμεΑ (που περιλαμβάνει την "ικανοποίηση από την προσωπική/συναισθηματική ζωή", το "αίσθημα του ανήκειν" και την "ικανοποίηση από τους στόχους"). Τα ευρήματα έδειξαν ότι οι συμμετέχοντες (Ν = 101) βιώνουν την παρουσία νοήματος σε μεγαλύτερο βαθμό από ό,τι αναζητούν νόημα στη ζωή τους, έχουν μέτρια επίπεδα θρησκευτικότητας και είναι αρκετά ικανοποιημένοι από τη ζωή τους. Η παρουσία νοήματος είχε υψηλότερες συσχετίσεις με όλες σχεδόν τις εξεταζόμενες υποκλίμακες από ό,τι η αναζήτηση νοήματος. Τα αποτελέσματα επιβεβαίωσαν γενικά την υπόθεση ότι το νόημα στη ζωή διαμεσολαβεί σε υψηλό βαθμό στη σχέση της θρησκευτικότητας με την ικανοποίηση από τη ζωή που βιώνουν τα μέλη οικογενειών με ΑμεΑ. Συγκεκριμένα, βρέθηκε ότι η παρουσία νοήματος (αλλά όχι και η αναζήτηση) αποτελεί μια ισχυρή διαμεσολαβητική μεταβλητή στη σχέση ανάμεσα στην πίστη στον Θεό/σε μια ανώτερη δύναμη και τη συνολική ικανοποίηση από τη ζωή, καθώς και τις διαστάσεις της "ικανοποίηση από την προσωπική/συναισθηματική ζωή", "αίσθημα του ανήκειν" και "ικανοποίηση από τους στόχους". Αντίθετα, η παρουσία νοήματος δεν διαμεσολαβεί στη σχέση ανάμεσα στην ενασχόληση με θρησκευτικές πρακτικές και στην ικανοποίηση από τη ζωή. Τα ευρήματα αυτά αναμένεται να είναι χρήσιμα για την υποστήριξη των οικογενειών με ΑμεΑ από τους ειδικούς της ψυχικής υγείας. Meaning in life and religiosity have been found to be positively associated with life satisfaction in people with disabilities (PWDs) or their family members. The present study examines whether the presence of meaning and/or the search for meaning mediate the relationship between religiosity (i.e., religious beliefs and participation) and life satisfaction (i.e., "satisfaction with personal/emotional life", "feeling of belonging" and "satisfaction with life goals") reported by members of families with PWDs. The participants (N = 101) reported higher levels of presence of meaning than search for meaning, moderate levels of religiosity and quite high levels of life satisfaction. The presence of meaning correlated higher than the search for meaning with almost all the subscales examined. Results largely confirmed our hypothesis that meaning in life significantly mediates the relationship of religiosity with life satisfaction experienced by family members of PWDs. In particular, the presence of meaning (but not the search for meaning) was found to be a strong mediating variable in the relationship between belief in God/a higher power and overall life satisfaction, as well as its dimensions "satisfaction with personal/emotional life", "feeling of belonging" and "satisfaction with life goals". In contrast, the presence of meaning did not mediate the relationship between participating in religious practices and being satisfied with life. These findings may be helpful to mental health professionals in supporting families with PWDs

Physical anhedonia in the acute phase of schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: The aim of the current study is to investigate the relationship between physical anhedonia and psychopathological parameters, pharmacological parameters or motor side-effects in a sample of inpatients with schizophrenia in an acute episode of their illness. METHOD: Eighty one patients with schizophrenia, consecutively admitted, with an acute episode of their illness, at the Eginition Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, University of Athens, during a one-year period were investigated regarding possible relationships between physical anhedonia, social-demographic data and clinical parameters as well as motor side-effects, induced by antipsychotic agents. All patients were assessed using the Chapman Revised Physical Anhedonia Scale (RPAS), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Rating Scale for Extrapyramidal Side-Effects (EPSE), the Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale (BARS) and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). Simple cross tabulations were initially employed. Subsequently, multiple regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: Both positive and negative symptoms were associated with physical anhedonia. A positive association between physical anhedonia and the non-paranoid sub-category of schizophrenia was also proved. CONCLUSION: According to these results, it seems that in the acute phase of schizophrenia, physical anhedonia may be a contributing factor to patient's psychopathology

A falls prevention programme to improve quality of life, physical function and falls efficacy in older people receiving home help services: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Falls and fall-related injuries in older adults are associated with great burdens, both for the individuals, the health care system and the society. Previous research has shown evidence for the efficiency of exercise as falls prevention. An understudied group are older adults receiving home help services, and the effect of a falls prevention programme on health-related quality of life is unclear. The primary aim of this randomised controlled trial is to examine the effect of a falls prevention programme on quality of life, physical function and falls efficacy in older adults receiving home help services. A secondary aim is to explore the mediating factors between falls prevention and health-related quality of life. METHODS: The study is a single-blinded randomised controlled trial. Participants are older adults, aged 67 or older, receiving home help services, who are able to walk with or without walking aids, who have experienced at least one fall during the last 12 months and who have a Mini Mental State Examination of 23 or above. The intervention group receives a programme, based on the Otago Exercise Programme, lasting 12 weeks including home visits and motivational telephone calls. The control group receives usual care. The primary outcome is health-related quality of life (SF-36). Secondary outcomes are leg strength, balance, walking speed, walking habits, activities of daily living, nutritional status and falls efficacy. All measurements are performed at baseline, following intervention at 3 months and at 6 months' follow-up. Sample size, based on the primary outcome, is set to 150 participants randomised into the two arms, including an estimated 15-20% drop out. Participants are recruited from six municipalities in Norway. DISCUSSION: This trial will generate new knowledge on the effects of an exercise falls prevention programme among older fallers receiving home help services. This knowledge will be useful for clinicians, for health managers in the primary health care service and for policy makers

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente