Making the internet accessible for people with cognitive and communication impairments.

This paper presents some of the work of the EU WWAAC project (World Wide Augmentative and Al-ternative Communication), which aims to make the elec-tronic highway more accessible to people with cognitive and communication impairments, in particular those us-ing symbols instead of text to communicate. Few spe-cific guidelines are available to make sites truly accessi-ble and usable for these user groups. We propose that guidelines are required for two purposes: to design stan-dard Web pages for use by the general public, including a wide range of older people and people with disabili-ties, and also to design Web pages specifically for par-ticular impairment groups, e.g. for symbol users in their personal, educational and employment activities. Not only should the guidelines be relevant to particular user groups, they must also be • accessible—that Web developers can easily find the most relevant guidelines, and • usable—that Web developers can easily put those guidelines into practice

The Cappella Palatina Ceiling and the Muslim Military Inheritance of Norman Sicily

The Cappella Palatina was the royal chapel of the Norman rulers of Sicily and southern Italy. It stood within their palace in their chief city of Palermo. Built for king Roger II (1130-1154) between the years 1132 and 1143, the chapel still has as one of its greatest glories a painted wooden ceiling. This ceiling, which is constructed in an Islamic style, is widely believed to have been begun around 1140.Consultar resumen en inglés

The Monreale Capitals and the Military Equipment of Later Norman Sicily

The carved capitals of the Monreale Cathedral cloister near Palermo in Sicily are widely recognised as superb examples of south European Romanesque art. They have been discussed in relation to Romanesque carvings throughout Italy and southern France, and have been used to demonstrate the varying degrees of Islamic influence apparent in Sicilian and southern Italian sculpture.Los capiteles tallados del claustro de la Catedral de Monreale, cerca de Palermo, Sicilia, son reconocidos como un magnífico ejemplo del arte románico del sur de Europa. Han sido estudiados y discutidos en comparación con otros similares de otras zonas de Italia y del sur de Francia, y utilizados para demostrar el variable grado de influencia islámica en la escultura siciliana y del sur de Italia. [traducido por la redacción

Two swords from the foundation of Gibraltar

The two swords plus their associated acabbard and belt or baldric fragments which were found in Matin’s Cave, Gibraltar, date from the 12th century AD. Such dating is supporting the design to the objects themselves, their cultural-historical context, and their varied decoration. This evidence is also used to propose that the ensemble was all of Andalusian of North African origin, and as such represents an almost unique survival of 12th century western Islamic military equipment.Las dos espadas, junto con sus correspondientes vainas y restos de cinto o tahalí, halladas en Martin’s Cave (Gibraltar), deben fecharse en el siglo XII d.C. Esta datación se basa en la tipología de los objetos, en su contexto histórico-cultural, y en su variada decoración. Estos datos se emplean también para proponer que el conjunto es de origen Andalusí o Norteafricano, y que por tanto representan un caso casi único de preservación de equipo militar islámico occidental del s. XII

Cresting on Arrows from the Citadel of Damascus

A substantial number of arrow fragments were found during an excavation in the Citadel of Damascus. They date from the very late Mamlūk and probably very early Ottoman periods (late 15th to early 16th centuries CE). The arrows are typical of this period and of Turco-Islamic archery in general, having similarities with fragmentary and occasionally complete arrows from Central and Inner Asia, especially where their nocks are concerned. One of the most distinctive features of the Damascus Citadel arrow fragments is their cresting (painted colouring around, within, and next to the nocks). A variety of patterns can be identified. These can be grouped according to colour, number and size of rings. Although cresting is barely mentioned in medieval written texts, one may to assume that it was primarily functional and provided a means of identifying the arrows. What remains unclear is the purpose of such identification, whether it concerned ownership of an arrow or was to identify a type of arrow and arrowhead. A substantial number of arrow fragments with arrowheads attached were also found in the Citadel of Damascus, but are too fragmentary for a connection to be made between types of arrowhead and the different designs of cresting.Lors de fouilles dans la citadelle de Damas, un nombre important de fragments de flèches a été mis au jour. Ils sont probablement datables de la toute fin de la période mamelouke et du début des Ottomans (fin xve‑début xvie s.). Les flèches appartiennent typiquement à cette période et sont représentatives de l’archerie turco-islamique en général, montrant des similitudes avec des fragments et parfois des flèches complètes d’Asie centrale et intérieure, particulièrement en ce qui concerne leur encoche. L’une des caractéristiques des fragments trouvés dans la citadelle de Damas est leur décoration : elle prend la forme d’une coloration autour, à l’intérieur et à côté des encoches. Divers modèles ont pu être identifiés en fonction de la couleur, du nombre et de la taille des anneaux. Bien que ces décorations soient à peine mentionnées dans les sources médiévales, on peut supposer qu’elles furent principalement fonctionnelles et permettaient d’identifier des types de flèches. On s’interroge toutefois sur les raisons d’une telle identification : s’agissait-il d’un marquage propre à leur propriétaire où était‑ce le moyen d’identifier des types de flèches en fonction de leur pointe ? À Damas, des fragments de flèches avec pointes ont également été trouvés sans qu’il soit possible de mettre en relation des types de flèche avec les différents modèles de décoration.أثناء الحفريات في قلعة دمشق اكتشف عدد كبير من قطع السهام التي يعود تاريخها، على أغلب الظن، إلى أواخر العصر المملوكي وأوائل العصر العثماني (نهاية القرن الخامس عشر ـ بداية السادس عشر ميلادي). تنتمي هذه السهام إلى تلك العصور على وجه الخصوص وهي تمثل أنموذجاً من فن رمي السهام التركي-الإسلامي بشكل عام، حيث أنها تشبه قطعاً من السهام وأحياناً سهاماً كاملة من آسيا الوسطى والداخلية وعلى وجه التحديد ما يخص حزّها. إحدى ميزات هذه القطع التي عُثر عليها في قلعة دمشق هي زخرفتها وتلوين جوانب الحزّ ووسطه. لقد تم تحديد عدة نماذج بفضل لون الحلقات وعددها وحجمها. ذلك أن مصادر القرون الوسطى تكاد لا تذكر هذه الزخارف ومع هذا نفترض أنها كانت بشكل أساسي وظيفية وكانت تسمح بتحديد نمط الأسهم. غير أننا قد نتساءل عن سبب هذا التلوين : أكانت علامة خاصة بصاحبها أم كانت وسيلة لتحديد نمط السهم حسب رأسه ؟ فلم نستطع أن نجد من ضمن قطع السهام التي عُثر عليها في دمشق وهي ذات رأس علاقةً تربط بين نمط السهم و مختلف نماذج الزخرفة.

Review of the current status of research on smart homes and other domestic assistive technologies in support of the TAHI trials

The study provides an overview of developments in smart home technology and its use in the assistive technology sector. It includes an extensive literature review and detailed descriptions of current smart home installations in the UK and Europe. The report highlights the complexity of providing products and services in this area, and the relative immaturity of smart home technology in this sector. Many of the available products have emerged from office automation technologies developed for use in building control applications or from small niche markets in the assistive sector. Smart home developments have also concentrated on home control applications, but larger potential markets are also now being identified in other areas. Many of the trials described use technology to improve the safety and security of older and disabled people, concentrating more on the monitoring rather than home environment control. The report also demonstrates the practical difficulties faced in developing services in this sector. For many organisations these have been exploratory first steps in the use of technology to support care, and this lack of experience is reflected in common difficulties in specification and installation of equipment especially when retrofitting installations into buildings. Many developments have suffered from the lack of relevant experience of electrical and other contractors, so that it has proved difficult for organisations to identify both suppliers of equipment and people with the skills to install the technology. In the majority of cases there has been no formal evaluation of the developments, and it is therefore difficult to obtain evidence of the costs and benefits of using such technology to provide care and support independent living

Grasping the non-conscious: Preserved grip scaling to unseen objects for immediate but not delayed grasping following a unilateral lesion to primary visual cortex

AbstractPatients with damage to primary visual cortex can sometimes direct actions towards ‘unseen’ targets located in areas of the visual field that are deemed ‘blind’ on the basis of static perimetry tests. Here, we show that a patient with a complete right homonymous hemianopia after a V1 lesion remains sensitive to the width of objects presented in her blind field but only when reaching out to grasp them in ‘real-time’. A subsequent fMRI experiment revealed spared extra-geniculostriate pathways, which may mediate her preserved abilities. Taken together, the results support the view that visually guided movements can be mediated by pathways that do not support visual consciousness

An AAC enabled internet: from user requirements to guidelines

Ensuring that WWW pages are accessible and usable for people with complex communication needs provides a particular challenge for WWW page designers. Despite advances in commercially available assistive technologies, people using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) comment on continuing difficulty and frustration in physical access to technology and subsequent reliance on non-disabled partners (Clarke et al., 2001 and 2002). The EU WWAAC (World Wide Augmentative and Alternative Communication) project, which began in January 2001, has been engaged in a number of research and development activities in order to overcome some of these problems, including the: • Development of Internet applications, including an adapted Web browser, tailored to the needs of people who use AAC • Contribution to the development of Web accessibility guidelines • Development of a communication infrastructure and protocol to support symbol-based communication on the Web, based upon open-sourced concept coding • Development of a Dreamweaver extension to enable Web developers to symbol embellish their Web pages via the on-line concept coding database. This paper will concentrate on the first 2 activities to demonstrate how the design, development and evaluation of an adapted Web browser with people who use AAC will lead to more accessible and usable software. This work is also contributing to the development of WWW accessibility guidelines, which will feed into the work of the World Wide Web Consortium–Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C–WAI). It is important, however, to consider these activities in light of the concept coding stream of the work, which is briefly described below. Concept coding will facilitate the sharing of symbol-based content between different symbol users using different symbol language systems. It will also enable symbols to be converted into text and vice versa. This might mean, for example, that a person who uses AAC could open an Internet bank account by completing an on-line form using their own symbol system. The vision of concept coding is that instead of images and symbols having to be transferred from one computer to another, it is possible to share a unique code designating the meaning of the symbol needing to be transferred. In addition to efficiency in handling images used for communication purposes, this concept would also allow personalised or idiosyncratic symbols specific to one person to be used by them in Internet-based communication. An open source concept coding, in combination with more accessible and usable software, is the driving force behind the WWAAC project

Factores que afectan en la eficacia de la inseminación artificial en el programa de mejoramiento genético sostenible en bovinos de leche en las parroquias occidentales del cantón Latacunga.

Most of the producers that are part of the program of sustainable genetic improvement of dairy cattle in the province of Cotopaxi, use direct mating as a means of reproduction in their cows, however, this practice leads to worrying problems such as sexually transmitted diseases, such as bovine viral diarrhea, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis. The project was carried out to analyze the various factors that influence the success of artificial insemination (AI) in cows belonging to small farmers. The study was carried out in the western parishes of Latacunga canton, including Pastocalle, Toacaso, Guaytacama, Tanicuchi, Poaló, Eloy Alfaro and 11 de noviembre. A total of 595 animals were considered for the study, excluding those animals that had not reached reproductive maturity and did not have an updated health and deworming plan, thus counting a total of 32 inseminations in the period April - July 2023. The study followed a scientific and observational research approach. Environmental factors were evaluated, such as climate, temperature, humidity, altitude and soil characteristics, using applications such as "Thermometer - Hygrometer" and "Altimeter". In addition, animal factors were evaluated, such as body temperature, body condition, weight, age, nutrition, pathologies and number of calvings, using thermometers, bovinometric tapes and ultrasound scanners. For this purpose, data were collected and statistically analyzed in a contingency table using the Chi-square method. The results showed that climate is associated with AI. It was observed that in temperate climatic conditions, characterized by temperatures between 5°C and 10°C and the presence of natural shade, a significant increase in conception rate was achieved with a p-value of 0.003. In addition, a relationship was found between nutrition and AI, with a p-value of 0.003. A diet enriched with broccoli, due to its content of essential nutrients, had a positive impact on fertility and egg quality, which translated into an increase in conception rate after insemination. Also, an association between cow breed and AI was identified, with a p value of 0.03. It was observed that crossbred cows showed superior results in terms of conception after insemination. This higher efficiency is attributed to their favorable adaptation to the environment in which they live, which influences their reproductive capacity. No association was obtained between the factors involved in the AI technique. A protocol was established for the western parishes of Latacunga, it is advised to carry out the AI process with rigorous cleanliness and the convenience of carrying it out during temperate climates is highlighted, as well as improving the feeding of the cows and considering the adaptability of the breed to the surrounding environment.La mayoría de los productores que forman parte del programa de mejoramiento genético sostenible de bovinos de leche en la provincia de Cotopaxi, utilizan la monta directa como medio de reproducción en sus vacas, sin embargo, esta práctica conlleva problemas preocupantes como enfermedades de transmisión sexual, como diarrea viral bovina, rinotraquitis infecciosa bovina. Por lo tanto, el proyecto se realizó con el fin de analizar los diversos factores que influyen en el éxito de la inseminación artificial (IA) en vacas pertenecientes a pequeños ganaderos. El estudio se llevó a cabo en las parroquias occidentales del cantón Latacunga, que incluyen Pastocalle, Toacaso, Guaytacama, Tanicuchi, Poaló, Eloy Alfaro y 11 de noviembre. Un total de 595 animales fueron considerados para el estudio, excluyendo aquellos animales que no habían alcanzado la madurez reproductiva y no contaban con un plan sanitario y desparasitaciones actualizadas, contando así un total de 32 inseminaciones en el periodo abril – julio 2023. El estudio siguió un enfoque científico y de observación investigativa. Se evaluaron factores ambientales, como clima, temperatura, humedad, altitud y características del suelo, usando aplicaciones como "Termómetro - Higrómetro" y "Altímetro". Además, se evaluó factor animal, como temperatura corporal, condición corporal, peso, edad, nutrición, patologías y número de partos, utilizando termómetros, cintas bovino métricas y ecógrafos. Para ello, se recopiló datos y se analizó estadísticamente en una tabla de contingencia usando el método de Chi cuadrado. Los resultados evidenciaron que, el clima está asociado con la IA. Se observó que, en condiciones climáticas templadas, caracterizadas por temperaturas entre 5°C y 10°C y presencia de sombra natural, se logró un aumento significativo en la tasa de concepción con un valor de p de 0,003. Además, se encontró una relación entre la nutrición y la IA, con un valor de p-value de 0,003. Asimismo, se identificó una asociación entre la raza de las vacas y la IA, con un valor de p de 0,03. Se observó que las vacas mestizas mostraron resultados superiores en términos de concepción después de la inseminación. Esta mayor eficacia se atribuye a su adaptación favorable al entorno en el que viven, lo que influye en su capacidad reproductiva. No se obtuvo asociación entre los factores que intervienen en la técnica de IA. Se estableció un protocolo dirigido a las parroquias occidentales de Latacunga, se aconseja llevar a cabo el proceso de IA con rigurosa asepsia y se resalta la conveniencia de realizarlo durante climas templados, así como mejorar la alimentación de las vacas y considerar la adaptabilidad de la raza al entorno circundante

Community Engagement newsletter, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Winter 2014

Putting our best paw forward / Kirsten Collins and David Chelopo -- Veterinary outreach sees great success in the mountain kingdom! / Nicolle Gray -- The Husky Rescue Centre Project / Sone Reyneke.Originally published as HTML file, converted to PDF with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Version 9.0.0.News articles with colour photos about the various community engagement projects of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria.ab201