HikePal: A mobile exergame to motivate people with intellectual disabilities to do outdoor physical activities

People with intellectual disabilities often have a sedentary lifestyle that can lead to long-term issues like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and depression. Although literature shows that the main reason for this is the lack of motivation to do physical activity, scarce research has been done in accessible apps to track and foster physical activities that address motivation. This paper presents HikePal, a game-inspired app to motivate individuals with intellectual disabilities to do physical activity outdoors. We have followed a design and creation research strategy using 1) semi-structured interviews with five experts (health care workers, special education experts and software engineers); 2) a focus group with an occupational therapist, a physical therapist and four software engineers; 3) a pilot user test with three individuals with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers. Having social interaction during the physical activity turned out to be a major motivational aspect of the system, whereas reward systems did not attract much of the users’ attention. Regarding the adapted navigational assistance, we found out that easy-to-read text, visual communication and street-level pictures were the key features to achieve successful and understandable guidance outdoors for people with intellectual disabilities. It proved useful to perform a test on the field and to refine the design guidelines in view of a forthcoming large-scale experimental test involving a larger number of persons with intellectual, sensory and motor disabilities

The impact of exposure timing on embryo mortality and the partitioning of PAHs when cod eggs are exposed to dispersed and dissolved crude oil

During sub-sea oil spills to the marine environment, oil droplets will rise towards the sea surface at a rate determined by their density and diameter as well as the vertical turbulence in the water. Micro-droplets (< 50 µm) are expected to have prolonged residence times in the water column. If present, pelagic fish eggs may thus be exposed to dispersed oil from subsurface oil spills for days, and the contribution of these micro-droplets to toxicity is not well known. The purpose of this work was to investigate to what extent timing of exposure and the presence of oil micro droplets affects PAH uptake and survival of pelagic Atlantic cod eggs. A single batch of eggs was separated in two groups and exposed to dispersions and corresponding water-soluble fraction at 3–7 days (Early exposure) and 9–13 days (Late exposure) post fertilization. Partitioning of PAHs between crude oil microdroplets, water and eggs was estimated as well as the contribution of oil droplets to PAH body residue and acute and delayed mortality. Timing of oil exposure clearly affects both the mortality rate and the timing of mortality. Even though the body residue of PAHs were lower when embryos were exposed in the later embryonic stage, mortality rate increased relative to the early exposure indicating that critical body residue threshold is stage specific. Although our results suggest that the dissolved fraction is the dominating driver for toxicity in cod embryos exposed to oil dispersions, crude oil micro droplets contribute to increased mortality as well.publishedVersio

BESPRECHUNGEN COMPTES RENDUS - REVIEWS

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72613/1/j.1467-6435.1957.tb00243.x.pd

Creating an App Motivating People with Intellectual Disabilities to Do Physical Activity

Personer med psykisk utviklingshemming har ofte en stillesittende livsstil og dette kan føre til hjerte- og karsykdommer, diabetes, overvekt og depresjon. Det finnes få spill og apper som fremmer fysisk aktivitet for utviklingshemmede og det å ha det gøy er motiverende for denne brukergruppen. Målet med dette prosjektet var å finne ut hvordan man bør motivere utviklingshemmede til å gjøre fysisk aktivitet. I tillegg prøver prosjektet å finne ut hvordan designe apper og navigeringssystemer for utviklingshemmede. Design prosessen inkluderer både intervjuer med eksperter og en fokusgruppe med eksperter. Appen ble evaluert av personer med psykisk utviklingshemming og ledsagere og brukte bare observasjoner og intervjuer. Underveis i design prosessen ble det utviklet flere råd for utvikling av en app eller spill som motiverer utviklingshemmede til fysisk aktivitet og inkluderer både et navigeringssystem og designing apper og spill for utviklingshemmede. Disse rådene ble så brukt til å utvikle en app. Brukertesten var liten og fant ikke ut om appen motiverte utviklingshemmede til å gjøre fysisk aktivitet, men noen bruker sa at de likte den. Noen av ledsagerne uttrykket bekymring om å kombinere motivasjon til fysisk aktivitet med navigering og bruk av teknologi for utviklingshemmede

Nynorsk som sidemål på barnetrinnet - En kritisk diskursanalyse av nynorsk som sidemål i tre læreplaner i norsk

I denne masteroppgaven ønsker jeg å se på hvordan nynorsk som sidemål gis plass i undervisningen på barnetrinnet, samt hvordan dette kan ha endret seg fra L97, og frem til LK20. Jeg har valgt å ta utgangspunkt i Norman Fairclough (Fairclough, 1992, 2003, 2010) sin tilnærming til diskursanalyse. Analysen er delt opp i to deler. I første del analyserer jeg hvordan fire utvalgte diskurser aktiveres i de tre tekstene, og hvordan disse fremmes i hver enkelt læreplan når det gjelder nynorsk som sidemål. De fire diskursene er: samfunnsdiskursen, elevdiskursen, styringsdiskursen og lese- og skrivediskursen. I analysens andre del, tar jeg for meg en nærlesing av de tre læreplanene. Det gjøres en tekstanalyse av tekstpartier som eksplisitt omhandler ordene nynorsk og sidemål, samt utvalgte tekstpartier hvor det er snakk om skriftspråket på en slik måte at det er underforstått at det er snakk om begge målformer. Som en kortfattet besvarelse på problemstillingen, vil det være rimelig å anta at sidemålet gis større plass i undervisningen på barnetrinnet etter L97, med LK06 og LK20. Dette ses i lys av endringer i antall kompetansemål omhandlende nynorsk og sidemål i de enkelte læreplanene. Det har gått fra kun to hovedmomenter – omhandlende lesing av tekster på nynorsk – med L97, til flere kompetansemål omhandlende både lesing og skriving med LK06. Videre har sidemålets plass i undervisningen fått større plass med LK20, ved å eksplisitt formulere kompetansemål om lesing og skriving tidlig på barnetrinnet. Eksempelvis ved å implementere kompetansemål om skriving av tekster på sidemålet allerede på 4. trinn. Likevel kan konteksten rundt den enkelte læreplanen prege synet på hva som anses som nyttige ferdigheter og kunnskaper i en gitt periode. Et rådende syn på hva som er samfunnsnyttig, men også læreplanens rammer, kan påvirke hvordan læreplanens intensjon i praksis realiseres. Det har skjedd en endring i fokusområder fra felles referanserammer med L97, til grunnleggende ferdigheter med LK06 og til dybdelæring, kjerneelementer og tverrfaglige temaer med LK20. De ulike synene på hva som kan bidra til å god læring av samfunnsnyttige ferdigheter og kompetanser, kan igjen påvirke hvordan nynorsk som sidemål tillegges plass i undervisningen

The impact of exposure timing on embryo mortality and the partitioning of PAHs when cod eggs are exposed to dispersed and dissolved crude oil

During sub-sea oil spills to the marine environment, oil droplets will rise towards the sea surface at a rate determined by their density and diameter as well as the vertical turbulence in the water. Micro-droplets (< 50 µm) are expected to have prolonged residence times in the water column. If present, pelagic fish eggs may thus be exposed to dispersed oil from subsurface oil spills for days, and the contribution of these micro-droplets to toxicity is not well known. The purpose of this work was to investigate to what extent timing of exposure and the presence of oil micro droplets affects PAH uptake and survival of pelagic Atlantic cod eggs. A single batch of eggs was separated in two groups and exposed to dispersions and corresponding water-soluble fraction at 3–7 days (Early exposure) and 9–13 days (Late exposure) post fertilization. Partitioning of PAHs between crude oil microdroplets, water and eggs was estimated as well as the contribution of oil droplets to PAH body residue and acute and delayed mortality. Timing of oil exposure clearly affects both the mortality rate and the timing of mortality. Even though the body residue of PAHs were lower when embryos were exposed in the later embryonic stage, mortality rate increased relative to the early exposure indicating that critical body residue threshold is stage specific. Although our results suggest that the dissolved fraction is the dominating driver for toxicity in cod embryos exposed to oil dispersions, crude oil micro droplets contribute to increased mortality as well

The impact of exposure timing on embryo mortality and the partitioning of PAHs when cod eggs are exposed to dispersed and dissolved crude oil

During sub-sea oil spills to the marine environment, oil droplets will rise towards the sea surface at a rate determined by their density and diameter as well as the vertical turbulence in the water. Micro-droplets (< 50 µm) are expected to have prolonged residence times in the water column. If present, pelagic fish eggs may thus be exposed to dispersed oil from subsurface oil spills for days, and the contribution of these micro-droplets to toxicity is not well known. The purpose of this work was to investigate to what extent timing of exposure and the presence of oil micro droplets affects PAH uptake and survival of pelagic Atlantic cod eggs. A single batch of eggs was separated in two groups and exposed to dispersions and corresponding water-soluble fraction at 3–7 days (Early exposure) and 9–13 days (Late exposure) post fertilization. Partitioning of PAHs between crude oil microdroplets, water and eggs was estimated as well as the contribution of oil droplets to PAH body residue and acute and delayed mortality. Timing of oil exposure clearly affects both the mortality rate and the timing of mortality. Even though the body residue of PAHs were lower when embryos were exposed in the later embryonic stage, mortality rate increased relative to the early exposure indicating that critical body residue threshold is stage specific. Although our results suggest that the dissolved fraction is the dominating driver for toxicity in cod embryos exposed to oil dispersions, crude oil micro droplets contribute to increased mortality as well