Evaluating Systemic Assistive Technology Needs

Author(s):  
Noel Estrada-Hernández ◽  
James R. Stachowiak

This chapter will focus on the impact that teacher knowledge of and comfort with assistive technology has on the use of this technology by students with disabilities and how these factors are identified through conducting needs assessment-based research. This chapter begins with a discussion of what is assistive technology and the role it plays in the life of a person with a disability. This will include a discussion of the idea that the earlier AT is introduced to the individual, the more likely it will continue to be used and the larger effect it will have on the individual’s future education, employment, and independent living needs. Also, this chapter will introduce the concept and application of needs assessment, as well as the benefits of conducting this type of research to improve the quality of AT services. This discussion will be supported by an initial discussion of results and experiences in conducting the Iowa Assistive Technology Needs Assessment focusing on the methods used and limitations encountered while conducting this project. Finally, recommendations for future AT-based research will be provided. By the end of this chapter, readers will understand the pressing issues in AT training for teachers, how to determine what is needed, and what is being done to improve overall AT knowledge and comfort.

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 791-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zilia Iskoujina ◽  
Joanne Roberts

Purpose – This paper aims to add to the understanding of knowledge sharing in online communities through an investigation of the relationship between individual participant’s motivations and management in open source software (OSS) communities. Drawing on a review of literature concerning knowledge sharing in organisations, the factors that motivate participants to share their knowledge in OSS communities, and the management of such communities, it is hypothesised that the quality of management influences the extent to which the motivations of members actually result in knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach – To test the hypothesis, quantitative data were collected through an online questionnaire survey of OSS web developers with the aim of gathering respondents’ opinions concerning knowledge sharing, motivations to share knowledge and satisfaction with the management of OSS projects. Factor analysis, descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to explore the survey data. Findings – The analysis of the data reveals that the individual participant’s satisfaction with the management of an OSS project is an important factor influencing the extent of their personal contribution to a community. Originality/value – Little attention has been devoted to understanding the impact of management in OSS communities. Focused on OSS developers specialising in web development, the findings of this paper offer an important original contribution to understanding the connections between individual members’ satisfaction with management and their motivations to contribute to an OSS project. The findings reveal that motivations to share knowledge in online communities are influenced by the quality of management. Consequently, the findings suggest that appropriate management can enhance knowledge sharing in OSS projects and online communities, and organisations more generally.


Author(s):  
Balakrishnan A ◽  
Dr. KVM Varambally

The impact of Globalization creates a competitive horizon with new markets, new products, new mindsets, new competencies, and new ways of thinking about business. As an outcome of this, the market places become more complex, uncertain, competitive, and transformational. In this era, the major challenge faced by any organization is to maintain a peaceful as well positive culture and climate inside the organization. The human resource development climate of an organization plays a significant role in ensuring the competency, motivation, and development of its employees. Here the term climate denotes the quality of the internal environment. It influences morale and the attitudes of the individual toward his work and his environment. Culture refers to the deep structure of organizations, which is rooted in the values, beliefs, and assumptions held by organizational members. The study was aimed to analyze the Human Resource Development culture and climate of chemical-based public sector enterprises in Kerala. The results indicated that the Human Resource Development climate in an organization is average and the perception of employees regarding Human Resource Development culture and climate does not differs significantly based on age, job approval status, and qualification. But it differs significantly based on gender and experiences.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 88-98
Author(s):  
J. Dezert ◽  
A. Tchamova ◽  
P. Konstantinova

Abstract The main purpose of this paper is to apply and to test the performance of a new method, based on belief functions, proposed by Dezert et al. in order to evaluate the quality of the individual association pairings provided in the optimal data association solution for improving the performances of multisensor-multitarget tracking systems. The advantages of its implementation in an illustrative realistic surveillance context, when some of the association decisions are unreliable and doubtful and lead to potentially critical mistake, are discussed. A comparison with the results obtained on the base of Generalized Data Association is made.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Novita Anugrah Listiyana ◽  
Dedi Rusdi

This study analyzed the relationship between humans as users of the system and application software as object an inseparable relationship. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of variable quality system to the perception of the quality system, the effect of perceived quality system and quality of information on the intensity of use and user satisfaction, and the influence of the intensity of use and user satisfaction of the impact of individual performance. This research is an empirical study using purposive sampling technique in data collection. Data were collected through  questionnaires to 39 BMT’s operational employees. Then, performed an analysis of the data obtained used path analysis. This included: testing hypotheses through path analysis. The results of tests performed using path analysis to get the results that each variable in the model of equation 4 had a coefficient with a positive direction. This means that the improvement of the quality of the system will be able to improve the quality of information for the individual impact of the use and satisfaction of employees through the use of the system.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 225-235
Author(s):  
Rachael L. Joyce ◽  
Joseph R. Boyle

Students with disabilities (SWD; e.g., learning disabilities) often struggle with slower processing speed and poor working memory skills, which reduce the quality of their notes. This study evaluated the effects of a note-taking intervention using the researcher-created smartpen strategy in conjunction with the assistive technology of the Livescribe™ Smartpen to assess the effects of students’ overall notes and lecture comprehension. Both SWD and without disabilities in ninth-grade English Language Arts classes participated in this study. The note-taking intervention was designed to assist SWD to take notes using the smartpen assistive technology, aid students in identifying key vocabulary content, amend their notes for errors or missed information, and establish a summary of the lecture. Results from the data analysis found that SWD in the experimental group recorded more words in their notes, as well as an increase in word count on the immediate free recall assessment.


2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darren E.R. Warburton ◽  
Norman Gledhill ◽  
Arthur Quinney

The objective of this review is to examine the effects of changes in the individual components of musculoskeletal fitness on indicators of health status. Available evidence regarding the impact of changes in musculoskeletal fitness on indicators of health status is summarized and evaluated. Intervention programs designed specifically to enhance musculoskeletal fitness have been effective in improving several indicators of health status including glucose metabolism, obesity, bone health, independent living, the incidence of falling and associated injuries, and/or psychological well-being. An enhanced musculoskeletal fitness is associated with an improvement in health status. Key words: strength, muscular endurance, power, flexibility, health status


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2643
Author(s):  
Piotr Klimaszyk ◽  
Ryszard Gołdyn

Water is the substance that made life on Earth possible. It plays a key role in both the individual and population development of all species. Water is also a critical resource for humans as populations continue to grow and climate change affects global and local water cycles. Water is a factor limiting economic development in many regions of the world. Under these conditions, good water quality becomes an extremely important factor that determines its economic utility, including water supply, recreation, and agriculture. Proper water quality maintenance of freshwater ecosystems is also very important for preserving biodiversity. The quality of water depends on many factors, the most important of which are related to human impact on water ecosystems, especially the impact of various pollutants from municipal economy, industry and agriculture. Hydrotechnical changes, such as river damming, drainage processes and water transport between catchments also have a significant impact. Water quality is also dependent on the impact of natural conditions connected, e.g., with climate, catchment, water organisms and their interactions within the food-webs, etc. This Special Issue consists of fourteen original scientific papers concerning different problems associated with the water quality of freshwater ecosystems in a temperate climate. Most of the articles deal with the relations between water quality and the structure of ecosystem biocenoses. The conclusion of these articles confirms the fact that the deterioration of water quality has a direct impact on the quantitative and qualitative structure of biocenoses. This is accompanied by a decline in biodiversity and the disappearance of rare plant and animal species. They also draw attention to the particular importance of internal physical and chemical differentiation within the aquatic ecosystem, both in horizontal and vertical dimensions. The problem of ensuring proper ecological conditions and good quality of water in freshwater aquatic ecosystems is also raised, and methods for the restoration of water bodies are presented. The majority of the research presented in this Special Issue was carried out in Central Europe, and one of the papers concerns the area of West Africa—the edge of temperate climate zone.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 2557
Author(s):  
Tamara G. ROMANOVA ◽  
Valentina D. BATOMUNKUEVA ◽  
Tatiana K. GYRGENOVA ◽  
Nataliya V. MONGOLOVA ◽  
Roman Zh. TSYDYPOV

The article is about the influence of economic factors on the health quality of the population as a public benefit. Health of the individual has an important role in national economy, both in processes of formation of public health, and in reproduction of quality of a manpower. The review of the indicators of evaluation test of health of the population applied in the Russian practice is given in article. Health of the population and economy of the state have close interrelation and interdependence: not only the economy influences health of the population, but also health of the population affects the economy of the state. The technique allowing to assess economic damages from loss of health on the basis of which economic losses from mortality of the population at working-age in Siberian Federal District are estimated is presented. The economic three-level model of health upgrading of the population allows to reveal paths of health upgrading for improvement of economy in the country is developed. The three-level model reflects preventive character with obligatory selection of the measures accompanying achievement of the main task – to upgrade the population health as the public benefit and to increase the level of economy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Fernanda Manoel Imazu ◽  
Barbara Nascimento Faria ◽  
Guilherme Oliveira de Arruda ◽  
Catarina Aparecida Sales ◽  
Sonia Silva Marcon

OBJECTIVE: to compare the effectiveness of two educational interventions used by a healthcare provider in the monitoring of individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), regarding knowledge of the disease, impact on quality of life and adoption of self-care actions. METHODS: comparative, longitudinal, prospective study performed with 150 subjects with type 2 diabetes, analyzed according to the type of participation in the program (individual and/or group). Participants of the individual intervention (II) received nursing consultations every six months and those of the group intervention (GI) took part in weekly meetings for three months. Data were collected through four questionnaires: Identification questionnaire, Problem Areas in Diabetes Questionnaire (PAID), Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Questionnaire (SDSCA) and the Diabetes Knowledge Scale (DKN-A). Data were analyzed using the Friedman and Mann Whitney tests, considering a statistical significance of p ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: there was an increase in knowledge about the disease in the II (p<0.003) and GI (p<0.007), with reduction of the impact on the quality of life in the II (p<0.007) and improvement in self-care actions in the GI (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: in both intervention models improvements were observed in the indicators, over the six month monitoring period.


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