New technologies as a chance for emancipation of people with disabilities in the process of communication

Author(s):  
Agnieszka Skotnicka

The aim of this article is to show the opportunities which new technologies offer in overcoming communication barriers in regards to people experiencing multiple disabilities. The solutions that new technologies bring can constitute one of the forms of resistance to the dominant model of perceiving disability and thus provide space for a particular resistance to the practices of discrimination and exclusion from the society of people experiencing disability, therefore entering into the emancipatory stream. Including the emancipation category into the emerging process of new technology allows us to create a broader theoretical context through which we can give it a new meaning - another dimension, i.e.: new technologies - emancipation ones: adopting such a vision gives new technology a technical dimension. By instilling the proposed position in the field of special education, we can contribute to the exploration of the potential that exists in every human-being regardless of the type or degree of specific disability.

2020 ◽  
Vol LXXXI (4) ◽  
pp. 298-308
Author(s):  
Anna Hryniewicka

This article is devoted to the life and work of Prof. Tadeusz Gałkowski - an outstanding representative of world psychology, who was able to harmoniously combine various manifestations of scientific, instructional, and social activities, focusing them especially on the rehabilitation of people with serious developmental disorders and difficulties in communication. His great merit was the initiation of research on the diagnosis and treatment of children with hearing impairments and autism in Poland - so important for extending the knowledge of special education, supporting the development of people with disabilities, and shaping appropriate social attitudes towards them.


Author(s):  
Adela Bradea ◽  
Valentin Cosmin Blandul

Educational, vocational, and social inclusion is one of the fundamental principles that ensure people with disabilities a chance to have as a normal life as possible. In turn, accessibility is one of the most important components of inclusion and could be defined as the right of people with disabilities to benefit of the same products and services as all other community members. According to government data from 2015, in Romania 752 931 were people with disabilities, 60 289 were children and 13.9% had various forms of visual impairment. For these people, any limitation in accessibility means isolation and discrimination. On the other hand, education and new technologies can increase the accessibility of people with visual impairment to quality products and services in society. Therefore, the purpose of this research was the identification of attitude and training level of teachers in the educational process accessibility for students with visual impairment using ICT. The sample consisted of 210 professors who teach in pre-academic learning system in Bihor, Romania and research tool - a questionnaire composed of 76 multiple choice items – it was administered online by the end of 2016. The results of the research show that, even if they want to support inclusion of people with visual impairment using ICT in teaching/learning, most teachers do not have professional skills in that field and do not know how to use educational software or to adapt a scholar curriculum for this category of students. Keywords: accessibility; educational inclusion; new Technology;


1986 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazel B. Cobb ◽  
Charles J. Horn

Handicapped learners stand to benefit a great deal from educational technology. The technology for teacher training is gradually emerging. It is this technology that is a prerequisite to the systematic use of instructional technology by the classroom teacher. Since teacher educators are instrumental in the adoption of technology in public education there is a necessity to know the current status of adoption and use of technology in special teacher education programs. A comprehensive study was conducted at the University of Alabama in which the researchers examined the extent of planning for technological change being conducted by teacher education institutions in special education. Data for the study were collected by the use of a mailed survey form. The survey included all 697 special education/teacher education programs in the United States. A total was 298 (43%) surveys completed by program chairpersons at each institution was returned. Results of the study indicate that teacher education institutions are not using a variety of the newest technologies needed to acquaint current and future special educators with the tools of the information age. There is no relationship between systematic planning for adoption of a new technology and the subsequent success of the adopted technology. Teacher education institutions in special education are not anticipating adopting a wide variety of new technology. It appears teacher educators are creating a technology gap at the very time they should be leading the effort to explore the potential of new technologies for improving effectiveness and efficiency of instruction for exceptional individuals.


Author(s):  
Melissa A. Pierce

In countries other than the United States, the study and practice of speech-language pathology is little known or nonexistent. Recognition of professionals in the field is minimal. Speech-language pathologists in countries where speech-language pathology is a widely recognized and respected profession often seek to share their expertise in places where little support is available for individuals with communication disorders. The Peace Corps offers a unique, long-term volunteer opportunity to people with a variety of backgrounds, including speech-language pathologists. Though Peace Corps programs do not specifically focus on speech-language pathology, many are easily adapted to the profession because they support populations of people with disabilities. This article describes how the needs of local children with communication disorders are readily addressed by a Special Education Peace Corps volunteer.


MRS Bulletin ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 5-6
Author(s):  
Horst D. Simon

Recent events in the high-performance computing industry have concerned scientists and the general public regarding a crisis or a lack of leadership in the field. That concern is understandable considering the industry's history from 1993 to 1996. Cray Research, the historic leader in supercomputing technology, was unable to survive financially as an independent company and was acquired by Silicon Graphics. Two ambitious new companies that introduced new technologies in the late 1980s and early 1990s—Thinking Machines and Kendall Square Research—were commercial failures and went out of business. And Intel, which introduced its Paragon supercomputer in 1994, discontinued production only two years later.During the same time frame, scientists who had finished the laborious task of writing scientific codes to run on vector parallel supercomputers learned that those codes would have to be rewritten if they were to run on the next-generation, highly parallel architecture. Scientists who are not yet involved in high-performance computing are understandably hesitant about committing their time and energy to such an apparently unstable enterprise.However, beneath the commercial chaos of the last several years, a technological revolution has been occurring. The good news is that the revolution is over, leading to five to ten years of predictable stability, steady improvements in system performance, and increased productivity for scientific applications. It is time for scientists who were sitting on the fence to jump in and reap the benefits of the new technology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-58
Author(s):  
Orietta Da Rold

Abstract In this essay, I offer a brief history of manuscript cataloguing and some observations on the innovations this practice introduced especially in the digital form. This history reveals that as the cataloguing of medieval manuscripts developed over time, so did the research needs it served. What was often considered traditional cataloguing practices had to be mediated to accommodate new scholarly advance, posing interesting questions, for example, on what new technologies can bring to this discussion. In the digital age, in particular, how do digital catalogues interact with their analogue counterparts? What skills and training are required of scholars interacting with this new technology? To this end, I will consider the importance of the digital environment to enable a more flexible approach to cataloguing. I will also discuss new insights into digital projects, especially the experience accrued by the The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220 Project, and then propose that in the future cataloguing should be adaptable and shareable, and make full use of the different approaches to manuscripts generated by collaboration between scholars and librarians or the work of postgraduate students and early career researchers.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3147
Author(s):  
Kiyoung Kim ◽  
Namdoo Kim ◽  
Jongryeol Jeong ◽  
Sunghwan Min ◽  
Horim Yang ◽  
...  

Many leading companies in the automotive industry have been putting tremendous effort into developing new powertrains and technologies to make their products more energy efficient. Evaluating the fuel economy benefit of a new technology in specific powertrain systems is straightforward; and, in an early concept phase, obtaining a projection of energy efficiency benefits from new technologies is extremely useful. However, when carmakers consider new technology or powertrain configurations, they must deal with a trade-off problem involving factors such as energy efficiency and performance, because of the complexities of sizing a vehicle’s powertrain components, which directly affect its energy efficiency and dynamic performance. As powertrains of modern vehicles become more complicated, even more effort is required to design the size of each component. This study presents a component-sizing process based on the forward-looking vehicle simulator “Autonomie” and the optimization algorithm “POUNDERS”; the supervisory control strategy based on Pontryagin’s Minimum Principle (PMP) assures sufficient computational system efficiency. We tested the process by applying it to a single power-split hybrid electric vehicle to determine optimal values of gear ratios and each component size, where we defined the optimization problem as minimizing energy consumption when the vehicle’s dynamic performance is given as a performance constraint. The suggested sizing process will be helpful in determining optimal component sizes for vehicle powertrain to maximize fuel efficiency while dynamic performance is satisfied. Indeed, this process does not require the engineer’s intuition or rules based on heuristics required in the rule-based process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen V. Milner ◽  
Sondre Ulvund Solstad

ABSTRACTDo world politics affect the adoption of new technology? States overwhelmingly rely on technology invented abroad, and their differential intensity of technology use accounts for many of their differences in economic development. Much of the literature on technology adoption focuses on domestic conditions. The authors argue instead that the structure of the international system is critical because it affects the level of competition among states, which in turn affects leaders’ willingness to enact policies that speed technology adoption. Countries adopt new technology as they seek to avoid being vulnerable to attack or coercion by other countries. By systematically examining states’ adoption of technology over the past two hundred years, the authors find that countries adopt new technologies faster when the international system is less concentrated, that changes in systemic concentration have a temporally causal effect on technology adoption, and that government policies to promote technology adoption are related to concerns about rising international competition. A competitive international system is an important incentive for technological change and may underlie global technology waves.


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