Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Main error'

Trabalho apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências Farmacêuticas.
Os erros inatos do metabolismo referem-se a um grupo de doenças geneticamente determinadas, decorrentes da deficiência numa via metabólica envolvida na síntese, no transporte ou na degradação de uma substância. O aspecto clínico que cada uma destas doenças pode tomar resulta da acumulação do substrato de uma reacção, da falta de produto dessa mesma reacção ou da acumulação de uma substância originada a partir de uma via metabólica alternativa. Estes erros, apesar de isolados apresentarem uma pequena incidência sobre a população, quando descritos em conjunto (cerca de quinhentos conhecidos), tornam-se mais comuns, apresentando taxas de incidência na ordem de 1 caso a cada 1000 nascimentos. Sabe-se hoje que a rápida detecção destas doenças é que determina a gravidade que estas podem assumir, pelo que os programas de triagem neonatal estão em constante evolução no que respeita ao aperfeiçoamento das técnicas de diagnóstico, para que os resultados dos tratamentos sejam cada vez mais expressivos. Este trabalho aborda inicialmente os erros inatos do metabolismo de uma forma genérica, dando depois lugar à análise das três desordens metabólicas mais frequentes em Portugal: a deficiência na enzima acil-CoA desidrogenase de cadeia média, a fenilcetonúria e a deficiência na enzima 3-metilcrotonil carboxilase. São descritas para as três as deficiências que ocorrem nas vias metabólicas que essas enzimas catalisam, os aspectos clínicos da doença que originam, as suas formas de detecção e as estratégias terapêuticas que estão actualmente disponíveis. Inborn errors of metabolism refer to a group of genetically determined diseases, resulting from a deficiency in a metabolic pathway involved in the synthesis, transport or degradation of a substance. The clinical aspect that each of these diseases can take results from the accumulation of the substrate reaction, the lack of product of the same reaction, or the accumulation of a substance originated from an alternative metabolic pathway. These errors, although isolates showed a small impact on the population, when described together (about five hundred known), become more common, with incidence rates in the order of 1 case per 1000 births. It is now known that early detection of these diseases, determines the severity of the disease can take, so the neonatal screening programs are constantly evolving in relation to improved diagnostic techniques, to treatment outcomes are increasingly more expressive. This work first discusses the inborn errors of metabolism in a generic way and then gives way to analysis of the three most common metabolic disorders in Portugal: the deficiency in the enzime medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, phenylketonuria and deficiency in the enzyme 3-methylcrotonyl carboxylase. For the three are described the deficiencies that occurs in metabolic pathways that these enzymes catalyze, the clinical aspects of disease that originate, their forms of detection and the therapeutic strategies that are currently available.

A idéia de culpa está impregnada no pensamento ocidental, permeando todos os âmbitos das ciências humanas. Em sede de Direito penal, surge como forma de restrição da responsabilidade pelo resultado delitivo. Com a consolidação da racionalidade penal moderna, todavia, associa-se fortemente com a pena aflitiva, servindo a um só tempo como requisito e medida da mesma, isto é, porque o Direito penal administra uma sanção particular, a pena aflitiva, mister que o delito contenha um requisito a mais que os demais ilícitos a culpabilidade -, cuja intensidade terá repercussão direta na fixação da reprimenda. A primeira noção acabada de culpabilidade no seio da teoria do delito, conseqüentemente, é da atribuição de uma pena a quem agiu livremente em contradição ao ordenamento jurídico, situação que torna do condenado um merecedor da mesma. Está calcada em uma imagem iluminista de ser humano: livre, igual e racional; em uma imagem consensualista de sociedade, cujos bens jurídicos essenciais, em grande parte herdados do Direito natural, seriam igualmente valorados por seus membros; e, finalmente, em uma percepção da pena como espelho do mau uso da razão representado no delito. Em que pese a evolução doutrinária da culpabilidade, tais premissas, aqui denominadas ilustrativamente de pilares, mantém-se inalterados. A Criminologia, porém, demonstra que tal imagem de sujeito não se sustenta; que a sociedade é heterogênea; que os bens jurídicos são escolhas políticas e que a pena aflitiva tem efeitos deletérios tão ou mais graves quanto os do crime. Tem-se, assim, uma contradição entre o discurso e a prática do Direito penal, com um superávit punitivo, anverso de seu déficit ético. Possível correção de rota estaria na desvinculação entre delito e pena aflitiva, redefinindo-se o Direito penal, a culpabilidade e o processo penal com vistas à recomposição dos danos de relacionamento, com explícito desprezo à pena aflitiva. Dentro do marco da racionalidade penal moderna, todavia, é possível vislumbrar o fortalecimento da culpabilidade em vista das criticas criminológicas, sobretudo em sede de erro de proibição e de inexigibilidade de conduta diversa. Limitando o poder punitivo, a dogmática cumpriria a única missão viável no Estado Democrático de Direito, com resgate ético do Direito penal.
The idea of guilt is deeply rooted in western thinking, permeating all areas of humanities. In criminal law, it appears as a restriction of liability by the offense result. With the consolidation of modern criminal rationality, however, it is strongly associated to a painful penalty, serving at the same time as its requirement and extent, that is, because Criminal Law manages a particular penalty, the painful penalty, it is necessary that the offense contains an additional requirement to other illegal acts - guilt - whose intensity will have direct impact on the setting of the reprimand. The first built notion of guilt within the theory of Criminal Law, therefore, is the award of a penalty to those who freely acted in contradiction to the legal system, which makes the criminal someone who deserves such punishment. This is based on the Enlightment Age image of a human being: free, equal and rational; on a consensual society image, whose legal essential goods, largely inherited from Natural Law, would also be valued by its members; and finally, on the perception of the penalty as the mirror image of the misuse of reason, represented by the crime. Despite the doctrinal evolution of guilt, such assumptions, here called pillars, remain unchanged. Criminology, however, demonstrates that such image does not hold; that society is heterogeneous; that legal assets are political choices and that the painful penalty has side effects possibly far more serious than the crime itself. Thus there is a contradiction between the discourse and practice of Criminal Law, with a punitive surplus, opposite to its ethical deficit. A possible track correction would be the untying of crime and punishment, redefining Criminal Law, guilt and criminal prosecution with the purpose of rebuilding the relationship damages with explicit contempt with respect to the painful penalty. Within the framework of modern criminal rationality, however, it is possible to see the strengthening of guilt in the presence of criminological criticism, especially in the presence of the error as to prohibition and exculpation. Limiting punitive power, the dogmatic would meetthe only viable mission in a Democratic State of Law, with the rescue of an ethical criminal law.

Moral error theory is the thesis that statements attributing moral properties to objects are always untrue. In my thesis I have two aims: to argue for error theory and defend it from a number of objections (chapters 1 and 2); and to consider whether and how we should go on with moral discourse, if we come to accept error theory (chapters 3 and 4). In the first chapter I argue for error theory by defending a number of metaethical theses which taken together reveal that sincere utterances of indicative moral sentences commit us to ‘objectively prescriptive values’. I then go on to defend the arguments of J.L. Mackie and Richard Joyce that such values do not exist, and thus indicative moral sentences are systematically untrue. In the second chapter I deal with five objections to error theory: (i) error theory is self-undermining; (ii) error theory defies commonsense; (iii) error theory is defeated by a modal counter argument; (iv) moral error theory entails an absurd epistemic error theory; (v) the error theorist’s denial that there are any categorical imperatives is untenable, as it is constitutive of being a rational agent that one is guided by certain categorical norms. I show how each of these objections can be dealt with. In the third chapter I begin to look at what we should do with moral discourse once we have accepted error theory. The main foci of this chapter are eliminativism (the thesis that we ought to stop engaging in moral discourse) and reformist realism (the thesis that we should modify the semantics of moral discourse so that our moral terms can successfully refer). I argue that the rationales that have been provided for eliminativism, such as that moral societies are harmful to most of their members, and that it always harmful to make untrue judgements, are unpersuasive. I consider the most plausible way of being a reformist realist is to argue that we should become moral relativists, but I argue that such a move would be unstable and we would revert to non-relativist type. In the fourth chapter I focus on moral fictionalism (the thesis that we should continue to use indicative moral sentences, while adopting some attitude to them other than belief). One of the more interesting motivations that has been offered for moral fictionalism is that moral discourse either facilitates or is essential for some non-moral description. I find no evidence for the stronger claim, but argue that there is some plausibility in the weaker claim. Another interesting suggestion (made by Joyce) is that pretending that certain actions are morally required or forbidden will help motivate prudent behaviour. I argue that although it is very plausible that thinking in moral terms can motivate prudent behaviour, Joyce fails to provide a convincing argument that we can retain these positive motivational effects if we abandon moral belief. In light of this, I argue that the only way for error theorists to retain the positive motivational aspect of moral discourse is by becoming conservationists. The conservationist argues that we can and should continue to form and be guided by genuine moral beliefs, even if we have become convinced of the error theory. Naturally, conservationism is open to a variety of objections, and I deal with the ones that seem most pressing.

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Esta pesquisa mediu possíveis correlações entre o processo orçamentário e a existência de vieses cognitivos em decisões que envolvem cenários com informações contábeis e financeiras, comparando-se a presença de heurísticas com o nível de cognição. Os resultados encontrados foram obtidos a partir da aplicação do teste Need for Cognition. Alem disso, enfatiza-se que o processo orçamentário tem sido objeto de pesquisas e estudos por outras áreas do conhecimento. Nessa perspectiva, o presente trabalho é resultado de discussões e interlocuções realizadas no Programa de Mestrado em Contabilidade da UFBA buscando-se a estruturação e consolidação de pesquisas voltadas para a Contabilidade Comportamental. Verifica-se que esta área do conhecimento tem se fortalecido do ponto de vista da produção do conhecimento que visam buscar, cada vez mais, uma interface com outras ciências como a Psicologia, a Economia e Administração. Para isso foram construídos três blocos de pesquisa com situações que envolviam alguns conceitos relevantes para este estudo: nível de cognição, heurísticas e práticas de Controladoria. A construção desses cenários visou observar a ocorrência de três heurísticas abordadas nesta dissertação: ancoragem, representatividade e disponibilidade de instâncias, observando o quanto as variáveis independentes deste estudo explicavam a ocorrência destes fenômenos, em um único contexto: a presença de Heurísticas. Sendo para isso destacadas as seguintes variáveis: nível de cognição, envolvimento com práticas orçamentárias e covariáveis: gênero, idade e formação. Os resultados encontrados confirmaram a ocorrência de heurísticas nos indivíduos envolvidos com práticas orçamentárias, corroborando os achados da Teoria dos Prospectos. Quanto mais um indivíduo faz, mais ele pode errar, já que atalhos mentais podem conduzir ao erro. Corroborou-se também que o baixo nível de cognição está diretamente ligado à presença de heurísticas, já em relação às covariáveis gênero, idade e formação, somente esta primeira covariável influenciou significativamente na presença de heurísticas.
Salvador

Mestrado em Engenharia Civil
A construção em Portugal tem sido afetada por uma grave crise económica e financeira, pelo que, faz sentido nos dias de hoje controlar os custos das obras através de um planeamento rigoroso, quer em fase de projeto (planeamento, elaboração dos projetos, descrição dos cadernos de encargos, medições, etc.) quer na sua fase de execução (gestão de obra, coordenação dos projetos, fiscalização, etc.), sendo transversal a todo este processo as normas legais e regulamentares aplicáveis em cada momento. O Código dos Contratos Públicos veio regulamentar os procedimentos de contratação de empreitadas de obras públicas, sendo que, decorridos mais de 6 anos após a sua entrada em vigor, considerou-se pertinente a realização de um estudo ao nível do impacte e contribuição daquele regime, sobretudo ao nível de trabalhos a mais (TM) e suprimento de erros e omissões (E&O). Assim, é intenção da presente dissertação criar uma plataforma de conhecimento sobre as causas e consequências de ocorrência de derrapagens financeiras e desvios temporais decorrentes dos E&O e TM, quer na fase de projeto quer na fase de execução, resultantes da investigação efetuada em termos bibliográficos e da análise prática de casos de estudos em Portugal. O objetivo final consiste em determinar as eventuais soluções possíveis para minimizar a problemática dos E&O e TM em empreitadas de obras públicas. É concluído, tendo subjacente os 7 casos de estudo, que as especialidades com maiores imprevistos (TM, E&O) ocorrem na construção civil, estruturas e sistemas de aquecimento, ventilação e ar condicionado, fruto de uma análise prévia insuficiente às condições técnicas, geotécnicas e/ou geológicas existentes no terreno. Sobre este assunto importa salientar Sarmento et al e FLyvbjerg que concluem nos seus artigos a importância da qualidade do projetos elaborados (arquitetura e especialidades) e a sua coordenação. Referem também que as obras são comumente suborçamentadas, o que que implica que o preço base não corresponda à realidade do mercado. Por fim são apresentadas algumas ferramentas que permitem a articulação dos diferentes projetos e consequentemente a minimização de erros, omissões e/ou descoordenações entre os mesmos, promovendo, deste modo, a qualidade dos projetos e a eficiência e eficácia de execução das obras.
During the last years the construction sector in Portugal has been affected by a severe economic and financial crisis. These circumstances, increase the importance of costs control through reliable planning during the design phase (planning, preparation of designs, description of specifications, measurements, etc.) and in the execution phase (project management, coordination, inspection, etc.), crossing the whole process the legal and technical rules in each moment. The Public Contracts Code came into force to regulate public works procedures and contracts. More than six years from its inception it was considered an important conduct to study about its impact and contribution, particularly in terms of the control of over works (TM) and of errors and omissions (E&O). Thus, this dissertation aim to create a knowledge platform on the causes and occurrence of consequences of financial overruns and temporal deviations arising from E&O and TM either in the design phase either in the execution phase. To achieve this goal bibliographic research and the analysis of Portuguese case studies was performed. Finally it is pointed out possible solutions to minimize the problem of E&O and TM in public works contracts. It is concluded, which derives from the 7 case studies, the specialties with higher contingencies (TM, E&O) occur in construction, structures and heating systems, ventilation and air conditioning, resulting of insufficient preliminary analysis of the technical conditions, geotechnical and / or geological existing on the site. On this subject it should be noted that Sarmento et al and Flyvbjerg conclude in its articles the importance of quality projects (architecture and specialties) and their coordination. Refer also that the works are commonly subestimated, which implies that the base price does not correspond to market reality. Some tools are identify that allow the articulation of different projects and consequently the minimization of errors, omissions and / or lack of coordination between them, promoting thereby the quality of projects and the efficiency and effectiveness of the works are finally presented.

In epidemiological studies of an exposure-response association, often only a mismeasured exposure is taken on each individual of the population under study. If ignored, exposure measurement error can bias the estimated exposure-response association in question. A reliability study may be carried out to estimate the relation between the mismeasured and true exposure, which could then be used to adjust for measurement error in the attenuated exposure-response relationship. However, taking repeated exposure measurements may be expensive. Given a fixed total study cost, a two-stage design may be a more efficient approach for regression parameter estimation compared to the traditional single-stage design since, in the second-stage, repeated measurement is restricted to a sample of first-stage subjects. Sampling the extremes of the first-stage exposure distribution has been shown to be more efficient than random sampling.

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Through a careful examination of the relationship between Zoroastrianism and the Western tradition, and a detailed and critical reading of the writings of Nietzsche, this work aims at showing to what extent the character Zarathustra , his discourses and poetical-philosophical thoughts, and related passages from many distinct Nietzschean works, directly or undirectly reflect a philosophy that harvests contributions from the Zoroastrian tradition or its headways (in the Judeo-Greco-Christian tradition, and furthermore in the whole Western philosophical tradition). Supplied with this provisions, and with the interpretation cast upon them, Nietzschean philosophy questions the entire Western tradition of thought, and proposes its replacement by a new attitude towards life. This work also intends to show the way the Nietzschean Zarathustra was built up, in the writings of the German philosopher, together with the idea of making, out of the namesake character of the ancient Iranian prophet (Zarathushtra or Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism), the herald of that important text that intended to bring the German language to its highest perfection , clumping together, and leading to a prophetic-poetic climax consonant with the meaning of the Earth , Nietzsche s key ideas about the rectification of the most fatal of errors and about the death of God . An elaborate investigation has been pursued after the reasons and manners of the building up of Nietzsche s Zarathustra mirroring its Iranian namesake (sections 1.1 to 1.6), and a survey of the works of Nietzsche has suggested unquestionable relations with the Zoroastrian tradition, mostly through the Jewish, Greek or Christian repercussions of this tradition. These relations have been put in context, in many framings (sections 2.1 to 2.3.2), in the ambit of the most fatal of errors - the - creation of morals in the very occasion of its transposition to metaphysics (Ecce Homo, Why I am a destiny , 3). Through an evaluation of the possible circumstances and repercussions of the death of God , the relations between Nietzsche s writings and Zoroastrian tradition have been investigated (sections 3.1 to 3.7), allowing the understanding of this event as an essential component, and tragic outcome, of the rectification of the most fatal of errors
A partir de um atento exame das rela??es do Zoroastrismo com a tradi??o ocidental, bem como a partir de uma detalhada e cr?tica leitura da obra nietzscheana, este trabalho pretende mostrar o que o personagem Zaratustra , seus discursos e pensamentos po?tico-filos?ficos e passagens correlatas de diversas obras de Nietzsche, espelham enquanto representa??es de uma filosofia que colhe, direta ou indiretamente, contribui??es da tradi??o zoroastriana ou das suas deriva??es (na tradi??o judaico-greco-crist?, e ademais em toda a tradi??o filos?fica ocidental). Municiada com essas contribui??es, e com a interpreta??o que delas se faz, a filosofia nietzscheana questiona toda a tradi??o de pensamento do Ocidente, propondo a sua substitui??o por uma nova atitude diante da vida. Esse trabalho pretende mostrar tamb?m de que maneira a constitui??o do Zaratustra nietzscheano ganhou corpo, nos escritos do fil?sofo alem?o, junto com a id?ia de fazer, de um personagem hom?nimo do antigo profeta iraniano (Zaratustra ou Zoroastro, o fundador do Zoroastrismo), o arauto daquele importante texto que pretendeu levar a l?ngua alem? ? [sua] m?xima perfei??o , enfeixando e levando a um cl?max prof?tico-po?tico condizente com o sentido da Terra as id?ias-chave de Nietzsche sobre a corre??o do mais fatal dos erros e sobre a morte de Deus . Procedeu-se a uma minuciosa investiga??o de raz?es e modos de a constitui??o do Zaratustra nietzscheano ter se espelhado no seu hom?nimo iraniano (se??es 1.1 a 1.6), e um levantamento da obra nietzscheana sugeriu inquestion?veis rela??es com a tradi??o zoroastriana, no mais das vezes atrav?s das repercuss?es desta. Essas rela??es foram contextualizadas, em diversas inst?ncias (se??es 2.1 a 2.3.2), no ?mbito do mais fatal dos erros , a cria??o da moral na ocasi?o mesma de sua transposi??o para o plano metaf?sico (Ecce Homo, Por que sou um destino , 3). Mediante uma avalia??o das poss?veis circunst?ncias e repercuss?es da morte de Deus , as rela??es da obra nietzscheana com a tradi??o zoroastriana foram investigadas (se??es 3.1 a 3.7), permitindo a compreens?o desse acontecimento como componente essencial e tr?gico desenlace da corre??o do mais fatal dos erros

La complexité de la tâche d'un opérateur humain et la variabilité de sa charge de travail, dans un système homme machine, peuvent le conduire à commettre des erreurs aux conséquences graves. Aussi, l'impossibilité de les éliminer dans leur totalité rend nécessaire la présence d'une interface tolérante à ces erreurs, capable d'empêcher leurs conséquences sur le système homme-machine. Le thème de cette recherche consiste donc à analyser le comportement de l'opérateur humain en surcharge mentale ou face à une dégradation plus ou moins importante des informations d'un procédé simule simple de réglage de température d'eau. L’analyse du comportement des quarante-quatre sujets testés a permis par la suite l'extraction de règles générales à introduire dans la spécification de l'interface tolérante aux erreurs humaines. La modélisation de l'opérateur humain qui constitue une étape importante vers la conception de cette interface a été écrite en logique floue. Cette interface est composée de différents modules tels que la classification de l'action de l'opérateur, la résolution de l'action, et des modèles de l'opérateur humain et du procédé. La validation de la structure d'interface proposée tout comme les résultats de l'analyse des comportements des opérateurs humains ont permis d'énoncer des recommandations générales pour la conduite assistée de procédés.

This thesis describes barcodes which are used in postal services. Specifically, it is concerned with Intelligent Mail Barcode, the GS1-128 code, the C128 code of Ceska posta (Czech Postal Services) and the QR code. The thesis attempts to analyze methods of encoding information into barcodes and error detection algorithms used for error correction during the decoding processes. Most importantly, there is described Reed-Solomon error correction in the QR code. There are presented and evaluated different methods of code detecting which are suggested by authors of various academic articles. The thesis also describes the method of creating test sets of images and proposed appearances of the scanning scene. Additionally, there are described algorithms for detection and decoding barcodes GS1-128, C128 and IMB in the image which was created during the work on this thesis. Finally, there is the evaluation of the percentage success of algorithms.

The continuous evolution of the optical communication technology in the last few years has allowed the growing users demand for higher bandwidth to be satisfactorily attended. This new demand is mainly attributed to the growing popularity of bandwidth-intensive networking applications, such as Internet protocol television (IPTV), high-definition television (HDTV), e-learning, e-health, super high-definition (SHD) class digital movies, and e-culture based on 3-D full-HD video. These applications will eventually require differentiated service types and diversified data rates. As a result, capability of supporting differentiated-quality of service (QoS) and multirate transmission are becoming a challenge for future optical networks. Among many multiplexing techniques, optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) constitutes a potential candidate for next generation optical networks, particularly due to features like asynchronous operation, simplified network control, easy addition of new users, and possibility of differentiated-QoS at the physical layer. The performance of this access technique is mainly limited by multiple-access interference (MAI). Although in multirate, multiservice OCDMA systems MAI is considered to be binomially distributed, others probability distributions for the MAI analyzes and consequently the bit error rate (BER) have been used as an approximation. In this context, this dissertation proposes a new formalism to evaluate the BER performance of 1-D and 2-D multirate, multiservice OCDMA systems considering MAI as binomially distributed, resulting in a more accurate BER expression. Also, the proposed approach does not require knowledge a priori of the generated code sequences themselves, which means that the system performance analysis is achieved more easily using only the code parameters. Furthermore, a multirate OCDMA system employing 1-D optical orthogonal code (OOC) and 2-D optical fast frequency hopping (OFFH) codes is also investigated. A performance comparison in terms of BER for the OOC-based system assuming both Poisson and binomial distribution for the MAI is investigated. A further comparison of an OFFH-based multirate system assuming both gaussian and binomial distribution for the MAI is also analyzed. It is shown that BER performance in multirate scenarios can be overestimated or underestimated by many orders of magnitude depending on the assumed distribution for the MAI and on the number of simultaneous users. Moreover, it is presented for the first time a hybrid OCDM/WDM optical packet switch capable of supporting multirate and differentiated-QoS transmission. The architecture of the proposed multirate switch and its performance in terms of packet loss probability are also presented. Finally, it is shown that using a gaussian or Poisson distribution for the MAI might not be appropriate for a reliable BER estimate, since they are not acceptable approximations to assess the performance of multirate, multiservice systems with good accuracy.
A contínua evolução da tecnologia de comunicações ópticas observada nos últimos anos vem possibilitando atender a crescente demanda dos usuários por maior largura de banda. Esta nova demanda é atribuída principalmente à popularidade crescente de aplicações de banda larga, tais como TV por protocolo de Internet (IPTV), televisão de alta definição (HDTV), ensino online, e-saúde, filmes digitais de super alta definição (SHD) e e-cultura baseado em vídeo 3-D full-HD. Esta vasta gama de aplicações acabará por necessitar de tipos de serviços diferenciados e taxas de transmissão de dados diversificadas. Como resultado, capacidades de suportar diferenciamento de qualidade de serviço (QoS) e transmissão de múltiplas taxas estão se tornando um desafio para as redes ópticas futuras. Dentre muitas técnicas de multiplexação existentes, OCDMA constitui-se em um candidato potencial para as redes ópticas de próxima geração, particularmente devido a características como operação assíncrona, controle de rede simplificada, fácil adição de novos usuários, e também possibilidade de QoS diferenciado na camada física. O desempenho desta técnica de acesso múltiplo é limitado principalmente por interferência múltipla de acesso (MAI). Embora em sistemas OCDMA de múltiplas taxas e multiserviços a MAI deva ser considerada binomialmente distribuída, outras distribuições de probabilidade para a análise da MAI e, consequentemente, da BER têm sido utilizadas como uma aproximação. Neste contexto, este trabalho propõe um novo formalismo para avaliar o desempenho da BER de sistemas OCDMA 1-D e 2-D de múltiplas taxas e multisserviços considerando a MAI como binomialmente distribuída, o que resulta em uma expressão mais precisa para a BER. Além disso, o método proposto neste trabalho não requer conhecimento, a priori, das sequências de códigos geradas, o que significa que a análise do desempenho do sistema é obtida mais facilmente utilizando apenas os parâmetros do código. Um sistema OCDMA de múltiplas taxas empregando códigos 1-D OOC e 2-D OFFH será também investigado. Uma comparação do desempenho em termos de BER para o sistema baseado em OOC supondo tanto a distribuição de Poisson quanto a binomial para a MAI é investigada. De forma análoga, uma comparação para o sistema de múltiplas taxas baseado em OFFH supondo desta vez tanto a distribuição gaussiana quanto a binomial para a MAI também é analisada. É mostrado que a BER em cenários de múltiplas taxas pode ser superestimada ou subestimada em várias ordens de grandeza, dependendo da distribuição suposta para a MAI e do número de usuários simultâneos no sistema. Além disso, é apresentado pela primeira vez um switch óptico híbrido de pacotes OCDM/WDM capaz de prover transmissões de múltiplas taxas e serviços diferenciados. A arquitetura do switch proposto e seu desempenho em termos de probabilidade de perda de pacotes também são apresentados. Finalmente, é mostrado que o uso da distribuição gaussiana ou poissoniana para a MAI pode não ser apropriado para uma estimativa confiável de BER, uma vez que não são aproximações aceitáveis para avaliar o desempenho de sistemas de múltiplas taxas e multiserviços com boa precisão.

Le travail présenté dans ce mémoire entre dans le cadre d'un contrat de recherche établi entre la direction de la recherche et de la technologie (division ergonomie - ministère de la défense) et le laboratoire d'automatique et de mécanique industrielles et humaines. L'évolution des systèmes vers une automatisation de plus en plus poussée conduit très souvent à transformer l'activité humaine dans les moyens de transport par air, mer ou terre, en une activité de surveillance et de contrôle d'interface graphique assurant les interactions homme-machine. La monotonie de la tâche qui en résulte associée aux contraintes caractérisant les conditions de travail, ont des effets négatifs sur la vigilance et la performance des opérateurs humains et plus généralement sur la sécurité des systèmes. Aussi convient-il d'analyser les caractéristiques de la situation de travail et de l'operateur pour répondre à un besoin double d'analyse fiabiliste et de modélisation du comportement humain en régime perturbé ou face à une situation accidentelle. Les travaux résumés dans ce mémoire visent à poursuivre l'exploration des perturbations temporaires affectant le fonctionnement des opérateurs, perturbations liées ici aux contraintes temporelle, visuelle et posturale de la situation de travail. Ils englobent à la fois des travaux sur les stimulations vestibulaires d'origine vibratoire et des études sur la présentation d'informations visuelles sur écran graphique, et sont abordés dans une perspective pluridisciplinaire, conciliant aspects humains et automatiques. La situation analysée est celle d'un opérateur humain effectuant une tache de catégorisation de signaux visuels, de durée limitée et de nature simple et répétitive ; sa complexité réside dans la part de réflexion nécessaire à la discrimination de ces messages en fonction de critères définis à l'avance. Au point de vue méthodologie, les données sont traitées dans le cadre de la théorie de la détection du signal dont la principale originalité est d'isoler dans l'acte perceptif, le processus décisionnel du processus sensoriel. Dans ce cadre théorique, trois expérimentations ont été réalisées. La mise en place d'un dispositif d'évaluation des performances perceptives et cognitives de l'opérateur humain effectuant une prise de décision, a fait l'objet de la première expérimentation. Au cours de la deuxième expérimentation, la charge de travail et la capacité perceptive et cognitive de l'opérateur humain sont analysées dans l'environnement vibratoire d'un voilier dans diverses conditions de navigation rencontrées au cours de l'expédition de celui-ci dans l'antarctique. Les taches visuo-cognitivo-motrices de l'opérateur humain pendant ces deux séries d'expériences ont été réalisées avec un temps imposé fixe qui est modulé dans la troisième expérimentation. Dans celle-ci et dernière expérimentation, le rôle et les effets des modifications de la pression temporelle, des faibles variations d'amplitude des stimuli graphiques et des stimulations vestibulaires d'origine vibratoire, sont examinés sur les performances de l'opérateur humain effectuant une tache de détection de variation de figures graphiques. L'analyse des données recueillies tout au long de la phase expérimentale, fait appel dans une première approche à une méthodologie d'évaluation basée sur un modèle statistique, dont la structure est l'analyse Bayesienne des comparaisons. Ce choix est directement suggéré par la mesure de l'activité de l'homme. L'autre approche est plus globale car elle permet de tenir compte du caractère multivariable du comportement humain. La technique d'analyse de données est alors multidimensionnelle : analyse en composantes principales. Finalement, une tentative de modélisation des phénomènes observés dans l'environnement visuo-postural étudié et une identification des lois expérimentales obtenues permettent d'interpréter les résultats et de les présenter sous la forme de modèles. La mise en œuvre de ces modèles fait l'objet de la dernière partie de ce mémoire. L'originalité réside alors dans l'analyse des raisonnements, représentations mentales et mécanismes automatiques liés aux diverses prises de décisions affectées par un jeu de contraintes (délai, difficulté d'observation, stimulations vestibulaires) s'exerçant sur l'opérateur humain.

Dans ce travail, nous proposons deux nouvelles approches ensemblistes pourl’estimation d’état basées sur la caractérisation explicite des bornes d’erreur d’estimation. Ces approches peuvent être vues comme la combinaison entre un observateur ponctuel et une caractérisation ensembliste de l’erreur d’estimation. L’objectif est de réduire la complexité de leur implémentation, de réduire le temps de calcul en temps réel et d’améliorer la précision et des encadrements des vecteurs d’état.La première approche propose un observateur ensembliste basé sur des ensembles invariants ellipsoïdaux pour des systèmes linéaires à temps-discret et aussi des systèmes à paramètres variables. L’approche proposée fournit un intervalle d’état déterministe qui est construit comme une somme entre le vecteur état estimé du système et les bornes de l’erreur d’estimation. L’avantage de cette approche est qu’elle ne nécessite pas la propagation des ensemble d’état dans le temps.La deuxième approche est une version intervalle de l’observateur d’état de Luenberger, pour les systèmes linéaires incertains à temps-discret, basés sur le calcul d’intervalle et les ensembles invariants. Ici, le problème d’estimation ensembliste est considéré comme un problème d’estimation d’état ponctuel couplé à une caractérisation intervalle de l’erreur d’estimation
In This work, we propose two main new approaches for the set-membershipstate estimation problem based on explicit characterization of the estimation error bounds. These approaches can be seen as a combination between a punctual observer and a setmembership characterization of the observation error. The objective is to reduce the complexity of the on-line implimentation, reduce the on-line computation time and improve the accuracy of the estimated state enclosure.The first approach is a set-membership observer based on ellipsoidal invariant sets for linear discrete-time systems and also for Linear Parameter Varying systems. The proposed approach provides a deterministic state interval that is build as the sum of the estimated system states and its corresponding estimation error bounds. The important feature of the proposed approach is that does not require propagation of sets.The second approach is an interval version of the Luenberger state observer for uncertain discrete-time linear systems based on interval and invariant set computation. The setmembership state estimation problem is considered as a punctual state estimation issue coupled with an interval characterization of the estimation error

Les erreurs humaines et les interruptions sont des phénomènes courants mais négligés, voire ignorés, dans le processus de développement des systèmes interactifs. En outre, leur automatisation massive n'a pas éliminé erreurs et interruptions, mais en a accentué le caractère critique. Ce mémoire a pour objet l'amélioration de la fiabilité des systèmes homme-machine par la prise en compte explicite des erreurs et des interruptions dans la pratique de l'Ingénierie de l'Interaction Homme-Machine. Nous appliquons notre étude au cas exigeant des systèmes critiques automatisés et notamment aux systèmes aéronautiques, pour lesquels les erreurs humaines et les interruptions ont une importance décisive. Dans la première partie du mémoire, dédiée aux concepts, nous présentons une revue des recherches sur l'automatisation et sur l'analyse des erreurs humaines telle que l'envisage la psychologie cognitive. A notre tour, nous proposons le concept de singularité comme notion pivot aux phénomènes d'erreur et d'interruption. Nous en fournissons un modèle qui explicite les activités mentales en relation avec la détection et la correction de singularité. La seconde partie du mémoire a trait à l'expression formelle des singularités dans le processus de développement d'un système interactif. Après une revue des formalismes et des notations utilisés en Interaction Homme-Machine, nous retenons MAD, UAN et les réseaux de Petri pour leurs qualités et leur usage complémentaires. Pour chacun, nous proposons les extensions nécessaires à l'expression des singularités. Nous fournissons également les règles de traduction de ces extensions entre les trois formalismes retenus, évitant ainsi la perte de conformité au cours du processus de développement d'un système.

Telemetry system, Optimisation, Sensoric networks, Smart Grid, Internet of Things, Sensors, Information security, Cryptography, Cryptography algorithms, Cryptosystem, Confidentiality, Integrity, Authentication, Data freshness, Non-Repudiation.

碩士
長庚大學
電機工程學系
99
With the progress of CMOS process technology, the design complexity and the transistor density in SoC systems increase rapidly, whereas the power supply voltage also decreases rapidly. It leads to the soft-error rate in SoC designs also increasing rapidly, the reliability in arithmetic circuits decreased as well. Therefore, the soft-error tolerant design becomes the major challenge in SoC designs in the future nano-scale era. To enhance the soft-error tolerant ability; in this thesis, we construct the replica circuit combined with C-element in the most-significant-part of main arithmetic block to filter out the soft-error noise. To achieve superior noise tolerance than S-ASET design, we apply the protected main arithmetic block to the ANT architecture. In the way, the protected main arithmetic block can be selected with higher probability because of higher computation precision and higher reliability. Furthermore, alternative to the conventional Reduced Precision Redundancy (RPR) design, we design the error-correction circuit by using the proposed weighted RPR design. In this way, we can achieve higher computation accuracy with the same hardware cost. As a result, the proposed soft-error tolerant arithmetic circuit can perform superior soft-error tolerance than the state-of-art S-ASET design with 0.12dB improvement as Per=10^-1. Moreover, we can save 21.17% extra chip area, consume 31.78% less extra power consumption, and operate with 17.81% less extra computation delay. Finally, we implement our proposed 16-bit soft-error tolerant multiplier design in TSMC 0.18µm process. The core chip area is 155.5×147.6 μm^2, computation time is 9.14 ns, and power consumption is 6.54 mW.

La correzione dell’errore tecnico permane uno dei più difficili e frustranti ostacoli che ogni allenatore e atleta devono affrontare: errori che l’atleta sembra aver superato durante le sessioni di allenamento, riappaiono sotto stress competitivo o quando l’atleta si esercita da solo o addirittura inspiegabilmente anche dopo anni di duro lavoro. Lo scopo di questo studio è stato quello di comparare l’efficacia di una strategia di insegnamento chiamata “Metodo dell’Amplificazione dell’Errore” con il metodo istruttivo (DI) ed un gruppo di controllo (C) nella correzione di errori tecnici in atleti di differente livello di abilità. Il Metodo dell’Amplificazione dell’Errore è una strategia di insegnamento per la correzione di errori tecnici delle abilità motorie alternativa ai metodi convenzionali (istruttivo e dimostrativo). Questo metodo si basa sull’assunto che l’individuo può correggere il suo pattern motorio attraverso i suoi errori. Esagerare deliberatamente un errore aiuta il soggetto a fare utili confronti tra movimenti. La prova amplificata fornisce nuovi feedback intrinseci e quindi stimola nell'atleta le funzioni di categorizzazione percettiva e di elaborazione, concettuale e simbolica, delle informazioni ricevute. Il soggetto ha una chiara sensazione di “ciò che non deve fare” e quindi è più facile che arrivi ad esprimere un movimento più efficace attraverso una ricerca autonoma di soluzioni motorie, oltre a migliorare la sua capacità di detenzione dell’errore. Nell’esecuzione di un movimento l’atleta può manifestare più di un errore, ma uno solo incide maggiormente sull’equilibrio del sistema e sul risultato. In genere gli errori secondari non sono altro che degli aggiustamenti compensatori. I risultati delle prove post e delle prove di retention test evidenziano un miglioramento significativamente maggiore per molte variabili cinematiche per il gruppo di atleti trattato con il MAE rispetto agli altri due gruppi (metodo istruttivo e controllo). Dai risultati si evince che il MAE è una strategia di insegnamento efficace e consente di ottenere miglioramenti del pattern motorio dell’atleta sin dalla prima sessione di training. Nel MAE a differenza del metodo istruttivo, il movimento è usato come feedback, quindi un feedback che utilizza lo stesso linguaggio usato dal soggetto cioè un linguaggio percettivo/motorio. La procedura del MAE è caratterizzata da un un-learning task piuttosto che un re-teaching task con il vantaggio di un completo transfert di apprendimento.
The correction of technical errors in motor skills represents one of the major issues in motor learning: consistent errors in technique, especially under competitive stress, are very common among athletes and are perhaps among the major factors that can cause underperformance. The aim of this research was to compare the effectiveness of a leaning strategy called “Method of Amplification of Error” (MAE) to the traditional instruction method (DI) and to a no-feedback control condition (C) in improving the performance in athletes with different levels of ability. Traditional methods of teaching are based on delivering extrinsic feedback by direct instruction or by demonstration. The MAE is an alternative strategy for technique error correction based on the assumption that subjects can learn to correct their movements through their mistakes. The exaggeration of a specific error helps the subject to make useful comparisons between motor patterns. Amplifying the subject’s “main error” allows him/her to better understand what is not to be done, thereby enhancing the correction of the main motor error. The amplified error trial provides the learner with new intrinsic feedback, stimulates the functions of perceptive categorization and the conceptual and symbolic elaboration of the received information, that enhances his/her error detection capability. Moreover, the effectiveness of MAE is based on the amplification of the main error, while the amplification of secondary errors is less effective in respect to the main one as they are assumed to be the result of compensatory adjustments to achieve the final movement The second aim of this project was to test how performance parameters vary as a consequence of main error’s vs. secondary errors’ amplification. Results showed at the post-test and at the retention test the MAE group showed a greater improvement than the DI and C groups for several kinematic parameters. The technical problem is solved quickly in just one single session learning. MAE employs movement as feedback and the feedback is maintained in the motor-perceptive language used by the subject’s own body. The different approach of MAE is that it is an unlearning task rather than a re-teaching one. In this way the subject reduces the error with a full transfer of learning, without the need for the customary adaptation period.

碩士
國立中山大學
教育研究所
101
The aim of this study is to investigate the types of errors students may make on the unit of the conception and calculation of quadratic equation with one unknown. This study conducts a quasi-experimental design. Self-made tests was used to classify and analyze the types of errors by which remedial teaching materials and activities will be designed and then conducted to correct students’ errors. According to the study, four error types which can be found are shown as follows. A. The conception of comprehending and calculating quadratic equation with one unknown. (1)Wrong judgment or unfamiliarity with the application of solution and roots. B. Solution by factorization of polynomial (2)Unfamiliarity with the solution: if AxB=0, then A=0 or B=0 (3)Unfamiliarity with the method of extracting common divisor or misusing an equal division axiom leading to reduced root (4) Unfamiliarity with, mixing up, left out and forgetting multiplication formula (5)Errors on the solution to cross deposit multiplication. C. Applying the method of completing the square to solve quadratic equation with one unknown (6)Wrong conception on square root (7)Unable to find suitable, correct complete square form (8)Unclear steps or principles on the method of completing the square to solve quadratic equation with one unknown. D. Using formula to solve quadratic equation with one unknown. (9)wrong memorization on the formula (10)Difficulties in dealing with related questions on discriminant and solution. The reasons for these error types are: 1. Not enough background knowledge or basic concepts. 2. The interference of new experience on old one. 3. Not enough ability of calculation or carelessness. 4. Wrong memorization or application on formula. 5. Emphasis more on memorization but less on comprehension. 6. Wrong concept or calculation on the solution of cross deposit multiplication. As far as the effect of the remedial teaching is concerned, the percentage of post-tests is higher than that of pre-tests. Among the participants, there is only one who gets full grades on both tests. For the rest of them, the percentage of post-tests is higher than that of pre-tests. Apart from answering the questions by the conception of square root, the effect of the remedial teaching program on the participants is quite satisfying.

碩士
國立政治大學
應用數學研究所
97
The research aims to explore the main error types of first grader’s in a senior high school when solving the unit of complex number and complex plane after the instruction, including the possible reasons of their errors. The course designs of the remedial instructions are followed according to those reasons. At the end of this study, some analyses of the effects of remedial instruction activities are provided. In this study, there are eleven main error types from the first graders when proceeding to do the unit of complex number and complex plane : vague understanding about the definition of complex number; lacking necessary knowledge for the operation rules with the multiplication and division of two radicals; unfamiliar with handling the power of i and sum of the them; constantly making mistakes when doing the fundamental operations of arithmetic with complex number; confusing the meaning or conception concerning the absolute value of complex number under the false ideas existed in junior high about “A negative becomes a positive , and a positive is still a positive ”; not knowing the definition of conjugate complex number or confusing conjugate complex number with the absolute value of complex number; incapable of using the idea of operating the absolute value of complex number; failing to relate complex number to complex plane; inability in plane geometry; unable to construct the concept of complex number; habitual thinking with integer. The primary factors of making the above errors, according to this research, are as follows: ambiguous definition; paradoxical; influenced by instinct; making false analogy; failing to effectively connect complex number with complex plane; lacking prerequisite knowledge. As for the results of this remedial teaching, the rate of blank in students’ answer sheets, regardless of the whole test sheets or individual tests, has obviously decreased; the learners’ rate of accuracy as a whole is mostly higher; the improvement of grades, both in the brilliant group and in the poor group, is significantly improved; the effect of retention, in view of the whole participants’ rate of accuracy, varies insignificantly; more important, the results of students’ post-tests and postponed post-tests are in highly positive correlation. In testing the poor group, we find their retention of learning excellent. The variations of answers in the post-tests and postponed post-tests are not significant. Besides, most learners pay much attention to the contents and materials of employing Power Point and GSP and consider them as useful tools in the remedial teaching. In conclusion, the participants make great progress under this experiment. Therefore, most learners take positive perspectives from the remedial instruction.

Cette recherche a pour but d’évaluer le rôle de la vision et de la proprioception pour la perception et le contrôle de l’orientation spatiale de la main chez l’humain. L’orientation spatiale de la main est une composante importante des mouvements d’atteinte et de saisie. Toutefois, peu d’attention a été portée à l’étude de l’orientation spatiale de la main dans la littérature. À notre connaissance, cette étude est la première à évaluer spécifiquement l’influence des informations sensorielles et de l’expérience visuelle pour la perception et le contrôle en temps réel de l'orientation spatiale de la main pendant le mouvement d’atteinte naturel vers une cible stationnaire. Le premier objectif était d’étudier la contribution de la vision et de la proprioception dans des tâches de perception et de mouvement d’orientation de la main. Dans la tâche de perception (orientation-matching task), les sujets devaient passivement ou activement aligner une poignée de forme rectangulaire avec une cible fixée dans différentes orientations. Les rotations de l’avant-bras et du poignet étaient soit imposées par l’expérimentateur, soit effectuées par les sujets. Dans la tâche de mouvement d’orientation et d’atteinte simultanées (letter posting task 1), les sujets ont réalisé des mouvements d’atteinte et de rotation simultanées de la main afin d’insérer la poignée rectangulaire dans une fente fixée dans les mêmes orientations. Les tâches ont été réalisées dans différentes conditions sensorielles où l’information visuelle de la cible et de la main était manipulée. Dans la tâche perceptive, une augmentation des erreurs d’orientation de la main a été observée avec le retrait des informations visuelles concernant la cible et/ou ou la main. Lorsque la vision de la main n’était pas permise, il a généralement été observé que les erreurs d’orientation de la main augmentaient avec le degré de rotation nécessaire pour aligner la main et la cible. Dans la tâche de mouvement d’orientation et d’atteinte simultanées, les erreurs ont également augmenté avec le retrait des informations visuelles. Toutefois, les patrons d’erreurs étaient différents de ceux observés dans la tâche de perception, et les erreurs d’orientation n’ont pas augmenté avec le degré de rotation nécessaire pour insérer la poignée dans la fente. En absence de vision de la main, il a été observé que les erreurs d’orientation étaient plus petites dans la tâche de mouvement que de perception, suggérant l’implication de la proprioception pour le contrôle de l’orientation spatiale de la main lors des mouvements d’orientation et d’atteinte simultanées. Le deuxième objectif de cette recherche était d’étudier l’influence de la vision et de la proprioception dans le contrôle en temps réel de l’orientation spatiale de la main. Dans une tâche d’orientation de la main suivie d’une atteinte manuelle (letter posting task 2), les sujets devaient d’abord aligner l’orientation de la même poignée avec la fente fixée dans les mêmes orientations, puis réaliser un mouvement d’atteinte sans modifier l’orientation initiale de la main. Une augmentation des erreurs initiales et finales a été observée avec le retrait des informations visuelles. Malgré la consigne de ne pas changer l’orientation initiale de la main, une diminution des erreurs d’orientation a généralement été observée suite au mouvement d’atteinte, dans toutes les conditions sensorielles testées. Cette tendance n’a pas été observée lorsqu’aucune cible explicite n’était présentée et que les sujets devaient conserver l’orientation de départ de la main pendant le mouvement d’atteinte (mouvement intransitif; letter-posting task 3). La diminution des erreurs pendant l’atteinte manuelle transitive vers une cible explicite (letter-posting task 2), malgré la consigne de ne pas changer l’orientation de la main pendant le mouvement, suggère un mécanisme de corrections automatiques pour le contrôle en temps réel de l’orientation spatiale de la main pendant le mouvement d’atteinte naturel vers une cible stationnaire. Le troisième objectif de cette recherche était d’évaluer la contribution de l’expérience visuelle pour la perception et le contrôle de l’orientation spatiale de la main. Des sujets aveugles ont été testés dans les mêmes tâches de perception et de mouvement. De manière générale, les sujets aveugles ont présenté les mêmes tendances que les sujets voyants testés dans la condition proprioceptive (sans vision), suggérant que l’expérience visuelle n’est pas nécessaire pour le développement d’un mécanisme de correction en temps réel de l’orientation spatiale de la main basé sur la proprioception.
The goal of this research was to study the contribution of vision and proprioception to the perception and control of hand orientation in human subjects. Spatial orientation of the hand is an important component of reaching and grasping movements. However, not much attention has been given to spatial hand orientation in the literature. To our knowledge, this study is the first to specifically investigate the influence of sensory information for the perception and on-line control of hand orientation during natural reaching movement to stationary targets. The first objective of this research was to study the contribution of vision and proprioception in perceptual orientation-matching and motor letter posting tasks. In the perceptual orientation-matching task, subjects attempted to passively or actively align a match handle, to a target that was fixed in different orientations. In the passive perceptual task, passive rotations of the forearm and wrist were imposed by the experimenter; whereas in the active perceptual task, the rotations were actively executed by the subjects. In letter posting task 1, subjects simultaneously reached and rotated the right hand to insert a match handle into a target slot fixed in the same orientations. The tasks were performed in different sensory conditions where the visual information about the target and the hand was manipulated. In the perceptual orientation-matching task, augmentation of hand orientation errors was observed with the withdrawal of visual information related to either the target and/or the hand. When full vision was not allowed, hand orientation errors were larger overall when larger rotations of the wrist were required to match the target, whether the rotations were made actively by the subject or were imposed passively by the experimenter. In letter posting task 1, augmentation of hand orientation errors was also observed with the withdrawal of visual information related to either the target and/or the hand. However, errors patterns were different from those observed in the perceptual task, and hand orientation errors were not larger for larger target orientations. Without vision of the hand, final hand orientation errors were smaller overall in letter-posting task 1 than in the orientation-matching task. This suggests the implication of the proprioceptive information for the control of spatial hand orientation during reach-and-orient movements. The second objective of this research was to study the influence of vision and proprioception in on-line control of spatial hand orientation. In letter posting task 2, subjects first aligned their hand to the angle of the target and then reached to it with the instruction not to change their initial hand orientation. The augmentation of initial and final errors was observed with the withdrawal of vision. Although subjects were instructed to not change their hand orientation, in all sensory condition tested, hand orientation changed overall during reaching in a way that reduced the initial orientation errors. This trend did not occur when there was no explicitly defined target toward which the subjects reached (letter-posting task 3; intransitive movement). The reduction in hand orientation errors during transitive reach in letter-posting task 2, even when told not to change it, suggests the engagement of an automatic error correction mechanism for hand orientation during natural reaching movements toward stationary targets. The third objective of this research was to investigate the contribution of visual experience to the perception and control of spatial orientation of the hand. Blind subjects were tested in the same perceptual and motor tasks. Overall, no differences were observed between performance of blind subjects and normally-sighted subjects tested without vision (proprioceptive condition), suggesting that prior visual experience is not necessary for the development of an on-line error correction mechanism for hand orientation guided by proprioceptive inputs.