This thesis tells the story of a design case creating an user interface for a MMORPG where the player are able control the body language of the avatar. By this the game can achieve a gameplay about drama and strong characterization. The thesis addresses considerations on what aspects of body language that can be important for computer games and other virtual environments. It also offers design considerations when designing interfaces for using gestures and other body signals to communicate emotions in virtual environments such as computer games. The main design consideration when creating the interface was to treat the player as an actor and the game world as a stage. The player needs to be in control of combinations of facial expressions, body posture and gestures as well as relative avatar positioning to other characters and objects. The interface was first tested as a paper prototype, re-designed, re-tested and then implemented into a computer prototype.

The proposed thesis deals with the topic of body language in visual art and with understanding of body language as synergy of the innermost experience and the experience of the bodily form. The theoretical part of the thesis analyses psychological, anthropological and art historical literature published both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The point of departure for the theoretical part is the concept of interconnectedness of sensory perception, its cognitive analysis and the ensuing answer to the environment, focusing especially on the subjective character of these processes. In the practical part of the proposed thesis, an educational art project is designed, based on the results of the theoretical study in the first part and impulses from contemporary visual art (Eva Koťátková, Erwin Wurm, Miriam Cabessa and others). The aim of the educational part is to observe the processes mentioned above, concentrating especially on the creative expression through an artistic action and the experience of the individual.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka fyra lågstadielärares inställning till användning av kroppsspråk i undervisningen. Studien utgår från teorin embodiment där begreppen multimodalitet och sekventiell organisering är centrala. Vid insamling av studiens data användes kvalitativ forskningsintervju. Insamlat material analyserades med hjälp av metoden innehållsanalys. Av intervjuerna framkom att lärare är positivt inställda till användningen av kroppsspråk i undervisning och att det i stor utsträckning anses relevant. Resultatet visade att hela kroppen inkluderas i kroppsspråk men handgester och ansiktsuttryck är den typ av kroppsspråk som förekommer mest. Den främsta utmaningen lärare såg med användning av kroppsspråk var att använda lagom mycket kroppsspråk i sin undervisning. Slutsatserna av denna studie är att kroppsspråk bör användas på ett medvetet sätt och att lärares användning av kroppsspråk är av betydelse i undervisning, främst för att förstärka ett verbalt innehåll och för att fånga elever.

University of the Witwatersrand Department of Humanities Wits School of the Arts Drama for Life: (MADT) Master of Arts in Drama Therapy / The body has always fascinated me! As a classically trained dancer with a Physical Theatre background, I learnt to use my body as a means of expressing myself. I saw the body as a means to performance, but I believed there was more to the body than just being put on show. In University I learnt about and came to understand the mind-body connection (Plamer, 2009). This interested me and I began to search deeper, with the question that if the body and mind are connected, where are our human memories stored? I have always wondered what moves me and what moves the people around me… This research was a platform for me to look into the notion of the mind, body connection and memory. Through the use of story and movement, I began to consider bullying as a memory which the body and mind both experience. Through the research I focused on where the body had stored this experience and what were the effects of this stored memory (the aftermath). The rest of this paper unpacks my research and my findings working with a client centred approach. In this paper I speak back to the approach I took during the research process, using Laban’s 8 Effort actions, Lahad’s 6 Part Story Method and Whitehouse’s Authentic Movement as part of the integration process speaking back to bullying.

This research is a qualitative interview study on consent in upper secondary school dance education through focus group interviews with teachers and students. The intention is to give more insight on how teachers and students understand consent in upper secondary school dance education and in general. The study shows that consent in upper secondary dance education in Sweden exists at the intersection between norms of communication, power and the context in which it is practiced. The most common communication of consent for dance in this study is through reading body language, and the most discussed situation is regarding touch and bodily contact. Touch is viewed by the teachers as a vital part of knowledge generation in dance. Both teachers and students find situations where students are engaging with touch and body contact as the most challenging. The study observes that consent is specific within its context, which requires dance teachers to establish and clarify norms and intentions in the dance studio. To do so takes time and repetition, if not successful norms and perceptions from other contexts may be stronger and make the communication of consent difficult. Further, the study suggests that teaching about consent needs to be combined with practical exercises for a more preventive knowledge. The material was analyzed with qualitative analysis and a norm critical and multimodal perspective.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka och utvärdera hur dirigenten på effektivast möjliga sätt kommunicerar information till koristerna genom sitt gestiska språk utifrån hur koristerna fördelar sin uppmärksamhet och tolkar positioneringen av dirigentens händer. Studien utredde även om och i så fall hur uppmärksamhetsfördelningen och tolkningen av en dirigents gestik skiljer sig mellan korister med varierande körerfarenhet och musikalisk utbildning. Dirigering är ett uråldrigt icke-verbalt kommunikationssätt och tidigare forskning visar att vi människor speglar varandras kroppsspråk, den så kallade kameleonteffekten. Tillsammans med vetskap om hur sångarens röstapparat fungerar ges en övergripande bild av vilken information koristen behöver från dirigenten för att sången ska nå önskat resultat. Studien genomfördes genom experiment på fyra körgrupper med skilda erfarenheter av körsång samt utbildningsnivå i musik, där ett antal övningar konstruerades för att kunna analysera hur sångarna fördelade sin uppmärksamhet mellan dirigentens händer, ansikte och det egna lyssnandet. Som komplement till experimentet genomfördes även en intervju med en erfaren professionell kördirigent. Resultatet visade att det fanns både likheter och skillnader i försöksgruppernas tolkning av gestiken. Enklare gester som tydligt ger psykologiska associationer till kända känslor eller beteenden, såsom att lyfta något tungt, tolkades intuitivt på likvärdigt sätt av samtliga sångare, medan mer köridiomatiska gester såsom att placera en konsonant på ett synkoperat slag skiljde sig mellan grupperna. Detta innebär inte att mindre erfarna sångare med nödvändighet inte kan avläsa eller förstå vissa gester. Skillnaderna mellan gruppernas tolkning av gestiken berodde sannolikt i hög utsträckning på andra faktorer, såsom att det i repetitionssammanhang kan ta längre tid för den oerfarne koristen att lära sig läsa noterna, hitta rätt i röst och andning och intonera rent. Detta gör att denne inte har lika mycket utrymme att koncentrera sig på dirigentens gestik jämfört med en korist som tränat upp körsjungandets elementa till automatik. / The purpose of the study was to examine and evaluate how the conductor most efficiently communicates information to the choristers through gestural language based on how the choristers distribute their attention and interpret the position of the conductor’s hands. The study also investigated if and how the distribution of attention and interpretation of a conductor’s gesticulation differs between choristers with different levels of experience in choral singing and musical education. Conducting is an ancient non-verbal mode of communication, and previous research shows that people mirror each other’s body language, the so-called chameleon effect. Coupled with knowledge of the function of the singers’ vocal apparatus, an overall picture of what information the choristers need from the conductor in order for the music to achieve the desired result is provided. The study was conducted through experiments on four choir groups with different levels of experience in choral singing and musical education, where a number of exercises were constructed to analyze how the singers distributed their attention between the conductor's hands, face and their own listening. To complement the experiment, an interview with an experienced professional choir conductor was made. The results showed both similarities and differences in the experimental groups' interpretation of gestures. Simpler gestures that clearly gives psychological associations of known emotions or behaviors, such as lifting something heavy, were intuitively interpreted in a similar way by all singers, while more choreographic gestures such as placing a consonant on a syncopated beat differed between the groups. This does not necessarily mean that less experienced singers are unable to read or understand certain gestures. The differences between the groups' interpretation of gestures were probably largely due to other factors, such as the fact that in a rehearsal context it may take longer for the inexperienced chorister to decipher the notes, find the right voice and breathing and intonate just. This means that they have less opportunity to concentrate on the conductor's gestures, in comparison with a chorister who has trained the basic elements of choral singing to automaticity. / <p>Information om examenskonserten</p><p>Repertoar:</p><p>Lux Aeterna (Rebecka Ryd)</p><p>I detta vita, outsagda (text Cecilia Lindemalm, musik Rebecka Ryd)</p><p>Hör på mig, ni fjärran länder (text Jesaja 49:1-2, musik Rebecka Ryd)</p><p>Visa vid vindens ängar (text och musik Mats Paulson, arr Rebecka Ryd)</p><p>Den blida vår är inne (text J O Wallin, A Frostenson, arr Rebecka Ryd)</p><p></p><p>Medverkande:</p><p>Rebecka Ryds Diskantensemble</p><p>Dante Fritzell, flöjt</p><p>Lisa Herlitz, oboe</p><p>Patricia Träff, klarinett</p><p>Zacharias Frato, horn</p><p>Fritz Fembro, fagott</p><p>Rebecka Ryd, dirigent och kompositör</p>

This study has examined what in virtual characters movement invokes negative sensations associated with the Uncanny Valley. This was done through a study involving semi-structured interviews, open-ended surveys and eye tracking during which the 10 participants observed gameplay and dialogue clips from three different games. A literature review was performed regarding the topics of Game User Experience, Immersion, Animation, Motion capture, Uncanny Valley and Body language studies. The results of the study indicate that it is possible for participants to identify what details in virtual characters’ movements induce these negative sensations to them, which strengthen previous research of the topic. The results of this study did not show a great deal of variation between the participants yet showed a unique set of motivations and examples about what influenced their perception. However, with such a small sample, the results can only be applied to this study and merely provide the groundwork for future studies of the topic. However, it does provide more detailed information about the uncanny valley that can help game developers to make informed decisions when choosing to work with realistic animation

Biomedical applications offer an exciting growth opportunity for wireless sensor networks. However, radio frequency communication is problematic in hospital environments that are susceptible to interference in the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands. Also, RF is inherently insecure as eavesdroppers can easily pick up signals. The Intra-Body Network (IBNet) proposes a novel communication model for biomedical sensor networks. It seeks the convenience of wireless communication while avoiding interference and privacy concerns associated with RF. IBNet's solution is to utilize a subject's own body tissue as a transmission medium. Assuming that transmissions are contained within the body, IBNet solves otherwise complex problems of privacy and interference. Unfortunately, transmitting through the same medium in which we sense creates a new type of conflict; it is possible that one sensor's network transmission might corrupt an adjacent sensor's sample data. We present Body Language, a set of protocols that arbitrate IBNet's sampling/communication conflict while providing basic services such as dynamic node discovery, network configuration, quality of service, and sensor sample collection. Body Language seeks to provide these services and solve IBNet's unique communication challenges while minimizing hardware resource requirements and hence sensor node cost. In order to prove Body Language feasibility, we created an IBNet prototype environment where the protocols were demonstrated on real hardware and in real time. The prototype also offers important insight into the Body Language's computational resource requirements. Our results show that Body Language provides all services required by IBNet and it does so with a very modest footprint.

‘The Expression of a Familiar Vessel’ is an investigation into the affective potential of emotional expression. Through the interdisciplinary composition of voice and dance, I am going on a journey through many expressions of varied affective states. By playing with the vastly contrasted physical qualities of voice and dance, there is the opportunity to inspect the latent qualities of emotive meaning within performance. The conceptual framework of Affect theory offered valuable insights into experience, emotion, and expression. The value systems of affective discourse favour the varied spheres of experience by rejecting linguistics and challenging the traditional academic convention by enforcing that language is not our primary way of understanding the world. I utilised and elaborated upon Tomkins’ list of categorical affective expressions in my performative works, using them as a performance score and building upon them. Therefore, this text is a behind-the-scenes insight into the creation of an affective toolkit of expression and the corresponding performance work that utilises those tools. Writing about the non-linguistic enactment of emotion is somewhat contradictory, yet it reinforces the notion of porousness whereby the alternate rationalities of feeling, creating, writing and performing merge through the body’s approach and experience. Still, bodily experience and expression is paramount, and will never be fully captured through text.

[pt] Esta pesquisa tem como tema o corpo como espaço de memória ancestral, com a proposta de intervir em suas representações, por meio da criação das Bonecas Ahosis, a partir das vivências oportunizadas às artesãs do Instituto Onikoja, na Oficina de Movimento Corporal, relacionadas ao maculelê, samba de roda, congado e samba. Como metodologia, notadamente, a pesquisa-ação propôs a experimentação de movimentos corporais associados às manifestações culturais então elencadas, a fim de promover a ampliação dos repertórios motores das artesãs envolvidas, na perspectiva de favorecer a criação de bonecas com novas posturas que remetesse à memória ancestral de matriz africana. Ainda que impactado pelo isolamento social imposto pela pandemia de Covid- 19, o desenvolvimento desta metodologia tornou-se possível com a realização de encontros remotos, bem como com a possibilidade de parceria com o Laboratório DHIS, em que se destacam as atividades promovidas pelo Museu da Pessoa no projeto de pesquisa e extensão com o MOTIRÔ, tendo sido os festejos fundamentais para a construção do presente estudo, dada sua função, seus ofícios e sua dimensão coletiva. / [en] This research has as its theme the body as a space of ancestral memory, with the proposal to intervene in its representations, through the creation of the Ahosis Dolls, based on the experiences offered to the artisans of the Onikojá Institute, in the Corporal Movement Workshop, related to maculelê, samba de roda, congado and samba. As a methodology, notably, action research proposed the experimentation of body movements associated with the cultural manifestations then listed, in order to promote the expansion of the motor repertoires of the artisans involved, in the perspective of favoring the creation of dolls with new postures that refer to the memory ancestor of African origin. Although impacted by the social isolation imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the development of this methodology became possible with the holding of remote meetings, as well as with the possibility of partnership with the DHIS Laboratory, in which the activities promoted by the Museum stand out. da Pessoa in the research and extension project with MOTIRÔ, having been the fundamental celebrations for the construction of the present study, given its function, its crafts and its collective dimension.