ABSTRACT In this thesis, it is argued that the performance of three plays written by Daniel David Moses: Brébeuf's Ghost, The Indian Medicine Shows and Almighty Voice and his Wife function as healing ceremonies. This healing - so necessary after the cultural genocide wrought upon First Nations peoples by the Canadian government's attempts to legislate and educate them out of existence - is brought about through Moses' examination of the dichotic underpinnings of euro-western notions of absence and presence and how this dichotomy leads to conflict between the euro-western concept of disease as a purely physical phenomena and the indigenous view of disease as being the physical manifestation of spiritual imbalance, of not living in accord with the land. The link Heidegger makes between absence and the essence of things - an example of this being his assertion that the essence of a wine jug "does not lie at all in the material of which it consists, but in the void that holds" ("The Thing" 169) - is representative of the viewpoint of the euro-western characters of the play, most of whom base their understanding of the world and the things in it on their perception of voids. For both euro-western and native characters in these plays, physical and psychological disease is linked to the idea of absence. Disease, as a social construct, is argued as a manifestation of the physical and spiritual voids created by a preoccupation with absence. The euro-western relationship to 'things' and commodities to fill the absence of 'self' is. I argue that the performance of the text is a type of ceremony designed to physically manifest the spiritual, akin to such rituals as the Hopi katina ceremony and the Navajo red ant ceremony, whose aims are to restore the wellness of an individual and, thus, the group. It is the performance of absence which is the key to understanding the works' healing value.

Thesis (M.A.)--Lancaster Bible College, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-71).

Thesis (M.A.)--Lancaster Bible College, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-71).

>Magister Scientiae - MSc

This study investigated the link between age and gender susceptibility to simulator-induced sickness in conjunction with display type. Simulator-induced sickness and ataxia were measured before and after exposure to a medium-fidelity driving simulator. Participants in four age and gender categories (older and younger males and females) operated the simulator with a consumer-grade head-mounted display (HMD), and then with a large screen, direct-view plasma display. This study set out to recommend a particular display type that would be appropriate for use with particular age/gender groups in a general-purpose driving simulator. Unfortunately, practice effects affected the simulator-induced sickness and driving performance results for display type, which precludes making recommendations regarding the appropriate use of each display. Despite this, several important discoveries were made, including: 1) older participants did experience significantly increased simulator-induced sickness discomfort than the younger participants - regardless of display type; and 2) there was no significant difference found between genders in either simulator-induced sickness or driving performance; although females generally expressed a subjective preference for the direct-view display. Display type was not found to affect the degree of ataxia experienced by participants; however, this study did find that although older participants exhibited significantly higher rates of simulator-induced sickness discomfort than the younger participants, they recovered their postural equilibrium significantly faster. This indicates that the older participants had greater difficulty adapting to the simulation environment than younger persons. It also suggests that younger persons are at greater risk during immediate post-simulation activities such as driving. Although it is likely that this effect would disappear over time, it has implications for agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles or drivers education schools that are considering the use of a driving simulator device before an on-road skills test. / Master of Science

Given the expansion of multimedia technology and proliferation of moving projections on the theatre stage in the 21st century, this thesis examines how a virtual or projected character can appear to be present without a physical body on the stage. This study is grounded in the theories of effet de présence (effect of presence) as elaborated by Josette Féral, but also uses other theories to look at how productions can create such an effect for virtual characters. Specifically, this thesis examines the character’s relationship with the real, framing devices and actions of the characters. The specific examples of Rwanda 94 (Groupov), La Belle et la Bête (4D Art) and Les Aveugles (UBU CC) are used as case studies in order to focus on these techniques. Partant de l’intégration des nouvelles technologies et la prolifération des projections vidéo au sein des scènes théâtrales du 21e siècle, cette thèse examine les techniques par lesquel les personnages projeté peut sembler présent en l’absence d’un corps physique visible. Cette réflexion est basée sur l’effet de présence, concept élaboré par Josette Féral, ainsi que d’autres théories et examine comment un effet de présence est constitué pour ces personnages virtuels en considérant leur relation au réel (mimesis), les dispositifs de cadrage dans lesquels ils s’inscrivent de même que leurs actions. Cette analyse sera menée à porter de avec trois étudies de cas : Rwanda 94 (Groupov), La Belle et la Bête (4D Art) et Les Aveugles (UBU CC).

Given the expansion of multimedia technology and proliferation of moving projections on the theatre stage in the 21st century, this thesis examines how a virtual or projected character can appear to be present without a physical body on the stage. This study is grounded in the theories of effet de présence (effect of presence) as elaborated by Josette Féral, but also uses other theories to look at how productions can create such an effect for virtual characters. Specifically, this thesis examines the character’s relationship with the real, framing devices and actions of the characters. The specific examples of Rwanda 94 (Groupov), La Belle et la Bête (4D Art) and Les Aveugles (UBU CC) are used as case studies in order to focus on these techniques. Partant de l’intégration des nouvelles technologies et la prolifération des projections vidéo au sein des scènes théâtrales du 21e siècle, cette thèse examine les techniques par lesquel les personnages projeté peut sembler présent en l’absence d’un corps physique visible. Cette réflexion est basée sur l’effet de présence, concept élaboré par Josette Féral, ainsi que d’autres théories et examine comment un effet de présence est constitué pour ces personnages virtuels en considérant leur relation au réel (mimesis), les dispositifs de cadrage dans lesquels ils s’inscrivent de même que leurs actions. Cette analyse sera menée à porter de avec trois étudies de cas : Rwanda 94 (Groupov), La Belle et la Bête (4D Art) et Les Aveugles (UBU CC).

This investigation has been carried out at the RoyalInstitute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. The main goal hasbeen to investigate the factors determining the production of asense of presence and reality in video mediated communication.Presenceis in these studies defines as the subjectiveexperience of being together in one place when one isphysically situated in another. Presence is an emergentproperty; it has no physicality, but arises as a mentalsensation. Special attention has been paid to spatial factors,embodiment issues, and narrative elements related to theproduction of presence. A context map has been used in order to model the semanticsof presence production and to visualize the relationshipsbetween the determining factors. The conclusions may besummarized as follows:     Knowledge about physical and extended spaces and bodiesand of the shifting of attention between these is importantin presence production.     Well planned design of physical and virtual spacesenhances the sense of presence.     Coherent design and production of mediated embodiment canenhance the sense of presence.     Conscious use of content characteristics, e.g., goodstorytelling, can enhance the sense of presence.     Different communication modes need the support ofdifferent combinations of presence production factors.     Even technically poorly mediated communication maysupport a sense of presence and reality if the storytellingis good.     The human sensory environment should be supported by asense of non-mediation, technological transparency, on theplane of discourse.     The results indicate that individual differencesinfluence the sense of presence and reality. The perception of video mediated communication evolves aspeople become daily users. People seem to intuitively begin tointerpret new types of mediated cues, adding what is missing incomparison to a real time physical communicationexperience. Keywords:Telepresence, presence, social presence,co-presence, concept modeling, virtual reality, person space,task space, narration, video mediated communication, videoconferencing.

<p>This investigation has been carried out at the RoyalInstitute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. The main goal hasbeen to investigate the factors determining the production of asense of presence and reality in video mediated communication.Presenceis in these studies defines as the subjectiveexperience of being together in one place when one isphysically situated in another. Presence is an emergentproperty; it has no physicality, but arises as a mentalsensation. Special attention has been paid to spatial factors,embodiment issues, and narrative elements related to theproduction of presence.</p><p>A context map has been used in order to model the semanticsof presence production and to visualize the relationshipsbetween the determining factors. The conclusions may besummarized as follows:</p><p>    Knowledge about physical and extended spaces and bodiesand of the shifting of attention between these is importantin presence production.</p><p>    Well planned design of physical and virtual spacesenhances the sense of presence.</p><p>    Coherent design and production of mediated embodiment canenhance the sense of presence.</p><p>    Conscious use of content characteristics, e.g., goodstorytelling, can enhance the sense of presence.</p><p>    Different communication modes need the support ofdifferent combinations of presence production factors.</p><p>    Even technically poorly mediated communication maysupport a sense of presence and reality if the storytellingis good.</p><p>    The human sensory environment should be supported by asense of non-mediation, technological transparency, on theplane of discourse.</p><p>    The results indicate that individual differencesinfluence the sense of presence and reality.</p><p>The perception of video mediated communication evolves aspeople become daily users. People seem to intuitively begin tointerpret new types of mediated cues, adding what is missing incomparison to a real time physical communicationexperience.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>Telepresence, presence, social presence,co-presence, concept modeling, virtual reality, person space,task space, narration, video mediated communication, videoconferencing.</p>

The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of specific Web 2.0 tools on students' experience of teaching, social, and cognitive presence and motivation when enrolled in a very large hybrid course. With online course enrollments continuing to grow at a higher rate than traditional enrollments in higher education (Allen & Seaman, 2011) and universities increasing class sizes as a way to meet this demand with fewer fiscal resources, it is imperative to find ways to keep students engaged and motivated when enrolled in very large classes. This study used the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000) to examine the effect of specific Web 2.0 tools (asynchronous discussion, streaming lectures, multimedia lecture demonstrations, Twitter, and the Second Life virtual world) on teaching, social, and cognitive presence and motivation. The sample population for this study (n = 567) consisted of undergraduate students enrolled in a very large hybrid accounting course in the fall of 2010 at the University of Central Florida. The total enrollment for the course was 943 students. Students could attend face-to-face (f2f) class sessions in a large lecture room that seated 285 students or they could view a streaming video capture of the lectures online. Students were not required to attend the f2f class sessions and could complete the course entirely online. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variances (ANOVA), and results of the statistical analyses indicated that students who frequently used the Web 2.0 tools had statistically significant higher mean motivation scores than students who did not use the tools as frequently. Additionally, students who frequently attended the f2f sessions had statistically significant higher mean social presence scores compared to students who attended sometimes or not at all. Attending the f2f sessions, however, did not result in higher mean scores of teaching or cognitive presence. When examined for the impact of the specific Web 2.0 tools, analysis of the ANOVA results indicated that students who used the discussion, streaming lectures, multimedia lecture demonstrations, and Twitter all of the time had significantly higher mean scores of teaching, social, and cognitive presence compared to those students who used the tools less frequently. Further research should be conducted on large hybrid and online courses in different content areas and on those that use different types of learning approaches.