Establishing usability specifications as measurable attributes in repeatable scenarios has been an essential task in the management and continuous improvement processes [1]. Early studies in Usability Analysis were primarily conducted to assist software developers and hardware designers in improving the Human- Computer Interface (HCI) or Man- Machine Interface (MMI). However, this study was conducted to provide comparative data supporting broad conclusions regarding the comparative merits of one technology (nonstereoscopic, conventional CAD systems) competed against another (tracked, stereoscopic virtual environments). Competing environments to establish usability features and preferences provides a new tool to the interface designer. Benchmark scenarios were designed and executed to measure navigation, fault identification/repair, and spatial awareness through a sequence of choices and to provide user preference of one GUI paradigm over another functionally similar paradigm. This study, performed on a ship design application, included an analysis of the effects of user collaboration in virtual environments.

This research project explores the use of virtual support groups by women diagnosed with breast cancer in South Africa. Through a content analysis of the online forums and eight in-depth interviews with women of various backgrounds (age, race and socio-economic status) it becomes evident that women use these virtual spaces for information exchange, sense of belonging, search for meaning and most significantly support. Various factors within the illness experience of breast cancer influence the initial use, continuation, breaks and withdrawal from of these online forums. The analysis of online forums is framed around concepts of lay consultation, gender, adaptation theory and social capital to conceptualise and make sense of these virtual interactions. The virtual groups allow women to read and write on breast cancer according to their perceptions and experiences, thereby lessening the dominant medical power to create space for their personal voices. The interactions on the forums foster a sense of empowerment, social support and social engagement critical to their wellbeing and adaptation to the condition. This study also brings attention to the lack of studies about virtual groups within the South African context which is increasingly becoming significant as more and more individuals use virtual groups as part of health lay interaction and consultation.

In current mobile system environment there is a large gap in the use of smart phones for personal and enterprise use due to required enterprise security policies, privacy concerns as well as freedom of use. In the current environment, data-plans on mobile systems have become so wide spread that the rate of adaptation of data plans for every day customers has far outpaced the ability for enterprises to keep up with existing secure enterprise infrastructures. Most of the enterprises require/provide the access of emails and other official information on smart platforms which presents a big challenge for the enterprise in securing their systems. Therefore due to the security issues and policies imposed by the enterprise in using the same device for dual purpose (personal and enterprise), the consumers often lose their individual freedom and convenience at the cost of security. Few solutions have been successful addressing this challenge. One effective way is to partition the mobile device such that the enterprise system access and its information are completely separated from the personal information. Several approaches are described and presented for mobile virtualization that creates a secure and secluded environment for enterprise information while allowing the user to access their personal information. A reference architecture is then presented that allows for integration with existing enterprise mobile device management systems and at the same time providing a light weight solution for containerizing mobile applications. This solution is then benchmarked with several of the existing mobile virtualization solutions. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

O exame de palpação é um procedimento no qual um profissional da saúde pressiona uma região específica do corpo de um paciente com os dedos a fim de detectar a presença ou ausência de características e anormalidades sob a pele. Um simulador que forneça subsídios para o treinamento deste procedimento pode contribuir para o aprendizado da técnica e o aprimoramento de sua execução em pacientes, além de, dentre outras vantagens, eliminar a necessidade de exposição de pacientes aos riscos das situações reais, minimizar o uso de objetos físicos e tornar possível a simulação de diferentes casos e ações. O objetivo principal deste trabalho consiste em desenvolver um simulador de palpação mamária com retorno háptico realista. No contexto do exame de palpação, existe uma lacuna no que concerne a definição de técnicas e parâmetros de retorno de força que ofereçam uma experiência mais realista de interação para o usuário. Após uma revisão sistemática da literatura foi feito o mapeamento dos principais parâmetros para representar diferentes nódulos durante o treinamento virtual visando ao diagnóstico de anomalias mamárias. Tais parâmetros foram equacionados com a finalidade de obter uma representação realista em um dispositivo háptico. Além disso, interfaces foram implementadas para permitir a geração de casos com a variação desses parâmetros referentes aos nódulos (tamanho, consistência, localização e contorno). Os resultados obtidos a partir de uma avaliação com uma profissional da medicina mostraram que o retorno de força aplicado a cada uma das características foi realista para todos os parâmetros, com limitação na representação de nódulos espiculados, que deve ser melhorada. Além de contribuir com a área de Computação no sentido de ter definido técnicas e parâmetros de retorno de força importantes para a simulação de exames de palpação, o trabalho disponibiliza uma ferramenta que pode contribuir para a aquisição efetiva da habilidade necessária para a execução do procedimento em questão / Palpation exam is a procedure in which a health care professional presses a specific region of a patient\'s body with the fingers in order to detect the presence of features and abnormalities under the skin. A simulator that aids the training this procedure may contribute to the learning of the technique and the improvement of its implementation in real patients. The main objective of the Master\'s degree work proposed in this paper is to develop a breast palpation simulator with haptic feedback. The results of a Systematic Review conducted in order to assess the state-of-art of the simulation of the palpation procedure showed that despite being a new area, there are already many innovative works that received positive reviews. However, in the context of palpation examination, a gap exists regarding the definition of techniques and force feedback parameters to provide a more realistic experience to the user. After a Systematic Review from the literature the mapping of the main parameters was done to represent different nodules during the virtual training for the diagnosis of breast abnormalities. These parameters were transformed into equations with the goal of obtaining a realistic representation on a haptic device. Besides, user interfaces were implemented to allow the creation of cases with the variation of the parameters relative to the nodules (size, consistency, localization and contour). The results obtained from an assessment done with a medical professional showed that the force feedback applied to each one of the characteristics was realistic to all the parameters, with limitations on the representation of spiculated nodules, which must be improved. Aside from the contribution to the Computing area in the sense that force feedback techniques and parameters important to the simulation of palpation exams were defined, this work offers a tool that can contribute to the effective acquisition of the necessary skills to the execution of the procedure in question

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:37:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Raphael do Amaral Vaz.pdf: 970202 bytes, checksum: 4df41be31518a3c02063ccb1928f99d9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-11-18 / This research aims to study the construction of identity in the virtual community Orkut, identifying the reasons for the choice of identity and how individuals construct their virtual identity, aims to also determine what features and qualities are virtual identity, identify similarities and differences between virtual and real life identity, and, finally, to observe how the subject relates to your friends Orkut and how it relates to them in real life. For this, we conducted semistructured interviews with ten patrons of that community (men and women) between 20 and 32 years. The respondents' answers were categorized from some common words found in them. The results were analyzed using the theoretical framework of Analytical Psychology. It was observed that results in the formation of virtual identity is based on the various ways in which users work in this social network. Established through interaction between friends, many users design their wishes on Orkut to be seen by others as they would like to see. Raised through the categories of responses, we can observe that the construction of virtual identity that occurs from projective action of the subject in relation to the other members of social networking and also always having a relationship with the real identity of the subject. We can say that the formation of virtual identity in this study had a fundamental importance to clinical psychology, as we understand the permanence of Orkut users in a psychic link is established between the subject and digital social network, providing projective actions of psychic contents Persona / Esta pesquisa visa a estudar a construção da identidade virtual na comunidade do Orkut, identificando quais as motivações para a escolha da identidade e como o sujeito constrói a sua identidade virtual; tem por objetivo, ainda, verificar que características e qualidades têm a identidade virtual, identificar semelhanças e diferenças entre a identidade virtual e a vida real, e, por fim, observar como o sujeito se relaciona com suas amizades do Orkut e como se relaciona com elas na vida real. Para isso, foi realizada entrevista semidirigida com dez frequentadores dessa comunidade (homens e mulheres), entre 20 a 32 anos. As respostas dos entrevistados foram categorizadas a partir de algumas palavras em comum encontradas nas mesmas. Os resultados foram analisados por meio do referencial teórico da Psicologia Analítica. Observou-se nos resultados que a formação da identidade virtual ocorre a partir das diversas maneiras com que os usuários atuam nesta rede social. Por meio da interação estabelecida entre os amigos, muitos usuários projetam seus desejos no Orkut a fim de serem vistos pelos outros da forma como gostariam de serem vistos. Nas categorias levantadas por meio das respostas, foi possível observar que a construção da identidade virtual ocorre a partir dessa ação projetiva do sujeito na sua relação com os demais membros da rede social e também tendo sempre um vínculo com a identidade real do sujeito. Podemos dizer que a formação da identidade virtual neste estudo teve uma importância fundamental para a Psicologia Clínica, pois compreendemos que a permanência dos usuários no Orkut consiste em um vínculo psíquico estabelecido entre o sujeito e a rede social digital, proporcionando ações projetivas de conteúdos psíquicos da Persona

Criador e Criatura: a invenção de uma persona-objeto trata da criação de uma persona, tendo como objetivo apresentar uma possibilidade poética em fotografia e vídeo. Toma por base o conceito de terceiro analítico na psicanálise, apresentando a “ferramenta persona” e sua produção resultante, assim como discute os aportes e os desdobramentos poéticos trazidos pelos meios escolhidos para sua criação, permeados pelos conceitos de máscara levantados por Hans Belting (2017) e Paulo Sérgio Faitanin (2006). / Creator and Creature: the invention of a persona-object deals with the creation of a persona, having as its objective to introduce a poetic possibility in photography and video. It takes as reference the concept of the analytical third in psychoanalysis, introducing the “persona tool” and its resulting works, as well as discusses the poetic contributions and unfoldings brought by such mediums to its creation, permeated by the concepts of mask brought up by Hans Belting (2017) and Paulo Sergio Faitanin (2006).

This thesis aims to go beyond the concept of so called ‘virtual museums’. In this work I will attempt to trace a new definition of the term ‘virtual museum’ providing the concept with renewed dignity, comparable to ICOM’S definitions of museums and other existing definitions of the concept. To do so the main part of this thesis is about creating a meta-model of taxonomy capable of including all the experimentations that have taken place in the field of ‘virtual museums’ in the last 20 years. In this direction I have investigated the concept of the museum as a medium as described by McLuhan and other thinkers, both within and outside the field of museology. The discovery of an unabridged work by McLuhan on technology in museums endorses, and opens a discussion on how technology is intended to be used for the communication of heritage. Another aim of this thesis is to investigate how museum professionals can deal with the new role of Information Technology in communicating heritage. In this thesis I intend to respond to the need of museum professionals both inside and outside ICOM for definitions and clearer understanding concerning the following questions ‘What is a virtual museum? Can it be comparable with a ‘real’ museum? What different kinds of virtual museums can be discerned in past experimentations? Can they be included in a taxonomy? How does this change the day to day work of museum professionals in accordance with the new technological potential for the communication of heritage?

A indústria automobilística é um dos mais importantes setores da economia no Brasil e no mundo. Nos últimos anos viu-se praticamente obrigada a melhorar o desempenho de seus veículos produzidos e reduzir seus custos. Um dos marcos desta transformação foi o desenvolvimento do sensor de oxigênio, sendo este um dos principais elementos dos sistemas gerenciadores de motor. Esta dissertação propõe o estudo de arquiteturas de sistemas inteligentes para sensoriamento virtual de oxigênio em veículos bicombustíveis, utilizando-se redes neurais artificiais supervisionadas, com arquitetura Perceptron multicamadas. As topologias implementadas atingiram resultados com erros relativos médios menores que 1% em centenas de topologias. Verificou-se também que para o sensoriamento virtual de oxigênio em veículos bicombustíveis, a abordagem de se realizar treinamentos com todos os tipos de combustíveis, segmentando conjuntos de todo o universo de dados, mostra-se a mais adequada. / The automotive industry is one of the most important sectors in Brazilians economy and in the world. In recent years, this industry has been forced to improve the performance of their produced vehicles and to reduce their costs. One of the landmarks of this transformation was the development of the oxygen sensor, which is one of the main elements of the engine management systems. This dissertation proposes the use of intelligent systems architectures for virtual oxygen sensing of bi-fuel vehicles, using multilayer Perceptron artificial neural networks. The implemented topologies reach results with mean relative errors less than 1% in hundreds of topologies. It was also noted that the approach to train the neural network with all types of fuels, using subsets of data universe, it is the most appropriate to have a virtual sensing of oxygen in bi-fuel vehicles.

胡一峰. / "2002年7月" / 論文 (哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 2002. / 參考文獻 (p. 78-83) / 附中英文摘要. / "2002 nian 7 yue" / Hu Yifeng. / Lun wen (zhe xue shuo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2002. / Can kao wen xian (p. 78-83) / Fu Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / 摘要 --- p.i-ii / 感謝 --- p.iii / Chapter 第一章 --- 引言 --- p.1-3 / Chapter 第二章 --- 主要文獻及研究問題 --- p.4-20 / Chapter 第一部 --- 分ICQ的使用 --- p.4-7 / Chapter 第二部 --- 分虛擬現實中的人際傳播 --- p.8-17 / Chapter 第三部 --- 分硏究問題 --- p.18-20 / Chapter 第三章 --- 硏究設計 --- p.21-27 / Chapter 第一部 --- 分硏究方法 --- p.21-22 / Chapter 第二部 --- 分硏究樣本 --- p.23-25 / Chapter 第三部 --- 分硏究對象簡貌 --- p.26-27 / Chapter 第四章 --- 硏究發現 --- p.28-73 / Chapter 第一部 --- 分情誼關係之産生 --- p.28-40 / Chapter 第二部 --- 分情誼關係之發展 --- p.41-49 / Chapter 第三部 --- 分情誼關係之解體 --- p.50-54 / Chapter 第四部 --- 分情誼關係之虛幻與真實 --- p.55-73 / Chapter 第五章 --- 結論與討論 --- p.74-77 / 參考文獻 --- p.78-83

Emergencies that require immediate evacuation should be encountered with effective preparedness. With over 14 billion dollars in damages and 3,000 people killed each year, fire emergency preparedness is of critical importance. Fire drills aim to prepare and educate people on how to react properly, in order to avoid as many casualties possible. Fire drills can be expensive and time consuming to conduct, and in most cases lack the level of realism to properly educate the trainees. In this thesis, a virtual reality (VR) emergency evacuation training platform is presented. With VR, we aim to eliminate the real life constraints that exist, while succesfully training individuals. The application operator can spawn fires in any desired location, and at the same time the user being trained is getting informed about the safest and fastest path available, while being provided with constant feedback. We generate a grid graph on a given floor plan to run a pathfinding algorithm. We use Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) to formulate the existing constraints in our approach.