La synthèse d'une flamme animée dans un environnement 3D virtuel, reste à ce jour une tâche ardue, exigeant de judicieusement balancer réalisme et coût de calcul. Dans ce mémoire, nous présentons un ensemble de techniques pour sa simulation en temps réel tout en modélisant une interaction à des forces externes. Nous désirons minimiser son coût de calcul tout en préservant une apparence convaincante dans l'optique d'une intégration au sein de systèmes existants, n'affectant pas indûment leurs performances. Un champ de vélocité est extrait d'une simulation de ressorts et mis à profit dans le déplacement de chaînes de particules modélisant la forme de la flamme par l'entremise de la paramétrisation d'une surface NURBS. Considérant l'importance qu'ils ont sur notre perception de la combustion, nous prenons également soin de reproduire l'illumination, les ombres, et l'effet d'éblouissement qu'elle engendre. / The synthesis of an open flame in a virtual 3D environment, remains to this day an arduous task, requiring a wise balance between realism and processing cost. In this M. Sc. thesis, we present a set of techniques for its simulation in real time while also modeling the interaction with external forces. Our goal is to minimize the cost while preserving a convincing appearance, thus facilitating integration of the techniques into existing systems without unduly affecting their performance. A velocity field is extracted from a spring-mass simulation which contributes to moving chains of particules that are used in modeling the flame shape through the configuration of a NURBS surface. In light of the importance they have on our perception of combustion, we also take care to duplicate the lighting, shadows and bloom the flame gives rise to. / Vidéos et images des résultats disponible à : http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/labs/infographie/theses/fatnasss/

Le présent travail de thèse est consacré à la question du désir et à la façon dont elle émerge dans la philosophie de Giordano Bruno (1548-1600). En dépit de sa place relativement marginale dans le corpus très vaste des études bruniennes, et malgré sa présence non immédiatement évidente dans les écrits du Nolain, nous pensons qu’une recherche sur le statut du désir peut ouvrir une perspective pertinente et radicale sur la pensée de ce philosophe de la Renaissance tardive. Loin d’être une question accessoire, le désir se situe au coeur de la philosophie de Bruno et incarne le rythme immanent de sa spéculation. Face au thème capital de la nolana filosofia – la modalité à travers laquelle le fini réalise et exprime l’infini – la question du désir nous ouvre des chemins suggestifs à travers l’imposante oeuvre de l’ex-moine dominicain. Nous avons abordé ce sujet sous plusieurs perspectives, toujours attentifs à exprimer le caractère systématique sus-jacent à la grande ampleur des thématiques que l’on trouve dans les écrits du philosophe. Nous avons préféré procéder de manière diachronique, en privilégiant une approche conceptuelle plutôt qu’un exposé de la philosophie brunienne dans son déroulement chronologique. Nous nous sommes d’abord penchés sur un traité tardif, la Lampas triginta statuarum, où le désir apparaît comme la force qui amène les « ténèbres »indistinctes à exprimer la richesse infinie de formes qu’elles renferment en puissance. Dans les dialogues cosmologiques en italien, le désir, force immanente aux révolutions des planètes (qui assurent la succession des saisons et des civilisations), réalise dans chaque être la vicissitude qui lui permet « d’être tout et de devenir tout ». La comédie italienne le Chandelier montre comment la poursuite d’un désir statique, obsessionnel et contraire à la nature amène inévitablement à la perte des personnages qui l’incarnent. Cette même aspiration “civile” sera présente dans le traité magique Des liens où le philosophe-mage s’appuie sur l’amour, « le lien le plus puissant », pour donner vie à une république qui, à travers ses citoyens, reflète la puissance infinie inhérente à la nature. En dernier lieu,nous verrons comment, dans Des fureurs héroïques, l’élan cognitif qui amène Actéon à « devenir nature » correspond à la manière la plus humaine qui soit de réaliser l’infini. / My PhD dissertation aims at analysing the concept of desire in relation to Giordano Bruno’s philosophy. Despite the relatively marginal place of this issue among secondary bibliography and its not immediately evident presence in Bruno’s works, I think that this kind of research can open apertinent and radical perspective on Bruno’s thought. Far from being a secondary aspect, the desire is at the core of Giordano Bruno’s philosophy and it embodies its immanent rhythm. In relation to the fundamental theme of Bruno’s philosophy – the way in which the finite realises the infinite – the question of desire can disclose to us new perspectives. I have looked at this problem from many perspectives, always attentive to express the systematic character under the great varieties of topicswe can find in the Nolana filosofia. I have proceeded diachronically, privileging a conceptual approach rather than a chronological account of Bruno’s thought. First, I have considered the Lampas triginta statuarum, a late Latin treatise in which the desire appears as the force that leads the tenebræ toexpress the infinity of forms they contain in potentiality. In the cosmological dialogues in Italian, the desire – immanent force that assures planets’ revolutions (and in that way the cycle of seasons andcivilisations) – realises in all the beings the vicissitude that allows it to “be everything and becomeeverything”. The comedy The Candle Bearer shows how the pursuit of a static, obsessional, andunnatural desire causes the loss of the three main characters. We can find the same “civil afflatus” inthe magical treatise De vinculis where the magic-philosopher builds through love (“the most powerfullink”) a republic that, through its citizens, reflects the infinite power of nature. Lastly, we will see how, in The Heroic Frenzies, the cognitive desire that allows the metamorphosis of the hunter Acteon in nature corresponds to the most human way to realise the infinite.

During my final examination project, I have been working with a design process to develop a new set of candle lanterns for the company Sagaform AB. This company has a large and significant role on the Swedish interior design and retail market. The assignment was developed when the company stated that they would like to supplement and expand its existing range of products.  The research and surveys I have done have helped me to create eight different concepts and one of them ready to compete with the existing candle lanterns on the market.  The result of my concept proposal expected to be included in Sagaform’s 2013 spring catalogue. During the project I have developed 3D-rendered images, a physical model, and a solid foundation for making prototypes.  The Balloon has an attractive design language that fits both every day and more festive events. Designed to encourage the user to a happier, more well-being and relaxing lifestyle. The balloon is available in two sizes and in different bright colors that are adapted to tea and block candles, to be safely used indoors and outdoors. / Jag har under mitt examensprojekt arbetat med en designprocess för att utveckla en ny serie ljuslyktor åt Sagaform AB. Företaget har en stor och betydelsefull roll på den svenska inrednings- och detaljhandeln. Uppdraget togs fram när företaget gav mig i uppgift att komplettera och bredda deras befintliga utbud av produkter. Den information jag tagit del av genom mina skrivbordsundersökningar, analyser och enkäter har hjälpt mig att skapa åtta olika koncept varav en av dessa som utvecklats full ut och idag är redo att tävla mot existerande produkter på den konkurrenshårda marknaden. Resultatet blev ett koncept som är planerat att vara med i Sagaforms sortiment under våren 2013. Under projektets gång så har jag tagit fram CAD/3D-renderade bilder, en fysisk modell samt ett gott underlag för att tillverka prototyper. Ljuslyktan Ballongen har ett tilltalande formspråk som passar både till vardagen och festligare arrangemang. Designad för att uppmuntra användaren till en lyckligare, mer välbefinnande och avkopplande livsstil. Ballongen finns i två storlekar och i olika klara färger som är anpassade efter värme- och blockljus för att säkert kunna användas inom- och utomhus. / 2012;50

Title: Interdisciplinary relations of physics and chemistry in science education Abstract: This master's degree thesis deals with the topic of interdisciplinary relations of chemistry and physics in science education. According to the review, to conveniently integrate physics and chemistry the appropriate topics and approaches were selected. The thesis includes teaching materials and worksheets to the three topics (Evolution of the Universe and the Origin of Elements, Luminescence and Composition and Properties of Matter) that are suitable for integration of physics and chemistry. The teaching material "Evolution of the Universe and the Origin of the Elements" includes a study text for teachers and a shorter study text for pupils. The teaching material "Luminescence" is based on an independent research done by pupils with their own crafted UV-lamp, completed with the facts included in a powerpoint presentation. The teaching material "Composition and Properties of Matter" consists of three parts (The paraffin, The Candle and The Properties of Selected Organic Substances) and is designed for an independent research done by pupils. Listed study materials were checked by teachers during meetings and seminars. The thesis also includes an evaluation of listed study materials by an expert group of high school...

The work deals with an automatic trading system and adaptive training. Is used both technical and automatic fundamental analyses, therefore as inputs to the neural network is used historical data exchanges and text data from reports. It explains the basics of trading, technical analysis and technical terms. The work deals with technical and fundamental analysis. It contains a description of algorithmic nature, program implementation and experiment with developed trading system. The selected strategy is compared to other approaches.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T21:00:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 4 Daniel Guedini.pdf.jpg: 2593 bytes, checksum: b9f66c6e9af5d94ff028f0092fbf9114 (MD5) Daniel Guedini.pdf.txt: 116251 bytes, checksum: 11ea61b001a20cef77fcf9db8c74c28d (MD5) license.txt: 4712 bytes, checksum: 4dea6f7333914d9740702a2deb2db217 (MD5) Daniel Guedini.pdf: 1363558 bytes, checksum: 4e6b49114a354eeaa85c0d6710a75c84 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-01-28T00:00:00Z / Diante do inédito momento vivido pela economia brasileira e, especialmente, pela bolsa de valores nacional, principalmente após a obtenção do grau de investimento pelo Brasil, este trabalho aborda um tema que ganhou um enorme espaço na mídia atual que é a análise técnica. A partir de uma amostra de 37 ações listadas na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo no período compreendido entre janeiro de 1999 e agosto de 2009, este trabalho examina se a análise técnica agrega valor 'as decisões de investimentos. Através da elaboração de intervalos de confiança, construídos através da técnica de Bootstrap de inferência amostral, e consistentes com a hipótese nula de eficiência de mercado na sua forma fraca, foram testados 4 sistemas técnicos de trading. Mais especificamente, obteve-se os resultados de cada sistema aplicado às series originais dos ativos. Então, comparou-se esses resultados com a média dos resultados obtidos quando os mesmos sistemas foram aplicados a 1000 séries simuladas, segundo um random walk, de cada ativo. Caso os mercados sejam eficientes em sua forma fraca, não haveria nenhuma razão para se encontrar estratégias com retornos positivos, baseando-se apenas nos valores históricos dos ativos. Ou seja, não haveria razão para os resultados das séries originais serem maiores que os das séries simuladas. Os resultados empíricos encontrados sugeriram que os sistemas testados não foram capazes de antecipar o futuro utilizando-se apenas de dados passados. Porém, alguns deles geraram retornos expressivos e só foram superados pelas séries simuladas em aproximadamente 25% da amostra, indicando que a análise técnica tem sim seu valor. / Faced with unprecedented time lived by Brazilian`s economy and, especially, the national stock exchange, mainly after obtaining the investment grade for Brazil, this paper addresses a theme that has deserved a huge space in the mainstream media that is technical analysis. From a sample of 37 stocks listed on the Stock Exchange of Sao Paulo in the period between January 1999 and August 2009, this paper examines if the technical analysis may or may not add value to investment decisions. Through the development of confidence intervals, constructed using the technique of Bootstrap sample inference, and consistent with the null hypothesis of market efficiency in its weak form, we tested 4 technical systems of trading. More specifically, we obtained the results of each system applied to the original series of the assets. Then we compared these results with the average of the results obtained when the same systems were applied to 1000 simulated series, according to a random walk, of each asset. If markets are efficient in its weak form, there would be no reason to find strategies with positive returns based only on historical values of assets. That is, there would be no reason for the results of the original series to be larger than those of the simulated series. The empirical results found here suggested that the systems tested were unable to anticipate the future using only past data. However, some of them have generated significant returns and were surpassed only by the series simulated in approximately 25% of the sample, indicating that technical analysis does have value.

Text in English / The Batau of Kgaphola are of Swazi origin and migrated to Sekhukhuneland Limpopo Province in South Africa. The community has been involved in chieftainship disputes which date back to 1954 after the death of Chief Lobang III. Within the broader national political framework and execution of policies, the community became divided between the Makhuduthamaga and the Rangers. The Makhuduthamaga were anti-government and the Rangers pro-government. Each of the two groups gained the support of community members. The failure of the royal family to agree on who should lead the community after the death of Chief Lobang III led to a division from within. The former Lebowa government and the current Limpopo government intervened into the Batau chieftainship disputes without success. Commissions such as the Lekoloane, Ralushai and Nhlapo were established to deal with chieftainship disputes but this did not assist communities including the Batau of Kgaphola. The Kgatla Commission was also established and communities are still appearing before it and the Batau are still waiting to present their case. The study explores how the Batau of Mphanama dealt with their differences relating to chieftainship within the community and this instituted external intervention. It also uncovers how disputes within the royal family have affected members of the community and led to divisions. In the final instance the effect of decades of external political intervention and governance is evaluated. / Anthropology and Archaeology / M.A. (Anthropology)

The intention of this thesis is to identify and analyze the cat woman archetype as a contemporary extension of the transgressive witch archetype, which rampantly appears over the course of cinema history, working as a signifier of a patriarchal society's fear of autonomous and subversive women. The character of Catwoman is the ultimate representation for this archetype on grounds of her visibility, longevity, and ability to return again and again. More importantly, Catwoman and her sisterhood of cat women work against male creators as a means of female empowerment through trickery. Within this thesis, key films of varying genres are drawn from throughout cinema history and analyzed in order to demonstrate the intertextual network of characters that make up the cat woman archetype, and the importance of the Catwoman character in her many forms.