This thesis is aimed at investigating virtual embodiment and how it can affect a performer's experience of; and relationship to the physical body. With this auto ethnographic case study I hope to shed some light on the  ways virtual reality technology enables critical experiences and what effects these experiences could have, through my own personal journey. The study was conducted in the setting of  my home using a Pico 4 VR head mounted display and HTC vive full body tracking. The project used for the case study was an audiovisual pole dance performance that was performed on the platform Neos VR and streamed to Studio 44 in Stockholm. The research is rooted in the artistic field but draws knowledge from psychological and social research on VR as a cognitive and embodied technology. The research methods used to gather and analyse the research material were visual research, phenomenology and deep listening. The data collection consisted of visual and text based data. On the visual data I applied thematic analysis, coding and categorising of the text based data and analysing hyper reflections with a phenomenological approach. I found that the experience of virtual embodiment did change my relationship to my own body in a positive way by feeling more grounded and accepting. I was less anxious about performing and felt more confident in myself. Because of the entanglement of the study it was not possible to solely contribute the outcomes of the effect to virtual avatar embodiment in itself. It did however demonstrate how these VR technologies could be used to enable norm critical experiences by the use of norm critical design applied to avatars challenging beauty ideals and societal norms of performativity. My virtual embodiment and its effects on me can give a unique insight that would benefit developers and users active in these platforms as well as for personal introspection and self development. The study serves as a good base to build future research on and I intend to further elaborate on the extensive research data that was gathered.

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付記する学位プログラム名: グローバル生存学大学院連携プログラム / 京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地域研究) / 甲第22561号 / 地博第264号 / 新制||地||100(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院アジア・アフリカ地域研究研究科東南アジア地域研究専攻 / (主査)教授 速水 洋子, 准教授 中村 沙絵, 教授 Hau Caroline Sy, 准教授 安里 和晃 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Area Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

A Positive Engagement, Continuously Variable Transmission (PECVT) allows for a continuously variable transmission ratio over a given range using positively engaged members, such as gear teeth, to transmit torque. This research is an investigation of PECVTs to establish a classification system and governing principles that must be satisfied for an embodiment to overcome the non-integer tooth problem. Results of an external patent search are given as examples of different concepts and PECVT embodiments that have been employed to negate the effects of the non-integer tooth problem. To classify all published and unpublished PECVT embodiments, a classification system is developed, based on how particular PECVT embodiments overcome the non-integer tooth problem. Two classes of PECVTs are defined: 1) the problem correction class and 2) the alternate device class. General principles that must be satisfied for a promising PECVT embodiment to exist in each class of PECVTs are also developed. These principles, along with the classification system, are the major contribution of this research. The principles describe what an embodiment in each of the PECVT classes must accomplish to negate the effects of the non-integer tooth problem. A product development phase integrated with TRIZ methodology is implemented to generate several concepts that satisfy the newly developed general principles and the product specifications that were also created. A screening and scoring process is used to eliminate less promising concepts and to find the most viable PECVT embodiment. An embodiment that only operates at preferred transmission ratios, where no meshing problems exist, proves to be the most promising concept based on the results of this methodology. The embodiment also utilizes cams and a differential device to provide the needed correction to the orientation of the driving members when misalignment occurs. This misalignment only occurs while transitioning between preferred operating ratios. A case study of the final embodiment developed by Vernier Moon Technologies and Brigham Young University is presented and analyzed to show how the final concepts ensure proper engagement without the effects of the non-integer tooth problem. The final embodiment is not the optimal solution but represents a conceptual design of an embodiment that satisfies the governing principles. The classification system and the governing principles that have been established are valid for all PECVT embodiments and will be valuable in future research. Future work yet to be conducted for this research, including an involutometry analysis, is discussed as well as other recommendations.

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In this autoethnographic journey we aim to redefine sustainability by becoming aware of our current dominant thought paradigm which created the current sustainability issues in the first place. This thesis explores the nuances of growth in consciousness and a transformation in our internal capacities through transformative direct-intuitive practices and tools. We argue that the root of the current sustainability challenges can be seen as an amplification created through our dominant perception of reality. Therefore, a need for an intrinsic transformational shift is fundamental in order to fully act toward sustainability. ‘Sustainability’ is not a state of the world, nor only a pathway to a specific state. In this inquiry, sustainability is perceived as the ability to recognize the paradigmatic premises of the pathway that we are creating and to become aware of the implications of these premises in an effort that we may create more inter-relational, regenerative, fair, beautiful worlds. This includes transforming feelings of eco-anxiety, which we not only see as a symptom of the ‘external’ environmental crisis but also of our current relationship with ourselves.

This dissertation presents the results of a two-year ethnographic study among individuals who practice yoga and/or chiropractic care in Victoria, British Columbia, focusing on their experiences of their musculoskeletal systems. Anthropological research has examined the ways in which we live and experience our bodies as part of how we are in the world (cf. Csordas 1994, 1990; Merleau-Ponty 2007). In comparison with fleshed bodies, skeletons, as foundational aspects of living, breathing corporeality, have remained under-theorised and under-examined as essential aspects of how we perceive our everyday lives. I approach the skeleton as a critical space of bodies, a part of the internal material world that shapes not only the body as an object, but how we are in the world as subjects. Observations at two yoga studios and interviews with 21 individuals enable me to explore the skeleton’s space and place in the lived experiences of embodied selves. My analysis of interview narratives draws principally from theories of materiality and material(s) (Sofaer 2012; Ingold 2007), Mol’s “the body multiple” (2002) and Taylor’s notion of “surfacing” (2005). I argue that skeletal embodiment is deeply material, sensory and sensorial, personal, and critical in the formation of what I am calling the “skeletal subjectivity” of an individual. Specifically, I suggest how, skeletally, bodily-ness is experienced by participants as a means to se prendre en main, that is, ‘taking hold’, ‘taking care of one’s self’, ‘taking one’s self in one’s hands.’ I argue that, among these yoga and chiropractic practitioners, skeletal embodiment and subjectivity is navigated through materiality—that bodies “surface” in various ways through participants experiences and stories (Taylor 2005). My analysis contributes to the anthropology of the body by including skeletal lives as part of our embodiment without discounting previous notions of embodiment or of bodies in general. My idea of se prennent en main is a novel addition to conceptualizing embodiment, encouraging researchers to consider closely how individuals may respond to their sensorial and material body in living their lives. / Graduate

This thesis presents a novel interaction model using mixed reality simulating a robot human interaction; a clay embodiment is overlaid with animated facial features using mobile augmented reality. One of the challenges when building a social agent, whether it is for education or solely social interaction, is to achieve social presence. One way to increase the feeling of presence is to have the agent physically embodied by using a robot. Earlier research has found that users listen more to robots that are present, than robots that are presented through a screen. But there are problems that come with robots that are not yet solved. Robot are expensive, they break, they are hard to update and they are very limited to the realm and problems they are built for: even standing up can be a challenge. This thesis tests if the theory of embodiment as a tool to heighten presence can be achieved, even if the robot and the interaction is only present in a screen. The clay embodiment is built by hand and later 3D scanned. The clay embodiment is tracked using Vuforia’s object recognition of the scan and is given an animatable face in a mixed reality setting through unity. The interaction of comparison and the basis of evaluation consist of a fully virtual robot head placed in 3D space using ground plane tracking. These interactions are compared separately and test subjects are only exposed to one type of interaction. Through the study the participants interacting with the clay embodiment rated the exeprience higher in respect to physical presences and scored better ability to recall details than the one with the fully augmented robot human interaction. The results were significant and indicate, with the reservation of false positives given the small participation sample, that mobile augmented reality agent interactions are improved, in respect to attention allocation and physical presence, by the use of mixed reality embodiments. Overall the interaction was very well perceived. Both conditions were highly enjoyed and critique mostly focused on the lack of complexity in the dialogue - the participants wanted more. Initial positive feedback states that this can and should be tested further. / Den här uppsatsen presenterar en ny interaktionsmodell i mixed reality (förstärkt verklighet). Modellen simulerar en interaktion mellan en robot och en användare: en robotfigur gestaltad i lera är förstärkt med animerade ansiktsdrag som visas i en mixed reality - miljö genom en mobiltelefon. Interaktionsmodellen med den fysiska robotfiguren kombinerad med animerade ansiktsdrag testas mot en likadan interaktion med en helt virtuellt robot utan fysisk gestaltning. En av utmaningarna vid skapandet av sociala agenter, oavsett om de är byggda för undervisningsmiljöer eller enbart rent sociala interaktioner, är att åstadkomma en upplevelse av social närvaro. Ett sätt att öka känslan av närvaro är att använda sig av en fysisk gestaltning i form av en robot. Tidigare forskning har funnit att användare lyssnar mer på robotar som finns fysiskt närvarande än robotar som presenteras via en skärm. Problemet med robotar är att de är dyra, de går sönder, de är svåra att uppdatera och de kan vara väldigt fysiskt begränsade: till och med att gå kan vara en utmaning. Den här uppsatsen testar ifall fysisk gestaltning ökar känslan av social närvaro, trots att all interaktion sker via en skärm. Ler-gestaltningen är skulpterad för hand, 3D-skannad och sedan spårad med hjälp av Vuforias objektigenkän- ning. Ler-gestaltningen får animerbara ansiktsdrag i mobilen. Denna interaktion jämförs mot en interaktion utan fysisk gestaltning: ett enbart virtuellt robothuvud med samma ansiktsdrag som är virtuellt positionerad i det fysiska rummet med hjälp av yt- och plan-igenkänning. Resultaten visade att interaktion mellan en människa och en virtuell agent har en ökad upplevelse av fysisk närvaro och att en virtuell agent tilldelas mer uppmärksamhet av den mänskliga parten ifall agenten har en fysisk gestaltning. Resultaten är statistiskt signifikanta med viss reservation för deltagarantalet i studien. Överlag upplevdes interaktionerna väldigt positivt. Deltagare från bägge interaktionerna gillade upplevelse. Deltagarnas tydligaste kritiska synpunkter gällde brist på komplexitet i konversationen - deltagarna ville ha en rikare interaktion. Den positiva responsen visar att interaktionssättet kan och bör studeras yttligare.

Beyond the binary borders of sex-A LITTERATURE STUDY ABOUT TRANSGENDER THEORY AND ITS POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTION TO A SOCIAL WORK CONTEXT.GERGANA TOSEVAKARIN SELINA thesis in Social work studies (15 credits) at Malmö University, Hälsa och Samhälle 2012.The discussion about sex and gender is always prominent in a social work context. Our purpose and questions are hence based on the discussion on transgender theory and the way of thinking about the non-binary, and how it relates to the nearby theories. The method of the essay consists of a semi systematic literature overview with the focus on discussing transgender theory in relation to other theories and perspectives, such as modernism, post modernism, feminism and queer theory. We answer the following questions:1.Is it possible to go beyond or exceed the binary of sex and if so, how do we see it in the material we examined?2.In what way are the existing theories of sex / gender in the binary?3.Can one featuring a female embodied subject be of assistance to transgender people's search for an embodied subject?We consider it possible to move beyond the binary by using “fuzzy logic”(Nagoshi & Brzuzy 2010, Tauchert 2002) which is a way of staying in the binary but expanding the term and work in the grey areas instead. Furthermore do we believe a female embodied subject can be of great importance to the transgender people because that is the other half of the issue of equality.