Few researchers have addressed the important issue of three-dimensional multiple object selection (MOS) in immersive Virtual Environments (VEs). We have developed a taxonomy of the MOS task as a framework for exploring the design space of these techniques. In this thesis, we describe four techniques for selecting multiple objects in immersive VEs. Of the four techniques, two are serial (where only one object can be indicated per operation), and two are parallel (where one or more objects may be indicated per operation). Within each of the two categories we also investigated two metaphors of interaction: a 3D spatial metaphor and the pen and tablet metaphor. Two usability studies were used to evaluate the four techniques, iterate their designs, and gain a deeper understanding of the design space of MOS techniques. The results from our studies show that parallel MOS techniques can select objects faster than serial techniques as the number of target objects increase. We also show that effective techniques for MOS in immersive VEs can be created using both pen and tablet and 3D metaphors. / Master of Science

Multiplatform virtual environment (VE) development is fast-becoming a realization for today’s developers. 3D user interfaces (3DUIs) can easily be ported to a variety of VE systems. However, few researchers have addressed the need to intelligently migrate 3DUIs across VE systems. We claim that the naïve migration of 3D interaction techniques (3DITs) to other VE systems could result in decreases in usability. We also claim that device specificity can be used to increase usability on these other VE systems. In this thesis, we have chosen three manipulation 3DITs to naively migrate across a set of four VE systems. We use an exploratory usability study to identify any usability issues stemming from our naïve migrations. After finding decreases in usability in select migrations, we redesigned two of the 3DITs for device specificity. We investigated the benefits of our redesigns with usability studies on the original, naïve, and redesigned implementations of both 3DITs. Results from our studies are mixed. In one case we demonstrate that device specificity can be used effectively to increase 3DIT migratability. As a result from our experience in this work, we have learned several lessons in device-specific design as well as 3DIT migration. / Master of Science

A case study approach was used to investigate how principals manage inclusive schools and how teachers and principals perceive inclusion. The study was conducted in two elementary schools known for successful inclusion practice. A total of five special education teachers, five regular education teachers and the two principals of the schools formally participated in the data gathering for the study while numerous other school personnel informally participated. Qualitative research methodologies (Patton, 1990; Miles & Huberman, 1994) were employed to determine the principals’ role in supporting inclusion practices. Data were gathered by interviewing teachers and principals, observing the school environment and reviewing inclusion related school documentation. This study demonstrated that principals have a pervasive effect on inclusion environments and program delivery. Several themes emerged which correlate with related literature on effective practices for principals. First, communication was identified as an essential tool for principals to practice. Through good communication, decisions can be made and problems solved that relate to inclusion. Effective communication practices also provide outlets for expressions of feelings about inclusion. The second theme, principal support, was identified as necessary to the practice of inclusion. Support was defined as providing materials and equipment, hiring additional personnel, training, solving problems, and providing emotional support to teachers. The third theme involved creating an atmosphere of caring throughout the schools. Caring focused on valuing students and promoting acceptance of diversity among the schools’ student population. How principals manage a school in the context of inclusion was the central question of this study, therefore, the thoughts, beliefs, and feelings of the teachers and principals about the practice of inclusion were essential to uncover. Participants identified hard work as a necessary part of inclusion practice. Hard work was defined as working longer hours, collaborating with other teachers, problem solving, defining roles and making decisions. In this regard, teachers believed that the appropriate scheduling of students into certain teachers’ classrooms was important to student success and teachers’ satisfaction, and they spent many hours solving scheduling issues. High expectations also emerged as a common central theme in both schools. Expectations that appeared most clearly were teachers expecting other teachers to share in certain responsibilities, teachers and principals holding all students to similar standards, and teachers and principals expecting certain kinds of supports and duties of one another. In this regard, positive relationships were viewed as critical to program success, and both teacher and principals worked hard to maintain this at all times. The two cases reported here provide a window into how inclusion can be made to work. The stories told here support existing knowledge about leadership, and show explicitly that each setting for inclusion must be actively created by the key participants. / Ed. D.

Many legacy nuclear facilities exist with the number of such facilities due to increase in the future. For a variety of reasons, some of these facilities have poorly documented blueprints and floor plans. This has led to many areas within such facilities being left unexplored and in an unknown state for some considerable time. The risk to health that these areas might pose has in some cases precluded human exploration and facilities have been maintained in a containment state for many years. However, in more recent years there has been a move to decommission such facilities. The change of strategy from containment to decommissioning will require knowledge of what it is that needs to be decommissioned. It is hoped that an autonomous or semi- autonomous robotic solution can satisfy the requirement. For successful mapping of such environments, it is required that the robot is capable of producing complete scans of the world around it. As it moves through the environment the robot will not only need to map the presence, type and extent of radioactivity, but do so in a way that is economical from the perspective of battery life. Additionally, the presence of radioactivity presents a threat to the robot electronics. Exposure to radiation will be necessary but should be minimised to prolong the functional life of the robot. Some tethered robots have been developed for such applications, but these can cause issues such as snagging or the tether inadvertently spreading contamination, due to being dragged along the floor. Nuclear environments have very unique challenges, due to the radiation. Alpha and beta radiation have a short emission distance and therefore cannot be detected until the robot is in very close proximity. Although the robot will not become disabled by these forms of radiation, it may become contaminated which is undesirable. Radiation from gamma sources can be detected at range, however pinpointing a source requires sensors to be taken close to the emitter, which has adverse effects on the robot's electronics, for example gamma radiation damages silicon based electronics. Anything entering these environments is deemed to be contaminated and will eventually require disposal. Consequently the number of entries made should ideally be minimised, to reduce the production and spread of potential waste/contamination. This thesis presents results from an investigation of ways to provide complete scans of an environment with novel algorithms which take advantage of common features found in industrial environments and thereby allow for gaps in the data set to be detected. From this data it is then possible to calculate a minimum set of way points required to be visited to allow for all of the gaps to be filled in. This is achieved by taking into account the sensor's parameters such as minimum and maximum sensor range, angle of incidence and optimal sensor distance, along with robot and environmental factors. An investigation into appropriate exploration strategies has been undertaken looking at the ways in which gamma radiation sources affect the coverage of an environment. It has discovered undesired behaviours exhibited by the robot when radiation is present. To overcome these behaviours a novel movement strategy has been presented, along with a set of linear and binary battery modifiers, which adapt common movement strategies to help improve overall coverage of an unknown environment. Collaborative exploration of unknown environments has also been investigated, looking into the specific challenges radiation and contamination offer. This work has presented new ways of allowing multiple robots to independently explore an environment, sharing knowledge as they go, whilst safely exploring unknown hazardous space where a robot may be lost due to contamination or radiation damage.

The aim of our article is to collect and present information about contemporary programming environments that are suitable for primary education. We studied the ways they implement (or do not implement) some programming concepts, the ways programs are represented and built in order to support young and novice programmers, as well as their suitability to allow different forms of sharing the results of pupils’ work. We present not only a short description of each considered environment and the taxonomy in the form of a table, but also our understanding and opinions on how and why the environments implement the same concepts and ideas in different ways and which concepts and ideas seem to be important to the creators of such environments.

No description available.

Informed by research that connects transitional issues with assimilation, this practicum project focuses on how culturally-relevant education and service-based interior environments support the transition of urban Indigenous peoples. Eagle Urban Transition Centre (EUTC) in Winnipeg is studied as the client, providing specific examples of Indigenous service and educational frameworks employed to mitigate transitional issues. Spatial criteria for the adaptive reuse of 601 Aikins Street on Treaty One Territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, were developed through a photo-elicitation interview process, and a theoretical framework that connected urban Indigenous identity, Indigenous education, transition and resistance with interior environments. Representing and recognizing the diverse Indigenous cultures of the users of EUTC in the design required a formal analysis of examples of Indigenous cultural production, such as the eight-pointed star blanket and Métis beadwork, as well as precedents of Indigenous spaces. The interior design for EUTC supports their organization, facilitating transition and creating opportunities for resistance through spaces that respect and emphasize cultural (re)connection. / October 2015

Extreme environments created through natural and anthropogenic processes harbor microbes with diverse physiologies capable of catalyzing chemical reactions which are environmentally beneficial on local and global scales. This work focused on two unique environments, the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) submarine mud volcano systems and the subsurface soils at the Department of Energy s (DOE) Field Research Center (FRC) located in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Reservation (Oak Ridge, TN). In addition to the physical and chemical extremes present within mud volcano sediments and FRC subsurface soils, these environments are sources of greenhouse gases as well as metal/radionuclide contaminants, respectively. Within the previously uncharacterized mud volcano cold seep sediments, culture-independent analyses of microbial community structure via DNA and RNA clone libraries indicated Gammaproteobacteria and anaerobic methane oxidizing Archaea as the dominant methane oxidizing taxa. Culture-dependent studies of FRC subsurface Arthrobacter and Bacillus isolates demonstrated extensive lateral gene transfer of the PIB-type ATPase metal resistance genes. Additionally, FRC Bacillus and Rahnella isolates demonstrated U(VI) sequestration capabilities as up to 95% soluble U(VI) was immobilization via biogenic phosphate mineral production resulting from constitutive nonspecific phosphohydrolase activity. Findings from these studies identify the prokaryotic diversity within aquatic and terrestrial sediments that contribute to the geochemical cycling of carbon, metals, and radionuclides.

[Abstract]: This study focuses on the nature, role and function of online social presence in text-based online learning environments and how it relates to learner support. Ultimately, the study seeks to understand the relationships between the nature, role and function of social presence, the social learning processes employed in contemporary online learning environments and the mechanisms which support learning in these environments. This study is guided by the question: In what ways might social presence enhance the provision of learner support in text-based online learning environments? Of particular interest in this study is information related to (a) how participants in online courses experience social presence; (b) how learners in online courses perceive and/or experience learner support in online courses and (c) how these experiences affect learner activity in online learning environments.The research design employs a collective case study approach which focuses on learners in four separate online courses within a single university context to inform understanding of the phenomena in question. Using a combination of interview-like techniques, the study seeks to ground the understanding of social presence, mediated social processes (i.e., interpersonal interaction, collaboration and community development) and learner support in the experiences of online learners.The results suggest a number of important findings with regard to social presence and learner support. First is an understanding of social presence as a quality of individual actors in the online environments. Social presence exists as a response to the limits of the technology and media in text-based online learning environments. Next, the study identifies social presence an essential component of online learning environments because it facilitates and supports mediated social processes including interpersonal interaction (or transaction), the development of relations between individuals and amongst groups of individuals, the progressive development of productive collaboration and the establishment and growth of community. Finally, the study highlights a revised model for learner support in text-based online learning environments which is informed by the development of learning communities and understanding of mediated social processes.

O trabalho apresenta os recursos oferecidos ao usuario do ambiente de projeto AMPLO para o controle e gerencia do processo de simulação de sistemas digitais. O ambiente de simulação proposto a constituído por diversas ferramentas baseadas em recursos gráficos- interativos. As ferramentas do ambiente permitem executar funções como : construir modelos de simulação a partir das descrições de sistemas armazenadas na base de dados, gerar estados iniciais para os modelos de simulação através de estratégias de inicialização pré-definidas, criar estímulos a serem aplicados aos modelos de simulação utilizando linguagens gráficas e textuais dedicadas, vincular estímulos as entradas primarias dos modelos de simulação, controlar a simulação através dos comandos de simulação disponíveis na sessão de simulação, analisar os resultados das simulações já, realizadas através de recursos gráficos de visualização e criar uma sequência de comandos que devem ser executados dentro de uma sessão de simulação. O ambiente de simulação integra todos os dados gerados durante o processo de simulação em uma base de dados única. Para isto, os objetos manipulados pelas diversas ferramentas do ambiente e as relações existentes entre eles foram definidos de acordo com um modelo de dados uniforme que e a base para a implementação de uma base de dados íntegra e não redundante. A interface de acesso a esta base de dados a constituída por funções primitivas que realizam o acesso a cada um dos objetos. Estas primitivas de acesso a base de dados permitem a criação, alteração e remoção dos objetos mantendo a consistência geral dos mesmos, bem como vários tipos de consultas. O processo de simulação propriamente dito a controlado por um conjunto de funções próprias para a simulação disponíveis na sessão de simulação. A sessão de simulação apresenta uma linguagem de comandos que através de recursos de visualização gráfico-interativos permite ao usuário, entre outros recursos, alterar e monitorar valores de sinais do modelo de simulação e controlar o avanço do tempo de simulação. A sessão de simulação realiza a comunicação com os simuladores através de um sistema de troca de mensagens onde para cada comando fornecido durante a sessão de simulação, uma mensagem é acrescentada ao conjunto de mensagens enviadas ao simulador. / This work describes the facilities that are available to the user of the AMPLO design environment for controlling and managing the process of digital systems simulation. The proposed simulation environment is composed by several tools that are of graphical-interactive nature. These tools support tasks like: building simulation models from system descriptions stored in the data base, generating initial states for the models according to various initialization strategies, creating stimuli to be applied to the models by using dedicated graphical and textual languages, associating stimuli to the primary inputs of the models, controlling the simulation run through a specialized command language, and analyzing results of already executed simulation runs. The environment integrates all data that is generated during the simulation process in a unique data base. Therefore, objects that are manipulated by the several tools of the environment, as well as relationships between them, have been defined according to a uniform data model which is the basis for the implementation of a consistent and non-redundant data base. The access interface to this data base is composed by primitive functions that implement the access to the objects. These functions allow the creation, modification, and removal of objects, while maintaining their overall consistency, as well as several queries. The process of simulation itself is controlled by a command language. These commands are available during the simulation session, which integrates the environment with the AMPLO simulators through a message system. The command language, through graphical-interactive visualization facilities, allow the user to modify and monitor signals values of the model and to control the simulation time advancement. Each command issue adds a new message to a message queue to be sent to the simulator.