Desktop-based Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers (WIMP) interfaces have changed very little in the last 30 years, and are still limited by a lack of powerful and expressive input devices and interactions. In order to make desktop interactions more expressive and controllable, expressive input mechanisms like pressure input must be made available to desktop users. One way to provide pressure input to these users is through a pressure-augmented computer mouse; however, before pressure-augmented mice can be developed, design information must be provided to mouse developers. The problem we address in this thesis is that there is a lack of ergonomics and performance information for the design of pressure-augmented mice. Our solution was to provide empirical performance and ergonomics information for pressure-augmented mice by performing five experiments. With the results of our experiments we were able to identify the optimal design parameters for pressure-augmented mice and provide a set of recommendations for future pressure-augmented mouse designs.

Variability of transgene expression levels resulting from gene silencing is considered as ahindrance to the successful application of plant genetic engineering. Towards alleviatinggene silencing, I decided to screen for novel genes involved in transgene silencing and toinvestigate how these genes regulate plant development. Genes encoding putative chromatinremodeling factors, especially those including a SET domain, were selected as candidatetargets. A bioinformatic analysis of the Arabidopsis SET genes (AtSET) was performed andthese genes were classified into 6 groups based on the domain architecture. RNA interference (RNAi) vectors were constructed for ~ 20 AtSET genes and wereintroduced into both wild type lines and transgenic lines silenced for a GFP reporter gene.Surprisingly, altered developmental phenotypes were only observed for three constructs,raising questions as to the effectiveness of the RNAi approach for the chosen Arabidopsissystem. To assess this situation, I targeted a phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene using the sameRNAi approach. Inactivation of PDS renders plant a readily identifiable phenotype. Whereasthe RNAi penetrance in Arabidopsis can be very high, the expressivity of RNAi in varioustissues and among different plants can vary dramatically. Contradictory to previous reports,I found that there is correlation between transcript level and silencing phenotype. Possiblereasons for this discrepancy are discussed. No apparent correlation between transgene copynumber and RNAi phenotypes was observed. Among the three RNAi constructs that caused an abnormal development inArabidopsis, K-23 which targets SuvR3 has the highest expressivity and could reactivate asilenced GFP locus. SuvR3 RNAi lines were selfed for six generations and were screenedfor morphological phenotypes. Abnormal number of flower organs, loss of viability of malegametophytes, and decreased seedling germination percentage were found in SuvR3 RNAilines. A progressive increase in both severity and frequency of abnormal phenotypes wereseen in subsequent generations, suggesting an epigenetic regulatory mechanism involvedwith SuvR3. Alternative splicing of SuvR3 was also observed in most of Arabidopsis tissues.One of the protein isoforms, SuvR3, lacks 16 amino acids within the highly conserved SETdomain. Possible effects of isoform interaction are proposed.

Virtual environments allow human beings to be represented by virtual humans or avatars. Users can share a sense of virtual presence is the avatar looks like the real human it represents. This classically involves turning the avatar into a clone with the real human's appearance and voice. However, the possibility of cloning the gesture expressivity of a real person has received little attention so far. Gesture expressivity combines the style and mood of a person. Expressivity parameters have been defined in earlier works for animating embodied conversational agents.In this work, we focus on expressivity in wrist motion. First, we propose algorithms to estimate three expressivity parameters from captured wrist 3D trajectories: repetition, spatial extent and temporal extent. Then, we conducted perceptual study through a user survey the relevance of expressivity for recognizing individual human. We have animated a virtual agent using the expressivity estimated from individual humans, and users have been asked whether they can recognize the individual human behind each animation. We found that, in case gestures are repeated in the animation, this is perceived by users as a discriminative feature to recognize humans, while the absence of repetition would be matched with any human, regardless whether they repeat gesture or not. More importantly, we found that 75 % or more of users could recognize the real human (out of two proposed) from an animated virtual avatar based only on the spatial and temporal extents. Consequently, gesture expressivity is a relevant clue for cloning. It can be used as another element in the development of a virtual clone that represents a person

abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal relations of maternal behaviors, children`s temperamental negative emotionality, and children`s emotion perception processes, including emotion perception accuracy (EPA) and emotion perception bias (EPB), to children`s conduct disorder symptoms in a normative sample. Separate structural equation models were conducted to assess whether parenting or children`s proneness to negative emotions at 24-30 (T2), 36-42 (T3) and 48-54 (T4) months predicted children`s EPA and EPB over time, and whether T3 and T4 children`s emotion perception processes were predictive of children`s conduct disorder at 72 months of age (T5). None of the hypothesized longitudinal relations was supported; however, other noteworthy results were observed. T3 children`s proneness to negative emotions was positively related to children`s concurrent bias toward anger. The latent constructs of negative parenting, children`s proneness to negative emotions, and the observed measure of children`s emotion perception accuracy showed stability over time, whereas the observed measures of children`s bias toward understanding distinct negative emotions were unrelated across time. In addition, children`s expressive language was predicted by children`s earlier emotion perception accuracy, which emphasized the importance of improving children`s emotion understanding skills during early years. Furthermore, the previously established negative relation between EPA and EPB variables was only partially supported. Findings regarding the relations between parenting, children`s negative emotionality and emotion perception processes are discussed from a developmental perspective. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Family and Human Development 2011

Considerando que expressividade é uma forma significativa de comunicação corporal, que busca através da Dança a harmonia das formas biológica, cultural e filosófica do ser humano, este estudo objetiva descrever e compreender a percepção dos acadêmicos de Educação Física que cursam a disciplina de Metodologia do Ensino da Dança Escolar sobre sua expressividade. Inicialmente são apresentados conceitos, classificações, bem como os níveis de complexidade da expressividade. Na seqüência faz-se uma interação entre Expressividade, Educação Física e Dança, ressaltando a importância do ato criativo da expressividade dentro do contexto de ensino. Participaram do estudo 16 acadêmicos do curso de Educação Física da Universidade Regional Integrada do Alto Uruguai e das Missões (URI) Campus de Erechim, que cursavam a disciplina de Metodologia do Ensino da Dança Escolar. Os instrumentos utilizados na pesquisa foram entrevistas semi-estruturadas (inicial e final) e notas de campo. O período de coleta de dados aconteceu de 02 de abril de 2008 a 28 de maio de 2008 na Sala de Dança e no Auditório Central da URI. As informações obtidas foram agrupadas em unidades de significado, que reescritas, originaram categorias de análise. Os resultados mostram uma significativa evolução em relação às definições de expressividade, evidenciando a linguagem do corpo em sua sensibilidade, bem como a constatação de como é possível criar e também incentivar a criação de novos movimentos, derrubando barreiras sociais com a Dança inserida no contexto da Educação Física. / If we consider that expressivity is one significative way of corporal communication, which searches through Dance the harmony of the biological, cultural and philosophical forms of human being, so this study desires to describe and to understand the perception of Physical Education undergraduate students who attend classes of Methodology of School Dance Teaching about their expressivity. In the beginning of this study is showed the concepts, classifications, as well as expressivity complexity levels. In the sequence, it does a interaction between Expressivity, Physical Education and Dance, it noted the importance of the creative act of expressivity inside teaching’s context. The participants were 16 students of Physical Education course from Universidade Regional Integrada do Alto Uruguai e das Missões (URI), Campus de Erechim. They attend classes of Methodology of School Dance Teaching discipline. The instruments utilized in the research were semistructured interviews (initial and final) and field notes. The collective period has happened at April 02nd, 2008 until May 28th, 2008 at Dance Room and at URI’s Central Auditorium. The informations were grouped in units of meanings that were rewrited. This originated the analyze categories. The results show a significative evolution related to expressivity definitions, which clear out the body language in your sensibility, as well as the observation that creating and also motivating the creation of new movements are possible, breaking down social obstacles with the Dance taking a place inside the Physical Education’s context.

xv, 97 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Emotion experiences such as internalized distress have been described mostly in European Americans and adults in the psychological literature and less in Asian American children. Associations between emotion experience and expressivity have been established mostly through samples of European American children. Finally, the functionality of emotion experience and expressivity across cultural norms has not been examined thoroughly, especially in ethnic minority or bicultural children. This is of concern given that cultural ideals for emotion differ across cultural groups. This dissertation incorporates a cultural perspective to understanding the emotion experience while also relying on the functionalist approach as an organizing framework to understand expressivity in children from an Asian background. This study examined 70 Chinese American and 71 European American mothers and their 5 to 7 year old children. Mother and child reports of children's internalized V experience were obtained. Observers also rated children's expressivity in a frustration- eliciting task, alone and in the presence of their mothers. The first objective of the dissertation was to characterize the emotion experiences of Chinese American and European American young children, in particular, internalized distress. The second objective of this dissertation sought to observe children's expressivity in response to a frustrating situation, with and without their mothers. As a whole, Chinese American children experienced greater internalized distress than European American children based on mother and child reports. Contrary to hypotheses, Chinese American children were just as expressive as European American children during the frustration eliciting task, especially when mothers were present in the room. Furthermore, it appeared that European American children with greater child-reported anxiety and mother-reported depression showed less increase in their expressivity than all the other children when their mothers entered into the room. This study explored the role of culture in the socialization of emotion and the functionality of expressivity in solitary and social situations. Overall, this dissertation suggests that cultural, situational, and internal emotion experience are factors which concurrently play a role in children's emotion expressivity. / Adviser: Jeffrey Measelle

A presente pesquisa objetiva, em essência, discutir questões referentes à expressividade em textos literários, como também observar a riqueza de suas múltiplas possibilidades de construção estética. Esse material é burilado pelos recursos fônicos, morfossintáticos e léxico-semânticos do sistema linguístico. Foram utilizados como corpus para o trabalho os contos de Ana Maria Machado e as poesias de José Paulo Paes, produções inseridas no Programa Literatura em Minha Casa e que sensibilizaram os leitores pelo jogo verbal primoroso, resultado das escolhas e das combinações dos autores. Foram tomados como referência para análise dos textos os recursos linguístico-expressivos neles observados, pretendendo demonstrar o potencial expressivo, com vistas a propor alternativa pedagógica, de caráter produtivo para o ensino, despertando a sensibilidade frente ao texto literário e contribuindo para promover o prazer de ler dos alunos do ensino fundamental. Para tanto, a autora buscou na estilística fundamentos teóricos e metodológicos que aprofundassem a temática em tela / This research aims, in essence, to discuss issues related not only to expressiveness in literary texts, but also to observe the richness of its aesthetic construction multiple possibilities. This material is shaped by phonic, morphosyntactic and lexical-semantic language system resources. As a corpus for this work, the tales of Ana Maria Machado and the poetry of José Paulo Paes were used, productions included in the Literature in My House Program which sensitized readers by exquisite verbal play, the result of choices and combinations of authors. Texts for analysis of the linguistic-expressive features observed in them were taken as reference, intending to demonstrate expressive potential, with a view to proposing a pedagogical alternative, the productive character for teaching, raising the susceptibility to literary text and helping to promote the pleasure of reading of elementary students. Therefore, we leaned on stylistic grounds to seek theoretical and methodological which could deepen the thematic display

Considerando que expressividade é uma forma significativa de comunicação corporal, que busca através da Dança a harmonia das formas biológica, cultural e filosófica do ser humano, este estudo objetiva descrever e compreender a percepção dos acadêmicos de Educação Física que cursam a disciplina de Metodologia do Ensino da Dança Escolar sobre sua expressividade. Inicialmente são apresentados conceitos, classificações, bem como os níveis de complexidade da expressividade. Na seqüência faz-se uma interação entre Expressividade, Educação Física e Dança, ressaltando a importância do ato criativo da expressividade dentro do contexto de ensino. Participaram do estudo 16 acadêmicos do curso de Educação Física da Universidade Regional Integrada do Alto Uruguai e das Missões (URI) Campus de Erechim, que cursavam a disciplina de Metodologia do Ensino da Dança Escolar. Os instrumentos utilizados na pesquisa foram entrevistas semi-estruturadas (inicial e final) e notas de campo. O período de coleta de dados aconteceu de 02 de abril de 2008 a 28 de maio de 2008 na Sala de Dança e no Auditório Central da URI. As informações obtidas foram agrupadas em unidades de significado, que reescritas, originaram categorias de análise. Os resultados mostram uma significativa evolução em relação às definições de expressividade, evidenciando a linguagem do corpo em sua sensibilidade, bem como a constatação de como é possível criar e também incentivar a criação de novos movimentos, derrubando barreiras sociais com a Dança inserida no contexto da Educação Física. / If we consider that expressivity is one significative way of corporal communication, which searches through Dance the harmony of the biological, cultural and philosophical forms of human being, so this study desires to describe and to understand the perception of Physical Education undergraduate students who attend classes of Methodology of School Dance Teaching about their expressivity. In the beginning of this study is showed the concepts, classifications, as well as expressivity complexity levels. In the sequence, it does a interaction between Expressivity, Physical Education and Dance, it noted the importance of the creative act of expressivity inside teaching’s context. The participants were 16 students of Physical Education course from Universidade Regional Integrada do Alto Uruguai e das Missões (URI), Campus de Erechim. They attend classes of Methodology of School Dance Teaching discipline. The instruments utilized in the research were semistructured interviews (initial and final) and field notes. The collective period has happened at April 02nd, 2008 until May 28th, 2008 at Dance Room and at URI’s Central Auditorium. The informations were grouped in units of meanings that were rewrited. This originated the analyze categories. The results show a significative evolution related to expressivity definitions, which clear out the body language in your sensibility, as well as the observation that creating and also motivating the creation of new movements are possible, breaking down social obstacles with the Dance taking a place inside the Physical Education’s context.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-10-18Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:36:26Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 trevisan_prtc_me_rcla.pdf: 1749343 bytes, checksum: c7d29ad42736156323738369dadf49a7 (MD5) / Este estudo, de natureza qualitativa, teve por objetivo investigar como a expressão criativa está sendo inserida no contexto dos processos de ensino e aprendizagem da dança, para além das técnicas específicas, na visão de professores-coreógrafos e participantes de academias de dança, no âmbito do lazer. Para tanto, o estudo foi dividido em duas etapas complementares, sendo a primeira relativa a uma pesquisa bibliográfica e a segunda, uma pesquisa exploratória, para a qual foi utilizado como instrumento para coleta de dados um questionário misto, contendo perguntas abertas e fechadas. O instrumento foi aplicado a uma amostra intencional de 20 sujeitos, composta por professores-coreógrafos e bailarinos, maiores de 18 anos, com experiência de mais de um ano na prática de dança. Os dados foram analisados de maneira descritiva, utilizando-se a técnica de Análise de Conteúdo Temático e os resultados evidenciam que a criatividade é uma capacidade que tem suas características e qualidades amplamente reconhecidas como essenciais ao processo de ensino-aprendizagem na dança pelos sujeitos da pesquisa. Para esses, estas expressões criativas apresentam extensos conceitos e significados, permitem aos sujeitos descobrirem diferentes formas de expressar seus sentimentos e emoções, sendo as características individuais e a personalidade, apontadas como agentes de grande influência. Embora acarretem, para alguns indivíduos, circunstâncias muitas vezes constrangedoras, com o tempo e ações pedagógicas adequadas, acontecem com maior naturalidade e se tornam uma fonte inesgotável de descobertas e conhecimentos, contribuindo, assim, com diversos contextos condizentes com os aspectos subjetivos, bem como, com a percepção de uma maneira mais prazerosa de se compreender os sentidos de dançar. Entretanto, os dados referentes à dimensão curricular para a formação nestes cursos... / This study, of qualitative nature, aimed at investigating how the creative expression has been placed within the context of teaching and learning of dance beyond the specific techniques vision teachers, choreographers and dance academies participants in leisure scope. Thus, the study was divided into two complementary stages, the first relating to a literature review and the second is an exploratory research for which it was used for data collection a mixed questionnaire containing open and closed questions. The instrument was administered to a purposive sample of 20 subjects composed of teachers, choreographers and dancers, over 18 years, with experience of more than a year in the practice of dance. Data were descriptively analyzed, using the Thematic Content Analysis technique and the results show that creativity is a skill that has its own characteristics and qualities widely recognized as essential to the process of teaching and learning in dance for the subjects of this research. For them, these creative expressions have extensive concepts and meanings, and enable individuals to discover different ways of expressing their feelings and emotions, and individual characteristics and personality was identified as agents of great influence. While entailing some individuals embarrassing circumstances with time and appropriate pedagogical actions, this happens more naturally and become an inexhaustible source of discoveries and knowledge, thus contributing to several contents consistent with the subjective aspects as well as the perception of a more pleasant way to understand the meanings of dance. However, data concerning the scale curriculum for training in these technical courses in dance, revealed priority in acquiring knowledge depicting the characteristics and technical qualities as well as developing the skills and physical abilities and motor functions. The creativity was associated... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Submitted by LEONARDO MARTINELLI (leonardomartinelli@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-07-12T19:30:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MARTINELLI, L. O som como drama [tese de doutorado].pdf: 20986684 bytes, checksum: 66a6654379b6c04bb2722274b04f6643 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Monique Sasaki (sayumi_sasaki@hotmail.com) on 2017-07-14T17:46:01Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 martinelli_l_dr_ia.pdf: 20986684 bytes, checksum: 66a6654379b6c04bb2722274b04f6643 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-14T17:46:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 martinelli_l_dr_ia.pdf: 20986684 bytes, checksum: 66a6654379b6c04bb2722274b04f6643 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-17 / A partir de meados década de 1950, momento em que a música serial entra em uma profunda crise, constatamos o surgimento de novas poéticas na música contemporânea. Como resultado, além de um cenário estilisticamente heterogêneo – fruto da ausência de um sistema musical em comum – testemunhamos no âmbito da composição musical uma retomada da expressividade. Isso ocorreu porque desde meados da segunda metade do século XIX – a partir da emergência de uma estética da música de cunho formalista – o ceticismo emotivo que inicialmente estava limitado ao debate estético foi, a partir da década de 1920, tomado como cerne de algumas práticas composicionais, especialmente naquelas de índole serial. Entretanto, antes de a criação musical contemporânea voltar a se dedicar à expressividade, houve, a partir da década de 1940, uma revisão de ordem estética tanto da tese formalista como da própria tese expressiva. Tal revisão mostrou-se fundamental na consolidação de uma nova ideia de expressividade musical, que por sua vez substanciou novos patamares técnicos e estilísticos para uma composição musical afetivamente orientada. Nestes termos, além de uma profunda modificação do papel da harmonia, constatamos o surgimento de uma nova noção de timbre, agora não mais limitado a um simples parâmetro, uma vez que alçado à condição de material musical, e desta feita suscetível a todas as ações previstas por uma escritura musical plena. No âmbito da música vocal, soma-se ainda uma profunda modificação do papel e do tratamento do libreto, por meio de novos procedimentos de escritura que passam a relativizar o tradicional paralelismo elementar entre o texto, seu significado semântico e a escritura musical, passando então a ressaltar as propriedades tímbricas e sonoras da língua, também enquanto um tipo de material musical. Os desdobramentos de ordem prática de questões desenvolvidas teoricamente nesse trabalho foram abordados por duas perspectivas. Primeiramente, por meio de comentários analíticos sobre a obra Retrato Falado da Paixão, de Flo Menezes, tomada como um exemplo de composição contemporânea afetivamente orientada; em um segundo momento, por meio da criação de uma nova peça musical, as Canções do mendigo, composta a partir de premissas trabalhadas nesta tese. / From the mid-1950s, a moment when serial music enters a deep crisis, we can detect the emergence of new poetics in terms of contemporary music. As a result, in addition to a stylistically heterogeneous scenario – due to the absence of a common musical system – we observed, in the context of musical composition, a resumption of the issue of expressiveness. Such resumption came to happen due to the fact that, since the mid-second half of the nineteenth century – from the emergence of a formalist aesthetic of music – the emotive skepticism, initially restricted to the aesthetic debate, had been taken as the core of some compositional practices, especially those of a serial nature, from the 1920s on. However, before the contemporary musical composition went back to the issue of expressiveness, a revision of the aesthetic order of both the formalist and the expressive thesis took place as of the 1940s. Such revision proved to be fundamental in the consolidation of a new idea of musical expressivity. These new ideas substantiated new technical and stylistic dimensions of an affectively oriented musical composition. In these terms, in addition to an in-depth modification of the role of harmony, we see the emergence of a new notion of timbre, no longer limited to a simple parameter, now raised to the condition of a musical material, and thus susceptible to all actions supported by a full musical writing (écriture). In terms of vocal music, an in-depth modification of the role and treatment of the libretto is added by the use of new writing procedures which minimize the traditional elemental parallelism among the text, its semantical meaning, and the musical writing material, emphasizing the timbral and sound properties of the language also as a kind of musical material. The practical developments of the theoretical issues in this work were approached by two different perspectives. First, through analytical commentaries on Flo Menezes' Retrato Falado da Paixão, taken as an example of an affectively oriented contemporary composition. Secondly, through the creation of a new musical piece, Canções do mendigo, made up of premises developed in this thesis.