This research was to develop a real-time, modifiable, tangible interactive tabletop system for participatory urban design. The targeting user group was those stakeholders in urban design charrettes. Previous system solutions overlooked the importance of the modifiable tangible medium in the situation of reaching spatial-temporal consensus. These design issues impeded communication between the stakeholders and the professionals. Users of these systems had difficulties expressing ideas to professionals during the collaborative design process. Literature in evolving technology in the smart city context, collaborative urban design, embodied interaction, and depth-sensing was referred to guide the system design. Based on the review, this research identified the pivotal role of a shapeable and tangible medium in the system. The prototype system unified the modifiable, realistic model with its digital equivalent in urban analytics in real-time. By integrating tangible interaction, depth-sensing, and large touch screen tabletop, an intuitive, immersive decision-making interface for non-professional stakeholders could be created. During the system implementation, system elements centering ‘tangible interoperability’ were documented along the system pipeline. A heuristic evaluation, a method of usability inspection, was conducted to assess and to guide the future system design. The result was promising and inspiring. In the end, challenges and directions of system design were discussed. The contribution of this research included: discovering direction, centering tangibility, implementing a prototype, and documenting elements in each stage along the system pipeline of designing a modifiable tangible interactive tabletop system for the urban design charrette.

本論文藉由艾德蒙．懷特<已婚男人>愛滋書寫裡、對男同志性愛/死亡在愛滋年代的辨證關係，探討愛滋文學所能扮演的文化功能。第二章、利用傅柯式圓形監獄概念衍生下主體自我內化規訓，討論男同志性愛原先具有的顛覆本質，如何隨著80年代、HIV病毒出現，在生物醫學論述下對男同志進行”再次病理化”的辨證關係。 第三章參考喬瑟夫．凱迪在1993年發表的文章、 分類愛滋書寫為深刻書寫和反深刻書寫，討論<已婚男人>裡愛滋深刻書寫裡、藉由呈現詭異疾病身體來製造驚嚇感、引發讀者對於愛滋議題另一層次的反思。第四章、則是探討<已婚男人>呈現無病徵的衣櫃身體、其造成主體／客體在視覺上/心理上、介於有病/無病的模糊詭譎狀態，可以被視為愛滋文學、一種提供讀者在愛滋年代裡、在絕望中仍可懷抱希望的正面力量。透過以上探討、艾德蒙．懷特＜已婚男人＞豎立愛滋書寫之中、呈現男同志文化與愛滋病複雜關係的傑出作品。 / This study discusses Edmund White’s AIDS writing in his The Married Man, a fiction that depicts the issue of gay sex and death in the age of the Epidemic. In chapter two, I intend to discuss about how biomedical discourse of HIV/AIDS fosters a Focauldian apparatus of panoptical surveillance and self-discipline in relation to gay sex. With the advent of HIV virus, the once subversive lifestyle of gay sex becomes more problematic. In chapter three, I attempt to employ Joseph Cady’s definition of AIDS writings as either immersive or counter-immersive, and argue that Edmund White’s The Married Man should be viewed as an immersive AIDS writing wherein the ugliness of the grotesque body is used as a literary weapon to engender its readers a sense of shock. In chapter four, I contend Austin’s HIV asymptomatic/closet body in The Married Man should be viewed as an ambiguous symbol by which a dialect between hope (future) and despair (no future) is discussed. To conclude, Edmund White’s The Married Man, a subversive text as it is, thus stands as a masterpiece of AIDS writing not only explicitly depicts the history of HIV/AIDS of the 1990s but that promises its gay readers a potentiality of hope for the misty future.

Living Lens is a practice-led study that explores interdependencies between performing bodies, visual images and sonic elements through two main areas of investigation: the propensity for the visual mode to be dominant in an interdisciplinary performance environment; and, a compositional structure to integrate performing bodies, visual and sonic elements. To address these concerns, the study necessitated a collaborative team comprising performers, visual artists, sound designers and computer programmers. The poetic title, Living Lens, became an important interpretative device and organising principle in this study, which is weighted 70% for the creative work and 30% for the written component. Working from an experiential and emergent methodology, the research employed two iterative cycles of development. Drawing on a previous work, Patchwork in Motion (2005), the extraction of one fragment entitled Living Lens (2005-6) was selected for further development, specifically to balance the relationship between performers and visual media with a deeper focus on the sonic component. The initial creative development (June-July 2005) addressed the area of interdependencies through the concepts of "poetic felt space" and "living painting", whilst the final stage of the study (June-July 2006) adopted the concept of "worlds within worlds" to facilitate greater contrast and connectivity in the piece. The final performance made partial progress towards shifting visual dominance and the development of an integrative structure, the digital media serving to enhance tangible connections between aural, visual and kinesthetic senses. As an immersive performance installation, the study thus adapts and extends painterly and sculptural sensibilities into a contemporary and interactive arts setting. Presenting a case for the personalised position of the practitioner voice, the study also offers practical and conceptual insights and solutions, to be adopted, adapted or applied tangentially, by other practitioners and researchers working in the domains of body movement practices, visual and sonic arts and human communication technologies.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le domaine de l'ingénierie des Environnements Virtuels pour l’Apprentissage Humain (EVAH). Les jeux épistémiques numériques (JEN) sont une catégorie des jeux sérieux dédiés à la résolution de problèmes complexes, pluridisciplinaires et non-déterministes afin de proposer des situations d'apprentissage plus authentiques.La première partie de la thèse est consacrée à l’exploration des dimensions spatiales, temporelles et sociales des interactions dans un JEN. Des expérimentations ont été menées en milieu écologique et ont montré un apport pédagogique par une augmentation de l'engagement des apprenants. La conception des prototypes expérimentés a mis en évidence que le développement informatique des interactions immersives d'un EVAH demeure actuellement réservé à des spécialistes en Réalité Mixte ou Virtuelle (RMV).Ainsi la seconde partie de la thèse a été dédiée à la proposition d'un environnement de développement (MIREDGE). Une interface de programmation visuelle permet aux développeurs de modéliser des interactions sans connaissance spécifique en RMV par réutilisation de blocs. Des expérimentations ont permis d'évaluer l'efficacité et l'efficience de MIREDGE pour le profil des développeurs RMV ainsi que celui des développeurs non-initiés à la RMV. Les développeurs RMV ayant une nécessité à poursuivre leur algorithme au-delà de la programmation visuelle, MIREDGE permet une génération automatique de code dans leur moteur de jeu. L'approche garantie une large compatibilité avec les environnements de développement et les périphériques, ouvrant ainsi des perspectives sur l'étude de logiques d'interactions universelles. / This thesis is in the field of the virtual environments for human learning. Digital Epistemic Games (DEG) are a category of serious games dedicated to solving complex, multidisciplinary and non-deterministic problems. The objective of DEGs is to propose authentic learning situations in terms of interactions so that learners can construct and anchor knowledge in their context of use.The first part of the thesis is devoted to exploring spatial, temporal and social dimensions of DEG interactions. Experiments were conducted in ecological environment and showed an educational contribution through an increase in the learner engagement. The design of the prototypes showed that the development of the immersive interactions of a virtual environment for human learning currently remains reserved for specialists in Mixed Reality or Virtual (MVR).So the second part of the thesis was the proposal of a development environment named MIREDGE. A visual programming interface allows developers to model interactions without specific knowledge in MVR through the reuse of blocks. Experiments have evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of MIREDGE for specialist and non-specialist developers in MVR.As specialist developers in MVR have to continue their algorithm beyond visual programming, MIREDGE allows automatic generation of code providing the corresponding script being totally re-editable in their game engine. The MIREDGE approach ensures wide compatibility with development environments and peripherals. This opens perspectives on the study of the logics of universal interactions.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Teaching technical themes in the area of Computer Networks involves difficult concepts to be understood in the traditional educational way, i.e. statically. At the same time, technological advances have created many opportunities in education, requiring the development of new pedagogical practices that contribute to the process of teaching and learning. The creation of immersive virtual environments and the addressing of issues related to context-aware computing can support this process. For that, in this dissertation it was developed an immersive virtual environment for teaching Computer Networks that uses learner context information -e.g. technology, cognitive style, and quality of context-, while providing a significant learning from the integration and interaction between users and technology. To achieve the objectives of this study, an exploratory research with a case study was performed in order to verify whether the use of an immersive virtual environment can facilitate and/or improve the process of learning the discipline of Computer Networks. The construction of this environment, named TCN5, has as basis four main elements, these being,WampServer, OpenSimulator, Sloodle and UVLEQoC Moodle, which adds features from modules like U-SEA 2.0 and SEDECA 2.0, in addition to Bootstrap theme, applying QoC parameters and metrics about the information collected in the environment, aiming to ensure the suitability of the connection for the preferences and needs of the students. In order to verify the practical feasibility of the work and the usage of the environment through mobile devices, a case study was conducted, which showed that despite mobile technologies allow the realization of most of the proposed activities, there are still some technological limitations that make difficult the usage of such devices in the educational context. At the same time, a comparative analysis between different viewers for virtual worlds was performed, pointing out advantages and disadvantages by considering aspects of available resources for processing and supported file types. Finally, a non-experimental study was conducted, using a Pedagogical Architecture, which served as the basis for the use and evaluation of the environment by a group of 25 students from the Computer Networks discipline of Computer Science program at the Federal University of Santa Maria. The results obtained during the evaluation with students accomplished the desired expectations, achieving a rating of "Excellent" on the scale of the SUS usability test and a considerable increase in the average obtained in the elaboration of the conceptual maps after using TCN5, an indication that the environment helped, at least in part, to the construction of knowledge of this group, despite the limitations and difficulties encountered during its development. / O ensino de temas técnicos na área de Redes de Computadores envolve conceitos difíceis de serem entendidos na forma pedagógica tradicional, ou seja, de forma estática. Ao mesmo tempo, os avanços tecnológicos criaram diversas possibilidades na educação, exigindo o desenvolvimento de novas práticas pedagógicas que contribuam para o processo de ensino e aprendizagem. A criação de ambientes virtuais imersivos e o tratamento de questões relacionadas com a computação sensível ao contexto podem auxiliar nesse processo. Para isso, foi desenvolvido nesta dissertação um ambiente virtual imersivo para o ensino de Redes de Computadores que trata informações de contexto do aluno (e.g., tecnologia, estilo cognitivo e qualidade do contexto), proporcionando ao mesmo uma aprendizagem significativa, a partir da integração e interação entre usuários e tecnologia. Para atingir os objetivos deste trabalho foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória com estudo de caso, a fim de verificar se a utilização de um ambiente virtual imersivo pode facilitar e/ou melhorar o processo de aprendizagem da disciplina de Redes de Computadores. A construção desse ambiente, denominado TCN5, teve como base quatro elementos principais, sendo esses, o WampServer, o OpenSimulator, o Sloodle e o Moodle UVLEQoC, que agrega as características tanto dos módulos U-SEA 2.0 e SEDECA 2.0 como do Tema Bootstrap, aplicando parâmetros e métricas de QoC sobre as informações coletadas no ambiente, com o objetivo de garantir que o contexto formulado esteja adequado às preferências e necessidades dos alunos. Para verificar a viabilidade prática do trabalho quanto à utilização do ambiente por meio do uso de dispositivos móveis foi realizado um estudo de caso, que demonstrou que apesar das tecnologias móveis permitirem a realização da maioria das atividades propostas, existem ainda algumas limitações tecnológicas que dificultam a utilização desses dispositivos no contexto educacional. Ao mesmo tempo, foi realizada uma análise comparativa entre os diversos visualizadores de mundos virtuais disponíveis, apontando vantagens e desvantagens, considerando aspectos de processamento, recursos disponibilizados e tipos de arquivos suportados. Por fim, foi realizado um estudo Não-Experimental utilizando uma Arquitetura Pedagógica, que serviu como base para a utilização e avaliação do ambiente por uma turma de 25 alunos da disciplina de Redes de Computadores do Curso de Ciência da Computação da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. Os resultados obtidos durante a avaliação com os alunos atenderam as expectativas, alcançando uma classificação Excelente na escala do teste de usabilidade SUS, bem como um aumento considerável na média obtida na elaboração dos mapas conceituais após a utilização do TCN5, um indício de que o ambiente auxiliou, pelo menos em parte, na construção do conhecimento dessa turma, apesar das limitações e dificuldades encontradas durante o seu desenvolvimento.

Submitted by Jordan (jordanbiblio@gmail.com) on 2016-09-21T17:03:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2012_Carlos Henrique Tavares de Freitas.pdf: 3041222 bytes, checksum: cb4428c9932879f1a478074aa1ac1c7f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jordan (jordanbiblio@gmail.com) on 2016-09-23T10:56:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2012_Carlos Henrique Tavares de Freitas.pdf: 3041222 bytes, checksum: cb4428c9932879f1a478074aa1ac1c7f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jordan (jordanbiblio@gmail.com) on 2016-09-23T10:57:01Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2012_Carlos Henrique Tavares de Freitas.pdf: 3041222 bytes, checksum: cb4428c9932879f1a478074aa1ac1c7f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-23T10:57:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2012_Carlos Henrique Tavares de Freitas.pdf: 3041222 bytes, checksum: cb4428c9932879f1a478074aa1ac1c7f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-26 / As Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação são elementos importantes para o acesso à informação, a produção de novos conhecimentos e o desenvolvimento científico, estando presentes também no contexto do ensino superior e no ambiente das bibliotecas universitárias, tanto como recursos de informatização dos serviços técnicos e da gestão destas Unidades, quanto no desenvolvimento de produtos e serviços baseados em conteúdos digitais de informação. Nesse sentido, este estudo tem por objetivo investigar as características dos leitores e dos tipos de leitura desenvolvidos na Biblioteca Central da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, considerando que, atualmente, os recursos de leitura e pesquisa tradicionais dividem espaço com novos produtos e serviços, influenciados pelas Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação. Para tanto, envolve uma pesquisa exploratória baseada em uma abordagem qualitativa, tendo como instrumentos de coleta de dados, a observação, o questionário, a entrevista estruturada e a observação participante. A pesquisa de campo foi dividida em duas etapas principais, sendo a primeira, a elaboração de um perfil socioeconômico e cultural, e a segunda etapa, a realização de entrevistas e observações dos processos de navegação dos usuários/leitores da biblioteca. Na primeira etapa, entre outros aspectos, observamos que os leitores da Biblioteca Central correspondem a um público diversificado e dinâmico, composto, em sua maioria por alunos de cursos de graduação que se encontram cadastrados no Sistema Pergamum. A maioria dos usuários/leitores utiliza a biblioteca frequentemente, sendo constatada também uma quantidade significativa de visitantes que utilizam o ambiente de estudo para concursos e similares. A pesquisa acadêmica corresponde à maior razão de uso da biblioteca e, quanto aos produtos e serviços, observou-se que os livros, a consulta local, o serviço de circulação de materiais bibliográficos e a utilização do ambiente para estudo são os recursos mais utilizados pelos leitores, havendo um baixo índice de uso das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação no ambiente da biblioteca, bem como dos serviços informatizados. A segunda fase da investigação compreendeu três momentos: abordagem dos sujeitos (quando ocorreu o agendamento das entrevistas e observações), entrevista estruturada e observação participante. As entrevistas envolveram questões referentes às características dos leitores, suas relações com as tecnologias, com o ciberespaço, produtos e serviços da Biblioteca Central. A observação participante explorou a solução de três problemas de navegação propostos aos pesquisados, qual seja, a realização de uma pesquisa genérica, a realização de uma pesquisa acadêmica e a exploração dos serviços on-line da Biblioteca Central (pesquisas no catálogo eletrônico, reservas, renovações etc.). Concluiu-se que todos os usuários pesquisados nesta etapa do estudo apresentaram características de leitores imersivos, mas alguns também se destacaram como leitores meditativos, sendo que estes perfis são influenciados pelo ambiente, situação e objetivos de pesquisa, bem como pela cultura dos leitores. Além disso, se por um lado, o fato de serem leitores imersivos não significa que prefiram utilizar apenas o ciberespaço, em detrimento dos livros e demais materiais impressos, esta mesma prerrogativa também não significa que estes leitores conhecem, dominam e utilizam amplamente os serviços eletrônicos da Biblioteca Central da UFMT. / The Technologies of the Information and Communication are important elements for the access to the information, the production of new knowledge and the scientific development, being present also in the context of the higher education and in the environment of the academical libraries, as much as resources of computerize of the technical services and of the administration of these Units, as in the development of products and services based on digital contents of information. Thereby, this study has for objective to investigate the readers' characteristics and of the reading types developed at the Central Library of the Mato Grosso Federal University, considering that, nowadays, the reading resources and traditional research divide space with new products and services, influenced by the Technologies of the Information and Communication. Accordingly it involves an exploratory research based in a qualitative approach, tends as instruments of collection of data, the observation, the questionnaire, the structured interview and the participant observation. The field research was divided in two main stages, the first main was the elaboration of a socioeconomic and cultural profile, and the second stage was the accomplishment of interviews and observations of the processes of navigation of the users/readers of the library. In the first stage, among other aspects, we observed that the readers of the Central Library correspond to a diversified and dynamic public, composed, in its majority for students of degree courses that they are registered in the Pergamum System. Most of the users/readers uses the library frequently, being also verified a significant amount of visitors that use the environment study for contests and similar. The academic research corresponds to the largest reason of use of the library and, and the products and services, it was observed that the books, the local consultation, the service of circulation of bibliographical materials and the use of the atmosphere for study are the resources more used by the readers, having a low index of use of the Technologies of the Information and Communication in the environment of the library, like of the computerized services. The second phase of the investigation understood three moments: approach of the subjects (when it happened the scheduling of the interviews and observations), structured interview and participant observation. The interviews involved questions about the readers' characteristics, their relationships with the technologies, with the cyberspace, products and services of the Central Library. The participant observation explored the solution of three navigation problems proposed to those researched: the accomplishment of a generic research, the accomplishment of an academic research and the exploration of the on-line services of the Central Library (researches in the electronic catalog, reservations, renewals etc.). It was concluded that all of the users researched in this stage of the study presented characteristics of immersive readers, but some readers also stand out like a meditative readers, and these profiles are influenced by the atmosphere, situation and research objectives, as them culture. Besides, on the hand, the fact of they be immersive readers it doesn't mean that they prefer just use the cyberspace, to the detriment of the books and too much materials printed papers, this same prerogative doesn't also mean that these readers know, they dominate and they use the electronic services of the Central Library of UFMT thoroughly.

Submitted by Jordan (jordanbiblio@gmail.com) on 2016-09-21T17:03:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2012_Carlos Henrique Tavares de Freitas.pdf: 3041222 bytes, checksum: cb4428c9932879f1a478074aa1ac1c7f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jordan (jordanbiblio@gmail.com) on 2016-09-23T10:56:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2012_Carlos Henrique Tavares de Freitas.pdf: 3041222 bytes, checksum: cb4428c9932879f1a478074aa1ac1c7f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jordan (jordanbiblio@gmail.com) on 2016-09-23T10:57:01Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2012_Carlos Henrique Tavares de Freitas.pdf: 3041222 bytes, checksum: cb4428c9932879f1a478074aa1ac1c7f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-23T10:57:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2012_Carlos Henrique Tavares de Freitas.pdf: 3041222 bytes, checksum: cb4428c9932879f1a478074aa1ac1c7f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-26 / As Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação são elementos importantes para o acesso à informação, a produção de novos conhecimentos e o desenvolvimento científico, estando presentes também no contexto do ensino superior e no ambiente das bibliotecas universitárias, tanto como recursos de informatização dos serviços técnicos e da gestão destas Unidades, quanto no desenvolvimento de produtos e serviços baseados em conteúdos digitais de informação. Nesse sentido, este estudo tem por objetivo investigar as características dos leitores e dos tipos de leitura desenvolvidos na Biblioteca Central da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, considerando que, atualmente, os recursos de leitura e pesquisa tradicionais dividem espaço com novos produtos e serviços, influenciados pelas Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação. Para tanto, envolve uma pesquisa exploratória baseada em uma abordagem qualitativa, tendo como instrumentos de coleta de dados, a observação, o questionário, a entrevista estruturada e a observação participante. A pesquisa de campo foi dividida em duas etapas principais, sendo a primeira, a elaboração de um perfil socioeconômico e cultural, e a segunda etapa, a realização de entrevistas e observações dos processos de navegação dos usuários/leitores da biblioteca. Na primeira etapa, entre outros aspectos, observamos que os leitores da Biblioteca Central correspondem a um público diversificado e dinâmico, composto, em sua maioria por alunos de cursos de graduação que se encontram cadastrados no Sistema Pergamum. A maioria dos usuários/leitores utiliza a biblioteca frequentemente, sendo constatada também uma quantidade significativa de visitantes que utilizam o ambiente de estudo para concursos e similares. A pesquisa acadêmica corresponde à maior razão de uso da biblioteca e, quanto aos produtos e serviços, observou-se que os livros, a consulta local, o serviço de circulação de materiais bibliográficos e a utilização do ambiente para estudo são os recursos mais utilizados pelos leitores, havendo um baixo índice de uso das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação no ambiente da biblioteca, bem como dos serviços informatizados. A segunda fase da investigação compreendeu três momentos: abordagem dos sujeitos (quando ocorreu o agendamento das entrevistas e observações), entrevista estruturada e observação participante. As entrevistas envolveram questões referentes às características dos leitores, suas relações com as tecnologias, com o ciberespaço, produtos e serviços da Biblioteca Central. A observação participante explorou a solução de três problemas de navegação propostos aos pesquisados, qual seja, a realização de uma pesquisa genérica, a realização de uma pesquisa acadêmica e a exploração dos serviços on-line da Biblioteca Central (pesquisas no catálogo eletrônico, reservas, renovações etc.). Concluiu-se que todos os usuários pesquisados nesta etapa do estudo apresentaram características de leitores imersivos, mas alguns também se destacaram como leitores meditativos, sendo que estes perfis são influenciados pelo ambiente, situação e objetivos de pesquisa, bem como pela cultura dos leitores. Além disso, se por um lado, o fato de serem leitores imersivos não significa que prefiram utilizar apenas o ciberespaço, em detrimento dos livros e demais materiais impressos, esta mesma prerrogativa também não significa que estes leitores conhecem, dominam e utilizam amplamente os serviços eletrônicos da Biblioteca Central da UFMT. / The Technologies of the Information and Communication are important elements for the access to the information, the production of new knowledge and the scientific development, being present also in the context of the higher education and in the environment of the academical libraries, as much as resources of computerize of the technical services and of the administration of these Units, as in the development of products and services based on digital contents of information. Thereby, this study has for objective to investigate the readers' characteristics and of the reading types developed at the Central Library of the Mato Grosso Federal University, considering that, nowadays, the reading resources and traditional research divide space with new products and services, influenced by the Technologies of the Information and Communication. Accordingly it involves an exploratory research based in a qualitative approach, tends as instruments of collection of data, the observation, the questionnaire, the structured interview and the participant observation. The field research was divided in two main stages, the first main was the elaboration of a socioeconomic and cultural profile, and the second stage was the accomplishment of interviews and observations of the processes of navigation of the users/readers of the library. In the first stage, among other aspects, we observed that the readers of the Central Library correspond to a diversified and dynamic public, composed, in its majority for students of degree courses that they are registered in the Pergamum System. Most of the users/readers uses the library frequently, being also verified a significant amount of visitors that use the environment study for contests and similar. The academic research corresponds to the largest reason of use of the library and, and the products and services, it was observed that the books, the local consultation, the service of circulation of bibliographical materials and the use of the atmosphere for study are the resources more used by the readers, having a low index of use of the Technologies of the Information and Communication in the environment of the library, like of the computerized services. The second phase of the investigation understood three moments: approach of the subjects (when it happened the scheduling of the interviews and observations), structured interview and participant observation. The interviews involved questions about the readers' characteristics, their relationships with the technologies, with the cyberspace, products and services of the Central Library. The participant observation explored the solution of three navigation problems proposed to those researched: the accomplishment of a generic research, the accomplishment of an academic research and the exploration of the on-line services of the Central Library (researches in the electronic catalog, reservations, renewals etc.). It was concluded that all of the users researched in this stage of the study presented characteristics of immersive readers, but some readers also stand out like a meditative readers, and these profiles are influenced by the atmosphere, situation and research objectives, as them culture. Besides, on the hand, the fact of they be immersive readers it doesn't mean that they prefer just use the cyberspace, to the detriment of the books and too much materials printed papers, this same prerogative doesn't also mean that these readers know, they dominate and they use the electronic services of the Central Library of UFMT thoroughly.

(in English) This diploma thesis is examining the ways of using immersive virtual reality with senior citizens aged 65 plus with health problems. Those chosen individuals who live in a retirement home were examined and questioned after trying out a virtual reality headset with a specific travel experience using the Google Earth VR app. The main focus was to study their emotional state and its shifts. The author used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research to finalise the analysis. The theoretical part offers an insight on the use of immersive virtual reality in the lives of senior citizens such as how they spend free time in the Retirement homes. The analytical part of this dissertation shows a summary of existing studies and commercial projects using virtual reality with the aim to facilitate seniors. The qualitative research has helped to a better understanding of the Czech market. It also helped executing a scientific investigation centred on a particular group of seniors. Data was gathered via half structured interviews, observation and standardised questionnaires PANAS and Flow Short Scale.

No description available.

No description available.