abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that produces a characteristic set of neuromotor deficits that sometimes includes reduced amplitude and velocity of movement. Several studies have shown that people with PD improved their motor performance when presented with external cues. Other work has demonstrated that high velocity and large amplitude exercises can increase the amplitude and velocity of movement in simple carryover tasks in the upper and lower extremities. Although the cause for these effects is not known, improvements due to cueing suggest that part of the neuromotor deficit in PD is in the integration of sensory feedback to produce motor commands. Previous studies have documented some somatosensory deficits, but only limited information is available regarding the nature and magnitude of sensorimotor deficits in the shoulder of people with PD. The goals of this research were to characterize the sensorimotor impairment in the shoulder joint of people with PD and to investigate the use of visual feedback and large amplitude/high velocity exercises to target PD-related motor deficits. Two systems were designed and developed to use visual feedback to assess the ability of participants to accurately adjust limb placement or limb movement velocity and to encourage improvements in performance of these tasks. Each system was tested on participants with PD, age-matched control subjects and young control subjects to characterize and compare limb placement and velocity control capabilities. Results demonstrated that participants with PD were less accurate at placing their limbs than age-matched or young control subjects, but that their performance improved over the course of the test session such that by the end, the participants with PD performed as well as controls. For the limb velocity feedback task, participants with PD and age-matched control subjects were less accurate than young control subjects, but at the end of the session, participants with PD and age-matched control subjects were as accurate as the young control subjects. This study demonstrates that people with PD were able to improve their movement patterns based on visual feedback of performance and suggests that this feedback paradigm may be useful in exercise programs for people with PD. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Bioengineering 2015

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis explores the history of virtual reality and how the medium can help make psychological horror adventure games become a more immersive experience. Project Labyrinth takes inspiration from psychological horror adventure games, Greek mythology, and experimental music to immerse the player in a VR dream/nightmare. Appealing to the senses of sight and sound, the moody visual effects and haunting music, along with the use of procedural generation, create an eerie atmosphere in which the player must explore and problem-solve in order to find their way through the labyrinthine game. The environment changes and evolves as the game is replayed, creating a dream or nightmare-like setting, stirring the sensation of déjà vu. The game was developed in VR using the Oculus Quest, a device that allows the player to freely move about without being tethered to a computer. The Quest’s ability to use hand, body, and room tracking significantly improves an already immersive experience. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MA (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Information Science / unrestricted

No description available.

No description available.

The XDRIVE engine is a runtime solution for the coordination and display of web-based multimedia presentations that feature three-dimensional content. This 3D content is rendered in real-time, which facilitates user-defined navigation and interaction with objects contained within the 3D virtual environment. These presentations can run independently, or they can be synchronized with audio and video files. As web browsers interpret HTML formatted files, XDRIVE presentations are authored in and interpreted from XML formatted files, which are loaded and interpreted by the engine to display the defined content. Just as web browsers can load and display external files as guided and linked by the HTML tags, XDRIVE presentations rely on links to external files that are imported and displayed as guided by the XML tags. Developed using Macromedia Director MX - a multimedia development software package - the XDRIVE engine itself is a Shockwave file that is embedded in a web page. Shockwave, a format whose browser plug-in is free to install and is loaded on a variety of systems, allows for the coordination of multiple media and data types, and features a powerful set of tools for the use of 3D content through the Shockwave3D format. XDRIVE is designed to open the functionality of web-based 3D to a wider audience - allowing for custom presentations to be authored without a prerequisite knowledge of complicated programming languages, and 3D scripting. The XDRIVE engine is a series of scripted systems that utilize and connect various components of Director, and provide additional capabilities above those that already exist. / Master of Science

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 65 pages / Thesis (M.L.A.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: Recently, artists have begun using digital technology to create new cultural forms in the fields of art, literature, and music, and a new cultural form known as interactive digital multimedia has emerged, which combines elements from the new artistic, literary, and musical forms. Many of these artists have produced works that explore the interactive capabilities of digital technology. These interactive digital cultural forms have encouraged collaborative efforts that would have otherwise been difficult or even impossible to achieve before the advent of digital technology. In addition, this element of interactivity has redefined the traditional relationship between artist and audience. As the line between creator and consumer becomes increasingly blurred in interactive digital cultural forms, it becomes necessary to use terms such as "source artist" and "mix artist" to better define this new artist/audience relationship. / ABSTRACT: Postmodern theorists such as Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault anticipate this new artist/audience relationship in their writings. More recent theorists, such as Margot Lovejoy, George Landow, and Paul Théberge, writing after the advent of digital technology, have suggested that interactive digital cultural forms and the changing nature of the artist/audience relationship present opportunities for cultural creation and participation that extend the opportunities afforded by traditional artistic production and consumption. Works such as the As Worlds Collide website, Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden, the music of the Chemical Brothers, and Peter Gabriel's multimedia CD-ROM EVE are examples of these new interactive digital cultural forms. These works present navigable constructs (often incorporating elements culled from other source artists) that can be experienced and "re-mixed" by subsequent mix artists who choose to interact with these works. / ABSTRACT: The increased agency provided by these interactive works brings with it new responsibilities for both the source artist and the mix artist. By encouraging collaboration and experimentation, redefining the artist/audience relationship, and expanding the responsibilities of the source artist and the mix artist, interactive digital media extend the possibilities for cultural creation and participation. As digital technology develops, so do the opportunities for cultural development among society as a whole. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Abstract not available