Table tennis playing involves complex spatial movement of the racket and human body. It takes much effort for the novice players to better mimic expert players. The evaluation of motion patterns during table tennis training, which is usually achieved by coaches, is important for novice trainees to improve faster. However, traditional coaching relies heavily on coaches qualitative observation and subjective evaluation. While past literature shows considerable potential in applying biomechanical analysis and classification for motion pattern assessment to improve novice table tennis players, little published work was found on table tennis biomechanics. To attempt to overcome the problems and fill the gaps, this research aims to quantify the movement of table tennis strokes, to identify the motion pattern differences between experts and novices, and to develop a model for automatic evaluation of the motion quality for an individual. Firstly, a novel method for comprehensive quantification and measurement of the kinematic motion of racket and human body is proposed. In addition, a novel method based on racket centre velocity profile is proposed to segment and normalize the motion data. Secondly, a controlled experiment was conducted to collect motion data of expert and novice players during forehand strokes. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the motion differences between the expert and the novice groups. The experts exhibited significantly different motion patterns with faster racket centre velocity and smaller racket plane angle, different standing posture and joint angular velocity, etc. Lastly, a support vector machine (SVM) classification technique was employed to build a model for motion pattern evaluation. The model development was based on experimental data with different feature selection methods and SVM kernels to achieve the best performance (F1 score) through cross-validated and Nelder-Mead method. Results showed that the SVM classification model exhibited good performance with an average model performance above 90% in distinguishing the stroke motion between expert and novice players. This research helps to better understand the biomechanical mechanisms of table tennis strokes, which will ultimately aid the improvement of novice players. The phase segmentation and normalization methods for table tennis strokes are novel, unambiguous and straightforward to apply. The quantitative comparison identified the comprehensive differences in motion between experts and novice players for racket and human body in continuous phase time, which is a novel contribution. The proposed classification model shows potential in the application of SVM to table tennis biomechanics and can be exploited for automatic coaching.

As enzimas desempenham papel fisiológico fundamental nos organismos, seja em condições normais e patológicas, o que as tornam atrativos alvos para intervenções terapêuticas. Pequenas moléculas capazes de inibir enzimas alvos são utilizadas para o tratamento de diversas doenças inflamatórias, câncer, AIDS, entre outras. Contudo, a identificação de pequenas moléculas inibidores ainda é uma etapa limitante no desenvolvimento de fármacos. Nesse contexto, o aprimoramento e novos ensaios robustos e confiáveis para acelerar a descoberta e a caracterização de novos inibidores é de extrema relevância. Nesta tese apresentamos o desenvolvimento de apropriados métodos para a quantificação direta da atividade das enzimas alvos Nucleosídeo Difosfato Quinase B (NDKb), humana (NME2) e de Leishmania major (LmNDKb), livres em solução ou imobilizadas em colunas capilares (ICER). A separação dos produtos e substratos da reação foi realizada por cromatografia de par iônico, que possibilitou a quantificação direta da atividade enzimática da NDKb livre em solução, método 1D-LC-UV. Já para a quantificação da atividade das enzimas imobilizadas foi elaborado um método on-line ICER-LC-UV, no qual a reação enzimática do ICER foi transferida à coluna analítica, permitindo a separação e quantificação da atividade de fosfotransferência. Utilizando esses métodos foi possível determinar o pH ótimo e os parâmetros cinéticos das enzimas livres e imobilizadas. Inibidores de NDKb de diferentes potências e mecanismos de ação foram utilizados para modulação do sistema ICER-LC-UV como ensaio de triagem de inibidores. O (-)-Epicatequina galato (ECG) foi utilizado como prova de conceito, para validar a aplicação do método on-line ICER-LC-UV na identificação e caracterização de inibidores para as enzimas alvo NME2 e LmNDKb. Em suma, a quantificação direta associada ao uso de enzimas imobilizadas representa um grande avanço aos métodos consolidados para o monitoramento da atividade enzimática e triagem de inibidores das enzimas alvo. / Enzymes play a key physiological role in organisms, either under normal and pathological conditions, which make them attractive targets for therapeutic interventions. Small molecules capable to inhibit specific target enzymes are used for the treatment of several inflammatory diseases, cancer, AIDS, among others. However, to identify small inhibitory molecules is still a limiting step in drugs discovery. In this context, the improvement and development of robust and reliable novel assays to accelerate the discovery and characterization of new inhibitors have become extremely relevant. This study describes an appropriate direct method to quantify the enzymatic activity of Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase B (NDKb) from human (NME2) and Leishmania major (LmNDKb). It can be applied to free enzyme in solution or immobilized enzyme into silica capillary (ICER). The separation of both the substrates and products was achieved using ion-pair chromatography, it can be applied to direct quantification of free NDKb activity, method 1D-LC-UV. In order to quantify the activity of the immobilized enzymes, an on-line ICER-LC-UV method was developed. Initially, the enzymatic catalysis occurred into the ICER. Sequentially, the reaction mixture was transferred to an analytical column, where analytes were separated. From this method, it was possible to determine the optimum pH and kinetic parameters for the immobilized enzymes. Well stablished NDKb inhibitors with different strenght and mechanisms of action were used to modulate the on-line ICER-LC-UV method as an inhibitor screening assay. (-)-Epicatechin gallate was used as proof of concept in order to validate the application of the on-line ICER-LC-UV method to identify and characterize the target\'s enzymes NME2 and LmNDKb inhibitors. In summary, the direct quantification method coupled to the immobilized enzymes increases the likelihood of identifying the enzymatic activity and screening of inhibitors of the target enzymes when compared methods well described in the literature.

Du jeu de société dans les salons mondains au début du XXe siècle au sport couru des années 1932 et 1933, ce jeu de balle casse une représentation réductrice et vestimentaire de la mode. Le ping-pong, qui est à l’origine une simple boîte de jeu, connaît deux forts engouements au cours de la première moitié du XXe siècle. En 1902, la mode est au divertissement de salon prétexte à la distinction sociale. Prenant place après les dîners de la Haute bourgeoisie, la droiture du corps est de rigueur. Le jeu respecte un code de galanterie qui en fait un jeu lent. Sa mode s’estompe dès 1903 lorsque le jeu se démocratise à la petite et moyenne bourgeoisies. Vivotant en tant que jeu de salon anodin, le ping-pong réapparaîtcomme une nouveauté en 1932 et 1933. Il est décrit comme un spectacle sportif à l’image de ses champions, de leurs prouesses techniques et des efforts physiques. Il prend également la forme d’une mode populaire en gonflant les rangs du sport ouvrier. Cette reconnaissance sportive dans les représentations sociales est effective quelques années après soninstitutionnalisation. Discours monolithique, la mode cache et relance aussi d’autres vogues. Une réminiscence bourgeoise en fait un jeu prisé des lieux de villégiature. Il se développe également au travers des cafés. L’apogée passée, le ping-pong « sport » perd des effectifs dans les fédérations au milieu des années 1930. Son image sportive chancelle. Elle s’explique par la place difficilement mesurable du jeu informel qui contente les pratiquants. Ce divertissement est alors autant perçu comme un jeu de détente qu’il constitue une manière informelle de faire du sport en dehors des institutions / From the board game in the worldly salons in the beginning of the 20th century to the sought-after sport in 1932 and 1933, this ball game breaks a reductive representation of fashion, mostly about clothing. Ping-pong, which is originally a simple game box, knows two major popular movements during the first half of the 20th century. In 1902, the trend is about salon entertainment, a pretext for social distinction. Taking place after diners in the wealthy bourgeoisie, straightness of the body is required. This game respects the gallantry code, which makes is a slow game. Its popularity is the upper class fades from 1903 when the game knows a democratisation in the petty bourgeoisie and the middle class. Eking out as a trivialsalon game, ping-pong reappears as a novelty in 1932 and 1933. It is described as a sporting show magnified by its champions, their technical feats and physical efforts. It also gains in popularity as it enters the habits of the working class. This sporty recognition in social representations is effective a few years after its institutionalisation. Monolithic vision, fashionalso hides and revives other tendencies. A bourgeois reminiscence makes it a popular game in the holiday destinations. It also expands in the coffee shops. Once passed its height, pingpong as a « sport » loses members in the federations in the middle of the 1930s. Its sporty image falters. This phenomenom explains itself by the hardly mesurable place of the informalgame, which satisfies the players. This entertainment is perceived as a relaxing game, as an informal way to practice sport out of the institutions

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Masaaki Yuasa's 2014 series Ping Pong: The Animation approaches the ideas of play, competition, and victory in unique ways, especially when compared to other series in the sports anime genre. Through the protagonist Smile, Yuasa encourages viewers to engage with play in a childlike, empathetic and naïve way, as opposed to focusing on victory. By analyzing the series using De Koven's ways to approach play, scholars and fans can better understand the variety of ways in which the characters approach play, and how each of them eventually learns to play well. Analyzing this series through the perspective of metamodernism as defined by Robin Van Dan Akker and Thomas Vermeulen helps viewers to understand how Yuasa approaches the cynical nature of sports and competition while ultimately deciding to focus on and encourage the sincere and optimistic approach to competition and play. He uses the conventions of the sports anime genre and the broader conventions of anime to make the series accessible, while also subverting traditional expectations. Susan Napier's work on analyzing anime will give context to the study and research done on this series as a piece of the anime medium. Some of Yuasa's other works are also briefly analyzed in order to show his consistent themes and subverting of conventions across other anime genres.

隨著各種無線網路技術興起至今，各類無線網路技術及產品日益成熟與普及且無線網路的使用者也逐漸變多。而今在各種無線網路的廣泛使用下、時而可見的是當一個行動使用者手持行動裝置身處在一地理環境中，手持行動裝置一經掃描後，常會發現有許多無線網路其覆蓋範圍共同覆蓋在同一個地理區域中，此時多個無線存取點(Access Point)就會發生訊號覆蓋的重疊現象。行動使用者的行動裝置常需判斷是否應該切換到另一個無線網路，此種情形也就是所謂的遞換(Handoff)情形。遞換之產生，代表行動使用者從原本的無線網路區域範圍移動到另一個無線網路範圍，此時若因外界無線電訊號有所變化或是相關網路協定運作出現狀況時、就很容易產生通訊中斷的情形。 在本論文中我們將探討在異質性網路的情況下，根據多種不同的參數、來 設計一個垂直交握(Vertical handoff)的機制。以克服在異質性網路中，時常發生連線中斷之問題。本篇論文主要引使用模糊理論概念來推論其遞換(Handoff)執行的時間點，並且明確的告知終端設備要進入何種網路。 / In this paper, we propose a terminal –control scheme to avoid unnecessary vertical handovers between 3G cellular and WLAN hotspots. The proposed algorithm is a fuzzy logic based algorithm that can adapt itself to the dynamic conditions of the hybrid networks. The scheme can reduce the access delay, unnecessary handoff probability and aid the handoff decision for better connectivity. This handoff algorithm has much better performance than conventional algorithms and can be extended to other heterogeneous networks.

We broaden the theory of dynamical interpretation, investigate the property of commutativity and explore the subject of subgroups forming free products in Thompson's group V. We expand Brin's terminology for a revealing pair to an any tree pair. We use it to analyse the dynamical behaviour of an arbitrary tree pair which cannot occur in a revealing pair. Hence, we design a series of algorithms generating Brin's revealing pair from any tree pair, by successively eliminating the undesirable structures. To detect patterns and transitioning between tree pairs, we introduce a new combinatorial object called the chains graph. A newly defined, unique and symmetrical type of a tree pair, called a balanced tree pair, stems from the use of the chains graphs. The main theorem of Bleak et al. in "Centralizers in the R. Thompson's Group V_n" states the necessary structure of the centraliser of an element of V. We provide a converse to this theorem, by proving that each of the predicted structures is realisable. Hence we obtain a complete classification of centralisers in V. We give an explicit construction of an element of V with prescribed centraliser. The underlying concept is to embed a Cayley graph of a finite group into the flow graph (introduced in Bleak et al.) of the desired element. To reflect the symmetry, we present the resulting element in terms of a balanced tree pair. The group V is conjectured to be a universal coCF group, which generates interest in studying its subgroups. We develop a better understanding of embeddings into V by providing a necessary and sufficient dynamical condition for two subgroups (not both torsion) to form a free product in V. For this, we use the properties, explored in Bleak and Salazar-Díaz "Free Products in Thompson's Group V", of sets of so--called important points, and the Ping-Pong action induced on them.

No description available.

Pour tout entier naturel impair d, on construit un domaine fondamental pour l'action sur l'espace affine de dimension 2d+1 de certains groupes de transformations affines libres non abéliens, discrets, agissant proprement et de partie linéaire Zariski-dense dans SO(d+1, d). Pour tout groupe de Lie semisimple réel non compact G, on construit ensuite un groupe de transformations affines de son algèbre de Lie g qui est libre non abélien, discret, agit proprement sur g et a sa partie linéaire Zariski-dense dans Ad G. Enfin, on donne quelques résultats sur le comportement local des fonctions harmoniques sur le triangle de Sierpinski, plus précisément de leur restriction à un bord du triangle. / For every odd positive integer d, we construct a fundamental domain for the action on the 2d+1-dimensional space of certain groups of affine transformations which are free, nonabelian, act properly discontinuously and have linear part Zariski-dense in SO(d+1,d). Next for every semisimple noncompact real Lie group G, we construct a group of affine transformations of its Lie algebra g which is free, nonabelian, acts properly discontinuously and has linear part Zariski-dense in Ad G. Finally, we give some results about the local behavior of harmonic functions on the Sierpinski triangle restricted to a side of the triangle.

Spelifiering definieras som användningen av speldesignelement inom icke-spelsammanhang. Detta är ett koncept vars popularitet har ökat och fortsätter att öka. På senare år har spelifiering tillämpats inom utbildning men även andra områden som: marknadsföring, politik och interaktiva system. Studier har visat märkbar inverkan av spelifiering på användares beteende men trots detta finns det en brist på tillämpningar och forskning av spelifiering på informationssystem och undervisning. Avsikten med denna studie är att redogöra för vilka känslor studenter upplever när de använder sin primära lärplattform samt hur en spelifierad lärplattform skulle påverka studenters känslor och därmed deras studieupplevelse. Detta utförs genom en kvalitativ forskningsansats som baseras på semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem studenter vilket innehar en aktiv utbildning vid Högskolan i Borås. I samband med de semistrukturerade intervjuerna presenterades en interaktiv IT-artefakt i form av en prototyp där spelelement har tillämpats på studenternas primära lärplattform. Prototypen användes för att informanterna skulle kunna få en djupare förståelse kring vad spelifiering innebär och hur det skulle kunna se ut i praktiken tillämpat vid lärplattformen. Slutsatserna som presenteras tyder på att studenters studieupplevelse förbättras till viss del då det framkommer mer positiva känslor i samband med användningen av den spelifierade lärplattformen. Detta till skillnad från vad det gjorde i samband med användningen av den primära lärplattformen där spelifiering inte var tillämpat. De positiva känslor som uppstod bland studenterna var främst en ökad motivation, ett förbättrat självförtroende och en ökad gemenskap. Vissa delar av den spelifierade lärplattformen har framkallat negativa känslor såsom stress och prestationsångest. Slutsatserna tyder även på vad man som utvecklare behöver ta i åtanke för att undvika stress och prestationsångest bland studenterna. Vi finner i övrigt att slutsatserna är väsentliga för utvecklare till följd att lyckas med en praktisk tillämpning av spelifiering på en lärplattform där studenternas studieupplevelse ligger i huvudfokus. / Gamification is defined as the use of game design elements in non-gaming context. This is a concept whose popularity has increased and continues to increase. In recent years, gamification has been applied in education but also other areas such as: marketing, politics and interactive systems. Studies have shown a noticeable impact of gamification on user behavior, but despite this, there is a lack of applications and research of gamification applied on information systems and teaching. The purpose of this study is to describe what feelings students experience when using their primary learning management system and how a gamified learning management system would affect students' feelings and thus their study experience. This is done through a qualitative research assignment that is based on semi structured interviews with five students, which holds an active education at the University of Borås. In connection with the semi structured interviews, an interactive IT artefact was presented in the form of a prototype where game elements have been applied to the students' primary learning management system. The prototype was used to enable the informants to gain a deeper understanding of what gamification involves and what it could look like in practice applied to the learning management system. The conclusions presented indicate that students' study experience is improved to some extent as there are more positive feelings in connection with the use of the gamified learning management system. This is unlike what it did in connection with the use of the primary learning management system where gamification was not applied. The positive emotions that arose among the students were primarily an increase of motivation, improved self-esteem and an increased community. Some parts of the gamified learning management system have caused negative feelings such as stress and performance anxiety. The conclusions also indicate what developers need to keep in mind in order to avoid stress and performance anxiety among the students. We also find that the conclusions are essential for developers to succeed in the practical application of gamification on a learning management system where the students' study experience is the main focus.