Thesis (MSportwet)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed April 4, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 128-166).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, School of Physiotherapy, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 454-459)

This dissertation proposes a comprehensive working flow for image retrieval. It contains four components: denoising, restoration, color features extraction, and depth feature extraction. We propose a visual perceptual descriptor (VPD) to extract color features from an image. Gradient direction is calculated at each pixel, and the VPD is moved over the entire image to locate regions with similar gradient direction. Color features are extracted only at these pixels. Experiments demonstrate that VPD is an effective and reliable descriptor in image retrieval. We propose a novel depth feature for image retrieval. Regarding any 2D image as the convolution of a corresponding sharp image and a Gaussian kernel with unknown blur amount. Sparse depth map is computed as the absolute difference of the original image and its sharp version. Depth feature is extracted as the nuclear norm of the sparse depth map. Experiments validate the effectiveness of this approach on depth recovery and image retrieval. We present a model for image denoising. A gradient item is incorporated, and can be merged into the original model based on geometric measure theory. Experiments illustrate this model is effective for image denoising, and it can improve the retrieval performance by denoising a query image. A model is proposed for image restoration. It is an extension of the traditional singular value thresholding (SVT) algorithm, addressing the issue that SVT cannot recover a matrix with missing rows or columns. Proposed is a way to fill such rows and columns, and then apply SVT to restore the damaged image. The pre-filled entries are recomputed by averaging its neighboring pixels. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of this model on image restoration, and it can improve the retrieval performance by restoring a damaged query image. Finally, the capability of this working flow is tested. Experiments demonstrate its effectiveness in image retrieval.

A água é o principal componente do ser humano, a falta desse elemento pode resultar em consequências negativas, como o comprometimento do funcionamento de órgãos e sistemas ou até a morte. Considerando a hidratação um hábito essencial para a saúde do corpo, qual a sua relação com a saúde vocal? O objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar se as mudanças no estado de hidratação sistêmica dos indivíduos influenciam na qualidade vocal antes e após o uso contínuo da voz. Participaram desse estudo 13 indivíduos do sexo masculino, estudantes da Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos da Universidade de São Paulo USP, com média de idade de 21,31 ± 2,10 anos e IMC de 22,44 ± 2,04 kg/\'M POT.2\'. Os participantes foram submetidos a três avaliações não consecutivas em diferentes estados de hidratação sistêmica. Avaliação 1, hidratados, para tanto, os indivíduos foram orientados a ingerir a quantidade de 3,0 litros de água no dia anterior a avaliação e 1,5 litros na manhã do dia da avaliação. Avaliação 2, desidratados, os indivíduos foram orientados a não ingerir água ou líquidos das 22:00 horas do dia anterior até a manhã do dia da avaliação. Avaliação 3, desidratação por exercício físico, a orientação de ingestão de água foi igual a Avaliação 2 e para induzir ainda mais a desidratação, os indivíduos foram submetidos a exercício em esteira por 40 minutos. Nas 3 avaliações os procedimentos foram: gravação da voz em computador, para posteriores avaliações acústica e perceptivo-auditiva da voz; e coleta de urina, para verificação dos estados de hidratação. Para a análise da urina foram utilizados dois métodos: a gravidade específica e coloração da urina. Para a análise acústica da voz foi utilizado o programa MDVP com as medidas da frequência fundamental, jitter, shimmer e proporção harmônico ruído utilizando-se a vogal /a/ sustentada. A avaliação perceptivo-auditiva da voz foi realizada por uma fonoaudióloga especialista em voz, por meio das gravações da contagem de números. Os resultados da análise da urina confirmaram os diferentes estados de hidratação sistêmica e apresentaram forte correlação entre os métodos da gravidade e da coloração da urina. Os resultados da análise acústica indicaram valores de jitter acima da referência na desidratação tanto antes como após o uso contínuo de fala; maior valor médio de jitter antes da leitura no 9 estado de desidratação; aumento da frequência fundamental após leitura no estado de desidratação. Não foram observadas alterações significativas nas medidas de shimmer e na proporção harmônico ruído. A avaliação perceptivo-auditiva apontou melhora da qualidade vocal após leitura no estado de hidratação. As mudanças vocais observadas nos diferentes estados de hidratação sistêmica confirmaram que a hidratação traz benefícios para a voz. / Water is the main component of the human being, the lack of this element can result in negative consequences such as impaired functioning of organs and systems or even death. Considering hydration as an essential habit to the health of body, which is its relationship with vocal health? The aim of this study was to determine whether changes in systemic hydration status of individuals can influence the voice quality before and after continuous use of voice. In this study, 13 male students of the School of Engineering of the University of São Paulo-USP, with a average age of 21.31 ± 2.10 years and BMI 22.44 ± 2.04 kg/\'M POT.2\'. The participants were subject to three, nonconsecutive assessments, at different status of systemic hydration: Evaluation 1, hydrated, the subjects were instructed to drink 3 liters of water the day before the evaluation and 1.5 liters in the morning of the evaluation. Evaluation 2, dehydrated, subjects were instructed not to drink water or liquids from 10pm the day before until the morning of the evaluation. Evaluation 3, dehydration by physical exercise, the orientation of water intake was equal to evaluation 2 and to induce further dehydration, the subjects were subjected to a treadmill exercise during 40 minutes. At the 3 evaluations, the procedures were: voice recording on computer for subsequent acoustic and auditive-perceptual evaluations and urine collect to verify the hydration levels. For the urine analysis were used two methods: the specific gravity of the urine and its color. For the acoustic voice analysis the program MDVP was used to measures of fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer and harmonic noise using the sustained vowel /a/. The auditive-perceptual evaluation of voice was performed by a Speech Therapist specialized in voice studies, through the recordings of the counting numbers. The results of urine analysis confirmed the different levels of hydration and both specific gravity and color of the urine showed a strong correlation. The results of acoustic analysis indicated jitter values above the reference in the dehydration both before and after reading, higher average jitter value before reading in the state of dehydration, also increasing fundamental frequency. There were no significant changes in measures of shimmer and harmonic noise. 11 The perceptual assessment of voice quality showed a improvement after reading during the state of hydration. Vocal changes observed in the different states of systemic hydration confirmed that hydration is beneficial to the voice.

Context. Simulation of nature is something that is used to immerse the player into the world of games. By adding details in the world such as birds circling in the sky or small fishes swimming in a flock, developers can improve the gaming experience for the user. More precise simulations are something that should be aspired for. This thesis will explore the boid flocking algorithm and evaluate what settings users perceive as realistic behavior for simulating schools of fish. Objectives. This thesis proposes that there should be a set of variables that reflect a more realistic behavior and through gathering data from volunteers and mapping their answers, conclude if that statement is true. Methods. A boid simulation will be run in a number of different scenarios, each differing in variables that are vCohesion, vSeparationand vAmount that make changes to the overall behavior. This behavior is then recorded and compared next to each other in a perceptual experiment with the objective of finding out the preferred settings interms of realism. Results. The experiment showed that the preferred value of vSeperation was around 50 to 60 world units. The value of vCohesion and vAmount was random to what was perceived, so their impact on realism was not significant enough. Conclusions. After running the experiment it was apparent that there was a preferred value on some of the variables that were examined. The larger impact on realism was in the distance each boid wanted to keep from its neighbor, the vision range of each boid defined what was considered a neighborhood. The range on this variable was not of much importance and did not impact what the user perceived as realistic.

Although familiarity with a talker or accent is known to facilitate perception, it is not clear what underlies this phenomenon. Previous research has focused primarily on whether listeners can learn to associate novel phonetic characteristics with low-level units such as features or phonemes. However, this neglects the potential role of phonetic information at many other levels of representation. To address this shortcoming, this thesis investigated perceptual learning of systematic phonetic detail relating to higher levels of linguistic structure, including prosodic, grammatical and morphological contexts. Furthermore, in contrast to many previous studies, this research used relatively natural stimuli and tasks, thus maximising its relevance to perceptual learning in ordinary listening situations. This research shows that listeners can update their phonetic representations in response to incoming information and its relation to linguistic-structural context. In addition, certain patterns of systematic phonetic detail were more learnable than others. These findings are used to inform an account of how new information is integrated with prior experience in speech processing, within a framework that emphasises the importance of phonetic detail at multiple levels of representation.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Schoolreadiness is an important prerequisite for scholastic learning and progress. This forms the underlying basis for this study. The child who is not ready for school and learning, may eventually experience learning difficulties. It is alarming that so many children have developed learning problems in, for instance, reading, spelling or mathematics, because they were not ready for school. The need for support for these children should be seen as the primary objective of this study. A great number of these difficulties might be related to their not being schoolready, and could probably be reduced or avoided by timeous intervention. The aim of this study was to determine any perceptual-motor problems that grade one pupils still experienced after having completed the compulsory prescribed schoolreadiness programme. Another objective was to determine guidelines for a learning readiness programme which would remedy any of the identified perceptual-motor problems which might still exist. The study commenced with a survey of the literature on schoolreadiness. It was decided to do an empirical study where 75 grade one pupils were sUbjected to the Aptitude Test for School Beginners (ASB) to identify any possible factors which would indicate non-schoolreadiness. The results indicated that a large group of pupils still have problems with spatial orientation, gestalt and co-ordination after the initial TED schoolreadiness programme. In the light of the mentioned perceptual-motor problems, some guidelines were designed to be used in a programme to stimulate the child to become more schoolready...

Sociolinguists have discussed problematic language ideologies, such as Standard Language Ideology (Lippi-Green 1997) extensively and social perceptions of Standard English in the U.S and U.K are well documented. However, most work in this area has focused on perceptions of dialects within national contexts. This study makes a novel contribution to the study of language attitudes, investigating perceptions of British regional dialects within the U.S. A survey was created to gauge perceptions of five British regional dialects (Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, London). 49 survey participants listened to audio clips of British regional dialect speakers and then completed a mapping activity, answered perception questions, and ranked each speaker on specific qualities. Results showed that speaker region had a significant effect on perception of almost all variables at a statistically significant rate, despite unfamiliarity with all but the London dialect. Results suggest that although participants are largely unfamiliar with varieties of English in England outside of London, they assessed them by recruiting pre-existing stereotypes about vernacular dialects.

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