Virtual Reality is one of the next big things in gaming, more and more games delivering an immersive VR-experience are popping up. Words such as immersion and presence has quickly become buzzwords that’s often used to describe a VR-game or experience. This interactive simulation of reality is literally turning people’s heads. The crowd pleaser, the ability to look around in 360-degrees, is however casting a shadow on the aural aspect. This study focused on this problem in relation to audio narrative. We examined which differences we could identify between a purely diegetic audio narrative and one utilizing a mix between diegetic and non-diegetic sound. How to grab the player’s attention and guide them to places in order for them to progress in the story. By spatializing audio using HRTF, we tested this dilemma through a game comparison with the help of soundscapes by R. Murray Schafer and auditory hierarchy by David Sonnenschein, as well as inspiration from Actor Network Theory. In our game comparison we found that while the synthesized sound, non-diegetic, ensured that the sound grabs the player’s attention, the risk of breaking the player’s immersion also increases.

This thesis aims to test if there is a connection between modern day fully automatic rifles rate of fire, used loop length in implementation and experienced realism in a first-person shooter game in first-person, fired by the players own character. With a background consisting of papers, books and lectures/conferences given by experienced people and other experts in the game industry regarding first person shooter games, a listening test was conducted and carried out on a computer using headphones with both trained and untrained subjects since players can be both. A simple firing-range was constructed in Unreal Engine 4 (Epic Games, 2017) where the subjects could switch between two weapons with different rates of fire and three versions of each with different loop lengths, 4, 8 and 16. The sounds were divided into layers, e.g. body, mechanical and bottom, played back using looping as implementation. The subjects were also asked to rate the sounds regarding gameplay and preference to see if the results would differ between the three categories. The results showed a tendency to choose the longer loop for all categories, but only four comparisons gave a significant result when doing t-tests.

O crescente interesse pela aprendizagem do português na modalidade brasileira (PB) tem levado muitas instituições nacionais a pesquisarem os diferentes modos de aquisição do português como língua materna e suas possíveis influências na aprendizagem de português como língua estrangeira, além de buscarem metodologias de ensino e prepararem profissionais, tornando-os capacitados para o ensino de Português a Falantes de Outras Línguas (PFOL). A experiência com alunos estrangeiros leva-nos a um constante questionamento a respeito do como fazer e quais as maiores dificuldades que o PB oferece a quem se interessa em aprendê-lo. Os sons do português na modalidade brasileira, particularmente os nasais, oclusivos, fricativos e laterais foram abordados neste trabalho, no qual se procurou realizar um estudo comparativo entre a ocorrência ou não destes nas línguas maternas dos informantes, a saber, espanhol falado nas Américas e inglês estadunidense e quais os possíveis obstáculos enfrentados por alunos dessas nacionalidades ao produzirem os sons do PB. Por meio da gravação de quatro informantes, denominados aqui sujeitos-aprendizes, analisamos quais sons oferecem dificuldades de produção e procuramos identificar em quais situações elas ocorrem. A metodologia escolhida foi a da gravação da leitura dos quatro informantes que, num primeiro momento, leram uma lista contendo 43 palavras e, numa segunda etapa de coleta de dados, leram um pequeno texto. As conclusões a que chegamos com a análise dos resultados obtidos levam-nos a ratificar a relevância da formação dos profissionais que atuam ou pretendem atuar no ensino de português para estrangeiros, além da necessidade premente de manuais didáticos que contemplem não somente as questões gramaticais e culturais da língua, mas também as questões fonéticofonológicas que caracterizam o PB. / The increasing interest on learning Brazilian Portuguese(BP) has moved many universities and other national institutions towards researches on different manners of Portuguese acquisition as first language (L1) and some possible influences on acquisition of Portuguese as a second language (L2), as well as a search for teaching strategies and for preparing teachers, making them capable to teach Portuguese as a Foreign Language. The experience with foreign students leads us to a frequent questioning about how to do (how to teach) and what may be the main difficulties offered by BP to those who want to learn it. The sounds of BP, particularly the nasals, fricatives, oclusives and liquids were studied, trying to do a comparative study between the occurence or not of them in the four subjects first language, i.e, Spanish spoken in America and English spoken in the United States and what could be predicted as obstacles to be faced by students who have these languages as their L1 when they produce the sounds of BP. We recorded 4 subjects, identified in this work as subject-learners and analyzed which are the sounds that may be difficult to produce, trying to identify in what situation they occur. As methodology, we chose to record the four subject-learners readings who, in a first moment, read a list of 43 words and, at a second phase of the data collection, read a short text. The conclusions we came up with when analyzing the data confirmed the relevancy of teachers well prepared to teach Portuguese as a foreign language, as well as teaching books that comprise not only grammar and cultural aspects of the BP but also phonetic-phonological aspects pertaining to BP.

Nas últimas décadas uma considerável parcela das pesquisas nas áreas de Física e Matemática tem sido dedicada ao estudo de fenômenos não lineares. Uma possível explicação para isso foi o rápido desenvolvimento de sistemas computacionais, tanto em nível de hardware quanta em nível de software, algoritmos e técnicas de programação que propiciaram ao homem maiores facilidades no tratamento de sistemas não lineares, o que levou a um maior grau de entendimento de sua complexidade. Geralmente, aos sistemas não lineares esta associada uma geometria irregular, onde comum o aparecimento de regimes caóticos, com um conjunto atrator de órbitas cuja dimensão não é um inteiro positivo, mas sim um número real positivo. Por esta razão, tais atratores, são denominados estranhos e ditos possuírem uma geometria fractal. É possível, através de métodos cuidadosamente desenvolvidos, estimar-se as dimensões associadas à dinâmica de séries temporais. Uma das séries de maior dificuldade de análise através do computador, e de particular interesse na medicina, são as séries de sons pulmonares humanos. Desde quando o estetoscópio foi inventado até os dias de hoje não há uma ferramenta plenamente confiável para a análise destas séries. Recentemente, temos trabalhado com estas séries e verificamos que há uma geometria fractal. Esta tese propõe a utilização da análise não-linear para identificação de padrões sonoros. Além da geometria fractal, a análise por wavelets tem sido utilizada no estudo de sinais complexos, sobretudo naqueles que apresentam estruturas fractais. O conjunto de filtros construído através da translação, expansão ou compressão de uma função wavelet mãe tem uma estrutura auto-similar, mostrando-se particularmente apropriado para a verificação da auto similaridade dos sons. A técnica da estimativa dos expoentes de Lyapunov dependente do tempo, a qual e desenvolvida na tese, tem se mostrado bastante adequada para identificação de padrões sonoros de origem pulmonar. / It has been observed that in the last decades, considerable amount of the research in the areas of Physics and Mathematics have been dedicated to the study of nonlinear phenomena. A possible explanation for this fact is the fast development of computational systems occurring in the level of the hardware as in computer languages, algorithms and programming techniques. These developments propitiated to the researchers a broader contact with nonlinear systems, which led to a better understanding of their complexity. In general, for nonlinear systems an irregular geometry is associated, where the appearance of chaotic regimes has an associated attractor set of orbits whose dimension is not a positive integer number, but a real one. Such attractors are called strange and said to possess fractal geometry. It is possible, through carefully developed methods, to estimate the dimension associated to the dynamics of time series. One of the series with high difficulty to be analyzed through a computer and of particular interest in medicine, is the time series generated out of human pulmonary sounds. Since the creation of the stethoscope, there is not yet a fully trustworthy tool for the lung sound analysis. Recently, we have studied these series and verified that they have a fractal geometry nature. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate non-linear analysis as a tool for pattern recognition in lung sounds. In addition to fractal geometry, the wavelet analysis has been used in the study of complex signs, in particular for those presenting a fractal structure. The set of filters constructed through the translation, expansion or compression of a function wavelet mother has an auto-similar structure, being particularly useful for the verification of self similarity of pulmonary sounds. The largest time dependent Lyapunov exponent estimation technique that has been proposed in this thesis has shown a high degree of confidence for the identification of lung sound patterns.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:40:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 marcio lima.pdf: 3776647 bytes, checksum: 29d244ef09a5bb6c2780d15f87f3cea4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-24 / The present work argues about the perceptions used about the soundscapes and how musical composite experience can use new creative possibilities with this element that we have in our days. For this research, it was used, as study camp, the round of de Sambodromo of Manaus which is localized in the urban perimeter of this city. This happened with the general objective in investigate the soundscapes of our studied ambient and it uses in compositional experiences. We developed the specific objectives investigating the systems of sounds that compose the soundscapes, doing an attempt hearing crossing the diversificated sounds realizing composite sound experiences. It was captures a lot of systems of sounds in this place, like words. sounds of cars, e singing of frogs and birds that can be used as musical material. It was made rearing of this sounds and their variations, doing compositions with acoustics and electroacoustic sources with the intent of showing the very kind of ambient with the more meanings as possible. With this we porpoise some ideas that can help in the study of musical compositions using the soundscapes as a creative element. / O presente trabalho discute as percepções lançadas sobre as paisagens sonoras e de como a experiência compositivo musical pode ter novas possibilidades de criação ao se utilizar desse elemento presente em nosso dia a dia. Para esta pesquisa, foi utilizado, como campo de estudo, o entorno do Sambódromo de Manaus que está localizado dentro do perímetro urbano desta cidade. Isso se deu com o objetivo geral de investigar as paisagens sonoras de nosso ambiente de estudo e seu uso em experiências composicionais. Desenvolvemos os objetivos específicos, investigando as redes de sons que compõe as paisagens sonoras, realizando uma escuta atenta e associando-as de forma a desenvolver experiências composicionais com os sons deste ambiente. Para isso captamos os mais diversos tipos redes sonoras ali presentes, tais como falas, sons de carros, coaxar de sapos e cantos de pássaros de forma que pudessem servir como material musical. Foram realizadas escutas destes sons e de suas variações realizando composições por meios acústicos e eletroacústicos, de forma a se considerar e caracterizar os ambientes através de diversas maneiras. Com isso apresentamos ideias que possam contribuir para o estudo de composições musicais tendo as paisagens sonoras como elemento de criação.

Submitted by isabela.moljf@hotmail.com (isabela.moljf@hotmail.com) on 2017-06-29T12:18:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 brunaribeiroduque.pdf: 1742764 bytes, checksum: f627a5ce49adc9ffbc23310a410912ca (MD5) / Rejected by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br), reason: Favor conferir o nome desta membro da banca no Lattes. Penso que deveria ser Sant' Anna, Aline Cristina on 2017-08-07T21:51:42Z (GMT) / Submitted by isabela.moljf@hotmail.com (isabela.moljf@hotmail.com) on 2017-08-08T12:13:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 brunaribeiroduque.pdf: 1742764 bytes, checksum: f627a5ce49adc9ffbc23310a410912ca (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-08-08T18:02:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 brunaribeiroduque.pdf: 1742764 bytes, checksum: f627a5ce49adc9ffbc23310a410912ca (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-08T18:02:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 brunaribeiroduque.pdf: 1742764 bytes, checksum: f627a5ce49adc9ffbc23310a410912ca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-24 / Assobios são emitidos por golfinhos para a comunicação entre indivíduos da mesma espécie, transmitindo informações que possibilitam a identificação individual e a coordenação do grupo. Devido a este fato, os assobios apresentam características que os diferenciam de maneira espécie-específica. Um crescente número de estudos têm utilizado este tipo de vocalização para a identificação de espécies, mas poucos no contexto de associações interespecíficas. Portanto, informações acerca da relação entre estas associações e as propriedades dos assobios representam um importante aspecto a ser compreendido. Nestas circunstâncias, o objetivo deste trabalho foi classificar e caracterizar os assobios emitidos pelas espécies Globicephala melas (baleia-piloto-de-peitoral-longa) e Tursiops truncatus (golfinho-nariz-de-garrafa) registradas durante uma interação na região da plataforma continental e talude sul brasileiro, Oceano Atlântico Sul. Os dados acústicos foram coletados oportunisticamente em maio de 2014 por dois hidrofones de uma matriz de arrasto Auset® (resposta de frequência: 1,592 a 48 kHz) rebocada pela popa do navio R/V Atlântico Sul e acoplada a um gravador digital Fostex FR-2 LE (amostragem de 48 kHz/24 bits). Um total de 418 assobios foram analisados, dos quais 117 foram classificados visualmente como G. melas e 301 como T. truncatus. A análise discriminante multivariada mostrou uma taxa de classificação correta de 97,99%. Os assobios de contorno constante foram comumente mais produzidos pela espécie G. melas (N = 50; 46,73%), enquanto para T. truncatus a categoria múltiplo ocorreu em maior frequência (N = 131; 46,13%). O golfinho-nariz-de-garrafa produziu sinais com médias de frequência maiores do que a baleia-piloto-de-peitoral-longa, em contrapartida esta espécie apresentou coeficiente de variação com valores mais altos para a maioria das variáveis. Os assobios de G. melas variaram de 1,64 a 13,93 kHz, enquanto os assobios de T. truncatus alcançaram frequências entre 5,03 e 23,91 kHz. As duas espécies emitiram assobios com média de duração próxima e com número de pontos de inflexão acima de um. Foram encontradas diferenças nos parâmetros acústicos dos assobios em relação a estudos com outras populações das duas espécies. As diferenças interespecíficas podem estar relacionadas à sobreposição de habitat e às características corporais de G. melas e T. truncatus, ao passo que as variações intraespecíficas podem ser ocasionadas devido à gama de contextos populacionais e ecológicos aos quais as populações estão submetidas. / Dolphins emit whistles for communication among individuals of the same species, transmitting information that enables individual identification and group cohesion. Due to this fact, whistles show characteristics that differentiate them in a species-specific way. An increasing number of studies have used this type of vocalization to identify species, but few of them were carried out in interspecific association contexts. Thus, information about the relationship between these associations and whistles properties represent an important aspect to be understood. In these circumstances, the aim of this work was to classify and characterize the whistles emitted by Globicephala melas (long-finned pilot whale) and Tursiops truncatus (bottlenose dolphin) recorded during an interaction in the Brazilian south continental shelf and slope, South Atlantic Ocean. The acoustic data were opportunistically collected in May 2014 using two hydrophones of an Auset® array (response frequency: 1,592 to 48 kHz) towed through the stern of the R/V Atlântico Sul and coupled to a Fostex FR-2 LE digital recorder (sampling of 48 kHz/24 bits). A total of 418 whistles were analyzed, 117 of which were visually classified as emitted by G. melas and 301 by T. truncatus. The multivariate discriminant analysis showed a correct classification rate of 97.99%. Constant whistles were more commonly produced by G. melas (N = 50, 46.73%), while for T. truncatus the multiple category occurred more frequently (N = 131, 46.13%). The bottlenose dolphin produced whistles with higher mean frequencies than the long-finned pilot whale, in contrast, this species showed a coefficient of variation with higher values for most variables. G. melas whistles varied from 1.64 to 13.93 kHz, while T. truncatus whistles ranged between 5.03 and 23.91 kHz. Both species emitted whistles with near mean duration and number of inflection points above one. Differences were found in whistles acoustic parameters in relation to studies with other populations. We hypothesize that interspecific differences may be related to habitat overlapping and body characteristics of G. melas and T. truncatus, whereas intraspecific variations can be caused due to the range of population and ecological contexts to which the populations are submitted.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T13:57:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Adriana_Muino_Garcia.pdf: 622784 bytes, checksum: d172556f6382623c1c270d2969f20698 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-12-18 / Wheezing patterns during childhood have important prognostic implications. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of wheezing patterns in a sub-sample of the 1993 Pelotas, Brazil, birth cohort, interviewed at birth , 6 and 12 month, 4 and 10-12 years of age. The wheezing patterns studied were: transient, persistent, late onset and recurrent. The total of the sub-sample was 897 children (20% systematic sample from the original cohort) with the prevalence and 95% confidence interval of wheezing patterns as follows: transient 44.7% (40.7-47.2); persistent 6.4% (4.8-8.0); late onset 3.3% (2.2-4.5); recurrent 4.1% (2.8-5.4). The independent variables associated with the wheezing patterns were: a) transient wheeze: low family income, shorter duration of breast-feeding, respiratory infections (6 and/or 12 months) and family history of asthma; b) persistent: male sex, asthma during pregnancy, respiratory infections in infancy and family history of asthma (4 and 10-12 years; c) late onset: family history of asthma (10-12 years old), medical diagnoses of rhinitis (10-12 years old) and as protective factors respiratory infections in infancy and a medical diagnosis of eczema (at adolescence); d) recurrent: smoking during pregnancy and having no asthma in the family. Identifying wheezing patterns and associated factors allow us to adopt preventive measures and to avoid lung function deterioration in adult life. / Os padrões de sibilância respiratória têm importantes implicações prognósticas. O objetivo deste estudo foi estudar estes padrões em uma sub-amostra da coorte de 1993 de Pelotas, Brasil, com vários acompanhamentos (nascimento, 6 e 12 meses, 4 e 10-12 anos de idade). Os padrões estudados foram: transitório, persistente, de início tardio e recorrente. A sub-amostra totalizou 897 crianças (sub-amostra sistemática de 20% da coorte original) com prevalências e IC 95% de: padrão transitório 44,7% (40,7-47,2); persistente 6,4% (4,8-8,0); início tardio 3,3% (2,2-4,5); recorrente 4,1% (2,8-5,4). As variáveis independentes associadas a estes padrões foram: a) para sibilância transitória: baixa renda, menor duração da amamentação, infecções respiratórias (6 e/ou 12 meses) e asma na família (quatro anos); b) para persistente: sexo masculino, asma na gravidez, infecções respiratórias na infância e histórico familiar de asma; c) de início tardio: histórico de asma, diagnóstico médico de rinite (10-12 anos) e diagnóstico médico de eczema (10-12 anos) e como fator protetor infecções respiratórias na infância; d) para recorrente: fumo na gestação e ausência de asma na família (quatro anos). A identificação destes padrões e de seus fatores associados permite a adoção de condutas terapêuticas para impedir déficit de função pulmonar posteriormente.

Un des enjeux actuels de la synthèse sonore est le contrôle perceptif (i.e. à partir d’évocations) des processus de synthèse. En effet, les modèles de synthèse sonore dépendent généralement d’un grand nombre de paramètres de bas niveau dont la manipulation nécessite une expertise des processus génératifs. Disposer de contrôles perceptifs sur un synthétiseur offre cependant beaucoup d’avantages en permettant de générer les sons à partir d’une description du ressenti et en offrant à des utilisateurs non-experts la possibilité de créer et de contrôler des sons intuitivement. Un tel contrôle n’est pas immédiat et se base sur des hypothèses fortes liées à notre perception, notamment la présence de morphologies acoustiques, dénommées ``invariants'', responsables de l’identification d’un évènement sonore.Cette thèse aborde cette problématique en se focalisant sur les invariants liés à l’action responsable de la génération des sons. Elle s’articule suivant deux parties. La première a pour but d’identifier des invariants responsables de la reconnaissance de certaines interactions continues : le frottement, le grattement et le roulement. Le but est de mettre en œuvre un modèle de synthèse temps-réel contrôlable intuitivement et permettant d’effectuer des transitions perceptives continues entre ces différents types d’interactions (e.g. transformer progressivement un son de frottement en un son de roulement). Ce modèle s'inscrira dans le cadre du paradigme ``action-objet'' qui stipule que chaque son résulte d’une action (e.g. gratter) sur un objet (e.g. une plaque en bois). Ce paradigme s’adapte naturellement à une approche de la synthèse par modèle source-filtre, où l’information sur l’objet est contenue dans le ``filtre'', et l’information sur l’action dans la ``source''. Pour ce faire, diverses approches sont abordées : études de modèles physiques, approches phénoménologiques et tests perceptifs sur des sons enregistrés et synthétisés.La seconde partie de la thèse concerne le concept de ``métaphores sonores'' en élargissant la notion d’objet à des textures sonores variées. La question posée est la suivante : étant donnée une texture sonore quelconque, est-il possible de modifier ses propriétés intrinsèques pour qu’elle évoque une interaction particulière comme un frottement ou un roulement par exemple ? Pour créer ces métaphores, un processus de synthèse croisée est utilisé dans lequel la partie ``source'' est basée sur les morphologies sonores des actions précédemment identifiées et la partie ``filtre'' restitue les propriétés de la texture. L’ensemble de ces travaux ainsi que le paradigme choisi offre dès lors de nouvelles perspectives pour la constitution d’un véritable langage des sons. / Perceptual control (i.e. from evocations) of sound synthesis processes is a current challenge. Indeed, sound synthesis models generally involve a lot of low-level control parameters, whose manipulation requires a certain expertise with respect to the sound generation process. Thus, intuitive control of sound generation is interesting for users, and especially non-experts, because they can create and control sounds from evocations. Such a control is not immediate and is based on strong assumptions linked to our perception, and especially the existence of acoustic morphologies, so-called ``invariants'', responsible for the recognition of specific sound events.This thesis tackles the problem by focusing on invariants linked to specific sound generating actions. If follows two main parts. The first is to identify invariants responsible for the recognition of three categories of continuous interactions: rubbing, scratching and rolling. The aim is to develop a real-time sound synthesizer with intuitive controls that enables users to morph continuously between the different interactions (e.g. progressively transform a rubbing sound into a rolling one). The synthesis model will be developed in the framework of the ``action-object'' paradigm which states that sounds can be described as the result of an action (e.g. scratching) on an object (e.g. a wood plate). This paradigm naturally fits the well-known source-filter approach for sound synthesis, where the perceptually relevant information linked to the object is described in the ``filter'' part, and the action-related information is described in the ``source'' part. To derive our generic synthesis model, several approaches are treated: physical models, phenomenological approaches and listening tests with recorded and synthesized sounds.The second part of the thesis deals with the concept of ``sonic metaphors'' by expanding the object notion to various sound textures. The question raised is the following: given any sound texture, is it possible to modify its intrinsic properties such that it evokes a particular interaction, like rolling or rubbing for instance? To create these sonic metaphors, a cross-synthesis process is used where the ``source'' part is based on the sound morphologies linked to the actions previously identified, and the ``filter'' part renders the sound texture properties. This work, together with the chosen paradigm offers new perspectives to build a sound language.

This thesis presents novel techniques for the reduction of audio recordings and signal processing techniques as part of cough recognition. Evidence collected shows the reduction technique to be effective and the recognition techniques to give consistent performance across different patients. Cough is one of the commonest symptoms reported by patients to GPs. Despite this, it remains a significantly unmet medical need. At present, there exists no practical and validated technique for assessing the efficacy of therapies to treat cough on a large enough scale. Research that is presently undertaken requires fitting a patient with a recording system which will record their coughing and all other sound for a predefined period, usually 24 hours or less. This audio is then counted manually by trained cough counters to produce counts for each record which can be used as data for cough studies. Research in this field is relatively new, but a number of attempts have been made to automate this process. None so far have shown sufficient reliability or precision to be of sufficient use. The aim of this research is to analyse from the ground up signal processing techniques which can aid cough research. Specifically, the research will look into data minimisation techniques to improve the efficiency of manual counting techniques and recognition algorithmsThe research has produced a published record reduction system which can reduce 24 hour cough records down to around 10% of their original size without compromising the statistics of subsequent manual counts. Additionally, a review of signal processing techniques for cough recognition has produced a robust event detection technique and measurement techniques which have shown remarkable consistency between patients and conditions. Throughout the research a clear understanding of the limitations and possible solutions are pursued and reported on to aid further progress on what is a young and developing research field.

Literacy is a fundamental to all areas of learning. Early reading experiences prior to elementary school and kindergarten years are critical factors for later reading success. This study evaluated the effect Direct Instruction® reading procedures vs. Scholastic Early Childhood Program® reading procedures on the production of letter names, letter sounds, CV and CVC blends by preschool-aged students in a Head Start program. Results showed the intervention group improved in all areas, while the control group improved only in letter naming and letter sounds. This study discusses reading as a behavioral cusp as well as limitations, and recommendations for future research.