Thesis (M.S.)--University of Southern California, 1997. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Southern California, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-68)

Upplevelsen av att det är svårt att prestera efter sin fulla förmåga är vanligt förekommande bland musikstuderande, även för mig. Vanligtvis ligger grunden till det på vilket sätt förberedelsen gått till, stress eller nervositet. Många gånger lär vi oss att råda bot på problemet genom att förändra dessa faktorer.  Med min studie utforskar jag om det är möjligt att skapa ett arbetssätt för att förbättra min spelprestation. Jag skapar en metod som innefattar att göra videoinspelningar kontinuerligt. Det här dokumenteras i loggbok med frågeformulär och videomaterialet granskas efter genomförandet av videoinspelningarna. På så sätt försöker jag synliggöra tankeprocesser och aspekter utifrån prestationsresultat. För att kunna göra detta samt skapa metoden fördjupar jag mig i flera perspektiv på området press, stress, prestation, och om att granska sina egna prestationer.  Resultatet visar på att metoden och arbetssättet kan användas i syfte att förbättra prestation. Själva studien hade jag för få inspelningstillfällen för att kunna uppleva stor prestationsutveckling men metoden visar på att det kan vara möjligt att vid fortsatt övning på moment förbättra spelprestation. Att göra videoinspelnings synliggjorde fler aspekter och tankeprocesser av konstnärlig utveckling som presenteras och diskuteras i diskussionskapitlet. / Experiencing that it’s difficult to perform to your fullest ability is common among music students, also for me. Usually the explanation is how the preparations have been made, stress or nervosity. Many times we learn that the cure to it is to change these elements.  With my bachelor thesis I want to find out if it’s possible to create a method to develop my performance ability. I will create a method that includes doing video recordings continuously. This will be documented in a logbook with a questionnaire and the video material is examined after the video recordings have been carried out. To be able to do this and create the method I become absorbed in various perspectives in the area of pressure, stress, performance and to examine your own performances.  The result shows that the method can be used in purpose to develop performance ability. There were not too many video recordings occasions to experience large development but the method shows that it can be possible with on going practise. To do video recordings showed more aspects and thoughts of my artistic development which are presented in the discussion chapter.

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No / Challenges were encountered when attempting to analyse video based data during a project exploring touch screen computer technology with people living with dementia. In order to inform the analytic process, a scoping review of published evidence was undertaken. Results of the scope illustrated the use of various techniques when analysing visual data, the most common of which was the transcription of video into text and analysed using conversation analysis. Three additional issues emerged in the course of the review. First, there is an absence of detail when describing the ethical implications involved when utilising visual methods in research. Second, limited priority is given to providing a clear rationale for utilising visual methods when audio or field notes may have been a viable alternative. Third, only 40% of reviewed articles clearly stated a chosen methodology. The conclusions of the review illustrate a lack of consistency across studies in the overall reporting of research methods and recommend that authors be explicit in their reporting of methodological issues across the research process. / The PhD is funded by the ESRC as part of the White Rose University Consortium

This thesis looks at hardware algorithms that help reduce dynamic power dissipation in video encoder applications. Computational complexity of motion estimation and the data traffic between external memory and the video processing engine are two main reasons for large power dissipation in video encoders. While motion estimation may consume 50% to 70% of total video encoder power, the power dissipated in external memory such as the DDR SDRAM can be of the order of 40% of the total system power. Reducing power dissipation in video encoders is important in order to improve battery life of mobile devices such as the smart phones and digital camcorders. We propose hardware algorithms which extract only the important features in the video data to reduce the complexity of computations, communications and storage, thereby reducing average power dissipation. We apply this concept to design hardware algorithms for optimizing motion estimation matching complexity, and reference frame storage and access from the external memory. In addition, we also develop techniques to reduce searching complexity of motion estimation. First, we explore a set of adaptive algorithms that reduce average power dissipated due to motion estimation. We propose that by taking into account the macro-block level features in the video data, the average matching complexity of motion estimation in terms of number of computations in real-time hardwired video encoders can be significantly reduced when compared against traditional hardwired implementations, that are designed to handle most demanding data sets. Current macro-block features such as pixel variance and Hadamard transform coefficients are analyzed, and are used to adapt the matching complexity. The macro-block is partitioned based on these features to obtain sub-block sums, which are used for matching operations. Thus, simple macro-blocks, without many features can be matched with much less computations compared to the macro-blocks with complex features, leading to reduction in average power dissipation. Apart from optimizing the matching operation, optimizing the search operation is a powerful way to reduce motion estimation complexity. We propose novel search optimization techniques including (1) a center-biased search order and (2) skipping unlikely search positions, both applied in the context of real time hardware implementation. The proposed search optimization techniques take into account and are compatible with the reference data access pattern from the memory as required by the hardware algorithm. We demonstrate that the matching and searching optimization techniques together achieve nearly 65% reduction in power dissipation due to motion estimation, without any significant degradation in motion estimation quality. A key to low power dissipation in video encoders is minimizing the data traffic between the external memory devices such as DDR SDRAM and the video processor. External memory power can be as high as 50% of the total power budget in a multimedia system. Other than the power dissipation in external memory, the amount of data traffic is an important parameter that has significant impact on the system cost. Large memory traffic necessitates high speed external memories, high speed on-chip interconnect, and more parallel I/Os to increase the memory throughput. This leads to higher system cost. We explore a lossy, scalar quantization based reference frame compression technique that can be used to reduce the amount of reference data traffic from external memory devices significantly. In this scheme, the quantization is adapted based on the pixel range within each block being compressed. We show that the error introduced by the scalar quantization is bounded and can be represented by smaller number of bits compared to the original pixel. The proposed reference frame compression scheme uses this property to minimize the motion compensation related traffic, thereby improving the compression scheme efficiency. The scheme maintains a fixed compression ratio, and the size of the quantization error is also kept constant. This enables easy storage and retrieval of reference data. The impact of using lossy reference on the motion estimation quality is negligible. As a result of reduction in DDR traffic, the DDR power is reduced significantly. The power dissipation due to additional hardware required for reference frame compression is very small compared to the reduction in DDR power. 24% reduction in peak DDR bandwidth and 23% net reduction in average DDR power is achieved. For video sequences with larger motion, the amount of bandwidth reduction is even higher (close to 40%) and reduction in power is close to 30%.

A análise de um perfil pragmático envolve a observação das habilidades comunicativas, sendo que as amostras de linguagem espontânea permitem observar o uso destas habilidades em diferentes contextos. No entanto, o tempo viável de duração da amostra que permite a obtenção deste perfil pragmático não é um consenso. Desta forma, o objetivo principal desse trabalho foi verificar se o levantamento do perfil pragmático com base em um corpus linguístico limitado possibilita uma análise fidedigna em comparação a uma análise realizada com um corpus linguístico extenso em crianças com desenvolvimento típico de linguagem. O objetivo secundário foi descrever o perfil pragmático de 5 crianças com desenvolvimento típico de linguagem na faixa etária de 7 anos e 1 mês a 8 anos e 11 meses. Participaram dessa pesquisa 5 crianças com desenvolvimento típico de linguagem, de ambos os sexos, na faixa etária de 7 anos e 1 mês a 8 anos e 11 meses de idade. Na coleta de dados, foram realizados 150 minutos de gravação com cada indivíduo, em 5 sessões de 30 minutos de interação em situação lúdica com a pesquisadora. Cada gravação foi transcrita e transferida para o protocolo de Habilidades Comunicativas Verbais HCV (LOPES, 2000b) e para o protocolo de análise pragmática proposto pelo Teste de Linguagem Infantil: Nas Áreas de Fonologia, Vocabulário, Fluência e Pragmática ABFW (FERNANDES et al., 2004). Com o intuito de comparar as análises do corpus linguístico limitado e extenso, foi traçado o perfil pragmático da primeira filmagem (30 min.) e, posteriormente, de toda a amostra de cada participante (150 min.). Foi realizada a análise individual interobservador e intraobservador, além da análise estatística do grupo para verificação da fidedignidade e similaridade dos perfis levantados com os dois tipos de corpus linguístico. Como resultados, a análise interobservador apresentou índice de fidedignidade variando entre 86,7% e 100%. Pela análise intraobservador, no protocolo de HCV, o perfil pragmático geral das crianças foi, dentre as HCV, utilizar um maior número de habilidades dialógicas (HD), seguido das habilidades de regulação (HR), sendo que nenhuma das crianças utilizou as habilidades verbais não-interativas (HNI); para o adulto, o perfil foi de utilizar um maior número de HD e HR e também não utilizar HNI. Observou-se, portanto, um perfil pragmático similar de crianças e adultos da amostra analisada. Em relação à análise intraobservador, no Protocolo de Pragmática ABFW, as crianças fizeram uso predominante do meio verbal, utilizando maior número das funções Comentário (C) e Pedido de Informação (PI). Com relação à análise estatística, para ambos os protocolos utilizados, observou-se alta porcentagem em relação às comparações feitas, que apontam semelhanças estatísticas entre a primeira sessão e o total geral das sessões, mostrando que o corpus lingüístico limitado é fidedigno para a maioria das habilidades e funções comunicativas quando comparados a um corpus linguístico extenso na população estudada. / The analysis of a pragmatic profile involves the observation of communicative skills, being that spontaneous language samples allow observing the use of these skills in different contexts. Nevertheless, the feasible duration time of the sample which allows the achievement of this pragmatic profile is not a consensus. Thus, the main goal of this study was to verify whether the survey of the pragmatic profile, based on a limited linguistic corpus, enables a reliable analysis, as compared to one accomplished with a broad linguistic corpus, in children with a typical language development. The secondary aim was to describe the pragmatic profile of 5 children with a typical language development, in the age range 7 yrs and 1 month and 8 yrs and 11 months. Five children with a typical language development, from both genders, in the age range 7 yrs and 1 month and 8 yrs and 11 months, participated in this research. In the data collection, 150-minute recordings, in 5 sessions of 30 minutes, were performed with each subject interacting, in recreational situations, with the researcher. Each recording was transcribed and trasnfered to the Verbal Communicative Skills Protocol VCS (LOPES, 2000b), and to the pragmatic analysis protocol proposed by the Infantile Language Test, in the following areas: Speech Pathology, Vocabulary, Fluency and Pragmatics ABFW (FERNANDES et al., 2004). Aiming at compararing the analyses of limited and broad linguistic corpus, the pragmatic profile of the first shooting (30 min.) was outlined, and posteriorly, the whole sample of each subject (150 min.). The individual inter and intraobserver analysis was carried out, besides the statistical analysis of the group, to verify the reliability and similarity of the profiles surveyed with both types of linguistic corpus. The interobserver analysis presented a reliability index ranging from 86.7% to 100%. Through the intraobserver analysis, on the VCS protocol, the general pragmatic profile of the children was, among the VCS, a larger number of dialogical skills (DS), followed by regulation skills (RS), being that no child used noninteractive verbal skills (NVS); for adults, the profile was a larger number of DS and RS and no use of NVS. Therefore, a similar pragmatic profile for children and adults was observed in the present sample. In relation to the intraobserver analysis, on the Pragmatics Protocol ABFW, the children predominantly used verbal means, utilizing a larger number of Commentary (C) and Information Request (IR) functions. As for the statistical analysis, for both protocols utilized, a high percentage was observed in relation to comparisons made, pointing to statistical similarities between the first session and the total of the sessions, showing that the limited linguistic corpus is reliable for most communicative skills and functions, as compared to a larger linguistic corpus, in the population studied.