Diss. Stockholm : Karol. inst.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Yucel Altunbasak; Committee Member: Brani Vidakovic; Committee Member: Ghassan AlRegib; Committee Member: James Hamblen; Committee Member: Russ Mersereau. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

All athletes dream of competing to their full potential. Experimenters have shown that mental preparation can enhance performance. Self-efficacy and self-confidence have also been shown to have a direct relationship with performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of team highlight videotapes as mental preparation tools designed to enhance feelings of self-efficacy and sport-confidence, which in turn might lead to enhanced performance. Three-minute video montages of successful shot-making were set to music, with key words (words chosen to encourage or to emphasize a good shot) added throughout. Forty-seven competitive female tennis players were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The highlight videotape group was shown the team highlight videotape, while the control group was shown a neutral videotape. All participants completed Vealey's (1986) State Sport-Confidence Inventory (SSCI) and the Tennis Self-Efficacy Scale for Doubles (TSESD), watched their assigned videotape and then retook the SSCI and TSESD. Participants then completed a set of open-ended questions about the procedure. / The data was analyzed with a Group (2) x Level of skill (4) repeated measures design. The analysis of variance of the TSESD and SSCI scores did not reveal any significant differences between the scores of the treatment and control groups. But comments to the open-ended questions seemed to reveal increased feelings of sport confidence, motivation and arousal associated with the videotapes, suggesting that the team highlight videotapes may have potential as mental preparation tools. Additional research is warranted to further explore the potential uses of this new mental preparation tool.

Body and Power in Motion This dissertation is concerned with body and politics, or, more specifi cally body, power and governance. The central question is how specifi c individuals and bodies are constituted in the teaching of Physical Education (PE) in school. Inspired by Foucault’s work and the research fi eld that emanates from the concept of governmentality, one of the ambitions is to develop a method that facilitates the study of power and governance processes in teachers’ and students’ interactive actions and dealings. With the aid of this approach, 15 video-recorded physical education lessons in 5 Swedish nine-year compulsory schools are analysed in order to demonstrate how governance processes are included in the work and activities in terms of how the processes of governance–self-governance are staged, and the direction this takes. In using the term direction I am here referring to the content the governance is aiming towards, where the question of which subjects and bodies are constituted is of substantial interest. This means that the study not only focuses on what is done, but also on the way in which it is done, i.e. it analyses both process and content. The results show that physical exertion and the desire for physical work is a thread that runs though the analysed material. It is mainly scientifi c knowledge about the body that is referred to in actual teaching practice. This is displayed through the use of a scientifi cally inspired language when talking about the body, where effects on muscles and degrees of oxygen intake are considered in connection with the physical activities. In connection with physical exertion, pupils are encouraged to do their best, try the activities on offer, cooperate with others and face challenges. In line with the governmentality perspective’s problematisation of the process governance–self-governance, the study highlights a governance mentality that is not characterised by coercion, but is rather directed towards different components of willingness where the students are expected to be participatory, take responsibility and govern their own actions in the direction of that which is most desirable and reasonable. The willingness component appears as the actual hub of character-building, were the students ought to be physically active, should want to do their best, be willing to try, should want to show solidarity and should want to defeat the others. The process of governance–self-governance is staged as different ways of appealing to one’s willingness in the activities studied. Specifi c governance techniques are used to support and promote self-governance work, i.e. different forms of encouragement strengthen the correct action, emphasising physical exertion as pleasurable and focuses on the fact that we are all involved in a common project. In the dissertation it is shown how the body is included in a socio-political context. Through the body the individual is turned into a participant of physical projects concerned with becoming a certain kind of social citizen. The body thus symbolises the complex encounter between the individual and society. In this way the study demonstrates and highlights tendencies that are evident in modern society. It is thus a narrative that indicates how we all become part of a discourse system.

The human hand is an essential part of human body, capable of making complex and expressive motions. Its complicated structure makes it a formidable challenge for animators to animate hand motions. Most computer graphics research on hand motion has focused on preshaping, preshaping and gestures with application to areas of human computer interaction and sign language. There are also a number of educational applications such as typing, playing of musical instruments etc. From a computer graphics standpoint, these applications are difficult in animation of hand. This thesis aims to animate 3D hand preshaping activity for a chosen virtual 3D object in real-time. Researches on human hand kinematics, structure and geometric stability analysis on preshaping are the main motivation for the algorithms developed in this thesis for animating 3D preshaping. The algorithm that we developed is made of two main parts. The first part is related with the precision type preshaping requiring the finger-tips positioning for a given object such as the cube, cylinder or sphere. First part is completed by procedural approach which is based on kinematics to generate the motion of the hand for the given virtual object at the determined finger-tip positions. Second part related with the wrap type preshaping aims to have maximum interaction between hand and object. For this purpose, we have developed the collision detection algorithm to find intersection surfaces between hand and object. Even though developed algorithm based on the kinematics was used for the precision type preshaping application, it can also be used for many other applications requiring hand animation given the positions of finger tips.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2369. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-120).

Thesis (M. Div.)--International School of Theology, 1988. / Abstract. "A ministry tool ..." Includes bibliographical references (leaves [69]-78).

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-110).

Thesis (M.S.)--Kutztown University, 1992. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2722. Typescript. Includes bibliographical reference (leaves 38-39).