Inspired by the baroque prose of Melissa Pritchard, The Animalcules of Adam: & Other Small Tales is a genre-bending short story collection that incorporates elements of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and translation. Spanning in subject and setting, from the primitive bear rituals of Finland to the coroner’s inquests of 19th century England, the purpose of this thesis project is to develop a uniquely immersive voice, while ostensibly investigating the origins of curious inventions, including the microscope, the kaleidoscope, and the first English dictionary. This collection borrows from, and deliberately manipulates, the texts of important historical figures, such as Walt Whitman, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and Robert Cawdrey, in an effort to make a home in the voice of another. It is a playful and linguistically sensitive study of the nature of invention; a meta-fictional commentary on the anxiety (and ecstasy) of influence; and above all else, a celebration of the written word. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014.. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-06-06T12:06:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Clayton Mendonça Feliciano.pdf: 2611426 bytes, checksum: a439000bde04e6b90b53d641f6aba297 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-06T12:06:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Clayton Mendonça Feliciano.pdf: 2611426 bytes, checksum: a439000bde04e6b90b53d641f6aba297 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-21 / Virtual reality (VR) and the forms of interactions with this environment have evolved and advanced a great deal in recent decades. Parallel to the advance of the creation and modeling of three-dimensional (3D) environments, new possibilities arise. Assuming that the virtual environment allows creating scenarios with details and architectural richness, the proposal of this work is focused on the development of a 3D environment and its application in the Web environment, having as object of study the Square Sé, Sao Paulo City. Bibliographical surveys were made to aggregate historical and cultural knowledge, as well as visits in locus for creation of the photographic collection and three-dimensional virtual development. The elaboration of the virtual scenario was made using Sketchup and Unity3D modeling software. Within what was proposed, both the modeling part and the integration part of the Web environment were successful / A realidade virtual (RV) e as formas de interações com este ambiente evoluíram e avançaram muito nas últimas décadas. Paralelamente ao avanço da criação e modelagem de ambientes tridimensionais (3D), novas possibilidades surgem. Partindo do princípio que o ambiente virtual permite (re)criar cenários com detalhes e riquezas arquitetônicas, a proposta deste trabalho está voltada ao desenvolvimento de ambiente 3D e sua aplicação no ambiente Web, tendo como objeto de estudo a Praça da Sé, ponto turístico da cidade de São Paulo. Levantamentos bibliográficos foram feitos para agregar conhecimento histórico e cultural, visitas in locus para criação do acervo fotográfico e desenvolvimento virtual tridimensional. A elaboração do cenário virtual foi feita por meio de softwares de modelagem Sketchup e Unity3D. Dentro do que foi proposto obteve-se sucesso tanto na parte de modelagem quanto na parte de integração ao ambiente Web

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-12-04T11:46:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Felipe Antunes de Oliveira Rodrigues.pdf: 2502573 bytes, checksum: b9be7ad020151fc8cbad343711414219 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-04T11:46:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Felipe Antunes de Oliveira Rodrigues.pdf: 2502573 bytes, checksum: b9be7ad020151fc8cbad343711414219 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This dissertation has the objective of analyzing the experience of immersive audio in digital games, as perceived by the player as a listener and agent in the soundscape of virtual reality. The first chapter seeks to briefly examine and define the concepts of immersion and presence, in order to allow a deeper study of immersive audio to be possible. It also presents considerations about the coupling devices through which immersion in digital games is possible, in particular headphones, so common in the gamer routine. The second chapter is dedicated to the analysis of sound elements found in the virtual reality of digital games through the crossing of concepts and theories by authors such as Schafer, Meneguette, Huiberts, Droumeva among others. By doing so it seeks a comprehensive understanding of what can typically be heard in this medium in order to stimulate the immersive experience. The chapter also deals with problems and solutions that might interfere in the immersion in positive or negative ways, in order to clarify the relevance of the minutiae with respect to immersive audio. The third chapter approaches the subject from another angle, seeking an understanding of how the immersive experience of audio em digital games presents itself to the player. Next, analysis of of the game can hear the soundscape in the game are made. At the end of the chapter the concepts are reviewed, aiming to presenting an understanding of how the player is given the immersive experience of audio in digital games. The fourth and last chapter consists of a case study, in order to demonstrate, in a practical way, the immersive experience of audio studied so far / Esta dissertação tem como objetivo a análise da experiência do áudio imersivo em jogos digitais, como percebida pelo jogador enquanto ouvinte e agente na paisagem sonora da realidade virtual. O primeiro capítulo busca examinar e definir brevemente os conceitos de imersão e presença, de forma a permitir que um estudo mais aprofundado sobre o áudio imersivo seja possível. Também apresenta considerações sobre aparatos de acoplamento através dos quais a imersão em jogos digitais é possível, em particular os fones de ouvido, tão comuns na rotina gamer. O segundo capítulo é dedicado a análise dos elementos sonoros encontrados na realidade virtual dos jogos digitais através do cruzamento de conceitos de teorias de autores como Schafer, Meneguette, Huiberts, Droumeva entre outros. Busca-se assim um entendimento abrangente daquilo que tipicamente pode ser ouvido nessa mídia de forma a estimular a experiência imersiva. O capítulo também trata de problemas e soluções que possam interferir na imersão de forma positiva ou negativa, de forma a clarificar a relevância das minúcias no que diz respeito ao áudio imersivo. O terceiro capítulo aborda o assunto de outro ângulo, buscando um entendimento das formas como o áudio é apresentado ao jogador através de convenções e escolhas de design. Em seguida são feitas análises das diferentes formas como o jogador pode ouvir a paisagem sonora do jogo. Ao fim do capítulo são revisados os conceitos estudados, visando apresentar um entendimento de como se dá para o jogador a experiência imersiva do áudio em jogos digitais. O quarto e último capítulo consiste em um estudo de caso, com a finalidade de demonstrar, de forma prática, a experiência imersiva do áudio, estudada até então

xiii, 80 p. : ill. (some col.) / The design of successful assistive technologies requires careful personalization for individual users, as well as rapid, low cost cycles for product development and testing. My research brings two modern software engineering models to meet these challenges: Personal and Contextual Requirements Engineering (PC-RE) and Agile Software Development. We adapt these models to the assistive mobile navigation domain for the blind. This dissertation demonstrates that a Virtual Environment testing can significantly reduce testing time, yield meaningful testing results by fully controlling environmental variables, alleviate logistical and safety problems, and serve as an ideal platform for deep personalization. We developed a narrative NAvigation Virtual Environment (NAVE) and compared blind subjects' performance and behavior in wayfinding tasks with tactile maps under field testing versus testing in NAVE. Our experiments showed positive results to support our hypothesis that virtual environments can be useful in replacing field testing for personalized assistive technologies in agile development. / Committee in charge: Stephen Fickas， Chairperson； Art Farley， Member； Michal Young， Member； Amy Lobben， Outside Member

One of the most fundamental components of our daily lives is social interaction, ranging from simple activities, such as purchasing a donut in a bakery on the way to work, to complex ones, such as instructing a remote colleague how to repair a broken automobile. While we interact with others, various challenges may arise, such as miscommunication or physical interference. In a bakery, a clerk may misunderstand the donut at which a customer was pointing due to the uncertainty of their finger direction. In a repair task, a technician may remove the wrong bolt and accidentally hit another user while replacing broken parts due to unclear instructions and lack of attention while communicating with a remote advisor. This dissertation explores techniques for supporting multi-user 3D interaction in augmented reality in a way that addresses these challenges. Augmented Reality (AR) refers to interactively overlaying geometrically registered virtual media on the real world. In particular, we address how an AR system can use overlaid graphics to assist users in referencing local objects accurately and remote objects efficiently, and prevent co-located users from physically interfering with each other. My thesis is that our techniques can provide more accurate referencing for co-located and efficient referencing for remote users and lessen interference among users. First, we present and evaluate an AR referencing technique for shared environments that is designed to improve the accuracy with which one user (the indicator) can point out a real physical object to another user (the recipient). Our technique is intended for use in otherwise unmodeled environments in which objects in the environment, and the hand of the indicator, are interactively observed by a depth camera, and both users wear tracked see-through displays. This technique allows the indicator to bring a copy of a portion of the physical environment closer and indicate a selection in the copy. At the same time, the recipient gets to see the indicator's live interaction represented virtually in another copy that is brought closer to the recipient, and is also shown the mapping between their copy and the actual portion of the physical environment. A formal user study confirms that our technique performs significantly more accurately than comparison techniques in situations in which the participating users have sufficiently different views of the scene. Second, we extend the idea of using a copy (virtual replica) of physical object to help a remote expert assist a local user in performing a task in the local user's environment. We develop an approach that uses Virtual Reality (VR) or AR for the remote expert, and AR for the local user. It allows the expert to create and manipulate virtual replicas of physical objects in the local environment to refer to parts of those physical objects and to indicate actions on them. The expert demonstrates actions in 3D by manipulating virtual replicas, supported by constraints and annotations. We performed a user study of a 6DOF alignment task, a key operation in many physical task domains. We compared our approach with another 3D approach that also uses virtual replicas, in which the remote expert identifies corresponding pairs of points to align on a pair of objects, and a 2D approach in which the expert uses a 2D tablet-based drawing system similar to sketching systems developed for prior work by others on remote assistance. The study shows the 3D demonstration approach to be faster than the others. Third, we present an interference avoidance technique (Redirected Motion) intended to lessen the chance of physical interference among users with tracked hand-held displays, while minimizing their awareness that the technique is being applied. This interaction technique warps virtual space by shifting the virtual location of a user's hand-held display. We conducted a formal user study to evaluate Redirected Motion against other approaches that either modify what a user sees or hears, or restrict the interaction capabilities users have. Our study was performed using a game we developed, in which two players moved their hand-held displays rapidly in the space around a shared gameboard. Our analysis showed that Redirected Motion effectively and imperceptibly kept players further apart physically than the other techniques. These interaction techniques were implemented using an extensible programming framework we developed for supporting a broad range of multi-user immersive AR applications. This framework, Goblin XNA, integrates a 3D scene graph with support for 6DOF tracking, rigid body physics simulation, networking, shaders, particle systems, and 2D user interface primitives. In summary, we showed that our referencing approaches can enhance multi-user AR by improving accuracy for co-located users and increasing efficiency for remote users. In addition, we demonstrated that our interference-avoidance approach can lessen the chance of unwanted physical interference between co-located users, without their being aware of its use.

A geração de ambientes virtuais de áreas urbanas ou cenas naturais coloca um grande número de problemas no âmbito da Computação Gráfica, dado que a quantidade de informação necessária para a criação de modelos realistas é dependente da dimensão e complexidade da área a modelar. A construção de um grande número de modelos de objetos naturais de forma detalhada é extremamente trabalhosa. Enquanto os modelos de estruturas artificiais, tais como máquinas ou edifícios podem ser obtidos a partir de fontes CAD, o mesmo não ocorre as plantas e outros fenômenos naturais. Embora muitos ambientes virtuais sejam criados por modelagem manual e individual de cada um dos seus componentes, os processos automáticos e semi-automáticos de reconstrução de ambientes naturais 3D provaram que podem ser muito mais eficientes, reduzindo a duração, o custo e a alocação de recursos humanos. A integração entre diferentes tecnologias e ferramentas que possibilitem a identificação de elementos em um cenário agrícola, modelagem de objetos 3D e a posterior apresentação e utilização do ambiente virtual em um sistema do tipo CAVE não é uma tarefa trivial. Dessa forma, o objetivo desta pesquisa é desenvolver uma metodologia de montagem automática de ambientes virtuais agrícolas baseada na extração de objetos de cenas naturais reais a partir de imagens de vídeo para utilização no sistema de multiprojeção imersivo do Laboratório Multiusuário de Visualização 3D Imersiva de São Carlos (LMVI). A partir de um modelo de dados 3D projetado em um sistema que oferece um alto grau de imersão e interação como o LMVI, pode-se fazer comparações com outros modelos de dados ou com o mesmo modelo em épocas diferentes. Através da comparação entre modelos é possível identificar alterações que ocorreram no ambiente ao longo do tempo (tanto naturais como causadas pelo homem) auxiliando na tomada de decisão em processos agrícolas. / The generation of virtual environments for urban or natural scenes poses a number of problems within the Computer Graphics, since the amount of information needed to create realistic models is dependent on the size and complexity of the area to be modeled.The construction of a large number of natural object models in detail is extremely laborious. While the models of artificial structures, such as machines or buildings can be obtained from CAD sources, the same is not true plants and other natural phenomena. Although many virtual environments are created by individual and manual modeling of each of their components, the processes of automatic and semi-automatic 3D reconstruction of natural environments have proved to be much more efficient, reducing duration, cost and allocation of human resources.The integration between different technologies and tools that enable the identication of elements in an agricultural setting, modeling of 3D objects and the subsequent presentation and use of virtual environment in a CAVE-like system is not a trivial task. Thus, the objective of this research is to develop a methodology for automatic mounting of agricultural virtual environments based on the extraction of objects of natural scenes from real video images for use in the immersive multiprojection system of the Multiuser Laboratory of 3D Immersive Visualization of Sao Carlos (MLIV). From a 3d data model projected in a system that offers a high degree of immersion and interaction as MLIV, one can make comparisons with other data models or with the same model at different periods. Through the comparison between models is possible to identify changes that occurred in the environment over time (both natural and manmade) assisting the decision making in agricultural processes.

Submitted by Geyciane Santos (geyciane_thamires@hotmail.com) on 2015-06-22T15:49:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Leonardo do Nascimeto dos Santos.pdf: 4442389 bytes, checksum: 20064b0286755911c1b8a8a522de9068 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-06-24T20:17:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Leonardo do Nascimeto dos Santos.pdf: 4442389 bytes, checksum: 20064b0286755911c1b8a8a522de9068 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-06-24T20:31:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Leonardo do Nascimeto dos Santos.pdf: 4442389 bytes, checksum: 20064b0286755911c1b8a8a522de9068 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-24T20:31:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Leonardo do Nascimeto dos Santos.pdf: 4442389 bytes, checksum: 20064b0286755911c1b8a8a522de9068 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-22 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Suframa - Superintendência da Zona Franca de Manaus / Over the past decade, the Web has become a major platform for interaction among its users. These users have demanded more flexibility from their the tools, in a way that these tools could support interaction according to needs. This gap is even deeper in virtual environments supporting activities in complex domains like Education. These software tools should be driven by the evolving nature of people and should reflect evolution on their needs. Thus, the main objective of this work is to design a conceptual model for web-based human-to-computer-to-human-interactive virtual environments, so that these environments are flexible for creation and runtime modifiable. In search for dealing with this problem, we have investigated an innovative proposal for devising of virtual environments, called MOrFEu. In this work, we present an extension of this conceptual model able to describe in detail each component of a virtual environment. As proof of concept, we have modeled typical virtual environments and, because of their peculiar characteristics, some of them were chosen to become prototype implementations. The selected environments were evaluated with respect to their flexibility, including their ability for runtime modification through direct changes in their descriptions, giving evidence that the proposed model contributes to development and adaptation of virtual environments, which meet the interaction demands of their users, were significantly increased. / Nos últimos dez anos, a Web tem se transformado numa grande plataforma de interação entre seus usuários. Esses usuários têm demandado cada vez mais flexibilidade das ferramentas que eles utilizam, tal que elas permitam que a interação aconteça de acordo com suas necessidades. Essa lacuna é ainda mais acentuada em ambientes virtuais de suporte a atividades de domínios complexos, como o da Educação. Esses ambientes devem ser condicionados pela natureza evolutiva das pessoas e devem refletir a evolução de suas necessidades. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é conceber um modelo conceitual para ambientes virtuais web de interação humano-computador-humano, de forma que os ambientes construídos a partir desse modelo sejam flexíveis em sua criação e modificáveis em tempo de execução. Na busca por tratar esse problema, tem-se investigado uma proposta inovadora para concepção de ambientes virtuais com ênfase na cooperação chamada MOrFEu. Neste trabalho, apresenta-se uma extensão desse modelo conceitual com a capacidade de descrever detalhadamente cada um dos componentes de um ambiente virtual. Como prova de conceito, foram modelados diversos ambientes virtuais característicos e, por suas características peculiares, alguns deles foram escolhidos para serem analisados através da implementação de protótipos. Os ambientes selecionados foram avaliados com respeito à sua flexibilidade, inclusive mostrando a possibilidade de alterações em tempo de execução através de alterações em suas descrições, evidenciando assim que o modelo proposto contribui para que a construção e adaptação de ambientes virtuais, que atendam às demandas de interação de seus usuários, sejam ampliadas de forma significativa.

Orientador: Carlos Antonio Caramori / Resumo: A utilização de Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem (AVA) no processo de ensino aprendizagem está em grande expansão. Este estudo, descritivo observacional, transversal foi realizado para conhecer a aceitação e o uso dos AVAs por alunos e professores do curso técnico em enfermagem do Centro Paula Souza (CPS). Foi baseado na Teoria Unificada de Aceitação e Uso da Tecnologia (UTAUT), que reúne as oito principais teorias anteriores sobre aceitação e uso da tecnologia. A coleta de dados foi feita por aplicação de questionário online (web-survey), com 167 alunos e 83 professores das 58 escolas técnicas estaduais do CPS no Estado de São Paulo que oferecem o curso técnico em enfermagem. A análise dos dados foi realizada através de cálculos de medidas, resumos numéricos e categóricos, em função do caráter descritivo dos mesmos. A população estudada acredita de que o uso do AVA poderá auxilia-la a melhorar o desempenho no trabalho/escola (expectativa de desempenho), sendo mais expressiva entre os professores em relação aos alunos; ambos acreditam na infraestrutura oferecida pelo CPS (condições facilitadoras), mais significantemente entre os professores homens. Acreditar e empregar confiança na tecnologia pode ser fator fundamental para aceitação e uso da mesma, sendo que a garantia de infraestrutura adequada, que ofereça o respaldo no desempenho das atividades, é fator crucial para continuidade do uso. No CPS, professores e alunos acreditam ter um grau de facilidade em usar o sistema b... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The use of Virtual Learning Environments (AVA) in the teaching and learning process is in great expansion. This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted to know the acceptance and use of Virtual Learning Environments made to know the acceptance and the use by students and teachers of the nursing technical course of the "Centro Paula Souza". We use as theoretical contribution the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, which brings together the eight main theories about acceptance and use of technology. Data collection was done through a websurvey with 167 students and 83 teachers from the 58 state technical schools of the "Centro Paula Souza", in the state of São Paulo - Brazil, of the nursing technicians training course. Data analysis was carried out through calculations of measurements, numerical and categorical summaries, due to their descriptive character. The study population believes that the use of the Virtual Learning Environment can help it to improve performance in the work/school (expectation of performance), being more expressive among the teachers in relation to the students; both believe in the infrastructure offered by the “C.P.S.” (facilitating conditions), more significantly among male teachers. Believing and trusting in technology can be a key factor for the acceptance and use of technology, and ensuring adequate infrastructure, which provides support in the performance of activities, is a crucial factor for continued use. In "Centro Paul... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Dans les jeux multijoueurs, où plusieurs joueurs participent à une même partie et communiquent entre eux à travers un réseau, les joueurs peuvent avoir des visions différentes du jeu en raison des délais de communication. Ceci engendre des incohérences encore plus importantes sur les réseaux mobiles tels que les réseaux 3G où les délais de communication peuvent atteindre plusieurs secondes. Des algorithmes doivent donc être mis en place pour maintenir la cohérence entre les joueurs. Ces algorithmes sont assez complexes et difficiles à programmer et mettre au point. Le but de cette thèse est de proposer une architecture logicielle qui découple la conception du jeu, de ses besoins de communication en proposant une infrastructure de communication qui pourra être interchangeable en fonction des technologies ; cette infrastructure prend la forme originale d'un composant de synchronisation. Ainsi, les conséquences des propriétés physiques du transport des informations pourront être plus ou moins masquées en intégrant dans cette infrastructure les algorithmes adéquats. / Multiplayer games users' have increased since the widespread use of the internet. Withthe arrival of rich portable devices and faster cellular wireless networks, multiplayer games on mobile phones and PDAs are becoming a reality. For multiplayer games to be playable, they should be highly interactive, fair and should have a consistent state for all the players. Because of the high wireless network latency and jitters, the issue of providing interactive games with consistent state across the network is non-trivial. In this thesis, we propose different approaches for achieving consistency in mobile multiplayer games in the face of high latency and large and variable jitters. Although absolute consistency is impossible to achieve because information takes time to travel from one place to another, we exploit the fact that strong consistency is not always required in the virtual world and can be relaxed in many cases. Our proposed approach uses the underlying network latency and the position of different objects in the virtual world to decide when to relax consistency and when to apply strong consistency mechanisms. We evaluate our approach by implementing these algorithms in J2ME based games played on mobile phones. The algorithms for consistency mechanism are very complex and are often intermixed with the game core logic's code, which makes it hard to program a game and to change its code in the future. We propose to separate the consistency mechanisms from the game logic and put them in a distributed component responsible for both consistency maintenance and communication over the network. We call this reusable component a Synchronization Medium.

This thesis explores the utility of interest management in peer-to-peer environments. Specifically, it proposes: a model for formulaic specification of interest criteria that is implementation neutral in terms of underlying interest operators (the functions that determine the satisfaction of interest); and, an interest management propagation model that ensures the specifications (termed formula interest expressions) are only sent to those DVE components that are likely to be able to satisfy the interest criteria. This selective propagation model uses a distributed index of supported interest operators to determine candidate remote filterers. Remote filtering ensures that a state change message is only sent if it meets the interest criteria previously expressed by the intended recipient. The selective remote filtering model requires no central infrastructure and is entirely supported by peer DVE components, which may join and leave the DVE dynamically. The performance of the proposed propagation model, in terms of the number of logical messages required, is compared to the only existing propagation model where interest expressions are simply sent to all participating DVE components. Analysis reveals that for stable long-lived DVEs the proposed model can significantly messaging overhead and thereby increase the potential scale-up of the DVE. The viability of the proposed model is examined by means of proof-of-concept system, which exercises the specification and propagation models over a range of values for key variables. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)