Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-78).

Laparoscopic surgery or minimally invasive surgery has great advantages compared with the conventional open surgery, such as reduced pain, shorter recovery time and lower infection rate. It has become a standard clinical procedure for cholecystectomy, appendectomy and splenectomy. The state-of-the-art laparoscopic technologies suffer from several significant limitations, one of which is the tradeoff of the limited instantaneous field of view (FOV) for high spatial resolution versus the wide FOV for situational awareness but with diminished spatial resolution. Standard laparoscopes lack the ability to acquire both wide-angle and high-resolution images simultaneously through a single scope. During the surgery, a trained assistant is required to manipulate the laparoscope. The practice of frequently maneuvering the laparoscope by a trained assistant can lead to poor or awkward ergonomic scenarios. This type of ergonomic conflicts imposes inherent challenges to laparoscopic procedures, and it is further aggravated with the introduction of single port access (SPA) techniques to laparoscopic surgery. SPA uses one combined surgical port for all instruments instead of using multiple ports in the abdominal wall. The grouping of ports raises a number of challenges, including the tunnel vision due to the in-line arrangement of instruments, poor triangulation of instruments, and the instrument collision due to the close proximity to other surgical devices. A multi-resolution foveated laparoscope (MRFL) was proposed to address those limitations of the current laparoscopic surgery. The MRFL is able to simultaneously capture a wide-angle view for situational awareness and a high-resolution zoomed-in view for fine details. The high-resolution view can be scanned and registered anywhere within the wide-angle view, enabled by a 2D optical scanning mechanism. In addition, the high-resolution probe has optical zoom and autofocus capabilities, so that the field coverage can be dynamically varied while keep the same focus distance as the wide-angle probe. Moreover, the MRFL has a large working distance compared with the standard laparoscopes, the wide-angle probe has more than 8x field coverage than a standard laparoscope. On the other hand, the high-resolution probe has 3x spatial resolution than a standard one. These versatile capabilities are anticipated to have significant impacts on the diagnostic, clinical and technical aspects of minimally invasive surgery. In this dissertation, the development of the multi-resolution foveated laparoscope was discussed in detail. Starting from the refinement of the 1st order specifications, system configurations, and initial prototype demonstration, a customized dual-view MRFL system with fixed optical magnifications was developed and demonstrated. After the in-vivo test of the first generation prototype of the MRFL, further improvement was made on the high-resolution probe by adding an optical zoom and auto-focusing capability. The optical design, implementation and experimental validation of the MRFL prototypes were presented and discussed in detail.

Virtual reality has been a popular training tool for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in recent years. Although virtual reality was proven to be a promising tool for individuals with ASD by many previous studies, effects of virtual reality properties on user experience is still an unexplored area. More comparison studies and reliable data are needed to identify the benefits of different VR methods and properties, and leverage the future VR systems. In this dissertation, we explored effects of virtual reality properties on user experience of high functioning individuals with ASD with four different serious game experiments. The first experiment consisted of a virtual reality serious game system for vocational training of individuals with ASD. Although this experiment was focused on the effectiveness of virtual reality training on vocational skills of individuals with ASD and was not comparative; during the user study with 9 neurotypical and 9 high functioning ASD individuals, several observations regarding the effects of virtual reality properties on user experience have been performed. The next three experiments investigated the following: effects of instruction methods on user performance with virtual reality warehouse serious game, effects of visual fidelity and view zoom on user performance with a virtual reality investigation serious game, and effects of environmental clutter and motion on user performance with a virtual reality searching serious game. These three experiments were evaluated with user studies of 15 neurotypical and 15 high functioning ASD individuals. Our motivation was to provide positive contribution to the design and development of future virtual reality serious games targeting individuals with ASD so that more benefits could be gained from these applications. Results of the virtual reality for vocational rehabilitation experiment indicated that virtual reality provided effective training especially for the money management, cleaning and social skills of high functioning individuals with ASD. The distracters in the form of background motion and audio did not affect the performance of the participants significantly. Based on the results of the instruction methods experiment, using animated instructions and avoiding verbal instructions in virtual environments was recommended for an audience of high functioning individuals with ASD. The visual fidelity and view zoom experiment’s results indicated that using low visual fidelity and normal view zoom are better design principles for training applications targeting high functioning individuals with ASD. The results of the experiment on clutter and motion in virtual worksp aces suggested that using no clutter and no motion in training applications targeting high functioning individuals with ASD would provide better user experience. Several other design guidelines based on data analysis and observation were shared in the study, with the aim of leveraging future virtual reality serious games targeting high functioning individuals with ASD.

Photographic fisheye lenses with fixed focal length for cameras with different sensor formats have been well developed for decades. However, photographic fisheye lenses with variable focal length are rare on the market due in part to the greater design difficulty. This paper presents a large aperture zoom fisheye lens for DSLR cameras that produces both circular and diagonal fisheye imaging for 35-mm sensors and diagonal fisheye imaging for APS-C sensors. The history and optical characteristics of fisheye lenses are briefly reviewed. Then, a 9.2- to 16.1-mm F/2.8 to F/3.5 zoom fisheye lens design is presented, including the design approach and aberration control. Image quality and tolerance performance analysis for this lens are also presented. (C) 2017 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

The purpose of the study is to investigate college and university students' experience of theusability of Zoom as support for distance education based on usability goals from theory byPreece, Roger and Sharp (2016). To investigate students' experience of the usefulness ofZoom for distance education, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten studentsfrom different universities and colleges with different educations. The results of theinterviews showed that students' experience of usability at Zoom was good and providedgood support for distance learning based on Preece, Roger and Sharp usability goals (2016).

Disertační práce se zabývá lokalizací zdrojů zvuku a akustickým zoomem. Hlavním cílem této práce je navrhnout systém s akustickým zoomem, který přiblíží zvuk jednoho mluvčího mezi skupinou mluvčích, a to i když mluví současně. Tento systém je kompatibilní s technikou prostorového zvuku. Hlavní přínosy disertační práce jsou následující: 1. Návrh metody pro odhad více směrů přicházejícího zvuku. 2. Návrh metody pro akustické zoomování pomocí DirAC. 3. Návrh kombinovaného systému pomocí předchozích kroků, který může být použit v telekonferencích.

This document describes implementation of photo slideshow editor. This editor can be used to create dynamic sequences from taken photos. Image taken by camera is projected onto three-dimensional sphere and drawn to screen. Then it is posible to rotate and zoom camera over image. Visual output of this editor makes moving over image more real. If panoramic image is used, user is able to free look around. This document describes method which can translate two-dimensional coordinates to three-dimensional space. Shows how to use transformations for moving camera and methods to implement camera zoom. Contains description of user interface and also mentions extensions that were implemented in editor.

Ein Kernbereich der Informationsvisualisierung ist die effiziente, gleichzeitige Darstellung von Fokus und Kontext. Hierfür wurden verschiedenste Methoden in der Literatur vorgestellt, wenige auch in Nutzertests analysiert. Eine viel versprechende Methode ist die Einbindung der dritten räumlichen Dimension wie sie die perspective wall (Mackinlay et al. 1991) verwendet. Diese wird hier genutzt, um tabellarische Darstellungen zu optimieren. Die Vorteile des semantic zooming für tabellarische Darstellungen wurden bereits von (Reiterer et al. 2005) gezeigt. Hier werden beide Ansätze kombiniert, mit zusätzlich Such- und Filtermöglichkeiten versehen und in einem Nutzertest evaluiert.

The coronavirus was classified as a pandemic at the beginning of the year 2020. As the virus spread across the globe, businesses and their employees had to act quickly. Businesses were preparing to conduct their meetings virtually via digital tools and their employees started to work from home and had to quickly adapt to the new normality as well. The purpose of this thesis is to delve into employees' experiences of shifting from physical to virtual meetings. The empirical material is based on six semi-structured interviews that later were transcribed and analyzed using discursive psychology (DP) as a second method. To examine the participants' relation between language and identity the theoretical framework of the thesis drawn from the approach of Stuart Hall’s cultural studies, Erving Goffman's dramaturgical theory and the sociological perspective, and Joanne Franklin's theory about self and self-identity in the modern age. The results showed that it has been difficult to maintain a professional and private role while working from home. While it has generally been easy to adapt to new technologies, some people faced challenges with the transition and usage of new technologies, especially older generations. The study also demonstrated that digital meetings can be effective, but successful creative meetings are difficult to implement digitally. There are also no guidelines on how and when to use all the different tools and functions during a digital meeting, however, when participating in a digital meeting there are social norms to relate to.

Abstrakt Hur påverkas inlärningen av en tvingad implementering av digital utbildning? Studien handlar om att undersöka hur förutsättningar påverkas för att uppnå hög kvalitet i undervisningen av en tvingad implementation av digital undervisning ur studenternas och lärarnas synvinkel. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka situationen vid en tvingad implementering på Malmö universitet. Med hjälp av intervju som metod ska vi ta reda på hur en sådan situation upplevs genom att sammanställa lärare och studenters åsikter. Intervjuerna har tagit fram att kontakten mellan lärare och studenterna är en viktig del i undervisningen som kan påverkas på olika sätt. Bland annat kan detta leda till att motivationen och engagemanget försämras. Examinerande moment och mycket stress i arbetet leder till att man inte hinner anpassa undervisningen till det digitala, vilket kan leda till att studenter inte förstår. Detta betyder dock inte att det inte går att ha en digital undervisning på Malmö Universitet utan bara att man behöver tid för att förbereda och anpassa utbildningen till de system och plattformar som finns. Nyckelord: Zoom, Canvas, digital undervisning / AbstractHow is learning affected by a forced implementation of digital education? This study is about examining how the conditions for achieving high quality in teaching are affected by a forced implementation of digital teaching, from the perspective of students and teachers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the situation of a forced implementation at Malmö University. By using interviews as a method, we will find out how such a situation is experienced by compiling teachers and students opinions.The interviewers have stated that the contact between the teacher and the students is an important part of teaching that can be affected in different ways. Among other things, this can lead to a decrease in motivation and commitment. Examinations and a lot of stress in the daily work can lead to not having the time to adapt the normal teaching to the digital, which can lead to students not understanding.This does not mean that it is not possible to have a digital education at Malmö University, but only that you need time to prepare and adapt the education to the systems and platforms that exist. Keywords: Zoom, Canvas, digital teaching