Tese de mestrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2005

This exegesis explores the notions of production process paradigm shift through the analysis of digital technologies and their effect on the production of 'CruelUnusual'. Chapter one of this exegesis has introduced the research question with appropriate methodologies to explore the rhizomic possibilities of the use of new digital technology (DV, WWW & DVD) through the design of new structures and frameworks for audio-visual production. Chapter two will outline the traditional production process from the first steps of the pre-production phase, through to the shooting and editing of the film, to its final delivery on the screen. Chapter three will outline various new technologies to be explored and evaluated to assess their benefits to filmmakers in the creation of new production process paradigms. Chapter four of this exegesis presents an evaluation of the Rhizomic Production Process as a viable alternative to the traditional linear produc-tion process. The research data created during the production of the creative project is offered to sup-port arguments presented regarding the benefits of the Rhizomic Production Process. Chapter five will discuss the conclusions and implications discovered during the evalua-tion of the Rhizomic Production Process through the production of the creative project and suggest further possible directions.

<p>Communication tools such as text-based instant messaging, voice and video relay services, real-time video chat and mobile SMS and MMS have successfully been used among Deaf people.&nbsp / Several years of field research with a local Deaf community revealed that disadvantaged South African Deaf people preferred to communicate with both Deaf and hearing peers in South African&nbsp / Sign Language as opposed to text. Synchronous video chat and video relay services provided such opportunities. Both types of services are commonly available in developed regions, but not in&nbsp / developing countries like South Africa. This thesis reports on a workaround approach to design and develop an asynchronous video communication tool that adapted synchronous video codecs&nbsp / to store-and-forward video delivery. This novel asynchronous video tool provided high quality South African Sign Language video chat at the expense of some additional latency. Synchronous video&nbsp / codec adaptation consisted of comparing codecs, and choosing one to optimise in order to minimise latency and preserve video quality. Traditional quality of service metrics only addressed real-time video quality and related services. There was no such standard for asynchronous video communication. Therefore, we also enhanced traditional objective video quality&nbsp / metrics with subjective assessment metrics conducted with the local Deaf community.&nbsp / </p>

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Social (public speaking) anxiety disorder is the most prevalent of all anxiety disorders, and it often impairs social and occupational functioning. Intervention studies indicate that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an efficacious treatment for social anxiety. However, access to therapists skilled in CBT for social anxiety is often difficult. In order to respond to the problem of access, the use of videoconferencing for mental health care has developed. No published study has investigated the efficacy of CBT for social anxiety when provided via videoconferencing. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine the efficacy of CBT for social anxiety when provided via videoconferencing. A single-case replication design was employed that included a baseline period of 3 weeks, followed by 12 weeks of . treatment, 1-week post-intervention period, and 3-month follow-up. Five participants completed treatment. It was hypothesized that participants would reduce their social anxiety symptoms (i.e., decrease anxiety during speech task, increase duration of speech task, and decrease public speaking anxiety) assessed on standardized measures of social anxiety. Exploratory analyses of changes in self-monitored social anxiety, negative cognitions (public self-consciousness, fear of negative evaluation, internal attributions), working alliance, client satisfaction with treatment, and client comfort with videoconferencing were also performed. Analyses included visual and statistical significance, as well as clinical significance (i.e., endstate functioning, social phobia diagnostic status). The results indicated that two of three hypotheses were supported (i.e., anxiety during speech task reduced and duration of speech task increased over time). At 3-month follow-up, treatment gains were maintained or improved further; 3 participants no longer met the DSM-IV-TR criteria for social anxiety disorder, and 4 participants met criteria for moderate or high level of endstate functioning (i.e., clinical significance). Exploratory analyses revealed that self-monitored social anxiety decreased for 3 of 5 participants, and that a decrease in negative cognitions was associated with a decrease in social anxiety. Working alliance ratings remained high throughout treatment. Satisfaction with videoconferencing decreased over treatment for the participant who did not improve. Generally, comfort with videoconferencing increased over time. The results offer preliminary support for further research about the efficacy of the intervention.

Investigating the Neural Correlates of Crossmodal Facilitation as a Result of Attentional Cueing: An Event-Related fMRI Study. Degree of Masters of Science, 2008 Zainab Fatima Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto ABSTRACT Attentional cueing modulated neural processes differently depending on input modality. I used event-related fMRI to investigate how auditory and visual cues affected reaction times to auditory and visual targets. Behavioural results showed that responses were faster when: cues appeared first compared to targets and cues were auditory versus visual. The first result was supported by an increase in BOLD percent signal change in sensory cortices upon cue but not target presentation. Task-related activation patterns showed that the auditory cue activated auditory and visual cortices while the visual cue activated the visual cortices and the fronto-polar cortex. Next, I computed brain-behaviour correlations for both cue types which revealed that the auditory cue recruited medial visual areas and a fronto-parietal attentional network to mediate behaviour while the visual cue engaged a posterior network composed of lateral visual areas and subcortical structures. The results suggest that crossmodal facilitation occurs via independent neural pathways depending on cue modality.

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