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The purpose of this study was to examine the use of audio computer conferences on the process of guiding reflection among student teachers during an eight-week student teaching experience. After specific lessons that took place during the final eight weeks of their student teaching placement, each of the two student teachers conferenced with their university supervisor via the audio computer conferencing tool. The student teacher's comments were digitally recorded and analyzed. The Reflective Framework for Teaching in Physical Education (Tsangaridou & O'Sullivan, 1994) was used to describe the focus of the student teachers reflection. Both student teachers and the university supervisor then completed a follow-up interview with the researcher. Data collected through the follow-up interviews were analyzed using inductive thematic content analysis techniques. Content analysis provided insights into student teachers' and the university supervisor's views regarding the value of audio computer conferences in guiding reflection during an eight-week student teaching experience. / Ph. D.

In this thesis, I first present Fred Dretske's theory of mental represent- ations, which purports to show how a physical thing could have (non-derived) meaning. In order to illustrate the applicability of the theory to an actual physical system, I discuss the theory in relation to two theories of audio localization (i.e., the capacity to locate the source of sounds in one's environment). Having clarified the theory, I examine two charges laid against it. Lynne Rudder Baker charges the theory with circularity. Her charge is refuted by appealing to the concept of a "standby function." Stephen Stich charges the theory with vagueness. His charge is refuted by appealing to a general analysis of functions. I conclude that a careful use and analysis of the previously unanalyzed term "function" makes possible the refutation of these two charges. / Master of Arts

The purpose of this study is to analyze how and what kind of didactic techniques that are used in the audiovisual medium of YouTube. Nine different YouTube videos dealing with historical topics across four different YouTube channels has constituted the material for this study. Furthermore, four different dimensions, cognitive, aesthetic, moral and commercial will be analyzed according to how they interact with one another within the videos. Lastly the mode of presentation employed in the videos will also be analyzed among which there are three, explanatory, observatory, and participatory mode. The method that has been used to accomplish this is qualitative text analysis. As this study is not of a quantitative character a qualitative method is appropriate, and the videos have been analyzed similarly to how one would analyze a text with focus being put on the content and construction of the videos. The result has shown that the use of a narrator, appropriate clothing and scenography, maps, animation, archive footage and other graphical tools are the main didactic techniques employed across the nine videos. Two others, slapstick comedy and suspenseful elements are used with the express purpose of conveying knowledge by only one of the four channels. The cognitive and aesthetic dimensions interact a lot with one another as each channel has a distinct aesthetic and all of them strive to convey knowledge to the viewer which in turn is supported by the aesthetic dimension. The moral dimension is present and often supported by the aesthetic one but compared to the previous two it takes more of a backseat role, appearing most often at the beginning or the end of the videos and is used to send moral messages or evoke feelings in the viewer. Commercial dimensions also play a role in creating the videos as two of the four channels uses explicit sponsorship bits in their videos, often connected to the topic of the video in some way, while the other two promotes their Patreon pages but does not use sponsors. All but one of the channels also have regular YouTube advertisements that play before their videos. Lastly the mode of presentation used is predominantly the explanatory one where a narrating voice is put over the footage on screen. The other two modes, the observatory and participatory modes are not used at all in any of the videos.

With the development of technology over the past decade and the former challenges of virtual environments mitigated, the need for further study of human interaction with these environments has grown apparent. The visual and interaction components for virtual reality applications have been comprehensively studied, but a lack of spatial audio fidelity leaves a need for understanding how well humans can localize aural cues and discern audio-visual disparity in these virtual environments. In order for development of accurate and efficient levels of audio fidelity, a human study was conducted with 18 participants to see how far a bimodal audio and visual cue need to separate for someone to notice. As suspected, having a visual component paired with an auditory one led to biasing toward the visual component. The average participant noticed a disparity when the audio component was 33.7° apart from the visual one, pertaining to the azimuth. There was no significant evidence to suggest that speed or direction of audio component disparity led to better localization performance by participant. Presence and prior experience did not have an effect on localization performance; however, a larger participant base may be needed to draw further conclusions. Increase in localization ability was observed within a few practice rounds for participants. Overall, performance in virtual reality was parallel to augmented reality performance when a visual source biased sound localization, and can this be a both tool and design constraint for virtual environment developers. / Master of Science / Virtual Reality has overcame a large technological gap over the past decade, allowing itself to be a strong tool in many applications from training to entertainment. The need for studying audio fidelity in virtual environments has emerged from a gap of research in the virtual reality domain. Therefore, a human participant study was conducted to see how well they could localize sound in a virtual environment. This involved signaling when they noticed a visual object and a sound split. The average of 72 trials with 18 participants was 33.7° of separation on the horizontal plane. This can be both a tool and a design constraint for virtual reality developers, who can use this visual biasing as a guideline for future applications.

Equalizing is a fundamental processing application in music mastering, where the engineer may adjust the overall frequency balance of the material and make surgical adjustments to narrow regions. There is some previous research made on acclaimed engineers’ usage of equalizers in mastering, however little information is presented on why certain choices are made and how the EQ specifically is incorporated into the workflow. In this qualitative study, six mastering engineers were interviewed to discover the reasoning behind their choices of EQs in music mastering. Also investigated are the opinions and preferences for sonic characteristics of different types of EQs, as well as what important qualities are in EQs for mastering in general. In order to understand some statements made by the mastering engineers regarding the sonic characteristics of analog devices, a literature review in combination with an additional interview with a service technician was made. The literature review aimed to provide some insight on what electronic components and aspects of the general design affects the sonic signature of analog devices the most. The thematic analysis showed that there are some agreement amongst the engineers considering the implementation of EQ with regards to genre and certain tasks. The respondents agreed that tube devices are not to be used for every instance since these are highly coloring devices. Transistor EQs on the other hand are perceived as fairly transparent in comparison, yet still imparting the sonic characteristics of an analog device. For those using a hybrid setup, digital plugins are generally used for surgical application and also, in some cases, for preservation of quality. Although setups may vary between every engineer, this study verifies that the most important factor in the choice of tool is knowing how the devices work.

No / In order to maintain a coherent, unified percept of the external environment, the brain must continuously combine information encoded by our different sensory systems. Contemporary models suggest that multisensory integration produces a weighted average of sensory estimates, where the contribution of each system to the ultimate multisensory percept is governed by the relative reliability of the information it provides (maximum-likelihood estimation). In the present study, we investigate interactions between auditory and visual rate perception, where observers are required to make judgments in one modality while ignoring conflicting rate information presented in the other. We show a gradual transition between partial cue integration and complete cue segregation with increasing inter-modal discrepancy that is inconsistent with mandatory implementation of maximum-likelihood estimation. To explain these findings, we implement a simple Bayesian model of integration that is also able to predict observer performance with novel stimuli. The model assumes that the brain takes into account prior knowledge about the correspondence between auditory and visual rate signals, when determining the degree of integration to implement. This provides a strategy for balancing the benefits accrued by integrating sensory estimates arising from a common source, against the costs of conflating information relating to independent objects or events.

Les tests d'écoute subjectifs permettent d'évaluer la fiabilité de reproduction des systèmes de codage audio (codecs). Le projet présenté ici vise à évaluer la possibilité d'utiliser les réactions physiologiques (activité électrodermale, cardiaque, musculaire et cérébrale) à la place d'une note donnée par l'auditeur, afin de caractériser la performance d'un codec. Ceci permettrait d'avoir une méthode d'évaluation plus proche de la perception réelle de qualité audio du sujet. Des tests d'écoute mettant en oeuvre des dégradations audio bien connues en concours avec la mesure des réactions physiologiques ont été réalisés pour 4 auditeurs. L'analyse des résultats montre que certaines caractéristiques physiologiques permettent d'avoir une information fiable sur la qualité audio perçue, et ce de manière répétable pour près de 70% des signaux audio testés chez un sujet, et près de 60% des séquences audio testées chez tous les sujets. Ceci permet de postuler sur la faisabilité d'une telle méthode d'évaluation subjective des codecs audio.

The study described in this dissertation was conducted during a three week period and encompassed four senior high school English classes. The data derived from the study were elicited from a pre test of knowledge and a pre treatment attitude survey; a post test of knowledge and a post treatment attitude survey and a delayed post test of knowledge. The four groups of students were given the following treatments within the Shakespearean drama unit on Hamlet: (1) Group I - Students in this group were shown four teaching films on Hamlet and read the play aloud in class with students taking parts. (2) Group 2 - Students listened to a taped recording of the play and followed along with their books. (3) Group 3 - Students in this group listened to the taped recording of the play and were shown the four teaching films. (4) Group 4 - Students in this group, which was the control group, read the play aloud in class with students taking parts. The research questions which guided the research and were addressed through the statistical analysis were as follows: (1) What significant knowledge differences, if any, exist between and among the groups receiving the non-print media treatments and that group which did not? (2) Is there a difference in appreciation (attitudes) of Shakespearean drama between the groups which received the non-print media treatments and the group which did not? The statistical analysis of the data revealed that although all groups improved on the knowledge post test, groups 1 and 2 improved the most. Attitude scores also increased for group 1. Interestingly, the difference between pre treatment and post treatment attitude scores for group 2 was negligible, and for groups 3 and 4 decreased. The following conclusions were then drawn from the statistical analysis: (1) The use of non-print media does improve knowledge of and attitude about Shakespearean drama. (2) The use of non-print media should be limited, for example, to either taped recording or film for optimum results.