Questa tesi presenta i risultati teorici, metodologici ed empirici di una ricerca di dottorato incentrata sul tema della percezione del tempo nell’esperienza cinematografica. La prima parte fornisce un’introduzione teorica al tema. Il Capitolo 1 precisa il taglio e l’oggetto della ricerca. Il Capitolo 2 presenta i principali modelli teorici di percezione del tempo. Il Capitolo 3 si concentra sulla percezione del tempo nel contesto cinematografico. La seconda parte comprende gli esperimenti condotti nel corso della ricerca. Il Capitolo 4 illustra il primo esperimento. Attraverso misure comportamentali, questo studio ha indagato gli effetti sulla stima di durata e sulla percezione del passaggio del tempo di due variabili cinematografiche: il tipo di azione rappresentata e lo stile di montaggio. Il Capitolo 5 presenta il secondo esperimento. Tramite un metodo chiamato micro-fenomenologia, questo studio ha esplorato i processi esperienziali che fondano i compiti di stima di durata e percezione del passaggio del tempo. Il Capitolo 6 descrive il terzo esperimento. Attraverso una tecnica di neurostimolazione (tDCS), questo studio ha testato il coinvolgimento di una specifica area cerebrale (Area Supplementare Motoria) negli stessi compiti temporali. La terza parte riassume i risultati della ricerca (Capitolo 7) e discute possibili futuri sviluppi di quest’ultima (Capitolo 8). / This dissertation presents the theoretical, methodological, and empirical results of a doctoral research concerning time perception in the experience of cinema. The first part provides a theoretical introduction to the topic. Chapter 1 carves out the dissertation’s precise angle and object. Chapter 2 presents the main models of subjective time perception. Chapter 3 restricts the scope to time perception in the specific context of cinema. The second part reports about the three experiments conducted during the research. Chapter 4 introduces the first experiment. By using behavioural measures, this study addressed the effects on duration estimation and time passage perception of two cinematographic variables: the type of represented action and the style of editing. Chapter 5 presents the second experiment. By adopting a method called micro-phenomenology, this study explored the processes underlying the performance of the duration estimation and time passage perception tasks. Chapter 6 is devoted to the third experiment. By using a neurostimulation technique (tDCS), this study tested the involvement of a specific brain area (the Supplementary Motor Area) in the same timing tasks. The third part summarizes the essential findings of the research (Chapter 7) and re-opens it to some of its possible future developments (Chapter 8).

I am working with software in academia for more than an decade and I had the "Moment" quite often. Palladio appeared just like an ordinary tool to solve my problem. Then, I changed a single parameter of my simulation---some hours later we hunted for a bug in the depths of Palladio. Based on the open source development model of Palladio and a very elegant structure of the source code, we were able to find the root cause of the problem very fast. To start fixing the problem, we "just" had to know when---in simulation time---a measurement of the SimuLizar simulator is valid. This paper summarizes our technical and philosophical discussions that ware needed to make Palladio deliver correct results and not to get lost in the depths of time and duration.

Mating behaviour of cockroaches is spectacular phenomenon with three different mating patterns traditionally distinguished. The most common and probably ancestral is type A - female climbing. Then it is type B - male climbing and type C - no climbing. Mating type was described in around 30 Blaberidae species. As it is the only cockroach family where all three types are present, it is an interesting model group for studying evolutionary questions. The main goal of the thesis was detail exploration and description of mating sequences in 21 Blaberidae species, 17 of which haven't been examined in this aspect before. An intrageneric diversity in mating patterns (genus Pycnoscelus) was described for the first time. Moreover, in case of P. tenebrigera, it was not possible to assign its mating pattern to any of the three traditional types. Multidimensional statistical analysis and biological interpretation of qualitative behavioural elements revealed two well separated clusters of mating sequensces. Consequently, we propose to distinguish only two types of mating pattern - ancestral type (identical with type A) and derived type. We also discussed the relationship between wing reduction and occurence of derived mating types. Evaluation of quantitative behavioural elements revealed positive correlation between...

In laser wakefield acceleration, an ultra-short high-intensity laser pulse excites a plasma wave, which can sustain accelerating electric fields of several hundred GV/m. This scheme advances a novel concept for compact and less expensive electron accelerators, which can be hosted in a typical university size laboratory. Furthermore, laser wakefield accelerators (LWFA) feature unique electron bunch characteristics, namely micrometer size with duration ranging from several fs to tens of fs. Precise knowledge of the longitudinal profile of such ultra-short electron bunches is essential for the design of future table-top X-ray light-sources and remains a big challenge due to the resolution limit of existing diagnostic techniques. Spectral measurement of broadband coherent and incoherent transition radiation (TR) produced when electron bunches passing through a metal foil is a promising way to analyze longitudinal characteristics of these bunches. Due to the limited reproducibility of the electron source this measurement highly requires single-shot capability. An ultra-broadband spectrometer combines the TR spectrum in UV/NIR (200-1000 nm), NIR (0.9-1.7 µm) and mid-IR (1.6-12 µm). A high spectral sensitivity, dynamic bandwidth and spectral resolution are realized by three optimized dispersion and detection systems integrated into a single-shot spectrometer. A complete characterization and calibration of the spectrometer have been done concerning wavelengths, relative spectral sensitivities, and absolute photometric sensitivities, also taking into account for the light polarization. The TR spectrometer is able to characterize electron bunches with charges as low as 1pC and can resolve time-scales of 0.4 fs. Electron bunches up to 16 fs (rms width) can be reconstructed from their TR spectrum. In the presented work, the self-truncated ionization induced injection (STII) scheme has been explored to study the relevant beam parameters especially its longitudinal bunch profile and the resulting peak current.

Topic of the thesis is the duration of studies at universities in the Czech Republic and the effect of fees for excessive study duration on the duration of studies. It focuses on undergraduate programs at public universities, for which the fees are applicable. Author exploits data from the national student register and data on the amount of fees from most Czech universities to build a regression model. Awareness of students on the fees policy was determined by questionnaire for participants of a widely used admission test (National Comparative Test Scio). It has been found, that at the average, 41% of students extended nominal length of study program before completing it, with highest share observed in humanities. About 10% of students extended the nominal length of study by more than one year. Fees apply to one-fifth of the students, half of them because their unsuccessful studies had been attributed to their actual length of study. The results show that time to degree is only insignificantly related to the potential amount of the fee; only in the case of students of one public university we have found mild relationship and CZK 1,000 fee increase should shorten time to degree by 6 days. Influence on the length of unsuccessful studies is more pronounced and represents 10 to 90 days per CZK 1,000. Low effect...

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Byggnader konstruerade av KL-trä har blivit allt vanligare i Sverige och i resten av världen de senaste 20 åren. Trä är en förnyelsebar resurs och materialet tillåter varierad arkitektur. Eftersom trä är ett hygroskopiskt material finns det risker med att utsätta konstruktionen för nederbörd. Vissa forskare menar att väderskydd under konstruktionstiden är absolut nödvändigt på grund av risk för röta och mögel samt minskad hållfasthet, medan andra avfärdar dessa risker om det byggs medvetet.  I Eurokod 5 används klimatklasser för att ta hänsyn till fuktens påverkan på hållfastheten och styvheten i trämaterialet. Det finns tre klimatklasser, varav två av dem har samma hållfasthetsmodifieringsfaktor för konstruktionsvirke och limträ samt KL-trä. Dimensionering av träkonstruktioner blir därför i viss utsträckning förenklad.  Syftet med detta examensarbete var att visa hur tillverkare, konstruktörer och andra aktörer kan agera för att på ett mer detaljerat sätt dimensionera KL-trä med avseende på hur fukt påverkar dess hållfasthet och styvhet. Målet var att utveckla en beräkningsmodell och undersöka hur dimensionering av KL-trä kan göras på olika sätt samt att analysera de olika tillvägagångssättens för- och nackdelar. Slutsatserna som dragits av arbetet är att beräkningsmodellerna kan användas för att dimensionera KL-trä med hänsyn till hur fuktkvoten varierar över tid och över skivans djup, förutsatt att aktuella fuktkvoter eller en realistisk uppskattning av fuktkvoter finns tillgänglig. Modellerna är även intressanta ur ett pedagogoiskt perspektiv då de tydligt åskådliggör hur fuktkvoten påverkar dimensioneringsresultaten för KL-trä.

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Previous studies that examined human judgments of frequency and duration found an asymmetrical relationship: While frequency judgments were quite accurate and independent of stimulus duration, duration judgments were highly dependent upon stimulus frequency. A potential explanation for these findings is that the asymmetry is moderated by the amount of attention directed to the stimuli. In the current experiment, participants\' attention was manipulated in two ways: (a) intrinsically, by varying the type and arousal potential of the stimuli (names, low-arousal and high-arousal pictures), and (b) extrinsically, by varying the physical effort participants expended during the stimulus presentation (by lifting a dumbbell vs. relaxing the arm). Participants processed stimuli with varying presentation frequencies and durations and were subsequently asked to estimate the frequency and duration of each stimulus. Sensitivity to duration increased for pictures in general, especially when processed under physical effort. A large effect of stimulus frequency on duration judgments was obtained for all experimental conditions, but a similar large effect of presentation duration on frequency judgments emerged only in the conditions that could be expected to draw high amounts of attention to the stimuli: when pictures were judged under high physical effort. Almost no difference in the mutual impact of frequency and duration was obtained for low-arousal or high-arousal pictures. The mechanisms underlying the simultaneous processing of frequency and duration are discussed with respect to existing models derived from animal research. Options for the extension of such models to human processing of frequency and duration are suggested.

Worker fatigue has been the focus of research for many years. However, there is limited research available on the evaluation and measurement of fatigue for prolonged mentally demanding activities. The objectives of the study are (1 )to evaluate fatigue for prolonged, mentally demanding work-tasks by considering task-dependent, task-independent and personal factors, (2) to identify effective subjective and objective fatigue measures, (3) to establish a relationship between time and factors that affect fatigue (4) to develop models to predict fatigue. A total of 16 participants, eight participants with western cultural backgrounds and eight participants with eastern cultural backgrounds, currently employed in mentally demanding work-tasks (e.g., programmers, computer simulation experts, etc.) completed the study protocols. Each participant was evaluated during normal working hours in their workplace for a 4-hour test session, with a 15-minute break provided after two hours. Fatigue was evaluated using subjective questionnaires (Borg Perceived Level of Fatigue Scale and the Swedish Occupational Fatigue Index (SOFI)); and objective measures (change in resting heart rate and salivary cortisol excretion). Workload was also assessed using the NASA-TLX. Fatigue and workload scales were collected every 30 minutes, cortisol at the start and finish of each 2-hour work block, and heart rate throughout the test session. Fatigue significantly increased over time (p-value <0.0001). All measures, except cortisol hormone, returned to near baseline level following the 15-minute break (p-value <0.0001). Ethnicity was found to have limited effects on fatigue development. Poor to moderate (Rho = 0.35 to 0.75) significant correlations were observed between the subjective and objective measures. Time and fatigue load (a factor that impacts fatigue development) significantly interact to explain fatigue represented by a hyperbolic relationship. Predictive models explained a maximum of 87% of the variation in the fatigue measures. As expected, fatigue develops over time, especially when considering other factors that can impact fatigue (e.g. hours slept, hours of work), providing further evidence of the complex nature of fatigue. As the 15-minute break was found to reduce all measures of fatigue, the development of appropriate rest breaks may mitigate some of the negative consequences of fatigue.