Museums are vast resources, but much of their information is inaccessible to visitors. Typical labels for artifacts provide few details, making it difficult for non-expert visitors to learn about an artifact, and to find its relevance to other artifacts or to themselves. Although museums have developed interpretive aids such as brochures and audio guides, these are limited and do not offer visitors the possibility to explore artifacts both broadly and deeply as they go through an exhibition. Visitors often have questions that go unanswered or pass through an exhibition without being engaged. As visitors all have their own personal interests and preferences, it would be difficult to offer a usable version of any current interpretive aid that includes all of the information, stories, and related content that each visitor would like. Personal mobile devices provide a platform for interactivity and access to an unlimited amount of information, presentation of rich media, and flexibility for customized experiences both inside the museum and beyond. To bridge the gap between museum collection information and visitor engagement, I propose a framework for increasing engagement through resonant, rich, and interactive experiences mediated by a personal mobile guide, and present a case study and functional prototype mobile guide for the Hall of Architecture at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

As mobile devices are increasingly merging into our daily lives, exhibition ser- vices are also facing innovation based on the newly available technologies. Our project addresses these new circumstances. We developed a mobile exhibition guide for the exhibition called quot;Mrs Brown's Big Day Out: Hamilton Women in the 1950squot;. That is organized by the Waikato Museum. The proposed sys- tem re-uses the TIP(Tourist Information Provider) system's framework and provides information via mobile devices to visitors on Victoria Street, which is an outdoor part of the exhibition. The information about a sight will be delivered according to visitors' current locations and their interests. We would also like to examine the possibility of re-using our TIP system within the application area of exhibition guide. Therefore, we built the mobile exhibition guide system under the TIP system's framework and developed corresponding services that tailored the system to the requirements of visitors and the exhibition organizer. During the development, we faced a number of challenges, especially, modeling the unknown and unstructured exhibition data into the TIP database. The development process as well as the implementation and evaluation are detailed in this report.

L'électrodynamique quantique en guide d'onde étudie le comportement de circuits électriques supraconducteurs composés entre autres de jonctions Josephson et de lignes à transmission. Ces circuits présentent peu de pertes puisqu'ils sont supraconducteurs. De plus, grâce à la non-linéarité des jonctions Josephson, ils peuvent présenter des comportements typiquement quantiques. Dans cette thèse, nous élaborons un cadre théorique qui permet de traiter la connexion entre les lignes à transmission et les éléments de circuits localisés (lumped element). Nous présentons ensuite la théorie d'entrée-sortie dans le contexte de ce cadre théorique. Comme son nom l'indique, celle-ci lie les observables à la sortie du circuit à celles à son entrée et elle permet de faire des prédictions expérimentales. Nous obtenons aussi une équation maîtresse qui décrit le circuit lorsque l'information contenue dans les lignes à transmission est perdue ou ignorée. Nous utilisons le cadre théorique développé pour étudier la situation où deux circuits qui se comportent chacun comme un atome sont connectés à une ligne à transmission. Nous montrons que la physique dans ce type de système dépend de la distance entre les deux atomes artificiels. Lorsque la distance est telle que la phase [phi] acquise par le champ électromagnétique entre les deux atomes artificiels est un multiple entier de [pi], on observe qu'une superposition d'états particulière des atomes est couplée à la ligne à transmission. On dit que cet état est brillant tandis que l'autre état est dit sombre. Lorsque la phase [phi] acquise par le champ électromagnétique est un multiple impair de [pi]/2, on observe plutôt une interaction cohérente entre les deux atomes artificiels. Nous suggérerons des protocoles pour observer des signatures expérimentales de cette physique. Nous présentons des résultats expérimentaux obtenus suite à ces prédictions par nos collègues du groupe d'Andreas Wallraff à Zurich. Ces résultats confirment la théorie. Parmi ces données, on retrouve la première mesure d'une signature claire de l'interaction cohérente entre deux atomes. Nous utilisons aussi le cadre théorique développé pour étudier des circuits dans lesquels les inductances dépendent du temps. Nous nous intéressons à ces circuits puisqu'ils sont généralement non réciproque, ce qui en fait des candidats idéaux pour implémenter des circulateurs. Ces dispositifs qui permettent d'obtenir un couplage unidirectionnel entre deux circuits sont généralement réalisés à l'aide d'aimants. Ainsi, un défi important du domaine est de concevoir un circulateur qui peut s'intégrer à un circuit supraconducteur. On utilise notre cadre théorique pour décrire les circuits avec des inductances variables à l'aide d'un opérateur de transfert qui relient les entrées du circuit à ses sorties. Cet objet permet d'extraire les conditions sous lesquelles ce type de circuit se comporte comme un circulateur. On utilise aussi l'opérateur de transfert pour étudier un modèle de circuit qui sera testé sous peu par nos collaborateurs de JILA dans le but d'implémenter un des premiers circulateurs sans conversion de fréquence nette, sans pertes et sans ferrite. On montre que ce modèle de circuit se comporte bien comme un circulateur, avec une largeur de bande de l'ordre de 200 MHz et un niveau d'imperfections de -20 dB.

How to Orient Yourself in the Wilderness is an exhibition presented in the style of a survival guide. The “wilderness” is a metaphor for the unknown. Within this category of the unknown are numerous literal and figurative spaces. I use the guide as an attempt to pin down why I gravitate towards the camera and what it means to me as a form of communication. Simultaneously I explore what it means to be “southern” and the manner in which it is traditionally represented in images. Also included in the wilderness tag is the “art world” and the relationship of straight photography towards and with it. The exhibition is loosely attached to the survival guide premise in order to highlight the shortcoming of photography’s ability to explain.

This research identifies successful compositional techniques for voice and marimba, intended for a single performer, through comparison of commissioned works composed by Beth Caucci, Philip Rothman, Emmanuel Séjourné, Raymond Helble, and Roger Foreman. The comparison highlights musical and technical aspects most effective when writing for this genre. My first personal experience combining marimba and voice occurred in January, 2003 during a performance of Šta Vidiš by Nebojša Živković. The piece, written in 1990, involves an ancient Serbian text chanted over a drone following an improvised introduction on the marimba. The performance’s positive reception inspired further exploration of this instrument combination. At the time of the performance, additional pieces for solo voice and marimba intended for a single performer were not available. Rather than focusing on transcription possibilities, I commissioned Four Songs by Beth Caucci. The premiere of Four Songs (October, 2003) resulted in another positive reception and led to inspiration for further commissions and development of this new genre. During the commissioning process, it became clear that a practical guide, concerning the possibilities and limitations of singing while playing the marimba, would aid composers in the creation of effective and playable works. Composers asked questions regarding technical aspects such as the maximum arm-span range possible, the difficulty of shifting the body angle to reach chords in various sharp and flat arrangements, and the feasibility of performing rapid passages on the marimba while sustaining a vocal line. This document offers an examination of these and other compositional considerations. The guide may also be used as a commissioning resource for other marimba and voice performers, as well as an aid in addressing technical demands of singing while playing the marimba. Recently, a few other percussionists have been working in the genre as well, including works performed, commissioned, or written by Brian Calhoon, Louise Devenish, Michael Neumeyer, and Dr. Lee Hinkle. The work of these musicians, in addition to my own commissions, is an illustration of how the genre has progressed during the last eight years and indicates the possibility of continued growth.

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No description available.

It is expected that tourism industry is one of the fields that can boost female employment and therefore, can help redress the balance and empower women in Iran. Equal opportunities in employment assist them for empowerment. Being a tour guide is one of these opportunities, although most jobs are created elsewhere, e.g. hotels and restaurants. But for this thesis, tour guides are important from two aspects: first, it is a challenging condition that you find out what you are capable of and second; it is not an extension of traditional domestic roles, and it is a new role for women in a male-dominated job market.This study aims to investigate how female tour guides perceive their roles in the tourism industry and the elements of these perceptions among their family, colleagues, and tourists who could serve empowering or disempowering.

Genom att analysera två valda lärarhandledning har vi en förhoppning om att öka förståelsen för på vilket sätt lärarhandledningen kan ses som en resurs för att ge läraren support att utforma och genomföra matematikundervisning av hög kvalité. Undersökningen är en kvalitativ studie med syftet att undersöka vad lärarna upplever för stöd i en lärarhandledning och vilka begränsningar som läraren upplever vid användandet av den. forskningsfrågorna som ligger till grund för studien är följande: Vilket stöd upplever lärare att lärarhandledningen ger? Vilka begränsningar upplevs av lärarna vid användandet av en lärarhandledning? För att kunna besvara de här forskningsfrågorna valdes semistrukturerade intervjuer med lärare som undervisade i läromedlen Favorit matematik eller Rik matematik.  Intervjuerna genomfördes på olika skolor samt genom en telefonintervju i mellersta Sverige med sex lärare i grundskolans tidigare år 1-3. Studien förhåller sig till två teoretiska ramverk: Davis och Krajcik (2005) och Brown (2009).  Resultatet visade att lärarna utnyttjar lärarhandledningens olika delar på olika sätt i sin matematikundervisning. Antingen ses det som ett recept, verktygslåda där olika delar utnyttjas eller ses som en inspirationskälla där läraren improviserar utan att låta läromedlet styra undervisningen. Begränsningar som framkom av studiens resultat var bland annat att respondenterna upplevde lärarhandledningarna som stressande om materialet följs som ett recept. / By analyzing two chosen teacher tutorials, we hope to increase understanding of how the teacher guides can be seen as a resource to provide the teacher with the support of designing and implementing high quality mathematics education. The study is a qualitative study aimed at investigating what kind of support teachers experience in a teacher's guide and what constraints the teacher experiences when using it. The research questions underlying the study are as follows: What support do teachers experience from the teacher's guide? What constraints are experienced by the teachers in the use of a teacher's guide? In order to answer these research questions, semi structured interviews were chosen with teachers who used the teaching materials Favorit Matematik or Rik Matematik. Interviews were conducted at different schools and through a telephone interview in central Sweden with six teachers in primary school's earlier years 1-3. The study relates to two theoretical frameworks: Davis and Krajcik (2005) and Brown (2009). The result showed that teachers utilize the different parts of the teacher guides in different ways in their mathematics teaching. Either it is seen as a recipe, a toolbox where different parts are utilized or viewed as an inspiration source where the teacher improvises without letting the teaching device control the teaching. Restrictions found by the result of the study were, among other things, that the respondents experienced the teacher guides as stressful if the material is followed as a prescription.

The present study has developed poly ε-caprolactone (PCL)/ poly lactic acid (PLA) films with specific internal structure suitable to prepare nerve guide conduit for peripheral nerve repair. The film preparation method has been carried out using an environmental chamber to prepare the solvent cast films with the specific surface structure. Different cellular behaviour of neuronal cell cultures was seen on the pitted films with different pits configurations (size and distribution). The consistent surface morphology provided a reliable surface structure for further in vitro and in vivo studies. The effect of a medical grade sterilisation process using gamma radiation at eight doses (0-45kGy) on PCL/PLA films was explored. It has been shown that material properties, including mechanical strength, were significantly affected, while cellular behaviour and responses (NG108-15) were improved. Grooved films with three groove shapes (Sloped, Square, and V shape) were prepared using patterned silicon substrates, photolithography and wet/dry etching. The groove patterns were successfully transferred and good mechanical strength was observed for grooved PCL/ PLA. Oriented growth of NG108-15 cells was observed on the patterned films with an improved alignment and organisation on SL and V shape grooved films. UV-ozone treatment was used to increase hydrophilicity of PCL/PLA films to improve Schwann cells behaviour. No negative effect was observed on cell growth and proliferation on the treated films however the mechanical properties were reduced. Schwann cells expressed typical long spindle-shape morphology with cell-to-cell interaction in longitudinal direction on the treated grooved films. Consistent to in vitro experiment with NG108-15, Schwann cells alignment was also improved on SL and V shape grooves. A three-week in vivo study was carried out to test grooved and non-grooved conduits in a rat sciatic nerve model. The grooved conduits showed better regeneration, with SL-grooved film showing a significant improvement of nerve regeneration. A separate in vivo study evaluated the effect of wall-thickness on nerve regeneration. However, it was shown that the wall thickness had no positive effect, and the conduit with improved mechanical strength adversely affected the nerve regeneration. In conclusion, a nerve guide conduit was developed with the optimised surface structure to support nerve regeneration. The promising in vitro and in vivo studies together with the suitable biomechanical properties and specific surface structure and morphology indicate that the grooved PCL/PLA conduit is a viable treatment for peripheral nerve repair.