Tyrimo objektas: 11–12 metų mokinių fizinis aktyvumas (FA) ir fizinis pajėgumas (FP) kūno kultūros pamokose. Tyrimo problema: Teigiama, kad FA kūno kultūros pamokose dažnai neatitinka VDFA rekomendacijų (Pate et al., 2006), kai fizinė veikla joje trunka mažiau nei 50% viso pamokos laiko (McKenzie et al., 1995; Nader, 2003). Aktyvumo lygis gali skirtis priklausomai nuo fizinio lavinimo pamokų turinio (McKenzie ir kt., 1995). Aukštos kokybės kūno kultūros programos (kūno kultūros pamokos) gali prisidėti prie bendro (kasdienio) mokinių fizinio aktyvumo lygio gerinimo, bei vaikų sveikatos gerinimo (Veugelers, Fitzgerald, 2005; Bates, 2006; Ehrlich, 2008). Tikslas: Nustatyti 11–12 metų mokinių fizinį aktyvumą ir pajėgumą judriųjų žaidimų ir judesių lavinimo kūno kultūros pamokose. Tyrimo uždaviniai: 1. Nustatyti ir palyginti mokinių fizinį aktyvumą ir pasyvumą judriųjų žaidimų ir judesių lavinimo pamokose. 2. Palyginti berniukų ir mergaičių fizinio aktyvumo ir pasyvumo rodiklius judriųjų žaidimų ir judesių lavinimo pamokose. 3. Nustatyti fizinio aktyvumo ir fizinio pajėgumo rodiklių sąsajas. Tyrimo hipotezės: 1. Judriųjų žaidimų kūno kultūros pamokoje mokinių fizinis aktyvumas yra didesnis, o fizinis pasyvumas mažesnis nei judesių lavinimo pamokoje. 2. Judriųjų žaidimų ir judesių lavinimo pamokose berniukų fizinis aktyvumas yra didesnis nei mergaičių. 3. Didesnis mokinių fizinis aktyvumas siejasi su didesniu jų fiziniu pajėgumu. Tyrimo metodika: Mokinių fizinis aktyvumas per kūno... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Object of research: 11–12 years students’ physical activity (PA) in physical education (PE) lessons. Research problem: It is argued that PA in PE classes often do not meet MVPA recommendations (Pate et al., 2006), as it takes less than 50% of the total lesson time (McKenzie et al., 1995; Nader, 2003). Activity levels vary depending on the content of physical education lessons (McKenzie et al., 1995). High-quality physical education (physical education lessons) can contribute to the total (daily) improvement in students' physical activity and health (Veugelers, Fitzgerald, 2005; Bates, 2006; Ehrlich, 2008). The aim of the current research: Evaluate physical activity and physical fitness of 11 – 12 years Lithuanian students in Game play and Motor skills practice physical education lessons. Objectives of the research: 1. Identify and compare students' physical activity and time spent passively in Game play and Motor skills practice lessons. 2. Compare physical activity and time spent passively of boys and girls in Game play and Motor skills practice lessons. 3. Evaluate the relationship between physical activity and physical fitness. The research hypothesis: 1. Physical activity is higher and time spent passively lower in Game play rather than Motor skills practice lesson. 2. Boys are more physically active than girls in both Game play and Motor skills practice lessons. 3. Increased students' physical activity is associated with better physical fitness. Research Methodology:... [to full text]

The analysis of cultural policy in the last decade suggests that creativity and the arts in general are extensively used in political agendas as means of capitalizing on the forecasted socio-economic potential of creative/artistic activities (e.g. Flew, 2005; Garnham, 2005; Hartley, 2005; Hesmondhalgh, 2007). Although some critical studies have highlighted instrumentalism, short-sidedness and practice/practitioners’ averse policy-making and intervention planning (Belfiore, 2004, 2009; Caust, 2003; Oakley, 2009; Newman, 2013), so far only very few studies have exposed the experiences and voices of particular groups of creative workers in the different national (country-specific) contexts to support this criticism. There has been a significant lack of studies that aim to understand how creative workers experience and cope with the changing policy context in their work. In particular, the voice of non-artists has rarely been considered when seeking a better understanding of the sector’s dynamics. This thesis explored the Scottish cultural sector through the eyes of cultural leaders. The study was carried out during a time of significant transformation to the funding structure, processes and relationships in the sector, catalysed by the establishment of a new funding agency (the funder). It focuses on cultural leaders’ understandings of an increasingly politicised cultural landscape that constitutes the context of their work. The thesis also looks at the influence of these understandings on the leaders’ role responsibilities, as well as the essence and the sustainability of the cultural sector. The empirical work for the thesis followed a qualitative research approach and focused on 21 semi-structured interviews with cultural leaders and industry experts based in Scotland. These individuals were purposefully chosen as a group of stakeholders who are able to engage in discussions about the cultural sector in the context of recent changes in the governance and financial subsidy of Scottish (publically funded) arts. The research findings illustrated the importance of leaders’ values and beliefs, which reflect the purpose of their work and shape their enactments in the sector. In particular, the intrinsic motivation, artistic ambitions, social and civic responsibilities of leaders emerged as crucial qualities of their work roles. The findings revealed a discrepancy between these artistic and civic concerns of cultural leaders and the socio-economic expectations of the funder, which contributed to a great deal of unproductive ('inorganic') tensions for which leaders had to find coping mechanisms. Bourdieu’s (1977, 1992) theoretical concepts were used as a starting point in understanding the cultural sector as a cultural field, and cultural leaders as actors enacting their work-related practices in the evolving socio-political and economic system of cultural production. However, upon further analysis of the data, the notions of a ‘worldview’ and ‘stewardship’ emerged and were used to better explain the greater complexity of work in today’s cultural sector. This thesis thus builds upon Bourdieu’s concept of ‘field’ and ‘artistic logic’ and explains the changing cultural sector as a holistic cultural field where cultural leaders enact their stewardship-like work responsibilities from within a strong and dynamic artistic worldview.

3D user interface technologies have the potential to make games more immersive & engaging and thus potentially provide a better user experience to gamers. Although 3D user interface technologies are available for games, it is still unclear how their usage affects game play and if there are any user performance benefits. A systematic study of these technologies in game environments is required to understand how game play is affected and how we can optimize the usage in order to achieve better game play experience. This dissertation seeks to improve the gaming experience by exploring several 3DUI technologies. In this work, we focused on stereoscopic 3D viewing (to improve viewing experience) coupled with motion based control, head tracking (to make games more engaging), and faster gesture based menu selection (to reduce cognitive burden associated with menu interaction while playing). We first studied each of these technologies in isolation to understand their benefits for games. We present the results of our experiments to evaluate benefits of stereoscopic 3D (when coupled with motion based control) and head tracking in games. We discuss the reasons behind these findings and provide recommendations for game designers who want to make use of these technologies to enhance gaming experiences. We also present the results of our experiments with finger-based menu selection techniques with an aim to find out the fastest technique. Based on these findings, we custom designed an air-combat game prototype which simultaneously uses stereoscopic 3D, head tracking, and finger-count shortcuts to prove that these technologies could be useful for games if the game is designed with these technologies in mind. Additionally, to enhance depth discrimination and minimize visual discomfort, the game dynamically optimizes stereoscopic 3D parameters (convergence and separation) based on the user's look direction. We conducted a within subjects experiment where we examined performance data and self-reported data on users perception of the game. Our results indicate that participants performed significantly better when all the 3DUI technologies (stereoscopic 3D, head-tracking and finger-count gestures) were available simultaneously with head tracking as a dominant factor. We explore the individual contribution of each of these technologies to the overall gaming experience and discuss the reasons behind our findings. Our experiments indicate that 3D user interface technologies could make gaming experience better if used effectively. The games must be designed to make use of the 3D user interface technologies available in order to provide a better gaming experience to the user. We explored a few technologies as part of this work and obtained some design guidelines for future game designers. We hope that our work will serve as the framework for the future explorations of making games better using 3D user interface technologies.

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