M.Tech. (Chiropractic) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Tech. (Chiropractic) / Postural kyphosis of the thoracic spine is a common condition which affects a large percentage of the population. With an increase in anteriorly orientated activities, such as working on a computer, driving and studying, postural kyphosis has become more prevalent. Currently, the gold standard for the treatment of postural kyphosis is the stretching of the involved anterior musculature (pectoralis major and minor) and the strengthening of the involved posterior musculature (mid trapezius, rhomboids and levator scapulae). This involves the compliance of patients in the completion of exercises and stretching routines. This often resulted in poor outcomes as routines were performed irregularly or incorrectly. Although, if properly executed, this treatment protocol is effective, chiropractors, and other manual therapists, continue to search adjunctive modalities to improve the positive outcomes of their treatments. With the introduction of Kinesio® taping, the problem of patient compliance could be reduced. The tape is applied by the practitioner and simply left for several days. It has very little effect on the patient’s day to day activities and should continue to have positive impact on the involved musculature with no additional effort required from the participant. The benefits of chiropractic manipulation on the biomechanical relationship between a joint/s and linked musculature has long been recognised. However, very little research has been done to ascertain the direct benefits of chiropractic manipulation to the cervical and upper thoracic regions on postural kyphosis. This study will not only provide valuable information on these two modalities used individually, but also on the effectiveness of the combination of the two treatments. Method: This study was a comparative study consisting of three groups of ten participants. The method of treatment was determined by random group allocation. Group 1 received spinal manipulation to restriction(s) of the cervical and upper thoracic regions only. Group 2 received Kinesio® taping to the rhomboid muscle group only. Group 3 received the combination of spinal manipulation and Kinesio® taping. Subjective measurements consisted of the measurement of the thoracic kyphosis with the use of flexicurve ruler, a series of lateral view plumb line photographs and a set of secondary measurements consisting of three inter scapular measurements, one inter acromioclavicular measurement and two C7 to acromioclavicular measurements on each side.

This paper details the process of creating the UNO Graduate thesis film The Veil. Each major step in the filmmaking process is covered: screenwriting, producing, directing, cinematography, sound, production design, costumes, hair and makeup, workflow, editing, color correction, music and post-sound. An evaluation of the filmmaking decisions and the success of the project follows the discussions of the process.

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Coherence describes the validity of the internal rules that drive the behaviors of a virtual environment (VE) in presenting a credible scenario. A VR system with a high level of coherence could lead to strong plausibility illusion, which is a key component of the sense of presence. There are few existing studies centered around coherence, and they tend to put the user in a passive role when experiencing the VE without emphasizing on their active participation in the interaction. This dissertation makes up this gap by connecting the concept of coherence with fundamental 3D user interface design that focuses on the algorithms that map the user's actions to the VE's behaviors. Specifically, we inspect the design of coherent interactions for two complicated tasks, namely travel and object manipulation. For travel, we propose a family of redirected walking techniques called "narrative driven cell-based redirection", which lets the user traverse a VE that's much larger than the physical space without breaking the coherence of the scenario. For object manipulation, we propose the novel concept of physics coherence to capture whether an interface conforms to the rules of physics and design several novel techniques that try to balance between physics coherence and usability. Together, we provide some useful tools for designing coherent interactions and discuss how coherence affects user experience in VR interaction. / Doctor of Philosophy / To create a virtual reality (VR) experience that feels plausible, it’s important to consider the validity of the internal rules that drive the behaviors of the virtual environment (VE), which we call “coherence” of a VR system. We discuss how to support coherence in two types of fundamental VR interaction. The first one is travel, which concerns moving the viewpoint around following the user’s intention. For this task, we propose a family of novel interaction techniques called “narrative driven cell-based redirection”, which lets the user traverse a VE that’s much larger than the physical space without breaking the coherence of the scenario. The second one is object manipulation, which is about controlling a virtual object using hand input. For this task, we propose the novel concept of physics coherence to capture whether the interaction conforms to the rules of physics and design several novel techniques that try to balance between physics coherence and controllability. Together, we provide some useful tools for designing coherent interactions and discuss how coherence affects user experience in VR interaction.

Orientador: Ana SílviaLopes Davi Médola / Banca: Luciano Guimarães / Banca: Terezinha Fortes Mestrinelli / Resumo: O presente estudo tem como objeto a comunicação dirigida e investiga as estratégias discursivas da campanha "Triângulos" do HSBC no Brasil. São analisados os procedimentos enunciativos que regem a organização textual das peças publicitárias veiculada em folders disponibilizados nos pontos de venda das agências bancárias do HSBC, no final de 2004. O instrumental teórico-metodológico que baliza as reflexões aqui apresentadas é decorrente da semiótica discursiva de linha francesa, a chamada Escola de Paris, a partir das postulações elaboradas por A. J. Greimas e Jean- Marie Floch. Após apresentar o percurso de constituição do banco enquanto instituição inserida em uma economia globalizada, o trabalho demonstra o papel das formas discursivas na comunicação dirigida e suas implicações nas relações interculturais. As análises realizadas demonstram, a partir do texto, a configuração do contexto da relação comunicativa, depreendendo os valores e ideologias presentes nos discursos organizados com o objetivo central de promover o consumo dos serviços oferecidos pelo HSBC, por meio de estratégias de manipulação baseadas na sedução e na provocação. / Abstract: The present study has as object the directed communication and investigates the discursives strategies of the campaign "Triangles" of the HSBC in Brazil. The enunciative procedures are analyzed which conduct the textual organization of the advertising pieces that are propagated in folders availables at points of sales of HSBC the agencies at the end of 2004. The theoretician-methodological instrumental which signalize the presented reflections is due to discursive semiotics of French line, the professed School of Paris, from postulations elaborated by J. Greimas and Jean-Marie Floch. After introduces the course of bank forming, while inserted institution in a worldwide economy, this work demonstrates the part taken by discursive features in directed communication and its implications in the intercultural relations. The performed analyses demonstrate from the text on, the configuration of the context of the communicative relation, gathering the values and ideologies presented in the speeches organized with the main objective to encourage the use of services offered by HSBC, by means of strategies of manipulation based on seduction and temptation. / Mestre

The new way of doing marketing the so -called neuromarketing, which is a combination of neuroscience findings collected for and used in the marketing domain, has raised a lot of support but a lot of critic as well. The research question is focusing on whether the neuromarketing has been an approach of explaining and defining the human behavior, or whether it has transformed to an unethical manipulation of consumers in order to discover the much wanted “buy button” in consumers’ brains. Additionally issues of validity of neuromarketing researches is to be examined as well their purpose of conduction and the use of their findings. / Program: Master in Fashion Management with specialisation in Fashion Marketing and Retailing

Nossa trajetória no fotojornalismo, marcada por treze anos de trabalho como repórter-fotográfico e editor de fotografia na Empresa Folha da Manhã S.A. nos permitiu conhecer minuciosamente, na prática, o processo de construção de uma imagem fotojornalística. Apesar da produção internacional relativamente abundante e de trabalhos brasileiros de renomados profissionais da área, a produção teórica sobre os aspectos da fotografia no contemporâneo é ainda incipiente no Brasil, principalmente no que diz respeito às inovações tecnológicas e seu impacto no fotojornalismo. Entre as questões mais instigantes da pesquisa e da teoria da imagem estão as tensões entre realidade e ficção e ética e ideologia. Segundo os parâmetros aceitos nas redações, uma boa fotografia é aquela que consegue aliar a precisão da informação com uma contundente beleza plástica. No fotojornalismo, mais que em qualquer outra modalidade de uso da fotografia, o registro fotográfico tem a necessidade de ser entendido, em sua gênese, como um documento, como um atestado comprobatório não apenas de que o fato aconteceu, mas que o mesmo ocorreu tal qual podemos observar na fotografia publicada no veículo. Como pensar então em informação precisa ou em verdade se sabemos de antemão que quando o fotógrafo documenta um acontecimento no espaço-tempo ele está invariavelmente, no ato fotográfico, descolando aquele recorte do real de seu contexto, interpretando o fato de acordo com sua cultura e sua ideologia? No fotojornalismo, essas tensões se revelam sobretudo na busca do equilíbrio possível entre informação e plasticidade, entre a sua natureza noticiosa que o obriga a se manter fortemente conectado a um referente e sua necessidade de conquistar a atenção do olhar do leitor contemporâneo, numa árdua batalha travada nas páginas de jornais e revistas com as imagens idealizadas e tecnicamente perfeitas da publicidade. Neste sentido, esta dissertação, que surge a partir da experiência de quem conheceu os mecanismos que regem o surgimento e a efetuação de uma pauta fotográfica na grande imprensa, pretende contribuir para ampliar o espaço desta reflexão na produção brasileira. Além disso, visamos analisar, ao cruzar a nossa experiência com a bibliografia contemporânea acerca da representação dos fatos na mídia impressa, as possíveis transformações ocorridas no conceito de documento fotográfico no período que vai da implantação da cor na impressão dos jornais diários brasileiros até o momento atual, passando pelo ingresso das câmeras digitais nas redações dos jornais. E, por fim, objetivamos também mostrar, por meio de imagens de violência recolhidas na mídia impressa, como esse processo pode corroborar para que os fotojornalistas e suas empresas façam, inconscientemente ou não, o uso da fotografia como uma ferramenta de criação, propagação e perpetuação de estigmas e preconceitos na sociedade. Sistematizar teórica e criticamente nossa experiência profissional obtida ao longo do trabalho como jornalista, repórter-fotográfico e editor de fotografia e, dessa forma, contribuir para a discussão acerca da profissão por nós escolhida, é um dos principais motivos que nos levaram a propor como objeto desta pesquisa uma análise do fotojornalismo a partir da sua produção desde diferentes perspectivas. / Our trajectory in photojournalism, marked by thirteen years of work as a reporter and photographic editor of the company Empresa Folha da Manhã S.A. allowed us to know, in practice, the process of creation an photojournalistic image. Despite the international production relatively abundant and the work of renowned Brazilian professionals in the area, the production on the theoretical aspects of photography in contemporary is still incipient in Brazil, especially with regard to technological innovations and their impact on photojournalism. Among the most instigatings issues of research and theory of the image are the tensions between reality and fiction and ethics and ideology. According to the editors accepted parameters, a good photograph is one that can combine the accuracy of the information with a convincingly plastic beauty. In photojournalism, more than any other mode of use of the photograph, the photographic record needs to be understood in its genesis, as a document such as a real certificate not only that the fact happened, but that it happened just the we see in the photograph published in the vehicle. Since then, how can we think on accurate information or true if we know in advance that when the photographer documents an event in space-time it is invariably, in the photographic act, unstick that cut of reality of its context, interpreting the fact based on his culture and his ideology? In photojournalism, these tensions are revealed especially in the search of the possible balance between information and plasticity, and its nature that requires that the news remains strongly connected to a referential and their need to win the attention of the readers contemporary look, in a tough battle fought on the pages of newspapers and magazines with the idealized and technically perfect images of advertising. Therefore, this dissertation, which arises from the experience of those who knew the mechanisms that govern the appearance and the execution of a photographic pauta, seeks to expand the space for discussion in the Brazilian production. Also, aim to analyze, by crossing our experience with the contemporary literature about the representation of the facts in press, the possible changes in the concept of photographic as a document, from the period of deployment of colors in printing the brazilianss newspaper untill today, and the advent of digital cameras in editors of newspapers. Finally, we also intend to show, throughout images of violence gathered in press, how this process can corroborate to the photojournalists and their enterprises to do, unconsciously or not, the use of photography as a tool for the creation, propagation and perpetuation of stigmas and prejudices in society. To systematize theoretical and critically our experience obtained during our career as a journalist, editor-reporter of photography and thus contribute to the discussion about the profession we have chosen, is one of the main reasons that led us to propose as the subject of this research an analysis of photojournalism from its production from different perspectives.

In October 2015, John Magufuli became President of Tanzania and his party (Chama cha Mapinduzi, CCM) won a large majority in parliament. This thesis explains why Tanzanians choose to vote the way they do in general and in these elections in particular. It draws on qualitative interviews with approximately one-thousand voters in four field sites: one urban and one rural area in Dodoma Region where CCM are dominant, and a second pair of urban and rural areas from Mwanza Region in which the opposition are more competitive. By using theories of social remembering to understand vote preference, this thesis investigates a number of key issues that are crucial to determining political outcomes in Tanzania: 1) CCM's track record in government; 2) The sources of information available to voters; 3) The role of money in politics; 4) CCM's attempts to discredit the opposition; 5) The progress of the opposition since political liberalisation, and; 6) Local factors, including the behaviour of candidates. Having addressed these dynamics, attention is turned to how they played out during the 2015 election. The thesis concludes that, although Magufuli had significant appeal to many voters, his victory was aided by undemocratic manipulation. This shows that the process of political transition was far from complete, even before post-election developments that have threatened basic democratic principles in Tanzania.

An emerging demand for the precise manipulation of cells and microparticles for applications in cell biology and analytical chemistry has driven recent development of ultrasonic manipulation technology. Compared to the other major technologies used for cell and particle manipulation, such as magnetic tweezing, optical tweezing and dielectrophoresis, ultrasonic manipulation has shown excellent capabilities and flexibility in a variety of applications with its advantages of versatile, inexpensive and easy integration into microfluidic systems, maintenance of cell viability, and generation of sufficient forces to handle cells with dimensions up to tens of microns and agglomerates of a large number of cells. This thesis reviews current state-of-the-art of ultrasonic manipulation technology and reports the development of various ultrasonic manipulation devices, including simple devices integrated with high frequency (> 20 MHz) ultrasonic transducers for the investigation of biological cells and complex ultrasonic transducer array systems to explore the feasibility of electronically controlled 2-D and 3-D manipulation. Piezoelectric and passive materials, fabrication techniques, characterisation methods and possible applications are discussed. The behaviour and performance of the devices have been investigated and predicted in virtual prototyping with computer simulations, and verified experimentally. Issues associated during the development are highlighted and discussed. To assist long term practical adoption, approaches to low-cost, wafer level batch-production and commercialisation potential are also addressed.