The world is full of extremes and I enjoy studying the contrasts of these extremes. I am influenced by the soft and subtle, as well as the rough and unrefined. From printing on the most delicate of papers, to constructing objects from scrap metal and reclaimed barn wood, the pieces I produce are studies in contrast. In these works, I place extremes of media next to one another in a way that makes the viewer feel that these opposites belong together. I struggle to make the improbable seem ordinary and the mundane seem amazing.

I use bright colors to portray birds. Typically, the birds are modeled after herons, peacocks, woodpeckers, and roadrunners. I am interested in the curvilinear forms or colorful plumage of these birds. Why birds? I wonder that myself. The rational part of me wants to know why I use bird imagery, while the intuitive side of me likes the fact that if is unknown, I haven't been able to answer that burning question. In my sculpture, wire connectors, kitchen funnels, electrical tape, caps, marker parts, cleaning bottles, and watering cans are just some of the many plastic items I use. In my painting, irregular patterns and bright, saturated pigments are evident in the compositions. I couple humorous and comical depictions of birds with an attention to design. Although art making is a serious activity, I believe there is room for humor.

Artist Statement Creativity is one of my strongest talents. As a visual person, I understand and interpret the world through observation and analysis. Nature intrigues me. I find it awe inspiring how the natural environment can change so dramatically day-to-day. As a result, I record my experiences and memories of landscapes and seascapes. My areas of interest are painting and computers in the arts. I am an abstract painter and my media consists of acrylic, watercolor, mixed media, and digital imagery. I create low relief and rough textures with added materials, and develop layers of paint with a palette knife. In addition, I layer gel medium transfers using my own photographs. Color is important in my work and encapsulates and expresses my feelings and memories. I use subtle color washes and add small amounts of bold color to create contrasts. This approach to coloration allows me to explore unexpected and unique combinations. I use color symbolically, such as a muted blue to display a calm and relaxed feeling that I get from experiencing nature. This also mimics the essence of sky and water. My goal is to capture the viewers’ attention and show them my response to nature in hopes that they will relate it to their own experiences.

Dans cette thèse, nous introduisons le concept de Réalité Augmentée Haptique (RAH) en définissant une taxonomie à deux axes. Le premier dénommé Haptique Augmentée (HA) représente l’ensemble des applications qui modifient/augmentent une donnée haptique existante. Le second axe, appelé Augmentation Haptique (AH), considère les applications qui utilisent la modalité haptique pour fournir une information supplémentaire à l’utilisateur. Par la suite, nous illustrons ces concepts sous forme d’une application de télé-diagnostic, permettant l’exploration d’un objet mixte, composé de parties réelles et virtuelles, ou la comparaison entre un objet réel et un virtuel ; d’un nouvel algorithme pour l’enseignement d’un chemin par guidage haptique, tout en évitant les problèmes de passivité et de dépendance de l’apprenti ; et de l’emploi de ces deux notions dans une application de peinture virtuelle sur un quelconque objet réel (avec croisement d’augmentations visio-haptique), le tout enrichi d’un processus visuel de Réalité Diminuée. / This thesis introduces the concept of Haptics Augmented Reality (HAR) defining a taxonomy of two concepts. The first called Enhanced Haptics (EH) consists in applications that enhance/modify/… an existing haptic data. The second concept, named Haptic Enhancing (HE), considers applications using the haptic channel to provide additional information to the user. Thereafter, these concepts are illustrated as a tele-diagnosis application, enabling the exploration of a mixed object, composed of real and virtual parts, or the comparison between a real object and a virtual one; as a new algorithm of haptic guidance dedicated to path teaching scenarios, avoiding the problems of passivity and dependence of he apprentice; and the use of these two concepts within a application of virtual painting onto any real object, enriched with a visual Diminished Reality process.

The client for this study, the Entheogenic Research, Integration, and Education (ERIE), was interested in the use of anthropological methods to examine the experiences of people who use psychedelics beyond the clinical setting. Through collaborative discussions with the client, we decided that the central questions guiding this research are to understand the various reasons why people consume psychedelic substances across the United States as well as examine the self-reported influences of psychedelics in various areas of participants' life and identity. Participants were recruited using stratified sampling and were given a confidential, online survey that also provided an option to arrange a semi-structured interview. In total, there were 103 completed survey responses and 25 interviews. The results of this research indicate that the reasons for participants' psychedelic use often change over time from strictly recreational or out of curiosity to intentions based on therapeutic and psychospiritual development. Additionally, the majority of both survey and interview participants believed their psychedelic use to have had a transformative influence on their health and well-being, perception of nature, identity, spirituality, and creative expression of art and music. Another theme uncovered in this research is the impacts of punitive drug laws on psychedelic use such as creating barriers to availability, fear of arrest and incarceration, and lack of social support due to the stigma associated with psychedelic substances.

No abstract.

O presente trabalho trata da preparação e da caracterização textural e espectroscópica de hidróxidos mistos lamelares de composição [Mg3-xCuxAl(OH)8](CO3)0,5.yH2O (x= 0,3; 0,6; 0,9; 1,2; 1,5; 1,8; 2,1; 2,4; 2,7 e 3,0), bem como do estudo da reatividade desses materiais na hidroxilação do fenol, utilizando peróxido de hidrogênio como oxidante. Os sólidos foram preparados através do método da co-precipitação e caracterizados por difratometria de raios X, análises elementares (C, H, N e metais) e termogravimétricas, medidas de área superficial e, também, pelas seguintes técnicas espectroscópicas: vibracional no infravermelho e espalhamento Raman, eletrônica de absorção no visível-infravermelho próximo e ressonância paramagnética eletrônica. Observou-se que quanto maior o conteúdo de cobre(II) nas amostras, maior é a tendência à formação de CuO. Materiais de coloração azul contendo apenas uma fase cristalina foram obtidos por co-precipitação no intervalo de pH 8-10 e efetuando as etapas de envelhecimento e secagem na temperatura ambiente. Quanto maior a quantidade de íons Cu2+ no hidróxido misto lamelar, menor a cristalinidade e a estabilidade térmica do material. Os espectros de EPR são anisotrópicos (parâmetros g// e g? bem definidos), indicando que os íons cobre(II) se encontram em sítio com simetria axial. À medida que a quantidade de Cu2+ nas amostras aumenta, ocorre uma diminuição no sinal do metal de transição, que pode ser interpretada como decorrência de um acoplamento antiferromagnético entre os íons cobre. Dados de espectroscopia vibracional sugerem que nos hidróxidos mistos há dois tipos de íons carbonato. Além disso, foi observado o fenômeno de abaixamento de simetria dos ânions CO32- ao longo do processo de aquecimento, originando, conforme a temperatura e a composição, materiais de coloração variada. O abaixamento de simetria pode estar sendo ocasionado pela coordenação (ou enxertia) dos íons carbonato aos centros metálicos das lamelas. Os sólidos verdes obtidos por aquecimento possuem, além de bandas no espectro eletrônico atribuídas às transições do tipo d-d (700-800 nm), absorção na região abaixo de 400 nm, que pode ser atribuída à transferência de carga O2- -> Cu2+. Apesar dos difratogramas de raios X apresentarem picos de baixas intensidades referentes às fases espinélio, a coloração ocre observada pode ser devida à presença da fase CuAl2O4 (sólido marrom). Nas amostras cinzas e pretas, os difratogramas de raios X mostram picos intensos atribuídos ao CuO. Os testes de reatividade dos hidróxidos mistos sintetizados na hidroxilação do fenol pelo peróxido de hidrogênio em meio aquoso envolveram a variação de parâmetros reacionais como temperatura, tempo, concentração de substrato e influência de luz, mantendo-se constante a relação molar fenol/Cu2+. O substrato orgânico foi oxidado a catecol, hidroquinona e p-benzoquinona. As substâncias no meio reacional foram quantificadas pela deconvolução do espectro eletrônico da mistura na região do ultravioleta. Como esperado, o material sintetizado sem íons cobre(II) não apresenta atividade catalítica para o sistema reacional estudado. / In this work it was investigated the preparation and spectroscopic characterization of layered hydroxides of composition [Mg3-xCuxAl(OH)8](CO3)0.5.yH2O (x = 0.3; 0.6; 0.9; 1.2; 1.5; 1.8; 2.1; 2.4; 2.7 and 3.0), as well the reactivity of these materials towards phenol hydroxylation, using hydrogen peroxide as oxidizing agent. The solids had been prepared through the co-precipitation method and characterized by X ray diffractometry, elemental analysis (C, H, N and metals), thermogravimetric analysis, surface area measurements, and also by the following spectroscopic techniques: infrared vibrational absortion (FTIR), Raman scattering, vis-NIR electronic absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). It was observed that the increase of copper(II) content in the samples favours the CuO formation. Materials of blue coloration containing only one crystalline phase were obtained by the co-precipitation method in the pH range 10 – 8, and were submitted to aging and drying processes at room temperature. As the amount of Cu2+ ions increases in the layered hydroxide material, it was observed a decrease in crystallinity and thermal stability. EPR spectra are anisotropic (parameters g// and g? well defined), indicating that copper(II) ions are in sites with axial symmetry. As the amount of Cu2+ in the samples increases, EPR signal decreases, what can be interpreted as result of an antiferromagnetic coupling between copper ions. FTIR data suggests that the layered hydroxides gave two types of cabornate ions. Moreover, the symmetry lowering phenomena of CO32- anions during the heating process was observed, originating, according to the temperature and sample composition, materials of varied coloration. This lowering of symmetry can be due to coordination (or grafting) of carbonate ions to the metal ions in the layers. Vis-NIR electronic spectra of green solids obtained by heating show absorption in the region below 400 nm, besides bands attributed to d-d transitions (700-800 nm), that can be attributed to O2- -> Cu2+ charge transfer transition. Despite the X ray diffraction peaks of low intensities attributed to spinel phases, the ochre coloration observed can be due to the presence of CuAl2O4 (brown solid). For gray and black samples, X ray diffractograms shows intense peaks attributed to CuO. Reactivity tests about phenol hydroxylation involved the variation of experimental parameters as temperature, time, substrate concentration and influence of light, keeping constant the phenol/Cu2+ molar ratio. The organic substrate was oxidized to cathecol, hydroquinone and p-benzoquinone and these products were quantified by deconvolution of the electronic spectra. As expected, the material synthesized without copper(II) ions does not show catalytic activity for the studied reaction.

The overarching purpose of this research is to understand whether Mixed Reality can enhance a surgeon’s manipulations skills during minimally invasive procedures. Minimally-invasive surgery (MIS) utilizes small cuts in the skin - or sometimes natural orifices - to deploy instruments inside a patient’s body, while a live video feed of the surgical site is provided by an endoscopic camera and displayed on a screen. MIS is associated with many benefits: small scars, less pain and shorter hospitalization time as compared to traditional open surgery. However, these benefits come at a cost: because surgeons have to work by looking at a monitor, and not down on their own hands, MIS disrupts their eye-hand coordination and makes even simple surgical maneuvers challenging to perform. In this study, we wish to use Mixed Reality technology to superimpose anatomical models over the surgical site and explore if it can be used to mitigate this problem.

Este trabalho mostra o percurso e a evolução do projeto de arquitetura de um conjunto multifuncional edificado de grande porte. E, nesse contexto, estuda as principais variáveis que influenciam diretamente as decisões sobre a natureza dos espaços e sobre as definições quanto a sua construção. Nosso objetivo é mostrar como são definidos os caminhos do projeto, as fases do seu desenvolvimento e salientar os pontos críticos relativos à sua qualidade. E, para atingirmos esse objetivo vamos discutir a evolução dos estudos preliminares, o anteprojeto e as inúmeras alterações no programa do Espaço Brooklin nosso estudo de caso - mostrando a evolução do lugar, aspectos econômicos imobiliários que influenciaram o projeto, o processo que constituiu a formação do grupo empreendedor, e como esse conjunto de forças refletiu decisivamente no desempenho do trabalho dos arquitetos e consequentemente na definição do projeto. / This work focuses the course and the design of a multi-use building and it studies the main variables that strongly affects the decisions about the character of the space and the definition of the building. This studys objective is to show how the roads to the project are defined, their development fazes, and how the design details critical points to the overall quality of the finished project. To be able to accomplish this objective I am going to discuss the evolution of the preliminary studies, the layout, and the many changes on the Brooklin Space program my study case sharing the spaces evolution, the financial aspects of such project, the process to form a group of investors and how all of the above aspects reflected decisively in the architectural work and, consequently, in the projects definition.

Choruses, sung by the Kansas State University Chamber Choir; Jess Wade, piano; the author, conductor; with historical and critical analysis of the works. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries