This thesis explores the field of mediated presence in a distant relationship, with a specific focus on the introduction of “receptiveness” as the biggest factor, when designing to enhance this mediated experience. I have approached this field in a user centered manner since it is fairly unexplored thus far. Through related work, cultural probe, interviews and discussions with the target group I have explored design opportunities. These design opportunities are contributing to the field. This by revealing how the target group evaluate presence, to what extent they do so and the different needs the relationship have when experiencing presence. The introduction of “receptiveness” as the main factor to how we experience presence lead to prototyping and user testing in regard of manipulation of certain times and spaces. Resulting in different explorations to how mediated presence will be experienced as enhanced.

Hedgehog runs across the sidewalk is a collection of texts about the everyday beauty of the world, about slowness and concentration. These are stories seen, perceived, heard by me. Stories where I stopped or they stopped me. About how the sun and the plant create a shadow, how storks fly in a circle over us, how a badger runs in the dark, how a pine cone falls from a tree, how cats sit in the dark, how they caress a plant over leaves, how a night butterfly sits in the corner of the room the dog watches something in the grass, as a rainbow spot lies on the road, as they find that it rains the least of the trees under the pine tree around, as a cloud of steam hovers over the forest, as tamarinds close their leaves at night, ... I write these texts and transfer them to handmade paper, which I made from collected papers and plants. I pin them story after story with a pin. They then meet together on a round table, where people can meet them and experience them with their eyes and touch.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地域研究) / 甲第19839号 / 地博第195号 / 新制||地||69(附属図書館) / 32875 / 京都大学大学院アジア・アフリカ地域研究研究科アフリカ地域研究専攻 / (主査)教授 木村 大治, 准教授 高田 明, 准教授 安岡 宏和 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Area Studies / Kyoto University / DGAM

The presence and spread of invasive tree species have caused great ecological and economic damages. Previous studies usually ignored the role of socioeconomic factors and seldom treated presence and abundance as different phenomena. Using Classification and Regression Trees (CART) analysis, important driving factors affecting the presence and abundance of invasive tree species in Mississippi were identified. Then these selected important factors were spatially analyzed using a spatial lag model at the plot and county levels. The empirical results from the spatial lag model showed that: 1) presence was associated with elevation, ownership, population density and per capita annual income; 2) abundance was related to stand age, elevation, growing stock and per capita annual income. These findings suggested that socioeconomic factors besides ecological factors played a significant role and factors affecting the presence and abundance were different. Thus, management prescriptions to monitor and control invasions should depend on difference factors.

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The study of the subjective gameplay experience spans multiple disciplines, from teachers who want to harness the power of gameplay to enhance instruction to game developers hoping to create the next big hit. Despite decades of interest, little agreement has been found regarding the way constructs—such as immersion, involvement, presence, and flow—are used to describe the subjective gameplay experience. Without the consistent usage of well-defined constructs, it becomes impossible to further scientific understanding of this domain. This dissertation examined the theoretical evolution of the key subjective gameplay experience constructs. From this, definitions for immersion, involvement, presence, and flow were extracted. Based on the prior work of Brockmyer et al. (2009), a revised game engagement model was created that incorporated these definitions. To test the proposed relationships within the revised game engagement model, experienced players of the computer game Minecraft were recruited for an experimental study. The participants played the game Minecraft, which was manipulated with respect to both level of difficulty and immersive aspects. This allowed for a range of potential game engagement states to be experienced by the participants. Several individual differences hypothesized to influence the different constructs of game engagement also were measured. The results of the study supported many proposed aspects of the revised game engagement model and revealed ways in which the model could be further refined. The theoretically-derived definitions and revised game engagement model resulting from this work, along with the suggested measures for these relevant constructs, provides a framework for future work in this area. This framework will improve the consistency of construct operationalization, benefiting the continued study of the subjective gameplay experience.

The purpose of simulation is to avoid reality-based constraints by the implemen-tation of a synthetic model. Based on this advantage, interactive simulations have conquered all areas of applications from acquisition, and training, to research. Simulation results are transferred in many ways into reality and conclusions are drawn from the simulation to the application. Many anecdotal observations on human-in-the-loop simulations have shown a significant difference in actor behavior between simulations and reality-based applications. It seems that the factors that makes simulation so attractive, namely the absence of constraints and especially of imminent danger for persons and equipment, influence the behavior and thereby the performance of the user. These differences between simulation and reality may lead to false conclusions based on simulation results. The concept of perceiving a simulation as real and of being in the simulation is called sense of presence. This psychological construct can also be described as level of disbelief towards the simulation. Hence, differences in behavior are based on such users assessment of a simulation and subsequently are supposed to be mediated by a difference in presence. This research established significant differences in presence and performance between a simulation and a miniature-world teleoperation task. Presence and performance changed in identical tasks due to the application type and the connected danger to the robot. Also, the results supported a negative relationship between presence and performance: presence increased in the miniature-world and affected performance so that performance decreased. The causal relationship of application type→ presence→ performance was established and demands the examination of simulation based results with respect to the perceived danger to equipment, before they are transferred into the real application.

This study examined online collegiate instructors’ perceptions of web-conferencing as an online instructional tool and as a tool for creating social presence and teaching presence and their perceptions of barriers discouraging them from using web-conferencing in online instruction. Adopting a quantitative survey research design, this study collected and analyzed survey data from 62 instructors who facilitated online instruction at a major university in northeastern Mississippi. The researcher developed the Assessment of Collegiate Instructors’ Perceptions of the Use of Web-Conferencing for Online Instruction questionnaire and administered the questionnaire via Survey Monkey to collect data of the participants’ demographic information and their perceptions about web-conferencing. Four research questions guided this study. Descriptive statistical analysis using frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, independent samples t-tests, and a Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyze the data to answer the research questions. The results of this study revealed that collegiate instructors who use web-conferencing in their online instruction have a better perception of web-conferencing as an instructional tool and as a tool for creating social and teaching presence than instructors who do not use web-conferencing. This study also shows that online collegiate instructors using web-conferencing have lower perceptions regarding barriers of using web-conferencing than those not using web-conferencing. In addition, the results from the study indicated that gender affects online collegiate instructions’ perceptions of web-conferencing as an instructional tool and as a tool for creating social and teaching presence, with female instructors having better perceptions than male instructors. The findings from this study contribute to the literature of online instruction and web-conferencing research by providing empirical evidence supporting Rogers’ (1995; 2003) innovation diffusion model and pointing out the directions for future efforts to promote online collegiate instructors’ adoption of web-conferencing. Based on the findings, this study made recommendations for future research and for facilitating adoption of web-conferencing by online collegiate instructors.

<p> Mount Zion has long been a focal point for followers of Yahweh, and central to the cultic practices of the Israelites in the Old Testament. A diachronic examination of the spatial significance of Mount Zion in scripture is undertaken along with its contribution to Zion theology. In the Psalter, Mount Zion is a present reality representing the presence of Yahweh and his established kingdom. Isaiah affirms the inviolability of Mount Zion, concluding that Zion will again be the center from which Yahweh will rule. Scripture depicts Mount Zion as the iconic example of Yahweh's desired place to gather the nations, rule and execute his justice and peace that subsequently spills to the whole earth. In Hebrews, the earthly Mount Zion is seen as an archetype of the heavenly reality. Hebrews reminds its audience of the eternal heavenly city of the living God. In this way, the Mount Zion portrayed in the NT points us to our eschatological hope that recalls the images in the Psalter, Isaiah, and other OT passages. The purpose of this work is to bring a better understanding of the biblical references to "Mount Zion" in relation to its geographical location and the implications for the way we think about Zion in the church today.</p> / Thesis / Master of Theological Studies (MTS)

This study analyses the debate that took place after a letter about the eucharist, Fira Nattvard: brev från biskoparna till Svenska kyrkans präster och församlingar, was published by the bishops of the Church of Sweden, 2020. The aim is to map the discussion with a focus on two main themes while examining a number of articles published in Swedish magazines. The themes are 1. the understanding of the extent of the real presence and how to handle the bread and wine after the service has ended, and 2. the view on concelebration.    The results show that there are two main views on the extent of real presence in the debate. The first is a durationistic view where the real presence is still present after the service has ended, and the second is a cessationistic view where the real presence ends by the end of the service. In the question about concelebration the results show that there are arguments both for and against it. The arguments for concelebration are foremost about the ecumenical perspective of being able to celebrate together, the historical perspective and also the church handbook’s possibility in this matter. Concelebration is also seen as a sign of community where the whole congregation is taking part. The arguments against concelebration are that of institution narrative, that the mass should be celebrated as close to the first eucharist as possible and that concelebration should not be a method to go around the different view of gender of the minister celebrating the mass.