American philosopher and theologian, John M. Frame (1939—) is respected as one of the most outstanding systematic theologians in our day. Likely due to the fact that he is still living, academic scholarship on Frame is virtually non-existent. Still, his writings demand engagement especially in the light of his distinctive Lordship theology, and its unique core idea: perspectivalism, also known as the lordship principle. The aim of this present research is thus to define precisely what “lordship” means to Frame. Deciphering this meaning requires more than explication, but also interrogative interaction. The research will thus begin with a biblical-theological evaluation of the Framian idea of lordship in dialogue with the eminent, Dutch theologian, Abraham van de Beek. It then moves to an evaluation of how perspectivalism affects Frame’s views on ethics, apologetics, and theology of culture. The research in these areas will scrutinize Frame’s corpus as well as examine his views in colloquia with thinkers with shared interests. Because these disciplines are linked in Frame with other areas of his thought, the data also include explications and appraisals of his work in ontology and epistemology. Frame’s lordship principle is linked with a particular methodology. He sums the whole of God and his involvement with his creation according to three perspectives (hence perspectivalism). Those are God’s control, authority and presence. Frame sums the human response to these perspectives according to three related ideas: the existential, normative, and existential. God’s perspectival interaction with his creation, and the human response, by both Christian and non-Christian alike, leads Frame to original outcomes in dogmatics, which are explored in this work. The finding of this research demonstrates a theological approach that bridges both essential and constructive interests. That is to say that, on the one hand, Frame’s method is guided solely by the voice of Scripture while, on the other hand, his lordship principle presents historic Reformed theology afresh in ways previously undiscovered. Frame’s original approach may well set the stage for an awakening of Reformed thought. It is hoped that this seminal work will spark such a revival in theology. / PhD (Dogmatics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

American philosopher and theologian, John M. Frame (1939—) is respected as one of the most outstanding systematic theologians in our day. Likely due to the fact that he is still living, academic scholarship on Frame is virtually non-existent. Still, his writings demand engagement especially in the light of his distinctive Lordship theology, and its unique core idea: perspectivalism, also known as the lordship principle. The aim of this present research is thus to define precisely what “lordship” means to Frame. Deciphering this meaning requires more than explication, but also interrogative interaction. The research will thus begin with a biblical-theological evaluation of the Framian idea of lordship in dialogue with the eminent, Dutch theologian, Abraham van de Beek. It then moves to an evaluation of how perspectivalism affects Frame’s views on ethics, apologetics, and theology of culture. The research in these areas will scrutinize Frame’s corpus as well as examine his views in colloquia with thinkers with shared interests. Because these disciplines are linked in Frame with other areas of his thought, the data also include explications and appraisals of his work in ontology and epistemology. Frame’s lordship principle is linked with a particular methodology. He sums the whole of God and his involvement with his creation according to three perspectives (hence perspectivalism). Those are God’s control, authority and presence. Frame sums the human response to these perspectives according to three related ideas: the existential, normative, and existential. God’s perspectival interaction with his creation, and the human response, by both Christian and non-Christian alike, leads Frame to original outcomes in dogmatics, which are explored in this work. The finding of this research demonstrates a theological approach that bridges both essential and constructive interests. That is to say that, on the one hand, Frame’s method is guided solely by the voice of Scripture while, on the other hand, his lordship principle presents historic Reformed theology afresh in ways previously undiscovered. Frame’s original approach may well set the stage for an awakening of Reformed thought. It is hoped that this seminal work will spark such a revival in theology. / PhD (Dogmatics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This dissertation investigates the interplay between a selected set of museum practices, such as online strategies, digitisation of artwork reproductions, and crowdsourcing, through a theoretically grounded perspective. Existing discourse and debate on the museum's movement from an exclusively physical, to a digital or hybrid presence display an excessive interest in advocacy, usually focusing on small examples of successful practices which are then argued as somehow empowering or resolutive, usually from a 'social justice' point of view. Conversely, in those same discourses little attention is paid to the macro-context within which these cases take place: current debates lack an articulation of how museum practices reflect ongoing trends and paradigms on a culture-wide level, and also eschew non-advocative, neutral discussion of the politics, discourses and power relations that such practice entail. I suggest that the contemporary constructivist, digital museum can be better contextualised if we frame emergent digital museum praxis within a framework that resorts to well-established, and well-described theoretical paradigms that can be observed in other cultural and social contexts as well. The advantage of such an approach is that museum practice, and the museum as an institution, can then be seen in continuity with current macro-trends, rather than as isolates whose usefulness and sustainability begins and ends within the museum's precinct. This dissertation begins this proposed shift in point of view by addressing emergent museum practices such as the drafting of digital strategies; the creation of digital reproductions of artworks for online display; and crowdsourcing in the context of theoretical frameworks such as the utopian imagination; ontology of digital-beings; and contemporary labour practices. While not comprehensive, and exploratory in nature, this dissertation contributes to the discipline by providing a new, more in-depth point of view on 'hot' practices, encouraging a contextualisation of the museum that goes beyond the museum itself, into a theoretical and interdisciplinary field that takes advantage of ideas developed within digital humanities, labour critique, informatics and cultural studies.

Doctor of Education / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Rosemary S. Talab / The purpose of this case study was to explore Teaching Presence in the undergraduate online Business course environment. This study explored the following three Research Questions: 1. How do undergraduate Business students perceive Teaching Presence in online courses? 2. What Teaching Presence components do undergraduate Business students find valuable in online courses? 3. How do exemplary undergraduate online Business course faculty demonstrate Teaching Presence in online instruction? The population of this study consisted of 20 undergraduate Business students and 3 student-nominated Business faculty. Participants included Business students enrolled in online Business courses. Based on the student interviews, the faculty most often nominated by the students as demonstrating effective methods of Teaching Presence in online Business courses served as faculty participants. Interviews of students and faculty were conducted during the Fall 2015 semester. There were 101 units identified for Research Question 1, with 46 units for the theme of "Direct Instruction", 36 for the theme of "Discourse Facilitation", and 19 units for the theme of "Design and Organization". The major findings from these research questions were that undergraduate Business students perceived online course Teaching Presence most through Direct Instruction. Students perceived prompting student engagement in discussions and encouraging student participation as important elements of the "Discourse Facilitation" theme. Students perceived good course design methods as being important to Teaching Presence. There were 245 units identified for Research Question 2, with 93 units for the theme of "Design and Organization", 88 units for "Discourse Facilitation" and 64 units for Direct Instruction". The major findings were that the "Design and Organization" theme was found to be most valuable to undergraduate Business students in the form of designing methods and establishing time parameters. Setting a climate for learning within the "Discourse Facilitation" theme and confirming understanding within the "Direct Instruction" themes were important to students when discussing what Teaching Presence components they found valuable in online Business courses. There were 81 units identified for Research Question 3, which consisted of faculty interviews focused on how exemplary online Business course faculty demonstrated Teaching Presence. The themes that were found in the faculty interviews were 30 units for the "Design and Organization" theme, 26 units for the "Discourse Facilitation" theme and 25 units for the "Direct Instruction" theme. The major findings were that the "Design and Organization" theme was found to be of the utmost importance to exemplary faculty when discussing the demonstration of Teaching Presence in online Business courses. Within the "Discourse Facilitation" theme, faculty emphasized the importance of drawing in participants and prompting discussion. Confirming understanding was found to be the most important aspect of the "Direct Instruction" theme. Recommendations for the research setting were in the areas of learning activity clarity, the use of integrated video lectures, enriched student-instructor interaction strategies, and technological tools to identify student comprehension struggles. Recommendations for future research including a study of Teaching Presence in different academic disciplines and in different academic environments, the efficacy of various technologies in enhancing Teaching Presence, and instructor attributes influencing Teaching Presence.

Virtual Reality (VR) can potentially transport the user to another world. Outside of VR, musical soundtrack is usually placed outside of the scene, referred to as non-diegetic sound. In VR, this could potentially break immersion. Other ways to implement music have to be tested. A test was created consisting of three scenes with a wide selection of “listening modes”, or musical configurations. The listening modes ranged from non-diegetic stereo music via headphones to diegetic, played from speakers inside the VR spaces. 10 respondents played through the scenes in VR, experiencing every listening mode. Respondents then replied to a questionnaire gathering their thoughts on their experience. Results showed that immersion improved the more the experience corresponded to expectations from outside of VR. Non-diegetic listening modes were considered less immersive than diegetic listening modes. This study lays a basic foundation for further research on music in VR with initial guidelines for proper implementation.

This research contributes to the field of ontology-based semantic matching techniques and also to the field of Instant Messaging (IM) based enhanced presence. It aims to achieve a mutually beneficial development of two fields through interactions in their use of data and their functionality. With respect to semantic matching this research has developed a collaborative and self-evolutionary approach based on user involvement in order to overcome disadvantages of traditional ontology-based approaches. At the same time, enhanced semantic matching algorithms were also explored and developed to achieve better performance when searching and querying through the ontology. In order to realize this automatic, dynamic and collaborative approach, a Jabber-based IM system was built to support its development with specific data and to evaluate its performance. In the prototype of the system, Computer Science area is selected to be the domain of the ontology in order to demonstrate the practicability of the new approach. With respect to enhanced presence an efficient semantic-based contacts search engine which can feature context-based search ranking is provided to support academic researchers. It is especially designed to help new academic researchers to find potential contacts who share a common research interest. It enriches the IM system's presence information, and helps the user to pick the most suitable contacts and conveniently organize meetings or co-operating with others. Consequently, this research improves the efficiency of users' academic researching, and extends users' relationship radius during their academic research careers. The contributions are particularly highlighted by the comprehensive support during the academic user's self-educational process.

While a significant amount of research illustrates the positive effects of therapists’ use of mindfulness, few studies have addressed whether therapists’ mindfulness actually improves psychotherapy outcomes. Additionally, no existing research has examined whether therapists’ use of a mindfulness exercise immediately before meeting with a client could also have a positive impact on the following session. The purpose of this study was to test whether engaging in a centering exercise 5-10 minutes before a session could have a positive impact on therapy, in particular on the therapists’ ability to remain present in session. Results indicated that the trainee therapists did not report changes in mindfulness after the brief mindfulness training program. Results also indicated that completing the centering exercise before a session did not appear to impact client ratings of therapeutic presence and session outcomes. The results suggest that more intensive training in mindfulness may be necessary to impact psychotherapy outcomes.

To achieve the highest levels of immersion and presence possible in a Virtual Reality experience, all of the sensory input we receive in the real world must be simulatable in Virtual Environments (VE) as well. Foregoing the more popular audio-visual feedback, this project aims to better understand the benefits of adding tactile feedback (namely that of airflow) to the VR-developer‟s toolkit. Through user tests, involving a hairdryer to produce a strong airflow that is easily redirected and changed in temperature, feedback was collected on the user experiences and applications of airflow in a VE made to simulate a walk through river lands similar to the ones found in Sweden. While there was no singular way that the participants experienced the added sensory input, most reported the airflow as being equally important to feeling immersed as background music, and on average almost as important as other audio cues. Perhaps most importantly, rich insights were gathered that can guide further research.

This thesis investigates the design and use of communication technologies to support long distance dating relationships (LDDRs). We focus on using co-located behaviours that hold special relational meaning as the metaphor behind the design of devices to mediate between separated partners. Social Presence is used as the main theoretical construct through which support for LDDRs is addressed. Social Presence is a phenomenological concept which refers to “the degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and the consequent salience of the interpersonal relationship” [Short et al., 1976, p. 65]. An additional concept, Closeness, is also brought in to the design problem to account for the supportive role of communication technologies between moments of synchronous contact. This thesis proposes three main arguments. The first is that individual acts of communication, through feelings of Social Presence, have an impact on a couple’s feelings of Closeness towards one another. We explore possible connections between Social Presence and Closeness through a diary study. The results of the diary study also establish that the selection of communication media impacts feelings of Social Presence. Our second argument is that a number of design facets, explored throughout the thesis, could enhance the design of communication technologies for LDDRs by increasing feelings of Social Presence. An analysis of current literature informs the development of seven prototype devices based on hand-holding, hugging, sharing notes and pillow talk. Two interview studies explore people’s reactions to these devices. The findings from these studies are integrated into a design space which describes some of the design decisions that should be considered when creating behaviour-based devices which aim to support LDDRs. Our third argument is that devices based on co-located behaviours support LDDRs through engendering high levels of SP. This is investigated through five case studies using the devices we previously developed, showing that three of our devices are associated with particularly high levels of SP. They also provide insights about the design space facets, as realised in the devices, through using the devices within couples’ existing communication routines. The thesis concludes with a discussion of how the results of these studies are of relevance to researchers interested in supporting long distance dating relationships. Our investigation into Social Presence provides two main contributions; firstly it offers an understanding of how various factors (including relationship type and distance) affect feelings of SP. Secondly, it demonstrates that increasing feelings of Social Presence can have a longer-term impact on LDDRs through increasing their feelings of Closeness towards one another. This suggests that SP is suitable concept to try and support through the design of communication technologies. In addition to informing our discussion of our design space, the case studies within this thesis highlight that devices based on co-located behaviours can help support LDDRs. Given the dearth of devices based on this metaphor, we suggest that other researchers may be interested in extending these findings by exploring other behavioural metaphors. The design space proposed within this thesis offers two main contributions. Firstly, designers can use the design space to foster innovation when creating new designs. Design spaces result in a descriptive and exploratory tool for designers creating new innovations. Secondly, the comprehensive consideration of the various dimensions, especially regarding our consideration of existing communication technologies, provides researchers with a novel design-centric view over the state of the art.

Resumo: O estudo objetivou compreender os motivos da procura precoce do atendimento hospitalar pelas mulheres no final da gestação conduzidas pelo Serviço de Atendimento Móvel de Urgência. Utilizou-se a abordagem fenomenológica do tipo socioexistencial, proposta por Alfred Schütz considerando o desejo de revelar a característica típica de um grupo social que vive determinada situação. Os sujeitos foram nove gestantes conduzidas à maternidade em falso trabalho de parto. A entrevista foi norteada pelas questões: Quais os motivos que a levaram a procurar a maternidade? Conte-me a sua trajetória até a chegada aqui e qual a sua expectativa quando chegar o momento do trabalho de parto?. Os discursos foram submetidos a análise idiográfica e nomotética, emergindo do fenômeno as categorias: A crença em que está em trabalho de parto devido aos sinais/sintomas percebidos, A influencia de outros na procura pela assistência obstétrica, A dependência dos sistemas de apoio como influência na decisão, A busca pela tranqüilidade devido ao medo e insegurança sentidos, A busca pelo término da gestação e ocorrência do parto. Na relação social intersubjetiva de mulheres inseridas em um espaço comum de experiência, a vivência do final da gestação representa uma transformação no seu fazer cotidiano, seu comportamento e relacionamento social. Ao refletirem seus motivos porque, revelam uma riqueza de valores e crenças pessoais que constituem sua bagagem de conhecimentos adquiridos em suas experiências vividas. A presença da dor ou o temor de sentí-la mobilizam a ação de institucionalizar-se, garantindo a segurança que a relação face a face com os profissionais proporciona. A rede de relacionamento social influenciou sua decisão, bem como o incômodo causado pelas mudanças na rotina dos familiares para o suporte ao parto. Evidenciam conflitos internos na decisão... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The study aimed to understand the causes of the precocious search of the nosocomial service for the women in the end of the gestation driven by the Movable Service of Urgency. The approach made use fenomenológica of the type socioexistencial, proposed by Alfred Schütz considering the wish of revealing the typical characteristic of a social group that survives determined situation. The subjects were nine pregnant women led to the motherhood in false labor. The interview was orientated by the questions: Which the motives that took it looking for the motherhood? Tell to me his trajectory up to the brought near one here and which his expectation when the moment of the labor will arrive? The speeches were subjected the analysis idiográfica and nomotética, when the categories are surfacing of the phenomenon: The belief in which he labors due to the perceived signs / symptoms, influences It of others the search for the obstetric presence, The dependence of the systems of support as influence the decision, The search for the tranquillity due to the fear and insecurity felt, The search for the end of the gestation and incident of the childbirth. In the social intersubjective relation of women inserted in a common space of experience, the existence of the end of the gestation it represents a transformation in his to do daily, his behaviour and social relationship. While reflecting his motives because, they reveal a wealth of values and personal beliefs that constitute his luggage of knowledges acquired in his experiences experienced in life. The presence of the pain or the sentí-woolen fear mobilize the action of institucionalizar-se, when there is guaranteeing the security guard what the relation face to face with the professionals provides. The net of social relationship influenced his decision, as well as the nuisance caused by the changes in the routine of the relatives for the suppor... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Orientador: Maria de Lourdes S. M. Ferreira / Coorientador: Regina Célia Popim / Banca: Creusa Capalbo / Banca: Wilza Carla Spiri / Mestre