Procedural human motion generation is still an open area of research. Most research into procedural human motion focus on two problem areas: the realism of the generated motion and the computation time required to generate the motion. Realism is a problem because humans are very adept at spotting the subtle nuances of human motion and so the computer generated motion tends to look mechanical. Computation time is a problem because the complexity of the motion generation algorithms results in lengthy processing times for greater levels of realism. The balancing human problem poses the question of how to procedurally generate, in real-time, realistic standing poses of an articulated human body. This report presents the balancing human algorithm that addresses both concerns: realism and computation time. Realism was addressed by integrating two existing algorithms. One algorithm addressed the physics of the human motion and the second addressed the prediction of the next pose in the animation sequence. Computation time was addressed by identifying techniques to simplify or constrain the algorithms so that the real-time goal can be met. The research methodology involved three tasks: developing and implementing the balancing human algorithm, devising a real-time simulation graphics engine, and then evaluating the algorithm with the engine. An object-oriented approach was used to model the balancing human as an articulated body consisting of systems of rigid-bodies connected together with joints. The attributes and operations of the object-oriented model were derived from existing published algorithms.

The use of Procedural Modeling for the creation of 3D models such as Buildings, Terrains, Trees etc., is becoming increasingly common in Films, Video Games, Urban Modeling and Architectural Visualization. This is due to the primary factor that using procedural models in comparison to traditional hand-modeled models helps in saving time, cost and aids in generation of a larger variety in comparison to a few. However, there are so many open problems in procedural modeling methods that does not rely on any user assistance or aid in generating models especially in terms of their visual quality and perception. Although, it is easy to identify realistic looking models from procedural models, the metrics that make them ’Real’ or ’Procedural’ is still in the indeterminable and remains uncanny in nature. The perceptual metrics (intrinsic factors such as surface features and details, extrinsic factors such as environmental attributes and visual cues) that contributes to the visual perception of Procedural models have not been studied in detail or quantified yet. This dissertation presents a first step in the direction of perceptual evaluation of procedural models of terrains. We gathered and categorized several types of real and synthetic terrains generated by methods used in computer graphics and conducted two large studies with 70 participants ranking them perceptually.<br><br>The results show that synthetic terrains lack in visual quality and are perceived worse than real terrains with statistical significance. We performed a quantitative study by using localized geomorphology based landform features on terrains (geomorphons) that indicate that valleys, ridges, and hollows have significant perceptual importance. We then used generative deep generative neural network to transfer the features from real terrains to synthetic ones and vice versa to further confirm their importance. A second perceptual experiment with 128 participants confirmed the importance of the transferred features for visual perception. Based on these results, we introduce PTQM (Perceived Terrain Quality Metrics); a novel perceptual metrics based on geomorphons that assigns a number of estimated visual quality of a terrain represented as a digital elevation map. The introduced perceptual metric based on geomorphons indicate that features such as Valley (0.66), Ridge (0.64), Summit (0.44), Depression (0.42), Spur(0.33), and Hollow (0.22) in order have significant perceptual importance. By using linear regression, we show that the presented features are strongly correlated with perceived visual quality.<br>

This three-paper dissertation tests whether General Strain Theory (GST) can be helpful in explaining the relationship between strains experienced by refugee youth and youth’s anti-social behaviors such as delinquency and radicalization to violence and what factors mediate the relationship between strain and crime. Additionally, it uses mixed methods combining community meaning-making with quantitative research methods to provide multiple lenses to the issue of youth and negative outcomes. The first chapter presents the context in which Somali refugee youth experiences should be examined as well as relevant literature. The second chapter examines if GST can help us understand the experiences of Somali youth and delinquencies. It examines if three strains (procedural injustice, teacher punishment, and family conflict) are significantly related to crimes against people among this population and if this relationship is mediated by mental health symptoms and marginalization. The results show that both procedural justice and teacher punishment were able to predict crimes against people but the relationship between procedural injustice and crimes against people was fully mediated by mental health symptoms and by marginalization while the relationship between teacher mistreatment and crime remained significant even when mental health symptoms and marginalization were added to the equation. Surprisingly, while the family conflict was highly correlated with both marginalization and mental health symptoms, it was not significantly related to crimes against people. The third chapter applies GST to radicalization to violence among Somali youth. It examines whether three strains (procedural injustice, teacher punishment, and family conflict) predict youth radicalization to violence and whether this relationship is mediated by individual-level factors such as mental health, marginalization and gang attitudes. The analysis shows that only procedural injustice is significantly related to radicalization to violence and that both marginalization and gang attitudes fully mediated the relationship while mental health partially mediated it. The final chapter uses Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to examine community meaning making around youth radicalization. Qualitative interview results show that community members were able to identify important structural, cultural and individual level factors that led to youth radicalization and that many of the factors that they identified such as police and teacher mistreatment and gang presence where similar to the findings in the quantitative research.

With the increasing size of 3D environments manual modelling becomes a more and more difficult task to perform, while retaining variety in the assets. The use of procedural generation is a well-established procedure within the field today. There have been multiple works presented within the field before, but many of them only focus on certain parts of the process. In this thesis a system is presented for procedurally generating complete build- ings, with an interior. Evaluation has shown that the developed system is compa- rable to existing systems, both in terms of performance and level of detail. The resulted buildings could be utilized in real time environments, such as computer games, where enterable buildings often are a requirement for making the envi- ronment feel alive.

Selvan Naidoo, Student no: 0215998E. MSc Education, Faculty of Science, 2006. / This study used concept mapping to explore South African Grade 11 learners’ understanding of the function concept. Learners’ understanding of the function concept was investigated by examining the relationships learners made between the function concept and other mathematical concepts. The study falls within a social constructivist framework and is underpinned by the key educational notion of understanding. The research method employed was a case study. Data for the study was collected through a concept mapping task, a task on functions and individual learner interviews. In the analysis four key issues are identified and discussed. They are concerned with (a) learners who make most connections; (b) issues related to learners’ omission and addition of concepts; (c) learners’ use of examples in concept mapping and (d) the nature of connections learners made. The study concludes that concept mapping is an effective tool to explore learners’ understanding of the function concept. The report concludes with recommendations for classroom practice, teacher education and further research, particularly given the context of school mathematics practice in the South African curriculum where concept mapping (i.e. use of metacogs) has recently been incorporated as an assessment tool.

Bakgrund: Två vanligt förekommande smärtsamma procedurer på barn i sjukvården är insättning av perifer venkateter (PVK) och behandling med lavemang (KLYX). För att lindra procedursmärta hos barn är det viktigt med en välgenomtänkt planering som gör barn och föräldrar trygga och lugna inför proceduren. Syfte: Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur föräldrar upplevde förberedelser på sjukhus inför insättning av perifer venkateter eller givande av lavemang på deras barn. Metod: Studien var en kvantitativ enkätstudie, där frågorna besvarades av 71 föräldrar med barn upp till 12 års ålder som genomgått PVK-insättning eller lavemangbehandling. Joyce Travelbees omvårdnadsteori användes som teoretiskreferensram för att beskriva vikten av information och god kommunikation i vården. Resultat: Resultatet visade att 91% av föräldrarna fick information om barnets behandling och 78% av föräldrarna var nöjda med informationen de fick inför proceduren på barnet. En större andel av barnen som fick PVK (88%) fick smärtlindring jämfört med barnen som fick KLYX (5%) (p = 0,001). Sjutton föräldrar (24%) i studien upplevde att deras barn inte hade möjlighet att stoppa proceduren om den blev för jobbig. Av föräldrarna blev 36,6% tillfrågade om sina önskemål inför barnets procedur. Slutsats: Denna enkätstudie visade att en stor andel av föräldrarna inte blev tillfrågade om sina önskemål inför proceduren som barnet skulle genomgå. Den belyser också att en grupp föräldrar upplevde att barnet vid de smärtsamma procedurerna inte kunde säga stopp om behandlingen blev för jobbig. Studien belyser vikten av att fråga föräldrar om önskemål för delaktighet i barnets vård samt att barnet måste ges möjlighet till att kunna sätta stopp om behandlingen blir för jobbig. / Background: Two commonly occurring painful procedures for children in healthcare are the insertion of peripheral vein catheters (PVK) and treatment with enema (KLYX). In order to ease the pain for the children during the procedure, it is important to have a well planning that makes children and parents safe and calm before starting the procedure. Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate how parents experienced preparations in hospitals prior to inserting peripheral vein catheters or giving enema to their children. Method: The study was a quantitative survey, which the questionnaire was answered by 71 parents with children up to 12 years of age who had experienced PVK insertion or enema treatment. Joyce Travelbees nursing theory was chosen as theoretical referencefram to describe the importance of information and good communication in healthcare. Result: The result showed that 91% of the parents got information about the child's treatment and 78% of the parents were satisfied with the information they received before the procedure for the child. A larger proportion of the children who got PVK (88%) received pain relief compared to the children who got KLYX (5%) (p = 0,001). Seventeen parents (24%) in the study found that their children hadn’t possibility to stop the procedure if it became too difficult. 36,6% of the parents were asked about their wishes before the initiating the procedure. Conclusion: This survey showed that a large proportion of the parents were not asked about their wishes before the starting the procedure which the child would undergo. It also highlights that a group of parents felt that the child hadn’t possibility to stop the procedures if the treatment becomes too painful. The study highlights the importance of asking parents about the wishes for participation in the child's care and that the child must be given the opportunity to be able to stop the treatment if it becomes too painful.

Procedural Content Generation innebär att spelinnehåll automatiskt genereras för att dels både öka variationen i spel dels och minska arbetsbelastningen hos designers. Ett användningsområde för detta är rumbaserad bangenerering. Målet med detta  här arbetet är var att jämföra två algoritmer som gör just detta:; Binary Space Partitioning och Delaunay Triangulation. De kriterier som algoritmerna utvärderades på var tidseffektivitet, variation, likhet och möjligheten att nå alla rum. Resultatet visade att Binary Space Partitioning hade snabbare genereringstid samtidigt som Delaunay Triangulation gav utvecklaren mer valmöjligheter. Vilken algoritm som var att föredra ifall tidsaspekten inte bar mest tyngd blev helt en en mestadels subjektiv fråga där varje enskild utvecklares önskemål kommer påverka svaret. Ifall arbetet skulle fortsättas i framtiden skulle det vara intressant att utföra fler tester med flera olika mätvärden samt använda algoritmerna i ett spel och sedan påta låta spelare testare bedöma kvalitén hos banorna som genereras.

Thesis advisor: Maria E. Brisk / The Writing Development of Procedural and Persuasive Genres: A Multiple Case Study of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students Margarita Zisselsberger María Estela Brisk, Dissertation Director Abstract In this dissertation study, I examine the writing development of five culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in an elementary classroom, where English is the language of instruction. Interest in written literacy for monolingual and bilingual learners has increased as a result of high-stakes testing, No Child Left Behind, and state adoption of the Common Core Standards. Additionally, National Assessment of Educational Progress (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2007) shows that CLD students score significantly lower on writing performance tasks than their mainstream English-speaking Caucasian peers. This study seeks to better understand the process by which CLD students develop the specific characteristics of procedural and persuasive writing given the instruction in these genres. This year-long qualitative research study used a multiple case-study design (Hancock & Algozzine, 2006; Merriam, 1998) and included classroom observations, videotaped examples of the nexus between classroom instruction and student writing, the collection of students' writing samples, student interviews, and formal and informal teacher interviews. For this study, I followed one fifth-grade teacher and five of her students as they worked on the two genres. Guided by systemic functional linguistic theory--a linguistic theory that reveals features that encase cultural and social expectations, making the language demands of schooling explicit--the analysis examined students' writing development in the two genres, the context and process of their development in the genres, and an in-depth examination of the impact of the context and process on their procedural and persuasive writing pieces. The results suggest that CLD students' writing development is multifaceted and complex. CLD students' writing development of procedural and persuasive writing was mediated by interrelated factors: the individual student, the peers, the teacher, and the texts themselves. I discuss the role of each of the mediating factors and argue for adopting a model of writing that incorporates a combination of genre- and process- writing theories with a particular understanding of the unique nuances pertinent to CLD students. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

O objeto central desta pesquisa são as Poéticas Procedurais, manifestações artísticas baseadas fundamentalmente na programabilidade e autonomia das mídias digitais, e que portanto só podem ser realizadas através deste meio (independentemente do suporte de exibição da obra final). Nesta situação, o computador é empregado pelo artista como uma espécie de máquina criadora, contendo em si o projeto da obra na forma de um programa (ou algoritmo). Investigamos como estas práticas criativas específicas, pelo seu caráter de autorreflexão, podem servir como um olhar sobre o pensamento artístico. Também examinamos o papel fundamental destas estratégias procedurais de criação na consolidação do meio digital como forma expressiva independente. / The object of this research are the Procedural Poetics, artistic manifestations based fundamentally on the programmability and autonomy of digital media, and therefore that can only be achieved through this medium (regardless of the support of the final work). In this situation, the computer is used by the artist as a kind of creator machine, containing within itself the project of the work in the form of a program (or algorithm). We investigate how these specific creative practices, due to their aspect of self-reflection, can serve as a glimpse into the artistic thinking. We also examine the fundamental role of these procedural strategies of creation in the consolidation of the digital medium as an independent expressive form.

O sistema de execução forçada é o instrumento previsto no Código de Processo Civil Brasileiro destinado a satisfazer o credor de obrigações pecuniárias contidas em sentenças ou em títulos executivos extrajudiciais. Trata-se de sistema cujo bom funcionamento não só interessa às partes de um litígio, mas a toda sociedade, em função de suas importantes repercussões sociais e econômicas. Por meio da execução forçada o Juiz invade o patrimônio do devedor, independentemente da vontade deste, e expropria bens em benefício do credor. Para o adequado funcionamento da execução forçada é essencial que o ato processual de penhora de bens do devedor seja efetivo. A penhora consiste em apreender e afetar juridicamente bens do devedor, os quais ficam vinculados ao Juízo da execução até o momento próprio de realização da expropriação dos bens. A penhora é ato processual que incide sobre a realidade econômica e social e padece de suas contingências. O objetivo desta dissertação de Mestrado é investigar a relação entre o ato de penhora e seu objeto, a partir da premissa de que o método ou a forma de apreensão judicial deve estar plenamente adaptado aos atributos sociais, jurídicos e econômicos do bem que se pretende apreender. Nesse contexto, será investigado o regime da penhora do Código de Processo Civil Brasileiro, bem como serão estudados os tipos de penhora de bens de significação econômica mais importante na realidade atual. / The system of forced execution is the instrument set forth in the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure destined to satisfy the creditor of pecuniary obligations contained in judgments or in extrajudicial execution instruments. It is a system, the good functioning of which is of interest not only to the parties in a litigation, but also to society as a whole, in view of its important social and economic repercussions. The Judge, by means of the forced execution, invades the debtors assets, irrespective of the will of the latter, and expropriates assets to the benefit of the creditor. For the proper functioning of the forced execution, it is essential that the procedural act of levy of the debtors assets be effective. The levy consists of seizing and legally affecting the debtors assets, which become bound to the Court of the execution until the specific time of performance of the expropriation of the assets. The levy is a procedural act which applies to economic and social reality, and lacks its contingencies. The objective of this Masters dissertation is to investigate the relationship between the act of levy and its object, starting from the premise that the method or the form of judicial seizure must be fully adapted to the social, juridical and economic attributes of the asset which is intended to be seized. In this context, the regime of levy in the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure will be investigated, as well studying the types of levy of assets of the most important economic significance in the current reality.