<p>Humanity has always dreamed about a better world. These dreams has manifested themselves in the vision of Utopia - the good place, but also the non-existing place. Up until World War II man still wrote optimistic descriptions of this ideal world, and spread the idea through literature. In the aftermath of the atomic bomb and under the influence of the cold war, these publications seized to surface in literary surroundings. Despite this utopia did not die - it has only changed. Today you can find utopia, not primarily in books, but in Science Fiction. TV’s biggest Science Fiction-series, Star Trek, is perhaps the best example of this. The Master's thesis "Utopia Trek - a travel through Star Trek with the concept of utopia" takes you through the history of utopia and into its new habitat, Star Trek, where the essence of a utopia for the 21th century is found, discussed and reevaluated.</p> / <p>Mänskligheten har alltid drömt om en bättre värld. Dessa drömmar har manifesterats i visionen om Utopia - den goda platsen, men också platsen som inte existerar. Fram till andra världskriget skrev man fortfarande optimistiska beskrivningar av denna idealvärld, och spred idén via litteraturen. Efter hotet från atombomben och under påverkan av det kalla kriget, slutade dessa publikationer att dyka uppi litterära sammanhang. Trots detta dog inte drömmen utopia - det har bara förändrats. Idag kan man finna utopia, inte företrädesvis i böcker, utan i science fiction. Tv:s största science fiction-serie, Star Trek, är kanske det bästa exemplet på detta. Magisteruppsatsen "Utopia Trek - utopibegreppets resa genom Star Trek" tar dig genom utopias historia och in i dess nya hemvist, Star Trek, där essensen av ett utopia för 2000-talet upptäcks, diskuteras och omvärderas. </p>

Humanity has always dreamed about a better world. These dreams has manifested themselves in the vision of Utopia - the good place, but also the non-existing place. Up until World War II man still wrote optimistic descriptions of this ideal world, and spread the idea through literature. In the aftermath of the atomic bomb and under the influence of the cold war, these publications seized to surface in literary surroundings. Despite this utopia did not die - it has only changed. Today you can find utopia, not primarily in books, but in Science Fiction. TV’s biggest Science Fiction-series, Star Trek, is perhaps the best example of this. The Master's thesis "Utopia Trek - a travel through Star Trek with the concept of utopia" takes you through the history of utopia and into its new habitat, Star Trek, where the essence of a utopia for the 21th century is found, discussed and reevaluated. / Mänskligheten har alltid drömt om en bättre värld. Dessa drömmar har manifesterats i visionen om Utopia - den goda platsen, men också platsen som inte existerar. Fram till andra världskriget skrev man fortfarande optimistiska beskrivningar av denna idealvärld, och spred idén via litteraturen. Efter hotet från atombomben och under påverkan av det kalla kriget, slutade dessa publikationer att dyka uppi litterära sammanhang. Trots detta dog inte drömmen utopia - det har bara förändrats. Idag kan man finna utopia, inte företrädesvis i böcker, utan i science fiction. Tv:s största science fiction-serie, Star Trek, är kanske det bästa exemplet på detta. Magisteruppsatsen "Utopia Trek - utopibegreppets resa genom Star Trek" tar dig genom utopias historia och in i dess nya hemvist, Star Trek, där essensen av ett utopia för 2000-talet upptäcks, diskuteras och omvärderas.

This thesis focuses on to word problems and elementary school pupils. Research on mathematical word problems suggests that differences in success are not only due to different levels of pupils' cognitive abilities but that their motivation plays a role, too. Therefore, in this study, I focused on the context of word problem as a potential source of situational interest, which may affect the quality of pupils' cognitive function in the short term or permanently. I used my participation in a broader quantitatively oriented research on variables influencing the difficulty of word problems and using its methodology, I investigated the influence of different types of contexts on pupils' success in solving the problems. The examined aspect of context was attractiveness - the question was whether pupils would be more successful in solving word problems with elements of fairy tale, science fiction or humour than in similar problems with the same structure but with a neutral context. Pupils of the 3rd to 6th grades of primary school (n = 2 092) were divided into two groups of a comparable ability and each was presented with one of the variants - attractive or neutral. To evaluate the results quantitatively, the Item Response Theory was used allowed us to determine the difficulty of the problem depending on...

Body weight supported treadmill training (BWSTT) is being promoted as an effective means of restoring ambulatory abilities among individuals with incomplete spinal cord injuries. The emphasis of this thesis is on the description of the metabolic demands and the EMG profiles of able-bodied persons and individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI) while walking under the identical conditions on a body weight support (BWS) treadmill. The secondary purpose was to contrast the metabolic and muscular responses between the two groups. Two separate chapters describing the metabolic demands and EMG profiles respectively follow the review of the literature. The metabolic results indicate that raising the speed and/or decreasing the amount of BWS increase the intensity of BWS treadmill walking, with speed having a more profound effect. The SCI group was less efficient and they had greater metabolic rates of oxygen consumption than the controls for all conditions examined. This led to the conclusion that walking on the treadmill, for the SCI group can provide an effective aerobic exercise stimulus. The EMG profiles suggest that speed and BWS affect the phasic characteristics of the muscular activity while walking for both groups. Furthermore, abnormalities, omissions and inappropriate levels of activity were observed in the SCI group when compared to the controls. These irregularities suggest that the SCI participants have adopted altered motor strategies while walking, relative to the control group. Nonetheless, the SCI participants showed evidence of appropriate modulations in their EMG activity to meet the demands of the task as they changed from one condition to the next. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The topic of my thesis is conning in the Czech Republic. Conning stands for actions, which take place at conventions of fans of the fantasy genre called cons. Ethnographic study consist of two circuits. The first one focuses on cons, and their different aspects of realization, as well as services, including mechandising. The second on is dedicated to participants of this kind of event. The research focuses not only on their activity at conventions, but also reflects the consumption of the genre and partecipation of related activities. The theoretical part was based on the specialist literature. Theoretical bases served to define research questions. Methods used for data collection include participant observation, semi-structured ethnographic interviews, analysis of documents, informal and unstructured ethnographic interviews and questionnaires. Timeframe for data collection is the period from June 2015 to April 2016. For analysis were used the grounded theory principles, namely open and axial coding. The output is an paradigmatic model. Research identifies characteristic elements of conning in the Czech Republic, differences between domestic and foreign cons and experience of the participants. Also illustrates the role of a fantasy genre fiction in the life of participants, and their perception of...

Dentro da área de Ensino de Ciências é possível identificar a existência da linha de trabalho que advoga o ensino de uma Física detentora de valor Cultural dentro de sala de aula. Trabalhos como os de Zanetic (1989) sugerem que a Física, por não ser desprovida de conteúdo ideológico e político seja ensinada nas escolas públicas dentro de um contexto sociocultural. Neste caminho, pretendemos contribuir para o diálogo entre a Física e a Cultura, em especial a Cultura de Massas, apresentando uma análise do potencial didático apresentado pela Leitura de Histórias em Quadrinhos de Ficção Científica dentro da sala de aula em um curso de Física. Utilizamos como referenciais para a relação entre Física e Cultura os trabalhos de George Snyders (1988) C.P. Snow (1959) e do próprio Zanetic (1989). A relação entre História em Quadrinhos e Educação foi analisada a partir dos trabalhos do prof. Waldomiro Vergueiro (2009) da ECA-USP e de outros estudiosos da área. Para iluminar o laço entre a Ficção Científica e o Ensino de Física, nos baseamos na teoria de análise dos pólos temáticos desenvolvida por Piassi (2007). Como demonstraremos adiante, o diálogo entre a Física, as Histórias em Quadrinhos de Ficção Científica e o período histórico-social que as produz é profundo, fazendo com que a leitura deste material em sala de aula possa fornecer o ponto de partida para o estudo de uma Física detentora de um perfil cultural, cujo domínio é capaz de levar o aluno ao questionamento, resultando em uma ação de mudança social. O recorte temático para estudo adotou as histórias do título em quadrinhos \"Quarteto Fantástico\", publicado originalmente desde 1962 e cujo lançamento pode ser considerado uma resposta cultural as sucessivas derrotas enfrentadas pela sociedade norte-americana no campo da corrida espacial. Exploraremos o panorama geral delineado pelos três números iniciais da publicação, responsáveis pela definição de uma matriz narrativa publicada de forma ininterrupta até os dias de hoje. Para fins de comparação adotamos as três primeiras aventuras de sua versão reformulada para o Século XXI após os eventos de 11 de Setembro de 2001, o chamado \"Quarteto Fantástico Ultimate\". Nosso objetivo é apresentar as relações entre a expressão artística da Ciência e os anseios sociais relacionados às descobertas científicas, apresentadas nos dois títulos. O resultado obtido evidencia que discutir uma História em Quadrinhos de Ficção Científica em sala de aula significa discutir a sociedade que as criou, fazendo com que a leitura crítica de um título possibilite ao aluno o contato com uma Física fruto da construção humana e detentora de um papel cultural. / Within the area of Science Education it is possible to identify a line of work where several studies advocate the teaching of a Cultural Physics in the classroom. Authors such as Zanetic (1989) suggests that physics can be taught in public schools within a sociocultural context, because it is not devoid of ideological and political content. In this way, we intend to contribute to the dialogue between physics and culture, especially the mass culture, presenting an analysis of the didactic potential represented by reading Sci Fi comics during physics class. We used works such as George Snyders (1988) C.P. Snow (1959) and the very own Zanetic (1989) as references for the relationship between physics and culture. The relationship between Comics and Education was analyzed based on the studies of prof. Waldomiro Vergueiro (2009), ECA-USP and other scholars in the field. To illuminate the link between science fiction and physics teaching, we rely on the theory developed by Piassi (2007) for exploration of thematic poles. As we intend to demonstrate further, the dialogue between physics, sci fi comics and the socialhistorical period which produces it is deep, making the reading material in the classroom provide a starting point for the studies of physics with a cultural profile. This domain leads to questioning the student, which may result in an action for social change. The cutout theme adopted for the stories study is the comic book title \"Fantastic Four\", originally published in 1962 and whose release can be considered as a cultural response to the successive defeats faced by the American society throughout the space race, as will be demonstrated below. We explore the big picture outlined by the first three numbers of the publication, responsible for the definition of a matrix narrative published uninterruptedly up until the present day. For comparison purposes we will adopt the first three adventures of a reformulated version for the twenty-first century after the events of September 11, 2001, called \"Ultimate Fantastic Four\". Our goal is to demonstrate the relationship between expressive artistic science and social expectations related scientific findings, presented in both titles. As a result, we expect to demonstrate that discussing a sci fi comic book in the classroom means discussing the society that created them, making the critical reading of a title possible for the students to make contact with detaining physics that hold a cultural result of the human construction.

Dentro da área de Ensino de Ciências é possível identificar a existência da linha de trabalho que advoga o ensino de uma Física detentora de valor Cultural dentro de sala de aula. Trabalhos como os de Zanetic (1989) sugerem que a Física, por não ser desprovida de conteúdo ideológico e político seja ensinada nas escolas públicas dentro de um contexto sociocultural. Neste caminho, pretendemos contribuir para o diálogo entre a Física e a Cultura, em especial a Cultura de Massas, apresentando uma análise do potencial didático apresentado pela Leitura de Histórias em Quadrinhos de Ficção Científica dentro da sala de aula em um curso de Física. Utilizamos como referenciais para a relação entre Física e Cultura os trabalhos de George Snyders (1988) C.P. Snow (1959) e do próprio Zanetic (1989). A relação entre História em Quadrinhos e Educação foi analisada a partir dos trabalhos do prof. Waldomiro Vergueiro (2009) da ECA-USP e de outros estudiosos da área. Para iluminar o laço entre a Ficção Científica e o Ensino de Física, nos baseamos na teoria de análise dos pólos temáticos desenvolvida por Piassi (2007). Como demonstraremos adiante, o diálogo entre a Física, as Histórias em Quadrinhos de Ficção Científica e o período histórico-social que as produz é profundo, fazendo com que a leitura deste material em sala de aula possa fornecer o ponto de partida para o estudo de uma Física detentora de um perfil cultural, cujo domínio é capaz de levar o aluno ao questionamento, resultando em uma ação de mudança social. O recorte temático para estudo adotou as histórias do título em quadrinhos \"Quarteto Fantástico\", publicado originalmente desde 1962 e cujo lançamento pode ser considerado uma resposta cultural as sucessivas derrotas enfrentadas pela sociedade norte-americana no campo da corrida espacial. Exploraremos o panorama geral delineado pelos três números iniciais da publicação, responsáveis pela definição de uma matriz narrativa publicada de forma ininterrupta até os dias de hoje. Para fins de comparação adotamos as três primeiras aventuras de sua versão reformulada para o Século XXI após os eventos de 11 de Setembro de 2001, o chamado \"Quarteto Fantástico Ultimate\". Nosso objetivo é apresentar as relações entre a expressão artística da Ciência e os anseios sociais relacionados às descobertas científicas, apresentadas nos dois títulos. O resultado obtido evidencia que discutir uma História em Quadrinhos de Ficção Científica em sala de aula significa discutir a sociedade que as criou, fazendo com que a leitura crítica de um título possibilite ao aluno o contato com uma Física fruto da construção humana e detentora de um papel cultural. / Within the area of Science Education it is possible to identify a line of work where several studies advocate the teaching of a Cultural Physics in the classroom. Authors such as Zanetic (1989) suggests that physics can be taught in public schools within a sociocultural context, because it is not devoid of ideological and political content. In this way, we intend to contribute to the dialogue between physics and culture, especially the mass culture, presenting an analysis of the didactic potential represented by reading Sci Fi comics during physics class. We used works such as George Snyders (1988) C.P. Snow (1959) and the very own Zanetic (1989) as references for the relationship between physics and culture. The relationship between Comics and Education was analyzed based on the studies of prof. Waldomiro Vergueiro (2009), ECA-USP and other scholars in the field. To illuminate the link between science fiction and physics teaching, we rely on the theory developed by Piassi (2007) for exploration of thematic poles. As we intend to demonstrate further, the dialogue between physics, sci fi comics and the socialhistorical period which produces it is deep, making the reading material in the classroom provide a starting point for the studies of physics with a cultural profile. This domain leads to questioning the student, which may result in an action for social change. The cutout theme adopted for the stories study is the comic book title \"Fantastic Four\", originally published in 1962 and whose release can be considered as a cultural response to the successive defeats faced by the American society throughout the space race, as will be demonstrated below. We explore the big picture outlined by the first three numbers of the publication, responsible for the definition of a matrix narrative published uninterruptedly up until the present day. For comparison purposes we will adopt the first three adventures of a reformulated version for the twenty-first century after the events of September 11, 2001, called \"Ultimate Fantastic Four\". Our goal is to demonstrate the relationship between expressive artistic science and social expectations related scientific findings, presented in both titles. As a result, we expect to demonstrate that discussing a sci fi comic book in the classroom means discussing the society that created them, making the critical reading of a title possible for the students to make contact with detaining physics that hold a cultural result of the human construction.

This thesis is a science fiction exploration of a future dystopian world where privacy becomes a dominant currency that is distributed according to social class and ranking mechanisms. It utilizes speculative world-building to study the unanticipated implications of technology on personal privacy, surveillance and social inequality on future societies. The project introduces The Mall, as a highly efficient and hyper-connected world, but also exposes its downfall as a society with heightened cultural and socio-political disparities. Inspired by past civilizations, the development of the modern nation-state as well as contemporary society, the design adapts, appropriates and reformulates existing cultures into new hybrid possibilities. This thesis project is presented as an illustrated coded tapestry that allows the viewer to explore and interact with various components of the narrative to speculate and critique an alternative future-world void of privacy.

In this thesis, I will examine the connected representations of religion and gender in the context of contemporary American telefantasy (a term for science fiction, fantasy, and horror television genres) programs that include characters who experience fantastic visions that can be explained as originating from either divine or medically materialist origins. The fantastic mode, facilitated by telefantasy’s non-verisimilitudinous genre, presents these visions in a liminal space in which religious and gender representations can potentially subvert or challenge patriarchal and hegemonic representational norms. I analyze Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi 2003-2009), Eli Stone (ABC 2008-2009), and Wonderfalls (FOX 2004) for their formal presentation of visions, representations of visionary characters, and the religious representations that form the context for the visions and visionaries. I focus on visionary characters that are directly implicated by the television text as being potential prophets: Laura Roslin and Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica, Eli Stone on Eli Stone, and Jaye Tyler on Wonderfalls. Though each visionary character explores the possibility of subverting patriarchal religious norms, Roslin, Baltar, and Stone’s prophetic roles ultimately privilege patriarchal readings of their narratives, but Jaye, by avoiding the language-symbol systems of traditional religions, maintains the fantastic liminal space and thus the potential for subversion, even if it is only a possibility in the narrative. This thesis seeks to contribute to the scholarship of religious representations in fictional television, with a special emphasis on telefantasy. / text

OpenSpace is an interactive data visualization software system that portrays the entire known universe in a 3D simulation. Current navigation interface requires explanations, which prohibits OpenSpace to be displayed effectively in public exhibitions. Research has been shown that using large tangible touch surfaces with a multi-touch navigation interface is more engaging to users than mouse and keyboard as well as enhances the understanding of navigation control, thus decreasing the required instructions to learn the systems user interface. This thesis shows that combining a velocity-based interaction model together with a screen-space direct-manipulation formulation produces a user-friendly interface. Giving the user precise control of objects and efficient travels in between in the vastness of space. This thesis presents the work of integrating a multi-touch navigation interface with a combined formulation of velocity-based interaction and screen-space direct-manipulation into the software framework OpenSpace.