This paper examines a popular music song (Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez) as a sign system in television advertising. The study was conducted through qualitative questionnaires in connection to an audio-visual method of analysis called Masking. The method facilitates the analysis of isolated parts in the audio-visual spectrum by masking/hiding parts of the audio-visual totality.The survey had seven respondents where a hermeneutic epistemological approach was used. For the analysis Cooper's theory of brand identity (Practical and Symbolic Attitudes to Buying Brands) was used together with an interaction model for music in audio-visual advertising called "Modes of music-image interaction”. The results showed that the music was associated with values as genuine, honest, responsibility, purity, independence and innovation. The music's symbolic values helped to position the brand in a lifestyle context. The music also helped to express the target group’s identity and attitudes by being innovative and independent. It also enhanced the perception of the visual colour rendition in the film. In general the television advertisement perceived more positive and entertaining when the music was present. In other words the music's social and cultural position contributed to raise the film's credibility. A deeper social and cultural value was created in the movie through resonance between symbolic values of the music and symbolic values of the film.

Pas de résumé

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of English, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 10, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-217). Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, 1999. / In this study I will examine two texts by the Congolese author Sony Labou Tansi, namely The Seven Solitudes of Lorsa Lopez and Parenthesis of Blood. The aim of the research is to examine how and why the author uses techniques of allegory and magic realism instead of realism in his work. By closely examining the two texts and with the help of comparisons with his other works, I intend to show that the world he is representing is too fabulous to be rendered in a realistic manner. The use of allegory and irony in the text is a strategy that helps the author to challenge the oppression and despair in his society. The issue of gender is also important in both texts, therefore, I will examine how Labou Tansi portrays women in his works. I will do this by comparing his presentation of women to other female characters found in African canonical works by male writers.

Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) are a global patient safety challenge, costly to treat, and affect hundreds of millions of patients annually worldwide. It has been shown that the majority of HAI are transferred to patients by caregivers' hands and therefore, can be prevented by proper hand hygiene (HH). However, many factors including cognitive load, cause caregivers to forget to cleanse their hands. Hand hygiene compliance among caregivers remains low around the world. In this thesis I showed that it is possible to build a wearable accelerometer-based HH reminder system to identify ongoing nursing activities with the patient, indicate the high-risk activities, and prompt the caregivers to clean their hands. Eight subjects participated in this study, each wearing five wireless accelerometer sensors on the wrist, upper arms and the back. A pattern recognition approach was used to classify six nursing activities offline. Time-domain features that included mean, standard deviation, energy, and correlation among accelerometer axes were found to be suitable features. On average, 1-Nearest Neighbour classifier was able to classify the activities with 84% accuracy. A novel algorithm was developed to adaptively segment the accelerometer signals to identify the start and stop time of each nursing activity. The overall accuracy of the algorithm for a total of 96 events performed by 8 subjects was approximately 87%. The accuracy was higher than 91% for 5 out of 8 subjects. The sequence of nursing activities was modelled by an 18-state Markov Chain. The model was evaluated by recently published data. The simulation results showed that the high-risk of cross-contamination decreases exponentially by frequency of HH and this happens more rapidly up to 50%-60% hand hygiene rate. It was also found that if the caregiver enters the room with high-risk of transferring infection to the current patient, given the assumptions in this study, only 55% HH is capable of reducing the risk of infection transfer to the lowest level. This may help to prevent the next patient from acquiring infection, preventing an infection outbreak. The model is also capable of simulating the effects of the imperfect HH on the risk of cross-contamination.

日本遊戲產業歷史悠久，自1980年代成立以來，培養眾多具備經驗與獨特內容的企業群聚，至今仍在全球遊戲市場扮演要角。但隨著市場全球化以及產業風向的轉變，日本遊戲產業的優勢已經大不如前。不僅遊戲企業的研發能力下滑、遊戲平台銷售萎縮，國內的遊戲市場也發生「質變」。 　　任天堂、索尼過去曾以產業龍頭之姿，領導遊戲平台的商業模式。在遊戲產業的平台與市場走向多元化以後，則經由次世代遊戲平台與網路服務的發展，嘗試複合的商業模式。如何把握並理解這一系列現象，成為本研究的出發點。 本論文討論任天堂、索尼的網路服務策略，自帳戶、下載、媒體、連線等使用政策檢視其策略內容，並從資源、價值、競爭與需求等角度分析策略因素的影響。以共同結構聚焦之方法，設計比較研究分析。研究過程參考專家學者的研究專書、期刊論文等文獻；同時援引日本智庫統計的遊戲產業數據，經深度訪談法參考企業與學者的意見，提高本論文的參考價值。 　　本研究發現，不同的策略因素考量，塑造了日本遊戲產業的兩種網路服務策略，本論文將之歸納為「任天堂模式」與「索尼模式」的網路服務策略。任天堂模式的網路服務，以遊戲內容為主，以遊戲玩家的需求為優先，以網路服務提升遊戲的耐玩性與互動性，重視高品質的獨創內容與娛樂體驗的創新。索尼模式的網路服務策略，是以整合娛樂內容為方向，同時滿足遊戲、社群、媒體等使用需求，以跨裝置、雲端儲存等技術為基礎，追求軟硬體相乘的商業模式。 / Nintendo and Sony, major platform holder of console game, leading the business model of video game industry since 1980s. With their know-how and unique game software, Japanese video game industry had been the major of global video game market. However, due to the globalization of markets and industrial innovation, Japanese platform holders and game developers are losing their dominance. 　　In recent years, Japanese video game industry is taking downturn in marketing and development. On the other hand, Japanese domestic market is getting a “qualitative transformation”. Since the transformation of market is on the way to Multi-platform and Cross-device, Nintendo and Sony are trying to develop their own network services with next-generation game platform for a complex business model. 　　Finding the way to describe these phenomena is the research question in this thesis. In this research, we have analyzed the network service strategy of Nintendo and Sony with a comparative study in their using-policy. Contents of strategy were observed from their management of accounts, digital distribution, multi-media and connection between devices. The Affect of strategic factors was inspected through the resources, capabilities, competition and needs in the market. 　　The results show that the dissimilarity of vision and core values leads to different network service and strategies. We summarized them as “Nintendo model” and “Sony model”. The “Nintendo model” is focus on the needs of gaming, in order to improve the user experience of game software and console. In contrast, the “Sony model” is based on the cross-device integration of entertainment contents, pursuing the hardware-software synergy. Keywords: Japanese Videogame Industry, Network Services, Strategy, Nintendo, Sony.

Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) are a global patient safety challenge, costly to treat, and affect hundreds of millions of patients annually worldwide. It has been shown that the majority of HAI are transferred to patients by caregivers' hands and therefore, can be prevented by proper hand hygiene (HH). However, many factors including cognitive load, cause caregivers to forget to cleanse their hands. Hand hygiene compliance among caregivers remains low around the world. In this thesis I showed that it is possible to build a wearable accelerometer-based HH reminder system to identify ongoing nursing activities with the patient, indicate the high-risk activities, and prompt the caregivers to clean their hands. Eight subjects participated in this study, each wearing five wireless accelerometer sensors on the wrist, upper arms and the back. A pattern recognition approach was used to classify six nursing activities offline. Time-domain features that included mean, standard deviation, energy, and correlation among accelerometer axes were found to be suitable features. On average, 1-Nearest Neighbour classifier was able to classify the activities with 84% accuracy. A novel algorithm was developed to adaptively segment the accelerometer signals to identify the start and stop time of each nursing activity. The overall accuracy of the algorithm for a total of 96 events performed by 8 subjects was approximately 87%. The accuracy was higher than 91% for 5 out of 8 subjects. The sequence of nursing activities was modelled by an 18-state Markov Chain. The model was evaluated by recently published data. The simulation results showed that the high-risk of cross-contamination decreases exponentially by frequency of HH and this happens more rapidly up to 50%-60% hand hygiene rate. It was also found that if the caregiver enters the room with high-risk of transferring infection to the current patient, given the assumptions in this study, only 55% HH is capable of reducing the risk of infection transfer to the lowest level. This may help to prevent the next patient from acquiring infection, preventing an infection outbreak. The model is also capable of simulating the effects of the imperfect HH on the risk of cross-contamination.

Tato práce se zabývá výběrem vhodného obrazového snímače pro použití v kameře snímající rostliny ve vysokém rozlišení a návrhem vhodného obvodu pro propojení vybraného snímače (SONY IMX253) s vývojovou deskou Avnet MicroZed. Tato práce pojednává o jednotlivých parametrech obrazových snímačů podle kterých je vybírán vhodný obrazový snímač. Je vysvětlen proces výběru vhodného obrazového snímače a podrobněji popsány parametry vybraného snímače. Je naznačena problematika návrhu elektroniky a plošných spojů z hlediska požadavků vysokorychlostních obvodů a citlivých a specifických součástek jako je obrazový snímač. Je nastíněna konfigurace a programování obvodu Xilinx Zynq a nakonec je provedeno zjednodušené teoretické ověření funkčnosti navrženého modulu.

Denna undersökning jämför en grupp personers perception av identiska bilder tagna med fyra olika filmkameror i olika prisklasser. En Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K(BMPCC4K), Sony PXW-FS7, RED ONE och Arri Alexa Mini. Testet jämför främst kamerornas möjlighet att reproducera hudtoner, färg, rörelse och dynamiskt omfång. Undersökningen använder sig av en kvalitativ intervjumetod där informanter reagerar på testbilder. Informanterna har ingen professionell erfarenhet av bildproduktion och representerar en konsument. Intervjuerna resulterade i att för det mesta var FS7 och Alexa favoriserade av informanterna i alla bilder förutom dynamiskt omfångtestet, där FS7presterade lite sämre än Alexa när det kom till att behålla detalj i både högdagrarna och lågdagrarna. Som slutsats kom undersökningen fram till att alla fyra kameror är bra verktyg för att spela in på men att FS7- och Alexa-kamerornas bilder ser bäst direkt ut ur kameran enligt informanterna.

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