In order to facilitate the development, discussion, and advancement of the relatively new subfield of Artificial Intelligence focused on generating narrative content, the author has developed a pattern language for generating narratives, along with a new categorization framework for narrative generation systems. An emphasis and focus is placed on generating the Fabula of the story (the ordered sequence of events that make up the plot). Approaches to narrative generation are classified into one of three categories, and a pattern is presented for each approach. Enhancement patterns that can be used in conjunction with one of the core patterns are also identified. In total, nine patterns are identified - three core narratology patterns, four Fabula patterns, and two extension patterns. These patterns will be very useful to software architects designing a new generation of narrative generation systems. / by Samuel Greene. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

The overall goal of this work is to support student success in computer science. First, I introduce BitFit, an ungraded practice programming tool built to provide students with a pressure-free environment to practice and build confidence working through weekly course material. BitFit was used in an introductory programming course (CSC 110) at the University of Victoria for 5 semesters in 2015 and 2016. The contributions of this work are a number of studies done analyzing the log data collected by BitFit over those years. First, I explore whether patterns can be identified in log data to differentiate successful from unsuccessful students, with a specific focus on identifying students at-risk of failure within the first few weeks of the semester. Next, I separate out only those students who struggle early in the semester, and examine their changes in programming behaviour over time. The goal behind the second study is to differentiate between transient and sustained struggling, in an attempt better understand the reasons successful students are able to overcome early struggles. Finally, I combine survey data with log data to explore whether students understand whether their study habits are likely to lead to success. Overall, this work provides insight into the factors contributing to behavioural change in an introductory programming course. I hope this information can aid educators in providing supportive intervention aimed at guiding struggling students towards more productive learning strategies. / Graduate / 0984 / 0525 / 0710 / aestey@uvic.ca

Health care systems consist of various individuals and organizations that aim to meet the health care needs of people and provide a complete and responsive health care solution. One of the important aspects of a health care delivery system is nursing. The use of technology is a vital aspect for delivering an optimum and complete nursing care to individuals; and also for improving the quality and delivery mechanism of nursing care. The model proposed in this thesis for Nursing Knowledge Management System is a novel knowledge-based decision support system for nurses to capture and manage nursing practice, and further, to monitor nursing care quality, as well as to test aspects of an electronic health record for recording and reporting nursing practice. As a part of a collaborative research of the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Department of Computer Science, a prototype toolset was developed to capture and manage nursing practice in order to improve the quality of care. This thesis focuses on implementing a web based SOA solution for Automated Classification of Nursing Care Categories, based on the knowledge gained from the prototype for nursing care practice. / by Sughomoy D. Dass. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Parmi les diverses techniques utilisées pour analyser les pigments sur les peintures de chevalet, l'étude s'intéresse aux techniques optiques, en particulier la spectrophotométrie, l'imagerie hyperspectrale, la photographie et la spectrométrie infrarouge. Toutes présentent l'intérêt d'être non invasives : sans contact, non-destructives et aucune ne nécessite de prélèvement sur les œuvres d'art.Une étude comparative des performances des différents appareils a dans un premier temps été réalisée, puis nous avons testé l'efficacité des méthodes utilisées en routine pour la caractérisation des pigments : identification des pigments purs, en mélange, quantification des pigments en mélange. L'étude fut délibérément circonscrite aux pigments historiques avant le XVIIIème siècle, période où la palette des peintres se réduit à un nombre relativement limité de pigments et où les mélanges restent assez simples.L'imagerie hyperspectrale s'est développée ces dernières années pour l'analyse du patrimoine culturel et génère des quantités importantes de données dont le traitement est complexe. Nous avons traité cette technique à part, pour proposer une utilisation simple et accessible. Notre méthodologie d'exploitation des données d'imagerie hyperspectrale s'inspire de la photographie traditionnelle en fausses couleurs et est ouverte à des développements futurs. En effet, il s'agit de générer trois composites en fausses couleurs, en choisissant les bandes spectrales appropriées puis en les combinant afin de mettre en évidence des différences spectrales entre les pigments d'une même catégorie (bleu, vert, jaune ou rouge).Les méthodes optiques ont été testées dans un premier temps sur des échantillons de pigments purs et de mélanges expérimentaux, puis sur des peintures d'Eustache Le Sueur, peintre français du XVIIème siècle. La méthodologie des composites variables a été appliquée aux œuvres, puis confrontée aux techniques traditionnelles d'analyse des pigments, dont l'analyse par fluorescence X et l'examen à la loupe binoculaire.Les résultats sont cohérents et encourageants ; ils permettent d'envisager dans un proche futur le recours à une utilisation de l'imagerie hyperspectrale, avec un protocole simplifié. / Various techniques are currently used to characterize pigments on easel paintings. The present study focuses on optical techniques, especially spectrophotometry, hyperspectral imaging, photography and infrared spectrometry. These techniques are non-invasive, without contact, non-destructive and request no sampling.A technical comparison of the different devices is given before testing the efficiency of the commonly used methods for pigment characterization – pigment identification (pure or in a mixture) and pigment quantification in mixtures. With respect to the pigments themselves, the pre-18th century period was chosen in particular, as the number of pigments was limited and the mixtures quite simple.Analysis of cultural heritage by hyperspectral imaging has been developing fast over the past few years. This technique generates large amounts of data that are complex to process. A simplified method was developed to process the data. An evolutionary approach was chosen to extract image data and this methodology used takes its roots in false color traditional photography. Indeed, three false-color composites were generated by choosing a composition of spectral bands in order to maximize the spectral differences between the pigments of a same color category (blue, red, yellow or green).In a first step, optical techniques were tested on pigment mock-ups (pure or mixed). The variable composite methodology was applied on paintings by Eustache Le Sueur, a French painter from the 17th century. Finally the results were compared to those achieved by classical analytical tools currently used for cultural heritage such as X-ray fluorescence and optical microscopy. The results are quite consistent and very promising in favor of a more regular use of the hyperspectral imaging method.

The study is practice-led in visual art and it explores the impact of intermediality to validate that new knowledge emerges via processes that lead to possibilities of transformative hybridity. Intermediality was established and generated through a productive reciprocity between practice and theory as well as between analogue and digital art. The research created a community of enquiry through an exhibition entitled TRANSCODE: dialogues around intermedia practice (2011) in order to model innovative approaches towards improvement of transmedial artistic practice. The diversity of work by artists involved in this exhibition allowed exploration of a range of creative processes to investigate and understand characteristics of productive intermediality. The concept of transcoding in this study was derived from Deleuze and Guattari, which describes how one milieu functions as a foundation for another, implying an intermedial tension. TRANSCODE alludes to the mediation that transcribes meanings across boundaries and within complexity. Selected characteristics of narratives, space, embodiment and visual systems were researched through the lens of mediamatic thinking, which refers to thinking via media. The study proposes that intermediality is best seen as a construct of the tensional differences that become enriched within the grey areas. In applying Deleuze and Guattari‘s metaphor of the rhizome and Tim Ingold‘s concept of the mycelial mesh, the research project not only prompted structured collective thinking through practice, but also captured various case studies relevant to practice-led methodology. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Art History)