In this thesis, a visual 3-D eye gaze tracker is designed and implemented to tested via computer simulations and on an experimental setup. Proposed tracker is designed to examine human perception on autostereoscopic displays when the viewer is 3m away from such displays. Two different methods are proposed for calibrating personal parameters and gaze estimation, namely line of gaze (LoG) and line of sight (LoS) solutions. 2-D and 3-D estimation performances of the proposed system are observed both using computer simulations and the experimental setup. In terms of 2-D and 3-D performance criteria, LoS solution generates slightly better results compared to that of LoG on experimental setup and their performances are found to be comparable in simulations. 2-D estimation inaccuracy of the system is obtained as smaller than 0.5&deg / during simulations and approximately 1&deg / for the experimental setup. 3-D estimation inaccuracy of the system along x- and y-axis is obtained as smaller than 2&deg / during the simulations and the experiments. However, estimation accuracy along z-direction is significantly sensitive to pupil detection and head pose estimation errors. For typical error levels, 20cm inaccuracy along z-direction is observed during simulations, whereas this inaccuracy reaches 80cm in the experimental setup.

This thesis analyzes and compares Angela Carter&rsquo / s Nights at the Circus and Elif Safak&rsquo / s Mahrem (The Gaze) from the perspective of theories of the patriarchal gaze. The study argues that the female protagonists in Nights at the Circus and Mahrem (The Gaze) have a dilemma in relation to the gaze. On the one hand, the gaze makes these characters passive spectacles in front of the audience and objectifies them. On the other hand, the gaze appears to be a necessity for a sense of identity and order. The theoretical framework used to analyze the novels from the perspective of the patriarchal gaze includes John Berger&rsquo / s Ways of Seeing, which is about visual representations in Western art and Laura Mulvey&rsquo / s article &ldquo / Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema&rdquo / , which analyzes women&rsquo / s position in Hollywood movies. In order to explore the dilemma the protagonists find themselves in, on the other hand, Sigmund Freud&rsquo / s theory of scopophilia, Jacques Lacan&rsquo / s discussion of the role of the gaze in psychosexual development and identity formation and Mich&eacute / l Foucault&rsquo / s evaluation of the gaze as a tool for discipline have been made use of. The comparative analysis of the two novels within this theoretical framework aims to demonstrate the complexity and universality of the issue and provide further food for thought for feminist thinking on this topic.

In order to attract the attention of users current online shopping environments often involve the use of dynamic display changes such as animation, flashing or rotating text, and pop-up boxes. While there is some experimental evidence that supports the effectiveness of such changes for the purpose of capturing attention, such changes might also distract the user and hinder task performance. Thus, a key usability challenge for the designers of such environments involves balancing the need to attract attention with the desire to minimize any interruption of the performance of users. To date there is very little systematic investigation of the influence of display changes on consumers¡¦ attention and decisions during the browsing of online shopping web sites. The main goal of the present experiments was to research factors that might be important in determining the influence of such display changes. To accomplish that experimental tasks were created that resembled some aspects of the visual decision process and dynamic changes that occur during online shopping. However, in order to permit greater experimental control, the information environment used in the present tasks was substantially simplified as compared to online environments. Specifically, in 3 experiments, participants¡¦ eye movements were monitored while they chose between 2 alternatives, each represented by a set of visual images, with one set placed on the top of the screen and the other on the bottom. Immediately prior to this decision participants performed one or more binary decisions based on subsets of these images. On some trials, images were spatially swapped in the display presented during the final decision as compared to a prior presentation. Across experiments, we manipulated the relevance of the change to task performance as well as the recency of the information that was modified. By analyzing behavioral and eye movement measures, we documented evidence that participants flexibly and effectively accommodated to a variety of display changes. However, there was cost associated with display changes in the form of longer viewing times. In addition, task relevant changes and changes to recently viewed information were generally more disruptive. We discuss the implications of the present findings for the design of online shopping web sites and for future research that would attempt to generalize the present findings to more complex and more realistic online environments.

<p>Den globala turismnäringen har kommit att bli en av världens mest lukrativa branscher. Hundratusentals svenskar turistar i Thailand varje år. Vad representerar Thailand i turistens ögon? Hur ser turisten på sig själv i förhållande till det han/hon möter och hur förhåller sig turisten till det lokala och globala? Uppsatsen utgår från en kritisk hållning till fenomenet turism. Teorier om Postkolonialism och Orientalism samt kritisk turismforskning blir därmed centrala i förståelsen av det undersökta materialet. Materialet som studeras i uppsatsen innefattas av resdagboksinlägg från hemsidan <em>Resdagboken.se</em>. Som metod används den kritiska diskursanalysen.</p><p>Materialet visar på vissa specifika teman; ”Det trygga äventyret”, ”Att inte vara som alla andra turister”, ”Sol, bad konsumtion och lättja”, ”Erotik”, samt ”Tilltalet till dem där hemma”. Genom belysandet av turismens bakomliggande strukturer och hur man genom det skrivna ordet uttrycker föreställningar om andra och sig själv, försöker författaren till uppsatsen bredda förståelsen för turismen som global företeelse.</p>

This study compares the relation between beauty, objectification, and transcendence in two novels: Oscar Wilde's early-modernist The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) and Vladimir Nabokov's late-modernist Pale Fire (1962). Though written over half a century apart, the works feature similar critiques of the aesthete's devotion to beauty. While Wilde's novel offers an insider's view of aristocratic Decadence in late-nineteenth-century London, Nabokov's reflects his early influence from the Russian Symbolists and recalls that tradition in the American suburbs of the mid-twentieth-century. Both novels demonstrate the trust that many modernists held in the ability of beauty to offer transcendence over the limits and suffering of mortal life. Yet they also call attention to the dangers of aesthetic obsession. My study applies the theories of Plato, Emanuel Swedenborg, Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer, Vladimir Solovyov, Laura Mulvey, and Steven Drukman to the aesthetic sensibilities presented in the novels. To understand how these ideologies inform the works, I have divided the main characters into three categories---artist, spectator, and aesthetic object. Both Wilde and Nabokov present beauty as a positive force for its ability to provide at least temporary transcendence. The authors also, however, portray the tragic consequences of aesthetic objectification. By comparing the two works, I conclude that both highlight the dangers of the aesthete's obsession with beauty, but only Nabokov's Pale Fire offers a solution: the need for pity toward those who become the objects of the aesthetic gaze.

Aim: The aim of the thesis was to investigate the impact of gaze-based assistive technology on daily activities in children with severe physical impairments and without speech. The objectives were to develop and pilot a gaze-based assistive technology intervention (GAT intervention) at home and in school for these children and to understand its impact on daily activities as experienced by their parents. Methods: Study I was a pilot study in which the basic components that were developed for the intervention were evaluated for students with physical impairments. The study aimed at improving the use of computers as assistive technology (AT) in school. Based on the findings in Study I, the GAT intervention was developed. The GAT intervention aimed at implementing gaze-based AT in daily activities. It consisted of two parts; having access to gaze-based AT and having access to services from a multi professional communication team during nine to ten months. Studies II-IV concerned gazebased AT for children with severe physical impairments without speech who participated in the GAT intervention. The participants were ten children (ages 1-15) (Studies II, III), and their parents (Study IV). Studies II and III had longitudinal designs and children were followed during 15-20 months with repeated measurements before, after and at follow-up. In Study II children’s repertoire of computer activities, extent of use, and goal attainment with gaze-based AT was evaluated, as well as parents’ satisfaction with the AT and with services. In Study III children’s eye gaze performance when using gaze-based AT was examined. In Study IV, parents were interviewed twice with the aim of  exploring their experiences of children’s gaze-based AT use in daily life. In Study IV a hermeneutical approach was used. Results: The findings of Study I showed that the basic components of intervention improved the use of computers in school. Study II showed an increased repertoire of computer activities with the gazebased AT, maintained use in daily activities for all at follow up, and that all children attained goals for gaze-based AT use in daily activities. Parents were satisfied with the gaze-based AT, and with the services in the GAT intervention. In study III, nine children improved in eye gaze performance over time when using the gaze-based AT in daily activities. Study IV revealed that children’s gaze-based AT usage in daily activities made a difference to parents since the children demonstrated agency, and showed their personality and competencies by using gaze-based AT, and for the parents this opened up infinite possibilities for the child to do and learn things. Overall, children’s gaze-based AT usage provided parents with hope of a future in which their children could develop and have influence in life. Conclusions: This thesis shows that these children with severe physical impairments and without speech acquired sufficient gaze control skills to use gaze-based AT for daily activities in the home and at school. The gaze-based AT had a positive impact on performing activities, for example, play activities and communication- and interaction-related activities. For the parents, children’s gaze-based AT usage made a difference since it shaped a hope of a better future for their children, where they can develop and gain influence in their future life. Furthermore, the children continued to perform daily activities with gaze-based AT over time. This finding suggests that key persons were provided with sufficient knowledge and skills to support children in maintained use of gaze-based AT after withdrawal of the services provided in the GAT intervention.

Šio baigiamojo bakalauro darbo tyrimo tikslas ištirti akies ir rankos koordinuotų judesių savybes sekant taikinį skirtingo pločio labirintais, taikiniui judant skirtingais greičiais. Akių judesiams registruoti buvo panaudota EyeGaze System, o rankos judesiams registruoti - WACOM Intuos® 2 XD-1212-U grafinė planšetė. Tiriamiesiems reikėjo pravesti taikinį trim skirtingo pločio labirintais. Tyrimo metu buvo registruojami akių ir rankos judesiai, pagal kurios buvo analizuojami žvilgsnio šuolio amplitudės, atstumas tarp rankos ir žvilgsnio prieš įvykstant žvilgsnio šuoliui, akies ir rankos greičių santykis bei gautieji rezultatai įvertinti remiantis Fitso dėsniu, kuris įvertino, kaip tiksliai ir greitai tiriamieji atliko labirintus. Gautieji rezultatai parodė, kad didėjant rankos greičiui ir esant platesniam labirintui žvilgsnio šuolių amplitudžių ir atstumo tarp rankos ir žvilgsnio prieš įvykstant žvilgsnio šuoliui vidurkiai bei jų standartiniai nuokrypiai didėja. Akies ir greičio santykis parodė, kad esant mažesniems greičiams akis lenkia ranką, o didėjant ranka pralenkia akį. Tyrimo rezultatai gali būti panaudoti kuriant robotų programinę įranga, neurofiziologinių procesų analizei bei įvertinti žmogaus koordinaciją reabilitacijos metu. / The theme of Bachelor project of Electronics engineering is important for research in biomedical engineering. In my purpose is to investigate eye-hand coordination during target guiding by hand along labyrinth. Investigatives have to guide a target in different wide of labyrinth. First they have to guide a target in the narrowest labyrinth, which wide is 10 px, later in the widest labyrinth, which wide is 39 px and last in moderate labyrinth, which wide is 15 px. In this labyrinth investigatives have to guide targets of two different sizes. They have to guide at different speed and precision. Eye coordinates were recorded by EyeGaze System, which produced LC Technologies, Ltd. Hand coordinates were recorded by WACOM Intuos® 2 XD-1212-U graphic tablet. During the research recorded eye and hand coordinates, which were analysed. Due to this information, were calculated gaze jump amplitudes, distance between the gaze and hand before gaze will do a jump, gaze and hand speed ratio and results were evaluated by Fitts‘s law. Results revealed that average and standart deviation of these parameters are major if speed of target becomes faster and labyrinth is wider. Gaze and hand speed ratio revealed, that at slow speed gaze overtake a hand and vice versa. In accordance with results, which were evaluated by Ftts‘s law, revealed that the longest duration and least precision are in the narrowest labyrinth. The shortest duration and the best precision are in the widest labyrinth... [to full text]

The direction in which another is looking at triggers a spontaneous orienting of attention towards gaze direction in the viewer. However, whether the facial expression displayed by the gazing individual modulates this attention orienting is unclear. In this thesis, the modulation of gaze-oriented attention with facial expressions was explored in non-anxious individuals at the behavioral level and at the neural level using Event-Related Potentials (ERP). In the gaze-cueing paradigm used, a dynamic face cue averting gaze and expressing an emotion was presented, followed by a lateral, to-be-localized target. At the behavioral level, a faster response to targets appearing at the gazed-at location (congruent targets) than to targets appearing opposite to the gazed-at location (incongruent targets) was observed (Chapters 3-5). This so-called Gaze Orienting Effect (GOE) was enhanced with fearful, angry and surprised expressions relative to neutral and happy expressions and was driven by emotional differences in response speed to congruent targets (Chapters 3-5). These effects could not be attributed to better discrimination of those emotions when presented with an averted gaze (Chapter 2). These results confirm the impact of fear and surprise on gaze-oriented attention in non-anxious individuals and demonstrate, for the first time, a similar impact for angry expressions. All the emotions enhancing the GOE signal an evolutionary relevant stimulus in the periphery, are threat-related and carry a negative valence, which suggests that one of these attributes (or all combined) is driving the emotional modulation of gaze-oriented attention (surprise is treated like fear in the context of fearful expressions). In Chapter 4, the effect of the dynamic cue sequence on these GOE modulations was investigated. An emotional modulation of the GOE was found only when the gaze shift preceded the emotional expression, but not when the emotion was expressed before gaze shift or when expression and gaze shift were simultaneous. These results highlight the importance of using a sequence closer to real life situations (we usually orient attention before reacting to an object in the environment) in studying the modulation of the GOE with emotions. At the neural level, we investigated the ERPs associated with gaze-oriented attention at target presentation and at cue presentation (Chapters 3 and 5). Confirming previous reports, the amplitude of a target-triggered P1 ERP component was larger in the congruent than in the incongruent condition, reflecting enhanced processing of gaze-congruent targets. In addition, cue-triggered ERPs previously observed in response to arrow cues, were investigated. An Early Directing Attention Negativity (EDAN) and an Anterior Directing Attention Negativity (ADAN) were found, indexing respectively attention-orienting to the cued location and maintenance of attention at the cued location. This is the first study to report both EDAN and ADAN components in response to gaze cues. These results show clear markers of attention orienting by gaze at the neural level, during both cue and target processing. Neither EDAN nor ADAN was modulated by emotion. The congruency effect on P1 was enhanced for fearful, surprised and happy faces compared to neutral faces in Chapter 3 but no differences between the emotions were found in Chapter 5. Thus, the emotional modulation of the brain processes involved in gaze-oriented attention is very weak and protracted or occurs mainly between target onset and response to target. The relationships between participants’ autistic traits and their emotional modulation of gaze-oriented attention were also investigated. Results showed a negative correlation with the GOE to happy upright faces and with the P1 congruency effect, which suggests that individuals with more severe autistic traits are less sensitive to the impact of social emotions like joy. The implication of these results for attention orienting in general and for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder is discussed. Together, the findings reported in this thesis clarify the behavioral and neural processes involved in gaze oriented attention and its modulation by facial expression in addition to demonstrating a relationship between gaze oriented attention, its modulation with social emotions and autistic traits.

Fixed-base driving simulators are commonplace in research and training. Simulators provide safe and controlled environments to train users on vehicle and device operation, to evaluate the safety of devices and controls, and to conduct research on driving and driving behaviours. One drawback to simulators is simulator sickness. As with motion sickness, simulator sickness can cause nausea, but additionally it has symptoms such as headache and eyestrain. Simulator sickness is a problem for multiple reasons: it can skew experimental results, it can waste participants’ and experimenter’s time, and it can limit testable populations. In addition, participants may modify their behaviour to avoid sickness, affecting experimental results or impeding learning. While sickness can reduce over multiple exposures, it is not known if any observable behaviours accompany these reductions. It is also not known why there are such marked individual differences in susceptibility. To test for behaviours that could be responsible for reducing sickness, I examined participants across two sessions in a fixed-base driving simulator. I found that gaze behaviour (eye and head movements) changed along with sickness. To determine the cause for this finding I instructed participants (pre-drive) to fixate their gaze during the curves of a simulated drive. This gaze modification was effective in reducing sickness during a first-time experience in the simulator, supporting a causal link. Next, I attempted to replace the missing vestibular input in a fixed-base simulator, so that the visual and vestibular perceptions of motion matched. This experiment showed that by providing vestibular stimulation appropriate or opposite of what would occur in the real world reduced sickness. This provided support for the theory that distracting stimulation (electrical in this case) could reduce attention to visual motion cues and therefore reduce conflict, a novel finding for simulator sickness research. Finally, I tested for any correlations between individual differences and sickness. I found that history of motion sickness and current illness both correlated with sickness, potentially useful as a pre-screening tool. In addition, driving behaviours such as speed, braking, and acceleration all correlated with sickness, showing that how a person behaves in a simulation could also contribute to sickness. / CFI, OGS, Auto21

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