L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de mettre en évidence le rôle de la direction et du mouvement de la tête et des yeux dans la perception et le contrôle de trajectoires courbes, en référence aux propriétés des flux optiques générés par notre déplacement dans un environnement stable. Nous utilisons deux méthodes expérimentales : une approche comportementale sur simulateur de conduite et une approche psychophysique permettant d'évaluer les capacités d'observateurs humains à percevoir la direction du mouvement propre. Ces méthodes combinées visent à mettre en évidence les effets comportementaux d'une perception active de la direction du mouvement propre. L'introduction dresse l'état de la recherche sur les informations disponibles et les stratégies perceptives impliquées dans la prise de virage en conduite automobile. Ainsi, l'accent est à la fois mis sur le rôle du point de corde (dans le cas étudié d'un déplacement sur une route délimitée) et plus généralement sur le rôle du flux optique (description de la transformation apparente de l'environnement visuel lors du déplacement), soulignant notre capacité à interpréter spatialement le mouvement, mais aussi le caractère indissociable de la motricité et de la perception. Nous abordons ensuite le rôle des mouvements combinés des yeux et de la tête, dans une perspective fonctionnelle du contrôle du mouvement.Dans un premier chapitre expérimental, nous analysons les mouvements d'orientation de la tête lors de la prise de virage en conduite simulée. Nous montrons que les mouvements de la tête sont indépendants de la manipulation du volant et qu'ils participent activement à l'orientation du regard vers le point de corde. Dans un second chapitre expérimental, nous nous attachons à décrire les mouvements combinés des yeux et de la tête, en lien avec la géométrie de l'environnement routier. Dans une troisième partie, nous analysons plus finement le comportement du regard en lien avec la direction du point de corde et la vitesse locale du flux optique. Nous montrons à la fois que le point de corde correspond à un minimum local de vitesse optique et que la composante globale du flux optique induit un nystagmus optocinétique systématique. Enfin, lors d'une quatrième étude psychophysique, nous nous attachons à décrire finement l'effet de la variation de la direction du regard sur la discrimination de la direction du mouvement propre. Nous montrons que les seuils de discrimination de trajectoire sont minimaux lorsque le regard est orienté vers une zone de vitesse de flux minimal. Nous proposons finalement un modèle de détection de la trajectoire, basé sur une fraction de Weber des vitesses de flux fovéales, qui prédit très précisément les seuils expérimentaux. Les stratégies observées d'orientation du regard (combinaison des mouvements des yeux et de la tête) vers le point de corde sont compatibles avec une sélection optimale de l'information présente dans le flux optique. / The main purpose of this dissertation is to determine the role of the direction and movement of the eyes and the head in the perception and control of self-motion in curved trajectories, with respect to the properties of the optical flows generated in a stable environment. To do so, we used two experimental methods: a psychophysical approach which allows to assess human observers' ability to perceive the direction of self-motion; and a behavior-based approach on a driving simulator. The two methods combined should help to highlight active perception of self-motion.The introduction reviews the current knowledge of perceptuo-motor strategies during curve driving. In this context, we put a stress on both (1.) the particular role of the tangent point -- in the driving situation on a delimited road, and on the role of the optic flow in general (apparent transformation of the optic array during self-motion), emphasizing the capability of humans to spatially interpret the movement; and (2.) on the duality between movement and perception. We then address the role of head-and-eye combined movements, in a functional perspective of the control of self-motion. In a first experimental section, we analyze the oriented movements of the head in simulated curve driving. We demonstrate that head movements are independent from the handling of the steering wheel, and that they actively participate in the gaze orientation toward the tangent point.In a second experimental section, we set out to describe the combined movements of head and eyes, with respect to the geometry of the road environment. In a third section, we analyze in more details gaze behavior as a function of the tangent point direction and of the local speed of optical flow. We demonstrate that the tangent point corresponds to a local minimum of optic flow speed and that the global component of the optic flow induces a systematic optokinetic nystagmus. In a fourth section involving a psychophysical study, we scrutinize the effect of varying gaze direction on the discrimination of the direction of self-motion. We show that the trajectory discrimination thresholds are minimal when the gaze is oriented toward an area of minimum flow speed. We finally propose a model of trajectory change detection, relying on a Weber fraction of foveal flow speeds, predicting the experimental thresholds very precisely. The gaze orientation strategies we have observed (combination of head and eye movements) toward the tangent point are compatible with this model and with the hypothesis of an active an optimal selection of the information contained in the optical flow.

史考特‧費茲傑羅(F. Scott Fitzgerald)的小說《大亨小傳》為一深刻反映二十世紀美國文化的作品之一，書中描述主人翁蓋茲比如何在現實中追求不可及的夢想直至夢想幻滅的過程。在現實的不可抗逆下，蓋茲比以各式物質展演將不可見慾望的化為清晰的圖像。 本論文將透過廣告及攝影概念的引用，探討圖像與觀者的連結如何創造出一個既不屬於現實也不屬於幻象的虛擬現實，並論述蓋茲比如何運用觀者的觀看經驗為自身建立起一可被認同的身份，並且以這樣的策略開展小說中關於視覺與想像的辯證。 第一章略述《大亨小傳》的梗概、介紹其相關評論與說明本論文理論架構。第二章將藉由對二十世紀初媒體發展回顧重新定義「可見」的概念；第三章將詳述費茲傑羅與其作品與名流文化及媒體的密切性，及媒體文化對作者生活及作品的影響。第四章檢視書中敘事者尼克視覺化的觀察方式，進而分析其虛擬凝視(Virtual Gaze)如何打破生理視覺的侷限進而發展出一結合主體感觀經驗與客觀現實的感知方式。第五章重新討論小說中現實與幻象的矛盾，並點出「虛擬」將翻轉對現實的固有認知，並且成就更多可能性。 / F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has been regarded as one of the most brilliant literary works that captures the essence of the roaring twenties. In the novel, Fitzgerald takes readers into a full picture of the life of Gatsby, unfolding the life of the glamour in a new world material without being real and the conflicts between social classes. Writing against the lucid narrative strategy, Fitzgerald completes The Great Gatsby with impressive languages, imagery and symbols. The present thesis would like to adopt theories of advertising and photography to examine how the order of presentation and observation is converted at the time when visual perception is inevitably intertwined with subjective imagination. In addition, the present thesis also aims to shed light on the concept of virtual gaze as well as the notion of identity by taking vision from the field of the visible into the field of the virtual. Chapter one begins with the introduction of The Great Gatsby and the methodology used in the present thesis. Chapter two includes literature reviews concerning the issue of seeing and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Chapter three focuses on reviewing the presentation of images used in the mass media and on building the interrelationship among Fitzgerald’s life and the notion of “visibility.” Chapter four pays attention to the concept of “virtual gaze” and its capability to break the boundary between physical eyesight and imagination. Chapter five reconsiders the ambiguity of reality associated with contradictory vision and further validates the value of “virtual gaze.

Cette thèse traite la problématique liée à la modélisation du visage dans le but de l’analyse faciale.Dans la première partie de cette thèse, nous avons proposé le Modèle Actif d’Apparence Multi-Objet. La spécificité du modèle proposé est que les différentes parties du visage sont traités comme des objets distincts et les mouvements oculaires (du regard et clignotement) sont extrinsèquement paramétrées.La deuxième partie de la thèse porte sur l'utilisation de la modélisation de visage dans le contexte de la reconnaissance des émotions.Premièrement, nous avons proposé un système de reconnaissance des expressions faciales sous la forme d’Action Units. Notre contribution porte principalement sur l'extraction des descripteurs de visage. Pour cela nous avons utilisé les modèles AAM locaux.Le second système concerne la reconnaissance multimodale des quatre dimensions affectives :. Nous avons proposé un système qui fusionne des caractéristiques audio, contextuelles et visuelles pour donner en sortie les quatre dimensions émotionnelles. Nous contribuons à ce système en trouvant une localisation précise des traits du visage. En conséquence, nous proposons l’AAM Multi-Modèle. Ce modèle combine un modèle global extrinsèque du visage et un modèle local de la bouche. / The work in this thesis deals with the problematic of face modeling for the purpose of facial analysis.In the first part of this thesis, we proposed the Multi-Object Facial Actions Active Appearance Model (AAM). The specificity of the proposed model is that different parts of the face are treated as separate objects and eye movements (gaze and blink) are extrinsically parameterized. This increases the generalization capabilities of classical AAM.The second part of the thesis concerns the use of face modeling in the context of expression and emotion recognition. First we have proposed a system for the recognition of facial expressions in the form of Action Units (AU). Our contribution concerned mainly the extraction of AAM features of which we have opted for the use of local models.The second system concerns multi-modal recognition of four continuously valued affective dimensions. We have proposed a system that fuses audio, context and visual features and gives as output the four emotional dimensions. We contribute to the system by finding the precise localization of the facial features. Accordingly, we propose the Multi-Local AAM. This model combines extrinsically a global model of the face and a local one of the mouth through the computation of projection errors on the same global AAM.

The aim of this essay is to examine how Lara Croft, Bayonetta, Emily Kaldwin and Billie Lurk have been portrayed in their respective games. The questions at issue have examined how these four characters have been portrayed by their appearance on the cover of their games and how they’ve been depicted in gameplay. A comparative study has been used to compare how the design on the characters have been differentiated not only from each other but also from the male characters in each game. The essay has also examined what the sex and gender identity have been of the character’s creators and if they’ve motivated their character designs. An analysis has been made to establish if there has been a male gaze present in the design process and the game and if this has led to the character’s being sexualized. Judith Butler’s performativity theory has been used for this essay along with Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze as well as an intersectional approach according to Kimberlé Crenshaw. Lara Croft, Bayonetta and Emily Kaldwin are shown to break gender codes while still upholding some of them; Billie Lurk is the only one that totally breaks with them and creates a sort of a “new woman”, as she not only breaks the Madonna-and-the-Whore-complex in which each of the other three can be put in. Billie Lurk and Emily Kaldwin are the only female characters which can be seen as not sexualized or steered by the male gaze, but instead they give the gamer an opportunity to live the characters’ stories through them with the first-person-shooter-view. Lara Croft from the games before Tomb Raider (2013) and Bayonetta are clearly sexualized female characters that are controlled by male desire and the male gaze. As these two games are played from a third-person-view it gives the gamer the power to control these women, putting them under the gamer’s will.

Modern media patterns show feminist narratives being used to market different consumer products in the name of female empowerment and emancipation. Typically, the industries targeted have historically been dominated by male perspectives and aim to perpetuate a capitalist consumer culture. The newly legalized cannabis industry in North America, has seen an increase in female participation both in production and consumption. This thesis takes Broccoli, an all-female produced magazine about cannabis, as a case to textually analyze how feminist narratives are used to appeal to their majority female and non-binary audience to a cannabis consumer lifestyle. In the analysis I have found that the magazine is critical to postfeminist notions of consumer culture, while simultaneously working within them in order to act as pioneers, holding a female-oriented space within the industry.

After situating my interest in issues of women’s participation in technoscience, starting withmy experiences in the 1970s, this thesis turns to consider women’s visibility in more recenttechnoscience, in the light of European Commission figures indicating a slower progressionfor women into the more prestigious positions in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineeringand Mathematics) than the Commission had hoped.Two media case studies are presented focusing on the visibility of women in the EuropeanUnion (including the United Kingdom). One case study considers the media campaign whichinitiated the public promotion of a European Commission campaign to encourage women intoscience. The campaign-launch taster video was “Science it’s a girl thing! The other casestudy involved an analysis of media from a ‘Day in the technology news’ drawn from theBBC TechNews website on the 7th January 2018.The analysis of the social imaginary draws upon still images clipped from the short videoclips. The discussion is set within the context of the ‘woman question’ in science and ‘thescience question in feminism’ and both the notion of the gaze, and also Deleuzian notions offaceicity and affect. This analysis then reflects upon the research question: “Dorepresentation and visual modelling, visual encounters, or some less tangibleaffective factors, play a role in continuing an androcentric focus in science andtechnology, and how might this impact on the on-going exclusion or disincentivisingof technology and research careers for women, even if narratives havechanged and initiatives have tried to entice more women into STEM and research inthe UK and European Union?” Ultimately the underlying interest is “What can bedone about the woman question in science and technology in these areas if we are to try and redress the imbalance in women’s participation?”

Within the past thirty years, privacy concerns among American citizens are rising with counter-terrorist surveillance going beyond targeting people of interest. These concerns are reflected in American cinema where many contemporary films have explored surveillance in society. The textual analyses presented in the thesis will focus on three such films, Strange Days (1995), Southland Tales (2005), and Nightcrawler (2014). Throughout this thesis, I examine how each of these films offers a unique, reflexive take on surveillance, adhering to generative mechanisms that evoke differing attitudes about surveillance through their form. My analysis draws on Laura Mulvey and Patricia Pisters’ theories on the gaze to understand the politics of looking in contemporary surveillance cinema and highlight how cinematic scopophilia evolved into a networked perspective. My analysis suggests that the politics of surveillance cinema is reflected in these films as their differences mirror the changing perception of surveillance and the gaze over time. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Dans ce travail, nous avons abordé le problème d’estimation automatique du regard dans des environnements utilisateur sans contraintes. Ce travail s’inscrit dans la vision par ordinateur appliquée à l’analyse automatique du comportement humain. Plusieurs solutions industrielles sont aujourd’hui commercialisées et donnent des estimations précises du regard. Certaines ont des spécifications matérielles très complexes (des caméras embarquées sur un casque ou sur des lunettes qui filment le mouvement des yeux) et présentent un niveau d’intrusivité important, ces solutions sont souvent non accessible au grand public. Cette thèse vise à produire un système d’estimation automatique du regard capable d’augmenter la liberté du mouvement de l’utilisateur par rapport à la caméra (mouvement de la tête, distance utilisateur-capteur), et de réduire la complexité du système en utilisant des capteurs relativement simples et accessibles au grand public. Dans ce travail, nous avons exploré plusieurs paradigmes utilisés par les systèmes d’estimation automatique du regard. Dans un premier temps, Nous avons mis au point deux systèmes basés sur deux approches classiques: le premier basé caractéristiques et le deuxième basé semi apparence. L’inconvénient majeur de ces paradigmes réside dans la conception des systèmes d'estimation du regard qui supposent une indépendance totale entre l'image d'apparence des yeux et la pose de la tête. Pour corriger cette limitation, Nous avons convergé vers un nouveau paradigme qui unifie les deux blocs précédents en construisant un espace regard global, nous avons exploré deux directions en utilisant des données réelles et synthétiques respectivement. / In this thesis, we tackled the automatic gaze estimation problem in unconstrained user environments. This work takes place in the computer vision research field applied to the perception of humans and their behaviors. Many existing industrial solutions are commercialized and provide an acceptable accuracy in gaze estimation. These solutions often use a complex hardware such as range of infrared cameras (embedded on a head mounted or in a remote system) making them intrusive, very constrained by the user's environment and inappropriate for a large scale public use. We focus on estimating gaze using cheap low-resolution and non-intrusive devices like the Kinect sensor. We develop new methods to address some challenging conditions such as head pose changes, illumination conditions and user-sensor large distance. In this work we investigated different gaze estimation paradigms. We first developed two automatic gaze estimation systems following two classical approaches: feature and semi appearance-based approaches. The major limitation of such paradigms lies in their way of designing gaze systems which assume a total independence between eye appearance and head pose blocks. To overcome this limitation, we converged to a novel paradigm which aims at unifying the two previous components and building a global gaze manifold, we explored two global approaches across the experiments by using synthetic and real RGB-D gaze samples.

A percepção de presença (PP), evolução do conceito de telepresença, pode ser definida como ilusão perceptiva de não mediação e/ou a percepção ilusória da realidade. O método mais utilizado para a avaliação da PP faz uso de questionários aplicados aos sujeitos, após sua participação numa experiência. Além de não fornecer informações em tempo real esse método sofre muitas interferências advindas tanto dos sujeitos submetidos ao experimento como dos avaliadores dos questionários. Os métodos que poderiam ser mais efetivos para a avaliação da PP, em tempo real, fazem uso de sinais fisiológicos que variam independentemente da vontade dos sujeitos, como batimento cardíaco, eletrocardiograma, eletroencefalograma, resistividade e umidade da pele. Os sinais fisiológicos, no entanto, só variam de forma significativa em situações de estresse, inviabilizando sua utilização em atividades normais, sem estresse. Outra forma de avaliar a PP é utilizar sistemas de rastreamento do olhar. Estudados e desenvolvidos desde o século 19, os sistemas de rastreamento do olhar fornecem um mapeamento do movimento dos olhos. Além de indicar para onde os sujeitos estão olhando, podem também monitorar a dilatação da pupila e as piscadas. Atualmente existem sistemas de rastreamento do olhar comerciais de baixo custo, que apesar de terem menos precisão e frequência que os equipamentos de alto custo são mais práticos e possuem software de plataforma aberta. No futuro serão tão comuns e simples de usar como são hoje as câmeras em dispositivos móveis e computadores, o que viabilizará a aplicação das técnicas e métodos aqui propostos em larga escala, principalmente para monitorar a atenção e envolvimento de atividades mediadas por vídeo. É apresentada uma ferramenta que faz uso do rastreamento do olhar para avaliar a percepção de presença em atividades mediadas por vídeo (com estímulos sonoros). Dois experimentos foram realizados para validar as hipóteses da pesquisa e a ferramenta. Um terceiro experimento foi executado para verificar a capacidade da ferramenta em avaliar a percepção de presença em atividades não estressantes mediadas por vídeo. / The presence perception (PP), evolution of the concept of telepresence, could be defined as the perceptual illusion of nonmediation and/or the ilusional perception of reality. The most utilized method for PP evaluation make uses questionnaires applied for the subjects, after your participation in an experience. Besides it does not provide real-time information this method suffers with many interferences in the results that come from the subjects undergoing and form the reviewers of the of the questionnaires. The methods could be more effective for PP evaluation, in real time, make uses of physiologic signals that vary independently of the request of the subjects, e.g. heart rate, electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram, skin resistivity and skin humidity. However, meaningful physiologic signals occurs only in stress situations, unfeasible Its use in normal environments, whit no stress. Another way to evaluate the PP is using eye gaze tracking systems. Studied and developed since the 19th century, eye gaze tracking systems provide an eye movements mapping. Moreover it indicate where the subjects are viewing, these systems can follow up pupil dilatation and blinks. Currently there are commercial gaze tracking systems inexpensive, despite having less precision and frequency that expensive-equipments are more practical and open software platform is available. In the future these technologies will be common and simple to use as today are cameras on mobile devices and computers, which will enable the implementation of the techniques and methods here proposed on a large scale, mainly to monitor the attention and involvement during activities mediated by video. A tool that makes use of gaze tracking to evaluate presence perception in activities video mediated (with sound stimuli) is displayed. Two experiments were conducted to validate the hypotheses of the research and the tool. A third experiment was performed to verify the tool\'s ability to assess presence perception in non-stressful activities video mediated.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:31:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia do Prado Ferreira Lemos.pdf: 1866085 bytes, checksum: 7f9a240c8898565ab118a99d27f7c3f2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-07 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research proposes to interface psychoanalysis and society, focusing on the contingencies of late capitalism which cross social linkings and are reflected on the subjects. In view of this situation, we understand the internet takes a notable role, when regarding social networking, by displaying the constitutions of social linkings and some aspects of the structure of these subjects. Thus, the thesis we have seeked to defend is that in the present conjuncture, especially in light of its technological apparatuses, the subjects are more significantly captured by a distinctive modality of gaze, one we apprehend being the "scopic", which in face of its features, exposes the peculiarities of the subjects structures and their interface with other subjects and objects. For such a task, we have divided our research into three complementary chapters: in the first, we investigate different readings about contemporary culture, contrasting between modern and post-modern conceptions and shedding some light on the society in which the subjects are taking part; in the second chapter, we highlight some theoretical differences introduced by Psychoanalysis, presenting the peculiarities of the structure of the subjects, along with some contributions by psychoanalytic authors, regarding the debates around subjects in our society; Finally, in the third chapter, we contemplate our objectives and examine the notion of "scopic field", highlighting the implications on subjects by this modality of gaze, especially in light of social networks. We chose Facebook site as the main social network under investigation, taking it as a device which represents some of contemporary cultural constitutions. We finally stress how subject's structures and language's transhistoricism relate to the forms of gaze implementation and the discursive diversity of social linkings, showing that historical shifts do affect the subjects, but not in its structure / Esta pesquisa propôs articular psicanálise e sociedade, atentando-se para as contingências do capitalismo tardio que atravessam os laços sociais e repercutem nos sujeitos. Diante deste cenário, entendemos que a internet assume notório papel, especialmente em suas redes sociais, ao evidenciar a composição dos laços, assim como aspectos da estrutura dos sujeitos. Deste modo, a tese que se buscou defender é a de que na conjuntura atual, sobretudo a partir dos aparatos tecnológicos, os sujeitos são capturados mais notadamente por uma modalidade de gozo, a qual apreendemos ser o escópico, que diante de suas especialidades indica particularidades da estrutura dos sujeitos e também de suas articulações com os outros e os objetos. Para tanto, dividimos o trabalho em 03 (três) capítulos que se complementam: no primeiro investigamos diferentes leituras da cultura contemporânea, contrapondo concepções modernas às pós-modernas e elucidando a sociedade na qual os sujeitos estão inseridos; no segundo marcamos diferenças teóricas introduzidas pela psicanálise, apresentando peculiaridades da estrutura do sujeito e as colaborações de autores da psicanálise para a discussão sobre sujeito na atualidade e, posteriormente, no terceiro capítulo, contemplamos nosso objetivo e discorremos sobre o campo escópico, destacando as implicações e a captura do sujeito por esta modalidade de gozo, sobretudo a partir das redes sociais. Para tanto, elegemos o site Facebook como rede social para investigação, tomando-o como um dispositivo que representa algumas das composições contemporâneas da cultura. Destacamos, por fim, o modo como a estrutura do sujeito e a transistoricidade da linguagem no âmbito da humanidade se relacionam com as formas de aparelhamento do gozo e com a diversidade histórica discursiva dos laços sociais