This thesis investigates the use of virtual avatar heads to enhance local video see-through collaboration in a mixed reality environment. When users engage with each other using a head-mounted display, the device sits atop their head and obstructs their view, concealing their gaze and facial expressions while collaborating. This makes communication harder by removing non-verbal hints. The proposed solution aims to restore them by rendering virtual avatar heads on top of users heads. The study examines the impact of different avatar styles, including the potential effects of the uncanny valley, as well as the use of lip syncing versus facial tracking to animate avatar mouths. An application was developed using Unity3D to implement this solution, allowing two users to collaborate in a mixed reality environment with avatars on their heads. An experiment was conducted with 56 participants, where users collaborated in two tasks: the twenty question game and a collaborative object placement task. A between-subject design was used to compare with and without avatars, avatar rendering type and avatar lip animation. During the experiment, social presence, user experience and performance were measured through questionnaires (Networked Minds of social presence, NASA TLX and User Experience Questionnaire) and eye gaze data. The study found that although there was not always a strong difference between no avatar and avatars, the use of cartoon avatars with lip syncing was the most favorable option, enhancing the user’s comfort and facilitating interpretation of their partner’s emotions and feelings, as well as receiving more attention from them, which could be due to the Uncanny Valley. However, no evidence of performance improvement was found. The findings of this study have important implications for the design of collaborative mixed reality environments, highlighting the potential benefits of using virtual avatars to enhance communication and social presence. The study also underscores the importance of avatar style and facial animation as well as the potential impact of the uncanny valley on user experience. / Denna avhandling undersöker användningen av virtuella avatarhuvuden för att förbättra lokalt samarbete med genomskinlig video i en mixed reality-miljö. När användare interagerar med varandra med hjälp av en huvudmonterad display sitter enheten ovanpå huvudet och skymmer sikten, döljer blicken och ansiktsuttrycken medan de samarbetar. Detta försvårar kommunikationen genom att ta bort icke-verbala ledtrådar. Den föreslagna lösningen syftar till att återställa dem genom att rendera virtuella avatarhuvuden ovanpå användarnas huvuden. Studien undersöker effekterna av olika avatarstilar, inklusive de potentiella effekterna av uncanny valley, samt användningen av läppsynkronisering kontra ansiktsspårning för att animera avatarernas munnar. En applikation utvecklades med Unity3D för att implementera denna lösning, så att två användare kan samarbeta i en mixed reality-miljö med avatarer på sina huvuden. Ett experiment genomfördes med 56 deltagare, där användarna samarbetade i två uppgifter: spelet med tjugo frågor och en samarbetsuppgift för objektplacering. En mellanobjektsdesign användes för att jämföra med och utan avatarer, avatarens renderingstyp och avatarens läppanimering. Under experimentet mättes social närvaro, användarupplevelse och prestanda med hjälp av frågeformulär (Networked Minds of social presence, NASA TLX och User Experience Questionnaire) och ögonstyrningsdata. Studien visade att även om det inte alltid fanns en stark skillnad mellan ingen avatar och avatarer, var användningen av tecknade avatarer med läppsynkronisering det mest fördelaktiga alternativet, vilket förbättrade användarens komfort och underlättade tolkningen av deras partners känslor och sinnestämming, samt fick mer uppmärksamhet från dem, vilket kan bero på Uncanny Valley. Det fanns dock inga bevis för att prestandan förbättrades. Resultaten av denna studie har viktiga konsekvenser för utformningen av kollaborativa mixed reality-miljöer och belyser de potentiella fördelarna med att använda virtuella avatarer för att förbättra kommunikationen och den sociala närvaron. Studien understryker också vikten av avatarstil och ansiktsanimering samt den potentiella inverkan av uncanny valley på användarupplevelsen.

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This thesis explores the use of reinforcement learning within the Unity ML Agents framework to simulate zombie-like movements in humanoid ragdolls. The generated locomotion aims to embrace the Uncanny Valley phenomenon, partly through the way it walks, but also through limb disablement. Additionally, the paper strives to test the effectiveness of reinforcement learning as a valuable tool for generative adaptive locomotion. The research implements reward functions and addresses technical challenges. It lays a focus on adaptability through the limb disablement system. A user study comparing the reinforcement learning agent to Mixamo animations evaluates the effectiveness of simulating zombie-like movements as well as if the Uncanny Valley phenomenon was achieved. Results show that while the reinforcement learning agent may lack believability and uncanniness when compared to the Mixamo animation, it features a level of adaptability that is worth expanding upon. Given the inconclusive results, there is room for further research on the topic to achieve the Uncanny Valley effect and enhance zombie-like locomotion with reinforcement learning.

Der Effekt der Desorientierung entsteht als Resultat wiederholter Versuche der Ästhetisierung von Phänomenen, die literarästhetisch undarstellbar oder kaum darstellbar sind. Es wird daher behauptet, die Desorientierung sei mit der Entgrenzung des Sprachästhetischen verbunden. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Strategien der Entgrenzung des Ästhetischen in postmodernen Romanen zu lokalisieren und ihre wichtigsten Konsequenzen für die Lektüre zu beschreiben. Im Zentrum meiner Untersuchungen steht die sich allmählich konstituierende und sich zugleich dekonstruierende Sinnhaftigkeit der Erzählung. Literaturgeschichtlich beschränkt sich meine Untersuchung auf die Literatur der Postmoderne, weil sie als Zeitalter der radikalen Pluralisierung und Fragmentierung sowie permanenten Ästhetisierung aller kulturellen Bereiche gekennzeichnet ist. In der Entgrenzung des Ästhetischen sehe ich ein Novum, das paradigmatische Wenden in allen Geisteswissenschaften und Künsten eingeleitet hat. Analysiert wurden drei Romane: Thomas Pynchons The Crying of Lot 49, Elfriede Jelineks Lust und Witold Gombrowicz’ Kosmos. Die Romane Pynchons und Gombrowicz‘ repräsentieren eine sich erst konstituierende literarische Postmoderne. Bei Pynchon und Gombrowicz lässt sich sehr gut die schrittweise verlaufende Entgrenzung des Ästhetischen beobachten, während sie bei Jelinek einen ihrer möglichen Endzustände erreicht zu haben scheint. In den ersten Annäherungen an die von mir ausgewählten Texte konnte ich beobachten, dass sich die Desorientierung als Folge der Verdichtung von Verwirrungen (deren Zahl und/oder Art und Weise die Lektüre in erster Linie punktuell stören) konstituiert. Grob genommen konnte ich zunächst zwischen einer ontologisch und einer epistemologisch fundierten Desorientierung unterscheiden, d.h. es bleibt während der Lektüre unklar, welcher Art Entitäten die Protagonisten begegnen und/oder auf welchen Wegen sie zur Erkenntnis kommen. Die zweite wichtige Beobachtung betraf ein literarästhetisch inszeniertes Insistieren auf das Vorhandensein einer Realität/Dimension, bei gleichzeitiger explizit thematisierter Unmöglichkeit des Ausdrucks dieser Realität. Der Prozess des Desorientiert-Werdens müsste daher etwas mit der Steigerung der Ästhetisierungsintensität gemeinsam haben, d.h. mit dem Multiplizieren der (potentiell bedeutungsvollen) Beziehungen zwischen den Textkonstituenten. Womit der Leser im Endeffekt konfrontiert wird, sind unzählige Inseln inkompatibler Sinnhaftigkeiten, die rhetorischen Eruptionen. Die Perzeption des Lesers wird mit Unmengen von Signifikanten überflutet, zu denen er vergeblich nach passenden Signifikaten sucht. Die Erzählung der Ereignisse und Gestaltung der Figuren werden oft unterbrochen, gehemmt, aufgehoben, nicht zu Ende gebracht, so dass die Konstituierung der Gesamtbedeutung permanent unterlaufen wird. Obwohl alle Geschichten linear erzählt sind, scheint es unmöglich zu sein, irgendetwas in ihnen als sichere Erkenntnis zu gewinnen, da das permanente Stören des Signifikationsprozesses den Leser mit einem Minimum eines Sinns/einer Sinnhaftigkeit zurücklässt. Die Ästhetik der Desorientierung ließe sich somit als eine Ästhetik der Entdifferenzierung der Geschehensmomente, d.h. der Steigerung der Wahrscheinlichkeit ihrer Gleichwertigkeit für die Bedeutungskonstituierung beschreiben. Durch die Entdifferenzierung wird die Bedeutung zerstreut und sie kann sich hinter vielen möglichen Zeichen und Symbolen verstecken.

The sculptural environments I create immerse the viewer in a decrepit vaudevillian past. The sculptures allude to narratives within Community Theater as well as the Drag Show. Making becomes an act; manipulating materials such as synthetic hair and paint are associated with the guise of the makeup artist. Frantic rehearsal logic prevails as a dress is repurposed into a male giant's costume and window blinds are used to construct a boat's deck. This collusion asks the viewer to transgress the boundary of the stage, becoming a voyeur privileged to the world of exiled props and role reversal.

Using the literary device of a fictional interview between the artist and a sympathetic intellectual, I explore concepts relating to subjectivity, pedagogy, memory, “Southernness,” whiteness, the deceptive nature of images, social justice, and 20th century art as they relate to a contemporary artistic practice.

Cette étude porte sur un type de cinéma italien appelé giallo. Ayant connu une forte popularité au tournant des années 1970 auprès d’un public dit vernaculaire, ces thrillers horrifiques sont encore aujourd’hui réputés pour leurs scènes de meurtre sanglantes et spectaculaires mettant à l’honneur un assassin ganté. Ce mémoire se propose de faire le point sur ces séquences de meurtre et surtout d’expliquer la façon particulière avec laquelle elles sont mises en scène. Pour bien y parvenir, nous en fournissons tout au long des exemples et les soumettons à une analyse détaillée. Notre approche analytique se veut essentiellement formaliste. Il s’agit de déconstruire ces scènes violentes afin d’en révéler certains des rouages. Dans un premier temps, nous rappelons quelques notions fondamentales du cinéma gore et nous penchons sur la problématique que pose invariablement la représentation de la mort au grand écran. Ceci nous permet ensuite d’observer plus amplement comment les réalisateurs du giallo traitent ces scènes d’homicide sur un mode excessif et poétique. Enfin, le rapport érotique à la violence entretenu dans ces scènes est considéré. Cela nous donne notamment l’occasion de nous intéresser à la figure du mannequin (vivant et non vivant) et de voir de quelles manières les cinéastes peuvent par son entremise transmettre un sentiment d’inquiétante étrangeté. / This study aims to explore giallo, a specific type of Italian cinema. Very popular with a vernacular audience at the turn of the 1970s, these horrific thrillers remain notorious for their bloody and spectacular murder scenes showcasing a gloved killer. With this thesis, we seek to review these murder sequences with a focus on explaining the particular way in which they are staged, shot and edited. To fully achieve this, we provide examples from these scenes and submit them to a detailed analysis. Our analytical approach is essentially formalist. We wish to deconstruct these violent scenes and reveal some of their inner workings. At first, we recall some basic notions of gore cinema and look at the problems that the depiction of death on the silver screen invariably raises. This allows us to see how giallo filmmakers treat these murder scenes in an excessive and poetic mode. Lastly, the erotic aspect of violence presented in these scenes is considered. This gives us the opportunity to focus on the figure of the model/mannequin (living and non-living) and see how filmmakers can use it to transmit an uncanny feeling.

當代童話故事《魔幻玩具舖》再現個體於成長過程中父權與社會機制所壓抑與消音，尤其強調於成長過程中的伊底帕斯情節期。當代童話作者呈現幻滅與殘缺的社會寫實，以提供讀者真實世界的不全以及社會的異化，藉此使讀者不安；透過詭異(the uncanny)的閱讀經驗，讀者認知於自己潛意識中的壓抑，以及社會機制的缺陷。在童話的結構中最重要的為奇幻之要素，奇幻重視顯露社會中的異化與顛覆理性的成規，其建築在現實即為取得讀者之信任，然而推展至非真的境地以混淆讀者對於現實的概念；透過傾覆讀者的認知，奇幻創造出在現實規則中的間隙(breach)以及破壞權威的法則；奇幻以及童話故事的努力皆於尋求到一個更美好的家庭遠景。 第一章介紹童話的文類架構以及與奇幻的緊密關聯。第二章著重於童話理論以及其架構呈現的欲望與空缺(lack)，讀者因認知到自我的伊底帕斯經驗與社會的異化而感到不安；奇幻要素則質問社會規則以及傾覆讀者對於社會秩序的概念。第三章為《魔幻玩具舖》的童話理論分析，以詭異的效果干擾讀者。第四章表明奇幻在《魔幻玩具舖》中的顛覆力量，模糊真與非真的界線以及在社會法規中創造出間隙開啟了被壓抑與壓迫發聲的可能性。最後一章以童話與奇幻要素顛覆父權社會機制作為總結。 / The modern fairy tale, The Magic Toyshop, copes with the issue of what is repressed and muffled under the social and patriarchal restraints through the growing process of a person, especially the oedipal stage. The modern fairy tale writer presents a disillusioned picture of reality, so as to provide the reader with the real conditions of deficiency and alienation in society and unsettle the reader. Through the reading process of the uncanny, the reader recognizes what has been repressed in his unconsciousness, and thus realizes the imperfectness of the society. In the structure of the fairy tale, the most important element is the fantastic which endeavors to reveal the reality of alienation and to subvert the rules of rationality. The fantastic is built on the real in order to gain the belief of the reader; however, it then develops to the realm of the unreal in order to blur the boundary between the real and the unreal. By upsetting the reader’s conception, the fantastic creates a breach in everyday reality and undermines authoritarian rules. The ultimate efforts of the fairy tale and the fantastic are made for the quest for a real homecoming. The first chapter introduces the genre of the fairy tale and its high relevance to the fantastic. The second chapter focuses on the theory of the fairy tale and its significance in revealing what is underneath the structure, desire and lack. The reader is unsettled by recognizing his / her own oedipal experience and the alienated reality. The element of the fantastic questions the everyday rules of the social order and disturbs the reader’s perception. The third chapter is the textual analysis of the fairy tale structure and its uncanny effect on the reader as reflected in Carter’s The Magic Toyshop. The fourth chapter is the analysis of the subversive function of the fantastic in Carter’s novel. The boundary-blurring and breach-making process opens a possibility for what is repressed and oppressed. The final chapter concludes that the fairy tale and the element of the fantastic subvert the authoritative society of patriarchy.

Orientador: Nina Virgínia de Araújo Leite / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T22:47:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leme_PatriciadeOliveira_M.pdf: 1354597 bytes, checksum: 5dae4738b3554f602db88d197ab3ebad (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: O presente trabalho consiste em uma leitura do estilo de Jorge Luis Borges a partir de um inquietante efeito narrativo, passível de ser abordado na área psicanalítica através do enigmático conceito de estranho. Para a elaboração dessa hipótese, inicialmente chamou-se à baila três contos de Borges: "La escritura del dios", "La muerte y la brújula" e "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius". Mesmo estendendo-se a outras incursões na vasta obra borgeana, as três narrativas constituem a moldura necessária para a compreensão de certos mecanismos do estilo borgeano, que nesse trabalho acabam por figurar como elemento causa de estranhamento. No primeiro capítulo tomaram-se os textos como cenas de leitura, em um procedimento que buscou explicitar esse inquietante efeito da escrita de Borges, bem como salientar suas reverberações no campo da crítica literária. O impacto do estilo borgeano na sua crítica pôde elucidar alguns pontos cruciais ao enodamento com a teoria psicanalítica nos capítulos posteriores, recuperando também algumas chaves de leitura importantes no delineamento do efeito em questão. No segundo capítulo promoveu-se uma leitura d' "O estranho", de Sigmund Freud, a partir desse funcionamento da obra borgeana: seus pontos de contato puderam revelar que o conceito erigido por Freud supera os limites de sua própria elaboração, fazendo-se presente mais como um lugar de enunciação do estranho do que como um conceito fechado em suas próprias bases. Esse movimento convocou, no terceiro capítulo, a retomada do conceito de estranho por Jacques Lacan em seu O seminário, livro 10: a angústia. Nele, Lacan promove uma elaboração do estatuto do objeto a, noção paradigmática no campo psicanalítico, a partir do estranho como um efeito de seu aparecimento na estrutura subjetiva. Para tecer o enodamento com o literário, as teorizações lacanianas em seu décimo oitavo seminário foram fundamentais, por trazerem à tona a noção de discurso e de escrita, sobretudo em sua "Lição sobre Lituraterra". O estabelecimento da letra como litoral entre saber e gozo, bem como o seu funcionamento a partir da rasura, permitiram a sustentação da hipótese de leitura que se soergueu inicialmente a partir de um efeito: há em Borges algo que causa estranhamento, e ele se anuncia para além do registro do relato, constituindo uma operação formal que produz esse efeito de escrita / Abstract: This work consists in a reading of Jorge Luis Borges' style beginning from a disquieting narrative effect, which is liable to be approached by the psychoanalytic area through the enigmatic concept of the uncanny. For the elaboration of this hypothesis three Borges' short stories were primarily chosen: "La escritura del dios", "La muerte y la brújula" and "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius". Even having made other incursions into the vast borgesian oeuvre, these three narratives constitute the needed frame for the understanding of certain mechanisms of the borgesian style, which in this work figure in the end as elements cause of uncanniness. In the first chapter these texts were boarded as reading scenes in a procedure that aimed to make explicit this disquieting Borges' writing effect, as well as to underline its repercussion in the field of literary criticism. The impact that the borgesian style had on his critics could elucidate some crucial points to the entanglement with the psychoanalytic theory in the posterior chapters, as well as recovering important keys for the reading in the proposed outlining. In the second chapter was promoted a reading of Freud's "The uncanny" through this aspect of the functioning of the borgesian oeuvre: their points of contact could reveal that the concept created by Freud overcomes the boundaries of its own elaboration, making itself present as a place of enunciation of the uncanny rather than a concept closed in its own bases. This movement summoned, in the third chapter, the resumption of the uncanny concept in the seminar, book 10. The anguish, by Jacques Lacan. In this work Lacan promotes an elaboration of a paradigmatic notion for the psychoanalytic field, the object a, starting from the uncanny as an effect of its appearance on the subjective structure. The lacanian theories in his eighteenth seminar were essential in order to compose the entanglement with the literary form, as they shed light on the notions of discourse and writing, especially in his "Lesson on Lituraterre". The establishment of the letter as littoral between knowledge and jouissance, as well as its way of function through the erasure, allowed to sustain this reading hypothesis, which was raised from an effect: there is something that causes uncanniness in Borges' writing and it shows itself beyond the register of the narrated story, constituting a formal operation that produces this writing effect / Mestrado / Linguistica / Mestra em Linguística