In a cultural web of myth, sexualisation and prejudice, how do older, British singletons gain access to health-giving, non-sexual touch? This study takes interview material from five single women and three single men (all cisgender, white, heterosexual, British, between 37-76 years) and interlaces it with autoethnographic commentary, poems and artworks to explore negotiations around touch. Drawing on Haraway and Barad’s theoretical concept of “entanglements” (2008; 2007), cross-disciplinary connections are woven across feminist new materialism and social sciences, the body and discourse, the conscious and subconscious. Findings, which are partial, provisional, messy and complex (Haraway 1988), include powerful narratives of shame, denial and cauterisation of touch-needs. These co-exist with corporeal tales of the richness and variety of touch-opportunities, the tactile importance of cats and a “turn” by the oldest, female participants away from a romantic, heterosexual partner towards bonding with the landscape.

A touch is an inseparable part of the mutual contact between a nurse and a patient.The more a patient depends on the assistance of the others in common daily activities, the more a nurse uses physical contact in the care, not only in relation to the professional ortherapeutic acts, but also to the expression of compassion, sympathy, encouragement or calming a patient.Despite the fact that a touch is so important in patient care, it only receives a marginal attention.The goal of the thesis was to examine the reasons for and the obstacles to the application of a touch in nursing care, and if a touch belongs to the present nursing care.Research questions were set to achieve the goals:How do nurses perceive a touch in the present nursing care?How do patients perceive a nurse's touch in the treatment?Three hypotheses were formulated in dependence on the above set goals:H1:Nurses perceive a touch more as a part of the direct (physical)care than a therapeutic intervention.H2:Nurses rather use a touch as an unintentional method than as an intentional therapeutic intervention.H3:Nurses use a touch rather intuitively, not realizing the risk that a touch can be perceived negatively.The theoretical part of the thesis was elaborated on the base of literature sources.The empiric part was implemented on the base of a qualitative and quantitative research.The data for the qualitative research was gained by means of semi-structured interviews with ten patients.A questionnaire research for general nurses was used for the data collection in the quantitative research.On the base of the results the hypotheses were evaluated as follows:H1 Nurses perceive a touch more as a part of the direct (physical) care than a therapeutic intervention unconfirmed.H2:Nurses rather use a touch as an unintentional method than as an intentional therapeutic intervention unconfirmed.H3:Nurses use a touch rather intuitively, not realizing the risk that a touch can be perceived negatively unconfirmed. It is obvious from the results we achieved in the research that a touch has been and will always be an inseparable part of the mutual relation between a nurse and a patient.The research has shown that nurses perceive a touch as a part of the direct care as well as a therapeutic intervention.And if nurses use a touch as a therapeutic intervention, they do it intentionally, mostly to build confidence, to calm a patient, to create the feeling of safety, certainty and understanding.More than a half of the nurses replied that they used a touch instinctively, not realizing that they are touching the patient, on the other hand, more than a half of the nurses replied that they cared about at what points a patient perceived a touch negatively.Although the nurses replied that a therapeutic touch was not time consuming, it is not applied frequently in the therapeutic care.The research has also shown that patients accept a touch within the care and they accept it resignedly.When nurses touch patients, the patients are glad if such a touch is accompanied by words.The interviews revealed that a nurse should not underestimate a handshake at the first contact, as patients perceive this act as a feeling of interest and creation of confidence.The research shows indisputably that a touch is a very important holistic nursing interventionin patient care. It has confirmed that although a touch and its perception is something so intimate, individual and indispensable in nursing care, it only receives a marginal attention.This thesis might serve as study material for numerous nurses, so that a touch is used as an effective intervention by a nurse that perceives a patient as a holistic being and has a sympathy for him/her in his/her uneasy life situation.This thesis might initialize a more extended research combining more research methods.An application of hidden observation for deeper understanding of the use of a touch in nursing care might be particularly interesting.

This report presents the development and implementation of a graphical user interface (GUI) for multi-touch displays as well as an application programming interface (API) for guided storytelling of astronomical visualizations. The GUI and the API is built using web technologies and the GUI is rendered in an OpenGL environment. The API is meant to provide the infrastructure needed to create different stories for the public, based on astronomical data. Both the resulting GUI and the API is developed such that it can be further developed and customized for different purposes.

Syftet med denna studie var att få veta mer om förskollärares inställning till fysisk beröring som ett pedagogiskt verktyg. Då beröring i olika former har varit ett aktuellt ämne under den senaste tiden i form av ”#metoo”, ”Stopp! Min Kropp!” och ”Förskolebrevet”, fann jag det intressant att få veta mer om vad förskollärare tänker kring beröring i förskolan. Två frågeställningar utformades för att uppnå syftet, dessa var: På vilket sätt beskriver förskollärarna att de använder beröring gentemot barnen? Hur förhåller förskollärarna sig till fysisk beröring som ett pedagogiskt verktyg? För att få svar på frågeställningarna använde jag mig av en kvalitativ metod där fyra yrkesverksamma förskollärare intervjuades med semistrukturerade intervjuer. En fenomenografisk ansats användes som teoretiskt ramverk för analys och tolkning av intervjusvaren. Resultatet visade att alla förskollärarna ansåg att fysisk beröring är viktigt för människan. Alla fyra använde sig av beröring gentemot barnen och beskrev olika syften med denna. Under intervjuerna framkom det även att förskollärarna kunde se en förändring i synen på och användandet av beröring under de senaste åren, och detta främst med avseende på pedagogens könstillhörighet.

abstract: This study focuses on three songs from stage works of Kurt Weill (1900-1950): “September Song” from Knickerbocker Holiday (1938), “Speak Low” from One Touch of Venus (1943), and “Lost in the Stars” from Lost in the Stars (1949). All from Weill’s time in the United States, these songs are adaptable as solos and have become American standards performed in various arrangements and styles of popular music by many different artists. The first part of this study is a biographical sketch of Weill’s life and music. It is intended to provide context for the three songs by tracing his beginnings as a German composer of stage works with volatile political messages, to his flight to the United States and his emergence as a composer of Broadway successes. The second part is a commentary on the composition of the three selected songs. The lyrics and musical content are examined to show how Weill’s settings convey the dramatic mood and meaning as well as the specific nuances of the words. Description of the context of these songs explains how they were textually and musically intended to advance the plot and the emotional arc of the dramatic characters. The popularity of these songs endures beyond their original shows, and so there is discussion of how other artists have adapted and performed them, and available recordings are cited. Weill’s songs, his little masterpieces, have proven to be truly evocative and so attractive to American audiences that they have undergone myriad adaptations. This study seeks to provide the personal and historical background of Kurt Weill’s music and to demonstrate why these three songs in particular have proven to have such lasting appeal. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Performance 2016

abstract: Robotic systems are outmatched by the abilities of the human hand to perceive and manipulate the world. Human hands are able to physically interact with the world to perceive, learn, and act to accomplish tasks. Limitations of robotic systems to interact with and manipulate the world diminish their usefulness. In order to advance robot end effectors, specifically artificial hands, rich multimodal tactile sensing is needed. In this work, a multi-articulating, anthropomorphic robot testbed was developed for investigating tactile sensory stimuli during finger-object interactions. The artificial finger is controlled by a tendon-driven remote actuation system that allows for modular control of any tendon-driven end effector and capabilities for both speed and strength. The artificial proprioception system enables direct measurement of joint angles and tendon tensions while temperature, vibration, and skin deformation are provided by a multimodal tactile sensor. Next, attention was focused on real-time artificial perception for decision-making. A robotic system needs to perceive its environment in order to make decisions. Specific actions such as “exploratory procedures” can be employed to classify and characterize object features. Prior work on offline perception was extended to develop an anytime predictive model that returns the probability of having touched a specific feature of an object based on minimally processed sensor data. Developing models for anytime classification of features facilitates real-time action-perception loops. Finally, by combining real-time action-perception with reinforcement learning, a policy was learned to complete a functional contour-following task: closing a deformable ziplock bag. The approach relies only on proprioceptive and localized tactile data. A Contextual Multi-Armed Bandit (C-MAB) reinforcement learning algorithm was implemented to maximize cumulative rewards within a finite time period by balancing exploration versus exploitation of the action space. Performance of the C-MAB learner was compared to a benchmark Q-learner that eventually returns the optimal policy. To assess robustness and generalizability, the learned policy was tested on variations of the original contour-following task. The work presented contributes to the full range of tools necessary to advance the abilities of artificial hands with respect to dexterity, perception, decision-making, and learning. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Mechanical Engineering 2016

abstract: “The Moral Sense of Touch: Teaching Tactile Values in Late Medieval England” investigates the intersections of popular science and religious education in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the project draws together a range of textual artifacts, from scientific manuals to private prayerbooks, to reconstruct the vast network of touch supporting the late medieval moral syllabus. I argue that new scientific understandings of the five senses, and specifically the sense of touch, had a great impact on the processes, procedures, and parlances of vernacular religious instruction in late medieval England. The study is organized around a set of object lessons that realize the materiality of devotional reading practices. Over the course of investigation, I explore how the tactile values reinforcing medieval conceptions of pleasure and pain were cultivated to educate and, in effect, socialize popular reading audiences. Writing techniques and technologies—literary forms, manuscript designs, illustration programs—shaped the reception and user-experience of devotional texts. Focusing on the cultural life of the sense of touch, “The Moral Sense of Touch” provides a new context for a sense based study of historical literatures, one that recovers the centrality of touch in cognitive, aesthetic, and moral discourses. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2016

abstract: Background: When studying how humans regulate their affect, it is important to recognize that affect regulation does not occur in a vacuum. As humans are an inherently social species, affect plays a crucial evolutionary role in social behavior, and social behavior likewise assumes an important role in affect and affect regulation. Emotion researchers are increasingly interested the specific ways people help to regulate and dysregulate one another’s affect, though experimental examinations of the extant models and theory are relatively few. This thesis presents a broad theoretical framework for social affect regulation between close others, considering the role of attachment theory and its developmental foundations for social affect regulation in adulthood. Affectionate and responsive touch is considered a major mechanism of regulatory benefit between people, both developmentally and in adulthood, and is the focus of the present investigation. Method: A total sample of 231 heterosexual married couples were recruited from the community. Participants were assigned to engage in affectionate touch or sit quietly, and/or engage in positive conversation prior to a stress task. Physiological data was collected continuously across the experiment. Hypotheses: Phasic respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was used to index the degree of regulatory engagement during the stressor for those who did and did not touch. It was hypothesized that touch would reduce stress appraisal and thus the need for regulatory engagement. This effect was predicted to be greater for those more anxiously attached while increasing the need for regulatory engagement in those more avoidantly attached. Secondarily, partner effects of attachment on sympathetic activation via pre-ejection period (PEP) change were tested. It was predicted that both attachment dimensions would predict a decrease in partner PEP change in the touch condition, with avoidant attachment having the strongest effect. Results: Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were used to account for nonindependence in dyadic observations. The first set of hypotheses were not supported, while the second set were partially supported. Wives’ avoidance significantly predicted husbands’ PEP change, but in the positive direction. This effect also significantly increased in the touch condition. Theoretical considerations and limitations are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2017

Submitted by Morgana Silva (morgana_linhares@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-06-29T19:38:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2105621 bytes, checksum: 2371a3d7a2bd06e0d0e09909e2e88d56 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-29T19:38:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2105621 bytes, checksum: 2371a3d7a2bd06e0d0e09909e2e88d56 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Prostate cancer is one of the most common tumors in the male population. Causes premature deaths and costs the family, the public health system and the whole society. In this context, this study aims to analyze the determinants of demand for preventive screening for prostate cancer in Brazil and its Regions. From the information of the National Health Research (PNS, 2013), it was organized that study, characterized by men over 40, who answered the question about the digital rectal examination (RT) that were at least once the physician. It is worth noting that the last cut was made in order to resolve the bias related to access to health services. Analysis of the data indicates that over 50% of Brazilian men never performed the screening test for prostate cancer. The main reasons cited for not performing were the lack of guidance, not find it necessary, and shame. The three described allegations indicate the existence disinformation and disbelief to the prevention of disease. Furthermore, with the estimation of the logit model orderly partial proportional odds, it was concluded that it is not the lack of access to health services, but the level of education and access to information that determines the demand for preventive examination prostate cancer. Thus, it is necessary to resolve the deficit of knowledge about the tumor, so that you can increase the early diagnosis of that cancer. / O câncer de próstata é um dos tumores mais comuns na população masculina. Provoca mortes prematuras e custos aos familiares, ao sistema público de saúde e toda a sociedade. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho busca analisar os determinantes da demanda pelo exame preventivo de câncer de próstata no Brasil e suas Regiões. A partir das informações da Pesquisa Nacional da Saúde (PNS, 2013), foi organizada a amostra desse estudo, caracterizada por homens acima de 40 anos, que responderam à pergunta sobre o exame de Toque Retal (TR) e que foram, pelo menos, uma vez ao médico. Vale salientar que esse último corte foi realizado com o intuito de dirimir o viés relacionado ao acesso aos serviços de saúde. A análise dos dados indica que mais de 50% dos homens brasileiros nunca realizou o exame preventivo do câncer de próstata. Os principais motivos citados para a não realização foram à falta de orientação, não achar necessário, e a vergonha. As três alegações descritas sinalizam a existência desinformação e descrença com a prevenção da patologia. Ademais, com a estimação do modelo logit ordenado de chances proporcionais parciais, foi possível concluir que, não é a falta de acesso aos serviços de saúde, e sim, o nível de escolaridade e o acesso a informação que determina a demanda pelo exame preventivo do câncer de próstata. Desse modo, é preciso dirimir o déficit de conhecimento quanto à neoplasia, para que seja possível aumentar o diagnóstico precoce do referido cancro.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Ciência da Saúde, 2014. / Submitted by Ana Cristina Barbosa da Silva (annabds@hotmail.com) on 2015-01-22T16:24:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_ArthurEstivaletSvidzinski.pdf: 3625845 bytes, checksum: afc856ef59683659e917b21d2b7e4d7c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ruthléa Nascimento(ruthleanascimento@bce.unb.br) on 2015-02-11T18:36:28Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_ArthurEstivaletSvidzinski.pdf: 3625845 bytes, checksum: afc856ef59683659e917b21d2b7e4d7c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-02-11T18:36:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_ArthurEstivaletSvidzinski.pdf: 3625845 bytes, checksum: afc856ef59683659e917b21d2b7e4d7c (MD5) / Genotipagem obtidas da analise da sequencia de DNA pelas mais diversas metodologias, os perfis de DNA, tem sido utilizadas frequentemente como ferramentas de investigação criminal e produção de provas periciais. Esses perfis tem sido cada vez mais solicitados as pericias, mesmo em situações onde a quantidade de DNA presentes nas amostras é muito pequena. Este é o caso de amostras produzidas por contato, o touch DNA, onde objetos manipulados ou que entraram em contato com a pele humana apresentam pequenas quantidades de células depositadas em sua superfície, que podem ser alvos de pesquisa de material genético. Neste tipo de amostra, uma grande dificuldade é identificar as melhores regiões para coleta, uma vez que o material depositado por contato não é visualmente destacado. A pesquisa de impressões digitais utiliza pós reveladores com a finalidade de revelar impressões digitais latentes, ou seja, possibilitam identificar as áreas de um objeto que entraram em contato com a pele humana. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a utilização de pós reveladores como ferramentas de triagem para coleta de material biológico deixado por contato com a finalidade de obtenção de perfis genéticos. Em primeiro lugar foi avaliada a quantidade de pó aderido a impressões deixadas por diferentes partes das mãos e a correlação entre a quantidade de pó aderido e a quantidade de DNA recuperado em uma amostra produzida por contato. A seguir foi avaliada a influência do pó revelador nos procedimentos laboratoriais envolvidos em uma análise de DNA. Para tanto, foi observado o efeito inibidor dos pós reveladores sobre a reação de PCR, a capacidade de diferentes métodos de extração em diminuir essa inibição e o resultado de um procedimento de purificação sobre o efeito inibitório. Finalmente, foi feita a pesquisa de DNA em cinco objetos relacionados a ocorrências criminais: arma de fogo, cartucho de munição, faca de cozinha, volante de veículo e alavanca de câmbio. Os resultados mostraram que a quantidade de pó aderido variou conforme a região da mão que produziu a impressão e que foi diretamente relacionada com a quantidade de DNA presente na amostra. O pó revelador apresentou um importante efeito inibidor sobre a reação de PCR. Os métodos de extração de DNA diminuem o efeito inibitório, porém este continua relevante. O procedimento de purificação não eliminou totalmente o efeito inibitório, porém o reduz a uma intensidade em que não comprometeu totalmente a obtenção de perfis genéticos. Nos cinco objetos testados foi possível coletar DNA em grande quantidade no volante de veículo e em quantidades razoáveis na arma de fogo, alavanca de câmbio e faca de cozinha. O cartucho de munição apresentou uma quantidade de DNA recuperada muito baixa, insuficiente para a produção de perfis genéticos de qualidade. Portanto, podemos concluir que pós reveladores podem ser utilizados como ferramentas para a eleição das regiões de coleta de material biológico produzido por contato. Mesmo considerando o seu efeito inibitório sobre a reação de PCR, amostras coletadas juntamente com pós reveladores são capazes de produzir perfis genéticos com qualidade suficiente para análise genética. __________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT / DNA analysis has been used as a tool of criminal investigation and for producing forensic evidence. This kind of exam has been increasingly requested, even in situations where the amount of DNA present in the samples is very small. For example, samples of touch DNA, which consists of objects manipulated or touched by human skin that have small amounts of cells deposited on its surface, potential targets to DNA analysis. In this kind of sample, a great challenge is to identify the best locations for sample collection, since the biological material is not easy to identify. The fingerprint revelation technique uses fingerprint powders to reveal latent fingerprints allowing the identification surfaces touched by human skin. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using the fingerprint powders as screening tools for collecting biological material in touch DNA samples, obtaining good quality genetic profiles. The first step was to study the amount of powder adhered to the impressions produced by the different parts of the hands and the correlation between the amount of powder and the amount of DNA recovered. Next, the influence of fingerprint powder on laboratory procedures involved in DNA analysis was evaluated. The inhibitory effect of fingerprint powder in the PCR reaction was tested followed by the effect of different extraction methods on the inhibition. One DNA purification step was even included to improve the results. Finally, five different objects related to crimes: firearms, ammunition cartridge, kitchen knife, steering wheel and gear shift were proceeded to DNA analysis. The results showed that the amount of fingerprint powder recovered differed according the region of the hand which produced the fingerprint and the amount of adhered powder was directly related to the amount of DNA obtained. The fingerprint powder had a significant inhibitory effect on the PCR reaction. The methods of DNA extraction decreases the inhibitory effect, but it remains relevant. The purification procedure does not completely eliminate the inhibitory effect, but reduces an intensity that does not completely compromise the obtaining genetic profiles. In the five tested objects, it was possible to collect good amounts of DNA in the steering wheel, and in reasonable quantities in the firearms, gear shift and kitchen knife. The cartridge ammunition was the only object which was not possible to recover DNA in sufficient amount to produce quality genetic profiles. Therefore, we conclude that fingerprint powders can be used as tools for choosing the right regions to collect biological material in touch DNA samples. Even considering its inhibitory effect on the PCR reaction, samples collected along with fingerprint powders are able to produce genetic profiles with sufficient quality for genetic analysis.