Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Toys, industrialized or not, are part of the world of children. A simple object can be transformed into toy in the course of play, as the imagination of every child. However, to pay attention to industrialized toys, we face not only their material image, they also recorded the images that manufacturers have of themselves and children. Certainly, offered toys follow the dictates of culture, to be accepted and purchased by consumers. Thus, to go toys catalogs, we came across a direction of play of girls and boys, since our culture is marked by a binary model of gender. The gender difference performed even before a child is born is responsible for different education of girls and boys. In this process, alternative femininity and masculinity are marginalized, they become prejudices target. The present dissertation aimed to discuss gender relations which are in toy catalogs of a factory in southern Brazil, from 2009 to 2015. Considering the changes that have already occurred in gender relations in our society, we tried to look at what had already been changing in the production and supply of toys. Household items and plug-in blocks characterize most of the products offered. During the covered period, it was observed some changes, especially in gender indication presented with the toys. The plug-in blocks, with predominant theme of car racing, wars, public safety, works in the city, transport means and robots, are offered at first only for boys. Already household items, initially indicated only for girls, they enter gradually the male territory. It is only from the 2013 catalog that all toys are now given for girls and boys. But what does it represent? A broadening of possibilities for the play of children and at the same time, a camouflaged binary. Colors, designs and themes are held. To the boys are already "allowed" the female environment, and, likewise, the girls are already "authorized" to go the male environment. In this scenario, you can see a demarcation of the female and male. However, some launches bring other changes analyzable. The plug-in blocks now earn new colors and allow other stories, with pink and purple composing scenarios considered feminine. Similarly, in 2015, part of the kitchen is posted out of the traditional combination of pink, white and purple, now brings "neutral" colors, more inviting to the boys. Finally, it is considered that the supply of toys is already blurring their gender boundaries. But changes do not occur suddenly, seeing that, among many regulatory mechanisms, the supply of toys is just one of them. / Os brinquedos, industrializados ou não, fazem parte do mundo das crianças. Um simples objeto pode ser transformado em brinquedo no desenrolar das brincadeiras, conforme a imaginação de cada criança. Contudo, ao atentar para os brinquedos industrializados, não nos deparamos apenas com sua imagem material, nela estão inscritas também as imagens que os fabricantes têm de si mesmos e das crianças. Certamente, os brinquedos ofertados seguem os ditames da cultura, para que sejam aceitos e adquiridos por seus consumidores. Desse modo, ao percorrer catálogos de brinquedos, nos deparamos com um direcionamento do brincar de meninas e meninos, visto que nossa cultura é marcada por um modelo binário de gênero. A distinção de gênero realizada antes mesmo de uma criança nascer é responsável pela educação diferente de meninas e meninos. Nesse processo, feminilidades e masculinidades alternativas são marginalizadas, tornam-se alvo de preconceitos. A presente dissertação buscou discutir as relações de gênero que se apresentam em catálogos de brinquedos de uma fábrica do sul do Brasil, no período de 2009 a 2015. Considerando as mudanças já ocorridas nas relações de gênero em nossa sociedade, procurou-se observar o que já vinha se modificando na produção e oferta de brinquedos. Utensílios domésticos e blocos de encaixe caracterizam a maioria dos produtos ofertados. No decorrer do período abordado, foram observadas algumas modificações, principalmente na indicação de gênero apresentada pelos brinquedos. Os blocos de encaixe, com temáticas predominantes de corridas de carros, guerras, segurança pública, obras na cidade, meios de transporte e robôs, são ofertados, de início, apenas para meninos. Já os utensílios domésticos, inicialmente indicados apenas para meninas, adentram, aos poucos, o território masculino. É apenas a partir do catálogo de 2013 que todos os brinquedos passam a ser indicados para eles e para elas. Mas o que isso representa? Uma ampliação de possibilidades para o brincar das crianças e, ao mesmo tempo, um binarismo camuflado. Cores, modelos e temáticas são mantidas. Aos meninos já é permitido o ambiente feminino, e, da mesma forma, as meninas já são autorizadas a percorrer o ambiente masculino. Diante deste cenário, é possível notar uma demarcação do feminino e do masculino. No entanto, alguns lançamentos trazem outras mudanças passíveis de análise. Os blocos de encaixe ganham agora novas cores e possibilitam outras histórias, com tons de rosa e roxo compondo cenários considerados femininos. No mesmo sentido, em 2015, parte da cozinha é lançada fora da tradicional combinação de rosa, branco e roxo, traz agora cores neutras , mais convidativas aos meninos. Por fim, considera-se que a oferta de brinquedos já vem borrando suas fronteiras de gênero. Mas, mudanças não ocorrem repentinamente, visto que, em meio a tantos mecanismos reguladores, a oferta de brinquedos é apenas um deles.

Barn inom förskolans verksamhet utsätts dagligen för kemikalier och detta har tidigare inte talats om eller uppmärksammats inom den omfattning som det faktiskt görs idag. Denna studie undersöker därmed vilken medvetenhet som finns kring miljökrav framför allt gällande leksaker och material inom förskolans verksamhet. Syftet är mot den bakgrunden att synliggöra vilken medvetenhet det finns kring miljökrav inom två av förskolans verksamhetsnivåer –förskolechef och förskollärare inom en kommundel i en kommun i norra Sverige. För att kunna synliggöra denna medvetenhet har det i studien varit fokus på den kvalitativa intervjun som metod.Resultatet visar bland annat på hur medvetenheten ser ut bland respondenterna, var de anser att en stor del av bekymret ligger samt hur de önskar att arbeta vidare med miljökrav inom förskolans verksamhet. / Children in early childhood education are daily exposed to chemicals and this has not been mentioned or highlighted in the extent that it is made today. This study examines the awareness surrounding environmental requirements, regarding toys and materials within early childhood education. Against this background, the aim of this study is to investigate the awareness there is about environmental requirements within two of the preschool's activity levels - preschool director and preschool teacher in a part of northern Sweden. To highlight this awareness, the study has focused on the qualitative interview as a method.The results show among other things, on how the awareness is among the respondents, what they believe is a large part of the problem is and how they wish to work with environmental requirements within the preschool.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how, and if, Sweden's municipalities contribute to their preschools work for a toxic free environment, and what the schools think of the support they are receiving. The study will also focus on the municipality of Uddevalla and evaluate status and progress of making a chemical-safe environment for preschool children. The study was performed by sending out two different surveys by email to preschool principals and municipalities. The results of the study showed that Sweden's municipalities mostly support the preschools by offering information, education, action plans and procurement. A majority of the preschool principals answered that the support they receive was partially the reason for why they are able to work with such a project. They also think in most cases that the support is sufficient to carry out the work. The support of the municipality in the work is for some preschools crucial. The result of the study of Uddevalla shows that in 72 % of the preschools have or are working with a project to eliminate children's exposure to toxic chemicals. The remaining 28 % are not working with such a project and have no plan to do so. The results based on the survey in Uddevalla is in good agreement with the rest of Sweden, where 86 % of the principals answered that they have or are working with such a project. These results show that Swedish preschools are heading for a more chemical safe environment, although a lot needs to be done before it is accomplished.

South African artist William Kentridge's (b. 1955) work frequently employs optical tools, such as the stereoscope, to highlight the contingency and instability of witness. These visual tools become metaphors for the process of historicization in post-apartheid South Africa. Kentridge is best known for his animations that are filmed by drawing with charcoal, photographing, erasing, redrawing and photographing again, leaving a palimpsest of previous traces on the paper's surface. Kentridge's prints, drawings, puppetry, theatrical projects and performances are also addressed in (un)Fixing the Eye. Kentridge's vast array of works narrates a history critical of the narrow and objective history of apartheid constructed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) official report. Furthermore, the metaphors suggested by Kentridge's optical tools undermine the ideology that apartheid is in the past. It suggests the necessity of colonial narratives as well as issues of class and materialism, within apartheid as traces that are very much part of the present. Each chapter of (un)Fixing the Eye uses a separate optical device to explore the narration of history in South Africa. To do so I draw from an eclectic group of thinkers: psychoanalytic models of melancholia and reparation, Jacques Derrida's work on forgiveness, Hayden White's theories of narrative and Jonathan Crary's work on optical tools and perception. Chapter one argues there is an ironic and impossible condition of forgiveness and truth in the TRC. Using Kentridge's Ubu Tells the Truth and its specific invocation of Dziga Vertov's realist 'kino-eye' and Alfred Jarry's brutal and absurd King Ubu as metaphors of absurdity and truth represented through the movie camera, this chapter argues that there is an impossibility of truth in the TRC. Chapter two reads Kentridge's Felix in Exile as a materialist response to the naturalized and a historical landscape tradition in South Africa. Felix's use of the theodolite and sextant as mapping and navigation tools highlights colonial mapping practices and the history of property ownership, particularly in the mining industry. In this way these optical tools link colonialism and mining alongside of the violence rendered in the film, unearthing a history of colonialism and class issues in apartheid narratives. Chapter three uses X-rays and CAT scans as metaphors for the testimony in the TRC, as both require an expert to decode and contextualize the testimony. Kentridge's films during the TRC use medical imaging technologies that are ambiguous and uncertain within the TRC's discourse of truth. Chapter four returns to the camera, this time as a colonial image in Namibia, arguing its usage in Black Box/Chambre Noir creates a melancholic relationship between Enlightenment Europe and colonial Africa. In this melancholia, Kentridge's history of the 20th century's first genocide in Namibia links a tremendous number of global histories. The focus in optical discourses, particularly the stereoscope is not new in Kentridge's work but (un)Fixing the Eye considers a number of tools that have not previously been a part of this optical work in Kentridge's art. It expands the political scope of Kentridge's work to include colonialism and class issues, insisting on their place in the current political landscape. Ultimately this project argues that Kentridge's work through a destabilized optical apparatus works both formally and allegorically as a way of conceiving of narrative and ideological critique in an expanded sense from the narrow confines set by the TRC.

The current study investigated concept formation in domestic dogs, specifically that of a toy concept. The dog's differential responding (retrieval vs. non-retrieval) to two sets of stimuli suggested a toy concept. Differential responding occurred from the very first trial, indicating that the concept had been formed in the natural environment, not during the experiment. It was hypothesized that a common response may be responsible for the emergence of the class in the natural environment. The results demonstrated that it was possible to expand the class by adding previously non-retrieved objects to the toy class through a common response. It was also shown that the toy concept passed the more stringent criterion (transfer of function test) required validating it as a concept.

Cette thèse a pour but d’étudier les stratégies d’influence des enfants et des adolescents lorsqu’ils demandent à leurs parents de leur acheter des jeux et jouets ou des vêtements de marque. Elle a également pour but de vérifier s’il y a des différences entre les stratégies d’influence des enfants et celles des adolescents. Les enfants de cette étude ont entre 7 et 11 ans et appartiennent au stade opératoire concret du développement cognitif de Piaget (1975). Les adolescents, quant à eux, ont entre 12 et 15 ans et appartiennent au stade opératoire formel du développement cognitif de Piaget (1975). Après une revue de la littérature (sur l’enfant-consommateur et l’adolescent-consommateur) et grâce à une étude qualitative auprès d’enfants et d’adolescents, un modèle conceptuel a été élaboré. Une étude descriptive a été menée auprès de 132 enfants et 119 adolescents pour étudier comment les enfants et les adolescents influencent leurs parents pour l’achat de produits qu’ils désirent. Le rôle modérateur de certaines variables est aussi affirmé, d’autres infirmé. / The aim of this dissertation is to study the strategies of influence of children and teenagers when they ask their parents to buy them games, toys and brand clothing. The aim is also to verify whether or not there are differences between the strategies of influence of children, and those of teenagers. The children in this study are between age 7 and 11, and belong to the concrete operational stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory (1975). The teenagers are between age 12 and 15, and belong to the formal operational stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory (1975). After a literature review on children consumers and teenage consumers, and thanks to a qualitative study conducted among children and teenagers, a conceptual model was elaborated. A descriptive study was carried out among 132 children and 119 teenagers in order to study how children and teenagers influence their parents into buying goods that they want. The moderating role of some variables is also confirmed, that of others is invalidated.

O brinquedo é um importante artefato na infância. Através dele a criança tem oportunidade de desenvolver suas competências e habilidades. Para criança com deficiência visual, além disso, a utilização do brinquedo pode servir como um potencial estimulador de seus resquícios visuais e sentidos remanescentes. O objetivo principal dessa pesquisa é o de propor orientações para designers no projeto de brinquedos a fim de facilitar o processo de desenvolvimento desses produtos enfocando as necessidades das crianças com deficiência visual. O trabalho escrito está organizado na disposição de cinco capítulos, a saber: Introdução, Revisão de Literatura, Metodologia, Desenvolvimento e Finalização. A metodologia, por sua vez, está exposta em etapas consecutivas: a Etapa 1 diz respeito a revisão de literatura, essa foi uma importante etapa da qual foi extraída uma análise qualitativa de dados a respeito dos temas abordados que foram: processo de desenvolvimento de produtos, usabilidade, o brinquedo e a criança com deficiência visual. A Etapa 2 é o desenvolvimento que apresenta-se dividido em dois itens principais: o estudo de direcionado e a delimitação das orientações. No estudo direcionado utilizaram-se informações levantadas a partir da revisão de literatura para realização do desenvolvimento do projeto de brinquedos através de fases metodológicas previstas para geração de produtos em Löbach (2001) com a participação de usuários (crianças com deficiência visual, familiares e profissionais envolvidos no atendimento dessas crianças). Posteriormente, na Etapa 3 com a organização dessas orientações prévias modelou-se um questionário aplicado com designers e profissionais de áreas afins para observar a opinião sobre o compendio de orientações previamente delimitadas. Assim, os resultados apontaram que a maioria das pessoas questionadas possuía pouco conhecimento sobre o tópico deficiência visual. Os entrevistados consideraram as informações delimitadas pertinentes e apontaram que um aprofundamento em alguns tópicos melhoraria o entendimento dos mesmos. / The toy is an important artifact in childhood. Through it the child has the opportunity to develop their skills and abilities. Children with visual impairments, besides the use of the toy can serve as a potential enhancer of its remaining traces and visual senses. The main objective of this research is to propose guidelines for designers in the design of toys to facilitate the process of developing these products focusing on the needs of children with visual impairment. The written work is organized in five chapters available, namely: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Development and Completion. The methodology, in turn, is exposed in consecutive steps: Step 1 concerns the literature review, this was an important step which was extracted from a qualitative analysis of data regarding the topics discussed were: the process of product development, usability , toy and children with visual impairments. Step 2 is the development that has been divided into two main items: the study of directed and delineation guidelines. In the study we used directed information gathered from the literature review to completion of project development toys through methodological phases planned for generation of products Lobach (2001 ) with the participation of users ( visually impaired children , families and professionals involved in the care of these children ). Subsequently, in Step 3 with the organization of these guidelines prior modeled whether a questionnaire with designers and professionals in related fields to observe the review of compendium of guidelines previously delimited. Thus, the results indicated that the majority of those questioned had little knowledge about the topic visually impaired. Respondents considered the relevant information delimited and pointed to a deepening in some topics would improve understanding of the same.

In this thesis, I present my work on the modeling and control of a motor system using the Lego EV3 robot. The overall goal is to apply introductory systems and controls engineering techniques for estimation and design to a real-world system. First I detail the setup of materials used in this research: the hardware used was the Lego EV3 robot; the software used was the Student 2014 version of Simulink; a wireless network was used to communicate between them using a Netgear WNA1100 wifi dongle. Next I explain the approaches used to model the robot’s motor system: from a description of the basic system components, to data collection through experimentation with a proportionally controlled feedback loop, to parameter estimation (through time-domain specification relationships, Matlab’s curve-fitting toolbox, and a formal least-squares parameter estimation), to the discovery of the effects of frictional disturbance and saturation, and finally to the selection and verification of the final model through comparisons of simulated step responses of the estimated models to the actual time response of the motor system. Next I explore three different types of controllers for use within the motor system: a proportional controller, a lead compensator, and a PID controller. I catalogue the design and performance results – both in simulation and on the real system – of each controller. One controller is then selected to be used within two Controls Systems Engineering final course projects, both involving the robot traveling along a predetermined route. The controller’s performance is analyzed to determine whether it improves upon the accumulation of error in the robot’s position when the projects are executed without control.

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This degree work places itself within the field of textile design, with an artistic approach. The motive with this work is to introduce Kente cloth as a textile expression to be developed as a contemporary textile technique. The aim is to explore ways of reinterpreting the West African weaving technique of Kente cloth in combination with the use of recycled toys in order to create contemporary artistic textile designs. The design method consisted of workshops that focused on the deconstruction of the technique and the categorisation of toys. Experimental sketches on the handloom and jacquard machine were produced. The outcome of this design work is a collection of three handwoven artistic textile designs. Toys’’R’’Cloth engages the viewer to produce more sustainable designs by using recycled toys as material reuse. This work and its design method have the potential to be developed further and applied onto other textile techniques.