Wet : a Project is a ficto-critical essay, a writer's diary, concerned with language, trauma, the body and image. A complement to Wet, it is greatly informed by Probyn's model of 'belonging' as a writing subject, and psychoanalytic theorisation such as Gibb's analysis of psychosomatic speech, Pines' and Anzieu's conceptualisations of the 'skin ego', Kristeva's account of sensation and its relation to language and Lacan's development of the ego in the mirror stage. In addition, it engages Herman's analysis of trauma and Scarry's account of pain, and their relationships to language, the body and subjectivity. Interspersed with autobiographical accounts, Wet : a Project explores the milieus, spaces and specific geographical sites in which trauma, language, forms of identity, desire, belonging and becoming, emerge or assert their visibility. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Reformed tradition, following Zwingli and especially Calvin, excluded images from the churches. Calvin rejected the sacred images of his day as idolatrous on the grounds that they were treated as making God present, that the necessary distinction between God and God’s material creation was not maintained, and because an image, which rightly was to be mimetic of visible reality, could not truthfully depict God. Calvin approved the Renaissance notion of visual art as mimetic and he understood that artists’ abilities were gifts of God and were to be used rightly. He also had a very keenly developed visual aesthetic sense in relation to nature as the “mirror” of God’s glory. However, the strong human tendency towards idolatry before images, he believed, meant that it was not expedient to place any pictures in the churches. Reinterpretation of key biblical passages, particularly the first and second commandments (Calvin’s numbering), together with changes in the understanding of what constitutes visual art, of the relationships between words and visual images, and of the processes of interpretation and reception not only of texts but of all perceived reality, lead to a re-thinking of the issues. The biblical narrative with its theological insights can be interpreted into a visual language and used by the church as complementary to, but never replacing, biblical preaching and teaching in words. Attention to the visual aesthetic dimensions of the worship space is important to allow for this space to function as an invitation and call to worship. Its form, colour, light and adorning may give aesthetic delight, which leads to praise and thanksgiving, or it may provoke other response which helps people prepare to offer worship to God. The world and its people depicted in visual art/image may inform the praying of the church and the visual representation of the church (the saints) may provide congregations with an awareness of the breadth of the church at worship in heaven and on earth. In the present diversity of views about visual art and the work of the artist there is freedom for the artist to re-think the question of vocation and artists may find new opportunities for understanding and exercising their vocation not only in secular art establishments and the community but also in relation to the worship of the church.

All plane curves can be described at an abstract level by a sequence of five primitive elemental shapes, called "condons", which capture the sequential relations between the singular points of curvature. The condon description provides a basis for enumerating all smooth 2D curves. Let each of these smooth plane be considered as the si lhouette of an opaque 3D object. Clearly an in finity of 3D objects can generate any one of ou r "condon" silhouettes. How then can we p redict which 3D object corresponds to a g iven 2D silhouette? To restrict the infinity of choices, we impose three mathematical properties of smooth surfaces plus one simple viewing constraint. The constraint is an extension of the notion of general position, and seems to drive our preferred inferences of 3D shapes, given only the 2D contour.

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in math problem solving among students with learning disabilities (LD), low-achieving (LA) students, and average-achieving (AA) students. The primary interest was to analyze the problem representation processes students use to translate and integrate problem information as they solve math word problems. Problem representation processes were operationalized as (a) paraphrasing the problem and (b) visually representing the problem. Paraphrasing accuracy (i.e., paraphrasing relevant information, paraphrasing irrelevant linguistic information, and paraphrasing irrelevant numerical information), visual representation accuracy (i.e., visual representation of relevant information, visual representation of irrelevant linguistic information, and visual representation of irrelevant numerical information), and problem-solving accuracy were measured in eighth-grade students with LD (n = 25), LA students (n = 30), and AA students (n = 29) using a researcher-modified version of the Mathematical Processing Instrument (MPI). Results indicated that problem-solving accuracy was significantly and positively correlated to relevant information in both the paraphrasing and the visual representation phases and significantly negatively correlated to linguistic and numerical irrelevant information for the two constructs. When separated by ability, students with LD showed a different profile as compared to the LA and AA students with respect to the relationships among the problem-solving variables. Mean differences showed that students with LD differed significantly from LA students in that they paraphrased less relevant information and also visually represented less irrelevant numerical information. Paraphrasing accuracy and visual representation accuracy were each shown to account for a statistically significant amount of variance in problem-solving accuracy when entered in a hierarchical model. Finally, the relationship between visual representation of relevant information and problem-solving accuracy was shown to be dependent on ability after controlling for the problem-solving variables and ability. Implications for classroom instruction for students with and without LD are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of three-dimensional visualization techniques for learning about protein conformation and molecular motion in association with a ligand and receptor binding event. Increasingly complex versions of the same binding event were depicted in each of four animated treatments. Students (n = 131) were tested at three time points, and over both the short and longer term, the most complex of the four animated treatments was the most successful at fostering students’ understanding of the events depicted. A follow-up study including eight biology students was conducted to gain greater insight into the students’ underlying thought processes and better characterize their understanding of the animated representations. Analysis of verbal reports and eye tracking data suggest that students are able to attend to the same narrative elements regardless of the level of complexity depicted in each animation. Analysis of verbal protocol data revealed a positive correlation between the number of explanatory statements expressed by participants and the complexity of the animation viewed. As well, prior knowledge was positively correlated with the number of explanatory statements contained in each protocol. Overall, students demonstrated an understanding of protein conformation and molecular crowding. However results suggest that students have difficulty understanding and associating randomness with molecular events. The verbal reports contained several instances of students’ attaching agency to protein and ligand, anthropomorphizing their movements and subsequent binding. Ordinarily cellular events, owing to their sheer complexity, are depicted in a highly schematized, simplified form. The results of this study would suggest that under select circumstances this may not be the most appropriate approach to depicting dynamic events. However additional attention must be given to exploring techniques that can satisfactorily balance the random nature of molecular events with narrative explanations of these processes.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of three-dimensional visualization techniques for learning about protein conformation and molecular motion in association with a ligand and receptor binding event. Increasingly complex versions of the same binding event were depicted in each of four animated treatments. Students (n = 131) were tested at three time points, and over both the short and longer term, the most complex of the four animated treatments was the most successful at fostering students’ understanding of the events depicted. A follow-up study including eight biology students was conducted to gain greater insight into the students’ underlying thought processes and better characterize their understanding of the animated representations. Analysis of verbal reports and eye tracking data suggest that students are able to attend to the same narrative elements regardless of the level of complexity depicted in each animation. Analysis of verbal protocol data revealed a positive correlation between the number of explanatory statements expressed by participants and the complexity of the animation viewed. As well, prior knowledge was positively correlated with the number of explanatory statements contained in each protocol. Overall, students demonstrated an understanding of protein conformation and molecular crowding. However results suggest that students have difficulty understanding and associating randomness with molecular events. The verbal reports contained several instances of students’ attaching agency to protein and ligand, anthropomorphizing their movements and subsequent binding. Ordinarily cellular events, owing to their sheer complexity, are depicted in a highly schematized, simplified form. The results of this study would suggest that under select circumstances this may not be the most appropriate approach to depicting dynamic events. However additional attention must be given to exploring techniques that can satisfactorily balance the random nature of molecular events with narrative explanations of these processes.

The aim is to examine how students with attention difficulties may demonstrate their mathematical understanding through visual representations. A curiosity about how students think about mathematics, national tests and Concepts cartoons has also permeated the study.   With help of observations combined with interviews and actively work for a week, the study shows an idea of how visual representations can help students with concentration difficulties to stay focused on their tasks.   I chose a selection of pupils to do some mathematical tasks from the national tests which they had not been able to solve before. Now in the form of Concepts cartoons, which I designed, they managed to solve the same mathematics data. In my study treatment and interaction reveals as key pillars for a successful educational work with the students with concentration difficulties. Thus, all pupils who previously have been unable to solve these assignments on the National test were now able to show their mathematical understanding supported by visual representations. / Syftet var att undersöka hur elever med koncentrationssvårigheter kan visa sin matematiska förståelse med hjälp av visuella representationer inspirerade av Begreppsbubblor. En nyfikenhet kring hur elever tänker om matematik, nationella prov och Begreppsbubblor har också genomsyrat studien. En av mina frågeställningar rör även hur lärare bemöter koncentrationssvaga elever i verksamheten.   Med hjälp av observationer och intervjuer med undervisande lärare fick jag en bild av hur visuella representationer kan hjälpa koncentrationssvaga elever att behålla fokus på sina uppgifter och vilken roll lärarens bemötande har.   Jag valde att låta ett urval elever göra om några textuppgifter från de nationella proven, som de inte klarat tidigare, men nu med stöd av Begreppsbubblor, som jag själv konstruerat. I studien framkommer bemötande och interaktion som viktiga grundpelare för ett lyckat pedagogiskt arbete med koncentrationssvaga elever. Samtliga elever som inte klarat av de valda textuppgifterna på det nationella provet kunde med stöd av visuella representationer visa sin matematiska förståelse och därmed lösa uppgifterna.

This thesis is a theoretically guided empirical discussion of fashion and its role within the production of national identity in Germany. In recent years, a new patriotism in contemporary German fashion could be observed, starting with the fashion designer Eva Gronbach in 2001. I will approach the term patriotism with the aid of one of Michel Foucault's key terms, the notion of the episteme. In my case study, singular fashion images from three consecutive collections by Gronbach are examined with regard to their role in the discourse of German patriotism. But I am not only interested in the "how" of this discourse. Building up upon Antonio Gramsci's notion of "cultural hegemony", I also explain the recent rise of this fashion patriotism. Thus, my discourse analysis of Gronbach's fashion becomes embedded in social struggles and transformations in Germany. Argueing that fashion is a discursive practice that can show up as well as promote changes in discursive formations, I assume a dialectical structure-agency conception: On the one hand the case of Gronbach hints at the deeper structural problematic of patriotism and social cohesion which allowed Gronbach to become popular. On the other hand, this structure is also produced via discursive practices such as Gronbach´s. The what I term "inclusionary patriotism" comprises cultural normalisation. Thus, the case of Gronbach demonstrates a "constrained heterogeneity" with regard to the discourse of patriotism in Germany, in which diversity is only acceptable within certain discursively constructed limits.

Racialization, Representation, and Resistance: Black Visual Artists and the Production of Alterity queries the relationship between Black visual representation and Black social and cultural politics. For the past two centuries Black visual artists throughout the African Diaspora have painted, sculpted, and filmed images of blackness inspired, funded, and otherwise supported by progressive patrons and institutions. Largely produced outside of mainstream art worlds, these visual representations focused on Black social and cultural politics and Black alterity more than mainstream tastes or stereotypes. As the coherence of Black social and political movements and resources declined in the late twentieth century, however, commercialization and the mainstream art world had increasing influence on Black visual culture. These changes created intense resistance and debate about the politics of visual representation throughout the Black Atlantic, particularly in the United States, Cuba, and the United Kingdom. Ethnographic observations, interviews, and gallery talks with artists in these three nations, including John Yancey, Vicky Meek, Marcus Akinlana, Kara Walker, Michael Ray Charles, Gloria Rolando, Anissa Cockings, and Andrew Sinclair, along with cultural and historical comparisons, provide fresh insight into the relationship between Black visual representation and contemporary Black social and cultural politics. / text

A Cyber-Physical System (CPS) has a tight integration of computation, networking and physicalprocess. It is a heterogeneous system that combines multi-domain consisting of both hardware andsoftware systems. Cyber subsystems in the CPS implement the control strategy that affects the physicalprocess. Therefore, software systems in the CPS are more complex. Visualization of a complex system provides a method of understanding complex systems byaccumulating, grouping, and displaying components of systems in such a manner that they may beunderstood more efficiently just by viewing the model rather than understanding the code. Graphicalrepresentation of complex systems provides an intuitive and comprehensive way to understand thesystem. OpenModelica is the open source development environment based on Modelica modeling andsimulation language that consists of several interconnected subsystems. OMEdit is one of the subsystemintegrated into OpenModelica. It is a graphical user interface for graphical modeling. It consists of toolsthat allow the user to create their own shapes and icons for the model. This thesis presents a methodology that provides an easy way of understanding the structure andexecution of programs written in the imperative language like C through graphical Modelica model.