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Zalewski, Sondra. "Design, graphic arts, and the environment /." Online version of thesis, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/12205.
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Barsh, William Alan. "Home Environment and Creative and Artistic Activity." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2006. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/art_design_theses/5.
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HOME ENVIRONMENT AND CREATIVE AND ARTISTIC ACTIVITY by WILLIAM ALAN BARSH Under the direction of Melody Milbrandt ABSTRACT This study sought to delve into and analyze the home environment and its relation to creative and artistic activity. Three artistically exceptional third grade art students, their parents, and their previous year teacher were interviewed to collect data relating to students and their home environments. Factors related to a student’s home environment such as the origins of their artistic inspirations, environment in which they made art at home, materials available to them, and the cultural values and beliefs transmitted to them in their homes were looked at to see how they influenced a child’s artistic activity. Data was collected through interviews and teacher observations and combined with a review of literature to compile strategies that might be useful for parents to use to influence their children's artistic activity. INDEX WORDS: Home environment, Creativity, Artistic activity, Families, Artistic influence, Parents, Children
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Ayers, Douglas. "Monitoring human behavior in an office environment." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 1998. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/21.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Computer Science
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Jenkins, Jessica. "Visual arts in the urban environment in the German Democratic Republic." Thesis, Royal College of Art, 2014. http://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/1681/.
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Since the unification of East and West Germany in 1990, most of the urban fabric of the former East Germany has been altered beyond recognition or completely dismantled. However, during the four decades of the German Democratic Republic, public spaces and the works of visual arts within them were the subject of intense critical discussion, and formed the basis for the development of theories on the socialist character of art and architecture, which evolved from the late 1960s as Komplexe Umweltgestaltung "Complex Environmental Design". This thesis makes an original contribution to knowledge by making visible and elucidating the cultural-political significance of that urban visual culture, dematerialised and dispersed since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It examines the political, social and artistic function of murals, paintings, sculptures, applied arts, form design, and visual communication within East German architecture and public spaces, and seeks to complexify the commonly understood historical narrative which traces a rupture from the doctrine of an extravagant Socialist Realism to a form of impoverished Modernism. This change is better understood as a gradual and halting evolution, in which art as a medium for projecting the ideal of socialism was displaced by an understanding of design as a means of sustaining the experience of it. Furthermore, the narratives, formal and material qualities of some of the works examined – overlooked even in contemporary re-appraisals of East German art history – rather than being marginal to Socialist Realism, actually opened up spaces for its development. The thesis centres on forms of public art during and after the transition to the industrial mass production of architecture in the mid 1950s. The early phase in the 1950s is illustrated through the two first industrial cities, Eisenhüttenstadt and Hoyerswerda, built to serve iron and coal production respectively. The "scientific and technological revolution", proclaimed by SED first secretary Walter Ulbricht in the 1960s, was to accelerate the process of modernity, in the understandings of the function of urban planning and the role of design for planning, architecture and consumer culture. This change saw a move towards functionalist-oriented planning for Halle Neustadt (from 1964), the centre of new chemical and synthetics production, and a radical move to modernity in the re-construction of city centres up until 1969. This radical change exposed the conception of architecture as an art (Baukunst) favoured by traditionalists in the Bauakademie in particular, to challenges by modernisers who held that art should be considered as primarily functional and thus separate from art. Complex Environmental Design, as this work will demonstrate, gradually replaced the Socialist Realist ideal of Baukunst and the "synthesis" between art and architecture, and became established by the mid 1970s as an interdisciplinary practice in which all visual art forms – architecture, fine arts, crafts, form design, graphic design and landscape design – were to be integrated within the complex planning of the built environment. I shall argue that this inclusion of all artistic disciplines in the design of the built environment formed a compromise between competing ideas between "synthesis" or the separation of art and architecture. Halle Neustadt was key in the conceptual transition to complex environmental design. The thesis goes on to look at how the artistic conception of the 1973 World Festival Games took up a form of complex environmental design, which functioned as both a new form of monumentality, as well as opening up a space for more democractic forms of public art. Methodologically, the research seeks to understand the influence of key actors in the field who were not resistant to the cultural political framework but sought to mediate change within it. Interviews with architects, critics, artists and designers, including architectural critic Bruno Flierl, architect, Sigbert Fliegel, artists Willi Neubert and Manfred Vollmert, designers, Rolf Walter, Lutz Brandt and Axel Bertram together with analyses of their work, and how their ideas were represented by themselves and others, particularly in professional fora, form the basis for an examination their influence. By looking at historical moments in different loci, it becomes apparent that what I term "clusters of influence" formed which pushed forward conceptual transitions. Key sources are the professional journals in which art and architecture were discussed (Deutsche Architektur, Bildende Kunst, Form und Zweck, Farbe und Raum and Neue Werbung) as well as some news and features aimed at the general public such as Neues Deutschland, Neue Berliner Illustrierte and Für Dich. Archival research has focused on the seminars and congresses organised by the professional institutions, the Verband der Bildende Künstler (Artists Union) and the Deutsche Bauakademie (German Building Academy) as well as the records of the local SED in Halle and a number of offices for architectural art which were established across the GDR in the late 1960s. The search for socialist character both in content and form which had an impact on the visual arts of the built environment in the GDR was informed by shifting definitions of the concepts of "function" and "beauty", in which historical legacies, in particular, the Bauhaus, were critically appropriated in a way which served the sometimes involuntary and sometimes intentional interplay between artistic disciplines. The research reveals how these concepts and legacies were drawn together, and plays particular attention to the way in which colour and ornament emerged as central in serving the need for the constituent parts of the urban landscape to be socialist, functional and beautiful.
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Kolasinski, Eugenia M. "Prediction of simulator sickness in a virtual environment." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 1996. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/RTD/id/19166.
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University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences ThesisSickness induced by Virtual Reality (VR) devices poses a genuine threat to the viability of this new technology and its potential products. If the occurrence or severity of sickness could be successfully predicted based on characteristics of an individual, at-risk users could be identified, properly warned, and, perhaps, trained in some way to reduce their risk. A Personal Computer-based VR system was used to address the prediction of simulator sickness. Phase I investigated four characteristics of an individual - age, gender, mental rotation ability, and pre-exposure postural stability - which were hypothesized to be predictive of sickness. Sickness measured as a function of the Total Severity score from the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) was successfully modeled on these characteristics using linear regression techniques, leading to three major findings. First, sickness - as measured by the SSQ - did, in fact, occur in association with exposure to VR. for 35% of the participants, this sickness involved lingering effects and/or possible delayed after-effects. Second, sickness was successfully modeled on characteristics of the individual. The developed model indicated a complicated relationship between predicted sickness and gender, age, mental rotation ability, and pre-exposure postural stability. Third, based on the model developed, sickness is not predicted to differ for gender directly but, rather, gender interacts with mental rotation ability in its effects on sickness. Phase II investigated the occurrence of ataxic decrements in postural stability. No such decrements were found to be associated with the 20-minute exposure. Thus, ataxic decrements do not appear to be associated with short exposures to low-end VR. This finding, however, may be limited to VR tasks of the type used in this study. Practical implications and areas for future research are discussed.
Ph.D.;
Psychology;
Arts and Sciences;
143 p.
xi, 143 leaves, bound : ill. ; 28 cm.
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Lanham, Susan. "Visually induced motion sickness in a virtual environment." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 1994. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/129.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Psychology
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Li, Wu-Hsi. "Musicpainter : a collaborative composing environment." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46584.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-96).
This thesis presents the design and implementation of Musicpainter, a networked graphical composing environment that encourages sharing and collaboration within the composing process. Instead of building a computer-assisted composing tool, Musicpainter aims to provide a social environment where users can gather and learn from each other. Our approach is based on sharing and managing music creation in small and large scale. At the small scale, users are encouraged to begin composing by conceiving small musical ideas, such as melodic or rhythmic fragments, all of which are collected and made available to all users as a shared composing resource. The collection provides a dynamic source of composing material that can be directly reused and it inspires users with more ideas. At the large scale, users can access full compositions that are shared as open projects. Users can listen to and change any piece if they want. The system generates an attribution list on the edited piece and thus allows users to trace how a piece evolves in the environment. Shared resource and open projects form the foundation of the social environment, and they create an opportunity for users to compose in a collaborative manner. A pilot study is conducted to verify our design. Thirty users downloaded the program and contributed a total of 90 partial or complete compositions. The statistics of basic user usage, a summary of user survey, and an analysis of the compositions created by selected users are presented in the thesis.
Wu-Hsi Li.
S.M.
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McHenry, Bruce Alan 1959. "RIPE--rapid instruction production environment." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62626.
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Costello, Robert. "Adaptive intelligent personalised learning (AIPL) environment." Thesis, University of Hull, 2012. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:6251.
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As individuals the ideal learning scenario would be a learning environment tailored just for how we like to learn, personalised to our requirements. This has previously been almost inconceivable given the complexities of learning, the constraints within the environments in which we teach, and the need for global repositories of knowledge to facilitate this process. Whilst it is still not necessarily achievable in its full sense this research project represents a path towards this ideal. In this thesis, findings from research into the development of a model (the Adaptive Intelligent Personalised Learning (AIPL)), the creation of a prototype implementation of a system designed around this model (the AIPL environment) and the construction of a suite of intelligent algorithms (Personalised Adaptive Filtering System (PAFS)) for personalised learning are presented and evaluated. A mixed methods approach is used in the evaluation of the AIPL environment. The AIPL model is built on the premise of an ideal system being one which does not just consider the individual but also considers groupings of likeminded individuals and their power to influence learner choice. The results show that: (1) There is a positive correlation for using group-learning-paradigms. (2) Using personalisation as a learning aid can help to facilitate individual learning and encourage learning on-line. (3) Using learning styles as a way of identifying and categorising the individuals can improve their on-line learning experience. (4) Using Adaptive Information Retrieval techniques linked to group-learning-paradigms can reduce and improve the problem of mis-matching. A number of approaches for further work to extend and expand upon the work presented are highlighted at the end of the Thesis.
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Arjunan, Dorai Raj. "3D Animation: Creating an Experiential Environment." [Johnson City, Tenn. : East Tennessee State University], 2004. http://etd-submit.etsu.edu/etd/theses/available/etd-0719104-174201/unrestricted/Arj%20with%20animation%2017KB.pdf.
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Thesis (M.F.A.)--East Tennessee State University, 2004.Title from electronic submission form. ETSU ETD database URN: etd-0719104-174201 Includes bibliographical references. Also available via Internet at the UMI web site.
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Pereira, Manuela Alexandra Trigo Miranda de Sousa. "Video coding in a broadcast environment." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62328.
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Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1993.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-81).
by Manuela Alexandra Trigo Miranda de Sousa Pereira.
M.S.
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Hall, Nora R. "You and your environment: a program of participatory art activities to enhance students' understanding of design elements." Thesis, Boston University, 1988. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/37158.
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Thesis (M.F.A.)--Boston UniversityPLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you.
2031-01-01
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Bambrough, Marilyn Edna. "An Artful Habitat:Creating an Environment for Divergent Expression." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2018. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/8798.
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Over the last century, teaching techniques and philosophies have changed extensively in the art classroom. Teaching methods have spanned a range that stretches from highly rigid, to self-expressive, more learner centered approaches. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest and research regarding the role of creativity in visual art education. This research project focused on the qualities of effective art instruction using elements from a number of historical ideologies, with the intent to study creative development in students. The research used a case-study methodology informed by a reflective, action research methodology. Research was used to determine effective engagement, and discover teaching strategies using fun and playful exploration that motivate students to be as creative as possible, discover what they are interested in, and engage them in their own artistic research. The application of this research is to inform and improve my own teaching practice, and to explore the qualities of effective learner centered art instruction for middle school age students.
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Enroth, Maria. "Developing tools for sustainability management in the graphic arts industry." Doctoral thesis, Stockholm : Computer Science and Communication, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-4169.
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Glisan, Mary Hornback. "White students' racial attitudes and racial identity development in a liberal arts environment." W&M ScholarWorks, 1992. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539618897.
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The purpose of this study was to document the racial attitudes and racial identity development scores of White students in a liberal arts environment. of particular interest was gender differences, classification differences, and Greek/nonGreek affiliation differences. Furthermore, an effort was made to predict the racial attitude and racial identity development scores using self-report biographical variables.;The College of William and Mary, a public liberal arts university was the institution studied for this project. A stratified random sample was obtained of all White students attending the College. Participants completed the White Racial Identity Attitude Survey (WRIAS), the Racial Attitude and Opinion Scale (ATTW), and a personal data sheet.;It was hypothesized that there would be a significant difference in scores between those with a Greek affiliation and those without a Greek affiliation, males and females, and freshmen and seniors. More specifically, Greeks, males and freshmen would score higher on the ATTW and lower on the WRIAS than would nonGreeks, females, and seniors, respectively. This would signify more negative attitudes toward Blacks and a less healthy racial identity.;The results indicated five of the six hypothesis to be supported to a certain extent. Even though the total population reported positive racial attitudes, Greek males and freshmen may need to be provided with additional educational opportunities concerning race to bring them closer to the same level as the other groups.;It was also concluded that colleges need to address the issue of race and racism. High scores on the lowest stage of the racial identity development model indicated that respondents were naive about the topic of race in general.
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Patz, Geva 1973. "A parallel environment for simulating quantum computation." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16955.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-134).
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
This thesis describes the design and implementation of an environment to allow quantum computation to be simulated on classical computers. Although it is believed that quantum computers cannot in general be efficiently simulated classically, it is nevertheless possible to simulate small but interesting systems, on the order of a few tens of quantum bits. Since the state of the art of physical implementations is less than 10 bits, simulation remains a useful tool for understanding the behavior of quantum algorithms. To create a suitable environment for simulation, we constructed a 32-node cluster of workstation class computers linked with a high speed (gigabit Ethernet) network. We then wrote an initial simulation environment based on parallel linear algebra libraries with a Matlab front end. These libraries operated on large matrices representing the problem being simulated. The parallel Matlab environment demonstrated a degree of parallel speedup as we added processors, but overall execution times were high, since the amount of data scaled exponentially with the size of the problem. This increased both the number of operations that had to be performed to compute the simulation, and the volume of data that had to be communicated between the nodes as they were computing. The scaling also affected memory utilization, limiting us to a maximum problem size of 14 qubits. In an attempt to increase simulation efficiency, we revisited the design of the simulation environment. Many quantum algorithms have a structure that can be described using the tensor product operator from linear algebra. We believed that a new simulation environment based on this tensor product structure would be substantially more efficient than one based on large matrices. We designed a new simulation environment that exploited this tensor product structure. Benchmarks that we performed on the new simulation environment confirmed that it was substantially more efficient, allowing us to perform simulations of the quantum Fourier transform and the discrete approximation to the solution of 3-SAT by adiabatic evolution up to 25 qubits in a reasonable time.
by Geva Patz.
S.M.
17
Tett, Alison. "Space, practices, discourse : the praxis of the created environment." Thesis, McGill University, 1989. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=55661.
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Lund, Kimberley Ann. "Multiple Case Study of (Re)Design and Restructuring of Studio Arts Schools and Departments in the Research University Environment." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/305123.
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"Multiple Case Study of (Re)-Design and Restructuring of Studio Arts Schools and Departments in the Research University Environment" investigates the effect of a changing academic value system, as it is manifest through activities of studio arts program redesign and restructuring within the specific context of large, public research universities in the United States of America. A multiple case study (of three distinct American studio arts units) of the academic restructuring phenomenon within this specific locus, examining the interplay of studio arts culture with the larger institutional mandates in the restructuring process, this work approaches restructuring as a series of cultural and survivalist responses to a complex and changing environment.
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Malven, Christopher John. "Public : an exploration of community, environment, and technology /." VCU Scholars Compass, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10156/1775.
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Hild, Suzanne. "Current trends and future directions of regional support for local visual artists in the changing cultural environment /." Philadelphia, Pa. : Drexel University, 2001. http://dspace.library.drexel.edu/handle/1860/397.
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Pasztor, Egon 1975. "A graphical environment for gestural computer-aided composition." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62375.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-103).
I have designed and implemented a software environment, a Windows application called Hyperscore, that presents a novel, easy-to-learn interface for composing richly textured music through line gestures. The program allows the user to command a set of music-manipulation algorithms written by Mary Farbood [Farbood, 2001]. The interface is both compelling and interesting for musically untrained users, and rich enough that such users, after sufficient practice, can create music that professional musicians find to be of high quality. While many musical composition programs geared for musically untrained users exist, it is its unique user interface, its use of freely drawn line-gestures, zooming navigation, and simple symbolic icons, that helps make this program unique. The program was designed to enable musically untrained children, ages ten or older, to compose three-minute pieces for a string orchestra, given only a week or so of two-hour daily workshops. The program succeeded in this, and has been presented to audiences in Berlin, Dublin, and Glasgow as a part of Toy Symphony. The program has also been made available for download.
by Egon Pasztor.
S.M.
22
Halliday, Mark David. "Digital cinema--an environment for multi-threaded stories." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29071.
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Fish, Jo Anna Baarda. "Teachers implementing literacy instruction in a performance-standards environment a collective case study in second grade /." restricted, 2007. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-12032007-131900/.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2007.Title from file title page. Dana L. Fox, committee chair; Celeste Compton Bates, Joyce E. Many, Amy Seely Flint, Joel Meyers, committee members. Electronic text (165 p. : ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Aug, 21, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-150).
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Celeste, Elizabeth M. "Examining the OSU Urban Arts Space as a Model for Ecological Sustainability Initiatives for Arts and Cultural Institutions." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1253047778.
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Kornhauser, Daniel 1973. "Designing a craft computing environment for non-industrial settings." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62121.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-84).
This thesis studies the design and introduction of relevant computer-based design tools for non-industrial locations in developing settings. To this end, a programmable environment for combining motifs into patterns was developed named Estampa (Environment for Stamping Patterns). Estampa was developed for the community of Santa Clara del Cobre, a copper craft artisan town located Mexico, where they already used Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools for their craftwork. Estampa is a visual programming language environment for applying transformations to primitive motifs to create ornamental patterns. Estampa seeks to recreate the motifs and patterns in the Best Maugard drawing method, a drawing technique for creating authentic Mexican drawings. The design and implementation of Estampa seeks to fulfill the economic, cultural and artisanal requirements of this specific location. The evaluation of Estampa, through initial user trials in the community, presents other possible approaches for introducing programming in a relevant way to non-industrial locations in developing countries. Drawing from this example, a series of guidelines are presented for designing and introducing relevant computer-based applications for these communities.
by Daniel Kornhauser.
S.M.
26
Lee, Sanghoon S. M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Program in Media Arts and Sciences. "Infofield : an aura recognizing digital information of everyday environment." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46666.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-64).
Many ubiquitous computing scenarios are enabled by the ability to detect and identify objects in a user's environment, and recently Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been considered an affordable technology for providing such ability. However, RFID approaches have been flawed: when they operate at long range, they fail to provide adequate context as to which tagged objects are the subject of the user's interest; and when tuned for short range operation, they require the user to explicitly scan the tagged object. In addition, the knowledge gained from the user interacting with the object is limited to identification. This thesis proposes an ambient metaphor for detecting daily environments suitable for the upcoming far-field UHF RFID infrastructure. A user carries a mobile RFID reader, which creates a sphere of detection field to monitor RFID tags surrounding the user. The reader silently monitors the objects and functions as an agent that supports the user's consciousness of events happening outside of the user's attention. With sensor-enhanced RFID tags, our system does not limit itself to identification, but also provides the status of the corresponding item. The data from the sensors are used to distinguish a tag in a multiple tag environment and to describe the interactions between the user and the host object. This improves the selectivity and the context-awareness of the system.
by Sanghoon Lee.
S.M.
27
Manor, Justin 1978. "Cinema Fabriqué : a gestural environment for realtime video performance." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61862.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (p. [107]-[108]).
This thesis presents an environment that enables a single person to improvise video and audio programming in real time through gesture control. The goal of this system is to provide the means to compose and edit video stories for a live audience with an interface that is exposed and engaging to watch. Many of the software packages used today for realtime audio-visual performance were not built with this use in mind, and have been repurposed or modified with plug-ins to meet the performer's needs. Also, these applications are typically controlled by standard keyboard, mouse, or MIDI inputs, which were not designed for precise video control or live spectacle. As an alternative I built a system called Cinema Fabriqué which integrates video editing and effects software and hand gesture tracking methods into a single system for audio-visual performance.
by Justin Manor.
S.M.
28
Tong, Yee-hang Arthur. "A zigzag bridge : a Chinese garden concept for linkage : an Art Academy in an urban environment /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1999. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B25952730.
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Higgins, Scott Clark. "The moviemaker's workspace : towards a 3D environment for pre-visualization." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61528.
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Benavides, Palos Xavier. "A platform for reaching into the environment of a remote collaborator." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106062.
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Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2016.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 75-77).
In this thesis we present ShowMe++, an immersive mobile collaboration system that allows a remote user to communicate with a peer using video, audio and hand gestures. We explore the use of a Head Mounted Display (HMD), depth camera and wearable haptic devices to create a system that (1) enables a remote user to be immersed in another first-person's point of view, (2) offers a new way for the remote expert to provide guidance through three dimensional, real-time hand gestures and voice, (3) allows natural interactions with interfaces of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and (4) provides haptic feedback when interacting with remote or virtual interfaces. Using our system, both users feel present in the same physical environment and can perceive realtime communication from one another in the form of 2-handed gestures and voice. We discuss the design and implementation of the system as well as applications scenarios such as remote maintenance, 3D exploration and remote ghost presence. The user study demonstrates that hand transmission, first person point of view and immersion improve the feeling of co-presence and make remote teaching more effective.
by Xavier Benavides Palos.
S.M.
31
Ravishankar, Anusha. "CELL PHONE DISTRACTION ANALYSIS OF MOTOR RESPONSE IN A SIMULATED DRIVING ENVIRONMENT." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2004. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/4391.
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Does the use of a cell phone while driving influence the driver’s ability to execute a proper turn? Is there difference between genders pertaining to motor skill while driving in a simulated driving environment? To accomplish this task, three groups of ten participants (5 women and 5 men) each were tested using a scripted test scenario focusing on left and right turns. The participants were made to drive through a test scenario to get used to the driving simulator. The scenario for the experimental group was an inner-city training scenario with the presence of vehicular traffic and the main focus area was on six critical turns (3 left and 3 rights). The apparatus used for this study was the "Patrol Simulator" built by GE Driver Development.
A 2 (Gender) x 3 (Cell phone condition) between subjects design was used to assess the differences in mean driving performance between gender (male and female) at 3 cell phone conditions (No Phone, Phone No Conversation, Phone with Conversation). The study verified that cellular phones would adversely affects a driver’s ability to perform turns, and showed that gender plays a role in this effect. However, it did confirm that gender does not play any role in a person’s overall ability to drive. The results indicated a significant main effect for Cell phone Condition for overall turns , F (2, 24) = 38.83, p > .0005, n[eta]² = .76. Results also indicated a significant interaction between Gender and Cell Phone Conditions, F (2, 24) = 3.97, p=.032, n[eta]² = 0.25.M.S.
Modeling and Simulation
Arts and Sciences
Modeling and Simulation
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Odajima, Fumiaki. "Species of Spaces and Other Pieces." VCU Scholars Compass, 2006. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd_retro/28.
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I am inspired by the mundane activities engaged in, in daily life. Every morning, I check the temperature of outside. At that time I think about the day ahead. Do I need an umbrella? What color am I enamored of today? This is a small but important part of my day. In this moment of my thought paths can be very intuitively chosen. When I water the plants or pour milk into a coffee, I get a similar feeling, something that might be categorized as a sensation of "time apart."I came to The United States to begin to gain an understanding of conceptual art. I could not make it myself and it always fascinated me. I had believed that conceptual art always concerned itself with larger global or political issues, was restrained, and unemotional. I have since change my mind. My new work is about sharing how beautiful the energy is when people join in laughter, how sad people appear to always drive so fast, how interesting it is that pigeons always stay in a specific place. I am interested in not just objects, but their sounds, their history, their physical properties, their potential for change, and the life surrounding them. That which "surrounds" the making is as important as that which is made... so to check the temperature of outside is (in the end) as integral as any aspect.
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Ryokai, Kimiko 1975. "The world as a palette : painting with attributes of the environment." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32499.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-163).
To create everyday art monuments through which we express ourselves--whether in the form of a self-portrait or a life-story--is human nature. Our drive to do so is evident in the natural artistry of young children--representing themselves, people and things around them-through a variety of expressions such as drawing, storytelling, and construction with objects. Yet these creations with diverse media decrease dramatically as traditional forms of literacy take over in school, emphasizing decontextualized and depersonalized forms of expressions. This thesis is about how people, particularly children, create and interact with everyday art monuments, with an emphasis on techniques to support the narrative connection between the creator, creation, and material the creation is made of. This thesis introduces the concept of building visual art projects with elements extracted directly from the artist's personal objects and his/her immediate environment, thus allowing child and adult artist alike to turn their world into a palette of color. For example, by picking up a texture from his pet dog's fur, movements of his own blinking eye, color from his favorite yellow shirt, and by combining these elements into a unique drawing, an artist can not only create a thoroughly personalized piece, but also breathe a new kind of life into the canvas. A number of key design features of the system were developed through observing both adult and child artists using the novel tools over the course of two years.
(cont.) During the final five-week study in a kindergarten classroom, the tools supported children's individual creative styles (e.g. 'visualizers' versus 'dramatizers'), and children's work reflected upon the aspects of objects and interactions with these objects that were dear to them. In addition, evidence suggests the children acquired an expanded view of art, associating features in paintings with attributes in their environment. The potential of this new medium that allows artistic expression using attributes taken from the real world is discussed.
Kimiko Ryokai.
Ph.D.
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Hsu, Gwelleh Rachelle 1969. "SmartSHELL : measuring and motivating human performance in an outdoor rowing environment." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62120.
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Colaç̦o, Andrea B. (Andrea Brazilin Immaculate Danielle). "Back talk : an auditory environment for co-presence in television viewing." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61939.
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Thesis (S.M. in Media Technology)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-75).
Video content is being consumed in a host of new ways - viewers are no longer restricted to same-time or same-place viewing. However, the experience of watching content with a group is inherently a sociable one, and often desirable despite the physical distribution of group members. This thesis introduces Back Talk, a system designed to create a sociable television watching experience. We enhance television viewing with an auditory environment around a viewer - constructed from engagement and audio streams of co-viewers in the viewer's micro-social network. We have explored and leveraged the richness of audio to convey presence of remote viewers via a novel framework for capturing and translating engagement of an individual in the viewer's micro-social network into a set of audio cues that are played spatially around the viewer. This work presents the implementation scheme we used, and it also discusses results of a user study that was conducted to examine the impact and effectiveness of the Back Talk system.
by Andrea B. Colaço.
S.M.in Media Technology
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Schenk, Pamela Margaret. "The nature of the graphic design process within the commercial environment, with particular regard to the role of drawing." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.332058.
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Ross, Shane. "School work environment : transition from education to practice." [Tampa, Fla] : University of South Florida, 2009. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0002941.
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Maher, Brenden Courtney 1966. "Navigating a spatialized speech environment throught simultaneous listening within a hallway metaphor." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62628.
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Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-71).
by Brenden Courtney Maher.
M.S.
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Kartofel, Roy Alexis Rodenstein 1975. "Talking in circles : representing place and situation in an online social environment." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61845.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-66).
This thesis presents work focused on the creation of a sociable space for communication online. Sociable communication requires the ability to converse with others using simple and meaningful mechanisms, supporting flexibility and expressiveness. Equally important is the ability for people to read the space they inhabit and make sense of it in socially significant ways, such as people watching to observe others' interests and interaction styles. A third key to sociable communication is emphasis on identity and embodiment, giving participants a strong sense of themselves and others through their online representations. These issues are approached through research in areas ranging from sociology to urban architecture, directed at finding bases for the design of capabilities that are useful and engaging in the context of computer support for distributed multiparty communication. The result of this research is Talking in Circles, a graphical audio conferencing environment that employs abstract graphics for representation and provides lightweight access to multiple expressive modes. This thesis discusses foundations for work towards sociable communication online as well as the design and implementation processes involved in the creation of the Talking in Circles system. User experiences with the system, lessons learned and directions for further research into sociable communication are then detailed.
by Roy Alexis Rodenstein Kartofel.
S.M.
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Fielding-Piper, Benjamin Tarquinn 1976. "The illuminated design environment : a 3-D tangible interface for landscape analysis." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61127.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-122).
This thesis outlines the reasons for the visual emphasis in current computer aided design interfaces. It describes the potential advantages of computer interfaces that allow a greater degree of physical interaction and it describes previous work that has attempted this goal. It describes the implementation of the Illuminated Design Environment as a platform that combines the advantages of physical and digital representation for the purposes of physical form design. The representational needs for the domain of landscape design are discussed and the implementation of Illuminating Clay, a tangible interface for landscape analysis, is described. The system is evaluated in the context of a landscape design class held at the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2002. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the wider impact if the approach taken on the field of landscape design and computer aided design in general.
Benjamin Tarquinn Fielding-Piper.
S.M.
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Schiessl, Simon Karl Josef 1972. "Acoustic chase : designing an interactive audio environment to stimulate human body movement." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/26919.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 58-60).
An immersive audio environment was created that explores how humans react to commands imposed by a machine generating its acoustic stimuli on the basis of tracked body movement. In this environment, different states of human and machine action are understood as a balance of power that moves back and forth between the apparatus and the human being. This system is based on spatial sounds that are designed to stimulate body movements. The physical set-up consists of headphones with attached sensors to pick up the movements of the head. Mathematic models calculate the behavior of the sound, its virtual motion path relative to the person, and how it changes over time.
by Simon Karl Josef Schiessl.
S.M.
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Butler, Jade. "As you cannot hear the sound of losing researching the gambling environment through performance /." Full-text, 2008. http://eprints.vu.edu.au/1970/1/JadeButler_MastersThesis.pdf.
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This project is an investigation of various gambling environments. I wish to consider how these strategically designed, immersive and seductive sites seem to have an effect on the visitor. Typically the gaming environment offers an adult utopia and an other-worldly experience that is far removed from the everyday. I was attracted to researching the extreme, hyperreal gambling environments analysed by Jean Baudrillard as well as the common, suburban sites examined by Charles Livingstone. Although at first glance the styles of these two environments seem vastly different, what they have in common is they provide a simulacrum of reality where people can engage in the act of gambling. Whether the site is extraordinary or less extreme in style, the misery caused by gambling is a common experience. The performance As you cannot hear the sound of losing grew from this research, into an exploration of the melancholy that can be felt by the individual as a result of engaging with gambling environments. You cannot hear the sound of losing in these places; the reality of losing does not exist there. Within these sites we are likely to hear the cheers of a winner celebrating but, never the misery that can be caused by gambling. By exploring the gambling environment through performance, I intend to present how it works to affect those who visit it.
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Ivanovskiy, Tim V. "Mining Medical Data in a Clinical Environment." Scholar Commons, 2006. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3908.
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The availability of new treatments for a disease depends on the success of clinical trials. In order for a clinical trial to be successful and approved, medical researchers must first recruit patients with a specific set of conditions in order to test the effectiveness of the proposed treatment. In the past, the accrual process was tedious and time-consuming. Since accruals rely heavily on the ability of physicians and their staff to be familiar with the protocol eligibility criteria, candidates tend to be missed. This can result and has resulted in unsuccessful trials.A recent project at the University of South Florida aimed to assist research physicians at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, Florida, with a screening process by utilizing a web-based expert system, Moffitt Expedited Accrual Network System (MEANS). This system allows physicians to determine the eligibility of a patient for several clinical trials simultaneously.We have implemented this web-based expert system at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Gastroenterology (GI) Clinic. Based on our findings and staff feedback, the system has undergone many optimizations. We used data mining techniques to analyze the medical data of current gastrointestinal patients. The use of the Apriori algorithm allowed us to discover new rules (implications) in the patient data. All of the discovered implications were checked for medical validity by a physician, and those that were determined to be valid were entered into the expert system. Additional analysis of the data allowed us to streamline the system and decrease the number of mouse clicks required for screening. We also used a probability-based method to reorder the questions, which decreased the amount of data entry required to determine a patient's ineligibility.
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Harper, Cheryl. "Changes and Context in the Role of Women in the 1960s Visual Arts Environment: A Case Study." Master's thesis, Temple University Libraries, 2012. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/199591.
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Art HistoryM.A.
This thesis examines changes in gender attitudes between the years 1962 and 1967 as seen through the activities of a group of female volunteers at a regional community center, specifically the Fine Arts committee of the Arts Council at the Young Men's and Women's Hebrew Association in Philadelphia. I demonstrate how the women were conditioned both within and outside their community to accept a subservient role to husbands and male hierarchy. By considering two of the committee's major projects, one that took place in 1962 and the other in 1967, and examining the Jewish community's primary newspaper during the same period, I compare and contrast the attitudes of the female "volunteer" in general and this specific group of more rebellious housewives whose interests were focused in the visual arts. Between the two major projects, examples of sociological theory are examined in order to follow the paradigm shift towards emerging feminism. Over a period of five years these women reassessed their role as housewives, and many eventually participated in professional life outside the home. The specific accomplishments of the Fine Arts Committee are compared, from the first major exhibition in 1962, ART 1963/A New Vocabulary to the last significant project in 1967, the Museum of Merchandise.
Temple University--Theses
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Paradis, Alain. "Mes clichés en éducation, ou, J'imagine + ma vie /." Thèse, Chicoutimi : Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1987. http://theses.uqac.ca.
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Canale, Kate. "Epicuria: The Dichotomy of Richmond's Urban and Suburban Landscape in a Market Environment." VCU Scholars Compass, 2011. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/2415.
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This thesis examines the dichotomy of Richmond’s suburban and urban environments within a market environment. In our quest to make our lives more convenient, we have moved outside of cities, increased commutes and cut ourselves off from one another. Ultimately we have lowered our standards of quality in food, products and services by allowing big retailers and chain restaurants to determine a new standard of living. The goal of this works is to create a food hall and market environment that will act as a catalyst to improve the quality of life of Richmonders as well as to draw residents from the suburbs back into the city and revitalize the run down urban areas. The market and food hall will showcase the best that Richmond has to offer. It will support local farmers and business, integrate and encourage community by connecting people, encourage a slower pace of life and act as a center of revenue for the neighborhood and city of Richmond.
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Paré, François-Xavier. "Personal information management among office support staff in a university environment: an exploratory study." Thesis, McGill University, 2011. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=104610.
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Since the late 1960s, several studies have investigated personal information management (PIM) in the workplace. However, very few studies have focused on the behaviour of office support staff in a work environment. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the document management behaviour of office support staff in a large Canadian university. The methodological approach used for this study was grounded theory. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted in participants' offices, and visual observations of their document structures were made. A pre-interview survey was also administered in order to gather additional information. Participants were chosen according to the principles of theoretical sampling, and simultaneous data collection and analysis continued until theoretical saturation was reached. Transcribed interviews were coded, after which abstract concepts were derived and grouped into categories, using the constant comparison method. A substantive theory was then developed. The findings suggest the existence of several distinct document spaces within workers' document landscape: a main folder, secondary folders, the operating system desktop, e-mail, paper documents and shared environments. Behaviour pertaining to the handling of orphan files and multiple versions, the naming of files and folders as well as searching and browsing were described. Overall, despite several elements in common, significant variation was noted among participants. In order to explain the variation observed, a model of the factors that are likely to influence PIM behaviour was developed. It comprises seven main categories of factors: job content, job status, existing documents, relationship with the superior, worker characteristics, organizational context and document attributes. Several of the factors identified had never been mentioned in the PIM literature, while in other cases, the evidence presented helped confirm previous findings. The proposed model also highlights the inherent complexity of PIM, and the importance of adopting an all-encompassing view when analyzing PIM behaviour.Depuis la fin des années 1960, plusieurs études ont porté sur la gestion personnelle de l'information (GPI) en milieu de travail. Néanmoins, très peu d'études se sont penchées sur les comportements des employés de soutien tels que les commis de bureau ou les assistantes administratives. L'objectif de cette étude exploratoire était d'examiner les comportements de gestion documentaire d'employés de soutien dans une grande université canadienne. L'approche méthodologique utilisée est celle de la théorisation ancrée. Quinze entrevues en profondeur ont été menées dans le bureau des participantes, et des observations visuelles de leurs structures de documents ont été effectuées. Un questionnaire pré-entrevue a également permis de recueillir des informations additionnelles. Les participants ont été sélectionnés selon un principe d'échantillonnage théorique, et la collecte et l'analyse des données, menées en parallèle, se sont poursuivies jusqu'au point de saturation théorique. Les entrevues transcrites ont été codées, à la suite de quoi des concepts ont été dérivés et groupés en catégories, selon la méthode de la comparaison constante. Une théorie substantive a ensuite été développée.Les résultats suggèrent que le paysage documentaire de ces employés est composé de plusieurs espaces documentaires distincts: un répertoire principal, des répertoires secondaires, le bureau du système d'exploitation, le courriel, les documents papiers ainsi que les environnements partagés. Les habitudes des participants face à la gestion des fichiers orphelins, des versions multiples, au nommage des fichiers et répertoires ainsi qu'à la recherche et la navigation ont été décrites. En somme, malgré certains éléments en commun, des variations significatives ont pu être observées parmi les participants.Afin d'expliquer la variation observée, un modèle des facteurs pouvant influencer la GPI a été développé. Il comprend sept catégories de facteurs: nature de l'emploi, statut de l'emploi, documents existants, relation avec le ou la supérieur(e), caractéristiques de l'employé, contexte organisationnel et caractéristiques des documents. Plusieurs des facteurs identifiés dans cette étude n'avaient jamais été mentionnés dans la littérature sur la GPI, alors que dans d'autres cas les éléments présentés ici viennent confirmer les résultats d'études précédentes. Le modèle proposé met également en lumière la complexité inhérente à la GPI, et l'importance d'adopter une approche holistique dans l'analyse des comportements de GPI.
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Cook, Duncan. "Art, agency and eco-politics : rethinking urban subjects and environment(s)." Thesis, Royal College of Art, 2014. http://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/1645/.
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This research aims to examine the extent to which cultural agency can be seen to ‘act’ in an ecopolitical context and how its operations urge a rethinking of the processes that govern the production of urban subjects and environment(s). Responding to the fact that in recent decades, art and architectural cultures have converged around a shared concern for ‘ecological matters’ and that discourses in visual/spatial culture have become increasingly ‘ecologized’, this research broadens the points of reference for the term ‘ecology’ beyond that which simply reinforces an essentialist perspective on ‘nature’. The thesis re-directs the focus of current theoretical discourse on ‘ecological art’ towards a more rigorous engagement with its frames of reference and how it uses them to evaluate the role of cultural production in enacting ways of thinking and acting eco-logically. In doing so it develops an eco-logical mode of analysis for mapping and probing the attribution of cultural agency, how it intervenes in the production of the commons and how it discloses the participants and mechanisms of a nascent political ecology. Setting cultural agency within a more expansive and multivalent field of action, means that the nexus of agency (and intentionality) is dislocated and translated between ‘things’. Reconfigured in this way, ‘an ecology of agencing’ demonstrates the profound implications this has for any ‘bodies’ of action, cultural or otherwise. Locating this exploration within the socio-natural environment(s) found in urban spatialities this thesis attends to the relatively under-theorised, but highly significant area (in eco-logical terms) of aesthetic praxis operating at the interstices of art and architecture. Pressing at the boundaries of the formal and conceptual enterprises of both disciplines, critical spatial practices represent a distinctive form of eco-praxis being cultivated ‘on the ground’. Through a series of encounters with its operations this research looks to the ways in which practice and theory, in relation to the question of ecology, are becoming increasingly co-constituted.
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Kring, Jason P. "Communication Modality and After Action Review Performance in a Distributed Immersive Virtual Environment." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 2004. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/4389.
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Technological innovations in data transfer and communication have given rise to the virtual team where geographically separate individuals interact via one or more technologies to combine efforts on a collective activity. In military, business, and spaceflight settings, virtual teams are increasingly used in training and operational activities; however there are important differences between these virtual collaborations and more traditional face-to-face (FTF) interactions. One concern is the absence of FTF contact may alter team communication and cooperation and subsequently affect overall team performance. The present research examined this issue with a specific focus on how communication modality influences team learning and performance gains. Evidence from a recent study on virtual team performance (Singer, Grant, Commarford, Kring, and Zavod, 2001) indicated local teams, with both members in same physical location in Orlando, Florida which allowed for FTF contact before and after a series of virtual environment (VE) missions, performed significantly better than distributed teams, with team members in separate physical locations in Orlando and Toronto, Canada and no FTF contact. For the first mission, local and distributed teams exhibited no significant difference in performance as measured by the number of rooms properly cleared in the building search exercises. In contrast, for the second mission, occurring after each team had completed the opportunity to discuss mission performance and make plans for future missions, local teams performed significantly better than distributed teams; a pattern that continued for the remaining six missions. Given that the primary difference between local and distributed teams was how they communicated outside of the VE during after action reviews (AARs), and that the localiii distributed difference was first detected on the second mission, after teams had completed one, 10-min discussion of mission performance, a tenable conclusion is that certain team characteristics and skills necessary for performance were communication-dependent and negatively affected by the absence of FTF communication. Although Singer et al. (2001) collected multiple dependent variables related to performance and communication activities, these measures were not designed to detect communication-dependent team factors and therefore incapable of supporting such an explanation. Therefore, the present research replicated Singer et al. (2001) and incorporated additional measures in order to determine if specific communication-dependent factors could explain the inferior performance of distributed teams. Three factors critical to team communication, particularly during the AAR process, are the similarity of team members. shared mental models (SMMs), team cohesion (task and interpersonal), and team trust (cognitive and emotional). Because evidence suggests FTF communication has a positive effect on processes related to each of these factors, the current study tested whether distributed teams exhibit less similar mental models and degraded cohesion and trust in comparison to local teams, which can affect performance. Furthermore, to test the prediction that distributed teams possess degraded communication and would benefit from improved communication skills, brief team communication training (TCT) was administered to half of the teams in each location condition. Thirty two, 2-person teams comprised of undergraduate students were equally distributed into four experimental conditions (n = 8) based on the independent variables of location (local vs. distributed) and training (TCT vs. no-TCT). Teams completed five missions using the same VE system and mission tasks as in Singer et al. (2001), however in the present study distributed team members were in separate rooms in the same building, not separate geographic locations. In iv addition to performance data, participants completed a series of questionnaires to assess SMMs, cohesion, and trust. It was hypothesized that local teams would again exhibit better performance than distributed teams and that the local team advantage could partly be explained by a greater similarity in mental models and higher levels of cohesion and trust. Moreover, TCT teams in both locations were expected to exhibit improved performance over their non-trained counterparts. Analyses of the three team factors revealed the largest location and communication training differences for levels of cognitive trust, with local teams reporting higher levels than distributed teams early after the second VE mission, and TCT teams reporting higher levels than no-TCT teams after the second and fifth VE missions. In contrast, the main effects of location and communication training were only significant for one SMM measure agreement between team members on the strengths of the team's leader during the AAR sessions. Local teams and TCT teams reported higher levels of agreement after the first VE mission than their distributed v and no-TCT counterparts. Furthermore, on the first administration of the questionnaire, TCT teams reported higher levels of agreement than non-TCT teams on the main goals of the VE missions. Overall, teams in all conditions exhibited moderate to substantial levels of agreement for procedural and personnel responsibility factors, but poor levels of agreement for mental models related to interpersonal interactions. Finally, no significant differences were detected for teams in each experimental condition on levels of task or interpersonal cohesion which suggests cohesion may not mature enough over the course of several hours to be observable. In summary, the first goal of the present study was to replicate Singer et al..s (2001) findings which showed two-person teams conducting VE missions performed better after the first mission if allowed face-to-face (FTF) contact during discussions of the team's performance. Local and distributed teams in the current study did show a similar pattern of performance, completing a greater total of rooms properly, although when evaluating mission-by-mission performance, this difference was only significant for missions 3 and 4. Even though distributed team members experienced the same experimental conditions as in Singer et al. (no pre-mission contact, no FTF contact during missions or AARs) and were told their partner was at .distant location, familiarity with a teammate's dialect and other environmental cues may have differentially affected perceptions of physical and psychological distance, or social presence, which ultimately altered the distributed team relationship from before. The second goal was to determine if brief TCT could reduce or eliminate the distributed team disadvantage witnessed in Singer et al. (2001). Results did not support this prediction and revealed no significant differences between TCT and no-TCT teams with regard to number of rooms searched over the five missions. Although purposefully limited to 1 hr, the brevity of the TCT procedure (1 hr), and its broad focus, may have considerably reduced any potential benefits of learning how to communicate more effectively with a teammate. In addition, the additional training beyond the already challenging requirements of learning the VE mission tasks may have increased the cognitive load of participants during the mission phase, leading to a detriment in performance due to divided attention. Despite several notable differences from Singer et al. (2001), the present study supports that distributed teams operating in a common virtual setting experience performance deficits when compared to their physically co-located counterparts. Although this difference was not attributed to agreement on SMMs or levels of cohesion, local teams did posses higher levels of cognitive trust early on in the experimental session which may partly explain their superior performance. However additional research that manipulates cognitive trust as an independent variable is needed before implying a cause-and-effect relationship. Ultimately, this study's most significant contribution is identifying a new set of questions to understand virtual team performance. In addition to a deeper examination of cognitive trust, future research should address how features of the distributed team experience affect perceptions of the physical and psychological distance, or social presence, between team members. It is also critical to understand how broadening the communication channel for distributed teams, such as the inclusion of video images or access to biographical information about one's distant teammate, facilitates performance in a variety of virtual team contexts.Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Arts and Sciences
Psychology
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Ruberg, Daniel M. "Integrated Design Strategies: A Live-Work Industrial Arts Center for Cincinnati, Ohio." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367927851.
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