The Effect of Animation Versus Live Action and Animal Versus Human Film Depictions on Terror Management Processes

In an effort to expand the scope of Terror Management Theory (TMT), the author proposed that viewing film clips involving death of non-animated and animated humans and animals would lead to an increase in worldview defense. Although worldview defense means were not statistically significantly different between conditions, there was a clear linear trend of increasing worldview defense from commercials to non-animated animals, suggesting that animation had less of an effect than live action and that individuals who watched clips of non-animated animals were most likely to exhibit an increase in worldview defense. The author\u27s findings broaden TMT research by suggesting that worldview defense could potentially be affected by watching death clips of non-animated and animated fictional characters

Real-time biped character stepping

PhD ThesisA rudimentary biped activity that is essential in interactive evirtual worlds, such as video-games and training simulations, is stepping. For example, stepping is fundamental in everyday terrestrial activities that include walking and balance recovery. Therefore an effective 3D stepping control algorithm that is computationally fast and easy to implement is extremely valuable and important to character animation research. This thesis focuses on generating real-time controllable stepping motions on-the-fly without key-framed data that are responsive and robust (e.g.,can remain upright and balanced under a variety of conditions, such as pushes and dynami- cally changing terrain). In our approach, we control the character’s direction and speed by means of varying the stepposition and duration. Our lightweight stepping model is used to create coordinated full-body motions, which produce directable steps to guide the character with specific goals (e.g., following a particular path while placing feet at viable locations). We also create protective steps in response to random disturbances (e.g., pushes). Whereby, the system automatically calculates where and when to place the foot to remedy the disruption. In conclusion, the inverted pendulum has a number of limitations that we address and resolve to produce an improved lightweight technique that provides better control and stability using approximate feature enhancements, for instance, ankle-torque and elongated-body

Developing a system for health and safety enhancement and automation in construction sites

The construction industry forms an important element within the economic activities and is known to be challenging and dangerous. Erroneously construction site accidents were accepted as unavoidable. The existing work health and safety protocols goals were not to cut risk but to provide risk assessment by understanding the types of risks associated with various activities and setting out rules and procedures to manage them and cut their impact. This study attempts a proactive approach to construction site health and safety by anticipating the hazards associated with a planned daily work activity and providing on site the relevant training and safety instructions. This was achieved by integrating the project’s digital design with site images processing and analysis. Digital image processing applies signal processing algorithms to images and videos resulting in extracting useful information from them. An essential and critical issue in the field of computer vision is the object’s recognition methods which should be capable of finding the partial occlusion of objects. Knowledge management systems archive and locate the required information and make it available to the relevant destination quickly and efficiently. It can also provide access to information in other construction sites and to the design team. This management system helps to save the gained experience and make it available to the project or other similar projects. The Building Information System was introduced as a system in which the objectives of this study can be incorporated leaving the door open to incorporate other project management activities. The possible solutions for the identified health and safety business problem were analysed in order to arrive at the best solution suitable to the objectives of the study. The end users ‘needs obtained from the distributed questionnaire and the project’s functional requirements were considered in order to create a model that will achieve their goals in an efficient manner. An activity diagram and a user case diagram based on the UML language were generated. Based on them a computerized model (CONSTRUCTION AUTOMATA) was developed to identify risks associated with specific work activities and provide the relevant safety instructions and training to mitigate them. The model automatically produces safety reports to record and serve as a knowledge management base for future reference thus eliminating possible human errors. The computer program was tested with available site images from an existing project and it proved to deliver its outputs according to its design. The developed model was then demonstrated to a selected group of relevant professionals and was seen to score well with ease of use mark of (6.17) and effectiveness as a health and safety tool mark of (6.37) out of a total mark of (10)

All The King\u27s Horses

All The King’s Horses juxtaposes the struggle of artistic creation alongside the trauma of 9/11. This collection of poetry presents the failure of language and art to define the boundaries of anxiety’s origins. Aware of these limitations the “I” in this poem struggles to find a reprieve in defining something that cannot be defined

Pedagogical Techniques Employed by the Science Television Show MythBusters

The long-running Discovery Channel science television show MythBusters has proven itself to be far more than just a source of weekly entertainment. The popular cable program employs an array of sophisticated pedagogical techniques to communicate scientific concepts to its audience. These techniques include: achieving active learning, accommodating different learning styles, avoiding jargon, employing repetition to ensure comprehension, anthropomorphizing physical phenomena, using captivating demonstrations, cultivating an enthusiastic disposition, and increasing intrinsic motivation to learn. In this content analysis, episodes from the show’s 10-year history were methodically examined for these instructional techniques. MythBusters represents an untapped source of pedagogical techniques educators at all levels may consider availing themselves of in their tireless effort to better reach their students. Science educators in particular may look to MythBusters for inspiration and guidance in how to incorporate these pedagogical techniques into their own teaching and help their students in the learning process

Safety by design: dialogues between designers and builders using virtual reality

© 2015 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis.Designers can contribute to enhancing the safety of construction work by considering how their decisions impact on both the physical environment in which construction workers operate and the means and methods they use. To do so, however, designers require knowledge about safety hazards on site and the opportunity to examine their designs early in projects. Through a set of studies virtual reality tools were used to examine the potential for collaborative dialogue between designers and builders to provide a forum for learning and proactive change of a design to make a project safer to build. In the tests, participants viewed proposed designs using virtual reality to examine various alternative design and construction scenarios. The study shows that consultation and dialogue with an experienced construction professional are highly beneficial for designers to appreciate the implications of designs on safety, and that designers are more willing to adapt design details than to change aesthetic aspects of their designs

Unless Someone Like You Cares a Whole Awful Lot: Apocalypse as Children’s Entertainment

This article explores an unusual subset of children’s narrative, the apocalyptic environmentalist text, and argues that such texts perform the perverse ideological work of shifting blame for ecological crisis from its perpetrators (the parents’ generation) to its victims (the child who is now called upon to act). These texts transform the drama of innocence and experience that is paradigmatic of children’s narrative by destroying the child’s innocence through their very transmission, by informing them of a dire crisis they then become obliged to repair. The article’s primary examples are Captain Planet, The Lorax, WALL-E and The Butter Battle Book, only the last of which finds a way to clearly articulate crisis without also shifting blame

Games and bereavement: how video games represent attachment, loss, and grief

How can videogames portray love and loss? Games and Bereavement answers this question by looking at five videogames and carrying out a participatory design study with grievers. Sabine Harrer highlights possible connections between grief and videogames, arguing that game design may help make difficult personal feelings tangible. After a brief literary review of grief concepts and videogame theory, the book deep-dives into examples of tragic inter-character relationships from videogame history. Building on these examples, the book presents a case study on pregnancy loss as a potential grief experience that can be validated through game design dialogue