Towards the creation of an annotation system and a digital archive platform for contemporary dance

Tese de mestrado. Multimédia. Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 201

Welcome to new student orientation!: a thought experiment on alternative models of student orientation(s)

As a department that is ubiquitous within higher education, what does it signify to have a student ‘orientation’? By, toward, around, and from what are students oriented? Through a hermeneutic phenomenology of the ‘orientation’ of student orientation, I aim to conceptualize the ‘orientation’ in the standard model of student orientation as well as conceptualize possibilities for alternative student ‘orientation(s).’ The works of Sara Ahmed (2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014) provide the guiding theoretical framework for this study—in both her style and subjects of inquiry. Weaving together questions about subjects like diversity, others, and institutions, Ahmed’s writings engage hermeneutic phenomenology to develop novel interpretations that draw from the theoretical, personal, and conceptual in order to craft new narratives about concepts that recede into the background of experiences. Mirroring Ahmed, what would happen if I were to follow student orientation around? Centering the role of interpretation, this study is a hermeneutic (interpretation) of student orientation. Drawing from my own experiences as well as relevant literature from the tradition, I enter into the hermeneutical circle exploring the ‘orientation’ in the standard model of student orientation. As this inquiry invites the potential to re-envision the ‘orientation’ of student orientation, I cannot help but question: what is the current model of student orientation? Further, I offer the following additional research questions: in line with Ahmed, what is the primary orientation of the standard model student orientation? What does it mean when we ‘orient’ students? From what are students turned away? Toward what? Around what does student ‘orientation’ cohere? What would constitute an alternative student orientation? What are the implications for student affairs as different student orientations are compared? In orienting students, what are the straightening devices reinforcing this orientation? What bodies are extended through the standard model of student ‘orientation’? What bodies are stopped? How does ‘student orientation’ connect with histories of orientation(s)? Ultimately, I move to offer an alternative interpretation of student ‘orientation(s)’ as a public orientation. Echoing Ahmed’s (2006) imagery, Masschelein and Simons (2010) speak of the world as a public table where both teacher and students can place “something on the table, as an act of deprivatization” (p. 545). At the table, the world is not simply a biological environment to be consumed by humans as zoological animals, but instead, the world provides the relational environments that supports life as biographical. Masschelein (1998) offers a directive to sustain this opening of the relational, human world, “do not forget the encounter, do not forget that life is always the life of someone” (p. 382). By placing something on the public table, the world unfolds itself through the human world of encounters, encounters that confront us with a responsibility to respond. Drawing from Masschelein and Simons alternative model of a public university, what might be made public regarding student orientation(s)? How does an alternative for student orientation(s) engage the world? What is the place of scholé, or the scholastic, in this alternative model? How does an alternative student orientation(s) incorporate e-ducere, or leading out

Effects of picture prompts delivered by a video iPodRTM on pedestrian navigation

National data continue to indicate many individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have not had the same access to education, employment, independent living, or extracurricular activities as the general population after high school (Blackorby & Wagner, 1996; Newman, Wagner, Cameto, & Knokey, 2009; Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Garza, & Levine, 2005; Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Levine, & Garza, 2006). Transportation access can be a major contributor to independence, productivity, and societal inclusion for individuals with disabilities (Myers, 1996). Individuals with IDD face many challenges related to community integration such as obstacles to independently navigate in the community (Sohlberg, Fickas, Lemoncello, & Hung, 2009). Travel training and pedestrian navigation skills are critical since these skills impact how people live, work, and participate in their community (Groce, 1996b). It is important to have an organized and sequential way to teach independent travel to individuals with IDD since most do not learn these skills incidentally or obtain a driver’s license to navigate independently (LaGrow, Wiener, & LaDuke, 1990). This study examined the effects of pedestrian navigation training using picture prompts displayed through a video iPod® on travel route completion with four young adults with IDD (18-26 years old) participating in an inclusive individualized postsecondary program at a 4-year university. Results indicated a functional relation between picture prompts displayed on the video iPod® and participants’ acquisition of pedestrian navigation skills to and from various campus locations. Maintenance data indicated all four participants were able to continue to navigate trained routes independently for up to 28 days using the video iPod®. Generalization measures indicated 3 out of 4 participants were able to use the video iPod® to navigate untrained routes without any prompts given by the researcher. Social validity data suggested iPod® training and supports were useful and practical for teaching independent pedestrian navigation skills. Finally, limitations, suggestions for future research, and implications for practice were provided

Compatible spaces for emotional support of child and adolescent patients : design of in-between and outdoor spaces in healthcare settings

This thesis addresses the importance for child and adolescent patients to have contact with such outdoor spaces that conform with their emotional state and promote well-being while being at healthcare settings. In some contemporary hospitals, holistic approaches to patients’ health are used in such a way that they may be beneficial for the whole healing process. Holistic healing goes way beyond the technological development and medicinal treatment and is helping the individual to achieve a positive emotional state, encouraged by the design of healing outdoor environments. Unfortunately, such landscapes are not always available. Children and adolescents are dependent on adults’ decisions while their capabilities to sustain emotional balance are still developing. That is why this group of patients should have an easy access to intentionally designed outdoor environments for supporting their emotional balance. Landscape architecture can benefit from including a connection between emotions and design. Emotions have, therefore, been studied through the field of psychology and environmental psychology to inform about requirements regarding spatial qualities which contribute to positive emotional experiences for child and adolescent patients. Further, a method triangulation including participation of child and adolescent patients has been used to study the experiences of the focus group. A theoretical bridge has been needed in order to link emotions with landscape architecture. The theoretical bridge has been supported here by the Self-perception theory while for design issues the concept of emotional design and the practices for psycho-social support have been considered. As a result of this thesis, I compiled guidelines which I tested through a design for a case hospital later in the process. The guidelines are based on the aspects found as important such as architectural communication, compatible spaces and in-between spaces. Five space types have been identified to be compatible with the emotions of child and adolescent patients

Commedia

Includes abstract.Commedia is a novel set in 410 AD during the collapse of the Roman Empire. The island of Britain has recently freed itself from Roman rule, and a small group of comedy actors find themselves caught up in a cultural struggle between the old Roman aristocracy and the new British nouveau riche. On a tour around Britain, the actors uncover a political and criminal plot that puts Britain in danger of invasion by Saxon mercenaries

Swamp : walking the wetlands of the Swan Coastal Plain ; and with the exegesis, A walk in the anthropocene: homesickness and the walker-writer

This project is comprised of a creative work and accompanying exegesis. The creative work is a collection of poetry which examines the history and ecology of the wetlands and river systems of the Swan Coastal Plain, and which utilises the practice of walking as a research methodology. For the creative practitioner walking reintroduces the body as a fundamental definer of experience, placing the investigation centrally in the corporeal self, using the physical senses as investigative tools of enquiry. As Rebecca Solnit comments in her history of walking, ‘exploring the world is one of the best ways of exploring the mind, and walking travels both terrains’ (Solnit, 2000, p. 13). The context for my poetic walking project Swamp, is a local and global environment undergoing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity, mainly due to the destruction of habitat and changes in climatic conditions (Reid, Partha Dasgupta, Robert M. May, A.H. Zakri, & Henk Simons, 2005, pp. 438-442). The loss of species and ecosystems that have been a part of our earth home results in the human experience of ‘homesickness’ — a longing for the home places that we have known and which have diminished or disappeared. Before the arrival of the British colonists in 1829, the Swan River and adjacent wetlands were an integral part of the seasonal food source for the original inhabitants, the Noongar (Bekle, 1981). In addition wetland places were, and are, deeply embedded in the spiritual and cultural life of the Noongar people of the Swan Coastal Plain (O\u27Connor, Quartermaine, & Bodney, 1989). In less than two hundred years since the establishment of the Swan River Colony (Western Australia), the lakes and rivers of the Swan Coastal Plain have undergone extreme changes, often resulting in complete draining and in-filling of wetland areas as the city and its suburbs spread beyond the original town limits. This re–engineering of the landscape has had a dramatic and detrimental impact upon biodiversity, water quality and the sense of place experienced by residents. Swamp is a project that has three main facets: a) a body of original poetry which interprets the historical relationship between the British, European, and Chinese newcomers to Noongar country, and the wetlands lakes of the Swan Coastal Plain. The poetry contained in this thesis is copyright to the author, Anandashila Saraswati (Nandi Chinna). b)An essay which contextualises the project within the sphere of walking art, psychogeography, and the philosophical idea of ‘Homesickness’. c) A website, www.swampwalking.com.au, which displays photographs documenting the walks I have carried out over the three year period of the project from February 2009 to February 2012. The exegetical part of this project looks at the notion of ‘homesickness’ as a philosophical condition that can be seen as a motivating force in the practice of writing on walking. I use Debord’s theory of the dérive as a starting point for my walking methodology and examine nostalgia within the Situationist International (Debord, 1958) and subsequent psychogeographical movements. I also investigate the role of homesickness in the work of other writers who walk and who write about their walking practice. Finally I discuss homesickness in the epoch of the Anthropocene (Crutzen & Schwägerl, 2011), the era in which the earth’s biosphere is characterised by human interventions which have changed the meteorological, geological and biological elements of our earth home. In the Anthropocene, the wilderness view of nature needs to be re-evaluated. I posit that walking is a way of reconnecting with the physical landscape and building relationships with small wilds that exist in our home places, and that writing about the walking allows these relationships and encounters to ripple out to readers, contributing to and enabling the development of an ethic of care for ecosystems and beings other than human

In Pictures and Words: A Womanist Answer to Addressing the Lived Experience of African American Women and Their Bodies—A Gumbo of Liberation and Healing

Whether it is claiming a radical self-love for one’s body or dissatisfaction of one’s body, the experiences of African American women and their bodies cannot be divergent from the sociocultural contexts in which they live. Seeking to reveal how gender, race, and sexual orientation impact the lived experiences of African American women and their bodies, this study will bring attention to and provide a more nuanced understanding of the historical and sociocultural ramifications of the Black female body. Historically, inadequate attention has been given to an intersectional approach to understanding the experiences of the Black female body. It is understood that Black women are a marginalized population. This marginalization is rooted in race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and class. What influence do these interlocking oppressive forces have on the way African American women live and view their bodies? Utilizing a participatory research model, participants chronicled their experiences with their bodies in pictures and words through interviews, narratives, and photographs. Addressing body image from an intersectional approach, this research adds to existing literature and gives womanist breadth and depth to this discussion of body experience framed within the sociocultural context. The women, “sisters,” in this study shared stories of liberation, healing and resistance challenging assumptions of Black womanhood. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu

Mechanics and energetics of running at steady and non-steady speed (sprint and shuttles): the effects of muscle-tendon behaviour

When humans move, they could do it in steady or non-steady conditions. In the former case the speed of locomotion is constant (or with minimal oscillations) and occurs in a definite direction (e.g. walking or running along a linear path), whereas in the latter case the body accelerates, decelerates or moves in different directions. In both cases, the minimum work required to sustain locomotion is given by the product of the resistance offered by the environment and the distance covered. Finally, the efficiency of the locomotor apparatus may be expressed as the ratio between the work necessary to maintain motion and the chemical energy transformed by the muscles. However, whereas the energetics and mechanics of running at constant speed are well known, only few studies have investigated so far non-steady running conditions (e.g. accelerated or decelerated running as well as running with changes of direction). The role of muscles and tendons in determining the mechanical and physiological responses during human locomotion is another topic that needs to be further investigated, both in steady and unsteady conditions. As an example, when humans run at constant speed muscles and tendons stretch and recoil; into this succession of stretch-shortening cycles, tendons could play an important role as energy savers allowing this form of locomotion to be particularly efficient. Locomotion (apparent) efficiency during constant speed running can be, indeed, as high as 0.70 at high running speeds whereas in un-steady conditions (e.g. shuttle runs) the efficiency is much lower, approaching the values of muscle efficiency (0.25) when fast accelerations and decelerations are required; locomotion (apparent) efficiency is thus enhanced when tendon elastic recoil is maximized. Investigating the role of muscle and tendon behaviour during steady and non-steady state running could, therefore, provide important information about the underpinning mechanisms that determine the mechanical and energetic demands of human locomotion. For these reasons, this thesis focuses on two main topics (running at non-steady speeds and running at constant speed), each with its own specific aims

Wetland Drainage, Restoration, and Repair

Wetlands are a vital part of the landscape and ecology of the United States, providing food and shelter for species ranging from the beautiful wood duck to the tiny fairy shrimp. These areas provide critical habitat for fish and wildlife, protect communities from flooding, and recharge groundwater supplies—yet they continue to be destroyed at an alarming rate. A detailed analysis of wetlands management, Wetland Drainage, Restoration, and Repair is a comprehensive guide to the past, present, and future of wetland recovery in the United States. The book includes a historical overview of wetland destruction and repair over the past two hundred years and also serves as a unique resource for anyone, from novice to engineer, interested in the process of wetland restoration. Author Thomas R. Biebighauser draws from his own vast experience in building and repairing more than 950 wetlands across North America. Included are numerous photographs and case studies that highlight successes of past projects. Detailed, step-by-step instructions guide the reader through the planning and implementation of each restoration action. Biebighauser also provides a number of effective strategies for initiating and improving funding for wetlands programs. Wetland Drainage, Restoration, and Repair is essential reading for all who care about and for these important ecosystems. Thomas R. Biebighauser, a wildlife biologist for the USDA Forest Service in the Daniel Boone National Forest, has taught wetlands restoration workshops across North America. He is a three-time recipient of the National Taking Wing Award. Biebighauser\u27s work is a thorough and accurate account about the good, the bad, and the ugly of wetland destruction and restoration. He objectively walks us through the history of wetland drainage, revealing clever solutions to dealing with soggy soil. In the process, he sets the stage for later portions of the book, where we learn how to be equally clever about bringing water back onto the landscape. The photographs are also excellent, showing historic perspective and illustrating what to do to bring wetlands back, or even put them where they never were. —Bruce A. Kingsbury, Director, Center for Reptile and Amphibian Conservation and Management The book provides a range of interesting and useful advice on approaches to wetland creation and restoration, including adaptive management techniques and \u27learning from beavers.\u27 —Journal of Soil and Water Conservation This one-of-a-kind how-to manual on wetland restoration is written in non-technical, accessible language and will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in wetlands restoration. —Northeastern Naturalist “Thomas Biebighauser does an effective job of making the case that with the right planning and a fundamental knowledge base, ecological landscape enhancement projects involving wetlands do not need to be as nearly complex, expensive, and constrained by regulations as they often are.” --David J. Cameron, Journal of the New England Water Works Association This is not a scientific treatise but, many will argue, much more useful. It focuses on the practical, not the academic, and the excellent array of photographs and diagrams provides clear understanding and guidance on techniques used and proposed. Biebighauser’s text is a valuable addition to the literature in showing how restoration can be achieved in practice. It manages to capture the real challenges of wetland recovery and how to meet them, using machines, human determination, skilful observation of terrain and the practical need for fund-raising. Wetland scientists, conservation and natural resource managers and water engineers are just some who will find the book a very useful practical guide and reference. —Environmental Conservation A wealth of detailed background information, practical advice, and real-world examples of how problems have been overcome. —Ecological Restorationhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_environmental_sciences/1002/thumbnail.jp

Barriers and Enablers to Healthy Planning and Active Living Initiatives

Healthy planning and active living initiatives are considered effective in addressing rising rates of non-communicable diseases. Based on interviews and surveys with Australian advocates and practitioners, this PhD by publication explores the structural barriers and possible enablers for the implementation of urban planning that allows for healthy active living. Two key approaches which may assist this in the future, namely 'health by stealth' and framing health as central to local government functioning, are put forward