Tegelaskujude/maskottide armsuse semiootiline modelleerimine

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioonePuutume kokku nunnude loomategelastega nii Disney multifilmides, hommikuhelveste pakenditel kui ka tualettpaberil - ja need tegelased ei ole suunatud vaid lastele. Nunnusus, kui esteetiline omadus, võib mõjutada meie otsuseid ja suunata meie tundeid seoses hoolitsemise, huvi ja kiindumusega. Mis see on, mis teeb nunnud tegelased nii armastusväärseks? Uurimistööd teoreetilises bioloogias ja psühholoogias on leidnud, et peamiselt motiveerib nunnusus meid hoolima imikutest ja koduloomadest ning eelistama kindlaid nägusid ja tooteid. Samad uurimused väidavad, et meie huvi nunnude asjade vastu tuleneb bioloogilisest hoolitsemise vajadusest. Samas, hoolitsemise vajadus ei põhjenda isiklikke ja kultuurilisi eelistusi. Samuti ei põhjenda see, miks me leiame, et multifilmid ja erinevad tooted on nunnud. Väitekiri uurib, kuidas biosemiootiline lähenemine aitab meil mõista tajutud nunnususe varjatud tunnuseid. Töö uurib aspekte, mis jäävad meie tajude varju ja kuidas nunnusus mõjutab meie suhtlemisviise loomategelaste ja loomadega. Lõpuks pakub väitekiri praktilisi disaini nõuandeid disaineritele ja multifilmideloojatele loomategelaste loomisel. Uurimustöö tulemustest järeldub, et nunnususe tajumine pole lihtsalt visuaalne, vaid seotud ka meie teiste tajudega. Nunnususe tajumine pole täielikult universaalne nähtus, vaid on mõjutatud kultuurist ja isiklikest eelistustest. Lisaks leiab väitekiri, kuidas nunnude omaduste kasutamine disainis võib teha loomategelased auditooriumile veelgi ahvatlevamaks ja emotsionaalselt mõjusamaks. Nunnud loomategelased võivad mõjutada, kuidas me tajume ja suhestume reaalsete loomadega.From Disney’s hit films to your cereal and toilet paper, we encounter cute animal characters constantly in our daily life, and they’re not just for children. The presence of cuteness as an aesthetic can effect our decision making and lead to feelings of care-giving, attraction, and affection. But what makes these characters so endearing? Research into theoretical biology and psychology has found cuteness to be a major motivator in our caring of infants, adoption of pets, and preference for faces and products. These studies claim our attraction to cute things stems from a biological care-taking response, but this does not explain personal and cultural preferences and why we find cartoons and products cute. This dissertation explores why we find cartoon characters cute and how biosemiotic research help us understand the factors behind our perceptions of cuteness. This dissertation investigates the features that underlie our perceptions, explores how cuteness affects our interactions with both animal characters and biological animals, and offers practical design advice to designers and animators in the creation of animal characters. The results of the research conclude that the perception of cuteness is not just visual but linked with our other senses and that it is not entirely universal but is influenced by culture and personal factors. Additionally, this research identifies how the usage of cute features design and human-like expressions can make animal characters more appealing and emotionally affective for audiences and that these characters can impact how we perceive and interact with real-world animals. As a whole this dissertation advances the field of cuteness studies and offers a practical domain for the application of semiotics.https://www.ester.ee/record=b543738

Perception of cuteness in animal mascots/characters

http://www.ester.ee/record=b4749519*es

Darwin’s antithesis revisited – a zoosemiotic perspective on expressing emotions in animals and animal cartoon characters

In the animation and design of cartoon characters, animators have often turned to the study of biological theories and observation of human actors and animals to capture lifelike movements and emotions more successfully. Charles Darwin’s principle of antithesis, as one of the principles he considered to be responsible for the expression of emotions in animals, would seem to be of distinctive importance in the development of animation. By revisiting Darwin’s original idea in the context of the principles of animation formulated by Thomas and Johnston, we are able to assess its application and relevance in the expressions of emotions in cartoon animal characters. The article concentrates on the emotive function of animal social communication as outlined in zoosemiotics, while taking into account that the expressions of animal characters are directed at the viewer. The principle of antithesis, as a descriptive tool, aids us in considering the diversity of modalities used simultaneously in affective communication, and serves to explicate human interpretations of the anthropomorphic and zoomorphic projections onto the behaviour of cartoon animal characters. This paper offers insight into the potential expansion and re-evaluation of unattested principles in animation, which can be utilized by animators in the creation of more dynamic and expressive animated characters

3D printed ventricular septal defect patch: a primer for the 2015 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) hands-on course in 3D printing.

Hand-held three dimensional models of the human anatomy and pathology, tailored-made protheses, and custom-designed implants can be derived from imaging modalities, most commonly Computed Tomography (CT). However, standard DICOM format images cannot be 3D printed; instead, additional image post-processing is required to transform the anatomy of interest into Standard Tessellation Language (STL) format is needed. This conversion, and the subsequent 3D printing of the STL file, requires a series of steps. Initial post-processing involves the segmentation-demarcation of the desired for 3D printing parts and creating of an initial STL file. Then, Computer Aided Design (CAD) software is used, particularly for wrapping, smoothing and trimming. Devices and implants that can also be 3D printed, can be designed using this software environment. The purpose of this article is to provide a tutorial on 3D Printing with the test case of complex congenital heart disease (CHD). While the infant was born with double outlet right ventricle (DORV), this hands-on guide to be featured at the 2015 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America Hands-on Course in 3D Printing focused on the additional finding of a ventricular septal defect (VSD). The process of segmenting the heart chambers and the great vessels will be followed by optimization of the model using CAD software. A virtual patch that accurately matches the patient's VSD will be designed and both models will be prepared for 3D printing

Molecular Neuron Realization

Universal Turing machine is a notional computing machine that stimulated work leading to the development of modern computers. The Turing machine operates on finite sequences of symbols by scanning a data type. The striking analogy to information-encoding biochemical reactions on information-carrying molecules was inspired to apply this methodology in neural networks. The essential feature of such approach is hybridization of pairs of complementary DNA strings and possibility to represent highly parallel selective operations, which can enable creating alternative, neural architectures. We describe our original model of molecular neuron based on DNA computing paradigm. During computation appropriate molecules are chosen, each specifying one of the finite number of initial states or processing elements