University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Behind Shadows: the design and experiment for a new way of interaction - shadow as the controller

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Behind Shadows: the design and experiment for a new way of interaction - shadow as the controller

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Content BEHIND SHADOWS:
THE DESIGN AND EXPERIMENT FOR A NEW WAY OF INTERACTION -
SHADOW AS THE CONTROLLER
By
Jiayi Xu
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
(Interactive Media)
May 2021
Copyright 2021 Jiayi Xu

ii

Acknowledgements
Thank you to my thesis advisors Laird Malamed and Michael Patterson for supporting me
all the way. Because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, I meet many problems finishing
the project. It is lucky to have you with me who care about my progress and are always willing to
be my emotional supports.
Thank you to my technical support Kuan Lu who is always there helping me whenever I
have any technical problems.
Thank you to all members of the faculty for giving so many amazing feedbacks and
suggestions. I value the lectures you teach and the advice you have ever given.
Thank you to all of my classmates and friends in USC for your generosity with time and
advice.

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... ii
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ iv
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Project Overview .......................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Set-up of the Installation ............................................................................................................................................ 3
1.3. Mechanics ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 2: Survey of Prior Art and Literature ............................................................................... 5
Chapter 3: Development Process ................................................................................................. 6
3.1. Shadow Recognition System .................................................................................................................................... 7
3.2. Ideation and Iteration ............................................................................................................................................... 12
3.3. Playtest ......................................................................................................................................................................... 15
3.4. Thoughts about “Narrative and Storytelling” ................................................................................................... 16
3.5. Final Version .............................................................................................................................................................. 17
Chapter 4: Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 20
References ................................................................................................................................... 22

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Abstract
Behind Shadows is a real-time interaction installation that allows players to paint by using
their hand shadows. During their experience, players can commune with and create the beauty of
four seasons. The goal of this project is giving shadow a new meaning of beauty and fun instead
of adverse meanings. In addition, with a shadow detection system, the controller of this project is
the real shadow of the players, which means players use their body movements to create the
interactions between themselves and the virtual world. I hope players can feel the strong
connection between themselves and their shadows and enjoy the time they are doing different
kinds of hand gestures following with magic feedbacks.

1

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Project Overview
Behind Shadows is a real-time interactive projection installation where players can have
different kinds of interactions by using their hand shadows and making gestures.
I derived the inspiration for Behind Shadows from a phenomenon that people always try
to avoid shadows. For instance, photographers usually want to get rid of the shadows, and in
specialized technologies, such as projection mapping, designers usually have to try to get rid of
shadows to avoid some problems. In addition, people tend to connect shadows with negative affect,
such as evil, horror, hopelessness, and loneliness. In my design, I proposed giving shadows a new
life that represents joy and beauty like the creative and fascinating shadow puppets and shadow
play.
Behind Shadows is an experiment for me to dig deeper into immersive interactive media
in physical space. To me, making players stand in the physical world I create is more exciting than
making traditional digital games. Before entering the Program of Interactive Media and Games at
the University of Southern California, I majored in Industrial Engineering. I used to work with all
kinds of machines during my undergraduate life. And I believe that it is this experience that sowed
the seed of exploring the relationship between the human and physical world. With a great passion
for art and design, I joined this program. It is quite fun and interesting to learn about how to design
interactive media. And what impressed me a lot is that people here are always keeping and trying
to be as creative as they can. In addition to traditional digital interactive media which are based on
computer screens, I have seen so many other kinds of great design projects here. With the
development of many new technologies such as Augmented Reality and Project Mapping, the
boundary of what is possible in the field of interactive media has been pushed again and again.

2

Sheridan and his colleagues assert that public space can transform into a performance place by
encouraging participation in digital live art (cited in Prisco, 2016).
With the idea of giving “Shadow” a new meaning of “Beauty and Fun” and the interest of
design in physical space, I built a new method of interaction such that the shadow of the player
would be the controller. I believe that using bodies to interact with the installation is one of the
most powerful ways to increase audience engagement. In this way, I want to bring the audience
out of traditional screens to enjoy a new mode of play. Specifically, they will use their shadow to
interact with the digital world that is projected on the wall.
In this project I implement a shadow recognition system that allows a normal webcam to
recognize the hand shadow of the players, which I will explain more in Chapter 3. In many
previous interactive projects, the shadow is created by Kinect. In my proposed project, the real
shadow of the player is interacting with the digital world, which is different from most other that
are based on Kinect. In those projects, the “shadow” is created by Kinect. The experience is totally
different when players’ real shadows become parts of the piece itself. The interaction between
player’s shadow and the digital world in my project is like the experience of meeting people face-
to-face while the interaction in previous projects is like the experience of meeting people on Zoom
(see Figure 1).

3

During the process of building the projects, I created a lot of interesting mechanics based
on the shadow recognition technology and dreamed various cases where this new mode of play
can be applied. At the end, I decided to use the mode in which up to 3 players can play at the same
time and developed the theme of Seasons in my present project. I regard it as just one piece of the
whole Behind Shadows Series and will continually fill the series with more themes and plays.
1.2. Set-up of the Installation
List of Equipment:
• a Projector or a Light Source
• a Webcam
• a Computer
• a Wall or a Digital Screen
Figure 1: Kinect “Shadow” VS Real Shadow

4

The player needs to stay in front of the wall that is projected. The shadows of his hands
and the gestures will be detected by a web camera and trigger the interactions on the screen(see
Figure 2).
1.3. Mechanics
The player will use the shadows of his hands and the gestures throughout the process. First,
they be able to create paintings in this project and each of his gestures will be given an ability. The
theme of the project is Seasons. The player could choose one of the four seasons on the main menu
by covering the name of the season with their hand shadows. Then, he/she will enter the canvas of
the selected season. Afterward, The player can use hand gestures to paint freely and enjoy the
dynamic process and result he/she creates.
There are mainly three gestures the players can use to do the interactions:
• Waving hands: By waving their hands, players can create different effects in
different scenes. Sometimes the shadow will reveal the image behind the scene,
sometimes the waving hands’ shadow can create wind.
• Opening and closing hands: Players can create blooming flowers by doing this
gesture.
Figure 2: Set-up of Behind Shadows

5

• One-finger Moving: Players can use one of their fingers as a pen to draw branches
and lines.
Other than gestures, just the hand shadow itself can be part of the digital interaction
painting.
Chapter 2: Survey of Prior Art and Literature
There are many great artists and projects which pique my interest about immersive
installations and inspire me a lot.
Pixel Rhythms by Keshav Prasad (n.d.) is the very beginning piece which inspired me to
explore interactive installations. I worked with Keshav at the Getty Museum in the summer of
2019. I still remember how amazing it was when I saw so many people dancing in the interactive
environment he created. People were having so much fun with it. Lighting, music, visuals all were
responding to people’s motions with the help of Kinect. This piece gives me a sense of how a
designer can combine all kinds elements to create a multi-sensory interactive experience. In Pixel
Rhythms, Kinect is used to tracking the body information of the players. As s motion-sensor
camera, it will get each point of players’ body and then the computer can render the body on the
screen. However, the body on the screen is not the player’s body or directly from the player. This
is the reason why I do not choose to use Kinect in my project. I want to create a new way of
interaction that the players can use the shadows of their actual bodies to play.
I notice that many projection installations like Pixel Rhythms deliberately avoid the effect
of shadows on player’s interactive experience. They will always place the projectors in a place
where the shadows of the audience will not overlap with the images. This is where my idea of
using shadows as my input comes from.

6

In addition, I find a really interesting artist called Miwa Matreyek, who is very good at
using shadows to create artworks. Using animation, projections, and her own moving shadow, she
performs gorgeous, meditative pieces to explore man-versus-nature themes. The Los Angeles
Times calls it a “sheer breadth of imagery unlike anything you’ve seen before” (Miwa Matreyek:
Infinitely yours, 2020).

She is considered as the multimedia marvel. Her works make me more
confident about the possibilities of putting my idea into practice. Besides the use of the shadow as
part of the work itself, I would make the piece real-time with interaction. In most projection pieces
such as Miwa’s works, performances are well-rehearsed and all the animation are pre-rendered,
which means most of the time, the audience can only watch it but cannot play with it. Real-time
interaction would definitely provide a different experience for the audience.
Face[on]Display by Can Buyukberber (n.d.) is a great example of how reality and digital
world can be mixed. Can Buyukberber is pursuing something that is activated by the users and
trying to make a more personal experience, which I am looking for in my project. I want my
player’s body to be a part of the experience physically, and it is the player who is telling his/her
own story.
Chapter 3: Development Process
With the inspiration from previous projects and artists, I started my project, Behind
Shadows. However, the project changed a lot during this past year. This section aims to illustrate
the iterations and the design decisions I have made during the whole process after playtesting and
discussion with people.
My goal is to give shadows a new meaning of beauty and joy. At the same time, I want to
magnify the connection between the players and their real shadows. My first step is to figure out

7

the technical part to see what functions I can achieve and then design the whole project as an artist
and designer.
3.1. Shadow Recognition System
At my first Critique Session in thesis class, I showed the class two videos which showed
the two main features of the shadow recognition system.
1. Shadow shape recognition

The first video shows that the system can recognize certain shapes. In the top left corner of
the left picture of Figure 3, we can see that the shadow has been labeled as “Scissors”. This is
made possible by an image recognition Software Development Kit (SDK) that is provided by
Microsoft. By providing enough image samples of different shapes, the SDK generates a Deep
Learning model that can tell which shape it is given a new image. In other word, the system knows
what your kind of gesture is on the screen, this enables me to create story or interesting mechanics.
2. Shadow boundary detection
Figure 3: Feature 1 of the Shadow Recognition System

8

In the second video, the player’s shadow is converted into mesh and able to interact with
other objects in the game. This is achieved by the shadow boundary detection system. The
objective of the shadow boundary detection system is to calculate the coordinates of the points
outlining the shadow and provide Unity game engine with simple interface to get the coordinates
of these points, so that in-game interaction with shadow can be done.
The basic intuition behind the system is as below:
Figure 4: Feature 2 of the Shadow Recognition System
Figure 5: Coordinates of the Points Outlining the Shadow

9

If we know the positions of the four corners of the projector screen in the image, we can
establish a coordinate system with the top left being (0,0) and bottom right being (1,1). Now, given
a random point P inside the projector screen, let:
X’ be number of pixels in the image to the left side of the projector screen.
Y’ be the number of pixels in the image to the top side of the projector screen.
W be the width of the screen in number of pixels.
H be the height of the screen in number of pixels.
The coordinate of the point P in the above-mentioned coordinate system is simply (X’/W,
Y’/H). It is easy to realize that this (X’/W, Y’/H) is also the coordinate in the game coordinate
system, so we know where the shadow’s boundaries are in our game, which can be further
converted into mesh or colliders to interact with other objects in game.
To achieve this, we employed a collection of image processing techniques and they can be
grouped into three modules:
• The projector screen detector module
• The projector screen rectification module
• The shadow boundary detection module

Projector screen detector module:
A series of image processing operation provided by OpenCV is used to get the position of
four corners in the image.

10

With the position of the four corners we can rectify the projector screen and then crop it.
So that the coordinate calculation is more accurate (see Figure 6).
With the position of the four corners, we can rectify the projector screen and then crop it.
So that the coordinate calculation is more accurate.

Figure 6: Positions of Four Corners
Figure 7: The Rectified Image

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Next, as the shadowed area are much darker than other areas, we can use OpenCV library
to get the areas that are significantly darker. Shown in white color in the below Figure 8 are the
shadowed regions.

We can then again use the contour detection functionality in OpenCV to get the points
outlining the contour of the shadowed region.
Figure 8: Shadowed Regions
Figure 9: the Contour of the Shadowed Region

12

These coordinates are then sent to Unity game engine to construct mesh and colliders for
interactions with other objects in the game.
The above explained how the shadow recognition system and the shadow boundary
detection system work.
After demonstrating the capabilities of the two main features of the game, I asked them
“what do you think is the biggest advantage of my system compared with Kinect.” There is one
answer that impressed me a lot. The classmate said that if she put a pencil in front of my camera,
it knew it was a pencil while Kinect did not.
3.2. Ideation and Iteration
That answer made me focus very much on the technical aspect. At the beginning, my design
was all about highlighting the difference between my shadow recognition system and Kinect. I
was obsessed with the idea of showing the recognition feature of my system. I planned to create
Figure 10: Shadow Puppets

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an interactive storytelling project which was about shadow puppets and told a story about an
animal kingdom. However, I faced considerable challenges when I tried to extend them.
Technically, the player’s shadow needed to be identifiable, which meant that they needed
to learn how to do the hand puppet and make sure that every puppet of each animal looked similar.
This was a big challenge for players. My solution was to mix the tutorial part into the narrative
part. However, the tutorial of puppets were too difficult for players to learn within a short time
period.
I also thought about designing something related to sign languages. I thought it would have
educational significance if my project would be able to help people learn more about sign language.
However, I soon realized that it was not practical because many of the sign languages looked
almost the same when they were projected as shadows. For example, the shadows of letter V and
K in American Sign Language look nearly no difference as Figure 10 shows.

I was at a deadlock after realizing that both of the ideas might not work. I then pushed
myself back to the beginning and brainstormed again to see what I could do to connect “Shadows”
with “Beauty and Fun”. I just sit between a wall and a projector, playing with my own hand
shadows. It was actually very enjoyable. “Let’s forget about the recognition staff and just let the
player enjoy playing with their real shadows”, I told myself.
Figure 11: Letter V and K in American Sign Language and Their Shadows

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I then created many small experiences at random thoughts. These experiences can have up
to 3 or potentially have even more players to play at the same time while the whole experience
was designed to be around 10 minutes.

Figure 13: Two Players- Shadow as Water Emitter
Figure 12: One Players- Shadow as Brush

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In Figure 12, the player can use his/her singer to draw lines like a brush.
In Figure 13, the shadow is a water emitter. Players just need to shake their hands and water
balls will falling out from their hand shadows. Two players can emitter two colors of water balls.
In Figure 14, up to three players are allowed in the experience. Each of the hand shadows
will control the movement of one color of smoke. I only add three colors of smoke here but
theoretically, it can allow more players if I set more smoke emitters in the project.
Each of the experiences was like a little toy which would bring the audience unique feelings.
I liked them very much but I need to hear the voice of the players.
3.3. Playtest
Under the circumstances of Covid-19, It is a huge problem for me to do the playtest. Most
of the time, I just record videos and ask about others’ opinions. These opinions may be helpful but
still limited. I have tried many times to ask people to set up the whole installation remotely but
there are always many issues.
Figure 14: Three Players- Shadow as Smoke Emitter

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During last summer vacation, after practicing with my friends for many times, I finally got
to playtest the project in a public space in China. At that time, the Covid situation had become
much better in China and people were allowed to gather at public places. It was at a little corner
in an office building. I know it is actually not an ideal space for me to do the test. If it is possible
I would definitely choose to talk with some museums, music festivals or party shows so that most
of the audiences would be people who are interested in art and creative media.
I put all those little interactive pieces to see people‘s preference. The result showed that the
simpler the piece was, the longer time people would stay and play. People tended to sit in front of
the experience of the smoke emitter, waving their hands all the time. I was not able to catch the
expression on their face and feel their emotion on the spot. However, this result made me
reexamine the term “Narrative and Storytelling”.
3.4. Thoughts about “Narrative and Storytelling”
Most of the time, I tended to write a general background story when I was designing video
games. But what I forgot was that the narrative did not need a solid story to link things. The failure
of finishing the animal puppets idea It was not only about those technique issues I was facing, but
also about “Narrative”.
In conventional narrative, it usually includes “who”, “when” and “where” and the
characters and the events are under the control of the author. While the narrative in the interactive
media industry would be much more than this. “Interactive Storytelling can be defined as the
endeavor to develop new media in which the presentation of a narrative, and its evolution, can be
influenced, in real time, by the user”

(Klimmt et al., 2012, p. 189). During many of those informal
playtests when I showed videos of the project, the classmates and professors kept telling me that
it was no need to struggle with a “real story”, the audience themselves would create one when they

17

were playing. As for my project, compared with video games, it can provide players more freedom
to tell their own story. I start to explore ways and design theories that help players to build their
connection with the shadows and feel the beauty and fun behind shadows.
I still remember that one years ago, I had a meeting with Richard Lemarchand, who was
the instructor of one of my classes. He told me that there were five elements in that project I was
making at that time that can be used to tell stories: text, music, sound, color, and image. This
suggestion was useful for me to design the final version of Behind Shadows as well. In the next
section, I will discuss about the process of the design of the visual storytelling.
3.5. Final Version
I eventually picked “Seasons” as my theme for the project and finished it as a digital
painting installation. There are some reasons which I think that it works well.

Firstly, humans have innate desire to connect to nature and actively seek to connect to
nature (i.e., biophilia hypothesis; Kellert & Wilson, 1993; Wilson, 1984). Seasons are the
Figure 15: Main Menu of Behind Shadows

18

expressions of nature, they represent the power of changing and generating. I use watercolor
painting style and combine it with Chinese Calligraphy in my main menu page, which create a
casual and peace feeling. I want the player to be relaxed and enjoy the experience. The characters
that are captured from nature could produce valid mentally pleasantness. I select flower, tree
branches, butterflies, sun as the representation of each season. They are also the bridge of the
shadow and the digital project. Players can use different gestures to control the bloom of the
flowers, the growth of the branches, the dance of the butterflies and the shining of the sun. By
reuniting the identical elements, the negative side of the seasons is filtered, the power of seasons
is given to the player. This way people can be fully engaged and enjoy the pleasure nature brings
to them.
By playing Behind Shadows, players may even get into an optimal psychological state
called flow in which the players is totally connected to their performance (Jackson & Marsh, 1996).
Many people say it is a sense of fluidity between your body and mind and some people describe
this feeling as being “in the zone.” This state actually can always be easily achieved when people
are immersed in nature scenes. In the meantime, in this project, people’s focus would always be
on their movement of hands that creates the shadow. It is proved that focus on the body is one of
the most effective ways to enter the flow state. I believe that the combination of changings of
nature and the movement of players’ bodies would enhance the media enjoyment at a high level.
Secondly, the features of nature guarantee the aesthetic pleasantness the audience can gain
from the project and at the same time enrich the visual design and narrative of it. One of my
mentors Michael Patterson, a director, designer and animation artist working in visual music and
immersive design, expresses the importance of the use of polyrhythm in both musical and visual
design. When I was discussing the audience engagement and the aesthetic aspect with him about

19

my project. He emphasized that having at least three layers of movements to add visual complexity
is a great way. He also enlightened me with the theory of visual counterpoint which was to create
contrast and focus at the same time when designing. Before talking with him, I was having big
problems about how to mix all the gestures and interactions into one scene to show the changes
and power of nature's beauty. It was actually quite a mess with no aesthetic to put them all together
into one scene although players can have much more freedom to do the paintings.
Now In this project, I separate the experience into four scenes which represent four seasons.
In each season the main layer is the audience’s power to control the changes of those focus
elements by their shadows (see Figure 16). And I add a background video of, which is prerendered,
to be the contrast of the main layer(see Figure 17).
By taking advantage of the changes and richness of nature, I can not only add more concrete
elements such as snow, wind, leaves but also make good use of abstract elements such as layers of
changing colors and shapes on the background layers. Thus, the complexity of the media is
enhanced to improve the audience engagement. At the same time, the aesthetic pleasantness would
not be effected by too much randomness in one scene. What is more, with all these elements as
Figure 16: Focus Layer Figure 17: Focus Layer with Background Layers of Movements

20

well as music, It also creates a great narrative space for the players. They may dream about being
a butterfly surviving in cold winter and feel like taking adventures in a forest. The story is there,
different from players.
Chapter 4: Conclusion
Finally Behind Shadows ends up here as an interaction painting installation that allows
players to commune with nature and themselves at the same time. Although several trivial
incidents occurred along the way, the most accomplished mind is still my very beginning mind.
The first is the insistence of using a regular webcam together with a projector instead of Kinect. I
believe that people’s real shadow brings a unique feeling for the person. My goal is to build
something that will magnify this feeling and make the real shadow of the person a part of the work
he creates. What is more, I want to dig deeper into the design of an immersive physical
environment. Nowadays, we have so many kinds of interactive media and most of which are based
on conventional digital screens. However, as for me, to have the audience to stand there and
interact with the world I create with their real body is quite magic. To build something physically
really changes the whole experience. Last but not least, my idea of connecting the shadows with
the feeling of beauty and joy is realized as well.
During my life at USC, I made many digital games and learned a lot. Making an installation
like Behind Shadows is a brand new experience for me. It is quite a unique and interesting year
for me to take time iterating a new kind of interactive media. Those theories that I learned from
making games, creating animations, interactive writing and all kinds of design activities are
gradually awakened in my mind along the way of making Behind Shadows and eventually help
me make it.

21

The only pity I would say is that I am not able to show it at a right place while it has such
great potential to be applied in all kinds of occasions. I can imagine that when it appears in a music
festival, it becomes a visual music piece and people can let their hands dance and become the
instruments. It can also be placed in gardens together with the real natural environment. It can be
installed in art museums and even shopping malls as a tool to attract people.
I would also say that the full name of the project is “Behind Shadows- Seasons” because it
is just one of the series. In addition to being a digital painting installation, it can also be a little
games box that can be placed in clubs and parties. It can become a new type of board game when
the table is the projection wall. There are so many possibilities for me to explore and create. The
door has just opened.

22

References
Al-Ofisan, G., & Al-Wabil, A. (2015). Human factors in the design of Interactive Multimedia
Art Installations (IMAIs). Procedia Manufacturing, 3, 4572-4577.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2015.07.474
Can Buyukberber (n.d.). Face[on]Display. https://canbuyukberber.com/facesondisplay
Jackson, S. A., & Marsh, H. W. (1996). Development and validation of a scale to measure optimal
experience: The Flow State Scale. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 18(1), 17-35.
https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.18.1.17
Kellert, S. R., & Wilson, E. O. (Eds.). (1993). The biophilia hypothesis. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
Keshav Prasad (n.d.). The Getty - Pixel Rhythms. https://prasadinteractive.com/pixel-rhythms
Klimmt, C., Roth, C., Vermeulen, I., Vorderer, P., & Roth, F. S. (2012). Forecasting the experience
of future entertainment technology: “Interactive storytelling” and media enjoyment. Games
and Culture, 7(3), 187-208. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412012451123
Miwa Matreyek: Infinitely yours (2020, January 16). Redcat. Retrieved March 24, 2021, from
https://www.redcat.org/event/miwa-matreyek-infinitely-yours
Nam, H. Y., & Nitsche, M. (2014, February). Interactive installations as performance: inspiration
for HCI. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and
Embodied Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1145/2540930.2540976.
Prisco, B. (2016). Living art: an exploration of interactive art installations. Art Education, 69(5),
49-57. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2016.1202078.
Wilson, E. O. (1984). Biophilia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Xu, Jiayi (author)

Core Title Behind Shadows: the design and experiment for a new way of interaction - shadow as the controller

School School of Cinematic Arts

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Interactive Media

Publication Date 04/20/2021

Defense Date 04/15/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag beauty and fun,Nature,OAI-PMH Harvest,real-time interaction installation,seasons,Shadows

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Malamed, Laird (committee chair), Patterson, Michael (committee member)

Creator Email 1995jiay1.xu@gmail.com,xujiayi@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-450499

Unique identifier UC11668657

Identifier etd-XuJiayi-9503.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-450499 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-XuJiayi-9503.pdf

Dmrecord 450499

Document Type Thesis

Rights Xu, Jiayi

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA