This chapter discusses 3D virtual worlds as a fusion of technologies for serious applications. A variety of new trends in the area is considered along with original findings, exemplified with particular approaches and features designed. The goal of this chapter is to evaluate and envisage what benefits can be acquired if such trends and features are fused under a single platform. Specific trends considered in this chapter include increase of the sense of immersion with virtual reality devices, simplification of control with joysticks and mobile devices, working with large amounts of multimedia content, and capturing activities using virtual recording. The discussion is supported with the literature review and evaluation of the features developed for vAcademia virtual world. A particular focus of the chapter is on the discussion of how the new properties of 3D virtual worlds can increase their efficiency for serious applications, enable new scenarios of use, and improve user experience. . There has been extensive study of the impact of 3D immersive visualization on user behavior, lower-level task performance, and comprehension of data. A key characteristic, arguably the one that motivates the use of immersive VR in high-value training, is that participants tend to react as if the sce-ne they were seeing were real. That is they behave in a way that is similar to their behavior in a comparable real situation .

One aspect of a growing VR industry that developers have to face is the ethics behind the technology. This includes making sure that technology is readily available and accessible to as large of a population as possible. Current consumer virtual reality (VR) headsets typically utilize two controllers to navigate a virtual environment, leading to accessibility issues for potential users that cannot effectively operate a controller. We propose NaVRgate, a proof of concept idea that removes the need for controllers in which a user uses expressions to navigate a virtual environment. The system utilizes the computer webcam and computer vision face and eye position tracking to capture the nature of expression tracking, with certain positional thresholds representing different facial expressions. To test this system, We design a game environment where a user navigates with either a controller or the face position tracker, collecting a set of orbs scattered around the map as quickly as they can, comparing the efficiency between navigation through the novel computer vision and traditional controller methods. Users are also questioned on the difficulty of use and experience with each control input method. This paper details the process of the development and drafts, to the statistical experiment constructed to determine the efficiency of head gestures.

Abstract—CAMTUAL: An interactive mobile app to research fundamental aspects of deep learning technologies to support Smartphones users a 2D-to-3D automatic converter using smartphones built-in cameras. The whole idea inspired by MagicToon App [1]. As 3D video viewing becomes important and virtual reality market started, the request for 3D devices and contents is growing faster. Producing 3D videos, still remains as a big challenge. In this paper we presented a mobile app that uses a 3D deep neural networks algorithm to automatically convert 2D video and images to a stereoscopic 3D format [2]. In comparison to other mobile apps that doesn’t use automatic 2D-to-3D conversion algorithms, our mobile app uses method that trained end-to-end automatically on stereo pairs extracted from existing 3D videos. This novel mobile app approach outperforms baselines in human evaluations and quantitative.

In this article, I aim to examine the ways virtual technologies have affected on the arrangement of the cinema space. Virtual technologies are eventually referenced here as virtual production (VP), which makes it possible for filmmakers to mix live footage and computer graphics interactively while filming on set. The cinema space, respectively, is delineated along the views provided by the enactive approach and neuroscience of emotion. The enactive approach in cognitive science describes the relationship of a human being to her environment as an embodied experience, and neuroscience of emotion bridges the gap needed to understand the role of an enactive system in meaning-making. I will also focus on how the concept of digital cinema has evolved since its beginning from the perspective of both practice and theory. I render how digital cinema first resembled in its functions the traditional glass matte paintings behind the character and gradually turned into manifesting an essential hookup between the filmmakers and digital content. I wish to abandon the idea that digital image just represents a pictorial illusion of reality and instead see it making possible a lifelike simulation of the digital environments throughout the filmmaking process, eventually blending the borders of pre-, production and postproduction phases. This weaving of interactive digital tools into cinema practice has created new approaches, which tend to emphasize intense body-related experiences, thus conveying a thickened sense of immersive presence in the film experience.

I walk into the room and the smell of burning wood hits me immediately. The warmth from the fireplace grows as I step nearer to it. The fire needs to heat the little cottage through night so I add a log to the fire. There are a few sparks and embers. I throw a bigger log onto the fire and it drops with a thud. Again, there are barely any sparks or embers. The heat and the smell stay the same. They don’t change and I do not become habituated to it. Rather, they are just a steady stream, so I take off my VR headset and give my recommendations to the team programming the gameified world of the virtual museum of the future (one depicting an ancient Turkish settlement, being built now at the institution where one of us works). As much as this technological world seems almost too futuristic, it actually retrieves obsolete items from the past—a heater, a piece of wood, and a spray bottle—in keeping with McLuhan’s (1973) insights regarding media that provide strong participation goals and t...

Entrare nell’immagine: un desiderio che accompagna l’umanità
dall’alba dei tempi, perdendosi nelle nebbie del mito. Un desiderio
che nei secoli ogni cultura visuale ha cercato di realizzare con
i mezzi di volta in volta disponibili. E che oggi le tecnologie di realtà
virtuale promettono di soddisfare: l’immagine si fa ambiente immersivo,
ci avvolge a 360 gradi, è presenza in carne e ossa. Saltano
le cornici che la confinavano in un mondo a parte. Persino il
medium in cui si concretizza sembra farsi trasparente. Una volta
aperto il passaggio fra il mondo reale e il mondo iconico, dobbiamo
però aspettarci un varco percorribile nei due sensi: penetriamo
nel mondo dell’immagine, ma l’immagine esonda nel nostro
mondo. Al desiderio si accompagna il timore per tale tracimazione.
Questo libro esplora quel doppio movimento, e ricostruisce la
storia di quel desiderio-timore, delle fantasie che ha innescato e
delle strategie escogitate per corrispondervi: dal proto-immersivo
Narciso ai caschi VR, passando per il trompe-l’oeil e le sculture
viventi, gli specchi e le architetture illusionistiche, i panorami e le
fantasmagorie, l’arte-ambiente, il cinema in 3D. Indugiando sulla
soglia che al contempo separa e congiunge quei due mondi, ne
subiamo il fascino, e ne apprezziamo il rischio.

Virtual reality applications refer to the use of com- puters to simulate a physical environment in such a way that humans can readily visualize, explore, and interact with "objects" in this environment. The design of virtual scenes requires realistic physically based simulation algorithms and in particular effi- cient collision detection routines. Collision detection prevent penetrations between objects. This paper presents an overview of the collision detection procedures for rigid bodies. It divides those procedures in two families that form a general hybrid collision detection algorithm. The first family is used in the first phase known as broad phase that roughly detects collision. The second family is used in the second one known as narrow phase that exactly detects if collision occurs.

PLACE-Hampi provides a framework for a new approach to the rendering of the cultural experience, whose aesthetic and representational features gives the general public a dramatic new appreciation of the many layered significations of such historical, archaeological, and architectural spaces. While PLACE-Hampi embodies a single user interaction model, the autonomous narrative scenarios that populate each of the panoramic scenes with

In this paper, we describe an experiment outline on investigating design and user experience related aspects of several virtual reality locomotion and virtual object interaction mechanics. These mechanics will be based on consumer hardware like a common game controllers, an infrared hand and finger tracking device, VR hand controllers and an omni-directional treadmill. Corresponding related work will contextualize and motivate this research. The projected experimental study will be based on user test sessions with a specifically developed 1 st person VR puzzle horror game, called Gooze. A hybrid approach of self-assessment, in-game parameter tracking and session observations will be proposed for the investigation. Statistical analysis methods will be suggested to evaluate results. Furthermore, this paper will give an overview of the game and elaborate on design, gameplay and user experience related insights of already conducted informal pre-studies with it.

Acrophobia is a scientific term used to describe the fear of height. To some, this fear is tolerable, but to other, the fear could pose danger to their life if the fear is starting to interfere with their day to day activities. The conventional treatment for acrophobia is usually done through exposure therapy, where individuals suffering acrophobia will be gradually exposed (physically) to the height. The goal of the study was to develop a simple 3D virtual environment to perform exposure therapy for acrophobia. The system consist of a multimedia workstation, a Head Mounted Device (HMD) and a virtual scene of a busy city surrounded with tall buildings. The scenario consist of the user is being gradually lifted up and down on an open elevator hanging outside one of the building. Key-Words: Virtual Reality, Immersive, Acrophobia

Human Interaction in meetings is one of the famous fields of social dynamics. Meeting is integral part of every organization. In this, meeting outcome is extracted using tree based approach. Meetings contents or conversation are available in forms such as audio, video and text. In this, pattern of meeting is extracted from text document. An interaction is represented in the form of tree. Meeting Output is generated using data mining technique. Firstly the contents are filtered, extracted and steamed. Secondly classification is done into six categories propose, comment, acknowledgement, request Info, ask Opinion, pos Opinion, and neg Opinion. Next the interaction tree is constructed which represent the interaction flow of meeting. Finally the meeting output is generated from interaction tree using frequent pattern mining algorithm. The behavior of person is determined which includes a person who proposed a lot of ideas, a person with positive or negative attitude.

Diabetes occurs due to destruction of Beta-cells in the
pancreatic islets of Langerhans with resulting loss of insulin
production. The result of insufficient action of insulin is an
increase in blood glucose concentration. The diagnosis of Diabetes
must always be established by a blood glucose measurement made
in an accredited laboratory. The alternative way to measure a
deficiency of insulin from the Beta-cells of pancreatic islets uses
iris diagnosis. Evaluating the iris is done by detecting the presence
of some broken tissue in iris. However, conventional iris diagnosis
is always concerned with the identification of syndromes rather
than with the connection between abnormal iris tissue
appearances and diseases. In this paper, we present a novel
computerized iris inspection method aiming to address these
problems for detecting insulin deficiency from the Beta-cells of
pancreatic islets. First, quantitative features, textural measures
are extracted from iris images by using popular digital image
processing techniques. Then, Neighborhood based Modified
Backpropagation using Adaptive Learning Parameters (ANMBP)
method is employed to model the relationship between
quantitative features and pancreatic abnormalities as caused of
insulin deficiency. The effectiveness of this method is tested on 12
patients with Diabetes, and the diagnostic results predicted by the
previously trained ANMBP classifiers are compared with the
calculation of HOMA-B, obtained 83.3% accuracy in detecting
pancreas disorders.

Realistic renderings contain a large amount of information about the spatial, geometric and material properties of prospective buildings that can directly affect design decisions, yet these images are most of the time used as after-the-fact representational visualizations. In this paper we propose a model to make the realistic images a very part of the design and decision making process. If we are to utilize realistic images during earlier decision making stages of the design processes, then we should develop experiential workflows in which we can create and interact with immersive realistic images real-time. We take several steps towards establishing an interactive rendering-animating-editing workflow that enables the designers to work with real-time rendered stereoscopic animations. In our system, we use realism to create an immersive exploration environment, as opposed to underutilizing it to represent a static moment.

Based on preliminary research, game-based treatments appear to be a promising approach to post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). However, attitudes toward this novel approach must be better understood. Thus, the objective of
this study was to determine if video game self-efficacy mediates the relationship between expectations and
reactions to a game-based treatment for PTSD. Participants played the serious game ‘‘Walk in My Shoes’’
(Novonics Corp., Orlando, FL) and completed a series of scales to measure attitudes toward the intervention.
Video game self-efficacy was found to be a partial mediator of expectancies and reactions. These results suggest
that enhancing attitudes via self-efficacy in a clinical setting may maximize treatment effectiveness.

In the coming decades, the platforms and formalisms scholars employ to display, transform, and transmit information will continue to evolve. Innovations in information management did not stop with the codex. They will not stop with the PC. The purpose of this paper is to explore a specific implication that new paradigms of computing—especially those pertaining to 3D objects and 3D environments—will present for the discipline of history. Put simply, this study suggests historians will need to re‐think the aesthetics of their discipline. Drawing on the experience of the<it> 3D Virtual Buildings Project</it>, it suggests there are two possibilities historians can and ought to explore. The first is to test the efficacy of 3D objects as cognitive tools, tools designed to assist student realization that historical works are models, models that must be distinguished from the objects they represent. The second is to explore the use of 3D‐immersive environments as platforms to display research findings. If Virtual Reality is to emerge as a viable medium for the historical discipline, scholars will need to transform their practice. Assumptions regarding the constitution of narrative, authorship and the scholarly work will all require modification.

Ergonomics has become an integral part of design education curriculum, where input content demands demonstration through citing and analysing appropriate design experiences. It has come to fore through many academic forum discussions and meetings that to internalise various ergonomics issues relevant hands on experiences on this are necessary. To impart a feel of laboratory experimentation as well as application relevance to a greater number of learners, a virtual environment scenario could go along.A virtual presentation of ergonomics laboratory experiments on physical anthropometry and its design dimension consequences has been tried out. It contains a total of eleven sections. The topic opens with the introductory session where the subject matter and the laboratory experiment methodology in general was considered; this was followed by ten specific topics with flash based self-learning modules and data support on Indian population was provided to have a ready reference. Some of th...

JQRSS Qualitative Researcher Awards
Congratulations to the following researchers who have been recognised by the JQRSS Editorial Board for their outstanding research activities, scholarly conduct and valuable contribution to the journal.
Rachael Lear: Volume 1, Issue 1, (2007)
Lear, R. and Palmer, C. (2007) Is there life after playing football? Investigating the perspectives of football coaches at a club in the North West of England. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 1, 1, 19-32.
Paul Gow: Volume 2, Issue 1, (2008)
Gow, P. and Rookwood, J. (2008) Doing it for the team - examining the causes of contemporary English football hooliganism. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 2, 1, 71-82.
Keith McGregor: Volume 3, Issue 1, (2009)
McGregor, K. and Palmer, C. (2009) It’s not the falling I’m worried about it’s hitting the ground - investigating the fear of falling, comfort zones and camaraderie between extreme grade rock climbers. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 3, 1, 127-146.
Chris Hughes: Volume 4, Issue 1, (2010)
Hughes, C. and Palmer, C. (2010) Examining a coaching philosophy through ethnographic principles – Winter with Woolton. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 4, 1, 23-48.
Beki Price: Volume 5, Issue 1, (2011)
Price, B. and Varrall, S. (2011) Doing and representing qualitative research: a human perspective (Part 1: visual). Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 5, 1, 59-86.
Price, B. and Gilbourne, D. (2011) Doing and representing qualitative research: a human perspective (Part 2: textual). Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 5, 1, 87-100.
Sarah Nickless: Volume 6, Issue 1, (2012)
Nickless, S. and Palmer, C. (2012) Crawling through experience. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 6, 1, 1-12.
Joseph Pryle: Volume 7, Issue 1, (2013)
Pryle, J. and Palmer, C. (2013) Cricket provision in schools – is the system flawed? An ethnographic investigation. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 7, 1, 27-86.
Nicola Hamilton: Volume 8, Issue 1, (2014)
Hamilton, N. and Palmer, C. (2014) Learning to ride a bike-a qualitative study of cycling and the Bikeability programme. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 8, 1, 17-88.
Sheri Treadwell: Volume 9, Issue 1, (2015)
Sheri Treadwell and Jim Stiehl (2015) Advocating for change in rural Physical Education: a middle school perspective through Photovoice and student SHOWeD analysis. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 9, 1, 107-162.
James Edwards: Volume 10, Issue 1, (2016)
Edwards, J. and Palmer, C. (2016) Getting home. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 10, 1, 127-156.
David Grecic: Volume 11, Issue 1, (2017)
Grecic, D. (2017) Making sense of skill – a personal narrative of becoming more skilled at skill. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 11, 1, 33-48.
Carmen Byrne: Volume 12, Issue 1, (2018)
Byrne, C. and Palmer, C. (2018) Hero, heroine or outcast? A quest for understanding through critical dialogue: the Research Goddess and me. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 12, 1, 1-34.
Maksim Berdnikov: Volume 13, Issue 1, (2019)
Berdnikov, M. and Krieger, J. (2019) Education facilitators at youth mega-events: practical and methodological considerations. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 13, 1, 111-126.
Hazel Isaacs: Volume 14, Issue 1, (2020)
Isaacs, H. and Palmer, C. (2020) Let’s waste some time: an autoethnographic study of procrastination. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 14, 1, 1-48.
Susan Thomas: Volume 15, Issue 1, (2021)
Thomas, S. and Palmer, C. (2021) When nature and tech connect – a case for using Augmented Reality in the Outdoors. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 15, 1, 1-28.

Il disegno ha dato il suo contributo nell’analisi della città: con esso l’uomo ha cercato nei secoli e per differenti scopi, di studiare e rappresentare la morfologia della città. La ricerca spazia dall’analisi della rappresentazione urbana alla sistematica catalogazione degli strumenti per il rilievo e la misura del costruito. Nuove osservazioni sono scaturite dall’analisi della pianta di Imola, in cui si sono rintracciati i punti misurati da Leonardo. A secoli di distanza le nuove tecnologie per il rilievo urbano non si discostano di molto dai metodi rinascimentali.

The drawing contributed in the analysis of the city. With it man has tried, over the centuries, and for different purposes, to study and represent the morphology of the city. The research ranges from the analysis of urban representation to the systematic cataloging of the relevant instruments and the extent of the construction. New observations by the analysis of the Imola plan where are traced the points measured by Leonardo. A centuries later new technologies for the urban survey do not differ much from the Renaissance methods.

In this paper, we review the use of virtual and augmented reality technologies for capture and externalization of tacit knowledge from complex activity in knowledge-intensive professions. We focus on technologies for converting experience hidden in activity with the aim to boost industry competitiveness, innovation, and facilitate learning on the job. As such types of knowledge and experience are difficult to capture and represent in traditional media, we explore emerging technology along two lines of investigation. First, we look at applications of virtual reality to then, second, focus on using sensors, augmented reality, and wearable technologies. We discuss existing and future applications of experience capturing with virtual and augmented reality technologies. This review provides a comprehensive overview for those interested in recording virtual, real, and augmented activities, methods for delivering the recorded data, and extracting knowledge.

This study is part of a master’s dissertation aiming to investigate the immersion of user interfaces in first person games using virtual reality. This evaluation is based on the concepts established by the Diegesis theory. Based on that, a table was created with the identified elements in the games that induce more or less immersion to the player. Through the data collected, a questionnaire was developed to obtain information from developers, designers and players, to evaluate the most and the fewer immersive elements of the interfaces in the games selected. The results showed that the Diegetic and Spatial interfaces are the most immersive for virtual reality first person games, and the less immersive were the Meta and Non-Diegetic interfaces. Thus these results can be important if they influence the creation of games interfaces more immersive, because all players want to be immersed when playing games, in particular when playing in virtual environments.

Japan is a super-aging society, one marked by a steadily silvering population and shrinking birthrates. Social effects range from a decline in intergenerational homes to new tensions between the generations as elders delay retirement or return to work. Towards improving relations between the generations, two versions of an inclusive, intergenerational game employing "shared action," or time-movement synchrony, were developed: a finger-based version inspired by medical exercise technology from gerontology and a smart shoe-based version as a familiar form factor. A series of three exploratory studies were conducted with young Japanese adults and elders. Findings suggest that the foot version was most suitable overall and reveal initial, complex effects of age and gender on empathy measures that can inform affective computing initiatives within and beyond the cultural milieu of modern Japan.

The Graph is a powerful mathematical tool applied in many fields as transportation, communication, informatics, economy, … In an ordinary graph, the weights of edges and vertexes are considered independently where the length of a path is the sum of weights of the edges and the vertexes on this path. However, in many practical problems, weights at a vertex are not the same for all paths passing this vertex but depend on coming and leaving edges. The presented paper develops a model of the extended linear multi-commodity multi-cost network that can be more exactly and effectively applied to model many practical problems. Then, maximal limit cost flow problems are modeled as implicit linear programming problems. On the base of dual theory in linear rogramming, an effective approximate algorithm is developed.

In this paper a new video-based interface for creating cutout-style animation using magnets is presented. This idea makes room for users of all skill levels to animate. We created an interface which is generally a closed box with a camera placed at the bottom. Roof of the box acts like a multi touch interface. A cast of physical characters are designed by the animator using paper, markers and scissor. If animator wants to animate using this physical characters, he pastes them to magnets (we call them as PMagnets) and place them under the roof (puppets facing the camera). These characters are controlled by other magnets (CMagnets) on the top of the roof. Here we require, a simple foreground extraction algorithm to extract the characters and to render them onto a new background. Our system "Cut-Out Animation using Magnet Motion" runs in real time (i.e 30 Frames/Sec). Therefore animator and the audience can instantly see the animation.

Völlig neue Bild- und Erfahrungswelten versprechen die jüngsten Produkte der Medienindustrie ihren Usern. Euphorisch investieren Google, Microsoft und Co. Unsummen in digitale Medientechnologien wie Virtual-Reality-Displays. Jeder Blockbuster muss in 3D gedreht werden. Entwicklungen wie diese verdeutlichen nicht nur den hohen Stellenwert, der sowohl der technologischen Seite als auch den ästhetischen Strategien visueller Medien zukommt. Sie werfen auch eine Reihe von Fragen auf: Wie adressieren multimodale Medienarrangements die Sinne der Rezipienten? Welche Rolle spielen Technologie und Wahrnehmung bei der Modellierung von Bildwirkungen? Um diese Fragen zu beantworten, legt der vorliegende Band den Fokus auf die Analyse medialer Interfaces. Konzentrierte sich die Bewegtbilder-Reihe bislang auf den Film, widmet sich Bild und Interface auch interaktiven Digital- und Computerspielbildern. Dadurch sollen weitere Bausteine einer kritischen Bewegtbildwissenschaft herausgearbeitet werden.

This work contributes an integrated and flexible approach to sign language processing in virtual environments that allows for interactive experimental evaluations with high ecological validity. Initial steps deal with real-time tracking and processing of manual gestures. Motion data is stereoscopically rendered in immersive virtual environments with varying spatial and representational configurations. Besides flexibility, the most important aspect is the seamless integration within a VR-based neuropsychological experiment software. Ongoing studies facilitated with this system contribute to the understanding of the cognition of sign language. The system is beneficial for experimenters because of the controlled and immersive three-dimensional environment enabling experiments with visual depth perception that can not be achieved with video presentations.

Architects have long sought to create spaces that can relate to or even induce specific emotional conditions in their users, such as states of relaxation or engagement. Dynamic or calming qualities were given to these spaces by controlling form, perspective, lighting, color, and materiality. The actual impact of these complex design decisions has been challenging to assess, from both quantitative and qualitative standpoints, because neural empathic responses, defined in this paper by feature indexes (FIs) and mind indexes (MIs), are highly subjective experiences. Recent advances in the fields of virtual procedural environments (VPEs) and virtual reality (VR), supported by powerful game engine (GE) technologies, provide computational designers with a new set of design instruments that, when combined with brain-computing interfacing (BCI) and eye-tracking (E-T) hardware, can be used to assess complex empathic reactions. As the COVID-19 health crisis showed, virtual social interaction becomes increasingly relevant, and the social catalytic potential of VPEs can open new design possibilities. The research presented in this paper introduces the cyber-physical design of such an affective computing system. It focuses on how relevant empathic data can be acquired in real time by exposing subjects within a dynamic VR-based VPE and assessing their emotional responses while controlling the actual generative parameters via a live feedback loop. A combination of VR, BCI, and E-T solutions integrated within a GE is proposed and discussed. By using a VPE inside a BCI system that can be accurately correlated with E-T, this paper proposes to identify potential morphological and lighting factors that either alone or combined can have an empathic effect expressed by the relevant responses of the MIs.

Imagine a museum where you can safely play with high voltage electricity, initiate your own chemical and nuclear reactions, form molten metal, or handle superfluids near absolute zero temperature. This museum also allows you to shrink down to the size of an ant, hold a galaxy in your hand, enter an erupting volcano, travel through time or create your own world with variable amounts of friction, gravity and atmosphere. This museum of the future will soon be possible thanks to rapid advances in real-time computing and specialized computer interface devices designed to produce a "virtual reality." The Technology Virtual reality (VR) immerses users within an interactive, computer-generated, three-dimensional world known as a virtual environment (VE) or cyberspace. Rather than interacting with a computer through a keyboard or mouse, VR systems attempt to exploit natural skills such as looking, turning, reaching, grasping, pointing and even walking. A number of computer input/output devices have been developed for this purpose including special gloves with sensors and stereoscopic head-mounted displays which digitize the users' head orientation. VR is a new way of looking at human-machine interaction. As a technology, VR is in its infancy. Present VR systems suffer from poor visual resolution and slow response times. Despite this, functional systems do exist and are finding practical applications. VR systems are being used to explore engineering/scientific models (architectural walk-through, molecular modeling, virtual wind tunnel, and mathematical modeling), and for medical visualization (virtual patients and diagnostic imaging). Hazardous activities, such as flight training and combat simulation, are safely performed within virtual environments.

Stimuli that resemble humans, but are not perfectly human-like, are disliked compared to distinctly human and non-human stimuli. Accounts of this &quot;Uncanny Valley&quot; effect often focus on how changes in human resemblance can evoke different emotional responses. We present an alternate account based on the novel hypothesis that the Uncanny Valley is not directly related to &#39;human-likeness&#39; per se, but instead reflects a more general form of stimulus devaluation that occurs when inhibition is triggered to resolve conflict between competing stimulus-related representations. We consider existing support for this inhibitory-devaluation hypothesis and further assess its feasibility through tests of two corresponding predictions that arise from the link between conflict-resolving inhibition and aversive response: (1) that the pronounced disliking of Uncanny-type stimuli will occur for any image that strongly activates multiple competing stimulus representations, even in the ...

Visually impaired people face many problems in their day to day lives. Among them, outdoor navigation is one of the major concerns. The existing solutions based on Wireless Sensor Networks(WSN) and Global Positioning System (GPS) track ZigBee units or RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags fixed on the navigation system. The issues pertaining to these solutions are as follows: (1) It is suitable only when the visually impaired person is commuting in a familiar environment; (2) The device provides only a one way communication; (3) Most of these instruments are heavy and sometimes costly. Preferable solution would be to make a system which is easy to carry and cheap. The objective of this paper is to break down the technological barriers, and to propose a system by developing an Android App which would help a visually impaired person while traveling via the public transport system like Bus. The proposed system uses an inbuilt feature of smart phone such as GPS location tracker to track the location of the user and Text to Speech converter. The system also integrates Google Speech to Text converter for capturing the voice input and converts them to text. This system recommends the requirement of installing a GPS module in buses for real time tracking. With minor modification, this App can also help older people for independent navigation.

In this paper, we describe a method of dynamic creation of interactive presentations for Mixed Reality environments. The presentations are created automatically for collections of multimedia objects arbitrarily arranged in virtual presentation spaces stored in a database. Users can navigate between the spaces using Web and 3D multimedia contents. The objects in each space are presented through a presentation template, which determines both the visualization and the interaction aspects of the presentation. The possible user interactions are described using a novel language called MR-ISL. The presentation templates are coded in X-VRML, a high-level modeling language. The method can be used in various application domains. Examples discussed in the paper relate to presentation of cultural heritage and educational resources.

Este é um livro diferente. Não apenas pelo seu tema, mas por ser escrito em três camadas diferentes. Ao passo que o assunto da Realidade Virtual (abreviada como RV algumas vezes) evoluiu e novos aparelhos e ferramentas foram surgindo, a pesquisa que começou em 2014 ganhou novos tons, propriedades e, sobretudo, colaboração. Assim, registramos aqui uma conversa entre um professor, um doutorando e um jovem acadêmico de jornalismo interessados no tema.

Mit diesem Titel liegt eine veröffentlichte Magisterarbeit vor, deren redaktioneller Beschreibungstext auf dem Buchrücken einen „Blick über den Tellerrand hinaus“ verspricht. Dieses Versprechen soll sich durch drei Leitaspekte einlösen, die den Einfluss von virtuellen Welten auf das menschliche Verhalten fokussieren, zweitens das Suchtpotenzial und die Isolation von der Außenwelt thematisieren und drittens die neuen sozialen Komponenten beleuchten, die durch die ‚Begehung’ virtueller Welten ermöglicht werden.

A presentation pertinent to the development of virtual reality (VR) software for research, clinical, and academic purposes. It includes also links to useful online tutorials, webpages, and assets. This presentation is the fourth part of the VR workshops series I ran at the uCreate Studio of the University of Edinburgh.

— The emergence of new technologies, such as Siri, Alexa, Cortana and Google Now which are powered by natural language processing and speech recognition programs, are driving users away from mobile-first to voice-first interactions. Also, due to the rise of so many platforms including Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Skype, LINE, Viber, Telegram, Slack, Google Home and Amazon Echo, it is evident, that this disruptive technology of ChatBots will soon become omnipresent and we cannot avoid it. So the sooner we standardize the architecture and frameworks used to implement the ChatBot solutions, the better it would be for the benefit of all. This paper describes and proposes, a generic standardized architecture for design and implementation of custom ChatBot solutions.

Online communities have been proactive in producing collaborative creative content such as music, games and other social interactions. Online collaboration has enabled contributors to peer produce and share masses of creative content. Examples range from information sharing such as Wikipedia to open source software and other specific art projects. Software vendors have recently introduced low cost 2D and 3D content authoring tools allowing user communities to generate and share creative content. Emerging networking programming interfaces available inside modern game engines allow contributors to implement multiplayer or multiuser interaction relatively easily. This paper presents a 3D art creation framework to be used over networked infrastructure in a multiuser environment. Contributors will be able to create 3D sculptures at runtime, share with other users in a common networked working environment and critique each other’s work. Experimental work also involved evaluating procedura...

In immersive virtual environments (IVEs), users may observe negative consequences of a risky health behavior in a personally involving way via digital simulations. In the context of an ongoing health promotion campaign, IVEs coupled with pamphlets are proposed as a novel messaging strategy to heighten personal relevance and involvement with the issue of softdrink consumption and obesity, as well as perceptions that the risk is proximal and imminent. The framework of construal level theory guided the design of a 2 (tailoring: other vs. self) × 2 (medium: pamphlet only vs. pamphlet with IVEs) between-subjects experiment to test the efficacy in reducing the consumption of soft drinks over 1 week. Immediately following exposure, tailoring the message to the self (vs. other) seemed to be effective in reducing intentions to consume soft drinks. The effect of tailoring dissipated after 1 week, and measures of actual soft-drink consumption 1 week following experimental treatments demonstrated that coupling IVEs with the pamphlet was more effective. Behavioral intention was a significant predictor of actual behavior, but underlying mechanisms driving intentions and actual behavior were distinct. Results prescribed a messaging strategy that incorporates both tailoring and coupling IVEs with traditional media to increase behavioral changes over time.

Abstract
Online communities as blogs and chat rooms which are text based as so out of line those days when virtually has taken place. Mentioning virtual worlds all would think of dreams and freedom in acting, it is quite so with the huge difference of computer based simulation that allows artificial stimuli, creation and editing of our personal representative avatar. The upgrading of virtually in 3D presentations rather than graphical modest interface has brought it to our attention. Further more because in Albania only few know the benefits and controversies of applying simulation thus even fewer apply it really in business or education. Trying to enlighten the theoretical points of view in relation to this non real reality and understanding its advantages and disadvantages are this paper’s first aims. Questions like: Is it worth minimizing human contact and make a great emotionally incentives presentation? The challenge of what those new concepts mean in Albania’s context and how are they applied if so, is foundamental for this paper. What do we need to embrace this brand new technology and what deviances rely towards us that limit our opportunities of approaching. Are we ready to have a slice of our life in a virtual reality and cope with it? Could our educational framework use virtual classrooms? Would we eventually be able to interact in the world we created? Those and others will be discussed in the paper to be presented.

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