30 research outputs found
Enhancing Player Experience in Asymmetric VR Games
No full textInterest in multiplayer games that allow players to connect and play together using different technologies, such as virtual or augmented reality (VR/AR) has increased. Research has shown that in cross-reality gaming experiences (eg. where there are differences in players' abilities, user interface (UI), and methods of interaction) it is possible to achieve an enhanced player experience (PX) through various interdependencies. However, most of the previous work focuses on co-located scenarios, where the space and proximity of the players are local and utilised. In this study, I present an asymmetric VR game prototype called LabXscape. Through the prototype, I researched how asymmetries of interface, methods of interaction, information access, and narrative impact the PX for players using different technologies (eg. VR, mobile, PC). In this asymmetric VR game prototype, players can use different devices. Their interactions, movements, and information infuence and are shared with each other, creating a cross-reality experience. My observations reveal that there are factors that allow non-VR players to have as engaging an experience as VR players, despite using a less immersive device
Occupational hazards in animal farming and related industries, with special reference to biological ones
No full textOccupational hazards in animal farming and related industries are discussed, with special reference to biological ones. The occupational hazards are treated according to the following points: (1) occupational pathology (by physical, chemical and biological agents; casualties and accidents; diseases of social and psychological origin); (2) biological hazards from the environment; (3) zoonoses (historical references; their socio-economic significance; emerging and re-emerging zoonoses; the working activities mainly involved; the zoonoses of major importance, with special reference to the Mediterranean region; the evaluation of damages and risks; their trasmission of zoonoses from farm workers to animals). Remarks on present situation of occupational biological hazards and related risks in industrialized farming activities and in traditional ones, and on the possible importance of some emerging and re-emerging zoonoses for the health of workers are pointed out. The author concludes by stressing that the prevention of occupational diseases in animal farming and related industries must be implemented jointly by different professional figures and services, mainly veterinary and medical services, through prevention and epidemiological surveillance of human and animal health, risk evaluation, diagnosis of infections and their prompt report
The role of virtual reality in care settings: insights from people with dementia, care staff, and its adoption
No full textGiven the increasing number of people with dementia in recent years, there is an emerging need to develop and implement non-pharmacological interventions to promote, support, and enhance the quality of life (QoL) of this population, particularly among those residing in care homes. Although Virtual Reality (VR) technology has emerged as a promising tool for providing meaningful and enjoyable experiences for people with dementia, its appropriate integration and adoption in dementia care settings are rarely discussed. In this research thesis, a three-phase study was conducted to investigate how VR can be successfully deployed in multifaceted care settings to support dementia care. The first phase evaluated and identified key challenges and opportunities associated with VR in care settings via focus groups and discussion rounds with healthcare professionals and family members, laying the foundational framework for subsequent studies. The second phase investigated the complexities of VR design for dementia care settings, incorporating stakeholders' perspectives, including people with dementia, family members, care staff, and managers. The third phase investigated the comprehensive integration of VR to evaluate its efficacy in care settings and assess associated implications, with sessions led by care staff for practical deployment. Phases two and three are interrelated, so the findings were organised based on key stakeholders' categories. As such, the findings revealed that VR positively impacted people with dementia, enhancing interaction, emotional well-being, and communication with family members. For care staff, VR improved rapport with people with dementia, fostered a positive work environment and increased awareness of the capabilities of people with dementia. The findings highlighted key factors 6 influencing VR adoption, including technology acceptance, engagement and the role of managers and care staff in facilitating successful implementation. The findings from this thesis extend our practical insights into the effective implementation of VR in dementia care settings, providing guidance for creating VR experiences tailored to the needs of people with dementia
Recommended from our members
Rainfall trends in India and their impact on soil erosion and land management
No full textUnder the threat of global warming it is vital to determine the impact that future changes in climate may have on the environment and to what extent any adverse effects can be mitigated. In this research an assessment was carried out on the impact that climate trends may have on soil erosion and contaminant transport in India and examined the potential for top soil management practices to improve or maintain soil quality. Historical rainfall data from 50-135 years and extreme temperature data for 103 years were analysed and long term trends were assessed for various aspects of Indian climates using suitable statistical techniques. Results indicated that intra-region variability for extreme monsoon seasonal rainfall is large and mostly exhibited a negative tendency leading to increasing frequency and magnitude of monsoon rainfall deficit and decreasing frequency and magnitude of monsoon rainfall excess everywhere in India except in the peninsular Indian region. This is further exacerbated by increased and more variable extreme temperatures. Intra-region rainfall variability in India is linked to the pacific Southern Oscillation, where the associations of monsoon drought and El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the regions near to coast are greatest. 50-years high resolution daily gridded rainfall data was analysed to set up certain indices for the extreme daily rainfalls to assess their changes for the six gridded regions of Kerala, the extreme south western state of India where monsoon rainfall initiates every year. This was also done for two study sites, namely Bhoj wetland area of west central India and Sukinda chromite mining site of central north east India. Significant decrease was found in monsoon and spring rainfall extremes and increase in winter and autumn rainfall extremes in Kerala that would affect the tendency of change in seasonal total rainfall as well. Decrease in monsoon rainfall in Kerala also indicate that monsoon rainfall is decreasing in India as a whole, increased occurrence of floods is expected in winter and autumn seasons, together with water scarcity are expected to be felt both in spring and monsoon seasons with a delaying monsoon onset in Kerala. Soil erosion studies were conducted for two northern most gridded regions of Kerala as an extended work of the related MPhil study, and contaminant transport with eroded sediments was looked at for the Bhoj and Sukinda sites using RUSLE2 model software and other suitable numerical methods. It was found that soil erosion depended on a complex interaction of climate, soil properties, topography, and cover management. An assessment on extreme climate patterns for Bhoj and Sukinda showed an increasing tendency of seasonal and annual rainfall extremes and temperatures leading to an increasing pattern of soil erosion at both the sites. However, a certain consensus was difficult to reach because of the complex interaction of climate and soil carbon that is a very important deciding factor for soil erosion potential. Vegetative cover and plant residue was found providing essential soil nutrients, enhancing soil properties and retarding rainfall impact on bare top soil leading to reduction of soil erosion. Therefore, a soil erosion and contaminant transport prevention plan should take care of the top soil such that it is not kept bare especially when rainfall intensity is high in a given year. This work as a whole has highlighted the importance of regional climatological analysis with the large scale spatial averages especially at local decision making level, which is very useful for the broad scenarios such as climatological and ecological risk management
Emotional Spaces in Virtual Reality: Applications for Healthcare & Wellbeing
No full textDespite the abundance of research that supports the efficacy of Virtual Reality (VR) in applications for healthcare and wellbeing, the process of designing VR as an emotional space that fosters the appropriate therapeutic milieu is rarely discussed. Furthermore, current approaches for VR design tend to be lone one-off controlled experiments, rather than extensions to advance knowledge of best practices that considers the real-world deployment contexts. In this research thesis, a series of studies were carried out to investigate the effects of emotional experiences in VR within healthcare contexts, and how to design emotional spaces in VR, in a way that meets the needs of key stakeholders such as clinicians, patients and the deployment setting. First, the psychological and physiological effects of VR was explored. This study investigated the emotional effects of engaging in 360-degree video-based experiences in VR and the use of eye-tracking in VR to predict emotional elicitation. The study also explored the potential of eye-tracking in VR as a tool for emotional assessment in healthcare and wellbeing. The second study investigated the use of VR as an emotional space in a healthcare setting by presenting VR as a non-pharmacological intervention for people living with moderate to severe dementia residing in a locked psychiatric hospital. The study concluded that by "bringing the outside in" VR was cognitively stimulating, sustained attention, promoted wellbeing among the patients, reduced behaviour that challenges, and offered a unique medium for caregivers and patients to build therapeutic rapport. Finally, the last study analysed the co-design, iterative prototyping and evaluation of four user-centred psychological, cognitive and behavioural VR interventions. This study aimed to understand the design elements of effective, meaningful and enriched VR interventions. The findings are drawn in this thesis, and the implications of these findings extend the theoretical and practical knowledge in designing emotional spaces within VR in a way that fosters the appropriate therapeutic medium for healthcare and wellbeing contexts
Enhancing Creative Industries Education: Integrating Industry Feedback Practice in an Undergraduate Curriculum
No full textIt is recognised that there is a shortage of skilled workers in Creative Industries. This is particularly prevalent in the visual effects, animation, and games industries, due to significant growth in the industry, heightened pressure to produce more content in less time, higher quality expectations relevant to technology advancements, and the emergence of novel technologies such as virtual production. Hence, the need to design and deliver Higher Education (HE) courses that meet the needs of the industry is imperative. In addition to technical and design thinking skills, pedagogical approaches in HE do not tend to focus on training students’ interpersonal skills in a way that matches industry practices. The ability to organise work, develop a “critical eye” to self-evaluate, deliver and receive feedback effectively, and action adjustments based on feedback are critical skills which could be underpinned more effectively.
This paper explores the adoption of “Dailies” within a digital design undergraduate curriculum; an industry standard practice used to provide regular and formative feedback in a group setting. Specifically, the paper reflects on its integration across all stages of an undergraduate curriculum, with supporting data drawn from student mid-term and end-of-module evaluations. Findings reveal how the integration of the dailies practice helps students better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their work through self-evaluation, obtain better outcomes, build resilience, and how to effectively engage in meaningful feedback dialogue with their peers and others. Furthermore, it highlights how such practice can positively impact student experience whilst also having the potential to narrow the skills gap between graduates and industry expectations
Overcoming the barriers in client-based learning: a case study
No full textClient-based learning in Higher Education presents the opportunity for students to work with a real client on a real project. Students studying Creative Industries subjects such as digital design benefit immensely from client-based learning; as it provides them with meaningful projects, real-world problems, interaction and feedback from clients who may not be design-literate. As a result, students learn how to digest feedback and translate it into design decisions, whilst strengthening their skills in time management, motivation, and resilience. However, when it comes to the practicality of integrating industrial clients into the curriculum, several challenges are faced. First, it's not always feasible to find clients that are interested and willing to spend time engaging with undergraduate students. Second, client-based projects are often sparse and therefore assigned to the high-achieving students; as such, it can be challenging to cater and facilitate client-based projects for an entire cohort of students, including students who vary in their abilities and academic performance. Finally, it can be challenging to map the client's own deadlines against academic terms and assessment deadlines.
This paper presents a case study of a client-based undergraduate digital design project where the client is a PhD student at the same university. Specifically, we discuss the appeal of utilising research-based projects as real-world problems for undergraduate students to tackle as an alternative for when it is not feasible to source and engage with industry-based clients. We discuss the process we adopted to facilitate this project as well as the potential benefits, drawbacks and challenges of such an approach
A standardised and cost-effective VR approach for powered wheelchair training
No full textMastering wheelchair driving skills is essential for the safety of wheelchair users (WUs), yet the acquisition of these skills can be challenging, and training resources can be costly or not available. Technologies such as virtual reality (VR) have grown in popularity as they can provide a motivating training environment without the risks found in real-life training. However, these approaches often deploy navigation controllers which are different from the ones WUs utilise, and do not use a standardised approach in assessing the acquisition of skills. We propose a VR training system based on the wheelchair skills training program (WSTP) and utilizing a sensor device that can be retrofitted to any joystick and communicates wirelessly with a Head-Mounted Display. In this paper, we present a first-validation study with fourteen able-bodied participants, split between a VR test group and a non-VR control group. To determine the acquisition of skills, participants complete tasks in real-life before and after the VR training, where completion time and length of joystick movements are measured. We also assess our system using heart rate measurements, the WSTP questionnaire, the simulator sickness questionnaire and the igroup presence questionnaire. We found that the VR training facilitates the acquisition of skills for more challenging tasks; thus, our system has the potential of being used for training skills of powered wheelchair users, with the benefit of conducting the training in safely and in a low-cost setup
Train vs. Play: Evaluating the Effects of Gamified and Non-Gamified Wheelchair Skills Training Using Virtual Reality
No full textThis study compares the influence of a gamified and a non-gamified virtual reality (VR) environment on wheelchair skills training. In specific, the study explores the integration of gamification elements and their influence on wheelchair driving performance in VR-based training. Twenty-two non-disabled participants volunteered for the study, of whom eleven undertook the gamified VR training, and eleven engaged in the non-gamified VR training. To measure the efficacy of the VR-based wheelchair skills training, we captured the heart rate (HR), number of joystick movements, completion time, and number of collisions. In addition, an adapted version of the Wheelchair Skills Training Program Questionnaire (WSTP-Q), the Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ), and the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) questionnaires were administered after the VR training. The results showed no differences in wheelchair driving performance, the level of involvement, or the ratings of presence between the two environments. In contrast, the perceived cybersickness was statistically higher for the group of participants who trained in the non-gamified VR environment. Remarkably, heightened cybersickness symptoms aligned with increased HR, suggesting physiological connections. As such, while direct gamification effects on the efficacy of VR-based wheelchair skills training were not statistically significant, its potential to amplify user engagement and reduce cybersickness is evident
Self-healing capacity of hardened cement suspensions with high levels of cement substitution
No full textAqueous cement suspensions without aggregates have been commonly applied as a remedial technique in structural and geotechnical applications, often comprising part of the permanent infrastructure. These suspensions derive their mechanical characteristics and properties through the same hydration processes and binding chemistry as concrete; thus they are susceptible to the same deleterious environmental factors and inherent properties. This can endanger the long-term functionality of the installation. Therefore there is a strong incentive of compositional alteration of the basic binder by incorporating supplementary cementitious materials that have been acknowledged to improve the physical properties and enhance the durability characteristics of the hardened matrix. However the latter does not offer a robust long term solution. Therefore a compositional enhancement through biomimetic approach of damage response for the design of high performance cement suspensions is put forward. This study involves two stages, i.e. determination of the autogenous crack sealing behaviour of various optimised blended compositions and the subsequent enhancement of the intrinsic autogenous healing processes through the inclusion of microencapsulated healing agents. Herein the results of this preliminary investigation on the effect of compositional variation on the intrinsic properties of physical response to cracking are presented. Ternary and quaternary blends of minerals -including Portland cement, slag, MgO and silica fume- are being developed and investigated. Upon cracking and water ingress, the unreacted particles are activated and yield hydration products that crystallize in the crack, sealing it off and recovering mechanical characteristics. The self-healing capacity of the samples is quantified through microscope observation, gas permeability test and three-point flexural bending. The findings on the crack healing efficiency and mechanical recovery of initially cracked specimens confirm the existence of self-healing mechanisms in supplementary cementitious materials
