23 research outputs found
The influence of body movement on presence in virtual environments
No full textWe describe an experiment to assess the influence of body movements on presence in a virtual environment. In the experiment 20 participants were to walk through a virtual field of trees and count the trees with diseased leaves. A 2 x 2 between-subjects design was used to assess the influence of two factors on presence: tree height variation and task complexity. The field with greater variation in tree height required participants to bend down and look up more than in the lower variation tree height field. In the higher complexity task participants were told to remember the distribution of diseased trees in the field as well as to count them. The results showed a significant positive association between reported presence and the amount of body movement - in particular, head yaw - and the extent to which participants bent down and stood up. There was also a strong interaction effect between task complexity and gender: Women in the more-complex task reported a much lower sense of presence than in the simpler task. For applications in which presence is an important requirement, the research in this paper suggests that presence will be increased when interaction techniques are employed that permit the user to engage in whole-body movement
INFLUENCE HAEMODYNAMIC STATE DURING ORTHOTOPIC LIVER TRANSPLANTATION WITH BETA-BLOCKERS THERAPY IN PIGGYBACK SURGICAL TECNIQUE
No full text
Detection of cell swelling by optical tunnel effect
No full textThe optical tunnel effect allows the measurement of distances between two media separated by an optically less dense medium. Variations of distance by fractions of a nanometer can be detected. A general theory of the effect has been developed in order to design different experimental setups for biophysical applications. An optimum agreement has been achieved between theoretical and experimental data. A first attempt to detect the swelling of cells in suitable biological samples has been performed
Variazioni della magnesemia ionizzata durante trapianto di fegato
No full textVariazioni della magnesemia ionizzata durante trapianto di fegat
Difficult “airway-management” in maxillo-facial surgery
No full textDifficult “airway-management” in maxillo-facial surger
Quantification of the starling population, estimation and mapping of the damage to olive crops in the apulia region
No full textThe presence of wildlife in areas with a high concentration of farming activities can create a conflict between conservation objectives and productive purposes. Near Brindisi (Apulia, S-E Italy), a substantial amount of cash compensation claims for damages reported by local farmers and attributed to starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) has been registered. The aim of this study was to quantify the starling population wintering in the Apulia region, in order to assess the potential damage to crop production caused by this species. Our analysis was conducted over three years and included three main activities: a study of starling abundance and movements, the identification of areas and crops affected by damages, and a determination of the damage to the agricultural system in terms of quantity and concentration (heatmap). The study showed a loss of expected production that was coherent with the eating capacity of starlings wintering in the region. This means a loss, in terms of gross profitable production, of around 550,000 euros concentrated in a few narrow areas close to the roosts. Results on species behavior, damage quantification, and mapping are useful elements aimed to activate trade-off measures to preserve production and protection objectives, and to allow policymakers to address enforcement interventions and to establish parameters for financial compensation
Application of a photothermal displacement technique for the characterization of diamond-like carbon films
No full textThe paper presents preliminary results of a study about the possibility to determine the thermoelastic properties of diamond-like carbon films by means of a photothermal deflection technique. The technique allows to perform measurements as a function of temperature in the range 10-300 K The results are in qualitative agreement with theoretical predicitons
The virtual ante-room: assessing presence through expectation and surprise
No full textWe describe an experiment where subjects entered a
virtual replica of the laboratory in which the
experiment was taking place. They then moved
through a door to a new virtual location and carried
out the main experimental task, and then returned to
the virtual lab. In the real lab they had learned to
search for box-shaped objects and point at a telephone
whenever it rang. In the virtual lab, additional
colouredboxes were introduced, and although the
virtual phone position was not moved, the real phone
of which it was a replica was moved. On exit from the
virtual to the real laboratory, subjects were asked
about their degree of surprise that the additional
coloured boxes were not there and that the phone had
been moved. This was in the context of an experiment
to assess the influence of body movement on presence.
This paper reportson the relationship between this
surprise factor and the presence reported for the main
part of the experiment. It was found that the surprise
factor and reported presence were significantly
positively correlated, suggesting a new approach
towards a behavioural measure of presence
