2,425 research outputs found

    Blending the Material and Digital World for Hybrid Interfaces

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    The development of digital technologies in the 21st century is progressing continuously and new device classes such as tablets, smartphones or smartwatches are finding their way into our everyday lives. However, this development also poses problems, as these prevailing touch and gestural interfaces often lack tangibility, take little account of haptic qualities and therefore require full attention from their users. Compared to traditional tools and analog interfaces, the human skills to experience and manipulate material in its natural environment and context remain unexploited. To combine the best of both, a key question is how it is possible to blend the material world and digital world to design and realize novel hybrid interfaces in a meaningful way. Research on Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) investigates the coupling between physical objects and virtual data. In contrast, hybrid interfaces, which specifically aim to digitally enrich analog artifacts of everyday work, have not yet been sufficiently researched and systematically discussed. Therefore, this doctoral thesis rethinks how user interfaces can provide useful digital functionality while maintaining their physical properties and familiar patterns of use in the real world. However, the development of such hybrid interfaces raises overarching research questions about the design: Which kind of physical interfaces are worth exploring? What type of digital enhancement will improve existing interfaces? How can hybrid interfaces retain their physical properties while enabling new digital functions? What are suitable methods to explore different design? And how to support technology-enthusiast users in prototyping? For a systematic investigation, the thesis builds on a design-oriented, exploratory and iterative development process using digital fabrication methods and novel materials. As a main contribution, four specific research projects are presented that apply and discuss different visual and interactive augmentation principles along real-world applications. The applications range from digitally-enhanced paper, interactive cords over visual watch strap extensions to novel prototyping tools for smart garments. While almost all of them integrate visual feedback and haptic input, none of them are built on rigid, rectangular pixel screens or use standard input modalities, as they all aim to reveal new design approaches. The dissertation shows how valuable it can be to rethink familiar, analog applications while thoughtfully extending them digitally. Finally, this thesis’ extensive work of engineering versatile research platforms is accompanied by overarching conceptual work, user evaluations and technical experiments, as well as literature reviews.Die Durchdringung digitaler Technologien im 21. Jahrhundert schreitet stetig voran und neue Geräteklassen wie Tablets, Smartphones oder Smartwatches erobern unseren Alltag. Diese Entwicklung birgt aber auch Probleme, denn die vorherrschenden berührungsempfindlichen Oberflächen berücksichtigen kaum haptische Qualitäten und erfordern daher die volle Aufmerksamkeit ihrer Nutzer:innen. Im Vergleich zu traditionellen Werkzeugen und analogen Schnittstellen bleiben die menschlichen Fähigkeiten ungenutzt, die Umwelt mit allen Sinnen zu begreifen und wahrzunehmen. Um das Beste aus beiden Welten zu vereinen, stellt sich daher die Frage, wie neuartige hybride Schnittstellen sinnvoll gestaltet und realisiert werden können, um die materielle und die digitale Welt zu verschmelzen. In der Forschung zu Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) wird die Verbindung zwischen physischen Objekten und virtuellen Daten untersucht. Noch nicht ausreichend erforscht wurden hingegen hybride Schnittstellen, die speziell darauf abzielen, physische Gegenstände des Alltags digital zu erweitern und anhand geeigneter Designparameter und Entwurfsräume systematisch zu untersuchen. In dieser Dissertation wird daher untersucht, wie Materialität und Digitalität nahtlos ineinander übergehen können. Es soll erforscht werden, wie künftige Benutzungsschnittstellen nützliche digitale Funktionen bereitstellen können, ohne ihre physischen Eigenschaften und vertrauten Nutzungsmuster in der realen Welt zu verlieren. Die Entwicklung solcher hybriden Ansätze wirft jedoch übergreifende Forschungsfragen zum Design auf: Welche Arten von physischen Schnittstellen sind es wert, betrachtet zu werden? Welche Art von digitaler Erweiterung verbessert das Bestehende? Wie können hybride Konzepte ihre physischen Eigenschaften beibehalten und gleichzeitig neue digitale Funktionen ermöglichen? Was sind geeignete Methoden, um verschiedene Designs zu erforschen? Wie kann man Technologiebegeisterte bei der Erstellung von Prototypen unterstützen? Für eine systematische Untersuchung stützt sich die Arbeit auf einen designorientierten, explorativen und iterativen Entwicklungsprozess unter Verwendung digitaler Fabrikationsmethoden und neuartiger Materialien. Im Hauptteil werden vier Forschungsprojekte vorgestellt, die verschiedene visuelle und interaktive Prinzipien entlang realer Anwendungen diskutieren. Die Szenarien reichen von digital angereichertem Papier, interaktiven Kordeln über visuelle Erweiterungen von Uhrarmbändern bis hin zu neuartigen Prototyping-Tools für intelligente Kleidungsstücke. Um neue Designansätze aufzuzeigen, integrieren nahezu alle visuelles Feedback und haptische Eingaben, um Alternativen zu Standard-Eingabemodalitäten auf starren Pixelbildschirmen zu schaffen. Die Dissertation hat gezeigt, wie wertvoll es sein kann, bekannte, analoge Anwendungen zu überdenken und sie dabei gleichzeitig mit Bedacht digital zu erweitern. Dabei umfasst die vorliegende Arbeit sowohl realisierte technische Forschungsplattformen als auch übergreifende konzeptionelle Arbeiten, Nutzerstudien und technische Experimente sowie die Analyse existierender Forschungsarbeiten

    Modifying sensory perceptions : Augmented reality in the marketing of meat substitutes

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    Kuluttajien päivittäiset ruokaan liittyvät kulutusvalinnat vaikuttavat merkittävästi ympäristöön ja ilmastonmuutokseen. Lihankulutus ja sen vaikutukset ympäristölle sekä siihen liittyvät eettiset kysymykset ovat nousseet universaaliksi keskustelunaiheeksi. Keskeiseksi teemaksi on muodostunut pohdinta siitä, miten kuluttajat saataisiin valitsemaan lihan sijaan lihaa korvaavia tuotteita. Tässä tutkielmassa perehdytään lisätyn todellisuuden potentiaalisiin mahdollisuuksiin lihankorvikkeiden markkinoinnissa. Tutkielma pyrkii vastaamaan pohdintaan siitä, voitaisiinko lisättyä todellisuutta hyödyntää lihankorvikkeiden markkinoinnissa lisäämällä kasvipohjaisten tuotteiden houkuttelevuutta. Tähän pohdintaan vastataan kahden tavoitteen avulla, joista ensimmäinen on tarkastella kokemuksellisen-, aisti- sekä lihankorvikkeiden markkinoinnin välistä yhteyttä ja sitä, miten lisätty todellisuus sopii mukaan. Toinen tavoite on tutkia, miten lisätty todellisuus vaikuttaa kuluttajien arvioihin lihankorvikkeista ja mikäli lisätty todellisuus voisi olla toimiva työkalu osana lihaa korvaavien tuotteiden markkinointia. Tutkielmassa hyödynnettävä määrällinen aineisto kerättiin osana toimeksiantajan VTT:n Augmented Eating Experiences -tutkimusta. Kokeellisessa tutkimuksessa toteutettiin neljä eri tutkimusasetelmaa, joista kahdessa hyödynnettiin tuoksuaugmentaatiota, yhdessä visuaalista augmentaatiota ja yhdessä näiden kahden yhdistelmää. Tutkimuksessa osallistujat arvioivat sattumanvaraisessa järjestyksessä kolme kaupallista tuotetta: yhden lihatuotteen sekä kaksi samanlaista kasvistuotetta, joista toisen aikana aistikokemusta muokattiin lisätyn todellisuuden avulla. Tuoksuaugmentaatioissa hyödynnettiin tuoksuliuosta sekä maistettavan oikean lihapullan tuoksua. Tuoksuaugmentaatioista tässä tutkielmassa käsitellään liha-pullan tuoksulla toteutetun koeasetelman tuloksia. Visuaalinen augmentaatio toteutettiin AR-laseilla. Tulososiossa tutkimuksen tuloksia käsitellään erityisesti tutkimusosallistujien suorittamien aistinvaraisten arvioiden näkökulmasta. Aistinvaraiset arviot tuotteista tehtiin sekä ennen tuotteen maistamista, että maistamisen jälkeen. Aistinvaraisten arvioiden tuloksia analysoidaan ja niihin syvennytään koeasetelman sisällä tarkastellen eroja sekä tuotteiden että ennen ja jälkeen maistamisen tehtyjen arvioiden välillä. Lisäksi eri augmentointien vaikutuksia vertaillaan ja niistä keskustellaan. Tulososiossa pohditaan myös kuluttajien kiinnostusta ostaa tuotteita, kuluttajien kokemia arvoja sekä lihankorvikkeiden tuttuuden merkitystä kiinnostukselle ostaa tuotteita. Johtopäätöksissä lisätyllä todellisuudella todetaan olevan potentiaalia erityisesti tuotteisiin liittyvien odotusten sekä ostokiinnostuksen lisäämisessä. Haasteeksi lisätyn todellisuuden hyödyntämisessä lihankorvikkeiden markkinoinnissa nousee kuitenkin lisätyllä todellisuudella muokattujen kokemusten ja todellisuuden epäyhdenmukaisuus sekä lisätyn todellisuuden hyödyntämisen toteuttaminen käytännössä

    Frontiers of Humanity and Beyond: Towards new critical understandings of borders. Working Papers

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    UIDB/04666/2020 UIDP/04666/2020publishersversionpublishe

    Modeling and Simulation in Engineering

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    The Special Issue Modeling and Simulation in Engineering, belonging to the section Engineering Mathematics of the Journal Mathematics, publishes original research papers dealing with advanced simulation and modeling techniques. The present book, “Modeling and Simulation in Engineering I, 2022”, contains 14 papers accepted after peer review by recognized specialists in the field. The papers address different topics occurring in engineering, such as ferrofluid transport in magnetic fields, non-fractal signal analysis, fractional derivatives, applications of swarm algorithms and evolutionary algorithms (genetic algorithms), inverse methods for inverse problems, numerical analysis of heat and mass transfer, numerical solutions for fractional differential equations, Kriging modelling, theory of the modelling methodology, and artificial neural networks for fault diagnosis in electric circuits. It is hoped that the papers selected for this issue will attract a significant audience in the scientific community and will further stimulate research involving modelling and simulation in mathematical physics and in engineering

    Sex for sale : a comparative analysis of legal models and the socio-economic determinants informing law reform in South Africa

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    The overarching purpose of this research is to establish the need for legislative and policy reform in respect of the exchange of sexual acts for reward and peripheral crimes in South Africa. It has sought to do so through interrogating the context and the socio-economic determinants at work in South Africa, Canada, Sweden and India; and how each country’s unique context intersects with the chosen policy and legal framework. As a starting point the current criminalised legal framework is positioned as a constitutionally permissible legislative choice. In light of the fact that legislatures the world around draft legislation which regulates sensitive areas of morality, it would seem that the underlying question is which interpretation or understanding of morality should be used to inform legislative reform. This thesis is based on the assumption that the chosen legal framework is a policy choice and argues that this policy should be informed by available evidence and rational analysis, as opposed to political ideology. Evidenced-based research has been used to consider the complexity of the primary socio-economic drivers of poverty, inequality, unemployment and intersecting vulnerabilities such as early exposure to sexual violence as causal to entry into the sale of sexual services. Three global themes underpinning the need for law reform have been considered comparatively, including documenting the unfolding developments around law reform. This research has considered South Africa’s obligations in terms of binding international instruments to bring about normative change in respect of gender-based violence; recognise economic and social rights; curtail aspects associated with the exploitation of prostitution; guard against sex tourism; suppress all forms of trafficking in women, and address patriarchy and traditional stereotypes of women as sex objects. It is axiomatic that the solution to a problem sustained by socio-economic drivers is to be found in the disruption of those very same drivers. The outcome of this research is a recommendation in favour of substantive equality in the form of a country-specific legal framework of partial criminalisation coupled with the realisation of socio-economic rights.Public, Constitutional, and International LawLL. D

    The influence of virtual reality as an educational tool on teachers' pedagogy

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    Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2023.This study explores how does the use of Virtual Reality (VR) simulation as a technology tool influence teachers’ pedagogy. VR is a relatively new technology in the primary school classroom environment. This study explored how the use of this immersive, multimodal technology influenced the teachers’ pedagogy, their teaching and learning practices. The conceptual framework depicts the relationship between the teachers’ planning, resource selection, learning theories and the influence of the VR resource. Eight intermediate phase teachers from four private schools within a range of socio-economic groups in South Africa participated in this qualitative instrumental case study with a constructivist-interpretivist research design. Schools were purposefully selected, and participants taught at those schools and volunteered to be part of the study. The participants communicated both opportunities and challenges during the lessons. The teachers’ experiences and observations influenced their teaching pedagogy. Thematically analysed the data, using an inductive approach. More research is also needed to understand the deeper underlying reasons for the excitement of using VR, possibly by comparing the use of VR to that of high-resolution videos and/or images. This study demonstrates that technology has a positive influence as an educational tool on teachers' pedagogy; however, if the use of VR increases within the schooling sector, further investigations into educators’ professional development might assist teachers to integrate technology into their teaching practices.2020 Post Grad Doctoral BursaryScience, Mathematics and Technology EducationPhDUnrestricte

    Dual Loop Rider Control of a Dynamic Motorcycle Riding Simulator

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    Compared to the automotive industry, the use of simulators in the motorcycle domain is negligible as for their lack of usability and accessibility. According to the state-of-the-art, it is e.g. not possible for motorcyclists to intuitively control a high-fidelity dynamic motorcycle riding simulator when getting in contact with it for the first time. There are four main reasons for the insufficient simulation quality of dynamic motorcycle riding simulators: ▪ The instability of single-track vehicles at low speed, ▪ The steering force-feedback with highly velocity-dependent behavior, ▪ Motion-simulation (high dynamics, roll angle, direct contact to the environment), ▪ The specific influence of the rider to vehicle dynamics (incl. rider motion). The last bullet point is peculiar for motorcycles and dynamic motorcycle riding simulators in comparison with other vehicle simulators, as motorcycles are significantly affected in their dynamics by the rider’s body motion. However, up until today, almost no special emphasis has been put on the consideration of rider motion on dynamic motorcycle riding simulators. In this thesis, a motorcycle riding simulator is designed, constructed and put into operation. The focus here is attaching a real rider to a virtual motorcycle. Based on a commercially available multi-body-simulation model, a simulator architecture is designed, that allows to control the virtual motorcycle not only by steering, but by rider leaning as well. This is realized by determining the so-called rider induced roll torque, that allows a holistic measurement of the apparent coupling forces between rider and simulator mockup. Performance measures and study concepts are developed that allow to rate the system. In expert and participant studies, the influence of the system on the riding behavior of the simulator is investigated. It is shown that the rider motion determination allows realistic control inputs and has a positive effect on the stabilization at various velocities. The feedback of the rider induced roll torque to the virtual dynamics model allows study participants to control the virtual motorcycle more intuitively. The vehicle states during cornering are affected as expected from real riding. First results indicate that it becomes easier for naïve study participants to access the simulator in first-contact scenarios. The achieved improvements regarding the rideability of the simulator however do not suffice to overcome the abovementioned challenges to a degree that allows for a completely intuitive interaction with the simulator throughout the whole dynamic range
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