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Mixed Reality for Historic Preservation
Digital technologies are becoming widely available to experts in the field of historic preservation. These tools equip experts with the capability to obtain high resolution and accurate information about cultural heritage, which can be accurately reproduced and rematerialized without coming into contact with the physical object itself. This preservation approach is described as non-contact, meaning that it is not invasive to the material integrity of an artifact. Since the turn of the century, stakeholders in the field have increasingly focused their attention on digital technologies for advancing the field. The motivation for experts to preserve cultural heritage with digital technologies starts with the idea of merging the two, and in recent years, innovations in high-resolution digital imaging, recording, processing, modeling and reproduction capabilities have fostered the integration of a virtual environment. Mixed Reality (MR), which the merging of digital and physical worlds, not only allows experts to expand possibilities for preservation interventions once all physical range of actions have been exhausted, but it also makes it possible for experts to intervene digitally before carrying out a preservation treatment. MR can be used as a tool to create hybrid environments for experts and researchers to better manage and understand cultural heritage, which in turn allows them to provide the public with a deeper understanding about cultural heritage. The traditionally object-centric nature of the historic preservation field favors MR over Virtual Reality, since the former engages with the physical site or artifact themselves. By allowing field experts and visitors to visualize scenes in situ from viewpoints that are impossible due to size, content or accessibility issues, the installation of MRâs formless aesthetics engages viewers of cultural heritage through new and innovative ways. The application of MR offers countless strategies for approaching conservation and interpretation projects in historic preservation. But, despite its capacity to enhance the practice of historic preservation, MR poses new technological and methodological questions for the field. As a burgeoning tool and constantly changing field, there have been very few studies conducted on the application of MR to the field of historic preservation. This thesis argues that, on the one hand, MR provides innovative strategies for approaching preservation problems; but on the other hand, the absence of standards, guidelines, and techniques make it difficult to evaluate and propose new projects in the field. As a response to this deficiency, I propose a framework to evaluate and use MR for the preservation of cultural heritage. This framework is first tested to evaluate three case studies, and next, to propose a unique MR strategy for the complex preservation case of the San Baudelio de Berlanga Hermitage in the province of Soria, Spain. This thesis aims to contribute a MR framework and methodology that provides a consistent conceptual approach to MR projects in the field
Unveiling Stakeholder Perspectives on Privacy in the Metaverse: Case Study of a German Car Company
Companies have turned their attention to becoming part of the metaverse, a persistent, multi-user, three-dimensional environment characterized by the fusion of virtual and physical elements. While the metaverse offers new ways to create value, related software and hardware components require massive amounts of user data, which can raise privacy concerns. In addition, privacy regulation is in its infancy, creating uncertainty about how to operate in a compliant manner. Building on the multi-stakeholder privacy framework, we explored the privacy stakeholdersâ (user, management, policymakers) perspectives on the metaverse, analyzed their relationships, and identified measures to align their interests within a single case study of a German car company. The contribution is twofold. First, we demonstrate the importance of involving privacy stakeholders in the design of products and services in new online environments. Second, we propose privacy measures to reconcile the stakeholdersâ interests in the metaverse, providing implications for managers and policymakers
Psyche and Planet: Multiplicity of Systems Mirroring Modes of Being and Bonding via Eco Arts Therapeutic Practices
Through discerning the art of life, this thesis is a review of literature which looks at how psyche and planet processing systems mirror one another and merge through eco arts therapeutic practices. It is an inquiry into philosophic ideas behind the nature of sensibility, perceptibility, and experience. As art mirrors the self and nature mirrors the self, a twofold entry-point opens, where one travels into accordance with all planes of consciousness. The literature investigates relationships amongst the arts, science, biology, and interspecies and ecological sentience to address collective conditions of deception, displacement, etc. It examines how directing attention to self and planet through eco arts therapeutic practices facilitates restorative powers, conscious harmonious flow, reciprocal dynamic functioning, communion, and embodiment of life-giving resources, etc. Theoretical contributions are delved into involving ecopsychology, transpersonal psychology, quantum physics, systems theory, hermeneutics, phenomenology, relational and intersubjectivity theories, self-reflexive consciousness, ecosomatics, and the idea of a collective disorder termed nature deficit disorder. Methodological contributions involve studies treating educationally, behaviorally, contextually, playfully and artistically, communally, relationally amongst interspecies, with biophilia, etc. Ultimately, this literature review generates space for enhancing perceptual being and contextual belonging through creativity
Roombots -- Mechanical Design of Self-Reconfiguring Modular Robots for Adaptive Furniture
We aim at merging technologies from information technology, roomware, and robotics in order to design adaptive and intelligent furniture. This paper presents design principles for our modular robots, called Roombots, as future building blocks for furniture that moves and self-reconfigures. The reconfiguration is done using dynamic connection and disconnection of modules and rotations of the degrees of freedom. We are furthermore interested in applying Roombots towards adaptive behaviour, such as online learning of locomotion patterns. To create coordinated and efficient gait patterns, we use a Central Pattern Generator (CPG) approach, which can easily be optimized by any gradient-free optimization algorithm. To provide a hardware framework we present the mechanical design of the Roombots modules and an active connection mechanism based on physical latches. Further we discuss the application of our Roombots modules as pieces of a homogenic or heterogenic mix of building blocks for static structures
The World of Dungeons and Dragons as a Therapeutic Approach to Complex Trauma
This qualitative dissertation delves into the therapeutic potential of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) as an intervention for individuals coping with trauma and related mental health challenges. Drawing from a diverse sample of participants with varying gender identities, age groups, and D&D experience levels, this study employs a grounded theory approach to unravel the intricate interplay between D&D engagement and mental health outcomes. The study identifies several key implications, including the importance of creating inclusive therapeutic spaces, the lifespan relevance of D&D interventions, the potential for tailored interventions addressing relationship dynamics, and the accessibility of D&D as a therapeutic tool. Delimitations highlight the contextual specificity, limited generalizability, sample characteristics, subjective perceptions, therapeutic emphasis, temporal constraints, and cultural considerations inherent to this research
Can apparent bystanders distinctively shape an outcome? Global south countries and global catastrophic risk-focused governance of artificial intelligence
Increasingly, there is well-grounded concern that through perpetual
scaling-up of computation power and data, current deep learning techniques will
create highly capable artificial intelligence that could pursue goals in a
manner that is not aligned with human values. In turn, such AI could have the
potential of leading to a scenario in which there is serious global-scale
damage to human wellbeing. Against this backdrop, a number of researchers and
public policy professionals have been developing ideas about how to govern AI
in a manner that reduces the chances that it could lead to a global
catastrophe. The jurisdictional focus of a vast majority of their assessments
so far has been the United States, China, and Europe. That preference seems to
reveal an assumption underlying most of the work in this field: That global
south countries can only have a marginal role in attempts to govern AI
development from a global catastrophic risk -focused perspective. Our paper
sets out to undermine this assumption. We argue that global south countries
like India and Singapore (and specific coalitions) could in fact be fairly
consequential in the global catastrophic risk-focused governance of AI. We
support our position using 4 key claims. 3 are constructed out of the current
ways in which advanced foundational AI models are built and used while one is
constructed on the strategic roles that global south countries and coalitions
have historically played in the design and use of multilateral rules and
institutions. As each claim is elaborated, we also suggest some ways through
which global south countries can play a positive role in designing,
strengthening and operationalizing global catastrophic risk-focused AI
governance
"On the Cusp": Liminality and Adolescence in Arthur Sladeâs Dust, Bill Richardsonâs After Hamelin, and Kit Pearsonâs Awake and Dreaming
North American social, cultural, and developmental narratives frequently suggest that the successful conclusion of adolescence lies primarily in moving through and past it. Adolescence is thus represented as both transitional and transitory, a briefly liminal state meant to be resolved by a conclusive departure. However, recent Canadian young adult novels such as Arthur Sladeâs Dust (2001), Bill Richardsonâs After Hamelin (2000), and Kit Pearsonâs Awake and Dreaming (1996) challenge these assumptions by depicting adolescent protagonists who find their identity and their greatest strength in their liminality. The successful adolescents in these novels possess what we might call a transliminal consciousness, a state of mind that allows them to move deftly between the ontologically contradictory states of fantasy and reality. They use the creative and generative potential of dream-space to either create a coherent family or preserve a fragmented family
TruPercept: Trust Modelling for Autonomous Vehicle Cooperative Perception from Synthetic Data
Inter-vehicle communication for autonomous vehicles (AVs) stands to provide
significant benefits in terms of perception robustness. We propose a novel
approach for AVs to communicate perceptual observations, tempered by trust
modelling of peers providing reports. Based on the accuracy of reported object
detections as verified locally, communicated messages can be fused to augment
perception performance beyond line of sight and at great distance from the ego
vehicle. Also presented is a new synthetic dataset which can be used to test
cooperative perception. The TruPercept dataset includes unreliable and
malicious behaviour scenarios to experiment with some challenges cooperative
perception introduces. The TruPercept runtime and evaluation framework allows
modular component replacement to facilitate ablation studies as well as the
creation of new trust scenarios we are able to show
Distributed Technology-Sustained Pervasive Applications
Technology-sustained pervasive games, contrary to technology-supported
pervasive games, can be understood as computer games interfacing with the
physical world. Pervasive games are known to make use of 'non-standard input
devices' and with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), pervasive
applications can be expected to move beyond games. This dissertation is
requirements- and development-focused Design Science research for distributed
technology-sustained pervasive applications, incorporating knowledge from the
domains of Distributed Computing, Mixed Reality, Context-Aware Computing,
Geographical Information Systems and IoT. Computer video games have existed for
decades, with a reusable game engine to drive them. If pervasive games can be
understood as computer games interfacing with the physical world, can computer
game engines be used to stage pervasive games? Considering the use of
non-standard input devices in pervasive games and the rise of IoT, how will
this affect the architectures supporting the broader set of pervasive
applications? The use of a game engine can be found in some existing pervasive
game projects, but general research into how the domain of pervasive games
overlaps with that of video games is lacking. When an engine is used, a
discussion of, what type of engine is most suitable and what properties are
being fulfilled by the engine, is often not part of the discourse. This
dissertation uses multiple iterations of the method framework for Design
Science for the design and development of three software system architectures.
In the face of IoT, the problem of extending pervasive games into a fourth
software architecture, accommodating a broader set of pervasive applications,
is explicated. The requirements, for technology-sustained pervasive games, are
verified through the design, development and demonstration of the three
software system architectures. The ...Comment: 64 pages, 13 figure
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