Applications of Virtual Reality

Information Technology is growing rapidly. With the birth of high-resolution graphics, high-speed computing and user interaction devices Virtual Reality has emerged as a major new technology in the mid 90es, last century. Virtual Reality technology is currently used in a broad range of applications. The best known are games, movies, simulations, therapy. From a manufacturing standpoint, there are some attractive applications including training, education, collaborative work and learning. This book provides an up-to-date discussion of the current research in Virtual Reality and its applications. It describes the current Virtual Reality state-of-the-art and points out many areas where there is still work to be done. We have chosen certain areas to cover in this book, which we believe will have potential significant impact on Virtual Reality and its applications. This book provides a definitive resource for wide variety of people including academicians, designers, developers, educators, engineers, practitioners, researchers, and graduate students

Care in digital farming - from acting on to living with

Development of digital technology to handle complex situations in agriculture hasfor long time mainly been technology driven, resulting in limited adoption. Thisthesis aims to: 1) Introduce methods and theories from the research field of humancomputerinteraction in the agricultural domain to improve design and developmentprocesses of digital technology. 2) Introduce the concept of care to increaseknowledge about farmers' technology use in their socio-technical system (practice),as well as to introduce a relational perspective in agriculture. The two systemicallydescribed complex decision situations are fertilization with a decision supportsystem, that uses satellite images and automated milking systems. 3) Evaluate twodifferent theoretical lenses to study the concept of care in practice, DistributedCognition and Activity Theory. The studies of farmers' socio-technical systemsshow that farmers develop an enhanced professional vision to interpret data from thetechnology and learn more about the field/crop or the cow. New technology changesthe relationship between the farmer and the field/crop or cow, but the experiencedfarmer supplements what they see through the technology with direct contact with,for example, the cow. The need for a stockperson’s eye is thus at least as great afterthe introduction of robots in milk production. A relational perspective involves anunderstanding of our mutual dependence with the crop or the cow in these examples,as well as nature and its ecosystem services. Introduction of the concept of care anda relational approach, meaning that farming is to live with, not just act on, cansupport the transformation of agriculture that we know is necessary. In thistransformational process, technology has an important role to play. However, it mustbe developed in cooperation and dialog with end-users to fit in their socio-technicalecologicalsystem and thus support their care

Open science and public engagement: Exploring the potential of the open paradigm to support public engagement with science

Open science, a practice in which the entirety of a research project is made available, via the Internet, using a variety of tools and techniques, is an emerging approach to the conduct of science. The hypothesis that open science therefore has the potential to support public engagement with science has been investigated through the research outlined in this thesis. The research has also sought to address the related issues of how, or if, the science thus made available therefore needs to be translated and narrated for public consumption and how, or if, open science can or should develop as a deep and bidirectional mode of engagement between members of the public and researchers.The research employed two methods of qualitative enquiry (interviews and case studies) and one method of quantitative enquiry (a web-based questionnaire survey) to enable appropriate validation through methodological triangulation. The interview participants, recruited through purposive sampling, took part in semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using a grounded theory approach. Three exploratory case studies were selected using a descriptive decision matrix. The case studies were conducted using a mixture of ethnographic observations of events, meetings and other situations involving personal contact, documentary studies of project websites, available materials and so on, and interviews with project members. Finally, a web-based survey was carried out to establish baseline data on the scientific and cultural background, motivations and opinions of visitors to open science project websites.The results suggest that although the principle of openness is widely accepted, there are a number of issues to be addressed as research is opened up to a wider public. These include the development of shared praxis between researchers and members of the public, for example understanding of data analysis techniques and how to support judgements of validity and trustworthiness of information. Problems of data ownership are also foreseen, both in terms of proprietary and intellectual property rights, the maintenance of reputation, precedence and priority and in how to value non-professional and non-traditional contributions to research.The results also indicate that open science has the credentials to claim a place in the ranks of public engagement strategies. This research indicates that open science is not yet a tightly-defined practice; as a flexible, innovative methodology, it offers a variety of routes for engagement for both scientists and members of the public. For scientists, it could be a mode for communication in which the communicative activities are part of daily scientific work. For members of the public, it could enable them to follow a project in which they are interested, offering direct access to data, publications and other research outputs. For both communities, it could support the development and sustaining of public participation in research, and enable dialogue and collaboration throughout the scientific process, from defining the research question, to research design, to experiment, to analysis

Value co-creation in practice : an activity theory approach to service-based and networked business relations

PhD ThesisThis study examines value co-creation in networked service-for-service business relations. Current literature considers value through the experiential and circumstantial properties that permeates co-creation. Contemporary research also indicates the integration of resources and value facilitation as key aspects for co-creating value. This work suggests that value co-creation is a continuously changing practice that expands within on-going knowing and learning movements. The research collected the data of the study during the years of 2010-2012 in the city of Fortaleza – Brazil. Fieldwork concerned the implementation of IT systems in hospitals and clinics. The investigation comprised six case studies nested in two main cases. The first main case presents the perspective of the supplier side, while the second approaches a client organization. The methodology of the study, the case study ethnography, draws on cultural-historical activity theory and applies developmental work research in natural settings. Value co-creation in networked service-for-service relations emerges as multifaceted systems of diverging interests. Resource integration relates to questioning daily practices and envisioning potentialities. Interactions evolve through fast and distributed encounters that co-configure resolutions. In the context of multiple and diverging interests and contradictions, co-creating value refers to managing change. Knowing and learning how to co-create value consist in practicing transformational movements of navigating and interacting within multiple locations and participants in order to resolve contradictions in and between activity systems. The study identifies value co-creation as a dialectical system of practice. Contradictory elements hamper mutually benefiting relations at the same time that create possibilities for changes in the direction of co-creating value. The practice of value co-creation concerns questioning daily practices, knotworking value, and managing change. The central aspect of this practice concerns knowing and learning to accomplish these situated performances within the flow of daily market interactions

Portrayals and perceptions of cinematic artificial intelligence: a mixed-method analysis of I, Robot (2004) and Chappie (2015)

This study investigates the portrayal and perception of artificial intelligence (AI) in I, Robot (2004) and Chappie (2015), providing one of the first accounts of the causality between attitudes and expectations in the representation and reception of films about AI. The findings suggest that the level of optimism of a film is likely to be linked to its socio-cultural context. The humanoid representation of each robotic protagonist prevented each film from skewing too far towards the extremes of technological optimism or pessimism. This affected respondents’ attitudes immediately after viewership, but this affect was short-lived. Additionally, while portrayals of the future somewhat aligned to contemporary developments regarding weak AI, they were overly optimistic or pessimistic about the future of strong AI. This had little impact on respondents’ fears and expectations, as respondents used the films as visual aids to mentally depict abstract concepts relating to AI that were arrived at elsewhere.Communication ScienceM.A. (Communication Science

The role of organisational and resource factors in determining lung cancer outcomes

Lung cancer outcomes in the UK show significant variation which are not entirely explained by case mix. Differences in access to lung cancer services contribute. However, the specific factors that underlie the relationship between service organisation and disease outcomes are not known. The systematic review highlights that co-ordinated access to specialist care is likely to be an important determinant of patient outcomes. In addition, a bundle of service factors, rather than an individual factor is a more robust proxy for hospital infrastructure quality. This hypothesis is explored through the creation of a novel organisational score. When adjusted for patient factors a higher score is associated with higher curative intent treatment rates, increased likelihood of patients receiving treatment within 62 days and improved one-year survival. To achieve these improved outcomes national variation in the provision of services and workforce as well as gaps in the optimal care of stage III patients in England need to be addressed. As well as aligning units with national commissioning guidance, qualitative work into decision making suggests that clinician preconceptions and nihilistic attitudes also require consideration. This work shows that inequity in access to essential services exists in the UK and this has a direct impact on patients