7,648 research outputs found

    Undergraduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    Integrating expert-based objectivist and nonexpert-based subjectivist paradigms in landscape assessment

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    This thesis explores the integration of objective and subjective measures of landscape aesthetics, particularly focusing on crowdsourced geo-information. It addresses the increasing importance of considering public perceptions in national landscape governance, in line with the European Landscape Convention's emphasis on public involvement. Despite this, national landscape assessments often remain expert-centric and top-down, facing challenges in resource constraints and limited public engagement. The thesis leverages Web 2.0 technologies and crowdsourced geographic information, examining correlations between expert-based metrics of landscape quality and public perceptions. The Scenic-Or-Not initiative for Great Britain, GIS-based Wildness spatial layers, and LANDMAP dataset for Wales serve as key datasets for analysis. The research investigates the relationships between objective measures of landscape wildness quality and subjective measures of aesthetics. Multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) reveals significant correlations, with different wildness components exhibiting varying degrees of association. The study suggests the feasibility of incorporating wildness and scenicness measures into formal landscape aesthetic assessments. Comparing expert and public perceptions, the research identifies preferences for water-related landforms and variations in upland and lowland typologies. The study emphasizes the agreement between experts and non-experts on extreme scenic perceptions but notes discrepancies in mid-spectrum landscapes. To overcome limitations in systematic landscape evaluations, an integrative approach is proposed. Utilizing XGBoost models, the research predicts spatial patterns of landscape aesthetics across Great Britain, based on the Scenic-Or-Not initiatives, Wildness spatial layers, and LANDMAP data. The models achieve comparable accuracy to traditional statistical models, offering insights for Landscape Character Assessment practices and policy decisions. While acknowledging data limitations and biases in crowdsourcing, the thesis discusses the necessity of an aggregation strategy to manage computational challenges. Methodological considerations include addressing the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) associated with aggregating point-based observations. The thesis comprises three studies published or submitted for publication, each contributing to the understanding of the relationship between objective and subjective measures of landscape aesthetics. The concluding chapter discusses the limitations of data and methods, providing a comprehensive overview of the research

    Design and Evaluation of Controller-based Raycasting Methods for Efficient Alphanumeric and Special Character Entry in Virtual Reality

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    Alphanumeric and special characters are essential during text entry. Text entry in virtual reality (VR) is usually performed on a virtual Qwerty keyboard to minimize the need to learn new layouts. As such, entering capitals, symbols, and numbers in VR is often a direct migration from a physical/touchscreen Qwerty keyboard—that is, using the mode-switching keys to switch between different types of characters and symbols. However, there are inherent differences between a keyboard in VR and a physical/touchscreen keyboard, and as such, a direct adaptation of mode-switching via switch keys may not be suitable for VR. The high flexibility afforded by VR opens up more possibilities for entering alphanumeric and special characters using the Qwerty layout. In this work, we designed two controller-based raycasting text entry methods for alphanumeric and special characters input (Layer-ButtonSwitch and Key-ButtonSwitch) and compared them with two other methods (Standard Qwerty Keyboard and Layer-PointSwitch) that were derived from physical and soft Qwerty keyboards. We explored the performance and user preference of these four methods via two user studies (one short-term and one prolonged use), where participants were instructed to input text containing alphanumeric and special characters. Our results show that Layer-ButtonSwitch led to the highest statistically significant performance, followed by Key-ButtonSwitch and Standard Qwerty Keyboard, while Layer-PointSwitch had the slowest speed. With continuous practice, participants' performance using Key-ButtonSwitch reached that of Layer-ButtonSwitch. Further, the results show that the key-level layout used in Key-ButtonSwitch led users to parallel mode switching and character input operations because this layout showed all characters on one layer. We distill three recommendations from th results that can help guide the design of text entry techniques for alphanumeric and special characters in VR

    The Non-Standardization of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder: A Call to Action

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    Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most diagnosed disorders in adults and children, yet there is no standardized method to assess for ADHD. The similarity of symptoms shared across other disorders (comorbidity) makes the assessment of ADHD a very delicate process. This is not aided by the fact that the assessment of ADHD is not standardized. This allows individuals able to assess for ADHD to give a test or a combination of tests that they find fitting. This in turn brings into question the quality of testing and disagreement in diagnosing across fields. Lastly, ADHD-focused measures typically fail to address the overlap in symptoms with other disorders, which can help assist clinicians with differential diagnoses. The question then becomes, how does one attempt to standardize ADHD testing while providing testing that shows adequate clinical validity in both the diagnosis of ADHD and differential diagnosing? This paper aims to produce insight into the complications of ADHD diagnosis and suggest a solution to current testing, in the form of an assessment battery

    Mobile heritage practices. Implications for scholarly research, user experience design, and evaluation methods using mobile apps.

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    Mobile heritage apps have become one of the most popular means for audience engagement and curation of museum collections and heritage contexts. This raises practical and ethical questions for both researchers and practitioners, such as: what kind of audience engagement can be built using mobile apps? what are the current approaches? how can audience engagement with these experience be evaluated? how can those experiences be made more resilient, and in turn sustainable? In this thesis I explore experience design scholarships together with personal professional insights to analyse digital heritage practices with a view to accelerating thinking about and critique of mobile apps in particular. As a result, the chapters that follow here look at the evolution of digital heritage practices, examining the cultural, societal, and technological contexts in which mobile heritage apps are developed by the creative media industry, the academic institutions, and how these forces are shaping the user experience design methods. Drawing from studies in digital (critical) heritage, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and design thinking, this thesis provides a critical analysis of the development and use of mobile practices for the heritage. Furthermore, through an empirical and embedded approach to research, the thesis also presents auto-ethnographic case studies in order to show evidence that mobile experiences conceptualised by more organic design approaches, can result in more resilient and sustainable heritage practices. By doing so, this thesis encourages a renewed understanding of the pivotal role of these practices in the broader sociocultural, political and environmental changes.AHRC REAC

    Review of the state of practice in geovisualization in the geosciences

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    Geosciences modelling and 3D geovisualization is growing and evolving rapidly. Driven by commercial urgency and an increase in data from sensor-based sources, there is an abundance of opportunities to analyze geosciences data in 3D and 4D. Geosciences modelling is developing in GIS based systems, 3D modelling through both game engines and custom programs, and the use of extended reality to further interact with data. The key limitations that are currently prevalent in 3D geovisualization in the geosciences are GIS representations having difficulty displaying 3D data and undergoing translations to pseudo-3D, thus losing fidelity, financial and personnel capital, processing issues with the terabytes worth of data and limited computing, digital occlusion and spatial interpretation challenges with users, and matching and alignment of 3D points. The future of 3D geovisualization lies in its accelerated growth, data management solutions, further interactivity in applications, and more information regarding the benefits and best practices in the field

    Graduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    Digital technologies for behavioral change in sustainability domains: a systematic mapping review

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    Sustainability research has emerged as an interdisciplinary area of knowledge about how to achieve sustainable development, while political actions toward the goal are still in their infancy. A sustainable world is mirrored by a healthy environment in which humans can live without jeopardizing the survival of future generations. The main aim of this contribution was to carry out a systematic mapping (SM) of the applications of digital technologies in promoting environmental sustainability. From a rigorous search of different databases, a set of more than 1000 studies was initially retrieved and then, following screening criteria based on the ROSES (RepOrting standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses) procedure, a total of Nā€‰=ā€‰37 studies that met the eligibility criteria were selected. The studies were coded according to different descriptive variables, such as digital technology used for the intervention, type of sustainable behavior promoted, research design, and population for whom the intervention was applied. Results showed the emergence of three main clusters of Digital Technologies (i.e., virtual/immersive/augmented reality, gamification, and power-metering systems) and two main Sustainable Behaviors (SBs) (i.e., energy and water-saving, and pollution reduction). The need for a clearer knowledge of which digital interventions work and the reasons why they work (or do not work) does not emerge from the outcomes of this set of studies. Future studies on digital interventions should better detail intervention design characteristics, alongside the reasons underlying design choices, both behaviourally and technologically. This should increase the likelihood of the successful adoption of digital interventions promoting behavioral changes in a more sustainable direction

    THE IMPACT OF HUMAN-CENTRIC LIGHTING PARAMETERS ON OLDER ADULTā€™S PERCEPTION, AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE

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    Population aging is a prominent demographic challenge. Older adults face increased risks of sleep dysfunctions, depression, and cognitive impairments due to physical, biological, and psychological factors associated with aging. These behavioral issues elevate safety risks at home, which necessitates the transition to assisted living facilities. Extensive research highlights the influence of healthcare environmental design, particularly related to architectural lighting impacts on residents' well-being and quality of life. To optimize older adults' health and well-being, it is essential to consider both the visual and non-visual effects of architectural lighting. Visual impacts include parameters related to task performance and visual acuity, while non-visual impacts may include outcomes such as circadian rhythm regulation, sleep quality, mood enhancement, and cognitive performance, thereby emphasizing the importance of implementing a holistic conceptual approach to human-centric lighting in indoor environments.While existing gerontology studies have primarily focused on light-level attributes, such as radiant flux, illuminance, and equivalent melanopic lux, there has been limited exploration of spectral and spatial pattern parameters in indoor lighting. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the impact of both quantitative and qualitative aspects of lighting design, including spatial layout characteristics such as uniformity, direction, centrality, and spectral attributes like correlated color temperature (CCT), on the visual perception, preference, mood, cognitive performance, and overall well-being of older adults in assisted living facilities. The study employed a multi-method approach across three main research phases. In phase I, a Q-sort survey involving 60 participants assessed the impact of diverse spatial light patterns on visual perception and preference. In phase II, a within-subject design evaluated the cognitive performance of 32 older adults in similar lighting scenarios within real and virtual environments. Lastly, in phase III, the study examined the relationship between spatial and spectral light patterns and cognitive performance through virtual reality testing with 32 participants. Results revealed significant effects of different spatial light patterns on older adults' environmental impressions, including visual preference, stress levels, and cognitive performance. Uniform and indirect lighting were preferred, with no substantial differences between peripheral and central spatial arrangements of light layers. Non-uniform lighting induced a relaxed impression, while uniform lighting heightened perceived stress. Furthermore, the study demonstrated the suitability of virtual reality environments (VR) for assessing cognitive performance and subjective perception. The findings underscore the substantial influence of spatial and spectral light patterns on the cognitive performance of older adults in assisted living facilities. This research contributes to the understanding of the visual and non-visual effects of human-centric lighting on the well-being of older adults. By considering spatial and spectral light attributes, designers can enhance cognitive function, reduce impairments, and cultivate healthier and more efficient living environments

    Virtual reality body swapping to improve self-assessment in job interview training

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    Swapping visual perspective in Virtual Reality pro vides a unique means for embodying different virtual bodies and for self-distancing. Moreover, this technology is a powerful tool for experiential learning and for simulating realistic scenarios, with broad potential in the training of soft skills. However, there is scarce knowledge on how perspective swapping in Virtual Reality might benefit the training of soft skills such as those required in a job interview. The present study investigates the impact of virtual body swapping on the self-assessment of verbal and non- verbal communication skills, emotional states, and embodiment in a simulated job interview context. Three main conditions were compared: a baseline condition in which the participants practiced a job interview from the first-person perspective of a virtual interviewee (No Swap condition); an external point of view condition where, first, the participants answered questions from the interviewee perspective, but then swap visual perspective to re-experience their responses from a non-embodied point of view (Out of Body condition); a condition in which, after answering questions from the interviewee perspective, the participants re-experienced their responses from the embodied perspective of the virtual recruiter (Recruiter condition). The experimental results indicated that the effectiveness of the Out of Body and Recruiter Conditions was superior to the No Swap Condition to self-assess the communication styles used during a job interview. Moreover, all the conditions led to a high level of embodiment towards the interviewee avatar when seen from the first-person perspective; in the case of the Recruiter Condition, the participants also felt embodied in the recruiter avatar. No differences in emotional states were found among conditions, with all sharing a positive valence
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