Effects of a virtual reality simulation integrated with problem-based learning on nursing students’ critical thinking ability, problem solving ability, and self-efficacy: a non-randomized trial

Purpose This study analyzed the effects of virtual reality simulation-based problem-based learning on nursing students’ critical thinking ability, problem-solving ability, and self-efficacy in the nursing care of women undergoing induction of labor. Methods A nonequivalent control group pretest and posttest design was employed. The study participants included 52 nursing students (24 in the experimental group and 28 in the control group). The experimental group took a problem-based learning (PBL) class in the first week, and then engaged in self-directed learning using virtual reality simulation. In the second week, lectures about emergency nursing care for induction of labor and drug administration were given. The control group participated in PBL in the first week and lectures in the second week. The study was conducted from April 17 to May 19, 2023. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test, Fisher exact test, analysis of variance, and the independent t-test. Results Before-and-after differences between the two groups were statistically significant in problem solving ability (t=–5.47, p<.001) and self-efficacy (t=–5.87, p<.001). Critical thinking ability did not show a statistically significant difference between the two groups. The score for satisfaction with the virtual reality simulation program was 3.64±5.88 out of 5 in the experimental group. Conclusion PBL education using a virtual reality simulation was found to be an effective way of teaching. Although convenience sampling was used, PBL education using virtual reality can be used as an educational strategy to enhance nursing students’ problem-solving ability and self-efficacy

Framework for Dynamic Evaluation of Muscle Fatigue in Manual Handling Work

Muscle fatigue is defined as the point at which the muscle is no longer able to sustain the required force or work output level. The overexertion of muscle force and muscle fatigue can induce acute pain and chronic pain in human body. When muscle fatigue is accumulated, the functional disability can be resulted as musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). There are several posture exposure analysis methods useful for rating the MSD risks, but they are mainly based on static postures. Even in some fatigue evaluation methods, muscle fatigue evaluation is only available for static postures, but not suitable for dynamic working process. Meanwhile, some existing muscle fatigue models based on physiological models cannot be easily used in industrial ergonomic evaluations. The external dynamic load is definitely the most important factor resulting muscle fatigue, thus we propose a new fatigue model under a framework for evaluating fatigue in dynamic working processes. Under this framework, virtual reality system is taken to generate virtual working environment, which can be interacted with the work with haptic interfaces and optical motion capture system. The motion information and load information are collected and further processed to evaluate the overall work load of the worker based on dynamic muscle fatigue models and other work evaluation criterions and to give new information to characterize the penibility of the task in design process.Comment: International Conference On Industrial Technology, Chengdu : Chine (2008

Can 3D gamified simulations be valid vocational training tools for persons with intellectual disability? A pilot based on a real-life situation

Objective: To investigate if 3D gamified simulations can be valid vocational training tools for persons with intellectual disability. Methods: A 3D gamified simulation composed by a set of training tasks for cleaning in hostelry was developed in collaboration with professionals of a real hostel and pedagogues of a special needs school. The learning objectives focus on the acquisition of vocabulary skills, work procedures, social abilities and risk prevention. Several accessibility features were developed to make the tasks easy to do from a technological point-of-view. A pilot experiment was conducted to test the pedagogical efficacy of this tool on intellectually disabled workers and students. Results: User scores in the gamified simulation follow a curve of increasing progression. When confronted with reality, they recognized the scenario and tried to reproduce what they had learned in the simulation. Finally, they were interested in the tool, they showed a strong feeling of immersion and engagement, and they reported having fun. Conclusions: On the basis of this experiment we believe that 3D gamified simulations can be efficient tools to train social and professional skills of persons with intellectual disabilities contributing thus to foster their social inclusion through work.Postprint (author's final draft

Taking time to understand: articulating relationships between technologies and organizations

Dynamic relationships between technologies and organizations are investigated through research on digital visualization technologies and their use in the construction sector. Theoretical work highlights mutual adaptation between technologies and organizations but does not explain instances of sustained, sudden, or increasing maladaptation. By focusing on the technological field, I draw attention to hierarchical structuring around inter-dependent levels of technology; technological priorities of diverse groups; power asymmetries and disjunctures between contexts of development and use. For complex technologies, such as digital technologies, I argue these field-level features explain why organizations peripheral to the field may experience difficulty using emerging technology

Planar Refrains

My practice explores phenomenal poetic truths that exist in fissures between the sensual and physical qualities of material constructs. Magnifying this confounding interspace, my work activates specific instruments within mutable, relational systems of installation, movement, and documentation. The tools I fabricate function within variable orientations and are implemented as both physical barriers and thresholds into alternate, virtual domains. Intersecting fragments of sound and moving image build a nexus of superimposed spatialities, while material constructions are enveloped in ephemeral intensities. Within this compounded environment, both mind and body are charged as active sites through which durational, contemplative experiences can pass. Reverberation, the ghostly refrain of a sound calling back to our ears from a distant plane, can intensify our emotional experience of place. My project Planar Refrains utilizes four electro-mechanical reverb plates, analog audio filters designed to simulate expansive acoustic arenas. Historically these devices have provided emotive voicings to popular studio recordings, dislocating the performer from the commercial studio and into a simulated reverberant territory of mythic proportions. The material resonance of steel is used to filter a recorded signal, shaping the sound of a human performance into something more transformative, a sound embodying otherworldly dynamics. In subverting the designed utility of reverb plates, I am exploring their value as active surfaces extending across different spatial realities. The background of ephemeral sonic residue is collapsed into the foreground, a filter becomes sculpture, and this sculpture becomes an instrument in an evolving soundscape