ICT enabled participatory urban planning and policy development: The UrbanAPI project

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to present the effectiveness of participatory information and communication technology (ICT) tools for urban planning, in particular, supporting bottom-up decision-making in urban management and governance. Design/methodology/approach: This work begins with a presentation on the state of the art literature on the existing participatory approaches and their contribution to urban planning and the policymaking process. Furthermore, a case study, namely, the UrbanAPI project, is selected to identify new visualisation and simulation tools applied at different urban scales. These tools are applied in four different European cities - Vienna, Bologna, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Ruse - with the objective to identify the data needs for application development, commonalities in requirements of such participatory tools and their expected impact in policy and decision-making processes. Findings: The case study presents three planning applications: three-dimensional Virtual Reality at neighbourhood scale, Public Motion Explorer at city-wide scale and Urban Growth Simulation at city-region scale. UrbanAPI applications indicate both active and passive participation secured by applying these tools at different urban scales and hence facilitate evidence-based urban planning decision-making. Structured engagement with the city administrations indicates commonalities in user needs and application requirements creating the potential for the development of generic features in these ICT tools which can be applied to many other cities throughout Europe. Originality/value: This paper presents new ICT-enabled participatory urban planning tools at different urban scales to support collaborative decision-making and urban policy development. Various technologies are used for the development of these IT tools and applied to the real environment of four European cities. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Virtual Reality

At present, the virtual reality has impact on information organization and management and even changes design principle of information systems, which will make it adapt to application requirements. The book aims to provide a broader perspective of virtual reality on development and application. First part of the book is named as "virtual reality visualization and vision" and includes new developments in virtual reality visualization of 3D scenarios, virtual reality and vision, high fidelity immersive virtual reality included tracking, rendering and display subsystems. The second part named as "virtual reality in robot technology" brings forth applications of virtual reality in remote rehabilitation robot-based rehabilitation evaluation method and multi-legged robot adaptive walking in unstructured terrains. The third part, named as "industrial and construction applications" is about the product design, space industry, building information modeling, construction and maintenance by virtual reality, and so on. And the last part, which is named as "culture and life of human" describes applications of culture life and multimedia-technology

Let’s augment the future together!:Augmented reality troubleshooting support for IT/OT rolling stock failures

The railway industry is moving to a socio-technological system that relies on computer-controlled and human-machine interfaces. Opportunities arise for creating new services and commercial business cases by using technological innovations and traffic management systems. The convergence of Information Technology (IT) with Operational Technology (OT) is critical for cost-effective and reliable railway operations. However, this convergence introduces complexities, leading to more intricate rolling stock system failures. Hence, operators necessitate assistance in their troubleshooting and maintenance strategy to simplify the decision-making and action-taking processes. Augmented Reality (AR) emerges as a pivotal tool for troubleshooting within this context. AR enhances the operator’s ability to visualize, contextualize, and understand complex data by overlaying real-time and virtual information onto physical objects. AR supports the identification of IT/OT rolling stock system failures, offers troubleshooting directions, and streamlines maintenance procedures, ultimately enhancing decision-making and action-taking processes. This thesis investigates how AR can support operators in navigating troubleshooting and maintenance challenges posed by IT/OT rolling stock system failures in the railway industry

Modelling and Simulation of Human-Environment Interactions

Computational models provide intelligent environmental decision support systems to understand how human decisions are shaped by, and contribute to changes in, the environment. These models provide essential tools to tackle the important issues raised by climate change, including migrations and conflicts due to resource scarcity (e.g., water resources), while accounting for the necessity of co-managing ecosystems across a population of stakeholders with diverse goals. Such socio-environmental systems are characterized by their complexity, which is reflected by an abundance of open questions. This book explores several of these open questions, based on the contributions from over 50 authors. While several books account for methodological developments in modeling socio-environmental systems, our book is unique in combining case studies, methodological innovations, and a holistic approach to training the next generation of modelers. One chapter covers the ontological, epistemological, and ethical issues raised at the intersection of sustainability research and social simulation. In another chapter, we show that the benefits of simulations are not limited to managing complex eco-systems, as they can also serve an educational mission in teaching essential rules and thus improve systems thinking competencies in the broader population

Improved user experience with realistic virtual environments and environmental states

Abstract. Virtual reality has been a topic of keen research for last three decades. Recent advances on display technology and wireless network systems combined with easily maintainable and expandable social networks allow more pervasive experiences and better collaboration than ever before. Still the virtual reality remains as rarely used resource and a niche form of entertainment. Virtual Reality is still far from its Science Fiction epitome. Sci-fi presents virtual reality as a ubiquitous technology that generally provides an immersive experience that transforms the concept of communication and collaboration by taking the user into completely another reality. Thanks to leaps in technology, users can experience previously unseen levels of resolution with minimal network lag on consumer priced products. Despite of this VR technology has not caught on. From users’ perspective, this is affected by user experience. This thesis sets out to discover use cases for realistic virtual environments and states and issues in user experience affecting adoption. It will also take a look on different hindrances and difficulties concerning the mass adaption of virtual reality tools and applications.Realististen virtuaaliympäristöjen ja tilojen käyttö käyttäjäkokemuksen parantamiseen. Tiivistelmä. Virtuaalitodellisuutta on tutkittu vilkkaasti 80-luvulta saakka. Näyttöteknologian ja langattomien verkkojärjestelmien viimeaikainen kehitys yhdessä helposti ylläpidettävien ja laajennettavien sosiaalisten verkostojen kanssa mahdollistavat aiempaa kokonaisvaltaisempia kokemuksia ja yhteistyömahdollisuuksia. Tästä huolimatta virtuaalitodellisuus pysyy edelleen harvoin käytettynä resurssina ja viihteen erikoismuotona. Virtuaalitodellisuus on edelleen kaukana sci-fi visualistien haaveesta: kaikkialla läsnäolevana, ubiikkina teknologiana, joka tarjoaa mukaansatempaavia ja ainutlaatuisia kokemuksia, sekä muuttaa käsitystämme sosiaalisesta kanssakäynnistä. Uusimmat teknologiat tarjoavat käyttäjälle ennennäkemättömän korkearesoluutioista kuvaa ja minimaalista verkkoviivettä kuluttajahintaisilla laitteilla. Tästäkään huolimatta suuri yleisö ei ole lämminnyt VR-teknologialle. Käyttäjän näkökulmasta tähän vaikuttaa suuresti käyttökokemus. Tämä tutkimus käsittelee realististen virtuaaliympäristöjen ja -tilojen vaikutusta käyttäjäkokemukseen, sekä ottaa kantaa erilaisiin esteisiin ja hankaluuksiin virtuaaliteknologian leviämisessä suuren yleisön suosioon

Beyond the Screen: Reshaping the Workplace with Virtual and Augmented Reality

Although extended reality technologies have enjoyed an explosion in popularity in recent years, few applications are effectively used outside the entertainment or academic contexts. This work consists of a literature review regarding the effective integration of such technologies in the workplace. It aims to provide an updated view of how they are being used in that context. First, we examine existing research concerning virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality applications. We also analyze which have made their way to the workflows of companies and institutions. Furthermore, we circumscribe the aspects of extended reality technologies that determined this applicability

Designing a Simulation showcasing the Pharmacological Effects of Beta-2-Agonists in Asthma Treatment; Virtual Reality as a supplement to traditional teaching methods

As educational technology evolves, there is a growing interest in applying VR in teaching complex scientific concepts that benefit from a visual and immersive learning environment. Motivated by the promising results of VR in medical education across multiple disciplines, we aimed to investigate the applicability and effectiveness of this technology in pharmacology education. This discipline, which involves understanding how drugs work within the human body, is often considered complex and challenging for students. However, it is a critical component of medical education and is essential in treating and preventing various diseases. The study was driven by two research inquiries. The primary inquiry aimed to explore the potential design possibilities of a virtual reality (VR) simulation for visualizing the pharmacological effects of beta-2-agonists in asthma treatment. The secondary question focused on evaluating the perspectives of students and educators regarding the efficacy of the VR application in learning pharmacology concepts compared to conventional teaching approaches. The application underwent two rounds of evaluation sessions with both students and teachers. Participants responded positively to the immersive learning experience, particularly appreciating the detailed visualizations and interactivity offered by the VR application. Their feedback highlighted the potential of VR to create a more intuitive understanding of complex pharmacological processes. Despite the evaluation phase featuring a limited number of participants, the received feedback suggested a promising potential for VR as an additional tool. The study, therefore, serves as a proof of concept, showcasing the possibilities of VR in enhancing pharmacology education and paving the way for future research and development in this area.Masteroppgave i Programvareutvikling samarbeid med HVLPROG399MAMN-PRO

A Service Robot for Navigation Assistance and Physical Rehabilitation of Seniors

The population of the advanced countries is ageing, with the direct consequence that an increasing number of people will have to live with sensitive, cognitive and physical disabilities. People with impaired physical ability are not confident to move alone, especially in crowded environment and for long journeys, highly reducing the quality of their life. We propose a new generation of robotic walking assistants whose mechanical and electronic components are conceived to optimize the collaboration between the robot and its users. We will apply these general ideas to investigate the interaction between older adults and a robotic walker, named FriWalk, exploiting it either as a navigational or as a rehabilitation aid. For the use of the FriWalk as a navigation assistance, the system guides the user securing high levels of safety, a perfect compliance with the social rules and non-intrusive interaction between human and machine. To this purpose, we developed several guidance systems ranging from completely passive strategies to active solutions exploiting either the rear or the front motors mounted on the robot. The common strategy at the basis of all the algorithms is that the responsibility of the locomotion belongs always to the user, both to increase the mobility of elder users and to enhance their perception of control over the robot. This way the robot intervenes only whenever it is strictly necessary not to mitigate the user safety. Moreover, the robotic walker has been endowed with a tablet and graphical user interface (GUI) which provides the user with the visual indications about the path to follow. Since the FriWalk was developed to suit the needs of users with different deficits, we conducted extensive human-robot interaction (HRI) experiments with elders, complemented with direct interviews of the participants. As concerns the use of the FriWalk as a rehabilitation aid, force sensing to estimate the torques applied by the user and change the user perceived inertia can be exploited by doctors to let the user feel the device heavier or lighter. Moreover, thanks to a new generation of sensors, the device can be exploited in a clinical context to track the performance of the users' rehabilitation exercises, in order to assist nurses and doctors during the hospitalization of older adults