Complémentarité des outils de saisie de texte en environnement virtuel immersif

Cette étude présente un test utilisateur afin de déterminer quels sont les avantages et inconvénients de différents modes de saisie de texte en environnement virtuel immersif : la reconnaissance vocale individuelle, la reconnaissance vocale collective et le clavier virtuel surnommé Drum-Like Keyboard. Nous avons mesuré l’expérience utilisateur des participants notamment selon l’utilisabilité et l’utilité afin de pouvoir proposer des recommandations adéquates aux personnes cherchant à intégrer la saisie de texte en réalité virtuelle. Nos résultats montrent que la reconnaissance vocale et le clavier virtuel ont des qualités complémentaires, qui peuvent être utilisées de concert pour obtenir des résultats et une expérience optimale.Fondation Arts et Métier

Text input tools’ complementarity in immersive virtual environments

This study presents a user test in order to ascertain the advantages and disadvantages of three different text input methods in immersive virtual environment: individual Speech-to-Text, collective Speech-to-Text and a virtual keyboard named Drum-Like Keyboard. We measured participants’ user experience, especially related to usability and utility, in order to offer relevant recommendations to people seeking to integrate text input in virtual reality. Our results show that Speech-to-Text and the virtual keyboard have complementary qualities, which can be used together for optimal results and experience

Effects of social influence on idea selection in creativity workshops

Different variants of brainstormings and brainwritings exist and are regularly used in companies. Several phenomena of social influence in the idea generation stage have been highlighted. The hypothesis of this research was that under specific conditions, social influence biases the idea selection stage. An experimental study was conducted with 30 participants who had to select ideas. The results indicate that seeing another person’s choice of ideas is enough to influence participants’ choices and thus bias their responses. This result is interpreted as the consequence of a phenomenon of social proof: when participants do not know what to choose, they decide to rely on the choice of their partner. Methodological recommendations are provided to avoid this bias during ideation sessions

Association between metformin use and below-the-knee arterial calcification score in type 2 diabetic patients.

BACKGROUND Vascular calcification (VC) is common in type 2 diabetes, and is associated with cardiovascular complications. Recent preclinical data suggest that metformin inhibits VC both in vitro and in animal models. However, metformin's effects in patients with diabetic VC have not previously been characterized. The present study investigated the association between metformin use and lower-limb arterial calcification in patients with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk. METHODS The DIACART cross-sectional cohort study included 198 patients with type 2 diabetes but without severe chronic kidney disease. Below-the-knee calcification scores were assessed by computed tomography and supplemented by colour duplex ultrasonography. Data on anti-diabetic drugs were carefully collected from the patients' medical records and during patient interviews. Biochemical and clinical data were studied as potential confounding factors. RESULTS Metformin-treated patients had a significantly lower calcification score than metformin-free patients (mean ± standard deviation: 2033 ± 4514 and 4684 ± 9291, respectively; p = 0.01). A univariate analysis showed that metformin was associated with a significantly lower prevalence of severe below-the-knee arterial calcification (p = 0.02). VC was not significantly associated with the use of other antidiabetic drugs, including sulfonylureas, insulin, gliptin, and glucagon like peptide-1 analogues. A multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the association between metformin use and calcification score (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 0.33 [0.11-0.98]; p = 0.045) was independent of age, gender, tobacco use, renal function, previous cardiovascular disease, diabetes duration, neuropathy, retinopathy, HbA1c levels, and inflammation. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes, metformin use was independently associated with a lower below-the-knee arterial calcification score. This association may contribute to metformin's well-known vascular protective effect. Further prospective investigations of metformin's potential ability to inhibit VC in patients with and without type 2 diabetes are now needed to confirm these results

Search for top-down and bottom-up drivers of latitudinal trends in insect herbivory in oak trees in Europe

International audienceAim: The strength of species interactions is traditionally expected to increase toward the Equator. However, recent studies have reported opposite or inconsistent latitudinal trends in the bottom-up (plant quality) and top-down (natural enemies) forces driving herbivory. In addition, these forces have rarely been studied together thus limiting previous attempts to understand the effect of large-scale climatic gradients on herbivory. Location: Europe. Time period: 2018–2019. Major taxa studied: Quercus robur. Methods: We simultaneously tested for latitudinal variation in plant–herbivore–natural enemy interactions. We further investigated the underlying climatic factors associated with variation in herbivory, leaf chemistry and attack rates in Quercus robur across its complete latitudinal range in Europe. We quantified insect leaf damage and the incidence of specialist herbivores as well as leaf chemistry and bird attack rates on dummy caterpillars on 261 oak trees. Results: Climatic factors rather than latitude per se were the best predictors of the large-scale (geographical) variation in the incidence of gall-inducers and leaf-miners as well as in leaf nutritional content. However, leaf damage, plant chemical defences (leaf phenolics) and bird attack rates were not influenced by climatic factors or latitude. The incidence of leaf-miners increased with increasing concentrations of hydrolysable tannins, whereas the incidence of gall-inducers increased with increasing leaf soluble sugar concentration and decreased with increasing leaf C : N ratios and lignins. However, leaf traits and bird attack rates did not vary with leaf damage. Main conclusions: These findings help to refine our understanding of the bottom-up and top-down mechanisms driving geographical variation in plant–herbivore interactions, and indicate the need for further examination of the drivers of herbivory on trees

Studying the effect of symmetry in team structures on collaborative tasks in virtual reality

Studies involving collaboration in groups are frequently carried out under symmetrical conditions, meaning that all team members have the same role at the same time. In Virtual Reality, symmetrical collaboration often seems attractive as it allows all participants to be included in the VR environment, but it is not clear whether this provides any benefits over asymmetric forms of collaboration, such as when some team members are in VR while others are working on laptops. We conducted a study to compare the conditions of symmetric configurations (both team members use VR) and asymmetric configurations (one member in VR, and the other uses a laptop) when two participants performed a creativity task together. We found that there were differences in participant behavior and the ideas generated. We conclude by proposing guidelines for future work in the area, particularly related to the use of Virtual Reality for creativity workshops

From promises to storytelling. The use of narrative in social risk reduction by a junior mining company in France

International audienc

From promises to storytelling. The use of narrative in social risk reduction by a junior mining company in France

International audienc

Studying the Effects of Visual Movement on Creativity

Many studies have shown that physical activity, especially walking, tends to stimulate certain cognitive functions, including divergent creativity. The objective of this study was to understand whether some of this gain comes from the perception of movement, and not merely physical activity itself. 32 participants carried out divergent and convergent creativity tasks in a virtual reality environment consisting of a train inside a tunnel, while wearing a HeadMounted-Display (HMD). For half of the participants, the virtual train was running, and they could therefore see tunnel lamps passing by through the windows. For the other half, the train was stationary. The results of this study indicate that participants perform better at tasks that require divergent creativity when the virtual environment is moving than when it is at a standstill. These results lead to recommendations for the design of tools and environments for meetings and creativity workshops