Experience Design for Virtual Reality. From Illusion to Agency.

Virtual Reality (VR) allow viewers to inhabit and interact with virtual spaces in a way that has the potential to be much more compelling than any other medium, breaking through the barrier between merely watching to experiencing a situation or environment. It has an experiential quality by integrating the domains of interactive video games, filmmaking, storytelling and immersion. A balancing act between narrative design, digital placemaking and user agency. In this article, written from a practitioner’s perspective, I propose and demonstrate strategies in how immersive experiences can utilise multiple modes of representations, such as omnidirectional stereoscopic video and real-time 3D rendered geometry, to form a coherent spatial narrative environment for a viewer in VR. Particular emphasis will be placed on factors in visual perception; experience design including narration, scenography and user agency; and the technical conditions of the medium. This insight emerged from a series of recent VR projects, which are fundamentally different in terms of content, design and production techniques, but this diversity is an opportunity to lay the foundations for a classification system for VR experiences and establish a common language for this exciting new medium

InSight AR. Relating virtual sculptures to real places.

InSight AR is a site-specific Augmented Reality project and mobile phone app produced for the popular Sculptures by the Sea Bondi exhibition, to be held in Sydney Australia in 2021. It forms uncanny relations between virtual sculptures, visitors, the environment and the art on site. The project is comprised of three parts: an outdoor work using AR plane detection and geo-location, AR image and spatial tracking for an indoor exhibit and a 3D map of the coastal walk, also presented in AR. The work is designed to be playful, fun and it encourages its viewers to share their experience on social media. At the same time, the audience has the opportunity to learn more about a selection of iconic classical sculptures and get a better understanding of the medium AR and its variants

Alberti's window v2.0: a vision machine for expanded spaces of representation.

Alberti's Window v2.0 is a novel interactive cinema platform for the expression of stereoscopic 3D panoramic and multi-viewpoint spaces of representation, in which participants embark on an embodied journey of discovery. In this paper, the author outlines the conceptual and technical framework, exemplified through a work specifically made for this platform, the interactive cinema project Juxtaposition. An introduction to the history of immersive imaging, presentation modalities and innovators contextualises this work within the wider field

Alberti's window v2.0: a vision machine for expanded spaces of representation.

Alberti's Window v2.0 is a novel interactive cinema platform for the expression of stereoscopic 3D panoramic and multi-viewpoint spaces of representation, in which participants embark on an embodied journey of discovery. In this paper, the author outlines the conceptual and technical framework, exemplified through a work specifically made for this platform, the interactive cinema project Juxtaposition. An introduction to the history of immersive imaging, presentation modalities and innovators contextualises this work within the wider field

Cultivating empathy through VR engagements with lived experience

This volume contains a record of artworks from the 14th ICIDS 2021 (International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling) Art Exhibition (held at Tallinn University and online), alongside essays by the artists contextualising their ..

Ultrasound mapping of lymph node and subcutaneous metastases in patients with cutaneous melanoma: Results of a prospective multicenter study

Background: Ultrasound (sonography, B-mode sonography, ultrasonography) examination improves the sensitivity in more than 25% compared to the clinical palpation, especially after surgery on the regional lymph node area. Objective: To evaluate the distribution of metastases during follow-up in the draining lymph node areas from the scar of primary to regional lymph nodes ( head and neck, supraclavicular, axilla, infraclavicular, groin) in patients with cutaneous melanoma with or without sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or former elective or consecutive complete lymph node dissection in case of positive sentinel lymph node (CLND). Methods: Prospective multicenter study of the Departments of Dermatology of the Universities of Homburg/Saar, Tubingen and Munich (Germany) in which the distribution of lymph node and subcutaneous metastases were mapped from the scar of primary to the lymphatic drainage region in 53 melanoma patients ( 23 women, 30 men; median age: 64 years; median tumor thickness: 1.99 mm) with known primary, visible lymph nodes or subcutaneous metastases proven by ultrasound and histopathology during the follow-up. Results: Especially in the axilla, infraclavicular region and groin the metastases were not limited to the anatomic lymph node regions. In 5 patients (9.4%) ( 4 of them were in stage IV) lymph node metastases were not located in the corresponding lymph node area. 32 patients without former SLNB had a time range between melanoma excision and lymph node metastases of 31 months ( median), 21 patients with SLNB had 18 months ( p < 0.005). In 11 patients with positive SLNB the time range was 17 months, in 10 patients with negative SLNB 21 months ( p < 0.005); in 32 patients with CLND the time range was 31 m< 0.005). In thinner melanomas lymph node metastases occurred later ( p < 0.05). Conclusions: After surgery of cutaneous melanoma, SLNB and CLND the lymphatic drainage can show significant changes which should be considered in clinical and ultrasound follow-up examinations. Especially for high-risk melanoma patients follow-up examinations should be performed at intervals of 3 months in the first years. Patients at stage IV should be examined in all regional lymph node areas clinically and by ultrasound. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

Efficient structure search with multi-task Bayesian optimization

Computational materials science aims to discover new functional materials and optimize their properties, which often includes resource-intensive calculations. To address structure search tasks with the least number of expensive calculations, the Bayesian Optimization Structure Search (BOSS) algorithm has been implemented. BOSS applies active learning in combination with Gaussian process regression to sample-efficiently optimize a target function, which in this case represents the total energy of the material. Materials can be simulated with approximated methods which are fast but less accurate or with costly and accurate electronic structure methods. This work investigates how BOSS can become even more resource-efficient by incorporating calculations from different levels of accuracy. Multi-fidelity BOSS uses the Intrinsic Model of Coregionalization (ICM) to integrate data from different atomistic simulators, all focusing on the same objective, the total energy of the material. This work focuses on multi-fidelity learning acquisition functions, which are one of the key components of the multi-fidelity algorithm. In particular, I developed and implemented several multi-fidelity acquisition functions. To test the functions, I applied multi-fidelity BOSS on the alanine structure search task, where I used simulations of the alanine system based on force fields (AMBER18), density-functional theory (FHI-aims with PBE-exchange correlation functional) and quantum chemistry accuracy (Gaussian16 with CCSD(T)). I found that multi-fidelity BOSS reduced the CPU cost by up to 90% CPU when used with the ELCB or MES acquisition functions. Both acquisition functions enable large savings when used in combination with different separable or inseparable sampling strategies. I also found, that the possible savings depends significantly on the sampling costs of the atomistic simulators, the correlation between the different fidelities and the dimension of the search space

Von Anionen-Bindungsmotiven zur Anwendung in der Zellbiologie

Im Rahmen dieser Dissertation konnten neue Erkenntnisse über molekulare Erkennungsvorgänge von biologisch relevanten Substraten wie Peptide, Nukleotide und Nukleinsäuren gewonnen werden. Diese Resultate tragen nicht nur dazu bei unser generelles Verständnis über die komplexen Prozesse, die in biologischen Systemen stattfinden, zu verbessern, sie konnten auch direkt für eine Anwendung in der Zellbiologie mittels der Entwicklung eines neuen Ansatzes für die Identifizierung und Darstellung neuartiger, hocheffizienter nichtviraler Vektoren verwendet werden.Within the framework of this dissertation new insight into molecular recognition events of biologically important targets like peptides, nucleotides and nucleic acids could be gathered. These findings do not only help to improve our general understanding of the complex processes which take place in biological systems but could also be utilized for an application in cell biology by generating a novel approach for the development of highly efficient gene carriers