Utilizing a 3D game engine to develop a virtual design review system

A design review process is where information is exchanged between the designers and design reviewers to resolve any potential design related issues, and to ensure that the interests and goals of the owner are met. The effective execution of design review will minimize potential errors or conflicts, reduce the time for review, shorten the project life-cycle, allow for earlier occupancy, and ultimately translate into significant total project savings to the owner. However, the current methods of design review are still heavily relying on 2D paper-based format, sequential and lack central and integrated information base for efficient exchange and flow of information. There is thus a need for the use of a new medium that allow for 3D visualization of designs, collaboration among designers and design reviewers, and early and easy access to design review information. This paper documents the innovative utilization of a 3D game engine, the Torque Game Engine as the underlying tool and enabling technology for a design review system, the Virtual Design Review System for architectural designs. Two major elements are incorporated; 1) a 3D game engine as the driving tool for the development and implementation of design review processes, and 2) a virtual environment as the medium for design review, where visualization of design and design review information is based on sound principles of GUI design. The development of the VDRS involves two major phases; firstly, the creation of the assets and the assembly of the virtual environment, and secondly, the modification of existing functions or introducing new functionality through programming of the 3D game engine in order to support design review in a virtual environment. The features that are included in the VDRS are support for database, real-time collaboration across network, viewing and navigation modes, 3D object manipulation, parametric input, GUI, and organization for 3D objects

A study of user perceptions of the relationship between bump-mapped and non-bump-mapped materials, and lighting intensity in a real-time virtual environment

The video and computer games industry has taken full advantage of the human sense of vision by producing games that utilize complex high-resolution textures and materials, and lighting technique. This results to the creation of an almost life-like real-time 3D virtual environment that can immerse the end-users. One of the visual techniques used is real-time display of bump-mapped materials. However, this sense of visual phenomenon has yet to be fully utilized for 3D design visualization in the architecture and construction domain. Virtual environments developed in the architecture and construction domain are often basic and use low-resolution images, which under represent the real physical environment. Such virtual environment is seen as being non-realistic to the user resulting in a misconception of the actual potential of it as a tool for 3D design visualization. A study was conducted to evaluate whether subjects can see the difference between bump-mapped and nonbump-mapped materials in different lighting conditions. The study utilized a real-time 3D virtual environment that was created using a custom-developed software application tool called BuildITC4. BuildITC4 was developed based upon the C4Engine which is classified as a next-generation 3D Game Engine. A total of thirty-five subjects were exposed to the virtual environment and were asked to compare the various types of material in different lighting conditions. The number of lights activated, the lighting intensity, and the materials used in the virtual environment were all interactive and changeable in real-time. The goal is to study how subjects perceived bump-mapped and non-bump mapped materials, and how different lighting conditions affect realistic representation. Results from this study indicate that subjects could tell the difference between the bump-mapped and non-bump mapped materials, and how different material reacts to different lighting condition

Review of EEG-based pattern classification frameworks for dyslexia

Dyslexia is a disability that causes difficulties in reading and writing despite average intelligence. This hidden disability often goes undetected since dyslexics are normal and healthy in every other way. Electroencephalography (EEG) is one of the upcoming methods being researched for identifying unique brain activation patterns in dyslexics. The aims of this paper are to examine pros and cons of existing EEG-based pattern classification frameworks for dyslexia and recommend optimisations through the findings to assist future research. A critical analysis of the literature is conducted focusing on each framework’s (1) data collection, (2) pre-processing, (3) analysis and (4) classification methods. A wide range of inputs as well as classification approaches has been experimented for the improvement in EEG-based pattern classification frameworks. It was uncovered that incorporating reading- and writing-related tasks to experiments used in data collection may help improve these frameworks instead of using only simple tasks, and those unwanted artefacts caused by body movements in the EEG signals during reading and writing activities could be minimised using artefact subspace reconstruction. Further, support vector machine is identified as a promising classifier to be used in EEG-based pattern classification frameworks for dyslexia

Measuring the moderating influence of gender on the acceptance of e-book amongst mathematics and statistics students at universities in Libya

The success of using any types of technology in education depends on a large extent of the acceptance of information technology (IT) by students. Therefore, understanding the factors influencing the acceptance of electronic book (e-book) is essential for decision-makers and those interested in the e-book industry. Based on an extended technology acceptance model (TAM), this paper examines the impact of some factors on the students' behavioural intention (BI) toward adoption of the e-book in mathematics and statistics. This paper also investigates the effect of gender differences on the relationship between the factors affecting the acceptance of e-book. A self-administered survey was used to collect data from 392 mathematics and statistics undergraduate students. The research model has shown that the factors related to the social factor and users' characteristics are the critical factors that affect the acceptance of the e-book. The results also indicated that perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU) and students' attitude (AU) have strongly affected students' BI. Self-efficacy (SE) has a significant impact on PEOU while social influence (SI) has a significant influence on students' AU. Moreover, the results confirmed that most of the TAM constructs were significant in both models (males and females), where there are no differences between males and females; however, only PEOU has been affected by the gender moderator. The results showed that the impact of the factor of SI on females was more than males. On the other hand, female students were more confident in the use of the e-book than males. In general, the female students' model was more powerful in explaining the variance than males' model

Comparing the influence of non-persuasive and persuasive visual on a website and their impact on users behavioural intention

Research related to first impression formation has highlighted the importance of visual appeal in influencing favourable attitude towards a website. It is proposed that users are actually drawn to specific characteristics or aspects of visual design of a website, and tend to disregard other features. Therefore, this study aims to investigate which visual design strongly appeals to the users by comparing the impact of common visuals with persuasive visuals.The principles of social influence are proposed as added value to the persuasiveness of the web visuals.An experimental study is conducted and the PLS-SEM method is employed to analyse the obtained data. The result of the exploratory and confirmatory analyses demonstrated that the structural model displays better quality when tested with persuasive data sample compared to non-persuasive data sample. Thus, it is concluded that persuasive visual helps to better explain the relationship between users' attitude and intention. This means that exposure to persuasive visuals brings about consistent favourable perception to the web design

Proposed model of persuasive visual design for web design

This paper presents the foundation for systematically investigating the possibility of influencing users' motivation with visual persuasion which the constructs are divided into two factors; hygiene and motivation. Visual persuasion is identified as the design triggers that affect users’ first impression, which are seen as the conceptualization of motivation. While past research studied the effect of web design toward users’ motivation; not many are looking into the persuasive value of the design. It is foreseen that the power of visual persuasion would produce a more persuasive website and consequently give impact on the users' first impression, and thus motivate them to stay at a site long enough to influence specific behavioral intentions. The proposed model aims to discover the potential of visual persuasion in influencing web users’ motivation. This paper offers new insights into the role of visual persuasion in a web design with respect to the relationships between the dimensions of motivation and behavioral intention

Proposed model of persuasive visual design for web design

This paper presents the foundation for systematically investigating the possibility of influencing users' motivation with visual persuasion which the constructs are divided into two factors; hygiene and motivation. Visual persuasion is identified as the design triggers that affect users’ first impression, which are seen as the conceptualization of motivation. While past research studied the effect of web design toward users’ motivation; not many are looking into the persuasive value of the design. It is foreseen that the power of visual persuasion would produce a more persuasive website and consequently give impact on the users' first impression, and thus motivate them to stay at a site long enough to influence specific behavioral intentions. The proposed model aims to discover the potential of visual persuasion in influencing web users’ motivation. This paper offers new insights into the role of visual persuasion in a web design with respect to the relationships between the dimensions of motivation and behavioral intention

PWIDB: A framework for learning to classify imbalanced data streams with incremental data re-balancing technique

The performance of classification algorithms with highly imbalanced streaming data depends upon efficient balancing strategy. Some techniques of balancing strategy have been applied using static batch data to resolve the class imbalance problem, which is difficult if applied for massive data streams. In this paper, a new Piece-Wise Incremental Data re-Balancing (PWIDB) framework is proposed. The PWIDB framework combines automated balancing techniques using Racing Algorithm (RA) and incremental rebalancing technique. RA is an active learning approach capable of classifying imbalanced data and can provide a way to select an appropriate re-balancing technique with imbalanced data. In this paper, we have extended the capability of RA for handling imbalanced data streams in the proposed PWIDB framework. The PWIDB accumulates previous knowledge with increments of re-balanced data and captures the concept of the imbalanced instances. The PWIDB is an incremental streaming batch framework, which is suitable for learning with streaming imbalanced data. We compared the performance of PWIDB with a well-known FLORA technique. Experimental results show that the PWIDB framework exhibits an improved and stable performance compared to FLORA and accumulative re-balancing techniques

Consumer perceptions in the adoption of the electronic health records in Australia: A pilot study

The paper reports an empirical investigation of the factors affecting consumer perceptions of the adoption of Electronic Health Records in Australia. This paper also details the processes involved in the pilot testing of the instrument where it has been pilot-tested to a convenience sample by sending individual postal survey envelopes to shortlisted community organisations in Australia. Reliability analysis to check the internal consistency was performed using the Cronbach’s alpha. Content validity was achieved by reviewing the instrument with a panel of experts. The results of this pilot study proved the feasibility of a full-scale study and these could be used as the basis for refinement of the instrument. Based upon the outcome of validity and reliability testing, items for the final instrument were identified. The findings showed that the tested model does fit the data well and has a significant and positive impact on the consumer’s attitude in using the EHR

Consumer perceptions in the adoption of the electronic health records in Australia: A pilot study

The paper reports an empirical investigation of the factors affecting consumer perceptions of the adoption of Electronic Health Records in Australia. This paper also details the processes involved in the pilot testing of the instrument where it has been pilot-tested to a convenience sample by sending individual postal survey envelopes to shortlisted community organisations in Australia. Reliability analysis to check the internal consistency was performed using the Cronbach’s alpha. Content validity was achieved by reviewing the instrument with a panel of experts. The results of this pilot study proved the feasibility of a full-scale study and these could be used as the basis for refinement of the instrument. Based upon the outcome of validity and reliability testing, items for the final instrument were identified. The findings showed that the tested model does fit the data well and has a significant and positive impact on the consumer’s attitude in using the EHR