Multi-person Spatial Interaction in a Large Immersive Display Using Smartphones as Touchpads

In this paper, we present a multi-user interaction interface for a large immersive space that supports simultaneous screen interactions by combining (1) user input via personal smartphones and Bluetooth microphones, (2) spatial tracking via an overhead array of Kinect sensors, and (3) WebSocket interfaces to a webpage running on the large screen. Users are automatically, dynamically assigned personal and shared screen sub-spaces based on their tracked location with respect to the screen, and use a webpage on their personal smartphone for touchpad-type input. We report user experiments using our interaction framework that involve image selection and placement tasks, with the ultimate goal of realizing display-wall environments as viable, interactive workspaces with natural multimodal interfaces.Comment: 8 pages with reference

Immersiveness of ubiquitous computing environments prototypes: A case study

The development of ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) environments raises several challenges in terms of their evaluation. Ubicomp virtual reality prototyping tools enable users to experience the system to be developed and are of great help to face those challenges, as they support developers in assessing the consequences of a design decision in the early phases of development. Given the situated nature of ubicomp environments, a particular issue to consider is the level of realism provided by the prototypes. This work presents a case study where two ubicomp prototypes, featuring different levels of immersion (desktop-based versus CAVE-based), were developed and compared. The goal was to determine the cost/benefits relation of both solutions, which provided better user experience results, and whether or not simpler solutions provide the same user experience results as more elaborate one.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through Projecto Estratégico – LA 9 – 2014-2015 (PEst-OE/EEI/LA0009/201

Mediating Performance Through Virtual Agents

This paper presents the process of creation of virtual agents used in a virtual reality performance. The performance aimed to investigate how drama and performance could inform the creation of virtual agents and also how virtual reality could raise questions for drama and performance. The virtual agents were based on the performance of 2 actors. This paper describes the process of preparing the actors, capturing their performances and transferring them to the virtual agents. A second set of agents was created using non-professional 'naive performers' rather than actors

The visual, the auditory and the haptic – A user study on combining modalities in virtual worlds

Fröhlich J, Wachsmuth I. The visual, the auditory and the haptic – A user study on combining modalities in virtual worlds. In: Shumaker R, ed. Virtual Augmented and Mixed Reality. Designing and Developing Augmented and Virtual Environments. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol 8021. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 2013: 159-168.In order to make a step further towards understanding the impact of multi-modal stimuli in Virtual Reality we conducted a user study with 80 participants performing tasks in a virtual pit environment. Participants were divided into four groups, each presented a different combination of multi-sensory stimuli. Those included real-time 3D graphics, audio stimuli (ambient, static and event sounds), and haptics consisting of wind and tactile feedback when touching objects. A presence questionnaire was used to evaluate subjectively reported presence on the one hand, and on the other physiological sensors were used to measure heart rate and skin conductance as an objective measure. Results strongly indicate that an increase of modalities does not automatically result in an increase of presence

Games, Simulations, Immersive Environments, and Emerging Technologies

International audienceThis entry presents an overview of advanced technologies to support teaching and learning. The use of innovative interactive systems for education has never been higher. Far from being just a trend, the objective is to use the current technology to cover educational needs and create relevant pedagogical situations. The arguments in their favor are generally their positive effects on learners’ motivation and the necessity to provide learning methods adapted to our growing digital culture. The new learning technologies and emerging trends are first reviewed hereunder. We thus define and discuss learning games, gamification, simulation, immersive environments and other emerging technologies. Then, the current limits and remaining scientific challenges are highlighted

Dos estructuras del Bronce Final destinadas a trabajos de producción, próximas al asentamiento prerromano de la Colina de los Quemados de Córdoba

Las estructuras documentadas evidencian una actividad, desarrollada con fuego a baja temperatura, en la zona periférica del yacimiento prerromano de Colina de los Quemados. Realizado un estudio comparativo con otras estructuras similares, se podría deducir que estaban destinadas a la producción, siendo la hipótesis más factible que se trate de dos hornos de pan del Bronce Final, desconociéndose aún si tenían un uso familiar o comunitarioThe documented structures demonstrate an activity in the peripheral zone of the preroman Colina de los Quemados site based on low temperature firing. After doing a comparative study with other similar structures, it is possible to deduce that they were destined for production, being the more feasible hypothesis that they are two bread ovens of the Late Bronze Age. The question whether they had a family or community use or not remains to be answered at presen

Anestesia Locorregional para Hernioplastia Inguinal Programada

La región inguinal está inervada principalmente por ramas de los nervios ilioinguinal o abdominogenital mayor e iliohipogástrico o abdominogenital menor (fino e inconstante). El bloqueo de estos nervios proporciona adecuada analgesia perioperatoria en intervenciones de hernia inguinal. Ambos nervios proceden de las raíces T12 y L1 del plexo lumbar y emergen de la parte superior del borde lateral del músculo psoas mayor. El nervio Ilioinguinal es más pequeño y cursa caudal al nervio Iliohipogástrico. Atraviesan oblicuamente anterior al cuadrado lumbar y al músculo ilíaco y perforan el músculo transverso abdominal cerca de la espina iliaca anterosuperior que resulta una buena referencia incluso en el paciente obeso. En la pared abdominal anterior, ambos nervios viajan en el plano transverso abdominal. Nervio iliohipogástrico A nivel de la cresta ilíaca, atraviesa el músculo transverso y después discurre a lo largo de la cara posterior del músculo oblicuo interno. En este punto, proporciona un ramo glúteo que inerva la parte superior de la nalga y después se divide en dos ramos terminales, uno abdominal que atraviesa los músculos oblicuos en sentido posteroanterior para inervar la pared anteroinferior del abdomen, y el otro genital, que discurre de forma subcutánea e inerva la piel a nivel del pubis, de los labios mayores o del escroto y de la parte superomedial del muslo. Nervio ilioinguinal Está situado en el mismo plano músculo-aponeurótico que el nervio iliohipogástrico, pero por debajo de él. Tras la cresta ilíaca, atraviesa el músculo oblicuo interno y se divide en dos ramas: uno abdominal y otro genital, ramos terminales del nervio iliohipogástrico

Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Discovering hidden relationships between renal diseases and regulated genes through 3D network visualizations

Abstract Background In a recent study, two-dimensional (2D) network layouts were used to visualize and quantitatively analyze the relationship between chronic renal diseases and regulated genes. The results revealed complex relationships between disease type, gene specificity, and gene regulation type, which led to important insights about the underlying biological pathways. Here we describe an attempt to extend our understanding of these complex relationships by reanalyzing the data using three-dimensional (3D) network layouts, displayed through 2D and 3D viewing methods. Findings The 3D network layout (displayed through the 3D viewing method) revealed that genes implicated in many diseases (non-specific genes) tended to be predominantly down-regulated, whereas genes regulated in a few diseases (disease-specific genes) tended to be up-regulated. This new global relationship was quantitatively validated through comparison to 1000 random permutations of networks of the same size and distribution. Our new finding appeared to be the result of using specific features of the 3D viewing method to analyze the 3D renal network. Conclusions The global relationship between gene regulation and gene specificity is the first clue from human studies that there exist common mechanisms across several renal diseases, which suggest hypotheses for the underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, the study suggests hypotheses for why the 3D visualization helped to make salient a new regularity that was difficult to detect in 2D. Future research that tests these hypotheses should enable a more systematic understanding of when and how to use 3D network visualizations to reveal complex regularities in biological networks.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112972/1/13104_2010_Article_700.pd

Bystander responses to a violent incident in an immersive virtual environment

Under what conditions will a bystander intervene to try to stop a violent attack by one person on another? It is generally believed that the greater the size of the crowd of bystanders, the less the chance that any of them will intervene. A complementary model is that social identity is critical as an explanatory variable. For example, when the bystander shares common social identity with the victim the probability of intervention is enhanced, other things being equal. However, it is generally not possible to study such hypotheses experimentally for practical and ethical reasons. Here we show that an experiment that depicts a violent incident at life-size in immersive virtual reality lends support to the social identity explanation. 40 male supporters of Arsenal Football Club in England were recruited for a two-factor between-groups experiment: the victim was either an Arsenal supporter or not (in-group/out-group), and looked towards the participant for help or not during the confrontation. The response variables were the numbers of verbal and physical interventions by the participant during the violent argument. The number of physical interventions had a significantly greater mean in the ingroup condition compared to the out-group. The more that participants perceived that the Victim was looking to them for help the greater the number of interventions in the in-group but not in the out-group. These results are supported by standard statistical analysis of variance, with more detailed findings obtained by a symbolic regression procedure based on genetic programming. Verbal interventions made during their experience, and analysis of post-experiment interview data suggest that in-group members were more prone to confrontational intervention compared to the out-group who were more prone to make statements to try to diffuse the situation