Measuring user experience for virtual reality

In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) and 3D User Interfaces (3DUI) have seen a drastic increase in popularity, especially in terms of consumer-ready hardware and software. These technologies have the potential to create new experiences that combine the advantages of reality and virtuality. While the technology for input as well as output devices is market ready, only a few solutions for everyday VR - online shopping, games, or movies - exist, and empirical knowledge about performance and user preferences is lacking. All this makes the development and design of human-centered user interfaces for VR a great challenge. This thesis investigates the evaluation and design of interactive VR experiences. We introduce the Virtual Reality User Experience (VRUX) model based on VR-specific external factors and evaluation metrics such as task performance and user preference. Based on our novel UX evaluation approach, we contribute by exploring the following directions: shopping in virtual environments, as well as text entry and menu control in the context of everyday VR. Along with this, we summarize our findings by design spaces and guidelines for choosing optimal interfaces and controls in VR.In den letzten Jahren haben Virtual Reality (VR) und 3D User Interfaces (3DUI) stark an Popularität gewonnen, insbesondere bei Hard- und Software im Konsumerbereich. Diese Technologien haben das Potenzial, neue Erfahrungen zu schaffen, die die Vorteile von Realität und Virtualität kombinieren. Während die Technologie sowohl für Eingabe- als auch für Ausgabegeräte marktreif ist, existieren nur wenige Lösungen für den Alltag in VR - wie Online-Shopping, Spiele oder Filme - und es fehlt an empirischem Wissen über Leistung und Benutzerpräferenzen. Dies macht die Entwicklung und Gestaltung von benutzerzentrierten Benutzeroberflächen für VR zu einer großen Herausforderung. Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Evaluation und Gestaltung von interaktiven VR-Erfahrungen. Es wird das Virtual Reality User Experience (VRUX)- Modell eingeführt, das auf VR-spezifischen externen Faktoren und Bewertungskennzahlen wie Leistung und Benutzerpräferenz basiert. Basierend auf unserem neuartigen UX-Evaluierungsansatz leisten wir einen Beitrag, indem wir folgende interaktive Anwendungsbereiche untersuchen: Einkaufen in virtuellen Umgebungen sowie Texteingabe und Menüsteuerung im Kontext des täglichen VR. Die Ergebnisse werden außerdem mittels Richtlinien zur Auswahl optimaler Schnittstellen in VR zusammengefasst

Ghost mitochondria drive metastasis through adaptive GCN2/Akt therapeutic vulnerability

Cancer metabolism, including in mitochondria, is a disease hallmark and therapeutic target, but its regulation is poorly understood. Here, we show that many human tumors have heterogeneous and often reduced levels of Mic60, or Mitofilin, an essential scaffold of mitochondrial structure. Despite a catastrophic collapse of mitochondrial integrity, loss of bioenergetics, and oxidative damage, tumors with Mic60 depletion slow down cell proliferation, evade cell death, and activate a nuclear gene expression program of innate immunity and cytokine/chemokine signaling. In turn, this induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), activates tumor cell movements through exaggerated mitochondrial dynamics, and promotes metastatic dissemination in vivo. In a small-molecule drug screen, compensatory activation of stress response (GCN2) and survival (Akt) signaling maintains the viability of Mic60-low tumors and provides a selective therapeutic vulnerability. These data demonstrate that acutely damaged, ghost mitochondria drive tumor progression and expose an actionable therapeutic target in metastasis-prone cancers

Produção de Materiais para a Popularização do Ensino de Geografia da Região Metropolitana de Porto Alegre

Along with the number of pervasive displays in urban environments, recent advances in technology allow to display three-dimensional (3D) content on these displays. However, current input techniques for pervasive displays usually focus on interaction with 2D data. To enable interaction with 3D content on pervasive displays, we need to adapt existing and create novel interaction techniques. In this paper we investigate remote interaction with 3D content on pervasive displays. We introduce and evaluate four 3D travel techniques that rely on well established interaction metaphors and either use a mobile device or depth tracking as spatial input. Our study on a large-scale stereoscopic display shows that the physical travel techniques outperformed the virtual techniques with respect to task performance time and error rate

LIVE:The human role in learning in immersive virtual environments

This work studies the role of a human instructor within an immersive VR lesson. Our system allows the instructor to perform “contact teaching” by demonstrating concepts through interaction with the environment, and the student to experiment with interaction prompts. We conducted a between-subjects user study with two groups of students: one experienced the VR lesson while immersed together with an instructor; the other experienced the same contents demonstrated through animation sequences simulating the actions that the instructor would take. Results show that the Two-User version received significantly higher scores than the Single-User version in terms of overall preference, clarity, and helpfulness of the explanations. When immersed together with an instructor, users were more inclined to engage and progress further with the interaction prompts, than when the instructor was absent. Based on the analysis of videos and interviews, we identified design recommendations for future immersive VR educational experiences.Postprin

The Space Bender: Supporting Natural Walking via Overt Manipulation of the Virtual Environment

status: Published onlin