scholarly journals Crowd behaviour during high-stress evacuations in an immersive virtual environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (122) ◽  
pp. 20160414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Moussaïd ◽  
Mubbasir Kapadia ◽  
Tyler Thrash ◽  
Robert W. Sumner ◽  
Markus Gross ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Crowd Behaviour ◽  
The Individual

Understanding the collective dynamics of crowd movements during stressful emergency situations is central to reducing the risk of deadly crowd disasters. Yet, their systematic experimental study remains a challenging open problem due to ethical and methodological constraints. In this paper, we demonstrate the viability of shared three-dimensional virtual environments as an experimental platform for conducting crowd experiments with real people. In particular, we show that crowds of real human subjects moving and interacting in an immersive three-dimensional virtual environment exhibit typical patterns of real crowds as observed in real-life crowded situations. These include the manifestation of social conventions and the emergence of self-organized patterns during egress scenarios. High-stress evacuation experiments conducted in this virtual environment reveal movements characterized by mass herding and dangerous overcrowding as they occur in crowd disasters. We describe the behavioural mechanisms at play under such extreme conditions and identify critical zones where overcrowding may occur. Furthermore, we show that herding spontaneously emerges from a density effect without the need to assume an increase of the individual tendency to imitate peers. Our experiments reveal the promise of immersive virtual environments as an ethical, cost-efficient, yet accurate platform for exploring crowd behaviour in high-risk situations with real human subjects.

Three-Dimensional Virtual Environment and NPC

2016 ◽  
pp. 510-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabricio Herpich ◽  
Felipe Becker Nunes ◽  
Gleizer Bierhalz Voss ◽  
Roseclea Duarte Medina
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Intelligent Agents ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Intelligent Agent ◽  
Learning Objects ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Computer Networking ◽  
The Individual

The use of intelligent agents aware of the individual characteristics and context of students, allow to offer a suitable support to the real requirements. Allied to this, the implementation of these agents in the three-dimensional virtual environments, tend to transcend the existing potential in the interactions with the learning objects it contains and also to expand the alternatives of building the students' knowledge. Throughout this chapter it will be presented the development of intelligent agent called ELAI, by using the NPC strategy on the virtual world platform OpenSimulator. The ELAI provides support for teaching Computer Networking (CN), being sensitive to the context of learners to their level of expertise. In order to maximize the flexibility of interactions between the student, through the student's avatar and the NPC, an interconnection with a chatterbot was established, whose knowledge base was increased by files in AIML inherent to the topic of CN.

Three-Dimensional Virtual Environment and NPC

2020 ◽  
pp. 912-938
Author(s):  
Fabricio Herpich ◽  
Felipe Becker Nunes ◽  
Gleizer Bierhalz Voss ◽  
Roseclea Duarte Medina
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Intelligent Agents ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Intelligent Agent ◽  
Learning Objects ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Computer Networking ◽  
The Individual

The use of intelligent agents aware of the individual characteristics and context of students, allow to offer a suitable support to the real requirements. Allied to this, the implementation of these agents in the three-dimensional virtual environments, tend to transcend the existing potential in the interactions with the learning objects it contains and also to expand the alternatives of building the students' knowledge. Throughout this chapter it will be presented the development of intelligent agent called ELAI, by using the NPC strategy on the virtual world platform OpenSimulator. The ELAI provides support for teaching Computer Networking (CN), being sensitive to the context of learners to their level of expertise. In order to maximize the flexibility of interactions between the student, through the student's avatar and the NPC, an interconnection with a chatterbot was established, whose knowledge base was increased by files in AIML inherent to the topic of CN.

scholarly journals Physical Context Detection using Wearable Wireless Sensor Networks

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhannad Quwaider ◽  
Subir Biswas
Keyword(s):  
Markov Model ◽  
Hidden Markov Model ◽  
Hidden Markov ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Sensor Data ◽  
Physical Context ◽  
Significant Extension ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Stochastic Identification

This paper presents the architecture of a wearable sensor network and a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) processingframework for stochastic identification of body postures andphysical contexts. The key idea is to collect multi-modal sensor data from strategically placed wireless sensors over a human subject’s body segments, and to process that using HMM in order to identify the subject’s instantaneous physical context. The key contribution of the proposed multi-modal approach is a significant extension of traditional uni-modal accelerometry in which only the individual body segment movements, without their relative proximities and orientation modalities, is used for physical context identification. Through real-life experiments with body mounted sensors it is demonstrated that while the unimodal accelerometry can be used for differentiating activityintensive postures such as walking and running, they are not effective for identification and differentiation between lowactivity postures such as sitting, standing, lying down, etc. In the proposed system, three sensor modalities namely acceleration, relative proximity and orientation are used for context identification through Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based stochastic processing. Controlled experiments using human subjects are carried out for evaluating the accuracy of the HMMidentified postures compared to a naïve threshold based mechanism over different human subjects.

Visiting Tourist Landmarks in Virtual Reality Systems by Real-Walking

2010 ◽  
pp. 180-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Steinicke ◽  
G. Bruder ◽  
J. Jerald ◽  
H. Frenz
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Interaction Space ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Redirected Walking ◽  
Virtual City

In recent years virtual environments (VEs) have become more and more popular and widespread due to the requirements of numerous application areas in particular in the 3D city visualization domain. Virtual reality (VR) systems, which make use of tracking technologies and stereoscopic projections of three-dimensional synthetic worlds, support better exploration of complex datasets. However, due to the limited interaction space usually provided by the range of the tracking sensors, users can explore only a portion of the virtual environment (VE). Redirected walking allows users to walk through large-scale immersive virtual environments (IVEs) such as virtual city models, while physically remaining in a reasonably small workspace by intentionally injecting scene motion into the IVE. With redirected walking users are guided on physical paths that may differ from the paths they perceive in the virtual world. The authors have conducted experiments in order to quantify how much humans can unknowingly be redirected. In this chapter they present the results of this study and the implications for virtual locomotion user interfaces that allow users to view arbitrary real world locations, before the users actually travel there in a natural environment.

Influence of Physical Characteristics of Routes on Distance Cognition in Virtual Environments

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 777-785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebru Cubukcu ◽  
Jack L Nasar
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Real World ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Spatial Behavior ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Parking Garage ◽  
The Real ◽  
Predicting Behavior

Discrepanices between perceived and actual distance may affect people's spatial behavior. In a previous study Nasar, using self report of behavior, found that segmentation (measured through the number of buildings) along the route affected choice of parking garage and path from the parking garage to a destination. We recreated that same environment in a three-dimensional virtual environment and conducted a test to see whether the same factors emerged under these more controlled conditions and to see whether spatial behavior in the virtual environment accurately reflected behavior in the real environment. The results confirmed similar patterns of response in the virtual and real environments. This supports the use of virtual reality as a tool for predicting behavior in the real world and confirms increases in segmentation as related to increases in perceived distance.

scholarly journals Features of Second Life virtual environment and evaluation within the scope of art education

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 485-512
Author(s):  
Sevda Ceylan Dadakoğlu ◽  
Şeniz Aksoy
Keyword(s):  
Art Education ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Computer Applications ◽  
Art And Design ◽  
3D Virtual Worlds

Depending on the rapid development of technology, many environments, tools and methods are being developed in the field of education and training. These innovations include education in virtual worlds and three-dimensional education technologies that we have encountered frequently in recent years. With the improvement of three-dimensional education technologies, it is known that learning is used in "3D virtual worlds". Accordingly, it is mentioned that virtual environments are used in all levels of education, learning and teaching process.In this study, the virtual world of Second Life, which is a three-dimensional online life simulation and can be defined as an alternative teaching environment, was examined. The aim of this article; Introducing Second Life, a virtual environment that can be used in art and design education, to provide a theoretical perspective, to contribute to researchers and teachers who want to use 3D virtual worlds for educational purposes and to create a theoretical basis for the researches in this environment.Therefore, first of all, 3D virtual worlds are examined from a general perspective. Then, the Second Life application from 3D virtual environments was examined in detail and its general characteristics were defined.In addition, the use of Second Life in education, construction and content creation within the application, art and design making and art education were discussed. For this reason, examples of the artists using the Second Life application were given and some of the educational practices related to how Second Life was used in art and design education were included. In the conclusion part, with the development of technology and the use of virtual worlds in education, the gains that can be achieved in art classes were also included. In this context, the importance of the use of technology, various computer applications (VR, augmented reality applications, etc.) and 3D virtual worlds was mentioned in terms of today's art education gains. It was also stated that the ways of incorporating technology into art education should be questioned. ​Extended English summary is in the end of Full Text PDF (TURKISH) file.   Özet Teknolojinin hızla ilerlemesine bağlı olarak eğitim ve öğretim alanında birçok ortam, araç ve yöntem geliştirilmektedir. Bu yeniliklerin içerisinde son yıllarda sıkça karşılaştığımız sanal dünyalarda eğitim ve üç boyutlu eğitim teknolojileri de yer almaktadır. Üç boyutlu eğitim teknolojilerinin iyileştirilmesiyle beraber “3B sanal dünyalarda öğrenme”nin ön plana çıktığı bilinmektedir. Buna bağlı olarak eğitimin tüm kademelerinde, öğrenme ve öğretme sürecinde sanal ortamların işe koşulduğundan söz edilmektedir. Bu araştırmada üç boyutlu, çevrimiçi bir yaşam simülasyonu olan ve alternatif bir öğretim ortamı olarak tanımlanabilen Second Life sanal dünyası incelenmiştir. Bu makalenin amacı; sanat ve tasarım eğitiminde kullanılabilecek sanal ortamlardan Second Life’ı tanıtmak, bu konuda teorik bir perspektif kazandırmak, 3B sanal dünyaları eğitim amaçlı kullanmak isteyen araştırmacı ve öğretmenlere katkı sağlamak ve bu ortamda yapılacak araştırmalar için kuramsal zemin oluşturmaktır. Bu nedenle öncelikle 3B sanal dünyalara genel bir çerçeveden bakılmıştır. Ardından 3B sanal ortamlardan Second Life uygulaması detaylı bir biçimde incelenerek genel özellikleri tanımlanmıştır. Second Life uygulamasının eğitimde kullanılması, uygulama dâhilinde inşa ve içerik oluşturma, sanat ve tasarım yapma ve sanat eğitimi konusu tartışılmıştır. Daha sonra Second Life uygulamasını kullanan sanatçılara örnekler verilmiş ve Second Life’ın sanat ve tasarım eğitiminde nasıl kullanıldığına ilişkin eğitim uygulamalarından bazılarına yer verilmiştir. Sonuç kısmında teknolojinin gelişmesi ve sanal dünyaların eğitimde kullanımıyla beraber sanat derslerinde elde edilebilecek kazanımlar yer almıştır. Buna bağlı olarak teknolojinin, çeşitli bilgisayar uygulamalarının (VR, artırılmış gerçeklik uygulamaları, vb.) 3B sanal dünyaların eğitimde kullanılmasının günümüz sanat eğitimi kazanımları açısından önemine değinilmiştir. Ayrıca sanat eğitimine teknolojinin dâhil edilme biçimlerinin sorgulanması gerektiği ifade edilmiştir.

An Immersive Virtual Environment for Varying Risk and Immersion for Effective Training

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Harter ◽  
Shulan Lu ◽  
Pratyush Kotturu ◽  
Devin Pierce
Keyword(s):  
Risk Perception ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Training Outcomes ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Effective Training

We present an immersive virtual environment being developed to study questions of risk perception and their impacts on effective training. Immersion is known to effect the quality of training in virtual environments, and the successful transfer of skills to real world situations. However, the level of perceived immersiveness that an environment invokes is an ill defined concept, and effects of different types of immersion are known to have greater and lesser influences on training outcomes. We concentrate on how immersiveness effects perceived risk in virtual environments, and how risk impacts training effectiveness. Simulated risk can invoke an alief of danger in subjects using a virtual environment. Alief is a concept useful in virtual training that describes situations where the person experiencing a simulated scenario knows it is not real, but suspends disbelief (willingly or unwillingly). This suspension of belief (alief) can cause the person to experience the same sorts of autonomic reactions as if they were experiencing the situation in real life (for example, think of fear invoked on amusement park rides). Alief of risk or danger has been proposed as one phenomenon that can influence training outcomes, like the experience of immersion, when training in virtual environments. In this paper we present work on developing a low-cost virtual environment for the manipulation of immersion and risk for cognitive studies. In this environment we provide several alternative input modalities, from mouse to Wii remote interactivity, to control a virtual avatar’s hand and arm for performing risky every day tasks. Immersion can be manipulated in several ways, as well as the type and risk associated with tasks. Typical tasks include performing kitchen preparation work (using knives or hot items), or wood or metal working tasks (involving manipulation of dangerous tools). This paper describes the development and technologies used to create the virtual environment, and how we vary risk perception and immersion of users for various cognitive tasks. The capabilities and manipulations of immersiveness and risk are presented together with some findings on using Wii motes as input devices in several ways for virtual environments. The paper concludes with some preliminary results of varying perceived risk on cognitive task performance in the developed environment.

Considering multiscale scenes to elucidate problems encumbering three-dimensional intellection and navigation

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 393-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Glueck ◽  
Azam Khan
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Iterative Refinement ◽  
Abstract Model ◽  
Interaction Techniques ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
Geometrically Complex ◽  
Relationship Of

AbstractVirtual three-dimensional (3-D) environments have become pervasive tools in a number of professional and recreational tasks. However, interacting with these environments can be challenging for users, especially as these environments increase in complexity and scale. In this paper, we argue that the design of 3-D interaction techniques is an ill-defined problem. This claim is elucidated through the context of data-rich and geometrically complex multiscale virtual 3-D environments, where unexpected factors can encumber intellection and navigation. We develop an abstract model to guide our discussion, which illustrates the cyclic relationship of understanding and navigating; a relationship that supports the iterative refinement of a consistent mental representation of the virtual environment. Finally, we highlight strategies to support the design of interactions in multiscale virtual environments, and propose general categories of research focus.

Spatial Perception in Desktop Virtual Environments

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (22) ◽  
pp. 1117-1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis C. Neale
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Spatial Ability ◽  
Spatial Perception ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Cognitive Errors ◽  
Basic Space ◽  
Virtual Office

This study investigated perceptual and cognitive issues relating to manipulations of geometric field of view (GFOV) in three-dimensional perspective displays and the effects of incorporating virtual environment enhancements in the interface based on visual momentum (VM) techniques. Sixty participants, who were pretested for spatial ability, were required to navigate through a virtual office building while estimating space dimensions and performing spatial orientation tasks. A 3 − 2 − 2 mixed-subjects design compared three levels of GFOV, two levels of VM, and two levels of Difficulty. This study effectively demonstrates that the spatial characteristics of architectural representations in perspective displays are not always accurately perceived. Furthermore, the results indicate that manipulations in GFOV can produce perceptual and cognitive errors for the basic space dimensions in perspective displays; however, VM can be used to compensate for many of the biases shown to occur.

Virtual environments in cancer care: Pilot-testing a three-dimensional web-based platform as a tool for support in young cancer patients

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Terp Høybye ◽  
Pia Riis Olsen ◽  
Helena Eva Hansson ◽  
David Spiegel ◽  
Henrik Bennetsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Adolescent And Young Adult ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Pilot Testing ◽  
Cancer Support

Bringing virtual environments into cancer support may offer a particular potential to engage patients and increase adherence to treatment. Developing and pilot-testing an online real-time multi-user three-dimensional platform, this study tested the use of an early prototype of the platform among adolescent and young adult cancer patients. Data were collected with an online questionnaire and using ethnographic methods of participant observation. The adolescent and young adult patients tested basic features of the virtual environment and some conducted brief in-world interactions with fellow patients during hospitalization. They had no reservations about using the technology and shared their ideas about its use. Our pilot test pointed to a number of areas of development for virtual environment applications as potential platforms for medical or behavioral interventions in cancer care. Overall, the results demonstrate the need for high user involvement in the development of such interventions and early testing of intervention designs.

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