scholarly journals bmlTUX: Design and control of experiments in virtual reality and beyond

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam O. Bebko ◽  
Nikolaus F. Troje
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Experimental Designs ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Graphical Interface ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
Simple Interface ◽  
Novices And Experts ◽  
Mixed Designs ◽  
Drop Interface ◽  
And Control

Advances in virtual reality (VR) technology have made it a valuable new tool for vision and perception researchers. Coding VR experiments from scratch can be difficult and time-consuming so researchers rely on software such as Unity game engine to create and edit virtual scenes. However, Unity lacks built-in tools for controlling experiments. Existing third-party add-ins require complicated scripts to define experiments. This can be difficult and requires advanced coding knowledge, especially for multifactorial experimental designs. In this paper, we describe a new free and open-source tool called the BiomotionLab Toolkit for Unity Experiments (bmlTUX) that provides a simple interface for controlling experiments in Unity. In contrast to existing tools, bmlTUX provides a graphical interface to automatically handle combinatorics, counterbalancing, randomization, mixed designs, and blocking of trial order. The toolbox works “out-of-the-box” since simple experiments can be created with almost no coding. Furthermore, multiple design configurations can be swapped with a drag-and-drop interface allowing researchers to test new configurations iteratively while maintaining the ability to easily revert to previous configurations. Despite its simplicity, bmlTUX remains highly flexible and customizable, catering to coding novices and experts alike.

scholarly journals bmlTUX: Design and Control of Experiments in Virtual Reality and Beyond

i-Perception ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 204166952093840
Author(s):  
Adam O. Bebko ◽  
Nikolaus F. Troje
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Graphical Interface ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
Virtual Reality Technology ◽  
Simple Interface ◽  
Novices And Experts ◽  
Mixed Designs ◽  
Drop Interface ◽  
And Control

Advances in virtual reality technology have made it a valuable new tool for vision and perception researchers. Coding virtual reality experiments from scratch can be difficult and time-consuming, so researchers rely on software such as Unity game engine to create and edit virtual scenes. However, Unity lacks built-in tools for controlling experiments. Existing third-party add-ins requires complicated scripts to define experiments. This can be difficult and requires advanced coding knowledge, especially for multifactorial experimental designs. In this article, we describe a new free and open-source tool called the BiomotionLab Toolkit for Unity Experiments (bmlTUX) that provides a simple interface for controlling experiments in Unity. In contrast to existing tools, bmlTUX provides a graphical interface to automatically handle combinatorics, counterbalancing, randomization, mixed designs, and blocking of trial order. The toolbox works out-of-the-box since simple experiments can be created with almost no coding. Furthermore, multiple design configurations can be swapped with a drag-and-drop interface allowing researchers to test new configurations iteratively while maintaining the ability to easily revert to previous configurations. Despite its simplicity, bmlTUX remains highly flexible and customizable, catering to coding novices and experts alike.

Unity game engine as a method of presentation of data collected from UAV

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Janos ◽  
Justyna Ruchała ◽  
Edyta Puniach ◽  
Paweł Ćwiąkała
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Measurement Data ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
Person Perspective

<p>Representatives of the scientific community collect and store huge amounts of spatial data resulting from years of their studies. However, there is a common problem of visualization methods of data which would be interesting to understand for a recipient from outside of the area as well as according to the current trends. In the modern day, many spheres of our life have been moved to the virtual reality and that is why representatives of areas such as industry, science, culture and art need to deal with the representation of the real world in a 3D reality.</p><p> </p><p>This work is concerned with the current issue of visualization of spatial data collected by surveyors as well as representatives of many other areas. The proposed method of presentation of collected research data is not only low-cost at preparation but is also distinguished by its simplicity of implementation. Its functionality will be presented by using an example of the Agora area located in the Archaeological Park of Kato Paphos in Cyprus. The mentioned area was created in order to protect and promote the archaeological sites as well as the artefacts from the former epoch which have been found in the area. Such historic places are very often not fully available to see by visitors and that is why the documentation and visualization of them in 3D reality might be incredibly helpful. This kind of activity not only contributes to the popularization of archaeological research but also meets the expectations of a modern recipient who uses virtual reality more and more often in order to learn about new places. It is worth mentioning that the presented visualization of measurement data is a versatile method that is intended to be used in many different scientific and research areas.</p><p> </p><p>From a technical point of view, the presented work guides a recipient through the complete process of development of an advanced animation in the environment used in the creation of 3D computer games – the game engine Unity. In the first part of the article the suitability of the data results obtained in digital photogrammetry as well as laser scanning was estimated for purposes of applying the presented method. The work also brings up the issues of limitation of free software and raises a question of methods allowing to meet the requirements with minimized loss of quality and accuracy of the data. The next step was to present the method of importing data (a mesh model and a high-resolution texture). Operating mechanism in Unity as well as a transfer of interactive visualization into the online browser Unity Connect were discussed in the further part of the article. It is worth mentioning that thanks to the FPP (First Person Perspective) technique the developed visualization allows a user to be transferred right into the centre of the archaeological sites where the admission for the third party is usually significantly restricted.</p>

Rancang Bangun Aplikasi Simulasi Manasik Haji Berbasis Virtual 3D

Sainteks ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pajar Sidiq ◽  
Hindayati Mustafidah
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
3D Game ◽  
Unity 3D

Haji merupakan rukun Islam yang kelima yang wajib dilaksanakan oleh seorang muslim yang telah mampu melaksanakannya. Manasik haji pada dasarnya adalah memberikan pelajaran atau informasi mengenai tata cara melaksanakan ibadah haji, sehingga tidak hanya terbatas pada calon jama’ah haji, biasanya masyarakat beragama muslim mempelajari tata cara melaksanakan ibadah haji dengan menggunakan buku-buku atau dengan cara memperagakan langsung dengan cara mensimulasikan tata cara ibadah haji sesuai dengan kondisi yang sebenarnya. Namun banyak kalangan masyarakat muslim yang enggan mendalami manasik haji, dikarenakan beberapa hal seperti tidak adanya waktu, dan kurangnya minat mempelajari dikarenakan kurang menarik dan tidak praktis. Dari hal tersebut sehingga muncul ide untuk membuat aplikasi simulasi manasik haji berbasis virtual 3D, aplikasi ini berisi tentang simulasi untuk rukun haji. Aplikasi manasik haji berbasis virtual reality ini dirancang dan dibuat dengan menggunakan software 3Ds Max dan unity 3D Game Engine. Hasil penelitian berupa aplikasi manasik haji yang dapat menampilkan simulasi virtual reality, yang meliputi simulasi tiba di bandara, Wukuf di Arafah, Mabit di Muzdalifah, Mabit di Mina, Jumrah, Tawaf, Sa’i dan simulasi Tahallul. Dengan adanya aplikasi ini diharapkan akan terjadi peningkatan minat masyarakat dalam mempelajari tata cara pelaksanaan ibadah haji.Kata kunci : virtual reality, manasik haji, simulasi, 3D.

Assessment and Prediction of Privacy Concerns on Health Apps (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reham AlTamime ◽  
Vincent Marmion ◽  
Wendy Hall
Keyword(s):  
Data Sharing ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Health Apps ◽  
Mobile Health Apps ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
And Control

BACKGROUND Mobile apps and IoT-enabled smartphones technologies facilitate collecting, sharing, and inferring from a vast amount of data about individuals’ location, health conditions, mobility status, and other factors. The use of such technology highlights the importance of understanding individuals’ privacy concerns to design applications that integrate their privacy expectations and requirements. OBJECTIVE This paper explores, assesses, and predicts individuals’ privacy concerns in relation to collecting and disclosing data on mobile health apps. METHODS We designed a questionnaire to identify participants’ privacy concerns pertaining to a set of 432 mobile apps’ data collection and sharing scenarios. Participants were presented with 27 scenarios that varied across three categorical factors: (1) type of data collected (e.g. health, demographic, behavioral, and location); (2) data sharing (e.g., whether it is shared, and for what purpose); and, (3) retention rate (e.g., forever, until the purpose is satisfied, unspecified, week, or year). RESULTS Our findings show that type of data, data sharing, and retention rate are all factors that affect individuals’ privacy concerns. However, specific factors such as collecting and disclosing health data to a third-party tracker play a larger role than other factors in triggering privacy concerns. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that it is possible to predict privacy concerns based on these three factors. We propose design approaches that can improve users’ awareness and control of their data on mobile applications

scholarly journals Multi-Blockchain-Based IoT Data Processing Techniques to Ensure the Integrity of IoT Data in AIoT Edge Computing Environments

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 3515
Author(s):  
Sung-Ho Sim ◽  
Yoon-Su Jeong
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Constant Size ◽  
Computing Environments ◽  
Iot Devices ◽  
Cloud Servers ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Processing Techniques ◽  
And Control

As the development of IoT technologies has progressed rapidly recently, most IoT data are focused on monitoring and control to process IoT data, but the cost of collecting and linking various IoT data increases, requiring the ability to proactively integrate and analyze collected IoT data so that cloud servers (data centers) can process smartly. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based IoT big data integrity verification technique to ensure the safety of the Third Party Auditor (TPA), which has a role in auditing the integrity of AIoT data. The proposed technique aims to minimize IoT information loss by multiple blockchain groupings of information and signature keys from IoT devices. The proposed technique allows IoT information to be effectively guaranteed the integrity of AIoT data by linking hash values designated as arbitrary, constant-size blocks with previous blocks in hierarchical chains. The proposed technique performs synchronization using location information between the central server and IoT devices to manage the cost of the integrity of IoT information at low cost. In order to easily control a large number of locations of IoT devices, we perform cross-distributed and blockchain linkage processing under constant rules to improve the load and throughput generated by IoT devices.

scholarly journals Development of a Virtual Reality Simulator for an Intelligent Robotic System Used in Ankle Rehabilitation

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1537
Author(s):  
Florin Covaciu ◽  
Adrian Pisla ◽  
Anca-Elena Iordan
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Muscle Activity ◽  
Human Subject ◽  
Robotic System ◽  
Virtual Reality Simulator ◽  
Robotic Rehabilitation ◽  
Rehabilitation Process ◽  
Leg Muscles ◽  
Ankle Rehabilitation ◽  
And Control

The traditional systems used in the physiotherapy rehabilitation process are evolving towards more advanced systems that use virtual reality (VR) environments so that the patient in the rehabilitation process can perform various exercises in an interactive way, thus improving the patient’s motivation and reducing the therapist’s work. The paper presents a VR simulator for an intelligent robotic system of physiotherapeutic rehabilitation of the ankle of a person who has had a stroke. This simulator can interact with a real human subject by attaching a sensor that contains a gyroscope and accelerometer to identify the position and acceleration of foot movement on three axes. An electromyography (EMG) sensor is also attached to the patient’s leg muscles to measure muscle activity because a patient who is in a worse condition has weaker muscle activity. The data collected from the sensors are taken by an intelligent module that uses machine learning to create new levels of exercise and control of the robotic rehabilitation structure of the virtual environment. Starting from these objectives, the virtual reality simulator created will have a low dependence on the therapist, this being the main improvement over other simulators already created for this purpose.

Immersive Virtual Reality Improves Labor and Delivery Experience for Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elif Gizem Carus ◽  
Nazli Albayrak ◽  
Selen Gur Ozmen ◽  
Halit Mert Bildirici
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Patient Satisfaction ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Secondary Outcome ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Labor And Delivery ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Pain Scores ◽  
And Control

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) in laboring women on patient satisfaction as a distractive tool and pain relief.Methods: Randomized, controlled clinical trial with 42 laboring women allocated to VR intervention and control groups. Among the VR group, patient satisfaction with the use of VR was assessed by a Virtual Reality Satisfaction Survey and questioning whether they would choose VR in future labor. As a primary outcome patient satisfaction scores regarding the overall labor and delivery experience were compared between the two groups. A secondary outcome was pain assessed by a visual pain rating scale in the early and active phases of labor in both groups. Psychometric information was also collected from participants in each group using Beck Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory. Results: We observed a high level of patient satisfaction with the use of immersive VR during labor. The survey revealed a mean satisfaction score of 89.6 ± 10.8 out of a maximum of 100. 20 out of 21 (95%) women in the VR group stated that they would like to use VR again in future labor. VR improved pain scores in early labor and contributed positively to overall labor and delivery experience. The mean pain score pre-VR was 2.6±1.2 compared to 2.0±1.3, post-VR, respectively (p<0.01). Anxiety and depression scores were similar in the intervention and control groups (p=0.103, p=0.13, respectively). Conclusion: Immersive VR application during labor was feasible and associated with higher patient satisfaction based on our study. VR also improved pain scores in early labor before epidural placement. Immersive VR may find a place as an adjunct in Labor and Delivery Units to improve the lengthy labor experience for women. Larger studies are needed to confirm these observations. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05032456 / 02/09/2021https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05032456

scholarly journals Virtual Reality for Monitoring and Control of Electrical Power

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre C. Silva ◽  
Alexandre Cardoso ◽  
Edgard A. Lamounier Jr ◽  
Camilo L. Barreto Jr ◽  
Diogo M. Azevedo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Electrical Power ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Functional Information ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Virtual Reality Environment ◽  
Electric Company ◽  
New Strategy ◽  
And Control ◽  
Operation Center

This project shows the results obtained from a new strategy based on Virtual Reality techniques, which intends to minimize the issues caused on the operation of electric power substations due to the lack of spatial and functional information on the traditional operation interfaces. For this purpose, a three-dimensional interactive virtual reality environment was built in a realistic and accurate way regarding a energy electric company of Minas Gerais – Brazil (CEMIG) substation and afterwards implanted it in its operation center for tasks related to its functioning. Lastly, tests were applied to the operators to obtain results aiming at the contextualized problems.

scholarly journals eResearch:  Ethics, Security, Design, and Control in Psychological Research on the Internet

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Nosek ◽  
Mahzarin R. Banaji ◽  
Anthony G. Greenwald
Keyword(s):  
Data Storage ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Laboratory Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Security Design ◽  
Confidential Data ◽  
Internet Study ◽  
Data Transmission Security ◽  
And Control

Differences between traditional laboratory research and Internet-based research require review of basic issues of research methodology. These differences have implications for research ethics (e.g., absence of researcher, potential exposure of confidential data and/or identity to a third-party, guaranteed debriefing) and security (e.g., confidentiality and anonymity, security of data transmission, security of data storage, and tracking subjects over time). We also review basic design issues a researcher should consider before implementing an Internet study, including the problem of subject self-selection and loss of experimental control on the Internet laboratory. An additional challenge for Internet-based research is the increased opportunity for subject misbehavior, intentional or otherwise. We discuss methods to detect and minimize these threats to the validity of Internet-based research.

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