Methodological Basis of Virtual Reality Technology Application in Industrial Design

The paper is devoted to the development of methodological foundations for the application of virtual reality technologies (VR-technologies) at various stages of car design and their promotion on the market, in particular, when performing design, prototyping, development of educational and advertising products. The paper analyzes the main areas of application of virtual reality technologies in industrial design in mechanical engineering. An overview of the parameters of the specialized software Unreal Engine 4 and the HTC Vive hardware set used to create and demonstrate virtual projects is performed. System requirements for computer software and hardware for creating virtual projects have been formed. A generalization of our own experience of using virtual reality technologies in the design of an electric vehicle with a frame-panel structure is carried out. The technique of using virtual reality tools in order to create virtual projects for demonstration of design solutions and functionality of mechanical engineering products is described. The issues of choosing software and hardware, their characteristics are considered, as well as a description of the stages of creating a virtual project is given. The process of developing a virtual project is divided into the stages of preparing and transforming a three-dimensional computer model of the demonstrated product into its virtual digital prototype, creating a virtual environment for it, assigning materials and textures with the necessary properties to the environment and the object, setting lighting, navigation parameters and animated actions, optimizing the display of shadows and finalizing the project. The main results of approbation of the developed methodology are presented on the example of creating virtual projects for demonstrating an electric vehicle: in an urban virtual environment and in a virtual pavilion.

The Great Patriotic War on the newspaper pages: Characteristics and specific features of virtual projects

The author reviews several projects devoted to the heroism of Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War. She characterizes the virtual projects, i. e. the project by TASS IA – “The Great Patriotic War through the eyes of Soviet journalists. TASS presents the frontline reports and newspaper articles of 1945” (January 19 – May 16, 1945); series of articles by Udmurtia information agency (covering the period of January 30, 1942 – May 9, 1945 as presented in the newspapers). The author compares these two projects to the NAB project “One hundred days before the Great Victory. Belarus newspapers in 1945” (January 30 – May 9, 1945) by the goals, contents and depth, and completion. The projects follow the day chronicle on the verge of the Victory, demonstrate the heroism of people in the front and behind the lines, and use information potential of historical newspapers. The author also characterizes the project by Gomel V. I. Lenin Regional Universal Library “The Victory Echo” (May 9, 1945–2020) and the joint multimedia project by Belarus Telegraph Agency and Belarus State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War: “The Victory chronicle: The living need the memory…” This experience can be used for designing similar virtual projects and other digital information resources.

“I felt a bit nervous”

Virtual Exchange is a collective term for a set of collaborative online learning practices that cut across institutional, cultural, and international borders. Moving outside their learning environments, the participants engage in project work with foreign peers. The teams have to work across time zones, use foreign languages, manage cultural differences and apply digital tools for communication and collaboration. The virtual projects enhance the development of transversal work/life skills, which are an asset in today’s global labour market. The aim of the present study is to explore the emotional trajectory of Virtual Exchange based on the students’ e-portfolios. By analysing the self-evaluations, we can get a better understanding of the emotional experience of participating in Virtual Exchange and use the findings to develop the pedagogical facilitation of such projects. The research questions address the emotions that the students described when they were reporting on their learning experiences and the individual emotional trajectories that emerge in the students’ reports. Data was collected in the form of e-portfolios that the student participants submitted at the end of a Finnish-Polish Virtual Exchange project in 2019. The “Combining Expertise from Linguistics and Tourism: A Tale of Two Cities Told in Videos” collaboration had promotional discourse in tourism as its main theme. The participants (N=25) were university students majoring in tourism (Poland) and in foreign language studies (Finland). The e-portfolios were analysed with the help of dialogical approach combined with discourse analytical insights (Sullivan, 2012).

“One hundred days before the Great Victory. Belarus newspapers in 1945” – Belarus National Library's virtual project: The concept and implementation

The virtual project by Belarus National Library “One hundred days before the Great Victory. Belarus newspapers in 1945” reconstructs the daily chronicle of facts and events of winter-spring 1945 (war efforts, industry and agriculture rehabilitation in Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, experiences of libraries, research and educational organizations). The project is to demonstrate the information potential of the Library’s newspaper collection. The goals are described; statistical data are provided. The content and formal structure of selected news, structure of newspapers and books as a source, the project stages and implementation, the concept, production of newspapers digital copies, project promotion are discussed. The experience may be useful in other virtual projects. The full texts of the newspapers used in the project are accessible online and will be of interest to historians and everyone who would like to learn more about the heroic period and people who led to the Great Victory both in the front and behind the lines.

A STRUCTURAL MODEL DESCRIBING THE PROJECT PROBLEM: INTRODUCTION EXPERIENCE

The annual experience of using the McKinsey model is given. Students selected business cases or virtual projects in the "Project Management" course. They used the structural description of the problem. In this paper, the main theme of cases and projects are presented. The depths of problems study as the average number of levels of the Minto pyramid are assessed. The main issue we study is the feedback of students about the approach of the consulting firm McKinsey.

Virtual Collaboration in Remote Project Management

This chapter presents virtual collaboration in remote project management as a way to develop sustainable business practices. As temporary organizations, virtual projects have grown substantially, mainly because of the confinement conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. A study was conducted to identify the main issues that employees working in virtual projects in the state of Tamaulipas in Mexico have faced. A survey based on the remote work and its effects scale was used. The most relevant tools and techniques that have been applied in virtual collaboration in remote project management are briefly described. The objective is to shed light on the importance of technology, time and task management, team collaboration and integration, communication, and trust to develop successful projects.

Bring the past to the future: adapting stereoscope images for use in the Oculus Go

The purpose of this project was to explore methods for adapting images originally created for the analog stereoscope to use in contemporary virtual reality headsets. The Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences holds in its collections a set of medical images for the stereoscope published by Dr. S.I. Rainforth in 1910. We scanned 3 stereoscope cards from the collection at a resolution of 1200 dots per inch, then adapted the images for use in virtual reality using Adobe Photoshop and Unity. We successfully created a working application for the Oculus Go that displays the images stereoscopically in the headset. The current application allows only static display of the images. Our next steps in developing this project will be to add images from the collection to the virtual reality application, optimize parameters related to image display, and develop scripting that would allow users to dynamically select images from the collection. More information on this project is available on the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences Virtual Exhibits website, and a short video demonstration is available on Vimeo.Virtual Projects are published on an annual basis in the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) following an annual call for virtual projects in MLAConnect and announcements to encourage submissions from all types of libraries. An advisory committee of recognized technology experts selects project entries based on their currency, innovation, and contribution to health sciences librarianship.

Sidecar Learning: a new e-learning platform for librarians

This article describes how two librarians at the University of Arizona created a new e-learning tool, Sidecar Learning, and implemented tutorials aimed at health sciences students and researchers. Librarians at the University of Arizona have used these interactive tutorials to reach thousands of students. Sidecar Learning was created to provide librarians with a scalable means of teaching thousands of students how to use complicated library databases.Virtual Projects are published on an annual basis in the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) following an annual call for virtual projects in MLAConnect and announcements to encourage submissions from all types of libraries. An advisory committee of recognized technology experts selects project entries based on their currency, innovation, and contribution to health sciences librarianship.

Virtual resident showcase: leveraging an institutional repository during COVID-19 social distancing

While institutional repositories are common in medical schools and academic health centers, they have been used by only a small number of health systems to track and promote their research and scholarly activity. This article describes how Providence System Library Services leveraged their existing institutional repository platform to substitute a virtual showcase for an annual in-person event.Virtual Projects are published on an annual basis in the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) following an annual call for virtual projects in MLAConnect and announcements to encourage submissions from all types of libraries. An advisory committee of recognized technology experts selects project entries based on their currency, innovation, and contribution to health sciences librarianship.