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Virtual Reality has been growing in popularity and demand as technology has been substantially improved and become more readily available to the general public in the recent years. Similarly, the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industries have benefited from these advances and extensive research has been performed to adopt and streamline its utilization. An example of this adoption has been the use of Immersive Virtual Environments (IVE) as a representation of the built environment for different purposes such as building design and occupant behavior studies in the post construction stage – i.e., Human Building Interaction. This research has investigated a workflow for different alternatives of reality-capturing-based technologies that have been tested to generate a more realistic representation of the built environment regarding HBI. One of these alternatives considered was 360-image based IVEs. This alternative in particular was tested and compared by the means of a preliminary user study in order to evaluate whether it is an adequate representation of the built environment regarding HBI, and how it is compared to commonly used benchmarked Graphical based IVEs. Ultimately, participants of this user study reported a strong feeling of immersion and presence in the 360-image based IVE and showed a better performance in cognitive tasks such as reading speed and comprehension. In contrast, participants showed a better performance in object identification and finding in the Graphical based IVE. The results of our preliminary user study indicate that 360-image based IVEs could potentially be an adequate representation in the study of Human Building Interaction based on these metrics. Further research with a larger sample size should be done in performed in order to generalize any findings. / Master of Science / Virtual Reality has been growing in popularity and demand as technology has substantially improved and become more available to the general public in the recent years. Similarly, the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industries have benefited from these advances and extensive research has been performed to utilize this technology. An example of this adoption has been the use of Immersive Virtual Environments (IVE) as a representation of a building for different purposes such as design and understanding of the way occupants interact with a building. IVEs rely on using special digital goggles (called head mounted displays or HMDs) that help users immerse in a virtual environment and experience it. For this reason, our research has sought to explore different alternatives to possibly generate a more realistic immersive virtual environment that relies on immersive image-based technologies to test how humans behave, respond, and interact with a building. One of these alternatives considered was 360-degree cameras and their associated images. We sought to study whether these technologies provide an improved experience for users compared to the environments that are created through computer graphics. This thesis explains the processes that were investigated to understand the creation of an IVE, and the different alternatives available in the market to generate a 360-degree image based IVE. Then, one of these alternatives was tested and compared to a classic IVE through an experiment in order to evaluate whether 360-degree image based IVEs can be an adequate representation for building occupant interaction studies.

Music videos invite the viewer to an enhanced experience of a song, and by combining it with360°, a new dimension of immersion emerges. However, a new wave of complex narrativeand user interface unfolds when intertwining 360° and the contemporary way of telling storiesin music videos.This thesis used an experimental mixed method research design, focusing on collecting,analyzing, and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data in a series of studies. A surveywas first conducted to get an overview of consensus with respect to music videos, VR, and360°. The majority of the respondents had tried VR and 40% of stated that they felt immersedwhile trying it. Around 18% argued it was experience-dependent and 42% did not feelimmersed at all. The survey was followed by experiments showing two 360° music videoswith different storytelling techniques. After the participants had seen the videos, theydiscussed the experience in focus groups in a semi-structured interview. The results were thencoded and benchmarked with theory, which led to the rise of six key 360° storytellingguidelines.All three focus groups concluded 360° music videos enable a deeper level of immersion.However, when combining novelty and a sometimes overwhelming visual experience, 360°music videos can distract the audience if not told right. The guidelines discuss the purpose ofa music video, how the technology affects the experience, if the medium is passive or active,and how different types of interaction can be used as a storytelling mean. They also discussways to pedagogically intertwine audio and visuals. Additionally, the guidelines includediscussions of how different cues and POV’s can be utilized to ensure that the filmmakers andviewers experiences are somewhat aligned, they also tackle the fear of missing out, andfinally compare 360° and traditional music videos.Conclusively, the research shows that storytelling in a 360° sphere will entail a journey oftrial and error, and that the audience have scattered preferences of what different narrativestyles they find work and do not.

Der Bericht dokumentiert das Aufkommen, die Zusammensetzung und den Verbleib der sächsischen Siedlungsabfälle im Jahr 2012. Gegliedert in Landkreise und die drei kreisfreien Städte werden die Abfallgebühren für Restabfall, Bioabfall und sonstige Entsorgungsgebühren dargestellt. Die durchschnittliche Abfallgebührenbelastung pro Einwohner lag bei 53 Euro.

Of the two thousand babies born each day in England and Wales, at least twenty will have an intersex condition (also known as Disorder of Sex Development). For some, the condition lies dormant for many years, if not for the remainder of their lives, whilst others are born with genital differences to such a degree that it is not possible at birth to inform parents whether their child is ‘male’ or ‘female’. This ‘devastating’ announcement commences a lifetime of potential discrimination for these children (and arguably for their parents) both in the healthcare environment and in society in general. It might have been thought that when the Equality Act 2010 was passed such discrimination would cease as, according to the summary of the Act, its two main purposes are to harmonise discrimination law and enhance legal mechanisms to allow equality for everyone. However, the category of 'intersex' is not included in the Act. This thesis aims to build on existing literature, and to investigate and analyse whether current English law prevents or promotes discrimination against the intersexed in the healthcare environment in England today. It further endeavours to propose suitable amendments to current law where such discrimination is identified. Previous literature has indicated that discrimination may arise as a result of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), selective abortions of the intersexed fetus, and ‘normalising’ genital operations of the intersexed child. Further, activists have noted that the withholding of medical records is detrimental to the person concerned. However, to date there has been sparsity of literature to address current English law in these areas. Results of investigations carried out for this thesis indicate that in some aspects, for example access to medical records, current English law supports the rights of the intersexed patient. Research also indicates that in regard to selective abortions current law can be justified. However, in other areas, notably PGD and genital modification operations, English law can be said to discriminate against the intersexed, whilst for neonatal testing, current healthcare policies and procedures can be considered discriminatory. Such provisions require reconsideration. In this respect, legal amendments are proposed to assist in overcoming discrimination. This includes an amendment to the Equality Act itself.