Background: Malware is responsible for a significant part of the ever increasing cost of cyberattacks. Malware analysis is an important part in minimizing these costs. Because of the malicious nature of malware, it has to be executed in a safe and isolated environment during dynamic analysis to not cause harm to a live system, which is why Virtual Machines (VM) or Sandboxes are popular solutions. However, because malware developers actively try to evade analysis of their malware, some use, among other things, hardware attributes to reveal the environment as an analysis environment. Objectives: The aim of this thesis is to investigate which hardware attributes can be used to detect virtual environments and how they can be masked in the source code of hypervisors. Methods: We conducted a literature review to explore what indicators of virtual environments were already known. Then, we examined the known artifacts to see which artifacts can be used to reveal QEMU/KVM and VirtualBox. Using this information we tried to mask the artifacts on QEMU/KVM using values which do not indicate a virtual environment. To evaluate our masking strategy we conducted a controlled experiment.  Results: The literature review resulted in 72 unique artifacts related to hardware. Most of these unique artifacts are identifiers such as manufacturer and product name. We created an attribute collection script, designed to gather data from QEMU/KVM and VirtualBox on 58 out of the 64 unique hardware artifacts. This script was executed in multiple environments and the data gathered from each environment was compared with each other in order to filter out non-artifacts. This resulted in 40 revealing artifact devices and 26 registry keys for QEMU/KVM and 25 artifact devices and 13 registry keys on VirtualBox. Out of these we attempted to mask 25 devices and 22 keys. Our results showed that we had successfully masked 23 out of the 25 devices and all the registry keys. Conclusions: Our results show that most hardware artifacts can be masked and that our whitelist method is a viable strategy to accomplish that. / Bakgrund: Skadlig programvara står för en stor del av de ständigt ökande kostnaderna för cyberattacker. Analys av malware (skadlig programvara) är en viktig del för att minimera dessa kostnader. På grund av dess illasinnade natur måste malware köras i en säker och isolerad miljö under dynamisk analys för att inte orsaka skada på en fysisk maskin, vilket är anledningen till att virtuella maskiner (VM) eller sandlådor är en populära verktyg för analys av malware. Eftersom utvecklare av malware aktivt försöker undvika analys av sin skadliga programvara, använder de bland annat hårdvaruattribut för att avslöja miljön som en analysmiljö. Objectives: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilka hårdvaruattribut som kan användas för att detektera virtuella miljöer och hur de kan maskeras i källkoden för hypervisors. Metoder: Vi genomförde en litteraturstudie för att utforska vilka indikatorer för virtuella miljöer som redan var kända. Sedan undersökte vi artefakterna som hittades under litteraturstudien för att se vilka som kan användas för att avslöja just QEMU/KVM och VirtualBox. Slutligen försökte vi maskera artefakterna på QEMU/KVM genom att ersätta dem med värden som inte avslöjar existensen av en virtuell miljö. För att utvärdera vår maskeringsstrategi genomförde vi sedan ett kontrollerat experiment. Resultat: Litteraturstudien resulterade i 72 unika artefakter relaterade till hårdvara. De flesta av dessa unika artefakter är identifierande strängar som tillverkare och produktnamn. Vi använde 58 av 72 unika artefakter i ett skript som vi använde för att samla in hårdvaruinformation från QEMU/KVM och VirtualBox. Det här skriptet kördes i flera miljöer och data som samlats in från varje miljö jämfördes med varandra för att filtrera bort attribut som inte avslöjar existensen av den virtuella miljön. Detta resulterade i 40 avslöjande enheter och 26 registernycklar för QEMU/KVM och 25 enheter och 13 registernycklar på VirtualBox. Av dessa försökte vi maskera 25 enheter och 22 nycklar. Våra resultat visade att vi framgångsrikt hade maskerat 23 av de 25 enheterna och samtliga registernycklar. Slutsatser: Våra resultat visar att de flesta avslöjande hårdvaruattribut kan maskeras och att vår maskeringsstrategi är en användbar metod för att åstadkomma det.

Virtual reality (VR) is becoming increasingly important in balance training. However, the influence of VR generated visual perturbation, through the novel virtual moving room paradigm, is unknown. Thirty healthy individuals had their static balance assessed on a BTrackS balance plate under eight different conditions: baseline eyes open and eyes closed with and without VR, unexpected toward and away moving VR perturbation, and expected toward and away moving VR perturbation. Multiple statistical analyses were conducted, and the results revealed significantly higher postural sway variables in the unexpected moving toward trials compared to the other moving room conditions; significantly higher postural sway variables in the eyes open no VR compared to VR; and significantly higher postural sway variables in the eyes closed no VR compared to VR. This study provides evidence that VR can be used as a safe and low-cost balance training tool by exposing individuals to fall-prone situations and increasing their balance confidence.

The probability of a cycling crash is much higher at intersections as along the road. A number of reasons contribute to this difference, for example car drivers overlooking cyclists when taking a turn. There have been attempts to quantify the risk at prototypical, un-signaled intersections featuring different levels of cycling infrastructure, as well as cyclists' perception of risk of these intersections. However, these attempts are limited to regular, four-arm intersections, although irregular intersections featuring both a higher and a lower nwnber of anns as weil as odd angles are likely to pose additional challenges for cyclists. There appears tobe little research on the question how the complexity and layout of such intersection affects cyclists perception of risk, as weil as their allocation of attention towards the different arms of an intersection. In, we presented a first approach to taclde this issue in a virtua1 reality (VR) based setup. We found evidence that tbe type oftum affected the subjective risk (e.g. with. a higher risk associated with situations requiring a sharp turn or to continue to an offset road), but no effects of the general position of an intersection arm in relation to the cyclist' traveling trajectory. However, the repeated exposure to the same intersection in this stu.dy limits the conclusiveness of the findings. We thus developed a more flexible virtual environment allowing us to investigate the attention allocation and risk. perception at various types of intersections.

[pt] Os combates modernos acontecem cada vez mais dentro das cidades, muitas vezes dentro de casa, becos, galpões, em ambientes com um espaço restrito onde tudo acontece de maneira muito rápida e com adversários que não são fáceis de serem identificados. Em uma situação dessa, a identificação positiva do alvo se torna imprescindível para que o soldado possa decidir da maneira correta se deve ou não atirar no que ele está vendo. Esse é um dos desafios que o Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais enfrenta: preparar seu soldado para nova realidade de maneira segura e com baixos custos. Por esse motivo a Realidade Virtual pode ser uma solução plausível para esse problema, preparar o militar no seu processo decisório e de maneira eficiente para uma situação de combate em ambiente confinado. O presente trabalho foi baseado em dois ambientes virtuais, o primeiro é uma sala de treinamento e o segundo, uma situação de combate em ambiente confinado (CQB - Close Quarters Battle). Em ambas as situações, 8 instruendos foram avaliados por 4 instrutores, onde obtivemos resultados positivos referentes a possibilidade do emprego do sistema no adestramento de CQB para o ensino da identificação positiva do alvo, além de propostas de estudos futuros. / [en] Modern combat increasingly takes place inside cities, often indoors, alleys, sheds, in environments with a restricted space where everything happens very quickly and with opponents that are not easy to identify. In such a situation, positive identification of the target becomes essential so that the soldier can correctly decide whether or not to shoot what s/he is seeing. This is one of the challenges that the Marine Corps faces: to prepare the soldier for a new reality in a safe and low-cost way. For this reason, Virtual Reality can be a plausible solution to this problem, preparing the military in its decision-making process and efficiently for a combat situation in a confined environment. The present work was based on two virtual environments, the first one is a training room, and the second a Close Quarters Battle (CQB). In both situations, 8 trainees were evaluated by 4 instructors, where we obtained positive results regarding the possibility of use of the system in CQB training to teach positive target identification, in addition to proposals for future studies.

The terms "simulator" and "VR" are typically used to refer to specific types of virtual environments (VEs) which differ in the technology used to display the simulated environment. While simulators and VR devices may offer advantages such as low cost training, numerous studies on the effects to humans of exposure to different VEs indicate that motion sickness-like symptoms are often produced during or after exposure to the simulated environment. These deleterious side effects have the potential to limit the utilization of VE systems if they jeopardize the health and/or safety of the user and create liability issues for the manufacturer. The most widely used method for assessing the adverse symptoms of VE exposure is the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ). The method of scoring the symptoms reported by VE users permits the different sickness symptoms to be clustered into three general types of effects or subscales and the distribution or pattern of the three SSQ subscales provides a profile for a given VE device. In the current research, several different statistical analyses were conducted on the SSQ data obtained from 21 different simulator studies and 16 different VR studies in order to identify an underlying symptom structure (i.e., SSQ profile) or severity difference for various types of VE systems. The results of the research showed statistically significant differences in the SSQ profiles and the overall severity of sickness between simulator and VR systems, which provide evidence that simulator sickness and VR sickness represent distinct forms of motion sickness. Analyses on three types of simulators (i.e., Fixed- and Rotary-Wing flight simulators and Driving simulators) also found significant differences in the sickness profiles as well as the overall severity of sickness within different types of simulator systems. Analyses on three types of VR systems (i.e., HMD, BOOM, and CAVE) revealed that BOOM and CAVE systems have similar sickness profiles, which are different than the HMD system profile. Moreover, the results showed that the overall severity of sickness was greater in HMD systems than in BOOM and CAVE systems. Recommendations for future research included additional psychophysical studies to evaluate the relationship between various engineering characteristics of VE systems and the specific types of sickness symptoms that are produced from exposure to them.

Exposure therapy (ET) is an extensively studied and supported treatment for anxiety and trauma-related disorders. ET works by exposing the patient to the feared object or situation without any danger in order to overcome the related anxiety. Over the past few years, various technologies including head-mounted displays (HMDs), scent machines, and headphones have been used to augment the exposure therapy process by presenting multi-sensory cues (e.g., sights, smells, sounds) to increase the patient*s sense of presence. While studies have shown that scents can elicit emotionally charged memories, no prior research could be identified that examined the effect of olfactory stimuli upon the patient*s sense of presence during exposure tasks. In this study, the effect of olfactory stimuli on subject*s sense of presence was assessed via psychophysiological response (electrodermal activity), visual scanning, and self-report measures. Linear Mixed Modeling showed relationships between olfactory stimuli and presence ratings as well as self-reported anxiety levels, but not visual scanning or physiological arousal. Recommendations were made for continued research in the union of olfactory stimuli, presence, and exposure therapy.

Objective: Two significant challenges for the dissemination of social skills training programs are (a) the need to provide sufficient practice opportunities to assure skill consolidation and (b) the need to assure skill generalization (i.e., use of the skills outside the clinic setting). In the case of social anxiety disorder, virtual environments may provide one strategy to address these issues. This investigation describes the development of an interactive skills-oriented virtual school environment and evaluated its utility for the treatment of social anxiety disorder in preadolescent children (Study 1). This environment included both in-clinic and at-home solutions. In addition, a pilot replication/extension study further examined preliminary treatment efficacy between children who received a standard multi-component treatment and children who received the modified treatment with social skills practice in a virtual environment (Study 2). Method: Eleven children with a primary diagnosis of social anxiety disorder between 7 to 12 years old participated in the initial feasibility trial (Study 1). Five additional children participated in the replication/extension study (Study 2). To investigate preliminary treatment efficacy, clinical outcome measures for the Study 2 sample were compared to a comparison sample who received the standard treatment. Results: Overall, the virtual environment program was viewed as acceptable, feasible, and credible treatment components to children, parents, and clinicians alike but modifications would likely improve the current version. Additionally, although preliminary, children who received the modified treatment with virtual environment practice demonstrated significant improvement at post-treatment on clinician ratings but not parent or self-reported measures. Conclusion: Virtual environments are feasible, acceptable, and credible treatment components for clinical use. Future investigations will determine if the addition of this dose-controlled and iv intensive social skills practice results in treatment outcome equivalent to traditional cognitivebehavioral programs.

Virtual Reality is a technology that has long held society's interest, but has only recently began to reach a critical mass of everyday consumers. The idea of modern VR can be traced back decades, but because of the limitations of the technology (both hardware and software), we are only now exploring its potential. At present, VR can be used for tele-surgery, PTSD therapy, social training, professional meetings, conferences, and much more. It is no longer just an expensive gimmick to go on a momentary field trip; it is a tool, and as with the automobile, personal computer, and smartphone, it will only evolve as more and more adopt and utilize it in various ways. It can provide a three dimensional interface where only two dimensions were previously possible. It can allow us to express ourselves to one another in new ways regardless of the distance between individuals. It has astronomical potential, but with this potential we must first understand what makes it adoptable and attractive to the average consumer. The interaction with technology is often times the bottleneck through which the public either adopts or abandons that technology. The goal of this project is to explore user immerision and emotion during a VR experience centered around creating a virtual world. We also aimed to explore if the naturality of the user interface had any effect on user experience. Very limited user testing was available, however a small user group conducted in depth testing and feedback. While our sample size is small, the users were able to test the system and show that there is a positive correlation between influence on the virtual environment and a positive user emotional experience (immersion, empowerment, etc.), along with a few unexpected emotions (anxiety). We present the system developed, the user study, and proposed extensions for fruitful directions for this work by which a future project may continue the study.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is neurodegenerative disorder that causes memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. It affects one in five people over the age of 80 and is distressing for both sufferers and their families. A transitional stage between normal ageing and dementia including AD is termed a mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Recent studies have shown that people with MCI may convert to AD over time although not all MCI cases progress to AD. Much research is now focussing on early detection of AD and diagnosing an MCI that will progress to AD to allow prompt treatment and disease management before the neurons degenerate to a stage beyond repair. Hence, the ability to obtain a method of identifying MCI is of great importance. Virtual reality plays an important role in healthcare and offers opportunities for detection of MCI. There are various studies that have focused on detection of early AD using virtual environments, although results remain limited. One significant drawback of these studies has been their limited capacity to incorporate levels of difficulty to challenge users' capability. Furthermore, at best, these studies have only been able to discriminate between early AD and healthy elderly with about 80% of overall accuracy. As a result, a novel virtual simulation called Virtual Reality for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease (VREAD) was developed. VREAD is a quick, easy and friendly tool that aims to investigate cognitive functioning in a group of healthy elderly participants and those with MCI. It focuses on the task of following a route, since Topographical Disorientation (TD) is common in AD. An investigation was set up with two cohorts: non-elderly and elderly participants. The findings with regard to the non-elderly are important as they represent a first step towards implementation with elderly people. The results with elderly participants indicate that this simulation based assessment could provide a method for the detection of MCI since significant correlations between the virtual simulation and existing neuropsychological tests were found. In addition, the results proved that VREAD is comparable with well-known neuropsychological tests, such as Cambridge Neuropsychological Automated Test Battery, Paired Associate Learning (CANTAB PAL) and Graded Naming Test (GNT). Furthermore, analysis through the use of machine learning techniques with regard to the prediction of MCI also obtained encouraging results. This novel simulation was able to predict with about 90% overall accuracy using weighting function proposed to discriminate between MCI and healthy elderly. / Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia and University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia (UNisZa)

No / The very word "digital" has acquired a status that far exceeds its humble dictionary definition. Even the prefix digital, when associ­ ated with familiar sectors such as radio, television, photography and telecommunications, has reinvented these industries, and provided a unique opportunity to refresh them with new start-up companies, equipment, personnel, training and working practices - all of which are vital to modern national and international economies. The last century was a period in which new media stimulated new job opportunities, and in many cases created totally new sectors: video competed with film, CDs transformed LPs, and computer graphics threatened traditional graphic design sectors. Today, even the need for a physical medium is in question. The virtual digital domain allows the capture, processing, transmission, storage, retrieval and display of text, images, audio and animation without familiar materials such as paper, celluloid, magnetic tape and plastic. But moving from these media to the digital domain intro­ duces all sorts of problems, such as the conversion of analog archives, multimedia databases, content-based retrieval and the design of new content that exploits the benefits offered by digital systems. It is this issue of digital content creation that we address in this book. Authors from around the world were invited to comment on different aspects of digital content creation, and their contributions form the 23 chapters of this volume.