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Immunology Virtual Reality (VR) project is an immersive educational virtual reality experience that intends to provide an informal learning experience of specific immunology concepts to college freshmen in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech (VT). The project is an interdisciplinary endeavor between my collaboration between people from different domain areas at VT: Creative Technologies, Education, Biological Sciences, and Computer Sciences. This thesis elaborates on the whole design process of how I created a working prototype of the project demo and shares insights from my design experience. / Master of Fine Arts / Immunology Virtual Reality is an immersive educational virtual reality experience in which a user takes on the role of an immune cell and migrates to fight off pathogen invasions at an infection site in the human body. It explores levels of interactivity and storytelling in educational VR and their impact on learning.

Finding the right path is a key aspect for successful navigation through the environment, with technologies such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) having improved this. However, human navigators can still be met with incorrect information either from devices or peers. The literature on how individuals then successfully navigate is limited. The current study attempts to fill in some of the gaps, assessing both individual and group differences. The navigation performance of twenty-five young adults was tested using a Virtual Environment (VE) built with Unreal Engine 4. Participants’ self-assessment of spatial ability, trait anxiety, and wayfinding preferences was further assessed through a series of pre- and post-test measures. Using quantitative data analysis, no significant differences in wayfinding strategies when given incorrect information were found and furthermore there was no interaction between trait anxiety and navigational performance. However, participants in general experienced increased difficulty when the incorrect information given was with regards to landmarks. Furthermore, males had decreased accuracy compared to females but only when given incorrect turn information. Even with this lower performance in terms of accuracy, males still rated themselves higher with regards to spatial ability. These results are particularly interesting for human navigation research and might be used to improve GPS-devices or other technology used for navigation (e.g. taking into account gender differences). Further research is needed due to some limitations present in the current study including a limited sample size. / Att hitta rätt väg är grunden för att lyckas hitta rätt väg genom sin omgivning och modern teknologi som GPSen (Global positioning system) har förbättrat detta. Dock så kan en mänsklig navigatör fortfarande presenteras med felaktig information, vare sig det är från teknologiska enheter eller andra individer. Den litteratur som är tillgänglig angående hur folk anpassar sig till detta och ändå försöker finna rätt väg är  begränsad. Denna studie är till för att fylla denna kunskapslucka, både på individuell och på gruppnivå. 25 unga vuxnas navigationsförmågor undersöktes med hjälp av en virtuell miljö skapad i Unreal Engine 4. Deltagarna självutvärderade också sina spatiala förmågor, ångestbenägenhet samt preferenser när det kommer till att utforska och hitta rätt väg. Något som i sin tur komplementerades både före och efter själva experimentet. Kvantitativ dataanalys uppvisade inga märkbara skillnader i navigeringsstrategier när felaktig information hade getts och ingen koppling kunde etableras mellan ångestbenägenhet och prestation. Det fanns dock en trend i upplevda svårigheter när felaktig information angående milstolpar angavs. Män presterade sämre med lägre precision än kvinnor vid missvisande information om svängtillfälle. Men trots detta hade männen en tendens att betygsätta sin spatiala förmåga högre än kvinnor. Dessa resultat är av specifikt intresse för forskning inom navigation och kan användas till att förbättra GPS-enheter samt annan teknologi som utnyttjas för liknande syften (t.ex. för att ta hänsyn till könsskillnaderna). Men mer forskning krävs på grund av vissa begränsningar i undersökningen, inklusive en begränsad provstorlek.

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NeuroGaze is a novel Virtual Reality (VR) interface that integrates electroencephalogram (EEG) and eye tracking technologies to enhance user interaction within virtual environments (VEs). Diverging from traditional VR input devices, NeuroGaze allows users to select objects in a VE through gaze direction and cognitive intent captured via EEG signals. The research assesses the performance of the NeuroGaze system against conventional input devices such as VR controllers and eye gaze combined with hand gestures. The experiment, conducted with 20 participants, evaluates task completion time, accuracy, cognitive load through the NASA-TLX surveys, and user preference through a post-evaluation survey. Results indicate that while NeuroGaze presents a learning curve, evidenced by longer average task durations, it potentially offers a more accurate selection method with lower cognitive load, as suggested by its lower error rate and significant differences in the physical demand and temporal NASA-TLX subscale scores. This study highlights the viability of incorporating biometric inputs for more accessible and less demanding VR interactions. Future work aims to explore a multimodal EEG-Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) input device, further develop machine learning models for EEG signal classification, and extend system capabilities to dynamic object selection, highlighting the progressive direction for the use of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) in virtual environments.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Les entraîneurs en sports acrobatiques disposent de peu d’outils permettant d’améliorer leur compréhension des saltos vrillés et la performance des athlètes. L’objectif de ce mémoire était de développer un environnement graphique de simulation numérique réaliste et utile des acrobaties aériennes. Un modèle composé de 17 segments et de 42 degrés de liberté a été développé et personnalisé à une athlète de plongeon. Un système optoélectronique échantillonné à 300 Hz a permis l’acquisition de huit plongeons en situation réelle d’entraînement. La cinématique articulaire reconstruite avec un filtre de Kalman étendu a été utilisée comme entrée du modèle. Des erreurs quadratiques moyennes de 20° (salto) et de 9° (vrille) entre les performances simulées et réelles ont permis de valider le modèle. Enfin, une formation basée sur le simulateur a été offerte à 14 entraîneurs en sports acrobatiques. Une augmentation moyenne de 11 % des résultats aux questionnaires post-test a permis de constater le potentiel pédagogique de l’outil pour la formation. / Coaches need tools to better understand the mechanics of twisting somersaults and improve their knowledge and their athletes’ performance. The aim of this thesis was to provide them with a computer simulation model of aerial movements. An elite diver was modelled as a 17-segment 42-degree of freedom angle-driven model. The model was personalised to the diver so that simulation outputs could be compared with her actual performance. Input data were recorded by a 17-camera motion capture system sampled at 300 Hz. The joint angle time histories were reconstructed using an extended Kalman filter. The model was successfully evaluated and shown to produce realistic movements, with overall root-mean-square error of 20° (somersault) and 9° (twist) between reconstructed body kinematics and the corresponding simulations for eight dives. Finally, a workshop based on the simulation was offered to coaches and showed potential to improve their knowledge since the mean post-test result was increased by 11 %.

The Bridge: Pong Evolution describes the evolution of visuality in computer games in the symbolic way. The piece focuses on the most common elements used in graphics, gameplay, styles and technologies both in history and nowadays. Then it uses them in one single evolving environment. The work is also criticizing some contemporary (and past) trends commonly used in video games.

Visualisation of proposed plans and designs can be done with a number of differenttechniques within the field of architecture and urban planning. But which visualisationtechnique is best suited when presenting a design proposal at a public consultation? Is therea breaking point where the user can form a general understanding of the proposed designdepending on the degree of fidelity? To seek answers to these questions a qualitative studywas conducted where five different visualisation techniques were tested on ten users toassess their understanding of a proposed design. Our findings show that there is not asingle best visualisation technique for public consultation. Based on our results thepreferred alternative would be a combination of several techniques. We could also see thatthe general understanding of a space increased until a certain degree, and after that adeeper more detail oriented understanding was achieved.

Orientador: Maria Helena Vieira-Abrahão / Banca: Kanavillil Rajagopalan / Banca: João Antonio Telles / Resumo: Devido à crescente importância dos estudos de crenças a respeito do processo de ensino-aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no Brasil e a necessidade de que esses estudos, em concordância com as tendências atuais da Lingüística e Lingüística Aplicada, não se atenham mais somente à identificação e descrição, mas contemplem também análises mais contextualizadas dessas crenças, tratando das relações destas com diversos fatores tais como: fatores culturais, políticos, sociais, econômicos, históricos etc., objetivou-se neste trabalho estudar as crenças de um grupo de professores de língua inglesa em formação, no que diz respeito à língua inglesa e aos Estados Unidos da América, bem como as implicações de um crescente sentimento mundial de antiamericanismo no contexto estudado. Este trabalho também está vinculado ao terceiro objetivo de pesquisa do projeto temático TELETANDEM BRASIL - Línguas estrangeiras para todos, que diz respeito à formação do professor para o meio virtual. O teletandem é uma nova modalidade de ensino-aprendizagem que possibilita, através do uso do computador, a interação à distância em tempo real, fazendo uso simultâneo de recursos de áudio (fala e escuta), textuais (escrita e leitura) e visuais (webcam, fotos, quadro para desenho etc.). Destarte, foram também analisadas e discutidas questões relacionadas a preconceito, estereótipos, alteridade, cultura, identidade, interculturalidade, dentre outros, em interações teletandem realizadas entre uma professora em formação, brasileira, e um participante estadunidense. Com base na análise dos dados coletados através de múltiplos instrumentos, foi possível constatar que os participantes em questão tendem a associar a língua inglesa a um grupo específico de países, principalmente EUA e Inglaterra. Foi possível identificar também ...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Due to the growing importance of the studies on beliefs related to the teachinglearning process in Brazil and the necessity that these studies, in accordance with the current tendencies of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, do not consist in simply identification and description anymore, but also consider more contextualized analyses of these beliefs, dealing with their relation with several factors such as: culture, politics, society, economy, history etc., the aim of this work was to study the beliefs of a group of undergraduate English teachers in what concerns the English language and the United States of America, as well as the implications of a growing global feeling of anti- Americanism in a specific context. This work is part of the third research objective of the thematic project named TELETANDEM BRASIL - Línguas estrangeiras para todos, as it is related to teacher education for the virtual environment. Teletandem is a new way of teaching-learning that allows real time interaction between distant partners by using audio (listening and talking), video (webcam, photos, drawing board) and textual (writing and reading) resources of personal computers. In this regard, issues related to prejudice, stereotyping, othering, culture, identity, interculturality and others were also discussed and analyzed in teletandem interactions performed by a Brazilian undergraduate English teacher and a United States citizen. Based in the analyses of data collected through multiple instruments, it was possible to perceive that the participants of the research tend to associate the English language with a specific group of countries, especially USA and England. It was also possible to identify the presence of the feeling of anti-Americanism, parallel to a feeling of admiration and adoration concerning the USA - a situation of conflict ...(Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre