As the world becomes more globalized and information technology develops more rapidly, companies are increasingly exploring the benefits of using virtual teams to work on projects that allow them to achieve their objectives. This phenomenon though keeps raising questions regarding the best practices in selection and management of employees whose work would be mostly conducted in virtual settings instead of traditional co-located teams. We have investigated the conditions of virtuality, identifying its benefits and challenges and came up to a conclusion that in order to be an effective virtual team member, a special set of skills and abilities may be needed. The central question of this study is: What individual knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that comprise virtual competence (IVC) should the virtual project team members possess, which could contribute to overcoming challenges of the virtual environment? To answer this question a variety of theories on a virtual team, professional competencies, team management and project management were examined. Quantitative research has been utilized to measure the relationship between the conceptualised construct of individual virtual competence and individual work outcomes in a project that is conducted by distributed global teams. Data on the skills of the individuals conducting their work in virtual IT project settings were collected with an online survey which was distributed among the chosen sample. The results of the survey indicated that the most important characteristics that contribute to overcoming challenges of virtuality are self-efficacy, social, and media skills, which also have a positive reflection on the individual work performance and job satisfaction. There are also interesting results regarding the effect of demographic characteristics on variables when compared with the results from the similar study conducted with a different group of respondents. In the end, a revised model of individual virtual competence is proposed that can shed some light on its impact on job performance and job satisfaction of an individual working in virtual project teams.

There has been a significant increase in the number of internet business and e-commerce transactions being entered into over the last couple of years. More recently, the development of virtual worlds on the internet has become a more important feature of the environment businesses operate in. Although the tax consequences of income earned in virtual worlds have been researched in the United States of America before, no research of this kind exists within South Africa. This study extends prior research by performing a critical analysis of the tax treatment from a South African tax perspective. The study’s specific aim was to determine whether income earned by South African residents from structured and unstructured virtual worlds respectively, would qualify as gross income according to the South African Income Tax Act 58 of 1962. The study builds on previous international research performed, but provides a new perspective from a South African point of view. From a theoretical perspective, the study will make a valuable contribution to the application of basic principles of gross income but on a brand new concept which did not exist when the principles were laid down. The study was limited to determine whether the income earned in virtual worlds by South African residents who are taxed on their world wide income, will be included in gross income as defined by the South African Income Tax Act. Capital gains tax consequences were not considered for any transaction where the income was classified to be of a capital nature. The study did not consider which deductions might be available to taxpayers in terms of the income being included in gross income and no detailed discussion were included to determine when a taxpayer would only be considered to engage in virtual worlds as a hobby versus when the taxpayer’s action would constitute a business. Future research can be extended to this very area. This research concluded that most transactions in virtual worlds resulting in income will qualify as gross income under the South African Income Tax Act. At this stage the only possible disqualification in terms of the South African gross income definition appears to be the qualification of income received as, “of a capital nature”. Copyright / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Taxation / unrestricted

This thesis contemplates virtual teams, in particular the role of a leader in them. In the theoretical part of the thesis I explore and describe specific characteristics of virtual teams that distinguish them from the traditional teamwork paradigm, benefits and risks stemming from their use in the business world and policies and principles of leadership of different types of virtual teams that help achieve their maximum efficiency. In the practical portion of the thesis I demonstrate the negative effects of neglecting those principles by studying an example of a real, failed virtual team.

Technological developments have brought at the forefront the virtual communication in the business world. In our day and age it is difficult to find teams in organizations that do not rely in long distance communication even partially. Leaders bear the responsibility to secure quick and smooth transition of information among the members of their teams as well as to foster an environment that promotes trust and fuels motivation. We conducted this exploratory case study using the abductive approach and the qualitative method. Our aim was to gain a better understanding on how the leaders perceive trust and motivation in a virtual communication setting. Therefore, we send out questionnaires to leaders that volunteered to participate in our study and we adopted the pragmatist philosophy in an attempt to provide valuable insights and practical recommendations to leaders that are managing teams in an electronic environment. The results of our study suggest that leaders perceive the long distance communication mediated through technology to be something positive to the success of their teams as they consider it to actually increase efficiency, provide a more straightforward style of communication that enables their followers to take on more responsibility for the results of their work as well as an increase in productivity.

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 geology learning environments in college generally fall into three categories: learning based on lectures, field excursions, and laboratory activities. Engaging students in these environments and developing their interest, critical thinking skills, and problem-solving ability have always been challenging in college geology education. This research developed virtual learning methodology and integrated it into traditional geology education to achieve active learning in order to engage students in the learning process. Virtual geology learning tools (VGLTs), high-resolution virtual representation of geologic objects and/or the realistic virtual 3D environment embedded with real-world terrains and animated photorealistic game objects, are the outcome of the effort. VGLTs were integrated into different college geology learning environments and were tested for their effectiveness. The primary finding of this study is that integrating VGLTs into traditional college geology education was affirmed by geology professionals and non-professionals as being helpful in creating effective learning environments that can facilitate the active learning of students in both formal and informal educational settings. VGLTs helped address students’ needs in many aspects of college geology education by utilizing interactive and realistic virtual technologies. VGLTs are important because they can help address different aspects of traditional college geology learning, increasing the versatility and integrity of virtual learning in tandem with traditional learning. However, VGLTs should not replace learning in the physical environment since geology is a discipline that aims to increase our understanding of the physical world.

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A integração on-line de dados reais com ambientes de realidade virtual imersivos, criando sistemas híbridos, é um campo de pesquisa multidisciplinar, ainda pouco explorado. O alto nível de envolvimento do usuário proporcionado pela realidade virtual imersiva e a confiabilidade e precisão de informações provenientes da aquisição de dados reais, de maneira on-line, podem auxiliar o processo de tomada de decisão, em diversas áreas de aplicação. Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia de integração on-line de dados reais de manufatura com ambientes de realidade virtual imersivos, mais especificamente, com sistemas CAVE. A metodologia foi desenvolvida voltada para a área de manufatura virtual, com foco em máquinas-ferramenta. Foram criados e interligados dois métodos de aquisição de dados on-line, um deles específico para máquinas-ferramenta, através do protocolo MTConnect e outro, genérico, via imagens de câmeras. O trabalho foi desenvolvido, em geral, com base em bibliotecas e softwares livres, bem como com dispositivos de baixo custo. Por fim, avaliou-se a metodologia através de estudos de caso, baseados em dados reais on-line, provenientes de máquinas-ferramenta reais e de simuladores de dados de máquinas reais. Os resultados deste trabalho podem auxiliar o desenvolvimento de ferramentas que aumentem do nível de confiabilidade das tomadas de decisões baseadas em simulações virtuais da área de manufatura. E, devido à sua implementação modular, ao formato hierárquico e unificado de sua estrutura e à padronização de seus tipos de dados, comunicações e formas de utilização, pode ser adequada a quaisquer áreas de aplicação que utilizem integração de dados reais on-line com ambientes virtuais imersivos. / The on-line integration of real manufacturing data with immersive virtual reality environments, forming hybrid systems, is an underexplored multidisciplinary research field. The high level of users\' involvement provided by immersive virtual reality and the reliability and accuracy of information acquired on-line from real data, can assist the decision making process, in many research areas. This research presents a way to on-line integrate manufacturing real data with immersive virtual reality environments, more specifically, with CAVEs. This work was developed toward the area of virtual manufacturing, with focus on machine tools. Two data acquisition methods were created and placed to work together, one specific for machine tools, through the MTConnect protocol and the other, generic, through camera images acquisition. This work was based on free libraries and software, as well as low cost devices. Finally, this work was evaluated through case studies, based on on-line real data, from real machine tools and real machine data simulators. The results achieved with this research can contribute to the development of new tools to increase the reliability level of manufacturing virtual simulations. Moreover, due to its modular implementation, the hierarquical and unified structure format and the standardization of its communication methods and data types, it can be arranged to almost any research areas which use integration of real on-line data with immersive virtual environments.