Browsing by Subject "Virtual environments"
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Item A comparative analysis of nonverbal communication in online multi-user virtual environments(2021-05-11) Birmingham, Christopher Crawford; Bailey, Jakki O.This paper is a comparative analysis of how users use and interpret nonverbal communication through avatars in online, multi-user virtual environments. The development of multi-user virtual spaces over the past thirty years has given users access to new forms of nonverbal communication, with notable advances in the kinds of and richness of the tools made available. This article examines how these virtual environments have evolved since their early inception by examining landmark platforms to represent the different periods of advancement in the capabilities of their contemporaries. It presents a framework by which we can break down nonverbal communication (NVC) into its constituent parts and examines how some forms of NVC are translated directly from face-to-face to a digital avatar, as well as novel forms of NVC that evolve from the platforms themselves. Finally, this article examines how these translated and novel forms of NVC can indicate broader trends in the ways that people communicate through digital avatars, and provides some recommendations for further research into this subject.Item The design of wayfinding affordance and its influence on task performance and perceptual experience in desktop virtual environments(2008-08) Choi, Gil Ok; Bias, Randolph G.For the past few years, virtual environments (VEs) have gained broad attention from both scholarly and practitioner communities. However, in spite of intense and widespread efforts, most VE-related research has focused on the technical aspects of applications, and the necessary theoretical framework to assess the quality of interfaces and designs has not yet been fully developed. This research, as a response to such challenges, concerns the usability of three-dimensional VEs. More specifically, this study aims to investigate the effects of wayfinding affordance design on users’ task performance and perceptual experience in 3D desktop VEs. For this purpose, four different wayfinding affordance conditions were set up: Fixed Detached Affordance Cues (FDAC) condition, Switchable Detached Affordance Cues (SDAC) condition, Portable Embedded Affordance Cues (PEAC) condition and Fixed Embedded Affordance Cues (FEAC) condition. Maps and directional cues were employed to implement wayfinding affordance. The results show that the design of wayfinding affordance has significant effects on users’ perceptual experience as well as their task performance. Task performance was significantly better where the maps and directional cues were provided independently from the VE interfaces (FDAC, SDAC). With regard to perceptual experience, the effect was significant only in simple environments. In these environments, the fixed and, therefore, stable interfaces (FEAC, FDAC) were found to provide a better sense of presence for users whereas the manipulative interfaces (PEAC, SDAC) offered a greater state of playfulness. The research findings also indicated that the design of 3D interfaces had a greater impact on non-expert users than on expert users.Item Development of driving simulation framework for defining the operational design domains of autonomous vehicles in rural and urban environments(2021-05-04) Cosio, Adrian; Wang, Junmin, 1974-Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have been rapidly improving over the last decade with the implementation of more automated features. This will lead to the development of fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) and their deployment into the traffic stream. Although the idea of self-driving cars in society is inevitable, there is much more research that needs to be done before that becomes a reality. Therefore, a transition phase will first occur in which traffic will consist of a mixed configuration of various automated and human-driven vehicles. This will undoubtedly result in consequences as the different levels of AVs and human drivers interact in various roadway environments and distinct traffic characteristics. For that reason, it is imperative to research the full capabilities of all levels of automation and understand their limitations based on the diverse set of roadway environments and various driving scenarios that will be encountered. In this thesis, an attempt was made to begin understanding the capabilities and limitations of AVs in mixed traffic. Given the multitude of environments and scenarios, prioritization was given to a situation that would be common for Texas roadways. Therefore, this thesis develops a driving simulation environment to understand the performance of AVs with respect to traffic safety and efficiency in Texas rural highways and urban roads during a forced lane drop scenario and a merging vehicle maneuver. This prioritization was used to begin establishing the operational design domains (OODs) of AVs, which will be crucial in mitigating the risk that will arise during the interactions of different levels of AVs and humans. Preliminary results from Driver-In-the-Loop (DIL) experiments seem to suggest that increasing the level of automation might have some benefits for traffic as a whole but that lower-level AVs might led to some dangerous situations for human drivers. More human participants will be needed to verify these results but overall, this thesis managed to develop a feasible simulation framework that can be used for future human subject studies.